Our last day in New Zealand was St Patrick’s Day. It also coincided with the New Zealand port of call for the Volvo Ocean Race. We spent a lot of time walking around the pier and checking out the pavilions. There was live music, shopping, and loads of interactive activities for kids and adults alike. It definitely wasn’t a bad way to spend our last night in the City of Sails.
Random events that happen during vacation always seem to make the trip even more memorable, don’t you think?
~j
At 7 hours and roughly 450km, the trip from Rotorua to Wellington was the longest bus ride we had to endure.
For the nerds and old folks, Wellington has an impressive Botanical Garden. We rode the Wellington Cable Car to the top, and checked it out. From the mid-way point we were able to watch part of a Cricket match which Fazh was super pumped about. He had been watching Cricket on TV at night in the hotel rooms. Cricket could be the most confusing game ever to figure out the rules just by watching. I know 4 points if the ball goes over the outer boundary…that’s it. FYI: The person throwing the ball is not called the pitcher. He’s the bowler.
Museums in capital cities are typically the most impressive a country has to offer. Te Papa was not up to par. Unfortunately, Wellington seemed like a party town full of noisy college students. It just wasn’t our scene. It wouldn’t have been my scene without Fazh either…maybe 20 years ago!
Of all the cities we visited in New Zealand, Wellington was probably the most disappointing, though necessary stop for us to take the ferry to Picton on the South Island. (I have a particular affinity for ferry boats.) The Interislander Ferry through the Cook Straight was beautiful.
From Wellington we took the TransCoastal train to Christchurch. Stay tuned,
~j
Devonport is an historical village a short (approx. 15 minutes) ferry ride just across the harbour from Auckland. Fazh and I spend the better part of the day wandering around the Island. We climbed to the top of Mount Victoria and checked out Fort Victoria. The cemetery we stumbled upon was fascinating. Some of the dead had almost reached 100 years old, 100 years ago. I don’t imagine making it to 100 in NZ that long ago would have been an easy feat! We wandered around, sight-seeing, as we made our way back to the wharf and shoreline.
The coffee menu was confusing. Here’s a typical offering. (Thanks www.newzealand.com for the info. And, you know it’s intense when the COFFEE options are posted on a tourism site!)
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
So, you might know that I’m taking my dad (Fazh) to New Zealand in a little over 2 weeks. He’s gone a little nutty with excitement. Months ago I gave him Eyewitness New Zealand to read through. He started dog earring corners, and writing notes in the book, essentially making a list of things he wanted to see. This is his trip, so I’ll do my best to make sure as much of what he wants to see is included. Some of the requests created a logistical nightmare. We only have 2 weeks and he’s got about 2 months worth of stuff on the list.
Most important to him was seeing how kiwi fruit grows, seeing a Kauri tree logging harbour, seeing a sheep shearing, going to the glow worm caves, and seeing penguins. He also wants to take the InterIsland ferry and the TranzAlpine train. Then he decided that Milford Sound and the Moeraki Boulders would be good options as well. All of those things I’m alright with except for the logging industry. That wasn’t going to be logistically possible, and was promptly cut. (I also couldn’t make the TranzAlpine work. The Coastal Pacific works just fine though.)
I think the fruit is what he’s most excited for, it isn’t like we don’t have kiwi fruit in the supermarket here, and it isn’t like he has never see a sheep being shorn in Canada either. Who am I to argue?
As the trip gets closer, he gets sillier. Here’s a conversation from last week.
Me: We’re going to have to get you some snacks for the 7 hour bus ride we have one day so you don’t turn into a cranky bitch.
Fazh: Stock me up on marshmallows and licorice, and I’ll be fine.
Me: Uh, maybe we could get you a sandwich and a drink or something to pack with you instead of just sugar.
Fazh: Where are you going to get a sandwich there?
Like he has a steady diet of pure sugar here? Like there are no supermarkets in New Zealand? No bread, no sandwich supplies? Really?!?
And today he calls me at work:
Fazh: I have to go buy a backpack for the trip. I think I’m going to get something camouflage so that I can use it for hunting and fishing later.
Me: Ok, but you have to get something small. 30L or less. It has to be small enough for carry-on. I’ll take you shopping on Thursday after work so you can pick out something good.
Fazh: I have ear plugs for the plane. They have a string connecting them so I don’t lose them. And I’m going to pick up a Louis L’Amour book. They’re all the same–the cowboy will ride his horse around, do some shooting, run around for a while, kiss the girl and they’ll ride off into the sunset together. Those books are all the same. I’m going to buy one right now.
And after work:
Me: Did you find a backpack?
Fazh: Yes, I looked at them. I saw one that looked comfortable.
Me: Did you try it on?
Fazh: No, you told me not to buy it unless you looked at it. I also saw some Merrell running shoes that looked comfortable. They had a deal buy 1 pair get 1 pair half off so they could have gotten $200 out of me.
Me: You know you can buy just 1 pair right?
Fazh: Well I didn’t buy any because you told me not to buy anything.
Me: …….
But the best part of the day, and for all of you who get this conversation, I hope you find it as funny as me. (FYI: he’s 62, able bodied, and does not limp.)
Fazh: I don’t want you yelling at me because I’m old. I don’t want you yelling at me because I’m limping around. I don’t want you yelling at me because I’m slow.
Me: I’ll yell at you, you’ve got a 20 minute time limit, move it along mister. I’m gonna yell at you if you so much as think about eating an extra cookie.
Fazh: Then I’ll start calling you JOAN!*
Me: Charles you don’t need that!
Moral of the story, I might go cuckoo.
*Joan is my Grandma’s name. She’s the food police with my Grandpa.
The tour also took us through the process of making puffed rice, rice paper/wraps, coconut candy, and fed us a bizarro lunch, complete with live traditional Vietnamese singing. The fish looks kind of disturbing in the picture, but it was “crusted” with puffed rice, and was actually tasty. The fresh Vietnamese spring rolls were not my favourite, but Jon ate them–cucumber, pineapple, fish and all!
For me, the most interesting part of the day were the stilt houses on the delta, and the different styles of housing, methods of fishing, and strategies for gardening we saw.
Seeing a different lifestyle, and how it all just falls together made the day trip worth doing, even if being on a tour was slightly cheesy.
Happy Travels,
~j
From Marble Mountains, we continued on to Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a gorgeous little place! If you have time, and want to have clothing custom made for yourself, this would be the destination. There are so many amazing design shops it is indescribable. The core of Hoi An is really small, maybe three or four streets, so it is easy to visit with just a few hours time. The Japanese covered bridge is at the far side of the historic area.
Here’s a little googled tidbit of history for you:
According to local folklore, the bridge was erected after Japan suffered a series of violent earthquakes which geomancers attributed to a restless monster lying with its head in India, tail in Japan and heart in Hoi An. The only remedy was to build a bridge whose stone piles would drive a metaphorical sword through the beast’s heart and fortuitously provide a handy passage across the muddy creek.
Inside the bridge’s narrow span are a collection of stelae and four statues, two dogs and two monkeys, which suggest that work began in the year of the monkey and ended in that of the dog. The small temple suspended above the water is a later addition dedicated to the Taoist god Tran Vo Bac De (“Emperor of the North”), a favourite of sailors as he controls wind, rain and other “evil influences”.
from: http://www.hoiantravelshow.com/japanese-covered-bridge.html
Once we returned to shore from Ha Long Bay, our next destination was Hue. To get there, we flew from Hanoi, in Northern Vietnam, to Hue, in Central Vietnam. It was a nice change to leave the bustle of Hanoi for the slightly less bustling Hue It was also a fantastic break in car sickness to fly instead of drive.
Our first interaction – we were scammed by the airport shuttle that was to take us to our hotel. Vietnamese culture is to avoid answering no, but it is kind of inconvenient when the question is, “Will you take us to the hotel?” and the shuttle driver answers, “Yes.” but really means, I’ll take you to somewhere near the hotel and then say get out, and leave you to figure out the rest of the way. The rest of the passengers with us were NOT impressed.
Unfortunately, the names of the hotels are confusing , eg: Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn 1, Holiday Inn 2, Original Holiday Inn. And #1 and #3 might be across the street from each other, while the original is around the corner. You get the picture. We did find the place, but what a rainy nightmare that was.Hue is a beautiful city. We visited several temples, tombs and the Imperial City. We also did a short river boat trip on the Perfume River at the end of the day.
One fantastic site for the day – the MASSIVE Buddha statue that was visible from Tu Duc Tomb. We never did get to visit it, but He fits right in with Cristo Blanco and Our Lady of the Rockies.
We signed up for a 2 day 1 night trip through Ha Long Bay. Getting to the Karst islands, we had to sail through shipping lanes of the South China Sea. I was not expecting to see massive freighters in wide open ocean, but we did. There were also several ships that were dredging silt from the sea floor (to be used in making concrete was the explanation received.) As we traveled, we checked out our cabins, and the deck areas, and enjoyed the company of our fellow passengers. Then, we were served a crazy lunch. Who eats 10 courses for lunch?!? I will make an entirely separate post for the food on board the junk.
After lunch, we visited the Sung Sot caves, which seemed a little too touristy, but still interesting to see. The grottoes have walkways set out, and lights to feature all sorts of formations. The entrance to the caves is about 25m above the water. Just to give you a feel for the size of the cave, we probably walked about 1.5km throughout the site and didn’t see all of it. There were probably a few hundred people in the cave, and it was not crowded by any means.
We also climbed to the pagoda on top of Ti Top island. I wasn’t too keen on this little side adventure because I felt hideous from the drive still, but I did it anyway. The history of the island is kind of interesting if you’re into the nerdy stuff. On November 22, 1962, a Soviet Cosmonaut, Gherman Titov visited the island with Ho Chi Minh. In remembrance of the visit, Ho Chi Minh named the place Ti Top Island.
The only thing missing from our Ha Long Bay adventure was blue skies for the photos. We had white washed out sky the entire time. The scenery was still amazing. We took a smaller boat through to a grotto. Apparently there are monkeys that live on the cliff walls, but we didn’t see any. We did see a little fishing village and some locals out on boats. All in all a good experience. Yay for crossing off another UNESCO site.
Throughout Vietnam, I felt like a dollar sign rather than a person, and I haven’t felt that way in any other country. But, I experienced that feeling a lot in Vietnam. It is indescribable the aggressive level of service shop keepers try to give in the hopes of making a sale because the competition is so fierce. If the neighbouring shop is selling the same thing, they have to capture every dollar they can. This deterred me from buying in the bigger cities, Hanoi and HCMC. There were a few negatives of the trip, and that was one them for sure.
Ha Long Bay was an amazing experience, and frightening as well. Let’s start with the trip from Hanoi to Ha Long…
Once we arrived at the water, we met some of the people we were going to be onboard with. We met Pierre, an Australian traveling home from the UK via India and Asia. He was very interesting and passed along his Lonely Planet Vietnam to us. (We didn’t bring any guide books–too heavy! But, it was nice to have for the remainder of the trip. Just add it to the 50+ travel guides we already have.) We met a German physicist and his family, and a solo female traveler from Finland who we named Elsa, because she never did tell us her name.
You may wonder why I said the trip was frightening. A few weeks before we were set for our trip, one of the junks sank in Ha Long Bay. Passengers died because they couldn’t evacuate the boat properly in the middle of the night. New safety standards were put into place, and our room came equipped with a flashlight and a hammer to smash out the window if need be. We slept just fine aboard the boat. I don’t know the exact circumstance that caused the ship to sink, but the junk we were on appeared well maintained, and the weather and water were both calm for us.
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