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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
More Nam..
The Nam
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Thailand/Koh Samet
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Thailandddd
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Monday, March 30, 2009
India
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I don't really know =)
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Monday, March 9, 2009
India!!
Before every port we have a cultural and a logistical pre-port about each of the countries, it is basically just to scare us I think! Anyway, everyone is freaking out and saying that India is so dirty and we will have to throw all of our clothes away because we will be so dirty and the it is so crowded that you can't even walk in the streets and the second we get out of our port it is just going to be a wall of people pushing us and it is going to smell so bad and it's so gross. I was really frustrated with everything because no one knows anything about India but were all saying bad things about it and didn't understand why we were going here and didn't want to get off the boat. It was ridiculous, so I e-mailed Arun to get the truth! =) This is was he said, I loved it:
"Tell everyone to take a chill pill. I don't know how some people haven't realized this yet, but like everywhere, there are PEOPLE that live, love, laugh, and die in India. Seriously, they are human beings, not a bunch of shit throwing monkeys. I'm sure it's crowded, and yes, some streets aren't paved. But do you think that people there like being a bunch of dirty, homeless beggars? They value cleanliness and hard work just as much as anyone. Don't forget that they were ruled by the British (remind anyone of another certain country?) until 1947 and so it is not entirely their fault if everything isn't pristine and everyone doesn't make it rain with cash. If you show a little humility and respect for people, it will be returned.
I don't know who is saying you have to throw away your clothes and shoes. Have you ever gotten dirt on your clothes? Oh shit! Fucking relax and wipe it off, use some water. You don't need to roll around in the mud like a pig when you get there. And shopping there is pretty good from what I've heard. I mean, it's not gonna be like a mall so those people looking for The Buckle and Abercrombie may be disappointed, but if you want to see some real neat fabrics and jewelery, you can find it there. I've heard that the Taj is closed on Fridays, but other than that I don't know about any recent closings. It would be a shame if it was closed, cuz it's a huge tourist attraction.
(note: when I say "you" I don't mean you personally, just to those people who are being snobby little princesses)"
This e-mail made me laugh and I read it to every person that kept saying bad stuff about it!! Anyway, I decided I was really scared of the food and did not want to get travelers diarrhea and so I wasn't going to eat in India! HA! I ate more here than I have in the past month!! I loved it and not to mention we went to pizza hut the last day and it was incredible!!
We got into India on Thursday and had to be at the airport around 11:00am to make our flight. The customs here is really strict and had to take a long time to clear the boat but in every country we have people from the U.S. Embassy come on and talk to us about safety concerns in India. It was done about 9:30 and Natalie and I were running around like crazy trying to finish packing and get our shore and custom passes before 11. We were off the boat at 10 and didn't leave until 11. I think I might worry a little too much!!
It was crazy hot and humid and I wanted to die because we weren't aloud to wear shorts or tank tops or anything so I think I almost had a heat stroke!! We got to the airport on time and I saw a book store right by our gate and bought Slumdog Millionaire because I never finished the movie. I read half the book on our plane ride because it was so good!! Our group was really big, about 82 people I think. We stayed in Delhi the first night and got in pretty late and decided to just eat at the hotel. We were split up into 3 hotels and took over all of them!! They all had rooftop bars and restaurants and it was really cool. A lot of us met up at one of the hotels and ate dinner and had a few beers. I split dinner with Jake and we went for some kind of a chicken curry, rice and naan, it was amazing! I wasn't sure how I would like the chicken, so like in every other country I ordered french fries! =) I ate some kind of sauce that I thought was soy sauce but turned out to be the most spicy thing I have ever had in my entire life and I almost cried, literally. Jake and I spent most of the night looking over the edge of the hotel looking at a group of people. They had their homes, which really look like tents, set up and were cooking on an open fire while the kids were playing in the street at 11 pm. It was unreal and we couldn't believe anything we were seeing! We also saw a bunch of fireworks going off and the guy said there was a big wedding going on. Half of us walked back to our hotel and the others went to this wedding!! haha they said it was awesome and everyone was so nice and they were getting thrown up on elephants that were marching through the middle of the ceremony and it was crazy!!! I was a little jealous I went to bed!!
I stayed with a girl named Christine who was really nice. All the hotels here only give one key so it was really hard figuring out who would take it and everything because we were with different people! We got up early on Friday and went to a temple where we had to take off our shoes and the whole thing. We even got dots on our foreheads! After that we went to a big arch that was in memory of all the people that had died in some Indian war. We got on the bus and drove about 3 hours to some place and ate lunch. It was really authentic and was pretty good. The naan, like always, is the best part! I am going to learn how to make it! We drove a couple more hours and finally got into Agra. We were about a 10 min walk to a huge mall and went with a bunch of people. It was really late and a lot of places were closing but we did as much as we could! It is really frustrating because the store clerks hassle you so much. They would follow us around the store and everytime we would even pick something up they would tell us how much and that we could bargain for less. That got really annoying and we devided not to buy from the people that hassled us! A lot of people went to McDonald's to eat but the menu only had chicken becuase they don't eat beef in India. The cow is considered holy. We would see cows everywhere! They would walk in the middle of the street and be standing on the side of the road eating but no one cared because they are all holy! It was nuts lol But I don't know why Natalie and I decided it would be okay to walk back to the hotel by ourselves in the dark, but we did. This guy trying to sell us anklets followed us for a good 5 min trying to get us to buy them, annoying. So then a ricshaw (?) came up next to us. They are basically taxis but are a lot smaller and open. They kept saying stuff to us and we were telling them to go away but they wouldn't. They followed next to us all the way to the hotel telling us what they wanted to do with us. They kept making disgusting gestures to us and talking about sickening sex things that I don't even want to write. We were walking a long a wall and so they were trying to cut us off so we were stuck in between them and the wall. We started running becuase we were actually really scared. One of the guys reached out and grabbed Natalie's butt and that is when I went crazy. I yelled at them and told me them to get the F*** away and then tried to kick them lol they drove away. We went to the restaurant at the top of our hotel that was a revolving one and was pretty cool. We were having a good time but I kept noticing this guy next to me. Every time I turned his way he would hold up his phone and try to take a picture. At first I thought I was being really paranoid so I ignored it but when I realized he really was doing it I told one of our boys. They went over and started talking to them and made best friends with them!! lol but they ended up yelling at them all night and telling them to stop taking pictures of us. We finally decided they could take a group pic because we wanted on too, he stood up and said group pic group pic, stuck the camera in my face and tried to get a pic of me. Creepy central. We got them kicked out eventually =)
Saturday morning we got up at 5:30 and had to leave the hotel at 6. We got outside and there were probably 50 horse carriages outside waiting for us. They were all decorated with bright colors and it was really pretty! We went to the Taj Mahal so that we could see the sunrise. It was really really pretty and is so different then seeing it in actual pictures! We had a blast and then lost Natalie. Loser. We got to see the Ganga river, I really wanted to go to Veranace. Vernace is the part of the river where they have a crematory right on the river. It is a really sacred place to the people of India and they bring most of the dead bodies there for a proper goodbye. They end up cremeting the bodies and throwing it in the river. They dump 400 bodies in the river a day! Insane! After the Taj we went to Fort Agra and walked around it. We could see the Taj in the distance which was pretty cool. After that we took our 8 hour adventure to Jaipur. It was party bus for 8 hours straight. It was absolutely insane but the most amazing time ever that mommy and daddy don't need to hear about! =) We go to our hotel late and went to eat dinner but never go our food because the service SUCKED! We were there for 3 hours and still never ate. I didn't even get my Pepsi. We went to bed after that and woke up Sunday morning to go to a few things in Jaipur.
We drove to the Amber Palace that morning where we got to ride elephants to the top! Amazing!!! Amanda and I switched cameras so we could get pics of each other but her elephant was a lot faster than ours lol so it didn't work out so well. But it didn't matter becuase Jake bought the ugliest hat ever that ruined our pics anyway lol After that we stopped at the King's summer palace which was amazing!! We went to lunch and then the markets where I spent my life savings. We went back to the hotel, watched step up and then went to Pizza Hut! Amazinggg!
Yesterday Amanda had dock time so she had to be back by 2:00 and our flight got in at 1. We decided to take a taxi back to the port, about a 30 min drive. The guy swore that he knew right where it was and would take us there. Amanda asked him about 15 times if he knew where he was going and always said yes. He had NO idea and dropped us off in the middle of no where. We were running down the streets with all of our bags trying to find someone who could speak English and someone who could tell us where to go. It was god awful and by the time we finally got to the port, our bus was already in line!! Ughhh I was so frustrated!! Anyways, besides that I had an awesome time. People are really still complaining about the dirt and that they washed their clothes the second they took them off so they didn't have to throw them away. I hate stupid girls.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Township/Ghetto
Anyway the same city tour bus thing we did all day yesterday has 2 routes, red and blue. We did red yesterday so we got a two day pass and took the red one up table mountain because it was a really clear day and it is usually really foggy so the lady in the office made us do it!! After that we got on the blue bus and went to a township. They had a guide meet us at the bus and then the bus would picked us up 45 min later. We didn't really get to see much because he took us into this local bar/pool hall. The guys, of course, went crazy but we had pretty good conversations. We met 2 men from Zimbabwe that had just moved to that town ship. Our guide then took us to his shack and we met his wife. It was a two bedroom shack with a kitchen about the size of my bathroom at home and a living room maybe the size of maybe half of my bedroom at home. After that we walked around, in and out of the houses. It was absolutely crazy. I have never seen anything like it. The shacks were all literally 2 feet from each other and they just went forever and ever. They are built out of whatever scraps they can find/steal. Little kids 2+ were just running around the town with no one watching them and just doing whatever. We saw another shack that was worse than our tour guide's. It was a TINY bedroom, all it had was a twin size bed, actually like the ones we have on the boat I think they are smaller than a twin, and he had a tv in the corner next to the door and there was a little aisle he could walk through to get on his bed. It was the actual length of the bed and probably 3 feet out from the bed. Our guide told us that no one pays for water, electricity or rent. He said that they are supposed to donate money somewhere before the house becomes yours but it is basically based on the honor system which they don't have much of. I asked if anyone ever got kicked out of their homes and he was like no way, this is our town, we help each other out. Oh yeah and that guy that had the tiny tiny shack had no bathroom or shower. They have these 4 showers/bathrooms. Literally a shower and no toilet but used as a bathroom. Sick huh? Once we got on the bus we talked to the guide on there and I was like how do they make money to drink and stuff because ALL of them had drinks. And we also asked what they do all day. He said what we saw is literally what they do and they make money by stealing and he also said there was a lot of drug smuggling going on.
That was the e-mail to my mom, but I will add a little more. They had no paved streets and walked up steep rocky streets. They have a rule that everyone can have a dog but they have to pay for the 2nd dog. There are a million dogs that are basically homeless because the family doesn't want to pay for it. We went to that bar and had a drink with them, we watched very closely when they were opening our drink! But then they brought us out a covered plate and said we had to eat this to have the whole experience. I still don't know what it was. I had a bite because I really didn't wanna get the shits and it was like chunky on the inside, the outside looked like one of those long sausages that are rolled. I asked what it was and one of the guys said dog and I almost threw up all over him, he is lucky he said he was kidding. We found out later that we were actually in the "good part"of the township and the further up we could go was where all the violence was.
We walked by a group of kids who were probably around 8-10 and they were coloring in books and our tour guide said they were doing homework. They have such a poor education system that they color and don't do math, science, or anything. No one wants to teach at the schools in townships so a lot of the teachers volunteer, but are not qualified at all. It was amazing to me how much some of the people we met wanted and liked living in the township. Our guide had grown up in one and went to college and lived out of the township for a few years and then came to this one and has been here for 18 years. A couple of the older guys we saw had gone to college as well but when they were done they moved right back into the township. I don't know how people live like this.
On the sea again...
So crazy Kath is making me write in this thing some more! Apparently I haven't written in it since Morocco! Anyway, after Morocco we went to Namibia, it is so beautiful there! As we were getting off the boat a group of girls were singing and dancing for us. They were part of an after school program that also did something with HIV/AIDS. They were so funny, we had a blast with them for a long time. They definitely live their lives to the fullest! They had left the morning they were coming around 2 and got in at 9. None of them acted even a little bit tired! I have great videos of them modeling and singing Beyonce. They are obsessed with Beyonce and Chris Brown...weird!
There really wasn't much to see in Walvis Bay because once again we docked at an industrial thingy. The first day we just walked around town and went to a restaurant called the Raft. It was a pretty cool, it was over the water and the food was awesome, but I was kind of waiting for the roof to cave in on us! It wasn't the nicest of restaurants, but I would take a roof caving in on me then eat the crappy food they give us on the ship. We didn't do much the rest of the day. Jess and Megan were doing a SAS trip called sea and sand dunes (they saw a dead whale on the beach, it was huge, and people were jumping on it like it was a trampoline I guess, sounds pretty awful to me)! Anyway the plans were to meet them later that night at a hotel and Kelsea and I were going to go to Swakpmund early and go kayaking. She had a long night the night before so decided she didn't want to go anymore, so I was left by myself. I decided to go to Swakpmund by myself and check into the hotel then go to the beach until the girls met me at the hotel! Luckily, as I was walking out I ran into 3 girls that were heading to Swakpmund as well. We walked around for a little bit, but we were really disappointed that hardly any stores were open and that they don't serve alcohol on Sundays. We ran into some of their friends and were supposed to meet them around 1 or something, but we were 25 min late and they weren't there! We spent about4 hours trying to figure out where they were staying. One of the girls was finally able to get ahold of people at the house and we kind of got directions...they just gave us some landmarks around their house and NO taxi driver knew where any of them were! We went back to my hotel, which was a bed and breakfast, for old people, and had no A/C and ants crawling all over the candy that the set out for us so it could melt and attract ants. Pretty smart eh? Anyway the lady at the hotel helped us figure it out and she called us a cab. MOM AND DAD--THIS IS WHEN YOU STOP READING...The hotel/B&B didn't take down any information, they didn't know my name and didn't take my credit card or anything, soooo I got my stuff and we went to the beach house =/ I e-mailed Megan and Jess first though to tell them what I was doing and what had happened, thank god they understood and said they would have done the same thing that I did. We went to dinner at a place that was about 10 min walking distance from the house. It was a hotel and apparently all of Asia decided to come to Namibia too, so we had to wait for them. We finally got in and all I wanted was a cheeseburger and they had them!!!! Well, the beef was disgusting! It was really sweet or something creepy. I let the boys eat it and I ate french fries, they seem to be the ONE thing every restaurant has,they have been my life saver. No but really... We walked back to the house hung out and had a few drinks. We saw this guy walking up and down the street with a night stick and we were a little creeped out. We didn't see him anymore so Kyle and I decided to leave and go to the water. Just as we got out the guy walked by again, stood still and just starred at us. We got soooo scared and when he walked again we ran back in the front and crawled through the doggy door, he saw us. He started looking in the gates of the house and he was so creepy! He finally went away after some of the guys got a flashlight and put it on him. He just stood there for awhile then finally turned around and didn't come back! I finally got to go to the water and we layed on the beach for an hour or so! I had a great time!! We were going to go sandboarding on Monday before the boat left but, Kelsea slit her head open on the board and had to take her to the hospital! She has a pretty badass gash right above her eye! We just went to the grocery store and got food and drinks and then went back to the boat, on-ship time was 6.
After Namibia was South Africa and we had a day in between each of the ports. We got into South Africa a little late because the fog their is out of control. I was supposed to go on a school visit that started at 9 and we didn't get in until 10. I was really upset because I didn't think I was going to be able to go but after customs cleared the boat we were able to get off right away and head to the high school. The high school was SO beautiful (well the outside anyway)!! The way there day works is going 2 hours then they get a 30 min break then 2 hours of class and 30 min break and 2 more hours! I am really jealous! This was public school but didn't get a lot of money from the government, maybe it was private I don't know. Anyway everyone, no matter where you go to school has to pay! The principle said it ended up costing around $6,000 for the year and that doesn't include lunch or the uniforms. He said that basically if your family didn't have the money you could still go to school. They could get their uniforms at a used uniform shop they had at the school. Everyday they have an assembly about where they belong in the community. It wasn't just that but I can't think of the word now. It was really interesting, they had a speaker on the stage and all the kids sat on the floor. They got papers and they had to rate themselves on a piece of paper and add it up. The whole message of the meeting that day was knowing that not everyone is going to be famous and good at sports, everyone will be different at everything but that is what a community needs and should consist of. We were able to go into the classrooms later, I went into a math room. They have a really big discipline problem in the school, mostly from the boys, surprise surprise. None of the students would listen to the teacher and just wanted to talk to us. The teacher finally said they could so we basically got to mingle with them for an hour. When they asked where I was from and I said America they were all like woooow. Then a couple minutes later one girl turned around to the other girl and said how different do you think our lives would be if we lived in America? It really shocked me that they wanted out of Africa so bad. Cape Town was amazing and reminded me of the US. But I guess I don't know their life stories so who am I to judge? They kept asking me if I saw celebrities all the time and if I knew any of them. They wanted my name so they could add me as a friend on facebook! They all know about Obama and could probably talk about him for days, sadly, I probably do not know as much about our government and Obama as them. They all said they wanted to see snow and live some where that it snowed and I reassured them that it SUCKS. I told them to go visit some place for a day and you will be over it! As we were leaving the classroom I went to thank the teacher for letting me come in the room and she said it was actually really good, I think they learned more from you today and they are already tell me about what they learned from us. I felt like I was really cool or something. Ok, this is really long, but we went shopping that afteroon when I got back and then went to Long St. which is the longest street in South Africa and it is just lined with bars. You would not believe how cheap stuff is here! A bottle of beer is only $1, if that much! We also did these shots called Spring Boks that were amazing and I am telling myself that it was very cultural shot =) We also took "blow job"shots which reminded me of my crazy mom and her crazy friends on the party bus! Mom felt so cool that she heard of a blow job! When we were leaving the bars, probably around 2:30, the streets were just lined with beggers. Little kids out in the middle on the night shaking cups in everyone's face. Some could not have been older than 5 and were walking by themselves! It was insane. They warned us not to give any money to them because they usually don't get to keep it, their parents send them out to do the begging and then take the money for themselves. Walsh gave a kid maybe 1 RAN, around USD 10 cents. The kid kept asking for more and more and then hung on to him and wouldn't get off for him to get into the taxi! security had to come and drag him off of Walsh! OH YEAH..so at the beginning of the night we were at a bar called Jo Burg and it was super sketch so we left and I was standing outside talking to Carl and I turn around to this guy jacking some girl in the face. I don't know how she didn't end up with a broken jaw because he nailedddd her! Security all came over and LET THE GUY GO!!!! Once again, a country that has zero respect for women! Ok, we got back to the boat and our taxi driver had just moved to South Africa from Zimbabwe with his whole family. Things are so shitty in Zimbabwe right now and South Africa is getting flooded with all the leaving. They have elections on April 2nd and everyone is praying that he is kicked out and they can start over. For a loaf of bread, they pay 3 billion dollars! They are into the highest numbers ever and they keep increasing. (if you can't tell already i LOVED South Africa and can't stop talking about it =() The 2nd day Brittany went to an aquarium which was really cool. You can actually go shark diving there and I was totally down but you have to like know what your doing or something, lame. That afternoon we got passes on the city tour bus and road it for a few hours seeing everything. We then went to check in to the hotel, it was amazing! We had free internet, hints why I put pictures up! We went to dinner and I had a damn good steak! It hit the spot! I wanted to get the sauce they used to bring home for dad but they didn't have anything that was sealed and we can't bring anything on the boat unsealed. On the 3rd day we were booked to do a township tour and go to Robben's Island. We left our B&B at 7 am, yeah missed the whole 2nd B part. We were supposed to meet them at 8 and we got their around 7:45, we waited until 10:00 before we finally decided they stood us up. We got another pass for the buses but took a different route because they offer tours in townships as well. The lady helping us insisted that we go to table mountain today because it was so clear out. We took a cable car to the top and it was pretty cool, not really my cup of tea but whatev. We got back on the bus and had to go about an hour and a half to get to the township. We started talking to this couple that were on their anniversary and were from Seattle! They were both really cool, they had kids around our age but they didn't like their daughter I don't think. This was also the first time I heard "Toto we're not in Kansas anymore." Really?? That is like 1996 Kansas jokes. Oh the township, I am going to do a seperate entry for this because it was that incredible. Britt and I went to dinner that night and decided we would be good and try the native food. We got Spring Bok, Ostrich, and some kind of flat bread they make over a stone fire. We only ordered appetizers and didn't realize that it was all shaved meat. We were a little disappointed because it wasn't a huge hunk of something gross. On the 2nd to last day Kelsea and I went to the District 6 museum. It was interesting but I was expecting more than that. I bought 2 books and from the museum so maybe I can learn or something. That afternoon Brittany and I went to our hotel on Long St. It was called Granddaddy's! It was really really nice and we got to watch English TV and it was MTV, I don't even like MTV. I really really wanted to go to seal island and Robben's island but the tickets were sold out for Robben's island and will ditched me on the whole seal island thing. I really hate him. On Sunday Jess didn't wake up in time for her FDP and couldn't meet them anywhere so her I and I decided to go to the vineyards and the cape of good hope. We hired a taxi driver for the day and she was awesome! I think you learn the most from people not books. I really don't learn anything in class because what we learn about isn't even 1/4 of what people are actually going through. Anyway, she took us to the vineyards and we walked around and then did a wine tasting, it only cost $1.50! We then got back in our Benz (most spoiled girls ever) and headed to the cape of good hope. We saw tons of penguins and we really thought they were fake at first because they didn't move at all!! And then I tried to touch one....it almost ate my hand off. But I got a really sweet pic of it going down. Needless to say, I had an AMAZING time here and would come back in a heartbeat!
We are now headed to Mauritius for a day. We have 4 sea days and then Mauritius for a day and then on the sea for another 5 days straight. We are staying on the boat 10 days straight. Ugh. We have our sea Olympics the day after Mauritius and I am stoked! We are separated by floors and all have different "sea"names. We are the Baltic Sea, our color is black, and we are the ninja's!! Jess and I are both doing flip cup and then wheelbarrow racing and 3 legged racing too! Well I am about to throw up every where, for some reason it is really rough today, and I wrote way too much for my own good. But I will put up the stuff on the township now! Loves!!! And you guys should really probably e-mail me. You think that I would be having so much fun and what not, butttt on the boat we sit around and do nothing!!! Yeah mom, we aren't going to study when we are bored...But I like to get e-mails and I just get in a wonderful mood! =)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Spain!!!!!!
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