Terror in Tokyo

I’ve arrived in Tokyo airport and am waiting for the subway train into the city to find my hotel. Remember a month or so ago, when I rode that swing in Queenstown? That feeling of utter terror as I was dropped for 70 meters over a giant canyon? The past half hour was pretty similar, without the cable harnesses and screaming.

I knew it would be strange and shocking but it’s incomprehensible. Strange writing in characters I don’t recognize is everywhere. Masses of people talking loudly, music blaring from shops, life-size tv screens playing crazy commercials, train announcements coming over the loudspeakers, all attacking me in Japanese. It’s sensory overload in a way I can’t even describe… and that’s just within 10 minutes of passing customs.

But the signs all have English translations under the scribbly-scrawls of kanji and hatakana, and there are friendly staff waiting to assist bewildered-looking travelers such as myself, with perfect English and a smile.

I knew from the LP–The Lonely Planet, or as i like to call it, The Good Book–that the tourist information center was the place to start. I gave the address of my hotel, and like magic a subway map, a local area map, and a “handi-map” appeared, with explicit instructions – which train to catch, where to transfer, how long it would take and how much it would cost! I stumbled over the only Japanese I really know – domo arigato, which means thank you, and grabbed some cash.

Little Domo-Kun, btw, is quite the celebrity around here. I get a lot of smiles and giggles, and people pointing at him, saying “oh so cute!” My wallet with the sushi picture on it is also a hit. It appears my street cred is significantly increased by these two magical items.

As if being a crazy 5′10″ white girl traveling alone isn’t enough to draw attention.

Now where’s that handi-map?

Boo :(

Alan and I parted ways today, he’s headed back to the states to begin his medical residency and I’m on my way to Tokyo for more adventures. Needless to say it’s been 8 hours and I miss him already!

You never realize the struggles you will face during an extended vacation with your mate. <--------------more------------>As an experienced party to such trips, I’ve found that it helps to set realistic expectations going into it, whether you’re traveling for 2 weeks or two months. To be attached to the same person for 24 hours a day requires a tremendous amount of patience, self-awareness and communication. One might say this is a given for all relationships, every day, but while traveling the it applies doubly so. You must both be able to set boundaries when you feel cramped, and to step back and acknowledge when it’s time for a break. I think if both parties are capable of that, it’s a wonderfully enriching adventure and allows you both to learn things about each other you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Anyway I’m surely the last person qualified to give relationship advice, but the things above have made for the best vacations and experiences of my life, especially this most recent one.

To Alan, I love you more than ever, and I look forward being in your arms again!

Dinner with the Sharks

Last night we had dinner at one of the main restaurants here in Noumea. It’s positioned at the end of a pier above the water. The tables sit around the edges of the deck and the water below is lit up so you can watch the fish swimming around in the water (it’s so clear and the sand is so white you can see pretty far down). We were shocked when we realized the fish swimming around were actually small sharks! Not only that, we saw a few Manta Rays swim by, and then a dolphin showed up. We watched it catch a fish, swim around for awhile and then disappear into the night. The sharks were actually protecting their nest from the Seagulls flying around; the little baby sharks were swarming near the posts holding up the pier. The food, of course, was delicious!

Ile des pins part 2

We spent the whole day at Kuto bay on the ile des pins, swimming in the stunning blue water, and basking in the sun on the beach of fine white sand. I realized that we are here at the perfect time of year; it’s the cusp of tourist season and we’ve experienced the island without masses of tourists. The beach was lovely, except for the handfuls of plastic bottle caps we collected at the top of the shoreline.

Before grabbing the ferry back to Noumea we sipped some white wine in the little bar nearby, a this cute little tabby cat walked up to woo me away from my snack. He was looking unnaturally thin, so I tossed him a few of my cheetos. I never imagined a cat eating cheetos, but he did. Then he cleaned his butt and slept under our table.

I miss my Penny

Snorkel heaven

We had the best day of our trip so far, on the Ile des Pins (Isle of Pines). It’s a small island off the southern tip of New Caledonia’s mainland, named for the many pine trees spread over it. We had to take a 20 minute flight to get there.

After checking into our hotel, we grabbed snorkel gear and took a bus to the other side of the island to explore the Oro Bay (I’ll use the English names). There we walked through a shallow lagoon, and then a stretch of forest to a gorgeous swimming “hole.” This place is known to be a jewel of the Pacific, teeming with fish and other sea life! There were very few tourists in this remote place; everyone was exploring the clear water, swimming alongside the residents which inhabit the reef of coral that lies beneath the surface.

As we were standing there enjoying the spectacle of fish swimming around our legs, I felt a distinct bite on the back of my ankle! I kind of ignored it, thinking it might be a twig or piece of coral brushing against me, but a moment passed and it got me again, even harder. Needless to say, I jumped about 3 feet and screamed like a crazy blonde (which I am). We looked down, and there was nothing really there but a rock, so I thought the attacker was probably a crab who got freaked out and scuttled off, but then I spotted him: he was a little fish, about 6 inches long with some black and white markings, swimming around and under the rock. He lunged at me and I screamed again, and then Alan watched him snap at another fish going by. It was pretty hilarious but clearly he was protecting his home, so we moved to another spot for the sake of our ankles.

After oohing and aahing for awhile, we left the pool and walked around part of the island to a restaurant that sits on a beach, tables and chairs in the sand, palm trees rustling overhead shading diners from the intense sun. The restaurant is called Kou-gny, and it is famous throughout the country for being the best for lobster. It was a lobster feast like I’ve never had before. It was the most tender, most flavorful and delicious. And there were three different kinds on the plate… One was a bit smaller than the main lobster and had very sharp thorns all over it’s legs, and we’re guessing it was some kind of giant crawfish. Then there was a third which had a totally flat head. Okay, my mouth is watering right now at the memory of it! And it was cheap: $50 per person with wine, salad and desert!

Stuffed and content, we walked back to the swimming hole to snorkel among the many fish, eels, hermit crabs, coral and giant clams. It was magical because the water was so clear and the fish were swimming so close you could almost touch them. We found my arch nemesis and terrorized him a little with my flipper. He kept nipping at it, and then when he got really mad he did this crazy dance where he backed his tail up to me, and wiggled it along with his flippers, kicking up sand and clouding the water. I plan to figure out what this fish is and find out more about his behavior.

After 2 hours we were pretty pooped and it was time to catch our taxi back to the hotel, so we made the long trek through the lagoon and the woods.

Along the way we picked up more trash on the beach than we should have had to. It’s truly a shame to see so little respect for beauty and nature as I’m traveling. We’d also collected bags of trash on beaches in Fiji, Henderson Bay, and the mainland here. It’s tragic how much plastic is discarded or washes up onto these pristine and beautiful places. I can only imagine, in addition to ruining the scenery, what it’s doing to the wildlife and water. If you are reading this, remember to always pick up your trash, and place it in a recycling bin if possible! In addition, if you see trash, help out by picking it up. Maybe you didn’t leave it there, but protecting our environment is more important than ever; It’s in all of our hands and a few moments does make a difference.

Okay off the soapbox. This trip is already turning me into a treehugger! We got back to our hotel, which is actually small free-standing dwellings on a beach. It’s pretty cool, although a bit rundown. We ordered escargot de la mer, in the spirit of adventure in food, but it was pretty scary. Alan got a big slimy squirt in his mouth after biting into one, and that was the end of dinner!

Another quickie

Dinner on the Farm

So, we are now in Auckland, New Zealand’s capital, and we are staying with an awesome couple, Guy & Ingrid. They live on what’s called a “Lifestyle Block,” which is easiest described as a tiny farm, approximately 3.5 acres, that you can’t really make any money off of. It’s sort of a way for people to buy property and land without spending a fortune in the city. The place is super cool; they have a pool, a gorgeous house, three cute dogs, some goats, chickens, alpacas, and a donkey and a sheep!

Yikes!

So we went to the top of the sky tower in downtown yesterday where we stood on panes of glass 328 meters (almost 1100 feet!) above the street. If only the Seattle Space Needle had glass panes in the floors.
After that we hit the Auckland Museum, where we saw some nice Maori exhibits and Natural History artifacts. The highlight was a giant Moa bird model. It was about 10 feet tall; these birds are now extinct from over-hunting by the early Maori people. The bird was incredibly docile because it had no natural predators, so they were very easy to capture and use for their feathers and meat.

Giddyup

Today we visited the Auckland Zoo to finally see some Kiwi birds! They are so cute, but I personally liked the lemurs and meercats better. Oh, and the Peacocks and Emus.

I’m currently debating whether zoos are inhumane; or a necessary way to preserve extinct species and enable safe breeding to repopulate ecosystems.

Your thoughts are welcome!

OMG so much to post!!!

We’ve been frantically running around the North Island since Wellington, trying to fit stuff in… so apologies for such a long absence! I only have a minute but I’ll throw down here what I can from the past week.

Our stop after Wellington was Lake Taupo… it’s a beautiful area in the middle of the North Island, famous for it’s location amongst bubbling hot springs and geyser-filled terraces. I got a wonderful massage and facial in a spa there and left town relaxed and refreshed. The area is also known for starring as Mordor in the Lord of the Rings. We passed Mt. Doom on the way in. Unfortunately it was dusk, so our photos came out a little dark. The bubbling springs around Taupo were incredible. For those of you who can’t remember those high school earth science classes, they are created from hot magma underneath the earth’s crust that has come close enough to the surface to cause heat vents in the ground. Steam rises out of these vents, giving the landscape an eerie silence.

In Rotorua, another hot springs mecca, we got a true taste of Maori culture, literally, at a show and hangi. The hangi is a way of cooking meat underground for an extended period of time, making it succulent and delicious. It’s kind of like Kalua Pig, but without the banana leaves. They also served us local potatoes, called Kumara. Yummy!

Okay, running out of internet time. boo! Will get back the rest to you later!!!

Wet, Windy Wainy Wellington

Our time in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, was awesome. It’s a large bustling city filled with young hip folk, trendy restaurants and clubs, art galleries, museums and shopping.
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Last bit of the South Island

We traveled up The lovely West Coast of the South Island to Takaka, which is near Onekaka, next to PuPu Springs.

It’s a total hippy beach town and we stayed at this weird house-turned-hostel called Barefoot Backpackers. Our accommodations consisted of an old caravan out back on the property. It was hilarious and very memorable. Our hosts, Chris and Jackie, were an awesome pair of vagabonds themselves’ who’d done their fair share of travel and lived on the property with their three adorable cats. There was a jacuzzi, a huge kitchen, a patio where they had a fire basket going all night, guitars playing and just a real chill vibe. Definitley the most unforgettable hostel I’ve ever stayed in.
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The West Coast

The past few days have been wonderful. Except a few glitches.

In Queenstown I broke out in a crazy rash of hives all over my body. I’m just starting to get over it, but can’t figure out what caused it. If any of you out there know a good thing to relieve the itching and burning, advice would be much appreciated.

After we left Queenstown, we decided to drive to Mt. Cook for a look-see then continue on around the mountain to Franz Josef, site of a fantastic glacier. After the 4-hour drive through beautiful countryside, we ended up at the helicopter center for Mt. Cook and found out we had to go a completely opposite route to get to Franz Josef. With no other way, and pre-booked accommodations, we were forced to drive about 8 hours back through Queenstown to the West Coast to get to Franz Josef. All we could do was laugh and enjoy the drive. Once we got near the coast though, we were completely blown away by the mountains, lakes, trees, and coastal views we got. A worthy detour it was, indeed.

We spent a lot of time in Franz Josef relaxing and cooking some yummy food at the hostel. We left there yesterday morning for a four hour drive north to Punakaiki after we realized we’d left our Jackets at Franz Josef. And at the same time, I realized I’d left my cell phone charger cable in Queenstown. Apparently I am in a pattern of leaving stuff everywhere.

Good news is the beach here is gorgeous, and we’re still having a fabulous time. Go check out the beautiful pictures of our drive from Queenstown to Franz Josef

Drive from Queenstown to Franz Josef
Feb 3, 2010 — 11 pictures

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