Welcome Home!

December 8, 2007

We're back in the states! After 3.5 weeks in Asia and a week back in Arkansas we are back into updating the blog...with a caveat. Josh and I depart this Tuesday for 8 nights in Mexico at our favorite resort: Excellence Riviera Cancun in the Mayan Riviera. So, what follows is the quick update to cover the many life experiences we had in the last month and a more in depth breakdown will hopefully be posted once we return from Mexico and spend the holidays with Josh's family in Cabot.

Asia=AWESOME! We thoroughly enjoyed our travels through Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Cambodia. We lucked out on the majority of flights by always scoring exit row seats or having a window and an aisle with the middle seat empty. Great!

We had an 8 hour layover in Sydney, Australia on our way to Bangkok so we stopped into the Taronga Zoo on the most perfect sunny day. We were tired from preparing to move out of the flat and plan the trip but this view definitely made us feel a little better:Bangkok, Thailand impressions: Arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport (only a year old) was great. We got in around 11 pm. It was a very modern and clean airport. Getting a cab was no problem with the translators outside of the airport writing notes to the cabbies to tell them in Thai the name of our hotel. The cabbies in Thailand are crazy drivers! They don't follow the speed limit or the fact that there are two lanes...they will drive super fast on the shoulder. Our first thoughts of driving into Bangkok was that it was like being in Mexico: billboards in English, humid weather, passengers sitting in the bed of a truck as it sped down the motorway.

Our hotel was great with breakfast included although the front desk staff were not too knowledgeable about what was going on in town...more on that later. We did a lot of sightseeing at the different temples in town and the hotel was perfectly located to walk to the major tourist sites. After a day spent out viewing the temples, we returned to the hotel to shower and then we'd take a cheap cab ride to MBK which is the enormous shopping mall in the city. Josh had a cultural experience watching a movie there while I shopped. Before the movie started, a short documentary about the Thai king was shown and then the Thai national anthem was played. Josh had to watch others in the audience to figure out what to do!

In Bangkok, there was a lot of selling of random items on the street. The strangest item for sale that Josh spotted was a broken dust buster. I remember seeing lots of broken watches. There was definitely a seedy feeling to the overall Thailand vibe.

Overall, Thailand turned out to be our least favorite country on this trip. Perhaps it was because we didn't really know much about its history or the history of the temples and Buddhism. The temples are very ornate, well decorated, and nice to look at but they held no significance for us.

Yangshuo, China impressions: After one of the best flights we've ever had (2 hours, no turbulence, exit row seats, and a flight attendant walking up and down the aisle asking if we wanted free refills on our wine) we arrived in Guilin, China. Most people stay in Guilin and take a Li River cruise in the daylight to the smaller town of Yangshuo. I had read online, however, that Yangshuo was a quieter place to stay so we took an hour long cab ride through the dark (arranged through our hotel) to Yangshuo.

Note: The things we read about how the Chinese stare at Westerners held true for our experience in the country. We thought it was funny to be stared at and it never bothered us.

In the morning we watched the sunrise over the limestone karst formations from our riverview balcony. Spectacular. It doesn't get better than this!

We rode bicycles out to Moon Hill where we hiked up the mountain for this awesome view:

The next day we negotiated for a ride on a bamboo raft during sunset. It was a great deal at 30 yuan or about $4.25 USD.

Beijing, China impressions: This city is huge but easy to get around with a cab driver. Although there is a subway system, our hotel was two blocks from Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City as well as another two blocks (in the opposite direction) from a major shopping complex. There is heaps of construction taking place in Beijing in order to prepare for the Olympics. There were construction crews everywhere. Staring at us was at a premium in Beijing, however, even though it was more of a tourist city, a lot of Chinese people are moving here from the countryside where they may not have seen a Westerner before.

Pollution was only extremely bad one of the five days we were in town. It was very hazy and the air looked gritty. You could view the midday sun directly without sunglasses on. I think the pollution/irritants (or maybe just the traveling) caused me to catch a cold while in Beijing.

WALMART! Ever since I heard that Walmart had stores in China (a while ago) I have wanted to visit. Guiltily, I must admit that Josh and I visited a three story Beijing Walmart Supercenter BEFORE we made it out to the Great Wall of China taking a cab to reach the store! The Walmart was great although it didn't offer super savings like I expected. We did get a lot of snack food there though!

The Great Wall of China (Mutianyu section) was surprisingly empty. The mountainous landscape was different than we'd expected as was the isolation of the location. We selected to visit this section of the wall because it is less touristy and not completely renovated like the Badaling section of the wall. My most favorite thing about the Great Wall was reaching the end of the cared for section and seeing where the trees and brush have grown all over the wall and it's steps and walkway. Seeing that was so amazing.

Xian, China impression: This is the place to visit to check out the Terra Cotta Warriors. However, the actual soldiers are about a 45 minute to 1 hour drive out of the city. We were happy to have visited this site, however, we won't go back to visit for a long time, if ever. It was definitely a neat thing to see and something that we'd recommend for people to check out but just not much to go back to visit again. Like, once is enough.

We also did a bike ride around the city wall of Xian before catching our afternoon flight to Hong Kong. It was a 13.75 km bike ride and we had to complete the ride in 100 minutes or pay more for our bike rental. By the end of the ride, we'd broken a sweat but it was fun and we felt good to get some exercise.

Hong Kong, China impression: Bright lights, big city. It was a mixture of China and New York City. While we LOVED China, NYC is not our most favorite place. We're just not big city people. So, we did some shopping, caught the free Symphony of Lights show where the city's buildings light up on cue to music being played, a took a ride on the Star Ferry across the harbour. Our plans to climb Victoria Peak were thwarted by the hours it took us at the post office to mail 15 kilograms of clothing home to the United States.

Siem Reap, Cambodia impressions: We absolutely loved Cambodia and all the ruined temples at the Angkor Wat complex. We definitely plan to return to the country and visit/explore further. Cambodia was simply incredible and affordable. We can't wait to go back and spend at least one week because the 4 nights we had there wasn't enough time to see it all. Heck, I don't even think we saw the town of Siem Reap at all in the daytime and we only saw about two streets of it at night when we'd go out to dinner in town.

Phuket, Thailand impression: Wow! We love this island! We stayed on Karon Beach...huge waves, clear water, amazing sunsets. We scheduled 4 nights here and had a great first two nights...we were even in town to catch the Loy Krathong Festival where hundreds of lanterns float in the water and the sky. It was magical.

Then, on our third day, Josh got knocked out with food poisoning and our last two nights were spent trying to get him to recover. Picture me jogging to a pharmacist with a wad of Thai baht in my fist not caring how much the medicine would cost and explaining to the Thai pharmacist Josh's symptoms. This was the first time I have ever seen Josh this sick and I couldn't handle it at all! I was crying and scared...another reason why I could not have kids...I think it would be worse seeing a little person go through what Josh went through.

Before the food poisoning incident, we were talking about alternating Mexico and Phuket for our yearly beach vacation. I think it's still a possibility because there was so much of the island that we were unable to experience due to Josh's illness. We were thankful, however, that he got sick while we still had time left in the Phuket hotel rather than on a travel day.

So that's the short version of our time in Asia. When we traveled back to the states, this was our itinerary:

Bangkok-Sydney-Wellington (one night)-bus to Palmerston North (one night)-Auckland-Los Angeles-Fayetteville. It was definitely the long way home but well worth it and we're here now. We were EXHAUSTED when we arrived last Friday night but we had a lot of business to take care of.

On Monday, we bought a 2008 Toyota Rav-4 because our Civic was totalled last December before the move to New Zealand. We got new cell phones. We're sorting out what house we'd like to purchase. It's narrowed down to two choices. The job front looks promising. We've still got some Christmas shopping and gift wrapping to do.

We've eaten at several of our favorite restaurants and the food is as good as we remembered as we layed in our bed in Palmerston North talking about what we were going to have when we returned to America. The portion sizes in the states are huge in comparison to New Zealand and you get free refills on your soda! Of course, there is the down side of the violence in America as recently evidenced by the mall shooting in Nebraska.

We've met up with our friends and former co-workers. Most people we run into in Fayetteville are friendly and I am constantly reminded of why we picked to return to live here. We fit in here and it's true that there is no place like home.

The LAST, Last Time

Monday, October 29, 2007

The title is a quote Josh said ALL THE TIME when we were moving from New Mexico to Arkansas in 2003. He started off saying that going to a restaurant or a friend's house would be for the last time. Then, he'd go back to that same place before moving so he had to say it was the LAST, last time.

Anyway, that personal quote just came back to me as we do and see everything in New Zealand for the last time. Last week we went to feed the ducks at Victoria Esplanade so I made sure to bring the camera to capture this last time event. I love the baby/adolescent ducks that are there. We also walked through the rose garden which is beginning to bloom again. I love the roses too and had to smell all of the ones that were out. I asked Josh to smell them too but he has a much weaker sense of smell so he could barely make out the flower's scent.

Decorative coffee with donut that Josh made. He's so creative!

We've been listening to my birthday Brooke Fraser CD heaps this week and we thoroughly enjoy it! It is so much better than I even thought it could have been. The songs/lyrics are so meaningful. Good pick. We have also been playing word racer on yahoo.com against each other and it must be noted that Josh had a high score of 3800 against me.

Last Thursday we drove out to Cape Palliser for the day. The sun was shining so brightly as we drove south. We stopped at Paua World in Carterton to do some shopping. I'm not a big jewelry person but I found the most beautiful green paua bracelet for $20. I love it so much! I can't wait to wear it in Mexico. We had a picnic lunch of Subway sandwiches at the seal colony there. How awesome! We watched the seals swim around in the sea while we ate. It was a truly amazing day. "AMAZING" was the word that we kept saying over and over again. As we left our picnic spot at the seal colony, I spotted a dead and decaying seal on the shore. I thought it was gross but Josh said it added to the authenticity of the environment. There was no one to removethe seal like at the zoo.

Driving toward Cape Palliser...note that the sun is shining!

Toilet seat at Paua World...too cool not to take a picture of!

This was our view as we ate our picnic at Cape Palliser.

We drove over to the lighthouse but before climbing to the top, we decide to take a walk along the seashore. Along the way, we found heaps of paua shells. Most of the paua shells were seen sticking out of the small dirt cliff along the shore. It was absolutely fascinating to me. It was like being on a mini archeological dig. You could dig out whatever shells you could see. It was great and we got a lot of shells. Of course, when we went to rinse the dirt off of them in the ocean, we weren't smart enough to take our shoes off first. We ended up soaking our sneakers and jeans in ocean water. Heck, I even fell down once trying to avoid a wave (didn't get wet thankfully). Think Josh laughing a lot at that!

After finding some shells, we walked back to the car to drop off our loot. We took a picture of our find with our wet shoes and jeans before climbing the steps up to the lighthouse. Since it was a Thursday, we had the place to ourselves. Very nice. We climbed to the top without stopping which must be noted as an accomplishment for the two of us :) We stayed at the top for awhile. It was really hard for me to leave knowing I would not be back here again. As the sun was setting in the west, Josh said (while pointing west) "If the sun is setting there, the moon must be rising there (turning and pointing east)." As we looked east, I saw the biggest full moon ever. It was AWESOME and I took a ton of pictures.

Josh finally drug me away from the Cape Palliser Lighthouse and we drove back toward Palmerston North. The drive was a bit difficult, however, as the sun was setting right into our line of vision. We made a few stops along the drive back to take pictures of the sunset, waves, and the moonrise. It was a fantastic evening.

I have been thinking about buying a new camera, however, rather than spending money on a camera in New Zealand (which appears to be more pricey than an a camera in the states), I looked up how to operate our camera online. I get frustrated with our camera's AUTO mode so I'm learning how to operate it on manual. Operating it on manual makes me appreciate AUTO though! Josh's brother can get us 20% off a camera at Walmart for Christmas so we may take him up on that offer.

Practicing with the manual mode on the camera with a small flower in the backyard.

Yesterday, Josh and I drove out to Himitangi Beach to watch the sunset and eat a picnic dinner. Incredibly, Subway has an after 5 pm deal where you get any two footlongs and two small sodas for $15. For New Zealand, that is an insane good deal. Without the deal, the food and drinks would cost about $23.

We played in the ocean water up to our knees. We could see Mount Egmont as the sunset. We could even make out what, according to our map, must have been some of the South Island. A part of me wanted to have a boat to go off and find those distant lands...until my fear of capsizingsank in!

This is Josh and I playing at Himitangi Beach.

We're also getting ready to move. We've got a box to mail home...It's so heavy, I'm sure it's going to be like $100 to mail! I've got more hotels/flights to book but the reason I haven't booked them yet is that they are pricey. I'm almost about to throw my hands up and say forget about the budget and just get these things booked.

When I got the supermarket advertisements out of the mail today I was really confused. Both supermarkets were promoting their fireworks. What the heck?!? I know that Halloween is soon but really, why the fireworks? After closer inspection, I found out that the fireworks were for Guy Fawkes Day on November 5. The excellent movie, V for Vendetta, explains it all.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

Birthday Week

October 23, 2007

First, the disappointing news from last week. Last Wednesday, Josh called the Ohakune i-site to check the conditions on the Tongariro Crossing. The lady that Josh spoke to said that the Tongariro Crossing was covered in snow and that we would need to be experienced climbers with ropes and ice crampons for our shoes in order to climb safely.

Needless to say, we were majorly disappointed by the news. I guess we'd thought that all the snow would have melted by the end of October. Now, we aren't sure where to go or what to do. No doubt were in better shape, however, we're upset we can't do what we planned to do.

Onto the birthday/end of work celebrations. Josh gave me my birthday cake a couple of days before my birthday so we could start eating it early as it is so big. We didn't put candles on the cake until my actual birthday on October 20. This was the chocolate cake from New World that we'd been wanting for awhile. The day before Josh bought the cake for me, I'd gone to New World looking for it. However, all the cakes except for one at the bottom of the case were gone. So, I ended up buying cinnamon doughnuts and vanilla ice cream instead. The next day, Josh waited for the bakery to make me the cake we'd been wanting.

This was coming home after my last day of work. Josh surprised me with flowers and a sign. My flowers are so pretty...I LOVE them!

We picked up some Bangkok Thai for dinner and rented some DVDs: High School Musical (we accidentally rented High School Musical the Concert first so we had to go back to Blockbuster to exchange it), Ocean's 13, and Who Killed the Electric Car. It was a great way to celebrate the last day of work. It's crazy to think that we have about 2.5 months of vacation ahead of us.

On my birthday, it was rainy and gray outside. I had leftover Thai food for breakfast before Josh gave me some of my presents. Josh gave me a couple of CDs and a desk calender with quotes. One of the CDs, Brooke Fraser (a Kiwi artist), was a keeper but the other CD and desk calender were on their way back to the shop. But, we had planned on going into town anyway so I could by a lotto ticket for my birthday. They play lotto on tv here every Wednesday and Saturday. Since my birthday was on a Saturday and we always play without actually buying a ticket, I thought it would be fun to play for real. After we returned the things in the mall, I went to buy my lotto ticket. I picked my own numbers after the lady explained to me how to play.

After buying the lotto ticket, we ran by McDonald's for some birthday lunch. We didn't win anything on lotto that night but we decorated my birthday cake with candles to celebrate the right way. There are 2 and 8 candles since we didn't have enough candles in the box (Josh picked out the pink and white candles for me). For the life of me, I could not blow out the candles. It took three tries!

The next day, it was such a nice sunshiny day that we went out to the beach to enjoy the sun and read our books. Josh is re-reading the Left Behind series and I brought the sixth Harry Potter to finish (finally!). The sea was muddy and rough because it has been so windy here. All these people were fishing along the shoreline.

Today was my first day at home since I quit working. Josh and I went through a lot papers that have accumulated since we moved here. We threw away a lot of papers we don't need anymore. We're quickly approaching the end of our time in New Zealand and it is so bizarre to think about.

In the last month or so, I've really begun to question if and how I have changed since living here. I think the biggest thing that Josh and I have hit upon as far as a life lesson goes is this: You can get by without a lot of stuff. You don't need many things or the best things. You might want them, but you don't need them. I think we knew this and lived our life this way before coming to New Zealand, however, it has really sunk in here because people live very modestly here. New Zealanders aren't all about showing off with the biggest car or house.

I'm also thinking about what I'll miss in New Zealand when we leave. It's hard to imagine that we won't come back here for a very long time, if ever. It reminds me of the places I lived when my dad was in the military. I know that the Air Force Base in Okinawa and Alaska still exist today, however, I haven't gone back to see where I grew up.

I think I'll miss the quietness of our lives here (not a gazillion things on the news and celebrity watching), the landscapes, and being close to the beach. I'll miss the ability to catch a flight without having to take my shoes off and go through various forms of "security" check points. I'll miss the popularity of staying in holiday homes instead of hotels. I'll miss everything in Palmerston North being within a 5 minute drive of the house and no traffic. I'll miss not living next to a river and a park within a 5 minute walk of the house. I'll miss hanging our laundry out to dry on a sunny day. New Zealand is just very peaceful.

I won't miss the weather here. It has seriously been one of the rainiest, grayest periods of my life! I need the sun! I won't miss the cold house without insulation. I won't miss the high prices and limited selection in the grocery stores. I won't miss the high price of going out to eat. I won't miss the high price of gas. Many things are so expensive here in comparison to the states.

Overall, Josh and I have had so many experiences here that are beneficial professionally and personally. We really went out and honored the Rotary commitment by giving over 20 presentations and I still can't believe I worked as an International Student Co-ordinator when that was my goal before moving here! We have traveled much more extensively than we thought we would and still have more travel planned. We're both walking away from the experience feeling like we maximized our time and the opportunity to be here.

I'm not really sad to be leaving because in a way I feel like I've just been on an extended vacation with some work on the side...which is interesting because I'm here on a Working Holiday Visa so it seems like that was really appropriate for me. Some days I think, should we try to stay in New Zealand to live here permanently? But, ultimately there is no real reason for us to remain here.