Life on the Ship and Myanmar (Burma)

Life on the Ship

This particular ship, “The World Odyssey”, is new as of last semester to ISE (Institute for Shipboard Education), which runs Semester-at-Sea. This is only the second semester that this ship has been part of the program. It is incredibly fancy. From what we have heard, it is very different from the last ship, which was bigger and not a luxury cruise line. A challenge has been to create enough classroom and meeting spaces in the various rooms on the ship without crowding out places for people to gather informally. In the summer, another company rents the ship.

Here is a video with pictures we have taken on or beside the ship so far to give you a sense of what it is like:

Myanmar   Rick's ppt

We recently spent five days in a country that has been categorized as one of the most "closed off" and brutally run by a military dictatorship since the early 1960s. If anyone had asked us about our interest in traveling to Myanmar prior to this voyage, we would have struggled to even find it on a map. It turned out to be one of our family's favorite stops so far on this voyage. The country's military allowed for a free and fair democratic election this past fall, largely to appease human rights advocates and to encourage more foreign direct investment. In a surprise to the military, the pro-democracy/Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi won or, more precisely, her pro-democracy party won a landslide victory. This has given the country a significant boost of both optimism and tourism. We stayed along the coastal region of Panthein. Here are some pictures below:

China and Vietnam

Vietnam   Rick's ppt on Vietnam War  and   Vietnam/Singapore ppt

We’re currently sitting in the corner of a café in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (aka Saigon) enjoying a great Internet connection. We look obnoxious with our computers, but oh well, it’s our first time on-line in weeks:

I am pretty sure that you’d rather hear from Rick about our visits to China and Vietnam, given all of the research he has done for his classes and, more generally, his knowledge of these two countries. However, I will write first and let him add to this. Feel free to scroll right down directly to his comments. :)

• Vietnam is absolutely wonderful, so vibrant and lively. The economy here has been growing at an average annual rate of 6.5% for three consecutive decades and it shows. 

• Olivia, I have been thinking of you very much! 

• We arrived in Ho Chi Minh four days ago and spent the first afternoon walking and exploring the area in the vicinity of the ship. That night we took off for a two-day exploratory trip to Nha Trang, a coastal city further north that is a popular destination among the Vietnamese. We went with a group of SAS students from the ship and had the opportunity to do some snorkeling and to visit a local orphanage run by Vietnamese Buddhist nuns where we helped paint a building with them and the children for whom they care.  Here are a few pictures of our time there:

•  We are visiting Vietnam during Tet, which is the lunar New Year and by far the most festive time of the year here. It is like a combination of all our biggest holidays – Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, Halloween, the Fourth of July, etc. – wrapped into one holiday. Most of the people take a week vacation and go to their homes in the villages, so the cities are not as busy or crowded as usual. It is a fun time to be here with all of the lights and festivities.

•  Prior to our time here, we heard the Vietnamese people described as “the hardest workers in the world”. We have seen this to be the case, and we also find them incredibly spirited and fun-loving. Many years ago, one of our favorite UR students told us that he likes to “work hard and play hard”. This seems to be the general motto of the Vietnamese people.

•   If you have the time and interest in learning more about these countries, please do scroll down and read Rick’s description of Vietnam and China. He presented to the entire shipboard community on the Vietnam war prior to our arrival and did a lot of research in addition to his background knowledge. He did an excellent job. Hopefully we can upload his presentation to the end of this blog entry. I will just add my few thoughts after our time here: 1) war is awful and should be avoided at all costs; and 2) the similarities between people around the world far outweigh the differences. It’s too bad we can’t focus on this more.

China  Rick's ppt

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to China, starting in Shanghai and making our way to Beijing, the Great Wall, and then down to Hong Kong. It was incredibly eye opening for us. We learned a great deal about the history, culture, and people of China, and, as often happens when traveling, found that many of our preconceived notions were incorrect or exaggerated. Here are some pictures from our visit:

 Tiananmen Square

The Forbidden City

The Great Wall

 Power Pose at the Lama Temple

   Temple of Heaven with our wonderful trip guide, Lillian

•  As a quick aside, they just built a sports court on the ship and it is a huge hit already with all of the students and children. Here is a picture of Tim and Ben playing volleyball with two students the other day:

China and Vietnam (from Rick)

China’s economy is set to surpass the economy of the U.S. in total size (not per capita) in the next ten years or so. It shows. The nice parts of the Chinese cities we visited were the equal of many affluent areas in Europe, Australia, and the U.S. The country’s airports and infrastructure (i.e., public transportation) are modern, clean, efficient and easy to use. China has to confront major pollution and other environmental problems associated with rapid economic development. Yet if the last several decades of accomplishments are any guide, China will likely find ways to improve its environment, reduce corruption, and provide a better-and-better standard of living for its citizens. The country is still run by one-party rule -- the Communists -- without elections or free speech, which leaves human rights advocates (and my students and Jen and I) wondering how long this can last before the country’s middle-class demands more say and increased freedom of expression. Nevertheless, China serves as an interesting counter-example to what the U.S. urges, that developing countries pursue free elections and political liberties. The standard thinking is that free, multi-party elections will lead to responsive and accountable governments that attend to the needs and wants of the majority of a country’s population, all leading to a big middle-class. Yet lots of countries, like Haiti, have repeated (sham) elections won by politicians who simply become corrupt and rob their countries (and who often stay in office for decades thereafter). So China is fascinating to study for many reasons, including how powerful it is becoming in international affairs.

Vietnam is similar to China in that it still has a Communist regime, but the economy is very capitalistic. It has been this way since the mid-1980s after it followed China’s lead in moving away from traditional socialism. Vietnam seems even more aggressively capitalistic than China. Two-thirds of the country’s current population has been born after 1975, so the “American War” as they refer to it here is something many Vietnamese never think about anymore. They’re too busy starting businesses and behaving entrepreneurially. Three decades ago, 75% of the population lived in poverty and Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world. Today less than 20% live in poverty. Mopeds and motorcycles are everywhere and the tourism business is growing exponentially. The weather and natural beauty of the country attract many tourists who find that their money still goes further here than back home. We hope to return here someday.