Thailand
We pulled into Laem Chabang port in Thailand on March 15th! After 5 days at sea I was more than ready to get on land again and have some days off of classes. Upon arrival my roommate and I really wanted to go out and see Thailand. However we were literally ported in just a port like there was nothing around except for the Harbor Mall. So we ventured there! It was a huge 6 story mall full of tiny little shops owned by Thai people and a few chains like KFC, Body Shop, and Starbucks! We wandered around the mall for a few hours before heading back to the ship. I went to go and buy a magazine and realized that this was the first country that EVERYTHING was in Thai. In almost all our previous countries it was easy to buy books or magazines in English. Thai print is beautiful looking, in writing it looks like a combination of Chinese and Arabic.
After the mall I headed to the Sri Racha Zoo. Once we got there we were able to watch an amazing Tiger show! There were about 12 full grown tigers in this cage with 2 ring leaders and 2 maintenance men. The tigers ran around the cage, did flips, rolled around on the ground, jumped up 10 feet in the air, and jumped through a ring of fire! Every once in a while they would roar and I would close my eyes out of fear that they were going to attack the ring leaders! Next we saw a crocodile show which was also amazing. There was about 10 crocodiles and two leaders. The crocs would circle around to bite them whenever they pulled them by the tails. A few times the leaders had to literally run away from them so they wouldn’t get bit. It was very scary so you can imagine how terrified I was when the two leaders stuck their heads in the crocodiles open mouths! It was crazy! I know they do it for a living but animals have a mind of their own and you never know when they are going to snap. Next we went to an elephant show which was hilarious. Thai people really have a very perverted sense of humor. They asked for two volunteers from the audience to come down to the floor for a demonstration. They picked a male and female and laid them both on the floor. The girl lay on her stomach and the elephant came up and moved his foot up and down on her back like a massage. Next it was the boys turn who was laying on his back. The elephant went up to him and moved his trunk up and down in an inappropriate area! The crowd went wild with laughter and we all kind of looked at each other like, “well welcome to Thailand!”
After that we got to do what I had been DYING to do for so long! Yes I got to hold a baby tiger in my arms and feed him. It was amazing! So cute so little but still so vicious, their teeth are huge and develop early. After that I went to the elephant area and had an elephant pick me up by his trunk! It was crazy cool but kind of gross. I was wearing shorts and its trunk was wet and hairy! Yuck!
Next we were headed to Mini Siam. None of us really knew what to expect because they didn’t tell us anything about it. Boy were we shocked at what we saw. Mini Siam is literally an outdoor park full of miniature monuments! It was hilariously strange! We saw the Eifel tower, statue of liberty, Mount Rushmore, Trieve fountain, Egyptian pyramids, and the Sydney opera house! It was really cool but a very weird idea for a park. Some of the models were very realistic and detailed like the one of the coliseum!
Our tour guide then decided to take us to a gem factory. It was like one of those rides in Disney world where you sit on a moving like train and it tells you a story. It began with how gems are found in caves, then mined, then made into jewelry, how they affect Thai culture, how kings and queens from all over the world use gems, and it finished in the massive shop! On the walk to the shop we passed hundreds of workers filing down gems and creating silver settings for jewelry. It was fascinating to watch and made me think about how even the crappiest little piece of jewelry I own has someone’s hard work behind it.
Bangkok
The next morning I woke up early and got ready for the 2 hour bus ride to Bangkok. In the Thai language Bangkok has the longest name out of any city in the world! It’s over 118 letters long! We thought our guide was joking at first because the name just kept going and going and going! Once we arrived in Bangkok we headed to the river city. Bangkok has a canal system and many people live on the rivers and have to take water taxis to and from their homes. There was even an ice cream boat that cruised around. Throughout the river they have Kimono dragons and we saw 3 of them resting up on a ledge. The houses on the river all look very run down. They look like a tornado hit them and they hadn’t repaired their homes yet.
After this we headed to the hotel for lunch and a little relaxing. I decided to go shopping on my free time (surprise surprise) at the MBK mall. It was huge 6 stories tall and full of tons of shops. It was more like a structured indoor market with people selling lots of handicrafts, knockoffs, and bootleg DVDs. I spent about 2 hours there and bought a great backpacking backpack for only 200 baht! Which is only about 6 bucks!
For dinner we headed to this great little place down the street from our hotel. On the way we passed a countless number of tailors and massage parlors. Once at the restaurant they had a private room set up for us with two long dinner tables facing a stage. For our meal we had 5 little mini dishes. The first was a soup that had tiny clear fish eggs at the bottom, then we had a mini salad, chicken curry dish which tasted like perfume, we had orange fish, and finally white rice! All over Asia fruit is the most common desert so we had pineapple and watermelon. After dinner we were ready to watch the traditional Thai dance show.
It began with a brief summary of the motions that they use and their meanings behind them. A young man and a woman walked out on stage covered head to toe in golden costumes. I was really shocked at how much makeup the man was wearing it was pretty heavily caked on and I wasn’t really sure why, our guide didn’t seem to know why either. It was strange it made all of the men look almost identical to the women and their dance moves were so graceful and feminine.
The second act was a group of 7 women in purple costumes who floated around the stage in perfect unison smiles plastered on their faces at all times. Literally we did not see one of them without a smile on! I wondered if when they turned to the back if they stopped smiling just for one second, I would. The next dance was the traditional bird dance. This dance is performed by one woman adorned in a costume suited with wings and fake long fingers. In Thai dancing there are a lot of dance moves performed by the fingers alone. These dancers can fold their fingers back and around in every which direction it makes me wonder if they have broken them or done something to them because normal hands do not bend back like that. The next dance was an amazing dance performed with fans! This was my second favorite one. Finally my favorite dance was the last one and this was a staged warrior fight dance. Two of the men wore masks while the other two were suited in the traditional costumes and full face of makeup! It was great though the way they moved across the stage was so well choreographed. The fight scene was really cool too because it really was more of a staged dance than a staged battle. Overall I loved Thai dancing. It was so graceful and beautiful. These dancers are very well paid for what they do and they deserve to be.
After dinner we headed towards the night market which I soon realized was in the red light district of Bangkok. The night market was rows and rows of knockoff purses, jewelry, sunglasses, clothing, you name it and it was there! I walked around with my friend Ashley and I noticed she was bargaining for a shirt so I decided to go and help her. I asked Ashley if she wanted it and she replied yes so we tried getting it for 150 baht and the shop owner said no. So we just walked away. She then came up to us and said ok yes and started handing Ashley the shirt, well Ashley had decided to change her mind and she didn’t want it anymore. Never EVER bargain someone down to the price you want have them agree with it and then not pay it. It is considered very rude and we found this out the hard way. We said no she screamed some profanities at us and started following us through the market. It was very scary especially because the area we were in was not the greatest. The strangest thing of all was that each of the people who had a stand at the market had a tazer gun. The sound of tazing rang through the market shop owners would just sit on their little stools and play with them. That’s why Ashley and I were so scared of this shop owner who was chasing us! Who knew what she was going to do to us! Luckily we lost her as we weaved in and out of the market. As I was shopping for some sunglasses I almost got run over by….an elephant! It was crazy it literally came out of nowhere. Owning elephants as pets is illegal in Thailand but it is not widely enforced so people walk around with elephants and ask tourists to take pictures of it. I was all elephanted out after the zoo and India.
Walking around the red light district was quiet an experience. There were strip clubs everywhere you turned with huge open windows facing the market so you could see everything inside from the streets. The women everywhere just looked so sad. The sex industry in Thailand is a huge industry and one that many women get forced into out of necessity for money. It kind of reminded me of being in Las Vegas except sleazier if that is possible. There were men and women on the street harassing you to come in and see a “ping-pong” show. It really was very sad to witness. On a brighter note though towards the end of the market they had regular bars with live bands playing some great music. It was very fun to walk around the market listen to good music have a delicious drink and just chill out!
The next morning we had a full morning of tours planned. Our first visit was to a Buddhist monk temple. Here we were able to see the inside of the temple housing a golden Buddha decorated with elaborate candles and flowers. We were also given the opportunity to talk to a few monks. In Thailand it is expected that almost all men go through a period of time where they become a monk. You can join and devote your entire life to it or you can leave whenever you please. We spoke with a man who had been a monk for 5 years and a man who had only been a monk for 5 days. It was pretty apparent which man was which because monks are only allowed one meal per day! The man who had only been a monk for 5 days was a bit chunky while the other was rail thin and hardly fit in his orange monk wrap! After that we visited my favorite favorite place ever! The reclining Buddha! This Buddha was HUGE our guide told us it would be big but this thing was massive. When I walked in I was honestly in shock and awe I don’t know how in the hell they built such a beautiful and great Buddha. It was in a reclined position with its head resting on one of his arms and the side of his body on the ground. Many people mistakenly call him the sleeping Buddha but it is really just a reclining Buddha which is a famous position. This place was honestly so cool look at my pictures to see just how incredible it was.
Next we went to the grand palace which is a combination of temples and palace where the kings used to live. This was the first place I have visited that strongly enforced the dress code. Here you weren’t allowed to show your shoulders, knees, wear tight pants, jeans that had holes in them all that jazz. If you were dressed inappropriately you weren’t allowed inside and you had to go rent a wrap and shirt! They were so funny they were like Hawaiian print sarongs for the bottoms and a cheesy Hawaiian print shirt! It was great to see these people walking around (mostly American tourists.) We started on the temple side and saw the huge golden pagodas, fountains, and monuments elaborately decorated with gems, glitters, gold, and other jewels. We visited the temple of the emerald Buddha which is also a very famous place. Buddhists still go here to pray today so it is a combination of tourists checking it out and locals coming to pray. They call it the emerald Buddha but it is actually made out of Jade. Next we were off the palace side which was filled with interesting Asian style buildings with crazy swooping roofs. They have armed guards standing everywhere who can’t speak to you so of course we posed for some pics next to them. It was really creepy though because they have a huge dagger at the end of their guns that we all came dangerously close to.
After this we headed to lunch across the river at a local Thai restaurant. Here we ate delicious Thai food with many different dishes again. We had orange chicken, fish, pepper beef, white rice, and of course fruit for dessert! I then headed to a different hotel to meet up with some other people for the night. I was traveling to this hotel by myself and a little nervous to get around considering I am not fluent in Thai! So I showed him the name of my hotel and he shook his head and said he knew where it was. Well turns out he didn’t and I was wandering around Bangkok with my cab driver for like an hour trying to find my hotel! Turns out it is like the biggest hotel in Bangkok so either he tried to scam me or he couldn’t read what my hotel was. Oh well. Once I got there I settled in a bit and headed to the huge mall across the street. This was the first mall I have been in while traveling overseas that was very similar to home with stores we have at home and things like that. I went a little crazy with the shopping because of this. Haha I hadn’t had a chance to shop at places that sell real clothes in sooo long! Anyways after that we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our St. Patty’s day celebration Thailand style!
We began the night with a few drinks in the hotel lobby. Lucky for us they were closing so all their deserts were half off! So we had some singah beers and cookies! Ha then we hopped in a cab and went to Kao Sung road which is also known as the backpackers road because there are tons of hostels on it. At night they close off the road so people can walk through the streets without worrying about cars. We ate dinner outside at this small little Thai restaurant where I got delicious cashew chicken and white rice for a buck! Oh and we also got bucket drinks for 4 bucks! The night was off to a good start and things only got better when we left the restaurant and saw a large display of green balloons. They led us right to an Irish pub! What better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?!?!?! This Asian woman working the door saw our excitement and immediately grabbed my arm and started dragging me inside!
Upstairs they had a great band playing all sorts of American songs, British songs, and a few Irish songs. It was really fun and I got to meet SOOOO many people that night. My friends were all busy hanging out with their men for the night so I was left to my own devices to meet people and it was amazing. I met people from all over Europe and Australia who were on vacation in Thailand. These two girls in particular were a blast. They were from London and had just graduated high school and were taking a year off to travel the world before going to “Uni.” It was so much fun talking with them and hearing all their stereotypes about Americans and the things we say and do. Some of my favorite memories from being here have to do with the interactions I’ve been having with people. Just discussing cultural differences between places and differences in people is so fascinating. So 5 hours later at around 3 am we filed out of the pub and head back to our hotel. But not before stopping at the McDonalds across the street! Ha it was open 24 hours and was the nicest McDonalds I’ve ever been in! They had waiters that come and serve your food! It was crazy different but way cool.
Well the next morning we all decided to sleep in a bit ha it was something we all needed. It was so fun there were 5 of us in our hotel room so we put our 2 queen size beds together and had one big slumber party! Ha well today we just wandered around the streets of Bangkok for a few hours and hung out at the hotel pool. I had to face reality for a few hours though and find some internet so I could pick out my classes for Fall Semester back at Iowa and let me tell you it was not a fun reality check!
That night I got on the bus back to the ship and went straight to bed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my whole life! Plus I had to wake up the next morning at 8am to go to the Nong Nooch Cultural Village.
8 am rolls around a lot faster than you think when you are runnin on limited hours of sleep. We went to the Nong Nooch Village which was just passed Pattaya. Here we explored the beautiful gardens and amazing sculptures thrown together by terra cotta pots! They also had a strange section with wild animals that you could take photographs with. They had an orangutan dressed in a polo and shorts, parrots, monkeys, and even a cheetah! They all looked so miserable though so no pictures here for me. We then headed to the show in which I was able to see some more Thai dancing. This experience was much different than my first one though. This show was geared way more for tourists and had tons of flashy props and different dances going on at the same time. They staged a Muay Thai boxing match which was pretty cool to watch. Muay Thai is a huge part of their culture here and Muay Thai fighters are treated very well. The finale of the show included an elephant battle where elephants came out of nowhere on the sides of the stage with actors strapped to their backs raging a full on battle! It was very unexpected and crazy to watch.
It lead perfectly into the elephant show we were about to watch. I know more elephants! Ha pretty cool thing to complain about though huh seeing too many elephants? Anyways this show was way better than the first. They had elephants playing soccer, riding a bike, throwing darts, and the best was the elephants painting. They train these elephants to paint different flowers and trees. It’s really wild how these massive animals can be trained to do such things. After the show we were given free time to wander around and see more of the park. It was definitely a tourist trap but still a pretty fun place to visit.
I loved Thailand. It was a fabulous country full of different things to do. The nightlife there is amazing and the food is even better! Shopping was dirt cheap with so many great deals since a lot of clothing is made in Thailand. The people were all very nice. One of my best memories is when I was walking the streets of Bangkok and this local woman just struck up a conversation with me. It was great hearing about her life and I told her about mine. We had walked 5 blocks before I noticed I was back at my hotel. Thai dancing was beautiful and the temples and shrines that line the streets make you feel like you are in an Ancient Asian novel or something! It was great and I would love love love to go back there if I am ever given the opportunity.
After the mall I headed to the Sri Racha Zoo. Once we got there we were able to watch an amazing Tiger show! There were about 12 full grown tigers in this cage with 2 ring leaders and 2 maintenance men. The tigers ran around the cage, did flips, rolled around on the ground, jumped up 10 feet in the air, and jumped through a ring of fire! Every once in a while they would roar and I would close my eyes out of fear that they were going to attack the ring leaders! Next we saw a crocodile show which was also amazing. There was about 10 crocodiles and two leaders. The crocs would circle around to bite them whenever they pulled them by the tails. A few times the leaders had to literally run away from them so they wouldn’t get bit. It was very scary so you can imagine how terrified I was when the two leaders stuck their heads in the crocodiles open mouths! It was crazy! I know they do it for a living but animals have a mind of their own and you never know when they are going to snap. Next we went to an elephant show which was hilarious. Thai people really have a very perverted sense of humor. They asked for two volunteers from the audience to come down to the floor for a demonstration. They picked a male and female and laid them both on the floor. The girl lay on her stomach and the elephant came up and moved his foot up and down on her back like a massage. Next it was the boys turn who was laying on his back. The elephant went up to him and moved his trunk up and down in an inappropriate area! The crowd went wild with laughter and we all kind of looked at each other like, “well welcome to Thailand!”
After that we got to do what I had been DYING to do for so long! Yes I got to hold a baby tiger in my arms and feed him. It was amazing! So cute so little but still so vicious, their teeth are huge and develop early. After that I went to the elephant area and had an elephant pick me up by his trunk! It was crazy cool but kind of gross. I was wearing shorts and its trunk was wet and hairy! Yuck!
Next we were headed to Mini Siam. None of us really knew what to expect because they didn’t tell us anything about it. Boy were we shocked at what we saw. Mini Siam is literally an outdoor park full of miniature monuments! It was hilariously strange! We saw the Eifel tower, statue of liberty, Mount Rushmore, Trieve fountain, Egyptian pyramids, and the Sydney opera house! It was really cool but a very weird idea for a park. Some of the models were very realistic and detailed like the one of the coliseum!
Our tour guide then decided to take us to a gem factory. It was like one of those rides in Disney world where you sit on a moving like train and it tells you a story. It began with how gems are found in caves, then mined, then made into jewelry, how they affect Thai culture, how kings and queens from all over the world use gems, and it finished in the massive shop! On the walk to the shop we passed hundreds of workers filing down gems and creating silver settings for jewelry. It was fascinating to watch and made me think about how even the crappiest little piece of jewelry I own has someone’s hard work behind it.
Bangkok
The next morning I woke up early and got ready for the 2 hour bus ride to Bangkok. In the Thai language Bangkok has the longest name out of any city in the world! It’s over 118 letters long! We thought our guide was joking at first because the name just kept going and going and going! Once we arrived in Bangkok we headed to the river city. Bangkok has a canal system and many people live on the rivers and have to take water taxis to and from their homes. There was even an ice cream boat that cruised around. Throughout the river they have Kimono dragons and we saw 3 of them resting up on a ledge. The houses on the river all look very run down. They look like a tornado hit them and they hadn’t repaired their homes yet.
After this we headed to the hotel for lunch and a little relaxing. I decided to go shopping on my free time (surprise surprise) at the MBK mall. It was huge 6 stories tall and full of tons of shops. It was more like a structured indoor market with people selling lots of handicrafts, knockoffs, and bootleg DVDs. I spent about 2 hours there and bought a great backpacking backpack for only 200 baht! Which is only about 6 bucks!
For dinner we headed to this great little place down the street from our hotel. On the way we passed a countless number of tailors and massage parlors. Once at the restaurant they had a private room set up for us with two long dinner tables facing a stage. For our meal we had 5 little mini dishes. The first was a soup that had tiny clear fish eggs at the bottom, then we had a mini salad, chicken curry dish which tasted like perfume, we had orange fish, and finally white rice! All over Asia fruit is the most common desert so we had pineapple and watermelon. After dinner we were ready to watch the traditional Thai dance show.
It began with a brief summary of the motions that they use and their meanings behind them. A young man and a woman walked out on stage covered head to toe in golden costumes. I was really shocked at how much makeup the man was wearing it was pretty heavily caked on and I wasn’t really sure why, our guide didn’t seem to know why either. It was strange it made all of the men look almost identical to the women and their dance moves were so graceful and feminine.
The second act was a group of 7 women in purple costumes who floated around the stage in perfect unison smiles plastered on their faces at all times. Literally we did not see one of them without a smile on! I wondered if when they turned to the back if they stopped smiling just for one second, I would. The next dance was the traditional bird dance. This dance is performed by one woman adorned in a costume suited with wings and fake long fingers. In Thai dancing there are a lot of dance moves performed by the fingers alone. These dancers can fold their fingers back and around in every which direction it makes me wonder if they have broken them or done something to them because normal hands do not bend back like that. The next dance was an amazing dance performed with fans! This was my second favorite one. Finally my favorite dance was the last one and this was a staged warrior fight dance. Two of the men wore masks while the other two were suited in the traditional costumes and full face of makeup! It was great though the way they moved across the stage was so well choreographed. The fight scene was really cool too because it really was more of a staged dance than a staged battle. Overall I loved Thai dancing. It was so graceful and beautiful. These dancers are very well paid for what they do and they deserve to be.
After dinner we headed towards the night market which I soon realized was in the red light district of Bangkok. The night market was rows and rows of knockoff purses, jewelry, sunglasses, clothing, you name it and it was there! I walked around with my friend Ashley and I noticed she was bargaining for a shirt so I decided to go and help her. I asked Ashley if she wanted it and she replied yes so we tried getting it for 150 baht and the shop owner said no. So we just walked away. She then came up to us and said ok yes and started handing Ashley the shirt, well Ashley had decided to change her mind and she didn’t want it anymore. Never EVER bargain someone down to the price you want have them agree with it and then not pay it. It is considered very rude and we found this out the hard way. We said no she screamed some profanities at us and started following us through the market. It was very scary especially because the area we were in was not the greatest. The strangest thing of all was that each of the people who had a stand at the market had a tazer gun. The sound of tazing rang through the market shop owners would just sit on their little stools and play with them. That’s why Ashley and I were so scared of this shop owner who was chasing us! Who knew what she was going to do to us! Luckily we lost her as we weaved in and out of the market. As I was shopping for some sunglasses I almost got run over by….an elephant! It was crazy it literally came out of nowhere. Owning elephants as pets is illegal in Thailand but it is not widely enforced so people walk around with elephants and ask tourists to take pictures of it. I was all elephanted out after the zoo and India.
Walking around the red light district was quiet an experience. There were strip clubs everywhere you turned with huge open windows facing the market so you could see everything inside from the streets. The women everywhere just looked so sad. The sex industry in Thailand is a huge industry and one that many women get forced into out of necessity for money. It kind of reminded me of being in Las Vegas except sleazier if that is possible. There were men and women on the street harassing you to come in and see a “ping-pong” show. It really was very sad to witness. On a brighter note though towards the end of the market they had regular bars with live bands playing some great music. It was very fun to walk around the market listen to good music have a delicious drink and just chill out!
The next morning we had a full morning of tours planned. Our first visit was to a Buddhist monk temple. Here we were able to see the inside of the temple housing a golden Buddha decorated with elaborate candles and flowers. We were also given the opportunity to talk to a few monks. In Thailand it is expected that almost all men go through a period of time where they become a monk. You can join and devote your entire life to it or you can leave whenever you please. We spoke with a man who had been a monk for 5 years and a man who had only been a monk for 5 days. It was pretty apparent which man was which because monks are only allowed one meal per day! The man who had only been a monk for 5 days was a bit chunky while the other was rail thin and hardly fit in his orange monk wrap! After that we visited my favorite favorite place ever! The reclining Buddha! This Buddha was HUGE our guide told us it would be big but this thing was massive. When I walked in I was honestly in shock and awe I don’t know how in the hell they built such a beautiful and great Buddha. It was in a reclined position with its head resting on one of his arms and the side of his body on the ground. Many people mistakenly call him the sleeping Buddha but it is really just a reclining Buddha which is a famous position. This place was honestly so cool look at my pictures to see just how incredible it was.
Next we went to the grand palace which is a combination of temples and palace where the kings used to live. This was the first place I have visited that strongly enforced the dress code. Here you weren’t allowed to show your shoulders, knees, wear tight pants, jeans that had holes in them all that jazz. If you were dressed inappropriately you weren’t allowed inside and you had to go rent a wrap and shirt! They were so funny they were like Hawaiian print sarongs for the bottoms and a cheesy Hawaiian print shirt! It was great to see these people walking around (mostly American tourists.) We started on the temple side and saw the huge golden pagodas, fountains, and monuments elaborately decorated with gems, glitters, gold, and other jewels. We visited the temple of the emerald Buddha which is also a very famous place. Buddhists still go here to pray today so it is a combination of tourists checking it out and locals coming to pray. They call it the emerald Buddha but it is actually made out of Jade. Next we were off the palace side which was filled with interesting Asian style buildings with crazy swooping roofs. They have armed guards standing everywhere who can’t speak to you so of course we posed for some pics next to them. It was really creepy though because they have a huge dagger at the end of their guns that we all came dangerously close to.
After this we headed to lunch across the river at a local Thai restaurant. Here we ate delicious Thai food with many different dishes again. We had orange chicken, fish, pepper beef, white rice, and of course fruit for dessert! I then headed to a different hotel to meet up with some other people for the night. I was traveling to this hotel by myself and a little nervous to get around considering I am not fluent in Thai! So I showed him the name of my hotel and he shook his head and said he knew where it was. Well turns out he didn’t and I was wandering around Bangkok with my cab driver for like an hour trying to find my hotel! Turns out it is like the biggest hotel in Bangkok so either he tried to scam me or he couldn’t read what my hotel was. Oh well. Once I got there I settled in a bit and headed to the huge mall across the street. This was the first mall I have been in while traveling overseas that was very similar to home with stores we have at home and things like that. I went a little crazy with the shopping because of this. Haha I hadn’t had a chance to shop at places that sell real clothes in sooo long! Anyways after that we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our St. Patty’s day celebration Thailand style!
We began the night with a few drinks in the hotel lobby. Lucky for us they were closing so all their deserts were half off! So we had some singah beers and cookies! Ha then we hopped in a cab and went to Kao Sung road which is also known as the backpackers road because there are tons of hostels on it. At night they close off the road so people can walk through the streets without worrying about cars. We ate dinner outside at this small little Thai restaurant where I got delicious cashew chicken and white rice for a buck! Oh and we also got bucket drinks for 4 bucks! The night was off to a good start and things only got better when we left the restaurant and saw a large display of green balloons. They led us right to an Irish pub! What better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?!?!?! This Asian woman working the door saw our excitement and immediately grabbed my arm and started dragging me inside!
Upstairs they had a great band playing all sorts of American songs, British songs, and a few Irish songs. It was really fun and I got to meet SOOOO many people that night. My friends were all busy hanging out with their men for the night so I was left to my own devices to meet people and it was amazing. I met people from all over Europe and Australia who were on vacation in Thailand. These two girls in particular were a blast. They were from London and had just graduated high school and were taking a year off to travel the world before going to “Uni.” It was so much fun talking with them and hearing all their stereotypes about Americans and the things we say and do. Some of my favorite memories from being here have to do with the interactions I’ve been having with people. Just discussing cultural differences between places and differences in people is so fascinating. So 5 hours later at around 3 am we filed out of the pub and head back to our hotel. But not before stopping at the McDonalds across the street! Ha it was open 24 hours and was the nicest McDonalds I’ve ever been in! They had waiters that come and serve your food! It was crazy different but way cool.
Well the next morning we all decided to sleep in a bit ha it was something we all needed. It was so fun there were 5 of us in our hotel room so we put our 2 queen size beds together and had one big slumber party! Ha well today we just wandered around the streets of Bangkok for a few hours and hung out at the hotel pool. I had to face reality for a few hours though and find some internet so I could pick out my classes for Fall Semester back at Iowa and let me tell you it was not a fun reality check!
That night I got on the bus back to the ship and went straight to bed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my whole life! Plus I had to wake up the next morning at 8am to go to the Nong Nooch Cultural Village.
8 am rolls around a lot faster than you think when you are runnin on limited hours of sleep. We went to the Nong Nooch Village which was just passed Pattaya. Here we explored the beautiful gardens and amazing sculptures thrown together by terra cotta pots! They also had a strange section with wild animals that you could take photographs with. They had an orangutan dressed in a polo and shorts, parrots, monkeys, and even a cheetah! They all looked so miserable though so no pictures here for me. We then headed to the show in which I was able to see some more Thai dancing. This experience was much different than my first one though. This show was geared way more for tourists and had tons of flashy props and different dances going on at the same time. They staged a Muay Thai boxing match which was pretty cool to watch. Muay Thai is a huge part of their culture here and Muay Thai fighters are treated very well. The finale of the show included an elephant battle where elephants came out of nowhere on the sides of the stage with actors strapped to their backs raging a full on battle! It was very unexpected and crazy to watch.
It lead perfectly into the elephant show we were about to watch. I know more elephants! Ha pretty cool thing to complain about though huh seeing too many elephants? Anyways this show was way better than the first. They had elephants playing soccer, riding a bike, throwing darts, and the best was the elephants painting. They train these elephants to paint different flowers and trees. It’s really wild how these massive animals can be trained to do such things. After the show we were given free time to wander around and see more of the park. It was definitely a tourist trap but still a pretty fun place to visit.
I loved Thailand. It was a fabulous country full of different things to do. The nightlife there is amazing and the food is even better! Shopping was dirt cheap with so many great deals since a lot of clothing is made in Thailand. The people were all very nice. One of my best memories is when I was walking the streets of Bangkok and this local woman just struck up a conversation with me. It was great hearing about her life and I told her about mine. We had walked 5 blocks before I noticed I was back at my hotel. Thai dancing was beautiful and the temples and shrines that line the streets make you feel like you are in an Ancient Asian novel or something! It was great and I would love love love to go back there if I am ever given the opportunity.
INDIA
We pulled into India on March 5th and boy was I nervous. We had tons of debriefings on what to expect when we got to India. They drilled in our minds what foods to eat and what not (they convinced us all we would get travelers D if we ate about 90% of the food) they warned us about the traffic, child beggars, hawkers, and sketchy rickshaw drivers. But nothing could prepare us for what we were about to experience. I took one step outside in Chennai and immediately felt like I needed to shower. I don’t mean to sound harsh or rude but the pollution there is just ridiculous. Everywhere you look there are literally piles and piles of garbage on the sides of the streets, around the markets, the grounds are black like an oil spill, and the smell oh the smell is very potent. You can literally feel the pollution on your body as you walk around. That mixed with the humidity was very overwhelming. And I wasn’t even outside for long! I just walked from the ship to a bus to take me to the airport for my flight to New Delhi.
The flight was good, it was a big plane which surprised me and they served us lunch! It was a chicken tika sandwich which was basically like a chicken salad sandwich but with curry or something. I really liked it! We arrived in Delhi 3 hours later. We found our bus and we were off for a small orientation then to the hotel. We stopped at the oldest mosque in India. It was made out of tons of stones and was beautiful, Muslims still come there to pray facing Mecca. It was especially cool because the tower was so tall that the moon appeared to be at the top of it! I love it when it is still light outside and you can see the moon! One thing that I found strange was the public displays of affection between straight men. Straight men in India hold hands when they walk, put their arms around each other, and even kiss! However a male and female couple cannot do any of these things in public. I’m a pretty open minded person but I’ll admit it was hard not to look when you saw this. After we went to a rug store. Here they served us tea and biscuits and gave us a little demonstration on how to make these beautiful rugs. These rugs were made out of silk so they were super soft but wicked expensive! All over India they hear that you are American and they automatically associate it with money. To them it is a pretty accurate statement and I see why they do it but our tour guide should have known better. He took us to all these expensive shops that were owned by his friends (which is impossible to avoid in India) and they expected us to buy things. I’m sorry but as a college student I do not have 300 US dollars to spend on a rug (and that was the cheapest one there!) And it made us all feel really guilty because they spent so much time and energy showing us their beautiful things.
Now we were headed to our hotel. We spent the night at the La Lit in New Delhi. This was the NICEST hotel I have ever stayed at in my whole life no joke. It was amazing. They greeted you with shook rah (they place the red dot on your head for peace and happiness). We then went up to our rooms we were shocked at what we saw! The shower was a rain shower where water just came out of the ceiling like rain! It was so cool and the bathroom walls were all made out of glass and then there were curtains that went down when you used them. The food there was amazing best buffet I have ever been to. They had Indian food like roti bread, chicken curry, lamb, saffron rice, and many more. They also had American food with pizza and chicken fingers! And they had Japanese food with noodles and sushi it was great! A much needed relief to all of us who were very nervous for our first Indian meal. I bought internet minutes so that I could update my pictures up to India so check out my face book cause I paid to put pictures up for all of you guys! It’s so hard to describe in words what some of these places look like so you should go check them out.
The next day we had an early wake up call. We were off to Jaipur by 7 am. Along the way we drove through Old Delhi and I was a little shocked at some of the things that I saw. The electricity here is spread through huge thick wires that spiral all over the tops of buildings but the buildings aren’t very tall so they are all like right above your head. There are hundreds of thick wires that look almost like large spaghetti noodles coming out of one source looping all around the city. It is honestly ridiculous and one big fire waiting to happen.
Along the 4 hour drive to Jaipur we stopped at a restaurant for a little rest stop that had an absolutely gorgeous garden. With a cage full of cool yellow birds I wish I knew what they were. I bought some chips that looked like they were going to be sour cream and onion turned out to be curry!!!! YUCK! After the drive we finally arrived in the pink city of Jaipur! I was surprised at what I saw. I was expecting it to be a beautiful city full of gorgeous huge pink buildings. What I got was a city with rundown buildings painted pink. From the comfort of the tall bus we were able to look at the poor beggars on the streets. Literally dozens of kids running around begging for money, putting their hands up to their mouths screaming for food,crying all around you. It breaks your heart. I’ve never in my life felt guiltier. On the sidewalks there are make shift tent houses. Can you imagine walking down the sidewalk and seeing people living there? They would cook their meals on little stone fires on the sidewalks! I mean it was incredibly sad I can’t even describe it I saw children going to the bathroom on the sidewalk. We were told ahead of time not to give to these children because they are usually a part of bigger beggar gangs in which a lot of the money doesn’t even go to them. So a lot of the time we would just give them our extra food and they would snatch it so fast they didn’t even have time to thank you. They would take your food and run away to a corner or secret spot so that their friends who were running fast behind them could not eat their food.
We checked into our next hotel ate a little lunch and were off to the city palace! This was in the heart of Jaipiur and is one of the only palaces still around in India in which the king actually resides. Here we walked through the dozens of hawkers to get to the main gate. I saw a man who was so deformed he permanently walked around on the ground like a spider and a young girl with a tumor on the back of her head so big it looked like a giant mango. I have never been so disturbed in my whole life and there was nothing that I could do for them. It felt very wrong to go from passing them into a luxurious gigantic palace. Once inside we saw an Indian dance performance. The odd thing was though that it was a man dressed up as a woman doing the dance. I thought maybe it was because of religious reasons because that’s why it was like that in Morocco. Turns out however that the woman dancer was just sick so the man was filling in for her! Strange! Our guide told us about the mystical Unix which are considered sacred in India. A Unix is like the equivalent of a hermaphrodite in America she/he has both male and female parts. The Unix in India have beautiful faces like women but more of the mainly body structure. They are taken from their homes upon birth and sent to live with other Unix where they learn how to dance the sacred dances. These people then perform at events, for the kings, and other things. It was very interesting but so sad because these people have absolutely no choice in the direction of their lives. Still today this is practiced. There was a Unix only a few years ago who went off to college, was discovered to be a Unix, and then immediately removed from their home. The Unix and his family had absolutely NO say in the matter. I can’t even imagine anything like that ever being done in the states. It all start with the idea that these people were sent by the gods that they are special. Back in the day queens would surround themselves with Unix because they were not considered a threat to her relationship with the king. I found this all to be very fascinating.
While at the palace we saw a few different rooms, an old museum, and the best part is we saw the King of Jaipur!!! I guess he is rarely at the palace so it was pretty special that we got to see him. We saw him getting into a private car surrounded by 5 guards. Even though I didn’t know who he was I felt so star struck! It was amazing. We then headed to an old observatory which was used in the early years in order to tell time. There were meridian lines, old sun dials, and different stations with astrological signs. It was said that if you stand next to your sign you will see your future. I didn’t see mine but it was still cool! After all this our guide took us to one of his friends jewelry shops in which we could afford nothing. We then went back to the hotel for dinner.
After dinner there was a hilariously entertaining puppet show. The show was right outside the hotel so the workers were not allowed inside. They would beg us to run in and get more people for them. They tried to adapt their show to us as college students with some hilarious skits. One was the Indian Michael Jackson in which the puppet did the moon walk and gyrated on the floor! There were a few other inappropriate skits they did that I can tell you about it you ask haha. I bought one of their puppets at the end a really cool turquoise one! It was then off to bed before the early morning visit to the Amber fort!
Amber fort was amazing. We started the day by riding up to the top of it on….an elephant!!! Ours was named Maria but it was a boy! Strange yes and it was the slowest and biggest elephant all the other elephants passed us on the drive up. All I kept think as I was on it is this elephant could lay down right now do a little roll and squash me dead! But he didn’t thank god and we made it to the top to see the beautiful fort. We began in the garden area. There were two different sides to the garden one for winter and one for summer. The winter one was beautiful! There were mirrors all over the walls in elaborate shapes and designs. In the 18th century it took only one candle to light up the entire room! The summer side was beautiful too with soft pastel colored flowers lining the walls. We were then off to the queens quarters. The king who the castle was built for had 12 wives! Each had their own room all differing in size based on how long they had been married to him. There was a huge courtyard in the middle. Inside this courtyard there was a huge hole in the ground that at one time was used for all the queens to bathe in (also went in order of how long they had been married to the king.) Dead center there was pillars with an open rooftop that used to be used as a lounge area. One can only imagine how amazing this place must have been. Huge satin pillows thrown all over the ground, silk drapes of turquoise, fuschia, lavender, lime green, every color under the sun! It was so fun to sit there and imagine what it would have been like to have actually lived there.
After the fort we headed to Agra where we would see the Taj the next day! On the way we stopped at another fort called Fatehpur Sikri. This fort was amazing as well. All the buildings were made out of red stone. This king was married to three wives, one a Hindu from India, a Muslim from Turkey, and a Christian woman from Portugal. The design of the fort incorporated all these different architectural styles. The pillars had three different sections. One was inspired by the Moors this was the geometric style which had all different symmetrical shapes. The second section was inspired by the Gothic style it had all different types of arches and crosses. And finally the third section was the Hindu inspired architecture I found this one the most beautiful. This one had tons of different shaped flowers carved out into the pillars. He married the Hindu woman first so she was his number one wife until the Muslim woman gave him a son and the tables turned! I loved this place because it was crazy to see the three different religions combine in architecture to form something so beautiful!
We arrived in Agra at around 7pm. We checked into the hotel and were ready to explore. A group of about 5 of us were DYING to go to a market so our tour guide said he would take us (finally he was listening). Turns out he of course took us to two of his friends shops (nowhere near a market.) Finally we were so upset with him that he promised to take us somewhere cool. He took us to his friend’s music shop where he immediately left us. We were all a bit shocked at first but decided to make the most of it. We were taken to the back room where the men had tea ready for us. There was a mini stage and a man holding a funny looking guitar and a mini piano thing. It was a Citare store which is like a type of guitar but way cooler and it gives off a way different sound. You only strum the first string on it the whole time which I found really weird. The two performed for us and we shared some drinks and conversation and it turned out to be a great night! They even let me try the Citare! Which I absolutely sucked at oh well. After this we headed back to the hotel for dinner. I was in roti bread heaven! Most of you know I am obsessed with Flat Top Grill, I go there for there roti bread! So India was definitely the right place for me! Roti bread for breakfast (with syrup like pancakes) lunch and dinner! Then it was off to bed for our early morning visit to the Taj Mahal!!!
We arrived near the Taj at around 8am. You have to park like half a mile away because they don’t want the pollution from the cars to ruin the marble or gardens. As we walked up to the front gate to get into the Taj the tip top of the building was visible. It peered right over the fort that surrounds the Taj Mahal. Walking through the gates and garden I could not believe what I was about to see. When I first saw it I was in awe. Words can’t even describe the way I felt it was amazing. I just felt so lucky to be where I was standing viewing one of the most amazing sites in the entire world! We got there right when it opened and people were everywhere! So here is a little Taj Mahal history I learned as I stared my jaw dropped to the floor at the incredibly massive Taj! So the Taj Mahal was built by the King of India as a memorial to his wife. Before his wife died she had two requests. The first was to never marry again and the second was for him to build her the most beautiful memorial in the world in her honor. And let me tell you he was successful. The Taj Mahal is made out of all white marble and a very special type of glue no nails or anything like that. Next to it there are two identicial buildings. On the right is a mosque which is still used today by muslims to pray which is why the Taj is actually closed on Fridays. On the left is a building that was used as a welcome reception hall. The inside of the Taj houses to replicas of the tombs the King and Queen are buried in. Before the King died he requested that a matching memorial be built behind the Taj in his honor. He wanted it to be built out of black marble! Can you imagine how incredible that would have been? However his son said no and just buried him in the Taj.
I really wish I was better at describing how amazing it was. As I stood in front of the long pond staring at the massive white marble dome it didn’t feel real. None of it. Not being in India, not looking at the Taj, nothing that I was experiencing felt like it was actually happening. How did I get this lucky?
After that we headed to a marble shop owned by descendants of the King who built the Taj. There they use the same secret glue mixture to put together chairs and tables and other things. They add beautiful precious gems to the table tops. They mold and shape the gems on this old school wheel like file. We watched them molding these tiny stones for about ten minutes. Then the owner asked me if I wanted to try it! I reluctantly agreed. The man who’s wheel I was walking up to seemed very nervous and shot the owner a worried look because they work on these stones for hours! And here I was about to screw up his hard work in about 1 minute! I couldn’t even hold the gem it was so tiny. I pressed it once up against the wheel then freaked out and stopped. I didn’t want to ruin it but it was still cool that they let me try. Then we were off to the airport to fly back to our ship in Chennai.
The next day in Chennai I had a lot of shopping to do! Chennai was muggy, hot and very very polluted. We hopped in a touk touk which are very dangerous little open cabs they look kind of like golf carts but smaller. These rickshaw drivers drive like mad men! Let me tell you I saw my life flash before my eyes on numerous occasions. We went to Spencer’s Mall but not before stopping at 2 shops owned by the touk touk drivers friends. At the second shop our driver ditched us because we already paid him. Lucky for us the mall was only a block away from where we were! Here there were hundreds of little shops! I bought lots of silk scarves, pasminas, bangles, and other types of jewelry. For lunch we ate at Pizza Hut! In my defense though Pizza Hut in India is like a legit restaurant with crazy types of pizza that we do not have in the States!
On the way back to the ship we stopped at this place on the ocean called the Ice House. Apparently way back in the day before the people of India could create ice they had to import it. After it came in to port in huge blocks it was sent to the ice house! I am not sure how much I believe this story. Some crazy Indian lady told us but it was still kinda cool. On the way home Win handed out some slippers that he stole from his hotel the night before to the little beggar children on the streets. The ones that got them cheered and chanted like they had just won the lottery or accomplished something very impressive!
Overall I hate to say it but I was a little disappointed in India. I don’t think it was the country itself that disappointed me I just don’t think I had the same amazing experience as most did. The trip I selected to do was not what I had expected. We spent majority of our time in a bus, any of our free time was spent at shops of our tour guides friends, and no one listened to what we wanted to do. On the brighter side however I LOVED the Taj Mahal it was incredibly moving. I was able to see how basically the polar opposite country of America works.
India was crazy beautiful at times and disgusting at others. It was a shock to the senses. One second you saw beautiful colorful bright Indian dress the next garbage all over the streets. You smelled beautiful flowers being sold in the markets then the overwhelming smell of poop. You would try a delicious curry dish at one restaurant then a disgusting mutton at another. The best way I can describe it is India was a very interesting country full of surprises.
Oh and I almost forgot to tell you about the cows! In India cows are considered very sacred. They coexist peacefully with humans. Literally these huge massive cattle roam around the streets of India all by themselves. They don’t have owners of caretakers. People will feed them but mostly they just graze off the garbage found on the streets. In India if you hit a cow with your car it is more than a thousand dollar fine!!! It was a very unique experience to walk among the cattle while you shop around. Finding a burger in India is an impossible task!
The flight was good, it was a big plane which surprised me and they served us lunch! It was a chicken tika sandwich which was basically like a chicken salad sandwich but with curry or something. I really liked it! We arrived in Delhi 3 hours later. We found our bus and we were off for a small orientation then to the hotel. We stopped at the oldest mosque in India. It was made out of tons of stones and was beautiful, Muslims still come there to pray facing Mecca. It was especially cool because the tower was so tall that the moon appeared to be at the top of it! I love it when it is still light outside and you can see the moon! One thing that I found strange was the public displays of affection between straight men. Straight men in India hold hands when they walk, put their arms around each other, and even kiss! However a male and female couple cannot do any of these things in public. I’m a pretty open minded person but I’ll admit it was hard not to look when you saw this. After we went to a rug store. Here they served us tea and biscuits and gave us a little demonstration on how to make these beautiful rugs. These rugs were made out of silk so they were super soft but wicked expensive! All over India they hear that you are American and they automatically associate it with money. To them it is a pretty accurate statement and I see why they do it but our tour guide should have known better. He took us to all these expensive shops that were owned by his friends (which is impossible to avoid in India) and they expected us to buy things. I’m sorry but as a college student I do not have 300 US dollars to spend on a rug (and that was the cheapest one there!) And it made us all feel really guilty because they spent so much time and energy showing us their beautiful things.
Now we were headed to our hotel. We spent the night at the La Lit in New Delhi. This was the NICEST hotel I have ever stayed at in my whole life no joke. It was amazing. They greeted you with shook rah (they place the red dot on your head for peace and happiness). We then went up to our rooms we were shocked at what we saw! The shower was a rain shower where water just came out of the ceiling like rain! It was so cool and the bathroom walls were all made out of glass and then there were curtains that went down when you used them. The food there was amazing best buffet I have ever been to. They had Indian food like roti bread, chicken curry, lamb, saffron rice, and many more. They also had American food with pizza and chicken fingers! And they had Japanese food with noodles and sushi it was great! A much needed relief to all of us who were very nervous for our first Indian meal. I bought internet minutes so that I could update my pictures up to India so check out my face book cause I paid to put pictures up for all of you guys! It’s so hard to describe in words what some of these places look like so you should go check them out.
The next day we had an early wake up call. We were off to Jaipur by 7 am. Along the way we drove through Old Delhi and I was a little shocked at some of the things that I saw. The electricity here is spread through huge thick wires that spiral all over the tops of buildings but the buildings aren’t very tall so they are all like right above your head. There are hundreds of thick wires that look almost like large spaghetti noodles coming out of one source looping all around the city. It is honestly ridiculous and one big fire waiting to happen.
Along the 4 hour drive to Jaipur we stopped at a restaurant for a little rest stop that had an absolutely gorgeous garden. With a cage full of cool yellow birds I wish I knew what they were. I bought some chips that looked like they were going to be sour cream and onion turned out to be curry!!!! YUCK! After the drive we finally arrived in the pink city of Jaipur! I was surprised at what I saw. I was expecting it to be a beautiful city full of gorgeous huge pink buildings. What I got was a city with rundown buildings painted pink. From the comfort of the tall bus we were able to look at the poor beggars on the streets. Literally dozens of kids running around begging for money, putting their hands up to their mouths screaming for food,crying all around you. It breaks your heart. I’ve never in my life felt guiltier. On the sidewalks there are make shift tent houses. Can you imagine walking down the sidewalk and seeing people living there? They would cook their meals on little stone fires on the sidewalks! I mean it was incredibly sad I can’t even describe it I saw children going to the bathroom on the sidewalk. We were told ahead of time not to give to these children because they are usually a part of bigger beggar gangs in which a lot of the money doesn’t even go to them. So a lot of the time we would just give them our extra food and they would snatch it so fast they didn’t even have time to thank you. They would take your food and run away to a corner or secret spot so that their friends who were running fast behind them could not eat their food.
We checked into our next hotel ate a little lunch and were off to the city palace! This was in the heart of Jaipiur and is one of the only palaces still around in India in which the king actually resides. Here we walked through the dozens of hawkers to get to the main gate. I saw a man who was so deformed he permanently walked around on the ground like a spider and a young girl with a tumor on the back of her head so big it looked like a giant mango. I have never been so disturbed in my whole life and there was nothing that I could do for them. It felt very wrong to go from passing them into a luxurious gigantic palace. Once inside we saw an Indian dance performance. The odd thing was though that it was a man dressed up as a woman doing the dance. I thought maybe it was because of religious reasons because that’s why it was like that in Morocco. Turns out however that the woman dancer was just sick so the man was filling in for her! Strange! Our guide told us about the mystical Unix which are considered sacred in India. A Unix is like the equivalent of a hermaphrodite in America she/he has both male and female parts. The Unix in India have beautiful faces like women but more of the mainly body structure. They are taken from their homes upon birth and sent to live with other Unix where they learn how to dance the sacred dances. These people then perform at events, for the kings, and other things. It was very interesting but so sad because these people have absolutely no choice in the direction of their lives. Still today this is practiced. There was a Unix only a few years ago who went off to college, was discovered to be a Unix, and then immediately removed from their home. The Unix and his family had absolutely NO say in the matter. I can’t even imagine anything like that ever being done in the states. It all start with the idea that these people were sent by the gods that they are special. Back in the day queens would surround themselves with Unix because they were not considered a threat to her relationship with the king. I found this all to be very fascinating.
While at the palace we saw a few different rooms, an old museum, and the best part is we saw the King of Jaipur!!! I guess he is rarely at the palace so it was pretty special that we got to see him. We saw him getting into a private car surrounded by 5 guards. Even though I didn’t know who he was I felt so star struck! It was amazing. We then headed to an old observatory which was used in the early years in order to tell time. There were meridian lines, old sun dials, and different stations with astrological signs. It was said that if you stand next to your sign you will see your future. I didn’t see mine but it was still cool! After all this our guide took us to one of his friends jewelry shops in which we could afford nothing. We then went back to the hotel for dinner.
After dinner there was a hilariously entertaining puppet show. The show was right outside the hotel so the workers were not allowed inside. They would beg us to run in and get more people for them. They tried to adapt their show to us as college students with some hilarious skits. One was the Indian Michael Jackson in which the puppet did the moon walk and gyrated on the floor! There were a few other inappropriate skits they did that I can tell you about it you ask haha. I bought one of their puppets at the end a really cool turquoise one! It was then off to bed before the early morning visit to the Amber fort!
Amber fort was amazing. We started the day by riding up to the top of it on….an elephant!!! Ours was named Maria but it was a boy! Strange yes and it was the slowest and biggest elephant all the other elephants passed us on the drive up. All I kept think as I was on it is this elephant could lay down right now do a little roll and squash me dead! But he didn’t thank god and we made it to the top to see the beautiful fort. We began in the garden area. There were two different sides to the garden one for winter and one for summer. The winter one was beautiful! There were mirrors all over the walls in elaborate shapes and designs. In the 18th century it took only one candle to light up the entire room! The summer side was beautiful too with soft pastel colored flowers lining the walls. We were then off to the queens quarters. The king who the castle was built for had 12 wives! Each had their own room all differing in size based on how long they had been married to him. There was a huge courtyard in the middle. Inside this courtyard there was a huge hole in the ground that at one time was used for all the queens to bathe in (also went in order of how long they had been married to the king.) Dead center there was pillars with an open rooftop that used to be used as a lounge area. One can only imagine how amazing this place must have been. Huge satin pillows thrown all over the ground, silk drapes of turquoise, fuschia, lavender, lime green, every color under the sun! It was so fun to sit there and imagine what it would have been like to have actually lived there.
After the fort we headed to Agra where we would see the Taj the next day! On the way we stopped at another fort called Fatehpur Sikri. This fort was amazing as well. All the buildings were made out of red stone. This king was married to three wives, one a Hindu from India, a Muslim from Turkey, and a Christian woman from Portugal. The design of the fort incorporated all these different architectural styles. The pillars had three different sections. One was inspired by the Moors this was the geometric style which had all different symmetrical shapes. The second section was inspired by the Gothic style it had all different types of arches and crosses. And finally the third section was the Hindu inspired architecture I found this one the most beautiful. This one had tons of different shaped flowers carved out into the pillars. He married the Hindu woman first so she was his number one wife until the Muslim woman gave him a son and the tables turned! I loved this place because it was crazy to see the three different religions combine in architecture to form something so beautiful!
We arrived in Agra at around 7pm. We checked into the hotel and were ready to explore. A group of about 5 of us were DYING to go to a market so our tour guide said he would take us (finally he was listening). Turns out he of course took us to two of his friends shops (nowhere near a market.) Finally we were so upset with him that he promised to take us somewhere cool. He took us to his friend’s music shop where he immediately left us. We were all a bit shocked at first but decided to make the most of it. We were taken to the back room where the men had tea ready for us. There was a mini stage and a man holding a funny looking guitar and a mini piano thing. It was a Citare store which is like a type of guitar but way cooler and it gives off a way different sound. You only strum the first string on it the whole time which I found really weird. The two performed for us and we shared some drinks and conversation and it turned out to be a great night! They even let me try the Citare! Which I absolutely sucked at oh well. After this we headed back to the hotel for dinner. I was in roti bread heaven! Most of you know I am obsessed with Flat Top Grill, I go there for there roti bread! So India was definitely the right place for me! Roti bread for breakfast (with syrup like pancakes) lunch and dinner! Then it was off to bed for our early morning visit to the Taj Mahal!!!
We arrived near the Taj at around 8am. You have to park like half a mile away because they don’t want the pollution from the cars to ruin the marble or gardens. As we walked up to the front gate to get into the Taj the tip top of the building was visible. It peered right over the fort that surrounds the Taj Mahal. Walking through the gates and garden I could not believe what I was about to see. When I first saw it I was in awe. Words can’t even describe the way I felt it was amazing. I just felt so lucky to be where I was standing viewing one of the most amazing sites in the entire world! We got there right when it opened and people were everywhere! So here is a little Taj Mahal history I learned as I stared my jaw dropped to the floor at the incredibly massive Taj! So the Taj Mahal was built by the King of India as a memorial to his wife. Before his wife died she had two requests. The first was to never marry again and the second was for him to build her the most beautiful memorial in the world in her honor. And let me tell you he was successful. The Taj Mahal is made out of all white marble and a very special type of glue no nails or anything like that. Next to it there are two identicial buildings. On the right is a mosque which is still used today by muslims to pray which is why the Taj is actually closed on Fridays. On the left is a building that was used as a welcome reception hall. The inside of the Taj houses to replicas of the tombs the King and Queen are buried in. Before the King died he requested that a matching memorial be built behind the Taj in his honor. He wanted it to be built out of black marble! Can you imagine how incredible that would have been? However his son said no and just buried him in the Taj.
I really wish I was better at describing how amazing it was. As I stood in front of the long pond staring at the massive white marble dome it didn’t feel real. None of it. Not being in India, not looking at the Taj, nothing that I was experiencing felt like it was actually happening. How did I get this lucky?
After that we headed to a marble shop owned by descendants of the King who built the Taj. There they use the same secret glue mixture to put together chairs and tables and other things. They add beautiful precious gems to the table tops. They mold and shape the gems on this old school wheel like file. We watched them molding these tiny stones for about ten minutes. Then the owner asked me if I wanted to try it! I reluctantly agreed. The man who’s wheel I was walking up to seemed very nervous and shot the owner a worried look because they work on these stones for hours! And here I was about to screw up his hard work in about 1 minute! I couldn’t even hold the gem it was so tiny. I pressed it once up against the wheel then freaked out and stopped. I didn’t want to ruin it but it was still cool that they let me try. Then we were off to the airport to fly back to our ship in Chennai.
The next day in Chennai I had a lot of shopping to do! Chennai was muggy, hot and very very polluted. We hopped in a touk touk which are very dangerous little open cabs they look kind of like golf carts but smaller. These rickshaw drivers drive like mad men! Let me tell you I saw my life flash before my eyes on numerous occasions. We went to Spencer’s Mall but not before stopping at 2 shops owned by the touk touk drivers friends. At the second shop our driver ditched us because we already paid him. Lucky for us the mall was only a block away from where we were! Here there were hundreds of little shops! I bought lots of silk scarves, pasminas, bangles, and other types of jewelry. For lunch we ate at Pizza Hut! In my defense though Pizza Hut in India is like a legit restaurant with crazy types of pizza that we do not have in the States!
On the way back to the ship we stopped at this place on the ocean called the Ice House. Apparently way back in the day before the people of India could create ice they had to import it. After it came in to port in huge blocks it was sent to the ice house! I am not sure how much I believe this story. Some crazy Indian lady told us but it was still kinda cool. On the way home Win handed out some slippers that he stole from his hotel the night before to the little beggar children on the streets. The ones that got them cheered and chanted like they had just won the lottery or accomplished something very impressive!
Overall I hate to say it but I was a little disappointed in India. I don’t think it was the country itself that disappointed me I just don’t think I had the same amazing experience as most did. The trip I selected to do was not what I had expected. We spent majority of our time in a bus, any of our free time was spent at shops of our tour guides friends, and no one listened to what we wanted to do. On the brighter side however I LOVED the Taj Mahal it was incredibly moving. I was able to see how basically the polar opposite country of America works.
India was crazy beautiful at times and disgusting at others. It was a shock to the senses. One second you saw beautiful colorful bright Indian dress the next garbage all over the streets. You smelled beautiful flowers being sold in the markets then the overwhelming smell of poop. You would try a delicious curry dish at one restaurant then a disgusting mutton at another. The best way I can describe it is India was a very interesting country full of surprises.
Oh and I almost forgot to tell you about the cows! In India cows are considered very sacred. They coexist peacefully with humans. Literally these huge massive cattle roam around the streets of India all by themselves. They don’t have owners of caretakers. People will feed them but mostly they just graze off the garbage found on the streets. In India if you hit a cow with your car it is more than a thousand dollar fine!!! It was a very unique experience to walk among the cattle while you shop around. Finding a burger in India is an impossible task!
MAURITIUS
In order to split up the 12 day journey from South Africa to India semester at sea made a pit stop at the beautiful island of Mauritius! And was it beautiful! Mark Twain said that heaven was modeled after Mauritius and now I see why. We hopped off the ship as fast as we could and took a water taxi to the town of Port Louis. From there Win, McKenzie, and I hired a taxi driver for the day to take us all over the island which is about the size of Rhode Island so not very big. We wanted to go to the other side of the island to get away from all the semester at sea kids so we headed for the southern part. Along the way we stopped at this hidden waterfall that our taxi driver knew about called Rochester falls. We had to hike down a hill that was full banana trees, sugar cane, and other gorgeous greenery. There was this one plant that was soooo cool, when you touched it its leaves sprang in towards the stem. I know plants are living creatures but it was really interesting to actually see one move on its own! We had a guide who helped us walk across a river to reach the bottom of the waterfall. It was amazing. There were local children there who were swimming around in it having a great time. It was so nice to be the only tourists in an area for a change. Win and McKenzie decided to jump off the top of the waterfall! I was too scared so I just took pictures of them and swam around! It was so fun though we went under the fall and I thought I was going to die cause the water was falling so hard on me. After the waterfall we took a mini hike around the area where our guide picked some wild guava plants for us to try We climbed to the top of the fall and crossed the river back to the car. At the car we ripped out some sugar cane which grows all over Mauritius and tried some of the juice from it. It was delicious but a little odd it tasted like warm sugar water! Next we were off to this great beach we read about, Blue Bay beach. Upon arrival I was in absolute awe of the water, I have never in my life seen water so blue. We ran from the car onto the beach and jumped right in. It was my first time in the Indian Ocean and it was great! The water was pretty warm but still refreshing it was the saltiest ocean I have ever been in! We were 3 of only 10 people on the beach which was very nice. I collected some old coral in all different shapes and sizes. We decided to hang out at this hotel on the beach where we pretended to be hotel guests! We ate lunch there which was pretty similar to that of any island cuisine, lots of fish, fruit, a touch of spiciness, it was pretty good. I ordered a strawberry daiquiri with lunch which they did not know how to make! Instead they gave me the most disgusting vodka and grenadine concoction! I stuck to drinks off the menu for the rest of the day. We mostly just laid out in the sun and swam around and relaxed all day it was so amazing. McKenzie went snorkeling I laid out while all the different beach vendors came selling their jewelry which I was able to bargain down pretty low for a beautiful green, white, and gray shell necklace. We went swimming again and this time I cut the bottom of my foot open on some coral which was very painful. It immediately began bleeding and it was getting late so we decided it was time to head back to the ship. Overall Mauritius was great it reminded me a lot of hawaii. We were only there for a day but it was well worth the stop.
SEA OLYMPICS
Well as soon as we arrived on the ship we had little time to prepare for the opening ceremonies of the sea Olympics. It was really a funny site to see 700 college students get so into something so silly. There were 10 seas which competed I was part of the red sea. At the opening ceremonies each sea presented their mascot (ours was the red bull), flag, and our sea chant. Pretty much half of the kids were still drunk from our day spent at Mauritius so that increased the rowdiness of it all. After the opening ceremonies it was straight to bed because I had to participate in the 3 legged race at 9:00am the next morning!
Well when I woke up my foot hurt SOOO bad from when I hit it on the coral there was no way I could run on it in the three legged race. So I had to find someone to take my spot and I participated in the orange pass instead (yanno where you stand in a line and pass an orange down using only your neck no hands!). I swear we all did the craziest most childish things just in the hope of being able to say we were the winners of the sea Olympics! There was a tug of war game, wall sit contest, mashed potato carving contest, Sudoku, scavenger hunt, flippy cup tourney! And the most important and entertaining of all the synchronized swimming show!!! My group had been practicing for a week but not once in the pool. We were all a bit nervous since we had an audience of hundreds but I was pumped and ready to go. We did our dance to a 90’s remix and it was GREAT! We won 3rd place! I am going to try and put a video of it up soon it really was funny. The Sea Olympics was a lot of fun. It was another day off of school and it was cool to see so many people take pride in a team because I know we are all missing it. Well the red sea won the silver medal!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO It was really fun and a great time. I am so glad I participated in it and we won silver!
Well when I woke up my foot hurt SOOO bad from when I hit it on the coral there was no way I could run on it in the three legged race. So I had to find someone to take my spot and I participated in the orange pass instead (yanno where you stand in a line and pass an orange down using only your neck no hands!). I swear we all did the craziest most childish things just in the hope of being able to say we were the winners of the sea Olympics! There was a tug of war game, wall sit contest, mashed potato carving contest, Sudoku, scavenger hunt, flippy cup tourney! And the most important and entertaining of all the synchronized swimming show!!! My group had been practicing for a week but not once in the pool. We were all a bit nervous since we had an audience of hundreds but I was pumped and ready to go. We did our dance to a 90’s remix and it was GREAT! We won 3rd place! I am going to try and put a video of it up soon it really was funny. The Sea Olympics was a lot of fun. It was another day off of school and it was cool to see so many people take pride in a team because I know we are all missing it. Well the red sea won the silver medal!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO It was really fun and a great time. I am so glad I participated in it and we won silver!
E-mail from Britt, Until she can update again
Mom, I think I might know who your blog lover Phil is! Haha does he have blonde hair? I think he was on the green team in the sea olympics! Synchronized swimming went great today! All those handstand and diving competitions Matt and I had as children really paid off! I had someone tape it so I can show you guys when I get home! lol Mauritus was really fun! Win, Mckenzie and I traveled together we hired a cab for the day and we went to some coooool ass waterfall! Then we went to this quiet beach on the other side of the island! There were no semester at sea kids there it was so relaxing we ate lunch and use the facilities at this nice nice hotel on the beach it was super fun! The Indian ocean is reallly warm but reallly salty!!! Anyways I'll give ya a blog update soon thats just a little tidbit of what I did to hold ya over! My slumdog millionare is flying off my shelf! Everyone wants to borrow it but I am just gonna have to say NO soon cause I still havent watched the whole thing!!!! Ok gotta go write the most difficult speech of my life! Its basically like midterms week so I have so much stuff to do but I have to just keep telling myself that as soon as I finish I am like cruisin until finals week! I will be in India Wednesday night your time, so I will update when I can but it may be after India. Ok miss you and love you talk to ya soon!
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