Protests, Pad thai, and Supersoakers

Let me do a little summary of my asian experience thus far.

1. Brunei.

A random, tiny, almost city state muslim country by malaysia and indonesia. No alcohol allowed in the country. Our flight there had to be blessed before take off, meaning a prayer to allah was on the tv and the loudspeakers for all to enjoy. And we did make it there safely. In the capital city there are some giant and extremely grand mosques built by the super rich sultan. Interesting contrast in that country between the grand mosques and the poor water villages right next door.

2. Bangkok.

Bangkok is just ridic. People, stuff, and people selling stuff everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Can't walk 5 feet without someone trying to sell you someting or a tuk tuk driver asking where asking to take you somewhere. It was awesome though, some cool temples, buddhas everywhere, and some good asian grub.

As you may have seen on the news, there is also a big protest going on there. Our first few days in Bangkok this was a pretty chill event, peeps hanging out wearing red shirts while a guy literally talked 24/7 over a loudspeaker. Our tuk tuk drivers would drive right through it, no worries. The day we left, however, was a diff story. We were in a taxi heading to the weekend market when all the sudden traffic diverted as a convoy of miliary trucks drove by. Tons and tons of soldiers. Our driver immediately said he was just taking us right back to Khao San Rd, the main touristy area, because it was not safe elsewhere. So we get back to Khao San, walk down the road a bit and realize that the protestors are marching past at the end of the road. We see people throwing things and chanting, but nothing too crazy. The vendors on Khao San were freaking out though, and all packing up their stuff with much urgency, thinking that the protesters might start marching right down Khao San. There were a couple times it looked like they were coming down our road, so everyone started running. Then we would stop running and see that they were not coming, so we stopped and watched again. This happened a few times.

Eventually it was time to get our bus to Chiang Mai and get the hell out of there. Little did we know that to get to our bus we had to walk about a mile across the freeway that the protestors had shut down. It felt like a war movie, the 40 backpackers walking to their bus, walking on the wrong side of the freeway in the middle of the road, past army trucks with slashed tires and smashed windshields, buses and cars blocking the road. We were like the kids leaving town for safety. The red shirted protesters were actually very friendly to us, taking pictures of us and telling us "Welcome to Thailand! So sorry! Sorry!" Because they felt bad we were leaving Bangkok. Either way, we finally made it to our bus through the protestors and army trucks and are now safely enjoying Chiang Mai.

3. Chiang Mai.

Here there is no sign of protest, only signs of partying. Right now everyone is celebrating New Years here, which basically consists of a massive water fight. Everyone, kids, teens, adults, old people, are walking around with supersoakers, squirt guns, water guns with extra ammo backpack, buckets, and any other type of water throwing devices. And everyone just drenches one another. A little thai kid will just come up to you and throw a whole bucket of water in your face. It's ridic!!

Thai people are driving around the main street in their pick up trucks with about 20 people in the back plus a barrel full of water to throw at people. Then we have the people in tuk tuks, and then the mopeds. Basically its people in the street vs. People in their vehicles, but you just soak anyone near you in the meantime. Since it is warm out, feels great to be wet. However, that's why it's popular to really own people with ice water. Some put massive blocks of ice in their water in case just simply dousing someone with normal water isn't enough. While all this is going on, we have club music blasting from massive speakers while people are dancing and drinking some cheap asian beer. This is going on all over the city as well, so you really can not go anywhere without getting soaked. Oh and today, on the 4th day of this water maddess, it has turned into a foam water fight party. So ridic. One more day to go.

Abel to Queenstown

After the kayaking and hiking of Abel Tasman I headed down the west coast of the south island. Lovely views along the way. The bus I was on, Stray, stopped at this rando town for a night so we could have a crazy costume party. I dressed up as a giraffe, thought it was fitting. Again, lots of flip cup.

After the costume party we kept making our way down the west coast to Franz Josef glacier. I had already been there for an interview back in the day, but this time it seemed like a completely different place. Our full day there was completely sunny, not a cloud in the sky. It was so beautiful to see the glacier on a nice sunny day. I don’t even think we really saw it last time we were there.

Instead of paying 150 bucks to do a glacier hike, I decided to just go on a long (free) hike through the rainforest with my friend Victoria. A solid 6 hour hike. After climbing over rocks and walking across waterfalls, streams, and one-person suspension bridges we got to the top for a stunning view of the glacier. We even looked down on the people doing the glacier hike, who looked like ants from where we were. Saw a goat on the way down. Got my money’s worth.

After Franz Josef and a lot more time on the bus we stayed at another rando town for an impromptu game of ultimate frisbee and lots of karaoke. The next day we finally made our way back to Queenstown, my home sweet home. Here for a few days, then Auckland, then Asia!

Hitchhiking

Generally in the US when we think of hitchhiking we think of horror movies and of people getting chopped into little pieces. In New Zealand, however, hitchhiking is simply another popular mode of transportation. I wouldn’t be more surprised if someone told me they were hitchhiking somewhere versus taking a bus or car. In fact, some people here in Queenstown will literally hitchhike to and from work everyday.

I personally have only tested it out a few times. My first time my friend Tara and hitched to a gym 15 minutes drive from Queenstown. We were a little sketched about the situation; again due to the rather negative impression we have about hitchhiking in the US. However, our friends reassured us that we would get picked up in literally one minute, so we had to test it out. And what do you know, as soon as we stick our arms out the first car that drives by picks us up. And it’s even a girl who happens to be going to the exact same place as us. Super nice, offers us a ride home after we are all done at the gym.

Another one of my hitching situations involved a 40 minute ride from the middle of nowhere to the little town called Oamaru. Normally it’s difficult to hitch with four people, as often there might not be four open seats in one’s car, especially in the middle of nowhere. However three friends and I waited only ten minutes until a guy with a van drove by and picked us all up. Really nice guy. Find out he’s a butcher, the profession any hitcher would hope for from their driver. Oh hitching, only in New Zealand.

Sailing, Hiking, and Free Willy

Next stop after Nelson was Abel Tasman, known for being one of the most beautiful and most visited national parks in NZ. One of the most famous things to do at this park is a three day hike, so naturally that’s what I did. Or attempted.

But before I get into that, the first day I was in Abel Tasman I did some kayaking. Abel Tasman is known for being one of the most sunny places in New Zealand, so of course it was raining. Kayaking in the wind and rain is about as fun as you can imagine. However I still had a great time. The beaches there were beautiful, we did get some patches of sun in there, and our tour guide was a hilarious kiwi. As we kayaked against the wind for a couple hours to get to a certain beach, our guide suggested that we try a more relaxing method of getting home: sailing.

Generally sailing and kayaks don’t go together, but after some failed attempts and some problem solving, Mike (our guide) amazingly was able to make it happen. And all we had was a large rectangular piece of fabric. So we had Mike’s kayak in the middle, with two corners of the sail tied to the front of his kayak. My friend Victoria and my kayak on one side, our friend Geoff’s kayak on the other. Geoff and I both held on to Mike’s kayak to essentially make one big boat. Then Mike tied the other two corners of the sail to his two paddles, held up his paddles in the air, and we were off! Was a bit unsteady but certainly a fun way of getting home.

Then we have the hike. One of my friends from wwoofing in Oamaru met up with me to do the hike. Then we had Victoria and Geoff, who I had met a couple days before, who also joined in on the hike. I think the total distance is 51 k or ( miles), which we would split into three days of hiking, two nights camping. The first day was amazing. Hiked 6.5 hours. Wonderful sunny weather, beautiful views, amazing beaches, etc. Carried all our stuff to campsite for the night, this amazing beach. The next day, however, it was raining. Again, in the most sunny place in NZ. At first this was fine, even fun to be braving the rain; it was sorta just a drizzle anyways and we were in the rainforest protected by the trees. Then it started pouring. Then thunder. So then after hiking 3.5 hours, only 2 hours shy of our final destination, we decided to grab a water taxi back to the hostel.

Was quite the bumpy ride, but we were so glad to catch this boat. As we were on the boat, the driver heard over his radio that there were whales in the area. So we decided to do a bit of whale watching. Obviously other boats heard the same news, as there were a few boats just lingering around at sea, waiting. After waiting and waiting we finally spotted some fins. As soon as we spotted any fins all the boats zoomed over. And then we’d see them somewhere else, and the boats would zoom there. We just kept chasing around the whales. And then we saw him; Free Willy. He popped his head out of the water to say hi.

After whale watching had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had at Fat Tui, a local burger joint. So it ended up being an alright day after all.