envoyforHermes

A lot of people have asked me what it is like to travel around the world on a ship so I have pulled together some random thoughts on the matter. There are approximately 650 students, from gap year students through graduating seniors; 100 or so faculty and staff from well known institutions like Princeton, Cornell, Stanford and the like to small, to obscure schools that no one outside of the local community has ever heard of; around 50 children ages 2 through 17 who are traveling with their faculty or staff parents; and 150 members of the crew, most of whom we never see. Our vessel is 590 feet long, which means that no matter how hard you try, you can’t get very far away from anyone. We have only a handful of communal spaces – ... read more

Having lived thirty-five years so far, all of them in one city or another, I am fairly confident about my street crossing skills. And although I haven’t been all over the world, I have seen a bit of it and have had to cross the street in just about all of the places I have been in my life. And yet, each and every time I went to cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City I had to give myself a little pep talk and take a deep breath before stepping off the curb. One crosses many streets while a tourist in a new city, and regardless of the number of times I did it successfully, right before I took that first step I grappled with a fear of not making it to the other ... read more

Varanasi, the religious capital of Hinduism, is possibly the oldest living city in the world. We arrive just in time to witness the Ganga Aarti or “Offering Prayer to the Ganges,” a ritual performed every night on the banks of the Ganges River. The Bazaar that lines both sides of the street leading to the Dasaswamedh Ghat where the prayer takes place each night is hopping with activity. Often referred to simply as the evening prayer or dinner prayer, many people come out to participate in the prayer service and thus the merchants are all still open in the hopes of making their last sales of the day to the people attending. Our large bus can’t navigate the narrow streets of the bazaar safely so we are dropped off a ways away and we take rickshaws ... read more

The road from Tema to Accra is only 18 km, however, the traffic is so bad that it takes between 1.5-2 hours to get to the capital. The road is being widened; the Chinese have given money for infrastructure building in Ghana. But the project moves slowly, as much a product of corruption as it is limited resources. Tro-tros, pick up and drop off travelers along the way, a cheaper means of travel, and one we should have considered for this adventure had we known we would all be sitting in gridlock for as long as we are. A taxi didn't turn out to be the time saver we had expected. Sitting in our taxi, we move so slowly that our driver periodically turns the engine off to save gas. He pulls over and pees at ... read more

The Central Market in Kumasi is the largest market in all of Western Africa. With approximately 12,000 vendors within a 20-block radius one can find just about anything. There are recycling sections where new uses are found for scrap metals. Small, hot shacks where half a dozen men are making shoes or sewing children’s uniforms. Further down the narrow maze of alleyways that make up the market, there are sections of beads, music, house wares, clothes, food… it goes on and on, anything you want you can find in this market. And one’s choices for any given thing are extensive. You can take your pick from dozens of vendors all selling similar if not the same items. As I navigate the narrow, dusty walkways between the stalls, stopping to take a closer look at this or ... read more