Malaysia!

Malaysia/Borneo- Left: Monkey!! Middle: Orang Utan Right: My roommates in our River Lodge! Linda and Tracey!

Left: YMCA Boystown- India
Middle: Taj Mahal
Righ: Meg, Natalie and I in India

Vietnam, like Malaysia, was so much more than I expected.

The ship taxied up the Saigon River to a dock outside of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City is also known as Saigon. A group of Vietnamese women dressed in traditional clothes were holding a sign titled “Semester at Sea, Welcome to Vietnam.” It was a very warm welcoming. Many parents boarded the ship after we arrived because this port is the Semester at Sea Parent Trip. It felt comforting to see parents and definitely made me miss mine. With no plans the first day, Lauren and I decided to explore Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Destination Asia, the tour company that sponsored all of our trips funded a 30 minute shuttle from downtown HCMC to the ship. It was nice not having to bargain with taxi drivers and to also have a guaranteed ride to and from the city. The bus dropped us of a Le Loi Street where we walked ten minutes to Ben Then Market. The streets of Vietnam are like India minus the roaming cows, dirt, and old-fashioned means of transportation. Everyone and their dog ride a motorized scooter. The streets are decorated with helmets and motorscooters. The security liaison at the US Embassy said the most dangerous thing we would encounter in Vietnam was crossing the street. The first time we took the bold risk of stepping off the curb my heart was in my throat. Most crosswalks have pedestrian signs but are sometimes ignored. So Lauren and I followed a local’s lead as scooters dodged in and around us. It was very loud but we soon learned that if we walked one constant speed the driver of the scooter could easily dodge us. The difference between the streets in Vietnam and India is that in India the drivers do not stop and the streets involve much more activity by various kinds of transportation. In Vietnam there are millions of scooters and the occasional bus or car. The Market is also like nothing I have ever seen. Imagine tons of small Vietnamese ladies trying to sell their counterfeit Lacotse, Gucci, Chanel, Ralph Lauren shirts, purses, bags, shoes backpacks, suitcases, sunglasses, shoes, jewelry, wallets, shoes, pants, dresses and did I mention shoes? There was also an occasional DVD stand or handi-craft stand. Lauren and met a nice lady that spoke very limited English who led us to her wall of fabrics. It is a very popular thing to get clothes made here in Vietnam like dresses and suits. After a difficult fabric selection, measurements and picture drawing, all done with very limited English, the small lady took my measurements and rushed out of sight to the tailors. I was to come back the next day to pick up my pants, and dress all for $40 US dollars. Exciting. After the ‘marketed out’ we returned to the ship so Lauren could grab something she’d forgotten and to pick up Kristin. We embarked on another walk to find a restaurant that supposibly was called “Texas BBQ.” This Texas BBQ was recommended by a lovely Arizona couple who we met at a Juice café who have been in Vietnam for two weeks adopting a 9 month old baby girl, they said this place made you feel like you were in Texas. Texas= United States= comforting food= home! Well after a unsuccessful search of this BBQ restaurant we settled on Jaspas. Dinner had to be one of the best Hawaii Pizzas that I’ve ever had.

Friday, March 28^th- Woke up bright and early to go on a Service Visit to a local disabled school. Every semester students from SAS visit this school and give them a small donation that goes a long way! The school had 12 classrooms with students ranging from 4 to 14. All the students are either “dumb or deaf” as the principal described them. Robyn and I visited in the four year old classroom where we were greeted with six curious and eager faces. All the children wore hearing aids lacked communication. Some of the students at the school show long lasting affects of Agent Orange, the chemicals that were dropped on the dense jungles of Vietnam to kill the foliage so that the enemy could be seen. The children loved the stickers and bubbles that wer brought. The visit was very fun and eye-opening. After the early morning, Robyn and I took the shuttle into the city to pickup my clothes and go to the War Reminisce Museum. We were told by a local that the museum was not in walk able distance and that we must take a cab. Four of us took the cab ride that ended up being about 5 minutes. People will do anything to make a dollar! The Museum displayed various tanks, airplanes, jets, ammunition, gruesome photographs and memorabilia. It was interesting having every display in someway point blame to the US. This is a trend throughout Vietnam on the subject of the war. After a visit we walked back to the market and picked up my PANTS and DRESS!!! They fit perfectly and were made beautifully. My pants are made out of light weight brown linen and my dress is a summer dress, very light with embroidered flowers and blue polk-a-dots. I love them! Robyn and I decided that it would be neat to the see the water puppet performance that began at 6:30pm. We bought our $ 4USD tickets and enjoyed a very cultural water puppet performance. The music, set and puppets were gorgeous- bright red and gold. After a long day we headed back to the ship where I treated myself to a $2.00 hamburger on the 7^th deck pool bar. It was an awesome day!

March 29^th- It is hard to believe that it is already the END of MARCH! CRAZY!! I woke up bright and early for the two hour drive to Cu Chi Tunnels South of HCMC. Rush hour on the streets of the city is insane. Take the amount of people that start a marathon, put them all on motorized scooters with brightly colored helmets and horns and that describes the densely packed streets. The Cu Chi tunnels are just a section of the very intricate large tunnel system that the Vietnamese used during the war. The entrance to the tunnels is camouflaged by leaves and it about 14 inches by 10 inches-very tiny! The soldiers that used these tunnels had to be less than 120 pounds. In the park there is a shooting range where I shot an AK-47! It was so loud that my ears rang for two hour afterwards. I actually hit the target twice. Our entire tour was given the chance to go about 500 yards through one of the tunnels. There are three tunnels all at deeper depths. I made it to the second ‘story’ of tunnels and felt too claustrophobic and hot to continue. The tunnels are A LOT smaller than what I was picturing. Also, the sound of the shooting range was ten times as loud in the tunnels. It is hard to believe that people actually lived down in the Earth all while the enemy was walking above them. There were also large craters from B-52 bombs scattered among the park. It is clear that the Vietnam war affected many lives, even today. Walking around the streets of HCMC there are no old men because they all died- over 4 million Vietnamese! The rare occasion that I found an older man he was either an amputee or badly burned. Reading the Vietnamese account of the war gave me a completely different perspective of the U.S.’s foreign involvements in other countries. It also explains why other countries stereotype Americans.

Once back at the ship, Brittany, Robyn, Kristin and I took the shuttle bus back out to the city to find postage, the internet, buy rail passes for Japan and eat at Phu24. Unfortunately, the office that sold the rail passes closed early. Japan has a weird system where the passes must be purchased in other countries and is used for the bullet trains which travel up to 300km/hour! I’m excited for Japan! Kristin and I are going to try and do the entire thing indy! Anyway, after a disappointing search for the rail passes we decided to go to Highlands which is like a Starbucks but better! I know, hard to believe. Highlands serves sandwiches, sweets, and a variety of drinks. We all met up at Pho24 which we heard was a really good Vietnamese restaurant. We all shared spring rolls, and pho (Vietnamese Noodles) with beef. It was delicious.

Today a group of 30 students and I cruised the Mekong Delta by large boat, medium sized boat, row boat and ox-cart. The delta is so lush and green with large palm trees found everywhere. We visited a local coconut candy factory and a fruit tasting restaurant. The fruit was delicious- coconut, pineapple, jack-fruit, dragon fruit and mango. The local island benefits on tourism where everyone has a job. Our boat led us to a nice restaurant where I was a vegetarian for the day because I had heard sketchy things about the fish that still may be contaminated with agent orange. The fish turned out to be carp.

This ship is in a remote location where it takes a while to get anywhere. It took us two hours to reach the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. Tomorrow a group of SAS students are taking a deaf student to the local zoo. It should be a fun day. Brittany and I are hoping to buy our Japan Railpasses in the city before it closes at 5pm. It is weird that the railpasses have to be purchased outside of Japan. The rail system in Japan is one of the world’s best. The bullet train travels up to 300 km/hour! Kristin and I are planning on doing Japan indy. It is one of the safest country we will visit and we’re both really excited. We hope to visit Hiroshima and Tokyo.

I’m taking advantage of free internet at Highlands café in downtown HCMC.

Happy 21^st Birthday MAY MAY!!! I miss you!

Happy 21^st Birthday ROOMMATE (on the 6^th, I’ll be on the Great Wall thinking of you)!!! I miss you! Thank you for you letters!

Good Luck against La Verne girls! Go Regals!

23 days until HAWAII!!!

Thanks for the letters. Aunt Kelly- I DID get the heart rock in India! It is on my magnetic wall!!

Vietnam is amazing! Alot of history and the people are VERY nice. I'll write a more detailed post later. Miss you. Thanks for the letters! -Megs

I really didn’t know what to expect of Malaysia probably because I wasn’t finished digesting India. It only took us three days to go from Chennai to Penang. The seas were calm and we had occasional rain and beautiful rainbows.

The ship pulled into the harbor around 7am on the morning of the 19th. Different from any other port, the entire ship would be tendering or taking boats to the shore rather than docking in port. Penang is an Island of the Eastern side of Malaysia. The Island has skyscrapers all in front of lush green hills. My Borneo trip met at 0830 in the Union to board the first tender to shore to catch our 10:45am flight. Well, around 0930, the immigration officials had still not cleared the ship. Frantically, our passports were the first ones stamped and cleared and 30 of us boarded the first tender to shore, boarded our bus and sped to the airport. We left the ship around 9:50am and I was sitting in my seat on the airplane at 10:25am. Our flight was 45 minutes to Kuala Limpur (commonly known as KL) from Penang where we had a two and a half hour layover to catch our next flight. I bought an US Magazine and we had a healthy breakfast at Burger King. The next flight was on a Boeing 777 (the kind that seat 8 across) and conveniently I was in the last row of the entire airplane thanks to my last name- seat 48 D. We took off from KL for our 2.5 hour flight to Kota Kinabalu (KK) on lovely Malaysia Air. The flight was going well, some turbulence but nothing major. Right before the time when the plane was supposed to land the pilot came over the intercom saying that there was a plane stuck on the runway at KK and that the flight was put into a holding pattern until the plane could be moved. After 10 minutes the pilot came back over saying that we were to land in Brunei, a small country on the Island of Borneo, south of Sabah to “refuel.” The refueling took about 2 hours on the ground before finally taking off to land in KK. It was thunder and lightening outside but we still took off into the dark skies because by now it was 1800. The flight was very turbulent and then out of no where we hit an airpocket or got struck by lightening and dropped 100m. The freefall was in slow motion and was something out of the movies. All I remember was seeing the heads of the 20 rows infront of me fly sky high to the ceiling; get thrown across the plane and by some miracle, everyone ended up back in their seat. Jack, the girl sitting next to me who is also a SAS student didn’t have her seat belt on and actually hit her head on the ceiling. It was like a scene from a movie, babies crying, people praying. My hands were shaking. The worst part about it was that the pilot never came of the intercom to tell us what was happening! We didn’t even know when we were landing. All we heard was a big loud boom and then another and we were on the ground. The runway was so wet the plane actually slid to the side! Needless to say it was a very eventful flight and one that I will never forget. The entire group decided that the pilot wasn’t telling us the entire story. Once in KK we met our tour guide and headed to a cultural show and seafood dinner. The restaurant was on stilts over the water. There were all these tanks with snails, eels, fish, crabs, lobsters, mussels on the one side of the restaurant. Basically you point to which animal you wish to kill to eat and they prepare it- sketchy! Everyone shared their selected dish. I’m slowly mastering Chop Sticks- Glenn would be proud! Our hotel was very modern and the bed comfy. A handful of people from our group did karoke in the hotels “Lazer Lounge”- hilarious! Our director of Student Life and Field office coordinator sang a memorable performance of “ice, ice baby.”

It felt nice to sleep in until 6am. Today our trusty guide Darren was to take us to the Mt. Kinabalu Park in Sabah, one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Mt. Kinabalu is about 13,000 feet tall and climbed by people from around the world. Every year they have an International climbathon to see who can climb it the fastest. The record was set by a man who did the 21km hike in 2 hours and 39 minutes! Crazy. After a three hour drive to the park we visited the beautiful botanical gardens. Borneo is home to the world’s largest flower! We hiked around the park, swam in the hot springs and did a canopy walk. While we were having lunch at the Rainforest restaurant it started POURING rain. I saw more rain on this trip than California has seen in the last 10 years! My clothes are STILL wet and my laundry smells of a potent mud smell. The canopy walk consisted of 6 suspended bridges. The bridges were made up of twelve foot ladders tied together by ropes with plywood placed over the rungs of the latter. There were two ropes to support the weight, that’s it! It was a ton of fun! After a long day at the park we took the 3 hour bus ride back to the hotel where we ate another seafood dinner and headed back to the hotel.

The wake up call for our third day was at 5am to catch our 45 minute flight at 0730 from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan. I sat next to a really nice couple from Alberta, Canada who just flew into KK from their 10 hour flight. The next stop on the itinerary was the much anticipated Sepilok Orang Utan rehabilitation center where we were to watch an Orang Utan feeding. The platform that we stood on allowed us to see seven of these magnificent creatures. There were maqaok monkeys everywhere! After an exciting day at the center we left for our 2.5 hour speed boat ride up the Kinabatangan River. The river was beautiful! The water was a disgusting brown color but the bright green foliage that lined the river was mesmerizing. Occasionally we would see a large dark blob in the top of trees that were usually proboscis monkeys or wild Orang Utans. We even saw two venomous snakes and a crocodile! We stayed at a nice river side lodge with bungalows situated along the rivers edge. At dinner, we were not admitted unless we were wearing a sarong. The entire lodge sang songs and danced all night long, it was very fun!

The last day involved A LOT of traveling, almost 12 hours. In the morning the entire group boarded our speed boats again and headed down the river for our 2.5 hour journey back to the water taxi dock. We boarded the bus where we visited a beautiful Chinese Buddhist Temple that overlooked the entire city of Sandakan. Then we had lunch at the largest hotel in Sandakan before boarding the first of three flights to get back to the ship. Our flights were rather uneventful compared to the earlier flight. Our first flight was 45 minutes from Sandakan to KK, then 2.5 hours from KK to KL and then a 45 minute flight from KL to Penang. The entire group was thrilled to see the ship stationed off shore. The ship looks like a floating city of lights. After a warm, much anticipated, shower and a delicious mango smoothie from the pool deck, I settled into bed to read my pile of letters that Andrew, my steward, left for me on my pillow. A great way to end one of the best trips I’ve done so far.

In the morning, I overheard someone saying that it was EASTER! EASTER! My first Easter away from home, not at the Penna’s fishing or a sunrise service in Laguna. Growing up is hard.

Vanessa, Kristin and I headed to Starbucks to take advantage of their free internet. I haven’t seen a starbucks in over two months! I can’t tell you how comforting it was to be able to connect to the free internet with a green tea frappucino in hand. The U.S. is such a spoiled society. Starbucks was located in one the biggest vertical malls I’ve ever seen! This mall was 7 stories tall with an open courtyard in the middle. It was a very Asian mall. I swear Malaysia could survive on shoes, pirated DVD/ Video games, and massages. I bought 5 DVDS for 25 Ring git which is about 8 US Dollars- 27 Dresses, Mad Money, Juno, The Bucket List and P.S. I love you! Lauren, my roommate also got the third and fourth season of Grey’s Anatomy! After a 3 hour shopping spree, where the only thing I bought were DVDs, Kristin and I headed back to the dock to catch the tender back to the ship. The rest of the day I watched my new DVDs, caught up on homework and wrote postcards. I mailed 22 postcards from Malaysia because postcards and postage were unbelievably inexpensive. It was about 60 US cents to buy and send each postcard! Once everyone was back onboard an announcement came over the intercom saying that the ship would no depart until the morning due to the tides. I attended the Student led Easter service last night which was awesome. The ship community is blessed to have some amazingly talented speakers and such friendly people.

Malaysia really surprised me. Again, it may have been the huge contrast between India and Malaysia. The culture is largely influenced by Asia. On Peninsular Malaysia almost all the population is Muslim. In Sabah and Sarawak, the two Malaysian states on the Island of Borneo, 33% are Muslim. Malaysia has an economic goal to be a first world country by 2020. I feel like this country was a little intro to Asia. If I had to choose my two favorite countries so far it would be Cape Town, South Africa and Malaysia.

We are cruising at an average speed of 19 knots through the Strait of Malacca. There are cargo ships everywhere and land on both sides of us. It is still strange to look out the window and see a ship so close. Our itinerary has not changed due to the uprising in Tibet which is comforting. We are scheduled to bunker in Singapore tomorrow to get fuel since we were not docked in Malaysia. Singapore is the cleanest city in the world. If you do not flush the toilet it is a $300 fine! It is also illegal to chew gum.

We arrive in Vietnam in two days. I do not have any big trips planned. It will be nice to stay on the ship, not fly anywhere and hopefully get some homework done. I am doing two service visits in Vietnam; one to a school for the disabled and another to the Hy Vong School for the Deaf where we are taking 12 students to the zoo! I also plan on visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the Vietnam war and taking a trip up the Mekong Delta. The voyage is going to go pretty fast from now until Japan. We have on average 2-3 days between every port from now until Kobe.

I can’t wait until Hawaii where I get to hang out with Aunt Kim and Mom. I’m craving Mexican food- Cholo’s here we come!!!

Happy Belated Easter!

P.S. Free postcard site has not been working on the ship...

Just woke up at noon trying to recover from an action packed five days in India. I think it will be at least a month before I get the smell of India out of my hair, the grime from my lungs and the dirt off my skin.

I woke up at 6am on Tuesday to the smell of India that was looming off shore. We have yet to be greeted by a country with its welcoming beautiful smell. I can’t really describe it but I’ll try. It is like burning plastic and garbage mixed with the greasy smell of an old tractor. Like I said, I would try. We arrived into the port where the water was an oil slick. I swear I could see my reflection in the water. After arriving, which was rather uneventful, I went back to sleep before debriefing and woke up to hear the ship still hadn’t been cleared. The logistics of customs and immigrations in India is more complicated than any other country that we have been too. To leave the port I needed a landing card, Ship ID, copy of my passport, and customs declaration. Just to leave the port meant going through 4 guarded gates, dodging massive trucks, bikes, rickshaws and pedestrians. Like the Dean said IAWA, an acronym meaning India always wins, always.

I had a Service visit to a local YMCA Boys Town planned the first day. We boarded our bus to take on the death defying streets of Chennai. Driving in India is a death sentence. There are no lines in the road and when there are lines they mean nothing. The horn is used often as the driver switches gears just to let the other vehicle know that the vehicle is there. It is ridiculous. Any kind of transportation you can think of you will find in India. The streets are crowded with motorcycles, scooters, bicycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, small cars, SUVs, small trucks, bigger trucks, buses in all sizes, regular bicycles, pedestrians… I could go on forever. With the amount of interesting, eye opening things I saw on the streets of Chennai, Agra and Delhi there is no way that I could even try to describe it in this blog. Words and pictures just do not even do it justice. Anyway, after we survived our ride to the YMCA Boystown the six of us got off the bus and walked into a large multipurpose room where we were greeted with the applause of over 100 young boys, ages 4 to 15. They were very well behaved, sitting on the floor waiting for arrival. They six of us and the 100 boys sang songs, played duck, duck goose and they even taught us a game. The barefoot, dirty boys live, eat, learn and sleep at boystown. It is like an orphanage where funding provides food, a roof and an education where they are trained in different vocations to prepare them for the intense India. The boys split up into different bunk houses with a house mom and it was evident that an older boy was like the leader of each of the houses. After we left boystown with a large goodbye crowd we had sometime to waste before dinner. I guess it is customary to EAT late here; breakfast around 7am, lunch at 2pm and dinner as early as 8pm. Food is a whole different post in itself- I’ll just say it looks like baby food and is very spicy but most dishes, when I got passed the look of it, tasted good and I haven’t gotten sick yet. (knock on wood) Our bus pulled into the YWCA where we met the president of the YMCA foundation in Chennai. There are over 32 centers in Chennai and over 500 in India! There was a large media crowd gathered where we were given shalls and a delicious western dinner- fried chicken, French fries and fruit. We returned to the ship around 9pm. I still needed to pack for my three day Delhi, Agra and Taj Mahal trip and try to get to bed early because both Lauren and I had to meet our trip at 3am to catch our 6am flight. To our surprise we couldn’t go to sleep because we were so excited.

The alarm went off at 245am to meet our trip. I was in Delhi/Agra/Taj Mahal Group C Bus 2. Try to remember that at 3am! All of my friends were in groups B and D so I had to make new ones. There were 40 people in our group headed by RD Amanda. I met three awesome girls on my bus- Natalie who goes to Chapman and lives in Irvine, Meg from Wisconsin and Courtney. Natalie became my “bus buddy.” We caught a 6am flight to Delhi where we were greeted with our buses and our tour guide who we called “Jay” because there was no way we could pronounce, let alone remember, his name. Our first stop was Qutub Minar which is the tallest stone sturucture in the world. Then we toured Delhi and saw the Iron Gate and Government Buildings. We had our first Indian Lunch at a banquet center before departing for our five hour bus ride to Agra. I slept most of the way to Agra and once we arrived we saw Tughlakaba before getting to our 5 star resort. The resort was like the Montage of Agra and is owned by the Sheraton. We were greeted with a flower lei and a dot was put on our forehead (I didn’t learn the symbolism of that). We walked down the marble entry way to the lobby where I found out that my roommate was going to be Katrina who goes to CLU too! She is a commuter, like Kristin, so I did not know her before the trip. Our room was beautiful. We went crazy when we discovered that we had HBO and MTV, both in English and feather beds!! I slept amazingly well after traveling for 18 hours but our wake-up call was 5:15 am so that we could watch the “sun” rise over the Taj!

Woke up bright and early and boarded our bus for the TAJ MAHAL!!! The call to prayer could be heard from our hotel. Natalie and I, along with everyone else were ecstatic! To get to the gate requires walking down a long street where hagglers try to sell anything and everything. Haggling is also another completely different blog. I believe that I am a professional bargainer now, between rickshaws and salespeople I think I’ve got it down. We entered the gate to the Taj but we had to pass through an archway before actually seeing it. The Taj was breathtaking and gave me goosebumps. It looked fake, like a background to a Hollywood movie. The group was set free and the four of us took hundreds of pictures. A brief history about the Taj Mahal- It is situated on the right banks of the Yamuna river and is made completely out of white marble. The inside of the Taj is a tomb where the Royal Emperor Shahjahan and the first Empress of India Mumtaz Mahal are buried. Shahjahan built to Taj for his beloved wife after she died giving birth to their 14^th child. The entire “crown palace” took 20,000 workers, 22 years to complete. The Taj is described as a “shrine of mystic love.” After watching the “sun rise,” although I don’t think I saw the sun once in India because of the smog, in the morning it just gets brighter, we left the Taj and returned to our hotel for breakfast. At breakfast I met a lovely older couple that are from Texas and part of a tour group visiting the India triangle- Agra, Delhi, Jaipur. After breakfast we checked out of our amazing hotel and toured Fatehpursikri, Agra Fort and then returned to the hotel for Lunch. After lunch we begged our tour guide to stop on the side of a street so we could shop. One of my proudest moments of India, besides bargaining was crossing the street!!! I survived!!! After shopping, where I purchased a light weight shirt, magnet and postcards, we went back to the Taj to watch the “sunset”. The Taj was much more crowded at dusk but still just as beautiful. After visiting the Taj we returned for the last time to our hotel for a boxed dinner and a ride to the train station. The Agra train station is nothing like I’ve ever seen, as mostly everything in India. Forty white people marching to the platform was quite a scene. We attracted beggars, mostly children tapping our legs and arms asking for money and food. The hardest was seeing children with birth defects and mothers holding their babies asking for money and food. If you give them something they will not leave you alone and it just attracts more, like feeding seagulls. Sad. Anyway, we had seen two trains come covering the rat infested tracks and both were jam packed with people standing and sitting. Although standing on a train for 2.5 hours to Delhi would have been an experience, I have to say that when our train arrived with individual seats I was VERY relieved. The train ride was exciting. Natalie and I played cards and I wrote postcards. I swear we ran over two bodies or animals while on the train. Twice we heard large thumps and everyone was like. “There goes another.” That may sound harsh but I learned to not be surprised by anything I saw in India, including dead bodies lying on the street. There were other SASers on our train and we all boarded buses to head the largest hotel in India- the Ashok. The Ashok is also a beautiful hotel. A bunch of us were saying how the cost of this trip could’ve been cut in half if we stayed in different hotels. Our tour guide said that with such a large group it was safer to stay in these high security hotels and when he said that, I didn’t complain and who could, we were in India! Katrina was once again my roommate and I was so tired I don’t remember falling asleep.

In the morning we had breakfast, although I was not that hungry and we boarded our buses again. We were going to visit Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, and again, the India Gate. Humayun’s tomb is like a Red Taj Mahal, built out of red sandstone. It is smaller, of course, but just a beautiful. The Ashok had a delicious lunch waiting. All three groups of the Delhi, Agra, Taj Trip had different flights flying out of Delhi to Chennai that day. My bus’s flight left at 7:30pm. We visited the Rajghat where Ghandi was cremated, in a pyre, the M.K. Gandhi Museum where he was assassinated and the Indira Ghandi Museum. The M.K. Ghandi Museum was very moving and emotional. Here a very influential man in the world’s history lived his last 144 days before being shot in the chest to death on January 30^th, 1948 on his way to the prayer room. His bed, glasses, walking stick, eating utensils and paperwork were all there. After leaving the Museum we left for the Indira Ghandi House. No relation to the famous M.K. Ghandi, Indira was the daughter of a Prime Minister in India. She was the first woman prime minister in India and had a very influential impact on India’s development at the time. She was assassinated by one of her bodyguards at the house. Her son then took the position and he too was assassinated by a suicide bomber. After visiting the museums we left for the airport. The security at the airport is much like that in America. There is a male and a female line where you are patted down and then you may enter the terminal. Our ENTIRE flight was SASers! It felt great to be getting back to the ship. As much as I loved India, I have never felt more at home on the ship. I feel so fortunate to be able to call the ship my home. It was, again, another long day of travel.

So I did something in India that only one other student did on the ship! I went to the Dentist! I know, scary, but it wasn’t that bad. Tuesday when we arrived one of my recent fillings was really sensitive. The last time this happened I needed a root canal. A root canal in India?!? SCARY! The night before I was to leave for my three day trip I found the nurse on call. She contacted Medex, the foreign insurance I have through ISE. Medex contacted a dentist in Chennai who could see me and one other student who needed an appointment on Saturday at 1300 hours. Linda, one of our amazing nurses accompanied us to the office. The appointment went well, but finding the clinic and getting back to ship is another story. We left an hour before or appointment because it was 7.5 km away and in India that small distance can take an hour. After our tax driver pulled over and asked three people for directions, we finally pulled up to a nice looking house with a sign that read Dr. Krishna Baba. We walked up to the home where we were greeted by his wife and instructed to take off our shoes. The small clinic had one chair and was very clean. There were two dentist there- an entotontist and a peritonitist. (Not sure how to spell those). I was the first to go and Linda stayed in the room with me. They asked me all these question about the filling. They did not take an xrays but removed my filling with no Novocain. It hurt a little but not too bad. He refilled it and said that my tooth was still alive and I did not need a root canal. Seriously the best thing I have heard in a long time. He refilled it and so far, I’m as good as new. I took pictures!! While the other guy went I talked with the dentist’s wife who told me all about their two daughters who went to school in Alabama and are now married and live in Banglore, south of Chennai. What an experience. I can now say that I’ve been to a dentist in India!!! Haha. The best part about it…it cost 1000 Rupees or $40 US Dollars!! Getting back to the ship was another adventure. Drivers get commission wherever they take you. So when our driver stopped, Linda put her foot down. We got out of the cab and started walking. The driver followed us and kept cutting us off. It was obvious the only two words he knew in English were Maam, No Problem and Yes. Imagine any conversation with just those three words! We found a auto rickshaw driver that took us to Spencers Plaza, a local mall. I have never felt more haggled in my life. I think everyone thinks because we are American we have lots of money and can just spend it! This has happened not only in India, but in all the countries that we have visited. After returning to the ship, I made some phone calls back home to let them know that I still had a tooth and was alive. This is also the first country where I have felt some serious H.S. (homesickness). Maybe it was because of my tooth or the extreme poverty I witnessed, I don’t know. I was REALLY REALLY excited when I returned from my trip to find 8 letters waiting on my pillow. It was also clear that our steward, Andrew, got bored- our cabin was spotless! I read each letter about 4 times before putting them in my Ziploc bag of letters.

Like I said, there is no way that I could describe all that I saw. I think I saw more animals on the street than most zoos. Llamas, horses, holy cows, camels, elephants, chickens, dogs, cats, donkeys… I also saw more men urinating on the streets than I cared to see. Another thing I noticed in India, which may explain the smell, there are no such thing as a trash can on the streets. Trash is swept up into piles and just lit on fire, in the middle of the street or wherever it is swept up. Cow Patties are used as fuel to cook, water is a precious and scarce and food is sold on every street corner. Imagine Tijuana, worse times 1000 with millions more people. Delhi’s population alone is 16 million. India has the second largest population in the world next to China with 1 billion people. That is 1/6^th of the world’s population!

I don’t remember leaving India because I was passed out at about 9pm! With a 1.5 hour time change, Lauren and I woke up to the noon announcements. Today (Sunday) is a no class day so that we can catch up on school work, sleep and staying healthy.

I have a 4 day trip planned in Malaysia to Borneo, an island in Indonesia!

Thanks for all your comments, letters and love! 54 days down, 54 more to go!

What a crazy six days it has been! It feels like we were just in South Africa and now we’re in INDIA! A recap of the past 6 days…

We set sail (not really, more like started the engines) from Mauritius on March 4^th at 2300 hours. As much as I loved Mauritius, it was nice to get back into the swing of things. I expected the seas to be a lot calmer since we were going to be in the Indian Ocean. WRONG- the first two days were cloudy and overcast and rough. However, the past 4 days it has been like glass! We had three class days that led up to much anticipated SEA OLYMPICS!

March 7^th was TACO DAY! The entire shipboard community was very excited. As one guy stated “those were the best, worst tacos I’ve ever had!” They are not the best, obviously, being very far away from Southern California and Mexico, Mexican food heaven, but were still tasty. One word: Guacamole! I ate so much I felt sick afterwards! Meals are rotated about every 20 days on the ship and Taco day is by far my favorite so far!

The Sea Olympics is a no class day where ten seas compete in various events throughout the day. The Ten seas include the Silver Sea made up of Lifelong Learners and staff members who competed in almost of all of the events and won the most gold stars out of all the other seas. I was part of the Bering Sea, whose team color was orange. We tied for fourth place!!! The day began with the opening ceremonies where each sea presented a cheer and everyone gathered in the Union. I participated in Mashed Potato Sculpting and Other events included tug-o-war, slippery twister, soccer, volleyball, dodgeball (Bering sea took gold in the women’s event), synchronized swimming which was hilarious, wet-tshirt swimming relay, Hawaiian Bowling, Dean Kenn Says (like simon-says), Global Studies Trivia, Scavenger Hunt, Photo-finish and the highly competitive lip-synch that takes place before the closing ceremonies. We WON the lip-synch contest with a love-story made up of Disney, Dirty dancing and Grease songs. We didn’t place in the two events that I participated in, but it was still a very awesome day. The weather we had during the Olympics is probably one of the best days we have had on the trip. Sunny, beautiful clouds, 85 degree and humid. I have pictures!

One of my professors was at a conference in Mauritius so was not with us on this leg of the journey. She is meeting us in India. The work load for the class is something I would imagine that a grad student completes for their doctorate. The intense amount of work that was assigned was all very vaguely explained and very time consuming. Needless to say, the entire class met and spoke with a higher authority to resolve the issue. I hope everything will be clarified after India!

Yesterday was the Mr. SAS contest. Eleven guys of the only 250 onboard, are nominated for the title. The entire contest is run by Students of Service. Contestants raise money for various charities the SAS supports. Last semesters voyage raised over $45,000 dollars for charters and service projects that we complete while traveling. Our goal is to surpass that previous record. Anyway, the competition involves a talent, formal wear and question and answer categories. The winner was a foreign exchange student from China named Chi. Chi is hilarious and definitely deserved the title!

The past two days we have been preparing for our arrival in Chennai! I still ask Lauren to pinch me because I don’t believe that we will be in India. When I look at it on my map, it completely does not register that I’m this far around the world. I feel like I’m still in my backyard. The world really is SMALL! They say India will be the biggest culture shock that we’ve had thus far. I’m really excited but a little anxious. I will be doing a service visit the first day to a YMCA Community Center and leave bright and early at 0330 the second day for my three day Delhi/Agra/ Taj Mahal trip. I cannot wait to see the Taj! We had Logistical Pre-port tonight where we were thoroughly warned, lectured and advised about various things to do and not to do in India. The documents we need just to clear the ship are immense. I feel very nervous carrying my passport around! They also advised us about conservative dress, to only eat and accept things with your right hand and to bring LOTS of hand sanitizer and toilet paper. Tonight we had traditional Indian dishes for dinner. After trying multiple dishes, I resorted to the trusty PB& J table!

Well, I take on India with an open mind, Pepto and toilet paper in hand and a curiosity for this diverse nation.

Quote from Lonely Planet: “Nothing can fully prepare you for India, but perhaps the one thing that best encapsulates this extraordinary country is its ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and confound all at once.”

Oh Mauritius!

Mauritius has to be one of the most beautiful Islands I have ever seen. Pictures this…a beautiful island about 11 times the size of Washington D.C., or 720 square kilometers, with a rich diverse population of 1.2 million people 52% of which are Hindu, all set in a tropical climate. Port Luis (lew-ie, not luis) is the capital, with a population of 176,000, and is the second largest cargo port on the continent of Africa.

The first day we arrived around 7 am. The lush green mountains were glowing in the rays of the morning sun. We are docked in a very industrial part of Port Luis so it makes getting to the waterfront kind of difficult, not like in Cape Town where you walk off the ship and you are 100 feet from the closest shop. The water taxi is 2 US dollars or 100 Rupees and the cab fares are outrageously expensive. Our “Hike and Beach” trip was one of the first to leave the ship. We were to hike Le Pouce, the thumb in English, at an elevation of 2,261 feet. The drive to the trailhead led us through some neighborhoods, where it wasn’t uncommon to see gardens on rooftops, and some very elaborate and colorful Hindu temples. There were about twenty of us hiking the mountain and it took us about 2 hours to reach the meadow summit before climbing the thumb part of the mountain! It was very steep and slippery at some points and many people were resting to take breaks from the hot humid weather. Once we all finally reached the meadow we divided into two groups where we were each to take turns actually climbing the thumb. Our packs were left at the meadow and the sheer scope of the climb was intimidating. Once at the top, I realized that all the effort was definitely worth it! The view was breathtaking! From the top, you could see all sides of the Island! About a 30 minute descent lead us to our coaches where we went to the Eureka Colonial House for lunch. The House was built in 1830 and has over 160 windows! We had a delicious traditional Creol lunch and then headed back to the coach for our ride to the famous Flic-en-Flac beach, where most SASers had villas. I must say that this is one of the most beautiful beaches that I have ever been to! The water, I’m guessing, was a warm 79 degrees and felt refreshing after the hike and delicious lunch. It was also my first time swimming in the Indian Ocean!! The white fine grained sand felt very soothing under your feet and the very high salinity in the water reminded me of Hawaii. We headed back to the ship where I met up with Kristin. We took the water Taxi to the waterfront and had pizza and ice cream for dinner. I know, very healthy, but when you’re at port all you can think about is what you’re going to see and especially eat! Ship food gets old pretty fast. Kristin and I received A LOT of glances from families walking around. Two Americans wearing shorts, Kristin with blonde hair, it was strange. You feel like you’re constantly being judged.

The next day, I woke up bright an early for a 745am departure time for an FDP: Conservation of Islands with my Marine Bio professor. We left for Ile aux Airgettes where Tatjana, my professor, and the inter-port lecturer, Dennis, have connections. We toured the small Island and were able to cuddle with giant tortoises, catch skinks and see many birds. We also learned about the conservation project going on to conserve many of the reptiles, and birds. The water surrounding the Island was a glowing turquoise. After our two hour tour of the small Island we jumped back on the bus to eat our boxed lunches and head to the Brise Fer Conservation Management Area, the most well conserved rainforest in Mauritius. Unfortunately, the Maha Shivrata pilgrimage is going on and we ended up getting stuck in a parade! The guides made the decision to turn around and head for the BEACH! I would have rather headed to the beach than complete a 6 mile hike into the rainforest! We went to a different beach than the previous day in the North of the Island. This beach was divided into coves with an outlaying reef in the distance. I put my goggles on and one of the first people in the water. I miss the soothing feeling of being surrounded by a body of water. There is something very homey and comforting about the ocean and water. There were many different fish and beautiful sea grasses. I was surprised at the lack of color in the reef. By the time my fingers were completely pruned, I walked up onto a cove a ways down from the group. The beach was deserted except for one couple. I laid on the beach by myself until my fingers regained their shape and then swam back to the main cove. It was very relaxing and beautiful. The day was long, over 11 hours, but the beach was awesome!

Monday, my classmate Vicki and I woke up bright an early at 530am to catch a taxi to the fish Market. For our marine class, we must write a very extensive paper on four fish markets we visit in the different countries. It sounds exciting and easy, but you forget that no one speaks English. I can not tell you how many times I’ve wish I was bilingual! Vicki, who is a great bargainer, got our cab driver down to 500 Rupees. We walk to a large industrial building that smelled of fish. Each meat had a section in the building, pork, beef, fish etc… (Most Hindus are vegetarian) We had been told by the concierge desk in the ship that the fish market opened at 6am, however it actually opened 8am. We both had trips to catch around 9am so that was disappointing. There was a man standing behind his fish displaying counter but did not speak any English. He managed to understand something we were saying because he led us to the head of the Market where we talked to the very polite, English speaking, man who let us read regulation books and talked to us for about 10 minutes. I cannot describe the smell of that slaughter house. There were fish scales everywhere! The one fisherman we talked to said he sells mostly tuna, what a surprise. We returned to the ship at about 630am where I fell back asleep. My Marine Park trip for my Human Effects on Coastal System class left a 9am, so after a quick breakfast- the croissants on the ship are delicious; I headed out to the coach. My professor Vic Kennedy (reminds me of Mr. Hamera) and his wife accompanied us 14 students to the Marine Science Research Institute at Albion where we learned a lot about Aquaculture, Marine Research being conducted on the Island, water quality and vessel tracking systems. It was very informative and full of paper-writing information. After the educational part of the day we were led to a water taxi dock where we traveled to Ile des Deux Cocos in Blue Bay. This Island is very small and about 200 yards from the mainland of Mauritius. The Island was something out a traveler’s magazine. It looked like those Islands that you see in the tabloids that celebrities rent out for the entire week. The white sand was decorated with Cabanas, picnic tables, lounge chairs and of course a bar. Upon arrival we were greeted with a warm towel and a glass of champagne. The buffet BBQ lunch was delicious. After lunch we were fitted with snorkel gear and boarded a glass bottom boat. The entire Bay is a protected Marine Park. I have never seen coral formations like what we saw! HUGE! All different types of corals and many colorful fish decorate the reef- I even saw Nemo! We traveled to a buoy where we docked and jumped overboard to snorkel for forty minutes. You forget that the color is lost due to color degradation, the light spectrum only being able to penetrate so deep. These beige colors that we were seeing were actually purple and red at the surface of the water! After a four hour afternoon on the Island, we headed back across the bay to meet our coach and head back to the ship. This was around 415pm and our ETA at the ship was 5 pm. During the drive back, our coach all of a sudden veers off the road into a sugar cane field (sugar cane is a major export for Mauritius, started by the French). Our “chauffeur” as they call them here (almost everything is in French) said our bus was overheating. We watch the pilgrims walk by us with their altars and offerings to Lord Shiva. A little bit about Maha Shivratree- the Hindu religion believes in many gods, one being Lord Shiva, the destroyer. I do not know that much about the celebration, but do know that about 5 days before the celebration that takes place on March 5^th, Hindu families, dressed in white, begin the pilgrimage to Grand Basin where there is a lake. Thousands of people gather around the lake and deliver their offerings to Lord Shiva. The pilgrims wear flip-flops and march with their brightly colored altars down the open road taking breaks at the tents set up along the way. Luckily, about 30 minutes later another bus came take us back but it was all in the adventure. Once back on the ship and freshly showered I met up with some people, had dinner and was surprised to learn that it was ice cream night! Can you tell that ship food is a main topic of conversation?? Ice cream is only served about every 20 days or so and it usually nasty flavors, but tonight, we had vanilla and cookies-n- cream!! You could hear everyone gasp as they came in the dining room and saw the ice cream bar set up! While we’re in port we always have delicious food. Less people to feed= better food!

Tomorrow I plan to do check out the local market and try and find some postcards/ stamps. My goal was to write this before we leave so that way I can focus on school work once we are at sea. This was kind of like our Spring Break! I can’t believe that it is MARCH and that our next port is India! We have six days at sea split up into three days of classes than the much anticipated Sea Olympics, and then two more days of classes. Guess what my event is in the Sea Olympics? Yep, mashed potato sculpting! Go BERING SEA and the mighty mighty king crabs! Haha

Thank you all for the letters!! I read them as I was sitting on the beach because I received my mail when I was walking out the door! I love the pictures!

Let me know when South Africa postcards start showing up!

Aunt Kelly- here is your South African Tetter-totter!!

Far Left: view from Table Mountain, South Africa
Right: Giraffe and Zebra on safari!

Still NOOO luck with pictures!! I'll try tomorrow.

Pictures are tough to upload...internet being VERY slow! I'll keep trying!

Just arrived in Mauritius this morning! It is beautiful here! White sand, crystal blue water…I’m in heaven!

Lots to do! Surprised at the strong Indian influence here! Hiked a 2,000 foot mountain known as "the thumb" in french! AMAZING! picts to come...