Kickin’ it with the Kiwis in New Zealand

 I landed in Auckland, New Zealand sans maps or plans. I lucked out with the location of a hotel and could to walk to the visitor center to see what I could do in New Zealand on a budget for nine days.  This wouldn’t be easy now that I’m back in the land of expensive things.  I found out quickly that the sights are very far part and I would only be able to tour the North Island if I wanted a leisurely pace.  I came very close to renting a camper van and driving myself but I chickened out at the last minute and signed up for a 5-day guided tour where someone else will drive me around safely.  If I find out that the roads are wide enough, I’ll do the camper van thing next time.  

My tiny hotel room at the Auckland All Seasons

with a fantastic view of the harbor and marina

Night view of Auckland from my hotel room

 Before I left for the North Island tour, I had a few days to tour Auckland city and the surrounding islands of Devonport and Rangitoto.  

Auckland skyline

View from Rangitoto Island

Rangitoto trail to summit

City of Devonport

Viaduct Harbor area where you catch the ferries

Cloudy Sunset

 My favorite activity in Auckland was a half-day photography tour with Lois Painton, a photographer in Auckland, New Zealand working for New Zealand Photography. She taught me some of the basic techniques of ‘Impressionist Photography.” Impressionist photography is a style or movement in art that is concerned with expression of feeling more than accurate depiction. It will be a long time before I can take an official impressionist photo well but I did learn techniques for how to use my camera in a completely different way. She showed me how to work with motion such as appropriate settings, camera movement, lens movement etc. This allowed me to try different techniques to take a photo that looks more like a painting, expresses motion, creates a mood or feeling, or moves from the real to the abstract. I have a long way to go but here are some of the results from that session.   What do you think.? Do you feel an emotion?

Abstract Impressionist photo attempt

Another interesting image I captured with lens movement

Building reflection

Auckland Ferry

Birds on the beach

Next, I caught a bus to the Bay of Islands and a water town called Paihia.  

Paihlia Sunset

Queen Mary II- this is the largest, longest, widest, tallest, and most expensive passenger liner in history.

Hole in the Rock boat ride

Hole in the Rock

 I didn’t realize it but part of the tour involved driving over 60mph on a beach in a coach bus.  We dodged birds and surf for at least 30 minutes.  Here is our crazy kiwi bus driver that showed us a good time.

Bus driver driving us on the 90-mile beach

Dodging surf and seagulls at 60mph

More views of the 90-mile beach

Kiwis also don’t need snow to sled down a hill.  This is the first time I’ve seen sand surfing. 

Kiwi's don't need snow to sled down a hill

 

This part of the trip ended with a ride up to Cape Reinga.  This is as far north as you can drive in New Zealand where the Tasman Sea meets the pacific ocean.  It’s a very  spiritual place for the Maori.  People from all over the world travel here to say good-bye to a departed loved one.  I planted a tree here for my parent that I can track on Google Earth when I return home.  

I planted a tree at Cape Reinga

 The next day I traveled 6 or 7 hours to Rotorua.  There is a geothermal park here full of steam and mud pots. 

Rotorua Geothermal Park

Rotorua Geothermal Park

 The Kiwis also put on a sheep show.  I wasn’t sure about this one but it turned out to be hilarious entertainment.  I saw about 20 different breeds of sheeps and some sheep dogs.  

Sheep Show

Sheep Dog

For my very last day of travel before returning to the United States, I took a cable car to the top of Rotorua and had an incredible seafood meal.  Here is my view from teh restaurant. 

Rotorua

 Apologies for the short post but I’m preparing to travel home.  See you soon! 

 

 　   

Sydney Soul Boost

I found SJ in Sydney, Australia!  SJ is a childhood mate of mine from our wee-little hometown of St. Mary’s City, Maryland. Who would believe we‘d find each other so many years later down undah? When I learned she was there I was filled with an immediate sense of relief and excitement.  I knew I’d be in good hands.  How comforting to have an old friend take me in and meet me at the airport for my first time in Australia!

SJ, Anna, and Kris are living it up Three’s Company style on the famous Bondi Beach. They immediately armed me with guidebooks (laid out nicely on my bed), bought me a bus pass, and set me loose to explore Sydney during the daytime (darnit they have jobs).

I spent my first day on Bondi beach which was pretty easy to find. I spotted it from their flat balcony and walked down the street. They have a beautiful view of the Pacific and are walking distance to one of the best coastal walks I’ve experienced. In fact, Sydney is full of one glorious beach after the next all easily accessible by coastal trails.

Sunset View from SJ's flat

Sunrise view from SJ's flat

Bondi Beach

SJ and Anna at a coffee shop in Bondi Beach

A beautiful cemetary on the coastal walk

Richelle – this section is for you. Look at this pool! Can you believe we hauled ourselves to swim practice every morning in snow and hooded parkas while the Aussies were swimming like this? I’m sure this might be the best swimming pool in the world.  Of course I bought a real swimsuit, cap, & goggles in a matter of minutes.

Ahhemmm - look at this pool!

Next, I headed downtown via bus then ferry for my first glimpse of the opera house and other Sydney sights from the water.

The Opera House

Sydney Harbor Bridge - Bridge Walk

Sailboats everywhere

View from Manly island

Manly Beach

Manly lifeguard on Manly Beach

I continued on with my search for native wildlife.  Here are all the interesting animals I found this time…

Komodo Dragon

Kangaroos

Victoria-Crown Pigeon

Seagulls

Meerkats

Wild Cockatoos

Not sure what kind of bird this is but I liked it

SJ gave me a reason or two to dress up.   I hadn’t been to a real movie theatre in a while so off we went in Gold Class.  Here is Sydney’s version of the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin.

To send me off in style, SJ and her roomies took me out on the town for a going away happy hour at the Opera House.  It had been a really long time since I’ve been out so I bought a dress and I was off.  Every weekend this area fills up with a cosmo happy hour crowd.  What a great scene! 

Opera House View at Happy Time

I like this kind of foggy picture of the Opera House happy hour scene. It captures the moment.

Me and SJ at the Opera House

A million thanks to SJ, Anna, and Kris for making feel at home.  You’re fantastic hosts.  And you made this trip special and something I will always remember.  Here’s to old friends and new ones.  Cheers!

Terima Kasih Ubud!

That means ‘Thank You Ubud.’  You brought me back to good health.  I spent two weeks in this small inland Bali town walking through rice fields and lotus ponds, eating vegetarian, working with my camera, and taking yoga classes. I’m mostly proud that I pushed through my odd fear of trying yoga for the first time. I finally know what people are talking about when they say downward dog, cobra, warrior, and the childs pose (my personal favorite where you take a break from the difficult poses and lie down on the mat curled up womb-style).

I took my first yoga class here

This was the view in front of class

My fascination with Ubud started with the monkeys. They walk around the city completely unleashed. My hotel was next to the popular monkey forest and while there were many of the little creatures to watch there, some also ventured out into the streets and on to the top of my hotel room roof  banging  coconuts in the morning! They were everywhere – on telephone wires, near the pool, on the sidewalks, and hopping around stealing food from all the Hindu god offerings. It’s easy to stay out of their way unless you do something stupid. As an example of something stupid, I bent down near a group of them once to take a photo from a low angle and a small macque jumped on my back. He was easily shaken off but I didn’t do that again.

Pardon all the monkey photos but I couldn’t help myself.  You can take a closer look at more Bali wildlife on my animal page too if you like.

Not a monkey but there were a lot of bats too anI love this shot

My second fascination was with the rice fields and lotus ponds. Unlike Vietnam, where rice fields seem to be a reminder of work and toil, the Ubud rice fields are beautiful and magical. I felt like I was living on a golf course. The fields were terraced, lush, and green.

Terraced rice field

Rice farmer

Lotus Pond

Grandfather and Grandson in a Lotus pond

Flat rice field

Pink Lotus

My third fascination was with the people. This is an extremely religious place but not in an uncomfortable way. The Balinese people prepare god offerings every day (in the form of small banana leaf containers with food) and place them everywhere – in shops, on statues, in restaurants, in bathrooms, on sidewalks. You can’t help but step on them sometimes and hope you don’t upset the gods.

Offerings on top of the holy springs

The Balinese people spend a significant part of their lives (and money) preparing for and performing in elaborate religious ceremonies seemingly every day. They can take place all over the city, in temples or in the streets. You’re guaranteed to run across at least one or two without trying very hard and the locals are welcoming of the gawking tourists taking photos. I ran across one in a small temple and one of the men there took me on a private tour (for a good tip). What luck.

Hindu ceremony

Indonesian men preparing chicken satay for the ceremony

Elaborate offerings made for the ceremony

Indonesian man in charge of the gongs

Sunset at Tanah Lot temple - Indian Ocean

I didn't always plan very well for this restriction

The only Ubud downside was that I always had that universal traveler feeling of being nothing more than an American dollar sign. I couldn’t walk down the street without being propositioned at all times. Taxi? Massage? Transport? Rice fields? What are you doing today? Need a nice dress? Motorbike? Where you from? Why you travel alone? Yes, some genuinely felt sorry for me that I was traveling alone. They couldn’t understand that at all and it was difficult to avoid the questions. They’re all so nice and I really didn’t mind having the conversations but trust me I needed to have it with everyone. One nice waiter actually stayed with me through a complete meal to keep me company. After a while I figured out this was normal and local expats gave me some advice. If they ask if you need a taxi, rather than saying anything just wave your hand palm down to the ground. If they ask you if you are married just say ’not yet’ and you’ll avoid all the questions that follow. It worked! While I appreciated that they were so interested and accommodating, I was able to enjoy the trip a lot more after that.

It’s also very easy to meet people in Ubud. I met Molly and Dana – two kindred spirit Americans traveling solo. Molly unfortunately had to go back to Minnesota after a week (sorry I didn’t get a picture Molly!) but Dana was there to stay for a while and she became my partner in adventure for a couple of great days when we went to explore the less-traveled coastal towns of Padangbai and Candidasa.

Dana and I in our rented sarongs at the bat temple.

I love it when you have a day that makes up for all the hard work that comes with getting to a new city, learning how to get around in that city, lugging your heavy pack around, and generally being unclean and wondering when you‘ll get your next shower. I had one of those awesome days that I’ll try to describe in photos below. Cheers to Molly and Dana for all the fun! I hope both of you find what you are looking for in life.

Dana had her own motorbike so I hired Made (pronounced Maday) to be my driver for the day to Candidasa

We hired a boat like this in Candidasa with one driver and one spear fisherman

While Dana and I went snorkeling, the spear fisherman behind me in this picture was spearing us fish for lunch

He also speared us a squid!

Then we cooked up the day's catch

while we played dominoes with seven Indonesian men in a wall-less hut. You had to wear this thing around your ear if you lost a round.

Dana with our chef

Oh and of course I couldn’t leave Asia without an elephant ride.

Me and Sweet Pea

Here are just some other things I want to remember.

Favorite Restaurants – Casa Luna, Kafe, Pundi Pundi (next to Lotus Pond), Three Monkeys, Bali Buddha

Hotel -Nyoman Karsa Bungalows – fantastic place. They deliver breakfast to your door every morning.

My hotel room porch at Nyoman Karsa

Food-Nasi Campur Vegetarian, Tempeh (soy)

Visited Tanah Lot,  Taman Ayun Royal Temple, Bali Safari & Marine Park, Holy Monkey Forest, Padangbai, Candidasa

Sydney, Australia next!

Doing Bali on a Strong Decongestant

You take your chances when you fly with a head cold and I lost the gamble this time. After enduring my first week in Bali with intensely painful headaches, toothaches, earaches, and sleeplessness, Heather and I finally decided I needed a doctor. Scary? Yes very. Now I find out if my health insurance (the new kind I bought without a job) will help me at all in a developing country on the opposite of the world –not to mention the anxiety that comes with putting my trust in the Indonesian health care system. I started making phone calls. It turns out that not a single person in my entire health care company is available to talk to me after 5pm or on the weekends. Fantastic – so much for that. Let’s call International SOS. I’ll pay for it all myself.

Within an hour, I was in a clinic talking to a Doctor and he was fantastic.  He was so good in fact, I wish I took a picture of him for you but my head hurt too much to think about it. In fact, I can say that I’ve never had a better Doctor’s appointment. He was extremely thorough, he pointed to ear and head charts to help me understand what was happening, he gave me options, and he didn’t jump right to the antibiotic and rush me out of the office. Wow! I’d rather be sick here than at home.  Who knew?  We determined I had a sinus infection, decided on a couple of medications (not antibiotics), and he sent me on my way. Within 3-4 days I’m back to myself and can once again read, write, explore around, and sleep. No problem. Thanks for HK for finding the phone number and forcing me to go.

The bad news about all of this is that I haven’t been able to take many photos. But, I can show you views from my hotel room, parts of my hotel room, where I sat a lot to recover, some food I ate, and other things that didn’t require me to expend much energy.

Indian Ocean sunset view from my room

Wild rabbit hopping on the hotel lawn

I sat at this table every day

Vegetarian Nasi Campur - my favorite Indonesian meal. I had a pig experience in Cambodia and have been eating vegetarian as much as possible ever since.

The best shower I've had in three months.

Daytime view from my hotel room

After a week in Bali, Heather went to Vietnam to work and I remained here. I’m on my own for the first time in the trip and I’m writing to you from Ubud in the center of the island. I just arrived today and I can tell you that as much as I hate to admit it, one could not beat the consumerism out of me here. I feel like skipping down the streets with the monkeys and my shopping bag. There are so many inexpensive fun shops and treasures to explore.  So far I’ve learned as a solo traveler that most days are good and only some days are difficult. This is a good, lighthearted day.

View from the table where I'm writing this post - Casa Luna in Ubud

 I’ll be here in the rice fields for a while.  More to come on Bali….

Lazy Days in Luang Prabang, Laos

  

I spent a lot of time with falangs in Luang Prabang, Laos. Falang is the Southeast Asia pet word for foreigners and now a part of our everyday vocabulary. Tightly bonded by the 2.5 day slowboat experience, the falang kind of stuck together on land too. Although we normally try to blend in more with the locals, this time we were happy to let go of that a little. Plus, we seemed to have a lot in common with our new friends and the age-appropriate conversation was really refreshing. We gathered an international crew of about six for dinner the first night including 3 Swiss, 1 English, and 2 Americans. We ate hot pot Laos style and had a great night.  Sorry no pictures of this.  The food was too good to leave the table. 

 

The city of Luang Prabang is a quaint Buddhist town surrounded by palm tree-filled mountains and other beautifully dense vegetation. It was easy to be lazy tourists here because we were within walking distance of many French-style cafes and shops lined up right on the banks of the Mekong River. For five days, we ate and read by day and explored the local goods and handicrafts by night. I also rented a bike and peddled toward the hills where I saw some breathtaking views. I think something like 2/3 of Laos roads are not paved so some of the bike rides were a bit bumpy. 

 

 

A view of the Mekong from a cafe

Typical cafe view

Laos Spaghetti with a tomato/coconut sauce

Our guesthouse

Dogs playing in the street

HK outside a temple

One of our new friends Richard, a wonderfully funny and intelligent English gay man, met a local 17-yr old, orphan, and former monk that needed some help teaching English to a class of students. Richard volunteered and brought us along. This was another one of my most favorite moments of the whole trip. We only had two bikes for the three of us so I hopped on with Richard Laos-style and hit the bumpy roads. 

Going to class

Here's class

One of the most unique things about Luang Prabang is the daily morning monk processions to gather alms. Heather and I forced ourselves to wake up at 5:30 one morning to catch the show and it was worth it. Monks come out of their monasteries early every morning with bowls and bright orange robes to collect food from the locals. The locals earn merits from a karma-perspective for giving while the monks live off the generosity of others. The custom seems to work for everyone. 

Monk morning alms procession

Monks gathering alms

I also started to take up a personal interest in the textiles here. We’ve seen so many interesting textiles throughout the whole trip, I finally tried to teach myself how to tell the difference between real silk, synthetic silk, and blended textiles. For example, silk should burn and synthetic fabric should crumble. We also learned a little about the how the local women make textiles using a wooden loom and tried to understand the natural dying process. After a while I think I could also tell what textiles are traditional to Laos vs. other neighboring countries. Very fun. 

Night Market

Then I caught my first head cold somehow. I guess I let down my guard with the hand sanitizer. It’s my first sickness. We’ll see how it goes. I can’t wait for Indonesia next…… 

View of Luang Prabang from a temple

  

  

 

Getting to Laos

HK & I taking a boat break on the way to Luang Prabang

In Cambodia we realized we have almost completed a full circle around Southeast Asia by land. That is – no airplanes at all. So, instead of flying to Laos like we originally planned we decided to finish the circle by land. After some research, our only option was to cross back into Bangkok by bus, take an overnight train to northern Thailand (Chiang Mai), take a bus to the Laos border, then take a slow boat for two days to reach Luang Prabang, Laos. Phew – we made it and I’m now sitting in a French Café along the Mekong River, drinking a lime soda, and writing this post.

There's lots of this here.

In case you want to take this trip by slow boat here are some of the things we learned along the way. First – don’t expect a chair. A ticket only guarantees you space on the boat. Second – get there early to find a spot to sit. If you’re lucky you may get a seat. If not, you have to find a place to sit somewhere and only the animals are allowed on the roof. Third – buy the cushion they offer before you get on the boat. You may be sitting on the floor in the engine room. Fourth – keep a good attitude and you’ll meet some new friends.

Here are some of the sights along the way.

We stopped in Bangkok for a night and caught a movie. We were the only people in the theatre.

Here's a Thai woman selling crickets in a market on the way to Chiang Mai

They were also selling these.

We stopped in a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai and couldn't tell if this man was alive or not.

We saw a Buddhist procession come by as we were drinking a beer in a cafe in Chiang Mai.

This is where we stayed for our first overnight at the Thai border the night before we crossed into Laos. It was complete with a mozzie (Aussie for mosquito) net.

Here we are on the Mekong crossing the border from Thailand to Laos.

This is a slow boat - our next ride for 12 hours including one overnight stay - to Luang Prabang

We lucked out and got a seat on the first boat. (second row on right)

Others weren't so lucky

We docked for one night in a town mid-way to Luang Prabang.  It was night time when we docked and we had to climb up a sandy and rocky hill with our packs to get to the hotel.  I was wearing flip flops and hurt my feet a little and Heather fell but there were no injuries except some bruises.

On the second boat the following morning we only had wooden benches but picked up two new friends - Richard and Christoph. We had to interlock our knees to fit.

We picked up more people along the way and one family had animals.

Getting some air

Landscape shot

It gets mountainous the closer you get to Luang Prabang.

We finally made it. Here is our boat docked.

More on Luang Prabang to come…..

Getting to the roots of Cambodia in Siem Reap

We made it to Siem Reap

and you wouldn't believe the tree roots we saw

Literally – even the most hardened traveler would think that the tree roots in Siem Reap are fantastic and they’ll be my most lasting memory of the Cambodian landscape.  Figuratively – we’re still trying to get to the root of why Pol Pot was allowed to keep the Cambodian UN seat for 15 years after his genocidal rule? 

I’ll start with the good stuff and talk about the tree roots and the city vibe.  Siem Reap is full of 12th and 13th century temples (with Khmer architecture) and some of them are slowly being claimed back by nature in the most interesting way.  One of the best examples of this is at Ta Prohm Temple.  This temple was built in the late 12th century as a Buddhist monastery and university.  You can see below how the trees are growing out of the ruins and taking on a jungle Indiana Jones-like atmosphere.  Fantastic!

More tree roots at Ta Prohm Temple. Siem Reap, Cambodia

More tree roots taking over Ta Prohm

We got settled in to our hotel - $16/night at Mandalay hotel with wifi included.   That’s $8/night when we split the cost.

Our kind of hotel - Notice the sign

You notice immediately that Siem Reap is heavily visited by western tourists.  There were white people everywhere which was unusual for us to see given the places we’ve visited thus far.  The good thing about this is that Cambodia is very prepared to care for the tourists and it brings the country a much needed source of revenue.  For example, we were confident enough to eat our very first cheeseburger and icecream here. They were both delicious and didn’t hurt us later if you know what I mean.  The bad thing is that there were a lot of tourists.  But either way, the streets were very clean, safe, and full of good food and shops.

Downtown Siem Reap

Apsara Dancing

Monks with umbrellas

hmmmm what could she be up to?

Heather was fighting a cold and she decided to take a day out from touring.  So I went exploring.  My first stop was Angkor Wat which is a 12th century religous structure and the pride of Cambodia.  This structure is depicted on the national flag and it was the most well-preserved of them all.  It was blazing hot that day so I didn’t spend much time here but I remember the first view being fantastic even with the green scaffolding.

Angkor Wat

More Angkor Wat

Another view from a smaller temple at Angkor Wat

 Heather joined back in on the second day and we visited The Bayon which was my favorite.  This structure looked like any other temple from afar but as you get closer you notice many, many stone faces carved into many, many towers.  There are over 200 stone faces carved into this temple and they all look happy and peaceful.  From every viewpoint and every doorway you were greeted with yet another smiley stone face.

At the entrance of Angkor Thom and The Bayon

South gate of the Angkor Thom - that's me bottom left

My favorite shot of Heather at the Bayon

Here I am with another stone face at The Bayon

Outside of the Bayon we also spotted yet another Cambodian motorbike with very interesting cargo.  Bungee cords would go over big here.

Poor piggie

This photo is from Phnom Penh but since I'm on this topic I'll throw it in here.

By the way, motorbike gasoling is distributed in these old liquor bottles

Finally, I’ll talk about the land mine museum and Pol Pot.  Heather had already visited the museum and decided not to go to take care of her cold.  I didn’t want to miss it so I headed out of town to find it.

View from the Tuk Tuk I took to the landmine museum

When I arrived, I learned a lot about Aki Ra, the man that founded the museum.  He was a child soldier originally conditioned and trained by the Khmer Rouge to lay landmines who later dedicated his life to de-activating them. What a man.

Story of the man that created the land mine museum

 I learned that there are anywhere from 3-6 million active landmines that remain in the farmlands of Cambodia today.  They remain from the days of the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnam War.  Many Cambodian parents can not let their children play in the fields due to the mines.  You can see a large number of decommissioned mines at this museum.

Decommissioned landmines at the Cambodia Landmine Museum

This finally brings me back to Pol Pot.  Why did he retain Cambodia’s seat at the UN 15 years after his genocidal rule?  I still don’t know.  After researching, my best guess is that it was political and Cambodia was a pawn in the larger game of the Cold War. 

Pol Pot’s genocidal reign happened immediately following the US loss of the Vietnam War.  Pol Pot was backed by China and the Vietnamese were backed by the Russians.  Vietnam did not support Pol Pot.   At that time, there was Cold War hysteria in the US and we were defeated financially and spiritually from the loss of the Vietnam War in addition to being nervous about Russia’s aggression. We couldn’t do anything to suggest that we were now supporting Vietnam against Pol Pot nor supporting Russia.  So we remained quiet.  All of this created a window of opportunity for Pol Pot to try out the most radical experiment of social re-engineering ever seen. 

Vietnam freed Cambodia from Pol Pot in 1979.  After 79 Pol Pot kept his UN seat for 15 years!  Why? I don’t know - because there wasn’t infrasture in place for a global trial?  – because the U.S. didn’t apply pressure because they lost the Vietnam War?  -because the world didn’t apply pressure because Cambodia is not a world player? I’m not so naive to think that this is the world’s first injustice on a massive scale but I can’t figure this one out.   If someone reading this has a better answer please share it with me.