Q&A with Concordia
From the week ending March 7, 1997
When you were in Malysia, you said you visited a snake temple. What is a snake temple?
...Vanessa E., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2/28
by Jeff Mackie, 3/6
Snakes are not normally a part of the Buddhist religion and the snake temple we visited is unique. When the temple was built, there were a lot of snakes in the area. The snakes' home had been taken away in order to build the temple. Later, the snakes came back and began living in the temple. Not wanting to disrupt nature, the Buddhists let the snakes stay. The poisonous snakes are subdued by the incense that is burned in the temple and they are safe to handle. The temple is now a tourist attraction and for ten dollars, people can get their pictures taken with several poisonous snakes wrapped around them. A few Class Afloat students got pictures, but somehow, I didn't see the attraction.
... Mr. Babin's Class, Westford, MA, 2/28
The Concordia is equipped with a lot of space for food. All of the food is kept on the deck below our sleeping quarters, on the same level as the engine. We have two large store rooms for all of the food that does not require refrigeration, such as flour, pasta and canned goods. We also have walk-in refrigerators and freezers. With all of this space, we are able to carry enough food to feed us for two and a half months. We normally do two large provisionings in a semester. We first took on food in Malaysia. Our next large provisioning will be in Saudi Arabia. In each port we normally stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables, as they do not keep for very long. In the Maldives, we took on local fruits such as papaya, banana, and pineapple. Our cook, Kelly, looks after ordering all of the food. He is an experienced shipboard cook and is an expert in the galley