I know it has been a while since I have written but I have been distracted with school and the aftermath of India. There was a lot to take in while I was there. Most of what I did while I was there was non-stop. The first day was a free day and I have an interesting story about it. For a large part of the time I went on a trip to the Taj Mahal. This was the non-stop part. SAS trips tend to be that way. The last day I took a trip to Mamallapuram and Kancheepuram. The trip was to see all the temples that these two cities are famous for. In the end I had a great time but it was exhausting.

The first day we started by going to the Georgetown Market. It wasn't much. It was mostly just a short street with western clothing for sale and a few local goods. The area also had a hotel with a great restaurant and a Hindu temple. You could find temples anywhere. After doing a little shopping and eating at the restaurant we went to the temple. An older man stopped us just before they were opening the temple back up for the afternoon. He was a nice old man but firm. If we were not supposed to do something, like take pictures of certain things, he would not hold back. He started us off with a crash course in Hinduism. I did not pay attention too much for two reasons. The first reason is following what the Hindus believe is very hard. It is so complex. That is not an excuse for not listening. I wanted to know more about the beliefs but I could not concentrate enough to appreciate it. I was distracted. All I could think about is why his man would just come up to us and be so helpful and informative. In the back of my mind he could not just being doing something to be nice. That was hard for me to understand for some reason. He did everything for us. He told us that we had to take off our shoes before going in and got them in a safe place where they would not be stolen. He showed us around the temple and explained every inch. Then, at the end he wanted money. We had to pay for each camera we used to take picture and we had to pay him. He was a tricky, sweet old man. I knew he wanted more than just to be nice. I think I knew that because it is so common every where in this world. We have to survive some how I suppose.

After the tour of the temple we met another man. We were getting our shoes from the "safe place" and that is when Nagu came up to us. He started talking to us about how he had met other people from SAS from previous voyages. He was also talking about us coming back to his house and meeting his family, which sounded like a bad idea from the start. I would hope that to all people this sounded like a bad idea. He was very informative and nice too. He wanted to help and being tourists with no idea we would take anything we could get. We wanted to go to an internet cafe (so I could get on my blog/facebook/email to talk to you). He wanted to show us. We followed him down a couple streets (well populated, no worries). On the way he bought us chai tea, India is famous for it. Once we got to the cafe he got us cheap prices. Had we gone in alone they would have seen that we were tourists an automatically charged us more like everyone else in India (and other countries for that matter). He got us the Indian man's price. He arranged to come back and meet us so that we could hang out with him. We were glad to get rid of him for a bit to talk it over amongst ourselves.

Our hour at the cafe was up. We had decided that Nagu was not that bad. He had been so nice and so helpful. Plus, we trusted the group we were in and had faith in each other to hold strong. Starting with a little reluctancy the night ended well. We ended up taking a rickshaw to a beautiful catholic church. He showed us around bit then we crammed back into the rickshaw. Then, we went to the beach and met up with some of his family. By time we got to the beach it was dark but that was when everyone relaxed. It was cooler during the night and a good time to wind down. We had Indian food from vendors, we got to see a parrot draw cards for a tarot reading, a friend of mine got to ride a horse along the beach, and sit by the water and talk. (By the way, this beach is one of the worlds longest beaches. It took a long time to walk across the beach to the water.) We also got to play a game. There was a wall of balloons set up. With a BB gun you shot at the balloons to see how many you could shoot. I think I shot the most. The beach was one of my best memories in India.

At this point we had spent a lot of time with Nagu and finally trusted him enough to go to his house (I would never suggest this. Although our experiences ended well). We took the rickshaw there. We met his mother and two kids that belong to his sister who had past away. They all lived in a very small room that was a kitchen. They had room for a sink, fridge, tv, a cabinet, and siting space. It really put things in perspective. In the end, the whole night was amazing. W enjoyed talking to Nagu's family and being with them for a few hours. It had gotten late and we had to get back to the ship. Nagu was nice enough to take us on the train that led us right back to the ship. And i did not mention but he paid for everything the entire night. He refused to let us pay anything but in the end we gave him plenty of money, plus some, for everything that he had done for us.

The rest of my trip did not compare to this day with Nagu. I even got to see the Taj Mahal up close and personal but the first day still trump all. The Taj was beautiful and we saw many other forts and castles that were much like it. In total, for the whole three day Taj Mahal trip I was only able to get about six ours of sleep. We were traveling so much and seeing so much that there was no time for sleep.

The last day I had another trip to see the temples. I was so tired that I struggled to appreciate them. The architecture was amazing, and so was the art. So much went into the temples. It was a fantastic bunch of places to see. The best part of the day was getting back to the ship and being able to sleep. A billion things were seen and done that it would take months to explain it all. I am very satisfied with this part of the trip but I will have to go back. There is so much more that I have to see.

Once again I am getting tired. Sleep is becoming more and more rare. I just don't want to miss anything. Tomorrow we wake up early to travel up river from the ocean to make port in Saigon. More adventures to come!