Pura Vida en Costa Rica

One more time! My final country summary blog, so bittersweet. Costa Rica was like a half port since it was only three days, but it was fun and relaxing. Apparently we’re the first semester where finals have been done before the last port, but I can’t imagine it any other way. With everything done and out of the way, we could just relax and enjoy some final moments with our friends. It was pura vida! That’s Costa Rica’s phrase – if anyone asks you how you are or how something is, that’s how you should respond. In English it means “pure life;” I think it’s a wonderful phrase, I plan on adapting it.

Our first day we docked in Port Caldera instead of Puntarenas because they had two big cruise ships in so there was no room for us. Port Caldera had no town at all, which wasn’t a problem for most people headed off to beach houses, but Alison and I were a little worried about what we were going to do. Last minute we checked in the ticket donation box and got two free tickets for an SAS outrigger canoe trip. We ran to the Union to get tender tickets (yep, we got to tender one last time!) and they said we had to run to catch it. We didn’t have anything with us so we dashed to our rooms and threw bags together. We ended up missing that tender but got on the next and the bus was still there waiting for people to show up! We were very lucky, but very unprepared, but it was free so it all worked out! The trip ended up being a lot of fun. We took canoes out onto the ocean – they had floating braces on either side so no chance of tipping over – and rowed out to a secluded beach about 45 minutes away. We were not very good at first with our coordination; we thought we had gotten better by the end but our guide was still laughing at us. We even got to do the synchronized switching rowing sides by lifting the paddles into the air. We had an hour or so on the beach to explore. There was a small waterfall that’s formed by rainwater coming down the mountain. We took a short hike through the forest and saw a white-faced monkey up in the trees. Then we stumbled upon a huge trail of leaf-cutter ants. It was one of the coolest things to witness; we walked alongside them for a ways, just a path of little green dots trotting up the hill. Before we headed back out on the water they served us fruit; I had some Costa Rican pineapple, which is pretty much my favorite fruit ever now – too bad they don’t sell it in the States. It’s white, unlike Hawaiian pineapple, and has less of a citrusy taste, which would explain why I like it and hate other pineapple. Back at the canoe headquarters we spotted Scarlet Macao up in the trees! Apparently this was really lucky; the birds are monogamous and always travel in pairs, and when one dies the other dies of heartbreak. We had plans to go back out after getting on the ship to clean up, but they ended up stopping tenders early at 6:30 because the water was too rough. The ship moved from Port Caldera to Puntarenas that night.

The second day Alison and I explored Puntarenas – it was basically the two of us the entire port because all our other friends were on extended trips and abandoned us. We walked around the town, most of which was shoe stores and black market DVD and backpack sales on the street. Down by the beach there were a couple blocks of vendors. Surprisingly we didn’t buy much, but it was mainly because since this is the last county we all realize how little room we have left in our suitcases. We went to lunch at a place by the pier and got lots of delicious seafood and tropical drinks! Then we spent the afternoon on the beach. There was a nice breeze so it didn’t feel hot at all, and the water was the perfect temperature. It was a little bit dirty, but it was in sight of our ship so it was pura vida. That night we walked around and got some ice cream and then strolled on the beach. It was pretty uneventful until we passed a sea turtle! It was dead and lying on the beach rotting, it was pretty disturbing and sad.

The last day was my canopy adventure! Ziplining through the rainforest. I was so excited for this trip, but also kind of nervous because I haven’t always been so good with heights. We got all decked out in harnesses and helmets and leather gloves, I was looking pretty hot! We started on a short line as a practice one, and then had 7 more lines. They would strap you in – I would have to get on my tiptoes so they could attach the pulleys since I’m so short – and then you place one hand on the ropes attaching you to the cable and one reaches behind your head. That hand forms an OK sign around the cable while you’re going, and to stop you lower your palm onto the cable. I got pretty good at stopping at just the right moment and landing on the box on the platform. I only got turned around a little on the longest line, and never once got stuck before the platform and had to pull myself in. Alison was not so lucky haha – she got stuck and even ran into a guide on one platform because she couldn’t stop herself. The third cable was the longest, and it ran out over the riverbed and then into the trees. Some of the trees seemed too close for comfort, but I only grazed a couple with my feet. For this line the guides pulled you back up the cable a couple feet and you had to pull into a tuck so your feet wouldn’t hit the platform, then they pushed you off. They did a false-start for me and scared me, but once I really went it was spectacular, wind just flying past your face and the most amazing views. We had the same guide the first and last days, and he told this incredible story about watching a man get attacked by a crocodile – it seemed like it might be a tall tale at first but by the end he had me convinced, either way it’s an incredible story. One of the rivers we drove over has 20-25 crocodiles per square kilometer – absolutely ridiculous. There are crocodile tours and the guides will hold chickens out over the water and hit the crocs on their snouts. Ronaldo was on one and the guide was hitting the croc on snout, but the third time the croc grabbed his hand and pulled him into the water with the man on his back and his hand still in the croc’s mouth. The croc kept pulling him under and finally Ronaldo remembered he had heard they’ll let you go if you gauge them in the eyes, so the man tried it and the croc released him but then tried to catch him again. Luckily they started the boat and it scared the croc off and they pulled the man into the boat. He survived with only a couple scars on his hand and on his chest where he got stabbed with a talon. Absolutely insane. That night Bering Sea got a special desert and champagne toast for having the most participants in the shipboard fund drive – 81% participation. The drive raises money for scholarships, and we raised around $30,000 this semester!

Today was the Ambassador’s Ball! It was a great night. Everyone got all dressed up, so it kind of felt like Homecoming haha. We had two seated dinners with multiple courses and a complimentary glass of champagne. The food was wonderful, which is going to make the next 3 days of normal ship food even harder. We started with dim sum, and then hot and sour soup, a mandarin orange salad, and choice of entrees – I got the filet mignon with asparagus, and I’m already craving more. It was so nice to just have a sit-down dinner with all our friends in our home away from home. Afterwards there was a dessert buffet and a dance. The dance was a time machine straight back to middle school – soooo awkward. And it’s on the closed circuit tv, so you can watch all the awkwardness even if you’re not there! It was still a great almost-ending to this trip. Tomorrow we transit the Panama Canal. We’re already back on east coast time, which is so strange to think about. Only three more days. . .

I'm all at sea...

The last three weeks on the ship have been mentally exhausting. The voyage was nearly over, but we still had half our class days left, which meant lots of work to catch up on. By the time I was finished writing FDPs and essays I was not up for writing blogs. Add to that hours and hours to lose and most of my free time was spent in bed. But now I am officially DONE with finals and schoolwork until January 5! I’ll try to recap some of the big moments that happened while I have been MIA from the blog world.

The first nine days at sea had a notable occurrence – two November 22nds. We crossed the International Date Line and got to repeat a day. Now, losing an hour every other night takes a toll on us. This didn’t have any sleep loss affect, but it left us all in a real state of confusion trying to wrap our minds around the logic behind it. The easiest way I found to explain it was that if we just kept gaining hours, we’d come home a day ahead of everyone else. So when we lost a day we ended up being behind in hours the difference that we were ahead. Or, as Mom said, it’s like we snuck up on you guys from around the world! The second November 22nd was the Students of Service charity auction. If I remember the number correctly, $16,000 were raised by auctioning off everything from first of in Miami to pie-ing the Deans in the face to trips to people’s vacation homes. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that amount of money going to charity is absolutely fabulous, but it still kind of disgusts me that people my age, after having just spent thousands of dollars traveling around the world, have that kind of money to throw around.

On Thanksgiving we got a brief respite and chance to stretch our legs in American soil in Hawaii! It was not the typical Thanksgiving that I’m used to, based largely on the fact that the temperature was mid-80s, but it was a wonderful day and made even better by the fact that cell phones worked without outrageous fees. My friends and I spent the day with my Great Uncle Peter and his son Andy, daughter Paris, and grandson Vincent. They met us at the dock with leis (which unfortunately molded in my efforts to press them for my scrapbook) and then took us out to lunch where we stuffed ourselves after a week of shipboard food. The occasional french fry or taco day does not help that much when every other day is a predictable, unappetizing menu of potatoes, iceberg lettuce, pasta, fish, and pork selections. Even our back-up food, PB&J sandwiches, was ruined – the Chinese do not know how to make peanut butter, apparently. After lunch we drove over to Andy’s neighbor to swim in their pool. It was pretty much the coolest pool I’ve ever seen: right on the ocean, to the point where the waves crashed over the edge of the pool. A couple of crabs had found their way into the pool too, and we saw an octopus! After a little while we walked down to the beach and spent some time laying in the sun, swimming, and a couple attempts at surfing. I played around on the board a little but didn’t have enough time to actually attempt to ride any waves. And of course we got the typical Thanksgiving dinner at the Pacific Club. As always on Thanksgiving, I had difficulty moving after all the food I ate, it was all so delicious! It was a very relaxing day, a nice break from the stress of schoolwork. And it was nice to be with family on Thanksgiving, even if it was our first time meeting.

Now I’m almost done with the last leg of nine days. In this stretch I’ve had plenty of final papers to write and a couple of finals as well. But I am now officially done, two days ahead of most of my other shipmates! My Global Studies exam was a piece of cake thanks to the curriculum overlapping with the first half of my Zen class. As for my Zen final, my teacher pulled a total cop-out: our exam was for us to write three exam questions and then answer two. I think someone was just as lazy as all of us! It feels so good to be done with work, although now I feel like I have too much free time on my hands, especially since all my friends are still studying! Tomorrow everyone will be officially done, and the next day we land in Costa Rica! I have no real plans except for a canopy adventure the last day; I’m glad I’m ending this trip with a carefree, take-things-as-they-come country. After Costa Rica we’re basically home, I can’t believe it. Out last four days at sea will be spent packing, transiting the Panama Canal, and figuring out how to sum up and say goodbye to this incredible experience. I still haven’t wrapped my mind around that yet; I’m too preoccupied with how I’m going to pack all my things safely and worrying about my customs declaration. Unfortunately my sea was incredibly unlucky with the drawing for order of disembarkation in Miami – second to last. Word is that the first group will start disembarking at 11 and if all goes smoothly the last people will be getting off around 4, so I don’t expect to be touching land until at least 3, meaning one last lunch on the ship! It’s all a strange tornado of emotions right now: I don’t want to stop travelling, but I’d really like to be off this ship and out of my tiny cabin; I don’t want to leave my friends, but I don’t want to spend any more time away from home. I imagine my mind will be grappling with processing this experience for awhile after I get back, so I’m not going to attempt to tackle it now. I’ve got my countdown on my wall and I can’t wait to get home and see all of you! I miss you terribly.

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Konichiwa! I am writing from Japan as a very exhausted Morgan, so forgive me if this blog is a bit nonsensical. But I’ve been to 6 countries in the past month, so I think I have an excuse for being worn out. Japan was absolutely incredible; if I spoke the language I would move here in a heartbeat. Everything is clean and it’s so quiet! Of course there are the regular noises of daily life, but it’s practically silent at night and even the subway cars are quiet inside.

Our first port was Kobe. The first day, however, I went to Hiroshima. That was after waiting four hours for everyone to go through immigration. Japan was intense – we all had to get our temperature taken by walking past a video camera, kinda strange. Then we had face-to-face passport inspections outside the ship in a terminal. They took our photo and our fingerprints. Once you were off the ship you couldn’t get back on until everyone went through immigration. But my sea was called last anyways, and so I got through 20 minutes before my trip left. I went on the SAS trip just because none of my friends were planning on going to Hiroshima and I didn’t think logistically I could pull off getting there on my own the first day, not knowing the rail system and with limited time because of immigration. We took the bullet train, which was incredible; if I remember my numbers correctly it goes 280 miles per hour! And they’re so punctual – the schedule says it will come in at 3:21 and it does on the dot, with only a minute for everyone to get on and off as well. This was my first SAS trip that I’ve really regretted doing with SAS; I am so glad that I got to experience Hiroshima, but I have never been more embarrassed of my peers. They were just so incredibly disrespectful. I overheard conversations about how wasted they were going to get that night while we were walking through the memorials. Someone even said “Oh my god, why is it so quiet here?” Because some people are actually respecting the memories of the lives lost. But the experience of seeing Hiroshima more than made up for the idiots that are pervasive on this trip. The A-dome is the first thing you see when you pull up, a constant reminder of what happened August 6th, unchanged since that day. There are several memorials throughout the grounds; the land used to be overflowing with homes and shops, but it was absolutely demolished after the bomb, so they decided to keep it clear as a memorial park. There is a memorial mound that holds the cremated remains of 70,000 unidentified bodies; most of these were probably entire families that died together so no one was left to claim them. Draped around all the memorials are thousands of brightly colored paper cranes. Most of you probably know the story about the little girl, Sadako Sasaki, who was dying of cancer as a result of radiation poisoning; she thought that if she could make 1,000 origami cranes she would live, but she dies before she could finish. They’ve since become a symbol for the fight to rid the world of nuclear bombs. The main memorial is made up of three separate memorials that all line up in a row – in the background is the A-bomb dome, and then the flame that will not be extinguished until the last nuclear bomb is destroyed, and framing it all is an archway protecting the ledge containing the names of all the A-bomb victims. It is taken out once a year to add new names. The museum was shocking. We all got audio guides and everyone just walked around the museum for two hours in absolute silence, listening to all the stories. There was an entire wall with letters the mayor of Hiroshima sends any time a country tests or builds a nuclear weapon, and it was absolutely terrifying to see just how many there were. And how quickly you could spot one to the US. The hardest part, but most moving, was the individual stories about victims of the A-bomb. Most were stories of children, because at the time the government had a program where school kids were helping to demolish building near the dome to create fire lanes. Some children managed to make it home, but died because all medicine had been destroyed with their homes. Most stories were of parents searching schools and only finding bookbags or sandals. One school had taken bits of bones and wrapped them in scraps of calligraphy paper; one father took one home and treated it as his daughter, because he found nothing else. What I really appreciated about the museum was that there was no anti-American sentiment like there was at the Cu Chi tunnels. They just pleaded for peace.

The second day I went out with a friend and explored Kobe. There isn’t much to do in Kobe because it’s mostly a residential city, so we just ended up walking around the streets and looking through the mall. That was cool because we got to see all the Japanese fashions, although everything is so expensive hear that we couldn’t afford anything. We got a bite to eat and then I went back to the ship to pack. At 5 pm anyone not sailing on to Yokohama, including me, was kicked off the ship. My group traveling to Tokyo met up outside. We had a couple of hours until our bus left, so we walked around the city some more and then grabbed dinner. When we were waiting outside for our bus, these two guys in suits come up to us and start talking: “Wedding party! We happy! Hahaha! You welcome!” Unfortunately we had to catch the bus because that would have been a blast. They asked where we were from and then responded “Obama! YES WE CAN!” So funny. And they got our picture, so some newly-wed Japanese party has my picture in their wedding album now. We took an overnight bus to Tokyo. It was basically just a regular coach bus, but the seats reclined a little bit more than normal. I slept in one hour segments; either the lights would turn on and the bus driver would talk or I would have to change positions.

In the morning it dropped us off right outside Tokyo Disneyland at 7 am! We had some time to freshen up and then took the monorail to DisneySea. Gates weren’t until 8:30. And it was raining, which put a damper on things, but Disney spirit made up for it! It was so great because the Japanese are already so happy and polite when they serve you, even at 7-11 (yes, they are in Japan), so obviously Disney workers have to be even more chipper so it was pretty intense Disney spirit. It was also full out Christmas spirit. Now, normally I have a ban on Christmas music until December, but it was impossible to avoid in Japan. They LOVE Christmas; it’s not a religious holiday here, they just love the lights. It’s also a time for couples to exchange gifts – the guy is supposed to give a gift three times greater in value, I like that thinking! Even the Tower of Terror workers were overly happy, which kinda ruined the mood. Tower was way different than Disneyland – it had an Americana theme and the story was about some cursed Aztec statue, or at least that’s what I think since it was all in Japanese. Indiana Jones was almost identical though which was cool, and hearing him speak in Japanese was hysterical. I was in heaven though because they have a Little Mermaid section! I really wanted to meet Ariel, considering I would probably be the only other redhead she’d ever seen on the job haha, but there was a 45 minute wait. I did get to meet Prince Eric though! And we ran away together. Literally – after my friend took a picture with him he grabbed my hand and pulled me to another spot for our picture, and then he spun me around. The little girl inside me was swooning. We asked him where he was from, because he was white and had an American accent, and he goes all innocent, “I’m from here! Ariel and I live here.” We saw the Under the Sea show; so incredible! It felt very Asian because it was all acrobatics. Everyone was suspended in the air and they had puppets for the fish. Ariel sang in English but spoke in Japanese. The lines were super long, even with fastpasses, and I am not used to spending a full day at Disney so it was pretty intense for me. I thought it was great though that the entire day I only saw seven white people, and three were other SAS-ers and two were Ariel and Prince Eric. It was a long day – 12 hours at the park total – but so much fun. We got turned around a bit finding our hostel, but if you just stand on the street with a map looking lost, someone stops to help you so we found our way back. That night we just went out to eat, we were so exhausted. My friend and I split an order of assorted meat skewers; we ended up getting one skewer entirely of chicken skin, and one of chicken cartilage, which I tried but the entire time I was just imagining chewing on my nose, it was so gross. It felt so good to sleep in a bed that night, I was out so fast.

Our third day we explored the Asakura section of Tokyo where we were staying. We went to McDonald’s for breakfast since our hostel’s idea of breakfast was toast, and the Japanese idea is rice. We were really lucky with our timing, because there was a temple right down the road from our hostel that was having a huge festival celebration for the year of the rooster. It and the market around it were absolutely packed. The temple was an Ortori shrine dedicated to the rooster, and one of the best known in Japan. The big thing was street vendors selling lucky bamboo rakes decorated with symbols of good luck and fertility. They had this really neat fortune system at the temple, where you would take a can and shake a stick out that corresponded to a drawer. Inside the drawer were papers with your fortune on them; mine was horrible! It told me I had bought too many material possessions – too true after this trip – and that my house was going to burn down! If it’s a bad fortune you’re supposed to fold it up and tie it to this rack to give it away. I wanted to keep mine for a souvenir though, so luckily it had a caveat at the bottom that said as long as I believe in God I’m good to go, so I figure my house is safe. We also went to the 100 yen store, the equivalent of a dollar store. We spent way too much time there but it was awesome. You could find almost anything that was being sold on the street for cheaper. After that we navigated our way to Yokohama to get back to the ship. <;That night we went out for karaoke! Karaoke in Japan is different from the states – your group gets a private room, and it comes with an unlimited drinks package and you get huge phonebook size books of song options. It was so awesome. The environment seemed so much better to me – you didn’t have to sing in front of a bunch of strangers, everyone just belted along to every song and danced and had a blast. It was a good night.

Today we went and explored Yokohama. Ironically enough, we ended up in Chinatown, but it’s what this area is really known for and it was cool to explore. There was an entire store of panda merchandise. We went out for lunch at a Japanese restaurant where we got to sit on the floor, which was a cool experience. Before we headed back to the ship we got snacks to take back with us and I got one last thing of mochi, basically my new favorite dessert. After I got back on the ship and was settling in and getting stuff done, I had to go back outside for face-to-face inspection again. Now I’m actually having to start on homework since I have nine days at sea until Hawaii and I haven’t done anything this past month. So much to do, and so little motivation. I’m relieved though that I won’t have a huge blog to write every month though! This takes a lot of energy, especially since I’m keeping a separate journal as well that’s even longer. This really feels like the culmination of this trip; no one’s really counting Hawaii and Costa Rica as ports especially since they’re shorter and are surrounded by so many days at sea. I’m going to count on all of you to e-mail me and keep me entertained, or I may go out of my mind! We’re all prepared for the homesickness to really set in since we’re getting close to the end and we don’t have traveling to distract us. I miss you all!

Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons?

I just spent 6 incredible days in China and after only 2 more days I’ll be in Japan. Life is good! On top of that the entire world is celebrating our new president and I couldn’t be happier. China was the country I was most excited for; it had the most sites I wanted to see, but was a place I was fairly certain I would never travel to on my own without the opportunity of Semester at Sea.

China was the first of two ports, the second being Japan, where the ship docks twice in one country. Students have the option of getting back on the ship and traveling by sea to the next port, or remaining on land and making their way to the ship’s new location on their own. I didn’t want to waste a single day. We docked the first day in Hong Kong, and met back up with the ship in Shanghai. I spent a day in Hong Kong, 4 days in Beijing, and a day in Shanghai.

After a succession of third-world countries, Hong Kong was quite the sight. I think we had all forgotten what skyscrapers looked like. This was also the first port where I had absolutely no plans or even an idea of what to do. My friends and I just decided to explore the city. Some of them needed to buy train tickets, so we got that accomplished and then went for the all-important lunch; it doesn’t matter how early the ship is cleared, food is always the first priority because even with only two days at sea we’re all so sick of ship food. We found this hole in the wall Chinese restaurant where we were the only white people. Luckily the menu also had English, so we weren’t ordering completely blindly. I had some delicious noodles, but a lot of people were disappointed with the food this country because it bears so little resemblance to what we think of as Chinese food. After lunch we walked the streets looking for a market. Our map had sections marked as shopping, but it turns out these were all malls with lots of boutiques and designer stores – definitely not what we were expecting or interested in after weeks spent haggling in markets. We stumbled upon one little market in an alley, but that was it. At night we treated ourselves to a really nice dinner in one of the hotels overlooking the waterfront for the light show (all the buildings have neon lights that they flash in patterns). It was nice to have a fancy meal for a change, although I did love all my $3 meals; it was especially nice because the ATM only let me take out a minimum of 500 Hong Kong dollars (around $60) and I only had one day to spend it all! After dinner we got some Haggen Daaz. I can’t even begin to say how much I miss desert. The fruit we get in most of these countries just doesn’t cut it for me, and the ship’s deserts are lots of cakes with no icing, which is worthless.


The second day I left for Beijing. I went on a SAS trip to explore the city and also interact with some students from Tsinghua University, where we stayed. The first day was mostly travel – you have to put in a LOT of cushion time at the airport when you’re checking in 70 students all at once. When we arrived one of the students gave us a brief lecture on the sites we would be seeing that week; my one complaint about this trip was that 15 minute lecture was basically the only tour information we received the entire trip. One of the main reasons I signed up for big SAS trips was for the tour guide; this trip, I guess since it was arranged through the university, they just dropped us of at the sites and told us to meet back up in 2 hours. I really missed learning in-depth about the places I was seeing, because the tour guides on my other trips have been really informative. Anyways, after the lecture we went to dinner. All our meals this trip were family-style with a lazy susan. This first meal was special because we got Peking Duck, which was delicious. I’m becoming quite the chopsticks expert, although they still look at me like I’m doing it all wrong; it’s working for me though!

The third day started at the Great Wall! We climbed the Juyongguan section. So impressive. And so tiring! I didn’t even make it to the top of the section we were at, and I was exhausted. It’s so packed with people, and the pathways widened and narrow randomly (c’mon ancient architects, what were you thinking?) making it really difficult to keep a steady pace. Plus the steps are all different sizes, and, once again, giant sized compared to my legs. But the view is incredible. It’s autumn in China now, so there were lots of multi-colored leaves which was nice after lots of tropical countries. But it also meant it was freezing! We were not prepared for 50 degree weather coming from Vietnam. Even Hong Kong was in the 80s! I got stopped again to have my picture taken with a Chinese lady; lots of SAS kids had bought fur-flap hats with Communist stars on them that made them really popular to take pictures with, but I’m proud that I stood out without a silly hat :P Climbing back down was even harder. Our knees were jelly at the end, and our noses were numb. So of course we warmed up with some shopping, getting the requisite “I climbed the Great Wall” t-shirt.

After lunch, we changed our schedule around a bit and went to see the pandas! Now, I’ve seen pandas before, but never in China, which obviously makes them much cooler pandas. It was naptime for all the giant pandas; but of course, when is it not nap time for pandas, except when it’s meal time? They were so adorable though. After the pandas we went to meet up with some of the University students. This was definitely not what we expected. They took us to a basketball court where all the students were playing with their friends and basically said “Mingle!” Some guys tried joining a basketball game but ended up just taking over the court, which was embarrassing to watch. But it all worked out in the end and some students started playing basketball together, and they had other students come to give the non-athletic like myself tours of the campus. I got a tour from a freshman English major named Stella – her English name that we can pronounce and spell. It was really interesting to hear the differences between our school systems. Tsinghua University is one of the top schools in China, and has more selective admissions than MIT. So, you can imagine with no surprise that most of the students’ weekends are spent in the library. Stella showed us around her dorm; 4 students live in a room. Each wall has two beds with no space in between and desks and drawers underneath. They also share a common area with a room next-door, but it is a lot smaller than what we’re used to and still complain about. Plus they have to swipe their ID card and pay for water to shower! Stella explained to us the Chinese university admissions process; everyone has to take a test, their version of the SATs but much more difficult, that universities use to decide admittance. But there is another route, which she took, to just interview with the university, and if you get accepted you don’t have to take the entrance exam. Another interesting difference is their major is decided for them; after the interview the university tells students if they’ve been accepted, but they are only accepted if they study a certain major. Stella showed us around campus and then we met up with the rest of the group for dinner at one of the university canteens. The meal was definitely a cafeteria-version of Chinese food, aka not all that good. A lot of SAS kids went out at night because we had a surprising amount of free-time for an SAS trip, but I could never bring myself to go back out into the cold. And each trip inevitably ended with an hour driving around the campus because 1) the taxi drivers don’t speak English and 2) they had no idea where our guest house was. I was much happier snug under my comforter.

The fourth day we started the morning at Tian’anmen and the Forbidden City. The mass of people there was just incredible. Now I understand why Chinese tourist groups always have a leader with a flag – it’s impossible to tour China without one, and yes we too had a flag and our group still got separated. Walking through the square into the Forbidden City you pass through gate after gate, the first with the infamous picture of Chairman Mao front and center. The Forbidden City was the Emperor’s home for nearly 5 centuries, up until the Qing Dynasty. Now, it can’t go unsaid that the imperial Chinese architecture is absolutely gorgeous. But it is also very repetitive. Especially when the Forbidden City is just a series of gates and courts and palaces that are all very similar in design. Plus there was always a crowd at the blockades to view inside the palaces, and the Chinese are very pushy, so it was near impossible to see inside. After lunch we went to visit the Temple of Heaven. Again, you see one imperial Chinese building, you’ve seen ‘em all. Not that it wasn’t a neat place to explore also, just very similar buildings. The Temple of Heaven has some neat things inside. The Circular Mound Altar is a stone circle in the middle of a raised platform where the emperor used to make his prayers for good weather because he was closer to the gods there. In the next court there is the Echo Wall, a round wall that you can hear whispers from the other side of the wall resound. Unfortunately they have put up a barricade that makes it impossible to get close enough to the wall to make it work. The main building, the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, is particularly impressive because it is made entirely out of wood, but with no nails. Quite a feat considering it is 125 feet tall. The highlight of this site was the old woman that came up behind me, looped her arm through mine and pulled me in front of a building to take a picture. No one’s ever around when these things happen to take a picture with my camera, though!

After sight-seeing, we went to the Silk Market for our shopping time. The name is deceiving, because this place sells everything under the sun, from your fake bags to your fake jeans to your fake jackets to your fake sunglasses to your fake shoes to your fake shirts to your pirated DVDs. And some real pearls thrown in for funsies. Some people went absolutely nuts in there. I was one of the reasonable ones, and I came out with a peacoat, a pair of knit Uggs, and two pairs of pearl studs. Bargaining here was intense; take my jacket: she started the price at $Y 2800. I ended up getting her down to $Y250, and that was mostly because I thought I would never be able to get her down to a price I could afford but she just wouldn’t let me leave. Once she started getting low enough for my liking and I actually started bargaining she kept saying “Oh, you so tough! You like Chinese! Why you so tough?” I probably could have gotten her even lower, but I am more than content. From there we went to the acrobatics show! It was so incredible. The things these people can do are absolutely mind-blowing. You had your contortionists and guys on balance boards balancing on top of other guys on balance boards. Ten girls riding on one bicycle. Tumblers jumping through rings. Plate spinners. And all of this done at a level you never would believe possible. Our jaws were to the ground the entire time.

Our final day in Beijing we went to the Summer Palace in the morning. The Summer Palace was built by an emperor who supposedly was jealous of the gardens of Suzhou and wanted one for himself, but if he came out and said that he wouldn’t be allowed to build it. So he played on familial respect and told everyone he wanted to build it in honor of his mother’s 60th birthday, and they couldn’t deny him. The grounds are quite the maze, and we got quite lost. It’s built alongside a lake, and one of the stand-out features is the Marble Boat, which, obviously, does not float, but has quite the presence on the lakefront. All of these Chinese historical sites are also used by the Chinese public as parks, so around each exit you see men playing hacky sack, women ribbon dancing, and, my favorite, dozens of Chinese men and women line dancing. After lunch was the moment we were all waiting for: the Olympic stadiums. I realize this might sound ridiculous after all these incredible historical sites, which we appreciated, but the Olympic stadiums just had an appeal for us that the others did not. Just over two months ago we sat around our TVs and watched incredible things taking place in the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, and now we were there! And we got to go inside! All three big stadiums, including the National Arena where gymnastics took place, were located right alongside each other. The Water Cube was a lot smaller than I imagined. The two competition pools, for diving and racing, were actually in the same arena, which none of us ever expected. The racing pool was full of lights for a show, which was a bit disappointing, but the diving pool was full. Those were the only two pools besides the warm-up pool. The rd’s Nest, however, was just as big as it seemed, and I would know, since we had to walk almost the entire way around to get in. I got to sit in the stands, lie down in the middle, and put my feet on the track. Too cool. In the center they had all the costumes from the Opening Ceremony displayed; they look even funnier up close. It was just such a surreal moment being there. Now I can be tricky and say I was in Beijing in 2008! Afterwards we headed to the airport to fly to Shanghai. In Shanghai, everyone on our trip pretty much stampeded towards the buses so they could sit in the front and be first off and first on the ship. It was pretty embarrassing to watch them dart past Chinese families with their giant backpackers bags flying everywhere. I knew no matter what there would be a line to get back on the ship, so I was in no rush.

Today (well, technically yesterday at this time of night) I had an FDP that lasted literally all-day, from 7:30 am to on-ship time at 6 pm. In case I haven’t explained it yet, FDPs are short for Faculty Directed Practicum; they are trips that anyone can take, but are especially designed to go along with certain classes. Each student has to take 3 FDPs per class, some of which can be done independently, and write papers on them. This trip went to Suzhou, a town 2 hours outside of Shanghai. One day in Shanghai and I don’t even stay in the city! Suzhou is known for the silk industry, its canal system, and its beautiful gardens. The city is over 2500 years old. Our guide told us a Chinese saying is “In heaven, there is paradise. On Earth, there is Suzhou.” We first went to one of the campuses of Soo Chow University; they have five campuses in the city, and each one has different schools. This one had the schools of business and physical education. A student gave us a tour of the campus and told us a bit about the school, but her voice was so quiet I couldn’t hear most of what she had to say. Then we went to the Master of Nets garden. Chinese gardens were all private residences surrounded by mazes of gardens to seclude them from the surrounding city. One of the big aesthetic features were rocks – giant limestone rocks taken from the river, with naturally eroded holes and crevices. The funniest part was that when the rocks were stacked together to make sculptures in the gardens was before cement, so instead they used a paste made from sticky rice and egg whites! It has lasted for years, but now as repairs are needed they are fixing things with concrete. After lunch, we took a boat ride down the canal. It’s funny how many times I’ve ended up in a small boat in port when all my time outside of ports is spent on a ship. The canal area has recently been taken on as a pet-project of the government and the landscape around it has been renovated, so it is quite beautiful. And the old stone homes on the water are still preserved as well. From there we went to the Lingering Garden. I have to admit I was quite gardened out at this point; the gardens are along the same lines as the imperial architecture, for me. My mind can only take in so much koi fish, cypress trees, pagodas, and rocks. Our final stop was a silk factory. We saw all the stages of silk production: first the “silk worm babies,” as our tour guide called them. Then their cocoons, which they take before the moths have hatched and put in an oven to kill the pupae. Then they boil the cocoons to make them soft and they have this stick that they stir in the water to find the ends of the cocoons. They then put them in this machine that pulls the ends of the cocoons together, and then 8 cocoon threads are spun together to make one thread of silk. There is a separate process for double cocoons, when two worms make a cocoon together. Because the strands are intertwined, they cut these open and then, after soaking them to make them soft and pliable, stretch them out to make a fabric which is used to make quilts. It was very interesting to watch, but I can’t say I enjoy knowing what baking cocoons smell like. From there it was a two hours drive to Shanghai to be back on the ship in time for dinner.

The only reason I’m actually getting this blog done tonight is because I have to stay up until 3 am for my free internet time to arrange registering for classes, so I’m trying to make it a productive sleepless night. Just a short time until Japan! I’m going to cherish every moment and stuff my face with sushi, because after that will be a long, long time at sea with lots of homework and lots of meals of pb&j that I am not looking forward to. So instead I’m living in the moment and being excited about Japan! I’m also ignoring the fact that I’m going to freeze my little butt off in Japan – when packing all the tropical countries frazzled my mind to the fact that it will be winter in some of these countries, and winter actually means winter. Layers will be the key to my survival. My plan for Japan is going to Hiroshima the first day. The second day is still up in the air, but it will be spent doing something in Kobe I believe. The third and fourth day I’m traveling with friends to Tokyo, and we are going to Tokyo Disney one day. And the fifth day I believe we are going to go see Mt. Fuji and then make our way to Kyoto to meet the ship. I’m extremely excited, but I’m missing you all terribly. Everyone on the ship is feeling homesick; it’s like freshman year but worse. We all came into this thinking it would be cool because we’re used to going away to school, but it’s different. Even though I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to go home yet if I was back at school, it doesn’t matter. Not being able to talk on the phone regularly makes a huge difference. So you have no idea how much each and every one of your e-mails means to me.

Oh, and since the question was raised, I did not buy my plate in Cambodia – it was creepy and an awkward picture!

Yes we can!

Well today is a historic day! And luckily for all of you back home the results mean that I will not have to jump ship in Japan and will be returning to the US as previously planned.

The ship did a wonderful job of keeping us connected to the real world. Early in the morning we had CNN radio and websites to keep us up to date. Luckily halfway through state results we managed to get a live stream of MSNBC. This meant that we were able to see McCain's concession speech and Barack Obama's victory speech. Wow, just wow. We all got a kick out of the people in the far corners of the world huddled around a radio line. I'd say about 75% of the ship are ecstatic, 5% are apathetic, and 20% are either bitter, silent, or in hiding (no offense meant to McCain supporters). As for me, I can't wipe the grin off my face.

This trip has shown me just how much the rest of the world cares about our elections, and just how much the rest of the world wanted Obama elected. I am so hopeful about how this election will impact our image in the rest of the world now. This is a historic moment for us, but it is also for the rest of the world, validating their ideas that the current government of the United States is not the voice of the people. They have treated us with respect and love despite their lack of support for our President. But in two months we will be able to show them a new face of the US.

Tomorrow morning we dock in Hong Kong, and then I am off to explore China!

There are so many Vietnam refrences possible as a title, but they all seem cliche

Okay okay, I’ll say it before somebody does: Good morning Vietnam! This port was interesting because I spent more time out of the country we docked in than I did in it! The majority of my time (3 days) was spent in Cambodia visiting Angkor Wat, but I did get a taste of Vietnam as well. And that includes the food, which I could eat forever and ever and never be sick of it.

We got a later start than normal this port because we had to wait for the tides to be right to go upstream on the Saigon River. Luckily I was on a SAS trip so I was first off the ship. I went to visit the Cu Chi tunnels. It was a two hour drive from the port, but I actually love all of these long drives in foreign countries –there’s so much to see! Our first stop was the war memorial, with symbolic headstones because so few of the bodies were recovered. It was interesting in contrast to Arlington Cemetery in D.C.; this one was littered with dead leaves and branches and the headstones were already deteriorating, where as Arlington has pristine landscaping and gleaming headstones. Then we went to the tunnels. Cu Chi was a village where most of the fighters were civilians; a lot of them were women too, which really confused the American soldiers. The tunnels actually existed long before the Americans arrived –they were originally used for hunting, and the traps were used to catch tigers. It was very eerie to see them demonstrate how all these different traps worked. They also showed us a video that praised the “American killer hero.”A side we never hear. At the end we got to crawl through one of the tunnels; it was so tiny, and this was the one enlarged 40%! We were crouched down the entire way through, squatting with our backs bent over just staring at the person’s butt in front of us, and at one point we had to slide down a small slope. When we got out our backs were completely covered in dirt. The strangest part about the entire experience for me was the shooting range; I just can’t imagine how someone could pay to shoot an AK-47 that could have been used against American soldiers at one point in an area where their relatives were fighting for their lives not too long ago. It just baffles me; I found it entirely disgusting. On our way back we got caught in horrible traffic –it was like a Tetris game with motorbikes, and our giant coach bus was a block too big to move anywhere. When we finally made it back I went out to eat with some friends at Pho 2000 –it’s the restaurant Bill Clinton went to when he visited Vietnam, and there are pictures of him all around the walls of the restaurant; as our tour guide said “He ate two bowls! He hungry man!”I honestly don’t know how he did it, they were big bowls!

The next morning I left for Cambodia. It was only an hour flight, and we went straight from the airport to Angkor Wat. Absolutely breathtaking. We just walked around the temple for a couple of hours and took disgusting amounts of pictures, but everything was so incredibly crafted! It took 37 years to build, and when you see it that time seems way too short. We got to see the sunset, which we spent sitting alongside the moat watching local boys do crazy backflips and dives into the water; it was so hot I seriously considering following suit despite the sketchy water in the moat, but I resisted the temptation. That night we had a buffet dinner with a show of traditional Cambodian dance.

On day two we got up to see sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was a bit disappointing, actually; it’s the rainy season right now, so it had just stopped raining when we got there and it was very cloudy, so we saw very little sunrise. But it was very calm and relaxing. We returned to the hotel for breakfast before going out again, this time to explore Angkor Thom, another temple a couple kilometers away from Angkor Wat. Plans for both complexes were made at the same time, although Angkor Wat was built first. They didn’t just decide, “Hey, you know what we could use? More temples!”They actually planned out a gazillion temples in close quarters! We entered through the South Gate, which was lined on either side with statues; one side was demons and the other gods. It’s a very depressing site, because, like most of the statues in the ruins, many of them are missing their heads. During the chaos of the Khmer Rouge, looters stole many of the statues’heads because the entire bodies were too heavy to transport. Angkor Thom is unique because all of the temple peaks have 4-faced Buddhas. Along with the entry gate, there are 52 Buddha faces in the temple, which may have represented the provinces of Cambodia at the time. The temple also has a long series of stone carvings representing daily life. Our tour guide showed us that you could tell the difference between the Cambodians and the Chinese because the Cambodians had long stretched ears and the Chinese had goatees. My favorite carving was one of an alligator eating a man. Nin, our tour guide, also told us that until 1995 there were very few tours through the Angkor complex because the area was filled with land mines; that is such a short time ago, it’s incredible how much it’s changed. My favorite part of the temple was the Elephant Terrace, where the King and Queen used to sit for shows; across the field from them were twelve buildings that used to have a rope stretched between them for tightrope performances!

While that may seem like a complete day already, that’s just up to lunch. In the afternoon I took the shortened trip that cut out an hour and a couple of temples, and I was still exhausted by the end of it! Unfortunately it also means that I can’t use my itinerary to remember what temples I saw that afternoon, but there were two –one was jungly and one had lots of stairs, hah. The first had huge trees growing into the temple, with roots snaking around the walls and into doorframes. The most memorable part, however, was the walk down with the child vendors. Now, by now we’ve dealt with this phenomenon many times. But I have to say these kids were the hardest to walk away from yet. They really knew how to play the pity card. With just the right whine in their voice, they said “Madam, 5 bracelet one dolla! Please, one dolla for school. Madam…”Luckily I actually wanted the bracelets because it was too difficult to not feel sorry for them. The second temple we could climb up a huge set of stairs to the top of one of the peaks and get an incredible view of the land. The stone stairs were so huge for me though that it was like scaling a mountain, I had to use hands to boost myself up.

On the third day we went to Tonle Sap Lake in the morning to see the floating villages. It’s the second largest lake in the world (during the rainy season) and 6,000 people live on it. Everything they need is on the lake, from their jobs fishing to markets to hospitals and schools and churches. Children came out from all the house boats to wave to us as we went down the river. It was a very neat experience. On our way back they were selling plates with our faces on them! They had taken the pictures when we walked to the boat; it was so creepy! After lunch we went to one more temple! Ta Phrom. Apparently it’s the temple were Tomb Raider was shot, but I wouldn’t know. It was one of the most abandoned temples and overtaken by the jungle and cool to wander around, but we were pretty templed out at that point and overheated. Afterwards we headed to the airport and back to Vietnam!

This morning, on my last day, I did a food and shopping tour of Vietnam. I got some more pho and winded my way through the intense aisles of the Ben Than market. It was worth it though; I got some good purchases for very cheap. The big thing to buy hear was backpacks and duffels (to carry home all the stuff we’ve bought so far) but I was all set in that market so I got chopsticks and DVDs! Now I dive straight back into the world of school, unfortunately. Two very quick days until Hong Kong, one of which will be spent glued to my computer for election results. So my time in China isn’t completely ruined by me sinking into a pit of depression, don’t forget to go out and vote Obama!

On a side note, if you ever send me an e-mail and I don’t respond, I’m probably not ignoring you, my e-mail service is just choosing not to send everything through sometimes. So don’t hesitate to send another e-mail yelling at me for neglecting you from halfway around the world, I won’t mind.

Malaysia, Simply Asia!

Malaysia! A country I had absolutely no expectations going in to, down to the point of having absolutely no plans. But I couldn’t be more pleased with these last five days. Now, when you hear what all I did in port you might think “Really? That’s how she chose to spend her time in port?”And I’ll admit it wasn’t the trip I had in mind, but it was definitely the trip I needed at this juncture of Semester at Sea.

Malaysia is a different port from all the others because of the docking process. The ship can’t pull up to a pier, so we have to take tenders to shore –essentially, our lifeboats. Our first experience of the tender process was terrifying. That first morning it was basically monsooning outside, which equals rough waters. So to get on the tender we had to stand on a small deck on the side of the ship and then step onto the tender. This would have been fairly simple, were it not for the fact that the tender was rising a foot above and falling a foot below the stairs. So two crew members held our arms on the deck and then when the timing was right we stepped onto the tender and were grabbed by another crew member. But the tender wasn’t sanctuary. Instead it was more like a sauna –100 people crammed into a boat that is sealed up so that it could survive in the middle of the ocean if necessary, not really made for air circulation. It only took about 5 minutes to get to shore, but it took 15 minutes to load the boat and more to unload depending on how close to the door you sat. Plus it only left the ship on the hour and the pier on the half hour; there was a lot less pit stops on the ship than normal, to say the least.

So after we survived the tender, my friends and I braved the downpour to find a place to eat. We happened upon a food court with a bunch of kiosks of vendors selling different foods. We were so excited because this was the first country they didn’t warn us about the street food, so we went to town. The other incredible part? Each meal cost only one US dollar. That’s what I like to call a deal. I honestly couldn’t tell you what I ate, but I can tell you it was so good I went back every day and tried something new and equally delicious each day. Best discovery ever. After the meal it was still raining, so where do you go on a rainy day? The mall! I could see Mom rolling her eyes when I told her I went to the mall, but it was still a cultural experience! For instance, going into stores was really unnerving because they employees would follow you around wanting to help you, but conditioning in the US has made me think that means they think I’m going to shoplift. In the evening I went to the Welcome Reception; it was cool, but definitely not up to par with what I’ve heard about the ones in the other countries –everyone was very unsatisfied with the SAS day trips this country, I think they need to work with a new tour agency. I got to see a shadow puppet show at the reception. We couldn’t understand half of it because it was in Malay, but the comedic break in the middle was an American trying to get directions from a Malaysian, I liked that they were poking fun at us. It is a very neat art form.

The next day I spent in Little India –yes, even though I had just spent 5 days in India. It was worth it though. I got to get all the souvenirs I didn’t think to get in India, and more things that just weren’t available in India. Monday is the Festival of Lights, so they were selling all kinds of decorations, it was neat to see. My friend got a Punjabi suit at a store that made a sari for Miss Universe that she wore in the competition. Mid-day we went back to the ship for an hour break. We ended up on the tender with all the mail coming in; it was really neat to see all the packages and the huge sack of mail, and the crew kept joking that we could take what we wanted. In the evening I just went out for a nice meal at a place on the water near the pier and headed in early.

Friday was spa day. That’s right, I went to a spa, and every single minute and dollar spent was fabulous and worth it. After so many trips of carrying my huge backpack everywhere, my back was aching walking around. I got an hour-and-a-half massage, a body scrub, a milk bath, and a pedicure. The place was gorgeous too. It was tucked away in the hills with an ocean view surrounded by huge lush trees, just fabulous. That night we went to a restaurant/club right by the pier on the water. We had the best time when people asked us where we were from, because we could just point to the ship. Too cool.

Saturday we attempted to hike Penang Hill. I say attempted because we never made it. We started off with a leisurely stroll through the Botanical Gardens, and we kept getting passed by dozens of joggers –apparently it’s the place to work out in Penang. We should have known what we were in for by the people stretching at the base of the hill. But still, we decided to take the more difficult but more scenic route up through Moon Gate. Five minutes in we were all drenched in sweat and panting. It’s not that it was really that difficult, but paired with the humidity it was deadly. And there were stairs. Lots and lots of stairs. And these stairs were definitely not carved into the hillside with my little bitty legs in mind. Not so much fun. After about an hour and a half in, we decided to turn back. We’re not sure how far we made it, but I’m sticking with halfway to make myself feel better. It was beautiful hiking through the jungle though. And at one point we came upon a troop of monkeys (is that what you call them? Or is it a pack?) and they were leaping all around us and above our heads in the trees, with the yittle babies clinging to the mommy monkeys. We just stopped and stared at them, while holding all our bags tight because they have a penchant for running away with them. We recovered from our work out at our food court, and then went to a different mall –this one was the hawker mall. We decided to walk there, and got horribly lost in Chinatown but made it eventually. It was worth it though, because I made the best purchases of my life. For $70 US total, I purchased the following: All 7 seasons of The West Wing –Seasons 1-3 of How I Met Your Mother –Seasons 1-4 of House –Seasons 1-4 of Numb3rs. That’s right. The West Wing set has one disc for each season. They came in boxes too and I’ve checked them all and they all play and are good quality. Apparently you can get them cheaper in Vietnam, but I don’t have as much time there and word is that the quality is iffier and there’s a greater chance they won’t work, so I’m more than content. What’s more, that night I went to Batu Ferengi where they have a night market and bought even MORE DVDs! I’m crazy, I know, but it’s totally worth it. For just $30 US I got: Season 2 of Psych –Season 1 of Gossip Girl –All episodes of Black Adder –The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. And they are all in fine working condition as well! I will never be bored on the ship again haha, but it’s going to be much harder to motivate myself to work. The night market was really neat –1 kilometer of stalls along the road, with lots of knock-off bags, watches, and DVDs, but some cool art as well and the normal tourist souvenirs. The truly best part of the night was getting back on the tender, because we were on it with a bunch of the crew coming back for the night, including my room steward Jesse and my favorite server Perry. It was really neat to see the crew in their street clothes and just having a good time with their friends. And it just warms my heart how happy they are when they see me –I got huge smiles and waves when they spotted me. They are the most amazing people ever. Oh, and there was a huge and hysterical debate between the different dining room staff about which floor was better to eat on (obviously deck 5 –Perry brings me dessert!).

So Mom isn’t totally disappointed, I did go to some temples this morning! We went to two Buddhist temples that were across the street from each other. One was Thai and has the famous reclining Buddha (if my internet was working right now I’d look up how long it is) and the other was Burmese and had a giant, gold sitting Buddha (again, if my internet was working I’d look up how tall it was). Both were absolutely stunning. The outsides of the temples are just so bright and joyous, just covered in intricate and ornate carvings. Then you get inside and the main focus is the Buddha, but then there are other small Buddha statues absolutely everywhere littering the temples. The walls behind the sitting Buddha were just covered in hundreds of identical Buddha statues. They had really neat candles for prayers that were pink lotus flowers. Behind the reclining Buddha was a mausoleum, with hundreds of urns of ashes in glass cases along the wall. The glass was etched with information about the person and usually had a picture of them on it as well, it was really neat to explore. Strangely enough, they were also selling orange monastic robes there. We tried to go to our food court one last time, but for some reason it wasn’t open and the rest of Penang was like a ghost town, so we just took the tender back and ate on the ship. It must have been fate, because they were serving fried chicken and French fries so I was in absolute heaven. This afternoon was spent relaxing, catching up on work, doing the blog and picture thing, and cleaning up the tornado my room turns into while in port. Luckily tomorrow is my sleep-in day, because it’s already 11 pm but more episodes of Psych are calling me! Someone help, I have an addiction. I’ll be going cold-turkey in 3 days though, because I’ll be in Vietnam! Crazy crazy whirlwind traveling has officially commenced!

Incredible India

They told us India would be like no other country we’ve visited, and they were right. Totally sensory overload, emotionally draining, and a physically exhausting itinerary made for an experience I have yet to fully digest. I’m going to format this blog a little differently than my past ones so you can get an idea of just how much I did in so little time. Each day felt like three days.

Day One -
0800: Arrive in Chennai. I didn’t get off the ship before my SAS trip because not knowing the city or what getting around would be like, I didn’t want to take any chances, especially considering the big bucks spent on this trip.
1430: Leave for the airport. We had an hour long bus ride to the airport, and my eyes actually hurt from trying to take everything in. The streets are crowded with rickshaws, cars, buses, trucks, people walking, and, of course, cows. And everyone is honking; it’s not a defensive thing like in the U.S., more like a rearview mirror –it says “Hey, I’m here so don’t merge!”But it’s an adjustment to hear horns going off and not automatically feel tense. The women in their bright colorful saris are such a stark contrast to the grey, worn-down, dirty city around them.
1700: Fly to Delhi. It amazes me that these small, local airlines who charge next to nothing for tickets provide better service than any major airline in the U.S. We received a full meal on every flight, no matter how long it was or what time it was. Our first flight had in-seat TV screens and everything, from movies to TV shows, was free.
2100: Arrive at hotel. We were greeted with flower garlands and red paste dots on our foreheads, and there was an incredible buffet dinner waiting for us. Naan is basically my favorite thing ever; I’m really going to miss having it with every meal. Our room had full cable, and we caught an episode of Indian Idol –it was kind of eerie, so similar yet so different because everyone was singing Indian folk songs (it was an audition episode).
2400: Bed!

Day Two –
0415: Wake-up.
0530: Arrive at train station. We hustled through the station to our train, the Shatabdi Express –we were running late because a couple people slept through their wake-up calls. The station was full of families and people sleeping or cooking breakfast. We quickly got sanctuary from the beggars in our train car and started observing. There were signs that said “Please do not spit,”yet it was okay to pee or squat off the sides onto the tracks. The trip was two and a half hours, most of which was not surprisingly spent napping.
0830: Arrive in Agra.
0930: Arrive at Fatehpur Sikri, the Red Fort. This was a beautiful palace made out of red sandstone in a deserted city outside of Agra built by Emperor Akbar. He built it to honor a Muslim saint who prophesized the birth of his heir. He had three wives –one Muslim, one Christian, and one Hindu (he himself was Hindu) –and the largest harem, some 468 I believe. Each wife had a different section of the complex and the architecture included signs to each of their religions. For awhile it was the capital city along with Agra because it meant so much to Akbar as the birthplace of his son, but it was eventually abandoned because it had no water supply.
1215: Arrive in Agra for shopping tour. We went to a higher end store that had gorgeous rugs, marble items, and silk items. It was more expensive than most of us were hoping for, but as our guide told us when you buy something on the streets you have no way to verify whether or not it’s real silk, but here you could be sure. I ended up buying a fabulous gorgeous silk bedspread for only $150. It ended up being quite the steal, because at our second shopping tour later in the week people bought them for $450! I’m in love with it –it’s already on my bed and makes me so happy with its bright colors and Indian designs.
1300: Lunch at Hotel Mansingh. This trip ended up being the trip of buffets. It was nice because we tried a lot of things, but it also meant we had absolutely no idea what we were eating. Meals at hotels also meant that I survived India without any form of traveler’s sickness! The hotel had some shops where I went on a scarf shopping spree. They also had shirts screen-printed that said “Welcome Semester at Sea!”Too funny.
1415: Arrive at Agra Fort. It was also built by Akbar, and also out of red sandstone! I guess he had a thing for it. All the Mughal emperors lived there. When Akbar’s son Shah Jahan took over, he rebuilt portions of the palace in white marble –can you guess what other building he built? Yep, the Taj Mahal; you know those Mughal emperors and their particularities about stone. Shah Jahan was later imprisoned there by his son; his portion of the palace fortunately overlooked the Taj Mahal, and he spent the rest of his life on the marble balcony staring at the building, supposedly. It’s a shame it’s so overshadowed by the Taj Mahal, because it’s a beautiful complex. Plus jealousy of the Taj Mahal is the reason Shah Jahan’s son locked him up.
1515: Arrive at the Taj Mahal. It’s hard to describe my experience at the Taj Mahal. You see so many pictures of it, yet seeing it in person is so different. Now, it was incredible to see, don’t get me wrong, but I’m glad we only had an hour there because really all there is to do is to look at it and take some pictures –it’s not a cultural immersion like other parts of this trip. We went inside to look around, but it was dark and so rushed because there was such a long line to get in. For your brief history lesson, the Taj Mahal was built in honor of Shah Jahan’s wife who died giving birth to his 14th child. She asked three things of him –to never remarry, to take care of the children, and to build a unique building to honor her. He certainly succeeded. She is entombed in the center of the building, and his son later entombed him with her as well. The reason all pictures of the Taj Mahal look the same is because the building is identical on all four sides. Another interesting fact is that the four towers surrounding it all lean slightly outwards, so that in case of an earthquake they would not damage the tomb. The walls of the tomb are inlaid in precious stones such as jade in floral and vine designs as well as calligraphy of passages from the Quran. The white marble of the building has been stained by pollution, so now cars are banned from within a certain perimeter of it, but it doesn’t make it any less stunning. Oh, but I should tell you, I totally outshown the Taj Mahal. So much so that an Indian family stopped me and asked to take their picture with me.
1900: Arrive at Hotel Mansingh for dinner.
2030: Leave on the Shatabdi Express.
2330: Arrive in New Delhi.

Day Three –
0600: Wake-up. It’s crazy to hear 70 college kids actually excited about waking up at 6 a.m., but it was a treat among the 4 a.m. wake-up calls.
0715: Leave for bus tour of Delhi. Among the things we saw was the India Gate, a war memorial for WWII. It was so eerily reminiscent of the lawn in D.C. –the monument on one end facing the government buildings on the other with a long lawn in between. We then drove past the Parliament house and the President’s house and all of the embassies. Outside of the embassies were dozens of red-faced monkeys. Monkeys are considered sacred, like cows, because of Hanuman, the monkey king in one of the Hindu holy books; the embassy workers even feed them every day!
1040: Fly to Varanasi.
1215: Arrive at hotel. We stayed at the Radisson –it was comforting American familiarity with an Indian twist. We checked in and had another buffet meal
1430: Arrive in Sarnath. This is the ancient city where Buddha preached his first sermon, and a required pilgrimage site for all Buddhists. We first visited a Buddhist temple that is a replica of one of the ancient temples destroyed by invaders. Outside was a statue of Buddha preaching to his five disciples. It was in front of a Boddhi tree –a tree from a cut of the original tree that Buddha sat under and achieved enlightenment –and plaques containing the text of his first sermon. Then we saw the ruins of the ancient monastery. The grounds were covered in ancient stupas. Most were stupas built as thanks for good things in their life, but there were two reliquary stupas that contained relics of the Buddha inside. No one really knows what relics are inside, but they could be anything from his robes to his hair to his fingernails. One of them was partially destroyed by invaders, but the other was a huge overwhelming dome building.
1700: Leave for the Ganges River. The streets leading down to the Ganges are so narrow and crowded that our bus would not have been able to fit. So our tour guide had 35 rickshaws lined up to take us down. There are two types of rickshaws –auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws. We took cycle rickshaws. Two of us sat in the back and this scrawny Indian man hopped on to peddle. His looks were deceiving though, and he powered us along, cutting off other rickshaws left and right to bring us into the lead of the pack. The ride was terrifying but exciting. The edge of the rickshaw is only two inches or so. Meanwhile our driver is swerving into ongoing traffic and motorcycles and cars are honking and zig-zagging all around us. But as we went along children waved to us with huge smiles on their faces and the streets were lined with shops selling gorgeous saris that were incredible to look at. That night we witnessed an aarti –a worship ceremony –on the banks of the Ganges. I honestly couldn’t explain to you what I witnessed; I have no idea what any of it meant but it was beautiful to witness. There were raised platforms lining the river bank, each set up with a small table. There was a monk –or whatever the Hindu equivalent is –at each platform repeating the same motions. A chant was broadcasted over speakers, and the monks took incense and then tiers of flames and moved them around their body in a circular motion, stopping at the top of the circle to hold it up. Meanwhile they were ringing a bell with their other hand. I just Wiki-ed it, and apparently the aarti is an offering of lamps to the deities –makes sense now!
2000: Return to hotel. Dinner. Shower. Collapse.

Day Four –
0430: Wake-up.
0500: Return to River Ganges. At this hour the streets were less crowded, so our bus could drive farther and we walked the rest of the way. All along the road dividers were people sleeping or waking up to beg from us. Most of them were old or crippled; many of the old come to Varanasi because if you die there you automatically achieve moksha –the liberation of the soul. Down at the river we boarded a boat and sailed down and back to witness all the different religious practices that take place there. The Ganges is considered sacred by the Hindus. It is a required pilgrimage, and washing in the river is supposed to release their souls from the rebirth cycle. There were different ghats –basically docks, but steps leading down to the river, not raised walkways) –for different people; there was one specifically for widows, and one where the Muslims washed. They don’t believe the river is sacred, but they just wash there; I don’t know why on earth they would think that was a good idea –the water is polluted with chemicals from factories and a dark, murky, oily brown with trash and corpses floating in it. I don’t really understand why the Hindus would not want to protect and clean the river if they consider it so sacred. The most shocking moment of the morning was seeing a bloated, grey corpse of a child floating just inches past our boat. I’m sorry if this image was hard for any of you to read, but it was even harder for me to see. Pregnant women and children under eight are not cremated; instead their bodies are simply disposed of in the river. At each end of the section of ghats are cremation ghats –one for the poor and one for the rich. The bodies are carried up on stretchers wrapped in gold paper (at least at the rich ghat). They are covered in sandalwood and the pyres are burned until the body is cremated. Part of the ashes is then thrown into the Ganges. This ceremony is also only attended by men. Afterwards we were supposed to see some of the major temples of Varanasi, but the recent terrorism has tightened security and so one we could not enter and the other we had extremely limited time.
0845: Breakfast.
0945: Shopping tour. We went to a silk shop where we saw the old and new methods of making silk. Both processes were extremely intricate, but the old way was so impressive. It takes two people to work the looms. One man sits above and selects different strings to separate and pull back that then dictate the pattern; this pattern he has completely memorized. Another man sits at the loom and throws spools of the silk through and then tightens the weave. Afterwards we had the option of going to a bead store. I bought some bangles that are so tiny –they barely fit over my hands, and I have to use lotion so they will slide over, but they’re so pretty. There were also women upstairs doing henna so I got a design from my wrist to two fingertips. It made packing very difficult though!
1200: Leave for airport. We had lunch at the airport –can you guess? That’s right, another buffet! So strange. We had 3 very long hours before our flight; travelling without an iPod sucks.
1700: Arrive in Delhi. Another 3 hours until our flight to Chennai. After our twenty hour days, this was pretty miserable.
2300: Arrive in Chennai.
2400: Arrive back at ship. There were five buses coming from the airport around the same time; this means 180 people waiting in line to have their bags checked and to go through security. AKA Hell. At the security check-point of the port, our bus was behind two others and we were all absolutely devastated at the thought of hours in line standing, holding our bags because the ground is too disgusting to set them down. Somehow, though, our driver knew a shortcut and we arrived to an empty pier. I’ve never been so excited in my life.

India is not just another country, it’s another world. A fascinating world, but one that I am content with my time spent there. I very much enjoyed experiencing it, but it will be nice to go to a country that is less overwhelming where I don’t feel so nervous travelling. I won’t miss having to hold my head up and walk past beggars, cripples, and vendors without saying a word, because even to smile is a sign to them that they can eventually break you down and get money. I won’t miss having to ignore children as they tap my arm and move their hand from their belly to their mouth, indicating hunger. And I can’t say I’ll miss the smell either. The dirt just seeps into you without you noticing; I washed the scarves I wore throughout the trip in the sink today, and the water turned brown. Our hallways of the ship are covered in cardboard, and the tables and bars on the outside deck are encased in plastic. I will, however, miss the food; the ship’s food is even more bland and boring than it was before after a week in India.

In just three short days I will be in Malaysia! I’ll be travelling entirely differently there, staying in the port city and doing almost everything on my own. I still have almost no plans there, but I’m assuming my time will include a lot of temples. Hopefully between classes and work I’ll have enough time to recover from my marathon sprint through India. As always, I send all my love to your side of the world. Do everything you can these next 18 days to ensure it’s a side of the world I’m happy to return to.