Friday, March 21, 2008
INDIA
so I'm in Malaysia and haven't had time to type up India yet. Here's a few pictures to start and a whole recap on India and Malaysia to come.. At the bottom there are three videos- one of the streets in India, one of the infamous South Indian head-bobble I'll explain later, and one of our visit to a school. I also put about 30 more pictures on webshots (community.webshots.com/user/philschwartz3)
Monday, March 10, 2008
South Africa Continued, and then Mauritius!
First pics, then info. Also, added a new album on the webshots site.. These are random pics of the beach and mountains, and a pic of a tortoise that must be have been about 100 years old. Also me playing with lions!!! There are more pictures on the other website (community.webshots.com/user/philschwartz3)
So. Got back to Cape Town on the 22nd late night, passed out hard in hopes of waking up early to hike Table Mountain. Woke up early only to see that the mountain was covered in clouds and the view wouldn’t be that good, so we kind of scrambled to plan something else and ended up having a pretty sweet day anyway. We hit up the Two Oceans Aquarium (named this because the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean connect near the cape in South Africa), which was pretty sweet. Saw tons of different fish/turtles/penguins and some sharks. Ended up walking around the waterfront for a while, bought a variety of African music which was pretty cheap (5 CDs for like 25 bucks).
After that we decided to check out Boulder Beach, which is where there is a colony of African Penguins. As far as I know (but I could be wrong), these penguins only exist in southern Africa. There were TONS of them just chillin on the beach, wobbling around, and a few swimming. Really cool to see penguins in a natural environment. It was really weird however, to see penguins in 80 degree weather on a beach, and not in freezing temperatures sliding around on ice.
After this we walked around a few markets and bought a couple things for ppl at home, and then took the drive back to the ship along the coast which was really nice. Rested on the ship for a bit and then went into the downtown area to meet up with Lindsey Palma!! Woohoo, and about 5 others came with us to eat at this restaurant called Mama Africa. Ordered a bottle of wine which was like 6 bucks, and ended up eating a pretty “wild” dinner- crocodile, kudu (their antelope), ostrich, springbok, and venison sausage. It was actually all amazing as weird as it sounds. Most of it just really tasted like steaks, and it was served with a BOMB mustard sauce, squash, and millipop (cornmeal kinda thing served with a marinara sauce.)
After dinner we got some drinks at a hookah bar which was pretty sweet ($2 mixed drinks, $1.50 beers), and then I met up with Sherman and some of his friends living in Cape Town and went to another bar. This place was pretty sweet; crowded, but we went to the rooftop which had an open area where you could view the rest of the downtown scene, which was bumping as it was Saturday night.
Stayed out til about 3 A.M., passed out, and woke up at 8 A.M. to go for a hike. Laura and I decided that we were going to hike Table Mountain’s neighbor, Lions Head instead of Table Mtn. because there were a million ppl going to Table and we wanted some peace and quiet on top. So we hopped in a cab and went there. About an hour or so hike up, maybe a little more. It was SUPER hot, sun blaring in our faces but it felt good. The trail was winding up and provided an awesome 360 degree view of the surrounding area. On one side you could see the whole city, on another was an amazing view of Table Mountain, and in the back was the Ocean which was gorgeous, as it was a mix of turquoise, deep blue, light blue… you get the picture. We got to the top and hung out for about an hour and a half just enjoying the view, taking pictures, chillin. Tough life, I know. On the way down we went a different way, the “harder way”, where in certain areas you had to lower yourself down by rappelling on metal chains. Pretty crazy, as it was so hot and we had sunscreen on our hands so they were oily and sweaty.
When we got back we just walked around the waterfront, bought a t-shirt.. Then, we went to a craft market where I met one of the nicest people ever: Laura bought a painting from him for about 7 bucks. I lent her my last South African money so she could get it, and then I realized I wanted one too but was out of luck. The artist saw me looking at his work and asked me how much I could give him. I told him I literally had zero money. He put his finger up to his lips in a “shhh” motion, and slid the painting I was looking at into a bag, and gave it to me for free. I told him I couldn’t accept it because I felt so bad taking something from someone who clearly didn’t have money to spare, but he told me he insisted on me having it, and that someone rich would make up for it in the future. I wanted to hug this guy. It was so unnecessary, but a true showing of how the people in South Africa are. Amazing, nice, and so happy with having so little.
We had about 4 hours left in port so we went to a brewery and got some of their homemade beer ($ 2.00 draughts!!!), which was 7% alcohol and sooo delicious. All of a sudden I heard a chant coming from upstairs that sounded like a fight song you hear in English soccer games, so I went to see what it was. Turns out it was the Cape Town Chelsea fan club about to watch Chelsea play in the Carling Cup championship game!!!! (for those of you who don’t know soccer, Chelsea is one of the 4 best teams in English soccer, and I love them.) They were playing Tottenham, who shouldn’t have had a chance. The game was about to start and Laura and I decided to ditch any other plans and watch the game, as the ENTIRE BAR was full of Chelsea fans, and we were LITERALLY the only two people in there that didn’t have jerseys on. So, we kinda quietly sat down and watched. Ended up starting a tab and drinking a bunch of beers for like zero dollars. The fan club also bought pizzas for everyone in the room and it was just a ridiculous experience. SO MUCH FUN. Chelsea was winning until after the 80th minute, when Tottenham tied it up and in extra time T’ham ended up winning. Lets just say the mood was a bit somber in the bar…
Overall, Cape Town was unbelievable and I will be back in my lifetime (World Cup?). Speaking of World Cup, I made it a point to talk to a lot of locals about it and get their opinion on it and I was surprised to learn that the majority of people DON’T want the World Cup to occur there, and are unhappy about it. They feel that money could be better spent, and that it’s just another example of the rich getting richer and the poor not benefiting. We’ll see.
One thing that really moved me in Cape Town was how racism is still so prevalent. You can see, hear, and feel it in the attitudes of the people there, but you can just tell by looking around that the after effects of apartheid are still felt by the entire nation. It’s really sad because this place is amazing. About 75% of the population is Black, and they still occupy less than 20% of the land. They live in townships and squatter villages, while the other 13% of the population occupies 80% of the land. Really wild. Also, South Africa is absolutely destroyed by HIV/AIDS. 21% of the adult population in the country is infected. 21%!!!! 1/5 people in the whole nation!!!
50% of the people lie below the poverty line. So, a lot of problems for them to deal with, but what amazed me the most was how happy they are even in this position. People in the U.S. are so much more miserable living in poverty than these people. They truly make the best of their situation and it was pretty inspiring.
MAURITIUS
Pulled into Mauritius on March 1st, and woke up at about 6:00 that morning to watch us pull in. I walked out on the deck to see a gorgeous city. The backdrop for Port Louis is just the most lush green mountains that everybody pictures when they think of “paradise.” These mountains surround Mauritius (at least every part I was in), and it was awesome. They are just these crazy mountain formations that are deep green.
The water in Mauritius was probably the most beautiful ocean water I’ve ever seen. It is literally crystal clear. When you’re in the ocean you can see everything underwater. The color of the water is just ridiculous. I’ll upload some pictures, but you should all look at some google images of Mauritius.
For the academic side of Mauritius, there are some interesting facts. Mauritius has tons of different cultures coexisting- Indians are 50%, and then there are French (who colonized the island, and the majority of people speak French), Chinese, and Creoles. It was really cool seeing all of these different populations all over. Hindu is the biggest religion on the island and there were lots of temples and other evidences of this.
Here is the interesting thing. French people make up only 2% of the population, but hold by far most of the wealth. These are the remaining descendants from the French colonizers.
The country is in a big transition phase right now. They have one of the most stable economies in all of Africa, but their focuses are changing. Historically they were known for sugar exports, which have been shrinking in recent history due to changing world prices. Now they are substituting other industries. One of their goals in the country is to make the ENTIRE country wireless, including beaches, homes, everything.
So on the first day we got picked up at the port by the family we were going to stay with. (Me, Laura, Quinn and two other friends from the ship). The mother is a five star chef, and has her cook books being sold all over the island. The father was a nice guy, and then there was a guy our age named Kinglsey, and younger girl. They ended up being one of the nicest family’s I’ve met. So we drove out to their house which is on Flic En Flac beach (google it). We would stay here for 3 nights, 4 days. The house was a block and a half from the beach, had a pool, satellite tv, yada yada. All of our breakfasts and dinners were included, 4 hour open bar every night… you get the picture. We were set up for a week in paradise.
Not gonna summarize every day individually because I don’t really remember the specifics, but in general we woke up every day to breakfast, then headed to the beach and swam and chilled, did some snorkeling which was AWESOME because the water was amazing, got a $4 massage that included 2 drinks, went to a casino, ate tons of good food… and at night everybody migrated to Flic En Flac’s only bar named Shooters. Good times.
On the last day we went to this place called Casela, where we were hoping to do a 2 hour ATV cruise through the wilderness, but it was sold out. So instead we pet lions. Yes..we pet lions. They have 6 lions that you are allowed to interact with, that are fully grown, and not drugged. There’s no strings attached, except for I’m sure they’ve been hand fed their whole lives so they don’t view humans as food. We got tons of pictures petting and hanging out around them, and then walked around the rest of the area which had HUGE tortoises up to 100 years old (sick pictures of these too), two Bengal tigers, some parrots…
I’m sure I left some things out but whatever. Mauritius was a very interesting place, tons of culture to learn about and I became really good friends with the son in the family. I hope to get back together with him later in life.
Tomorrow we arrive in India, and I’ll try to update again in a few days! SO PUMPED for India.
So. Got back to Cape Town on the 22nd late night, passed out hard in hopes of waking up early to hike Table Mountain. Woke up early only to see that the mountain was covered in clouds and the view wouldn’t be that good, so we kind of scrambled to plan something else and ended up having a pretty sweet day anyway. We hit up the Two Oceans Aquarium (named this because the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean connect near the cape in South Africa), which was pretty sweet. Saw tons of different fish/turtles/penguins and some sharks. Ended up walking around the waterfront for a while, bought a variety of African music which was pretty cheap (5 CDs for like 25 bucks).
After that we decided to check out Boulder Beach, which is where there is a colony of African Penguins. As far as I know (but I could be wrong), these penguins only exist in southern Africa. There were TONS of them just chillin on the beach, wobbling around, and a few swimming. Really cool to see penguins in a natural environment. It was really weird however, to see penguins in 80 degree weather on a beach, and not in freezing temperatures sliding around on ice.
After this we walked around a few markets and bought a couple things for ppl at home, and then took the drive back to the ship along the coast which was really nice. Rested on the ship for a bit and then went into the downtown area to meet up with Lindsey Palma!! Woohoo, and about 5 others came with us to eat at this restaurant called Mama Africa. Ordered a bottle of wine which was like 6 bucks, and ended up eating a pretty “wild” dinner- crocodile, kudu (their antelope), ostrich, springbok, and venison sausage. It was actually all amazing as weird as it sounds. Most of it just really tasted like steaks, and it was served with a BOMB mustard sauce, squash, and millipop (cornmeal kinda thing served with a marinara sauce.)
After dinner we got some drinks at a hookah bar which was pretty sweet ($2 mixed drinks, $1.50 beers), and then I met up with Sherman and some of his friends living in Cape Town and went to another bar. This place was pretty sweet; crowded, but we went to the rooftop which had an open area where you could view the rest of the downtown scene, which was bumping as it was Saturday night.
Stayed out til about 3 A.M., passed out, and woke up at 8 A.M. to go for a hike. Laura and I decided that we were going to hike Table Mountain’s neighbor, Lions Head instead of Table Mtn. because there were a million ppl going to Table and we wanted some peace and quiet on top. So we hopped in a cab and went there. About an hour or so hike up, maybe a little more. It was SUPER hot, sun blaring in our faces but it felt good. The trail was winding up and provided an awesome 360 degree view of the surrounding area. On one side you could see the whole city, on another was an amazing view of Table Mountain, and in the back was the Ocean which was gorgeous, as it was a mix of turquoise, deep blue, light blue… you get the picture. We got to the top and hung out for about an hour and a half just enjoying the view, taking pictures, chillin. Tough life, I know. On the way down we went a different way, the “harder way”, where in certain areas you had to lower yourself down by rappelling on metal chains. Pretty crazy, as it was so hot and we had sunscreen on our hands so they were oily and sweaty.
When we got back we just walked around the waterfront, bought a t-shirt.. Then, we went to a craft market where I met one of the nicest people ever: Laura bought a painting from him for about 7 bucks. I lent her my last South African money so she could get it, and then I realized I wanted one too but was out of luck. The artist saw me looking at his work and asked me how much I could give him. I told him I literally had zero money. He put his finger up to his lips in a “shhh” motion, and slid the painting I was looking at into a bag, and gave it to me for free. I told him I couldn’t accept it because I felt so bad taking something from someone who clearly didn’t have money to spare, but he told me he insisted on me having it, and that someone rich would make up for it in the future. I wanted to hug this guy. It was so unnecessary, but a true showing of how the people in South Africa are. Amazing, nice, and so happy with having so little.
We had about 4 hours left in port so we went to a brewery and got some of their homemade beer ($ 2.00 draughts!!!), which was 7% alcohol and sooo delicious. All of a sudden I heard a chant coming from upstairs that sounded like a fight song you hear in English soccer games, so I went to see what it was. Turns out it was the Cape Town Chelsea fan club about to watch Chelsea play in the Carling Cup championship game!!!! (for those of you who don’t know soccer, Chelsea is one of the 4 best teams in English soccer, and I love them.) They were playing Tottenham, who shouldn’t have had a chance. The game was about to start and Laura and I decided to ditch any other plans and watch the game, as the ENTIRE BAR was full of Chelsea fans, and we were LITERALLY the only two people in there that didn’t have jerseys on. So, we kinda quietly sat down and watched. Ended up starting a tab and drinking a bunch of beers for like zero dollars. The fan club also bought pizzas for everyone in the room and it was just a ridiculous experience. SO MUCH FUN. Chelsea was winning until after the 80th minute, when Tottenham tied it up and in extra time T’ham ended up winning. Lets just say the mood was a bit somber in the bar…
Overall, Cape Town was unbelievable and I will be back in my lifetime (World Cup?). Speaking of World Cup, I made it a point to talk to a lot of locals about it and get their opinion on it and I was surprised to learn that the majority of people DON’T want the World Cup to occur there, and are unhappy about it. They feel that money could be better spent, and that it’s just another example of the rich getting richer and the poor not benefiting. We’ll see.
One thing that really moved me in Cape Town was how racism is still so prevalent. You can see, hear, and feel it in the attitudes of the people there, but you can just tell by looking around that the after effects of apartheid are still felt by the entire nation. It’s really sad because this place is amazing. About 75% of the population is Black, and they still occupy less than 20% of the land. They live in townships and squatter villages, while the other 13% of the population occupies 80% of the land. Really wild. Also, South Africa is absolutely destroyed by HIV/AIDS. 21% of the adult population in the country is infected. 21%!!!! 1/5 people in the whole nation!!!
50% of the people lie below the poverty line. So, a lot of problems for them to deal with, but what amazed me the most was how happy they are even in this position. People in the U.S. are so much more miserable living in poverty than these people. They truly make the best of their situation and it was pretty inspiring.
MAURITIUS
Pulled into Mauritius on March 1st, and woke up at about 6:00 that morning to watch us pull in. I walked out on the deck to see a gorgeous city. The backdrop for Port Louis is just the most lush green mountains that everybody pictures when they think of “paradise.” These mountains surround Mauritius (at least every part I was in), and it was awesome. They are just these crazy mountain formations that are deep green.
The water in Mauritius was probably the most beautiful ocean water I’ve ever seen. It is literally crystal clear. When you’re in the ocean you can see everything underwater. The color of the water is just ridiculous. I’ll upload some pictures, but you should all look at some google images of Mauritius.
For the academic side of Mauritius, there are some interesting facts. Mauritius has tons of different cultures coexisting- Indians are 50%, and then there are French (who colonized the island, and the majority of people speak French), Chinese, and Creoles. It was really cool seeing all of these different populations all over. Hindu is the biggest religion on the island and there were lots of temples and other evidences of this.
Here is the interesting thing. French people make up only 2% of the population, but hold by far most of the wealth. These are the remaining descendants from the French colonizers.
The country is in a big transition phase right now. They have one of the most stable economies in all of Africa, but their focuses are changing. Historically they were known for sugar exports, which have been shrinking in recent history due to changing world prices. Now they are substituting other industries. One of their goals in the country is to make the ENTIRE country wireless, including beaches, homes, everything.
So on the first day we got picked up at the port by the family we were going to stay with. (Me, Laura, Quinn and two other friends from the ship). The mother is a five star chef, and has her cook books being sold all over the island. The father was a nice guy, and then there was a guy our age named Kinglsey, and younger girl. They ended up being one of the nicest family’s I’ve met. So we drove out to their house which is on Flic En Flac beach (google it). We would stay here for 3 nights, 4 days. The house was a block and a half from the beach, had a pool, satellite tv, yada yada. All of our breakfasts and dinners were included, 4 hour open bar every night… you get the picture. We were set up for a week in paradise.
Not gonna summarize every day individually because I don’t really remember the specifics, but in general we woke up every day to breakfast, then headed to the beach and swam and chilled, did some snorkeling which was AWESOME because the water was amazing, got a $4 massage that included 2 drinks, went to a casino, ate tons of good food… and at night everybody migrated to Flic En Flac’s only bar named Shooters. Good times.
On the last day we went to this place called Casela, where we were hoping to do a 2 hour ATV cruise through the wilderness, but it was sold out. So instead we pet lions. Yes..we pet lions. They have 6 lions that you are allowed to interact with, that are fully grown, and not drugged. There’s no strings attached, except for I’m sure they’ve been hand fed their whole lives so they don’t view humans as food. We got tons of pictures petting and hanging out around them, and then walked around the rest of the area which had HUGE tortoises up to 100 years old (sick pictures of these too), two Bengal tigers, some parrots…
I’m sure I left some things out but whatever. Mauritius was a very interesting place, tons of culture to learn about and I became really good friends with the son in the family. I hope to get back together with him later in life.
Tomorrow we arrive in India, and I’ll try to update again in a few days! SO PUMPED for India.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
some more pics
Helloooo from Mauritius!!! GORGEOUS HERE. got some time to put some more pics up. Check out the South Africa blog if you didn't already. There are 2 days I still have to write about for S.A., and I'll probably do that when I write about Mauritius. I also put some more pictures on the webshots site (community.webshots.com/user/philschwartz3).
The pic of the food is me eating alligator, ostrich, kudu, venison and one other random meat i forget in South Africa. The two beautiful girls are from the Rastafarian township I went to. The penguins are African penguins at Boulders Beach in South Africa. Pretty crazy. Also a pic of me and Laura after hiking Lion's Head, me and two others in the Rasta townships. The picture of me and two guys in the township is their symbol (they put two sevens together to signify unity and "one love", and the white kid puts his hands together to signify "togetherness".
The pic of the food is me eating alligator, ostrich, kudu, venison and one other random meat i forget in South Africa. The two beautiful girls are from the Rastafarian township I went to. The penguins are African penguins at Boulders Beach in South Africa. Pretty crazy. Also a pic of me and Laura after hiking Lion's Head, me and two others in the Rasta townships. The picture of me and two guys in the township is their symbol (they put two sevens together to signify unity and "one love", and the white kid puts his hands together to signify "togetherness".
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