Traveling by bus from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back again made for a long day! Not having our own transportation , we went with a day tour. If you’re from a coastal rainforest area, Milford Sound might not be very impressive to you. I found it worth the visit. There were plenty of stops along the way that broke up the trip nicely.
Milford Sound, in Fjordland National Park, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This unique area receives more than 6.5m of rain annually. (That’s about 21 feet of rain a year for all of you non-metric folks–more than three times your height unless you play for the NBA!) Such high rainfall creates a layer of fresh water over the salt water sound. Stained by tannins washed down from the forest, the fresh water layer restricts light to all but the top 40m. This creates a rare opportunity for deep water eco-systems to be much closer to the surface than normal. Milford Sound is a popular area for SCUBA for this reason.
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Though Milford Sound receives up to 180 days of rain annually, we had a beautiful sunny day for a cruise on the water.
Queenstown seemed to be the adventure sport hub of our New Zealand trip. It is very similar in feeling to Banff or Jasper. Lots of little shops to check out, but also lots of gorgeous scenery and outdoor activity. Fazh was most excited about going paragliding. He saw them, and instantly wanted to go. Literally, we hadn’t even checked-in or put our bags away. I guess when you know, you know!
We also managed to check “see a Kiwi bird” off his list by visiting the Kiwi Birdlife Park. Queenstown is also home to Fergburger, a burger place with a cult like following. Seriously, the line-up was out the door, constantly. I must say it was delicious. Here are some photos of our time in Queenstown.
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.
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
No visit to Rotorua would be complete without a trip to Te Whakarewarewa. (Whaka for short, and the ‘Wh’ is pronounced as an ‘F’…true story!) My brother had visited years earlier in high school and was emphatic that the Hangi cooked corn was a must. So funny! The geothermal vents provide heat needed to steam and cook food which is actually quite tasty, but more of a novelty than a must do.
We spent the day visiting the Maori village, checking out the geothermal and cultural sites. There was a performance that included information on traditional Maori clothing, tools, music, and a Haka, which Fazh loved. Our park guide, Sandra, was great, even if she tried to introduce her self at the start of the tour as Te whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao. (The full name of the site, loosely translated to: The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao.) And, now you can see why the village is called Whaka by the locals.
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Rotorua also provided us with the opportunity to cross a few “must-sees” off of Fazh’s list by visiting the Agrodome. If you’ve been reading all along, you’ll know that he wanted to see a sheep sheering, a kiwi orchard and some logging industry site amongst several other things. Logging was cut before we left. Pun intended. At least the other two were enjoyable. The Agrodome was a thoroughly entertaining day at a fantastic facility. The “sheep show” features 19 different kinds of sheep. The farm is home to all types of animals–working sheep dogs, geese, ducks, Angora goats, llamas, alpacas, red and fallow deer, ostrich and emu. Kiwi and feijoa fruit are grown on the organic farm, as well as apples, mandarin oranges and olives.
During our time in Siem Reap, we allotted two days to explore the temples of The Angkor Complex. The Angkor Complex and surrounding area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most people call the entire area Angkor Wat, but in actuality, Angkor Wat is just one of the many incredible temples in the area.
From: http://www.tourismcambodia.com/
Because we had a lot of ground to cover, we had to decide how to best plan our visit. There are many options for transportation through the temple grounds–cycling, tuk-tuk, car. You would be extremely inefficient and ridiculously limited without transportation. The complex is gigantic and spread out.
Monkey’s like Tuk-Tuks!
We decided that day one we would use a car, and day two we would use a tuk-tuk. Our driver, Dora, was quite possibly the nicest person ever! He gave us so much information about the area, about himself, and about Cambodia in general that we decided to scrap the tuk-tuk day two, and go with him again. He was awesome! (FYI: It really was nice having the air-conditioning. We were spoiled Day 1, so that was a definite bonus!)
The Temples
The temples were built between the 9th and 15th centuries AD, starting with Preah Ko (AD 875-890), and ending with Bayon (AD 1175-1240).
Of all of the temples in the complex, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are the most impressive. Angkor Wat is the said to be the world’s largest religious structure. It is definitely the most famous and most ornate. We started the day at Angkor Thom.
One of the many faces of Bayon Temple of Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom is more like a city of temples, (see the map above) including Bayon, Baphuon, Phimeanakas, the Terace of the Leper King and the Terrace of the Elephants. Our first impression was of the massive causeway and gates. The Asura statues lining the causeway are all slightly different than each other.
Each one is different!
Asura statue at the Victory Gate, Angkor Thom
Scars of war – This Asura statue has been shot; that’s a bullet hole.
The temples are filled with details, from panels depicting various scenes of day to day life, to bas-reliefs of apsara dancers, to walls and walls of carved writing. It’s overwhelming, and impossible to see all of it in two days. Even writing this now, I’m finding it difficult to focus on just one thing. Let’s let the pictures do the work!
Here are some of the lovelies we saw:
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Reconstruction & Restoration
Angkor was “rediscovered” in the 19th century, having been abandoned for centuries, and was once again lost to the world during the 70’s due to war. Since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge in the late 90’s, the temples have undergone massive restoration efforts. Mines (unexploded ordinance) had to be cleared from the area, not to mention an overgrowth of vegetation.
Restoration efforts were prominent, and globally funded. Given the importance of Angkor archeologically, and to the Cambodians economically, conserving the site is of utmost importance.
Banteay Srei Conservation Project, Cambodia
West Gopura Restoration Project, Cambodia
West Gopura Restoration Project, Cambodia
Angkor Wat Causeway Restoration Project
Phimeanakas Temple Conservation Project
Scaffolding at Angkor Wat, Cambodia
There is so much to say about our time at the Angkor Complex. So much history, so many interesting things and people that the photos will have to do a lot of the work.
If you have the opportunity to visit Cambodia, you won’t be disappointed. The people were the most gracious hosts, and the small bit of scenery we saw was unbelievably gorgeous.
We’ve seen countless shows about how many scams there are in Bangkok. It’s true! Although it is an intriguing city, there are certainly some things to be wary of. The scam we encountered was at The Grand Palace. Note – The Grand Palace is open every day!
WARNING: Do not trust wily strangers!
At the first entrance we encountered “wily strangers” who told us the temple was closed for the morning due to monks being on the premises. Only, we’d just seen a whole tour bus of tourists let in! He said women weren’t allowed in at that time because it was too distracting to their prayer. The official-looking man tried to get us into a Tuk Tuk for other sight seeing. We didn’t go with it.
At the second entrance we encountered the same thing, only the story was slightly different, same Tuk Tuk scam though. Again, we didn’t go with it. Unfortunately there was no avoiding them and just walking through the entrance anyway as they are quite forceful and have great scam technique. Luckily, at the third entrance we finally got into the Temple. It really was a waste of time just trying to get into the Palace.
Phra Sumen Fort
We stayed near Phra Sumen Fort which gave us the opportunity to explore on foot. We were able to visit the impressive Buddhist temples of Wat Pho, Wat Saket, and Wat Arun. While we were there Songkran festival, Buddhist New Year in Thailand, was taking place.
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From what we learned, there are several things to do as a Buddhist during Songkran festival. Washing Buddha, and pressing gold leaf on to Him asks for forgiveness and fortune in the coming year. Making sand “castles” in the temple also returns all of the dust carried out from the temple on the soles of the feet during the year. There were offerings of colourful fabric, money and bells as well.
For a first look at Buddhist temples and practices, Bangkok was a great start.
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.
Siem 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…
Prairie Dog Town is a real location at the entrance of the Belle Fourche campground. True story. Check out the map. We ended up spending a very rainy night there. The campground was nice enough, but the weather not so much. At least we were able to take some fun photos.
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These Black-tailed prairie dogs remind me of the marmots at one of the parks here. (photo below) Even though they’re Yellow-bellied marmots–they still look the similar. Yep, Groundhogs, Marmots, Prairie Dogs, whatever you like to call them–the same all over the place. (ps: they really are all from the Sciuridae family, so there’s your mini science lesson for the day.)
I don’t even know where to start with this entry. Maybe with some photos…
After we had driven through miles and miles of corn fields in Montana, the scenery in Wyoming was a welcomed change. Luckily, we managed to take the scenic route to Devil’s Tower which made a lot of difference. Most of these shots were taken from a moving vehicle, so don’t be too sad if they’re off kilter.
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We drive major highways all the time. Every day. Hwy 1, Hwy 5, Hwy 16, Hwy 97, etc etc. Even including all the driving in other countries, the number of times I’ve seen road kill prior to this trip is probably less than 20. In Wyoming, that number is probably about 1500, and I’m not exaggerating. Why the hell is there so much road kill on the I-90? So disheartening.
Bet you really wanted to know this—in many States and Provinces it is legal to collect and eat road kill. Seriously. Animals are collected (if they’re not too smashed up) and distributed to churches, soup kitchens etc to make meals. People can keep the meat they find; different rules apply in different areas though. I suppose it makes sense? At least you know how and where the road kill happened to be if you’re the one who hits it? Is it really different than hunting game? The animal is still being killed, just with a vehicle, not a conventional weapon? But somehow I don’t think I’ll be trying roadkill stew any time soon.
Taking photos on vacation is one of my most favorite things to do. I’m learning patience when taking shots. (I could be the most impatient person on the planet!) Basically, if I don’t take time I’ll end up with loads that are blurry or slightly off centre or just not right. While I’m not stellar, I do enjoy taking as many shots as I can. They’re getting better–trust me! (Besides, I didn’t take photos professionally for 15 years of my life like Jon did.)
Luckily, Yellowstone is a living photo shoot. Everything is moving and colourful. From the massive hillsides of burnt trees, right down to the small things like stripes of cyanobacteria in water, or steaming blue pools of water, there were so many things to take photos of.
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Adventures of a couple seeing the world 2 weeks at a time.
Traveling by bus from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back again made for a long day! Not having our own transportation , we went with a day tour. If you’re from a coastal rainforest area, Milford Sound might not be very impressive to you. I found it worth the visit. There were plenty of stops along the way that broke up the trip nicely.
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