New Zealand: Rotorua to Auckland, via Middle Earth

I was up for breakfast, then packed up and said goodbye to Rotorua. I drove back to Auckland, stopping at Matamata along the way. Just outside Matamata is the tourist attraction called the Hobbiton, which is the film set for The Shire in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I was on the tour at noon, and we walked all around the set. The tour took about two hours and I really enjoyed the stories about how the movie was made the guide told us.

The most interesting one, in my opinion, was that the scene where Gandolf and Bilbo are sitting under the (fake) oak tree on top of Bilbo's house smoking pipes and watching the sunset, is actually the sunrise. They filmed that sequence in reverse order, then edited it and put it in story order so that it looked like the sun was actually setting and not rising! Ah the genius of filmmaking!!!

It took another two hours to get to Auckland, driving along scenic roads. I don't know what setting the GPS unit in the rental car is on, but it won't take you on a large highway to save your life. That was fine with me as I enjoyed the scenery!

I got all checked into my hotel and settled, and was tired after the long drive, so rested for a bit and got everything ready to get on the ship tomorrow! This is the 24th hotel I've checked into so far this trip, and I will be very glad to get in my cabin tomorrow and unpack and not have to pack again for over a month!

I walked around town and eventually grabbed a bite to eat (Indian, yum!), and then headed back to the hotel for my last night on land for more than a month!

New Zealand: Rotorua

Today was a busy, but great day! I was up and out of the hotel a little after 8, to make sure I was on time for my 9am helicopter ride. It was great to see the area by air. It was just the pilot and me in the helicopter, and she gave me a lot of good information about the area.

After the helicopter ride, I drove outside of town a little ways to a geothermal park and watched the Lady Knox geyser erupt. I then spent about two hours walking through the three trails that went through the park. The colors and the bubbling water and mud were amazing.

I drove a scenic route back into town and stopped for a late lunch. I went back to the hotel to drop a few things off and then was picked up for my late afternoon/evening activities. I went to a Maori cultural show, where they danced, chanted, demonstrated the war canoe, and gave us lots of information about their culture, music, fighting styles, weapons, clothes, and much more.

One thing I found interesting is that the big fern trees they have here that look prehistoric, are called silver ferns because the underside of the adult fern is silver in color. The Maori people used the ferns by placing the underside up and lined their paths with them. That way, they could see their way at night as the moon and stars illuminated the silver of the ferns.

We finished the cultural portion of the evening with a traditional haka, or feast. It was delicious! After dinner we took a nature walk and saw glow worms, some other native creatures, and the endangered kiwi bird. Afterwards we were driven back to the hotel.

Onward to New Zealand (106)!

My flight from Bangkok to Auckland was on time and uneventful. I passed through immigration and customs without any issues, and picked up my rental car. I haven't driven since January 1st, and haven't driven on the left side of the road since I lived in Jamaica a little over 11 years ago.

I drove to the hotel in Auckland, got all checked in and then spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening running errands. The next morning I was out of the hotel and on my way to Rotorua. The drive was very nice. About 15 minutes outside of town, the traffic thinned to almost nothing and the GPS unit in the car took me on scenic highways rather than the main freeway. It was dryer than I thought it would be. I was expecting more greenery... I was also expecting the people here to wear shoes, but most don't. I still haven't gotten to the bottom of this, but even in restaurants people just come and go without shoes on...

I got to my hotel late in the afternoon, got checked in and settled, and then headed into town for a street festival the woman at reception had told me about. It's a cute little town on a large lake with an island in the center of the lake. It's volcanic in origin. Tomorrow I have a helicopter ride over the lake, so that will be nice to have a birds-eye view!

Laos: Luang Prabang and Vientiane

Once we arrived at Luang Prabang, we made our way directly to the hotel, as the sun was already setting. We got all checked in, then had dinner.

The next morning we had a guest speaker, an American who started a learning library. We visited the library in town, and it was really amazing to see the work she had done. After that, we walked along the quaint and narrow streets of Luang Prabang. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, and understandably so. It is so quiet and the French colonial architecture reminded me a little bit of New Orleans. We visited a couple of temples, had lunch, and then some free time in the afternoon.

The following day we were up for our flight to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. We made our way to the hotel and had dinner there. The next day we were up for our explorations of the city. We stopped by the presidential palace, two temples, a large reclining Buddha and the symbol of the country, a large golden stupa. We had lunch, then some free time, then a guest speaker from the Mekong River Collective, which was interesting. We had a farewell dinner, said our good byes and then went to bed.

The following morning we were up to pack and get ready for our flights. We flew to Bangkok and enjoyed the lounge while waiting for the flight to New Zealand. This time in SE Asia has been great, but I am ready for the next segment of this adventure: islands!!!!

Northern Laos Mekong River Cruise

After spending a day in Thailand relaxing, we had another hectic border crossing (by ferry this time) as we made our way into Laos. Once through, we made our way to a boat which took us down-river. We spent a night at a riverside lodge, then continued our way to Luang Prabang. We stopped along the way at small villages and a cave.

Myanmar: Inle Lake

We left Bagan and flew to Heho. We boarded a bus that drove us two hours on a pretty crappy road to a cave with over 9000 Buddha statues in it. We then drove three hours to a town where we caught a boat to our hotel for two nights.

We explored the lake the following day. We visited a floating market, a temple with five famous Buddha statues, that just look like lumps because people keep adding gold foil to them. We also visited a silk weaving factory and a homemade cigarette rolling factory.

We then returned to our hotel.

The following morning we were up well before dawn to check out of our hotel, ride the boat back to town where we caught our bus to the airport. We flew to Mandalay and then to another town on the border with Thailand. We crossed the border into Thailand, had lunch, then drove to our hotel for two nights in the Golden Triangle.