More Pictures!

Vietnam…

First and foremost let me apologize profusely for taking my sweet time with these past few countries! I got terribly busy since there was only a day or two in between each country, which were often filled with schoolwork. I rarely did work while in port, and unfortunately for all you faithful readers that includes my blogging. Since leaving Japan I have been on the ship for ten days now, but trust me, there has been zero blogging time until now. I had multiple large projects and papers due yesterday and the day before, so all my time and energy went into that. Finally today, my last official day of classes, is stress free. However the stress will begin again very soon after Hawaii when I have three finals and an art portfolio due, the size of which is slightly alarming. But for the most part, today I get a bit of a rest, with perhaps some earlier studying later tonight.

So, by the time you read this I will only be a week away from home (I plan to post in Hawaii after finding free wi-fi, I’m cheap and don’t want to pay for internet on the ship, can you blame me?) and by then I can just tell you all about my travels in person, but I’m still going to post this so that you can at least read about what I’ve done. I will warn you, it isn’t going to be as detailed or personal, I’m going to assume, as my past posts have been and that is my own fault for waiting so long to post but hopefully you will be satisfied with what I have to offer.

VIETNAM

Day One: I saw my parents!! It was absolutely amazing getting to run into their arms, I definitely cried as soon as I saw them in the flesh, waiting to meet me on the top deck next to the pool. I gave them a quick tour of the ship and introduced them to Laura and Stephanie before we headed out into the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. It was insane. Scooters and mopeds were everywhere, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in my life. Crossing the street was quite difficult. The trick was to simply walk across, confidently and without hesitation, but no running! And then you just trust that the drivers will avoid you, you are not to avoid them otherwise you will get hit. Definitely some of the scariest moments of the trip, and I couldn’t help running sometimes, but at least I’m still here to tell the tale. We walked around for a bit, just exploring and chatting. We first made our way to the Reunification Palace, then found an amazing form of transportation that was very preferable to walking. There were some bicycle drivers with seats attached to the front of their bikes with which to carry people, and we hopped right on. It’s hard to explain, but very fun. We each got our own little carrier; I felt bad for the old man pushing my dad, he certainly got in his day’s workout. The drivers took us all over the city, letting us get out for a bit at each place. We ended the tour at the War Remnants Museum, which was really intense but worthwhile. It’s fascinating and slightly unsettling to see the Vietnam War through the eyes of the opposing and winning side, which was basically the theme of the entire week. We eventually made our way back to the hotel around 530 to relax before our 800 dinner plans to meet up with the parents of my friend Kalin. Kalin and Nick are a couple who go to USD as well and have become two of my best friends on the ship. Kalin’s parents were on the parent trip as well, so after meeting each other and introducing ourselves on the ship that morning, we decided to all get dinner together, Nick and Kalin, her parents, my parents and me. It was very enjoyable and the food was delicious. After dinner we headed right back to the hotel and were out by ten o’clock. It had been a long day.

Day Two: Breakfast at the hotel, a run to the tailor’s to have a custom dress made for me, and a visit to the markets. Complete insanity. There is no way to describe this place without actually being there. It’s a large indoor area, with stalls packed together. The smell is overwhelming. Some vendors sell spices or dried foods (fruit, fish, anything), some rip apart fresh fish right in front of you and sell the innards, and others sell clothes, purses, shoes, decorations, toiletries, or anything basically. It is indescribable, really. We got a bit of shopping done but didn’t last too long, with the smell, the extremely close quarters and shoving, and of course the tiresome and often frustrating haggling. I hate haggling. Some people get a high off of it and see it as a challenge, but I just see it as a pain and I’m completely awful at it. Just about every country except Spain has had required haggling. I will probably start trying to lower the price of a pair of shoes at Nordstrom once I’m back in the states.

Day Three: After another delicious breakfast at the hotel we took a taxi back to the ship to meet up with a Semester at Sea group for our day’s excursion. First we drove two hours to visit the Cao Dai Temple, then another hour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Wow. That was an intense experience. We learned about the underground tunnels that the Viet Cong made and lived in during the Vietnam War, which were quite impressive. We were able to actually get down in and crawl through a section of the tunnel, which I was pretty nervous for but fully prepared to do. Well. I get in line to go down with my mom right behind me and my dad right behind her. I see the girl in front of me crouch down and start to crawl through, and my heart severely protests at the same moment that my lungs are tricked into thinking all the oxygen has left the vicinity. So I spun around, declared that I couldn’t do it, and scurried out of the self-proclaimed “pre chamber of death.” My mother, of course, seeing me panic began to panic herself and was hot on my heels. Now is it a surprise to anyone out there that my dad, twice my size, is the only one of us who actually made it through? No, of course not. However, I have no regrets about not going through. I am not typically claustrophobic, but I think my worry was that I would have gotten halfway through and had a full fledged panic attack, and not helped by people both in front of and behind me. So that was that. But anyways, it was a very interesting place to be; another eerie feeling of seeing the war from the Vietnamese perspective, who are proud of their victory and the brilliance of their Viet Cong to make these tunnels. There was also an exhibit of the different kind of atrocious booby traps that were placed in the ways of American soldiers, boasting the numbers they had killed. It was pretty difficult but a good experience nonetheless.

Day Four: The next morning we went back to the markets, this time determined. We did some more damage and bought some fabulous souvenirs. In the afternoon we decided to take a little speed boat ride up the river. It was pretty nice, until the rain literally started pouring with no warning whatsoever. Our boat driver whipped out some pretty snazzy ponchos for us but they didn’t do a whole lot of good, especially for mommy dearest who may not have donned it correctly. Later on we picked up my lovely dress from the tailor’s, then headed back for a relaxing evening at the hotel. There was a Batman marathon on one of the movie channels, which was pretty much the best thing ever. I shamelessly claim Val to be my favorite Bruce, so it was pretty fun being surprised with that. We went out for a quick and delicious pho (pronounced phuh) dinner and made it back to the hotel just in time for the Dark Knight to start, which of course reminded my of dear Ally, who cried during the midnight showing when we went with Em. My dear sister always had a special bond with Heath so seeing his name in the opening credits was a bit soon for her.

Day Five: The last day in Vietnam consisted of a fun little day trip to the Mekong Delta. My roommate Laura was on the same trip, it was nice hanging out with her and my parents at the same time and having them get to know each other. That evening there was a small parents reception on the ship with the faculty, after which my parents ate on the ship with me. The goodbye was not near as bad as I was expecting. There were no tears, but I also was not shoving them onto the gangway and out of my sight. I think that five days was the perfect amount of time. I have never spent that much time straight with my parents, when I think about it. Literally five days of sleeping on a rollaway bed in their room, eating every meal with them, doing everything together. It was a fantastic five days, and I’m so glad and thankful that they came to visit me.

Well, I had really hoped to be able to catch up completely on my blog while here in Hawaii, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, I’m running out of time. So you will have to be satisfied with Vietnam for now. I can’t believe it’s coming up on my last week on the ship. One week from today I will be home; I can’t even imagine it. Here is what the next few days will look like: we leave Hilo tonight, a study day tomorrow, two exams the next day, one the day after, another one the next day. The night of the last exam is the Ambassador’s Ball, which consists of a fancy dinner and dance. We were already require to make the reservations for our table, and mine consists of the following people: my best friends Laura and Stephanie, Nick and Kalin, and another good friend Tom. It will hopefully be a fun night and a good way to finish off the voyage. After that there are two days of who knows what, then the next morning I arrive in San Diego and leap into the arms of my beautiful sisters and mother!

 

PICTURES

I know they’ve been a long time comin! I only have a few, not all of them are on my computer yet, it’s a bit complicated. But here’s some!!

The first one is of my lovely roommate Laura and me in Spain. There are two from Spain, four from Morocco, three from Ghana and the rest are from South Africa, in that order. I’m sorry there isn’t more! Enjoy!

Singapore

I love Singapore! I am already ecstatic to be in Eastern Asia, finally, the region I have been most excited for since I first applied for Semester at Sea, and Singapore has not let me down. It is a very modern, yet very authoritarian city with extremely harsh laws. Being drunk in public can result in 33 years in jail and having drugs in one’s possession will get you either life in prison or the death penalty. They don’t mess around here. There are strict laws against and heavy fines for the harassment of women, littering, and even gum chewing is dangerous (not illegal, although spitting it out on the street or selling it is). Yet as a result, the city is one of the safest we will visit on this voyage. We arrived in Singapore around eight in the morning, and by nine my roommate Laura and I headed to the gangway to meet up with the rest of the Semester at Sea group that was going on the city orientation trip. We hopped on a tour bus and the first stop was the botanical gardens. The place was gorgeous, and Laura and I broke off from the group to walk around on our own and took tons of pictures. Singapore’s state flower is the orchid, of which they have tons. They are the third exporter of orchids, after Thailand and Malaysia. The gardens had plenty of orchids of all shapes and sizes and colors. They were beautiful. After walking around for a half hour or so we browsed the gift shop and climbed back on the bus, now on our way to Little India. India was fresh in the minds of everyone, so it was pretty strange being in Singapore but feeling like we were back in India for just a short time. There was nothing too exciting or new, so all I bought was a cold beverage while Laura grabbed an apple from a vendor. Next on the itinerary was Chinatown, which had some amazing shops. Laura and I spent a while in an antiques shop first, then a jewelry store, before we had to be back on the bus. Then the tour guide took us to one of the highest points in the city where we had a great view. After this the bus headed back, having us at the ship by one. Back on the ship, I met up with Stephanie and we headed out to do some exploring. We decided to check out the mall, which is just outside the port. Our first priority was lunch, and we spent some time walking around the mall looking for a good restaurant. Finally we found a trendy Chinese place and eagerly sat down and began looking at the menu. I tried to order a noodle dish with chicken and a “special spicy sauce,” whatever that may be, but the waiter said they were all out. I had no idea what else to pick, so I told him to pick any spicy noodle dish for me. I also ordered an interesting-sounding drink: water with the juice of three fresh limes squeezed in with a couple of brown sugar rocks thrown in. It was perhaps the strangest drink I’ve ever tasted, but pretty good. A little on the sweet side for me, but I enjoyed it. My main dish turned out to be amazing. It was a noodle soup with some sort of unidentifiable mashed up meat on top (pork, I think?) as well as julienned cucumber pieces. The broth was so spicy that my eyes were watering and my nose was running with just a few tastes. However it was absolutely delicious and I finished the bowl. I think the menu said it was a dan dan sauce, but I can’t be too sure what I actually ate. But it was pretty wonderful. After lunch Steph and I walked around the mall and popped into a few interesting-looking stores. The mall here is nice, with plenty of recognizable stores. I didn’t end up buying anything, but it was fun just strolling. Around seven Stephanie had an SAS trip, so I headed back to the ship to shower and relax. Laura and I ended up finishing off the Halloween evening with a visit to the mall’s Starbucks, enjoying chai tea lattes and free internet, a great and rare treat. I was able to take tons of fresh pictures of my dearly missed baby sisters from the internet, making me all the more excited to see my parents in Vietnam. Back on the ship I sat up for a while, talking with Laura and Stephanie and our friend Mike from next door, before turning in at a decent hour. The next day was a day completely devoted to me and the alone time I need in order to stay mentally stable. Laura and I are very similar in this aspect of our personalities, so we split up in the morning and each spent the day alone. I first checked out the grocery store and stocked up on a few snacks for my cabin (goldfish, dried mango, almonds and dried seaweed strips – delicious I promise!) before heading to the subway station. My plan for the day was to find the science museum. Buying a ticket from the machine was very easy to figure out, and I credit the ease of figuring out the correct stop to the hours spent puzzling over the Paris metro system so long ago. The metro was quite clean and nice, and I always felt perfectly safe, even alone. I made it to the correct stop, then hopped on a bus which would take me to the museum. It was actually only one stop away, and I wasn’t expecting this so I got off one stop too far and had to back track. The museum visit was pretty entertaining, but nothing too spectacular. After a few hours I decided to head back, this time walking to the station instead of taking the bus, which ended being only a five minute walk. I was a bit nervous I wouldn’t be able to find my way back, but I just went with my gut feelings and eventually there I was, back at the station. Back near the port, I found a nice shady spot to do some reading before heading back to the ship with plenty of time to spare.

India…

My time in India has been completely varied and indescribable; a roller coaster of feelings and sensations. The first day I went to a cultural center where I saw a performance of traditional Indian theatre, called Theru Koothu. We were welcomed with a traditional Hindu blessing and were each given the bindi on our forehead before watching the show. The group performed only 20 minutes of a typically eight hour performance of the epic Sanskrit poem Mahabharata, it was amazing. Their costumes were huge and bright and colorful, and what is more amazing is that they retained their high energy and enthusiasm in the extreme heat and humidity. After the show the group split up and received a tour of the center, which had different styles of traditional houses and shops and temples. Sitting outside of many of these small buildings were craftspeople there to sell their work. I bought perhaps my favorite souvenir so far from one of these people. There was a man making small glass figurines from a long thin cylindrical piece of glass, using a blow torch. I was fascinated, and watched him for a bit before looking at pieces he had already made. I picked out a gorgeous and extremely intricate figurine of the Hindu god Shiva in his dancing pose. Shiva is one of the three main gods of Hinduism and the destroyer of evil, and as long as he keeps dancing the evil is kept at bay. I learned so much about Hinduism this week; it is a fascinating religion. Maybe I am so intrigued by it because I have always loved the stories of Greek mythology, but I want to find a book in the library with tales about all the gods. There are hundreds and hundreds of gods in Hinduism, and each person picks which ones they want to worship and follow. Hinduism is so ingrained in the Indian culture that it is impossible to go anywhere without seeing it. I wish I had known more about the religion before getting to India; I think it would have made my experience that much richer. So anyways, that first night in India, Friday, ended up being an early night for me since I knew I wasn’t going to get much sleep.

I woke up on Saturday, bright and early at four in the morning to meet up with my Taj Mahal group by 4:15. There were probably a dozen Taj Mahal trips going on in India, some that just went to the Taj and some that also visited Varanasi or Jaipur. We took a bus to the airport in Chennai and then hopped on a three hour plane to Delhi. I really liked the city of Delhi, which is made up of Old Delhi and New Delhi. We had a bus tour where a tour guide informed us of what we were seeing. We drove by the Red Fort, all the embassies of many different countries, and the home of the president. We stopped at a hotel for a tasty and spicy lunch; beginning my love of Indian food. We then went to a fancy rug store and learned how silk rugs were made. I would have loved to buy one but they were a bit pricy. We then needed to catch a train to Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal. The train was only supposed to be three hours but ended up being nearly six. But that’s how it goes; one learn to be flexible on these kinds of trips. The train was not exactly pleasant, however, and after factoring in the bathroom I think it’s safe to say it was downright disgusting. I like to think I’m not much of a snob, and I don’t mind getting a little dirty if need be, but I just have to be honest and say that I have never been in a bathroom as foul as this one. All I will tell you readers, so to save your sanity, is that looking into the toilet I could see the moving tracks below me. It’s true. Now moving on… We arrived in Agra and took a bus to our wonderful hotel, arriving around midnight, with the plan to wake up at five the next morning to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Waking up was not too excruciating, and seeing the Taj that early was well worth it. Pictures don’t do this magnificent monument justice. It is possibly the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen in my life. It was built by Shah Jahan, who built it as a love memorial to his wife; it’s technically a mausoleum. My art teacher says that the beauty and perfection of this monument could only have accomplished with and because of love. What a lovely idea. After walking through the gates we were given free time to wander around, so I explored by myself and took tons of pictures. We were a little too late to see the sun actually rise, but we did get to see the sky get lighter and lighter, accentuating the beauty of the Taj Mahal. After spending time there, we went back to the hotel for a delicious breakfast. We then went to Fatehpur Sikri, an ancient city that used to be the capital of the empire. The buildings were amazing and I was perfectly satisfied by simply walking around and staring at the unique architecture. The place was an hour away, so I enjoyed the commute with a window seat, observing the busy, bustling street life. Men were getting shaves from street vendor barbers, everyone was selling something with their goods all laid out, people were riding bikes and rickshaws and motorcycles all in a crazy and slightly alarming manner, and that’s only a fraction of the business displayed. Upon arriving back to the hotel we had a nice long lunch which I spent talking with my friends Allison and Ross, both of whom I had known before on the ship. After lunch we went to the Red Fort, another of Shah Jahan’s creations. I had a pretty bad experience outside of the Red Fort with people trying to sell me stuff, they do not give up there. “No” to them means “keep asking and bothering me.” The only way to get them to leave you alone is to completely ignore them and don’t look at what they are trying to sell. But of course I asked one of them the price of some bangles, and then I had three men harassing me that I couldn’t get rid of. For a second I lost the group, which was heading back to the bus, and I panicked. But luckily my friend Ross was waiting for me and I caught up. But of course the men followed us and kept bothering me and shoving bangles and many other trinkets in my face and yelling prices. Some of the boys from my trip saw that I was distressed and tried to firmly tell them off, but nothing worked, and of course for once the bus wasn’t at the meeting spot yet. Nothing worked until Ross and another guy physically used their bodies as a shield for me, turning their backs to the guys. Once they couldn’t see me, the men gave up and went off in search of another poor soul to victimize. It was quite an experience, shaking me up a bit. I’m typically not a fan of people following me and shouting in my face. (But is this any surprise from someone who even gets nervous when sung Happy Birthday to?) Anyways, it’s a memory better left behind. After the Red Fort, we went back to the Taj Mahal to see it again at sunset, which was also amazing. The marble stone of the building seems to change color as the sun moves over it throughout the day. I was sitting on a step just staring at the monument, when I heard a voice near me say, “Miss?” I looked over to see two girls and a boy, probably around 15, sitting a little ways from me. They pointed at my water bottle, making it clear that they would like some. I was taken aback, and without thinking I shook my head and said sorry. But then my very next thought was, I don’t need this water. The tour guides are constantly giving us bottled water to make sure we Americans stay good and hydrated. So I immediately handed my bottle over and said they could have it. The kids beamed and guzzled it down quickly. I smiled and returned to gazing dreamily at the Taj. I kept hearing giggling near me, and finally the bravest one got my attention again, and asked if she could have a picture with me. I was ecstatic and nodded my head enthusiastically. The boy jumped down and the girls came on either side of me and sat down right up close as the boy snapped a picture. I was so excited that I gave him my camera to take one with too. They asked me my name and told me theirs (laughing at my attempt at the pronunciation), then asked where I was from (Los Angeles always gets fun, awed reactions from people) and then they asked me to say more words so they could laugh at how my English tongue couldn’t wrap itself around their words. Then all of a sudden there were tons of kids behind me and around me, asking me to say their names too, and some wanted pictures as well. For some reason it was an incredibly striking experience; one I’ll never forget. I had a grin stuck on my face long after they scampered away, giggling, to join the rest of their class. I don’t know why and I don’t really have words to describe what I was feeling, except that it was just a really great moment in my trip; my semester even. After the sunset my group headed back to the train station to catch a train back to Delhi, but this was the express train so it was much faster and cleaner than the first, which was much appreciated. We arrived at a hotel in Delhi and I went to sleep pretty quickly. The next morning we got to sleep in (wake up call: nine!) before visiting a Hindu temple and as well as a sikh temple. We had lunch at the hotel before it was time to head to the airport and fly back to Chennai. We didn’t get back until late, and since we weren’t served dinner on the plane our bus stopped and the tour guide treated us to Pizza Hut! I can’t lie, some American pizza tasted pretty delicious at that moment. I didn’t get to bed until late that night, but coming back to the ship felt wonderfully like coming home.

The next day, I had to wake up sightly early again, this time to visit the disabled children’s home in Chennai for a service trip. My friend Emily happened to be on the same trip so it was fun hanging out with her for the day. We arrived at the home and were put to work immediately with washing the windows. These windows definitely had not been cleaned in the past few years. The dust was thicker than I thought was even possible, and some of the rooms had swarms of cobwebs along the walls. The couple hours we spent cleaning were hard work, yet satisfying. There were two German girls we met who were each doing a year of service with the home before going to college, so it was really interesting talking to them. They spoke perfect English and were able to tell us all about the home and what they do there, which is teach the children simple tasks and basic hygiene. It was really cool being able to talk with them. We ate lunch with them as well, a very fun meal since we had to eat with our hands, and only our right hand at that. A bit of a challenge, but quite entertaining. After lunch we spent some time playing with the kids, then headed back to the ship.

Delicious Mauritius

My stay on the island of Mauritius was short, but quite sweet. We arrived on Thursday morning and left Friday evening, but it was a wonderful couple days. My small group headed out as soon as the ship was cleared, which took a while since each of the ship’s passengers had to individually present their passports to the immigration officials who came aboard as soon as we docked. But finally we got off the ship and took a water taxi to cut across the harbor, as a regular taxi would have taken longer and been much more expensive. The taxi dropped us off right in the heart of Port Louis, and after finding an ATM we walked around the streets and explored a bit. There was a bit of shopping but overall not a whole lot going on, so we decided to head to the beach. We haggled for a bit with a cab driver and were eventually on our way to the beach in two cabs for a half hour drive. On our way we passed through large open fields of sugar cane, which is a huge export for Mauritius. One of my cab’s occupants asked the driver a question about the plant, and his answer was to pull over right there and break down a stalk of sugar cane and show us the bamboo-looking plant. He then told us how he used to break it down and chew on it all the time as a boy, and proceeded to show us how to eat it ourselves; right there on the side of the road. It was quite an experience. First, you peel the green outside of the stalk off with your teeth, then clamp your back teeth around the white part and bite as hard as you can while simultaneously pulling the stalk down and away from your mouth, so you end up with a piece of the sugarcane in your mouth, if you were successful. Then you chew on it for as long as you want, but don’t swallow it! As soon as you have sucked out all the sweet, sugary juice, you spit out what is left of the plant. Our driver told us that it was very good for your teeth and made them stronger. I don’t really see how this can be, since it’s sugar, but oh well. It was fun at least. I felt like a little kid, since it made my hands and face instantly messy and sticky with its surprising juiciness. 

 So finally our group made it to the beach. We took a short walk to a nearby grocery store and bought some snacks for lunch, then headed to the sand. The beach was beautiful. The water was many different shades of blue and turquoise, and the bright sun and lazy palm trees added perfectly to the scene. My first time in the Indian Ocean was pretty spectacular. So we stayed at the beach for a few hours, walked around the streets a bit more, then headed back to the ship to shower and relax before heading out again. We hopped around from place to place, getting food and drinks and just enjoying Mauritius. At this one place, I tried some homemade chile rum. Now that was quite an experience. My friend Nick and I were the only ones who tried it, at the recommendation of the bartender. It felt like I was swallowing liquid chiles that had been set on fire and then that fire was making a home in my belly. For a good five minutes my tongue, throat and stomach were burning as my eyes were watering like crazy and my mind was telling me I needed to throw up that fire immediately. But after five minutes I was good as new, and glad I had tried it. I think it is safe to say that that has been the craziest thing I have tried so far. Hopefully that will change once I get to Asia and try some really weird food. So that night was pretty nice and relaxing. We ended up finding some other kids from Semester at Sea on the beach, so we all hung out together and watched the stars come out. Eventually we took a taxi back to the ship, since Friday morning was going to come quick. 

 The next morning I had to wake up at seven since I was planning on visiting the Terre de Paix children’s home, which turned out to be an amazing experience. There were only eight of us on the trip, and the small group made the visit really nice. First we were given a bit of background about the school, and then we split up into groups of two, and went to different “stations” around the school. First I sat with some kids who were in an art class; they were making paper mache masks and painting them. They let me help paint one, and it was really fun interacting with the kids, even though they didn’t speak English. Next I went to a group that was practicing a small theatre piece. The kids were probably around 15-17 years old. The teacher had us introduce ourselves to the class and say where we were from. As soon as I said Los Angeles, some of the kids started muttering amongst themselves and laughing. The teacher started laughing too, so I looked at him questioningly, and he translated from Creole to English for me. He said that the boys who had been laughing thought that they recognized me from a movie and wanted to know if I was an actress. It was pretty cute. I think it was the blonde hair that did it; we all probably look the same to them. They were a really fun group, and the teacher was very excited to have us there. He even had us participate in the games they were playing. I was reluctant when we were pulled away, but it was time for the tour of their newborn and preschool building, which was beautiful. It was sad compared to the older kids’ school, which seemed to be falling apart. The preschool would have been beautiful and modern by any country’s standards. It was explained to our group that some private donors had provided a huge donation for the building of this center, and that the older kids’ building was obviously their next big project. After the short tour we went back to the other building and had some time to interact on our own with the kids, so I started playing with a few kids who taught me a jacks-type game played with small rocks. They kept laughing at me because I was so awful at it. I had so much fun with them, and the amazing part was that we weren’t able to speak each other’s language but we were still communicating. I felt such a connection with these kids, and it was a place I could have visited every day for a week, or longer, just getting to know each of them. Plus, the teachers were amazing and obviously thankful that we were there taking time from our lives to spend with the kids. Unfortunately the visit itself was pretty short, and we were back on the ship by 1230. So although my stay in Mauritius was very short, it was perfect; mixing relaxation on the beach with the service aspect and hanging out with the kids. And now… It’s on to India.

Finally… My Safari!

I am finally writing the second part of my South Africa blog! Forgive me for having taken so long, last week was so full of school stuff that I just didn’t have a moment to finish it. These blog entries can take a while! Then we arrived in Mauritius on Thursday morning, so I was gone both Thursday and Friday. But here I am! By the way, my Mauritius blog will come in a few days; we have some time until India so it will hold you over.

So anyways, we were in Cape Town from Sunday morning to Friday evening and I left for my safari on Wednesday morning. We took a short bus ride to the airport, an hour flight to Port Elizabeth, then a two hour bus ride to Kariega Lodge. Our first order of business was lunch; which was phenomenal. I didn’t even know what most of the stuff was, but I tried just about everything. After lunch we walked to our “chalets.” I was in chalet 14 with three other girls. The place was amazing. I walked into a large entryway with a small kitchen and a dining table off to the side, and a large living room with a balcony beyond. I checked out this balcony first. Since the lodge is built into the hills the view off the balcony was gorgeous. There were no other buildings as far as I could see, just hills covered in forests and bushes. The sounds were amazing as well. There was never a time when I couldn’t hear many different types of birds chirping and singing, day or night. There were four bedrooms off of the living room, two on each side. I ended up getting a room with a huge queen sized bed all to myself, as well as my own door which led to the balcony. We had a couple hours to relax and settle in before our first game drive, so I made a cup of rooibos tea, opened my bedroom windows wide, fluffed the pillows behind me, and just sat contentedly on my bed, listening to the sounds and soaking everything in. I spent some time journaling and reading, then getting ready for the drive. I was warned by friends on the first group (they went the first three days of our stay in Cape Town) that it gets very cold on these drives. So I wore my running shoes, jeans, a t-shirt, my thin, long sleeved Northface zip-up, a sweatshirt, and a rain coat leant to me by a friend from the other trip (apparently there was constant rain for them). So four o’clock rolled around and our ranger, Phil, pulled up in front of our chalet in his open-air Indiana Jones car. Phil has lived and worked at the reserve for five years, doing research and studying the behaviors of the animals. Before taking off, Phil prepped us about certain procedures that left some of as a bit nervous. Apparently if one of the animals decides to charge, the worst thing we could do would be to drive away as fast as possible. Standard procedure is to stand your ground, Phil said he would even turn the car so it’s facing the animal, suggesting that it will charge back if the animal decides to go for it. He assured us that most of the time it would be a mock charge and the animal would think better of its threat once he assessed the size of the car. But if it was a real charge, Phil was prepared to ram right into the animal, because if you set yourself up to return a charge and then don’t go through with it, the animal sees you as vulnerable and will attack. He didn’t see the likeliness of this happening (and had never had to do it before) but it instilled in me a kind of anxious excitement. With that said and done, it was time to be off.

The Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland is the best way I have to describe riding in the car. It felt just like that, with the jerking and the shifting and bumpiness. It was great. Throughout each game drive, we saw plenty of scatterings of antelope. My favorite kinds were the nyalas and the kudu. They are both gorgeous animals. I also loved the blue wildebeests, which were also everywhere. The main reason people go on safaris, however, is not to see antelope, but to see the Big Five. The Big Five is a term that was coined long ago when poaching was still legal and the Big Five were considered the most dangerous and most wanted animals for hunting. The list includes the elephant, the rhino, the buffalo, the lion and the leopard. Our first game drive was completely focused on the elephants. They are truly magnificent creatures. A few of them came right up close to the car; close enough to touch. I wish I had better words to portray the experience this was… You all will just have to wait til I’m home so you can see pictures! After first getting a glimpse of the elephants, Phil drove us to their watering hole, where there were around 20 of them just playing in the water. We sat there, parked, for an hour at least, just watching them. It was obvious that the elephants were Phil’s favorites, he knew so much about them and their behaviors, and is able to recognize each individual elephant. He was basically bragging as he told us how smart elephants are. They can recognize each individual ranger in their car. Also, you can easily convey messages to elephants simply by the tone of your voice. At the watering hole, one of the juvenile elephants came right up to the car and seemed to be eyeing it, to which Phil said, “Oh no you don’t, I was here first.” We all kind of giggled at this, thinking he was just trying to be funny for our benefit. But the elephant backed off, and Phil told us that they are smart enough to understand tonal changes. I find it amazing. They can even potentially be taught to understand words, and they have excellent memories. Also, their development is strikingly similar to that of humans, in that they go through behavior changes as they grow up. Around age 4-6 they become slightly annoying and nosy, around ages 8-11 (later for the bulls) they become a bit defiant and resistant, and then a few years later the bulls go through an extremely stubborn period where they completely rebel and want to do their own thing. In charge of the whole herd of elephants is the matriarch, although there are other mothers within the herd. Phil pointed out the matriarch to us, and she was easily the biggest elephant out there. I don’t think I even knew elephants could be that big. After staring at the elephants for quite a while, Phil set out to find the lions. We drove for a bit then stopped at the edge of a large hill. Phil pulled out his high-powered binoculars and stared across the valley at the hill opposite us, not moving for a few minutes. He then told us that he could see the lions, and asked us if we could see them. With my naked eye and some intense searching, I could just make out some white dots in the green hillside, but they were very hard to notice, and completely indistinguishable as lions. Even using Phil’s binoculars I could only just make out one paw floating in the air of one of the lions that was lying on his back. As we were all straining or eyes to see, Phil told us about the pride they have there at Kariega. They only have the one pride, which consists of the head male, a mama with four nine-month old cubs, another mama with five-week old cubs, a juvenile male, and some other adult females. The fascinating situation with the lions is that the juvenile is getting closer to the age when he will soon get kicked out of the pride by his own father. Then, if he can survive completely on his own, eventually he will come back to challenge his father (or the head of any other pride if they were in the wild), kill him, and take over the pride as his own. As a result, it’s a tough life for a male lion, and they typically only end up being head of their pride for two to three years before another, younger lion comes along to challenge him. I found this all to be fascinating, and could have listened to Phil talk on the subject for hours. Perhaps zoology is my calling? So although we spent a good hour combing the hill (now in the dark) where we saw the lions lay, we did not get to see them up close on that first game drive, but do not worry, they will come up again I promise. Our car was the last one to get back from the three hour drive, thanks to Phil and his relentless pursuits for the animals, so we were dropped off at the restaurant for another amazing meal. After dinner pretty much everyone headed back to their chalets for the night; we knew it was going to be an early morning. I took a long and lovely bath before crawling into my huge bed amongst my many fluffy pillows, in which I quickly passed out.

 The next morning brought a wakeup call bright and early at 5:30. I quickly got dressed and enjoyed the sunrise while waiting for Phil to pick us up at the scheduled time of 6:00. Phil’s first priority was to find those lions, which would be easier in the light. But on the way we saw a mama white rhino and her baby, which was adorable. The white rhino is the animal in the most danger of poaching, even today with all the anti-poaching laws. There is a security team keeping a constant lookout for poachers who sneak in; the team is there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Apparently in Asia the black market for the powder of a white rhino’s horn is extremely valuable and expensive. Phil told us a story of a reserve where one of the rangers figured out how to poison the horn of the rhino without hurting the rhino itself at all, so he poisoned the horn of every rhino they had without telling anybody. Well, one of their rhinos was poached, and there were reports a few months later that four people in Asia had died from poisoning, because they had taken the powder of that very rhino! Isn’t that genius? Serves them right! (I feel very passionately about this.) This powder is so valuable because it is supposedly a powerful aphrodisiac. It’s infuriating. But onto the rest of the day. Next, we found the lions. Looking back at it all, I think it is safe to say that seeing the lions was my favorite part of the trip. We weren’t able to get super close to them; we were probably around 30 yards away. But it was amazing. We saw the big male of the pride sitting off to the side, and one of the adult females with her four cubs! They were pretty big, but still obviously cubs. It was breath-taking to just sit and watch them do basically nothing. They were constantly standing up and snuggling against each other or their mom, just relaxing in the tall grass. There really are no words to describe how awesome it was to just sit there and observe. I could have sat there all day, perfectly content. Looking through Phil’s binoculars was made it special too, as I was able to see them extremely close and get a good look at their faces. The male was truly huge, with his magnificent gold and black-tinged mane. At one point, the male walked off into some bushes and we heard loud, angry roars. Although we couldn’t see him, Phil told us that the juvenile male was nearby. Apparently what had happened was that the mama (who is also the mother of the juvenile male) wanted to go check on the juvenile male, who was only a few yards away, but papa lion didn’t like that. So when he saw the mama try to walk over, he got up and sat himself right in her path, blocking the way to her son. Phil told us that this was the big male’s way of beginning to show the rest of the pride that this juvenile male was not to be a part of their pride anymore. It’s kind of sad, but fascinating at the same time that this is how it works in the wild; it’s just their inherent nature to act this way. Phil told us that since this nine month old litter consisted of three males and one female, that the males would probably be taken away to another reserve or a zoo somewhere, because if they stay they will either get killed by their father, the big male, or the juvenile male, for both know that they are competition. It’s been suggested in some studies that a female lion may have the ability to choose the sex of her cubs. Apparently this mama lion’s previous litter from a few years ago (which produced the juvenile male) consisted of three females and one male. Quite interesting. The reason the reserve doesn’t want to take away the juvenile male is because they want him to survive on his own once he is officially kicked out and come back to take over the pride; getting a fresh leader for the pride. Phil told us that they have a very good bloodline going, so having the big male’s son become the new leader would be ideal. If he can last for just a few years outside of the pride on his own, he will for sure be able to take over, since the big male is already eight years old and the juvenile will soon be stronger than him. Forgive me if I seem to be ranting, but these animals (all of them actually, but the lions especially) truly intrigued me. As I mentioned earlier, there is another mother in the pride who had a litter of cubs only five weeks ago. Phil told us that they hadn’t been seen at all, that the mother was still hiding them away in the den. She won’t introduce them to the reserve for another month or so, when she will begin teaching them how to hunt and kill and survive. I could go into more that Phil told us, but I will refrain! Moving on, after the lions we found the giraffes, which are also beautiful creatures. They are just so tall! And they are strangely elegant with their awkwardly long and wobbly legs. The biggest one came within a couple yards of the car, not even minding that we were around. We saw lots of zebras roaming around too, which of course I’m a sucker for. We were driving around after this, when Phil pulled over next to a huge swarm of flying termites. There must have been thousands of termites flying out of a hole in the ground, a broken open nest apparently. Phil told us that when the nest breaks open all the termites fly away, land on the ground, lose their wings, and set straight away to mating. He also informed us they were a good source of protein, before reaching his arm into the air, grabbing a termite, and popping it into his mouth. He asked if anyone wanted to try, and I had no intention of doing it… But… Another girl said she would, so my competitive side came out and I grabbed one as well. It honestly didn’t taste like anything, I felt worse about catching and eating it for sport than actually being grossed out. If I felt this way about a termite it would be very easy to be a vegetarian if only I had to catch and kill all my own meat. After the drive, we came back to the reserve’s restaurant for our nine o’clock breakfast, which may have been the best breakfast I’ve ever had. An hour after breakfast, Phil picked us up again for a guided walk through one of the trails. We saw lots of insects and interesting plants, as well as some giraffes that were about 50 yards away. After the walk, we went back to our chalet and had some free time before lunch at one o’clock and the next game drive at four. I think everyone took a good long nap at that point, I know I did. I had eaten a huge breakfast, so I didn’t even get up for lunch but just slept right through it, waking up ten minutes before Phil was to pick us up. First, he took us to the river, were we got out of the car and stood on a small platform on the side of the water to see the hippos. They were pretty hard to see, since they kept most of their bodies under the water except for their nostrils. Phil told us that they actually don’t have nostrils, but blowholes, making them more closely related to whales than any other land mammal. Hippos do everything in the water except eat, including mating, giving birth, sleeping, everything. They only come out of the water at night time so they can eat. Hippos are also extremely dangerous because of their strong territorial tendencies. Hippos kill more people in South Africa than any other animal because of people who get in their way of the water, or go into their water. Eventually it got dark, and after driving around for a bit we saw the water buffalo for the first time, which was pretty exciting. It was hard to see in the dark, but still easy to gather an impression of these massive animals. They look incredibly strong and powerful, even as they just stood there grazing. It was time to head back to the lodges, but Phil was determined to find the hippos out of water for us, so we drove around in the freezing cold with Phil shining his powerful flashlight over the land. All of a sudden he tore off the side of the path and rolled up onto a small hill, and there they were. I never would have imagined how big they were if I had only seen them in the water. It was such a treat to be able to see these animals on land, I realized, since we were the only car that managed to find them. Phil is just the man; what can I say. So after getting back last, we again had another amazing dinner and subsequent early bedtime.

On a side note, the only member of the Big Five we didn’t get to see on this trip was the leopard. Phil explained that while they do have some leopards on the reserve, they are completely wild cats and do not stay within the boundaries of the reserve, but jump around. For this reason the male is only spotted every couple months, and the females that reside are just as mysterious and hard to spot, even though they are on the reserve most of the time. This totally built upon the mystery and excitement of the animal; and seeing one would have been too much of a treat to ask for, but it didn’t stop any of us from constantly keeping our eyes peeled for those gorgeous spots.

 They next morning we had to be up by 5:00 and ready to be picked up by 5:30, since it was also the day we were leaving Kariega. We drove to a different, larger, river than the one inhabited by the hippos and took a nice river cruise with the whole Semester at Sea group (about 25 people). Phil made us some delicious hot chocolate and provided cookies to munch on for the half hour cruise. We didn’t see anything exciting on this little side trip, but it was nice feeling the sun come out and brighten the entire sky as we cruised. Once we got back on land, we were supposed to head right back to the chalets, pick up our already packed bags, and head to the reception lodge to wait for the bus to pick us up and bring us to the airport. But as soon as Phil spotted the water buffalos, we knew that wasn’t going to happen. He guessed where they were going to go, and took a shortcut to a small mud hole and we sat to wait. Eventually they came. At first they didn’t seem to mind that this large green vehicle was in their space, but after about five minutes any non-animal expert could tell that one of the females was not happy. She was a few yards from us, facing the car head on. The car wasn’t head on, but was rather perpendicular to her body. I was in the passenger seat, so Phil was between me and the buffalo, making me feel a bit less nervous. She was barely moving, just staring us down. I hadn’t been scared the entire safari, up to this point. That female buffalo was making me quite anxious, just staring and swishing her tail. After a few minutes (maybe a minute or two too long, in my opinion) Phil drove away, ever so slowly, so as not to alarm her. As we drove away I said to Phil, “She wasn’t too happy about us being there, was she?” And he just shook his head with an easy-going, no big deal smile. Some of the other girls asked him later if he was ever nervous, but he said not all. Phil was the best; I had complete faith in him and trusted that he would know what to do in any situation. He just seemed so relaxed and at home with every animal we saw. He explained to us that each animal has a comfort zone, an alert zone, and a flight zone, and that the buffalo was in her alert zone. But he told us that he knew the behaviors of these animals well enough to know by one certain movement of their left front foot if they really don’t want us there, and it’s time to go before things get ugly. After this we headed back to the lodge, grabbed our to-go breakfast bags, and began our route home, eventually climbing back up the stairs on the gangway and onto the ship, concluding hands down one of the best experiences of my 21.5 years of living.