Monday, February 05, 2007
Trip Recap - Best of the Best
Let's recap shall we? So, I saw some stuff, some good, some mindblowing, some meh. I'm going to focus on the middle of those three for anyone who might be thinking about doing some travelling.
Australia
Mostly everyone knows this country is a natural wonder, but the details get hazy beyond a bigass red rock and the Great Barrier Reef. For me, Fraser Island was the highlight of Australia. It is the world's biggest sand island and it is an astonishing wonder of diversity. While that sounds a little pretentious, I can think of no other way to describe it. This island floored me. Dune, lakes, beaches, birds, dingos, reptiles, wild horses, a shipwreck, a giant lookout rock, desert, dry forest, rain forest, this island has it all. You. Must. Go.
Cape Tribulation seems to get very little mention next to Cairns and it's little sister Port Douglas, but I can think of no other area I'd like to spend time but where the rainforest meets the reef. Cape Trib Beach House was a great place to stay too. It is right at the northern end of the Cape Trib road, and smack on the beach with supernice staff.
The Great Ocean Road. Simply fantastic. It lived up to my wildest expectations, and let me tell you, my expectations can get outta hand at times.
Tasmania. A total sleeper, this one caught me by surprise and I only saw a tiny bit of it. The hiking in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park was easy and I was amazed that such short trails could yield superb views. Hobart is also a great town, especially on Saturdays when the Salamanca Market is on, probably the best market I saw on the whole trip.
New Zealand
Akaroa is an exitinct volcano just outside of Christchurch and home to some of the coolest dolphins I saw on the entire trip - Hector's dolphin. They are very small and super friendly. Of all the swin-with-the-dolphin tours I could have taken (no,I didn't take any), I wished I had taken the swim option with these little buggers.
Fiordland National Park gets a ton of tourists for a reason. I wasn't able to do any of the massive tramps due to my bum knee, but the fiords and the piece of the Kepler Track that I was able to do were stunning.
Abel Tasman. Holy wow. I was blessed with some amazing weather for two days on this track. I could live in this park. Unlike other parts of New Zealand, this section of the south island is very warm and has some great beaches. The Tasman Sea was still brutally cold when I was there, but by late summer this would be the perfect place to kill a week. Just to the east, Nelson is a really nice town to set down in for a few days as well.
Tongariro, simply the best hike I did on the entire trip. I was a mess once it was over, but the stunning view of the Emerald Lakes and Blue Lakes that hit me as I came over the crest of the mountain was worth double the beating my legs took.
Vietnam
The pagodas in Cholon, just outside Saigon were a great example of Chinese influence in Vietnam that are relatively untouched by tourists and still being used regularly as places of worship.
For a smooth saltwater cruise, Halong Bay is where it is at. This place crawls with tourists, yet somehow when I was on the boat it seemed extremely serene. If you plan on doing a trip out here, plan at least one night on a boat. They anchor down in between the islands near Cat Ba, and you can have drinks on the upper deck under the stars.
The Mekong Delta starts just two hours south of Saigon and runs until the southern tip of Vietnam. The way in which the Mekong has fanned out has distributed water and nutrients over a wide area in southern Vietnam. The result? Superlush farms yielding tons of produce that is then sold in floating markets. Cool.
Lao
I've said it already but it is worth repeating. I heart Lao. This country is so relaxed and pristine compared to Vietnam, so it was a great place to escape to.
Two places at either ends of the country, but similar in habitation and attraction were Muang Ngoi Neua in the north and Si Phan Don in the south (shown above in the same order). These places are generally in remote-ish locations, on a river with dirt cheap accomodation and stunning environment. In short, backpacker paradise when you need a break from sightseeing. Muang Ngoi Neua really did it for me since I was able to swim there, while Si Phan Don is on the Mekong and it is really starting to get a bit nas-tay at that point.
Cambodia
The Temples of Angkor. Huge, numerous and impressive, it is a task to see them all, but it is worth seeing the gems over a couple days. I ran into some holier-than-thou tourists who seemed insulted that I was templed out after two days, but I was dammit. It's a lot and when the heat gets cranking at around 1pm, you'll need to head for shelter. All in all though, a very interesting area to visit.
Right, that's it. I start work tomorrow, and my boss doesn't know it yet, but I think I forgot half of what I do for a living. I'll fake it until I have enough saved for the next trip.
Australia
Mostly everyone knows this country is a natural wonder, but the details get hazy beyond a bigass red rock and the Great Barrier Reef. For me, Fraser Island was the highlight of Australia. It is the world's biggest sand island and it is an astonishing wonder of diversity. While that sounds a little pretentious, I can think of no other way to describe it. This island floored me. Dune, lakes, beaches, birds, dingos, reptiles, wild horses, a shipwreck, a giant lookout rock, desert, dry forest, rain forest, this island has it all. You. Must. Go.
Cape Tribulation seems to get very little mention next to Cairns and it's little sister Port Douglas, but I can think of no other area I'd like to spend time but where the rainforest meets the reef. Cape Trib Beach House was a great place to stay too. It is right at the northern end of the Cape Trib road, and smack on the beach with supernice staff.
The Great Ocean Road. Simply fantastic. It lived up to my wildest expectations, and let me tell you, my expectations can get outta hand at times.
Tasmania. A total sleeper, this one caught me by surprise and I only saw a tiny bit of it. The hiking in Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park was easy and I was amazed that such short trails could yield superb views. Hobart is also a great town, especially on Saturdays when the Salamanca Market is on, probably the best market I saw on the whole trip.
New Zealand
Akaroa is an exitinct volcano just outside of Christchurch and home to some of the coolest dolphins I saw on the entire trip - Hector's dolphin. They are very small and super friendly. Of all the swin-with-the-dolphin tours I could have taken (no,I didn't take any), I wished I had taken the swim option with these little buggers.
Fiordland National Park gets a ton of tourists for a reason. I wasn't able to do any of the massive tramps due to my bum knee, but the fiords and the piece of the Kepler Track that I was able to do were stunning.
Abel Tasman. Holy wow. I was blessed with some amazing weather for two days on this track. I could live in this park. Unlike other parts of New Zealand, this section of the south island is very warm and has some great beaches. The Tasman Sea was still brutally cold when I was there, but by late summer this would be the perfect place to kill a week. Just to the east, Nelson is a really nice town to set down in for a few days as well.
Tongariro, simply the best hike I did on the entire trip. I was a mess once it was over, but the stunning view of the Emerald Lakes and Blue Lakes that hit me as I came over the crest of the mountain was worth double the beating my legs took.
Vietnam
The pagodas in Cholon, just outside Saigon were a great example of Chinese influence in Vietnam that are relatively untouched by tourists and still being used regularly as places of worship.
For a smooth saltwater cruise, Halong Bay is where it is at. This place crawls with tourists, yet somehow when I was on the boat it seemed extremely serene. If you plan on doing a trip out here, plan at least one night on a boat. They anchor down in between the islands near Cat Ba, and you can have drinks on the upper deck under the stars.
The Mekong Delta starts just two hours south of Saigon and runs until the southern tip of Vietnam. The way in which the Mekong has fanned out has distributed water and nutrients over a wide area in southern Vietnam. The result? Superlush farms yielding tons of produce that is then sold in floating markets. Cool.
Lao
I've said it already but it is worth repeating. I heart Lao. This country is so relaxed and pristine compared to Vietnam, so it was a great place to escape to.
Two places at either ends of the country, but similar in habitation and attraction were Muang Ngoi Neua in the north and Si Phan Don in the south (shown above in the same order). These places are generally in remote-ish locations, on a river with dirt cheap accomodation and stunning environment. In short, backpacker paradise when you need a break from sightseeing. Muang Ngoi Neua really did it for me since I was able to swim there, while Si Phan Don is on the Mekong and it is really starting to get a bit nas-tay at that point.
Cambodia
The Temples of Angkor. Huge, numerous and impressive, it is a task to see them all, but it is worth seeing the gems over a couple days. I ran into some holier-than-thou tourists who seemed insulted that I was templed out after two days, but I was dammit. It's a lot and when the heat gets cranking at around 1pm, you'll need to head for shelter. All in all though, a very interesting area to visit.
Right, that's it. I start work tomorrow, and my boss doesn't know it yet, but I think I forgot half of what I do for a living. I'll fake it until I have enough saved for the next trip.
