Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Cape Town!
Greetings from the breathtaking city of Cape Town, South Africa!
We have arrived safely and are still in the process of docking. I woke up around 6:00am as you rounded the corner, bringing Cape Town and Table Mountain in to view, accompanied by a surreal sunrise. The city is absolutely beautiful and shows high hopes for an exciting few days.
Today, I have a trip planned to HOPE South Africa, one of Cape Town’s larger HIV/AIDS hospitals where we will be visiting with doctors and patients. It looks to be a very powerful experience. In the days ahead I will be visiting a local township, hiking Table Mountain (pictured above), visiting Robben Island (prison where Nelson Mandela was held), taking a trip to Stellenbosch which, I am told, is equivalent to Napa Valley, and topping it all off by jumping in a submerged cage surrounded by hungry great whites. More on that later.
Above are a few photos from my sunrise session this morning. As always I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to be here and I wish all you at home could be here to enjoy this experience with me. I send my best wishes up the Atlantic and hope everyone at home is great. Take care all!
- Chris
Monday, March 29, 2010
photos and photos
Hello friends-
As promised here are some pictures! This first one is from just moments ago looking to the beckoning shores of South Africa. The ones above are from my lion adventure in Mauritius. Enjoy!
- Chris
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Greetings South Africa- Day 71
Ahoy blog persons!
This is possibly the quickest update I will post but feel that it is worth it. We are currently sailing along the coast of South Africa and it is a beautiful sight! We snuck up on the shores earlier tonight and will be sailing alongside it for the next two days until reaching Cape Town. It’s been difficult to wrap my head around it all and I still cannot believe that the continent Africa is just outside my bedroom window. I will take photos tomorrow morning and post those (along with my Mauritius photos) so you all can check that out. As predicted, the seas have gotten pretty rough so things have been a bit wobbly but now that we’re close to shore it’s calming down a bit. Otherwise, all is wonderful on board our floating home and I hope the same for everyone reading! Take care all and check back in soon.
- Chris
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Mauritius! Day 67
A warm hello to you friends and family!
And greetings from the lower Indian Ocean! It is day 1 since leaving the absolutely perfect island of Mauritius and I miss it dearly. Our brief 36 hour stay was simply an inadequate amount of time one would need there to truly soak it all in. If you’re at all naïve or clueless like myself then you probably have not heard of Mauritius. I know the first time I ever heard that name was as I was applying for this program! However, dear friends, if you have not heard of it then you can thank me later because Mauritius is a fascinating country you don’t want to miss out on. Located just a few hundred miles off the east coast of Madagascar, this place is home to an overwhelming amount of beauty, culture, diversity, and all around excitement. What blew me away almost immediately was the rare ethnic mix of a typical Mauritian. Our first cab driver was an African-Hindu speaking fluent French with a hint of an English accent. Now, just picture what that person would look and sound like, surround that image with a picture perfect tropical island, tack on some bright colors, friendly smiles, and cyan ocean, and you have yourself Mauritius. I’m ashamed of myself for having the preconceived notion that Mauritius was just some tiny, rather insignificant, touristy island. Boy was I oh so wrong! While the pictures that come up on “Google Images” look appetizing, there is absolutely nothing that compares to spending a couple afternoons there. From the gorgeous Port Louis and Flic en Flac to Grand Baie, this place was like a foreign version of Hawaii. Mark Twain could not have put it better when he said “Mauritius was made first, and then Heaven, and that Heaven was copied after Mauritius.” Spot on!
We were quite sad to leave but I feel as though my short time there was very well spent. Traveling in a small group again, we hopped a cab and drove an hour south (pretty much the opposite end of the island) to the Black River National park and had ourselves and adventurous hike. Adventurous meaning we ditched the whole “follow the map” thing and wound up trudging through forest, wading up snaky streams, and crossing mini waterfalls. Even when the pouring rain started up, we were having a wonderful time. On our way up to Grand Baie, we stopped off in an animal reserve where we wound up in a caged off area the size of a squash court, casually hanging out with 5 very big and very intimidating African lions. Before entering, we were given wooden sticks no longer than 3 feet and no thicker than a golf shaft, told to shake the stick at an “out of control cat” (whatever that meant), yell “NO!” and hit its face…oh and of course no sudden movements. After several minutes of fighting every voice in my head screaming to “get the hell out of there!” I settled in and before I knew it, I was having my picture taken kneeling down next to a 2 year old male lion, petting it like my dog. Now, because my computer has been inundated with hundreds and hundreds of photos these past two months, the lack of hard drive space will not allow me to upload more than 30 of the 300 photos from Mauritius. This news comes to me as I write this! So, when I go through and clear up some space, I’ll get a few photos on so you can see what I’m talking about. After our lion social, we cruised on up to Grand Baie, went for a night swim in the incredibly warm ocean, checked out the night life, then awoke early the next morning and lived like bums on a beach for a better part of the day. After a snorkeling excursion to locate my misplaced sunglasses (which I found…hooray), a buddy and I dusted off the old sailing legs, rented a sunfish and caught some of that mighty Mauritian wind. One man overboard and a capsizing later, we were moving on an even keel cruising all up and down the beach. In the afternoon we took a bus back to Port Louis, explored for a bit, then boarded our floating house for an 8:00pm departure.
It was disheartening to see the island disappear on our wake but we can now set our eyes on Cape Town, South Africa!! We are due to arrive in 6 days and are expecting some rougher waters as we approach the southern tip. That area is the meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic oceans so the waters are known to be a bit choppy. Fortunately, a close friend of mine is from South Africa and has family in Cape Town so I hope to be getting a good tour of the place. With only 40 days left (and 67 behind us…whoa) South Africa will be our third to last stop, with Ghana and Brazil to wrap things up. Forty days is quite a long time but on the Semester at Sea clock that’s a heartbeat.
Well, there it is. Thirty-six hours in a country smaller than Rhode Island and I still managed to pull off 2 pages. I could make it 4 or 5 but I’ll spare you loyal readers the time. As you can tell, everything here I just fine and I hope the same for all back home. I send my best wishes from around the world and look forward to hearing from some (or any) of you soon! Take care everyone.
- Chris Constantine
Friday, March 19, 2010
Sunset
Today we crossed the equator marking our entrance in to the fourth of all four hemispheres. This was this evening's sunset. Tomorrow we celebrate Neptune Day which apparently is an old sailing tradition celebrated when crossing the equator. It should be fun so stay tuned for some more updates!
- Chris
The Lotus Temple
As promised here are my photos from India! I apologize for the delay but that should not impede upon your enjoyment.
- Chris
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The beautiful Taj Mahal
The post below took incredibly long to send and I couldn't leave you hanging with no photos so I decided to get this one out. I have plenty more to post but as soon as it takes less than 5 minutes to load and send I will put up some more!
- Chris
Been too long... day 59!
Ahoy comrades!
And a sincere thank you for tuning in to yet another edition of my highly anticipated blog post. We have lots to do and so little time. Well that is a lie, there’s plenty of time but you probably don’t want to waste more than 5 minutes reading this so let’s just dive right in, good? Great.
Last night we sailed off from the fascinating land of India. Let me tell you folks, you don’t know what this world has in store until you’ve visited this place. It was wonderfully outrageous. I’ll be honest though; it got off to a rocky start after spending a couple of hours in Chennai. While I was fortunate to be there, Chennai was not necessarily the best place to commence one’s Indian adventures. We docked in a very industrious port around 9:00am on the morning of 11th, cleared customs, and hoped about town for a few hours. The area around the ships and the streets outside weren’t the cleanest places. By no means was I expecting it to be an immaculate town but when I heard it was dirty, I did not realize how dirty they meant. However, we were unfazed, hoped in a “tuktuk” or “auto-rigshaw” (basically a rigshaw but with a motor) and cruised on over to the Hindu Kapaleshvara Temple in the Mylapore district. It was not a very touristy place but that made the experience more enjoyable. No photos were allowed inside, but the temple itself was ornate and very peaceful. It was interesting to witness many of the locals practicing the Hindu religion.
Afterwards, we explored the town a bit more, headed back to the ship, packed a bag and cruised over to the airport to start what has become a very memorable adventure.
Five of us flew out of Chennai around late evening bound for Delhi. The next morning we were up and out early with a guide and car and got to cover a lot of ground. I was astounded by how beautiful Dehli is. Our guide brought us to the old, semi-demolished Qutub Minar mosque home to the tallest structure in Delhi, a 65 meter high minaret. Our next stop was to the Lotus Temple, named after its Lotus flower design. Photos, shoes, and even talking were strictly prohibited, but the inside was just as awing as the outside. A quick drive cross-town brought us to the Himayun tomb of a deceased maharaja. The design and structure was stunning, but it was nothing compared to what I would see the next morning.
We left Delhi by car in the evening (after visiting a silk and cashmere handmade carpet shop) and arrived in Agra five hours later. At 5:30am we hoped out of bed and walked down to the gates of the mind boggling Taj Mahal. Our guide recommended a sunrise visit to see it in a rare early light and to beat the crowds. Pictures of the Taj simply do not do it justice. Experiencing it in a person is indescribable. We spent a solid 3 hours there and that was with our guide urging us to leave to maintain our busy itinerary. I will post some pictures above and even though a picture says a thousand words, that’s still not enough I wish I could say more that’d be a whole other post. An hour or so later we visited the Agra Fort of which 75% is still used by the military today. Our day ended with another 5-hour ride to the Jaipur, the Pink City. En-route we made a quick stop at Fatehpur Sikri, an old deserted town of the Mughal Dynasty made entirely out of sandstone. It was as striking as it sounds. The drive too was beautiful as we got to see some of the countryside…and lots of monkeys.
We capped off the tour by investigating Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan. The first visit was to the Amber Fort, which sits atop a rather large hill. Thankfully, a huge painted elephant let us on his back and carried us to the fort’s gates. The fort enclosed beautiful palaces and marble temples and treated us with an incredible view of the surrounding town. That afternoon we had a chance to check out the Jantar Mantar Observatory situated in the heart of Jaipur. At first this place did not sound all to thrilling but I was quickly proven wrong. In the observatory stands the world’s tallest sundial and dozens of other stone structures, which were actually very intricate and ingenious astrological tools. The tallest sundial was built because the observatory’s first dial was off by 22 seconds. The maharaja of the time wanted better accuracy and thus had the tallest sundial constructed. It is off by 2 seconds.
That night we got to visit an ethnic village carnival. This was originally an unscheduled event but after much persuasion by our guide, a Rajasthan local, we decided to give it look. Keep in mind this was a carnival seldom heard of by tourists. Basically us 5 white Americans turned a lot of heads walking through. It was a blast and beyond. Within the first 3 minutes, two women approached a friend and I eager to have their photos taken with them. We walked around watching crazy Indian dancers move wildly about the stage while balancing bowls of fire on their heads. We listened to different bands play and sign chants of the community as children danced about. A group of Indian women invited us to join them for a truly unique dinner. We tasted different spices and delicacies of the culture that made our taste buds dance off our tongues. It was an experience like none other. Unfortunately the photos from that evening are on a friend’s camera but I will post them as soon as I get them. Just recapping it here makes me want to be there right now!
By noon the following day, we had gotten through a quick 3-hour flight to Cochin where the ship was berthed. Cochin was a really great town and was nothing like the places of northern India. It was a lot less touristy, a lot hotter (mid 80’s at night, mid 90s during the day…and that’s excluding the 90% humidity), and just all around fun. With only a few hours in the day to take advantage of, I took a ferry over to Jew Town, named after its history with Jewish settlers. I checked out the royal palace and the city’s only remaining synagogue. It was an eventful day but by 6:00pm I was back on board, set sail by 8:00pm and was passed out by 8:30pm.
India was more fascinating than I can put on paper. The first draft of this blog crept past 3 and half pages so for your viewing pleasure I went and cut some information out. The experience went beyond a point that I can describe. Their culture, history, religion, and just general way of life is so head spinning and captivating, it’s difficult to leave it all. I urge you, loyal readers, to pack your bags and an open mind and submerge yourself in this land. It will show parts of the world that you couldn’t imagine existed. If I had one complaint about our visit it was simply the lack of time. After charting our tour on a map I saw that we only covered the teeny tiniest most itty bitty fraction of the country, meaning there’s an unfathomable amount of fascination waiting to be seen out there. Again, I am incredibly fortunate to have been there. There were several moments though that were just heart wrenching. Poverty plagues much of the country and bearing witness to some of it was very moving. What’s worse is that tourists like us were urged by our professors, guides, and locals not to give to the any of the hundreds of beggars we encountered. Giving to legitimate charities is the only way to make a true impact.
Annnnnd scene! There it is people. India in 5 minutes. We are currently on our seven-day sail en route to Port Louis, Mauritius where we will spend only a night. It is with great sadness that I tell you that our half waypoint of the trip has come and gone and that Ft. Lauderdale is only 49 days away. Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana and Brazil are still ahead but those will quickly pass us by.
I have recovered from an unpleasant stomach bug (I made the rookie mistake of having ice in a drink at a local restaurant…) and am feeling great. I thank you once again for making it this far and hope that all of you are doing wonderfully at home. I look forward to hearing from some of you soon. I will post some brief updates before Mauritius but until then dear friends, take care!
- Chris Constantine
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
DAY 51...what?!
Greetings blog stalkers!
Just another brief update from the Indian Ocean! We made it through the Strait of Malacca safe and sound but we are fortunate because a small cruise liner was attacked by pirates in that very strait nearly a day after we were out of it. I do not think they were successful but it still keeps us on our toes!
We are less than 2 days out from Chennai, the weather is hot, the seas are calm and everything is going wonderfully. My travel plans through India have been finalized and I am in for one great trip. Our first stop is to Delhi from which we will make our way to the Taj Mahal that is must see in India, and then it’s over to Jaipur for some more exploring. Unfortunately I do not have the itinerary with me at the moment but there is a third city on the list whose name I have forgotten. Our plans there are to visit a tiger reserve and then ride elephants! I am very excited for what should be a great 6 days in an exotic place.
A few days ago were the infamous SAS Sea Olympics. The 4 residential decks on board are divided up in to 9 different seas (I have the privilege of being in the Bering Sea). Each voyage there is a mighty battle of the seas that goes down in the Sea Olympics. Each Sea, pumped with spirit and excitement, competes in a numerous events throughout the day all competing for first place. Unfortunately our sea did not win but everyone on board had a blast competing. The day was topped off with a huge BBQ on our top deck (and ribs where the meat just fell off the bone) and a completely spontaneous pool party. I believe we managed to fit close to 120 people in a pool that’s about 15ft x 12ft. As you can imagine it was pretty packed but quite fun to say the least. The following day the fun came to screeching halt when I had 2 tests to get through. However, those are in the past and now it’s smooth sailing until India!
The other morning we passed by the Nicobar Islands, which are right outside the Strait of Malacca. They were beautiful to see, especially the one we got closes too which had a huge abandoned ship washed up on shore. That same day I was lucky enough to see 2 dolphins swimming alongside the ship. It was the first marine life I’ve seen so far.
We are all starting to realize the speed of this trip now. We are just days away from the half way point! Few of us can believe that we’re already reaching India and apparently once Mauritius is done the trip flies even faster. It has already been one hell of a ride and we still have more to go.
I hope everyone at home is doing great. Tune in soon for some pictures of our arrival in Chennai and a post India visit update. Take care all!
- Chris
Friday, March 5, 2010
gunships outside my window
No seriously, there are. I see two of them! And they’re from the Singapore Navy. Now, you be reading this and asking, “Chris, why are there such powerful pieces of machinery floating alongside our kind and peaceful ship?” Four words: The Strait of Malacca. We were stopped for most of the day today while our ship was anchored and refueled just off the coast of Singapore (it was a great tease not being able to go ashore). During that time we were joined by 2 gun ships from the Singapore Navy (photo above) who will be by our side for the next few days as we trek through the Strait of Malacca. Many of you may not know this but earlier this morning a terror threat was announced for the Strait of Malacca on all ships passing through there (i.e. us). The threat comes from a tip regarding terrorist groups targeting oil tankers traveling through the Strait. While this is a bit concerning seeing as there are oil tankers everywhere and that nearly 15 million barrels of oil are carried through the strait every day, I urge you not to be concerned because we are being kindly escorted by some pretty fierce navy ships. You can check out more of the story under the “World” section on cnn.com. We should be out of the strait in a few days time, safe and sound. I heard all this today and after checking it out online I saw that it wasn’t the product of an outrageous rumor.
Anyways, I thought it’d make for any exciting post. Other than that, everything is going just fine and we are all eager to get to India (in about 6 more days). The weather is getting incredibly hot as we near the equator but we have to get used to it for India! I hope everything at home is going well with you and I will check back in once more before landing at our 6th port! Take care friends and family, I miss you all!
- Chris
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Vietnamese child selling some goods to our boat
And the picture below is of some locals making a tasty rice treat (similar to a rice krispie).
Vietnamese Adventures
Hello once again and thank you for tuning in!
I thought long and hard today about how to begin talking about Vietnam but I have failed. That alone says a lot about this particular country. First, I’d like to state that I did not get to see nearly as much as I wanted to but the parts that I did get to explore were fascinating.
We arrived at the mouth of the Saigon River early morning of 26th and motored up stream for several hours before docking around 9:00am. At 10 we were cleared for customs and off I went. I traveled with a smaller group this time after learning that touring in small numbers makes the day much easier and keeps it more action packed. Our first stop was to chow down on some traditional Vietnamese “Pho” (pronounced like “fu” from that naughty f-word… if that makes any sense). It’s a soupy/ noodle dish mixed with your choice of meet and veggies. It sounds like a bit much for 10:00am but it’s actually a common Vietnamese breakfast.
Fortunately for us, this noodle place happened to be located a mere minutes walk from the port so after we ate we still had to face the daunting task of… get ready for this… crossing the street! Now, you may be thinking that crossing the street is just crossing the street however when you’re stepping off a curb in to a frenzy of speeding motorbikes and cars it’s a whole new ballgame. Even crosswalks across the busiest of streets had no cross signals. Before we disembarked we heard from a US Consulate Officer and his advice was “cross slowly and confidently.” With emphasis on the “confidently.” The rule of the game was to start crossing, walk at a slow and consistent pace, and for the sake of your wits do not look at the horde of motorbikes descending upon you. It’s kind of a wonder how I managed to survive the dozens and dozens of street crossings but the Vietnamese have it pretty well figured out. Speaking of motorbikes, what better way to get around the city than hopping on the back of one of those bikes with some local at the…wheel? Handlebar? And cruise to your destination for barely $1 USD? Regular taxis were always available but motorbike was my personal choice of getting around. After breakfast we hopped a few bikes and cruised over to one of the city’s must see markets. It was a wild place with lots of bargaining to be done, smells to enjoy, and humidity to suck the sweat right out of you! Following the market we headed to the War Remnants Museum. While it was a much different sight than Hiroshima, its emotional value was quite similar. The museum carries you through 2 levels of photographs, descriptions, and artifacts and exhibits all depicting war atrocities committed by the US Military during the Vietnam War (known there as the American War). The museum ends by leading you too a mock POW camp where you witness, in graphic detail, what it was like to be an imprisoned VC. For the sake of your stomach I won’t get in to any detail but it was certainly made the horrors of war all too real. Down the street from the museum stood the Reunification Palace, which was stormed during the war and marked the fall of Saigon. By early evening we headed back to the ship for a much-needed shower then visited the historical Rex Hotel rooftop for some drinks. The roof of this hotel served as a major evacuation point for US Soldiers after the fall of the city. In fact, a professor/ veteran on board was able to recap some dramatic war memories from there.
The next morning I was up quite early and boarded a bus for an overnight trip at the Mekong Delta. It was probably one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen. Located about 2 hours from Saigon, the Mekong Delta is one of the countries most essential rivers, known best as one of main sources of rice. I hope my photos will do it some justice but otherwise it’s hard to describe. It’s one of those places that you have to see to understand. Aside from its uniqueness and beauty it’s a pretty poor area. Once there, we took a 3 hour river boat tour up and down the delta stopping off at various points to taste some of the local fruits, see how a coconut candy was made, and get an overall sense of the culture. On the morning of the second day we were back out on the river by 7:00am to check out the floating market. It’s best to see it in the morning during its busiest time and despite how crazy it looks it’s a really fun ride. Fisherman and farmers motor down to the delta with their fresh catches and produce, anchor in the middle of the river, and sell their goods all day. The environment was exciting and fun to check out. However, global warming is quite haunting for it’s inhabitants because 1m in sea level rise will displace 6 million people.
My favorite day was when I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels located about 70km north of Saigon. Built by Cu Chi fighters during the Vietnam War, the tunnels served as hiding spots for the VC, taking shelter from heavy US bombing. There’s over 200km worth of tunnel and we saw only a small fraction of it. It’s located in what used to be pretty thick jungle but is now sparse from being blown to bits by bombing (noted by massive bomb craters located all over). Only a few segments were open for tourists and we got as far as 6m deep. Aside from its extreme humidity, they were lots of fun to crawl around in. As you’ll see in my photo being a 6’3” Vietnamese soldier would’ve had huge disadvantages when it came to being down there. Our guide, standing at just over 5’ flew threw these narrow tubes as a friend and I struggled through most of it. The bats fluttering by, hitting your head and flying in to your body add to the experience. Our last tunnel was about 30m long and even though that doesn’t sound tough, squatting through it was quite the challenge, but wlll worth it. To top it off we were brought to a gun range where we chose from a big selection of different weapons used during the war. It was my first time shooting a Colt-45 and an M-60 and I was blown away (no pun intended). The sheer power of those things, even from just one shot, is pretty absurd. I wish I could upload some video of these things in action. Afterwards, we headed back to Saigon, grabbed some food and boarded the ship to leave for India.
As you can see, Vietnam is a pretty fun place. I don’t think this post does it nearly enough justice but I highly recommend visiting. If you’re ever looking for an adventure and feeling spontaneous, Vietnam is the place to go.
We left for India early this morning and after a quick fuel stop off the coast of Singapore, we’ll arrive in Chennai in about 7 days. I am doing wonderfully, feeling a little crummy but that’s okay, and am missing everyone from home! I have a pretty busy few days at sea but I will try and update once more before India. Thank you all for reading and stay tuned for more updates to come. I hope you are all well!
- Chris
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)- DAY 44
Good morning one and all!
I do not know where to being describing my time in Vietnam. My friend asked me this evening to lay out this country in two words and all that came to mind was “wonderfully outrageous.” I mean that in every good way possible. This has by far been one of the most eye opening and exciting countries I’ve ever visited and am incredibly grateful that I was able to experience it.
If any of you enjoy cliffhangers then you will enjoy this post because it is at its end. We are all safely back on the ship this evening (it’s currently 10:54pm, March 2nd) and we will be departing at 6:00am tomorrow. I am unimaginably tired as you read this and feel that I must treat my body to a night with more than 4 hours of sleep. But, I give to you my vow for a greater, more epic update at some point tomorrow and shall include some enjoyable photographs. I will leave you with one now just to get a taste of what I’ve been up to. However, until then dear friends good morning to you and have a terrific day.
- Chris
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