Vietnam was by far one of my favorite ports (although I’m sure I’ve said that about at least four other ports; but hey, we keep going to new places!). I went on a four-day biking trip with 20 other students who organized the trip independently with a travel agency – the whole shebang, including five-star hotels, food, supplies and tours at various places, costing a whopping total of $215 USD.
Our first stop was to a restaurant to have a traditional Vietnamese lunch. Most of us weren’t too excited about the food, to be honest. A whole fish – scales and eyes and all -- that had been dropped in a fryer was placed in front of us for us to pick at with chopsticks (we nicknamed our table’s fish Herbert). Then we had some shrimp, some clear soup with vegetables, and some kind of beef. This basically sums up the meal that we had at every restaurant we went to.
Then we hopped on a ferry and floated over to a factory where rice candy is made. We got to see them popping the rice and mixing it with sugar and making it into different types of candy, all of which we got to sample. The factory was really hot, and it was 90 degrees outside, so I felt pretty bad for the workers who had to cook rice all day.
Then we had the option to try cobra shots. A cobra shot is literally a whole cobra preserved in some kind of rice wine. The venom is said to mix with the wine and give it medicinal properties. Personally, the whole thing sort of freaked me out so I didn’t try it, but lots of my friends did. (They said it was absolutely disgusting). There’s another variation on the cobra shot that I heard about from some other SASers that sounded even lovelier: someone cuts off the head of a live cobra right in front of you and pours the blood into a shot glass containing a little alcohol. Then you drink the blood/alcohol. If you’re lucky, you get to swallow the cobra’s heart while it’s still beating. I kid you not. I’ve talked to some people claim to have done it.
Anyway, I didn’t have the guts to do anything like that but kudos to the students who can brag about drinking cobra’s blood.
After that, we went on a relaxing afternoon cruise along the river. People living in houses along the water waved at us and came out of their houses to see us. We were taken to a house that belonged to a wealthy Vietnamese family and doubled as a bed and breakfast. We watched a music and dance performance, and then we slept on cots outside. The house was very beautiful – really traditional and old.
The next morning we woke up early and got on our bikes. The trail went along the Mekong Delta on a trail that ran through the woods, past local houses. Everyone waved to us as we walked by, and occasionally we had to break hard to allow for passing chickens. The weather was nice that day too – hot but dry and really pleasant in the shade of all the trees. I took a bunch of pictures.
We ate lunch at a small restaurant (same lunch as before, plus or minus prawns, so I’ll spare you the details) and visited a terracotta factory where clay pots were made. My favorite things were the huge kilns they used to bake the clay. Again, it was extremely hot and I felt so bad for the employees who had to work there every day! After the tour, we got back on our bikes and made our way into town and to a hotel.
We cycled about 60 kilometers on the first day. I wasn’t especially tired from the biking but it was hot and the bicycle seat was really narrow and starting to get extremely uncomfortable (I was literally bruised after the trip), so I was glad to have a break. The hotel was really nice too. After dinner, a few of us walked around to get a feel for the area, and then we conked out early. By the way, I would love to divulge the name of the city we were in (we were very far away from Saigon at this point), but I honestly can’t remember and I can’t point it out on a map because I had no idea where we were and neither does anyone else who went with me! It was nice to get away from everything though, and we were really in a remote part of Vietnam.
The next morning our guide took us to the floating market, which is where everyone comes out on their boats to buy and sell fruit, vegetables, animals for meat – any kind of food you can think of. While we were drifting along, a few “river vendors” rowed up to us, held on to the side of our boat, and tried to sell us cans of coke. It was such a neat experience. Some boats had huge pigs on them, some had chickens, some had melons stacked to the brim. Many of the vendors seemed to live on their boats too – a few were bathing while we floated by (and got really embarrassed when a couple students tried to take pictures), and some had satellites hooked up to the top so that they could watch TV.
Then we had some more biking – 45 kms worth. This time, people were getting really tired and really uncomfortable. We begged our tour guide to take us to a restaurant that was a little different from the others (like I said, most of us weren’t big fans of the food), and he took us to his wife’s aunt’s road-side stop. We were a little confused because it didn’t really look like a restaurant, but they brought out plates and plates of incredible food, vegan-everything. We had an amazing lemongrass curry, pineapple rice, bok choy, noodles, little bananas, mango – absolutely one of the best meals I’ve had on this entire trip.
At the end of that day’s biking, everyone was completely exhausted, and we finally stumbled into our hotel at about 8 p.m. after about 8 full hours of biking. Again, we pretty much passed out after dinner.
We left really early the next morning to head back into Ho Chi Min – a seven hour drive. Most of us slept the whole way until we got back within city limits. Our guide took us to the Cu Chi Tunnels, which were really pretty amazing. If you don’t know, they’re tiny tunnels that Vietnamese soldiers used during the war (which, by the way, they call the American War, whereas we call it the Vietnam War). The tunnels were maybe 4 feet high, two feet wide, and we were all crouching or on our hands and knees. And the particular tunnels that we went in to had been widened for tourists.
Then we had the option to fire off machine guns, which a few of the guys in my group signed up for readily. It was so loud – it made me realize how horrifying it would be running through the woods and hearing gunshots close to you.
We also got to see some of the traps the Vietnamese would use on Americans – I have to say, some of them were downright sadistic. One was a trap door that rotates when you step on it, causing you to fall in a pit full of sharpened bamboo stems. Our tour guide said Vietnamese preferred to injure American soldiers so that other soldiers would have to help them, so they did things like put rotting cow tongues on the spikes so that the wound would get infected. Pretty terrible.
After our informative little tour, we were driven back into Ho Chi Min. I went out with my roommate to a club called Apocalypse Now, which I thought was ironic, and danced for a little while in a very upscale part of town (we’re talking Louis Vuitton and Gucci – a stark contrast to the river houses I had seen people living in just the day before).
On my last day in Vietnam, I went out shopping at a strange market that was set up like a mall, but basically everything in the entire building was a knock-off. Fake jewelry (set up very professionally), fake handbags, fake perfume, fake computer supplies (I got a camera charger and a 2G memory card for $15 USD), and bootleg DVDs. Really strange place. Everything was dirt cheap, and vendors expected you to bargain. I bought a bunch of DVDs and a couple of fun souvenirs.
Then it was time to get back on the ship, which was really sad because I’d enjoyed Vietnam so much. It’s really a beautiful, fun, interesting country that I would love to go back and visit again.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Malaysia
Hey family and friends,
Sorry I’ve gotten so behind on my blog – we’ve been hopping through countries so quickly I’ve barely had any time to sit down to check my email, much less write a blog.
We’re en route to Hong Kong right now, having just left Vietnam, but this entry is going to be about Malaysia.
I’d like to preface by saying that I wasn’t especially excited about Malaysia – I wasn’t unexcited but with the excitement of countries like South Africa and India, I put Malaysia on the back-burner. Ironically, it ended up being one of my favorites. I had no idea what to expect – I hadn’t really given it much thought – but I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and urbanization of Malaysia.
We docked in Penang and I went out with the group of friends I was planning on traveling to Kuala Lumpur with. Our original plan was to find a hotel for the night since our flight was very early the next morning and we didn’t want to deal with the tender boats that brought us in because they tended to get delayed. Instead, we found a cab driver who offered to drive us all around Penang and take us to a few sites very inexpensively. I think it ended up being about $3 USD each (for a group of 4) for the whole day.
A word about Penang – it has an enormous Chinese population and the Chinese influence is very evident as you walk around.
So, our cab driver took us to factory where they make beautiful designs on cloth using wax and a special dye. They hand-draw intricate designs on the cloth using a tool that holds the wax, and then they dip the cloth in the dye. To remove the wax, they wash the cloth in boiling hot water. Some of the dresses were very pretty, but a little too expensive for our tastes, so we moved on to a museum.
The museum was a huge Chinese mansion built in the early 1900s. The rooms were very ornately decorated and beautiful and I got a lot of pictures of rooms called “The Bridal Chamber” or “The Parlor.” It was pretty interesting to see life for the wealthy back in the day.
We were feeling a little peckish so our driver bought us some roadside snacks called Pao – a Chinese pastry which is sort of like a puff of soft bread with some coconut jam in the middle. Mmm.
Then we stopped at the railroad station to get tickets for my friends who opted to take the train to KL instead of fly (both options were about the same price). After that, our driver took us to a Buddhist temple that contained an enormous bronze statue of a reclining Buddha. His toes were about the size of my head. We lit a candle and tried to meditate on the pillows they had laid out, but I think we probably looked a little silly. Oh well.
Moving on. We said we were hungry so our cab driver took us to a little food court where a bunch of little shops had been set up. Everyone was selling traditional Malaysian street food and everything was in Malay or Chinese, but with a little help from our cab driver, everyone ordered food they were happy with. I got some type of curry that I think contained octopus (or something with tentacles) and tofu, and it was absolutely delicious. I took a picture and I’ll post it as soon as I have reliable internet. Each meal had more than enough food and cost about $1 USD a plate. We all had ice cream for dessert, too.
Our cabbie then took us to a cheap but clean hotel called Hong Ping which was about $35 USD a night for all of us. We set our stuff down and then decided to walk around a little.
We found a cute hole-in-the-wall bar called the Hong Kong Bar and played Connect Four and Jenga and talked to a Swedish guy who worked in Cambodia but was vacationing in Malaysia. It was a good way to unwind and chat after a long day of rushing around the city.
After that, we walked around, looking in shops and trying to find a good place to eat. The restaurant we ended up at wasn’t very good (pretty bland, Americanized food) but it had a little dance club attached to it so we stayed there and danced for awhile. A pretty good band was playing and there were a lot of other SASers there.
Somehow, my friend Josh went off by himself to make a phone call and got lost. He was wandering around the streets of Penang at probably 10 p.m. or so. He stopped at a pay phone for a moment to try to find a number for a cab company, and someone came up behind him and held him up at knife-point. Josh gave him 50 Ringitts (about $17 USD) and the guy left. He finally found a hotel and managed to call some of his friends who picked him up in a cab and took him back to Hotel Hong Ping. He was lucky not to have been hurt or have had anything very valuable taken, but it shook him (and the rest of us) up pretty badly.
After this ordeal we decided to relax in the hotel and went to bed fairly early since we all had to be up at about 5 in the morning. For some reason I couldn’t sleep and spent all night reading in the hallway.
The next morning, bright and early, we went to the airport and flew to KL. We took the train into central KL, which was really cool because we could see the skyline as we got closer. In town, we took a monorail to our hostel. The hostel was pretty cool, all things considered – free internet and really cheap calling cards. I paid 20 Ringitts (about $6 USD) for a calling card and I had over 100 minutes to make calls to the States with. I didn’t even use them all but unfortunately the card doesn’t work anywhere except Malaysia. The rooms looked a little like jail cells but at the end of each day I was so tired, it didn’t matter.
So, after we were settled, we went out and decided to get massages because there were signs all over the place advertising hour-long massages for 35 Ringitts (about $12 USD). This was when I realized that the Asian concept of “massage” is a little different from the US one. I won’t go into details but I felt a little violated – and I’m a girl. My two guy friends had a much more awkward encounter.
Anyway, we headed off to the world-famous Petronas Towers after that (feeling a little traumatized, and very oily) and met up with our friends who had taken the train. We couldn’t go up the towers because you had to get there really early in the morning to get tickets (we’re taking 7 a.m.), and even then you could only go to the bridge that connects the towers (built after 9/11 in case of an emergency), which is about halfway up.
The entire platform is a gigantic shopping mall with all of the posh stores – Louis Vuitton, Versace, Ferragamo, etc. Obviously not within our price range but it was fun to meander anyway.
That night we hopped around bars. The nightlife wasn’t very exciting but we had a good time all hanging out together. We met some really cool Germans at the hostel, too.
The next morning we woke up early and spent the day walking around. We went to a radio history museum, which was a little cheesy but fun to walk through. We also climbed the Merona Tower, which is the one that looks like a space needle. We were much higher than we would have been in the Petronus Towers, and we had a fantastic view of the entire city. We stayed up there for about 2 hours napping on the benches, waiting for the sunset (which was sadly disappointed), and then we took the metro back to the hostel. By the way, KL’s public transportation system is really nice.
That night we stayed up because we planned to leave the hostel at 4 a.m. anyway, so I made a few phone calls on my mega-cheap phone card, and watched old Disney movies. The flight back was really pretty – we saw the sunrise, and mountain peaks were poking through the clouds, so we got a few pictures from the window of the airplane.
The next day we went to a few temples and a few shops around Penang, but we had to be back on the ship by 7 p.m. I wish I could divulge more details about the “feeling” of each place we visit because I feel like telling you what I do in each port isn’t enough. So much of the experience comes from the vibe of the city and the attitudes of the people. It’s hard to explain.
Anyway, I know I’ve been slacking on my blog entries – after Malaysia we hopped to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai within a week. It’s been pretty exhausting. I’m going to try to update them as soon as I can. I’ve been keeping bulleted notes with all the important stuff on them so I won’t forget anything.
I miss you all. I’m a little homesick, actually, and I’m looking forward to coming home.
Lots of love,
E
Sorry I’ve gotten so behind on my blog – we’ve been hopping through countries so quickly I’ve barely had any time to sit down to check my email, much less write a blog.
We’re en route to Hong Kong right now, having just left Vietnam, but this entry is going to be about Malaysia.
I’d like to preface by saying that I wasn’t especially excited about Malaysia – I wasn’t unexcited but with the excitement of countries like South Africa and India, I put Malaysia on the back-burner. Ironically, it ended up being one of my favorites. I had no idea what to expect – I hadn’t really given it much thought – but I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and urbanization of Malaysia.
We docked in Penang and I went out with the group of friends I was planning on traveling to Kuala Lumpur with. Our original plan was to find a hotel for the night since our flight was very early the next morning and we didn’t want to deal with the tender boats that brought us in because they tended to get delayed. Instead, we found a cab driver who offered to drive us all around Penang and take us to a few sites very inexpensively. I think it ended up being about $3 USD each (for a group of 4) for the whole day.
A word about Penang – it has an enormous Chinese population and the Chinese influence is very evident as you walk around.
So, our cab driver took us to factory where they make beautiful designs on cloth using wax and a special dye. They hand-draw intricate designs on the cloth using a tool that holds the wax, and then they dip the cloth in the dye. To remove the wax, they wash the cloth in boiling hot water. Some of the dresses were very pretty, but a little too expensive for our tastes, so we moved on to a museum.
The museum was a huge Chinese mansion built in the early 1900s. The rooms were very ornately decorated and beautiful and I got a lot of pictures of rooms called “The Bridal Chamber” or “The Parlor.” It was pretty interesting to see life for the wealthy back in the day.
We were feeling a little peckish so our driver bought us some roadside snacks called Pao – a Chinese pastry which is sort of like a puff of soft bread with some coconut jam in the middle. Mmm.
Then we stopped at the railroad station to get tickets for my friends who opted to take the train to KL instead of fly (both options were about the same price). After that, our driver took us to a Buddhist temple that contained an enormous bronze statue of a reclining Buddha. His toes were about the size of my head. We lit a candle and tried to meditate on the pillows they had laid out, but I think we probably looked a little silly. Oh well.
Moving on. We said we were hungry so our cab driver took us to a little food court where a bunch of little shops had been set up. Everyone was selling traditional Malaysian street food and everything was in Malay or Chinese, but with a little help from our cab driver, everyone ordered food they were happy with. I got some type of curry that I think contained octopus (or something with tentacles) and tofu, and it was absolutely delicious. I took a picture and I’ll post it as soon as I have reliable internet. Each meal had more than enough food and cost about $1 USD a plate. We all had ice cream for dessert, too.
Our cabbie then took us to a cheap but clean hotel called Hong Ping which was about $35 USD a night for all of us. We set our stuff down and then decided to walk around a little.
We found a cute hole-in-the-wall bar called the Hong Kong Bar and played Connect Four and Jenga and talked to a Swedish guy who worked in Cambodia but was vacationing in Malaysia. It was a good way to unwind and chat after a long day of rushing around the city.
After that, we walked around, looking in shops and trying to find a good place to eat. The restaurant we ended up at wasn’t very good (pretty bland, Americanized food) but it had a little dance club attached to it so we stayed there and danced for awhile. A pretty good band was playing and there were a lot of other SASers there.
Somehow, my friend Josh went off by himself to make a phone call and got lost. He was wandering around the streets of Penang at probably 10 p.m. or so. He stopped at a pay phone for a moment to try to find a number for a cab company, and someone came up behind him and held him up at knife-point. Josh gave him 50 Ringitts (about $17 USD) and the guy left. He finally found a hotel and managed to call some of his friends who picked him up in a cab and took him back to Hotel Hong Ping. He was lucky not to have been hurt or have had anything very valuable taken, but it shook him (and the rest of us) up pretty badly.
After this ordeal we decided to relax in the hotel and went to bed fairly early since we all had to be up at about 5 in the morning. For some reason I couldn’t sleep and spent all night reading in the hallway.
The next morning, bright and early, we went to the airport and flew to KL. We took the train into central KL, which was really cool because we could see the skyline as we got closer. In town, we took a monorail to our hostel. The hostel was pretty cool, all things considered – free internet and really cheap calling cards. I paid 20 Ringitts (about $6 USD) for a calling card and I had over 100 minutes to make calls to the States with. I didn’t even use them all but unfortunately the card doesn’t work anywhere except Malaysia. The rooms looked a little like jail cells but at the end of each day I was so tired, it didn’t matter.
So, after we were settled, we went out and decided to get massages because there were signs all over the place advertising hour-long massages for 35 Ringitts (about $12 USD). This was when I realized that the Asian concept of “massage” is a little different from the US one. I won’t go into details but I felt a little violated – and I’m a girl. My two guy friends had a much more awkward encounter.
Anyway, we headed off to the world-famous Petronas Towers after that (feeling a little traumatized, and very oily) and met up with our friends who had taken the train. We couldn’t go up the towers because you had to get there really early in the morning to get tickets (we’re taking 7 a.m.), and even then you could only go to the bridge that connects the towers (built after 9/11 in case of an emergency), which is about halfway up.
The entire platform is a gigantic shopping mall with all of the posh stores – Louis Vuitton, Versace, Ferragamo, etc. Obviously not within our price range but it was fun to meander anyway.
That night we hopped around bars. The nightlife wasn’t very exciting but we had a good time all hanging out together. We met some really cool Germans at the hostel, too.
The next morning we woke up early and spent the day walking around. We went to a radio history museum, which was a little cheesy but fun to walk through. We also climbed the Merona Tower, which is the one that looks like a space needle. We were much higher than we would have been in the Petronus Towers, and we had a fantastic view of the entire city. We stayed up there for about 2 hours napping on the benches, waiting for the sunset (which was sadly disappointed), and then we took the metro back to the hostel. By the way, KL’s public transportation system is really nice.
That night we stayed up because we planned to leave the hostel at 4 a.m. anyway, so I made a few phone calls on my mega-cheap phone card, and watched old Disney movies. The flight back was really pretty – we saw the sunrise, and mountain peaks were poking through the clouds, so we got a few pictures from the window of the airplane.
The next day we went to a few temples and a few shops around Penang, but we had to be back on the ship by 7 p.m. I wish I could divulge more details about the “feeling” of each place we visit because I feel like telling you what I do in each port isn’t enough. So much of the experience comes from the vibe of the city and the attitudes of the people. It’s hard to explain.
Anyway, I know I’ve been slacking on my blog entries – after Malaysia we hopped to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai within a week. It’s been pretty exhausting. I’m going to try to update them as soon as I can. I’ve been keeping bulleted notes with all the important stuff on them so I won’t forget anything.
I miss you all. I’m a little homesick, actually, and I’m looking forward to coming home.
Lots of love,
E
Monday, March 24, 2008
India!
Hey everyone!
Here is my long-delayed India post I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to.
Simply put, India is a culture shock, and at first I felt a little nervous about wandering into Chennai, but I soon realized that, despite extreme poverty, everyone is extremely friendly. I think I had a better time staying in Chennai than many people did going to see the Taj Mahal (they said it was a little disappointing).
India isn’t pretty by any means, but it is full of energy and interesting sites. This will sound clichéd, but driving through the slums, where children were eating trash in the streets, really did make me realize how lucky I am, living in luxury compared to most people.
On the first day, I went out with a Semester at Sea group to see a Schizophrenia Research facility. I thought it would be very interesting to see how Indian treatment differed from American treatment. It wasn’t quite what I expected – we were ushered into an auditorium where we watched a movie and then asked questions to one of the doctors. We weren’t given a tour of the facility or allowed to meet any of the patients because of privacy regulations (which I can understand, but I was still disappointed).
One thing I found interesting: in America, many paranoid schizophrenics have delusions about a Christian God cursing them; in India, they have delusions about Hindu gods and goddesses, which seems obvious, but it’s funny how culture can shape your mind.
That night I went out with my friends Josh and Heidi, affectionately known on the ship as “The Couple,” because they’re always seen together. We went shopping at a few places and I bought a beautiful silk sari. I’m not sure when I’ll wear it in the US, but it’s gorgeous fabric, so I think I might have it made into a skirt or something. I paid Rs 1000 ($25 US) for it after talking the guy down from Rs 3800 ($95 US).
We then we out to eat at a very nice genuine Indian restaurant – we could tell it was genuine because the menu was completely written in Tamil and there were a bunch of traditionally dressed families. I asked for a chicken curry with some naan bread, and they brought the food out to us on big banana leaves – no silverware. In India, you are supposed to eat with your right hand (never eat with your left hand; I won’t go into details about why). So, we dug in. The food was delicious and eating with your hands is really fun because you feel like you’re rebelling against every piece of etiquette ever drilled into your head. Our bill for the entire meal only ended up being only Rs 480, or about $12 US.
A word about auto-rickshaws: I’ve traveled to a lot of places, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy driving, but Indian auto-rickshaw drivers are definitely the craziest. It’s so much fun riding around in them though.
The next day I went out to a shopping mall with a group of girls. We just checked out some of the local stores – most of them were along the same strain: lots of fabrics, small devotional statues made of wood or bronze, jewelry, rugs, clothes, pillows, hookahs, tea, and incense. I bought a few small souvenirs. Everything was incredibly cheap, and you could easily bargain the price even lower. I bought a Punjabi dress (google it for an idea of what it looks like), and they tailored it to my exact size. Altogether it was about Rs 600 ($15 US).
The following day I went out with another group of people to check out some of the temples in the Chennai area. Thanks to my Hindu class, I was able to recognize most of the gods and scenes portrayed on the temples, so it ended up being really fascinating. My favorite deity is Saraswati, the goddess of education, knowledge and fine arts. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay out long looking at the temples because it started pouring rain, and we were all eager to get back to the ship and get dry.
That night we went back out to a hookah bar, led by the inter-port student Kanishka. Kan is from Chennai and goes to school there. He was invited to sail on the ship as an ambassador, so he flew to Mauritius and sailed with us to India. He gave a few presentations and was available to answer all of our questions. We got to be pretty good friends, and he picked us up from the ship in his own car and took us out for the night. The hookah bar was a lot of fun, even though I wasn’t really interested in the hookah smoking. The food was incredible though, and they had good coffee. Then we went to a nightclub, which was a lot different from an American nightclub, but still very upper-class (and expensive). In India, you can’t sell alcohol past 11 p.m., so the bar closed at that point and we went back to the ship.
The next day was my last day in Chennai and I got up early to go out with some friends. We asked our rickshaw driver to stop at an ATM so my friend could take out some money. He stopped at an ATM that was enclosed in glass, for security, and the glass had a thin crack across it. My friend went in and got his money, but when he went to reopen the door, the glass cracked even further and when he tried to push the door open, the glass shattered everywhere. This caused a huge commotion in the area, and everyone came out to see what was going on. The police were called, and a representative from the bank had to come, so we were there for about an hour an a half while everything got straightened out. They wanted my friend to pay $500 for the damage, even after he explained that it was an accident and that the glass had already been cracked when he tried to use it. Finally, when he explained he was on the ship, and said he was going to call the dean, they let us leave without having to pay for the damage. Pretty intense situation.
After that we walked around a market for awhile, and went out to a restaurant where I had amazing chicken marsala and a sort of sweet and sour soup that was delicious. My favorite thing about coming in to each port is trying the food, and Indian food was not disappointing. It didn’t upset my stomach either, which was fortunate. Many people from Semester at Sea came back on the ship with upset stomachs after India.
My only regret about India is that I didn’t get out of Chennai. According to a bunch of my friends, Delhi, Agra and Vernaci were incredible. I didn’t care too much about seeing the Taj Mahal (and the Semester at Sea trips were way too expensive), but I would have loved to see some other Indian cities just to get a taste of how they’re different from Chennai. I’ve heard that Chennai is not a good representation of India as a whole. Maybe I’ll have to come back someday!
Here is my long-delayed India post I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to.
Simply put, India is a culture shock, and at first I felt a little nervous about wandering into Chennai, but I soon realized that, despite extreme poverty, everyone is extremely friendly. I think I had a better time staying in Chennai than many people did going to see the Taj Mahal (they said it was a little disappointing).
India isn’t pretty by any means, but it is full of energy and interesting sites. This will sound clichéd, but driving through the slums, where children were eating trash in the streets, really did make me realize how lucky I am, living in luxury compared to most people.
On the first day, I went out with a Semester at Sea group to see a Schizophrenia Research facility. I thought it would be very interesting to see how Indian treatment differed from American treatment. It wasn’t quite what I expected – we were ushered into an auditorium where we watched a movie and then asked questions to one of the doctors. We weren’t given a tour of the facility or allowed to meet any of the patients because of privacy regulations (which I can understand, but I was still disappointed).
One thing I found interesting: in America, many paranoid schizophrenics have delusions about a Christian God cursing them; in India, they have delusions about Hindu gods and goddesses, which seems obvious, but it’s funny how culture can shape your mind.
That night I went out with my friends Josh and Heidi, affectionately known on the ship as “The Couple,” because they’re always seen together. We went shopping at a few places and I bought a beautiful silk sari. I’m not sure when I’ll wear it in the US, but it’s gorgeous fabric, so I think I might have it made into a skirt or something. I paid Rs 1000 ($25 US) for it after talking the guy down from Rs 3800 ($95 US).
We then we out to eat at a very nice genuine Indian restaurant – we could tell it was genuine because the menu was completely written in Tamil and there were a bunch of traditionally dressed families. I asked for a chicken curry with some naan bread, and they brought the food out to us on big banana leaves – no silverware. In India, you are supposed to eat with your right hand (never eat with your left hand; I won’t go into details about why). So, we dug in. The food was delicious and eating with your hands is really fun because you feel like you’re rebelling against every piece of etiquette ever drilled into your head. Our bill for the entire meal only ended up being only Rs 480, or about $12 US.
A word about auto-rickshaws: I’ve traveled to a lot of places, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy driving, but Indian auto-rickshaw drivers are definitely the craziest. It’s so much fun riding around in them though.
The next day I went out to a shopping mall with a group of girls. We just checked out some of the local stores – most of them were along the same strain: lots of fabrics, small devotional statues made of wood or bronze, jewelry, rugs, clothes, pillows, hookahs, tea, and incense. I bought a few small souvenirs. Everything was incredibly cheap, and you could easily bargain the price even lower. I bought a Punjabi dress (google it for an idea of what it looks like), and they tailored it to my exact size. Altogether it was about Rs 600 ($15 US).
The following day I went out with another group of people to check out some of the temples in the Chennai area. Thanks to my Hindu class, I was able to recognize most of the gods and scenes portrayed on the temples, so it ended up being really fascinating. My favorite deity is Saraswati, the goddess of education, knowledge and fine arts. Unfortunately, we didn’t stay out long looking at the temples because it started pouring rain, and we were all eager to get back to the ship and get dry.
That night we went back out to a hookah bar, led by the inter-port student Kanishka. Kan is from Chennai and goes to school there. He was invited to sail on the ship as an ambassador, so he flew to Mauritius and sailed with us to India. He gave a few presentations and was available to answer all of our questions. We got to be pretty good friends, and he picked us up from the ship in his own car and took us out for the night. The hookah bar was a lot of fun, even though I wasn’t really interested in the hookah smoking. The food was incredible though, and they had good coffee. Then we went to a nightclub, which was a lot different from an American nightclub, but still very upper-class (and expensive). In India, you can’t sell alcohol past 11 p.m., so the bar closed at that point and we went back to the ship.
The next day was my last day in Chennai and I got up early to go out with some friends. We asked our rickshaw driver to stop at an ATM so my friend could take out some money. He stopped at an ATM that was enclosed in glass, for security, and the glass had a thin crack across it. My friend went in and got his money, but when he went to reopen the door, the glass cracked even further and when he tried to push the door open, the glass shattered everywhere. This caused a huge commotion in the area, and everyone came out to see what was going on. The police were called, and a representative from the bank had to come, so we were there for about an hour an a half while everything got straightened out. They wanted my friend to pay $500 for the damage, even after he explained that it was an accident and that the glass had already been cracked when he tried to use it. Finally, when he explained he was on the ship, and said he was going to call the dean, they let us leave without having to pay for the damage. Pretty intense situation.
After that we walked around a market for awhile, and went out to a restaurant where I had amazing chicken marsala and a sort of sweet and sour soup that was delicious. My favorite thing about coming in to each port is trying the food, and Indian food was not disappointing. It didn’t upset my stomach either, which was fortunate. Many people from Semester at Sea came back on the ship with upset stomachs after India.
My only regret about India is that I didn’t get out of Chennai. According to a bunch of my friends, Delhi, Agra and Vernaci were incredible. I didn’t care too much about seeing the Taj Mahal (and the Semester at Sea trips were way too expensive), but I would have loved to see some other Indian cities just to get a taste of how they’re different from Chennai. I’ve heard that Chennai is not a good representation of India as a whole. Maybe I’ll have to come back someday!
Friday, March 21, 2008
More India
We received a blessing before we entered a temple.
I love their dresses.
My friend Forest got to drive the rickshaw.
A beautiful temple
India Pictures
A government building
My friend Heidi trying on a sari
Not the cleanest river
I think this is Lakshmi, but I'm not sure.
You have to eat with your right hand!
New pictures!
Hey friends and family!
I'm working on my India post and I'll have it up as soon as I can. I'm already in Malysia and I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. I do, however, have a few minutes (and fast internet) to upload a few new pictures from Mauritius and India.
Miss you all so much!
E
Here are some pictures from Mauritius:
Climbing up La Ponce - it was quite a hike.
The MV Explorer from the top of the mountain.
From the top of La Ponce, looking down on Port Louis.
A beautiful sunset.
I'm working on my India post and I'll have it up as soon as I can. I'm already in Malysia and I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. I do, however, have a few minutes (and fast internet) to upload a few new pictures from Mauritius and India.
Miss you all so much!
E
Here are some pictures from Mauritius:
Climbing up La Ponce - it was quite a hike.
The MV Explorer from the top of the mountain.
From the top of La Ponce, looking down on Port Louis.
A beautiful sunset.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
There isn’t a lot to say about Mauritius, because I didn’t do much except lie around on the beach all day, but there are a few tidbits I’ll write about.
On the first day, I was one of the first ones off the ship with a group that was going hiking up La Ponce, a mountain overlooking Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius where we’d docked.
The hike was very rigorous and it took about three hours of steep climbing to get to the top, but the breath-taking view was definitely worth it. I have a bunch of pictures, but as I’m sure you’ve realized by now, uploading pictures is a pretty big task and it might take me awhile to get them up. (I hear the Internet cafes in India are very fast and very cheap though, so maybe I’ll have some more luck there.)
After the hike, we were taken to Flic en Flac beach, which is about 30 minutes away from Port Louis. A few friends and I had rented a villa there for the week, and when I got to Flic en Flac, I found my friends already lying on the beach. Our villa was right across the street from the beach, and it cost about $100 US for each of us for the entire week. It was a little shabby but for the next few days it was the place to be and we had a bunch of people drive in from the ship to stay with us.
My friends Eric and Alan got up early one morning to go snorkeling with an SAS group. They had been at it for about 20 minutes when Eric suddenly started convulsing in the water. Alan grabbed him and ran back in to shore – they were in fairly shallow water but there was coral everywhere, and by the time Alan got back, his feet were completely sliced up. (We asked him about this later, and he said the adrenaline was pumping so hard he didn’t initially feel his feet getting cut.) The rest of the group swam into shore and started calling for help.
A doctor happened to be lying on the beach nearby, and helped to adjust Eric, who by this time was starting to regain consciousness but had dislocated his jaw. The coast guard came shortly after, and Eric was air-lifted to the nearest hospital in Port Louis.
According to the doctors, he’d had an epileptic seizure, although he wasn’t diagnosed with epilepsy. He’d had one a few years ago, and they concluded that the combination of dehydration, bright sunlight, overexertion and fatigue was the cause of his seizures.
Anyway, Eric had his jaw popped back in and spent the night in the hospital, but the next morning he grabbed a taxi and came back to the villa, perfectly healthy. By the way, in the picture of us petting the cheetah, Eric is the one in the middle in the white shirt.
Other accidents that occurred in Mauritius:
One girl had had a lot to drink and slipped off her chair at a bar. She hit her head extremely hard on the concrete floor and lost consciousness. They took her to the hospital (at the same time that Eric was there, which is how I know this) where she lay in ICU in critical condition, apparently due to bleeding in her brain. Eric said he heard that there was long-term mental damage. She was sent home before we left Mauritius.
Another girl was walking with a group of people and got side-swiped by a bus – she broke her arm and sprained her ankle. She’s sort of been a joke for the past couple of days (she thinks it’s sort of funny too). The traffic in Mauritius goes the other way, but you probably shouldn’t walk in the street in any country.
Another girl apparently had something slipped into her drink and had to have her stomach pumped, but I’ve heard less about that one.
One guy performed a song at Open Mic night with the lyrics: “It’s kind of suspicious, that night in Mauritius, when everyone came back with bruises and stitches.”
Needless to say, future Semester at Sea voyages will not be going to Mauritius.
The last day I came back to Port Louis so that I could see the downtown area. I went to the open-air market, which was pretty cool – very hustle-and-bustle, with lots of bargaining going on. I got a couple trinkets to bring back with me.
I should also mention that the MahaShivratri pilgrimage was going on while we were in Mauritius. It’s is a huge Hindu pilgrimage (Mauritius is 52% Hindu) during which many families walk from one end of the island to another carrying colorful floats that depict Lord Shiva (“floats” isn’t quite the right word – they’re like statues, almost, or miniature temples). I took a few pictures of the pilgrims as I passed them and I’ll try to post those a.s.a.p. I’ve learned a lot about Hinduism from the class I’m taking on board the ship, and I think it’s a really beautiful, interesting religion, so it was awesome to see a pilgrimage first-hand.
I think Mauritius was a real turning point in our voyage – it was the last place that we could still have many Westernized things at hand, like nice toilets, hot water, and electricity. It was a lot like spring break – a lot of partying and laying out on the beach and relaxing, but now we’re off to countries like India, Vietnam, and China where we’re not going to be able to do that. It’s time to get serious (at least until Hawaii).
It was also a turning point in terms of friendship – like I wrote earlier in my South Africa entry, there have been a lot of little dramas spurring up in different places, people getting angry at each other. So my original group of friends has more or less divided. I’m really lucky to have stayed out of everyone’s little personal fits (mostly because I’ve been very careful to keep my mouth shut and to not perpetuate gossip – harder than it sounds, believe me), and now I’m trying to branch out and meet other people – 50 days on a small ship and I still see people every day I don’t recognize. How does that work?
I’m trying to keep my head and my confidence up – I can tell you that cabin fever is a very real thing and people are definitely starting to go a little crazy.
In lighter news, here’s a tidbit from my Fiction Writing class that I wrote. It’s an experiment with magical realism:
Their feathers were beginning to turn a blanched magenta, but the flamingoes didn't seem to mind. They just bowed their heads against the arctic wind and continued to march, wiry legs twisting in the snow. Their beaks, now robin's egg blue, were glossed with ice. Most had gone blind. When the first bird collapsed, none stopped.
Night seized the crystal landscape. Stars began to appear, and then the Northern lights. For the first time in days, the flamingoes stopped and gazed upward. Carefully, they dislodged their frozen wings from their sides, ice cracking as they flapped experimentally. Then, as one, they pushed off the ground and broke into the blue and green light, a new brilliance exploding from the absence.
Okay, I’m off to class.
I miss you all! Xoxo.
Lots of love,
E
On the first day, I was one of the first ones off the ship with a group that was going hiking up La Ponce, a mountain overlooking Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius where we’d docked.
The hike was very rigorous and it took about three hours of steep climbing to get to the top, but the breath-taking view was definitely worth it. I have a bunch of pictures, but as I’m sure you’ve realized by now, uploading pictures is a pretty big task and it might take me awhile to get them up. (I hear the Internet cafes in India are very fast and very cheap though, so maybe I’ll have some more luck there.)
After the hike, we were taken to Flic en Flac beach, which is about 30 minutes away from Port Louis. A few friends and I had rented a villa there for the week, and when I got to Flic en Flac, I found my friends already lying on the beach. Our villa was right across the street from the beach, and it cost about $100 US for each of us for the entire week. It was a little shabby but for the next few days it was the place to be and we had a bunch of people drive in from the ship to stay with us.
My friends Eric and Alan got up early one morning to go snorkeling with an SAS group. They had been at it for about 20 minutes when Eric suddenly started convulsing in the water. Alan grabbed him and ran back in to shore – they were in fairly shallow water but there was coral everywhere, and by the time Alan got back, his feet were completely sliced up. (We asked him about this later, and he said the adrenaline was pumping so hard he didn’t initially feel his feet getting cut.) The rest of the group swam into shore and started calling for help.
A doctor happened to be lying on the beach nearby, and helped to adjust Eric, who by this time was starting to regain consciousness but had dislocated his jaw. The coast guard came shortly after, and Eric was air-lifted to the nearest hospital in Port Louis.
According to the doctors, he’d had an epileptic seizure, although he wasn’t diagnosed with epilepsy. He’d had one a few years ago, and they concluded that the combination of dehydration, bright sunlight, overexertion and fatigue was the cause of his seizures.
Anyway, Eric had his jaw popped back in and spent the night in the hospital, but the next morning he grabbed a taxi and came back to the villa, perfectly healthy. By the way, in the picture of us petting the cheetah, Eric is the one in the middle in the white shirt.
Other accidents that occurred in Mauritius:
One girl had had a lot to drink and slipped off her chair at a bar. She hit her head extremely hard on the concrete floor and lost consciousness. They took her to the hospital (at the same time that Eric was there, which is how I know this) where she lay in ICU in critical condition, apparently due to bleeding in her brain. Eric said he heard that there was long-term mental damage. She was sent home before we left Mauritius.
Another girl was walking with a group of people and got side-swiped by a bus – she broke her arm and sprained her ankle. She’s sort of been a joke for the past couple of days (she thinks it’s sort of funny too). The traffic in Mauritius goes the other way, but you probably shouldn’t walk in the street in any country.
Another girl apparently had something slipped into her drink and had to have her stomach pumped, but I’ve heard less about that one.
One guy performed a song at Open Mic night with the lyrics: “It’s kind of suspicious, that night in Mauritius, when everyone came back with bruises and stitches.”
Needless to say, future Semester at Sea voyages will not be going to Mauritius.
The last day I came back to Port Louis so that I could see the downtown area. I went to the open-air market, which was pretty cool – very hustle-and-bustle, with lots of bargaining going on. I got a couple trinkets to bring back with me.
I should also mention that the MahaShivratri pilgrimage was going on while we were in Mauritius. It’s is a huge Hindu pilgrimage (Mauritius is 52% Hindu) during which many families walk from one end of the island to another carrying colorful floats that depict Lord Shiva (“floats” isn’t quite the right word – they’re like statues, almost, or miniature temples). I took a few pictures of the pilgrims as I passed them and I’ll try to post those a.s.a.p. I’ve learned a lot about Hinduism from the class I’m taking on board the ship, and I think it’s a really beautiful, interesting religion, so it was awesome to see a pilgrimage first-hand.
I think Mauritius was a real turning point in our voyage – it was the last place that we could still have many Westernized things at hand, like nice toilets, hot water, and electricity. It was a lot like spring break – a lot of partying and laying out on the beach and relaxing, but now we’re off to countries like India, Vietnam, and China where we’re not going to be able to do that. It’s time to get serious (at least until Hawaii).
It was also a turning point in terms of friendship – like I wrote earlier in my South Africa entry, there have been a lot of little dramas spurring up in different places, people getting angry at each other. So my original group of friends has more or less divided. I’m really lucky to have stayed out of everyone’s little personal fits (mostly because I’ve been very careful to keep my mouth shut and to not perpetuate gossip – harder than it sounds, believe me), and now I’m trying to branch out and meet other people – 50 days on a small ship and I still see people every day I don’t recognize. How does that work?
I’m trying to keep my head and my confidence up – I can tell you that cabin fever is a very real thing and people are definitely starting to go a little crazy.
In lighter news, here’s a tidbit from my Fiction Writing class that I wrote. It’s an experiment with magical realism:
Their feathers were beginning to turn a blanched magenta, but the flamingoes didn't seem to mind. They just bowed their heads against the arctic wind and continued to march, wiry legs twisting in the snow. Their beaks, now robin's egg blue, were glossed with ice. Most had gone blind. When the first bird collapsed, none stopped.
Night seized the crystal landscape. Stars began to appear, and then the Northern lights. For the first time in days, the flamingoes stopped and gazed upward. Carefully, they dislodged their frozen wings from their sides, ice cracking as they flapped experimentally. Then, as one, they pushed off the ground and broke into the blue and green light, a new brilliance exploding from the absence.
Okay, I’m off to class.
I miss you all! Xoxo.
Lots of love,
E
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