Format: Note

Today was a sad day on the ship. We had a service for Andre and everyone was pretty shaken up. I thought it was very touching, especially as they played music from Deadmau5 and Kid Cudi. It just so real. My room is across the hall from Andre’s and I still remember the last think I said to him, he had given me an odd handshake and I insisted we redo the shake. I said “I expect a professional handshake from now on.” He hoped on the bus for his Cambodia trip which I was extremely envious of. I was shocked to hear of his passing three days later, I still feel like if I sit down in the hallway and work on my laptop he might just come back and sit next to me to tell me about his wild adventure in our last port. The service was excellent, and it ended with a silent march to Deck 4 aft where we all dropped flowers in his memory. Click here for a link to the SAS website’s story.

The rest of the day was quiet and uneventful, I didn’t feel like finishing my paper on violent conflict in Africa so instead I read. I just finished reading Collier’s The Bottom Billion. A very interesting work that I would suggest to anyone interested in economic development especially in Africa. I also finished a management book called Management? It’s Not What You Think!, the only reason I bought it was because Mintzberg was one of the co-authors, it was very thought provoking and definitely goes against the grain of modern university education. I’ll likely finish Dead Aid by Moyo tonight, I only have about 25 pages left, it is one of the more interesting books of read lately. Now all I want to do is read more about development in Africa.

If you caught that. Yes, I do read three books at once, maybe more sometimes. Things are just more interesting that way, then I don’t get too fixated on a topic. Next up is In Defense of Globalization by Bhagwati It’s Not Luck by Goldratt and Property and Freedomby Richard Pipes. Not to mention all of these real estate books I’ve still only skimmed. Hopefully it’s enough to fill the 10 day voyage between Japan and Hawaii.

Two more days until we hit Hong Kong, I’ll be traveling up to Beijing to sleep on the Great Wall for one night. We just got a weather report and the temperature is supposed to be 31 degrees! We’ll see how this goes.

We’ll miss you Andre.

Dear members of the Semester at Sea Fall 2010 voyage community:

It is with the deepest sadness and remorse that I inform you of the loss of one of our students today aboard the MV Explorer while docked in Vietnam. Andre Ramadan, 20, a sophomore at the University of California-Santa Barbara, died of unknown medical causes. The Institute for Shipboard Education and senior voyage administrators are in close contact with the U.S. State Department, Vietnamese officials, representatives from UC Santa Barbara, and Andre’s family. We wish to convey our condolences to them and to his many friends. Please keep them in your thoughts.

Counseling and support services are available to all members of the Semester at Sea voyage community. Participants are urged to contact Student Support Services at x3333 or the Dean of Students at x2336.

The Institute for Shipboard Education and the Fall 2010 Semester at Sea voyage administration will inform participants and others of opportunities to remember Andre as plans are finalized.

-President Les McCabe

halong bay. How long is it. we may never know, but it is the most beautiful place ive ever been.

halong bay in the morning! pho is excellent.

We’re about to reach Ho Chi Minh City! My spot messenger should be working again also, so that current location button should be updated shortly. Tomorrow is a Nike factory tour, I’m very excited. Sean and I got lucky, apparently only 30 out of the 100 people who signed up actually get to go. I don’t want to ruin my fancy new shoes so I’ll be wearing adidas on this trip, hopefully things don’t get weird. I heard that some guys on the ship found a place to shoot a rocket propelled grenade, I’m jealous. The day after tomorrow we’ll be flying up to Hanoi and then we’re going to Halong bay to stay on a junk ship for 2 nights, very very exciting. Although these adventures will be exciting, I feel I’m missing out by not going on the Cambodia trip. It is important for all of us to understand the dangers of a government with too much power. I’m glad things will likely begin to change tonight in the US. Yes I just did that.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has just lead us in prayer for our fellow semester at sea student Genna Gaylord. She is suffering from Malaria in ICU at a hospital in Chennai India. She’s been in a small room with no windows, no tv, no internet, and only Indian food for 12 days. We understand that she is not doing very well at all. Everyday the Dean’s memo says she will be out soon, but she is currently on a ventilator as three quarters of her total lung volume is collapsed. We all hope she gets better soon.

Today we spent some quality time with our long lost foreign friend. Clay and I had McDonald’s for lunch, but Justin got us to venture to the bottom of floor of one of the malls. The food was awesome! I surprised at how clean everything was, probably better than conditions at home. We sampled some mochi had some delicious meat on a stick and had the best juice, the steamed cakes were not steamed they tricked us. I actually wish there were little juice stands at home. We ended up eating at TGI Friday’s it was delicious, and a little weird because all the staff was wearing costumes. Halloween doesn’t really seem to mean much here but a large portion of our ship is going to try and celebrate. Justin and I had a conversation about Chapman and he encouraged me to take a class with Dr. Booth, I think I’m going to try and audit his Economic Development class in the Fall. Hopefully we get to visit with our local singaporean again for lunch, 36 hours in singapore isn’t enough time.

Just had a great conversation with our taxi driver from singapore, many of my taxicab conversations are interesting. He explained to me that the strict price controls make his job very difficult, he said he can’t make more money by working harder “It is all luck”. In the downtown there is a government tax on driving in certain areas, called the “ERP” our driver said he calls it the “Everyday Rob People”. As Justin Bieber came on the radio he sang along, and he was surprised to learn that Justin is a young boy and not a lady. He actually said “I always thought this was lady” multiple times. I like singapore. Dinner with Justin was excellent too, my tummy hurts of fullness. No Singapore Slings for me, the alcohol prices are very prohibitive. We’ll visit the tailor in the morning I feel like things are going to turn out well.

Only 8 hours away!