Vietnam/Cambodia...

Here are the highlights of Vietnam/Cambodia in 2 pictures...


Out to lunch with Ben and Paige. Eating a traditional Vietnamese lunch - I'm soo daring! We just spent the morning searching for a good tailor, finally finding one, purchased material and had our measurements taken so that our (custom made) suits would be ready before we left Vietnam. In the end they did a fantastic job! I am super impressed!


Ankor Wat at sunrise was beautiful! I loved Cambodia and everything I learned there. It is definitely one of my top 5 countries so far.

In both Vietnam and Cambodia, we were able to see so many things that brought history alive for us. It was a great experience.

Malaysia/Singapore...

Here are the highlights of Malaysia/Singapore in 3 pictures...

This was the first country that we had to tender. This essentially means that the ship couldn't pull up to the dock and that the crew had to use the life boats to ferry us from the ship to the land. It was an experience!

This beautiful sunset is what bid us fairwell as we left Malaysia bound for Vietnam.

Just little 'ol me in Singapore at the famous Raffles Hotel, enjoying their famous drink "The Singapore Sling". It was delicious! - You know me, just living the high life... ;)

India...

Here are the highlights of India in 2 pictures...


I am so happy I had the opportunity to experience India, but let's just say it is not at the top of my list of places I can't wait to return to. The yellow and green thing in the front of the screen is called a rickshaw and is similar to a taxi, but it's like a scooter. I don't know if you can make it out, but all the way off to the left of the picture is a cow, just chillin on the side of the road, eating garage that has piled up. This is a normal sight that I saw more times then I could count. The reason for this is because cows are a sacred animal in India and so no harm comes to them.

No trip to India is complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal. It was simply incredible to actually be there. One thing I was a bit surprised about was the size. While it was huge, and the architecture like nothing I had ever seen before, the first thing I thought of when I saw it was - It's smaller then I thought it would be. For those that have been to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, I would almost say it would fit underneath it. A little disappointing, but incredible nonetheless.

South Africa...

Here are the highlights of South Africa in 5 pictures...

Here is a view of the famous Table Mountain! It truly dominated the horizon and was incredible!

After about an hour and a half hike up the mountain, this is the incredible view!

On one of the days we were in Cape Town, I did a volunteer trip to assist a Non-profit organization called Operation Hunger. Our task for the day was to weigh and chart all of the kids in a particular school. The reason behind doing this is because soup kitchens in the area have requested funding from the organization, and the way they determine who gets the funds is by analyzing the kids in the schools in their area. Essentially, if the majority of the children are borderline malnourished, the soup kitchen gets money.

This is me at Cape Point, the location that claims to be the southern most point of Africa. Either way, it was beautiful!

I know it is a little hard to see, but I was too busy recording to take pictures. If you squint real hard, you can see Archbishop Desmond Tutu in the center of the photo. He's wearing all black and you can barely see his white hair, but he's there - I promise! Anyway, I was one of the fortunate ones who was around when we received word that he was going to stop by for a brief, half hour lecture. (He his a big supporter of the program and has even sailed on two voyages!) His speech was amazing! I am so happy I was able to see him speak, it was just so genuine and heartfelt!

Namibia...

Here are the highlights of Namibia in 4 pictures...

Staring out the window on my way to camping and stargazing in the desert enjoying the scenery that is more sand then I have ever seen in my life, and incredible dunes taller then homes!

During our camping and stargazing overnight trip, we climbed some of the rocks/mountains without any safety gear! If there was any time on the trip that we said "We're not in the US anymore..." - this was it! The view from the top was amazing!

Considering I had never snowboarded before, I think my first time sand-boarding was pretty good.

Swakopmund was a coastal town about 20 minutes away from the port city, and it was adorable. It reminded me a little bit of the town of Celebration, in Florida, except it was on a beach and in Namibia.

I just blinked and a month passed...

I swear, I just blinked and a month passed!... I'm sorry I didn't write sooner, and I'm sorry this blog is kind of brief. Overall I've been keeping busy with Grad school work (it was a bad idea to take 3 online courses this semester) since my courses began, I've been pretty much locked in my cabin during the days at sea and trying to get work done before we hit the next port.

We arrive in Hong Kong in just a few short hours, and I won't be back on the ship until it is ready to leave Shanghai, (since I'm taking a trip to see the Great Wall). Oh, and later today, I'm going to Hong Kong Disneyland! :) (I'm a dork... I know, but my excuse is that I want to see what they had to change in order for the Disney master plan to work in another country_.

The other things that have kept me busy since I last wrote is... Namibia, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia! Stay tuned for pix!

I miss everyone and thanks for reading! :)

p.s. After China we have about 2 days at sea before Japan. After Japan I will definitely have some time to update this before we stop in Hawaii for Thanksgiving. Once again I'm sorry I haven't done a better job at keeping this up - I ended up being much busier then I thought I would be. :/

Brazil...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

So, since the last time I posted, much has happened… For one, we crossed the equator and celebrated Neptune day, and of course, we have already explored one port: Salvador, Brazil.
(Sorry for not posting sooner, but I wanted to wait until I was able to get pix to go along with the postings, and since my camera battery died half way through my Amazon trip, I had to track down the rest of my group and beg them to give me their pictures.)

Neptune Day

Neptune day, a tradition on Semester At Sea, is celebrated when we cross the equator. Basically a bunch of students and a few faculty shaved their heads as part of the seafaring tradition in honor of King Neptune. Neptune day took place on September 5, since we crossed the equator around 8:30pm on September 4th.

Brazil
To describe my first impression of Salvador, Brazil in one word: dirty. I don’t think I ever want to go back there, but I don’t regret going either.


Salvador is split into an upper city and a lower city. In order to get from the lower city to the upper city, by foot, you have to take the elevator, and it cost about 5 cents.

The Amazon
As far as my trip to the Amazon, it was a lot of fun! What I enjoyed even more then seeing one of the 7 wonders of the world, was the group that I went with; Nora, Cat, Jill, Daniel, Kristen, Graham and Matt, I can’t forget Cliff and Jill too! (Cliff and Jill are two other lifelong learners from Semester At Sea, who ended up on the same boat as us. They actually met on this program 40 years ago, and have been on several trips since!).

I am very happy how our trip worked out and went. There were no delays of any sort and our drivers were soo helpful and friendly! (If you ever decide to take a trip to the Amazon, speak with Karolina at Kontiki Tours, she was great!) Our itinerary had us leaving Salvador the afternoon of our arrival and making it to Manaus around 1:30am. Upon arrival in Manaus, we had a guide and driver waiting for us at the airport, who took us to the hotel (We thought it was going to be a hole in the wall kind of place, but nope – we stayed at probably the only 5-star hotel in Manaus! It was amazing!) The guide was great and even assisted with check-in at the hotel. The next morning there was an amazing breakfast which was included in our hotel stay and it was soo good! We had some time to wander around the hotel, check out the pool and the mini-zoo which is on the hotel’s property. While we had a great time at the hotel, we were ready to get into the Amazon.

In the afternoon, after check out, we gathered in the lobby and followed our new guides to the Amazon Clipper (our home for the next few days)! J We were ferried to the Amazon Clipper via canoes and once everyone was on board (a total of about 30 people, including Germans, Australians and us), we had a little orientation and then were able to settle into our cabins. The cabins were so nice and even had showers and flushing toilets (while it was a nice notion, I chose not to use the shower, since the water comes from where the toilet goes – the Amazon River.)

Anyway, in total, it was a 3 day – 2 night trip. I thought it was the perfect amount of time to do and enjoy everything; we had fun fishing for piranhas, going on a jungle trek, learning about rubber trees, bird watching, visiting the meeting of the rivers, observing how Amazonians live and searching for wildlife that was trying to hide from us (including sloths and anacondas).

Last day in Brazil
So, for my last day in Brazil, fellow lifelong learners, Cliff and Jill invited Cat, (a girl from the Amazon trip) and I, to go on a private tour of Salvador with them. I am so happy I did it, because I got to see so much more then I would have wandering around with a guidebook. Their tour guide drove us around and pointed out interesting sites. One of which was a church which had a strong following especially because their was a sailor/captain who is famous for making a “pact with God”, in his journey to Brazil from Europe, that if God saw that he and his crew arrived in Brazil safely, that he would build a church in his honor. Well, the captain and crew arrived safely, and as promised he built a church as a token of appreciation. The church has a room full of stories and pictures and paraphernalia which demonstrate various “miracles”.


When our tour was over, the guide dropped us off at the mall, I know it sounds cheesy – I didn’t come all the way to Brazil to see a mall, but honestly I thought it was very interesting the layout, the advertisements, the stores, etc. it was actually a very informative site, from a business perspective of course. Anyway, we also grabbed lunch there, and Cliff had the great idea to get it family style! We went to a “traditional” Brazilian restaurant and asked their hostess, who luckily spoke some English, to order us the 4 best dishes on the menu; one seafood, one beef, one pork and one chicken. It was delicious!

Crossing the Atlantic
So, the worst part about crossing the Atlantic Ocean is losing time. I think we lost a total of 5 hours, over the course of about 7 days, as we sailed from Brazil to Namibia. The other downside was the weather. It got considerably colder, both on the decks outside the ship and on the inside. You saw fewer people walking around in shorts and more people sporting their Semester At Sea gear.

Classes are going well, and people are settling into different routines, working out, playing games, doing homework, watching movies and of course napping (it’s kind of hard NOT to do since we’re constantly rocking).

Random Stuff
Regional Dinners – Ok, so I definitely have some critiques of the Semester At Sea program, but one of the ideas I do like, is their regional dinner idea. Basically they set up a time and a place for people from the different states to meet up and have dinner together. It was very nice to meet fellow NJ people. I thought it was funny that they put NJ and Florida in the same room, kind of random, but I was able to blend them a bit, since I’ve now lived in both states. (I do think it would have made more sense to have Connecticut and/or NY around the same time since they are soo close, but that’s just me.)

Vicarious Voyage – Prior to leaving for this trip, I had the opportunity to sign up for a program called Vicarious Voyage, during which a classroom from the United States, follows my travels and learns about each of the countries I will be visiting. In exchange, I send them little tokens from the countries. It is optional to visit the classroom upon my completion of the voyage. (Since the classroom I was assigned to is in New York, I definitely hope to visit them upon my return.) I was assigned to a team with two others, Cassie from California and Whit from Connecticut. We recently compiled our token gifts from Salvador and it is making its way back to the states. J For the first package, we sent some ribbons, a coloring book, a map and some postcards. Hopefully they like the gifts!

Documentaries – I have watched more documentaries on this voyage then I ever have in my life, and I love it. I have definitely developed a new appreciation for them and plan on watching more in the future.

Until my next post…
Thanks to everyone for all the comments and e-mails, they truly make my day!

It seems somewhat surreal that for the first time in awhile that when I wake up, I’ll be looking at land - Walvis Bay (pronounced Val-fish Bay), Namibia!