Monday, March 28, 2011
Top 10 Favorite Moments...in no particular order
1. 50 km downhill cycle approaching Nha Trang Vietnam, and the culmination of our bike ride. This was our second to last ride, and was definitely one, if not the most memorable from the bike trip. We started out climbing the mountain in dead heat, only to climb high enough to put two jackets on it was so cold and windy. Once we made it to the top, we had the 50 km to look forward to. Our first 10 km were in the clouds, or heavy fog, where you were unable to see in front of you. The descent was steep enough that experienced riders screamed down the mountain going close to 60 km/hr. This was a surreal ride not only because of the pace, but because at any given turn the road would open up, and you could see through an entire valley, or mountain range.
2. Australian Open in Melbourne. As one of the four grand slams in tennis, you would never expect to pay 20 dollars for an open admission to such a fun event. Melbourne Park is acres of beautifully kept grounds, bars, and projection tv’s to watch the matches. We were lucky enough to catch the men’s final and had a blast while doing it.
3. Drive through Arthur’s Pass National Park in New Zealand. Even though it was not on a bike, because it would not be possible to do this via two wheels unless you were a mix of Hercules and Lance, it one of the most memorable paths in either of our lives. It’s hard to rank the beautiful drives throughout New Zealand, but this is absolutely recommended because the terrain was actually unbelievable.
4. Night and Sunrise dives on the Great Barrier Reef. The night dive was unique because our boat was the only thing is site for 2 hours in the middle of the ocean. We were diving and swimming with fish the size of our bodies in the absolute pitch black sea. We jumped in the water the next morning, just before 6 am, to dive with all the fish as they were waking up beginning to feed. Two completely different dives, and different perspectives.
5. Landing in Pakse International Airport. This was an absolute joke, and will never be forgotten for three reasons; they stamped Birmy’s Vietnam Visa for Lao, gave us laminated/ reusable boarding passes, and literally operated an international airport without electricity. (No, not even solar power, battery power, or reusable power….no power).
6. Bay of Martyrs. Great Ocean Road. This was one of the many stops along the famous road- but was incredibly gorgeous, isolated, colorful, and very surreal. Our tour group hung out on the beach for hours taking in the sites.
7. Day trips to Milford and Doubtful Sound. Fiordland National Park. As described before, each were beautiful in their own ways due to different scenery and climates, and gave us a new perspective to nature.
8. Stranded in Koh Phi Phi. Even though this is one of the world’s top 10 most beautiful beaches, we are stranded here with other backpackers left to listen to the local tunes that include the mosque in the backyard of our PhiPhi Don Chukit Resort, meowing cats surrounding the food left on the front porch of our bungalow, and the sweet sound of torrential downpour, or the beautiful noise created by our friendly neighbors who decide to host a family pig roast at 8 am in front of our bungalow covered in debris from last night’s monsoon.
9. The birthday dinner of one of our fellow riders. Not only was it a self grill bbq restaurant with rats roaming freely and 25 cent beers the size of a 2 liter cola, but it was one of the most fun dinners of the trip. We had the best group, and were all enjoying each other’s company for yet another 2000 calorie meal…but this time it was to celebrate not only a birthday, but the end of an unforgettable bike journey through Vietnam.
10. From the second we embarked on Aladin’s Magic School Bus until the time we left holding onto the back of a tuk tuk in the pouring rain, we are at a loss for words about Vang Vieng, Lao. From getting poisoned by dollar whiskey buckets (which equates to 6 cents a shot), to getting sick from tree bark burgers at a bar that played Friends all day with no tables only platforms to lay on little mermaid reused comforters, to meeting a friend named Martin who spoke at least 250 words a minute, to seeing the infamous river that can only be described as a water playground for monkeys or people who prefer drugs to water…Vang Vieng will never be forgotten (or revisited…but everyone has to experience this at least once. Just don’t try the burger).
2. Australian Open in Melbourne. As one of the four grand slams in tennis, you would never expect to pay 20 dollars for an open admission to such a fun event. Melbourne Park is acres of beautifully kept grounds, bars, and projection tv’s to watch the matches. We were lucky enough to catch the men’s final and had a blast while doing it.
3. Drive through Arthur’s Pass National Park in New Zealand. Even though it was not on a bike, because it would not be possible to do this via two wheels unless you were a mix of Hercules and Lance, it one of the most memorable paths in either of our lives. It’s hard to rank the beautiful drives throughout New Zealand, but this is absolutely recommended because the terrain was actually unbelievable.
4. Night and Sunrise dives on the Great Barrier Reef. The night dive was unique because our boat was the only thing is site for 2 hours in the middle of the ocean. We were diving and swimming with fish the size of our bodies in the absolute pitch black sea. We jumped in the water the next morning, just before 6 am, to dive with all the fish as they were waking up beginning to feed. Two completely different dives, and different perspectives.
5. Landing in Pakse International Airport. This was an absolute joke, and will never be forgotten for three reasons; they stamped Birmy’s Vietnam Visa for Lao, gave us laminated/ reusable boarding passes, and literally operated an international airport without electricity. (No, not even solar power, battery power, or reusable power….no power).
6. Bay of Martyrs. Great Ocean Road. This was one of the many stops along the famous road- but was incredibly gorgeous, isolated, colorful, and very surreal. Our tour group hung out on the beach for hours taking in the sites.
7. Day trips to Milford and Doubtful Sound. Fiordland National Park. As described before, each were beautiful in their own ways due to different scenery and climates, and gave us a new perspective to nature.
8. Stranded in Koh Phi Phi. Even though this is one of the world’s top 10 most beautiful beaches, we are stranded here with other backpackers left to listen to the local tunes that include the mosque in the backyard of our PhiPhi Don Chukit Resort, meowing cats surrounding the food left on the front porch of our bungalow, and the sweet sound of torrential downpour, or the beautiful noise created by our friendly neighbors who decide to host a family pig roast at 8 am in front of our bungalow covered in debris from last night’s monsoon.
9. The birthday dinner of one of our fellow riders. Not only was it a self grill bbq restaurant with rats roaming freely and 25 cent beers the size of a 2 liter cola, but it was one of the most fun dinners of the trip. We had the best group, and were all enjoying each other’s company for yet another 2000 calorie meal…but this time it was to celebrate not only a birthday, but the end of an unforgettable bike journey through Vietnam.
10. From the second we embarked on Aladin’s Magic School Bus until the time we left holding onto the back of a tuk tuk in the pouring rain, we are at a loss for words about Vang Vieng, Lao. From getting poisoned by dollar whiskey buckets (which equates to 6 cents a shot), to getting sick from tree bark burgers at a bar that played Friends all day with no tables only platforms to lay on little mermaid reused comforters, to meeting a friend named Martin who spoke at least 250 words a minute, to seeing the infamous river that can only be described as a water playground for monkeys or people who prefer drugs to water…Vang Vieng will never be forgotten (or revisited…but everyone has to experience this at least once. Just don’t try the burger).
Helpful or Not-So-Helpful Tips
You do not need to reserve guesthouses, hotels, or hostels in advance when traveling in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and hopefully anywhere else we go. You can ask a tuk-tuk driver to take you to the center of town, or a cheap guesthouse- and there most always will be availability. This will save you money, time, and effort.
It was helpful to utilize hostel airport transfers in Australia and New Zealand, but in SE Asia, you can go anywhere within a radius of 45 km for around 5 dollars each.
Especially in Thailand, do not be afraid to eat of the streets despite what your doctor, mother, guidebook, or common sense may tell you. If there is a line of locals, a good rule of thumb would be do as the locals will do. You can get a meal for a dollar, and it will likely be better than anything you can get in a restaurant.
Even if you have never tried Pepto Bismal, or the consistency scares you this is all you need for potential stomach issues in this region. Instead of pregaming with vodka, we have often found ourselves taking swigs of pepto in preparation for a long night out.
DO NOT pack like Carley. If you are afraid they don’t carry nice face wash, body wash, deodorant, or good shampoo you’re a fool. Even though these are some of the largest tourist destinations in the world, she was convinced there would be none of the above. It is wiser to buy as you go here, for it will save you a great deal of space in your suitcase.
There are 711s in Thailand. Many times, you can be standing and looking around in a circle and be able to throw a rock at three 711s…sometimes even four. There is also canned mountain dew for anyone who is as addicted as anyone who can ever say they have lived on Wall St or Center St.
Always carry toilet paper when traveling. Boy or girl, man or woman, don’t expect a large role or Charmin ultra when you walk into a stall with a hole in the ground. Since we know a lot of you have not ventured over to this area, we should warn you the facilities are not exactly up to par. Even if you get a room in a “resort”, don’t expect anything more than a hose, and a hole in the ground for a bathroom…unless you upgrade. We promise…this you will find out the hard way.
Two months in, we can say to definitely embrace the backpacker mentality. As we poked fun at those in Australia for their lack of hygiene, and canned bean-eating habits, by now, we could easily be mistaken for them, and its for all the better. Don’t get us wrong, we are both craving philly cheese steaks and our home shower, but we will never forget the months of eating plain rice, sticky rice, fried rice, coconut rice, sweet and sour rice, egg rice, brown rice all while not showering. The new name for our blog should be two friends, zero showers, four chopsticks, and 1000 bowls of rice…forever.
It was helpful to utilize hostel airport transfers in Australia and New Zealand, but in SE Asia, you can go anywhere within a radius of 45 km for around 5 dollars each.
Especially in Thailand, do not be afraid to eat of the streets despite what your doctor, mother, guidebook, or common sense may tell you. If there is a line of locals, a good rule of thumb would be do as the locals will do. You can get a meal for a dollar, and it will likely be better than anything you can get in a restaurant.
Even if you have never tried Pepto Bismal, or the consistency scares you this is all you need for potential stomach issues in this region. Instead of pregaming with vodka, we have often found ourselves taking swigs of pepto in preparation for a long night out.
DO NOT pack like Carley. If you are afraid they don’t carry nice face wash, body wash, deodorant, or good shampoo you’re a fool. Even though these are some of the largest tourist destinations in the world, she was convinced there would be none of the above. It is wiser to buy as you go here, for it will save you a great deal of space in your suitcase.
There are 711s in Thailand. Many times, you can be standing and looking around in a circle and be able to throw a rock at three 711s…sometimes even four. There is also canned mountain dew for anyone who is as addicted as anyone who can ever say they have lived on Wall St or Center St.
Always carry toilet paper when traveling. Boy or girl, man or woman, don’t expect a large role or Charmin ultra when you walk into a stall with a hole in the ground. Since we know a lot of you have not ventured over to this area, we should warn you the facilities are not exactly up to par. Even if you get a room in a “resort”, don’t expect anything more than a hose, and a hole in the ground for a bathroom…unless you upgrade. We promise…this you will find out the hard way.
Two months in, we can say to definitely embrace the backpacker mentality. As we poked fun at those in Australia for their lack of hygiene, and canned bean-eating habits, by now, we could easily be mistaken for them, and its for all the better. Don’t get us wrong, we are both craving philly cheese steaks and our home shower, but we will never forget the months of eating plain rice, sticky rice, fried rice, coconut rice, sweet and sour rice, egg rice, brown rice all while not showering. The new name for our blog should be two friends, zero showers, four chopsticks, and 1000 bowls of rice…forever.
Notes from along the way...
If and when you find yourself backpacking do not under any circumstances plan ahead. Many factors can alter you plans so it is better to be flexible, and try to minimize expectations. As a result from our lack of planning, we have been able to capitalize on cheap air deals, random adventures, and interesting guest houses. For example, if we had plan
Always negotiate prices, and always cut the original price in half…or else the jokes on you. Whether it is food, hotel rooms, marked clothing, or souvenirs you can basically pay whatever you want. For example, a recent purchase of Birmy’s was a hammock, where the vendor must of taken him for a fool asking 2,200 baht..(75 USD) for a hammock. Out of guilt Birmy purchased to hammock for 300 (10 dollars) because he felt any lower price would just have been sad.
There is no queuing in Vietnam. Whether it is boarding a plane, waiting for food, or trying to pay if you are not aggressive enough you are left in the dust. Only the strongest, and loudest survive.
Be aware when flying JetStar Asia, or any other local south east Asian airline; for you get what you pay for. As excited as you get for securing an international flight for 100 dollars, know that you are in for a frustrating, but comedic couple of hours. In Saigon, our gate changed 3 times, in a matter of 5 minutes, two hours after the plane was scheduled to board.
Just because you bought a bus ticket does not guarantee you a seat. Your mother’s lessons in polite interactions can not be applied when boarding a bus. Again, social Darwinism applies because if the seats run out you are either sitting on the floor of the bus, or on a lose plastic chair in the isles…for hours.
Prepare yourself for any and all weather conditions. A good rain jacket is crucial. In any given day, especially on the coast, expect to experience all four seasons, and all types of weather conditions.
Embrace the SE Asian mentality when you are here. There may not be many rules, but if you follow a few basic rules, and respect the people you will find it one of the most accommodating and friendly regions to travel. Our expectations regarding language barriers, safety, ease of traveling have been blown out of the water. Whatever town, city, or village you are in you can find someone who speaks English, and is able to help you organize plans for your next stop.
Don’t eat burgers in SE Asia. If you do, prepare yourself for a burger that tastes like cardboard, mixed with grass seed, with a hint of cinnamon- it is a great combination that you can only find in Lao or other semi-deserted areas. Avoid feeling disappointed and try something local.
Do not underestimate your ability to find a good dessert. Even though our current favorite in Thailand is the famous mango and coconut sticky rice (Thanks to Mr. B’s recommendation), we have come across great homemade ice cream, and brownie sundaes in all places.
Just because she looks like a girl doesn’t mean she is one. Phuket, and other coastal regions that attract tourists, also attract the famous “lady-boys”. These ladyboys also often work as masseuses, waitresses, or dancers so prepare yourself for these awkward encounters. Luckily, we were spared, but we have heard some horror stories from other travelers.
Wild animals. In Vietnam it is worse than Thailand, but recently we have had far too many encounters with stray cats. (Yes Cam, naked stray cats). You can be eating, walking, sleeping, busing, or anything ending in an “ing” and you can see or hear 50 cats at any given time.
Get massages, facials, etc. whenever you can. As long as the establishment does not look like animal shelter for humans you can most likely get a awesome hour and a half massage anywhere from 2-10 dollars.
Always negotiate prices, and always cut the original price in half…or else the jokes on you. Whether it is food, hotel rooms, marked clothing, or souvenirs you can basically pay whatever you want. For example, a recent purchase of Birmy’s was a hammock, where the vendor must of taken him for a fool asking 2,200 baht..(75 USD) for a hammock. Out of guilt Birmy purchased to hammock for 300 (10 dollars) because he felt any lower price would just have been sad.
There is no queuing in Vietnam. Whether it is boarding a plane, waiting for food, or trying to pay if you are not aggressive enough you are left in the dust. Only the strongest, and loudest survive.
Be aware when flying JetStar Asia, or any other local south east Asian airline; for you get what you pay for. As excited as you get for securing an international flight for 100 dollars, know that you are in for a frustrating, but comedic couple of hours. In Saigon, our gate changed 3 times, in a matter of 5 minutes, two hours after the plane was scheduled to board.
Just because you bought a bus ticket does not guarantee you a seat. Your mother’s lessons in polite interactions can not be applied when boarding a bus. Again, social Darwinism applies because if the seats run out you are either sitting on the floor of the bus, or on a lose plastic chair in the isles…for hours.
Prepare yourself for any and all weather conditions. A good rain jacket is crucial. In any given day, especially on the coast, expect to experience all four seasons, and all types of weather conditions.
Embrace the SE Asian mentality when you are here. There may not be many rules, but if you follow a few basic rules, and respect the people you will find it one of the most accommodating and friendly regions to travel. Our expectations regarding language barriers, safety, ease of traveling have been blown out of the water. Whatever town, city, or village you are in you can find someone who speaks English, and is able to help you organize plans for your next stop.
Don’t eat burgers in SE Asia. If you do, prepare yourself for a burger that tastes like cardboard, mixed with grass seed, with a hint of cinnamon- it is a great combination that you can only find in Lao or other semi-deserted areas. Avoid feeling disappointed and try something local.
Do not underestimate your ability to find a good dessert. Even though our current favorite in Thailand is the famous mango and coconut sticky rice (Thanks to Mr. B’s recommendation), we have come across great homemade ice cream, and brownie sundaes in all places.
Just because she looks like a girl doesn’t mean she is one. Phuket, and other coastal regions that attract tourists, also attract the famous “lady-boys”. These ladyboys also often work as masseuses, waitresses, or dancers so prepare yourself for these awkward encounters. Luckily, we were spared, but we have heard some horror stories from other travelers.
Wild animals. In Vietnam it is worse than Thailand, but recently we have had far too many encounters with stray cats. (Yes Cam, naked stray cats). You can be eating, walking, sleeping, busing, or anything ending in an “ing” and you can see or hear 50 cats at any given time.
Get massages, facials, etc. whenever you can. As long as the establishment does not look like animal shelter for humans you can most likely get a awesome hour and a half massage anywhere from 2-10 dollars.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Check out this link!
Pai: Land of the Hippy Living
We arrived in Pai in the early evening with no plans of where to go, where to stay, what to eat, and what to do. Luckily, neither did anyone else in Pai. After finding a bungalow equipped with two fans, a hello kitty comforter, a mattress that felt more like the original beds out of the Jailhouse in Christchurch, and cockroaches, we set out to explore the town. We immediately grew sad that we only allotted two days in this town because it was yet again a special place with lots of natural beauty, great restaurants and bars, and an atmosphere that could relax anyone. We found our new favorite restaurant of the trip “The Witching Well”, where we had an organic tofu dinner and soaked in the vibe. Pai embodies the phrase “your body is a temple”, because you are hard pressed to find anything that is not organic, vegetarian, or made of wheat grass. We explored the walking street (market) until late then headed back to our chantey for the night. After waking up in horror that we had lost our limbs because we were sleeping on bricks and nails, we both couldn’t stop laughing about how god awful not only was the mattress, but the fact that the fans produced snow and our room had went from sauna to igloo in a matter or hours. Once each of us got the feeling back in our arms and legs, we managed to fall back into a fragmented sleep until morning.
The next morning Carley went to try another yoga instructor, while Birmy set out to find a non tofu or organic breakfast. Carley ended up in the attic of an ex-hindu princess from Africa who called herself Mama Mam. After three hours of “meditation” and hatha yoga the class was over and she was ready to jet set out of there. Unfortunately, it was ritualistic to have an after class recession of rice cakes and watermelon. Once she had learned that she was in a class full of people who voluntarily fasted for 7 days she decided it was really time to go. We reconvened in our chantey and then headed to the river to enjoy the sun and some down time. The day was spent doing what all the locals do….nothing. We read, and then met some interesting travelers over a nice street meal…it was really weird, we tried pad thai again (it was only the 8th meal in a row of pad thai). After walking through the market, shops, and stopping in various bars, we settled down at one playing live music for the night. Half of the next day was spent doing the exact same thing, and it was awesome. Pai is a place for reflection- and that was what we needed. It was nice to be able to reflect on how awesome the last three weeks have been- and to begin planning what was in store for our final three weeks.
We left that afternoon on a mini bus back to Chaing Mai, only to catch a 11 hour “VIP” bus to Bangkok. We left at 2:30, got to Bangkok by 5:30 am, and made it to Phuket via Bangkok Airways by 9:30 am! It’s been fairly evident that the best way of backpacking, is utilizing the dirt cheap night buses, we lost no time, but did sacrifice some sleep. Even though you may feel lost because of the language barrier, the travel agencies in this country are incredible and as long as you have your ticket, they take great pride it getting you to your destination safely. What better time to enter one of SE Asia’s craziest cities, than at 5:30 am. In avoiding blindly walking around the streets of Bangkok at the hour, with all of 47 bags, loose sneakers, and head pillows, half asleep from the bus, we hoped right into a taxi to head to the airport. Bangkok’s airport was amazing, immaculate, English speaking, and with a complimentary food lounge calling our name. After stocking up on free food since it was 2 pm the day before since we had eaten, we boarded the flight and made it to Phuket!
Again without any reservation, we decided to pretend to have a confirmation at a nice hotel in town, since at this point it had been 4 days since we had showered or slept for more than 2 hours consecutively. The showering is true- due to the fact that when you pay 2 dollars a night for a chantey or a guest house, you get a hose, and some complimentary bugs. So, in our defense, not even showering would have made us feel clean. We got to the hotel, and it must have been our offensive appearance, because we had to wait an hour in the lobby before the agreed to confirm our reservation and grant us our complimentary drink. Thank god it was a mocktail, or we would have passed out quickly. We went up to our rooms like homeless people, and resumed a normal life until the sunset.
The next morning Carley went to try another yoga instructor, while Birmy set out to find a non tofu or organic breakfast. Carley ended up in the attic of an ex-hindu princess from Africa who called herself Mama Mam. After three hours of “meditation” and hatha yoga the class was over and she was ready to jet set out of there. Unfortunately, it was ritualistic to have an after class recession of rice cakes and watermelon. Once she had learned that she was in a class full of people who voluntarily fasted for 7 days she decided it was really time to go. We reconvened in our chantey and then headed to the river to enjoy the sun and some down time. The day was spent doing what all the locals do….nothing. We read, and then met some interesting travelers over a nice street meal…it was really weird, we tried pad thai again (it was only the 8th meal in a row of pad thai). After walking through the market, shops, and stopping in various bars, we settled down at one playing live music for the night. Half of the next day was spent doing the exact same thing, and it was awesome. Pai is a place for reflection- and that was what we needed. It was nice to be able to reflect on how awesome the last three weeks have been- and to begin planning what was in store for our final three weeks.
We left that afternoon on a mini bus back to Chaing Mai, only to catch a 11 hour “VIP” bus to Bangkok. We left at 2:30, got to Bangkok by 5:30 am, and made it to Phuket via Bangkok Airways by 9:30 am! It’s been fairly evident that the best way of backpacking, is utilizing the dirt cheap night buses, we lost no time, but did sacrifice some sleep. Even though you may feel lost because of the language barrier, the travel agencies in this country are incredible and as long as you have your ticket, they take great pride it getting you to your destination safely. What better time to enter one of SE Asia’s craziest cities, than at 5:30 am. In avoiding blindly walking around the streets of Bangkok at the hour, with all of 47 bags, loose sneakers, and head pillows, half asleep from the bus, we hoped right into a taxi to head to the airport. Bangkok’s airport was amazing, immaculate, English speaking, and with a complimentary food lounge calling our name. After stocking up on free food since it was 2 pm the day before since we had eaten, we boarded the flight and made it to Phuket!
Again without any reservation, we decided to pretend to have a confirmation at a nice hotel in town, since at this point it had been 4 days since we had showered or slept for more than 2 hours consecutively. The showering is true- due to the fact that when you pay 2 dollars a night for a chantey or a guest house, you get a hose, and some complimentary bugs. So, in our defense, not even showering would have made us feel clean. We got to the hotel, and it must have been our offensive appearance, because we had to wait an hour in the lobby before the agreed to confirm our reservation and grant us our complimentary drink. Thank god it was a mocktail, or we would have passed out quickly. We went up to our rooms like homeless people, and resumed a normal life until the sunset.
Trekking with Johnny Tsunami
Northern Thailand would not be complete if we did not do a trek. We decided to do a day trek instead of a two night, so we could venture up farther north to a smaller town named Pai. We stayed up until 4 in the morning venturing around Chaing Mai, only to get up at 7 the next morning to prepare to leave. Next thing we knew we were picked up Johnny Tsunami’s look-alike, LA’s next up and coming star, who was too cool to ever formally introduce himself. Stop 1: elephant riding….except for this time we had to ride the elephant without the trainer. Mildly confused when we were ordered to start walking on the elephant completely by ourselves, we “lumbered” along the paths into the forest. Luckily we stocked up bags of sugar cane and bananas because our elephant would walk five feet before stopping and spraying us with mud, spit, snot, you name it, until we fed him again. We realized the elephant was similar to us in this sense. One time, we had finished feeding the elephant, only to realize he wouldn’t budge, little did we know our friendly elephant trainer was peeing ride beside us. They seemed to be good friends, because throughout our ride the trainer would often speak to our elephant. An hour, a river, and bags of food later, we made it back to elephant world. All shapes and sizes, there were tons of elephants grazing along the road. We dismounted the elephant, hung around a little bit, say mama and the babies and then progressed further up the mountain. It was then when we realized, if we weren’t driving 200 mph bouncing up and down in a peace van, awkwardly moving on elephant back, or putsing around on a tuk tuk, we would know we were not in Thailand anymore. We had lunch in a local home-stay and then started our walk through the mountains up to waterfalls, and other villages. After taking a dip at one of the waterfalls on top of the mountain, we wandered along streams, and rice tiers until reaching another village.
It was interesting to visit a village on foot, other than bike or by van because you were really able to slow down and take it all in. From the outside, despite the intense gardens, these villages appeared to be a lot like those of Vietnam. However, the people did not seem as dated, for there was a lack of younger people within the village- apparently many children, and young adults, even though they are living under tree leaves-commute into the nearby cities for work, so they are able to support their parents and grandparents back in the villages. Our adventure continued when we got to the river, and were ordered to board our bamboo raft. To Birmy’s surprise, he was then handed a wooden stick on told to resume his spot, standing on the back of the raft to stir our boat for our ride down the river. This “boat” consisted of 7 bamboo sticks tied together by a tire. Standing on this was as difficult as trying to balance yourself on a tight rope, while it may have actually have been harder because there were rapids, rocks, and other drunk Thai Sunday rafters, wherever you looked. After wiping out once Birmy established himself in the back of the raft, all making it through a couple of rapids. Rapid number three did not go so well, since we were already going full force down the river until we heard a large splash and realized we no longer had Birmy. We looked back, and there he was, wooden pole in hand, flailing around the river. It was a very fun ride, dispite a couple of rapids, we passed many natives hanging along the sides of the river in floating bars, and huts to relax in. The now seasoned bamboo captain Birmy, now plans on orchestrating a bamboo rafting operation in the inner harbor.
That night we boarded another bus for what we thought would be a leisurely ride through the northern countryside. Wrong. We got into our van turned corvette and embarked on our adventure to Pai. 762 turn later (literally- there are t shirts to prove it), we made it. After this ride we had a munch better feeling about taking a mini bus to Thailand, because our driver was friendly, safe, and only broke 160 a handful of times throughout the ride.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Chaing Mai-First Stop in Thailand
Lonely planet describes this city as a “cultural darling, and that it is. The streets are alive with monks and motorcycle-driving housewives. There are more book shops, vegetarian dining options, and coffee shops than we had ever seen. This was obviously a place to kick back and relax, and had a city wide feel of “self improvement”- whether that was achieved through eating healthy or meditation and yoga, this was obviously a destination for many people’s sabbaticals. Chaing Mai, was a great first stop for us in Thailand, because it was easy for us to get a feel for all aspects of the culture. We spent our first day exploring the Old City, which is a neat square bound by a moat, with remnants of medieval architecture, enclosing intertwine “soi” (streets) filled with family ran guesthouses, gardens, restaurants, and massage studios.
When Birmy caught up on March Madness at a local coffee shop, Carley got a foot massage and pedicure. Thailand was looking pretty good right now, since there was sunshine, great food, pedicures, and sports! We explored many old Temples “wats” within the city, our favorite being Wat Chedi Luang dating back to 1441; with a huge chedi “spire” and emerald Buddah as the main focal point of the temple. Carley then found a spot to take a local yoga class, when Birmy decided it was time for a shower since he hadn’t for 4 days. We reconvened at a rooftop bar along the moat, for a drink, and to plan our next move, which was clearly to find some good street food. This was the first stop along the way where Birmy was able to convince Carley to partake in the street vendors. We then had our first pad thai of the trip, on the street for, all for 30 Baht (a dollar each), and then headed to the night bizarre.
As impressed that we were by the markets in Vietnam, this didn’t compare to those in Thailand. Here, there seemed to be better quality, more variety, and nicer vendors. You were not guilt tripped into buying anything, and nor were you haggled to look at their merchandise. A lot of vendors here were looking for friendly conversation, to possibly help with their learning of English. This was a nice change of pace! Some purchases were made, and then the plan was to have a great nights sleep. Little did we know the Royal Guesthouse was an animal farm, where cats, water buffalos, antalopes, gheekos, camels and rooster kept us up for all hours of the night.
Day 2- Carley did another yoga class in the morning, then we met at a coffee spot in the Old City. We hired a tuk tuk to take us to the hot springs, got a tour of the country side, then made it back just in time to get picked up for our cooking class. We took a cooking class at Thai Kitchen Cookery School, with a woman named Dang. This is highly recommended to anyone in Thailand! Not only did we cook a four course meal, and learn about all the ingredients and strategy to Thai flavor, but we used products picked up from the local market hours before so the quality and freshness of the food was a treat! We prepared Pad Thai, Green Curry Paste, Chicken Cashew nut, and Jalapeno stir fry, as well as fried banana with ice cream for dessert. It was a lot of fun, and turned out to be one of the best meals of our whole trip, even though we were the ones who cooked it! Birmy decided his new career path was to become a chief; he has already emailed Emerald directly about starting thai spin off cooking show which will air immediately on prime time television. That night we went to the Saturday Walking Street, which is an enormous market, only occurring from 4 pm-midnight every Saturday. This, was absolutely the best market we had been to. It was less touristy, more friendly, larger, and had a new variety of products. Birmy stocked up on some home made mosquito repellent, and Carley got home made face and body scrubs- then we were river bound to uncover the night scene in Chaing Mai. We started off going to Riverside Bar, which is also highly recommended, it was a larger, extremely nice bar, with live music, and a cool feel. Since we were excluded from the Thai sing along for multiple reasons: not being dressed right, not knowing the language, and skin color..we moved to the next bar.
The GoodView was a great bar, also on the water, with an awesome atmosphere and constant entertainment. There was some killer live band who Birmy plans to have perform at his wedding, whose hits included: Even Essence “Bring Me To Life”, plenty of Katy Perry, and special performance of enter Sandman by the ten person Thai band. Once Lesli Chow’s performance was over, and the bar was closing, we flagged a tuk tu and called it a night. A day of trekking was to come in the morning, followed by our departure from Chaing Mai to Pai.
Chaing Mai Bound...
Five hours later bus ride 1 done. We were in Vietiane,, and has all of 20 seconds of mass chaos to grab all four of our bags and blinding run onto a bus where locals were yelling at us “get on, get on, get on”…we got on for fear of our lives and were hoping this was even the right bus. This bus took us to a random corner in the city..we had to get our bags and pack 20 people and our luggage onto an oversized tukt tuk, that comfortably seats 8… Carley was the lucky one and got to sit shot gun, while Birmy was stuck holding onto his bags with one arm, the other arm was holding onto the monkey bar up to to make sure he would stay in the moving truck, while his right foot was used to cover his computer from the pouring rain. The tuk-tuk took us to the border, and we now had to walk through “customs” to get into Thailand. We made it through boarder control, luckily because Birmy’s Lao visa was never legitimately stamped thanks to customs in Pakse, Lao. We then boarded our next bus, a double decker monster truck bus that was probably recycled from Real World/ Road Rules bus tour. This bus drove an hour into the middle of the nowhere, then dropped all 6 of us on the side of the road to get a bowl of rice from a random restaurant with a swimming pool…at dark. After two spoon fulls, we got onto our “mini-van”, and all 8 of us embarked on a adventure that is never to be forgotten. Our driver didn’t speak a word of English, and the only reason he is not in NASCAR, was because he had too many speeding violations going into the pit stop. Welp, we had 11 hours with this guy…and just writing about it makes us both want to cry. The only positive side of this was that the 11 hour ride, was soon to be cut into 8. Our tin freezer box that was cruising at an average of 140 km/hr, 120 into steep banked curbs, where it said to go 30, with a temperature that is only achieved in the North Pole. Since no one could fall asleep- 1, because we were frozen, and 2-because we were afraid for our lives; a passenger kindly asked if the driver could turn down the AC, so that hypothermia would not set in. Apparently in Thai this is translated into “go F*@$ yourself”, because the driver started screaming, pulled up the driver/passenger barrier, and sped up into our next 90 degree turn going 160(no exaggeration). The friendly then screamed “I ASKED YOU TO TURN DOWN THE HEAT, JESUS CHRIST!!!! YOU’RE DRIVING LIKE A F*$@ING LUNATIC, I WILL CALL THE POLICE, SLOW DOWN, WE DON’T WANT TO DIE, BULLOCKS, BULLOCKS!!!!!!!” At this point it ws pitch black, at 11 PM, driving through steep mountains with pouring rain. If it wasn’t a question of if we were going to live, we sure weren’t now…and we sure couldn’t do much about it..instead we just had to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Hours later, we made thankfully made it to the Royal Guesthouse, and literally thanked God for keeping us in one piece.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
When in Lao...
Our journey in Laos came to an abrupt halt in Vang Vieng due to the inexistent standards of eating, living, breathing, showering and any other normal daily activity. We were very excited to spend St Paddy’s Day tubing down the river, however weather conditions and stomach conditions left both parties in dire straights. After watching every Friends episode in the “TV Bars”, it was still monsooning and was a blistering 52 degrees, so we decided to catch the first possible bus out of town. We went to the local bus station, and made a game time decision to head to Chiang Mai instead of Bangkok not knowing what was to come on our adventure. 2 busses, 2 borders to cross, 1 minivan and a dinner stop for a complimentary bowl of fried rice later, we were on our way to Thailand.
As bad as Laos may seem we did have an amazing first stop in Luang Prabang where we checked out some of the stunning views and countryside. We anxiously awaited the arrival of Dunn and Gilson, and tried to get a lay of the land before they got there so we could show them around the small French style town. After a nice 16 hour bus ride they finally arrived in the morning! It was great to see 2 familiar faces. We hit the town early and decided it would be fun to rent motorbikes and drive 35 km to Kuang Si Waterfalls, which is one of the main attractions outside of Luang Prabang. After a great ride there and amazing time at the waterfall it was time to go home, not knowing how much of a pain this would be… Before we could leave the parking lot riding mates Dunn and Birmy realized they had a flat tire and it needed to be fixed immediately so after driving through the local village, and realizing that the flat tire had to be a scam, we found someone who could fix the tire. 45 minutes later, a beer each, and a shot of handmade rice whiskey (rubbing alcohol) we were back on the road for a whole 5 kilometers before the tire popped again. We were now in the middle of nowhere, with nothing insight but mountains and elephants, so we flagged down a tuk tuk threw the bike in the back and headed back to the main area of town. After we made it back we decided to shower up, and since we had such a great experience at Lao Lao Garden, we wanted to take Dunn and Gilson back before our much anticipated trip to Utopia.
After keeping things under control at Utopia and considering there is a 12 o’clock curfew in Luang Prabang we got a good night sleep in preparation of what was to come for the next 2 days in Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is made out to be one of the biggest party towns in Southeast Asia, and makes Panama City look like Dubai, and Cancun look like the British Virgin Islands. Vang Vieng is a great town, but it was one of the dirtiest and unsanitary places we had all ever been. There are no health standards, laws, government regulations, or anything to make you feel comfortable. The weather did not help our cause seeing that there was a high of 56, and constant rain it was hard to have as much fun as everyone makes the town out to be. We spent the first night getting some questionable food at one of the local restaurants, and having our first experience with Vang Vieng “buckets” which did not turn out well for anyone. This was the first place in the world where shots are free and a refillable bucket costs 10,000 kip- 1 US Dollar. All buckets include local Tiger Whiskey which makes Ten High look like Crown Royal, and whatever mixers you want to put in your bucket. A standard bucket is at least 10 shots of whiskey, Red Bull, Sprite, Coke, and some fresh squeezed lime and at any time you can go back to the bar and they will actually give you the bottle, and let you tip it up for as long as you want. The buckets hit quick and hit hard and once again made for a very interesting night for the group and terrible morning for all. We had met some guys on the van ride over to Vang Vieng, who we spent the night and next couple of days with…needless to say they didn’t steer us wrong saying that the buckets were an experience. The rain had not stopped, and we all felt worse than if we were in Blacksburg and had each drank 3 Rails. But, we rallied and decided to head to the river- the real reason any backpacker would go to Vang Vieng. Once we made it to the start of the tubing course we realized how crazy this place was, since there were bars, rope swings, ski jumps, waterslides, buckets, fires, music loud enough to hear in Thailand, and crazy people all over the place on drugs we had never heard of. Some of the local Vang Vieng natives approached us to make us feel at home, when meanwhile all they did was scare the living shit out of us. Rain or shine these people are out at the river, drinking buckets of whiskey as if it was holy water. Some guy who looked and talked as if he was permanently electrocuted, informed us that he personally sells 8 kg of mushrooms a day and asked if we were interested; we passed, and moved on to the next bar for some more free whiskey shots. Dunn did the famous rope swing, and we danced with “Mama Lao”- hours passed and it took 4 bars before we decided no one felt good and Vang Vieng was really starting to take its toll on the 4 of us. After we made it back to town and spent a few more hours at the Friends Bar everyone started feeling sick and decided to take it easy that evening in preparation for celebrating St Pattys Day at the river. For the second straight day the weather in Vang Vieng did not want to cooperate…and our stomachs were a lost cause. Food, alcohol, Vang Vieng poisoning- whatever it was, rocked us.
11 AM St Patrick’s Day Vang Vieng, Laos- We hit rock bottom in tinker toy land and boarded on the first available bus out of town. Little did we know what was to come on our 16 hour adventure to Chaing Mai.
As bad as Laos may seem we did have an amazing first stop in Luang Prabang where we checked out some of the stunning views and countryside. We anxiously awaited the arrival of Dunn and Gilson, and tried to get a lay of the land before they got there so we could show them around the small French style town. After a nice 16 hour bus ride they finally arrived in the morning! It was great to see 2 familiar faces. We hit the town early and decided it would be fun to rent motorbikes and drive 35 km to Kuang Si Waterfalls, which is one of the main attractions outside of Luang Prabang. After a great ride there and amazing time at the waterfall it was time to go home, not knowing how much of a pain this would be… Before we could leave the parking lot riding mates Dunn and Birmy realized they had a flat tire and it needed to be fixed immediately so after driving through the local village, and realizing that the flat tire had to be a scam, we found someone who could fix the tire. 45 minutes later, a beer each, and a shot of handmade rice whiskey (rubbing alcohol) we were back on the road for a whole 5 kilometers before the tire popped again. We were now in the middle of nowhere, with nothing insight but mountains and elephants, so we flagged down a tuk tuk threw the bike in the back and headed back to the main area of town. After we made it back we decided to shower up, and since we had such a great experience at Lao Lao Garden, we wanted to take Dunn and Gilson back before our much anticipated trip to Utopia.
After keeping things under control at Utopia and considering there is a 12 o’clock curfew in Luang Prabang we got a good night sleep in preparation of what was to come for the next 2 days in Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is made out to be one of the biggest party towns in Southeast Asia, and makes Panama City look like Dubai, and Cancun look like the British Virgin Islands. Vang Vieng is a great town, but it was one of the dirtiest and unsanitary places we had all ever been. There are no health standards, laws, government regulations, or anything to make you feel comfortable. The weather did not help our cause seeing that there was a high of 56, and constant rain it was hard to have as much fun as everyone makes the town out to be. We spent the first night getting some questionable food at one of the local restaurants, and having our first experience with Vang Vieng “buckets” which did not turn out well for anyone. This was the first place in the world where shots are free and a refillable bucket costs 10,000 kip- 1 US Dollar. All buckets include local Tiger Whiskey which makes Ten High look like Crown Royal, and whatever mixers you want to put in your bucket. A standard bucket is at least 10 shots of whiskey, Red Bull, Sprite, Coke, and some fresh squeezed lime and at any time you can go back to the bar and they will actually give you the bottle, and let you tip it up for as long as you want. The buckets hit quick and hit hard and once again made for a very interesting night for the group and terrible morning for all. We had met some guys on the van ride over to Vang Vieng, who we spent the night and next couple of days with…needless to say they didn’t steer us wrong saying that the buckets were an experience. The rain had not stopped, and we all felt worse than if we were in Blacksburg and had each drank 3 Rails. But, we rallied and decided to head to the river- the real reason any backpacker would go to Vang Vieng. Once we made it to the start of the tubing course we realized how crazy this place was, since there were bars, rope swings, ski jumps, waterslides, buckets, fires, music loud enough to hear in Thailand, and crazy people all over the place on drugs we had never heard of. Some of the local Vang Vieng natives approached us to make us feel at home, when meanwhile all they did was scare the living shit out of us. Rain or shine these people are out at the river, drinking buckets of whiskey as if it was holy water. Some guy who looked and talked as if he was permanently electrocuted, informed us that he personally sells 8 kg of mushrooms a day and asked if we were interested; we passed, and moved on to the next bar for some more free whiskey shots. Dunn did the famous rope swing, and we danced with “Mama Lao”- hours passed and it took 4 bars before we decided no one felt good and Vang Vieng was really starting to take its toll on the 4 of us. After we made it back to town and spent a few more hours at the Friends Bar everyone started feeling sick and decided to take it easy that evening in preparation for celebrating St Pattys Day at the river. For the second straight day the weather in Vang Vieng did not want to cooperate…and our stomachs were a lost cause. Food, alcohol, Vang Vieng poisoning- whatever it was, rocked us.
11 AM St Patrick’s Day Vang Vieng, Laos- We hit rock bottom in tinker toy land and boarded on the first available bus out of town. Little did we know what was to come on our 16 hour adventure to Chaing Mai.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Brief recap of Vietnam! More to come!
Vietnam. Vietnam. Vietnam.
3 times for 3 incredible weeks. From the second we arrived to Ho Chi Minh City to the second we left Ho Chi Minh Chi 3 short weeks later we had no idea about all that was to come in between. First and foremost, our guide Hilly was incredible, and was a person that we wish everyone could meet. Not only was he incredibly thorough, loyal, pssionate with Vietnam and world history, but he was interested in creating life long friendships, and making the experience very special for his group. He was a selfless man who really helped us truly understand the Vietnamese culture. They are peaceful, forward looking people, who are incredibly resourceful and hard working. It was an absolute pleasure to see the immense diversity of the 10th largest country in the world with over 80 million people. It’s an absolute must to travel Vietnam by Bike, and above all to visit Vietnam in general. We have found the experience of visiting our first 3rd world country incredible and memorable, not only because of the lush landscape, but because of the character of the people. We visited two of the world’s largest cities (Hanoi and Saigon), temples, hill tribes, plantations and fishing villages. This country is an unbelievable exporter of produce, grains, and nuts- only made possible by generations of farmers. Vietnamese take immense pride in there own country, and praise tourists. They are fully aware that their economy is thriving due to two major factors: tourism, and the recent opening of Vietnamese boarders to foreign investments. Even though Vietnamese are Communist, it has a very western-capitalist feel that is recognized by their work ethic and generational heritage. In Vietnam, regardless of your strengths, your profession is that of your parents, whether it be a farmer, fisherman, government official, or vendor. People recognize their capabilities in acquiring more from hard work- and that they do, all to pass it along to further generations.
Most backpackers, or travelers don’t have the opportunity to travel through the western region of the central highlands…because you can’t. For one-it was recently this year made open to tourists and two, because it is virtually impossible to reach this region…unless your on two wheels. Unanimously, this was a special experience for everyone in the group…however unanimously they were the most agonizing, most rewarding “rides” of the trip. We were riding through; well call them roads…for a couple days. We will highlight one day for you here for an example:
Day (x): Get up at 5 am (6). Force feed yourself endless amounts of eggs, dragon fruit, and bananas for fear of passing out in the 110 degree Sahara desert heat. 7:30 sharp (8:00) leave for a day of cycling, where Hilly would say there are “small hills” in the start, them some flat roads for 50 km until you deserved lunch. 8:15 feel very sore when you remounted your bike. 8:30 start crying because you reached your first hill. 8:35 curse yourself for ever starting this trip. 8:35-10 cycle through the most amazing sites while having the time of your life (sometimes). 10 ish- daily coffee stop along the road. Vietnamese coffee…has the strength of 5 red bulls combined with 6 starbucks coffees all in 6 sips, with a tablespoon of condensed milk. After our first couple coffee stops our group’s tolerance to caffeine was sky high, so after our coffee, we proceeded to do a team 250 ml red bull chug before we left for our bikes. In Vietnam you can get a red bull and a coffee for 20,000 dong, (1 USD). Dangerous for caffeine addicts. After our maaajjor caffeine buzz kicked in it was time to cruise for our pre lunch challenge. Normally after 2 hours of cycling hard we would reach lunch, and complete our morning cycle of 50 km. Around 1 we would always stop for lunch, which consisted of 8 courses of vegetables and fish, if we were lucky we would sometimes get a suspicious taste of various local mystery meat, with our own personal pound of rice. After a few days of “tuna in tomato sauce” the group grew somewhat sick of seafood, so everyone started force feeding themselves with rice for fear of what the afternoon cycle had in store for us…which was normally another 40-50 km up hill. Depending on the day 2-5 pm was spent at times going down a mountain for 3 hours, climbing Everest via bike, sweating, crying, crawling, and realizing that this bike trip was initially why we were doing this trip in the first place, and will continuously serve as a inspiration to continue cycling from here on out. Every second of this bike ride was filled with different scenery, sites, and smiles. Around 6 or 7 everyday we were always found as a group reflecting on the ride, over the famous Vietnamese BA BA BA bia, or a coffee. We would then transfer to our hotel, spend another meal together, and head out for a massage, drink, or back to our rooms for some sleep, all to have another amazing day to follow in the morning!
More details to come when we are not distracted by the blaring Shakira in the background of this bar! CHEERS!!
3 times for 3 incredible weeks. From the second we arrived to Ho Chi Minh City to the second we left Ho Chi Minh Chi 3 short weeks later we had no idea about all that was to come in between. First and foremost, our guide Hilly was incredible, and was a person that we wish everyone could meet. Not only was he incredibly thorough, loyal, pssionate with Vietnam and world history, but he was interested in creating life long friendships, and making the experience very special for his group. He was a selfless man who really helped us truly understand the Vietnamese culture. They are peaceful, forward looking people, who are incredibly resourceful and hard working. It was an absolute pleasure to see the immense diversity of the 10th largest country in the world with over 80 million people. It’s an absolute must to travel Vietnam by Bike, and above all to visit Vietnam in general. We have found the experience of visiting our first 3rd world country incredible and memorable, not only because of the lush landscape, but because of the character of the people. We visited two of the world’s largest cities (Hanoi and Saigon), temples, hill tribes, plantations and fishing villages. This country is an unbelievable exporter of produce, grains, and nuts- only made possible by generations of farmers. Vietnamese take immense pride in there own country, and praise tourists. They are fully aware that their economy is thriving due to two major factors: tourism, and the recent opening of Vietnamese boarders to foreign investments. Even though Vietnamese are Communist, it has a very western-capitalist feel that is recognized by their work ethic and generational heritage. In Vietnam, regardless of your strengths, your profession is that of your parents, whether it be a farmer, fisherman, government official, or vendor. People recognize their capabilities in acquiring more from hard work- and that they do, all to pass it along to further generations.
Most backpackers, or travelers don’t have the opportunity to travel through the western region of the central highlands…because you can’t. For one-it was recently this year made open to tourists and two, because it is virtually impossible to reach this region…unless your on two wheels. Unanimously, this was a special experience for everyone in the group…however unanimously they were the most agonizing, most rewarding “rides” of the trip. We were riding through; well call them roads…for a couple days. We will highlight one day for you here for an example:
Day (x): Get up at 5 am (6). Force feed yourself endless amounts of eggs, dragon fruit, and bananas for fear of passing out in the 110 degree Sahara desert heat. 7:30 sharp (8:00) leave for a day of cycling, where Hilly would say there are “small hills” in the start, them some flat roads for 50 km until you deserved lunch. 8:15 feel very sore when you remounted your bike. 8:30 start crying because you reached your first hill. 8:35 curse yourself for ever starting this trip. 8:35-10 cycle through the most amazing sites while having the time of your life (sometimes). 10 ish- daily coffee stop along the road. Vietnamese coffee…has the strength of 5 red bulls combined with 6 starbucks coffees all in 6 sips, with a tablespoon of condensed milk. After our first couple coffee stops our group’s tolerance to caffeine was sky high, so after our coffee, we proceeded to do a team 250 ml red bull chug before we left for our bikes. In Vietnam you can get a red bull and a coffee for 20,000 dong, (1 USD). Dangerous for caffeine addicts. After our maaajjor caffeine buzz kicked in it was time to cruise for our pre lunch challenge. Normally after 2 hours of cycling hard we would reach lunch, and complete our morning cycle of 50 km. Around 1 we would always stop for lunch, which consisted of 8 courses of vegetables and fish, if we were lucky we would sometimes get a suspicious taste of various local mystery meat, with our own personal pound of rice. After a few days of “tuna in tomato sauce” the group grew somewhat sick of seafood, so everyone started force feeding themselves with rice for fear of what the afternoon cycle had in store for us…which was normally another 40-50 km up hill. Depending on the day 2-5 pm was spent at times going down a mountain for 3 hours, climbing Everest via bike, sweating, crying, crawling, and realizing that this bike trip was initially why we were doing this trip in the first place, and will continuously serve as a inspiration to continue cycling from here on out. Every second of this bike ride was filled with different scenery, sites, and smiles. Around 6 or 7 everyday we were always found as a group reflecting on the ride, over the famous Vietnamese BA BA BA bia, or a coffee. We would then transfer to our hotel, spend another meal together, and head out for a massage, drink, or back to our rooms for some sleep, all to have another amazing day to follow in the morning!
More details to come when we are not distracted by the blaring Shakira in the background of this bar! CHEERS!!
Sa-by-dea!!
Incase you were wondering, we made it to Laos. However, we don’t know how. We bid farewell to our awesome Vietnam by Bike group, and were naturally running late to the airport in a mad craze to make our international flight to Laos. Ho Chi Minh City is not a place you want to be in rush hour-due to the fact that there are 9 million rabid motor bikes buzzing around the city, whether it is on streets, sidewalks, or people. Birmy decided it was good idea to hitch a ride to the post office 20 minutes before we needed to leave, to ship home all that he acquired in Vietnam. Luckily this was when our whole group was eating breakfast- we all had a nice view of Birmy frantically running down the streets of NAM to get a taxi, and we saw his return when he made it back to the hotel standing on a motor bike. Anyway, we made it to the airport and boarded our first of 3 Lao Airlines flights for the day.
Lao Airlines. Umm… this makes Ryan Air look like First Class Virgin Atlantic Airlines. We walked up the five step independent ladder and boarded our flight, with all of 17 people who were crazy enough to leave Saigon and head to Pakse, Laos. You could say the take off was rough. Then again any take off would be rough when your flying in a plane with wheels that belong on a skate board, an engine that couldn’t propel Thomas the Tank Engine, and plane sidings made of aluminum foils. The plane’s cruising altitude was 17,000 ft..and you knew you were in trouble when your neighbors on board where all laughing at the fact that it felt like we were on the Super Man roller coaster, because our stomachs came out from under us every five seconds, and the plane ride was turbulent for all of 2 hours. We descended and landed in all of 30 seconds and made it to Pakse. Palms sweaty, and pouring sweat for fear of our lives, we left the plane and entered customs. Even though Birmy did not have a valid visa, we successfully made it through “customs” because “customs” had no computers, or eyes for that matter, and stamped Birmy’s Vietnam visa for entry, when it had been stamped DEPARTING 3 hours earlier. Pakse International Airport can’t be explained so we wont even try other than it was no bigger than the Blacksburg 711, and there were no electronic devices in the building…we were handed a reusable laminated boarding pass. After then clearing “security”, we boarded our second flight. Made it to Vietiane, and then made our way on our last and final flight to Luang Prabang.
We were greeted with our first Tuk Tuk ride, a truck/1944 Harley/transport contraption whose average speed is about 4 miles an hour. After barely making it up a few rolling hills, we made it to our guesthouse. We toured around this lovely city for a few hours visiting the night market, some local shops and restaurants and realized we were in special place. There is a curfew in Luang Prabang, because it is primarily Buddhist (with a strong French feel), so the nights begin early. The streets here are lined with restaurant after restaurant, whose deals are continuously improving every step you take. This town definitely has the best bar scene we have been in, you can grab a beer in tree houses, beer gardens, docks overlooking the Mekong River and much much more. We had a quick dinner with some local Lao cuisine, and decided to have an early night in order to catch up on the sleep we lost in the pass 3 weeks in Vietnam. We both went for an hour traditional Lao Massage, 4 dollars each, and locked ourselves in our mosquito infested room.
Our following day was spent tasting various local coffees, and Birmy’s Michelin tire street meat. At this point, it felt weird to be touring without a bike, so instead we paid 2 dollars (20,000 kip) and rented 2 bikes for the day and toured the town. We cruised through streets, aligned with temples, and many Buddhists taking their alms and chanting throughout the day. 3 recommendations out of today are as follows:
1- Absolutely visit Luang Prabang, even if it means traveling via Lao Airlines
2- Stop by Utopia. A hookah/restaurant/lounge/bar etc. beautifully situated above the Mekong River in a tree house, where you can lay on giant indo-Chinese lounges and pass the day with a book or beer
3- MUST: have dinner at Lao Lao Garden
Traveling this city via bike allows you to uncover these hidden gems. Luckily, we found this place for dinner and had Lao Style Barbeque, where the regular set (all of 4 dollars) was self grilled chicken “served with mixed vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, glass noodles, tamarind/peanut sauce, lime garlic, chilies, and soup broth. In South-East Asia these are often called hot pots, where the chicken cooks on top of hot coals on a pot whose edges boil the soup and accompanying veggies. Great meal! Meeting up with Dunn and Gilson in a few hours, some college friends, for an awesome time in Laos. Will catch up with a Vietnam update soon!
Lao Airlines. Umm… this makes Ryan Air look like First Class Virgin Atlantic Airlines. We walked up the five step independent ladder and boarded our flight, with all of 17 people who were crazy enough to leave Saigon and head to Pakse, Laos. You could say the take off was rough. Then again any take off would be rough when your flying in a plane with wheels that belong on a skate board, an engine that couldn’t propel Thomas the Tank Engine, and plane sidings made of aluminum foils. The plane’s cruising altitude was 17,000 ft..and you knew you were in trouble when your neighbors on board where all laughing at the fact that it felt like we were on the Super Man roller coaster, because our stomachs came out from under us every five seconds, and the plane ride was turbulent for all of 2 hours. We descended and landed in all of 30 seconds and made it to Pakse. Palms sweaty, and pouring sweat for fear of our lives, we left the plane and entered customs. Even though Birmy did not have a valid visa, we successfully made it through “customs” because “customs” had no computers, or eyes for that matter, and stamped Birmy’s Vietnam visa for entry, when it had been stamped DEPARTING 3 hours earlier. Pakse International Airport can’t be explained so we wont even try other than it was no bigger than the Blacksburg 711, and there were no electronic devices in the building…we were handed a reusable laminated boarding pass. After then clearing “security”, we boarded our second flight. Made it to Vietiane, and then made our way on our last and final flight to Luang Prabang.
We were greeted with our first Tuk Tuk ride, a truck/1944 Harley/transport contraption whose average speed is about 4 miles an hour. After barely making it up a few rolling hills, we made it to our guesthouse. We toured around this lovely city for a few hours visiting the night market, some local shops and restaurants and realized we were in special place. There is a curfew in Luang Prabang, because it is primarily Buddhist (with a strong French feel), so the nights begin early. The streets here are lined with restaurant after restaurant, whose deals are continuously improving every step you take. This town definitely has the best bar scene we have been in, you can grab a beer in tree houses, beer gardens, docks overlooking the Mekong River and much much more. We had a quick dinner with some local Lao cuisine, and decided to have an early night in order to catch up on the sleep we lost in the pass 3 weeks in Vietnam. We both went for an hour traditional Lao Massage, 4 dollars each, and locked ourselves in our mosquito infested room.
Our following day was spent tasting various local coffees, and Birmy’s Michelin tire street meat. At this point, it felt weird to be touring without a bike, so instead we paid 2 dollars (20,000 kip) and rented 2 bikes for the day and toured the town. We cruised through streets, aligned with temples, and many Buddhists taking their alms and chanting throughout the day. 3 recommendations out of today are as follows:
1- Absolutely visit Luang Prabang, even if it means traveling via Lao Airlines
2- Stop by Utopia. A hookah/restaurant/lounge/bar etc. beautifully situated above the Mekong River in a tree house, where you can lay on giant indo-Chinese lounges and pass the day with a book or beer
3- MUST: have dinner at Lao Lao Garden
Traveling this city via bike allows you to uncover these hidden gems. Luckily, we found this place for dinner and had Lao Style Barbeque, where the regular set (all of 4 dollars) was self grilled chicken “served with mixed vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, glass noodles, tamarind/peanut sauce, lime garlic, chilies, and soup broth. In South-East Asia these are often called hot pots, where the chicken cooks on top of hot coals on a pot whose edges boil the soup and accompanying veggies. Great meal! Meeting up with Dunn and Gilson in a few hours, some college friends, for an awesome time in Laos. Will catch up with a Vietnam update soon!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Cycle from KonTum to Buon Me Thuat- Central Highlands
This morning cycle was one of our best. We had a nice 50 ks, in the hot sun through gorgeous mountain ranges, villages and coffee, cashew, black pepper, and rubber plantations. There are no pictures from the second ride that day because it was extremely challenging, and there is no way that while pedaling up a hill, with ditches, huge rocks, no pavement, and sand (that took two hours to complete) that pictures could have been taken! It was absolutely incredible to finish such a challenging ride, by after 60 miles- we were sure ready for a hearty meal and long night sleep....only to wake up for 65 more miles to follow at 7 am! Wow!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Keeping Busy!
We have been constantly on the run on this tour! 6 am wake up calls, call for some serious cycling, food tasting, and site seeing! Our first 4 tough cycles are down, and now it is time for the real deal. Even though Birm took his first tumble today (with others) into a sand pit during some intense off road riding, we are prepared for tomorrow! The lovely morning starts off with 15 km directly up hill...should make for an interesting day, when there is 60 miles more to come! Birmy has already assured the group that there may or may not be a "buddy" on the bus tomorrow. The cycling has been great- but then again anything is when you're constantly surrounded by the vibrant color and beautiful countryside like that of Vietnam. We have cycled now down south from Hue to Dan Nang to Hoi An (our absolute favorite); and today through the My Lai Village. We are headed inland tomorrow towards the central highlands of Vietnam! Should call for some more beautiful villages, wild elephants, spicy cuisine, and world famous coffee!!
Major Perk of Riding in Vietnam
Only in this country, can you be on the road cycling 50 miles with the constant presence of children yelling Hello! Our group of 12 can not get more than a kilometer(yes we have to use the metric system now), without getting approached by some beautiful child on the side. Kids here have obviously never seen digital cameras because if you even begin to take your camera out and take a picture they swarm you- screaming and laughing, dying for a picture to be taken to them. Their energy and excitement is captivating, and it has been incredible to see these kids because at the mere sound of the English language, or site of white people, children will proceed to run to the road yelling HELLO HELLO!!! We will see you again!! Glad to have met you!!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
New and Improved Mr. Michael
Birmy is turning into an authentic Vietnamese from eating street meat, to bartering, to cycling, to rice farming..
Old Quarter in Hanoi City
A vendor selling fresh produce on the crowded, chaotic streets of the Old Quarter.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Nothing better than a day of bartering in the markets..
When Birmy haggled for Rolex watches and bartered from 800,000 Vietnamese Dong down to 200,000 (10 dollars), Carley managed to pay more after feeling bad for the Vietnamese vendors as she was paying less than a dollar for jewelry. Hopefully by the end of our 2 months in Asia she will learn a couple tricks.
Just your average intersection in Ho Chi Minh City...
You must watch this clip...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxQx1tX-0o
There are no cross walks, there are no street lights- you just have to blindly cross at your own risk. The only advice you are given is to just walk into moving traffic and the bikes will avoid you, and even though its 20 lanes of bikes going all different directions...they do.
Stevie Ray- this is where you should have been playing Frogger
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Chao ong from Vietnam!
We made it to Vietnam in one piece after 3 flights yesterday! We arrived to the cleanest and friendliest airport we have been to yet! We have a day in Ho Chi Minh City, and then are flying to Hanoi later tonight to begin our bike trip. We just had a breakfast cooked specially for us by the family we are staying with, and are now ready for our day out! Vietnam does not allow you to get on facebook via computer, so it will be hard to contact some of you- so bcnoodles it is! We are gearing up for our bike trip- first stop today will be the shoe store for Birmy. Hopefully he will make it through in one piece since he plans to start the trek of Nam without sneakers and with massive blisters!...Welp that is all for now!! Hope all is well!!
New Zealand!
After coming to an end of our two weeks spent road tripping throughout the South Island we have absorbed two major ideas from New Zealand; the concept of time, and slowing down. A lot of what New Zealand can teach its spectators is the story of time; and how time has affected these islands differently from the rest of the world, to make it a truly unique place to visit. New Zealand has stood the test of time in the sense that it really has not been altered much by anything even though you sense a very ancient feel from the infinite mountain regions, lakes, and green lands. If 2000 people lived on the South Island we couldn’t begin to explain to you where they reside, we have driven south to north and west to east, and have passed through towns with only a few families. Some of these towns may appear to be stuck in time, as they operate through one co-op, a gas station, and bar where the decorations are from the settlers 100s of years ago. In terms of slowing down, you could interpret this literally because driving here is like competing in the Dayota 500 if it were located on the jagged cliffs, where one wrong turn could give you splash landing in the Tasman Sea. However, if you are a visitor to New Zealand you are forced to slow down just so you can begin to absorb the beauty of the land whether it be the sun that increases the contrast along the mountain ranges, or the golden color that is created along the mountains from avalanches, and mud slides. We have also realized to really appreciate the efforts of the local people in this country. There is no 711 down the street to grab late night food or a Gatorade, instead there are hours between little towns where you can find your bare essentials, and local goods to help you lead a peaceful and happy life. New Zealanders also just truly understand today’s environmental concerns and preserving the glory of nature’s creations.
After putting 100s of kilometers on our new Rav 4; we have driven from Queenstown to Christchurch, and what feels like everything in between. One amazing thing about this place is also that you can find yourself starting your day in a torrential down pour, to admiring a glacier, to visiting a rainforest, to driving through dry mountain ranges to enjoy a warm sunset with blue skies on the beach. We have admired all types of landscapes on the island and our adventure began in Queenstown for a couple of days until we moved out to Fiordland National Park. After enjoying Milford Sound, we heard from a friendly English couple that Doubtful Sound was an absolute must, and right they were.
Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock it was evident we were in for a special day, with the scenery getting better every minute. Fiordland National Park is one of the most famous parks in the world, however many believe it is much better to visit in the rain. Thankfully, because it rains well over 200 days a year, and it did not rain the previous day in Milford, we were banking on a nice rainy day, and that is what we got. After a 50 minute boat ride, and our first taste of 100s of waterfalls, beautiful mountains that were covered in any shade of green you can think of and endless amounts of untouched land, we made it to our first destination, and were prepared to start the second leg of the trip- our bus ride. Doug and Carley hopped on to the bus, and were ready to take the trip to Doubtful Sound to get our 3 hour cruise under way, but our driver Chris insisted on showing us the local turbine power plant. We drove down a tunnel 6 inches bigger than the size of the bus, only to look at turbines for 30 minutes to realize we were all nauseous from claustrophobia. This was dragged out for what felt like forever, until the wanna-be engineers felt they truly understood every ounce of the structure. For those less inclined to have a technical lesson on vacation, the bus was luckily open for those that enjoyed relaxing in a tunnel 100s of feet under ground and water. We made our way out of the tunnel boarded a large catamaran, and were the only boat headed out to the very large sound for the rest of the day. Since this Sound is only accessible by boat, and then car, we were completely on our own with Mother Nature for the afternoon. The rain increased the number and intensity of the waterfalls, and created a mist that again reminded us of Jurassic Park. We peacefully and very silently cruised through canals covered in thick trees and jagged coasts, until we reached the Tasman Sea. At this point the captain turned off the engines, asked everyone to be still; and we stood in absolute silence looking into this magical place for a couple of minutes. This Sound touches you with all from water, plants, the wide spectrum of soil all to large seals and different wildlife. Without a “doubt”, this should be one of your first stops in New Zealand.
We departed at 9 pm for Wanaka, and finally arrived at 12 45 after a ridiculously windy ride, and all we wanted to do was sleep. Too bad because we were locked out of our hotel, and after an hour of trying to find any open establishment we were ready to turn around until we found the only place in the area that was open, a resort in the suburbs of Wanaka. After a nice sleep there, we were off to Westland and to see the Glacier Country. The ride was somewhat less mountainous than those before because we were driving along the western coast up about mid way to Franz Josef glacier. We had out first experience with the Tasman Sea at a beach that looked a little different than those we saw along the coast of Victoria on the Great Ocean Road. It was a rainy day with fierce winds, and the tides of this beach could turn boys into men. Even though the weather was rough, some rock farming was in order, we walked the beach and progressed towards Fox Glacier, stopped into an old bar stuck in the 1800s, then made it to Franz Josef Glacier. At this point, it was pouring sheets of rain, which is apparently entirely normal for “glacier country” and we were checked into our room. We got in, and the room had 3 triple beds and was obviously decorated by Marsha Brady. So we sat, and enjoyed the ambiance of what looked liked Fes’s room from That 70s Show for the afternoon.
In Franz Josef there are very few dining options, or much of anything. It is a cute little mountain town, with tourist traps, 2 bars, a few hotels and restaurants, and Speights. We obviously liked this place, and would recommend the restaurant to everyone as we did have our dinner, breakfast and then lunch there. After a light dinner consisting of garlic bread, obscene servings of local meat, “chips”, and vegetables, we called it a night. The next day was spent exploring the glacier; we did three walks though the National Park, and then headed up towards the glacier. This walk was unlike anything we had ever seen, it was just a massive rockland, many waterfalls, with a monstrous glacier right in front of you which you could hike up into, which was awesome! This was definitely one of the favorite walks we had done thus far in our trip.
We left this small mountain town behind us, and headed up the west coast of the island to Punakaki. This three hour drive was along the amazing Tasman coast with incredible impressive views along the way. There were a few coastal towns along the way that were initially established to support the gold mining, that we stopped into, but it was mainly the sunset in Punakaki we were after! We approached the “town”, which was not a town, just more coastal land with a single lane highway running through it. The place we stayed in was a little cabin, right along the beach, nestled in forest to protect you from the highway. It was an incredibly peaceful area, and a great place to stay to get a feel for the coastal life in New Zealand. It was time for sunset, so we grabbed some of our stocked up duty free champagne then headed to the beach to toast to this amazing place! We got there early, and stayed about a half hour late because the sunset was so unbelievable. The jetties, beach, and surrounding cow pastures were the only thing aside from the ocean in site, and it was a new feeling to relax when you knew there was nothing around you. Since there was only one bar, and a resort within an hour of the cabin; we decided we needed to weasel into the resort for a nice dinner to follow the sunset. After Carley got turned down, probably because she had not showered in 3 days, and lied about staying in the resort; her Dad came to her rescue and secured a table along the waterfront.
The following day consisted of a walk through the Pancake Rocks, another picturesque setting; and a nice day on the beach. We sadly said goodbye to the west coast and headed towards our last stop, Christchurch. This drive is INCREDIBLE. The only way to describe it is that you absolutely must do it in your lifetime, or hire someone to do it if windy roads, and steep cliffs aren’t your thing. We were basically driving west to east through Arthurs Pass National Park. Even though the drive took nearly 5 hours, not a minute went by when we were not in awe; again. This is clearly a recurring theme for the South Island. We stopped to take pictures nearly 100 times, and each time it got better and better. There were literally two “towns” along the way, each with minor co-ops, adorable b & b’s, a bar, and a restaurant. The town of Arthurs Pass was a stop along the way, where we had some coffee and a beer, in an old restaurant that has not changed since the settlers initially started the town. The walls were covered in black and white photos with pictures from the Oregon Trail, all centered around the focal point of the place; an old pool table. We drove 30 minutes further down the road, and were dumbstruck by the mountain range a head of us. We once again, pulled over, and relaxed there for an hour. In that time no more than 3 cars passed this stop off, and we were in absolute silence, unless we were talking about how crazy this place was. Skiers and snowboarders- we can only imagine this area in the wintertime. We watched another sunset, further down the road; just the 3 of us, with 3 cold beers Birmy randomly had in his backpack and took in what we thought would be our last sunset in a surreal surrounding.
We got to Christchurch, and were immediately disengaged because we came from such peaceful isolation and were now thrown into a city-with no meadows, mountains, and waterfalls. After a 30 minute walk through the city center the next morning, we decided another country adventure was in order. We hopped in the Rav 4, headed out further to a little knob along the coast Akaroa. This was the best decision we could have made to capitalize on Birmy’s last time behind the wheel. We parked the car got out, and walked through the town stopping for gelato, smoothies, and browsing in little shops, and plopped ourselves down at a table, literally over the water on the beach. We did not end up moving for 6 hours, after a few bottles of wine, our last sunset together, we decided to have dinner before heading back to Christchurch. Our final dinner may have been the best; we all had the exact same meal an aged fillet with seafood chowder, and drove back to the city. We said our goodbyes in the morning, and were all very sad our time in New Zealand was over. One, because Carley’s Dad was headed back home, and two because we were back to reality- of backpacks, hostels, public transportation, and showering with shoes. Reality hit hard right when our free internet gave out in the lobby of our hotel. This ruined our plan of using the hotel’s amenities all day. Unfortunately, we had no plans for accommodation that night, and no internet, so we had to rely on a native to point us in the right direction. The cab was here, we hopped in and asked him to take us to hostel. Reality realllly hit when we were dropped off at the local jailhouse, which we had already posted about.
No offense to its fans, or Kiwis, but Christchurch is a concrete, steel jungle-and unless it is the airport, we would never suggest coming back here unless you make the journey out to Akaroa. However, we are finishing up this post now feeling incredibly lucky and sad, because news had just hit about 3 major earthquakes hitting the center of the town- leaving incredible destruction and 65+ deaths. An earthquake already devastated the city in September, and after 6 months of hard work and restoration to clean the city up it; it is awful to imagine the effects of another. All in all, New Zealand will be missed; its natural beauty and positive peaceful vibes are something that everyone should witness at one point in their life.
After putting 100s of kilometers on our new Rav 4; we have driven from Queenstown to Christchurch, and what feels like everything in between. One amazing thing about this place is also that you can find yourself starting your day in a torrential down pour, to admiring a glacier, to visiting a rainforest, to driving through dry mountain ranges to enjoy a warm sunset with blue skies on the beach. We have admired all types of landscapes on the island and our adventure began in Queenstown for a couple of days until we moved out to Fiordland National Park. After enjoying Milford Sound, we heard from a friendly English couple that Doubtful Sound was an absolute must, and right they were.
Within 5 minutes of leaving the dock it was evident we were in for a special day, with the scenery getting better every minute. Fiordland National Park is one of the most famous parks in the world, however many believe it is much better to visit in the rain. Thankfully, because it rains well over 200 days a year, and it did not rain the previous day in Milford, we were banking on a nice rainy day, and that is what we got. After a 50 minute boat ride, and our first taste of 100s of waterfalls, beautiful mountains that were covered in any shade of green you can think of and endless amounts of untouched land, we made it to our first destination, and were prepared to start the second leg of the trip- our bus ride. Doug and Carley hopped on to the bus, and were ready to take the trip to Doubtful Sound to get our 3 hour cruise under way, but our driver Chris insisted on showing us the local turbine power plant. We drove down a tunnel 6 inches bigger than the size of the bus, only to look at turbines for 30 minutes to realize we were all nauseous from claustrophobia. This was dragged out for what felt like forever, until the wanna-be engineers felt they truly understood every ounce of the structure. For those less inclined to have a technical lesson on vacation, the bus was luckily open for those that enjoyed relaxing in a tunnel 100s of feet under ground and water. We made our way out of the tunnel boarded a large catamaran, and were the only boat headed out to the very large sound for the rest of the day. Since this Sound is only accessible by boat, and then car, we were completely on our own with Mother Nature for the afternoon. The rain increased the number and intensity of the waterfalls, and created a mist that again reminded us of Jurassic Park. We peacefully and very silently cruised through canals covered in thick trees and jagged coasts, until we reached the Tasman Sea. At this point the captain turned off the engines, asked everyone to be still; and we stood in absolute silence looking into this magical place for a couple of minutes. This Sound touches you with all from water, plants, the wide spectrum of soil all to large seals and different wildlife. Without a “doubt”, this should be one of your first stops in New Zealand.
We departed at 9 pm for Wanaka, and finally arrived at 12 45 after a ridiculously windy ride, and all we wanted to do was sleep. Too bad because we were locked out of our hotel, and after an hour of trying to find any open establishment we were ready to turn around until we found the only place in the area that was open, a resort in the suburbs of Wanaka. After a nice sleep there, we were off to Westland and to see the Glacier Country. The ride was somewhat less mountainous than those before because we were driving along the western coast up about mid way to Franz Josef glacier. We had out first experience with the Tasman Sea at a beach that looked a little different than those we saw along the coast of Victoria on the Great Ocean Road. It was a rainy day with fierce winds, and the tides of this beach could turn boys into men. Even though the weather was rough, some rock farming was in order, we walked the beach and progressed towards Fox Glacier, stopped into an old bar stuck in the 1800s, then made it to Franz Josef Glacier. At this point, it was pouring sheets of rain, which is apparently entirely normal for “glacier country” and we were checked into our room. We got in, and the room had 3 triple beds and was obviously decorated by Marsha Brady. So we sat, and enjoyed the ambiance of what looked liked Fes’s room from That 70s Show for the afternoon.
In Franz Josef there are very few dining options, or much of anything. It is a cute little mountain town, with tourist traps, 2 bars, a few hotels and restaurants, and Speights. We obviously liked this place, and would recommend the restaurant to everyone as we did have our dinner, breakfast and then lunch there. After a light dinner consisting of garlic bread, obscene servings of local meat, “chips”, and vegetables, we called it a night. The next day was spent exploring the glacier; we did three walks though the National Park, and then headed up towards the glacier. This walk was unlike anything we had ever seen, it was just a massive rockland, many waterfalls, with a monstrous glacier right in front of you which you could hike up into, which was awesome! This was definitely one of the favorite walks we had done thus far in our trip.
We left this small mountain town behind us, and headed up the west coast of the island to Punakaki. This three hour drive was along the amazing Tasman coast with incredible impressive views along the way. There were a few coastal towns along the way that were initially established to support the gold mining, that we stopped into, but it was mainly the sunset in Punakaki we were after! We approached the “town”, which was not a town, just more coastal land with a single lane highway running through it. The place we stayed in was a little cabin, right along the beach, nestled in forest to protect you from the highway. It was an incredibly peaceful area, and a great place to stay to get a feel for the coastal life in New Zealand. It was time for sunset, so we grabbed some of our stocked up duty free champagne then headed to the beach to toast to this amazing place! We got there early, and stayed about a half hour late because the sunset was so unbelievable. The jetties, beach, and surrounding cow pastures were the only thing aside from the ocean in site, and it was a new feeling to relax when you knew there was nothing around you. Since there was only one bar, and a resort within an hour of the cabin; we decided we needed to weasel into the resort for a nice dinner to follow the sunset. After Carley got turned down, probably because she had not showered in 3 days, and lied about staying in the resort; her Dad came to her rescue and secured a table along the waterfront.
The following day consisted of a walk through the Pancake Rocks, another picturesque setting; and a nice day on the beach. We sadly said goodbye to the west coast and headed towards our last stop, Christchurch. This drive is INCREDIBLE. The only way to describe it is that you absolutely must do it in your lifetime, or hire someone to do it if windy roads, and steep cliffs aren’t your thing. We were basically driving west to east through Arthurs Pass National Park. Even though the drive took nearly 5 hours, not a minute went by when we were not in awe; again. This is clearly a recurring theme for the South Island. We stopped to take pictures nearly 100 times, and each time it got better and better. There were literally two “towns” along the way, each with minor co-ops, adorable b & b’s, a bar, and a restaurant. The town of Arthurs Pass was a stop along the way, where we had some coffee and a beer, in an old restaurant that has not changed since the settlers initially started the town. The walls were covered in black and white photos with pictures from the Oregon Trail, all centered around the focal point of the place; an old pool table. We drove 30 minutes further down the road, and were dumbstruck by the mountain range a head of us. We once again, pulled over, and relaxed there for an hour. In that time no more than 3 cars passed this stop off, and we were in absolute silence, unless we were talking about how crazy this place was. Skiers and snowboarders- we can only imagine this area in the wintertime. We watched another sunset, further down the road; just the 3 of us, with 3 cold beers Birmy randomly had in his backpack and took in what we thought would be our last sunset in a surreal surrounding.
We got to Christchurch, and were immediately disengaged because we came from such peaceful isolation and were now thrown into a city-with no meadows, mountains, and waterfalls. After a 30 minute walk through the city center the next morning, we decided another country adventure was in order. We hopped in the Rav 4, headed out further to a little knob along the coast Akaroa. This was the best decision we could have made to capitalize on Birmy’s last time behind the wheel. We parked the car got out, and walked through the town stopping for gelato, smoothies, and browsing in little shops, and plopped ourselves down at a table, literally over the water on the beach. We did not end up moving for 6 hours, after a few bottles of wine, our last sunset together, we decided to have dinner before heading back to Christchurch. Our final dinner may have been the best; we all had the exact same meal an aged fillet with seafood chowder, and drove back to the city. We said our goodbyes in the morning, and were all very sad our time in New Zealand was over. One, because Carley’s Dad was headed back home, and two because we were back to reality- of backpacks, hostels, public transportation, and showering with shoes. Reality hit hard right when our free internet gave out in the lobby of our hotel. This ruined our plan of using the hotel’s amenities all day. Unfortunately, we had no plans for accommodation that night, and no internet, so we had to rely on a native to point us in the right direction. The cab was here, we hopped in and asked him to take us to hostel. Reality realllly hit when we were dropped off at the local jailhouse, which we had already posted about.
No offense to its fans, or Kiwis, but Christchurch is a concrete, steel jungle-and unless it is the airport, we would never suggest coming back here unless you make the journey out to Akaroa. However, we are finishing up this post now feeling incredibly lucky and sad, because news had just hit about 3 major earthquakes hitting the center of the town- leaving incredible destruction and 65+ deaths. An earthquake already devastated the city in September, and after 6 months of hard work and restoration to clean the city up it; it is awful to imagine the effects of another. All in all, New Zealand will be missed; its natural beauty and positive peaceful vibes are something that everyone should witness at one point in their life.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Urgent Update:
As we sit here in jail it is kind of hard to reflect on the beauty of New Zealand that we have witnessed over the past two weeks...because we are in jail. We are literally in a jail turned hostel that was built in 1874. After a whole 5 dollar restoration, the modern amenities include a skittles machine, book exchange, telephone booth, jail-house manikins, and the original furniture from the jail; including the bed, linens, and original doors. We were escorted to our room "cell" 3, where they unlocked the 100 pound steel door equipped with a dead bolt, so we could see our 8 by 4 by 9 foot room with a 10 inch by 10 inch window, all white washed for our comfort. Even though this sounds like an insane asylum, this is a widely popular hostel for sickos and people who decides it's a good idea to travel to this part of Christchurch, which is far to similar to East Baltimore. We were hungry and decided it was time for lunch so we strolled past the local tire "tyre" shop, Dig a Ta too, the local cafe for rock eaters which has the inside of Happy Wok, buts sell fish and chips and burgers. We walked into the recommended spot for lunch, which was a smoke infested bar, ordered our fish and chips, paid, and within 3 minutes-we canceled our order, took our money back, and slowly strolled out with a smile on our face. Thank god. There was one girl working that had to have been named Urcella, who flipped the switch to fire up the grill and flash fryer that couldn't have been legally allowed to cook on since the 60's. We were outta there. We passed the local Afghan Kebab Shop, a coffee shop without coffee, 14 engine shops, and too many half Chinese restaurants that only served Mexican food. Finally, as we were dying of hunger, we saw Subway, and figured that had to be somewhat normal since the knock off 711 owner told us they make great subs... We got to Subway, which smelt like the inside of an animal shelter, just in time for the fresh roast beef and salami, which were both green. Veggie subs were ordered, we would skip dinner, and we were back at jail for some more planning for our next week in Australia.
Three hours passed while we sipped our wonderful leftover Riesling from Chard Farm in order to hold onto the beauty of this country. It was somewhat different than enjoying it at the vineyard since now we were sipping from jail stripped coffee cups, while watching many characters including but not limited to; The Hells Angels, Granpa Joe wearing high white socks with Tevas, wanna be Lance who biked through the lobby and halls, all come through the Jailhouse Accommodation. Currently we are sitting watching a 40 year old Mexican man watch Kill Bill, while the girl behind us is watching BET videos on her lap top, on loud. Since there is nothing edible for dinner in the area, and our bike trip is in 7 days, we decided this would be a good time to start fasting. Also, if you are an employee here you wear a name tag saying "In Mate: (insert name)", and an orange shirt saying "I did my time", which are also for sale in the lobby if anyone wants one. So, we have done our time, now get us the hell out of Christchurch. (our update about the rest of our amazing trip throughout NZ will be posted once Inmate Peter agrees to give us more INTERNET) Godspeed Mates, and sorry for any bad writing or typos- we are writing from a desktop computer used during the early 80s!
Three hours passed while we sipped our wonderful leftover Riesling from Chard Farm in order to hold onto the beauty of this country. It was somewhat different than enjoying it at the vineyard since now we were sipping from jail stripped coffee cups, while watching many characters including but not limited to; The Hells Angels, Granpa Joe wearing high white socks with Tevas, wanna be Lance who biked through the lobby and halls, all come through the Jailhouse Accommodation. Currently we are sitting watching a 40 year old Mexican man watch Kill Bill, while the girl behind us is watching BET videos on her lap top, on loud. Since there is nothing edible for dinner in the area, and our bike trip is in 7 days, we decided this would be a good time to start fasting. Also, if you are an employee here you wear a name tag saying "In Mate: (insert name)", and an orange shirt saying "I did my time", which are also for sale in the lobby if anyone wants one. So, we have done our time, now get us the hell out of Christchurch. (our update about the rest of our amazing trip throughout NZ will be posted once Inmate Peter agrees to give us more INTERNET) Godspeed Mates, and sorry for any bad writing or typos- we are writing from a desktop computer used during the early 80s!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Milford Sound
Te Anu in English must mean feeding frenzy. There are three restaurants in Te Anu, a minor connector city between civilization (Queenstown) and an unnecessary 4 hour loop that links you to the world famous Fiordland National Park. The Remarkables mountain range was too “remarkable” to cut out an alcove to connect Queenstown to Fiordland for a whole 60 km, instead Te Anu is the true connecting point. This city consists of 6 motels, 1 hotel, 3 restaurants, 1 pie shop, and a souvenir shop. The restaurants are The Moose, The Fat Duck, and a family restaurant; not to mention the restaurant in our hotel named Distinction, that after our cardboard breakfast we decided would not be worth dinner. Since the three of us already felt like moose/and or fat ducks we decided the family restaurant was the way to go. Even though Birmy robbed the pie shop for some meat pies in the early AM, we managed to work up an appetite while sitting and taking in the ambiance of the Milford Sound. We boarded our monster truck bus with a sun roof, for a Real Journeys adventure, and we were prepared to have a “real” journey to Milford Sound. We pounded the insignificant dirt roads in a bus the size of Te Anu, until we reached a field where the driver told Carley she could pee in a field. She declined. We progressed to Mirror Lake, which acted as a giant reflective pool for the mountain range in the back.
We made it through countless scenic look outs on our way to the gorgeous Milford Sound! Van Gogh had to have painted the scenes out of this park because there was such a unique combination of colors and scenery. Between the rivers, the waterfalls, the mountains and glaciers we saw a landscape that was special to this region. Even from our 18 wheeler hydraulic bus you could see through feet of water down to the white rocks through the crystal clear water. This is a nice change from the Jersey Shore/ OCMD. But really, as we were driving through what was carved from many glaciers over thousands of years it was evident that this was definitely one of nature’s purest wonders, where the natural balance remains completely untouched by civilization. It is truly unbelievable to fathom New Zealand’s foresight to forever preserve such an extensive ecosystem. As we made it to the “fiord”, we boarded our boat and were ready for our nature cruise. The meat pie sausage roll and muffin didn’t fill Birmy up so he whipped out our three free tickets for our picnic lunches. Our lunches even included a juice box which made Birmy really happy. We headed out into the sound, which apparently is called a Fiord in New Zealand, and we made our way to the Tasman Sea. Cruising through Jurrasic Park, and Land Before Time, we respectfully absorbed our surroundings. Even though there were no dinosaurs, there were grandparents who aggressively fought us for the best pictures at the bow of the boat. Once the grandparents couldn’t handle the minor tidal wave caused by the 360 foot waterfall that our “captain” decided it was good to basically head straight on to the waterfall, we were left to ourselves. There was a whole boat to photograph, so naturally, a German comrade, demanded (not asked), “ go away” to Birmy. We interpreted this as up yours, but really, leave; and Birmy quickly removed himself from the situation. The sheer magnificence and glory of this foundation was framed in rock, water, plants and the freshest air. It was definitely an experience to remember, and left us feeling very appreciative for what we had just witnessed. We are looking forward to a similar experience tomorrow on the Doubtful Sound.
We made it through countless scenic look outs on our way to the gorgeous Milford Sound! Van Gogh had to have painted the scenes out of this park because there was such a unique combination of colors and scenery. Between the rivers, the waterfalls, the mountains and glaciers we saw a landscape that was special to this region. Even from our 18 wheeler hydraulic bus you could see through feet of water down to the white rocks through the crystal clear water. This is a nice change from the Jersey Shore/ OCMD. But really, as we were driving through what was carved from many glaciers over thousands of years it was evident that this was definitely one of nature’s purest wonders, where the natural balance remains completely untouched by civilization. It is truly unbelievable to fathom New Zealand’s foresight to forever preserve such an extensive ecosystem. As we made it to the “fiord”, we boarded our boat and were ready for our nature cruise. The meat pie sausage roll and muffin didn’t fill Birmy up so he whipped out our three free tickets for our picnic lunches. Our lunches even included a juice box which made Birmy really happy. We headed out into the sound, which apparently is called a Fiord in New Zealand, and we made our way to the Tasman Sea. Cruising through Jurrasic Park, and Land Before Time, we respectfully absorbed our surroundings. Even though there were no dinosaurs, there were grandparents who aggressively fought us for the best pictures at the bow of the boat. Once the grandparents couldn’t handle the minor tidal wave caused by the 360 foot waterfall that our “captain” decided it was good to basically head straight on to the waterfall, we were left to ourselves. There was a whole boat to photograph, so naturally, a German comrade, demanded (not asked), “ go away” to Birmy. We interpreted this as up yours, but really, leave; and Birmy quickly removed himself from the situation. The sheer magnificence and glory of this foundation was framed in rock, water, plants and the freshest air. It was definitely an experience to remember, and left us feeling very appreciative for what we had just witnessed. We are looking forward to a similar experience tomorrow on the Doubtful Sound.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
First Bit of New Zealand!
Even though you read our somewhat detached post about a big night out with our fellow hostel mates, Queenstown is an absolute must visit for everyone! All ages of people come to New Zealand to soak up all the awesome energy that makes this miniature city one of the coolest in the world. Everything in this country embodies quality, every meal we have had, every place we have stayed has been nicer than the next. When our plane hit down in the single gate airport of Queenstown, we knew it would be different from the last two cities we were in for many reasons; thankfully everything was cheaper, and the US dollar was a lot stronger here. We met up with Carley’s Dad Sunday morning and strolled around Queenstown on what you could call a food/drink crawl making sure every restaurant’s calamari and cappuccino was up to par. They were. We stumbled upon what soon became on of our favorite spots in this town, Eichardt’s Hotel. We made ourselves at home at a table that was calling our names. It had to have been one of the most picturesque and nicest dinner tables we had ever sat at (it was actually rated in England’s top ten places to dine for a sunset). We enjoyed calamari, some New Zealand wine, salmon and other tapas at a window, overlooking the sunset, sitting directly across the street from the main waterfront. Birmy has is first glass of port- and it was a mutual decision that it was a good idea to call it an early night.
After meeting some locals, we were pointed in right direction of where to watch the Superbowl. Birmy obviously got there early to secure seats closest to the TV and bar, to make sure he was comfortable enough to sit through a football game that did not involve the Ravens. 10 games of pool, a lucky streak for Carley, and many Bloody Marys later the Packers won, and Birmy was ready to start his day knowing the Steelers lost. 4 o’clock on Monday our time we were headed to the gondola to overlook Queenstown. The Allens were rubbing off on Birmy because he now had no interest in doing anything too adventurous; the gondola was enough for today; it was definitely time for some more Riesling at Eichardt’s.
After a nice morning run around Lake Wakatipu, the three of us began day 3.We were going to head out of Queenstown towards Cromwell to hit the wineries. If wine tasting is of any interest to you, New Zealand is a must to visit; and Amisfield Winery is a definite must for lunch. To our surprise, all of the wineries were smaller stone buildings all nestled into the mountains. We tasted some whites, and sat down for what was probably the freshest food we had ever had. We all shared caprese salad, salmon, cheddar, sausage and Birmy’s first taste of an award winning beetroot salad. In a complete daze of the quality of food we had just shared, we moved on to the second stop, Chard Farm. If you can imagine a gravel road that wraps around the steepest edges of the grand canyon, without a shoulder or rail, with distracting aqua water calling your name 1000s of feet down, that was what we were trucking along in a nice new Rav 4 to reach some of the area’s best Reisling and Pinot Gris. It was well worth it, and was absolutely indescribably beautiful. The farm dated back to the gold rush and, that lovely little road we crawled in on was the oldest trade road crossing Cental Otago. We tasted their complete range of whites, and soaked in the farm surrounded by nothing but steep mountains and greens. We progressed down winery row to Gibbston Valley where we indulged in more cheese and wine thanks to Birmy’s good driving. Everything in New Zealand and this side of the world, closes promptly, and they sacrifice nothing at the expense of work. Unless you are a restaurant or bar, come 5 o’clock, you’re closed. With that being said, we headed home with some tasty loot and decided where to head to dinner. Ballarat Trading Company is another absolute must visit in Queenstown. It’s a relaxed restaurant with amazing antique décor, with some great tunes. 1000s of calories later, Birm and Carley hit the town and Doug taxi’ed back a whole two minutes to the hotel, where we reconvened later so Carley could judge the Who Can Snore Louder competition hosted at the Heartland Hotel. Unfortunately (very fortunately), due to sleep enhancers she was unable to make the final call.
Day 4, one for the ages. A road trip to Glenochy. If you actually enjoy trilogies, and Lord of the Rings was your thing, OR if you just love the incredible country side of New Zealand, this drive should definitely be on your itinerary. This is one of the top drives to do in the world, and we were soon to discover why. Birmy got behind the wheel again and was ready for whatever the road had to offer him today. This was supposed to be a 45 minute ride, but it turned into over 2 hours due to all of the scenic look outs. It was a silent, and peaceful afternoon, as we only saw 3 people on our entire journey out. The “outdoorsmen” of the trip, “glassed” the coast, which apparently means looking through binoculars, while Carley admired the beauty while getting eaten alive by every bug born in New Zealand. The entire drive was along Lake Wakatipu, through the mountains, valleys, and meadows. If I wrote like Mark Twain, instead of Shell Silverstein mixed with Chelsea Lately, maybe I would be able to explain how gorgeous the views were. Any array of blue, green, and yellow was uncovered in the panorama of the afternoon. The lake was completely still, there was a gentle breeze, and we just cruised the countryside until we reached Glenochy.
We reached the town, but were unaware of it. No more than 100 people could have lived here, and it was the only sign of civilization for hours. It was unbelievable to think that a town really exists in such extreme landscape, with such little infrastructure, with hardly anything around. We went to the only restaurant in I guess you could call the area, and had the best sandwich and cookie ever. This cookie was handmade with 8 sticks of butter, a tub of icing, tea spoon of oatmeal, and a Rav 4 full of sugar. However, since it was “oatmeal”, or two oatmeal cookies glued together by icing, we decided it was healthy enough to eat; so we all treated ourselves to one (two}. We embraced Glenochy for all it had to offer, we took naps in the grass, relaxed on the beach, and enjoyed some local wine. After more relaxation, tranquility and silence than Doug had had in years; we needed to get back to “reality” in Queenstown.
Day 5, our last half day in Queenstown, before we were off to the small town of Te Anu, another miniature city bordering the Fiordland National Park, and famous Milford and Doubtful Sounds, we ended our time with a adventure- The Original Shotover Jet Ride. Even though our waiter told us that some Japanese man stuck his head out the side of the boat, and eventually was decapitated while taking a picture, Birmy convinced Carley to do the boat ride. It was an awesome experience! We boarded the jet boat, and went 70 km/hr through the Shotover Canyons. Coming nearly inches of boulders, while getting jerked around at what felt like lightening speed, we enjoyed the views of the river and the thrill of the ride; all well dressed in an outfit that looked like we were Russian Spies, or the flying monkeys from the wizard of oz. This too is a definite must in Queenstown, thank you Kendra! And we were off to Te Anu, to spend a relaxing night on the lake, before our day long tour of the Milford Sound!
After meeting some locals, we were pointed in right direction of where to watch the Superbowl. Birmy obviously got there early to secure seats closest to the TV and bar, to make sure he was comfortable enough to sit through a football game that did not involve the Ravens. 10 games of pool, a lucky streak for Carley, and many Bloody Marys later the Packers won, and Birmy was ready to start his day knowing the Steelers lost. 4 o’clock on Monday our time we were headed to the gondola to overlook Queenstown. The Allens were rubbing off on Birmy because he now had no interest in doing anything too adventurous; the gondola was enough for today; it was definitely time for some more Riesling at Eichardt’s.
After a nice morning run around Lake Wakatipu, the three of us began day 3.We were going to head out of Queenstown towards Cromwell to hit the wineries. If wine tasting is of any interest to you, New Zealand is a must to visit; and Amisfield Winery is a definite must for lunch. To our surprise, all of the wineries were smaller stone buildings all nestled into the mountains. We tasted some whites, and sat down for what was probably the freshest food we had ever had. We all shared caprese salad, salmon, cheddar, sausage and Birmy’s first taste of an award winning beetroot salad. In a complete daze of the quality of food we had just shared, we moved on to the second stop, Chard Farm. If you can imagine a gravel road that wraps around the steepest edges of the grand canyon, without a shoulder or rail, with distracting aqua water calling your name 1000s of feet down, that was what we were trucking along in a nice new Rav 4 to reach some of the area’s best Reisling and Pinot Gris. It was well worth it, and was absolutely indescribably beautiful. The farm dated back to the gold rush and, that lovely little road we crawled in on was the oldest trade road crossing Cental Otago. We tasted their complete range of whites, and soaked in the farm surrounded by nothing but steep mountains and greens. We progressed down winery row to Gibbston Valley where we indulged in more cheese and wine thanks to Birmy’s good driving. Everything in New Zealand and this side of the world, closes promptly, and they sacrifice nothing at the expense of work. Unless you are a restaurant or bar, come 5 o’clock, you’re closed. With that being said, we headed home with some tasty loot and decided where to head to dinner. Ballarat Trading Company is another absolute must visit in Queenstown. It’s a relaxed restaurant with amazing antique décor, with some great tunes. 1000s of calories later, Birm and Carley hit the town and Doug taxi’ed back a whole two minutes to the hotel, where we reconvened later so Carley could judge the Who Can Snore Louder competition hosted at the Heartland Hotel. Unfortunately (very fortunately), due to sleep enhancers she was unable to make the final call.
Day 4, one for the ages. A road trip to Glenochy. If you actually enjoy trilogies, and Lord of the Rings was your thing, OR if you just love the incredible country side of New Zealand, this drive should definitely be on your itinerary. This is one of the top drives to do in the world, and we were soon to discover why. Birmy got behind the wheel again and was ready for whatever the road had to offer him today. This was supposed to be a 45 minute ride, but it turned into over 2 hours due to all of the scenic look outs. It was a silent, and peaceful afternoon, as we only saw 3 people on our entire journey out. The “outdoorsmen” of the trip, “glassed” the coast, which apparently means looking through binoculars, while Carley admired the beauty while getting eaten alive by every bug born in New Zealand. The entire drive was along Lake Wakatipu, through the mountains, valleys, and meadows. If I wrote like Mark Twain, instead of Shell Silverstein mixed with Chelsea Lately, maybe I would be able to explain how gorgeous the views were. Any array of blue, green, and yellow was uncovered in the panorama of the afternoon. The lake was completely still, there was a gentle breeze, and we just cruised the countryside until we reached Glenochy.
We reached the town, but were unaware of it. No more than 100 people could have lived here, and it was the only sign of civilization for hours. It was unbelievable to think that a town really exists in such extreme landscape, with such little infrastructure, with hardly anything around. We went to the only restaurant in I guess you could call the area, and had the best sandwich and cookie ever. This cookie was handmade with 8 sticks of butter, a tub of icing, tea spoon of oatmeal, and a Rav 4 full of sugar. However, since it was “oatmeal”, or two oatmeal cookies glued together by icing, we decided it was healthy enough to eat; so we all treated ourselves to one (two}. We embraced Glenochy for all it had to offer, we took naps in the grass, relaxed on the beach, and enjoyed some local wine. After more relaxation, tranquility and silence than Doug had had in years; we needed to get back to “reality” in Queenstown.
Day 5, our last half day in Queenstown, before we were off to the small town of Te Anu, another miniature city bordering the Fiordland National Park, and famous Milford and Doubtful Sounds, we ended our time with a adventure- The Original Shotover Jet Ride. Even though our waiter told us that some Japanese man stuck his head out the side of the boat, and eventually was decapitated while taking a picture, Birmy convinced Carley to do the boat ride. It was an awesome experience! We boarded the jet boat, and went 70 km/hr through the Shotover Canyons. Coming nearly inches of boulders, while getting jerked around at what felt like lightening speed, we enjoyed the views of the river and the thrill of the ride; all well dressed in an outfit that looked like we were Russian Spies, or the flying monkeys from the wizard of oz. This too is a definite must in Queenstown, thank you Kendra! And we were off to Te Anu, to spend a relaxing night on the lake, before our day long tour of the Milford Sound!
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