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Snakes, guns & secret tunnels: Photo essay from Irvine woman who ......
: Irvine resident Michelle Lynne Cook recently traveled the globe, leaving from the Bahamas and stopping in Puerto Rico, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Hawaii and Costa Rica. The college student experienced the Carnaval festival in Brazil, viewed the Taj Mahal at sunrise, climbed the Great Wall of China, zip-lined above a rainforest canopy, took a bullet train to Hiroshima and ventured through the Cu-Chi tunnels, which the Viet Cong used in the Vietnam War. We asked her to share her story and photos.
I still cannot believe I have traveled around the world. As someone who loves to travel, I knew it would someday happen. What I did not know was that it would be on a 590-foot motor yacht with upward of 700 other college students for a solid 109 days – and all before my 22nd birthday.
I am a senior at Chapman University, and up until last year, I had neglected to look seriously into my study abroad options. Then, my lifelong friend Tyler Shatzen came home from the spring 2007 voyage with Semester at Sea. Semester at Sea's MV Explorer is a floating campus operated by the Institute for Shipboard Education at the University of Virginia. Tyler told me that students take classes aboard the ship and dock in various port cities all around the world, experiencing a new culture every week. For a travel buff like me, that was all of the convincing I needed.
I applied and they accepted me, and off I went on the spring 2008 voyage.
As the students got settled and met their cabin mates and as parents began to line a pier on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, I hugged my mom and dad for the last time before I embarked on the trip of a lifetime. I remember having to remind myself that this was not a cruise, but an educational voyage.
My voyage had 12 ports of call before transiting the Panama Canal and returning to Miami, Florida including: Puerto Rico, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Hawaii and Costa Rica. I still can't believe I have been to all of these places.
When I see friends of mine now that I'm back home in Irvine, the first thing they ask me is what my favorite country was. Honestly, I liked them all. But if I had to name my top two, they would be Vietnam and Japan.
My voyage was packed with field trips and various excursions. From participating in Carnaval in Brazil to viewing the Taj Mahal at sunrise in India, to climbing to the top of the Great Wall of China and zip lining hundreds of feet above the Costa Rican canopy, it's easy to see that my time in each country was spent efficiently.
Vietnam was probably my busiest country overall. The morning we arrived some of my peers and I boarded a bus and traveled to the Cu-Chi tunnels, an underground system of tunnels and living spaces that the Viet Cong used to evade the Americans during the Vietnam War.
The tunnels are virtually undetectable from above ground and can withstand the weight of tanks and marching soldiers. The coolest part of the tunnels is how insanely small the entrances and exits are. I got stuck trying to squeeze through a hole about 1-foot-by-8-inches wide.
After climbing in and out of the tunnels, we found a shooting range and decided to try our hand at shooting machine guns. I chose an M-60, paid for my bullets and missed the target completely – but it was totally worth it.
"The killer-spider-of-doom was just chilling in his web. But there were two problems. One, we had to walk under the web to get our lunch. Two, Mr. Horrifying Spider McSpiderson was as big as a deflated regulation size basketball. I was only freaking out a little, and by a 'little' I mean pee-your-pants terrified. But, alas, I made it under the spider bridge of death and was then confronted with the cutest, most adorable 9-foot python I have ever seen."
The rest of the trip crippled in comparison to my arachnid-adventure. There was a lot of shopping, eating and a five-hour bus ride back to the ship.
On my last day in Vietnam, I went out to lunch with my friend Aleister at Pho 24, a popular noodle-soup eatery. While we were there, we were filmed for a Korean documentary on international noodles, specifically Vietnamese Pho. I might be an international TV star and I'll never know.
After Vietnam, we traveled to China before reaching my second-favorite country, Japan.
Japan, although more laid back than Vietnam, was amazingly fun, in a belly laugh, ridiculous kind of way. My goal was to do everything stereotypical Japanese. So, on the first day I set out on my mission.
Three of my friends and I hopped into a cab and made our way to our first stop: a traditional sake factory. We learned about the production process and sampled all of the free sake we could handle, which between the four of us was quite a lot.
Once our thirsts were quenched, we decided we needed to eat, so off to the sushi restaurant we went. I was surprised how difficult it was to find sushi in Japan. Eventually, our perseverance and determination came through and we found the chef and restaurant that would calm our hunger. I'll spare you the details of how long we gorged ourselves on raw fish and seaweed so we can move on to the second half of my mission.
The next day, the third and fourth phases of mission Japan were completed. Phase 3 was riding on the Japanese Bullet Train to Hiroshima. A normally five-hour bus ride was condensed into an hour and fifteen minute train ride. The only thing I regret about taking the train was missing out on seeing the countryside, especially considering that we were in Japan while the cherry blossoms were blooming – which I found out I'm allergic to.
That night, after arriving in Hiroshima and going to the Peace Memorial Museum, a large group of my friends – including Trevor Jenkins, another Irvine resident – and I went karaoke'ing at Billy the Kid Karaoke. We made sure to sing "Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto," among others, then to our surprise there was a knock on our private room's door. It was three Japanese businessmen. We invited them and their tambourine in to sing with us. They wanted to show off their love of the Beatles, John Lennon and Bon Jovi.
Once the karaoke was finished, I deemed mission Japan complete.
I wish I could tell all of my stories here, but I am sure I would need the entire newspaper to do so. Each country I visited has a story to accompany it. This voyage was the absolute trip of a lifetime. However, as one dream is completed, another is born. My next goal: conquer the Northern Hemisphere!
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