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New Zealand, Oceania

Christchurch, New Zealand

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On Tuesday, February 22, 2011, Christchurch New Zealand experienced a magnitude 6.3 earthquake that utterly devastated the city.  185 people lost their lives.  Hundreds of people lost their homes and businesses, and the city lost its beloved Christchurch Cathedral.  Since February 2011, Christchurch has experienced over 10,000 earthquakes and aftershocks.

These are 2 of the 3 pictures I took while in Christchurch.  The rubble still present a year after the quake left parts of the city looking like a war zone; other parts were completely walled off, and others were completely intact as if nothing had happened.

We visited Christchurch on the last possible day to view the remaining portion of the Cathedral before it was being levelled.  Unfortunately, due to the late time of the day, we were unable to find a pathway through the barrier wall to see it.

New Zealand, Oceania

Rotorua to Wellington

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At 7 hours and roughly 450km, the trip from Rotorua to Wellington was the longest bus ride we had to endure.

Water Lily2For 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.

Wellington Cable Car
Cricket Match
The Beehive, Wellington
Wellington Harbour
Silver Fern Ball, Wellington
Interislander Ferry, Cook Straight

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

New Zealand, Oceania

Devonport

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Mt Victoria cemeteryDevonport 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.
There were loads of tourists out and about as Devonport is a popular destination for cruise ship passengers making a stop in Auckland.  We were able to chat with one elderly couple who had rented a fancy moto-trike tour for the afternoon.  There were also scooters, Segways, mini-busses, and even horse and carriage options.  We opted for none of the above, and stuck to walking.
Lunch in Devonport was our first experience with the New Zealand coffee options.  As previously mentioned, Fazh is a coffee addict.  No, he’s not addicted to high quality or even freshly brewed coffee, he just likes coffee.  He quite frequently will brew a pot of drip/filter coffee, and then microwave the old coffee for the rest of the day.  (GROSS!)  In New Zealand, trying to find drip/filter coffee is like trying to find a family of unicorns.   Let’s just say there is a “dedicated coffee culture” in NZ, and Fazh was initiated rather quickly.

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!)

Even though I’m not a regular coffee drinker, I do know the basics–Americano, espresso, cappuccino, latte, mochaccino etc.  But these three? Short Black, Long Black and Flat White?!?
Short Black: basically espresso in a regular demi-tasse
Long Black: espresso with the same amount of hot water served on the side – usually in a squat mug
Flat White:  one part espresso, to parts steamed milk, with or without froth
Fazh decided to order Long Black.  And, that became his drink of choice–several of them a day!  I’ve never heard an Americano called a Long Black.  Now I know.
Happy Travels,
~j
Long Black coffee
New Zealand, Oceania

Quite the Undertaking: Auckland Day 1

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Sky Tower
Sky Tower

Whenever I mentioned this little trip prior to departure, people probably thought I was off my rocker for actually traveling with my 62 year old father. Think about it–you probably can’t imagine spending 2 weeks straight with either of your parents, or purposefully including 16-20hr flights in that time period. Now, imagine traveling with someone who has a very rigid diet and a horrible caffeine addiction. We managed just fine though.

The flight from Vancouver to Auckland went smoothly. Air New Zealand had super friendly flight staff, and the economy seats were actually roomy. I could reach my arm straight out, and wasn’t even flat palmed on the seat back in front of me. Even the safety video was more fun than normal.

We stayed in the central business district, just up from the Britomart transport centre which is the last stop for the Airport Shuttle. We were just up from the ferry terminal, and only short distances from most major sights. So, we were close to everything we wanted to see and were able to travel on foot.

One of the first things we did was go to the top of the Sky Tower. This tower dominates the Auckland City skyline. At 328 meters high, it is the tallest man-made structure in New Zealand, and from the top, you can see up to 80km in every direction. Pretty easy way to figure out where you want to go in the city–get above the roadways and map it out yourself!

Auckland Harbour Bridge built 1959
Auckland Museum – Tamaki Paenga Hira
One Tree Hill – Maungakiekie
Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Harbour Bridge, built in 1959. For the nerds, it was the last lattice girder bridge built in the world (I only know that from the info at the top of the tower!). One Tree Hill aka Maungakiekie. Maungakiekie is one of the largest Maori settlement complexes in New Zealand. The original Totara tree was cut down for firewood by early settlers. They replaced it with a Pine tree that was cut down in 2000 because it was dead. Now there is an obelisk at the summit for Sir John Logan Campbell. Maybe the name should be changed to One Obelisk Hill, because I didn’t notice a tree. We didn’t visit One Tree Hill.

We did visit the Auckland War Memorial Museum aka Tamaki Paenga Hira. We walked to the museum from Sky Tower. There are some very pretty trails through the trees on the museum grounds.  The museum was first of many war memorials we saw in New Zealand.  More on that later.
Happy Travels,
~j
Asia, China

Shanghai: The Layover

Shanghai MaglevOn our flight to Hanoi, we had a few hours at Pudong Airport.  Waiting for our flight to Hanoi, while traveling from Vancouver to Vietnam, we had a few hours in Pudong International Airport.  For something to do, we took the Maglev to check it out.  “What’s the Maglev?” you ask.

Shanghai Maglev 429kmh
At 429km/h it’s a little hard to hold the camera steady!

It’s a high-speed train propelled by magnetic levitation.  That’s science folks!  And, this train doesn’t just leisurely roll along, it moves at a speed of more than 430km/h.  That’s no typo…FOUR HUNDRED THIRTY! (FYI: Max speeds during testing were over 500km/h.)

It’s the World’s Fastest Train!

Maglev Ticket

We made the 30km trip from Pudong International Airport into Shanghai in approximately 7 minutes.  Not too shabby for a commute that long.  Google maps estimated it would be about an hour by car.

For the layover in China on our way home from Bangkok to Vancouver, we opted to do some sight-seeing.

Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai
The Westin Bund Centre, Shanghai
Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai
Old City, Shanghai
Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai

In the short few hours, the two of us visited Yuyuan Gardens, took photos of The Bund (from afar), and made it back to the airport in time for our flight home.

BKK Airport
Where’s Waldo of sorts. We’re waiting inline to check-in at BKK for the flight to Shanghai.

What do you do to break up the lengthy airport layovers?
~j

Asia, Cambodia

Sua s’dei Siem Riep

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Just about half way through the trip, we left Vietnam for Cambodia.  The flight out of HCMC was delayed, our gate was changed 3 times, and then the power went out to the entire airport–pitch black, power outage.  It. Was. Out.  After an hour or so, the power came back on, and our gate was changed back to the one we started at…seriously?!?!

Eventually we landed in Siem Reap.  We arranged to be picked up at the airport through the guest house we were staying at.  SO AWESOME!  Our tuk-tuk driver introduced himself as Batman, and we were off!The Siem Reap Garden Inn was a tiny little piece of paradise. (The pool is new since we were there.)  Everyone we dealt with seemed genuinely interested in making our experience the best possible which is not something found everyday.  The level of service was probably something we won’t see again.

Beng Mealea road signSiem Reap is one of the most welcoming places we’ve ever been to.  It is an oddly dichotomous place in that is a major tourist hub with a 100% tourist related enterprise as the main focus.  And, then there are obviously Cambodians going about their day to day business.  Kind of like Las Vegas – there’s the Las Vegas strip, which most people from Vegas would avoid like the plague, and then there’s normal Las Vegas where people live, work, go to school etc.   We were lucky enough to see both sides Siem Reap.

As we had limited time in Cambodia, we had a lot of ground to cover.  Our first day was spent with Ta from Peace of Angkor tours.  This has got to be one of the most memorable vacation days we’ll ever have.  He took us to Kompong Khleang and along the Tonle Sap.  We also visited Beng Mealea, and climbed along the walls of the ancient temple.  Ta was fortunate to be one of first people to “rediscover” the temple, and said at the time, there were actually tigers on the temple grounds.

As promised quite a while ago, here are some of the photos from our day with Ta.

Cashew fruit and nut
The kids were super excited to have their photos taken.  This grandmother wanted hers taken as well.  Just before she posed for the camera, she was hacking away at the edge of the bowl with a machete.  At 78 years old, she was still sharp as a tack.  We had a great time visiting Kompong Khleang.  The stilt houses were absolutely fascinating.  The residents were insanely hospitable to us.  Due to Ta’s kindness, we were invited inside a stilt house to roast cashew nuts picked right from the tree.

We were privileged to see a wedding, where they asked us in closer to take photos of the bride and groom.  And, we also saw/followed a funeral procession for a while.  Richard, a person we were with, said we almost had “hatches, matches and dispatches,” covered.

We had an extraordinary tour through one of the villages outside of Siem Reap, and we were fortunate enough to float on the Tonle Sap River (which in itself is a crazy thing–yep, I’m a nerd!).  None of this experience would have been logistically possible for us without our guide, Ta.  He really made the day one we’ll never forget.

The second half of the day we were at another UNESCO Site, Beng Mealea.  This temple has collapsed walls, and jungle-ish overgrowth that gives it an appeal unlike the other temples we saw in Cambodia.  We were able to climb on the walls and take pathways that would definitely not have been acceptable in the bubble wrapped North American tourism sector.  It was pretty fantastic.  See for yourself…

Asia, Vietnam

Mekong River Trip

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Mekong River
Mekong River
We decided to do the first trip on the Mekong to get away from the hustle of the Ho Chi Minh City for the day.  We booked a tour to take us to one of the floating markets.  Now, when I say floating market, I picture ladies with conical hats in boats selling flowers and pineapples etc…NOPE!  This was a HUGE out on the open water, with large boats, floating market.  It was like wholesale for the tiny markets–basically the Costco of the floating markets, and definitely not as visually appealing, but still cool to see.  Because there are so many boats, merchants display whatever they’re selling at the top of poles.  You see the veggie you like dangling way up in the air, and you know that’s the boat you want to see.  FYI: Buyers had to make some serious purchases of serious quantity.
Mekong River Boats

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!

Fish with popped rice “crust”
Making rice paper

Our Boat for the dayFor 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

Asia, Vietnam

Saigon

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For our sixth day in Vietnam we found ourselves in the bustling Ho Chi Minh City. It was a super hot, very humid day for wandering around. The buzz of scooter traffic and constant honking of horns does. not. stop.

Luckily, walking around to see the sites in Ho Chi Minh City is easily done (if you’re able to get over the fear of crossing the busy streets!). There are several historic buildings close proximity of each other. I wasn’t able to find our tourist map, but this one will do nicely for you. I’m sure the hotel that provided it on the internets is lovely.
Ho Chi MInh City Map

We visited the Reunification Palace to try to escape the heat for a bit, but that plan didn’t work. FYI: None of the buildings had air conditioning, so it was just as hot inside as out! Reunification Palace, though not as cooling as we’d hoped, was worth the visit.

As headquarters for the South Vietnamese during the war, there were a lot of maps, and historical memorabilia on display. *(The elephant leg trash cans were uber-creepy!)  April 1975, the civilians and employees at the building were part of Operation Frequent Wind, with an escape taking place minutes before the building was overrun. On April 30th, 1975, a tank from the North Vietnamese army rammed through the front gate, and ended the Vietnam War, and reunified Vietnam into a communist state.

Reunification Palace, HCMC
Reunification Palace, HCMC
A few of the other sites we managed to see were the Saigon Notre Dame or Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Rex Hotel and the Saigon Post Office. The basilica is beautiful inside, but I may be biased–if you know me, you know I LOVE visiting churches…yes, still after seeing hundreds!

The Rex Hotel was nothing to marvel at, but was significant to the Vietnam War.  The first guests of the hotel, before it was even opened in 1961, were 400 soldiers from the US. During the war, the roof top bar was the place to be for correspondents and military alike.  And, the Saigon Post Office, with its impressive arched ceiling, was where you might have received some of your post cards from if you were lucky enough to receive one.
Asia, Vietnam

To Hoi An and Beyond!

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Day 5 in Vietnam we left Hue, and drove to Hoi An for a day of sight seeing before heading onto Da Nang airport to fly to Ho Chi Minh City. As we had a deadline for the day, we arranged for a car as transport. Our driver, Van, didn’t speak much English, and I have very very basic garbled aka horrendous Vietnamese at best. Luckily, the trip wasn’t an unusual request; so, despite the language barrier, we were able to stop at a lot of sights along the way.
Hi Van Pass
The drive from Hue to Hoi An took us over Hi Van Pass, or Ocean Cloud Pass if you prefer the translation. The lengthiest stops were at Lang Co Beach and Marble Mountains. (FYI: At Lang Co Beach while we were taking photos, a guy appeared out of no where and tried to sell me old/out of circulation Vietnamese coins. I declined. Then he tried to sell me a loonie. Random!)
Marble Mountain Buddha
Lang Co Beach
Marble Mountains caught my interest a while ago. The Departures team ended up visiting the caves on one of the Vietnam episodes. The photos below are of some of the Buddhist shrines sculpted/carved into the mountains. Word is that the cave was used by the Viet Cong as a field hospital during the war. The photo doesn’t do the temple justice. It was as large as any fantastical cathedral, only this is a natural marble cave that has been a Buddhist shrine for centuries.

 

Marble Mountain Buddha - field hospital
Marble Mountain Buddha – field hospital

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.

Japanese Covered Bridge – Hoi An
Boats on the Thu Bon River

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

After a really long day we made it to Ho Chi Minh City.
Happy Travels,
~j