India!

Where do I begin to talk about India… Other than being a little dirty, warm, humid, and have a unique smell, it was pretty much awesome! haha
The first day we were there I had a few things on my agenda, first being to exchange my US Dollar into Indian Rupees. Then find a group of friends to cruise around town with and go shopping and explore the city life and then go out with friends that night in Chennai. I accomplished my first task with relative ease. The next one was interesting to figure out because most of my friends were doing an FDP or already left. But luckily I found a pretty chill group that wanted to do the same thing I was doing. It was a group of girls that consisted of Bailey, Genevieve, and Tracy. They are pretty chill to say in the least. So from there we proceeded to get a taxi into town. This was a bit interesting to do because we first had to haggle a price and once we did we had to walk about 10-15 minutes to get to the rickshaws. They walk was not that bad, though it was warm and dusk was flying everywhere and trucks and cars were coming every which way possible, so I t was pretty much a great way to start off the day. Out fist stop we made was this clothing store which had what I was looking for and that was traditional Indian clothing. I am not going to lie, it is pretty legit. Baby blue top with white pants, so sick, I’m stoked to where it. From there we hit up this mall in the inner city and walked around there for a little bit and got some lunch. I got a meal called chicken ’69, it was quite delicious to say in the least. We then made our way to the Pundi Bazaar, now this was the place to be to see the culture and lifestyle of the Indian people. It was a long street filled with stores (mainly gear towards women, but now and again found a few shops for me), they had little knickknacks i.e. scarves, bracelets, and clothing. After that it was time to head back to the ship to get ready for the night. That night we were rolling deep with a group of people, it consisted of Rebecca, Grills, Martin, Flicker, Jimmy, Katie, Natalie, Abby, Austin and Tyler. All legit people, which meant it was going to be a good night.
The next day was where I started on my adventure in India, which consisted of the Taj, Agra Fort, a couple of forts, as well as some Sikri’s, a tour around Delhi as well as other places. That morning was a little rough getting up because our departure from the ship was at 0615, which meant I had to get up around 0530 to pack the rest of my stuff and grad some grub. The group that I was in was pretty cool to say in the least, I knew a handful of people, which was a good thing. The group was 30 strong, nice small group, but a fun one. Once we got onto the bus we made our way to the airport to transfer to New Delhi. It was about a 3 hour flight, so not too bad but still not fun at the same time. we arrived in New Delhi, checked into our rooms and had lunch buffet style, it was delicious, just had too much nan and delicious food. We then transferred to the Gandhi memorial/museum and got to walk in his last foot stops and see where he was assassinated. Very breathtaking scenery with a lot of history behind it, we then drove around the city and saw the Parliament House and the India war liberty monument (it was constructed for the 90000 India soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British in the WW1). We then made our way to a Shiki Temple, now this place was legit, we had to take off our socks and shoes and where a covering over our head in respects of the people and the religion. We walked around and observed the temple and the people inside worshiping. From there we transferred back to the hotel and had dinner (buffet style yet again, it was delicious as well). After dinner I went back up to the room and started to Cricket (which is a religion to the Indian people) and passed out while watching the game. Haha.
The next morning we had to get up at the crack of dawn (0515) to transfer to Agra via train. The train took about three hours to get there but once we did, the best part of the trip in India began. But before we got to the really exciting stuff we made our way to the Cottage Industries Exposition, which was where they sold Kashmir carpets, which were made in Kashmir India. Haha, which I think is pretty legit. We learned about how they were made and how long each carpet takes to make. After lunch we made our way to Agra Fort! This place was so cool!! The history behind it makes it even better. But the best part of the Agra Fort is that you can see the Taj Muhal from there (I am sure you guys know that already but to experience it is soooo sick!!!). As we were leaving we met up with some friends who were doing an independent trip. It was nice to see them. Alright so now we are off to go see the… wait for it…. Waaaaiit foooor iiit… waaaaaaaiiiiiit foooooor iiiiiiiit…. you know just this white building… PSYCH!! THE FREAKIN’ TAJ MUHAL!!! I cannot even begin to describe to you what I was setting my eyes on. The area was so vast and the Taj Muhal was just there in front of me, I had pause for a second to fully take it in (well more than just a second… lol). You know you love your wife when you build something that big in remembrance of her. And yes I did do a baby freeze in the front of the Taj. Haha. Took so many pictures, I am smiling as I writing this write now because I still can’t believe that I was actually there. The reflection pool was so cool. The pictures came out great, and we got to see the sun set on the Taj, which was also really cool to see. After that we headed back to the hotel for the night and just kicked it there.
The next day we had another early morning wakeup call (0700). From there we made our way to the Fatehpur Sikri, which is a deserted red sandstone city built by Emperor Akbar. This place amazing, the architecture and the vastness of this place was amazing to see. In the middle courtyard there was a tabletop sort of looking thing, come to find out this was where they played Parcheesi and the pieces they used to play with were his concubines (that’s right, his concubines, so I am going to assume that he had a lot to play around with… haha). Oh and I did another freeze and a handstand there and of course I did it on the tabletop. But back to the story at hand; took a handful of pictures and just took it all in, and by the time we were leaving we met up with the SASers who were on the trip and they all looked tired. We then made out way back to the hotel to check out of the hotel and have some lunch. After lunch we then proceeded to wait in the lobby for an hour or so waiting for the bus to get back from where ever he was. After the long we made our way to Mother Terresa’s Ashram. Met some interesting children there, I got to play with the babies and I got to hold one, he was sooo adorable, he brightened up my day for little time we were able to be there for. We then departed and had dinner at pizza hut, now just to let you know this was no ordinary pizza hut, it had a full menu of with different types of food other than pizza; it also a sit down restaurant to boot. After dinner we made our way to the train station to transfer to New Delhi. Got back to the hotel and just kicked it there for the night.
The next was a lot of traveling and waiting around for things to be put into motion. We had yet another early wakeup call 0800ish. Got to the airport on time and got situated in my seat (not much leg room this time..) but luckily we had a layover somewhere and we had more people depart then get on, so I found a whole row empty and I took it for myself. It made the trip go by so fast, fell asleep 5 minutes after we took off and woke up 5 minutes before we landed. Lol. Got back to the ship dropped off my stuff in my room and met up with a few friends and went out for the night to Fort Cochin and had a grand time chillin with the locals. We rolled deep with 8 and took the town by storm. Haha
The last and final day in India was spent in the town formally named Cochin, now named Kochi and hung out with Mr. Robbins and Rebecca and walked around MG Road and Broadway Street. It was nice and relaxing to just walk around and hang out with the locals and shop. After a good couple of hours exploring the city we headed back to the ship to unwind and get ready for our next port.
Overall India was awesome!! The history of the country was amazing and the sights I got to see will be forever part of me. The people I traveled with and met throughout my stay in India made the trip that much better. I could not ask for a better time there. So now we are on our way to Mauritius. We will be there in less than a week, though we will only be there for 2 days and 1 night it will be a blast. This little island will be a buffer and a time to relax before we hit the next three ports. Oh by the way I am now on my home, I have hit the half way mark in my trip and it is crazy and scary to think about… It is just like last time start from the last picture and goes up from there because that is the order of my adventures. More updates to come :D

Good Morning Vietnam

Where do I begin… pretty much I was a millionaire in Vietnam. HAHA. The exchange rate was amazing. For 1 US Dollar it equated to roughly 19000 Dong (and yes many innuendos were made in this country). Alright to give you a little more background on Vietnam, I first must tell you about the traffic laws there… well for starters they have them but they really do not enforce them. They have signals but many of them do not follow them, and crossing the street is quite the adventure as well because they really do not have crossing signals to let people know when to cross. So… basically you just walk across and hope you do not get hit. Luckily most of the Vietnamese drivers are on motorcycles (mopeds) and they are very good at maneuvering around the people, just as long as they do not stop, hesitate, or do something unnatural while crossing the street, you will be fine. A little shout out to Chandler and Brian, I did what you said about how to cross the street. lol
Ok, so back to the story at hand. First thing that happened when I stepped out into the Vietnamese air was uncontrollable sweet. It was about 800 F, with about 90% humidity…. Yuck to say in the least (also wearing an undershirt did not help as well). The group that I hung out with that day was Jose, Melinda, Sara, Tolin, and Thomas. Pretty rad group if I might add. Our first stop was the bank to exchange US Dollars into Dong. From there we made our way to a tailor shop to look at suits (now these were no ordinary suit here, these suits were going to handcrafted to fit you and you only, which is pretty sick if you ask me). Sadly though I did not get one and I do not regret it one bit. From there we met a man named Ding (true story), and we asked him where we could get some good Pho. So he proceeded to take us to Pho24 and it was bomb.com. After the delicious Pho we headed to “the market” and sweated some more. Walked up and down aisles knockoff products and other random trinkets (anything you could think of it was probably going to be there). After we had our fun in the market Ding picked us up and took us around the city (full day service was 5 US Dollars, pretty sweet deal). First stop was independence hall, from there I got on the back of a motorbike and made my way over to Handicap Handcrafts which is a place for people disabled do to the Vietnam war are able to work and what they make is truly amazing (they use egg shells and oyster shells). We then made our way the Vietnam War Museum. This place was depressing to walk into because it showed the horrific side to the war from their perspective. We then hit up the night market for a little bit, and then made our way to another delicious Pho dinner. Soooooo good :D
Today was the day I set out on my adventure to the Mekong Delta. Had to get up early to meet with my group whom I going to be spending the next three days with. Luckily I knew a few people there (Arturo and Stephanie). It was but a small group on this trip which was nice. We then proceeded on our way to our first stop, which was Cai Be. We traveled by boat along the Mekong Delta to get there, which was pretty sweet to say in the least. We made a few stops along the way; they included: a dumpling rice paper shop and where they make the fish oil is made. We also made our way to a little factory where they make coconut taffy treats and rice crispy’s (and no, not the one sold in America). We then made our way to a Bonsai tree market. Then made our way to where we were going to be spending the night. This place was legit! We were going to be sleeping on a house that is on stilts on the Mekong Delta!! How awesome is that?!?!? Once we got there, first order of business was to unpack and put our swimsuits on, cause we were going swimming… in the MEKONG DELTA! AAAAHHHHH. Felt so good. Epic pictures and videos of this awesome experience; that night was a night of dinner and a show. It was delicious. After the dinner and show we passed out early from the long day and heat exhaustion.
“What a Beautiful Morning” was playing in my head when I woke up this on the Mekong Delta. After a breakfast that consisted of bread, jelly, and omelets, we headed on our way to the craziest market you will see in your life. They had everything from fruit to livestock (and yes I said livestock), which consisted of duck, chicken, pig, snake, fish, frogs, crab, squid, octopus and many others. Everything was fresh, ready to be sold and then eaten. True story… this lady ordered this fish (kinda looked like a little shark) weighed it and then proceeded to take a piece of wood and whack it in the head a few time and then cut the fins off and then finished cutting it up. Soooooo crazy; not going to lie. Lol. We then made our way to a few Pagodas in Soc Trang, where we got to see where the monks worship. From there we returned to our hotel in Can Tho. Unpacked our stuff and head to dinner; we had some delicious food at Sao Hom. From there a group of us left dinner to go and explore Con Tho ourselves, this group consisted of Matt, Mike, Arturo, McKenna, Betsy, JD, Carson, and Sara. We made our way this coffee/karaoke bar and chilled there for a little bit. Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel and called it a night early, because tomorrow we are making our way the floating market.
Waking up in the morning was a little rough because I was super exhausted from the previous days. So basically I slept through all the alarms, but luckily my roommate made sure I got up in time to get some breakfast and whatnot. We then proceeded to make our way to the Mekong Delta in Cai Rang floating market. This place was crazy! Boats upon boat upon boats of fruit sellers and vendors, we met up with one boat and had some bomb pineapple, the way they cut it and presented it made it taste even better. We said goodbye to the floating market and made our way to a house that makes the instant noodle (aka Pho). After that we left and made our way back to the hotel to check out and grab some lunch. After lunch we made our way back to the ship. Our tour guide said it was going to take about 4-5 hours to get back… oh joy. Luckily someone had a music player, so we got to jam out to some good music while we were waiting to get onto the ferry (that in its self took a good hour or so). After we got off the ferry is was smooth sailing from there, it just was going to take a while. We finally made it back to the ship in like 4 hours, so not too shabby. I then proceeded to head to my room and unpack and see what others were up to for the night. Met up with some friends and got some Pho, then proceeded to hit the town and to see where the night will take us.
The last day in Vietnam was going to be a nice and relaxing one. First thing I did was have lunch with Rebecca, Natalie, Austin, and Tyler. After that we made our way to the city. Exchanged some US Dollar for some Dong, we then had our first mission and that was to get DVDs. Austin, Natalie, Rebecca, and I made our way to a DVD store and spent easily 2 hours there. Found so many but I had to resist because I still had to buy what I set out to get in the first place which were: postcard, magnet and a Zippo. After we purchased our DVDs, Austin and Natalie split ways and headed back to the ship. So Rebecca and I headed to the market to get a few nick-knacks. I picked up some silk pants (so sick! And so comfy and light), we puddle around the market for a little bit longer and then we made our way to a pastry shop (they are famous for their pastries and they were correct. Haha. We then made our way back to where the shuttle was and on our way back I picked up a few Ray Bands and my souvenirs I have been meaning to get. Took a shower and crashed early because it was a long and hot day with a lot of walking.
Overall Vietnam was hot and humid… but amazing at the same time. I got to see a lot of cool things and got to experience many more with my friends. We now are on our way to India, it going to be a nice long stretch this time, we have sailed for a few days and have a few days left. The weather has been amazing thus far, sunny and warm. I am excited to see what India has to offer. It is just like last time start from the last picture and goes up from there because that is the order of my adventures. More updates to come :D