I’m a bit tardy in writing this blog, but things just get going so quickly! We only had 3 days between India and Malaysia and I had just started to wrap my head around India when I was thrown headfirst into Penang… So I thought that while I was spending a quiet night in on the ship I would write about Chennai.
Everyone was talking about India like it was going to be the dirtiest, smelliest, most disgusting, and appalling place. I was surprised to find however, that it did not meet any of those expectations. We pulled into port around 8am and couldn’t even watch us pull into port because the outdoor decks were closed for the “smell.” We had to jump through a number of hoops to get our passports stamped and get our landing cards. It’s certainly a long process when 850 people have to meet face-to-face with the immigration officials. Lydia and I didn’t have much time to explore Chennai before our field trips that afternoon. Basically we just took a bicycle rickshaw and then an auto rickshaw around Chennai. It wasn’t nearly as crowded or intense or smelly as I thought it would be. The rickshaw ride wasn’t even that crazy!
That afternoon I did a field trip called YMCA Community Centers and Destitute Homes. It was really cool because there were only seven of us on the trip so we really got to have some one on one time with the kids and we also got to know each other pretty well. First we went to the YMCA Boys Town; upon our arrival the boys all sang some songs for us and then we all sang “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”—it was really funny that they knew that song except they were singing it in Tamil which is the state language of Chennai (Chennai is in the state of Tamil Nedu, their language is Tamil). After the singing, they boys were free to ask questions which were translated by the guides, mostly they just asked if we missed our families, what classes we were taking, etc, but the funniest was when one little boy asked what fruit comes from America and another asked what the biggest native animal is in the states. It was really cute. After, we were given about 2 hours just to play and hang out with the kids. They basically grab your hands and pull you all over and insist that you take pictures of them and they took my camera for about an hour and just took random and hilarious pictures of themselves doing handstands, grinning, basically just hamming it up. Our next stop was another YMCA Boys Town; we didn’t have as much time there so they just sang some songs for us and then asked us questions. Their questions were really intelligent, like whether we liked Bush or Clinton better and how 9/11 personally affected us. It was really eye-opening to see how much they knew about us and our politics while no one really knew anything about India until a week before we arrived there. We had a really nice dinner reception at the YMCA Guest House in Chennai where our guide thanked us for coming and spending the day with the boys. It was a really great day and I was so happy that I got to spend some time with kids that maybe don’t get to just hang out and play very often.
The next day I started my homestay in Chennai. I stayed with another girl on Semester at Sea named Regina. We got picked up by our homestay parents, Satyan and Parul Bhatt. They owned their own PR Business called PRism. They were clearly well off because they had a nice chevy sedan with a driver. We hung out in their office for a little bit, getting to know each other. They had a meeting that afternoon so dropped Regina and I off at Spencer Plaza which is basically a giant mall filled with little Indian shops selling basically anything Indian—sculptures, scarves, silks, pillowcases, rugs, etc. Regina and I wandered around and looked at all of the beautiful things that would have been so much money in the states but were so inexpensive here. The exchange rate is 45 rupees to 1 US Dollar, so beautiful crafts and fabrics were literally just a few dollars. Parul had told us not to buy anything because we would have more opportunities to shop around and pick out which ones we would want and she could help us choose the best products to assure we were getting the highest quality.
They picked us up from Spencer’s Plaza and took us to a cane and bamboo store where they had gotten a lot of their own home decorations. Needless to say, I binged on crafts to bring back to the states! After several more hours of stopping in shops and being shown the city of Chennai from their car window, we retired to their apartment. It was pretty big and pretty, very open and airy. Parul made a delicious dinner of rice and various sauces and side dishes that we got to mash up into the rice with our hands and then eat with our hands too. I love eating with my hands! After dinner we hung out with their two daughters and watched an Indian soap opera; it was in Hindi so we couldn’t really understand it but it was super dramatic and entertaining. We had to get up early the next day to tour some temples with our group of homestay students so we went to bed nice and early.
The next day we were brought to our bus at 8am and transported to a town called Mamallapuram to view some temples, eat lunch, and look around the town. We also visited the Five Rathas, which I can’t really explain, but are basically a series of temples. We also stopped at our guide’s farmhouse and he showed us a tree called a lipstick tree. Apparently a German cosmetic company has been going to India and using these trees to make lipstick. We all tried a little bit of the lipstick tree on our lips… not sure I’d be buying it right away but it was cool.
After the long day on the road and at the temples, Parul and Satyan picked us up and took us to the Pondy Bazaar in Chennai. It was definitely different than I was expecting. I thought it would be like a craft market, much like we had seen in Brazil and South Africa. However, it was more like a street lined with the contents of a dollar store. After looking around unsuccessfully for a half hour, we went back to their apartment. That night we went out to dinner where they had buffet style Indian food and Satyan tried to teach us about cricket, we were pretty hopeless though. That night Priyanka, Pooja, Regina and I just hung out in their room and looked at pictures from their times on Semester at Sea and they let us use their internet.
The next morning we slept in a little bit and then had breakfast with Pooja. She took us to do some more shopping. I never thought I’d say this, but by the end of my home stay I was actually tired of shopping!! That night, the Bhatt family got to come onto the ship and have dinner with us. It was really cool because a lot of the crew in the dining hall recognized Pooja because she had sailed just last semester! They got to stay on the ship for a nice long time and we treated them to candy bars and other unhealthy American treats. Saying goodbye was definitely not easy; our home stay family had been so welcoming and nice. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with the Bhatt family.
The last day in Vietnam I visited a very poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Chennai. The government was working to move the slums out of Chennai and to build communities to get the people off of the streets and into more livable conditions. We visited several schools in the community and some homes. Everywhere we go that we see extreme and heartbreaking poverty, it is so amazing to see how happy the children are. They are always so excited to see us and shake our hands and tell us their names. In this community all the kids ran around with paper and had us sign them, it was very adorable. After the visit to the community I went back to the ship for lunch and then went into Chennai for one last time with my friend Ellie. We went to Spencer’s Plaza because she wanted to finish her souvenir shopping. We found a grocery store and got some snacks to bring back on the ship and finally met up with some more friends and had dinner in the mall.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I got to India but what I experienced was amazing. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into their culture and traditions and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. I can’t wait to go back!
MALAYSIA
We got to Malaysia on Monday, April 2nd. It was so crazy to only have 3 days on the ship between India and Malaysia, in the past we had usually had about a week between each port and that was a nice time to digest and reflect on our experiences in the country. Because I was still a little bit on overload from India I decided to sleep in and delay my excursion to Penang by a few hours. Plus, the pier where the ship would usually dock was being renovated so we had to be on anchor for the four days and take tender-boats back and forth between the ship and the pier. It was a fiasco for the first few hours on the tender-boats anyway so I didn’t mind skipping out on the long lines. Lydia and I went to the shore in the early afternoon and walked to the first tourist agency that we could find. Penang is actually an island and Penang is a state of Malaysia; George Town is actually the town that we were in and the capital of Penang Island. At the tourist agency we decided to take a ferry the next day to Langkawi Island which was advertised as a tropical island with lots of snorkeling and beaching opportunities. Lydia and I tried to book the treetop chalet at the Malibest Resort but it was booked so we had to settle for a beachside chalet—rough life. After we firmed up our travel plans for Langkawi Island, we took a cab to a Batik Factory about 45 minutes away from George Town. The drive was gorgeous; we went on winding roads along the coast and got to see a lot of beachside communities mixed in with gigantic disturbing resorts (like the Holiday Inn… in Malaysia? How did that happen?) The Batik Factory was small and we wandered around a little bit watching women make the patterns on the fabric. They paint on the fabric with wax and then dye it, then wax some more and then dye it again so at the end there is a pattern full of different colors. They can get incredibly detailed on the fabrics which is just incredible because it seemed very confusing and complex to me. There was a store at the factory too where you could buy batik paintings, clothes, fans, etc. After spending a while picking out some souvenirs we went back to the pier to catch a tender-boat back to the ship for the Penang Welcome Reception. After a long, irritating and sweaty line (more like a jumble of people trying to push to the front) to the tender-boats we had about 20 minutes before we had to meet in the union for the welcome reception. Fortunately, we made it.
The welcome reception was held at the University Sains Malaysia. The first part of the welcome reception was watching a shadow puppet in an auditorium. This is where they have intricate puppets that are basically pieces of paper with cutouts to look like people or things and they are held behind a big white sheet with a light on them, thus producing shadows. They usually tell a story and have music. The play we saw was half in Malay and half in English so I didn’t really have any idea what was going on. After the puppet show we were treated to a buffet of Malaysian cuisine and delicious tea. After the dinner we went back to the ship. It wasn’t the best welcome reception that I’ve been to; the only other one I’ve attended was in Puerto Rico which was amazing because we were paired up with actual students and could actually interact with them. I also heard rave reviews about the Indian welcome reception, so I had high hopes for the Malaysian one but was a little bit disappointed. No worries, the next day was Langkawi!
We had an 8:15am Ferry ride so we had to get up super early to avoid the mess of the tender-boats and all of the various SAS trips leaving for Borneo, Singapore, etc. The ferry was basically like an airplane on water, the same seats, same set up. There were even movies playing. After 3 hours on the plane-ferry we arrived to Langkawi Island. Our resort was about 25 minutes from the “jeti” (aka the ferry terminal) and the ride was beautiful, much like the ride to the Batik factory in Penang. We got to the Malibest Resort at 12 but were told that we couldn’t actually check in until 2 so we left our things and explored the rest of the town. It was basically a strip of shops and restaurants, mostly selling touristy items, clothes and jewelry. We got a quick lunch and were surprised to see that they didn’t accept debit or credit cards. When we asked where an ATM was, the only one on the entire island besides the jeti was at the airport. The restaurant owner was so nice (clearly this had happened before) and hailed us a cab so that we could go to the airport to find an ATM and then come back and pay him. I was definitely impressed with how trustworthy he was. By the time we got to the airport and back and paid out lunch bill we could check in to the hotel. Our “beachside chalet” was about 30 feet from the beach and pretty nice. It wasn’t a palace but it was obviously doable. We laid on the beach for a couple hours in the afternoon and tested the waters—ridiculously warm, I’m happy to note! It is seriously so hot in Malaysia it was disgusting, you couldn’t even step outside without sweating through whatever you were wearing. So we relaxed in the water and on the beach for awhile. That night we continued walking around, found an internet café and got some dinner. It was kind of weird because there weren’t really any people there or much to do at night. There weren’t very many restaurants that were open, but all the stores were open until midnight. We decided that in season it’s a tourist hotspot but we were there during the off season (which was fine with us as we basically got the town to ourselves!) As we were wandering around town we were entranced by a beautiful spa building and a man offering discounts for manicures and pedicures. We decided that we should seize the opportunity (“when else will I be able to get a pedicure at midnight on Langkawi Island, Malaysia??” was our reasoning I believe). So we got amazing pedicures and sat in the most comfortable chairs ever before returning to the chalet for bed. (Hedo, I just want to tell you that our pedicurist’s ringtone was smack that by Akon… it was a surreal moment).
The next morning we got breakfast and laid on the beach and then went back to the jeti to hang out in some air conditioning before the ferry back to Penang. The ferry back was much different than the ferry to Langkawi, it was much more crowded and we were surrounded by crying infants; also it took 4.5 hours instead of 3. I wouldn’t usually complain about this but it was also very rocky and rolly and sweaty and by the end we were delirious and wanted to be off the ferry! We got back to Penang around 6:30 and then took the tender-boat back to the ship. I was so exhausted by the time I got back to the ship that I just wanted to shower, eat a pizza, and go to bed. So that’s exactly what I did.
On our last day in Malaysia we got up early and went into George Town to find a pay phone. The 12 hour time difference is a little hard to work with because it’s never quite convenient to make a phone call. We finally found phones that worked with the phone cards we had bought (the Malaysian payphone system needs a bit of work, let me just tell you). After, we took a taxi to Penang Hill and took a cable car up to the top. The view was gorgeous but it was a little hazy so we couldn’t really see that much but we did get some good pictures of the ship and the city, don’t worry. After the Penang Hill excursion we went to Gurney Plaza, which is basically just a big mall, and had lunch and shopped around a bit. We found an internet café and did some emails and firmed up our China plans (finally!) and then took a taxi back to the pier. On-ship time was 9pm but the last tender-boat was scheduled to run at 8:30. We thought we were playing it safe to get there at 6:45 but we still waited in line for 2 hours to get on the tender-boat. When we got on the tender boat at 8:15 the line was just as long as it had been at 6:45 so we got a late start to say the least. Overall I enjoyed Malaysia; it was very relaxing and was an enjoyable atmosphere. It wasn’t my favorite port but it was definitely better than Mauritius!
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