Map Update

Singapore

Greetings from the South China Sea,

We are now almost to Vietnam and we dock in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) tomorrow at 11AM, which is 11PM in Chicago.  On Wednesday we docked in Singapore for a short visit of about 12 hours.  When we arrived it was hot, humid, and sticky.  We got off the boat at the cruise ship center and really had no idea what to do.  Above our ship was a gondola type thing that we thought looked really cool.  We decided to take a ride on it and see where it went.  The gondola called the “Jewel Car” took us up above over the ship, and to a small island called Sensota.  Sensota is an island in Singapore that has a lot of tourist attractions.  We walked around and found many stores, restaurants, and even Universal Studios Singapore.  We decided to treat ourselves and eat at Chilis.  It was expensive, but delicious.  After we took the gondola around the rest of the way and got a great view of the city skyline.

We then decided to take a cab into downtown Singapore.  It was the nicest cab we had been in since starting our trip on Semester at Sea.  We went to a downtown area called the “boat quay”.  It started to pour rain.  The area was filled with seafood restaurants, bars, and shops.  All of the restaurants would kill the seafood right there.  The crabs and lobsters were huge.  It was right on the riverfront, so we had a great view of downtown. We had a drink at an English pub and then joined some other SASers for a “Singapore Sling” at a local restaurant.  The “Singapore Sling” is a famous drink that a hotel in Singapore created.  It was super sweet and not my favorite thing, but it was good.  We then took a cab back to the port because we had to be back on the boat fairly early.  The port had a huge shopping area, so we ate dinner and relaxed before getting in line to get back on the boat so we would not get dock time in Vietnam.  (If your over 1 minute late you get 3 hours “dock time” where you have to stay on the boat in the next port)  Neither of us wanted that, so we made sure we got back in plenty of time!  Even though our time in Singapore was short and we did not get to see much we had a great time.  It was the cleanest city I have ever been to.  They had laws against everything, so everything in Singapore is very organized and very much like in America and even stricter. For example: In Singapore chewing gum is illegal and you get fined 500$ for spitting it out on the sidewalk!  It was very different than the cities we have been to previously on SAS.

In about 12 hours we will arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which we are both really excited for.  We have heard so much about the great food there and cannot wait to have some fried spring rolls and pho!

For those who haven’t heard, SAS has cancelled our visit to Japan due to the recent events that have occurred there.  Instead of visiting Japan, we will now be going to Taipei, Taiwan after we leave Shang Hai, China.  If any of you have any information on Taiwan we would appreciate any help that you can give us!  We don’t really know of any places to visit or to go see.  SAS is working on getting information, but as of now we don’t even have any books on it and we cannot easily access the internet.  We can both be reached easiest at:

MaFox@SemesteratSea.net and FwHuschitt@SemesteratSea.net

We will update on our adventures in Vietnam soon!

-Medbh and Frank

No Japan

Itinerary Change
Due to the earth quake and tsunami in Japan this past week, Semester at Sea has decided that we will no longer be visiting Japan as one of our ports. Although, they have not told us what port we will be going to instead. So far the three options we have heard are South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. But, we really have no idea where we are going after China now.
Tomorrow we arrive in Singapore at 8 AM. We only have about 10 hours there though and unfortunately it’s supposed to rain. We are going to try to do as much as we can while were there. Apparently they have very strict laws and even chewing gum is illegal.

Freedom In Creation

Hello
Here is a link to a movie the videographer on Semester at Sea made from a service trip Medbh and I went on in South Africa check it out…

http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyage-blog/spring-2011/video-capricorn-primary-school-art-project.php

India

Hi Everyone!

We are now all safely on the ship on our way to Singapore.  We left Chennai, India last night.

India was the most amazing place.  If you have never been, I definitely recommend everyone to go and stay for at least a few days.  It is truly a whole different world compared to what we are used to in the US or even Europe.  It was a crazy eye opening experience that I will never forget.

Our first day in India we walked out from the ship not knowing what to expect at all.  The security was really high in and around the port area because it was not a tourist port, it was a commercial shipping yard.  We had to take shuttles to and from the boat because it was too dangerous to walk around.  We also had to carry our passports around with us at all times and show them to security officers whenever they wanted to see them.

Our first adventure started on an auto-rickshaw or “tuk-tuk”.  These are little 3 wheel carts with an engine that can keep up with most cars.  They zoom in and out of the cars on the streets at scary speeds.  There are NO traffic rules in India.  Just tons of honking, motorcycles everywhere, cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, horses, bulls, goats, dogs, donkeys, just about everything you can imagine, and tons and tons of people, pollution, and stinky air.  The women all wear the traditional saree or salwar kameez in bright beautiful colors.  There are high rise buildings, shacks, and smaller buildings all piled in on top of one another with street vendors as well.

As we were obviously Americans or really any white people, everyone wanted to sell us things because they automatically assume we have money to spend.  The drivers want to rip you off, and occasionally we got really ripped off, especially at the beginning of the trip.

On our first day we went around to some tourist shops that were really expensive that our rickshaw drivers brought us to.  We also saw the St. Thomas Basilica and the burial chamber of St. Thomas, one of Jesus’ apostles.  It was a huge beautiful white church set right in downtown Chennai.  That night we headed to our hotel via rickshaw on the south end of Chennai.  The Aloft hotel was just what I needed.  It was beautiful and it felt nice to stay away from the ship for a few days.  The hotel had a delicious and cheap restaurant that was SO good.  We ate there a few times, and I had a few delicious mohitos, definetley not what I expected in India!

The following day we were able to get a car from the hotel to an area an hour south of Chennai called Mallahapuram.  This area is full of temples from the 6^th century carved out of huge single pieces of rock.  They were set right on the sea shore and so awesome to go see.

The next day we returned to the ship and ventured back out again, this time to the city center building.  From the rooftop we could see the skyline of the city.  It also had a Mcdonalds, so we ate our first fast food meal in a long time looking at the skyline of Chennai.  The Mcdonalds was interesting because they did not serve any beef products, and the menu was changed to fit the Indian was of life with vegetarian items and things that were very spicy.  The food even tasted healthier.

The next day we went on a service trip with 10 other students from Semester at Sea.  The school was located in an area where most of the students families cannot afford to send them to school so they receive free education.  They gave us a whole ceremony when we arrived and gave us all roses.  We got to visit all the classrooms and the students got to sing us songs and show us their talents like dancing and yoga.  These kids could do crazy yoga moves!  At the end of the day they put on a final performance for us.  We wanted to do something for them, so the professor asked me to Irish dance.  He sung a song (he’s Irish as well) and I danced while everyone clapped.  It was really cool and the teachers and students looked at me like they had no idea what was going on!

After the school visit we rode back on the bus to the ship. Near the school it was mostly dirt roads and we saw people just peeing right off the side of the street. We got to the ship at about 1 and decided to go out. We got out at around 4 and took a rick shaw, the craziest one we had yet! This guy drove insane, I thought we were going to die 5 times, he was just dodging bulls, family’s on dirt bikes, buses, and traffic traveling in the wrong lane. Anyway, so we got to the beach and started walking down to the water which was very far considering the beach, marina beach, is the worlds 2^nd largest beach, a couple men on horses came up to us and wanted useto pay for rides, they wouldn’t leave us alone so we decided it was a bit sketchy and turned around. Plus there was glass in the sand everywhere, besides that it was worth it. After the beach we rode insanely fast to the Sheraton Hotel. We got to the Sheraton and decided to eat because the Irish Pub, Dublin, inside of the hotel was not open yet. Medbh got a huge club sandwich and I ate some traditional Indian food. Delicious. We walked over to the bar but they wouldn’t let me in cause I had sandals on.

The next day was one of my favorites. We took another rick shaw around the city and saw two temples. The first one was open so we decided to go in. We gave our shoes to a man who would watch them for money and walked barefoot into the temple. It was beautiful. The next temple we traveled to wasn’t open but they let Medbh and I take a picture in front. We then went to a mall called Spencers. It was massive. It was divided up into three “phases” (that’s what they called it). It was not like malls in America because the walkways were not huge but just normal hallway size. It was fun. Got some good gifts for my family. We then got a rick shaw to a place called Checkers. On the way our rick shaw ran out of gas on a freeway. There was no shoulder and it was a bridge. The driver said “2 minutes” took an empty water bottle and ran down the freeway to the nearest gas station. It was pretty scarey. But he came back with the water bottle was full and we went along to Checkers. Checkers was another hotel that had a hookah bar on the roof top. The bar didn’t open until 6 so we decided to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant there. I got some more Indian food (curry) and Medbh got another club sandwich (she really enjoys those). 6 oclock came around so we went to the roof top hookah bar got some drinks and watched the sun set while they played 50 cent. We asked them to change the music to Indian; they said they put the 50 cent on for us.. we laughed. We left Checkers after the sunset and got back to the ship safe. Although the rick shaw driver wasn’t sure exactly where we were going.

The last day I went on a Semester at Sea trip that Medbh had for one of her classes, Philosophy of Non-Violence. We went to the University of Madras and listened to many different speakers who were different religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Jainism, and Islam. They talked about peace and war. After the discussion, we talked to students and they said Medbh had a pretty smile and they said my long hair was pretty. It was interesting talking to them cause they were our age. After that we decided to get some last minute gifts at Spencer mall and then call it a trip. We ate at KFC in the mall..it hit the spot.

So today was Neptune day. Neptune day is a celebration where the stafff poured nasty water over students head and then students jumped into the pool. After jumping in the pool students got out and kissed a frozen fish and bowed to king Neptune. Along with the ritual, they shave heads. I decided to do it! Along with 55 other students onboard, about 25 girls did it too. All our hair will get donated to locks of love. Check out my new dew.

-Frank and Medbh

Update

Hi Everyone,

For those who have heard about the earth quake in Japan and the expected Tsunamis in the Pacific Rim, we wanted to let you know that it has not affected Semester at Sea in any way as of yet. We have just left Chennai, India and are thousands of miles west from Japan. As of now, our itinerary has not changed and we are still set to arrive in Japan on April 4th.

We will update soon with our adventures in India and some pictures! We had a great time.

-Medbh and Frank

Close To Chennai

 Hi Everyone,

We are now hours away from arriving in Chennai, India.  We are docking at an industrial port that is primarily used for shipping barges.  Because of this, we are not allowed to walk from the ship to the gate of the port (about 1 mile) so they have had to hire shuttle buses.  Unfortunately, they can’t get them for 24 hours so as of right now the boat will have a curfew.  Otherwise, you will be left out at the gate until morning.  Also, the boat cannot take on water in India for drinking, showering, etc. (We normally purify water at sea) so water will be scarce and really need to be conserve.  When we were in Ghana they shut down the water from 10PM-7AM because we did not have much of it. 

The international security is really high right now in India and because of that we now have to carry our passports around at all times with us.  You even have to save your receipts from atms, just in case you need to prove you did not steal the money.  The security around the boat will be very strict and not as easy to go through as in the other countries. 

Because of this Frank and I have decided to stay the first 2 nights we are in Chennai at a hotel in the city.  It will be so nice to have a real bed and window!! (You have no idea how much you take windows for granted until you do not have one in your room, it becomes a cave, and you could sleep for 48 hours and not even realize it.) So I am really excited about that.  Also, the restaurants in hotels are less likely to cause you to get sick since many people have issues with the food in India.  Apparently 80% of us are likely to get sick in India.  Frank and I stocked up on Pepto Bismol tonight so hopefully we won’t have problems!

We will be staying in the city so we will be close to all sorts of things!  We already have lists of things to do sent to me by coworkers of my parents, and we are excited to go see them.  I really want to go see these sea side temples circa 7^th century AD, which are also near a bunch of silk markets that sell sari’s etc.  We will also be near many beaches and other areas of downtown Chennai, which should be really fun.  I also really want to try and ride an elephant!! There are places in India that let you, and I am determined to find one.

On Wednesday we are visiting a school for a service project.  We are going to help clean up the school and we will get to play with the children, which should be really fun and interesting.  Other than that we are winging it and seeing what we can find to do!  India is a place I only dreamed of going to, so it is super weird to be writing this on a boat right off the coast of it right now!  Looking at a map it is scary how far from home we are now.

PS: those who we can facetime with, we will try and facetime from the hotel tomorrow! (it has wifi, yay!)  

We are already half way done with our trip, and I cannot believe it!  It is going so fast. 

-Medbh and Frank