"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
Since I got back on the ship since China, all I’ve been doing is sleeping. I was incredibly sick while I was on my trip to Beijing and Xi’an. I tried to make the most out it though and do as much as my body would allow. But by the end of the night, I was incredibly exhausted and not in the mood to go out to eat or see the night life. I really haven’t been that sick in a very long time. The ship doctor was on my trip and didn’t do a dang thing about it. I don’t like to talk bad about him because he’s probably a very intelligent guy, but a lot of people of the ship have had bad experiences with him. So anyway, I am still recovering from being sick- I haven’t been able to taste food since I left Hong Kong, which was a week ago. I’m still coughing horribly which keeps me up at night and my roommate up. Tomorrow we will be in Kobe. Everyone on the ship has to have their temperature taken before they get off the ship and if ANYONE has even a slight fever, they will NOT be aloud off the ship. I’m hoping and praying that I will be feeling fine tomorrow otherwise I will not be aloud off. Japanese officials are very strict about letting sick people into the country. I’m so excited for the Japan! It’s my last port to go all out and have as much fun as possible. Tomorrow after we dock in Kobe 8 of us girls will travel by bullet train to Hiroshima for the day. On the 26th we will head to Tokyo for a night, then Kyoto for two nights and then back to the ship for the last day! One of the girls made up an itinerary for everyone for each day so we know what’s going on. We are going to do a lot of site seeing and traveling. I’m hoping that I will be better by tomorrow. The doctor said I can get pneumonia very easily with a cough like mine and to be extra careful and sleep lots. So I’m trying my best to rest up as much as possible! Last night on the ship was had comedy night on the 7th deck. We all bundled up in jackets, hats and pants, drank hot chocolate and snuggled up in blankets while watching our fellow students do stand-up. It was HILARIOUS to say the least! I haven’t laughed that hard in days!:) Everyone just chilled upstairs all night and then I headed downstairs. I sat down in the hall to talk to my neighbor Craig and slowly more people sat down and pretty soon we had about 5 of us in the hall talking and laughing till really late. I’m trying my hardest to enjoy every last minute on the ship because it’s going to be over before I know it. I bought raffle tickets today to get off the ship first! We’ll see what happens! Anyways, tonight is our last Pre-Port of the voyage… it’s supposed to be better than any other pre-port we’ve had. It’s sad to think that after Japan we’ll be heading home! Bonvoyage to the sea and hello to land!! I’m missing you all! Pray for my safety in Japan- as well as my health! Loving you all from the Sea of China!
xoxo
Little Miss Traveler
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
In l.o.v.e with VIETNAM!
Monday, April 9, 2007
The MV Explorer arrived in Vietnam at about 10am. We sailed up the Saigon River to get to Ho Chi Minh city/Saigon. I got up and wandered around outside while we pulled into port and then got ready for my new adventure. Jenna, myself, Alex, Rachel, Danielle and Hilary decided to walk around together. We took the shuttle bus into town and began the long and quite tiring shopping day. The first store we ran across had anything and everything we could possibly need. I bought 6 DVD’s for $6! But fortunately only 1 didn’t work… thank goodness!:) We heard that Ben Thang market was supposed to be the place to shop. We walked for about 10 minutes in the suffocating heat and found an incredibly large and overwhelming building FULL to capacity with vendors. They were selling anything and everything- pots, pans, jewelry, clothes, knock off bags, purses, shoes, watches, hats, food… and the list could go on and on. We weren’t really sure where to start so we split up in twos and planned to meet in an hour. Jenna, Danielle, and I walked around but we were so overwhelmed with everything that we didn’t even buy anything. I figured since I had the last day in Ho Chi Minh that I could buy whatever I wanted then. So we decided to find a tailor and get dresses made. The women didn’t speak very good English, but I had a picture of how I wanted my dresses so it made things a little easier. She was actually incredibly cheap compared to what other girls paid. I paid $51 for 3 dresses- 2 of which I had my own fabric and 1 she had to go buy the fabric. Stay tuned to see how they turned out:) We walked around for about an hour and then decided to get some food at a restaurant that the inter-port student recommended. The restaurant was outdoors and had incredible Vietnamese food. Since we ate a late lunch and still had a few hours to kill before going out, we decided to get a massage. HA! I asked our cab driver to take us to the best massage place in Vietnam. Well this massage was no Chrysalis massage. They told us to take off our shirts and just wear PJ’s that they provided for us. Then, out of nowhere this little Vietnamese girl jumps on top of me and straddles my back. All of us girls started laughing because it was kind of awkward. She then proceeded to use her arms, wrists, and feet to stretch and massage me. It was definitely very different than what I’ve experienced- it didn’t really feel that relaxing, but for 5 dollars I enjoyed laying there and being “massaged.” After our massage, we hurried back to the ship, quickly got ready and met up with Zeek, Greg, Nick, and a couple girls and headed out for the evening. We got into two taxis and had them drop us off at Apocalypse Now for dinner and drinks. We chilled at the restaurant till about 1 and then Jenna and I decided to take a motorcycle home (that’s how they get around in Vietnam). Since we were kind of hungry, our driver dropped us off at this restaurant that’s open 24 hours. We ate some really sketchy chicken and noodles- I was kind of afraid that I would get food poisoning, but fortunately I ended up being okay. We got back to the ship around 2 and went straight to bed.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
I got up early to pack and get ready for my trip to Cambodia. We left the ship around 10 and headed for the Tan Son Nhat Airport. We left Saigon and arrived in Phnom Penh around 1:30 and headed directly to the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace. Me, Candace, Erin, Spence and the Davids walked around together in the scorching heat. Since we took off from our tour guide, we never really found out what it was. I think though, well, I’m almost positive that it was a palace for an emperor. It was incredible though. About 1 square mile was at least 10 different temples and palaces made from gold (or so it looked like) then we walked through a little gate and on the other side was a Silver Pagoda. That was also beautiful… but don’t really know what they were:) After the tour, we headed for a sunset cruise on the Mekong River. We boarded two open-air boats and our captain drive us along the shores of the Mekong River for an hour. I wasn’t sure what to expect before going to the river. The river is home to thousands of Vietnamese people. They fish the river and literally live ON the water. Tiny, tiny little shacks floating on the river, about 5 feet away from shore. They have little boats that take them to land if they need to get there. It was quite interesting- all the people live on next to nothing. The shacks were probably the size of my room in our rental- no lie. And probably 3-4 people live there. It was also kind of sad because it made me feel so fortunate for everything I have. After the river cruise, we all headed to Tonle Basac restaurant which was a disgusting buffet of Vietnamese food. On every SAS trip they take us to buffets and the food is also the same. Oh well, I ate the brownies which were delicious and some noodles. Vietnamese food is definitely not my style. I’m more of a Chinese food girl! Dinner ended at 8:30 and so we headed to the Sunway Hotel. I was incredibly exhausted and so were the rest of the girls so we decided to go find a place to get a massage. There was a little hole-in-the-wall store that said they were open till 11 and gave massages for only $6! So me, Erin, Kirsten, and Ann-Marie got ½ hour foot massages and Jeff got a full body massage! Now this massage was amazing. They washed our feet and gave us tea to drink. The whole time they were massaging us, they were laughing and kept saying how beautiful we were. The girls were so cute. We ended up giving each of them a $4 tip which is about 66,000 Dong- quite a bit tip for them. Ann-Marie gave one of the girls her earring as a gift. After our massages, we wanted to explore the town. It was about midnight and we didn’t want to go far, so we walked for about 10 minutes and then headed back to the hotel because we were exhausted. Plus, the nightlife was dead and it was getting late. I finally got into bed around 1 and crashed.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Our wake up call was at 5:15 and there was no way I was going to get up. I felt really exhausted so I slept till 6:00, quickly showered and met our group in the lobby at 6:50. We then drove to the Toul Sleng museum. In April 1975, the Pol Pot clique transformed a school into a prison called “S 21” (Security office 21) which was the biggest Kampuchea Democratic. It was surrounded with a double wall of corrugated iron, and a dense barb wire fence. The classrooms on the ground and the first floors were pierced and divided into individual cells, whereas the ones on the second floor were for mass detention. Several thousands of victims: peasants workers, technicians, engineers, doctors, teachers, students, Buddhist monks, ministers, soldiers of all ranks, foreigners ect. were imprisoned and exterminated with their wives and their children. The first room I entered broke my heart. I went silent. There were hundreds of mug shots and prisoners- some healthy looking, but most of them were skin and bones lying half dead on the ground. In the middle of the prison were what they called the Gallows. The Gallows were poles that had cables attached to them which was used for students to conduct exercise. The Khmer rouge utilized this place as an interrogation room. The interrogators tied both hands of the prisoners to the back by a rope and lift the prisoners upside down. They did this un the prisoners lost consciousness. Then, they dipped the prisoner’s head into a jar of smelly, filthy water, which they normally used as fertilizer for the crops in the terrace outside. By doing so, the victims quickly regained consciousness, and that the interrogators could continue their interrogation. How disgusting and awful that a human being could something like that to another human!? It made me feel disgusted! And I began to wonder why the United States didn’t do anything about what was going on? The prisoners had many security regulations- a list of 10 things they were not allowed to do and if they disobeyed at any point of the regulations they would get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge. Less than a dozen of it’s 14,000 prisoners survived……………
Our next stop after Toul Sleng was the Killing Fields. After what I saw at Toul Sleng, I didn’t think anything else could top what the Khmer rouge did to thousands of people. The first thing I saw when I walked up to the Killing fields was a huge tower, about 100 feet high filled with real human skulls. Below all the skulls in a case were all the clothes that they discovered when cleaning up the fields. Piles and piles of clothes- babies and adults. As I walked the grounds, I’d see every few feet remains of clothing, as well as pieces of bone. At one tree, there was a pile of human bone. The tree next to it was called the “magic tree” which was where they hung the loud speaker that drowned out the cries and moans of the prisoners being executed. Every single person on our trip was speechless the whole time we were walking around the fields. There were really no words to say after seeing what we saw. I kept thinking of all the little children and their families that were split up and then tortured to death! Why didn’t the US do anything? The government had to know that SOMETHING was going on- how could they not? This kind of stuff shouldn’t be happening… I realized how incredibly evil our world is. It’s really disgusting- and in another way, heart breaking. We left the Killing Fields and headed to the Russian Market for a few hours, then after headed to Sorya for lunch. On the bus, our leader told us that we have the option of going to the Palm Tree Orphanage (the orphanage owned by a couple on our ship.) One of the reasons I was looking forward to Cambodia was to visit this orphanage. So a group of about 6 of us ate a quick lunch and then headed to the orphanage. Our driver wasn’t quite sure where it was, so I called the orphanage and the director gave our Tuck-tuck driver (they call rickshaws tuck-tucks) directions. He brought us to the wrong place, but turned around and there it was Palm Tree Foundation Orphanage. As soon as I stepped foot off the tuck-tuck, I was immediately surrounded by little kids grabbing my hands and clinging onto me for dear life. They were so excited to see us! At first I was kind of nervous to be around them- I wasn’t sure how to act or what to say. The director Pohl gave us a tour of the orphanage. He showed us where they slept, which was on huge, wooden tables. The kids had a swing set, little farm, and a cement area outside to play football or soccer. I noticed that they really didn’t have any toys to play with- if I would have known ahead of time I would have bought them clothes and toys. This little 4 year old girl, who looked like she was only 2, clung to my side the entire time I was there. I took her on the swing and did spider with her. She was laughing so hard and had the biggest smile on her face. Before I got there, she was very timid and was sitting the corner by herself. So I went and sat down next to her. After first she was a little scared, but she soon warmed up and wouldn’t leave my side. The David’s brought two huge bags of suckers and candy and so we passed them out to all the kids. They LOVED the suckers! Another thing they liked was my camera. I gave it to the little girl and she walked around and snapped pictures of anything and everything. I was kind of worried she was gonna break it- but fortunately it was okay. Some of the settings were a little messed up though. A lot of the little kids hung onto us for dear life- I think they thought that they were going to be adopted. Some of them kept saying “you’re my new mommy right?” It was so sad. I wondered what they did when we weren’t there? Most of them knew English- very little though. I quizzed them on the animals- I’d point to one in a picture and they’d say it. They were incredibly smart! I wanted to take all of them home with me. They were adorable! Cambodian’s are beautiful people in general- and the children are even more beautiful. When it came time to say goodbye, I found 2 little girls wrapped around each of my legs and they wouldn’t let go. Another one had his hands wrapped around my neck begging me not to leave. I began to choke up… but I held it back because I didn’t want them to see me crying. I gave each child a hug, waved goodbye, and we drove away. Me, Erin and Danielle were in a tuck-tuck together. On our ride we talked about how amazing it was to visit the children and that it was by far the best experience of Cambodia yet… and for me probably the best out of my whole trip. I wanted to take each little kid home with me. I felt guilty for coming and only staying for a few hours. I didn’t have anything to give them… but all they really wanted was love and attention. I left the orphanage and all I could think about were the smiles on the children’s faces when we walked away. For those few hours nothing really mattered. I had there dirty feet prints on my white tank top, but it didn’t matter. They played with my hair with their sticky fingers, but it didn’t even faze me. Nothing mattered to me except the children. I need to go back to that orphanage… in fact I have to go back. I’d like to go back for a month and do volunteer work. I fell in love with every single child- and then I had to say goodbye. Maybe I’ll never see any of them again, who really knows, but I don’t think I will ever forget their little faces and voices. I am forever changed by their little hearts. We met our group at the airport and boarded our plane to Angkor Wat. We arrived in Angkor Wat at 5pm and headed to Angkor Wat. Candace, Emily, Amy, Rachel, and I walked around together. Since the inside was closed, we stayed outside and took pictures; and we only had about a ½ hour there. After, we were supposed to go eat dinner at another buffet, so instead Erin, the Davids (two guys both named David that are best friends, so we call them “The Davids), Danielle and I decided to go eat dinner on our own. The hotel recommended a restaurant that thankfully had American food. Our food was actually pretty decent and we sat and talked at the restaurant for about 2 ½ hours. We discussed a lot of very interesting topics- our experience at the orphanage, 9/11, Bush, Iraq, family, falling in love. When we finally realized that it was getting late, we packed up and headed for Angkor Wat! We got to the bar and I instantly began a search for what Jenn wrote on the wall in the bar. But unfortunately it must have been covered up b/c there was no person on the wall… let a lone really any space to write anything. I spent about an hour writing on every part of the wall- Mostly “Semester at Sea Spring 07”, “Around the World in 100 Days”, and the ships theme “It’s Better at Sea- Semester at Sea 07”. We ran into everyone from our group, as well as people from other Cambodia trips. We stayed for a few hours and then decided to head back to the hotel- so we hopped in a tuck-tuck, me, Erin, Amy, and the David’s. None of us were tired so we decided to have a dance party in the David’s room to some crazy Vietnamese music on the TV. It was really hilarious… but I didn’t last long so I crashed early.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Today we were able to sleep in till about 8 and headed for Ta Prohm. This place was actually farely interesting. Once again, Candace, Amy, Emily, Danielle, and I left our group and toured it all on our own. This temple has never been restored or touched so a lot of it is crumbled and broken down. And there are trees growing out of the tops of the buildings. It’s quite bizarre. After the tour, we headed back to Angkor Wat for another tour from the East Gate. This time we were able to go inside of the temple and walk around. We climbed these incredibly steep, steep stairs to get to the top of the temple in the scorching heat. Oh yeah, if I haven’t mentioned it yet- Cambodia was THE HOTTEST country I have been to yet. WOW! I thought India was humid- I could barely breath in Cambodia. My clothes were literally soaked all the way through with sweat. Kind of disgusting- but it doesn’t matter because everyone is sweaty and gross. We climbed the cement stairs and walked around for about an hour. After a while, we got bored so I went to walk through the little market just outside of the sight. I was hungry so I bought Pringles- but these were definitely not the Pringles I like from home. So, instead of throwing them away, I found these 3 little boys running around causing trouble- so I gave them away to one of the boys. Well that caused trouble and they started chasing each other and hitting each other b/c the boy didn’t want to share. It was so sad. When the children are given food, they do not share it with their other friends because they don’t even have enough to survive on so when something comes for free they hoard it. Oh yeah, Ta Prohm is also where Lara Croft- Tomb Raider was filmed. Kind of cool huh?:) So anyway, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and checked out around 12:30. After lunch, our group was heading to about 5 temples, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I was incredibly exhausted and tired of being a tourist- I’m a really bad tourist when I’m tired. So Erin, Candace, the David’s and I decided to stay at the hotel and find somewhere to get a massage. We read in Lonely Planet about a world renowned foot massage specialist and so we decided to give it a shot. All of laid on mattress that were strewn across the floor, side-by-side. Then these tiny, little Vietnamese women came in and sat on us and stretched and pulled on every muscle in our bodies. At first I felt a little uncomfortable but I eventually relaxed and it actually felt really good. They stretched every single muscle in ways that I didn’t think were possible to move. After the massage finished we headed to meet our group in the airport. I slept the whole entire flight back to Ho Chi Minh. Me, Erin and Candace took a cab back to the ship so we could beat the buses because otherwise we would have had to wait at least an hour to get back onto the ship- it takes FOREVER for them to check bags at the gangway. I showered up and met Candace, Erin, Erika, and Britney and we headed out for our last night in Vietnam. We all were incredibly exhausted but wanted to go out b/c it was the twin’s birthday- Josh and Greg, who are from Lighthouse Point, Florida!:) We met up with a few other people and went to a Danish bar for appetizer and then went to Apocalypse now to celebrate their birthdays. I got there and wasn’t really feeling up to it, so Candace and I decided to head back to the ship and go to bed. We hopped on motorcycles and got back to the ship around 1.
Friday, April 13, 2007
This morning, Jenna, Candace, Erin, Danielle. Jackie and I were getting off the ship and heading to get our Japanese Rail passes when Candace realizes that she lost her passport. Long story short- we left her at the ship to figure it all out. After going through the process of getting a new passport with new visas, the taxi driver that we took home from the airport last night dropped it off at the ship- but held it ransom and wanted money for it. Haha kind of funny huh? Oh well, she found it and that’s all that matters. So anyway, we basically shopped all day long until we had no energy left. AND we picked up our dresses, which by the way turned out pretty decent. Mine unfortunately were a little too short, but one I can wear over jeans, like a long shirt and the others, well to say the least turned out interesting. Oh well, it was an experience and they’re wearable so that’s all that matters. On our way back to the ship, we came across the night market and shopped even more. It was nuts! But so much fun and I was very sad to leave Vietnam. Vietnam and Cambodia are by far my favorite countries out of the whole trip. I fell so in love with Cambodia- the people, the children, the sites, the memories… just the trip in general was amazing. I would love to go back and do charity work in an orphanage some day. It is needed desperately over there. They need English speaking teachers in their orphanage. The children are so bright and incredibly anxious and willing to learn- they just need someone to hold their hand and walk with them. I’m hoping that I will make it back there… the children really deserve it!
The MV Explorer arrived in Vietnam at about 10am. We sailed up the Saigon River to get to Ho Chi Minh city/Saigon. I got up and wandered around outside while we pulled into port and then got ready for my new adventure. Jenna, myself, Alex, Rachel, Danielle and Hilary decided to walk around together. We took the shuttle bus into town and began the long and quite tiring shopping day. The first store we ran across had anything and everything we could possibly need. I bought 6 DVD’s for $6! But fortunately only 1 didn’t work… thank goodness!:) We heard that Ben Thang market was supposed to be the place to shop. We walked for about 10 minutes in the suffocating heat and found an incredibly large and overwhelming building FULL to capacity with vendors. They were selling anything and everything- pots, pans, jewelry, clothes, knock off bags, purses, shoes, watches, hats, food… and the list could go on and on. We weren’t really sure where to start so we split up in twos and planned to meet in an hour. Jenna, Danielle, and I walked around but we were so overwhelmed with everything that we didn’t even buy anything. I figured since I had the last day in Ho Chi Minh that I could buy whatever I wanted then. So we decided to find a tailor and get dresses made. The women didn’t speak very good English, but I had a picture of how I wanted my dresses so it made things a little easier. She was actually incredibly cheap compared to what other girls paid. I paid $51 for 3 dresses- 2 of which I had my own fabric and 1 she had to go buy the fabric. Stay tuned to see how they turned out:) We walked around for about an hour and then decided to get some food at a restaurant that the inter-port student recommended. The restaurant was outdoors and had incredible Vietnamese food. Since we ate a late lunch and still had a few hours to kill before going out, we decided to get a massage. HA! I asked our cab driver to take us to the best massage place in Vietnam. Well this massage was no Chrysalis massage. They told us to take off our shirts and just wear PJ’s that they provided for us. Then, out of nowhere this little Vietnamese girl jumps on top of me and straddles my back. All of us girls started laughing because it was kind of awkward. She then proceeded to use her arms, wrists, and feet to stretch and massage me. It was definitely very different than what I’ve experienced- it didn’t really feel that relaxing, but for 5 dollars I enjoyed laying there and being “massaged.” After our massage, we hurried back to the ship, quickly got ready and met up with Zeek, Greg, Nick, and a couple girls and headed out for the evening. We got into two taxis and had them drop us off at Apocalypse Now for dinner and drinks. We chilled at the restaurant till about 1 and then Jenna and I decided to take a motorcycle home (that’s how they get around in Vietnam). Since we were kind of hungry, our driver dropped us off at this restaurant that’s open 24 hours. We ate some really sketchy chicken and noodles- I was kind of afraid that I would get food poisoning, but fortunately I ended up being okay. We got back to the ship around 2 and went straight to bed.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
I got up early to pack and get ready for my trip to Cambodia. We left the ship around 10 and headed for the Tan Son Nhat Airport. We left Saigon and arrived in Phnom Penh around 1:30 and headed directly to the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace. Me, Candace, Erin, Spence and the Davids walked around together in the scorching heat. Since we took off from our tour guide, we never really found out what it was. I think though, well, I’m almost positive that it was a palace for an emperor. It was incredible though. About 1 square mile was at least 10 different temples and palaces made from gold (or so it looked like) then we walked through a little gate and on the other side was a Silver Pagoda. That was also beautiful… but don’t really know what they were:) After the tour, we headed for a sunset cruise on the Mekong River. We boarded two open-air boats and our captain drive us along the shores of the Mekong River for an hour. I wasn’t sure what to expect before going to the river. The river is home to thousands of Vietnamese people. They fish the river and literally live ON the water. Tiny, tiny little shacks floating on the river, about 5 feet away from shore. They have little boats that take them to land if they need to get there. It was quite interesting- all the people live on next to nothing. The shacks were probably the size of my room in our rental- no lie. And probably 3-4 people live there. It was also kind of sad because it made me feel so fortunate for everything I have. After the river cruise, we all headed to Tonle Basac restaurant which was a disgusting buffet of Vietnamese food. On every SAS trip they take us to buffets and the food is also the same. Oh well, I ate the brownies which were delicious and some noodles. Vietnamese food is definitely not my style. I’m more of a Chinese food girl! Dinner ended at 8:30 and so we headed to the Sunway Hotel. I was incredibly exhausted and so were the rest of the girls so we decided to go find a place to get a massage. There was a little hole-in-the-wall store that said they were open till 11 and gave massages for only $6! So me, Erin, Kirsten, and Ann-Marie got ½ hour foot massages and Jeff got a full body massage! Now this massage was amazing. They washed our feet and gave us tea to drink. The whole time they were massaging us, they were laughing and kept saying how beautiful we were. The girls were so cute. We ended up giving each of them a $4 tip which is about 66,000 Dong- quite a bit tip for them. Ann-Marie gave one of the girls her earring as a gift. After our massages, we wanted to explore the town. It was about midnight and we didn’t want to go far, so we walked for about 10 minutes and then headed back to the hotel because we were exhausted. Plus, the nightlife was dead and it was getting late. I finally got into bed around 1 and crashed.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Our wake up call was at 5:15 and there was no way I was going to get up. I felt really exhausted so I slept till 6:00, quickly showered and met our group in the lobby at 6:50. We then drove to the Toul Sleng museum. In April 1975, the Pol Pot clique transformed a school into a prison called “S 21” (Security office 21) which was the biggest Kampuchea Democratic. It was surrounded with a double wall of corrugated iron, and a dense barb wire fence. The classrooms on the ground and the first floors were pierced and divided into individual cells, whereas the ones on the second floor were for mass detention. Several thousands of victims: peasants workers, technicians, engineers, doctors, teachers, students, Buddhist monks, ministers, soldiers of all ranks, foreigners ect. were imprisoned and exterminated with their wives and their children. The first room I entered broke my heart. I went silent. There were hundreds of mug shots and prisoners- some healthy looking, but most of them were skin and bones lying half dead on the ground. In the middle of the prison were what they called the Gallows. The Gallows were poles that had cables attached to them which was used for students to conduct exercise. The Khmer rouge utilized this place as an interrogation room. The interrogators tied both hands of the prisoners to the back by a rope and lift the prisoners upside down. They did this un the prisoners lost consciousness. Then, they dipped the prisoner’s head into a jar of smelly, filthy water, which they normally used as fertilizer for the crops in the terrace outside. By doing so, the victims quickly regained consciousness, and that the interrogators could continue their interrogation. How disgusting and awful that a human being could something like that to another human!? It made me feel disgusted! And I began to wonder why the United States didn’t do anything about what was going on? The prisoners had many security regulations- a list of 10 things they were not allowed to do and if they disobeyed at any point of the regulations they would get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge. Less than a dozen of it’s 14,000 prisoners survived……………
Our next stop after Toul Sleng was the Killing Fields. After what I saw at Toul Sleng, I didn’t think anything else could top what the Khmer rouge did to thousands of people. The first thing I saw when I walked up to the Killing fields was a huge tower, about 100 feet high filled with real human skulls. Below all the skulls in a case were all the clothes that they discovered when cleaning up the fields. Piles and piles of clothes- babies and adults. As I walked the grounds, I’d see every few feet remains of clothing, as well as pieces of bone. At one tree, there was a pile of human bone. The tree next to it was called the “magic tree” which was where they hung the loud speaker that drowned out the cries and moans of the prisoners being executed. Every single person on our trip was speechless the whole time we were walking around the fields. There were really no words to say after seeing what we saw. I kept thinking of all the little children and their families that were split up and then tortured to death! Why didn’t the US do anything? The government had to know that SOMETHING was going on- how could they not? This kind of stuff shouldn’t be happening… I realized how incredibly evil our world is. It’s really disgusting- and in another way, heart breaking. We left the Killing Fields and headed to the Russian Market for a few hours, then after headed to Sorya for lunch. On the bus, our leader told us that we have the option of going to the Palm Tree Orphanage (the orphanage owned by a couple on our ship.) One of the reasons I was looking forward to Cambodia was to visit this orphanage. So a group of about 6 of us ate a quick lunch and then headed to the orphanage. Our driver wasn’t quite sure where it was, so I called the orphanage and the director gave our Tuck-tuck driver (they call rickshaws tuck-tucks) directions. He brought us to the wrong place, but turned around and there it was Palm Tree Foundation Orphanage. As soon as I stepped foot off the tuck-tuck, I was immediately surrounded by little kids grabbing my hands and clinging onto me for dear life. They were so excited to see us! At first I was kind of nervous to be around them- I wasn’t sure how to act or what to say. The director Pohl gave us a tour of the orphanage. He showed us where they slept, which was on huge, wooden tables. The kids had a swing set, little farm, and a cement area outside to play football or soccer. I noticed that they really didn’t have any toys to play with- if I would have known ahead of time I would have bought them clothes and toys. This little 4 year old girl, who looked like she was only 2, clung to my side the entire time I was there. I took her on the swing and did spider with her. She was laughing so hard and had the biggest smile on her face. Before I got there, she was very timid and was sitting the corner by herself. So I went and sat down next to her. After first she was a little scared, but she soon warmed up and wouldn’t leave my side. The David’s brought two huge bags of suckers and candy and so we passed them out to all the kids. They LOVED the suckers! Another thing they liked was my camera. I gave it to the little girl and she walked around and snapped pictures of anything and everything. I was kind of worried she was gonna break it- but fortunately it was okay. Some of the settings were a little messed up though. A lot of the little kids hung onto us for dear life- I think they thought that they were going to be adopted. Some of them kept saying “you’re my new mommy right?” It was so sad. I wondered what they did when we weren’t there? Most of them knew English- very little though. I quizzed them on the animals- I’d point to one in a picture and they’d say it. They were incredibly smart! I wanted to take all of them home with me. They were adorable! Cambodian’s are beautiful people in general- and the children are even more beautiful. When it came time to say goodbye, I found 2 little girls wrapped around each of my legs and they wouldn’t let go. Another one had his hands wrapped around my neck begging me not to leave. I began to choke up… but I held it back because I didn’t want them to see me crying. I gave each child a hug, waved goodbye, and we drove away. Me, Erin and Danielle were in a tuck-tuck together. On our ride we talked about how amazing it was to visit the children and that it was by far the best experience of Cambodia yet… and for me probably the best out of my whole trip. I wanted to take each little kid home with me. I felt guilty for coming and only staying for a few hours. I didn’t have anything to give them… but all they really wanted was love and attention. I left the orphanage and all I could think about were the smiles on the children’s faces when we walked away. For those few hours nothing really mattered. I had there dirty feet prints on my white tank top, but it didn’t matter. They played with my hair with their sticky fingers, but it didn’t even faze me. Nothing mattered to me except the children. I need to go back to that orphanage… in fact I have to go back. I’d like to go back for a month and do volunteer work. I fell in love with every single child- and then I had to say goodbye. Maybe I’ll never see any of them again, who really knows, but I don’t think I will ever forget their little faces and voices. I am forever changed by their little hearts. We met our group at the airport and boarded our plane to Angkor Wat. We arrived in Angkor Wat at 5pm and headed to Angkor Wat. Candace, Emily, Amy, Rachel, and I walked around together. Since the inside was closed, we stayed outside and took pictures; and we only had about a ½ hour there. After, we were supposed to go eat dinner at another buffet, so instead Erin, the Davids (two guys both named David that are best friends, so we call them “The Davids), Danielle and I decided to go eat dinner on our own. The hotel recommended a restaurant that thankfully had American food. Our food was actually pretty decent and we sat and talked at the restaurant for about 2 ½ hours. We discussed a lot of very interesting topics- our experience at the orphanage, 9/11, Bush, Iraq, family, falling in love. When we finally realized that it was getting late, we packed up and headed for Angkor Wat! We got to the bar and I instantly began a search for what Jenn wrote on the wall in the bar. But unfortunately it must have been covered up b/c there was no person on the wall… let a lone really any space to write anything. I spent about an hour writing on every part of the wall- Mostly “Semester at Sea Spring 07”, “Around the World in 100 Days”, and the ships theme “It’s Better at Sea- Semester at Sea 07”. We ran into everyone from our group, as well as people from other Cambodia trips. We stayed for a few hours and then decided to head back to the hotel- so we hopped in a tuck-tuck, me, Erin, Amy, and the David’s. None of us were tired so we decided to have a dance party in the David’s room to some crazy Vietnamese music on the TV. It was really hilarious… but I didn’t last long so I crashed early.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Today we were able to sleep in till about 8 and headed for Ta Prohm. This place was actually farely interesting. Once again, Candace, Amy, Emily, Danielle, and I left our group and toured it all on our own. This temple has never been restored or touched so a lot of it is crumbled and broken down. And there are trees growing out of the tops of the buildings. It’s quite bizarre. After the tour, we headed back to Angkor Wat for another tour from the East Gate. This time we were able to go inside of the temple and walk around. We climbed these incredibly steep, steep stairs to get to the top of the temple in the scorching heat. Oh yeah, if I haven’t mentioned it yet- Cambodia was THE HOTTEST country I have been to yet. WOW! I thought India was humid- I could barely breath in Cambodia. My clothes were literally soaked all the way through with sweat. Kind of disgusting- but it doesn’t matter because everyone is sweaty and gross. We climbed the cement stairs and walked around for about an hour. After a while, we got bored so I went to walk through the little market just outside of the sight. I was hungry so I bought Pringles- but these were definitely not the Pringles I like from home. So, instead of throwing them away, I found these 3 little boys running around causing trouble- so I gave them away to one of the boys. Well that caused trouble and they started chasing each other and hitting each other b/c the boy didn’t want to share. It was so sad. When the children are given food, they do not share it with their other friends because they don’t even have enough to survive on so when something comes for free they hoard it. Oh yeah, Ta Prohm is also where Lara Croft- Tomb Raider was filmed. Kind of cool huh?:) So anyway, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and checked out around 12:30. After lunch, our group was heading to about 5 temples, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I was incredibly exhausted and tired of being a tourist- I’m a really bad tourist when I’m tired. So Erin, Candace, the David’s and I decided to stay at the hotel and find somewhere to get a massage. We read in Lonely Planet about a world renowned foot massage specialist and so we decided to give it a shot. All of laid on mattress that were strewn across the floor, side-by-side. Then these tiny, little Vietnamese women came in and sat on us and stretched and pulled on every muscle in our bodies. At first I felt a little uncomfortable but I eventually relaxed and it actually felt really good. They stretched every single muscle in ways that I didn’t think were possible to move. After the massage finished we headed to meet our group in the airport. I slept the whole entire flight back to Ho Chi Minh. Me, Erin and Candace took a cab back to the ship so we could beat the buses because otherwise we would have had to wait at least an hour to get back onto the ship- it takes FOREVER for them to check bags at the gangway. I showered up and met Candace, Erin, Erika, and Britney and we headed out for our last night in Vietnam. We all were incredibly exhausted but wanted to go out b/c it was the twin’s birthday- Josh and Greg, who are from Lighthouse Point, Florida!:) We met up with a few other people and went to a Danish bar for appetizer and then went to Apocalypse now to celebrate their birthdays. I got there and wasn’t really feeling up to it, so Candace and I decided to head back to the ship and go to bed. We hopped on motorcycles and got back to the ship around 1.
Friday, April 13, 2007
This morning, Jenna, Candace, Erin, Danielle. Jackie and I were getting off the ship and heading to get our Japanese Rail passes when Candace realizes that she lost her passport. Long story short- we left her at the ship to figure it all out. After going through the process of getting a new passport with new visas, the taxi driver that we took home from the airport last night dropped it off at the ship- but held it ransom and wanted money for it. Haha kind of funny huh? Oh well, she found it and that’s all that matters. So anyway, we basically shopped all day long until we had no energy left. AND we picked up our dresses, which by the way turned out pretty decent. Mine unfortunately were a little too short, but one I can wear over jeans, like a long shirt and the others, well to say the least turned out interesting. Oh well, it was an experience and they’re wearable so that’s all that matters. On our way back to the ship, we came across the night market and shopped even more. It was nuts! But so much fun and I was very sad to leave Vietnam. Vietnam and Cambodia are by far my favorite countries out of the whole trip. I fell so in love with Cambodia- the people, the children, the sites, the memories… just the trip in general was amazing. I would love to go back and do charity work in an orphanage some day. It is needed desperately over there. They need English speaking teachers in their orphanage. The children are so bright and incredibly anxious and willing to learn- they just need someone to hold their hand and walk with them. I’m hoping that I will make it back there… the children really deserve it!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
All About Malaysia- sorry it's so late!!!
I have been incredibly hesitant to write lately- I’m having a hard time putting my feeling onto paper (or the computer) and I’m not exactly sure why. After India, a lot of people changed- I guess it’s true when they say that you start changing on this voyage. And since India marked the halfway point of the voyage, that was also something that I was starting to face- as well as everyone else on the ship. It’s sad to think that in 35 days I will be walking off this ship, onto a land that is extremely foreign to me and returning back to my home where I’m not quite sure what to expect. I will be saying goodbye to amazing people and an amazing journey that will forever be imprinted in my heart. It’s been something that everyone on the ship has been talking about lately and it’s really been affecting me because now I actually have to deal with it. The future is so unknown- I don’t know who I’ll be when I get off this ship. Everything is so uncertain. Tomorrow, I will be in Vietnam. After Vietnam, we only have two ports left, excluding Hawaii because we are only there for 8 hours. I am wondering where time went… it FLEW by. It’s going to be over before I even realize that it’s over. I don’t think I want to accept the fact that it will be over. I have learned to say goodbye when I leave countries. I am only there for a short amount of time- enough time to fall in love, and then not enough time to say goodbye. That is how I feel about this trip- I have begun to fall in love with all these people and the ship life; and now I am forced to pack up my belongings and probably only see maybe 5 to 10 out of 700 students, ever again in my life. That, to me, is sad and not really comprehendible at this point in the voyage. I’m trying not think about it because it makes me really depressed and sad. I’ve been writing quotes all over the map on my wall that pertain to my journey. One particular that I have read daily is:
“The journey in between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.”
Okay, so Malaysia was so beautiful. We docked in Penang and then most people packed up and headed for the capital Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur was a mix of Ft. Lauderdale and south Beach mixed into one city. Very westernized with great shopping- any kind of clothing, bag, jewelry, from expensive to cheap. My friend Jenna and I shopped a few hours in ALL the expensive stores in the mall- Dior, Chanel, Fendi, Chopard, Louis Vouittan, Gucci… and the list went on and on. We even tried on beautiful dresses at Dior and Fendi- nothing that we could afford but it was fun. It was definitely one of the more expensive ports that I’ve been too. But incredibly beautiful, safe, and somewhere I would return to in a heartbeat!
My first night in Penang, me, Sloane, Sarah, Monica, Jenna and Corinne went to dinner for Corrine’s 21st birthday. The restaurant was at the Bayview Hotel and the whole room rotated- like the top of the Space Needle. After dinner, we met up with a bunch of other guy friends and hung out for Corrine’s birthday. The next day, Jenna and I jumped on a 4 hour bus heading to Kuala Lumpur. We left with no plans in mind- not even a hotel. We got to KL and knew that a lot of people were staying at the Ritz, so we booked a room for two nights. Now, I have never stayed in a Ritz but this hotel was so amazing. Incredibly clean and safe, and connecting the hotel was a HUGE mall with tons of upscale restaurants and lots of stores- all expensive; the ones I mentioned above. We found three of our guy friends and so we met them in there room and headed out on the town. We ran into probably 100 other SAS people so we all just hung out together for the evening.
The next morning, Jenna and I got up early to hit up the good shopping that everyone was talking about. The first market we went to was Central Market, which was an indoor flea market that had anything you could possibly dream of- they had things from India, China, Brazil… basically any country we’ve been too. We spent a few hours there and then spotted a restaurant that sparked our taste buds- ya’ll are gonna laugh……. MCDONALDS!!! Haha, okay so it sounds gross but we were craving anything American and everyone kept telling us the McDonalds was amazing, so sure enough we tried it- now, let me tell you… it was soo much better than McDonalds at home- that could be because I’ve had awful food on the ship, but then again it could have just been really good. Who cares what the case is… it was good and that’s all that mattered to us. After lunch, my dad told me about Petaling Street which is also known as China town. Except all the knock off stuff was really expensive. I bought a couple fake Prada bags and a Dior necklace, but I figured I would wait till Vietnam and China to buy cheaper knock offs. We shopped for a few hours there, but were incredibly exhausted so we headed back to the hotel, where we napped in the most comfortable beds ever!!! Later that evening, we met up with a couple girls and hung out with them for the rest of the night. When we got back to our room later that night, a couple of our guy friends stopped by and we ended up having a pillow fight for about an hour! Probably the best part of the whole trip- hahah!!:) We literally fell asleep at 5 and were up at 7 to catch up 9 o’clock bus back to Penang. We both were extremely tired, crabby and not really in the mood for eachother. Haha… unfortunately we got in a little argument, but got over it really quick once we got back to the ship. Since our ship is anchored out in the harbor, they used to life boats to bring us back and forth- talk about really annoying. Well the waters were extremely rough and I ended up getting soaked on the way back to the ship b/c I was sitting by the window… So anyway, Jenna and I quickly changed and headed to the local mall to do some shopping. I found 3 dressed for only 40 US dollars and Jenna found a bunch of cute stuff for really cheap!! And basically, that’s really all that Malaysia was. We did see the world’s largest buildings standing side-by-side. But we weren’t able to go up in them because the tickets were sold out.
Yesterday (the 7th) we spent all day in Singapore filling up with fuel and water. But unfortunately we weren’t able to get off the ship. I had class all day and then Jenna, Candace and I went to pub night and hung out with all our friends. We figured we better start going again because we only have a few left, plus we do have a lot of fun playing games and chilling with all our friends!:)
Today, (the 8th) was Easter and so we all got up for the sunrise Easter service at 6:30 that Archbishop Tutu lead. It was refreshing to attend a church service and sing hymnals. We did communion and then they gave everyone a red carnation and we threw them off the back of the ship and made a wish! It was so beautiful to see all the red flowers in the water! They made a really good breakfast for us- this is the second time I have ever eaten breakfast on the ship. Breakfast only goes till 8:30 and I’m definitely not up that early so I miss it every day:) After breakfast, I had about an hour and a half till Global Studies and since my roommate is sick throwing up, I went to my friend Jenna’s room and we watched friends, but fell asleep and unfortunately:) thru GS! Shucks!! I ended up sleeping till 11:30, had a quick lunch and then laid out with Allie, Karen, and Jenna till my class at 2:15! Class ended at 3:30 and so I came back to my room to clean and do a little catching up with emails and what not. So tonight, they had an Easter dinner for us- turkey, cranberries, honey-baked ham (not the good kind) and waldorf salad. It wasn’t gourmet, but it’s much better than the food has been these past few weeks. Tonight, we have logistical and cultural pre-port all in one and then after I’m gonna go watch a couple movies and get rested for tomorrow!!!
Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Vietnam!! HURRAY! To get to Ho Chi Minh city we have to travel up a river, which is supposed to be really exciting. So I will be up at 6 to watch the sunrise and watch us pull into port. Tomorrow I will spend most of the day getting dresses made for very cheap. I bought some beautiful fabric in India so hopefully the dresses will turn out. The following day I will head to Cambodia for 3 days! Can’t wait!! Well, I am gonna go sit in the steam room up in the SPA to relax! Life is rough, I know:) I miss you all lots… but there are only about 35 days left! It will be here in a blink of an eye! Hope all is well in everyone’s lives. I pray for you all daily!! I look forward to hearing from you when I get back on the ship in 5 days! Pray for my safety once again! Love you all dearly!!
xoxo
Little Miss Traveler
“The journey in between what you once were and who you are now becoming is where the dance of life really takes place.”
Okay, so Malaysia was so beautiful. We docked in Penang and then most people packed up and headed for the capital Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur was a mix of Ft. Lauderdale and south Beach mixed into one city. Very westernized with great shopping- any kind of clothing, bag, jewelry, from expensive to cheap. My friend Jenna and I shopped a few hours in ALL the expensive stores in the mall- Dior, Chanel, Fendi, Chopard, Louis Vouittan, Gucci… and the list went on and on. We even tried on beautiful dresses at Dior and Fendi- nothing that we could afford but it was fun. It was definitely one of the more expensive ports that I’ve been too. But incredibly beautiful, safe, and somewhere I would return to in a heartbeat!
My first night in Penang, me, Sloane, Sarah, Monica, Jenna and Corinne went to dinner for Corrine’s 21st birthday. The restaurant was at the Bayview Hotel and the whole room rotated- like the top of the Space Needle. After dinner, we met up with a bunch of other guy friends and hung out for Corrine’s birthday. The next day, Jenna and I jumped on a 4 hour bus heading to Kuala Lumpur. We left with no plans in mind- not even a hotel. We got to KL and knew that a lot of people were staying at the Ritz, so we booked a room for two nights. Now, I have never stayed in a Ritz but this hotel was so amazing. Incredibly clean and safe, and connecting the hotel was a HUGE mall with tons of upscale restaurants and lots of stores- all expensive; the ones I mentioned above. We found three of our guy friends and so we met them in there room and headed out on the town. We ran into probably 100 other SAS people so we all just hung out together for the evening.
The next morning, Jenna and I got up early to hit up the good shopping that everyone was talking about. The first market we went to was Central Market, which was an indoor flea market that had anything you could possibly dream of- they had things from India, China, Brazil… basically any country we’ve been too. We spent a few hours there and then spotted a restaurant that sparked our taste buds- ya’ll are gonna laugh……. MCDONALDS!!! Haha, okay so it sounds gross but we were craving anything American and everyone kept telling us the McDonalds was amazing, so sure enough we tried it- now, let me tell you… it was soo much better than McDonalds at home- that could be because I’ve had awful food on the ship, but then again it could have just been really good. Who cares what the case is… it was good and that’s all that mattered to us. After lunch, my dad told me about Petaling Street which is also known as China town. Except all the knock off stuff was really expensive. I bought a couple fake Prada bags and a Dior necklace, but I figured I would wait till Vietnam and China to buy cheaper knock offs. We shopped for a few hours there, but were incredibly exhausted so we headed back to the hotel, where we napped in the most comfortable beds ever!!! Later that evening, we met up with a couple girls and hung out with them for the rest of the night. When we got back to our room later that night, a couple of our guy friends stopped by and we ended up having a pillow fight for about an hour! Probably the best part of the whole trip- hahah!!:) We literally fell asleep at 5 and were up at 7 to catch up 9 o’clock bus back to Penang. We both were extremely tired, crabby and not really in the mood for eachother. Haha… unfortunately we got in a little argument, but got over it really quick once we got back to the ship. Since our ship is anchored out in the harbor, they used to life boats to bring us back and forth- talk about really annoying. Well the waters were extremely rough and I ended up getting soaked on the way back to the ship b/c I was sitting by the window… So anyway, Jenna and I quickly changed and headed to the local mall to do some shopping. I found 3 dressed for only 40 US dollars and Jenna found a bunch of cute stuff for really cheap!! And basically, that’s really all that Malaysia was. We did see the world’s largest buildings standing side-by-side. But we weren’t able to go up in them because the tickets were sold out.
Yesterday (the 7th) we spent all day in Singapore filling up with fuel and water. But unfortunately we weren’t able to get off the ship. I had class all day and then Jenna, Candace and I went to pub night and hung out with all our friends. We figured we better start going again because we only have a few left, plus we do have a lot of fun playing games and chilling with all our friends!:)
Today, (the 8th) was Easter and so we all got up for the sunrise Easter service at 6:30 that Archbishop Tutu lead. It was refreshing to attend a church service and sing hymnals. We did communion and then they gave everyone a red carnation and we threw them off the back of the ship and made a wish! It was so beautiful to see all the red flowers in the water! They made a really good breakfast for us- this is the second time I have ever eaten breakfast on the ship. Breakfast only goes till 8:30 and I’m definitely not up that early so I miss it every day:) After breakfast, I had about an hour and a half till Global Studies and since my roommate is sick throwing up, I went to my friend Jenna’s room and we watched friends, but fell asleep and unfortunately:) thru GS! Shucks!! I ended up sleeping till 11:30, had a quick lunch and then laid out with Allie, Karen, and Jenna till my class at 2:15! Class ended at 3:30 and so I came back to my room to clean and do a little catching up with emails and what not. So tonight, they had an Easter dinner for us- turkey, cranberries, honey-baked ham (not the good kind) and waldorf salad. It wasn’t gourmet, but it’s much better than the food has been these past few weeks. Tonight, we have logistical and cultural pre-port all in one and then after I’m gonna go watch a couple movies and get rested for tomorrow!!!
Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Vietnam!! HURRAY! To get to Ho Chi Minh city we have to travel up a river, which is supposed to be really exciting. So I will be up at 6 to watch the sunrise and watch us pull into port. Tomorrow I will spend most of the day getting dresses made for very cheap. I bought some beautiful fabric in India so hopefully the dresses will turn out. The following day I will head to Cambodia for 3 days! Can’t wait!! Well, I am gonna go sit in the steam room up in the SPA to relax! Life is rough, I know:) I miss you all lots… but there are only about 35 days left! It will be here in a blink of an eye! Hope all is well in everyone’s lives. I pray for you all daily!! I look forward to hearing from you when I get back on the ship in 5 days! Pray for my safety once again! Love you all dearly!!
xoxo
Little Miss Traveler
Sunday, April 1, 2007
India has changed us all
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Time is ticking away. Today marks exactly halfway through our journey. Wow! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how fast the time has flown. Since I’ve had horrible insomnia for the past few weeks, I have done a lot of reflecting on my life and this journey. Especially since India is known in the past to really be the changing factor in most people lives throughout the journey.
The ship arrived in Chennai early and like usual I was up around 6 to get a bird’s eye view coming into port. Little did I know that there was absolutely nothing to see. So I went back to bed and then began the long and quite annoying immigration process. After finally disembarking at 10 Jenna, myself, Ashley, Kristy, and Kimmy decided to shop as quickly as possible because we all had to be back at the ship for our trips to Delhi. As soon as we stepped foot off the ship, we were bombarded with a group of Indian men trying to sell us little trinkets or persuading us to take their auto-rickshaw. We were approached by a man who told us about his store down the street, so we decided to take a look and ended up hitting the jackpot. After spending about 2 hours there, we left with bedspreads, pillow covers, pashminas, wall hangings and head wraps! They then told us that since we were the very first SAS people that he would give us a driver for the day to take us around Chennai. We hopped in the taxi and he took us to the local mall where we only shopped for about a half hour. We grabbed a quick bite to eat from Pizza Hut, which by the way is NOT anything like Pizza Hut at home. But we were all craving American food; it did the job though. We made our way back to the ship; I gathered my things together and met my group in the union at 3pm. Our whole group totaled 70 students, plus 5 faculty/staff. That’s a lot of students to look after. Me and Kimmy boarded the un-airconditioned bus and then took off for the airport. On the drive the airport, we passed through the central part of Chennai- a part which I hadn’t seen yet. We drove past “the beach” which was even a beach- it was brown sands with garbage piled 5 feet high- NO LIE! There were kids running in the streets with no shoes on, in raggedy clothes, playing cricket. Bums lined every sidewalk- whether they were begging or sleeping. The stench in the air smelled like pee, poop, sour milk, B.O, and rotten garbage all mixed in the one. The pollution was suffocating. At one point, I honestly felt my throat closing up. I was starting to hyperventilate because I couldn’t get any fresh air. It actually was a really scary feeling. I couldn’t breathe through my nose or mouth- it felt like I wasn’t getting any clean air. After a hour bus ride, we reached the airport, boarded the Jet Airways, and passed out. About halfway through the flight, I was annoyingly woken up by an awful smell- CURRY!!! Yes, they were serving curry on the plane. Ugghh! The smell was horrible that I literally wanted to vomit. But I was extremely exhausted, so I passed out and woke up to the beautiful likes of Delhi. We boarded another bus that took us to our hotel- The Ashok which was stunning. While we were in Delhi it was fashion week and our hotel was sponsoring the rooms for the runway. The models were beautiful. Every fashion magazine was there- VIP rooms were to my left and right. We desperately tried to get into the fashion show, but it was no luck. When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with flower necklaces (or leis? Don’t know how to spell that word- whatever you get in Hawaii we got, but made with their local flowers.) Two other Semester at Sea groups were there, so I met up with Jenna Y, Laura, Jordan, John, Eliza, and a few other people. We took a quick tour of the hotel and then ate AMAZING Chinese food at the hotel. Everyone was going out to a hookah bar, but I was incredibly exhausted and had to be up at 4, so I went to bed- which by the way, was 1 in the morning when we finished dinner. I couldn’t fall asleep like usual, so I laid in bed for about an hour- finally falling asleep around 2:30am.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Happy Birthday Elliana!! I’m so sad I wasn’t able to be there for her 1st birthday!!
My alarm went off at 4AM because I wanted to get up to shower since I was so smelly and sweaty from the day before. But I was too exhausted to get up, so I quickly threw on a little bit of makeup and put my hair in a braid. I boarded the bus last and we took off for the train station. When we pulled up to the train station, I saw what I really wasn’t prepared for. Bums lined the sidewalks and children were running up to us, putting their fingers to their mouths and asking for food. Many of the little girls, probably not any older than 7 were holding newly born babies who were skin and bones. There clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed in months- they had holes all throughout them. After waiting for about an hour, we boarded the train for Agra. On the train ride, I sat next to my friend Greg- a very hilarious guy on the ship, who also has a twin. They’re actually from Lighthouse Pt, Florida! Anyway, we’re chillin in our seat talking and looking out the window; and about every 15 feet we saw someone squatting on the side of the road. I’m not even exaggerating! Most of the people don’t have any form of bathroom or running water so they go sit in the fields and near the train tracks and go #2. Not to be graphic, but at one point we actually saw poop. It was disgusting but also incredibly sad. I also saw four little girls sitting side-by-side on a log, all going to the bathroom. It was actually kind of cute. After about 2 ½ hours we reached Agra and boarded a bus to Fatehpur Skri. This is a deserted city which is about 25 miles from Agra. It was built by the Emperor Akbar as his Capital to honor a Muslim Saint who prophesied the birth of an heir. It was built because the gods said it would help him have a son. After, we left to go shopping at Saga Department store which sold high end Indian clothing. Everything was extremely expensive and overpriced, but very beautiful. We left headed to Hotel Clarks Shiraz for lunch. Lunch ended around 2 o’clock and we headed to Agra Fort which is a fort that contains halls and palaces of the Mughals. Here we were able to get a far away view of the Taj. We walked around snapping pictures and then made our way to the most fabled monument of all, THE TAJ MAHAL!!! Since vehicles aren’t aloud to get within a certain amount of distance from the Taj, we had to board a little van that drove us about a 2 minute walk away. I went through security and began the long walk down the entrance to the Taj. As I approached the entrance, I could see in the far distance the most beautiful architectural marvel in the whole world. The stone sparkled in the sun. I had so much fun getting all sorts of random pictures with the Taj behind me. Everyone wanted pictures of them and different poses. I ran into another SAS group, the group of girls that I normally hang out with, so we all got a bunch of pictures together. We spent about 4 hours walking around and admiring the perfect symmetry of design and construction. We were then able to go inside which is where the Emperor Shah Jahan and his Queen, Mumtaz Mahal are buried. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in the memory of her. By this time, I was extremely worn out, so I met up with my group and we headed back to the van. The INSTANT we stepped out of the entrance to the Taj, we were attacked with little children and adults tryin to sell us all sorts of stuff. Anything from jewelry boxes to postcards to key chains or food. It was crazy!!! From the Taj, we made our way back to Hotel Shiraz for dinner and then headed back to the train station around 7:30. Since our train didn’t leave till 9:30, I decided to play with all the little children in the train station. Many of them spoke excellent English. Every time I asked to take a picture of them, they would strike a pose. Then, after taking the picture they’d ask to see it. After showing them, they’d laugh and point and get really excited. It was so cute. I gave about 5 boys, each 10 Rupees, which is about .10 cents in US dollars. We also had a lot of left over food from our dinner at Pizza hut, so we gave them the pizza. Surprisingly though, most of them wanted the money over the food. My friend Kimmy bought bracelets and gave them away to all the girls. We also ran into a young kid about 20, who had elephantitis. Elephantitis is when the feet grow EXTREMELY large and when I say large, I mean HUGE!!! One of the guys on my trip sat down and talked with him. The guy told us that National Geographic did a documentary on him and gave him 10,000 Ruppees which is about 232.55 US! That is a lot of money in India, but that’s really nothing. He said he has a website and you can look him up on the internet- just type in Elephant boy. It was so incredibly sad that I literally wanted to cry. All the children were so excited to see Americans and get attention from us. We played with them and gave them food. Each time we’d give them food, they’d hide it under their shirt so no one would steel it. Around 9:30, we had to say goodbye because we were boarding our plane. We arrived back at our hotel around 11pm and I went directly to bed. But of course I couldn’t fall asleep once again so I laid in bed till 2 and then fell asleep.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
This morning we were able to sleep in till 5. Breakfast was at 6:30 and then we boarded the bus around 7:15 to get a city tour of Delhi. We visited the Birla Temple, Sikh Gurdwara, a War memorial and the official residence of the President of India. There wasn’t really much to see, so we headed to the airport and boarded our flight to Varanasi around 12pm. It was a short flight to Varanasi and once again I slept the entire flight. We checked into the Hotel Radisson, ate a quick lunch at the hotel. The rest of the afternoon we took a tour of Saranath which is where Buddha did his first sermon after being enlightened. We saw the tree that he sat under when getting enlightened and the temple that he preached from. While we were there, there was group of about 50 Buddhists and a monk who were making there pilgrimage here. It is as holy to Buddhists as Varanasi is to the Hindus. We toured it for a few hours and then they took us to an Indian Art Emporium where we shopped for a little while. From there, a huge group of us left the tour and went out on our own to the Ganges River because they were having a lighting ceremony that evening. Our drive dropped us off about a 20 minute walk away from the river, so we walked through thousands of people to get to the river. The day we were there was a holy holiday so there were thousands of people marching and dancing in the streets. After about 15 minutes, we could see the river in the distance. The setting around us began to change drastically- on the steps leading down to the river laid beggar after beggar. Most of them were skin and bones, and were wearing dirty clothes waiting for someone to drop them some money. It was incredibly sad. A lot of old people migrate to Varanasi because they are considered holy if they die in the city. Then, their bodies are cremated and spread into the river. They held a Hindu ceremony of praying to the gods and lighting candles. We all bought candles and put them in the river which is supposedly considered a gift to your loved ones who have died. We watched the ceremony for about an hour and then around 7 decided to head back to the hotel since it was getting dark. On our ride back, we got in a rickshaw with a crazy driver. He decided to race the rickshaw that our friends were in and we almost crashed like 5 times- I’m not even kidding. He cut corners and drove extremely close to other cars. It was crazy- but in the end we made it back to the hotel in one piece. I ate a quick dinner and then met some people in the lobby to talk and hang out before heading to bed. I finally headed to bed at about 1!!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wake up call was at 4:30, but I got up at 4 so I could shower and get clean for the day. We left the hotel and headed for the banks of the Ganges River. We boarded two boats and began to sail along the banks of the river. On the banks of the river, hundreds of Hindus were practicing religious ceremonies, bathing in the river, and washing clothes. I got to see the sunrise behind the river. It was breathtaking. On the river, there were boats that would come aside our boat and try to sell us postcards, statues of Shiva, or necklaces. One of the buildings we saw was built directly on the river and belonged to a European man who moved to India to practice Hinduism- and he lives in a huge red house that is open to people who want to practice Hinduism and yoga. But the rest of the buildings were all old, rusted and run down with nothing in them. It made the river that more beautiful though. After spending about 2 hours on the river, we headed for the airport and boarded our flight to Delhi. From Delhi, we had a 2 ½ hour layover in an un-air-conditioned airport and then finally boarded our plane to Chennai around 7 in the afternoon. The flight lasted about 3 hours and we got into Chennai around 10 and then transferred back to the ship. Never had I been more excited to see my home! I raw up the gangway, dropped off my bags, and headed to the snack bar to eat a NORMAL, American pizza! At 2:30, I made my way to bed.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Since today was our last day in Chennai, my friend Jenna and I got up around 8 to hit the town for a few hours. We got into an auto-rickshaw and he took us to a couple different stores to shop for a few hours. He then took us to the mall and then back to the ship around 12 so I could meet my other group of friends because Jenna had to go on a trip that afternoon with SAS. Well my group ended up leaving without me and I basically had no one to go shopping with… I was really upset and wanted to cry, but I bucked up and decided to go find people to go out with. So I went into the dining room and ran into my friend Danielle (who’s also from Bellingham) and she had the same thing happen to her that afternoon and needed someone to go out with. Kind of sad, huh? People can be so inconsiderate. So we decided to go shopping together. On our way out, we ran into a couple other girls who wanted to go shopping so they joined us. We bargained for two rickshaws- about 80 Ruppees to get to the post office, T- Nagar (and outdoor flea market) and then to Spencers Plaza (an amazing shopping mall.) Danielle, Jennifer and I all piled in one rickshaw and Stephanie and two other girls got in another. Well our rickshaw ended up breaking down about 5 minutes outside of the ship and the driver got extremely made when we wouldn’t pay him. So we flagged down a couple more rickshaws and the driver’s wouldn’t take us because our first driver told them not to pick us up. Can you believe that!? So we walked about a mile and finally one of them picked up us and took us to T-Nagar. When we arrived at the market, we found an amazing fabric store called Pothys- where we all bought about 3 pieces of fabric to make dressed in Vietnam with. I’m so excited because my fabric is gorgeous!! I’ll take lots of pictures in my new dresses- I’m just hoping they turn out!! After spending about 2 hours in the fabric store, we walked the streets of the market, but didn’t really buy much because it was all junk. Every other vendor was selling the exact same thing, so we hit up a rickshaw and went to Spencer’s where we did some serious damage! Since onship time was 9pm, we had only about 3 hours to buy out the mall. We bargained our brains out. Bought tons of pashminas for only 1 dollar each. I bought one in every color- and then some to give away as gifts. We ran into another group of kids from the ship, so we ate a quick dinner at Pizza Hut which was actually quite legit and then hurried back to the ship around 8:15. On our way back, we stopped at another shop close to the ship. I bought a few things there and then RAN my legs sore back to the ship. I ended up making it on the ship around 8:50, turned in my passport and was SAFE! Thank goodness!!!
The day after I got back on the ship, we talked a lot about India and it’s affects on us. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about India- I went into expecting the worse and unfortunately experienced firsthand the poverty that these people are living in. The streets are filled to capacity with people walking, buses, cars, rickshaws and motorcycles. The pollution is suffocating- there were times when I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Some people developed eye infections from the pollution. The children really tugged at my heart. When I was T Nagar, there was a little boy selling peacock feather fans. I obviously didn’t want one, but he kept tugging at my purse saying “Ma’dam Ma’dam, 100 Ruppees.” I kept saying no but he wouldn’t leave my side. Finally, I stopped and started talking to him. He had someone translate for him. I asked him if he went to school and he said no because he has to support his brothers and sisters. And he lived about 20 miles outside of the city and has to ride the bus daily to get to work. He was probably not older than 10. I didn’t want the fan, but he let me use it to fan myself because I was sweating so profusely. I kept telling him I’d buy it for 50 Ruppees which is about 1 US dollar. He kept saying no, no and I kept disagreeing. I sat there for a while and thought about what I could need more than him- so I handed him 500 Ruppees, which is 10 dollars and told him to keep the change. He looked at me and got a huge smile on his face and started saying “thank you thank you ma’dam” And was jumping up and down and laughing. I can help but say I teared up a little, then wished them a good day and walked off. If only I could do that for every little child. Whenever I saw little kids on the street, I would try and talk to them or take their picture. They all loved Americans- probably because we give them money, food and pay attention to them.
Yesterday, the ship’s psychologist help a meeting about the orphanage her and her husband own in Cambodia. This orphanage is where Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox. Anyway, she talked a lot about how much progress the kids have made since they took it over and that they need a lot of help in the next few years. She said that a few people from past voyages have actually went and worked for them in Cambodia- and that’s when I realized that that’s what I want to do. Since I’m going to Cambodia, I am going to check out the orphanage and see what I think. There isn’t an application process or anything, we just have to be able to give up about a months worth of our time to help out over there. Honestly, that sounds like my kind of work. I haven’t visited an orphanage yet on this voyage and I think if I went home without seeing one, I would feel like I missed out on something. I’m hoping that it will work out because it’s not in the intenerary to visit their orphanage; so pray that it works out for me. It’s called Cambodia’s Hope if any of you want to look it up.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to post- I have been incredibly busy with work these past few days. Tomorrow I will be in Malaysia. I will spend one night in Penang and then travel to Kuala Lumpur! I’m so excited!!
I hope you all are well. I have heard the weather is improving at home!! That’s good news! I’m missing you all like crazy- only about a month and a half left on this trip. It’s so sad!!! Thanks for all your prayers! Love you all!
xoxo
Kaitlyn
Time is ticking away. Today marks exactly halfway through our journey. Wow! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how fast the time has flown. Since I’ve had horrible insomnia for the past few weeks, I have done a lot of reflecting on my life and this journey. Especially since India is known in the past to really be the changing factor in most people lives throughout the journey.
The ship arrived in Chennai early and like usual I was up around 6 to get a bird’s eye view coming into port. Little did I know that there was absolutely nothing to see. So I went back to bed and then began the long and quite annoying immigration process. After finally disembarking at 10 Jenna, myself, Ashley, Kristy, and Kimmy decided to shop as quickly as possible because we all had to be back at the ship for our trips to Delhi. As soon as we stepped foot off the ship, we were bombarded with a group of Indian men trying to sell us little trinkets or persuading us to take their auto-rickshaw. We were approached by a man who told us about his store down the street, so we decided to take a look and ended up hitting the jackpot. After spending about 2 hours there, we left with bedspreads, pillow covers, pashminas, wall hangings and head wraps! They then told us that since we were the very first SAS people that he would give us a driver for the day to take us around Chennai. We hopped in the taxi and he took us to the local mall where we only shopped for about a half hour. We grabbed a quick bite to eat from Pizza Hut, which by the way is NOT anything like Pizza Hut at home. But we were all craving American food; it did the job though. We made our way back to the ship; I gathered my things together and met my group in the union at 3pm. Our whole group totaled 70 students, plus 5 faculty/staff. That’s a lot of students to look after. Me and Kimmy boarded the un-airconditioned bus and then took off for the airport. On the drive the airport, we passed through the central part of Chennai- a part which I hadn’t seen yet. We drove past “the beach” which was even a beach- it was brown sands with garbage piled 5 feet high- NO LIE! There were kids running in the streets with no shoes on, in raggedy clothes, playing cricket. Bums lined every sidewalk- whether they were begging or sleeping. The stench in the air smelled like pee, poop, sour milk, B.O, and rotten garbage all mixed in the one. The pollution was suffocating. At one point, I honestly felt my throat closing up. I was starting to hyperventilate because I couldn’t get any fresh air. It actually was a really scary feeling. I couldn’t breathe through my nose or mouth- it felt like I wasn’t getting any clean air. After a hour bus ride, we reached the airport, boarded the Jet Airways, and passed out. About halfway through the flight, I was annoyingly woken up by an awful smell- CURRY!!! Yes, they were serving curry on the plane. Ugghh! The smell was horrible that I literally wanted to vomit. But I was extremely exhausted, so I passed out and woke up to the beautiful likes of Delhi. We boarded another bus that took us to our hotel- The Ashok which was stunning. While we were in Delhi it was fashion week and our hotel was sponsoring the rooms for the runway. The models were beautiful. Every fashion magazine was there- VIP rooms were to my left and right. We desperately tried to get into the fashion show, but it was no luck. When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with flower necklaces (or leis? Don’t know how to spell that word- whatever you get in Hawaii we got, but made with their local flowers.) Two other Semester at Sea groups were there, so I met up with Jenna Y, Laura, Jordan, John, Eliza, and a few other people. We took a quick tour of the hotel and then ate AMAZING Chinese food at the hotel. Everyone was going out to a hookah bar, but I was incredibly exhausted and had to be up at 4, so I went to bed- which by the way, was 1 in the morning when we finished dinner. I couldn’t fall asleep like usual, so I laid in bed for about an hour- finally falling asleep around 2:30am.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Happy Birthday Elliana!! I’m so sad I wasn’t able to be there for her 1st birthday!!
My alarm went off at 4AM because I wanted to get up to shower since I was so smelly and sweaty from the day before. But I was too exhausted to get up, so I quickly threw on a little bit of makeup and put my hair in a braid. I boarded the bus last and we took off for the train station. When we pulled up to the train station, I saw what I really wasn’t prepared for. Bums lined the sidewalks and children were running up to us, putting their fingers to their mouths and asking for food. Many of the little girls, probably not any older than 7 were holding newly born babies who were skin and bones. There clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed in months- they had holes all throughout them. After waiting for about an hour, we boarded the train for Agra. On the train ride, I sat next to my friend Greg- a very hilarious guy on the ship, who also has a twin. They’re actually from Lighthouse Pt, Florida! Anyway, we’re chillin in our seat talking and looking out the window; and about every 15 feet we saw someone squatting on the side of the road. I’m not even exaggerating! Most of the people don’t have any form of bathroom or running water so they go sit in the fields and near the train tracks and go #2. Not to be graphic, but at one point we actually saw poop. It was disgusting but also incredibly sad. I also saw four little girls sitting side-by-side on a log, all going to the bathroom. It was actually kind of cute. After about 2 ½ hours we reached Agra and boarded a bus to Fatehpur Skri. This is a deserted city which is about 25 miles from Agra. It was built by the Emperor Akbar as his Capital to honor a Muslim Saint who prophesied the birth of an heir. It was built because the gods said it would help him have a son. After, we left to go shopping at Saga Department store which sold high end Indian clothing. Everything was extremely expensive and overpriced, but very beautiful. We left headed to Hotel Clarks Shiraz for lunch. Lunch ended around 2 o’clock and we headed to Agra Fort which is a fort that contains halls and palaces of the Mughals. Here we were able to get a far away view of the Taj. We walked around snapping pictures and then made our way to the most fabled monument of all, THE TAJ MAHAL!!! Since vehicles aren’t aloud to get within a certain amount of distance from the Taj, we had to board a little van that drove us about a 2 minute walk away. I went through security and began the long walk down the entrance to the Taj. As I approached the entrance, I could see in the far distance the most beautiful architectural marvel in the whole world. The stone sparkled in the sun. I had so much fun getting all sorts of random pictures with the Taj behind me. Everyone wanted pictures of them and different poses. I ran into another SAS group, the group of girls that I normally hang out with, so we all got a bunch of pictures together. We spent about 4 hours walking around and admiring the perfect symmetry of design and construction. We were then able to go inside which is where the Emperor Shah Jahan and his Queen, Mumtaz Mahal are buried. Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in the memory of her. By this time, I was extremely worn out, so I met up with my group and we headed back to the van. The INSTANT we stepped out of the entrance to the Taj, we were attacked with little children and adults tryin to sell us all sorts of stuff. Anything from jewelry boxes to postcards to key chains or food. It was crazy!!! From the Taj, we made our way back to Hotel Shiraz for dinner and then headed back to the train station around 7:30. Since our train didn’t leave till 9:30, I decided to play with all the little children in the train station. Many of them spoke excellent English. Every time I asked to take a picture of them, they would strike a pose. Then, after taking the picture they’d ask to see it. After showing them, they’d laugh and point and get really excited. It was so cute. I gave about 5 boys, each 10 Rupees, which is about .10 cents in US dollars. We also had a lot of left over food from our dinner at Pizza hut, so we gave them the pizza. Surprisingly though, most of them wanted the money over the food. My friend Kimmy bought bracelets and gave them away to all the girls. We also ran into a young kid about 20, who had elephantitis. Elephantitis is when the feet grow EXTREMELY large and when I say large, I mean HUGE!!! One of the guys on my trip sat down and talked with him. The guy told us that National Geographic did a documentary on him and gave him 10,000 Ruppees which is about 232.55 US! That is a lot of money in India, but that’s really nothing. He said he has a website and you can look him up on the internet- just type in Elephant boy. It was so incredibly sad that I literally wanted to cry. All the children were so excited to see Americans and get attention from us. We played with them and gave them food. Each time we’d give them food, they’d hide it under their shirt so no one would steel it. Around 9:30, we had to say goodbye because we were boarding our plane. We arrived back at our hotel around 11pm and I went directly to bed. But of course I couldn’t fall asleep once again so I laid in bed till 2 and then fell asleep.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
This morning we were able to sleep in till 5. Breakfast was at 6:30 and then we boarded the bus around 7:15 to get a city tour of Delhi. We visited the Birla Temple, Sikh Gurdwara, a War memorial and the official residence of the President of India. There wasn’t really much to see, so we headed to the airport and boarded our flight to Varanasi around 12pm. It was a short flight to Varanasi and once again I slept the entire flight. We checked into the Hotel Radisson, ate a quick lunch at the hotel. The rest of the afternoon we took a tour of Saranath which is where Buddha did his first sermon after being enlightened. We saw the tree that he sat under when getting enlightened and the temple that he preached from. While we were there, there was group of about 50 Buddhists and a monk who were making there pilgrimage here. It is as holy to Buddhists as Varanasi is to the Hindus. We toured it for a few hours and then they took us to an Indian Art Emporium where we shopped for a little while. From there, a huge group of us left the tour and went out on our own to the Ganges River because they were having a lighting ceremony that evening. Our drive dropped us off about a 20 minute walk away from the river, so we walked through thousands of people to get to the river. The day we were there was a holy holiday so there were thousands of people marching and dancing in the streets. After about 15 minutes, we could see the river in the distance. The setting around us began to change drastically- on the steps leading down to the river laid beggar after beggar. Most of them were skin and bones, and were wearing dirty clothes waiting for someone to drop them some money. It was incredibly sad. A lot of old people migrate to Varanasi because they are considered holy if they die in the city. Then, their bodies are cremated and spread into the river. They held a Hindu ceremony of praying to the gods and lighting candles. We all bought candles and put them in the river which is supposedly considered a gift to your loved ones who have died. We watched the ceremony for about an hour and then around 7 decided to head back to the hotel since it was getting dark. On our ride back, we got in a rickshaw with a crazy driver. He decided to race the rickshaw that our friends were in and we almost crashed like 5 times- I’m not even kidding. He cut corners and drove extremely close to other cars. It was crazy- but in the end we made it back to the hotel in one piece. I ate a quick dinner and then met some people in the lobby to talk and hang out before heading to bed. I finally headed to bed at about 1!!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wake up call was at 4:30, but I got up at 4 so I could shower and get clean for the day. We left the hotel and headed for the banks of the Ganges River. We boarded two boats and began to sail along the banks of the river. On the banks of the river, hundreds of Hindus were practicing religious ceremonies, bathing in the river, and washing clothes. I got to see the sunrise behind the river. It was breathtaking. On the river, there were boats that would come aside our boat and try to sell us postcards, statues of Shiva, or necklaces. One of the buildings we saw was built directly on the river and belonged to a European man who moved to India to practice Hinduism- and he lives in a huge red house that is open to people who want to practice Hinduism and yoga. But the rest of the buildings were all old, rusted and run down with nothing in them. It made the river that more beautiful though. After spending about 2 hours on the river, we headed for the airport and boarded our flight to Delhi. From Delhi, we had a 2 ½ hour layover in an un-air-conditioned airport and then finally boarded our plane to Chennai around 7 in the afternoon. The flight lasted about 3 hours and we got into Chennai around 10 and then transferred back to the ship. Never had I been more excited to see my home! I raw up the gangway, dropped off my bags, and headed to the snack bar to eat a NORMAL, American pizza! At 2:30, I made my way to bed.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Since today was our last day in Chennai, my friend Jenna and I got up around 8 to hit the town for a few hours. We got into an auto-rickshaw and he took us to a couple different stores to shop for a few hours. He then took us to the mall and then back to the ship around 12 so I could meet my other group of friends because Jenna had to go on a trip that afternoon with SAS. Well my group ended up leaving without me and I basically had no one to go shopping with… I was really upset and wanted to cry, but I bucked up and decided to go find people to go out with. So I went into the dining room and ran into my friend Danielle (who’s also from Bellingham) and she had the same thing happen to her that afternoon and needed someone to go out with. Kind of sad, huh? People can be so inconsiderate. So we decided to go shopping together. On our way out, we ran into a couple other girls who wanted to go shopping so they joined us. We bargained for two rickshaws- about 80 Ruppees to get to the post office, T- Nagar (and outdoor flea market) and then to Spencers Plaza (an amazing shopping mall.) Danielle, Jennifer and I all piled in one rickshaw and Stephanie and two other girls got in another. Well our rickshaw ended up breaking down about 5 minutes outside of the ship and the driver got extremely made when we wouldn’t pay him. So we flagged down a couple more rickshaws and the driver’s wouldn’t take us because our first driver told them not to pick us up. Can you believe that!? So we walked about a mile and finally one of them picked up us and took us to T-Nagar. When we arrived at the market, we found an amazing fabric store called Pothys- where we all bought about 3 pieces of fabric to make dressed in Vietnam with. I’m so excited because my fabric is gorgeous!! I’ll take lots of pictures in my new dresses- I’m just hoping they turn out!! After spending about 2 hours in the fabric store, we walked the streets of the market, but didn’t really buy much because it was all junk. Every other vendor was selling the exact same thing, so we hit up a rickshaw and went to Spencer’s where we did some serious damage! Since onship time was 9pm, we had only about 3 hours to buy out the mall. We bargained our brains out. Bought tons of pashminas for only 1 dollar each. I bought one in every color- and then some to give away as gifts. We ran into another group of kids from the ship, so we ate a quick dinner at Pizza Hut which was actually quite legit and then hurried back to the ship around 8:15. On our way back, we stopped at another shop close to the ship. I bought a few things there and then RAN my legs sore back to the ship. I ended up making it on the ship around 8:50, turned in my passport and was SAFE! Thank goodness!!!
The day after I got back on the ship, we talked a lot about India and it’s affects on us. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about India- I went into expecting the worse and unfortunately experienced firsthand the poverty that these people are living in. The streets are filled to capacity with people walking, buses, cars, rickshaws and motorcycles. The pollution is suffocating- there were times when I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Some people developed eye infections from the pollution. The children really tugged at my heart. When I was T Nagar, there was a little boy selling peacock feather fans. I obviously didn’t want one, but he kept tugging at my purse saying “Ma’dam Ma’dam, 100 Ruppees.” I kept saying no but he wouldn’t leave my side. Finally, I stopped and started talking to him. He had someone translate for him. I asked him if he went to school and he said no because he has to support his brothers and sisters. And he lived about 20 miles outside of the city and has to ride the bus daily to get to work. He was probably not older than 10. I didn’t want the fan, but he let me use it to fan myself because I was sweating so profusely. I kept telling him I’d buy it for 50 Ruppees which is about 1 US dollar. He kept saying no, no and I kept disagreeing. I sat there for a while and thought about what I could need more than him- so I handed him 500 Ruppees, which is 10 dollars and told him to keep the change. He looked at me and got a huge smile on his face and started saying “thank you thank you ma’dam” And was jumping up and down and laughing. I can help but say I teared up a little, then wished them a good day and walked off. If only I could do that for every little child. Whenever I saw little kids on the street, I would try and talk to them or take their picture. They all loved Americans- probably because we give them money, food and pay attention to them.
Yesterday, the ship’s psychologist help a meeting about the orphanage her and her husband own in Cambodia. This orphanage is where Angelina Jolie adopted Maddox. Anyway, she talked a lot about how much progress the kids have made since they took it over and that they need a lot of help in the next few years. She said that a few people from past voyages have actually went and worked for them in Cambodia- and that’s when I realized that that’s what I want to do. Since I’m going to Cambodia, I am going to check out the orphanage and see what I think. There isn’t an application process or anything, we just have to be able to give up about a months worth of our time to help out over there. Honestly, that sounds like my kind of work. I haven’t visited an orphanage yet on this voyage and I think if I went home without seeing one, I would feel like I missed out on something. I’m hoping that it will work out because it’s not in the intenerary to visit their orphanage; so pray that it works out for me. It’s called Cambodia’s Hope if any of you want to look it up.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to post- I have been incredibly busy with work these past few days. Tomorrow I will be in Malaysia. I will spend one night in Penang and then travel to Kuala Lumpur! I’m so excited!!
I hope you all are well. I have heard the weather is improving at home!! That’s good news! I’m missing you all like crazy- only about a month and a half left on this trip. It’s so sad!!! Thanks for all your prayers! Love you all!
xoxo
Kaitlyn
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Sorry for the delay...
Hi my lovely friends!!
Sorry it’s taken me so long to post for Mauritius! Since we have been traveling to India, the satellite connection has been very poor, which has resulted in incredibly slow internet. So I’m sorry if it has taken me long to responds to emails and such. It is around 2:30 in the morning… this is really the only time that the internet works! These past few days have been extremely hectic!! I’ve had a couple midterms and 3 papers due! But tonight we had another amazing BBQ! Again, I stuffed myself beyond consumption- a double cheeseburger, 2 hot dogs, lots of ribs, fruit, potato salad, ice cream and brownies. And I’m seriously not exaggerating! It was very yummy!!
So I will be in India on Sunday! That afternoon I leave straight for Delhi… and then will be traveling for 4 days around Delhi, Agra and Varanasi. Once again, India is extremely unsafe- probably worse than Brazil. So I’m asking once again for you’re prayers. There was a bombing there a few weeks ago on a train- terrorist acts are frequent there. So please pray for our safety!! I will try to update this thing more often, but it’s difficult because I am bombarded with a lot of homework!!!! I hope all is well in your lives! Miss everyone much!
India marks the half way point of this amazing adventure- after India this whole thing will fly by so incredibly fast! I’m grasping everything with my fingertips, and not really wanting to ever let go!
Love you all.
Kait
Sorry it’s taken me so long to post for Mauritius! Since we have been traveling to India, the satellite connection has been very poor, which has resulted in incredibly slow internet. So I’m sorry if it has taken me long to responds to emails and such. It is around 2:30 in the morning… this is really the only time that the internet works! These past few days have been extremely hectic!! I’ve had a couple midterms and 3 papers due! But tonight we had another amazing BBQ! Again, I stuffed myself beyond consumption- a double cheeseburger, 2 hot dogs, lots of ribs, fruit, potato salad, ice cream and brownies. And I’m seriously not exaggerating! It was very yummy!!
So I will be in India on Sunday! That afternoon I leave straight for Delhi… and then will be traveling for 4 days around Delhi, Agra and Varanasi. Once again, India is extremely unsafe- probably worse than Brazil. So I’m asking once again for you’re prayers. There was a bombing there a few weeks ago on a train- terrorist acts are frequent there. So please pray for our safety!! I will try to update this thing more often, but it’s difficult because I am bombarded with a lot of homework!!!! I hope all is well in your lives! Miss everyone much!
India marks the half way point of this amazing adventure- after India this whole thing will fly by so incredibly fast! I’m grasping everything with my fingertips, and not really wanting to ever let go!
Love you all.
Kait
Sea Olympics- Go RED SEA!!!!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Today was SEA OLYMPICS!!! GO RED SEA!!!!!!! Okay, so I’ll explain real quickly what Sea Olympics are. Each hall is given called a sea, rather than hall. There are about 25 rooms included in each sea, so about 50 people total in each sea. So all the seas compete in what they call the “Sea Olympics”- and the winner gets off the ship first. 2nd place- is second off the ship and so forth. So basically everyone wants to win so they can be off first! There are events going on all over the ship. There is tug-o-war, Juice pong (instead of beer pong), dodgeball, slippery twister, relay race, free throw, diving for treasure, poker tournament, basketball, synchronized swimming, ping pong, Dean Mike says, limbo, and Lip Sync. I signed up for Opening Ceremony, Synchronized Simming, and Dean Mike Says. So last night, a group of us girls got together to create our team cheer and make our banners. Our RA gave us all Santa hats since we are the red sea- so to incorporate that theme we made a chant to Justin Timberlake’s song, “Sexy Back.” I know Mom and Dad won’t know what I’m talking about, but everyone else will.
“We’re bringin Santa back” (YEAH)
You other seas don’t know how to act (YEAH)
It’s the Sea ‘Lympics, better watch your back (YEAH)
Cause the READ SEA is gonna kick your ass
… take it to the bridge”
Then we “parted” the red sea (like Moses did) and our whole sea broke through a sign!
After all the opening ceremonies, everyone split up and went to there assigned events. Since our synchronized swimming group hadn’t made up a routine yet, I got us all together to brainstorm. Well the pool was still empty b/c the seas were so rocky today- so they told us to make up a routine to do in the student union. Now, I wasn’t really thinking that people would show up to synchronized swimming- but I was DEFINITELY wrong. I swear the whole ship was there… and all six of us, Wes, Zander, Carli, Sarah, and Daniella, had to do it in front of everyone!! Our routine was a hit!! It was so much fun!!!! Unfortunately, we didn’t place but everyone said that they thought our routine was the best. And it was a tough decision because everyone did a really, really good job with their routines! But I wasn’t too worried because we had a blast making it up and performing it!!! The rest of the day, me and my friends cheered on all our fellow ship mates in our sea, while they did there events. Okay, so our sea really wasn’t that into the sea Olympics- in fact some people betrayed us and dressed up in other seas colors b/c they thought our sea was so lame. I for sure thought we’d get last place, but we placed 4th!!!!!!! YEAH!!! I’m so happy because I will be getting off the ship early now! Anyway, today was a blast but my body is dead! Tomorrow we have the student talent show- which is also going to be very hilarious! So I must get some rest before another big day. Life on the ship is never boring- there is always something going on whether it be games, homework, movies, pub night, or late night snacks on deck 6! I say this a million times and I’ll probably continue saying it till the day I die but I really never want to leave these people. I don’t remember life outside of this ship… I hope I’ll remember how to drive a car! I wonder if I’ll be satisfied with life on land. What I think is the saddest part of this whole journey is never being able to be with all these people again. It’s like, as soon as you get close and bond, you have to say goodbye and walk away with only memories and pictures. It’s bitter sweet. Anyway, missing you all like crazy!
Hugs and kisses, xoxo
Little Miss Traveler, Kate
Today was SEA OLYMPICS!!! GO RED SEA!!!!!!! Okay, so I’ll explain real quickly what Sea Olympics are. Each hall is given called a sea, rather than hall. There are about 25 rooms included in each sea, so about 50 people total in each sea. So all the seas compete in what they call the “Sea Olympics”- and the winner gets off the ship first. 2nd place- is second off the ship and so forth. So basically everyone wants to win so they can be off first! There are events going on all over the ship. There is tug-o-war, Juice pong (instead of beer pong), dodgeball, slippery twister, relay race, free throw, diving for treasure, poker tournament, basketball, synchronized swimming, ping pong, Dean Mike says, limbo, and Lip Sync. I signed up for Opening Ceremony, Synchronized Simming, and Dean Mike Says. So last night, a group of us girls got together to create our team cheer and make our banners. Our RA gave us all Santa hats since we are the red sea- so to incorporate that theme we made a chant to Justin Timberlake’s song, “Sexy Back.” I know Mom and Dad won’t know what I’m talking about, but everyone else will.
“We’re bringin Santa back” (YEAH)
You other seas don’t know how to act (YEAH)
It’s the Sea ‘Lympics, better watch your back (YEAH)
Cause the READ SEA is gonna kick your ass
… take it to the bridge”
Then we “parted” the red sea (like Moses did) and our whole sea broke through a sign!
After all the opening ceremonies, everyone split up and went to there assigned events. Since our synchronized swimming group hadn’t made up a routine yet, I got us all together to brainstorm. Well the pool was still empty b/c the seas were so rocky today- so they told us to make up a routine to do in the student union. Now, I wasn’t really thinking that people would show up to synchronized swimming- but I was DEFINITELY wrong. I swear the whole ship was there… and all six of us, Wes, Zander, Carli, Sarah, and Daniella, had to do it in front of everyone!! Our routine was a hit!! It was so much fun!!!! Unfortunately, we didn’t place but everyone said that they thought our routine was the best. And it was a tough decision because everyone did a really, really good job with their routines! But I wasn’t too worried because we had a blast making it up and performing it!!! The rest of the day, me and my friends cheered on all our fellow ship mates in our sea, while they did there events. Okay, so our sea really wasn’t that into the sea Olympics- in fact some people betrayed us and dressed up in other seas colors b/c they thought our sea was so lame. I for sure thought we’d get last place, but we placed 4th!!!!!!! YEAH!!! I’m so happy because I will be getting off the ship early now! Anyway, today was a blast but my body is dead! Tomorrow we have the student talent show- which is also going to be very hilarious! So I must get some rest before another big day. Life on the ship is never boring- there is always something going on whether it be games, homework, movies, pub night, or late night snacks on deck 6! I say this a million times and I’ll probably continue saying it till the day I die but I really never want to leave these people. I don’t remember life outside of this ship… I hope I’ll remember how to drive a car! I wonder if I’ll be satisfied with life on land. What I think is the saddest part of this whole journey is never being able to be with all these people again. It’s like, as soon as you get close and bond, you have to say goodbye and walk away with only memories and pictures. It’s bitter sweet. Anyway, missing you all like crazy!
Hugs and kisses, xoxo
Little Miss Traveler, Kate
Sunday, March 11, 2007
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