Ellie's Semester at Sea

Singapore - A “fine” city

Singapore was literally a breath of fresh air after visiting India. I really didn’t know what to expect from the country, mainly because I didn’t know anything about it.  But, Singapore is a melting pot of Asian cultures, mainly Chinese, Malay, and Indian.  It is a very strict country, but interestingly, has a higher GDP per capita than the United States.  It was probably the cleanest country I have seen the entire trip, but that’s probably due to the $1000 fine for littering.  We were excited because Singapore was clean enough to drink the tap water! We hadn’t been able to do this since Spain.  We were also allowed to eat fresh fruit that you didn’t have to peel or boil or any of that nonsense…. Fresh salad HERE I COME! (This is extra exciting because fresh produce is hard to come by on the ship unfortunately.)

We only had 2 days and 1 night to spend in Singapore, so we were ready to get off the ship ASAP.  I was spending the day with my two friends Meg and Emma, then I was to eat dinner on the Singapore flyer and then stay at a hotel with some other friends.  Luckily, their hotel was right next to the flyer.  When we got off the ship, the first thing we saw was Starbucks, and we thought we had died and gone to heaven.  I just got a fruit salad and water, but when fresh produce is so limited on the ship, I die for it when we’re in port. After our brunch at Starbucks, we headed to Meg and Emma’s hotel to drop off our things.  They were staying at the Marina Bay Hotel, which apparently is a tourist attraction.  There are three towers of over 2,000 hotel rooms, and they have one of the highest viewing points in Singapore on the rooftop.  The rooftop also has like the highest infinity pool in the world or something.  Apparently, the view from the top was breath taking because you could like the entire city, but I didn’t feel like paying $30 to get up there, Haha.  After we dropped off our things, we headed to China Town.  

China Town is exactly how you would expect it to be.  It’s a lot like China Town in New York City or San Francisco, but it was still a lot of fun.  They had an indoor market area that we went to for the ATM, but it smelled too much like fish, so we didn’t stay long.  The outdoor market had knock off perfumes, and tons of Chinese souvenirs. It was fun to look at, but I didn’t want to buy anything Chinese, because I was going to China in a couple of weeks.  I loved looking at the glass pieces that they paint from the inside.  I have a couple at home that my Grandma Dede got me when I was little.  Some of the vendors even had people painting them right there… I could never have the skill nor the patience to do something like that, but they were really beautiful.  I also liked all the different kinds of chopsticks they were selling.  They had pairs that cost as much at $40!  This was new to me, since the only ones I have used have been disposable ones from takeout. 

We started to get hungry, so we looked for somewhere to eat.  All of the places in China Town looked delicious, but they were a little pricier than what we were prepared to spend, so we kept walking.  We found ourselves in a mall somehow.  As we were walking through, we saw a foot spa.  For $8, you could have little fish eat the dead skin off of your feet and hands for 15 minutes.  I don’t even like it if seaweed swipes my leg if I’m in a lake, so I wasn’t about to let a swarm of little fishies feed on my skin.  But Emma and Meg were up for it.  It was hilarious when they first stuck their hands and feet into the water! The looks on their faces were priceless, and a crowd began to gather to watch them.  It was pretty funny, but I’m glad I didn’t participate. After the spa, we kept on our search for food.  There was a food court in the mall but it looked a little sketchy to me, so we kept on looking. We found ourselves outside down a street with tons of restaurants, local and international (McDonald’s).  At this point, I was so hungry that I didn’t feel like thinking about what I was going to eat.  So I went to McDonald’s. Emma and Meg were going to look at some of the restaurants to see if there was anything good, but they ended up at McDonald’s too.  I love going to McDonald’s in other countries because it really highlights the cultural differences.  For one thing, we could barely find 3 seats together because people were hanging out and taking a million years to eat their lunch.  Another different thing at this McD’s was that they had Sunday specials.  Somehow I ended up getting twice as much food as I originally ordered for less… which should have been a good thing, except that I ate every single last bit of it.  I haven’t had that much fat and sugar in one sitting in about 4 months, and my heart hated me for it.  I swear I could feel my arteries clogging.  Nevertheless, I still love McDonald’s. And I’ll probably eat there in China, Japan and Hawaii (they don’t have McDonald’s in Viet Nam).

After lunch, we wanted to go to Little India.  It was funny because our cab driver told us not to go to India because there was some festival going on and there were so many Indians there… go figure? We thought, we had just been to India, so we thought we could handle Little India.  We could have taken a cab, but we were right next to Metro, so we thought we’d be adventurous.  We figured out when stop we had to get off at, and made our way to the ticket kiosk.  It was hilarious because Emma was looking at the screen and I was like we have to go here and pointed to the stop where we needed to go.  Then the screen said “Little India (or whatever the stop was)” - $2.80.  Emma was like OMG! How did it know that? We didn’t realize that the map was touch screen. For a minute, we thought Singapore had figured out how to read minds.

Little India was pretty much just like India, but with infrastructure.  It was really like getting off in another world.  Emma compared it to Disney World – each section of Disney World looks like a specific theme.  So in Singapore, when we got off in Little India, it was like we had just transferred to actual India.  There were Indians everywhere in traditional saris, and they were selling the flowers everywhere like they do in India, and it even smelled a little bit like India – but not as bad.  After walking around for a while, we found a tent, that looked like it was there for whatever festival they were having, and this was where the market was.  Of course they were selling mostly what they sell in India.  Jewelry and scarves.  It was fun to walk around and shop, but we had already seen most of this stuff and it was extremely hot in the tent, so we didn’t stay for too long.  Once we found our way out of Little India, we started to look for a cab.  In the mean time, we found a 7/11!  Meg and I had just been talking about how nice a giant fountain diet coke with lots of ice would be.  And we found it! Actually we didn’t because they didn’t have diet coke in the fountain, so we bought a liter of it, BUT they had all the ice in the world. And it was glorious.  After we got our drinks, we headed back outside and tried to hail a cab.  But because of the festival, it was nearly impossible to hail one.  They also have certain taxi cues that the taxis are supposed to go to, so this made it even harder.  We stood on both sides of the street and either corners, and after about 20 minutes, we finally hailed one.

When we got back to the hotel, I got ready to go out for the night and Meg and Emma went to the top of the building.  Since they were actually staying at the hotel, they got to go up for free, but I was staying with some other friends at another hotel, so I would have had to pay.  Plus I was eating dinner on the Singapore Flyer, the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world, in an hour.  I hadn’t really been paying attention to the time, so by the time I looked at the clock to leave, it was already 6:05, and I was supposed to be at the Flyer at 6! Thankfully, it was right by the hotel, but I still had to run down to the lobby and hail a taxi.  I got there around 6:15, and another one of my friends was late too, so we hoped they hadn’t left without us.  And to our relief, everywhere was still in the waiting room waiting for the pods to be ready.   We made our way to the pods for dinner, and they had a dining table set up for us.  We got on the Ferris wheel at the perfect time because we got to watch the sunset and then see the city light up!  The dinner was okay, but it wasn’t worth the $100 I spent to have it on the Flyer.  Nevertheless, it was still a cool experience.  But next time, I’ll just ride it up during the sunset, I don’t need a dinner with it!

At the end of dinner, we made our way back to the building and had dessert on a balcony.  Our other friends were waiting at the hotel we were staying at.  We could have just met them out for the night, but I had all my stuff – clothes I had worn that day, laptop, and souvenirs I had bought earlier – with me.  My back probably weighed 12 pounds and I was not about to carry it around to the bars.  Our friends said that they would wait for us, and I didn’t think we would be more than 20 minutes.  I didn’t, however, anticipate how long it would take us to hail a cab.  We probably hailed 3 or 4 cabs that wouldn’t take us! They seemed to think that the hotel was too close for them to drive us there and they would point in some direction for us to walk.  But every time we asked a local, they would say, oh yea that’s really far! You need a cab! It was very frustrating because all the girls were in heels and it was like soo hot and humid outside! I was drenched in sweat from walking.  We finally hailed a cab from a hotel that would take us, but not before we had already walked about 2 miles.  And of course, by cab, it took us 10 or 15 minutes to get there! There would have been no way we could have walked.  But, we finally got there, and I was just relieved to drop off my heavy bag!  Most of the people had already been drinking, so it took us a while to round everyone up to go out. 

We made it out around 10:30, and went to Boat Quay where we heard there was an Ice Bar.  There were 8 of us, so we obviously had to take two cabs.  The cab I was in made it to the place that we said we were going.  We walked down the street and found a bar to wait for the others.  However, we got a text from them that said they were at a bar in Clark Quay, just over the bridge.  It was only about a quarter mile, so we walked that way.  We got over to that side of the bridge, but then we got a text that we were in fact at Boat Quay, so we turned around to go back.  About ¾ the way there, my friend Eloise discovered that she dropped her iPhone somewhere, so we turned around to go back to Clark Quay to look for it.  We couldn’t find it, and chalked it up as a loss when we started to head to Boat Quay to look for the others.  THEN! We got a text from our friends in Boat Quay that someone had found Eloise’s phone in Clark Quay, so we had to go back and find this person.  We found the bar he was at and found him and got Eloise’s phone back! It was really exciting, because most people would keep an iPhone for themselves… we figured he was too scared of getting caught and getting sentenced to life in prison or something, haha.  So he got Eloise’s phone, and walked to Boat Quay and FINALLY found our friends, who insisted that had been on that side of the bridge the entire time.  By this time, it was around midnight, and I had walked like 5 miles in the passed 3 hours.  I was beat.  Some of us stayed out, but I went back to the hotel with Eloise, took a shower, skyped with my Mom and boyfriend, and passed out! I had had a long day.

DAY 2

So if you ask anyone if there is one thing to do in Singapore if you are there for 24 hours, they all say, you must go to Orchard Road. Singapore is basically like a giant shopping mall, so our 2^nd day was spent shopping!  Even though it cost about the same amount for the metro as a taxi, we decided to play it local and take the metro.  When we got off at the stop we were going to, it was filled with bakeries and eateries.  I can’t tell you the last time I’ve had a donut before Singapore, but that day I had 2 because they smelled so good. 

We found out way to a market type place with everything from shoes to clothes to bags to fake sunglasses.  They also had a piercing place for CHEAP, which if you know me, I was sold.  Most people got their nose pierced and it was only $8! At home, it’s atleast $25 and that’s not including the jewelry.  I, of course, am running out of things to pierce, so I just got my cartilage re-pierced because it had closed this summer.  It was a little scary though, because they used a gun, even for people’s noses.  I haven’t seen a gun used for piercings for anything other than ear lobes… but it turned out well for everyone, so I guess it was okay. 

Across from the market, they had a European store called Top Shop.  I hadn’t heard of it before this trip because there is only one in the US and it’s in NYC.  But all the East coast girls were dying over it.  And for good reason! It’s kind of like a high-end H&M, and I was loving everything.  It was nice to go to real stores and not shop in markets.  It’s fun to haggle, but it’s exhausting.  And for a person who shops ALL the time and visits the mall probably once a week, I was craving a shopping trip.  And Singapore did just that.  When we got to Orchard Rd, our mission was Forever 21.  We only had about 3 hours before on ship time, so we were breaking a sweat looking for it.  Orchard Rd has absolutely everything, especially if you’re looking for very high-end designers.  We found ourselves inside a mall at one point and basically had to drag our friend Eloise out without buying anything.  But, we found Forever 21 and had 45 minutes before we had to make our way back to the ship.  This sounds like ample time, except for the fact that this Forever was 4 stories.  I speed shopped like I’ve never shopped in my life!

On the way back to the ship, Eloise and I discovered that we still have 50 Singapore dollars left, or about $38 USD.  Luckily, our port was hooked onto a mall (like I said, Singapore is basically one giant shopping center), which had a grocery store.  We went crazy because they had tons of American brands.  We were throwing everything in our cart. I was most excited for the Hint of Lime Tostitos and grape flavored Capri-sun!  We successfully spent all of our Singapore dollars and headed back to the ship.  I hadn’t really been paying attention to the time, but we made it on the ship with 13 minutes to spare – just enough time to send my postcards!

Singapore was awesome!  I may not have visited any museums or monuments, but I’ve come to the conclusion that Singapore culture is shopping. And that’s exactly what I did.

India = Functioning Chaos

They had prepared us all week that India was a smelly country.  Unfortunately, the rumors were true.  The day we arrived, I was awoken by the smell… a faint mixture of spice and garbage.  They had put cardboard and plastic down on all the main floors and stair cases because it was going to be so dusty and dirty.  Usually, the 6^th floor is open when it port for dining and the 7^th out door pool deck is too.  But because it was going to be so dusty outside, they only had the in door 5^th deck open for dining, and the Piano Bar was to be serving pool deck food for the week.  With all these precautions, I was a little scared of India.

DAY 1: Chennai

The first day, I was signed up to tour the American Consulate.  It was pretty intense.  We weren’t allowed to bring any electronic devices including cell phones.  And we also had to be on a special manifest to be able to attend so they knew exactly who was coming.  Usually for trips that SAS sponsors, you are allowed to hop on the bus if there is space, but not this one.  When I walked outside to head down to the buses, I was greeted by a rush of smelly, hot, humid air.  We were at the southern tip of India in Chennai, so it was really hot.  Luckily the bus had been on for a while with the AC going.  On the bus ride over to the consulate, one of the teachers was very impressed with how much better Chennai was even from just 2 years ago (the last time he visited). The streets were much cleaner and there were many more commercial buildings going up.  He also informed us that on his last trip, 2 years prior, there was someone who had been to Chennai 2 years prior to then and he was surprised because on that visit, he didn’t see any dead bodies in the street.  That was a horrifying thought. When we got to the American Consulate, we had to leave all our belongings at the entrance.  The lady barely even let me take a notepad and pen to take notes.  We also had to leave our passports at the front, which was a little uncomfortable.  We were greeted by a younger man, Matt, that was from the US and was going to give us our tour.  I was very impressed because when we went around to introduce ourselves and what school we were from, he knew the mascot of each school. The tour was mostly about Indians and how they obtained visas to get into the US.  (They process anywhere from 700-1500 visa requests every day by 12 o’clock noon!)  They were also recruiting hardcore for their foreign program, I forget what it was called, but that was probably because I wasn’t very interested.  But, it’s the program where you take the test to get in when you’re in college usually, and then you’re placed to work in a certain country at the embassy.  At the end of the tour, we had a question and answer session, which unfortunately only lasted about 15-20 minutes.  This was the part I was most interested in because it would help me most in my write up of the field trip.  After the Q&A, we headed back to the ship, and by this time it was dinner.  I had dinner and relaxed around the ship, because I had a pretty intense trip coming up for the rest of my stay in India.

 

DAY 2: Delhi

I had a trip planned with SAS that was going to the Taj Mahal and Varanasi where the Ganges River is.  I was in Group B, which met at 9:30 in the morning.  This was a relief because Group A left for the airport at 3:30 that morning.  The security regulations are a little bit different in India.  You’re not allowed to bring any liquids whatsoever passed security, not even the 3 oz rule that we have in the US.  SAS has a rule that if you are traveling by plane during any of their trips, you’re not allowed to check luggage because it takes too long, especially if there’s like 50 of us.  So we had two suitcases that everyone had to throw their toiletries into.  Also, when going through security, you have to put a luggage tag on very single piece of carry on and it has to get stamped.  If you go through security without getting a stamp, when you try to get on the plane they will send you back to security.  When going through security they have 2 lines: one for men and one for women. And women have to go behind a sheet where a female security officer will check them with that magnetic wand.  So security was definitely a little stricter than in the US.  Another fun thing about the airport was that the airline we were flying was called Spice Jet. On the flight we received lunch.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t that appetizing.  I love Indian food, but this didn’t work for me.  It was a rice dish with like 2 vegetables and just tasted okay. It was kind of like fried rice, but Indian.  Then there was plain yogurt, which was awful and some sort of bar that looked like fudge and didn’t have much of a taste.  I think they call it sweet meat, but the name was enough to deter me.  Instead, my neighbor and I ate the Pringles we bought in the airport – which by the way, Pringles are everywhere internationally, and I’ve seen some crazy flavors, but we just had sour cream and onion.

When we landed in Delhi, we were pleasantly surprised that it was much cooler than Chennai.  Chennai was like 80 or 90 degrees and humid as all Hell. Chennai was a nice 75 degrees with a breeze – much more comfortable.  We all loaded onto a bus for a city tour of Delhi.  When we got on the bus, they gave us all flower necklaces, kind of like lays in Hawaii. The first place we stopped was Humayun’s Tomb, which was built by his wife when he died, kind of like how the Taj was built in honor of the king’s wife when she died.  The architecture in India is absolutely beautiful.  They really put so much effort into the detail.   When you first walk into the park where it is there is a sidewalk that goes right up the middle and grass on either side with trees.  The sidewalk leads to the building that holds the tomb.  The stairs up to the building are really steep and they’re covered so when you get to the top, you emerge into the sunlight.  There is a giant terrace and balcony that you can see over the whole park and into the city.  Inside the building is really dark and the tomb is in the center of the room.  It was really nice just walking around the park because it was sunny but right before dusk so it was cool too.

The next stop on the city tour was Raj Ghat, where Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are buried.  This was also in the middle of a park with giant areas of grass where people were laying or playing games.  I was with my friend Alan, who is 6’3”, so everyone was staring at us!  Also, when I walked in, a women pointed at her camera and asked for a picture.  I thought she wanted me to talk a picture of her and her male friend, but she wanted to take a picture OF her friend and me.  This was the beginning of many requests throughout my time in India to take a picture of me.  I was a little surprised, because while I am white, there were other girls with much lighter skin and blonde hair, but I guess I still looked different enough.  Walking to Gandhi’s tomb was so nice.  The sun was setting so it was a HUGE ball in the sky, and it was nice to just take a stroll through the park.  When we got to his tomb, we had to take off our shoes about 10 yards away from it, and only then were we allowed to approach the tomb.  It’s kind of weird visiting tombs of famous people.  Its one thing to visit one like Humayun’s tomb, who I have never heard of, but its another to visit someone like Gandhi’s who has had such an influence and who I’ve learned about in history class.  It weird because someone so famous, like Gandhi, we stop thinking of them as an everyday person like me, and then to be in the presence of his remains is a little surreal, like it’s hard to believe that he’s really in there.

After visiting Gandhi’s tomb, it was getting dark, so we hopped back onto the bus and headed to the hotel for dinner.  It’s nice going on SAS trips because you stay in really nice hotels.  We stayed at Le Meridian, and it reminded me of somewhere like the W.  It was really fancy, but modern and hip.  And we found out just how fancy it was when we went to the bar and spent $12 on one drink. Needless to say, I only had one.  Dinner was pretty good, but it was mostly American food like pasta and vegetables and cake for dessert, and I was hoping for something more Indian. After dinner, I headed straight up to my room because we had to leave the hotel at 5:00 in the morning to head to Agra, where the Taj is.  The other great thing about staying at these nice hotels with SAS is that there is high speed Internet! I will never again in my life take Internet for granted.  On the ship, I had brought the first season of Fringe. It’s kind of like the modern day X Files, and I LOVE the X Files, so I thought it would be a fun thing to watch if I had free time. Well, it was so good that I finished the whole first season pretty quickly and the finale was a cliffhanger! I couldn’t wait any longer, so I downloaded it from iTunes, and I was able to download at 23 episodes at the hotel! I was so excited. I was also able to video chat on Skype with my boyfriend and my dad, mom and brother.  I had planned on getting to bed really early, but I was so into the Internet that I didn’t get to bed until about 1:30am!  But it was well worth it.  It was also kind of funny because I couldn’t figure out how to turn out the lights in the room.  The room was lit very well with lights coming up from a wall that lined the room.  I searched all around the room for light switches, but they were only in the bathroom.  I finally found a consol on the bedside table that controlled all the lights in the room.  I felt silly because this is the kind of thing that the company I’m going to work for next year does, and it never occurred to me to look there!

DAY 3: Agra

Getting up the next morning was a little rough, but I was hoping to sleep on the train to Agra.  We walked to the train station and surprisingly, the city was bustling at 5 in the morning.  Outside the train station, there were people everywhere sleeping on the floor.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen before, because of course in the US, you would never be allowed to do that.  I was hoping to sleep on the train too but it was absolutely freezing, so I was pretty tired.  They served us breakfast, but I was a little scared of it, so I only drank the juice box.  And I’m glad I didn’t because when we were waiting to get off the train, I was standing where they clean the dishes and trays and the water looked less than sanitary, plus there were flies everywhere.   Thankfully, we stopped at a hotel to have breakfast and it was much better.

Once we left the train station, we made our way to the buses.  There were beggars everywhere and people with deformities that I had never seen before.  There was a mad with elephantitis in his feet and his feet were literally bigger than footballs!  I don’t know how he was walking.  If they didn’t have a deformity, they would try and shine your shoes for money.  Even though none of us were really wearing “shineable” shoes, they would still chase you and spray your shoe and get to work.  It was overwhelming just getting to the bus, as you can imagine.  And it made your heart sink.

After breakfast, we got on the bus and headed to Fatehpur Sikri, an old abandoned city.  As soon as we got off the bus, we were to head to smaller buses that would transfer us to the ruins.  Of course while we were walking to the next buses, we were accompanied by young children that will grow up to be great salesmen.  They would walk with us and ask us our name and where we were from and tell us all about their shop that they had. And then they would say, you come to my shop when you come back, blah blah.  In their defense, some of the shops did look like they had good stuff, but we didn’t have enough time to shop after the ruins.   When we actually got to the abandoned city, it was truly something to see.  Everything was in pristine condition and the city went on forever.  We could have spent a whole day getting lost.  When we were finished at Fatehpur Sikri, we headed back to the buses.  But, they were parked in a totally different spot, so it took us a while to find them.  It was extra difficult when you had to shoo people away that were trying to sell you things.  We ended up walking out of the parking lot and a block away and then turning around and finding it in the parking lot. When everyone made it back to the bus, we headed back to the hotel to eat lunch.

Lunch was amazing.  It was the Indian food that I had been looking forward to – rice with spicy sauces to go on top.  And it was especially good eating with break called Non (sp?).  I had two plates worth of food! I was so hungry, since I hadn’t really been eating what had been offered before.  And dessert was so good! Well, actually that’s a lie.  The ice cream they had tasted like straight up sugar, but the fresh fruit was delicious!  It’s funny how much you miss fresh produce being on this trip.  I ate an entire plate of pineapple and watermelon.

After lunch, we visited Agra Fort, which again had beautiful architecture. This place was much busier than Sikri and unfortunately smelled foul when we walked in.  I think it was because we had to cross a bridge, and it seems anywhere near water in India smells really terrible, like rotting feces mixed with curry. I know. Disgusting.  Thankfully, we got over the bridge quickly and the smell went away.  What was really cool about the Fort, though, was that we could see the Taj Mahal from it.  It was cool to see a glimpse of it from afar before actually going to it.

When we got to the Taj Mahal, we had to take another bus to the actual palace.  But it was a very small bus and we had to cram people into it; we were all sitting on each other!  The bus took us as far as we could go, and then we walked about a quarter mile to the entrance.  The street leading up to the entrance had shops and wild monkeys everywhere.  When we got there, we had to separate into women and men lines to get checked at security.  The lines were pretty long, which was kind of awful, because of the smell.  But once we were inside the gates, it went away.  When you get in side, you have to walk about 2 blocks to the entrance, because there is a wall around it.  It was cool to have a wall around it, because you couldn’t see anything inside, so walking through the entrance got you really excited.  It was pretty dark walking through the entrance and all these people everywhere, and then you get inside and there it is.  The Taj Mahal.  It was pretty amazing to see in real life and is everything its made out to be.  We spent like 30 minutes just taking pictures.  We took ones of us jumping up the air, and ones of us “holding” it from the tip and group pics and single pics and any kind of picture you could think of.  Then like every 20 feet you get closer to it, you want to take a picture.  We got there around 4:30 and the sun sets really early.  When the sun sets, the Taj is closed, so we didn’t have enough time to go inside because we were supposed to meet back at 5:15.  So I made my way back to the meeting spot at 5:15, but some people decided to wait in line anyway and go inside, so most of us had to wait until 6 to round the few that went inside.  I wish I would have known, because I would have just gone with them!  But, even though I didn’t go inside, seeing the outside of it was amazing.  Especially because there were so many Indians there too, it made the experience feel really authentic. 

By the time we made it out of the gate with everyone, it was dark, so we weren’t able to go to the markets, but the bus driver took us to a marble place.  The formula that is used to make the glue that holds the marble of the Taj Mahal together is a family secret.  The formula is only passed down to males in the community of descendents of the builders of the Taj so that it stays in the family.  It’s passed down to the women if they marry within the community. This formula is obviously very important because the Taj Mahal is in the same condition now as it was when it was built.  One thing that makes it special is that once you heat the glue the first time to put the marble together, if you heat it again, it will not get soft again.  At the marble shop, they showed how they carved the marble and hand placed the stones to make beautiful designs.  The marble is Agra is also very unique because it is not porous like marble from Italy or France.  The guide poured coke onto a marble table and left it there for the entire presentation.  When he wiped it off, there was no stain.  Everything was so beautiful in the store.  They had some tabletops that took 4 years to finish!  I thought that the story about the glue was so interesting.  He compared it to the Coca Cola formula in terms of its secrecy.

After the marble shop, we made our way back to the train station.  On the bus, we were given boxed dinners.  The bus driver informed us that if we didn’t want our boxed dinner, or anything in it, to leave it on the bus and he would take it to people who were hungry. He told us not to give it to the people that would approach us at our bus because they were professional beggars.  However, people still gave some of their food away and it was hard because there were so many of them and you didn’t know who to give it to.  I even saw someone give their potato chips to a 6 year old girl, and an older woman with a toddler in her arm grabbed it away from her for herself.  Even when we got inside the train station and were waiting for the train, there were young boys making their way through the crowd asking for food.  Once they got some, they would shove it in their shirt and ask for more.  I understand that they are so poor, but it got to a point where they became a nuisance and you had to shoo them away.

We got back to the hotel pretty late, but I was excited because we didn’t have to be up the next morning until 10am, so I got to sleep in! The next day we were heading to Varanasi to visit the Ganges River.

DAY 4: Varanasi

I woke up the next morning very refreshed since I got to sleep in! I got all my stuff together and headed down to the lobby. We had to take a plane to Varanasi, so we headed to the airport.  The airport was much nicer in Delhi than in Chennai. I was very excited because they had a bookstore.  I had a New Years resolution this year to read 24 books.  I had been keeping up with it until this trip.  I was going to have a kindle for the trip, but Target was sold out of them because Amazon was going to release a new one in September.  Obviously, I was going to be gone in September, so I left for the trip bookless.  I ended up buying 3 books at the bookstore!  After the bookstore, we went to eat lunch at Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut is huge over seas, almost more than McDonald’s, and KFC is too.  Something that is much different over seas than in the US is customer service.  I ordered a plain cheese pizza with green peppers on it. When the cashier handed me my receipt, he had charged me for green peppers and onions.  I told him that I didn’t want onions, so he went in the back and changed my order.  When I was still standing there, he looked confused… I wanted the money back for the onions I wasn’t getting on my pizza. I had to explain this to him before he was willing to give me my money back.  While it was only the equivalent of $.50, it was still the principle of it… apparently a US one, and not an Indian concern.

When we got to Varanasi, we got on a bus and headed to the hotel.  I was very scared that Varanasi was going to smell worse than anywhere that I had ever been before.  Throughout the week, any time we neared water, it smelled absolutely rancid. And Varanasi just happens to be the home of the Ganges River, a very important religious place for Hindus.  This is the place where not only do people bathe in, but they also release the remains of their deceased.  I assumed it was going to be 10 times worse than anywhere else in India. 

After we checked into the hotel, we got ready to go to a ceremony at the river.  We drove to a spot where there were dozens of bicycle rickshaws. Bicycle rickshaws are those bikes with a two-seated carriage in the back.  They also have auto rickshaws everywhere in India too, but those are more like golf carts.  Anyway, my friend Alan and I loaded up into the rickshaw and were on our way to the river.  Now to get the full Indian experience, taking a ride in a rickshaw is the way to do it!  There is traffic like you wouldn’t believe! In the roads there are bicycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, cars, motor scooters, people, children, dogs, cows, cats – everything. And there are not traffic laws; you just weave in and out of the obstacles.  It’s like Frogger (the arcade game), but real life!  Did I also mention that none of the vehicles have side mirrors? They just use their horns to let someone know that they are coming up behind them.  It’s ridiculous.  So while I was trying to hold on, I was also looking around at the city.  India is like Morocco in terms of being sandy, but it is so much prettier.  In Morocco, everything is pretty much the same color – sand. But, in India there are colors everywhere, of purple and blue and yellow and red, and sparkles too.  I loved passing the fabric and sari shops.  We got as far as we could by rickshaw and then we got out to walk another quarter – half mile to the river.  This was a little harder than riding in a rickshaw because this time you didn’t have to dodge moving vehicles, but moving vendors! I couldn’t even estimate how many people would come up to me selling makeup, or bindhis, or postcards. 

Somehow, I made it to the river without buying anything.  And surprisingly, there was no smell! I think it was because of all the incense. To get there, you walk through a street with a bunch of outdoor vendors and then you get to these massive steps that have people everywhere.  At the bottom of the steps are like alters.   And even passed the altars, in the rover, were boats filled with people waiting for the ceremony to start. My friend Meg and I found seats in the front row before these alters and patiently waited for the ceremony to begin.  At first, one of the ushers, I guess you would call him that, tried to get all of these Indians to move over and squeeze us into the seats.  At first, I was like Oh, my God, I don’t want to offend these people.  I’m sure they’re like, “Oh, I have to move aside for these tourists, when I come here every week or night?”  But, surprisingly they were very friendly and made as much room as they could.  It made me think of at church, I could see a person moving over for a new comer.  And this was what the ceremony was, basically – a Hindi mass that they hold every night. The holy men took the altars and performed various rituals with incense and flowers, and the people would sing and clap.  It was really interesting until all the bugs started showing up.  I could deal with the ones that looked the small grasshoppers, but the flying cockroach-looking ones were a little scarier.  And they had all different kinds.  Let’s just say that all of the bugs they used in the scene in Indiana Jones Temple of Doom were probably indigenous…

After the ceremony, we made our way back to the rickshaws, which took us back to the bus and then back to the hotel.  At the hotel, they had prepared dinner and a dance party for us which was pretty cheesy but thoughtful of them.  Someone in our group was having their 21^st birthday, so a lot of people stayed up partying with him and dancing, but we had another 5am morning, so my roommate and I headed up to our room.  We were extra excited for this hotel, because they had TV with American shows.  Well, they had one channel, Bravo, with Miami Ink on, but it was familiar, so we watched it.  We don’t have any TV on the ship, so any kind of TV is exciting.

DAY 5: Varanasi

We got up the next morning to go see the sunrise on the Ganges River.  My roommate and I packed up our bags and headed downstairs.  When we were about to get off the elevator, someone was like, oh you don’t need all your stuff, we’re coming back to the hotel for breakfast. So we headed back up to our room to drop our stuff off.  But, it was a good thing we came down at the exact time that we did because we walked outside as the buses were pulling away!  I would have been pretty upset, because the sunset was absolutely amazing.

When we got to the river, we loaded onto giant canoes and started rowing around the river.  There were tons of people arriving at the river to bathe.  There were older men combing their hair and getting dressed, getting ready for their day.  It kind of felt awkward taking pictures of them.  But that sunrise was absolutely beautiful. It was light out, but the sun was just emerging from the horizon, and it was a giant ball that you could look at directly.  I got some truly amazing pictures.  As we were enjoying the scenery, there were these floating markets that would tie up to your boat and sell you necklaces or postcards or toys.  I actually bought this tiny little gold urn that holds probably 2 tablespoons of Ganges River in it.  When we weren’t being hassled by the floating markets, our guide took us over to where the cremations were taking place.  You could see some that had already happened that were just giant piles of ashes.  They set up the “bonfire” (I don’t know what else you would call it), and then the family comes the next day to put the remains into the river.  There are also people all around going through the remains for anything valuable that wasn’t burned, including gold teeth.  But our guide informed us that the holy man watches very closely during the burning to make sure he doesn’t miss anything himself.  It was definitely an experience that I’ll probably never have again.

After our boat ride, we walked through the street with all of the shops and got lost from the rest of group.  We hadn’t really had a chance to shop the entire trip, so we were easily lured in.  After about 20 minutes, we decided that we would probably have another chance to shop that day and that we should look for the buses.  When we walked back, we thought we saw our buses driving away and chased after them.  But then a man said that he saw our buses and that he would take us to them.  When we got to the buses, I tried to tip him, but he wouldn’t take the money.  I swear I practically chased him with the money, but the only way he would take any money from us is if we bought postcards from him.  This was much different than in Morocco where tips were expected for any kind of service, even if it was just directions to an ATM.  I was really impressed with this man’s desire to make “an honest living.”

We headed back to the hotel where we had a delicious breakfast.  But the next stop on our tour was to another monument and then to a silk factory.  A group of us decided that we would much rather have a cultural experience by going back to the market and shopping there for the day and interacting with the locals than to just go to another monument.  The silk factory probably would have been cool, but it would have been very expensive.  So we hailed down an auto rickshaw and told him to take us to the Ganges River.  We thought something was weird when he drove in the opposite direction.  We stopped randomly in the street and he informed us that he was waiting for his brother.  When his brother arrived, we told him to take us to the Ganges River because we were going to shop there.  This was a bad idea to tell him that we were going shopping.  He told us that the shops weren’t open yet and they were bad quality.  The better shops were in the Muslim part of town and he would take us there.  Even after we told him that they were in fact open and we had just been there at 7am, he insisted on the Muslim market.  We finally got him to take us in the direction of the Ganges when we said we didn’t want to shop we just wanted to go there.  But then he kept trying to drop us off far away from the area.  He would say, “I can’t go any further, just walk from here.” After 3 stops, we finally just got out of the rickshaw and found a bicycle rickshaw that took us the rest of the way.  It was very frustrating, but I guess that’s just part of the experience.

Shopping was so much fun down by the Ganges!  My goal for India was to buy scarves and jewelry.  I came back with sooo many scarves, it’s ridiculous.  But the best part of the day was after I bought most of my scarves, my friend wandered into the shack next door where they sold pants and clothes.  When I joined her, we saw that he sold silk scarves too.  But it was so much fun because after my two friends and I entered the shop, he shut the curtain and was like our personal shopper.  I felt bad afterwards because it looked like a tornado went through his shop! But anything we would look at, he would pull it out in 10 other colors and 3 other styles.  It was so much fun! And needless to say, I spent a lot of money with him! He was so sweet too because after we bought all of our stuff, he gave us each a free scarf.

The rest of the day was spent jewelry shopping and walking through the streets.  Varanasi is the epitome of India and what you think of when you think of India.  Bustling streets and beautiful colors and different smells.  It was absolutely amazing, and if I ever visit India again, I’ll be going to Varanasi.

DAY 6: Chennai

The last day in India was spent in Chennai running around for last minute souvenirs, post cards and stamps.  Of course, our auto rickshaw driver took us around to all the expensive shops first because they get a commission if we buy anything.  Some people have a problem with this situation, but I really don’t care.  Maybe it’s because I’m a sales person myself and understand the importance of getting new customers.  In fact, with my Lia Sophia business, I often offer $5-$10 off if a current customer brings me a new customer.  Anyway, unfortunately these shops were too expensive for my friend Carly and me, so we walked in and walked out of about 4 shops.  Luckily, we ran into some other SASers and they told us about Spencer’s, so we had our driver take us there.  Spencer’s is like a market, but in the form of a mall.  But it was great for us because they had all the souvenirs we were looking for, including post cards. 

India was incredible. I know I’ve said this about all of the countries, but I truly think that India has been the best on the itinerary.  It’s safe, easy to get around, but you still get to experience a country unlike any other place on earth.  It’s beautiful and chaotic and the people are genuine. I love it, and I’m sure I’ll be back some day.

Next stop: SINGAPORE.

Mauritius

Mauritius was absolutely beautiful.  They say it’s like the European’s Hawaii.  We were only there for 2 days, so it was like Fall Break for us.  I had two goals: Relax and sunbathe.

The way the harbor was set up was like a cul-de-sac, but instead of street, it was ocean.  Our ship was parked on one side and where we wanted to be was directly across the water.  You could walk around to get there, but that took 30 minutes.  So we took these water taxis that cost $2 to get across and only 5 minutes.  Some friends and I had rented a villa to stay for the night, so as soon as we got off the water taxi, we looked for a regular taxi to take us to the villa.  The island isn’t too big, but it still took about a half hour of driving to get to the hotel. 

When we got to the hotel, we checked in but the room wasn’t ready yet, so we just made our way to the beach until we could drop our things off in the villa.  The beach was so pretty.  It was a private beach for the hotel too so it was nice that there weren’t people everywhere.  The water was so clear; it looked like the Caribbean, just the brightest blue.  It was really warm too. I was surprised. So we took pictures, and played in the sand until the villa was ready. 

The villa was really nice.  It had a full kitchen, breakfast nook, living room and then two more floors of bedrooms.  It was funny because in the pictures of the villa on the website, they showed rooms with flowers on the bed and one of my friends, Chris, joked, “There better be flowers on my bed when I get there!”  And low and behold, there really were flower petals sprinkled on all of the beds.  After exploring the villa, we jumped into our suits and headed back to the beach to bask in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.  Around 5 o’clock, a few of us went to the grocery store to get food for dinner.  For appetizers, we just wanted chips and salsa… unfortunately, this is a North American thing because they didn’t have salsa anywhere! They had pictures of salsa on the bags of tortilla chips, but no jars in the store.  So we settled for cheese and crackers.  Shopping in grocery stores in different countries is quite the experience, because they usually don’t have items that are staples at home.  It makes a quick run to the store turn into an hour long venture because they don’t have want you want and you have to determine if what they do have will actually suffice.  Even the crackers I was sure would be fine turned out to be weird.  They were like puffed crackers…. they tasted like cheetos without the cheese.  I don’t know. Haha! But we finally made it through the checkout and back to the villa to make dinner.

Dinner was really fun because we clearly bought too much food, but there were so many SASers wandering around the hotel, that people would just come and go and eat our food.  It worked out well.  After dinner, a group of us decided to go back to the beach and hang out there.  It was really nice and laid back.  Some of the people I was with were involved in a lot of drama, but I haven’t been in high school for 5 years, so I was over it and the beach turned out to be a much better time.

The next day, a lot of people had FDP (faculty directed practica… basically field trips), or water sports planned. Not me. I put on my bathing suit, packed my bag, and headed to the beach.  I laid out all morning and afternoon and it was amazing.  The weather was perfect for both of the days we were there.  80 degrees and sunny.  Around 2 o’clock, my friend Shelley and I headed back to the harbor. We ate lunch at a pub, and got free Wi-Fi, so we were there for a while putting up pictures and calling our families.  That’s probably the biggest downside to living on a ship – there is no Internet.  There is, but it is really slow and it costs a fortune.  Plus there isn’t enough bandwidth to upload pictures or Skype even if you wanted to. Needless to say, most people’s highest priority when in port is finding Internet for a couple hours.

We had to be back on the ship at 6:00, so around 5 I went and got some little souvenirs and jumped on a water taxi.  That was another bad thing about the water taxis was that they would wait until the entire taxi was full of 25 people and drop them all off at once.  This sounds like a good thing, but when you have all these people to get in line for security at the same time, its not so fun.  I managed to make it on the ship at 5:47, just enough time to drop off my stuff in my room and mail my postcards.  Most other people weren’t so lucky.  When they say you have to be on the ship at 1800 hours, that means not a minute later.  You can’t be in line, you can’t be walking up the gangway, you have to have your ID swiped in.  And for every 15 minute interval of time you are late, you get 3 hours dock time in the next country where you can’t get off the ship.  So at 6:01, you are waiting 3 hours to get off the ship in India.  This caused a lot of issues for people.  I have never seen so many people late to get on the ship the entire voyage. There were probably at least 50 people late. But I was on in time, so it was no problem for me!

Mauritius was fabulous and it was just what I needed after a week of midterms.  And I had a great tan to show for it!

South Africa

When we got to South Africa, everyone was so pumped to get off the ship and explore. It was the first modern place since Spain, but it had such great scenery to offer. Unfortunately, we started our trip with a diplomatic briefing from Hell. It was led by two US Embassy Ambassadors. The first lady had only been there for 3 months, and she really just talked to us about how terrible the education system was. The next guy was when it was really bad. All he told us was crime after crime after crime. He made a bet that by the end of the week, he would have a report of a missing camera, mugging and a sexual assault. He told us that we shouldn’t even go near the townships, and pretty much every ATM was a scam. He told us that we would have to keep a watch on anyone that we ever handed our credit card to because they were going to try to distract us and steal our information. He then went on to tell us in the taxi cabs, at red lights, people were going to come up and steal things out of our windows. One guy raised his hand and was like, “You make it sound like it’s a war zone out there,” and the diplomat said, “Well it is.” Our student Dean had to cut him off because he really had nothing good to say about South Africa. After the briefing, everyone felt like they couldn’t even get off the ship and if they did, they should be wearing a bulletproof vest and shouldn’t have anything remotely valuable with them. The man even told us, “Don’t take anything you’re not prepared to loose.” So, many people didn’t take their cameras the first day, and were very disappointed, because as we discovered, Cape Town was a wonderful place. What it comes down to is that it’s just like any other big city anywhere around the world. You have to be aware of your surroundings, and you’ll be fine.

Table Mountain

On the first day, a group of us decided we were going to hike Table Mountain. I had never seen Table Mountain, but it sounded like fun. Outside of our port, there were taxi drivers waiting for us, and we were lucky enough to meet a man named Nadeem. He stuck with us the whole week and would always take us where we wanted to go and would wait for us, or pick us up when we were ready. He also helped us find good bars and restaurants and the best places to shop. It was nice to have a local help us navigate the area and also reassure us that we were not going to get raped on every corner. When Nadeem took us the base of the mountain, I realized what I was getting myself into. It was a really big mountain, and somehow, I doubted that we would all make it to the top of it. It was definitely more of a climb than just a plain old hike. I can do hikes, no problem, but I was definitely out of breath after like 5 minutes. It was uphill the entire time and pretty much the most hardcore step master ever. A group of us slow guys split off from those a little more in shape and sped up the mountain. We preferred to take our time and took frequent stops, but we eventually made it to the top! It was nice when we got to the top, because the whole time we were climbing, the sun was beating down on us, but we were climbing through a gorge, so toward the top it was much cooler. And it was so pretty because the clouds were spilling over the top of the mountain. They call the clouds the tablecloth when they spill over the top of the “table.” When we got to the top it was super foggy! The visibility went from like 100 to 0% in 2 minutes and you could barely see the person in front of you. But we eventually made it to the restaurant where it was clear. It was so nice because we were all starving! We hadn’t eaten since 8am and we didn’t made it to the top until around 2:30 or 3pm! Plus we had been hiking for 3 hours. After we ate lunch, we went to the edge of the mountain where the view was absolutely amazing. You could see all of Cape Town including the harbour, Camp’s Bay Beach, and the Cape Town Stadium where many of the 2010 World Cup games were played. It was awesome, and I was so proud of myself for making it to the top! My mom used to hike all the time when she was younger, so I definitely felt like my mother’s daughter! Throughout the whole week, I still couldn’t believe that I had hiked all the way to the top of Table Mountain!

Bikes and Wine

The bikes and wine tour was a bike ride through the Stellenbosch Winelands where we stopped at 2 wineries, a brandy making factory and a cheetah sanctuary! Many of the people in our group were out very late the night before, so I don’t even know how they made it through the day drinking more! But, we met in the city around 8 in the morning and made our way to the winelands. We stopped at a school to pick up our bikes. This school was a special school in that they specialed in green and organic agriculture. It served as a place where people would come from all over the world to learn different irrigation techniques. It used to be that the families that ran the school would just have their children hang out while they gave their seminars, but now it serves as a special school and much of the proceeds go to the education of the local South African children. When we got there they were having recess, so a lot of the children were showing off their soccer skills… which for 8-10 year olds were better than many of the people my age! They were doing bicycle kicks and all kinds of crazy stuff.

We headed off to the first winery called Spier and it was lovely. We parked our bikes and headed to the wine tasting table. It was set in the middle of a grass yard surrounded by trees. I took a wine tasting class at Purdue and I have also been to a handful of wineries, so it felt nice to know what the guide was talking about when he was explaining how to taste the wines and what to look for. He made an observation that I had never thought of before about perception. For example, when we taste white wines, we might taste green apple or other kinds of fruit. Obviously there are no apples mixed in with the grapes when they make the wine, but we taste the sweetness of the wine, so we perceive it to taste like apples. I was glad that he made this observation, because it made one of my psychology papers a lot easier to write! Haha! This winery also had a cheetah sanctuary, so after the tasting, we made our way to see the cheetahs. I few of us paid a small fee to be able to pet the cheetahs, which was really cool! One of the cheetahs is famous too. He had just been pet by Halle Barry and Justin Beiber the previous week and he was also in a movie with Patrick Demspey. Cheetahs sleep 17 – 18 hours a day, so they were all sleeping when we went to pet them 9probably a good thing anyway). When we went to pet them, we weren’t allowed to touch their head, tummy, or tail since these were sensitive areas, and you probably wouldn’t want a cheetah snapping at your fingers!

After petting the cheetahs, we went to the second winery where we also had lunch. A popular pizza to get in South Africa is made from bacon, avocado, and blue cheese. I’m not really a fan of blue cheese or avocado, so I just got pineapple on mine. Most of us got pizza because we were on a little bit of a budget, but it was still delicious. During lunch, we were also able to taste some of the beer they brewed. I really liked the light kind, but not so much the dark. During the tasting, we were able to have our choice of 5 of the 9 different kinds of wines. I started with champagne, then I had a rose, a cabernet sauvignon, a merlot, and then a dessert wine. I also tasted one of my friend’s choices which was a Pinotage reserve that they only made 3300 bottles of because it was the year that the founder of the winery died. I have come to find that I like red wines overall better than white wines. Wine is definitely an acquired and I feel like you move through the different stages.

The last place we went was a brandy-making place. Brandy is made from wine, but its definitely a different kind of taste. Upon arrival, they gave us some brandy mixed with peach and apricot puree and it was delicious. The plain brandy was a different story. I had to dilute mine with water to the max, and I still couldn’t finish it. My roommate on the other hand loved the brandy and had like 5 glasses! Before we got on the train back to the ship, we were given a complimentary wine bottle from our guides. Unfortunately, the ship has very strict rules about alcohol onboard, and students are not allowed to bring any on the ship under any circumstances, even as a gift. So clearly, we felt like we had to consume all of it before we got on the ship. That’s one of the biggest issues on SAS, binge drinking. But its situations like this that make SAS a victim of their own policies. When we got on the train, we popped open our bottles and went to work. Our tour guides were helping us… until of course the police officer got on the train and informed us we weren’t allowed to drink on public transit. Our tour guides, who were South African, kept their mouths shut the entire time the police officer was talking to us, because they would have surely been kicked off the train or arrested. But, since we were Americans, the police officer looked the other way.

Clearly, by the time we got back to the ship, some of us were less than put together. My roommate bolted to the gangway to rush through security. Unfortunately she lost my sweater in the process. The rest of us were slower getting to the ship because we were running into lots of other SASers. My friend Grant was in the worst shape. Him and Damion developed accents? That were not very good. In this port, the gangway was on the 5th deck instead of the 2nd, so I don’t even know how we all made it up the stairs safely. We gave Grant a pep talk and said, “Take a deep breath and compose yourself for 90 seconds while we go through security.” If you are visibly drunk getting back on the ship, you are given dock time for the next port and our next port was Mauritius for only 2 days. Dock time was not an option. Surprisingly, he made it through security with no problems, but as soon as the ship door closed and he was inside, he was on the floor. My friend Travis and I helped him back to his room. He managed to get the key in the door and find his way to his bed… where he proceeded to do head stands and somersaults. His roommates thought the entire situation was hilarious, so we left him to them. This was all around 8:30 or 9pm. We agreed to meet back at the gangway around 10 or 10:30 to go to dinner. Unfortunately, most of us didn’t make it and slept the whole rest of the night. While we were a little sloppy by the end of the day, it was a great experience and the countryside was absolutely gorgeous. I had to keep pinching myself and reminding myself that I was riding my bike through the winelands in South Africa. No big deal. It was awesome!

Shark Diving

The last day I was in South Africa, my roommate and I decided to go shark cage diving! The company picked us up from our ship at 4:30 in the morning, and drove us about 2 hours away to Gaansbai, the Great White Shark capital of the world. In fact, most of Shark week is filmed here. We arrived at the place and some women had made us eggs, sausage and muffins for breakfast. In the lobby, they had pictures of all kinds of famous people who had dove with the same company I was about to dive with. Among them were Brad Pitt, Halle Berry, Matt Damon, and my favorite, Leonardo DiCaprio. I was really excited when I saw Leo on the wall! When we were finished eating, we headed out the boat and got on our way.

Most of the week, it had been rainy and windy so many of the trips had been cancelled. We were lucky to get out, but that doesn’t mean the weather was much better. There were swells like I had never seen before. We were literally being lifted off our bench. It was pretty scary when a huge one would be coming right at us, but luckily we never capsized. One of the guys in our group started looking a little yellow, so someone offered him some seasick medicine, but the driver informed us that it was too late for any kind of seasickness remedies. At that moment, I started to feel sick. While everyone was putting on their wetsuits, I was laying on the bench trying to keep my breakfast down. The drivers deemed the area to rough, so thankfully we got to move to a flatter area. By the time we got to less rough waters, I started to feel much better – better enough at least to get my wetsuit on. This, however, was not such a good idea. The suit was so constraining, especially on my tummy that I just felt worse. I managed to still keep my food down, but right before we got into the cage, my mouth filled with saliva and I knew there was nothing I could do about it, so I ran to the opposite side of my boat and decorated the side with mashed eggs and muffins ☺. I probably should have thrown up earlier, because instantly I felt better. And of course, they were making a video, so the whole video I have my head in my knees and then I was the only person they caught on tape throwing up. Super flattering.

After my sickness, I was ready to go. I zipped up my suit, grabbed shoes, goggles, and then they put a weight belt on your shoulders, so it’s easier for you to stay down when you go under. 6 of us filed into the cage while the guides bated the shark. The shark that came to see us was over 16 feet long! Once they would bate the shark close enough to the cage, they would yell, “DOWN!” and we would all dunk down to see the shark underwater. It was pretty insane to have a 16 foot great white shark 2 inches from my face! There are less than 1000 great whites in the whole world and less than 300 in Gaansbai. We were very lucky to be able to see a shark, and the guide told us that our children would probably never be able to do this. It was awesome!

Other things in South Africa

I toured the Cape Town Stadium, where 8 of the World Cup games were played this year. It was pretty cool to be there and be able to stand next to the field (we weren’t allowed to stand on the grass). But, I have to admit, compared to Lucas Oil Stadium, I was not impressed. Of course, I’m sure the main stadium in Johanesburg was way more impressive. The shops were pretty cool too.  They have a place called Green Market where all the local people go to sell their stuff.  The coolest thing, though, was this guy named Danny D who makes and sells electric guitars out of oil cans! They’re called the African Township guitar or an Afri-can.  They are the sweetest things though.  He played for us and it works like any other electric guitar. Pretty cool. I also went to the Camp’s Bay beach which was just beautiful! In fact, most of South Africa is just amazing. It has all the attributes of a metropolitan city, but with the added feature of breath taking landscape. I want to go back ASAP! And I would recommend it to anyone.