Not many people know a lot about Malaysia, it is a well hidden treasure. There is a good mix of Indian and Chinese culture here, with a twist of Muslim influence. Malay is the dominant language but it seemed like everyone knew English.
The first day ,which was last Wednesday ,I went to a Thai Temple called Wat Chaiyanang Alaran and saw the huge sleeping Buddha. Across the street from that was a Burmese Temple which was gorgeous, I watched a monk blessing a piety. Then I went to the Leong San Khoo Kongsi clan house. I used this visit as one of my Zen FDP’s. That evening I went to a mall that was 6 stories tall and basically had the same stuff in every shop. Then I walked to China town and had the most amazing fried rice in the world. Oh, before visiting the temples I had lunch at a restaurant where we were served two whole fish, head and all. The fish tasted good but it was hard to look at the ugly cooked fish and be able to enjoy the flavor.
On Thursday I went snorkeling on the island of Langkawi. The fish were so colorful and the coral reef was really cool. We got to feed baby sharks that were about 200 yards away from where we were snorkeling. I am not sure what kept them from coming over to us. After feeding the sharks we were going to go snorkeling again but the tide must have changed and a lot of trash and oil came into the area making it impossible to see anything underwater. So that ended our trip short. That evening I went out with a bunch of guys which was nice because as you know the girl/guy ratio is not on my side. Most of my friends went to Kuala Lumpur which is a city on the main land. I had a great time listening to Chinese karaoke and observing local life.
Friday I went to Starbucks in the morning to skype with my parents. It was the first time I have had a vanilla latte in over 2 months. That afternoon a friend and I went to the Batu Ferringhi beach which was a half hour away. We got a hotel room for the night which cost 88 ringgits for 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, and kitchen. We had a balcony that over looked the ocean. Malaysia is definitely honeymoon material for any newlyweds out there. There was horseback riding on the beach along with jet skies and para sailing. We went to the night market and I bought a few trinkets.
Saturday morning we went to the beach and I acted like I was 5 years old and collected ever shell I saw. We went back to the ship for lunch and then went out shopping again that afternoon. Sunday I went to Penang Hill and Botanical Gardens. We drove up to the top of the hill to find that the canopy walk was closed because a tree had fallen over it from the heavy rains they have been getting. We were also supposed to take the cable car to the top instead of driving but the cable was broken. So Penang Hill was not a great success but it was absolutely magnificent, almost prettier than the Amazon. The Botanical Gardens were nice but it was super hot and hard to really enjoy the flowers.The ship could not dock in the port so we had to tender back and forth to shore. This was inconvenient because the tender only left the boat on the hour and came back on the half hour, so we had to plan everything around getting on and off the ship. Malaysia was so calm and relaxing compared to India. There were no kids begging for food, no cars constantly honking, no trash on the ground, and no toxic air to breathe in. I would even go as far to say Malaysia is cleaner than the United States. I would definitely want to come back and go to the Highlands and Borneo.
Country ranking based on my own experiences . 1- Cape Town, South Africa, 2 -Penang, Malaysia, 3- Chennai, India 4- Nassau, Bahamas, 5 -Walvis Bay, Namibia, 6- Salvador, Brazil
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
India
Tuesday I woke up at 7 to the smell of something very foreign, apparently India has a “smell.”We were still piloting into port and the smell had already seeped into the ship. I was on my way to breakfast and I wanted to see what temperature it was outside, so I opened a door and got a mouthful of India. I haven’t figured out the words to describe the smell. The air was so thick, too. So then I went to breakfast had my usual 3 egg croissant sandwiches and a bowl of cereal. Then we had a diplomatic briefing with two of the American embassy officials. They recommended places to go shopping, where to eat and sightsee. They also informed us on what to watch out for, what prices we should be paying for the rickshaws, and other important information. Right after that meeting I had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) in the same room with a man who ran a mining company here in India. When that was over I went to see what my friends were doing for the day. They all had plans, none of which involved walking around the city. So I walked around the halls and found my friend Drew who also had no one to walk around with, so off we went. (This was my first spontaneous plan of this whole trip, before I always had “a plan”) We walked off the ship and had no idea where to go or what to do. It was fantastic. So we just started walking, we walked about 1.5 km and then found all these rickshaws waiting for us. We got in one and just said take us somewhere. So we drove all around town and he gave a little tour and then dropped us off at a market. I found a lot of great stuff there for cheap. Drew and I spent the majority of our day in this market. We found a restaurant that was part of a hotel so we knew it was legitimate. This was quite the experience. We walked in and it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I felt a little intimidated at first. All the seats were full and one man gestured to go upstairs. So we did and when I opened the door all we saw were women so Drew thought it was like a bathroom or women only club. But I looked in more and it just so happened that they were waiting for a table as well. Again a man gestured to go upstairs to the third foor. So we walk up and sit on chairs in the waiting area. I looked around to observe what was going on so that when it was our turn to be seated I knew what to do. A waiter brought out banana leaves, one for each person. These leaves were huge! Bigger than a normal plate. Next they sprinkled water on the leaf to make it stay flat.. I think or maybe they were blessing it, I’m not really sure. Then a guy came upstairs and told us to come down again. So we go back to the second floor and get seated. We sat in a booth, side by side and then a young Indian couple sat across from us. I got really excited because I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk to the locals. So I said hello and they said hi in a manner as though they did not really want to talk to us. So the entire meal we did not talk to them. I don’t really know what the correct manner is, therefore Drew and I just concentrated on eating. Neither of us knew what anything meant on the menu so I just pointed to something. Our waiter came out with all these different spices and concoctions and put a little of each on our banana leaf. Next Drew got served chicken and white rice and I got this bowl of fried rice. My rice came with a spoon, which I was to use to spoon the rice onto my banana leaf. We used our hands to eat everything. It seemed counteractive to give me a bowl of rice and a spoon and then for me to take the rice out of the bowl and eat it with my hands. It was great! Oh we all know not to drink the tap water so I asked for bottled water and it took 3 men and 10 minutes for them to actually understand what I wanted. No one else in the restaurant was drinking while they were eating but my food was so spicy I couldn’t help myself. When we were full we had to fold over our leaf or else the waiter would keep bringing us food. We got the bill and a little bowl of white grain looking things. So Drew and I were like sweet! Mints. So we both ate a few and they tasted like licorice soap. Remember this part, it will come back up later in my day. After lunch we walked around the market some more and then went back to the ship. We had to shower real fast and then go to the Welcome Reception. This was at a hotel where we were greeted by university students. There was traditional dance, henna tattooing, Sari wrapping, and great Indian food. I met these two really nice Indian students who I talked to the whole time. I wanted to hangout more with my new friends but the female student had a curfew and was not allowed to stay out. She lived in a hostel near her university and the students had to be back at a certain time. We ended up going to a bar after the reception. Drinking in India is not very popular. We went to another hotel and the manager said the bar was not open so we just sat in the restaurant area and ordered a drink. Then the manager came back to us and told us to go upstairs. This is where the bar was, I guess he opened it just for us since we were American. It was me, two of my friends and the male Indian student. I have no idea how to spell his name. Then we just got a rickshaw back to the ship and called it a night.>One of my questions I asked during our time together was about those grains I had for lunch. They are actually meant for cleaning our fingers and to get a nice fragrance on them, not to eat. HA .I ate soap. Oh and the reason the Indian couple did not talk to us was because they did not speak English. Makes sense! Another thing I forgot. When I was in the market a woman came up to me and asked where I was from so I told her and she looked confused so I explained about Semester at Sea. Then she told me how her two daughters are studying in America. Her next question was whether or not I was Christian. This question came up many times during my time in India. It seems like their whole lives revolve around religion. This is one of the most culturally different aspects of India. Then she gave me her phone number and home address. I felt so honored. The Indian people are so welcoming, it’s a really warm feeling. Overall Chennai is a very safe city, or at least in the way of no one trying to pick pocket us or mug us. The market was a lot of fun, because there was not one single other SAS student there. For the first time I felt fully enveloped in a culture. Oh the “bathrooms”ha, oh man. Side note America does a lot of things weird. Two quick examples: every other country calls it “toilets”not bathrooms and they all drive on the left side of the road, as well as walk on the left. You know how in America you tend to walk on the right side when passing someone? Well everywhere else it is opposite. Back to my toilet story. It is basically a hole in the ground and there is a bucket of water next to you. That’s it. I actually brought toilet paper with me because I knew they did not use it but I did not think about where I would put it after I used it. And I did not want to fool around with the faucet because again the water is not safe. So I just decided to hold it.This is my attempt to describe the smell of India. Imagine the smell of curry, exhaust fumes, cow dung, incenses, body odor, rotten flowers, and more curry all mixed together. That is the best way I can portray the smell of India. Wednesday I woke up and had breakfast on the ship again and then met up with our male friend from the night before. We did some more shopping and then one of my friends had to be back on the ship by 1pm for a FDP. So we all came back to the ship and I jumped in the pool because I was so disgustingly gross from sweating and having all the soot/dust/pollution stick to me. Then I took a little nap because you all know shopping wears me out. Then another friend and me were going to go meet up with the female student from the night before and go to temples but on our walk to the rickshaw’s we started talking to another SAS student who also wanted to go to temples so we just teamed up and went on an adventure. We made it to one temple and then to St. Thomas church. They were both really cool. Then we walked around the streets and stuck out like a sore thumb. But whatever I thoroughly enjoy not being around a bunch of SAS students. Then we got back to the ship and jumped in the pool again, then had dinner. After that we went to Moca which is a hip and happening “café.”It was really sweet. It was an outside restaurant/hookah bar. I had a snickers bar milk shake. Non of us were really hungry because we had already eaten on the ship so I guess that saved us a few rupees. On the way there I drove the rickshaw!!! Only 3 people can fit in the back seat and it was 4 of us so I volunteered to sit in the front and I got to drive!!! It was super cool. I don’t think any other SASer will be able to say they have done that. Well that’s one thing I can check off my list. Then we came back to the ship because there is no where to really go at night and so we watched Billy Madison.Let me just tell you, I am the queen of bargaining. I owe this quality to my mother, I learned from the best. It just comes so natural. I am always in charge of making a price for the rickshaws. They try really hard to rip us off but then they realize who they are dealing with. I am no dummy. Haha we were in some shop today and I bought a piece of jewelry for half of what they were asking for and then a friend wanted to buy a ring and so I tried to help her get a lower price and the guy shooshed me! He said “you stay quiet and let me do my job”it was hilarious.Thursday I slept in, had lunch on the ship and then went on my overnight village stay. It was a two and a half hour bus ride which I enjoyed because the whole way we kept passing all these villages and markets. There is so much life in India. Yea it’s super over crowded and polluted but everyone is so happy. Chennai makes the most crowded city in the states seem vacant. We arrived at our sleeping quarters around 3:30 and had tea with the women who runs the RIDE organization. The Rural Institute for Development Education was started in 1984 to help disadvantaged residents of rural Tamil Nadu to improve the quality of their lives. They do this by educating the children and providing loans for the women of the villages. After tea we went to one of the schools and got to play with the children for a few hours. Some of the children performed a dance for us and then it was our turn to perform for them. We did “I’m a little teapot.”Then I took 5 of the kids outside and played ring-around-the-rosy and played a little Frisbee. It was heart breaking watching them leave; I just wanted to take them all back with me. Dinner at the sleeping grounds was really good. I can not spell any of the foods so I will not even attempt. I need to remember to bring a notepad with me for now on. The electricity usually shuts off at 9 but I assume they turned the generators on for us. It was a group of 20 SAS kids, 18 were girls. We played card games until everyone got tired, which ended up being around 9:30. I slept in a room that had 4 beds. One bed was taken by this German lady who was volunteering there for 2 weeks. She bought a bunch of library books and was in the process of organizing them and figuring out a way in which no one would steal them. Anyway, it was her, 2 other SAS girls and me in a room. The beds were just wooden boards, no cushion but I brought a sleeping bag. The room had no air conditioning and the fan did not work because the owner turned off the electricity. We had the windows open but the mosquito’s still got through the screen. So between the German lady snoring, the mosquito’s biting my feet, not being able to get in my sleeping bag because it was too hot, and dripping sweat down my back and face, I did not get much sleep. We got up at 7 had a quick breakfast and then took a bus ride to another village. We got to go inside the small shacks and see how the poor, rural Indian people lived. This whole visit seemed so surreal, like the people were just acting to put a good show on for the Americans. It is a hard concept to understand that there are still so many people in this world who do not know if they will have a roof over their heads tomorrow or food in their bellies. There is so much garbage everywhere in India. I asked one of the women in charge of RIDE why the government does not hire people to clean up the streets. She simply responded “and then where would they put it?”I guess I had never really thought about that. It is really hard for me to just accept their way of life and for me not to do anything about it. I wish I had more power and could help all of the people in the village. We also got to go to a silk shop and see how they weave the silk Sari’s. It’s a really intense process and hard to explain. We left the village around 3:30 and got back to the ship at 6:15. That night I watched Juno.Saturday I went out shopping again and basically bought out India. I got a rug that was $390 but I haggled it for $200, a emerald ring that was $69 but I got it for $40, a beautiful small chest, a plate, 12 scarf’s, 2 wall hangings, and 2 shirts. On the way home we got stuck in a rally. My rickshaw driver said it was a political leader who was visiting and giving a speech but later someone told me that they heard it was a celebrity from the Bollywood movies, so I am not sure who it was. Anyway I had planned on being back on the ship at 3 so we left the last shop at 2:30 thinking 30 minutes would be plenty of time. Well we did not get to the ship until 4:30. I was a little worried because on ship time was 6 and a lot of Taj trips were coming back at that time which meant a really long line before actually getting on the ship. Luckily there was no line and got on without any problems.I am really glad I got to go to India, it was a great experience but I do not think I want to come back. The culture and people were great but I can’t handle the air pollutions, the garbage everywhere, the heat and having to dress conservatively, wearing pants, closed toed shoes, and a big t-shirt, and the over crowdedness. It seemed like there was no place to get away, people are everywhere! I would like to come back and volunteer at the RIDE organization ,but I would not come back for a vacation .Malaysia in three days!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Sea Time
12 days at sea from Cape Town to India is not a piece of cake. The Indian Ocean is rougher than the Atlantic Ocean which we had been traveling through before we reached Cape Town. It seems like the waves get worse at night, which is when I like to study and work out. On quiet a few nights I have had to retire early to bed because I could not handle the motion sickness. I have never actually gotten sick, just very nauseous. Time is going by a lot faster than I thought it would. We will be in India on Tuesday. It does not feel like I have been at sea for 7 days now.
They do keep us busy around here. This morning I had my Oceanography midterm, we had to make up 5 questions from each chapter and then we played Jeopardy. Tomorrow I have my Global Studies and International Business midterms. And then on Sunday I have my Zen midterm. Fun fact: since the beginning of this voyage we have only had 20 class days. This means only 10 classes for each subject. Oh how I love Semester at Sea. It is really hard to get back into the routine after 7 days off in Cape Town, 5 days off in Namibia, and 5 days off in Brazil.
Yesterday was actually a no class day. The Sea Olympics were held. The teams were made up by which hall you lived in. Each hall has a different sea name. Mine is the Adriatic Sea. I participated in the Olympic rely which comprised of an orange pass, wheel barrel race, 3 legged race, and a race where you balanced an empty cup on your index and ring fingers and then ran to the other end of the deck. I did the orange pass part. My sea won this event. Other events included a pizza making contest, hotdog eating contest, a spelling bee, sudoku, volleyball, dodge ball, synchronized swimming, and limbo. This was pretty much an all day event and then at night we had a God and Goddess dance. I was the Earth God, Gaia.
A few nights ago the LGBT club held a “Coming Out” stories discussion in the Union. I teared up a few times when people were telling their stories of how their family members did not approve of their life decisions, and basically disowned them. On the bright side a lot of people had funny stories of how they came out. I am happy that so many people have the courage to put themselves out there for judgment, and in most cases everyone accepts them no matter what their sexual preference is.
I am on the Ambassador’s Ball Committee, which is the big shebang at the end of this voyage. We meet every B day, so this is another thing to occupy my time. I am in charge of the alternative programming. There are 2 dinner sittings, so when people are not at dinner they come to the Union and watch people perform. I am in charge of finding people to perform. It is still too early in the voyage to get serious about this, so I basically go to the meetings and help the other committees like with the menu and decorations.
These are all the things that have been occupying my time besides eating and sleeping. Please keep the emails coming! jmwinters@semesteratsea.net
They do keep us busy around here. This morning I had my Oceanography midterm, we had to make up 5 questions from each chapter and then we played Jeopardy. Tomorrow I have my Global Studies and International Business midterms. And then on Sunday I have my Zen midterm. Fun fact: since the beginning of this voyage we have only had 20 class days. This means only 10 classes for each subject. Oh how I love Semester at Sea. It is really hard to get back into the routine after 7 days off in Cape Town, 5 days off in Namibia, and 5 days off in Brazil.
Yesterday was actually a no class day. The Sea Olympics were held. The teams were made up by which hall you lived in. Each hall has a different sea name. Mine is the Adriatic Sea. I participated in the Olympic rely which comprised of an orange pass, wheel barrel race, 3 legged race, and a race where you balanced an empty cup on your index and ring fingers and then ran to the other end of the deck. I did the orange pass part. My sea won this event. Other events included a pizza making contest, hotdog eating contest, a spelling bee, sudoku, volleyball, dodge ball, synchronized swimming, and limbo. This was pretty much an all day event and then at night we had a God and Goddess dance. I was the Earth God, Gaia.
A few nights ago the LGBT club held a “Coming Out” stories discussion in the Union. I teared up a few times when people were telling their stories of how their family members did not approve of their life decisions, and basically disowned them. On the bright side a lot of people had funny stories of how they came out. I am happy that so many people have the courage to put themselves out there for judgment, and in most cases everyone accepts them no matter what their sexual preference is.
I am on the Ambassador’s Ball Committee, which is the big shebang at the end of this voyage. We meet every B day, so this is another thing to occupy my time. I am in charge of the alternative programming. There are 2 dinner sittings, so when people are not at dinner they come to the Union and watch people perform. I am in charge of finding people to perform. It is still too early in the voyage to get serious about this, so I basically go to the meetings and help the other committees like with the menu and decorations.
These are all the things that have been occupying my time besides eating and sleeping. Please keep the emails coming! jmwinters@semesteratsea.net
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Skydiving
It was 6 a.m. and my alarm sounded. I jumped out of bed with a big smile on my face. I looked at Amanda and she did not seem as happy as me. She was terrified out of her mind. I asked her how much RAND I needed and she said 1500; well I only had 1130. So I got dressed in a haste and ran off the ship to find an ATM. We are always told not to go anywhere alone but I wanted to take this opportunity to be with myself and prepare myself for what I was about to do. As I past the security guards I told them where I was going and if I wasn’t back within 20 minutes to start searching for me. The ATM was about an eight minute walk from the ship. I was not scared; I was focused more on calming my mind and trying not to get too excited for the amazing day ahead of me. I got the rest of my money out and safely made it back to the ship. At this point I felt very brave for venturing out alone, even though it was not very far. This was a great start to my day. The drive to the skydiving site took about 30 minutes. The scenery was beautiful; mountains, vineyards, and ocean. When we arrived 2 girls ran out of the van to the bathroom and got sick. They were thinking way too much about it and could not handle the excitement. When the guy asked who wants to go first I raised my hand immediately without any hesitation. Everyone knows I am a very impatient person, so of course I wanted to go right away. That, and I knew the longer I waited the more I would start to psyc myself out. So the next thing I knew I was getting a harness strapped to me. I thought everyone was going to have to sit through a training class but we didn’t. After Amanda and I were all strapped up we set out for the plane awaiting us outside. The guy I was going to be tandem with was named Paul. During our walk to the plane Paul told me that he would be getting into the plane first and then I was to get in and sit in front of him between his legs and to not touch the pilot’s chair which was right in front of me. Then Amanda’s guy got in and the Amanda. There was also a random kid who went with us alone. He looked like he was only 12 years old but he said this was his 100 and some dive. Craziness! So as we were flying I focused on the scenery around me. I could feel Paul breathing against my back so I tried to breath in sync with him. I just kept saying over and over to myself I can not believe I am about to do this. Paul told me that once we reached 9,000 feet we would jump. Side note-writing about this is bringing back so many emotions, I feel like I am doing it all over again. At about 600 meters Paul attached himself to my harness and told me to wiggle around and try to get away. Of course I could not and I felt very secure. I put my goggles on and Paul tightened all my straps. All of a sudden the door swung open and I thought oh my gosh I am really about to do this! Next thing I know my legs were dangling out of the plane and air was rushing at my face. I think this was the most intense moment because I did not know what to expect or how it was going to feel, but I did not have much time to think before I was doing flips out of the plane. I am not going to be able to put into words this feeling. Freefalling is THE most invigorating, exhilarating, thrilling, amazing feeling in the whole wide world. It did not feel like I was falling, like my stomach was not in my throat or anything. It felt incredible. We freefell for 35 seconds and then Paul pulled the parachute. We glided around for about 4 minutes. Paul made us do flips and spins, it was sooooo much fun. No, it was more than fun; see there is no way for me to truly say how it felt. You will just have to do it yourself. My landing was funny. Paul told me to bend my knees as we got closer to the ground and a few seconds before we landed he said ok now straighten out your legs and so I did but the landing was a bit too much and I started to fall over and Paul landed on top of me. Very graceful haha. The whole time I felt so at peace with everything. I was not once worried about something going wrong. I absolutely am going to skydive again. I want to have that feeling over and over again. It is going to be hard to beat the scenery of South Africa... wonder where I will fall from a plane next.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Cape Town Part II
Sunday was the busiest day of my life. I woke up at 6 a.m. to go skydiving (I am going to write a whole blog entry just on skydiving), about 20 people went so it took a while for everyone to fall from the plane. Then I went on a wine tour at 1 p.m. I got to go to 4 different wineries and tasted over 20 different wines. The last winery had a Cheetah farm which was awesome. Some people paid to pet the Cheetahs but since I am allergic to cats I didn't want to spend money to sneeze. Then I went to Moyo, a restaurant in the trees! It was very cold but worth it. This is a very short summary of my day, but time does not permit me to write more right now.
Monday I was planning on climbing Table Mountain again but it rained so my roommate and I went to the biggest mall in all of South Africa. I do not like shopping so we just walked around and people watched. For people who do like shopping, this place would have been heaven for you. It had so many name brand shops, but expensive too. We actually ran into one of the skydiving guys in the mall. It was funny because I saw him first and knew right away it was him but Amanda, my roommate, did not think so, so I did not say anything to him but he actually came up to us and asked if we were the Americans that went skydiving the day before. What a coincidence! Out of all the people in South Africa we run into someone we knew. Overall this day was pretty boring compared to the past few days. The rest of the evening everyone lounged around the ship. That night a bunch of us went to a small sushi shop in the mall right on the water front and then headed to The Dubliner for drinks and then ended up at Mitchell's Brewery. Nothing really exciting happened that night.
Tuesday I went on an overnight Safari to the Aquila wildlife reserve. A group of 22 Semester at Sea students left the ship around 10 a.m. and took a 2 hour bus ride to the reserve. When we arrived we were met with champagne and then got to eat a delicious buffet style lunch. Right outside of the dining area was a pond with crocodiles in it. They were a brown color because of the water they lived in. After lunch we got into safari jeeps and off we went on our first tour of the safari grounds. First we past hippopotamus' who were laying on an island pretty far away but I got really close pictures so that I could actually see what they look like, because from where we were they just looked like big rocks. Then we pasted a giraffe and a few zebra's running around the bushes. Next we stopped right next to three ostriches that were eating stuff from the dirt. After that we ventured into rhinoceros territory. They were so large I could not believe it, and there was a baby rhino so the mother kept standing in front of it to protect it. The baby was so young that the safari guides did not know what sex it was yet. We then set out to the top of a hill and got out of the jeeps for a stretch. Once again we were given champagne. After about a 30 minute break we headed for the lions. The lions are separated from the rest of the animals, so we had to drive through an electric fence to see them. There were 3 Jeeps full of SAS students. My Jeep was the last. The first Jeep was stopped right in front of the lions when a water bottle fell from the Jeep and the lions pounced on it. It was the craziest thing, my Jeep guide, Liza, got really nervous and backed out of the fence and then we watched as the 2 other Jeeps were trapped as the lions walked around and blocked the road. Liza was telling us a story of how she got surrounded by the lions once with a Jeep full of people who could not speak English. One lion was coming closer and closer to jumping onto the Jeep so Liza put the Jeep into reverse and sped out quickly; she hit one of the female lions but did not hurt her. It is so crazy how dangerous these animals are and how crazy we are for trying to get close to them. Since my jeep didn't really get to go in Liza was going to try and get in from the other entrance on the other side of the mountain. So we were driving really fast to get there before dark and all of a sudden Liza slammed on the breaks. She was about to run right into buffalo. My heart was racing. Liza jolted the jeep into reverse and zoomed away really fast. No one really knew what was going on so we just sat there with frightened faces. Then Liza stopped to explain what just happened. She said that if we would have stopped for a longer period of time the buffalo would have charged the jeep. She said we were lucky that they didn't come after us. After that we called it a day and went back to the lodge for dinner. After dinner we had a big bon fire and looked at the stars. We were told to stay inside after dark because the buffalo have been running over the fences and endangering guests. So of course I had to venture out and look for the buffalo but they did not come that night. The next day at 7 a.m. I rode a horse for the first time around the Safari. We got really close to the Rhinoceros' and the protecting mother started walking towards us so we trotted away out of sight. Then I saw two elephants climbing a mountain, I was afraid they were going to fall over but the guides said they do it all the time. Then a wildebeest decided to run along with the horses. We didn't have to worry about it coming after us because it was intimidated by all the horses. There were a ton of springbok running around everywhere, for those of you who may not know what they are; springbok are similar to deer but smaller and cuter. After the hour and a half horseback ride we went back to the lodge for breakfast and waited for the other half of the group to get back from quad biking. Only seven of us did the horseback riding and the rest rode quad bikes around the safari. Around noon we went on another jeep tour. First we went back to the lions and were able to get really really close to them. I think my heart was racing more here than it was during skydiving. Next we saw elephants who decided to surround my jeep and pretend that they were going to charge us. This was another heart pounding moment because these elephants could have crushed us in a second if they wanted. So our guide was yelling at them to get away and they actually listened. Next we saw cheetahs but they were behind a fence so we couldn't play with them which made me sad. After that everyone loaded into the vans and we headed back to the ship. That night was the most fun so far this voyage. My roommate, Amanda, two guys from the safari, and I were going to meet up with two of the tour guides we made friends with to go out for dinner. The tour guides did not show up so the four of us jumped in a taxi and headed for Long Street. We ate dinner at The Dubliner and the guys kept ordering us all rounds of shots. Then we ended up at Hemisphere. This is a club on the thirty first floor of some random building. People were not allowed in unless they were really dressed up- no flip flops or sneakers. There was a 50 RAND cover charge which is pretty expensive for a Cape Town club. That's about $6. If this club were in a city such as New York the cover charge would be like $150. So we get in and one of the guys we were with gets us a VIP lounge and in the lounge we got bottle service. We had two bottles of Sky vodka and all you can drink red bull. I think I only had one drink and headed straight for the dance floor. I was dancing with this white South African man who was there with a bunch of his buddies for a bachelor party. He wanted to get me a drink but I said no and walked away. I was not about to get involved with a local. So for the rest of the night I stuck with Semester at Sea dance partners. I felt so grown up, it was wonderful. On the taxi ride home our taxi driver told us that only the white rich Africans go there and only on very special occasions. I LOVE CAPE TOWN.
I slept in the next morning and then just walked around town with my roommate Amanda. We ran into the tour guides from the Safari and they took us out to lunch. We had a platter of all different kinds of seafood. Then we had to go back to the ship for "onboard ship time," this is basically 2 hours before the ship leaves so that incase people are running late they have a time buffer. I was so sad to leave Cape Town, I can not wait to visit again in 2010 for the World Cup.
Monday I was planning on climbing Table Mountain again but it rained so my roommate and I went to the biggest mall in all of South Africa. I do not like shopping so we just walked around and people watched. For people who do like shopping, this place would have been heaven for you. It had so many name brand shops, but expensive too. We actually ran into one of the skydiving guys in the mall. It was funny because I saw him first and knew right away it was him but Amanda, my roommate, did not think so, so I did not say anything to him but he actually came up to us and asked if we were the Americans that went skydiving the day before. What a coincidence! Out of all the people in South Africa we run into someone we knew. Overall this day was pretty boring compared to the past few days. The rest of the evening everyone lounged around the ship. That night a bunch of us went to a small sushi shop in the mall right on the water front and then headed to The Dubliner for drinks and then ended up at Mitchell's Brewery. Nothing really exciting happened that night.
Tuesday I went on an overnight Safari to the Aquila wildlife reserve. A group of 22 Semester at Sea students left the ship around 10 a.m. and took a 2 hour bus ride to the reserve. When we arrived we were met with champagne and then got to eat a delicious buffet style lunch. Right outside of the dining area was a pond with crocodiles in it. They were a brown color because of the water they lived in. After lunch we got into safari jeeps and off we went on our first tour of the safari grounds. First we past hippopotamus' who were laying on an island pretty far away but I got really close pictures so that I could actually see what they look like, because from where we were they just looked like big rocks. Then we pasted a giraffe and a few zebra's running around the bushes. Next we stopped right next to three ostriches that were eating stuff from the dirt. After that we ventured into rhinoceros territory. They were so large I could not believe it, and there was a baby rhino so the mother kept standing in front of it to protect it. The baby was so young that the safari guides did not know what sex it was yet. We then set out to the top of a hill and got out of the jeeps for a stretch. Once again we were given champagne. After about a 30 minute break we headed for the lions. The lions are separated from the rest of the animals, so we had to drive through an electric fence to see them. There were 3 Jeeps full of SAS students. My Jeep was the last. The first Jeep was stopped right in front of the lions when a water bottle fell from the Jeep and the lions pounced on it. It was the craziest thing, my Jeep guide, Liza, got really nervous and backed out of the fence and then we watched as the 2 other Jeeps were trapped as the lions walked around and blocked the road. Liza was telling us a story of how she got surrounded by the lions once with a Jeep full of people who could not speak English. One lion was coming closer and closer to jumping onto the Jeep so Liza put the Jeep into reverse and sped out quickly; she hit one of the female lions but did not hurt her. It is so crazy how dangerous these animals are and how crazy we are for trying to get close to them. Since my jeep didn't really get to go in Liza was going to try and get in from the other entrance on the other side of the mountain. So we were driving really fast to get there before dark and all of a sudden Liza slammed on the breaks. She was about to run right into buffalo. My heart was racing. Liza jolted the jeep into reverse and zoomed away really fast. No one really knew what was going on so we just sat there with frightened faces. Then Liza stopped to explain what just happened. She said that if we would have stopped for a longer period of time the buffalo would have charged the jeep. She said we were lucky that they didn't come after us. After that we called it a day and went back to the lodge for dinner. After dinner we had a big bon fire and looked at the stars. We were told to stay inside after dark because the buffalo have been running over the fences and endangering guests. So of course I had to venture out and look for the buffalo but they did not come that night. The next day at 7 a.m. I rode a horse for the first time around the Safari. We got really close to the Rhinoceros' and the protecting mother started walking towards us so we trotted away out of sight. Then I saw two elephants climbing a mountain, I was afraid they were going to fall over but the guides said they do it all the time. Then a wildebeest decided to run along with the horses. We didn't have to worry about it coming after us because it was intimidated by all the horses. There were a ton of springbok running around everywhere, for those of you who may not know what they are; springbok are similar to deer but smaller and cuter. After the hour and a half horseback ride we went back to the lodge for breakfast and waited for the other half of the group to get back from quad biking. Only seven of us did the horseback riding and the rest rode quad bikes around the safari. Around noon we went on another jeep tour. First we went back to the lions and were able to get really really close to them. I think my heart was racing more here than it was during skydiving. Next we saw elephants who decided to surround my jeep and pretend that they were going to charge us. This was another heart pounding moment because these elephants could have crushed us in a second if they wanted. So our guide was yelling at them to get away and they actually listened. Next we saw cheetahs but they were behind a fence so we couldn't play with them which made me sad. After that everyone loaded into the vans and we headed back to the ship. That night was the most fun so far this voyage. My roommate, Amanda, two guys from the safari, and I were going to meet up with two of the tour guides we made friends with to go out for dinner. The tour guides did not show up so the four of us jumped in a taxi and headed for Long Street. We ate dinner at The Dubliner and the guys kept ordering us all rounds of shots. Then we ended up at Hemisphere. This is a club on the thirty first floor of some random building. People were not allowed in unless they were really dressed up- no flip flops or sneakers. There was a 50 RAND cover charge which is pretty expensive for a Cape Town club. That's about $6. If this club were in a city such as New York the cover charge would be like $150. So we get in and one of the guys we were with gets us a VIP lounge and in the lounge we got bottle service. We had two bottles of Sky vodka and all you can drink red bull. I think I only had one drink and headed straight for the dance floor. I was dancing with this white South African man who was there with a bunch of his buddies for a bachelor party. He wanted to get me a drink but I said no and walked away. I was not about to get involved with a local. So for the rest of the night I stuck with Semester at Sea dance partners. I felt so grown up, it was wonderful. On the taxi ride home our taxi driver told us that only the white rich Africans go there and only on very special occasions. I LOVE CAPE TOWN.
I slept in the next morning and then just walked around town with my roommate Amanda. We ran into the tour guides from the Safari and they took us out to lunch. We had a platter of all different kinds of seafood. Then we had to go back to the ship for "onboard ship time," this is basically 2 hours before the ship leaves so that incase people are running late they have a time buffer. I was so sad to leave Cape Town, I can not wait to visit again in 2010 for the World Cup.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Capetown Part 1
My seven days in Cape Town can not fully be described in a simple blog, I could write a book about all of my experiences I had in Cape Town. It is going to be hard for me to decide what is important enough to mention here and what I should just keep to myself for story telling when I get home. My words will not give Cape Town the justice it deserves. I fell in love with the people and the surroundings of Cape Town. I plan on coming back in 2010 for the World Cup and staying with my new Afrikan friends. I keep wanting to sit down and finish writing about Cape Town but every time I start writing I feel like I am not expressing myself well enough. This is a warning- anyone who has important things to do, don’t read on, wait until you have time to spend hours thinking about what I am about to write.
Last Friday, September 26th we arrived in port at 8 a.m. and did not have to stay on board for the diplomatic briefing because there was some confusion and so we were allowed to leave the ship right away. I walked around the harbor area, which looked similar to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Eating outlandish foods was one of my top priorities, so I ate an ostrich wrap for lunch. Then I found a craft market and bought a few trinkets and saw some really creative artwork. This one guy was playing a guitar made out of old oil cans and it sounded really cool, so I bought his CD. In the afternoon I went to the Khayelitsha Township. This is a town where all the blacks live in tin/scrap metal huts. It was really sad to see the awful conditions these people were living in. As we were driving by I thought to myself wow, I can not believe I am seeing this with my own eyes. I’ve always seen and heard about this kind of life from tv and from classes but it never really hit home until I saw it with my own eyes. I was so excited that we were about to get the chance to actually go into this town and talk with the people. So we stopped at a school and got to give the children stickers and pens, which they loved. They seemed so thankful for these simple little gifts. Then we went to two different Bed and Breakfasts’ within the Township. The owners explained how and why they started the business and it was motivating to hear how it all started. So these two women decided they wanted tourists to come into the Township to see how people were actually living and it was a way to bring in profit to the community. This is a great idea, although it is actually keeping the people in poverty because since foreigners like me and the other Semester at Sea participants are coming in and spending money, the people have no reason to go and look for a real job. I think the statistic was like 98% of the people living in the Township were unemployed. The whole visit to the Township was my first culture shock. Until then I had not been exposed to anything radically different from conditions in the United States. Surprisingly all the people we met on the streets of the Township were so happy and full of life. No one seemed depressed or hating life there in the slums. It just goes to show how life can be so simple and still bring joy to the people who live it. There is still more I could write about the Township but I will save it for another blog, when I have had more time for the experience to soak in. Oh one thing that shocked me was when I saw a little girl about 3 years old walking around the streets alone, swinging a used condom around in her hand. I really wanted to take it away from her but at the same time I did not want to touch it and I did not want to upset the girl who seemed so happy to have it... That night I went out for Thai food with a bunch of people and then tried to go to a jazz bar but it was too full, so we walked to another bar and got these huge cylinders of beer. I think they were 3.5 liters and they had a little spout like a keg. Between 6 people we shared two of these things. The bar was boring so we left after the beer was gone.. about 20 minutes after they were ordered. Haha then we just went back to the ship, everyone had a long day.
On Saturday a friend of mine and I hiked Table Top Mountain. It took us about an hour and forty minutes to get to the top which is a pretty decent amount of time, we past quite a few groups of people on the way up. The mountain is 1,086 meters high; the view of Cape Town was breath taking. I am definitely going to have to climb that mountain again. Hiking is one of the most invigorating feelings for me, my whole body aches as I am climbing up and there are times when I just want to stop and say no more. But when I finally reach the top after a lot of hard work it feels amazing. The view is worth all of the pain to get there. Eilis, my friend, and I had an Indian family come up to us and ask us where we were from and I said America. One of the sons got bright eyed and said “you mean the United States of America?” and so I said yes and he wanted to take a picture with us. I’ve never had anyone come up to me and be so excited about my nationality. It felt nice to be appreciated, although I am not sure how this little boy really sees the states... After a warm meal at the top of the mountain Eilis and I headed back down the mountain on a cable car. I felt very accomplished on the taxi ride back to the ship.
That night we ate dinner on the ship to save money and then went to Mitchell's Brewery for drinks. Three of us shared a fish bowl which is a huge bowl filled with blue Curacao, vodka, and sprite. It looked like a lot of alcohol but it didn't really affect any of us so I ordered a few draft beers. I have tasted so many different local beers on my journey, its great.
Last Friday, September 26th we arrived in port at 8 a.m. and did not have to stay on board for the diplomatic briefing because there was some confusion and so we were allowed to leave the ship right away. I walked around the harbor area, which looked similar to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Eating outlandish foods was one of my top priorities, so I ate an ostrich wrap for lunch. Then I found a craft market and bought a few trinkets and saw some really creative artwork. This one guy was playing a guitar made out of old oil cans and it sounded really cool, so I bought his CD. In the afternoon I went to the Khayelitsha Township. This is a town where all the blacks live in tin/scrap metal huts. It was really sad to see the awful conditions these people were living in. As we were driving by I thought to myself wow, I can not believe I am seeing this with my own eyes. I’ve always seen and heard about this kind of life from tv and from classes but it never really hit home until I saw it with my own eyes. I was so excited that we were about to get the chance to actually go into this town and talk with the people. So we stopped at a school and got to give the children stickers and pens, which they loved. They seemed so thankful for these simple little gifts. Then we went to two different Bed and Breakfasts’ within the Township. The owners explained how and why they started the business and it was motivating to hear how it all started. So these two women decided they wanted tourists to come into the Township to see how people were actually living and it was a way to bring in profit to the community. This is a great idea, although it is actually keeping the people in poverty because since foreigners like me and the other Semester at Sea participants are coming in and spending money, the people have no reason to go and look for a real job. I think the statistic was like 98% of the people living in the Township were unemployed. The whole visit to the Township was my first culture shock. Until then I had not been exposed to anything radically different from conditions in the United States. Surprisingly all the people we met on the streets of the Township were so happy and full of life. No one seemed depressed or hating life there in the slums. It just goes to show how life can be so simple and still bring joy to the people who live it. There is still more I could write about the Township but I will save it for another blog, when I have had more time for the experience to soak in. Oh one thing that shocked me was when I saw a little girl about 3 years old walking around the streets alone, swinging a used condom around in her hand. I really wanted to take it away from her but at the same time I did not want to touch it and I did not want to upset the girl who seemed so happy to have it... That night I went out for Thai food with a bunch of people and then tried to go to a jazz bar but it was too full, so we walked to another bar and got these huge cylinders of beer. I think they were 3.5 liters and they had a little spout like a keg. Between 6 people we shared two of these things. The bar was boring so we left after the beer was gone.. about 20 minutes after they were ordered. Haha then we just went back to the ship, everyone had a long day.
On Saturday a friend of mine and I hiked Table Top Mountain. It took us about an hour and forty minutes to get to the top which is a pretty decent amount of time, we past quite a few groups of people on the way up. The mountain is 1,086 meters high; the view of Cape Town was breath taking. I am definitely going to have to climb that mountain again. Hiking is one of the most invigorating feelings for me, my whole body aches as I am climbing up and there are times when I just want to stop and say no more. But when I finally reach the top after a lot of hard work it feels amazing. The view is worth all of the pain to get there. Eilis, my friend, and I had an Indian family come up to us and ask us where we were from and I said America. One of the sons got bright eyed and said “you mean the United States of America?” and so I said yes and he wanted to take a picture with us. I’ve never had anyone come up to me and be so excited about my nationality. It felt nice to be appreciated, although I am not sure how this little boy really sees the states... After a warm meal at the top of the mountain Eilis and I headed back down the mountain on a cable car. I felt very accomplished on the taxi ride back to the ship.
That night we ate dinner on the ship to save money and then went to Mitchell's Brewery for drinks. Three of us shared a fish bowl which is a huge bowl filled with blue Curacao, vodka, and sprite. It looked like a lot of alcohol but it didn't really affect any of us so I ordered a few draft beers. I have tasted so many different local beers on my journey, its great.
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