Vietnam + Laos

Just a quick update. The fact that this post covers two countries and only six days will tell you something about the trip so far. We've been moving around quite a bit, which is okay, because I can't really get around the countryside on my own so seeing it from the window of a bus is the closest I'm likely to get right now. As you may know I injured my ankle in New Orleans during a night of carousing as exciting as it was enigmatic. The details are hazy, but probably awesome. Anyway, this limits my mobility just enough to be annoying.
We got into Saigon Saturday night after what seemed like a week in the air but still managed to drag ourselves out just long enough for one beer and to notice that certain Vietnamese women can be very forward. Very. We managed to both get back to bed alone and spent most of the next day wandering around the city sweating. We also visited the old presidential palace, which was very sixties-spy chic and the war remnants museum, which despite it's name portrays the war as a serious of brutal massacres of innocent civilians by America soldiers who somehow died in vast numbers(did you know 1 million Americans died in the war?). The food everywhere was plentiful and fantastic, but we decided to make the most of our time and move on to Laos.
Vientiane was fairly nice, as fair we could tell, but we were bound for Luang Prabang, which is one of those rare cities that just feels nice, like someone had layed it out for you. We saw a lovely cave and some waterfalls, and met what was probably the drunkest American in southeast asia(but friendly) and now we are on to Vang Vien for some tubing and a Beerlao or two.

NZ Pictures

Beach fire.












Franz Josef Glacier. Will look more intrepid when I photoshop out the other tourists.











View At Murchison Lake.



















Milford sound. Small cruise ship included for scale.




















Sheep stares at penguin.



















Sunset on the Otago Peninsula.















Above Lake Tekapo.




















Ukelele lessons, with my backup dancer, Randall.

Lately

Been a while since I posted. Made it to Nelson, where I stayed with family friends Randall and Lisa. It was nice to take it easy for a few days. The area they live in is extremely lovely. I'm sure it has it's problems, but they are hard to imagine. They were charming hosts and stuffed me with sausages and wine, and feijoa cider whatever that may be. We drove up along the coast of Tasman Bay and Golden Bay(tragically renamed from Murderer's Bay, but better for real estate prices no doubt) to Wharariki Beach which has some pretty good dunes and crazy sea caves. The tide was low enough that we got into one about an arms breadth wide and 25 feet high that twisted down to the ocean. For one second in the middle there was no light, just ankle deep water running down . . . somewhere. Exciting.
We were going to go boating on the Abel Tasman the next day but we decided to stay off the open ocean due to the Tsunami, which failed to materialize. Still, it was fun to get out on Nelson harbor in Randall's jetboat.
Lisa advised me to head down to Milford Sound as quickly as possible in order to try and catch a patch of sunlight predicted at the end of the week, so I raced down the coast. Stopping only to visit a brewery and a glacier. The brewery was a bit lame, but the glacier was amazing. The Franz Josef glacier receives 20-80 meters of snow at its head every year and so plunges down towards the ocean at speeds that can scarcely be called glacial, managing to dip into the temperate rainforest before it can melt. I only had an afternoon to hike up on to it, but it was definitely impressive. I'll have to rely on pictures to tell the rest of that story.
Got into Queenstown fairly late but still managed to hit the club before my 7:50 am departure to Milford Sound. Despite the weathermen's assurances, it was a grey, dismal morning, spitting rain all the way. Lots of low clouds as we pulled into Fjordland National park. We saw the mountain range cast as the Misty Mountains for the upcoming Hobbit films, but it was more mist than mountains. Just as people started grumbling about wasting their time and money the mists slowly began to part like a cotton ball be teased apart, lingering in shreds here and there throughtout the rest of the day, but letting plenty of sunshine through. The rain meant that some of the small waterfalls along the steep glacial valleys were running at full force. The scenery was literally mind-blowing. I had seen pictures, but I guess I've never really believed that any place like this existed, but it does. Somehow, the guy behind me managed to snore loudly through the whole ride. The sound(actually a fjord) is equally impressive. Ringed by snowcapped peaks, its steep sides are covered with a rainforest that just barely clings to the rocks in a mat of intertwined roots. Strong rainstorms occasionally cause whole sections of it to slip loose and plunge into the sea. A number of water falls plunge what seems like hundreds of meters directly into the ocean. To top it all of, our boat was greeted by a pod of bottlenose dolphins. Even the bus driver was impressed by our luck.

Pictures

Auckland

Maori Ceremony














Tongariro crossing, dawn.












Tongariro crossing, volcanic lakes.











Forest near Wellington(bus stop #5219).











Sea plane landing near interisland ferry.

Tree Ferns

New Zealand has been awesome so far. The major challenge so far has been not to spend all of my money. I have a ticket on a backpacker bus, which is probably good given I'm travelling alone. They pick us up at various hostels and show us a standardized itinerary of sights and offer a tantalizing menu of activities. Occasionally they steer us into a blatant tourist trap with a knowing wink, but otherwise no particular complaints. The bus is mostly filled with people from various parts of the British Isles and Germany, although there was a Canadian once.

I started off with a traditional Maori feast in Rotorua after a brisk departure from Auckland. There was a bit of a staged ceremony complete with traditional Maori guitar and then we ate a bunch of food cooked in a hole in the ground. It was suspiciously like Thanksgiving dinner, even including traditional Maori cranberry relish.

Rotorua is the geothermal capital of New Zealand as well, so I spend a day walking around looking at the vents spewing vaguely sulphurous steam out of people's backyards and the boiling mud in the park. Went out to the bar with a group of English people, largely from Newcastle, and met a Canadian valley girl. At least as annoying as the American variety.

The next day we stopped off at the Waitomo caves on the way to Taupo. Opted for the deluxe "black water rafting" trip. This involves getting into a wetsuit and caving helmet and hiking across a large cow pasture and into a hole in the ground. The cave itself is not particularly impressive, although we got very close to some formations. The real draw is the river. When the river flows into the cave, it carries with it a variety of gnats and mosquitos that are then too dense to fly back upstream. Instead they fly towards a bright spot on the ceiling that turns out to be a glowworm surrounded by sticky filaments waiting to eat it. In order to visit these worms, we put on our wellies and climbed into inner tubes and then into the chilly waters of the river. They say there are more glow worms visible in the cave than stars in the sky, but I don't think that is true at any one point, still, the eerie blue-green light they put out is quite impressive. Truth be told I enjoyed paddling through the cave at least as much as the glow worms.

At Taupo I undertook the Tongariro Crossing, which essentially entails hiking over a large active volcano. Mt. Ngaruhoe, which flanks the trail played the part of Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies, and it is quite impressive. To say I was out of shape from being sick lately would be to put it mildy. On the approach to Ngaruhoe at least one Australian fairly yelped "Blimey Mate, yer steaming!" Sadly not a comment on my good looks but on the fact that I was literally surrounded by a cloud of steam from my exertion. I decided to attempt the ascent of Ngaruhoe, which is an cinder cone and essentially offers no purchase anywhere on its slopes. Frankly, Frodo made it look easy, and I had to turn around or risk missing my bus. Still, the scenery is amazing on the hike, alpine meadows, steaming moonscape, emerald lakes and a bit of jungle just at the end.

In Wellington now, which is lovely, although I'm given to understand that's something of an exception. The climate is described this way in my guide. "125 days per year of rain. 64 days with winds gusting to at least 50mph." The city is quite beautiful and surrounded by an impressive collection of forests, including an 80 acre patch of untouched original broadleaf podocarp forest, which basically is transplanted from Gondwana land and includes treeferns up to 20 meters tall. 20. Meter. Ferns. Feel like I might be eaten by a 3 m dragonfly any minute.

Tahiti pictures

No time for captions.