Port Louis, Mauritius

Mauritius. Is. Amazing. I had a blast. On the first day, Alex, Catherine, and I took a buses to Curepipe and Henrietta to go hiking in Tamarin Falls (I doubt I spelled that right, sorry). We found a guide when we got there, and this was NOT an easy little walk through the woods. It was partly raining, the ground was mudding, and the trail was steep. We climbed over rocks, Catherine slipped and would have fallen a ways if Alex had not been behind her, and I would have too if the guide (Kevin) hadn’t been right in front of me to help. I kept finding it hard to believe that I was actually there, AND I jumped off a waterfall. Yes, it was into water – I find it surprising how many people ask if I jumped into water. The spot Alex and I jumped from was about 6 m high, and the water was supposedly 20 m deep. IT WAS EXHILERATING! I almost pussed out, but I’m extremely happy that I didn’t. The day was definitely up there among the top days of my life. In the evening, we walked to the Waterfront area. We met three Mauritian women and a little girl who had rode an hour in a taxi to Port Louis to watch the ships come in and out! They said they had wanted to see the ships up close, but security won’t let you get close without a ship ID, so we showed them some of our pictures. One of them asked for our names and email addresses so she could find us on Facebook. Catherine and I spent a good hour or hour and a half talking to them about the United States and life on the ship before we all went home.

On the second day, Catherine, Alex, Stephanie, Andrew, and found a cab driver to take us to Grand Bay, and he actually took us a few kilometers past it to a small beach where there were less people and a swimming area. After a while, Catherine, Andrew, and I asked the driver to take us on a hunt for goggles, which we found at a superstore that was vaguely similar to a Wal-Mart. We swam for a while and sat in the sand; there were no SASers at this beach (at least we didn’t see any, and I’m pretty sure we would have seen them if they were there because it was a pretty small beach). It was fairly awesome. After a few hours, we left to get lunch and to find a place to exchange money, buy stamps, and buy souvenirs/postcards.

I must say, the two days in Mauritius were quite wonderful, and I wish we had gotten more time. Unfortunately, voyagers before us found it their responsibility to trash the place and treated it with no respect, so Semester at Sea doesn’t have a very good reputation on the island. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the reason we were only there for one night.

-KW-

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean...

Neptune day!

Neptune day is the day you cross the equator, but we actually celebrated it the day after we crossed. It is also the day people shave their heads – tradition rules! You may be glad to hear that I did NOT have my head shaved, but I did get it cut. The faculty/staff and some dependents dressed up as part of King Neptune’s court, and the rest of us had “fish guts” (which weren’t actually fish guts at all, but rather a slimy, smelly concoction of some sort) poured on us, walked through the pool, and kissed a fish to make the transformation from “pollywog” to “seaback.” You would not believe how many people shaved their heads…it was insane! And yes, there were girls who did it too. One of my friends, Alex, had really long hair, and he did NOT want to cut it off or shave it, but he eventually gave in. Since he had already missed the huge gathering of people to shave their heads, Catherine chopped it off and shaved it for him. It was hilarious.

-KW-

Sea Olympics

I am about to write about something out of order here. Sea Olympics happened before we got to India, but I forgot to write about it. Sea Olympics day was a fun, class free day on board the MV Explorer. Can you imagine floating around in the middle of the ocean, on a ship, and watching people play games of crab soccer, dodge ball , and tug of war as well as doing a lip syncing contest, synchronized swimming, and a trivia bowl? The students on the ship are divided up into "seas" based on where our rooms are; the seas were the Adriatic Sea, Red Sea, Baltic Sea, Yellow Sea, Aegean Sea, Arabian Sea, Caribbean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea (sorry if I forgot any). The life long learners, staff, and dependents had their own team called the Salty Sea Monkeys. Every sea made their own flags and everything - fun stuff! My sea, the Caribbean (we called ourselves the pirates!), was near the bottom of the standings, but it was still fun. I’m not sure what else to say about it, but I figured I should at least mention it!

-KW-

Chennai/Cochin, India

The first experience I had in Chennai included watching auto rickshaw drivers play tug-a-war over the one guy that was in our group…enlightening first day if you ask me. After fighting our war through the horde of drivers, we attempted to go to a market in one, but the driver took us to a completely different place and tried to tell us that the market was closed until a certain time – LIES! Other SASers went to the same place we were trying to go before that time; consider it a lesson learned quickly. We also went to a temple, which was cool until we were cursed at by a beggar because we didn’t give her money. It is extremely difficult to walk by all these people and not give them something, but at the same time, it’s impossible to give to every person you see, and if you give to one, the rest will cause a scene. We also saw a lot of cows along the roads in certain areas of Chennai. Great thing about autos – they are made for 2-3 people. We consistently fit five: three sitting on the seat, one on top of those, and one on the driver’s seat. It was pretty intense. I went to a Welcome Reception on the first night in port; I got a Henna tattoo, watched a dance performance, and ate some interesting food. I am also just now realizing how much I use the word interesting, but there just really aren’t any other good ways to describe the experiences I have had in one word.

On the second day in Chennai, we found Spencer’s Market – the place we wanted to go the day before. We were there for a good few hours and got to talk to a few people our age. After that, we walked on a beach a ways and saw a statue of Gandhi. There were so many stray dogs in India that were just laying on sidewalks or on the beach; there were some cases in which I couldn’t even tell if they were alive or dead.

In Cochin, I went on a river tour of the Alleppey Backwaters, and there were a ton of house boats. At night, some friends and I took a ferry to New Cochin and saw a movie called My Name is Khan – ah. maze. ing. We couldn’t understand what they were saying of course, but we understood the plot well enough. When this movie is on DVD, I am going to buy it so that I can watch it with subtitles. The second day in Cochin was spent finding post cards, a post office, Indian clothing, and other souvenirs. I bought postcards from a woman outside of the port, and she was asking for pencils for her children, so when we were out shopping, I bought a lot of pencils and pencil sharpeners to give to her and the other women.

On a side note – Traffic in India is even more intense than in Viet Nam.

So yea, that was India for me.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Viet Nam

First thing I want to share with you about Viet Nam: In Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) there are motorbikes EVERYWHERE, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Traffic is insane, and I wish I had a t-shirt that says “I crossed the street in Viet Nam.” The people from Viet Nam that spoke with us before arriving told us that the traffic was a little intimidating and that there were no crosswalks; you just have to cross when you feel ready. This was more or less true. I think “intimidating” may have been an understatement – at least it was at first. After you get used to walking into a street crowded with motorbikes and cars, it’s not too bad... You just have to suck it up and walk slowly and confidently, and the motorbike riders will plan a path around you; however, the same is not, of course, true of cars. I felt like the grandma from the movie Mulan when she took the “lucky cricket” and closed her eyes and walked across a busy street.

 

This was the first port that I spent more than 2 or 3 days in; I did a wide variety of activities while in Viet Nam. One of the first things I did was get a business suit and a Vietnamese dress made.  The process was more difficult that you would expect because there are so many tailors to choose from, and they are all super nice. I had heard that Viet Nam was the place to buy a lot of clothes, so my friends and I went to the market a few times. Every time I went, I went with the assumption that I was going to come back laden with a ton of goods, but no such thing happened until the last day in port. At first, I just didn’t ever see anything that struck me as something I had to have, but then I realized that if I didn’t buy anything in Viet Nam, I would regret not having anything later. Sure enough, I am now extremely happy with everything I ended up getting, and I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t gotten anything. The experiences I had in the markets in all of the countries I’ve been to were completely different than any shopping experience I’ve had in my entire life. There are a lot of little “shops” that all have pretty much the same items in a row, and a few rows over there will be shops with something different. There were different areas for shops selling clothes, food items, shoes, souvenirs, and toys. Something I found out about myself while in the market – I am HORRIBLE at bargaining, and I smile and laugh A LOT when I’m nervous or uncomfortable.

 

One day I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels on an SAS trip; it was a pretty cool experience.  We learned about the Viet Nam war from a new perspective, and we got to crawl around in one of the tunnels that were used in the war. Well, we got to crawl around in a tunnel that had been enlarged for tourists anyways. Near the end of the tour, a few people paid money to shoot an AK-47, and I was not one of them! I’m not sure what else to say about the Cu Chi Tunnels – it seems fairly self-explanatory to me…

Another place on the list of things to do/see in Viet Nam is the Mekong Delta. I ended up going independently with three other people. We found a cab driver and guide that would take us and went on our way. It wasn’t quite what I had expected, but it was still fun. We went in several boats to different areas of the Mekong Delta, we sampled freshly made coconut candy and crispy rice paper, and three of us tried Snake’s Blood Wine. I don’t know if you know that is, but you should Google it or something; it was …interesting. Hmm, what else did we do in Mekong…we rode through a village-like area in horse-drawn carts. We also listened to some women sing Vietnamese music and enjoyed some amazing tea and fruit, and our guide told us about the Coconut Monk. All-in-all, it was a pretty good time, until we got back to the city that is. Right, so we get back to the city, and the guy who had showed us around tried to get us to pay more than what we had agreed on – what a rip off! We ended up telling him that we only had the amount he had told us to pay in the beginning, gave him the money, and walked away; it seemed to work well enough. Once back in Saigon, one member of our party went back to the ship while the other three of us found a place to eat called Blue Café which was fairly nifty. Later on, the other girl and I went to get pedicures and massages. I have to say, the massage felt damn good, and it was the first time someone actually walked on my back.

 

The last thing about my time in Viet Nam that I wish to share with you all is this: Phό is amazing. I ate it three times. It is probably my new favorite food. Rice noodles and soup…really freaking good. Seriously, if you ever go to a country where they have Phό, get it. The place we got it at was called Phό 24, and these places were all over the place. It’s like McDonalds in the US when it comes to the fact that there are so many of them.

 Check back in a day or so to read about India! (I don’t feel like writing anymore at the moment because this one took me forever!)

 

-KW-

Hong Kong

Ok, so “later today” meant more like two weeks from now…oops! I am really bad at this blog keeping thing. I should be writing in a personal journal so I can remember everything between blogs. I guess I’ve just been preoccupied with other things, and I keep forgetting to blog. I tell myself I’ll do it later…I’ll do it later…I’ll do it tomorrow…I’ll do it while in transit in India…yea no…Right then, writing about Hong Kong now, but I’m in India…yup.

The port – was – a – MALL! No joke; it was literally a mall. A HUGE mall. The best thing about the mall: FREE WI-FI!!! Needless to say I took advantage of that on day one. I also walked around Harbor City (that’s what the mall/surrounding area was called) with a friend for a while, and then we found a park and walked around there. Basically, we just explored the city all day. To be honest, the days I spent in Hong Kong are all blurred together. We went to a few markets (lady’s market, fish market, bird market, flower market, night market, etc.), walked around (a lot), checked out Hong Kong Island (which was more of a business area), and ate some pretty good food (not going to lie – I am guilty of eating McDonalds in a foreign country – I was curious to see if it was the same at the United States, and it was not!). On the last day in port, we went to a restaurant called The Modern Toilet on Hong Kong Island. All of the seats are toilet bowls, and they serve your food in dishes that look like toilets, urinals, sinks, etc.; it was quite funny. While there, we heard a little Chinese girl singing the ABC’s (yes, in English) – so cute! We also saw the seemingly never-ending series of escalators, and we rode them all the way to the top! (so it wasn’t really never-ending, but it sure as hell felt like it was going to be) On the night before that, I went to SoHo with a few people. We found an ice bar; it was cold (obviously). It was an interesting experience I guess. There were Semester at Sea students EVERYWHERE – well, what do you expect? It was pretty much just a block of bars crowded with a bunch of college kids…need I say more? Oh, and just so you all know – NO, I did NOT get “wasted” with my peers in SoHo. Something else that was interesting about Hong Kong Island was that there were not many sidewalks (at least in some areas there weren’t any). You have to walk on a system of skywalk things above the streets – it was pretty cool.

That is about it for Hong Kong – like I said, the biggest portion of my time there was spent simply walking around the city with friends and taking it all in.

-KW-

Shanghai, China

First, I need to apologize for procrastinating on the blog posts! This should have been written about a week ago; the result is that I am writing three different posts today (for Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon)

There was a delay upon arrival in Shanghai that consumed a few hours; we were supposed to go through the customs process early, but we didn’t start until several hours after the original time. My FDP to the Shanghai Bund was supposed to leave at 10:30 am; we didn’t leave until almost noon. Actually, my “sea” was one of the last to be called to go through customs, so my trip nearly left without me and a couple other people. The bund was pretty cool to look at, and I took some pictures. Then we went to “old town.” I have never seen that many people in one little area in my life. We were in China during the spring festival (Chinese New Year Celebrations), and the place we went was PACKED! I took pictures, but pictures don’t do the scene justice. Once we got back to the bund area, another girl and I signed out of the trip and walked around on our own. We went to Nanjing Road and checked out all the shopping opportunities – not that I actually bought anything. The people in this area were very pushy and busy, and every few feet there were people selling fake brand name sunglasses, watches, purses, and shoes. After a while, my companion and I decided to head back to the ship; we got lost. We found the cruise terminal, but the guard told us we had to go farther down the street to get to where the ship was, so of course we start walking in the direction he points out. We walk for quite some ways and realize that there is nothing in this direction, and we go back to where the guard was. Again, he points in the same direction and says we have to go that way. Once more, we start walking; we walked and walked and found nothing…again. This time, when we got back to where the guard was, we saw another “SASer,” and he told us that the ship was in the opposite direction to which the guard had been pointing, so at this point we are tired and cold and slightly frustrated. After being on the ship for a while, we met up with some other people, went back to Nanjing Road, and found a place to eat. Three of us got some really spicy rice noodle and chicken soup. It set my mouth on fire! After eating, we went to the ship once more to find a couple other people and then set off to find a place to hang out. (A club in other words…) First we went to a little bar and had a drink. The waitress that served us was from France! We sat and talked for a while, and then we left and walked to a place called Club 70 – it was pretty sweet if I do say so myself. The people I was hanging out with left early, but a couple other SAS people were there, so I stayed with them.

The second day in Shanghai was no more eventful than the first. I walked around (Nanjing road again) with someone until others were done with their trips. We did some shopping and bargaining (which I am very bad at). I should have written this blog post earlier than today because now I can’t remember anything that I did that sticks out a lot. I went back to Club 70 (with different people this time) and there were a LOT more semester at sea people there – I kind of told everyone I saw that day to go there at night…word spreads…

On the final day in Shanghai I went to the zoo with a friend…it was fairly depressing. I experienced my first major culture shock here – which is weird because you would think that the place and people would be what set me off, but no, it was the animals. We saw all the animals you see at a zoo in the US and then some, but the cages pretty much all looked the same. They weren’t specialized to fit the need of the animals. There were signs saying not to feed the animals, but people were still throwing orange peels and chips and paper in the cages to get reactions out of the animals. I think the part that hit it home for me was the “pet world.” Before going to this area of the zoo, I was thinking it would be just like a petting zoo or something. Nope. There were domestic cats and dogs in cages that were very similar to a pound. People were doing the same things they did at the wild animal “habitats.” In the US, we think of these dogs and cats as beloved pets – as part of the family. There were Saint Bernards, Great Danes, Dalmatians, golden retrievers, and German Shepherds – just to name a few. I think that if I had seen an English Mastiff, I would have cried.

Well, that is just about it for Shanghai. I need to write a paper for one of my classes now, so I will write about Hong Kong later today.

-KW-