Internet has been scarce on the ship the last few weeks. We were saddened to learn about Japan and have since re-routed so that we’ll be visiting Taiwan instead of Japan. We arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow – so excited to be in China and be off the ship. Although it has only been two days between Vietnam and China, the seas are very rough! Everyone is walking around like a zombie and ship is shaking a lot!!!
Will add highlights from India, Singapore and Vietnam when my stomach calms down!
illage" (the one we visited was 7 houses with a courtyard in the middle for playing). There were 97 kids there, all for many different reasons. There are a few social workers assigned to their cases, to help integrate them, and the community is set up to help them adjust to "real" life outside of the village, so they can feel ready to leave when they turn 18. The kids were a pleasure, and although we didn't speak the same language, we had fun taking pictures, playing games, and playing on the playground!
hehe - they tied thread around flies - free entertainment!
View in a rick shaw
painting on the ground at a temple
We found out that they serve 1400 students a meal. Their kitchen is smaller than the size of my cabin on the ship, and eight of them fit in it. There were two buckets – one of rice and another of sardines and lentils. Each big bucket had a mug they would use to scoop the food out. Apparently many of the kids look forward to school because it is the only place they know they will be fed that day. Then a student choir sang for us – Oh Holy Night, African songs, and Happy Feet performed! We did our best to stomp out the short dance our tour guide had taught us, and the students seemed to pity us in a cheerful way. Then we were off to play soccer!
OK – so the most of what I’ve shared about Cape Town is that it is unbelievably, strikingly beautiful. I got to go to a few places that were simply breathtaking. 
One was the southwestern most tip of the continent of Africa – the Cape of Good Hope. That’s pretty cool!!! The other was Table Mountain. Another was Boulders Beach, which is a beach full of… penguins!! I’ll tell you about Cape Point and The Cape of Good Hope first.
We went to Cape Point National Park early in the morning after spending the night in this cute beach town, Simon’s Town, at a quaint bed and breakfast. When we arrived in our blue VW van at the Cape Point park, we drove in and hiked up to the top of Cape Point – we were the only people in this whole huge place that early in the morning! It was so windy that when you stuck your head out to look over the edge it felt like you were skydiving with the wind whipping past your ears and into your hair! The view of the ocean and the landscape was striking. Then we drove to the Southwestern point, passed by ostriches just hanging out, and played around on the rocks by the ocean.
On our way back through this national park, our taxi driver stopped the van abruptly, turned it around and we thought he was lost. As he turned on to another road, we saw that there 
were about 30 baboons just hanging out in the road! We pulled up to see them but kept the windows mostly closed, as they’ve been known to steal wallets and food from humans! After learning about this, I turned to others in the car to ask about the possibility of baboons evolving to incorporate into our society, where they actually use our currency. I thought it was a valid point, but I have a feeling it was still too early in the morning to have this conversation. We eventually made it back to our Bed and Breakfast to have a wonderful meal, and a real tea party!
