Well, Last I left you I was on my last night in KL. Instead of skipping straight to Vietnam, I thought I should tell you of my last day in KL because it was a bit of a duzzy (I don't really know how to spell that word, but picture, "Last steps a Duzzy").
Anyways, I woke up early determined to see the national Museum. Angel, my couchsurfing host, gave me a lift to the Petronas Towers that morning on the way to work. From there I went to the national Mosque so I could take pictures since it was closed on Friday. While I was there, I was awestruck by the beautiful and incredible architecture of the mosque. Something that I have became accutely aware of in my travels in Malaysia is my complete ignorance of the Islamic faith. I know the basics, but beyond that it is pretty foggy. And something that has struck me is the idea of and Asian Islam. I have always viewed Islam as such a Middle-Eastern religion I forget that the largest population of Muslims is actually in Asia. Anyways, so I had been wanting to learn more about Islam, Buddhism, and Toaism while travelling. Well at the mosque I was approached by a tour guide, and we started talking about Islam. Soon we were rather involved and she invited me to her office to talk. So we went down and I listened more until, finally I told her I had to go. My plane was going to leave soon and I must leave. So at this point it was 11:45. My plane was to leave at 6:05 that night. So plenty of time I figured. So I grabbed lunch, and then realized I didn't have my passport photos for my Vietnam Visa, so I had to grab those and print my airplane ticket off. So by this point it is now 1. I thought no problem, bus back to Angel's, pack, bus back to KL Sentral, catch the train and be at the airport by 4. Well, at around 2:09 I was still on the bus and realized that I think I had just missed my stop. After trying to work this out with a non-English speaking driver I immediately hopped off the bus. As soon as it drove away I realized that I had just left my international cell phone on the bus. So I crossed the street and waited at the other bus stop for my bus to return. And hour and a half later, No Bus! It was now 3:40 so I decide I can't wait any longer. Technically I should be at the airport in 20 minutes. So I run (in 95 degree heat) back to Angel's. Throw all my stuff into my bag, and hightail it out of their. Then I catch a cab to KL Sentral. "Not bad", I think, (not realizing I had left both my belt and travel towel at Angel's). So it is now 4:20 I rush in get directions to the high speed train. Buy the ticket to the international airport (which to me makes perfect sense since I am flying to Vietnam). No, no, no, no, no. Apparently regardless of where it goes all Air Asia flights go out of the domestic airport. So now I have a ticket to the International airport, and from there will have to take a taxi to the LCCT (the domestic airport). So I get on the train, wait 25 minutes, run off, go straight for an ATM, and take 30 ringgits for a taxi out (taking a little extra out since I figured I was going to want a nice stiff drink on the plane if I actually made it). Then I dash to a taxi. However, it is then that I realize the line for the taxi is through the door. "That's it! There is no way I make this flight." It thought. So I wait for a moment at the back of the line looking like a boy that has to use the bathroom badly. Finally I lean forward and explain my situation to the couple in front of me. They kindly let me pass. Doing this I proceed about 30 people up to the front of the line where the man directing taxi's says he has heard my story needs my ticket and he has a taxi ready for me. Little did I realize you had to buy your taxi ticket elsewhere in the airport, so at first I thought I just didn't have enough money. So I run back to the ATM, and take out more money, and then back to the taxi. Then back to the ticket counter (where I was supposed to go the first time), and then finally to the taxi and into one. It is now 5:10. It was one of those hurry up and wait moments. The taxi was normally 30 minutes, but I used a line I've always wanted to say. "I'll give ya all the money I have left if you get me there in under 20!" I said. So we did make good time, and I did handsomely tip, however by the time I got to the check-in counter it was 5:40. Of course, no registers were open so I had to go to costumer service, (where everyone takes a long time). Anyways, finally a register opened up, and me and a man in the same situation tell the man what happening. He looks at us and says, "Nope, I'm sorry that plane is unavailable" I said "you mean for baggage?" "No, it is already taxied to the runway." He replied. "A half-hour early!?" I yelled. Then he looked at me strangely and said "no not a half hour early". So at this point to hurry the process up I shoved my ticket in his face. It turned out, the man who was also late for his plane was late for a different plane. Mine, fortunately, was still waiting. So I bolted from there with a boarding pass, knocking people off escalators left and right. Tapped my feet anxiously through security, and continued to run to the gate. My plane left at 6:05, and I arrived at the gate promptly at 5:57! Just in time. Of course, then I got on the plane looking for a meal and a strong drink, and when they came around with the drink cart I asked kindly for a beer. He looked at me and then said they had no alcoholic beverage onboard. Muslim countries tsk tsk. Haha. Anyways, it all ended well. Except for my phone, towel, and belt. But technicalities. I arrived in Siagon safely, and had a lift waiting for me their who took me to where I was couchsurfing. Everything apparently had been worked out for me without even my knowledge. So it was great.
Now. Siagon. Well, I actually have to run now so I will tell you of Siagon next time. I'm in Hoi An right now.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Epicness of Melbourne
Well boys and gals, let me just say that I did not expect my trip to start out with such Incredible EPICNESS! Melbourne to say the least was... well... a week I won't soon forget. However to jump back to my leaving Auckland I shall keep it brief, because Melbourne will be long.
My last few days in Auckland were hurry-scurry. Between packing and saying goodbye, and all those last minutes things you had forgot to do until the time they were due arrived. However, it all worked out in the end. On Saturday night we had all of the family over, and A (Leigh's mother) finally made me the Pavlova she had promised me all year long. It was a fantastic evening and so nice to finally see all the family one last time. The next morning, was just as hectic with Leigh, Christoph and Yannik leaving to go skiing for the week. We said our goodbyes, which was hard. We all really connected over the past year. More so I think than they were used to as well, which I felt honored by. I'm not sure whether Yannik realized I was leaving or not. Its just to hard to tell. We told him time and again, but its not like he responds to it really. Anyways. It was an emotionally draining day. That night a friend took me back to her place and I crashed there. Early the next morning (like 4:30AM) I was driven to the airport where I snuck my rediculously overweight luggage onto the plane. Several hours later I was landing in Melbourne, Australia. If only I knew what lay before me.
Haha. I suppose I shouldn't build the week up to much, because to be honest I think a lot of the moments you had to be there for, but when you were (which I was), it was EPIC.
Anyways. I landed in Melbourne and took a bus from the airport to the city. Now I should say that when i snuck my overweight luggage onto the plane, I mean I was lugging around about 75lbs worth of it. Some of which was very awkward to handle. So needless to say I need to get rid of it as fast as I could. Fortunately about 50 pounds of that was luggage I was mailing home. So I confusedly walked around the city till I found a post office, went in, lifted my gigantic 50 pound bag onto the counter and told the man I needed to mail this home. He just looked at me blankly. I'm sure he thought I was crazy. But we weighed it, and and it was 23kg, and the maximum was 20kg's that they could mail. After I preformed some incredible puppy dog eyes, the man said we would just call it 20kgs. Then it turned out I couldn't mail it due to my laptop battery. But we did some research and apparently through some extra wrapping and labeling and such we could get around that as well. Finally the bottle of wine that Leigh and Christoph had given me as a goodbye present couldn't be mailed home. That problem was easy to fix though, I would just have to drink it in Melbourne.
So finally I got my bag off, and called my couchsurfing host who I was staying with, Natasha Stalker (kind of a freaky last name for a host but oh well). She gave me directions and off I went to meet her. I found the place easy enough and when a I rang the doorbell, and man with a big beard and frizzy hair answered. Something triggered in my mind about him but I couldn't place it. So I went inside and met everyone else. It appeared to be Natasha and about 4 other American male couchsurfers that were all staying there. Apparently I had happened upon a house that was hosting a whole group of Americans. So much so, that the day before I arrived they had thrown a July 4 party. It felt really nice to be among American's that a lot of that day was actually just spent sitting around chatting with them. Anyways, we were sitting around the kitchen when suddenly it hit me, "I've met that frizzy haired man before!" I thought. It was in Auckland at the Chinese lantern festival. We had both rocked out to a Mongolian throat singing punk rock band together at a couchsurfing meeting that day. Man the world is a small place. We instantly realized the occasion and had a good laugh over that.
That night we were scheduled to go to a African Dance class. Supposedly there was to be a free dance class downtown hosted by a Dutch couchsurfer studying dance in Melbourne. So we all figured why not. But first we thought perhaps we should pick up some booze from the shop. Now there were 5 of us at this point and the house only had one car. I should mention that that car was in fact a truck. I offered to ride in the back as did two of the other guys. When I say the bed of the truck though things got interesting. It had a cover on it and was pretty messy. But the three of us all squeezed in and then were covered up. Now something you should know is that the houses in Melbourne have no insulation, so in Winter (which is now) Natasha's house was FREEZING! (I mean freezing like every morning you wake up and judged the day based on how much breath you could see.) Anyways, The boys and I were surprised to find that the truck bed was actually the warmest place in the house! We were snug as bug in a rug.
At any rate, during the ride we had an intimate knowledge of the noises the truck was making. At one point we commented on how it didn't sound very good.... Sure enough, 30 seconds later the whole thing broke down. We decided to walk to the store since it was only 5 minutes away.... A half hour later we arrived at the store, made our purchase, and walked the other half hour back to the broken car. We tried everything on the car. This and that to no avail. We walked to a gas station and bought jumper cables, and tried to get some one to give us a jump. Problem was that the car was in a funny position where we would have to stop traffic in one lane of a busy road. We called the police to help but they distinctly let us know they didn't fix cars. Finally we decided to push start it even though we only had about 40 feet of space. Fortunately 20ft was all we needed. Getting the car going was so surprising I had to ask if it had actually started or I was hearing things.
Anyways, we went home, got changed and went to the African Dance. Walking through Melbourne at night was beautiful. Course, I love any big buildings at night, but Melbourne actually reminded me a lot of Chicago. The African Dancing was pretty funny to say the least. We arrived late, and had to learn the first couple of moves from watching others. However it gave us a plethora of material to bring back out throughout the week. After this we took a tram to Fitzroy and hit a Pub.
The next day Adam, Tony, and I (all American's) decided to go for a trip to St. Kilda's and try a restuarant that was pay-what-you-will called Lentils. But I should interrupt here, because I just nearly forgot the most important part of the week. I needed a battery for my camera first, so we went to Dick Smith and next door was a bargain book store. Sitting outside on a rack was a glorious book, "Da Gospel According to Ali G"! Oh yes. While most of the older generation that will make no sense too, but for us it was incredible. We instantly bought it and it defined most of our week.
Anyways, back to the restaurant. It was vegetarian, but that aside, it was freakin fantastic. A very hip place. Then we went for walk on the beach where we discovered a large model sun made of metal. Now I should remind everyone that it was pretty cold outside. So upon touching the sun and realizing it was warm we all somewhat laid on top and around it. Making large groups of children wander what was so special about it and thus also join in the fun. Proceeding this we walked by Luna Park. Luna Park is a theme park with the creepiest entry way ever thought of. It is a scary clown face and you enter through his mouth (very disturbing). Afterwards we caught a tram back downtown, because Adam wanted to show me an optical illusion building.
However, on the way there.... I FOUND FIFTY BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!
IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I was walking on the street outside the bus terminal, looked down and noticed some paper on the ground. Went to pick it up, and BOOM! FIFTY BUCKS! Haha. I looked around and asked some people if they had lost some money, but no one claimed it so I smiled and continued on my way a slightly richer man. (I should note, that the optical illusion building was also AWESOME! it was a building designed like the illusion where you have parallel lines on a black and white checkerboard, and it makes them look crooked. Very cool building design.)
Alright from here on I'm just going to bullet point this because its going to be way to huge if I don't so...
My week looked like this:
Found fifty bucks on ground
Saw Optical Illusion building
Ran from Tram Police on way home
Replaced Fuel Filter
Adam got stuck in wheel well
I got drenched in gasoline
Made sure hoses to gas tank were replaced correctly
went out that night (EPIC!)
Wed:
Planned to go to Bimbo's for pizza (awesome pizza parlor name, and $4 pizzas)
Car wouldn't work in the morning
Mechanic came to fix it
We grilled 45 sausages (Mmmm Mm! Kangaroo!)
Cats locked us outside
Helped Mechanic fix the car
The front end of car ERUPTED in flame (while we weree working on it)
Had several seconds of imagining a car blowing up
Bolted to kitchen and filled dish pans up with water to put fire out!
Invented makes shift assembly fire fighting line and put fire out
ALRIGHT HOLD ON!
I just need to throw this out there. We literally had a car ERUPT in FIRE! I mean not like there was a small little flame. I mean this thing Spontaneously COMBUSTED INTO FLAME! There was mental pictures flying through my head of the car exploding 7 feet into the air in front of the house! IT WAS PRETTY FREAKIN RIDICULOUS! We momentarly ran for lives until we thought it might just be better to put the fire out. ANYWAYS, I just thought I should throw that out there. Now back to bullet notes!
Mechanic fix the car 4 hours later
Turns out the lines to the gas tank were switched (Oops!)
went out that night (EPIC!)
Thursday:
Went to Bimbo's
Saw the Orange man walking the streets (Man dressed entirely from in Orange from top hat (thats right TOP HAT) to his shoes)
Went to the ACMI (Australia Center for Movie Images)
Went to the Tim Burton exhibit
Got to hang out next to the actual Batmobile (YA!)
had dinner with Germans (new couchsurfers)
Went salsa dancing with Natasha
left Germans mashpitting in some club
was out for the night (EPIC!)
Friday:
Woke up with misplaced articles
Lazy day
made eggs
and mashed potatos
Went to the Melbourne Projection Festival which was interesting
headed to Chinatown
took Natasha home early
Left Phone and Camera in the taxi
Had cabbie return with my phone
met up with Adam and Langdon at Kebab stand for an EPIC! night
Sat:
discovered I had lost my camera
went to queen street Market
Had my first Burek (tasty pastry with meat in it)
relaxed back at the house
a Wizardstaff may or may not have been built
went to little creatures brewery
went back to bimbo's
had another EPIC! night in Melbourne
Sunday:
Woke up the next morning to the news that the cab driver had returned the night before and dropped my camera off (AWESOME!)
Natasha made delicious crepe's and I bought my plane ticket to Veitnam
Adam and I spent the day writing our memoirs of the past week to have them in writing.
(These bullet points are just small bits of the memoirs written that day)
That night I caught a plane to KL
Arrived in KL at 8 in the morning and took bus to town where I caught a bus to Singapore
After 16 hours of travelI meet up with Michelle for my four days in Singapore
That day I eat a delicous dinner of many foods I can't pronounce
That night Michelle and several friends and I go on a Night Safari at the park
(Night safari is really cool because its for nocturnal animals, and you can see them in the dark while they are actually active) (Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!)
Tuesday:
Spent the day exploring the city of Singapore
I spent the morning in Chinatown looking at all the hawkers and tried out some foot reflexology (basically a painful foot message) (I decide who to see by trying to find the oldest wisest looking man)
Then to the waterfront were I saw the Merlion (huge statue of a half-fish half-lion)
Next went to Kampung Gam (the Muslim section of town) and saw the Sultan's palace and the Sultan's Mosque
Then to Little India where 70 people all tried to sell me a new suit (also checked out the temples and such as I had everywhere)
Met up with Michelle and her family for dinner in Little India)
Then her brother (WHO HAS THE COOLEST NAME EVER: RONIN!) (AWESOME) took me out on the town (and by that I mean he and a friend showed me around the red light district of Singapore)
I have never been in a red light district, much less one in Asia, much less ever really thought about what happens there (let me just say it was an "experience", and I don't think I will be going back anytime soon. However its nice to have a image I can put in my head now when I hear the term "Red Light District")
Wednesday:
Michelle and I explored the city some more
Went to Hort Park (cool treetop bridge the whole way through)
Ate some Dim Sum (I should just say I ate AWESOMENESS! EVERYDAY here!)
Was going to see botanical gardens there, but we were both too tired so headed home.
I worked on writing this rather than sleeping
Also bought a visa to Vietnam
That night met up with Taylor (a UVA alum who I was crashing with) and Michelle and friends, we all went out to dinner and then hit a club that night (EPIC!) (haha, I just like saying that)
Thursday:
Woke up, packed, caught a bus to Kuala Lumpur
Met up with Angel (my couchsurfer here in KL)
Went back to her place and crashed after a tour around town
Friday:
Explored the city seeing the temples and Mosques of the city
Its definitely interesting being in and Asian Muslim country (I always think of Islam so much as a middle eastern religion, (which it is) but Malaysia is also a Muslim country with Muslim police outside of the normal police force.) (I also got a bit of a surprise when I came around a corner and suddenly was facing 500 people who got down on their knees bowed to me. I quickly realized I had come upon the call to prayer, but for a moment I was very confused)
Saturday
The next day Angel and I went to Batu Caves (a Massive series of caves with Hindu Temples within them)
Felt like I was going to be attacked by swarms of Monkeys at every step (they were everywhere)
Spent the day relaxing and finishing a puzzle with Angel
That night, I hit up the night market in Little India for a great experience (was able to impress the locals with my Malay language skills)
Sunday:
Explored the parks of KL, went to the orchid and hibiscus gardens along with there lake gardens with Angel
Got passport photos done at the mall
Ate some rockin Mee Goreng
Came back to Angels place and have now been workin on this for an hour or two
PEACE OUT!
Alright guys. I know that was pretty crappy, but its also pretty crappy to try and write about my travels rather than experiencing them. Well you know what I mean. Sorry a lot of this also probably doesn't make sense if you were there, but so be it. I've had an incredible last two weeks. Far crazier than I ever could have expected. Sorry I've been away for a while. I apologize. You guys rock. I'm off to Vietnam tomorrow. Till Next Time...
Goodbye and so Long
May the Force be with you.
Wes
My last few days in Auckland were hurry-scurry. Between packing and saying goodbye, and all those last minutes things you had forgot to do until the time they were due arrived. However, it all worked out in the end. On Saturday night we had all of the family over, and A (Leigh's mother) finally made me the Pavlova she had promised me all year long. It was a fantastic evening and so nice to finally see all the family one last time. The next morning, was just as hectic with Leigh, Christoph and Yannik leaving to go skiing for the week. We said our goodbyes, which was hard. We all really connected over the past year. More so I think than they were used to as well, which I felt honored by. I'm not sure whether Yannik realized I was leaving or not. Its just to hard to tell. We told him time and again, but its not like he responds to it really. Anyways. It was an emotionally draining day. That night a friend took me back to her place and I crashed there. Early the next morning (like 4:30AM) I was driven to the airport where I snuck my rediculously overweight luggage onto the plane. Several hours later I was landing in Melbourne, Australia. If only I knew what lay before me.
Haha. I suppose I shouldn't build the week up to much, because to be honest I think a lot of the moments you had to be there for, but when you were (which I was), it was EPIC.
Anyways. I landed in Melbourne and took a bus from the airport to the city. Now I should say that when i snuck my overweight luggage onto the plane, I mean I was lugging around about 75lbs worth of it. Some of which was very awkward to handle. So needless to say I need to get rid of it as fast as I could. Fortunately about 50 pounds of that was luggage I was mailing home. So I confusedly walked around the city till I found a post office, went in, lifted my gigantic 50 pound bag onto the counter and told the man I needed to mail this home. He just looked at me blankly. I'm sure he thought I was crazy. But we weighed it, and and it was 23kg, and the maximum was 20kg's that they could mail. After I preformed some incredible puppy dog eyes, the man said we would just call it 20kgs. Then it turned out I couldn't mail it due to my laptop battery. But we did some research and apparently through some extra wrapping and labeling and such we could get around that as well. Finally the bottle of wine that Leigh and Christoph had given me as a goodbye present couldn't be mailed home. That problem was easy to fix though, I would just have to drink it in Melbourne.
So finally I got my bag off, and called my couchsurfing host who I was staying with, Natasha Stalker (kind of a freaky last name for a host but oh well). She gave me directions and off I went to meet her. I found the place easy enough and when a I rang the doorbell, and man with a big beard and frizzy hair answered. Something triggered in my mind about him but I couldn't place it. So I went inside and met everyone else. It appeared to be Natasha and about 4 other American male couchsurfers that were all staying there. Apparently I had happened upon a house that was hosting a whole group of Americans. So much so, that the day before I arrived they had thrown a July 4 party. It felt really nice to be among American's that a lot of that day was actually just spent sitting around chatting with them. Anyways, we were sitting around the kitchen when suddenly it hit me, "I've met that frizzy haired man before!" I thought. It was in Auckland at the Chinese lantern festival. We had both rocked out to a Mongolian throat singing punk rock band together at a couchsurfing meeting that day. Man the world is a small place. We instantly realized the occasion and had a good laugh over that.
That night we were scheduled to go to a African Dance class. Supposedly there was to be a free dance class downtown hosted by a Dutch couchsurfer studying dance in Melbourne. So we all figured why not. But first we thought perhaps we should pick up some booze from the shop. Now there were 5 of us at this point and the house only had one car. I should mention that that car was in fact a truck. I offered to ride in the back as did two of the other guys. When I say the bed of the truck though things got interesting. It had a cover on it and was pretty messy. But the three of us all squeezed in and then were covered up. Now something you should know is that the houses in Melbourne have no insulation, so in Winter (which is now) Natasha's house was FREEZING! (I mean freezing like every morning you wake up and judged the day based on how much breath you could see.) Anyways, The boys and I were surprised to find that the truck bed was actually the warmest place in the house! We were snug as bug in a rug.
At any rate, during the ride we had an intimate knowledge of the noises the truck was making. At one point we commented on how it didn't sound very good.... Sure enough, 30 seconds later the whole thing broke down. We decided to walk to the store since it was only 5 minutes away.... A half hour later we arrived at the store, made our purchase, and walked the other half hour back to the broken car. We tried everything on the car. This and that to no avail. We walked to a gas station and bought jumper cables, and tried to get some one to give us a jump. Problem was that the car was in a funny position where we would have to stop traffic in one lane of a busy road. We called the police to help but they distinctly let us know they didn't fix cars. Finally we decided to push start it even though we only had about 40 feet of space. Fortunately 20ft was all we needed. Getting the car going was so surprising I had to ask if it had actually started or I was hearing things.
Anyways, we went home, got changed and went to the African Dance. Walking through Melbourne at night was beautiful. Course, I love any big buildings at night, but Melbourne actually reminded me a lot of Chicago. The African Dancing was pretty funny to say the least. We arrived late, and had to learn the first couple of moves from watching others. However it gave us a plethora of material to bring back out throughout the week. After this we took a tram to Fitzroy and hit a Pub.
The next day Adam, Tony, and I (all American's) decided to go for a trip to St. Kilda's and try a restuarant that was pay-what-you-will called Lentils. But I should interrupt here, because I just nearly forgot the most important part of the week. I needed a battery for my camera first, so we went to Dick Smith and next door was a bargain book store. Sitting outside on a rack was a glorious book, "Da Gospel According to Ali G"! Oh yes. While most of the older generation that will make no sense too, but for us it was incredible. We instantly bought it and it defined most of our week.
Anyways, back to the restaurant. It was vegetarian, but that aside, it was freakin fantastic. A very hip place. Then we went for walk on the beach where we discovered a large model sun made of metal. Now I should remind everyone that it was pretty cold outside. So upon touching the sun and realizing it was warm we all somewhat laid on top and around it. Making large groups of children wander what was so special about it and thus also join in the fun. Proceeding this we walked by Luna Park. Luna Park is a theme park with the creepiest entry way ever thought of. It is a scary clown face and you enter through his mouth (very disturbing). Afterwards we caught a tram back downtown, because Adam wanted to show me an optical illusion building.
However, on the way there.... I FOUND FIFTY BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!
IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
I was walking on the street outside the bus terminal, looked down and noticed some paper on the ground. Went to pick it up, and BOOM! FIFTY BUCKS! Haha. I looked around and asked some people if they had lost some money, but no one claimed it so I smiled and continued on my way a slightly richer man. (I should note, that the optical illusion building was also AWESOME! it was a building designed like the illusion where you have parallel lines on a black and white checkerboard, and it makes them look crooked. Very cool building design.)
Alright from here on I'm just going to bullet point this because its going to be way to huge if I don't so...
My week looked like this:
Found fifty bucks on ground
Saw Optical Illusion building
Ran from Tram Police on way home
Replaced Fuel Filter
Adam got stuck in wheel well
I got drenched in gasoline
Made sure hoses to gas tank were replaced correctly
went out that night (EPIC!)
Wed:
Planned to go to Bimbo's for pizza (awesome pizza parlor name, and $4 pizzas)
Car wouldn't work in the morning
Mechanic came to fix it
We grilled 45 sausages (Mmmm Mm! Kangaroo!)
Cats locked us outside
Helped Mechanic fix the car
The front end of car ERUPTED in flame (while we weree working on it)
Had several seconds of imagining a car blowing up
Bolted to kitchen and filled dish pans up with water to put fire out!
Invented makes shift assembly fire fighting line and put fire out
ALRIGHT HOLD ON!
I just need to throw this out there. We literally had a car ERUPT in FIRE! I mean not like there was a small little flame. I mean this thing Spontaneously COMBUSTED INTO FLAME! There was mental pictures flying through my head of the car exploding 7 feet into the air in front of the house! IT WAS PRETTY FREAKIN RIDICULOUS! We momentarly ran for lives until we thought it might just be better to put the fire out. ANYWAYS, I just thought I should throw that out there. Now back to bullet notes!
Mechanic fix the car 4 hours later
Turns out the lines to the gas tank were switched (Oops!)
went out that night (EPIC!)
Thursday:
Went to Bimbo's
Saw the Orange man walking the streets (Man dressed entirely from in Orange from top hat (thats right TOP HAT) to his shoes)
Went to the ACMI (Australia Center for Movie Images)
Went to the Tim Burton exhibit
Got to hang out next to the actual Batmobile (YA!)
had dinner with Germans (new couchsurfers)
Went salsa dancing with Natasha
left Germans mashpitting in some club
was out for the night (EPIC!)
Friday:
Woke up with misplaced articles
Lazy day
made eggs
and mashed potatos
Went to the Melbourne Projection Festival which was interesting
headed to Chinatown
took Natasha home early
Left Phone and Camera in the taxi
Had cabbie return with my phone
met up with Adam and Langdon at Kebab stand for an EPIC! night
Sat:
discovered I had lost my camera
went to queen street Market
Had my first Burek (tasty pastry with meat in it)
relaxed back at the house
a Wizardstaff may or may not have been built
went to little creatures brewery
went back to bimbo's
had another EPIC! night in Melbourne
Sunday:
Woke up the next morning to the news that the cab driver had returned the night before and dropped my camera off (AWESOME!)
Natasha made delicious crepe's and I bought my plane ticket to Veitnam
Adam and I spent the day writing our memoirs of the past week to have them in writing.
(These bullet points are just small bits of the memoirs written that day)
That night I caught a plane to KL
Arrived in KL at 8 in the morning and took bus to town where I caught a bus to Singapore
After 16 hours of travelI meet up with Michelle for my four days in Singapore
That day I eat a delicous dinner of many foods I can't pronounce
That night Michelle and several friends and I go on a Night Safari at the park
(Night safari is really cool because its for nocturnal animals, and you can see them in the dark while they are actually active) (Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!)
Tuesday:
Spent the day exploring the city of Singapore
I spent the morning in Chinatown looking at all the hawkers and tried out some foot reflexology (basically a painful foot message) (I decide who to see by trying to find the oldest wisest looking man)
Then to the waterfront were I saw the Merlion (huge statue of a half-fish half-lion)
Next went to Kampung Gam (the Muslim section of town) and saw the Sultan's palace and the Sultan's Mosque
Then to Little India where 70 people all tried to sell me a new suit (also checked out the temples and such as I had everywhere)
Met up with Michelle and her family for dinner in Little India)
Then her brother (WHO HAS THE COOLEST NAME EVER: RONIN!) (AWESOME) took me out on the town (and by that I mean he and a friend showed me around the red light district of Singapore)
I have never been in a red light district, much less one in Asia, much less ever really thought about what happens there (let me just say it was an "experience", and I don't think I will be going back anytime soon. However its nice to have a image I can put in my head now when I hear the term "Red Light District")
Wednesday:
Michelle and I explored the city some more
Went to Hort Park (cool treetop bridge the whole way through)
Ate some Dim Sum (I should just say I ate AWESOMENESS! EVERYDAY here!)
Was going to see botanical gardens there, but we were both too tired so headed home.
I worked on writing this rather than sleeping
Also bought a visa to Vietnam
That night met up with Taylor (a UVA alum who I was crashing with) and Michelle and friends, we all went out to dinner and then hit a club that night (EPIC!) (haha, I just like saying that)
Thursday:
Woke up, packed, caught a bus to Kuala Lumpur
Met up with Angel (my couchsurfer here in KL)
Went back to her place and crashed after a tour around town
Friday:
Explored the city seeing the temples and Mosques of the city
Its definitely interesting being in and Asian Muslim country (I always think of Islam so much as a middle eastern religion, (which it is) but Malaysia is also a Muslim country with Muslim police outside of the normal police force.) (I also got a bit of a surprise when I came around a corner and suddenly was facing 500 people who got down on their knees bowed to me. I quickly realized I had come upon the call to prayer, but for a moment I was very confused)
Saturday
The next day Angel and I went to Batu Caves (a Massive series of caves with Hindu Temples within them)
Felt like I was going to be attacked by swarms of Monkeys at every step (they were everywhere)
Spent the day relaxing and finishing a puzzle with Angel
That night, I hit up the night market in Little India for a great experience (was able to impress the locals with my Malay language skills)
Sunday:
Explored the parks of KL, went to the orchid and hibiscus gardens along with there lake gardens with Angel
Got passport photos done at the mall
Ate some rockin Mee Goreng
Came back to Angels place and have now been workin on this for an hour or two
PEACE OUT!
Alright guys. I know that was pretty crappy, but its also pretty crappy to try and write about my travels rather than experiencing them. Well you know what I mean. Sorry a lot of this also probably doesn't make sense if you were there, but so be it. I've had an incredible last two weeks. Far crazier than I ever could have expected. Sorry I've been away for a while. I apologize. You guys rock. I'm off to Vietnam tomorrow. Till Next Time...
Goodbye and so Long
May the Force be with you.
Wes
Thursday, July 1, 2010
1 Week North, and 1 Week Fiji
Alright guys... I know it has been a while since my last post, but that is because I have been away. This may well be a long one as I have a lot to catch you up on. Many adventures in the 2 weeks of vacations I have just had.
So to take it from the beginning I was having an old friend from the States visit me here in NZ. She had just graduated last year and joined the peace corps. So for the past year she has been living in Mongolia (least densely populated place in the world) and teaching English. For her summer break she came down to NZ to visit me (after a week with her family in Australia). Our plan was to do a week in the North Island of NZ and then a week in Fiji. And that's just what we did.
So Lara arrived on Saturday in the afternoon. I picked her up at the airport (I was late! Oops!) and we hopped a bus from there to downtown. I wasn't going to give her any down time. We were headed straight to Waiheke (an Island in that has several towns on it that is situated in the Auckland Harbour). I had a friend who had a house boat on Waiheke and was throwing a goodbye get together there for me. So we caught the ferry and went straight over. Once arriving we got groceries and made our way to the houseboat. The whole night was a lot of fun especially in such a rustic setting as this houseboat. We had to use a long-drop (the NZ word for an outhouse), and the house had no electricity so we partied using candles and a gas lantern. The boat was docked in the middle of a mangrove swamp, and the water was full of phosphurscent algae so when you splashed it than it lit up neon green momentarily. It was really cool. We made a huge soup dish for dinner. Lara was lucky enough to find a hair band in her serving, "Michelle did you lose a hairband while you were cooking?" was probably the hardest I had laughed in a long time. In the morning we through some tuna in the water and watched the eels come in and eat it. Then we went for a walk and saw some of the ugliest ducks I have ever laid eyes on (and these ugly ducks will never grow into beautiful swans). We took the ferry back that evening and got dinner at my favorite food court. Lara was in constant amazement and the ease of life here (they have no hot water in Mongolia and electricity is pretty on and off) (not to mention it gets down to -40 degrees there). After dinner we saw Robin Hood because Lara hadn't been to a cinema in over a year. By the way, HORRIBLE film! Afterwards we drove Thomas's brother home, because Thomas was kind enough to lend me his car the next day.
So the next morning we relaxed in the morning. We did some laundry and got our all together all together. Around noon we decided to leave (I was taking Lara to a west coast beach, Karekare). We got to the car, and started it.... or tried to start it. Nothing was happening. The battery wasn't dead, but the engine wasn't catching. So then we thought it had been pretty low on gas when we had parked it last night. So, after trying to push start it to no avail, we decided to walk to a gas station. When we arrived the woman said that they had no gas tank to lend us because some one had made off with their last one. So we then walked to a mechanic's, and Lara used her womanly wiles to get a gas container from then. Then it was back to the gas station, then to the car. When we finally got to the car, we realized that the spout on the container the mechanic had given us was the wrong fit. We couldn't get a seal between the container and the spout. So we had to try and hold the two together as tightly as we could while we poured. After pouring about half the container (1/4 in the car and 1/4 all over ourselves) we tried again. The car still didn't start. So the rest of the gas went in, but the car still refused to start. At that point, I was out of ideas. Lara ran across the street to a man outside of an Auto shop and brought him back. He sat down in the drivers seat, turn the key, and the car started immediately..... I HATE THAT! Haha. Apparently I just need to tap the gas pedal while starting it to feed some gas into the lines.
Anyways with that adventure behind us, we went to the beach and went for a walk. Now I knew that it had been raining a lot, but I was unaware of just how much. When we got to the carpark, we decided to take the path so we didn't have to get our feet wet (It is Winter over here.) What I didn't realize was that the path was also covered in a river about ankle deep. So we then waded through that went for a walk on the beach, got caught in a downpour, and then waded our way back to the car. (Not our ideal day, but actually a lot of fun.) When we got home Lara met Leigh, Christoph, and Yannik. We cooked dinner for them that night (which also turned out somewhat disastrously, but I think they appreciated the gesture.)
The next morning we were up bright and early, packed our bags and took Thomas's car back to him on the North Shore. However we failed to predict traffic on our way back, and just managed to catch our bus (I mean like almost ran it down sort of thing). But we made it and so we caught our bus down to Taupo for the first leg of our journey. Upon arriving in Taupo I immediately called to double check our reservations for ....... Wait for it...... SKYDIVING!!!!!! The company picked us up and drove us out to the airfield. We both got dressed up warmly since it was -10 degrees Celsius at 15,000ft up. So after a 15 minute plane ride we and a man strapped to our backs sat on the edge of a plane 15,000 feet above the ground, and gently threw ourselves out of it. The fall was a blast. It was a whole minute plus of freefall time, and I had told my guy to just have fun as if I wasn't there. So he took it upon himself to do flips and spins and such. It was a great ride down. Then after a minute or so the chute was pulled and I had another 5 minutes or so of looking out at the snowcapped mountains beyond Lake Taupo just as the sun was setting. Stunning!
After our skydiving adventure we got a recommendation for a hostel, checked in, and settled down. We watched the second LOTR movie, and then headed to a bar. See, it was the night of the 1st game of the world cup for NZ. (NZ's All Whites had not been in the world cup for 30 years, and in a country that is fanatical about sports, this was obviously a HUGE deal). So we found a nice pub where we ran into some of our skydive instructors. After a little chat with them the game came on. Now this was a Irish pub, and there were a bunch of Irish men that were apparently very passionate about NZ's All Whites. The game was pretty incredible. We got scored on early in the second half and then in the 90th minute of the game (literally seconds before it ended), we got a header in. Needless to say I learned a couple new curse words that night from the incredibly vocal Irishmen around me. It was a blast though. When we tied at the very end, it was hugs all around. (I've never seen so many grown men cry at once).
The next day we were up early again, and walked to Huka falls, and then back for a lay about in the natural Hot Springs. Once again, we rolled up to our bus just seconds before it was to depart. I actually had to ran for it, and when I caught the bus driver he just looked at his watch and chuckled saying how close we were cutting it. But we caught our bus and made our way down to Wellington (I should mention if only so they live in infamy, that we had the most annoying couple in the world behind us on the bus. Man if I ever sound like that when I'm with my girlfriend in a public location, someone please smack me.) Anyways, at Wellington Jeanie picked us up. (She is a friend of Leigh and Christoph's who I have met, and who my parents and I stayed with when we traveled earlier in the year). So that night we had a delicious dinner and great company.
Then next morning Lara and I spent the day in Wellington. We went to Te Papa (the National Museum of NZ) and then ate at Wagamama (which apparently means "naughty child") where I had my first eddimomy (that is definitely not how spell it, but I'm going phonetically). After lunch we went to the National Tattoo Museum (Kiwi's have some awesome tattoo's not to mention the native culture of tattooing among the Maori's). This museum obviously had been downgraded from what it once was. It was a bit of a bust to be honest, but it was free, and we saw some cool pictures. Afterwards we bought a cake and some wine for Jeanie and Larry and made our way back to their place. (Which I should say is always fun. Jeanie is just a blast to be around and so funny, not to mention she has some great stories. And Larry (an American) is always happy when he meets a fellow countrymen, and after 40 years in the Marines, he has some incredible stories too. (and he likes to share them))
Well the next morning found us being dropped off at the airport fly over to Fiji. Our first week was over. The airport was uneventful, except that Lara forgot to print her return ticket off, and supposedly you have to have proof that you also have a ticket to leave a country if you are going to enter the country. But we printed one off at the office, and it was no big deal. We landed in Fiji in easily about 85 degree weather. We had planned to couchsurf while there. So Lara had arranged for us to stay with this family in Nadi (city where the airport is). As we were leaving the airport a man came up to us and asked where we were going. The conversation went something like this:
Man: Bula, May I ask were you are staying?
Lara: Oh we know people here
Man: But where are you staying.
Lara: Oh we are just staying with some friends.
Man: Oh, so you have friends here.
Lara: Ya.
Man: Well where are they?
Lara: You mean like where do the live?
Man: Yes, where are you staying?
Lara: Like the address its um here
Me: (Staring back and forth between them at this bizarre exchange and deciding whether this man was planning to either scam us or mug us.)
Man: Oh Diane and Paul. I know them.
Lara: Wait you know these guys.
Man: Yes Diane and Paul, many people stay with them. That woman over there is waiting for you.
It was then that we saw the woman in the corner holding a sign saying "Lara and friend". So she set us up with a taxi and sent us on our way. Before going to Diane and Paul's though we got the taxi driver to give us a tour of Nadi, and ate some fresh coconut from a stand on the side of the road. When we did arrive at Diane and Paul's, we were greeted at a gate by a group of Rockweilers and a man with a gash in his side about 3 inches long, a half inch wide and an inch deep (quite literally an inch deep so you could see like flesh). I thought, this is a little bizarre, but then Diane came out and greeted us and introduced us to Paul. Diane breeds Rockweilers which explained them, and Noah, the guy with the gash had had a cyst that took a nasty turn which is where the gash came from. (Hospitals don't have the best medicine in Fiji, so they were treating it with herbal salves and it was getting better (I would have hate to of seen it when it was worse. Yikes!)) Noah it turned out was a travel agent, and so we talked that night about our plan for Fiji, and he set us up with a good package and so the next morning we were hopping on a boat and making our way to Mana Island.
Mana is where Survivor Fiji was filmed (they still had the set there, they had just left it sitting there. It was pretty disgusting how we had never cleaned up after ourselves), and right next to the island where Cast Away had been filmed. We stayed at a backpackers there for $30 US a night with all food included. It was pretty awesome. One day we went out snorkeling, and had literally the best snorkel I have ever had in my life. (Even better than the Great Barrier Reef). Most the time was spent relaxing on a beach or swimming in gorgeous turquoise water, or playing foosball in the backpackers. Mana also had a village on it. (Many Fijians still live in rural villages on islands). So it was nice to be able to walk through a village, and meet native Fijians. See the kids in the school and listen in on a church service. On night I was walking back to my bunk when I started talking to several Fijians who were sitting around drinking Kava. (Kava is the traditional Fijian drink. It was made from the root of a Kava tree/plant. They grind it up and mix it with water. Its not alcoholic as many people think, but it does numb your tongue and makes you a little drowsy. It also should be noted many people hate it and compare it to mudwater (which is what it does look like and partially taste like)) Anyways, they invited me to join them, and so all night I spent just hanging out with the villagers and learning my Fijian phrases and joking around. That was really cool cause for the rest of my time there I could refer to people by name and talk to them lightly in Fijian. Anyways, it was really neat to kind of get a real taste of Fijian life from the village.
I should also comment that Lara and I were scheduled to have a room to ourselves, but we decided when we got there why not just crash in a dorm so we can meet people easier. So they moved us.... to another room with just two single beds in it. Pretty much the same as what we had before. However the next day we found out the bed they had given us originally had been given to another couple after we changed rooms, and that couple had been attacked by bed bugs in the middle of the night. Funny how fate works sometimes.
At any rate, after 3 nights at Mana we went to Kuata which was definitely a little more upscale but a lot more tame. It was a nice transition after going from a young place with a good share of nightlife, and bad food and bad beds we moved to a place where the food was good and we had our own room, and we went to bed at 10 rather than 3. So it was a good way to end the trip. We spent 2 nights in Kuata. While there, I was able to go spear fishing... Awesome! Mark that off my life list. And we went snorkeling with reef sharks. You could swim down and if you were fast enough grab there fin and get pulled along by them. Another life goal to mark off. I also got a message outside in a cave (for ridiculously cheap) while I listened to the ocean waves break on the beach (this sound was only slightly deterred by the gaggle of Fijian women gossiping around me in a foreign language).
All in all, an incredible week. Fiji was fantastic, and I would recommend it to anyone. Lara and I made our way back to Auckland (flying on Air NZ which is even better than Quantas! I didn't know it was possible to be better than Quantas!) Her last day we took it easy, and went out to dinner with Leigh and Christoph and then rented a movie and watched it. The next day, we went out to a cafe for breakfast right before I took her to the airport. When we went to leave I realized that I had left the lights on and the battery was dead. Yay Dead Car Adventures. Haha. Fortunately we were in a parking lot with lots of help around. It started pretty quickly with a jump. After dropping her off I realized I only had a week left.
That night I went to a "fancy dress" party. Which I should let those of you in the states know, THAT DOES NOT MEAN BE FANCY! Apparently "fancy dress" in NZ means a costume party. Well I felt silly. Let me just say that. But I had an incredible time. It was a lot of fun.
Since then this week has been more of the same wrapping up stuff as before. And now I have wrapped up my blog for the time being. Thanks for listening. Sorry its such a novel. Next time I talk I may well be in Melbourne. Well. Cheers. I'm on my way home guys.
Wes
So to take it from the beginning I was having an old friend from the States visit me here in NZ. She had just graduated last year and joined the peace corps. So for the past year she has been living in Mongolia (least densely populated place in the world) and teaching English. For her summer break she came down to NZ to visit me (after a week with her family in Australia). Our plan was to do a week in the North Island of NZ and then a week in Fiji. And that's just what we did.
So Lara arrived on Saturday in the afternoon. I picked her up at the airport (I was late! Oops!) and we hopped a bus from there to downtown. I wasn't going to give her any down time. We were headed straight to Waiheke (an Island in that has several towns on it that is situated in the Auckland Harbour). I had a friend who had a house boat on Waiheke and was throwing a goodbye get together there for me. So we caught the ferry and went straight over. Once arriving we got groceries and made our way to the houseboat. The whole night was a lot of fun especially in such a rustic setting as this houseboat. We had to use a long-drop (the NZ word for an outhouse), and the house had no electricity so we partied using candles and a gas lantern. The boat was docked in the middle of a mangrove swamp, and the water was full of phosphurscent algae so when you splashed it than it lit up neon green momentarily. It was really cool. We made a huge soup dish for dinner. Lara was lucky enough to find a hair band in her serving, "Michelle did you lose a hairband while you were cooking?" was probably the hardest I had laughed in a long time. In the morning we through some tuna in the water and watched the eels come in and eat it. Then we went for a walk and saw some of the ugliest ducks I have ever laid eyes on (and these ugly ducks will never grow into beautiful swans). We took the ferry back that evening and got dinner at my favorite food court. Lara was in constant amazement and the ease of life here (they have no hot water in Mongolia and electricity is pretty on and off) (not to mention it gets down to -40 degrees there). After dinner we saw Robin Hood because Lara hadn't been to a cinema in over a year. By the way, HORRIBLE film! Afterwards we drove Thomas's brother home, because Thomas was kind enough to lend me his car the next day.
So the next morning we relaxed in the morning. We did some laundry and got our all together all together. Around noon we decided to leave (I was taking Lara to a west coast beach, Karekare). We got to the car, and started it.... or tried to start it. Nothing was happening. The battery wasn't dead, but the engine wasn't catching. So then we thought it had been pretty low on gas when we had parked it last night. So, after trying to push start it to no avail, we decided to walk to a gas station. When we arrived the woman said that they had no gas tank to lend us because some one had made off with their last one. So we then walked to a mechanic's, and Lara used her womanly wiles to get a gas container from then. Then it was back to the gas station, then to the car. When we finally got to the car, we realized that the spout on the container the mechanic had given us was the wrong fit. We couldn't get a seal between the container and the spout. So we had to try and hold the two together as tightly as we could while we poured. After pouring about half the container (1/4 in the car and 1/4 all over ourselves) we tried again. The car still didn't start. So the rest of the gas went in, but the car still refused to start. At that point, I was out of ideas. Lara ran across the street to a man outside of an Auto shop and brought him back. He sat down in the drivers seat, turn the key, and the car started immediately..... I HATE THAT! Haha. Apparently I just need to tap the gas pedal while starting it to feed some gas into the lines.
Anyways with that adventure behind us, we went to the beach and went for a walk. Now I knew that it had been raining a lot, but I was unaware of just how much. When we got to the carpark, we decided to take the path so we didn't have to get our feet wet (It is Winter over here.) What I didn't realize was that the path was also covered in a river about ankle deep. So we then waded through that went for a walk on the beach, got caught in a downpour, and then waded our way back to the car. (Not our ideal day, but actually a lot of fun.) When we got home Lara met Leigh, Christoph, and Yannik. We cooked dinner for them that night (which also turned out somewhat disastrously, but I think they appreciated the gesture.)
The next morning we were up bright and early, packed our bags and took Thomas's car back to him on the North Shore. However we failed to predict traffic on our way back, and just managed to catch our bus (I mean like almost ran it down sort of thing). But we made it and so we caught our bus down to Taupo for the first leg of our journey. Upon arriving in Taupo I immediately called to double check our reservations for ....... Wait for it...... SKYDIVING!!!!!! The company picked us up and drove us out to the airfield. We both got dressed up warmly since it was -10 degrees Celsius at 15,000ft up. So after a 15 minute plane ride we and a man strapped to our backs sat on the edge of a plane 15,000 feet above the ground, and gently threw ourselves out of it. The fall was a blast. It was a whole minute plus of freefall time, and I had told my guy to just have fun as if I wasn't there. So he took it upon himself to do flips and spins and such. It was a great ride down. Then after a minute or so the chute was pulled and I had another 5 minutes or so of looking out at the snowcapped mountains beyond Lake Taupo just as the sun was setting. Stunning!
After our skydiving adventure we got a recommendation for a hostel, checked in, and settled down. We watched the second LOTR movie, and then headed to a bar. See, it was the night of the 1st game of the world cup for NZ. (NZ's All Whites had not been in the world cup for 30 years, and in a country that is fanatical about sports, this was obviously a HUGE deal). So we found a nice pub where we ran into some of our skydive instructors. After a little chat with them the game came on. Now this was a Irish pub, and there were a bunch of Irish men that were apparently very passionate about NZ's All Whites. The game was pretty incredible. We got scored on early in the second half and then in the 90th minute of the game (literally seconds before it ended), we got a header in. Needless to say I learned a couple new curse words that night from the incredibly vocal Irishmen around me. It was a blast though. When we tied at the very end, it was hugs all around. (I've never seen so many grown men cry at once).
The next day we were up early again, and walked to Huka falls, and then back for a lay about in the natural Hot Springs. Once again, we rolled up to our bus just seconds before it was to depart. I actually had to ran for it, and when I caught the bus driver he just looked at his watch and chuckled saying how close we were cutting it. But we caught our bus and made our way down to Wellington (I should mention if only so they live in infamy, that we had the most annoying couple in the world behind us on the bus. Man if I ever sound like that when I'm with my girlfriend in a public location, someone please smack me.) Anyways, at Wellington Jeanie picked us up. (She is a friend of Leigh and Christoph's who I have met, and who my parents and I stayed with when we traveled earlier in the year). So that night we had a delicious dinner and great company.
Then next morning Lara and I spent the day in Wellington. We went to Te Papa (the National Museum of NZ) and then ate at Wagamama (which apparently means "naughty child") where I had my first eddimomy (that is definitely not how spell it, but I'm going phonetically). After lunch we went to the National Tattoo Museum (Kiwi's have some awesome tattoo's not to mention the native culture of tattooing among the Maori's). This museum obviously had been downgraded from what it once was. It was a bit of a bust to be honest, but it was free, and we saw some cool pictures. Afterwards we bought a cake and some wine for Jeanie and Larry and made our way back to their place. (Which I should say is always fun. Jeanie is just a blast to be around and so funny, not to mention she has some great stories. And Larry (an American) is always happy when he meets a fellow countrymen, and after 40 years in the Marines, he has some incredible stories too. (and he likes to share them))
Well the next morning found us being dropped off at the airport fly over to Fiji. Our first week was over. The airport was uneventful, except that Lara forgot to print her return ticket off, and supposedly you have to have proof that you also have a ticket to leave a country if you are going to enter the country. But we printed one off at the office, and it was no big deal. We landed in Fiji in easily about 85 degree weather. We had planned to couchsurf while there. So Lara had arranged for us to stay with this family in Nadi (city where the airport is). As we were leaving the airport a man came up to us and asked where we were going. The conversation went something like this:
Man: Bula, May I ask were you are staying?
Lara: Oh we know people here
Man: But where are you staying.
Lara: Oh we are just staying with some friends.
Man: Oh, so you have friends here.
Lara: Ya.
Man: Well where are they?
Lara: You mean like where do the live?
Man: Yes, where are you staying?
Lara: Like the address its um here
Me: (Staring back and forth between them at this bizarre exchange and deciding whether this man was planning to either scam us or mug us.)
Man: Oh Diane and Paul. I know them.
Lara: Wait you know these guys.
Man: Yes Diane and Paul, many people stay with them. That woman over there is waiting for you.
It was then that we saw the woman in the corner holding a sign saying "Lara and friend". So she set us up with a taxi and sent us on our way. Before going to Diane and Paul's though we got the taxi driver to give us a tour of Nadi, and ate some fresh coconut from a stand on the side of the road. When we did arrive at Diane and Paul's, we were greeted at a gate by a group of Rockweilers and a man with a gash in his side about 3 inches long, a half inch wide and an inch deep (quite literally an inch deep so you could see like flesh). I thought, this is a little bizarre, but then Diane came out and greeted us and introduced us to Paul. Diane breeds Rockweilers which explained them, and Noah, the guy with the gash had had a cyst that took a nasty turn which is where the gash came from. (Hospitals don't have the best medicine in Fiji, so they were treating it with herbal salves and it was getting better (I would have hate to of seen it when it was worse. Yikes!)) Noah it turned out was a travel agent, and so we talked that night about our plan for Fiji, and he set us up with a good package and so the next morning we were hopping on a boat and making our way to Mana Island.
Mana is where Survivor Fiji was filmed (they still had the set there, they had just left it sitting there. It was pretty disgusting how we had never cleaned up after ourselves), and right next to the island where Cast Away had been filmed. We stayed at a backpackers there for $30 US a night with all food included. It was pretty awesome. One day we went out snorkeling, and had literally the best snorkel I have ever had in my life. (Even better than the Great Barrier Reef). Most the time was spent relaxing on a beach or swimming in gorgeous turquoise water, or playing foosball in the backpackers. Mana also had a village on it. (Many Fijians still live in rural villages on islands). So it was nice to be able to walk through a village, and meet native Fijians. See the kids in the school and listen in on a church service. On night I was walking back to my bunk when I started talking to several Fijians who were sitting around drinking Kava. (Kava is the traditional Fijian drink. It was made from the root of a Kava tree/plant. They grind it up and mix it with water. Its not alcoholic as many people think, but it does numb your tongue and makes you a little drowsy. It also should be noted many people hate it and compare it to mudwater (which is what it does look like and partially taste like)) Anyways, they invited me to join them, and so all night I spent just hanging out with the villagers and learning my Fijian phrases and joking around. That was really cool cause for the rest of my time there I could refer to people by name and talk to them lightly in Fijian. Anyways, it was really neat to kind of get a real taste of Fijian life from the village.
I should also comment that Lara and I were scheduled to have a room to ourselves, but we decided when we got there why not just crash in a dorm so we can meet people easier. So they moved us.... to another room with just two single beds in it. Pretty much the same as what we had before. However the next day we found out the bed they had given us originally had been given to another couple after we changed rooms, and that couple had been attacked by bed bugs in the middle of the night. Funny how fate works sometimes.
At any rate, after 3 nights at Mana we went to Kuata which was definitely a little more upscale but a lot more tame. It was a nice transition after going from a young place with a good share of nightlife, and bad food and bad beds we moved to a place where the food was good and we had our own room, and we went to bed at 10 rather than 3. So it was a good way to end the trip. We spent 2 nights in Kuata. While there, I was able to go spear fishing... Awesome! Mark that off my life list. And we went snorkeling with reef sharks. You could swim down and if you were fast enough grab there fin and get pulled along by them. Another life goal to mark off. I also got a message outside in a cave (for ridiculously cheap) while I listened to the ocean waves break on the beach (this sound was only slightly deterred by the gaggle of Fijian women gossiping around me in a foreign language).
All in all, an incredible week. Fiji was fantastic, and I would recommend it to anyone. Lara and I made our way back to Auckland (flying on Air NZ which is even better than Quantas! I didn't know it was possible to be better than Quantas!) Her last day we took it easy, and went out to dinner with Leigh and Christoph and then rented a movie and watched it. The next day, we went out to a cafe for breakfast right before I took her to the airport. When we went to leave I realized that I had left the lights on and the battery was dead. Yay Dead Car Adventures. Haha. Fortunately we were in a parking lot with lots of help around. It started pretty quickly with a jump. After dropping her off I realized I only had a week left.
That night I went to a "fancy dress" party. Which I should let those of you in the states know, THAT DOES NOT MEAN BE FANCY! Apparently "fancy dress" in NZ means a costume party. Well I felt silly. Let me just say that. But I had an incredible time. It was a lot of fun.
Since then this week has been more of the same wrapping up stuff as before. And now I have wrapped up my blog for the time being. Thanks for listening. Sorry its such a novel. Next time I talk I may well be in Melbourne. Well. Cheers. I'm on my way home guys.
Wes
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