Travelling bug

I think I caught the travelling bug and I am just find this urge to go travelling. Before I detested travelling because I find it cumbersome, so it feels kind of  weird when I had this urge to go around places all of sudden. It's barely a month after I returned from my trip from South Marianas and I am about to embark another 3 week trip back to my home country and then carry on my journey to Emerald City across the ditch.

When I told the "inmates" in "asylum" (famously known as annoying and insensitive co-workers and toxic workplace), you can see the blood drained from their faces and turned pale."You can't go, we need you!" they hollered. Some even have the cheek to ask "If we have problems, can we call you?". To which I just smiled and said nothing. Yet deep down inside, I wanted to tell them to fuck off. 

Sorry folks, this time I decided to go and get myself a life and the work can wait.

I left my heart in Wellington - Last

To end this post, I would like to include the lyrics of the song "I left my heart in San Francisco" [That's how I got the title for this post]. So come sing along with me...

I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO (by Tony Bennett)

The loveliness of Paris
Seems somehow sadly gay
The glory that was Rome
Is of another day
I've been terribly alone
And forgotten in Manhattan
I'm going home to my city by the bay.

I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill, it calls to me.
To be where little cable cars
Climb halfway to the stars!
The morning fog may chill the air
I don't care!

My love waits there in San Francisco
Above the blue and windy sea
When I come home to you, San Francisco,
Your golden sun will shine for me!

I left my heart in Wellington - Part 4

I left my heart in Wellington - Part 3

I left my heart in Wellington - Part 2

It's true you can't live here by chance.
You have to do and be, not simply watch or even describe.
This is the city of action, the world headquarters of the verb.




I live at the edge of the universe, like everybody else.

I left my heart in Wellington - Part 1

If Auckland is the Los Angeles of New Zealand, then Wellington is definitely the San Francisco of New Zealand. Every time I visited Wellington, I get that artsy and romantic feeling permeating in the air.

Wellington is surprising small, organised and compact city, yet this precious little gem is packed with all the goodies you can get in large cities. Apart from being located at one of the most seismically active region and that infamous "crazy" weather, it is a surprisingly vibrant little city. On a fine weather, it is a very nice place to walk around.

Too bad, all of my trips to Wellington so far were short and work related which left not much time to discover this wonderful city. :(

Here are some of the shots I captured during my recent trip 2 weeks ago...

My Summer Holiday – Part 11 (Summary)

Boy! I never knew that going for a vacation could be so stressful! Instead of feeling relaxed and relieved, I came back feeling more exhausted than before.

It felt like running a marathon non-stop. In a span of 6 days of my South Island trip, our drivers have whisked me around to the following places:-

1. Lake Wakatipu
2. Kingston
3. Lumsden
4. Te Anau
5. Fiordland National Park
6. Milford Sound
7. Arthur’s Point
8. Queenstown – Deer Park
9. Arrowtown
10. Kawaru Bungy Jumping
11. Kawarau Gorge
12. Cromwell
13. Clyde
14. Roxburgh
15. Lawrence
16. Milton
17. Dunedin
18. Otago Peninsula
19. Shag point
20. Moeraki
21. Oamaru
22. Lake Waitaki
23. Lake Aviemore
24. Otemata
25. Omarama
26. Twizel
27. Lake Pukaki
28. Pukaki-Tekapo Canal
29. Lake Tekapo
30. Geraldine
31. Ashburton
32. Christchurch

No wonder I am so tired. It is such a waste that we had to drive past many places and only stopped briefly at a few locations because of time constraint. When you travel with a group there are a couple of things you have no control. You do not have a say on matters like where to stay, where and what to eat, when to leave etc. That’s the price you have to pay when you go on a budget tour.

A couple of things I learnt from this trip.

1. Never travel with the following:-
• People you despise (be it relatives or total strangers) – These obnoxious personalities will give you more stress and worst still drive you insane
• Women – They go ga-ga whenever they see souvenir/jewellery/health care shops (even though they all look the same) and will disrupt your travel plans because they spent so much time shopping
• Children – Cute as they seem, they are a pest when it comes to traveling. Either they throw tantrums (crying, yelling, screaming and kicking) all day round or they will blabber non-stop in a high-pitched tone. Oh, be prepare to make emergency stops because they love to poo and pee when you least expected
  
2. Always check the weather forecast – Or else you can’t see the beautiful scenery and your traveling delayed due to bad weather
3. Call to check the accommodation before you book – Make sure they are clean and come with complete amenities. Cheap accommodation comes with a price, either they look like a cheap brothel, or you have to rent for everything
4. If you are lost, ASK for directions ASAP – Don’t be egoistic, stop by and ask the locals. The sooner you ask, the more time and petrol you save
5. Stick to your travel plans – Changing it last minute will messes your trip and travel arrangements. Of course, it cost more too
6. Read about the tourist spots in the travel brochure first hand – Certain attractions required you to pay entrance fee. The sooner you find the better; or else you have to turn back empty handed.
7. Focus one attraction at one time – Rushing all over the place will get you to nowhere. Besides that, you can’t absorb all the things you see if you face with time constraint
8. Ask for locals about the dining spots – Otherwise you will drive around like fools trying to find something to eat
9. Travel light – You only go away for a few days, not moving your house! Apart from taking sufficient under wears, limit your garment to a few items.

On the brighter note, this hasty trip gives me a good reason to go back to South Island. The scenery in South Island is so stunning that it makes North Island look pretty boring. Once you seen it once, you just want to go back and experience its magic. I would definitely go back for more…

My Summer Holiday – Part 10 (Rain, winds, salmon and artifacts…)

We left Twizel very early and embark the last leg of the journey to Christchurch. Our annoying co-driver suggested we drive up to Mt Cook. However, the motel owners warned us that a strong cold front is heading our way (I found out later that the entire NZ was affected) and it would be unsafe to travel up the Alps. Hence, the co-driver’s cunning plan was thwarted at the eleventh hour.

We drove past a picturesque lake call Lake Pukaki. On a bright and clear day, you can see Mt Cook and the surrounding Alps at the north. However, fog and cloud covered the skyline and there is nothing much to see. Nevertheless, there is something magical about this lake. Even under the bad weather, the lake water shows a distinctive turquoise colour.

As we drove along the Pukaki-Tekapo Hydro Canal, a few of our travel companions pestered the driver to stop by the salmon farm because they wanted to eat some salmon sashimi. The driver relented and my greedy companions bounded out of the van in no time, dashed into the shop to make orders and gobbled up the raw salmon as though they have been starved for ages.

After 1 full hour, the annoying co-driver persuaded the driver to head for Lake Tekapo because he wanted to see Mt Cook. When we reach Lake Tekapo, the clouds were even thicker and it covered the entire terrain. At last, the co-driver finally gave up and we carried on the journey in silence.

It rained all the way from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch. When we reached Christchurch, it rained even harder and accompanied by strong blustery winds. We were caught in the traffic jam and it took us quite a while to get out of the traffic madness.

Our annoying co-driver thought it would be a lovely idea to visit the Botanical Gardens. What the hell was he thinking? No one in the right mind would stroll in the garden in the midst of a storm. Therefore, by the time he parked the van near the entrance of Botanical Gardens, most of the passengers refused to get down. I however made a quick dash to the museum (right beside the garden entrance) and took my own sweet time to admire the artifacts.

After the museum visit, all of us were very hungry and decided to drive around the city to look for something to eat. Our co-driver refused to pay for the parking fees, instead he suggested we parked the van at some street side further up and walked back to the city center to find a food court.

So all of us braving through foul weather and dashing across the streets in the city just to find a stupid food court. After the so-so dinner, again we made a mad dash across the streets in heavy rains and strong winds to get to our van.

We checked in the motel looking wild and wet. All of us were very tired and we went to bed quite early. The next morning, we would wake up early to catch the early flight back to Auckland.

As I settled down on the bed, I thought about the mad rush that happened for the last few days and decided this trip was not worth it. I felt that holidays is supposed to be relaxed and leisure, not running all over the place like a refugee. What is the point of going to so many places where you only stop by briefly at each spot and miss out all the rest of the scenery? The more I think about it the more I fumed. Anyway, it was too late to do anything and I just had to get over it.

In short, my first summer holiday was ruined, thanks to those inconsiderate and obnoxious travel companions. I told myself that this will be my last trip with them and I shall not travel with them ever again…

My Summer Holiday – Part 9 (Seals, shags, boulders and no penguins…)

Unwilling to give up and unwilling to compromise, our annoying co-driver made a detour to a place called Shag Point halfway through the journey. If you think this is the place where you can see couples shagging each other, then you will be sorely disappointed. What you get is colonies of seals, yellow-eyed penguins and a flock of sea birds call shags.

Shag Point used to be a coal mining area and it has been disused ever since. The place is riddled with old mine shafts and if you do not watch where you step, you will surely fall into one of them.

Much to our co-driver’s disappointment, the penguins were nowhere in sight. He only managed to see a bunch of seals lying lazily on the rocks. The shags are smarter as they chose to perch on the reefs further away from us. Still, he insisted on driving to another lookout a few hundred meters up the road because he thought that is where the penguins will appear. When we reached there, what he saw was seaweeds, rocky cliffs and thundering surfs.

After wasting more than 30 minutes, we move on. Along the way, the pesky co-driver tried to watch for penguin watching road signs and tried to persuade the driver to go there. Luckily, our driver has some horse senses and he refused flatly.

By the time we reached Moeraki, the annoying co-driver insisted turning into the road towards the beach. He said he wanted to show us something. After a 300 meters trek on the sandy beach, we saw a bunch of funny round boulders nestled along the shore. The boulders had many weird looking carvings on the surface. A couple of them broke into pieces and what we saw inside was a co-web of clay, rock and yellowish crystals.

When we resumed our journey, we were very late. We stopped by Oamaru for a quick bite and hit the road. The drive from Oamaru to Twizel was a very pleasant one as the terrain was very flat. Along the way, I saw beautiful reservoirs and striking mountain ranges basking in the golden sunset light. It is a shame that we had to drive past the beautiful scenery thanks to that bloody annoying co-driver who wasted so much of our traveling time.

Finally, we reached Twizel and it was very late. All the shops were closed and we had nowhere to go but to checked into the motel and retired for the night…

My Summer Holiday – Part 8 (Dunedin - The Edinburgh of NZ and chocolates…)

The seedy backpacker...

The cute guys...

If you happened to visit Dunedin, steer clear and stay away from Law Courts Backpackers. This miserable accommodation is located in the same building that hosts Law Courts Hotel.

Our “marvelous” organisers thought that would be a good idea to stay there for the night because it was dirt cheap (NZD 20 per bed). As though that the hotel management were ashamed of hosting us, we were told enter the backpacker via the back door. I felt we were like a bunch of burglars where we sneaked through the creaky old stairs and narrow dark corridors to find our rooms.

At the first look, the backpacker looked like a cheap rated and seedy brothel. The beds were old and worn, the furniture and fittings in the common kitchen look rickety and disused. The toilet and shower facilities look tired and dilapidated. The rooms filled with a stale and mouldy stench. The paint seems to peel off from the walls and the door in my room even had a long crack on the panels. For one split second, I thought Jack Nicholson would appear, hack the door with an axe and then stick his face screaming "Heeeere's JOHNNY!"

Well we decided it was too late to change venue, so we mustered up all the courage to spend the night at the backpacker. When we woke up, we realised somebody have rummaged through our pile of food placed in the kitchen. Thankfully, we only lost a couple of hard-boiled eggs.

We had our breakfast hastily and checked out as quickly as we can. We walked around admiring the buildings in the city and stay there until midday. Dunedin is a very beautiful city and filled with architecture masterpieces. I managed to check out a few cute guys at the railway station.

The city is also famed for the Cadbury Chocolate Factory as well as Otago University (where the unruly and drunk university students staged a riot earlier this year). The university is situated right in the heart of the city and it blended so well with the rest of the buildings that you hardly notice that you are walking in the campus ground.

By the time we wanted to leave for Twizel, one of the annoying co-driver decided to visit the Otago Peninsula at last minute. We had no choice but to grudgingly sit in the van as he drove us. At first, he wanted to see the haunted Larnach Castle but when we reached the entrance, we were told to pay NZD 20 per head. The cheapskate co-driver decided it was not worth it and we turned back.

Then he irritated us by insisting on driving down the one lane gravel road to the other side of the peninsula because he wanted to watch seals and penguins. When we reached the entrance of the reserve, we discovered that we had to walk 45 minutes to the beach to view the animals. So again, the plan was dropped. Had other travel companions not restraint me, I would have strangled him on the spot.

We finally left Dunedin after 3 pm, almost 2 hours later from the original schedule all because we wasted so much time driving around in the peninsula for nothing. We thought we would head straight to Twizel, but our annoying co-driver has other plans…