Viet Nam was spectacular. The people were so friendly and welcoming, you never would guess that we fought one of the most gruesome wars with them not so long ago. It was some of the worst heat I’ve ever encountered but it was a beautiful country with great culture and awesome food.
A lot of parents came to meet their kids at Ho Chi Minh and travel around Vietnam with them. We were welcomed in the morning with them down on the dock waving to all of us and with a group of Vietnamese women holding a welcome sign. It was so good to see parents again but it made all of us who didn’t have parents there really sad and kind of bitter. Michelle’s parents made the trip though so I got a hug from a mom and dad at least.
The first day was spent exploring the city, but we had a specific agenda. We hit up the Chinese market first to buy really inexpensive and beautiful silks and materials and walk through the narrow, crowded, hot stalls with people bombarding us from all sides trying to get us to buy their wares. It was great. Unfortunately, our first meal in Viet Nam was not so great. I think we just picked a really bad restaurant because we paid far too much for not so great food. Oh well, it happens. The next goal was to find a good tailor to make our dresses. And we found a really good one. If you’re ever in Viet Nam, look up Tam Silk on Pasteur Street. I’m so thrilled with how mine turned out! The rest of that day and into the evening was spent walking the streets, experiencing the crazy Ben Thanh market and getting swept away by the evening market. It was such a fun day! Everyone realized how much they loved the country within the first couple hours of being there, you just can’t help it.
The next morning I took off for my Mekong Delta trip. The Mekong Delta is the largest river in Southeast Asia and a center of activity for Vietnamese people. We took a long bus ride there and hopped off at the river to take a boat ride exploration down it. It wasn’t as beautiful as some of the other places we’ve been but you can see so deeply into the culture just from observing. We saw how the people lived on the river and off of it, how they interacted with it, how they used it and how it sustained them. It was really extraordinary. They took us to a place where we got to watch them make popped rice candy (similar to rice krispies), coconut candies, and rice paper. They served us tea (nearly unbearable in the stifling heat) and snacks and we were on our way again. Boats carrying families laden with everything from pineapples to baskets to watermelon to lettuce to a fresh-cooked meal passed us. Children would peak out from the windows and wave, we saw people asleep in hammocks on their boats, taking a break from a day’s work on the river. And everywhere, the activity we saw was just people going about their lives, making it day to day.
We got back on the buses and headed to our hotel. To get there we had to take a ferry, which meant we all had to get off the bus and walk amidst the mopeds and motorcycles vying for space. We have ferries at home but imagine all the cars on the bottom floor right, and then replace them with about five motorcycles for every car. It was crazy! That’s another thing about Viet Nam, is the motorcycles everywhere. The driving isn’t as unorganized as some other places but the main form of transportation is by motorbike so you kind of take your life into your hands when you get onto one. I only thought I was going to die a few times. The real danger is in crossing the street because they just keep coming and there’s no break in the sea of motorbikes. You just have to walk out in the middle and keep reminding yourself that they drive around you. It took a couple days but put me on the corner of any street now and I’ll cross it like a pro. So we got to our hotel and settled in and a few hours later went to dinner at a lovely outdoor restaurant on the banks of the river. We were staying in Can Tho which is a city right near on the Mekong.
The next morning we got up early to go experience the floating market on the Mekong, a convention that has taken place for centuries. People load up everything they have to sell and their families onto their boats and take off for this market and stay there and live there on their boats until all their goods are sold and go back home to do it over again. It was so fascinating. On long bamboo poles sticking straight up from the boats would be attached whatever that boat was selling, for example lettuce would be strapped to the pole, so you can look at the poles and find whatever you need to buy. We came across the fruit boats and bought delicious fresh fruits that they cut up for us right there. That was a really wonderful morning and we got to see so much of the local culture. This isn’t a tourist attraction, it’s a way of life that we got to peek into. These people are there to go about their business and provide for their families. I’m so glad I got to see this.
We went back to the hotel to eat lunch and grab our stuff and head back to the ship.
That next day I let myself sleep in a bit and then planned on heading out by myself to explore some of the historical attractions in Ho Chi Minh (still called Saigon by most people). Sean found me right when I was leaving so he joined me and we had a fabulous day. We first went to the War Remnants Museum, probably the most famous attraction in the city. It was an intense, emotional experience but I think something everyone should see. It was really interesting to see the way it was perceived here vs. what we learn about in the states, which I discovered was not very much. The things I saw there were unbelievable, for the first time in my life I saw the depth and immensity of human cruelty. I saw things that I can’t bring myself to write about. It made me very aware of being an American as well, which is something I had never felt that strongly. It was again, a very intense experience. My friend’s dad put it in perspective, “It’s like going to the Holocaust museum, if you are German.” He is right I imagine.
After that we needed some food in our stomachs, although come to think of it I don’t know how we brought ourselves to eat anything. But we got some wonderful Pho and then went to the Ben Thanh market for some more wandering of the vast marketplace. I picked up my dresses from the tailor later and was so happy with them that I had to go out that night in one of them. En route however, I incurred the infamous motorcycle burn on my leg apparently from getting on it the wrong way (a rookie mistake). Let me tell you, IT HURTS! But I’m alive and at least I’ll come away with a few scars and some good stories from Viet Nam. That night we sat down at one of the many street eateries that pop up at the night market and sat and ate amazing food and talked for hours, people watching and soaking up the culture. Those are my favorite experiences.
I had an early next morning going to the Hy Vong 8 School for deaf children. Before 1989, there were no schools for disabled children in Ho Chi Minh. The Hy Vong 8 School was set up and now provides classes and opportunities for deaf children. We went to visit the school and were greeted with some prepared dances by the kids and then got to play with them a little bit there. They were so cute and friendly and fun loving. We each got a child to buddy up with and headed out to the zoo with them. Most of the kids were young, like 5 years old, but the guy I got paired up with was 21! It was kind of funny actually because while I was watching all my friends running around chasing their kids, Tan, my guy, was kind of in charge and went around making sure the kids behaved. It was really interesting communicating with them because there was a double-language barrier, our inability to speak Vietnamese and their inability to hear. But somehow we all found our way and it was a really great day. We had some free time in the park after seeing the animals and got to just hang out with them and play some games with them. A lot of the older kids were really into hip-hop and were really great dancers. None of us had skills that could even compare. We eventually exchanged information and said goodbye to our new friends.
After getting back to the ship I had some things to finish up in the city so I took off by myself for a goodbye tour of Ho Chi Minh. I went to the General Post Office, a beautiful historical building unchanged since 1880, stopped by the Notre Dame Cathedral, a reminder of French rule and influence, and finished up my shopping around the markets and busy streets. It was a great day, a great country in whole.
I really truly couldn’t help but love Viet Nam and all the people there. It was such a touching, wonderful experience. All of Southeast Asia has been fantastic and I look forward to returning someday. One thing I wish I had done was go to Cambodia, I heard fantastic things about it so for you future SASers out there, I recommend taking a good look at that. Personally, I can’t wait to go there myself. But for now I have to prepare for Hong Kong in the morning. It seems impossible that I am already in China and have to gear up for another country and cultural experience. I am excited of course, but a little time to rest in between ports would be nice. I caught a nasty cold in Viet Nam so I’m trying to battle that as well.
Hope all is well at home! Love and Peace
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Viet Nam
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thailand
Thailand was a different trip. I felt like I took a brief break from SAS to walk down the wildest streets in the world, ride through the most lush and green jungle on elephants and canoes, and lay on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It was like taking a mini-vacation in the middle of this intense life adventure. A much-needed break after India I might add.
We arrived in Laem Chebang on Sunday morning and immediately got off the ship onto party buses. Laem Chebang is two hours outside of Bangkok so we had a bit of a drive in front of us. I wasn’t on an SAS trip for this port, I was on an independently arranged trip with an identical itinerary to the SAS one headed to the island of Phuket. I was with my friend Laura whose 21st birthday was the night we were staying in Bangkok, our last night in Thailand. So we pretty much made our whole trip into her 6-day birthday celebration, started appropriately with out pink party bus to Bangkok. Clearing the ship took a lot longer than we thought so by the time we got into Bangkok, we only had time to take a river boat to an amazing restaurant before catching our flight to Phuket. Bangkok is an amazing city. First of all, it is a city built on water with canals and boat taxis everywhere. They call it the Venice of the East. They love the king too. The king of Thailand is one of the most popular men in the world, I’m sure, because on every corner and every billboard and every overpass and every car and every store window and every street there is a picture or sticker of the king and sometimes the queen too. “Long live the king” bracelets and posters and t-shirts are everywhere. They love their king. It is actually a serious crime to insult the monarchy. If you do so in any way, they throw you in jail. They seriously love their king. It was really cool to look out over the highways (yes! They actually had highways there! It had been a while since I’d seen one and sadly it really excited me) and see amongst the tall buildings gold onion domes of temples and giant golden Buddha statues sitting in the middle of the modern city. Bright hot pink taxis glittered amongst the other brightly colored cars, they really loved brightly colored taxis with lots of decorations and stickers. The only problem with their super cool taxis though is that no driver knows where anything is in the city. No joke, we knew where we wanted to go and had the hotel write out in Thai the name and address of the places (which were extremely well-known, popular places) and would always ask if they knew where it was before we got in but every single time we would end up driving around and around for ever usually stuck in the horrendous Bangkok traffic while the driver would get out and ask around where this place was that we needed to get to. Extremely frustrating. But that was only one drawback from the bustling city.
Let me just take a moment for the food in Thailand. Oh. My. Goodness. My mouth is still watering thinking about it. It was delicious, that doesn’t even sound right. It is like heaven in your mouth. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. Seriously, I can’t get over it. Its nothing like Thai food in the states, it is so much better than that. I would go back in a heartbeat just to eat one meal there.
Anyways, back to my adventures. So we had an uneventful flight to Phuket, grabbed our bags and took another long drive to our hotel. Oh the other really cool thing was they had welcome banners everywhere we went which made us feel super special. One was waiting outside the ship, another was in the airport when we landed, and another at the hotel. Our hotel was awesome and Laura and I roomed together which made it even more fun. The first night we went out to explore Patong Beach where we were staying and wow, did we get a lot of it. Bars, hookers, ping-pong shows, strippers, sex tourism, music everywhere. It was insane. I’ve never seen anything like this. The only thing I might compare it to would be Bourbon Street, New Orleans. But even that was tame compared to this. It was a really fun atmosphere and my girlfriends and I had such a good time. I can’t divulge any stories from our night outings but just know that they were ones to remember.
The next morning bright and early, we left for a day in the jungle. We headed north to the Khao Sok National Forest, which remains from a jungle older and more diverse than the Amazon. Our first stop in this incredible place is to ride elephants through the forest. Laura and I were one of the last elephant groups to go because I got distracted by the baby monkey they had. It was chained to a tree and broke my heart but it was the sweetest, cutest thing ever. Actually it was kind of a brat but I loved it anyways. It would jump onto us from its tree and then jump from person to person, trying to take a hat or sunglasses. Sometimes it would tire out and then just hug whoever it was on. A couple of us sat down on the ground next to us and started to pet it and feed it with its baby bottle. It calmed down immediately then and would curl up in someones lap or grab onto a leg with hands and feet and just lay there, licking your leg. If someone sat down that he didn’t like though he would jump up and start attacking them and then run back to cuddle in a lap like he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was the cutest thing I have ever seen. So when they could finally tear me away from the monkey, we got on our elephant to trek through the jungle. This was such a cool experience. I still can’t believe I did that. On the way up we rode in the bench on top of Samoon, our elephant. The scenery surrounding us was unbelievable. Lush greens and trees and rocks created our pathway and the train of elephants was beautiful. On the way back down, they let us ride on the neck which we thought looked so cool when we saw people coming down. However, one word of advice: make sure you get an elephant with a big neck. You might think that all elephants have big necks and its true, but when you’re trying to squeeze two big American girls onto an Asian elephant’s neck in front of the bench and behind the ears, it gets a bit tight. Laura and I barely fit, we were right on each other sweating like mad. They wanted my legs behind Samoon’s ears but to do that I had to lean forward so that I was practically sitting on its forehead with nothing in front of me (I had the privilege of sitting in the front). Then everytime Samoon would flap his ears, it would slap me on the legs. We must have looked like a circus act. And it wasn’t funny at all but we were laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe because everytime the elephant would move I was lurched forward and she would have to grab the back of my shirt to keep my from plummeting to my death on the slippery rocks underneath while holding on to the bench behind her to keep us both from falling. We also kept sliding off his neck to one side or the other so it was a fight to stay on the elephant. No one else had as many problems as we did and I’m still trying to figure out why. It got even tighter when our guide decided to sit in front of us. I don’t really want to talk about that part. So after we lived through our near-death elephant experience, we thanked God for our lives and headed to lunch. It was an outdoor restaurant with fresh coconuts with the top whacked off to drink out of and fried bananas galore. After thoroughly stuffing ourselves, we headed towards our next adventure. We got in our swimsuits and drove down to the river to climb into two-person canoes and canoe down the Khao Sok river. This was possibly my favorite experience in Thailand. We just laid back and took in the steep stone cliffs that jutted up randomly on all sides, covered in side-ways growing trees and white pumpkin vines, the overhanging trees that made a beautiful canopy overhead, the lush tropical jungle on either side of us, and the sounds of nature telling us their story. It was the single most relaxed and peaceful time in my life. I loved it. It got even more magical when thunder boomed from far away and moved towards us with every raindrop that started to fall on us. It was warm and refreshing. It was a humbling experience; I was just a powerless human on a small float in the middle of nature in all her glory. It was breathtaking. We finished our journey right before the heavy rains came. I loved it, the rain. It reminded me of home and we all fell asleep on the way back to the hotel to the sound of it pounding away outside our little van. That night, Laura and I got a two-hour massage for practically nothing. It was incredible. Wow is all I can say. Thai massage is part pain, part relaxation and a whole lot of, “Wow, I didn’t know my body could move like that!” It was incredible. We went and walked along the beach for a little bit to see the night market and then just went back and had the best sleep ever.
The next morning was a boat excursion day. We got on two big boats laid out with fresh fruits and sailed through the Phang Nga Bay. The Jade waters surround hundreds of islands that rise straight out of the water in shapes that looked like they had been hand-carved, like they didn’t belong there because they were so incredible. It was beautifully breathtaking. We just sat there in silence looking out at the natural wonders around us. That was another peaceful feeling that I can’t forget. Small wooden fishing boats and big wooden pirate ship-looking vessels made for tourists dotted the sea of green. The jagged rocks that formed the bottom of the islands hung above the gentle water. We first stopped at James Bond Island (Ko Tapu), which is called so because the island, which rises straight up and tapers at the bottom and is about 20 meters tall, was featured in The Man with the Golden Gun (Tomorrow Never Dies also has a scene filmed in Phang Nga Bay). Took some good James Bond style pictures there and then headed to the island of Koh Hong to canoe around the rocks and caves. It was so cool to squeeze in between these different colored rock formations that created little pathways perfect size for a canoe to fit through. The colors were amazing. The foliage on the islands was like nothing I’d ever seen. They took us through caves where we had to lay down and flatten ourselves on the canoe to fit through while the stalactites that hung inches from our faces looked ready to stab us at any moment. How we actually fit I’ll never know but we emerged to the prettiest lagoons you can imagine. It felt like we had just discovered these hidden paradises that were completely untouched before our arrival. So striking! After spending our time “oohing” and “awing” we squeezed our way through the caves back to the boat and took a swimming break. We of course jumped off the top of the boat into the warm emerald water underneath. After we had our thrill of swimming, we stopped at Koh Panak where we got back into the canoes and headed into more caves. They didn’t tell us what this adventure was so when it just kept getting darker as we paddled deeper into the caves and there was no light on the other side and our guide handed us a flashlight we knew we were in for it. Above our heads hundreds of bats hung from the ceilings not too far above our heads. We kept feeling raindrop like things falling on our heads and didn’t want to ask what it really was. Then the bats started to wake up. I don’t know if it was all the noise that 100 college students in a dark confined space can make or the light from our flashlights interrupting their sleep but they started screeching and flying around. I am not a fan of bats but I managed not to freak out. It was definitely time to move onto our next location. After an amazing fresh lunch served on board en route to Ko Wa Yai, we spent some quality time laying on the beach and soaking up the sun. The heat there is another story, it was a great day though. On the way back to Phuket, another afternoon rain shower began and I fell into another great nap. Back at the hotel we began the celebrations for Laura’s birthday. We met all our friends at a great restaurant that looked like it was in a tree. Amazing food and some delicious cocktails later (it was her 21st), we hit up the streets of Patong to do some birthday damage. We actually started the night at celebrating St. Patrick’s Day but as soon as midnight hit it was crazy birthday time. While the details of that night will forever remain inaccessible to those who were not present, I can tell you that I celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in an Irish bar with Irishmen and Thai strippers in Thaiand and my good friend’s 21st birthday with Asian breakdancers, Australian men, our hotel pool and the security guard. It was a packed night and one for the books for sure.
Luckily the next day was just a traveling day. We woke up and got the last of our Thai massages (I’m really going to miss those) and some Starbucks (I can’t express to you the joy I had when I saw the sign). We finished up some shopping, got our stuff together and boarded our flight back to Bangkok. We had plans to meet up with our friends at a well-known and highly recommended restaurant as soon as we got into Bangkok (they had been there for a couple days) so we only dropped our stuff and rushed to find a taxi there. This is where we first experienced the frustration of taxis in Thailand. It was infuriating actually. So we wasted an hour of our precious time sitting in the taxi while he tried to find this place and with no luck so just had him take us back to our hotel. Our friends met us there and we went out to a lovely seafood dinner. After we had finished eating and all the girls had gotten ready for Laura’s big night, we headed to the most exclusive bar in Thailand. It is on the rooftop of a beautiful hotel and looks out over the whole city. They are really selective about who they let in though, if boys were wearing shorts they were turned away and if girls were wearing pants or open-toed shoes they were turned away. The view from the top was really amazing. We didn’t stay long though because you had to buy something off their very expensive menu in order to stay but we got some nice pictures. After that the girls wanted to head to the craziest street in Bangkok but the boys weren’t up for it so we found a disco tech and danced the night away with people from all over the world. Em and Vanessa stayed with Laura and I that night so we had a big sleepover to end our night adventures in Thailand.
The next morning we took a boat-tour through the canals of Bangkok and then headed to the Grand Palace. It was incredible. Gold and jewels and colors sparkled on the astonishing architecture and design of the palace. We saw the famed Emerald Buddha atop mounds of golden structures. I wish I had been in a better frame of mind to enjoy all that was before me but it was miserable hot, I’ve never felt so close to dying of heat (this was before Vietnam) and there was a dress code so we had to be mostly covered and I was so tired from all the constant traveling and lack of sleep. I was not a happy camper but it was still incredible to see. I can’t wait to go back. We took the long bus ride back to the ship and I fell right asleep…
Good times in Thailand, I absolutely loved it there. It was some of the most beautiful, breath-taking sights I have ever witnessed and some of the best times I’ve ever had. The people there are so friendly and wonderful. It really was incredible. It’s very weird though, it was only last week that I was there and already it feels like another lifetime. We just left Viet Nam (I didn’t have a chance to finish this before) and I don’t even believe myself that I was in Thailand just one week ago, let alone Africa last month. This is an amazing trip and an amazing experience but it goes by too fast. I just looked at my calendar on my wall and in the span of 5 weeks I’ll have done India, Thailand, Viet Nam, China and Japan. That’s madness. I only scratched the surface of the places I’ve been to.
Off to write about Viet Nam now! I got a bad cold/the flu in Viet Nam so my head is not normal right now and I apologize if my writing reflects that. Love!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Thailand
Laura and I riding on the neck of our elephant, Samoon, in the Khoa Sok National Park, Bangkok, Thailand
South Africa
My favorite picture of all, a mama Giraffe nuzzling her babies. Pilanesberg, South Africa
South Africa
This is a great lion story. They don't allow children under the age of 6 on safari for the sole reason that a baby's cry attracts the animals to it because they recognize it as prey. So in the car in front of us when we stopped to view the lions, there was a baby who started to cry. As soon as it started to cry, the lion who was laying under a tree napping got up and started walking towards the car. The mom immediately rolled up the window but the lion walked right up to their car and sniffed around it and then walked back to his tree. Pretty cool! I was personally hoping for it to jump on the car. Pilanesberg, South Africa
South Africa
The first lions we saw. This one walked right up next to our vehicle, very exciting! Pilanesberg, South Africa
South Africa
On the way down the mountain in the cable car when the clouds finally cleared, the beautiful view of Cape Town, South Africa
Picture Catch-Up!
Hello Everyone!
So since reformatting and posting tens of pictures for each country takes forever and I am quickly running out of time for everything I need to do, I decided to only post a choice few for each port. So here for your enjoyment are the highlights of my experiences so far.
Love
P.S. Sorry if there are comments on here that I haven't replied to but I will as soon as I get some internet around here. Ciao!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
India is a different world. In an incomplete list, it was beautiful, sad, touching, dirty, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. I think it’s impossible to go to India and not come back a changed person. There are images I can’t get out of my head and moments I hope I never forget. It was an overload for my senses and I was overwhelmed for parts of it. I saw incredible things that took my breath away. I am so glad I did what I did and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything, but by the end of our trip, I was glad to be done. There are parts I would love to see again and places where I would love to spend more time but for now, I am perfectly content to make India a one-time destination. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world and I’m so grateful for everything that I’ve seen and done so far so thank you to everyone who helped me get here! In most of the other ports, I fell in love immediately with them, but I loved India in a different way. Let me explain.
We started in Chennai in the South of India on the 5th. Chennai is an extremely dirty and polluted city (all of India was incredible polluted but Chennai was the worst in my opinion). I wore a white shirt the first day (not smart) and by the first half of the day during which I had spent a significant amount of time indoors, the shirt had turned black. When you came in and washed your hands and face the sink was black. I can’t even imagine what my lungs must look like now after breathing all that. They even kept all the doors on the ship to the decks closed because the air was so polluted. The streets had their own problems: men would just go to the bathroom whenever they felt like it on a wall, there were piles and piles of garbage lining the streets everywhere, cows and bulls would be rummaging through it, children and adults too. It was really hard to see.
I should explain a little before I go on. For each of our classes, we are required to complete a certain number of faculty directed trips in each port and then usually write up a paper for each. It’s a great opportunity to see things and go places that would usually be impossibly to do on your own. There are school visits and orphanage visits and opportunities to go to places like the Coca-Cola plant and the Nike factory. So the first day I had scheduled a Working Women’s Forum to learn about microfinance in India and see how it impacts the lives of women there. However it wasn’t until later in the afternoon so we decided to knock some shopping out of the way.
We went to Spencer mall where they had most everything in one place. The main form of transportation in India are auto-rickshaws, which are basically three wheeled motorbikes that have a two-and-a-half foot long bench in the back for you to sit on. We managed to squeeze three girls (hips and all) onto one. The driving in India is a different story completely. There is pretty much only two apparent rules that I could figure out: 1) Cows have the right of way (they are holy in Hinduism) and 2) if there is any sort of spot or opening in the flow of the traffic, fill it. Cows and cars and motorbikes and rickshaws and carts and walkers all trying to get to the same place practically on top of each other, it was crazy. Apparently if you hit someone with your rickshaw it’s no big deal either (true story). It was even crazier than the driving in Morocco. We have a new saying: India makes Morocco look like Spain. We find ourselves quite hilarious. Indian rickshaw drivers are notorious for ripping you off too. You find yourself agreeing to one price in the beginning and then find that the driver is demanding a higher price when you reach the destination or that he tries to make you pay it in American cash (yes, our driver tried to get us to pay $150 each in American cash to him for a 20 minute ride). They also stop at various locations on the way to your destination and make you buy something from their friend’s store or tell you where you want to go is closed and try and take you somewhere else. But they had warned us about all this in pre-port so we had come prepared.
Eventually making it to the plaza, Laura and I bought sarees and wore them the whole day. We got so many compliments on them and even got told a few times that we look Indian! It was really fun and I really wish I could wear it back in the States, I might start a new trend. Not wanting to be late, we were planning on leaving with ample time to get me to my FDP. But then one of the girls we were with decided to go off on her own and make us look for her because we couldn’t leave anyone alone. So by the time we found her we were rushing to find a rickshaw back to the ship. After haggling over price for like 10 minutes and convincing him to take us straight to the ship (this was a particularly ornery driver) he got us on our way… only to drop us off at the wrong quay extremely far from where we needed to be. I am panicking at this point but he wouldn’t take us to where we needed to go and called us cheap after we paid him 50 rupees more than we had originally agreed upon, driving away and leaving us with no idea how to get back. This nice bicycle rickshaw driver came over to us and offered to take us to our quay. Well at this point I’m with Jordan and Laura and none of us are tiny and the bike rickshaws are half the size of the auto rickshaws. Somehow, piled on top of each other with all our bags, we miraculously managed to all get on it. The driver was about 6” shorter than me and 1/3 the size and I was one of the smaller of our group just to give you an idea what this poor guy was up against. He started pedaling away at an embarrassingly slow speed, I knew I wasn’t going to make it at this point. So we sat back and “enjoyed” the ride. We were practically sitting in a flower planter box (the auto-rickshaws at least had a covering) right up next to all the traffic whizzing by us. I’m pretty sure we all thought we were going to die at some point or another. Everyone we passed laughed at the spectacle. At one point Jordan had to get off and help the driver push us up a hill in the middle of the street. Epic. Laura and I were laughing so hard, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen. My bus passed us as we pulled into the gate but I didn’t even mind anymore. We paid him three times the amount we had given the auto-rickshaw driver just because he worked so hard. We were all dripping sweat by the end of that little jaunt.
We went to wash off the sweat and dirt and grime and to come up with a plan for the rest of the day. After some lunch, Sean Jordan and I went to St. Thomas Basilica, one of only three churches in the world to be built over the remains of an apostle of Jesus Christ. The other two are St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and Santiago de Compostela Cathedral (St. James Cathedral) in Galicia, Spain. It was an amazing experience. The church is more renowned for it’s significance than it’s aesthetic qualities but it was still very cool to see. We spent the rest of the day sightseeing around Chennai and shopping (I was forced) and then going to a lovely dinner. I’m not a big fan of Indian food but the food I tried there was really good. The interesting thing though was that I was the only woman in that restaurant, literally the only female. And it didn’t even matter, it was like I didn’t exist. The waiters wouldn’t listen to me when I ordered so the boys had to repeat my order and when the food did come, the boys were brought out first and it was almost 15 minutes before they brought out mine. It was very weird. So after dinner we headed back to the ship to pack. I wore my saree all day :)
We had to leave at 4 the next morning to catch our flight to Delhi. That morning went by in a blur, we were all so tired and we took another flight to Varanasi as soon as we got to Delhi. It was a long day. But as soon as we got into Varanasi they took us to a silk factory and we got to learn and watch how they hand-weave the silks on machines that they have been using for over 200 years. And then they let us loose to buy these beautiful, incredible hand-made silks… I don’t want to talk about it anymore. We came out to all these children waiting by the bus who asked for chocolate and pens, but no one had any. They really wanted to take pictures with us too so we got a couple good ones. After we all loaded ourselves and our newly acquired packages onto the buses they took us to the middle of the city where there were 70 rickshaws (the bicycle ones) waiting for all of us. Sean and I found our driver and our entourage took off. I don’t think Varanasi had ever seen such sights. 140 American students parading in a long line of rickshaws through the city; quite the picture eh? So we trekked down to the banks of the Ganga, the holy river Ganges to witness the evening prayer ceremonies. It was a very special thing to see. There were women and children everywhere selling little candle and flower baskets. You are supposed to light the candle and float it down the Ganga for luck so I lit one for both my parents, it was a very special experience. We were all exhausted by the end of the night so back at the hotel everyone passed out pretty quickly.
The next morning we got to wake up very early and go back down to the Ganges to take a boat ride down it at dawn and watch the sunrise and the people bathing in it, a ritual that has continued for many years. We also saw the cremation sites with shrouded bodies waiting for their turn to return to ashes and be given to the Ganga. It was incredible. It was beautiful. It held some sort of captive draw. The boat ride was one of my favorite experiences of the voyage. After it was over we took a walking tour through Varanasi and then headed to Sarnath, an ancient city where the Buddha preached his first sermon. It is called the birthplace of Buddhism and there is a temple and garden dedicated to the Buddha. We took off for our flight back to Delhi late that afternoon and only had time to drive by the Gate of India, a huge stone gate tower that was erected after WWII, and visit a magnificent temple that lit up under the night sky, took my breath away. Our hotel that night was awesome, lines with shops and a club and a swank restaurant, we all stayed up far too late despite being dead on our feet. It was really fun though.
The next morning was another early wake-up call to for a train to Agra. The train station was an experience in itself. There were homeless people sleeping everywhere and the dirt was everywhere. We all stood for 45 minutes waiting for the train cause no one wanted to sit or put their bags down. On the train, we pretty much took up our own whole car so everyone passed out. I was expecting Agra to be a lot more developed and clean since it was the main tourist attraction site in India, but it was just as dirty as Varanasi. We spent the morning at Fatehpur Sikri, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in the 14th century by the Mughal emperor Akbar. The only remaining structure of the ancient city is the fort built by the emperor. It was an amazing structure and really neat to tour. I was just super anxious to get to the Taj Mahal though, I have wanted to visit there for so long! First they took us though to this carpet factory where we got to learn about how they hand-wove the carpets, some made of pure silk. They were beautiful and intricate and I would have bought one if the cheapest one wasn’t $250USD!!! It baffles me that they would take a bunch of college students to a place that sold carpets up to $20,000USD and expect us to buy. Then they made us go to lunch. I just wanted to get to the Taj! Finally, after what seemed like forever, we made it. It was the most beautiful, incredible thing I have ever seen. There aren’t words to describe it, it is the single greatest act of love by man on this earth. It looked fake it was so amazing. I could have spent an entire day there, it was so magical. I would love to go back there one day just to be near its splendor again. It was funny too, all these people were coming up to us asking to take pictures with us! We felt like celebrities. It was funny though, of course we made the most of it. That was a full day, a beautiful day and I fell right asleep again on the train ride back to Delhi. I even fell asleep in all my clothes on my bed when we got to the room.
We flew back to Chennai the next morning and got some last minute shopping done before heading back to the ship, showering and falling right asleep again. The next day we had no classes either, it’s a designated rest day after India. I feel like there was so much to this trip in paticular that writing wouldn't do it justice. So even though this was the biggest port to me, in terms of difference and change and growth, this is one of the shorter blogs because I just can't capture it in writing. India is something you must experience for yourself so I leave you to one day make that discovery if you so chose. All in all it was an amazing experience, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything. I feel so grateful for my own life and for the things I’ve seen. This is such an incredible journey.
Love to you all,
Ally
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Ship Photos!
The view - I would have died without this window. You can see the sunrise in the morning and the sunset at night. Incredible.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Sea Olympics
Mayhem. One word that describes it all. The Sea Olympics. All the seas have been preparing for weeks, making flags, practicing their synchronized swimming routines, making cheers, and mentally preparing to win. The stakes were high –the winning sea gets off the ship 1st in Florida. It started the night we got back from Mauritius with a bbq on the deck and the opening ceremonies. Everyone was going crazy. It reminded me of homecoming except with 10 competing groups instead of 4. Our sea, the Arabian sea was the only one to make matching shirts for everyone. After the opening ceremonies, they played Slumdog Millionaire for us! It was such a good movie and right before we get to India too (3 more days!). All the Olympic competitions were scheduled for the next day (no classes!) but I ended up sleeping for half the day because my roommate kept me awake all night coughing. Seriously, I don’t know how she breathed because she coughed the ENTIRE night and kept going in and out of the room. I was heated, needless to say, I love my sleep. So at around 1 when my friends were getting worried because they hadn’t seen me anywhere, they came and dragged me out of bed to go lay out on the top deck. Vanessa and I judged the mashed potato sculpting contest, one of many events. There was also volleyball, dodgeball, flip-cup, limbo, Sudoku, spelling bee, tug-o-war, a work-out relay, a photo scavenger hunt, and lots more I can’t remember. Synchronized swimming was the most fun to watch though. Imagine hundreds of college kids stuck on a ship making up dance routines in water. Hilarious. During closing ceremonies at the end of the night, we found out our sea tied in a 3-way for 3rd place! So mommy I’ll be the third sea off the ship in Florida, yay! We finished the day with an epic flip-flop battle throughout the ship and family Office night where all our friends cram into our cabin and we watch episodes of the Office on a computer for hours. Great day and night and now were off to India in 3 days…I can’t believe it.
Ok now its really homework time and I probably won’t get to South Africa blogging until tonight (which is morning for y’all anyways).
Love!
Ile Des Deux Cocos; Mauritius
Bonzeur (Hello in Creole)
We just left paradise. I cannot even believe how lucky we are for that experience. The most incredible, beautiful, romantic place I have ever been to! We started the morning with an hour and a half bus ride from Port Louis to the other side of the island. Bus ride = not a whole lot of fun. It was hot and cramped, but Sean and I can make any situation fun and we got to drive through the green beautiful hills past the sugar cane fields and tea plantations and learn more about the history and economy and languages of Mauritius. When the clouds sank away behind us, choosing to stay on the green jagged mountaintops, we reached the south side of the island and drove off the main road onto a little pathway surrounded on either side by sugarcane stalks as tall as the bus. This path turned out to the prettiest little opening looking out at the sparkling water all different shades of blue. To the right and left, coves housed mansions on the beach with sailboats dotting the water line. Far out from the clear blue water you could see the surf breaking beyond the island cove entrance. The water below us on the dock was so clear you could see the coral designs and fin patterns of the fish that swam in and out of the reef. Across the way, this beautiful tiny island faced us amidst the diamonds glinting off the water surface. You could see only one villa on it and chairs scattered among the trees lining the beach. We were ecstatic; this was our private island for the day: Ile des Deux Cocos. We were shuttled across the cove in glass-bottomed boats to paradise. There were covered cabanas with pillows and couches for us to nap in, lounge chairs in the shade of coconut trees, and white sand outlining the clear blue of the water. I have never seen the color blues that I did on that island; clear water turned turquoise the farther out you went and the dark blue patches told you where the coral reefs were. You could see the white sand reflected underneath the bright aquamarine out by the snorkeling bay right next to the darker sky blue of the current framed by the white surf 20 meters out. We found our chairs, got our drinks and laid back to look out at our view, truly believing we had just found heaven. The whole day was spent in the sun, playing in the water and snorkeling among the coral reefs, laying in the white sand and napping in the shade. Sean and I swam out to the turquoise strip of water just to feel it and found out how strong the current really was. We swam hard for about 15 minutes not moving anywhere and my muscles are still sore. A buffet lunch was served to us of fresh-grilled lamb, tuna, marlin, and prawns. Dessert was a buffet of fresh island fruit (with coconut!!!). The whole day was incredible. I’m having my honeymoon there for sure, we found out you can rent the villa and practically have the whole island to yourself (staff included). Everyone was so sad to leave, we could have spent so much more time enjoying the finest Mauritius had to offer. It was paradise at its best. Nothing about that day can be thought of without smiling.
I’ll finish the South Africa blog today and post it as soon as I write a couple papers (yes, I still have to do school). I just had to write about Mauritius first because I cannot get over how beautiful it was and South Africa is a lot to write about.
Love &peace,
Ally