Cochin-->Delhi

13 March 2012

            Another airline on another continent.  We (me, Colleen, Abby) got off the ship and negotiated with a taxi driver on the price to get to the airport.  Since it was 4:30am and no one else was around, he was able to rip us off.  We drove through the heart of Cochin and I stayed focused on the road and the surroundings.  Even though I was exhausted and feeling crappy from my food the night before, I refused to take my eyes off the road.  There was no one around at this time; the city actually sleeps. After our driver sped through what little traffic there was, honking at anyone we passed or wanted to pass, we got to the airport.  In order to even step inside the lobby, we needed to have an e-ticket with our confirmation and proof of purchase.  Colleen did not have hers, so we had to explain to the security guard that spoke broken English what our situation was.  I was convinced we weren't all going to make it on the plane at that point.  After pointing and using multiple hand gestures, he finally understood and she got it printed and made it into the lobby.

            The security checkpoint has two different lines: one for male, another for female. After we placed our bag on the belt to go through the x-ray machine, we walked through the metal detector. Even if it went off, the security officials would ignore it and use a hand-held detector and frisk us in a curtained-off room.  Once we were through security, they stamped our luggage tags to verify that the bag has been through security.  How would a bag even make it through security without being checked?  The airport was filled with SASers going on all kinds of trips all over the country.  We were going to Delhi and Agra.  Many were doing the same thing but some went to Jaipur as well.  We boarded our flight to Chennai, where we had a layover on our way to Dubai.  Of course I got stuck next to one of the only fat men in India. Most of the people on the airplane were men. Indians have a very different view on women than we, as a western country, do.  Very few women are high up in the corporate ladder and many stay at home with their children.  They still go to school for continuing education, but their main goal and purpose is to reproduce and serve their husbands and extended family.

            Once we arrived in Chennai, I ventured into the bathroom. There was a long line I've noticed Indians have been cutting me, so when the door marked 'IWC' opened, I ran into the bathroom.  I should've waited for what was behind the door marked 'EWC'.  I thought the 'EWC' was the normal toilet and I was definitely correct.  'IWC' was a hole in the floor that looked like a urinal flipped upside down.  I put my feet on the marks on the side, pulled down my pants, and prayed I would not fall in.  After successfully aiming away from my feet, I carefully stepped forward and lifted up my pants.  There was a hose in the bathroom and every other bathroom I went to; still not sure of the purpose.  I walked out of the bathroom in shock.  The Indian women had smiles that were mixtures of snickers, confusion, and pity.

            Still shocked from peeing in a hole, after I went through security again I was hungry.  I knew I had to buy packaged goods in order to stop feeling sick.  I bought a bottle of water and a can of Pringles and went back to my seat.  As I opened the bottle of water, I listened for the clicks when the plastic breaks. It made the comforting noise and I enjoyed my first sip of water of the day.  The Pringles can was a different story.  I opened the top, expecting to peel off the second 'fresh-keeper' label.  To my astonishment and horror, the top was already opened and half of the Pringles were gone.  At first I was just going to throw away the can and not eat anything.  Then I got angry.  Did they think that because I'm not Indian that I wouldn't notice the lack of chips or freshness?  I marched up to the snack counter and explained that half the chips were gone and that it was previously opened.  He examined the contents then handed me a new can.  I expected him to throw away the obviously used can of Pringles, but instead he placed the can back on the shelves and started to help the next customer.

            I eventually got over the way they handled the Pringles situation and boarded the plane to Delhi.  Once we arrived in Delhi, we walked outside and were greeted by the driver for the hotel we were staying at, Aster Inn.  The driver was holding a sign with friend's name on it and I got really excited—I've always wanted someone to hold my name or my friend's name on a sign at an airport! The three of us got into the small car and drove through Delhi to our hotel. Throughout the drive we were weaving in and out of the lanes and at some points I swore we were in complete gridlock. After about a hundred honks of the horn and close calls with the tuc tucs and moped drivers, we made it to the hotel. 

            The hotel was in a weird area, surrounded by auto repair shops.  The front and inside of the hotel reminded me of a small hotel in NYC.  Everyone at the reception was really accommodating and friendly.  Once we placed our bags down and freshened up, we hailed down a tuc tuc to take us to Cannaught Place circle. The concierge at the hotel told us to only pay 50 rupees maximum to get to Cannaught Place, so when one driver told us it was going to be 200 rupees we walked away from him.  There were 5 tuc tucs following us, trying to get us to pay way more than we were advised to.  The drivers rip off the tourists because they know they can get more money from us.  One driver told us it would be 20 rupees to get to our location, so we hopped in his tuc tuc.  He took us to a store that was in a small circle of shops and we thought we were at the correct location.  Since we were sick of being hustled, we did not buy anything in the store and started to walk around the circle.  This was definitely not the right circle.  We walked around it at least 5 times, attempting to use the poorly written map and non-english speaking store owners to guide us.  Finally we understood where we were. We were about 2 kilometers away from our desired destination. Instead of risking the tuc tucs taking us to the wrong place again, we walked down the long road to the correct circle.  So much for attempting to pay less for a tuc tuc.

            Cannaught place was in a nicer part of town and was lined with many shops.  Similar to Times Square, it had many international brands of clothing and food.  We found a hookah bar and decided to have a snack and a drink. Women are frowned upon when they smoke and drink in India.  We made sure we were in a secluded location and ordered our first round of drinks and hummus. After our snack we walked around and shopped a little bit more. It was getting late so we asked a tuc tuc to take us back to our hotel. I showed him the hotel's business card and told him that's where we wanted to go.  He looked at it and read the directions on the back that were written in both Hindi and English and it became obvious he had no idea where we wanted to go.  Once we talked to about 5 different drivers and none of them knew where we wanted to go, we decided to try a different method. 

            We went to the metro and bought a ticket to the station closest to our hotel.  The metro was relatively clean and there are different cars for women. At first I was angry that they would separate us from the men but then I realized it was actually a blessing in disguise.  The men's car was much more crowded than the women's. We reached our destination successfully and walked down the stairs onto the main street.  Now we were lost. It was dark and there were barely any streetlights.  We walked back up the stairs and asked the metro security guards which way we should go to the hotel.  Again, they did not know how to read the directions on the back of the card and looked at us like we were martians.  We walked down the stairs and started to head in what we thought was the correct direction.  There was a man walking not too far ahead of us that looked around our age and was very nicely dressed.  We started to follow him because he looked like a generally reliable person.  After about 5 minutes he realized we were following him and turned around to ask us if we were lost.  Even though I didn't want to admit it, we were pretty lost.  We gave him our hotel's business card and he called the hotel to ask for directions.  Once he got the directions from the hotel he walked the three of us to our doorstep.  I found that people in India are generally nice, as long as they are not trying to get in your pockets. 

PS--I travelled for a total of 4 days with ONE BACKPACK. There are pictures to prove it. 

Cochin, India

12 March 2012

The smell was noticeable even before I stepped off the ship.   It wafted into my room and the first thing I said to Laney was "yeah, we're definitely in India".  We had to go through face-to-face immigration.  They looked at me, then my passport, then scrutinized.  Once they were sure I was who I say I am, the customes agents used all their muscle and jammed the stamp into the blue, gooey ink. They eyeballed the exact location and stamped my passport.  I was officially in India. Me, Laney, Jessica, and Kelsey went to the 5^th deck, armed with what we thought was socially and culturally sensitive clothing.  The carpet was lined with cardboard and plastic.  A sign that India is going to be dirty; the ship is prepared.  We stepped off, climbed down the stairs, and were greeted by women and men dressed in traditional clothing.  The women placed something on the middle of my forehead (no idea what it was, maybe some kind of spice), and the men performed for us.  They stood and danced, moving their heads in the Indian way, while we watched in astonishment.  Once we stepped out of the gates, the many rickshaw drivers attempting to take us to the 'tourist locations' attacked us.  This was really just a ploy to take us to their relative's store, in exchange for them receiving free petrol and a percentage of what the tourists spend.  We ran past the crowd to the tourist center.  He told us to go to Fort Cochin, which was just a short, cheap ferry ride across the river. 

            The ferry was only 2 rupees, which is equivalent to about 4 cents.   We were hassled on the way to the ferry: the men telling us it was no longer running, it wasn't going to take us to the shopping, or it was too expensive.  There was a point where a young man started to come up to me and I had to use my "football skills" to get past him. He thought it was very funny and continued to follow me, not leaving me alone until Laney stepped in between us and blocked him from me.  The ferry contained a variety of people.  There were men with bikes, on their way to work or home.  There was a large group of young women that were on their way to nursing school.  They were very friendly towards all of us.  We made it across the river in less than 10 minutes, said goodbye to our new friends, and leaped off the ferry.  We thought once we got past the large amount of scooter parking, which rivals UF's sorority row, we would be able to walk with ease to a marketplace.  There was no sidewalk at all. We tried weaving through cars but had no idea of what direction to go in.  We decided to give in to one of the many tuc-tucs following us.  He told us that he would bring us to a marketplace.  In the back of my mind I remembered what they had told us during pre-port about shopping, but I ignored it.        

            He took us to a store that sold women's saris and other traditional clothing.  They pulled about 30 different pieces of what looked like cloth off the shelves.  Once I picked one I liked, a team of 3 women started dressing me.  They each had their own idea of the best design for me, so it took twice as long as it should have.  They put a drawstring skirt on me and then knotted the end of the sari.  The knot was tucked into the right, front side of the skirt.  Then they brought the rest of the fabric around the front of my body to the back, leaving some excess material in the front.  They draped the excess material over my left shoulder.   Now came the pleating.  They pleated the material that was over my shoulder, as well as the excess they left I the front of my body.  They pleated and pinned, arguing with each other throughout the whole process.  I was fascinated by this interaction, but very worried about getting pricked with one of the pins.  I admired my new Indian garb, paid for it, then climbed back into the waiting tuc-tuc.

            He then took us to another shop that he made commission from, a government agency shop. The goods were over-priced, but we were able to bargain with them.  I bought a circular box with coasters insides and two strings of precious stones.  One was ruby and the other was sapphire.  I couldn't decide which one I wanted. Typical.  After spending way too much in that store (they tried to get my to buy silk rugs too), we went to a restaurant called Seaguls.  It was another tourist location.  I could tell by the overwhelming amount of SAS students enjoying lunch and the beautiful view of the polluted water.  We each tried something on the menu that sounded weird as well as a dish that sounded familiar.  I had cheese cherry pineapple and prawn coconut fry with a Kingfisher beer. After toasting to our meal and adventures in India with Pepto Bismal instead of alcohol, we started our meal.  All of the food was very good. The cheese cherry pineapple was a plate with weird looking cherries and pineapples with cheese sandwiches; the pineapple acting as the bread.  It was delicious and something I am going to try to create as a snack at home. We tried going to more markets after lunch, but the drivers kept taking us to more 'government agencies' so we asked him to take us back to the ship.  After the security officer took pictures of me wearing my new sari on her camera phone, I boarded the MV Explorer.

            I showered, changed, and went back out into India. The port was very different at night.  We walked to the tourist center with hopes that they would tell us where to go for dinner, but it was closed.  We then walked to a hotel that was actually a 5-star resort.  The scenery was beautiful and they had drinks, so we decided we would indulge for a little and watch the cultural performance, then go to Fort Cochin for dinner.  The drinks were good, but the cultural performance was sub-par.  The man that was performing for us did not blink while he danced to what sounded like traditional Indian music.  We left the hotel and took a tuc-tuc to the same restaurant I went to for lunch.  Again there were large quantities of SASers and we ordered way too much food.  The food was good and had a lot of flavor and spices.  I ate a lot of it, hoping I wasn't going to have to pay for it too much later.  I definitely paid for it.  That whole night I could barely sleep because of the spicy, gaseous food.  Delhi belly was here. 

MAURITIUS

7 March 2012
When they told us a few days before that we would not be making it off the ship in Mauritius, I was very upset. But thanks to ISE and the women in charge on the ship, we were able to get off the ship in Mauritius. We had a total of 4 hours in port and we made the most of it, or at least we tried to. We got a taxi to the beaches and I put my feet in the Indian Ocean. Mauritius is a beautiful place and many people go there for their honeymoons. We went to a market that was very similar to the straw market in Nassau, Bahamas. All of the beaches in Mauritius are public beaches, even in front of the hotels and resorts such as Club Med. I saw an advertisement for an energy drink: Drink and Drive…Energizing Mauritius. I thought it was a very different advertisement and is nothing like we would ever see in the US because of the association with alcohol consumption. The music that was playing in the taxi was a mixture between Indian and US music--like Akon with indian instruments in the background.

Mauritius Day (Not Mauritius)

6 March 2012
We were scheduled to go to Mauritius today, but because of two tropical cyclones off the coast of Madagascar, we had to slow down. We will not make it there until later this evening and as of now, we will not be able to get off the ship. Instead, they have planned activities throughout the day for us. We had a day of no classes and relaxing by the pool. At the end of the day, there was an announcement--we're going to Mauritius! Only for 4 hours, but at least it is something!

Vino, Vino, Vino

February 29, 2012

I had an FDP today to two wine vineyards in the Stellenboch region in South Africa.  I bought two bottles of wine and me and my friend enjoyed the bottles on the way back to the ship.  I couldn't believe that I was getting class credit for a wine tasting! I tried every kind of wine at each vineyard, even the brandy at Backsberg.

This is an excerpt from my field journal entry:

            "Wine is something that brings people from different races and cultures together." They are not permitted to add cane sugar, but they can add sugar that is produced from the grapes.  At no point are they allowed to add any type of sugar. White and red grapes are harvested at different times of the day because of the varying heat sensitivity of the grapes.  The amount of time needed to ferment also varies between white and red grapes.  Whites ferment at 12 degrees Celsius in about 6 days and oxygen is controlled to a minimum.  Reds ferment at a higher temperature, take less time, and produce more heat as a byproduct. To control the wine making process, different varieties of yeast are used in the fermenting process for different types of wine.  Consistency is very important between the different batches of wine because of the customer base.  Nelson's Estate exports to mostly European countries, so the marketing is mostly geared towards them. They never say it is a 'cheap' wine, they say it is a 'better priced' wine.  There are three different labels so they can enter three different levels of the market.  At the tasting, he wanted us to find the different flavors within the wine.  Everyone was told that they would find a different taste because we are all from different areas of the world.  This is a great example of the New World way of looking at wine, by using our taste.

            Backsberg Estate Cellars first produced grapes in the 1600s and early 1700s.  In 1916, Charles Back bought the farm and started producing wine.  Michael Back is now the third generation of proprietors and his son is currently learning about wine at university. The speaker in the tour focused on environmental sustainability and the different flavors within the wine. The terrior in South Africa is warm, so they bought land in a cooler climate in order to diversify the kinds of grapes they can grow. Making wine starts in the vineyard by knowing when to pick the grapes.  There are certain wines you cant make large quantities of and still keep the quality. 

            Backsberg exports to the United States, Canada, Europe, some African countries, China, and in some countries in the east. The company knows that wine is a very fashionable thing and with the change in fashion comes the change in tastes of wine.  South African wines are known for their drinkability now and ability to keep a little while since they are new world wines.  The French oak barrels are used for about three falls before they sell them to a smaller winery that reuses them.  "The terrior matters because it controls the taste of the wine".  This is a European abstract notion that the region affects the quality of the wine.  It was obvious that the environment mattered a lot to Backsberg estate, mostly because the conditions around the grapes change the terroir of the wine.  During harvest time between January and April, they taste the grapes to see what are the best possible qualities and those grapes go into the family reserve.

            Backsberg related mostly to the European market but was able to adjust for us, as New World consumers.  They adjusted their descriptions of the wine from terrior to taste.   In 2006, Backsberg became one of only three wineries in the world to achieve a Carbon Neutral status.  This is evidence of their commitment to sustainability and the love for our environment. "The enjoyment of a great bottle of wine should never be at the cost of the environment", said Michael Back.

            

Safari Adventures

February 26, 2012

There's a fine line between wanting to record my encounters and wanting to experience them.  It's hard to sit there and think, "I really need to remember this", while at the same time experience everything around me. We arrived to Johannesburg today on a flight that left very early from Cape Town. The drive to the safari was about 6 hours long, with stops at a restaurant and bathroom breaks.  When we finally got to Tremesana Lodge in a game reserve, we were exhausted.  They fed us impala, maize, split pea soup, and other typical game reserve cuisine.  After our dinner and wine, we went on a night drive where we saw our first wild animals.  There was a large herd of wildebeest (gnu) and impala.  The sight was awe-inspiring because I have never really seen any mammals in their natural habitat. It's hard to think of these animals as wild because there is a gate around the reserve that not only keeps the poachers out, but the animals in.  The gate deters some poachers, but not every one and there are still killings in every reserve in South Africa.  The most obvious prey is the rhino, because their horns are worth millions of dollars.  There is a huge group of people trying to stop this horrible act since the rhinos are very endangered.  In fact, I watched a documentary before I got off the ship that said the white rhino was not spotted for a couple of months and they thought the species was extinct.  When we got back to the lodge, I abruptly stopped at the sight of the stars.  There were more than I have ever seen.  It was actually hard to find the constellation I have seen everywhere I travel, Orion's Belt, because of the immense amount of stars visible.