Craig Drayton - Craig and Sal Go Global

The end.

Unknown — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 01:58:48 +0000

So suddenly it’s been four weeks since we arrived home. As soon as we landed, our new back-home life started getting busy. Sally returned to her work four days after we landed and Craig started looking for a job and a place for us to live. Happily everything has come together really well – Craig starts a new job tomorrow and we move into a new home three weeks from now.

“What was your favourite place?” has been, without a doubt, the most popular question we’ve been asked since arriving home. Well, since you asked, here are the top 5 places (in chronological order) from our year travelling around the world (and some honourable mentions, that weren’t single places but really deserve to be included). It was hard narrowing it down to a top 5, but when we told people we had a top 14, they weren’t very interested in hearing the whole list!

New York City</a>

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Of all the big cities we visited, New York City came out on top. We met a huge variety of interesting people, explored fascinating neighbourhoods, and had an endless supply of exciting things to see and do.

The Scottish Highlands</a>

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Jaw-dropping scenery, incredibly friendly locals and a deep sense of grandeur and remoteness. And what better way to explore the rugged landscape than in our own little Evil Clowns campervan?

Moneglia, Italy</a>

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Moneglia was quiet, authentic, beautiful, relaxing, and right next door to two stunning walks – the Cinque Terre and the Portofino Peninsula. Slowing down from our rapid pace through Europe, we had our own little apartment in this village by the beach.

Jerusalem</a>

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Jerusalem is a mind boggling cultural experience. There’s an unbelievable density of amazing sights, world-class people watching and history hanging heavy in the air.

The Annapurna Sanctuary trek</a>

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We embarked on a nine day trek, climbing to over 4,000m altitude. There we stood surrounded by 8,000m peaks in the world’s largest mountain range.

And now, the honourable mentions:

Northern India</a>

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India was undoubtedly the most intense country we visited. It’s not always pleasant, and sometimes downright depressing and miserable, but if you can stay open to the experience of being in India, it is bound to move you.

Volunteering</a>

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Volunteering to help teach Karen refugees from Burma is the experience that will stay with us the most out of the whole trip. We were part of something deeply authentic, we learnt so much and we had so many unique, challenging and incredible experiences.

CouchSurfing</a>

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We stayed with more than two dozen CouchSurfing hosts around the world. CouchSurfing is an unbeatable way to meet local people, learn about different cultures and have some great experiences off the tourist trail.

The places we called home

We only stayed in paid accommodation for 60% of our trip. We spent 46 nights Couchsurfing, 23 nights on transport (boat, plane, bus, train), 25 nights staying with friends and family, and 52 nights at the college where we volunteered.

For the other 219 nights, we stayed in hotels, homestays, hostels and other places, including:

At the bottom of a canyon in Peru</li>
In a cozy campervan in the Scottish highlands</li>
On a boat sailing up the Croatian coast</li>
In a 152-bed dorm in a circus tent full of Oktoberfest revellers</li>
In a tent in the desert near the Dead Sea</li>
In below-freezing teahouses in the Himalayas</li>
Under the stars in the desert in India, next to our camels</li>
In a luxury beachside apartment in Thailand</li>
On the floor of a malaria centre full of Karen rebels in Burma</li>
In remote camps in the rainforest of Borneo</li> </ul>
And in a bunch of other amazing, crappy, friendly, cockroach-infested, weird, dreary and wonderful places. Our most expensive stay was in an 8-bed dorm in Brooklyn, New York ($194/night) and our least expensive paid stay was in a private room in Pokhara, Nepal (NZ$7/night).
The end.
So that’s the end of this adventure. Thanks for reading.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry Robertson 2013-06-30T11:04:34Z

Wow! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Singapore

Unknown — Wed, 29 May 2013 22:31:31 +0000

Visiting Singapore was a great way to end our trip. We had four days in the city, which we packed full of activities and time with family and friends. One of Sal’s old workmates, Magdalene, now lives in Singapore and was able to get us free tickets to a bunch of attractions. So, at a marathon pace, we checked out the Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay (an indoor, air-conditioned garden – only in Singapore!), the Zoo and the new River Safari. Here are some photos from the Flyer and Gardens by the Bay:
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The Zoo is one of the world’s best, and we saw some awesome animals we’d never seen before (and some we didn’t even know existed!) Highlights were the white tigers, the simpang and the bizarre tapir (which looks like a cross between a pig, an elephant and a panda).
The River Safari is a new sister attraction to the zoo. There’s not as much to see as in the Zoo, but we really enjoyed the manatees and the stars of the show: the giant pandas.
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We had a fantastic time catching up with Magdalene, and we were lucky to have her show us around so much of the city.
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We also had a great time with some of Craig’s family, who kindly had us to stay. They have lived in Singapore for 12 years and have two kids, aged nine and six. Craig hadn’t seen them in years, and we had lots of fun catching up, playing in the pool and going out for a delicious dinner of Singaporean Black Pepper Crab.
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On the last full day of our trip, we decided to splash out and go to Universal Studios. We couldn’t believe our luck when a man handed us two free tickets while we were waiting in the queue! He was a season pass holder who had been given extra tickets he didn’t need. We were blown away - it’s not often you’re given a $150 gift from a stranger (we’ve decided Singapore is actually a budget travel destination – as long as you have a constant supply of generous family, friends and strangers!)
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By the end of our four days in Singapore, we had covered a lot of the city. As well as being stuffed full of tourist attractions, Singapore has lots of beautiful, interesting neighbourhoods to wander around. There is a lot of nice urban design here: plenty of parks, public art, grand skyscrapers and cute shophouses. The most distinctive building in the skyline is Marina Bay Sands, which has three towers topped by a huge, curved deck shaped like a cruise ship! Excellent public transport and signage also makes Singapore an easy city to explore.
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Singapore always felt so far into the future, right at the end of our time away. It’s quite surreal writing this post, knowing that this is our final destination and that our next flight takes us home. Travel has been our lifestyle for the past year. Our routine has been about packing bags, working out transport and sorting out a place to stay. We’ve been getting to know new people and places every few days and have had the freedom to choose how to fill our time.
We’ve joked that we’ll need to find a course to help us reintegrate into society. Topics could cover texting, making calendar appointments, household chores, dealing with sub-30 degree weather and an introduction to the work week.
There are things we are looking forward to of course – seeing family and friends, New Zealand beer, not having to pack our bags and having a sense of purpose beyond ourselves. We will miss the freedom, learning and excitement of travel, but at the same time we wouldn’t want to continue like this indefinitely. It will be good applying ourselves to some new challenges and having some longer term goals again.
We will also arrive back with a greater appreciation of what we have in New Zealand. Exposing ourselves to a variety of places and ways-of-life overseas has helped us understand our own home better. Even after travelling around the world and seeing some really awesome places, we feel very lucky to call Wellington and New Zealand home.
</a> The classic Wellington postcard shot
Thank you for reading our blog. It’s really helped us feel connected to everyone back home and it was nice knowing that we had family and friends following along with our journey. Our blog now weighs in at over 60,000 words!
One of the most frequently asked questions of a traveller (usually just after “where have you been?”) is “what was your favourite place?” So to wrap up the blog we are going to write just one more post, talking about some of our favourite places. It will be a productive use of the “denial” phase of our post-trip grief!
So we’ll see you soon (this time in person).
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2013-05-30T11:06:09Z

Welcome home! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Below Borneo: Diving in Kota Kinabalu

Unknown — Tue, 28 May 2013 11:45:51 +0000

Kota Kinabalu is most famous for nearby Mt Kinabalu, which towers 4,095m over Borneo. Having already done an expensive trek in Mulu, we decided to skip the pricey summit trek. So instead of exploring what lies above Kota Kinabalu, we spent three days exploring below it, learning to scuba dive in a PADI Open Water Diver course.
Our first day was in the classroom, learning the theory behind safe diving, followed by two practical days. First we had to practice a bunch of drills in shallow water, like flooding our masks and clearing them underwater, removing and retrieving our regulators and using each other’s backup regulator in a simulated out-of-air emergency. The scariest drill was having to take off our masks while deep underwater and swim around blind for a while.
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After the shallow water drills, we swam out deeper for our first open water dive. It’s fun and challenging learning how to control your buoyancy underwater – by adjusting the amount of air in your lungs you can either float, hover weightless or sink to the bottom. As we became more confident underwater, we tried experimenting with weightlessness. Hovering vertical, head-down, with blackness above you and the light at your feet is a surreal, disorienting experience! It also feels unnatural breathing underwater and seeing the surface so far above.
We got to see some cool things, including heaps of Nemos (Clownfish) in anemonies, a school of barracuda, some deadly poisonous stonefish, the aggressive-looking lionfish and a stingray. We even stopped in at a “cleaning station” and had a manicure from a team of mantis shrimps.
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Although we got the hang of diving fairly well, we both had a few mishaps at times. At the end of each dive you perform a precautionary “safety stop”, waiting at 5m depth for 3 minutes to help avoid decompression sickness. After a minute of hovering at safety stop, Sally suddenly became buoyant and started floating rapidly to the surface. Whoops!
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Our instructor Ryan was a nice, relaxed guy from Australia. One lunchtime he took us skin diving and lent us his dive computer so we could test how deep we could go. Craig got down to 6.6m on one dive – it’s a lot scarier than scuba, being that deep with empty lungs!
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You might think that diving would be the most dangerous activity we did while in KK, but actually it was a day at the beach. We bought a return ferry ticket out to a nearby island to enjoy the sun for a day. The boat company turned out to be a bunch of incompetent cowboys. On the way out, the driver whacked the speedboat across the choppy ocean, slamming us against the hard seats every few seconds and refusing to slow down. Arriving to the beach with a big headache wasn’t the best start to the day!
But we’d have asked for that driver again if we’d known what would happen on the return trip. This time, the driver went zooming into the jetty at speed and, with the bow raised, was unable to see an oncoming boat. He pulled off the throttle at the last second, but it was too late – we hit the side of other boat with a loud bang. Luckily no-one was hurt and the boat hull was damaged but intact.
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There’s an active Ultimate Frisbee club in Kota Kinabalu, so we joined them for an evening game on the beach. Running on the beach in the hot, humid weather was a hard workout, but it was cool playing Ultimate again. One of the players kindly showed us around the city the next day. We saw the city mosque, some landmark buildings, a public park with dancing fountains, a seafood market and the state university.
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Best food spot of the week? An Indian restaurant serving thali on banana leaves. Yum! You can get roti with a side curry for 1.6 ringgit (NZ$0.60) here, which makes for an irresistible breakfast (or lunch… or dinner…)
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Alcohol, however, is subject to high sin taxes and is really expensive. Solution: at 1% alcohol, pre-packaged shandy avoids the tax. Mmm, Jolly Shandy.
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Cheers from KK! What once seemed like forever away has arrived - we are off to our final destination: Singapore.

Kuching, Borneo

Unknown — Thu, 23 May 2013 08:08:20 +0000

We almost didn’t make it to Kuching. Our original plan had us walking out of Mulu on the Headhunters’ Trail and heading north to explore Sabah. Civil unrest in East Sabah in April derailed this plan, but we had heard lots of good things about the south of Sarawak, so we headed there instead. We were really glad that we did, as we had some cool CouchSurfing experiences, more National Park time and got to enjoy a lovely riverside city.
Kuching felt like a really liveable city – the downtown area is not too busy and it’s pleasant to walk around (with the exception of the heat). The waterfront area is one of the nicest parts, with a great promenade and nice view.
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There are plenty of museums to visit, including the hilariously tacky cat museum. Kuching means ‘cat’ in Malay and they’ve gone a bit crazy on being the cat city. Our first CouchSurfing hosts (Alex and Lucy) took us to see the Cat Museum as well as the “Nazi cat statue” (obviously not its official name).
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</a> Sally inspects the Friskies exhibit
Alex and Lucy were amazing hosts and drove us to lots of places around town (particularly helpful since public transport in Borneo is terrible). They took us out to the Semenggoh Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre where we saw semi-wild orangutans up close at feeding stations. The most incredible thing was seeing these huge apes moving through the trees. They clung onto thin saplings that hardly looked strong enough to hold them. Then they would shift their weight, bending the whole tree over until they could grab onto the next tree.
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Later that week, we spent a couple of nights in the nearby Bako National Park. To get to Bako, you catch a bus and then a boat to the park headquarters.
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Bako is most famous for being home to around 200 of the endangered Proboscis Monkeys. These monkeys are, um… distinctive, with huge pot bellies and long proboscises protruding from their faces. It was exciting to come across a bunch of these monkeys near the beach on an evening walk. We also saw them the next morning near our accommodation.
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Unlike the Proboscis Monkeys, Macaques are aggressive bullies. One stalked us down a beach until we picked up a big stick, which only just deterred it, keeping it a few metres away. Other animals that hang around the park include the hilarious bearded pig and our neighbour the Pit Viper.
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</a> A six lane wide ant highway
After Bako, we returned to Kuching to stay with another CouchSurfing couple. John and Cynthia took us to see a sunrise from a fishing village on the Borneo coast, followed by a morning swim. Swimming in 30 degree water at 9am felt pretty foreign to us! We also managed to have a bit of Frisbee time, as John and Cynthia also play Ultimate.
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Although we managed to see and do a lot in Kuching, our time was also relaxed. From here we head north to the state of Sabah. We’ve booked a course to learn how to SCUBA dive in Kota Kinabalu.

Miri and Mulu, Part 2: Ladders, Limestone and Leeches

Unknown — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:52:00 +0000

Continued from last post
We visited Clearwater Cave as the first stop on our Pinnacles trek, so it wasn’t a nice surprise to walk out into a tropical downpour. A forty minute longboat ride and a three hour walk lay ahead of us that day, so we ate our lunch under a shelter and hoped for the rain to stop.
It didn’t. We had only light raincoats and pack liners. But, unlike in New Zealand, the rain here is warm and hypothermia is not a concern, so we changed into our togs and got into the boat. After a 40 minute ride up the swollen river we arrived at the trail end, three hours from camp. We were in a group of five – the two of us along with three people from the Netherlands.
The heavy rain had covered a lot of the trail, so we were walking through muddy bogs and an inch or two of water most of the time. Any thoughts of keeping our feet dry were quickly abandoned, and warm muddy water was soon squelching around inside our shoes.
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A few minutes into the trek, one of the people in our group let out a shriek. A big leech, about 4cm long, was bulging and flailing as it crawled up her leg. It hadn’t yet latched on to feed, so she was able to quickly pull it off and flick it away.
It certainly wasn’t the last leech that was going to try to feed from us. It didn’t take long for the second, and then the third to be discovered. By the time the trip was finished we had collectively pulled more than 40 leeches off us! Torrential rain and bloodsucking leeches – essential to authentic tropical rainforest ambience.
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We got into the camp, hung up our wet clothes, ate our dinner, played some cards and then went to bed. The rain hadn’t been a problem on the first day, but if it was raining in the morning our trek up the Pinnacles would be cancelled. The trail is too steep and slippery to allow climbing it in the rain.
We woke at 6:00am to a heavily overcast, but rain-free sky. Soon we were on the trail, using our headlamps in the dim dawn light beneath the canopy. The Pinnacles trek is steep, climbing a metre vertically for every two metres walked. The last section of trail is near vertical in places, with a series of ropes and ladders helping you climb the exposed terrain.
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After a 3.5 hour slog uphill we reached the top and sat down to enjoy our lunch and the view. We had made it! We were so lucky to have avoided the rain and made it to the top.
</a> The pinnacles - tall limestone spires, formed by rainfall dissolving the rock.
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Going downhill was perhaps even more challenging than going uphill, as we scrambled down the steep terrain of slippery rock and tree roots. And, after threatening us all morning, the skies finally decided to open up and heave rain down on us. We got back to camp just under eight hours from when we started, stripped off our soaked rain gear and gratefully sat down to hot food and drinks.
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The next day we all awoke with aching muscles and hobbled around getting ready for the walk back out of the forest. The rain was even heavier than the last two days, but by this time we were used to it. We trudged down the flooded trail for three hours, picking leeches off us as we went, until we reached the longboat that would take us back to the national park HQ.
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Sitting in the boat, we thought that we had finally escaped the leeches. Then Craig pulled up his sleeve and found a big one feeding on his hand. We had heard that once a leech is attached you’re not supposed to pull it off. So it was left to sit there, slowly growing larger as it fed.
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The Pinnacles took their toll – it took four days until we were walking properly again! While we weren’t blown away by the views, we enjoyed the satisfaction of having completed a challenging hike and it was great to experience the wild tropical rainforest beyond the boardwalks.
Our final day in Mulu, with no walks planned, was the only day that it was sunny all day long! Not that we’re complaining – during the week we were treated to some incredible thunderstorms like we’d never seen before. We flew out of Mulu bound for Kuching, the southern-most city in Sarawak.
</a> The road out of town

The caves of Miri and Mulu

Unknown — Sat, 18 May 2013 07:34:14 +0000

Upon landing in Borneo we knew that we’d come to quite a different place from Vietnam. We were back in the land of cars, with motorbikes a relative rarity. Everything was newer, more developed and more similar to back home. Also, practically everyone speaks English - in fact it’s the most common language for communicating between groups.
We visited the impressive Niah Caves as a day trip from Miri. The cave is massive and is home to large populations of swiftlets and bats. The local people have a traditional industry collecting the edible bird nests of the swiftlets to sell as a delicacy for use in soups (this is managed in partnership with the national park to ensure sustainability). The cave is several stories tall and there are wooden poles hanging from the roof for the nest collectors to climb.
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We reached the end of the main chamber of the cave, where sunlight was beaming in through a hole above, then the boardwalk continued through a much tighter passage. Down here there was no natural light or noise from outside. We turned off our torches for a while and listened to the dripping water and occasional flap of bat wings. The deadened acoustics and lack of any outdoor noises make being in a large cave feel like a different world entirely. Amateur photography in a cave produces truly dire results, so you’ll have to use your imagination a bit for the photos in this post!
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Gunung Mulu is a remote national park 30 minutes flight from Miri. There is no road access, so travelling here overland takes at least a day, either by foot, in longboats or by four wheel drive. We opted for the easy option of flying. The park is centred on a limestone and sandstone mountain and is home to some famous caves. We stayed in Mulu for a week, and as well as visiting the caves, we planned to complete the three day trek to the Pinnacles, which are sharp limestone formations halfway up the steep sides of Gunung Api.
The customer service at the park was pretty apathetic, and several of the paths we had hoped to walk had been closed for up to a year without saying so on the website. This was frustrating because we had booked a long stay at Mulu and there were very few options for unguided exploration – the park mostly offers more expensive guided trips. But we found enough smaller walks to keep us busy before starting the Pinnacles trek.
Borneo is known for its rich biodiversity, and before long we were coming across lots of weird and wonderful creatures that we hadn’t seen before.
Deer Cave holds the title of “largest cave passage in the world”, measuring 169m wide by 148m tall. That’s tall enough to fit Wellington’s Majestic Centre, with plenty of room left over. It’s hard to believe your eyes inside the cave – the walls and roof are so far away that it seems like they should be the sky rather than solid rock.
You might have seen Deer Cave in the BBC Planet Earth series, which shows the huge piles of guano inside and the nightly bat exodus, when millions of bats leave the cave together to hunt. The bats come out in large swarms, forming huge spirals that twist through the sky in an attempt to thwart predators.
Laing’s Cave nearby is a lot smaller than Deer Cave, but it has lots of detailed formations.
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Clearwater Cave is believed to be the largest in the world by air volume, although only a small portion is open to the public. It is the only show cave in the park that still has a river running through. We walked into the cave on a high ridge that offered a great view across the cavern and to the river several stories below.
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We visited Clearwater Cave as the first stop on our Pinnacles trek, so it was a nasty surprise to walk out of the cave into a tropical downpour. A forty minute longboat ride and a three hour walk lay ahead of us that day, so we sat under a shelter, ate our lunch and hoped for the rain to stop.
To be continued…

Southern Vietnam: Saigon and the Mekong Delta

Unknown — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:03:47 +0000

Hotels in Vietnam take your passports when you check in. Then they give them back once you’ve checked out. At least that’s what’s supposed to happen… Halfway between Dalat and Saigon we suddenly realised that our hotel had forgotten to give our passports back. After debating whether or not to get off the bus in the middle of nowhere, we managed to borrow a phone and call the hotel and they agreed to send the passports on the next bus. “The next bus” turned out to mean couriering the passports to a chaotic, overflowing parcel depot in downtown Saigon. Gulp. But luckily they were there. Phew! Almost losing our passports in month-11 of our trip? As we’ve become more experienced travellers we have also become more blasé travellers…
We didn’t have much time in Saigon, just a day to explore the city. We saw the War Remnants Museum (formerly called the Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression). It was an interesting and moving record of the war, but it is presented with a very narrow propagandist slant, so the need to be sceptical blunted our experience a little.
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Here are some more photos from around Saigon:
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</a> Hanging out with our CouchSurfing hosts and some other surfers
After Saigon, we headed down into the Mekong Delta and based ourselves in Can Tho for a couple of nights. The main attraction of Can Tho is the nearby floating market. Each boat advertises its produce by hanging examples on a tall pole at the front of the boat.
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</a> The river equivalent of street food carts, with coffee, noodles and fruit
</a> The family who showed us around the markets
We spent the day hanging out with a Vietnamese woman who was on holiday from Danang. It really helped to meet someone who speaks Vietnamese, as we were able to arrange a boat trip to see the markets and then explore the area by motorbike.
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It was a Vietnamese holiday while we were in Can Tho, so the waterfront was bustling at night. In accordance with communist dictator chic, you are never far from a portrait or statue of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.
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This temple in Can Tho was crammed full of huge spirals of incense, more than a metre tall. They must each burn for days. Extractor fans in the roof made the air breathable (just).
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This was our last stop in Vietnam. Our three-and-a-half weeks here have been enough time to get a glimpse into almost all of the different regions of the country. We really enjoyed being able to hire motorbikes so easily, as they gave us the freedom to seek out smaller destinations and explore at our own pace. Vietnam is great for its diversity of landscapes, food and activities. We’ve gone from rugged mountains, to lush fields, to beaches, all in just a few days.
There are just two countries left in our world tour! Now we fly from Saigon to Sarawak in Borneo. We have an action packed last month of our trip planned, visiting some of the world’s biggest caves, delving deep into remote tropical rainforest and learning to dive on the coral reefs of an offshore marine park.

Our days in Dalat

Unknown — Thu, 02 May 2013 06:44:37 +0000

Our latest stop was Dalat, and to discuss this destination we’ve decided to deliberately deal up dozens of Ds. In Dalat we partook in dangerous daredevil activities, descending down a deep canyon for the day.
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We also drove a motorbike to the distinctive Dalat “Crazy House”, designed like it dropped out of a deranged Disneyland. A downpour left us drenched, so we dashed home for a drink.
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And, of course, we devoured many different delicious dishes. The dependable vegetarian restaurant directly opposite dished up divine delicacies.
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Dalat was delightful and we had a damn good time!
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2013-05-02T07:51:08Z

A decent discourse … </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Central Vietnam – Hue and Hoi An

Unknown — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:45:04 +0000

On our long journey south, one of the trains we were intending to catch turned out to be full, leaving us with tickets for a late night departure. Time for a classic traveller’s trick – a 5-hour stay in a wifi-equipped restaurant. “One more coffee please, to share.” That’ll do us for another hour!
We visited two different cities in Central Vietnam – Hue and Hoi An. Hue was, in our opinion, a bit missable. While there, we saw some OK-ish heritage sites. What was cool, however, was meeting up with a guy we had travelled with in Turkey, as our paths crossed for a day.
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Hoi An was considerably more interesting. While there, we went to the famous tailor shops (there are over 500 of them in the small city!) The choice was a bit overwhelming, but after many fittings we took away a new bundle of clothes to stuff into our already full bags.
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In Hoi An, you can hire a bike for $1 a day and ride to the nearby beaches and countryside. We spent a couple of afternoons lying back in sun loungers on the beach, enjoying food and drinks from a beachside restaurant. This is the life!
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One day we rode through an area full of water coconuts (like mangroves but more awesome). Then we came across a tiny restaurant packed full of chatty Vietnamese people. Before long, they were handing us beer and inviting us to join their family lunch. One old man didn’t speak any English, but he tasked Craig to match him beer for beer using international drinking sign language. Lucky the glasses were small, as we had to get back on our bikes!
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Initially we were lukewarm about Vietnamese food, but as we’ve come further south we have been discovering some delicious dishes. Both Hue and Hoi An served up great food (both in restaurants and on the street).
</a> Nem lui hue (Barbequed pork on lemongrass skewers)
We’ve got another big transport leg ahead – a 17 hour night bus to Dalat. The sleeper buses in Vietnam are quite strange, with three rows of double decker bunks and tiny aisles. This creates a bit of a claustrophobic environment – particularly for 6-foot-plus Craig, who’s a fair bit longer than the seat/bed.
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So we left the beach behind and continued making our way south, climbing into the Vietnamese highlands.

Riding along the Vietnam-China frontier

Unknown — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:08:47 +0000

We arrived in Ha Giang, gateway town to Vietnam’s northern border, and hired a 150cc 2-stroke motorbike. We had come to ride a three day, 300km loop that would take us within a few kilometres of China. Surprisingly, the region is relatively unknown to foreign tourists, as it has some of the most dramatic scenery we’ve encountered on our whole trip
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The closer we got to the border, the more rugged the terrain became, with steep limestone peaks.
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The narrow and often rough roads wound their way through the mountains. A motorbike was the perfect way to explore the area. Riding felt like a game - as we came to the crest of a hill or passed around a peak, new valleys would unfold before us. The roads were rugged everywhere, but in places we found ourselves riding on narrow tracks of loose shingle.
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The region is home to 22 different ethnic groups, people mostly making a living by farming the inhospitable terrain. No matter how rugged or remote the landscape, there were always crops growing and people working the land. We felt like we were both in the middle of nowhere, and yet still surrounded by people. Many of the local farmers have motorbikes, but we saw many others (particularly women) walking the steep roads, carrying huge loads on their backs.
</a> Two tough women taking a short break
There were a lot of kids among those farming who would wave to us enthusiastically and even run down the hillside after us.
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Each ethnic group has a distinctive style of dress, making for very diverse and colourful villages. The people of some ethnic groups marry very early, and they have an interesting tradition. Once a year they dress in their best clothes and gather at a regional “Love Market”. There, they have a day when they are free to meet up with old loves.
While some of the towns we rode through were lively, others felt like ghost towns during the day, with everyone out working in the fields. Strangely, each settlement has a huge road running through it, even though the roads on each side are barely one-lane wide.
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</a> Our motorbike was often the centre of attention amongst adults and kids alike
</a> One of the hotels we stayed at had a convenient ride-in reception
Three days of sharing a small motorbike on rough roads took its toll and we were ready to get off the saddle by the time we returned to Ha Giang.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Seam 2013-04-28T22:05:25Z

Hey Craig & Sal, LOVE this! I got as far as Dalat a few years ago and heard rumour of the route you took. Looks like I’m gonna have to go back and re-trace your steps one of these days! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay

Unknown — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:04:51 +0000

Cat Ba Island is near Vietnam’s most famous tourist attraction - Halong Bay. We decided to go to Cat Ba as it’s within reach of Halong Bay but you avoid the swarms of tour groups. Getting to Cat Ba from Hanoi required a surprisingly painless bus-bus-bus-boat-bus combo.
Cat Ba town itself is fairly dreary, but the island is lovely. The weather was a bit disappointing, so we didn’t get any beach or snorkelling time, but we were still able to walk in the national park and motorbike around the island. On our walks through the rainforest we saw dozens of bright butterflies and were surrounded by amazingly loud insects that sounded like chainsaws.
</a> Four dogs joined us for a walk and enjoyed the view from this summit
Of course we also did a day cruise to Halong and Lan Ha bays. We sailed past hundreds of floating homes, where people make a living from aquaculture. Around 13,000 people live on Cat Ba island, and 4,000 more live in the bays surrounding it.
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Our Australian guide for the day was great - he took our group to a secluded spot for kayaking which took us through caves that opened up into massive hidden lagoons.
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Vietnam is known for having some “interesting” food choices, like in Hanoi where we saw dog being cooked (funnily enough, we weren’t tempted to try it). Although in Cat Ba we did try barbequed wild bird and fertilised duck eggs. The duck egg wasn’t bad exactly, but it’s hard to get past the idea of it.
We’ve got a big day of travel coming up next. Our CouchSurfing host in Hanoi recommended that we head north for a motorbike trip near the Chinese border. After seeing some photos it didn’t take long for us to be convinced! So another bus-boat-bus-bus combo lies ahead, to take us to a small town called Hà Giang. We’re looking forward to riding along the mountainous frontier.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2013-04-25T22:15:12Z

Hey - glad you are keeping up the frisbee skills. Lxox </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Hanoi

Unknown — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 05:17:23 +0000

Passing through Bangkok once again on the way to Vietnam, we came across a very creepy Thai version of Ronald McDonald.
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Our first impression of Vietnam: motorbikes, motorbikes and more motorbikes! We’ve spent a while in Asia now, but Vietnam takes it to a new level when it comes to motorbike traffic. We continue to be amazed at what can be carried on a tiny scooter – a huge slaughtered pig, a family of five, or the contents of a full market stand.
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We’re getting better at crossing major intersections – the technique is best summed up as “be brave, keep going and hope” (and, when possible, embed yourself in a flock of locals!) The traffic is worst in the historic old quarter. While it was hectic, we enjoyed walking among the old buildings which had a lot of character.
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A nice surprise about Hanoi was the many parks and lakes throughout the city. In the weekend they were packed with Vietnamese families enjoying the outdoors. The Vietnamese seem quite sporty, with games of badminton and volleyball going on in small spaces all around the city. We spotted a new game called jianzi, where teams kick a weighted shuttlecock to each other like a hacky sack.
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Another great thing about Vietnam is the coffee and bread. Our thanks to the French colonialists! The strong, rich coffee here tastes even better after a couple of months of weak 3-in-1 instant coffeemix. The Vietnamese have a different method of brewing coffee, using a small filter that sits on top of your mug and slowly drips coffee through. It comes out super-strong, and ice and condensed milk is then added for a result that’s halfway between a drink and a dessert.
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As for bread, a dollar will get you a fresh mini-baguette filled with an omelette and chilli sauce. It’s welcome comfort food when we need a break from rice or noodles three times a day!
A few travellers have mentioned to us that they didn’t think people in Vietnam were as friendly as people from other Southeast Asian countries. But, so far, the local people have been great. We caught a lot of buses in Hanoi and people always helped us navigate the complex route network.
While in Hanoi, we CouchSurfed with the lovely Vincy. She took us out to a local restaurant and gave us some great advice for visiting Vietnam. Vincy is a nickname used for westerners, because if you pronounce her Vietnamese name in the wrong tones, you call her “sticky”! Vietnamese is a difficult language for English-speakers, with six different tones. It’s fair to say we’re struggling to even say hello properly! Here’s a graph of what the tones look like. Simple, right?
</a> And this is just the northern dialect… By Ishwar, Wikimedia Commons
It’s always exciting coming to grips with a new country, and we’re really enjoying being in Vietnam. Our plan from here is to head to Cat Ba Island, a base for exploring the famous Halong Bay. We’ll then head north to the mountainous frontier region along the border with China. After that, we’ll make our way down the country and fly out of Saigon in a few weeks’ time.
Tạm biệt. Which means goodbye. Or, if you say it in the wrong tones, “to leave broken rice grains” or “soak special”.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Tim 2013-04-22T19:30:58Z

YAY Vietnam!! Love that place! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Mandalay

Unknown — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:50:15 +0000

Mandalay has all kinds of romantic connotations. It’s mostly Rudyard Kipling’s fault (“on the road to Mandalay”). Kipling actually never visited Mandalay, and if he did so today he’d be unlikely to have such romantic views. In reality, the city is a bit grey and dusty and is mostly made up of cheap, soulless concrete buildings. Having been warned of this in advance, we decided not to spend much time in the city – just a night when we arrived and another before our flight out.
The road to Mandalay turns out to be steep and treacherous! Our bus from Pyin Oo Lwin wound its way down steep switchbacks, passing a truck which had crashed through a guardrail and was teetering over the edge of a cliff. Shortly after, we stopped for a few minutes while the driver hosed down the smoking brakes on the bus…
Myanmar has an elderly vehicle fleet. Many of the trucks and buses look like they belong in museums (or in the Soviet Union). The Burmese are masters of improvisation – almost anything can be (and is) made to run on cheap low-speed diesel engines from China. We saw these engines in tractors, on boats and bolted onto the front of old truck bodies.
Our main touristy activity in Mandalay was a walk up to the hilltop temple overlooking the city. It gave us a great sunset vantage point.
We had a laugh at this sign on the way up – 500 rupees is about NZ$10 in today’s money. The sign was affixed proudly to a single rusty column in a huge warehouse-like space.
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In our last post, we promised a discussion about fake monks. While in Myanmar we were told that monks could not touch women, they renounced all material belongings and they vowed not to kill. However, one monk we talked to on Mandalay Hill not only shook Sally’s hand, he told her that she was so beautiful she could be an extra in a movie (a real-life Flight of the Conchords moment!) There were monks with ipods, video cameras and motorbikes. One monk talked to us about going into business. And, not too far from us, monks were among those committing violence against Burmese Muslims. We saw something contradicting almost everything we learnt about Burmese monks. We put this observation to a local, who simply laughed and said “yes, maybe they are fake monks”.
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On our last night in Myanmar we enjoyed some 600 kyat (83 cent) beers, but decided against the deep fried sparrow. And with that we left Myanmar, mystery of the “fake monks” unsolved.
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Pyin Oo Lwin

Unknown — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 12:25:44 +0000

Pyin Oo Lwin is a small town in the Shan Highlands, a few hours from Mandalay. During colonial rule, the British made the town their summer capital, where (at 1000m above sea level) they would escape the sweltering heat of Rangoon. They set up several large military academies and bought in soldiers from the British Indian Army. There remains a large Indian population here to this day, which made for a great chance to enjoy good Indian food.
The military junta continued using Pyin Oo Lwin as a military training centre, and the country’s largest and most prestigious military academy is based here. For the first time in Myanmar we were seeing soldiers and officers of the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) everywhere. It was a strange feeling – almost all of the Karen students we taught had stories of the Tatmadaw burning down their villages and causing them to flee.
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One quintessentially British legacy in the town is its botanic gardens. We really enjoyed a walk through the peaceful gardens (the perfect antidote to dusty roads full of traffic). There’s also a nice waterfall just out of town that we went to see.
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Like a lot of the towns we’ve seen in Myanmar, Pyin Oo Lwin was nice enough but it did not wow us. Actually, it’s fair to say that our whole visit to Myanmar hasn’t been quite what we expected. There is a lot of hype around visiting Myanmar at the moment. Because of this, we had very high expectations of our visit. It is true that the country is relatively “untouched” by tourism and that the people here are really friendly. Whenever we needed help, people would do everything to try and help us. Kids and adults alike call out greetings to you in the street, and once a man even carried a chair over to us when we standing waiting for a bus. It also felt great to be able to trust people, without the same risk of being scammed as in some countries.
On the other hand, we sometimes wished there were a few more things to see and do. A lot of the country, including many of the beautiful mountain regions, are still off-limits to tourists because of conflicts with ethnic groups. While a lack of tourism is nice, it also makes for limited attractions and activities. We have been on the road for a while now, so we don’t always feel content just people-watching and wandering the streets. At the moment it’s also relatively expensive to travel in Myanmar - we often paid around US$20-30 for fairly dismal rooms!
</a> In Bagan we got a free upgrade to the “premium room” (US$45/night)
We got on the road to Mandalay, headed for our last stop in Myanmar. Tune in next post for deep fried sparrow and a discussion on “fake monks”.
</a> Our luggage didn’t fit, so we took the bus.

Trekking in Hsipaw, Shan State

Unknown — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:47:15 +0000

We arrived in Hsipaw in the small hours of the morning. We found our guesthouse easily enough, but it was harder to find someone to let us in. We eventually managed to unlock the door from the outside and found a man who had fallen asleep while waiting for our arrival. After waking him up, we quickly realised that he’d had one too many drinks at the full moon festival. Hilariously, he kept knocking on our door every five minutes with something new to tell us. The best part is when he came to our door hiding under a blanket, pretending to be a ghost. He was a bit surprised when at 3:00am we told him we were quite keen to go to sleep.
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Hsipaw is a small town north of Mandalay in Shan State. It draws tourists who want to go trekking in the surrounding hills. We were planning on spending a few days trekking here, but found out that it’s not a great time of year for longer treks. Firstly, it’s the hot season, and secondly, it’s also the season when farmers burn off vegetation in their fields to make way for new growth. This leaves a thick haze in the air and blackened hills for scenery. Therefore, we decided just to do a two day, one night trek with a guide.
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We were pleased that we decided to trek with a guide, not because it was hard to find our way, but because it was interesting chatting to him about life in Myanmar. The landscape wasn’t particularly inspiring, but it was fun walking through small Shan and Palaung villages with lots of friendly waves along the way. Tourism is yet to take off in the area, so the locals aren’t overwhelmed with visitors yet.
We stayed the night in a homestay with a Palaung family. They cooked us some delicious food and some more “interesting” dishes (like beef mixed with tree bark and river moss soup!)
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The people in the village mostly earn their livelihood from tea plantations. It’s certainly hard work – they rise early and work long hours picking tea leaves. Education in these villages is very limited and often children start work from a young age.
We got to see how the villagers process the tea leaves. The leaves are steamed for about five minutes and then the liquid is squeezed out of them. The next day they are left out to dry in the sun before being transported to town to a tea merchant. It’s easy to forget about the amount of hard work that goes into making something simple like a cup of tea. It was also interesting to see a process that is still done completely by hand rather than being machine driven.
</a> Steaming the tea leaves
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</a> The village mechanic was facing a daunting repair job
The next day, we had a quick, but hot, walk back down through the hills to our guesthouse in Hsipaw. We then had a couple of days just relaxing and exploring the town. One day we got up early to visit the morning market. At 6:00am, the market…. finishes. The stall owners set up shop by 2:00am every day! This allows wholesale customers from surrounding villages to buy their day’s produce and get back to their shops in time for sunrise.
We heard about a rock concert being held in town, performed by a band of blind musicians. Based on the music/karaoke we’d heard in Myanmar previously, we weren’t expecting much! But the band was actually really good. They had a lot of stage presence and sang in both Burmese and English.
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Leaving Hsipaw, we headed for Pyin Oo Lwin, an old colonial hill station near Mandalay.
</a> An awesome tree pagoda in Hsipaw

Inle Lake

Unknown — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:36:27 +0000

We arrived to Inle Lake via a very scary bus ride from Bagan. The standard of the roads, vehicles and driving was familiar from our time in Nepal and India, although Myanmar might take the award for the narrowest roads. Luckily, we were mostly distracted from our imminent deaths by a hilariously bad Burmese film. We’ll let this photo speak for itself:
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The first day at the lake we went on a full day boat ride with another couple we met at the guesthouse. We were out on the lake before sunrise, meaning we got to the first stop, the market, before any other tourists had arrived. The market was really lively and it was surprisingly authentic (there are no “I love Inle Lake” t-shirts here yet).
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For the rest of the day our boat driver navigated the winding maze of canals, houses and marshes on the lake. The boat ride was great value – we ended up spending over 12 hours on the lake and saw an amazing variety of sites. Inle Lake has undoubtedly been the highlight of our time in Myanmar so far.
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The next day we hired bikes and explored until Sally’s tire went flat! A scenic bike ride turned into a scenic push-the-bike-home. The people of Myanmar are known for being really friendly. Along the way we were greeted by children and adults alike, and were even invited in by the staff of a sugar factory to take a look around.
Next we’re heading north into Shan state to a small town called Hsipaw. The bus times here are not always the most convenient - we’re leaving town at 2pm and arriving into Hsipaw at 3am… Maybe we’ll be treated to another excellent Burmese film!

Bangkok to Bagan

Unknown — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 14:57:00 +0000

After leaving school we spent some time in Bangkok sorting out our visa for Myanmar. As we’ve already spent quite a bit of time in Bangkok, we didn’t have a big list of things we wanted to see/do. So it was the perfect time to do some more couchsurfing – we stayed with a lovely German couple who are studying in Bangkok. They live in an amazing apartment complete with two swimming pools, a gym and a movie theatre. This was certainly the first time we’ve been swimming on the 44th floor of a building before! They took us out to their local sushi restaurant – it’s so good that they come three times a week.
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We headed from Bangkok to Mandalay and caught a river boat the next morning to Bagan. The boat was nice and relaxing, but the scenery along the banks of the Irawaddy was a bit desolate. What was interesting was navigating the river in dry season. The captain zigzagged slowly around invisible sand banks and many ships had crew members leaning over the side with poles to measure the river depth.
Bagan is the place to go if you want to see pagodas. There used to be over 4,000 pagodas here, but now there are just a mere 2,200! They are impressive, but it turns out that our capacity for enjoying endless pagodas is limited! Still, we had a fun day cycling round with a friendly German guy we met on the boat. Here is a selection of our pagoda photos:
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Another day we visited the nearby Mount Popa, a sacred site for Nat (spirit) worship. While Mount Popa itself wasn’t particularly riveting, the drive there and back was interesting. In the most remote parts it felt like the wild west with people standing waiting by the road and ox-drawn carts hauling barrels.
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On the way back we stopped in at a small village for a drink and found a group of men playing a game of carrom (which is like a cross between air hockey and pool).
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New month, new ink

Unknown — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:14:42 +0000

[Update: Happy April Fools’ Day!]
Having left school behind and entered Burma, Craig decided he wanted a memento of our time volunteering with the Karen people. Rather than get a disposable souvenir, he decided to have a traditional Karen tattoo done! Luckily we were able to find a Karen tattoo artist working in Mandalay.
To be honest, the tattoo parlour wasn’t really ideal – certainly a bit dodgy by western standards. It was one of those situations, you’re just meaning to ask about the price, but then you’re inside and feel like you can’t say no. The tattoo artist didn’t speak much English, so it was hard to communicate, but luckily the result was really cool. Here it is:
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We have been in Burma for just over a week now. The internet is slow and unreliable, so it might be a while until we can get another post out. Hope you get some rain soon New Zealand (never thought I’d need to say that in summer).
Comments from WordPress</h2>

leanne 2013-03-31T18:11:56Z

April fools? I require a close-up shot for verification purposes :-) </blockquote> </li>
Garry 2013-04-01T10:18:01Z

I, too, smell a joke here… </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2013-04-01T12:11:54Z

Yes, we found a fake tattoo sleeve in Bangkok. Happy April Fools’ Day :-) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Graduation and Goodbyes

Unknown — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 01:03:07 +0000

We ended the academic year with a fun activity – another technology challenge. This time the students had to build the tallest possible tower, out of spaghetti, that would support the weight of a large marshmallow on top. They only had 18 minutes and it was a lot of fun to see their creative efforts.
We got the idea for this activity from a TED talk</a>. Apparently kindergarten students consistently outperform adults at this challenge! After the students had a go, we wanted to see how we would perform, so here’s our effort:
</a> We’re happy to report that we outperformed the average four-year-old.
After classes finished it was time for exams and then preparing for graduation. After a lot of speech and singing rehearsals, we were (kind of) ready. It all pulled together on the day and the graduation ceremony was a great celebration for the 30 graduating students.
</a> Graduation lunch arriving!
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The average person in Burma receives just three years of schooling. These students have had much more education than this. Yet it has not been an easy path. Many students had to leave their villages, and often their families, to come to school. Some of them haven’t seen their parents in years.
Living here for the last few months certainly helps to put things in perspective. One of the Karen teachers told us about how, when he was younger, he needed a dictionary for school. A local store had a single copy, but he couldn’t afford it. So he worked as a manual labourer for five full days to save up enough to buy the dictionary. But when he returned to the bookstore, it had already been sold. People here work so hard for things we take completely for granted back home.
Lots of family members living in the nearby refugee camp were able to come to graduation. The students love taking photos with all of their teachers, so by the end of the day our faces were hurting from so much smiling! The students also arranged a lovely night to thank the teachers. We were each given an amazing, hand-woven Karen shirt.
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It wasn’t long after graduation that it was time to say goodbye to the students. Many of them are going back to their villages in Burma, or to join their families at the refugee camps. Some of the graduates will become teachers, some will continue their studies at other schools, some are starting a healthcare practicum and others will return to their villages and see where their skills are needed. There is a sense of both excitement and sadness amongst the students. They are leaving behind their friends, teachers and sense of security they’ve had for the last two years. But they are moving on to exciting new challenges.
As for the first years, a bunch of the boys were trucked off for some army training over their summer holiday before returning to school.
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The lessons in perspective continued right to the end of our time at the college. We’ve been proud of how we’re managing to live out of our backpacks, with just 16kg of gear each. On our last day on campus, students would come to us as they were leaving to say thank you and goodbye. Then they would walk out the school gate, carrying all of their possessions with them in a tiny daypack or plastic bag.
</a> When minimalism isn’t just a trendy choice
It’s going to be a big change for us, going back to a travellers’ life. For the past few months we’ve had a home and a job. The students have welcomed us into their lives, to share some incredible experiences. We will miss being greeted every day by smiling faces and calls of “Good morning teacher!” And we’ll always remember the lessons they have taught us and warmth they’ve shown us.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2013-03-18T10:02:16Z

Well done on the effort and commitment you’ve put into this teaching work! Enjoy your last (!) couple of months of travelling. </blockquote> </li>
Leanne 2013-03-24T20:48:45Z

You must be so proud. Craig, you look lovely in pink (Sal always looks lovely). Good luck for the next part of your travels. <3 </blockquote> </li> </ul>

A clinic, a camp and a cave

Unknown — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:50:43 +0000

We’ve had the opportunity to visit a few interesting places recently. We wanted to post about three quite diverse excursions – to a medical clinic, a refugee camp and a cave!
The Mae Tao Clinic is an award winning medical clinic based in Mae Sot, Thailand. The clinic treats patients from Burma who often spend days making the trip to seek treatment. It looks pretty different from a medical clinic you’d find back home. The buildings and resources are basic and the poverty of the patients was immediately apparent. As we arrived, we saw a man hitch an improvised trailer to a scooter to transport his six injured family members home. It costs just 30 baht (equivalent to NZ$1) to register as a patient at the clinic, and there are no other fees. Some people are not able to afford even this small charge, but no patient is refused if cost is an issue.
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The clinic does a fantastic job at providing a huge range of services. The clinic’s departments include dentistry, inpatient and outpatient medical, an eye centre, obstetrics, surgical, HIV treatment and TB treatment. A big focus is on maternity and obstetric care, and particularly on educating women about their family’s health. There are a few visiting doctors from overseas, but most of the staff are locally trained medics. With just a couple of years training, it’s amazing what the medics are able to do at the clinic. They even perform some surgical procedures – hernia repair, vasectomies, draining abscesses and amputating limbs. While this would be unthinkable back home, there are simply not enough doctors available for the Burmese people.
We got to see inside the surgical ward and operating theatre. People with bandages and braces lay on hard wooden beds, some with family members helping fan them to keep them cool. Off to the side is a small operating theatre. A surgeon from the USA was visiting, so the clinic was taking the opportunity to do some more complicated surgeries.
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The clinic also has a prosthetics department. Most land mine and gunshot victims have to go to a bigger Thai hospital nearby for surgery. Later, they stay at the Mae Tao Clinic for a week. While they are there, they help to make their own prosthetics so they learn the skills needed to repair them. When you read all the headlines about how great the reforms are in Burma, remember that the Mae Tao Clinic still makes prosthetics for 250 landmine victims a year. We have seen several people with missing legs during our time on the border.
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The staff and volunteers are the first to say that having to treat patients in Thailand is not an ideal situation. As well as the huge travel burden it imposes, Thai authorities only grant a one day visa to patients. If patients need to stay longer (which many do) then they risk a fine from the police when they try to leave. These barriers also dissuade patients from returning to the clinic for important follow-up consultations or prescription repeats.
Hopefully people within Burma will soon be able to access healthcare within their own country. However, with the annual health budget currently set at less than NZ$2.50 per person, a lot will have to change before the situation improves. In the meantime, the Mae Tao Clinic is fulfilling an important need. If you want to find out more, or give a donation, you can find the clinic’s website at: www.maetaoclinic.org</a>.
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Recently, we also visited a nearby refugee camp. Many of the students at our school have come from Mae La – the largest refugee camp on the border, with around 70,000 people. We went there to visit a hostel which provides accommodation for 30 students. Many of the students from the hostel will eventually come to the college we’re volunteering at. While we were there we taught the students a song, played a few games and showed a video of the haka!
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We are often struck by two almost opposite thoughts. On the one hand, our experience has shown us that poverty is not the stereotype we are used to seeing in charity ads. People are not constantly miserable; they just get on with their lives with what they have. On the other hand, we are often reminded of just how hard their lives can be. We were talking to a student and noticed a deep scar on his leg. When we asked him about it, he told us that he once got a life-threatening skin infection whilst in Karen State. With no healthcare available in his village, he used a knife to try to drain the huge abscess that had formed. When this failed, 20 villagers carried him through the jungle on an improvised stretcher to the nearest clinic – a day’s walk away.
We experienced these kinds of contrasting thoughts during our visit to the camp. In some ways the camp felt much like a normal village (albeit more densely built). There are many schools, churches, monasteries and stores. We heard that many people even come to the camp by choice, as it is an opportunity for their children to access education that would otherwise be unavailable or unaffordable in Burma. People walk and bike along the dirt paths between the bamboo houses. It actually felt quite relaxed, certainly not what we’d have previously imagined a refugee camp to be like.
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But then we also heard of all the problems below the surface. Confining tens of thousands of people to a small space, forbidding them to work and keeping them like this for decades is a recipe for causing violence and social issues as well as eroding feelings of self-determination. The rainy season also turns everything to mud and spreads disease.
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Next year will be the 30^{th anniversary of the “Mae La Temporary Shelter”. If peace, education and health come to Karen State soon, Mae La might someday live up to the “temporary” in its name.}
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On a lighter note, there’s a huge cave nearby that we were keen to visit. So the day before leaving the college we asked the students if they wanted to go and explore it. We got an enthusiastic response – the sleepy mood on the hot morning became a flurry of activity as the students gathered their things and got into the ute.
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The cave was massive, and it was great fun to explore with the students. Here are a few of our photos:
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It’s come to the end of our time at the college – next, we’ll be spending a few days in Bangkok to get a visa for our trip to Burma. Our next post will be about the recent graduation celebrations and saying farewell to the students, and to our home for the last few months.

Chiang Mai

Unknown — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:04:13 +0000

Last week we took a short holiday from our holiday and headed up north to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is one of the most popular tourist spots in Thailand - it’s full of Western restaurants, adventure activities and tourist traps. We had fun indulging in the tourist comforts - who can resist fresh fruit smoothies for a dollar when it’s boiling hot?!
Aside from general relaxing and sightseeing, we went to a cooking class one day and hired a motorbike on another. Sammy’s Organic Thai Cooking School was at an organic farm just outside of the city. We got to make some delicious Thai dishes and there was even a one hour “digestion break” on hammocks half way through. Thai food has quickly become one of our favourite cuisines.
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We’re sure you know about pad thai as well as green/red curries, which are all delicious. Some of our other favourites include pad ka prao (meat stir-fried with chilli and basil), som tam (a sweet, sour and very spicy salad made from green papaya), tom kha gai (a spicy chicken soup made with fresh coconut milk) and mango with sticky rice.
The key to good Thai cooking seems to be good quality fresh herbs and vegetables. Sammy picked a lot of the food straight from his garden - it was cool to see it go straight from the field to the plate.
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Motorbiking was also good fun. We started off overly cautious as we had seen four separate motorbike crashes just the day before! And we certainly noticed quite a few tourists walking around with bandaged legs. Luckily we got through the day unscathed.
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We downed our last smoothie for a while and then boarded our flight back to school. Once we get back, there are just a few more days of classes before exam week.
We’ve also suddenly realised that we’re just three months from the end of our trip! In that time we’ll be heading to Burma for a couple of weeks, then going to Vietnam, Borneo and Singapore before (gulp) we head home at the end of May.
In our next post we’ll tell you about graduation and saying goodbye to the college and students. As we sign off from this post, the graduation ducks are wandering around outside, blissfully unaware of their fate!

Life on the border

Unknown — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:02:41 +0000

In our last post we wrote about a selection of things from our experience volunteering as teachers for Karen refugees. For this post, we thought we’d share with you what our daily life is like at the college.
On the unlucky days, we are awoken well before dawn at 5:00am, when the monastery starts blasting its early morning sermon/music programme from loudspeakers in the village. If the Buddha isn’t feeling talkative, we are instead woken by roosters sometime after 6:00am. The students have an hour of morning study and first light breaks around 6:30am. We review our lessons and get ready for the day.
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Breakfast is served at 7:00am, which is typically fried rice and coffee. The college has a great cook who makes our food and manages the students’ cooking duty.
The students have grown up without much news, advertising or media, so they haven’t had the same exposure to the world that we grew up with. We have started playing the BBC Burmese Broadcast each morning, as many of the students understand Burmese as well as Karen. The BBC have been broadcasting shortwave into Burma for years, penetrating the censorship of the Myanmar government. The government once even instructed its citizens not to believe the “sky-full of lies” coming from sources like the BBC! It’s great when the students come and tell us what they have heard in the news.
At 8:00am it’s time for the daily flag raising. The Karen flag and national anthem are banned in Thailand, so the students sing the Thai national anthem and raise the Thai flag. They also sing “We will overcome” in lieu of their own anthem. After some quick notices the students leave for their first class.
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The students are in four groups: two first year classes and two second year classes. At home, a typical student would be pretty inert at eight in the morning, but it’s a great time for class here as it’s nice and cool. The students have six hours of class a day across five different subjects: English (for two hours a day), community health, computers, Thai and maths. There are Karen teachers for every subject but English and, like us, they live on campus.
</a> This is Nirvana, the son of one of the Karen teachers
We usually teach for around five hours a day. The curriculum is very open, and the college wants the students to learn more than just English grammar, so we have been able to run a range of cool lessons.
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Does anyone remember doing the BP Technology Challenge at primary school? It’s a competition where teams have to build structures from newspaper, string and tape in a short time. We ran the bridge challenge for the students, in which they competed to build the longest and tallest bridge that could hold a weight. It’s a great activity for teamwork and problem-solving,
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With so little time left at the college for the 2nd years, we’ve been focussing on teaching them how they can continue learning after graduation. We’ve been teaching things like goal setting, reflective thinking and research. A few graduates will have the internet, but most are heading back to their rural villages in Karen State where there are few resources. Some of the graduates will be the most educated people in their villages, and will therefore need to be resourceful if they are to help educate their neighbours.
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There is an hour’s break at midday for lunch. We are spoiled with the meals here. There is always rice and soup along with a great variety of vegetables and curries. Classes start again at 1:00pm. By now it’s roasting hot in the sun, and not much better in the classrooms. Reading and thinking start becoming harder in the heat, for both teachers and students!
At 3:00pm class ends and work time starts. The students have a variety of duties such as cooking, cleaning, gardening, carrying water, digging, building, hauling wood and cutting bamboo. We use this time to take a walk through the village or else do some more lesson planning.
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On most days the students get “play time” at 4:00pm. Last weekend we held the first ever game of ultimate frisbee here. Considering many of the students were new to frisbee, it went surprisingly well! Volleyball and caneball are the most popular sports, but with the recent additions of basketball hoops and a ping pong table, there are some new options for the students too.
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Most of the students eat early, at 5:00pm. Interestingly, the Karen don’t seem to have a strong communal eating culture. Some students simply crouch down outside, eat their food quickly and then head off to do something else.
Fish paste. Yep, it’s what it sounds like, and along with rice it is the staple food for the Karen. It smells like a market stall selling old fish, and doesn’t taste much better! But they enjoy it, and it has been the cheap protein source keeping the war ravaged Karen people alive.
For us, early evening is the perfect “shower” time, when it’s still hot enough to shower (i.e. pour buckets of cold water over yourself), but not so hot that you’re sweating afterwards. The water reservoirs in the bathrooms appear to be the watering holes for the local wildlife. We’ve shared the bathroom with mice, spiders, cats, lots of strange insects and even a few bats! After showers we have dinner at 6:00pm, just as the sun starts going down.
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Evening study time for the students starts at 7:00pm. We’ve also been running an extra night class for some of the students who are strongest at writing. It’s been really fun teaching a smaller class with such a motivated group of students. Their writing has come a long way in just a couple of weeks. Study time lasts for two hours.
Since our arrival there’s been a big push to increase the number of books available to the students. The college now has a good range of fiction and non-fiction, in accessible English as well as Karen, Burmese and Thai. New bookshelves have been built for the study halls, and it’s been really exciting to see so many students become enthusiastic about reading.
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The bell rings at 9:00pm marking the end of study and of the day. The students gradually make their way to their dorms. We head to the office for some more time planning lessons. On a good day, we finish before 11:00pm, lock up the office and head to bed.
The danger of writing a post in this way is that it might give the impression that the days are uniform. But every day is a bit different, and we’re getting used to having a more fluid schedule than we would have back home (to put it mildly!) Some of the disruptions are really important though. Last Sunday, news arrived that the students would be able to go across the river to Burma and get a Burmese identity card. Like we mentioned in our last post, many refugees in Thailand have no proof of citizenship in any country. So the next day half of the school emptied out to take up the opportunity. That night, we headed across the river to deliver some food to the students and see a new part of Karen State. As we walked down to the awaiting boat, we spotted a working elephant being taken for a bath!
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Once we were across the river, we somehow ended up hanging out in a small hut that was tastefully decorated with an AK-47 and a belt of grenades. We chatted to a friendly young Karen soldier who welcomed us and talked about how happy he was to see foreigners in Karen State. He also talked about how his job was to shoot the Burmese if they came over the hill! We are now pretty much acclimatised to being in a perpetual state of confusion. Why were we in this hut, where were all the students and who are all these people with guns? Oh well, may as well enjoy the pleasant company and beautiful scenery!
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</a> Our Karen soldier friend
Weekends at the college are relatively quiet. Many of the students go back to Mae La Refugee Camp to spend time with their families, while others spend time sleeping and attending church (around a third of the students are Christian). We’re never short of something to do however (especially with all the lesson planning we need to do for the following week). There are plenty of sports and games going on in the mornings and evenings, while we often put on a film with English subtitles during the hot afternoons. A few times we’ve had singing in the evenings, while other times we’ve gone for walks in the surrounding area.
</a> A school bus, Karen style
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It actually doesn’t feel like we get many weekends at the college, because every fortnight we have to journey down to Mae Sot and across the border to Burma for a “visa run”. The visa run is a farcical bureaucratic process where we have to walk across the bridge to Burma, get an immigration stamp, then walk back into Thailand in order to extend our stay by two weeks.
</a> Welcome to Myanmar… Goodbye from Myanmar!
So there’s a taste of daily life at the college. The time has gone amazingly fast, with just a couple of weeks left until graduation. Right now we are taking a short break to explore Chiang Mai, a popular tourist city in the north of Thailand. Once we leave the college we’ll be leaving Thailand and heading on to explore Myanmar. It will be sad to have to say goodbye to so many people, and strange to be back on the road again without seeing the same faces every day.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Sujai</a> 2013-02-24T16:06:53Z

Craig and Sal - this is SUCH an amazing post. You guys are brilliant (as are the Karen students, from the sound of it :-)). Keep writing, and try to avoid being shot! </blockquote> </li>
Robbie Lane 2013-02-25T08:47:34Z

I enjoyed reading your post - interesting with the political, cultural and religious history of the Karen among the many Hill tribes in that area. It will be good to hear more of what is happening now - particularly with the opening up of Burma. Travel safe and if you find a Burmese fridge magnet - I have a fridge that would love a new decoration!!! Yours in harmony - Robbie :o) </blockquote> </li>
Bridget S 2013-02-27T01:48:09Z

I just realised that evil facebook has stopped informing me when you post these so I went hunting. What an awesome experience you are having! It sounds really rewarding. I am surprised it took you more than a day to crack out the ultimate frisbee though ;)
Miss you guys! </blockquote> </li>
Debbie Lever 2013-03-05T13:19:36Z

Hi Guys, What an amazing experience. How incredible, so many things I take for granted in every day life. Ie. reading the newspaper! Hope the rest of your adventures are just as amazing! xox </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2013-03-16T06:41:09Z

Hi everyone,
Thanks heaps for your comments - it’s nice to know you’re enjoying our posts. We feel really lucky to have had these experiences. Now we’ve changed back from teachers into travellers and will be heading into Burma on Tuesday.
Cheers, Craig and Sal </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Volunteering on the border: An A to Z

Unknown — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:52:24 +0000

So much has happened in the four weeks that we’ve been volunteering, that it’s hard to even know where to start. So rather than try to say everything, we thought we’d write an A to Z with a taster of some of the things we’ve experienced and learnt while we’ve been here.
A is for the amazing students at the college. They are so generous, grateful and eager to learn. Despite what they have been through, they are so cheerful and full of energy.
B is for all the bemusing moments that teaching at a school in rural Thailand brings. Like goats and chickens wandering across the back of the classroom during a test.
C is for cross-cultural differences. Both of us have a structured and planned approach to work, so we’re having to learn to march to a different beat here. Our new mantra is: “go with the flow and don’t assume it will happen until it happens”. Cultural differences in power distance, problem solving, leadership and communication have all been interesting learning experiences.
D is for the school dog Waiki. He likes to get amongst the action, even making himself at home on-stage during dance and drama performances.
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E is for early-risers. The Karen tend to wake up early and morning study time begins at 6:00am. But, as if that weren’t early enough, some of the students go for a run first at 5:30am. It’s hard to sleep past sunrise thanks to the many diligent roosters calling in the new day.
The Buddhist monastery in the village often blasts out music and sermons from loudspeakers. This isn’t our favourite cultural experience, given that it sometimes starts up at 5:00am on a Saturday morning!
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F is for fear. Fear of returning to a more ordinary life that is. We are in a beautiful, remote setting, at a school that is helping to educate young Karen at a critical time in the history of their people. How are we going to cope with going back to a routine existence!?
</a> The view from our bedroom window
G is for the many games that are played after school. The students are all active and fit – each day there is volleyball, badminton, basketball and a spectacular game called caneball. We’ve also been trying to introduce Frisbee to daily “play time”.
</a> Caneball
H is for the many holidays that are celebrated here. Already we have been “over the river” into Burma to celebrate two Karen holidays – Karen New Year and Karen Revolution Day.
I is for the internet. The students here are lucky to have access to the internet via a satellite dish. In Burma, internet access is rarely available, and until recently it was heavily censored. It is great to be able to expose the students to international news and ideas so easily.
J is for jandals. As with many Asian cultures, Karen people remove their shoes before going inside, to keep the floors clean. Looking for someone? You just have to find which doorway their jandals are sitting at!
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K is for the Karen people. The Karen are an ethnic group of around 7-10 million people. They live throughout Burma, with most living in Karen State (east of Yangon, bordering Thailand). The Karen are the largest ethnic minority in Myanmar, making up just under 10% of the population.
L is for lesson planning. It is occupying an awful lot of our time and thoughts right now! I guess learning how to be ESOL, social studies, geography and life skills teachers in a few weeks was never going to be easy!
M is for all of the funny misunderstandings of ESOL teaching. Like helping a student by explaining the definition of “hero” only to have them confusedly point out a heron in an encyclopaedia. Or expressing our deepest condolences to a student whose dad had “passed” last year, only to later find out that her dad had passed his exam at a nearby college!
N is for nationhood. Something we take for granted, but many people on this border are not recognised as citizens of any nation. Most of the students came from Mae La, a nearby refugee camp which houses 50-70,000 people. The camps on the border house people who have fled Burma after the army burnt their villages to the ground. They cannot safely return to Burma and are not allowed to work in Thailand. To leave the camp they must have a signed permission letter, which is checked at the numerous checkpoints on the border road.
</a> A small part of Mae La Camp
O is for oppression. The Karen have been fighting the world’s longest insurgency, which started against the Burmese Government in 1949. Oppression is too light a word for the government’s behaviour – their official strategy is called “four cuts” (cutting insurgents off from food, funds, intelligence and recruits). In practice this means burning villages to the ground and planting landmines to maim anyone who returns. The Burmese army has been perpetrating forced labour, rape, torture and killings of civilians for more than six decades now.
P is for perspective. Talking to people who have been through so much, and who have so little, certainly gives us some perspective. It’s embarrassing to think of what we happily complain about back home.
P is also for poverty. It’s most noticeable in the state of healthcare. One young girl hobbled off the truck that serves as the public bus at the hospital. Crying in agony, her legs were so swollen she could hardly walk. And people on the Thai side are the “lucky” ones – there are clinics and hospitals here, unlike in Karen State where healthcare often comes from a medic with a backpack.
Q is for qualifications. War and inadequate schooling has meant many of the students come to the college having had few opportunities to learn about the world. Some of the students will go on to other schools, but for others this will be the last formal education they receive. The vision of the college is to help develop leaders who can go back to Karen State and contribute to its future.
R is for respect for authority. And, like it or not, as teachers we are authority figures here. As a couple of casual, egalitarian kiwis we are taking a while to adjust to being waited upon. Everybody here goes out of their way to ensure that we are looked after.
S is for smiles. The students have got the biggest, friendliest and most freely given smiles of anyone we’ve met. We are also treated to some great smiles from the young kids when we wander around the village, who call out “Good morning teachers” (no matter what time of day it is).
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T is for toilets. The traditional Thai approach to bathroom design has taken some getting used to! The bathroom has two open concrete reservoirs – a small one holds water for flushing the toilet (with a scoop) and a large one holds water for bathing from. We have learnt to time our “showers” for mid-afternoon, as pouring cold water on yourself on a chilly morning or evening is less than ideal!
U is for unity. Around 15% of Karen are Christian, having been converted by missionaries in the 1800s. The remainder are a mix of Buddhist and Animist. In 1994, the Karen fractured between the Christian-led Karen National Union (KNU) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). The DKBA sided with the Burmese government and started fighting the KNU. That’s the simplified version, without going into the rest of the alphabet soup (BGF, KNLA, KNDO).
There has been a ceasefire in place for the past 12 months, the longest break in fighting since it began in the 60s. At all the public events we’ve attended, the need for unity between different Karen factions has been a key message.
Some here feel that the government has no desire for long-term peace, and that they are just consolidating and reinforcing for another offensive. If that is the case, the Karen people might have just a couple of years to strengthen their economy, infrastructure and military enough to dissuade a new assault.
</a> Karen soldiers on Karen Revolution Day
V is for voices. The students really enjoy singing, so we’ve had some fun evenings teaching them English songs. They’ve got some great songs in Karen too, which we’re hoping to learn while we’re here.
W is for working hard. The students study for an hour before class, then they have six hours of classes (English, computers, community health, Thai and maths), at least an hour of chores, then two hours of study time in the evenings. As for us, it’s important to us to do a good job for these students, so some days we’ve been working from 6:30 in the morning to 11 at night!
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X is for Xerox. Internet + local copy shop = school resources!
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Y is for yearning. The students here have a great desire to see democracy and respect for human rights come to Karen State. They often talk of how they plan to go back to their villages to help their people. Many of these students will be medics or teachers back in their village.
Z is for zest. The students passionately believe in the importance of education – both for themselves and their people. Many Karen never have a chance to get even a full primary education, so if a permanent peace comes to Karen State, these students will be among those starting the long process of development.
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It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been at Kaw Tha Blay School for four weeks now. There are just three weeks of teaching left before exams and then graduation. We’ll try and find the time to do another update soon.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Alice 2013-02-12T20:51:23Z

Wow, this is amazing! What an experience. </blockquote> </li>
Tam 2013-02-13T07:44:58Z

Wow! Sounds like an amazing and rewarding experience. When you come back you’ll have to give me ESOL tips :) I found a list of useful activities, will email through to Sal incase some of it is useful. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Karen New Year

Unknown — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 08:16:53 +0000

We arrived on the Thai-Burmese border a day before Karen New Year, the biggest festival of the year for the Karen people. The festivities were happening “over the river” in a Karen village in Burma. So within a few hours of getting to the college we were crossing into Burma on a small motorboat! The border is very porous, with people passing across regularly (but not usually foreigners).
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It was very significant for the Karen to be able to celebrate the New Year across the river, as this is the first year in decades that the area has been under a ceasefire. The Karen have been fighting an insurgency against the Burmese government (and a group of Karen that support the government) since 1949. There’s an alphabet soup of different military groups here, and there were lots of soldiers from different groups walking around at the festival. It was quite bizarre seeing both dancers dressed in bright traditional outfits and soldiers carrying rifles, RPGs and grenade launchers.
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It’s a long and complex task to explain all the history and politics, so we’ll move onto the actual event. Apparently we were the first white people ever to visit the village (not sure if this is true), and they treated us like VIPs. Like in India, the kids were very curious to see us, and a crowd gathered around wherever we were. They had the most gorgeous smiley faces.
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During the day there were tournaments for football and caneball (an impressively acrobatic sport which we’ll write about in another post). Sadly, as you can see in the photos, rubbish was simply thrown on the ground.
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The main event of the evening was a dance contest between 21 groups dancing the done (a long dance and song that describes the history of the Karen people). The dance is energetic and intricate and involves huge numbers of dancers in each group. The college had a group competing, and it was great to see them perform. With so many groups, and the done lasting up to 45 minutes, the dancing was certainly a marathon event!
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From what we can gather we stayed the night at a house-cum-malaria research centre funded by Bill Gates! The place was a flurry of different activity - when we woke up in the morning there were even some people being treated for malaria beside where we were eating breakfast! That morning, Karen leaders gave speeches about the need for unity among the Karen people.
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Being there for Karen New Year, in Karen State, at such a pivotal time in their history was a very special thing to be a part of. It was also quite an overwhelming introduction to our time volunteering! In a good way, that is. We crossed the river back into Thailand and started thinking about the weeks ahead.
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Karen New Year was on the 12th of January, so we’ve been at the college for two weeks now. There is so much to say about being here, but that will have to wait for another post.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Robbie Lane 2013-01-27T08:35:35Z
Good to hear that things are going OK. Yes, the history of the mountain tribes people in Northern Burma and Thailand is an interesting one both from a geopolitical, religious and cultural reason! Stay safe and continue the good work! Cheers
Robbie </blockquote> </li>
Leanne 2013-01-27T08:50:49Z
I look forward to more posts :-D Take care you crazy kids. </blockquote> </li>
Jude Logan</a> 2013-01-27T15:20:05Z

Great blog - take care and stay safe xx </blockquote> </li>
Michael Markham 2013-01-27T19:27:25Z

Great work guys and well done on such interesting posts. Look forward to catching up with you soon. Take care. Mike & Liz </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Hua Hin, Thailand

Unknown — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:06:33 +0000

We were very kindly offered a place to stay for a week in Hua Hin, a beach resort city just south of Bangkok. The timing was perfect - a few days to relax just before our volunteering starts.
So we are having a holiday from our holiday! And that includes not writing a big blog post on our time in Hua Hin (besides, swimming and sleeping in don’t make for compelling reading!)
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Tomorrow we fly to Mae Sot and then head straight up to the Karen village which will be our home for the next 10 weeks or so. It may be a while until our next post, as we work to find our feet as teachers. We are facing our volunteering placement with what is hopefully the right mix of excitement and trepidation! Wish us luck for taking on the learning curve - and we hope you are enjoying the new challenges of 2013 too.

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Unknown — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 05:20:47 +0000

Our second destination in Thailand was only a few hours’ drive from Bangkok. We were staying in Nong Bua - a small village close to Kanchanaburi, the main town in the area. The owner was an eccentric ageing expat hippie who entertained us with his many crazy stories. Our first day there was New Year’s Eve, so he cooked all of the guests a delicious meal. It ended up being quite a strange mix of people there and it was a bit of a quiet New Years. But Thai people love fireworks, and even in this small town there were plenty of fireworks and Chinese lanterns.
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A few more guests arrived after New Year, and the place ended up being really social and fun. Most nights we all headed out to an amazing riverside restaurant in Nong Bua. There you could get a huge range of delicious meals for NZ$1-3. The guesthouse owner packed us all onto his motorbike side-car to take us down the road to the restaurant.
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Kanchanaburi is a significant site in WWII history. Here, many prisoners of war (mostly Australian, British and Dutch soldiers) as well as Asian labourers were forced to build a railway from Thailand into Burma to support the Japanese military campaign in India. Disease, abuse, malnutrition and neglect caused more than 100,000 deaths by the time the railway was completed. While in Kanchanaburi we got to visit an interesting museum, a war cemetery and part of the railway itself. You may have heard of the Death Railway</a> before, as it is the subject of a well-known film “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.
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</a> Hellfire Pass - the site of some of the worst atrocities
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There are also many National Parks in the area. The one we visited was called Erawan, which is one of the most popular parks because of its seven waterfalls. We found Erawan to be nice, but not amazing, and as you’d expect it was really busy. Our swim at the bottom of one of the waterfalls came with an involuntary fish spa. Every so often a squeal would emerge from a swimmer as the fish nibbled at their feet.
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We were really surprised to learn how much there is to do around Kanchanaburi, but the trouble is that the national parks and other attractions are quite spread out. The public transport is pretty good – we got around using local buses and songthaews (large pick-up trucks with benches in the back), but this is one area you’d really benefit from having your own vehicle. We left feeling like there was still plenty more we could have seen, but it’s off to the beach now for us. We’re heading south of Bangkok to Hua Hin for some R & R.

Bangkok

Unknown — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:51:24 +0000

How nice it is to be in a tropical climate! We stepped out of the airport into a hot Bangkok evening. We had a couple of days in Bangkok to explore and sightsee. We hadn’t planned long here because we’d heard a few not so positive reviews of Bangkok. We realised how much the order in which you visit places affects your impressions. While travellers around us were talking about the crowds, traffic and rubbish, we were astonished by how modern, organised, clean and relaxed the city felt compared to India.
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We felt this contrast strongly when using public transport. Catching the Delhi Metro at rush hour was an intense experience. Crushed between our neighbours, we didn’t so much walk on and off the train, but were carried along in the surge of the crowd. In Bangkok, we bought a day pass to explore the city using the skytrain to get around. Using this modern metro system we were back in the world of queuing! We really noticed how, even in large crowds in Bangkok, we were never jostled or pushed.
Our guesthouse was out in a suburb of the city, so the skytrain was a great way to explore. On our day pass we managed to see Lumphini Park, an ultra-modern mall, a museum, two markets and one of the red light districts.
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Seeing how obsessed people here are about shopping, visiting Bangkok’s newest mall was an essential cultural experience. The mall, called Terminal 21, had an airport theme and had six floors, each decorated as a different city.
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Next we visited Chatuchak market, apparently the world’s largest weekend market. Being Bangkok, when this market closed in the evening, there was another huge market to explore just down the road. In many places it seems that modern shopping malls have largely replaced traditional markets. It’s cool that both still flourish in Bangkok.
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The infamous seedy red light district of Patpong wasn’t as interesting for people watching as we’d expected, with one exception. We walked down a particularly glammed-up street which turned out to be full of male strip clubs and bars. The street was lined with male prostitutes and go-go dancers. Hilariously, Craig got a bit of attention, with a few arm squeezes and comments (“ooh, white boy”) on the way past.
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The next day we explored the historic centre of the city with Sal’s cousin Nic and her partner Josh, who were visiting from New Zealand. It was really lovely seeing familiar faces and we had a great time together. First, we checked out the impressively long Reclining Buddha, which stretches out a full 46 metres.
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The Reclining Buddha is in a Buddhist temple which is beautiful and peaceful despite being overrun by tourists. We were careful to watch out for the “Non-Thai” pickpockets!
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There’s an excellent boat service on the Chao Phraya River, which got us around some different parts of the old city. We ended up in Chinatown, where you can see an incredible range of food (some of which we even recognised!) The street food in Bangkok is delicious and cheap, and the dishes we tried in Chinatown were no exception.
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We thought we’d be cautious for the first time we had street food in Thailand so chose something that looked like it was vegetarian. Turns out it was deep fried scallops and squid! So much for caution, but thankfully the street vendors here seem to take a lot of care with hygiene. This is especially important given that most of the dishes here contain pork, chicken or seafood.
We ended up enjoying Bangkok much more than we thought we would. We’ve had a great first impression of Thailand, so it’s an exciting thought that we will have the next couple of months here.

Delhi

Unknown — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 02:06:21 +0000

Travellers hate Delhi. Over and over again, backpackers told us how they didn’t enjoy the city and spent as little time there as possible. But we really enjoyed our two days in Delhi, due a great deal to excellent hospitality from our CouchSurfing hosts: Sujai and his mum Kumla. Unlike most travellers, we had Delhi as our last (rather than first) stop in India. We think some of the negative impressions of Delhi are just people getting used to the country!
Sujai spent a day showing us around New Delhi, which was developed by the British during their colonial rule. Sujai described this as his gentle introduction to Delhi! Sure enough, it was one of the most pleasant urban environments we found in India. For one, there were actually footpaths! We walked through a wealthy neighbourhood. A strange sign of this wealth are the watchtowers and armed guards present in many of the house compounds (apparently they are as much a status symbol as they are for security). There were some lovely parks in New Delhi, which are a rare sight in India. We realised how much we’ve been missing nice green spaces.
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The next morning, in Old Delhi, we saw some of the poverty that the city has sadly become known for. We took some back streets to a mosque and ended up walking past a small slum. Houses were made out of scraps of scavenged materials, including fabric, wood and corrugated iron. People were washing themselves using buckets on the street and were huddling around piles of burning rubbish to keep warm. Nearby was a street-side TB clinic - just a table where a couple of health workers were giving injections to homeless people. Delhi is actually quite cold at this time of year, and this, as well as the poor/non-existent housing, contributes to making TB a big problem. There were signs up all around this city advertising a new treatment regime for drug-resistant TB.
We enjoyed wandering around the narrow alleys of old Delhi, full of life and activity. You could buy a huge range of goods at the stores lining the streets, but you’d have to know where to look. Different streets had strong specialities, so we often ended up amongst a bunch of, say, padlock stores or university bookstores.
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Later in the day we visited a few different temples in Delhi. First up was a Sikh temple. Sikhs believe that you can’t think about God on an empty stomach so they provide free food at the temple. We went through an interesting ritual we didn’t quite understand which culminated with a spoon of sugary slop being dumped into our hand. It did taste quite nice though, and we later were served a plate of samosa also.
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The next temple, the ISKCON Hare Krishna temple, was definitely the most bizzare. With garish evil-lair architecture, a robot show and huge billboards, we felt like we were stuck in a strange religious theme park which we decided to call Hare Krishnaland. We were very disappointed to find that the robot show wasn’t operating.
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Sal wasn’t prepared when someone greeted her by saying “Hare Krishna” so she just responded with an awkward “Hi”. That said, the Hare Krishna mantra is pretty catchy…
</a> Sally considers converting
With the mantra firmly stuck in our heads, we thought we had better move on. We visited the Ba’hai Lotus temple - a huge marble building located in the middle of a lovely garden.
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Another day we saw a beautiful South Indian style Hindu temple. The temple was surrounded by burning oil lamps.
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All over India, but particularly in Delhi, there is a huge security presence. There are armed police/military, sandbag bunkers in metro stations and metal detectors at markets, train stations and even parks. Sujai joked that Indians love rituals, and the security certainly seemed like more of a ritual than an effective process. One checkpoint even had an open door right next to it, with dozens of people bypassing security entirely.
Delhi was our last chance to try as much Indian food as we could. We ate amazingly well, both at Sujai and Kumla’s home and on the street.
We offered to cook for Sujai and Kumla one night, and after having been so well looked after we were feeling the pressure to cook something nice. Craig’s old standby (spicy vege burgers) seemed to be well received.
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As we left India, we thought back on our three weeks in the country. Nowhere else have our feelings about a place been so mixed. At times we were sick of the rubbish, noise, touts, illness and traffic. But other times we were blown away by all the unbelievable, funny, friendly and delicious moments India had to offer. We learnt to be patient with the lows, knowing that (without fail) a fun experience wouldn’t be far away. Driving to the airport, we actually felt a bit sad to be leaving.
</a> Night markets under gas lanterns
But we have a varied and exciting time planned for the next few weeks in Thailand. We will check out Bangkok, visit national parks in Kanchanaburi and chill out at the beach in Hua Hin before our volunteering placement begins. Learning about a new culture starts all over again!
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Tam 2013-01-18T22:23:11Z

Wow! What an awesome host! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

A Christmas Story in Jodhpur

Unknown — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:49:20 +0000

It was an inauspicious start to Christmas Day. We stepped off our overnight train into Jodhpur Railway Station at 5:00am, stashed our bags in the cloakroom and headed into the city to find a spot for breakfast.
Our rickshaw driver deposited us in the middle of a deserted market, supposedly the centre of the city. We searched for a place to have breakfast, but found nothing open. Instead, we came across a scary street dog. Street dogs usually ignore people, but at this time of morning they must be more territorial. The dog started barking loudly, which set off a chain reaction of nearby dogs, and before long we were surrounded. Not an ideal start to Christmas! We retreated and finally found a chai stand – an oasis of safety and warmth.
Thankfully, our day improved from then on. This is our Christmas story, told in the form of a photo essay.
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This morning was the first time we saw cows eating grass rather than rubbish or roti. The cows’ owners put grass out on the street before sunrise.
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We chatted to some locals (bemused to see us hanging around so early) who recommended a restaurant for breakfast. We weren’t disappointed, enjoying an enormous masala dosa!
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Walking back to the (still empty) market, we got our first glimpse of the impressive Mehrangarh Fort.
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The fort is one of the best preserved and presented tourist attractions we saw in India. It has a beautiful palace inside and affords an impressive view over the city. One nickname for Jodhpur is “the blue city” due to its many blue houses.
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Just below the fort is a picturesque mausoleum for a past maharaja.
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By the time we walked back down the hill, the market was bustling.
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It turns out that even buying a shirt is a bit intense in India. A westerner buying clothes is apparently considered street theatre in Jodhpur. A bunch of about 12 people, an idle rickshaw and a cow crowded close to watch and call out suggestions as Craig tried on shirts. Sadly we didn’t get a photo.
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Based on stories we’d heard from other travellers, we hadn’t expected much of our time in Jodhpur, but we actually ended up really enjoying our day in the city. It was time to leave for Delhi, so we caught a rickshaw to the train station.
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Whoops, we forgot to do our teeth. Never mind, we’ll just do them on the platform (in India, this is not unusual behaviour!)
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Wearing all of our warm clothes, we climbed into the upper bunks of the train. We were in sleeper class (which has no heating) so we were in for a long and freezing night. But oh well, we had had a really fun (if unconventional) Christmas Day.
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Jaisalmer - the desert city

Unknown — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 01:53:12 +0000

Within a few hours of reaching Jaisalmer we were in the back of a jeep heading out into the desert. We had arranged an overnight camel safari which would have us riding camels, sleeping under the stars and returning the next morning.
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Riding a camel is one of those masochistic things that people feel they must do, no matter how many bad stories they hear about it! We were no exception, and within the first few minutes we were feeling sore. The constant quest to find a more comfortable position detracted somewhat from enjoying the serenity of the desert, but we can now tick “ride a camel” off the list!
It was really fun sleeping out in the desert. Our guides gave us thick blankets that formed heavy cocoons around us as we settled in for the night. The moon was so bright we didn’t need a torch to see, and it was gorgeous looking up at the night sky full of stars.
Aside from the camel safari, Jaisalmer’s main attraction is the huge sandstone fort. It has a dramatic presence in the skyline of the town, particularly since the population here is just 60,000.
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</a> View from the fort
Within the fort we got to visit an interesting and photogenic Jain temple. Jainism is an ancient Indian religion with a focus on non-violence towards all living beings.
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We had a bit longer than we needed in Jaisalmer, but that turned out to be good news for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it turns out Sal hadn’t fully recovered from being sick… But we also confirmed a volunteering placement for the New Year! So we have a lot of preparation to do now.
For our placement we will be teaching Karen refugees from Burma (Myanmar) who are living in refugee camps and villages in Thailand, near the Burmese border. The Karen people are an ethnic minority in Burma who have been in a long civil war with the military junta leading Burma. While Burma has begun some democratic reforms in the past couple of years, violence and human rights abuses continue to force Karen people out of their homes. We will be teaching adult students at a college called Kaw Tha Blay. The college aims to help the students become future leaders of their communities.
The college sounds like a really worthwhile project, so we’re excited to be involved. It will be a change of pace, a different kind of experience and a big challenge too. We’re aware that we’ve got a lot to learn in a short time – including the history and situation in Burma, life on the Thai/Burmese border and how to teach! We start in the second week of January.
Our last day in Jaisalmer was on Christmas Eve, but rather than hanging out our Christmas stockings that evening we settled in for an overnight train journey. Our Christmas Day will be spent in Jodhpur, and then we go straight onto another overnight train bound for Delhi, our final stop in India.
Being away from family, in a majority Hindu country, makes Christmas feel very distant. Although we realised that riding camels through the desert is actually quite a biblical way to celebrate Christmas! So Merry Christmas, Rajasthan style:
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Comments from WordPress</h2>

Sujai</a> 2012-12-28T03:24:37Z

Love the camel pictures and the santa hats (did you try to get the camel to wear one too? ;-))
Was great having you guys here. The next stage (in Thailand, at the college) sounds very exciting and challenging. Looking forward to the updates! </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2013-01-05T03:44:54Z

Hey Sujai,
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a camel size Santa hat (and we suspect they’d be too grumpy to wear one!) The hats did get a lot of use, as everyone wanted to borrow them for their own Christmas photos :-)
We’ve just put up our Delhi blog, with some cool photos of us all. Hope your upcoming trip around South India goes really well, we look forward to hearing about it. </blockquote> </li>
Benni 2012-12-28T13:21:11Z

This Jain temple is very impressive, incredible that such beautiful architecture has been constructed in-mid a desert area. I’m glad for you that you have the opportunity to work within this voluntary project, shall be nice to be involved again after a long time of traveling and this project in special seems to be quite interesting and useful. With your many knowledge and positive thinking I guess you are both perfect for teaching. :-) Best greetings from very cold Berlin! Cheers, Benni (+ Vera, who also greets you cordially) </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2013-01-05T03:41:43Z

Hey Benni and Vera,
Great to hear from you! Thanks for your kind words about volunteering. It’s just a few days away now and we’re really excited :-)
Yes, we bet Berlin is freezing right now! Hope you had a lovely Xmas and New Year. Stay warm :-) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Jaipur

Unknown — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 04:12:21 +0000

A quick post for Jaipur, as we had just a night here on our way to Jaisalmer. We found the city busy and hostile for walking around (even by Indian standards!) There are very few traffic lights in Jaipur, even on huge multi-lane intersections. We usually go for a safety-in-numbers approach and squeeze ourselves in amongst a bunch of locals to cross the road. Traffic lights apparently have dangers of their own – one traveller we talked to was electrocuted and knocked to the ground by a live wire hanging from a light! In the end we gave up on the unpleasant walk to the Old City and jumped on a bicycle rickshaw to go the rest of the way.
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We visited Jantar Mantar, an observatory complex built by a Maharaja in the 18^{th century. The largest instrument was a huge sundial that could measure time to the closest two-second interval. It was nice to have a quiet place to wander, but most of the descriptions were a bit lost on us.}
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Our other sightseeing destination was the Galta Temple (or Monkey Temple). Here the touts are not rickshaw drivers but priests – happy to show you around their Hanuman temple for a large “donation”. We even had to dodge a woman’s arm as she persistently tried to put a bindi on us as we walked past (we already had two bindi at that point!)
The Monkey Temple gave us a great vantage point over the city and it was nice to have a walk up the hill. We weren’t tempted to buy the monkey feed – we’re not sure why you’d want a pack of rabid monkeys chasing you for food!
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We left Jaipur on another sleeper train, bound for Jaisalmer – the desert city. We go straight from the train to an overnight camel safari in the desert. It’s Christmas in a few days and, as you might guess, India isn’t big on Christmas. We did manage to buy some Santa hats in Jaipur though, so we’re all set for our own festivities!

Udaipur

Unknown — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 08:51:33 +0000

Udaipur is the prettiest Indian city we’ve visited yet. The city is built around five lakes (all manmade by past rulers). There are dozens of rooftop restaurants offering views of the main lake, including the two palaces built out on the water. One of these palaces featured in the 1983 James Bond film “Octopussy” and many of the city’s restaurants advertise nightly screening of the film. The poor staff! We particularly liked the huge billboards with sassy misspellings: “Octopussay”.
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We’re still enjoying wandering around markets in India, and it’s true what you hear about the colours of Rajasthan - the bright saris and turbins really are incredible. Apparently the colour, style and manner of wearing this clothing indicates a lot about the occasion as well as the wearer. In this patriarchal society, there is even a specific colour combination reserved for women who have borne a son.
We didn’t end up doing as much as we’d expected to in our five days in Udaipur. Our good luck with our health came to an end, as Sal ended up getting sick. However, it came at a good time since we had longer than we needed in Udaipur and a really nice guesthouse in which to rest and recover. The guesthouse had a HUGE Great Dane called Oscar
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By the last day Sal had gotten well enough for us to take a cooking class - a good thing too since it was her birthday! The class was great - in about four hours we learnt how to make different curries, chutneys and breads. It was the kind of cooking we like too - using techniques and ingredients that are simple yet very tasty. We’ll have to throw an Indian dinner party when we get back home.
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Once again, the people here have been so friendly - always keen to talk to us about New Zealand, ask what we think of India and tell us about their lives. We’re so glad to have come to Udaipur. While it still has its busy streets, there are also areas that are really nice to walk around - something we’ve come to appreciate while in India! We’re not expecting too many peaceful spots at our next destination: Jaipur, an urban metropolis of seven-million people.

Agra

Unknown — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 10:35:50 +0000

Some really fun interactions with Agra locals helped us to shake off our weariness at the scammers and touts. In fact, we think that Indian people might be the most enthusiastically friendly people we’ve met yet!
Our train tickets from Varanasi to Agra were on “Sleeper Class”, which is the class most Indians use to get around. We slept on the highest of three levels of bunks, nestled in just below the ceiling. We were also sharing the carriage with a number of mice, who occasionally darted across the floor. But this was more than made up for by the super-friendly people we shared the train with - we chatted away throughout the evening.
Once in Agra we took a walk down a random street and ended up in the middle of a small neighbourhood. Everyone seemed very bemused at us being there, especially the kids who started following us down the street in a big pack, asking us questions. We said hundreds of “hellos” and a young boy even asked us to sign our autographs on his hand! If you dream of fame, just come to India and wander off the tourist trail - the feeling of instant celebrity is quite bizarre.
Of course tourists come to Agra for one thing - the Taj Mahal. The famous mausoleum is as spectacular as they say, and definitely worth a visit. With a couple of days in the city we also got to see Agra Fort (which we found only OK) and the tomb of I’timād-ud-Daulah, nicknamed the Baby Taj (we were two of just a handful of people there which was nice).
</a> Agra Fort
</a> Baby Taj
</a> The Taj Mahal
From chatting to people, we had heard a lot about corruption in India by this point, but didn’t know we were going to experience it first hand. We were at the train station to buy some tickets, so we went to the official ticket window for foreign tourists. After we handed over the money, the cashier printed out the ticket, and then distracted us by giving us another form to fill out. While we were looking away, he exchanged one of our notes for a smaller one. When we gave the form back, he told us we hadn’t paid enough and made us hand over some more money. So an official cashier of Indian Railways stole 400 rupees from us (luckily only about NZ$10). A pretty brazen thing to do that would be unthinkable back home!
We boarded a train (using our premium price tickets) and left Agra, bound for Udaipur. Udiapur is the city of lakes, and said to be the most romantic city in India.

Varanasi, India

Unknown — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:16:40 +0000

It’s a two day journey from Pokhara to Varanasi. We decided to break up our trip in Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, near the Nepali-Indian border. After a long nine hours of Nepali public transport we arrived in Lumbini. Lumbini ended up being a bit of a disappointment for us – the Buddhist temples are all spread out in a huge ugly park almost 6km long.
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The next day we headed for the border town of Sunauli. Lonely Planet accurately describes the town as “a dusty hell hole”. The border is a very busy place and, as Indian and Nepali people are allowed to cross freely, there are no gates or barriers. So, missing the small immigration office on the side of the road, we managed to accidentally cross the border into India illegally! Upon realising this, we quickly backtracked into Nepal and got our paperwork in order.
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From Sunauli we had a three hour bus ride to Gorakphur, the closest city on the Indian rail network. The afternoon was getting on, so we decided to stay a night in Gorakphur and catch an early morning train to Varanasi.
The city wasn’t the best introduction to India. It seemed that picking the fanciest hotel by the train station just meant we got the smallest cockroaches – we saw some truly filthy rooms when we were deciding where to stay. Walking along the street meant having to avoid stepping in piles of burning rubbish, mud, and a variety or human and animal wastes. We were eager to escape early the next morning but unfortunately our train was delayed, stranding us in Gorakphur for seven extra hours. Adding to our great mood, someone tried to tug Craig’s wallet out of his pocket at the train station. Welcome to India!
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Things improved immediately upon boarding the train. We had pulled up at a station along the way, when some curious school kids on the platform spotted us and came up to the train window to peer in. They were really cute, just staring and giggling, and they even called their friends over to have a look!
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We were picked up in an auto rickshaw from the Varanasi railway station. The 15 minute ride to our guesthouse was to be the scariest ride of our lives. It was like a car chase in an action movie, with our driver madly overtaking and swerving away from oncoming traffic a moment before impact. We even “nudged” a couple of cyclists along the way. Being our first rickshaw ride in India, we didn’t know if this was normal. So we hung on, stunned, not asking him to slow down. We later realised that, while driving is chaotic here, our driver was particularly crazy and aggressive. It was a relief to arrive alive to the refuge of a nice guesthouse.
Varanasi is an ancient city located on the banks of the Ganges, a holy river for Hindus. The city is known mainly for its ghats: terraces leading into the Ganges that are used for bathing, washing clothes, launching boats and cremating bodies. The main tourist activity in Varanasi is simply to wander along the ghats watching daily life taking place. We saw a Bollywood music video being filmed, pilgrims bathing, kids flying kites, spiritual gurus, buffalo herders, wedding processions and boats full of women dressed in colourful saris.
We also saw two of Varanasi’s cremation ghats. If you’re squeamish, you might want to skip the next three paragraphs (don’t worry, there are no photos though). At first we thought the cremations were not as intense as we had expected. The first ones we saw were already underway – the flames engulfing fabric shrouds that were wrapped around the bodies. But then we saw the start of a funeral. First, the family lifts the shrouded body onto the stacked firewood. Then the eldest son sets a huge bundle of straw ablaze and runs three times around the funeral pyre before setting it alight.
By this point one of the cremation pyres we were watching earlier had started to burn unevenly and the shroud had burnt away at the head and torso. The man working at the ghat took a bamboo pole and, as if rearranging a bonfire, prodded the dead man’s torso into the hottest part of the fire. We were left watching the stiff body sitting exposed and upright, silhouetted by the fire. While this was obviously a very intense and foreign experience for us, it didn’t feel upsetting since we knew that this was a normal and respectful part of Hindu culture.
Some bodies that aren’t cremated are instead given a water burial in the Ganges. So if the sewerage and rubbish aren’t enough to put you off the idea of bathing in the holy river, it might do it to know that decomposing bodies occasionally wash up on the banks.
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Unexpectedly, we found walking along the ghats to be quite peaceful, at least in contrast to the overcrowded and dirty alleys of the old city that lie behind the ghats. Despite the alleys being full of people and two metres wide at most, they still let motorcycles ride through (like Thamel in Kathmandu, but much worse). Once a cow appeared from around the corner, calmly pushed its way through a crowd of people and brushed right past us! We even saw two fighting cows bowl a man over at one point. It was always nice to reach our destination and get off the “streets”.
We weren’t able to CouchSurf in Varanasi, but we did spend an afternoon hanging out with a Varanasi CouchSurfer. He took us to a local street food vendor who has been feeding his family for over a decade. It was great having someone guide us through the Indian street food experience. We tried Gol Gappa (crispy shells filled with curried vegetables and a spicy juice), Aloo Tikki (spicy mashed potato and vegetables) and Paan. Paan is a mouth freshner, made from a concoction of dubious ingredients wrapped in a Betel leaf. The savoury snacks were delicious, but we ended up having to spit the Paan out. An acquired taste maybe?
</a> Making Paan
Our confidence with street food bolstered, we had lots of samosas (which are everywhere), desserts and dosa over the next few days. The going rate for a fresh, hand-made samosa is about NZ$0.10! We found we could have a veritable feast on the street and the bill would come to about a dollar between us. It’s dangerous to have no financial barrier to overeating, particularly when the food is so delicious!
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So far there are three topics that invariably come up when we talk to locals about issues facing India: corruption, population growth and poverty. We learnt about the extent of corruption in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – more than NZ$500 million was lost to corruption, which is up to 20% of the whole budget of the games!
India has 1.2 billion residents, and is set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in the next couple of decades. Although India’s economic growth has been impressive, its population grows faster still, making it a struggle for the country to maintain (let alone improve) the infrastructure and standard of living.
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As far as poverty goes, we’re finding it hard to process some of what we are seeing. Lying in front of the Gorakphur train station was a dirty, withered man lying slumped on the concrete. He lay there in an old shirt, naked from the waist down, his inert body riddled with a huge cloud of flies. Maybe we’ll have more to say in a future post.
The thing you hear most often about travelling to India, almost to the point of cliché, is that it is a place you both love and hate. This has been true for us so far. The vibrancy, food and incredible sights make India a really exciting place to be. On the other hand, we’re struggling with the dirtiness, ever-present pushy touts, lack of personal space and extreme poverty. Like in South America, we’re encountering lots of people willing to lie and cheat us in order to make some money. It can be hard to work out who is genuinely trying to help us and we sadly find ourselves sometimes becoming suspicious by default.
We found Varanasi to be thoroughly fascinating, but after three days here we’ll be happy not to be walking through the old city any longer! Probably time for a change of scene then, and it’s a good thing that we’re off to Agra next – home of the beautiful Taj Mahal.

Pokhara, Nepal

Unknown — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 12:48:56 +0000

Travelling from Kathmandu to Pokhara on the bus is an experience. Despite the cities only being 200 km apart, the bus takes about seven hours. It’s easy to see why. The narrow roads wind their way through the hills and are a mix of potholed sealed and unsealed roads. Travelling by road is a great way to see some of rural life in Nepal. Most Nepali people make their living from agriculture, with many of Nepal’s poorest people barely growing enough food to live on (just 13% of the country’s agricultural output is traded). We saw lots of terraces cut into hillsides, ox-drawn ploughs and workers manually harvesting grain.
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We stayed in Pokhara for a couple of days both before and after our trek. The Lakeside area of Pokhara is a very chilled out place where you can find plenty of tourists preparing or recovering from their treks. We let ourselves enjoy Pokhara’s touristy side which we have to admit wasn’t a particularly cultural experience.
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</a> Who would’ve thought that NASA get their gear from Pokhara?
It was nice having cafés to sit in while catching up on some of our to-do list. A whole range of food is available here - both Western and Nepali. The food is delicious and very cheap. One night we decided to ‘splash out’ and paid about NZ$6 each for our meal and drinks. Even the fancy restaurants have a relaxed vibe and for once we fitted right in with our travel clothes.
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Accommodation here is also very cheap. In the two guesthouses we stayed at we paid between NZ$7 and $10 per night for a room. Like Kathmandu, power cuts are frequent here. Guesthouses sometimes have timetables for when the load shedding will take place, so it’s important to time having your showers!
Pokhara was also the perfect place to get a post-trek massage. We chose to go to a place that employs blind Nepalese masseuses. Apparently, there are around 170,000 people in Nepal who are blind, and there is not always support available. We’ve noticed that any companies in Nepal that become popular with tourists or recognised in guidebooks attract copycats – we walked past another massage clinic in Lakeside that purportedly hires deaf and mute people!
The rest of Pokhara is very different from the touristy Lakeside area. The trekking shops and hotels disappear and you can see where most locals are living. We wandered through some other neighbourhoods on our way to the Buddhist Peace Pagoda which sits overlooking the lake.
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After having a few days after our trek to relax, we’re now feeling ready to make our way to India. We’re heading south through Lumbini in Nepal to cross the land border at Sunuali and head on to Varanasi.

Trekking in the Himalayas

Unknown — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 13:16:25 +0000

After a short taxi ride, we started our trek from the road end at Nayapul. Nayapul is a small place with taxis crowded along the edge of the road and vendors selling those last essential supplies. The two of us, along with our guide and porter, set off in the afternoon with just a couple of hours to walk on the first day. We were at the start of the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek, a 10 day trek into the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas. Our trek begun with the very popular Poon Hill circuit before heading up a mountain valley to and from ABC.
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We started with a two day ascent to Poon Hill at 3,200m. During these first couple of days we passed through lots of small villages and terraces cut into hillsides for farming. The fields were full of crops of different colours – mustard, rice, wheat, corn, buckwheat and millet are all grown in the region. On all of the farms the work is largely done by hand, still using methods from hundreds of years ago. We saw farmers harvesting grain using sickles, threshing out wheat, using oxen drawn ploughs and making rice flour with a millstone. The houses here often have courtyards, which are important for processing crops. It was common to see people beating millet with sticks to separate out the grains and drying them on large tarpaulins.
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The trail was host to a whole range of working animals and livestock. We often had to move aside to let buffalo, horses, ponies, sheep and goats walk past. Sometimes a whole bunch of ponies would come past together, with big loads of goods or construction materials. They seemed a bit out of control, struggling to find their footing as they descended the slippery stone stairs (of which there were plenty).
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For the first few days we trekked with a couple from Holland. It was great having long games of 500</a> in the evenings once we reached the guesthouses. The guesthouses are basic but they are a lot more luxurious than the tramping huts back home. In each guesthouse we had a small room to ourselves, some offered hot showers and a few had a fire to sit around at night. They all offer a lot of choice in food and they seem to be about two hours apart, so you’re never far from somewhere to refuel. A lot of Western food is offered, such as pizza and macaroni cheese, but our favourite dish by far was Dal Bhat</a>. Dal Bhat is a traditional Nepali dish consisting of a platter of rice, lentil soup, potato curry, poppadom and pickle. Most Nepalese people eat it for lunch and dinner every day without fail. Dal Bhat is all-you-can-eat, and we saw some of the porters putting away epic amounts after a hard day’s work.
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Our porter was a tiny 44-year-old man who, until recently, was a poultry farmer. He didn’t speak much English but, from what we could gather, almost all of his chickens died suddenly from eating contaminated corn. He had no choice but to find work as a porter so he could save up enough money to buy more chickens and go back to farming.
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Each day our porter tied his small daypack onto our pack and then attached a headstrap which he used to bear some of the weight. We had put everything we needed for the trek in one pack, and left the other pack back in Pokhara. Even so, we struggled with having someone else carry our things for us (particularly someone half our size and twice our age). On the one hand, we were providing a much needed job, and this trek would go a long way to helping our porter return to farming. But we still couldn’t help but feel guilty at how spoiled we are in comparison and how hard he has to work for so little.
Porters are supposed to carry a maximum of 25kg, but we were told that this is often ignored, with some carrying up to 50kg. We saw many porters with huge loads, some with five packs strapped together. The porters were often wearing light and basic clothes (even jandals). From what we can gather, most porters do all of this for around NZ$18 per day (although some get paid even less). We tried to look after our porter as much as possible, and were really happy when he said to us on the last day “You have been very kindly to me”.
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On our third day, we rose early from our guesthouse at Ghoripani to climb Poon Hill before sunrise. It was very cold at 5:00am, so we started off wearing so many layers that we looked like marshmallows! The walk up reminded us an awful lot of walking up to Machu Picchu – being in the dark with a long queue of people wearing headtorches, shuffling slowly up the stairs. It had been pretty busy on the trail on the previous days, but now it really was like standing in a line.
We reached the top of Poon Hill, at 3,200m, just before sunrise. As the sky lightened, we got an awesome panoramic view of the Annapurna mountains. The highest of the Annapurnas is the 7^{th highest mountain in the world and we could see three peaks of over 8,000m.}
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While at the top, Craig started feeling dizzy and had to sit down. We were above the height where altitude sickness can occur, so this wasn’t a good sign for the rest of our trek (when we would go above 4,000m). Hoping that it was mostly the early exercise and lack of food, we headed back down to the guesthouse for breakfast. Now that there was light, we could see that everything was covered in a heavy frost – even the dog.
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The next couple of days took us to the junction of the Poon Hill circuit and the ABC trail. We were glad we were going to both Poon Hill and ABC, as we were told that they were quite different experiences. The view from Poon Hill was beautiful, but the mountains still felt quite distant. The ABC trail would take us up a mountain valley to the base camp at 4,130m, nestled amongst several of the huge peaks.
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The scenery was different on this section of the walk, with fewer villages and more forest. One evening we noticed dark shapes flying right past us on the guesthouse balcony. We realised that they were bats, and spent a while watching dozens of them fly past. Sometimes it would seem like they were about to hit us, until they veered away at the last second.
One day we stopped for a break at a guesthouse where a young girl, maybe one year old, was playing by herself. After checking with her mother, we got out some bubble mixture that we had bought especially for the trek and started blowing bubbles with her. She was really cute and we played together for a while. But it turns out we hadn’t thought through our exit strategy. As soon as we got up to leave, the girl burst into tears and her grandmother had to stop working to try to soothe her. Feeling very awkward, we left the village behind having turned a perfectly happy child into a crying one.
</a> The good times
We had chosen to bring bubble mixture because we didn’t want to bring toys or candy – things that cause rubbish and encourage begging. But when we thought about it later, we realised that the whole idea of bringing something for the kids was really more for our benefit than theirs. The kids can happily entertain themselves without needing foreign tourists to show them things they can’t have.
Leaving the kids with presents is perhaps even worse. Several times children would say “Namaste! Chocolate? Candy?” as we walked past. The saddest case was an infant who couldn’t yet speak, but who crawled towards us with his hand out.
We took three days to walk the return trail to ABC. The scenery changed again – we were now walking up a mountain valley beside an icy glacial river. As we got higher, we saw spectacular frozen waterfalls and streams on the sides of the valley. There was a heavy frost everywhere and even some snow around. Thankfully, Craig had no problem with the altitude as we climbed. The clouds rolled in one afternoon, creating a cool ghostly atmosphere.
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The guesthouses are uninsulated and unheated, so night times at high altitude are very cold at this time of year. As the nights plunged below freezing we even took to wearing down jackets in our sleeping bags overnight.
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One evening in a busy guesthouse dining room, a loud hissing noise was quickly followed by a Nepali man walking into the room with a huge flaming kerosene burner. The heavy fabric tablecloth was lifted up and the burner went in amongst our feet. This would surely fail an OSH inspection back home, but we were grateful for the warmth.
To avoid sleeping at the highest and coldest guesthouses we rose early one day to climb to ABC. Each day clouds had been rolling in mid-morning, so we planned to see the view early and then head back down to stay the night somewhere warmer.
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We approached ABC just as the sun rose over Macchapucchre, a gorgeous sight. The shadow of the mountain retreated slowly down the valley – we could even walk along and see the sunrise all over again.
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We got to the top and enjoyed a cup of tea while looking around at the spectacular mountains surrounding us. Even though we had walked to 4,130m (higher than Mount Cook), the mountains above us were still impressively tall – we were at just half the height of the tallest peaks.
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The walk down was quick - we got all the way back down to Bamboo, at 2,335m altitude, before stopping for the day. This was the first day that was as long and hard as what we’d expect from a day’s tramping back home – a combined climb and descent of 2,700 vertical metres!
After Bamboo, we realised that we didn’t really need as long as we had in our itinerary to walk out. Up to this point we were already feeling well rested, with each day’s walk only taking around six hours (including a long lunch break). We were facing some ridiculously short days, so we arranged with our guide to take a detour and also finish a day early.
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Our trek in the Himalayas is right up there as one of the best experiences of our trip. We hope that we will be able to come back to Nepal someday for some more trekking. Almost all tourists who go trekking in Nepal go to just five or six famous trails, including the ABC trek. We think it would be exciting to one day plan a trip into the mountains in a less explored region of Nepal.
The end of our trek returned us to Pokhara, a large city in the foothills of the Himalayas. There’s a vibrant tourist centre here catering to trekkers, but it’s a lot more pleasant and quiet than chaotic Thamel. It’s the perfect place to relax, rest and get a few things done. First job: adjust back from the 8pm bedtime of the mountains!
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Comments from WordPress</h2>

Alice 2013-01-02T23:38:09Z

That looks so incredible. Fitness level required??? </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2013-01-05T03:39:59Z

Hey Alice, Happy New Year!
All sorts of people were managing to do the trek. With teahouses every couple of hours at most, you can go as fast or as slow as you like. Having your bag carried also makes it a lot easier.
A lot of the uphill is on steep stone stairs, so if you can climb these steadily without tiring it’s a faster and more enjoyable walk. If you want to know any more info, get in touch and we can easily tell you more :-) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Kathmandu

Unknown — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:18:14 +0000

Our 30 hour journey from Istanbul to Kathmandu (via London and Delhi) was not as hard as we had feared. Delhi Airport even had some nice couches where we slept away our nine-hour transit. And, most importantly, our bags made it through all of the connections to arrive with us in Kathmandu. The scene as we stepped out of the airport took us back to the very start of our trip in Santiago, with dozens of touts and scammers trying to pretend they represented a taxi company or our guesthouse. We eventually found our genuine driver and headed off into the chaos that is Kathmandu.
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There was no doubt that we had left Europe behind. Traffic lanes don’t seem to exist in Nepal – the cars, motorbikes, trucks and cows weave around each other whenever they see a gap. The indicator is neglected in favour of the horn, used to announce an overtaking manoeuvre. Some trucks even have “Horn Please” written on their rear bumper. The roads are broken and dusty – many of the locals wear face masks to try to protect them from the dust and traffic fumes. So much of life in Kathmandu happens on the street. Amongst the dust and noise we even spotted a man getting a shave from a barber on the side of the road! Shopkeepers sit out on the street awaiting customers and there are hundreds of tiny single-room shops lining the streets selling everything from second-hand radios to motorbike parts.
</a> With only two days in Kathmandu, we decided to stay in the touristy area of Thamel. There was no mistaking when we had arrived in the neighbourhood – the dusty pocket-sized shops gave way to much tidier trekking equipment stores, bars, hotels and restaurants. The narrow streets in Thamel lack footpaths and are open to all traffic. A constant stream of cars, taxis, cycle rickshaws and motorbikes fly past just inches away, making for a less than relaxing pedestrian environment!
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Thamel is truly a tourist ghetto. Adding to the din of car horns are the live music bars, each with a Nepali covers band playing repetitive sets of Western classics. We were next door to a loud bar with a particularly dismal vocalist – earplugs came in very handy! Knowing that our clothes wouldn’t stand up to the cold of the Himalayas, we set out to shop. Thamel is set up for just this need, with dozens of practically identical trekking shops selling counterfeit gear – “The North Fake”. We were quickly outfitted with all the gear we needed and it definitely didn’t break the bank. Some examples: walking poles were NZ$5 each and we got this warm hat for NZ$1.50.
</a> Hat + cake = NZ$2.50
Kathmandu is perhaps the only capital city in the world that suffers from power cuts of up to 16 hours per day. In order to deal with insufficient power generation, whole neighbourhoods are simply switched off for hours at a time. Thankfully, during our visit power cuts were infrequent and short. Locals have learnt to live with the power cuts – we saw shopkeepers turning on generators or connecting their shop lighting to car batteries.
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While in Kathmandu we also visited a Buddhist temple called Swayambhu Temple.
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Here are a few more of our photos from Kathmandu:
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We visited two of Kathmandu’s important temples – one for Hindus and one for Buddhists. Around 80% of Kathmandu’s population are Hindu and about 10% are Buddhist. Unlike in many places, religious differences are not a cause of conflict here. Pashupatinath Temple, the Hindu temple we visited, sits on the banks of the Bagmati River and is an important site for cremations. As soon as we entered we saw a cremation taking place in the open, with piles of wood burning on a concrete platform beside the river. At first we weren’t even sure if there was a body inside, but we were told that this cremation was near the end of the process (which takes about five hours).
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According to Hindu beliefs, cremation occurs within a few hours of a person’s death. The only people not to be cremated are babies, pregnant women and Sadhus. We were struck by how sudden it seems for the deceased person’s family and friends, going from learning of the death to cremation of the body so quickly. While the cremation process starts quickly, the funeral ceremony lasts for a long time, with the family living at the temple for around 12 days.
The Nepali caste system results in several separate cremation platforms – one for each of the castes. We hadn’t expected to see so much rubbish in the river, given its status as a holy site. Children comb the polluted river for gold that has been placed with the bodies and has survived the cremation process.
We are both excited (and slightly apprehensive) about spending the next six months in Asia. It’s good to be somewhere a bit more adventurous again, although that does mean losing comforts like clean rooms and reliable hot showers! Still, we feel ready for this part of our trip and will try to embrace the challenges that come our way.
Our next stop is Pokhara – a popular base for tourists heading off for treks in the Annapurna range of the Himalayas. We are setting off on a 10 day trek to Annapurna Base Camp. We’re really excited about doing the trek but slightly apprehensive at the same time, as it will be the longest walk we’ve ever done. We’ll update you shortly about how it’s gone.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2012-12-10T20:06:43Z

Nice post! Ah … the memories! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

The ANZAC battlegrounds of Gallipoli

Unknown — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:37:37 +0000

Of course we couldn’t leave Turkey without undertaking the Kiwi pilgrimage to the Gallipoli Peninsula. We booked a one-day tour from Istanbul that had us up in the early hours and returned us home late at night.
There’s no point us trying to recount the full history of the Gallipoli Campaign, so we’ll just mention a few things as we go along. In brief, the plan was for the ANZACs to cut across the peninsula and, together with other Allied forces from the south, secure the peninsula so that the Allied navy could sail up the Dardanelles Strait to Istanbul, force the Ottoman Empire to surrender and open up a supply route to Russia.
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World War 1 was one of the first wars fought after the Industrial Revolution, and has been described as 19^{th-century warfare fought with 20^{th-century weapons. Old tactics came up against deadly new technology, particularly the machine gun and explosive shells, resulting in ineffectual battles of attrition with huge casualties on both sides. The Gallipoli Campaign was disastrous for the Allies. Far from quickly capturing the peninsula, they barely got off the beaches they landed on and became bogged down in nine months of trench warfare that cost hundreds of thousands of lives.}}
The most striking realisation for us was just how small the battleground was. The ANZAC battleground was, in its entirety, a few beaches, ridge lines and hills all within 3km of the coast. On our tour, we drove around the whole battleground in hardly any time at all. Landing at the wrong beach was a critical mistake for the ANZACs – we saw how wide and flat the intended landing site was, compared to the steep hills behind ANZAC Cove.
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</a> The hills above Anzac Cove
Life in the trenches was, of course, miserable. We were there in November and it was bitterly cold so it wasn’t hard to see how so many troops died from hypothermia in the depths of winter.
The Gallipoli Campaign has been described as the last “Gentlemen’s War”. In some places the trenches were just six metres apart – barely enough for a narrow two-lane road. Troops who were sick of their own food would trade rations, throwing them across no-man’s-land into the enemy trenches (although apparently the ANZACs’ canned SPAM was sometimes thrown back!) There is also a famous story of a Turk soldier who picked up a wounded ANZAC officer lying in no-man’s-land and carried him back to the Allied trenches. The soldiers are described as having had a mutual respect for one another. It’s hard to imagine on the one hand feeling camaraderie with your enemy, and on the other hand trying to kill them. We got a sense that war has changed a lot in the past hundred years.
</a> A statue commemorating the famous story
There are several memorials at Gallipoli, each located at a place of significance. The New Zealand memorial is located on Chunuk Bair, strategically important as the highest point in the area. New Zealand forces did manage to capture Chunuk Bair, although this lasted just a few days until a Turkish counter-attack pushed them back. Many Kiwis lost their lives in the Battle of Chunuk Bair – the most costly battle of the Gallipoli Campaign for New Zealanders.
</a> The view from Chunuk Bair
All of the memorials are simple, solemn and peaceful. Many have been placed on no-man’s-land where significant battles occurred, with the memorial lawns ending at each side’s trenches. Being able to see just how small these battlegrounds were, gave us a sense of the closeness and intensity of this kind of warfare.
Learning about Gallipoli while visiting the sites where events took place is certainly different from just reading about the campaign. Our visit to the peninsula has helped us feel much more connected with this part of New Zealand’s history.
At the end of the day we got on a bus for the long ride back to Istanbul. This will be our last post from Turkey (and from Europe) as we head east, bound for Kathmandu.

Istanbul

Unknown — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:53:15 +0000

Markets, Mosques and… Mannequins? We found all three in abundance during our visit to Istanbul.
We expected the Grand Bazaar to be one of the highlights of the city. To be honest, what we found disappointed us. We had thought the Bazaar would be chaotic and lively. Instead, it was full of repetitive souvenir shops and more resembled a shopping mall than a bustling street market.
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What we enjoyed more was wandering around the streets nearby. There seemed to be different shopping districts for different products – cheap shoes, firearms, kids’ toys and our favourite: shop mannequins.
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The Grand Bazaar is in Istanbul’s old city – an easily walkable district containing many of the city’s historical highlights.
It was interesting to be in a country with a Muslim majority. We enjoyed visiting a variety of mosques, from the impressive Blue and New Mosques to the smaller neighbourhood ones. It was particularly interesting on Friday, the Islamic Holy Day, when some mosques were full to overflowing and people were finding space out on the footpath to pray.
Turkey has a long history of separating religion and state, so despite having an overwhelming majority of Muslims, religious law is not in effect. However, some Turkish locals told us that this tradition of secularism has been steadily eroded over the last five years. We also heard of other problems facing the country, such as conflict in neighbouring countries and a Kurdish minority violently seeking independence in the east of Turkey. We realised how little we hear about the situation in Turkey back home.
The Bosphorus Sea splits Istanbul in two – the European and Asian sides. There are regular ferries (as well as a couple of bridges) that run between the two sides. One day we took a ferry across to Üsküdar on the Asian side (said to be the more relaxed side of Istanbul) and spent time exploring. We saw lively food markets and older men at cafés playing backgammon and drinking tea – two popular pastimes throughout Turkey. We ended up spending a bit of time on the Bosphorus Sea – also going on a cruise and visiting one of the Prince’s Islands. With so many people living next to the sea, there are fishermen standing at every possible spot along the coast, at all hours of the day.
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Our time on the Bosphorus helped us appreciate the immense size of the city. Istanbul is one of the largest cities in the world, with around 14 million residents. This makes for a very busy place – the traffic is pretty crazy and even pedestrian streets can feel like busy highways. We’re not sure we could handle living in a city this big for very long. We CouchSurfed for some of our time in Istanbul and one of our hosts, Deneb, told us about how she used to have a two hour commute each way to work.
While the city is busy, it does have charm. Istanbul is very different to home, but the hills and the waterfront apartments with cable cars reminded us a bit of Oriental Parade in Wellington.
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It’s been a while since we went on about food, so here goes… Turkey has been a big foodie destination and we’ve tried some amazing dishes. However, you do have to pick the right places. Surprisingly, the standard of kebabs here hasn’t been as high as in New Zealand. Mind you, you can’t get a kebab for NZ$1.50 back home (we weren’t game enough to try meat this cheap). Some of the delicious things we’ve had while we’ve been in Turkey are lentil soup, stuffed peppers and cabbage leaves, pistachio Turkish delight, baklava, a milky dessert containing chicken (unusual but delicious) and Noah’s pudding (see photo below). Our CouchSurfers also cooked us an amazing Turkish feast.
</a> Noah’s Pudding, topped with pomegranate, currants, raisins, pistachio, chopped nuts, coconut, fig, apricot and walnut
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On our last day in Istanbul we enjoyed a game of backgammon while relaxing in a small café. However, we ruined the Turkishness of the moment by ordering Apple Tea. It’s kind of like drinking hot Raro and you can find it everywhere (but it’s pretty much just for tourists).
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With four days in Istanbul we had plenty of time to see the sights and also to relax. While here, we also went on a long day trip to Gallipoli, which will be the topic of our next post.

Cappadocia - a photo essay

Unknown — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:12:49 +0000

At the centre of Turkey lies Cappadocia, a UNESCO protected area which is famous for its incredible rock formations. We thought we’d try something new with this post and write it in the style of a photo essay.
The six of us arrived in Cappadocia off an overnight bus from the Lycian Coast.
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Making up for a lack of sleep, we started the day with a strong Turkish coffee.
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After checking into our hostel we set off to explore Pigeon Valley.
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Climbing out of the valley gave us great views back towards Goreme where we were staying.
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It felt like a playground for adults - we enjoyed exploring the caves and “fairy chimneys”.
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The following day we checked out another couple of nearby valleys.
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The shapes and colours of the landscape are bizarre and very striking.
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The rock formations are made of layers of volcanic rock. The landscape, consisting mostly of a soft rock made from volcanic ash, erodes away over time. Deposits of hard basalt protect the patch of earth underneath from erosion, creating distinctive columns and mounds.
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Having climbed to the top of a tall ridge we got a great view (the perfect place for a melodramatic photo).
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That night, everyone from the hostel went out to a cave restaurant. The owners were super friendly and kept plying us with free food and drinks.
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It was freezing cold for our whole stay in Cappadocia, but the following day was the coldest by far. We had arranged a tour for the day to see some of the sights further afield.
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Unfortunately the weather made us a bit miserable and sometimes we just felt like getting back to the warm(ish) van.
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We visited a monastery carved from the rock and an underground city used to hold up against sieges.
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The weather cleared up a bit on our last day in Cappadocia, so we set off again, this time to Love Valley.
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Wonder why they call it Love Valley?
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Because of the bad weather, we missed out on seeing one of Cappadocia’s iconic sights – hot air balloons taking off in the early morning. Here’s a photo of what we missed.
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Despite the cold, Cappadocia was an amazing place to see. It was also really fun travelling with the same group of people for a week. But now everyone was heading their separate ways. As for us, we caught an evening flight to Istanbul - our last stop in Turkey.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Gina 2012-12-04T17:19:48Z

I would have loved to go to Cappadocia, but was in Turkey in February so didn’t think it was the best idea! I hope you’re loving Istanbul– if you’re still there, definitely get the ice cream at Mado! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

The Lycian Coast, Turkey

Unknown — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:27:55 +0000

Fethiye is a resort town at the start of the Lycian Coast on the Mediterranean Sea. We quickly realised that it was going to be a sleepy place for our visit. With winter approaching many restaurants, tour companies and guesthouses had already closed down. It was a bit strange to be in a dormant resort town - it lacked atmosphere and felt like a bit of a ghost town. On the other hand, the prices were lower and it wasn’t too crowded. With so many activities closed, we were happy to have just a day in Fethiye.
</a> The Fish Market in Fethiye
</a> Ancient rock tombs in Fethiye
We decided to head to a beach nearby called Kabak. Our intention was to go for a walk, but we got no further than the restaurant and beach (it was even warm enough to swim).
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The next day we headed to the remote village of Olympos. It’s an old hippy hangout by the sea, now a backpackers’ haven with room for around 6000 visitors. There isn’t much information on intercity transport in Turkey online, but we were pleased to find that it runs like clockwork once you’re here, with dolmuşes (minibusses) connecting even the smallest of places.
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Unlike Fethiye, Olympos had a really cool feel during the off-season. Our accommodation was great, although the description of the rooms as ‘tree houses’ was perhaps a bit of a stretch. With just 20 people in a 200 bed hostel, we felt like we got to know most of the guests and the atmosphere was really chilled. The hostel provided a delicious breakfast and dinner and there was a campfire every night.
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A unique attraction at Olympos is Mount Chimaera – a hillside where fires have been burning for thousands of years, fuelled by natural gas deposits. Some think that this site was the inspiration for the myth of the Chimaera, the fire breathing creature of Greek mythology.
A bunch of us from the hostel walked to the flames together one night. Over the flames we toasted marshmallows and some dubious looking sausages.
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So far, we haven’t found Turkey as ‘Turkish’ as we expected. We think that’s partly because we’ve been in beachside resort towns, which can seem fairly generic worldwide. Maybe it’s also because we had too many Istanbul stereotypes in our heads. We’ve enjoyed our time here and are feeling really relaxed after our few days on the Lycian Coast, but it will be nice to see some more unique parts of Turkey soon. A few of us from the hostel are travelling on together to Cappadocia, an area with dramatic rock formations at the centre of Turkey.

The holy city of Jerusalem

Unknown — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 17:17:22 +0000

We know it’s a big call, but Jerusalem has got to be one of the most fascinating places in the world. Simply wandering around the streets we stumbled across countless interesting people, places and rituals. According to Wikipedia, Jerusalem “has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times”, which no doubt has contributed to the diverse mix of people here. Jerusalem’s diminutive Old City, less than one square kilometre in size, is divided up into four quarters – the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters.
Neither of us are religious, but of course coming from New Zealand, the religion we’re most familiar with is Christianity. However, the Christian denominations and cultures we encountered were different from those back home. In Jerusalem you can find Ethiopian, Armenian, Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians, various Catholics and small Mormon and Protestant communities.
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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the world’s most important religious site for several Christian denominations. It is where Jesus is said to have been crucified and buried before his resurrection. We stood and watched for a while at Jesus’ tomb. The displays of religious emotion and devotion was like nothing we’ve seen before. One man was kneeling, with his head resting on the tomb. He sat there hunched over, as if in a trance, caressing the stone for the whole time we were inside the church (almost an hour). The pilgrims moving around him had an interesting routine to their visits. They would kneel at the tomb and then unload bags full of religious items purchased from market stalls nearby such as crosses, paintings and candles. After kissing the stone, or lovingly rubbing it clean with their scarves, they would pack up their objects and leave.
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On the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies the Via Dolorosa – purportedly the route where Jesus walked, carrying his cross. Some pilgrims carry huge wooden crosses up the path, wanting to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. Every Friday, monks from the Franciscan Monastary lead the “Way of the Cross” procession, stopping at 14 “stations” along the Via Dolorosa said to be sites of significant events in Jesus’ suffering.
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Another day we came across an Ethiopian Orthodox church and went in to take a look. Sitting in the church listening to a group of priests chanting, we felt we’d been transported to a different place entirely.
Upon first entering the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, we walked straight into a lively Bar Mitzvah parade. In a new custom that has become popular for Bar Mitzvahs in Jerusalem, the boy who is coming-of age is paraded through the streets accompanied by drums, balloons and proud family and friends.
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The world’s holiest site for Jews is the Western Wall – one of the retaining walls for the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount was the site of two past Jewish temples, the last of which was destroyed in 70AD when the Jews were ejected from Jerusalem by the Romans. The desire for a third, eternal temple is very important to religious Jews - there are even architectural plans in the Torah!
At the Western Wall you can see Jewish worshippers write prayers on slips of paper and poke them into gaps in the wall. The idea being that the close proximity to God will help their prayers be heard. The wall becomes so stuffed full of prayers that they are cleared out every few months and buried on the Mount of Olives nearby.
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The Western Wall was a mesmerising spot for people-watching. Some worshippers sat near the wall studying the Talmud, others rocked back and forth in a short, rapid bowing motion while praying. It was especially interesting visiting just before the start of Shabbat (the Jewish holy-day) when hundreds of families descended on the site to pray.
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Walking away from the wall, we came across a young Jewish boy in a steep alleyway kicking a football around. We joined the game and started talking to him about what he’d be doing during Shabbat. He was really cute and chatty, informing us that “some people think you can’t play football on Shabbat, but you can!!” When we asked to take his photo, he checked his watch and then gave us permission since it was still a few minutes before Shabbat.
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Of course prior to visiting Israel we knew a bit about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But we were surprised to hear many secular and liberal Israelis say that they feel more tension between them and the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community than with the Palestinians. Ultra-Orthodox Jews are the most conservative, traditional adherents to Judaism. The most visible group of Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem are the Haredi Jews (of which there are several subgroups). We will use the term Haredi for the rest of the post, as Ultra-Orthodox is seen as a pejorative term by some.
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There are a few reasons for the animosity within Judaism. There is resentment at an exception Haredi Jews have from the two-to-three years of compulsory military service in Israel. This exception is based on a Haredi belief that men should be studying the Torah rather than serving in the military. Many Haredi in Israel extend this belief to all work, strongly preferring religious study to employment or conventional education. This results a whopping 55% of Haredi men being unemployed and reliant on benefits. Haredis’ beliefs also lead them to have large families, compounding the severity of their poverty. Suffering under the burden of a high tax rate, many Israelis resent the Haredi Jews for choosing not to work. The high birth rate means the Haredi population (and their consequent power) is increasing – a concern for some secular and liberal Jews who are afraid of a future of strict religious law.
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While in Jerusalem we CouchSurfed with our lovely hosts Smadar and Eran. They suggested we visit the Haredi neighbourhood of Mea Shearim. As we approached the neighbourhood we heard a commotion and walked toward the noise to see what was going on. We arrived at an intersection to find about 40 Haredi Jews of all ages walking along the road who were shouting and pointing at cars driving past. A bystander told us that the Haredi were protesting against people driving during Shabbat (a prohibited activity under Judaism). As the police tried to keep the road clear, several shoving matches broke out between them and the Haredi. It turned out to be quite the show and spectators gathered to watch. It was hard to believe we were actually seeing such a bizarre event.
Leaving the protest, we entered Mea Shearim. At the entrance to the neighbourhood there was a heartfelt sign asking women to dress modestly. Haredi Jews have a variety of traditional dress styles depending on the particular sub-group they come from. Men’s clothing includes some interesting hats, robes and suits, while women tend to wear conservative blouses and black skirts.
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The neighbourhood was like another world. The poverty was immediately evident and far worse than we had expected. We saw streets full of rubbish and poor quality, overcrowded housing. Because of Shabbat, and perhaps due in part to poverty, the kids were all playing together in the streets with basic, traditional toys such as skipping ropes. Because of their large families, the elder kids often have childcare responsibilities and it was common to see young children carrying around their even younger siblings. We felt very conspicuous walking through the area and received several suspicious looks.
Another day we went on an unconventional walking tour of Musrara, a mixed-religion neighbourhood right on the pre-1967 border between Israel and Jordan. The tour was run by a passionate group of artists who are trying to encourage interaction and understanding between the communities’ various religious groups through workshops and public art projects. With a largely segregated mixed community of liberal Jews, Haredi and Arabs the neighbourhood is a microcosm of the rest of Jerusalem.
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</a> The official sign on the left points to a bomb shelter. The right-hand sign reads “Love” in Hebrew.
While East and West Jerusalem is no longer separated by a border, a cultural divide remains that is so strong it’s as if a physical border still exists. It’s hard to convey this sense, but it is quite incredible – upon crossing certain streets almost everything changes in an instant. Leaving Musrara, we explored the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and some Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. We found some cool street markets and soaked up the Arab atmosphere – a new experience for us.
</a> Couriers carried trays through the bustling markets, delivering drinks to the stall holders.
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The Temple Mount, which we mentioned earlier as the world’s holiest site for Jews, is also the world’s third most holy site for Muslims. It’s not hard to see why the area, the size of just two rugby fields, has been such fought over for so long. Temple Mount is currently under Islamic control and visiting hours are restricted for the non-Muslim public. We were not allowed inside the Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem’s most iconic landmark) but were able to have a close look at the exterior.
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We left the Old City to explore the Mount of Olives (the site of an ancient Jewish Cemetery) and then continued onward to some Palestinian neighbourhoods. This was another time of feeling out of place – we were constantly watched and on several occasions residents offered us directions back to the tourist landmarks. We found a place to look over the West Bank separation barrier and one of the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Israel began constructing the barrier in 2003, after the Second Intifada, with the stated purpose of preventing suicide attacks on Israel from the West Bank.
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This is potentially opening up a can of worms, but… here’s a basic summary of some of what we have learnt about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a disclaimer, we have a lot more to learn before we feel like we can have fully informed opinions on this clearly divisive issue. Initially, it seems to us that there is such a long and messy history of wrongdoing on both sides that being “pro-Israel” or “pro-Palestine” as some people are is far too simplistic.
The Israeli barrier and settlements have been criticised as human rights violations, an attempt to unilaterally define new borders and a barrier to achieving a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. At present Palestinians have neither full rights as citizens of Israel (a “one-state solution”), nor their own sovereign territory in the West Bank and Gaza (a “two-state solution”). Many Arabs living in Palestine either fled or were driven out (depending on who you ask) during the Israeli War of Independence and became refugees. Those who stayed have fewer rights and a lower quality of life than Israeli Jews and live under threat of violence from the Israeli military.
</a> Looking into East Jerusalem from the Old City walls
On the other side of the argument, while there are more than 126 Christian-majority states and 49 Muslim-majority states in the world, Israel is the only Jewish-majority state. A one-state solution could mean an Arab majority at the polling booth and, therefore, the end of Israel as the Jewish state (which was the whole reason for its creation). As for a two-state solution, Israel has had to fight for its survival ever since its inception, in seven major wars and countless smaller conflicts. While fledgling Israel supported the UN Partition Plan which included both a Jewish and Palestinian state, the Arab world rejected the plan and started a war instead. All of Israel’s major population centres are within artillery range of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights, making the country nervous about handing over this militarily strategic territory to hostile neighbours. One Israeli view is that the Palestinian refugees constitute a population exchange for Jews who had to flee the Arab world during the Israeli War of Independence.
With fresh violence in Gaza just days after we left, and escalating rhetoric on both sides, it sadly looks like a lasting peace in the Middle East is not getting any closer. Indeed, with Iran developing nuclear weapons while making genocidal comments against Israel, it seems that there is more war to come.
If you’re still reading at this point (our longest post yet) then maybe you understand why we found Israel’s history, religion and politics to be so overwhelming! It was really hard to write this post and try to convey the experience of being here - we’ve tried to do our best.
Our time in Israel really stuck with us and we’ve thought and talked about it often since leaving. From Jerusalem we left Israel and headed to Turkey’s Lycian Coast. It’s a region known more for relaxation than conflict, so we promise a lighter post next time!
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Hayley 2012-11-22T19:39:41Z

Wow! What a post. Will have to reread before offering a comment. Will have to go visit, can’t wait to talk to you about it. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

The Dead Sea and Negev Desert

Unknown — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 22:20:11 +0000

Route 90 is the longest road in Israel, running all the way from the Lebanese border near Metula to the Egyptian border at the Red Sea. The road runs through large sections of the West Bank, although only through Israeli-controlled territory. At the border into the West Bank there was an Israeli border post and a bemusing sign: “DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE IN THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY TO REPAIR YOUR CAR”.
On the drive south through the Judean Desert we could see some of the Israeli-West Bank Separation Barrier - a set of two fences stretching off into the distance. Apart from the barrier there was little sign that we were in the West Bank. The landscape was interesting, but it was sad to see lots of rubbish lying around.
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In an earlier post, we talked about how expensive Israel is. It’s also a place where you have to pay for pretty much everything. The Dead Sea has just two accessible beaches, and the first had a big parking fee, so we drove on to what turned out to be a fairly ugly resort town (the hazy, overcast day didn’t help). Despite how grey it was, the temperature was still in the mid 30s!
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We headed for a section of the beach and then saw a sign proclaiming it to be hotel property for guests only. Oh well, with no security guard we just went for it. The buoyant feeling of the water (more than eight times saltier than the ocean) is certainly unique, and we floated around enjoying the strange sensation.
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But the enjoyment didn’t last long… Sal’s skin didn’t like the salt and her arms soon started burning. The shower on the beach wasn’t working, and we needed fresh water fast! We then discovered that slippery hypersaline water and jandals don’t mix as we set off in an awkward waddle to find fresh water.
The closest working shower was on another hotel-owned beach nearby. We saw our opening as the security guard left to go help a guest with their luggage. Wearing just our togs, we waddled through the posh hotel lobby (trying our best to seem like we belonged!) Despite looking ridiculous (and about 30 years younger than the average guest), we made it to the beach shower and happily rid ourselves of the salt. To rub salt in the wound (heh heh), we then found out that there was a free public beach just down the road, complete with showers. Whoops…
</a> A quick photo before the pain set in…
The next part of our drive took us through two huge makhtesh, or erosion craters - HaMakhtesh HaGadol and HaMakhtesh HaKatan. The makhtesh are so huge that it doesn’t feel like being in a crater at all, instead it feels like you are looking out at distant mountain ranges.
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Driving out from the craters took us through a very unusual area. Firstly, we became aware of an ominous presence in the sky - a tethered spy balloon. We were later told that the balloon belongs to the Negev Nuclear Research Centre, a site widely believed to be manufacturing Israeli nuclear weapons.
</a> Yes, this looks like a grainy surveillance photo. The balloon was really high!
Despite the creepy eye-in-the-sky, we enjoyed a beautiful and remote drive through the desert before stopping for the night just south of the Dead Sea.
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The next morning we drove north to return the rental car and begin our time in Jerusalem, possibly the most contested city in the world. This post has been fairly light on history and politics, as we only spent a day here and therefore didn’t learn too much about the situation in the West Bank. There was an overwhelming amount to learn and see in Jerusalem, so look out for our next post!
UPDATE: Violence has flared up between Hamas and Israel, just a few days after we left the country. At the time of writing, hundreds of rockets have hit Israel, including many of the areas we visited. The conflict is escalating, with Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and preparations for a possible ground invasion. It’s been quite surreal for us to read the news - all the Israelis we talked to during our visit felt that the security situation was quite relaxed and stable. This reinforces for us the fragility of any peace in the region - we hope that the fighting comes to an end quickly.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Jude Logan</a> 2012-11-17T22:49:44Z

Glad to hear that you are out of he area safely! You maybe some of the last tourists for awhile. Xx J </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Northern Israel

Unknown — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 15:12:00 +0000

We headed north up the Israeli coast in our trusty little car, stopping at a few small towns along the way. One of the places we stopped in at was an artists’ village called Ein Hod. It seems like Israel is a very arty country, with lots of public artworks and galleries throughout the country. We also stopped at a lovely garden dedicated to Edmond Rothschild, a wealthy Jewish businessman who purchased land in Palestine for some of the first Israeli settlements.
Our next stop was the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa. The gardens are truly beautiful works of art, which were built solely through donations from the public. We must admit we knew practically nothing about the Baha’i faith. It’s an interesting amalgamation of several monotheistic religions – Baha’i accept Moses, Buddha, Muhammad and Jesus as messiahs (each with a unique message for humankind) and there are a few messiahs unique to Baha’i too. The gardens are a sacred site for the Baha’i as Báb, one of their messiahs, is buried there.
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There is a beautiful fountain at the bottom of the gardens. The ‘petals’ you can see in the photo below are deep bowls made of dark stone. The water lies perfectly flat on top, looking like dark, flawless glass from a distance. As you get closer you can see through the water and look at the detail of the stone underneath.
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The drive became less fun as the sun set and we left Haifa. With eight million people in a country smaller than the Waikato region, the coastal plain of Israel is full of cities and towns. We crawled along in traffic for 90 minutes before reaching a freely flowing highway. Our base while in Northern Israel was a bed and breakfast just outside of Safed, a town of 30,000. The atmosphere in Safed is markedly different to Tel Aviv, being much more deeply religious - including as a centre of Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism).
Our first day exploring the north took us to Rosh HaNikra, a seaside cave on the northern border of Israel, and Akko, an ancient and UNESCO protected city on the Mediterranean coast.
We were surprised to find that NZ Army engineers helped construct a railway tunnel at Rosh HaNikra which linked Israel to Lebanon during the British Mandate times. The line was used for just a few years (including to bring Holocaust survivors to Israel) until it was destroyed by Jewish resistance fighters prior to Israeli independence.
Next we went to Akko, a city further south on the Mediterranean coast. Luckily, we were there during Eid Al-Adha, a major Islamic festival. The old city was full of celebrating families and there was a carnival feel to the place. Akko was a great town to get lost in – we spent a while wandering around all the small alleyways.
The next day we spent driving around the Golan Heights, an area with a long and contested history. When the Ottoman Empire was divided up after World War I, the region became a part of Syria. It was the site of a lot of violence between Israel and Syria from the 1948 Israeli War of Independence until the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel captured the area from Syria. In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights – a move still not recognised by the international community. While Israel and Syria have no formal peace agreement, the border has been quiet now for decades.
We visited Mount Bental - a vantage point into Syria, over a major battleground of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. In a surprise attack, the Syrian army crossed the Israeli border in 1973 with 1,200 tanks, starting one of the largest tank battles in history. The war, the third started by Syria in less than 40 years, ended with Syria being driven back to roughly the same borders.
</a> The war-torn history of the region was clearly evident just driving around. For the first time we saw signs warning of landmines. More than 100 civilians have been killed by the mines since they were laid by the Syrian army in the Yom Kippur War.
</a> It was also the first time we’ve been somewhere with a UN peacekeeper presence. We saw several UN vehicles on our drive. The peacekeepers monitor the de facto Israel-Syria border on the 1974 cease fire line.
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If that weren’t enough, the region also has a hostile border with Lebanon (strangely named the Good Fence). This border has seen war as recently as 2006, when Israel fought Hezbollah militants within Lebanon. We drove to the most northern point of Israeli controlled territory, a town called Metula which is almost completely surrounded by Lebanon.
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Getting away from war for a bit, we visited the Hula Valley. The Hula Valley is a stopping point for migratory birds heading between Europe and Africa. Every autumn and spring around half a billion birds pass through!
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Visiting the Golan Heights was a real eye-opener and helped us to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict. From one contested area to another, we drove south from Safed through the West Bank to reach our next destination: the Dead Sea.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Gina 2012-11-12T17:53:57Z

I’m loving your Israel posts! I would love to go there… I hope you got some good food along with your history! </blockquote> </li>
Lesley 2012-11-12T18:58:07Z

We are making another batch of hummus this weekend….yum. Although not the variety you are experiencing. Lx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Tel Aviv

Unknown — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:53:44 +0000

Sooner or later every traveller goes through the rite of passage of trying to sleep at the airport. Having travelled through the evening, we arrived at the airport near Tel Aviv at 3:00am. We were meeting our CouchSurfing host at a more reasonable hour, so we had a six hour “stay” ahead of us. We came equipped with eye masks, ear plugs and inflatable cushions – to no avail. The awful airport furniture ruined any prospect of sleep.
Luckily our host Tom had been out the night before, so we were all feeling much the same way that day! We had to occasionally excuse ourselves for a quick power nap, but otherwise still enjoyed ourselves and stayed up until a normal(ish) bedtime. We quickly learnt that every Israeli has their own interpretation of the “best hummus in Israel”, so we went out for lunch together and enjoyed the first of many hummus and falafel platters.
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We had two days in Tel Aviv and spent the time cycling and walking around the city with Tom. Although the metropolitan area has 3.4 million people, the city is reasonably compact and we had seen a lot by the end of our visit.
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We’re not sure quite what we were expecting, but our first impressions of Tel Aviv surprised us. The neighbourhood surrounding the train station where we arrived was shorter, older and a bit more run-down that we were expecting. We later learnt that this neighbourhood is one of the poorest in the city. Once we got further towards the centre we saw more of the modern tower blocks we were expecting. Knowing about all the European migration to Israel and the country’s close ties to the USA, we perhaps expected more of a westernised feel to Tel Aviv, but it is very much a Middle Eastern city. The city has lots of vibrant neighbourhoods full of restaurants and galleries. We also really enjoyed swimming at the beach in the warm ocean.
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One thing we noticed immediately was the military presence in Israel. Almost every Israeli goes through 2-3 years of compulsory military service from age 18. The young soldiers are a ubiquitous sight at bus stops around the country as they travel to and from their bases. We quickly got used to seeing armed soldiers around. However, some soldiers carry their rifles while off-duty and it remained strange to us to see casually dressed teenagers walking around with rifles slung across their backs!
Of course Israel has had a tumultuous history since its founding in 1948. Seven wars, two closed borders and ongoing political and military conflicts mean that security is of major importance to the country. As well as having compulsory military service, public bomb shelters are commonplace and all Israelis are required to keep a gas mask at home. Thankfully things have been relatively quiet recently, although it was only a few years ago that the country was wracked by violence during the Second Infitada</a>.
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We did our best to learn about some of Israel’s complex and contested history throughout our time in the country, but we’ve come away feeling well short of a full understanding. We will try to share further bits of what we have learnt in our upcoming posts, although of course we will not be able to adequately express all of the detail and differing points of view that exist.
Israel is coming up to a general election, and for once it is not security but the economy which is the biggest issue. Sadly, this is because the country is facing a big escalation in living costs without an equivalent rise in wages. We did notice how expensive things were – particularly dining out, groceries, alcohol and petrol. In fact, prices were higher here than in any European city we’ve been to. With an average wage similar to New Zealand, it wasn’t hard to imagine how people must be struggling. The issue was on the mind of every Israeli we talked to, and there have even been large scale public demonstrations.
Why is the cost of living so high in Israel? We heard a few reasons. Firstly, import restrictions and tariffs raise the price of imports, which is made worse by a lack of domestic competition. Taxation in Israel is very high, due in part to the burden of defence spending (the highest per capita in the world). Also, a significant proportion of the population doesn’t work for religious reasons and are reliant on welfare (we will talk about this a bit more in our post on Jerusalem).
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On our last night in Tel Aviv we were invited to join a poker game on the rooftop of Tom’s building. These guys play poker at least once a week, so we were pretty pleased to come away with a profit. It’s the first time on this trip that we’ve had income rather than costs!
Israel is a small country but some areas are best explored by car. We’ve rented one for the next four days to explore Northern Israel and then the Dead Sea in the south before returning the car to Jerusalem. If you’ve got any questions about our time in Israel, ask us in the comments section, and we’ll do our best to answer them in our upcoming posts. Bye for now.

Berlin

Unknown — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:40:29 +0000

One thing we noticed straight away about Berlin was how different it looks and feels compared to other European cities. The city was largely destroyed during WWII and the fragmentation of Berlin during the Cold War meant that East and West Berlin were rebuilt as separate cities, with two city centres and different architectural approaches. When the wall came down, huge tracts of land were freed up right in the middle of the reunified city. As a result, much of the city has a very modern look and there are several commercial hubs.
</a> Berlin’s Sony Centre, opened in 2000 on ex-Berlin wall land
</a> The German Chancellery building
</a> Buskers in Mauerpark, also ex-Berlin wall land, now the site of Berlin’s biggest flea market
</a> The Berlin Cathedral on “Museum Island”
The Reichstag (German parliament) building fell into disuse while Berlin was divided. It was renovated to house the German parliament after reunification and this cool dome was completed in 1999.
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We CouchSurfed for our five night stay in Berlin with our hosts Benni and Vera. We had a great time and we even got to play Carcassonne again and do some baking! One night we went out together to see the Berlin Festival of Lights, during which dozens of buildings and landmarks around the city are lit up with decorative lighting. Some of the installations involved creative video projection so that parts of the building looked like they were moving.
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Berlin has many museums to choose from. We continued our World War II tour of Europe, visiting the Jüdisches Museum Berlin (Jewish Museum), the Topographie des Terrors (an outdoor museum located beside a remaining section of the Berlin wall) and the Deutsches Historisches Museum (German History Museum). The German History Museum was one of our favourite museums so far. The museum provided a whole history of Europe (with a German focus) right back to 500 B.C. If that sounds overwhelming to you, you’d be right! We spent seven hours here (a record for us) yet we still had to miss out huge sections and left right on closing time.
</a> A preserved section of the Berlin Wall
The building of the Jewish Museum has been cleverly designed to reflect, through architecture, the difficult times of Jewish people throughout history. For example, the ground floor is sloped and has several pathways leading in different directions, creating a feeling of disorientation. You can read more about the building design here</a>. The museum was great homework for us, given our next stop is Israel!
</a> Jewish Museum Berlin. Source: Studio Daniel Libeskind (Architecture New Building)
</a> The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
As a break from WWII history, we went on a walking tour of Cold War era nuclear bunkers. On this tour we saw two very different bunkers. The first was an old Nazi air-raid shelter which had been converted into a fallout shelter. Let’s just say that this bunker was plagued with problems. For a start, the roof was too thin to stop bombs bursting through. Also, having no generator, the occupants would have to manually crank an air pump to stay alive. Before long, perspiration would be condensing on the ceiling and dripping down on people inside. But that would be the least of their worries as, supplies having been exhausted, they would have to leave the bunker into a radioactive wasteland after just 48 hours.
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The second bunker was constructed especially for the Cold War and had a bit more going for it. With clever German efficiency this bunker was primarily a working subway station, but it had some key additions that allowed it to be used as a shelter. If the time came, big blast doors would close on the station, sealing the entrances. Prospective bunker residents would then have to pass through an interesting entrance system. Firstly, a pneumatic door would spring open and the panicked masses would cram into an airlock. After a few seconds the door would close, pushing out anyone not completely inside. Then those in the airlock would get to know their new neighbours – stripping off for a decontamination shower before getting dressed into a snazzy blue and yellow jumpsuit (Craig: just like the ones from the Fallout video games).
Unlike the other bunker, this one had food stored (albeit just two dishes – tinned beef goulash and pea soup). The 3,339 occupants could stay for two weeks and would be fed from a small kitchen using rotating 12-hour eating shifts (they even had a system to prevent unauthorised seconds!) As an example of the grim thinking of the Cold War, the designers expected a high suicide rate. None of the fixtures in the bunker will support human body weight and the only cutlery would have been plastic spoons, to help prevent suicide and self-harm.
</a> Not much of a homely feel…
All of the bunkers in West Berlin worked on a first-in, first-served basis. Unfortunately those “served” would only make up about 0.8% of the population! After all of this elaborate planning and design, the bunkers were essentially PR placebos for the anxious population. Our tour was run by Berliner Unterwelten</a>, a not-for-profit organisation concerned with preserving Berlin’s underground history. We highly recommend joining them for a tour if you are visiting Berlin.
Berlin’s reputation as a city with an alternative vibe rang true for us. There are lots of cool bars and interesting people walking around. The city’s unique history also makes it a really interesting place to explore and learn about. And, as a bonus, it wasn’t even as cold as we were expecting! We head closer to the equator now, flying into Tel Aviv, Israel – visiting the Middle East for the first time.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2012-11-06T20:53:47Z

Beautiful photos - the light show must have been amazing. Lxx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Prague

Unknown — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 19:17:13 +0000

We were wondering how we’d feel about visiting Prague, as we’ve been to lots of old European cities recently (and also because it has the reputation of being very touristy). However, we found Prague to be one of the most beautiful European cities we’ve visited. We had two days in Prague – one of which we spent wandering around the city, and for the other we went on a day trip to go hiking.
Prague was a key stop on our beer tour of Europe. With so many beers and so little time, we headed for the Prague Beer Museum and ordered a range of tastings. Our favourite was a delicious dark lager called Kout Tmavý. The tasting notes read: “Dark as sin and as tempting as all the good sins out there, topped off with a tan head. The nose is dark chocolate, warm toffee and caramel, and so the taste carries that theme on. Smooth and delicious, with just a perfect warming alcoholic glow in the finish”. Thirsty yet? Turns out it’s not just us who like it – the beer has an excellent reputation on RateBeer.com</a>.
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One thing we noticed in Prague were the strange statues all around the city. Every way you turn in Prague’s old town you find beautiful streets and buildings. There’s lots of baroque, neo-renaissance and gothic architecture, as well as two of the first ever cubist buildings.
One reason for Prague’s beauty is that it was purposefully spared from bombing by Hitler himself, who was planning on retiring here. Once Prague was in Nazi hands, Hitler spared the old Jewish Museum from destruction, intending it to become the “Museum of the Extinct Jewish Race”. The building is now a Jewish Holocaust memorial and museum - probably the only Jewish museum that can count Hitler among its curators!
After Hitler committed suicide (his museum and retirement plans never realised), Czech freedom fighters tried to liberate Prague from the Nazi occupiers. Realising they were fighting a losing battle, the Czechs called for help from American forces that were already within Czech borders. Unfortunately, the Americans were not able to help because of an agreement with the Soviet Union. This agreement gave the Soviets the right to “liberate” Europe east of a line that ran just 70km west of Prague. This agreement was to seal Czechoslovakia’s fate for the next 41 years.
On our second day in Prague, we left the city to go for a walk in the countryside. It was good to get out of the city and see a different side of the Czech Republic. The first part of our walk took us past a castle and through some small villages and farmland. We’ve come to appreciate how good track signage and maps are back home, as some of this trail was a bit hard to find.
The second part of our walk took us past an unusual sight – some old Soviet limestone quarries named Malá Amerika and Velká Amerika (Little America and Big America). The larger quarry is 800 metres long, 200 metres wide and up to 100m deep! This has earned it the nickname of the “Czech Grand Canyon”. The area had a really eerie feel, with hardly any people around and lots of old rusted “Keep Out” signs. To top it off, a solitary person sat at the bottom of the quarry playing haunting music from a wooden flute! In areas it felt like the perfect film set for a nuclear disaster movie. While not exactly beautiful, it was a unique place to go walking.
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We decided that if you wanted to get the “feel” of a old European city and you could only visit a single place, Prague would be a good choice. It ticks all the boxes with beautiful buildings, small winding cobbled streets, vibrant plazas and even a castle. There’s plenty of interesting history here too, and a variety of good day trips. Of course Prague is hardly an undiscovered gem – we were glad to come in autumn, after the peak tourist season. It’s also an amazingly beautiful time of year, when all the deciduous trees are losing their red and orange leaves.
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We have just one more European city to visit before we fly to Israel. Berlin is another place that every traveller seems to rave about, so we’re looking forward to checking it out.

Budapest

Unknown — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:40:10 +0000

We had a few days spare in Europe and spent quite a while deciding where to go. Budapest won out, with several recommendations leading us to book four nights in the city.
We CouchSurfed with a lovely couple who made us some amazing food while we we there. Breakfast each morning was bread dipped in homemade aubergine cream - a creamy, rich Hungarian dish. Along with the aubergine cream, Hungarians eat bars of chocolate-coated curd for breakfast. We didn’t get used to the idea of chocolate for breakfast, but the aubergine cream was delicious.
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One day we went out with one of our hosts to see the city, which is full of interesting buildings and sculptures.
Luckily, we were able to visit the World Press Photo Exhibition while we were in Budapest. The annual exhibition has toured the world for the more than 55 years. We try to make it to the exhibition when it comes to Wellington as it’s always a moving and powerful experience. This year’s exhibition was no exception, including coverage of the Japanese tsunami, Norway’s mass-murder and the Arab Spring uprisings.
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Staying on a downbeat theme on the rainy afternoon, we visited the Terror Museum. The museum occupies a building which was once used as a headquarters and interrogation facility by first fascist and then communist secret police. Hungary was occupied by the Nazis late in WWII, and was only under fascist rule for eight months. Sadly, this was enough time to arrange the murder of almost 90% of the Hungarian Jewish population. In a case of the cure being as bad as the disease, Hungary was “liberated” by Soviet forces in 1945. Though electoral manipulation, the Soviets bought Hungary into the Soviet Bloc and USSR forces occupied the country for more than 40 years.
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With peculiar timing, we witnessed something unusual just after leaving the Terror Museum. As we walked down a busy street we saw two men who had a third man in a grapple hold. We heard a clatter and then saw one of the two men bend down to pick up a pistol that had fallen out onto the pavement! We moved away quickly but looked back to see the two men holding the guy against the wall, as if to search him. We really didn’t know what was going on, but our best guess is that the two men were plain-clothed policemen.
Later that night we went to our first ever opera, a production of Carmen at the grand Hungarian State Opera House. The tickets are great value – we decided against the NZ$2.8 seats with no view and instead went for NZ$20 seats in an elevated box.
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We were glad that we went to such a well-known opera, as it was sung in French with Hungarian subtitles! To help us understand what was going on, we bought an English programme, only to find that it was missing the synopsis for Act 3… As we expected, we enjoyed the experience but opera is not our favourite style of theatre.
Since Budapest came so well recommended we had high expectations for our visit. The city didn’t disappoint - the Eastern European influence was interesting, there were plenty of great sights and once again we had a great CouchSurfing experience that really enriched our visit. We have now joined the long list of people who recommend Budapest as a great travel destination!
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Alice 2012-11-13T21:02:39Z

I loved the chocolate covered curd candy bars - Turo’ Rudi. I miss them a lot actually. Glad you enjoyed Budapest - looks like it got cold quickly. It was 34 degrees when I was there. Love that place! :D But did you make it to one of the ruin bars? Or drink Palinka? </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-11-19T11:51:03Z

We did have some Palinka (including some insanely strong homebrew from our hosts) but didn’t get to the ruin bars. You were right about Budapest being a cool city to visit, thanks for the tip :-) Hope you’re enjoying repatriated life! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Vienna

Unknown — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 21:11:24 +0000

As this is our first time in Europe, three months ago we were new to the architecture and streetscape of Europe’s old cities and towns. Since then we’ve seen lots of cute little alleys, grand cathedrals and impressive city walls. Now that these things aren’t so new to us anymore, we’re increasingly seeking out what is unique and special about each place we visit. We remember feeling the same way towards the end of our time in South America – when we started thinking about what we wanted to do in a place rather than just what we wanted to see.
So what did we do in Vienna? We spent one relaxed morning at a historic Viennese coffeehouse before buying lunch at a cantina in Museum Quartier, a theatre and museum complex near the centre of the city.
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Vienna is, of course, known for classical music and opera. We were hoping to make it to an opera one evening (you can get standing-room tickets for 3 euro!), but the weather and the start of a cold conspired against us. While we missed the opera, we did visit the House of Sound museum. The museum started off with a section on the Vienna Philharmonic, which included a screening of some of their most famous concerts. We also listened to “Mozart Lounge” – a lounge remix of some of Mozart’s compositions, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic. More edgy than we were expecting! The museum then took a strange turn, with a room designed to let you experience “the sounds of being in the womb”.
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After leaving the womb, we reached a bunch of interactive sound and music experiments. Some of it was a bit gimmicky, like being able to conduct a virtual orchestra, although other parts were quite informative.
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On our last day in Vienna we went to one of the main markets – the Naschmacht. While it was crazily busy, we did get the best falafel wrap ever which included stuffed baby capsicum, dolma, hummus and tzatziki.
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While in Vienna we CouchSurfed with Christoph, Aleks and Jamila. Jamila (age 7) tried to teach us some German one night using a picture book. Sadly to say we weren’t very good students – we remain unable to name any circus animals in German (hopefully this doesn’t impede us too much in our journey).
We have just two weeks left in Europe, in which we’ll be seeing three major European capitals: Budapest, Prague and Berlin. We’ll be CouchSurfing for most of these two weeks which we’re really looking forward to. Auf wiedersehen for now.

Innsbruck, Austria

Unknown — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:30:12 +0000

We recently spent four nights in a small town called Fulpmes, just out of Innsbruck, which has been one of the highlights of our trip so far. Here are three reasons we love Innsbruck:
One: The setting
Fulpmes is in a picturesque alpine valley surrounded by dramatic mountains. To get to Fulpmes we took a scenic tram from Innsbruck which wound its way along the side of the valley.
From the balcony of our room we could see as far as the Stubai Glacier in one direction and the mountains surrounding Innsbruck in the other direction. The town is surrounded by several mountain peaks over 2,500m high. There are at least four gondolas within 40 minutes drive, taking people up to ski fields in winter and walking trails in summer. We were here in autumn, in some of the last weeks that the gondolas were operating for walkers.
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The town itself is lovely, with alpine lodges and farm animals (including cows with cowbells!) We also encountered some very friendly horses on one of our walks.
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We didn’t know how big Fulpmes would be, so we went to a supermarket in Innsbruck after getting off the train. Here’s our practical solution to shopping with heavy packs!
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Two: The hostel
Doug’s Mountain Getaway was undoubtedly the best hostel we’ve stayed in. It’s almost ridiculous how many facilities there were for the price. A sauna, pool table, table tennis table, poker table, movie screen, board games, bar, Xbox and an old-school Nintendo64 (for Mario Kart) were available. If that weren’t enough, they were also installing a spa pool while we were there!
We had a couple of days of sun and a couple of days of rain in Fulpmes, but on the rainy days we were more than happy to relax at the hostel. In fact, we didn’t even manage to do half of the things on offer! Everyone who arrived, us included, wished they had stayed for longer. The rain-enforced chill-out time was just what we needed. We know it’s silly to think this way, but sometimes we need bad weather to make us just stay home and relax rather that get out and explore.
Doug is from England and is about our age. He decided to set up his dream hostel after studying nearby in Innsbruck. Also living at the hostel were a few of his friends who are helping him work on the property.
With five live-in staff and just 12 guest beds, the hostel has a great homely feel. We even played board games one night, having our first game of Settlers of Catan since leaving home. We were also introduced to a great new strategy game: Carcassonne.
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We’ve realised how much we like smaller hostels. The atmosphere is much more personal and friendly than in larger places – we feel like we’re getting to know almost everyone in the place by the time we leave.
Three: The activities
We knew we only had limited sunshine time in Fulpmes, so one nice morning we set off for one of the coolest days ever. First we were picked up to go Tandem Paragliding from 1,700m up the side of the valley.
Neither of us had been paragliding before. We found that it wasn’t scary but surprisingly relaxing (with the exception of take-off and acrobatic spirals). The harness holds you in a sitting position, so it feels like you’re soaring around the skies in an armchair! As it was autumn the thermals weren’t great, but we still managed to get some uplift along the mountain ridges. Our pilots said that with good thermals they could stay up the whole day and even fly down to Italy and back!
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Our pilot kindly dropped us off at a nearby gondola so we could head straight for our next activity for the day – walking to the top of Mount Serles, at 2,717m. There was an alpine coaster (a luge on rails) that we wanted to catch down the mountain which closed in just five hours. The posted time for our walk was seven hours… So, ever the ambitious optimists, we powered up the mountain as fast as we could.
The climb was fairly steep, with a few ladders and chains near the top. Here are some photos from the walk up. There’s nothing quite like standing on a mountain summit!
We had made it to the top in good time, but knew it was going to be tight to reach the alpine coaster in time. Feeling strangely energetic we power-walked back down the mountain. With half an hour to closing time, we still had a theoretical hour of walking to go. If we missed the alpine coaster we would have to walk the whole way home so, not willing to let go quite yet, we started running down the road. As we had already climbed and descended a total of 2,200 vertical metres this quickly stopped being fun! To cut a long story short, we took a wrong turn in our scramble to get down and ended up sitting, defeated and exhausted, at a junction two hours walk from home.
A moment later a tiny pickup truck came around the corner, so we waved it down and asked (in international gesture language) for a lift down the hill. Hilariously, our kind driver was the perfect stereotype of a lumberjack – complete with a huge beard and a set of antlers in the back-seat.
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We had another short walk home and got back just before dark. Our muscles ached for the three days after this little adventure!
Why you should drop what you’re doing and come to Fulpmes
It says a lot for Fulpmes that, despite having a lot of rain, our time here was still one of the highlights of our trip so far. We could have happily stayed for a full week or longer. The town had the perfect combination of a stunning landscape, tons of activities and a great place to stay. We’re keen to find more places like this for the rest of our trip – if you have any recommendations then please let us know via a comment or email. Thanks!
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Hay 2012-10-29T07:54:21Z

Love this blog entry - you’ve totally inspired me to go there! (And to stay at that hostel!) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Munich and Oktoberfest

Unknown — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:51:37 +0000

Staying in a 152-bed dorm full of Oktoberfest tourists, which isn’t a building but a huge circus-style tent. In a cold Munich autumn. Doesn’t sound like a great idea right?
The Tent was the only affordable accommodation option in Munich during Oktoberfest (and even so we still paid NZ$35 each per night). Believe it or not, the dorm was the “luxury” option – there was a tent where people paid a bit less to sleep on the floor. While it definitely wasn’t our favourite place to stay, it actually wasn’t as bad as it sounds! The bathrooms were kept clean and, with earplugs, we did manage to get some sleep.
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However, for the first time since South America, we were freezing cold! We’ve been following summer pretty well, but after three months in Europe the cold weather is starting to catch us up. Even with the three wool blankets we were given, our thermals and beanies, we were still cold overnight. Luckily we had sunny days which made it warm for wandering around the city.
Of course most of the tourists in Munich were there for Oktoberfest. It’s so busy that getting a table at Oktoberfest is a bit of a mission. We were only just able to find space for the two of us at midday but larger groups were heading off at 9:00am to secure a table! Once you’re seated, you have to stay put for the duration of the day or risk being shut out of the beer tents. No seat = no beer.
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Here are some of the things we learnt about Oktoberfest. The festival began as an elaborate toast at a royal wedding in October. Free beer was given away, which was unsurprisingly popular, so the festival was later extended for two weeks (backwards into September, for the warmer weather). So Oktoberfest is mostly a Septemberfest. It is now the world’s largest fair with well over six million visitors each year.
This year, just under seven million litres of beer were consumed (equivalent to 2.75 Olympic swimming pools full). The resultant beer munchies led to the consumption of 116 oxen and 57 calves. That’s a lot of calories in two weeks! We found our spot in the Hacker-Festzelt tent. It is one of the largest tents, with a decorated faux-sky ceiling and room for 6,900 patrons!
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Every table at Oktoberfest is crammed full, so you’re guaranteed to have lots of people to talk to. We were seated with a bunch of Munich locals and a couple of Frenchmen. The Frenchmen were convinced that all New Zealanders are crazy, assuming that we’re always either bungy-jumping or dodging volcanic eruptions. Nothing we said would convince him otherwise!
The beer doesn’t come cheap, at 10 euro each, but at least it comes large – in a one litre mug. The six Munich breweries are the only breweries allowed to supply the festival and they each brew a special beer with a legally mandated minimum of 6% alcohol! The beer was fantastic – clear, crisp, smooth and flavourful.
The 10 euro includes a tip for the wait staff, who are a famous part of the festival. One waiter we saw was carrying 12 litres of beer! We were told that some waiters and waitresses take their annual holidays to work during Oktoberfest, where they can make thousands of euros in just two weeks.
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In the early afternoon, the atmosphere is more family-friendly than you’d think. There were plenty of families enjoying the festival and not too many signs of overindulgence. That said, from early in the day, keen drinkers would stand up on their benches to publicly scull their whole one-litre beer. This is a major spectator sport in the beer tent – those who could finish their beer quickly were cheered while those who were slow (or, worse still, paused) were booed.
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While it was fun seeing Oktoberfest, we actually spent more time at Munich’s traditional beer gardens where the atmosphere is more relaxed (and the beer is substantially cheaper). The beer gardens are a great concept, which we’d love to see in Wellington (well, maybe if the weather was better). In the gardens you’re allowed to bring your own food and stay as long as you want, while enjoying the excellent beer. The reason for this arrangement is traditional. Beer gardens were laid out beneath chestnut trees which had been planted to shade the cellars in which beer was stored. Breweries were allowed to serve beer straight from the cellars, but they were prohibited from serving food (to protect local restaurants). By the time we left Munich, we had tried beer from four of the six city breweries.
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While you can get food at the festival and beer gardens, it tends to be a fast-food version of Bavarian cuisine. We weren’t too impressed by Bavarian food until we went to a great local restaurant with Craig’s cousin Sarah, who lives near Munich. Between us we tried mushroom dumplings, roast duck and dessert dumplings with white chocolate. We had a great catch up over a delicious dinner.
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One of our favourite things about being in town during Oktoberfest was all the traditional Bavarian dress on display. We didn’t realise, but traditional clothing is still worn often in Bavaria – for weddings, events and even just on regular Sundays. It was cool seeing whole German families dressed up for a day out. The cutest sight was kids in lederhosen, which we decided to call ‘Toddlerhosen’:
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Munich has a fantastic technology museum - the Deutsches Museum. We only had a couple of hours here but wished we could have had longer. We tried to stay right up to the 5pm closing time, but with German efficiency the exhibits and lights were shut off 15 minutes early and the staff started herding us out. We got to the exit at 5:00:15pm and joined a line of employees clocking out for the day!
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Munich has a large urban park (bigger even than Central Park, NYC) which has a permanent wave caused by a fast flowing river. A bunch of surfers were taking turns to ride the wave before being washed down the river. Very cool and unusual to see surfing in the middle of a big city!
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Seven litres of beer, two huge pretzels, a plate of Kaesespatzn, a portion of duck, plenty of dumplings and a few sausages later we left Munich.
Our next train is bound for a small town just out of Innsbruck, Austria. The hostel we’ve booked looks amazing, and we’re going from a 152-bed dorm to a hostel that has just 12 beds in total. Prost! (i.e. Cheers!)
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Zagreb

Unknown — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:19:25 +0000

Having recently been on a very commercial island cruise, we were looking forward to CouchSurfing in Zagreb for a more cultural experience. Our host Marina showed us around town and took us to a couple of great local bars. We learnt heaps about the country and had a great time together.
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The Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb was a beautiful and interesting place to walk around. We've been to a few impressive cemeteries now, but this one had a few quirks. Much of the cemetery is planted with chestnut trees and, being autumn, we were surrounded by falling spiky chestnuts! [![IMG_7296](11-2.jpg)](11-2.jpg) There was also a price list for coffins at the entrance - presumably so prospective customers could go window shopping? Stalls outside the gates were also part of the cemetery economy, selling candle lanterns and flowers for visitors - not a bad idea. [![IMG_7290](flickr-1.jpg)](flickr-1.jpg) Zagreb has one of the more novel museums we've seen - the Museum of Broken Relationships. The museum has a collection of items people have donated from their past relationships. An interesting concept! The introduction pointed out that we formally recognise many important life events (births, marriages, anniversaries and deaths) but we hardly ever formally acknowledge the end of relationships. While the exhibition has a creative concept, a few of the descriptions that accompany the items have lost a bit in translation. However, there are still some moving, funny and tragic stories. This photo is of a love letter, glued to a mirror and then shattered after the demise of a relationship. [![IMG_7246](flickr-2.jpg)](flickr-2.jpg) There were lots of soft toys, some clothing and also some more creative items, including an axe! [![IMG_7254](flickr-3.jpg)](flickr-3.jpg) [![IMG_7247](flickr-4.jpg)](flickr-4.jpg) After the museum, we headed back to the main square via one of the shortest public cable cars in the world, rising just 30 vertical metres. We know of a few flats back home that have a bigger walk up the driveway! [![IMG_7262](flickr-5.jpg)](flickr-5.jpg) Sometimes it's the big things that impress while travelling. Sometimes... it's not. In Zagreb supermarkets getting your bread from the bakery is like playing an arcade claw game! [![IMG_7332](flickr-6.jpg)](flickr-6.jpg) Zagreb struck us as a really liveable city. There was heaps going on, with lots of events and festivals, yet the city still had a relaxed vibe. Nice parks, local markets, efficient public transport and a good cafe/bar scene also help make Zagreb feel like a cool place. We enjoyed the relatively low prices in Croatia, where we could sometimes find good beer for less than NZ$3 a pint. Our beer budget is about to skyrocket as we head for Germany's most expensive city during the world's largest fair. That is, of course, Munich and the Oktoberfest. The beer might cost 10 euro, but at least it comes in one-litre mugs!</div>
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2012-10-11T07:04:55Z

Zagreb looks lovely - looks like another reason to peruse those Croatia brochures. Along with the family ceremonial visit to the place of Kate’s “event”, that is. Lxx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Unknown — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 08:38:27 +0000

Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest national park in Croatia. It is most known for its beautiful series of cascading lakes and waterfalls on the Korana River. The lakes have been formed over centuries as limestone deposits in the river settle on the riverbed, creating natural dams that are continually growing.
We had thought our itinerary meant we would miss Plitvice, but we found that there were busses from Split that would let us go for one night. Due to universally rave reviews, we decided it was worth making the extra effort to go. Entry to the National Park includes use of a couple of shuttle busses and boat rides that link the walks around the lakes. This meant that we were able to see almost the whole park in just a few hours.
Here are some of our photos from Plitvice. It was an overcast day, which affected our photos a bit, but the lakes still looked spectacular.
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This region is one of the only places in Europe where bears can still be found in the wild. After leaving the park, there was a 20 minute walk back to our accommodation. It was dusk by this point, so every tree stump started looking like a potential bear ambush!
We stopped for dinner on the way home. As we walked towards a restaurant we spotted a snow groomer parked outside! Turns out the restaurant was the lodge for a small skifield. We had no idea the area got so cold in winter.
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We were so glad for our decision to come to Plitvice. We had never seen scenery quite like this, with so many lakes flowing into each other. The minerals from the dissolved limestone give the lakes a gorgeous range of vivid colours. The water was also so clear that you could see hundreds of carp and trout swimming around.
The next morning we headed for Zagreb, our last stop in Croatia. We have a host in Zagreb and are looking forward to CouchSurfing once again.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Charlotte 2012-10-18T02:55:08Z

It’s wonderful… I really want to see that! And your photos are great. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Cruising the Croatian coast

Unknown — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 19:26:49 +0000

Five boats sat in the Dubrovnik port, tied up side-to-side. We were told our boat was the last one in the row, so laden with our packs we jumped from boat to boat until we reached our home for the next seven days. We were departing on a Busabout sailing trip that would take us cruising up the Dalmatian coast. The group of 17 was dominated by Aussies – representing the rest of the world were us, a couple from Wales and our Canadian guide.
It didn’t take long after leaving port for the deck chairs to come out. We’ve been travelling for a while, but we haven’t actually had much down-time, as we tend to pack a lot into our time. It took a couple of days to get the hang of relaxing and not doing much! As we didn’t have internet on board, we couldn’t do any chores or trip research so we were forced to just chill out. It was nice to get lots of reading and chatting time.
Our trip was the last week of the cruise season, so we knew we couldn’t expect perfect weather. On our second day sailing the wind came up and we had a very rocky ride! The swell suddenly got worse early in the morning, making for an entertaining time watching our breakfast sliding around the cabin. On the top deck, we had to hang on while people and belongings were thrown around as the boat rolled. A few towels were lost overboard to the wind and someone’s laptop had a close call from flying off the edge of the deck.
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Aside from that day, the weather was pretty good. The water was warm (at least for us Kiwis) and the sun was out the whole week. Most days we would anchor up in a bay for a swim stop.
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We were in the smallest boat in the Busabout fleet, with space for 16 passengers. Our small size meant we were more susceptible to the swell than the other boats, so some changes were made to the itinerary. This meant that we sadly missed out on Makarska (a small town on the mainland with a cave bar) and we weren’t able to moor at Hvar Town (staying around the other side of the island for two nights instead). We also ended up getting in late to some destinations, meaning we didn’t have as much time to explore as we would have liked.
It was fun trying out living in such a small space for a week. Our cabin was tiny – only one person could get changed at a time. As well as being short on elbow room, the ceilings were shorter than Craig in most places. We didn’t do too badly keeping the small space livable, but some of the others had some impressively messy cabins!
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Omiš, one of the destinations on the cruise, is an old pirate haven on the Dalmatian coast. The pirates here had ships that could attack merchant vessels and then retreat up the Cetina River, safe from reprisal. Most of the group walked up to a 15^{th century fortress above the town for some great views.}
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Hvar is a popular tourist/resort island, and the 4^{th most populous island in Croatia. Sensing a chance to stretch our legs and get some exercise, we asked the tourist information office to point us in the direction of a nice walk. 90 minutes later we were in the middle of nowhere, on a dusty gravel road with no views. Oh well, at least we got some exercise!}
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That night we were treated to a wine tasting at a local farm. To mark the end of the cruise season, they put on a huge feast for us as well. It was delicious! Everything on the table (including the meat, bread, salad and wine) was straight from their farm.
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Our final destination was Split, the second largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb). We went out as a group and ended up in a Croatian nightclub. It was huge, occupying the whole upper level of a ferry terminal. Since you can smoke indoors in Croatia the club was choked full of smoke, to the point where it was pouring out the doors in big plumes. Yuk! It was funny to hear all the locals singing along enthusiastically to Croatian songs we had never heard. But the most interesting thing about the club was how the freaking tall the Croatian women there were. Apparently Croats are already naturally tall people – add four inch heels and high ponytails and many of them towered over Craig as they walked past.
Having had a relaxed week we’re now looking forward to exploring more of Croatia. We were thrilled to find we can fit in a short visit to Plitvice National Park on our way to Zagreb. Plitvice is home to a gorgeous series of cascading lakes - we can’t wait to visit.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Beth 2012-10-04T00:23:16Z

Lovely photos and what a great cruise. Farm feast sounds great too. When we went to market looking for fresh produce in the early 1970s there was so little to buy: strings of peppers and no greens, but we did find friendly people and lots of Slivovitch(sp?).
What a huge contrast your trip is to the Yugoslavia I encountered then: we drove through the centre on a highway that was uniformly flat,straight and distinguished only by the piles of excrement left on the road edge by the truckers who drove through from Western Europe to the East night and day in their thousands.
Also very amused by the thought of wonen towering over you Craig!
I’m off tomorrow to Oz to hopefully be a Granny: Dix in long lasting labour as we speak. </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-10-07T10:13:17Z

Hey Beth,
It would have been fascinating being in Croatia in the Yugoslavian days - you’d definitely see a lot more development if you visited again now. We’d be interested in coming back some time to see some more of Eastern Europe.
Great to hear about Dixxie - hope you are having a great trip and are enjoying your first Grandma time :-) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-10-05T09:09:29Z

Hey! I’m having a hard time envisaging any women taller than Craig… how tall where the men?? Also, how did you get on with all those Ozzies? To be honest, I’ve heard a bit, and encountered many hordes of young Ozzies (on Busabout and otherwise) throughout Europe and maybe its a sign that I’m an old fart now but I find them completely insufferable. Hoping that your companions from across the ditch were OK.
How much space was there in the cabin for you Craig? Foetal position? </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-10-07T10:23:00Z

Hey Alice,
We didn’t notice the men being particularly tall in that club - but in Zagreb everyone seemed tall.
Our boat got on well, but we know what you mean - we also sometimes feel a bit old for the party crowd. We wouldn’t want to travel like this all the time, but it was fun for a change.
Thankfully the cabin was actually long enough for Craig. There were some big guys on our boat though (~114kg worth) who found it harder.
Thanks for all your blog comments Alice - it’s lovely to hear from you so often. Hope you’re enjoying being home xox </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Dubrovnik and Montenegro

Unknown — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 07:29:07 +0000

After the overnight ferry from Bari we arrived in the south of Croatia to the town of Dubrovnik. The walls, drawbridge and decorated gate make entering Dubrovnik’s old town feel like a special event. While touristy, the town is beautiful and has an incredible setting between dramatic hills and the ocean. We walked around the city walls just before sunset and got a lovely view over the city in the evening light.
Srđ is the tallest of the hills behind Dubrovnik. Napoleon built a fortress here in 1806 and it was later used to defend Dubrovnik from Serbian forces during the Siege of Dubrovnik in the Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995). We climbed to the top of Srđ Hill and had a look through the fortress which is now a war museum.
To be honest we were pretty ignorant about the war - even though, unlike most of the conflicts we’ve been learning about, this one happened during our lifetime (although while we were young). Around 1,500 Croatian soldiers (many with with World War II era weapons) tried to defend the city from 7,500-20,000 Serbian and Montenegrin soldiers who had artillery and naval warships. During the siege, Serbian forces shelled the old city of Dubrovnik (a war crime, as the old city has UNESCO heritage status). Dubrovnik was under siege from the Serbians until 1992, when the city was liberated and the war came to an end.
We could tell that the war was still very much a sensitive topic and the information in the museum was often emotively written. We later learned that the Croats also committed war crimes during the war, which the museum didn’t mention at all.
We stayed in one of our best hostels yet while we were in Dubrovnik – Villa Divine Hostel. It was a small place with just 15 beds so everyone hung out together in the evenings. It had a really nice vibe with great staff and an awesome view over the port. The hostel was located in Lapad, a residential area on the coast with lots of beaches to choose from.
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On the advice of some other travellers staying at the hostel we rented a car with a few of the other guests and took a day trip to Montenegro. We headed south with five of us squeezed into a little Suzuki Swift. Like Croatia, Montenegro came from the disintegrating former Yugoslavia. Montenegro originally fought alongside the Serbs to prevent Croatia’s independence. However, in 2006 Montenegro itself achieved peaceful independence from Serbia and is now one of the newest countries in the world.
Our destination was Kotor, a beautiful walled old city, and the mountains that surround it. Kotor is built close up against a steep mountain. The city walls climb straight up the mountainside to a fortress perched precariously above the town.
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We left Kotor to drive to the Jezerski summit of Mount Lovćen, which stands at 1,657m. The narrow road zig-zagged up the mountain through a long series of switchbacks and blind corners. We took to honking around corners to warn the crazy local drivers who were hooning down the road. At one point we saw a group of people standing on a corner looking out over Kotor. Assuming it was a lookout we pulled over and got out of the car. Realisation slowly dawned that we were in fact wandering through a meeting of street racers! They were drifting around the switchbacks and running time trials up the hill. They started staring at us, so we thought it was probably time to get back in the car and leave! The road to the summit was long and tricky, but the views on the drive to the top were awesome.
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It was midnight by the time we got back to the hostel - a long daytrip but well worth it.
With only 43,000 residents, Dubrovnik is a small town. It’s definitely on the international tourist circuit, with cruise ships constantly coming and going. If we had just stayed in the heavily touristed old town, a day might have been enough time. However, because of the people we met, our great hostel and our daytrip to Montenegro we thoroughly enjoyed our three days here.
Happily, the weather forecast is looking good for the next few days as we are now leaving Dubrovnik for a week-long sailing trip through the Croatian islands (the last week of the season).
Comments from WordPress</h2>

LeeLee 2012-10-02T19:32:34Z

Wow! This looks amazing and I think it’s my favourite post so far (I have been reading!!). The photos are just beautiful and you’re getting to be quite the photographer (whoever is taking the photos). I haven’t really considered Croatia as must-go-destination until now. It has quite a’complicated’ history and breathtaking landscape. How does it compare to other places? Perhaps an unfair question since you’ve been to a lot of very different places.
This post made me miss you guys even more than I already do. Take care and safe travels.
Much love to you both! </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-10-07T10:08:53Z

Hey Leanne,
Good to hear from you and glad you liked the post. We’ve both been taking the photos. We’re really happy with our camera we got just before we went away, even though it’s just a compact camera it takes really good photos. It’s been fun trying to improve our photography while we’ve been away too.
We enjoyed having 2 weeks in Croatia as it felt like we got to know it at least a little bit. The scenery was different from anywhere else we’ve been with the dramatic mountains and bright blue ocean. It’s hard to do an overall comparison to other places as each place is so different of course.
Missing you and Phil too. Lots of love xox </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-10-05T09:01:06Z

Yeah - I was wondering who was taking the photos too. Subject, framing, lighting everything = perfect. Very talented. Very jealous of being in Croatia - looks gorgeous, also Dubrovnik = King’s Landing for Game of Thrones fans. Nerdgasm! Looking forward to your assessment of Budapest. Take care of yourselves! xxxx </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-10-07T10:17:18Z

Thanks! Filtering helps - you don’t see the dozens of photos that don’t work out!!
We had no idea that Dubrovnik was used for King’s Landing - we’ve just started the second season of Game of Thrones and love it so far :-) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Rome and Vatican City

Unknown — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 13:27:28 +0000

Just after arriving in Rome we joined our first Couchsurfing event: a walking tour by a local guy. He wanted to show visitors some of the less well-known attractions of the city. One interesting stop was the headquarters of the Knights of Malta. The Knights are sovereign over their headquarters in Rome, outside the jurisdiction of Italy, and have permanent observer status with the United Nations.
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We also stopped in at Teatro Valle, the oldest operating theatre in Rome. It was threatened with closure but is now occupied by actors and musicians who are volunteering their time to raise money and keep it open. We were allowed to sneak into the back of the theatre, where an acting workshop was taking place.
During the walk we talked a bit about the Mafia in modern-day Italy. The Italians in the tour felt that people in Italy were resigned to Mafia presence and the corruption of politicians and police (particularly in Sicily). Apparently it’s still common for store owners to have to pay the Mafia for “protection”. The last time a government tried to seriously crack down on Mafia, the Mafia started bombing historical sites and museums. There are rumours that a back-room deal between the government and Mafia dons stopped the violence.
The next day we met up with a couple of the guys from the walking tour the next day to see some of Rome’s main sights – Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. Palatine Hill is the site of the first human settlements in Rome with people living there from around 1000 BC. It was home to many of the Roman Empire’s emperors and nobility. It’s mind-boggling to look at paintings and ruins that are over 2000 years old.
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The Colosseum is, of course, the centrepiece of the ancient Roman sights. It’s an impressive size (built for 50,000 spectators) but is mostly amazing for its technology. It had a series of retractable sun shades that could be pulled over the stadium. It also had a series of lifts under the arena floor that raised animals, men and even full replicas of exotic habitats up to the waiting crowds. But, most incredibly, it had a system that allowed the arena to be flooded so that naval battles could be re-enacted for the crowd! It could even be drained rapidly so that after a short break the regular arena events could continue.
Sadly, after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Colosseum was pillaged for building materials for more modern projects. What remains today is but a skeleton of the former building, and it takes some imagination to see how it might have been.
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As we’re doing things on the cheap, we found a downloadable MP3 audio guide for the Coloseum and loaded it on our MP3 player (rather than pay for the official audio guide). I guess you get what you pay for – we ended up with one between two. Also, it was a cheesy American audio guide – complete with awful puns about “Rome-ing around the Colosseum”.
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Of all of the ruins in Rome, the Pantheon is the best preserved. The pillars at the front of this huge church are 12 metres high – about four stories. A large hole in the middle of the massive domed roof lets light into the space inside. The Pantheon is amazing to see – it instantly conveys the splendour, power and achievements of the ancient Romans. It’s all the more amazing that this feat of architecture and engineering took place in 126 AD.
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Having already seen the second smallest state in the world (Monaco) we then visited the smallest state: Vatican City. The museums in the Vatican were interesting but also exhaustingly huge and busy. They have cleverly stationed a café just before the Sistine Chapel – a shot of espresso did wonders for our worsening museum-fatigue!
We’ve heard that travellers often find Rome overwhelming. You would certainly need to do your homework (perhaps a classics degree with honours) to be able to fully appreciate everything the city has to offer. Church fatigue has set in a bit – even truly impressive places have started seeming more ordinary than they should.
</a> “Well, yeah, I guess it is pretty big”
As we leave Rome we are heading for a break from art museums, ruins and churches. An overnight ferry from Bari will take us to Dubrovnik, Croatia. From there we depart for a seven-day sailing trip that takes us up the Croatian coast of the Adriatic sea.

Venice

Unknown — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 07:02:15 +0000

We had thought Florence was bad for having an excess of tourists, but Venice took things to another level! Apparently there are more tourists than residents in peak season. Everywhere within 15 minutes walk of the main square is occupied by hordes of people, souvenir vendors and expensive “English menu” restaurants. We were able to do all the sightseeing we wanted near the centre in one afternoon, meaning we could spend the rest of our time in Venice in more peaceful areas of the city.
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“Italy” as a country is a relatively recent invention – it has a much longer history as a number of (often competing) city-states. We visited the Doge’s Palace, from which Venice was ruled for over 400 years. The government system was complex, with a ton of different councils and positions (Major Council, Quarantia, Signoria, Council of Ten, etc). The pinnacle of this was the Chamber of the Great Council, one of the largest rooms in Europe of its time, where every Venetian noble gathered to take part in the Major Council. Portraits were painted around the edge of the room of all of the past Doge’s with the exception of one. A black cape represents one Doge who, after a failed coup, was condemned to death and damnatio memoriae, meaning symbolic erasure of his very existence and memory. Serious stuff! The palace fulfilled many functions including as the royal residence, government buildings, a prison, courts and the armoury for the kingdom.
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Being the world’s only pedestrian city, Venice certainly had a unique feel. The Grand Canal seemed like the canal equivalent to a busy highway at times, with gondolas, water taxis, valparettos (water busses), private boats and barges all vying for space. The gondoliers were very skilled at getting through all of this unscathed! Speaking of gondolas, a cap on gondolier numbers in the city has pushed prices very high – around 80 euros. Gondoliers are all Venetian born and all male (with the exception of one woman who is not licenced for the public, but can provide rides for guests at her hotel).
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Outside of the tourist centre, it was really fun exploring the tiny streets, canals and bridges. Venice is notorious for being hard to navigate. Often we would walk down a path that looked like a major thoroughfare, just to find it running straight into a canal! Many of the paths in Venice were beautiful and relaxing to stroll around (particularly with no Florencian drivers trying to run us down).
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On our second day in Venice we took the valparetto (water bus) out to Burano, an island village 40 minutes from Venice which is famous for its brightly painted houses. The pace of life seemed slower here than on the main islands and it was a nice place to spend some time.
We also took the valparetto to Cimitero, the cemetery island of Venice. With its limited land and low elevation, Venice has had to do things a bit differently with its cemetery. Firstly, the graves are dug shallower than the traditional 6-foot depth, to avoid reaching the water table. Stranger still, “residents” get only a 12-year lease to their plot. After this, the family can either extend the lease or make other arrangements!
With our unlimited day-pass on the valparetto, we thought we’d enjoy a DIY canal cruise by taking the route through the centre of Venice. Wow. Undoubtedly our most crushed public transport ride to date! The poor woman docking the boat and operating the door had to push through to the other side of the boat every few stops.
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We’re catching our first ever overnight train to get down to Rome. It was good value compared to catching an expensive high speed train and paying for a nights’ accommodation. We can’t wait to see Rome and fully expect to be overwhelmed by all the history there!
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Comments from WordPress</h2>

Alice 2012-09-24T14:36:32Z

Enjoy Rome! Get a guidebook or a guide, because there is a lot of history and to be honest, as a major historical center, the tourism board is INCREDIBLY slack about having any information boards or telling you what you are actually looking at. Particularly in the Roman Forum. Ma, Roma e’ merivigliosa! </blockquote> </li>
Tam 2012-12-15T10:01:27Z

So pretty!! I love all the bright colours :) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Florence

Unknown — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:07:38 +0000

We had a short time in Florence (just one night), so we’ve written a short post. Here are the four best and four worst thingsabout our time in Florence:
4th Worst: Boboli Gardens. It cost us 10 euro each to get into these gardens, which were pretty average. The ticket includes admission to some of the exhibits in the Palazzo Pitti, but since we went in near closing time, we were passive-aggresively chased around the museum by a posse of museum staff anxious to get home.
It’s not all bad, as we did come across this rather bemusing sculpture in the gardens. </a>
**3rd Worst:**Getting pooped on by a pigeon. ’Nuff said.
2nd Worst: The footpaths on many of the streets were hardly wider than our shoulders. This didn’t stop drivers in Florence from flying past, just inches away. Not the most relaxed urban environment we’ve been in!
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The worst thing about Florence: The city centre is absolutely saturated with tourists. To the point of barely being able to move at times.
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And now for the four best…
4th Best: We found a great pizzeria and had a delicious meal for 5 euro each.
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3rd Best: The Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria) is mighty impressive. It has the largest brick dome ever constructed.
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2nd Best: Unsurprisingly, we enjoyed seeing the incredible art in Florence. While we didn’t get to any of the famous art museums, we still saw plenty on display around the city. Check out this particularly gruesome sculpture, Perseus:
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By the way, Michaelangelo’s David has a freakin’ huge right hand (yes, we’re aware that this one is a replica):
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The best thing about Florence: Our favourite time in Florence was during a visit to the Great Synagogue when we started chatting to a guide at the end of a scheduled talk. We learnt heaps about the history of the Jews in Italy, Zionism/Israel and her outlook on the future for Jews in Europe. The guide gave us a very honest and personal perspective and was also interested in knowing about religious and race relations back in NZ. This may not sound like much, but it was really interesting having such an in-depth and open conversation about a culture we know only a little about.
We couldn’t take photos inside, but it was a beautiful building. The synagogue was designed by a Christian architect who gave the building a pulpit and organ (even though Jewish services don’t use pulpits and music is not allowed in a synagogue!)
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So there’s our experience of Florence. It was quite a contrast after the easy pace of Moneglia! We’re bound for Venice next before heading to Rome.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Alice 2012-09-19T08:58:34Z

Ah but you went to Florence in September! Unavoidable, but it doesnt start quieting down until Novemeber, and when I went there again in March it was filling up again! Crazy! But if you thought that was bad, wait for Venice… =p </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-10-02T06:50:03Z

You weren’t wrong about Venice! But we found some quieter areas which were nice. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Moneglia and the Cinque Terre

Unknown — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:58:09 +0000

We’ve been travelling pretty quickly for the last three months. In fact, only once have we spent more than four nights in the same bed! We’ve also been realising how time consuming the logistics of travel can be and we were starting to get behind. So we decided to spend seven nights in a smaller place, where we could have some slower days and get some of our “life admin” done.
We thought that somewhere on the Italian coast near the Cinque Terre would be a good choice. As we were booking last minute there wasn’t much accommodation available, so we took a chance on a small apartment in a village called Moneglia, 20 minutes by train from the Cinque Terre.
Things weren’t looking promising on the train from Nice to Moneglia – we passed lots of unappealing, run-down places. Once we arrived we were pleasantly surprised. The ten minute walk from the train station to our apartment took us right through the town centre. The main street is only about 5 metres wide and is full of cute shops with fresh local produce. Our apartment was basic but spacious and was a great base for the week. We had our own little kitchen and dining room – after three months on the road, it’s been quite a treat to be able to cook proper meals and buy supplies for a whole week! We really enjoyed wandering through town and buying fresh bread, meats, cheese, pasta and wine.
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The town was big enough to have a range of shops, but small enough to feel relaxed. The beach was just a few minutes’ walk away and we enjoyed plenty of swims in the 30 degree heat. After the international feel of the hostel in Nice, Moneglia was quite a change. While there were tourists around, they mostly seemed to be Italian and we only heard one other person speaking English the whole week! The owners of our accommodation didn’t seem used to international guests and didn’t speak much English. Try explaining through hand gestures that you want a new tea towel – harder than it sounds! Although we couldn’t communicate much, they were always friendly, smiley and joking around with us. There was a real sense of community around the town – we would often see people talking out their windows to neighbours walking past.
There was a surprising amount going on in Moneglia in the weekend. We went into town one night and found the local church packed to overflowing. Turns out there was a visiting gospel choir! Very cool. There were also some markets and the beach was full of people.
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Italians behave a bit differently on the beach to people back home. While we were putting on sunscreen, they were applying tanning oil. It wasn’t just young people either – we even saw some elderly ladies out tanning. People are less body-shy here – people of all kinds of shapes, sizes and ages were walking around in skimpy bikinis and speedos. Also, like in other European counties, toplessness is not seen as a big deal.
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We spent one day walking through the Cinque Terre, a group of five villages on the Ligurian coast. It has become a famous tourist destination due to the dramatic beauty of the villages and the accessible walking trails along the coastline. The area is also a traditional wine growing region, so part of the walk is through vineyards clinging to the hillside.
The walk was really beautiful. We enjoyed the views of each village in the distance and how we could then walk straight into them and look around. One of our favourite villages was Vernazza, with a picturesque port and main street.
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Another was Manorola, which sits around a cove where people were swimming. Because of the steep cliffs down to the cove, they have a hoist which lets them launch boats from the town above.
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One section of the track (between Corniglia and Manorola) was closed while we were there. We took this as an opportunity to climb further up the hillside on some of the less-travelled tracks. This actually turned out to be our favourite part of the day, with some of the best views. There were lots of vineyards on these tracks and we noticed some rails ascending the steep hillside. We later found out that they are tracks for mini-trains that are used for harvesting the grapes. Must be a thrilling ride!
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There were serious floods and landslides in the area late in 2011, burying a couple of the villages deep in mud. The towns dug themselves out and repaired the damage. We didn’t see much sign of the landslides, except for some destroyed houses near Vernazza.
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The whole day’s walk took about seven hours (including breaks and the diversion off the main track). Here are some more photos from the Cinque Terre. The turquoise and deep blue water looked amazing alongside the earthy palate of the Mediterranean houses.
Our favourite walk while we were in Moneglia was actually somewhere else entirely. Instead of heading back to the Cinque Terre for another day to try some other tracks, we decided to go to the regional park of Portofino, just 40 minutes by train from Moneglia.
Our route would take us from the town of Camogli, around the coast to Batterie (a German WWII fortification) and down to the beachfront abbey at San Fruttuoso. From there, we would climb to Piette Strette and then descend down the hill into the town of Santa Margharita Ligure. We decided on this route based on this helpful website</a>.
The coast between San Rocco and San Fruttuoso was incredible, with sheer cliffs dropping hundreds of metres into the sea. Some parts of the track have chains fixed to the rock, which were needed to help navigate the most rugged sections. Not a route for anyone with a fear of heights!
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The gun emplacements at Batterie were installed by the Axis powers in World War II. As you might expect, they had great views.
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It was around midday when we reached San Fruttuoso and it was HOT! Going for a swim in the cool, clear water was simply amazing.
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The walk back, over the hill to Santa Margharita Ligure, was less spectacular but still an enjoyable track. We descended the hill through pine forest with views down to the town. The track then took us through olive groves and past semi-rural homesteads before reaching the town and the train station home. Our day at Portofino was relaxed, taking just 6.5 hours (including a long lunch and swim).
At the end of our week, we are a little sad to be moving on. We really enjoyed slowing down the pace for a while and getting to know one place a little better. We would highly recommend Moneglia if you’re looking for a friendly, relaxed spot in Italy with some awesome walks nearby. Having managed to get some rest and catch up with our to-do list, we’re now moving on to some of Italy’s most famous cities – Florence, Venice and then Rome.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Beth Braddock 2012-09-14T01:12:31Z

My goodness, you call all that walking a relaxing week! Oh, what it is to be young. Looks wonderful Craig. I missed Italy but will get there one day.
I liked smaller places when I was travelling: they provide a respite from the crowds and pressure of “must see, must see” big name attractions. Nice also to see that summer really does still exist somewhere in the World. I’m a bit sick of rain and cloud here. cheers Beth </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-10-02T06:55:33Z

Hey Beth, great to hear from you. Yes we’re realising how much we enjoy smaller and more outdoorsy destinations. We’ll be walking in Innsbruck, Austria and Nepal in the next couple of months and will also be trying to find more destinations like Moneglia. Hope you and the OLC team are going well :-) </blockquote> </li>
Nic, Nise, Fi and Rory 2012-09-16T07:35:36Z

Hi Sal and Craig,
Love the hot babe with the rope (Craig you’re looking tanned!). We’ve just had an awesome weekend establishing our position as favourite cousins to Rory. Loving reading your blog, keep the photos of the hot babes coming.
Lots of Love Nic, Nise, Fi and Rory who’s just gone to bed </blockquote> </li>
Richard Harker 2012-09-16T10:11:38Z

Just been catching up with your adventures from Edinburgh to Italy :) Looks amazing! Thanks for keeping the blog updated - I’m really enjoying following along. </blockquote> </li>
Leonie 2012-09-19T07:11:25Z

I love it! The Cinque Terre was one of my favourite places last time around, although it was raining the whole day and we had to train most of it. Fantastic stories, photos and unexpected experiances come from these random unplanned trips. Keep up the awesome posts and adventures :) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-09-19T08:54:27Z

Che bello! Vorrei tantissimo andare a Cinque Terre! Its one of the places I missed out on with time and expense. But Italy is one of those places cram packed full of beautiful, diverse, scenic areas. Next time! Love the photos and stories! Keep ’em coming! xx </blockquote> </li>
The end. | Craig and Sal Go Global</a> 2013-06-30T02:00:39Z

[…] Moneglia, Italy […] </blockquote> </li>
Jackie 2013-08-27T17:40:30Z

Your blog and photos are amazing! I will be spending 4 days in Moneglia early in September and I absolutely cannot wait (further reinforced by reading about your experiences)! Thank you:) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Nice, Monaco and the French Riviera

Unknown — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:28:39 +0000

We took a bit of a different approach for deciding where to go after Paris. Googling ’best hostel in France“ pointed us to Villa Saint Exupery Gardens in Nice. Nice also worked well as an easy connection into Italy - our next destination.
The train from Paris to Nice was amazingly fast - it went up to 300kph. A nice way to travel.
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The hostel was really cool. It’s a converted monastery and the common area is a large space with a mezzanine and stained glass windows. It’s the most social hostel we’ve stayed in too (the 1 euro beers probably helped!). Being in such a big full of travellers from around the world was fun, but it meant that sometimes we hardly felt like we were in France!
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We didn’t spend a lot of time in Nice itself, mainly because it’s so close to lots of day trip destinations with better beaches.
One day we visited Monaco with a couple of people from the hostel. Monaco is the second smallest state in the world (after the Vatican) and it has the highest proportion of millionaires and billionaires in the world. The city is full of luxury yachts and fancy cars - Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Bentley, etc. High-end Mercedes Benzes and BMWs started seeming like very ordinary cars with so many Ferraris driving around!
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Despite its reputation for glitz and glamour, Monte Carlo isn’t exactly a beautiful city - full of stark concrete apartment blocks. It’s obvious there’s lots of money splashing around though! Monaco isn’t really our kind of place, but it was interesting to see.
Another day we went on a short coastal walk to Cap d’Ail beach (thanks to information from another travel blog</a>). We’ve been interested to see how beaches in Europe differ from those back home. They’re more crowded of course - you have to pick a spot between people. They’re also more developed and commercialised. For example, there are private sections of the beach where you can hire a lounger. Also, they often have fancy restaurants and bars right on the beach. One nice difference is the water temperature! Being in the Mediterranean, there are no waves, so people just stand in the water cooling down.
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Our last moments in Nice were not so relaxing. Despite having left plenty of time to pick up our tickets, a machine fault meant we only got our tickets just before the train was due to depart. We sprinted to the platform with our packs on and jumped on the train just as the doors closed. Phew!
Leaving France behind, we crossed into Italy and arrived in Moneglia, a place you probably haven’t heard of. We will be just 20 minutes from the Cinque Terre, however, which is a lot more famous. We picked Moneglia as a place to chill-out for a week - it’s a small village with a beach on the Mediterranean coast. Bring on the wine, pasta and gelato!
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Robbie Lane 2012-09-11T11:10:27Z

Craig - are you still speaking Spanish to the Italians???? … Volare, wo o o oh … Keep enjoying the enjoying! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Paris

Unknown — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 09:41:27 +0000

Finally Sally’s three years of learning French at school has paid off with five days in Paris. She had the most essential phrases ready – “Je voudrais un pain au chocolat s’il vous plait”. We filled in the gaps in our vocabulary by pronouncing English words with a French accent, asking each other for “le map” and “la camera” (don’t worry, never in earshot of “le French”). Despite this cultural butchery, we must have done okay with our pronunciation – at one museum we were given the French rather than the English version of the map!
We CouchSurfed in Paris, with two different hosts. It was great fun and we got to learn a bit more about life in France. At our first hosts’ place we were treated to a dinner of Raclette. This photo shows the Raclette machine. Slices of a special type of cheese are placed in small pans and grilled. The melted cheese is then poured over potatoes and a selection of meats. Super tasty!
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Staying with the theme of cheese, we went out to a specialist cheese restaurant with our second Couchsurfing host. It was a cute local restaurant with just a handful of tables. As well as a traditional fondue, we got to try a selection of French cheeses. The cheeses were delicious, although some of them did challenge our palate, particularly the strong goats’ cheeses.
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Still staying with the theme of cheese, we had a delicious picnic at the Palace of Versailles one day. We did the French thing of buying each ingredient from a different specialised store - yum. However, we didn’t do the French thing of eating in moderation as we’d overestimated how much cheese (and red wine) we’d need. Silly photos ensued - rocking the blue tongue look.
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Okay, enough about cheese now. We did plenty of sightseeing while we were here. While at times we felt like we were on a conveyor belt of tourists, we were lucky to find only short queues.
We’ll instead try and write about a few of the things we saw that are less well known. We came across some unexpected awesomeness near the Eiffel Tower. A group of people have combined skipping ropes and breakdancing which made for impressive watching.
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Another cool thing we saw was a very talented guy playing the piano out on the street. Apparently there are a few of these public pianos around that are left out for people to play.
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One romantic afternoon in the city of love, we went down into the sewers below the city. It might not be quite as prestigious as the Louvre, but the Sewers Museum gave us an interesting (if stinky) view of Paris. The museum outlined the history of sanitation in the city – we now have a new appreciation that we’re not city dwellers in the Middle Ages, when they threw their sewerage out into the streets!
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We weren’t blown away by all of Paris’ parks. Some seemed to be mostly an expanse of crushed stone. But we did discover one beautiful garden surrounding the Palace of Luxembourg.
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As well as being spectacular in its own right, the Palace of Versailles was particularly interesting because modern art pieces are exhibited inside the historical palace. We thought this combination of old and new worked surprisingly well.
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Paris was a great city to wander around with tourist attractions around every corner and beautiful buildings throughout the centre.
We’re off to Nice in the French Riviera next, but we’ll leave you with this… One of our CouchSurfers had a Chinese version of Lonely Planet New Zealand which we found hilarious. We think Chinese visitors to New Zealand might be disappointed not to see many Māori guys riding a horse carrying a surfboard!
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Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2012-09-08T23:43:43Z

Great photos! Nice tongue shots too.
Good to talk to you the other day and glad your trip is going so well. Happy travelling! </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-09-09T19:51:51Z

We went to the Luxembourg Gardens! Everything was frozen over cos it was January. Also Martha stepped in dog poo. That wasn’t frozen, unfortunately. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Amsterdam and the Waterlands

Unknown — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 10:49:07 +0000

It was after midnight in the Port of Dover and we were wearily standing in line to be processed through the (surprisingly lightweight) border controls to enter France enroute to Amsterdam. That’s when Craig made a big mistake. Now that we were leaving the English language behind once again, his brain switched to the few words of Spanish that he knew. Never speak Spanish to a French customs officer…

Frenchman: Can I have your passport? Craig: Si Angry Frenchman: Si? You are from New Zealand. Why are you speaking Italian* when you are from New Zealand? Craig: Spanish, mumble, sorry, mumble, we’ve been in South America, mumble, force of habit, mumble Angry Frenchman proceeds to grill Craig with several questions, purportedly to establish his true identity. Angry Frenchman: If you are from New Zealand, do not speak Italian! </blockquote>
*Si means “Yes” in both Spanish and Italian
(Side note: Craig doesn’t perform well at border crossings. In New York Airport he accidentally pressed the “No” button in answer to the question “Have you understood the preceding security questions and answered them truthfully?” Luckily we were able to get the resulting security alert taken off our tickets!)
Once we got to Amsterdam we were relieved to learn that almost everyone speaks perfect English. We hadn’t been able to learn any Dutch, except to have a quick read of the phrase book on the bus. To us monolinguistic English-speakers, Dutch seems a hard language! According to the phrase book, the sentence “I don’t understand, could you please speak more slowly” is pronounced “ik buh khreyp huht neet, kunt ew al stew bleeft wat traa khuhr sprey kuhn”!
Amsterdam is a really different urban environment to what we’re used to, at least in the historic centre. Firstly, there are several wide canals running through the city – once the backbone of commerce and trade but now full of house boats and tourist cruises. Bicycles outnumber cars by a long shot – every tree and railing is covered with chained-up bikes. Bike theft is common, so the chains are huge. The lack of cars means nice quiet streets, but you still have to watch where you’re walking because trams, bikes and scooters are flying everywhere. At some intersections you end up crossing bike lanes, tram lines and car lanes and hardly know where to look.
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Most of the buildings in the centre are much taller than they are wide. This is because of an old policy where buildings were taxed based on the width of their street frontage. We saw the extremes that this tax policy bought about – a very wide house built to flaunt wealth and a house that was only 1.6 metres wide!
The Dutch have a history of being liberal and tolerant people. During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the people of Amsterdam went on strike to protest against the Nazis’ treatment of Dutch Jews, receiving a violent response. Apparently the Netherlands was one of the only places that the general population stood in solidarity with the Jews during the Nazi genocide.
It’s this philosophy of tolerance that gave rise to the two things Amsterdam is perhaps most famous for: prostitution and marijuana. Like in New Zealand, prostitution has been legalised here in order to reduce the risk of harm for those working as prostitutes. Marijuana is actually still illegal in the Netherlands, but there hasn’t been a prosecution for personal possession in decades. Strangely, coffeeshops (where marijuana is sold) are licenced and regulated by the state for selling an illegal product! We learnt on a walking tour that the Netherlands actually have fewer marijuana users per capita than the European average. Which countries have the highest per capita figure globally? Apparently it’s Australia and New Zealand!
It’s a shame that a liberal stance on these issues is so rare globally, because the resultant novelty of Amsterdam makes for a really tacky form of tourism. There is plenty of tourist tat with stupid slogans like “Good boys go to heaven, bad boys go to Amsterdam”. The government is reportedly unhappy with this reputation and is trying to clean up the city’s image – they have started closing down windows in the Red Light District and are considering tougher regulations on the coffeeshops. No one we spoke to was sure what impact this might have on Amsterdam’s tourism industry in the future.
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Speaking of tourists, the city has plenty (possibly more than residents at the peak of the season). So we decided to get away from the city and go cycling in the countryside. In less than 30 minutes we were out of the city and amongst farmland.
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We went to the area north of Amsterdam known as the Waterlands. We biked past pastures, dykes, lakes, villages and the ocean. One thing we noticed in the villages was how well kept all the houses are. They all look freshly painted and clean, with well-manicured lawns and gardens. It wasn’t just for tourists either – we found the same thing even in small villages with no tourist facilities. We heard that it is part of Dutch culture to take pride in the appearance of your home.
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The bicycle facilities in the Netherlands are amazing. Most of our cycling was on dedicated off-road cycle paths, through fields and on top of dykes. Almost every junction was signposted and there were lots of maps showing the various cycle paths. In fact, we didn’t even need a map with us – all we had were some directions we’d found on a travel blog</a>.
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By the time we got back into the city, our route had taken us over 60km – further than we’d expected. We had a great day and would really recommend this for anyone visiting Amsterdam. There were lots of other cool places we could have biked to as well.
We didn’t have long in Amsterdam, just a few days. The Netherlands is definitely a place we could imagine coming back to – the landscape, history and culture here all seem really interesting and unique. We are now heading onto Paris, the most visited city in the world.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Robbie Lane 2012-09-05T11:11:27Z

Have fun … interestingly we all think about Holland as being liberal … yet my sister-in-law’s parents from Holland had to leave because of being an inter-racial couple (Dutch/Indonesian). Still enjoy all that Europe has to offer. </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-09-09T12:32:48Z

Wow that’s surprising (and sad) to hear Robbie. I wonder why they’re liberal about some things and not others? </blockquote> </li>
Lesley 2012-09-05T20:30:40Z

Love thosse bright green bikes. being one language [or the bit of it you know] will probably be the norm over the next few weeks. I thought we’d taught you about being on your best behaviour at borders. :) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

The English seaside of Brighton

Unknown — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 19:46:35 +0000

Brighton was a good choice for a place to hang out for a couple of days. It’s a seaside town not far from London. The sun was shining and the place was packed. It’s known as being an alternative city, popular with hippies, punks and the like. It’s also known as the gay capital of Britain.
The beach is a bit different to what we’re used to back home. It’s a pebble beach with big concrete sea walls. Brighton Pier is like Coney Island with ferris wheels, arcades and carnival food.
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Based on the price, we knew we wouldn’t be getting a great hostel, but it didn’t even meet our low expectations. Compared to South America and New Zealand we have found hostels in England to be of quite a poor standard and not particularly sociable. We’ve already told you about our hostel in Bath. Our York hostel was in a nice building but everyone kept to themselves. In fact, when Craig said “good morning” to everyone at the breakfast table, he got a single slow nod from one person in response. Maybe more people here are on short holidays rather than being long-term travellers. We’re hoping that the rest of Europe will be more like South America where it was easy to get chatting to lots of different people. We’re also planning on doing some more CouchSurfing soon too.
It’s been nice getting some sun and beach time in Brighton. We’re both getting a bit of a tan on our travels – even the UK has been very kind to us with its weather. We’ve got a 10-hour bus to Amsterdam next, so we’ve just gone and bought some stylish travel pillows in preparation.
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Manchester

Unknown — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 22:47:46 +0000

Surprisingly, our first bus breakdown happened not in South America, but in England. Forty-five minutes from Manchester, the bus crawled to a stop on the shoulder of the motorway and refused to start again. To make things worse, this bus seemingly contained half of England’s loud, crazy and obnoxious population. We were stuck at the side of the road for a couple of hours before our replacement bus arrived.
Making the most of the situation, we pulled out the peanut butter and jam and made dinner. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches come in handy often while travelling! We also drafted a few blog posts under the street lights.
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We eventually arrived in Manchester and checked into our hostel in the bohemian Northern Quarter of town. We went online the next day and found we had a problem. To cut a long story short, for a couple of reasons we had to apply for a tourist visa to India from London. After a long and painful application process Sal’s visa was approved quickly, but bizarrely Craig had to write a letter from himself, saying he wouldn’t work in India.
The Indian High Commission was still holding our passports when we were due to leave the UK for Continental Europe. It didn’t help that, despite having had our passports for 3 weeks, they refused to give us any timelines for when the visa would be ready. They also seem to take a public holiday almost every week, further slowing progress. We were stranded in the UK for an unknown period of time. We changed all of the buses we’d booked in Europe (luckily Megabus allows changes) and made plans for staying in the UK.
One thing we’re learning about travel is that it can be quite tiring to be making decisions constantly in unique situations. It’s not that you don’t have to make decisions back home, but the routine of daily life means you don’t have to make decisions about every little thing, such as where you’re sleeping tomorrow and how to get around. Getting away from routine is one of the exciting things about travel, but it’s also one of its challenges. The visa problem was most annoying because we had to make lots of decisions about what to do next with no idea how long the visa would take. We were feeling frustrated for a while, but found finally making a decision (any decision) made us feel much better.
Thankfully, we were able to stay with Craig’s uncle and cousin for a few extra days in Manchester. Craig’s cousin Kate had just had a bad accident in Croatia and was recovering at home from a fractured pelvis. It was nice to have time to see them and they really helped us out with a place to stay. Thanks guys!
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We had quite rainy days in Manchester so we headed for the city’s museums. We went to what we thought was a museum of cities and urban living, only to find it has recently changed into a football museum. Not quite so interesting to us. We also took a look at the John Rylands Library, an impressive building in Victorian Gothic style. Another day we visited the Museum of Science and Industry which was fascinating. Manchester was at the centre of the industrial revolution and the museum explained this history well. It also had a big hall full of early steam and gas engines.
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We received good news just before leaving Manchester – Craig’s visa had been approved! We can pick up our passports after the weekend and have booked a couple of nights in Brighton, on the southern coast in the meantime. So we only had to delay crossing the Channel by about four days. We now feel luckier than ever to be travelling on our New Zealand passports - India and Vietnam are the only countries we need advance visas for on our whole trip.
To end, here are a few more photos from Manchester. It was good to see a real “working” English city, other than London and the touristy towns we saw earlier. Amsterdam is our first stop in Continental Europe which we’re really excited about. But for now we’ll enjoy a couple of days at the English seaside.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2012-08-30T23:41:34Z

Nice reflections about travel in general and also the places you’ve been. Looking forward to hearing of your adventures in Europe. Lxx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Exploring the Scottish Highlands with the Evil Clowns

Unknown — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:56:26 +0000

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Craig, Sal and the evil clowns set off from Edinburgh on an adventure in the Scottish Highlands. At first we were given a van with pretty flowers on it, but it leaked all over the forecourt when we tried to fill it up with petrol. So pretty flowers gave way to evil clowns. Every time we passed any kids we got a reaction – some screaming, some laughing!
This was the first time we’ve been in a campervan and we really enjoyed the experience. It gave us the freedom to get off the beaten track and do things at our own pace. The highlands are really well suited to driving – we were constantly pulling over to look at the view or check out little side roads.
Our route took us north from Edinburgh, past Inverness up to Lairg. We then crossed to the west coast and wound our way south along the coast to the Isle of Skye. From Skye, we returned to Edinburgh via Sterling, to see Stirling Castle. The green pointers are roughly where we camped each night.
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Once we got past Inverness, the roads got smaller and the wilderness got wilder. Our trip took us through a huge variety of landscapes – rolling hills, valleys and lochs, dry tundra, rugged cliffs, beaches, forests and castles. We also passed through tiny villages and settlements on our way. The highlands had some of the most beautiful landscapes we’ve ever seen.
Some of our favourite scenery was at the northern most reaches of our route. Scotland has designated this area as the North West Highlands Geopark – like a national park but for protecting geologically significant areas. We stopped in a settlement within the geopark and took a short walk up to a nearby monument to take in the views of the loch and surrounding cliffs. When we reached the crest of the hill, Craig spotted a deer staring straight at us, about 10 metres away. The deer bolted through the deep bracken, and as we watched we spotted several more deer with him. They relaxed once they got a bit further away from us and we were able to sit there for a while watching them bathe in nearby mud pools.
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Elsewhere on our travels we saw jumping salmon, plenty of birdlife, an ex-badger, sheep (which made us think of home) and some awesome highland cattle. Many smaller roads went right through farmland, so we would often come across grazing animals on the road.
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Many of these smaller roads were also “single track roads” meaning they had a single paved traffic land with small passing bays every hundred metres or so. Despite being very remote, these roads were in excellent condition. In New Zealand they would probably put in a two-lane gravel road, but using the passing bays was actually quite easy once you got the knack of it and traffic flowed well. We didn’t see any bad driving – people would give us a friendly wave or thumbs up as they passed.
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The Scottish locals we met lived up to their reputation of being friendly. People along the way would happily stop and start up a conversation as they were walking past. One local told us about a nice beach nearby called Mellon Udrigle (don’t ask us to pronounce that!). We even went for a swim there – that’s right, an ocean swim in northern Scotland!
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We were lucky to have great weather for our trip, with the exception of one day of rain. We went for plenty of short walks along the way. We found an excellent brochure by the Forestry Commission detailing dozens of walks throughout the Highlands. These spots were also great overnight camping spots, as they were off the main road, had picnic tables and allowed overnight parking.
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The campervan has its own kitchen, table and chairs so we didn’t need to be near a town for the evening. It was fun seeking out a place to stay when we were ready to stop for the day. While we were planning to rough it for our five day trip and forego showers, we discovered a public toilet in Ullapool that amazingly had a free, clean and hot shower available. This is an exciting discovery for free campers!
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We did have one incident while free camping… Having driven for ages down a dead end road, we decided on an isolated camping spot by a small creek. As we cooked dinner, we noticed more and more tiny bugs hanging around us. They were midges – bugs about the size of sandflies that are common throughout the Highlands. The smells from our cooking were attracting them by the hundreds – they began swarming all around us and landing on our faces constantly. It got so unbearable that we abandoned our last bit of cooking, grabbed the food we had and dived into the van for refuge. Unfortunately, the bugs had come with us and we were now trapped inside with them! The moon roof came to the rescue – we trapped most of them against the glass skylight and finally had some peace. It might sound lame to be worried about bugs, but trust us; it was so unpleasant that we didn’t leave the van for the rest of the night! After this we were careful to find camping spots away from the water.
</a> It looked so peaceful…
On our last day we visited Stirling Castle, perhaps Scotland’s most important castle. The castle changed hands several times between the English and Scottish as they fought for the strategically important crossing over the River Forth. It was said that whoever controlled Stirling controlled Scotland.
The castle was particularly interesting as it has been added to over time whenever the ruling monarch felt they needed stronger defences. The upgrades reflect the changing war technologies of the time. For example, the inner walls and towers are designed for the age of catapults and trebuchets, with tall walls and round towers. The outer defences were designed for the age of cannon, with low, angled, earth-filled walls made to absorb cannonballs. Here are some photos of the castles we saw on our trip:
</a> Stirling Castle
</a> Ardvreck Castle
</a> Eileen Donan Castle
In our usual way, we were a bit over-ambitious in how far we travelled in just four days. More than 700 miles! This made for a hilarious moment parked up in Edinburgh when we were trying to boil eggs, wash the last dishes and clean out the van – all in less than 20 minutes. However, we did manage to return the van and make it to our next bus on time. Taking a campervan through the Scottish Highlands was one of the coolest things we’ve done on this trip – we would have happily added another couple of days. The evil clowns had served us well, but we had to say goodbye and board our bus bound for Manchester.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Robbie Lane 2012-08-28T08:17:52Z

Nice reading your latest travel …. driving me more and more wanting to do some serious travelling again!!! Och aye the nu!!!! Happy travels
Robbie </blockquote> </li>
Gary 2012-08-31T19:06:57Z
hey guys I finally caught up with your UK roamings! great pics and nice commentary. You have been soooo blessed with the weather, especially in Scotland!
Did you know they breed the midge to keep the English out? </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-09-09T12:33:58Z
Nice to hear from you Gary. Maybe the midges are trained to enjoy Commonwealth blood too! </blockquote> </li>
The end. | Craig and Sal Go Global</a> 2013-06-30T01:58:53Z

[…] The Scottish Highlands […] </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Exploring Edinburgh (and its Fringe Festival)

Unknown — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 19:35:41 +0000

Edinburgh made a great first impression – we stepped out into this beautiful city on a lovely sunny day.
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A few of our friends are either living in Edinburgh or were visiting while we were there (the new London?) so we had our biggest Kiwi catch up yet. So many people have been generous enough to have us stay with them along the way, even with really limited space! Thanks to Kirsten, Louise and Andrew in Edinburgh.
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It was also lovely to see Alice and Elf who were visiting Edinburgh at the same time. We explored the Fringe festival and the city with them, going to Crammond Island, the Botanic Gardens, climbing Arthur’s Seat and doing a walking tour.
Edinburgh was buzzing with all the activity from the Fringe. It was heaps of fun just to walk around the streets checking out the street performers, people dressed up to promote their shows and the many Fringe venues. There are around 2,800 performances on offer at the month long festival. There is so much on, at any time of day or night, that you are constantly coming across shows without even trying.
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We saw 11-and-a-half shows in our six days here (more on the half show later). Most of these were part of the Free Fringe – a subset of shows that have a donations bucket rather than paid tickets. With so much on, shows take place in all sorts of venues. The very first show we went to was on the top floor of a double decker bus (although unfortunately it was stationary). It was funny watching tall comedians try to stand in the cramped space.
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As with all Fringe festivals, the quality can be variable. While there were a couple of duds, on the whole we enjoyed most of the performances. One night we saw a great Australian soul singer, John McNamara. We were the closest people to Australians in the audience, so he dedicated a version of “Land down under” to us.
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The majority of the festival is stand-up and sketch comedy. We really enjoyed a sketch show by Ladies and Gentlemen. Another comedy highlight was Jollyboat – a couple of brothers performing musical comedy. They sang a pirate pop medley (“I kissed a gull and I liked it”) and a love song made up entirely of puns from the computer keyboard, complete with flashcards (“And I want to [1, 2] … I want to restart [1, 2 CTRL-ALT-DEL]).
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On the more serious side, we saw a new play called Sealand. Sealand is a real-life self-proclaimed micronation inhabiting an old WWII aircraft defence platform in international waters near the UK. Instead of focusing on the politics, the play was more about the relationships of the people living there and their efforts to start a new nation. It was really well written and acted.
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On the less enjoyable side, we saw an embarrassingly bad stand-up variety show. It was even a stretch to pity laugh at times. The host dragged on with some uninspired digs at the audience before joking that he’d improved in the 15 years since receiving the review “not worth the free entry fee”. Unfortunately the review still rang true for us!
So you may be wondering how we went to half a show? A group of us decided to go and see the innocuously named “Von Trapp Family Singers”. The show started with a large woman in a Nazi jacket who promptly stripped off into something “more Jewish” – a bright red corset and stockings. And then the songs started… We lasted to the end of the second song (“I vish ze all could be Weimar Republic girls”) before escaping during a filmed segment. We don’t usually like walking out on shows, but for this we made an exception! We tried to salvage the night by heading into another show at random. We were met with the announcement “Hello everyone, I know you’re here to see some vintage pornography, but the host is sick tonight, so we’re filling in with some improv. Feel free to leave if this isn’t your thing.” Not in the mood for improv, we did leave. We would have been in for a surprise if the original show was on! Third time lucky, we ended up at a good stand-up gig run by Newcastle University students.
Edinburgh and Wellington have a few things in common - marginal weather for one, although we were lucky to have some lovely days. We found ourselves walking up and down hills for the first time in a while. There’s also a thriving arts scene and plenty of restaurants and bars. We found a craft beer bar with some great brews – including a 32% ale with an awesome name: Tactical Nuclear Penguin!
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We’re really excited about the next part of the trip – hiring a campervan and heading north into the Scottish Highlands. We’re both experienced campers but haven’t hired a campervan before. This is also the first time we’ve had our own vehicle on this trip, which will let us explore small places off the beaten track. So we’re leaving Edinburgh for now. We’ve had such a fun time here and hope to return again some day.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Luke H</a> 2012-08-23T20:26:27Z

Edinburgh Castle looks amazing. Kind of stunned that the Sealand poster shows the wrong type of offshore fort - that’s a pretty big mistake to make about your central theme! :-) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-08-24T21:04:38Z

Yeah I noticed that too… I guess they are banking on that not many people have heard of Sealand. But it can’t be too hard to do a stylized version of the real thing right? Anyway - Edinburgh is awesome and I’m really looking forward to going back in a couple of weeks - has to be done again! Take care Craig and Sal - wonderful to enjoy your company again! xxx </blockquote> </li>
Hay 2012-08-26T09:30:21Z

Ha, sounds like you had some fun moments in Edinburgh! Loving the blogs, great to hear about what you guys have been up too :)
xx </blockquote> </li>
Hay 2012-08-26T09:31:06Z

Up to* </blockquote> </li>
Rachael 2012-08-27T05:12:03Z

Yay you made it to Edinburgh! That’s where I lived for two years and my twinies were made! If you are still there go visit Thom at Crystal Clear on Cockburn st, say hi to him from me :) Sounds like you are having a blast. Much love from NZCER Sally </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-09-09T12:36:46Z

We hadn’t realised you’d lived there, it’s a cool city. Good to hear from you - say hi to everyone at NZCER :-) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

York

Unknown — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:42:05 +0000

York was founded by the Romans in 71 AD, who created a fortress on the site. York has been a walled city ever since, with first Roman and then medieval walls. So, unsurprisingly, a major attraction is a walk around the city walls. It was interesting looking out through the battlements and imagining a time of Romans and Vikings.
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Nowadays, walking around the walls gives good views into the town. Within the walls, narrow winding streets make for an interesting and pedestrian-friendly centre. One particularly famous street is The Shambles:
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We don’t actually have a lot to say about York, and it’s not because we didn’t enjoy it. But York is where we hit the wall for the first time (haha, enjoy the terrible pun!) By this point we’d been travelling quickly through several big cities and tourist towns, getting increasingly tired and behind in those little life administration tasks. You might have noticed a big gap in our posts a while back!
We also found that we had to spend a lot of time working out the logistics of our next destination. We had left a few days between London and Edinburgh free, with the idea that we’d find somewhere small to relax for a few days. Turns out having a few days of flexibility doesn’t necessarily give you more freedom – finding an attractive place with affordable accommodation and transport at the last minute turned out to be quite difficult and time-consuming. In the end, it was easier to head to Edinburgh a few days early rather than try to squeeze in another destination.
So far, it seems to us that if you’re still largely working to an itinerary, having just a small bit of flexibility can be more trouble than it’s worth. In Southeast Asia we will have true flexibility which will be nice – we fly into Bangkok and then fly out of Singapore five months later.
So in England, we didn’t end up getting to a cute little village, but we’ve been catching up by trying not to do so much over the past few days. Which, to bring us back to the point, is why we don’t have much to say about York! But we enjoyed it nonetheless.
From York, we’re catching the train up the east coast to reach Edinburgh. The trains here are a whole different beast to back home – they glide smoothly through the countryside at up to 200 km/h. We’re excited to be heading for Edinburgh during the Fringe festival – the largest arts festival in the world! More updates to come shortly.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

LeeLee 2012-08-21T01:04:23Z

I’m looking forward to the Fringe Festival post! Take care guys. xoxox. </blockquote> </li>
Garry 2012-08-21T12:34:40Z

Yeah, travel fatigue can catch up with you every so often. Even the nomadic tribes put down roots once in a while…
We’re enjoying your blogs and photos a lot. Keep them up! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Taking the waters of Bath

Unknown — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 10:19:49 +0000

A few centuries ago, the wealthy elite of England flocked to Bath to “take the waters” of the town’s natural hot spring. If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for us – we spent a couple of days exploring the city and its ancient baths.
When the Romans conquered Britain they were excited to find a natural hot spring in England. Believing this to be a miracle, they built a huge series of baths along with a temple complex devoted to the goddess Sulis Minerva. The ruins of the baths were discovered in the 18^{th century and the site has been partially reconstructed since, so that visitors can get a sense of the original buildings. We visited in the evening when the baths are lit up with flaming torches – very cool.}
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An audio tour was included in the admission fee. We found it excellent – it covered a range of social, historical, architectural and technological information and had supplementary commentary by Bill Bryson. We found the audio tour so engaging that we spent a lot longer than expected there and ended up being the last people out that night!
The first thing we noticed about the baths is that they appear to be in a deep pit. Apparently modern ground level is five metres higher than in Roman times – each new civilisation has built on top of the old one! Here is the view down into the baths:
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The level of technology the ancient Romans enjoyed is amazing. Lead piping took water from the spring to a large series of pools providing a range of different temperatures. There was under floor heating in a set of sauna rooms. We also saw how Romans used double-pulleys and clever anchors set into stone blocks to construct the buildings.
You can’t bathe in the historic baths any more but some modern baths opened recently. The construction of these was set back when the builders accidentally used non-waterproof paint, flooding the building with paint-laden water. Sounds like they were better at this sort of thing a few thousand years back!
The baths meant much more to the Romans than just a place to wash. They were considered a place of healing, with special baths just for the sick. They were also a place to socialise and conduct business. Interesting considering that both sexes bathed together and in the nude (it’s business time – Roman style). The baths provide an insight into Roman norms. The site was a holy religious temple – nowadays we wouldn’t think this to be compatible with mixed nude bathing! Social class was important in the baths, as elsewhere in Roman society. The elite bathed first thing in the day before the water was dirtied (both figuratively and literally) by the common people.
Wealthy Romans could bring along slaves to guard their clothes, but theft was a possibility for other bathers. Luckily the baths had recourse for those wronged – it was common practice to write “curses” on pieces of lead and throw them into the sacred spring, so that Sulis Minerva would enact revenge. People wrote as much information as they could on the lead regarding the identity of the perpetrator (sometimes this included a list of suspects), along with a requested punishment. The punishment often seemed wildly out of proportion to the crime – “they should be put to death and dragged through the streets for the theft of my toga”.
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Jumping forward in time, the baths became popular again with the following a visit by Queen Anne. Once here, the wealthy had an extensive social calendar imposed by the town’s Master of Ceremonies. This included bathing, drinking spring waters, dancing and “promenading” (walking around the neighbourhood in all your finery). This schedule ran from early morning to late at night and repeated every day. Being on a hill, the wealthy decided they didn’t want to have to walk home after their long day, so they had a special gravel path constructed where they could be carried up and down in litters by sedan chairmen.
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The stone wall in this photo is called a haha - a sunken fence similar to a retaining wall. The land on the left used to be used for grazing, so the haha would keep the livestock off the lawn without blocking the residents view! Pretty cool.
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Of course our experience was somewhat less decadent. We didn’t bathe (it’s 26 pounds!) and instead of living in a large townhouse on the Royal Crescent we stayed at… the Bath YMCA. It was, we decided, the worst hostel we’ve been in yet. The atmosphere can best be described as homeless shelter – the guests seemed to be about half travellers and half homeless people. There was a strange smell in the corridor for the whole stay, which was only upstaged by the large smear of excrement Sally found on the floor of the women’s’ bathroom. To add insult to injury, this was one of our most expensive hostels!
Apart from the hostel, our experience in Bath was really enjoyable. The residents are obviously very proud of their town, and rightly so. The town has a unity about it, with almost all of the buildings fitting into a similar aesthetic of Bath sandstone. Leaving Bath, we boarded a train heading north to the old medieval town of York.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Richard Harker 2012-08-19T11:13:07Z

Ah, great reminders of my travels there in 2006! Can’t wait to hear about York - I absolutely loved it. Is a “haha” so named to reflect the cry of the unsuspecting garden wanderer coming across the sudden drop in front of him? I can just imagine it :) </blockquote> </li>
Frederieka 2012-08-20T09:14:20Z

Apparently Jane Austen hated Bath.
Wikipedia says ‘Usual etymology is that an expression of surprise – “ha ha” or “ah! ah!” is exclaimed on encountering such a boundary.’ which is a pretty strange way of naming something, really.
and Terry Pratchett uses hahas in one of his Ankh-Morpork books - I think they’re in the Patrician’s gardens. </blockquote> </li>
Hay 2012-09-09T03:09:48Z

The history/background you are putting into the blogs is great - really adds some flavour to your experience! I’ve never been to Bath - will have to put it on my list for next time :) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Oxford

Unknown — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:53:30 +0000

This will be a short post, as we were only in Oxford for one night. Oxford of course, is known primarily for Oxford University and its other beautiful buildings. Oxford has 38 Colleges, the most popular for tourists to visit is Christ Church due to its grandeur and Harry Potter affiliation. We were going to visit, but decided not to after seeing the queue!
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Instead we went to Magdalen College (pronounced mawd-lin). Apparently this is one of the prettiest colleges. It came complete with a deer park (although we didn’t see any deer). Here are a few photos from Magdalen.
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The rest of our time was spent wandering around enjoying the sights of the town.
Oxford is a worthwhile day trip to do from London, but you definitely join the masses of other tourists who have the same idea! Our next stop is Bath, site of ancient Roman Baths, located on the UK’s hottest geothermal spring.

London

Unknown — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 18:04:33 +0000

We had an exciting and busy week in London – staying with friends, the Olympics buzz, beautiful sunshine and lots of exploring to do. Despite never having been in the UK before, England feels strangely familiar (much more so than the USA), probably because of NZ’s British roots. We made the most of the (rare?) London sun by walking around lots of different areas of the city. We were struck by how different each area felt. In no particular order, here are some brief descriptions and photos from our wanderings.
We spent a bit of time south of the Thames, staying with our friends Susan and Michael. Southbank has a nice riverside promenade, with great views of the Tower Bridge (currently featuring the Olympic rings).
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The City of London (the historic commercial centre) has an interesting mix of buildings and some cool little alleyways to explore. We had a nice night out in Chinatown and Piccadilly Circus with Susan and Mike, going to a British comedy play “The 39 Steps”.
Soho and Covent Garden have lots of cool pedestrian streets with a really lively feel. One of the nice things about London is all the parks and squares. In these dense central suburbs they get pretty busy. We found a tiny churchyard to have lunch in, which had office workers perching everywhere. This was the scene as we walked past Soho Square:
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South Kensington is really fancy and well-kept. We went to a high-end supermarket called Whole Foods that has trolley escalators and a machine where you can buy tastings of expensive wine.
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We went out to the Camden Markets one day. It’s full of alternative stalls – plenty of gothic clothes, retro costumes and a huge superstore full of rave gear. The music in the rave store was pumping, the staff walked around in fluro undies and platform shoes and the whole place was shining brightly under UV lights.
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Westminster is full of history and incredible buildings. We explored this part of the city on a walking tour (we’ve come to love these as great introductions to cities). Along the way we saw the changing of the Horse Guards of the Queen. Our guide warned us to keep out of the way, giving us a great view of the soldiers shouting “Stand Clear of the Guard!” before stampeding through the unsuspecting tourists who were scrambing out of the way.
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Here are a bunch more photos from our wanderings:
The National Gallery made for an enjoyable afternoon. It was the first time we’d been to a gallery with such a large collection of artwork (1300s-1900s), which gave us a better sense of how art has changed over time. We hadn’t fully realised just how much art was dominated by religion and kings until the last few centuries. Having such a wide range of art in one place also helped us understand our tastes better.
</a> A Wheatfield with Cypresses (Van Gogh)
We would also highly recommend the British Museum. It was really cool seeing ancient sculpture and artefacts in the flesh. One thing we hadn’t realised – the ancient Romans loved colour, so many of the sculptures we think of as plain white stone would in fact have been brightly painted at the time they were made. The museum design has been really well thought out. We loved how many of the pieces were displayed without a cabinet or barrier. It was easier to appreciate the detail, particularly of the sculptures, and it made the pieces seem less distant. It’s amazing to look upon statues from around the world that were carved thousands of years ago.
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Pro tip: if you go to Westminster Abbey for the Evensong choral service you get to enjoy the acoustics and atmosphere of the church and don’t have to pay 16 pounds for admission. We couldn’t take photos inside, but it’s truly stunning – easily the most impressive church we have been into. Here are some of our photos from around Westminster.
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We didn’t book any events at the Olympics, but still got to enjoy a bit of it. We came across the torch relay by chance, just as we came out of Evensong at the abbey. There were no fences and few security guards, so the inevitable surge of people around the parade meant that this was our best photo of the torch!
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We also got to see the men’s road race go by. By ‘see’ we mean ‘glimpse’ - it was near the start of the race, so they came through in a solid lump, taking about 5 seconds!
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Our vantage point was from a balcony overlooking the road in Putney. We had met up with a friend, who took us up to a flat with some other ex-pat Kiwis. As well as flags and face-paint, they had a stereo pumping Poi-E and Scribe out to the street :-) Although we’ve met a few other Kiwis along the way, this was our first time hanging out with a whole bunch – the London OE experience.
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We didn’t have tickets for the Opening Ceremony, but we got to enjoy it with our friends Kate and Joe who we stayed with for part of our time in London. Unable to easily think of Olympic-themed food, we settled for British instead – eating bangers and mash and drinking Pimms. We did manage an Olympic dessert though. The planes came right over us after the stadium flyover.
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We had expected London to be madly busy and crowded for the Olympics. There were certainly lots of people around, but we never had any problems with transport and many attractions were less busy than we had expected. Six days didn’t feel like enough to get to know the city, but we really enjoyed our time here and will definitely visit again someday.
We are a bit behind on our blog at the moment – since London we have been to Oxford, Bath, York, Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands, so look out for some more posts soon.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Alice 2012-08-16T09:39:05Z

Can’t wait to hear about your experience in the Highlands! So great to meet up with you guys! Till later! xxx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Washington DC

Unknown — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:36:22 +0000

After New York we headed south to Washington DC We were immediately hit by the heat – it was almost 40°C while we were there!
With dozens of free museums on offer in DC it was hard deciding what to see in our short time here. We ended up going to the Holocaust Museum, the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. We definitely have to build up our museum and gallery fitness – we often find our energy and legs fading after three hours or so!
The Holocaust Museum was very moving. We got to see a special exhibition on propaganda, hear a holocaust survivor speak and see the permanent memorial exhibition. We already knew a lot about the holocaust – but the exhibit had a whole new emotional impact. For example, one of the rooms contains hundreds of pairs of old leather shoes that belonged to holocaust victims before their deaths at the camps. Chilling.
The Air and Space Museum has an awesome collection of aircraft and spacecraft. It’s a great illustration of the rapid progress of technology since the industrial revolution - it was only 66 years between the first powered flight to landing on the moon! We also saw an early Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. It was strange to see something that looks fairly innocuous but that can drop a nuclear warhead anywhere on the planet.
The Natural History Museum was also fascinating. Our favourite exhibition was on forensic archaeology. The exhibition explained how much historical information can be uncovered by examining human remains – including a population’s nutrition, health, death rate and even what jobs people may have done.
Hmm, on re-reading our post it all sounds a bit morbid! The museums weren’t all about death, promise!
Gina and her family kindly hosted us while we were in D.C. We stayed in Georgetown, a suburb near Gina’s university.
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Gina showed us her campus. We were surprised to find out how different US and NZ universities are. Many US campuses are like self-contained towns – some even have their own police and transportation services. Students typically live on campus longer than in NZ – particularly those in fraternities and sororities, who live together on campus for their whole degree (although Georgetown University doesn’t have any frats or sororities). Also the US drinking age of 21 means students stay on campus for house parties rather than going out. The all-inclusive experience of studying, living, eating and drinking on campus contributes to the very high cost of US education.
</a> Georgetown University
No wonder it’s an American cliché to think of University as the “best days of your life” – the average worker in the US gets just 10 days of annual leave per year! No wonder so few Americans travel internationally – it would take forever to save up enough leave.
One day we went on a walking tour of National Mall to see some of the monuments of DC. We’ve put some photos below – our favourite monuments were the WWII Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.
Unsurprisingly, DC has a different feel to New York. Most of the buildings by the National Mall are huge, fortress-like buildings for various federal government agencies – many taking up a full block. These closed-off buildings sit on large, multi-lane streets, making it quite a dead area to walk around.
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Once you get away from the big government buildings, you find more vibrant areas of the city. One thing that really helped to explore the city was the Bikeshare scheme (which is also in several other cities around the world). You pay a modest daily fee and can then use the Bikeshare bikes for 30 minutes at a time at no extra charge. There are lots of points around the city where you can sign out and return the bikes. It was a really convenient and fun way to explore the city (and a change from busses, subways and walking).
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Of course no trip to DC is complete without a visit to the White House:
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Officers from the “Secret Service Uniformed Division” were standing around outside the fence (not very secretly). Hollywood presents the secret service as made up of tough men who look serious, wear suits and drive dark sedans or SUVs. We were, therefore, somewhat underwhelmed by the young, dopey-looking secret service officer in a polo shirt and shorts, riding a bicycle. We would have taken a photo, except that there was one very serious looking bloke standing on the roof of the White House, looking down at us through some massive binoculars.
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On Friday night Gina’s Dad invited us to a concert that opened the 2012 International AIDS Conference. He works for a sponsor, so we ended up at a VIP function before the show. This really tested our limited travel wardrobe – our best attempt at formal dress included jandals for Sally and zip-off pants for Craig! In this elegant attire we were introduced to our first and only political celebrity: Barbara Bush, daughter of George W Bush. The show was both informative and entertaining with a mix of performances and speeches, including some by Annie Lennox, Herbie Hancock, Joan Osbourne, Bill Gates and Alicia Keys. We were surprised to learn that DC has one of the biggest AIDS problems in the US.
Another night we went out together for dinner. DC has the largest Ethiopian population outside of Ethiopia. This makes it easy to find good Ethiopian cuisine, something neither of us had tried before. All of the orders come out on a huge platter and are served with a kind of savoury pancake made of tef, a grain native to Ethiopia. You tear off a piece of bread and pick up the food from the platter.
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On Saturday Gina took us for a drive through the countryside of Virginia. It was really nice to see a different side to the eastern US. In one small town we found a maple-glazed donut topped with bacon :-) We know a few of you back home will appreciate this.
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You’d need weeks to really explore all of DC’s museums (and by then you’d definitely have museum legs!) We really enjoyed the few that we had time to see. DC also has a lot more to offer than museums. The monuments, National Zoo and trip to the countryside were also great. We’re now saying goodbye to the US. It’s always sad to leave a place we’re enjoying, but it’s also exciting to be going somewhere new, and London’s calling! Talk to you soon from the Motherland :-)
Comments from WordPress</h2>

LeeLee 2012-08-06T02:33:50Z

Hey guys! Loving your DC Post! I bet the Natural History Museum was amazing. The ‘mountain of despair’ sculpture is incredible and the soldier night shots are brilliant! I bet it just wouldn’t have been the same during the day.
I must say it’s a bit of a bummer being at work reading your posts :-( Makes me incredibly envious that you’re off exploring the world. I hope you’re enjoying Scotland - I look forward to your next post. Ka Kite <3 </blockquote> </li>
LeeLee 2012-08-06T02:37:05Z

Did you try the maple glazed donut with bacon? </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-08-15T22:22:16Z

Yeah we tried it! (although we shared one between three). It was pretty tasty :-) </blockquote> </li>
Debs 2012-08-12T06:19:28Z

Hi Craig & Sal,
Finally caught up on reading your posts. What an amazing journey so far… look forward to reading more. Definately understand Museum legs… they will become ‘finding obscure but important cathedral legs’ in Europe soon.
xox </blockquote> </li>
Tam 2012-08-18T20:27:20Z

Mmmmm so much deliciousness!!! </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-09-09T12:38:38Z

Thought you might notice this Tam! We thought of you while eating it :-) </blockquote> </li> </ul>

New York City - Part 3, Lower Manhattan

Unknown — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:45:57 +0000

If Midtown is known for entertainment, then Lower Manhattan is known for business - including, of course, Wall Street. We paid a visit to the Charging Bull, a statue that was dropped off near Wall Street in the middle of the night to represent optimism as the USA recovered from the 1987 stock market crash. It’s rumoured to be good luck financially to go around to the back of the bull and help “stimulate the economy”. [![IMG_2625](01-1.jpg)](01-1.jpg) We took a walking tour to explore Lower Manhattan and learnt about some of the history of the city along the way. New York has been a diverse, multi-cultural city right from the start. Settled first by the Dutch and then by the British, it received thousands of immigrants from around the world. At one point a major part of the city was a third Irish! The Statue of Liberty has become a symbol of early immigration to the USA – “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free” etc. It’s a shame that nowadays many people talk about immigration in a negative way, rather than seeing the cultural and economic benefits it can bring. Here are some of our photos from Lower Manhattan. </div>
While immigration may have been valued to help New York grow, there were some views on the world that would now be considered overtly racist. For example, the customs building in Lower Manhattan has four statues representing the four major trading continents of the time (sorry Australia, you don’t count). Europe is represented as a long established bastion of wealth and power. The Americas are shown to be moving forward, full of promise and ambition. Asia, on the other hand, is shown as advancing only on the back of broken slaves (ironic given the US’s own poor record in the area). Africa is slumped asleep in her chair, moving backwards, and hasn’t even dressed for the occasion. All this walking is hungry work, so we dropped into Five Guys, a well renowned burger chain. Sautéed onions, mushrooms and capsicum made for a fantastic burger. We had learnt early in our time in New York that we could share a meal between us as the portions are so large here. This was no exception, we were well satisfied! Just look at all that grease! [![IMG_2484](01-2.jpg)](01-2.jpg) Rebuilding of the World Trade Centre is underway, with the largest tower well on the way to completion. We went to the 9/11 Memorial that is a part of the new site. It is a solemn and peaceful memorial with two deep fountains on the footprints of the original towers. The names of all those who died in the attack are inscribed around the edges of the fountains. To the north of the financial district are several interesting neighbourhoods with a surprising lack of skyscrapers (due to council zoning). One afternoon we wandered through Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown and Little Italy. One don’t-miss attraction in the area is the High Line, where an old, disused elevated rail track in Chelsea was converted into a park in the sky. It’s been designed really well and offers great elevated views of the surrounding area. Here are some photos of these neighbourhoods and from the High Line: </div>
A lucky coincidence was being in New York for the annual MP3 Experiment, run by Improv Everywhere. Improv Everywhere is a fun organisation which we’ve long enjoyed – they “create scenes” in public places, bringing improv theatre and a bit of lightness to places around New York. If you don’t want to do any work for an afternoon, have a look at the dozens of “missions” on their website: [www.improveverywhere.com](http://www.improveverywhere.com/). The MP3 Experiment is an event where thousands of people put themselves at the mercy of Improv Everywhere. We downloaded an MP3 containing instructions and were given a shopping list: something soft, something hard and flat, a white sheet, water guns, shower caps and musical instruments. We were also told what colours to wear. We then made our way to Governor’s Island (along with thousands of others). Bystanders were very confused about the long line for the ferry! Having synchronised our watches in advance, we pushed play at 3pm and started following the instructions. It was very funny to watch most of the people around us suddenly lie down on the ground, leaving some very confused bystanders! An added challenge for us was trying to share an MP3 player while running, dancing, high-fiving, etc. The event culminated in a massive water fight. It was so much fun to have a water fight with thousands of people, we were grinning until our cheeks were sore :-) [![IMG_2598_crop](01-3.jpg)](01-3.jpg)
Without a doubt New York has been our favourite city so far. It’s vibrancy, beauty, history and excitement makes it a wonderful place to visit. We hope we will be back again someday.</div>
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Gina 2012-08-01T21:30:56Z

I’m loving your write-ups of New York, but one thing I must correct… they’re not suburbs, they’re neighborhoods! Suburbs are outside of the city in the US :P. </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-08-01T21:40:46Z

Corrected. Thanks! DC post coming next :-) </blockquote> </li>
Ken MacIver 2012-08-24T08:21:45Z

Dude, I know just how that bull feels. Most of my days consist almost entirely of young ladies coming up to stroke that exact area of my anatomy for luck. It wears a bit thin after a while, but I tolerate it because I know how important it is to them. </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-09-09T12:37:47Z

Such a hard life, Ken :-D </blockquote> </li> </ul>

New York City, Part 2- Midtown Manhattan

Unknown — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 06:13:30 +0000

When you think New York, you probably think of Midtown Manhattan. Times Square, skyscrapers and yellow cabs. Despite neither of us having been here before, we’ve grown up seeing so many iconic TV shows and movies set in Manhattan that it felt strangely familiar. Almost the first thing we did in New York was meet up with our friend Adam in Times Square. Times Square has a huge impact - you are completely surrounded by giant movie screens playing ads, big crowds and people touting things. Though amazing, by the end of the week we were actively avoiding the square. It’s so busy that it’s even hard to walk along the footpath, especially at night.
</a> Adam and Sally in Times Square
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Times Square is the centre of the theatre district of New York. We managed to see two musicals in our week there. We got discount tickets to Avenue Q – a musical in the style of Sesame St, but definitely not for kids (with full puppet nudity and songs such as “Everyone’s a little bit racist”!) We’ve known of the show for years, and it really lived up to our high expectations.
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On our last day we thought we’d try our luck at a discount ticket lottery for “Newsies”, a new Broadway musical by Disney. In these lotteries, theatres randomly draw names for steeply discounted tickets for that night’s show. Our chances weren’t high given the crowd of around 100 people, but our names were called out third! The show was fantastic, with everything you’d expect from a big Broadway musical – amazing singing, dancing, set and score.
</a> Waiting to collect our tickets after winning the lottery
While New York has a reputation as an expensive city, it’s great just to walk around exploring different neighbourhoods. In fact by the end of the week our legs were aching! The architecture throughout New York is stunning. We were struck by how much thought seemed to have been put into the design of so many buildings – both old and new. One of the most beautiful buildings was the public library building. The main reading room (yes, the one in Ghostbusters) is so inspiring, beautiful and peaceful. It feels almost like a cathedral for readers!
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Here is a gallery of some of our building photos from Midtown Manhattan:
We expected to find Manhattan to be urban overload – noise, traffic and concrete. We were pleasantly surprised to find it less busy and crowded than we thought – many streets were reasonably quiet and relaxed. There is also an abundance of parks and plazas, from small pocket parks (all tidy and well-used) to the huge Central Park.
There was so much going on in these parks – after a while it felt like we didn’t even have to try and we’d come across something awesome to watch or do. One evening in Central Park we came across a free concert by the family of Woody Guthrie. Iconic American music in an iconic New York park!
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We also saw a free lunchtime variety concert in Bryant Park, featuring the casts of several Broadway shows. Hearing “The Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera was a highlight.
We visited the Museum of Modern Art on one of their free Friday evenings. Of course, admission being free meant everyone else was there too! It was easy to find the most famous works in the museum – just look for the mobs of people!
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It’s been a few paragraphs without us talking about food, so here’s an awesome place we found that serves hummus, appropriately named Hummus Place. Thanks Lonely Planet for the hot tip!
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Finally, here’s a cool photo from a time we got stuck in a brief thunderstorm near Times Square:
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In our next post, we get down to business in one of the world’s most important financial centres – Lower Manhattan.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Gary 2012-07-26T09:49:07Z

I am sooo jealous of the Guthrie family concert </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-07-26T19:55:39Z

Hummmina hummmina humminaa…. hummus…. inarticulate drool sounds </blockquote> </li> </ul>

New York City, Part 1 - Brooklyn

Unknown — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:32:12 +0000

Some cities grow on you over time, while others you fall in love with instantly. New York City charmed us as soon as we arrived. It’s overwhelming how much there is to do in New York and we packed our seven days here to the brim. While we did our best to explore a variety of the city’s places and sights, we could easily have spent much more time here. It was hard to decide how to write about such a full-on week. To keep our posts from being too long, we’ve split up our time in New York into three parts – on Brooklyn, Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan. This post is about our time in Brooklyn.
</a>We stayed in Brooklyn throughout our time in New York. Brooklyn is the most populous borough of the city, with 2.5 million people. The borough is very culturally diverse, with only around a third of the population being “non-Hispanic whites” – there are large numbers of African American, Hispanic and Asian people. Many of the signs are even bilingual (Spanish and English). A significant Jewish Orthodox community and Russian community are also here in Brooklyn.
For the first half of our visit, we stayed with the cousin of a good friend in a beautiful suburb near Prospect Park (thanks Claire and Alice). In a stroke of good luck, we arrived the day before the annual free concert in the park by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The night ended with a fireworks display.
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Brooklyn has some beautiful old neighbourhoods. We loved walking around Brooklyn Heights, one of the priciest suburbs in New York, where a townhouse will set you back at least a couple of million US dollars. Many of the houses are “Brownstones” – large, stately rowhouses built in the mid-late 19^{th century.}
In stark contrast to Brooklyn Heights, we went to Coney Island on the coast of Brooklyn. It had all the faded tackiness that we expected!
For the last half of our trip we stayed in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The area we were staying in had a quirky feel - it’s an old industrial district that is being gradually taken over by artists and hipsters. It was interesting to be somewhere a bit grungier, having seen mostly upscale Brooklyn suburbs. One nearby street had heaps of cool cafes and bars where we found this incredible dessert:
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[![IMG_2729](23-3.jpg)](23-3.jpg)</div>
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Our best friend in New York was our 7-day unlimited farecard for the New York Subway. The subway system is extensive, (reasonably) easy to use and cheap – easily the best public transport we’ve come across so far. The subway allowed us to explore many different areas of the city and let us fit a lot into a day. There is a lot of busking and begging on the subway. In one day we were twice treated to a “dance show” where some young men performed an athletic hip-hop routine using the handrails of the subway car.</div>
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[![IMG_2582](23-4.jpg)](23-4.jpg)</div>
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[![IMG_2578](23-5.jpg)](23-5.jpg) On a couple of occasions we shared a station with some unwelcome residents! New Yorkers are stereotyped to have a bit of an attitude – brash, rude and a bit in-your-face. By and large we found this not to be true – people were as helpful and courteous as in any other large city. We did have one entertaining encounter though – having got onto a subway platform just as a train arrived, Craig asked someone “Excuse me, is this a local or express service?” and got the response “Get outta my face and read the damn signs!” In our next post, we’ll talk about Midtown Manhattan – the entertainment district and home of Broadway.</div>
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2012-07-23T23:27:56Z

Now I looove the look of that dessert!! Lxx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Eating Lima

Unknown — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 14:05:52 +0000

We read some advice to, when travelling, think about what you want to do in a place, rather than what you want to see. The reason being that there’s an unlimited (and exhausting) number of things to see, but the things you do define your experience. For Lima, what we decided to do was eat!
As well as Lima being known for its good food, we had also built up a substantial list of things we wanted to try before leaving Peru. Ceviche, a dish of marinated raw fish, was high on the list and said to be particularly good in coastal Lima. We had a cevicheria recommended to us, and we weren’t disappointed! We were starving when we arrived, but soon realised we could have shared a plate as they were massive.
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We aren’t used to eating such a large quantity of raw fish but the meals were delicious. We had a traditional ceviche with a strong zesty taste, and another ceviche which was covered in a spicy pepper sauce. Yum! We washed it down with a jug of chicha, a sweet spicy drink made of purple maize (also delicious).
We were unsure if we’d be able to get through our list, but luckily we stumbled upon a food fair in downtown Lima the next day. A long row of chefs served up traditional Peruvian cuisine. We tried:

papa rellena – a fried ball of mashed potato stuffed with mince</li>
rocoto rellena – capsicum stuffed with meat, raisins, rice and olives</li>
piqueo criollo – a variety of Peruvian stews</li>
causa – a creamy potato cake with avocado, mayonnaise and chicken (one of our favourites)</li>
mazamorra morada – a syrupy purple maize dessert with fruit and cinnamon</li>
mazamorra del calabaza – a pumpkin pudding</li>
arroz zambito – a rice pudding</li>
picarones – Peruvian donuts.</li> </ul>
All up, this cost about NZ$5 each!
After our excessive lunch we rolled down the road to the Convent of Santa Domingo. It was a beautiful and peaceful space.
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On the way home we visited the Fantasy Fountains, an impressive series of fountains.
Most of our time in Lima was spent in the ‘fancy’ suburb of Miraflores. In the evenings we wandered through Parque Kennedy, which was always bustling with people. We wandered over to a crowd, thinking a comedian was performing. It actually turned out to be a bunch of mostly older people dancing with a big audience of people watching. As a song ended an old Peruvian man asked Sal for a dance. Luckily the steps were pretty simple!
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In other cities there have been lots of stray dogs around. But in Parque Kennedy there were dozens of cats roaming round instead. Apparently a woman brings them food every day and takes care of them. It was quite strange seeing so many cats wandering around.
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With only a few soles (the Peruvian currency) left, we asked how to get to the airport by bus rather than taxi. It turns out that ‘bus’ was an optimistic term for a rundown Toyota minivan, known as a micro.
We spent a decent amount of time being rejected by the drivers because our packs were too big for the cramped vans. Just as we were about to give up a van let us pile in. The drive was certainly an adventure! Lonely Planet says this about micros: “be aware that safety is not a high priority for micro drivers. The only place for a passenger to safely buckle up is the front seat, but in the case of a head on collision (not an unusual occurrence), that is the last place you’d want to be.”
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Micros are fitted out with a loud siren which they chirp constantly to alert pedestrians, to warn other drivers of impending collisions and to express road rage (all of which happen frequently). At one point our driver got annoyed at another micro driver while merging lanes, so rather than give him the fingers, our driver simply rammed into the side of the other van! We were swerving in and out of the traffic for the whole hour long drive, narrowly missing other vehicles.
As one passenger left from the front seat, the door refused to close. The ticket collector (who spent most of his time hanging out the window yelling stops out to prospective passengers) then tried to slam and twist the door back into place. You could see the dashboard flexing as he pushed on the door. The driver didn’t stop for the “repairs” but continued hurtling down the road as the ticket collector hung out the window holding the door temporarily in place. Luckily we arrived at the airport in one piece. This chaotic ride felt like an appropriate way to end our time in South America.
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We are sad to say goodbye to Peru and South America. It’s been particularly nice spending a decent amount of time in Peru - in the two weeks we’ve had here we’ve been able to see some different sides of the country. We’re also now feeling much more confident as travellers, picking up a bit more of the language (or at least being less scared to have a go!) and being OK with the frequent feelings of uncertainty. One more sleep until New York City :-)
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Daniel Phillips</a> 2012-07-12T02:50:52Z

Great post Craig & Sal. The pics, colors, people and food look amazing. The micro transport adventure sounded like you were really mixing it up with the locals :-) </blockquote> </li>
Beth Braddock 2012-07-12T03:01:06Z

How universal is a cup of tea! Loved the fountain! </blockquote> </li>
Tamsin 2012-07-14T07:42:57Z

That feeling of being lost/uncertainty was one of the things I liked most about travelling - I couldn’t ‘get lost’ as I already was :)
also, that food looks totally delicious. </blockquote> </li>
Leanne 2012-07-15T06:15:07Z

Wow, looks incredible. I really love the fountain photos that tea-cup one is friggen awesome. The photo of Sal dancing with the old guy is just priceless - it was his lucky day :-) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-07-16T21:50:49Z

Yeah, that old man def got lucky! :) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-07-16T21:49:06Z

The food looks/sounds incredible! That sounds like a great approach to travelling, picking the focus and especially if the place is known for good food. I have gone with this at any opportunity in Italy of course! Also, it’s amazing how quickly you do adapt to travelling and starting to accept the unpredictability and taking things as they come, going with gut instincts. I always do have a case of nerves when I travel but I think most of that is excitement! :) Looking forward to hearing about NYC. I have got to go there! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Huacachina - The desert oasis

Unknown — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 19:35:44 +0000

Huacachina lies just five minutes’ drive from Ica. It’s a universally touristy town, with one real draw – going on dune buggy trips and sandboarding down the giant dunes. We stayed a night here as a stopover between Arequipa and Lima.
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We went out on our dune tour at 4pm, to avoid the heat and see the sunset over the dunes. The landscape is impressive, it’s what you’d expect the Sahara to look like.
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While we had fun, Huacachina didn’t quite meet our expectations. The town just feels too touristy and quite run down. We read later in Lonely Planet that the oasis used to be a glamorous spot for the rich and famous, but it has decayed over recent decades. It’s also sad how much rubbish is left lying around, including on the dunes. Our tour was fun, but we would have liked longer to get the hang of sandboarding and the dune buggy ride was not as much of an adrenalin rush as we expected.
It’s not that our time here wasn’t enjoyable, just in hindsight it didn’t merit a special stop here. We’re now on a bus to Lima, our final South American destination. We’re not sure what we’ll find – travellers give Lima very mixed reviews. Just a couple of days there before we board our flight to the big apple – New York.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Daniel Phillips</a> 2012-07-09T20:40:40Z

You didn’t “do it” on the sand dunes then? Sandy much…. :) </blockquote> </li>
Beth Braddock 2012-07-12T02:55:33Z

Hey Craig, you could try the sand dunes in the Hokianga when you return. Not quite so many dunes but beautiful surroundings.
Rubbish… this is the bane of the modern world. It spoils everywhere! The sooner we use reusable bags, and fill mugs & bottles from the giant Coke or water or whatever fountain the better. Are you seeing plastic water bottles everywhere? </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

Unknown — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 15:39:48 +0000

We successfully went on an independent trek in the Colca Canyon, despite reading and hearing a lot about how you need a guide. It was easy to get out to Cabanaconde (where the canyon treks begin) on a local bus. As we passed Chivay (the largest town in the area) the road turned to dirt and started winding along the canyon edge. Sometimes we couldn’t see the edge of the road from our seats, just the bottom of the canyon! The bus seems to be the main form of transport for the locals – they were even loading crops and goods into the bus luggage compartment. A bunch of Peruvian cowboys jumped on, complete with cowboy hats! We really were in rural Peru.
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Many of the women still wear traditional dress, both in the cities and rural areas, unlike in the other countries we have visited so far. Peruvian dresses look amazing, with bright colours and patterns. They seem to be very warm for the climate, with heavy fabrics and several layers. Instead of backpacks, Peruvian women carry belongings, goods and even young children (not together!) in bright fabric slings. It’s amazing how effectively they can use these simple squares of fabric.
Cabanaconde is tiny, less than five minutes’ walk from end to end. It’s a farming town, not a tourist town, with just a handful of hostels. We stayed at Pachamama, a cool hostel with helpful staff who gave us maps and guidance.
</a> The main street of Cabanaconde
We set off from Cabanaconde the next morning and walked down into the canyon. It felt like we were the only gringos on the trail, which was nice. The only people we encountered were locals from villages in the canyon, heading up the trail with mules in tow. We walked through a few small villages on the way to San Galle, also known as the Oasis.
The only tricky thing about hiking here is a lack of track signage. Apparently whenever the idea to improve signage is raised, tour guides convince the mayor not to, in the interests of propping up the guides’ businesses. We did end up taking one “scenic route” (mostly because of our lack of Spanish) which required backtracking about half an hour. This meant we miscalculated our water needs. Although we were far from being in an unsafe position, we ended up being the cartoon stereotype – wanderers in the desert, craving water, in search of an oasis :-)
Our hostel in San Galle was a bit like a (basic) resort, with a swimming pool and volleyball court. Not bad for NZ$10 per person, per night (including breakfast!) Although at most resorts they don’t run out of water at 8pm or have a mouse gnaw through your bag to get to a chocolate wrapper!
Being at the bottom of the canyon, the sun went down at 3pm. We spent the afternoon playing volleyball with some of the staff and some other travellers. Although we had been alone for most of the day, the hostel was full of tour groups by evening. We were glad of our decision to trek independently once we talked to some of the people on the tours. The tours seemed to have very little trekking time, yet they had to get up in the early hours each morning to allow for their bus rides and some tourist stops. Also, we walked in one and a half days what some tours take three days to do – and our days weren’t that challenging. Of course we can’t comment on what value the guides add to a Colca Canyon trip.
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We set off at 7am the next morning to avoid the desert heat. It took us 2.5 hours to climb up the steep canyon wall. The path turns rapidly from canyon to fields, and then right into the main square of Cabanaconde.
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Our bus back to Arequipa was considerably less pleasant than the one we arrived on. A while into the five hour journey, a man walked onto the bus wearing an official-looking ID badge and carrying a suitcase. He stationed himself in the aisle right beside our seats and then started shouting down the bus in Spanish. At first we thought he was an evangelist. At one point a local (we assume) asked him to stop, but the man talked him down and continued. We gradually worked out that he was a snake-oil salesperson, scaring the passengers into buying bee pollen powder that you hold in your hands to prevent arthritis. Although we couldn’t understand him, the hard sales tactics were clear (scary pictures, pressuring people into paying, not taking back his distributed “samples” without payment). Sadly, the majority of people bought his expensive “cure”. The shouting lasted for an incredible hour and a half. Sally refused to let Craig have the phrasebook so he could try out some interesting new phrases! We later found out that this is common - time to start taking ear plugs on day busses!
We enjoyed relaxing for our next couple of days in Arequipa. We were in need of a rest, so we just spent the time catching up on little jobs and wandering around the downtown area. The hostel (Sol de Oro) was a great chill-out spot, with a large sunny terrace, a delicious breakfast and even an enclosed Astroturf!
Sadly we don’t have much longer in Peru. We will spend just a day in Huacachina (a desert oasis) to go sandboarding and dune buggying, followed by a couple of days in Lima. Thanks for all your comments, we’ve enjoyed reading them :-)
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2012-07-08T20:52:21Z
Glad you found the oasis and water supply :) Oh and a patch of astroturf for the frisbee…Lucky. xox </blockquote> </li>
Arequipa & The Colca Canyon: On A Budget | Like A Backpacker</a> 2013-09-22T22:46:29Z

[…] forget to check out resources like Wikitravel, and Google other blog pages like this one for planning inspiration, there are plenty of other travellers out there with great advice to […] </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Machu Picchu - Lost city of the Incas

Unknown — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:00:53 +0000

No trip to Cusco is complete without a visit to Machu Picchu. We wanted to do a trek to the ruins (rather than just catch the train) and decided on the Inka Jungle Trail offered by Lorenzo Expeditions</a>. The jungle trail is a multisport (biking and hiking) alternative to the famous “Inca Trail”, which has become expensive due to a cap on visitor numbers.
The tour lasted four days, consisting of a day of downhill mountain biking, two days of trekking and then a day at Machu Picchu. There were also optional activities of whitewater rafting and ziplining (which we didn’t do this time for the sake of our budget). The tour was not really what we expected, but we thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. Mostly it was much cruisier than we anticipated. For starters, “mountain biking” meant rolling down a road on bikes geared too low to reach a decent speed (although you wouldn’t think so based on the extensive safety gear). We did descend from 4350m to 1400m in a few hours which was pretty cool.
We probably walked for about three hours on the “eight hour” trekking day – the rest of the time was informative talks, lunch and even siesta time in hammocks after lunch! There was some amazing scenery and part of the trek was on an original Incan trail.
The Incans had an interesting communication network made up of formed trails and foot messengers. Spaced 15-20km apart, these messengers would run along the trails to relay messages. This meant that, day and night, messages could travel throughout the Incan empire at running pace – an impressive achievement for the time. One Incan king was known to have the messengers run fresh fish up to him from the coast to the mountains of Cusco.
The catering on the tour was one of the highlights. We expected typical camp food, but got four course meals for both lunch and dinner each day! We got to try several traditional Peruvian dishes throughout the tour, all delicious. There was a power cut at one town we stayed in, so we had a romantic candlelit dinner for 12 :-D
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The makeup of the tour was unusual in that New Zealanders were the most common nationality. In an amazing coincidence, they were all Wellingtonians and Sally knew all of them!! Sadly we reinforced the misconception that NZ is a small tropical island where everyone knows each other (“You’re from New Zealand? Do you know Steve?”)
We got up at 4am on the final day of the tour to walk up to Machu Picchu before sunrise (along with hundreds of others). When we first set eyes on the city we were blown away by its beauty, scale and setting.
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The Incans were very religious/superstitious people. It’s believed that the site for Machu Picchu was selected (a difficult building site to put it mildly) because of the three mountains surrounding the site (a significant number for the Incans) and a river that follows the path of the Milky Way. We were surprised to find that only around 1000 people lived there. The Incans did not mine for building materials, but built with the existing stone on the site. They only broke rocks which had existing cracks, using wet wooden dowels placed in the crack to break the rock.
There were several temples – the most interesting for us was the Temple of the Condor. The Incans believed that when a person died that a condor took their spirit up to the “upper world” while their body went to the underworld. The temple was shaped as a condor, looking down the mountainside to the east (to take the spirits into the rising sun). There were several alcoves on the condor’s “back” where the mummified bodies were placed for a day or so, to allow the spirits to depart. Incans were a strongly class-based society – there were special alcoves under the condor’s wing for the upper classes, as this was believed to be the warmest, most protected place.
</a> Temple of the Condor
Machu Picchu was occupied for less than 200 years. The Incans abandoned the city towards the end of the Spanish conquest, pulling almost everyone out of the city and back to the last Incan capital, Vilcabamba. This was in order to concentrate warrior numbers in the capital and also to keep the sacred city a secret from the Spanish. A secret it remained – missed by the Spanish, it was discovered by a handful of locals and then by a British explorer in 1911, who revealed Machu Picchu to the world.
As an optional extra, we climbed Montana Machu Picchu, one of the three mountains overlooking the city. This was a further 500 metres higher than Machu Picchu itself. It was a hard climb up in the heat, about 80 minutes of steep stone stairs. The views from the top of the mountain were stunning, and it’s always an amazing feeling to stand on a mountain summit.
The train back was amusing, the staff had to put on an awfully touristy show – first a traditional depiction of the devil paraded up and down the carriage and then the staff had to walk the catwalk in alpaca clothing that was then sold off to the passengers (at inflated prices, no doubt).
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If you want an interesting, varied and relaxed expedition to Machu Picchu (and want to be well fed) we can recommend the Inka Jungle Trail by Lorenzo Expeditions. For something more strenuous, it sounds like the Inca Trail or Salkantay Trek are the way to go.
We’re now sitting in the bus terminal in Arequipa after an overnight bus, bound for the Colca Canyon. We are going to be trekking independently rather than taking a tour, starting with a five hour journey on a local bus. We’ll let you know how it all goes in our next post.
To read about our time in Cusco, click here</a>.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2012-07-05T01:06:49Z

Great pics again! We got your email too. What a hoot seeing Karl, Megan, and Elise! That sort of coincidence will happen again before your trip is finished, too. Enjoy your remaining time in South America. XX. </blockquote> </li>
Lesley 2012-07-06T20:59:12Z
Hola. Cusco and Machu Picchu look amazing. I’m having to think about going to South America after your wonderful photos. And I am green with envy about your next stop - New York!! xox </blockquote> </li>
Frederieka 2012-07-10T05:55:07Z
Craig we once had a conversation in which you said you would not wear a skirt. But you look like a South-American superhero! Please wear that all the time. </blockquote> </li>
Thomas Davey</a> 2012-07-23T09:35:12Z

Think that is now on my bucket list….. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Cusco - Centre of the Incan Empire

Unknown — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 22:29:21 +0000

Cusco (also Cuzco or Qosqo) was the centre of the universe according to the Quechuan (Incan) people and served as their capital for hundreds of years. We’ve spent the last eight days in and around Cusco, including a visit to the famous lost city of the Incas’: Machu Picchu.
Cusco is situated high in the Andes, at 3400m above sea level, almost as high as the summit of Mt Cook! We flew straight into Cusco from sea level but didn’t suffer from the altitude, although walking up hills felt unusually hard. The worst effect of the altitude was the cold – Cusco is freezing at night. But during the day it’s nice and warm in the sun.
Despite being very touristy (“Hola amigo! Massage?”… “Watercolour Senor?”… “Special Tour Machu Picchu?”) Cusco has a really nice feel to it. Most of the streets in the historic centre are small - barely wide enough for a single car lane. This keeps the vehicle traffic slow and made it easy for walking around and exploring. Spanish colonial architecture sits on top of original Incan foundations.
Peru is the first place we’ve visited that’s been significantly cheaper than New Zealand. We’ve enjoyed being able to go out for a three course lunch for NZ$3.50. A taxi around the city cost about NZ$3. Craig also risked getting a haircut for NZ$3 from a barber who didn’t speak English! A good result, thankfully. The food was especially cheap at the local market, though we couldn’t bring ourselves to try this local specialty – Cuy, or guinea pig:
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The market would not have been appealing for vegetarians – there were whole beasts lying out in questionable sanitary conditions. There was even a whole aisle for ‘innards’. Mmm, yummy…
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By chance we arrived in Cusco for Inti Raymi, an annual festival that lasts for nine days. We were there for the culmination of the festival – a day long parade and re-enactment of the ancient Incan ceremony for the sun god.
Cusco has been our favourite small city and it’s been nice having a decent amount of time here. The day after Inti Raymi we set off for a trek to Machu Picchu. We’ll talk about this trip in our next post.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Machu Picchu – Lost city of the Incas | Craig and Sal Go Global</a> 2012-07-04T23:05:01Z

[…] read about our time in Cusco, click here. […] </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-07-04T23:23:14Z

Cuzco does look really cool - unlike any place I’ve seen before. Random question: Is the flag of Cuzco the same as the Gay Pride flag? I saw that rainbow flag hanging out in a few of the pics. Good to know about the festival - I’ll have to try and make it there at the same time. So enthused to go to South America after you guys! Take care ragazzi! xxx </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-07-08T15:46:42Z

Hey Alice,
The rainbow flag represents the Incas - it was all over Cusco for the Inti Raymi festival. When we returned from Machu Picchu, workers were replacing them with the Peruvian flag.
xx </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Rio de Janeiro

Unknown — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:33:29 +0000

Rio is a truly stunning place and has been our favourite city yet. It has a great energy to it and the scenery is amazing with the mountains, beaches and city all intertwined. Here are some photos from Sugarloaf:
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</a> Head up Sugarloaf an hour before sunset for incredible views
By chance we ended up in town at the same time as the “Rio+20” conference – a UN conference on the environment that bought thousands of people to the city. Unfortunately for us, this meant accommodation prices went through the roof – we ended up in a dorm for the first time and still paid 80 Brazilian Real (NZ$50) each per night.
A side benefit of the conference was the huge number of cops and army around in town. Though we had read countless horror stories about tourist safety in Brazil (and particularly Rio) we felt safe here.
</a> This was a common scene throughout the city
It doesn’t show that well in this photo, but this cop had clearly seen too many action movies – he was carrying his normal sidearm, a revolver on the other side and a cigarette in one hand! They don’t like you taking photos – but we worked out a sneaky way: Sal was pretending to pose for a photo in the foreground!
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The conference changed the vibe a bit – our Copacabana hostel was mostly full of delegates and in the evenings the place felt like an internet café. Breakfasts were more social, though with more suits and formalwear than the usual hostel. Hilariously, every second person attending seemed to be making a documentary on the conference!
Although warm by NZ standards, it was a cloudy week, so the beach wasn’t as pumping as we’d expected. It was still nice though and it would be awesome in hotter weather. We did manage a quick swim. One good thing about a quiet beach: lots of room for Frisbee!
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We split our time in Rio between Copacabana and a nice hill suburb called Santa Teresa. We’re glad we did – we were worried about staying in a full 10-bed dorm, but it was the nicest hostel we’ve been in so far. This was the view from the balcony:
</a> View over Lapa (Lapa Cathedral, mentioned later, is lit up to the left)
We were just a few minutes from the Lapa steps, a famous art work</a> made of tiles collected from around the world. We managed to find the cool Tiki near the bottom.
There is also a funny cathedral in Lapa: from the outside it looks like the lair of an evil henchman. But inside was a huge open space with giant stained glass windows and with hymn reverberating around the dome. A big contrast from the outside, we ended up sitting for quite a while in the serene space.
Our last night in Brazil was an enforced all-nighter, since our flight left at 5am and we didn’t want to pay for accommodation. We ended up going out with some people from the hostel to a venue for Forró dancing</a> – one of the most popular dance styles in Brazil.
The night involved a few Capirinhas – a delicious cocktail made of cachaça (a cheap liquor made from sugarcane), lime and lots of sugar. Tasty! We also had a hilarious quasi-English conversation with some locals over some meat-on-a-stick from a street vendor. Good times :-)
We were pretty exhausted by the time we reached Cusco (with flight delays, long queues and ticketing errors testing our patience so early in the morning). After only just making our connecting flight we left Brazil behind and began our time in Peru.
P.S.: We went on a Favela tour while we were in Rio, which you can read about here</a>.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley 2012-06-25T22:00:25Z

Love the photos Craig. Looks spectacular. I wondered if you would be affected by the “Rio+20” conference. A Kiwi student won the opportunity to speak at the opening. xox </blockquote> </li>
Beth Braddock 2012-06-25T23:34:30Z

Love the Lapa steps: looking forward to doing my own Plimmy steps: would love that amount of yellow tile to use. Cocktails sound good too… </blockquote> </li>
Richard Harker 2012-06-26T09:38:10Z

Great stories and photos - you’re obviously having an amazing time :) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-06-26T19:36:13Z

I’m thinking I would dig Rio, from your pics it looks like “A whoooole new wooooorld!” . Loved the comment on the Cathedral looking like a lair of evil henchmen, recalling Dr. Evil’s misc henchmen on that one. Love the colours South America seems to really dig it (reflecting on La Boca in Buenos Aires and images of the slums - one with an intersection and colourful houses) must check it all out! See you soon(ish) in Scotland!! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

The favela communities of Rio de Janeiro

Unknown — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:17:54 +0000

Driving up the hill on a windy road, we passed an idle police car by the side of the road. We had reached Rocinha. Just by passing through the intersection, we went from a neighbourhood with a standard-of-living equivalent to Canada to one equivalent to Ghana.
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We were on a favela tour in Rio de Janeiro, which took us to visit two of the city’s favelas. Most people associate favelas with crime, drugs and poverty alone. However, our guide Patricia emphasised the sense of community that permeates the favelas – a necessity when so many people are living together in such close proximity.
There is debate around the ethics of “slum tourism”. Critics see tours like the one we took as exploitative, voyeuristic and self-serving. Proponents believe they can break down stereotypes and provide income to the community. While ideally we would have visited favela communities in a more genuine way, this isn’t necessarily safe (particularly with our lack of local knowledge and Portuguese language). On balance we felt that it was better to see the communities for ourselves in a tour than ignore them. There were times on the tour we did feel uncomfortable about being “slum tourists”. However, we felt the tour was conducted sensitively, emphasising the positive aspects of the communities (sometimes even a bit too much). We also made a small economic contribution to the communities by buying things from local vendors and because 40% of the tour fee is donated to a local school.
Favela communities began as settlements of freed African slaves. The communities grew rapidly in the 1970s, as the rural poor of Brazil moved to the cities in search of a better life. Unable to afford legitimate land ownership, the migrants cleared vacant or forested land in the cities and erected their own dwellings. In most cities the favelas develop at the fringes of the city. The favelas in Rio de Janeiro are unusual because they are interspersed throughout the city. This is because of Rio’s hilly topography which leaves pockets of undeveloped land. There are over 1000 favela communities in Rio, making up around 20% of the city’s population.
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Patricia told us about how there is a strong work ethic in Rio de Janeiro. For a large city with a sizable poor community, there is not much begging. Instead, everyone is expected to find a job – even if just washing car windows or collecting aluminium cans for recycling. We noticed here a lot more low-skilled jobs that you wouldn’t see in New Zealand (such as lift operators, bathroom attendants and couriers using large hand-drawn carts for deliveries). The working-class of Rio de Janeiro often live in favela communities, coming down to the “asphalt city” to work.
Many of the city’s construction workers live in favela communities. This is important to the development of the communities – as residents do not hold title to the land they either build their own homes or have the help of a skilled neighbour. Patricia explained how the houses are designed stronger than necessary so that the owners can then sell the space on their roof for another house to be built upon. Most of the houses we saw had three or four stories – each belonging to a different family. It is usual to have children young and to have large families, so there are often households of 7-8 people in a house the size of a studio apartment.
We saw two favelas on our tour. Rocinha (pronounced hoe-seen-ya) is the largest favela community in Brazil. It has around 70,000 residents according to the census, but is widely thought to house several times this number. Vila Canoes is a much smaller community, with around 2500 residents.
The main street of Rocinha is an old Formula One racing track – barely two lanes wide and yet it teems with trucks, motorcycles and busses (there are four bus lines through Rocinha). After a stop at a small market of local artists we are shown through a garage to a terrace with a great view over the community.
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Our guide explained the construction of red brick. The solid masonry means that the government cannot easily tear the houses down. The similarity of houses makes it hard for the police to distinguish between them, therefore effectively hiding criminals. The relationship between the communities and the government/police is complex and changing. Several times throughout the 20^{th century the Brazilian Government has evicted residents from favelas and forcibly relocated them. The police here, though improving, have a legacy of corruption and brutality.}
Since 2008, the Brazilian Government began a program of favela “pacification”. This is where a combined military and police force enters a favela and takes it over from the reigning drug lord (sometimes in a firefight).
</a> Police occupy Complexo do Alemão. Photo by Agência Brasil (via Wikimedia Commons)
Once the drug lords are arrested, dead or expelled, a community policing unit is put in place to try to sustain the government’s control of the area. We had a simplistic view that government control would surely be an improvement on living under the rule of drug lords. But the reality is more complicated. For one, civil officials follow shortly after the police, disconnecting the residents’ illegal cable TV. Wiring in the communities is intentionally tangled and confusing to make it hard for the government to disconnect.
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The drug lords, while violent, often provide protection and support to the community (in exchange for their loyalty). We heard that there is little crime within a community controlled by a drug lord, as they do not allow it, issuing severe physical punishments for those who disobey. Given the residents’ distrust of police, it is easy to see how some feel less safe under the new regime. However, pacified communities do see improved public services (such as rubbish collection) and can have their children grow up without seeing gun-toting criminals running their community.
Rocinha has only recently been pacified, in November 2011. The special policing unit will now stay in Rocinha for 25 years, or perhaps longer. We walked along the main commercial street. We were surprised to find that it felt safe, vibrant and welcoming. In fact, we felt more comfortable here than we have in many other places we have visited so far. Traffic moved slowly around the many pedestrians and shops and vendors lined the street. It felt reminiscent of a market street in Asia.
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</a> Another thing that struck us was the quality of the food on sale. The fruit looked much better than what we have found in a typical Chilean, Argentinian or Brazilian supermarket. Among the stores were a greengrocer, a fishmonger and a butcher. According to Patricia, residents here are very fussy about the quality of their food – for them a good life means having good food, good sex and a plasma TV to watch the football!
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</a> Some of the food was extra fresh!
Patricia explained that they could still not be sure of our safety in the smaller streets and alleys of Rocinha, so we drove to Vila Canoas. As well as being small, Vila Canoas is situated in a valley. This means it is not suitable for a fortress, as the police could fire down from the valley walls, so it has never been a site for drug manufacture and trafficking.
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We took a walk through Vila Canoas and were able to get closer to people’s homes. Up close, the quality of life issues become more apparent. The houses and alleys feel cold, damp and cramped. They are built together so tightly that light hardly reaches the ground in places. In most alleys we had to walk in single file, and the access to some homes looked treacherous.
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These living conditions mean that tuberculosis is a major health issue in the communities and we saw a number of health clinics offering vaccines. While most residents have power and water to their homes, fewer have access to good sanitation – another cause of infectious disease.
We are very aware that we had just a small glimpse into life in favela communities. We of course do not claim to know what life is like for the residents. We also know that the two communities we visited are relatively safe and well-developed. Each community will be different and we really enjoyed the opportunity to see these two, even if just for a short while. We came away with a deeper understanding of favela communities – as places where real people live their lives.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry 2012-06-23T00:46:17Z
A great set of photos and commentary … I enjoyed reading it. Yes, you do have to wonder about the “slum tourism” thing, don’t you, and how the residents of these areas feel about busloads of tourists coming through and observing their lives?
So, you’re zipping back across the continent to Peru - today? It’s hard to believe you’ve been away less than month considering the amount of ground you’ve covered and the experiences you’ve packed in so far!
Good travels! </blockquote> </li>
Rio de Janeiro | Craig and Sal Go Global</a> 2012-06-25T01:33:36Z

[…] P.S.: We went on a Favela tour while we were in Rio, which you can read about here. […] </blockquote> </li>
Beth Braddock 2012-06-25T23:25:11Z

Yes, one struggles to know whether providing legitimate income at the expense of people’s privacy is conscionable! Still, the dilemmas of travelling, like this, are often what stay with you later! A great account Craig & Sal: and thanks for mosaic photos – keep them up, for me!
Go well Beth </blockquote> </li>
Gary 2012-07-03T09:00:23Z

great post Craig </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Sao Paulo

Unknown — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 01:34:54 +0000

Sao Paulo is huge. 5^{th largest metropolis in the world huge. On our first day we went to a viewing platform on the 41^{st floor of a building downtown. We expected the city to stretch out to the horizon, but the way our whole vision was filled up with high-rise buildings was incredible.}}
</a> Sao Paulo
Rodrigo was our CouchSurfing host in Sao Paulo. He is an illustrator and designer – all around a very creative guy. You can see some of his creations at his blog: hecho na china</a>. His apartment was full of cool art pieces and interesting designs. Rodrigo created this hole in the wall with a sledgehammer when he wanted to open up his apartment. We also shared the apartment with Madeniusa, Rodrigo’s super-friendly cat.
</a> Rodrigo’s apartment
</a> Rodrigo and Craig in Parque Ibirapuera
A real highlight was joining some of Rodrigo’s friends for a traditional Sunday lunch. They cooked Moqueca de Peixe, a fish stew from Bahia (a state in Northern Brazil). Moqueca is cooked slowly in a large pan made from black clay. The meal was delicious and it was really lovely to be able to join them for the afternoon.
</a> Moqueca de Peixe
We’ve just arrived in Rio de Janeiro this afternoon. We’ll be here for the next four days and then we leave Brazil for Peru. We can’t wait to explore Rio, it’s been an amazing city so far.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley Moffat 2012-06-19T03:02:07Z

Is that the ubiquitous frisbee I spotted? Haha. What great experiences you have had with your couchsurfing hosts. xox </blockquote> </li>
Carmel Haggerty 2012-06-19T07:00:36Z

Hi Craig and Sal Looks like you are really packing it in. The pictures are amazing. Hope you are enjoying yourselves and making the most of everything. I look forward to watching this space. Carmel </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Iguazu Falls - Argentina & Brazil

Unknown — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:24:44 +0000

Iguaҫu/Iguazu Falls is the second largest waterfall in the world. The falls are on the border of three countries – Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
We had heard that it was good to see the falls from both the Brazillian and Argentinian sides. We’re really glad we took two days here so we could do this. Seeing the falls has definitely been a highlight of the trip for us both – we were blown away by their scale, energy and beauty. It’s also been nice having a breather from huge cities and being surrounded by trees and water rather than concrete.
We started with the Argentinian side. The park is set up with a series of walking tracks, viewing platforms and a miniature railway. We liked the drama of the Argentinian side – the path we took granted just glimpses of the falls at first and gradually built up to grand panoramic views. We spent the whole day here, as there were plenty of different tracks.
We stayed in Puerto Iguazu in Argentina that night. It’s a nice little tourist town with plenty of hostels within a few minutes’ walk of the bus terminal. We crossed into Brazil on a local bus (a pretty casual border crossing) and were soon at the entrance to the Brazilian side of the falls.
The Brazilian side was more “developed”– a double-decker bus takes you almost right up to the falls. There were fewer perspectives on the falls, with just one short walking track, however, the view on this side was unmissable. You really feel the power of the falls here, getting right up to the Devils’ Throat, the highest and largest section of the falls.
You might have assumed we’ve been enjoying the heat in South America, but we arrived in Chile and Argentina just in time for a big cold snap (and it is winter, after all). Now that we’re further north, it’s starting to get hot. Tonight we’re heading further north still to Sao Paulo, Brazil . We are CouchSurfing again and will have three days there. As if getting by on 40 words of Spanish wasn’t bad enough, we’re now facing 10 days in Brazil with no Portuguese at all!
Thanks for all your comments so far, we’ve really enjoyed hearing from you all :-)
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Leanne 2012-06-15T20:38:22Z

Just wow! I’m green with envy it looks amazing and the photos are incredible. Much love to you both! </blockquote> </li>
Lesley 2012-06-15T23:34:19Z

Nature and beauty beat city and concrete no question!! xox </blockquote> </li>
Garry 2012-06-18T02:26:17Z

Fantastic pictures! Makes you wonder what the largest waterfall in the world is like!! xx </blockquote> </li>
Molly Page1 2012-07-25T22:26:36Z

Iguazu is amazing Craig, we went to Chile & Argentina in Dec 2011/Jan2012. The sheer size and amount of water that travels through the falls. What would it be like after a heavy rainfall!!! Agree with the Brazilian crossing and what a difference between the two areas.
Molly </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Buenos Aires

Unknown — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:21:01 +0000

We’ve spent the last four days in Buenos Aires. While neither of us fell in love with the city, we did still enjoy our time there.
It’s fair to say that our first impression of Buenos Aires was tainted. 10 minutes into our first walk around the city, we were approached suddenly by two men coming from opposite directions who grabbed my arm and started demanding money. These men definitely weren’t beggars so we started yelling at them and I managed to break their grip and get away. A scary introduction to the streets of BA! We also fell into some tourist traps in the form of an overpriced tango show (akin to an Argentinian version of the “Te Māori Experience” type shows in NZ) and Caminito St, a colourful area in La Boca where the souvenir shops, tourist-tango and paid photo-ops are laid on thick.
However, we also had lots of more positive experiences and good company in BA. It was certainly a city with a lot of character with an interesting mix of European and Latin American influence. Below are a selection of photos:
Avenida 9 de Julio is a street in the middle of BA which is a massive 110 metres wide, with about 18 lanes
</a> Avenida 9 de Julio
The city was noticeably more grungy than Santiago and Mendoza
</a> Basketball court, San Telmo, BA
We couldn’t go to Argentina without dining at a parilla (steakhouse)
</a> Parilla La Cabrera, Palermo, BA
Some Knittiti (knitted graffiti) in Palermo (a trendy suburb, also a popular tourist spot)
</a> Knittiti in Palermo, BA
Caminito St, the aforementioned tourist trap in La Boca
</a> Caminito St, La Boca, BA
</a> Houses in Caminito St, La Boca, BA
Confiteria Ideal is one of Buenos Aires’ 60 “bares notables”, or heritage coffee shops. Order the Submarino and you’ll get a glass of hot milk with some dark chocolate bars to make a delicious hot chocolate.
</a> Confiteria Ideal, BA
Empanadas, cerveza (beer) and pizza made for a tasty dinner
</a> Dinner at La Continental, BA
We’re now heading to Iguazu Falls on another overnight bus– this one is a record journey for us both at 17 hours driving time! We’re really looking forward to seeing the falls, hopefully we’ll have some great photos for our next post.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Shannan 2012-06-14T01:23:49Z
I LOVE EMPANADAS!! Try Paso de los Toros or Inka Kola when you can! Refreshing :o) </blockquote> </li>
Enomec Nz</a> 2012-06-14T03:34:50Z

Enjoying the photos and updates - besides that dodgy encounter – glad all is going well.
18 lanes is crazy, the graffiti was cool and the food looks amazing!
Mmm…wood fired steak and melted chocolate drink :P </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-06-14T06:58:03Z

Also gotta say, I LOVE empanadas too! My grandma from Chile used to make them when we were kids, we called them “moons”. They remind me a little of cornish pasties. Sorry to hear about your scary experience! I wonder, do you or Sal have any scungier clothes for wearing in big cities like this?? They might help you to not attract so much attention?? xxxx big love </blockquote> </li>
Leonie 2012-06-14T09:09:51Z

Great stories guys.
My sister did Iguazu Falls and went on both the Brazil and the Argentina sides - she said it was definatly worth doing both. Also, there was a bit (I don’t remember where) where they walked down towards a pool. Others weren’t so keen as they didn’t want to walk back up again, but being young fit things Kerry and her friend went down. Apparently was well worth it as not so many others around.
Looking forward to more stories - enjoy :) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-06-14T19:54:28Z

zomg terrifying! I think I will never leave Wellington. </blockquote> </li>
Leanne 2012-06-14T20:59:57Z

10minute mugging? that has to be some kind of record! I’m glad it didn’t taint BA too much for you. I love the knititi - although it does look more crochet to me (hehe) I love how colourful everything is and the food looks awesome :-) Thanks for sharing. I look forward to more adventure stories and photos! </blockquote> </li>
Gary 2012-06-17T01:37:48Z

Finally getting around to catching up with all your adventures - and wow you’ve had quite a few already! Stay safe and keep posting the pics. Winter has hit Porirua big time….brrr….. </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Mendoza, Argentina - Surfing our first couch

Unknown — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 16:17:50 +0000

We said adiós to Chile and hopped on a bus to cross the border into Argentina. The bus ride took us through the Andes, offering amazing views of the mountains. Apparently in winter the road can be closed for days at a time due to snowfall and there’s even a spot where a skifield crosses the road. Luckily, we had fine weather for our crossing.
The drive takes about three hours on either side of the border. This doesn’t include the time spent in customs (in our case 3.5 hours). It was a bit intimidating going through customs with a language we don’t understand, but our phrasebook and some bilingual passengers helped us make sense of the process. The road on the Chilean side has an impressive series of hairpin bends set into the steep mountainside. We were sitting on the top story of the double decker bus and were very aware of how close we were to the huge trucks passing by!
</a> Road from Chile to Argentina, through the Andes
We arrived in Mendoza, Argentina where we started our first CouchSurfing experience. CouchSurfing.org</a> is a website where travellers can ask volunteer hosts if they can stay with them in their home. We couldn’t have asked for better hosts – we were overwhelmed by their hospitality and kindness. With our hosts we went to a birthday party and a tango lesson (apparently we weren’t too bad :) ), enjoyed delicious wine (which the region is known for), learnt heaps about Mendoza and shared lots of great food. They even gave us a packed breakfast of croissants for our overnight bus!
</a> Charlotte and Agustin - our hosts in Mendoza
</a> Sal outside a Mendozian winery
We’re writing this post from the comfort of our ‘cama’ (bed) seats to Buenos Aires. The bus ride will take 14 hours, but so far so good! BA will likely be a step up in intensity from Santiago and Mendoza, so fingers-crossed for a good nights’ sleep.
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Hayley 2012-06-10T05:12:22Z

Really enjoying reading your travel blogs! </blockquote> </li>
Beth Braddock 2012-06-10T22:54:17Z

AAARGH: which colour of green am I? All is the answer! I’ve always wanted to go throught the Andes (preferably via steam train) and there you are doing it. Loved the photos. cheers Beth </blockquote> </li>
Frederieka 2012-06-12T02:46:59Z

Your blog looks really great guys. Love the photos so far - what type of camera did you get? F </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-06-14T00:43:13Z

Hey Fred, Glad you’re enjoying seeing our photos. We ended up getting a Canon Ixus 230HS. It seems to be doing the job well so far and it’s nice and compact. Hugs, Sal </blockquote> </li>
Tim 2012-06-15T22:53:17Z

Hey guys, great to meet you in Buenos Aires. The photos and posts are great; hope the rest of the South American leg is a good one! Tim and Zoe </blockquote> </li>
Charlotte 2012-10-18T02:19:42Z

That’s such a nice article… And it was SO NICE to have you at home! Your kiwi is always with us on our frige, we always wonder were you would be travelling now. I’ve just read all your posts from now to that time, that’s a great blog… I’ve laughed a lot about what you wrote about that french and angry guy that suspect you to be italian because you said “si”!! ahahah. And, well, sorry for him! Craig, Sally, you were great mates, really hope we could meet again some day! Hope you THE BEST for your trip (I see that you go pretty well!) bisous </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Santiago, Chile - Entiendo Castellano muy, muy poco

Unknown — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:22:15 +0000

Buenos Dias from Chile! Our first travel post.
Well within an hour of landing in Santiago we paid our first Gringo tax! After failing to decipher the public transport, we ended up being shown to a taxi by a man outside the airport – who then jumped in with us. On the drive in he told us about the various places in Santiago he had been punched or mugged (reassuring!) Despite agreeing the price in advance, he then demanded payment halfway there (plus a tip) and jumped out at an intersection. So 5000 pesos paid for dubious “services”! Seems obvious in hindsight, but it was pretty overwhelming at the time.
The next day we went on an English-speaking walking tour around the central city. This was a great way to get to know Santiago a little in the one full day we had here. Best story of the day: apparently Chilean coffee was so terrible a few decades back that, in order to get some business, some enterprising Chilean businessmen came up with “Coffee with Legs” – a café where the coffee was served by women in skimpy dresses. This innovation reportedly overcame deficiencies in the coffee! Coffee with Legs was then taken to the next level behind shaded glass doors:
</a> The new Coffee with Legs
The skimpy dresses have been replaced with bikinis and there are reportedly four daily “Happy Minutes” where the doors are locked and it all comes off. No we didn’t go in!
We spent the rest of the day with a Kiwi we met on the tour and enjoyed some traditional (?) Chilean food in the evening. It genuinely seems like the locals eat this sort of food a lot (by the way, we did share these dishes!)
</a> Chorrillana (front) and Pastel de Choclo (rear)
To explain the title of this post, we are certainly out of our comfort zone with the language! Entiendo Castellano muy, muy poco means I speak Spanish a very, very little. Which is probably still an overstatement! We’re trying to learn some key phrases and we’ve had some very brief conversations in Spanish (Hello! How are you? I’m from New Zealand. And you? … Goodbye!)
Although we’re still feeling very “fresh”, we’ve really enjoyed our couple of days in Santiago. With a third of all Chileans living here, it’s a huge city.
</a> Plaza de Armas, Santiago
We’re writing this on a bus to Mendoza, Argentina where we will be CouchSurfing for the first time. The guy on the hostel reception desk had some wise advice as we walked out the door: “For godsake – learn some Spanish!”
Comments from WordPress</h2>

Daniel Phillips</a> 2012-06-07T20:32:51Z

Great first post Craig and Sal!
You’re bound to get ripped off by the locals at first, but by the end of your trip I’m sure you would’ve learnt a thing or two by then.
Coffee with legs brings a new meaning to “coffee addiction” perhaps that’s a trend that would work in NZ (hmmmmm…) :)
Food looks interesting - great big portions.
Take care and good luck! </blockquote> </li>
Enomec Nz</a> 2012-06-07T21:20:17Z

Hola Craig & Sal - Me gusta su primer puesto!
That’s almost all the Spanish I know (courtesy of Sublime, Bablefish and possibly Sesame Street?). Good to hear you landed safely in Chile and excluding that loco-taxi-intervention are enjoying the sights and sounds of Santiago. Look forward to hearing more…
Take it easy,
Cemone </blockquote> </li>
Garry 2012-06-07T21:49:26Z

5000 pesos … about NZ$13. Not so bad for the first scam, I guess!
Take care out there. </blockquote> </li>
Tim 2012-06-08T23:09:31Z

Wow sounds amazing! The jealously levels are rising! </blockquote> </li>
Tam 2012-06-09T00:45:47Z

Ah well, hopefully it wasn’t too stressful being scammed.
Ohh - what was the food actually? Looks like some delicious fry up at the front.
Good luck with the couch surfing, that might help with learning some spanish :) </blockquote> </li>
Craig and Sal 2012-06-11T02:49:15Z

Chorrillana is fries, covered in fried onion, covered in scrambled eggs, covered in sausage meat and fried beef. Heart healthy!
Pastel de Choclo is like a baked corn chowder with chicken, mince and a crumbed topping.
Quite tasty, but obviously you wouldn’t want to have these too often! </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-06-09T09:33:23Z

Lol Tim you’d be totally screwed without me! I can translate both from Timglish to English and English to Spanish… </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Our itinerary

Unknown — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:10:05 +0000

While 12 months sounds like quite a long time in which to to “see the world”, the world really is rather big.
There’s probably no “right” way to plan a trip like this. Well that’s what we’re hoping anyway - it can get overwhelming trying to factor in weather, tourist seasons, visas, holidays, festivals, fare rules, insurance coverage and travel pace - but more often it’s like a challenging and exciting puzzle.
A lot of this itinerary is flexible - it will be interesting to see what changes once we get “on the road”. So with that in mind, here is the route that we’ve come up with.
The Americas</h2>
</a> Machu Picchu
Our route takes us first to Chile, then through the Andes to Argentina.
We then head north, visiting Iguaçu Falls on the way to Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
We fly from Rio to Cuzco, Peru – site of the lost Incan city of Machu Picchu.
We spend two weeks in Peru, before flying north to New York City and Washington D.C. in the Mid-Atlantic USA.
</div> Europe</h2> </a> Hvar, Croatia
We land in London and head up through England until we reach Edinburgh, Scotland in time for the Edinburgh Festival. After that, we will get in a campervan and explore the Scottish Highlands.
Then it’s onto continental Europe, starting with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. After travelling south through Italy, we will catch a ferry to Dubrovnik, Croatia and go sailing up the Croatian coast, finishing our time in Croatia in Zagreb.
From Zagreb we head up to Munich and join the world’s largest fair: Oktoberfest. Then we head north through Central Europe – Austria and the Czech Republic before ending in Berlin, Germany.
</div> The Middle East</h2> </a> Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
We are only stopping briefly in the Middle East – first visiting Turkey and then Israel.
</div> The Indian Subcontinent</h2> </a> Jaisalmer, India
Kathmandu, Nepal is our first stop after which we head to Pokhara, Nepal to go trekking in the Himalayas. Our last stop in Nepal is Chitwan National Park, after which we cross the border into India.
The holy city of Varanasi is our first Indian destination, after which we head to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We then tour the state of Rājasthān, including the princely cities of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Udaiphur. We end our time in the Indian subcontinent in the Indian capital, Delhi.
</div> Southeast Asia</h2> </a> Koh Rong Saluem, Cambodia
We arrive in Bangkok, Thailand just before New Years’ Eve. The next five months are left free to explore Southeast Asia. We think we want to volunteer somewhere and settle into a community for 2-3 months. Apart from that, we’ll just follow our noses.
We leave Singapore to fly back to Wellington at the end of May 2013…
Comments from WordPress</h2>
Rachel Hadfield</a> 2012-04-04T10:39:10Z

Woah, super exciting stuff! We’ll be in some of the same places next year; Turkey, Nepal, India, SE Asia…
Let’s rendezvous! </blockquote> </li>
craigandsal 2012-04-14T10:55:54Z
Hey Rach! Awesome, it would be really cool to see you :-) Will have more details soon. </blockquote> </li>
Lesley 2012-04-15T05:54:53Z
How fabulous. Looking forward to following your adventures around the world. </blockquote> </li>
Chris Schraders</a> 2012-05-16T07:01:43Z

So very, very jealous! Already! And you haven’t left yet. I hope you will use you blog a lot so we can keep up with your travels :-) </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-05-16T07:17:29Z
It will be awesome - but very exhausting! If you know anyone who you can stay with on root, or a hostel which is cheap and takes your fancy, it might be good to stay put and have sleep days to keep your energy up :) It will be so cool though! </blockquote> </li>
Alice 2012-05-16T07:18:06Z
Apparently I can’t spell route, oh well. xxx Much love, see you soon! </blockquote> </li>
Andie</a> 2012-05-19T11:07:58Z

Totally jealous guys! I hear it’s a requirement to bring back gifts for your cousin ;) Have a great trip and looking forward to reading about your adventures </blockquote> </li>
Jude Logan</a> 2012-05-27T20:01:31Z

WOW great itinerary! Make sure you visit Kate in manchester on way to Scotland or back. xx J </blockquote> </li>
Heather Judson 2012-06-03T08:26:57Z

WOW that sounds incredible, especially Peru/Nepal/India,how fantastic!! </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Hello!

Unknown — Sat, 12 May 2012 18:18:27 +0000

Hi there :-)
For those that don’t know us, our names are Craig and Sally.
</a>
We are both Wellingtonians born-and-bred. We attended Wellington schools and then Victoria University of Wellington and we have now been working in Wellington for four years.
</a> Wellington, New Zealand
So it’s come time to shake things up a bit. Starting in June 2012, we are taking 12 months off work to travel the world. Starting in the Americas and traveling east through Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and then back home again. This is our travel blog where we will write about our experiences and share some photos.

Craig Drayton - Craig and Sal Go Global

The end.

Comments from WordPress</h2> Garry Robertson</strong> 2013-06-30T11:04:34Z Wow!</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Singapore

Below Borneo: Diving in Kota Kinabalu

Kuching, Borneo

Miri and Mulu, Part 2: Ladders, Limestone and Leeches

The caves of Miri and Mulu

Southern Vietnam: Saigon and the Mekong Delta

Our days in Dalat

Central Vietnam – Hue and Hoi An

Riding along the Vietnam-China frontier

Cat Ba Island and Halong Bay

Hanoi

Mandalay

Pyin Oo Lwin

Trekking in Hsipaw, Shan State

Inle Lake

Bangkok to Bagan

New month, new ink

Graduation and Goodbyes

A clinic, a camp and a cave

Chiang Mai

Life on the border

Volunteering on the border: An A to Z

Karen New Year

Hua Hin, Thailand

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Bangkok

Delhi

A Christmas Story in Jodhpur

Jaisalmer - the desert city

Jaipur

Udaipur

Agra

Varanasi, India

Pokhara, Nepal

Trekking in the Himalayas

Kathmandu

The ANZAC battlegrounds of Gallipoli

Istanbul

Cappadocia - a photo essay

The Lycian Coast, Turkey

The holy city of Jerusalem

The Dead Sea and Negev Desert

Northern Israel

Tel Aviv

Berlin

Prague

Budapest

Vienna

Innsbruck, Austria

Munich and Oktoberfest

Zagreb

Comments from WordPress</h2> Lesley</strong> 2012-10-11T07:04:55Z Zagreb looks lovely - looks like another reason to peruse those Croatia brochures. Along with the family ceremonial visit to the place of Kate’s “event”, that is. Lxx</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Cruising the Croatian coast

Dubrovnik and Montenegro

Rome and Vatican City

Venice

Florence

Moneglia and the Cinque Terre

Nice, Monaco and the French Riviera

Paris

Amsterdam and the Waterlands

The English seaside of Brighton

Manchester

Exploring the Scottish Highlands with the Evil Clowns

Comments from WordPress</h2> Robbie Lane</strong> 2012-08-28T08:17:52Z Nice reading your latest travel …. driving me more and more wanting to do some serious travelling again!!! Och aye the nu!!!! Happy travels</p> Robbie</p> </blockquote> </li>

Exploring Edinburgh (and its Fringe Festival)

York

Taking the waters of Bath

Oxford

London

Washington DC

New York City - Part 3, Lower Manhattan

New York City, Part 2- Midtown Manhattan

New York City, Part 1 - Brooklyn

Comments from WordPress</h2> Lesley</strong> 2012-07-23T23:27:56Z Now I looove the look of that dessert!! Lxx</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Eating Lima

Comments from WordPress</h2>

Garry Robertson</strong> 2013-06-30T11:04:34Z

Wow!</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley</strong> 2012-10-11T07:04:55Z

Zagreb looks lovely - looks like another reason to peruse those Croatia brochures. Along with the family ceremonial visit to the place of Kate’s “event”, that is. Lxx</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>

Comments from WordPress</h2>

Lesley</strong> 2012-07-23T23:27:56Z

Now I looove the look of that dessert!! Lxx</p> </blockquote> </li> </ul>