The Adventures of Thailand

So I can't remember where exactly I left off on my last blog. Basically, my last week in Sydney was spent finishing papers, laying on the beach, and shopping at the market. On Friday, my housemates threw an awesome 90's party as a farewell. It was honestly one of the best parties ever. My housemates and I each dressed up as a spice girl (I was sporty spice). We played games, and danced to 90s music all night long. The night just got better and better. We had Peter Pan, Monica and Bill, Aladdin, Smurfs, etc. Then the next night, a wonderful chocolate cake was made, and we were able to pass around each others pictures from the semester. The next morning I caught a flight to Bangkok to meet with my parents.

My mother cried when she saw me. Really. From then, we went to a real authentic Thai place for dinner. The sushi was really good, but I am not too sure about the rest of it. I'll stick to my pad thai thank you. The next day, we went to the Temple of Dawn, the Grand Palace, etc. We saw a golden buddha, an emerald buddha, a lying down buddha. So many buddhas. But it was all very pretty. Then we went to the Jim Thompson house (an American who brought a silk technology to Thailand but then disappeared). Our last stop of the day was a jewelers where we got to see how they created sapphire and ruby jewelery. My dad probably would have been happier not stopping there. i found a beautiful Thai silk dress though.

The next day we were in Ko Samui, a Thai island. There we saw a pretty gross mummified monk. It was cool but I definitely could have done without it. We also saw how they taught the monkeys to get the coconuts from the trees. Then we headed to an elephant place. They gave us fresh coconuts to drink. I wasn't too fond of it, so I gave my coconut to the baby elephant instead. She liked it. They had this cute little baby elephant show where they danced and did tricks and played soccer. I enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was raining all day so we were not able to do much shopping.

We had a day at sea and then landed in Singapore. Singapore was amazing. I had no idea how clean and modern it was. It is a beautiful city. Wonderful architecture. We spent the day going around the city by subway, trishaw, and water taxi. We were able to go into another buddhist temple and a Hindu temple. The day ended at the Raffles Hotel, (Raffles colonized Singapore) where we were able to drink a Singapore Sling. It was delicious and very refreshing. All in all, I enjoyed Singapore. Tomorrow we are at sea, and I need to do some studying. Next stop, Semarang, Indonesia.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. School has taken over my life. I got back from New Zealand and I had to prepare for a discussion the next day with Anna and Cait. We rocked it I think despite our lack of knowledge on the subject. The next days were spent doing research and writing papers. On Thursday was Oktoberfest!!! A mostly all day extravaganza with food and drinking. We started the festivities at 3 and continued into the night. It was pretty fun. The next day, Anna and Kate and I were recovering from the day before, so we stayed in bed all day and watched Gossip Girl. Yes, I know. We discovered the password to the internet next door and have been getting them from online. It is our guilty pleasure to say the least. Unfortunately, all day Saturday was spent in the library. That evening we went to these girl's birthday party. It turned into quite another eventful night. Sadly, we didn't make it to Chinese Laundry. Despite what I may have said on Friday, I love my roomates and friends and I am going to miss our fun nights together. We spent Sunday, again watching Gossip Girl, never to see the light of day. Now its Tuesday, one paper down and one more to go. Then I pack up and head to Bangkok to see my parents, but not before the awesome 90's party on Friday. I can't wait for the exciting things ahead, but I can wait for the awful goodbyes.

New Zealand

September 29, 2010

Arrived in Auckland at 11:30 at night. Customs took an hour and a half to get through. Thankfully, we found a nice little hostel owned by a husband and wife with a pick up service from the airport. It was very homey.

September 30, 2010

The man from the hostel was nice enough to offer us a ride to the campervan place. From there, it took us only an hour of checking in, getting the set up, and finally leaving in our lovely campervan, which we named Rocky. We headed to the supermarket and then headed out of Auckland, which was trickier than you would think. We were on the way to Rotorua. Unfortunately, the weather was not too good. However, we still enjoyed the city for the little bit that we were there. We walked through a little park with thermal pools and hot mud. We even took a nice break and soaked our feet for a bit. Then we headed to the lake and the gardens to hang out before leaving town to head to our next destination. Due to bad weather and fog and Oliver not feeling the best and a bad night of sleep the night before, we decided to stop short of our destination in Taupo.

October 1, 2021

Due to the rain in the morning, Oliver and I slept in a little longer than expected. When we finally did get up, the rain had stopped and we headed to Tongariro National Park. Ideally, we wanted to do the Alpine crossing between two mountains, walking up the crater to Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings. However, because of our late start and the bad weather of snow, we could not do this. So instead we chose a 2-3 hr walk to Tarawaki Falls. It was beautiful. Open lands and great views of the Volcano and Mountains. Then the river and waterfalls. Despite the disappointment, it was still a good trip. We were debating whether or not to stay the night and go skiing the next day, but we decided to head South to Wellington.

October 2, 2010

Our first stop in Wellington was the ferry terminal. We wanted to leave on a ferry that afternoon, but they were all full. This pushed us behind schedule a bit, but nothing to worry about. We still had a wonderful day in Wellington. It is a cute little city in the hills along the harbor. A very nice day with the beautiful sun shining. We decided to go to Te Papa museum first. It was free and 6 stories high, going through New Zealand culture and history and such. They had all sorts of interactive and simulation stuff. Then we decided to take a tour of the Parliament building. It was interesting to say the least. Our tour guide might have been a little too excited about the information. Then we headed into a suburb to see the Weta Cave. It was the original warehouse of the Weta team, or creators of Lord of the Rings and King Kong and other movies. It was a little disappointing but oh well. Basically, it was a little room with tiny replicas. It did show a 20 min behind the scenes video that was pretty neat. The day ended on top of Mount Victoria. The highest point in the city, it had a beautiful 360 view. Although we spent more time in Wellington than expected, it was a good day. This was a little cultural stop in New Zealand. Definitely my favorite city in New Zealand.

October 3, 2010

Oliver and I woke up very early to catch the ferry to Picton. We had a nice 3 hr cruise where we could relax and do some work. We got some great pictures of the south island as we cruised in. Then we hit the road again. Instead of going south as we were supposed to, we decided to take this little road north. It was a curvy road that went along the coastline. It was beautiful, and a good detour. We stopped in Nelson for a little bit to book our kayaking tour in Abel Tasman and our glacier helicopter tour. From there, we headed to Abel Tasman National Park. It was a bit tricky to find but we made it. Marahau left little to be desired. We asked what we could do for the night and the lady told us to go see the Split Apple. We drove and then walked to the empty beach to see the apple and take some pictures. We explored the caves a little bit and then headed back to our camp.

October 4, 2010

We spent the entire day doing a kayak tour in Abel Tasman National Park. We started in Marahau and then kayaked for maybe an hour. Then we stopped on a beach to have some coffee and tea and muffins. After, we headed to another beach to have lunch. Our guide was named Sally. She came from Canada, and really easy to talk to. Along with our group were two guys. One was from Malaysia, a tour guide. The other guy was from South Korea, a student/farmer. They met here in Auckland and decided to work and travel south together. They left us after lunch to go hiking, so the rest of the day was just Oliver, me, and Sally. We then headed to another little island where we had the opportunity to see some seals. We stopped at one more little hidden beach before heading home. Then, we got in the car again and headed further south, this time along the west coast. Sally recommended we stop in Punakaiki and that is exactly what we did.

October 5, 2010

In the morning, we decided to check out a little of Punakaiki. They are “well-known” for their pancake rocks and blowholes, so we took the little trail to check them out. We weren’t supposed to, but we went over the barrier with our coffee to take some good pictures. We headed down to the glaciers. Unfortunately, clouds were coming in, and we could not do our helicopter flight. However, that did not stop Oliver and I from seeing the glacier. We took the trail to the bottom of the glacier and then followed the guided hikes over the barrier and up the hill to get up close to the glacier. It was beautiful from the top. After the glacier, we got back in the car and drove further south. As we got close to Haast, we thought it would be a good idea, since it was the last beach on the west coast, to catch the sunset and make some dinner. We pulled down this little dirt road. We wanted to back up so that we could see the sunset on the beach better, but then we realized we were stuck. We were really stuck. The back right wheel would not move out of the sand, but was digging us into an even deeper hole. Thankfully, there was a French guy in a campervan that came to help us. He let us use his jack, since ours was not working. We dug the tire out and put wood under the tire to give it some traction. We failed, miserably. Eventually, this nice German couple came to help. Well, the guy helped while me and the girl talked. After several failed attempts, on our last try, we pushed the campervan and eventually got it moving again. It was pretty close to staying there on that beach for the rest of our trip. We got the car out just in time to catch the sunset, but not dinner. Word of advice to those traveling to NZ. Sand flies are nasty little creatures that bite and leave itchy red marks for the rest of the trip. Bring insect repellant. After the sun went down, which was so beautiful I might add, we headed even further south towards Queenstown. We wanted to make it to a snow mountain so we could have an early start in the morning to get gear. We drove 13 km up a windy dirt road late at night only to find that there was nothing except a ski lodge at the top of the mountain. We drove the windy road back down in the cold and dark. We could not find a place to sleep, and thankfully a nice cop told us a place under a bridge that we could stay for free. He was very helpful, as he could tell we were lost and circling about. We didn’t get to bed until pretty late that night.

October 6, 2010

Oliver and I woke up early to get to the ski lodge. Oliver was more excited about skiing than I have ever seen him the whole trip. He was pretty patient with me as I attempted to learn how to ski again on the baby slope before heading to the mountain. It was a pretty small ski area, but we had fun. I fell once at the beginning. After a lunch break, I even attempted some blues. Then, Oliver left me to try out some blacks while I stayed on the other mountain with my easier mountain. After a nice coffee break, we handed in our gear and headed down the mountain to Queenstown. From there, we went to an information desk where we booked our water rafting trip and Milford Sound boat ride. Then we headed to a holiday park for a much needed shower. We ate some pasta and then walked into town where we went to a Starbucks to do some work and get some internet. It was nice having a relaxing evening.

October 7, 2010

We woke up this morning to do our white water rafting trip. The morning air was cold, and the water was icy. The trip started with us putting on layers of a wet suit and then taking a bus up to the top of the canyon. The bus ride was pretty scenic and a bit close to the edge. After that, we got into our boats and headed down the river. It was cold but exciting. Then we headed back into town for some lunch. We spent the afternoon just walking around town and sitting on the edge of the lake. It was relaxing. Then we headed to a supermarket and out of town towards Milford Sound. I drove the first part to Te Anau. I thought I did a pretty good job since I was driving a stick on the left side of the road. Oliver slept the entire time I was driving, so I guess I did a decent job. I didn’t stall once. Then, the rest of the drive to Milford Sound was quite scenic. We took some good pictures before finishing the drive and doing some work in the beautiful surrounding nature.

October 8, 2010

We were able to sleep in a little since our cruise did not start till 10:30. We were lucky that there was not rain for the first part of the trip. The fjords are amazing, and I definitely recommend them to anyone. Amazing waterfalls and rocks cut out from glaciers. The wind picked up and eventually the rain started. Not surprising since it rains every day there, usually. In a desperate attempt to get amazing pictures, Oliver and I ended up a little wet. We were able to see a little blue penguin though. The cruise was a little over 2 hours. Afterwards, we headed back to Queenstown and up north. We were debating whether or not to spend the night at Mt. Cook and try another helicopter flight but unfortunately the weather forecast was not looking too good, so we just drove all the way to Christchurch. It took 11 hrs and was definitely our longest drive. But we made it eventually, camping beside a nice little creek.

October 9, 2010

We weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do in Christchurch, so we headed to the information center first. After a little advice and grabbing a trees worth of brochures, we sat down at Starbucks and planned our next 2 days. After a shower at the hostel, we headed to the Cathedral, aka the church of Christchurch. It was pretty cool, but Oliver said he had seen better in Europe. Of course. We even paid to go up the tower to see the beautiful views of the town. Not so beautiful from the top. After that, we took the free bus and decided to go to a museum. I am not going to say what kind of museum, but there was a rock wall and a slide. Then, the weather got a little nicer, so we headed back to town to the botanical gardens, stopping in the Canterbury Museum for a quick stop. After the gardens, we went back to the van and made some pasta. Then, we decided, since it was our last real night, to go to the Casino. We stayed at the Roulette tables all night. At first, I was not doing too well. But eventually, it got better. I was up 20 dollars and I was expecting to lose 40 so pretty good. However, for the sake of being fun, we took the 20 dollars to the blackjack table. We lost. Oh well. At least I walked out of there with the same amount of money I came with.

October 10-11, 2010

The weather was so nice in the morning. Oliver really wanted to do this rope course, so that is what we did. It took us quite a while to find it. The free maps in New Zealand are not the best. However, we eventually got there. We did all 6 challenges. We got back in the van around 3, realizing we had to drop off our van at 4. Oops. We headed back to the hostel quickly to check in and drop off our stuff and then cleaned up Rocky and headed towards the airport. It was cold and rainy and I thought we might not make it. We did though. It was a sad day giving Rocky back. Hungry and sad, we took the bus back into town. We ate at this little New York deli shop, which was really good. Oliver was definitely a fan. From there, we headed back to shower and pack up our stuff. Then we spent the rest of the evening at Starbucks working on our school work for the next day. We tried to get to bed early since we had to be up at 3 in the morning to get to the airport on time. We might have overcompensated for being late for the flight to New Zealand, and we got to the airport before security even opened. Thankfully, it was cold and rainy when we left. We arrived in Sydney early in the morning, and I headed straight to campus to get to class. New Zealand was a beautiful and exciting adventure. I loved every minute of it. As sad as I was to leave, it is good to be back in Sydney with my friends. Till next time!