Finally at the Beach . . . and the Blog is on vacation

First off, sorry folks, but this internet cafe does not allow up to upload pictures, so this will be a pretty boring posting. We'll post a few pictures from Auckland next time. Continuing with what Mary Beth said in the last posting, being that Auckland is not much to write home about, we don't have much exciting to report from our stay there: our second day we took a ferry over to Devonport and had a nice lunch and explored the town, followed by an evening in the Parnell area of Auckland. Our last morning/early afternoon there, the weather was just short of a minor hurricane, so we took advantage once again and chilled out in our hotel, having yet another breakfast in bed.

On a brighter note, we finally arrived at our 'vacation within the vacation' at the Cook Islands a couple of days ago (2 in the morning to be exact after a 4 hour Air New Zealand delay). However, here's a fun fact - on this flight we crossed over the international dateline, which allowed us to experience two August 24ths in a row, which was pretty cool and not something you can say everyday. Anyway, for you map lovers, we are currently on the island of Rarotonga, and this afternoon we hop on a little puddle-jumper to the island of Aitutaki, the main destination of our trip here. Yesterday was nice and sunny allowing us to get some quality beach time, however today it's raining (hence why I'm in an internet cafe). Hopefully Aitutaki is nothing but hot unabated sunshine.

So as our beach bungalow awaits us, nestled between a small lagoon and directly on the wide waters of the Pacific, you'll understand if we are less diligent on our blogging over the next few days. 'Till next time.

New Zealand...wine, winter, and spectacular scenery

Hello from New Zealand- Part 2

This is at the top of the Gondola overlooking the lake near Christchurch

(sorry my hair is a little out of control)

We are absolutely loving New Zealand!!

We started in Christchurch and took the Tranzcoastal railway up to Blenheim, the largest city in Marlborough. We got to leisurely tour through the coastal regions of the Upper South Island and saw some beautiful countryside along the way. Here's a few photos from the train's observation car (read-very windy open-air train car).

On the Tranzcoastal Scenic Railway from Christchurch to Blenheim

Some seals lounging on rocks near Kaikoura (halfway between Christchurch and Blenheim)

We spent the next several days just relaxing, wine tasting and hiking. We tried to hike and exercise before wine tasting to maximize our days. There wasn't much happening at night so we watched lots of New Zealand Olympic coverage. The Kiwis are strong in different sports than Americans, so we ended up watching mostly kayaking, rowing and track cycling.

Chris at the beach on White's Bay on one of our hikes (notice the nice beard!)

Overlooking Cloudy Bay on our hike to White's Bay

The sunset from our motel room in Blenheim

After a few days we headed down the coast to Hamner Springs which is well known for its natural hot sulphur springs. We soaked and relaxed with mostly locals since it is winter time and low tourist season. We also did a few hikes around Hamner Springs in the morning for some fantastic views. After a leisurely drive back to Christchurch, we caught our plane to Auckland.

On top of Conical Hill in Hamner Springs

Chris next to a fallen drive on the hike up Conical Hill

We are both in a relaxed mode now and taking easy in Auckland. We are eating lots of seafood and slowly seeing the sights. There isn't tons of tourists sights here so we plan to just do a few things each day. We will probably check out the Antarctica Exhibit and do a harbor cruise. We have three days here in Auckland and then we hit the beach in the Cook Islands.

G'Day Mates from Sydney

We rounded out our last day in Hong Kong mostly walking around and picking up my tailored dress shirts and pants in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong (just north across the bay) - to which Mary Beth's "shopaholic" accusations refer - it's true, I have bought a lot of tailored clothes here and in Singapore, but with the quality combined with great prices I of course am like a kid in a candy store over here.

Finally, the evening before we left I also rode up the 'mid-levels', which is basically a series of escalators that allow commuters living way up the peak in the southern area of Hong Kong to get to work in the Central Business District in the north - supposedly the longest escalator in the world. It sounds really cool in principle, but was a bit of a let down in the end, as there is still a fair amount of walking in flat areas - and of course, after going up, the only way back down is by foot (they are only one-way depending on the rush-hour direction), and to top it off, it was raining (in the end, Mary Beth was wise to pass on this and wait for me below at the pub).

Here's a few more pictures from Hong Kong:

(another view of the city from up on Victoria's peak)

(Hong Kong's first Buddhist temple)

(China men's team just about to win the all-around gymnastic gold on the jumbo-tron near our hotel)

So, next it was on to Sydney. Sydney was fantastic, starting with the weather - if this is as tough as winter gets for these guys, I am super-jealous. As you can see, the skies were perfectly blue, and the weather was in the 60s and felt like mid-70s in the sun. After spending so many weeks in cities where the sun was partially blocked by a thin haze of pollution and/or light cloud cover, it felt awesome to be outside in this crisp, dry, and bright sunny weather.



Our only regret about our stay in Sydney was how short it was, as we unfortunately only had 2 full days here. Nevertheless, we enjoyed walking around the many green areas and paths along the harbor, including of course the famous Sydney Opera, as well as in the main downtown business district. Also, based on the good recommendation of a former Australian-ite in the family, we caught the ferry out to Watson's Bay in order to enjoy a delicious lunch at the famous beach side Doyle's restaurant.

(St. Andrew's Church in downtown Sydney)

(view of Sydney Harbour bridge from afar)

Our next journey has brought us further east to Christchurch, New Zealand, where we arrived yesterday afternoon. After having zero hitches so far in our journey with respect to our travel logistics (all flights on time, no delays, etc.), we got a slight scare when we arrived to the check in counter (just about 2 hours in advance) to find a ridiculously long and multi-pronged line which was barely moving. But, after waiting 1 hour & 45 minutes in this line, only to finally be rushed through to another line, the ever-clever Air New Zealanders we able to get us and a handful of others to the plane before take off. New Zealand is actually much farther from Australia than you would think - the flight from Sydney was 3 hours.

In short, Christchurch is a pretty quiet and very relaxed town, which is exactly what we are in the mood for. For a change, I must admit it nice to not feel pressured to get out and see 'umpteen sites each day. We slept in 'til almost noon today - it was really nice. It is a bit chilly though - in the evenings, it gets down to just about freezing, which was definitely what we were last night on our walk home since our packing is more "summer-weather" focused (today we bought gloves and a hat).

More on Christchurch and New Zealand in our next posting, but here's a couple of pictures of the town for your viewing pleasure (as you can see, I had the camera today...):

(any guess on what this is ???)

Hong Kong

At the observation deck of Victoria Peak

Hello from Hong Kong-

We feel a little bit like we are back in New York already. When we first stepped out of the subway, we were greeted by neon signs and crowds of people, just like Times Square after the theaters let out. After a few wrong turns we finally arrived at our very swanky hotel, The Lanson Place (thanks to some generous friends for the gift certificates)!! We are doing more and more shopping, a continuation of Singapore really. In fact, Chris has been come quite the shopaholic these last few days which of course, is extremely bizarre. He just can't pass up a good deal!

We found this restaurant on our walk...I am pointing to the steamed chicken feet!!

We hit the sites yesterday by starting with off with a double-decker tram ride throughout the central district of Hong Kong. We wandered through small streets until we arrived at the Peak Tram entrance. The Victoria Peak Funicular was originally built in 1888 to take visitors and residents to the top of Hong Kong's highest peak for sweeping views of the Harbor and Hong Kong Island. Unfortunately, it was a little hazy so our pictures aren't perfect, but it was interesting taking the tram which still retains its old world charm. After taking the tram back down (which we go down backwards because the seats are still facing upward) and a little walk, we find Maxim's Palace for lunch. Dim Sum should be called Dim Sum-yummy! After being accosted by the trolley ladies offering their steamers full of interesting things, we finally dove in. Chris' favorite was the barbecue pork buns but I thought the pork meatballs were the best.

Here's our table before we started- it doesn't look like much but we still had dessert too!

After lunch we split up for some shopping in Kowloon but not before we took a quick ferry ride across the harbor. Shopping over, we headed to the waterfront to watch the laser light show on the buildings of Hong Kong Island.

The laser light show of Hong Kong Island

Overall, we are trying to relax here and since there aren't loads and loads of tourists sites, it is a good chance to keep it low key although we hope to catch up karaoke before we leave Asia. We have almost another full day tomorrow in Hong Kong and then we have an overnight flight to Sydney and the land down under.

One last note, Thanks to Cynthia and Mark for the recommendation for the hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We loved the Two Dragons Guesthouse!! The signs informing guests that firearms, hand grenades and hypodermic needles are still up at the reception area and a new sign saying that nuclear and land to air missiles are also now prohibited!

A view of Hong Kong from Kowloon

Greetings from Singapore!

For those of you recent joiners, after a quick return/stop-over in Bangkok for an evening and 1/2 a day, we have now been in Singapore since the evening of the 6th. After spending almost 2 1/2 weeks in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, we must admit it is nice to be back in a "westernized" environment - everything is SO clean and pristine, it's really amazing and makes me wonder why we shouldn't be so strict in the US.

Our first night here, we were craving some non-Asian food (aka good, old-fashioned western food), so we found a place that was known for their ribs - and yes, they were pretty darn good (not Tony Roma's good, but good). We left feeling fully satisfied and ready to take on another several meals of the rice and noodle sort. Yesterday, we mostly spent the day walking around and enjoying the super-clean streets and no-pollution air of Singapore. We also enjoyed a short (and pretty cheesy) river cruise, which included about 5-10 minutes of actual substance on the history and surroundings of the city and the remaining 40 minutes on really bad fluff from the pre-recorded, American-accented tour guide background commentary, in addition to some good songs thrown in.

We rounded out the afternoon with some shopping at a few of the 100+ malls on the famous shopping area of Orchard Road, conveniently on the street where our hotel is located; Mary Beth found a couple of things, but the real shopping didn't happen until we were on our way back to the hotel and I agreed to 'look' at one of the tailor shops (Singapore is famous for well-priced, tailor-made suits and shirts). Well, as these things always turn out, even though I really wasn't planning on getting anything, we finally left, but not before the purchase of a new suit and four dress shirts. The most impressive thing is that this was last night, and everything will be sewn up and ready by tomorrow morning - amazing.

Finally, we finished the day in proper high-Singaporean (tourist) fashion by each having a Singapore Sling at its birthplace - the famous, and very ritzy, Raffles Hotel:

(the very elegant Miss Mary Beth in front of the Raffles Hotel)

(the two of us having a Singapore Sling at the Raffles' Long Bar)

Being that ever since I have known her Mary Beth has always hated zoos (thanks to a bad experience at a very young age at the Dallas Zoo in the August sweltering heat; a trip which included a maimed toe due to some sort of stroller accident...), I was pretty shocked when she agreed to go to the famous Singapore Zoo with me today. Overall, it was pretty cool and likely the greatest zoo I will see in my lifetime. But let's be honest, zoos never seem to be as fun as you remembered them as a kid. Nevertheless, it was still neat to see the lions and tigers:

Tonight, we hope to make it down to Chinatown for dinner and be back in time to watch the opening ceremonies at 8:00 pm, on this 8th day, of the 8th month of this year, that being two thousand, and oh yes, 8.

Ankor Wat, Angkor Thom and some more temples

Yesterday was a fantastic day of site seeing. We had previously arranged for a private guide to show us around Angkor Wat. Being basically devoid of knowledge on the subject of the Cambodian people and these temples, it was decided this would be the best way to glean the most interesting experience of our time in Siem Reap. We also hired a tuk tuk for the day to drive us around, starting at 5:45 am so we could get the most out of our one day at Angkor Wat.

Although the beat down of the 13 hour bus trip from Saigon to Siem Reap was weighing on us, I insisted on waking up for the sunrise at Ta Prohm Temple. This particular temple has not been restored and the jungle is slowly retaking its place all over this temple. There is a magnificent tree on top of one part that shimmers like silver (I stole that line from the tour guide). Furthermore, to add to the jungle atmosphere, since we arrived at 6 am, we were two of the four people exploring the temple. It was so quiet and it felt like a little spooky like we were discovering a new place. After our jungle temple exploration we headed back to the guesthouse for breakfast and to pick up our guide for the day.



Here's a picture of our tour guide explaining to me about some bas relief in the temple. Speaking of bas relief and more bas relief was what our tour guide liked the best. He had gone to University for archaeology so he was extremely knowledgeable about all of the carvings throughout the entire Angkor Wat complex but after awhile, I think Chris' eyes started to glaze over. I was also worn out with his extremely detailed explanations but we both learned a lot about the Hindu and Buddhist religions.



After a lunch, we headed to Angkor Thom. We visited Bayon where it started to rain. Did we mention it is the rainy season now? Well, it rains pretty much everyday here and usually in the afternoons. It continued to rain while we visited the elephant terrace (sure wish that terrace could have been restored) but the rain stopped by the time we climbed to the top of Phimeanakas. It was pretty darn scary up there and the stairs were insanely steep so I let Chris go to the highest part and get the best pictures. We ended the day at Preah Khan which is similar to Ta Prohm but in much better condition as they are slowly working on restoration.

Here's Chris in a short video of Preah Khan


Since we had started our day at 5:30 am we decided to make it an early night, but not before we enjoyed the city of Siem Reap. By the way, Siem Reap actually means "Siamese Defeated", hardly the most tactful name for a major city near Thailand! We had a drink at the Angkor What? Bar before dinner at the Red Piano. The Red Piano is in an restored French era building, reminiscent of the French Quarter in New Orleans.



Our last four days had been early for vacation so this morning we took it easy. I signed up for another cooking class today. It was on par with the Thai cooking class we took together in Chiang Mai.

Snakes....I am very very afraid of snakes. After being in Southeast Asia for two weeks, I had resigned myself to just avoiding the whole snake thing they put on for the tourists (i.e. taking a picture with a snake during the Mekong Delta tour, or buying a snake preserved in alcohol in a glass bottle). Well, I have to admit, I never EVER thought mu closest encounter would come during a cooking class but today, ladies and gentlemen, it did. Yes, that is right, during my cooking class today, I was upstairs chopping away the vegetables for my fish amok (a Cambodian dish) when a man brought up the stairs, a 12 foot skinned boa constrictor. I just about lost it when they gutted it right before my eyes and then started hacking it to bits. After the shock and horror subsided, I asked for what dish did they use snake (in my head I was praying she wasn't going to say something I had eaten already) and she said....Cambodian Barbecue. OK, check that off the list!! Anyways, after they were finished I was able to focus on my dishes only to realize that the man brought up another one after they were done with the first! Luckily, I had almost finished my dishes and could go downstairs and try to eat what I had prepared. Shockingly, my appetite had waned after the whole snake butchering spectacle. Chris ate the rest of my leftovers. Sorry but I accidentally left the camera at the guesthouse for the cooking class so there are no pictures of the snake being hacked up for human consumption.

Mekong River Delta and finally some serious rain

So, before I go on to talk about our day trip on the Mekong river, I have to briefly mention our official introduction to the rainy season. After beginning to think this whole monsoon/"rainy season" talk was a bunch of baloney, our day of sight-seeing around Ho Chi Minh City was cut short by a serious downpour - so much that we invested in some ponchos just so that we could walk out of the War Remnants museum and go get some lunch. Since it basically rained very, very hard for the next couple of hours, we didn't see much else that day - however, it was hilarious to watch the evening commuters make it home in the rain and near-flooding (see video below):

The next day was the famous Mekong River Delta excursion, which in addition to some boating on the river and canoeing thru a narrow canal, included some typical "buy our local stuff" visits to the locals for everything from banana wine to coconut candy.

However, on a brighter note, we did get to see a bee farm and a live python (but we opted out of having a picture taken with it wrapped around our neck; in fact you couldn't get Mary Beth within 10 feet of it). Overall, the tour was good and it was neat to patrol the shores of the delta just like John Kerry did back in the day...

But, despite the tour's name, the tour seemed to include more time on land doing the above things than actually going down the river. Therefore, it was good that we luckily had the foresight to pay double and spring for the return to Ho Chi Minh City by boat instead of the standard bus. This ended up giving us some serious time on the river itself - almost four hours to be exact. Although it was much more than we anticipated (and to be honest, a bit much), I think I enjoyed this more than Mary Beth who was wishing we would have just stuck to the bus, particularly since our promised "speed boat" was a farce, instead being an old smoke-belching polluter, as you can see from this picture.

The next day, we got up ridiculously early to catch the all day bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia, which departed at 6am. The first leg of 6 hours to Phnom Penh went by just fine and fairly quickly, including an hour stop at the Cambodian border for passport control and the requisite $20 "pay-off" fee. Then, once we arrived at Phnom Penh, we had to switch to a more "local" bus, which of course was full when we boarded, leaving only the crappy 'hot' seats on the slightly-elevated back row available; I say hot seats because they were just above the engine, and therefore pretty warm. This, combined with barely any air conditioning and non-stop Cambodian music/drama shows/apparent comedies (I caught a couple people laughing) being played via DVD on the bus at the maximum volume (I couldn't hear my own music playing through the headphones), made this 2nd, 6 hour leg of our bus journey very, VERY long. But what even longer was once again the quality of the roads (not to mention all of the random livestock, people and other hazards in the road), which, in Cambodia, are just slightly better than in India, making it perhaps the bumpiest bus ride I ever hope to take in my life. Needless to say, by the time we arrived at the desolate, pitch-black shack they call a bus station, we were beat and just wanted to get to our hotel.