Home Sweet Home

I’m now on the plane from Seoul, South Korea, heading to Chicago, about to step foot on American soil for the first time since May. So much has happened in the past seven months. Kakamega feels like an eternity ago, not to mention life as a college student at Duke. On my customs card I had to list the countries I had been to since last being in America, which sent me on a nice trip down memory lane. Kenya (plus a little bit of Uganda and Tanzania), on to Australia, with a nice 10 days in New Zealand, on to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia before finally coming back full circle.

My time abroad has definitely expanded my worldview. I absolutely love Charlotte, North Carolina, and the USA, but there is also a whole world out there to explore. I can really see myself living outside the USA, a possibility I never would have taken seriously last year. I also had the great experience of stepping out of my comfort zone. I remember landing in Kisumu, Kenya, not knowing the language, the customs or anyone other than a few Duke students who I wouldn’t be living or working with. I had never traveled outside the US without my parents. For the first time in my life I was able to integrate into an entirely new culture, learning parts of the language, eating the local food, making friends, and feeling at home in a whole new place. I got to have real influence in an international microfinance NGO. Just last week, Denis, one of the Business Mentors I recruited, emailed me to fill me in on the success of the pump project. I definitely miss my coworkers and host family. One day, my host dad hopes to visit Charlotte and the US and I will be here waiting to greet him when he does.

Next thing I knew I was on a plane, with malaria, heading to Sydney. I had no Duke friends going to the University of Sydney with me and didn’t know anyone I was living with. It was a chance to meet new people, try new things, and make new friends. While Australian culture is more similar to American culture than Kenyan culture is, I enjoyed mingling with my Aussie friends and hearing their stories. I was able to take classes that I couldn’t have taken at Duke and I met so many awesome people. I was able to travel to the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, the Blue Mountains, and even New Zealand!

And then I went on an unexpected Asian adventure. I embarked on a trip going to a country where my friends and I had no contacts and didn’t speak a word of the language. And it was awesome. We hopped around from country to country, city to city, hostel to hostel, and met so many awesome people, both locals and travelers, along the way. All of my travels with my family have been awesome, but in addition to the planned out tours and landmarks, I gained a whole new appreciation for spontaneous traveling with friends.

After the longest day of my life (literally, not figuratively, it has been December 4 for 36 hours), I have successfully made it all the way around the world and am home. I get to sleep in my bed again, hug my parents, and see my brothers, relatives, and friends within the next few weeks. I am so glad I was able to have these experiences abroad. I hope you have enjoyed the little snippets of my life in the past 200 days, thanks for reading! Kwaheri!

Tomb Raiding

After a very early morning, we flew from the capital of Laos to Siem Reap to begin our Holiday in Cambodia. We arrived at our guesthouse, Angkor Wonder, run by two awesome Cambodian friends who spoke great English, were extremely friendly, and gave us the biggest room we have had all trip for a grand total of $7. While Cambodia’s official currency is the riel, trading at 4000 riel to 1 USD, most purchases of more than a dollar are done in American currency.

We wasted no time in getting to Siem Reap’s ancient temples by tuktuk with our new favorite driver, Myce. He started us off at Angkor Wat, meaning City Temple, not only because it was the main temple of the city of Siem Reap, but also because the temple itself was large enough to be a city. We climbed through, admiring the ancient bass reliefs that stretched for 600 meters around the perimeter. We explored it for hours, peaking into each nook and cranny, admiring the scale of the temple and the incredible detail of each statue and carving. When we were ready to move on to the next temple, we simply stepped outside of Angkor Wat and Myce appeared from out of nowhere, to take us on to Angkor Thom.

After many more awesome temples, we arrived at our last temple, Angkor Thom, sometimes called the Tomb Raider temple, because it was the setting of the Angelina Jolie movie “Tomb Raider.” Angkor Wat was unsurpassable in terms of beauty and sheer magnificence, but when it came to adventure, I much preferred Angkor Thom. We wandered through the tomb and never went under the ropes that sectioned off the forbidden areas, but we soon ended up somewhere we knew we weren’t supposed to be. We were climbing over rubble of the crumbling temple and through tree roots without any tourists in sight. Then, an old Cambodian man appeared from the shadows and beckoned us to follow him. We turned and looked at each other, feeling a little bit apprehensive about this stranger, but we had a good feeling about him so wen followed him. He didn’t speak any English but he led us through the temple to more secret places within the temple. He showed us awesome trees and secret connecting passages. He took us into one small room and beat his chest once with his closed fist and the sound reverberated and was amplified throughout the whole room. He showed us that doing this seven times in the certain spot that produced the echo was good luck, so we followed suit. At the end of his awesome mini tour, we got a picture with him and thanked him for an awesome time. We stepped out of Angkor Thom and of course Myce had us in his tuktuk in a matter of seconds, as he took us back to the less touristy back entrance to Angkor Wat where we watched one of the most memorable sunsets of my life.

That night we really wanted a good feel Cambodian cuisine and Myce knew just the place. For just a few bucks, we had all you can eat self-cooked Cambodian barbeque. There was a small charcoal heat source in the middle of our table, covered by a metal dish that contained hot water on the outside and a raised part in the middle to cook meat. We mixed in vegetables, tofu, all sorts of meat, lots of noodles, and of course a plethora of Cambodian spices and sauces, to create some scrumptious Cambodian barbeque soup. After a complimentary sip of snake whiskey (trust me, a sip is all you are going to want to drink) and a nice walk home, the five of us cuddled up and watched Tomb Raider the movie, pointing out all the places we had been.

Sadly, Friday was our last full day in Asia. We spent it going out on a boat to see a really interesting “floating village” that was completely built on stilts above water. We saw people rowing their way to the one temple in the town, clusters of boats with fruits and vegetables for sale, and even an isolated floating school that could only be reached by boat (or quite a swim!). We went on past the river village into the lake where we swam and enjoyed the warm Asian water one last time, imagining the frigid temperature of any water in North Carolina in December.

From Siem Reap we took a six-hour bus on to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Phnom Penh is definitely the biggest city we visited in our three weeks in Asia. There were big office buildings, almost everything was priced in dollars, and things were a bit more expensive than they had been in Laos or Thailand. We decided it was a good way to prepare us for our imminent return to America. We got in late that night so we happily settled for ice cream and pizza for dinner. We stayed up late reminiscing about the trip, sad that it was about to come to a close.

On Saturday morning we took a tuktuk out to a depressing yet historically significant part of Cambodia’s history: Choeung Ek, also know as “The Killing Fields.” In 1975, Pol Pot, a communist dictator, came into power. He eradicated the monetary system, outlawed any personal possessions, and demanded a tripling of rice production. Pol Pot ordered a mass execution of any intellectuals, professionals, and anyone who wasn’t a farmer. From 1975 to 1979, 1.3 million people were executed, and many more died from disease and starvation during the tyrannical rule. I couldn’t believe that this tragedy had happened, and that I had never learned about it in history class or even heard about it. While it was a morbid way to spend our last morning, the fields were a very moving place and I’m glad we learned their significance.

On a less somber note, we moved on to Phnom Penh’s huge markets, where we shopped around and enjoyed some awesome, and awesomely cheap, noodles. We wandered further to see Wat Phnom, the huge temple built in 1363 that the city was named after. As it got darker and closer to time to leave, the five of us made it to the night market to enjoy one last meal together. Charlie, Jimmy, and I had a flight out that night while Claudia and Sibel were staying for another 10 days of their Asian adventure. We said our sad goodbyes and we were off, homeward bound.

Struggle Bus

On Saturday morning we boarded the struggle bus going from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. It was a public bus that was supposed to take 12 hours. Of course it left late, we were the only nonnatives on the bus, and no one spoke any English. When I got on the bus, I couldn’t even see the floor because the entire isle was covered in huge 50kg bags of rice. I had to walk over them, as well as people’s luggage piled high to get to my cramped seat in the back corner. We stopped about an hour in and pulled into a lumberyard where people proceeded to load planks wood on the roof of the bus for a solid hour. At one point after leaving with all of the wood, I looked out the window and saw a foot of one of the wood loaders just hanging off the side of the bus. Welcome to Laos. To make matters worse, the most obnoxious pop music was blaring from a speaker right above my head for the entire 14-hour trip. We almost didn’t get off when we arrived at 2am because no one spoke English well enough to confirm that we were actually at Luang Prabang. It was definitely a struggle.

Thankfully, Luang Prabang did not disappoint. We befriended a new sandwich lady, who also sold Oreo banana shakes for 5000 kip (~60 cents). Needless to say we had many. We explored the town and checked out what the street vendors had to offer. We climbed up the massive hill in the center of town to the summit where Wat Chom Si stood. It was awesome to see the whole city from above, watching the Mekong and Khan Rivers snake their way around the perimeter of Luang Prabang. The temple itself was also very interesting; it was made up of multiple shallow caves meant for meditation. From there we went to Kuang Si Falls, which was just what we needed after a hot day (well, that and more smoothies). We climbed up to the top of the falls and looked out on the wonderful Laotian mountainous landscape. We played in the falls, swam all around, and had a lot of fun with the rope swing. After such a taxing day we all got Laotian massages to wind down.

 

The next day, we explored the river town further, finding a mouth watering bakery that sold the most amazing banana bread for only 4000 kip (50 cents). I have been particularly partial toward bananas this trip because they were the most expensive in Sydney, trading at $12 a kilo, so these are the first bananas I’ve had since Kenya. We also ventured on to the country’s oldest temples, Wat Xieng Thong. Built in 1560, the temple is one of the country’s oldest and most historically significant temples. It was great to see the entire temple complex, from where the monks meditate to where they live alongside the river. I definitely have a greater appreciation for the way monks live after spending 30 hours with monks in Chiang Mai. We were unfortunately not awake to see it but every morning in Luang Prabang at 6am, all of the monks go out into the town and people bring food to offer them, free of charge. It really integrates the Buddhist way of life into the town and gave the whole area a great community culture.

Wishing we could have stayed longer but excited for our next stop, we boarded our next bus on to Vang Vieng. Thankfully, this ride was much less of a struggle. It was only five hours, we had a bit more room, no rice, no wood, and no music playing on full volume. When we arrived in Vang Vieng, we instantly realized that it was a touristy but lively place. Music was playing, people were calling out to each other, and generally everyone was enjoying themselves. We walked down the main street that our guesthouse was on and every single restaurant was playing the TV show Friends. We took a seat at one of them, ordered some green curry, and proceeded to be mesmerized by the commercial free TV series. We called it a night relatively early so we could get up the next morning for what the town was known for: river tubing.

When I woke up the next morning, I stepped out onto our balcony and saw the serene river flowing by just 50 meters away with colossal mountains looming only a couple of hundred meters beyond. Because we had arrived after sunset the night before, I had completely missed the stunning view. Eager to beat the crowd to the start of the river, we rented tubes, grabbed the underwater camera, jumped on a tuktuk, and started our adventure. We quickly realized that the river was just one big gathering of people enjoying the sun, the water, and Laos. The entire river was covered by bars and restaurants, left and right, blaring music and attracting people as they tubed down the river. We went from one restaurant to another on our tubes or just swimming through the refreshing water. There were floating picnic benches where we grabbed a bite to eat. We played foosball at one restaurant and threw a Frisbee around at another. As the day went on and we moved down the river, more and more people started flocking, the music got louder, and everyone was having a great time. At one point everyone at one of the bars stood up and did a choreographed dance to “We No Speak No Americano.” We quickly caught on and joined in, of course, putting on quite some entertainment for the people floating downstream. Many of the restaurants had huge rope swings or big towers where you could run jump off into the river where it was deep enough. Overall we had a great day relaxing in the sun, floating downstream. After a night of casual fire limbo, we called it a day.

Now we are spending a short day in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, before we wake up tomorrow at 3:30AM to catch a flight to Cambodia, the last leg of our Asian adventure. Laos has been awesome, especially the Gibbon experience and river rafting in Vang Vieng. But I am really excited to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World tomorrow!

Thanksgibboning

We took a picturesque boat ride from Chang Kong, Thailand across a river into Huay Xai, Laos as we took our next step in our Asian adventure. Immediately after crossing over the river, I felt like I was in a different place. We could still see the Thailand to the west from our guesthouse as the sun set over it, but we were definitely in Laos. In the border town of Huay Xai, very few people spoke English, compared to Thailand where most guesthouses have at least one English speaker on staff. While this should feel normal, I was actually very surprised when I realized that people drive on the right side of the road! Coming from Kenya, Australia, and New Zealand where people drive on the left, I hadn’t had oncoming traffic on my right for six months. The currency is also slightly different. In Thailand, the currency is the baht, which trades at about 30 baht to 1 USD. In Laos, the Kip is used, and it takes about 8000 Kip to make a dollar. That required a bit of mental math adjustment. On the upside, I got to be a millionaire (in Kip) for a minute!

We wandered off the boat and explored Huay Xai, which unlike its booming Thai counterpart, Chang Kong, consisted of pretty much one street. Glad to have made it across the river before the border closed, we asked around where a nice affordable place to stay was and wandered in to what one of the street vendors had recommended. At first it looked fine and was reasonably priced so we went for it. Bad move. We quickly learned that the bathrooms had no real plumbing; all of the water just emptied on to the slanted floor and into a drain. It was a “shared bathroom” which really meant go downstairs to use the owner’s personal bathroom which consisted of her hanging underpants and a standing pool of water that looked like it came straight out of the horror movie Saw. Of course the electricity didn’t work and the owner didn’t speak a word of English. Without a doubt, our favorite part of the town was “the sandwich lady,” whose name we later found out was Gang Gong. She is the most outspoken, intense, street vendor I have ever met. Because her English wasn’t amazing and she knew what brought travelers to Huay Xai, she prepared signs to grab the attention, along with her voice, of passing voyagers. She sold us food, water, and flashlights we needed for the next two days and let us play with her daughter, endearingly named “Money.” We laughed about our time with Gang Gong and made the most of our accommodation as we eagerly awaited the Gibbon Experience.

The next morning we happily escaped from our worst accommodation of the trip and headed out into the jungles of Laos to set off on our two-day adventure. The Gibbon Experience is an adventurer’s tour of the jungle home of the gibbon monkeys, involving hiking, ziplining, and exploring with a local Laotian guide. We met up with a British couple and a pair of German girls and with that, we were off. Tam, our guide led us through the twisted pathways of the jungle until we reached a dead end in the trail. At first thinking we had made a wrong turn, I looked out into an opening in the trees and saw not only a beautiful mountain landscape, but also a 400m zipline crossing from our current ridge to the one of the mountains in the distance. Harnessed up, we flew across the canopy, looking out to the beautiful mountain landscape and down to the gigantic trees and ground floor more than 100m below. After getting over that adrenalin rush, we walked another minute or two and got on yet another line, this one 600m long! After a few hours of walking and many more zip lines with spectacular views, we made it to our lodging for the night: the treehouse.

The night before we had been wondering how we were going to get up to the house. We had guessed a giant ladder or stairs cut into the trunk. But when we finally reached our lodging, we found that the only way in or out was by a zipline.

Excuse the tilt, I was on a zipline!

The treehouse was absolutely amazing. The bottom floor was the “entrance” with the zip line and a bathroom with running water, a shower, and quite a view. Heading upstairs we reached the main floor with a 360 panorama of the jungle, a table, and sleeping mattresses under bed nets. And on the top floor was the “luxury suite” as we like to call it; an open area with three mattresses where Jimmy, Charlie, and I slept. We were welcomed into our temporary home with fresh fruit and Laotian wine, took a quick nap, and headed back out into the jungle for more trekking and many more ziplines. The lines became more and more comfortable and the views more stunning as the sun started to set on the mountaintops. We made it back to the treehouse just before sunset and when we arrived we had a hot, delicious Laotian meal prepared. I could get used to living like that. After a late night of card games, jokes, riddles, and travel stories, we awoke with the sunlight, ready to explore even more of the jungle for a few hours before breakfast. After eating yet another great meal, we packed up and zipped our way back to the town of Huay Xai. Over the two days we covered a good amount of ground, zipping for a total of about 15km!

When we got back to town, we went straight to the bus stop to get tickets for the overnight bus to Luang Prabang. The merchant confirmed that there was room for five people and confirmed the price, but just pulling out my wallet he decided to tell me that there were no more seats. This was pretty unfortunate because we have pretty tight travel plans but we made the most of our extra night in Huay Xai. After vowing never to step foot in the Saw house from two nights previous, we found new accommodation that was infinitely better. It was about 30,000 kip more, which works out to about a dollar per person, and it was worth every kip. We had clean sheets, working electricity, and running water, and a spectacular view of the river and Thailand. That night we celebrated Sibel’s birthday by going to Huay Xai’s finest restaurant in town, which sure beat turning 20 on an overnight bus. We ran into the British couple from the Gibbon Experience, Pete and Lisa, and we ended up hanging out with them, sharing stories and having a good time, until it was finally time to go to bed.

Huay Xai wasn’t exactly our favorite town in Asia, but overall the three nights we spent there were a lot of fun. The zip lines were amazing, the views were breathtaking, and the people we met (can’t forget Gang Gong!) were very friendly. Although it wasn’t quite a turkey dinner in America, it was definitively a Thanksgibboning I won’t forget.

Same Same But Different

In Thailand, there is a saying many of the locals use that goes “same same but different.” We didn’t really grasp its meaning until we got to Chiang Mai. Arriving after dark in an unknown city, we were glad we had written down the name and address of our guesthouse. We made a taxi friend named Cham who told us about all of his customers from all over the world that he had driven around the city day after day as he took us to Chaba House. We asked him whether Chaba was a nice place in a good location, like all the ads said online, and he hesitantly said, “you’ll see.” After a longer cab ride than we expected, we pulled into what looked like an unlit neighborhood. At first we thought Cham might have led us astray but there sat Chaba House with its flickering signs. We knocked and were met by a confused Thai teenager who didn’t speak a word of English. We told him about our reservation we had reserved for four beds. We pulled out papers and iPhones and confirmation numbers but weren’t getting through to him. We resorted to a “big room” hand motion but still no dice. After failing to communicate with him, he just opened up two rooms for us. After getting settled in, we met an American staying at the hostel who pointed out our location on a map. It was quite far out of the center of town, unlike what the website had promised. With the sketchy neighborhood, apparent lack of a room with four beds, and the terrible location, we figured something was going on. We rechecked our receipt and realized we had made quite a mistake: our reservation was at Chada House, not Chaba House. Cham picked us up as soon as we called and took us to our proper lodging which was right in the Old City, near the night markets and bazars and it even had a room with four beds and a proprietor who spoke English. Chada and Chaba: same same but different.

We wasted no time heading out and exploring Chiang Mai. It has an Old City that sits within a perfect square, surrounded by a moat on all four sides. Within the Old City, there are parks and schools and amazing temples around almost every street corner. We took a day trip with Chada’s owner, JoJo, in the back of his truck. He took us out to see the tiger sanctuary where we saw tigers from baby newborns to fully grown beasts. Despite how ferocious they appear, these animals were incredibly friendly and playful, so we went inside the cage to join them.

That night we explored the night markets that run all along the central part of the southern moat of the Old City. After being on Phi Phi Island that was populated primarily by tourists, the night market was a welcomed change where we were the only tourists in sight. We shopped around the huge market with about 75 stalls of food and more food. We had authentic Thai dishes with tongue twisting names for less than a dollar. After eating as much street food as we possibly could, we wandered out of the Old City to a Thai boxing arena we had heard about. Sure enough, the locals directed us to the right place. It was a big arena but about half way through we realized that no one really cared where you sat so we moved up and sat right up next to the ring and saw some full on Thai boxing.

I woke up on Saturday morning to a beautifully harmonized happy birthday from parents and a wonderful surprise Skype with many of my friends back at Duke. And as if that wasn’t a good enough way to start the day, Jimmy, Charlie, and I went off to ride elephants through the forests of Thailand. We got to ride on top of elephants, which was an amazing feeling. We brought a bag of bananas and some bamboo sticks to feed the elephants but once the one I was riding found out that I had food, he used it to his advantage. Every 50 meters, he would stop moving and put his trunk up over his head, refusing to move until I gave him another offering of food. Smart animal. We got to play with the elephants from the ground, petting and feeding even more. They really are fascinating animals and so much fun to interact with. Jimmy even got a nice sloppy kiss from one of them. After leaving our ginormous friends behind, we hiked deeper into the forest to an awesome waterfall where we had lunch. We passed through a hill tribe, but unfortunately it was more of a tourist attraction than an authentic village experience. We went down the river and boarded a bamboo raft, something I never thought I would ride on. Despite the fact that the majority of the bamboo was underwater and we were sure it was going to sink at any time, our fearless leader got us to our pick up spot and we made it back to the Old City. That night we went to a new market that was even bigger. They close down one of the big streets every Saturday and set up hundreds and hundreds of stalls selling everything from crafts to clothes to Thai food. I treated myself to birthday Pad Thai and the most amazing banana waffle I had had in a long time. It was the first waffle I had had since leaving the US in May so it tasted even better. After walking down the market for more than an hour and without reaching the end, we decided to turn around and continue the night. At JoJo’s recommendation, we went out to the finest of Chiang Mai’s Saturday nightlife to conclude an amazing 21^st birthday.

The next morning, our two travelling companions from Sydney, Sibel and Claudia, appeared at our door in Chada House, ready for a Thai cooking class. We went to a fresh produce market to see all the ingredients behind what we had been eating the past week. We arrived at the cooking school whose banner read, “Our food is guaranteed to make you look pregnant” and we knew we were in the right place. With great leadership from the cooking staff, I started chopping and mixing and cooking at the wok and before I knew it, Pad Thai magically appeared in front of me! I had no idea it was so feasible to cook and can’t wait to cook Thai food when I get back to the US. The five of us all made different dishes so we could taste test and share tips with each other afterward. After devouring my Pad Thai, I moved on to making Penang Curry from scratch and then making a curry and rice dish out of it, also delicious. I made a coconut based Tom-Yom soup and for dessert: caramelized banana with ice cream. After a full day of cooking and eating we could barely move so we did the only logical thing we could think of: we got oil massages.

On Monday we got up early for a different type of experience that is very difficult to explain in either words or pictures. It is something that I highly recommend you experiencing for yourself. Charlie, Jimmy, and I split up from the girls to go to a Buddhist temple, Wat Umong, about 15km into a small forest outside of the center of town. When we arrived we were instructed to put on all white clothes and went straight into a meal completely in silence. Little did we know that was our last meal of the day. From there we were given brooms to sweep the fallen leaves off the paths that the monks and we were walking. One of the monks then came up to us, gave us minimal instruction, and told us to meditate. We then went out across the vast property and tried to clear our minds and gave us a few words of wisdom on how to meditate and then we were sent out to find inner peace (easier said than done). That night we had a discussion with one of the monks on some of the Buddhist teachings and the challenges of meditation. We then chanted for about an hour out of the prayer books and called it a night at 9pm with some “reclining meditation,” sleeping in individual rooms on the cold tiled floor with a blanket. We got up at 4:30am (yikes) for more chanting and meditation. It was much easier to keep unwanted thoughts out of my concentration by the second day. After many more hours of solitude, we left the temple about 30 hours after we had arrived. It really was a peaceful and enriching experience and if you ever have the chance, I highly recommend meditation with monks. It was a great way to spend our last two days in Thailand.

We just crossed the border into Laos and are in a town called Huay Xai. I can see Thailand from my hostel (quote Sarah Palin)! Tomorrow we embark on one of the parts of the trip I am most excited for: the Gibbon Experience. Tell you all about it when we get back!

Pad Thai in Paradise

And we’re off! After a quick day in Perth, Australia’s biggest city on the west coast, Charlie, Jimmy, and I were on a plane to Phuket, Thailand. Because my last exam was on November 10, my friends in the US will be in school until mid December, and Duke doesn’t start again until mid January, we decided to take a bit of a round about way back to the US – via Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. With our entire luggage from an entire semester in Sydney on our backs, we set out an epic Asian adventure.

First stop: Phuket. Phuket is a peninsula town in southern Thailand that we flew into from Perth. We found out pretty quickly that we weren’t in Kansas any more as soon as we stepped off the plane. We were barraged by tons of tour groups, taxi drivers, and salesmen, fighting to get us into their cars. Other than the heat, the people, and the chaos, we happily welcomed the lower prices, which we gladly welcomed to make up for our time in Sydney. After finding our guesthouse we headed straight for the Pa Tong beach. The temperature was absolutely perfect: the air was warm but not sweltering and the water was so refreshing but not cold enough for us ever to want to leave. We body surfed and napped on the beach finally able to relax and celebrate the completion of our exams. When we got hungry of course we had to go for the Pad Thai, even better than Newtown but not as different from Aussie Thai food as I had expected. That night went explored the night markets, finding our way to Phuket’s finest street food and for dessert? McFlurry at McDonalds. We wandered our way into an underground market at about 10pm that was clearly closed down. There was one stall that was just packing up but welcomed us anyway. They had a tank full of small fish called doctor fish that therapeutically clean and regenerate your feet by eating the dead skin off. Immediately jumping on the opportunity (we had heard good things from other travelers), we stuck our feet in the water and had the most ticklish and giddy experience imaginable. Then we called it a night because we had a ferry to catch in the morning.

The real reason we came to Phuket is that it was our passage onto of Thailand’s beautiful islands, specifically Phi Phi Don Island. The small island had no cars or tuk-tuks that dominated the streets on the mainland. Instead, there were small footpaths that people walked day and night. The island was filled with authentic Thai restaurants, shops, a beach (of course), and acres of forest. To get a better feel for the island, we hiked up to a viewpoint overlooking the island and that’s when we really knew we were on vacation. We wasted no time finding our favorite Thai restaurant with all the classic Thai food you see in the states plus another menu full of other dishes I had never heard of. We tried pretty much everything on the menu by the time we left the island five days later. And for dessert? No McDonalds on this island, we had “Thai pancakes” which really means banana Nutella crepes. Yum.

The next morning we went on an all day boat tour around Phi Phi Don and its smaller, uninhabited neighbor, Phi Phi Le. We went kayaking around and snorkeled with angle fish. We went to Monkey Beach where we saw tons of monkeys. They turned out to be a bit more aggressive than I had anticipated and had a bit of a rumble with a few of them. The highlight of the day was definitely going to Maya Bay, otherwise known as THE Beach, from the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie.








The movie is about a man searching for meaning in his life and winds up on a quest to find this pristine beach on a secret island. He ends up living on the beach with people trying to keep it secret to maintain its natural beauty. THE Beach is incredibly beautiful but it is sad to see how overpopulated it has become since the release of the movie, especially since the movie as all about keeping the serenity of Maya Bay intact. After watching the sunset on the ocean right outside Maya Bay, we headed back to the mainland for hour-long Thai massages. The massages were so good we could barely get out of the massage beds and seriously considered spending the night in the massage parlor.

On our last full day on the island, we went SCUBA diving in the Andaman Sea. While it wasn’t quite the rainbow of coral in the Great Barrier Reef, it was quite a site to see and a great day of diving. On our first dive we saw boxfish, heaps of coral, entire schools of thousands of tiny fish, and a beautiful green turtle. Our second was a bit more daring; we were shark hunting. We went out to a dive site known for black tip sharks. And we found them. After descending to 18 meters below the water, we saw about 20 sharks darting back and forth along the ocean shore. We surfaced for some yummy Thai food onboard and befriended the dive staff on the boat on our way back to the dock. That night, our last night on the island, we decided to venture out to the beach on the island where there were 10 bars lined up playing music of all sorts, projecting the sound out to the ocean. We ended up at the same bar that our SCUBA company frequented and enjoyed the night hanging out and swapping diving stories. The next day got on a plane and headed north. Next stop Chiang Mai.

Goodbye, Mate!

To call my last week in Australia a whirlwind would be an understatement. I got off the plane from New Zealand on Monday morning and then proceeded to take exams on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, unlike the rest of my friends whose exams were nicely spaced along the two possible. Thankfully I had been keeping up with my classes so finals weren’t too bad. After finishing my econometrics exam on Thursday, I had 20 hours to pack everything up, clean the apartment, say goodbye to everyone, and get my life together before flying out of Sydney.

It was sad to leave the land of OZ; I had never lived in one place out of the US for four months before. I experienced a new way of life (relax!) and picked up some Aussie lingo. I learned a lot academically in all four of my classes and really enjoyed all of my professors. I’m going to miss living in Sydney, just a short walk from the heart of a city bustling with 5 million people. I’m definitely going to miss the 20 Thai restaurants in Newtown (if only I was traveling to somewhere with Thai food…) and the weekly Tuesday $5 Dominos pizzas. I’m going to miss having a rock climbing gym less than five minutes from my house. I’m going to miss Sydney’s campus, but excited for Duke’s. I’m going to miss cooking almost every night with my roommates. I’m going to miss the SCUBA diving in Sydney, not to mention the Great Barrier Reef. And I’m going to miss having the ability to take a random weekend trip to Tasmania or the Blue Mountains.

But most of all, I’m going to miss the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made during my time down under. My roommates and travel buddies have been so much fun to get to know. My friends from classes and group projects have given me a true look into life as an Aussie. My adult friends including the Stevensons, the Wongs, and Jane have kindly had an eye out for me during my stay. And of course my rock climbing mates from all around the world (Argentina, Antarctica, Spain, Australia, Sweden, Norway) who I’ve gone on so many adventures with.

I already have plans to meet up with a few of my American friends I met abroad but I have no idea when or even if I will ever see most of my Aussie friends again. But I had a blast getting to know them and I am confident we will keep in touch. I say this about just about every country I travel to, but I’ve got a feeling that someday, I’ll be back.

Kiwi Adventures

Classes ended. Exams were coming up the next week, exams that counted for 50% of the semester grade. So, clearly the only logical choice was to jump on a plane, rent a campervan (sadly not Jucy this time) and explore New Zealand for a week. Being the rational person that I am, that’s exactly what I did.

On Sunday morning, I flew in to post-earthquake Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island, to meet up with my traveling companions: Johan, Alex, and Victoria. It was sad to see what you could tell was such a vibrant city reduced to cracked walls, leaning buildings, piles of rubble, and condemned buildings. Without wasting much time, we drove south heading for Lake Tekapo where we spent our first night. It was refreshing to feel the cooler Kiwi breeze after being in the hot summer air in Sydney. With fond memories of our Jucy experience, we settled in for a good night’s sleep with the gorgeous New Zealand backdrop. We cooked our first of many gourmet campervan meals (mostly consisting of sausages, lots of sausages).

We got an early start the next morning with our sights set on Milford Sound, a breathtaking body of water that opens New Zealand to the Tasman Sea. Alex, Victoria, Johan, and I explored the sound, walking out on to the largest peninsula that reaches into the water. The huge green covered mountains plummet into the water, creating the appearance of a meandering maze that leads out to the open water. We sat and had a picnic, imagining Orcs and Elves on the mountaintops as we felt like we were in the middle of a Lord of the Rings movie. We slept that night in an old campground outside the town of Te Ano that Alex had been to many years before. I slept out in Alex’s two-man tent, listening to the sounds of New Zealand nature as I fell asleep.

The next morning we were excited to get out to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the southern hemisphere. One problem: our car didn’t start. After failing to start the engine and realizing that our car had no jumper cables and a really old battery, we made our way from the campground back into Te Ano. Thankfully, we found a friendly Kiwi mechanic who lent us a pair of jumper cables and got us on our way. A few hours later, we saw Lake Wakatipu approaching and we knew we were in Queenstown. Despite the fact that none of my companions were as brave as I was, I was set on jumping off a 43m high bridge. The Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown was the site of the first commercial bungee operation, created by AJ Hackett himself, the man who created the adventure sport. The sun came out as I walked onto the bridge, confident and ready to jump off. I put on a harness and was tied in by the staff, still feeling fine. It wasn’t until I had to stand up and walk up to the edge that I asked myself, “why in the world am I jumping off a bridge?” I waddled closer to the edge, ankles bound. The operator urged me farther forward, until my toes were hanging off the edge. Here is where the butterflies really started doing a number on my stomach. There was no backing down and the only way to feel better was to jump off.

Next stop: the west coast. We drove through the quaint town of Arrowtown, and stopped for an early dinner in Wanaka, sitting on yet another spectacular body of water, Lake Wanaka. Ready to make a long haul all the way from Wanaka to the next town with cell phone reception, not to mention gasoline, we stopped at the BP to fill up our tank. Refueled and ready to go, we started our engine. Well, we tried to start our engine. Once again, our battery had died, this time only after turning the car off for five minutes. We called AA (New Zealand’s version of AAA) who was able to jump our car but couldn’t replace our sadly decrepit battery. The mechanic urged us to stay in Wanaka for the night but having big plans to see the entire South Island in 9 days, we continued on to the town of Fox Glacier. We stopped for groceries and viewpoints along the way, getting strange looks from people not understanding why we left the engine running, but we didn’t dare turn the car off until we made it to our destination. We drove on into the sunset, approaching the Southern Alps (actually bigger in area than the Alps in Europe) that run all along the west coast. After finally reaching Fox Glacier late in the night, we parked our campervan right in front of the only mechanic in the town, ready for our car not to start in the morning.

The next morning we explored the town of Fox Glacier as another friendly mechanic replaced our battery, changed our oil, and replaced our burnt out headlight. Meanwhile, we decided to see what this whole glacier was about. So, we hiked up along the trails leading to the glacier. A hailstorm started to pick up and despite the fact that we had no crampons our proper equipment, we climbed up on to the gigantic piece of ice. It went on past where we could see, just layers and layers of cracked ice. Ready to make it out of the wintery mix, we ran back to our car, good as new (well, at least the engine started). We continued our venture up the west coast through the towns of Franz Josef Glacier and Hokitika. With quick stops at each and amazing snow capped mountainous scenery along the way, we made it to Arthur’s Pass, a small backpacker town only a few hours away from Christchurch. After a few nights cooking on the gas stove in the campervan, we splurged and went into a hostel to cook in a real kitchen. We enjoyed our gourmet meal with other travelers from Germany and Argentina, just passing through to go hiking and rock climbing.

The next morning we had intended to go climbing and repelling with some of the equipment Alex had borrowed from the our friends back at the University of Sydney Rockclimbing Club. To our dismay, it was again pouring down snow, sleet, and hail in the Arthur’s Pass area and our backup options were all too close to Christchurch and were therefore only piles of rubble because of the earthquake. Instead, we explored the botanic gardens of Christchurch, named the Garden City of the world. Sadly, Victoria had to get back to Sydney two days before Johan and I did so we bid her farewell at the pleasant hour of 4:30am. Alex also had plans to meet up with some of his friends from Antarctica who were passing through Christchurch so Johan and I had two days to make the most of our time in New Zealand.

And we did. We ventured to the small French town Akaroa on the banks peninsula, about an hour and a half south east of Christchurch. The town was perched on yet another (New Zealand seems to have a habit of these) picturesque lake, this one connecting to the Pacific Ocean. We explored the town, talked to the locals about rugby, and had free chocolate fudge. Ready for an adventure, we looked at our options for an overnight backpacking trip and decided to summit the highest peak on the peninsula. We drove out to the base of the trail with our goal set at sleeping in a cabin set in a saddle between two mountain peaks. 

After getting a little sidetracked (ok so maybe we wandered around for an hour unable to find the trail), we smelled the smoke from a wood fire set in the iron stove coming from our new home. Not expecting to have a lot of roommates, we were surprised to find six friendly strangers telling stories and laughing the night away. The all had camp stoves, pots and pans, utensils, well cooked meals, and a bottle of red wine. They had clearly done this before. Johan and I had a 22 pack of “value” sausages from the local supermarket, a loaf of bread, and a big bottle of Heinz Ketchup. Feeling incredibly embarrassed, we rummaged around outside looking for sticks to cook our sausages in the fire with. Thankfully, the backpackers were incredibly welcoming and friendly, not being as nearly judgmental about our “meal” as they should have been. After many successful sausages, we had learned that they were from Spain, Portugal, Holland, Canada, and even one from the US, just traveling around seeing the country for a few months. It was wonderful to hear their stories of the travels and I assured them that I actually did now what I was doing and that I didn’t usually hike in jeans but that the whole hiking expedition was a spontaneous thing. All of a sudden, fireworks started going off in the distance, apparently celebrating Guy Fawkes Day. Watching fireworks under the stars on a mountain in New Zealand with newfound friends, it doesn’t get much better than that.

We got an early start the next morning, trying to make it up to the summit of Mt. Herbert and back to the car in time to make it to the airport for our return to Sydney. We walked over ridges, through a forest, and through a lot of mud and thorns, but we made it! We ran into our cabin friends on the top of the mountain and I understand why; it was my favorite view from the whole trip and that’s saying something. The bays, the beaches, the ocean, and a small town were all right behind us and the day was so clear that you could see all the way out to the snowy Southern Alps on the west coast, mountains we had been at just days before. After soaking up some sun and taking in the view, we booked it back to the car.

We returned the car with moments to spare and were offered a free ride to the airport by a friendly shuttle driver where spent the night before our early morning flight. Johan and I took the time to reflect on all that had happened in our nine days in the beautiful country one last time before we headed back for exams. I know I used the word “friendly” quite often describing the people we met along the trip but that was no accident; Kiwi people are just nice and welcoming. Between the people, the landscapes, and the adventure, I strongly doubt that was my last trip to New Zealand.

What the Devil?

This weekend was a whirlwind tour of Tasmania as my time in the land of OZ winds down so much faster than I would like. Next week is my last week of classes and I can hardly believe it! But first, Tassie.

Tassie has a culture of its own, even more personal and laid back than mainland Australia. The size of South Carolina but the population of less the half of Charlotte (500,000), the island’s natural beauty remains intact and flourishing as ever. And of course it is home of the Tasmanian devil, the inspiration for the Looney Toons character Taz. Devils have the strongest jaws per pound of any animal as they chew straight through the bones of their prey. And yes, they do sound as crazy as Taz.

I got up early on Friday morning after a fun night at UNSW’s Oktoberfest for our 7am flight to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. Charlie, Eddie, and I wasted no time in getting to the famous Port Arthur, Australia’s largest and most advanced convict settlement from when Australia was used as England’s prison. The highlight of Port Arthur was definitely the late night ghost tour. We were guided around by a Port Arthur historian between the cell blocks, the warden’s house, into the solitary confinement chamber, and ended at the lunatic ward that had to be built because of the number of prisoners who went insane during their time at the prison. The prison was completely silent and the inmates never saw each others' faces. They spent 23 hours of the day confined to their cells and the guards used sign language to communicate in front of the prisoners so that the prison could remain completely silent. We heard stories of ghost sightings of the daughters of the doctor and the only prisoner who committed suicide. After an eerie night, we made our way up to Strahan, Tasmania’s original seaport.

In Strahan we took a boat cruise down the Gordon River. The boat took us out to the Hell’s Gate, the riverheads going out into the Pacific Ocean, and then inland to a nature walk. We saw some of the oldest trees in the world, preserved in Tasmania’s temperate rainforest. We drank the freshwater straight off the top of the river as the brackish saltwater from the ocean rested below. That night in Strahan we made it to a local pub to watch the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup between France and Wales. Wales took the lead and beat France by just one point in an 8 to 9 match se they went on to face New Zealand in the finals. (Spoiler alert: New Zealand won the final.)

Next stop was Cradle Mountain. The drive from Strahan to Cradle Mountain was like going from summer to the heart of winter in about an hour. We got caught in a blizzard, sleet and snow coming down out of nowhere. Not what I had packed for in May when getting ready for Australia in the spring. We shacked up in a log cabin just outside of Cradle Mountain National Park. The next morning the blizzard had passed and we actually set our eyes on Cradle Mountain, easily the most beautiful thing I saw in Tasmania. We hiked up a nearby mountain and around the Dove Lake getting amazing views from all around. On our walk we ran into a friendly pair of bankers. One was a Kenyan pastor visiting Australia for his first time out of Africa. His companion was a native Tassie professional tree climber. He has competed all over Australia climbing the tallest of trees. It was refreshing to catch up on all of the current events in Kenya and was interesting to compare tree-climbing equipment to rock climbing gear.

 

Our last stop was Launceston where we stayed at the Batman Inn (no joke). The inn was actually where the founders of Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city, met to decide to settle the city (more on Melbourne next week!). It was fun to explore the city, wander through the parks and a along the harbour, seeing the boats going to and from the mainland. We even saw the Launceston Basin before flying back to Sydney to enjoy a bit more of the sun and beach I had been missing (and some classes too).

Spring Break: The Jucy Experience

It’s been a while. Over the past embarrassingly long time since I last blogged, so much has happened. I’ve been SCUBA diving and rock climbing all around Sydney. I’ve been camping in the Blue Mountains and waking up before sunrise early to see kangaroos. I’ve been meeting up with old friends from Australia, New Zealand, and the US. My parents came to visit for a wonderful long weekend when I got to show off the wonderful city of Australia to them. We saw a show at the legendary Opera House, we climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we wandered through the Royal Botanic Gardens, we walked the beaches on the North Shore, and we saw Aussie furry friends at the Taronga Zoo.

Then came a week of “grueling” midterms, presentations, papers, and all of that school stuff I keep hearing about from friends back at Duke. And then before I knew it, it was Spring Break.

To preface this, you must first see this video of our luxury ride that took three friends and me on our 2000 km journey up the Aussie East Coast.

Gold Coast & Brisbane

Our trip started with a flight full of anticipation to the Gold Coast. As Johan, Victoria, and I said farewell to our home New South Wales and were welcomed into Queensland, we knew our trip had begun. After exploring the town, crashing on those wonderful auto deflating air mattresses, and picking up Tom, we made our way to the beach at Surfer’s Paradise (it’s Spring Break, what else would we do?).  After sufficiently feeling the hole in the o zone that sits right above Australia, we got on a train to Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city. Here we met up with Tori as she showed us around her tropical campus at the University of Queensland and showed us a night on the town. We mingled with locals, got called out by a crazy street performer, and were seriously tempted to jump into Brisbane’s very own beach. The next day we went straight downtown to pick up our beloved campervan: The Jucy.

Fraser Island

Before we knew it, we had filled up the tank, gotten groceries, driving on the left side of the road, and barreling out of Brisbane heading for Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island. Without maps or much of a plane, we boarded an early morning ferry onto the island and just started walking. We quickly realized that Fraser was a lot bigger than we had anticipated (the main beach is 75 miles long). Thankfully, we met a friendly backpacker and ran into a kind truck driver who gave us a lift to the trailhead for the most beautiful lake on the island: Lake McKenzie. Without too much trouble and only one blood-chilling scream from Victoria as a goanna crossed our path, we arrived at the lake. After marveling at the beauty, swimming around in the fresh water (first “shower” of the trip!), and marveling at how white the sand was, we hiked on to the center of the Fraser. Before we knew it, the sun was quickly racing toward the horizon. We hiked as fast as we could back to the ferry station where there was a huge resort. Being college students living on a budget, we opted out of the fancy resort, jumped the fence, and set up camp just in time for sunset and an early bedtime.

Next thing I know, I’m woken by Victoria nudging me saying, “John, John, I think something is out there!” It’s 2:30am at this point so I sit up and listen and sure enough there was rustling just a few feet outside our tent. I figure it is just a rodent but seconds later, I see the shadow of a four legged animal cross right over the door to our tent. Wild dingoes were eating our food. At this point the whole tent wakes up as we try to get the dingoes away from our food while trying not to get eaten alive. The next morning we had quite a site of all of our wrappers and food torn apart. Plus side? They couldn’t get into our Nutella.

Whitsundays

After escaping our close encounter with Dingoes, we got back in our Jucy mobile and drove to the Whitsundays where we began a three-day journey aboard the 80-foot Broomstick. We sailed, slept, and ate on board for three days and two nights, leaving the boat to hike, snorkel, SCUBA dive, and enjoy the surrounding islands. This was the first time we had actually interacted with people outside our group of four and especially since there were only three other people on the boat whose first language was English, we managed to meet some really interesting people. The highlight of the sailing trip was definitely going to Whitehaven beach, a spectacular sight with some of the most dazzling pure white sand. We saw about 50 rays and reef sharks relaxing on the ocean floor in the land of paradise as we explored the area and some of the less frequented but equally beautiful beaches.

Daintree Rainforest & Cape Tribulation

By Wednesday we were back on land, adjusting to the fact that the floor ground was no longer swaying beneath us and that no more gourmet meals would magically appear. We continued our journey north to Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. The Daintree is the largest forest on the continent and was quite a sight to see. We explored scenic paths through its swaps and rivers, seeing lizards and crazy trees along the way.

We pulled over to a beach near Cape Tribulation, named for the troubles it had given Australia’s first European discoverer, Captain James Cook. We quickly stumbled upon a massive stock of coconuts scattered around the high tide line of the beach and we all had the same idea: lunch! After hours of throwing, dropping, smashing, and cutting open gigantic coconuts, we had all had our share of coconut milk and meat. After lunch, we finally faced the reality that we had to return our van and with it our 8:30 bedtimes and 6:30am mornings in exchange for something more along the lines of a typical spring break in Australia: Cairns.

Cairns

We quickly got settled in to the waterfront hostel, our new temporary home, and started meeting people from all over the world, including a few people who lived right down the hall in Sydney. We decided the Cairns Zoo was a must, who wouldn’t want to feed kangaroos and hold a koala (SO fuzzy)?

On Friday night I got entered into a dance off at one of the classic Cairns bars as part of a fun pub crawl that got us connected to a bunch of other backpackers to share stories with. We spent all day Saturday walking around the town and to Trinity Beach, running into some friendly wild kangaroos along the way. On Sunday morning, we took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef to do some of the best SCUBA diving of my life. There were so many fish with such vibrant colors happily swimming around everywhere. I even found a little Nemo staring right at me from his little piece of coral.

Monday was our last day in Cairns, so we took it easy, right? Of course not! We went all out with the “Extreme” white water rafting on the Tully River. We had an amazing guide who made it his goal to throw us out of the raft as many times as he possibly could. Not only did we paddle our hearts out, almost have our faces smashed into boulders, and go down crazy rapids, we also jumped off of cliffs, dropped down waterfalls, and swam through rapids. It was the perfect end to an amazing trip.