Beijing...

Although I never dreamt of going to Beijing, I'm glad I took advantage of the opportunity when I had it. Our trip was considered a university visit, since we visited Tsingsua University (pronounced similar to Sheng-Shwa) and stayed on the campus there in a hotel. The campus was beautiful, even though it was one of the coldest places we had been so far. During our time in Beijing, we visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall and the Beijing Zoo to see the Giant Pandas. Despite all of these amazing sites - the majority of the students loved the Pearl Market best, since they were able to buy knock-off clothing and shoes extremely cheap.




This is a picture of a particular pond on the campus - Isn't it beautiful?! Going here really reminded us that it was fall. One more interesting tidbit about the university - the quality of education is comparable to Harvard & MIT! Wow!


The bicycle is the most popular means of transit on the campus.


The Great Wall! We had about 30 minutes to explore which was perfect, I was so out of shape I could barely hike it for that long. One thing you never really hear is how steep it is!

One of the giant pandas!

Hong Kong...

For the short time I was in Hong Kong, it was great. Technically the ship was there for two days, but because I was signed up for a trip to Beijing, I departed Hong Kong early on the second day.

One of the reasons I was excited to go to Hong Kong, was because that is where Disney has built their newest park. It was soo interesting (for me at least) to compare how they changed their product to cater to the market there. My friend Cat (from the ship) came with me. I was lucky enough to have had two extra complimentary tickets from my time at Disney, which I was able to use to get into the park there. It was definitely an added bonus!


I was surprised how many of the signs were in English. Many people don't know that before this park opened, many cast members trained at Walt Disney World.

I thought the Jungle Cruise attraction was brilliant! There are essentially two main languages in China - Mandarin and Cantonese, in addition to English, so I was interested to find out how they would handle that challenge on a spieling attraction (one in which the person at the front of the boat has a talking part). Their solution - 3 different lines, one for each language, and they rotated the boats: one for Mandarin, one for Cantonese and one for English! How cool is that?!

The Hong Kong skyline - amazing. Soo different from NYC!

It's been awhile...

Sorry, I know it's been awhile - I've been getting used to life back in the States and trying to job hunt/decide on my next adventure. So far to no avail, but as soon as I decide, I'll let you know.
Another thing I've been working on is trying to locate a photo sharing site that supports videos too - believe it or not, there aren't too many out there, and the ones that do exist all charge. So, while I continue my search for the best channel to share my memories, I figured the least I could do is post a couple pictures from the countries I never had a chance to post.
Thanks to everyone who tracked me during my trip and again, my apologies for not being better about it.
- Bonnie :)

Vietnam/Cambodia...

Here are the highlights of Vietnam/Cambodia in 2 pictures...


Out to lunch with Ben and Paige. Eating a traditional Vietnamese lunch - I'm soo daring! We just spent the morning searching for a good tailor, finally finding one, purchased material and had our measurements taken so that our (custom made) suits would be ready before we left Vietnam. In the end they did a fantastic job! I am super impressed!


Ankor Wat at sunrise was beautiful! I loved Cambodia and everything I learned there. It is definitely one of my top 5 countries so far.

In both Vietnam and Cambodia, we were able to see so many things that brought history alive for us. It was a great experience.

Malaysia/Singapore...

Here are the highlights of Malaysia/Singapore in 3 pictures...

This was the first country that we had to tender. This essentially means that the ship couldn't pull up to the dock and that the crew had to use the life boats to ferry us from the ship to the land. It was an experience!

This beautiful sunset is what bid us fairwell as we left Malaysia bound for Vietnam.

Just little 'ol me in Singapore at the famous Raffles Hotel, enjoying their famous drink "The Singapore Sling". It was delicious! - You know me, just living the high life... ;)

India...

Here are the highlights of India in 2 pictures...


I am so happy I had the opportunity to experience India, but let's just say it is not at the top of my list of places I can't wait to return to. The yellow and green thing in the front of the screen is called a rickshaw and is similar to a taxi, but it's like a scooter. I don't know if you can make it out, but all the way off to the left of the picture is a cow, just chillin on the side of the road, eating garage that has piled up. This is a normal sight that I saw more times then I could count. The reason for this is because cows are a sacred animal in India and so no harm comes to them.

No trip to India is complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal. It was simply incredible to actually be there. One thing I was a bit surprised about was the size. While it was huge, and the architecture like nothing I had ever seen before, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was - It's smaller then I thought it would be. For those that have been to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, I would almost say it would fit underneath it. A little disappointing, but incredible nonetheless.

South Africa...

Here are the highlights of South Africa in 5 pictures...

Here is a view of the famous Table Mountain! It truly dominated the horizon and was incredible!

After about an hour and a half hike up the mountain, this is the incredible view!

On one of the days we were in Cape Town, I did a volunteer trip to assist a Non-profit organization called Operation Hunger. Our task for the day was to weigh and chart all of the kids in a particular school. The reason behind doing this is because soup kitchens in the area have requested funding from the organization, and the way they determine who gets the funds is by analyzing the kids in the schools in their area. Essentially, if the majority of the children are borderline malnourished, the soup kitchen gets money.

This is me at Cape Point, the location that claims to be the southern most point of Africa. Either way, it was beautiful!

I know it is a little hard to see, but I was too busy recording to take pictures. If you squint real hard, you can see Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the center of the photo. He's wearing all black and you can barely see his white hair, but he's there - I promise! Anyway, I was one of the fortunate ones who was around when we received word that he was going to stop by for a brief, half hour lecture. (He his a big supporter of the program and has even sailed on two voyages!) His speech was amazing! I am so happy I was able to see him speak, it was just so genuine and heartfelt!