IX. ANOTHER TREK the second trek we decided to do is called the langtang valley...it's much shorter, only 7-8 days, depending on how you do it...we took a bus to syabrubesi, stayed the night, and started the next morning...the first day was a 1000m climb (net)...it took us around 6 hours...there was a lot of up and down, quite a bit of it was steep, so we actually climbed more than 1000m...we climbed more than 1000m on the day...it was a relief to arrive at the "friendly guest house"...the next day was another 900m climb, this one much easier and faster...the third day was only 2 hours, though we knew it would be short...we were howeva, expecting three hours, and were quite surprised to come over a hill and see the village all of a sudden...we had been excited, as kyanjin gompa has a cheese factory...but because it's not high season anymore, it was closed...soooo disappointed...from our guesthouse we could see part of the langtang glacier, as well as two ridges in the himalayas...the kanja la himal, and i've forgotten the name of the other one...gorgeous...the fourth day we decided to stay in kyanjin gompa another day, and do a day hike...so we continued up the valley for three hours, and almost made it to seeing another glacier...by the time we got back, we could feel it in our legs...layna stepped into an icy river we had to cross, i can still imagine the cold!! the next day it was back down again, back to friendly guest house...(we skipped the village we had stayed in the night before first arriving in kyanjin gompa)...the 6th day we intended to descend 800m, then climb 600m to a village called thulo syaphru...but we didn't get to the turnoff until having been on the trail for more than four hours...i wasn't in the mindset to climb at that point...layna let me make the call, and we went to syabrubesi again...the following morning we walked back to that turnoff, and did the climb...steady, pretty steep for 3 hours...it was worth it though, the views of the valley were great...we could see how steep the langtang valley is, and appreciate the climbing and descending we had done earlier in the trek...that night there was a "jamboree" in the village of thulo syaphru...at least that was what the lady who owned our guest house called it...we had no idea what was going on, but it was great to watch...lots of singing...it seemed to move through the village, stopping in open areas in front of guesthouses...there was always a table in the middle of the area, and the same people lined up at the table each time...the men would sing, then the women...over and over and over again...they circled around a bit, and there were some men in some sort of costume beating drums and spinning around...the last day we walked to dhunche... during this trek we saw white monkeys, yay!! awesome to see animals in the wild...i've only seen monkeys in a zoo previously...well, there is a temple in kathmandu sometimes called the monkey temple because of the troop that lives around the area...but that's not really "wild"...those monkeys have figured out how to take food off visitors, they can even unwrap lollies!! this trek was cheaper than our first trek...because it wasn't as long, of course, and also because we didn't pay for our lodging 75% of the time...because we were trekking outside of high season, the people who run the lodges have a harder time getting people...they usually offered us a free room, and a bit of a discount on our food...(the food is where the lodges actually make any money)...not a huge amount, but still, it was nice...during this trek we also got our first taste of yak curd...SO GOOD...you all know i'm a huge fan of curd (yoghurt) in general, so i was happy to try it...the first time we had it, it had been made freshly that day, and was still warm...GOOD...the next morning, we had it again, from the same place, and it was still GOOD...the day we came back down the valley, from kyanjin gompa to the friendly guest house (in the village of lama hotel) we tried another place for yak curd...it was the best we had...AMAZING...i wish yak curd was available in more places, but i suppose it's best that it isn't...hee hee...the other food of interest we tried was a snickers momo...the owner of the lodge wrapped the snickers in pastry, and pan fried it...so when we got it, the snickers was melted inside the crust...heaven!!
X. "HOME" TO KATHMANDU we're now in kathmandu for the third time...we've done a few more errands, gotten permits and tomorrow will take off for our third trek...this morning we started the process for getting our indian tourist visas...it was my first time in the embassy of another country...lots of waiting around, (about 5 hours worth!...when they finally called our numbers, it only took a minute or so to do what needed to be done)...but oh well...we'll finish up the process when we return from this trek...we've stayed at the same hotel each time, they've gotten to know us pretty well...hee hee...they hold onto all our stuff we don't take with us, which is awesome...
18 December 2008
06 December 2008
nepal 2
VI. THE SECOND CITY
pokhara is the second city of nepal...much more tame, though still touristy...the world peace pagoda overlooks the town...one day we rented a boat and went out on the lake...you can see the mountains behind the city while on the lake...gorgeous...pokhara was also our first opportunity to use computers in nearly three weeks...we were both a bit overwhelmed with being in contact again...as this was only three days after the events in mumbai, it was especially intense...while we were in pokhara, we found out the dates for something we had read about in the guidebook, and decided we had to go...
VII. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
after two days in pokhara, we rode two buses to the village of meghauli...it's just outside chitwan national park...there is only one time of year, and one reason that foreigners ever go to meghauli...each december, for a week, it hosts the world elephant polo championships...how awesome is that??!! on the second bus,i got to talking to the man sitting next to me, and he offered to let us stay at his house...so we did...his house happened to be a 30 minute bike ride past meghauli, in an absolutely tiny village...we got off the bus at the last stop, then walked 20 minutes through fields to get to his house...attracting attention EVERYWHERE, of course...it was a traditional house, one room downstairs, with a ladder leading up to the one room upstairs...it had electricity, but no running water...the kitchen was a straw covered shack of sorts...in the middle of the front "yard" was a huge haystack...that evening our host took us to the house (a 40 minute walk through more fields, we were totally lost) of one of his relatives...she served us local rice beer, and a fantastic curry...obvioiusly, i didn't drink the beer, but layna said it was good, and it certainly smelled good...kinda lemony, though he said there was no lemon in it...walking back to his house was interesting, as it was completely dark...walking where you can't see is difficult, and we all know my level of coordination, even when i can see!!! the following morning we got up, and our host led us (all three of us on bicycles) to the grounds in meghauli where we watched the WORLD ELEPHANT POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS...it was AWESOME...the game moves a lot faster than you would think...there are 9 elephants on the field at a time...4 for each team, and a huge referee elephant...each elephant had two people on it...a player and a handler...the players were using mallets with 2m handles...funny to watch them try to hit the ball and make sure it didn't hit the feet of the elephant...the elephants seemed to know not to use their trunks to do anything with the ball...occasionally they would step on the ball, which of course frustrated the players...hee hee...we saw a lot of missed hits, sometimes three or four times in a row!! there was a team from new york there, it was their first time in the tournament...lots of locals turned out to watch the tournament, it's probably the excitement of the year in that area...there was a british guy doing play by play, he was amusing...he kept referring to "the greatest nation on earth"...hee hee...at least he knew the important stuff...lol...we had so much fun watching that we watched the entire day's worth of games...as we were leaving, i couldnt help but wonder, how exactly does one get into elephant polo? it's not exactly a worldwide sport...
VIII. BACK TO KATHMANDU we hopped two buses again, and made our way back to kathmandu...we had lots of errands to do, and wanted to see a few more sights...laundry, email, etc...we took a microbus one day to a stupa called boddha...it's especially important to the tibetan buddhist community here...it's HUGE...anywho, as we got off the bus, the guy who collects money tried to tell us that the fare was 200NRps each...when he first said the number, we both thought he was talking about the entrance fee to the stupa area...but he was talking about the bus fare!!!! we were both shocked, and weren't about to pay that...it was just another example of a local trying to rip off a foreign traveler...we paid 20, and knew we had overpaid by 5 or so...in american dollars, 200 rupees isn't a lot...but it's more than 10x the fare!!! he had no choice but to accept the money we were willing, but as he got back on the bus he kept calling us idiot girls... we also visited several travel agents in order to get prices for the permits and tickets we needed for the next trek we had decided to do...the last agent we visited was by far the best...he explained what we needed, and even told us we could get the permits ourselves...he also told us that the TIMS (trekkers information management system) cards are actually free...the other agents were telling us that they could get them for us for 500 rupees each!! in addition to their markup on the permits...needless to say, to book bus tickets we were happy to go to the honest travel agent...he told us the price of the tickets, as well as the commission he charged...we were happy to pay that...
pokhara is the second city of nepal...much more tame, though still touristy...the world peace pagoda overlooks the town...one day we rented a boat and went out on the lake...you can see the mountains behind the city while on the lake...gorgeous...pokhara was also our first opportunity to use computers in nearly three weeks...we were both a bit overwhelmed with being in contact again...as this was only three days after the events in mumbai, it was especially intense...while we were in pokhara, we found out the dates for something we had read about in the guidebook, and decided we had to go...
VII. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
after two days in pokhara, we rode two buses to the village of meghauli...it's just outside chitwan national park...there is only one time of year, and one reason that foreigners ever go to meghauli...each december, for a week, it hosts the world elephant polo championships...how awesome is that??!! on the second bus,i got to talking to the man sitting next to me, and he offered to let us stay at his house...so we did...his house happened to be a 30 minute bike ride past meghauli, in an absolutely tiny village...we got off the bus at the last stop, then walked 20 minutes through fields to get to his house...attracting attention EVERYWHERE, of course...it was a traditional house, one room downstairs, with a ladder leading up to the one room upstairs...it had electricity, but no running water...the kitchen was a straw covered shack of sorts...in the middle of the front "yard" was a huge haystack...that evening our host took us to the house (a 40 minute walk through more fields, we were totally lost) of one of his relatives...she served us local rice beer, and a fantastic curry...obvioiusly, i didn't drink the beer, but layna said it was good, and it certainly smelled good...kinda lemony, though he said there was no lemon in it...walking back to his house was interesting, as it was completely dark...walking where you can't see is difficult, and we all know my level of coordination, even when i can see!!! the following morning we got up, and our host led us (all three of us on bicycles) to the grounds in meghauli where we watched the WORLD ELEPHANT POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS...it was AWESOME...the game moves a lot faster than you would think...there are 9 elephants on the field at a time...4 for each team, and a huge referee elephant...each elephant had two people on it...a player and a handler...the players were using mallets with 2m handles...funny to watch them try to hit the ball and make sure it didn't hit the feet of the elephant...the elephants seemed to know not to use their trunks to do anything with the ball...occasionally they would step on the ball, which of course frustrated the players...hee hee...we saw a lot of missed hits, sometimes three or four times in a row!! there was a team from new york there, it was their first time in the tournament...lots of locals turned out to watch the tournament, it's probably the excitement of the year in that area...there was a british guy doing play by play, he was amusing...he kept referring to "the greatest nation on earth"...hee hee...at least he knew the important stuff...lol...we had so much fun watching that we watched the entire day's worth of games...as we were leaving, i couldnt help but wonder, how exactly does one get into elephant polo? it's not exactly a worldwide sport...
VIII. BACK TO KATHMANDU we hopped two buses again, and made our way back to kathmandu...we had lots of errands to do, and wanted to see a few more sights...laundry, email, etc...we took a microbus one day to a stupa called boddha...it's especially important to the tibetan buddhist community here...it's HUGE...anywho, as we got off the bus, the guy who collects money tried to tell us that the fare was 200NRps each...when he first said the number, we both thought he was talking about the entrance fee to the stupa area...but he was talking about the bus fare!!!! we were both shocked, and weren't about to pay that...it was just another example of a local trying to rip off a foreign traveler...we paid 20, and knew we had overpaid by 5 or so...in american dollars, 200 rupees isn't a lot...but it's more than 10x the fare!!! he had no choice but to accept the money we were willing, but as he got back on the bus he kept calling us idiot girls... we also visited several travel agents in order to get prices for the permits and tickets we needed for the next trek we had decided to do...the last agent we visited was by far the best...he explained what we needed, and even told us we could get the permits ourselves...he also told us that the TIMS (trekkers information management system) cards are actually free...the other agents were telling us that they could get them for us for 500 rupees each!! in addition to their markup on the permits...needless to say, to book bus tickets we were happy to go to the honest travel agent...he told us the price of the tickets, as well as the commission he charged...we were happy to pay that...
05 December 2008
nepal 1
I. INTRODUCTION
layna and i met in germany, she moved there a year after i did, in june 2002...who knows exactly when we met, but it was sometime not too long afterward...one of her sisters had already been there a few years...layna is a graduate of texas a&m...she went to yell practice regularly, but wasn't often a 12th man...she's way more impressive than me, in that she put herself entirely through school by herself...(a side note, the sister already in garmisch is a UT graduate...or, as aggies call it, TU)
II. THE BEGINNING
our first trip together was while we were living in germany...purely by accident we both had the same few days off, and while we didn't know each other well at all, thought hey, lets go somewhere...so we went to the travel agent, and ended up going to turkey...at the time our visa cost more than our flight!! sometimes being an american sucks...anywho, we loved the trip, and found that we have similar traveling styles...our next trip together was to russia (moscow and st petersburg) with the sister i already mentioned...another great trip...
i left garmisch in march of 2004, then traveled for 7 weeks in southeast asia, (including visiting hana who was living in the philippines at the time)...that summer, i worked in seward, alaska, home of the seward army resort...sometime during that summer, layna and i hatched the plan for this trip...we thought hey, wouldn't it be cool if we spent a bunch of months budget traveling all over asia...we originally thought we'd start it in late october or november of 2006...obviously that didn't happen...for various reasons, each of us pushed it back a couple times, always knowing that we were still going to do it...and finally, about a year ago, we said YES, WE ARE GOING TO START IN NOVEMBER...
III. THE PLANNING
all these years, layna and i would email every few months, and check in, that yes, each of us is still up for the trip...each making preparations, but not really coordinating anything...it wasn't until just a couple months or so before we were supposed to start that we even started emailing weekly...hee hee...but yes, we did get it all together...tickets bought, gear bought, etc...it helped a lot that each of us knew people who had trekked in nepal, so we knew who to ask questions...
IV. THE MEETING
we agreed to meet in kathmandu...originally, layna had a ticket that had her arriving on 5 november...but that ticket had her transferring through india, and apparently you need a visa to do that, which she didnt know at the time...so she got stuck in new york, and had to buy another ticket...(don't worry, she got most of the first one refunded)...so she ended up arriving the same day i did, 6 november...she found me in the airport, and our hotel picked us up, so we were set to go...
V. MORE PLANNING
since our flights arrived in kathmandu in the early afternoon, we actually had part of the day with which to do things..we went straight to the travel agent (there are gbillions from which to choose) to figure out details for the trek we had chosen...the annapurna circuit...it's one of the most popular (along with the everest base camp trek) as well as the longest...we originally thought of doing the everest base camp trek, but had both changed our minds w/out telling each other, so it worked out well...we knew that we could do the trek ourselves, w/out a porter, and w/out a guide, and we didn't want to pay for them anywho...(though porters and guides make a VERY small amount of money for all that they do...still, what they make is considerably more than the average nepali)...we got our bus tickets, and necessary permits
the next couple days we checked out a few places in kathmandu, and stocked up on what we'd need for the trek...i had showed up w/out a hat, and w/out mittens...fortunately, that stuff is available here, by the truckload, and super cheap...if you're good at bargaining, you'll pay almost nothing...i'm not as good as i'd like to be, since i rarely have any idea what i should be paying for anything...
VI. THE TREK
we took a six hour bus ride from kathmandu to the town of besisahar...the only reason foreigners go to this town is to stay the night before they start the circuit...the day we were on the bus was in the middle of a few holidays, so there were a LOT of people getting on and off...it occured to us that it might be difficult to find a room in besisahar, but it wasn't...we stayed at hotel mongolia, for what we thought was the bargain rate of 500Rps...($1USD = 75NRps)...the view from the back of the hotel was pretty good...or so we thought...our room had it's own bathroom, and two single beds with very thin mattresses...that's it...oh, and a couple windows...but it was all we needed...
the next morning we were up and ready to go (we even ate breakfast) before 0700...we found a bus to take us a little way (7km) down the road to khudi, where we would start walking...the road was, well, um, not good...not sealed at all...when you looked at the bus we were on, you wouldn't have thought it was capable of anything off road...but it was...i don't know if it was actually 4WD, but it certainly was expected to behave that way...the bus driver definitely knew what he was doing...we got off in khudi, and started walking...our first checkpoint (there are police and tourist checkpoints all along the trek) was in the village after that, though i can't remember the name of it...the first hour and a half were pretty flat, and we were both thinking it wasn't going to be as hard as we thought...we had tea around 1000...not too long after we started walking again, we started going up...not too bad at first, but remember that i haven't hiked regularly, ever...still, we took it slow and steady, which would become our mantra as the trek went on...we arrived in bahundanda around 1400...
most of our days ended up having the same routine, give or take hours or minutes...wake up, lay around and daydream, eat breakfast, trek for 4-6 hours, arrive somewhere new, relax and look at the menu and try to decide what we wanted for dinner, eat dinner, go to bed around 2000...(yes, i know, that's early)...in general, the first half of the trek was mostly going up...and the second half was mostly going down...some days were difficult, some were easier...after just a few days, we were sleeping higher than i ever was during 2.5 years in korea...(the highest mountain in south korea is only about 2000m)...day 7 was difficult, as we took the upper route from pisang to manang...it has a pretty harsh climb, but the views for the rest of the day are totally worth it...it was a 7 hour day, and we arrived in manang tired and hungry...manang is a town at 3500m or so, and nearly everyone doing the trek spends two nights there instead of one, to acclimatize...most of the world never spends time at this height, but it's when altitude sickness starts to show...there are several bakeries in the town, of course we had to try the goods...never has apple pie looked so good:)...
the next difficult day was day 10...by far the most difficult of the trek...we spent the night in thorung phedi, at 4400m...the village consists of the two lodges for trekkers, (and porters/guides/etc) and that's it...most people go to bed very early, because you start the next morning in the dark...people eat breakfast around 0400-0430, and start up the mountain in the dark, at 0500...its neat to look up and see the line of head torch lights winding up the mountain...1000m later, (4.5 hours for us) we were at the top, the pass called thorung la...layna started the day with nausea, one of many symptoms of AMS, though she elected to try the climb anywho...as we climbed, she got worse, though she still carried on...at the top, there is a hut where quite a few people stop and have a cup of tea to celebrate where they are and what they've done...we didn't stop...we took the obligatory pictures by the sign, and started our way down...the last hour of the climb i had developed a headache, which i knew would go away as we descended...and it did...5.5 hours later, we arrived in muktinath, after a descent of 1600m+...my knees hurt a little, and my feet HURT A LOT...it was a long long LONG day, and we were exhausted...i was so tired that i kept kicking stones i should have been able to lift my feet over...we arrived around 1530, and stumbled into the mona lisa hotel...the next morning we decided to stay an extra day in muktinath, just because we could...(not having an itinerary is great)...there were a few things in muktinath that we wanted to see, and didn't have the energy when we arrived after the long day...we also used the rest day to rinse our clothes in the FREEZING COLD water...SO COLD...
then we continued going down...the next day we arrived in kagbeni, which has to be one of the windiest places ever...from the north side of kagbeni you can see into a tiny little area of the upper mustang region...we would have loved to go farther...there is a special permit fee to go there, a whopping $700USD...(birthday present for me next year? hee hee)...for a while, nepal has had 75 districts...for a number of years, one king ruled over 74 of them...another king ruled over the other one, known as the upper mustang region...i would love to see it someday...anywho, from kagbeni we continued on...this side of the trek has a road through a good portion, which isn't nearly as fun as the trail on the first half...plus, several of our days were much flatter...we weren't feeling the challenge nearly as much...but it was still amazing...the scenery was totally different, its much more desertlike...by this point, a 4 hour day was a breeze...we'd arrive somewhere and drop our packs and hike around whereva we were...
i don't remember the number of the day, but at some point we arrived in tatopani...the next day is a tough one, as you climb quite a lot again...after going down for days, it's definitely a shock to the system...tatopani itself means hot springs, and there are some right next to the town...there are also a few really good looking bakeries in the town...the next morning, we took off, and kept thinking "when do we start climbing?"...at some point, i looked at the map and realized we had missed the turnoff to the climb...whoops...so we walked back, found the turnoff, and started climbing...we only made half the climb, but that was okay...we slept the night at sikha, then continued the climb the next day, finishing at ghorepani...it actually worked out really well that we did the climb in two days instead of one...
the last morning, we got up in the dark again...ghorepani is at the bottom of what is known at poon hill...watching the sun rise from poon hill is great, so we figured, why not? again, climbing up in the dark with the line of lights from head torches...the sun rise was beautiful, and the perfect morning...cold, but awesome...we walked back down to the lodge, ate breakfast, and started going down even more...that last day we descended almost 2000m, down to the town of naya pul...from there we caught a bus (after saying no to a taxi who wanted WAY too much money) to pokhara...
one of our biggest concerns in doing the trek w/out a porter was how hard it would be to carry our packs each day...but our bodies adjusted surprisingly well...that's not to say it was easy, because it wasn't...but it wasn't as bad as we thought...and we didn't need a guide, except for the one time...hee hee...
layna and i met in germany, she moved there a year after i did, in june 2002...who knows exactly when we met, but it was sometime not too long afterward...one of her sisters had already been there a few years...layna is a graduate of texas a&m...she went to yell practice regularly, but wasn't often a 12th man...she's way more impressive than me, in that she put herself entirely through school by herself...(a side note, the sister already in garmisch is a UT graduate...or, as aggies call it, TU)
II. THE BEGINNING
our first trip together was while we were living in germany...purely by accident we both had the same few days off, and while we didn't know each other well at all, thought hey, lets go somewhere...so we went to the travel agent, and ended up going to turkey...at the time our visa cost more than our flight!! sometimes being an american sucks...anywho, we loved the trip, and found that we have similar traveling styles...our next trip together was to russia (moscow and st petersburg) with the sister i already mentioned...another great trip...
i left garmisch in march of 2004, then traveled for 7 weeks in southeast asia, (including visiting hana who was living in the philippines at the time)...that summer, i worked in seward, alaska, home of the seward army resort...sometime during that summer, layna and i hatched the plan for this trip...we thought hey, wouldn't it be cool if we spent a bunch of months budget traveling all over asia...we originally thought we'd start it in late october or november of 2006...obviously that didn't happen...for various reasons, each of us pushed it back a couple times, always knowing that we were still going to do it...and finally, about a year ago, we said YES, WE ARE GOING TO START IN NOVEMBER...
III. THE PLANNING
all these years, layna and i would email every few months, and check in, that yes, each of us is still up for the trip...each making preparations, but not really coordinating anything...it wasn't until just a couple months or so before we were supposed to start that we even started emailing weekly...hee hee...but yes, we did get it all together...tickets bought, gear bought, etc...it helped a lot that each of us knew people who had trekked in nepal, so we knew who to ask questions...
IV. THE MEETING
we agreed to meet in kathmandu...originally, layna had a ticket that had her arriving on 5 november...but that ticket had her transferring through india, and apparently you need a visa to do that, which she didnt know at the time...so she got stuck in new york, and had to buy another ticket...(don't worry, she got most of the first one refunded)...so she ended up arriving the same day i did, 6 november...she found me in the airport, and our hotel picked us up, so we were set to go...
V. MORE PLANNING
since our flights arrived in kathmandu in the early afternoon, we actually had part of the day with which to do things..we went straight to the travel agent (there are gbillions from which to choose) to figure out details for the trek we had chosen...the annapurna circuit...it's one of the most popular (along with the everest base camp trek) as well as the longest...we originally thought of doing the everest base camp trek, but had both changed our minds w/out telling each other, so it worked out well...we knew that we could do the trek ourselves, w/out a porter, and w/out a guide, and we didn't want to pay for them anywho...(though porters and guides make a VERY small amount of money for all that they do...still, what they make is considerably more than the average nepali)...we got our bus tickets, and necessary permits
the next couple days we checked out a few places in kathmandu, and stocked up on what we'd need for the trek...i had showed up w/out a hat, and w/out mittens...fortunately, that stuff is available here, by the truckload, and super cheap...if you're good at bargaining, you'll pay almost nothing...i'm not as good as i'd like to be, since i rarely have any idea what i should be paying for anything...
VI. THE TREK
we took a six hour bus ride from kathmandu to the town of besisahar...the only reason foreigners go to this town is to stay the night before they start the circuit...the day we were on the bus was in the middle of a few holidays, so there were a LOT of people getting on and off...it occured to us that it might be difficult to find a room in besisahar, but it wasn't...we stayed at hotel mongolia, for what we thought was the bargain rate of 500Rps...($1USD = 75NRps)...the view from the back of the hotel was pretty good...or so we thought...our room had it's own bathroom, and two single beds with very thin mattresses...that's it...oh, and a couple windows...but it was all we needed...
the next morning we were up and ready to go (we even ate breakfast) before 0700...we found a bus to take us a little way (7km) down the road to khudi, where we would start walking...the road was, well, um, not good...not sealed at all...when you looked at the bus we were on, you wouldn't have thought it was capable of anything off road...but it was...i don't know if it was actually 4WD, but it certainly was expected to behave that way...the bus driver definitely knew what he was doing...we got off in khudi, and started walking...our first checkpoint (there are police and tourist checkpoints all along the trek) was in the village after that, though i can't remember the name of it...the first hour and a half were pretty flat, and we were both thinking it wasn't going to be as hard as we thought...we had tea around 1000...not too long after we started walking again, we started going up...not too bad at first, but remember that i haven't hiked regularly, ever...still, we took it slow and steady, which would become our mantra as the trek went on...we arrived in bahundanda around 1400...
most of our days ended up having the same routine, give or take hours or minutes...wake up, lay around and daydream, eat breakfast, trek for 4-6 hours, arrive somewhere new, relax and look at the menu and try to decide what we wanted for dinner, eat dinner, go to bed around 2000...(yes, i know, that's early)...in general, the first half of the trek was mostly going up...and the second half was mostly going down...some days were difficult, some were easier...after just a few days, we were sleeping higher than i ever was during 2.5 years in korea...(the highest mountain in south korea is only about 2000m)...day 7 was difficult, as we took the upper route from pisang to manang...it has a pretty harsh climb, but the views for the rest of the day are totally worth it...it was a 7 hour day, and we arrived in manang tired and hungry...manang is a town at 3500m or so, and nearly everyone doing the trek spends two nights there instead of one, to acclimatize...most of the world never spends time at this height, but it's when altitude sickness starts to show...there are several bakeries in the town, of course we had to try the goods...never has apple pie looked so good:)...
the next difficult day was day 10...by far the most difficult of the trek...we spent the night in thorung phedi, at 4400m...the village consists of the two lodges for trekkers, (and porters/guides/etc) and that's it...most people go to bed very early, because you start the next morning in the dark...people eat breakfast around 0400-0430, and start up the mountain in the dark, at 0500...its neat to look up and see the line of head torch lights winding up the mountain...1000m later, (4.5 hours for us) we were at the top, the pass called thorung la...layna started the day with nausea, one of many symptoms of AMS, though she elected to try the climb anywho...as we climbed, she got worse, though she still carried on...at the top, there is a hut where quite a few people stop and have a cup of tea to celebrate where they are and what they've done...we didn't stop...we took the obligatory pictures by the sign, and started our way down...the last hour of the climb i had developed a headache, which i knew would go away as we descended...and it did...5.5 hours later, we arrived in muktinath, after a descent of 1600m+...my knees hurt a little, and my feet HURT A LOT...it was a long long LONG day, and we were exhausted...i was so tired that i kept kicking stones i should have been able to lift my feet over...we arrived around 1530, and stumbled into the mona lisa hotel...the next morning we decided to stay an extra day in muktinath, just because we could...(not having an itinerary is great)...there were a few things in muktinath that we wanted to see, and didn't have the energy when we arrived after the long day...we also used the rest day to rinse our clothes in the FREEZING COLD water...SO COLD...
then we continued going down...the next day we arrived in kagbeni, which has to be one of the windiest places ever...from the north side of kagbeni you can see into a tiny little area of the upper mustang region...we would have loved to go farther...there is a special permit fee to go there, a whopping $700USD...(birthday present for me next year? hee hee)...for a while, nepal has had 75 districts...for a number of years, one king ruled over 74 of them...another king ruled over the other one, known as the upper mustang region...i would love to see it someday...anywho, from kagbeni we continued on...this side of the trek has a road through a good portion, which isn't nearly as fun as the trail on the first half...plus, several of our days were much flatter...we weren't feeling the challenge nearly as much...but it was still amazing...the scenery was totally different, its much more desertlike...by this point, a 4 hour day was a breeze...we'd arrive somewhere and drop our packs and hike around whereva we were...
i don't remember the number of the day, but at some point we arrived in tatopani...the next day is a tough one, as you climb quite a lot again...after going down for days, it's definitely a shock to the system...tatopani itself means hot springs, and there are some right next to the town...there are also a few really good looking bakeries in the town...the next morning, we took off, and kept thinking "when do we start climbing?"...at some point, i looked at the map and realized we had missed the turnoff to the climb...whoops...so we walked back, found the turnoff, and started climbing...we only made half the climb, but that was okay...we slept the night at sikha, then continued the climb the next day, finishing at ghorepani...it actually worked out really well that we did the climb in two days instead of one...
the last morning, we got up in the dark again...ghorepani is at the bottom of what is known at poon hill...watching the sun rise from poon hill is great, so we figured, why not? again, climbing up in the dark with the line of lights from head torches...the sun rise was beautiful, and the perfect morning...cold, but awesome...we walked back down to the lodge, ate breakfast, and started going down even more...that last day we descended almost 2000m, down to the town of naya pul...from there we caught a bus (after saying no to a taxi who wanted WAY too much money) to pokhara...
one of our biggest concerns in doing the trek w/out a porter was how hard it would be to carry our packs each day...but our bodies adjusted surprisingly well...that's not to say it was easy, because it wasn't...but it wasn't as bad as we thought...and we didn't need a guide, except for the one time...hee hee...
04 November 2008
new zealand part 3
arrived 18 sept
visited waiwera, with a great hotel pool...and a total surprise...dan set a high standard for himself...
also met part of dan's extended family in napier...on the way to napier we stopped at candyland, not too far from hamilton...heaven!! his cousin anne has the cutest 5 month old, tafia...dan was great with tafia, he spent more time with him than almost anyone else...endless patience for bouncing him up and down and up and down, over and over again...played golf, which isn't a surprise...
also visited rotorua, or rottenrua...smells like sulfur at times, but everything is geothermally heated, which is fantastic...we spent hours in the hotel pool...played more golf...
next was tauranga, more golf and climbing to the top of mt i cant remember the name...
more golf in waihi, after seeing hot water beach and somewhere just north of that...
golf in hamilton, for free...waitakere is a sister course of lochiel...dan got mad and ended up breaking the shaft of his driver...whoops...rain and wind were making me miserable...visited waitomo caves, they're awesome...the glow worms are beautiful...though two girls in the boat kept talking...
celebrated my birthday by going to gilmours, and buying way too many lollies...can't wait to do it again...also, dinner with amy, ivan and jess...
visited waiwera, with a great hotel pool...and a total surprise...dan set a high standard for himself...
also met part of dan's extended family in napier...on the way to napier we stopped at candyland, not too far from hamilton...heaven!! his cousin anne has the cutest 5 month old, tafia...dan was great with tafia, he spent more time with him than almost anyone else...endless patience for bouncing him up and down and up and down, over and over again...played golf, which isn't a surprise...
also visited rotorua, or rottenrua...smells like sulfur at times, but everything is geothermally heated, which is fantastic...we spent hours in the hotel pool...played more golf...
next was tauranga, more golf and climbing to the top of mt i cant remember the name...
more golf in waihi, after seeing hot water beach and somewhere just north of that...
golf in hamilton, for free...waitakere is a sister course of lochiel...dan got mad and ended up breaking the shaft of his driver...whoops...rain and wind were making me miserable...visited waitomo caves, they're awesome...the glow worms are beautiful...though two girls in the boat kept talking...
celebrated my birthday by going to gilmours, and buying way too many lollies...can't wait to do it again...also, dinner with amy, ivan and jess...
19 September 2008
oregon
after a couple flights from guatemala city to la and la to portland, i finally landed in oregon...i hired a car and drove to toni's house...she's got two roommates, it's an older house in se portland...spent a couple days with her, including cheering her on in volleyball...they were a lot better than she had led me to believe...we also power shopped...in about 20 minutes we found me a dress and shoes to wear to the wedding...great to catch up!
drove to kimmie's house, also in portland, but in the northeast section of the city, a couple days later...great again to catch up, even though i just saw her in june, at lynnae's wedding...she lives in a HUGE house with a couple roommates...i got my own room! went with her to guard practice, we also went to the river at night to play with our cameras...
i spent a couple days enjoying downtown portland, and shopping for things i probably didn't need...great weather the whole time i was in portland, where's all the rain people talk about?...one night kimmie and i went out with heather and jeremi, after doing the underground tunnel tour...the tunnel tour supposedly shows the seamier side of portland's past...who knows how much is true, but it was a fun tour..we're all indiana people, crazy!!..not that many people get out of indiana, especially not from smaller towns..
drove to bend friday, found carrie in a store, shopping for a dress with laura and marion...oh how i've missed the girls...carrie hates dresses, hee hee, but the girls were determined that she have a dress for the wedding...happy to see each other again...dinner with marion and carrie, staying at carrie's new place...she just arrived the day before, and still has plenty to unpack...her bedroom is upstairs, and there is a full bath up there, another bedroom, a large communal area that could be used as a living room if they put some furniture there, and a small kitchen..i don't know how long carrie intends to stay in bend, but it works for now..
mike's wedding was awesome...soooo nice to see him so happy...got to talk to him and marisa way more than i got to talk to ree at her wedding...great to see tim and erik and gabe and amy and their new little girl...AWESOME...sooooo glad i went...like lynnae's wedding, this one was focused on the people in the wedding, and all their friends and family..it wasn't about the proper way of doing things, or spending money, or anything along those lines..fantastic..
the next day carrie and i were invited to go white water rafting with gabe...he works for a company, and was able to take us out with his parents...good times...dinner with mike, marisa, patti (sp?) laura, erike, carrie, and more...sad my visit was over, but so good to catch up...
drove back to portland, flew to LA...flew to fiji, flew to akl...LOTS of hours on a plane...
drove to kimmie's house, also in portland, but in the northeast section of the city, a couple days later...great again to catch up, even though i just saw her in june, at lynnae's wedding...she lives in a HUGE house with a couple roommates...i got my own room! went with her to guard practice, we also went to the river at night to play with our cameras...
i spent a couple days enjoying downtown portland, and shopping for things i probably didn't need...great weather the whole time i was in portland, where's all the rain people talk about?...one night kimmie and i went out with heather and jeremi, after doing the underground tunnel tour...the tunnel tour supposedly shows the seamier side of portland's past...who knows how much is true, but it was a fun tour..we're all indiana people, crazy!!..not that many people get out of indiana, especially not from smaller towns..drove to bend friday, found carrie in a store, shopping for a dress with laura and marion...oh how i've missed the girls...carrie hates dresses, hee hee, but the girls were determined that she have a dress for the wedding...happy to see each other again...dinner with marion and carrie, staying at carrie's new place...she just arrived the day before, and still has plenty to unpack...her bedroom is upstairs, and there is a full bath up there, another bedroom, a large communal area that could be used as a living room if they put some furniture there, and a small kitchen..i don't know how long carrie intends to stay in bend, but it works for now..
mike's wedding was awesome...soooo nice to see him so happy...got to talk to him and marisa way more than i got to talk to ree at her wedding...great to see tim and erik and gabe and amy and their new little girl...AWESOME...sooooo glad i went...like lynnae's wedding, this one was focused on the people in the wedding, and all their friends and family..it wasn't about the proper way of doing things, or spending money, or anything along those lines..fantastic..
the next day carrie and i were invited to go white water rafting with gabe...he works for a company, and was able to take us out with his parents...good times...dinner with mike, marisa, patti (sp?) laura, erike, carrie, and more...sad my visit was over, but so good to catch up...
drove back to portland, flew to LA...flew to fiji, flew to akl...LOTS of hours on a plane...
12 July 2008
continuing around bits and pieces of the states...
after florida i flew to seattle, mostly for lynnae's wedding..i had invited scott to be my date in seattle...he's a friend from my time in germany, it had been a few years since we'd seen each other..he lives in reno, and was able to get the weekend off to fly up..he and i explored the town, the first time for either of us to be in seattle...we both loved it...it's got great public transport, is environmentally aware, and has plenty to see and do..the day we went up the space needle we could see mt rainier and whateva the further away mountain is..apparently it's only that clear about 30 days of the year..the wedding was fantastic...lynnae and colin had organized everything really well..they got married at some gardens just outside enumclaw, which is out from seattle..since it wouldn't have been easy for everyone to get there on their own, a bus had been set up to take us all from the hotel to the gardens..it was exactly what i want in my wedding, if i ever have one...it was all about their family and friends having a good time, and we did...i got to meet colin for the first time, who is just as good looking in person as he is in pictures..and he's really nice..previous to meeting me he had only known me as the girl who sent postcards to lynnae every now and again..at the reception scott met julia, a friend of lynnae's from when she and colin lived in north carolina..(though julia now lives in portland)...hee hee...after the reception was over, there was an after party at a nearby bar..the yella beak saloon..when all of us wedding goers walked in, it was clear we werent dressed to fit in..the next day, i realized i had left my mobile at the yella beak saloon, so scott and i hired a car and drove all the way back..he's a great driver, i was happy to let him drive..the day we left scott and i drove back to the airport, and he checked in for his flight..i had a while to wait, but oh well..
my next visit was to new york city to finally see kristin again, and meet katherine for the first time...she's doing great...and their loft is awesome!!! on broadway, in manhattan...it doesn't get much better than that..i loved it...i'd never been to new york before, and knowing people and being able to stay in downtown manhattan was incredible..i got to walk everywhere...the statue of liberty and ellis island i got to visit one afternoon..you have to buy tickets for the ferry, which first drops you off at the statue of liberty..(a gift from the french, a while ago)..before 11 september, tourists could climb all the way up the statue..that's no longer allowed, which is probably a good thing, seeing as how there were no emergency exits, and they had had a couple health related fatalities over the years..the statue is copper (which is why it's green on the outside) and therefore gets REALLY hot inside, particularly during the summer months..apparently a lot of people attempted the climb up who weren't in good enough shape..from there i took the ferry to ellis island, which is where immigrants to the US all had to process through, back when..that's where the initial health screening was done, as well as information given, etc..they still have most of the records, and it's pretty impressive..it's a place where plenty of names were americanized for easier pronunciation..i took a practice US citizenship test, and aced it..some of the questions seemed like they were designed to trick the testtaker..the sight of the new york city cityline from the water was beautiful..the UN (did you know that the UN is technically not part of the united states? i don't know what it's governance is)..i saw what is known as ground zero..as was the intention of the powers that be, there is no attention drawn to the area..there is construction stuff there, building up the new buildings...i can't remember if it's a memorial, or just another building..the people of new york city want to send a constant message to the terrorists, that life will continue with no differences, despite the attack...one night we went to listen to the new york philharmonic in central park with 60,000 of our closest friends...we brought sushi to eat while listening, and the dogs loved getting out of the loft..one night we went to a restaurant for ukrainian food..yum..i love the amazing variety of food in the city..there are so many immigrants, something that hasn't changed since the city was first founded..one night kristin and katherine hosted a party for a group of their friends..it was to celebrate kristin finishing work at the hospital..she had enjoyed the work, but wanted to depend entirely on her private practice..i want to go back!! it would be awesome to see a show on broadway, check out the other borroughs, etc..plus, kristin and katherine are great people:)
from new york, i flew to toronto to visit brooke...she's one of my friends from korea..it was great to catch up with her, she's been through a lot...she looks amazing, maybe even too skinny..she started weight watchers during the year i taught at psa, and ended up losing quite a bit of weight..she's really strong, and controlled herself really well once she started keeping track of her points..i was there the weekend of toronto pride, so we checked that out..great music, good food, lots of fun..one of my nights there brooke and i continued our tradition of date night, which involves ridiculously bad fast food and a movie..i met her roommate tasha, a british chick..tasha has a strong personality, to put it mildly..i didn't get to see much (or any) of the city, but that wasn't the point of me going to toronto..getting to and from the airport in toronto was easy, there is a train the whole way..there is also good public transport around the city..brooke usually walks to and from work, though she could take the tram if she wanted to..
my next visit was to chicago to see megan...awesome...i knew her when we were both in germany..i took the 'el' into the city from the airport, and met her at one of the stops..the first thing we did was go to breakfast at ihop, my first time ever eating at an ihop!! i know it's not the classiest place, but i really wanted breakfast food..she has a great apartment, and a great roommate...the flat is huge!! i slept in the living room, on an air mattress, falling asleep to movies on the projector each night..we went to the taste of chicago...lots of yummy food!!! i'd heard that it is an expensive thing to attend, but it wasn't all that bad..there are tons of stalls set up, each one manned by a different restaurant from the city..each stall has a menu, consisting of just a few options..usually three choices, and a "taste" option..each choice costs a certain number of tickets..we walked all around the area to get a feel for what was there, then went back to places that interested us..using both of our sets of tickets, we tried a lot of different types of food, and loved most of them..after stuffing ourselves, we went to a concert by joss stone...i had heard her name ahead of time, but didn't really know her music at all..fun times..and great weather...one day i got to see megan's workplace, she works at argo tea..it's kinda like the starbucks of tea..there aren't nearly as many branches, but they have a huge menu..who knew there were that many ways of serving tea!!...i shopped a bit, and wandered a bit...chicago is a great city for wandering..so many people to see, so much going on all the time..it's another city with great public transport..i wish more cities were the same..
after chicago i went back to indiana for one last week, to pack up and figure out what i'll need for the next year and a half of my life!!! i also spent the 4th of july in bloomington, something i hadn't done in years..hana, dad, ann and i went to the fireworks put on by the city, around the football stadium..we set up our chairs on the lawn of one of the churches across the bypass, we had by far the best views i've ever had of the fireworks...
during the weeks i spent in bloomington, i realized that bloomington doesn't feel like home at all anymore...i felt rather unwelcome most of the time, as if i was intruding...seeing people around town was nice, but what used to be my home most certainly isn't anymore..now i feel homeless, and have no real desire to go back to bloomington for a long time..
my next visit was to new york city to finally see kristin again, and meet katherine for the first time...she's doing great...and their loft is awesome!!! on broadway, in manhattan...it doesn't get much better than that..i loved it...i'd never been to new york before, and knowing people and being able to stay in downtown manhattan was incredible..i got to walk everywhere...the statue of liberty and ellis island i got to visit one afternoon..you have to buy tickets for the ferry, which first drops you off at the statue of liberty..(a gift from the french, a while ago)..before 11 september, tourists could climb all the way up the statue..that's no longer allowed, which is probably a good thing, seeing as how there were no emergency exits, and they had had a couple health related fatalities over the years..the statue is copper (which is why it's green on the outside) and therefore gets REALLY hot inside, particularly during the summer months..apparently a lot of people attempted the climb up who weren't in good enough shape..from there i took the ferry to ellis island, which is where immigrants to the US all had to process through, back when..that's where the initial health screening was done, as well as information given, etc..they still have most of the records, and it's pretty impressive..it's a place where plenty of names were americanized for easier pronunciation..i took a practice US citizenship test, and aced it..some of the questions seemed like they were designed to trick the testtaker..the sight of the new york city cityline from the water was beautiful..the UN (did you know that the UN is technically not part of the united states? i don't know what it's governance is)..i saw what is known as ground zero..as was the intention of the powers that be, there is no attention drawn to the area..there is construction stuff there, building up the new buildings...i can't remember if it's a memorial, or just another building..the people of new york city want to send a constant message to the terrorists, that life will continue with no differences, despite the attack...one night we went to listen to the new york philharmonic in central park with 60,000 of our closest friends...we brought sushi to eat while listening, and the dogs loved getting out of the loft..one night we went to a restaurant for ukrainian food..yum..i love the amazing variety of food in the city..there are so many immigrants, something that hasn't changed since the city was first founded..one night kristin and katherine hosted a party for a group of their friends..it was to celebrate kristin finishing work at the hospital..she had enjoyed the work, but wanted to depend entirely on her private practice..i want to go back!! it would be awesome to see a show on broadway, check out the other borroughs, etc..plus, kristin and katherine are great people:)
from new york, i flew to toronto to visit brooke...she's one of my friends from korea..it was great to catch up with her, she's been through a lot...she looks amazing, maybe even too skinny..she started weight watchers during the year i taught at psa, and ended up losing quite a bit of weight..she's really strong, and controlled herself really well once she started keeping track of her points..i was there the weekend of toronto pride, so we checked that out..great music, good food, lots of fun..one of my nights there brooke and i continued our tradition of date night, which involves ridiculously bad fast food and a movie..i met her roommate tasha, a british chick..tasha has a strong personality, to put it mildly..i didn't get to see much (or any) of the city, but that wasn't the point of me going to toronto..getting to and from the airport in toronto was easy, there is a train the whole way..there is also good public transport around the city..brooke usually walks to and from work, though she could take the tram if she wanted to..
my next visit was to chicago to see megan...awesome...i knew her when we were both in germany..i took the 'el' into the city from the airport, and met her at one of the stops..the first thing we did was go to breakfast at ihop, my first time ever eating at an ihop!! i know it's not the classiest place, but i really wanted breakfast food..she has a great apartment, and a great roommate...the flat is huge!! i slept in the living room, on an air mattress, falling asleep to movies on the projector each night..we went to the taste of chicago...lots of yummy food!!! i'd heard that it is an expensive thing to attend, but it wasn't all that bad..there are tons of stalls set up, each one manned by a different restaurant from the city..each stall has a menu, consisting of just a few options..usually three choices, and a "taste" option..each choice costs a certain number of tickets..we walked all around the area to get a feel for what was there, then went back to places that interested us..using both of our sets of tickets, we tried a lot of different types of food, and loved most of them..after stuffing ourselves, we went to a concert by joss stone...i had heard her name ahead of time, but didn't really know her music at all..fun times..and great weather...one day i got to see megan's workplace, she works at argo tea..it's kinda like the starbucks of tea..there aren't nearly as many branches, but they have a huge menu..who knew there were that many ways of serving tea!!...i shopped a bit, and wandered a bit...chicago is a great city for wandering..so many people to see, so much going on all the time..it's another city with great public transport..i wish more cities were the same..
after chicago i went back to indiana for one last week, to pack up and figure out what i'll need for the next year and a half of my life!!! i also spent the 4th of july in bloomington, something i hadn't done in years..hana, dad, ann and i went to the fireworks put on by the city, around the football stadium..we set up our chairs on the lawn of one of the churches across the bypass, we had by far the best views i've ever had of the fireworks...
during the weeks i spent in bloomington, i realized that bloomington doesn't feel like home at all anymore...i felt rather unwelcome most of the time, as if i was intruding...seeing people around town was nice, but what used to be my home most certainly isn't anymore..now i feel homeless, and have no real desire to go back to bloomington for a long time..
22 June 2008
the states for the first time in more than 2.5 years
i arrived back in bloomington 29 may, after several flights...fiji to lax, lax to denver, and denver to ind...i almost always feel uncomfortable when i first land in airports in the US after being gone for a while, and this time was no different..the US has so many LARGE people!!
the next night i got together with don, krista and her husband at nicks...it was the first time i've met krista's husband, rob...he's a nice guy...we ended up staying out for quite a while, it was a good night..since i hadn't seen don or krista in ages, and we've all known each other for over a decade, there was a lot of catching up to do..
the next morning, i met the three of them for breakfast at the cloverleaf, one of my favourite places in bloomington..it's a family diner, and has been around for ages..it's no longer open sunday mornings, which is sad, cause i loved sunday meals there..krista left to get to the church as soon as we were done eating, she was one of the co matrons of honor, and had to get ready for pictures and the ceremony..rob took her over there, then he and don hung out and waited..rob was wearing his dress uniform, don was wearing a suit..(they're both army)
ree's wedding was 31 may...she and chad had been planning for a while, over a year in fact..it was a big wedding, with several hundred guests and many attendants on each side...there were even two pastors officiating..(a joke was made about that during the ceremony)..it was her dream day...the reception was at the convention center...since don expected to drink at the reception, he let me drive him over there in his car..(amazing, it wasn't easy to convince him to let me drive..he loves his car..lol)..i spent my time at the reception talking to don and rob..a good thing don was there, otherwise i would've left a lot earlier...other than don, and rob (sortof) i only knew family members, and they were all in the wedding party, so i had no one else to talk to..don and i were at a table with extended bales family members, they all knew each other of course..
ree and i have definitely gone our separate ways...
while i was in IN, i also visited kokomo for a night, to hang out with kelley...she's happy with her man, not happy with her job...i hadn't seen her since uni, we had tons to talk about..when she told her mom i was coming to visit, her mom went out and got a box of handmade chocolates for me!! rhonda is one of the coolest mom's i know..she remembered how much i love sweets..i was thrilled to hear kelley talk about jon, it's clear they're really happy together..i'm sooooo happy for her, cause she deserves someone as amazing as she is...she's looking forward to jon being done with school, so they can move to a place they both enjoy..kokomo isn't a place she wants to live any longer, and lafayette isn't any better..
i visited charlie and amber for a weekend in mentor, OH...it was sooooooooooo good to see my charlie again...and to finally meet his girls!! madison is almost 3, natalie is 1...so cute...i've known charlie for at least 15 years, and even though we don't keep in touch often, he's always going to be "my charlie"..you know that friend you have that you trust and would go to the end of the earth for? that's charlie for me..it was great to get to know amber, charlie's wife..he brought her to work camp one year, but that was the year after i moved to germany, so i never met her..he loves her madly, and he's another person in my life who deserves nothing but the best..i helped her make the cakes for natalie's birthday party...they only invited family members, so i didn't know many people, and there were quite a few kids there...needless to say, it was entertaining to watch natalie (usually called natty girl) attempt to eat her cake..she's only one, she doesn't really have that coordination..on saturday we drove to herb and linda's (charlie's parents, who i also know) church to go to chrissy's graduation party, in the same church where charlie got married...yay for seeing chrissy all grown up, and linda and herb...chrissy is 10 years younger than charlie, but they've always been really close..it was always surprising how close they were, given the age difference..going to the graduation party was like a pyoca mini-reunion..it was sad to leave them at the end of the weekend...when i left, i wasn't sure i would make it back to bloomington, as there had been MAJOR flooding all through southern indiana, and throughout the midwest..IN 37 was washed out in a few places, something i didn't even know could happen..as it was, i did make it back, but i saw a LOT of standing water along the way..since our house is on a hill, it's not likely ever to have problems with flooding, but there were plenty of people in bloomington who did have problems..i remember reading that areas in the 500 yr flood plain had been flooded, and they weren't doing well..several areas were declared federal disaster zones, and some towns like spencer weren't even reachable by road for almost a week..
i visited chris in ft walton beach, florida..i met chris in korea, and had kept in touch with him..i knew others in ft walton beach, but didn't get to see any of them because one was dating a girl who didn't want him to keep in touch in any way with any female friends (and that's all he and i ever were) from his past..it was a definite disappointment, as he didn't even tell me he was cutting me completely out of his life..it was nice to be back in fwb though, and great to spend a few hours on the beach..it's a beautiful white beach, with emerald water..chris is a good guy, and it was great to catch up with him..he plays softball, so a couple nights i went with him to his games..he's tall, so he's perfect for outfield..
the next night i got together with don, krista and her husband at nicks...it was the first time i've met krista's husband, rob...he's a nice guy...we ended up staying out for quite a while, it was a good night..since i hadn't seen don or krista in ages, and we've all known each other for over a decade, there was a lot of catching up to do..
the next morning, i met the three of them for breakfast at the cloverleaf, one of my favourite places in bloomington..it's a family diner, and has been around for ages..it's no longer open sunday mornings, which is sad, cause i loved sunday meals there..krista left to get to the church as soon as we were done eating, she was one of the co matrons of honor, and had to get ready for pictures and the ceremony..rob took her over there, then he and don hung out and waited..rob was wearing his dress uniform, don was wearing a suit..(they're both army)
ree's wedding was 31 may...she and chad had been planning for a while, over a year in fact..it was a big wedding, with several hundred guests and many attendants on each side...there were even two pastors officiating..(a joke was made about that during the ceremony)..it was her dream day...the reception was at the convention center...since don expected to drink at the reception, he let me drive him over there in his car..(amazing, it wasn't easy to convince him to let me drive..he loves his car..lol)..i spent my time at the reception talking to don and rob..a good thing don was there, otherwise i would've left a lot earlier...other than don, and rob (sortof) i only knew family members, and they were all in the wedding party, so i had no one else to talk to..don and i were at a table with extended bales family members, they all knew each other of course..
ree and i have definitely gone our separate ways...
while i was in IN, i also visited kokomo for a night, to hang out with kelley...she's happy with her man, not happy with her job...i hadn't seen her since uni, we had tons to talk about..when she told her mom i was coming to visit, her mom went out and got a box of handmade chocolates for me!! rhonda is one of the coolest mom's i know..she remembered how much i love sweets..i was thrilled to hear kelley talk about jon, it's clear they're really happy together..i'm sooooo happy for her, cause she deserves someone as amazing as she is...she's looking forward to jon being done with school, so they can move to a place they both enjoy..kokomo isn't a place she wants to live any longer, and lafayette isn't any better..
i visited charlie and amber for a weekend in mentor, OH...it was sooooooooooo good to see my charlie again...and to finally meet his girls!! madison is almost 3, natalie is 1...so cute...i've known charlie for at least 15 years, and even though we don't keep in touch often, he's always going to be "my charlie"..you know that friend you have that you trust and would go to the end of the earth for? that's charlie for me..it was great to get to know amber, charlie's wife..he brought her to work camp one year, but that was the year after i moved to germany, so i never met her..he loves her madly, and he's another person in my life who deserves nothing but the best..i helped her make the cakes for natalie's birthday party...they only invited family members, so i didn't know many people, and there were quite a few kids there...needless to say, it was entertaining to watch natalie (usually called natty girl) attempt to eat her cake..she's only one, she doesn't really have that coordination..on saturday we drove to herb and linda's (charlie's parents, who i also know) church to go to chrissy's graduation party, in the same church where charlie got married...yay for seeing chrissy all grown up, and linda and herb...chrissy is 10 years younger than charlie, but they've always been really close..it was always surprising how close they were, given the age difference..going to the graduation party was like a pyoca mini-reunion..it was sad to leave them at the end of the weekend...when i left, i wasn't sure i would make it back to bloomington, as there had been MAJOR flooding all through southern indiana, and throughout the midwest..IN 37 was washed out in a few places, something i didn't even know could happen..as it was, i did make it back, but i saw a LOT of standing water along the way..since our house is on a hill, it's not likely ever to have problems with flooding, but there were plenty of people in bloomington who did have problems..i remember reading that areas in the 500 yr flood plain had been flooded, and they weren't doing well..several areas were declared federal disaster zones, and some towns like spencer weren't even reachable by road for almost a week..
i visited chris in ft walton beach, florida..i met chris in korea, and had kept in touch with him..i knew others in ft walton beach, but didn't get to see any of them because one was dating a girl who didn't want him to keep in touch in any way with any female friends (and that's all he and i ever were) from his past..it was a definite disappointment, as he didn't even tell me he was cutting me completely out of his life..it was nice to be back in fwb though, and great to spend a few hours on the beach..it's a beautiful white beach, with emerald water..chris is a good guy, and it was great to catch up with him..he plays softball, so a couple nights i went with him to his games..he's tall, so he's perfect for outfield..
01 May 2008
nz vol. 2
i flew back to new zealand after my trip with hana in australia...only a quick 3 hour flight from sydney to auckland..dan and i had been talking a lot by email and we both thought we'd had a connection during the holidays at the bach...we'd even had a few phone calls, not something i normally do..we wanted to find out if that connection was more than a holiday connection, or just three fun days..
i remember being super nervous as i walked out of the airport; i was terrified i wouldn't even recognize dan..but almost immediately i spotted him, and things were okay..we were both nervous because neither of us knew what was going to happen..after all, we'd only had three days to get to know each other over the holiday, which isn't much time at all, especially when there are tons of other people around all the time..
anywho, we went to dinner that night, it was fabulous..he took me to a place with a german name, and i had the most amazing asian beef salad..and more important than the food, we knew we had something..
the next day was sunday, easter sunday..normally i wouldn't have mentioned a religious holiday, but in both new zealand and australia, easter is a HUGE holiday..it's a religious holiday, but down in this part of the world, it's secular too..anytime you walk into a dairy you see huge displays of easter lollies..government offices are closed on good friday and the following monday...nearly everyone takes a four day weekend..during the day dan's dad texted that he was coming over to dan's flat with easter pressies..(presents)..we both knew it was mainly because he wanted to see who i was..dan had been talking about me, and his family wanted to know who was coming to visit him after just three days together..his dad is a musician at heart, and works at a hospital for patients with mental disabilities..after his dad left, i suggested going to the golf course..i already knew dan was really into golf, and i remember thinking that i should just get it over with..i wanted to walk the course once, so i could say that i had done it, and from then on he was welcome to go anytime he liked..little did i know what the future held..that day, i had a good time, even though i realized i knew absolutely nothing about the sport..the first time he teed off that day, i had no idea where the ball went!! after golf we went to a nearby beach, called bethells..its a west coast beach, which means it's pretty wild..not a place you go for calm swimming..we laid out our towels, and were hanging out with someone came over and said hi to dan..turned out it was his sister!! we hadn't known she would be there, at least i didn't know..dan drives his company truck, so when he's somewhere, anyone who knows that truck knows he's there..when his sister saw his truck parked there she knew he was probably there with me, so of course she wanted to meet me as well..she seemed nice enough..as we were leaving the beach that day dan talked to one of jess' friends about cricket..the conversation only went on for about 5 minutes, but they might as well have been speaking swahili for all i understood..i recognized words like the, and and, but that was about it..there was nothing familiar in that conversation, despite the fact that every cricket fan i know says it's quite similar to baseball..(it's NOT!!)..at that point i realized i needed to learn about the sport..at least the basics..
the following week i met dan's mum at work..he works with his family everyday, they all are part owners of the company..she was nice too..they're NOTHING like my family..NOTHING..
at the end of that first full week, dan and i took off on a holiday..we took his dad's car, and drove up north, to northland, the "winterless" area of new zealand..when dan was just out of high school (the last two years of which they call college here, which is strange to me) he moved up north and worked for a little over a year in a resort in paihia..we stayed in a bach owned by the parents of one of dan's friends, in taupo bay..(not to be confused with taupo, near lake taupo)..during those first few days we used that as a base to "explore" the northern area of the north island of new zealand..we went swimming with the dolphins on dan's birthday..we slid down the sand dunes near cape reinga..we went out to the tip of cape reinga..that's where the tasman sea and the pacific ocean meet, and on clear days its said that you can see the line in the water where the two bodies of water meet..we definitely didn't see that, as it was foggy and somewhat rainy..one day we went walking on a boardwalk trail through a kauri forest..kauri trees are BIG..not that i've seen them, but i think they're along the lines of the redwood trees in california..maoris here consider it bad luck to have kauri furniture inside your home, but white folks and foreigners don't usually pay much attention to that..kauri stuff is expensive, but it sells..dan took me to a couple beaches on the east coast up there, they were completely empty, and awesome..one had squeaky sand, it was great fun to walk around in that..the other was out in the middle of nowhere..no people, no buildings, nothing..AWESOME..(a beach in new zealand is crowded if there are 5 other people on it)..we drove by carrington golf club one day, and as it looked pretty flash, dan wanted to see what it was all about..the next day we went back and played it..that was the first time i had walked 18 holes, and i remember thinking that it would be difficult to support him playing 18 holes all the time..it took just under 5 hrs to walk that course..it was looooong..the lady at the reception desk said that most people hired carts there, but we ignored her advice..that's the one time we should've hired a cart!! (later, after playing 18 holes on other courses, i learned that dan usually takes about 3 hours on his own to play 18, just under 4 hours if he's playing in a group)..it was a nice course, and relatively new..
for the last two days of our holiday, we stayed at a nice hotel in waitangi..waitangi is where the treaty of waitangi was signed, back in 1840..that's the treaty that established new zealand as it is now, the modern state..there are plenty of arguments over that treaty, whether it was valid, and most people will agree that the british tricked the maoris..issues from that are still being debated today..we went to the historical area, there is a big flagpole put up on the exact spot where the treaty was signed, and there are a few other buildings you can walk around..there is a copy of the treaty there, the original is kept in the national archives down in wellington..we also walked the golf course at waitangi, it was the first golf course dan ever played, it's where he got hooked on the game..it was a nice course, though it had just been cored (sp?) so that took some of the enjoyment out of it..
at the end of our holiday we drove back to auckland, then had dinner that night with his family to celebrate his birthday..he and i had been on our holiday during his birthday, so they waited until we came back to do the family thing..
the next few weeks were pretty plain..he'd go to work, i'd kill time during the day, and when he was done we'd go play golf, or have some other activity during the evening..i got to know his flattie, lota, a little..sometimes i went to his work for lunch, since it was just down the road..
at one point i realized i needed to be doing a little more during my time..so i decided to go visit three other cities in new zealand..wellington, christchurch, and queenstown..
visited paihia, keri keri, cape reinga, the puketi forest, taupo bay, auckland, queenstown, christchurch, wellington, and probably more...
got to hang out with amy and ivan, got to know dan and his family...
heartbroken to leave
left 21 may...
i remember being super nervous as i walked out of the airport; i was terrified i wouldn't even recognize dan..but almost immediately i spotted him, and things were okay..we were both nervous because neither of us knew what was going to happen..after all, we'd only had three days to get to know each other over the holiday, which isn't much time at all, especially when there are tons of other people around all the time..
anywho, we went to dinner that night, it was fabulous..he took me to a place with a german name, and i had the most amazing asian beef salad..and more important than the food, we knew we had something..
the next day was sunday, easter sunday..normally i wouldn't have mentioned a religious holiday, but in both new zealand and australia, easter is a HUGE holiday..it's a religious holiday, but down in this part of the world, it's secular too..anytime you walk into a dairy you see huge displays of easter lollies..government offices are closed on good friday and the following monday...nearly everyone takes a four day weekend..during the day dan's dad texted that he was coming over to dan's flat with easter pressies..(presents)..we both knew it was mainly because he wanted to see who i was..dan had been talking about me, and his family wanted to know who was coming to visit him after just three days together..his dad is a musician at heart, and works at a hospital for patients with mental disabilities..after his dad left, i suggested going to the golf course..i already knew dan was really into golf, and i remember thinking that i should just get it over with..i wanted to walk the course once, so i could say that i had done it, and from then on he was welcome to go anytime he liked..little did i know what the future held..that day, i had a good time, even though i realized i knew absolutely nothing about the sport..the first time he teed off that day, i had no idea where the ball went!! after golf we went to a nearby beach, called bethells..its a west coast beach, which means it's pretty wild..not a place you go for calm swimming..we laid out our towels, and were hanging out with someone came over and said hi to dan..turned out it was his sister!! we hadn't known she would be there, at least i didn't know..dan drives his company truck, so when he's somewhere, anyone who knows that truck knows he's there..when his sister saw his truck parked there she knew he was probably there with me, so of course she wanted to meet me as well..she seemed nice enough..as we were leaving the beach that day dan talked to one of jess' friends about cricket..the conversation only went on for about 5 minutes, but they might as well have been speaking swahili for all i understood..i recognized words like the, and and, but that was about it..there was nothing familiar in that conversation, despite the fact that every cricket fan i know says it's quite similar to baseball..(it's NOT!!)..at that point i realized i needed to learn about the sport..at least the basics..
the following week i met dan's mum at work..he works with his family everyday, they all are part owners of the company..she was nice too..they're NOTHING like my family..NOTHING..
at the end of that first full week, dan and i took off on a holiday..we took his dad's car, and drove up north, to northland, the "winterless" area of new zealand..when dan was just out of high school (the last two years of which they call college here, which is strange to me) he moved up north and worked for a little over a year in a resort in paihia..we stayed in a bach owned by the parents of one of dan's friends, in taupo bay..(not to be confused with taupo, near lake taupo)..during those first few days we used that as a base to "explore" the northern area of the north island of new zealand..we went swimming with the dolphins on dan's birthday..we slid down the sand dunes near cape reinga..we went out to the tip of cape reinga..that's where the tasman sea and the pacific ocean meet, and on clear days its said that you can see the line in the water where the two bodies of water meet..we definitely didn't see that, as it was foggy and somewhat rainy..one day we went walking on a boardwalk trail through a kauri forest..kauri trees are BIG..not that i've seen them, but i think they're along the lines of the redwood trees in california..maoris here consider it bad luck to have kauri furniture inside your home, but white folks and foreigners don't usually pay much attention to that..kauri stuff is expensive, but it sells..dan took me to a couple beaches on the east coast up there, they were completely empty, and awesome..one had squeaky sand, it was great fun to walk around in that..the other was out in the middle of nowhere..no people, no buildings, nothing..AWESOME..(a beach in new zealand is crowded if there are 5 other people on it)..we drove by carrington golf club one day, and as it looked pretty flash, dan wanted to see what it was all about..the next day we went back and played it..that was the first time i had walked 18 holes, and i remember thinking that it would be difficult to support him playing 18 holes all the time..it took just under 5 hrs to walk that course..it was looooong..the lady at the reception desk said that most people hired carts there, but we ignored her advice..that's the one time we should've hired a cart!! (later, after playing 18 holes on other courses, i learned that dan usually takes about 3 hours on his own to play 18, just under 4 hours if he's playing in a group)..it was a nice course, and relatively new..
for the last two days of our holiday, we stayed at a nice hotel in waitangi..waitangi is where the treaty of waitangi was signed, back in 1840..that's the treaty that established new zealand as it is now, the modern state..there are plenty of arguments over that treaty, whether it was valid, and most people will agree that the british tricked the maoris..issues from that are still being debated today..we went to the historical area, there is a big flagpole put up on the exact spot where the treaty was signed, and there are a few other buildings you can walk around..there is a copy of the treaty there, the original is kept in the national archives down in wellington..we also walked the golf course at waitangi, it was the first golf course dan ever played, it's where he got hooked on the game..it was a nice course, though it had just been cored (sp?) so that took some of the enjoyment out of it..
at the end of our holiday we drove back to auckland, then had dinner that night with his family to celebrate his birthday..he and i had been on our holiday during his birthday, so they waited until we came back to do the family thing..
the next few weeks were pretty plain..he'd go to work, i'd kill time during the day, and when he was done we'd go play golf, or have some other activity during the evening..i got to know his flattie, lota, a little..sometimes i went to his work for lunch, since it was just down the road..
at one point i realized i needed to be doing a little more during my time..so i decided to go visit three other cities in new zealand..wellington, christchurch, and queenstown..
visited paihia, keri keri, cape reinga, the puketi forest, taupo bay, auckland, queenstown, christchurch, wellington, and probably more...
got to hang out with amy and ivan, got to know dan and his family...
heartbroken to leave
left 21 may...
22 March 2008
australia
the blue mountains: walking around mostly...i think there are some longer hikes, but we didn't have time for any of those...we did see the three sisters rocks, which can be nifty in the right light...
canberra with the family hana worked for:
canberra with the family hana worked for:
- amazing war memorial...we could've spent the entire day there...there is a LOT of information, and it's presented well...wars that i don't know anything about because the US wasn't involved in them, and the US rarely acknowledges wars in which it wasn't involved
- great national museum...again we didn't have nearly enough time...good displays on a number of different topics...i most enjoyed the aussie invented stuff...
- super cute...sometimes really hard to see...they dont move much, so you have to spot them properly...you can stare at them for ages though, they don't get scared and run off...we spent a lot of time walking around staring upward hoping for a koala
- they're tiny...only a foot tall
- they come out of the water just after dusk, when it's safest
- there are stands built along the shore, so people pay and sit and watch them come out
- it's quite a drama to watch them all come out...if they get scared, they go running back into the water
- photography isn't allowed, and you're repeatedly told to sit down and be quiet
- after they come out, you can walk along the boardwalk and see them try to find their burrows...
- not much to actually see
- lots of shopping to be done
- koko black...YUMMY CAFE
- it's a social city, not one with a lot of sights...we wanted to see the old gaol, but they don't have an option of just walking through it...you have to purchase a ticket that involves being "locked up" and since we had no desire to do that, we ended up walking away...disappointing...why don't they have a basic ticket like that? it's expensive enough as is!!
- hired a car to drive to uluru...around 450km each way...through the desert...red desert with some brush...like nothing i've ever seen...
- maybe the biggest city in the outback? mostly populated with aboriginals, it's a very poor city...flat as all get out, except for one hill
- and on that hill is a lions club monument to something or other...
- other people in the hostel loud and obnoxious till all hours
- there is a nice "dry" garden on the edge of town...i enjoyed seeing the kangaroos before they hopped away:)
- big rocks in the ground...HUGE rocks in the ground...they change colour with the change of the sun angle
- met jenn, another american, on leave from her posting in bahrain
- took breakfast tour around uluru, learning some of the ancient stories and myths
- the climb is closed after a certain hour if its too hot...which is most every day from spring all the way through fall...
- locals ask that you don't climb it anymore, out of respect for what it is to them
- walked around kata tjuta on our own...worst flies EVER...i felt like i did nothing but shoo them away for 7km!!
- smelly hostel b/c of humidity...nothing dried properly
- arranged boat out to great barrier reef....hana very sick on the way out...hana did intro scuba dive, and got stung by fire coral...b/c of my asthma, i could only snorkel...best snorkeling i've ever done...sunburnt by the end of the day...
- cairns was at the end of a super rainy season...lots of areas were flooded along the road, and the water was quite rough from all the rain...
- walked through the canopied boardwalk...learned a lot about animals/birds/trees in the forest
- stayed under cover one entire day because of pouring rain
- school group from canada also there...spoiled kids!!
- feet blistered because the straps on my chacos never dried...
- stayed at a hostel named after me:)
- loved walking around...lots to see and do...
- celebrated hana's birthday by going to an opera in the famous opera house
- we took the manly ferry to manly and walked along the beach...
- fantastic chocolate mousse...and liquid chocolate in which to dip strawberries...it's a good thing we shared, because it was super rich
- didn't climb the harbour bridge, because it costs a fortune!!!!!!!!!!
02 January 2008
nz vol 1. iss. 1
i arrived in auckland 22 december...i came to visit amy, a swimming friend of mine since middle school..she married a guy named ivan, whom she met when she had an overseas internship while in uni..the day i arrived amy was at a hens do, so ivan picked me up at the airport, and drove me through auckland..he asked what i wanted to see, but since i knew absolutely nothing about the city (or the country for that matter,) i had no answers..at one point we drove through a very picturesque area, filled with what he called lifestyle homes..people who want to be farmers, sortof..they have a bit of land, but don't really do much with it..hard to explain..he also took me to a beach called muriwai..it's on the west coast (auckland has two coasts) which is basically the "wild" coast...the beaches on the west coast have waves and currents and such, the beaches on the east coast are quite calm)..i got to have my very first fish and chips, YUMMY..it was served in what i would call a "proper" way..that is, wrapped in newspaper with the grease coming through..ivan asked what kind of fish was available, but of course i had no idea what either of the answers meant..we drove onto the beach, since he has a land rover, and it was awesome..he said it was a typical west coast beach..that is, wild and beautiful..i only found out months later what he meant, but he was right..amy arrived home not too long after we got back to their house, both ivan and i were asleep napping at the time..she laughed..i spent one night with amy and ivan at their house in auckland, and woke up pretty late the next morning..(time zone change)..amy and i went to the local dairy to pick up coffee, hot chocolate and turnovers..YUM..already, i loved new zealand! that day we drove to their bach on the east cape...i slept through bits of the trip, but i'm pretty sure we stopped in tauranga, and i know we stopped in paeroa...i had my picture taken with the ridiculously huge bottle of L&P...it's a drink similar to sprite or fanta, or a combination of the two...it's an 8 or 9 hour trip, we arrived at the bach early afternoon, and everyone got acquainted...during the trip amy gave me quick lessons on pronouncing many of the words i was seeing on signs..most of the words are maori words, and there are rules for pronunciation, i was having fun guessing how to say everything..hana had arrived a little earlier, having met up with jill (amy's mom) and howard (jill's partner) as well as two german friends of theirs in rotorua..since hana was living in canberra she took two weeks off for the holidays, and flew into christchurch, then drove up and saw bits and pieces of new zealand before the two of us got together...it was the first time i had seen hana in 2.5 yrs or so...
amy and ivan's bach is at onepoto, which translated means little beach..original, right? hee hee...anywho, there were about 10 houses, and when we arrived, the area was quiet..it's not exactly the easiest place to get to, it's a commitment to go there for a weekend..(the fact that it's out there is one of the reasons amy and ivan like it so much, and i can understand why)..there isn't anything but the houses there, you have to go somewhere else to get petrol and just about anything else..the water is spring fed, so you have to be careful about how much you use..
over the next 10 days, i explored the area, mostly with ivan and amy and hana, and met lots of new people...one day trip we went to an old station area, needing ivan's land rover to get there..while there we had a picnic lunch, and made our way to a small waterfall..before the country was the country it is now, this station area is one of the places sheep and other animals were kept while breaking from transport accross the country..it's really in the middle of nowhere, it must've been a very lonely place to live, even with family..but it's still beautiful, as is all of new zealand that i've seen..
since amy and ivan have explored the area quite a bit in their previous stays at the bach, so they know what to see, and where to go..one day we walked to a couple nearby waterfalls, saying hello to the cows along the way..
one day amy and ivan and i went to the little "town" just around the corner and hung out on the pier..ivan was fishing, i was laying out..it was pretty windy, and at one point my skirt flew into the water..my only option for getting it back was to go in after it, so i jumped in...COLD!!! it was so sunny and reasonably warm i guess i sortof expected the water to be warm enough as well..but believe me, it wasn't..i was shocked when i jumped in..hee hee...
we saw the easternmost lighthouse in the country, which is about an hour away by car..by that point several others had arrived, including dan..the night i first arrived in auckland amy had told me about dan, a schoolmate of ivan's..apparently dan was single, and amy thought we'd be a good match..nevermind that i have life commitments for the next while..first i have to go back to korea to finish a contract, then i'm traveling with hana..and later i'm traveling with layna..there is no room for a guy in that!! but when he and i met (as hana and i were sitting and reading around the remains of the previous night's campfire) there was definitely a connection..go figure, as we were driving to the lighthouse, i fell asleep..great first impression, eh? dan was the first to the top of the climb to the lighthouse, apparently he's like that all the time...the rest of us made it up not too long after..it was a beautiful day (as usual) and the views were expansive..we were able to look out over the water all the way to white island, which is the most volcanically active part of new zealand..dan and i argued over the length of the swim in an ironman triathlon, and i was wrong..oops..
as amy loves to play games, (both board games and card games and Wii type games) we had a couple nights of game time..one night dan and i were partners, and we would've won the game, if either one of us were artistically inclined..but we're not..at all...oops..another night i watched hana and amy play speed..funny to see how into the game each of them was..i enjoy watching others play games, but i'm not usually into games myself..
i saw lots of pohutakawas, which are also called the new zealand christmas tree...they're quite pretty, i love 'em!! they bloom right around this time of year, and are really red..gorgeous..the biggest one in the country is in a town really close to the bach...none that i saw were in full bloom, but they were all starting to bloom, and the colour is amazing..i'm pretty sure the trees are indigenous to new zealand, which means you likely haven't seen one unless you've been there, and unless you were there around the holidays or just after, you probably didn't know that you were seeing such an awesome tree..
amy and ivan had invited their entire group of friends to their bach for new years, so they all showed up in the days previous...two of the couples have little kids, it was fun to play with them...kade is the perfect two year old, he can amuse himself for hours, and he's pretty quiet, and tolerant of new people..the kids of the other family have a bit more energy, i liked them too..all the people invited knew each other, but some hadn't seen each other in yonks, so there was a lot of catching up going on...this was when hana and i felt a little left out, simply b/c we didn't know anyone other than amy and ivan..
one of the days after most everyone had arrived the boys used to go fishing...i think eight of them went out on the boat? they came back with a LOT of fish..none of them had caught the full amount they are allowed to catch by law, yet there was sooooooooo much fish...which meant that every meal from there on out involved fish in some way...baked fish, grilled fish, lemon juice cooked fish, etc...it was all tasty, but there was soooo much of it...everyone else knew the names of the fish, i was clueless...
new years eve was pretty tame..everyone gathered wood, and we used it to make a fire..from the time the fire was lit until late into the night, people sat around, stood around, ate, drank and were merry...it was a nice new years, and rather tame..just after the clock struck midnight, the boys set off some firecrackers..one guy in the neighborhood came out of his house to complain about the noise they were making? who does that? who complains about noise at midnight on that day of the year? argh..anywho, i think everyone had a good time..hana and i were the first of anyone we knew to celebrate the new year, simply due to time zones:)..i think i went to bed at 0200 or so?
the morning of new years day we had to get up REALLY EARLY (up at 0430) to make the drive to gisborne in time for our flight to auckland...dan, amy, hana and i all got in the car, none of us feeling very good...the roads were curvy, and i get motion sickness easily...hana wasn't feeling well, dan was feeling as badly as i was, though i don't know why...only amy felt slightly normal...it was nearly three hours of misery that none of us could avoid...ugh...hana and i were both booked onto that flight, (at 0630) then we took separate flights out of auckland...i was sad to go back to korea after such a fantastic holiday...how often do you get to relax so much that you completely forget what day it is? that actually happened during this holiday! im looking forward to going back to nz, to figure things out with dan, if there is something worth figuring out, and to see more of the country...i love new zealand...
i arrived back in korea 2 january after a loooooong flight...ugh...back to the land of pushy people who pay no attention to what is going on around them
amy and ivan's bach is at onepoto, which translated means little beach..original, right? hee hee...anywho, there were about 10 houses, and when we arrived, the area was quiet..it's not exactly the easiest place to get to, it's a commitment to go there for a weekend..(the fact that it's out there is one of the reasons amy and ivan like it so much, and i can understand why)..there isn't anything but the houses there, you have to go somewhere else to get petrol and just about anything else..the water is spring fed, so you have to be careful about how much you use..
over the next 10 days, i explored the area, mostly with ivan and amy and hana, and met lots of new people...one day trip we went to an old station area, needing ivan's land rover to get there..while there we had a picnic lunch, and made our way to a small waterfall..before the country was the country it is now, this station area is one of the places sheep and other animals were kept while breaking from transport accross the country..it's really in the middle of nowhere, it must've been a very lonely place to live, even with family..but it's still beautiful, as is all of new zealand that i've seen..
since amy and ivan have explored the area quite a bit in their previous stays at the bach, so they know what to see, and where to go..one day we walked to a couple nearby waterfalls, saying hello to the cows along the way..
one day amy and ivan and i went to the little "town" just around the corner and hung out on the pier..ivan was fishing, i was laying out..it was pretty windy, and at one point my skirt flew into the water..my only option for getting it back was to go in after it, so i jumped in...COLD!!! it was so sunny and reasonably warm i guess i sortof expected the water to be warm enough as well..but believe me, it wasn't..i was shocked when i jumped in..hee hee...
we saw the easternmost lighthouse in the country, which is about an hour away by car..by that point several others had arrived, including dan..the night i first arrived in auckland amy had told me about dan, a schoolmate of ivan's..apparently dan was single, and amy thought we'd be a good match..nevermind that i have life commitments for the next while..first i have to go back to korea to finish a contract, then i'm traveling with hana..and later i'm traveling with layna..there is no room for a guy in that!! but when he and i met (as hana and i were sitting and reading around the remains of the previous night's campfire) there was definitely a connection..go figure, as we were driving to the lighthouse, i fell asleep..great first impression, eh? dan was the first to the top of the climb to the lighthouse, apparently he's like that all the time...the rest of us made it up not too long after..it was a beautiful day (as usual) and the views were expansive..we were able to look out over the water all the way to white island, which is the most volcanically active part of new zealand..dan and i argued over the length of the swim in an ironman triathlon, and i was wrong..oops..
as amy loves to play games, (both board games and card games and Wii type games) we had a couple nights of game time..one night dan and i were partners, and we would've won the game, if either one of us were artistically inclined..but we're not..at all...oops..another night i watched hana and amy play speed..funny to see how into the game each of them was..i enjoy watching others play games, but i'm not usually into games myself..
i saw lots of pohutakawas, which are also called the new zealand christmas tree...they're quite pretty, i love 'em!! they bloom right around this time of year, and are really red..gorgeous..the biggest one in the country is in a town really close to the bach...none that i saw were in full bloom, but they were all starting to bloom, and the colour is amazing..i'm pretty sure the trees are indigenous to new zealand, which means you likely haven't seen one unless you've been there, and unless you were there around the holidays or just after, you probably didn't know that you were seeing such an awesome tree..
amy and ivan had invited their entire group of friends to their bach for new years, so they all showed up in the days previous...two of the couples have little kids, it was fun to play with them...kade is the perfect two year old, he can amuse himself for hours, and he's pretty quiet, and tolerant of new people..the kids of the other family have a bit more energy, i liked them too..all the people invited knew each other, but some hadn't seen each other in yonks, so there was a lot of catching up going on...this was when hana and i felt a little left out, simply b/c we didn't know anyone other than amy and ivan..
one of the days after most everyone had arrived the boys used to go fishing...i think eight of them went out on the boat? they came back with a LOT of fish..none of them had caught the full amount they are allowed to catch by law, yet there was sooooooooo much fish...which meant that every meal from there on out involved fish in some way...baked fish, grilled fish, lemon juice cooked fish, etc...it was all tasty, but there was soooo much of it...everyone else knew the names of the fish, i was clueless...
new years eve was pretty tame..everyone gathered wood, and we used it to make a fire..from the time the fire was lit until late into the night, people sat around, stood around, ate, drank and were merry...it was a nice new years, and rather tame..just after the clock struck midnight, the boys set off some firecrackers..one guy in the neighborhood came out of his house to complain about the noise they were making? who does that? who complains about noise at midnight on that day of the year? argh..anywho, i think everyone had a good time..hana and i were the first of anyone we knew to celebrate the new year, simply due to time zones:)..i think i went to bed at 0200 or so?
the morning of new years day we had to get up REALLY EARLY (up at 0430) to make the drive to gisborne in time for our flight to auckland...dan, amy, hana and i all got in the car, none of us feeling very good...the roads were curvy, and i get motion sickness easily...hana wasn't feeling well, dan was feeling as badly as i was, though i don't know why...only amy felt slightly normal...it was nearly three hours of misery that none of us could avoid...ugh...hana and i were both booked onto that flight, (at 0630) then we took separate flights out of auckland...i was sad to go back to korea after such a fantastic holiday...how often do you get to relax so much that you completely forget what day it is? that actually happened during this holiday! im looking forward to going back to nz, to figure things out with dan, if there is something worth figuring out, and to see more of the country...i love new zealand...
i arrived back in korea 2 january after a loooooong flight...ugh...back to the land of pushy people who pay no attention to what is going on around them
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