Courtney and I spent three days in Bangkok, saw lots of temples (I got yelled at for showing my calves while a bunch of girls in miniskirts pranced by the guards sans problem), ate lots of street food, met some drunk Brits, and then hopped on a plane down to southern Thailand to enjoy beaches.
We spent a night in Koh Samui, then took the ferry to Koh Pha-ngan to make the half moon party: a huge rave scene with lots of people on ecstasy (undoubtedly my least favorite demographic). Watching ravers I feel like the world is DEFINITELY going to end in 2012, I can't believe that music has devolved to just basic repetitive sounds and beats and that members of our generation spend as much money as they do getting to these places to see these mediocre DJs "spin." Anyway, it was interesting to see - not what I would have predicted on a remote island in the gulf of Thailand.
Before the half moon party, we met a couple kiwis at a free pool bar (from Blenheim - small world) which was lots of fun. One of them gave us a ride on his Vespa to the half moon party, which entailed lots of taxi chasing to figure out where this party even was. The Vespa ride was fun, though, and inspired us to rent our own Vespa the following day. The Thai man in charge of "mortorbike" rentals seemed concerned with our driving skills but we figured it out quickly enough (after failing to turn a few times an ending up briefly off-roading through the jungle). We spent the next couple days exploring beaches, snorkling (lots of disgusting sea cucumbers and some really pretty fish), and eating more Thai food.
Yesterday, we took a fishing boat to a more private part of the island (saw lots of honeymooners) to read and nap in hammocks on the beach. It rained for about 30 seconds at one point but we were protected enough by our tree from which our hammocks were hanging to stay completely dry. It's been incredibly relaxing all-around.
Today we're headed back to Koh Samui to meet up with Courtney's parents who are also vacationing in Thailand. Hopefully, updates to come soon, photos to come in a few weeks (no means of uploading at the moment). I'm definitely enjoying vacation and still can't believe that I'm going to be back in the states within the month...
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Successful Escape
I managed to sell the car, meet the buyers at the airport, get my luggage on the plane (after buying another bag to distribute the weight and still paying a TON for going over 25kg total), and make it to Kuala Lampur for my layover before heading up to Thailand.
The guy sitting next to me wanted an aisle instead of a window (we were in a pair of seats where one was an aisle and one was a window) and I was assigned the aisle seat. Instead of asking me to swap, he spoke with the flight attendants and sat somewhere else all together so I got my own little two seats to curl up in and sleep. It was awesome. Then the in-flight meals were things I had never heard of before and were super spicy and tasted awesome. So far, the trip is going great. I'm so happy to be back in the northern hemisphere.
What I've seen of southeast Asia so far (from the plane window) is SO pretty and it isn't raining right now even though it's supposedly going to be raining off and on the entire time we're here. Another added bonus: FREE INTERNET at the airport. It's nice to be out of New Zealand where you are nickel and dimed for every little thing, I'm definitely happy about starting my vacation.
The guy sitting next to me wanted an aisle instead of a window (we were in a pair of seats where one was an aisle and one was a window) and I was assigned the aisle seat. Instead of asking me to swap, he spoke with the flight attendants and sat somewhere else all together so I got my own little two seats to curl up in and sleep. It was awesome. Then the in-flight meals were things I had never heard of before and were super spicy and tasted awesome. So far, the trip is going great. I'm so happy to be back in the northern hemisphere.
What I've seen of southeast Asia so far (from the plane window) is SO pretty and it isn't raining right now even though it's supposedly going to be raining off and on the entire time we're here. Another added bonus: FREE INTERNET at the airport. It's nice to be out of New Zealand where you are nickel and dimed for every little thing, I'm definitely happy about starting my vacation.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Turanga Wines
Ryan and I are still at our final WWOOF stop. Today, we actually got to apply some of our Davis education to our WWOOFing by helping to prune the organic and biodynamic vineyard and Tauranga Wines.
Margie, the vineyard manager, has been explaining biodynamics to us by pointing out various cover crops she has planted, showing us cow dung that has been treated and buried in a cow horn to be used to treat the vineyard, and explaining how biodynamics is very similar to homeopathy for the vineyard.
Additionally, the vineyard where we are working owns the only Soulo (www.soulo.co.nz) packaging machine in the southern hemisphere. Soulo cups are individually packaged and sealed glasses of wine that can be used for concerts, sporting events, night clubs, etc. It seems like a pretty cool idea, they also have recently patented a new cup design that actually looks like a wine glass and the plastic packaging is durable and clean, very similar to glass but much safer. Here's a picture of a Soulo bottled/packaged today for a Japanese company:
It’s been cool to actually do something that relates to winemaking while we’re here and very interesting to learn about biodynamics and how much work really goes into them. We’re still slightly skeptical: when asked about how to prevent oxidation in the bottle with sulfur add limitations in organics and biodynamics we never really got a direct answer. There seems to be a lot of faith and not a lot of chemistry behind biodynamics and I just don’t think we’re the kind of people who can do that much work just based on what seems to be a religion. I definitely respect it though and acknowledge that there are probably tons of things that are out there that are beyond human comprehension and biodynamics may very well tap into one of them and ultimately work better than other viticultural practices.
Margie, the vineyard manager, has been explaining biodynamics to us by pointing out various cover crops she has planted, showing us cow dung that has been treated and buried in a cow horn to be used to treat the vineyard, and explaining how biodynamics is very similar to homeopathy for the vineyard.
Additionally, the vineyard where we are working owns the only Soulo (www.soulo.co.nz) packaging machine in the southern hemisphere. Soulo cups are individually packaged and sealed glasses of wine that can be used for concerts, sporting events, night clubs, etc. It seems like a pretty cool idea, they also have recently patented a new cup design that actually looks like a wine glass and the plastic packaging is durable and clean, very similar to glass but much safer. Here's a picture of a Soulo bottled/packaged today for a Japanese company:
It’s been cool to actually do something that relates to winemaking while we’re here and very interesting to learn about biodynamics and how much work really goes into them. We’re still slightly skeptical: when asked about how to prevent oxidation in the bottle with sulfur add limitations in organics and biodynamics we never really got a direct answer. There seems to be a lot of faith and not a lot of chemistry behind biodynamics and I just don’t think we’re the kind of people who can do that much work just based on what seems to be a religion. I definitely respect it though and acknowledge that there are probably tons of things that are out there that are beyond human comprehension and biodynamics may very well tap into one of them and ultimately work better than other viticultural practices.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Ryan
"God, why isn't this more popular?" - Ryan, frustrated at being unable to find "Dancing on Ice" streaming online
Sunday, June 12, 2011
WWOOFtastic
Ryan and my first successful WWOOF stop was with Deb in Masterton (not Mastadon, I learned), a small town on the outskirts of Martinborough, a renowned Pinot noir region on the north island. It was awesome - she fed us home-cooked meals, introduced us to all of her favorite TV shows (including Dancing on Ice, which Ryan is now OBSESSED with), and let us play with her adorable chocolate lab.
After a week with Deb, we drove up to Napier which was devastated by an earthquake in the 1930s and was rebuilt using only Art Deco architecture. It was really pretty and a nice little town but there wasn't a whole lot going on, and Ryan and I are starting to get burnt out on traveling and paying a ton for hostels and food and gas. Not to mention, the car still is finicky when it comes to starting, so we get stranded in random places for hours at a time, which is arguably sub-ideal to say the least. So, we left Napier, did some wine tasting in Hawkes Bay, which was really nice, and started to make our way toward a lake on the way to Rotorua to do part of a Great Walk. New Zealand has ten massive hikes (each takes around five days) called the Great Walks. It would have been nice to do part of one since we still haven't gotten around to it, but we had a difficult time finding accommodation on the way to the lake and ended up detouring all the way over to Gisbourne, the easternmost city in NZ. We figured we could at least get some tastings in since Gisbourne is known for their Chardonnay.
False.
We spent an entire morning driving around looking for wineries and could not find ONE that was open. On top of that, they were incredibly hard to find. We left Gisbourne for Rotorua, which was actually a pretty nice city and our hostel was great. The next morning, completely broke, we got in the car to head to our second and final WWOOF stop in Auckland. In the car, I phone our hostess to learn that I had e-mailed her a month ago and requested dates in July instead of June (eff). She had no availability for WWOOFers so we went to an internet cafe and called a couple people in the Auckland area and ended up finding a place to stay.
So, yesterday we arrived at Mandy and Terry's. They grow organic and biodynamic grapes and have them sent down to Hawkes Bay to a custom crush facility. Right now, there are two other WWOOFers staying here: Billy from Maryland and Paul from New Caledonia. They're 23 and 24 and didn't know each other before coming here. We're going to be helping out in the vineyard during the week which should be tons of fun. Last night, Mandy made us tacos and we all ended up drinking a lot with dinner, then after dinner, then after Mandy's son John (who is 16) got home from prom. We start work tomorrow mid-day and it looks like we might get some hiking in tomorrow morning (if the car starts). So, it all worked out in the end. Ryan leaves in 3 days, then I leave in 5 for my trip to Thailand and Bali!
After a week with Deb, we drove up to Napier which was devastated by an earthquake in the 1930s and was rebuilt using only Art Deco architecture. It was really pretty and a nice little town but there wasn't a whole lot going on, and Ryan and I are starting to get burnt out on traveling and paying a ton for hostels and food and gas. Not to mention, the car still is finicky when it comes to starting, so we get stranded in random places for hours at a time, which is arguably sub-ideal to say the least. So, we left Napier, did some wine tasting in Hawkes Bay, which was really nice, and started to make our way toward a lake on the way to Rotorua to do part of a Great Walk. New Zealand has ten massive hikes (each takes around five days) called the Great Walks. It would have been nice to do part of one since we still haven't gotten around to it, but we had a difficult time finding accommodation on the way to the lake and ended up detouring all the way over to Gisbourne, the easternmost city in NZ. We figured we could at least get some tastings in since Gisbourne is known for their Chardonnay.
False.
We spent an entire morning driving around looking for wineries and could not find ONE that was open. On top of that, they were incredibly hard to find. We left Gisbourne for Rotorua, which was actually a pretty nice city and our hostel was great. The next morning, completely broke, we got in the car to head to our second and final WWOOF stop in Auckland. In the car, I phone our hostess to learn that I had e-mailed her a month ago and requested dates in July instead of June (eff). She had no availability for WWOOFers so we went to an internet cafe and called a couple people in the Auckland area and ended up finding a place to stay.
So, yesterday we arrived at Mandy and Terry's. They grow organic and biodynamic grapes and have them sent down to Hawkes Bay to a custom crush facility. Right now, there are two other WWOOFers staying here: Billy from Maryland and Paul from New Caledonia. They're 23 and 24 and didn't know each other before coming here. We're going to be helping out in the vineyard during the week which should be tons of fun. Last night, Mandy made us tacos and we all ended up drinking a lot with dinner, then after dinner, then after Mandy's son John (who is 16) got home from prom. We start work tomorrow mid-day and it looks like we might get some hiking in tomorrow morning (if the car starts). So, it all worked out in the end. Ryan leaves in 3 days, then I leave in 5 for my trip to Thailand and Bali!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
I'm a Criminal
Today, Ryan and I went to Pak 'n Save - New Zealand's version of Costco - to buy some beer. While we were using the self-checkout, a security guard came up to us and held up a picture of us from a few days earlier. "Is this you?" he said, pointing to a picture of me standing next to Ryan with a circle around my face and some notes in the margin.
"I think so," I said, sure that someone who resembled me had held up the store days earlier. He asked us to come with him and led us to a back room where he showed us a video of days earlier when I had purchased beer in the self-checkout. I scan the beer, wait around for a while to be carded, show my passport to an agent, start talking to Ryan, then pick up the beer and walk away - without paying for it. This is the first time I have ever stolen anything in my life and I had no idea I had even done it. And I got caught.
Next to my picture in the security room at Pak 'n Save it said "Shoplifting - no malice intended." I apologized profusely and paid for the beer from a few days ago and they sent us on our way. Lucky for them the security guard recognized us because we're moving on tomorrow to re-start our vacation and take a few days off WWOOFing.
"I think so," I said, sure that someone who resembled me had held up the store days earlier. He asked us to come with him and led us to a back room where he showed us a video of days earlier when I had purchased beer in the self-checkout. I scan the beer, wait around for a while to be carded, show my passport to an agent, start talking to Ryan, then pick up the beer and walk away - without paying for it. This is the first time I have ever stolen anything in my life and I had no idea I had even done it. And I got caught.
Next to my picture in the security room at Pak 'n Save it said "Shoplifting - no malice intended." I apologized profusely and paid for the beer from a few days ago and they sent us on our way. Lucky for them the security guard recognized us because we're moving on tomorrow to re-start our vacation and take a few days off WWOOFing.
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