Day 68 (03-27-09)

Today was just another day at sea. Global studies. Media class. 5 hours of nothing in between. Cultural pre-port for Hong Kong/China tonight. It’s still weird having pre-port the first day back. But I was thinking a few days ago about my trip thus far. Since leaving Nassau, we’ve been to 9 countries. They’ve all impacted me differently, and I decided to make up some way of comparing them to something that’s familiar, so that you can relate to them on a more personal level. With that, here is…

The World

(As a list of ex-girlfriends)

Spain – Ah, she was my first. I thought I was in love. The time spent with her was incredible, and I couldn’t imagine anywhere else that I’d rather be. And yet, in retrospect, I know it wasn’t love. It was puppy love. There was still so much ahead of me at this point, and I didn’t know it. I was happy with Spain. But, as I’d learn later, she wasn’t the best.

Morocco – This girl was like nothing I’d ever seen before. She was exotic. She was different. And she was a good cook to boot. I didn’t know what to expect from this girl, but I’ve always been interested. Something about the bizarre caught my eye. I basically followed her around. Doing whatever she wanted me to do. But I didn’t know enough about her to take charge and try to be open and embrace her. She cracked the whip and I obeyed. I needed the experience, to help me move on. To see what other people had to offer. I’m happy with the situation, but I’m not desperate enough to go back.

Namibia – This girl was adventurous. Fast-paced. Not afraid to get a little bit dirty. She’s the girl with the tattoo. The girl that conservative folks scowl at when they see her walking down the street. She was my black rose. But I’m not that dangerous. I love a good adventure, but I’d never be able to keep up with this girl. It was too much too fast. Maybe if I meet her again someday, we can have another fling. But it’ll never last.

South Africa – Call me naïve, but I think I loved this girl. What do I know about love? Nothing. But I know how I felt when we were together, and I know how I feel now that she’s gone. No one else has quite compared. I’ve been with other girls, but she’s the only one I've ever decided to go back to. I know I’ll go back. It’s just a matter of when. We can be adventurous and spend some time living in the fast lane. Or we can relax, and take in some music at a local jazz joint. She fits me. She sticks around when the memories of others fade away. I want my parents to meet her. After just a few short days, I knew that my family should fly out and see this girl. She’s just that special. I’m sure there are other girls out there that will have the same impact. But I haven’t found them yet. And if I someday end up back in her arms… that’s okay with me.

Mauritius – This was a blind date that went horribly wrong. I was on the rebound from my last girlfriend. She didn’t really know what I was all about. It was really awkward. I felt sick. She didn’t know what to say. We just cut our losses, laughed about it, and went our separate ways. In time, I doubt I’ll even remember her name.

India – Everyone else said she was an amazing girl, so I gave her a shot. Afterwards, I really only enjoyed her one redeeming quality: that smile. Those white teeth. Perfectly symmetrical. Cast in marble. Such an exercise in perfection would be futile to try and recreate. But she was annoying. She talked too much. Her friends talked too much. And she was dirty. What should’ve been a one-night stand turned into four, and all I ever wanted to do while I was around her was take a nice long shower. I’m glad it’s over. I guess I don’t regret it, but I’m in no hurry to ever call her again.

Thailand – This just happened so fast. We were perfect for each other. It didn’t matter what we did; we just always had fun. Whether we were spending all day working hard, or walking aimlessly through the city, we always found something to laugh about. You were beautiful. Dark and mysterious. I didn’t know anything about you before diving headfirst into our relationship. But I learned. And we hit it off so well. Oh and the food. I feel like all we did was eat. I spent way too much money on you. It made sense at the time, but in retrospect, I could’ve used that for other things. But you spoiled me with your beauty, so I wanted to spoil you back. I wasn’t ready to leave. I just wanted another day. Another hour. Five more minutes. But you kicked me out and sent me packing. I walked away, tail between my legs, and wondered what would come next…

Vietnam/Cambodia – This was a steamy little love triangle. I started off with one girl, and everything was going pretty well. I still wasn’t completely over my last girlfriend, but I was ready to start trying. We seemed to be getting along, when all of a sudden, the other woman showed up. We went on a holiday for a few days, and things got hot. So hot. I can honestly say, there hasn’t been any other girl that’s raised my body temp like this one. But again, I knew it wouldn’t last. I ended up slinking back to where I came from, hoping to regain acceptance. And I got it, reluctantly, after a significant kick to the ass and a few lessons learned. But I needed the lesson, and now I know better.

So if you haven’t picked up on it yet… this is pretty farcical. I’ve never actually been a part of a love triangle. I’ve never been on a blind date. Etc. Some entries may relay more truth than others, and I certainly had some people in mind, but nothing here is meant to be taken seriously. I just thought I’d spice up my blog again for a bit of a laugh. Hope you enjoyed.

Day 63 (03-22-09)

Gooooood Mooorrrrrning, Vietnam! Outdated pop culture references are the best.

Our port in Vietnam is different from all of the other ones that we’ve seen. Typically, we pull up to the country, find the port, parallel park, give the keys to the valet and we’re set. Here, not so much. Saigon is several miles inland from the coast. In order to get to the dock, we have to navigate a shallow and narrow river, and this can only be done in the morning. So a group of us slept outside last night and wake up horrendously early to watch the event. It was pretty cool actually. As we navigated the river, we could see people going about their business on the coast. Harvesting rice. Fishing. Selling goods to passersby. Occasionally waving up at the silly tourists as they passed by in the background. Neat.

I had all day to walk around Ho Chi Minh City today before I have to leave the country again tomorrow. We took it easy for the most part. Went over to the Rex Hotel and saw the hangout spot for journalists during the War. Walked around town for a while and got some Pho (pronounced ‘fuh’). It’s a basic Vietnamese soup dish. And the restaurant was called Pho 2000, so we had to stop. Inside, there was a bunch of Applebee’s-style Americana on the walls. Old Coca-Cola ads. Vintage Ford trucks. Artistic renditions of brand logos for Burger King, White Castle, and In-N-Out Burger. It was bizarre. Western culture has had a large influence on all of the African and Asian nations we’ve visited, but I wasn’t sure what to expect here. I mean… it’s Vietnam. How welcoming of American culture are the people of this Communist nation going to be? We kind of came in and wrecked their country a little bit. More on that later. Check out Day 67 for my rant.

I found a really nice tailoring place and got myself fitted for a suit. It’s pretty much the thing to do here. Mine wasn’t nearly as cheap as some of my friends’, but I’m hoping I get what I pay for. Custom fitted. White with black pinstripes. You can’t beat it. Anyway, afterwards, we found the marketplace and a shop with a huge selection of pirated DVDs. It was beautiful. 10 seasons of Friends. 4 seasons of Lost. 4 seasons of Boston Legal. Less than $30. And they all work. Now I have something to do on the ship. I mean, aside from studying…

After a little siesta, we went back out for some more food (Frozen Yogurt?! In Vietnam?! Yes please). The place we went had free wi-fi, so we brought our laptops and got some quality home-calling done. Chatted with my parents for an hour or so. It was nice. Oh, and I just feel like I should say this, but Skype is awesome. I paid $10 for phone service and an hour-long call from my computer in Saigon to a landline in PA only cost a dollar. That’s pretty unbeatable.

Next up, we went to a jazz club around the corner from the Rex and saw our on-ship A.V. guy (Bob) play some guitar with local musicians. They were just jamming and battling back and forth. It was so seamless, it’s like they’ve been playing together for years, but they had just met. Crazy musicians. I ordered a drink from the bar. It was called Sand and Blood. And guess what it tasted like. Eek.

I leave tomorrow for Cambodia. Angkor Wat, here I come.

Day 64 (03-23-09)

Breakfast. Meeting. Bus. Wait. Plane. Landing. Cambodia. Here we are. Gosh, first Namibia, now Cambodia. I feel like Angelina Jolie. Except not really. How awkward would that be if I felt like Angelina Jolie? I don’t even know what she feels like. Oh now I’m just digging myself in deeper, let’s move on…

Lunch: Rice. Thom Yum Soup. Pho. Fried Vegetables. American food is so boring. I’m liking all of this Asian food. Let’s keep it up. Our tour didn’t waste any time. After lunch: Straight to Angkor Wat. Built originally as a Hindu temple in the 12th Century, it was later converted to a Buddhist place of worship. And it’s big. The complex it sits on it entirely surrounded by a moat. Which is cool in itself. And I still think we should’ve built a moat around our house at home. We had the trenches; I don’t see what the big deal was. Anyway. The main towers of the building are currently under construction for restoration purposes, so we couldn’t walk all the way to the top. But there was plenty to see. Intricate carvings everywhere, from elephants to Buddhas. 900 year-old stonework that’s been preserved after all this time. Incredible.

Hotel. Check-in. Dinner. Dance show. History Channel. Never Been Kissed. It’s 1am, why am I awake? We have a sunrise Angkor Watch tomorrow. Get it? Angkor Watch. Like, it’s Angkor Wat. And we’re Watching it. Angkor Watch? Shut up.

Day 65 (03-24-09)

You should know this by now. But I hate my life. It’s 4:30am and I’m awake. It’s 5am and I’m on a bus. It’s dark outside. Why does the Sun wake up so early? You’d think it could sleep in every once in awhile. Dang.

Sunrise over Angkor Wat. We were here yesterday afternoon. Now the sky is a different color. Maybe I’ll appreciate this more when I’m not groggy.

Breakfast back at the hotel. More touring. First up: Bayon temple at Angkor Thom. Lots of Buddha heads everywhere. They all look like Olmec from Legends of the Hidden Temple. I found myself talking in his voice all day (…you may be headed into the SHRIIINE of the Silver Monkeyyy). Yeah. Some people took elephant rides around the complex, but I thought that was, like, SO Thailand. We’re in Cambodia now people, duh.

Next: Elephant Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King. More intricate carvings on stone temples that have been around for centuries. After this tour, we broke for lunch and then stopped at the hotel. Here, most of the group broke off from the tour. Fun fact: it was 40 degrees today. Celsius. Don’t have a conversion chart? Let me do the math for you. 104 Fahrenheit. Not including the kind of humidity that only a Southeast Asian jungle can bring. It’s been horrendous. But I was one of the 10 people (5 faculty, 5 students) that stuck it out and decided to do the afternoon tour of 4 more temples. Why wouldn’t I? It’s what I paid for. And what else would I do, nap at the hotel, lounge in the pool, or take a taxi to a market? I’ll sleep when I’m dead. We have pools in the States. And I’m getting tired of shopping. Let’s see some temples.

I’d butcher their names if I tried to list them here (sorry I don’t speak Khmer), but the 4 temples we saw this afternoon were great. One was starting to become overgrown with trees. One had a tree growing out of the main stone Buddha’s head. Another had a giant staircase on the front like an Aztec pyramid. The fourth was labyrinthine, and had columns and stone ruins everywhere. It was neat. Plus, afterwards, we got back to the hotel at 4pm with 3 hours to spat before dinner. Everyone else missed out.

Speaking of missing out, guess who slept through dinner? Whoops. After the sunrise and all the walking outside today, I decided on a nap before dinner. But my alarm didn’t go off at 6:30pm. So I woke up at 7:40pm, and everyone was gone. So I wandered around the streets for a little while and found some dive of a local restaurant. I got some pork fried rice and a bottle of water for $1.90. Can’t beat it. Then, as I walked in the door of the hotel, the buses got back and we were all in the same place again. Lovely. Went in the water for a little while tonight and had a poolside midnight snack. Compared to last night, we get to sleep in tonight, so I’m in no rush for bed. But I’ll head there anyway. Jungle Temple and boat ride tomorrow.

Day 66 (03-25-09)

7am. Breakfast. Bus. Boat. Boat? Boat. We took a small boat out on a river and cruised towards a lake. In this lake: other boats. On these boats: people. It was a floating community. People live on their boats on this lake, and come to shore for sustenance. Cambodia has a killer wet season, and these people became sick of rebuilding their flooded homes every year. So they stuck some bamboo underneath them and let the tides carry them as they please. On the lake, there are houses, schools, shops, daycares, everything. It’s nuts.

After the boat ride, we went back to the bus en route to the last of our temples: Ta Prohm. The Jungle Temple. Ever seen the movie Tomb Raider? The first one, not the second. Well, Lara Croft has to go to Cambodia, find a flower at a temple, go into the secret underground place of worship, put the clock in the eye and grab half of a triangle out of a freshly-materialized vat of liquid metallic goo, while swinging on a giant horizontal stone obelisk and hanging from tree roots. It makes sense, really. Anyway, the outdoor Cambodian scenes from that movie were filmed on location at Ta Prohm. The Jungle really just took over the temple 300 years ago. Now, trees and stonework come together as one. Roots intertwine with sidewalk and ancient carvings are masked by bark and leaves. It’s really neat.

Bus. Airport. Flight. Bus. Ship. Sleep. Ho Chi Minh again tomorrow.

Day 67 (03-26-09)

Fun fact: My passport looks cooler than yours right now. And it’s only going to get better.

This morning, I woke up and went to pick up my suit from the tailor. It fits like a dream. I’m very satisfied. Afterwards, I met up with a friend and we got lunch and coffee. Then we went to the War Remnants Museum. Not the ‘Vietnam War’ Remnants Museum. The ‘American War’ Remnants Museum. I’ve been excited about this ever since someone told me it was in Saigon. Also, I use both to avoid repetition, but Saigon and Ho Chi Minh City are the same place, in case it sounds like I’m bouncing between cities. But this museum gave me what I was looking for. It showed me what I had never seen. It shed light on a new perspective. The other perspective. I suppose I wasn’t surprised at what I saw. But I was surprised by how much I loathed it. From what I remember in school, the Vietnam War happened. It was probably a bad decision on our part to enter. There were protests. We left the country, unsatisfied. It’s a blemish on our past. We rationalized it. We moved on. As soon as the topic of the Vietnam War comes up, teachers, in general, let their voices trail off as they make excuses. We don’t have enough data to look at. It’s too soon to assess what really happened. It’s really not part of the lesson plan, so we won’t focus on it in detail. There’s not enough time. You’ll learn about it later. Now, maybe I’m exaggerating. Maybe my 8th and 11th grade history classes, the only 2 in recent memory that would’ve covered the topic, are so far removed from my memory that I simply don’t remember what I was told. But I remember other things. Other wars. Not Vietnam. That’s okay, though. It’s only a little blemish to be overlooked.

I’d like to say that, after this visit, I know enough about the War. But I still basically know nothing. There was too much information to wrap my head around. I couldn’t do it. And the images. The photographs. Things I’d prefer never to see again. But I had to see them. Everyone has to see them. Yet, we don’t. We don’t see the images. We don’t ask the questions. We don’t know the truth. Does anyone? Will anyone ever know what happened? Maybe. Once that generation is dead. Once everyone that can be held accountable is out of the picture. But then we’ll just blame them. We’ll say it wasn’t OUR fault. Those people made the decisions. Then, we can sweep it under the rug once more. Throw the last few toys on the top shelf and shut the closet door. So no one can see the mess that’s inside. Well that door is bulging. And sooner or later… someone will open it. Honestly, I just don’t know how I’ve never learned anything about Agent Orange. Dioxin. One of the deadliest chemicals in the world. And we sprayed it over Vietnam like we were crop-dusting. The Viet Cong, American Soldiers, civilians, they all felt the effects. There are orphanages here in Saigon, and all over Vietnam, still filled with children that are born with missing limbs. Feet where their hands should be. Depressions the size of baseballs in their skulls.  Harelips. Joints that bend the wrong direction. All birth defects because their parents and grandparents were exposed. Two generations later, the consequences are still lingering.

Of course, war is ugly, I know. Maybe I’d be more desensitized to this if I had been made aware earlier. The Revolutionary and Civil Wars were brutal. Some grim photographs and accounts of battle have been published and publicized regarding these wars, but I can’t say that I feel much emotion about them. I’ve always known the history of those events. It’s taught in grade school every year. Because it’s important to know America’s history. It’s important to understand what we went through so that we can move forward. I certainly don’t have any comprehension on the subject of Vietnam. Do you? Does anyone? Have we moved forward? We certainly haven’t confronted the issue. And now, to continue my leftist agenda (please feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph, I probably shouldn’t have even written it anyway), I draw a parallel to the Middle East: Should we be there? Is Iraq another Vietnam? It certainly doesn’t have the media exposure. What are our troops doing there? What’s their mission? Establishing democracy and protecting it? That’s not a war strategy. Do you know why we’re Over There? 9/11… Taliban… Osama… those aren’t answers. I certainly don’t know. I’m sure there’s a purpose in there somewhere. I personally feel like the only reason America still has so many troops in the Middle East is because we’ve been such an unnecessary and unwanted force over there for so long that if we leave, certain factions might regroup and try to bring an unwanted presence of their own onto U.S. soil. But that’s just me.

With that tirade up there, many of you think I sound like a jackass, I’m sure. My fault. Also, I haven’t been in the U.S. since mid-January, so I’m not totally up-to-date on what’s happening. Oh and when I left, Bush was still in office. Maybe Obama has cured cancer and solved the world’s crises by now. He is our savior after all. On the ship, we haven’t been kept in the loop about what’s going on at home. Our global studies professor used to give us headlines every morning before class, but he stopped after a week or two. He found that the news was too depressing, and he wanted to let us enjoy our trip around the world without worrying about America’s domestic problems. Hmm. A teacher deciding to let us figure it out on our own if we really want to. Choosing to omit the truth to shield us from what’s really happening. Guarding the closet door.

Sound familiar?


After the museum, we were sufficiently depressed, so we walked around town for a little while longer before heading back to the ship. Shower. Siesta. 6pm: Barbeque. Burgers and hotdogs and corn via cob and ribs and deliciousness. The only meals we look forward to when we’re on the ship are our barbeques. And this the 3rd one we’ve ever had. Oh, and taco day. I love taco day. But that’s only ever happened once. So I’m not holding my breath or anything. Good bye all. Goodnight Saigon.

PHOTOS

Another round of photos is up. This time: Thailand. I'll get the blog entries from Vietnam/Cambodia up tomorrow.

Photos

PHOTO UPDATE

That's right boys and girls. The basic South Africa and India pictures have been posted. Thailand/Vietnam/Cambodia will follow sometime after the 26th. Enjoy.

Photos

Day 62 (03-21-09)

Class today. Vietnam tomorrow. Cambodia the next day. There’s no time to take it all in. The sunset tonight was incredible. We’re still really close to the shore, and it was the first time I can remember watching the sunset over land from the ship. We were just eating dinner outside on the deck and the yellow sun, pink sky, and light cloud cover were descending over the mountainous landscape we saw before us. I would’ve taken pictures, but I was so enthralled by it that it was gone by the time I even thought about grabbing a camera. So I may not be able to document it in photos, but I’ll always remember it. That seems to be a theme for this voyage. There have been several days on this trip where I’ve decided to leave my camera on the ship, or packed away in my bag. Sometimes it’s too bulky to wear on my neck whilst hiking. Sometimes I don’t want to get it wet. Sometimes I simply don’t feel like bringing it on a day trip. So I might not have pictures of everything that I’ve seen and done. But I’ll remember. For now at least. Before senility kicks in. But I’d like to think I’ve got some time before I need to worry about that.

Oh, and I talked to sister for the first time since January today. Craziness. It’s like I’m actually in touch with people again these past few days. Some phone calls home. Some online chats and video chats. The life I left behind is still going. Weird.

Day 53 (03-12-09)

Karaoke Night was tonight. It’s one of the big events that my planning committee is responsible for here on the ship. I was supposed to be the emcee, but I still lack the energy and voice required to do such a job. No worries, maybe I’ll host the dating game next month. It was a good show though. Some great acts, some terrible ones. That’s what makes karaoke so much fun.

I’m thinking that I’ll start posting pictures again in the meantime between Thailand and Vietnam. Again, sorry for the delay between uploads… hopefully I can just have a mass session where I get all of South Africa, Mauritius, India, and Thailand done at once. We’ll see.


Day 54 (03-13-09)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today we had our cultural pre-port meeting to gear up for Thailand. I’m actually pretty excited about it, and recent developments have made me even more so. There’s a city in northern Thailand called Chiang Mai. It’s pretty far from Bangkok, but it’s the gateway to most of the jungle trekking that takes place in the country. I just found this unbelievable deal online that includes:
-Overnight bus ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (6pm-6am)
-3 day jungle/mountain trek with English-speaking guides
-2 nights accommodations in jungle with tribal villages
-All meals
-Elephant riding/bamboo rafting/white-water rafting in jungle
-Overnight bus ride back to Bangkok

Grand total: 2200 Thai Baht. Translation: 64 American Dollars. I was looking up treks last night and this one was buried somewhere within the depths of the Google search. I e-mailed the company and its British owner sent me a very quick response.
A few hours later, there were 5 of us booked on a trip up north. It fell into place quite nicely. Problem though: How do I get to Bangkok? Our ship is docking at an industrial port in Laem Chabang because the port in Bangkok isn’t large enough to hold our ship. Unfortunately, Laem Chabang is 2 hours away from Bangkok, and taxi service to the city isn’t easy or cheap. Plus, the bus we need to take leaves at 6pm, and I already have a trip planned with SAS that lasts from 12:30pm-5:30pm. It’ll take some maneuvering, but I’ll figure something out.

Day 55 (03-14-09)

Halfway. The trip is halfway over. 54 of 108 days have passed. What have I been doing? There’s no way it’s possible. From now on I can’t say, “Oh it’s fine, we still have over half the voyage left.” We don’t. Not anymore. It’s the homestretch. The final countdown. The end of the world as we know it. And guess what: I don’t feel fine. I’m not okay with this. Can we just turn around when we get to Guatemala and do it again? That would be okay. Summer is overrated anyway. Who needs a job at Dorney Park? Dominator will still be there when I come back. What’s the rush? And money is overrated, too. Plenty of travelling can be done with little to no money at all. I’ve seen people live in boxes and slums, begging on the street and still getting by, day-to-day. A bunch of crafty Americans could certainly do the same with even the smallest of budgets. Come on. Please? Maybe? *Sigh*

Alright, I think I did it. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be able to get to Bangkok without even sacrificing my plans on the first day. Here’s the scoop. First day in Thailand: SAS trip to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo. See a tiger show. Feed a tiger cub. Hold it. Make my friends jealous. Etc. From the tiger zoo, I’m leaving the group early. Here’s where it gets tricky. I hired a private chauffeur online to pick me up at the tiger zoo and take me to the touring company in Bangkok. The company confirmed online that they processed my request, and a driver will be waiting for me at the zoo at 2:30pm. I have no cell phone to contact them. I have no real idea of what I’m looking for. But I’m just going to wing it and hope the dude shows up. Otherwise, I’m royally screwed. And if you’re judging me for taking a chauffeured sedan: chill out man. It’s Thailand, taxis aren’t the greatest, and they certainly aren’t reliable. Plus, it’s a 2-hour drive. And it’s still cheap compared to what I’d pay for the same service anywhere outside of Southeast Asia.

Stayed up really late again tonight. Oops. Not like India, though. No 5am crashing this time around. Maybe 3am. But. We were outside in the 75-degree weather. Staring out at the lights coming from other ships. And from the shore. And I was thinking about how absurd this whole concept is. I’m on a cruise ship. We’re about to dock in Thailand, after coming from India via Singapore. Are you @!$%$& kidding me right now? Am I living in some alternative past life as Magellan’s spoiled sidekick? This isn’t real. Thailand tomorrow. Thailand. Thailand. If you say any word for long enough, it doesn’t sound like a word anymore. It’s just a blur. Inconsequential. Nonsensical. My experiences have been the same. Replaying them over and over again. Taj Mahal. Shark diving. Sahara Desert. Chocolate con Churros. Safari. Ocean. Beach. Mountain. Europe. Africa. Asia.

This isn’t real.

Day 56 (03-15-09)

Happy Birthday Kelsi!

There’s no diplomatic briefing this morning. And my trip doesn’t leave until 12:30pm. I love sleep-in days. I got my passport from the Union and grabbed my giant pack-o-stuff. Clothing for 5 days. Camera. Sleeping bag. Let’s go. I met up with the other 95 students going to the Tiger Zoo and we boarded the buses to Sriracha. Our Deans weren’t kidding: Laem Chabang is in the middle of nowhere. It’s a giant container ship port (20th largest port in the world) and there’s not much sightseeing to do nearby. Container. Crane. Cargo ship. Military building. Dirt. Barbed wire. Nothing says “Thanks for visiting Thailand” like all of the above. Now: Tiger Zoo. It was actually kind of sad. It was a great concept and an even better tourist draw: Take a few dozen tigers, 10,000 crocodiles, some elephants, orangutans, scorpions, wallabies, and pigs, and have them perform interact with the guests. The tiger show was interesting, but the animals didn’t seem very happy to be there. They kept swiping and growling at the handlers. They’d sometimes run away from them. I might be reading more into it, but they just didn’t seem like happy zoo animals. The small animals were fun though. I broke from the group early and wandered over to the tiger cub center. Here, I was able to hold/play with/feed a tiger cub for a few minutes. He was a playful little guy. He kept trying to put his front paws on my shoulders and then handlers would just grab his tail and pull him down. Then I got some warm milk in a bottle and held it up for him while he sat on my lap. It was great. Next up: Crocodile. They had a 3 or 4-foot-long croc and a foot-long baby croc there to hold. They tried to take my picture while holding both, but the little guy was too feisty and kept running up my arm. So I just held the big guy for a little while. Their mouths were taped shut, so it wasn’t dangerous. But it would’ve been sweet if they weren’t. And I was just holding on to a couple of crocs with mouths agape. I’m not a smart person sometimes, I know. Moving on.

Afterwards, I checked out the rest of the complex. The park owns 10,000 crocs and I’d say most of them are on display. I’ve never seen so many crocs in one place before. They were in the water, on logs, on the grass, all in droves. Crazy. The saddest thing I saw, though, was the bench with the orangutans. I saw them sitting on the bench and thought it would be great to sit between them and have my photo taken, and it was fun. Woo hoo, who does this? I’m sitting between orangutans! But then I looked at the photo and I stepped back to look at the animals, themselves, and they didn’t look happy at all. Why should they? They sit on around all day and wait for idiot tourists like me to come up and pose with them. They aren’t hanging from trees in their natural habitat. They’re sitting on a bench like puppets while their handlers move their limbs into photogenic positions. No bueno. And there was a scorpion lady exhibit, too. Basically, it was a depressed Thai woman with 30 scorpions on her shirt. You could have a photo taken with her and have some scorpions put on your own shirt as well. But I had already paid for the other 3 tourist-trap photo-ops, so I opted against it. All in all, the trip gave me some great photos, I just wonder about the conditions and maintenance standards of the place.

Moment of truth. It’s 2:15pm. I head outside to the parking lot/taxi drop area to see if my driver came a little bit early. No luck yet. So I wander around the gift shop for a little while. Check out the food stand. Oh look, a Thai delicacy: Crocodile penis. Pass. 2:30pm. Time to go. Nothing. I ask the taxi drivers if they’re familiar with the company I’m using. They’re not familiar with the English language I’m speaking. No help. 2:45pm. Where would I be if I were a fancy car driver? I’d be standing at the exit with a sign that says “Christopher Deatrick.” Or a sign that says “Christopher Deatrix,” like my confirmation e-mail. 3:00pm. The SAS group is leaving in 20 minutes. I guess I’ll just have to go with them. It’s a half an hour past our meeting time. There’s no one here. I’ll have to find other people on the ship that don’t have travel plans. We can probably just split a cab and spend a few nights in Bangkok. I didn’t pay for the private driver or the Chiang Mai trip yet, so I’m in the clear financially. Oh well. 3:15pm. I guess I’ll walk back over to the entrance where the SAS people are meeting in a few minutes. Hey, who’s that guy in the suit? It looks like he’s waiting for someone. He just checked his cell phone clock twice in 2-minute period. “Excuse me, are you a driver? You are? Are you waiting for Christopher Deatrick?” Hallelujah. Miscommunication. He was at the entrance. I was at the exit. I wandered all around the outside of the complex, the taxi pickup, bus pickup, parking lot. Everywhere but the main entrance. No worries. We’re rolling now. I’m on my way to Bangkok. 2 hour drive. Plenty of time. Air-conditioned sedan. Big back seat. Cold water. Nap time.

Holy crap, Bangkok is big. Sprawling is probably the best term. I had no idea. This city just goes on and on for miles. The freeway that runs through it (or over it) is really nice, too. We make it to Khao San Street and I find the touring company. It’s not even 5pm yet. My 4 fellow travelers haven’t shown up. Here I’ve been worrying about my trip this whole time and I wind up here first. I hope they find the place okay. I mean, a 3-day jungle trek would be fine by myself, but it’s nice to have some familiar faces. After some walking along the vendor-infested street, I made it back to the touring company and my friends had arrived. We changed the itinerary of our trip to a 2-day/1-night trek, and a 1-night stay in the company’s hotel in Chiang Mai. This allows for the 18th to be a completely free day in the city before we pick up the bus to Bangkok that night (and we’d later discover that this was by far the best choice we could possibly make). 6pm. Bus ride. Overnight. On a tour-style bus. No special amenities. Just a seat that reclines. Air conditioning. A toilet. And 12 hours of fun. Long. Atrocious. Hilarious. Uncomfortable. Sticky. Banana Chips. Wake up, it’s morning.

Day 57 (03-16-09)

We get off the bus and they transfer us to their hotel/Chiang Mai headquarters. Here, we’re given 3 hours in a hotel room to nap and shower before our program starts at 9:30. Awesome. By the time 9:30am rolls around, we’re all tired already. But it’s time to move. The five of us hop onto some benches in the bed of a covered pick-up truck alongside a couple of vacationing guys from Quebec, the newlywed Israeli couple, and a South Korean kid that didn’t say much. It was a good group. We ventured forth to the town of Pai, northwest of Chiang Mai. Stop number one: Orchid Farm. They grow orchids. The orchids are big. We looked at them. Self-explanatory. Stop number two: Snake Farm. They house snakes. There are snake shows. A guy pisses off king cobras and then kisses them. Then he shows you that the snakes are still poisonous by opening their mouths and squeezing the venom into a jar (Kelly, I know there’s a difference between poison and venom, but I don’t remember it… try not to cringe whilst reading). Snake Man then did a demonstration with water snakes, then jumping snakes, and finally, the Burmese Python. Burma (now called Myanmar), shares a border with Thailand on the Northwest side, and these pythons can be found all around the area. The python crawled into this seemingly small water area in the floor. So Snake Man went after him… by doing a nosedive into what was actually an 8-foot-deep water pit. They splashed around for awhile before Snake Man came out of the water with the snake wrapped around his neck. He looked rather uncomfortable… pythons are constrictors, after all. After all this cutesy nonsense was over, we got down to some serious jungle trekking.

Well, we got lunch first. At the base of the mountain, they cooked us some rice and noodles and it was delicious. Oh, I forgot to mention breakfast at the hotel. It was a banana pancake with honey. I was thinking banana pancake would be some ghetto flat pancake with a banana on the side. But no. Big fluffy pancake with banana baked into the batter. Delicious. And the Pad Thai at lunch was incredible also. The thing about Thai food: It’s amazing. A professor on the ship gave an intro about it and said that while living here she’s never had a bad meal. I agree. This entire 5-day stay in Thailand: never a bad meal. Not to get ahead of myself, but yes… I love Thai food.

We started up the mountain with our packs on our backs and our bamboo walking sticks in hand. It seemed a bit ridiculous at the time to have bamboo walking sticks. But they really helped a lot in the long run. It’s the dry season here, so much of the jungle flora and fauna weren’t in their peak lushness, but that’s okay. It was still jungle-y. Lots of big banana and coconut and pineapple trees. Some snakes here and there. Streams. Waterfalls. Mosquitoes. Oh man, mosquitoes. They’re huge. And they’re everywhere. When it’s 85 degrees with as much humidity as you can get… they show up in droves. Some people on this trip were eaten alive. One girl got 30-40 bites on each leg, plus wherever else they were. But, for whatever reason, I am still a mosquito’s worst enemy. I never get bug bites, and this continued in Thailand. Unscathed. Zero. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I taste bad. I won’t complain.

3 or 4 hours later, the sun was setting over the mountains as we finally reached our camping destination. Tonight, we stay with the Lahu Tribe in their village. The Lahu have been in this jungle for over 30 years now, after migrating from China into Myanmar, and finally into Thailand. They showed us to our lodgings for the evening: a big summer camp-style, one-room bungalow with 20 thin mattresses on bamboo perches. Oh, and the entire bungalow is about 6 feet off of the ground on the front side. It’s up on bamboo stilts. I thought that was weird until we went to the other side. The building is built into the side of the mountain. The back half of the building is about 25 feet off of the ground. So we’re just cantilevered over the mountainside for the night. Awesome. Dinner: fried chicken and rice with potato soup. I had fourths. Fantastic. The evening concluded with a fireside sing-along with our guides and the village children. We all sang our respective national anthems (except for the 2 Canadians who didn’t know theirs… they said they only ever sing it at hockey games). And after some hilariously terrible renditions of Under the Bridge, No Woman No Cry, and Zombie, we went to bed. Another full day tomorrow. Yikes.

Day 58 (03-17-09)

9am wake up. Great night of sleep. Big pancake. Watermelon. Pineapple. Mango. The fruit here is so sweet. Reluctantly, we start the climb back down the mountain. Jell-o legs kick in immediately. Why s the climb down harder than the climb up? Maybe I’m tired from yesterday. Maybe the giant bag on my back alters my center of balance. Maybe my up-climbing muscles are toned better than my down-climbing ones. Who knows. But today’s trek was rough. After an hour or two, we reached a huge waterfall, nestled in the rock, secluded from everything. We stopped for a swim and “shower.” I can honestly say that I’ve never felt as disgustingly sweaty and dirty as I have in these past two days. The hiking. The dirt. The humidity. The water. The bugs. The sweat. The air. All of it. Add a night’s sleep cycle to let it all soak in, and I am one gross kid by the start of today. And then I started it all over again. Beautiful. The waterfall was refreshing, and another 2 hours of less strenuous hiking followed until we made it back to the elephant village for lunch. We had some Pad Thai, and it was glorious. After 3 plates of food and some more pineapple, it was time for the elephant ride. We rode like kings on the back of our elephant all the way around the complex. Up the hill. Over the river. Through the woods. Didn’t make it to grandma’s though. Next up: white water rafting. It was pretty lame, but comical. Rapids were only class 2 and maybe some 3s. And the river was really shallow, so we bumped into rocks a lot. But it was still fun. When the water calmed down, we switched over to a bamboo raft and floated lazily down the river for another 40 minutes or so. And it started raining. Just a light shower as we meandered downstream. It was perfect. But then it ended. We got out of the water and back into our pickup truck for the drive back to Chiang Mai. Once there, we got our hotel rooms, showered and napped. Great nap. I love naps. They were so overrated back in high school… seriously, who wanted to nap in high school? But then I rediscovered them in college, and now I can’t get enough. They’re the best. Anyways. We got some dinner at a little restaurant up the street, and the sour pork with rice was delicious. As was the dessert: Banana Split sans Banana. It was supposed to be a banana split. But there wasn’t any banana. Vanilla/Strawberry/Butterscotch ice cream with butterscotch sauce. But no banana. Weird. There were some other SAS kids in a vegetarian restaurant that we passed on the street, so we stopped to talk to them for a little while. We found a 7-Eleven (it wasn’t hard… 7-Elevens are everywhere in Thailand. They’re like Starbucks in the States. There were multiple intersections that actually had 7-Elevens at 3 of the 4 corners. Craziness). I got a phone card and called home. We got some snacks. We were trying to find a bar or something keep us occupied for next couple of hours, but then it started to pour rain, so we just went back to the hotel lobby with our snacks and crashed for a little before bed. We said goodbye to our Canadian friends, as they were leaving the next morning for Bangkok. Chiang Mai awaits tomorrow.

Day 59 (03-18-09)

Wake up. Breakfast. Banana shake. Pancake with mangos/bananas/strawberries on top. What to do today? Wander. We split up to walk around the city at our leisure. Saw some temples. Saw some monks. Lots of great little shops. There was a really cool art shop that was maze-like. Narrow walkways, split-level staircases. Trees growing out of the floor that you had to duck underneath as you went. Plus, it had great artwork. I found a chocolate shop in the old city called Chocolate Fact. It was very modern and my Caramel Chocolate frappe was tasty. The chocolate had more of a bitter taste than what I’m used to… not that super-sweet Hershey’s or something. But it was very good nonetheless. 1pm. You know what time it is? Cooking Class. 3 of us decided to book a cooking class at the vegetarian Thai food place from the night before. It was great. 4-hour class. They had all of our ingredients set out for us. Then they took us through each dish, step-by-step. We got to do it all ourselves, with them watching the whole time. It wasn’t like they did the work while we had minimal participation. Oh and we made 11 dishes between the 3 of us. 2 appetizers. 1 soup. 7 entrees. 1 dessert. When we were finished, our other 2 friends joined us and we ate it all. Best 11-course meal I’ve ever had. Highlights: Spring rolls, Heaven rolls, Pineapple fried rice, Pad Thai, Sticky Rice with mango. Incredible. I’ve decided that I need a rice steamer. I’ll just make steamed rice and sticky rice all the time. It’ll be great. Mmm… carbs. After dinner, we had to catch our bus back to Bangkok. 6pm-6am again. Joy. Except this ride was worst than last time. Same bus. But I couldn’t sleep. Grand total of 20 minutes of sleep, judging by the songs I slept through on my iPod. And instead of the 3 stops we made on the trip up, we only stopped once this time. So we got back to Bangkok early…

Day 60 (03-19-09)

…It’s 4:45am in Bangkok. Now what? The usually bustling Khao San Street is empty. The city is dark. The homeless are sleeping peacefully as we walk past. We found a café inside of a travel agency that was still open. So we stopped for food. I had some Pad Thai at 5am. I love dinner for breakfast. Is it breakfast? What day is it? What time is it? Where am I? Delirium. After food, we found our way to an internet place, and snagged some time online. Talked to dad for the first time. Tried to call sister, didn’t work. Skyped with Kelsi. It was pretty successful and it killed some time. Now. 8am in Bangkok. What to do? There are a lot of Buddhist sites to see. Some monuments. Some markets. But we couldn’t agree on a specific gameplan. So we split. Some people wanted to take a water taxi around the city. Some wanted to see certain things. And I was in my typical “let’s just wander around and find stuff” state of mind. So I did. I had a few hours to walk the city before I had to be at the bus pick up location, where that was. Our bus was stopping to get us at some giant shopping mall in the center of the city. I started walking in that general direction and stopped anywhere along the way that caught my eye. There was the Democracy Monument, the Palace and Temple for King Rama III, Bangkok City Hall, and the Golden Mount, which is a really big temple on top of a hill. I hiked the stairs to the top, grabbed some pictures, and left.

A little while later, I saw a street behind the main road with several people on it, so I veered off course to see what was happening. It was a rundown street in the shadow of tall buildings. The same type of street that can be seen in any big city. Its inhabitants were just going about their daily lives. Washing their clothes. Reading newspapers. Selling some food. Living the simple life, whether by choice or by circumstance.

It’s really hot outside. Not that that’s surprising. But it’s impossible not to notice, and still worth commenting on. I’m walking down the street towards the shopping mall, which is still a few miles away, and I hear my name from close by. I look up, and a friend of mine is in a taxi asking if I need a ride somewhere. I politely decline. My bag is heavy and my back hurts. It’s hot and miserable outside. The street signs are in a foreign language. I think I’m heading the in right direction, but I can’t be sure. And still, getting in a taxi is the last thing I want to do. Why let the city pass me by through the window of a taxi. What if I want to stop in a craft shop? What if something catches my eye down a side alley and I want to explore? I can’t do that in a taxi. All I can do in a taxi is listen to my driver try to rip me off in broken English. No thanks.

I finally made it to the shopping district, and it was unbelievable. At least 5 malls were just thrown down right next to each other. The smallest was 5 stories tall. The tallest, 9. There were at least 4 movie theaters, one of which had an IMAX screen. One mall had an aquarium. One had daily fashion shows and an art museum. One had a Ferrari dealership. It was unbelievable. The most exciting part? Auntie Ann’s. I got a cinnamon pretzel and it made my day brighter with its sweet and salty goodness. At the mall, I see a mass amount of SAS kids for the first time since leaving the tiger zoo. It’s a comforting feeling knowing that we’re all back in one place again. After the bus ride to the ship, I ate a terrible dinner that made remember how god-awful the ship food really is. Some chats with friends ensued, and then bedtime. Finally. Sleep, how I love and miss thee. Farewell Thailand, you kicked my ass and I love you for it.

Day 61 (03-20-09)

I only have one class today after Global Studies. And it’s at 4:15pm. I think I’ll sleep all day. We have cultural pre-port for Vietnam tonight. What? We just got back on the ship. How do we have pre-port already? Oh right, because Vietnam is in 2 days. This is ridiculous. Oh and the ship’s crew is holding a talent show tonight. I’ve heard good things about it, so that’s exciting. Settlers of Catan. Enough said. Hopefully pictures can be uploaded tonight. I’ll work on it. Hasta luego.

Day 45 (03-04-09)

Today, someone created a monster. Someone introduced me to a new board game. This board game is amazing. I didn’t really follow it at first, but I’m learning. It’s name? Settlers of Catan. It’s almost like a Risk meets Monopoly kind of deal. I can’t really explain it. Look it up. If you’ve played before, then you already know. If someone has it back home, we are playing immediately upon seeing each other. I might not even say hi first. I’ll just say, “Let’s play Settlers.” Anyway.

We also had logistical and cultural pre-port tonight. There were traditional Indian dances and explanations from native Indians from Chennai about where to go and what to do. Typical lectures about malaria, diarrhea, and AIDS were given. I was up really late tonight talking with friends and wandering around the ship. And playing Settlers, of course. Didn’t go to sleep until 5am. I suppose this part should then fall under Day 46.

It’s called a changeover. The movie goes on, and nobody in the audience has any idea.

Day 46 (03-05-09)

Today is another day that I hate everything. 7:30am wake up calls force these emotions out of me when I’m sick and running on 2 hours of sleep. But it’s okay. I’m in India. The Far East. The center of the world. There are 1.14 billion people here. One sixth of the planet’s population. We stepped off of the ship and onto our bus to the airport for the flight to Delhi. I slept most of the way, but outside the window a completely foreign world was passing around me. Horns were blaring. More horns were blaring. Honking your horn is encouraged here. With the traffic patterns, I can’t complain too much. Lines are suggestion. Everything is slow. Congestion is inevitable. We made it to the airport and onto the plane without issue. Next stop: Delhi. But first, a note on the flight. They served us lunch. It wasn’t too bad actually: curry chicken with rice and some other unrecognizable foods. I’m not one for curry, or Indian food in general, but it was pretty good. I figured, hey, I should eat all of this food on my plate right now. There’s a green vegetable on top of the chicken. It’s only an inch long… I think it might be celery. Chomp. Chew. Swallow. Surprise. Regret. Burn. Pain. Tears. Water. More water. Does anyone have more water? What the hell was that? Chili Pepper. Hottest I’ve ever had. Not cool man. Seriously, some warning would be nice. But I let everyone else know so they didn’t suffer the same fate. Rough.

After landing in Delhi, another bus ride landed us at our hotel just off of the marketplace. The evening was to for us to spend at our leisure, so we wandered for about 45 minutes trying to find an ATM machine. Afterwards, it was dinner time. I’ve been skeptical about Indian food for some time. And I decided I’d limit my intake to 1 or 2 meals per day. After my lunch fiasco, I treated myself to something I told myself I wouldn’t. It was right along the market. Beckoning me. I couldn’t help it. I had no choice. McDonald’s. Judge me if you want, but I haven’t had American restaurant food since we ate at the Outback Steakhouse in the Bahamas on January 18th. I was due. The chicken sandwich, fries, and ice cream were well worth the $2.10 I spent on them. Side note: Beef isn’t consumed in India. Cows are sacred. Don’t go looking for Big Macs. You won’t find them. But I already knew that, so I wasn’t disappointed. Wow, I think I ramble more now than I used to. That’s almost impressive. But no one can tell me to shut up while I’m writing this in Word and uploading it to the website. You just have to deal with it later and wonder, “Is this kid ever going to make a point?” Short answer: Probably not. Maybe I will someday.

After dinner, I wandered around the marketplace by myself. I like having some time to myself in each port to just absorb things. It’s hard to appreciate your surroundings when you’re in a big group of people that are talking and pulling in all different directions. This area was slightly more developed than most in India, so culture shock didn’t really set in. I imagine it probably sill later on. Although I’ve seen so much on this trip, it would probably take a lot to make me step back and be immediately affected. Call me jaded, I don’t know. I’m going to bed early tonight. Early morning tomorrow for touring around Delhi. Goodnight.

Day 47 (03-06-09)

Well this is annoying. A lot of people went out last night and partied and didn’t get back until a couple hours before we were supposed to leave the hotel. Naturally, they made the rest of the group late. Figures. Today’s tour took us all around Delhi. First up was a Hindu Temple whose name I can’t remember. Very ornate. And there were Swastikas everywhere. I never knew much about the Swastika other than its affiliation with the Nazis, so I’ve only ever seen them with a negative denotation. It’s actually an ancient symbol that’s used in Hinduism and Buddhism. In this temple, the many Swastikas represented the God Brahma. But it still looks negative to me because of what I associate it with. Stupid Nazis. Ruining the Swastika for everyone else. After this temple, we ventured to the India Gate. It looks like the Arc de Triumph and it’s in beautiful park surrounded by fresh grass and cricket fields. Oh, and military. It’s also surrounded by the military. After the bombings in Mumbai last year, all areas that are frequented by Western visitors have upped their security. Even fast food restaurants like the McDonald’s I went to yesterday have armed guards at their entrances. I can honestly say that I’d never been greeted by a man with an automatic weapon at a McDonald’s before yesterday. Jarring. After the India Gate, we went to the first mosque ever constructed in India. It was in a large complex that was built by some emperor long ago. There were no signs and I couldn’t understand the tour guide. Don’t pass judgment. Anyway.

These few stops held us over until our very long drive to Agra. We were late in leaving. And there was construction. And it’s India. So it took awhile to get there. 6 hours maybe? I don’t even know. There was clearly one part that was worse than the rest. We stopped at a place where the guides told us to get out for some shopping. That’s great; a lot of people wanted to get out to do some shopping at authentic Indian shops. They unload everyone off the buses into a building. A mall? A market? No, no. One store. Once everyone was inside, they shut the doors and said, “Look around.” Great. A commission shop. Anything that the store sells, the guides take a profit for bringing the rich Americans. Luckily, a few girls needed an ATM and I helped them to find it, so we snuck around the buses without ever even setting foot in the shop. We then found Pizza Hut. This place was gourmet. Classiest Pizza Hut I’ve ever been to, by far.

After that debacle, we made it to the hotel and crashed. Tomorrow: the Taj. I can’t wait.

Day 48 (03-07-09)

Wake up call. People are late. Again. We missed the sunrise. Kitschy horse-drawn carriages took us 2 miles up the road to the East Gate of the Taj Mahal. We walk inside. It’s a nice little complex. Grass. Monkeys. Big red buildings. Through another gate I catch a glimpse of it. The white dome. I walk closer. More white. Marble against blue sky. I’m through the gate now and the instantly familiar lines are as recognizable as they’ve ever been. I’m staring at a postcard. A picture in a book. It can’t be this perfect. Nothing ever looks the same in real life. There is no way it really lives up to the expectations. I snap a photo. On the screen I have a flawless image. Is it possible? Every picture of the Taj is always perfect. There’s a reason. It can’t be photographed badly. Something this incredible can’t be tarnished.

Walking through that gate and seeing the Taj was really an unbelievable experience. People always talk about the majesty of the palace, and sure it looks good in pictures, but how impressive can it be? I’ve never been as taken aback by a place as I was this morning. And it was truly most impressive from a distance. Walking across the marble floors and into the tomb are experiences in themselves, but you can’t see the full picture from up close. You can’t see the domes towering above you. You can’t recognize the perfect symmetry of the buildings. But from 200 yards away, it was the most impressive building I’ve ever seen.

After the Taj, we made our way to the Agra Fort. Built by the grandfather of the Emperor that commissioned the Taj Mahal, the fort contained a series of small palaces that were used by various kings, queens, and princes of years past. It was massive, and had great views of the Taj from afar. This leads us to our next very, very long bus ride. We’re on our way to Jaipur, the Pink City. A 7 hour drive with sporadic stops at various bathrooms and yet another commission shop. Thanks for taking us to places with prices that are unbelievably expensive (in Indian terms) so you can try to turn another profit. Awesome. But we made it to our hotel in Jaipur and it was a Comfort Inn. Weird. Rajasthan, the province that contains Jaipur, celebrates the Holi Color Festival starting on March 11th, but we were given a preview by the hotel staff and our guides. As part of the celebration, people take very brightly colored powders (they were about the consistency and texture of flour) and throw them at each other. Oh man. I looked like I was trying to start Pink Man Group after this thing. There were blues and greens, orange and purples, reds and pinks, but the pink was definitely most prevalent. If I ever post my pictures from South Africa, maybe I’ll get to India as well, and you’ll be able to see me covered in this ridiculous powder. It was great. Taj and Color Festival on the same day. And I had spaghetti for dinner. I’m good to go. Time for bed.

Notes:
-I’ve eaten Indian food for breakfast/lunch each of the past several days; I’m not only eating Western-style food. I’m just not a huge fan of the Indian food. So I haven’t really described any of it. Here we go: it’s all bread, chicken, and rice. And it all tastes like curry, even if there isn’t any curry in it.

-I haven’t mentioned any real sensory observations that I’ve made. First: India smells. There really isn’t any other way to put it. It smells like smog and waste. Human excrement and filth. Exhaust and diesel. Sweat and tears. Curry and saffron. Tea and coffee. Better or worse, that’s what I’ve been picking up.

-I’m also going to get ahead of myself a little bit here. I typically write these blog entries all at once (in case you haven’t noticed) based on notes I take during port which prevent me from forgetting key points. Well now I’m just going to insert a section about something else, even though part of it doesn’t apply until Day 51. I haven’t said anything about people. The topic really doesn’t fit into any of these journal dailies, but here it is. People in India are… everywhere. Buses. Streets. Fields. Train Stations. Airports. Hotels. Slums. Temples. Alleys. Intersections. Appearing in windows. Standing on scaffolds. Doing anything and everything. People crouch on the side of the road to go to the bathroom. They go barefoot across dirty, trash-strewn alleys. People wander the streets asking for money. Asking for food. Carrying babies. Dragging limbs. Crawling. Limping. Bartering. Trying to sell whatever they can. Postcards. Bracelets. Trinkets. Etchings. 100 rupees. 50 rupees. 10 rupees. Please, sir. I need help, sir. This looks good on you, sir. You walk. They follow. You turn away, they find your eye. They stare you down. They surround you. They come in droves. Americans! Americans have money. Please, sir. They plead with wide, water-covered eyes. They do whatever it takes. This is India. These are its people.

With this in mind, I went to post-port reflections on the day after we left India, Day 51. I spoke once about my feelings upon seeing the Taj Mahal. I then listened for an hour as other students related their stories and experience from India. Several people read poetry that they had written. It inspired me. I left the ceremony and went to my cabin. I grabbed a pen and paper and started writing. Just a few lines, rough and unpolished. But it’s what I was thinking after my experience in India with the people. The people, everywhere. I came back to Reflections and listened to more stories. When it seemed like the last of us had spoken, I stood up and read my freshly written poem aloud. I’m posting it here, still in its raw, unfinished form. I’m no poet, but we’ll see if I can make something out of it:

Have you seen this movie? It’s the scariest of all.
The zombies walk the rundown streets. They trip, and then they crawl.
They pound on the windows of buses, that carry survivors inside.
They come from all directions. You can run, but you cannot hide.
They know that you are different. They approach when it’s time to feed.
They grab, and grope, and pursue you, To fulfill their every need.
Does this sound familiar? This plot that has unfurled?
These zombies are alive. This movie is our world.

I’m sure you get the gist of it.

Day 49 (03-08-09)

Today ended up being a wild card day. It was completely spontaneous and unexpected, but 5 of us from our 84-member group decided to take things into our own hands. The tour guides have dictated the past three days with which shops they want us to see. The size of our group also caused issues with time, as drunken and hungover students kept making us late for things. Well I had had enough of that. Most of us had. But five of us actually did something.

It actually happened by accident for me. I was walking out of my room, dead tired after waking up at 5:45am and catching a 6:30am breakfast. I saw a guy from our group standing in the hallway talking to someone, and he asked me if I knew to which room a specific person was assigned. This chance meeting struck up the inevitable conversation regarding his purpose in finding said person. It turns out they were trying to leave today, so that they could be in Chennai by the evening. This would eliminate the chances of anything in our group going wrong and delaying us in the airport. Plus, then tomorrow would be completely free for doing anything in Chennai, as opposed to sitting on a plane all morning and only having a couple hours to see the city before needing to return. So I jumped on the bandwagon. One of my roommates did as well. In total, five of us left our tour group and set off on our own for the day. We called a taxi to take us to the airport around 9:30am to buy our tickets. Buying them over the phone wasn’t an option and we didn’t have internet access at the hotel, so we just drove to the airport first. About 45 minutes after we got to the airport, all five of us were taken care of, and ready to go on the 2:45pm flight to Chennai. We didn’t have to be at security for check-in until 1:30pm, so we had our taxi driver chauffer us around the city for a few hours. We saw the City Palace, the Hawa Mahal, and an old Observatory that was really quite incredible. Plus, we had guided tours of all of them, since our cab driver called his buddy to take us around. It really makes a huge difference being in a small group like that. It’s easy to keep track of everyone and there’s no worry involved. No one’s ever late. No one’s held back. No one’s left behind.

We still had some time afterwards, so our driver took us back outside the old city gates and onto some random side street with vendors and crafts and textiles. There were these great fried wheat balls with sugar at one of the vendors whose counter was right between two temples. We found out later that these sweets, in Hindu custom, are a favorite of the God, Ganesha. People buy them and offer them as gifts to the Deity in the temple. At this point, we reflected on the time we spent a few moments beforehand eating these sacred wads of goodness right in front of the shopkeeper. He must’ve been appalled seeing us eat the offerings right in front of him. We didn’t mean to offend, we thought they were just snacks for everyone… you buy food at local restaurants with the intention of eating it, right? Cultural misstep #23987. Apologies. In case you were wondering though, they tasted SO good. Ganesha, forgive me, but I agree with you; those snacks were mighty tasty.

We went to the airport after this, and our flight was delayed for 2 hours. This is exactly why we don’t want to travel tomorrow. A delay today doesn’t hurt us. But a delay tomorrow could be hugely detrimental for our travels. With a stop in Hyderabad, we made it back to Chennai. We met up with another SAS group in the airport and tried to hitch a ride back with them on their bus, but it was a liability issue since we weren’t part of their trip. Fair enough. I feel bad for our cab driver though. He was probably the only driver on the road trying to follow traffic laws. He used turn signals. He let people pass him. And when we got near the harbor, he didn’t actually know where to go, so he had to ask for directions several times. But we made it back to the ship, safe and sound. Burger in the snack bar tonight. Perfect. I missed beef. Alright, I’m going to bed. Enough of this blogging nonsense.

Day 50 (03-19-09)

I still can’t shake this cold. I think it might’ve actually been the flu. I’m just too stubborn to check into it and take anything but DayQuil and NyQuil. After making it back to the ship last night, I decided that today would be a take-it-easy kind of day. But I took it a little too far. I slept until 1:30pm. On-ship time is 6pm. Now it’s not even worth leaving again to find something to do in Chennai, since everything is about 30 minutes away and I don’t want to be late. A waste of a day in India. I think I’ve seen enough to be okay with it though. Hopefully I can kick this cold now, finally.

The rest of the people in our tour group came back today without any real issues, so that was good. Their flight had 2 layovers though. And they had to wake up at 3:45 or 4am to start their day. How unfortunate.

Everyone’s back. I was ship-sick after a few days in India. There’s something comforting about being on the ship again. As much as I love the traveling that I’m able to do, it’s nice to have a home to come back to. Whether it’s a white house on the corner back in Pennsylvania or a cruise ship in a harbor, it’s home. If only for a little while.

Day 51 (03-10-09)

No classes today. While many people think that Semester At Sea gave us the day off because “everyone has diarrhea after India and no one can sit through class,” this isn’t actually the case. We get the day off because people are drained. If I had to summarize India in one word, it would easily be ‘exhausting.’ Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. But it was incredible. I don’t think I’ll ever make it back to India. There are so many places in the world that I want to see, and very seldom do I ever find a place that I think warrants an immediate return. Cape Town had that effect. London and Lucerne did as well, a few years back. But I just don’t know if I’d be up for another trip to India. At least not anytime soon. The people are incredible. The sites are beautiful. The culture foreign, but I hold nothing against it. India is just… India. I don’t know. It’s exhausting. I’m glad I’ve seen it and I’m glad it’s over. You can ask me to clarify this if you’d like, but if I’m wording it this awkwardly and circularly on the public blog, I don’t know how well I’ll be able to compile my thoughts into a personal e-mail. Oh well.

Now that we’re back, I started playing Settlers of Catan again. It’s just so addicting. We also had a photo/movie swap on the ship today for anyone to get together and share whatever they have with other people. I got some photos from previous ports, as well as the new U2 album. It’s rather underwhelming. Sad.

Today was a friend’s birthday, so we got a group together, dressed formally, ordered chips/salsa, and watched a Bollywood movie. Fantastic.

Oh, right. Assassins. I’m sure many of you have heard of the game Assassins. Well we’re playing it on the ship. Everyone has been given a target. Safe areas are the library, computer lab, and the classrooms during class. Immunities today were carrying your Global Studies book and wearing shoes from two different pairs. Kills are made by throwing a sock at your target. It’s sometimes played with water, but that doesn’t work so well here. My target has been keeping up with her immunities, so hopefully she’ll lower her guard at some point. I’m on the prowl.

Day 52 (03-11-09)

I think I’m almost over this cold. My voice isn’t totally normal again and the cough is lingering, but it’s almost over. Considering it’s been about 10 days, that’s good news. Karaoke night it tomorrow, so I spent some time today recruiting some more acts for that. I’m supposed to be the emcee, but I don’t know if I’ll have the voice or the energy to pull it off. I hope so, but it might be a game-time decision.

Wow, I actually didn’t do much of anything today. I played a couple games of Settlers. Went to class. Ate food. Sat outside in the unbelievable humidity. Studied for a midterm that’s tomorrow. That’s about it. I need to start being productive… I don’t know where this time goes.

Day 43 (03-02-09)

Stop. No. Don’t do it. Come on. Please? I’ve been doing so well. Ugh. Fine. I’ll admit it.

I’m sick.

It was only a matter of time. In contained environments like this one, illnesses spread like wildfire. My throat’s sore. I can’t really hear out of my left ear. I cough if I take too deep of a breath. Oh well. At least I’ve made it this far. And the food in India will probably make me sick anyway, so at least I’ll get it all out of the way at once. But on a good note, once we get to Thailand on March 15th, we only have 6 days of classes through Japan. That’s March 15th –April 11th with a grand total of 6 class days. What a good month. That’s my kind of spring break.

After classes today, not much went on, but there was a two-day-late celebration of Black History Month in the Union, so I went to that. Always enlightening, especially after visiting some of the places we just did. Now it’s time to watch 10 Things I Hate About You. And that’s actually academic for me. Since it’s based on Taming of the Shrew, I can write a paper on it for my Shakespeare class. Score. My life is so difficult. Wait, no…

Day 44 (03-03-09)

Alright, I didn’t even make it out of bed until 12:30pm today. Slept through Global Studies. Slept through breakfast. Almost missed lunch. No bueno. But I have a paper due in my 4:15pm Media class, so I suppose I should finish revising it before then. The one time all voyage that I’ve had to turn something in for a decent amount of credit, it’s the day I’m sick as a dog. Murphy’s Law. C’est la vie. I’m over it. What’s the difference. India in two days.

Oh, and I never mentioned it again, but Slumdog Millionaire was fantastic. It’s shocking to think that I’ve actually seen places as destitute as those depicted in the movie, and that I’ll probably end up seeing more. If you’ve seen the movie and you think that it’s playing up the slum factor to garner an emotional response, you’re only half-right. It is trying to get that response. But it’s also entirely true. There are parts of the world that really do look like that. And they really deal with these horrifying issues on a regular basis. It was a scary enough thought to have when I was just another kid living in the suburbs. But now, having seen the truth firsthand, it’s a completely different feeling. I can’t really describe it, and there’s no way to make those kinds of situations feel real without actually walking through a slum or a township. Next time you start complaining about the financial crisis…just stop. Our way of life is exponentially better than most. Even if we have to start sacrificing that mid-afternoon latte. Appreciate what you have, and know that it could always be worse. As long as we live in America, it could always be worse.

Sorry for preaching. It wasn’t initially intended to be that way; I kind of go off on rants sometimes.

Some clarification for those who asked for it:

As mascot of the Arabian Sea, I was a UPS worker. I wore a brown jacket and pants with homemade UPS logos, and I carried a package around with me. I wandered around telling people I had a package for them, which was construed as something TOTALLY different, and it might’ve actually helped us in the end.

Also, the picture from Spain of my friends walking into the hostel with the creepy red sign and the ominous clouds in the background was touched up ever-so-slightly in Photoshop to make it look more disturbing. It was still pretty creepy though.

I’ll add more pictures to the Photo site sometime soon. Hopefully before India.

Yes, I want to go to the World Cup in South Africa next year. Cape Town, here I come.

Yes, I would love to go backpacking in South America or Southern Africa after I graduate. Let’s go.

No, I haven’t gotten a tattoo. Yet.

Yes, I’m sleeping on the Great Wall of China when I get to Beijing. I think my excitement should be rather self-explanatory.

Yes, I’m remembering to take my anti-Malaria medication.

Yes, when I was in Namibia I did drive past the hotel where Angelina Jolie gave birth. We didn’t go inside, though.

As for all of the questions regarding the female population, I can only say:
No, I’m not getting married in Hawaii.
No, I didn’t meet and fall in love with a South African Princess.
Yes, I’m still AIDS free. (Seriously guys?)
No, I haven’t made anyone pregnant.

And I’m not even going to post the other questions. This is a family blog. Try to keep it PG.

Day 42 (03-01-09)

How is it already March? Where is all of this time going? I’m pretty sure I don’t like it. Also, I just discovered this morning that an era is ending. After 13 years in Philadelphia, Brian Dawkins is now a Denver Bronco. I’m all for change, and I understand the basics of the NFL front office, but this is just wrong. Brian Dawkins is an Eagle and always will be. I guess we’ll just have to watch him cover his 1/3 of the Earth while he’s in Colorado.* Oh, and with all of our time changes before/after Mauritius, we are now 10.5 hours ahead of the East Coast and 12.5 hours ahead of Boulder. Apparently India is in its own half time zone thing, so we had to move our clocks forward by 30 minutes a couple nights ago. But I think Burma or Bangladesh has a similar time zone, so we’ll even it out eventually.

*It is a widely known fact that 2/3 of the Earth is covered by water, and the rest is covered by Brian Dawkins.