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Riding a camel in the desert in Jaisalmer, India!

New Port

Okay so we found out that we are now going to Taiwan instead of Japan. I'm glad we get to go to another country but it kind of sucks because we are only getting 3 days there and we were supposed to have 5 in Japan. So we're gonna have an excruciatingly long stretch at sea until we get to Hawaii. I'm sure I'll be getting cabin fever! Hopefully ISE will do something and maybe give us a couple extra days in Hawaii since we can't stay very long in Taiwan...but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I don't know if I will be posting about the last few ports any time soon because I have a ton of work to get done in the 2 days until we get to China so I don't think I will have a lot of time. I'll do the best that I can!

ITINERARY CHANGE


As many of you probably already know, we are no longer going to Japan. We found out early this morning and everyone is definitely really disappointed. In the last few days we were told that we were still going as planned but since the conditions have gotten worse they believe it is no longer safe for us to go there at this time. It really sucks because they had mentioned that we might be able to do some relief work there, which would have been an incredible experience. I'm really disappointed that we aren't able to help out.

We aren't sure yet where we will be going in place of Japan. They've told us a few options but we should know a definite answer in the next three days. I'll keep everyone updated as soon as I find out. In the meantime, make sure to keep the people of Japan in your thoughts and prayers.

I'll try to blog about India sometime soon. Singapore tomorrow!

SOUTH AFRICA

Sorry to the people out there who have actually been following my blog and have been patiently waiting for updates on the last two ports. I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t had much time or attention span to write until now. But, anyways, I hope everyone has enjoyed the few pictures I was able to post recently. I finally figured out how to send pictures to my blog so that it doesn’t waste my precious internet minutes so I’ll try to put more pictures up in the future.

So, moving on… South Africa was absolutely amazing! I loved every minute of my time there and I wish that we could have stayed there longer. We actually got screwed over big time because we missed out on an entire day in Cape Town because the weather wasn’t cooperating enough for us to dock. So we were literally stuck at sea, cruising around the harbor for an entire day and some of the next day when we were supposed to be on land. It really sucked. Everyone was in a really bad mood because we could see Cape Town in the distance but we couldn’t get to it. I guess the waves were too bad that the ship would have just crashed into the dock so we couldn’t do anything but wait it out. A lot of people missed out on trips that were scheduled. I lucked out though because the trip that I had on the first day was just an FDP for one of my classes so it wasn’t a huge deal. We were supposed to visit a winery though so that would have been cool to do. Oh, well. Some people actually got their entire safari trips canceled so I’m not complaining. And ISE is going to refund everyone so that definitely made it a little better. So instead of 6 days in Cape Town, we were only there for 5 days, which is definitely not enough time to do and see everything that Cape Town has to offer.

So the first day I mainly just explored the waterfront, which is packed with shops and restaurants and is very touristy. It felt so completely different than Ghana that it was hard to believe that we were still in the same continent. We definitely didn’t stand out in Cape Town like in the last port. Although I really had a great experience in Ghana, it was nice to just blend in a little and not be stared at constantly. That night we ate at a restaurant at the waterfront and I tried some different exotic meats. My friend Amber and I decided to be adventurous that night so we shared ostrich, springbok, and two other animals I can’t remember the name of that I’m pretty sure were some kind of antelope. They were all actually really good and I’m glad I tried them (although I did feel a little guilty later when I saw some of the animals I ate running around on my safari!). Later that night we went to Long Street, which has a ton of different bars and clubs right next to each other. We danced and met some cool locals. It was a lot of fun.  

The next day I went horseback riding on the beach with my friends Hannah, Kaitlyn, and Stephani. It was amazing! It was something that I’ve wanted to do for such a long time so I’m glad I finally got to do it in Africa. Although our horses were a little “naughty” the ride was still a lot of fun and the scenery was very beautiful.

I spent the last three days on a safari at Kariega Game Reserve and it was absolutely amazing! We saw almost all of the animals that I was hoping to see: elephants, zebras, rhinos, lions, giraffes, monkeys, hippos, and many more. I was hoping to see a leopard but we didn’t end up finding any because they are extremely hard to spot. Our ranger, Dean, who took my group around for the three days was awesome. He got us really close to the lions and elephants and taught us a lot about the animals. I definitely want to do another safari someday and stay longer next time. 

So even though our time in South Africa was cut short, I had a fantastic experience. I definitely plan on going back some day to do all the things that I missed out on. I will try to write about Mauritius if I have time, but I might just skip it since we were only there for one day and I’m sure people will be much more interested in India. Chennai in three days—I can’t wait!

My wonderful friends (Stephani, Kerry, Kaitlyn, and Hannah) decorated my door for my 21st birthday! :)

The most beautiful sunset appeared just for my birthday today! :)