Our voyage between Vietnam and India has taken us through a fascinating part of the world. After refueling off the coast of Singapore, we zipped through (in order to avoid pirates) the Strait of Malacca, with Penninsular Malaysia on one side and Sumatra, an island of Indonesia, on the other. After that, the captain gave us a close look at the Nicobar Islands, located near the Andaman Islands, and like them, a territory of India. What is unique about the Nicobar Islands is that they are not open to foreigners at all and most Indians are not able to travael there either. The indigenous people of Nicobar have always been isolated from the world and by all reports have fascinating languages and are thought by some scientists to be genetically linked to the earliest known humans of Africa. How we wished we could have stopped and met them! At least we got a good look at the islands.
Because we had travelled quickly through the Strait of Malacca, we were ahead of schedule, and so the captain turned off the ship's motors this morning for four hours and we drifted along in the Indian Ocean, conserving fuel and hanging out in the, thankfully, calm waters.
Board games are popular on the ship. The boys have enjoyed playing Risk lately.
In addition to international students who are sailing with the entire voyage, we often host "Interport Students", who join us for a short leg of the trip. One of the Indian Interport students has a talent for applying henna tattoos, known as Mehndi. Here Charis is getting a lovely Mehndi on her hand. We are hoping to have the time to get more of these in India. The tattoos are lovely and intricate--and only last 2 or 3 weeks.
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