This is the video of me traveling on the canals of the Mekong Delta...
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thailand
Hey all,
We Semester at Sea students have passed the halfway point of our voyage. We have also started our grueling Asia itinerary. We just returned from our 5 day trip to Thailand. Upon arriving at port in Thailand, I had not made any plans for the country. I had only a trip on the second and 5th days of our time there. I was able to procure a ticket to the Sri Racha tiger zoo. At the tiger zoo we saw performances using tigers, crocodiles, and elephants. All of which were very entertaining except for the fact that the trainers were obviously not treating the animals properly. I then spent that night packing for my adventure to Bangkok…
In the morning I boarded a bus to Bangkok with my second SAS trip called Venice of the East. We traveled to Bangkok to see the sights. We took a cruise on the river and canals. We also saw two temples, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. Wat Pho featured a huge golden Buddha. Wat Arun, also known as the temple of the dawn, was especially beautiful. We then went to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. They were amazingly beautiful. The pictures I took could never do them true justice. I then left this trip and met up with some friends, Ruth, Jason, Koya, and Brendan in order to spend the night up in Bangkok. We then made our way to the local park where we saw a muy thai fight. Muy thai is a fighting style that is very similar to kickboxing. It’s a ton of fun to watch. Afterwards we went to a tailor where Jason and Brendan bought custom suits for a great price. I was too cheap, so I didn’t buy one…
The next day we did some touring of temples. Nothing was quite as good as the first day. Afterwards we ate food from the street that was amazing. All the food we ate was amazing from start to finish. Brendan and I then split from the group in order to find a place to stay for the night. Since in the morning we were doing a performance/lecture with MICE at Bangkok University, we made our way over there. We walked around the campus until we found someone who spoke English. He was a professor of communications from California. He was able to tell us about this place just around the corner that had cheap rooms. After booking a room we headed to the bars as it was St. Patrick’s day. All I will say is that the night life in Bangkok is like nowhere else.
In the morning we did a presentation at Bangkok University. It was a pretty successful talk. The students seemed to really enjoy it. Thai students are very shy, so it took us some time to get them interacting with our talk. Once we did, it was quite a lot of fun. I met some cool people as well. We then took a tour of the campus. After the tour, we only had time to go to the mall before heading back to the ship for the night.
The following day I did the most amazingly touristic thing I have ever done. It was called Nong Nooch cultural village and it really was lame. It was not real Thailand, it was Thailand for the foreigner who isn’t willing to search for it. I loved real Thailand. I will be going back there before I die. Bangkok is one of the most amazing cities in the world. It is a sprawling metropolis that is clean, during the day, and fun during the night. It is also extremely affordable, especially for an American. It is not for the faint of heart though. You will see things on the streets that even the most liberal person will raise an eyebrow at. For someone in their 20’s it is a great destination to enjoy.
In two days we arrive in Vietnam, I can’t wait to see what is there.
-Steven at Sea
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
India
Hello all,
It’s been a while hasn’t it. I haven’t written in here since Mauritius and that seems like a year ago now. Since then a lot of things have been happening on and off the ship. I’ve been to India where I saw some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen while around the corner, there were the saddest things I’ve ever seen. The place is really hard to understand. On the one hand, they have some amazing feats of engineering and architecture like the Taj Mahal, but yet they have some of the dirtiest streets and the most disgusting environmental pollution. They have some of the best handiwork I’ve ever seen, such as handmade carpets, of which one I bought, block printing, marble work, silk painting, etc. Then there is some of the most striking and sad poverty you could ever imagine. Yet as we drove by in our bus emblazoned with “TOURIST,” the poorest of the poor would raise a single hand, wave, and smile. All you can do is love them in return. You can’t describe the feeling of being there. You fall in love with the country because of the beauty it contains as well as the sadness that it holds. That’s enough about that, there are better writers then me out there who have written about the dichotomy of India and how you fall for it when you are there. It isn’t time for me to wax eloquent about it, because I just don’t know enough about it and I feel like I need to learn more.
Upon arriving in India, I was actually the first student off the ship. My trip, to the Taj Mahal and the city of Jaipur, was going to miss our flight if we didn’t get off first, I was just the quickest. As we got off the ship I could see and smell pollution right from the get go. It was dirty. There was dirt in the air, on the ground, and in the ocean, yet there was no unpaved area to be seen. Everything I could see was paved, not a sliver of land was open to the air, yet there was dirt EVERYWHERE. We got onto our bus and, though I shouldn’t have been, I was surprised to see that there were mosquitoes and other bugs flying around the inside of the bus. THERE WAS DIRT IN THE BUS TOO! How did that much dirt get places, I couldn’t imagine it.
The ride to the airport was about an hour. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I truly think that the craziest drivers in the world rest in India. There really are no lanes, no laws, etc. This is not to say that there are no traffic cops, it’s just to say that there is an ordered madness to it that you would have to grow up in India to understand. We flew on IndiGo airlines. They had nice new planes and some really good food on board. The flight was one of the best I’ve ever had.
Upon arriving in Delhi, we did a quick driving tour through the city. There really wasn’t a lot to see besides the buildings where the president and parliament meet. These places were pretty, but they weren’t distinctly Indian. They were built by the British many many years ago and thus are not all that impressive, not that the British can’t build, but I think if I could post pictures I think you would get it. We then made our way to the oldest Muslim mosque in India. It also had the tallest minaret in India. It was really pretty, but since I had to check my camera battery in my luggage, I couldn’t take any pictures! Once again though, you could see the beauty and the sadness that is India. There was a doorway to the mosque grounds, and inside it was a gorgeous mosque, with ruins of old mosques around it. Beautiful beyond imagination, yet the second we left the grounds again, there were 100 beggars and hauckers trying to get money from us. It would have been fine if they did not have the saddest faces I have ever seen. I didn’t have enough money to help them all, so how could I justify helping one. If I gave one money, did that mean that he was more important than the others, that he should eat and the rest shouldn’t? It broke my heart and I’m still wrestling with these feelings, these sights.
We then spent the night at one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen called the Lalit. Look it up on hotels.com or something. It was amazing. I never knew Indian food could be that good!
The next morning we made our way to Jaipur. It was a brutal 5 hour drive away, but it was worth it. Upon arriving we made our way to the City Palace. The City Palace is where the current Maharaja, or king for some of you, of Jaipur lives. We also made our way to the astronomical observatory. This is a bit different than the ones you’re used to. It is a large field with big concrete and stone structures that are meant to read time, stars, dates, etc. It was interesting that a person would think to build such things. They worked though, to a level of about 4 seconds accuracy. That is pretty good if you ask me. Jaipur is the “pink city.” Almost all their buildings are a bright shade of pink. Don’t ask me why, read Wikipedia. The palace, the city, etc. were all very pretty, but you can never escape the poverty and sadness as well. I can’t really stress this enough. You really don’t go to India to enjoy yourself; you go to India to see things that you can never see in the United States. The place gives you a perspective on life that you will never have if you don’t.
Jaipur is also known for their jewelry. They cut precious and semiprecious stones into some of the most beautiful rings, bracelets, necklaces, etc. that I have ever seen. We went to a demonstration of how they make the stones. It was all very pretty, but I was not really in the mood to buy jewelry even though the prices were ridiculously good. I did though buy a handmade rug from Jaipur Mahal, a store along our route. It’s really well made. I hope my mother likes it.
In the morning, we made our way to Fort Amber where we rode big smelly elephants. The fort itself was beautiful, but the elephants were the main attraction! We then made our way to take pictures of the summer palace. We couldn’t go to it because IT’S IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE. Let me repeat this, THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE. Apparently within the next year or so it will be a hotel…
After leaving Jaipur, we had another really long drive to the City of Agra. It was about 5 hours in the bus again, holding on to my life. We did stop at this old palace/fort that was very pretty. I forget its name, but it started with an “f” and had a really long name. We did a quick tour of Agra and then called it a night.
In the morning, it was time for the main event, the TAJ MAHAL. I can’t really describe the beauty of it. If you haven’t been there, you need to go there. It is just that simple. Going early in the morning or late at night is the best time because there are less haukers and beggars out. They know tourists go there and take advantage of it. That’s all I really need to say about the Taj. It is amazing, better then the pictures.
We then made our way to the airport and flew back to Chennai. I decided to spend the rest of the night on the ship as I was really really tired. That trip was amazing, but hard.
The next morning I met up with some friends, Kate and Erika, who both happen to go to UVa with me, as well as Megan. We went to the local Mall. We rode an auto-rickshaw. If you have never seen an auto-rickshaw, I suggest you look it up on google. They are these hilariously dangerous little cab things. They were really cheap though, so we used them. The mall reminded me a lot of the Souks in Morocco, but with nicer shopkeepers. I got my brother and myself some cricket jerseys as that is the game of choice out here. We then made our way back to the ship. It was a fairly uneventful drive, until we ran into a women’s protest. There were more then 1000+ Indian women marching with signs and we got scared. We had our driver take the long way around.
That was India. It was amazing and if you ever get a chance to travel there, you should.
Since getting back on the ship there has been a lot going on. I have been leading a shipwide game of Assassins. If you have ever played the game, then you know how hard it is to organize. I have 243 people on my list of players. It has gone along very smoothly so far.
Last night was a good night. The programming and events committee put on a karaoke night. The original MC got sick, so I was drafted into the position of MC. I feel like I did a decent job and it was a LOT of fun. We had some pretty good acts and some pretty bad acts. That’s karaoke though.
I have a test later today, so I should probably stop writing and get to work on that studying. I just toped 1,600 words on this post, so I think that’s enough for now.
From just off the coast of Singapore, with love,
-SAS
P.S. I’m going to try to get some pictures up for you all, just give me time.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
After India
Hey guys,
Sorry for the lack of posts and pictures lately. After Mauritius we headed to India. I would like to talk about India some more, but alas, I haven't quite figured out how to describe what I saw or what really happened there. I'll be posting later today and tomorrow with tidbits of that journey and the journey ahead.
Thanks for your patience,
SAS
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Mauritius and the Sea Olympics
Sorry for taking some time off from posting, but I’ve been very busy. There really is not much free time on this trip to sit around and think about the journey, there is always something to do, always something to experience. We had a few uneventful days at sea followed by a day at the tiny island of Mauritius. The island itself was very beautiful. I went on a catamaran and snorkeling tour from the island. I was lucky enough to have on my trip a few good friends as well as the dean of the trip, Dr. Reg Garrett. He was very informative telling us about the coral and animals we saw. I also got to sail the catamaran for a little bit, which was quite a lot of fun. They also had this beer on board called Phoenix which was a local beer out of Mauritius and it was really good. I wish they would let me bring some home with me, but alas, it can’t be. Mauritius was fun and for a small family with a lot of money, a vacation there would be very fun, but a day there really isn’t enough time in a day for someone like me to experience the whole island. The night we left was the opening of the SAS Spring ’For those of you who don’t know what the Sea Olympics are, it is where each sea, think dorm/hallway, picks a color, designs a flag, and picks a mascot and competes in different games around the ship. The winner determines who gets off the ship first when we land in Ft. Lauderdale. My sea was the Aegean Sea. We chose the color green and our mascot was GANGreen, think a gangsta with gangrene, the disease. Our mascot was basically a big guy, colored green with green paint and dressed in all green. Everyone in the sea had different events in which they were a part of. During the opening ceremonies they did a parody of the Chinese drum beating from the Olympics opening ceremonies last summer. Each team then did a cheer and paraded their mascot and flag around. We won second place for both our flag and our mascot. The next day was the actual Olympics. I competed in both the Volleyball and Flip Cup competitions. My team and I were able to win the volleyball tournament. I was a starter for our team and we won 4 games to win the championship. We got screwed too, and we still won. We played our first game at 9:30 AM, then had 2 hours off, then had to play 3 straight games with no byes or breaks. The other teams all got a bye or a break. We were still able to pull out the victory. We had a big cheering section cheering “GANGreen, GANGreen!”and many other cheers. The other teams also had big cheering sections. It was very intense and a lot of fun. I haven’t had that kind of competitive outlet in so long I can’t even express how glad I was to be a part of it. I missed that feeling from playing soccer and swimming. The cheer of the crowd, the competitive spirit, and the joy of winning were amazing. Flip Cup, we lost in the first round. Our team ended in second place overall, yet they deducted points for sportsmanship or some other reason and dropped us down to about 5th place. Our team was not happy about this and they didn’t have a good explanation as to why we were deducted points. It was frustrating, but second place doesn’t get anything. Tonight we will be doing a performance with MICE that will take place in the swimming pool on board. It will be very ambient and fun. I’ll update you on that hopefully tomorrow. Love, Steven at Sea
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