Indo China 1

The next part of the journey was to be a guided tour through Indo China and began with quite a punishing travel schedule, or at least the combination of the travelling and the waiting made it so.

I got up around 7.30, and left for the airport at 1, for my flight at 3.30. A 4 hour flight from Dunedin to Brisbane, was followed by a 6 ½ hour wait in the airport for my connection to Kuala Lumpar, this flight was  8 ½ hours, finally 3 ½ hours in the airport followed by another 2 ½ hour flight to Bangkok.

 I very rarely sleep on planes, and certainly don’t even try in airports, therefore I was on the go for about 35 hours by the time I got to the hotel in Bangkok, complete with 36 degrees of Thai smog. Of course by now my NZ clock was telling me it was 6.30 pm, but the local time was about midday, so I had a few hours to have quick look about, shower etc, before the inaugural meeting of my tour group at 6pm and then me and my new chums all went out for food and a night on the tiles before the tour proper started the next morning.

My one initial reservation was that, certainly amongst the chaps, there appeared a slight lack of enthusiasm for beer, which was going to prove a bit tricky, I thought, but overall, my new travelling companions were, thankfully, a really nice bunch.
Two guys about the same age as me, a German, Udo, and no I didn’t mention the ‘ you know what’ – well at least not for the first hour!!-

 

 

and a Canadian, Marvin, (who was to be my roommate),
and yes I did speak slowly

.....and 5 girlies, 2 pairs of teenagers, Rachel, Steff, Sian and Alice and  and a twenty something Londoner, Anna, in the middle of a trip not unlike my own, who had already been through China, Oz and Nz on her own and was heading on to USA

 

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After meeting the girls, I presumed, that they might have overlooked the small print, or not had things explained to them, as surely they would not have chosen a tour with three old gits, but hey ho, we would have to see how things went.

To complete the party, our leader, Da, a charming Thai lady, who had an engaging and friendly manner and some very entertaining pronunciations of some of the English language, which on the whole, she spoke very well.

Our first day started with a walk through the backstreets of Chinatown, which was completely dominated by garages. Different streets seemed to specialise in different parts of vehicles and gearboxes, axles, clutches etc  were everywhere, but so was the noise of hammers, grinders and compressed air tools, the only obvious omissions from the scene were footwear and any shred of safety equipment.

 It was immediately reminiscent of Sri Lanka, the heat, humidity, swarms of people on mopeds and motorbikes, smells of street food, exhaust fumes and drains, and the constant badgering by people trying to sell you anything and everything ........ It was most certainly a world away from Dunedin.

We walked to the river and boarded a long, narrow boat, fitted with a colossal V8 engine attached to a tiny propeller at the end of a seven foot driveshaft and set off along the main river through Bangkok for a little bit of sightseeing.

After 20 minutes we turned into a series of smaller canals that took us through some of the residential areas of the city before rejoining the main drag and being let off at a huge temple complex.

Now I knew that this was an excursion around SE Asia where Buddhism was an extremely important part of life, I also knew in advance, after Sri Lanka, that there were going to be thousands of temples, statues, tombs etc on the tourist trail, and secretly I had  hoped  that, following a little break in NZ, it would have taken me more than the first visit to a temple to become simply  'Bhudda’d '- out, but no, it probably took all of fifteen minutes, or should I say 36 Bhuddas, two stupas and a temple.

 

I am well aware that it is hugely symbolic and an amazing show of not only devotion to a belief but also, in many cases, a stunning exhibition of craftsmanship and skill, but, as a non Bhuddist, let me just say it can become a bit samey when you get several hundred in the same room and I began to wish that instead of the standing, kneeling or reclining options it might be a change to see surfing Bhudda, hang gliding Bhudda or even Elvis Bhudda........uh huh ! (Check this out ... http://thisiselvsibuddha.blogspot.com/2012/12/blog-post.html  )

After a couple of hours of free time, that I used checking out the local beers and feasting on my second wonderful Thai green curry, it was back to the hotel to collect our gear, as the first objective was to get out of Thailand, so it was off to the train station for a night to remember on the sleeper!

We had been warned that the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was notorious for running late, but we were not prepared for a 5 hour delay to what was already a 13 hour journey, but we were told that the service also included a ‘disco carriage’ for our relaxation. Stringfellows it was not, rather a grubby restaurant car with some fairy lights and a crackling speaker that played cheesy music that was drowned out by the train noise everytime the door was opened. But it sold beer, gave the group a bit of time to get to know each other and passed a few, of the 18 hours before we all retired to our ‘luxury’ bunk beds  into which I managed to shoehorn myself for a few hours of intermittent, and unsurprisingly not very comfortable rest.

Chiang Mai is the cultural capital of Thailand, so we went shopping in the night market! but the next day, I explored it in a tuk-tuk, with a nice old chap called Dung, whilst others of the group went off to ride elephants, which I of course had done in Sri Lanka and to my surprise found several temples and a ............ oh yes ........ a temple

The final part of our time in Thailand was another long journey, 5 hours in minibus, although we got a couple of breaks and the chance to take in a few  more temples on the way, and one was particularly interesting as it was sort of a pop-art temple with some really weird images

After which we continued through mountainous narrow roads to a small border town where we overnighted in small wooden cabins.  More great food and a late night drink around the pool and then ....  we were treated to an incredibly violent electric storm, with possibly the loudest clap of thunder and most dramatic bolt of lightning I have ever witnessed, it was incredible and would remain a talking point for the whole trip.

We were now only a few miles from Laos and the next day would see us leave Thailand until we returned to Bangkok in another three weeks or so

The group had really bonded quite well and the strange mix worked, as far as I was concerned, we all had a good feeling about the tour but I was a little concerned about what might happen if the weather deteriorated as we were about to take on the Mekong river

New Zealand 5

The Final Chapter

By the time you get to see this I will have left NZ and be on the next phase, a tour through Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, so it’s time to have a look back at a few great weeks .

 

Before I start, I must take a moment to say thank you to some people ...

to all of you who have contacted me regards the blogs, thank you so much for your kind comments and I am delighted you have enjoyed reading them; 

to STA Travel (Cardiff), and in particular Cath, who has  been, and continues to be, a fantastic support,  great job xx;

to Frank, who really was a star for all of the 5489 kilometres we shared ... wow!!

And to Betty, who had the last laugh. I think she was so annoyed at me deliberately driving the opposite way to whatever she suggested one day, that she displayed the local speed limit as 100kmh in a 70kmh area, resulting in me exceeding the speed limit without me knowing. Needless to say, referring to this, failed to cut the mustard when I had my collar felt by the humourless jobsworth from the local highway patrol, who also took great delight in advising me that the speed in the area was always changing and no one ever saw the sign .... what a git ....$120!!

Potential tourists please note that ALL NZ speed limits are enforced with some rigour, and it is tantamount to a stealth tax. Highway cruisers are equipped with the technology to speed test you travelling towards and away from them, from the front and the rear something I was not aware of until I got pulled.

Fines – which transform into court orders if ignored - are enforced around the world and increase dramatically if you don’t pay promptly AND your car hire company will also charge you a further $50 admin fee as they are required to confirm your insurance details to the police. Add to this that random, road block controlled, breath tests are very common at all times of the day. I was stopped at 11am, fortunately after a quiet night  O joy!

So what turned out to be the final leg of the journey was to travel SE from Wanaka to Dunedin, that’s not to say I didn’t explore the area, far from it, but Dunedin was the last (and probably the most anticipated) of the places that I had scheduled to get to during my time in NZ, and was to become a second home for a few weeks.

The drive from Wanaka to Dunedin was, yet again, memorable. I had barely got out of town when I spotted a museum dedicated, allegedly, to automobiles and aviation.

In reality, it was one man’s private collection of nearly everything that it is possible to collect and it was mind blowing!! From Star Wars figures to JCB’s, from fountain pens to fire engines, cuckoo clocks to MIG fighters and nearly everything in between .... incredible.

 

South of Wanaka I drove through more super stuff as I  crossed a flank of Central and then Coastal Otago,  including

beautiful Lake Dunstan;  

the market garden town of Cromwell, surrounded by a belt of fruit and wine growing;

and a boulder national park, which had tens of thousands of strange rock piles and weathered formations sticking out from a desolate hilly landscape

eventually I reached the town of Milton and turn north west up to my destination Dunedin.

 A contributory factor in visiting NZ, and the only reason why I visited at the time I did, was to visit a very dear mate, the ridiculously talented musician, and all round nice bloke, Trevor Coleman and his lovely family. They very kindly hosted me for my stay in Dunedin, which turned out to be far longer than I had planned, and I take this opportunity to thank them sincerely for this -Trev, Ika , Larissa and Claudie my dear friends, who looked after me royally, cheers guys see you soon I hope xx

The history bit .... Dunedin grew rich on the gold rushes based in Central Otago, as all of the gold flowed through its port, and commerce and business followed. For a short time in the 1850’s it became NZ’s busiest and most important city and the wealth enabled it to found the first university in New Zealand, the still impressive, University of Otago whose students contribute more than 20% of the city’s population of approx. 130,000.

Named after the ancient name for Edinburgh - there are many references to the Scottish capital in street and building names –  it is a city with a proud history of innovation and re invention as it lays claim to having had the first national newspaper, art gallery, medical school and then later, when its importance began to wane, via Port Chalmers, it established a new identity as the NZ frozen meat export centre to the whole world.

Some of the architecture is striking, retaining a considerable number of examples of Victorian and Edwardian grandeur but also there are many very small residential houses, that earned one area the unenviable accolade of having the highest density of population in the country.

As a city, I found it as much fun as Wellington although the music scene was far superior with some great jazz available (especially at the Robbie Burns Pub and Pequenos bar) and heaps of good and reasonably priced eateries, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese and Turkish in particular.

As there was no pressure to keep on moving I indulged in some quality R&R, but also managed to get a lot of other things done. As before to detail everything would be impossible therefore a brief synopsis:

A day trip to the, world unique, Otago Peninsular Royal Albatross Colony gives you the great privilege to see these magnificent birds perform their aerial aerobatics at close quarters, they were awesome

 

 

Watching the world’s smallest penguin, the Little Blue, come ashore after dark and clamber up the beach to their burrows

 

Visiting countless small ports and beaches, where some of the rock formations, kelp deposits, caves, surf etc were incredible and most of the time you had the beach to
yourself

 

 

Days spent in the Dunedin museums, art galleries, shops, cafes, historic buildings, botanical gardens, look outs and other places of interest including a trek up the world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street .... some climb!

 

Nights spent in bars, restaurants, cafes, jazz clubs and even several home cooking nights, both as a cook and as a guest

A day trip through the Taieri Gorge by train- regarded by some as the greatest train journey in NZ- which was as good as advertised

 

 A couple of fantastic, memorable days in the Catlin Conservation Area exploring waterfalls, forests and beaches populated only by seals and sea lions

A much awaited trip to see the Burt Munro memorabilia in Invercargill  (He was the subject of the film The World’s Fastest Indian – if you don’t know what I am on about it just buy it. I promise you won’t regret it) the rickety old bike on which he set the world land speed record

 

A day trip to Christchurh to return Frank and flight back to Dunedin

Late night wave watching with Trev. Two grown guys getting a kick out of hanging around the promenade at St Claire’s beach at 2am, trying to avoid (not very hard!!)  getting soaked, by the massive plumes of warm sea water tossed up as the breakers slammed into the sea wall. Who needs tv??

A night watching the local Super XV team, the Highlanders, being dismantled by the Brumbies. Forsyth Barr Stadium, whilst still a red hot potato, politically speaking, in Dunedin is a great venue and it was so good to see some live rugby

 

A day trip wine tasting in Central Otago, with the experienced and very professional Otago Tour Co.,. I was really impressed with the quality of the tour, the vintners were delightful and accommodating, our guide very knowledgeable and the views and scenery, especially the abundance of Italian poplars changing colour, was stunning ........   oh and the wine wasn’t bad either, in fact most of it (I’m not a great Chardonnay lover) was excellent, unfortunately none of it is available in UK L

 

As an aside, this is one of the more bizarre images I captured and I bet no one can tell me what it is!!

So that’s it, NZ ticked off. I had such a great time and met some fantastic people and have memories and some new friends for life.

Do I have any regrets? ....Not having longer, but then this is something that will always apply if you are enjoying yourself, secondly the weather at the glaciers/Mt Cook area that stopped me fully experiencing one of the highlights of the Alps, also I had intended to go to Milford Sound, despite the sandflies, the only one spectacular area I didn’t get to. This really needs good weather and unfortunately it had changed – after all it was winter- but this is another great reason to return............. and I can’t bloody wait!!!

With a heavy heart, goodbye New Zealand, next stop Bangkok

 

New Zealand 4

First an apology, the internet connections in Laos are, unfortunately, proving to be infrequent, unreliable and SLOW so uploading photos, especially hi resolution, is not practical so unfortunately these will be limited :-(

So, South Island, and I really am fresh out of superlatives trying to describe landscapes that are too varied to detail and almost too numerous to recall, you’ve heard it all before from me, so I don t intend to repeat myself, but S Island knocks spots off N Island, as promised, and no matter how much you see there always seems to be more ..... it’s staggering

My route, after leaving Golden Bay, was ..... go on, look it up on a map..... starting in the top NW corner at Farewell Spit I drove....

SE to Motueka and then SW to Reefton

This route took me through the beautiful Bueller Gorge and gave me the opportunity to walk across the longest swing bridge in NZ at Murchison 110m long. I was also able to walk along a fault line where land upheaval caused a difference in height of over 2 metres in a few seconds one night, a reminder of why NZ is sometimes called the ‘Shakey Isle’

 

SE to Hanmer Springs (via Lewis Pass)

There are only a few recognised trans alpine passes and typically in this one mountains, lakes and forest flank the roads leading to Hanmer which is a thermal spring/spa and winter ski resort. It is a real chill out destination with several good restaurants and boasts a large collection of giant redwoods. If I am honest the place was a little too commercialised for me but it had a splendid backdrop of high mountains all around and was not too busy when I was there. A great bridge spans the river on the way out of Hanmer and jet boats and bungy jumpers normally congest the place, but river levels are so low that activities had been suspended, probably explaining why it was quiet.

 

As a quick aside I feel I must mention the plight of the farmers as a result of the drought that has afforded me such great weather, to give you an idea of its impact I heard on the radio that up to 80,000 head of cattle were being sent to slaughter ........  a week!!!! This go some way to explaining the empty fields I mentioned previously, but now the weather showed signs of changing

 

S to (just before) Christchurch and then NW to Hokitika (via Arthurs Pass)

One of the must do’s in S Island is Arthurs Pass, preferably  by train. As I had Frank,  I would have had to take a return trip on the train all the way from Graymouth to Christchurch at about $200 so I decided to drive through it. The day was a little overcast and I thought this was going to be a disappointment due to the weather having changed, but the clouds were phenomenal and the dramatic scenery was hugely enhanced by them, it just appears to be a win win situation here

 

I eventually arrived at the coast in Hokitika where the huge pebble beach is completely strewn with bleached driftwood. Trees dislodged as the winter snow melts are swept out to sea via the many rivers that only appear with the melt water and exist as huge pebble scars through the landscape for 11 months of the year, and are then washed back ashore by the tides.

 

As with the other places above I stayed a few nights here and took in the recommended sights which included a trip to another small swing bridge over the Hokitika Gorge. The gorge itself is not that spectacular, rather it is the water that attracts people. Due to the course of the river and the composition of the river bed rocks it flows over, the water takes on an unusual colour, which can vary hugely according to the time of day and intensity of the sunlight. It usually appears creamy due to the high concentration of chalk but can sometimes be a vibrant turquoise so intense that it leads you to question the validity of some of the pictures in the local visitors centre but they assure you they are genuine. Again due to the lack of rainfall the water was certainly different but not as spectacular as it does get, but a really good walk down and around the gorge made up for it.

 

SW to Haast (via Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers)

A few miles out of Hokitika I visited a TreeWalk. According to the blurb, they are quite popular in Australia but this is the first one established in NZ. Essentially it is a series of interconnected metal walkways and towers set at tree top level that gives you an unusual perspective of the forest. Situated next to a lake, which looked stunning, a 180m tower should have afforded a terrific view of the alps, however, the weather was changing and although the treewalk itself was fine the views were poor and the direction in which I was headed looked ominous.

 

For the next few hours , through some spectacular countryside, the weather was terrible, this is the area surrounding the two main glaciers Fox and Franz Joseph where I had intended to spend a couple of days. Although I managed to get to see Fox, briefly, my plans to take a helicopter trip to land upon them was scuppered and the forecast for the next few days was not encouraging so I carried on inland  ....  SE to Wanaka ....

 

Fortunately as I passed through the alps again, the weather did improve and I enjoyed another dramatic drive along the shores of lakes Wanaker and Huawei leading into the picturesque town of Wanaker where I stayed for a couple of nights and found a fantastic Irish pub, that served excellent Guinness, great food and had live music every night until late. What a chore this travelling is!

My next stop would be in Dunedin where I intended meeting up with some old mates and base myself for maybe a week or so giving me the chance to explore the far south and cut down a bit on the time spent in the car, hopefully

Leaving aside the natural wonders, to give you a quick overview of the modern history of the Island, I would first ask a question..... have you ever heard of New Zealand gold?  I hadn’t, but I sure have now and it was by far the biggest influence on the development of the land over a hundred years or so from the mid 19^th century.

In very basic terms, South Island gold was, and is, mainly found as deposits in alluvium, the spoil left behind after the glaciers retreated. In some cases it found itself washed out into the rivers and in others it became caked in ‘mud’ that often solidified into rock.

The former was usually discovered by one man panning a river. This would develop a gold ‘rush’, as soon as word got out, and in some instances there were sufficient successes to warrant industrial size recovery operations that culminated in the building and deployment of enormous floating river dredgers; the latter, required blasting it out of open seams with high pressure waterhoses where possible, or by more conventional mining techniques to obtain the gold bearing rocks which were then pummelled by huge stamping machines and the precious deposits washed out of the recovered pulp.

Gold had a phenomenal influence on the country and it seems that nearly every town in the South Island had a link to it and still retains the evidence in the, obligatory town museum, and huge amount of rusting hardware, be that rails, coal carts, water valvesetc, usually assembled under the town sign, but also found in fields and abandoned workings in all sorts of places

It was the influx of people associated with the several gold rushes that led to the early population of most of the country, especially the majority of the west coast, Golden Bay and Otago areas.

A ‘two horse’ town could be transformed into a bustling commercial centre – or more commonly a mainly lawless drunken camp, full of saloons and brothels - with 30/ 40 hotels, bars, supply centres etc springing up in a matter of months upon discovery of gold, as thousands of itinerant workers, including some from all corners of the world, descended upon it.

But it could also return to its original form as quickly, if the claims failed to meet expectations, were quickly exhausted or were superseded by other discoveries whereupon the locust like workforce swarmed after a fortune at the next prospect.

This boom and bust scenario was repeated countless times all over the gold producing areas, but as time passed, some disillusioned workers began to stay behind, clearing land for farms and forming small communities. Immigrant workers began to colonise the country and along with their customs and cultures also bought with them, most notably, fruit trees and vines, which still remain hugely important for the New Zealand economy.

The majority of the places have not really changed their appearance much since those times and remind you of what we saw depicted as the typical town on old US westerns, with single storey shops fronted by covered walkways.