Chennai, Delhi, Agra, Varanasi India

March 6, 2011 (Day 1)

Today we made it into India. Not knowing what to expect, I went into Chennai with an open mind, hoping for the best. Once the ship was cleared, we took a motorized rickshaw through town to shop/eat. We had the same driver all day, Manni, who was 20. Indians do some type of head bob when they talk which is funny. Apparently its done when they are in agreement with what you’re saying. Later we took a our flight to Delhi. Our journey is only beginning.

March 7, 2011 (Day 2)

 Today we woke up for an early breakfast and then headed to see where Gandhi’s ashes were. After visiting that site and taking many pictures, our bus headed on the road towards our 5 hour journey to Agra. Agra is a popular placed filled with many tourists due to the famous Taj Mahal being present in the city.

After eating lunch, we got to see what I had been the most excited to see in India, the Taj Mahal. It was truly remarkable, with a beautiful infrastructure, down to the fine detail used during the 22 years that it took for it to be built. I took several pictures and also some time just to observe it. We got the opportunity to go inside but had to put on shoe covers first.

After visiting the Taj, we headed back to the same restaurant that we ate lunch at. Lets just say that I stuck to the two “N’s “, naan and noodles. Because 4 people on our trip had birthdays within the past couple of days, we celebrated with cake and wine. Some people smoke shisha, but I decided not to since I don’t smoke.

After leaving the restaurant, we headed to the train station with our tour guide. Once we reached the station I knew that the upcoming 12 hours that I’d be spending on this train headed towards Varanasi would be a time that I’d never forget. The train was a sleeper train, meaning there were “beds” throughout each of the cabins on the train. For starters, we all didn’t know where our 38 seats/beds were, so we kind of just got on the train so that we wouldn’t get left. Once on the train, we walked back and forth through the aisle, trying to din some seats that were reserved for us. The majority of the group had gotten separated from my group of about 11.

When we reached our seats, I knew that I would NOT be laying down for the night and lucky if I even got any sleep. Fortunately I had my iPod charged up for my long trip ahead of me. Surprisingly it gets pretty cool at night in India, which I would had never expected. Luckily I decided to pack a jacket at the last minute in my backpack that I’d be living out of for the 4 days away from the ship.  I zipped my jacket all the way up, placed my hood over my head and covered my face so that only my eyes were visible from the outside. As far as the sleeping position, I placed my backpack in my lap and held it, resting my head on it and kept it close to preserve the body heat that I had within out cabin. The bathroom was what I envisioned it to be, which was a hole in the ground, with two grips on the floor to place your feet on. I believe that people were trying to figure out if I was Indian because when I unzipped my hood, a couple were staring and then said “aha, I told you” O_o.

As of now we still haven’t reached our destination but have a few hours until noon, which  means that we’ll be there soon. I am not surprised that my original hypothesis was right. This would be one night that I’d never forget.

Port Louis, Mauritius

February 27, 2011 (Day 1 and only :(

Today my friends and I did a catamaran cruise, which took us out into the middle of the Indian Ocean. There were drinks for people, music, food, and snorkeling gear. I jumped into the ocean once we finally stopped the boat to snorkel. The water was very clear, and many fish swam below me. The water was very salty, and I surprisingly wasn’t thinking about sharks, which lived in the same water :O The day had been going good until we got back on the ship and found out that a SAS student had almost died from alcohol poisoning. He was taken to the hospital and left in Mauritius. Hopefully this incident will make a lot of the SASers think when they decide to drink because a lot of them are alcoholics and just don’t realize it yet.

Cape Town, South Africa

February 17, 2011 (Day 1)

We finally made it to Cape Town after a 7 day trip on the ocean. Unfortunately we cannot get off of the ship due to the high winds. We are unable to dock, so we’ll be sailing around wasting time until the next morning. This sucks because we’ll lose an entire day in South Africa but once I get on land I’m going to make the most of it.


February 18, 2011 (Day 2)

We finally were able to get off of the ship! We caught a cab into green market square where the infamous Long Street is. We went around to some shops, through a Botanical Garden, and searched for an MTN (Mobile Talking Network, a cell phone company) SIM card for my phone. Later on that night we ended up going back to Long Street. We went to one bar/club initially that had good music but not many people were there. We then went outside and a local approached me to ask the group that I was with if we wanted to go to the club that his brother from the UK had just opened. Aley and I went to check it out first, and it was cool so we ended up brining a group of about 16 SASers with us inside for FREE!

February 19, 2011 (Day 3)

Today we got to experience wine tasting while on our wineland tour. Originally we were supposed to go on a wineland tour on day 2 but we found out that you have to book the tour one day in advance. We went to four different wineries which consisted of a wine tour/tasting. At one vineyard, there was also a cheese tasting, and a Brandi tasting at another. In between the mid-winery tour, we at lunch which was served with wine :-O I had more wine today than I’ve had collectively in life thus far! I enjoyed the tastings and learned a lot about the making of wine and how to decipher “fine wine”, champagne, and even Rose’.

One thing that I noticed was that at each of the wineries, I was the only black person. As the interport lecturer Rhoda explained to us in my African Politics class, there isn’t much of a middle class, so the rich are rich and the poor are extremely poor. Though Apartheid has ended, it has definitely left South Africa with some scars that are clearly visible. Hopefully they will clear up sooner than later. I find it disheartening how whites could come into South Africa, which is made up predominately of blacks followed by “coloureds” (a term used to describe other ethnic groups that clearly aren’t black and/or blacks that are light/fair in complexion), and have the most wealth, being the minority. There are blacks at the top, but they don’t want to give up what they have in order to bridge the gap of socioeconomic classes. Because Cape Town is very developed and westernized, it’s easy to visit and not see the huge poverty like I observed in Ghana. South Africa has the highest HIV rates in the WORLD and that also didn’t seem apparent.
This is a problem that can be solved, but someone has to take the initiative to change things, which will hopefully be soon before its too late!

February 20, 2011 (Day 4)

Today I went on my safari which I booked through SAS at the Aquila Game Reserve. The bus ride was about 2.5 hours away from Cape Town. This reserve in particular is private, so there weren’t many animals but definitely enough for good pictures :) I was able to spot zebras, lions, leopards, rhinos, and elephants, which are all a part of the big five.

February 21, 2011 (Day 5)

Today a few of us went back to green market square to do some shopping/bargaining. By now, I’ve learned how to bargain extremely well, which is necessary so that you don’t get ripped off by locals in any of the countries that we are visiting. I was able to walk away with some gifts, along with some things for myself.

Later on today I’m going to meet up with Sandra, a former Gates Scholar that is studying abroad at The University of Cape Town (UCT). She attends UC Berkeley. We first met at the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program (GMSP) Conference during my freshman year in college. We’re going to a rugby match which should be interesting.