USA

The last two weeks of my travels were spent in the USA. I arrived in LAX from Fiji and of course had a bit of a culture shock – stressed people, long waiting times etc. On the other hand, the world of shopping was open again. The day after I had arrived Stefan came to pick me up and we started our week long road trip. First stop: Veeggaasss!

Las Vegas

We arrived in Vegas in the late afternoon, after stopping on the way for a 3 hour shopping spree and checked-in to our hotel, surrounded by slot machines and gambling addicts. Vegas really is surreal and is either really pompous or just a proper freak show. There’s a burger place called “Heart Attack” where people weighing over 350 pounds eat for free (they have a disclaimer on the door) – I find that quite sickening. Generally our time in Vegas was filled with shopping, gambling and just having a good time. Of course we had to drink these massive cocktails to go – Vegas being one of the only cities in the US where drinking alcohol on the streets is permitted; I guess everything goes in Vegas. After a few days in Vegas, we figured it may be time to get going.

Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon

First stop was the Hoover Dam, really an impressive piece of civil engineering. A bridge was just finished across the valley, so we could walk on the bridge and take some pretty nice photos of the dam and its surroundings.

After we finished with the Hoover Dam we took on the long drive through the desert towards the Grand Canyon. We arrived just before sunset and found a nice lodge near the entrance to the national park; we got our key and didn’t even unload our things, driving straight into the park to get our first view of the Grand Canyon. We arrived just as the sun was setting and managed to get our first view over the extremely impressive Grand Canyon at sunset! I can totally understand how the Grand Canyon is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the feeling when you stand at the edge and the grandeur of it is inexplicable. No photos do it justice. We found some food and then turned in early, so we could wake up in time to catch the sunrise over the canyon the next morning.

We did make it in time the next morning and although it was freezing cold the spectacular view was definitely worth it. It’s quite crazy when you’re standing at a height of approximately 2000m, overlooking this massive canyon and the first sunrays start hitting the peaks; truly spectacular. When we had finally got enough, we made our way to the walk we had picked, so we could hike down into the canyon. We hiked a total of 6 miles, which for my standards was perfect – it’s a shame that we didn’t realised that it was possible to lodge at the bottom of the canyon, if we had known we would have walked down to the river, spent the night and then walked back up the next day – at least there’s something left for next time.

Death Valley

We started driving in the late afternoon and had actually planned to spend another night in Vegas, but when we got there we figured we could continue driving towards Death Valley, so we would be able to sleep in the next morning instead of waking up early to start driving again. So we continued driving through the desert, the middle of nowhere. When we finally saw lights again and thought that we were close to some kind of town where we could stay, we realised that what we were seeing and driving towards, was a huge correctional facility. The signs on the side of the road forbidding hitchhiking and picking up hitchhikers in the area did not really inspire very much confidence in the safety of the prison. In any case, we did eventually find an inn close to the national park and had a good night’s sleep before heading into Death Valley the next morning.

Death Valley National Park is another huge national park which has the lowest point in the USA, which is called the Badwater Salt Lake. There are some really nice hikes and various things to see in the park in addition to the salt lake. We did a cool little hike through a canyon, drove past some random sand dunes in the middle of the plain, up a mountain from where we had a nice view over the valley and then back down again to walk on the salt plain. I really enjoyed this day and the weather was perfect.

In the late afternoon we started the drive back to LA, stopping in Bakersfield to spend the night. This drive went through various other landscapes and past some other national parks that looked amazing. There really is so much to see here in the USA, I can feel a mega road trip coming up in the future.

 LA

Once back in LA, I had a week here during which much shopping and general chilling were done. Of course the obligatory trip to Hollywood was also made, though I found that rather uninteresting. What really surprised me here in LA is the amount of homeless people, though there were quite many in Vegas too. I am staying near Venice Beach, which is also full of interesting characters. I’ve been really lucky with the weather here and have a good time but, now it’s time to go home.

I’m really looking forward to going home, though I am sad that this trip is over. Who knows whether and when a trip like this will ever be possible again. I can only recommend backpacking to anyone who is interested, the experiences and people you meet are invaluable and it’s a great way to discover the world.

Bula Fiji

Fiji as a tourist is absolute paradise. The people are all super friendly and kind hearted. This is the first country where the people are really so kind without any interest in your commercial value. I got along very well with the people in the hostel in Nadi and organised a trip to one of the Yasawa islands where I just wanted to relax for a week. I ended up going to what I now refer to as “My Island” where I was the only tourist. I had my hut, three beaches, snorkelling and hammocks all to myself. I had an extremely relaxing time with the people from the resort taking care of me. My hut was right next to the beach where I could see the amazing sunrise every day.

So obviously this was really a holiday and I did not do very much. I went fishing and spear-fishing and that’s about as active as it got, if you don’t count the trips between the hut and the hammock or between my towel and the sea.

This island life, being in complete seclusion and just relaxing was definitely nice; I can definitely understand the attraction to island life and living the simple life on the island. I can’t really say how the Fijians live in reality, as I can’t say that I really met any that were not somehow connected to the tourism industry. But it seems to me that most of the locals live a simple lifestyle that is fulfilling and that they are generally happy people. I could of course be completely wrong, but that is the impression I got, from the little exposure and conversations that I had with locals.

After a week on the island I went back to Nadi where I met people and spent two fun nights there before flying out to LA (culture shock)! It was pretty difficult to leave the paradise that is Fiji.

New Zealand – WOW!

Auckland and its surroundings

Upon arrived in Auckland I did the standard finding my hostel and ended up in a pretty cool place in a central location. The hostel staff as well as the other people staying there were all really friendly and I quickly felt at home. My first impression of Auckland was not so positive and after asking around quickly decided to rent a car and get out of Auckland for the week that I was in New Zealand (NZ).

Since my time was so short, I figured going north and doing the northern most part of NZ was probably the best thing to do. Within five minutes of meeting my roommates, one of them – Kate – said she would come with me. So now it was going to be a proper road trip! Kate had already organised a car and so we left two day later and headed north.

Whilst I was still in Auckland I saw a bit of the city, which did not speak to me at all – a high street and harbour and that’s about it – at least from what I’ve seen. There probably is more to it than that, but it was not at all my city. I took the ferry across the harbour to a small town called Devenport, where I spent a nice afternoon and walked up to the top of the hill for some stunning views of Auckland and its surroundings.

The next day I took the ferry to Rangitoto, which is a volcanic island and has some nice walks and scenic lookout points. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too great and the views over the harbour and the NZ countryside were not as pretty as they might have been in nice weather. It was still a nice day trip to do and I quite enjoyed the small hike to the top of the crater.

Road Trip through the North

Kate and I left early the next day to start what would become our wow-trip to the north. Here it is important to note that apparently the north island and Northland are the ugly parts of New Zealand; generally when people go to NZ they head to the south. Since I was short on time and I was already in Auckland the north was the only part that I could do properly in that timeframe.

We took a nice drive towards Paihia in the Bay of Islands, which is where we had organised accommodation for the first two nights. The drive, if driven non-stop, takes about 2.5 hrs; it took us about 7 hrs – just to show how often we stopped for pictures and beautiful scenery. Of course we took the scenic route, which for some reason took us straight to an oil refinery. That was also funny, turning up there at the visitor centre thinking it was tourist information. The woman there was genuinely surprised to see two women turn up asking for tourist information; we did at least have coffee at the plant workers’ canteen.   

We found ourselves driving and after every turn just saying “wow” over and over again. The scenery is breathtaking. There are a million different shades of green and blue and the vegetation is such a beautiful mixture and there are so many untouched beaches! We saw the waterfalls at Whangarei where kids were just playing on the rocks at the top of it, which was slightly disturbing/scary.

Paihia and Russell

We finally arrived in Paihia after a day of wow-ness and were a bit disappointed by it. Paihia is quite cute, but due to its location in the Bay of Islands is quite touristy.

We decided against doing a boat trip around the Bay of Islands and instead took our time in the morning and then headed across the bay with the ferry to Russell. Russell was the first settlement in NZ and for a long time was the capital. Russell was known for rowdy sailors and lots of drinking. There seems to be nothing of that atmosphere left now. Russell is a very cute, quaint and sleepy town. Walking to the top of the island gives stunning views of the bay and we found some wonderful little streets, many of which also had backpacker places. The centre of Russell has a few small stores and some nice waterfront cafes serving great food and coffee, where we sat for a few hours enjoying the weather, food and atmosphere.   

Cape Reinga

The following day our trip up north continued and we drove to the northernmost point of NZ: Cape Reinga. On our way of course we stopped a million times, the wonderful thing being that there is next to no traffic, so stopping in the middle of the road is unproblematic – though I guess not strictly legal. We did have a funny encounter when we stopped at one point and someone was coming in the opposite direction stopped to ask whether everything was alright and he gave us some funny looks when we explained we were just taking some photos – incidentally of sheep. We also had to stop at one point to wait for a herd of cows crossing the road; the cliché would have been complete if it had been sheep, but we did see plenty of those too.

At one point we drove past some road works and through some kind of limestone (I think), and there were signs to say that after driving through we should wash our car on that day; so we of course found the first petrol station and went to wash the car. Now this car wash is not what either of us was used to, it actually involved washing the car ourselves. So that was quite funny too, considering neither of us knew what we were doing.  

When we arrived at Cape Reinga we took a small walk to the actual tip of the island. It is difficult to put in words the feeling you get when standing at this tip of NZ and there is nothing but sea in front of you – barring the Three Kings Islands in the distance. From this point it is actually possible to see the earth-curve. It is truly incredible! Cape Reinga is also where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean and it is actually possible to see where the two meet. The feeling standing here is truly one as if you were standing at the end of the world.  

After we finally managed to tear ourselves away from the end of the world, we realised that it was getting quite late already and decided to find a hostel somewhere up at the very north. We followed to signs to a backpackers at Henderson Bay. The road to this place was all gravel and seemed to be never ending, but eventually we found it and were so happy that we did not decide to turn back. It is owned by a very friendly couple and is a huge house surrounded by greenery and is a short walk to the bay itself. We decided to go for a walk to the bay and experienced the sunset as we were walking, it was truly magnificent.

The next morning after breakfast I did my first bit of driving on the gravel road and found it actually not too bad driving on the wrong side of the road! So after our first stop to see Henderson Bay in the light, we were off for another day of adventure in the North of NZ.

90 Mile Beach

Across the island from Henderson Bay, there is the infamous 90 Mile Beach, which isn’t actually 90 miles long, but is 46 miles long – long enough I guess. 90 Mile Beach can be driven down by car – which the rental agreement explicitly forbids, so we figured we’d give it a miss and go walk it. So we stopped somewhere along the middle of it and when we got onto the beach it was quite a beautiful sight with the sand dunes and nothing but an endless sandy beach to the left and right.

We then continued driving towards the beginning of the beach and found another gravel path up a mountain which had some stunning views of the beach just stretching out endlessly in front of us. So yea, there were definitely some more “WOW” moments.

Kauri Trees

Our drive – with my driving – continued on towards the famous Kauri Tree forest and the large Kauri trees on the eastern coast of the North Island. The landscape on the drive was again very scenic and different from the western coast and the very north. We even took a car ferry across a lake surrounded by mountains, some of which apparently were covered in snow this winter (something that happened last time maybe 30 years ago).

We arrived at the Kauri Tree forest safely, after a scenic drive, making it quite hard to keep eyes on the road! There was also a close incident involving a farmer chilling on the side of the road on his tractor and letting his dogs play in the middle of the road; of course it’s my luck that the stupid thing jumps out in front of my car just as a nice old timer is coming the other way. So yea, I did manage to break before running over this dog, but honestly I was not amused – and Mr. Farmer doesn’t even apologise!

In any case, there seemed to be an old timer event for charity going on, so we must have passed about a hundred old cars. Somehow they just fit perfectly into the scenery and added to the serenity of NZ.  

The Kauri Trees are hundred year old trees and are massive! The God of the forest is about 3 metres in diameter and I have no idea how many metres high! I could just about get the tree on camera, but the picture does not accurately portray the size of the tree.

It seems that the Kauri trees are really sensitive trees and are easily destroyed, so when we went to walk in the forest and towards the trees, there were special walkways and everybody had to clean and disinfect their shoes before and after entering the Kauri forest! Apparently it’s because the roots of the tree are so close to the ground that walking there and spreading other soil or bacteria very easily affects the trees. We spent quite some time just taking in the size and beauty of these trees and then went on our way trying to find a hostel somewhere to spend the night.

We hoped to find a farm stay somewhere in the countryside, which luckily we did and we spent a night at a farm where we got free range eggs and the whole farm experience before setting off back to Auckland the next day. When we arrived in Auckland we went straight back to the hostel that we stayed in and caught up with friends there and just spent the night chatting until I had to leave to catch my flight to Fiji! I really didn’t want to leave NZ, but I guess having to leave was made more bearable by the thought that Fiji was my next stop!

Manly

During my last three days in Sydney, I spent one afternoon taking a beautiful walk along Manly beach. Manly is a short ferry ride away from Sydney; the ride goes through the harbour and gives stunning views thereof and of the Opera House as well as the Harbour Bridge.

Manly itself is a quaint little place, as far as I could tell, and has a nice walk along the beach, which we enjoyed in the sunshine.

Melbourne and Around

I took the night train from Sydney directly to Melbourne and arrived early in the morning. I quickly found my hostel and then went to meet Naf for lunch!

Melbourne is a very easy city to navigate, being built in a very square manner. Also, public transport is easy and the city is tourist friendly with many maps all over for easy orientation.  Of course I have to love Melbourne, considering that everything carries my name, albeit with an extra ‘r’ – Yarra River, Yarra Trams etc.; this is due to the fact that Melbourne is in/near the Yarra Valley. I had a great time there seeing some friends and experiencing the city. The food in Melbourne is amazing, there is so much variety and it’s all really good!

In Melbourne there is a free city circle tram that takes you around the city and gives some commentary on the sights. I took this tram on a rainy day and used it as a free hop-on hop-off service. Some of the architecture around Melbourne is stunning and here too the old and the new work together well.

The aquarium was also a nice experience – we of course got stuck by the penguins for ages – but they are actually quite interesting creatures. The aquarium also had some HUGE crabs and many varieties of fish, sharks, eels, sea dragons and sea snakes. I always find the jelly fish mesmerising. The large tank – which really was huge – had some giant flat sharks – rays I think they are called. The initial one or two hour aquarium trip ended up being about four hours long and we really had a nice time.

Williamstown

One day I took the train to the suburbs of Melbourne and decided to go to Williamstown, on the other side of the bay from Melbourne. It is about 30 minutes by train and you get out in a totally different atmosphere. Williamstown is a sleepy, seaside town, with some nice walks along the beach and a cute little harbour with views of Melbourne’s skyline.

Philip Island

On the weekend Naf and I took a road trip and drove through the country side to Philip Island, home to a Koala Sanctuary and where the famous Penguin Parade occurs every day.

The country side in this area was very green and there was a lot of farmland. The land is relatively flat (not like in Holland of course), with some rolling hills. It really was gorgeous. For the last stretch of the drive we had the fields and hills on one side, and the ocean on the other with some stunning views.

Once we arrived at Philip Island we headed towards the Koala Sanctuary, where we saw many koalas – mostly sleeping, though some were eating – in their eucalyptus trees. They looked so cute and cuddly! Koalas sleep for 20 hours of the day – how cool is that!

I didn’t see a kangaroo, but we did see a wallaby – which for all intents and purposes is the same thing; it looks like a kangaroo and jumps like a kangaroo, but apparently it’s smaller than a kangaroo.

 

When we left the Koala Sanctuary we decided to get an early dinner before heading for the Penguin Parade which occurs just after sunset. The only place we found was a kitsch tex mex restaurant, where the food wasn’t too bad I must say, but the place looked like it could have easily been featured in Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares!

After eating and warming ourselves up, we prepared for a cold few hours on the beach watching the penguins arriving from their day, or maybe days, of hunting. Just after sunset, the penguins start arriving in little groups and get washed up on the shore, where they regroup and then run across the beach to the relative safety of cover and where their nests are. It is the mating season at the moment, so you can see penguins mate and others happily reuniting with their partners, who were waiting at home watching over the eggs. These penguins are the smallest in the world and are approximately 20 or 25 cms tall; really cute things. When they run across the beach or up the hill to their nests it always looks like they may be trying to go to fast for their little legs and that they might topple over at any time. Unfortunately no photography was permitted, because the penguins are very sensitive to light, it would have been great to be able to get a photograph. Totally frozen and after a great day, we then made our way back to Melbourne, where bed was calling!

After a very nice week in Melbourne, eating great food courtesy of friends who know where to eat and how to cook, I took the train back to Sydney. This train journey was quite interesting:

Across the aisle was a woman who has an imaginary friend and spent the first few hours talking to herself; she emptied her one bag and pulled out lots of random bits of food – which stank; I felt really sorry for the guy who had the joy of sitting next to her.

Another man got caught without a ticket and got kicked off the train. He had strategically put his luggage throughout the length of the train, so they had to go and get all his things before they could kick him off at the next station. It was quite funny.

Then of course, to top it off, the train was delayed by a few hours and it was hot, with the mandatory baby crying added of course. So yea, that was another successful train journey! It could have been worse of course.

Bondi Beach

We spent a beautiful Sunday at Bondi Beach, where many were surfing and some crazy people decided to go swimming in the freezing water! The beach was very clean and surprisingly less crowded than I expected it to be, considering that it’s quite a popular beach close to Sydney.

We took the metro out of Sydney and then a bus to the beach where we just chilled out for a few hours in the wonderful Australian sun.

Sydney

Arriving in the western world was both pleasurable and a bit of a shock after spending so much time in Southeast Asia. Sydney is a very developed western city (obviously). The traffic is regulated, the roads are fine and everything functions like anywhere else in the western world. It’s a weird feeling to be back amongst all that. Inevitably prices are back to European levels too, which is also something to get used to again.

On my first day in Sydney I walked to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, the weather was quite miserable, but the walk was pretty. I walked through the centre of Sydney, passing some old buildings and many new ones. The mixture of old and new does work and I find it looks quite nice and everything is so well kept and clean! The lifestyle reminds me very much of that in London, maybe a bit quieter.

When I saw the Opera House I was impressed by the architecture from far, but from up close, I must say that it was a bit boring/plain. The best part really is being able to see it from far and enjoy how all the separate parts come together to make one complete picture.

The Harbour Bridge, very near to the Opera House, is a very impressive structure and super high!

My second day in Sydney was beautiful and sunny and we walked around the city for 6 hours, through Darling Harbour, along the coast, to the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and through some smaller streets to the eastern part of the city until we then got back to the hostel totally exhausted.

Hellooo Philippines!

Intramuros

On my first day in the Philippines we went to see Intramuros, the old walled city in central Manila that was built by the Spanish. It contains, amongst others, the Manila Cathedral and the fort which was where Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines was incarcerated prior to his execution.

The Cathedral is an impressive old building that was burnt down/destroyed multiple times during the various wars and struggles suffered in the Philippines. Some of the side rooms are used as a mini museum of the cathedral, showing pictures of what it used to look like and recount the various reasons for the destruction. The current version of the church was inaugurated by the previous Pope, a huge event here in Manila and the Philippines I'm assuming, where the people are very religious.

The fort, located on the Pasig river, was used by the Japanese as a prisoner of war camp during WWII. It used to be made of wood, but the Spanish replaced this with stone in the 16th century. The stone structure still stands now - at least what remains of it after the bombings during WWII. The fort also houses a museum in honour of Jose Rizal, which contains the original of his last poem - Mi Ultimo Adios.

We also went to the Jose Rizal park where standing brass statues recreate the execution of Jose Rizal.

Tagaytay

One afternoon we decided to take a road trip to Tagaytay, come of the Taal volcano and lake. The volcano is still active now and will erupt every once in a while, spewing ash into its surrounding areas. The volcano is actually composed of a volcano in a lake, and another volcano inside that in a lake - I found that quite cool. We found a place with a great view and definitely enjoyed that a lot.

Typhoon Pedring

A visit to the Philippines would not be complete without experiencing a typhoon. This is something I can definitely check off my list. Typhoon Pedring hit the Philippines and within a day caused a significant amount of damage and took quite a few lives. The rains and winds were amongst the strongest I have ever experienced and when leaving the house the next day the dirt, uprooted trees and fallen branches could be seen everywhere. The river close to the house flooded completely and when we went out during the night - yes we went out during the tyhpoon, life goes on - it was really high. The next morning the waterline had receded by a lot! It really surprised me how quickly that happens. A typhoon is such a normal thing here that once it's over, the people clean up and daily life resumes extremely quickly, at least from what I have seen.

Taytay Falls

Initially we wanted to head to the Pangsanjan falls yesterday, but once we arrived there we were told that the boats would not take us to the waterfall, so we decided to head to the Taytay falls instead. Driving through the hills and the countryside provides wonderful views and just highlights the tropical splendour of the Philippines. There is such a great variety of greenery and it's all so luscious!

We had to walk for a while to get to the waterfall, which is set amongst rocks covered  in green and just comes crashing down into a pool of clear, clean and ice cold water. The fall itself is smaller than I expected it to be, but it was absolutely beautiful! Of course we climbed down the rocks and into the pool - it was truly wonderful and getting soaked was nice and refreshing.

On the way home, the car decided to play up, so getting home was an adventure in itself and was questionable. We did make it eventually, driving the car at around 40kmh on the motorway and getting a massage from its constant vibrations.

Singapore for a day

We arrived in Singapore early in the morning, headed to town and found a hostel to stay in that was central.

The first thought I had when arriving in Singapore and taking the MRT to town is that it's so clean! Wow! It really is totally different from the rest of what I've seen of Asia in that respect.

After taking much needed showers and getting some food, we decided to go and explore Singapore. There are some beautiful old colonial buildings and next to that the new and modern skyscrapers that Singapore is known for.

Other than that, I must say that it seemed that Singapore was full of shopping malls and restaurants. I'm not sure what else there is to do really but shop and eat. What we did experience is the preparation for the F1 which was taking place a week after we were there. So the fences, lights and bleachers were being set up and the roads being prepared, it really must bring a cool atmosphere to Singapore to have the F1 there.

There was one exciting incident in Singapore, which was that I woke up in the middle of the night in the dorm to find some random person touching my leg. It was such a surreal thing to be happening that I was just not sure what was going on or whether I was just imagining things, so I pretended to go back to sleep and then it happened again, at which point I could see a silhoutte in the dark and I just properly kicked whoever it was in the face; that and my waking up Marcel resulted in a quick exit. In any case, nothing happened and whoever it was will definitely have a nice bruise on their face for a while. So yea, at least some excitement from Singapore!

Five days in paradise

We left Hanoi for a mega journey via Singapore to Bali, where we spent the night at a cute little homestay in Padangbai in anticipation for the speedboat to Gili Air. Gili Air is one of three tiny islands off the coast of Lombok. All three have no motorised transport - if you need transport you can walk, use a bicycle or take a horsecart.

The speedboat trip did on more than one occassion give rise to concerned looks from all the passengers as to whether we would make it to the island alive - the waves were quite strong and the boat was rocking quite extremely. In the end we made it and arrived in paradise.

We walked on the 'main road' - a sandy path next to the beach - and found a beautiful bungalow in a quiet area with a perfect chiller corner with a hammock of course and outdoor bathroom. We had brought our bottle of duty free vodka and enjoyed a bit of that every day after a wonderfull beach session.

The water was a perfect blue and so clear; the sand was white and snorkelling was amazing. We even saw a sea turtle!

Other than being totally relaxed, snorkelling, reading and walking around the island a little bit - it takes about 1.5hrs to walk in a full circle - we ate great seafood and did absolutely nothing. It was beautiful! Jealous?