West Caribbean 10/10/10 - 10/17/10

In May, my co-works and friends decided to take a cruise to visit West Caribbean.

October 9, my friend and I flew to Houston and stayed a night in the hotel. Next morning, we took a limousine to Galveston. The distance between Houston to Galveston is 70 miles. The cost of limousine service was more than a night in the hotel. Interesting!

We arrived in Galveston around 10:15 in the morning. At noon, we were already on board and enjoyed our first lunch on board.

The name of our ship was Carnival Conquest. Our ship was scheduled to dock in three different ports: Jamaica - Montego Bay, Cayman Island. - Grand Cayman, and Mexico - Cozumel.

October 11 - 12, we were sailing from Galveston to Montego Bay. Two days on the sea, we enjoyed the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. We also had a chance to learn how rough of the sea can be.

In the early morning of October 13, after escaping from Hurricane Paula, we arrived in Montego Bay of Jamaica.

Our impression of Jamaica is POOR. We took a shore excursion to visit the Lethe village. We expected to see beautiful exotic flowers in bloom. Yes. We did see the exotic flowers which are the flowers of Ginger, Ginger, and Ginger. Oh, by the way, there are exotic flower colors also, which are red, red, and red. Yah, very exotic!

October 14, we docked in Grand Cayman of Cayman Island. Cayman Island is known to be a tax free country. Many many shops are located conveniently around the piers for cruise shoppers. I was very surprised that there is no terminal in the Grand Cayman. We had to take tender from the cruise ship to the pier and back.

We took a 3-hour excursion to see some tour attractions, such as a town called Hell, Cayman Turtle Farm, Ginger Bread House, and the beautiful Seven Mile Beach.

Beaches in Cayman are beautiful! White sands, crystal clean waters, and beautiful blue sky, it is everyone's dream vacation place. Really beautiful!

October 15 is our last port day. We docked at Cozumel of Mexico.

My friend and I joined a tour to see Maya ruins in Tulum. From the cruise terminal, we took 45 minutes of ferry ride and 1 hour of the bus ride to Tulum. Tulum is one of the Mayan sites in Mexico. This ancient walled city is located on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea and it was structure sighted by Spaniards in the 16 century. The crystal clear waters of Tulum were, and still are, a scared place for the Mayans. It was the place where purification of the body and spirit was practiced in ancient times. It is a beautiful place.

October 16, we were sailing back to Galveston. I attended a towel folding class. I learned how to a bulldog and a frog. It was fun!

October 17, we were back to Galveston and marked the end of my Caribbean cruise trip!

It was a wonderful and fun vacation .

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Washington DC 10-06-2010

Washington DC is our nation's capital. There are lots places to see in Washington DC: White House, Arlington National Cemetery, Library of Congress, Capital Hill, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Georgetown, Smithsonian, National Mall, National Gallery of Art, etc.

To visit Washington DC, you must have a good health and a pair of good legs.

We started our visiting with White House on our first day. In order to get in White House, we can not bring anything with us except our identification cards. After an hour of waiting and ID checking 3 times, we finally got in the east wing of the White House. We went through hall of rooms with pictures on the wall. We were out of White House about 30 minutes after we got in.

Library of Congress is a very nice to visit. The library has lots lots books and other possessions such as paintings, music instruments, monographs and serials, music, bound newspapers, pamphlets, technical reports, and other printed material, etc. I also learned that every citizen in the United States is eligible to apply a library card from the Library of Congress.

Arlington National Cemetery is located in State of Virginia and is a military cemetery in the United States of America. In an area of 624 acres, veterans and military casualties from each of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, ranging from the American Civil War through to the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is the place that we honor our national heros.

Monticello is a historical site just outside Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was the estate of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, third President of the United States, and founder of the University of Virginia.

The house, which Jefferson himself designed, is situated on the summit of an 850-foot (260 m)-high peak in the Southwest Mountains south of the Rivanna Gap. Its name comes from the Italian "little mountain." Jefferson hated to waste time. Each room in the house has a clock. He also designed a clock which can tell you what day of the week.

We also visited Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC Department of the Treasury to learn how U.S. currency is printed, stacked, cut and examined for defects.

Can you guess what was the largest denomination on a paper currency that was printed in the United. States? The answer is $100,000. Can you guess who portrait is on the $100,000 bill? The answer is Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United. States.

National Archives is the place that holds the records of the United States federal government. National Archives holds the records for every single citizen of the United States of America. Very impressive.

Washington DC has many many museums. You can spend days just visiting the museums.

Washington DC is a wonderful place tovisit and to learn the American history.

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