The past 3 weeks in Cambodia have released many different emotions from me. It is a country of ups and downs, good and evil, yin and yang. From the Angkor Temples dating back to the 9th century, to its horrific civil war taking place only a few short years ago; the people of Cambodia are trying to rebuild their traditional lives and regain trust back into their country and government. It is also a country that has posed certain obstacles that I have not yet had to deal with while traveling. There have been a few moments that I could have easily thrown down the ropes and got on the first plane back to Austin. However, after a feeling sorry for myself and reanalyzing the situations, I reiterated to myself that traveling is not always peaches and cream and sometimes shit doesn´t always work out. It is these moments that I need to push through and get back on track to this amazing experience I am on.
After a few days in Phnom Penh, Laura and I decided to head up to the wild northeastern part of Cambodia. Only recently was a tarmac road built to the middle of the area, but after that there were only dirt roads. It was the beginning of the rainy season so there was no guarantee of our travel plans or how far up we were going to get. Our first stop in this region was to a town called Kratie. It is right on the Mekong River and famous for taking boat rides to see the freshwater Irrawaddy Dolphins. When we jumped out of the bus there were about 10 local guys holding up their hotel brochures and throwing out prices. There was one young kid in front of me who spoke very good English and caught my attention. Little did I know that this kid was probably the wealthiest person in Kratie because he would end up selling and schmoozing us into every purchase we made in that town. He knew exactly what we wanted to do and when we wanted to do it and he would give us this information before we even asked for it. After we got settled into the hotel he knocked on our door and asked if we wanted to go see the dolphins. He explained that he and his friend could take us out on their motorbikes to take a sunset boat ride. Next thing I knew, we were on the back of these guys motorbikes cruising 15k to the Mekong River. We rode through small villages and all the kids ran to the road to wave at us. Once we were on the boat, we drove around for a few hours searching for dolphins. I must admit, the dolphins were not all that interesting….ever few minutes you would see them come to the surface and then go back down. They are close to extinction though so it was neat to see them and help contribute money to their survival. The coolest part of the trip was this amazing cloud formation that took place while we were on the boat ride. This cloud turned into this crazy rainbow color that went all the way across the sky. Laura thought that it might be the sun reflecting back on the lower clouds and causing the spectrum of light, but whatever was happening…it was strange and I had never seen anything like it before. You can view some pics on my Kratie album in Picasa.
Our little salesman buddy convinced us that we needed to buy a ticket to take the “mini bus” to the next town, Banlung. Halfway to Banlung the tarmac road ended and it was another 2 hours on dirt road. If there was a storm then the big bus would have a lot of problems getting through. However, the minibus (which is basically like a shuttle van) would get there quicker and have no problems with the rain. Since we had no idea what to expect we booked the minibus…later we found out that our dude made a nice commission off the minibus and not the regular bus and that is the whole reason behind his pitch. Because to say it nicely….the minibus sucked!!! There were 3 rows in the van. Laura and I were the first to be picked up and he put us in the very last row. I figured that they would seat 3 people per row since we had our bags with us. So with 3 people per row and 2 up front that would make 11 people. It would be a tight fit, but do-able. At the next stop, 2 Germans got in and he directed them to sit in the back with us. There were all these empty seats so we were confused why we all needed to sit in the same row. So next thing I knew, it was me and 3 Germans with our bodies in pretzel like positions. It was going to be a long ride. Every time I thought that we couldn´t get any more people in the van, they would stop again and load them in. By the end of it, we had 18 people in the van and a ton of other bags of supplies and who knows what else. During the 5 hour ride, the whole left side of my body went numb and when we got out for the toilet break I almost fell over because I could not feel my leg. I understand that this is how the Cambodians travel and I shouldn´t complain about it, but let´s face it people….my body is probably twice the size of an average Cambodian. The other 3 Germans weren´t small people either. We had 4 people in our row with no room to move and they had 6 in the row in front of us and looked nice and comfortable. What bothered me the most was passing the large buses and seeing the people in their own individual seats with their own personal space. That kid from Kratie was a liar…he was a very good liar and convinced us that the minibus was better. Ah well – you haven´t done Cambodia until you have ridden in a minibus with 18 people for 5 hours.
Banlung felt like a town in the wild west. The red dirt roads made everything dusty and dirty and it felt very underdeveloped. When we got out of the minibus we were attacked again by the locals trying to get us to stay at their hotels. We had an idea of where we wanted to stay, but this guy started lying to us saying that our hotel had closed down so we needed to go to his. We knew he was jacking with us and told him to get lost. Then he jumped in the minivan and told the driver to take us to his place. It all happened so fast and next thing I knew we were in the parking lot of his hotel and all the workers came to greet us and take our bags. I was frustrated because I was getting so sick of being dragged around and screwed with over every situation. I wanted to go to a certain hotel and I told our drive that and they would not listen to me. Laura and I refused to get out of the van and demanded to go to our hotel of choice. When we told them where we wanted to go the employees said how horrible our hotel was and that the place was swarming with prostitutes. Another person even said that this used to be that hotel, but that they recently changed the name so we were actually already there. We finally just started ignoring them and told the minibus driver to take us where we originally asked. 2 of the hagglers jumped in with us to ride there because they said we would hate it so much and want to come back to this hotel. They took us to another different hotel and had to go through a similar situation again. Finally we arrived to the correct one and the 2 hagglers had the nerve to come up to reception and ask for a commission because they brought us there. I was so frustrated and annoyed and they surely were not getting any tip from me.
Banlung was the first city where I actually felt uncomfortable with the local men. Since I have started traveling I have either had a male companion, a group of people, or if I was alone I was in a comfortable country. I am now traveling with only one other girl in a place where we don´t know the language and do not understand every situation we are in. The men stared and pointed and talked directly to you in Khmer and then they would all start laughing. It was an akward few days and I am not sure why we were getting the weird vibe from the locals…the local men mainly. One day we rented bikes to cruise around the outside villages and check out this volcanic crater lake. I am not sure why we thought renting a one gear bike during the rainy season on dirt roads was going to be a good idea, but despite the hard work, it was fun. It was nice to get out of the main city center and we passed villages where oxen were walking alongside us on the roads and kids were running around naked and playing in the rain. We visited some waterfalls and received smiles from the villagers. On the way back to the town, however, I was a bit ahead of Laura on my bike. There was nothing around and I was just cruising along. This man jumped out of the jungle and stopped me. He was mumbling in Khmer and his eyes looked very strange as he sized me up. He approached me and continued talking in his language and staring at me. The he put his hands down his pants. I am not sure if he was going for a weapon or what his intentions were, but it freaked me out. I immediately turned around and started running. He grabbed for my back but I managed to run faster and leave him behind. A few moments later a car came by and he ran back into the jungle. I ran all the way back to Laura and was freaking out. No harm was done and I am safe, but it all happened so quickly. It was in the middle of daylight and I was innocently riding my bike. I felt more and more vulnerable in this town and I was getting very upset with it. On top of all of this frustration, I was also exhausted. All of these emotions were going through me and my anger was building up. Maybe I had had enough of travel….maybe things were starting to wear on me and I was not enjoying it like I used to. It was a tough day for me….
After a few days in Banlung, we both agreed that the vibe was weird and it was time to move on. We got a ticket for the BIG bus and headed back down 11 hours to Phnom Penh. I wanted to visit the Tuol Sleng Museum and we didn´t have time the first week we were there. Tuol Sleng was a high school that turned into a prison camp during the genocide of the Khmer Rouge. It was such an eerie site to see. Clearly it had been a high school, but the rooms had been turned into cells for the prisoners. There were still blood stains on the walls and endless photos of the innocent victims. I spent about 3 hours walking and reading about the war. In 1979, a group of socialists from Sweden were invited to Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge to come see how the communist society was a success and the people were happy. They were the first foreigners allowed to visit the country after the height of the war had settled. One of the Swedish guys took tons of photos and questioned some of the situations but was overall pleased with how the government was working. He was hopeful to find a society in which communism was truly successful. The Khmer Rouge used the information from the Swedish group as propaganda to the outside world on how great everything was. As it turns out, they staged most of the sites where they took the Swedish group and forced villagers to smile and be excited when the foreigners were around. The schools were being taught by fake teachers and they quickly scribbled formulas on the blackboards, when in fact none of the children were in school but working as slaves at young ages instead. The group returned to Sweden and shortly after the truth came out about the corrupt regime, the photographer felt awful. His pictures and stories helped the propaganda and supported this appalling genocide. He dedicated a photographic presentation in the museum to support the fact that genocide had taken place. Almost 30 years later, the photographer is no longer socialist and has a hard time believing that any political system can be successful because there will always be corruption. It was so interesting to me because the Khmer Rouge fooled so many people. They even convinced neighbors and families to fight against each other…..no one knew what was right and what was wrong before it was too late. I have spoken to a few Cambodians about the situation. Many of their parents fought in support of the Khmer Rouge, but they did not know the entirety of it all. It has been hard to bring the country back together because of the collective society that the Khmer Rouge sought out for and turned people against one another to help keep authority. There is not one Cambodia in the country today that was not affected firsthand by the Khmer Rouge.
After a brief stop in Phnom Penh, we headed up to Siem Reap to do a 3 day excursion of the Angkor Temples. The temples are the iconic image of Cambodia. We rented a tuk-tuk for 3 days. Our driver, Dong, was really funny and we joked back and forth with him the entire time. We visited the famous Angkor Wat temple for sunrise, which is the largest religious temple in the world, according to Lonely Planet. We snuck into the temple while everyone else was still watching the sunrise and had the place nearly to ourselves for about 15 minutes. We visited a dozen temples, some dating back before the 9th century all the way to the 12th. The history and sheer size of them were humbling. I could not even imagine what they must have looked like painted in gold and bright colors with 1000s of monks walking around centuries ago. I took a lot of pictures that you can view in Picasa.
After 3 days in the sun and profusely sweating, Laura and I were not feeling too well. Our appetite had already been low since we had arrived in Cambodia and pounds were melting off of us. It was hard to drink as much water as we were sweating out. On the last day of the temple excursion I became very lightheaded and fatigued. Nausea overwhelmed me but I never could vomit. I was having a hard time eating food. We decided to rest the next day and lay in bed drinking fluids. I still did not feel well, but I figured that I would be fine. If we had heat exhaustion then surely it would pass since we were not outside. We decided to head south to a town called Battambang to see the countryside and make our way to the floating villages. On the bus ride down there I felt fine…Still exhausted and fatigued with a bit of nausea, but nothing else seemed to be happening. The following day we woke up and had eggs and bread. Then we hired two guys to take us on a half day excursion through the countryside to see how the villagers made rice paper, rice noodles, and bamboo snacks. After our first stop I started to feel dizzy and nauseas again, but it wasn´t anything different then how I had already been feeling. I drank some water and convinced myself that I was ok. It started to rain so we pulled under a thatched roof. There was a girl selling these grilled bananas and our guide bought some for us to try. The banana was covered in some weird seasoning and onions and did not settle well in my stomach. We continued on to the rice noodle house. It was really neat to see how the villagers made these things to take to market, which we would eventually eat in the restaurants. The rice noodles, however, had this weird scent….almost like cat shit. Between the aroma and the funky grilled banana, there wasn´t much mental blocking I could do for my unsettled stomach. While the villager was showing us how they formed the noodle shape, I took off running towards the road and tucked behind the fence. About 2 seconds later I vomited up all of my breakfast and the banana. It was actually a weird relief to vomit because I had been nauseas for 3 days already. My guide came over to see if I was ok and started hitting my back. It took all the energy inside me to politely ask him to stop touching me. I threw up a few more times and gathered my composure. I figured I was going to be ok and proceeded on with the tour. Our next stop was the fish market. If I thought that the rice noodles smelled bad then I had another thing coming. I wasn´t even to the fish market yet, when the smell overwhelmed me and the nausea came back. I ran to the side of the road and vomited a few more times while all of the villagers stared at me. My guide bought some tiger balm and ran over to me and started to hit my back again while I was in vomiting convulsion mode. This time I grabbed his leg and pushed him away from me. When I was finished I got up to explain to him that I did not like being touched when I was doing that when all of a sudden his finger filled with tiger balm came at my face and he rubbed a bunch of it under my nose. He then sat me down and started rubbing my temples with the tiger balm. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. All of these villagers staring at me and this dude was rubbing tiger balm all over my face. I didn´t have any energy to do or say anything and just stared melancholy into space. Laura came back from the fish market. I didn´t want to ruin her tour so I decided to continue on. Our next stop was the bamboo place which I did not see anything at either because as soon as I got off the bike I ran behind the house to vomit again. When I heard the tour guide walk up I mumbled for him to not touch me…that I just needed to be alone for a few minutes. After my episode there, Laura came up to me and told me that we were going home. I needed to get into bed. I managed to make it back to the hotel where I laid in the bathroom. We have no Air Con so I was sweating insanely and hugging the toilet and dry heaving into the pot about every 15 minutes for the next 2 hours. If there were a button that I could push to sky rocket me back to Austin at that moment, I would have pushed it. Since I have been traveling, this is the worst that I have been sick. In fact, I can´t remember feeling that miserable in years. Shortly after I arrived back to the hotel, the diarrhea set in and I had to do the classic “sit on the pot holding the trashcan” maneuver. After 2 hours my body switched to purely diarrhea mode and the vomiting subdued. It is the first time that I was excited to have diarrhea…diarrhea is way more comfortable then vomiting in my opinion. I am not sure if it was food poisoning or some type of parasite. As I am writing this blog it is only the next day and I am still locked in my room recovering. I made it to the clinic today to see if I should get tested for Malaria, but when I walked in it seemed like a cluster of madness and when a doctor finally came up to me I didn´t even know what to say to them. I just said that I was kind of not feeling well and that if it got worse I may come back. I bought some cipro and rehydration salt packets and have just been drinking that. Every time I drink some salt water, about 5 minutes later I go to piss it out my ass again. Sorry for the description, but nothing is staying in my body. I seem to have an appetite and have hunger pains, but the last thing I want to eat is Asian food. I can´t think about stomaching a fried noodle or piece of rice right now. I need some comfort food and I need my mom or dad to tuck me into bed and bring me tea and soup. Ahhhh I know I am being a whiner, but being sick abroad is no fun!
So yeah, I am not sure why, but Cambodia has put me through some obstacles…..it has been very character building and if it keeps up at this rate, then my character is going to be VERY big by the end of this trip.
With all of that said, I feel that I may have given Cambodia a negative light in this blog. I have had many great experiences here and learned about historical events that I was unaware of. I think that some of the challenges that happened to me were isolated events that could have happened anywhere. I admit that I am tired and homesick, but I am working hard on getting over this hump. I have some amazing months and countries ahead of me. As long as I get this diarrhea under control, then I shall travel on my friends.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
A whirlwind of a birthday!
Laura and I parted ways with Paolo and headed to a town called Ubud. It is a pretty cool artsy-fartsy town. Although, I think that is was a heck of a lot cooler about 10-15 years ago, but now it seems a bit over run with tourists and philosophical ex-pats. There was a really nice yoga studio in town with daily classes, so we decided to chill-out here for a few days.
Besides doing yoga, we would walk through the small villages on the outskirts of town and try local cuisine at side vendors. One night we attended a Balinese fire dance. There were over 50 people participating in the dance. There are no musical instruments...all sounds are made by mouth and strategic hand clapping. I am going to try to upload a video of it soon...it was pretty incredible. We also spent time planning the next few months of travel. We decided our route would be to head up to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos to visit those countries before the height of the rainy season. We purchased plane tickets to Cambodia, which had a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The date that we planned to fly out was my birthday (June 3rd)...so we decided to stay one night in Kuala Lumpur to party it up before our next flight to Cambodia. It was going to be a 24 hour layover...and a whirlwind of a birthday.
Malaysia is a Muslim country and when we landed in Kuala Lumpur, it was my first experience of seeing the Muslim culture full on. Most of the woman wore these elegant scarfs around their heads and were very modestly dressed. We passed elaborate mosques and you could see people in their knees praying inside. The city is a huge metropolis and one of the most international cities in SE Asia, so there is a major mix of other religions and cultures there as well. It was crazy coming from the small island of Bali and arriving to one of the most modern cities in the world. The Petronas Towers are probably the most iconic image and famous building in the city. Up until 2004 it was the tallest building in the world and is still the tallest towers in the world. We arrived in the evening and after we checked into the hotel, walked to the towers to see it at night. Since it was just me and Laura, I didnt think the night would be that huge....I figured we would grab a few drinks and then get some sleep. We were going to try to visit the observation deck of the towers in the morning before our flight out. Well, I couldn´t have been more incorrect about the night.....it was a lot crazier then I had expected.
After the towers, we walked the strip to try and find a decent bar. I recognized a group of people from the airport that we had met in Bali. I ran up to them to say hello...I didnt even know these people, but it seemed weird that we ran into them again, so I took it as a sign that we must have a drink together. It was a group of 4 Finish people: Jaakko, Titta, Kenneth, and Tommy. They were a fun group and I told them to join us for the bday festivities. At the bar, Titta was telling us about this amazing massage that she got in Thailand. She explained how the lady massaged her whole body in oil and then at the end, massaged her breasts and slapped them back and forth. She thought it was odd, but surprisingly enough, enjoyed the experience. I just about coughed up my cocktail as she told the story...I mean, the girls name is TITTA for crying out loud. Titta...who got her titties slapped in Thailand. Laura and I thought it was the funniest story....and laughed throughout the night saying to each other "Titta got her titties slapped" over and over. It was about 1am and Tommy wasnt feeling very well. Him and Titta went home and Kenneth and Jaakko continued on with us through the night. We were on a mission to find a pub to hangout in since none of us really liked the night club scene. We asked taxi after taxi where we could find one and the always dropped us off at a different nightclub. We finally settled at a place where there werent any other tourists around. It was the street that the locals came to party at. As we were hanging outside, a fight started outside of the club. It was a street fight between a group of Malaysians. It was so different then the street fights in the US. There was no punching or beer bottle bashing.....it was straight Martial art style fighting. This guy lifted his hands up and then his knee and after a split second drop kicked the other guy. The fight broke up and the mod of people scattered. I was kind of freaking out because I had only scene stuff like that in Kung Fu movies. After a few minutes, one of the fighters got on his motorbike and then out of nowhere a car came down the street and hit him....he went flying off the bike and landed in the middle of the street. Another huge street fight broke out. We were safely to the side and minding out own business....but it was a pretty crazy scene. The bar closed at 3am so we got in a taxi to go home. The driver told us there was one more bar opened until 5am if we wanted to go there....our senses were partially impaired and it seemed like a great idea at the time, so off we went to another bar. The scene at this place was very young. When I went to the bathroom I was surrounded by 18-21 year old Asian girls (I am an old and wise 27 year old now)....it was like I took a bathroom from 6th street and dumped it in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. The girls were drunk....some crying over boys, some re-applying make-up, a few throwing up while their friends held their hair, and then the other girls impatiently waiting in line for a stall. I had to laugh at the situation because here I was... this big tall white girl hovering over this chaotic bathroom scene. All I could think about was how it was the asian replica of the bathroom in Paradox on 6th street.
Finally. this bar closed and we headed out to hail a cab when all of a sudden I had this brilliant idea that we should just stay up until 8am and go straight to the Petronas Towers. I knew if we passed out now that we would not wake up in time for the towers. We found a restaurant to get some malaysian food and sober up. When we were eating, this man named Moses came and sat at our table. He was a very peculiar man....for about 30 minutes he explained to us how he was a Pakistani living in the US with his familz. After 9-11 he was removed from America and has been floating around to different countries trying to start a new life. When we were finished eating he asked if he could eat our leftovers still on our plates. I couldnt tell if his life story was true or not or if he was simply trying to get some food to eat....regardless, he was an interesting character.
It was finally 7:30am and Laura and I walked to the Petronas Towers....we had been told that the doors opened at 8am to get the tickets. When we arrived, it turned out that you couldnt get tickets until 8:30 and go to the viewing deck at 9am. I couldnt believe it.....we had made it this far and we still had another hour to wait. I took a few more pictures of the towers and then the exhaustion of travel, alcohol, and lack of sleep snuck up on me. I told Laura that I couldnt make it to the end..it was so close, yet so far away. It was 8:15am and I was going home to go to sleep. We slept until 11am and then got up and headed back to the airport.....off to Cambodia!
We landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia that afternoon. It was such a vast change from Kuala Lumpur...no more high tech skyscrapers or innovative mass transport. This was a much poorer, underdeveloped city. We took a Tuk Tuk (motorized bike with a carriage attached) into town and found a place to sleep.
Cambodia has a very brutal past and the country is still recovering from much of it. It was only in the mid 1970s where the genocide and the killing fields took place by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands were brutaly murdered. We went to the killing fields to see the memorial and mass grave sites. There are thousands of human skulls inside the memorial...it was a very eery and disturbing site.
Throughout the city, I saw tons of non profit efforts to help the community. There were stores selling crafts and the proceeds would go to woman and children in an effort to teach them english and skills to find work. There were several restaurants in town giving 100% profits back to the community as well. I am not sure who is running these organizations, but (if they are actually giving money back to the community) then I am pleased to see them and have boughten a few items from the stores. It doesnt appear that the money from the government is trickling down to the people...it is what they call a Kleptocracy...very corrupt.
Cambodia is a Buddhist country and as you walk through the streets you see tons of monks wearing orange robes. I am excited to learn more about the religion and culture as we travel through out to the countryside for the next month.
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. In just 2 days we traveled through 3 countries....3 religions ((Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhism), and what seemed like 3 different worlds! From the jungles of Bali, to the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur, to the underdeveloped city of Phnom Penh.....
Phew! I think I am going to take a nap now....
Besides doing yoga, we would walk through the small villages on the outskirts of town and try local cuisine at side vendors. One night we attended a Balinese fire dance. There were over 50 people participating in the dance. There are no musical instruments...all sounds are made by mouth and strategic hand clapping. I am going to try to upload a video of it soon...it was pretty incredible. We also spent time planning the next few months of travel. We decided our route would be to head up to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos to visit those countries before the height of the rainy season. We purchased plane tickets to Cambodia, which had a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The date that we planned to fly out was my birthday (June 3rd)...so we decided to stay one night in Kuala Lumpur to party it up before our next flight to Cambodia. It was going to be a 24 hour layover...and a whirlwind of a birthday.
Malaysia is a Muslim country and when we landed in Kuala Lumpur, it was my first experience of seeing the Muslim culture full on. Most of the woman wore these elegant scarfs around their heads and were very modestly dressed. We passed elaborate mosques and you could see people in their knees praying inside. The city is a huge metropolis and one of the most international cities in SE Asia, so there is a major mix of other religions and cultures there as well. It was crazy coming from the small island of Bali and arriving to one of the most modern cities in the world. The Petronas Towers are probably the most iconic image and famous building in the city. Up until 2004 it was the tallest building in the world and is still the tallest towers in the world. We arrived in the evening and after we checked into the hotel, walked to the towers to see it at night. Since it was just me and Laura, I didnt think the night would be that huge....I figured we would grab a few drinks and then get some sleep. We were going to try to visit the observation deck of the towers in the morning before our flight out. Well, I couldn´t have been more incorrect about the night.....it was a lot crazier then I had expected.
After the towers, we walked the strip to try and find a decent bar. I recognized a group of people from the airport that we had met in Bali. I ran up to them to say hello...I didnt even know these people, but it seemed weird that we ran into them again, so I took it as a sign that we must have a drink together. It was a group of 4 Finish people: Jaakko, Titta, Kenneth, and Tommy. They were a fun group and I told them to join us for the bday festivities. At the bar, Titta was telling us about this amazing massage that she got in Thailand. She explained how the lady massaged her whole body in oil and then at the end, massaged her breasts and slapped them back and forth. She thought it was odd, but surprisingly enough, enjoyed the experience. I just about coughed up my cocktail as she told the story...I mean, the girls name is TITTA for crying out loud. Titta...who got her titties slapped in Thailand. Laura and I thought it was the funniest story....and laughed throughout the night saying to each other "Titta got her titties slapped" over and over. It was about 1am and Tommy wasnt feeling very well. Him and Titta went home and Kenneth and Jaakko continued on with us through the night. We were on a mission to find a pub to hangout in since none of us really liked the night club scene. We asked taxi after taxi where we could find one and the always dropped us off at a different nightclub. We finally settled at a place where there werent any other tourists around. It was the street that the locals came to party at. As we were hanging outside, a fight started outside of the club. It was a street fight between a group of Malaysians. It was so different then the street fights in the US. There was no punching or beer bottle bashing.....it was straight Martial art style fighting. This guy lifted his hands up and then his knee and after a split second drop kicked the other guy. The fight broke up and the mod of people scattered. I was kind of freaking out because I had only scene stuff like that in Kung Fu movies. After a few minutes, one of the fighters got on his motorbike and then out of nowhere a car came down the street and hit him....he went flying off the bike and landed in the middle of the street. Another huge street fight broke out. We were safely to the side and minding out own business....but it was a pretty crazy scene. The bar closed at 3am so we got in a taxi to go home. The driver told us there was one more bar opened until 5am if we wanted to go there....our senses were partially impaired and it seemed like a great idea at the time, so off we went to another bar. The scene at this place was very young. When I went to the bathroom I was surrounded by 18-21 year old Asian girls (I am an old and wise 27 year old now)....it was like I took a bathroom from 6th street and dumped it in the middle of Kuala Lumpur. The girls were drunk....some crying over boys, some re-applying make-up, a few throwing up while their friends held their hair, and then the other girls impatiently waiting in line for a stall. I had to laugh at the situation because here I was... this big tall white girl hovering over this chaotic bathroom scene. All I could think about was how it was the asian replica of the bathroom in Paradox on 6th street.
Finally. this bar closed and we headed out to hail a cab when all of a sudden I had this brilliant idea that we should just stay up until 8am and go straight to the Petronas Towers. I knew if we passed out now that we would not wake up in time for the towers. We found a restaurant to get some malaysian food and sober up. When we were eating, this man named Moses came and sat at our table. He was a very peculiar man....for about 30 minutes he explained to us how he was a Pakistani living in the US with his familz. After 9-11 he was removed from America and has been floating around to different countries trying to start a new life. When we were finished eating he asked if he could eat our leftovers still on our plates. I couldnt tell if his life story was true or not or if he was simply trying to get some food to eat....regardless, he was an interesting character.
It was finally 7:30am and Laura and I walked to the Petronas Towers....we had been told that the doors opened at 8am to get the tickets. When we arrived, it turned out that you couldnt get tickets until 8:30 and go to the viewing deck at 9am. I couldnt believe it.....we had made it this far and we still had another hour to wait. I took a few more pictures of the towers and then the exhaustion of travel, alcohol, and lack of sleep snuck up on me. I told Laura that I couldnt make it to the end..it was so close, yet so far away. It was 8:15am and I was going home to go to sleep. We slept until 11am and then got up and headed back to the airport.....off to Cambodia!
We landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia that afternoon. It was such a vast change from Kuala Lumpur...no more high tech skyscrapers or innovative mass transport. This was a much poorer, underdeveloped city. We took a Tuk Tuk (motorized bike with a carriage attached) into town and found a place to sleep.
Cambodia has a very brutal past and the country is still recovering from much of it. It was only in the mid 1970s where the genocide and the killing fields took place by the Khmer Rouge. Thousands were brutaly murdered. We went to the killing fields to see the memorial and mass grave sites. There are thousands of human skulls inside the memorial...it was a very eery and disturbing site.
Throughout the city, I saw tons of non profit efforts to help the community. There were stores selling crafts and the proceeds would go to woman and children in an effort to teach them english and skills to find work. There were several restaurants in town giving 100% profits back to the community as well. I am not sure who is running these organizations, but (if they are actually giving money back to the community) then I am pleased to see them and have boughten a few items from the stores. It doesnt appear that the money from the government is trickling down to the people...it is what they call a Kleptocracy...very corrupt.
Cambodia is a Buddhist country and as you walk through the streets you see tons of monks wearing orange robes. I am excited to learn more about the religion and culture as we travel through out to the countryside for the next month.
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. In just 2 days we traveled through 3 countries....3 religions ((Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhism), and what seemed like 3 different worlds! From the jungles of Bali, to the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur, to the underdeveloped city of Phnom Penh.....
Phew! I think I am going to take a nap now....
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Bali Bali Bali!
I love the people, the food, the culture, and the prices in Bali... not to mention it is beautiful on top of all of that. It is easy for me to understand why this is a popular stop on the backpackers trail. Indonesia is 90% Muslim, aside from the island of Bali, where the majority of the population is Hindu. As I arrived to immigrations I walked past a large sign that read "Drug Trafficking is Punishable by Death". The laws here are a bit different then in the states. If you are caught with a joint on you, you risk 5 to 20 years imprisonment. I think I'll stick to the booze here....hee hee...just kidding ( I don't do drugs).
Laura, this girl I met in New Zealand, met me at the airport. We are planning on traveling a bit together in SE Asia. On the airplane I also met Paulo, an Italian from Milan. He wanted to rent a car and drive around the island for a few days...he was wondering if we wanted to split the cost. At first I thought he was crazy because the people drive like maniacs here, but then I remembered how crazy they drove in Italy, so I figured Paulo would do just fine.
Before we rented the car, we decided to check out the infamous town, Kuta. This is the party/touristy area and I don't plan on ever going back to this town again. The streets were filled with 18 year old kids looking to party until the sun came up. Hagglers were at every corner and the accommodation and food was overpriced. However, Paolo met the Indonesian girl of his dreams and post-poned renting the car for one more day. He was in love at first site and she said she would meet up with him later that night. Laura and I told him to be careful....even though he felt like he had a connection with this girl, she may be after more then a fulfilling relationship. The next morning Paolo said that she was a bit crazy and seemed very promiscuous.....I don't think he wanted to admit to himself that she may be a prostitute. She just said that she was very sexual and he didn't know if he wanted to get involved. I guess Paolo re-thought his options though, because that evening he politely asked when Laura and I would be eating dinner. He was wondering if he could use the room for a few hours with the girl. I wasn't sure how to respond to him...in my head I was like "Are you freaking serious dude? You want to bring a prostitute back to our room for a few hours?", but for some reason I passively replied " We can be out of here in 10 minutes...wear a condom and don't touch our beds." Uuuuhhhhh Laura and I couldn't believe what was happening. We decided to go get a few drinks to try and forget the situation that was taking place in our bedroom. Later that night we returned to the room...and found frustrated Paolo. Turns out they did not have sex after all. In fact, he met up with her and her friend who looked to be about 12 years old (but told him she was 19). Then after a few minutes, his girl said she had to run an errand and would return later, but that he should hang out with his friend. When they were alone, the younger girl then proceeded to ask him if he wanted to have sex. He felt really uncomfortable and left. Laura and I were laughing hysterically....first we were happy that there was not a prostitute in our room...and second, Paolo's true love was actually a pimp.
The next day we rented our car and headed out to explore the other areas of the island. The streets were filled with motorbikes and cars and even though there were lanes, no one seemed to pay attention to them. However, Paolo maneuvered through the streets like a knife through warm butter.When people got in his way, he would curse at them in Italian, throw his hands in the air, and then throw the car into gear and speed around them. Meanwhile, I was having miniature heart attacks and getting cramps in my leg from pushing my imaginary foot break. I could already tell that the next 3 days were going to be interesting.
As soon as we left the tourist area, the prices dropped and the tourists fizzled. We only came across a handful of foreigners within the next few days. Bali used to be over-run with tourists, but because of a stream of bad luck, there are not as many as before. Indonesia is where the Tsunami took place and there have been 2 terrorists bombings in Bali itself. When we were in Kuta, we visited ground zero , which had been a nightclub. Over 200 people from around the world died that night, including 7 travelers from USA. When we were driving around Bali, many of the villagers said that the bad luck, combined with the economic recession had left them with very little business. It is all very sad, but it made for a unique experience....it was the first time in my travels where we were alone at many of the temples and sites.
I had been so used to traveling alone that it took a little getting used to with 2 more companions. Paolo and Laura both had very strong personalities and they did not get along very well. There was some tension for the 3 days in the car...I tried my best to dismiss the drama, but personality differences is a con to traveling with other people. The pro, however, is split costs for accommodation. We stayed in some very decent places for around $4-5/night. This was a huge difference to the $30/night dorm rooms I was staying at in Australia....3 people meant 3 different opinions and slight tensions, but it also meant saving money.
We stopped in small villages for lunch and ate from street vendors for .80 cents. Half the time we didn't even know what we were eating, but everything tasted great. We visited Hindu temples where you had to wear sarongs. As I mentioned above, there were hardly any other tourists at these temples....we would walk in silence and listen to the wind and trees and fountains. The temples were very peaceful and serene.
May 24th was Laura's birthday. We were in a very small village for the night and there wasn't any nightlife. I felt bad because I knew that she wanted to go do something to celebrate. Her and Paolo got in an argument about parking and she said she wasn't going to go out at all and wanted to be left alone. I finally was annoyed by the situation and told her that it was her birthday and to suck it up....yes, she could be mad at Paolo, but she was not staying home. We went to a small shop where this lady was cooking up food. We told her we needed 3 plates of whatever she was cooking up. I tried to order some beer to give Laura a toast, but they did not have any alcohol. So we ordered some tea instead. An older Balinese man, named Chakra, sat next to us and knew some English. He asked us where we were from and how long we had been in Bali. The man was very entertaining and we spent the evening getting to know him. We told him it was Laura's birthday and we were trying to find a drink to toast to her. He said that after dinner he would take us to his friends place because they sold liquor. When we got the bill, Paolo jokingly accused the Chakra of raising the prices because we were tourists. Chakra did not understand it as a joke and was really offended. Him and Paolo went back and forth and the conversation was very convoluted because of the language barrier for both of them. Neither of them were 100% fluent in English and the meanings were not being portrayed correctly. It was an awkward moment and took a few minutes to smooth over. After the small dispute, Chakra told us to follow him into the village to his friend's place. I was now a little weary because I wasn't sure if he was still upset or not, but we followed him anyways. He took us to a shop that was closed and the owners let us into a side door. The shop was owned by a family and there home was in the back. It was late, but they had huge smiles and welcomed us inside. The owner pulled out a gasoline canister and poured a clear liquid into some glasses. The liquor was fermented from rice. Chakra drank it straight, but we mixed it with some soda. We toasted Laura's birthday and sat in the closed shop and talked with the family. I was a really neat experience to hang out with the locals. They asked what Paolo did for a living....Paolo explained that he had just finished Law school and was traveling for a bit. Chakra said "ahhhhh law school...soon you become a senator...and then you will be president like Obama."
The road trip was a blast....we cruised around the island and visited places that I never would have seen by bus. The Balinese people are gracious and warm. Even though there was some tension among the other 2 travelers, I really enjoyed the experience. I never once thought about what we were doing tomorrow...or what country I was going to next. It was the first time...in a long time...that I was completely in the moment.
Laura, this girl I met in New Zealand, met me at the airport. We are planning on traveling a bit together in SE Asia. On the airplane I also met Paulo, an Italian from Milan. He wanted to rent a car and drive around the island for a few days...he was wondering if we wanted to split the cost. At first I thought he was crazy because the people drive like maniacs here, but then I remembered how crazy they drove in Italy, so I figured Paulo would do just fine.
Before we rented the car, we decided to check out the infamous town, Kuta. This is the party/touristy area and I don't plan on ever going back to this town again. The streets were filled with 18 year old kids looking to party until the sun came up. Hagglers were at every corner and the accommodation and food was overpriced. However, Paolo met the Indonesian girl of his dreams and post-poned renting the car for one more day. He was in love at first site and she said she would meet up with him later that night. Laura and I told him to be careful....even though he felt like he had a connection with this girl, she may be after more then a fulfilling relationship. The next morning Paolo said that she was a bit crazy and seemed very promiscuous.....I don't think he wanted to admit to himself that she may be a prostitute. She just said that she was very sexual and he didn't know if he wanted to get involved. I guess Paolo re-thought his options though, because that evening he politely asked when Laura and I would be eating dinner. He was wondering if he could use the room for a few hours with the girl. I wasn't sure how to respond to him...in my head I was like "Are you freaking serious dude? You want to bring a prostitute back to our room for a few hours?", but for some reason I passively replied " We can be out of here in 10 minutes...wear a condom and don't touch our beds." Uuuuhhhhh Laura and I couldn't believe what was happening. We decided to go get a few drinks to try and forget the situation that was taking place in our bedroom. Later that night we returned to the room...and found frustrated Paolo. Turns out they did not have sex after all. In fact, he met up with her and her friend who looked to be about 12 years old (but told him she was 19). Then after a few minutes, his girl said she had to run an errand and would return later, but that he should hang out with his friend. When they were alone, the younger girl then proceeded to ask him if he wanted to have sex. He felt really uncomfortable and left. Laura and I were laughing hysterically....first we were happy that there was not a prostitute in our room...and second, Paolo's true love was actually a pimp.
The next day we rented our car and headed out to explore the other areas of the island. The streets were filled with motorbikes and cars and even though there were lanes, no one seemed to pay attention to them. However, Paolo maneuvered through the streets like a knife through warm butter.When people got in his way, he would curse at them in Italian, throw his hands in the air, and then throw the car into gear and speed around them. Meanwhile, I was having miniature heart attacks and getting cramps in my leg from pushing my imaginary foot break. I could already tell that the next 3 days were going to be interesting.
As soon as we left the tourist area, the prices dropped and the tourists fizzled. We only came across a handful of foreigners within the next few days. Bali used to be over-run with tourists, but because of a stream of bad luck, there are not as many as before. Indonesia is where the Tsunami took place and there have been 2 terrorists bombings in Bali itself. When we were in Kuta, we visited ground zero , which had been a nightclub. Over 200 people from around the world died that night, including 7 travelers from USA. When we were driving around Bali, many of the villagers said that the bad luck, combined with the economic recession had left them with very little business. It is all very sad, but it made for a unique experience....it was the first time in my travels where we were alone at many of the temples and sites.
I had been so used to traveling alone that it took a little getting used to with 2 more companions. Paolo and Laura both had very strong personalities and they did not get along very well. There was some tension for the 3 days in the car...I tried my best to dismiss the drama, but personality differences is a con to traveling with other people. The pro, however, is split costs for accommodation. We stayed in some very decent places for around $4-5/night. This was a huge difference to the $30/night dorm rooms I was staying at in Australia....3 people meant 3 different opinions and slight tensions, but it also meant saving money.
We stopped in small villages for lunch and ate from street vendors for .80 cents. Half the time we didn't even know what we were eating, but everything tasted great. We visited Hindu temples where you had to wear sarongs. As I mentioned above, there were hardly any other tourists at these temples....we would walk in silence and listen to the wind and trees and fountains. The temples were very peaceful and serene.
May 24th was Laura's birthday. We were in a very small village for the night and there wasn't any nightlife. I felt bad because I knew that she wanted to go do something to celebrate. Her and Paolo got in an argument about parking and she said she wasn't going to go out at all and wanted to be left alone. I finally was annoyed by the situation and told her that it was her birthday and to suck it up....yes, she could be mad at Paolo, but she was not staying home. We went to a small shop where this lady was cooking up food. We told her we needed 3 plates of whatever she was cooking up. I tried to order some beer to give Laura a toast, but they did not have any alcohol. So we ordered some tea instead. An older Balinese man, named Chakra, sat next to us and knew some English. He asked us where we were from and how long we had been in Bali. The man was very entertaining and we spent the evening getting to know him. We told him it was Laura's birthday and we were trying to find a drink to toast to her. He said that after dinner he would take us to his friends place because they sold liquor. When we got the bill, Paolo jokingly accused the Chakra of raising the prices because we were tourists. Chakra did not understand it as a joke and was really offended. Him and Paolo went back and forth and the conversation was very convoluted because of the language barrier for both of them. Neither of them were 100% fluent in English and the meanings were not being portrayed correctly. It was an awkward moment and took a few minutes to smooth over. After the small dispute, Chakra told us to follow him into the village to his friend's place. I was now a little weary because I wasn't sure if he was still upset or not, but we followed him anyways. He took us to a shop that was closed and the owners let us into a side door. The shop was owned by a family and there home was in the back. It was late, but they had huge smiles and welcomed us inside. The owner pulled out a gasoline canister and poured a clear liquid into some glasses. The liquor was fermented from rice. Chakra drank it straight, but we mixed it with some soda. We toasted Laura's birthday and sat in the closed shop and talked with the family. I was a really neat experience to hang out with the locals. They asked what Paolo did for a living....Paolo explained that he had just finished Law school and was traveling for a bit. Chakra said "ahhhhh law school...soon you become a senator...and then you will be president like Obama."
The road trip was a blast....we cruised around the island and visited places that I never would have seen by bus. The Balinese people are gracious and warm. Even though there was some tension among the other 2 travelers, I really enjoyed the experience. I never once thought about what we were doing tomorrow...or what country I was going to next. It was the first time...in a long time...that I was completely in the moment.
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Outback: "Team Cecilia"
After Sydney, I headed to Alice Springs, the hub for all Outback adventures. Most people come to Australia to travel the east coast and hang out on the beach and snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. But for some reason that did not sound appealing to me. I wanted to see the Outback and learn about the aboriginal culture. Since I didn't have my own transport, I decided to do a 5 day tour. I am always weary about signing up for tours...is it going to be worth the money, will my tour group be cool, etc. Fortunately, the tour that I did was well worth the money. The itinerary, guide, and group were awesome. The tour was a mix of adventure, cultural awareness, history, geological formations, and best of all....laughter. I am going to try my best to capture all the moments of the tour, but I know that this blog won't give the moments justice. Let's just say...it was an experience that I will look back on and smile about for years to come. My group has all agreed about this...and our guide said we were one of his most special groups that he has had in a long time.
Upon arrival to Alice Springs, I didn't know that much about The Outback...especially the history and culture side of it. As I walked through the city the day before my tour started, it was very clear that there was a racial tension throughout. There were aboriginal people lingering around the streets corners, passed out or yelling obscenities. There was a dried up river in the city that groups of aboriginals would hang around bomb fires that they would make each night. I went for a jog around the city and then went out for dinner on my own...it was the first time in my life that I felt a little scared towards a specific group of people. The police were present everywhere and I realized the city has a bad reputation for violence and danger. I noticed that I would walk on the other side of the road to avoid walking near them...they were dirty and smelled and I was scared they would do something to me. Then I realized that it was the first time that I was experiencing racist feelings....this was very unlike me. I was being ignorant to the situation and it disturbed me that the thoughts even went through my head. I was looking forward to the tour so that I could understand these people more and figure out the complex situation that was taking place in front of me. I decided to immediately disregard the initial feelings I was having and learn as much as I could about the aboriginal culture before I cast any judgements towards them.
Day 1
The tour company picked my up at my hostel at 6 am in the morning. It was still dark outside as I boarded the bus and I couldn't really see any of the other passengers. I sat between an older man and a girl who looked to be about my age. The girl was named Kate, she was from the UK and was living in Australia for a few months, taking a break from her life in the UK and getting her head together. Kate and I instantly clicked and she became my side-kick during the tour. The man was named Richard (aka Whiskey Dick for his love of whiskey...not the other reason). I don't even know where to begin with Richard, he was a 48 year old American and had started his spiritual journey later in his life because of some major experiences he went through. He was a whiskey drinking, motivating, spiritual person. He loved the outdoors and was a mix between Patrick Swazye and Crocodile Dundee. So there it was....the 2 Yankees and the Brit. We were chatting throughout the entire drive in the morning and it was very apparent that we were going to be the 3 'loud" ones of the group.
The other group members were Tudor & Sonar, an older couple from Sri Lanka and currently residing in the UK. Tudor was a doctor and would perform magic tricks for us throughout the tour. Then there was Bridgette from Melbourne. She was only 18 years old and worked on a cattle station. She carried herself like a wise old woman and didn't mind getting her hands dirty. We had the 4 Germans: Ines, Julia, Chris, Anna. Ines and Julia were friends and traveling together. Chris was your typical German "office" guy (as Ines and Julia described). He was what we would call a computer nerd I think. Anna was a sweet 21 year old who had innocence written all over. I had actually met her at a hostel in New Zealand so it was a pleasant surprise to see her again. Then we had the Italian lovers who didn't speak much or mingle with the rest of the group. I didn't get to know them very well. Last but not least was our guide, Geoff. He was 38 and had had an interesting life as well. I quickly nicknamed him El Jefe (which means boss in Spanish) so he got a kick out of that.
Our first stop of the day was at a Camel farm. For $5 you could ride on a camel, which I totally did because when else will I be able to ride on a camel. When we arrived, Geoff noticed that the back door to the truck was open and that a bag had fallen out on the 2 hour drive to the camel farm. The bag was one of the Italians and had all of her belongings for a years worth of travel. They had to backtrack to try and find it....which gave the group time to mingle and get to know each other. Unfortunately, the bag was not found and Geoff was embarrassed by the misfortune so early into the tour. The back door was faulty so we had to tie a string around it to keep it closed. (The bag was actually found the next day so everything was good to go.)
Next stop was King's Canyon. it reminded me of the red rocks in Southern Utah. Cliffs of red stone everywhere. We hiked through them for a few hours while Geoff explained the geological features and how they were created, etc. We came upon a watering hole where we had the option to take a dip. Geoff also asked us to take a few minutes of silence and listen to the winds and trees and wildlife around us....As we were doing this, Richard decided he wanted to take a swim. He got undressed down to his white underpants and walked his way to the watering hole. We all watched him in silence thinking to ourselves "This dude is kind of crazy, huh?" As he went to take his first step into the water he slipped on the moss and slammed into the ground. It was by far one of the funniest moments I have seen on my trip. Here we were in silent mode, being one with the land and he is walking around in his underwear and then completely eats shit into the water hole. The brilliant thing about Richard, is that he does not get embarrassed. He explained to me that he spent his first 40 years worrying about what others thought about him and he was going to spend the next 40 being weird and not giving a damn about it. This is why I loved Richard! Anyways, he didn't even skip a beat and continued swimming as we all looked at each other wondering if we should laugh or continue being in silent mode. I finally couldn't hold myself and started chuckling. We didn't know each other well enough to burst into hard laughter...but it would be a moment that we would soon laugh about throughout the rest of our tour. When Richard got up, he had this streak of green moss on his ass from where he slid in....I will never forget that moment! After Richard got out of the water he started walking around the area and stumbled across a part of the land that was off-limits because of re conservation. Geoff quickly yelled to him to get off that part of the land. Richard then tripped over the fallen conservation sign and then almost tripped over his own feet. Kate and I just looked at each other with our eyes filling up with tears....Richard was going to be a liability the next 5 days...crazy "Whisky Dick" Richard.
That night we arrived to our camp site and as a team, we cooked dinner and set up camp. Richard had some whiskey and Kate had some wine so we all had a few drinks and mingled some more. This was the night that I had my "typical American" moment. I was talking to the Germans and explaining how I visited Germany with my family when I was in the 8th grade and how we rented a car and drove on "The Autobahn" (in a thick German accent). The German girls started laughing hysterically and pointed at me saying how I was such a typical American. I was so confused and didn't understand what was so funny. Anna explained that all Americans talk about "The Autobahn" as if it is this one grand street in Germany where people drive on as fast as they want. I agreed..."well yeah...that is what it is, right?" They laughed again and said "I bet you think we wear lederhosen ever day and have houses filled with cuckoo clocks, too." I felt silly because "autobahn" actually means highway and there are numerous ones throughout Germany. It isn't this one particular street there. It was a funny moment because I make fun of people who think Texans ride horses to school and wear cowboy hats everyday and here I was doing the same thing to the Germans. Good times...good times!
We slept in "swags" which are heavy duty sleeping bags under the stars. Most everyone was already asleep as I got into my swag except for Richard. He was doing meditation breathing on the table and looking over us. I still didn't know much about Richard at this time and thought he was a bit peculiar so I just said goodnight and got into my swag. About 15 minutes later I heard him walking around the camp fire and blessing the campsite. He was chanting and praying that the bad spirits would leave us alone tonight, etc. I was laying there like (WTF is this guy doing??). Finally I drifted to sleep....
Day 2
We all woke up to the sunrising. I mentioned to Kate about what I heard Richard doing the night before, but we both agreed that we had slept really well...so maybe his blessings did work. This was the day that we were going to Uluru (Ayer's Rock). I am going to call it Uluru from now on because that is the aboriginal term and the community is trying hard to bring back to aboriginal names to the land. The history and culture of the aboriginals is so complex that there is no way I will be able to explain everything I learned on the tour in this blog. I only learned a tip of the ice burg and it was so incredibly interesting that I could spend years traveling around the Australian land gaining more insight into one of the oldest cultures in the world (if not the oldest..still up for debate). Aboriginal findings date back to 40-50,000 years ago!!!! There were 1000s of different tribes covering the lands and each had their own dialect, stories, customs, etc. They lived off of the land and the land provided back for them. They worked as a community and the men and woman respected each other because they knew they needed one another to continue on. Depending on what day you were born decided your name and what skill set and responsibilities you were given. For 1000s of years they roamed the lands up until the 1800s when the white man came to Australia. The white man brought with them cattle and started cattle ranches. The aboriginals had never seen a white man before and they never had to compete for resources of the land. The cultures collided and everything that the aboriginals lived for were taken away. White man introduced alcohol which changed the entire dynamic of the aboriginal tribes. Their bodies could not digest the substance easily and it caused major violence and disturbance within the tribes themselves. Many kids were abused and mistreated. Missionaries soon moved in to help "solve" the problems. There were good things and bad things that came from the missionaries....they did help the mistreated children, but they also provoked new religion and the curiosity changed the way the aboriginals have taught and learned the culture for 1000s of years. The racial tension continued to grow deeper and deeper and a lot of aboriginals got a bad rap because of the substance abuse. Even my guide, Geoff, explained that a majority of Australians grow up with this racial view of the aboriginals. He did as well and it wasn't until he moved to The Outback that he started to understand the complexities of it all and have a better understanding of the people. Finally, a few people in the government realized that the white man messed up and started giving the aboriginal people money for the harm done. They thought the money could be used to build communities and get their lives back together. The government treated the Aboriginal people as one group, even though there were 1000s of different tribes with specific needs and vastly different from one another. Aboriginal people never lived in houses before and didn't use money. This just gave them more accessibility to alcohol and drove them farther away from their roots. It really wasn't until tourism began and the outside world took a major interest in the aboriginal culture for the government to seriously take a look at the situation. Now that the government had a chance to make money on the aboriginals, and had the expectations from the outside world, they decided to try to work with the aboriginals and bring back some of the culture. Uluru is an area of land that the aboriginals won back in court. However, since it is a National Park area, the government still has a part of what happens on the land. The aboriginals don't have the infrastructure to handle all of the tourism so the government leads that area. Basically, the government still controls everything even though it is aboriginal land.
I know that is a lot of information and that isn't even half of the complex situation that I learned. Geoff was really good about making us think about the situation and explaining the history and why things were the way they were now. He fell into the same racial tension that a majority of others did and it has taken him a few years to think differently. He said that next time you see them in town don't judge them on the way they smell or look and if they are drunk...have an open mind and understand the situation that has led a lot of them to this stage. Also, this is only a small fraction of the people and they give a misconception of what the culture is really about. The mentality is changing for the better but it will take years for any major progress and it is the tourism and education of the visitors that are the ones truly helping. Aboriginal culture is still hardly addressed in Australian education and I think that is the first place that it should be addressed.
UUuuuggggg! It was so frustrating to learn about all of this and see exactly where the problems started, but the entanglement of issues from all different directions made me realize that there were no easy answers or solutions.
We spent that whole day walking around Uluru and hearing spiritual stories that the aboriginals would tell based on the formations. For lunch, we had a traditional Barbie overlooking Uluru. I had given Geoff a hard time about the perfection of a BBQ since I was from Texas. So, I was quickly nicknamed "Texas" and he put me in charge of the barbie for lunch. I must say...it was a pretty good meal :) After lunch we visited the aboriginal community center which was run by aboriginals and white men together. I browsed all of the art and crafts (the art is some of my favorite that I have seen and someday I will own some pieces in my home). We went to a lookout to watch the sunset over Uluru....the rich red color of the stone came out as the sunset reflected off of it. For dinner, we had kangaroo spaghetti for dinner and told more stories around the campfire. We reflected back on the day and the interesting things we learned. Geoff told us to draw some art in the sand the way the aboriginals did to express how we were feeling that night.
Day 3
The next day we woke up really early to drive out and watch the sunrise at a lookout where you could see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. After that we drove to Kata Tjuta (which is a mountain range of sandstone/conglomerate domes). The area is sacred to the aboriginals, but they have opened up 3 of the domes for us to walk around and visit. Geoff continued telling us the spiritual side of the area and then the geological reasoning behind the formations as well. We hiked to an area called the "Valley of the Winds". Richard walked away on his own and looked as though he was meditating. Later he told me how he was listening to the spirits out there and they were angry and wished people would not talk so much. They just wanted to rest...day after day..everyday of the year there are people stomping all over the sacred area and talking...not noticing the true beauty of silence. This got me a little worried because there have been many situations where people have taken rocks from Uluru and their lives were filled with badluck. I hoped that we didn't disrespect any of the spirits at Kata Tjuta. The last thing I needed on my travels was bad luck.
Today we would lose half of the group who only signed up for the 3 day tour. We would also change into a smaller safari jeep and 2 new people would join us. Geoff was disappointed about adding new people because this is the stage of the trip where you advance into a more intimate group and he was afraid the new comers would not mesh well.
We said our goodbyes to our new friends and wished everyone well. The group condensed down to Richard, Kate, Ines, Julia, Anna, and Me. We all got along well and were excited to spend 2 more days together. We all were uniquely close to one another even though we had only known each other a couple days. Even Geoff commented how neat it was that we all got along so well. The newcomers were Becks and Dave. They were both from Sydney and pretty nice, but their personalities didn't click well with any of us. To say it nicely, Becks was a know-it-all and they were pretty in your face about everything. We had all been in The Outback for 3 days and were pretty chilled out....they were wiry city folks who jumped in. I am a pretty tolerant person and try to stay positive all the time, and they even got on my nerves a bit. However, we all tried our best to welcome them to the group given the circumstances.
We transferred all of our belongings to a small safari jeep and headed out to our next stop. About 1 hour into driving a rock hit the back window and it shattered. We had to make-shift a window cover with carpet and tarp. Then, Geoff realized he forgot all of his belongings in the other truck....you could tell that Geoff was frustrated with the entire situation, but he handled himself well and managed to tuck us into our swags that night and send us off with an aboriginal bedtime story.
Day4
This morning we took a cultural walk with an aboriginal named Craig. His family had gone to court for 8 years and managed to gain back some of their tribal land from the government in the 80s. He was of mixed race and his grandfather was a white cattle man. They grew up farming and raising cattle and still continued that on the land, but now they were able to incorporate their tribal customs back into their lives. The aboriginal community that he was from lived back on the land again. Craig was a captivating speaker who had a lot of passion of continuing the knowledge and education of the aboriginal people. He was slightly out casted at first when he started doing cultural tours on the land, but he felt that the awareness of the history and culture was important to helping to bring those customs back. We went hiking and he showed us cave paintings and drew stories in the sand. We went hunting for fossils and he explained the rituals and customs of his specific tribe. He also talked about incorporating the aboriginal culture into todays world. There were many things that I learned that day, but one thing that sticks out to me is they way that Craig never blamed the white man for how life is today. He didn't show anger or defeat about how history had taken place. Yes, the aboriginals had been through a devestating past, but they too needed to help themselves to continue on. He explained that there were good things and bad things to the situations that took place and that progression was only natural. There was no way they could go back to the way things were in the 1800s because of the awareness they now had of the outside world. So instead of mourning about it the rest of his life, he is doing what he can to continue the culture and rituals with the way the world is today. He hopes that the aboriginal culture continues on for many more years to come and that it doesn't become extinct like many of the world's past civilizations.
After the interesting cultural experience, we headed out to the Larapinta River (also known as the Fink River). Anthropologists, scientists, and geologists have dated this river back to being the OLDEST RIVER IN THE WORLD!!!! Crazy, right? It was a dried up river bed when we visited and only has water when the rains come through the desert. The last major rain was last November. On our way to the river a tire blew on the jeep. Poor Geoff....he was faced with a lot of obstacles on this tour. Fortunetaly, we were an easy-going bunch and thought that everything added to the adventure. After hiking around the Larapinta Trail, we went to go find our camp. It became dark and we had to off-road to get to the camp site. We ended up getting totally stuck in the sand. Poor Poor Geoff......the tires were half-way deep into sand and the only way out was digging. We worked as a team trying to get the jeep unstuck. As we were doing this we finally looked up to see the stars above us. I have never seen the sky so clear...it was as if we could see every star in the sky. I felt like I could almost touch the milky way.
It was about this time that I got the rumble in my stomach. My bowel movements had been sketchy since we started camping and I took a few immodium the first day because I didn't want any trouble. Well, my body was finally trying to tell me that it was time to go...I needed a toilet quickly. All of our campsites the previous nights had bathrooms that you could walk to so I really wasn't that worried. Then, Kate notified my that the campsite for tonight was not going to have a bathroom and we need to go in the bush. "Ummmmm seriously???" I thought to myself. I was pissed because only an hour ago we were at a decent bathroom, but I just told myself to wait till we got to camp and now I wouldn't even have a bathroom to go to. When we arrived to camp, Geoff told us to go over that hill to to use the bathroom and dig a whole with the shovel, etc. I asked him for some toilet paper....however, the toilet paper and been misplaced so we didn;t have any. He handed me a bit of coarse paper and told me that would have to do. Fortunetaly, the guys all left to go collect firewood and the girls remained to setup camp and start dinner. So it was the perfect time for me to go. I walked over to this hill that I thought he told me to go to and dug a hole and did my business. At the same time, a huge gust of wind came through right as I did so and I heard all the girls start chuckling because they could totally smell it. (sorry I know this is gross, but this is the story of my life). I was completely mortified....here I was in the middle of the outback with a shovel and a hole and a huge gust of wind had to come at the particular moment. I think the spirits were upset with us afterall. I made a mound of dirt over the hole to keep in any other smells and went back to camp. Later I realized I had gone in the wrong spot and dug my hole right where Geoff was planning on camping. I told him that it may be better if he chose a different area.
Day5
Our final and last day in The Outback! We went hiking through a gorge and to a place called Palm Valley, which has palm trees unique to that area only. While we were there we were confronted by a kangaroo only feet away from us. We startled him and he took off running around us and up into the mountains. We had seen several kangaroos during out tour, but none this close and personal. On our way back to Alice Springs, I sat up front next to El Jefe and we talked about our lives and the past 5 days. I couldn't believe it was all coming to an end. It was such an amazing adventure filled with culture and friends. I especially had a good time because it was nice to meet people and build a special relationship with them and then to share the experiences together. During my travels, I see and experience a lot of things on my own and it is nice sometimes to share these moments with others. We may have only known each other for a few days but we all developed an intimate bond with one another.
Geoff talked about the trip because he too noticed the ease of friendship that was developed and all the obstacles he was faced with. He enjoyed our group because we all worked together and he was there in the present with us instead of thinking of when the tour would be over, etc. (like he often thinks when he is on tour). During our tour, the song Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkle was the song that was always in our heads. We would play it on the Ipod or someone would be humming it around camp. On our drive back home, Cecilia came on the radio again and we turned up the volume and sang it all together at the top of our lungs...laughing histerically.
That night we all met up for a farewll dinner to share stories and say our goodbyes. There was a live band playing and Richard sneaked off to make a request. A few minutes later we had the band asking for us to get on stage. We were all a bit mortified, but Richard (who never gets embarresed) was standing up with a big grin on his face. He had requested Cecilia and asked that we all go and dance together. There were about 60 other people in the bar who were not dancing....but we all got up anyways and danced in a circle singing Cecilia. I was laughing so hard that I was crying.
Geoff had asked us to figure out a group name, he liked naming the groups so he could identify them. After a few beers together, it was pretty easy to decide that we would be named "Team: Cecilia"
Upon arrival to Alice Springs, I didn't know that much about The Outback...especially the history and culture side of it. As I walked through the city the day before my tour started, it was very clear that there was a racial tension throughout. There were aboriginal people lingering around the streets corners, passed out or yelling obscenities. There was a dried up river in the city that groups of aboriginals would hang around bomb fires that they would make each night. I went for a jog around the city and then went out for dinner on my own...it was the first time in my life that I felt a little scared towards a specific group of people. The police were present everywhere and I realized the city has a bad reputation for violence and danger. I noticed that I would walk on the other side of the road to avoid walking near them...they were dirty and smelled and I was scared they would do something to me. Then I realized that it was the first time that I was experiencing racist feelings....this was very unlike me. I was being ignorant to the situation and it disturbed me that the thoughts even went through my head. I was looking forward to the tour so that I could understand these people more and figure out the complex situation that was taking place in front of me. I decided to immediately disregard the initial feelings I was having and learn as much as I could about the aboriginal culture before I cast any judgements towards them.
Day 1
The tour company picked my up at my hostel at 6 am in the morning. It was still dark outside as I boarded the bus and I couldn't really see any of the other passengers. I sat between an older man and a girl who looked to be about my age. The girl was named Kate, she was from the UK and was living in Australia for a few months, taking a break from her life in the UK and getting her head together. Kate and I instantly clicked and she became my side-kick during the tour. The man was named Richard (aka Whiskey Dick for his love of whiskey...not the other reason). I don't even know where to begin with Richard, he was a 48 year old American and had started his spiritual journey later in his life because of some major experiences he went through. He was a whiskey drinking, motivating, spiritual person. He loved the outdoors and was a mix between Patrick Swazye and Crocodile Dundee. So there it was....the 2 Yankees and the Brit. We were chatting throughout the entire drive in the morning and it was very apparent that we were going to be the 3 'loud" ones of the group.
The other group members were Tudor & Sonar, an older couple from Sri Lanka and currently residing in the UK. Tudor was a doctor and would perform magic tricks for us throughout the tour. Then there was Bridgette from Melbourne. She was only 18 years old and worked on a cattle station. She carried herself like a wise old woman and didn't mind getting her hands dirty. We had the 4 Germans: Ines, Julia, Chris, Anna. Ines and Julia were friends and traveling together. Chris was your typical German "office" guy (as Ines and Julia described). He was what we would call a computer nerd I think. Anna was a sweet 21 year old who had innocence written all over. I had actually met her at a hostel in New Zealand so it was a pleasant surprise to see her again. Then we had the Italian lovers who didn't speak much or mingle with the rest of the group. I didn't get to know them very well. Last but not least was our guide, Geoff. He was 38 and had had an interesting life as well. I quickly nicknamed him El Jefe (which means boss in Spanish) so he got a kick out of that.
Our first stop of the day was at a Camel farm. For $5 you could ride on a camel, which I totally did because when else will I be able to ride on a camel. When we arrived, Geoff noticed that the back door to the truck was open and that a bag had fallen out on the 2 hour drive to the camel farm. The bag was one of the Italians and had all of her belongings for a years worth of travel. They had to backtrack to try and find it....which gave the group time to mingle and get to know each other. Unfortunately, the bag was not found and Geoff was embarrassed by the misfortune so early into the tour. The back door was faulty so we had to tie a string around it to keep it closed. (The bag was actually found the next day so everything was good to go.)
Next stop was King's Canyon. it reminded me of the red rocks in Southern Utah. Cliffs of red stone everywhere. We hiked through them for a few hours while Geoff explained the geological features and how they were created, etc. We came upon a watering hole where we had the option to take a dip. Geoff also asked us to take a few minutes of silence and listen to the winds and trees and wildlife around us....As we were doing this, Richard decided he wanted to take a swim. He got undressed down to his white underpants and walked his way to the watering hole. We all watched him in silence thinking to ourselves "This dude is kind of crazy, huh?" As he went to take his first step into the water he slipped on the moss and slammed into the ground. It was by far one of the funniest moments I have seen on my trip. Here we were in silent mode, being one with the land and he is walking around in his underwear and then completely eats shit into the water hole. The brilliant thing about Richard, is that he does not get embarrassed. He explained to me that he spent his first 40 years worrying about what others thought about him and he was going to spend the next 40 being weird and not giving a damn about it. This is why I loved Richard! Anyways, he didn't even skip a beat and continued swimming as we all looked at each other wondering if we should laugh or continue being in silent mode. I finally couldn't hold myself and started chuckling. We didn't know each other well enough to burst into hard laughter...but it would be a moment that we would soon laugh about throughout the rest of our tour. When Richard got up, he had this streak of green moss on his ass from where he slid in....I will never forget that moment! After Richard got out of the water he started walking around the area and stumbled across a part of the land that was off-limits because of re conservation. Geoff quickly yelled to him to get off that part of the land. Richard then tripped over the fallen conservation sign and then almost tripped over his own feet. Kate and I just looked at each other with our eyes filling up with tears....Richard was going to be a liability the next 5 days...crazy "Whisky Dick" Richard.
That night we arrived to our camp site and as a team, we cooked dinner and set up camp. Richard had some whiskey and Kate had some wine so we all had a few drinks and mingled some more. This was the night that I had my "typical American" moment. I was talking to the Germans and explaining how I visited Germany with my family when I was in the 8th grade and how we rented a car and drove on "The Autobahn" (in a thick German accent). The German girls started laughing hysterically and pointed at me saying how I was such a typical American. I was so confused and didn't understand what was so funny. Anna explained that all Americans talk about "The Autobahn" as if it is this one grand street in Germany where people drive on as fast as they want. I agreed..."well yeah...that is what it is, right?" They laughed again and said "I bet you think we wear lederhosen ever day and have houses filled with cuckoo clocks, too." I felt silly because "autobahn" actually means highway and there are numerous ones throughout Germany. It isn't this one particular street there. It was a funny moment because I make fun of people who think Texans ride horses to school and wear cowboy hats everyday and here I was doing the same thing to the Germans. Good times...good times!
We slept in "swags" which are heavy duty sleeping bags under the stars. Most everyone was already asleep as I got into my swag except for Richard. He was doing meditation breathing on the table and looking over us. I still didn't know much about Richard at this time and thought he was a bit peculiar so I just said goodnight and got into my swag. About 15 minutes later I heard him walking around the camp fire and blessing the campsite. He was chanting and praying that the bad spirits would leave us alone tonight, etc. I was laying there like (WTF is this guy doing??). Finally I drifted to sleep....
Day 2
We all woke up to the sunrising. I mentioned to Kate about what I heard Richard doing the night before, but we both agreed that we had slept really well...so maybe his blessings did work. This was the day that we were going to Uluru (Ayer's Rock). I am going to call it Uluru from now on because that is the aboriginal term and the community is trying hard to bring back to aboriginal names to the land. The history and culture of the aboriginals is so complex that there is no way I will be able to explain everything I learned on the tour in this blog. I only learned a tip of the ice burg and it was so incredibly interesting that I could spend years traveling around the Australian land gaining more insight into one of the oldest cultures in the world (if not the oldest..still up for debate). Aboriginal findings date back to 40-50,000 years ago!!!! There were 1000s of different tribes covering the lands and each had their own dialect, stories, customs, etc. They lived off of the land and the land provided back for them. They worked as a community and the men and woman respected each other because they knew they needed one another to continue on. Depending on what day you were born decided your name and what skill set and responsibilities you were given. For 1000s of years they roamed the lands up until the 1800s when the white man came to Australia. The white man brought with them cattle and started cattle ranches. The aboriginals had never seen a white man before and they never had to compete for resources of the land. The cultures collided and everything that the aboriginals lived for were taken away. White man introduced alcohol which changed the entire dynamic of the aboriginal tribes. Their bodies could not digest the substance easily and it caused major violence and disturbance within the tribes themselves. Many kids were abused and mistreated. Missionaries soon moved in to help "solve" the problems. There were good things and bad things that came from the missionaries....they did help the mistreated children, but they also provoked new religion and the curiosity changed the way the aboriginals have taught and learned the culture for 1000s of years. The racial tension continued to grow deeper and deeper and a lot of aboriginals got a bad rap because of the substance abuse. Even my guide, Geoff, explained that a majority of Australians grow up with this racial view of the aboriginals. He did as well and it wasn't until he moved to The Outback that he started to understand the complexities of it all and have a better understanding of the people. Finally, a few people in the government realized that the white man messed up and started giving the aboriginal people money for the harm done. They thought the money could be used to build communities and get their lives back together. The government treated the Aboriginal people as one group, even though there were 1000s of different tribes with specific needs and vastly different from one another. Aboriginal people never lived in houses before and didn't use money. This just gave them more accessibility to alcohol and drove them farther away from their roots. It really wasn't until tourism began and the outside world took a major interest in the aboriginal culture for the government to seriously take a look at the situation. Now that the government had a chance to make money on the aboriginals, and had the expectations from the outside world, they decided to try to work with the aboriginals and bring back some of the culture. Uluru is an area of land that the aboriginals won back in court. However, since it is a National Park area, the government still has a part of what happens on the land. The aboriginals don't have the infrastructure to handle all of the tourism so the government leads that area. Basically, the government still controls everything even though it is aboriginal land.
I know that is a lot of information and that isn't even half of the complex situation that I learned. Geoff was really good about making us think about the situation and explaining the history and why things were the way they were now. He fell into the same racial tension that a majority of others did and it has taken him a few years to think differently. He said that next time you see them in town don't judge them on the way they smell or look and if they are drunk...have an open mind and understand the situation that has led a lot of them to this stage. Also, this is only a small fraction of the people and they give a misconception of what the culture is really about. The mentality is changing for the better but it will take years for any major progress and it is the tourism and education of the visitors that are the ones truly helping. Aboriginal culture is still hardly addressed in Australian education and I think that is the first place that it should be addressed.
UUuuuggggg! It was so frustrating to learn about all of this and see exactly where the problems started, but the entanglement of issues from all different directions made me realize that there were no easy answers or solutions.
We spent that whole day walking around Uluru and hearing spiritual stories that the aboriginals would tell based on the formations. For lunch, we had a traditional Barbie overlooking Uluru. I had given Geoff a hard time about the perfection of a BBQ since I was from Texas. So, I was quickly nicknamed "Texas" and he put me in charge of the barbie for lunch. I must say...it was a pretty good meal :) After lunch we visited the aboriginal community center which was run by aboriginals and white men together. I browsed all of the art and crafts (the art is some of my favorite that I have seen and someday I will own some pieces in my home). We went to a lookout to watch the sunset over Uluru....the rich red color of the stone came out as the sunset reflected off of it. For dinner, we had kangaroo spaghetti for dinner and told more stories around the campfire. We reflected back on the day and the interesting things we learned. Geoff told us to draw some art in the sand the way the aboriginals did to express how we were feeling that night.
Day 3
The next day we woke up really early to drive out and watch the sunrise at a lookout where you could see Uluru and Kata Tjuta. After that we drove to Kata Tjuta (which is a mountain range of sandstone/conglomerate domes). The area is sacred to the aboriginals, but they have opened up 3 of the domes for us to walk around and visit. Geoff continued telling us the spiritual side of the area and then the geological reasoning behind the formations as well. We hiked to an area called the "Valley of the Winds". Richard walked away on his own and looked as though he was meditating. Later he told me how he was listening to the spirits out there and they were angry and wished people would not talk so much. They just wanted to rest...day after day..everyday of the year there are people stomping all over the sacred area and talking...not noticing the true beauty of silence. This got me a little worried because there have been many situations where people have taken rocks from Uluru and their lives were filled with badluck. I hoped that we didn't disrespect any of the spirits at Kata Tjuta. The last thing I needed on my travels was bad luck.
Today we would lose half of the group who only signed up for the 3 day tour. We would also change into a smaller safari jeep and 2 new people would join us. Geoff was disappointed about adding new people because this is the stage of the trip where you advance into a more intimate group and he was afraid the new comers would not mesh well.
We said our goodbyes to our new friends and wished everyone well. The group condensed down to Richard, Kate, Ines, Julia, Anna, and Me. We all got along well and were excited to spend 2 more days together. We all were uniquely close to one another even though we had only known each other a couple days. Even Geoff commented how neat it was that we all got along so well. The newcomers were Becks and Dave. They were both from Sydney and pretty nice, but their personalities didn't click well with any of us. To say it nicely, Becks was a know-it-all and they were pretty in your face about everything. We had all been in The Outback for 3 days and were pretty chilled out....they were wiry city folks who jumped in. I am a pretty tolerant person and try to stay positive all the time, and they even got on my nerves a bit. However, we all tried our best to welcome them to the group given the circumstances.
We transferred all of our belongings to a small safari jeep and headed out to our next stop. About 1 hour into driving a rock hit the back window and it shattered. We had to make-shift a window cover with carpet and tarp. Then, Geoff realized he forgot all of his belongings in the other truck....you could tell that Geoff was frustrated with the entire situation, but he handled himself well and managed to tuck us into our swags that night and send us off with an aboriginal bedtime story.
Day4
This morning we took a cultural walk with an aboriginal named Craig. His family had gone to court for 8 years and managed to gain back some of their tribal land from the government in the 80s. He was of mixed race and his grandfather was a white cattle man. They grew up farming and raising cattle and still continued that on the land, but now they were able to incorporate their tribal customs back into their lives. The aboriginal community that he was from lived back on the land again. Craig was a captivating speaker who had a lot of passion of continuing the knowledge and education of the aboriginal people. He was slightly out casted at first when he started doing cultural tours on the land, but he felt that the awareness of the history and culture was important to helping to bring those customs back. We went hiking and he showed us cave paintings and drew stories in the sand. We went hunting for fossils and he explained the rituals and customs of his specific tribe. He also talked about incorporating the aboriginal culture into todays world. There were many things that I learned that day, but one thing that sticks out to me is they way that Craig never blamed the white man for how life is today. He didn't show anger or defeat about how history had taken place. Yes, the aboriginals had been through a devestating past, but they too needed to help themselves to continue on. He explained that there were good things and bad things to the situations that took place and that progression was only natural. There was no way they could go back to the way things were in the 1800s because of the awareness they now had of the outside world. So instead of mourning about it the rest of his life, he is doing what he can to continue the culture and rituals with the way the world is today. He hopes that the aboriginal culture continues on for many more years to come and that it doesn't become extinct like many of the world's past civilizations.
After the interesting cultural experience, we headed out to the Larapinta River (also known as the Fink River). Anthropologists, scientists, and geologists have dated this river back to being the OLDEST RIVER IN THE WORLD!!!! Crazy, right? It was a dried up river bed when we visited and only has water when the rains come through the desert. The last major rain was last November. On our way to the river a tire blew on the jeep. Poor Geoff....he was faced with a lot of obstacles on this tour. Fortunetaly, we were an easy-going bunch and thought that everything added to the adventure. After hiking around the Larapinta Trail, we went to go find our camp. It became dark and we had to off-road to get to the camp site. We ended up getting totally stuck in the sand. Poor Poor Geoff......the tires were half-way deep into sand and the only way out was digging. We worked as a team trying to get the jeep unstuck. As we were doing this we finally looked up to see the stars above us. I have never seen the sky so clear...it was as if we could see every star in the sky. I felt like I could almost touch the milky way.
It was about this time that I got the rumble in my stomach. My bowel movements had been sketchy since we started camping and I took a few immodium the first day because I didn't want any trouble. Well, my body was finally trying to tell me that it was time to go...I needed a toilet quickly. All of our campsites the previous nights had bathrooms that you could walk to so I really wasn't that worried. Then, Kate notified my that the campsite for tonight was not going to have a bathroom and we need to go in the bush. "Ummmmm seriously???" I thought to myself. I was pissed because only an hour ago we were at a decent bathroom, but I just told myself to wait till we got to camp and now I wouldn't even have a bathroom to go to. When we arrived to camp, Geoff told us to go over that hill to to use the bathroom and dig a whole with the shovel, etc. I asked him for some toilet paper....however, the toilet paper and been misplaced so we didn;t have any. He handed me a bit of coarse paper and told me that would have to do. Fortunetaly, the guys all left to go collect firewood and the girls remained to setup camp and start dinner. So it was the perfect time for me to go. I walked over to this hill that I thought he told me to go to and dug a hole and did my business. At the same time, a huge gust of wind came through right as I did so and I heard all the girls start chuckling because they could totally smell it. (sorry I know this is gross, but this is the story of my life). I was completely mortified....here I was in the middle of the outback with a shovel and a hole and a huge gust of wind had to come at the particular moment. I think the spirits were upset with us afterall. I made a mound of dirt over the hole to keep in any other smells and went back to camp. Later I realized I had gone in the wrong spot and dug my hole right where Geoff was planning on camping. I told him that it may be better if he chose a different area.
Day5
Our final and last day in The Outback! We went hiking through a gorge and to a place called Palm Valley, which has palm trees unique to that area only. While we were there we were confronted by a kangaroo only feet away from us. We startled him and he took off running around us and up into the mountains. We had seen several kangaroos during out tour, but none this close and personal. On our way back to Alice Springs, I sat up front next to El Jefe and we talked about our lives and the past 5 days. I couldn't believe it was all coming to an end. It was such an amazing adventure filled with culture and friends. I especially had a good time because it was nice to meet people and build a special relationship with them and then to share the experiences together. During my travels, I see and experience a lot of things on my own and it is nice sometimes to share these moments with others. We may have only known each other for a few days but we all developed an intimate bond with one another.
Geoff talked about the trip because he too noticed the ease of friendship that was developed and all the obstacles he was faced with. He enjoyed our group because we all worked together and he was there in the present with us instead of thinking of when the tour would be over, etc. (like he often thinks when he is on tour). During our tour, the song Cecilia by Simon & Garfunkle was the song that was always in our heads. We would play it on the Ipod or someone would be humming it around camp. On our drive back home, Cecilia came on the radio again and we turned up the volume and sang it all together at the top of our lungs...laughing histerically.
That night we all met up for a farewll dinner to share stories and say our goodbyes. There was a live band playing and Richard sneaked off to make a request. A few minutes later we had the band asking for us to get on stage. We were all a bit mortified, but Richard (who never gets embarresed) was standing up with a big grin on his face. He had requested Cecilia and asked that we all go and dance together. There were about 60 other people in the bar who were not dancing....but we all got up anyways and danced in a circle singing Cecilia. I was laughing so hard that I was crying.
Geoff had asked us to figure out a group name, he liked naming the groups so he could identify them. After a few beers together, it was pretty easy to decide that we would be named "Team: Cecilia"
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
NZ's Top 10
In a tribute to my last post about New Zealand...I have decided to blog about 10 things that I think are corky, weird, interesting, or badass about the country. It is kind of like David Letterman's top 10 list, but it is Andrea Galant's list of random things about NZ in no particular order. I hope you enjoy. (Since I started writing this blog, I am now in Australia....some of the things below also pertain to Australia, but since I was introduced to them in NZ....that is where I will give credit. Sorry Aussies...I visited the Kiwi's first!)
1. HITCHING
Where else can you hitch safely in the world....ummmm NO WHERE ELSE!
The crime rate is so low here it is kind of scary. Don't people ever trip out and go 'postal"...well, with only 4 million people living here, gorgeous scenery, and a laid back lifestyle.....you begin to understand that they have something figured out that most of the world is missing.
The other day (after an unsuccessful attempt at seeing whales in Kaikoura bc the weather was too bad) I ended up getting side tracked and missed my bus to Christchurch. Normally this would not have been a problem, because I would have just gotten the next bus out, but it was my first time in NZ that I had someone picking me up from the station. Of course, the first time I have some sort of accountability and I miss my dang bus. No worries though, I called the girl that was picking me up and sorted it out. Then realized there were no buses out the rest of that day. Soooooo...here it was...my ultimate hitchhiking trip looking me in the face. I was alone and I had to get to Christchurch, which was 2 hours away...hitching was my only option. It took about 30 seconds for Niel from the UK to pull over and give me a ride. We had a great chat and I made it to my destination safely. I hope that hitching remains a safe form of transport for many years to come in NZ.
2. WORDS
My friend Alan is kind of a linguist...he has studied several languages. He always thinks it is interesting to hear the different words that are used around the world. Below is a list of words that we came up with that are different then what we say in the states.
American-New Zealand
diaper-nappies
bell pepper-capsicum
thanks - cheers
friend - mate
that's cool - "good on ya"
How are you doing? - How ya going?
"for here or to go" - "dine in or take-away"
sweet potato - kumara
pickle-gerkin
ketchup-tomato sauce
intersection-junction
yellow light-amber light (in reference to stop lights)
napkin-serviette
zucchini-courgette
gasoline-petrol
fries-chips
chips-crisps
cookies-biscuits
candy-lollies
hiking-tramping
to have dinner - to have tea
trunk-boot
great-brilliant
a lot - heaps
intense - full on
calm down - easy on
convenient store - dairy
real - proper
whine-whindge
trash - rubbish
salty - savory
granola - muesli
thrift store - opportunity store
awesome - "sweet as..bro!"
3. CURRENCY
The currency is similar to the states except that they do not have pennies. Their smallest currency is a 10 cent coin. Which I think it really awesome because pennies are just a hassle anyways. The only thing that does not make sense is that they still price goods in cents....so something may cost $3.99 or you may get some tomatoes for $2.32....so then you wonder, how can I pay you 2.32 when I don't have any pennies. Well it's easy, you just round to the nearest 10th. So that would be 2.30 cents. Now, why the hell don't they just price it to $2.30 cents to begin with?
4. Adding an "R" to words that end in "A" ex: Australia=Australi'r or India=Indi'r or Olivia Newton John= Olivi'r Newton John
I think that this takes place in both New Zealand and Australia.....people say these words with such confidence that I haven't got the heart to ask them why??? WHY PUT AN "R" AT THE END OF THE WORD??? Finally, I asked my Aussie friend, Kirsty about the weird phenomenon and she didn't even know what I was talking about. So I started to point it out when she would put the "r" on the end of words. Once she realized the odd pronunciation, she explained that if a word ends in "a", then they will put an "r" at the end of the word only if it is followed by another word because they are lazy and it is easier for them to pronounce it that way with their accent. So, there you go....the official answer by a true Australian!
5. SOCIAL HEALTH CARE
Among many things, they have gotten the health care figured out pretty good. It is all socialized and from talking to the locals, they think positively about the system. Even if they have to ride in an ambulance, the government asks for a donation instead of demanding payment. When a woman has a baby, they have a program in which they send someone over to help get the new mother started in caring for the child....for a few weeks she has help getting acquainted with her new life. All of this is part of the health care program. Keep in mind, though, the country is small with only 4 million people. On top of that, they don't have a huge military cost. So, with those factors involved...it makes it easy to manage social health care without having ridiculous tax costs. Even the Kiwi's agreed that it would probably not be as successful in a larger country such as the States. But still, I am a bit jealous....
6.FLAVORED TUNA CANS
Now, I have never seen these in the States before, but they may be in existence. Sorry if this is not unique to this part of the world, but it is where I was introduced to this glorious product.
They have cans of tuna here that are already flavored. For instance, you can get tomato & basil tuna, savory onion tuna, Mexican tuna salad, sweet Thai chili tuna, lemon/pepper tuna, sun dried tomato & olive tuna.....etc. I have been living off of this stuff since I got here. You just buy some crackers and a can and you don't even need any utensils to eat a nice meal. I know that the states have flavored tuna in those pouches, but I have never seen them in the can...AND with this many options. Come on States....get with the program.....flavor the tuna in the cans! If you don't think there is a market for it, then you are wrong. Andrea Galant will keep you in business.
7. MARMITE
Marmite is a spread made from yeast extracts, a by-product of beer brewing. In researching this product, I now realize that it originated in the UK. However, New Zealand developed a different version of marmite in 1919 so that is the one that I am referring to :)
Nikal, this girl I stayed with in Christchurch, gave me my first taste of this "savory" spread. Remember the word section...savory means salty! Really really SALTY!!!!! You toast some bread, spread some butter on it, and then spread a thin layer of marmite over that. Honestly, I didn't mind it too much. I like salty food so I wasn't repulsed by the taste. I imagine it to be like beer....it is an acquired taste. I am sure if I lived in New Zealand long enough I would have began eating it on a regular basis.
Oh who am I kidding....the spread was weird!! I would prefer butter and jam over marmite any day!
8. TRAMPING (hiking)
New Zealand has gotten the tramping thing figured out. They have 100s of trails throughout the country. They spend a lot of money on national park preservation and trail maintenance. If you are a beginner (such as myself), they have plenty of trails that are well marked and easy to get to. If you are an experienced tramper - they have trails for you too. You can do your own navigation and use survival techniques to get through the tramp. Since the country is not densely populated, you can walk days without ever seeing any sign of civilization. I think that New Zealand has some of the best hiking in the world!
9. ONE-HANDED SAUCE PACKETS
This is one of the more "brilliant" ideas I have discovered in New Zealand. One night after a few beers, Alan and I attended a professional rugby match. We waited in line to get some chicken n' chips. The lady handed me the basket of food with these unique looking sauce packets. I stared at the packets inquisitively for a few moments. Then realized that all I had to do was squeeze the packet with one-hand, over my food and out came the sauce. You don't have to tear the packet open or anything. At the exact same time I was pondering this, I heard Alan behind me ask the same questions out loud that went through my head. "These are weird packets...I wonder how you WOOOOOOWWWWW Shit!" I looked back to see that Alan had figured out how they worked as he squirted himself in the face with the sauce. They work really good if you have them aimed towards the food.
I am actually really surprised that the Americans didn't come up with this invention first. It is a way to get the food into your mouth sooner...with less effort. How much lazier can we get! Such a fantastic idea.
10. SWEET THAI CHILI SAUCE
So this one I have as number 10 and it is actually the final and the best thing that I have discovered in New Zealand. Yes, I realize that we have sweet Thai chili sauce in America....you can pick it up at any Asian market or the ethnic food isle in the grocery store. But I don't think Americans have realized how amazing this sauce is. Since New Zealand is so close to South East Asia, they have a lot of Asian restaurants and street vendors. They have incorporated some of the Asian foods into every day life, such as Sweet Thai Chili Sauce. I first discovered this sauce when I ordered some "kumara" wedges. I asked for tomato sauce since that is clearly the best thing that goes on wedges. The lady told me that each packet of tomato sauce was .40 cents each, but that the wedges came with sour cream and sweet Thai chili sauce. I thought this was the strangest combination of foods ever, but I decided to try it out. OH MY GOODNESS! The fusion of flavors in my mouth exploded. Salty, sweet, with cold sour cream to combine the textures.....so amazing! It was much better then boring old ketchup. Since that experience, I started noticing Sweet Thai Chili Sauce everywhere. People put it on everything. I bought a bottle and started spicing up my meals at the hostels....its great on steamed veggies, in soup, on chicken or fish, on kebabs...you can put it on almost anything! The sauce is even an option at Subway...mayo, mustard, or sweet Thai chili? Let me just say...during this cultural journey that I am on right now I am bound to take a few things back home with me. New thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and philosophies......and sweet Thai chili sauce!
I hope you enjoyed my top 10 list of random things from New Zealand. This country was amazing and there are 1000s of wonderful reasons to go and visit the place. The things that I listed above were just a few that I experienced and thought that I should share. Most guide books or professional travelers would tell you about the highest peaks, deepest lakes, or strongest waterfalls, but me, Andrea Galant (amateur travel writer and spiritual learner) wants to take you off the beaten path and give you some real insight into the places that I visit.
On to Australia......
After immigrations during the Swine Flu fiasco (actually it was one of the easiest immigrations ever. I just had to walk through a thermal chamber and they tested to see my body temperature.) I am now in Sydney, Australia and staying with my friend Kirsty. Some of you may have met Kirsty when she lived in Austin a few years ago, but she returned home to Australia and is now married and expecting her first child. She has a wonderful condo near Dee Why Beach and her and her husband, Glen, have been fantastic hosts. They drove me around the city and up to the Blue Mountains. For the next few days I am going to travel to the city on my own and see some of the world famous sites, like the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and Aquarium.
You know that image you get in your head when you picture what a place looks like. Well, my image of Sydney is true... Good looking men, surfers, beaches, street cafes, sunny weather, rolling hills, cliffs, harbours, sailboats, did I mention good looking men?......it is all true! The image that I had is exactly what this place actually looks like.
Cheers mates....GOOD ON YA!
1. HITCHING
Where else can you hitch safely in the world....ummmm NO WHERE ELSE!
The crime rate is so low here it is kind of scary. Don't people ever trip out and go 'postal"...well, with only 4 million people living here, gorgeous scenery, and a laid back lifestyle.....you begin to understand that they have something figured out that most of the world is missing.
The other day (after an unsuccessful attempt at seeing whales in Kaikoura bc the weather was too bad) I ended up getting side tracked and missed my bus to Christchurch. Normally this would not have been a problem, because I would have just gotten the next bus out, but it was my first time in NZ that I had someone picking me up from the station. Of course, the first time I have some sort of accountability and I miss my dang bus. No worries though, I called the girl that was picking me up and sorted it out. Then realized there were no buses out the rest of that day. Soooooo...here it was...my ultimate hitchhiking trip looking me in the face. I was alone and I had to get to Christchurch, which was 2 hours away...hitching was my only option. It took about 30 seconds for Niel from the UK to pull over and give me a ride. We had a great chat and I made it to my destination safely. I hope that hitching remains a safe form of transport for many years to come in NZ.
2. WORDS
My friend Alan is kind of a linguist...he has studied several languages. He always thinks it is interesting to hear the different words that are used around the world. Below is a list of words that we came up with that are different then what we say in the states.
American-New Zealand
diaper-nappies
bell pepper-capsicum
thanks - cheers
friend - mate
that's cool - "good on ya"
How are you doing? - How ya going?
"for here or to go" - "dine in or take-away"
sweet potato - kumara
pickle-gerkin
ketchup-tomato sauce
intersection-junction
yellow light-amber light (in reference to stop lights)
napkin-serviette
zucchini-courgette
gasoline-petrol
fries-chips
chips-crisps
cookies-biscuits
candy-lollies
hiking-tramping
to have dinner - to have tea
trunk-boot
great-brilliant
a lot - heaps
intense - full on
calm down - easy on
convenient store - dairy
real - proper
whine-whindge
trash - rubbish
salty - savory
granola - muesli
thrift store - opportunity store
awesome - "sweet as..bro!"
3. CURRENCY
The currency is similar to the states except that they do not have pennies. Their smallest currency is a 10 cent coin. Which I think it really awesome because pennies are just a hassle anyways. The only thing that does not make sense is that they still price goods in cents....so something may cost $3.99 or you may get some tomatoes for $2.32....so then you wonder, how can I pay you 2.32 when I don't have any pennies. Well it's easy, you just round to the nearest 10th. So that would be 2.30 cents. Now, why the hell don't they just price it to $2.30 cents to begin with?
4. Adding an "R" to words that end in "A" ex: Australia=Australi'r or India=Indi'r or Olivia Newton John= Olivi'r Newton John
I think that this takes place in both New Zealand and Australia.....people say these words with such confidence that I haven't got the heart to ask them why??? WHY PUT AN "R" AT THE END OF THE WORD??? Finally, I asked my Aussie friend, Kirsty about the weird phenomenon and she didn't even know what I was talking about. So I started to point it out when she would put the "r" on the end of words. Once she realized the odd pronunciation, she explained that if a word ends in "a", then they will put an "r" at the end of the word only if it is followed by another word because they are lazy and it is easier for them to pronounce it that way with their accent. So, there you go....the official answer by a true Australian!
5. SOCIAL HEALTH CARE
Among many things, they have gotten the health care figured out pretty good. It is all socialized and from talking to the locals, they think positively about the system. Even if they have to ride in an ambulance, the government asks for a donation instead of demanding payment. When a woman has a baby, they have a program in which they send someone over to help get the new mother started in caring for the child....for a few weeks she has help getting acquainted with her new life. All of this is part of the health care program. Keep in mind, though, the country is small with only 4 million people. On top of that, they don't have a huge military cost. So, with those factors involved...it makes it easy to manage social health care without having ridiculous tax costs. Even the Kiwi's agreed that it would probably not be as successful in a larger country such as the States. But still, I am a bit jealous....
6.FLAVORED TUNA CANS
Now, I have never seen these in the States before, but they may be in existence. Sorry if this is not unique to this part of the world, but it is where I was introduced to this glorious product.
They have cans of tuna here that are already flavored. For instance, you can get tomato & basil tuna, savory onion tuna, Mexican tuna salad, sweet Thai chili tuna, lemon/pepper tuna, sun dried tomato & olive tuna.....etc. I have been living off of this stuff since I got here. You just buy some crackers and a can and you don't even need any utensils to eat a nice meal. I know that the states have flavored tuna in those pouches, but I have never seen them in the can...AND with this many options. Come on States....get with the program.....flavor the tuna in the cans! If you don't think there is a market for it, then you are wrong. Andrea Galant will keep you in business.
7. MARMITE
Marmite is a spread made from yeast extracts, a by-product of beer brewing. In researching this product, I now realize that it originated in the UK. However, New Zealand developed a different version of marmite in 1919 so that is the one that I am referring to :)
Nikal, this girl I stayed with in Christchurch, gave me my first taste of this "savory" spread. Remember the word section...savory means salty! Really really SALTY!!!!! You toast some bread, spread some butter on it, and then spread a thin layer of marmite over that. Honestly, I didn't mind it too much. I like salty food so I wasn't repulsed by the taste. I imagine it to be like beer....it is an acquired taste. I am sure if I lived in New Zealand long enough I would have began eating it on a regular basis.
Oh who am I kidding....the spread was weird!! I would prefer butter and jam over marmite any day!
8. TRAMPING (hiking)
New Zealand has gotten the tramping thing figured out. They have 100s of trails throughout the country. They spend a lot of money on national park preservation and trail maintenance. If you are a beginner (such as myself), they have plenty of trails that are well marked and easy to get to. If you are an experienced tramper - they have trails for you too. You can do your own navigation and use survival techniques to get through the tramp. Since the country is not densely populated, you can walk days without ever seeing any sign of civilization. I think that New Zealand has some of the best hiking in the world!
9. ONE-HANDED SAUCE PACKETS
This is one of the more "brilliant" ideas I have discovered in New Zealand. One night after a few beers, Alan and I attended a professional rugby match. We waited in line to get some chicken n' chips. The lady handed me the basket of food with these unique looking sauce packets. I stared at the packets inquisitively for a few moments. Then realized that all I had to do was squeeze the packet with one-hand, over my food and out came the sauce. You don't have to tear the packet open or anything. At the exact same time I was pondering this, I heard Alan behind me ask the same questions out loud that went through my head. "These are weird packets...I wonder how you WOOOOOOWWWWW Shit!" I looked back to see that Alan had figured out how they worked as he squirted himself in the face with the sauce. They work really good if you have them aimed towards the food.
I am actually really surprised that the Americans didn't come up with this invention first. It is a way to get the food into your mouth sooner...with less effort. How much lazier can we get! Such a fantastic idea.
10. SWEET THAI CHILI SAUCE
So this one I have as number 10 and it is actually the final and the best thing that I have discovered in New Zealand. Yes, I realize that we have sweet Thai chili sauce in America....you can pick it up at any Asian market or the ethnic food isle in the grocery store. But I don't think Americans have realized how amazing this sauce is. Since New Zealand is so close to South East Asia, they have a lot of Asian restaurants and street vendors. They have incorporated some of the Asian foods into every day life, such as Sweet Thai Chili Sauce. I first discovered this sauce when I ordered some "kumara" wedges. I asked for tomato sauce since that is clearly the best thing that goes on wedges. The lady told me that each packet of tomato sauce was .40 cents each, but that the wedges came with sour cream and sweet Thai chili sauce. I thought this was the strangest combination of foods ever, but I decided to try it out. OH MY GOODNESS! The fusion of flavors in my mouth exploded. Salty, sweet, with cold sour cream to combine the textures.....so amazing! It was much better then boring old ketchup. Since that experience, I started noticing Sweet Thai Chili Sauce everywhere. People put it on everything. I bought a bottle and started spicing up my meals at the hostels....its great on steamed veggies, in soup, on chicken or fish, on kebabs...you can put it on almost anything! The sauce is even an option at Subway...mayo, mustard, or sweet Thai chili? Let me just say...during this cultural journey that I am on right now I am bound to take a few things back home with me. New thoughts, perceptions, ideas, and philosophies......and sweet Thai chili sauce!
I hope you enjoyed my top 10 list of random things from New Zealand. This country was amazing and there are 1000s of wonderful reasons to go and visit the place. The things that I listed above were just a few that I experienced and thought that I should share. Most guide books or professional travelers would tell you about the highest peaks, deepest lakes, or strongest waterfalls, but me, Andrea Galant (amateur travel writer and spiritual learner) wants to take you off the beaten path and give you some real insight into the places that I visit.
On to Australia......
After immigrations during the Swine Flu fiasco (actually it was one of the easiest immigrations ever. I just had to walk through a thermal chamber and they tested to see my body temperature.) I am now in Sydney, Australia and staying with my friend Kirsty. Some of you may have met Kirsty when she lived in Austin a few years ago, but she returned home to Australia and is now married and expecting her first child. She has a wonderful condo near Dee Why Beach and her and her husband, Glen, have been fantastic hosts. They drove me around the city and up to the Blue Mountains. For the next few days I am going to travel to the city on my own and see some of the world famous sites, like the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and Aquarium.
You know that image you get in your head when you picture what a place looks like. Well, my image of Sydney is true... Good looking men, surfers, beaches, street cafes, sunny weather, rolling hills, cliffs, harbours, sailboats, did I mention good looking men?......it is all true! The image that I had is exactly what this place actually looks like.
Cheers mates....GOOD ON YA!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Slow my roll.....
Since you are sitting there reading this blog right now, you can safely assume that I survived the Milford hike. It was my first multi-day hike that I did alone...well, sorta. There were about 40 other people hiking the track on the same days as me and we would all meet at the shelter each night to sleep. So, even though I was hiking hours a day alone, there was some accountability for where I was and people were aware of the other hikers on the track.
Still, it was a really unique experience for me. I carried my own pack, cooked my own food, and was the sole person responsible for myself. I was even in charge of talking to myself on the hikes for 6 hours a day...it was beautiful, cold, rainy, sunny, awesome, exuberant, refreshing, and well....just a tad bit lonely, I must admit. One of the things that I have been struggling with on my travels is wishing that I had some family or friends to experience some of the things with me.....if only I could borrow my mother's eyes for a day and have her look at the view I was looking at. Or how fun would it be to have Carly and Robin out with me for a night in Queenstown? I think about this a lot. Even though I meet a lot of people and share many experiences with them, it isn't the same as your close family and friends. A cool thing about this hike though, was that my sister-in-law had completed it a few years ago. So every time I had one of those moments where I wish I could share it with someone close....I would remember that Kelley had been here and done this before. She would understand where I walked and what I had seen.
Of the 4 days that I was hiking....4 of the days it rained. And I am not talking about drizzle....RAIN...raining to the point that everything I owned and was carrying with me was soaked. Even though I had on rainproof gear, I didn't stand a chance. Everything was wet....and at night it would half-ass dry, but it didn't matter because I would walk right back into the rain again for another long day of wetness. It is not that surprising that it rained, though. 200 days of the year it rains in the Milford area. In fact, if you do the hike with no rain at all, then you have actually not hiked the Milford Track (at least that is what the rangers say to cheer you up each night). Rainfall can reach up to 6,800 mm (Approx 270 inches) per year. Austin, TX has an average of 32-48 inches per year...so yeah.. it rains a lot here. The environment is plush and green and wet everywhere...100s maybe 1000s of waterfalls surround you throughout the hike. There were several moments when I would be looking down, watching my steps meticulously (since it was slick) and then I would stop to look up....and see waterfalls pouring down the cliffs all around me. WOW...I would just stand there in the rain amazed at how alive everything was...the water rushing everywhere. I have some pictures of the falls, but they don't give any justice to the depth of what I was looking at. SO MUCH WATER....EVERYWHERE! Gushing so hard that you think it should all stop sometime since there is no way there could really be this much water...when would it run out? But in the 4 days I was there it didn't stop once....there was never even a hesitation of the water stopping. Meanwhile, the birds would still whistle and fly around as if it was a bright sunny day outside...they understood the environment they lived in....truly amazing!
One night, it was raining so hard that the next morning our hut ranger, Ross, told us to wait a few hours before we started hiking. He wanted to see if the rain would calm...because the rivers flooded bad in this section and it could get dangerous. If the rain continued at this level, then we would have to be flown out by helicopters (which I thought would be equally as cool as doing the hike). After a few hours, he said he was going to hike to the rivers to check them out...we were more then welcome to follow along. A couple "go- getters" jumped up and started following him immediately, and since I was alone and only had to take care of myself, I happened to be ready as well. So, there I was...following the ranger and a couple experienced hikers to go "check out" the trail....as if I were really qualified for any sort of danger that may be ahead. Fortunately, there wasn't any major danger....a few trees had fallen in the track that we had to move and the flooding wasn't bad enough that they needed to call in the "copters". The water only went up to our THIGHS at the river crossings so apparently that was not helicopter status. Yes folks, I was proud of this moment....I truly feel like I have hiked in New Zealand now. I had to hold my pack up and walk through a flooded river that went up to my thighs. One of the couples with us took off their boots as if they weren't going to get wet with all the rain....I just looked at them like they were idiots and plunged into the river with my shoes and pants and everything on. It was adventurous and crazy and fun!!!! I felt like an avid hiker :)
Overall, the Milford Track was a great experience and I am glad to add it to my list of adventures during my travels. It is rated one of the most famous tracks in the world and with some of the views that I saw....I can understand why.
After the hike, I went back to the small town of Te Anau....bought a bottle of wine and decided to do laundry to wash all my nasty clothes. Now that I was on my own, I really didn't have a plan. I didn't know where I should head the next day or what I should do. I figured that after my laundry, I would go to the internet and book a bus ticket out of town towards Dunedin. I really wanted to hitch a ride, but I wasn't brave enough to hitch alone....I kept going back and forth about it. I met this chick named Laura when doing my laundry. She was a witty girl and I couldn't place her English accent. Turns out, she was born in Germany, spent some time living in USA, then moved to South Africa and now resides in France. Her father works for some big USA corporation and they moved around frequently. Because of this, she knows 3 languages fluently and flips back and forth speaking them all the time. She speaks German with her mother, English with her father, and French with her sister. We hit it off immediately and both had the same sense of humor about things. You could tell she was easy going, laid back and up for whatever....she had traveled a lot and didn't expect much from people and went with the flow. After chit-chatting, she asked if I wanted to go grab a beer with her and some friends. I explained to her my dilemma of leaving the next day and if I were to get the bus, then it left at 7am....so I probably shouldn't go out..blah blah blah. She said fair enough...they would be at the bar if I was interested. I finished my laundry and headed to the computer to book my ticket....then it hit me. I had been alone for 4 days hiking in solitude...what the hell was I doing passing up an offer to the bar. I really could use a nice stout beer and some good conversation. I'll either hitch out of here tomorrow or book a ticket for the next day...regardless, it would work itself out somehow. I met Laura and her friends at the bar and had a few drinks. The beers were going down smoothly too...I have not been drinking much since I have been in NZ (giving the liver a little break), so after only 2 beers I was feeling pretty nice. There was a guy sitting next to us who seemed to be alone. I invited him over to our conversation. His name was Thomas and he was from Switzerland. After speaking with him for a bit I found out that he had his own car and was heading to Dunedin the next day. I was like...seriously? "I am trying to get to Dunedin...do you want some help with petrol (gas)?" And then like that....things worked themselves out. I paid Thomas $10NZ for the 4 hour ride which would have cost me $50NZ by bus.....so it worked out fine indeed.
Through my friend Brad, I had a hook-up with a place to stay in Dunedin. The girl had a flat in the city, but was currently doing her residency for med school in another city. So, she was not there at the moment, but she had 5 other flat mates and said just to go to her place and stay in her room. I felt a little strange doing this, as I had never met her and surely didn't know her flatmates either....but I thought it was cool that she offered her room and decided to check it out.
When I arrived to the house, there were trash bags filled with beer cans and wine bottles sprawled out on the front porch. There were about 6 vintage chairs/lazy boys surrounding a make-shift coffee table on the porch as well...all of this was next to the fridge (not one of those small office fridges, but a full-sized kitchen fridge)...all on the front porch! I had to smile to myself...I realized I would fit in just fine with these new random people that I would be staying with. I knocked on the door, but no one came. I knocked and rang the doorbell several other times, but still....no one came to the door. Hmmmmm....it was only 10:30am and from the looks of the front porch, everyone could easily still be sleeping. I peeked my head through the window just as I saw someone coming out of a bedroom and knocked again to get his attention. The guy came to the door with his hair all messed up and sleep still in his eyes. "Hi there, ....I'm friends (I guess) with Amelia and am staying in her room for a few days."...I was all smiley and chipper holding my bags...the guy was probably "who in the hell is this chick!". He mumbled something along the lines of..."cool...yeah..whatev...just.. you can go to her room." And then he left the door open and walked back into his room. So there I was, with my backpack, standing in this house....with not a damn clue which room was Amelia's. I decided to walk upstairs and that is where I ran into JD, the french dude. He was really cool and showed me her room. Then I met Kate, and some other guy who I can't remember his name. Anyways, it's a big house with 6 roommates and craziness all about. There is clutter and everyone's personality written all over it, but somehow the bathroom and kitchen are clean and it just seems like everything works together well....a good atmosphere and vibe. I felt like I was in college again...there was even a jar of condoms in the bathroom with a sign that read "no hubba hubba with out a rubba rubba". This would be my accommodation for the next few days and I thought it was awesome!
Dunedin was a cool city. It is a university town with a mixture of funky art, music, food, and theater. Gorgeous Victorian style homes fill the hilly neighborhoods...some kept up really well and others falling down in shambles. It was a good town to chill-out in for a few days...enough to do, but not too in your face.
One day I went on a tour to the Otago Peninsula about an hour away. Here I was able to see seals, sea lions, and yellow-eyed penguins. I have never been up close to that type of wildlife before and it was really cool. Penguins are soooo stinking cute. The way they wobble from the ocean to the land...trying to sneak by the sea lions and escape another day with out getting eaten. I even witnessed a sea lion take a huge crap on the beach. At first I thought something was wrong with him...then his face got stern and next thing I knew, out came a present. I have pics of the animals on Picasa as well.
After a few site-seeing days in Dunedin it crept up to me again...this weird feeling that I have been getting every so often the past few weeks, but I have pushed it back deep inside my mind....there should be no reason that I am having this feeling and I am not going to face it right here...right now. It doesn't make sense to me.
Basically, everything around me is great...Before I left on my travels everything in my life was great as well. I had a family that loved and supported me, friends that I could count on, a stable job, lived in a fantastic city, rented out a comfortable house, boys to go out with....I mean what the heck else could a girl like me ask for? But even though I had all of this, I was unsatisfied and it lingered in the back of my mind. Why was I not content with my life?
I came to the conclusion that the life I was living couldn't be the final end all....there was more ...WAY MORE out there and I wanted to see it and live it before I got too comfortable where I was at. So I planned this trip that I am on now....when I arrived to South America I was on a high for 4 months experiencing the culture, people, food, language....it was exactly what I needed at that moment in my life. I was getting the satisfaction that I was craving. And now, here I am again...6.5 months later and I sense that feeling coming up in the back of my throat and I don't want to say that it is happening again because it doesn't make any sense to me. How can I not be satisfied with my life right now.....I am on a year holiday!!!! This is EXACTLY what I asked for!!!!
I have been doing a lot of thinking the past few days and trying to figure out the sensations and feelings I am having and getting to the bottom of it...I think what it is, is that I am over the whole "tourist" thing. I walk aimlessly through city streets watching people, drink lattes, read tons of books, visit museums, go on multi day hikes, and venture to the next town to do the same thing over and over and over again. It is wonderful....a fantastic holiday, but can I move like this for the next 10 months? Was the real purpose of my journey to take tourbusses out to the ocean and stare at sea lions for 1 year? I am sick of site-seeing....I am ready to "live" amongst people and "do" something during my travels. Not just stick my nose in guide books and carry a city map in my hand 24/7. I have decided that I need to slow my travels down and get involved with some of the communities that I visit. Perhaps I will volunteer, or take classes, or work....but just do something that I am accountable for. Instead of being a tourist, I will be more like a short-term resident. The world is a big place and I can't see all of it on this trip....I don't even want to try to see half of it. Quality overrides quantity for me right now!
As we all know, I enjoyed my time in Banos, Ecuador. I was taking Spanish classes and getting to know people in the town....I had my favorite places to eat and knew all of the hikes in the area. On the weekends I would travel to nearby towns and visit other places. Banos was my "hub" and my time there was perfect...it was enough time to figure out the city, but I left before it became monotonous and routine. I think it's time for something like that again....a place to slow my roll....breath...and not worry about what bus to take and what village to breeze through tomorrow. I have a few more days in NZ and then I head to Australia to visit a dear friend in Sydney. My time in Australia will be short as it is fairly expensive to travel there , but once I get to SE Asia I hope to slow it down a notch. I am making some contacts for volunteer opportunities, but since I am not affiliated with a church it may be difficult. I also found some cooking classes in Cambodia & Vietnam...that could be another unique way to get to know a city. Those are my thoughts right now about things...so...thanks for listening.
Anyways, in a few days I will be heading to a town called Kaikoura. You can take a boat out in the ocean and there is a 98% you will see killer and blue whales. I know, I know.... I said I was sick of tours and site-seeing....BUT WHALES????Seriously? Besides Sea World, I have never witnessed a whale sighting....so yes, I am pretty excited about it. I can play "tourist" for a little bit longer I suppose :)
Still, it was a really unique experience for me. I carried my own pack, cooked my own food, and was the sole person responsible for myself. I was even in charge of talking to myself on the hikes for 6 hours a day...it was beautiful, cold, rainy, sunny, awesome, exuberant, refreshing, and well....just a tad bit lonely, I must admit. One of the things that I have been struggling with on my travels is wishing that I had some family or friends to experience some of the things with me.....if only I could borrow my mother's eyes for a day and have her look at the view I was looking at. Or how fun would it be to have Carly and Robin out with me for a night in Queenstown? I think about this a lot. Even though I meet a lot of people and share many experiences with them, it isn't the same as your close family and friends. A cool thing about this hike though, was that my sister-in-law had completed it a few years ago. So every time I had one of those moments where I wish I could share it with someone close....I would remember that Kelley had been here and done this before. She would understand where I walked and what I had seen.
Of the 4 days that I was hiking....4 of the days it rained. And I am not talking about drizzle....RAIN...raining to the point that everything I owned and was carrying with me was soaked. Even though I had on rainproof gear, I didn't stand a chance. Everything was wet....and at night it would half-ass dry, but it didn't matter because I would walk right back into the rain again for another long day of wetness. It is not that surprising that it rained, though. 200 days of the year it rains in the Milford area. In fact, if you do the hike with no rain at all, then you have actually not hiked the Milford Track (at least that is what the rangers say to cheer you up each night). Rainfall can reach up to 6,800 mm (Approx 270 inches) per year. Austin, TX has an average of 32-48 inches per year...so yeah.. it rains a lot here. The environment is plush and green and wet everywhere...100s maybe 1000s of waterfalls surround you throughout the hike. There were several moments when I would be looking down, watching my steps meticulously (since it was slick) and then I would stop to look up....and see waterfalls pouring down the cliffs all around me. WOW...I would just stand there in the rain amazed at how alive everything was...the water rushing everywhere. I have some pictures of the falls, but they don't give any justice to the depth of what I was looking at. SO MUCH WATER....EVERYWHERE! Gushing so hard that you think it should all stop sometime since there is no way there could really be this much water...when would it run out? But in the 4 days I was there it didn't stop once....there was never even a hesitation of the water stopping. Meanwhile, the birds would still whistle and fly around as if it was a bright sunny day outside...they understood the environment they lived in....truly amazing!
One night, it was raining so hard that the next morning our hut ranger, Ross, told us to wait a few hours before we started hiking. He wanted to see if the rain would calm...because the rivers flooded bad in this section and it could get dangerous. If the rain continued at this level, then we would have to be flown out by helicopters (which I thought would be equally as cool as doing the hike). After a few hours, he said he was going to hike to the rivers to check them out...we were more then welcome to follow along. A couple "go- getters" jumped up and started following him immediately, and since I was alone and only had to take care of myself, I happened to be ready as well. So, there I was...following the ranger and a couple experienced hikers to go "check out" the trail....as if I were really qualified for any sort of danger that may be ahead. Fortunately, there wasn't any major danger....a few trees had fallen in the track that we had to move and the flooding wasn't bad enough that they needed to call in the "copters". The water only went up to our THIGHS at the river crossings so apparently that was not helicopter status. Yes folks, I was proud of this moment....I truly feel like I have hiked in New Zealand now. I had to hold my pack up and walk through a flooded river that went up to my thighs. One of the couples with us took off their boots as if they weren't going to get wet with all the rain....I just looked at them like they were idiots and plunged into the river with my shoes and pants and everything on. It was adventurous and crazy and fun!!!! I felt like an avid hiker :)
Overall, the Milford Track was a great experience and I am glad to add it to my list of adventures during my travels. It is rated one of the most famous tracks in the world and with some of the views that I saw....I can understand why.
After the hike, I went back to the small town of Te Anau....bought a bottle of wine and decided to do laundry to wash all my nasty clothes. Now that I was on my own, I really didn't have a plan. I didn't know where I should head the next day or what I should do. I figured that after my laundry, I would go to the internet and book a bus ticket out of town towards Dunedin. I really wanted to hitch a ride, but I wasn't brave enough to hitch alone....I kept going back and forth about it. I met this chick named Laura when doing my laundry. She was a witty girl and I couldn't place her English accent. Turns out, she was born in Germany, spent some time living in USA, then moved to South Africa and now resides in France. Her father works for some big USA corporation and they moved around frequently. Because of this, she knows 3 languages fluently and flips back and forth speaking them all the time. She speaks German with her mother, English with her father, and French with her sister. We hit it off immediately and both had the same sense of humor about things. You could tell she was easy going, laid back and up for whatever....she had traveled a lot and didn't expect much from people and went with the flow. After chit-chatting, she asked if I wanted to go grab a beer with her and some friends. I explained to her my dilemma of leaving the next day and if I were to get the bus, then it left at 7am....so I probably shouldn't go out..blah blah blah. She said fair enough...they would be at the bar if I was interested. I finished my laundry and headed to the computer to book my ticket....then it hit me. I had been alone for 4 days hiking in solitude...what the hell was I doing passing up an offer to the bar. I really could use a nice stout beer and some good conversation. I'll either hitch out of here tomorrow or book a ticket for the next day...regardless, it would work itself out somehow. I met Laura and her friends at the bar and had a few drinks. The beers were going down smoothly too...I have not been drinking much since I have been in NZ (giving the liver a little break), so after only 2 beers I was feeling pretty nice. There was a guy sitting next to us who seemed to be alone. I invited him over to our conversation. His name was Thomas and he was from Switzerland. After speaking with him for a bit I found out that he had his own car and was heading to Dunedin the next day. I was like...seriously? "I am trying to get to Dunedin...do you want some help with petrol (gas)?" And then like that....things worked themselves out. I paid Thomas $10NZ for the 4 hour ride which would have cost me $50NZ by bus.....so it worked out fine indeed.
Through my friend Brad, I had a hook-up with a place to stay in Dunedin. The girl had a flat in the city, but was currently doing her residency for med school in another city. So, she was not there at the moment, but she had 5 other flat mates and said just to go to her place and stay in her room. I felt a little strange doing this, as I had never met her and surely didn't know her flatmates either....but I thought it was cool that she offered her room and decided to check it out.
When I arrived to the house, there were trash bags filled with beer cans and wine bottles sprawled out on the front porch. There were about 6 vintage chairs/lazy boys surrounding a make-shift coffee table on the porch as well...all of this was next to the fridge (not one of those small office fridges, but a full-sized kitchen fridge)...all on the front porch! I had to smile to myself...I realized I would fit in just fine with these new random people that I would be staying with. I knocked on the door, but no one came. I knocked and rang the doorbell several other times, but still....no one came to the door. Hmmmmm....it was only 10:30am and from the looks of the front porch, everyone could easily still be sleeping. I peeked my head through the window just as I saw someone coming out of a bedroom and knocked again to get his attention. The guy came to the door with his hair all messed up and sleep still in his eyes. "Hi there, ....I'm friends (I guess) with Amelia and am staying in her room for a few days."...I was all smiley and chipper holding my bags...the guy was probably "who in the hell is this chick!". He mumbled something along the lines of..."cool...yeah..whatev...just.. you can go to her room." And then he left the door open and walked back into his room. So there I was, with my backpack, standing in this house....with not a damn clue which room was Amelia's. I decided to walk upstairs and that is where I ran into JD, the french dude. He was really cool and showed me her room. Then I met Kate, and some other guy who I can't remember his name. Anyways, it's a big house with 6 roommates and craziness all about. There is clutter and everyone's personality written all over it, but somehow the bathroom and kitchen are clean and it just seems like everything works together well....a good atmosphere and vibe. I felt like I was in college again...there was even a jar of condoms in the bathroom with a sign that read "no hubba hubba with out a rubba rubba". This would be my accommodation for the next few days and I thought it was awesome!
Dunedin was a cool city. It is a university town with a mixture of funky art, music, food, and theater. Gorgeous Victorian style homes fill the hilly neighborhoods...some kept up really well and others falling down in shambles. It was a good town to chill-out in for a few days...enough to do, but not too in your face.
One day I went on a tour to the Otago Peninsula about an hour away. Here I was able to see seals, sea lions, and yellow-eyed penguins. I have never been up close to that type of wildlife before and it was really cool. Penguins are soooo stinking cute. The way they wobble from the ocean to the land...trying to sneak by the sea lions and escape another day with out getting eaten. I even witnessed a sea lion take a huge crap on the beach. At first I thought something was wrong with him...then his face got stern and next thing I knew, out came a present. I have pics of the animals on Picasa as well.
After a few site-seeing days in Dunedin it crept up to me again...this weird feeling that I have been getting every so often the past few weeks, but I have pushed it back deep inside my mind....there should be no reason that I am having this feeling and I am not going to face it right here...right now. It doesn't make sense to me.
Basically, everything around me is great...Before I left on my travels everything in my life was great as well. I had a family that loved and supported me, friends that I could count on, a stable job, lived in a fantastic city, rented out a comfortable house, boys to go out with....I mean what the heck else could a girl like me ask for? But even though I had all of this, I was unsatisfied and it lingered in the back of my mind. Why was I not content with my life?
I came to the conclusion that the life I was living couldn't be the final end all....there was more ...WAY MORE out there and I wanted to see it and live it before I got too comfortable where I was at. So I planned this trip that I am on now....when I arrived to South America I was on a high for 4 months experiencing the culture, people, food, language....it was exactly what I needed at that moment in my life. I was getting the satisfaction that I was craving. And now, here I am again...6.5 months later and I sense that feeling coming up in the back of my throat and I don't want to say that it is happening again because it doesn't make any sense to me. How can I not be satisfied with my life right now.....I am on a year holiday!!!! This is EXACTLY what I asked for!!!!
I have been doing a lot of thinking the past few days and trying to figure out the sensations and feelings I am having and getting to the bottom of it...I think what it is, is that I am over the whole "tourist" thing. I walk aimlessly through city streets watching people, drink lattes, read tons of books, visit museums, go on multi day hikes, and venture to the next town to do the same thing over and over and over again. It is wonderful....a fantastic holiday, but can I move like this for the next 10 months? Was the real purpose of my journey to take tourbusses out to the ocean and stare at sea lions for 1 year? I am sick of site-seeing....I am ready to "live" amongst people and "do" something during my travels. Not just stick my nose in guide books and carry a city map in my hand 24/7. I have decided that I need to slow my travels down and get involved with some of the communities that I visit. Perhaps I will volunteer, or take classes, or work....but just do something that I am accountable for. Instead of being a tourist, I will be more like a short-term resident. The world is a big place and I can't see all of it on this trip....I don't even want to try to see half of it. Quality overrides quantity for me right now!
As we all know, I enjoyed my time in Banos, Ecuador. I was taking Spanish classes and getting to know people in the town....I had my favorite places to eat and knew all of the hikes in the area. On the weekends I would travel to nearby towns and visit other places. Banos was my "hub" and my time there was perfect...it was enough time to figure out the city, but I left before it became monotonous and routine. I think it's time for something like that again....a place to slow my roll....breath...and not worry about what bus to take and what village to breeze through tomorrow. I have a few more days in NZ and then I head to Australia to visit a dear friend in Sydney. My time in Australia will be short as it is fairly expensive to travel there , but once I get to SE Asia I hope to slow it down a notch. I am making some contacts for volunteer opportunities, but since I am not affiliated with a church it may be difficult. I also found some cooking classes in Cambodia & Vietnam...that could be another unique way to get to know a city. Those are my thoughts right now about things...so...thanks for listening.
Anyways, in a few days I will be heading to a town called Kaikoura. You can take a boat out in the ocean and there is a 98% you will see killer and blue whales. I know, I know.... I said I was sick of tours and site-seeing....BUT WHALES????Seriously? Besides Sea World, I have never witnessed a whale sighting....so yes, I am pretty excited about it. I can play "tourist" for a little bit longer I suppose :)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Movies, Hiking & Ziv
We made our way to the small town of Wanaka. It is surrounded by mountains and is right next to Lake Wanaka which is this gorgeous glacier lake. It is a town where a lot of people move to when they want to escape the hustle and bustle of its larger neighbor, Queenstown. I spent my time there hiking and reading and enjoying the lake views. There was this fun place called Puzzling World with a huge maze that takes and hour to get out of and tons of optical illusion type activities. It showed how they made the hobbits look smaller in Lord of the Rings and stuff like that. It was a fun, non-outdoor activity for the day. Another awesome thing about Wanaka is that it is home to the Presidio.....the coolest movie theatre in the world. At least the coolest theatre I have ever been to. It has one screen and shows 3 movies each day. They gutted out the chairs and replaced them with vintage sofas and seats...they are all super worn and comfortable. They sell beer, wine, and homemade ice-cream. During intermission, they have fresh baked cookies that are super huge and to die for. For $3 a cookie, the must make a killing. I think that they have a vent from the oven going directly into the theatre so you can smell them baking while you watch the movie. I thought this theatre was so fantastic that I saw a movie there for 3 of the 4 days I spent in Wanaka. I would hike by day and watch movies by night. I saw Gran Torino, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Changeling. And yes, I got a cookie at every intermission....I thought about those cookies all day long while I was hiking :)
After Wanaka, we headed to Queenstown, since we were scheduled for a multi-day hike out of that city. Queenstown is the infamous party, adventure city of New Zealand. I have heard that you either love it or hate it. Well....after about 5 minutes in the city I decided that I was in love!!!! It was definitely bigger then Wanaka and a lot more obnoxious. You can bungee jump, sky dive, para glide, repel down canyons, jet boat, and anything else that you can think of. During the summer they hang out in the glacier lake and in the winter they snow ski on the surrounding mountains. There are over 40 bars, tons of restaurants and shopping around.....it was a functioning city surrounded by gorgeous New Zealand views. I understood why so many people were drawn to it and why others may be a bit put-off. In our hostel, we made friends with this Israeli guy named Ziv. He happened to be doing the same hike as we were planning on doing so we started hanging out with him. Alan had also made friends with this Swedish girl named Mikeala. She was traveling around NZ doing WWOOFing, which is where you work on organic farms for free while the owners feed you and give you shelter. She signed up for the hike as well so we had a group of 4. The day before we left, we ran around the city getting our hut passes and grocery shopping for the hike. This would be my first multi-day hike in which I had to carry everything and fend for myself....there was no guide or porter service. I had been hiking a lot so I felt that physically I would be able to handle it. To splurge one last time before we left civilization, we went to this famous burger place called Furburgers. We figured it would be a good place to carb load and get some energy for the mountains. There was one burger there called Big Al's. It was the ultimate burger with 2 patties, 2 fried eggs, cheese, bacon, beets, lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. It was a heart attack in a bun! Ziv said that he did not half-ass anything when it came to food and that you were either a Big Al or a Big Loser....so he ordered the ultimate burger. When I saw this thing I thought that there was no way in hell he was going to be able to finish it. Well, he proved me wrong, not only did he finish the whole thing, but he ate it in less then 10 minutes...we had hardly started into our regular burgers. I laughed saying that he would not have to eat for days...and that is when he realized that it was Passover. He was supposed to go have a holiday dinner with some other Jewish people in town....This was one of my first introductions to Ziv, the crazy Israeli guy that I would be traveling with for the next week.
During my travels, I have met tons of German, Swiss, & Israeli people. Before New Zealand, I have never really hung out with anyone from Israel and I don't have many Jewish friends back home. I have heard many stereotypes along my way ....that they travel in groups, talk really loud, and negotiate every price...VERY cheap! I am not big into stereotypes, but that is what I had been told by other travelers. I take it all with a grain of salt, because I am American and there are tons of stereotypes about us along the traveling circuit as well. Anyways, in the past month I have met several Israeli travelers and they could not be farther from the stereotypes. In fact, they have been generous with everything and were extremely nice people. I actually realized that maybe we had a common thread since we both came from countries where our governments are extremely involved in world relations and there is a pre-conceived notion about us simply because of where we are from. As an American, I am constantly being asked questions about my government, Obama, the economy...people quizzing me on life back home and why we are ignorant to the world around us. It gets old pretty fast....I've got my answers down pat and rattle them off to the new people that I meet. I hope that by the time I walk away, they have a different view of America and they question the stereotypes that they have been taught. I think that Israeli people go through a similar process in traveling. When you sit down and really talk to someone on a personal level you realize they are just humans...they go through the same emotions and stages of life as everyone else...regardless of where you are from.
Ziv was the first Israeli that I spent a good amount of time with. He was such a unique character. He is extremely goofy and acts aloof most of the time, but is actually very quick and intelligent. English is his second language behind Hebrew. I have never met someone who is so witty with a second language. Most people know English, but can't bring humor into the conversation naturally. For instance, I will never be cleverly funny when I speak Spanish because I am concentrating on speaking correctly....it will never be innate for me. But Ziv was hilarious! He had just gotten out of the mandated-Israeli military a year ago...so most of his sentences or conversations started with " Well, when I was in the military...." Everything we talked about somehow related back to the military, but I suppose that was his life for the past 3 years and is a major part of growing up in Israel since everyone has to do it.
So we had our group of 4 for the Routeburn Track. This would be my first multi-day hike on my own...no guide...no porter service...NADA. I had to carry everything on my back to survive for the next 3 days. Thank goodness I had 3 other friends hiking with me...because I learned a few things along the way. First of all...as naive as it sounds, I didn't realize the whole concept of what ever you bring into the nature you need to take out of the nature...such as trash. So whatever I ate or used I had to carry with me for the entire hike. If I peeled an orange or had a can of tuna...I would carry the remnants with me. There were bathrooms at the huts with septic tanks so I did not have to carry the T.P. with me, but otherwise, you couldn't leave anything else behind. Second thing that I didn't take into account while hiking was that you needed to bring your own cooking utensils. I was stocked up on my food, but I didn't have a pot, cup, or utensils to cook and eat with. DUHHHH ANDREA...did I think that all this stuff would magically appear in the forest? I am not sure what I was thinking, but my friends had some things that I could use. I was definitely an amateur at this hiking thing, but I learned a lot and will be more prepared next time around.
Our last night of the hike, there was an Israeli family staying at the hut. They were hanging a plack on the hut wall in memory of their daughter that had died on the hike a year earlier. Apparently, she had hiked the tracked independently and had gotten off course and fell off a cliff. It took them 2 weeks to find the body. It was a heart wrenching story and brought tears to my eyes as I watched the family mourn. They came to walk the Routeburn track, pay respect to the area where she fell off, and finish the part of the track that she didn't get to walk. Since her death, the wildlife department has put up markers to make the track more clear.
The last day of the hike, Alan & Mikaela left in the early morning because they were heading to a different town for the night. Ziv and I were both heading back to the same town so we hiked the last day together. When we woke up it was pouring rain outside. Everyone around me was putting on there waterproof boots & Gor-Tex everything! They all had their ski pole walking sticks and were ready to hike in the freezing rain. I, on the other hand, pulled out my $5 poncho that I bought in Peru and glanced down at my non waterproof shoes and realized it was going to be a long day. I ended up surviving the rain and freezing weather, but at the end of the day - more expensive gear makes for a more pleasurable hiking experience. I think I will purchase some hiking socks and rain pants for the next time around.
Ziv and I arrived to Queenstown. It was Saturday night, the day before Easter and a school holiday. We drove to every hostel in town and they were all booked. There was not a dorm room available in the entire town. Ziv had a car, and normally I wouldn't mind crashing out in a car, but we hadn't showered in days and had been sleeping in sleeping bags....we were ready for a good nights rest. We decided to splurge and split a hotel room for the night. Instead of spending the regular $25 NZ ( $12 us) we spent $80 NZ ($40 us) each for the room. That is a lot of money for my budget right now. I made sure to take all the shampoo and lotion, drink all of the instant coffee packs and steal the toilet paper. There was a queen bed and single bed in the room. Ziv was nice enough to give me the Queen bed. He also mentioned how much cooler this night would be if I was his girlfriend, Karen. I guess he would have loved to have been alone with Karen in a hotel room. Well, sorry Charlie....I'm not Karen :) I was sooo exhausted, but I held my eyelids open to watch hours of TV since we had paid for it. Plus, it had been weeks since I watched TV. It was actually really nice to have a decent place to sleep for the night.
Since Queenstown was booked for the next few days, I decided to ride with Ziv to the small town of Te Anau. I needed to go to this town for the Milford Track that I was going to do in a few days anyways, so it wasn't a big deal to go a few days earlier. We packed up his station wagon and headed out on the road...jamming out to Simon & Garfunkel and various Hebrew music. It was nice to talk to him about his Jewish culture and the type of life he had growing up. Alan and Mikaela were also in the same town so we had a few days together before we all went our different directions.
This morning I said goodbye to Alan, Ziv, & Mikaela. It was fun having Alan and the others as travel companions for awhile, but it is time that I head out on my own again. It is always weird leaving the comforts of a travel companion, but after a few days you are back to yourself again.....there is always another adventure ahead.
I am doing a 4 day hike tomorrow...it is the most famous hike in New Zealand, the Milford Track. I am glad for my experience on the Routeburn as I think I will be way more prepared this time around. I'll let you know how it goes. Goodbye for now :)
After Wanaka, we headed to Queenstown, since we were scheduled for a multi-day hike out of that city. Queenstown is the infamous party, adventure city of New Zealand. I have heard that you either love it or hate it. Well....after about 5 minutes in the city I decided that I was in love!!!! It was definitely bigger then Wanaka and a lot more obnoxious. You can bungee jump, sky dive, para glide, repel down canyons, jet boat, and anything else that you can think of. During the summer they hang out in the glacier lake and in the winter they snow ski on the surrounding mountains. There are over 40 bars, tons of restaurants and shopping around.....it was a functioning city surrounded by gorgeous New Zealand views. I understood why so many people were drawn to it and why others may be a bit put-off. In our hostel, we made friends with this Israeli guy named Ziv. He happened to be doing the same hike as we were planning on doing so we started hanging out with him. Alan had also made friends with this Swedish girl named Mikeala. She was traveling around NZ doing WWOOFing, which is where you work on organic farms for free while the owners feed you and give you shelter. She signed up for the hike as well so we had a group of 4. The day before we left, we ran around the city getting our hut passes and grocery shopping for the hike. This would be my first multi-day hike in which I had to carry everything and fend for myself....there was no guide or porter service. I had been hiking a lot so I felt that physically I would be able to handle it. To splurge one last time before we left civilization, we went to this famous burger place called Furburgers. We figured it would be a good place to carb load and get some energy for the mountains. There was one burger there called Big Al's. It was the ultimate burger with 2 patties, 2 fried eggs, cheese, bacon, beets, lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. It was a heart attack in a bun! Ziv said that he did not half-ass anything when it came to food and that you were either a Big Al or a Big Loser....so he ordered the ultimate burger. When I saw this thing I thought that there was no way in hell he was going to be able to finish it. Well, he proved me wrong, not only did he finish the whole thing, but he ate it in less then 10 minutes...we had hardly started into our regular burgers. I laughed saying that he would not have to eat for days...and that is when he realized that it was Passover. He was supposed to go have a holiday dinner with some other Jewish people in town....This was one of my first introductions to Ziv, the crazy Israeli guy that I would be traveling with for the next week.
During my travels, I have met tons of German, Swiss, & Israeli people. Before New Zealand, I have never really hung out with anyone from Israel and I don't have many Jewish friends back home. I have heard many stereotypes along my way ....that they travel in groups, talk really loud, and negotiate every price...VERY cheap! I am not big into stereotypes, but that is what I had been told by other travelers. I take it all with a grain of salt, because I am American and there are tons of stereotypes about us along the traveling circuit as well. Anyways, in the past month I have met several Israeli travelers and they could not be farther from the stereotypes. In fact, they have been generous with everything and were extremely nice people. I actually realized that maybe we had a common thread since we both came from countries where our governments are extremely involved in world relations and there is a pre-conceived notion about us simply because of where we are from. As an American, I am constantly being asked questions about my government, Obama, the economy...people quizzing me on life back home and why we are ignorant to the world around us. It gets old pretty fast....I've got my answers down pat and rattle them off to the new people that I meet. I hope that by the time I walk away, they have a different view of America and they question the stereotypes that they have been taught. I think that Israeli people go through a similar process in traveling. When you sit down and really talk to someone on a personal level you realize they are just humans...they go through the same emotions and stages of life as everyone else...regardless of where you are from.
Ziv was the first Israeli that I spent a good amount of time with. He was such a unique character. He is extremely goofy and acts aloof most of the time, but is actually very quick and intelligent. English is his second language behind Hebrew. I have never met someone who is so witty with a second language. Most people know English, but can't bring humor into the conversation naturally. For instance, I will never be cleverly funny when I speak Spanish because I am concentrating on speaking correctly....it will never be innate for me. But Ziv was hilarious! He had just gotten out of the mandated-Israeli military a year ago...so most of his sentences or conversations started with " Well, when I was in the military...." Everything we talked about somehow related back to the military, but I suppose that was his life for the past 3 years and is a major part of growing up in Israel since everyone has to do it.
So we had our group of 4 for the Routeburn Track. This would be my first multi-day hike on my own...no guide...no porter service...NADA. I had to carry everything on my back to survive for the next 3 days. Thank goodness I had 3 other friends hiking with me...because I learned a few things along the way. First of all...as naive as it sounds, I didn't realize the whole concept of what ever you bring into the nature you need to take out of the nature...such as trash. So whatever I ate or used I had to carry with me for the entire hike. If I peeled an orange or had a can of tuna...I would carry the remnants with me. There were bathrooms at the huts with septic tanks so I did not have to carry the T.P. with me, but otherwise, you couldn't leave anything else behind. Second thing that I didn't take into account while hiking was that you needed to bring your own cooking utensils. I was stocked up on my food, but I didn't have a pot, cup, or utensils to cook and eat with. DUHHHH ANDREA...did I think that all this stuff would magically appear in the forest? I am not sure what I was thinking, but my friends had some things that I could use. I was definitely an amateur at this hiking thing, but I learned a lot and will be more prepared next time around.
Our last night of the hike, there was an Israeli family staying at the hut. They were hanging a plack on the hut wall in memory of their daughter that had died on the hike a year earlier. Apparently, she had hiked the tracked independently and had gotten off course and fell off a cliff. It took them 2 weeks to find the body. It was a heart wrenching story and brought tears to my eyes as I watched the family mourn. They came to walk the Routeburn track, pay respect to the area where she fell off, and finish the part of the track that she didn't get to walk. Since her death, the wildlife department has put up markers to make the track more clear.
The last day of the hike, Alan & Mikaela left in the early morning because they were heading to a different town for the night. Ziv and I were both heading back to the same town so we hiked the last day together. When we woke up it was pouring rain outside. Everyone around me was putting on there waterproof boots & Gor-Tex everything! They all had their ski pole walking sticks and were ready to hike in the freezing rain. I, on the other hand, pulled out my $5 poncho that I bought in Peru and glanced down at my non waterproof shoes and realized it was going to be a long day. I ended up surviving the rain and freezing weather, but at the end of the day - more expensive gear makes for a more pleasurable hiking experience. I think I will purchase some hiking socks and rain pants for the next time around.
Ziv and I arrived to Queenstown. It was Saturday night, the day before Easter and a school holiday. We drove to every hostel in town and they were all booked. There was not a dorm room available in the entire town. Ziv had a car, and normally I wouldn't mind crashing out in a car, but we hadn't showered in days and had been sleeping in sleeping bags....we were ready for a good nights rest. We decided to splurge and split a hotel room for the night. Instead of spending the regular $25 NZ ( $12 us) we spent $80 NZ ($40 us) each for the room. That is a lot of money for my budget right now. I made sure to take all the shampoo and lotion, drink all of the instant coffee packs and steal the toilet paper. There was a queen bed and single bed in the room. Ziv was nice enough to give me the Queen bed. He also mentioned how much cooler this night would be if I was his girlfriend, Karen. I guess he would have loved to have been alone with Karen in a hotel room. Well, sorry Charlie....I'm not Karen :) I was sooo exhausted, but I held my eyelids open to watch hours of TV since we had paid for it. Plus, it had been weeks since I watched TV. It was actually really nice to have a decent place to sleep for the night.
Since Queenstown was booked for the next few days, I decided to ride with Ziv to the small town of Te Anau. I needed to go to this town for the Milford Track that I was going to do in a few days anyways, so it wasn't a big deal to go a few days earlier. We packed up his station wagon and headed out on the road...jamming out to Simon & Garfunkel and various Hebrew music. It was nice to talk to him about his Jewish culture and the type of life he had growing up. Alan and Mikaela were also in the same town so we had a few days together before we all went our different directions.
This morning I said goodbye to Alan, Ziv, & Mikaela. It was fun having Alan and the others as travel companions for awhile, but it is time that I head out on my own again. It is always weird leaving the comforts of a travel companion, but after a few days you are back to yourself again.....there is always another adventure ahead.
I am doing a 4 day hike tomorrow...it is the most famous hike in New Zealand, the Milford Track. I am glad for my experience on the Routeburn as I think I will be way more prepared this time around. I'll let you know how it goes. Goodbye for now :)
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