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We started a new Picasa album under Anna's profile. All our photos from SE Asia will be on it.
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The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage
13 years ago
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Southern Thailand and the Andaman Coast
Wow, this place is amazing. We spent a day at Patong beach on Phuket (pronouced poo-get) Island and only one word can describe that place: hedonistic. The beach is quite nice though and there were people there from all over the world. Including a 1 to 2 year old half-naked baby boy who was really good at soccer. We kicked the ball with him for a while and we were amazed at how well he was not only running around, but kicking and throwing the ball too! Very funny and memorable.
We caught an early boat to Koh Phi Phi Don, a better smaller and ridiculously beautiful island. That movie The Beach was filmed down here. A true paradise that is a little crowded right now, but we definitely can understand why the whole world would want to be here. We'll hang here for a few days, before rejoining the mainland at climbing heaven at Railay.
'Till next time...
We caught an early boat to Koh Phi Phi Don, a better smaller and ridiculously beautiful island. That movie The Beach was filmed down here. A true paradise that is a little crowded right now, but we definitely can understand why the whole world would want to be here. We'll hang here for a few days, before rejoining the mainland at climbing heaven at Railay.
'Till next time...
Friday, January 9, 2009
The latter half of New Zealand
So, we ended up getting to do some really sweet sea cliff climbing off the West coast of the South Island at a place called Charleston on Christmas Eve. Definitely a highlight of the trip. The weathered grey granite was smooth with rounded features and cracks on relatively tall walls (up to 30m), situated on top of a flat platform. There was a small blowhole near by, so every couple of waves would bring loud boofing sprays. After climbing to the top of a satisfying pitch, one is rewarded with the sight of dolphins swimming and playing in the waves below. Unreal.
Later that day, we packed up and drove up North to Paynes Ford to settle in for some more climbing and the social scene that abounds at the hippy/climber camp there. We sang Christmas songs all the way. They love the Pogues down here and this song was all over the radio. We sang along happily, thinking of Scott and our last few Christmases back home. We arrived late in the night and slept as best we could, having parked the van in the only remaining spot at the camp, which was slanting to a silly extent.
We woke up to the subtle sound of the sleigh scratching on the roof of the van. We got out and St. Nick had already moved on, but it was a gift to see the Southern Night Sky blazing above with Orion in full cartwheel and the Milky Way the brightest we've seen. On Christmas morning, we opened our gifts (including a new camera that we bought for each other) and looked out to see many others doing the same, families that were there and mates showing their creativity. The guy parked next to us received a mini blow-up doll of the perfect woman. After breakfast, we explored the campervan and tent roofs with the kids of the camp and some of us saw the tell-tale sleigh marks.
The Paynes Ford climbing that we discovered on Christmas was unique to say the least. Being in a temperate rain forest, the limestone layers there are exposed to some weathering that we've never experienced. We saw and touched cool fins, ridges, fossilized seashells, slopers, and pockets. We shared a put-luck Christmas dinner with the rest of the gang that was there and, just like back home, there was too much food on the table. Everybody ate and drank their fill and we talked and played games afterwards. Great swimming holes post-climb count as showers.
In the northwestern part of the South Island is the Golden Bay. It is beautiful and definitely a mecca for green living and sustainable agriculture. We picked a couple quarts of raspberries and boysenberries on Boxing Day and devoured them. It was crazy to think that we were picking berries in the sun in December.
As the New Year approached, we completed our round trip circuit of the South Island by heading East and then South down the coast back toward Christchurch. In the northeast, we were confused for a while as we thought we were driving through Colorado. It was strange; the brown rolling grassy hills of the Marlborough region gave way to beautiful and rugged coastline. Many people were taking their holidays there, surfing, spearfishing, enjoying fresh seafood and hating the sandflies. Again we slept right on the beach overlooking the Pacific.
On New Year's Eve, we headed back up into the Southern Alps to Castle Hill. This area has some world-class limestone boulders that take some getting used to. This place is overflowing with boulders. The style of climbing there is, um, different. There really aren't very many holds, just a lot of body scraping friction and mantling. The tops of the boulders often roll back to nothingness like a featureless bulb. Imagine trying to climb up a huge upside down Christmas tree bulb. That's what it's like. At the end of the day, there were many abraided limbs and traces of carnage. Nevertheless, we had a great time, met up with some really nice folks there and got some exercise.
New Year's Day: the Cave Stream. An unreal Karst feature has moved the bed of this creek from the peaceful sunny valley where it once lived, to a dark, cold, twisting tunnel of gushing water. A 45 minute dark-wet-scramble-wade through this underworld sees one come to appreciate the sunlight on the far side. Another highlight, to be sure. Quite an awakening and cleansing experience on the first day of 2009.
We hesitatingly turned in the van on the 3rd. We were sad to let it go. Now we're back to the backpacker lifestyle of public transport or your feet. We surfed a classic Christchurch college kid couch. Ian and his mates were very welcoming and fun to get to know. They showed us this HBO show, the Flight of the Conchords, about two Kiwi fellows living in New York City and their struggles to relate. Really really funny. This is our favorite song from the show that we've seen so far. Tony got to play life-sized chess in the Cathedral Square
We flew back up to Auckland for a few short days, during which we rented a small car and drove north to the Bay of Islands for some quality beach time. We found a sweet spot at Russell town and Cape Ngahau, where we saw many amazing boats. The coolest one was the Spirit of New Zealand. We had our last fish and chips overlooking the harbor full of sailboats, feeding the dream of building our own sailboat someday.
We got back to the airport and caught a wonderful flight to Bangkok on Thai Air. Wow. The service was first-class. We didn't go hungry, there was nary an empty wine glass, and for the first time in a while, we were overentertained. Not only were there tons of movies, tv shows and music stations to choose from, you could play games, including trivia against other passengers. There was even a little language primer, so we could get a jumpstart on the Thai. If you ever get a flight on Thai Air, don't plan on reading your book. That's all we've got to say about that. Awesome.
So, here we are in Bangkok, recovering from the jet lag, waiting to pick up our next flight to no-plan-yet Phuket. We don't have too much of idea of what we're going to do when we get there, but we'll figure something out. That's pretty much the theme of the trip.
Thanks for reading all this and sorry for the long delay between posts. Love you all!
Later that day, we packed up and drove up North to Paynes Ford to settle in for some more climbing and the social scene that abounds at the hippy/climber camp there. We sang Christmas songs all the way. They love the Pogues down here and this song was all over the radio. We sang along happily, thinking of Scott and our last few Christmases back home. We arrived late in the night and slept as best we could, having parked the van in the only remaining spot at the camp, which was slanting to a silly extent.
We woke up to the subtle sound of the sleigh scratching on the roof of the van. We got out and St. Nick had already moved on, but it was a gift to see the Southern Night Sky blazing above with Orion in full cartwheel and the Milky Way the brightest we've seen. On Christmas morning, we opened our gifts (including a new camera that we bought for each other) and looked out to see many others doing the same, families that were there and mates showing their creativity. The guy parked next to us received a mini blow-up doll of the perfect woman. After breakfast, we explored the campervan and tent roofs with the kids of the camp and some of us saw the tell-tale sleigh marks.
The Paynes Ford climbing that we discovered on Christmas was unique to say the least. Being in a temperate rain forest, the limestone layers there are exposed to some weathering that we've never experienced. We saw and touched cool fins, ridges, fossilized seashells, slopers, and pockets. We shared a put-luck Christmas dinner with the rest of the gang that was there and, just like back home, there was too much food on the table. Everybody ate and drank their fill and we talked and played games afterwards. Great swimming holes post-climb count as showers.
In the northwestern part of the South Island is the Golden Bay. It is beautiful and definitely a mecca for green living and sustainable agriculture. We picked a couple quarts of raspberries and boysenberries on Boxing Day and devoured them. It was crazy to think that we were picking berries in the sun in December.
As the New Year approached, we completed our round trip circuit of the South Island by heading East and then South down the coast back toward Christchurch. In the northeast, we were confused for a while as we thought we were driving through Colorado. It was strange; the brown rolling grassy hills of the Marlborough region gave way to beautiful and rugged coastline. Many people were taking their holidays there, surfing, spearfishing, enjoying fresh seafood and hating the sandflies. Again we slept right on the beach overlooking the Pacific.
On New Year's Eve, we headed back up into the Southern Alps to Castle Hill. This area has some world-class limestone boulders that take some getting used to. This place is overflowing with boulders. The style of climbing there is, um, different. There really aren't very many holds, just a lot of body scraping friction and mantling. The tops of the boulders often roll back to nothingness like a featureless bulb. Imagine trying to climb up a huge upside down Christmas tree bulb. That's what it's like. At the end of the day, there were many abraided limbs and traces of carnage. Nevertheless, we had a great time, met up with some really nice folks there and got some exercise.
New Year's Day: the Cave Stream. An unreal Karst feature has moved the bed of this creek from the peaceful sunny valley where it once lived, to a dark, cold, twisting tunnel of gushing water. A 45 minute dark-wet-scramble-wade through this underworld sees one come to appreciate the sunlight on the far side. Another highlight, to be sure. Quite an awakening and cleansing experience on the first day of 2009.
We hesitatingly turned in the van on the 3rd. We were sad to let it go. Now we're back to the backpacker lifestyle of public transport or your feet. We surfed a classic Christchurch college kid couch. Ian and his mates were very welcoming and fun to get to know. They showed us this HBO show, the Flight of the Conchords, about two Kiwi fellows living in New York City and their struggles to relate. Really really funny. This is our favorite song from the show that we've seen so far. Tony got to play life-sized chess in the Cathedral Square
We flew back up to Auckland for a few short days, during which we rented a small car and drove north to the Bay of Islands for some quality beach time. We found a sweet spot at Russell town and Cape Ngahau, where we saw many amazing boats. The coolest one was the Spirit of New Zealand. We had our last fish and chips overlooking the harbor full of sailboats, feeding the dream of building our own sailboat someday.
We got back to the airport and caught a wonderful flight to Bangkok on Thai Air. Wow. The service was first-class. We didn't go hungry, there was nary an empty wine glass, and for the first time in a while, we were overentertained. Not only were there tons of movies, tv shows and music stations to choose from, you could play games, including trivia against other passengers. There was even a little language primer, so we could get a jumpstart on the Thai. If you ever get a flight on Thai Air, don't plan on reading your book. That's all we've got to say about that. Awesome.
So, here we are in Bangkok, recovering from the jet lag, waiting to pick up our next flight to no-plan-yet Phuket. We don't have too much of idea of what we're going to do when we get there, but we'll figure something out. That's pretty much the theme of the trip.
Thanks for reading all this and sorry for the long delay between posts. Love you all!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
New Zealand is Sweet As
What? Sweet as what? I don't know. That's just what everyone keeps saying down here about anything and everything you can imagine. You can describe anything as being as fill-in-the-blank AS... and somehow all the kiwis will know what you're talking about. Pretty funny and we've had a lot of fun playing with this new phrase.
Where do we begin? At the beginning, I guess. So, sorry the long time with no updates. We've been slacking, we know it, but we're glad we did. We can say that we haven't wasted a moment of this precious month in this amazing place. We had a sweet as campervan and had free reign of the south island, so we've been roaming, to say the least.
We started out by flying into Auckland from Santiago de Chile via Buenos Aires (our third long layover in BA, still haven't seen the city). We really had no idea what we were going to do once we got here, no lonely planet, no plan. We knew we wanted to spend most of our time here on the South Island, so after talking to some folks at the airport, we decided to fly down to Christchurch (aka. ChCh) that day and rent a campervan after. Our culture shock began with our first couchsurfing experience as it felt just like home, after leaving the hecticness of South America. Verna's home was very welcoming and so luxurious; beautiful garden, bird-killing kitties, good coffee, and good conversation. We got our first introductions to life in New Zealand from the locals, including the NZ delicacy, whitebait. ChCh seemed so safe, mild, and organized. There are many ingenious public-service announcements down here and people really care for eachother's safety. Bike helmets are required. Signs and advertisments remind people not drive when you're tired or drunk (obviously), be fire-safe around the house, where to go if you're feeling depressed or need help. We got our first meal in the Cathedral Square from some very nice people who insisted on giving us some soup and sausages for free. Every Friday night, they set up shop and feed anybody who passes by, soup kitchen style.
We picked up the van and got settled in right away. We were so excited to cook our own food (we made pancakes everyday for a week straight), as we've been eating out for pretty much the whole time in SoAm. First thing we did was a big grocery shop to get stocked up and off we went, after trial-and-erroring this whole wrong-side-of-the-road driving thing. Well, it took a couple tries, but nothing terrible happened. But we still need to look back and forth twice while crossing the street as we're not quite sure from which direction the near traffic will be coming. The highways here are two-laners, scattered with lots of one-lane bridges, where one direction is to give way. Quite different than the highways we know back home, but it forces one to take their time and enjoy the ride.
The rest of the month is kind of a blur, but we'll do our best to recount it. We headed south right away for some very rainy days, and then overland toward Mount Cook and the Southern Alps. There we found beautiful blue skies reflected in the high lakes. We were quite lucky for that patch of weather, apparently, for most New Zealanders haven't seen the unclouded top of Cook. We got to see our second vibrant Lupine bloom of the year here (first one in June in Wyoming) and in many other high places around New Zealand.
Continuing down the coast, we happened upon these crazy boulders, the Moeraki. To small for climbing on, but very cool to look at and touch. Here was where we started to feel some of the wind that likes to blow around these lattitudes, which the penguins, seals, and sea lions really don't seem to mind. Down around Dunedin, we stopped at the Albatross colony on the tip of the Otago Peninsula. Those birds are huge and amazing. And for a bonus, a pod of small blue penguins lived in the area and were coming home to feed the chicks after a day of fishing. As the sunlight faded, we sat quitely on the sand and watched them gracefully swim out of the water and hesitantly waddle up the beach and rocks into the nest in the bush. They walked right by us. Definitely one of the most unique things we've done. Also, we have to mention Nugget Point. It felt like we were standing on the wind-swept rugged end of the world. A lone lighthouse peers out over the black seas below and the rocks and littoral are rich with life. A mesmerizing surrounding, including the swirling bull kelp beds, which seem to us to be represted in some of the Maori pictographs. In the Catlins, in southeastern NZ, we got our first views of the native bush, instead of sheep on a green-grass hillside. Many waterfalls and ferns in this lush temperate rainforest. The ferns here are the country's symbol. The Maori see the fiddlehead of the fern as having some resonance in human life; the constant unfolding, the spiral that is always changing but always the same. Beautiful.
The Fiordlands. This is a place where, um, a lot of rain falls; some 8 meters annually. So, guess what? We had a wet time. We took a boat tour of the Milford Sound, where the boat captain said "this isn't rain yet, this is liquid sunshine", which in a way, it was. Thousands of cascading waterfalls poured down the sheer walls of the Sound. After the storm, we relaxed at the Mirror Lakes, where the air was so calm and quiet, the reflections give one a false sense of space.
From there, we headed up to Queenstown for more beautiful lakes and mountains. As we drove around, we were vaguely reminded of landscapes we'd seen somewhere before. This is definitely the kind of country that Tolkien must have imagined. We got to do our first bit of climbing in a while, which we were quite excited about. It felt good to get a workout, but we've also been sampling all the pools of the South Island, not only for the lap swimming potential, but for the showers (hehe). Anna's ankle is getting better, and the hike up to the crags at Wye Creek were the first real test. Then up to Wanaka, where we got to climb more on some easier-to-access crags. We took the road through the Gates of Haast (a fitting name, sounds like what it is, especially if you say it with a sinister voice) over to the uninhabited Westlands. We encountered rainbows, dolphins, jellyfish, one massive whale vertebra, and one crazy-eyed daytime owl.
In the West, there are glaciers that are quickly turning into rivers and lakes. As one approaches the Franz Joseph Glacier, it is easy to sense the instability and impermanence of this landscape. The glacier is dripping and melting at an unstoppable pace, shedding rocks and chunks every moment. Markers show the locations of the terminus in years past, which demonstrate the pace of recession.
Sorry to end so abruptly, but we're out of time here. We will add more when we get the chance from Thailand! We were just about to talk about climbing at Charleston on Christmas Eve.
Where do we begin? At the beginning, I guess. So, sorry the long time with no updates. We've been slacking, we know it, but we're glad we did. We can say that we haven't wasted a moment of this precious month in this amazing place. We had a sweet as campervan and had free reign of the south island, so we've been roaming, to say the least.
We started out by flying into Auckland from Santiago de Chile via Buenos Aires (our third long layover in BA, still haven't seen the city). We really had no idea what we were going to do once we got here, no lonely planet, no plan. We knew we wanted to spend most of our time here on the South Island, so after talking to some folks at the airport, we decided to fly down to Christchurch (aka. ChCh) that day and rent a campervan after. Our culture shock began with our first couchsurfing experience as it felt just like home, after leaving the hecticness of South America. Verna's home was very welcoming and so luxurious; beautiful garden, bird-killing kitties, good coffee, and good conversation. We got our first introductions to life in New Zealand from the locals, including the NZ delicacy, whitebait. ChCh seemed so safe, mild, and organized. There are many ingenious public-service announcements down here and people really care for eachother's safety. Bike helmets are required. Signs and advertisments remind people not drive when you're tired or drunk (obviously), be fire-safe around the house, where to go if you're feeling depressed or need help. We got our first meal in the Cathedral Square from some very nice people who insisted on giving us some soup and sausages for free. Every Friday night, they set up shop and feed anybody who passes by, soup kitchen style.
We picked up the van and got settled in right away. We were so excited to cook our own food (we made pancakes everyday for a week straight), as we've been eating out for pretty much the whole time in SoAm. First thing we did was a big grocery shop to get stocked up and off we went, after trial-and-erroring this whole wrong-side-of-the-road driving thing. Well, it took a couple tries, but nothing terrible happened. But we still need to look back and forth twice while crossing the street as we're not quite sure from which direction the near traffic will be coming. The highways here are two-laners, scattered with lots of one-lane bridges, where one direction is to give way. Quite different than the highways we know back home, but it forces one to take their time and enjoy the ride.
The rest of the month is kind of a blur, but we'll do our best to recount it. We headed south right away for some very rainy days, and then overland toward Mount Cook and the Southern Alps. There we found beautiful blue skies reflected in the high lakes. We were quite lucky for that patch of weather, apparently, for most New Zealanders haven't seen the unclouded top of Cook. We got to see our second vibrant Lupine bloom of the year here (first one in June in Wyoming) and in many other high places around New Zealand.
Continuing down the coast, we happened upon these crazy boulders, the Moeraki. To small for climbing on, but very cool to look at and touch. Here was where we started to feel some of the wind that likes to blow around these lattitudes, which the penguins, seals, and sea lions really don't seem to mind. Down around Dunedin, we stopped at the Albatross colony on the tip of the Otago Peninsula. Those birds are huge and amazing. And for a bonus, a pod of small blue penguins lived in the area and were coming home to feed the chicks after a day of fishing. As the sunlight faded, we sat quitely on the sand and watched them gracefully swim out of the water and hesitantly waddle up the beach and rocks into the nest in the bush. They walked right by us. Definitely one of the most unique things we've done. Also, we have to mention Nugget Point. It felt like we were standing on the wind-swept rugged end of the world. A lone lighthouse peers out over the black seas below and the rocks and littoral are rich with life. A mesmerizing surrounding, including the swirling bull kelp beds, which seem to us to be represted in some of the Maori pictographs. In the Catlins, in southeastern NZ, we got our first views of the native bush, instead of sheep on a green-grass hillside. Many waterfalls and ferns in this lush temperate rainforest. The ferns here are the country's symbol. The Maori see the fiddlehead of the fern as having some resonance in human life; the constant unfolding, the spiral that is always changing but always the same. Beautiful.
The Fiordlands. This is a place where, um, a lot of rain falls; some 8 meters annually. So, guess what? We had a wet time. We took a boat tour of the Milford Sound, where the boat captain said "this isn't rain yet, this is liquid sunshine", which in a way, it was. Thousands of cascading waterfalls poured down the sheer walls of the Sound. After the storm, we relaxed at the Mirror Lakes, where the air was so calm and quiet, the reflections give one a false sense of space.
From there, we headed up to Queenstown for more beautiful lakes and mountains. As we drove around, we were vaguely reminded of landscapes we'd seen somewhere before. This is definitely the kind of country that Tolkien must have imagined. We got to do our first bit of climbing in a while, which we were quite excited about. It felt good to get a workout, but we've also been sampling all the pools of the South Island, not only for the lap swimming potential, but for the showers (hehe). Anna's ankle is getting better, and the hike up to the crags at Wye Creek were the first real test. Then up to Wanaka, where we got to climb more on some easier-to-access crags. We took the road through the Gates of Haast (a fitting name, sounds like what it is, especially if you say it with a sinister voice) over to the uninhabited Westlands. We encountered rainbows, dolphins, jellyfish, one massive whale vertebra, and one crazy-eyed daytime owl.
In the West, there are glaciers that are quickly turning into rivers and lakes. As one approaches the Franz Joseph Glacier, it is easy to sense the instability and impermanence of this landscape. The glacier is dripping and melting at an unstoppable pace, shedding rocks and chunks every moment. Markers show the locations of the terminus in years past, which demonstrate the pace of recession.
Sorry to end so abruptly, but we're out of time here. We will add more when we get the chance from Thailand! We were just about to talk about climbing at Charleston on Christmas Eve.
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