Panama Canal

We start the Panama canal early tomorrow which I am really excited for.

If anyone cares, apparently you will be able to see the ship on webcam as it goes through the canal

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

apparently that link has webcams at the Miraflores and Gatun Locks (i cant actually check it out myself)

my ship will be arriving in the
Mira Flores locks at 8:30 and leaving at 10:00.
Pedro Miguel locks at 11:00 and leaving at 11:30
and Gatun Locks at 15:30 and leaving at 18:10

I plan on laying out on deck all day so maybe you could even see me.

Costa Rica

Ohhh Costa Rica....

We all finished our finals the day before arrival and it was our last port so basically it turned into a second rendition of spring break '08. 20 of us rented a house in a beach/party town called Jaco which was about an hour and a half from Puntarenas where the ship was docked. I just had a great time (maybe too great) enjoying some of the last opportunities to hang out with my friends.

During the day we did manage to do some legitimate activities. The first day we took a several mile hike through a national park rainforest and the second day we went zip lining through the rainforest canopy on 14 different zip lines. The fastest one took us 60mph for half a mile. Other than that we just hung out at the house or on the beach and caused trouble whenever possible.
And I definitely did not rent a motorcycle…

DONE

finished my last final and turned in my last paper today! It should be against international maritime law for someone to have to study so much on a cruise ship. Its time for a week long vacation before going home.

Pacific/Hawaii

   The week it took to get to Hawaii felt like nothing since I had so much work to do. When papers are due time seems to move uncomfortably fast The only eventful thing that really happened was a charity auction where people donated things like weekends in vacation homes, maps signed by the Captain, and even the chance to raise the ships American flag in Miami. Perhaps the most notable was that some kid paid $500 for the chance to throw a pie our academic dean.

   Our one day in Hawaii was a welcomed break, even if it was just 8 hours. Just being back in America, using American money, having our cell phones work, watching American football and eating a huge western style cheeseburger was awesome. We started off the day with a friendly game of football at a park next to Waikiki beach. Unfortunately I went down the wrong way once and fractured my ankle. I forced myself to suck it up and hobble around the rest of the day, a decision which I regret today. We went to a bar to catch part of the Dallas game then relaxed on the beach until we had to be back on the ship. I tried to go to the ships hospital that night but it was too busy with drunk people (anyone who looked even moderately wasted when they got on the ship got sent to the hospital).

   I got my x-rays and subsequent crutches today. I guess it's too swollen to put a cast on so I just have it wrapped with a splint. Getting around on undersized crutches in a rocking ship sucks. So much for zip lining and white water rafting in Costa Rica

Tomorrow is Today

Tonight we cross the international date line so today is November 22nd and so is tomorrow. Many of us are trying to make it an identical day just for fun by wearing the same clothes and keeping to the same routine, minus class which we don't have tomorrow. Makes me want to watch "Ground Hog Day"

Japan

Japan is the first developed country we have been to since South Africa and the 2nd richest in the world so it offered an experience more like being in America then most of our previous destinations, but it still had many unique characteristics that kept it interesting. Grant, Andy, John and I kept our travel schedule totally flexible and went wherever our hearts desired. Surprisingly the language barrier in Japan was most frustrating.

All four of us got the Japanese rail pass before arriving in Kobe (it can only be purchased from outside of the country) which gave us unlimited JR access and we sure got our monies worth. The bullet trains were awesome. They brought me back to the excitement I had when I took the bullet train from London to Paris about 10 years ago. This was our improv itinerary; (arrive) Kobe -> Osaka -> Kobe (1st night) -> Hiroshima -> Osaka (2nd night) -> Kyoto -> Tokyo (3rd and 4th night) ->Yokohama (depart). With the rail pass we were able to just go to the bullet train station and hop in the unreserved seat cars (first 3 cars) of any train, which usually departed at least every 15minutes from about 5am to midnight. They were very comfortable and travelled at 190mph. Once in a city, each had its own extensive subway/rail system that would take us anywhere we needed to go. It’s an extremely efficient and fun system which beats the heck out of flying. JR also operates many busses and ferries across the country which we were also able to use for free.

In Hiroshima we obviously saw the Atomic bomb site and park which didn’t really put us in the best mood. The Japanese are definitely more generous about our war atrocities then Vietnam was. They basically use the whole site as a symbol for global nuclear disarmament rather than anti-American propaganda. Kyoto came highly recommended by my Dad (now you can’t say that I’ve never taken your advice). It was the capital of Japan until the late 19th century so we saw a couple cool temples including the Golden Pavilion and this huge Zen temple complex with zen gardens. We sat for a while in front of this famous zen rock garden and I could actually feel the relaxing effects of my zen surrounding as surreal as that may sound.

Since I first got accepted into the Semester at Sea program my mouth has been watering for Japanese Sushi and it did not disappoint. I’d say that 85% of the money I spent in Japan went into Sushi and Sakai at various restaurants around Japan. My favorite was in Kyoto where John and I went to this restaurant where we sat down next to a conveyer belt that had an endless supply of various sushi and other dishes. If we wanted something in particular we would just pick its picture on a touch screen monitor and the dish would promptly just show up on the conveyor belt. Also at the table was this slot where we put our empty places and they were electronically counted so at the end we just paid by the number of plates. Of course I had about 20 plates of sushi and was felt awesome about it.

In Tokyo we had a ridiculous time at Disney Sea, part of the Tokyo Disney land. We could not have been more immature as we ran around with Mickey ear hats on and went on all the rides. My stomach hurt the next day because we were laughing so much. Another highlight of Tokyo was stumbling across a Japanese electronics superstore. For those of you who know me well will know the kind of emotions this place evoked. It had tons of electronics and gadgets that I didn’t even know existed and I spent about an hour walking around and drooling.

One disappointment from Japan was the karaoke bars. I expected wild bar scenes with drunk Asians singing backstreet boys. While I’m sure all that goes on it only happens in private rooms which groups of people and their friends rent out for the night and sing Karaoke, no public embarrassment/entertainment like we are used to back in the US. We made the most out of the room we rented once we figured out how to use the damn machine but it still wasnt the same.

We are now back on the good ol Explorer heading for our one day in Hawaii. Honestly it will be nice to be at sea for a while. Having only 2 or 3 days between ports has me drained. This whole Pacific crossing will be very stressful academically but I’ll be able to get back into a swing of things and get my work done…hopefully.

Hong Kong/China

I basically had 6 days to conquer Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai, so I felt like I was going a million miles an hour the whole time. We got off the ship in Hong Kong and then met back up with it in Shanghai to give us more time in China. Our one day in HK we basically walked around the length of Hong Kong Island and saw all there was to see. Early the next morning we were off to Beijing where in a period of 4 days we saw the Summer Palace, Great Wall, martial arts show, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Lama Temple, two huge markets, acrobat show, Temple of Heaven, Old District on a rickshaw, and Bell Tower. The Great Wall was well…great. I was told to expect huge crowds but we were practically the only ones on the wall and we had a lot of fun “frolicking” around one of the world’s ancient wonders. We even got to take this sweet toboggan down the wall which was in no way safe.

Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City are pretty standard and very crowded tourist destinations. I enjoyed the Lama Temple (a Buddhist temple) more than the Forbidden City because I thought it had more attention to detail and was less crowded. Both the martial arts show and acrobat show were pretty ridiculous and I refuse to believe that those who participated are the same species as me.

Every market I’ve visited in various countries has had their own feel and Chinese markets were definitely the most intense. I had to revert to my football days to get around the ladies trying to sell me stuff. Spin moves and jukes became common as they would try to block my path and grab me to convince me to buy something. I got some “diesel” shoes for about 3 bucks and this pimpin coat for less than 20. Makes me wonder what exactly goes into the ridiculous price of actual brand clothing back in the US when at least I can’t tell the difference.

I’m sure my friends who have visited China know this (Diandra, Morgan, and Alaina) but us westerners are quite the spectacle to Chinese people, especially those of us who are tall and/or have an unusual hair color (red or blond). It would start with one person asking to take their picture with me and it would turn into a 10 minute event where every person around would want a picture with me and get all excited about it. My cheeks are still sore from having to smile for such extended periods of time but it definitely made me feel real cool.

The Chinese nightlife did not disappoint. Highlights included an ice bar where they gave everyone fur coats to stay warm and loud techno club where the dance floor had a slight trampoline effect so it pulsed with the beat of the music.
When we got back on the ship in Shanghai there was an assembly regarding Kurt. It is such a sad situation and a lot of people on the ship are pretty devastated.

We have been back at sea for two days and get into Japan tomorrow. Honestly my life is pretty ridiculous having only two or three days between countries. I feel like I go to sleep and wakeup in a new country. The past day the waves have been the biggest yet. I fell out of bed last night twice and have run face first into various pillars and walls today while trying to walk around. It’s impossible to life weights when it is this rough because as the ship rocks one way it adds about 50% to the weight and as it rocks back it becomes 50% lighter. Every once in a while a series of especially big waves will hit us and the sound of glasses breaking echoes around the ship and pretty much everyone falls down or slams into a wall, even people in chairs will tip over. Grant and I made the most of it as we discovered that on the top deck the ship tilted at enough of an angle so we could jump probably 20 feet across the deck when we had a downward slope. I guess I’m easily entertained

Parent Addendum to Vietnam

The Parent Trip was a whirlwind starting in Bangkok with a cruise down the Chao Phraya River for arrival at our hotel. We met the parents and then proceeded to see all the Bangkok sights and enjoy the cuisine---Grand Palace a stunner. Off to Vietnam a few days later and all of us were counting down the minutes until the sighting of the MV Explorer and our little darlings. HCMC aka Saigon is a bustling, hot place with nearly 8 million people and 4 million motorcycles-and by the way, no stop lights. Our guide instructed us to cross the streets slowly and deliberately so the cycles could maneuver around us! Yikes



Finally met the ship and the kids and there was not a dry eye in the house. It was simply joyful. As Bob said, we treated a group of his friends to a fab dinner and got a chance to catch up on some of their adventures. We then headed up north to Hanoi and Halong Bay. Swimming in Halong bay and a leisurely boat ride among the limestone towers was about the only relaxation we had on the trip.then off to Hanoi which was my favorite---the city still has the French influence despite the war, and seems to be a place that attracts more of the cultural arts.

In summary, the Vietnamese people couldn't do enough for the American visitor. 65% of the population is under 30 which means that they weren't even around for the war. We loved our experience there and it wasn't bad to see the kid

:(

http://www.semesteratsea.org/what-s-new-at-sas-/press-releases/semester-at-sea-participant-killed-in-hong-kong.php

I don't know what to say...i knew the guy. The ship will have a memorial when we depart from shanghai.

Good Morning Vietnam

Good Morning Vietnam!

I just finished up a nice family vacation all around Vietnam. It was surreal being there at times as High School history classes built it up to be distant and exotic.

The first night in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) my parents took my friends and me out to dinner where we racked up a 6 million dong bill. It’s not actually that much but I saved the bill since it looks ridiculous. The next two days were spent touring northern Vietnam. Ha long Bay is about 3 hours east of Hanoi and is considered one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The day we were in Ha Long Bay, Hanoi received its worst rains in 30 years (about 20 inches over the course of the day, or 1/3rd of the citys average annual rainfall). Although much of the flooded had subsided once we arrived in Hanoi, the rice fields still looked like lakes and many parts of the city were totally underwater. That evening we saw a traditional water puppet show and had dinner at the restaurant of world renowned chef Bobby Chin.

Much of the next day was filled with travel back to HCMC ,but in the morning we got to visit several places including the prison where many American pilots, including John McCain, were held (they had his flight suit on display). The place had been turned into a museum and the propaganda machine was still in full effect. They outlined the horrors committed against Vietnamese “patriots”when the prison was run by French colonists and how well American “invaders”were treated by the Vietnamese during the American War. They also showed pictures of the anti-war protests back in American and labeled them with captions such as “Some photos represent the solidarity of American people with Vietnamese people in the Vietnamese struggle for independence and unification of the Country”and “. An interesting twist on things to say the least.

The old district of Hanoi was interesting as it still displayed clear communist planning. Streets were named after various goods sold on that street. There was a “Bamboo St”, “Jeans St”, and even a “Bong and Pipe St”. Sure enough various bamboo vendors lined Bamboo St. and you could find yourself the ideal bong on Bong and Pipe St. if that is what you desire.
In HCMC on my last day in Nam we visited the American War museum which can be summed up simply as gruesome and horrible. While parts were blatant Vietnamese propaganda, there were other areas where clearly our Propaganda had been hiding the truth. Agent Orange was a pretty messed up weapon. The images were very graphic and I felt uncomfortable being there.
One thing I regret is not having time to get a suit made, many of my friends got a custom tailored suits for $65. Ralph got a leopard print suit made and I’m pretty jealous about it.

We are back on the ship on the second day of a two day cruise to Hong Kong. It Election Day today and everyone on the ship has agreed not to go on the internet so the ship has enough bandwidth to stream MSNBC in the union. Political fervor is everywhere. It will be interesting to read newspapers tomorrow in Hong Kong regarding Obama’s win, and after the foreign interest I’ve seen thus far regarding the election I’d be surprised if it’s not on the headlines. In all of the developing countries we have visited I have found Obama to be favored usually for one reason; he is in the same political party as Bill Clinton who opened up free trade and spurred an economic revolution in many developing countries. They are probably quite happy today, as is most of the ship, including myself.

Malaysia

Pretend like this was posted back on October 29th. I wrote it then but forgot to post it.

Malaysia was quite the time. We got really lucky during our time in Redang as we had clear blue skies in the middle of Monsoon season. The dives were good although the water clarity wasn’t perfect. On the first dive Ralph ran out of air at 55 feet and we had to do air-sharing, luckily it all worked out and we were able to laugh about it. The rest of the day we just enjoyed lounging around the pool and picturesque beach. We took a chance by flying back to the ship on the day it departed, but luckily all the complex travel elements worked out and we didn’t miss the ship.

One thing that struck me about Malaysia was its lack of a unique culture. As I was walking around Penang and Kuala Lumpur I kept seeing places like China Town, Little India, and Thai Districts. At first I avoided all these places since I wanted a unique Malaysian experience, but I quickly realized that this amalgamation of cultures IS Malaysia. I think this feature was most pronounced in the food dishes which could consist of Thai noodles with Indian curry and Indonesian seafood. They don’t try to hide the fact either as they often label various dishes with their countries of origin. I even found “U.S. rib eye”and “American Lobster”dishes.

A couple days ago we were in the Straits of Malacca, the busiest shipping lane in the world. At any one time I could see at least 10 huge cargo ships and oil tankers around our ship. The straits are also a favorite hunting group for pirates so we had crew on 24 hour pirate watch with fire hoses on our low decks. Yesterday we had a bunker stop in Singapore and tomorrow we get into Vietnam where I get to see my parents! They have been travelling through Thailand with the SAS parent trip the past few days and got into Ho Chi Minh City today. For those with Facebook access I just posted albums for India and Malaysia.

Hanoi

I still have more to write on malaysia, but until then this is where I am now

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/weather/2008/10/31/vo.vietnam.floods.ap

Paradise

I’m sure my enthusiasm is getting old but Malaysia is ridiculous. I will keep this brief since I’m using a computer on a remote Malaysian island and its kind of expensive

We flew from Penang to Kuala Lumpur on the first day. The Petronas towers are amazing. We basically had 2 nights and one full day in KL. Being the big city that it is, naturally the nights got pretty ridiculous. Our hotel was beyond anything I deserve to stay in. It’s so nice to be able to stay in affordable 5 star hotels.

I’d say a personal highlight of my time in KL was going to a spa and having a fish pedicure. Ralph and I put our feet in these fish tanks and the fish swarmed our feet and ate the dead skin off them. It was such a weird concept and an even a weirder feeling, but once I got my head around the fact that fish were eating my feet it was pretty nice.

Today we took a flight to Kuala Terreganu and then hired some dude with a boat to take the nine of us on an hour ride to this Island called Redang. We are staying at this luxury beach resort called Berjaya Redang. It is something straight out of the travel channel, and I realize I watch too much TV since I keep making all these comparisons to various channels. Our rooms are on a hillside that overlooks a pristine lagoon beach. I really have no way to describe how beautiful it is, I feel like Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Beach”. This is definitely going to be my honeymoon destination someday. Tomorrow we are spending the day diving and relaxing on the beach; life is tough.

More later

I <3 India

India was amazing; I honestly don’t know where to start so I guess I will just break down my experiences in chronological order. Making this brief would not be doing India justice so this one will be long. If you read anything, make sure you read my last section (experience #6).

Experience #1 –The roads
I’m pretty sure my life was in persistent danger while anywhere near Indian roads. Lane markers, traffic lights, and street signs are seen as mere suggestions if they exist at all. Drivers navigate traffic more by ear then by sight so everyone just constantly beeps their horn as declaration of their position. Many trucks say “honk or die”on the back of them. Sidewalks clearly were just an abrupt afterthought in city planning so most people have to just walk on the streets with all the crazy traffic. The whole situation is something you would really have to see to believe

Experience #2 –the people
Most people on the ship agree that is the people that made our time in India incredible. Now my experience from traveling tells me that when a random person comes up and introduces themselves, tries to make conversation, or start asking random questions that they are probably trying to rob me, scam me, or sell me something. In India that totally was not the case. People came up with huge smiles on their face and just wanted to shake my hand and know my name. A few even insisted that I get a picture of me and them on my camera. When driving around the city in a rickshaw everyone would wave to me and yell “HI!!”. People who spoke English would make sure I am having a good time in India and recommend places for me to go and shop owners would often give me a gift just for looking around their shop. At restaurants the owners kept bringing out complimentary dishes and really wanted us to enjoy their food. I really can’t say enough about how nice and well intentioned the Indian people were

Experience #3 –The train ride
On my second day in Chennai I found a few people I knew that were taking a train to Bangalore so I decided to go with. They all already had reserved seat tickets and I had nothing. Just figuring out the chaos of Chennai train station and getting a ticket was a whole story in and of itself. I was only able to get the lowest class unreserved ticket ($1.50) but ended up bribing the train steward ($1) to let me at least stay by my friends. It was a 7 hour train ride in an unconditioned car jammed with people. People were hanging off the sides and jumping on and off. The aisle was packed with beggars and people trying to sell stuff. It was impossible to even close my eyes for a second more or less sleep at all. I got off that train feeling so dirty and drained but it was a pretty unique experience and I’m glad I did it. The return trip to Chennai was much more comfortable as Alex and I went big and spent $20 on a ticket. We got executive A/C class on a 5 hour express train and got served a meal or tea seemingly every 15 minutes.
Experience #4 –The food

My food experience after taking the train to Bangalore was perhaps one of the most glorious eating experiences of my life. We found this nice 5 star hotel, showered up and then went down to the attached restaurant. Keep in mind our train left at 1:20 and got in at 8:45 so we were starving. The restaurant was buffet style with a whole wall just lined with every type of Indian food imaginable. I had to lie down for about an hour after I ate so much. I feel like that night was a culmination of all of the Indian food training my parents forced upon me since I can remember, and man it was epic.

Experience #5 –The culture
India was by far the biggest culture shock of the trip so far. Guys walking around with their arms around each other and holding hands was one of the first differences that caught my attention. Another simple thing that really threw many of us off is that when an Indian is listening to you they do this unique head bob from side to side. It doesn’t really mean anything other than acknowledging you but it resembles a mix between a head shake and nod and was hard to get used to.

In Bangalore we got the special experience of being allowed into the inner sanctum of this huge Hindu temple called Iskcon. This guy made sure we followed all the proper procedure and rituals including eating various things, reciting a Hare Krishna verse about 200 times, and paying respects to all the appropriate objects. It’s too bad that cameras were not allowed because the shrines inside the temple were beautiful. That day we also saw the Bangalore Palace which was impressive.

I have made a hobby of searching local newspapers and saving interesting articles about America. The best one i got in India was titled "Don't Cry For Me, America", and it was about how India feels relatively insulated from the current US financial crisis.

Experience #6 –Dalit village overnight
Now I’m about to make a bold statement but I think I can say that my two day/one night experience in a Dalit village was the most amazing experience I have ever had. I know I can’t just go around making claims like that so I will do my best to convey the entire trip, although I think no amount of pictures of words can do it justice; one thing after another just blew my mind the entire time. For those who don’t know, a Dalit is another term for an “untouchable”which is a casteless person; essentially the lowest of the low in Indian society. Now I had always been told back home the caste system in India is pretty much nonexistent these days, well that couldn’t be more wrong. It was a 2.5 hour van ride to get to this poor rural village. We then drove through the village and rice fields for about half a mile to get to the small village of Dalit outcasts. As soon as we got out of the van they paraded us through the streets with the whole village out to see us and try to hold out hands. These people only see Americans, or any white people for that matter, once or twice a year when SAS sends the same trip out. As we walked down the villages main dirt path they gave us a whole series of elaborate ceremonial blessings before sitting us down for a welcoming performance. It was about an hour long festival with many acts including dances with intricate costumes, fire acts, and daring sword acts. The village singer even wrote us a Tamil song; the first verse translated is…

Welcome students of the MV Explorer
A voyage over the seas and countries you have made
To learn the art and sculpture of India
Delta centre invites you jewels of America

We also traveled to a Dalit children’s school and women’s school of nursing. They also put on an hour long performance of song and dance for us. The main goal of these women is to become a nurse in the US. We got to interact with them for a while and teach them some of our songs and dances (they loved the Macarena and hokie pokey) and in return they taught us Tamil and Tamil songs. Interacting with the kids was also really fun, they loved to climb all over me and have pictures taken (I have about a million pictures of kids). That night we headed back to the village and discovered our sleeping arrangements. We stayed in an abandoned concrete building just right on the floor with other homeless village residents, when in Rome I guess. We meditated before bed and then made our attempt at sleeping on concrete in 95 degree weather. Needless to say we woke up pretty groggy, many of us with pretty exotic bug bites and rashes.

The next day we toured through the village. Every person was very eager to show off their home, all of which were just mud huts about the size of my walk in closet at home. I felt pretty weird that I probably was carrying way more net worth on my body (camera, video camera, wallet) then any of these families had seen in years. One person who really affected me was this 60 year old widowed woman who was working hard trying to rebuild her hut which had its roof collapse several days earlier during hard rains. Our guide explained that no one in the village was willing to help her since her son had died and they view widowed women as useless, yet she had a huge smile on her face as she showed me the parts of her house that were still standing and offered me some food. That alone really put a lot into perspective for me, things like bitching to my parents about “needing”a new computer or being in a bad mood all day because I had to wake up early. Our guide said the people in this village were lucky to make 20 rupees a day which is less than 50 cents, yet they all seemed really happy. We left the village with the kids running along the side of van trying to get a last goodbye.

I had a lot of fun in all the previous ports, but India is by far the best experience and I will be surprised if any of my activities in future ports top it. India is definitely no paradise, and I would assume that no one has that impression. A different disgusting smell hits you at every street corner, im pretty sure any clothes I wore will have to be burnt, and the pollution probably took several years off my life, but the reason I loved Chennai and not Salvador was definitely the people. The smiles on everyone's faces made the whole city brighter. I think everyone, especially myself, should take to heart the following quote which was on the wall of the Dalit village community center.

Even with little
You are rich
If you are grateful

Even with plenty
You are poor
If you aren’t grateful

Sea Olympics

Yesterday was the 96th Sea Olympics and it was quite the event. I have never seen people get so much spirit and energy over something in a sober environment. We had the opening ceremonies two nights ago with everyone decked out in clothes and face paint representing their Sea’s color and screaming their Sea’s chants.

Yesterday was a long day for me as it kicked off with a captains meeting at 8am and ended with closing ceremonies at 7pm. My job was basically to go around to all the events going on around the ship and making sure we had the necessary participants and people to cheer them on. This meant I ended up competing in many more events then I had planned on since some people were no shows and I had to fill their spot to avoid disqualifications. The most notable of these was a hot dog eating contest which was sprung on me 30 minutes after I stuffed myself with tacos for lunch. John got a hilarious video of me in much discomfort shoving hotdogs down my throat with my entire Sea around me cheering in support, a must see for anyone once I get home. I had 5 hotdogs in the 5 minute time limit and the winner had 6. If I was able to prepare I think I could have easily hit 8.

Overall the Red Sea didn’t get place in the top 3, but we enjoyed ourselves regardless. Last night was a “Gods and Goddesses” themed dance outside on the top deck. All I have to say about that is that I’m not a very good dancer as it is but throw in rough seas on a ship and I’m useless.

Both core classes have a midterm either tomorrow or the day after so the ship is the most studious I’ve seen it yet. I should probably stop writing blog posts and emails and join the trend.

The Latest

It’s hard enough to concentrate in class without huge humpback whales jumping out of the water right outside the window. I talked to the oceanography teacher later and I guess we were going across the humpbacks migratory path. Definitely discovery channel cool.

As you may remember earlier in this semester John and I got owned by some girls who pulled a fast one on us. Well chalk another one for the female team as two different girls got into our room when we were gone and totally switched around everything in our room. When we got back and found our socks were in the fridge, shirts in the bathroom, towels in the closet, life jacket where my pillow should be, pillow where my laptop should be, alarm clock in the shower etc... Owned again...

Yesterday was Grants birthday so we setup a private formal dinner. It is actually a pretty sweet deal where we all pay $25 to get dressed up and have a gourmet five course meal served to us in a private dining room. We of course got him a cake and a couple of the girls also got me a belated bday cake so we went through a lot of cake. I just thought the concept of formal dining on this ship was kind of hilarious. Hopefully we can find more occasions to do it because it’s a nice change of pace.

Two nights ago pretty much everyone packed into the union to watch a recording of the first presidential debate and again last night for the VP debate. I just thought it was interesting because there is no way that everyone there was actually interested in politics. I think for a lot of people it made them feel back at home. On a similar note, today instead of our normal core lecture the ships finance professor spent an hour explaining the current financial crisis. It sounds pretty shitty for lack of a better word.

Those are just a few things I thought might be interesting. Right now we are just southeast of Madagascar with the sea Olympics coming up in 2 days

T.I.A.

South Africa is officially added to the list of places I have to come back to.
I feel like I could write a page about every little thing I did in South Africa but I will try to make it short to spare you and my grades (I actually have a paper due tomorrow).

        First I should introduce “The Big Five” since I will be talking about them a lot, and no I’m not talking about the African animals. It includes me, John, Andy, Ralph, and Grant. Andy and Ralph go to school together in Miami and are of Cuban Decent. My mom refers to them as her other two sons after meeting them in the Bahamas. Grant is a dive master in Hawaii so naturally we bonded over dive stories, and of course John is my childhood friend. We all have long range walkie-talkies so we can coordinate on the ship and in port in a world without cell phones.  Having a solid crew of funny people really makes everything more enjoyable

        Back to Africa- I’ll start with the Safari. I have two main observations from the Safari and Amazon trip; 1. It’s a pain in the ass to get to the middle of nowhere and 2. I’ve watched Planet Earth too many times. The Safari was cool but I expected to see lions pouncing on Impala and crocodiles ambushing wildebeest, but instead we “just” saw giraffes, buffalos, zebras, wildebeest, rhinos and baboons. Still I cool experience but not exactly discovery channel cool.

        The two days in Cape Town after the Safari were perhaps two of the most extreme days of my life. Grant got in contact with this guy, Gavin, who owns a company called “Extreme Scene” and he set us up with activities for Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday John, Grant and I went Scuba diving in the predator tank of the Cape Town aquarium. It was us, a guide, and about 5 huge sharks swimming around the aquarium while crowds of people waved to us from behind the glass. I’m not quite sure how we were able to do this but it was sweet.

Wednesday gets even more ridiculous. Gavin drove us two hours away to a company that does shark cage diving. It is actually the company that the discovery channel works with for its shark week so this time it was discovery channel cool. I was in the cage first and literally within 10 seconds of getting in the water a 16 foot great white shark rammed the cage basically trying to eat me. The huge waves made everything even more intense since I was getting slammed around in the cage. The whole thing was a total rush. After shark diving Gavin drove us another two hours to go bungee jumping off an 800 foot high bridge. I’m not going to try to be tough about this; standing on the edge of the bridge about to jump was terrifying, way worse than skydiving. The cord stopped me only about 30 feet from the ground...I was on adrenalin overload.

Cape Town’s nightlife consisted of classy clubs and crazy bars, the details of which I will save for emails ? and mom don’t worry, I attended a lecture on climate change at the Kingsbury botanical gardens on my last day in Cape Town so I did something educational. Also a couple people were wondering why I don’t have many deep revelations about my experiences on this blog as I guess many people do. I do notice profound things but it is not really in my style to write about them. I save it all for my journal which I write in every day and will be awesome to read when I’m 60.

Now it’s back to life on the ship for our longest stretch at sea this semester. We will follow the coast of South Africa until Mozambique where we go east of Madagascar for a bunker stop in Port Louis on Mauritius. Last night was the roughest waves we have had yet and it was pretty fun for me, not for those who get sea sick and today I had to meet with everyone in the Red Sea to allocate events for the upcoming sea Olympics. I also want to with Eileen a happy belated birthday!

Be the Zebra!

Before disembarking in Namibia, an official from the US embassy gave us one piece of advice...”be the zebra”. When a wildebeest reaches a river, he just blindly crosses and hopes he gets lucky to avoid the crocodiles. A zebra, on the other hand, waits and watches for the best opportunity to cross the river. The officials point was to be smart and cautious, and his analogy became my unofficial theme for this semester . I plan on beating it to death. When situations present themselves, my friends and I always separate them into a wildebeest options and a zebra option. I can say with confidence that I was definitely a wildebeest in Namibia, especially at night.

Overall I think Namibia is a hidden gem of the world. The towns are very nice and European and, of course, the desert is gorgeous and totally badass. I feel like utilized this attraction to the fullest as I raced an ATV through the desert, sand boarded on the desert, and flew a plane over the desert (yes it was ME flying). On the flight I also got to see several of the shipwrecks on the “Skeleton Coast”. Namibia is notorious for its fog and consequently many ships run aground. Over time these abandoned wrecks move inland so there are shipwrecks in the sand thousands of feet away from the shoreline, it’s an eerie sight.

I met some pretty interesting characters in the evening at the bars. I met a member of the Bushmen tribe whose native language involves clicks, I met a South African stuntman who is shooting a movie, and I met these two Namibian big game hunters. The two hunters even bought me a bottle (“of water”) when it hit midnight last night since it is my birthday today?. The people in general were very friendly and helpful, much unlike the people in Salvador.

I felt guilty doing all action/adventure/partying things so today I went to tour the mine that provides 70% of the world’s uranium. It was very educational and something that would make my parents feels like their money is going to good use.

I hope I have as much fun in upcoming countries as I did in Namibia

Swakopmund

I write this post from Swakopmund, Namibia

its this little colonial desert town about 20 miles from Walvis Bay where the ship is docked. This town could have come straight out of Germany, language and all. The hostel we are staying at is called the Gruner Kraz and it is just a helarious situation all around. My slight German skills came in handy for communicating with one of our German roommates. Swakop definatly has a suprisingly rich party scene which made for an eventful night last night, the details of which I will keep to myself.

Namibia definatly has ruined the chances of me ever again having fun at the sleeping bear dunes in northern michigan. It would be like going on a merry go round after a day at Cedar Point. This place has mountain ranges of pictureesque sand dunes for as far as the eye can see. Its the desert like you would see on the National Geographic channel.

Id love to say more but I'm about to go off quadbiking and sand boarding in the desert for the day.

23 hour days

We lost an hour last night, we lose an hour tonight, and I'm told we will lose an hour for the next 3 nights. I'm getting robbed of my sleep! We should go around the world the other way, I'll order the captain to turn around.