Where in the world am I today?: March 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

Fiji! Who knows what day it is!

Fiji has been lovely so far. Blue Skies, Blue Water, beach lovers paradise.

Today... which I think is... March... 21? We went on an all day snorkel, drinking, visit a village, sailboat ride. We snorkeled around where Tom Hanks filmed Castaway. That would have been super kewl of me to visit... had I actually seen the movie. I'll watch it when I get back... in like 4 days!!! Whoa. Time flies.

Fiji has its own slow time frame. In fact, when we landed in Fiji, the airplane had the wrong time. Fiji was supposed to be in the same timezone as Auckland, and... it's not. It's an hour off. It makes my head hurt thinking about it. Anyways... One more night here at Beachcombers and then off to Manta Ray Island for 2 nights, then.... flying home. Back to reality....

Friday, March 18, 2011

Airports! Airports!

Flight 1 is done... Christchruch to Auckland landed safely. Next up Auckland to Fiji. I'm attempting to kill time by updating.

We saw 4 other people from our tour waiting at the airport this morning. It's just like a constant reunion. I reckon that will stop now though as we were the only ones heading to Fiji.

All is well, and I'm looking forward to a slower pace over the next few days.

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Uploaded and sent from an iPad that's exploring Fiji. Please try not to mind the typos and spelling errors. Autocorrect does some funny things.
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Christchurch - March 18

The tour ended at 2pm as we all departed the bus and hugged goodbye. Because of the Christchurch earthquake in late Feb, our tour was cut short one day, and Andrea and I did not have accommodation. However, we did make a friend or 20 on the tour, and were able to stay in a room with a friend while we wait for our 5:40am flight.

This allowed us to continue a little bit of the tour momentum. Nine of us went closer to town, and found a place to eat, we talked and laughed and it felt like another night on the tour, until we had to part ways.

Part of going closer to the center of the city, is that we saw a little bit of the damage that happened during the earthquake. I saw houses that were standing, but not longer habitable, I saw homes crumbled into pieces. I saw side walks and road that were no longer flat, and were cracked, and though I overall wasn't to keen and going towards the center of the city, I'm happy I went along, because I was able to see how powerful and destructive mother nature is.

It might be a little odd to compare this earthquake to the death and dying I saw in Laos and Cambodia, but what I saw in each place has stuck with me in ways I still am unable to put into words.

Seeing the earthquake damage, and knowing the toll its taken on people today, and the lives it took, I felt sad. However, through the traveling through New Zealand, I have seen fellow Kiwis sending help, money, and spreading knowledge of the catastrophe in Christchurch, and it gave me faith in humankind again. People aren't always killing people, and humans come together in times of tragdity, and that's the important lesson.

After dinner, there were a few of us in the same hotel, and we sat together and had tea/hot chocolate. I felt it was a nice way to end this part of my adventure. Talking about real life and how to go back to it. Bonding over shared experiences in the past few weeks, and even a shared experince tonight when 4 of us that were still awake, experienced an aftershock earthquake together. Not something I chose to part take in like sky diving or bungy jumping, but yet another experience that made me feel lucky to be alive, and that I can take with me in my life.

I have about a week left before I return to New Jersey. Off to Fiji tomorrow morning. I feel the next few days will be a lot more of this type of reflection as my adventure winds down and I get ready to go back to reality.

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Uploaded and sent from an iPad that's exploring New Zealand. Please try not to mind the typos and spelling errors. Autocorrect does some funny things.
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Lake Ohau - March 17 and the last bus ride March 18

Lake Ohau is in the middle of no where. It is, though, the most sought after ski resort in New Zealand. Also, it is so intensely gorgeous.

As a side note, I no longer have any words different words to describe how stunningly wonderful the sights and scenery is of New Zealand. I do believe everyone should go see it. So, please excuse my repetitious use of gorgeous and beautiful. :)

In the summer time, the ski resort is closed... (it is opening in a month or so for the ski season off NZ). There are water sports offered (we weren't offered any, we got there late in the evening) and hikes available. Or, just sit out in a hot tub and stare at a crystal blue lake, with mountains, glaciers and gorgeous sky.

As this was the last official night of the tour, there was a party thrown... It was a toga party, and it was fun. Because the lodge we stayed at is built for the younger adults, there was a lot of areas to lounge around, and I found myself in another set of great conversations on bean bag chairs. I also was able to enjoy an almost full moon, and the countless stars in the night sky.

The morning came to quickly, and we were all up by 7, packing the bus, and making our way to Christchurch for the 2pm drop off and ultimate end of the New Zealand tour.

Milford Sound - March 16 to 17

Driving to and from Milford Sound was beautiful, with the recent rainfall, there were waterfalls everywhere through the mountain ranges and in the forests. Our bus driver and tour guide (2 people) had make quite a few stops, so we were able to walk around and even walk through some 20 min loops in parks.

One of the stops was called the Pancake Rocks... apparently people think these rocks look like a stack of pancakes... I thought it looks more like a 7 layer cake, with 100 layers. Yum. The pancake rocks had a very nice walk and view.

Another stop was called the Chasm. It was in the middle of a jungly area and was basically ginormous rocks that glacier water had made it's way through over many many many years....

Bus scenery again, lovely, and so was napping on the bus. We also played bus games to keep us entertained for all the traveling.

However, Milford Sound, was very nice. We stayed overnight on a boat. We cruised around the inner circle, and saw large water falls, seals, and penguins. Sadly, it started to rain, which put a damper on some of the activities that were offered. Nonetheless, we played a killer game of Here and Now - New Zealand Addition of Monopoly. It was fun to have visited most of the places on the board. :)

That night was a little rocky on the boat, but it lead to more bonding and good conversations with fellow tour mates. I had a great time that night because it was such a chilled out, lounge-y night.

In the morning, we cruised into the Tasmin Sea, and saw some pretty sights through rain drops.

By mid day on the bus ride back, the sun was shining, and the ride on the bus was.... well.. like what I wrote above.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Queenstown Morning 3- March 16

WHOOOOOSH! - That's the sound it made when me and my tandem skydiving buddy Marcus jumped out of the aeroplane at 15,000 ft. It was soooo fantastic. This was my second jump, I had jumped before in Australia. However, the scenery in this jump was truly amazing. Snow caped mountains, lakes, valleys, towns, a city, green green trees.... And I was floating down to them. The rush was great, and the views were escalated to beyond fantastic.

So, after 2 attempts... and a couple extra hours of waiting... we did get to sky dive! Queenstown was rocked by this tour group. We came, we saw, we jumped, we rafted, we won. I feel so pumped up about how well we did at conquering everything Queenstown had to offer.

This afternoon... off to Milford Sound.

Queenstown - Day 2 - March 15

Another early start, especially after a late, yet fun night, the night before.

8am start for white water rafting! It was a fantastic morning for it, the night before had a lot of rain, so the river was moving fast, which meant the rapids were stronger! We went through some Category 3 and 4s, that might have been considered 4 or 5s even! The Shotover River was beautiful, there were goats climbing on the mountain sides as we rafted under them... the sky was a goregous blue, the trees and plants were bright healthy green, and the rocks and formations were amazing. After we went through a cave on the raft, and through a waterfall... rafting was over, and it was time for the speed jet boat.

This boat only needs 8 cm off water to run, we were going 90 kilometers/hour, cutting close corners, and doing 360s. I was able to use my new water proof camera to take some pictures of the scenery... hopefully they came out.

That afternoon, after some washing was folded, we went to the Giant Canyon Swing. 200 meter drop... 6 second free fall, and right over a point in the river we were rafting on the same exact morning! A friend (Kathryn) and I jumped off tandem together, and then I did one jump by myself. Totally gorgeous, and thrilling. Yes, I have videos and pictures.

That night, we had a fantastic pizza dinner, and went to another bar, and rode a mechanical bull, then, off to bed.... seriously by 9:45, in bed.

Queenstown - Day 1 - March 14

First off, everyone, happy pi day! 3.14!

The day started off as a bummer. We got up super early for our main event of the day - sky diving... and the weather was bad (nice day, but windy) so it was cancelled for Wednesday morning, hopefully that will go through.

Next, I went back to the hotel, and watched the back of my eye lids for a bit, had a proper breakfast, while others went bungy jumping and a few other activities. I found some people who were doing my next activity, and we went in to town to have lunch at Fergburger... fabulous burger joint that is internationally know... The burgers were as good as promised.

Next up... Mad Dog River Rafting! Basically, we had a boogie board, wetsuits and flippers, and we went down rapids just like that. It was awesome, the views were beautiful during the calm parts (and probably during the rapids too but I was focusing on surviving. :) ). At the end we we played on water slides into the river, and I ended up doing a backflip off a canyon rope, into the river. It was amazing fun. Hard work, but awesome.

That night was intense party night, bar hopping was very much enjoyed. We went to an ice bar! So cool! ha.ha. get it. cool. ;) It was -7.4* (c) in there! brrrrrr Then we went to the bar across the way, and then to a bar down the street, and then... I went to sleep in my bed at the hotel. Like good little girl. :)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Franz Josef - March 13

Overnight we stayed in a backpackers in in Franz Josef. We had a refresh start, and was packed up, fed breakfast, and on our way to our HeliHike by 7 am. Quite early.

We got to the summit of Fox Glacier at 7:30, and 18 of us were on our way to the HeliHike on the glacier by 7:45. This tour included at 15 minute helicopter ride viewing the Fox Glacier (which is still actively growing) and we got dropped off at a midpoint, and were ready to hike up the glacier.

It was amazing. The views were spectacular. Around the Fox Glacier there is jungle, then just a massive amount of ice flowing down into the valley. It's unbelievable.

We hiked up 100 meters higher above sea level than where we landed, we walked into ice caves, drank glacier water, saw streams of ice and water flow, and learned a thing or two about glaciers. First, Fox is a young glacier. The ice at the summit is only about 100 years old, most summits have ice that is 1000s of years old. Fox grows about 7 cm a day, and rises and falls in length. There are many birds of prey that fly around however, there is hardly any life on the glacier.

Today was just another stunningly beautiful day. After we finished the hike, we hiked back down to the helicopter point, and were picked up. Our experience was about 4 hours of beauty.

Next stop was to Queenstown. The route we took was gorgeous and very scenic. THe south island is defiantly prettier than the north island of New Zealand. However, the north island still beats most places in the world.

Tonight we took a gondola ride up, and had dinner up on the sky tower of Queenstown. One, it was great view, two it was an all you can eat buffet of grommet foods. It does not get better than that.

We hit up the town in style after dinner. However, tomorrow will be a long day of fun activities, so I was one of the early returners to the hotels.

Maybe some jumping out of things tomorrow, and i sense some water rapids approaching... more on that in tomorrow's post though. :)

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Beautiful landscape... too much bus time!

I think I have messed up my dates in previous entries. I know today is the 12th, and I traveled yesterday so that was the 11th, but previous entries seem to be dated wrong. All in all I am keeping daily logs that are being posted.... however this entry will cover March 11 and March 12. Essentially, these two days were traveling on the bus.

On the 11th, we went form the north island to the south island, by ferry boat. It was like a giant cruise ship size ferry! The crossing took 3.5 hours, and I slept in the lounge area for 3 of those hours, it was super nice and refreshing.

We were supposed to stay in Christchurch on the 10th but with the earthquake, plans changed, and we stayed in a lovely little town with a strange name that I can not spell. Half the rooms had kitchens in them, so I made a nice little dinner for 6 of us again of stir fry and beef and heaps of veggies. It was quite a great meal.

Today (the 12) we had 8 hours of bus driving down the south island, but we made a few stops along the way. We stopped at a few scenic overlooks for great pictures, and then at the "pancake rocks" (I was disappointed they didn't really look like pancakes... but basically the rocks are layered one on top of the other...like a stack of pancakes.... lame. ;) ), we stopped at the first museum to have a street lamp, nicked name the city of lights. We also stopped at a jade factory... I may or may not have been suckered into buying something. :)

New Zealand, is beautiful. It it so green and so lush. Even the gorgeous (seriously) days in spring time that it rains in New Jersey for days, and then the sun comes out, and everything is alive, and green and budding, do not compare to even the rainy days I've seen here. The beautiful sunny times of the days, the trees and ocean and mountains are just overwhelming. I doubt there is a prettier landscape in the world. I have take a lot of photos of what we have driven by, include sheep, cows and deer, but I do not think the photos will even do justice to how amazing the vividness of the greens and blues of the trees and sky and water are.

Wellington - Day 2! March 10

After a long night out, we had a free day in Wellington. Most everyone ended up doing the same activity, which was to go to the (free entry!) Te Papa Museum. However, sadly, none of us were in the mood to learn or read signs. So we walked around, played in the children's part of the museum, went to the earthquake simulator felt/saw a 3 min presentation on that... and walked back to the hotel.

That afternoon, after a lovely nap, our Tour Manager Barnaby, offered to take everyone to the Botanical Gardens. About 7 of us went (of 47), and it was gorgeous. There were pretty flowers, and I played with my camera. There was a rose garden with 150 different types of roses in it, all in bloom. Frankly, it was just a nice day out, and it was good too be outside when it wasn't to hot or cold, and to not really have a care in the world.

Next up, we all talked and relaxed on the patio of the hotel bar. It was a nice few hours of talking and then off to dinner. 1/2 of the group went bowling (I was in that 1/2) and the other went some where else...

Bowling was great! New high score 112! weeee! However, the pins were on strings... and that was odd. So instead of wobbling properly to fall down, the pins wobbled and then straightened out. Regardless of strings on pins, the food was good, company was good, and the night was fun.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Earthquake and tsunamis

Hello readers! I've heard about the Japan earthquake. It's pretty serious over there. I'd like tot inform you quickly, before I get on the bus and lose internet connection, that I should be okay down in the south island of New Zealand. I will do my best to keep out of harms way, and I think I will be able too, so put your worries towards a different cause. We should be okay!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Wellington Day 1 - March 9

Today was mainly a driving day. It took 6 hours of bus driving time to get from Taupo to Wellington, the capitol of New Zealand.

Wellington is a gorgeous place. There are mountains, there is water views, there is city and suburb. It's just lovely.

After leaving at 8 am, we got to the hotel around 3:30. I went for a walk with a new friend, had lunch and hit up an internet cafe, as wifi was really expensive everywhere. It was a very relaxed and crusiey afternoon. I actually watched TV after I showered for our night out oon the town. I watched Harry Potter, suddenly the accents didn't sound so odd anymore.

We had dinner out tonight at a local restaurant. There was great music, great drinks, fabulous food, and fun games. I did get tired, and I left early tonight, but, I'm just trying to maintain energy so I can keep up during the day with fun activities!

Tomorrow a museum and botanical gardens. It should be very pretty

Taupo - March 8

Today was a great day. In the morning, about 2/3rds of the tour went together to a rocks and ropes course. We climbed ropes and vines, and did crazy things like jump off poles to catch a trapeze 3 meters away (BTW I did catch it). It was a fantastic, hard work out of a morning. I love the adereline pumping through me.

But that wasn't all... today I bungy jumped from 47 meters high! (154.2 feet). I never thought I would do it, but I did. It was pretty awesome. I actually did the jump over water, and even opted to be dunked in up to my shoulders, and was! I was a sucker, and got the video, so I'll put that up for y'all to see.

Andrea and I also did the bungy canyon swing together. Essentially, you free fall for 7 to 10 seconds and then like a giant swing, swing together. It was awesome.

In the evening, we had a costume party on a boat. The theme was: Rockstars, groupies, or something with the first letter of your name. I went as a kitten (*K*athleen), 4 girls got face make up and went as the band KISS... they did a fantastic job. The dinner had great food, and we watched the sunset on the water. As a group, we caught of grand total of 2 rainbow trout off the back of the boat. After 4 hours of cursing, we went to a local bar, where I got picked up to play pool with some locals... I felt pretty kewl after that.

Things are good. However, I think I might need a vacation....

Rotorua - March 7

Today was another... odd day, great but I did odd things. I liked it.

In the morning, we went took a bus ride from Waitomo to Rotorua. We made a stop at the Agrodome. Do you know what they do there? Probably not, unless you happened to memorize my itinerary.

The Argodome puts on an interactive farming and herding show. The audience was taught about the many...many types of sheep that are in the world, and the difference in the wool. We were taught how to milk a cow, feed baby sheep, and we watched a sheep get sheared! Then we got t o experience how fantastic sheepdogs are. We met 2 types, one that herds just by a look, and doesn't bark, and one breed that barks. The sheep were kewl, the dogs were kewl, and the presentation was great. I throughly enjoyed the humor and the enthusiasm of the presenter.

Next up on the agenda was Zorbing! There really is no way for me to describe zorbing to you, other to put it like this.... Imagine a human size hamster ball, inside a double the size meant for a human hamster ball. The smaller ball is filled with water, and then the crazy person (that would be me) going for the ride jumps in, and rolls down a hill at quite a rapid pace. It was great. I suggest, looking Zorbing up on YouTube.com to get a better idea. My videos and pictures won't be posted for at least a few weeks from now.

After I was a human hamster, I went to Rainbow Ranch, which is a wildlife reserve. I saw rainbow trout, ducks, swans, wallabies, and best of all a Kiwi Bird! I had a great time with the small group of us (5) that went, I got a lot off pictures and was able tok play with my fancy camera for the first time in days, as it's been raining since I got to New Zealand.

The afternoon was looking up, until my activity I had chosen to to, got canceled because off wind. Instead, I ended up going to the local thermal spring Maori Village, which had the weirdest longest name I've ever seen, Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao, or Whakarewarewa for short. (I made sure that I spelt that right... totally not making it up.

So the village, was interesting., There are thermal mineral springs and pools through out the whole village, and the tribe uses the thermal activity to cook food, bathe, live long lives, etc. Very intresting stuff. The village smelt like sulfur, this is because of the thermal activity. Apparently the molten is pretty close to the surface, infect the grown even in the shade was hot to the touch. We also were around during the time that the geysers went off, so that was pretty to view.

Dinner was lovely. We had what was told to us to be an authentic Maori dinner, complete with a Maori hangi dance show. Some of the people on tour were brought up to teh stage and were taught some dancing. The dancing was very enthusastic, and at times kind of scary. A lot of it was about war and fighting and getting hyped up to fight. Some of the men had tradition tattoos including ones on their face. It was a fun afternoon and night of traditional culture.

After dinner, some people ended up in my room for a little tea party before bed, it was fun talking with them about different foods, candy, and other culture differences.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Hello!

HI Readers, so I have updated a few entries on my journal, but there seems to be a lack of wifi where ever I go. So, please hold for 2 more days before I upload serveral entries again.

New Zealand is a lot of fun, and I'm having a great time with the adrineline junkie stuff. I've climbed ropes, parasailed, bungy jumped, swam in the ocean and bays, partied a bit, and went through caves 65 meters underground. I'm having a blast. What a climate change from Asia. I'll be in touch!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Waitomo - March 6

Today we ventured back to Auckland, to pick up the rest of our tour, that didn't go to the Bay of Islands with us. So far they seem like a good bunch of fun people. While in Auckland, I picked up a water proof camera. However I didn't end up using it in today's activity. Maybe sometime else.

But... who cares about them, lets get into the fun stuff!

After a bunch of hours on the bus we arrive at Waitomo. This is where famous caves are located. As an optional activity, we went black water tubing through the caves. Essentially, black water rafting/tubing is doing tubbing/rafting in the dark, i.e. a cave!

It was quite the cold experience... quite cold indeed. The company provided us with wet suits, which did work nicely, and along the way they gave us chocolate to keep our sugar levels up, which was not only nice of them, but delicious as well. We also had helmets with lights on them to protect us from low parts of the cave, I was quite thankful for that at one unexpected low ceiling.

We saw so many interesting things. The caves were 65 meters under ground. They had stale-mites and stagnates (sp?) forming for the past 4000 years, It was a great view.

Beside the kewl rapids and jumps we did for adrenaline rushes in the caves, the best part were the 'glow worms'. We all turned off out helmet lights at a few points and just looked up at the top of the cave, and there were hundreds of greenish yellowish glowing spots. Like the color the insides of a glow stick, is the best way i can describe it.

So glow worms is just what they are called, they are actually more like maggots, and the glowing part is actually excrement. In short, these awesome things were really, glow maggot's poop. Whatever it was, it was so awesome and beautiful.

After we finally made our way out, after almost 2 hours, we were given tomato soup and a bagel. It was the best soup ever... most likely because I was so frozen.

Back at the motel, we had another good included BBQ. It was delicious, and I had some great NZ ice cream for dessert. Then off to a local pub. I got to know more of my new tour group better, I was able to dance a bit, talk, and bond with people. It was a lovely evening.

On the bus today, we picked the rest of our optional excursions to do... so I do know what's ahead for me, activity wise, however I'll leave you guess. Tomorrow will definitely be another great day.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Paihia, Rain, Dolphins, Sailing and Dinner Parties

The second day in Paihia was fantastic... minus the massive amount off on and off again down pouring rain.

Andrea and I chose to do a full day out on the Bay of Islands with ExploreNZ. Basically, our day started as, get up, breakfast, walk to the docks, get on boat 1 to find some dolphins.

After about an hour (I'm not totally sure I took a nap on the boat (indoors this time ;) ), we found them! A grouping of 5 to 7 dolphins! They were game to play with us So we slid on snorkels, fins and got into the water and basically swam around with the wild dolphins. They were so kewl! I could touch them (had I had the nerve to do so) but I dove under water and swam with them! Amazing animals!

Mind you this was all down during a rain storm. Nothing like swimming in the ocean during rain! Actually, to be honest, the water was warmer than the outside air.

Next off, we were all dropped at restaurant somewhere on an Island in the bay. We played a few card games, watched the "easing" downpour of rain and had some lunch. Easing rain was how the weather was explained to us... apparently... easing means raining harder, not lighter.

After lunch, we were given awesome rain jackets and we headed to the New Zealand Lion, a yacht that won something in 1985, and went around the world, basically a giant sail boat. (I took some pictures of the rigging for any sailing enthusiasts that may happen to be reading the blog).

We took some jumps and then a swim around the yacht, and then in order to get closer to some penguins, but... when we got to them... they were not actually penguins, but some kind of seagull. That was sad. However, what was more sad is that while 5 of us swam 3/4 of a mile away from the boat, 2 actually penguins showed up next to the boat! Go figure.

After swimming, we set sail, it was a nice smooth ride, but really, the rain was no fun, and i lost feeling in my toes and fingers, and eventually had to go down in the boat to heat up next to an engine of some sort.

I've come to the conclusion, I am not a boat person. I appreciate how kewl they can be, and how much fun they can be. But between my sunburn last week and my loss of body heat today... I've had some crazy extreme boat experiences in the past 2 weeks. I'm good for a while.

Meanwhile... I'm going black water rafting tomorrow.... in some 'easing' rain.

Continuing on today (BTW March 5), we got back to show, and I couldn't wait to have a warm shower. It was amazing. :)

The room we are staying currently, has a kitchen which was nice. Andrea and I have made some friends, and some how Andrea 'sold me out' and told them I could cook. So, some of the guys went off to the supermarket, and came back with chicken, garlic, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and gravy.... I totally made a meal of it! I fed 6 people, and then we gave the left overs to some others that were mulling around outside. It was so nice to cook again. Especially, cook something 'normal' like chicken. I've missed the relaxing-ness of cooking.

Andrea and Kathrine did the dishes and everyone stayed over our room until 11 or so, with people stopping in to hang out for a bit. It was a really nice, relaxing night.

Tomorrow, Bus ride in the morning back to Auckland, then off to somewhere else (forget the name currently) and then black water rafting, where I should be seeing glow worms and crazy stuff.

Currently with all the water stuff, I am really wishing I had a water proof camera. Oh well, next 2 month trip I take. ;) (yeah right)

Friday, March 4, 2011

Oh yea!

No need to worry NJ folk... tomorrow (3/4) was great, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

hahahaha... (laughing at my own joke... great!)

Tour Start Number 27

March 4, 2011

I'm a pro at the name game. I think because I had practice learning millions of names in the past month with people leaving the tour, joining the tour etc etc.. That i have about 30 of the 40ish name down. I wonder if I can hold on to them after I sleep.

This afternoon we went from Auckland to a town called Paihia. Paihia is located by the Bay of Islands, which is where some great water sports are. This afternoon Andrea and I went parasailing. Tomorrow we go looking for dolphins, and then some snorkeling. Don't worry, SPF 80 and long sleeves will be on when I'm not swimming, no sunburn for me. ...I hope.

Tonight we had a traditional 'Kiwi" BBQ. It was really good food stuffs and chicken. Then out to a bar to socialize some more. Some people went out to the beach after, I wrote in the journal. Hmmm... I'm getting old.

BTW - 18 hour time difference between NJ and NZ. Yuck.

New Zealand!

Country number 5 on my 6 country tour! I've made it through more than 1/2 my time away! It's crazy how time flies.

I'm working on a special entry about my reflections on the whole Asian Experince, but it's not nearly ready yet, so I'll just try and keep up with the day to day in NZ.

First - Asia was great and had free wifi everywhere... NZ not so great. So, when the blog updates, it will likely be big chunks... kind of like I did for Vietnam... but not all written on an airplane. :)

3/3/11
So NZ! I found Andrea within minutes of getting dropped off the bus form the airport... excellent. We had some lunch, or at least I did, she had eaten earlier while walking around Auckland aimlessly. Then we settled into the hotel, and caught up. It was nice to have a friend from home. There are so many varying types of conversation that go on a tour, that I really appreciated that Andrea understood what I was saying and I didn't have to speak in complete sentences... or think before I said something. Nice change.

Auckland is a pretty city... it's a mix of a cleaner Baltimore, with flowers that look like they came from Hawaii. So maybe, Hawaiian Baltimore?

I had a bit of a culture shock with the price differences... all of a sudden I wasn't paying 2 dollars for a meal, I was paying 10...or more. And, all the signs were in English, all of a sudden I could read again. I didn't notice much after a while that I couldn't read signage in Asia, it all was just nonsense that went in and out of my brain quickly, NZ made my head hurt a little as I took in all the signs and was reading!...and understanding!

All and All a good day and evening with Andrea and Auckland.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Last day of Asia Tour

Back to Hanoi we went. To the same hotel we were at 2 nights prior. I took this day easy, managed my sun burn, took a great shower, and wrote back to some e-mails I had been delaying on. I unpacked my whole suitcase too... it was time to prepare for New Zealand.

That night we had the best Vietnamese dinner of the tour, at one of the 5 restaurants named Little Hanoi, in Hanoi. Everything was so tasty and so cheap. My dinner cost 4 dollars, and I was stuffed. It's going to be culture shock when I get to a western country... like New Zealand, and have to pay 'normal" prices for things.

After we went to the bar next door and had a drink before we started to say goodbye. It was hard, 1/2 the people I was leaving I had known for a month, we had shared stories and more so we had shared this awesome experience of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The worst part of the tour is the goodbyes, because you may and most likely will never see these people again. However, with Facebook being what it is, I think I will be in touch with these people more often than I was able to be in touch with the friends I made back in early 2006 when facebook was yet to be international.

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Uploaded and sent from an iPad that's exploring Southeast Asia. Please try not to mind the typos and spelling errors. Autocorrect does some funny things.
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Halong Bay - Junk Boats

February 28th was the day that the group went on an overnight trip to Halong Bay on a Junk Boat.

Despite the name, Junk Boats, aren't filled with junk. The one we were on was 3 levels, the top level was the roof, and you could sit/stand/lounge around up there and get goo scenery, also when we stop the boat for the swim stop, many jumped from that level.

The second/main level was the dinning room area, very nicely presented, nice tables, comfortable seating, a good places to lounge around with out the sun beating down on you.

The bottom level (but still above the water level) was where the rooms were, they were pretty nice considering we were on a boat in Halong Bay.

Halong Bay has hundreds of Islands in it. To be honest, they look like they don't belong. They are all super green and mountainous. Some even have monkey's living on them!

After we took tenders to Junk Boat #86, We made a few stops on the boat through out the day. The main attraction was the caves. I never would have guessed there was so much cave-age from this tiny entrance we went in, that expanded deep into the island. The inside was pretty interesting to look at, and gave me time to play with different settings on my camera.

Coming out off the cave, walking back to the tenders to get back to our main boat, we saw a few angry monkeys. They did not want to share food with each other.

Next up was the swim stop. I stayed out off the water this time, something about peeling raw skin and salty water sounded pain full. Also, it was rather cold out. I did get some great pictures of people jumping and flipping off the boat with the sunset behind them.

Dinner was enjoyable, unlike the first lunch. During lunch, I wasn't prepared to pull heads off prawns and dead shell them after they were cooked... Not a fan of things looking at me while i eat them. After dinner, we had our last group party. It was pirate night. Everyone dressed up as pirates... or just kinda dressed ridiculous. THe drinks were flowing, the 'dance' floor to shaking. (i.e the area of the dining room that had it's tables and chairs stacked out of the way). It was a good fun night. We had all finally bonded as team Vietnam.

In the morning after breakfast, we hopped in kayaks and went to Monkey Island... which, guess what they had? Yup, you got it! monkeys! We had each saved a banana from breakfast and threw it ashore to them... again we found that monkeys don't like to share... and make very scary noises when they are angry.

I managed to throw one of my bananas directly at a monkey's head... not on purpose. It was momentarily stunned, but all was well and it gladly ate the banana. I think I'm ready for softball season to start. :-)

I found out my friend threw her banana into the chest of a Vietnamese man, again not on purpose. He was stunned and looked around for who did it, and my friend was cracking up. He seemed kewl with it, and actually tried to throw the banana back to her... so she could aim for his mouth! Crazy!

We kayaked back to the Junk Boat, and lounged for a couple hours until lunch. Then back to Hanoi for the last day!

Hanoi... Asia is coming to a close...

February 27, 2011

We had a waaaay early flight, and left the hotel at %:30am, to get to Hanoi. Which was good, because we got to spend more time in Hanio, which ended up being not so good, because, we didn't really like Hanoi all that much. It was loud, and dirty, and somewhat rude..... compared to all the really calm places we had been over the past month.

I think the next story I'll tell you is the weirdest thing that I've ever rushed and ran to see, before the closing time. So our flight came in at 9:30, and we were on the bus to Hanoi by 10, the thing we wanted to see closed at 11... it was more or less a game of will we make it or not? We did, because we all jumped out of the buss at 10:58 and ran to the entrance of.... Hochiminh's Memorial.... where his body is displayed..........

I guess the whole line took about 10 minutes to walk through, and I saw the Great Hochiminh's body.... which was kind of creepy, and all I could think about was some joke that was told on the tour that Vietnamese people like KFC so much because Colonel Sanders and Hochiminh have quite the resemblance... also, creepily true.

So... that was weird. Moving on... we got to our little hotel, and then had the afternoon free.

I posted stuff home... you know, all those clothes and shoes I had made. Apparently it will take a month to get to my parent's house, I wonder who will arrive first... the clothes or me? (you know, if they even arrive at all)

After the post office, I went on my some what merry way, to go see the prison in Hanoi that POWs were kept in, most famously John McCain. It was suggested you take a cab to get to the prison but I was only two blocks away... Well... 2 blocks really means... "No Kathleen, you will walk around the same street corner where you think the prison is, for an hour, and not find it." So after walking the streets for a really long time, and being told many different things when I asked for directions, i took a taxi back to the hotel and gave up.

My Canadian sister friends found me, and we ventured off for a nice dinner together and to explore the night markets. I had a good time with them... At the beginning of the tour in Bangkok I had walked around the night markets with them, and they could not bargain... they felt bad. But, i taught them a thing or two, and this last night market we went to together, they totally were able to do it! I was so proud of them! We also got some of our outfits for the pirate party that was to take place the next night on the Junk Boat in Halong Bay.

We met up with everyone at a roof top bar and enjoyed the view and being above all the motorbike chaos. It was a good day overall.

I can't believe Asia is ending....

Hue kewl!

Hue (pronounced Way (i think)) was another great little town. I throughly enjoyed our time there. One day was probably enough, the tour got this one right.

So we left Hoi An at &:30 am, some of my super awesome new friends carried my back pack as we walked to the bus stop, my burnt back waas very happy to be friends with them...

Basically after a few long hours on the bus, we got to Hue, we had an hour and 1/2 before our super awesome afternoon. Karen and I ventured to find food across the street, enjoying fruit shakes and good food. We talked with a few other tour members, and then prepared for quite the enjoyable afternoon.

It started at 2, with a 1/2 hour cyclos ride. Cyclos (pronounced sick-los) have a man sitting on a bicycle seat in the back, and basically a bucket for one (or 2 small people) to sit in, in the front. We were driven naround the streets and sights of Hue in these very relaxing vehicles. The only thing that kept me from napping on this trek, was that motorbikes and busses were also sharing the same road, and i feared a little bit for my life.

After the cyclos rides were done, we went inside the Emperors' temple of Hue. It was pretty interesting, however, at this point I might have been getting sick of seeing temples.... that sounds bad, but more or less that was the consensus among the group. It was pretty, and the local tour guide had good information.

Next we took a bus to the 7 storied Thien Pagoda. The whole area was gorgeous, there were monks living there, and we arrived during a pray and chanting session. That was pretty neat to experience. I watched for a few moments, but then walked around the whole area to take it all in.

To get back to the hotel we took a Dragon Boat! ...which is not very exciting at all. It was pretty on the outside, but slow and cold to get back to the hotel. I'm glad though that we were able to drift down the Perfume River... which lets down it's namesake, and smells like fish rather than Perfume.

Tara organized a good dinner. We went to a restaurant that originally was opened by a deaf mute person. That alone is cool, but what was fun about this place, was, we were able to write on the walls. There were a few bars in Cambodia that we were able to write on the walls, but that was a bar, and some people were just drunken messes. This place however, all of the other South East Asia tour guides take their groups to the place. We saw Tara's other groups writings on the wall, and we saw her best friends groups writings on the walls. There were pictures, and love notes and it was just fun to see the colors. The food was good too, that was a plus... and dessert was amazing. Pineapple crepes with chocolate syrup. Yummy night.

Hoi An, and ties!

Feb 25, 2011

Hoi An, was such a great place. I really wish I hadn't been so burned and out of it, and could have enjoyed it more. It was a quint little town, that anything you wanted made... you could get made. Shoes, clothes, Jewelery... and it was made well.

Day 2 in Hoi An, started with a tour of some over grown temples, that had been hit by a bomb during the war, but part of it was still there. As much as I truly wanted to go to this Temple, as I was told it was a great place for pictures.... I honestly could not move in the morning from the burns. Karen (roommate for the whole tour) put lotion on me before she left, and I laid in bed trying to catch a little bit off sleep, unlike the night before.

However around 10:30, I was feeling slightly human, so I went to see what was going on in reception, plus, I could check my e-mails from there. When I returned to my room, the room cleaners came and knocked on the door to change the towels and such, so I decided to walk into town to see what it was like. Pretty much the previous day I did nothing. (which was the smart choice overall)

First I went to the jewelry store... and really, they could make anything. I was quite tempted to buy a whole bunch of things there but i resisted my urges as I had picked up a thing or two along the way in Hochiminh City, plus I'm not that creative to come up with a unique design for a ring or necklace.

I continued walking, because I was feeling okay, when I went into a shop in the markets to find Matt a certain type of tie. That's where I met Kim.

Kim pretty much deserves her own entry, but I'll just keep it within this one...

Basically the shop I walked into didn't have the tie I wanted, but Kim claimed in very good English, she could make it for me... and swept me away to her shop deeper in the Market. What started off as me picking a type of fabric for one tie for Matt, turned into picking 4 fabrics for ties, fabrics for my awesome new suit, my new dress shirts, Matt's new dress shirts, a formal gown to wear to the next wedding, some shorts, and a fun little summery dress.... plus some other things probably. Later when I came back for my fitting, everything was so well made. I'm pretty sure the amount I spent in Kim's shop is only 1/4 or less of the cost of all the stuff I had personally tailored to my body, and Matt's measurements.

Kim, being such the great business woman, introduced me to her shoe making friends... and guess what happened there? Yup.... you got it, I picked out a few shoe designs from catalogues i liked, and then picked out the type of leather and colors to use, and ended up with perfectly fitted (to my swollen legs) black boots, flats, heels, sandals and a pair of kick-ass black and purple sneakers i designed that I know certain purple loving people would be jealous of. And, get this, the shoes fit both feet. No having to get a size bigger because my left foot is bigger than the right. So comfortable.

I might not have stuck to my daily budget that day, but the splurge, I think was completely and utterly worth it.

So yes, my day went from shopping for one tie, to having a great time cloths shopping.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, I went in the pool a few more times to reduce swelling, and I made it out to dinner with everyone, and almost was able to keep a decent walking pace up. Plus, the shoes and dresses that had alterations done, were ready and perfect when I got back to my hotel after dinner. Life is good in Hoi An. Very good.

Vietnamese cooking class!

It's Feb 24th BTW. So after resting all day, and dipping my body into the coldest pool ever, tot reduce swelling of my burns, I was able to make it to cooking class!

In Thailand I had done a class and just had so much fun, it was a no brainier that I was going to do this class too.

The teacher was a little hard to understand, but we were still able to create fresh spring rolls from rice paper, greens, pork and shrimp. We each made our own marinade for our chicken skewers. We made a traditional Vietnamese pancake with shrimp and pork, different ripe of rice paper and egg. That was great too. Oh and we made a salad and salad dressing!

We also were given a really kewl gift. A super shedder of vegetables. It helps the cook shred the meat of a vegetable (carrot, potato, yam, etc) into nice strings so you salads and spring rolls look amazing!

We also got a cook book... so all together now I have 3... maybe actually 4 cook books! Weeee!

I can't wait to make some of these things... who wants to come over for some Thai, Cambodian and Vietnamese food stuffs?

Hoi an - not to be confused with Hanoi.

For some one who is dyslexic... the two names of cities Hoi an and Hanoi was not helpful to keep track of. It's just confusing!

We took a flight from Nha-trang to Hoi an in the morning. Some people helped with my bags and got me aloe and such. I'm forever indebt to these wonderful people.

Oh! Back tracking-pre sunburn.... back on day 1 of Nha-trang, a friend, fell at the sand/beach bar, and twisted both her ankles. When I returned home for the night, I saw her door was open and went in to see what was up... then, i saw. Her poor swollen ankles, and there were cuts and stuff that were just not in a good state. Using my first aid skills, I helped clean her up, and tended to her wounds and the such so that there wouldn't be infection on top of possible fractured ankle(s). I was glad I was able to help, even if it was just bandaging her up.

Back to Hoi an days. Amy and I became buddies... she couldn't walk because of her ankles, and I couldn't walk because of my burns. The rest of the tour, we tended to be the last ones walking int he group, and did some nice chatting. It was nice to have some one else who was slow, also, it was fun encouraging each other to walk up and down stairs, or in my case, to also be able to sit in a chair for longer than 2 minutes.

When we got there, to Hoi an, there was a bike ride that everyone went on. However, I was exhausted from the flights and carrying my luggage, and unable to actually sit or lay any which way, so I opted out off the bike ride, had my roommate Karen put aloe on my back, and attempted to sleep for the afternoon... because that night... was Vietnamese Cooking Class! I had to attend that!

I was quite sad to miss out on the bike ride, but I needed the rest, I mean, I have a whole other month ahead of me. I can't be over doing it, and then unable to continue on. So i took care of myself.

Tara arranged a taxi for Amy and I to get to the cooking class. However, for some reason it dropped us off 2 blocks away... so we still had to walk... and then the class was upstairs! That was not a fun climb.

Just decided cooking class will be a new entry.... stay tuned.

Nha-trang - Day 2 - Worst 40 min nap of the Tour

Technically, I'm flying to Kuala Lumpur, Maylasia, right now. Attempting to catch up on my blog, so once I hit New Zealand, I can just blog about that, and not worry about leaving anything out of my awesome Asia tour. So - that means (::cough:: mom, grandma, etc ::cough::) no one should worry about anything I write that happened 6 days ago! :)

So yes, day 2 of Nha-trang was the changing point and worst day of my tour. However, it lead to (re-)realizing I had a great supportive guy back home, a solid tour guide, and had made great friends on the tour that really helped me out when I needed it.

Day 2! The day I got go on a day cruise through the China Sea, go snorkeling, and I could have done some water sports, but opted out of parasailing, jet skiing and banana boating.

We really had a gorgeous day for the boat. We arrived at the docks around 8:30 am or so, and got on, ready to have a great time! We did. After we were far enough away from shore, we were allowed to go sit on top of the boat and look at the view and catch a few beams of sunlight.

Well... my friends... I napped for 40 min... on my stomach of all things... and caught a few more than a few beam of sunlight. I caught second degree burns down my back, on my buttocks, and behind my knees. Thankfully not on the bottom of my feet. It was/is pretty horrible. But I've lived to tell the tale, and don't want to be yelled at - so no e-mails or comments about burning!

After I woke up from quite a good nap while laying in the sun (the last good sleep I would have for 4 days) I talked with a few people and joked around, and then got ready to snorkel! Snorkeling was fun, the fish stayed away from me, and I stayed away from them... it worked well, and I did that for a bit before I started to get tired, and went back to the boat. Eventually everyone came back on, and we traveled for another hour before arriving at stop 2 for a good lunch that was made in this tiny tiny room, and listening to a Vietnamese Westernized Cover band play on the boat next to us.

Within 30 min, everyone was back in the water, drinking cocktails in the China Sea. I stayed away from that, for some reason I was feeling warm (I hadn't figured out the sunburn yet)... I overheated a bit, so... i jumped from the top of the boat into the water. That was nice and cooling.

By the time we got to the 3rd stop where the water sports were, I realized I was burnt. I stayed in the shade and watched everyone, and took some pictures for the people jet skiing, and parasailing. Soon, we were on our way back to the hotel.

That night I opted not to go out to dinner, as I was going through bad sunburn effects. And the next few days, my walking skills were quite...poor.

All in all, great scenery and sunlight. Bad planning on my part. I should learn to sleep inside at night, and not outside in the sun.

Side note - there was one other guy who got badly burnt as well. He and I continuously compared sunburn status updates.

Nha-trang, Day 1 Part 2

After returning from the mud baths, everyone ventured out to dinner. It was a nice little dinner, and was recommended for it's sushi. I was one of the few who had some, and it was great, and filled my craving for it. The place was nice, calm, and we even met the owners. They get so excited when a group for 32 show up for dinner. I think it must be the fact they are about to make some good money... or maybe I'm just cynical.

Next we went to a night club, where the group of us sat on the beaches and drank from jam jars. It was also ladies night and the first 3 drinks for the females (all 25) of us were free. We shared with our 7 guys though, don't worry.

So, two of my closer amazing friends on the tour, are two sisters (22 and 18) from a ranch somewhere around in Alberta, Canada. They have happened, never to see, or touch an ocean before. I think one of my favorite parts of the trip was watching them get excited seeing the ocean, and then at the beach bar that night, getting them to put their feet in the ocean for the first time...ever. The fun that they had and the giggling to be heard, and the fun i had with them running away from the waves crashing on the shore, was awesome. One of the best memories, I'm so glad I was with them.

Nha-trang, Vietnam - Day 1 Part 1

Wow! Nha-trang. So stunningly gorgeous. We probably had the best weather of the whole season while we were in this touristy beach town. The water of the China Sea was so blue. The fishing boats floating on the horizon.... ate up a couple hundred pictures on my memory card over the 2 days we were there. It was so clear, and so...wow.

We finally get to Nha-trang and Tara the Tour Guide, offers anyone who wanted to come, to go with her to a mud bath. Yup. Mud bath. So I joined in on this adventure.

The mud baths were about 20 min out of town, and we were all slightly nervous what was about to go on, and what we got our selves into. But we trusted Tara and went for it.

Two groups of 8 and one group of 6, we piled into these tubs, as the warm mud poured into the tubs, slightly slower than we were. It was gross... but fun. I was in the group of 6, and it happened to be 6 of us who had been on the tour from the start. We almost literally dove right into the mud. The other 2 groups sat around politely, but no, we slid around, dunnked our heads in, rubbed our faces.... we were going to get the best mud bath and mineral absorption we could!

We did not stop giggling the whole time. We slipped and slidded intto each other, we were covered completely in warm, smooth mud. You could tell we knew each other, and by the end of the 6 sets of legs slidding every which way, we knew each other better. After 20 min of mudding it up, and after the other 2 groups moved on to the mineral baths - we joined suit, but not after we showered masssive amounts of mudd off our bodies... (later, when we all showered at nigght, we found out we didn't get all the mud off...oops... :) ).

We joined the others at the baths, but wanted to go play in the man-made mineral waterfall area. It was warm and relaxing, and our skin felt great! We were sad when time ran out, but the pictures that werre taken with water/mud proof cameras will last forever..... ;)

New-new groups, motorbikes, city life

One stupid thing about this part of the tour, was that we picked up 2 sets of new people, 2 days apart, but at the same hotel. But I'll speak of Saigon/Hochiminh City now, and various things I did there, besides the War Museum.

So, 1/2 the people and local tour guides call the first big city we were in - Saigon, and the other half call it the new name, Hochiminh City. That was confusing, but so was traffic.

Oh my goodness....motorbikes and beeping. I reckon that there was at least one motorbike for every 2 people in the city, if not more. Crossing streets was a nightmare. Though, the driving rules were similar to the States' flow of traffic (drivers on the left side of the car, driving on the right side of the road).... no one seemed to follow that rule. Through out Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and then Vietnam the rule of thumb was... drive where ever you can fit, and beep whenever you want or while passing on either side. But, Hochiminh City was the worst for this, I really had my heart jumping every time I crossed the street, which I really tried not to do.

The night markets in HC were pretty good, this is where I picked up a couple souvenirs, but only because I was mailing stuff to the States within a day or two. People got fake bags, and scarves and whatever they wanted here too. It was impressive.

So night one - we picked up 8 people, 2 couples, a sister/brother & best friend set, and one random guy. They came to the home stay with us.

Night three - same hotel, same time, we picked up - 3 girls that were friends already, 2 girls that were friends already, 1 couple, and 1 extra girl.

And from the original group there were - 11 girls and 4 guys, (including 2 couples, and a pair of sisters) - continuing on.

This tour as a whole was a lot... a lot of females. Which worked out well, but 24 females together at a time, there is always a little drama. But all in all, it worked.

Night 3's dinnerr was at a beer garden, where we ordered raw meat, and cooked it on the fire in the middle of the table... Asian Melting Pot? sans a pot, add a grill. I enjoy the meal, it kept me active, and felt like I was cooking for myself instead of eating out every meal for 2 months... oh wait, that is what I am doing! :-)

As we woke up the next day, I was happy to be leaving Hochiminh City. There had to be better cities to Vietnam besides motorbikes, honking, and near death experiences. (Though, yes, that home stay I told you about in the previous entry was a nice experience)

Mekong Delta & the Home stay

In between the Vietnam War places we went to visit, there was a stop at a home stay in the Mekong Delta, this basically means, we spent the day on a boat exploring the Mekong Delta and Vietnam, and then stay at some one's home overnight.

We came across some floating markets, and saw scenery of farms and people working along the river. I got beatufifull pictures of the river side and the jungle falling into the river. We stopped off to learn about some different foods. We learned how coconut candy was made, how to make rice puffs, we were able to try rice wine (whoa, potent) and rice pancakes. It was a lot of fun, and tasty. We had some jasmine tea as we enjoyed the sweets that were made at the stop.

Lunch was another journey down the river, through the jungle. We had our first attempt at making our first spring rolls. (many many more times to come in the next 10 days) A fish, with scales, we had to descale, propped up and looking at me... We had to take the rice paper, dip it in water, add in some greenery, and part of a cucumber, and then put meat on top from our fish friend in the center off the table. Slightly uncomfortable, but kewl.

Then back to the big boat, and off to our next "stop" which was old fashion Vietnamese boats, with a person standing in the back paddling us forward, this was just for experience as we met the big boat short while later. Some great touristy shots were taken here, Each of us sitting in a 3 person boat, with our rower, all wearing rice paddy hats (the pointed triangular hats, that are great at blocking sun) and drinking out of a coconut.

Eventually, We got to a certain dirt path, took our overnight bag, and walked on. This was where we were to stay over night... about a 4 min walk from the river shore, to a beautiful home with a guest house with rooms, it was not, by far, a camping experience, which I thought/was worried it might have been.

We had shots of snake whiskey and then some more jasmine tea, got our room keys, and then held a python snake. You know, just a typical day in the jungle. The python was massive! Probably close to 7 or 8 feet long. eeek! I was worried whether or not it knew i just drank some of it friends in whiskey... and if it knew that for dinner, the host family was serving us more of its friends and family.......

That's right, for dinner, along with pork and chicken and fish, we were able to enjoy some snake and rat! It was an interesting snake curry, but the curry was a little to spicy for me... and the snake skin was really chewy. The rat was prepared in marinade, and was tasty.

The whole afternoon and evening was very crusiey and chilled out. We played cards, drank beers and punch, talked and played group games. It was a good way to bond with the new people on the tour.