Malaysia

We arrived in Penang, Malaysia at 0800, on Wednesday, the 19^th of March. I had a semester at sea temples and mosques trip that I signed up for. I was with a group of about 40 students and we were all tendered onto the land by the lifeboats. As we got to land, we hopped on the tourist buses and started our adventure. Our first stop was an old Chinese Temple, called the “Goddess of Mercy Temple.” It was beautiful and looked very…uh I don’t know Chinese? As we entered we were surrounded by a cloud of incense. The tiled walls depicted different types of colorful Buddha’s all representing a different aspect, such as wealth, success, health etc (much like Hinduism). It was just really neat to hear the prayers to Buddha and see how dedicated the Malaysians are to their religion. After the Goddess of Mercy Temple, we were off to the Chor-su Kong Temple, better known as the snake temple, because of it’s dedication to the snakes. It was another Chinese shrine, similar to the Goddess of Mercy Temple, except with snakes. And I got a picture with me holding two snakes!

After the Snake Temple, we then went to visit a mosque used by the Malay Muslim majority. It was really cool to go inside a mosque. You had to cover up from head to toe in order to get in, and I did. Women were draped in black, white, yellow, and pink fabric, where you could only see their eyes. There was also a large piece of rock inside the mosque, which is directed towards Mecca. Each Muslim was praying on their personal carpet, on their knees towards the rock. The mosque was circular and very simplistic inside, and yes, extremely silent; much different from the Chinese temples. We then went to a Hindu temple, which was quite similar to the Hindu temples in India, where you walk around and have shrines to each god which represent a different aspect of life. The door was my favorite, as it was covered in bells, which is to keep away the evil spirits. Then finally, after the Hindu temple, we ended up at a large Buddhist temple which was awesome! The architecture was so authentic, colorful, and detailed, and home of the reclining Buddha. I saw the Buddha and he was MASSIVE! It was pretty cool…and the rest of the temple, seemed much like a small town with hidden shrines for the Buddhists to pray too.

The second day me and a few other semester at sea students were off to Kuala Lumpur, after a morning at the chocolate factory, where you sample ALL of the chocolate that they sell. I’m not kidding, I was definitely in heaven, and a little sick to my stomach…haha. Anyways, Kuala Lumpur is a large busy, robust city in Malaysia. We took a 5 hour bus ride, a total of 8 dollars with really really nice seats to the city. It was the nicest bus I have ever been on. However, it was a long bus ride there, especially since we were sitting next to a guy from India who kept pouring out his feelings about his ex-girlfriend and how he was so depressed. He wouldn’t stop talking. I guess that’s what you get for an 8 dollar bus ride…haha. After that, one girl in our group had the luck of him pouring his feelings out to her…it was really funny haha.

Once we got to Kuala Lumpur, we didn’t do too much except explore the busy city, eat AMERICAN food (because the Indian food killed our stomach in India) and go up the KL Tower. It looks much like the space needle and is the 4^th highest tower in the world. It was nice to finally see a real, busy city. I felt like I was kind of in America. It was a nice feeling, especially eating at Outback Steakhouse and Hard Rock Café…haha.

We got back to Penang on Saturday after a day of travel. Once we got back I went to the botanical gardens with Paige and our friend Caroline. The gardens were pretty, but it did downpour on us there. Paige was soaking wet, to the point where a Malaysian man gave Paige his umbrella because she needed it so bad. Luckily I had a scarf that I wrapped draped on my head to protect me from the rain. Once the downpour stopped, the monkeys appeared. We pretty much just hung out with the monkeys all that day, went into a couple of other temples, and got a really really good, healthy, Malaysian meal. That night, Caroline, Paige and I were off to the night market, where I got a whole season of one of my favorite television shows, Greys Anatomy for only 6 dollars! The episodes work too! Although, they aren’t too great of quality. I then got some Ralf Lauren Perfume for only about 5 dollars, but once I opened it, it smelt like watered down perfume, filled with dirty water. I’m still a little unhappy about that. Besides that, the night market was awesome, and everything was so so cheap!

The final day, Ryan and I went out for Easter. We couldn’t find an Easter Service though which was a bummer. So we went to this fish market restaurant where we had lobster and prawns and got to choose our lobster! It was so much fun and so good! We then didn’t have any plans so we headed to the ship early that day. They had a service on the ship that night though which was nice. It was a different Easter, especially not being able to celebrate it with my family, but it was fun. I hope that all of you had a fantastic Easter, and I’m just letting you all know that I miss you so much! I hope that everyone is doing well, and thank you Mom, Dad, Scott, Stephen, Erin and Corey for your sweet emails/ letters on my birthday. Thanks for thinking about me and I love you all! J

Now I’ll be in Vietnam in a couple of days!

India

Wow, I really don’t know how to describe India. It was so impoverished and was seriously the worst poverty I have seen, and I don’t think that I can possibly ever see any worse.

We arrived on the 11^th of March, in Chennai which as the tour book states is described as a “smelly bowl of chili”, and I can see why. Once I awoke from bed to get up I definitely knew I was in India based upon the burning smell.

Once the diplomatic briefing was over in the morning, I was off to Delhi for my taj/delhi/agra pre-paid trip through semester at sea. We left around 12pm for our flight to Delhi at 1:40pm. All 60 of us hopped on the plane and were so excited for our adventures to come. The flight took about 2 ½ hours. Once we landed, we headed for the hotel in Delhi, which was extremely nice! As we arrived, we all received lea’s and a red dot on our forehead. The hotel also had “Welcome Semester at Sea” imprinted with colorful rice on a piece of glass. It was so cool that they did that for us. After settling in, we then had an authentic Indian dinner with non, lentil, rice and more. It was great and I couldn’t wait for more to come! After dinner I just headed to bed, since we had a 4am wake up call the next morning to head to Agra.

The next day the whole group woke up at 4am to catch the train. The train station was my first culture shock. Men, women and orphaned children were all curled up, sleeping on the ground in dirt and urine. It was so sad to see. Our group was then bombarded with aggressive beggars as we crossed the chaotic dirt road filled with auto rickshaws, cars, buses, bikes, and pedestrians going which ever way possible. You have to experience it for yourself but really there are no rules on the road.

Once we arrived in Agra after the two hours on the train, we were off to the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri. It is a huge red-sandstone city, which includes palaces that have been preserved for years. It was beautiful and contained a lot of history. We then headed back to the hotel, had lunch, then off to the market. The bus pretty much dropped us off to roam around the streets and shop, although there wasn’t much to shop for. Really, you were just bombarded by beggars, and men selling cheap trinkets. One man actually grabbed my arm and pulled me down wanting money. They are so aggressive it is ridiculous. But the worst is the little children, especially this one child. He was crawling on his hands and feet, dirty, naked and starving. I gave quite a bit of money to the children the first day, but once you give into one, all the children surround you, wanting more. Also, there are cows everywhere! They are on the side of the street, in the middle of the road, on the median, even stores! Yea…I saw a cow in a clothing store.

The third day we woke up and drove to the Agra Fort and viewed where the first emperors of the Mughal Empire lived, including Akbar who rebuilt it to sandstone and made Agra the capital. It was a huge fort, and our tour guide pointed out where the palaces stood, where the servants lived etc. Most of the history of India happened within Agra, specifically with this fort, as many battles occurred and happened there. After seeing the historical fort, we headed to the Taj Mahal. As I entered to see the Taj, I was in awe. It was so Massive, I couldn’t believe it. Once I got closer to the Taj to go in, we put on our shoe covers. You have to either take off your shoes or cover your shoes with a foot covering as the site is a holy site and is to be respected. As I entered in, it was a dark, empty room with a casket in the middle. The men within the Taj were chanting and howling as we entered into the tomb. It was majestic, and yes, a wonder of the world, and I totally understand why. After the Taj, we headed to Mother Teresa’s orphanage. The orphanage was the biggest culture shock of the whole trip. I was expecting all little, healthy children, but it was mostly filled with men and women age 18-80 years old, and they all either had a mental disability, or illness. As I entered in and saw the people, I almost started crying. I can’t possibly describe how bad it was, but men age 30 years old were curled up in a ball on the ground shaking and foaming from the mouth. Most of then were lepers too. One teenager who couldn’t control himself kept touching my face and wouldn’t let go of my arm as a friend of mine had to pry him off of me. One lady, about 50 kept uttering words, and hitting the desk, and grabbed me. I tried calming her down, but couldn’t do it. The children within the orphanage were also just as bad. Most of the children had either measles or mumps. One child, looked as if he was 2-3 years old was sitting up in his crib, legs crossed, and rocking his body. As I touched him, he just tightened up, and brought his arms in. He must have been abused as a newborn baby. This orphanage was such a shock, I really have no idea how to describe it, as I myself really didn’t know how to react, but just to pray for that orphanage and those ill people. That’s really all I can do.

After the orphanage, we then headed back to Delhi on the train at night.

The final day of the semester at sea trip was a cool day. We mainly did a sightseeing tour of Delhi. Our first stop was Ghandi’s grave. Yep, I saw Ghandi. So that was pretty cool. After seeing Ghandi, we drove by the red fort, the War Memorial, the Parliament House, and the Secretatiat Building. We then visited a Sikh Temple. It was so awesome to see this temple. The Sikh’s believe in one God, and have rules pertaining to meditation within the temple daily, not allowed to cut or trim their hair (that’s why the guys wear the turbans), have to carry a dagger wherever they go as a symbol of their religion, and a few other rules that I cannot quite remember. I believe it’s a branch off of Islam. As we entered we washed our feet in the water, walked barefoot on the holy grounds and covered our heads. We entered into the meditation service. It was really cool. There was complete silence inside the temple besides the chanting which were echoed by the temple’s walls. We sat down on the ground, legs crossed, and sat through some of the service. At the Sikh temple, they have a large pool of water where men and women both wash their hands, face, body etc. It was such an experience to see this temple. After the Sikh temple we then headed to the Baha’i House of Worship, a Hindu Temple. We took off our shoes then headed in. It is crazy how completely different this Hindu temple was from the Sikh. Hindu’s were coming in loud, and laughing while the Sikh temple was completely opposite. The House of Worship was extremely colorful, especially the colorful god’s, including Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. After that temple we were then off to the final Temple, the Lotus Temple. This is a modern temple, built in 1986, and completely empty inside. It is a Hindu temple but it is acceptable for all other religions to meditate and pray in. After the Lotus temple we then were off to the airport and got to back to the ship in Chennai late that night.

The last day I slept in and met up with Ryan. We exchanged stories from our trips, then were off in an auto rickshaw (which are small motored open carts which weave in and out of traffic [it was pretty scary]) to see St. Thomas’ Cathedral. Thomas, the apostle, preached, was martyred and buried in Chennai. So we saw the site where he was initially buried, in Chennai, as now his remains has been taken to Rome. Once we saw the cathedral we were off to an open Hindu Temple which was actually pretty sketch. After that we saw a snake charmer and got a few pictures. Then we just headed back to the ship, but of course we were haggled for money once again on our way back to pay the rickshaw drivers. We got them down from 1,000 each to only 350 rupees (6-7 dollars) so we were happy.

It was really awesome to see India and experience it, but it was so overwhelming and such a culture shock because honestly, I really couldn’t handle it. They are living in such poverty that it was unbearable, especially since I have no idea what to do, or how to fix it. So India was an experience, I definitely saw a lot, much more than I had anticipated, and probably much more than I wanted to see, but it definitely opened my eyes, and showed me how the real world lives.

So I’ll write again when I’m in Malaysia! I hope you are all doing well…love you guys!

Mauritius

We arrived on Saturday, March 1^st on a small island off the coast of Madagascar, called Mauritius. Basically it is the summer vacation destination for the British and French. Much like Hawaii is for us in SoCal, but, much better.

It was beautiful! The clearest water I have ever seen and the whitest beaches that I have ever laid my eyes upon. The picturesque beaches reminded me much of Fanning Island in the Kiribati, and the lush green mountains overlooking the city resembled Kauai, Hawaii.

So what did I do while I was on the island?

March 1: I paid for a submarine trip through semester at sea with a group of students on the ship. It was a lot of fun, although the submarine seemed quite old, and tarnished. What happened was that we boarded a small boat to get to another boat then hopped in the submarine. I was in the small sub, with only 4 other students and our guide. We traveled 114 feet under the sea. It was fantastic! I saw all sorts of different colored coral and fish, including, my favorite, the puffer fish. We were also able to see a sunken ship called the “Star Hope” which was hit by a cyclone 10 years ago which was awesome.

I felt like I was in the Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland, but again, the real thing.

We also ended up stopping by a cashmere factory. Supposedly Mauritius is one of the largest exporters of Burberry, Lacoste, Ralf Lauren, Hilfiger and Cashmere to Europe and the United States. I bought this really light, detail printed, Indian type of skirt from the Factory for a cheap price which was great!

The next day some of us went to the beach to hang out. That’s pretty much all we did that day, but it was relaxing to get away from the midterms on the ship and instead sunbathe on the white sandy beach and swim in the 85 degree clear blue Indian Ocean.

The third day was our strenuous day to hike up 2,661 feet to Le Puce (thumb mountain)…I’m still sore from it, but the view was more than worth it! Skylar, Ryan and I hiked this trail which I really don’t think was a trail, but we ended up making it to the top in less than 2 hours. Despite my 26 bug bites I received while climbing the mountain, the view definitely made up for it. It was breathtaking. On our way back down the mountain, we ended up walking through a local Hindu neighborhood. It is amazing how Hindu’s are so active and religious with their faith. In Mauritius there are posters of Vishnu on each corner, and graffiti on the walls that say “Hindu community” or “I love Vishnu”. It’s astonishing to see. The Hindu’s are extremely friendly to us Americans too, but not so much towards the Islamic community. There is still a lot of segregation between the Muslims and Hindus within Mauritius. Anyways, as we were walking through the community, we over heard children’s singing voices and stumbled upon a temple where the voices were coming from. It looked as if the children were singing in a small Hindu “youth group” within the ornate temple. It was just neat to hear the children’s voices. There are also colorful meditation areas in the most discrete, random places, for the Hindu’s to pray. They are all filled with offerings, such as food, incense and small gifts.

Then finally, the last day was filled with leisure time and shopping. The streets were jampacked with people haggling you to buy there product…it’s insane. I didn’t buy anything but it was fun to watch Ryan barder for a couple cheap cheap lacoste shirts. They can cost from 100-300 dollars in the states, but take a flight to Mauritius and you can get them for a little over 10 dollars.