Tuesday, March 23, 2010

"Good Rice, Good Curry, Good Gandhi, Let's Hurry!"

(Thanks to my marvelous brother August with the title help!)

Hello! It has been far too long since my last update, and boy am I sorry!

I tried to sit down and upload photos while we were in Mauritius but since we had so little time there I just could not get myself to do it! The island was gorgeous and I maybe snapped 3 photos while I was there. Most of my time was spent in the water as a mermaid. But here are my India adventure photos!

I really fell in love with this country. The colors, the essence, the vibrance, and the traditions that it breathes left me inspired and awestruck. But it must be said that falling in love with India is a dangerous thing, one moment you will see the most beautiful sites, paintings, colors and people, and the next moment you will witness the most extreme forms of poverty and your heart will ache and break 100+ times over and over again. India has been by far the most touching and memorable experience to date.

Here are a lot, lot, lot, lot of photos.

Please enjoy!





My favorite family on board, the Finns of Colorado. Jenny Finn is a Living Learning Counselor on the ship. What a great pack!

This picture is pretty much what I loved about India.
Here is the start of my trip to the Taj Mahal.
Normally, I travel independently but I took a Semester at Sea sponsored trip to Delhi to see the Taj Mahal and many other amazing sights!









Lots of Semester at Sea flower pedal art...
Everyone was so welcoming and kind to our group.



This is inside the Agra Fort.
I got lost in this place for about 2 hours.



The Taj Mahal!!!


One of the Semester at Sea kids fell into the reflective pool, probably one of the better moments of my Taj experience.



BLUE EYES.


Our visit to the ashram and orphanage of Mother Theresa.



We met some of the sweetest, most engaging children. I will never forget our time there.

My India trip ended with a bang. As soon as I returned from Delhi, I went with some friends and stayed the night on a house boat in the back waters of India!




Needless to say it was a FANTASTIC trip.
Currently I am bloggging from AFFFRICCAAAA!
Just got done with a safari and I cant wait to share pics!
We only have 1 month with 2 countries left to visit.
What will I ever blog about when this trip is over?
Well we shall see.
Shoot me an email at mecohlmia@semesteratsea.net
or please leave a comment or follow the blog if you please! Please!
Sincerely,
Mikey C

Friday, March 12, 2010

Vietnam #2: Mekong Delta

Well. If you scroll down you will see that there is a large amount of pictures in this post. Im not too keen on putting this many up but I just couldnt edit, Mekong Delta was that amazing.
I took a trip down to the Delta with Jackie and our friend Jimmy.
Together, Jackie, Jimmy, and I found a small tour company to take us on what was a VERY "back roads" tour.
And yes, we had the absolute time of our lives.





Our tour guide, Khai, made us eat numerous amounts of Star Apples, this is only a small portion of the ones we ate.
We got to do a Home Stay for lunch and eat at a local Vietnamese woman's house.
She cooked us an amazing meal.
BEST tofu I've ever had.
Then we came outside and she set up hammocks for us to relax in before
our big biking adventure!

Here is our tour guide, Khai, and our Hostess for lunch.





This baby deserves an award, does he not?



Being bombarded by children on our bike tour!
Seriously great moment.

That bike ride was AMAZING.
Amazing and hot.
But more amazing than hot.
And now, our shuttle boat ride to Can Tho.
Mom: Are you proud of my sun protection??




Okay. This is epic.
We went out to dinner and by our tour guide's suggestion we ordered snake.
The waiter then asked if we wanted to see them kill it before they cooked it.
And we said "HELL YES."
So we did. We watched him kill the snake in the kitchen.
And thats not even all...
(please keep scrolling...)

They then asked Jimmy to eat the beating heart.
And what did Jimmy do??

Jimmy ate that heart.
Hahaha!!!
They told him it would make him stronger,
and I think it definitely did.




Here we are at the Floating Market of Can Tho in the Mekong River.



Making rice paper!



Vietnamese Ice Coffee=Heaven.
HEAVEN.



All and all, it was a GREAT trip.
Off the path, remote, and fun.
I will be returning to Vietnam so whomever wants to join can sign up anytime.

Currently I am blogging from Delhi, India!
Tomorrow the Taj Mahal.
Wow.
Someone pinch me please.