It's on like Hong Kong! (Reaching a bit, I think. Haha. )

We'll be in Hong Kong tomorrow! How awesome is that?! I'm sorry that I've got this weird chronology going on where I'm telling you about what already happened and what is happening...it's confusing, but I promise to catch up after Japan.

We're spending two days in Hong Kong with the ship, then two other days in Beijing -- and seeing the Great Wall! -- while the ship travels to Shanghai and then we'll spend the last two days in Shanghai. China should be awesome and our ship is supposed to be docked somehow so that it's literally a part of a mall. I can't wait!

Thailand Part One, Or, "Tigers, Crocodiles, Elephants, Oh My!"

When we pulled into Thailand I didn’t know quite what to expect. For some reason, after India, I was expecting every country to be like India, which I know is not true. By “like India” I mean chaotic and kind of rough around the edges. But it wasn’t like that at all. The only downside was that the port was no longer in Bangkok, as it used to be years ago. It is now in Laem Chabang, which was about two hours away from the capital. I enjoyed a leisurely morning on the first day because of this – where are you supposed to go with only like an hour or two if it’s a huge hassle to even get out of the port? – then I went on a trip to Sri Racha Tiger Zoo. It was a lot like an animal park in the States. I didn’t get to see it all, but they had lots of tigers, crocodiles and elephants! We walked into the park and passed some crocodiles in an enclosure and a few elephants before the tiger show started. An elephant picked me up with his trunk! (You had to pay a little for it, but it was totally worth it!) I believe I put up a picture of that. The tiger show had about eight tigers perform for a little bit. It was kind of difficult to understand because the announcements were in Thai, but the tricks were alright. One of the tigers seemed like he wasn’t getting along very well with the handler, but that could have been part of the show, I’m not sure. They even jumped through hoops lit on fire! After the tigers, we went straight to another arena with a moat-like thing for the crocodile show, which turned out to be pretty cool – one of the trainers stuck her head in the croc’s mouth! They also took money from people after the show and put in the croc’s mouth. Between the croc and elephant arenas there was a huge moat enclosure under the raised walkway that we crossed full of hundreds of crocodiles. It was crazy. I didn’t even know crocodiles were native to Thailand. The final show was the elephant show, which was also pretty cool. About a dozen elephants were paraded around and did various tricks. They played basketball, threw darts (at one SAS volunteer!) and ate bananas from the audience (which they sell to you as you’re watching the show). One elephant also walked across two ropes suspended off the ground. Directly after all the animal shows, we were able to walk into the souvenir shop that also served as a place to get photos with a baby crocodile or tiger. It was so cool, except we had to wait in a line because all the SAS kids wanted to do it and I got about 45 seconds with the tiger since there was such a high demand. After that we had to get going and on the way out, I noticed that you could buy a plate with your picture on it – a photographer from the park snapped a picture while you were walking in. I avoided him, so there was no plate of me, which is just as well.

After that we went to this kind of bizarre place called Mini Siam. It reminds me of an over sized mini golf course without the golf. There are all these manicured displays of famous landmarks around the world, most are about waist to full size height, some are even larger. For example, there’s an Arc de Triumphe, Eiffel Tower, St. Basil’s Cathedral from Russia, the Busimbel from Egypt, the Trevi Fountain, Coliseum and Leaning Tower of Pisa from Italy, London Bridge (complete with model cars over a large pond that also contained some other displays and wound through the park). Can you guess what the two U.S. monuments are that are there? The Statue of Liberty and Mt. Rushmore. The other half of the park is obviously disproportionately dedicated to things in Thailand, such as the Grand Palace, the Bridge on the River Kwai (which I thought would be cooler if it exploded and rebuilt itself every ten minutes like something off the MGM back lot tour) and the Bangkok Airport (who knows why). The other entertaining part of the trip was that the Mini Siam park was located directly next to a McDonald’s! Of course, I had to go check out. I got a Happy Meal, which was pretty cool – it had a Spiderman toy! (I saved it for Tim. Haha.) But of course they had some interesting fair, including a DOUBLE Big Mac (eek! Four patties!) and a tuna fish pie of some sort. The coolest thing was Ronald McDonald doing the Thai wai, which is when you press your hands together in front of you and bow, a way to say hello (which is “sa wat dee kaa” thank you very much). The only bad thing is that they charge you for each piece of the Happy Meal, so French fries are extra a part from the drink and the burger. Interesting system.

Next, we were supposed to be going to a souvenir shop, which was what the guide called it, but the bus ended up at a place called the Gem Gallery with tons of jewelry. I actually didn’t buy anything, but they had this really silly dark ride in a conveyor-like car (reminded me of Spaceship Earth in the sphere in Epcot). The ride was supposed to show how gems are created and found and used mannequins and light effects, which was so bad that it was kind of cute and funny. There was a huge, classy jewelry showroom, but like I said I didn’t buy anything. I was going to buy something with my birthstone (extra souvenirs if you know what it is), like a necklace or earrings, but I didn’t like any of the ones they had. After that two other girls that were on the trip wanted to go to the city of Pattaya, which was close to the Gem Gallery. Everyone else went back to the ship. Pattaya is very much like any beach or shore city in the U.S. from my impression of it. About a thirty-foot strip of beach borders Pattaya before it gives way to a street and on the other side of the street are all kinds of shops that sell fake purses and things, beach gear and about four malls one right after the other. The beach, as I would find out later in the week when we came back, was kind of gross there was garbage floating in the water and little bits of wood and things, so I don’t think I missed out on too much by not going in the water. It was also almost dark by this time, so there weren’t many people on the beach. We got dropped off at this HUGE mall. It was seven stories with a bowling alley (yeah, a bowling alley!) and a movie theater on the top floor. There were lots of familiar stores, Puma, Adidias, Starbucks, KFC, Dairy Queen, The North Face and Ed Hardy among others. Grace, Sam and I split up and then met later so that we could go get some dinner.

We walked along the beach, which had many open-air restaurants and bars. We decided on a place and had some good Thai food for dinner. We were a little disturbed by the fact that it seemed that almost all of the white guys who came in there had two things in common: they were old and they had a young Thai woman with them. If you know anything about things in Thailand, you know what I’m talking about, or at least what I suspected. Can I just say...EW. Not only is that disgusting, it’s degrading and undermining the women there in Pattaya. I think I would personally beat the crap out of anyone who thinks that’s a good idea for a vacation. What kind of disgusting fiend would support that? For once (because in many of the countries we’ve visited, the men are the ones who judge us), I think I as a white woman felt like I had power to judge those terrible, vile, disgusting men (of course, there is a possibility they could have had positive motivations for doing such things). There was also a shirt I saw later that said “Good guys go to heaven, bad guys go to Pattaya.” EW. My feminist self was totally disgusted by this, as everyone else should be as well.

After dinner the mall was open for about another hour, so we split up again and shopped. We met a few other girls later when we were ready to leave and all five of us took a truck taxi back to the ship. The ride was really fun – these trucks have benches with cushions and a roof built over the bed of the truck and an open back with a step built in. It was really fun to ride in! I think it’s a good idea that could be adopted anywhere in the U.S. where there’s nice weather often and people only need to go short distances, but the government might frown on the no-seat-belt thing. Haha. That was a fun end to my first day in Thailand!

Access to Free Internet for Me Equals Pictures For You!

Hello everyone! There was a coffee right next to the ship, literally within a stone's throw, that had free wifi, so I posted lots of pictures! Also, Photobucket actually has a new program that puts photo slide shows directly into the blog, so I tried adding it on here (it should be directly to the right --->). Let me know if it works! Otherwise, here's the link to my album:

http://s673.photobucket.com/albums/vv92/staceyfederoff/

Enjoy! We're having a barbecue tonight on the ship, so I'm going to pry myself away from this free internet to get some hot dogs and hamburgers. After losing my ATM card a couple days ago (but I didn't realize it until yesterday) I thought I had a crisis on my hands, BUT after an hour an a half search including visits to three banks a trip back to the ship to get my passport and lots of hot, sweaty walking - I got it back!! How awesome is that! So, I had a GREAT day. I promise to update about Thailand and Vietnam ASAP. Missing everyone and can't wait for China!

Sunrise Over the Mekong

I honestly can't believe I'm even here doing this. We are floating down the Mekong River towards Ho Chi Mihn City. Some of my friends and I slept out on the deck so we could wake up and see the sunrise over the river as we were nearing the port. It was truly breathtaking and emotional. I was seeing this stunningly beautiful sunrise over the jungle and the water. Watching the fog in the tops of the trees, passing little fishing boats and hearing the sounds of birds in the jungle and I just felt so thankful. I can't believe I'm here doing this. I can't believe that I'm seeing this river as a beautiful scenic place in a country that so many American soldiers thought was absolute hell on earth. Every day I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to do something like this and today is one of the moments that stand out the most. So begins my five days in Vietnam. (Sorry I haven't updated about Thailand.)

Incredible India Part Four: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"

Our last day in Delhi we hired a car for the day to take us around the city to see some of the landmarks. First we visited the Jama Masjid, the oldest mosque in India. It was really pretty and has a big courtyard that can hold lots of people. After that we met up with Vivek again! We had arranged to meet again and were able to find him outside the mosque. We walked with him to the next sight, the Red Fort. It was built by the same emperor that built the Taj Mahal lived in the Red Fort. Is huge once you’re in the inside, there are lots of different shops in the market as you walk in, then there’s a huge gate that you pass through into the courtyard. From there you can see where the king received all his constituents with a large white throne. Within the complex there’s also a war museum and a museum of objects from the court. The king also had his own mosque and hammam.

Next we visited the Baha’i Lotus Temple, which is a huge temple shaped like…a lotus. It is a huge building and there were tons of people visiting it since it was Sunday. This place is huge and really pretty, so the pictures are nicer than any description I could give. After that, one of the girls we were with wanted to buy a sari, so we stopped at a store for a little bit – I bought some tie-dyed skirts.

Next we went to see the Gandhi Smriti, which is a monument to Mahatma Gandhi at the place where he was assassinated. The building there was where Gandhi stayed before he was walking out for his evening prayer on January 30, 1948 and was shot by a man in the crowd waiting to pray with Gandhi. The whole place was really nice and the building was converted into a museum. The upstairs has an interactive exhibit “in keeping with the times,” according to the sign. Haha. The downstairs had Gandhi’s room decorated as it was when he was there, then the entire place had lots of posters up and down the halls that talked about Gandhi’s life and philosophies. There was also a room with a movie about him and another with a bookstore. Once outside there is a path marking where Gandhi walked out of the building before he was killed. Then the path ends at a small pagoda with a stone marker that has his last words, “Oh, God,” and the date. It was really moving to see. Along the side there’s a huge display with the entire history of India and the path also has some of Gandhi’s famous quotes alongside it. I was really glad we got to go see it, out of all the things we had seen that day.

After that, we were about out of time for the afternoon, so the driver sped us past the street that is kind of the equivalent of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. On one end is the president’s house and the parliament and government buildings and at the other end is the India Gate, which commemorates Indian soldiers that were killed in World War I. The street also has a mall on either side where the driver said lots of people bring their families and have picnics and there were plenty of people out since it was a Sunday. The only thing different about the president’s house was that there were about a dozen monkeys hanging around the gate, which was pretty cool!

After that we had to go back to our hostel to get our things and pay. The driver parked on the corner near this alley where the hostel was. So, we walked toward the hostel and there were some boys in the alley that had some water balloons – and decided to throw them at us! It was so funny! Maybe it was funnier for me because I only got hit in the shoulder, but a couple of the other girls got soaked. The boys were out with water balloons because the Holi festival was set to start the next day – during this Hindu festival people go out in the streets and throw powdered dye and water at each other. It seems really fun – a group at Penn State does it every year and we missed it in India by one or two days. Anyway, a few of us ran and screamed and three of us ran the opposite direction – they actually passed the hostel and had to run back to it. Once we got to the safety of the building, Ferros said that he was up on the balcony yelling at them, he was upset and said, “It’s not fair, you should have punched them in the face!” We thought it was all in good fun, but we knew they’d be waiting for us when we went back down to the street. We paid and everything and were ready when we went back downstairs. Marina threatened them with a mean face and Blair threatened them with a full bottle of water and they kind of backed off. That was unexpected and fun!

So, we made it to the airport early in the taxi and noticed that the inside of the airport had a McDonald’s!! It was really cool – we had to try it! They only had three options because the majority of Indian people are either Hindu or Muslim: McChicken, Fish Filet and the McVeggie Burger! Haha. So, of course, I got a McVeggie Burger and some fries. The veggie burger wasn’t that bad, actually, and the fries tasted exactly like they do at home. It was pretty cool. Then, we got on the plane and the flight back to Chennai was great again with all the amenities of the first one. I watched Dance India, Dance, which was sort of the equivalent to So You Think You Can Dance and one guy did popping and locking. It was great! Haha.

That was the end of our adventure to the Taj Mahal, but wasn’t the end of my adventure in India! After getting back to Chennai, I stayed on the ship without any plans for the last day, but it turned out to be awesome! So, my only plan was that I wanted to go shopping, since I was kind of ‘traveled out’ after our big adventure. So, I decided to tag along with some of the girls who I traveled with in Spain – Jane and Sarah – and Rachel. They were going to the mall and I had just ran into them, so it worked out really well. We actually got a taxi to an area where Jane was going to meet a friend she knew from school (she goes to Parson’s School of Design in NYC). We went to a few stores around there and waited for Jane’s friend. We all got to meet her (her name escapes me at the moment…I will have to ask Jane what it was) and she had hired a car for the day to take us wherever we wanted to go. She was 24 and her family is from Chennai, even though she was partly raised in England. She went to graduate school and then had to return to India to continue her father’s wholesale clothing business. It was amazing, she had so many responsibilities and seemed so in control, it was really cool. We wanted to go get lunch, but first she had an errand to run for her mom. Apparently their dog, a lab, had given birth to pups and they had given on of the pups away, but her mom didn’t think that the dog was getting treated right or something, so we went to the home of the guy who had bought it and she went in and talked to him. We were in the car for a while, but she brought the precious little puppy out and we got to pet it for a little bit before she gave it back to the guy who bought it. She worked it all out, I guess. Then, she took us to the Sheraton in Chennai. Man, that place was amazing! Apparently, she said all the of the hip, young people hang out at the nice restaurants and bars in the hotels. The restaurant was really nice and she helped us order and we all shared some really good food for our last meal in Chennai.

Afterwards, she and Jane separated from the rest of us to go catch up and get some coffee together. The rest of us went to the mall. After shopping for a little while, it was getting kind of late in the afternoon and we needed to get back, but we met another one of the girls, Claudia, who was there with the homestay family. It ended up that her “family” offered us all a ride back to the port! That was so nice of them! I couldn’t believe it. And then six of us piled into their little car. We were cutting it pretty close, this was at about 5:30, so we were all worried about making it back to the ship on time. We got a couple bicycle rickshaws from the gate and realized that there were about four of them with SASers and we had a friendly race back to the ship! India was fun, right down to the very last minutes there. So far it has been my favorite port! Everything was so awesome. I want to take everyone there to share more amazing experiences like the ones I just had!

Time release blog

So, I know I haven't finished up with my adventures in India quite yet, but I wanted to let you all know that we're docking in Thailand tomorrow! Hooray! I'm doing a bunch of day trips - one to a tiger zoo and another to an elephant village! And I will be staying over in Bangkok one night before returning to the ship for our last day. I'm excited! Promise I will catch up later instead of being on such a time delay. Lots of things to see and do!

Incredible India Part Three: THE TAJ

We paid the entrance fee for the Taj Mahal and got a large ticket, which I think was also usable at a few other tourist attractions in Agra. We had to go through the separate gender security lines again and then we had done it! We were finally seeing the Taj! But, actually, you’re not allowed to bring electronics in, so two of the girls had to take the iPods that they brought and walk them to a locker. So, the other three of us rested and waited for a bit for them to get back from the lockers. We took some pictures and tried to find shade. They were finally back and we were ready to see the great tomb. It’s all in a walled complex, which in the first set of walls you pass from the outside. Then, there’s another huge gate that you have to walk through. While we were waiting for the other girls we could kind of see the top of the Taj and I started to get really excited! Finally, they came back and we all walked together over to the gate. Our first glimpses of the Taj Mahal in all its glory were through the archway in the huge gate. Then, we emerged out into the sunlight and I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing it. The Taj Mahal is so beautiful. I just couldn’t believe I was actually seeing it. I almost started to cry. Sure, pictures of it are exactly like it is in person, but I think that’s part of the reason it’s so beautiful when you see it in person. I just didn’t expect to be so beautiful. And every part of it, no matter what angle you look at it from, is beautiful. It was literally breath-taking. I was in Agra, India, seeing the Taj Mahal with my own eyes. I couldn’t believe it.

There were lots of people there doing the exact same thing: taking pictures from every conceivable spot. Once you enter at the gate there’s a large courtyard with sidewalks that line either side of the reflecting pool. The pool is also lined with tall, skinny bushes and in the pool are little fountains that squirt up little streams of water. There’s a large platform in the middle of the courtyard and we all stood up on the platform trying to set up pictures like everyone else that make you look like you’re picking up the Taj from the topmost spindle in the middle of the huge dome. We walked toward the Taj, snapping away and eventually made it to where you line up to go inside. The line’s not very long, you’re just halted near the entrance to either take off your shoes or put little shoe covers over top of them. All us girls opted for the covers and looked pretty goofy. Haha. After walking up some stairs you are able to enter and see the tombs inside the Taj, one for Shah Jahan, who built the Taj, and one for his wife, who he built it for. The detail is amazing. Nothing is painted on the Taj – there are all these flower borders in different places and they’re actually inlaid gemstones in the marble. It was awesome. The two tombs are enclosed in a huge screen that is carved marble made into scrolling vines and flowers, which was beautiful. And this was all built in the 15th century. Amazing.

We walked through the building around to the back side where a lot of people were just sitting and talking and hanging around. I wish we could have just spent hours there (the lockers actually had a two-hour time limit). The four minarets on either side of the tomb are awesome as well. Everything is perfectly symmetrical. We walked around for a little while longer and came back out of the area that needed the shoe covers. Some Indian guys asked to get a picture with us and I coyly said that I would take the pictures for everyone, rather than be in them. It was kinda weird. It was also kind of funny, though, because right before we took the picture, there were some guys who ran over to be in the picture, about 20 guys total in the frame with the five other girls in our group. It was funny.

Then we strolled back to one of the sides of the courtyard to rest for a few minutes in the shade. It was a really beautiful day. And, almost 100 pictures later, our visit to the Taj Mahal was over after we walked back out of the gate and down to where the girls had put their stuff in the locker.
Right inside the security point the post office sells stamps and official post cards, so I bought some stamps there as did the other girls. Then we walked back out to the road (after Blair was followed by a little kid selling snow globes again: “50 rupees? Good deal, 50 rupees. Be careful, camel. Three for 50 rupees? Make a good gift.” All the same breath. Haha.) and got a rickshaw so that we could go see the Agra Fort.

The fort looked really cool and their was a man outside trying to convince me that he would make a good tour guide, but we were kind of short on time and hungry, so we took a few pictures from the outside and walked across the road to a little roadside restaurant. It was funny, there were about three restaurants lined up together and once we got within a few feet men working at each of them came out and tried to yell and gesture toward their restaurant…we were for the one with the menu in English. We enjoyed our food (and, surprisingly, I’m pretty sure no one got sick later). Then, we took another rickshaw to the train station. We had plenty of time before the train, so we stopped in an air conditioned restaurant for some cool air. Then on our way to the train platform, I stopped at an IST STD PCO phonebooth, which are these pay phones, but pay phones in the sense that they are regular phones that people make you pay for, but they’re all over India, marked by black letters with a black background. Anyway, I called Vivek and sure enough he was on his way! He met us at the train platform and told me that he was looking for us at the Agra Fort, since he got done with his work early. So, I was talking to Vivek and we were waiting on the platform. How it works is they announce all the trains over the loudspeaker – at the Delhi station we were at it made the noise just like Windows makes when there’s an error (over and over and over and over again). And, thanks to Trixy’s sharp ears, we noticed that our train was on a different platform entirely! We had to run to the other side of the station, up a ramp, across and down a ramp on the other side, just to be sure we caught the train before it left! All of our seats weren’t together, but Vivek assured me that he could figure it out, so we all sat together. It was the same type of train, still grungy, haha. But once we were actually on the train we were relieved. The ride wasn’t too remarkable – everyone was tired, especially since we had gotten up at 4:30 a.m. I climbed up and slept on the top bunk for a little bit, being careful to position my arm so my face was not in danger of coming too close to the bunk. There was this really cute family in the next compartment that I noticed – the man was a sikh because of the tuban on his head and his wife and son, who was about 8 or 8, were with him. They shared some fruit and talked with the son and slept a little on two of the bunks. It was cute.

Vivek pulled some sweets out of his bag after I woke up and climbed back down into the bottom seat. They were called puta, I think. Imagine some chunks of pineapple that are saturated with sugar and somehow taste like coffee a little bit. Vivek couldn’t really explain what it was made out of, except that it wasn’t pineapple. Haha. Around that time, a family got on the train at one the station stops and a little girl with pigtails sat down in the seat across from us. Blair said that she was all smiley and excited before she started talking her, and we found out it was because she was excited to see some native English-speaking girls. Her name was Dinky and she was 10 years old and phenomenally cute with her little red and white striped outfit and pigtails. She could have passed for a 10-year-old in the United States because her English was so good, and practically accent-free. When she talked she was excited and she tried to answer all of our questions, and some times Vivek helped a little bit, even though his English wasn’t as good as hers. She told us the words in Hindi for yes, no and thank you and explained some of the titles used in Hindi. Usually, tacking –ji onto the end of a word, means the equivalent of sir or ma’am. So, “ha” is the word for yes, and if you say “haji” then you are saying “yes, sir” or “yes, ma’am.” Dinky told us that she went to a private boarding school that actually admonished you if you spoke any Hindi rather than English, which is how she knew English so well. I think she said she was even more excited to talk to us because she said she usually talks to men who are native speakers, and was really excited to see that we were all young women. Blair explained that she knew a little girl who she babysits that is the same age as Dinky and gave her address to Dinky so that they could  be pen pals. It was so great! We got some pictures. I wish Dinky had been on the train the entire time!

So, the train finally stopped and we got off, except that Vivek realized that we had gotten off at the wrong train station! We actually got off at the New Delhi station and were supposed to get off at the stop before that, but because we were talking to Dinky, we were distracted (even Vivek, who even told me he thought she was really cute and hopes that his son grows up and can speak English as well as she could). Vivek said it wasn’t a worry and that we could get a taxi to take us back to her guesthouse, he was just a little nervous because he said there’s actually a fine if they find out that you get off at the wrong stop. He generously helped us find a taxi, even though it was already about 9:30 and his motorcycle was at the other train station.

There were so many people at that train station. I wasn’t really too surprised, but seeing everything at night was really different. There were tons of rickshaws out buzzing past the stores with signs stacked on top of one another. But, we made it back to the guesthouse after having a quick dinner. None of the people I had met the night before were awake and we were all really tired anyway, so I went to bed.