thailand ( NOT EDITED!?!?! PLEASE BE WARNED THIS IS THE FULL THAI EXPERIENCE?!?!?!

OKAY I HAVE TO START THIS OFF WITH TWO THINGS .... 

THIS IS NOT EDITED?!!!! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT ALL THE DETAILS

alsoooo ... i named my computer journal earl ... there are references to him

also also also ... thailand is like trashy party central ... do not judge ... i did not go out really in any other country but thailand

 

Sa Wa Dee Cap Eletronic Journal!!!

 

Well well well Thailand … they should really call it GREATland …haha….okay yeah lame I know okay well à okay well the first day in thailand was serious travel like a two hour bus ride and to Bangkok where there are some sweet pictures of me tracey and joe being “astonished” by Bangkok hahah anyways we ate lunch there it was wicked good but I HAD SOME REALLY WEIRD STUFF!!! like this lil pink square thing that tasted like boogers and this gummy thing that was terrible ughh EWW NASTY it was shaped like a heart but it was rea;llllyyy sshiitt well then we went to this airport where we HAD LIKE THIRTY minutes to get to our plane!!! But the airport was wicked cool it was phenom it had these sweet moving sidewalks they were level, then went down, then level out it was so so so cool!!!!! And well we flew and hahah it was sooooo funnnyyyyy okay soo like I will say tracey was very scared sooo earl we each bought 2 beers and walked around the airport hahaha and we looked like such idiots when we tried to get into where our gate was and it was behind like this glass gate with this little black box infront of it and the gate was locked and me and joe were like do we scan our tickets infront of the black box and like were trying to open the gate we legit looked like idiots with two beers in our hands trying scan our tickets when the entrance was too the left HAHAHH EARL YOU WOULD HAVE DIED…. Anywayss… to phuket tracey was so scared of flying and me and joe had to calm her ahahha it was hysterical every little shake made her scared!! Hahahah ohh nervous flyers!!! Well then we went to our hotel which was so sweet and HERE WE GO JOURNAL, EARL okay so well we went out and we went a lil crazy let me tell ya Earl hahahahah ohh …and here … we….go ( read like heath ledger in batman) anyways okay so well we all started to get crunky in my hotel room and I mean about like 8 of us…HYSTERICAL and then we left and I was pretty crunk there Earl … actually very….so then we got into a rickshaw and I talked that guy down because he was SOOO over charging and we went to this place called club bananas where they were going to make us pay cover charge when there was like 18 of us I was like  no….so we did not and then this si wehre the group split everyone left us and it was whatever I did not care and anyways so me joe tracey Allison dana and molly asked this thai women where we could get alcohol cheap and she walked us to the grocery store and it was soooo nice even tho it was a block it was wicked nice for someone to just go out of their way form selling stuff and just like ya know walk us to a grocery store….anywaysyssyys so we get there and we buy a bottle of vodka worst choice ever hahah anywasys sooooOSOOSOSOSOSO we get the bottle and I was like is it legal to dirnk on the street and the women was like YEAHHHH and if someone gives you a problem tell them to talk to me!!! So that was SWEET I got thai backkk hahah yes so anyways we are drinking it on the street and I am like getting durnk  ahhaha ohh well well I ahha met about 6+ locals that ngiht and talked to all of them…some where shop owners and when people went to their stores later that day they asked if I was gonna come to their shop later hahahah!!!! Well some people got scared of me some people embraced me it was soooo funny  hahah so well APARENTLY we walked back to the hotel and we changed I left off cell phone, camera, Mauritius necklace and well I don’t rememeber this more on this later well anyway we walk to the beach and Earl…like Sage said, John the doctors wife, that semester at sea makes everyone take off their cloths and she was right people just want to get naked on semester at sea…welll so then we swam around naked for like about 2 hours me tracey and joe but other people where there but me tracey and joe stayed the longest and were the last!! Ahahh and we were jumping all over each other and swimming and it was wicked fun!!!  and something touched my leg and that was scary but whatever…so then everyones clothes disappear except for mine so I dish out my cloths I only got the shirt joe got the shorts and tracey got the white undershirt…unfortunately everything was hanging out fo this shirt and these thai men like offered me a jacket apparently to wrap around my waist and like drive me home on their motorcycle whih I said no to because well yeahh no motocycles anywaysysysysy  I walk home naked and then I was like shit where is my camera cell phone everything and I am up all night trying to find the stuff and my roommate zack would not wake up and we only had one key which sucked so I had to sleep outside on the ground and the guy would not let me into my room because I told 4 other rooms that were not my rooms were my room I mean there where 9000 rooms it was kinda hard to rememeber anywayyss so I slept on te ground outside but it was like 6 in the morning so whatever but rene let me into her room so I could sleep on the floor in the ac which was ncie and I woke up like naked in a towel hahah anywasy then we woke up and of course I was very tired because well it was only one hour of sleep and we woke up and drove two hours to where this elephant village was and we got to ride ELEPHANTSS!!! But when we got their there was a baby monkey!!! It was soo cute and he was jumping all over us….he me and like ran up my LEGG!!! And he went up my shorts and I was like AHAHHAHAH MONKEY IN MY PANTS LITERALLYY and then “a” our trip person she was like “he thinks theres a banana up there” hahahah ohhhhh A…earl I think you would have liked her…she was single hahah …. Anyways sooo like the monkey jumped all over me and like jumped on my face and like in my mouth and like played with my hair and it was scary and awesome he was like a little human and he would jump onto a leg a of a girl and would just hug her leg and sit there like a little baby like it was her mama and everyone was clearly win you are the papa and the monkey would just jump and jump and he would touch you…HIS HANDS HIS HANDS WERE just like ours and he would just hold yours and it was sooo awesome!!! OI (go in thai) so we rode the elephant and the main way they got the elephant to move was OI!!! Hahah and we rode up this place and there are wild tigers there and all I could think of was the YOUTUBE video!!! Where the tiger comes out fo the bush and GRABS THE MAN OFF THE ELEPHANT SOSOSOSO I was like shit shit hsitt I don’t wanan get eaten because EARL I don’t know if you rmemeber but like there are three animals that view humans as prey: crocs, polar bears, and TIGERS!!!! Learned that from CAZ….earl rememeber caz??!?!?!? Soo I was scared!!! Hahah anwyays the elephant was WICKED COOL but I felt kinda bad making it carry me up like hills and rocks and mini-waterfalls like throu a jungle!!! I felt wicked bad but the palce did save the elephants frommm a logging company!!! So that was good … but then we went to this BEAUTIFUL PLACEE!!! Earl you would have loved it!!!!! Like we went into this little raft and like this man paddled us around this river that was in the middle of a jungle with all these wicked cool water bugs that skimmed across the water!!! But anyways this man would paddle us around this beautiful jungle with HUGE HUGE LIMESTONE mountains I tell ya EARL the limeston mountains where huge very organic formed and white they were absolutely breath taking!!!! I loved it was was so so so so so relaxing!!!! ( WARNING TRASHY STARTS HERE?!!!! - skip to other red words)  Well anywasy we went back to the hotel and met up with everyone and went out to dinner and like then this where Phuket got weird but not really okay first of all there are hookers everywhere and they would grab you and taunt you and it was funny but also sad but more funny hahaha and then we went to a bird show….earl I want to spare you this but I don’t know if I can this was gross and I was 100% sober okay well this girl we walked into this place and we sat down and these girl started putting shit up her couche some people thought it was hysterical I thought it was crazy weird earl we are talking … BIRDS….ping pong balls, bananas, RODENTS, openening coca cola bottles, RAZOR BLADES, a string of 40+ lays … it was scaring to say the least but whatever… (TRASHY ENDS HERE)then the next day we went on this boat and it took us to these beautiful islands like literally it looked like god grabbed some sand from underneigh the ground and pulled them up they were beautiful anyways soo we get to this island called james bond island and like it is where they filmed a part of james bond movie like an old one and then me tracey and joe took a james bond piture inspired by these Asians that we saw doing it … hahah super fun…. and then we took the boat to this other place where me tracey and joe got into this boat paddled by this man and literally he pattled us through all these islands and we would have to go under like the islands and literally the gaps were so small Earl that me tracey and joe would have to lie down into each others croches which could have been awkward except that we were all over each other two nights ago making it okay hahahah and so we would travel though and under all these crazy rocks and stuff it was soooo INTENSELY AWESOMEE and we picked up these horseue crabs and put them on our faces hahah sooo funnn!!!! Anywayysysysys we were leaving and he took us under another one and like sometimes the rocks were so tight that you would have to deflate the kayak and stuff and pull your way through and so like I touched the top of the rocks and he SCREAMEDD “NO TOUCH!!!!!” and I was like jeez okay hahah but it was hystericalll anywayysysysysysysy sooo Earl we got back to the hotel and we were all wicked zonked and I felt sick and unfortunately I was throwing up all night with food poising ... and those 4 jumbo mcdonalds fries did not make stuff come up easier  ....  which was terrible so I did not to get to go out for st pattys day but whatever…. Anywaysss I am kinda glad I did not go out because me and joe were talking about getting matching tattoos on our asses and he did get one!!!! Of the tiger on the thai beer hahah and welll if I went out I probs would have a tiger tattooed to my ass which would suckkk hahahah whateverrrr but I am still wanna see if he wants to get matching Mario kart players on our asses hahaha in some other country hahahah I think we should I will recommend it to him today hahah hahah anyways then we flew to Bangkok and Earl guess who was there ?!?!?!!? GIGI … I did not know when when I knew gigi but gigi was a foreign exchange student from Bangkok sophmore year in high school… I am soo pumped to see her like 5 years later it was nutzoooo and then she took me out to dinner and than we went to this thai club wehre there made me buy socks with my boat shoes b.c I was dressed disgracefully apparently not wearing socks … anywaysysysysy the place was literally jam packed with ALL THAI people I was the only American there and it was soooo much fun because most of the music was thai music tooo and let me tell ya Earl they loved them some American those thai peopole hahahah it was soo fun and I met all of gigis friends none of whos names I could pronounce or rememeber but they were all sooo nice too me I wish I could rmemeehr their names but I have a lot of pics with them and then trish nate and Claire came and they were all so happy to meet gigi and her thai friends and vice versa and we were the only Americans in the place I MEAN WE WERE CELEBS people were taking our picture and asking us to be in pics with them and buying us drinks being soo nice and they were all like we need to welcome you to our country and kept buying us all sorts of drinks it was so so so so so nice I loved it and had a lot of fun….i miss gigi… and then the next day we woke up soooo early and Claire had to sleep in my room because she did not have a place to stay and that night I woke up because joe jumped on Claire and accidentally slammed his elbow like in my tailbone so I woke up with an elbow in my ass … it was painful ahhah anywaysysysys we went to the royal palace the next day and while it was beautiful it was unworldly hot and I was legit sweating everywhere hahahah hahah and we took pictures with the guards who could not move like the ones in london it was fun and we saw the jade budah which was like really pretty and very important but nobody told me why…sorry earl I willl inform you later and the palace had all these gold statues and really beautiful things…the pics describe it better than I can in words anywaysss that pretty much wraps up Thailand… WAIT just kidding we went to this tiger village which was terrible earl it was so despressing they treated the tigers so poor and there were so many in like so little space and they just bred them to put them into cages it made me really sad that I was leaving Thailand which is such a phenom country on that note but I did and it was sad but I did get to hold a tiger so that was cool but they were kinda mean to it soo that was really sadd but I will just have to call peta and be like listen you need to go here those tigers are being terribly treated and need to be released like the park had no interntions of raising the population and releasing them into the wild nothing like that they just drug them up and let tourist hold cubs … its wicked sad. L Later earl….il miss ya buddy going to china tommorow YAY!!!

India

India

Well hello again computer journal….i swear I will hand write you soon….well INDIA…what can I say I loved it!!!! I was absolutely unstable about entering the country and yes it smelt wicked bad but I really know that I need to go back to India…Well in my first day in India I got a late flight in the most intense security check in ever…I was not aloud in the airport without a ticket, I was manhandled from head to toe…with a full on butt cup – yeah awkward …the plane was intense we all had our own TOUCH SCREEN screens and it was wicked fun I watched friends and some bollywood movie that was wicked bad…then we arrived in New Delhi and we went to the most beautiful hotel I have ever stayed at ever…it was clearly 5 stars…and they welcomed us with lays and we had delicious India food hahahah and then the best club in all of India was in the bottom of our hotel so naturally we all went to find out that shots were 18 dollars USD EACH!!!! So I did not drink just had fun …. Anywayss then the next morning we borded the bus to get on a train to AGRA the city of the taj mahal… well when we got on the train which was a 3 hour ride…it was so sad first of all first class was seriously like worse than 3rd class in America but we at least had seats and while I was sitting down this boy who was scooting on his shirt and not wearing it scooted up and asked me for money it was heart breaking…and then the guy tried to kick him off and I was like no no and gave the little boy my juicebox, sandwich, hardboiled eggs, and one more thing…he smiled and ran out of the cabin…it was so sad he was my first encounter with the kids but most definitely not my last…than when we got off the train like hahahh this other little boy wanted all out boxed lunches and he was grinning from chin to chin he had more boxes than he could carry…towering over his head on the groud…hahahah and he took mine which was kinda an empty box i felt bad but whatever ahhaha he was happy and then we went to our hotel…which was not as nice as the first but still nice and they gave us the sweetest lays ever they smelt so good and were pink…inside the hotel they had a guy selling tshirts with the taj mahal on it and hahah it said semester at sea on the back…naturally I baught it was only 4 buckss…anywaysss so the later we went to this place which I don’t even know what its called because the tour guide kinda did nothing but it was cool however the bus ride there was heart renching…there were just kids and kids walking or running without shoes and running the legit garbage I have a picture of a lady legit walking bear foot throw a field of sold garbage and cow dung…I have another of a boy who is max. of 3 years old playing in the dirt all by himself with no one in sight for at least a mile it was so depressing…how can a child be all alone like that just by himself it is wicked depressing…anwyayss we got there and it was cool but what was the cooler part was seeing the kids and stuff because as soon as we got the place tons of begger children were there and there was one with one leg, more on him later, and Tanya handed out chocolate and they were grabbing and she was like HEY NO GRABBING and they all single filled and were like okay okay and then they each got one and said thankyou it was funny… and the walk there there was also this snake charmer who legit had a python I was like pooping myself I could not believe it…anyways we get to the pink sandstone buildings and we see these children all carrying bags of grass on their heads and we tried talking to them but all we could get out was their names and that they wanted chocolate but unfortunately we could not give them any because we did not have it … it was sad and the tour guide was yelling at us to hurry up … but to me the best part was not the tours or the taj it was actually talking and seeing all these kids and seeing how corrupt India is with children… so anywasy we get in the the tour guide the one thing he says is don’t get lost of let anyone talk you anywhere because you will disappear…so anyways while I am taking so sweet jumping shots…I cant find doug anywhere nor jen and I was like SHOOT where those kiddies go hahaha anywaysss after looking for them like crazy I found them and felt wicked relieved… anyways soo we are walking back and remember that kid who had one leg…yeah he was a little trickster he was sitting on the ground with two feet and tucked it in his pants…what a skeeze….its all a sad but terrible illusion in india…you cant believe what you see but at the same time it is heart wrenching…more on that later…so we geet back on the bus and then the next day we wake up and it is time to fo to the FABLED TAJ MAHAL and were all wicked excited and like anything that looked like a white dome I kinda jumped and screamed THE TAJ MAHAL and I saw about 3 taj’s before I saw the real deal hahah anywasy well you walk in and every google image you googled comes to mind…it was beautiful the most beautiful building I have ever seen like it was so intense…did you know, lovely readers, that it took 20000 men to build in 22 years and that afterwards all their hands were cut off so they could never make something good again… l anyways I took some pretty sweet jumping shots but jumping off this bench anywaysss so the taj was amazing there are very few words to decribe the feeling of being there just like wow…the inside tho not so wow it was dark and little but the outside wow ahhah me and jake took pictures of us building the taj it they are hysetical … hahahah anywayss while I was walking forwards this women asked me to take a picture of her because we were all doing jumping shots and I was pullin a ma at prom being like “…1…2…3…JJUMP!!” being loud and obnoxious. – so out of character right welll anyways this women was like can you take my picture and I was like “yeaaahhhh totally” and she was like hahahaha “totally … its been so long since I have heard Americans - I love it “ hahah it was funny…she took a jumping shot too – and on the way out these asian tourists –soooooo funnny- were like can you take our picture and I was like sure but only if I can be in one with you and they got sooo excited and took about 6 pics of me and like were all doing extremely asian things in the pics I loved it hahah and I said “nah-ma-stay” which is like “may I bring you peace” in hindu and they giggles and said it back and on the way out like I saw them again and got a pic with these two older ladies…hahahh so anywayss me sarah brad and a couple others were walking back and sarah was being attacked my these children sellers and like there were about 7 of them it was hysterical anyway one stayed with us the whole time his name was Raj he was awesome at first he was not but then we talked to him about his life and what his name was and like sarah offered him money and he would not take it and then he gave us each one of his taj mahal key chains it was sooo sweet and we all gave him some money…and he like did not take it but then he changed his mind…he was so cute…and like then this little child led us all across the street like this little boy stopped all the hetic Indian traffic and walked us to our bus and well all gave him hugs and said goodbye it was so sad I was really sad I had to say goodbye to raj he was so nice…then we went to the agra fort which was cool but totally lackluster to the taj…it was where the son of the father who built the taj mahal locked his father away and his son was mean….the saddest thing of India I rememeber was this tiny tiny boy maybe 3 years old all dirty with a tiny tiny what must be a 4 month old baby if that in his hands…all dirty and like it was so sad he would walk up to our group of people and people would ignore him and I did nto have money otherwise I would have bought him something but I tried to give him the only thing I had which was time and he did not really want it… he could not speak any English he was wayyyyy to young…and I tried and tried to talk but it was so so so sad that he wanted only one thing money…and it was so obvious that there was a corrupt adult behind all of it because someone said that they watched him walk over to a truck with a man sitting it… like in slumdog,…these men make children beg for money and bring it all back to them and they put them on the streets sometimes deforming them to get themselves even more it is disgusting and makes me want to do something…but how the hell can/do you fix such a huge problem as that…then we went to Mother Teresa’s Orphanage – which was the best part of the whole trip it was amazing…it took some of the kids awhile to warm up but I had this like 4/5 year old who was like with me about half the time and immediately he came down and sat in my lap and he did not talk English so it was hard to communicate with him but we legit put stickers all over his face and like I made him rings out of playdough and everytime one feel off he would like come up to me and have my fix it and he was such a smartie he figured out how to zoom and take pics with my Nikon he was not good but was so happy with his results and everyone was giving the kids sunglasses or stuff to put on and I was like shoot what can I give him to put on and so I gave him my shoes and he tried walking but could not even move it was so funny…and I found out he was ticklish and as soon as that happened it was all over hahahaha he was dying and like I was flying him like an airplane and stuff and I just rememeber him walking over to me sitting in my lap semifacing at me and staring in my eyes….it was so depressing…I melted like I don’t know if he was ever seen blue eyes before but he stared for about a minute and I saw in his eyes the curiosity of who I was and why I am here with and when he did that that’s when I realized this is India… India is not a tour … it is not the taj mahal…it is the people and more specifically the kids… and then he ran away and played with his friends…so I walked around a little bit but there was a run of about 30 cribs with 30 babies in it…the orphanage did not have enough people for all the kidss…I mean there would be kids sitting the corning crying..some did not even seem to have any joy in life …one came up to me and she was older and she giggled and gave me a picture she drew and that made me so sad…but she would not talk to me…I don’t know why…so I drew her one and made it for her but she did not think it was pretty enough HAHAH the lil brat ahahh but that’s okay I tried….and then we left…just like that my 1.5 hours there was over and I was so so so so sad…. Then we went back and caught a train ride back to delhi where we stayed the first night… but in the train station we met these little child beggers about like 10 of them and we were all like talking to them and soon they went out of begger mode like they became people and be bought them about 40 bananas and they would stuff them down their shirt and grab another like they did not have one haah one girl looked like she ahd double d boobs because she had so many bananas down her shirt it was hilarious but we talked to them and played with them and asked them all their names and like I gave them chap stick which they LOVED they would put it on their lips rub them together than smack their lips it was so funny…and they also loved getting their picture taken they would like smile and together like punch each other in the face or something…one little girl got violent with this boy who could not walk and I don’t even want to think why he could not because we learned at the orphage that all these kids had parents…there parents put them in the place and make them beg….so sad…when anyways one girl like tried to stteal this boys food and he could not move and so we like moved her away took the food back and gave it back to the …while I am making them sound bad they were so sweet they said like thank you and stuff which is more than the other kids we met … but it was funny beause they would randomly go back into begger mode and elike put their hands on their lips and we would be like shut up your not hungry we just gave you like 40 bananas…and they would be like “what? Bananas?” then they would giggle and talk to us some more… they were so much fun there was a point where this girl had Pringles but not enough to give to all the kids so when their were three of them she was like okay you have to be quiet but I will give you each one pringle and then I put my finget to my lip and went shhhhh and they all went/…shhhhSHHSHSHSH and put their fingers on theirs lips it was so funny….anways we went on the train and had to say goodbye which was sad but it was really cool that we got to talk to them ….then I did not know we had a tour the day after and josh comes bursting into the room like hurry up we are leaving and we both frantically pack our bags to find out that like we weren’t checking out just the tour left and...so anywaysss we went to this like place where it is like a sactuary for all religions and there are 8 in the world and it was so cool it looked like the Sydney opera house and it was beautiful and we got to sit in part of the mass and totally had to take off our shoes…culture hahah then we went to this temple and it was amazing because it was a place where people went to pray for sick people they knew and we were the only tourists there I mean there was a point where it was just me and everyone else who was actually praying and when you walked up the steps at the top you had to kiss the top step and I did nto know if I was supposed to do it so I just did and when we got inside I decided to just sit down and not like walk around and people watch and like see what they were doing so I sat like India style like everyone else and liz and shea joined me and we sat and observed the colors of India were phenomenal they are so bright it was like nothing I has ever seen …bright pink, orange green, yellow it was all so amazing it was the best people watch, bar none then we walked over to this huge pond of holy water…where the people would splash all over themselves systematically up one arm then the other than over their head and it was for some they knew who was sick…THAT WAS REALLY COOL!!! BECAUSE it was not touristy it was like something that these people actually do I mean like I said the people don’t do the taj mahal it was beautiful but if I did not do this other stuff I would have totally missed out…well anywayss the few of us who made it on this trip – where if you missed it that totally blew – but we next went to what I thought was gandis house but it was actually where gandi was shot which I thought was kinda weird but whatever and they have this path of where gandis last steps where and like there were raised little feet and they were his last steps and we were told not to go on them and these asian tourists were so totally on them and I was like “AYYYY – gett off” and they so jumped off immediately haha… but then I took pictures of us walking with gandi it was funny…hahah and then which was really really sad actually we saw his last step and then he was shot…. It was so morbid actually….well then we borded the bus and went back to the hotel to and went on our plane ride back to Chennai…then the next day we went shopping in chennai and like we got these crazy ass rickshaw drivers which is the most terrifying/funny thing ever…when I tell you they use every spot of road they do they really doo…even if they could kill themselves doing it they will even drive on the wrong side of the road… one time a car was coming straight for us and we were on the wrong side of the road and we were blocked on that side and….actually I don’t know how we got out of that one I think I closed my eyes hahah anyways this old man was our driver and he was telling us how all semester at sea where his children and how he has so many letters from stuends and stuff and he is not all about the money…well he took us to one of is friends shops where he gets like something and we were like you brat we don’t want to be here…then he takes us to another one and we were like stupid old man then the bastard leaves us!!!! He was the worst father ever hahahah but it was okay because where we wanted to go was across the street YESS!!! Hahah so we shop there and it was a mega disappointment I don’t really see anything and a lot fo people wanted stuff in India and I was like shoot but then I found pizza hut which is not like the pizza hut at home it was wicked good then we leave after like4 hours of shopping and we are trying to catch a rickshaw and we talk this one guy down to the price it should be and then while we are drivng part of the deal was taking us to this shop we went into the same shop again ahhah talked to the owner super ncie guy I loved him he was the man then we get back into the rickshaw and we changed out desitnation and the guy inside was like you should pay about a buck more for that 50 ruppies and the guy was like no and we WERE LITERALLY FIGHTING WITH HIM BECAUSE HE WAS BEING SUCH A BRAT…IT WAS SO FUNNY – I wanted to scream I did some but not the majority of the brunting…BRITNEY WAS LIKE NO…YOUR CHEATING US HELL NO …. WE ARE NOT PAYING YOU THAT AND FINALLY SHE WAS LIKE GET THE OUT OF THE RICKSHAW RIGHT NOW GET THE OUT AND we start getting 4 people out of this thing built for 2 and he was like OKAY OKAY and it was hysterical and he took us there and left….we went to this market which was so cool bought the stuff the people use to dry the skin and the air with these vibrant colors for the festival they have in india where you just throw colors on everyone…it literally took place the day after we left but that’s okay…then when went to the rickshaw and while driving the guy jacked up the price he was a brat he took the money one of us gave to a begger and we grabbed it out of his hands and gave it back to the old women and he doubled the price while driving and this time I was like NO THAT IS NOT THE PRICE WE AGREED UPON YOU GET and he was like no 200 and I was like ABSOLUTLY NOT WE WILL GET OUT OF THIS RICKSHAW RIGHT NOW AND YOU GET NOTHING…and then he shut up…they were such cheaters of money – and its not the money it’s the principal I mean we were arguing over 2 dollars but we cant let them take advantage of us because then it will just be worse and worse for the next people….but it was okay the bas**** dropped us off at the wrong place and we had to get another rickshaw to the boat ahahha and when he brought us back there where all these beggers and I stole 3 pairs of slippers from the hotel so I could give them to the kids without shoes and I was like “do you want slippers?” and the girl was like “slippers slippers yeah yeah” and as soon as I gave them to her she raised them in her hand and scream AAHHHHH-HA (like success) it was soo so os funny then the other kids ran over and I like yelled at them a little bit like “HEY DON’T GRAB” and they backed off and I gave one pair to one and I was like “SAY THANKYOU” and he was like “thanks” hahah and then two more children came and I only had one pair left and I felt so bad but I just put one in both hands and like ran away ahhaha…. but I loved India… as Less put it you will see some of the most beautiful things and the most heart breaking…you will see color like you have never seen before…you will see little kids without shoes begging you for money but you cant give it to them because it does not help them it actually hurts them…but India was amazing!!! It is the one country where I know I can give more time of my life to and something I would love to do again….

PICS TO COME!!!

South Africa

South Africa

So South Africa was possibly the most extreme animal encounter place of my life. First of all Cape Town is like any city in America it was crazy I mean they had Aston Martin dealerships nutzzooo anyways so the first day I did a wine tour with Fran, Mac, Brit, Tracey, and two of Brits friends whos names have sadly left me ☹. Anyways we drove to Stellenboch and it was beautiful like right out of the picture of Provence, France in my room. So we did about three wine tours and me and Brittney only drank white wine because red BLAH and the first place we went too had the most distinct tastes the first one was fruity, the second woody, and the third like buttered poppin corn it was crazy…and gross….Brittney and I drank the water … more on that later. So after wine tasting we spent time in the town and shopped and I dropped a pretty penny but whatever I got some sweet gifts than we went home and I got diarrhea which I still have and it sucks…WHY DID I DRINK THE WATER UGHHH ahahah but thankfully its not that bad…than the next day we woke up at 4:15 am and caught a flight 2.5 hours away for our SAFARI!!! Let me tell you it is literally the coolest job ever!!! But I will get to it so anyway I met this kid named Smith and I called him sport and I got poop for it forever!! They all called be grandpa hahah ohss well and I went with mac and Jill – who is hysterical…anywaysss so we got to the park around 12ish and I was zonked but we were going on a ride that DAY!!! And I got into the jeep with an open top just like in a safari and I had an old man driver – he was not really cool but anyways John the doctor on board who is possibly the funniest person ever was in my car so it was wicked fun anyways….we saw elephants the first day and also zebra and all sorts of other stuff…then it was an early night for all because we had to get up at like 5am for an early morning game drive … ] so we woke up and I had CAZ (caz@backcountryafrica.co.za) as my driver !!! she is amazingly BAMF I have never met some more BAMF in my life she had the most amazing stories….so we got into the park and the first thing that happens is that a herd of about 15-20 elephants cuts us off completely!!1 soo COOL righttt but they were distressed Caz said an lion probably chased them and because they were so skiddish they were in major defensive mode. They were blowing their trunks and stuff at us and it was actually kinda terrifying you don’t realize how huge and powerful a wild elephant is…She said an elephant does two things when it is trying to intimidate you..the first is that it makes itself look bigger which is almost all the time a bluff and you can calls its bluff but she said if it bows its head at you that’s when it is extremely dangerous…Caz said that a chargin elephant is the most dangerious thing in the entire bush…AND THE ELEPHANT BOWED ITS HEAD AND WAS TROTTING TOWARDS US it was terrifying…but CAZ threw on the car and then put it in reverse and hit the gas and thankfully backed off she said that it was working to be in full charge mode… and that if it charged us it would just put one tusk under the car flip us over and if that did not kill pick us up with its trunk and throw us into the bush…IT WAS NUTS the POWER THESE THINGS HAD!!! Anyway that was intense…so than we drove around looking for lions…no lions ☹ but that’s okay it gives me a reason to go back and Caz said she would take us real style so that was sick!! Anywaysss so Caz had some amazing stories first of all she made me really think about my life and if I want to spend it in a business room she said that is quantity of life and this (the bush) is quality of life. So she said that her parents were both tour guides and she grew up in SA…and she said one time when she was scoping the area to see if it was okay for tourist to go out she stumbled upon three lionesses…two cubs and the lioness was injured and I was like “oh well at least two were babies and one was hurt” and Caz was like absolutely not that is one of the most dangerous situations ever because it was a lioness with her cubs which makes her very protective and she was injured so the lioness was desperate meaning it would do anything to protect her cubs so she was like all you can do is stare that lion right in the eye and if you maintain eye contact that is the only defense you have…because the lion recognizes you’re a predator because of your eyes on the front of your head…and you just have to stare and if you broke the eye contact that’s it your done. Dead. You have to remain eye contact…she said after pooping herself and staring down the lioness for about 8 minutes the lioness went away… HOWEVER if you look a jaguar right in the eye that’s it your dead you never look them in the eye it is received as a immediate threat and they will kill you….for her job and training what they would do is take her to a lions den with a professional and they would have to know how to behave and none of this is guaranteed its just the best thing you can do HOW CRAZY… like school let me throw you infront of a lion…a little H Doubs INTENSE….she also said she was one in the bush and her group was walking around a clearing and she had a bad feeling so she loaded her riffle and had it on her just in case…and then one of the tourists ran and screamed there is a rhino charging and Caz was like get behind me and pointed the gun at the Rhino and she said…DAMNIT (which is so South African along with Robot which is a Stop Light) i cant shoot it so she clapped her hands so hard that they bruised and SCREAMED at a CHARGING RHINO!!! And it haulted and ran away but then it came back from a different direction and a tourist was freaking out … naturally … and said I see the car I might run for it and Caz pointed the gun at her and said “If you run I will shoot you” because if that women ran not only would have everyone died but it would have been long and torturous because Rhinos don’t eat people…anyways she screamed and clapped again and the Rhino ran off…so later we saw giraffes which were kinda like French they would look down at you and be like ahhh caa hooo misjour you are zooo short but one had lion battle scars on it and that was cool…so anywaysss then we were driving and this huge elephant , male or bull , which we did not see before comes walking up the street… now at this point I am in the front seat right next to Caz and it was kinda freaky and she was like this Bull has charged me several times so I was kinda scared and I was like should I buckle my seat belt and she was like that wont do anything if he grabbed you the seatbelt would snap in a second…so anyway I was like kinda scared and he was in HEAT WHICH makes him highly unstable she said AND his was peeing testosterone everywhere it was crazy and he thought about charging us several times because Caz said that when they stop and put their front foot up it means they are thinking about it and it was crazy we were legit 20 feet away from a potentially charging bull which a HUGMUNGO!!! So then we spent the rest of the day traveling the park and singing lion king and Caz got us good she slowed down and was like sh sh shs sh shs sh and were all like LIONS OH YES and we sat there and Caz listened and listened and then she jumped at us ROARING I literally pooped myself!!! It was scary ahhah and then on the way back she was like the tree is poisonous, that will kill you, that bug don’t touch it, that bug will eat your eyes, that will cause blindness I was like HOLY POOP these bugs and killer plants are not like home and she was like this is Africa its different here…and literally the bugs looked like someone on an acid trip drew them and then they flew out of the page it was nuts so that night we had dinner and we played a fun game called something where you basically kill people and try to figure out who it is it was wicked fun…john kept killing everyone hahaha anywaysysysy the night we looked at the stars and they were the most amazing thing I have ever seen…you could see every single one and the milky way there was like more light in the sky than black it was crazy how much light pollution really drowns them out it was possibly one of the most beautiful things I could have ever seen… …it was just eye opening on how many stars were in the sky and I saw a shooting star because it was so so bright!! Anyways so the next morning we went back to cape town And the next day I went SHARK DIVING!~!!! this was so intense…so we drove two hours from cape town and went to this company now when we first got there there was this old sea dog Bryan who said he had only 4 days in his entire life where he has not seen a shark and the day before was one of them and we were like poop and he said the water was only 1 inch visability…so then I was like poop poop…but its okay so we took the boat out and it was really rocky and like 3/4 of the boat was throwing up and we went to seal island!!! Where the filmed the shark from planet earth and where great whites are known as the flying great whites because they jump out of the water to attack their prey…so we waited 2o minutes…3o minutes…4o minutes…and this is when I threw a Dorito in the water hoping to get a shark with it but a damn bird ate it was pissed … 6o minutes and then WE GET A CALL AND this guy has 4 great white sharks that are 8 feet long so we all got so excited and went there and let me tell you once you got into the water with these beasts it was amazing they would take the fish heads and lure the shark towards the cage and it would swim buy you and its tail fin was probs the size of my body like HUGE and it was so adrenaline pumping being in the water with it…than it we watched it like open its mouth underwater to try and eat the fish and it could swallow me whole and this 8 foot one is small for great whites I cant imagine a big boy…anywayss so when we are getting out I look over at Bradee who is getting out and right next to her the shark is above the water right next to the cage KNAWING on some fish it was terrifying!!! And then when the pulled me up they were LIKE LOOK OUT LOOK OUT AND I JUMPED AS FAST AS I COULD…. I HAVE NEVER MOVED THAT FAST IN MY LIFE TO FIND OUT IT WAS A BLUFF AND THEY WERE ALL LAUGHING AT ME!!! So scary…anyway so an hour goes by and we watched the other kids go and it was crazy scary because the people in the cage would be like wheres the shark and it would literally be 4 feet in front of them that’s how bad you could not see which is scary because how can you not see an 8 foot great white shark!!! Ya know so …anwyas so our group got to go in one last time and this time the water was way colder and also really harder to see and the guys were like you need to put you face right up to the view hole or you wont see anything so the view hole was about a foot and a half tall and uninterrupted for the entire cage so a very big hole…anwyas he was like DOWN DOWN DOWN because we did not have a snorkel we just went down when he told us too so we did and we put out faces to the opening and the chum lundged at my face me thinking it was a shark I jumped back wicked fast it was crazy scary… but like myself after chasing fish on a string for an hour I would be borded too so anywayys the guy goes DOWN DOWN DOWN again and the chum ludges at my face and I was like PSH chum and THEN CAME THE SHARK AND HE LITERALLY HIS MOUTH AND FACE WERE IN THE CAGE BECAUSE HE RAMMED IT SO HARD AND I WAS 7 INCHES AWAY FROM HIS MOUTH…WHEN THAT HAPPENS YOU CANT THINK…YOU JUST REACT…YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW YOUR NOT ABLE TO BREATH AND ALL I DID I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER BUT AS SOON AS I SAW HIS FACE COMING FOR MINE MY BODY JUST PUSHED AS FAR BACK AS I COULD BUT IF THAT CAGE WAS NOT THEIR I WOULD BE DEAD!!! AND WE STARED AT HIS OPEN MOUTH IN OUR FACES FOR LIKE 30 SECONDS…. And so we went back up and like wanted to cry but was so scared and had to shakes I couldn’t and then so the guy was like DOWN DOWN DOWN and I again put my face to the hole and the chum again came my way and the SHARK LITERALLY WAS IN THE CAGE AGAIN!!!! HIS MOUTH AND FACE WERE IN THROUGH THE HOLE AGAIN…WATCHING IT COMING WAS SO SUDDEN BECAUSE YOU CANT SEE LITERALLY YOU COULD BLINK AND HE WOULD BE EATING YOUR FACE….HE WAS THIS TIME 5 INCHES FROM MY FACE LIKE A GIRL WAS LEGIT SCREAMING BECAUSE FROM HER ANGLE MY HEAD WAS IN THE SHARKS MOUTH1!!!! IT WAS CRAZYYY SCARYY!!!! But soo so so so soo cooll I am so amazed with myself and have so much more respect for such powerfull creatures that I came to realize we as humans are nothing NOTHING!!! Without or machines … we would loose in every situation and that is just crazy to me that we legit are nothing compared to the sheer size and power of these amazing creatures….i loved South Africa and cant wait to go back!!!

pics to come

South AFrica

 

Nabibs

Morocco Picturessss

[sam dont fret 1 i have the cofc shirt on underneigh my northface and 2 i have a different picture for ya !! :) ]

Namibia

Nabibs

So!!! NAMIBIA was the most amazing country I have ever personally been too thus far. First of all when we got there a guy from the US embassy got on and was like yeah I got stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver and I was like …come on…. really I don’t want any screwdrivers anywhere but like on wood or something…so anywasysss we got off the boat and a bunch of little girls who were orphans were singing to us and dancing for our arriving….IT WAS LITERALLY ONE OF THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! Like literally out of an African documentary and I almost cried I was like this is amazing and I was next like this big macho guy who is wicked nice, will – and it was cool because we were both so an awe…not only that but I got the most amazing pictureess of them…also the best part was after about an hour of like watching them in awe they ran up to me and like that was so good you guys are so GREAT and they were like “Vhat is you Name” and I was like WIN!!!! And then I met lisa….it was really something cool to experience and will never forget… they also sand happy birthday to one of our friends who turned 21 that day and it was so much better than our own I have a little clip of it but it went like this

“let the light of the lorrrrrrd…shine down of you….happy birthday too yoooou”

hahahah anywayysysys then we went to this place where we rented a house is Swankopond (sp??) anywaysss the house was beautiful and it is right behind the house that brad Angelina stay at when they go to Namibia. It was right on the beach hahah so anywayss while it waa frustrating being in a house with 40 people because organizing that much people is hard it was okay…then we met MARTIN hahahha my new friend who is Namibian hahhah so Martin became our personally chafer for like the whole time hahahah it turns out MARTIN IS JUST SOME NAMIBIAN WITH A CAR so like we just hired some Namibian with a car to drive us around not a taxi guy hahah. And we went to this resturant the first night…which had the best food ever!!! ALSO I FORGOT!!! 10% of the tourists for the year that visit Namibia are Semester at Sea and so it means we are huge ambassadors to our country to these people…but my table had a really good time we sat next to some locals and talked to them the WHOLE time and they taught us African music and Afrikaans – one of the more popular languages of Nabibs along with english and they are going to FACEBOOK US….so excited!!!! Anywayssysysy so the next day we went into town and I met the nicest people even the people in the market were so not like morocco if you said no they understood I loved it then we went to a shop were all the proceeds went to the orphans like the ones that sang and danced for us and outside were the cutest twins I have ever seen in my life….they looked like the little boys on big daddy but 10 times better….they had bright blue eyes…bleach blonde hair….and they finished each other sentences…one would be like
“when we surf”
-“we have to look out for fire coral”
“it can really hurt”
-“really hurt”
all in English accents it was so cool!!!
they were 9 and spent six years of their life on a sailboat traveling the world with their parents and now they live in Namibia and are from their. HAHAH one of the little kids had a shirt on with a great white shark and a diver and it said “Oh shit”…I enjoyed it … to make it short we went to dinner that night and I ate ostrich and while I want to be morally good and say it tasted bad… it was delicious…anywayssss so the last day we went to dune 7 and went SANDBOARDING>…!!!! Okay first of all the place was kinda closed because it was so hot and in the middle of the day so we had to walk up the dune and walking up a dune while it sounds like oh I shall just casually miander and fart around up this lovely tiny hill NO NO NO it is a mountain but you know how like running on beach is harder than running on the ground well…now try that on a vertical slope I literally had to use my sandboard ( a piece of plywood with wax on it) because every step you took you foot sank and would be pushed back with the sand….and than after making it up and almost dying SOME PEOPLES BOARDS DID NOT WORK which stunk - only three of the boards worked and I WAS ONE OF THEM…. I FLEW SO FAST they said that on average 45 miles per hour so I probs went 32 mph and then I hit a bump in the sand and my shoulder licked the sand I a tumbled down the dune and literally my clothes like few open inviting all the sand to touch my body with open arms which cemented to me because like I was sweaty hahah and I looked arab we all did actually because the sand made my skin so darker it was hysterical and then after being covered from sand in every EVERY orifice… I am still picking it out of my nose two showers later…. Hahah then we had them take us into this clear orb ball thing you know those giant plastic ones with two wholes well anyway they put water in it and roll you down the dunes in it and it was wicked FUN but I was legit naked in a dessert which while this is weird was kinda liberating…I thought it was enjoyable to be in a dessert naked I would highly recommend because I had to take off all my clothes to go in the thing and I was only in … yeah it was cool hahaha but then we were pushed down the dune and our bodies just flipped and flopped all over that ball…and now here I am leaving this great country with ALL nicest people ever…not once did I feel afraid not once did I seem scared…even if some people did look like oh shit he is gonna beat us up… they would just put a big old smile on their face and say ‘allo and then they would just talk to you about anything and everything,,,,

I cant wait to go back!!!!

And sorry for the pictures I will try and put them up in SA YAYAYAY TOM!!!!!

So what I am planning on doing is this

First day wine tour
Day 2,3,4 TENTED SAFARI !!!!!
DAY 5: GREAT WHITE SHARK DIVING!!!!!

SO PUMPED!!!

Morocco

Morocco was like basically ALADIN which the Moroccans pronounced ALAH – DONE but anyways the whole time we were there we were singing “Arabian nightttttttt like arabiannn dayyy…do da de dii or “Prince Ali how do you see blag da …hes the best something…” okay we were a little sketchy on the words hhahaha anywaysss Morocco, and specifically merikesh (spelling) was a place of huge culture shock NEVER EVER EVER have I been to a place where it was so obvious I was not from there or Europe for that matter…they all knew we were American – which was a little scary. Another reason we looked so different because the group of 15 or so was a boy girl mix…now literally if we did see a women she was a shadow only noticed by us … not by the locals and she had only her eyes and mouth exposed…while this does not sound weird it was a little unnerving. We went to the market where there WHERE SNAKE CHARMERSS and flying carpets….WELL no flying carpets but I wish….anyway the snake charmer after he promised not to put his cobra on me put is cobra around my neck and then touched its forehead to mine three times for good luck!! YAH talk about scary….then we went to the market and the people were….ahhh very forward with us….touching our arms pulling us into their shop we literally had to yank our arms out of theirs hands yell at them for touching you and walk away… it just shows how different it was there. Not only that I slowly learned the art of bartering…like me an this girl I was traveling bought these original oil painting for this women with just her eyes they are really great and we got it for like 1/3 the asking price so that is kinda cool and like I like the painting because in morocco eyes are like women in bikinis at home so it was cool seeing how like different parts of the world really view things extremely differently you know. ANYWAYSSS our hotel was beautiful for only 80 dollars for the three nights at home it would have been maybe like 150 a night it was gorgeous it had a courtyard a roof that was all patio and I have pictures I will put up…and for the testonis the bathroom was really clean and nice but in your defense I never went into a public bathroom….i have pictures of that too….in casablanca we went to ricks café from the movie Casablanca I wish I saw the movie because like then it would have been 10 times cooler but we could not go in because they closed 5 minutes before we got there so I saw the outside…it looked really pretty. Also in Casablanca we went the third largest MOSQUE in the world and it has the tallest minaret in the world…now this we all found extremely cool because never have any of us seen a mosque and just looking at one is really neat we went inside and had to take of our shoes….!!!!! HOW CULTURAL!!!! Anywaysysysy OH YEAHHH anther thing about being in a muslin country is that 5 times a day this LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD SIREN noise would scream through the city air indicating it was time to pray…when we first heard it we all jumped and like did not know what to do…literally it is such a creepy noise that sounds like a bomb shelter warning like get under something an a bomb is coming ya know it was very cool….but surprisingly I thought every muslim you know had to stop everything they were doing and pray towards Mekah… none did???? Which was weird to us because these people were so religious…but I think they are faux religious haha Hahah like you cant take a picture of them because it is against their religion but if you pay them then its fine to take a picture of them you know…so faux religious

Okay I will update it with pictures when I get to NABIB!!! WHOA TWO DAYS!!!!

Love you all
win

ESPANA PICS

ESPANA

Spain while i thought was not going to be that special totally proved me wrong!!!  i am in love with it ...first of all everyone was wicked nice to be beyond measure and would give me the time of day when i used my spanish even though it was probably all wrong!!! anywayssysysy the spanish are crazy we met 3 bartenders and showed us how to party up spanish style....dont worry my lovely readers i was the "sober sailor" but it was still really fun...!!! before i know it was 7am in the morning!!! and we were like WHAT HOW DID THAT HAPPEN....anywayy my new spanish best friend fransico is my faceboook friend so anyone who has access to my facebook should check him out he was awesome!!!

basically i love spain and the spanish way of life and anyone who does not think that they would like it they will be proved wrong

HEYYYEYEYEYY everyone right now i am in ESPANA!!! land of spanish ... i am stealing internet from some cafe hehe well now that i am off the boat i can upload pictures so let me do that real quick before i start writing (sam that picture is in spain and in-front of the boat 1/12 of my mission is complete!!)

hahaha kay now that i got those all uploaded i can write FIRST OF ALL HOW SKETCH is my id...they took my passport photo hahaah its wicked funny and that panoramic picture is a view off the back of the boat and then black and white one is my room and then my bathroom for the testonis

BOAT LIFE: living on the boat is SO SO SO SO SO SO SO different than i thought it would be first of all the boat is amazing...i mean we watched obamas inauguration live on tv via satalite hahah and we were all like cool were in the middle of the ocean witnessing history haha it was funny to us  anyway now that we are on land we all are getting the spins because were so used to our bodies moving all the time that i think i might get land sick hahah...classes are mildly hard because there are so many distractions on boat i mean literally you could spend all day on the back deck hanging out by the pool and get absolutely nothing done...I SAW WHALES!!! a whole pod of them from the back of the boat - they did not jump or anything but i saw the tops of them and one shot water out of their blowhole!!! i geeked out!!

the people: everyone on board (with the exception of one) is really really cool and CRAZY like hahah i thought i was bad some of these people are wicked intense...but its cool i mean everyone is from all over the country so its just fun to meet people not only from around the world but around your country...there is about 200 cali kids...there freakin everywhere :)

well right now i am in spain like i said and i will update you guys on spain before i leave because i just got here!!! but so far i have been very impressed with like talking to people ... i have gotten everything i wanted using spanish so i am pumped about that and while its kinda cold its no where near you guys so HA ... sorry to be obnoxious 

hahah and i might not be able to update you in morocco and nambiia so heres the plan 

Morocco - going to amerikezh or something i am not sure how you spell it and we are staying at the hotel "The Gateway to the Sahara" - TALK ABOUT MENTAL IMAGERY!!! hahah and i wi;l be riding a camel through the sahara YES!!! 

Namibia: i am going to go sandboarding....which is like snowboarding but like on sanddunes which i am wicked pumped for hahha and also i am gonna learn how to be a snake charmer i think YEYEYEYYE

okay i am outskis but use my email all the time here it is again

ewplatt@semesteratsea.net

literally none of us can use facebook so we check it like as many times as we do facebook (like 28times a day minima ) - so i am always on!!!1 so WRITE ME!!!

love you all

win

My email

hey everyone!!!! i just want to let you know that i miss you and i will write something big in Spain its just they are charging me for this and i cant upload pictures from sea .... so i will do all that in spain which is 3 days from now... i just wanted to let everyone know my emaill


ewplatt@semesteratsea.net

i love you all and feel free to email me because its free

ps. for the testonis Rene cleans our toliet everyday for us

 "There are no foreign lands.  It is the traveler only who is foreign" 

 Robert Stevenson

My boat (right)