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