GG Arrives in Turkey!

All of the excitement and anticipation about my mother’s arrival came to an end when she arrived at the Izmir airport on Tuesday. We’d been talking with her about coming for a few months and the time was finally right. She was a real trooper and traveler, flying three legs; from Denver to Atlanta, Atlanta to Munich and then Munich to Izmir. Twenty four hours after leaving her house in Colorado Springs she arrived in Turkey, more than a bit tired. Then, as GG (Grandma Gail), she had to listen attentively to the many, many stories that Jack and Eliot were dying to share with her on the way home from the airport.

Yes, this is GG of WGGSH or Would GG Stay Here? from the Where We Stayed section of the blog. We now are putting that question to her directly, not raising the level of accommodations while she is here, instead having her dovetail into our travels as another one of our group. After three days I can say that she fits in very well and acts as though she’s been traveling with us the whole way.

Ainsley asked her to pen an entry on the blog and she will do so before she departs, so for now I’ll just post a bunch of photos from her first few days and will leave more of the story for her to tell.

We get up at 6 AM tomorrow to catch the dolmus (small bus) to Kusadasi from where we will take the ferry to the Greek Island of Samos. So, we only have a few more hours left in Turkey and then we get on our first ferry since our fated ferry back in Thailand.

Where are you from?

(Voting in the 08 Presidential election in Lima, Peru)

Where are you from? This is a question we have heard frequently over the last eight months. One might think that it is an easy question to answer, but it takes us a few times in each country to figure out how to answer. It turns out that saying “the United States” in most countries is greeted with a blank, questioning stare. No, most people don’t know our country as the United States. The correct, or most understandable, answer ends up being “America.” No, we don’t really live in America. America technically includes Canada and Mexico. North America that is. What about people living in Central America and South America? Aren’t they from America too? Well if you’ve ever heard that famous song “I’m proud to be an American” by Lee Greenwood, which I was sentenced to hear over and over again at the Naval Academy, perhaps it is common knowledge that we are American and thus must be from America. Well, at least that’s how we answer most of the time, but we still try with United States on occasion because it just seems right.

Some people guess where we are from before we even answer or before they hear our voices and accents. Often they think we are from France, Canada, New Zealand, or Australia. One time while walking along the river in Phnom Penh we were mistaken for being from England. A couple saw us walking as a family and said to each other that we surely must be from England because it was highly unlikely that an American family with children would be in Cambodia. It then turned out that they were from Chapel Hill. Go figure! Another time in India the questioner could hardly believe that Kelli was telling the truth. The woman said that Kelli must be from Australia because everyone from the US is fat?!?

The responses to our nationality have changed quite a bit over the last eight months. Initially in South America, before the presidential election, after hearing we were from the US we were greeted with a very quiet, meek “Obama?” People were eager to know our political leanings, but cautious about offending us. Upon hearing of our support for his candidacy a smile would break out upon their face or a thumbs up would result or even a high five would happen. Many people we met knew quite a bit about US politics and the upcoming election. They made it clear that election day in November 08 was not just for us; it was an election for the world.

Now the response we get is an immediate and enthusiastic “Obama!”, especially here in Turkey. President Obama visited Turkey a few weeks before our arrival and left a lasting and positive impression on this country. We spend a few minutes talking about him, the US, the economic crisis, etc. and many people volunteer that he is not just our president he is also the world’s president. The other day a cook sitting on the step outside of his little restaurant, one where we ate earlier, asked me the question as I walked by. “Where are you from?” I answered America and a quick smile came across his face. He and the woman next to him practically said in unison, “Barack Obama!” I repeated it back to them. Then he corrected me and said “Barack Hussein Obama!” I repeated his full name this time and then he gave me a high five. Turkey is somewhere around 99% Muslim and I couldn’t help but think that President Obama’s diverse background, and yes his full name, create connections with people all over the world in new ways. It seems that our damaged reputation is in the very early stages of repair. I can’t help but think that our reception would have been very different had we been traveling a few years ago.

Turkey

Centuries and centuries of history.

People who love children.

Baklava to die for.

Chewy ice cream.

Crowds of people and many tourists.

Great food.

Incredible cave dwellings and churches.

Water everywhere.

These are some things that come to mind as we think about our first 2 weeks in Turkey.

Our return to a more “foreign” country after the more familiar surroundings of New Zealand and Australia was a welcome change. Most everyone was ready for something new. Ainsley remarked along the way that we needed to have a few more “challenging” countries before we visit with friends in Rome and Switzerland and then return home.

We landed in Istanbul after a grueling 27 hours of travel from Australia, but the transition thankfully was easier than expected. Our 7 PM arrival was well timed for us to go to bed and wake up the next morning after a full night of sleep. Yes, we were still a bit tired for a few days, but never really experienced any jet lag. What a nice surprise!

Istanbul ended up occupying a full week of our Turkey time, with so many historic and wonderful sites to visit and much history to learn. They say it is the crossroads for Europe and Asia. For me it didn’t have distinct characteristics of either, instead forming a real personality of its own, and what a wonderful one it is. Water, water everywhere. People, people everywhere. History, history everywhere. We found it an easy city to navigate and it supplied seemingly endless magical historical sights to see. An underground cistern built in the 6th century (Basilica Cistern), a church converted to a mosque from 532 AD (Hagia Sophia), and a mosque of stunning architecture and scale (Blue Mosque) all within blocks of our hostel.

We had a really fun day meeting Berrin and her family, the sister of our good friend Murat from Durham . We met them in Ortakoy, up the Bosphorus a bit, and continued on to the park where Murat and Leslie were married years ago. Again, spending time with friends and others from the local area has always proven to be the best for us.

We also found our hostel to be a real surprise. Our dorm room, shared with up to 5 other travelers, was probably the cheapest beds in the area, unremarkable and actually a bit cave like. Or, maybe I’m describing the one shower and toilet in the basement that I think may really have been a cave. However, what was great was the genuine hospitality and sharing of the young owner Mehtin and his staff. We cooked a fish dinner together one evening and during our stay he shared many insights and perspectives into Turkey and what it means to come from a Kurdish background. He really loved the kids too and made them feel truly welcome and wanted. They got a lot of attention!

The star treatment of our children continued well past the hostel into the streets of Istanbul. Eliot was hugged, his head rubbed or given free food and treats at almost every turn. We laughed each time as he was showered with attention and free things. He came to like the attention and did his best to look cute and attention worthy.

The streets were constantly crowded with people, not quite India standards, but busy seemingly all the time. Locals moving around and countless tour buses descending upon sites. And this isn’t even peak tourist season yet?! Men playing Turkish backgammon in side streets or cards in tea houses, thousands shuffling on and off ferries and cars ignoring traffic laws. What did the green cross walk signal mean? Watch out! We found that out day one.

Our only disappointment in Istanbul was the food. We had a really good meal our first day and then struggled to find more throughout our stay, sentenced to tourist restaurants and middling local ones. The baklava however is something that may haunt us for years to come. We went twice to the famous one in all of the guide books and then a few days before we left found Konyali, the one that Leslie recommended. We still joke about how we are going to end up going through Istanbul before we leave Turkey so that we can go there one last time. It probably won’t happen that way and our taste buds are saddened.

We left Istanbul on the night bus and entered the web of a finely tuned Turkish bus system. Bus travel here is a very common way of traversing the country and they seem to do it very well. Ticket prices are reasonable, buses are of a recent vintage and the roads (at least in the Western part of the country) are fairly well maintained. So, a night bus sounded pretty good. That would have held true if the bus were of the South American variety where they have fully reclining seats and if the bus came with a toilet. Funny, but they don’t have toilets on the buses here. Instead they stop every two hours or so for a bathroom and snack break, even in the middle of the night. So for the 12 hour ride from Istanbul to Cappadocia we stopped every two hours and sat in seats that reclined a few inches at best. Jack and Eliot took to the floor and gave Kelli and Ainsley a bit more room. We arrived in varying states of rest, although safely and on time.

Our three days in Cappadocia were filled with walking through magical and mystical valleys carved over time out of volcanic rock of varying density. Ancient civilizations built homes, churches and entire villages by carving out the rocks. They also built underground cities for thousands to hide from would be conquerers. The scenery from afar looked a bit like some of the Western US, but the hundreds of years old frescoes in cut out churches and other features were unique and fascinating.

We also took an opportunity to experience a Turkish Bath at the local Goreme Hamam (bath house). Interesting to experience and then compare to the Japanese hot bath and Thai massage approaches. It was both a fun and funny experience. We did it as a family and in a co-ed Hamam. We asked about the appropriate attire in advance and were informed that we did not need any bathing suits. These days Eliot is quite private and guarded when it comes to being exposed, but he went ahead without much protest. We arrived in the bath area to find that nearly everyone had bathing suits on underneath their turkish towels. Looking around a bit more it became clear that all of the tourists had them on and none of the Turkish did. So, without any on ourselves we felt just a bit more local.

We left Cappadocia on a bus, just as we had arrived. This time we opted for the day bus, departing at 8 AM. Eight or nine hours later we arrived at Egirdir, a small town on a lake of the same name. The lake is the fourth largest in Turkey and besides natural beauty and a Commando School offers very little in the way of standard tourist trappings. We were there well ahead of the tourist season, probably dominated by Turkish tourists, and enjoyed a quiet and sleepy town for two days. This stop broke up our trip towards Kas on the Mediterranean coast where we are at the moment. We rented a small apartment here for a week and are excited that GG is planning to join us when we head to Ephesus next and then on to Greece. That’s all for now.

Last of New Zealand and brief stop in Melbourne

Before we get completely entrenched in all things Turkish, we need to catch up on the remainder of our stay in New Zealand and our brief but relaxing stay in Melbourne, Australia. We left off having just driven up the west coast of New Zealand, past the glaciers and pancake rocks on our way to the Abel Tasman Track. This is another of the great walks in New Zealand. It is along the coast near Nelson on the very northern part of the south island. The terrain is very different from the alpine tracks we had done thus far.

We stayed in Marahua at Old Macdonald’s Farm (see Where We Stayed) for two nights before setting out on the water taxi to the most northern stretch of the track. We were only able to get hut reservations going from the north to the south (many people track south to north). In the end this was great because there are places along the track that must be crossed within a certain number of hours of low tide, and these times were in the very early morning or afternoon. With the biggest estuary crossing on the north side of one of the huts, it was perfect timing after a day of hiking to pull in the afternoon and cross. Folks who had spent the night and were walking north had to be out of the hut by 5:30am to cross the estuary! That would be impossible with our crew of hikers.

It was on our first day of the Abel Tasman that we walked to Seperation Point and were inspired to swim with some fur seals. Please read Jack’s latest blog if you have not done so already to hear all about this adventure. It was awesome. The views along the track are beautiful, with gorgeous sand beaches and gentle walks through the coastal woods.

Our favorite hut on the track was the Wharwharangi Hut our first night. It is an old converted farm house, small and cozy, and not crowded. Compare that with our last night at the Bark’s Bay hut, which had many cramped bunks and was completely full. In between we stayed at the Awaroa Hut where we met the greatest guy, Julian, from England. He is 19 years old, will attend Oxford next year, and he was just the nicest young man ever. So great with the kids and fun to hike with. We celebrated Ainsley’s 13th birthday at Bark’s Bay and left the next morning on a water taxi back to town. As a group, we were a bit weary of tramping and with dwindling time in New Zealand we felt we should move on a bit more quickly. All in all, we loved our last days of tramping but on the whole, we preferred the mountain hiking to the coastal hiking.

We left Abel Tasman and drove to Hanmer Springs, a stop on our way back to Christchurch, to spend the day at the hot pools and kid slides (well Kelli seemed to like them a lot too) as a bit of a birthday celebration for Jack and Ainsley. We spent three more nights in Christchurch with the ever gracious Nicky and Graeme and finally made it out to Taylor’s Mistake, a beach and peninsula between Christchurch and Littleton which houses a few relics from World War II defenses. We even had time to venture to the Antarctic Center, made all the more special because of Mary Brown, our friend from the Banks Track who had deployed to and from Antarctica, as a great many people do, through the Christchurch operations center.

A short flight to Auckland for our 5 days on the north island, starting with the Coromandel Peninsula. We went to Hot Water Beach and built our own hot tub from scalding water that bubbles up from the sand, at low tide only, on a small section of a gorgeous beach on the east coast. We have been to many beaches in our lives, but to feel this super heated water coming from under the sand was very strange and fascinating. We spent one day at Cathedral Cove as well, another beautiful beach and the site of some scenes from the movie Prince Caspian, a hit with the kids. The pictures do not do it justice. This rock formation was truly awesome.

We left the Coromandel and drove to Rotorua to bear witness to yet more of the earth’s mysteries. Here we saw bubbling mud and steaming lakes, testament to New Zealand’s prime real estate on the Pacific ring of fire. While we were in Rotorua, we also attended a traditional Maori show and surprisingly good dinner cooked on the hangi.  Now Jack and Eliot love to punch their chests in an attempt to do the haka. We spent only one night and a shortened day in Auckland, enough time to purchase Jack a much-needed new pair of crocs and take in the view of Auckland from atop Mt. Eden. Off to Melbourne.

We enjoyed our stay in the lovely Brooklyn Arts Hotel in the Fitzroy neighborhood of Melbourne, a city with more cafes than you can imagine. As with most of our stays, those we have enjoyed the most include a gracious, present owner, and Maggie at Brooklyn Arts was among the most lovely we have met. She even let us borrow her car for our trip out to Healesville Sanctuary, an animal sanctuary about 60 kms outside of Melbourne. We saw everything from duck-billed platypus to koalas to dingos, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, achidnas and our personal favorite, Beatrice the black breasted buzzard (check her out at you tube – she is incredible!). Brooklyn Arts also is where we spent our Easter, complete with an easter egg hunt courtesy of the Easter Bunny, and an Easter dinner shared with Maggie on the night of our flight out.

Six days in Melbourne allowed us to relax a bit and plan our onward journey through Turkey. We spent a lot of time picnicking in some of Melbourne’s lovely parks, Kelli and Jack went to see Wicked (fabulous), John and the kids went to the very cool Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center (you guessed it, Kelli had an afternoon to herself), and we all took in an Aussie Rules Football game, affectionately called “footie,” at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds), a stadium which holds over 100,000 people. We even managed to spend a day in St.Kilda, a city beach neighborhood with tons of cafes and shops and a great pier.

We loved our time spent in New Zealand and Australia, but we were all itching a bit for something different and new. To Istanbul we went, on a 27 hour travel day leaving our hotel in Melbourne at 12:30am! 14 hours to Dubai, 3 hour layover, and 4 more hours to Istanbul to finally arrive at our modest hostel at about 7pm, perfect time to settle in and go right to sleep. No jet lag even! Next post, Istanbul.

Kinloch and beyond to the West Coast

We returned to Kinloch Lodge (our absolute favorite hostel in New Zealand) for two nights after the Greenstone to wash clothes, have a good dinner at their restaurant, recharge a bit and so that Ainsley could use Uncle JB’s christmas gift to go canyoning. Queenstown was next for one more night, and Eliot’s opportunity to go paragliding, and then we moved on to Lake Wanaka and up the West Coast to see the pancake rocks and glaciers. As we’ve said a thousand times to other travelers we hated leaving Kinloch, the Routeburn and Greenstone tracks behind. If we had spent all of our time in New Zealand there it would have been fine. But, the pull of new natural wonders, sights and the Abel Tasman track succeeded in pulling us away.

Catching Up - Greenstone Track

We are now in Melbourne, Australia (Monday April 7th) after a sad departure from New Zealand, a country that we all loved. Our stay here will be just short of a week before we leave for Istanbul, Turkey on the 13th. Postings have been sparse during our time in New Zealand and now that we have good access to wifi in Melbourne, we’ll catch up a bit. Rather than putting all into one big mess of a post we’ll do a number of smaller ones in chronological order and corresponding dates.

First, some foreshadowing of future events from the topic and backdating of this post.

The end of March brought two special birthdays for our family and marked the first time that Ainsley and Jack celebrated in the fall. We were at the Bark Bay hut along the Abel Tasman Track on the South Island for Ainsley’s 13th birthday, complete with two kinds of freeze dried deserts (yum?). Hard to believe that Ainsley is a teenager! She is growing up so fast on the one hand yet still retains so many great attributes from her younger years.

After a special stop at the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools, we returned one last time to Nicky and Graeme’s in Christchurch where we celebrated Jack’s birthday. Eleven!! His choice for desert was Hokey Pokey ice cream, a New Zealand specialty and his new favorite. Think of hardened caramel or toffee. Add to that Jack’s love of dulce de leche from Argentina and you may detect a pattern.

From Christchurch we left for a short stay on the North Island. Everyone was really quite sad to leave. We loved the South Island a lot and no one in the family wanted to go. It was such a peaceful and beautiful place; no highways to speak of, few shopping malls, no crowds of people, mostly unspoiled vistas of beautiful mountains, valleys and coastlines. Too bad we didn’t figure out a way to stay for good!

Now, back in time to our hike on the Greenstone Track that we started on March 13th. Because the Routeburn Track is not circular and the road distance from one end to the other is more than 350km, our original plan was to hike the Routeburn, see Milford Sound, then hike back to Kinloch Lodge via the Greenstone. However, the weather took a turn for the worse, with rain, hail and even snow at fairly low altitudes, so we changed our plans a bit and played it safe.  After two nights in Milford Sound, a long journey via bus to Kinloch, and better weather in the forecast, we decided to hike the Greenstone.

The Greenstone has a reputation as much less dramatic and not quite as beautiful track as the Routeburn.  It lies mostly in a river valley with no sub alpine sections so no amazing views of the mountain ranges like the Routeburn. Even so, as you’ll see in the pictures, the valley was incredibly beautiful, the weather was perfect, the huts were lovely and the Greenstone was much less crowded than the Routeburn.  We spent four gorgeous days walking together, eating lunches with fantastic views, crossing streams, and truly enjoying one another’s company.  It was a magic time for us and became one of our favorite hikes.  I guess having had perfect weather helped.

Routeburn Track

First off, Kelli and I have been so impressed by how well the kids are hiking and how much they enjoy it. So far, we’ve spent 10 days or so on three different hikes totaling just over 120km in distance (approx. 75 miles). Three of the days were in cold rainy conditions with the other days in mostly sunny and really perfect hiking weather. Eliot has turned out to be quite a good and happy little hiker. He rarely complains, save for an occasional “I’m hungry, what do we have to eat?!” and mostly just ambles along, singing, jumping across the rocks and walking like a monkey on occasion. Ainsley and Jack both carry backpacks, complete with sleeping bags, their clothing, water and their share of the food. Ainsley hikes at quite a good clip, excellent company for Kelli who prefers to keep a fast pace. Jack is usually frustrated, feeling that the hikes are too easy (although a few days have challenged him) and plotting how to find to a more difficult route. But, at the end of a long day of hiking everyone is a bit tuckered out and happy to see the next hut and dinner.

The Routeburn Track was our first Department of Conservation (DOC) hike in New Zealand, after warming up about a week earlier with the private (and bed and shower included) Banks Peninsula Track. It is one of the nine Great Walks in New Zealand, located in Mt Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks on the South Island. While not quite as well known as the Milford Track many people say that it is equally beautiful and better in some respects.

As we started out on the Routeburn on a nice sunny day we thought of Marybeth and her good friend Mary Margaret who hiked this track some 27 years ago. They both loved it and Marybeth spoke fondly of the hike, rain (that is a given) and natural beauty along the way. Marybeth made special mention of a particularly magical forest and that we would know when we were there. We sure did and made a special video at the bottom of this post.

The first day started off perfectly in sunny weather as we reacquired our hiking legs and pulled and jostled at all of the adjustments on our backpacks. This time we were carrying in all of our food and we didn’t want to run out. The kids are eating more these days and eat even more after a good days walk. The hike followed the Routeburn up the valley for about 3 hours until it reached an open area just below the falls. Mountains were all around us as we stopped by the clear river for a much needed lunch, soaking in the scene. The rest of the day included a modest climb up towards the falls and the Routeburn Falls Hut. Surely the 48 bunk hut, complete with amazing views of the valley, is quite different from the one on Marybeth’s hike. So too I’m sure is the guided walker’s hut complete with couches, wine and prepared meals. All supplies for them are helicoptered in, same for the building materials for the new and more deluxe hut under construction. It was a bit strange to be out in nature and hear a helicopter arrive and smell restaurant style breakfast cooking in the morning. Here are some pictures from that first day.

The forecast called for worsening conditions the next day, so we took advantage of the good weather and went on a second hike after settling into the hut. We climbed a ways up the trail that we would follow the next day and then diverged to reach a small summit overlooking the hut and the valley from a more prominent viewpoint. Just an hour and a half of walking or so, but as you will see below little Eliot was tuckered out. We enjoyed the views, the kids played on some of the little islands in ponds along the way and then we retreated to the hut to cook our pasta and get to bed.

The view upon awakening the next morning sent very mixed signals. Mist and clouds shrouded most of the valley with occasional sun popping out. The sun provided what ended up being completely false hope for a pleasant day of walking. We were really hoping because most of the six hour day would be in what they call sub-alpine territory. Above the tree line, but below the snow. This meant that we would be out of the trees and exposed to all of the weather elements of the day.

John the hut warden took special interest in us because of the kids and gave us some extra food (crackers and instant miso soup) that was left behind by previous hikers along with some plastic ponchos. Waterproof jackets go only so far, eventually getting saturated in heavy rain. No matter what, we were in for a wet and cold day.

We stopped at the one emergency shelter at the top of the Harris Saddle to warm up and eat our lunch out of the elements. No hopes of drying, just getting a bit warmer, eating and resting for a bit. After that we headed back out into the rain for the remaining four hours or so and the windiest part of the day. Kelli and Ainsley started at a pretty good clip and I played my “sweeper” role with the boys. The trail was really just one flowing stream of water and once we gave up hope of keeping our feet the least bit dry it was easier to move at a faster pace. I gave this up at one point when I fell in a bit while helping Eliot across one particularly raging section. The wind also picked up as expected, providing Ainsley and Kelli with a few scary moments along the edge of the trail as they held onto each other. Jack and I, with our packs as small sails, felt the wind a bit, but Eliot was immune as his figure provided very little for the wind to blow.

We trudged on towards the McKenzie hut as everyone grew a bit colder. Kelli and Ainsley were now completely out of view and Jack had a growing urgency to use the bathroom. The rain and exposure caused him to continue to hold things and it became more difficult for him to progress. About an hour out of the hut I took his pack and he labored on. Eliot, was tired and cold, but progressed well. At one point the sun came out briefly and we spotted a rainbow. It was a good sign. A bit later we finally viewed the hut off in the distance across the valley, at the end of another rainbow. That picked all of our spirits up a bit, although it was still quite a ways away. We finally started down in earnest on the switchbacks and we picked up the pace just a bit. Then, we entered the most beautiful forest and immediately recognized it as the one Marybeth had mentioned. Too bad that we really couldn’t enjoy it much as we just wanted to reach the hut.

Finally, Jack, Eliot and I arrived at the hut. Kelli was quite relieved as our arrival was a good hour and 15 minutes after theirs. They were beginning to grow a bit concerned, but not ready to send out a search party yet:-) We were greeted at the hut by two Australian families with two young children and new playmates for Jack and Eliot.

So, day 2 of hiking ended. The Harris Saddle and rain proved to be just about all everyone could handle. The kids really dug deep and persevered on a great challenge. They all felt quite a sense of accomplishment.

(Thanks GG for the waterproof camera that allowed us to take all of the photos in the rain.)

The final day brought more rain and much stronger winds. The two families that were headed in the opposite direction opted not go over the saddle based on our experience and the worsening weather. (A good choice in our opinions)

The hike out to The Divide was only a bit longer than four hours and while we were wet the trees afforded some level of protection from the weather. We enjoyed the beautiful forest a bit more leaving the hut and were awed by the number of waterfalls tumbling down the mountainside and the force of water at one spot in particular. We opted for the emergency flood bridge (rather than walking through it) at that one and unfortunately Kelli had a spill on the way down and badly jammed her thumb. Not broken, but painful nonetheless.

We arrived at the trail head around 1:30 PM for our 2 PM bus and reunited for a bit with Mary (a Quaker form the Adirondacks) who hiked the Banks Peninsula Track with us.

Here are the Day 3 pictures. We have since hiked the Greenstone Track and will post some of those pictures soon.

Here’s a quick video for Marybeth.

NZ – New Friends, Hiking, Farming, School and Rain

Here it is, our long overdue first posting from New Zealand. Yes everybody, we still are alive and well. Just too many days at places with generators, no internet access and on the trail.

Landing in New Zealand after three months in South East Asia and India felt quite a bit like going home. Suddenly, we were once again in familiar western surroundings with the added bonus of English being spoken, a first for us after 5 1/2 months in non-English speaking countries. It felt great for us all and was a wonderful place to find ourselves. Our first meal out was to a local fish n chips shop where we were served the most amazing massive pile of perfectly breaded and fried fish with crisp chips all on large sheets of paper. It tasted even better than it looked and Eliot exclaimed “This tastes better than ice cream,” the days of dal, naan, pad thai and thrice daily french toast behind him.

Ainsley did a huge amount of the planning for our first few weeks in NZ, so we were very prepared. We spent the first two nights in jail, literally. Well, in The Jailhouse Accommodations, a former jail that was converted to a hostel sometime after 1999, the last year it operated as a jail. This was our base for our first few days of adjusting to the time zone, a 7 1/2-hour difference from India, and exploring Christchurch in general. From there we moved onto Nikki and Graeme Adams’ house. We met them only briefly at the K’s House hostel in Hiroshima, and they graciously offered to host us when we came to New Zealand. They have two grown boys, had traveled for six months with them in Europe when they were our kids ages, and know how much it means to a travel-weary family to have a comfortable place to call home for a few days. The kids enjoyed new “old” books, Nikki’s movies, a fabulous player piano, their boy’s old lego collection, and the joys of New Zealand’s favorite, Hokey Pokey (a caramel-like homemade candy and popular ice cream flavor). Nikki, Kelli and Ainsley watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice into the late hours many nights. Graeme and Nikki shared their tramping experiences, recommendations, and even some gear to get us fully outfitted for the upcoming Routeburn Track. I celebrated my birthday during our second stay with them, and Kelli prepared “Gabriel’s Chicken,” an all time family favorite, and a birthday pound cake with berries and cream for “pudding.” Believe me, everyone loved having a familiar homemade meal and Kelli liked having a kitchen to work in. What wonderful hosts and nice new friends they have become for us. We are extremely appreciative of their kindness and generosity. We didn’t take a lot of pictures. Here are a few, but we’ll be back and plan to take a few more. The view of Christchurch from their deck is beautiful and we’ll capture Graeme too.

We also met Billy O’Steen and his family in nearby Sumner, a beautiful, sleepy little beach town a whopping 8 km from center Christchurch (people here say it is so far out of town how can you live there?). Ainsley and Jack went to The Sumner School for a day and later went swimming, and we all enjoyed a “Sausage Sizzle” (NZ barbecue) at Billy’s house. Billy was previously a professor at NC State where he taught Matthew Ross, one of Ainsley’s favorite teachers at Friends School, and worked with the Head Teachers of the middle school. Renee, the current Head, visited with Billy and The Sumner School a number of weeks prior to our visit and plans are underway for a joint service project of some kind between the two schools. What fun it was to go to school again and see what life is like for a young American family in New Zealand.

After Christchurch we headed east and south to the Banks Peninsula and The Purple Peak Retreat for five days with sun and surfing in mind. If not for the daily rain and biting cold, it was a perfect plan. Thankfully, even in the rain the Banks Peninsula is a stunning visual landscape. We made the most of our time though, returning to Christchurch one particularly rainy day, spending time at the Akaroa library (books in English!) and finding other means of entertainment while we waited for a break in the rain. The sun finally came near the end of our stay and we headed out to Raupo Bay with wet suits and boards in hand. Surfing always looks so easy, but rest assured that standing up on that tippy board is much harder than it looks. (Not all of us can be like Eric Poncelet after all!) Everyone but Eliot gave it a whirl with varied results. Jack got the prize for the best surfer in the family, standing up and actually surfing a number of times. He had glee in his eyes and a huge smile on his face the entire time.

Our next adventure was on the much anticipated Banks Peninsula Track. Unlike the DOC (Department of Conservation) Routeburn Track, the BP Track covers primarily privately owned farmland and is offered by a small group of farm families interested in opening up their land for limited recreational use and to diversify their income. A maximum of 16 hikers start each day and stay in lovely and unique farm houses/cottages along the way. Fresh fruits, vegetables, steak, lamb, beer, wine and yes chocolate are available to purchase at two of the cottages so packing in four days of food isn’t required. I referred to this as “hiking on training wheels” which was a great way to get our legs moving again and prepare for the more serious Routeburn Track.

The first day entailed a hike into Akaroa from Purple Peak and then a bus ride to our first night accommodations at the Onuku Farm. The farm overlooked the Akaroa harbor and included a number of stargazer huts, basically wooden lean twos with plexiglass directly above your head. Jack and I snapped one up and enjoyed the stars on an extremely clear night. We got to know a few of our fellow travelers and also learned about Adrenalin Forest, a high ropes course that we would do on our next trip to Christchurch.

The first day of real hiking began the next day with a constant climb up to the Trig GG summit. Yes, we all talked about GG at the top, but not for long as we hiked most of the day in a cold rain with a strong wind as an extra bonus. Mick, one of our new hiking friends from England, saved the day for Kelli with a cup of tea at the halfway shelter. The remainder of the hike was mostly downhill and entered a more protected, forested ravine section full or waterfalls and extraordianry plants before we arrived at Flea Bay fully soaked. The wood fire and lots of room to hang clothing, along with a good hot meal, completed the day. A great one, even in the cold rain. Everyone was happy to be outside!

Flea Bay was a magical spot! Yet another truly beautiful bay on the peninsula complete with a great tour of their penguin conservation efforts, a sea kayak ride the next morning and an opportunity to interact with the sheep shearers in action as we set off for the second full day of hiking. We saw seals and penguins on our kayak ride and then Hector Dolphins in the bay as we climbed away from Flea Bay.

The hike from Flea Bay to Stony Bay followed the contours of the coast, climbing up and down through a few other small bays along the way. It was a very, very beautiful walk complemented by a bright, clear sunny day. We saw many young seals frolicking in the tidal surges at Seal Cave and numerous other natural wonders along the way. The hiking was relatively easy, especially compared to the previous day’s climb in the rain. We were also looking forward to our arrival at Stony Bay which veteran hikers described as magical. Mick also told Ainsley and Jack about a secret feature, which turned out to be the best tree swing they’d ever seen. In addition there were two wood fired baths, old cast iron claw foot tubs retrofitted with a wood furnace beneath them. You sat on a wooden board in the water to avoid being burned by the extremely hot surface of the tub. Jack and Eliot had a great time with their tubs. There was also a whimsical shower that took advantage of a large tree trunk for one of its walls. We had a great dinner too, from the well stocked store in the pictures below.

The last full day of hiking from Stony Bay to Otanerito Bay brought more familiar, but still stunning scenery along the coast. This day was a bit more special as we spent some time hiking with our new BP Track friends. They included Jonathon (a music professor from Christchurch, but originally from England) and his grown son, Mick (the veteran hiker of the group from England and Jack’s favorite playmate), Gemma (school teacher from England enjoying a year of travel) and Mary (fellow Quaker from the Adirondack’s returning from a 5 month stint in Antarctica!). They all made the trip even more special for us and we’re certain that we won’t enjoy the same camaraderie on the Routeburn. We did run into Mary again in Queenstown which was really fun and she is two days ahead of us on the Routeburn. After our night in Otanerito, we hiked back up to Purple Peak on our final day, again inside a shaded ravine following streams and waterfalls. Stunning all.

We spent one more night at Purple Peak Retreat after the BP Track, but as it was raining and raining hard again we decided to head back to Christchurch instead of staying on the Peninsula any longer. Back we went to Nikki and Graeme’s for my birthday dinner, the conclusion of the marathon version of Pride and Prejudice and lots of piano ‘playing’. We also spent many hours at the Adrenalin Forest, which was a ‘must see’ after the kids heard the description on the first night of the BP Track. It was great fun for all, except Eliot who was limited by his height to the first 2 of 6 levels, and Kelli, who is none too thrilled by heights. Jack and Ainsley were completely in their element and continue to this day to voice a strong desire to go back. They each, along with me, completed all 6 levels comprising over 100 different aerial pathways. The last level was more than 20 meters in the air. It was not nearly as beautiful a setting as the Flight of the Gibbon zip line we did in Thailand, but it was much more independent, more challenging and as a result more fun. Only 25% of all people complete the 6 levels, and only 1/3 of those choose to tackle the Adrenalin Max Jump, which Jack, Ainsley and I all did! So, A & J were thrilled that they are among the top 8% or so of all visitors to the forest. It was really amazing and odd considering that we didn’t even have to sign any waivers or paperwork. Gear, a bit of training and we were off on our own and on the cables. New Zealand has an interesting approach to legal liability, no wonder bungy jumping started here. Well, to the pictures now, but Kelli stopped taking them after level 2, we were getting too high for her.

Our next stop was a farm stay with the Braham family about 1 1/2 hours south of Christchurch, near the town of Ashburton. We connected with Robert, Sue and their three boys through a website called Farm Helpers in New Zealand, FHINZ for short. They provide a listing of farms throughout the country who provide room and board in exchange for 4 - 5 hours of work on the farm each day. I guess you can say that we worked for our supper during our visit with them.

They have about 80 acres of land, 9 bulls, one milk cow, 2 calfs, 20+ sheep and a number of pigs. They also raise about 400 calfs each season, but March is a quieter time on the farm. My contribution was cutting and splitting wood to prepare for the winter and help installing a new structural beam in the attic of the farm house. Kelli helped feed the pigs, cooked a bit (chocolate chip cookies) and did plenty of dishes. The kids learned a lot about farming, played with their three boys ages 8, 10 and 11 and Jack and Eliot went to school one day. We all went rabbit shooting one evening, although we hit only tree stumps much to the delight of our crew. Ainsley and Jack rode the small motor bike and we all watched with amazement as Don the dog man-handled the bulls to move them from paddock to paddock. Ainsley even said a few times that she would really like to be a farmer.

In the end the best part was how Robert and Sue welcomed us to their family and farm. We really were allowed to fit right into their daily routine, experience life on a small family farm and help out along the way. Their boys were so welcoming too, eager to see us each morning and excited to play with the kids when they got home from school. Kelli attended a rural women farmer’s group meeting where she listened to a presentation by a local veterinarian and heard planning work for the agenda for the year. At the end of the week I was a bit tired, but we were all sad to leave. Our time with the Brahams will most certainly be a highlight of our two months in New Zealand. We have another farm visit tentatively planned for the North Island time permitting.  We did take one day off from working on the farm to drive to Mt. Cook.  In fact, the lead photo for this article is from a short day hike we took on the Hooker Valley Track to the base of Mt. Cook, the top of which we never saw due to rain and clouds.  Hopefully we’ll see it when we go by later in our NZ stay.  We did love seeing glaciers again, and had many thoughts of Argentina, a similar landscape.

OK, at this point it is getting late and I’m honestly running out of steam. Not sure that I did justice in describing the farm stay, but perhaps more on that later. The pictures that follow are from our drive to Queenstown from the farm, along the East Coast of the South Island. The Moeraki Boulders are naturally formed stone honeycomb boulders just lying on a beach and in a hillside. They are quite a compelling and mysterious sight to behold. We had much fun climbing, jumping and dancing around. Enjoy these last pictures for now. Off to sleep before heading into the woods on our hike tomorrow.

Out of India

“In your country, wrong is wrong. In my country, wrong is right. The government officials come to the villages and give everyone bottles of cheap wine to get their votes and then go back to their safe houses and lives afterward. They do nothing for us.”

So said Mangu, a young twenty-something waiter in our hotel’s restaurant in Udaipur. This spoke volumes about his perspective on the corruption in the Indian government and the bleak prospects that he and many others have for the future. He was born in a village some 100km away from Udaipur and came to the city in order to make a living. A living in this case is earning 2,000 rupees per month, a sum total of little more than $40 USD. His wife and two children live in his home village and he returns by bus and foot once each month.

“They treat poor people differently here.”

This is what Eliot uttered as we walked outside the Delhi airport at 11 PM on the night of our arrival. I’m not sure he really knew how to express it, but he was a little shaken by his first experience with India. He has seen poverty during our travels, and much back home in Durham too, but hadn’t really seen it in such an “in your face” manner as he did with the many homeless people begging for a rupee as we walked to our car.

“No, I feel less safe after 26/11 than before.” “Having a nuclear missile is very important for India and shows that we are powerful.”

Our driver Kamal made these statements during the many hours we spent together shuttling from city to city. Security and India’s place amongst the great world powers is a very important subject these days, especially in India.

These were three very different, but powerful statements to me about India. I also enjoyed reading a book titled Planet India: How the Fastest Growing Democracy Is Transforming America and the World that had interesting facts and observations. Here is a quote from the book that I found to be quite a good summary.

“India is the world in microcosm. Its geography encompasses every climate, from the snowcapped Himalayas to palm-fringed beaches to deserts where nomads and camels roam. A developing country, India is divided among a tiny affluent minority, a rising middle class, and 800 million people who live on less than $2 per day. India faces all the critical problems of our time — extreme social inequality, employment insecurity, a growing energy crisis, severe water shortages, a degraded environment, global warming, a galloping HIV/AIDS epidemic, terrorist attacks, on a scale that defies the imagination.”

…..and a few more facts to consider:

UNICEF reports that 200 million malnourished children live in India, one-third of all malnourished children in the world.

70% of India’s population lives in rural areas, with 120 million farming families in India and 600,000 villages.

“My children will have a better life than me because of education.” This is another quote that we heard from many people. So, amidst really challenging economic, infrastructure and health circumstances, many people find reason to believe that the future will be better.  I suppose that they may be proven right, but so many challenges must be overcome along the way.

We are now in New Zealand as I finish this post, feeling like we’ve landed on another planet or perhaps back on our familiar planet. Had I written our second India installment during the first week, the tone and mood may in fact have been a bit bleaker, but the message of loving our visit to India would have been the same. The change from being overwhelmed at the start to settling in to a rhythm took about 1 1/2 weeks, helped mainly by smaller cities, more comfortable accommodations and just getting used to seeing so many people, animals, etc. We moved from counting the days until we left to being amazed at how many days quickly had passed.

Our mode of travel throughout India was with a car and driver, a very common and economical way for foreign tourists to see many sites. We really had mixed feelings about this choice, which while it was probably best for us, left us with some remorse along the way. Traveling this way was really like being in a bubble, separated by a barrier from the real people on the streets and in the communities. But, how much could we expect an American 7, 10 or 12 year old to handle?  No matter where our kids were they were practically accosted by the locals. Surrounded by hordes of school children, cheeks pinched by a passing woman or grabbed and squeezed by a smiling shop owner, they were constantly under observation. When stopped in traffic in a small village, people walked up to the car and with their faces mere inches from the windows proceeded to stare at them until our car moved on.  Jack in particular had a difficult time with this, and said, “I don’t stare at people who look different than me at school or back home.” We reminded the kids that while tourists are a fairly common sight in India, young tourist children are not.  There were daily lessons about respect and acceptance of  different cultures without judgment, because the norm in the United States is not always the norm around the world.

Even though there were some difficult times to our trip to India, there were many true highlights as well.

The first was our reunion in Pushkar with the Maaske family from Canada. A reunion with people you only met for about two hours may sound strange, but that is exactly what it was. We first met them in a restaurant in Arequipa, Peru, back in September when the very outgoing and dynamic Raymond said to his wife, “See that family over there, they must be traveling around the world like us.” He introduced himself and for an hour or two we enjoyed their company over lunch and a brief visit to our hostel. The kids especially enjoyed meeting each other and we have kept up with each other through our blogs and occasional emails. It was just fabulous to share our stories of world travel, both the highs and the lows, and have the kids just play together for two days straight. Here are the pictures from our visit with them.

The second real highlight came during our one night stay in Desert National Park near Jaisalmer in the far western area of Rajasthan, only about 100km from the Pakistan border. The Park encompasses part of the Great Thar Desert and provided us a small peak into desert life, complete with a spectacular night sky illuminated by some of the brightest stars you’ll ever see. When we first arrived in Khuri Village, we took a two-hour camel ride to one of the nearby sand dunes and enjoyed a really beautiful sunset. Then we returned to the huts for dinner and some local music/dancing. As was usual in India, the food was delicious, although without french toast or french fries, Eliot was at a loss for what to eat. Yes, one can survive three weeks eating those two foods almost exclusively. Eggs, potatoes and bread. Not really balanced, but it provided him some energy. We went on to Jaisalmer (Eliot called it Dalsheimer because he had a hard time pronouncing Jaisalmer) after our one night in the desert. Here are some pictures from that segment of our travels.

Now, back to our travels in a more chronological order. After arriving in Delhi we headed Southeast to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Both were beautiful, amazing and fascinating. None of those words really apply to the town of Agra which we, and it seems most travelers, could do without. The fog (smog?) we experienced in Delhi was even thicker here and really limited our visibility the second morning when we visited the Fort. We could not see the Taj Mahal across the river, but the fog provided an almost mystical quality to the fort. Pictures from this time are in our first India post.

After Agra we went further south and west to Ranthambore National Park in search of the famed Indian tiger. Sorry to say, after two extensive trips into the park we failed to see one. Many tiger prints on the road and warning calls from the Sambar Deer told us that one was nearby, but it was not to be. We did enjoy exploring the beautiful park and seeing many other different animals (peacock/hen, crocodile, king fisher, mongoose, parrot, spotted deer, monkeys among others).

Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, was next. It is a city of many millions of people and we found it to be a bit overwhelming. The Amber Fort was interesting and the food continued to be really good, but we were happy to move on to smaller places.

Udaipur came after Jaipur and we would have stayed for many more days if our schedule allowed. We really loved the old narrow cobblestone streets, the amazing palaces and the views afforded by the lake. Eliot wanted to see the fairytale like Lake Palace ever since seeing a picture in the guidebook and the in person experience didn’t let him down. Our hotel was really charming, right on the lake with a wonderful restaurant on the roof. An evening of local dancing, including fire and 10 pots on dancer’s heads, was a magical one.  Of the Indian cities we toured, this was by far our favorite.

We left Udaipur for the small town of Ranakpur, reached by many twisty roads through some low lying mountains or foothills. The town itself and associated guest houses appear to be there only for visitors to the nearby Jain Temple. We quickly understood why. The temple was one of our favorites, with 1,144 unique carved marble pillars. It was a maze-like structure with some of the most beautiful carving work. Our visit included one small moment of panic when I realized that my wallet was missing, only to find it in my back pocket after a few minutes. Once my heart restarted, I realized that I inadvertently placed the wallet there, the first time I had placed it in my back pocket in the last 6 months. It has been in my front pocket for security from day one of the trip, but old habits have a way of creeping back at times.

After Ranakpur we headed further north to Jodhpur, known as the blue city for it’s use of blue paint on most houses. Apparently, the color blue, besides being pretty, affords a measure of protection against mosquitoes. The fort there was truly spectacular and the local market in the old city was extremely vibrant. Just one night here and then on to the desert, as covered above.

Bikaner and then Mandawa were our last two stops after the desert/Jaisalmer. Outside of my crazy excitement of finding an Indian velodrome and riding an Indian bicycle once around, neither place really captured our hearts. They were interesting, but at this point I think everyone was starting to look ahead to our departure more than focusing on the moment. The kids were a bit “templed and castled out” at this point too. So, we made the most of our stops and then headed on to Delhi.

India was definitely overwhelming as we reported in our earlier posting. From the moment that we set foot in Delhi until our last, the hustle and bustle of the millions of people was ever present. Driving through the streets involved constant evasive maneuvers to avoid cows, pigs, bicycles, camel carts, speeding buses, trucks loaded to the extreme and people walking everywhere. Our speed never exceeded 90 km/h (about 55 mph) and mostly hovered around 30 or 490 km/h most of the time. Drives that would take 2 hours in most countries we’ve visited extended to 4 or 5 hours. We thought Hong Kong and Cambodia were difficult places to navigate; they both pale in comparison to India.

In the end we were really tired and ready to head back to Bangkok and then New Zealand. Grateful for the experience, but ready to move on.

Thanks again to Prasad, Abhi and Ken who all helped ensure an enjoyable visit.

India - We’re Here

Day 4 in India and one word says it all - Overwhelming! 

I’ll do my best in the near future to explain more about what that word means to us, but Internet access has been scarce and I want to post a brief update for now.  Suffice it to say that India is unlike any other place we’ve been. 

During our first walk down a street in Delhi all of the kids were truly scared.  (It was a lot for Kelli and me too.) The sights, sounds, smells, people, cars, animals, bikes, trucks, smoke, etc. were just overpowering.  They grasped our hands tightly and were visibly shaken by the experience.  Thankfully, we have all found our footing a bit, but it there is still too much to process as we drive in our little “bubble” of a tourist car through the streets of Northern India. 

Everyone does love the food here, even more than in Thailand.  That came as a bit of surprise, although we’ve shared so much Indian food with Prasad, Susan and Anna over the years.  Well, maybe Eliot doesn’t love it, but he hasn’t loved much food anywhere in Asia.  Everyone is healthy outside of Kelli’s lungs that just don’t do well with the air in Asia and my first bout of food borne illness of the trip last night. 

For now here are some pictures.  First some select pictures of the streets and people of India and second some of us at tourist sites along the way. 

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