India
India…what a place. I honestly don’t know what I was expecting out of the country, but I think all expectations were exceeded. I knew that India had some of the worst polluted cities in the world and many people live in poverty, but when I was there, that’s not what stuck out in my mind. The more I travel through these countries, the more I realize how materialistic my own culture is. From what I’ve seen and experienced, these people are just as happy, if not happier, with so much less than what we have. I’ve realized that they don’t need iPhones or fancy cars or material things to be genuinely happy. Their connections and relationships are far more important to them and it’s a wonderful thing to see. The kids all playing with balls or playing tag during school rather than sitting out on their iPhones…people eating dinner and actually interacting with the people around them rather than the people who aren’t. I love it.
My first day was mostly spent on a tuk tuk tour. A tuk tuk is like a three wheeled vehicle that is open on each side, a driver in the front, and can usually hold 3 people in the seat in the back. There were 6 of us so we got 2 tuk tuks (planning to just get a ride to Fort Kochi) for $5 all together, and ended up getting a tour around the whole place for about 8 hours. $5 for 3 people for 8 hours…crazy. We went to markets, saw the Chinese fishing nets, went to a spice market, saw a historical laundromat, had a delicious curry lunch, got a henna drawing on my arm, and explored around Fort Kochi. It was a lot of fun. However, it was also hot and exhausting so I was happy to come back to some air conditioning and rest up for my trip the next day. The second day was spent mostly traveling. The SAS group took a flight up to Delhi and got checked into our hotel. We had an amazing dinner at the hotel…so good…so many desserts…so little time to eat everything. The next day we headed to the Bandwhari village on the outskirts of Delhi. We went to the school to help teach the kids for about 2 hours. The group I had were the youngest kids, 5 and 6 year olds. We went through the alphabet, counting, parts of the body, and added some fun songs and games in between. Then we all went outside and played games and usually I had someone riding on my shoulders. We then went to the women’s center across the street where a group of women made things to supplement their income. There was also the group of 9 girls who attended university every Sunday. They toured us around the village. After the morning in Bandwhari, we headed to TERI (the energy research institute). We learned all about how the organization, and India as a whole, is trying to make the country greener and use clean energy. The Kochi airport is entirely run from a solar panel field. It was great to see that the country is working on becoming more sustainable. We toured more of Delhi, going to a mosque and a mausoleum. Another mouth-watering dinner at the hotel full of too many desserts to name. The next morning, we went back to the Bandwhari village to spend more time with the children at the school. I think they ended up teaching me a lot more than I could teach them, but all of us had a lot of fun. It was such an eye-opening and incredible experience. The teachers are hoping to find someone to come back for 3 months or more and that thought hasn’t left my mind. In the afternoon, we went around more of New Delhi. Most of the tour was spent on a rickshaw, which is similar to a tuk tuk except the rickshaw has a pedal bike that the driver pedals and is connected to two seats in the back. To be honest, I’m surprised I’m even here to tell the story. It was crazy and we also ran into a Saturday rush hour so that definitely escalated the adrenaline. I thought it was a lot of fun and we saw the city in a way that I never have before. A little shopping in some street markets and then back to the hotel for sadly our last meal there. We all were in bed early as we had to wake up at 4am the next day to head to Agra. We took a train in the morning to meet a bus that took us to one of the seven wonders on the world, the Taj Mahal. It was absolutely beautiful. Especially to think that some guy(ok an important guy) built this for his 3rd wife. It also cost 1 million dollars in 1513 so that’d be closer to at least 500 million dollars today. Musta been some sorta love. After picking our jaws up off the ground, we went to Agra Fort which was filled with palaces and big walls and sculptures and it was also very beautiful. We had a great lunch and got on a 4 hours bus ride back to Delhi to get on a 3 hour plane ride to get to Kochi to get on a 2 hour bus ride to get back to the ship. We went through 2 levels of security and finally got back on the ship at about 3am…it was a long day. But! That didn’t stop me from waking up 5 hours later to experience more of Kochi on our last day. Jessica and I waited for Amanda to fly in and then we went to the LuLu mall. It’s India’s largest mall but is probably about the size of a regular big city mall in the US. We had fun looking through stores, going to the supermarket, and ending the day with some Coldstone Creamery ice cream (cuz why not?) back to the ship by 3pm and shipped out at 6pm with a beautiful sunset to sail with. We have a total of 5 days at sea until our one day in Mauritius(fueling stop) and then 6 more until our 6 days in South Africa. I suppose I should spend most of that time being studious and get my homework done, but as you can see, I am procrastinating by writing my blog… I hope ya’ll enjoyed it
My first day was mostly spent on a tuk tuk tour. A tuk tuk is like a three wheeled vehicle that is open on each side, a driver in the front, and can usually hold 3 people in the seat in the back. There were 6 of us so we got 2 tuk tuks (planning to just get a ride to Fort Kochi) for $5 all together, and ended up getting a tour around the whole place for about 8 hours. $5 for 3 people for 8 hours…crazy. We went to markets, saw the Chinese fishing nets, went to a spice market, saw a historical laundromat, had a delicious curry lunch, got a henna drawing on my arm, and explored around Fort Kochi. It was a lot of fun. However, it was also hot and exhausting so I was happy to come back to some air conditioning and rest up for my trip the next day. The second day was spent mostly traveling. The SAS group took a flight up to Delhi and got checked into our hotel. We had an amazing dinner at the hotel…so good…so many desserts…so little time to eat everything. The next day we headed to the Bandwhari village on the outskirts of Delhi. We went to the school to help teach the kids for about 2 hours. The group I had were the youngest kids, 5 and 6 year olds. We went through the alphabet, counting, parts of the body, and added some fun songs and games in between. Then we all went outside and played games and usually I had someone riding on my shoulders. We then went to the women’s center across the street where a group of women made things to supplement their income. There was also the group of 9 girls who attended university every Sunday. They toured us around the village. After the morning in Bandwhari, we headed to TERI (the energy research institute). We learned all about how the organization, and India as a whole, is trying to make the country greener and use clean energy. The Kochi airport is entirely run from a solar panel field. It was great to see that the country is working on becoming more sustainable. We toured more of Delhi, going to a mosque and a mausoleum. Another mouth-watering dinner at the hotel full of too many desserts to name. The next morning, we went back to the Bandwhari village to spend more time with the children at the school. I think they ended up teaching me a lot more than I could teach them, but all of us had a lot of fun. It was such an eye-opening and incredible experience. The teachers are hoping to find someone to come back for 3 months or more and that thought hasn’t left my mind. In the afternoon, we went around more of New Delhi. Most of the tour was spent on a rickshaw, which is similar to a tuk tuk except the rickshaw has a pedal bike that the driver pedals and is connected to two seats in the back. To be honest, I’m surprised I’m even here to tell the story. It was crazy and we also ran into a Saturday rush hour so that definitely escalated the adrenaline. I thought it was a lot of fun and we saw the city in a way that I never have before. A little shopping in some street markets and then back to the hotel for sadly our last meal there. We all were in bed early as we had to wake up at 4am the next day to head to Agra. We took a train in the morning to meet a bus that took us to one of the seven wonders on the world, the Taj Mahal. It was absolutely beautiful. Especially to think that some guy(ok an important guy) built this for his 3rd wife. It also cost 1 million dollars in 1513 so that’d be closer to at least 500 million dollars today. Musta been some sorta love. After picking our jaws up off the ground, we went to Agra Fort which was filled with palaces and big walls and sculptures and it was also very beautiful. We had a great lunch and got on a 4 hours bus ride back to Delhi to get on a 3 hour plane ride to get to Kochi to get on a 2 hour bus ride to get back to the ship. We went through 2 levels of security and finally got back on the ship at about 3am…it was a long day. But! That didn’t stop me from waking up 5 hours later to experience more of Kochi on our last day. Jessica and I waited for Amanda to fly in and then we went to the LuLu mall. It’s India’s largest mall but is probably about the size of a regular big city mall in the US. We had fun looking through stores, going to the supermarket, and ending the day with some Coldstone Creamery ice cream (cuz why not?) back to the ship by 3pm and shipped out at 6pm with a beautiful sunset to sail with. We have a total of 5 days at sea until our one day in Mauritius(fueling stop) and then 6 more until our 6 days in South Africa. I suppose I should spend most of that time being studious and get my homework done, but as you can see, I am procrastinating by writing my blog… I hope ya’ll enjoyed it
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