GOOOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM!

We just docked here in Vietnam. The parents who are doing the parent trip just came on board and we should be cleared shortly to get off. I will be spending today in Ho Chi Minh City, and tomorrow I leave for Cambodia. Look out for my entry later this week!

IT IS HOT HERE!

Mysitcal Myanmar

You are about to read an entry concerning the most interesting and gorgeous place I have ever visited. Myanmar has by far been my favorite place I have visited, not only on SAS, but in my entire life. The Burmese people are without a doubt the nicest and warmest people I have ever encountered in my travels. I had a wonderful time traveling throughout Myanmar, and I wish I could have stayed longer. I could spend a year traveling through this country and would love every second of it. I believe that the experiences I had in Myanmar, some fascinating and some a little scary, were experiences that gave me a whole new outlook on this mysterious country. Enough of this babbling, let’s get to the story!

The days between India and Myanmar were short. 3 days between the countries, and we were getting packed full of information. Most of the information was about the politics and human rights situations in Myanmar, which I am sure many of you have heard about from either me, or our stellar white house folks back there in the states (catch my sarcasm there?). For those of you who don’t, Myanmar is ranked as one of the worst in human rights abuses. The military junta is the ruling party and is very oppressive and hurtful towards the Burmese people. Politics is never discussed between the Burmese for fear of the fact that the military is always listening. I prefer not to elaborate further on the politics and intentional isolation of Myanmar by the military, nor what my experiences there as far as politics were, because of the fact that this blog is very public, and the last thing I need is for it to magically disappear…

Anyways, SAS went into this country with many mixed feelings of the people aboard this ship. Many people believe that we should not have visited this country due to the reasons I listed above. Many others believe that tourism is the way to open this country up and save the Burmese people. They believe that the sanctions and embargos placed on Myanmar by the U.S. and other nations are doing nothing but hurting the country. I feel this way. I will explain it all at the end.

We arrived in Myanmar the evening of the 16th, around 5:30pm. To get to the port of Yangon (the capitol city), we had to go up the Yangon river, which extends up from the Bay of Bengal into Myanmar. Sailing up the river was unbelievable. The river is about 30 feet deep and very narrow. On either side of us were little huts in the marshlands and sugar plantations. As we traveled up the river, Burmese people in long slender motorized canoes would look up in amazement at our massive ship that was so foreign to them and wave to us. I could also see several large golden pagodas in the city center over the hills. We eventually docked a little after sunset. It was already planned that we weren’t allowed to get off the ship that night because of the length of time immigration would take to clear us. It was scheduled that we would be able to get off at 6am the next morning, so after our logistical pre-port meeting, I hung out with some people for a little while then went to bed to get up early.

I woke up at 5:30 and packed a small bag to go out for the day. If you’re interested, my backpack for day travel consists of a lonely planet, extra camera battery, nalgene bottle with fresh water, sunscreen, sickness medications, bug spray, and a hat if I am not wearing it. I leave extra room for things I may buy (which usually isn’t much). I was only going to go out to the port city of Yangon from 6am to 11am because I had to be back at the ship by 1:30 to meet for my 4 day trip to Bagan. I met with Ryan and Steph and we grabbed the shuttle at 6am outside the ship. Unfortunately the port is 45 minutes away from the city, so it was a long shuttle ride. We got to the city after sunrise, and were let off at the Trader’s Hotel, basically SAS’s home base in the city. Yangon is the Capital of Myanmar. It was formally called Rangoon when the country was called Burma. Many Burmese people still refer to the country as Burma, and either Burma or Myanmar is heard throughout the country among the locals, but only Myanmar is said by the military. We got off the shuttle and just started walking. We really didn’t have any plans to go anywhere. We passed a lake on the shuttle where people were praying around a big golden boat designed like a dragon, so we decided to walk back towards that way to see if we could find it. On our way we found the Sule pagoda, and we took off our shoes and socks and headed in to take a look. Every temple or stupa you visit you must go in barefoot. Myanmar really isn’t a dirty country, which was a nice change from India, so walking through the pagodas barefoot isn’t that bad. Oh yeah, if your getting confused with these terms, let me explain them. A pagoda is the name for either a temple or a stupa. A temple is a building you can walk through, and a stupa is a solid building you can only see from the outside. So hopefully that clears it up. This is all referring to Buddhism by the way, sorry I left that out as well. I am so excited to tell you about my adventures I forgot to give you the important stuff.

Anyways, before we entered the Sule pagoda, we were approached by a Burmese man smoking a large cigar. He asked us if we were the students that were visiting. Obviously our visit had been publicized, which we were wondering if it would be or not. We wondered if the military were going to play it off as SAS accepting and approving of the way the military rules, and they definitely played it off that way. The first question the Burmese man asked us was why our institution decided to come here when the Burmese people are suffering. Since we are not spokespersons for SAS nor want to enter into a conversation of politics which can endanger the Burmese people, we simply walked away. The man followed us and then invited us to his shop at 8am to buy stuff. He did a complete turnaround but whatever. “Why are you coming here, come to my shop and buy stuff.” Weird. Anyways, after visiting the pagoda we were wandering the streets and taking in the crazy sights. Many Burmese people were sitting outside cafes cooking food or selling items on the street. We were the ONLY westerners around and we attracted some crazy looks. Remember, Myanmar only receives 600,000 tourists a year, compared to Thailand which receives 12 million a year. 1% of those 600,000 tourists are American. We are that 1%. I met a few French tourists throughout my stay, but altogether very very very few tourists. So it is really rare for the Burmese to see Americans, and many of them will come up to us to practice their English. One of the first people to approach us after we left the pagoda was a man who asked us if we needed to exchange money. Pay special attention to the next paragraph, it is quite interesting…

The U.S. dollar is worth 6 Kyat (pronounced chat), when exchanged LEGALLY. When exchanged ILLEGALLY on the black market, the U.S. dollar is worth 1100 Kyat! A beer costs about 500 Kyat, so if we exchanged money legally, that would cost us about $80 U.S. for a beer! If we exchanged illegally, then it would cost us about 50 cents. It is a DRASTIC difference as you can see. SAS would tell us in the pre-port that it is recommended that we exchange legally, but they would drop hint after hint that it would be ridiculous to do that. So anyways, when this man approached us on the street to exchange money for 1100 Kyat to the dollar, we happily accepted. He led us down the street into a little street restaurant where it was so dark you could barely see your hand in front of your face. They sat us down, gave us free food and drinks, and the man asked us in a low voice how much we wanted to exchange. We told him and he said he would be right back. He came back about 5 minutes later and pulled a stack of Kyat out of his pocket. He told us to keep all the money under the table. He counted off the Kyat, and we exchanged all the money, literally under the table, and he said to count it when we got outside. After that we left the restaurant, and that was how we exchanged money on the black market. It was a cool experience and that is what everyone had to do. No one exchanged it legally; it would just be stupid to do that. Even hotels exchange it at the black market rate.

So after we exchanged our money, we walked to the lake. It was really cool. We had to pay an entrance fee, which cost us about 50 cents U.S. The two Burmese ladies we had to pay were giggling and trying to talk to us in English. I broke out my trusty lonely planet guide to help communicate, and they eventually found the word they were looking for. They pointed to me and in their Burmese accent said, “Very handsome!” Steph and Ryan found it hilarious and I turned red, said thank you, and we walked into the park with the two women giggling back at the entrance. We visited several temples along the lake, and witnessed some Buddhists praying too. There was a stretch of land that led out to a huge boat shaped like a dragon that was apparently a restaurant. It was still early in the morning, so we walked around the other parts of the park. We found a little outside restaurant that had honey wine, and Steph and Ryan wanted to get some. I am not a wine person, nor someone who wanted to drink at 10 in the morning, so I sat and talked with them while they had a glass of the homemade Myanmar honey wine. Well, one glass turned into two, which then turned into a whole bottle. It’s ok because it WAS St. Patty’s day after all. The bottle cost $2 U.S. Can’t beat that. During the socializing/drinking at the restaurant by the lake, the owner decided to come over and talk to us. We talked about all sorts of stuff, his English was excellent, and it was fascinating to learn from him what Burmese life was like. We did the currency conversion in our heads and figured out that he makes $50 U.S. a month, which is horrible. He has a wife, and 2 kids. He works 5 days a week, in 12-14 hour shifts. The days he doesn’t work, his wife works. He was one of the nicest guys I have ever met, and it was an absolute pleasure to meet such a polite and honest man. I immediately gained an unbelievable amount of respect for him. This is also true for the majority of the Burmese people I met. At the end of our hour long conversation, we gave him a very nice tip, the amount of which was more than he would have made in two days work. I left with a smile.

After our park experience, we grabbed a cab for 2 dollars each for a 45 minute ride, and headed back to the ship. We ate lunch on the ship, and then Steph and I got packed and met in the union for our 4 day trip to Bagan (pronounced buh-gan). I was unbelievably excited for this trip. I had seen pictures and read about the ancient city of Bagan. The civilizations that lived there over 1000 years ago built thousands and thousands of temples and stupas throughout the land. The fact that there were so many of these got me pumped to go. We left the ship around 2pm and boarded the buses for the Yangon airport. We arrived there about half an hour later and got our boarding passes for our flight on Air Bagan. Flying in Myanmar is a big thing, there are like 2 planes at the airport, and most of them are propeller. On the way back we took a jet and it was very exciting for our tour guides. Anyways, we waited in the airport for a while and watched some awful but hilarious Burmese TV. I noticed that it was air conditioned, which was a rare occurrence, and I looked at the air conditioner and it happened to be a Carrier air conditioner. Who would have thought that a Carrier air conditioner would be in an airport in Yangon, Myanmar? My dad would have been proud. So we boarded our plane, which wasn’t air conditioned, and I sweat my ass off for 55 minutes until we reached Bagan. As we flew over Bagan before we landed, the sights were incredible. I could see thousands of temples and stupas throughout the desert like land. When we landed, there were no other planes at the airport, which consisted of one runway, and we pulled right up to these huge gardens that led to the doors of the airport. It was very strange looking. We boarded our tour buses and met our guide, Lin, who was really cool. We got in to Bagan earlier than expected so he said we would visit a temple for sunset. Before I tell you about all the temples we visit, I apologize for not giving the names of them. There are so many that we visited and I just don’t remember the names. We arrived at a huge temple and climbed all the way to the top, barefoot of course. When I reached the top, I turned around and all I could see for miles and miles were thousands of ancient stone pagodas throughout the desert. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I can’t begin to describe to you how many there are. Some of them are small, and some of them are huge. No two look the same. We watched the sun set behind the backdrop of all the pagodas, and then we climbed down and went to our hotel.

We arrived at the Bagan Thande Hotel around 7pm, and we were given our room keys. This was one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in. All the bungalows were situated right on the Irrawaddy river. There was a big pool and beautiful gardens. The service was unbelievable; they wait on you hand and foot. In our room there were robes and little slippers you could wear. You bet I wore it. We then ate a huge delicious buffet dinner outside under the stars next to the river. It was really awesome. Since I had been up since 5am, I went to bed after taking a short walk to some temples with Steph.

We woke up at 7am the next day and headed out after breakfast for a visit to many temples throughout Bagan. We visited tons of them, each of them unique and interesting. I don’t have a lot to write about them, but you can see them in my pictures. We spent all morning doing that, and then we visited a primary school in a village. It was really cool to see all the kids and how they were taught in Myanmar. They sang their ABC’s for us in English, and we sang some songs back to them and hung out for a while. After that we ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant (not the same Chinese food as back home). The restaurant was the nicest restaurant in Bagan, and it was right on the river. The food was good and we left there after a while and went back to the hotel. From 1-3 is the hottest time of the day (hits between 100-110 degrees), so they always give us a break back at the hotel to go to our air conditioned rooms and hang out or whatever. Steph and I decided to take another walk outside of the hotel and explore more temples. We found some shops outside of a temple and looked at some t-shirts and paintings. When we were leaving, we heard someone calling our name. We looked up and saw our friend Jim at the top of a really big temple, sitting on a ledge and waving to us. We decided to climb up and see him. It felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie. We climbed all the way to the top and sat with him on a tiny ledge hundreds of feet off the ground. He was talking to two Burmese teenagers who had followed him up. After a while another guy climbed up there and we began talking to him. He was from Ireland, and he used to work at a bank, said screw it, and now just travels the world by himself. As you can imagine, I found him fascinating and talked with him for a long time. It was awesome just sitting at the top of a temple and looking out at the thousands of other temples. It was so relaxing and I loved every minute of it. After the two Burmese teenagers, Jim, and the Ireland guy left, 2 little kids about 10 years old climbed up to talk to me and Steph. I knew it was only a matter of time before they would try to sell us something, so here is what the conversation was like:

“Hallo!” – Burmese boy
“Hi.” – Me
“Where you from?” - Burmese boy
“United States.” – Me
“Oh. How long you stay in Bagan for?” – Burmese boy
“Two more days. Where do you live?” – Me
“By da river.” - Burmese boy
“Do you like it?” – Me
“Yes I like it very much. All Americans are rich.” - Burmese boy
“Buddy, we are broke college students. No richness here. We have to go catch our bus now; I am going to climb down.” – Me
“Like Spiderman!” - Burmese boy
“Yeah, you know who Spiderman is?” – Me
“Yes!” - Burmese boy
“Do you know who Arnold Swarzenegger is?” – Me
“Yeah! Arnold Swarzeshsuejner” - Burmese boy
“Ok that was a hard name…. Do you know who Batman is?” – Me
“Yeah, Fatman!” - Burmese boy
“Ok, now you’re just making stuff up.” – Me
“Want to buy postcards? 12 for 1 dollah!” - Burmese boy
“Dude, if I buy anymore postcards than what I already have, I could own my own postcard business.” – Me

So we went back and caught our bus, with the usual group of people following us trying to sell postcards, fake rubies, and elephant figurines. We visited a few more temples, then we all boarded pony carts. There were two people per pony cart, and we drove through the desert around the thousands of temples. At each turn there was a new temple, and it was so cool to just ride throughout the maze of them. After that we watched the sun set from the Pyatthada pagoda, which I of course climbed all the way to the top of. I always climb higher than everyone else and they all look up at me hanging off the top and think I am crazy. Oh well. After the great sunset at the pagoda, we headed to a restaurant for dinner. The food was great, and there was a puppet show. Puppet shows are really big in Southeast Asia, and there was one at our dinner the night before too. Steph loved them, but I think they are just plain weird. The music is weird and the puppets are sometimes freaky looking when they dance around. Just one of those things that doesn’t interest me I guess… Anyways, after dinner we went back to the hotel. I went out to one of the tables by the river and wrote some postcards to people. Everyone must have gone to bed early because only one or two of my friends walked by. After my postcards I went to bed.

We woke up early again the next day and went to the markets. The markets were a combination of food and handicrafts. Walking through it and being the only foreigners there was very interesting. Of course, we were hassled and grabbed by every person there to buy things. There was all sorts of interesting stuff, like dead dried fish, weird vegetables, hand rolled cigars, and all sorts of clothing and souvenirs. Jim and I bought two longi’s, 3 shirts, and some souvenirs as well. Remember what I told you what a longi is? It is the skirt type pants that every man in Myanmar wears. With that and our traditional Burmese shirts, we looked damn sexy. Which reminds me, some more old Burmese ladies called me handsome in the markets. It was funny. After our crazy market experience, we got on the buses and began the one and a half hour drive to Mt. Popa. On the way there, we stopped at a small sugar factory/distillery that was just off the side of the road. We watched as a Burmese man climbed up a palm tree and collected the sugar water. They then boiled it under a hot fire, evaporating the water, and then rolled the sugar into little balls of candy. I bought two packets of them, they were really good. They also had a distillery there where several people tried a shot of some of the alcohol, similar to moonshine. They said it was really strong but good. I smoked a hand rolled cigar with some of the cool Burmese people and some friends, then we got back on the bus and continued the drive.

We arrived at Mt. Popa a little later. Mt. Popa is a huge mountain that is really tall, but skinny. Stairs lead all the way up it to a pagoda on the top with breathtaking views of the countryside below. I think this mountain should be renamed Mt. Monkey. There are monkeys EVERYWHERE. We started to walk up the long set of steps to the top when we first encountered the monkeys. They literally are everywhere you look, and you have to dodge them as you walk up. Some of them just sit in the middle of the stairs and chill there, while others are running back in forth and playing with each other. There are people who try to sell you “monkey food”, which is why I now understand why there are so many monkeys. The monkey food is wrapped in a little roll of newspaper about the size of my index finger, and the monkeys tear them apart and eat the food inside. Basically there is monkey food, newspaper shreds, monkey poop, and monkeys all over. Some of them will pull on the ladies skirts to give them food. It is pretty funny. We bought some bananas and threw them to the monkeys who opened them and wolfed it down in about 3 seconds. Anyways, enough about the monkeys. They were really cool though. We walked all the way to the top of Mt. Popa and saw the pagoda at the top. There really wasn’t much up there other than that and a great view, so it was a little disappointing that we hiked that high for not too much. After the hike we went to Mt. Popa resort for lunch, which overlooks the mountain. We had lunch there, and then we returned back to the main part of Bagan. We went to visit the most famous lacquer ware shop in Myanmar, which happened to be our tour guide Lin’s mom’s business. For the first time in the country I saw expensive items. A lacquer ware plate cost about $40. I wouldn’t expect it to be any less than that though because we saw how all of it is made. Each piece of lacquer ware takes about 6 months form start to finish. We saw how the lacquer ware is shaped, then etched all by hand, painted, and the lacquer is applied. It is a very long and arduous process for the people who make it. The lacquer ware really is beautiful stuff though. After the really nice shop, we went to a less nice lacquer ware shop, and I bought two drinking glasses there for $1 each. After that we traveled to the Shesandaw pagoda for another sunset. Once again I got as high as I could on the temple and we watched the sun set against the backdrop of the thousands of temples again. After that we returned to the hotel for a chance to shower and change before dinner. Our guide was extremely excited about the dinner that night and said that they only do dinners like this once a year. He said that we were going to have dinner outside of one of the largest temples in Bagan, and that there would be a show and dancing and music. He was really pumped about it and I finally understood why when we got there.

We left the hotel around 7pm and drove to the Dhammayangi temple. This was to be our “farewell” dinner since it was our last night in Bagan before we flew out in the morning. Everyone dressed up nice and wore their traditional Burmese clothing and longis they had bought around town. We arrived at the temple and it was very dark. We could see under the archway that the massive temple behind it was lit up with candles extending from the ground to the top. There were hundreds of candles on the outside of the temple and it was awesome. We approached the archway and there were two men dressed in a native warrior costume with their spears crossed blocking our way to the temple. We all took pictures of them then our guides said let’s go, and we walked up to the massive ancient stone temple lit up with candles all over it. There was a line of men wearing nothing but cloth longis carrying big flaming torches. It was so cool. We followed them down a path lit by torches along the side of temple to where there was a huge buffet set up with tables with white tablecloths. It was elegance outside in the desert next to an ancient temple lit up by candles. It was one of the most unbelievable sites I have experienced. I couldn’t believe I was there. We ate dinner outside and watched a traditional dance show on the steps of the temple in front of us. There was a whole band next to the stage playing music for the dancers. Some of the drums looked really cool, so I went to go check them out after we ate. One of the guys was sitting down behind a semicircle wall of bamboo about half my size. Along the bamboo were hand drums of all different corresponding lengths tied to it. It was like a really large tom-tom set, with many many more notes. He asked me if I wanted to play, and I sat down and busted out some crazy beats on the hand drums that really impressed the Burmese drummers. Some people from SAS were standing around, and they were like, “Where did you learn to do that?” It was pretty funny. So after my hands hurt from drumming, we hung out for a little while, then went back to the hotel. It was one of the coolest nights ever.

We woke up the next morning early at 5am, and went to the Bagan airport at 6. We boarded the jet that got all the tour guides excited because I guess it is a big thing to have a jet in Myanmar, and we flew the 55 minute flight back to Yangon. When we got to Yangon, we boarded the buses and went to visit the huge reclining Buddha. I don’t remember the exact length of the Buddha statue, but it is huge, and it lies on its side. There were tons of people there praying to it, and it was a pretty cool experience to see how they worshipped such an interesting object. After that we went and visited the Shwedagon pagoda, the most religious site in Myanmar. It was amazing. The grounds and temples around it were all marble and gold. The pagoda itself is pure gold at the top, and is also encrusted with several huge rubies, diamonds, jade, and all kinds of other precious stones. There were tons of people there, most of them praying and practicing their Buddhism. After that we went to the Trader’s Hotel for lunch, and when we got there we saw all the other trips were having lunch too. It was pretty cool that they all ended at the same time and came back on the same day. So I got together with lots of friends who had just come back form other trips in Yangon, Mandalay, Inle Lake, etc, and we all went to the huge market, Scott Market, in the center of Yangon. We walked around; Ryan bought a ton of stuff of course. I bought only one thing, and I love it. I found an artist who had a little shop on the side of the street. Ryan told me he had bought three of his paintings when he was walking around before. I saw one I really liked. It was big, I didn’t measure it exactly. I would say it is about 4 feet tall and maybe 6 feet long. It is of several monks walking through the countryside carrying their alms with a backdrop of temples behind them. Ryan told me the paintings were cheap, but I figured it had to be at least a 50 or 60 dollars. When I asked the man the price of it he told me $20. My mouth dropped, and Ryan told me that if I didn’t buy it he would kick me. I actually got the guy down to $18, because you just have to barter, and he rolled it up, packed it, and I was on my way. It definitely is one of my favorite purchases so far. I am sure the frame I buy for it will cost probably more than double the amount I paid for it. After our shopping, we got tired of the 100 degree weather, so we grabbed the shuttle back at the hotel for the 55 minute ride back to the ship. We got back to the ship; I threw down all my bags from my trip, and took a nice long needed shower.

A few hours later, Ryan, Quinn, Natalie, Liz, and I all decided to go out for dinner and some drinks on our last night in Myanmar. Our ship was scheduled to pull out at 12:30pm the next day, so we figured we would probably just sleep in because there wouldn’t be much time to go out in the morning. We dressed up nice, Ryan and I wore our sexy longis, and we headed out on the shuttle again for the city. We got there and asked around for a nice place to get some food. We saw the voyage videographer, Paddo, and he suggested we head across the street to the sky lounge at the top of this skyscraper. We headed up to the top floor, and the place was really cool. The lights were low, we sat on couches, and there was soft music playing. The walls were all windows from floor to ceiling which gave us a panoramic view of Yangon and several of the lit up pagodas. I actually saw Matt, Tony, and Alex there, but they left shortly afterwards for the place they always end up at in port, the bar. We ordered food, which was really good. We then ordered several drinks afterwards and stayed for a couple hours having fun and talking. Altogether, I had a full meal, 2 Singapore slings, 2 Tequila sunrises, one Mai Tai, one margarita, and ice cream for $22 U.S. It was the best deal ever, and that was one of the most pricy places in the city. After our fun night at the Sky Lounge, we grabbed a cab and all squeezed in for the 45 minute ride back to the port. On the way back, we had a pretty crazy experience. When we were almost to the port, a man in uniform stepped out in the road in front of our cab. Our driver slammed on the breaks and the man waved him to a side road. I looked at the man and realized it was a military officer. I then realized that this wasn’t good. We pulled onto a dirt road where a little stand was set up, and about 15 military personnel surrounded the cab. They all had automatic weapons. Quinn had fallen asleep on my shoulder and I woke her up in case we were to be interrogated or anything. The military personnel began demanding things from the driver. Our driver was clearly nervous, and was searching the cab for all his papers. This is not the first time I had seen this. I had seen the military constantly asking Burmese people for all sorts of papers. Our driver showed them several licenses and permits that they were yelling at him to give them. The many other military men who were around the cab started looking in at us with their flashlights and inspecting things. After about 5 minutes, we were let free. Nothing bad had happened to us or the driver, but it definitely made me nervous, and it was not the first time I had seen the oppression of the Burmese people by the military.

After we returned to the ship around midnight, I unpacked all my bags that I had dropped off before we left for dinner, and I then went to bed. I woke up the next morning, ate breakfast with everyone, and then we pulled away from the port of Yangon around 12:30 in the afternoon.

So now comes my conclusion, but I am not sure how much different it will be than when I started this entry. As I said earlier, this has by far been my most favorite place I have ever visited in my life. I will absolutely come back, and I want to bring people with me to show them Myanmar, or as it is also called, “the golden land”. Many people believe that no one should travel to Myanmar and that tourism is just giving in and accepting what the government does to the Burmese people. I don’t agree with this statement. I believe that tourism eventually will help the people of Myanmar. The more publicity in tourism that arises will open up the eyes of the world to what is happening in Myanmar. Other nations will finally realize that this country is a country that deserves a democracy, and I believe the only way for other nations to realize this is to open this country to the outside world. It is a fact that the military junta does not belong in power in Myanmar, and the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi are the rightful leaders of Myanmar. I know that Aung San Suu Kyi has consistently said that tourism should not be allowed in Myanmar until a rightful democracy is established, but I believe that will not be possible until the country is opened up to the world by nothing other than tourism. Of course, this is all my opinion and I know there are many people who disagree with it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think that it is safe to say that a consensus among both opinions is that the military junta should not be in power. I promised myself I wouldn’t talk about this but when I get on a roll, it just keeps coming. I feel strongly for this country.

So anyways, that’s Myanmar. I will be happy to answer any questions or concerns you have when I get back. Now to some logistics. My computer is crippled badly. I don’t know when I will get it working again, but until then, I can not upload any pictures online because the software to do that is on my computer. It is not easy to try and fix it when I have limited internet access, supplies, and communication with anyone outside the ship. So be patient for my pictures, once the computer is fixed they will be there, I will be sure of it. I need to get going now. I have a global studies exam tomorrow to study for, and then we get to Vietnam the next day. I will be spending the first day in Vietnam but after that I will be flying to Cambodia! I can not wait. I actually need to go find my lonely planet book for Vietnam right now, I lent it to someone and I don’t remember who….

Until next time, here is a quote to leave you with:
“…life is a series of voyages – some good and some bad – and you can’t make more than one at a time. All the past voyages are just that, and new voyages are mysterious and exciting.” – Frank Bama (WIJM)

Myanmar Entry Soon...

Me atop a temple in Bagan, Myanmar


Ok, so let me apologize because my computer basically bit the dust today and I am having a hell of a time fixing it. Without it working I cannot write my entry or upload my pictures. All my software for doing that is on my laptop. I am in the computer lab right now and I can only update short entries like this from here. Anyways, my entry and pictures will come soon, depending on when my laptop comes back from the dead...

P.s. - Myanmar has been my FAVORITE port so far, and I am definetly going back...

A Myanmar Mystery?

The sunset as we pulled to the dock in Myanmar


We just docked in Myanmar, and the sunset tonight was gorgeous. The sun set over a backdrop of palm trees, marshlands, and a few pagodas in the city of Yangon. It is almost 7pm here, but we are not allowed to get off the ship tonight. Immigration is going to take a while to clear us, so we will be able to get off at 6am tomorrow. I leave for the ancient city of Bagan at 2pm tomorrow for 4 days, and then the rest of my time will be spent in the capital of Yangon.

Where is Myanmar you ask? Sandwiched between Thailand and India, right below China. Formerly known as Burma, the country is mainly a Buddhist country with the ruling party being a military junta. To research the history of Myanmar, search online for some articles. My bet is you will find some interesting stuff that is unable to be posted in my blog…..

So long for now, hope all is going well in the states. Don’t expect any phone calls from this country…

Incredible India

When I called my Mom and Dad on the last day I was in India, they asked me what India was like. To be honest, I did not have an answer. Those of you who know me well know that I am one who always has something to say, but for once I have been rendered speechless. When I stepped foot off of the Explorer on our arrival and boarded one of the motorized rickshaws (AKA near death shaws), I felt like I stepped back in time to a civilization 100 years ago. I am not really sure how to fit all the points I want to make into a nice flowing paragraph here, so I am just going to list them. After the list I will tell the story of my travels in India. The bottom line is: I just don’t quite think I have absorbed what I have experienced yet…

Interesting, informational, and somewhat random comments about India:

The “not so good things about India”…
-There are 1 billion people in India, and it shows
-I will never forget the smells
-At times you are lucky if you can see the ground through all the trash
-There are cows everywhere, and the cow is sacred so if one is in the middle of the street then you aren’t going anywhere until it moves itself
-People live in the streets
-People relieve themselves in the streets
-People die in the streets
-Beggars are everywhere, most of them are women and children and most of them have deformities
-I did not meet one, NOT ONE Indian who has not tried to sell me something (besides our tour guide)
-The horn is apparently an integral part of the driving system. If there was a Guinness world record for horn blowing, India would take the cake
-There really is no traffic pattern at all. People drive where they want to. I figured out that basically it works like this: the bigger automobile is the boss
-If you live through a rickshaw ride, God must think you are one damn special person. If you get to your actual destination without stopping at 50 shops first so the driver can get his commission, then you are even more special
-Children are always in dangerous areas, like the streets. None of them have shoes, some don’t have clothing. That goes for all Indians actually
-Indians trying to sell you stuff will eventually lead you to insanity. You are lucky, and skilled, if you can shake one off within 100 feet of them following you. I am skilled
-Everyone seems to be “my friend”, and they always have a “special price today”…
-The only restaurants are located in hotels, the ones outside are just local shacks. The only established restaurant outside a hotel is Pizza Hut, and it is considered a high class restaurant
-Many of the sights in India, especially in the train stations, will stay in my mind for the rest of my life


The “good things about India”…
-Many of the rural areas are beautiful
-Many temples, forts, and complexes are incredible
-The Taj Mahal is as cool as I thought it would be
-It is a lot of fun and good experience to travel in India
-Everyone in India thinks Grant is a Muslim because of his beard. He gets many questions about it, and many people were calling him Ali-Baba, it was hilarious
-The food is amazing and spicy
-The ice cream is the best I have ever had
-Airlines in Asia rock
-The country is fascinating
-The religion is fascinating
-The culture is fascinating
-The experience is fascinating


It is a good thing my bed is comfy, because this is going to be a long night of writing. I’ve got a bag of peanut M&M’s and a Gatorade, so here goes:

My Story

The day before India was hectic. Everyone knew that we would still be going there, but we weren’t sure about the fate of the Varanasi trips. I was signed up for one of them, and I was keeping my fingers crossed that I would see my second most anticipated place of interest on this voyage, the river Ganges. Later in the day, we found out that even though the city was probably pretty safe after the bombings, SAS would not be leading trips to Varanasi. Instead of my trip doing Delhi/Varanasi/Agra, it now became a Delhi/Delhi/Agra trip. So basically, this trip is now the same as many others that cost $400 less. So yes, we did the same trip as other people for $400 more. Apparently, we are getting $225 dollars of it back, which is better than nothing I guess. Anyways, I went to bed early that night after the pre-port meeting so I could get up early and watch us pull in.

I woke up at 6:30am, and I went outside. As soon as I opened the door, the smell hit me. It did not smell like roses; let’s just put it that way. As we were pulling into the Chennai harbor, all these little wooden boats and little canoes with Indians in them were rowing up to ship and looking up at it in amazement. Many of them waved and we waved back. We docked a little early, around 7:30am, and there was a welcome band outside on the dock playing us some music. Immigration then came on and we were informed to just hang out and not rush, because it would take a long time. I took a shower and a nap, and when I woke up we still weren’t even cleared yet. We eventually got cleared around 1pm. Ryan, Jess, Natalie, Alex, Laura, and I decided to go out and do some shopping. We were well informed that if you get in a rickshaw, you will not be taken where you want to go; the drivers will take you to every shop they get a kickback at. If you want to go to a certain place, you basically have to threaten that you won’t pay if they don’t take you there. So, we decided that since we didn’t have any specific place we needed to go besides an ATM, that we would go with the flow and let them take us around. When we walked out of the port area we were immediately immersed in literally hundreds of rickshaw drivers hounding us to take us somewhere. We just got in one and I tried incredibly hard, and unsuccessfully, to set a price with the driver. Here is what the conversation was like:
“My friend, my friend, come! I take you where you want to go.” – Driver
“How much to go to the markets?” – Me
“No problem.” – Driver
“No, how much?” – Me
“No problem.” – Driver
“HOW MUCH? – Me
“No problem! I drive you around. At end, you pay what you like.” – Driver
“No, I want to know how much right now.” – Me
“It’s no problem, really. Please, get in.” – Me
“Fine, so if I want to pay you 50 rupees, you get 50 rupees.” – Me
“What you like, what you like. Please, get in.” – Driver

So basically that is what every conversation is like. At the end they will demand a price, and I don’t care because I pay them what I think is fair. They try to scam, and I don’t play that game. Anyways, we get in 2 rickshaws, 3 people in each, and we start driving through the streets. It isn’t driving though. It is a maze of unorganized powered objects racing towards another at high speeds with death defying turns and swerves. How I am still alive, I do not know. After stopping at the ATM, we went to a number of shops that the drivers got a commission from. I have learned from traveling independently and on SAS trips that all Indians think Americans are really rich. There are two types of places you can shop. One is the street markets where you can get things for a few dollars. The other is incredibly expensive ‘departmental stores’ that have all kinds of handicrafts, jewelry, carpets, and antiques for thousands of dollars. By the end of the 5 days in India, I was sick of being taken to all these expensive stores where merchandise was being sold for thousands of dollars. On our free time we got to the markets and bought some really cool stuff for real cheap. Anyways, I did not buy anything the first day, but the girls and Ryan did. Before we headed back to the ship, we paid 100 rupees each (about 2 dollars US), to see a snake charmer charm some cobras. He used his whistle and the cobra came up and bit him like 4 times, and at one point he had two cobras moving to the music. It was pretty cool. The drivers then took us to a street market where Indians were selling all sorts of goods. Right behind the market was a cool Hindu temple, and we stopped and looked at that for a while. We went back to the ship around 6pm to meet with some people who were coming back from some day trips they did through SAS. We met up with about 10 other people, went back out of the port, and boarded some more rickshaws. Once again I could not get the driver to give me the name of the supposedly nice restaurant he was taking us to, so I figured if we didn’t like it we would get them to take us to a much nicer one. I was right and they took us to a small little underground restaurant that was very sketchy. Ryan and I always seem to end up being the leaders of our huge groups for some reason, but I guess it is a good thing because it means we are good travelers. So, I said to my rickshaw driver, who was also named Michael (allegedly), that it was about 3 steps below what we were looking for. I then told him we wanted 5 star, and he finally understood. We were taken to a five star hotel where basically the only good restaurants are. We had a great dinner of Indian food and Kingfisher beer, and then we headed back to the ship. On the way back, I saw what India was like at night, and it was a real learning experience. People in India don’t really have homes. I never saw one residential neighborhood or housing area. Some communities were little shacks of tin on the sides of incredibly polluted and smelly rivers, but even those were scarce. People pretty much just live on the ground anywhere. On the way back to the ship in the rickshaw, we passed people just sleeping on their blankets on the sidewalk, in the street, and everywhere. They literally live and sleep inches away from all the traffic, on a blanket on the ground. Some don’t even have a blanket. Families are all together, and it is really crowded. Everyone is pretty much touching each other. I don’t really know how to describe what it looks like, but it really is like nothing I have ever seen before.

Grant, Ryan, and I had to wake up at 3:30am to go on our trip, so we decided to make it an early night. I got to bed around 11pm.

I woke up ay 3:30am, grabbed my bag I had packed the night before, and went to go meet up with the SAS trip in the dining hall. We boarded the buses and drove to the airport. Once we got there we went through security. For some reason airlines in India do not let you take batteries on board, so all our trip leaders collected the batteries and put them in one checked bag. After security, we got on the plane. The ride to Delhi was about two and a half hours. I slept most of the way because of my lack of sleep the night before. Once we got to Delhi, we met with our tour guides and we boarded the tour buses. We first visited the Bahai house of worship. It is a cool temple that is shaped like a lotus flower. It reminds me of the Sydney opera house in Australia. After that we drove by the parliament house, war memorial and the president’s house.

After our drive we went and checked into our hotel, the Hotel Ashok. It is a 5 star hotel, but 5 star hotels in India are more like 3 or 4 star in the US. We ate some amazing Indian food for lunch. Desert was these little balls of fried dough soaked in honey, and they were soooooo good. After lunch we visited Humayun’s tomb, which was pretty cool. After that we visited Qutub Minar which was even better. It was built in 1199, and it is crazy walking around a palace that was built almost 1000 years ago. The carvings and scriptures were amazingly intricate, and the architecture was mind blowing. After that, we went for a shopping tour of Cottage Industries. This is a company that makes the nicest Indian carpets around. They gave us a nice demonstration of how the carpets are all hand made, and they gave us tea and cookies too. Then they wanted us to buy some of the carpets, which were thousands of dollars. I bought some of the tea, which was about $6. After that we went to a dance performance called, The Dances of India. It was really cool and it combined classical, folk, and tribal dances into one big performance. The drummers were amazing, and they were doing back flips and all sorts of tricks while playing the drums. After the performance we came back to the hotel and had another great dinner, and then we just hung out for a while until bed.

The second day was the day we were supposed to go to Varanasi. Since this was not happening, we went to visit Old Delhi, since we did New Delhi the day before. We ate breakfast and then boarded the buses. We drove by the red fort that was built by the emperor Shahjehan. There are two red forts, and the other one is in Agra, which I saw the next day. After that we began our drive into Old Delhi. I love Old Delhi. It was absolutely amazing to be driving through nothing but crowds, cows, carts, markets, and people. It was so packed and so lively. People were everywhere doing everything you can imagine. It really was a site to see, and I captured some of it in my pictures. We got off at one point and took a rickshaw ride for 50 rupees each, which is about one dollar. This was not one of the motorized rickshaws I had ridden in Chennai, it was a bicycle one, and it was even more fun. Riding through traffic, cows, and people in a bicycle rickshaw was great. At one point elephants were walking down the road and we stopped while they passed right next to us. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. After that we visited one of the largest Mosques in India. We always have to take our shoes off when we visit temples which is kind of gross, but oh well. The mosque was cool, but I am not sure how interested I am in the whole Hindu religion. After the mosque we went and visited Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation site. It was really beautiful. There are acres and acres of green grass and gardens, and his cremation site is this huge black marble pillar with flowers on it. His ashes were inside and it felt really cool to be so close to such an amazing person. We then boarded the buses again and went to another ‘departmental store’, which of course I didn’t buy anything because it was all so damn expensive. After that we were let off again at the hotel and given the rest of the afternoon free. Me and several people decided to go down to the street markets to pick up some souvenirs and presents. We hired a cab for the afternoon and went to Janpath markets in New Delhi. It was crazy. I saw maybe two or three other tourists there the entire time. Of course, at the end of the 3 hours we spent there I was ready to leave. I can only take so much of the constant hassling, harassing, and following of the people trying to get you to buy things. I did not buy too much, but I did get a t-shirt and a coat. I know, who buys a coat in 95 degree India? I got it at a suit store and it is really cool. It is a long black merino wool coat I can wear to work or over a suit. I will wear it during the freezing winters of Syracuse. In the US, the coat would have cost me probably over $200. I bargained with the guy and paid $50 US. I was happy. Grant bought the same coat, and another one of my friends got a suit there. So after the markets, we got back in the taxis, paid our 200 rupees each, about $4 US, to the cab driver for the 3 hour hire, and went back to the hotel. We ate Chinese food, real Chinese food, for dinner, and then I went to bed early because the next day was to be a very early one.

Our wake-up call was at 4am, and I got up and got my stuff ready for the trip to Agra. We met in the lobby at 430, and hen we went to the Delhi train station. The train station in Delhi was….interesting. Just like the streets, there were people everywhere. Beggars, sellers, and people in general were everywhere. We boarded the train and the ride from Delhi to Agra was about two hours. We arrived at Agra train station two hours later. Agra train station is nothing like Delhi. It is about 100 times worse. I will get to that later though. We left the train station and boarded our buses. At this time, our tour guides figured out that there was a VIP visit at the Taj Mahal that day, and it would be closed for a period of time. They did not know this beforehand, and I knew about it a month ago. Why SAS did not plan for this, I have no idea, but it was a poor judgment on their part. I figured SAS would have known this and accounted for it, but I guess I was wrong. So after it was figured out that the VIP visit was scheduled to take place at 2pm, and we were supposed to see the Taj at sunset, they decided it might cut it too close. It wasn’t known when it would be reopened after the visit. Therefore, we changed our itinerary and instead visited Agra fort and the Taj first, and then we went to the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri. The VIP visitor of the Taj Mahal was the president of Myanmar actually. Some people were saying it was Yanni that was visiting, and I laughed when I heard that. Yanni probably couldn’t get a Burger King closed for himself if he wanted to. Anyways, the first thing we did was visit the Agra fort. I was starting to get a little sick of all the palaces and forts, and this one wasn’t all that much interesting either; just another huge red stone fort that took up a massive waste of space. I have found that all these forts and palaces are just sitting there taking up space in such a crowded country for no reason other than for tourists to go visit them. Anyways, after the fort we made our way to some hotel that we ate lunch at. We weren’t staying there, but apparently it was arranged for us to have lunch there. After lunch, it was time for the Taj Mahal. This was to be the highlight of my trip, and I was very excited. My only worry was that it was still morning, and it was very hazy. Luckily, we reached the Taj around 11am and it had cleared right up and the sun was shining. We waited in line forever to get in. Men and ladies are always in separate lines everywhere we go, and the men are always let in first. It is always interesting to see it. Anyways, while we were in line we were getting hassled by street merchants like no other. They would not leave us alone and it eventually got to the point where our guides realized it was getting really bad and they got us to go through a side entrance. We walked through a little village, passing huge camels and some goats, and went to another entrance where there was a small line. We went through “security”, and then we were in. At first you see a large red brick palace that has a small opening in front of it that you walk through to get to the Taj Mahal. When you walk up to it you can begin to see the white marble structure on the other side. As soon as you walk through the opening you see the Taj Mahal. It is breathtaking. You are up on a stone ledge and the Taj Mahal stands up in the sky from behind a long reflecting pool and beautiful gardens that lead up to it. I had finally made it to the Taj Mahal, and it felt great. Ryan, Grant, and I walked around and went inside and saw where the emperor Shah Jahan and his wife were buried. We took many pictures outside including this one:

We were yelled at many times because apparently signs are not allowed, but we didn’t come this far to not take pictures with our signs, so we snapped away. We spent about two hours at the Taj Mahal, and then we boarded the buses again and headed to the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri. Once again, it was a palace, or city rather, that was deserted and just left there taking up space. It was very cool though. Emperor Akbar built it out of red sandstone. The city is basically in a desert, and apparently Emperor Akbar must have been quite the idiot, because after it was built, they realized that they couldn’t get any water, so the city was deserted. Sounds like a smart bunch of folks to me. After the city, we took the long bus ride back to the Agra train station. Before we got to the train station we stopped off at one of the highest class restaurants in India, Pizza Hut. It felt good to eat pizza again, even though it wasn’t as good as pizza back home. After Pizza Hut we went back to the Agra train station for our return to Delhi. I have heard stories from people about the Agra train station, and they were all true. Agra train station is full of beggars, pickpockets, and people who have decided to just live there. I saw a lot of things in the Agra train station, and I will not write about it in here. At some point in some time I will discuss my experiences with people one on one, but an online blog is no way to tell you what I have seen. All I can say is that we as Americans have such a damn good life, and many of us don’t even realize it.

We arrived back in Delhi from Agra at about 11pm, and I was exhausted so I just watched a little TV before bed. I was excited when I saw ESPN, but my excitement soon went away when I realized all they broadcasted was cricket, which is a game I don’t understand and never will. VH1 is the same as in the US, but MTV is totally different. It is all Indian music videos and I got very scared when some of them played. The Indian commercials were even weirder. Grant and I were laughing hysterically when we found the actual show of Takeshi’s Castle. It is not the same as Extreme MXC because there is no funny commentating. I then found 3 channels of HBO though and watched Bad Boys 2 and then went to sleep.

We woke up at 7am, had breakfast, and met in the lobby to catch our flight back to Chennai. It was our last day in India. Unfortunately, the trip leaders found out our flight was delayed about an hour so we hung around in the lobby for a while before heading to the airport. While in the lobby I noticed a group of five adults sitting on some couches who looked American. Me and some people walked over and began talking to them. They were the first Americans I had met while in India, and they were actually from Connecticut. We talked for a long time about all sorts of stuff and they clued us in on all the stuff that has been happening in the states since we have been gone. They were doing some research in India for their company and were waiting for their flight to another city. We eventually parted ways and went to the airport. We boarded our flight back to Chennai. Airlines in Asia are very very different from the US. When you get on the plane you first receive a hot towel. After you sit down they give you some mints. After you are in the air they bring you drinks, and then they bring you a full meal. After the full meal you get Baskin and Robbins ice cream. It’s really cool. Anyways, we got back to Chennai and went back to the ship. I got on the ship around 5pm, and took a shower then went to dinner with some people. I called my parents and talked to them. After that I decided I didn’t want to get back off the ship before on ship time at 9 because it was just too much of a hassle. I would have only had 3 hours anyway. I unpacked, and we pulled away from the dock a little after 11pm.

The entire time I was in India, I tried to compare what I was seeing with what I knew from the world I was from. Nothing I saw could compare. India is that radically different. The cars, the people, the living situations, the smells, the filth, and just everything about it is nothing like anything I have come to know this far in my life. In our standards, it would be the poorest civilization that exists, but in their standards, it isn’t poor because that is how everyone lives. I really wish I could sit here and describe India, but I can’t. Before I came on this voyage, I read information, looked at pictures, and listened to stories of what India was like. Once I was there, it was so much more real, and so much more of a shock than anything I had attempted to prepare myself for. If anyone ever gets a chance to visit this country, even if it seems repulsive, disgusting, and dangerous to you; do it. The experience of seeing a radical culture such as India is worth everything it takes to experience it.

We get to Myanmar on Thursday. We have been learning about it and I can not wait. For those of you who don’t know, Myanmar is located between India and Thailand, and is formally known as Burma. In Thailand, there are approximately 12 million tourists a year, but In Myanmar, there are only 600,000 tourists a year. 1% of those are Americans. The history of this country should warrant an interesting experience. If any of you know what Myanmar is really like, be assured that I will be safe, as the tourist will see everything that the tourist is wanted to see by the military government, and nothing more…

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to check out my pictures: http://community.webshots.com/user/mgilbert7

P.S. – GO SYRACUSE! BIG EAST CHAMPS!

India Is A Go, Varanasi Is Not

Note: If you have not read my perevious post, read that before this one.


Well, we got word tonight at the logistical pre-port meeting that we will still be going to India, which I assumed we still would. The only difference is that there were a number of overnight trips that were scheduled to visit a number of cities including Varanasi, the city that was bombed today. Apparently more bombs went off later in the day, and that pretty much sealed the fate for the trips going there. I am on one of those trips. My trip is the Dehli/Varanasi/Agra trip. Our itinerary has been altered, and we will not be going to Varanasi, but we will be extending our stay in Dehli before traveling to Agra. I am deeply upset about this. There were two things I wanted to see the most on this voyage. One of them is Cambodia, which I will visit when we port in Vietnam, and the other is to visit the River Ganges in Varanasi. I will not be able to do it, and I am extremely saddened by this. But, I must roll with the punches and understand and commend SAS with taking the utmost consideration when it comes to our safety. Besides that, Varanasi is currently closed off to everyone including tourists until this bomb stuff is sorted out. In the end, I will still get to see a great site, the Taj Mahal in Agra. While it is not nearly as important to me as seeing the religious ceremonies, the ritual bathing, and the sheer amazement of the River Ganges, I believe that it will still be a good trip. I mean, I am going to be in India; that in itself is awesome. So, it is now 10pm here and we dock in India at 8am, which is in 10 hours. Even though we hit a major bump in the road, I can’t wait to get there…

Terrosit Attack In India

I just received word this morning from people on this ship that there has been a terrorist attack in India killing 15 and injuring over 100. We are supposed to get to India tomorrow. You can read the story here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/07/news/hindu.php

Let me say this right now because I know A LOT of people read this blog, including other SAS parents: RIGHT NOW WE HAVE HAD NO OFFICIAL WORD FROM SEMESTER AT SEA OR ISE ON WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO. This information is just coming out and not everyone on the ship knows about this yet. I will update this blog when i receive more information, specifically from SAS, not from the rumor mill of students on board.

Thank You.

A Beautiful Sunset Begins A Beautiful Week

Above is a beautiful picture of last night’s sunset. This photo was not doctored or photoshoped at all, this is what we saw. All my friends and I ate our dinner outside as we watched this gorgeous phenomenon take place. It was by far the best sunset I have witnessed at sea. We are in the Indian Ocean, sailing our way towards India. We arrive Thursday morning. The Indian Ocean is like no other ocean. It is as smooth as you can imagine. I never thought an ocean could be so smooth. The water is like glass, and to top it all off, dolphins have made a few appearances the past couple of days, including during lunch today.

On Saturday we had the sea Olympics. I watched many events and participated in one, but I had so much work and studying to do that I was not able to be out and about as much as I would have liked. My sea, the Arabian Sea, did not win. The Bering Sea won, and they get to get off the ship first in San Diego. I am kind of glad we didn’t win, because if you get off the ship first, then you have to sit there and wait for all your friends to get off.

Classes have been going well. I have more work than I have ever received in school before. Mainly this comes out of my history of Africa class, which is by far the most awful class I have ever taken. I spend a great deal of my free time on this ship reading novels by African authors and doing work for just that class, and I have yet to learn a damn thing about the history of Africa. I feel like it is a literature class more than a history class. Not to mention, it is supposed to be an introductory class, and the way the teacher grades us and gives us work, it is by far the most difficult class I have ever taken. So I guess I am saying it just is not fair, but oh well. All my other classes are great and I am doing well in them. We just passed the halfway mark for the academic part of the voyage. We haven’t gotten halfway through the actual voyage itself yet, but that day is soon approaching. It seems like just yesterday that I was getting on the ship in Nassau, and I wonder where January and February went. I am sure the next 2 months will fly by.

As for my camera situation, it is still broken. Apparently, the problem with my camera is a huge problem in Canon cameras, and there is actually a class action lawsuit against Canon for it. There are specific websites set up and dedicated to this problem. Basically my lens is jammed and I get an E18 error message. I took it to the ship’s photographer, Josh, and he said this was about the 20th case he has seen of this problem. He gave me suggestions to fix it and I looked online as well. So far I have had no luck, but I plan to devote the rest of my day to trying to fix it, even though I have about 70 pages to read in a book for *cough*NON*cough* history of Africa.

I can not wait for India. I have heard from so many past voyagers and people who have visited India that it is a culture and land like no other. Some people will find it repulsive and disgusting, others will find it fascinating. I am expecting to find it maybe a little both. I believe I have prepared myself pretty well for it, but as it is known, one can not prepare themselves for the unknown. I have studied how things are done in India, and I have prepared myself for some of the sights I may see. Of course, seeing these things in real life instead of reading about them or talking about them with people will be the true test to whether I am prepared or not. Either way, you can look forward to an interesting, and yes quite possibly long journal entry. We are in India for 5 days, and I have such an incredibly hectic schedule, that I will want to describe as much as I can in here. I believe India will be one of the most important countries we visit on this voyage, and I plan to try as hard as I can to convey my experiences to you. The last thing I will write about today is where I will be traveling to in India. We dock in Chennai, which is in the south of India. I will spend the first day there, and then I will be traveling to Delhi, the capital of India. After that I will travel to Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in the world and home to the river Ganges. After that I will travel to Agra to see many sights including the Taj Mahal. There is much more involved, but those are some of the major areas I will be visiting.

It is now time for me to go throw my camera against the wall a few more times. Hopefully I can pick one up in India, we will see. Hope everything is going well back in the States. India is supposed to be incredibly hot this time of year, 90-100 degrees. I will try to send some of that warm weather your way…

P.s. – Thank you again for your wonderful comments either through my guestbook, emails, or at the bottom of my blogs. I appreciate it :-)

Beautiful Mauritius

I am a red lobster. The Mauritian sun is very strong, and I am going to have one hell of a tan when this sunburn goes away. You might as well start calling me George Hamilton right now, because I am going to be nice and gold after this painful takeover of my skin. Anyways, a sunburn is a small price to pay for three days on one of the most gorgeous islands I have ever spent my time on. I have never been to Hawaii, but every picture I have seen resembles this island. Speaking of pictures, my digital camera broke the last day I was in South Africa. The lens is jammed out, and it turns on, then shuts off. I tried to find a place in Mauritius to fix it or buy a new one, but I had trouble finding even a legit store. All around is run down stores or Indian markets. So most of my pictures will be from the people I spent the three days with, and hopefully I can find a camera in India. Finally, I will write a short journal entry this time. With three days on an island filled with beaches, you can guess what I did, and you can guess there is not a whole lot to write about. So this short entry is for you J.C. ;-)

Mauritius is a place I had never heard of before Semester at Sea. This port was originally supposed to be Kenya, which was canceled due to terrorism and piracy. Mauritius was what replaced Kenya, and I remember having to pull out a map to find the little island in the Indian Ocean. It lies just east of Madagascar, and most of its imports are from South Africa, although the culture is very Indian. The island is very popular among Europeans because it is a hotspot for vacations. This brought a lot of anger from SAS students because it was not a comparable port to Kenya. Kenya is a fascinating African country with much native history and culture, and Mauritius is…..an island full of beaches and resorts. Well the thing is, there is much more culture and history than any of us ever expected to find in Mauritius, and I for one am very happy I was able to visit such an interesting country.

The night before pulling into Mauritius, a group of about 8 of us decided to rent a beach house for the 3 days we would be there. Pretty much every SAS student was planning on doing this. The problem was that my friends and I did not want to go to a complex or beach area that was filled with SAS’ers, and we did a great job of that. I talked to tons of people and got a sense of where everyone was staying. They were pretty much all staying in Flic en Flac, a beach town with many bungalows and hotels you can stay at. I then got on the internet and found a place about 30 minutes from there right next to a town called Grand Baie. We called up the place (Seapoint Beach Bungalows) in the morning when we arrived in Mauritius, and we rented 2 bungalows on the beach. We really weren’t sure what the place was like, other than what we had seen on the internet. The ship was docked in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. When the ship was cleared, around 9:30am, we set out into the market of Port Louis. The culture in Mauritius is very interesting. Everyone here is Indian, but they all speak French. We walked around the markets, and it definitely gave us a taste of what India will be like. Most of them sold knockoff clothes like Hugo Boss, Von Dutch, etc. After the markets, which didn’t exactly smell like an Elizabeth Taylor perfume fragrance (AKA it smelled bad because of the sewer, dead fish laying out for sale, and tons of people in a small area), we headed back to the ship. I did not buy anything in the markets because I figured that everything there I can get in India for cheaper, and there will be even more stuff. Ryan of course bought a ton of crap, and like I said, we headed back to the ship after that. We ate lunch on the ship, then Ryan, Mark, Grant, Morgan, Liz, and I all set out for our bungalow. The rest of the people who were going to stay with us had some field programs through SAS that they signed up for, and they were going to meet us later in the day. We grabbed a cab and took the 30 minute drive to the north side of the island, right next to Grand Baie. Grand Baie is a little tourist spot with shops and restaurant, and our bungalow was about a 5 minute drive down the road. Our place was right on the beach, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The bungalow wasn’t the nicest thing in the world, but for $40 US per person for 2 nights, you can’t beat that. The water was a bright turquoise color, and it was accented with a white sand beach and palm trees. I was in heaven. The first thing we did was run to the supermarket to get some food. We thought since it was such a short drive from Grand Baie that it wouldn’t take long to walk, but we were wrong. It was about 85 degrees out, and we had to dodge mopeds, wild dogs, and crazy cab drivers as we walked 45 minutes through little villages to get to the supermarket. When we finally got there, we spent nearly two hours there. It was amazing to see actual food. You don’t understand how precious some little things are to us, like crackers, pizza, candy, ice cream, etc. We never see this type of stuff on the ship, so it is like heaven when we see it. At one point I looked at our cart and all it was filled with was alcohol, fireworks, and a blender. I brought this to the attention of my friends, and we laughed at how stupid and American we are. At that point I remembered we would probably need food, and we then hatched our dinner plan. There was a barbecue at the bungalow, so we got some chicken, teriyaki sauce, rice, buns, and chips, and we got out of the supermarket. When we got back to the bungalow, Grant and I wasted no time in getting our snorkeling gear on. We grabbed our masks and flippers and set out for the beach. The coral was gorgeous, and the fish spectacular. It was good snorkeling there, but it never got deeper than 3 or 4 feet, and it became tough to navigate around the coral and rocks without touching it. After that, we spent the night barbecuing, drinking wine or mixed drinks, swimming in the pool, and listening to music. The rest of the group had shown up around 7pm, and we now had 11 people staying in our 2 bungalows. In my bungalow was me, Grant, Quinn, Leah, and Jess. We sat on the balcony for hours and talked about social issues, world issues, politics, religion, and our personal lives. I seriously travel around the world with the most amazing people, and we have the most intelligent and beautiful conversations between ourselves. I absolutely love it. So, we talked until about 11pm, and then a really fat French guy in a speedo from the bungalow next to us started yelling at us because we were too loud. He had gotten the night watchmen of the complex to come over with him, and since neither of them spoke English, they looked pretty hilarious making gestures at us to try to get us to go to sleep. Even though we were just talking in normal voices and barely making any noise, we decided to take it inside. Grant, Jess, and I were in the same room so we talked until early in the morning about everything, and it was a lot of fun.

In the morning, the French guy was trying to yell at us some more and explain to us that the beer we drink is going to make us fat, and I pointed to his gut and the wine he was drinking with his breakfast, and inquired about that. He didn’t have an answer. I talked to the night watchmen who said we were no problem, and that the fat French guy had been complaining about the Norwegians and Italians who were in the bungalows on the other side of him too. So if you can catch my drift, the French guy and us did not get along. Maybe he was just frustrated because his gut was squeezing his speedo too tight…

Anyways, the second day….lazy day! Mauritius was kind of like our spring break, and I decided that I was not going to do any hardcore traveling around this island (there isn’t much to see anyways), and that I was going to just chill out and enjoy the gorgeous beaches. Half of the group went to go travel to hike some waterfalls, and half the group went to the beach. I decided to go to the beach. We wanted to go to a different beach than the one in front of our hotel for a change, so we walked about 3 minutes down the road to Mont Choisy beach. It was all sand and it was beautiful. We swam, laid out in the sun, and got ice cream from a guy in a musical ice cream truck. Of course, me and Grant snorkeled a ton too. It was lots of fun, but then it started to rain. It had rained about 3 times that day, but it only rains for about 5 minutes then it passes over. So after the beach we went back to the bungalow and then back to the supermarket. We bought, wine, cheese, crackers, and bread and had an outstanding lunch. We then just hung around in the sun under the palm trees by the pool until the other group got back from the hiking trip. We then all got dressed into some nice casual clothes and went into Grand Baie for some dinner. We ate at a Chinese place, which was stupid to me because I thought we should be eating Indian food since that is the culture, but whatever. I was full from the bread, cheese, and crackers, so I only ordered desert. After dinner, some of our group went to a bar, but I was exhausted and didn’t want to spend any money on alcohol, and everyone from our bungalow felt the same, so we just went back. We once again talked for a while and then went to sleep around 1am.

The next morning we got up early, around 730, and we had booked a catamaran excursion through the place we were staying at. We were picked up at 830 and driven to a pier where we boarded the catamaran. We sailed out to Flat Island, and it was hilarious. We all sat on the front of the catamaran, and there were two nets in the very front that you could sit in and look down at the water. Mark and Morgan each sat on one of the nets. We were laughing so hard because once we got out of the sheltered bay and into the open water they were getting soaked. It didn’t last for long because eventually the swells got so big we were getting slammed and soaked by waves as well. It was a great time and we laughed and held on to dear life as we crashed into wave after wave. We eventually made it out to Flat Island, and we jumped in the water and snorkeled. The water was clear, and I could see straight down to the bottom from about 30 feet up. It was a beautiful bright blue color. We snorkeled in towards the shore and swam above coral and brightly colored fish just a few feet below us. Everyone except Mark, Grant, and I headed back to the catamaran about halfway through my little tour I was leading, so we snorkeled for a really long time by ourselves and saw a ton of cool things. Snorkeling in the Indian Ocean is very different. It is more southern than the Caribbean for example, and for some reason that makes you more buoyant in the water. The body is very buoyant in saltwater anyways, but I never once got tired, and all I was wearing were fins, a mask and snorkel, and my suit. I just floated at the top of the water and kicked my fins lightly to move through it. It was so relaxing. When we got back to the catamaran, the two guys running it barbecued us lunch. After lunch pretty much everyone felt seasick because we were rocking quite a bit where we were anchored. Mark was the only one that puked, but I was close to it. We pulled up anchor and went to a beach. We pulled into a bay that was as smooth as glass, and we swam around the catamaran or to the beach and just hung out for about 2 hours. After that we were ready to go back, but the engines on the catamaran didn’t start. There wasn’t enough wind to sail out of there, so they called one of their friends who came up in a boat an hour later and gave them a new battery. The engines worked and we got back out into the blue ocean. Then the engines shut down again. They eventually got one engine working and we half sailed and half motor boated the way in. We eventually got back to the dock around 530pm, and then we went back to the bungalow. We grabbed our stuff and then headed back to the ship.

It was about a half an hour cab ride back to the ship, and once I was back on I immediately jumped in the shower. I was so full of salt and sweat, and it felt so good to get clean. After my refreshing shower, I called my parents, and then made some calls to a few friends. I made the decision that this would be the port where I call people, since it is almost halfway through. Wow, almost halfway through this voyage, I don’t even want to think about that! Anyways, after my phone calls, I hung out with some people on the pool deck and we pulled out of port early at 10pm instead of 11 because everyone was on the ship before 9pm (on ship time).

Mauritius was wonderful. It was very interesting to see the Indian culture mixed with South African, French, Creole, and all kinds of other things. The island is about half the size of Rhode Island, so it is small. There really aren’t many roads, there about two that run throughout the whole island. Even though it is small, the landscapes are very different throughout the island, and it was interesting to view the variances in landscapes in such short distances. It definitely was a precursor of India, and we get there in 7 days. There is a break between classes; we have the sea Olympics on one of the days. Every hallway is divided into a “sea” on the ship, and I am in the Arabian Sea. All the seas compete in the sea Olympics in all kinds of crazy games. The sea who wins the Olympics gets to get off the ship first in San Diego. I am kind of hoping my sea does not win, that way I do not have to say goodbye as quickly to all the amazing people I have met. Anyways, I can not wait for India, I have heard that it is the most far removed and different culture that anyone will ever experience. It is supposed to be a port that will change the way you look at the lives and culture of people. So that is my entry on Mauritius, and as I promised, it was short this time. That wont last for long though, expect a nice long one for India! I will surely write an update after the sea olympics, so until then, goodbye!

P.S. – I have 4 Buffett concerts planned so far for this summer: Pittsburgh, Camden, and 2 in Boston. I already have someone coming with me to Pittsburgh, but if you are interested in any of the others, keep it in mind and get with me when I get back. Oh and there will most likely be more dates, which means more shows….

P.P.S. - The internet the past few weeks here has been ridiculous, and I am having an extrememly difficult time getting photos up and checking my email. So, if there are no photos, or I dont respond to your emails, or if this blog is updated late, that is the reason why. It is very frustrating and hopefully whatever is wrong will be fixed. So just give me time, it will all be up soon.