So I don’t have too much to say about Singapore. It’s cool if your into expensive food, expensive taxis, and expensive everything. It really is a futuristic place. I don’t mean to bash on Singapore, you would think that as an architecture student I would like it a lot more. What I mean is that Singapore has some of the most amazing architecture you will see, combining the new with the old the city, it really is its own master piece. So that aspect I loved. They also have really good food. I got Stephanie to eat frog! For all who know me I am a little more adventurous with what I eat while Stephanie is getting there, major accomplishments have been made on her part. We’re going to have fried scorpions in China next!!!! But no dog for us in Vietnam because yes they do eat dog!
Any way as I normally say, “you have to go to this country”, I will not say this about Singapore. While it is a very cool place, you can really see the whole city-state in a day. This is a place with 400 skyscrapers and is very much like the USA with a lot a lot of rules. You can get arrested for anything here. Chewing gum is illegal; spitting is illegal, j-walking (strictly enforced) and so many more rules!!!!! Stephanie and I were scared to breathe when we first got off the ship.
So in conclusion from my experience Singapore is a great place to get a job or have a layover or spend a lot of money.
Helpful tip: when traveling in Singapore never take the cable car it cost 24$ for a minute ride. You can take the tram car for free or the subway for 2 dollars.
Helpful tip 2: NEVER GO TO SENTOSA (It’s like Disney world except the most boring place in the universe)
can you find me?
Friday, March 18, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Neptune’s Day – The story behind the bald head
It all started the night before Neptune’s day when steph pointed out to me that we were running out of conditioner and we should probably conserve it so we didn’t have to buy a new bottle we were only going to need to use twice. I agreed and we went on with our lives.
The next morning: We woke up to Neptune’s court playing instruments banging walls doors and drums out in the hall way to wake us all up. We woke up and went to break fast as usual. When we were eating one of the lifelong learners came up to us and asked if we would be shaving our heads that day. We both immediately said NO WAY!!!! She was like why not both my nieces did they had a great time with it. Basically this went on for 15 minutes until she said well I’m not telling you what to do because if I had hair I don’t know if I would do it.
Well this left us in a dilemma! What were we to do now?
Me: are we gonna regret this if we don’t do it
Steph: probably
Both: O shoot
Steph: well we won’t have to buy more conditioner.
With very little debate after this we walked upstairs looked around and said were going to do it! We ran back down the stairs put on our bathing suits and ran back up the stairs got fish guts poured on us, jumped in the pool, kissed the hands of king Neptune and queen Minerva and then went to get our heads shaved. This is where we ran into problems. We had to go back down the stairs and blow dry our hair with fish guts in it. And go back up got our hair put into pig tails and the they started chopping off my hair then I sat down in the chair and buzzzzzzzz they buzzed it all off. And I hear mid way through this process “I have to go back to the room”. Steph had to go to our room in order to blow dry her hair more. Then come back up and shave her head it was devastating to hold our hair up for a picture but super funny.
NO REGRETS
The next morning: We woke up to Neptune’s court playing instruments banging walls doors and drums out in the hall way to wake us all up. We woke up and went to break fast as usual. When we were eating one of the lifelong learners came up to us and asked if we would be shaving our heads that day. We both immediately said NO WAY!!!! She was like why not both my nieces did they had a great time with it. Basically this went on for 15 minutes until she said well I’m not telling you what to do because if I had hair I don’t know if I would do it.
Well this left us in a dilemma! What were we to do now?
Me: are we gonna regret this if we don’t do it
Steph: probably
Both: O shoot
Steph: well we won’t have to buy more conditioner.
With very little debate after this we walked upstairs looked around and said were going to do it! We ran back down the stairs put on our bathing suits and ran back up the stairs got fish guts poured on us, jumped in the pool, kissed the hands of king Neptune and queen Minerva and then went to get our heads shaved. This is where we ran into problems. We had to go back down the stairs and blow dry our hair with fish guts in it. And go back up got our hair put into pig tails and the they started chopping off my hair then I sat down in the chair and buzzzzzzzz they buzzed it all off. And I hear mid way through this process “I have to go back to the room”. Steph had to go to our room in order to blow dry her hair more. Then come back up and shave her head it was devastating to hold our hair up for a picture but super funny.
NO REGRETS
INDIA – HEAVY ON THE GAS HEAVY ON THE BREAKS HEAVY ON THE HORN
I waited for the face to face and then got off the ship in a random group of people. We had to take a shuttle out of the port because we were not allowed to walk in it. So instead of waiting in the line to get checked out of the port we hopped in a rickshaw to get out quicker. My first impression of INDIA was from a tiny 3 wheeled car that 5 people are and they are weaving in and out of cars. In India there is no lane system on the road…….not that they do not have lanes because they do but they don’t follow them at all. The entire driving system is a free for all and you should expect nothing less than a heart attack. Your rickshaw will literally go head on to a car and then at the last minute swerve out of its way it’s crazy. This was the definition of a clown car.
What we wanted to do was get to the stadium because the cricket world cup was currently going on; however, every driver has a different plan for you. They want to take you to their “brother’s shop” that has “cheap prices” yeah not so much! They brought you to all the Americanized nice air conditioned stores that had nothing that was culturally relevant to India and if they did it was a giant wooden statue of a god that you would never be able to afford let alone carry out of the store.
Let me tell you, some semester at sea kids ruin it for everyone. I watched a girl try and bargain. The store owner asked her for 3000 rupees for 2 scarf (total rip off that about 60 USD). So she gave him 2500 she had in her pocket and as she went into her bag to get more money asks the shop owner can you do it for 2500. The guy obviously said no because she was willing to pay the high price from then on out people in this shops tried to rip us off and we couldn’t buy anything from them. Some people puzzle me. So instead of standing there watching people get ripped off I went over to a Shiva temple took off my shoes walked through the streets of India barefoot and into the temple. I was blessed with ashes which after I was blessed I learned the ashes were cow dung ashes. We walked around one of the shrines, as that is how you praise the gods, and found out where the cow poop comes from. There were 5 cows sitting in a pen just hanging out. Steph and I started cracking up while our friend Kevin and Miller had no clue why.
We finally got the guy to bring us to the stadium and he tried over charging us saying the price we agreed on earlier was not the same….ect….. ect. So we got to the stadium and started asking around for tickets. People just kept saying the same thing and pointing in a direction, so we kept proceeding in that direction finally running into Nitin, A man who led us in the right direction finding us tickets. We were offered tickets by many people, but then a man came up to me and said “my brothers not coming you can have his ticket” so I got in free!!!
Now cricket is like watching paint dry! Don’t get me wrong the atmosphere awesome but the actual sport very boring we left within 45 minutes after we could not bear the heat any more. Nitin, our new india friend, showed us a place to eat which was a little more expensive than I would have like but that’s on Indian standards. I could have never gotten that much food for that price in America.
After that we went to a mall, we wanted to go to a market, but when we went in there there was a Indian Gillette razor promotion. My friends Kevin and Miller got their beards (or faces) shaved I stayed and watched as the other girls went and shopped eventually when we walked away from the stand I see Stephanie hanging over the railing yelling where are you going…she couldn’t take what I avoided in the first place any more…..girls shopping. So we went to a stand that was giving free henna out and a woman gave me designs on the 4 of our hands. Its amazing how fast and good they can do these designs, it literally took her 30 seconds to do this design on my hand!!!!!
After that we left to go back to the port but Nitin wanted us to stop for more food!!! So he had us stop at this one place and bought us a bunch of really good Indian dishes. I LOVE INDIAN FOOD!!!!!!!!!
Day 2 - ARE WE THERE YET
We woke up at 330 in the morning all packed and ready to head out to the air port! This day was a day of mostly all traveling and layovers… we flew from Chennai to Delhi had lunch (more curry!!!!!) then flew to Varanasi. When we got out of that air port and went to our hotel. We put our stuff down and came back down to go to the River Ganges. When we came down we figured out that we would be going not by van but by bike rickshaws. I learned that this is the best way to see the city. You really get to experience the city this way, you get to experience the people, the smells (good and bad), the crowed roads…and so much more. I don’t really know how to describe the streets of India you can’t really understand unless you have been there (Thomas I need some help here). There is so much going on people selling stuff, to people preaching, to seeing old men with ash all over their faces because they have been blessed so much. On our way to the river Ganga (as the people from Varanasi call the ganges river) we heard the call to worship. I am not entirely sure what they were saying because it was in whichever language they speak. I know this sounds culturally unaware but they speak so many different languages in different parts of the country.
So we finally got to a point where we couldn’t ride on our bike rickshaws anymore because the streets were too crowded with all the people going to river for the ceremony. This happens every night not all the people who live in the city go every night mostly only on Sundays, but people from all around come to this city for the holiest of holy places. So we went to the river and I got a pile of flowers that you send into the river with the center candle lit. When you send the candle into the water you make a wish and Hindus believe that no matter what your wish it will come true. We then went to a balcony, where monkeys were crawling all over, and watched the ceremony of the 5 priests. It was quite the experience although I don’t really know how to describe everything and Im sorry. Their way of life is unrelatable to anything I know; however I can tell you it is very beautiful!
After having dinner and going to a hooka bar we went back to our hotel room and prepared to wake up early for the morning ceremony.
Day 3 –
We were down in the lobby at 5 ready to go. We are basically racing the other 2 groups because we don’t want to be traveling with so many people. You draw a lot of attention to yourself in bigger groups. So we got in our van and drove to a point where we couldn’t drive anymore so we got out and walked the rest of the way. When you are walking down these roads you see people sleeping on the side of the road. These people are homeless and most of them are missing some sort of limb or have a disease and this isn’t the half of it. This wasn’t anything for what was to come in the next few days.
So we walked to the river and our guide got us a boat so that we could go down the ganga river and see the burning of the bodies ceremony. In the Hindu religion they believe that when you die you soul immediately goes to nirvana or your next life and your body is just a body. So they burn it and throw it into the Ganges River. The river Ganges is the holiest of holy water, they believe that the gods created from the Himalayas, and that this is the proper way to dispose of the body. We saw a ceremony of this going on. Women are not allowed to be present at these ceremonies because they cry and the ceremony is not supposed to be like that it is supposed to be happy and joyous not sorrowful. When there are too many bodies to burn or if a family does not have the money to spend on the wood for the fire the body is simply thrown into the river. Because there are so many bodies lined up to burn some bodies are only burned half way then thrown into the river. After this we went back up the river and walked through the alleys of India with our guide we went and saw another temple, it is some time disappointing because you have these amazing temples that non Hindus are not permitted entry which really stinks but they do this because of attacks on some Hindu temples.
After this we took a breather and had the best chi tea ever made. (we didn’t know it at this point but we would search for “Street chi” the entire rest of the time we were here. We then made our way the van to go to the college and see the temple at the college. We went back to the hotel for breakfast collect our stuff as we had a jammed packed day and then a flight.
We went to Sarnath which was an awesome place for me to go because I have been studying it in class. We were able to see the Sarnath Stuppa and the Sarnath museum which held the Bala Buddha which I had a test on the last day in class. We went to a series of Buddhist temples here which were all beautiful in their own way. After all this we went to the airport for our decent to Delhi.
We got to the air port said good bye to Makesh, the best tour guide ever, and then waited for our plane. When we got to Delhi we went to our new hotel, which took us forever because of the outrageous traffic that occurs in India. We all wanted to go to the Ice lounge that was not 2 far away. None of us had a clue what it would be like, so we needed to go. It was a entire bar/ room made entirely of ice. It was so cool…haha excuse the pun. It was –10 degrees inside we had to wear parka jackets and gloves inside. Everything…I mean everything was made of ice, the chairs the cups the decorations. It was really cool we didn’t stay to long but it was awesome to experience.
Day 4 – The taj!!!!!!!......AGRA
We woke up early in the morning to go to the train station to Agra. When we got there was a bus waiting outside to take us to the TAJ MAHAL!!!!!!!!! There was a little confusion with our guides so we had to wait a little bit but then we finally got into the grand complex. It was incredible Like nothing I had ever seen before. Luckily we had gotten there in the morning so it was not as packed as it would normally be at mid day.
There is something that I am learning though this trip and it is that other countries do not run on the same time regulations that the US does. When they say 30 minutes they usually mean 45. When a rick shaw driver says you will be somewhere in 10 minutes you add an extra 30 minutes to stop at 3 of “his brother’s” shops. So if you go to the Taj Mahal early in the morning there won’t be as many Indians there because they are a half hour late.
So when our tour guide got there we went in and she told us the story of the Taj and how it was a monument build for Shaw Jahan’s , the fifth mogul, wife. When one of Shaw Jahan’s wives was about to die, after she gave birth to their 14th child, she asked for 4 wishes.
1) Never marry again
2) You will take care of our 14 children
3) You will take care of my parents
4) You will make a monument for me that will let generations to come know how much we loved each other.
He followed through on all these promises he made and there for we get the Taj Mahal. It is a remarkable structure everything about it is grand and breath taking (especially if you’re an architecture major and live for this kind of stuff)
After this we went to the red fort and a series of other temples that were remarkable to see the only thing about this day was it was so structured we were all worn down by the end so we went to a mall and had India McDonalds I only tried other peoples food but it was only chicken and veggies because they don’t eat beef. Then we went to an open market where we discovered that steph is a great bargainer and I am horrible at it. You can see straight throw me and steph nope just puts on a stern face and gets what she wants. I stuck with her for the rest of the time and she dealt with the people I just dished out the cash when I wanted something. I will never travel without her, we are each other’s side kick, it works!
Then we went to the Agra train station where I saw something’s I’ve never seen before. There was a man in a shopping cart outside our bus and he had elephantitus in his foot. When we were waiting at the station I ran into my friend Ben and started having a conversation with him. We could not look away from each other or else we would make eye contact with the beggers coming up to us. Ever other minute there was a new begger coming up to us and our train was delayed for 30 minutes. It is something I could not describe in full because the disabilities these people have are indescribable and most of their begging is fuelled by masters giving them drugs. A guide told us that when we give them money they are forced to bring the food or money back to their “masters” which may or may not be their parents. So even to give a small child food would just fuel a higher power. We went home on the train and just went straight to bed as we had not gotten more than 3 hours of sleep in the last few nights.
DAY 5 –
We woke up after a refreshing 5 hours of sleep ate breakfast and we were off to tour Delhi. We went to a Hindu temple first which was a temple like none of the others we had seen. The floors were made of marble and you had to take off your shoes as usual. There were different spots where you could be blessed by different gods. It was a remarkable temple made of red and yellow painted stones.
After that we went and saw the parliament house and the arch. The arch had all the names of war victims engraved on it.
After this we went to the air port so that we could get through security only for our plane to be delayed. We got on the plane and flew back to Chennai.
Day 6 –
This morning the intention was for Eric, Erin, Audrey, and myself to go to Mamallepotum which is about an hour and a half away. Well after being transferred from rickshaw to rickshaw 5 times with the driver saying my brother will take you and then changing the price we finally got out of that ricksaw in to another and off to spencers plaza. This was a day of shopping and relaxation as well as getting lost and shoved into different rickshaws.
India The End
Im sorry that this is the briefest blog I have as this was my favorite port yet. There are just some things that hard to explain and India is one of them.
What we wanted to do was get to the stadium because the cricket world cup was currently going on; however, every driver has a different plan for you. They want to take you to their “brother’s shop” that has “cheap prices” yeah not so much! They brought you to all the Americanized nice air conditioned stores that had nothing that was culturally relevant to India and if they did it was a giant wooden statue of a god that you would never be able to afford let alone carry out of the store.
Let me tell you, some semester at sea kids ruin it for everyone. I watched a girl try and bargain. The store owner asked her for 3000 rupees for 2 scarf (total rip off that about 60 USD). So she gave him 2500 she had in her pocket and as she went into her bag to get more money asks the shop owner can you do it for 2500. The guy obviously said no because she was willing to pay the high price from then on out people in this shops tried to rip us off and we couldn’t buy anything from them. Some people puzzle me. So instead of standing there watching people get ripped off I went over to a Shiva temple took off my shoes walked through the streets of India barefoot and into the temple. I was blessed with ashes which after I was blessed I learned the ashes were cow dung ashes. We walked around one of the shrines, as that is how you praise the gods, and found out where the cow poop comes from. There were 5 cows sitting in a pen just hanging out. Steph and I started cracking up while our friend Kevin and Miller had no clue why.
We finally got the guy to bring us to the stadium and he tried over charging us saying the price we agreed on earlier was not the same….ect….. ect. So we got to the stadium and started asking around for tickets. People just kept saying the same thing and pointing in a direction, so we kept proceeding in that direction finally running into Nitin, A man who led us in the right direction finding us tickets. We were offered tickets by many people, but then a man came up to me and said “my brothers not coming you can have his ticket” so I got in free!!!
Now cricket is like watching paint dry! Don’t get me wrong the atmosphere awesome but the actual sport very boring we left within 45 minutes after we could not bear the heat any more. Nitin, our new india friend, showed us a place to eat which was a little more expensive than I would have like but that’s on Indian standards. I could have never gotten that much food for that price in America.
After that we went to a mall, we wanted to go to a market, but when we went in there there was a Indian Gillette razor promotion. My friends Kevin and Miller got their beards (or faces) shaved I stayed and watched as the other girls went and shopped eventually when we walked away from the stand I see Stephanie hanging over the railing yelling where are you going…she couldn’t take what I avoided in the first place any more…..girls shopping. So we went to a stand that was giving free henna out and a woman gave me designs on the 4 of our hands. Its amazing how fast and good they can do these designs, it literally took her 30 seconds to do this design on my hand!!!!!
After that we left to go back to the port but Nitin wanted us to stop for more food!!! So he had us stop at this one place and bought us a bunch of really good Indian dishes. I LOVE INDIAN FOOD!!!!!!!!!
Day 2 - ARE WE THERE YET
We woke up at 330 in the morning all packed and ready to head out to the air port! This day was a day of mostly all traveling and layovers… we flew from Chennai to Delhi had lunch (more curry!!!!!) then flew to Varanasi. When we got out of that air port and went to our hotel. We put our stuff down and came back down to go to the River Ganges. When we came down we figured out that we would be going not by van but by bike rickshaws. I learned that this is the best way to see the city. You really get to experience the city this way, you get to experience the people, the smells (good and bad), the crowed roads…and so much more. I don’t really know how to describe the streets of India you can’t really understand unless you have been there (Thomas I need some help here). There is so much going on people selling stuff, to people preaching, to seeing old men with ash all over their faces because they have been blessed so much. On our way to the river Ganga (as the people from Varanasi call the ganges river) we heard the call to worship. I am not entirely sure what they were saying because it was in whichever language they speak. I know this sounds culturally unaware but they speak so many different languages in different parts of the country.
So we finally got to a point where we couldn’t ride on our bike rickshaws anymore because the streets were too crowded with all the people going to river for the ceremony. This happens every night not all the people who live in the city go every night mostly only on Sundays, but people from all around come to this city for the holiest of holy places. So we went to the river and I got a pile of flowers that you send into the river with the center candle lit. When you send the candle into the water you make a wish and Hindus believe that no matter what your wish it will come true. We then went to a balcony, where monkeys were crawling all over, and watched the ceremony of the 5 priests. It was quite the experience although I don’t really know how to describe everything and Im sorry. Their way of life is unrelatable to anything I know; however I can tell you it is very beautiful!
After having dinner and going to a hooka bar we went back to our hotel room and prepared to wake up early for the morning ceremony.
Day 3 –
We were down in the lobby at 5 ready to go. We are basically racing the other 2 groups because we don’t want to be traveling with so many people. You draw a lot of attention to yourself in bigger groups. So we got in our van and drove to a point where we couldn’t drive anymore so we got out and walked the rest of the way. When you are walking down these roads you see people sleeping on the side of the road. These people are homeless and most of them are missing some sort of limb or have a disease and this isn’t the half of it. This wasn’t anything for what was to come in the next few days.
So we walked to the river and our guide got us a boat so that we could go down the ganga river and see the burning of the bodies ceremony. In the Hindu religion they believe that when you die you soul immediately goes to nirvana or your next life and your body is just a body. So they burn it and throw it into the Ganges River. The river Ganges is the holiest of holy water, they believe that the gods created from the Himalayas, and that this is the proper way to dispose of the body. We saw a ceremony of this going on. Women are not allowed to be present at these ceremonies because they cry and the ceremony is not supposed to be like that it is supposed to be happy and joyous not sorrowful. When there are too many bodies to burn or if a family does not have the money to spend on the wood for the fire the body is simply thrown into the river. Because there are so many bodies lined up to burn some bodies are only burned half way then thrown into the river. After this we went back up the river and walked through the alleys of India with our guide we went and saw another temple, it is some time disappointing because you have these amazing temples that non Hindus are not permitted entry which really stinks but they do this because of attacks on some Hindu temples.
After this we took a breather and had the best chi tea ever made. (we didn’t know it at this point but we would search for “Street chi” the entire rest of the time we were here. We then made our way the van to go to the college and see the temple at the college. We went back to the hotel for breakfast collect our stuff as we had a jammed packed day and then a flight.
We went to Sarnath which was an awesome place for me to go because I have been studying it in class. We were able to see the Sarnath Stuppa and the Sarnath museum which held the Bala Buddha which I had a test on the last day in class. We went to a series of Buddhist temples here which were all beautiful in their own way. After all this we went to the airport for our decent to Delhi.
We got to the air port said good bye to Makesh, the best tour guide ever, and then waited for our plane. When we got to Delhi we went to our new hotel, which took us forever because of the outrageous traffic that occurs in India. We all wanted to go to the Ice lounge that was not 2 far away. None of us had a clue what it would be like, so we needed to go. It was a entire bar/ room made entirely of ice. It was so cool…haha excuse the pun. It was –10 degrees inside we had to wear parka jackets and gloves inside. Everything…I mean everything was made of ice, the chairs the cups the decorations. It was really cool we didn’t stay to long but it was awesome to experience.
Day 4 – The taj!!!!!!!......AGRA
We woke up early in the morning to go to the train station to Agra. When we got there was a bus waiting outside to take us to the TAJ MAHAL!!!!!!!!! There was a little confusion with our guides so we had to wait a little bit but then we finally got into the grand complex. It was incredible Like nothing I had ever seen before. Luckily we had gotten there in the morning so it was not as packed as it would normally be at mid day.
There is something that I am learning though this trip and it is that other countries do not run on the same time regulations that the US does. When they say 30 minutes they usually mean 45. When a rick shaw driver says you will be somewhere in 10 minutes you add an extra 30 minutes to stop at 3 of “his brother’s” shops. So if you go to the Taj Mahal early in the morning there won’t be as many Indians there because they are a half hour late.
So when our tour guide got there we went in and she told us the story of the Taj and how it was a monument build for Shaw Jahan’s , the fifth mogul, wife. When one of Shaw Jahan’s wives was about to die, after she gave birth to their 14th child, she asked for 4 wishes.
1) Never marry again
2) You will take care of our 14 children
3) You will take care of my parents
4) You will make a monument for me that will let generations to come know how much we loved each other.
He followed through on all these promises he made and there for we get the Taj Mahal. It is a remarkable structure everything about it is grand and breath taking (especially if you’re an architecture major and live for this kind of stuff)
After this we went to the red fort and a series of other temples that were remarkable to see the only thing about this day was it was so structured we were all worn down by the end so we went to a mall and had India McDonalds I only tried other peoples food but it was only chicken and veggies because they don’t eat beef. Then we went to an open market where we discovered that steph is a great bargainer and I am horrible at it. You can see straight throw me and steph nope just puts on a stern face and gets what she wants. I stuck with her for the rest of the time and she dealt with the people I just dished out the cash when I wanted something. I will never travel without her, we are each other’s side kick, it works!
Then we went to the Agra train station where I saw something’s I’ve never seen before. There was a man in a shopping cart outside our bus and he had elephantitus in his foot. When we were waiting at the station I ran into my friend Ben and started having a conversation with him. We could not look away from each other or else we would make eye contact with the beggers coming up to us. Ever other minute there was a new begger coming up to us and our train was delayed for 30 minutes. It is something I could not describe in full because the disabilities these people have are indescribable and most of their begging is fuelled by masters giving them drugs. A guide told us that when we give them money they are forced to bring the food or money back to their “masters” which may or may not be their parents. So even to give a small child food would just fuel a higher power. We went home on the train and just went straight to bed as we had not gotten more than 3 hours of sleep in the last few nights.
DAY 5 –
We woke up after a refreshing 5 hours of sleep ate breakfast and we were off to tour Delhi. We went to a Hindu temple first which was a temple like none of the others we had seen. The floors were made of marble and you had to take off your shoes as usual. There were different spots where you could be blessed by different gods. It was a remarkable temple made of red and yellow painted stones.
After that we went and saw the parliament house and the arch. The arch had all the names of war victims engraved on it.
After this we went to the air port so that we could get through security only for our plane to be delayed. We got on the plane and flew back to Chennai.
Day 6 –
This morning the intention was for Eric, Erin, Audrey, and myself to go to Mamallepotum which is about an hour and a half away. Well after being transferred from rickshaw to rickshaw 5 times with the driver saying my brother will take you and then changing the price we finally got out of that ricksaw in to another and off to spencers plaza. This was a day of shopping and relaxation as well as getting lost and shoved into different rickshaws.
India The End
Im sorry that this is the briefest blog I have as this was my favorite port yet. There are just some things that hard to explain and India is one of them.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Mauritius - This is gonna be awesome!!!!!!
For most people this port was just a party island for everyone, most decided to get a catamaran which is just a big sail boat, a booze cruise. I was having none of that! Not only was this a really cool island but we were only here for one day and I was going to make the most of it! So a few friends and myself decided to go cannoning.
We got off the boat, late as usual….. security was having trouble clearing people, one of the computers shut down. It was a messed up process and we just went with the flow of things. However, I don’t think I will ever understand why id numbers 600 to 900 (meaning myself and Stephanie, I’'m number 724) had to go through face to face clearance but no one else did. Anyway, we got off the boat in clusters, met on the dock, found our bus and started driving. Well none of us knew that Carnival was in for 3 days and that everyone was making pilgrimages to the center of the city. So after we sit in 2 hours of traffic our guide from the cannoning place runs to us and starts directing traffic and us around it. So we finally get to our desired location but we are a little short on time now and can’'t go to the beach or the second water fall but it’s okay because we belayed down a 40 meter water fall!!! So amazing! We weren'’t allowed to get to close because there have been fatal accidents of people slipping off! Not the Ideal situation to say the least!
Walking up to the actual belaying spot is the most nerve racking out of all of it! You'’re walking sideways on this cliff with just a little piece of metal attaching to a rope that’s attached to a waterfall by another piece of metal…. Yeah! But it was awesome you go down and it barely takes any time to go down at all, the anticipation is what kills you! But I got down in one piece and then made my way over and cliff jumped, we jumped about 40 ft in to this giant pool that was the runoff from the water fall. Next we zip lined 120 feet into water which was also amazing.
The whole day was a success after all the traffic, which was a little annoying but it did allow me a chance to see this amazing Shiva temple that had crazy architecture and probably every color you could possibly conceive of!
On The Boat
So the other day the captain came on to the loud speaker in the morning before global studies (the worst class ever) and told us a few things. The only one you would care about is that we would be making an unexpected stop as a few passengers were really sick and we needed to get them better medical attention. Sad yes I know but there is a cool part that came out of it. We stopped for them at Diego Garcia which is a top secret CIA jail base… and military fort! No civilian has ever been on land… until now. Those 2 students and 1 crew member were the only civilians to ever be on that island since it became a base in the 60s.
Now what’s cool about this for me is that not only have those 3 people now been to Diego Garcia but technically I have been there now to. No one has even been in the lagoon here… - actually no one is allowed within 20 miles of this island or they would be approached with military force. So we are actually the first civilians ever to get this close to the island.. PRETTY COOL RIGHT!!!!..... THE THINGS YOU SEE ON SEMESTER AT SEA!
Next is India!!!!! Hope we can all keep up these next few countries there is max 3 days in between!
We got off the boat, late as usual….. security was having trouble clearing people, one of the computers shut down. It was a messed up process and we just went with the flow of things. However, I don’t think I will ever understand why id numbers 600 to 900 (meaning myself and Stephanie, I’'m number 724) had to go through face to face clearance but no one else did. Anyway, we got off the boat in clusters, met on the dock, found our bus and started driving. Well none of us knew that Carnival was in for 3 days and that everyone was making pilgrimages to the center of the city. So after we sit in 2 hours of traffic our guide from the cannoning place runs to us and starts directing traffic and us around it. So we finally get to our desired location but we are a little short on time now and can’'t go to the beach or the second water fall but it’s okay because we belayed down a 40 meter water fall!!! So amazing! We weren'’t allowed to get to close because there have been fatal accidents of people slipping off! Not the Ideal situation to say the least!
Walking up to the actual belaying spot is the most nerve racking out of all of it! You'’re walking sideways on this cliff with just a little piece of metal attaching to a rope that’s attached to a waterfall by another piece of metal…. Yeah! But it was awesome you go down and it barely takes any time to go down at all, the anticipation is what kills you! But I got down in one piece and then made my way over and cliff jumped, we jumped about 40 ft in to this giant pool that was the runoff from the water fall. Next we zip lined 120 feet into water which was also amazing.
The whole day was a success after all the traffic, which was a little annoying but it did allow me a chance to see this amazing Shiva temple that had crazy architecture and probably every color you could possibly conceive of!
On The Boat
So the other day the captain came on to the loud speaker in the morning before global studies (the worst class ever) and told us a few things. The only one you would care about is that we would be making an unexpected stop as a few passengers were really sick and we needed to get them better medical attention. Sad yes I know but there is a cool part that came out of it. We stopped for them at Diego Garcia which is a top secret CIA jail base… and military fort! No civilian has ever been on land… until now. Those 2 students and 1 crew member were the only civilians to ever be on that island since it became a base in the 60s.
Now what’s cool about this for me is that not only have those 3 people now been to Diego Garcia but technically I have been there now to. No one has even been in the lagoon here… - actually no one is allowed within 20 miles of this island or they would be approached with military force. So we are actually the first civilians ever to get this close to the island.. PRETTY COOL RIGHT!!!!..... THE THINGS YOU SEE ON SEMESTER AT SEA!
Next is India!!!!! Hope we can all keep up these next few countries there is max 3 days in between!
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