Friday, May 2, 2008
Malaysia
After India we arrived in Penang Malaysia!!! We absolutely loved Malaysia!!! Maybe it was being there after India that made it seem so clean but it is definitely a modernized country. We spent most of our time there in Kuala Lumpur. It’s a lot like being in a big city like Chicago. The traffic is bad so everyone takes cabs and there are a lot of big buildings and hotels. It was really busy while we were there because they were hosting the formula one race. There was a lot of race action in town! We were all thrilled to be in a place with comforts of home, McDonalds, Chili’s, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks were some of the hot spots. “KL” has earned its place in my mind as the shopping capital of the world. The malls there are incredible!!! Some of them are ten stories high! They have every store you can imagine. At one of the malls we even rode an indoor roller coaster. We spent most of our time there wondering around the city. I would like to return to Malaysia someday to see the rest of it and I would love to come back to KL it’s a blast.
India
Hi Everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating our blog! We spent 6 days total on the ship from the end of March through April. But I still wanted to write about all the places we stopped!
After Mauritius we visited India, probably the most eye opening experience of the trip. There is no way to describe what it’s like to be in India. The poverty and pollution there is so emmense its hard to imagine anyone can live there. I know it made me feel very fortunate to be an American. The streets there are littered with trash and beggars and there is a constant smell of burning garbage in the air. The crew on our ship spent hours laying down cardboard and tarps all over the ship which I thought was a little over the top until I came back from my first afternoon in Chennai and my clothes and shoes were covered in black soot. Not only does it smell bad, but it’s hot as hell too! It felt like what I imagine standing right on the equator at the hottest part of the day is like. This description probably doesn’t make India sound too appealing but there were some fascinating and beautiful things there. The Taj Mahal is one of the most amazing buildings I have seen in person, no picture does it justice. It was incredible. We also visited Varanasi – the most holy site for Hindu’s. We were lucky enough to go on two boat rides down the Ganges while we were there. One at night and one at sunrise. At night there were tons of people chanting and it was all lit up, it looked like a festival was going on but that happens there every night. People come from all over India to put their feet, hands, or entire bodies in the holy river. I can tell you first hand it doesn’t look so holy – its murky and FILLED with trash. Tons of people bathe and wash their clothes in all of the trash every day. It’s also the place where they burn dead bodies and send their ashes down the river. We saw the crematories where they burn the bodies, it was very intense and somber. No one talked while we floated past that spot. Overall I decided I won’t be going back to India anytime soon but I am so glad I got to experience it and I will never forget it. It was both powerful and eye opening.
After Mauritius we visited India, probably the most eye opening experience of the trip. There is no way to describe what it’s like to be in India. The poverty and pollution there is so emmense its hard to imagine anyone can live there. I know it made me feel very fortunate to be an American. The streets there are littered with trash and beggars and there is a constant smell of burning garbage in the air. The crew on our ship spent hours laying down cardboard and tarps all over the ship which I thought was a little over the top until I came back from my first afternoon in Chennai and my clothes and shoes were covered in black soot. Not only does it smell bad, but it’s hot as hell too! It felt like what I imagine standing right on the equator at the hottest part of the day is like. This description probably doesn’t make India sound too appealing but there were some fascinating and beautiful things there. The Taj Mahal is one of the most amazing buildings I have seen in person, no picture does it justice. It was incredible. We also visited Varanasi – the most holy site for Hindu’s. We were lucky enough to go on two boat rides down the Ganges while we were there. One at night and one at sunrise. At night there were tons of people chanting and it was all lit up, it looked like a festival was going on but that happens there every night. People come from all over India to put their feet, hands, or entire bodies in the holy river. I can tell you first hand it doesn’t look so holy – its murky and FILLED with trash. Tons of people bathe and wash their clothes in all of the trash every day. It’s also the place where they burn dead bodies and send their ashes down the river. We saw the crematories where they burn the bodies, it was very intense and somber. No one talked while we floated past that spot. Overall I decided I won’t be going back to India anytime soon but I am so glad I got to experience it and I will never forget it. It was both powerful and eye opening.
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