Oct 27 PIRATES!

The ship is on its way to Vietnam. Funny enough we are PIRATE WATCH. The strait we are going through not only carries 25% of the worlds oil through it but usually as 12 incidents of pirate attacks. The crew is on watch for the next 3 days with head sets, walkie talkies, and hoses. The front of the ship also has a strobe like light to pick out passing ships. Kinda  scary but we have nothing of value on our ship so we should be ok. Keep your fingers crossed. 

Oct 25 KL Twin Towers

Got up and headed to the Twin Towers SURPRISINGLY! I cant believe the four of us even got up. Got to the Towers and waiting in a very long line that apparently people start lining up in at like 6:45 in order to get tickets. We were leaving KL at 11:30 am we were banking on like a 10:15 am ticket. By the time we got to the front of the line they were selling tickets for 12:30 pm! Crap. O well. So we just walked through the towers and into the mall it is connected to and found a DUNKIN DONUTS! Not as good as the real thing but got my fix ;) Headed back to the hotel and used the free WiFi to load pictures and Skype with people. Got on the bus on 11:30 and headed straight for lunch at an India place and I wanted none of that so a bunch of us found McDonalds. I haven’t had it in forever but it tasted so good. Got back to Penang and on the ship by 7PM. Found Jewel and Sara and they forced me to get ready to go out. I reluctantly got ready. We headed to the night market and tried out some street food which was delicious. Tried a century egg which is an egg that’s “100 yrs” old and is completely black. Expected it to taste really weird but mostly tasted like a regular egg. Everyone was tired so we headed back to the ship on the 1030 tender. Was going to work out but just grabbed a movie and went to bed. Lauren came home from being out and told me that all the crew had been at SS and were ridiculous. HILARIOUS. 

Oct 24 KUALA LUMPUR

Today was an all day city tour affair. Got up and had an early breakfast and was out of the hotel by 9 am. First stop was the King’s Palace. It used to be someone else’s house but it was liked so much by a past king he bought it and kicked the other guy out. Took pictures with the guards who stand on guard much like the British guards. Next was the Nat’l Museum. Walked around through all the exhibits and got a feel for past and present Malaysia. The country is only 50 years old but has a lot of history. Third stop was the Nat’l Monument built in remembrance of those who fought in WW1 and WW2. The monument was quite impressive and resembles one of our monument statues of a couple people trying to keep the flag flying high. Next stop was the Nat’l Mosque which was interesting because its roof is an open umbrella that has 18 points that close together. It was raining so the roof was closed but would have been pretty cool to witness it open. Stopped for lunch and then after went up into the KL Tower to get a bird’s eye view of the city. It is not as tall as the Twin Towers but still gives a great view of the entire city. The top has a revolving restaurant and an observatory floor you can walk all the way around. After this we split up into 3 different groups because there were a couple apprehensions of the night’s plans. The original plan was to go to this Firefly place and have dinner on a boat of some sort but it was a 2 hr drive away and if it was raining (which is was) there was a good chance that the fireflies couldn’t be seen. So people didn’t want to drive all that way for nothing. So group 1 would go the fireflies, group 2 would continue a tour of the city, group 3 could go back to the hotel and be free for the rest of the day. We chose group 2 because we really wanted to see the cave temples. The first stop on the continuing city tour was of the Tin Factory that made pewter. The tour of the factory was quick because they were closing soon but it was interesting. They showed us how they make, shape, and design all the pewter pieces. They even have the World’s larger pewter mug in their courtyard. Last stop was the Batu Caves that have a Hindu temple inside. There is a giant statue of Krishna (I think) colored in gold outside at the bottom of the cave. There are 275 steps to climb to the top where the cave is. It took about 5-10 minutes to get all the way up with a couple of short breaks. The stairs were so steep my calves hurt so bad. Up at the top it started to sprinkle rain a little but the cave protected us. The cave was exquisite! The roof was so high up and jagged with rock formation. In some spots there were openings that brought light into the cave. There were a couple of Hindu’s there praying but it was mostly tourist walking around taking in the breath taking view. The cave was huge, you could probably fit a couple hundred people in it.  The  way down was a little easier than the way up and we saw a ton of monkeys. They were running everywhere and would get really close to you. Kinda nerve racking because of the stories you hear but I was careful not to grab their curious attention. Finally headed back to the city but with traffic on a Friday night it took forever to get back. Got back at 7:30 pm and headed straight for a Reflexology place for massages with Lauren, Jonah, and Ryan. Got a leg/foot massage first in a big comfy chair that I passed out in. They work on all these pressure point in your foot and it hurts a lot but feels great at the same time. Also got a body massage and it was one of the best 40 min massage I have ever gotten for a total of $20 USD. My body was like goo. Afterwards the group of us grabbed some Thai food. I had never had it before but it was delicious! We were done with dinner at 10:30 pm and headed back to the hotel to get ready to go out. We were out the door and in a cab by 11:45 and headed to a club called Zouk. It was a trendier, younger club but had a cover charge. Saw Devyn (who dyed her hair dark brown) and Ali T and a bunch of the boys. The bar as very disco like with a million disco balls hanging from the ceiling and strobe lights and black lights everywhere. The music was very upbeat but was pretty much the same throughout the night. Stayed until 2:15 am and headed BACK to the reflexology place to have fish eat the head skin off our feet. Felt so weird. My feet tickeld so bad but Jonah was more of a girl than I was. Got back to the hotel and in bed by 4 am with ambitions to get up and go to the Towers at 8 am. We shall see! 

Oct 23 KL

Woke up early had from breakfast and got ready to head to Kuala Lumpur (KL) on a SAS trip with my roommate! We were traveling via bus (thank god) so I  could pack more for going out in KL and sleep the whole way there. In order to get off the island we crossed the famous bridge that take like 15 min long to cross…don’t know why that is so special? Stopped at Chinese restaurant for lunch and ate family style. The bus ride took a total of 9 hrs because for some reason they drive like 10 mph here and make 3 stops on the way ( the drive is supposed to take 4 hrs). At last arrived at our hotel the Swiss Garden ( Lauren and I were roommates but the group was split into 2 buses and hotels. Casey and Jonah were in the other hotel down the street). We only had time for a quick shower and changed because we were going out to dinner. The place we ate dinner was called Saloma and they had a huge buffet and provided entertainment. The dancers performed many traditional dances of Malaysia, India and China. They had very elaborate costumes and moves. At one point they called people up to learn a dance and of course I couldn’t resist. The dance involved these huge bamboo looking sticks that they clashed on the floor and together, it simulated a hopscotch like move. After we learned another dance with one of the dancers. My guys was so cute, his English was very poor but had a smile on her face the whole time and asked simple questions. The last song was a tribute to Malaysia “the essence of asia”. Most ridiculous song I have ever heard. It was so corny and there was a video to go with it and subtitles to sing along. Ryan filed most of it ( and proceeded to play it at random times throughout the trip) lol. When it was over we booked it out to the Golden Triangle area where all the bars and clubs are. First stop was Rum Jungle. It seemed like a cool place and came highly recommended but the band was playing all slows songs for some reason. So we left and went to a bar called the Beach Club. The band was great and couldn’t stop dancing the moment we set foot in it. But when we actually looked around and noticed who was actually in the club our perception changed a little bit. There were a ton of people but when you looked closer we realized that most of the crowd was made up of businessmen from 35 yrs and older with all their asian escorts, dancers, and hookers all hanging out. Our group was the youngest by a good 10 yrs and got some looks and it was not ok. We stayed together and had a good time for a couple of hours. Eventually we got over it and headed to a bar called Luna. It was on top of a 34 floor building with a pool and overhanging balcony with a gorgeous view of the city. A lot more SAS kids were here and it was a lot of fun. Surprisingly no one made it into the pool but one kid I think was getting close because he was stumbling around in his boxers mumbling something about swimming but security was about to throw him out.  Ran into Devyn, Ali T, Darby, Kelly and a bunch of the guys. Our group had a long day ahead of us so we headed back to the hotel and had a sleep over with Ryan and Jonah. Jonah is gay and Ryan has a girlfriend but they are two of the funniest people I have ever met. We stayed up much to late watching tv but totally worth the laughs. 

Oct 22 PENANG, Malaysia

Arrived in Penang and was highly impresses by my surroundings. We were anchored out in the channel between Penang near Georgetown and the main peninsula land of Malaysia. Now that we were anchored we would have to be tendered back and forth to land. Using one of our lifeboats we would fill up this metal boat with no ventilation to get to land. It was so hot and a long tedious process every time so I tried to avoid it at all costs. Early in the morning a group of us got ready early to go on land ASAP to go shopping! We ( James, Patrick, Jewel, Nina, and Casey)  were ready to go but as soon as we were about to get on the tender, The Voice announces that the ship hasn’t been cleared yet. Some people had already gone ashore that were not part of the group of FDP’s that had been cleared to go ashore..not fair! Once we got on land we headed over to the Queensbay Mall. It was a GORRRGEOUS mall right on the water. Malaysia in general is surprising very mountainous and green. It was raining out/muggy most of the say so it was perfect shopping conditions. There were so many stores I didn’t know what to do with myself so my first stop was the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf coffee shop to get amped up. My target store was Forever 21, of course. Mostly got some essentials for China/Japan because I am getting so sick of the clothes I have packed. Also went into a store called TopShop which is basically a mix between Forever 21 and UrbanOutfitters. After spending a good portion of the day roaming the mall for clothes, shoes, and other useless things we headed back to the ship to shower and change for dinner/going out. Headed out with Sara, Jewel and Jocie. Headed to a restaurant called SoHo to eat but when we got there it was mostly American good and we wanted some local food so we just grabbed a drink and watched Jocie eat her burger because she didn’t want local food. We saw a local night market across the street (Red Market) and Sara and I purchased a dinner plate for RM3.00 which is less than $1 USD. J saweet. The fun had a small delay because Jocie received a call from Ali telling her that her grandmother had finally passed away (it was coming for some time and they were just waiting for when). Jocie headed back to the ship after many hugs and I love you’s. Jewel, Sara and I headed to the bars because it was ladies night! We get in bars free and drinks free. 1^st stop was a place called F.AM.E and had the set up of the bar, lots of lounge areas and a dancing stage. Not many people were there so we headed next door to Slippery Senoritas which was bumpin! There was a live band that was doing some great covers of all the recently pop/hiphop songs. The bar was lit up with orange lights. Had a couple of drinks and met up with a bunch of other SAS kids and danced most of our time there. Sara and I ran into the owner of the bar and he gave us a free round of drinks. Definitely had to do with the blonde hair ;). Unfortunately the last tender heading back to the boat was at 1 am. So we had to haul ass back to the marina to catch it. If we didn’t get it we would be spending the night who knows where lol. 

Oct 18 CHENNAI

Got up early to go out in Chennai and get some last minute shopping done and a little taste of going off on our own instead of with a group. Went out with Jewel, Jocie, Patrick, and Nina. On the way out we got haggled by one of the rickshaw driver. He followed Jewel for a good ¼ of a mile. Patrick was video taping the whole thing on his camera. Finally we decided to take the ride from Giri and his friend Steven. They took us around Chennai and thought we were going to die in traffic in the rickshaw. Its so thrilling but so dangerous at the same time. Could have died but that’s half the fun right? They took us to a bunch of art/craft stores. Got some tapestries, scarves, and then went to Spencer’s Mall. Ghettoest mall I have ever been to. Got some more bangles and had a yummy Indian lunch. Giri took us to a sketchy place on the side of road that had bootlegged movies. Got a ton of movies for like $10 US (later to find out some of them don’t work or are the wrong movies, but we kinda assumed). Back on the boat and it had been a great but interesting time to say the least in India. Sara went to Veranasi and saw all these dead people. It is the holy place for Hindus and they go to the Ganges River to die. She is pretty traumatized so she and I have been talking a lot trying to sort it out. I wouldn’t know what to do. For me its very real and I can see it happening. There are so many words on my mind but I can’t get them out. 

Oct 17 Back to Delhi

So far this 6 hr trip back to Delhi on a bus is pure torture. The bus is not comfortable, it’s hotter than hell and this whole horn business is not ok. They honk all the time. But they don’t honk their horn to say “get out of my way” it means “I am first in line” or “ I am coming through”. HONKING EVERYWHERE. ALL THE TIME. My head would just be ringing when I was in a quiet place. They are so good at driving so bad. It’s an art I think, or maybe even a hobby.

 

So side story of the day….We are basically in Delhi and going through the toll into the city. The bus driver needed a receipt to get refunded for the toll. The printer was out of paper so the toll man couldn’t give him a receipt. Our bus driver demanded he get some sort of receipt. The toll man just told him to go. The bus driver drives just a little bit forward and then gets out of the bus. The two of them are fighting back and forth. Then all of a sudden the toll man starts beating our bus driver with a broomstick! No joke. Then you see legs and a body thrown through the air. People were running from everywhere in the toll area. Some were egging it on and others were trying to break it up. Weren’t trying too hard though. So in the process of throwing our bus driver, he had hit a car passing by and then smashed his head into the ground. He was bleeding from his head and wasn’t moving on the ground. OMG! We didn’t know what to do. Our guide D got out and was on the phone calling an ambulance and the police. All the Indians were yelling at each other and just running around. Two random people tried to move the bus and they couldn’t do it slash we kicked them out of the bus because we didn’t want to be held hostage or something. We locked ourselves in the bus. Finally the driver is helped back onto the bus and the ambulance and the police show up. In all this mess the toll man apparently ran away because obviously kicking the crap out of someone is illegal. So then the gang of guys are all in a commotion and retelling the story to the police. We were there altogether for a good hour and a half. It was just a mess but we got a replacement bus driver. Unfortunately we could only see 1 out of the 3 sites we were supposed to see that day because we needed to catch our flight back to Chennai.

 

We ended up going to LAL KOT with the QUTAB MINAR. It was a tall citadel tower built by the Tomar king Anangpal in 1066. It is the oldest place in Delhi. It has 5 different stories and the top two have been rebuilt twice once in the 14^th century and the other in the 16^th century because they were knocked down by lightning storms. There is also an old mosque with a tall Gupta iron pillar with Sanskrit inscriptions that has no rust on it at all, which is weird. It’s just as old as everything in the place. There was also a half built tower called ALAI MINAR. The king only built half a floor before he died and no one tried to complete it. There were a bunch of kids from the village schools n a fieldtrip. All the kids were saying hi and shaking hands with us. I was more popular because of my blonde hair but it was really cute. They spoke a little English enough to say “hi” and “how are you”. After we had lunch in a huge hall with a bunch of other SAS trips heading back to Chennai. Apparently we were all on the same plane…..6 groups of about 50-60 people in each. Got back to the boat around 8:20 but didn’t get on it until almost 10 because of the long lines and security checking bags. We were going to go out but just stayed in because we were exhausted and were planning on getting up early and shop our last day in India.

Oct 16 JAIPUR-

 “The Pink City”

Jaipur is called the Pink City because at one time the whole city was an Amber color and a prince from England was coming to visit so the Maharaja wanted to impress him. He demanded that the entire city be painted pink. When I imagined a pink city, I imagined an actual pink city that would pop out at you. While it is the capital city of the state, Jaipur is crumbling buildings with many different shades of pink that is now pealing off. It is a very busy city, more so than a city like New York City (if you can even imagine). People are up early on bikes busses rickshaws, noise is everywhere! It is the definition of chaos! We got up early and left at 7 am in order to ride the elephants up to the top of AMER FORT. Of course while waiting we are attacked by Indians selling trinkets and such. They are so persistent it is annoying as hell. You really have to ignore them to get them to leave you alone or divert their attention to someone else. Our tour guide was afraid we might not get to ride elephants because people line up wicked early to ride them because each elephant only does 4 trips a day (this is because they have had problems in the past of over working and abusing the elephants). But we did get to ride them and it definitely on my top 5 of coolest things I have ever done. I rode up with Jewel. The elephants are also all painted with fun designs and colors on their faces and feet. They have much smaller ears than African elephants and have missing pigmentation in their faces. On the way up, Indians were taking pictures of us to develop and sell to us when we came back down. There are also guys along the walls of the fort trying to sell you stuff. Jewel got in a bartering war with this guy. He followed us the whole way up. She thought he was going to give her a turban for 20 rupees so she threw the money down to him and he threw the turban up, but in fact he wanted $20 US. Jewel would not pay him that many rupees, she knew better. So he kept asking for the money and Jewel kept saying no. This went on and on and finally Jewel just threw him back the turban. O but he didn’t stop there. He continued to shout out a price. Jewel just kept saying no. I wanted to shoot him but the whole scenario was just hilarious. We got to the top of the hill and into the fort and said goodbye to our elephant. Walked through the fort. This king had 12 wives, each had their own apartments and the concubines lived above them in connecting rooms. There were lots of hallways and secret passages you could get so lost so fast. On the way out saw a snake charmer. Never thought I would see this in my lifetime. The cobras dance to the music it is so entrancing. Also saw a little girl performing an Indian traditional dance. The instruments they use are the flute, string instrument, a drum, and a piano box. Left the fort by walking down the stairs and had to dodge elephant traffic. The turban man found us on the way down! Still tried to sell Jewel the turban and was all up in her face. She asked for her 20 rupees back and he surprisingly gave it back. But then continued to yell out prices. He was not stopping. He followed us the whole way out and at one point ran after us. I couldn’t stop laughing. Out in the street it is always overwhelming with the beggars. This time there was a man with lepercy that crawled across the street to us. Can’t get used to it. You want to give them something but you cant. After the fort we went to a textile factory where they showed us how they do printing press prints. They take big stamps and place them in ink and then place them on the cloth. Then they lay it out in the sun and chemical reactions occur and certain colors change color. Next they showed up the process of making carpets. There are two kinds; a double-knotted carpet, which is the lesser quality carpet and the single knotted cashmere that is the higher end stuff. They hand stitch every carpet and it can take 6 months up to a year to make one carpet. They then singe to burn fuzzies off, wash it and lay it out to dry. Next they clip the carpets. With the double-knotted carpets you can only clip it once because the wool is thicker. With the single knotted carpets you can clip it up to 6 times and with each clipping the design comes out more clearly. Next we had a fashion show of carpets. They laid out carpets of all different sizes and quality explaining each one and how it was made. They were some of the most beautiful carpets I have ever seen. The prices were so much cheaper than in the US. If I had the money I would have definitely bought a ton, you know to have lying around to use in my house some day. In the same building as the carpet room was the textile room that was filled with silk scarves, saris, bedspreads, table clothes, etc. Some of the guys working there were trying to rip us off telling us that certain materials were pure silk or pure pashmina. Thank god we were with Jewel because her mom works in the textile business so she knew what stuff should feel like. Our next stop of the tour was to a really nice jewelry store with all their precious and semi precious stones. Nice to look at but I wasn’t going to buy anything. We went back to the hotel for lunch and after lunch we went to Jai Singh’s JANTAR MANTAR (magical instrument). The king had all these sundials and other instruments to see the stars and figure out your horoscope. One of the sundials is the biggest one in India and it’s pretty big. One of the instruments was used to tell which hemisphere the sun was in which I thought was pretty cool. Horoscopes mean a lot to people in Indian so there was a sundial for every sign. If you know how to read it, its supposed to tell you the best time to get married, get a job, made life decisions etc. From here we went to the bazaar market place with a Museum shop next to where the current Maharaja lives. After this D brought us to a real market place. This is what I had been looking forward to, to really experience India. The biggest/scariest obstacle was cross the 4 lane highway. It was like dodging bullets. Absolutely insane and seriously almost got hit a couple of times. So Jewel Lauren and I went into a bunch of shops trying to find tapestries of the gods of Hinduism. Bought a whole box of bangles. We were so exhausted from bartering. I never thought I would be so tired from shopping. It is its own sport. After an hour and half we had to go back to the hotel for a shower and quick nap before dinner.  Went to dinner at this other hotel with a big courtyard. Ate outside with Amber, Amber, Kelly, Jewel, Lauren, and Patrick. It was Patrick’s 21^st birthday and the tour guides got him a cake! It was so cute. Went back to the hotel, changed into comfy clothes and then got henna done on our hands and feet. That was the climax of our day and it takes an hour to dry so we just sat and talked. Another early morning awaited us. 

Oct 15 Agra : TAJ MAHAL/AGRA FORT/FATEHPUR SIKRI

Wake up call at 4 am, ugh. Took a quick wake-me-up shower and ran downstairs for some coffee and tea. We had to leave by 5:15 to catch a 6:15 train. We were late leaving because people didn’t wake up and even then we left them! Took the bus and almost made it when we got stuck in traffic. D decides we are getting off the bus. ARE YOU SERIOUS??! We were literally in the middle of the road, had to cross another 3-lane road of traffic. Mayhem everywhere! Mopeds, auto rickshaws, cars, busses, animals, motorcycles, bicycles and people are just moving in all directions. They pay no attention to traffic lights or lines in the road. There were people sleeping all over the road too so we had to watch our step and sometimes step over people. We had to run to keep up with D because our train was leaving in 10 minutes (the kids that slept in still hadn’t showed up). People out on the waiting step were all waving and staring into the train. Of course I waved back and their smiles are just precious. The train was not the best train I had ever ridden and after seeing the bathroom I knew I would be holding it no matter what. The kids that had slept in made the train just in time. The doors literally closed behind them as they got on. The train ride was two hours to Agra. Again it was a rush to the bus but this time there were beggars. Little children, mothers with babies, limbless people. They are touching you and all up in your face, it is so overwhelming. It’s so hard to resist but it would be suicide to give something to one of them in creating a chain reaction to have a hundred people surrounding you. Once we got everyone on the bus we headed to the TAJ! We had to walk down this path to get to the main gate. We just got bombarded with kids trying to sell stuff. They literally followed us the entire way. Nag, nag, nag. “No” just urges them on more The TAJ MAHAL is definitely one of the 7 Wonders of the World. It was built by SHAH JAHAN in June 1631 after his wife of 18 years died after giving birth to their 14^th child. It was built out of love and would be her tomb. It took him 22 yrs to complete it. The marble just shines in the sunlight, illuminating it to see from miles away. A mosque and guesthouse are on either side of the Taj. The mosque is only open on Friday and then only Muslims are allowed into the gates. Interesting enough the Taj is completely symmetric, it looks the same from all sides and angles. We took a Bus2 group picture and then we had an hour to roam. Jewel, Lauren and I walked the gardens taking pictures in front of the Taj. Lots and lots of pictures. Haha We made our way up onto the platform of the Taj and had to put on bunny slipper looking things over our shoes (the Indians just go barefoot). Then we wandered into the main part of the Taj Mahal which is now a site for both tombs of the king and his wife (they are fake of course) but you aren’t allowed to take pictures inside. All the artwork is so detailed and looks like it has been painted but in fact is made out of semi precious stones. Some people have been successful in prying some of the stones out of the structure. It was really hot inside with so many people so we decided to walk around the platform and find some shade. Found some shade and decided to take a break. But it was not a true break. Indians wanted to pose and take pictures with us; anything from couples, to entire families or groups of guy friends. There was an actual line to get pictures with us. Talked to a couple of them but time was running out. Finally we escaped and made our way back to the groups meeting spot.

Next stop was AGRA FORT. SIKANDER LODI moved the capital from Delhi to Agra but many mogul emperors transformed the fort into a court whose fame reached Europe. Today’s Indian army still occupies much of the fort. Now if we thought the Taj beggar crowd was bad, the Fort beggars swarmed us. For some reason Jewel and I were favorite targets (I can only guess my blonde hair and Jewel was wearing a V-neck shirt). Always asking and they never go away! Jewel would keep talking to them and D told us to just ignore it. So I had to keep a watch on her and make sure she just shut up. The Amber Fort is very red, red marble I assume because Agra is know for its marble. We learned about the place of public of audience where people would come with their complaints and problems to the king. The king also had an area of private audience where his and his wives and children would hang out inside another gate. There is also a Harem Court where the king’s 250 concubines lived and they had 5,000 servants that take care of them. The rooms are all connected so that no one ever knew what room he was in. Right after the Shah Jahan completed the Taj Mahal in 1658 his 3^rd son Aurangzeb imprisoned him and took over the kingdom. The king was in the house prison for 8 yrs in the fort before he died. Again all the artwork is so detailed and exquisite. There are hidden chambers and floors underground. So surreal that hundreds and thousands of people lived in these forts and palaces. Beautiful buildings and sights you just cant believe. We were only here for a short time. On the way out we were harassed again but more by children and women. One of them shoved their screaming child into Jewels face. People are everywhere and you are walking in the busy street with vehicles passing inches away from you to try and get back to the bus. They even go as far as standing outside the bus banging on the sides and trying to get your attention and get you to buy something.  Lunchtime went to a hotel and had a buffet lunch. Thought I would hate Indian food but it actually is not that bad. I didn’t have anything too hot but I think I also adjusted my pallet to tolerate a whole new level of hot.

After lunch we left Agra and drove an hour to get to the “Ghost” or “Abandoned” City also known as Fatehpur Sikri. Akbar, the 3rd Mogul of the dynasty/kingdom, built this fort as his ideal capital in 1571. He was the grandfather of the king who built the Taj. He moved his capital from Agra to this place. His family lived there for 12 yrs and then one day just got up and left. They left because of shortage of clean water, the sandstone got incredibly hot in the summer (May-July) and there were disruptions in the country elsewhere. He also had his public and private audiences, a concubine room, and even a treasury room. The forts are very open with courtyards in every separate area. We were there around sundown and the sight is just breathtaking. Sat on top of one of the tallest towers and just took it all in. In the area of private audience there is column that has 6 religious carvings in it (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism). His goal was to completely unite the country so he had a Muslim, Hindu, and Catholic wife. He moved the capital 2 more times. This fort is made from Red Sand stone. The details are fascinating and so much care. It must have taken some real talented artists to complete such masterpieces. Best part was taking the 6 person auto rickshaw to the top. Or maybe 13?!?! Seven people were SAS people, the other six were just Indians that wanted to ride with the Americans. We were so squished and very unstable. It was quite an experience. The guys at the top of the hill were most aggressive than past sellers. None of us had any money so it was easy to refuse. Once in the Fort we walked around and took some cool artsy pictures. Some sketchy Indian guys were trying to lure us to places and ask for money. I had to go to the bathroom and a guy tried to ask me for money. Totally blew him off. Public bathrooms in India consist of a whole in the ground and no toilet paper, just a bucket of water to wash yourself. I had to pop a squat and then just air dry. Ugh it was so gross! Then we gathered to walk back down. As we were walking back down, found out our friend Kelly had been lured into this temple all alone because the guys she was walking around with left her. She didn’t even have her shoes on she ran away so fast. Poor thing had the guy all over her and talking to her the whole way down. We surrounded her to protect her and made them go away. Then little kids were running up the hill to us. Patrick pulled a roll dodge move on two of the kids, scaring the crap out of them. It was a good laugh that we needed for such a long day. They ask and bed for money. It is so sad. The kids are dirty and so thin. But are very helpful and love to take pictures. They were asking for pens and souvenirs. On the bus even MORE kids came and asked for pens, money and food. Traffic is so loud, cows and camels everywhere pulling carts. Leaving the fort we still had a 5-hour drive to Jaipur. Slept most of the way. At the Mansingh hotel Jewel and I went into the textile shop. The people were so nice and so we decided to see what they had for us we bought bedspreads and Punjabis made (it is the tunic and pants that the women wear besides the sari). 

Oct 14 CHENNAI-MUMBAI-DELHI

Arrived in Chennai at approx. 7:45 am. I got up for the sunrise. My usual scene of clouds but we were still very far away from land. I could see building in the distance. The smell of India right off the bat hit me as I woke up the second time. I could not go back to sleep the smell was so disturbing. Met the girls for breakfast and then we had the diplomatic meeting. The two American ambassadors were very helpful in introducing us to all the new customs and news of India. I then had an FDP for my Internatl management class. The man that owns Pebble Creek mining came and talked to us about doing business in India. It has many barriers but once you are in the business can be very successful. Then I had to get ready to leave for my Taj Mahal and Jaipur trip. We left the ship at 12:30 pm. Traffic is absolutely terrifying. It is a whole other world. We made it to the airport safely…all 66 of us! Security in the airport was pretty tight even worse than the US because of all the recent bombings. Girls and guys get a full out body search and absolutely no liquids on the plate. We had to check all our toiletries in one big duffle bag. The flight flew to MUMBAI aka BOMBAY. It is known for its Bollywood and movies. There are posters everywhere for all the movies. They mix all genres of movies together so there is no set one. Sad we couldn’t spend more time because the waterfront is supposed to be beautiful. The flight ten took off to Delhi. Worst landing I have ever experience to date. We slammed onto the landing strip. I thought the wheels were going to snap off. Then we were met by out tour guide and taken to our 5 star hotel the Intercontinental. All marble hotel, rooms had flat screens, see through bathrooms, bathtub and huge shower and the most comfortable beds with down comforters. We had a very late dinner and ate an amazing buffet. It apparently is open 24/7 along with the bar/club and pastry bar. After dinner we went into the club and had some wine and champagnes. Went to bed at 1 am or should I say I took a 3 hr nap. Wake up call was at 4 am to start our day.

Oct 13 PRE INDIA

Met with the two interport students from Chennai and Prof. Annakutty tonight. They talked about their schooling and other aspects of India. “School” is high school for them and “college” is college or university. Most kids stay at home and commute to school because they go to school in the closest/home city but some stay in the dorms. The dorms are like boarding school with times to study and check in with attendance. Girls have to be in by 6 pm. Craziest thing about India is that they have arranged marriages. People do not date AT ALL. No PDA, no kissing, no premarital sex. Movies don’t even have any kissing in them. With arranged marriage you don’t even see your husband in most cases until the day of the wedding. They do not marry outside of their religion and also take caste and financial security into account. The people getting married have some say in whether or not they get married. The kids are mostly friends with the same gender because when they go to school as kids in elementary school they only go to a same gender school. Education varies but it is not free. The caste system does not really apply in society anymore but for college 66% of slots are saved for the lower caste. Within the lower or untouchable class there is a wide range of wealth. The main jobs in India are computer engineering, architecture, doctor or moviemakers. Lots and lots of movies. Every major city has a Hollywood. In Bombay is Bollywood. Haha Kids never leave their family. All extended family lives together or close by. Family is everything to these people. Looked down upon to leave or live anywhere else. But one of the kids said he has been to America and will probably go to graduate school in the States. Girls who become wives end up living with the husband’s family. They see spending so much time with their family as they only have so much time with their parents and they do everything with them. Drinking age is 21 and there is not much underage drinking. Prof. Annakutty is much older and is part of the Gandhian times so she has many different views, more historical views of India because she has seen India develop since its independence only 60 years ago. 

Oct 9 SEA OLYMPICS

I have never seen so much chaos in my entire life. Just try and imagine 800 college kids on a small ship with 5 different events/relays going on while a ship is rocking. OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS!! First off I had to get up early with the committee and set all the events up and get all the props to their places. We also had to set up signs/schedules/reminders so that the dumb college kids knew where to go and what time they had to be there. Of course it never makes anything easier but I’d like to think it helped some. The Volleyball tourney was not my job but I heard that it was just crazy and they had to cut it short because it went an hour and half over the time we allotted for it. The biggest events were the Olympic Relay and the workout relay. The Olympic relay I was not only help run but I was actually participating in it! This relay consisted of an orange pass, 3-legged race, wheelbarrow race, and balancing a cup on 2 fingers. The orange pass is trying to pass an orange down a row of 16 ppl with just your chin. Lets just say this got more than just a little riskay but it was absolutely the most entertaining thing I have seen in a while. Then off to tag the 3 legged people and then they tagged the wheel barrow group who then tagged the people balancing a plastic cup on their fore and middle finger back and forth 10 times ( this last event was supposed to be a fireman’s pass where you have a bucket of water and then cups with holes in them and you try and pass the water to another empty bucket, but oh no! we cant waste water so this part of the relay was nixed literally 5 min before the event was about to start, so we had to make something up on the spot, it was the best we could do, give us some credit). SO MANY PEOPLE CHEERING. It was hard to get people out of the area and even with microphones we had difficulty yelling over them. The workout was even more of a mob with people screaming at their teammate to do as many pushups, pull-ups, or sit-ups and then not give up on a wall sit. Let’s just say it wasn’t easy but hey you gotta put on a happy face and make everyone else happy. We had other events such as Dodgeball, pictionary, jeopardy, human knot, pizza making, pie eating, hotdog eating, flip cup, tug-o-war, paper boat float, and synchronize swimming. Now let me tell you about synchronize swimming. Traditionally this event is a MUST for every Olympics. The pool on the ship is like a 12X8 cube and with the rocking it’s a mini tidal pool. When it gets really rocky like today…oh wait they decide to empty the pool. Saweet. So instead of doing their routine in water, the teams had to perform their routine on land and we held it in our lecture room The Union. This should definitely be a new actual Olympic event. It IS HYSTERICAL!!!! I got a bunch of short videos on my camera because the routines could only be 2 mins long.  The teams consisted of 2 guys and 2 girls from each sea. They all acted like they were in the pool with all the swimming moves, diving, lifts, circles, etc. I was crying I was laughing so hard. Best event to end the day. It was a long day indeed. Stuff going on nonstop 9:30 until 4:30. The committee and I was sun burnt and so done. We took a team power cat nap right before the closing ceremonies at 6 pm. Red sea got 1^st for the flag, 2^nd on the chant but we didn’t place in the top three overall. Yellow Sea won the day and they deserved it. I had a great time but I am so glad it is done. First midterm tomorrow…..hmmm should be interesting. So I am off to bed. But good luck to everyone and their own midterms!

 

Oct 8

So I thought I would share that I am converting to Judaism. Not really….but I am surrounded by Jewish people. My roommate, the triplets, three other friends, and a good % of people on this ship are JEWISH! The girls signed me up for their Jewish dinner tonight and I was their honorary Jew. It was much too funny. We didn’t have a traditional Jewish dish to celebrate Yom Kippur, but the ship has a “special” dining service which we took advantage of. The girls went to service and then joined us. The dinner service started at 6:45pm (sunset was around 5:30) but we just were going by California time so according to Jewel the sun hadn’t set yet. My roommate Lauren is also planning to throw me a Baa mitzvah and apparently Jewel hasn’t had hers either so we decided to celebrate together. Its more of a running joke with all of us with me becoming a Jew but I am the lone Catholic in the group. Not much I can do. Lol

 

Tonight was also the opening ceremony for the Sea Olympics. Also the Seas dressed up in their color, brought their flags, made up a chant and mascot. All the Seas are Aegean, Arabian, Adriatic, Bering, Baltic, Caribbean, Red, Yellow, and Mediterranean. I am on the Red Sea, so our color was Red (obviously) we were Neptune’s Electric Squid. Our signature move was using our hands to insinuate squid’s tentacles. Hilarious. Bob and I were Captains so we led our cheer and dressed up this huge kid on our team as some squid man king guy. I dunno. A lot of people were very creative with their colors. For being on a boat people were very inventive. Aegean was the pink panthers, Arabian was all black and dressed someone up as Aladdin,, Adriatic were all white and were the Explorers, Bering was green and were the Ninja Turtles, Baltic was blue and were whales, Caribbean was orange and Rufio (from Hook) was their mascot, Yellow Sea was the yellow submarine/bananas, and Mediterranean was tie dye. IT WAS COMPLETE MAYHEM. Much crazier than we ever expected it to be. Everyone was screaming their cheers and it was almost impossible for us to even start. I was in charge of music and all the lights of the whole production. Turned out to be a great show and definitely set the mode for the main day’s events! Can’t wait! SQUID! SQUID! SQUID!

Oct 2

Safari #4 AM

Headed out on our last safari of the trip in hopes of seeing a leopard. Saw giraffe up close again, more rhino, and impala. We saw one of the yon male lions just chilling in the field. We concluded that having a lions life is the hardest animal life of the big animals. There is lots of fighting and getting kicked out of prides if you are a male. They are the only social cat and need to be around each other, they don’t like being alone. Lions in captivity live up to maybe 20 years, lions in the wild only live up to 8-10 yrs!!! They are opportunist killers and will kill if they have the option to eat because they do not know when they will eat again. As we were driving we saw lots of smoke. Apparently wild fires had started in the night because of the lightning storm. At first we only saw a little part but then as we started driving, hundreds and hundreds of acres had been burned. Most of the fire is contained by the road but the rest is a waiting game or put out if getting close to the lodge. Rested on a high cliff and in the distance we spotted a buffalo/bison. So in total we saw 4/5 of the Big 5. One group saw one of the only 2 cheetahs in the park for a quick second. Would have definitely been cool. Back on the bus now and going to pass out for 2 ½ hours. Lol. I don’t want to leave Cape Town or Africa for that matter. This place is just amazing and there is a lot to do. There is so much history, and it is young, fragile history. S. Africa has come a long way but still has a long way to go. I will definitely be taking an interest in checking up on the latest news going on in S. Africa. I highly recommend Cape Town as a vacation spot. Its CHEAP and there is so much to do. The atmosphere is fresh and very lively. I definitely plan on coming back! Who’s coming with me?? J

 

Happy 21^st Shanananananaaaa

Oct 1

Safari #3 PM

Started the afternoon/night safari with seeing giraffe right on the road. They were on both sides of us and even crossed the road! They were so beautiful. Next we traveled by a dam and saw three hippo pop up. They are strictly dependent on water and live in it all day to avoid dehydration. Contrary to popular belief hippo cant swim. They merely stand or slightly float on the bottom. They stay in shallow water because they can drown. They an hold their breath 5-7 min and sleep n the banks at night. Their diet consists of 98% grass. Saw some Kudu and the funny back about them is that they have a circle around their butt and it looks like a bullseye. The sun sets around 6:30. It was a red sunset and the size of the sun has to be three times that of the sun I see back home. We stopped and took tons of pictures. Saw more white rhino. You can tell the difference between white and black because of the color and the white rhinos head is always very low. The black rhino has an upright head. Coming around a corner we saw an elephant feeding, it was right in front of the jeep! He was pretty big but didn’t bother us but got real close. At night when it got really dark we didn’t see much at all. The usual wildebeast, impala, kudu, and zebra. Then out of nowhere a GIGANTIC male elephant was walking down the street. Dwain stopped the jeep and turned off the lights. It was totally dark and we could only hear him scuffing his feet on the pavement. He knew we were there and you could see him flapping his ears to seem bigger. More jeeps were coming from the other direction and Dwain told them to slow down and stop once they saw the elephant. Once the headlights were on the elephant we could just see his outline but they also warded him towards us more. Dwain told us to be very quiet and not to take pictures! It was so hard not to, I mean come on there was a HUGE freakin elephant right in my face and you are telling me not to photo this once in a lifetime moment. The elephant got so close he was literally touching the front of the jeep. He waved his trunk and lifted a foot. Most of the time he just stared at us. I was hoping he would make a signal with his trunk but he didn’t. Finally he didn’t see us as a threat and walked away. The rest of the game drive we were searching for the leopard, we even went back to the place the one group saw it in the morning. No luck. Came back, ate a hearty dinner and then hung out and played cards until 11pm. Coolest part about this night was the lightning storm that came. Lit up the sky every time it cracked, and the shapes were incredible. 

Oct 1

Safari #2 AM

Our AM drive with Dwain had some great success this morning….we saw a huge male lion right off the road. We was just lying down watching the mountain. He wasn’t interested in us but something was going on in the distance. We saw a herd of wildebeast running and realized they were being chased by the lionesses. At first there was one but then 2 more showed up. The lion got up and walked a bit so we thought she had made a killing but then he sat back down. We waited some more to see if the rest of the pride would show up. Then we went to the little watering hole and low and behold the other male was drinking. The lionesses were with him as well but they were hidden in the grass. Then we saw some giraffe up on a hill. They were pretty far away but they are such weird creatures. Then we saw the usual elephant and zebra. Then we came up a huge herd of mom elephants and their kids. There was a t least 10 total. The big matriarch got really close to the truck at one point. I got some great pics. They were on the move in the field and they were parading around. The little elephants we so cute! Then they got closer to the road and actually crossed it! It was an amazing sight. After we left we saw 2 male elephants. You can tell the difference by the shape of their heads. Females have a square boxy like face/head and males have a more rounded head. We had a quick break had some tea. Saw hippos on the w ay out. Our big hunt of the day was to see the leopard one truck got to see. We tried to find it right after they did with no luck. One group has seen 4/5 of the Big 5. We are 3/5 so we hope to close that gap by tomorrow morning. Got back and ate the BIGGEST omelet ever and now time for a nap!

Sept 30 PILANESBERG

Pilanesberg Safari #1 (pm)

Had to leave the ship @ 5 am this morning. Got our light to JoBurg. Took a nice 2 hr nap on the plane. People were tired and hungover. The bus ride was another 2 hours but tokk about 3+ because of major traffic out of the city. Found out from our tour guide that Joburg is known for its diamonds and gold. There were lots of mines on the way out. Slept basically the entire time. Getting up at 4 am and then being on a comfy bus is not a good combo for me. I was out cold. Finally we arrived at the Nat’l Park, with the Ivory Tree Lodge. It’s a 5 star lodge with these personal hut like rooms. Definitely made for couples/honeymooners. They fed us a great gourmet lunch then settled into our rooms. Funny enough met Christine because her room had a ginat spider in it and theycouldnt find it so they switched rooms. Got ready for high tea at 330 and then took of at 4 pm for our game drive. Our driver was Dwain and he is one of the best and one of the head guides. He really knows his stuff. Gave us a bunch of info on every animal we saw. At first things were slow and we had a single sighting of rhino and slickbuck. Then we saw wildebeast, 4 rhino, elephans in the distance ( they were play fighting) 4 lions (2 young males, 2 females) some anteplope and impala. There was a scene of all the elephants, lions and wildebeast together and it realy was a sight to see. Dwain said it was rare to see all three together. Saw some zebra, warthogs, and at night hippos! No luck finding predators at night but maybe in the early morning. We have a wake up call @ 5 am and leave at 530. Hope fully we will see elephants up close, giraffes and a big lion!

Sept 29

Got up early to try and do Table Mt today but it was pouring rain! All day too. Such a bummer. Met up with Stephanie Dean and went to a coffee shop to do internet stuff at the Mugg&Bean. Had bottomless hot coco, it was delicious. Went to the Royal Cape Yacht Club and got a shirt. Then went to the movies and saw House Bunny. Very chick flick. Dinner packed worked out bed. Early Morning!

Sept 28

Just spent the entire day shopping. It was a GORGEOUS day! Should have spend it outside climbing Table Mt or trying to get on an FDP oh well. Went out to Century City-Canal Walk mall. Much cheaper and more variety of stores. Came back, worked out. Met the girls at Q4 to steal some internet time

Sept 27 LONG STREET

Night life on Long St.

Had dinner and drinks at Quay Four right in the pier area. Big bar scene, casual, very open and there was a live band playing all the good old rock songs. The girls and I were signing right along. We had sat down next to these locals boys who were way too all over us. They kept wanted to take pictures and get real close. It was creepy because they were definitely much older. They ordered us a round of yager bombs which was nice and mostly made small talk. Jewel ordered 2 “Fishbowls” which was 2 pitchers of this blue drink. We had a race 3v3 to see who could finish their pitcher first. Me Jocie and Sara finished before Ali Nina and Jewel. As it grew later we decided to catch a cab to Long St (big bar scene). Piled the 6 of us in one cab. First stop was “Dubliners” Met up with Ali’s Swedish boy she met ht night before. The drinks were wicked expensive here so we decided to move on. Next stop was the “Waiting Room”. This place was my favorite!! All night they played the 80s and 90s, one after the other. Everyone we were with knew all the songs and they only played the song for a bit so you wouldn’t get bored. Sara Nina and I danced the whole time we were there. You couldnt pull us off the dance floor. We were in a huge mosh pit of SAS kids all belting out the words. Then Jocie realized Ali and Jewel weren’t anywhere to be found. So this was a 15 min fiasco of trying to find them. Heard them talking about “Club Zula” so we went there. Luckily we found them. Spent the rest of the night there dancing to all the mixes of rap and hiphop. Great atmosphere and one of the best nights so far. Go back to the ship around 2:30 am