A Chronicle of Amy and Sean's World Travels
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Scenes from Motueka and Golden Bay

Heading north finally brought some sun. We couldn’t drive there fast enough and wee ended up staying for three nights at the Top 10 Holiday Park in Motueka. The town itself was nothing to write home about, but we stayed for two reasons: (1) it was a good base to explore the gorgeousness in the surrounding areas, like the fantastic Golden Bay (above), and, more importantly, (2) I got a second chance at using a jumping pillow. The jumping pillow at the Top 10 in Greymouth comes highly recommended, so I was quite disappointed when the rains on the West Coast turned it into a big, slick accident waiting to happen.  When we pulled into the Top 10 in Motueka and saw it too had a jumping pillow, well, we headed straight over.

We knew we were getting close to Motueka when roadside stalls started popping up. It was harvest time for apples, pears, and feijoas (strange fruit the Kiwis love) so we picked up a huge bag of apples for $2NZD. We also grabbed some beans at this roadside stall operating on the honor system.

Heading up and over Tasman Hill towards Golden Bay, you can see sheep, pastures, orchards, and sea for miles.

Our lunch spot in Golden Bay. As we were preparing lunch in our campervan, a woman came from one of the houses across the road from the beach carrying a tray. She brought it over to this bench and ate lunch in a way that made me think that this is part of her daily routine. I could get used to such a routine.

Golden Bay actually didn't look so golden, but it has miles of untouched sand covered with seashells.

Collingwood is the town at the end of the line unless you take a tour out to the split. We found homemade chocolate in Collingwood and that was good enough for us.

Te Waikoropupu Springs has some of the clearest fresh water in the world and is considered to be a sacred spot for the Maori, the native New Zealanders. They used to have ceremonies here for births, deaths, and leaving and returning of travelers.


Scenes from the West Coast

The West Coast of the South Island has miles of coastline along the wild Tasman Sea and mountain ranges galore, but it’s biggest claim to fame is that it is glacier country.  Our days on the West Coast, like our trip to Milford Sound, were covered in fog. All the scenic drives were obscured and rain poured down for most of our time there. Thankfully, the clouds parted for one brief day, and that day coincided with our visit to the glaciers, allowing us to see what massive hulks of ice and snow they really are. New Zealand has not one, but two mammoth glaciers that are slowing advancing again away from the sea. You can climb on top of them on guided hikes, but we opted just to take the short unguided hikes to the terminal ice.  Standing in front of the glaciers in the massive valleys they’ve carved out is a wild experience.

The rain obscured the snow capped peaks we were supposed to see in Jackson Bay, but the fish and chips at the Cray Pot was delicious!

 

Views of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman from Lake Matheson

Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman again, along with some bovine friends.

Fox Glacier; our view from lunch. It's not every day that you get to eat lunch in view of a glacier.

Hiking up to the terminal of Franz Josef Glacier (the same one in the big picture, above).

The weather really put a damper on the rest of the West Coast north of the glaciers. I braved the rain in Hokitika to take a picture of this museum. It is housed in a building that was formerly a library donated by Andrew Carnegie.

Putting the grey in Greymouth.


Bangkok, Redux.

Going back to Bangkok after Hanoi was like going to see an old friend. We found we loved Bangkok as much as we did the first time three months prior, save for the muggier weather.  We contemplated staying elsewhere but you just can’t beat the fabulous Roof View Place.  We wasted no time visiting old favorites.  We were happy to see our Pad Thai Lady again; we missed her so. And just when you thought a good thing couldn’t get better, a couple opened a coffee shop with chocolately cupcakes several doors away from the Pad Thai Lady.  There was another round of visits to the Peanut Butter and Banana Pancake Lady, the Mango and Sticky Rice Man, the Orange Juice Lady, the movies, the malls, and Ethos Vegetarian Restaurant. Sadly, there was no time for $6 massages, a decision I would come to regret when I realized massages on the islands are at least $8. Outrageous.

We also mixed it up a bit this time, with visits to the Jim Thompson House and a whirlwind ride in a river taxi down one of Bangkok’s side canals. The craziest thing we did was turn left outside Roof View Place instead of staying straight to walk to the bus; it was a whole new world. On your way to work or the grocery store today, take a new way home…you never know what you’ll see.

This isn't no ordinary OJ.

 

Thoroughly vetted as the best pad thai in Thailand.

And now with handy dessert.

This time, we did it right and went to the fancy movies at Siam Paragon.

Flying down the side canals in a water taxi is hands down one of the coolest experiences in Bangkok. You hop on before the boat comes to a full stop and whip down the murky brown water past residential homes displaying lush plants and laundry. The money collectors hanging on outside the boat duck at the underpasses and pull down the retractable roof just in time. It is WILD.

Jim Thompson is a former American CIA agent living in Bangkok who mysteriously disappeared in the 70s. His traditional teak Thai houses and extensive displays of Asian art are on display.

Jim Thompson's House

Jim Thompson's House

Don't forget to take a new path every once in a while...

...you never know what you'll discover.


Scenes from Queenstown, Arrowtown & Wanaka

The Queenstown region is hard to beat any time of year, but in autumn, it is sublime. It didn’t hurt that it was our first (and practically only) sunny AND warm day in New Zealand. Well, maybe not warm to anyone but the Kiwis, who walk around in bare feet and (short) shorts all the time, but not cold. The yellow trees pop against the rugged mountains and blue skies, and who needs ocean when you’ve got long lakes in between mountains? In a country crazy about adventure, they’re craziest in Queenstown. Although we had no plans to do any adventure activities, we somehow found ourselves on a jetboat whizzing through the Shotover River canyon. It was fun, but not extreme; the thrill was equivalent to a roller coaster, which is much, much cheaper. We probably should have hurled ourselves off a bridge or out of a plane or something, but we were entertained just watching people bungy jump off the first bridge in the world where commercial bungy jumping occurred. The autumn splendor continued in Arrowtown and Wanaka; the perfect backdrop for lazy afternoons.

Our first hints of Queenstown's allure on the way into town.

The tail end of the Southern Scenic Route leading into Queenstown.

We had to ditch boring campervan food for a famous burger that weighs a ton. We declare the Fergberger worthy of its fame.

Other people on the Shotever Jetboat in the Shotover Canyon.

 

We were too cheap to spring for the photos.

The most exciting part was when the boat spun around 360 degrees. After transport in Asia, though, it takes a lot to scare us!

Karawau Bridge - the world's first commercial bungy jumping site.

 

Worth the plunge!

View from the mountain pass on the way to Wanaka

The river in historic Arrowtown

Gaining back all the weight I lost in Asia in a single afternoon. (But should you find yourself in Arrowtown, stop by Patagonia Chocolate. It's worth it.)

Wanaka's main drag (where you'll find the blackberry and chocolate muffins at Ritual Cafe).

Another beautiful lake on our way from Wanaka to the Haast Mountain Pass


Eating Vietnam Out of House and Home

If there’s one thing I could say about our month in Vietnam, it’s that it was one tasty month. While we normally grow weary of a country’s cuisine by the end of our time there, I could have kept eating Vietnamese even after we left, and mentioned to Sean I had a hankering for spring rolls after we passed a Vietnamese restaurant in a Bangkok mall.

Thanks to Tram’s Kitchen in Bloomfield at home, we’d already sampled Vietnamese food before this trip, so we were eagerly awaiting to try some tasty eats in Vietnam itself (on eight inch stools, of course). Beginning meals in the Mekong Delta were disappointing – here’s a tip; don’t order Pho All because the all is quite scary, indeed – but things improved quickly.  Each region has its specialties, so there’s more nuanced variety than you first realize.  Here’s some of our favorites (not to mention the runners up of stir-fried cactus at fresh veggie-centric and beautiful Cuc Gach Quan in Saigon; cao lau noodles and white rose dumplings in Hoi An; any of the delicious things My and Mr. Pepperman had us try in the Central Highlands; any sort of street-made dumpling or bun cha in Hanoi; and the many tastings of chicken stir-fried with chili and lemongrass countrywide):

Fresh spring rolls

Without a doubt, our favorite meals are fresh spring rolls. Surprisingly, these can be hard to find – probably because I wanted them with every meal. The pre-rolled ones were tasty – especially if they are being rolled right next to you seconds before you eat them, like ones we had at a market in Saigon – but there’s something about rolling them yourself. Our first encounter was at the market in Dalat. (Are you noticing a theme? The best food is at Vietnamese markets.) We hovered near a food stall, trying to figure out what the heck they were serving as everything was in Vietnamese. A kind woman took pity on us and come over from where she was sitting at a different restaurant. She suggested that we try the spring rolls being served at the stall in which we were standing by since they were the best in town. With that ringing endorsement, we gratefully let her run interference between us and the women behind the stall, who only spoke Vietnamese. When you’re at a make your own spring roll place, you receive rice paper for rolling, spicy peanut sauce for dipping, and lots of fixins’ for stuffing: rice noodles; pork prepared multiple ways; lettuce; mounds of fresh mint, basil, and other herbs; and raw banana, starfruit, cucumbers, and fried rice paper for crunch. Words can’t describe how fresh, how tasty, how crunchy, how tangy fresh spring rolls are in Vietnam. When our Easy Rider guides took us to a fresh spring roll restaurant on our second night at Buon Mi Thiout, I nearly died of happiness.

Ready to roll in Dalat

This Buon Mi Thiout restuarant's specialty is the hot peanut sauce accompaniment, seen in the right hand corner.

At the Ben Thanh market in Saigon, I was inches away from this women while she rolled up our order. Don't be afraid of the Spring Roll Nazi woman who patrols around you while you eat.

Fried spring rolls

While the fresh ones beat the fried ones by a landslide, I was a fan of the fried ones as well, especially those fried with a light touch, like the ones at Madame Foung’s place in Hoi An. Madame’s restaurant is called the Light Candle. If she’s not in the back cooking, she’ll call out to you like all of the other vendors in Hoi An. But if you come in, unlike some others, she’s be really, truly glad you came. We half-ignored Madame Fuong one afternoon as she was one of many voices calling out for us to buy something or come inside. But then when we couldn’t find the restaurant we were looking for, we turned around and decided to try the Light Candle. Madame came rushing over to us, and exclaimed, with genuine joy and enthusiasm, Oh! You came back! You came back! We would have returned just for Madame’s cheerful demeanor (even though she only speaks a few words of English), but her food matched her attitude. The Candle Light spring rolls, as she calls them, are sublime. If you go, try them; she’ll make you order them anyway. You’ll be glad you did.

Candle Light spring rolls at the Light Candle

Sean and Madame Foung

Pho

Once we recovered from the Pho All debacle, we become pho addicts. Not all phos are created equal; some are just too rich for our liking, but most have a delightful blend of meat stock (created by bubbling overnight in a giant pot), tender beef or chicken, long skinny white noodles, savory spices like cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom, fresh bean sprouts, chili peppers, and lime. The best phos are served at non-descript roadside restaurants doubling as the family’s home or from big vats on sidewalks, eaten on tiny chairs while the city hustles by. Pho is typically eaten for breakfast, although you can find pho at all times of the day. I have strict notions of what is breakfast food and what is not, and soup is the last thing I thought I’d want for breakfast. But we quickly realized the $1.25 steaming bowl of soup was a much tastier alternative than the Vietnamese adaptation of plain egg omelets for Westerners, so we started eating pho whenever we could get our hands on it.

Dinner pho ga in Saigon

Bun Bo

We only got to try this heavenly dish once, in Hanoi. If we’d had it sooner, surely we would have been searching for it high and low. Bun bo (the Vietnamese words for noodles and beef) has, well, bun and bo, along with fresh lettuce, coriander, basil, beansprouts, and crushed peanuts. Then’s there’s some sort of delectable sweet sauce to top it all off. Yum.

Bun bo in Hanoi at a restaurant recommended by the Rendezvous Hotel.

Fruity Goodness

Out of all of the Southeast Asian countries, we found the tropical fruit to be the freshest and tastiest in Vietnam, especially in the Mekong Delta. There was such variety, and we tried as much as we could. Our favorites were the juicy pomelos; ordinary watermelons that taste like summer in every bite; and the exotic dragonfruit.

The dragonfruit is beautiful to admire and delicious to eat. The ones with white flesh aren't as sweet, but they're juicy with little crunchy seeds like a kiwi.

Let's get a look again. That's one beautiful fruit.

The elusive red dragon fruit. Sweeter than the white ones, they're worth the hunt and extra cost. Don't be alarmed by the toilet over the next few days.

A partially peeled pomelo. Even with a knife, they're a pain to peel; shell out for the ones that are already peeled.


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