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If You Wallaby My Lover: Road Trip Day 3

March 13th, 2011

Sometimes I think I need to stop writing blog posts and just do a title each day. I always enjoy those more than the actual post itself. I’m not even sure what that title means, but when I heard the name “wallaby,” I couldn’t get the Spice Girls song out of my head. Zig-a-zig-ah! I blame the gang in Chiang Mai and the endless nights of singing horrid karaoke songs.

I suppose I could also have sung along with TLC later in the day, but once one song gets lodged in my brain, it’s tough to shove it out.

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On the road from Rotorua to Taupo, there is a steady stream of attractions. Unlike Malaysia, you can’t just decide to walk through the jungle for a few hours wherever you’d like. Here, the prime hiking areas have all been parceled off to vendors who operate them as tourist attractions.

It makes it much more expensive, but it’s not without good reason. The instability of the terrain requires a carefully laid out hiking route with upkeep necessary on bridges and rails.

I stopped at two places along the way. Waimangu is renowned for being the only hydrothermic activity site in the world which has an exact origin date in the time of recorded history. On June 10, 1886 all the stuff that was bubbling around underground decided to make an appearance above ground. Craters, fissures and the natural environment that’s developed around those features are a key area of study for what happens in the aftermath of this type of eruption.

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And it looks cool, too.

Steaming lakes, rock formations and a variety of plant life are the main attr — wait! What the heck is that?

I heard a rustling in the bushes while I was on my hike. At first, I kept going thinking it was just a squirrel. Then I realized I hadn’t seen any squirrels in New Zealand and wasn’t even sure they had them here. So I stopped to take a look.

My first view was of a thick, long tail – blech, it’s a possum!

Nope, although not too far off in the scheme of zoological classification.

It was a little wallaby only about two feet away from me. Not more than a foot high, he looked up curiously as I took a number of photos. It wasn’t until my flash accidently went off that he decided to hop away, apparently more bored than frightened.

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The locals back at the reception desk took delight in correcting me when I said I’d seen a baby kangaroo.

The second attraction of the day was Huka Falls.

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A beautiful area for picnics and hikes, so I partook in both. I said to hell with local food on this one and picked up bread, peanut butter, jelly and milk. Laugh all you want, but this was my first PB & J in 9 months! Well, I had 4 of them, but still…

The falls were amazing in their blueness. This was water I felt I could have just reached out and bottled, then cured all sorts of ailments with. It was a stark contrast to the steaming, smelly, brown and gray water I’d been seeing in most of the pools around Rotorua.

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I carried on for a few more kilometers ending up in Taupo for the night, eager to get an early start on the Forgotten Highway in the morning.

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Dante and Sisyphus: Road Trip Day 2

March 12th, 2011

Thanks to some cold medication, I was unconscious for about 10 hours and woke up refreshed, though still a bit laden with sniffles.

But it was time to take a little drive around Rotorua to see exactly what was causing that smell of rotten eggs that permeated the small town. I’ve said elsewhere that New Zealand reminds me a lot of Wisconsin, but with better topography. Nowhere has that been more evident than in Rotorua. Endless farms fill the surrounding landscape, with sheep more frequent than my home state’s cows.

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The sheer volume of tourist attractions in the vicinity of Rotorua makes it the southern hemisphere’s version of the Wisconsin Dells. Hundreds of different sights and activities – most of them “made for tourists.” That smell of sulfur is another reminder of my childhood, although the daily scent in my home town was a result of the local paper mills. Here it’s bubbling up from the depths of the Earth.

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One of the biggest draws to Rotorua is the hot springs. I find it odd that geothermic instability is a popular attraction. Smoke and steam comes from the ground at the lake and local parks. Walking through the park is often limited to narrowly defined walkways, because stepping off the established path could send you through the shallow crust and into a steaming pool of water. And yet, people come here to relax in “natural steam pools.”

There’s nowhere else can I think of that creates an experience out of a potentially deadly natural phenomena. “Hey, come give your hair a natural windblown treatment in Tornado Alley!”

And yet, it’s pretty cool to look at. Steam vents are scattered throughout the town, often only a few feet away from people’s homes. In spots, you can hear and even SEE the water boiling up through the earth’s crust.

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One of the other attractions in Rotorua (for me, at least) is the home of the Zorb. While many other locations have started to crop up, this is one of those extreme activities that New Zealanders are famous for creating.

What is “zorbing?” Well, you climb to the top of a hill. Then you squeeze into a big inflatable hamster ball. Then you go down the hill.

And that’s about it.

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The “dry” experiences were closed for some refurbishment that are planned for the off-season. Evidently the dry balls sailed up and over the fences containing the course a couple of times – no one injured because of the ball, but something they needed to make some changes to the course before they could re-open for the dry balls.

I’m not sure how much I can talk about balls, but let me press onward.

The ball is filled with a few gallons of water and then you squeeze into a narrow canal to get inside. No, the water is not warmed up before they pump it in. Fortunately, you only have a few seconds for your own balls to freeze before the big one heads down the hill. After that, any thoughts of being cold disappear (much like my retracted testicles).

There are two courses – the straight down course and the zig-zag course. The advantage of the straight course is speed but with the limited visibility inside the zorb, speed didn’t seem to be too relevant. So, I chose to zig zag down the hill.

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The other aspect of the zig-zag that I discovered is that you don’t stay in one position for long. On the straight shots, most people are seated and remain in place as the ball rotates around them. The water and plastic allows you to slide around and remain in an upright position while the ball spins down the hill. Not so on the erratic course I chose. As the ball careens against each bank, it changes direction and it takes a while for your body to shift along with it.

You’re not rolling down the hill end over end, you do stay primarily in a seated position. But your body is not always facing forward as it does in the straight run.

A very fun experience and I do recommend trying it. I was a bit taken aback at the expense. It cost $40NZ (about $30US) for a single run which lasts about 2 minutes, at best, but it was a lot of fun to try. Several runs down the hill would have been nice for that price.

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The Mystery Machine: Road Trip Day 1

March 11th, 2011

I got off to a late start on the first day of my travels across the country of New Zealand. After making my way to the Wicked Camper headquarters in Onehunga, I checked in with an attractive woman from Holland. Wicked is one of those places that employs a lot of travelers, which is helpful because they have the experience and understand the mindset.P1020012

Unfortunately, the van they had assigned to me was a manual transmission. I can drive a manual transmission, although I’ve done it maybe a dozen times in my life so it’s far from second nature. When you add that to remembering to drive on the left hand side of the road AND having the gear shift at my left hand, it was a bit too much for me. In true New Zealand fashion, I asked sheepishly for another van.

I was in luck. An automatic transmission van had just come in from a couple who had ended their trip a couple of days early. I had to wait for about an hour for them to do the safety check and ensure it was ready to go out again.

Having not thought much of this through, I realized when I saw the van that I was going to need to spend a few more dollars. I’m not carrying a sleeping bag or any other camping gear. I had a few camping items with me at the start of the trip, but I left most of that back in Europe with my bike.

A stop at the Warehouse (discount store) and I was able to pick up a sleeping bag, pillow and a few items of warm sleep clothing since I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t freeze walking between the van and the toilet in the local campgrounds.

I also picked up a cord to connect my iPod into the car stereo system. Local radio stations are interesting to listen to, but I’m going to be in this van for two weeks and there are times when I want to be able to catch up on podcasts I’ve downloaded.

After all this, and a late lunch, it was 2:00 before I started rolling.

It was mostly an uneventful drive down Highway 1 to Rotorua. I turned my windshield wipers on pretty much every time I tried to signal a turn and switched on the turn signal instead of shifting into reverse a couple of times. Who knew that not only is the steering wheel on the opposite side, but all the controls are flipped, too!?

I need to rig up a voice recorder to narrate random thoughts while I drive. I don’t remember a lot of what I saw – cows, sheep and a few very funny town names that I wish I could recall.

One thing I do remember is how unbelievable the sky looked as I was driving the highway. And I mean “unbelievable” – it looked like a bad Photoshop of a skyline. It was a deep, perfect blue and the hundreds of clouds visible looked as though they were copied and pasted onto the sky one at a time. Too crisp, too identical in how the layout was done. It was like God’s nephew got hold of his photo editor and didn’t bother to blend or vary the background images.

I arrived at Rotorua and found a campground. Beautiful clean restroom, which is one of my sticking points when it comes to camping.

It was a warm evening and the van held in the heat nicely so I went to sleep with only my sleep sheet covering me. That didn’t last and I was soon tucked into the sleeping bag, as well. After watching Predators, I drifted off to sleep with thoughts of alien hunters stalking through my dream-state.

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If You New Zealand Like I Know Zealand

March 5th, 2011

Just a quick update on what’s going on this week.

After a couple of days of transit through Singapore and Hong Kong, I ended up in Auckland. I say “ended up” there, as though I didn’t plan it.

Once I started to do the research into what there was to do in New Zealand, a few things became apparent.

1) Be prepared to be disconnected. Internet is slow and expensive. Uploading photos, downloading podcasts and regular online chat sessions won’t be frequent for the next month. Internet is all paid by the megabyte and it’s pricey. A sole cable is all that connects the web in New Zealand to the rest of the world.

2) There are too many choices. Choices of areas to visit, activities to try, things to do. New Zealand really does have a bit of everything. Mountains, volcanoes, glaciers, beaches, islands, waterfalls, caves and lots of open space in between. It’s the home of bungee jumping and other extreme activities – sky diving, zorbing, abseiling and more. Exceptional natural beauty is apparent at every moment while engaging in the adrenaline-pump.

3) Getting around isn’t all that easy. Within Auckland, the public transportation system is good. Outside of the city, though, there are just too many destinations and directions you could head. While buses exist and operate efficiently (by all accounts), there are so many places to stop that the logistics of traveling by bus can be daunting unless you book a package tour.

Add all of that together and I’ve decided to do what many people recommended. I’m renting a camper van for 15 days to explore outside of the cities. It’ll be my transportation and accommodation, allowing me to free-form my travel plans a bit.

I have a general route planned, but will change it when it makes sense to do so.

My tourism priorities are:

- Glacier (Fox or Franz)

- Volcano – New Plymouth

- Zorbing – Rotorua

- Dinner with Lucy Lawless – TBD

- Hiking, biking, kayaking, caving and taking photos of anything else that catches my eye along the way.

I have a long list based on wonderful recommendations from friends: Craig and Linda of IndieTravelPodcast.com , Dave Dean of What’s Dave Doing and Rebecca of Travels at 88mph . With all of that information floating in my brain, I’ll turn the steering wheel where my whims lead me.

If I can get the hang of driving on the left side of the street.

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New Zealand: Heading Into Crisis

February 27th, 2011

One month from today, I’m planning to be in Christchurch, New Zealand. On March 30, I fly to Melbourne from the city that was hit by a major earthquake last week.

I’ll be in New Zealand later this week, but will start off in areas far from the epicenter. Auckland, Northland, other sites on the North Island are my plans for the first couple of weeks of March.

Following the news of people killed, injured and still missing, it’s not yet clear when I should head to Christchurch or even if I should.

It’s something I’ll be following closely over the next few weeks.

If I can help somehow by visiting there, I will. Whether that means volunteering to assist recovery efforts or just aiding the economy by providing a little tourist spending, I will do what is within my power. If I will just be getting in the way or taking up space needed by displaced residents, then I will wait until the day of my flight to make my way there.

Perhaps there’s nothing I can directly do that would benefit those impacted by the quake. We’ll see how it develops.

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A River Runs Through It. And Under It.

February 24th, 2011

One of the key sights on Palawan Island is the Underground River in Sabang. Unlike most tourist destinations, this was not overrun with people, nor was the natural environment disturbed. The people of the Philippines have strong restrictions on where people go and what they do, in order to preserve the environment of their most important natural locations. There is no trash, no touching and, most surprisingly, no souvenir stand.

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While it certainly receives a fair number of tourists, the challenge of getting there limits the number of people stomping around. It’s a 3 hour bus ride from Puerto Princesa, a motor boat to the national park, followed by another boat that takes you into the cave housing the river.

11 people embark on each boat, including the guide/paddle master. No motors are allowed here.

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Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...

Unlike many other caves I’ve visited in Cheddar, Malaysia and Vietnam, there are no electric lights rigged up to showcase the sights. Instead, illumination is provided by a handheld spotlight attached to a car battery in the front of the boat.

Which means you’re at the mercy of the person seated in the front if you want to see what the guide is pointing out. On our boat, the light provider had trouble with left and right, so we got to see more blank walls than is typical. “Right. Right. Your other right” was a common refrain.

The river goes on for more than 8km, most of it navigable by boat making it the longest navigable underground river in the world. Most tours only go in about a kilometer, however, viewing the highlights within an easy distance.

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T-Rex Rock - it's just like Jurassic Park!

Rock formations all have cutesy nicknames, but the variety is impressive. It’s not just one stalactite and stalagmite after another. The multitude of colors, shades and structures built by erosion make it an unforgettable ride – seeing what nature can create over millions of years. Narrow river stretches open up to gigantic caverns, most notably one called The Cathedral which has a variety of rock formations named after religious icons.

More interesting to me, though, was the proliferation of bats. They advise you to keep your mouth closed when you look up so that you don’t get bat droppings in your mouth. And it’s understandable why. While bats are present in most of the major chambers, there are some that house thousands. Evidently we didn’t even go into the ones that were home to most of the bats so that we wouldn’t disturb the bulk of the little buggers.

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In case you are looking at this lo-res: dots = bats

The Underground River is in the running to be named one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, and is already a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It got my vote.

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At The Hotel, Motel, Horrible Inn

February 21st, 2011
Pedestal squat toilet

Image via Wikipedia

Every long term traveler has at least one hotel horror story. I’ve racked up a couple, but the one I stayed at last week in Puerto Princesa on Palawan Island takes top prize, so far.

Admittedly, my standards still veer a bit to the OCD germaphobe side but I’ve come a long way in the last 8 months. I no longer curl up in a ball and cry when I have to use a shared toilet (as long as I have Wet Ones with me).

With a rating of 80% on HostelWorld, I was expecting something well within my standards with my booking on Puerto Princesa. I had heard that the town was pretty full so I booked the place in advance to ensure I wasn’t sleeping on a park bench. As it turns out, the park bench would have been the best option.

The park bench would have been the best option

I walked in to an indifferent staff and a crowd of kids on the ground floor mocking me when I said “hello.” Eventually, someone showed up to check me in since the person at the desk appeared to have a phone call that was going to drag on longer than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

No reservation. They had no record of me checking in that day. After insisting that I had a room booked, I filled out a check-in form. “Ah!” The desk attendant recognized the name. Still no record of a booking, but he now believed I was supposed to be there.

He ran upstairs and spent 7 minutes prepping the room, which evidently hadn’t been cleaned that day (it was 5:30pm). I can only imagine what happened in that 7 minutes because the room was still a bit of a mess. Long brown hairs on the floor, indeterminate brown stains in the shower and cobwebs and spiders in the bathroom.

A couple of other quirks were immediately apparent. First, the hotel provided a towel but it was so ridiculously worn that it would have been better used to net fish.

On to the bigger issue: there was no seat on the toilet. I should have been thankful it was a western toilet, although without a seat it was LESS useful than a squat toilet. I couldn’t even USE it as a squat toilet because it was positioned right up against the shower wall, so there was no way to straddle it. The only alternative was placing one foot forward into the shower stall and doing a kind of one cheek sneak.

The final fun of the stay was the arrival of nighttime visitors. When I got home for the night and turned on the lights, the scurrying little feet of cockroaches roused me from my tipsy state. Both hightailed it into the bathroom, which I assumed was the access point. After killing them, I settled into bed.

Unfortunately, thanks to the ingestion of San Miguel that evening I had to get up again to visit the toilet before long. Yep. Another in the room and one more in the bathroom. My shoes were subjected to more pounding that night than if I had run a 100 yard dash in my sleep. Finally, an hour later, I chased one more into the bathroom and watched it scurry into a gap between a pipe and the wall.

My shoes were subjected to more pounding that night than if I had run a 100 yard dash

Stuffing the hole with toilet paper apparently did the trick, although I kept the light in the bedroom on so that any newcomers would stay in the dark bathroom to honor the memory of the compatriots who had been ceremonially flushed.

The next day (yes, I was unable to find another room until the third day of my stay), I let the staff know about the cockroaches. After playing Pictionary to get across what the problem was, I was compensated quite fairly with a nod of the head and an “okay.”

Of course, nothing was different that next night. Except this time I had the heavy artillery. On my way home from dinner, I picked up the professional strength roach spray. Sure enough, a couple of the buggers had found their way into the room again, so I sprayed the ever-living shit out of the bathroom, stuffed the hole in the wall with poison soaked toilet paper and turned the fan in my room on high to keep the toxic stuff from leaking back into my bedroom.

I’m fairly sure I inhaled far more than a safe amount of the stuff, but it was worth it.

All this fun was had for a price that was 30% higher than the exceptional room I was able to book for the rest of my stay. Perhaps I was paying extra for double occupancy?

Sorry for the lack of pics. I didn’t even think about it until I had checked out. I usually only take pictures of pretty things.

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A Race Finishes In KL: Langkawi Wowie

February 16th, 2011

I think I stayed in Kuala Lumpur longer than any traveler in the history of travel. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was a good place to recharge my batteries and catch up on things.

Part of the reason for the extended stay, though, was catching the final stage of the Tour de Langkawi on February 1st.

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While a far cry from the competition, grandeur and history of the Tour de France (link: my thoughts on why the Travel Channel should be showing the Tour de France), this race has been around for 15 years already and is the biggest cycling event in Asia.

While the course changes each year, it generally covers most of Malaysia’s prime destinations – Langkawi, Penang, Genting Highlands, Malacca and KL. I saw only the final stage in KL this year, although following it for the duration would certainly be a good (albeit quick) overview of Malaysia. Past challenges of getting the equipment across water has kept it restricted to the peninsular section of the nation, so you wouldn’t catch Sabah if you were to chase the riders.

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The podium, being readied for the arrival of the day's winners.

Past winners include well-known US riders Tom Danielson and Chris Horner. Because it’s very early in the year, it’s a good testing ground for young riders as they gear up for the bigger races like the Giro d’Italia and Le Tour. This year, the race was won by Venezuela’s Jonathan Monsalve, while Italy’s Andrea Guardini won that day’s stage.

The ride was well organized, though lightly attended. Most of the hostels and hotel staff barely knew it was happening, though the riders sailed past their front door six times on the final loops toward the finish line. I drew course maps and let everyone know about the road closures they’d be facing, but couldn’t find a single person in the hostel who was interested in checking it out. *sigh* – professional cycling doesn’t have a lot of fans once you get off the European continent.

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The music, dancing, sponsor booths and broadcast helicopters brought a lively energy to an area of KL that is typically quiet on a Tuesday afternoon. I didn’t make it to the other areas of the course, but it shut down several main roads for a couple of hours which certainly made traffic an interesting challenge that day.

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A Quick Visit to Tagaytay

February 14th, 2011

After a day exploring the Makati area of Manila, I joined a couple of friends for lunch in Tagaytay. At first, I was skeptical about driving over an hour each way just for lunch. The stunning scenery was more than worth it.

The sky was a bit too overcast to be able to get the “perfect photo” but we ate lunch at Josephine’s, a wonderful restaurant on the upper ridge of the volcanic crater, which looks down into the lake bed and smaller volcanic peak in the middle.

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The views are truly spectacular from the ridge, which looks down on Taal Lake and Crater Island.

In the middle of Crater Island is another lake, making it (bear with me here), the world’s largest lake on an island in a lake on an island. And that smaller lake also has a small island, so it’s basically like a volcanic infinity mirror.

The massive volcanic explosions that created the larger lake took place over 100,000 years ago, but this is still considered an active site in many ways. The smaller crater has been involved in eruptions as recently as 1977, so the activity and water temperatures around the lake are monitored extremely closely.

Some distance from the city, areas in and around the lake are considered hazardous and off-limits to visitors because of potential steam venting and toxic gas buildup.  Despite the fact that the activity alert status for the volcano was raised last year, Tagaytay is still a popular destination for vacationers from Manila because of its natural beauty, as well as its lower humidity and temperatures.

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Do Do That Chengdu That You Do So Well

February 9th, 2011

One of the most common questions I get from people is “what’s your favorite place that you’ve visited?”

A challenging question, for sure. While Paris is still at the top of my list, and probably always will be, some of the best experiences I’ve had have been in places I never intended to visit.

The prime example of that is Chengdu, China. I had a passing knowledge of the city because of some discussions about the city while at my last job, but that was pretty much limited to “they have pandas there.”

With a whole month to explore China, I added it to my list.

The main attraction in Chengdu for most people is the Panda Breeding Center. True to form, though, I won’t elaborate on that since so many others have written volumes about it.IMGP2931-1

I loved Chengdu for the energy the city had. My pre-visit perception was that it was a small, very traditional Chinese city. It was anything but. With a population of 6 million, it may be small relative to other places in China, but it was far from traditional.

The contrasts between old and new were a big part of the appeal. Few people spoke English, yet the city has a very modern and very Western feel to it with all the shopping districts, restaurants, fashion and music.

In Chengdu, white people are in shorter supply than baby pandas. Most tourists visit the city for a stop at the panda center and then they hop back on the tour bus. The tiny expat population of 10,000 is comprised largely of other Asian nationals, so the Euro-centric gang is only a couple of thousand people strong. During a six hour walk through the city center and massive shopping complexes I did not see a single Westerner, yet I never felt uncomfortable or out of place.

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A few of my favorite things in Chengdu:

Sichuan opera: One of the traditions that IS common here is the nightly performance of Sichuan opera. While it’s mostly for the tourists, those tourists are from elsewhere in China, so it’s all in their native tongue. Fortunately, it’s very visual so English speakers can still enjoy it. It’s more variety show than opera, with fire eaters, ribbon dancing, puppet performances and the highlight: face-changing. Face-changing is an ancient (and very secret) magical technique involving brightly colored masks that instantly transform in color and expression – not only once, but a dozen times in the span of an 8 minute performance. It’s an impressive display when done well.

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Sichuan food: Spicy is the style here and they do it up well. I’m no foodie by any stretch of the imagination, but I did enjoy the dishes, especially the spicy green beans – peppers, garlic and green beans in a blend that can bring tears to your eyes.

Women: Like the food, Chengdu women have a reputation for being spicy. Their personalities are  far more brash and outgoing than in other parts of the country and their style of dress reflects that. While I was there, the typical outfit for a young woman consisted of thigh high boots, patterned nylons and a short skirt, short shorts or a sweater that extends just low enough to be considered a skirt. This is not conservative Beijing.

Nightlife: Chengdu is renowned in China for its nightlife, with dozens of clubs and bars around town in several night time entertainment districts. Our fantastic hostel staff invited us to join them at a  nightclub party on Halloween. Every club was decked out with ghosts, ghouls and macabre decor, along with face painters helping to dress up those who didn’t have a costume. Halloween may be a new tradition in this part of the world, but they’ve latched onto it as a great theme for a party.

Shopping and cultural districts: Some areas of the town have been renovated to incorporate traditional buildings with modern shopping and facilities, similar to Xin Tian Di in Shanghai. The best of those is Jinli – gift shops, restaurants, crafts and history all rolled into one.

Anyone who has the opportunity should spend a couple of days here. Chengdu is a wonderful place to visit, and despite the language barriers, the people are very friendly and outgoing. While walking is still the best way to absorb the local flavor, a newly opened subway makes seeing the city even easier.

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