2014-01-11

【Aiden in English】

        The worst part of the vacation was always leaving. The experience was dreadful and bittersweet. I'd been through it many times before, but this was different. Never before had I been on such a long trip, the total get-away granted me almost six weeks of excitement. Even though it was only a month and a half ago, I thought Dubai seemed like centuries away.

        After leaving home for so long, the school would sou

2014-01-10

【Aiden in English】

        Johannesburg, South Africa looked like an alien planet. It was only a step ahead of the other large cities of Africa, but the difference clearly could be seen. There were more modern technologies in the central business district. The houses were displayed extravagantly in European styles and the lavish neighborhood was built with high walls on leafy streets in the northeastern suburbs. The streets seemed so clean that a piece of trash wou

2014-01-09

【Aiden in English】

        I always loved animals. At the zoo, I would spend hours looking at the large animals. But when I meant love, I didn't mean waking up at the crack of dawn love. Even so, that's exactly what we did. It started with a short ride on the highway to Chobe National Park, the first park established in Botswana covered with dry savannah, floodplains, and teak woodlands that became ideal animal habitats.

        I embarke

2014-01-08

【Aiden in English】

        The first night of sleep in Chobe Marina Lodge, Botswana after a 30-day cruise made me feel like landing and sleeping on the moon, which seemed really hard. When it was time for the boat cruise down the Chobe River in Chobe National Park between Botswana and Namibia, I still had black spots under my eyes.

        This afternoon, the three-hour boat cruise was for wildlife. As soon as the cruise began, we immediately sp

2014-01-07

【Aiden in English】

        Finally, it was time to get off the cruise ship, Nautica Oceania. After 30 days of swaying and bumpy nights, I wanted to set myself free. But what I didn't want was to wake up at 4 am just to catch a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg. From the most populated city of South Africa, we were flying out to Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe to see one of the largest falls in the world and a UNESCO Heritage Site.

2014-01-06

【Aiden in English】

        After about a month at sea, the cruise was going well. It was too well. The sky was always cloudless and the sun was always shining brightly, but not today. The day of Cape Town, the legislative capital of South Africa, was cloudy and foggy. The damp air and the ever-blowing winds from the Atlantic Ocean didn't help either.

        We scheduled to ride a cable car up to Table Mountain. But if it was too windy, we wo

2014-01-05

【Aiden in English】

        I never really was a shopper. The reason was that I never knew what to buy. That was why it became torture today trying to redeem things with my Big-O-Points as we left Durban for Cape Town and sailed across from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean in South Africa.

        I had 112 points from Shuffleboard, Baggo-bean, Team Trivia, Miniature Golf, Table-tennis, and Brain-Teaser. The most expensive was the 50 lb luggage s

2014-01-04

【Aiden in English】

        Under the huge yellow sun, life in the Tala Private Game Reserve was remarkable. Everything was moving and had a role in the ongoing circle of life. There, three of the African Big Five could be seen, which were the black rhino, elephant, and Cape buffalo in the wild savannah outside of Durban, South Africa.

        As we drove through, the first animal we saw was a gnu that was sitting in the middle of the road. Its s

2014-01-03

【Aiden in English】

        If you love hippos, crocodiles, and aquatic birds, the Greater St. Lucia (iSimangaliso) Wetland Park, South Africa would be the place to be. Particularly when you happened to be at Zulu territory, the outskirts of Richards Bay, a few reasons you should go to this park were because not only that many animals resided here, but it was declared a UNESCO Heritage Site.

        The St. Lucia Wetland was well protected since

2014-01-02

【Aiden in English】

        When I was little, I used to love natural history museums. But never in my life had I seen something like this. The Natural History Museum in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique was like none other. 

        The whole first floor was collected by literally a manmade 4-D of a typical African ecosystem. It had the African big five- the lion, leopard, cape buffalo, elephant, and rhino. The 4-D picture had them set arou

New Year's Day，2014-01-01

【Aiden in English】

        The first day of 2014 wasn't turning out so well. I felt queasy about the food eaten last night while crossing the Mozambique Channel from Madagascar to Mozambique. In addition, I also overslept at the golf tournament. If I were to catch up to a table tennis tournament, then I had to hurry.

        The problem wasn't "Am I going to make it to the game", but reall

除夕，2013-12-31

【Aiden in English】

        The liveliness of New Year's Eve was spectacular. Everyone was getting ready for the New Year Show that didn't begin until another half hour later. The Nautica lounge was already packed and I couldn't wait for the show to get started.

        The first song that the cruise entertainers did was a classic about New Year and Christmas. I could clearly see that everyone was enjoying it

2013-12-30

【Aiden in English】

        The lemurs of Madagascar had a big pair of eyes and looked the size of a cat. Its long, puffy tail was dangling down while it rested. It was an endemic primate to see and Mom and I didn't want to miss it. In addition, the lemurs were so famous that they were featured in the Hollywood cartoon movie "Madagascar", by King Julien.

        We boarded a Dinghy, a small speed boat like a tender, and came to Nosy

2013-12-29

【Aiden in English】

        Today was a sea day. Even so, the cruise ship still hosted special activities and played games like the British "Olde fair" that sold their stocks, cattle, and food, and performed circuses in late summer. Since Oceania was a British company, it also hosted a similar country fair while sailing from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Nosy Be, Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

        The country fair took place on the po

2013-12-28

【Aiden in English】

        To start off the day, Mom and I were woken by the morning call. It was 6:30 am and we had a tour at 7:45 am so we'd hurry to catch it.

        The coming tour was a safari and it began with a short ride on a propeller-driven plane from the capital city so-called "Abode of Peace" Dar es Salaam to Selous Game Reserve, the first and oldest national park in Tanzania and the UNESCO Heritage Site.

  &nb

2013-12-27

【Aiden in English】

        The narrow, winding, and serene alleys made it mysterious. The bare stone walls, iron bar windows, and pointed wooden doors created a gloomy illusion. But as I entered the larger road, the place burst with excitement. I felt as if I was transported back to "Arabian Nights"  in ancient times (1706-1721). This is the Stone Town of Zanzibar in Tanzania, the Swahili coastal trading center of East Africa with African, Arabian, I

2013-12-26

【Aiden in English】

        Kenya is now one of my top favorite places. It's where I went on my first wilderness safari, right after Christmas Day.

        The safari began with a two-hour drive from Mombasa to Tsavo National Park, the largest park in Kenya. That's when we climbed aboard a van. At first, the van didn't look like something that was fit for the Safari. But as if the van was trying to prove me wrong, the roof opened up,

Christmas，2013-12-25

【Aiden in English】

        Merry Christmas to all! It was another sea day, crossing the Indian Ocean from Mahe Seychelles to Mombasa Kenya. I had nothing to do. The regular activities that went around the cruise ship were mostly to get people to distribute Big-O-Points.

        The first thing was the indoor putting tournament. To score a point, you had to hit the ball into a hole on a raised threshold. Today's challenge was near

Christmas Eve，2013-12-24

【Aiden in English】

        Question number one! I was with my team Team Trivia which consisted of eight people in total including me, the two brothers, Alex and Nick, the brothers' dad, and 4 other adults.

        This was how trivia worked. There were 20 questions that the cruise director, Willie, would give slowly one by one. Each person had a piece of scrap paper and a pen. When you thought you had got an answer, you wrote

2013-12-23

【Aiden in English】

        The closest thing to Seychelles is Hawaii, except Seychelles, which is in the Indian Ocean, while Hawaii is in the Pacific. Our tour took Mom and me to the National Botanical Gardens in Victoria, the capital city of the Republic of Seychelles. Victoria is located in Mahe, the largest island in the nation.

        There were exotic flowers and trees like trumpet pitchers, screw pines, Coco de Mer, Spanish daggers, canno

2013-12-22

【Aiden in English】

        A famous part of Nautica Oceania was for its Big-O-Points. There were normal activities around the cruise ship and multiple activities were giving out Big-O-Points.

        Big-O-Points were little rectangular cards as big as a Pokémon card that had a number on them. The number indicated how much the cards were worth. The passengers on board then traded in their points for hats, T-shirts, sporty pants, etc. A card was

冬至，2013-12-21

【Aiden in English】

        When the alarm clock woke me up this morning, I thought today was going to be another boring day at sea when Nautica Oceania was en route to Mahe Seychelles from Male Maldives, crossing the Equator in the Indian Ocean. But oh, how I was wrong.

        From the beginning of time, seafarers had partaken in ancient ceremonial initiations for crossing specific navigational coordinates on the globe.

2013-12-20

【Aiden in English】

        The sand was as crystal white as the clouds and you could see the bottom of the turquoise sea very clearly. If you were looking for exotic tropical beauty, the atolls in the Maldives would be the perfect place to be.

        When the boat arrived at the Chaaya Island of North Male Atoll, I zipped off the boat and shot to Dhonveli Beach. Its unique, authentic Maldivian bungalow architecture blended seamlessly with nature

2013-12-19

【Aiden in English】

        If there was a time I was hyperactive toward saltwater, it was now. Today, we came to Male, the capital of the Maldives in the Laccadive Sea of the Northern Indian Ocean. With an average elevation of 1.5 m/4'11" above sea level like my height, this garland of islands consisted of 26 atolls and became the lowest nation on our planet.

        We were about to see the coral life in a submarine

2013-12-18

【Aiden in English】

       The stench of fish was disgusting! The fishing area we stepped in was the main port for fishing in Cochin (Kochi), popularly known as "The Queen of the Arabian Sea" in India. From here, our cruise ship of Nautica Oceania could be seen very clearly from the backwaters of Vembanad, the longest lake in India.

        The water was severely polluted with trash and encroachments. Birds plucked candy wrappers a

2013-12-17

【Aiden in English】

        Bang! Bang! The noise of the drum was earsplitting. While the people were praying, the drum made the only sound that could be heard for miles.

        We were at the Kudroli Gokarnath Temple in Mangalore, an auspicious place in India. It was dedicated to Lord Gokarnath aka Yogi Shiva, the Hindu deity of destruction in one of the three most influential denominations. The temple was

2013-12-16

【Aiden in English】

        We sailed from Mumbai to Mormugao off the western coast of the Arabian Sea. Mom and I would tour the town of Old Goa, where the Portuguese colonized and used to live as the former capital of the Portuguese Indies in the 16^th-18^th centuries. Back in ancient times, Goa used to be a nation of cowherds and had quite overpopulated. The villagers were forced to abandon their homes and escaped the plague and malaria diseases

2013-12-15

【Aiden in English】

        I was so excited for today! We finally did a tour that involved some excises by climbing 120 stone steps along the slope.

        The shore excursion started with an hour boat ride from Mumbai harbor to the Elephanta Caves off the western coast of the Arabian Sea. Its name is derived from a huge elephant statue. When the Portuguese came here and first discovered it in 1534, they s

2013-12-14

【Aiden in English】

        Finally, we arrived in Mumbai, India after we spent more than two days crossing the Arabian Sea from Oman.

        As for its beautiful bay, Mumbai used to be called Bombay and was the Indian financial center which made the city a melting pot of people and cultures. On one hand, the colonial architectures glorified German gables, Dutch gambrel roofs, Swiss timbering, Romance arch

2013-12-13

【Aiden in English】

        Today was the second day at sea. So I still had nothing to do. Because of it, I tried to spend some more time in the restaurant.

        My favorite dish of the day was an Italian plate of delight. I expected it to be awesome because Italian food, in general, had all the popularity in the world, such as pizza, pasta, bologna, ravioli, etc. If my dish was anything like that, I'

2013-12-12

【Aiden in English】

        Today our cruise ship was going to be at sea the whole day. Since there was a lot of time needed to be killed, I checked to look for the other kids on board and to hang around for a while. I found them fairly easily because you would hear their shouts a mile away.

        Just as expected, all the other children waited for me. Excluding me from the USA, two Kiwis, two Canadians, a

20132-11

【Aiden in English】

        From Fujairah of UAE, we sailed to Muscat, the capital of Oman. I'd never heard of this well-known "falling place" in the Arabian monarchy kingdom before and I started to know why when I stepped into the largest natural harbor in the world.

        Muscat is a small city with a few skyscrapers. But that wasn't the main attraction for us. Today's excursion would

2013-12-10

【Aiden in English】

        During the night, Nautica Oceania had sailed to Fujairah across the chokepoint- Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman. Fujairah represents one of the seven emirates in UAE and is the only Trucial State that has a coastline solely on the Gulf of Oman and none on the Persian Gulf like the six others.

        I was so excited for today because Mom and I were goi

2013-12-09

【Aiden in English】

        Today we were going to tour Sharjah, the Pearl of the Gulf. It used to be "the cultural capital of the Arab world" designated by UNESCO 15 years ago.

        Sharjah was one of the seven emirates right next to Dubai and was full of many different mosques, museums, and markets. The Cultural Square was ginormous including the Ruler's Office, Quran Monument, Ahmad Bin H

2013-12-08

【Aiden in English】

        I was really excited for today because this afternoon Mom and I were to board the Nautica Oceania cruise ship to the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. But first, we were going to the world's largest mall and the tallest tower in Dubai known as the city of merchants. I just couldn't wait to get started.

        When we arrived at Dubai Mall, it looked like the crowd of a

2013-12-07

【Aiden in English】

        When Mom and I got back from Dubai International Airport and checked in at the Raffles Hotel, the first thing I did was go to bed. Just as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep like a log.

        As Mom woke me up at the crack of dawn for the tour, I tumbled around for a while and was still half asleep. After a brief breakfast, we hopped onto a city tour bus to Abu Dhabi, the cap

2013-12-05

【Aiden in English】

        This was it! I couldn't believe that I would actually go to the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. Already I was imagining the endless desert and the leisurely animals. Just thinking about it, the trip made me so hyper that half of the time at the airport, I would run ahead of Mom and tell her to hurry. But I didn't know that today was going to be one of the worst days of my life.

2013-12-03

        迄今为止，我如果没有涉足上百个国家，至少也申请过几十张签证，从来没有像这次出游印度，临行前不到36小时才最终得到印度许可。

        在美国都说工作难找，殊不知申请印度签证谈何容易！

        话说找工作，你投注精力搭上时间，在职的时候骑驴觅马边干边寻摸机会，什么时候发现合适的地方，什么时候再跳槽赶赴新任职场；即使下岗身处被动地位，你仍然可以横下一条心，倘若钓不到大鱼，绝不轻易收

2013-10-23

        中美洲加勒比海紧邻美国北大西洋海域，常年气候和暖湿润，水面多半浪静风恬，自然景观秀美怡人，再加上物价消费水平较低，社会治安又相对稳定，拥有天时地利人和等诸多优良因素，堪称旅游度假的世外桃源，难怪从美国往返加勒比海沿岸之间各种规模的游轮一年四季源源不断，多如牛毛。

       相形之下，起始中东、途径南亚、纵贯东南非洲的水路航线则屈指可数，“航海‧大洋号”游轮(Nautica Oceania)几乎成为2013年全球唯一一艘勇往直前敢于穿越印度