Namaste, y'all

We finally made it to the port of Cochin!

For the past few years, I’ve been dreaming of going to India. And now my time was here!

Tricia, Danielle, Sarah, Michael, and I got off the ship and onto a ferry (WHICH, we had to fight our way to through all of the tuk tuk drivers) But the ferry costs 4 rupees- you can’t beat that.

Once we arrived in Fort Cochi, we took a tuk tuk (yes, ONE tuk tuk) to St. Frances Church as a starting point.

We got a feel for the area, shopped, 

ate, 

Spicy as hell, by the way. Hence the pepto. 

saw the Chinese fishing nets in action.

We were, however, eventually overwhelmed by the heat and went back to the ship by about 17:00. Which was for the best, because it was- you guessed it- another early morning.

No matter how early you go to sleep, a 03:17 wake-up always comes too soon. We drove to the airport (which was basically taken over by SAS) to fly to Dheli.

Our plane? At LEAST 80% of the passengers on our flight were asleep on the ship two hours prior. Needless to say- upon take off, we, the exhausted, snored in unison.

As soon as our flight landed, we hit the ground running.

They basically slapped us in the face with sight seeing.

Okay…maybe it was more like a love tap. After all…we are in INDIA.

SO, we started at the Qutb Minar and were met by a large group of SASers

Then we moved on to one the of parts of our trip I was so excited for- a traditional Indian meal. Well, “traditional,” meaning the level of spiciness was clearly toned down for their (primarily) American visitors. Regardless, it was the best Indian food I’ve ever put into my mouth (go figure).

We reconvened on the bus for some more sight seeing when it began sprinkling outside. We passed the India gate

Then made our way to the site of where Gandhi was cremated- when it began POURING. Our guide urged us to go out in the rain to see the site despite the fact our clothes and belongings would be drenched. Oh well, who knows if/when we’ll ever get this chance again?

As I said....soaking wet.

That was the final stop of our day, and we had to be out of our hotel rooms by 04:50 the following morning. These early mornings are going to kill me some day.

OH, and I left my camera on the last bus we were on. Fun, huh? THE GOOD THING IS- there are only two days worth of photos that had not yet made it onto my computer. Life will go on.

…my camera was found the following day on the bus we had been on the previous day. It met us at our second hotel

Fortunately, we got to ride to Agra in style.

Well, kind of. We went by train! Just call me Hermione.

Ps…sleeping on a rickety train is actually impossible. But our day was going to be so wonderful, and that was enough to keep me going!

We had breakfast at a doubletree (which was a nice change of scenery after the train)…

Then went to the Red Fort (which was SUPER crowded)

And onto the Taj Mahal!!

Have you ever had a friend tell you how awesome a movie is, and that you can’t miss it? And so you rent or buy it, trusting their words and are excited to watch this “cinematic gold” and then it sucks?

WELL, I had heard a lot of hype regarding the Taj, and it did not disappoint. I could have stayed there for hours and just marveled at the architecture before me.

Unfortunately, we could not stay there all day. We had to move on.

…Onto a 5 hour bus ride to Jaipur, we really don’t stop moving on this trip. We will, however, be staying in Jaipur for a couple of nights, so that ought to give us time to rest.

Our first morning in Jaipur we got to sleep in until 07:00 (woohoo!), then we went out into the city to ride elephants. ELEPHANTS.

Let me tell you…those bad boys are hard to ride. It could have rocked me right off of its back! (Which, in some countries that could have been the case, but these elephants are treated quite well! They only make 5 trips up to the fort and carry a max of two people at a time)

When our ride was finished, we were swarmed with people trying to sell their wooden elephants, blankets, instruments, and other goods. Me being me, I gave in because I LOVE bohemian type things. And I’m collecting instruments everywhere

Needless to say, I bought another one from India (ps I can say the name of this instrument, but can’t spell it) The man that sold it to me tried to trade me for my ukulele, which would have been a cool story, but how would I have ever finished my video?

Unfortunately…when I play it, it sounds like something from a horror film.

After that, we stopped at a great store where I picked up some pashminas and then moved on to another wonderful lunch and tea time. Then we went back to our hotel for the rest of the evening.

The following morning we flew back to Cochin to meet up with the ship, and me, Tricia, Sarah, Danielle, Michael, and Yarden went back to Fort Cochi for some Holi powder. We missed out on celebrating Holi Day on the 6^th, so we’re going to celebrate the best we can! We returned to the ship after getting the powder, and enjoyed this fun part of Indian culture!

A few of the tuk tuk drivers gathered around and asked to take pictures with us, and we all had a grand time!

What a way to finish out our week in this colorful country.

I'm sorry if this post seems short- but sometimes it is too difficult to describe every little thing that happens on Semester at Sea. Every day truly is a new adventure.


Namaste, folks.


Things I love about today:
1. The trinkets I picked up to remind me of my time in India (even though my Holi powder stained bra could have sufficed)
2. Friendly people (even though I think I now have real issues with people being in my personal space)
3. Friends to laugh with
4. Adventure