china!!

April 24, 2007

Tuesday morning we arrived in Hong Kong. I didn’t get up for the sunrise, but did make it up just in time for breakfast around 8:30. I dragged myself half-asleep to the dining hall, had my cheerios and then on my way back to my room I hear over the announcements that the diplomatic briefing will be starting soon and that the Virginia Tech shootings will also be discussed. I’ve been awake about 10 minutes and this is the first I’ve heard about the incident. Tired, confused and very awkwardly, I raced to the computer lab to try and get on my e-mail and CNN.com to see what in the world had happened. I’m thinking about my friends and wondering if they’re OK and about a million other things. And then I remember my boyfriend went to go visit his boys and that he was at Tech this weekend. The one weekend in the semester he chooses to go. So I basically just start freaking out and buy a phone card ($20 for 13 minutes, sorry parents, emergency) and call Will and thank God, he’d gotten home a few hours earlier. And then I called my Dad because I needed someone from home to talk to. Racing around the world tires you out and you don’t realize how exhausted you are until your emotions start flying around and you can’t really think. It was great to talk to my Dad and it made me miss home a lot. The next couple days were difficult because I’m obviously not home and I don’t have my Virginia people and close friends to talk to. Everyone on the ship is sympathetic and very upset with the attack, but its different being from Virginia and having friends live at the school.

We arrived in Hong Kong on the 17th, I believe, and just went out into the city. I didn’t know that Hong Kong is split up into islands, and Hong Kong city itself is its own little island, appropriately named Hong Kong Island. We were ported in Kowloon and if we wanted to go to the island, we had to take a ferry over. Our first day we just explored our port area and the city on that side and it was very cool. Hong Kong is very wealthy. Our dock was connected to a mall, which lead to a bigger mall. They’ve got Gucci, Chanel, Burberry and every other expensive store right off the port and, just as in the states, those are the most deserted parts of the city. It’s all too expensive to shop in so none of the students bother to even check out those stores.

You know what Chinatown looks like? Well that’s what Hong Kong is. Signs written in Chinese characters, weird things being sold on the side of the street, lots of random stuff you don’t need, and of course, Starbucks. In the states you can go to any Starbucks and get free WiFi for at least 15-20 minutes before having to pay, but not in H.K. We tried finding a place with free WiFi but this Chinese-looking woman, who sounded exactly like an American, informed me that there isn’t free internet anywhere and kind of gave a chuckle as if to say, “H K is expensive, watch out.”…so we walked around the city, found an internet café, and then met up with Mia and Jenny for lunch. As we were walking around the city, this woman was just standing outside, tossed us a menu, and because we were hungry we just went for it. She took us inside and we had to take an elevator into the restaurant because it was a little hidden. When we got up there we realized that we were at a very nice restaurant that only the business men and women of Hong Kong knew about. The food was so delicious. We got noodles, chicken with vegetables and peanuts, shrimp dumplings, lots of fried rice and tea. After a lunch like that, you’ve gotta do something or else you’re body might throw a fit. We were so stuffed, but wanted to see the city so we walked around and eventually got to the Ladies’ Market where they had lots of cheap t-shirts, watches, knock-off purses, belt buckles and everything you can imagine. I picked up a couple of Football (or soccer) patches and am excited about them, but still not sure where I want to put them yet. I started to feel a little uneasy, so I headed back early and rested until we went out that night. We all put on our cutest and most handsome outfits and headed to the Hard Rock Café, for the third time this trip, and ate our nachos, salads and cheeseburgers. This is the first time that the 10 of us were able to go out all together. Port life is busy, so we finally all got together. But the Hard Rock, as usual, was very pleasing and I enjoyed my meal. De-lish. I love being in port -the food is always great wherever you go because its NOT ship food.

After dinner we went out. Alcohol is very expensive at bars and restaurants, but luckily there are 7-11s on every street corner and you can just pop in there, buy a very large Tsing Tao beer for 14 Yuan (>$2) and carry it around with you on the streets. It’s so cheap and easy, and the only place you can’t drink it is on the train. I’m sure everyone was looking at us as tacky-Americans, but it was a funny experience and definitely cheaper. We took the train to Hong Kong island (yes, we made it to the city!) and went to the bar street where we just wandered, hung out, had a good time and saw about 500 Semester at Sea students. When there’s only one main strip for bars, you can guarantee the bulk of the students will be there, many of them making fools of themselves. We hung out for a while, but headed out around 12:30 because we all had to wake up around 6 AM for our trips into the main land.

Through the semester, I went on 6 overnight SAS trips. That’s a lot. China was my final run with the team. We flew out of Hong Kong airport (which is huge) and into Beijing. We saw everything.
The Great Wall was amazing and beautiful. Caitlin and I decided to hike up versus riding the lift up. It was a little tiring and difficult, but didn’t take too long. We got really lucky with the weather because if it had been any hotter we would’ve been sweaty and gross, and if it was colder it just wouldn’t have been as enjoyable and provided such a great view. It was really incredible and it’s hard to believe that men created such a thing. It’s 6,000 miles long and took 2,000 years to actually complete. Amazing! Some people chose to spend an extra $150 to camp out on the wall overnight. That’s something I’d like to do next time. I can’t even imagine the view you’d get. We were fortunate enough to climb the wall in a place that let’s you take a Toboggan down. So after we did our walk and saw what we needed to, we headed for our ride. You get on this little seat and basically luge down a metal route that brings you to the base of the fort. It was awesome and you can only do that in certain parts of the Wall. I heard that kids on a different trip went to a place where you got to zip-line down, also very cool.
T’ien-en-men Square. We actually went out to dinner the night before and on our cab ride back, we drove through the square and it looks very, very cool at night. And it was deserted so it’s always neat to see a place when there isn’t anyone else around. The next day we actually traveled to the area and took our tour. It’s a very impressive area and basically, a huge square. There are a lot of political buildings that you can’t go in, but can see framing the area. They had Mao’s body on display in the building appropriately named, Maoseum, or something like that. Unfortunately, that was closed so we didn’t get to see his body. They sell his little red book and Mao watches everywhere. Caitlin bought 2 on the Great Wall. After we viewed the square we headed to…
The Imperial Palace or Forbidden City. When we arrived everyone was talking about Mulan and how this is where it took place. That’s my favorite Disney movie ever, so it was very exciting, but the city wasn’t as impressive as I’d hoped. There were thousands of people there, including a majority of Chinese tourists, so it kind of took away from the whole ‘incredible city’ feel. It was great to see, but not my favorite place visited. It’s a large area and if I were an emperor, I’d be OK with living there, but there was nothing that really made it stand out and get my attention except the fact that it was large. A lot of the best and most impressive buildings were under construction because of Beijing 2008, the summer Olympics. China’s gotta look good for the people of the world.
We also went to the Lama Palace. I have no idea what it is, but it was very pretty upon entering with lots of nice trees and flowers. The reason its so renowned is because it is home to the largest Buddha in the world. You can’t take any pictures to prove it, but he’s probably 4 stories tall. He’s a big guy.
The Temple of Heaven was my second favorite part of the trip. The temple was neat, but it looked just like the other places we’d been already. The surrounding park and garden was gorgeous. There were many Chinese men and women practicing Tai Chi, doing ribbon dancing, doing group exercises, singing, and there was also a young couple making out under a coat. There were little purple flowers everywhere and it was a large area, so you could look around and not see anything but trees and flowers and it was just beautiful. As we started to leave the park, you could see a playground off in the distance. James and I decided to check it out, and once we got closer we realized it wasn’t a playground, but an outdoor gym for older Chinese men and women. They had so many funny machines, but they were all in great shape! They had leg press machines, monkey bars, weird cardio/aerobic machines- basically everything you need to keep your body in shape at a tender age. It was so cool and even cooler to see.
Our last night we went to an acrobatic show. It was only about an hour and fifteen minutes, but these people were amazing. We had women contorting their bodies in all directions and holding themselves up by their teeth. They also somehow managed to stack 12 women on a bicycle, while one was still riding it around in a circle. She must have strong legs. The men were so strong. I can’t even describe what they could do with their bodies…it’s just something you have to see. I’m pretty sure they could’ve balanced me on their toe and walked down a set of stairs on their hands. Yes, they’re that good.
One evening we got to experience Peking Duck and it was sooo good. They give you a lot of food and you’re like ‘ok this is good, this is yummy,’ but then they bring you the duck and teach you how to fix it up and wow, its delicious. They gave us some special sauce and well, I ate a lot. I’ll definitely be going back. We have a lot of high-maintenance girls on this trip. Many of them are too scared to eat anything and complain and ask a lot of questions. A lot of the time you just want to slap them and ask them why they’re even here, but this one girl in particular was just annoying. She goes off about how she’s a vegetarian so she’s asking everyone what’s on the table and if its meat and blah blah. Then the duck comes out and she’s like ‘well I guess I’ll try it,’ and its just one of those things where you’re like WAIT…you’re a vegetarian. You’re not allowed to eat animals, that’s your whole deal. So basically I think there are a lot of girls here who just aren’t adventurous enough so they say they’re a vegetarian because they’re scared they’re going to get the bird flu or some other extremely rare disease.
We spent an afternoon at the crazy markets where you can buy lots of things for a cheap price (“pretty lady, pretty lady, for you special price! Come here!”) This is where the fake vegetarian girls thrive. I think they all came on Semester at Sea to just buy cheap things and take them home. Seriously. I spent probably $28 total. High five!

One of my favorites things about China was the availability of ice cream. They sell Drumsticks and Magnum bars on every corner and they only cost about 5-7 Yuan. Yippee. Walking all day makes you crave some delicious chocolate, especially when you don’t get served dessert at any of the meals you receive. I love ice cream and I miss it. It’s so easy and delicious, so it was fun to eat lots of it while riding around Beijing.
Beijing is huge! Nowhere in America (that I know of) can you drive for 2 hours and still be in the same city. We traveled for 2 hours to get to the Great Wall, and when I got there, we were still in Beijing. Very funny. Oh Chinese people.

More to come! I’ve just entered Kobe, Japan and will have one more port to write about.

April 13, 2007

Cambodia and Vietnam

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on the 9^th and my Cambodia group was the first off the ship. We were lucky enough to have to miss the diplomatic briefing that we have to go through at all the biggest ports. So around 10, when the ship was cleared, we headed for the airport and made our way to Phnom Penh, which is only about an hour flight away. We need visas to get into all of the countries were traveling in, or we have to go through some sort of immigration process, but for Cambodia we just got to the airport, got in line and paid $20 for a visa. They’re so cool because they make your passport very colorful and fun to look at. Unfortunately we didn’t get stamped for South Africa or Mauritius (I have no proof I went to Africa!), so it was nice to get a new, actual visa stapled into my passport.

Blogging is getting harder now because were doing so much in so little time. We have travel and school work and were always tired or just completely zoned out. I’m trying to do this as often as I can but it gets difficult because usually I just want to lay in my bed and wake up in a new country.

But anyways, Cambodia was awesome. We arrived in a very nice airport, which I wasn’t expecting, and was greeted by an ATM that actually gave out the America dollar, vs. the Cambodian Riehl. They accept the dollar in both Vietnam and Cambodia so that was great and easy when it came to paying for things. So we got in our bus, drove around Phnom Penh, went to lunch and then ventured to the Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace. After that, we went for a trip along the Mekong Delta and then just did dinner and a couple drinks before heading to bed. You don’t realize how tired you are until you sit down and have nothing else planned for the day. At dinner I was all excited to go out and see what the night life would be like, but the second I got to a bar (a very nice one might I add) I sat in a comfy chair and just looked at everyone and I was about ready to fall asleep. So my plans for checking out the social scene went down the pooper and we called it an early night.

Day two started out with a trip to the Toul Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields, then we ventured to the Russian Market (named so because any white people who liked to buy things during the Vietnam War were usually Russian). Shopping in Cambodia is so fun and so cheap. I got 2 T-shirts for $2 each, 5 DVDs for $10 total, two small picture/paintings and a fake Rolex for $20. Bling Bling. It’s very flashy and I like it. I also wanted to grab a coke because, although the city is fun, it’s so hot. I asked this little girl for a coke in a bottle and I forgot that they reuse their bottles here, so when I said ‘take away,’ she took it to her kitchen, poured it into a plastic bag and gave me a straw. That’s how they do bottled sodas, to-go. After a trip to the national museum that took an hour and a half (we spent 10 minutes looking around) we headed to the airport to fly to Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is. We left the airport and headed straight for the temple to see it at sundown. It’s so cool to see and very exciting. We didn’t get to spend that much time there the first night, but a lot the next day. This night I didn’t even try going out. I just went to dinner and then slept.

Our third day started at 4:30 AM with a wake up call to get us rollin’ so we could see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It’s always dark that early in the morning, but little did we know it was going to be a dark day. We got to the temple and the clouds were heavy and I was hoping it just looked that way because the sun wasn’t up yet, but then the rain clouds started pouring in and we didn’t get to see the sun show its face behind the temple. That was a little upsetting but its ok, it still looked very cool that early in the morning.

After that, we went back to our hotel for breakfast and the rain just kept coming. It was pouring and was a little concerning because we didn’t want to spend the entire day in the rain. We were scheduled to go to Ta Prohm, the temple where they filmed Tomb Raider, and a lot of people were hesitant because they just wanted to sleep. But I’m sitting at breakfast like ‘OK, I’m in Cambodia, I’m 21, I’m definitely going into the jungle temples while its raining.’ It was so awesome and definitely my favorite part of the trip. If it had been sunny it would’ve been so hot and miserable, so the rain definitely helped. I loved it and really want to go back some day. All the temples are just amazing and absolutely blow your mind because you have to wonder how any men could create such a fortress without cranes or the technology we use today (they were made in the 12^th century). We visited more temples that My Brazil trip to Boipeba Island and my Cambodia trip were my two favorite so far. I’ve got one SAS trip left to Beijing and I’m sure that’ll be sweet too.

So the Cambodian people are wonderful. It’s similar to India in that there are a lot of poor people, but there are just SO many in India that its overwhelming. The people in Cambodia seem a little more controlled in their problems. I can’t really explain it but its not as overwhelming or affecting. Maybe its just because I just experienced it in India, so now I don’t know. I loved the country and can’t wait to go back is the point. I saw a woman and her young daughter ‘change her babies diaper’ which consisted of taking off the clothes he was wearing because he pooped in them, finding water and washing him off, and then going to wash his clothes off in the water fountain provided by the city. You see wild stuff like that, but its just how they live and what’s happening there.

I got back to Vietnam on the 11^th and just hung out that night on the ship because the Cambodia immigration people took my landing card and blah blah, I need that to get on and off the ship. Its dumb. But I didn’t want to get off and not be able to get back on, so me and Jenny went up to 7^th deck (pool deck/bar area) and talked with the bored bar tenders Alvin and Brian. Alvin is 46, from Jamaica and has 2 kids and a wife who he doesn’t get to see until December. A lot of the people working on the ship have lives like that. He also told us that a lot of people on the ship have wives and girlfriends…

Brian is 24, from Bombay, India and is in a band. He makes fun of the way we talk because we don’t use vowels correctly. I think he sounds British. But he plays drums in a band when he’s not on the MV Explorer. He only recognizes me when I have my head wrap on. Alvin never forgets.

The next day (my first full day in Vietnam) I got my landing card and headed out to the city around 10 AM with Jenny and Sarah Iowa (we have 3 Sarah’s on the ship so they are always referred to as Sarah Iowa, Michigan or Maine). Whenever we port, the locals always know that we’ve arrived and whatever transportation the city offers is always readily available to us. The girls had been in the city for a couple days, so they knew what was up. There are men who drive around on these motorcycle/scooter things and they’ll take you anywhere in the city for $1-2. I immediately jumped at the chance to ride on the back of a Vietnamese man’s ‘cyclo’ and it was so fun. Anytime we went anywhere for the next 2 days was by cyclo. We had the option of taking a free shuttle that was made available to us by SAS, but riding around the city dodging traffic like a local was so much more fun and adventurous.

The city offers A LOT of cheap shopping for tourists and I took advantage of that. I bought a tea set (tea pot, 6 cups/saucers), baby blue Kimono (I know I should wait until Japan but it was too pretty to give up), a white dress, earrings and matching necklace, and a North Face backpack that holds my computer perfectly. Its very tiny and petite and wonderful. We got some Pho for lunch (pronounced Fa) from a place called Pho 24, the local chain restaurant, and with a Coca-Cola, spring rolls and ice cream, I spent about $5 on lunch. The whole city is like that. You can go anywhere for a quick drink or bite to eat and only spend a dollar or two. That night Jenny and I got all prettied up in our dresses and went out to dinner—a nicer place—and my total came to $7.13. As Desmond Tutu would say, “Fantastic!” We didn’t want to partake in the regular SAS night life of finding a busy bar filled with the students we’re with every day, so we went to a Jazz Club for one drink, head some tunes (my cute teacher Simon was there with his wife) and then decided we just wanted to drive around on cyclos all night. We wandered around for a bit, and when it was about time for us to head home, we got on our cyclos and our drivers asked if we wanted a tour of the city, so we said OF COURSE and took a 30 min drive around the city on the back of a couple of Vietnamese men’s cyclos. It was awesome and a great thing to do on our last night.

Day two was much slower paced. There was an internet café right down the street from our ship, so we stopped in there around 10:30. We walked in and immediately the Vietnamese woman was like ‘headphones?’ and Jenny and I were like ‘um, no?’ and just sat down at the computer. Then we realized that people were calling home from their computers and it only cost $2 for 34 minutes of talk time. So then we did a 180 and were like ‘yes, headphones.’ I made a call home first, thinking it was 9:30 at night, but then I realized that it was 11:30, and my parents had already been asleep for 4 hours. So I apologize parents for calling our humble abode so late. I also tried calling Lauren but reception from Ho Chi Minh city to Burlington, VT didn’t prove to be very good. Finally I tried calling Sir William and of course, that worked. So I got to talk to him from Vietnam and it’s always nice to hear his voice. The internet café’s there cost about $1 an hour so its much cheaper to use those while were in port, versus using up our time on the ship and then having to buy another $50 package. Thanks SAS. I’m hoping Hong Kong will have free WiFi.

So we did the internet café, went to lunch where I had a Tuna Melt and an Orange Soda float and it was soo yummy. After that we did some grocery shopping so we would have snacks on the ship versus having to buy their food and spending more money. I just wanted some lollipops or something but they didn’t have any, so I got these fruit candies and they’re delicious. I’m very happy about my buy. That night we went out to dinner at this random place James found. It proved to be empty, but very cool. You had to go up 3 or 4 stories so you were able to see a lot of the part of the city that we were in. And they had free WiFi so I got to surf the net! So that was my time in Vietnam. Lots of shopping and cyclo riding and hanging out. I also got a banana split that night and it disrupted my stomach. I think the final appearance of dairy products was a shock and it just didn’t know what to do with it.

Lauren kindly informed me that Angelina hasn’t been as sweet to baby Shiloh as the others, and Brad has been spending a lot of time with his beautiful baby girl. I’m a little upset with Angie right now. Let’s hope she changes her attitude.

April 8, 2007

The days are flying now. We’re 8 days into April with only 4 ports left…not counting Hawaii. We just spent 4 days in Malaysia where I got to explore Kuala Lumpur for a couple days. I loved the city! After being in India and seeing some of the poorest people in the world we did a complete 180 and wound up in a beautiful city with hot (very hot) weather and enormous malls. Tyson’s is huge and takes up a lot of space, but it doesn’t force itself to be 6 levels of intimidation. They don’t have department stores, but they do have a Border’s type store called Kinokuniya that has every book ever made in English and Japanese. It was big and awesome and I found HELLO! Magazine with Angelina and a young Pax Thien which made me very happy.

My first day in Penang consisted of a city orientation where we had a tour guide take about 30 of us around the island so we could get a feel for it and see the place before I left for my trip to Kuala Lumpur. It was nice and I got to see a lot and was excited that worked out well. Our first night we were in Penang and decided to be cultured and eat some Thai food. In America, our Thai food isn’t spicy at all. The Pad Thai we ordered made our tongues and lips burn and our eyes water. It was very difficult to finish and my Carlsberg beer could do nothing to help the situation. After that we headed to Penang Bowling which was awesome. It cost us about $3 to plays two rounds of bowling and to snag some very sweet Malaysian bowling socks. We were the only white people at the alley and I figured we’d be a sight to see, but the locals were SO into their bowling game. High-fives and cries of ‘so-close!’ we’re flying around. And the best part was that, because it’s a mostly Muslim country, they don’t sell beer at the bowling alleys like in America. These funny Asian men and women were just having a great time throwing their big, colorful balls down the lanes. I don’t get to bowl often so that was fun, and I think I got a 118 or something. Not my best effort.

We left for KL the next morning and because it was a group trip, our lunch was already paid for and made available to us at a local restaurant along the way. That was exciting. Rice, tasty chicken, fish still on the bone (they were kind enough to remove the eyes) chicken broth with chicken’s feet still available to gnaw on—it all looked very tasty but I just stuck to rice and chicken, and then treated myself to a tasty soda.

The cultural food was making our stomachs a little uneasy the past few days, so we took advantage of the food available in the city. Hard Rock Café has never sounded or tasted so good. We split a large order of nachos which we finished in less than 4 minutes and I ordered myself a big bacon cheeseburger, extra messy. That night we went to CPK (yes, California Pizza Kitchen!) in the mall which was great, but not as good as home. Blue Cheese dressing just isn’t the same outside of America. The previous night we had gone out to local bars and that turned out to be an expensive event, so we opted to go see “300” our second night instead and it was awesome. Very handsome and extremely well built Spartan men kicking the butt’s of their opposing Persians in red robes and small underwearlike shorts. Needless to say I enjoyed it and can’t wait to buy it on DVD. I might even have to name my first born son after a Spartan warrior if it makes him destined to grow up to be that strong and tough. The weirdest thing about the movie was a commercial that played before it. Four young Malay boys were walking down the street, slightly close to the traffic that was driving up behind them. Numerous times they were honked at and warned, and then eventually one boy gets too close to the street and the next thing we hear is the sound of screeching tires and a collision, and then one of the boy’s faces gets splattered with blood. We’re all sitting there like ‘what just happened?!’ thinking this could be a drunk-driving commercial, but it was a public service announcement warning kids that when they walk by the street, to walk FACING traffic. I think they’re could have been a more subtle way to make that statement, but I guess they were going for the shock affect. We were obviously surprised by the turn of events that faced the young boys.

We went to a very late movie and didn’t get to sleep until 2 AM, but Caitlin and I ventured to the Patronas towers at 7 AM the next morning. You’ve got to get there early and get a ticket because they only allow 800 people up a day, and we were leaving at 11 that morning to head back to Penang. We got up around 9:15 and it was very cool to get up there even though there isn’t much to see once you’re inside the towers. They’re usually what you look for when you’re in other buildings and other parts of the city, but once you’re in them its like ‘ok, what should I see?’ It was something we had to do though- you can’t go to KL and not go up the tower (you can actually go up on the bridge).

April 1, 2007

It’s day three back on the boat and I figure it’s finally time to write about my experiences in India. I think list form would be the easiest way to get my points across:

1. I ate lots of Indian food and never got an upset stomach (until they ordered us a boxed dinner from Pizza Hut and the ‘westernized’ food made it grumble a bit). I loved mixing their rice with this goat cheese/chicken/yummy sauce stuff. It was great. And they serve little ice cream blocks after every meal! That was always nice to have to just ‘clean your palate,’ I believe. They also serve a lot of Naan, which is their flat bread, and you mix that with this yellow sauce, which I can’t remember the name of. Lots of chicken curry and creams with their cakes. I enjoyed the food a lot, but now that we’re back on the boat eating nasty buffet style food, my body is all ‘what is going on!?!?’ and is having a hard time with the transition. They also toned down the spice dramatically. Nothing was too spicy, so I think the hotels did us a huge favor.

2. My body…and I think everyone’s body…is very tired. I think we’re emotionally, physically and mentally drained. Usually when we arrive in port everyone is so excited, but we’re getting to Malaysia tomorrow and it seems like none of us are ready for it yet. I slept until 11:30 today ( I had to skip Global Studies, sorry Mom) and it’s not often that we can get that much sleep. Even working out isn’t the same…I find my body unable to run as hard or for as long as it did before. It could also be mental, but I’m hoping that once we leave Malaysia, I’ll be all rested.

3. India was the most true and real experience that I’ve had in life so far. The people are so poor and many of them have physical disabilities. We saw one man with elephantitis in his foot and I swear it was the size of a small watermelon. His toes were like chicken nuggets. Sorry, that sounds gross, but they were big toes. The streets were dirty and there is a very distinct smell all over the country. The water is unsafe to drink…even some bottled waters from Indian villages…and I remember hearing someone mention a sign displayed that read ‘Everyone has a right to pure water’ or something along those lines. It’s a tough place to see and walk around with a smile on your face. We stayed in nice hotels, but I always made sure to use my safe bottled water to brush my teeth and rinse off my toothbrush. Everywhere that we’ve been so far has had a lot of western influence and has had much more wealth than India. Although there are billboards everywhere displaying advertisements, I had to wonder who could actually afford the things displayed.

My trip consisted of Delhi, Agra and the Taj Mahal. Delhi is a very nice city. There aren’t as many homeless and poor people, which clears out the streets and the number of small businesses. It’s much more organized with traffic signals and lanes and what I feel is a very low-key Washington D.C. feel. In Agra, we stayed in a nice hotel that was basically the only thing in the city not covered in dirt. You couldn’t leave at night because there was nothing to do and because I’m not sure you’d really want to. It’s hard to explain what the streets and people were like. There are beggars everywhere and men trying to sell you small useless items. I had one guy come up to me and start asking me questions about our student body and what we were doing and at first you think, OK this guy just wants to talk, but there’s always another motif. They do their best to be presentable and kind, and they ask you about wanting jewelry and mention that their cousin has a store and that you should go visit it and buy a cheap bracelet that is ‘very beautiful.’ Everyone needs to make some money and they think that being charming is the way to do it. It’s impossible to explain but the trip was very emotional and affected everyone a lot, or at least me, personally. It wasn’t something that we were use to seeing. Imagine living in a life of poverty day after day with no hope for the future. Healthcare is awful…because there is none…and if it was available, no one could afford it.

The Taj Mahal was an awesome experience. It’s amazing to have this shrine in the middle of a very poor town. From the street, you have to walk about a ¼ of a mile to the Taj and the surrounding buildings and all along that street are beggars and young children trying to sell bracelets, postcards and small snow globe key chains of the Taj. Some people can’t handle the pressure of just ignoring people who try to sell you stupid gifts, but if you don’t recognize them or give them any sort of attention, then they just move onto the next person. Caitlin and I were very good at this. We didn’t have any problems with people constantly following us. Some people are more polite and will give a ‘no thank you’ or ‘no, too much’ but even those responses always result in a follower. They’ll continually chase you and lower the price because they don’t understand that their item is just not desired at all.

4. People and Transportation. Our port, Chennai, has 1.6 million people. Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, has 16 million people. There is no sense of personal space and the streets are ALWAYS busy. Early in the mornings, in the middle of the day, and at night. I wondered where everyone was going and what they were headed towards. If they had a job to go to, or if they were just moving around in order to have something to do. Its like rush-hour all day. There are no traffic lanes so its basically a competition to see who can zip by the buses, cars, rickshaws and motorcycles fastest. And the rickshaws are fun. They are small, 3-wheeled motorized vehicles that can hold about 3 people comfortably. It’s like a moped with a trunk where people can put their tush. Quite a crazy ride but wonderful experience. I think many people might be uncomfortable riding around in one, but you gotta remember that these guys drive like this every day and no one ever gets into an accident. I thought that was pretty impressive for the amount of cars and people on the road.