India and Singapore

My India experience in a nutshell:

The drivers are crazy. They don’t pay any attention to lanes… There might as well be 5 lanes instead of 3. The auto-rickshaws are tiny and you feel like they could break down any second. But I got to drive one for a minute or two (not by choice—my driver told me to drive, and when I politely declined he took his hands off the wheel... I learned fast). The rickshaws (bicycles pulling a 2 seater cart that can fit 4 Indians) are exactly that—rickety. I felt like I might fall out too many times for my liking.

The food wasn’t as bad as expected. I would even go as far to say that it was pleasant at times (though we did get Chinese food one day, and McDonalds another).

The smells were not too bad either. There was this one bridge that we had to cross every time we left and got back to our port that smelled like it might be above a sewage plant, but other than that, I smelled more incense and spices than anything bad.

I got to see the Taj Mahal, and it was absolutely breathtaking. And I went on a boat on the Ganges River and saw cremation ceremonies and people bathing in the river that they consider to be holy and sin cleansing. I even dipped my hand in the water and trickled some onto my head—not the full effect, but I wasn’t trying to get some disease. They throw all of the cremated bodies’ ashes into the river. And some bodies (children under 12, pregnant women, and people that died of a snakebite) that don’t get cremated get thrown in whole…

Shopping was intense. I got so much for so little! There are about 45 rupees to a dollar, so it was great for us.


The day after we left India was called Neptune day.  There are these three steps to transform us from “pollywogs” into “shellbacks” which were a little ridiculous and I didn’t participate in them, but everything was a lot of fun to watch. Step 1: get doused in “fish guts” (slimy goo) and jump into the pool. Step 2: kiss a fish (it was a dead fish). Step 3: Option to shave your head. We also didn’t have class this day, so I quite enjoyed it.


Singapore was a complete 180 from India. It was clean and civilized and so modern. You will get fined if you spit, chew gum, jay walk, litter, and don’t flush the toilet. But my roommates and I spent our day shopping and eating and eating some more and then we went to a karaoke bar, which was hilarious!


With everything that’s been happening in Japan, we changed our itinerary. We’re now going to Taiwan… So if anyone knows of anything fun to do there, PLEASE let me know. I’m sure whatever we do will be fun there, so I’m trying not to be a Debbie Downer like a lot of people on the ship are. They think it’s going to be too similar to China, but whatever.  I do feel bad for the 20 something Chinese students on the ship that are going to have a hell of a time trying to get into Taiwan.


Ok, that’s all for now; we’re about to dock in Vietnam now! So I’m off to do some more shopping!! (Just wanted to give Susie something to read in class :P)

Almost India

Yesterday was the halfway point of the trip. I’m sad and surprised that it’s already gone this fast. It literally feels like we just left Ghana and that was a month ago. But we get to India tomorrow, and to say I’m excited is the understatement of the year. I did manage to bring 3 overstuffed suitcases full of clothing inappropriate for India though. The only things I have that are acceptable are sweatpants and tee shirts. It’s a good thing that my flight to Delhi doesn’t leave until 7:45 pm the first day, so I’ll hopefully have some time to go shopping and buy a sari or two… or at least some linen pants.

After Delhi, I’m going to Varanasi, and Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). I really wanted to go in the Ganges River in Varanasi (Hindus believe that the water will cleanse all of your sins away if you bathe in the river, and I thought it would be a cool experience) but then I was told that not only are people’s ashes thrown into the river, but also some dead bodies. Apparently there are so many people that want their ashes thrown into the river after their death, that they don’t have time to burn everyone’s body completely. So they will cremate half of a body and just dump the remains into the river. I think I’ll just stick to watching everyone else cleanse their sins.

I went to a lecture on Indian culture last night and learned some important facts. You can’t use your left hand… EVER. Don’t wear leather (not that I even brought any on this trip) and always step into a room with your right foot first. I also learned (confirmed my belief) that I will not like Indian food. All of the inter-port students (students that live in India that met us on the ship in Mauritius to tell everyone things that we couldn’t find in guide books) said that pretty much everything is spicy. I like hot food, but not curry. It’s going to be a lot of naan for me in the next week! I’ve been stocking up on mini boxes of cereal from breakfast too though, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.
On another note, I’m finally getting wireless internet in my room! For a while, it seemed like literally everyone but our part of the ship was getting wifi, but we finally have it, so I’m writing this while lying on my bed!

Ummmm… some other random things from the past week or so:

We stopped at Diego Garcia a few days ago to drop off 2 students that needed to be flown to Singapore to get medical treatment. It’s a British military base in the Indian Ocean that is fairly top secret. We were instructed by the captain not to take pictures under any circumstances (though I know some people definitely did). But I’m told that you can google the island and get info on it (I wouldn’t know since we don’t have internet though).

I let my friend Chance give me a haircut. I decided it wasn’t worth it to pay $40 for just a trim. I was a little nervous, but he did a really good job.

I’m fasting for 24 hours. A group of students on the ship is doing it to promote knowledge about starvation in India. The poorest 5 states in India have more starvation than the poorest 26 countries in Africa. And these people are all living on less than $1.25 a day. I’ve been sans food since 6:30 pm last night, and it’s only 2 pm here (we’re 10 and a half hours ahead of Pittsburgh now) but so far, so good.