Hawaii, Costa Rica, Guataduruba and the Numbers

So here it is…my last blog from Semester at Sea. First of all, thank you for reading. I know it ranged from entertaining to unbearable, but thanks for sticking it out! It was definitely nice to know I was writing for someone, and that someone was you. And you. And you. And however many you’s there ended up being, but it was definitely you.

So Hawaii, and our return to the land of the free and the home of the lazy. We got an early Christmas present in the form of refueling in Honolulu, which meant a whole extra 24 hours of cell phone service! We had class that day, so it went back to being like a regular class at home, times 20. The lights were off and yet the room was still illuminated from cell phone screens. It would be sad if it wasn’t so great. We left Honolulu (and all the sun we’d see in Hawaii, as it turned out) around 3 pm and began the journey to Hilo. That was the night before Thanksgiving, so we were treated to Thanksgiving dinner, which actually ended up being pretty good. I’d like to make the appeal to my family that mac-n-cheese be a staple at all future turkey day meetings. The meal was made even more special by one of the best sunsets we had on the entire trip (and cell phone coverage that extended at least 4 hours longer than anyone else’s…thanks AT&T!)

We awoke the next morning in Hilo, greeted by rain and clouds. So what do you do when it’s rainy and cloudy? Go to Wal-Mart, of course! To be fair, we would have done that if it were bright and sunny, but no matter. And what follows Wal-Mart? Starbucks! And once you’ve sold your soul to corporate American giants twice in one day, that leaves only one thing left to do…MCDONALDS!!! Yes, it was that bad. We decided to work off the fat we had just spent several hours accumulating by walking back to the ship, but we got distracted by Ken’s Diner, which has won the award for USA Today’s “Best Breakfast in America” for the last ten years or so. After making a pit stop, we proceeded to Coconut Island, a small park on an island on the coast. We were relaxing when a man, stoned out of his MIND and with a bleeding leg, came up and asked us for weed. We responded that although we were, in fact, college kids, we didn’t smoke. Clearly displeased with this answer, he paused before exclaiming “you lying m-----------s.” Hawaii’s best. It was sad to leave ‘Murica, especially with 9 more days on the Pacific, but it was certainly nice to not have to exchange currency and communicate with loved ones. And eat McDonald’s.

On the 4^th we arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. My activities for the first day consisted of a tour of a coffee plantation up in the hills. It was fascinating and definitely worth it, even if I almost single-handedly cleaned out their gift shop. The next day we hired a taxi driver for the day in order to get a little farther away from the ship (there was next to nothing to do in Puntarenas.) Our first destination was Cararas National Park, one of the best places to see Scarlet Macaws in all of Central America. Naturally, this meant that we didn’t see any Scarlet Macaws. Not even close. But we did see some weird anteater things and a rodent that John could only describe as “like a guinea pig, but with less guinea and more pig.” We also saw a white Honduran bat and the piece de resistance, a pair of Chesnut-mandibled Toucans, some of the rarest in the area. Now the only reason we saw all of these things is because we took the least-used path and paid the price in the form of huge spiders and ants that looked like they could take us down if we looked at them the wrong way. There were also tons of huge flying beetles, so loud you could hear them coming from several yards away. We lovingly named these “Howler Beetles” after the loudest things in the jungle that day. Oh, did I also mention there were Africanized Bee hives on some of the trees? Yay!

We went back to our taxi driver and whined and complained like good Americans about how we hadn’t seen any macaws, so he drove us a short distance down the road to a tiny little town. We only drove about a minute in before, sure enough, we saw 6 or 7 Scarlet Macaws in one of the trees. After that he asked us if we wanted to see monkeys, a question that truly needed no answer. So we ended up in some Costa Rican lady’s backyard, where there was a whole family of about 20 monkeys. We paid $3 for a bowl of bananas and graham crackers and went up and got crawled on by white-faced Capuchins (think “Night at the Museum.”) There was a mother and her baby as well as one that ran onto my head to grab a cracker and then…stopping. So he just ate on my arm, no big deal. It helped that we knew Spanish because the lady kept bringing us more bananas and joking with us, so we stayed there for a long time. I guess you could say it was more fun than a barrel of monkeys! We were just monkeying around. Hey, remember what I said earlier about this blog being unbearable?

After Costa Rica we departed for our final stop, Guataduruba. Or Guatahonduba. Or Honcubala. Or basically any made-up word involving Cuba (everyone’s preferred destination), Guatemala (everyone’s least-preferred destination) and Honduras (meh.) Well it ended up being Honduras, but not really. Right before we arrived we got a warning that drug crime and violence was escalating in Central America, so our travel was strictly limited to Roatan Island. You know it was serious when I tell you that literally all there was to do there was drink. Yeah, they wanted 400 college kids to stay on an island, after they were done with finals, where all there is to do is drink. And the award for “Most Questionable Decision Ever” goes to…

Our first day there we went to West Bay Beach, which is pretty much the quintessential beach in Central America. It was great until about 2 pm, when the rain started. And this was no average rain. So now there were 399 college kids (I like to consider myself the exception) stuck on an island, where all there is to do is drink, forced into the bars and restaurants after lunch but before dinner but with a lot of money to spend…it was a recipe for disaster.

Our second and last day in Honduras I woke up to…wait for it…rain! And 40 mph wind! I wasn’t even sure I was going to leave my bed, but then my friend Brittany came back to the ship and said she had found a place where we could eat iguana. And how could I pass that up?! (Sorry Sara…did I say iguana? I don’t remember saying iguana…) After that we trudged back through the rain and mud to the ship, a quiet last moment in port. But after the adventures I’ve had, that may have been the most appropriate ending…

And now, some stats! And lists!

Stats

24 time zones passed through

11 flights taken

15 countries and 1 Special Administrative Region visited

129 episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” watched

3 bottles of cough syrup consumed

7.87 GB worth of pictures taken

28,000 nautical miles traveled (approximate)

110 days traveled

20 pages of papers written

82 oz. of Starburts eaten

27-25 score of the volleyball game during Sea Olympics (we won)

96 number of tons of fuel used each day at sea

$4.6 million total cost of fuel for the voyage

0 number of whales hit…I think

28 pounds of peanut butter consumed per day

220 emails exchanged with Laurel (approximate)

TOP 5’s

Awesom-uhh, dangerous places to cross the street

1.      Vietnam

2.      Morocco

3.      India

4.      China

5.      Honduras

Most beautiful places

1.      Lion’s Head in Cape Town at Sunset

2.      Kek Lok Si Temple, Malaysia

3.      Wli Waterfall, Ghana

4.      Taj Mahal at Sunrise, Agra, India

5.      Deck 5 aft at sunset

“Dong” jokes (the official currency of Vietnam)

1.      “You can’t just pull your dong out in front of everyone.”

2.      “If you go waving your dong around, someone is going to run by and grab it.”

3.      “So I just slapped my dong on the table. It must have been enough because he took it.”

4.      “Don’t worry guys, I have enough dong for everyone.”

5.      “You never want someone to know just how much dong you have.”

Top 5 Most Beautiful Cityscapes

1.      Hong Kong

2.      Cape Town, South Africa

3.      Penang, Malaysia

4.      Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

5.      Tokyo, Japan

Top 5 Biggest Disappointments

1.      The postcards made it seem like you could see Mt. Fuji from anywhere in Japan.

2.      “The Lion King” was a fictional story. Monkeys and lions don’t hang out.

3.      Angkor Wat was undergoing construction for the first time since the 12^th century.

4.      “Hygiene” isn’t a word in some languages.

5.      Neither is “toilet.”

Top 5 Most Delicious Foods

1.      Kobe beef.

2.      Pigeon pie (minus the food poisoning).

3.      McDonalds (seriously you guys…)

4.      South African braai (barbecue)

5.      Costa Rican casado

Top 5 Landmarks You Should See If You Get the Chance

1.      Taj Mahal

2.      The Great Wall

3.      Angkor Wat

4.      The Forbidden City

5.      Table Mountain

Top 5 Local Beers

1.      Tiger (SE Asia)

2.      Salva Vida (Honduras)

3.      Kingfisher (India)

4.      Imperial (Costa Rica)

5.      Star (Ghana)

Top 5 Tips for Haggling at the Market

1.      Whatever it is, you don’t want it.

2.      Whatever their price is, it’s 90% too high.

3.      Whenever they don’t budge, walk away.

4.      Did they call you back? Good! Continue bargaining.

5.      Wait they let you go? Oops…screwed that one up.

Top 5 Card Games on the Ship

1.      Euchre

2.      Solitaire

3.      Hearts

4.      Spades

5.      Uno

Top 5 Advantages to Traveling by Ship

1.      No bummer jetlag.

2.      Duty free ports x 14.

3.      Actual beds, not just reclining seats.

4.      Airline food.

5.      A pool!

Top 5 Terrifying Experiences

1.      Taking a 3 hour cab ride from Fez to Casablanca at midnight with a cab driver’s teenage son and his best friend.

2.      The first time crossing the street in Veitnam.

3.      An angry herd of elephants when you’re in an open-air vehicle.

4.      Your first “negotiation” in the market.

5.      Almost stepping on the blackest, giantest scorpion you’ve ever seen.

Top 5 “Bang for your Buck” Experiences

1.      The Saigon Zoo ($0.60 plus $0.10 to feed the elephants)

2.      Feeding Costa Rican monkeys ($3)

3.      The Penang Botanic Gardens and Penang Hill Hike ($2)

4.      A taxi ride, anywhere in India ($2)

5.      Kek Lok Si Temple in Malaysia ($0)

Top 5 Things I’m Going to Do When I Get Home

1.      Meet Laurel at the airport.

2.      Kiss the ground.

3.      Run around outside no matter the temperature.

4.      Go snowboarding.

5.      Go to Chipotle.

Well that’s about all I’ve got. We’re about to set sail out of Honduras, next stop: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida! Thank you again for reading, your support has been unbelievable throughout this entire trip. See you all soon!

Japan

We arrived in Japan the morning of the 11^th to a torrential downpour and biting wind. That, combined with my combination pack of illnesses, meant that the absolute last thing I wanted to do was leave the boat. Japan doesn’t look bad from the boat, after all. But I begrudgingly left my warm bed and ventured out into Kobe. It became immediately apparent that this would not be like most of our other port experiences. I’m pretty sure if the statistic was kept, Japan would hold the record for “Most Suits per Square Kilometer.” The people are well-dressed, the streets are spotless and, most shocking of all, there is nobody trying to sell you anything. What is this land that God himself created?! The first stop was an ATM, which proved to be harder than anyone expected since most Japanese ATMs don’t accept American credit cards. But true to Asian form, everyone around us was willing to help, even if they didn’t speak a word of English. After acquiring currency, my friend Nichole and I went and got a lunch of Kobe beef (you’re only in Japan once right? Sorry mom…) and let me tell you, it was absolutely, 100% worth it. The meat was so tender you could press it against the top of your mouth with your tongue to cut it. Yeah. Plus we were the only ones in the restaurant so we had our own personal waiter and chef. The only hitch in the afternoon was that we didn’t know we had to specifically ask for the check, so we were left waiting as the waiter and the chef went and had lunch. But we figured it out and he even threw in a free package of napkins for good measure.

            After lunch we toured an old sake brewery, another of Kobe’s famous consumables. I’m not a huge fan of sake (it tastes kind of like a mix of vodka and white wine…hmmm…) but it was cool to see. Plus the subway was an adventure as most of the signs were not in English. In contrast to China, very little in Japan was translated, which we were told was because most of the tourism in Japan is from people from other parts of Japan. But we made it and upon returning, set out to find an internet café. First we went to Starbucks, but since nothing in Japan is free, they didn’t have free wi-fi. So we spent the next 2 hours wandering around Kobe looking a whole lot like lost tourists. Eventually we found a “comic café” on the top floor of an arcade. Once again the cashier spoke NO English but we tried to communicate the best we could. Eventually he led us to little boxes with cushions/mattresses and pillows, along with a TV and a computer. Apparently these booths can serve as anything from places to sleep for a few hours to places to go use the internet to places to do…other things. Wish I had known that beforehand.

            The next day I took a tour to Hiroshima, which consisted of a 5 hour bus ride split by breaks and several rest stops along the way. These are not your mother’s old rest stops. One vending machine served coffee and actually had cameras inside and a TV outside so you could watch your coffee being made. The bathrooms had monitors on the doors alerting you as to which were occupied. You could choose which MUSIC you wanted your toilet to flush to. There were vending machines selling absolutely everything you could ever need (a common theme in Japan.) Once we got to Hiroshima, we started at the “A-Bomb Dome,” the iconic steel skeleton of a building that stood right under the detonation point. Continuing, we saw the Peace Memorial Park and the museum. I was curious to see how it compared to the Museum of American Atrocit-sorry, War Remenants Museum, since we were the enemy in both cases, and I have to say I was surprised. The whole bottom floor of the museum was dedicated only to facts about the event and the efforts of both sides to reach peace. No propaganda, no anti-Americanism. Just a push for peace and the end to nuclear weapons. On the top floor there was an exhibit about how nuclear weapons work as well as a heavy exhibit with survivor’s accounts of the day that brought tears to many people’s eyes. Exiting the museum leaves you directly in the middle of the park…it was one of the best museums I’ve been to. I was also amazed at how beautiful Hiroshima was. There are parks everywhere, the city is backed by mountains, a lovely river runs through the middle of it…quite a change from a city that was completely decimated. There’s only one thing the residents of Hiroshima are more adamant about than the beauty of their city, and that’s the end of nuclear war. We took the bullet train back which felt like riding on the wings of angels after the joys that were the Moroccan and Indian rail systems.

            That night 6 of us took a sleeper bus to Tokyo since the ship was traveling to the new port of Yokohama. Sleeper bus is a bit of an exaggeration though…it was more of a regular bus that happened to be traveling at night. I was lucky and happened to be the first one to book my seat and so was automatically seated behind the bulkhead, giving me substantial leg room. Others were not so lucky. However, we arrived safely at Tokyo Disneyland the next day, the happiest (and most crowded) place on Earth. The lines for rides weren’t that long though…at least not compared to the lines to get into the stores. There was a line three HOURS long just to get into Donald Duck’s Emporium. Needless to say we were very confused.

            Reminder #2 that we were in Japan came later in the day, when I was informed that I was too tall to ride on one of the rides (Japan is not built for people of my stature.) I said that was fine and my friends went on while I went to find a place to sit down, at which point the ride operator, a tiny Japanese girl, came running up to me and said (as best she could) “I’m very sorry. I feel really bad. Please enjoy our other attractions. I’m also sorry I don’t speak English.” I tried to tell her that I should be the one speaking Japanese but that might have gotten lost in translation. But that just goes to show how accommodating the Japanese can be. It was alright though, I spent my time taking pictures of people taking pictures of people posing with the peace sign in front of the ride entrance. I hit 30 and began to run out of space on my camera. One highlight of the day was the Indiana Jones right, in which we went on a high-speed, danger-filled adventure while Indiana Jones yelled things at us…in Japanese. I’m sure he was saying helpful things.

            The next day we tried our hand at the 42-line Tokyo subway system which was spotlessly clean and had flatscreen monitors in each car that helpfully announced each stop in Japanese and English. We made it to Shinjuku, the “skyscraper district,” and went up to the observatory on the 42^nd floor of the TMG building (did I mention it was FREE??) After that we ventured down to Harajuku, the crazy fashion district. And let me tell you, it was pretty crazy. Japanese girls dressed head to toe in Hello Kitty, or dressed as Santa Claus, or wearing foot-high platform boots. One item in particular I would like to see in the states is a combination wool hat and attached mittens. That’s right, it looks like really long strings on the side of the hat, but they are actually mittens on the end! They’ve thought of everything. We hopped back on the subway at rush hour, hoping that we could experience the men hired to push people into the subway cars. Alas, it was not quite crowded enough and thus we had to push ourselves. We went to Shibuya, home of Shibuya crossing, the iconic intersection that undoubtedly comes up when you google Tokyo. It was a lot like Times Square in New York City but…Asian? It was also here that we met Del, who noticed my Denver t-shirt and told us that he just moved to Japan from his place on the corner of University and Evans. If there’s one thing you can count on with Semester at Sea, it’s that the world gets smaller every single day.

            The morning of our final day we went to the amusement park in Yokohama and walked around the waterfront. For some reason it felt a lot like LoDo, with some brick buildings, low rises and clean, uncrowded streets. Unsuccessful in finding sushi for lunch, we ate back at the ship. At this point my illness was really taking its toll on me and I was getting really grumpy and decided I needed to get away for a little while. I took a walk up to the hill in Yokohama where there was a beautiful park and a free zoo. The zoo wasn’t all that exciting (did I mention it was FREE??) but it did have two adorable red pandas and you couldn’t even really hear the noise from Japan’s second-largest city. Refreshed and ready for the 9-day voyage to Hawaii, I boarded the ship still feeling like shit but with a smile on my face.

China

The title of this blog actually should be “Hong Kong,” followed by a separate blog for “China,” since Hong Kong is technically a SAR (Special Administrative Region) of China…I don’t understand it either. Don’t bother googling it, it won’t help. Anyway, we pulled into Hong Kong amid the most densely-packed skyscrapers I’ve seen in quite some time. I love cities so it already started the Parent Trip out on the right foot for me. As we pulled in I saw my mom, the tallest woman in the whole group. She’ll deny it…it’s true. She boarded the boat and we did a brief tour as the sun tried to poke its head out for us. Our first activity was taking the tram up Victoria Hill for the iconic view of HK and Kowloon that comes up whenever you google Hong Kong. I could already tell this country would be a whole new breed when, upon arrival, we were greeted by a Starbucks and a Burger King instead of hawkers. After inhaling a deep breath and the accompanying smell of globalization at its finest, we traveled back down the hill and over to a fishing village, but only if in this case “fishing” means “shopping.” Seriously, it was just a market.

            Our next stop was a harbor, where we took a traditional Chinese boat around all the fishing boats, house boats and multi-million dollar yachts. We passed a particularly interesting building with a hole built through the middle of it. Our tour guide informed us that…well, I’m not quite sure what she said. But it was something about how the residents want to keep the dragon happy. Or the dragon would hit the building if it didn’t have a hole. I’m not sure. I still don’t know if this dragon is metaphorical or not but that’s ok. Our evening concluded with a booze cruise around HK Harbor (what my mom described as a “Nighttime cruise.”) After that we stuck around for the laser light show that happens every night. It’s even choreographed to music. How cool does that sound!? It wasn’t. But we did stumble on what looked like China’s American Idol. We got dinner at “Peking Garden,” home of the famous 11-course meal. I stuck to deep-fried chicken (can I get a hallelujah!) and beer. Maybe that wasn’t enough because when it came time to get the check, we became invisible. Seriously, I’m 6’7” and we were in China. I know he saw us. So 30 minutes later we paid our bill and went on our merry way.

            We flew to Beijing the next day where our first activity was hiking on some little stone fence. Yawn. No seriously, it was SO cool. No pictures can ever realistically portray just how huge this thing is. Plus my mom got her first experience bartering…well I bartered and she mostly watched, but it’s true that it is really intimidating. The next one was about half me and half her, and by the end she got two purses all by herself! They grow up so fast… I’m also going to take this opportunity to share with you the first of two AWESOME English translations…it was on a customized car and the back window read:

“To every way For showing your dignity We have tuned up all parts of the car in a supreme ways. U who respect the value of LUXURY are the genuine VIPs. “Your Free Style”, We’re trying to make your dignity more LUXURIOUS.”

            We also visited the Temple of Heaven, where we got to do Tai Chi, as well as toured the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City, which was probably my favorite part (and NOT just because I have to write a paper about it.) We also had the opportunity to see a Chinese acrobatics show which absolutely BLEW. MY. MIND. Ask me to show you the videos some time. Another highlight was the Oriental Pearl Market, which did have pearls but really should have been called the Oriental Knockoff and Cheap Electronics Market. It was here that I bartered for a pair of Beats by Dre headphones for $30 (retail in the US ~$300). Here’s the catch…it was with a pregnant lady. She was actually really nice and we exchanged some banter before settling on a price but I still can’t help but feel like there’s a special level of hell reserved for people who barter with pregnant women. We also saw the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest from the Beijing Olympics before we left for Xi’an.

            After flying to Xi’an we saw the Terra Cotta Warriors, an impressive display of an emperor having a huge ego (a common theme in China.) We also walked on the Xi’an wall, which survives from the time when every city in China had a protective wall around it. We thought we were going to continue our adventure to Shanghai but the pilot (or maybe the plane) had other plans. My mom’s description pretty much sums it up…we began to thunder down the runway when all of a sudden the pilot threw the flaps up and hit the brakes before swerving off the runway. After awhile in the airport we were shuttled to our hotelshack. The toilets didn’t really work, the beds were rock solid, and the TV couldn’t be resuscitated. This is also where we encountered the second AWESOME translation on a laundry card:

 “Guest of Respect, Hou do you do! If you need to do laundry to pleases to pack the clothes in to do laundry bag and put on the baggage cabinet. This does laundry bag to belong to guest house repeated usage, if you purchase conduct and actions memorial, please with 8100 or 8140 guest room service counter contact.”

 I’m not sure what the relationship is between laundry and memorials but I’m not sure I want to find out.

I skipped breakfast the next morning and we went back to the Xi'an airport for our flight to Shanghai, take two. I was really disappointed I missed all that Shanghai had to offer, but we still got the best views in the city on our exit (one of the benefits of being on a ship.) My mother returned home safely though with a nice souvenir that she transferred to me. I’m just now recovering from my battle with pneumonia and bronchitis but I wasn’t about to let that affect my plans for Japan. Speaking of Japan…

Vietnam

Well boys and girls, it’s official. I’ve put it off long enough. I’ve run out of excuses. No longer can I blame it on only having 2 days between ports or having too much to do. Even my mother has posted on my blog more recently than I have. So, without further ado, here it is.

To reach Ho Chi Minh City (some of you fossils might remember it as Saigon) we had to travel about 3 hours up a river, strategically planned to occur at high tide or else we could have gotten stuck. I’m pretty sure the pilot was either really angry or just an adrenaline junkie because we did the equivalent of an e-brake parallel park right behind an oil tanker. I’m not kidding, this dude didn’t ease off the throttle at all. We missed the ship by about 10 feet which, in boating terms, is slightly more than the width of a hair. Upon arrival we were greeted by a group of Vietnamese women in traditional garb with a sign that said “Semester at Sea Welcome to Vietnam.” After touring the city for a bit, John and I decided to visit the War Remnants Museum (formerly the Museum of American Atrocities…that should give you an idea of the two-sided nature of the information…) To get there, we hopped on the back of two motorcycles and paid the guys a buck each for a nice open-air jaunt through the city streets…and some of the sidewalks too.

            The museum was…heavy. Parts were cool (several restored tanks, howitzers, gunships and fighter jets), parts were shocking (the exhibit on Agent Orange, which was staffed by volunteers with disabilities from the chemical), and parts were angering. At the same time, though, it was hard not to feel like the enemy. There were a lot of Europeans there (this would become a theme) and it was hard to think that they weren’t looking down on us just a little bit, as we both stood in front of a picture of an American soldier carrying the torso of a Vietnamese fighter and nothing else.

            We needed a pick-me-up after the museum, which in this case meant a trip around the city crossing every street we could find. Now let me explain…crossing the street in Vietnam is not like crossing the street anywhere else in the world. First of all, it is referred to as the “Motorcycle Capital of the World.” Also, there are few to no crosswalks. So the strategy is this: start walking at a slow but sustained pace. Most of them will go around you. Yes, most. There’s this fun little thing called the Saigon Kiss that happens when the muffler of a bike burns you on the way past. Anyway, John and I turned this into a game (for the sake of my mom and my girlfriend, this is why I waited awhile to write this post) and found the busiest intersections we possibly could and took videos. Ah, fun the Vietnamese way.

            My flight for Cambodia left the next day and before long we were on our way to dinner, which included a traditional Cambodian dance show. If you’ve ever been to Hawaii, it was similar to those luaus that many hotels do, with buffet-style food and a “cultural” show. That was the point when I realized just how many Europeans travel to SE Asia. Maybe they’re on to something? The next morning we toured Angkor Wat at sunrise, along with the rest of Cambodia. Honestly it was not quite as spectacular as the Taj Mahal at sunrise, but the colors of the sky were far superior. It was also difficult getting a picture without a thousand people in it, but that’s when being 6’7” comes in handy. After Angkor Wat, we traveled to several different temples in the area, including one often referred to as the “Tomb Raider Temple” for the huge trees whose roots have weaved in and out of the walls and towers. One thing we found interesting was how much freedom visitors were given…security was nowhere to be found. We were free to climb and touch anything we damn well pleased. No way would that happen in the states. This was also the place where we dubbed Cambodia “The Land of the…Dollar?” in reference to EVERYTHING costing $1. Beads, shirts, books…$1. Another interesting tidbit…American dollars are the unofficial currency of Cambodia. The official currency is the Rial, but Cambodian ATMs dispense USDs. The customs officials require USDs to obtain a Visa. And, of course, hawkers on the street prefer …well, USD's. But expect to get your change back in Rial. Wait, what?

            In the afternoon we went back to Angkor Wat for the official tour, and we arrived to a torrential downpour. No matter, you only get one chance to visit the most spectacular temple in the world, so we marched on. It actually drove many away, so it was less crowded than the morning sesh. The rain had also cooled the stifling heat, despite adding to the already-oppressive humidity. The temple was beautiful, and the views from the top tower were breath-taking. One of the highlights was a room that didn’t echo for a shout, a hand-clap or a foot-stomp, but reverberated like a drum when the chest was hit. This was because the ancient cultures in Cambodia believed that hitting the chest released negative emotions…don’t ask me how they built it. It’s definitely something that must be heard to be believed.

            On our final day in Cambodia we visited the Cambodian Landmine Museum, which was started by one man who has singlehandedly unearthed 50,000 mines. It is now run by an American Vietnam War vet and has also turned into an orphanage for children who have lost parents to landmines. In the States we have no reason to think about landmines, but there are still hundreds of thousands in Cambodia and Vietnam. Children still get blown up almost daily walking to school through the jungle. It’s hard to believe that the government, any government, would allow this to happen. But I guess we’re not in Kansas anymore… That afternoon we toured a floating village on Tonley Sap lake, which required a 2-hour bus ride through flooded dirt roads to get to. But it was worth it, as we motored through a floating basketball court, a floating club complete with thumping music, and even an alligator farm. All the while little boys in boats with their fathers would pull up alongside ours with boxes of canned beverages to sell before hopping back onto their boat. One child even hopped on and started giving back massages. He made $2 which doesn’t sound like a lot until you realize that the average income for an adult in Cambodia is $50/month. After arriving back on shore we were greeted by people trying to sell us dinner plates with our faces on them. Some were persuaded into buying only to realize they were just stickers placed on the plates. And they cost $3. Suckers.

            Back in ‘Nam we decided to ascend to the 49^th floor of the tallest tower, the Bitexco Financial Tower, for sprawling views of the city.  We were the only ones up there (it had just opened for the morning) so we each got our own Vietnamese tour guide who told us all about the new tunnel and the market in what can only be described as a step below broken English. But they reflected the hospitality that we had become used to in Vietnam. Never in my life have I visited a country where every single person I meet is as nice as they were in Vietnam. Even in the market I accidently hit a stack of tea cups with my backpack and out of nowhere came three Vietnamese men to catch all the cups I couldn’t get before helping me stack them all back up again. I feel like in America, they would have stared at me and said “sucks to be you, kid.” But maybe I’m a cynic.

            That afternoon we went to the Saigon Zoo, simultaneously one of the shittiest and greatest zoos I’ve ever visited in my life. The cages were bare, the smell was awful, and the animals could not stop doing awesome things! I fed an elephant a stalk of sugar cane, watched lions have sex, saw the fattest bear to have ever lived and got a water bottle thrown at me by an agitated chimpanzee. By far the best 60 cents I’ve spent in quite some time. Even though the ship left the next morning (the tides again), we had to be on-board that night but I wished we could have stayed in Vietnam even longer. I was incredibly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I think many of my negative feelings stemmed from how everything we know relates to the War, but it really is a beautiful country full of beautiful people. I would recommend it to absolutely anybody.

Greetings from exotic......Castle Rock, Colorado!

Alright, alright. I know you are all disappointed. You saw that Trevor had updated his blog, you've been waiting for weeks, and it turns out to be from his mom! Hope I don't disappoint you with MY recollections of China. Trevor is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and will be updating his entries for Vietnam, China and Japan soon. In the meantime he has graciously given me permission to hack his blog.

I arrived in Hong Kong a couple of days before the official start of the "Semester at Sea Parents Trip", and puttered around the city on my own. I took a subway and was literally the only non-Asian in sight, which shocked me in such an international city. The subway was so easy to use, cheap, and all the signs in HK are in Chinese and English. I wandered through a few markets, but couldn't bring myself to barter with them. Met with the other parents (about 50) the next morning and we took a tour to see the world's largest outdoor Buddha, and a fishing village on stilts. The highlight of the day was a delicious 11 course dinner at a fine HK restaurant. If I'd only known that this food was NOT typical of what was to come, I would have stuffed it in my cheeks for later in the trip, like a hamster. On the third day the MV Explorer, Trevor's 1,000 passenger cruise ship, pulled in to dock.  Tears were flowing freely as we were all trying to pick our world travelers out of the line-up along the railing, . Of course, I didn't have any trouble picking out Trevor. He took me on a brief tour of  his home-away-from-home, and it's quite an impressive ship. We all toured HK Island and saw the stunning views of HK and Kowloon. Our evening ended with a nighttime tour of HK harbor on a traditional Chinese junk - the lights are like no other city I've ever seen! HK is a much more intimate city than I expected for a population of 7 million. It's quite clean and easy to navigate. I never felt unsafe. I think the only downsides were the smells (fishy mostly) and the crowds (always shoulder to shoulder), which was actually true throughout China.

The group of 80 (parents plus kids) flew to Beijing, where we navigated a section of the Great Wall, saw the Empress Cixi's Summer Palace Gardens and trooped through the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square. I think my favorite experience, though, was performing Tai Chi under the guidance of a Master in the Temple of Heaven Park. The looks on the locals' faces when they stopped to watch....no, make that stare at us, were priceless. Picture it - 80 clueless Americans, arms and legs flailing about. But the atmosphere in the park was very special. There were families singing, dancing, women knitting, old men playing cards and mahjong. I feel like we saw a small slice of authentic Chinese life.

Flew from Beijing to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Very impressive in person. Hard to imagine someone crafting 8,000 of those life-sized soldiers, not to mention piecing them together from the crumbled state they were found in . Trevor had to restrain me from purchasing a life-sized replica to stand sentinel at my front door here in Castle Rock (just kidding). So, every trip has a "story", right? Well, our story began as we were hurdling down the runway for our late night flight to Shanghai, when the captain suddenly (and quite frighteningly) aborted the take-off. Apparently a light came on in the instrument panel that he didn't like the looks of. After sitting on the tarmac for a couple of hours, they cancelled the flight and sent us to a Chinese hotel. Oh my goodness, what an experience. Hard to describe, but imagine the most fleabag motel you've ever stayed at in the U.S.....times two! The breakfast buffet in the morning (after a mostly sleepless night worrying about bedbugs) was pure Chinese - cold noodles, broth, sticky sweet rice, gristly mystery meat, pickled vegetables and hot Tang (remember Tang from your childhood?). And they only had chopsticks, which despite all my efforts during the trip, I had not learned to manipulate. Anyway, it was a story.

On to Shanghai. Unfortunately because of our equipment failure in Xi'an, the students had to go straight to the ship instead of being able to explore Shanghai. We said our teary-eyed goodbyes and made our way to our hotel, from which we watched the MV Explorer pull out of its berth and head for Japan. About this time, I was feeling a tightness in my chest, along with many other parents on our bus. Spent the last day of the trip with a sightseeing trip to Zhujiajiao (also know as the Venice of the east for it's canals and bridges), shopping and enjoying a very nice farewell reception at a fine Shanghai restaurant. Woke up on departure day with a fever and full-blown cold/flu symptoms, wondering how I was going to survive the long flight home. I felt so sorry for the people around me on the plane - I was "one of those people", hacking and blowing my nose every 5 mins. Sara picked me up at the airport and suggested perhaps I had SARS (haha, very funny Sara). Went to bed and woke up much worse. Very kind neighbors took me to the hospital, just to be sure it wasn't SARS and it wasn't....it was pneumonia. Turns out Trevor has it too. So, here I am back home after 3 days in the hospital. Not exactly the ending I wanted to my fantastic adventure to China, but thankful I contracted it towards the very end of the trip.

All in all, a great trip. Trevor and I laughed a lot, especially at the English translations of most signs in China. One would think that they could hire an English-speaking person to translate their signs, but I guess they haven't thought of that yet. The food overall ranged from "hmmmmm...what do you think it is?" to "tastes like chicken" to "EEWWWW!". Don't go to China for the food....just sayin'. Having been a "budget" traveler all my life, I was in awe of the western-style hotels we stayed in. Luxurious hardly begins to describe them. I think I might have starved to death if we hadn't had breakfast buffets at all the hotels, complete with waffles, smoothies, made to order omelets, just about any food you could imagine. The shopping was fabulous, once I had Trevor (my bargaining expert) teach me how to "negotiate". You  just have to be willing to walk away and 9 times out of 10, they will come running back to you with a lower offer. I was very nervous the first time I had to play hardball for a T-shirt, but I ended up getting it for $2 (instead of $18 that they started with) and learned to appreciate the "art" of negotiating. I actually got quite good at it by Shanghai, where a couple of other moms and I were taken down a back alley to a secret room of knock-off luggage and I bought a Gucci carry-on for $25. I'm sure Trevor would have been proud. I'm also sure that he would have gotten it for $15.

Malaysia

I would be willing to bet that when someone says “Asia,” the first thing that comes to your mind is not “Mal-asia” (forgive the spelling, it emphasizes the point.) I know it didn’t for me and to be honest, I knew virtually nothing about the country. But after spending three far too short days there, I would make the case that it should be added to any Asian travel itinerary. I think the best way to describe it is as “Asia Light”…all the culture of Asia, but with mostly English-speaking people. It provided the ideal Asia 101 course for us, for even though we’ve been to the craziest of the crazy, Asia is still an intimidating travel destination, from Veitnam to China to Japan. So it was nice to feel like we were in China even while gazing out to some of the tropical islands that come up when you google “paradise.”

On the first day, I was signed up for an FDP (Faculty-Directed Practica) trip for my architecture class. FDP’s are basically educationally centered field trips (as opposed to trips that are just for fun) and are led by your professor. Since we only have 46 days of class instead of the usual 55, 20% of our grade is participation on 2 FDP’s for each class. All things considered, they’re definitely not a bad way to get a grade. Anyway, this FDP was a walking tour of Georgetown, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the location of our berth. It was fascinating going from a Christian Cathedral to a Buddhist Temple to a Chinese Clan House, passing mosques the whole way. The final place we visited, the Khoo Kongsi Clan House, was an incredibly decorated Chinese house where one of the descendents of the clan was actually having his wedding photos taken with his fiancé. Much to my surprise, our guide walked up to them and nudged them out of the way, motioning for us to follow. Hmm. They didn’t seem to mind too much…I guess that’s what happens when you’re in love. The next part of my day is one of shame, regret and remorse. We rode the free shuttle to the Komtar Shopping Center, at which point we indulged in the finest Malaysian Starbucks and McDonalds. To make matters worse, we even ran into the ship’s head chef, who recognized us and said “What, my food is even worse than McDonalds?” Ouch.

To make up for this indiscretion of mine, on the second day AJ and I hiked Penang Hill. This required us taking a public bus to the Botanic Gardens, then hiking a trail from there. The gardens were a beautiful escape from the city, as they were only 20 minutes away but felt like a world apart. There were towering jungles all around us, monkeys running around, and tons of schoolchildren fascinated by the large, lost-looking gentlemen wandering around the botanic gardens. We had a hell of a time finding the actual trail, and at one point we wandered through the parking lot, where a taxi driver asked if we wanted to go to the train station that goes up the hill. Being manly men, we said of course not, we were going to hike it thankyouverymuch. He looked at us, laughed, and said “alright.” Turns out we should have taken the train.

Eventually we found the trail and began our hike of what we thought would be about 2 hours. The heat was oppressive, the humidity even more so, and within 5 minutes we were both dripping like faucets. My decision not to fill my water bottle all the way to the top that morning was looking like a terrible one, but we pressed on. After about an hour and a half, we reached the top of the mountain…only to find ourselves looking at the mountain we actually wanted to climb about a mile away. Discouraged but not quitters, AJ took the first steps along the trail to the summit. Immediately I heard a hissing sound and saw a flash of black movement right by his foot. Looking closer, I saw a 6-inch, midnight black scorpion with its stinger fully locked and loaded. It took every ounce of strength I possessed not to scream like a little girl. Once my testosterone came out of hiding, though, it took every ounce of strength I possessed not to provoke it. However, being a solid 2 hours away from anything, common sense took over and we left it alone. A little further down the trail, we reached the road to the top. There was a trail next to it, but it didn’t look well-traveled and so we opted for the paved route. Mistake #2. The next hour and a half or so was spent trekking up a 30% graded road. For comparison, Vail pass is about 7% grade. It got so bad that we ended up hiking 100 feet and then stopping for 3 minutes. Hike 100, stop. This was all made worse by the cars blowing past us up to the top, including one driven by my international law professor. Eventually we made it, a solid 3 hours and 2 liters of water later, and despite the view that I knew awaited us, we headed straight for the food court and bought 4 bottles of beverage and 2 plates of food. After half an hour of refreshment, we headed out to admire the view. I got one picture before the monsoon hit.

Monsoons are things that must be seen to be believed, especially for us Colorado folks. It lasted about 90 minutes and unlike many Colorado storms, it didn’t taper off before strengthening again. This was 90 minutes of full-on downpour. I actually left my water bottle out in the rain and ended up collecting about 100 mL of rainwater when all was said and done. It finally ceased and we went out and explored the Hindu temple and Muslim mosque located at the top (after that climb, I can see why prayer is necessary upon summiting). Then it was time for our return trip down in the air-conditioned comfort of the train and bus back to the ship. Side note: I almost gagged myself when I took of my shirt that night.

Our final day in Malaysia was by far the highlight of my trip. Since the activities of the previous day had taken *ahem* longer than expected, our plan of visiting Kek Lok Si temple was postponed until the following day, and it turns out that was the best thing that could have happened. We arrived in the morning and ended up staying the entire day there, something we could not have done had we tried to cram it into the end of the other day. Kek Lok Si is a temple built into the side of a mountain, offering more stunning views of the city. I’m still not quite sure what kind of temple it is…mostly Buddhist, I assume, but the pagoda is Buddhist, Burmese and Thai influenced, so it’s anybody’s guess. It doesn’t really matter though, because it was still the most incredible experience I’ve had in a temple. The complex itself is enormous, and there was almost nobody there, making it feel like it was built just for us. It was sunny and a little bit cooler farther up the hill, giving us a place to escape the heat. There were no rules, no security guards, not even a sign letting us know that this was the destination we were trying to find. It just was. We took an inclined elevator farther up the hill to a 50+ foot golden statue, as well as a shelter built in the middle of a pond with a waterfall behind it. Everything about it was perfect, and it felt like it wasn’t so much a temple for Buddhists or Taoists as it was a temple for people. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences on this trip.

It didn’t hurt that the temple was also free, which fit nicely into my budget of traveling Malaysia on 100 Ringitt (~33 USD). When changing countries every week, you learn about how much money you’ll need and travel so you don’t have to make several different trips to the ATM. I only took out 100, so that was my budget. It is also very difficult not only switching between currencies and exchange rates, but even the NAMES of the currencies can prove difficult. Most often, they are referred to as “(country name) dollars” (Moroccan dollars, Mauritian dollars), “(country name) whatevers” (Ghanaian whatevers, South African whatevers) or, if all else fails, “dirham,” the currency of Morocco, has become the go-to (though word on the street is upon our arrival in Vietnam, ‘dong’ will become the new gold standard.)  It is not uncommon to take out 100 Malaysian dollars, take the bus for the price of 2 Malaysian dirham, and then grab dinner using the remainder of your Malaysian whatevers. But I’ve digressed. Anyway, I spent exactly 100 Ringitt in the following breakdown:

6- Souveneirs

18-Transportation

17- Food

25- Drink

34- Transportation down Penang Hill

We should have just walked down.

India........................

You might be asking yourself why there is a large number of ellipses after India....the answer is because I have no idea where to even start. India is, hands down, the most complicated place we’ve been to thus far, from the stunning and iconic beauty of the Taj Mahal to the thousands of homeless, orphaned and crippled. The majestic landmarks standing in a constant cloud of pollution. Maybe more than any other, India is a country of stark contrasts, one that doesn’t fit into any category and, simultaneously, every category. During the pre-port sessions prior to arrival, we were told by several people that they wouldn’t be able to explain India, it was just something we would need to experience to understand. And after experiencing it, I haven’t even come close to understanding it. I will put forth an almost-surely futile attempt at describing India to you all, but at the end of the day, India really must be seen to be believed.

We were greeted on arrival by a suffocating cloud of smog, the smell of which can hardly be described and was only made worse by the 90 degree heat. Being the cautious travelers that we are on the first day of every port, we followed the usual strategy of picking one singular architectural landmark, hiring a taxi to take us there and seeing what happens after that. Despite my extensive experience in dealing with taxi drivers, India’s slapped me in the face (figuratively, of course, though I was about to return the favor to them, not figuratively.) There’s this fun little game where they will agree on a price and a destination, and then about a minute in they will inform you that they’re taking a little detour to their friend’s shop. But don’t worry, they’ll say, you don’t need to buy anything. You just need to look. So after visiting our destination (the San Thome Basilica, one of only three churches constructed above the burial site of one of Jesus’ apostles) we decided we wanted to go to a Hindu temple in the middle of town, which led to stop number one, but that wasn’t the worst part. We had 9 people, which meant three rickshaws. Two of them were brothers…mine was not. So after seeing the temple, we took off in a completely opposite direction from the others and ended up at (dramatic pause for emphasis) another shop! The flaw in this man’s plan was revealed when we refused to go in without our friends there. He insisted they were on their way and not to worry about it, but when we kept refusing, he began getting very angry (which didn’t really matter…I’m 6’7”.) Anyway, accepting our fate we had him drive us to the local market and bid him farewell, where we caught a different rickshaw back to the ship. This time, another exciting adventure ensued when the driver thought we said “fort” (as in Fort George) instead of “port.” We arrived at the fort and sought the assistance of some locals, my conversation with whom went something like this: “you’re at the fort.” “no we need the port.” “yeah this is the fort.” “no no, the PORT.” “Oh you like sports?” Eventually I grabbed a map and pointed, but conveniently there was a line through the “Port of Chennai” making the P look remarkably like an F. After finding a pen, I wrote down exactly what I wanted and the driver looked at it for a second before saying “…….oh the harbor!”

I departed for my trip to the Taj Mahal at 4 AM on the 12^th accompanied by my friend and trip liason Prof. Jim Huffman, who was also my liason on the safari as well as a valued member of our trivia team. The flight was uneventful except that in the true spirit of India, there were about 5 more rows in the Indian planes than American ones, which means smaller rows. Remember when I was just bragging about my height? On arrival in Delhi our guide Umesh greeted us and we embarked on a driving tour of the city. We stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant where we were welcomed in by the owner, Umesh. After a wonderful lunch, we proceeded to the train station where our train was 2 hours late. But that’s OK, Umesh assured us, I called your guide in Agra and he’ll be waiting for you. What’s our guide’s name? we enquired. He laughed heartily before exclaiming “Umesh!” I’m not making this up. The train arrived and we hurried into our first-class seats…which were little more than broken frames covered in strips of leather and stained with dirt and who knows what else. A lovely little cockroach even stopped by to say hi. The trip was four hours, over which I dared not even enter the bathroom. My already existing crippling fear of public restrooms combined with the state of the train car contributed to me going without a bathroom that day for 22 hours. Yeah, I think that’s a record. India is no match for my bladder of steel. I was rewarded with a 5-star hotel in Agra.

We rose at 5 AM the next day to visit the Taj Mahal at sunrise, and what a spectacular experience that was. It was nearly empty, the weather was cool and the sun cast a soft pink light on the white marble. Folks, there are many buildings in the world that are cool to see but don’t offer anything more than the pictures do…this is decidedly NOT one of those buildings. It might have been the pollution, but it took my breath away. It was interesting because I’m taking an architecture class, and the class on the Taj Mahal was spent discussing how it’s a mausoleum for Shah Jahan’s late wife, but he actually built it as a throne for Al’lah on Judgment Day and disguised it as a mausoleum. The main dome is in the shape of a traditional Islamic crown, the four minarets are alleged to represent four angels, the garden in front symbolizes the paradise garden in heaven, and the script around the entrance (I think I took a picture) is actually a Qur’anic passage about Judgment Day. Of course, when we asked our guide about this, he cheerily said that it was the morning prayer. Of course it is. After our visit we went to Fatepuhr Sikri, a city built of sandstone that served as the capital of India for 5 years before running out of water. It had an eerie ghost town feel to it and the architecture was beautiful. One of the highlights was Indian men who strip off all their clothes and dive about 20 feet into a pool covered in algae to try and get tips. When we asked the guide how deep the water is, he chuckled and responded “not deep enough.” After Fatepuhr, we went to the Agra Fort, the third UNESCO World Heritage Site in Agra. It was nice but far from life-changing…more than anything it offered views of the Taj in the distance. Our guide was pleasant but spoke only broken English and began each “tidbit” in a unique way. For example: “Excuse me my children this is the courtyard…” If someone was apart from the group, he would summon them in with cries of “my son” or “my daughter, come here.” On the way out, some of the group was talking about how India hadn’t been as shocking as we had been warned…which is right about when we ran into a man with no legs, a leper and several starving children. But that’s India…the beauty and the beast coexist side-by-side, and more often where the white people go. I don’t blame them…it’s difficult to hold out. Many people don’t. It’s different for everyone. I eventually just put my sunglasses on and was left mostly out of the pool of easy targets, but that didn’t mean the images of what I saw are not still burned into my mind.

We returned to the Taj Mahal for a sunset viewing, which offered better light in exchange for about 20 times more tourists. The sunrise viewing was definitely the better of the two, but you will never hear me complaining about getting to see the Taj Mahal twice in one day. We traveled to the Agra train station to catch our express train to Delhi, where we found more men without legs, a man with elephantitis in both feet, a man without eyes, and more starving children. Even inside the station there was a little girl and a little boy who pleaded with their eyes…it didn’t help the train was 2 hours late. The girl was especially heartbreaking…she was wearing a dress that I know looked beautiful at one point, but both the physical stains of dirt and oil as well as the emotional stains of a life begging in a train station had long since tarnished the beauty that once was. On a brighter note, this train was leaps and bounds nicer than the one to Agra and took about half the time. They even had ice cream! We came into Delhi close to midnight and checked into the Royal Palace, another 5-star hotel in downtown Delhi. It was interesting how there were many very shady looking hotels, and one or two amazing places in each city. Even in Agra, one of the biggest tourist destinations in India, there was only one super fancy hotel. When we arrived at each of these places, they had to check the undercarriage of the bus for bombs. Not something that comes up every day in the States. Oh, and speaking of bombs, the Delhi police found a car with 5 kilograms of explosives and two detonators parked in a garage underneath a train station through which we passed, another stark reminder of the fact that this isn’t vacation and there are still very scary situations happening every day in the world.

Upon returning to the ship, some friends and I went to Spencer Plaza (basically a Western-style mall) in the search for internet and some much-needed communication. The girls also wanted to do some shopping in a place where they wouldn’t have to haggle (trust me, it gets old fast.) Two of us wanted to go back since we’d be up early the next day, so we began the process of finding a rickshaw driver. They flocked to us like foreign taxi drivers to white tourists, but they wanted 200 rupees at least (about $4) and some wanted 200 rupees a person. We insisted that we were not stupid tourists and knew that was too high, and eventually one guy came down to 100…as long as we went to his shop. About ready to give up and walk, a man pulled up in a brand new rickshaw with new leather seats and everything. He only wanted 120…what was the catch? Well, it turns out there wasn’t one. He was actually just a really nice guy. Turns out there still are honest people in the world. Since the port was so busy, we had to take a shuttle from the entrance to the ship. On said shuttle I sat next to Marty Zafman, an 11-time voyager and 10-time visitor to Chennai. Though a man with a heart of gold, his joints are decidedly less robust and he said he was struggling at the end of a 6-day stay. One thing led to another and I ended up inheriting his day trip to Mamallapuram and Kancheepuram for the final day. Kancheepuram is littered with some of the most ornate temples you’ve ever seen, almost all of which are still very much working temples. We got a tour of one that consisted of a massive column-lined loop with solid gold statues of some of the more famous gods with people praying to them. Quite the experience. Mamallampuram is the site of the “Five Rathas” (google it), which are 5 temples of various sizes and complexities literally carved out of giant rocks. There is also an enormous mural carved into the side of a cliff, complete with massive elephants. In between our two destinations, we had lunch at a traditional Indian restaurant, served on banana leaves and everything. Some of the food was spicy, some of it was very weird, but all of it was delicious. At the end, we just folded up all the scraps back up into the banana leaf…how about that for clean-up? Overall a great day…thanks Marty.

So after all was said and done, India turned out to be my second-favorite destination (because South Africa is going to be really hard to beat and Mauritius doesn’t really count). Days 1 and 2 were incredibly uncomfortable, and I wanted to be anywhere not named “India.” But by day 3 I began to cast aside some of my preconceptions and accept it for what it is: a large, impossibly crowded, impossibly dirty country, but one that has as much culture in its little finger than many do over their entire areas. It was traveling like I’ve never experienced traveling before, but at the end of the day it was an incredible trip.