Perth, North Island of New Zealand

After leaving Thailand our next destination was Perth in Western Australia. For those of you not familiar with Australia, Perth is about the only city in the entire state of Western Australia, and WA is almost half the country. Perth has to be the most isolated major city in the World. First of all it is about 2,500 miles to Sydney in the East. It is actually closer to Singapore in Asia, then the main city in it's own country. To the South is just the Southern Ocean, which doesn't see any land until you reach Antartica. To the north is seemingly endless uninhabitable land in the Australian outback, and to the west is about 5,000 miles of Ocean until you reach Africa. Again, my point is that it is a remote city, but the population is over 1 million people and it was quite nice. We got in around 9 PM the first night so didn't do anything until the next day which we spent walking around the downtown area, the waterfront and spending time in Kings Park, which is actually the largest city park in the world...yes bigger then Central Park in New York City. It is perched on a bluff just outside the CBD and provided great views of the skyline and Swan River. The following day we took the train to Fremantle as Perth itself is on the Swan River and not the Ocean. Freo as they call it is the main port town and is really a great seaside town. The downtown area felt like Hill Valley from Back to the Future, as it was really a neat town. There were street entertainers, markets, and a lot of bars and restaurants, and the weather was perfect that day. We found ourselves at the Little Creatures Brewary, suprinsingly, and enjoyed a couple of cold beers out on the deck right on the water. It was a huge microbrewary (does that make sense?) and it was bustling with people. After leaving Freo we stopped at Cottesloe Beach, which is the main beach in this area. The waters were again crystal clear blue, and we caught a great sunset there before heading back to the city.

Next on the list was a quick stop in Melbourne (just the airport) during a layover to pick up some camping equipment from Jonathan's parents to use while in New Zealand. The flight gave me more appreciation of how vast Australia really is, as it was a 4 hour flight over essentially nothing, then from Melbourne to Auckland, New Zealand was about another 4 hours, so it was a LONG day of traveling. Once in Auckland we met up with a friend of Jonathon's from the States named Mark. He's taking a 2 week vacation to tour around New Zealand with us for a little bit. Jon and I getting along great and everything, but it has been nice to have another person around.

We didn't spend much time in Auckland (part of it was actually catching up on some sleep too) before renting a car and starting the drive to different spots throughout the country. First we started out and drove around the Coromandel Penninsula which is just east of Auckland. It was a cloudy and extremely windy day, but some of the views of the mountians and water from the penninsula were still incredible. From there we continued further south towards Rotorua. We could smell the city of Rotorua from about 30 miles away as it reaks of dirty rotten eggs. It is a geothermal hotspot, and all around the city are heaps of geysers, boiling mud pools, hot springs, volcanoes, etc. The smell from these was overwhelming at times, but it was really fun to go around to the different parks and see all the activity created by the earth. The colors of some of these pools were remarkable too. One pool looked like a bright yellow highlighter which was caused by the high sulfur content. There were also bright blues, reds, and greens. We also went to a Maori night show which included some history of their culture, a performance of warriors, singing, dancing, and an AMAZING meal. This happened to be the Friday after Thanksgiving here, so it was probably still Thursday back home so it counted as our Thanksgiving meal. It included pork, stuffed chicken, potatoes, gravy, different salads, fresh seafood, and great desserts, so it actually did feel like a Thanksgiving meal. The end of the night show concluded with a geyser erupting at night which was lit up by lights, and looked really cool.

After leaving the smell of Rotorua and washing all our clothes and showering numerous times to try and rid ourselves of the smell...just kidding,it wasn't that bad, but we headed to the Waitomo Caves next to have an underground adventure. Wai means water, and tomo means hole in the Maori culture, which creates the name waterhole for the caves. We actually stopped at a different type of watering hole after our rafting too. The experience of climbing through the caves in a wetsuit and going from water to rocks repeatedly in pitch black dark where you can't see 6 inches in front of your face was extremely extreme. The only thing illuminating our patch was the lights on our helmets, which weren't used all the time, and the thousands and thousands of glow worms in the caves. It was quite a sight to see all of them dot the ceilings of these caves in a bright green light that looks like strands of christmas lights. In order to get into the cave alone we had to climb down a ladder that was sandwhiched between rocks with the hole no bigger than 18 inches across, I had to go down at an odd angle just to fit. There were also several other places along the trek through the cave where I thought I was going to get stuck. Many of these locations were appropriately named by the guides too. I'll leave the imagination to you, but there was ankle breaking alley, concussion rock, the bermuda triangle, constipation hole, and my personal favorite where we had to crawl through head first with our head lamps turned off was the re-birth canal. That was very tube like in shape about shoulder width wide, and I have no idea how long it was because I could not see A THING without my light on. The water was a warm 12 degrees C, or approximately 55 degrees F, but you didn't feel cold with the adrenaline working our way through these caves that involved climbing, squeezing, crawling, swimming, tubing, did I mention squeezing through small spaces?!? The only bummer with this trip was that we couldn't bring cameras down in the cave because of the affect the flash has on the glow worms.

After leaving the caves we began the drive to Wellington, which is the capital of New Zealand which is where we're at right now, and we'll only be here for a day or so before taking the ferry accross to the South Island to explore there too. It was a very scenic drive through that part of the North Island, and I'm really looking forward to the scenery of the South Island. We have already seen tons of sheep which seem to populate every grassland or empty space.

Thailand

Thailand thus far has consisted of a few days in and around Bangkok and more than a week on different tropical islands that truly are a paradise. After arriving in Bangkok on the bus from hell, we basically got the first room we could find, shortly followed by the coldest beers as well. We ended up staying with a girl from Belgium who was on the same bus as she was going to be in Bangkok for the same amount of time as us before returning home. The next day the 3 of us rented a tuk tuk (which is basically a carriage pulled by a motorbike) for the day to go around and see some sights of the city. The driver knew good spots to go, and the cost was only 30 Thai Baht, which is the equivalent of about $1 USD. The only catch with the whole thing was that after a couple of stops at what we wanted to see he took us to a few places that gave him free petrol coupons for bringing tourists in. After stopping at a suit factory first, and a travel agency later in the day we declined to go anywhere else except the sights we wanted to see. He then told us they give him free fuel, and since it was costing us a combined $1 for his services for half a day, we decided one more stop wouldn’t hurt. The main things that we saw were religious Buddhist temples and statues. There was the Giant Buddha, which stood 45 meters tall and was a solid gold color. There was also the sleeping Buddha, which was probably just as tall, but was lying on his side. We walked up the 450 steps to the top of the golden temple which provided great 360 degree views of the city, and it is a big and hectic city too. The final stop was at the Grand Palace, and Grand is used lightly to describe it, as it was enormous, and the details around all the design elements and colors was remarkable.

The following day Jon and I took a bus up to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over River Kwai, and some museums and memorials talking about the history of that. The museums were very well done, and it was interesting to learn about the history of that POW camp and the bridge. We actually walked across it, and a train happened to be coming by when we first stepped onto the tracks. There was a couple feet of room to stand off to the side, but most of the space was on rotting wood and rusted iron being the only thing between you and the river below. Looking back it was a good thing that I got shot in the leg with a nail gun while working construction and got that tetanus shot, because I felt like my jaw was locking up, and I was getting tetanus by just looking at parts of the bridge. You could definitely tell we were in Thailand on the nights when we were just walking around some of the bar and market areas because numerous people came up to us showing a list of about 15-20 different sex show categories we could choose from. The sex industry is huge in Thailand, and since I’m not sure how old the youngest reader of this may be, or how young the oldest reader is for that matter, I won’t go into any of the details of the shows…most of them were quite funny though.

We jumped on a plane from Bangkok to Phuket next where we only spent one night before taking the first ferry over to Phi Phi Island where we stayed for the next 4 nights. I was awe struck by the beauty of this island and the ones surrounding it to. The first thing you notice upon approaching the land was the sharp limestone cliffs with lush green vegetation on top that cut straight down into bright turquoise water that is crystal clear. It simply was a sight that cannot be described how beautiful these islands were. While staying on Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee) we lounged around on the beach for the majority of the time while also renting a sea kayak to explore other parts of the island from the water. The highlight of this was going to Monkey Beach…yes I know, more monkeys! This beach was maybe a kilometer around the corner from the main beach and was inhabited by wild monkeys, so we played with monkeys, again. This island was hit pretty hard by the tsunami in 2004, and virtually every building there today had to be rebuilt after it struck. There were several pictures showing the damage, and it was pretty sobering to see that everything we’re looking at now was completely flattened a few years before. There were also signs directing you to the tsunami evacuation route which led us up step stairs to the highest point on the island which was also a viewpoint, and the view was excellent. We had to hike up there twice to soak it in, and it is definitely a view that I would not get tired looking at. Our last full day there we took a water taxi over to the other Phi Phi island; there is Ko Phi Phi Don, and Ko Phi Phi Le. Phi Phi Lei is where one of the most beautiful beaches is located in Maya Bay. In 2000 they shot a movie here, ironically called The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, and it is a very famous destination for backpackers worldwide to visit. Needless to say we were not disappointed with the beauty of it.

The next island we stayed at is Ko Lanta, and that is still where we’re at right now before heading back to Phuket tomorrow to catch a flight from there to Singapore to connect there before going to Perth, Australia. Ko Lanta is much quieter and laid back then Ko Phi Phi, and it’s been nice to relax on the beach here and have a lot of space to ourselves. It’s not as scenic as Ko Phi Phi, although the picture of the sunset below is from here, so maybe my standards have gone up a little. It’s hard to believe that our SE Asian portion of the trip is almost over. I think out of habit I’ll still be ducking while walking through doors (they don’t build em very tall here) and I’ll definitely miss the $2 meals of authentic Thai food.

Kuala Lumpur/Cambodia

We jumped on the night train to leave Singapore bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and were greeted with the fact that although we were told that we purchases sleeper car tickets, we were sitting in the regular cars. After some debate with the crew (not much due to their lack of English) and paying a little bit extra we got in a sleeper car just after crossing the border into Malaysia. It was also the bumpiest train ride I've ever been on by far, so I got about 2 hours of sleep before arriving in KL at about 6 AM. Our first day there we walked around the city and different markets and everything before heading to the Kuala Lumpur Communication tower to go up to the observation deck to view the city. It is the 4th largest in the world, but because of the fact that it was raining we actually put that on hold and opted to do it the next evening to watch the sunset and see the city at night. If you don't know Kuala Lumpur is home of the famous Petronas Towers which are the twin towers connected by the bridge in the middle, and up until a couple of years ago were the tallest buildings in the world. They are an architectual beauty and are very photogenic. Our second day there we explored the towers and were there both during the day and at night time and got some great pictures. The KL tower was kind of a let down as the observation deck wasn't that big, and was cluttered with souviner shops and packed with quite a few people. The following day we had a 7 AM flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and had another interesting airport experience. KL has 3 different airport terminals which are all a good distance away from each other. The only stop that the train has is at the international terminal so we thought we were in good shape. It was the international terminal for elite flights though, and we had to catch a ride over to the other international terminal. We got to the airport at about 6, and the check-in counter closes at 6:15, so we quick grabbed a cab to the other terminal before running to the checkout counter and made it there JUST in time.

Cambodia was in some ways much different then I expected, and in some ways it was sadly what I thought it would be. Suprisingly they use United States currency, and of all the countries we've been to I would say they spoke the best English too..probably including Australia ;) One of the first things that hit you was how it is a country that is struggling to obtain its identity after several years of terror and war. You could still see the pain on the faces of a lot of the people caused by the Khmer Rouge. This was very evident in the number of people on the streets that were missing arms and legs, and asking for money. It was so sad to see the destruction caused by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, as they killed nearly 2 million Cambodians with most of the deaths coming in the form of starvation and disease. At the time that was approximately a quarter of the entire population. The people missing limbs that we encountered most likely lost them due to disease or even land mines that are still around the countryside, and we probably saw close to 10 people in one afternoon while eating lunch and walking through part of town. The majority of the streets were just dirt roads with enormous pot holes that made riding down them in taxi's, buses, or tuk tuks extremely uncomfortable.

Aside from all that seeing the temples at Angkor Wat was a great experience. We were only in Cambodia for a few days to see them, and bought our day ticket the evening before so we could get in for free to watch the sunset from the top of one of the temples. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as it was packed with people. We got to bed early that night as the next day we left at 5 AM to watch the sunrise over the main temple, Angkor Wat. That was really a great experience to see that, and its also the first time in a while that I remember being up for a sunrise! Throughout the rest of the day we were wandering around and exploring other temples. Also while in Cambodia an ATM acted up on me and I never recieved the $200 that I took out, yet it was charged to my account. I've already contacted the bank about it...too bad it wasn't First National Bank of Michigan since I feel I might have some more leverage there. But if anyone wants to send me a check to help fund the rest of my trip I wouldn't be opposed! The next morning we had to get up early AGAIN to catch our bus from Seim Reap to Bangkok which was a whole nother adventure.

The bus drove around to all the different guesthouses that had people that booked tickets to pick them up. Keep in mind the roads I mentioned earlier are extremely bumpy, and narrow with street vendors, motorbikes, people, stray dogs, etc. The bus was about 2/3 rds full by the time we got to the station where there happened to be about 12 more people waiting to get on. There was room for at most 8 more. So the driver stacked all the luggage to the roof just behind the back row of seats, as well as to the roof in the very front seat next to the door. This didnt take care of all the luggage though, so there were bags laying down the entire isle, and stacked up in front of the door. A couple people had to catch the next bus, and they even brought a lawn chair on the bus because we were still over loaded by one person. They elected to just sit on the floor though as it was easier. We stopped twice along the way to the border to use the restroom once (which cost money) and to eat lunch at a restaurant the second time. I'm sure the driver gets paid by that restaurant to bring a bus load full of people, as our bus was the only people that were there. Once we got to the border around 1 we switched buses and got on another one which drove us about 2 kilometers to the border. From there we had to go through Cambodia customs, and then walk about 1 more kilometer to the Thailand border and go through Thailands customs. After that we were taken to get on our 3rd bus which was more of an excursion van...which again was overloaded with people and luggage, and the ride from the border to Bangkok was about 3 and a half hours. So we got into the city at about 5:30 after bordering the first bus at 7:30 AM. Needless to say it was a long day of traveling that always consisted of an overcrowded vehicle. We're now in Bangkok and have been here for a few days and are next heading south to Phucket and some islands of the west coast of Thailand. I'm running out of time on the internet so will post pictures of this portion of the trip soon.

Singapore

I don't have a whole lot to say about Singapore as we were only there for a couple of days. I was blown away though by the amount of development and building going on in the city. There must have been over 50 new skyscrapers/hotels/condos/casinos/office buildings/you name it under construction, cranes dotted the skyline everywhere you looked. Singapore is a very modern and technologically advanced city, and it had a great (and inexpensive) public transportation system. We actually took the night flight from Bali to Singapore, so we didn't arrive until a little after 1 in the morning, and stayed in the airport yet again. I'm trying to make sure this trip lasts as long as possible, so any shortcuts and freebies we get we'll take advantage of.

We got to our hostel early the next morning so we had almost 3 full days to see the sights of Singapore. The first day was spent mainly walking around the CBD and other parts of the city. It was really cool to see the fish/lion statue that sprays water out of its mouth that I have seen so many pictures of. The next day was halloween, and we spent the day at the Singapore Zoo, and Night Safari. The Night Safari was a separate part of the zoo where you can tour the animals at night when they are under in a different state of awareness. Since it was halloween they tried to make parts of it haunted, which really wasn't a bad idea with the exception of the number of middle school aged girls there that screem at EVERYTHING, even when its not scary. The main zoo where we were at during the day closed at 6 and the Night Safari opened at 7 and during this time there was a huge thunderstorm and downpoor. It actually culminated very well with their attempted theme of a haunted night safari. I say attempted because in a country like the U.S. where halloween is more widely celebrated it wouldn't pass for anything special. We got out and walked some of the paths instead of staying in the trolleys the whole time, and one of the highlights of walking through in the dark and rain was that hardly anyone else was around, and we turned the corner this one time and stumbled into a few giraffs eating. They were within 75 feef of us and it really felt like we were in their natural environment since Jon and I were the only ones around, very cool.

The Singapore Zoo I think was the only one in the world with free ranging Orang utang, and that was pretty incredible. They have a whole ropes course type thing set up above some walkways and there are Orang utans swinging by and jumping from tree to tree. There are only a few places left in the world where they can be found in the wild, and all of them are in SE Asia, mainly the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. One of my favorite parts were seeing the group of giant Asian turtles. This is mainly for Bob, Meredith, Trish, Beth and Brooke if you're reading this...I like Turtles! The following day was spent seeing some additoinal things on the water in Singapore before catching the night train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where we're at right now before heading to Cambodia to see the temples at Angkor Wat.