Haciendas and Andean Markets (Otavalo day 2)

Otavalo features a massive market that spills out of Plaza de Ponchos into the surrounding streets. (Market’s on nearly everyday, but the busiest is Saturday.) I haven't seen this much colourful woven items in one place in a long time, if ever.  It's super tight negotiating around/between the stalls and tables of hats, baby sweaters, adult sweaters, ponchos, table cloths, scarves, various grains and maize, jewellery and carvings.  The best thing is that the  sellers are not intrusive at all, allowing you to browse fairly freely. Except that when you leave their table then you get the sales pitch and rapidly falling prices.
We bought, with excellent translating services by Ryan: a "Panama" hat for myself for $11 (decent quality given that you can pay up to $600 for them in their hometown of Montecristi on the coast), 3 alpaca scarves for $10, two little figurine paintings ($10, too much), and Julie bought a nice little pullover poncho/sweater, oh and a bunch of baby sweaters for all those newborns back home.
After running out of money, and depending on Ryan to fund some of the shopping, we left for Cotacachi. Wait, one more stop! We luckily parked near the ice cream place that Ryan had been shown previously but had forgotten where it was. The extremely jolly fat man inside took much pleasure in showing off his homemade ice creams - actually not ice cream, but rather more like gelato as there is no  cream, just frozen fruit puree. They taste fantastic. I had a "copa frisky" that's a large cup, half filled with diced fresh fruit (watermelon, papaya, pineapple, banana) topped with strawberry and vanilla helado, then smothered in thick cream. Perfecto! and it's a $1.35!
Unfortunately due to our tight schedule, we couldn't stick around for the fellow to show us how he makes the stuff using a copper bowl placed into a larger bowl filled with straw and ice. Apparently it's pretty neat to see.
Cotacachi is just north of Otavalo and is known for it's leather goods. The main road through town is lined with shops and shops selling all sorts of leather stuff.
Julie went on a shopping spree, buying two pairs of boots and 2 hand bags. Unfortunately I couldn't find any decent men's shoes since the place seems to cater to women. 

Lunch @ Cafe D'Anita on calle Gonzalez Suarez: nice little restaurant, tasty food, good prices. Recommended by other shoppers and now by us!

We had arrived in Ecuador with US$600 and now we have virtually none left after 4 days. For being in a third-world (supposedly cheap) country, we're sure going through money pretty quick! I'm a bit annoyed at how expensive things are looking. Especially for tours out to the Amazonian jungle or to Galapagos (pushing $1000pp each!). But we just need to do a bit more research, as cheaper options are slowly presenting themselves. The sticker shock of Bermuda isn’t nearly what it is here, mostly due to the psychology of it since we’re expecting low prices here.

Bienvenidos a Ecuador!

The passengers on the plane applaud as the tires make contact with the tarmac after we skim the rooftops of central Quito during our approach to this Andean city. Leaving the customs area we’re excitedly greeted by Julie’s cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Nuala – our hosts for the next few weeks here in Ecuador. A short cab ride and we were at their apartment, naturally decorated in style for them to entertain foreign dignitaries as part of Ryan’s role with the Canadian Embassy here in Quito.

Julie & I spent a couple days getting used to the altitude (~2900m above sea level) helped along by a couple Diamox pills, but either way it feels like you cannot get a full breath of air.  We did manage to get outside the second day and walk around the large Parque de Carolina and play some frisbee without getting too winded.

Both of us were surprised to see the number of American chains here: Papa Johns pizza, Tony Roma’s, TGI Fridays, Chili’s, and all of the clothing store brands in the big [expensive] mall near their place.

First thing we learned about Ecuador is its wacky monetary policy. They dollarized a while back and now use the US$. Nothing weird there until you try to buy a Coke with a $10 bill and the store clerk looks at you blankly and asks if you have anything smaller, or just plain refuses to sell to you because they can’t produce change. They seriously have a lack of physical money in this country. And had we known in advance [Ryan!] we probably wouldn’t have brought in a stack of hundreds, instead cashing them in for rolls of quarters in Miami.

The second thing we learned is they like cheese. Cheese on everything and in everything. Ecuador the home of chocolate, potatoes and bananas, and cheese will go in all three of these. Blocks of chocolate are melted and then blended with small pieces of cheese for a chocolate con queso. Potatoes are mashed and mixed with cheese and fried as pancakes to form llapingachos. Finally, green plantains are sliced down the center, filled with cheese and then grilled to become platanos con queso.  The cheese that most locals seek out is unpasteurized cheese packaged in its own brine. It tastes fine, sort of like dry cottage cheese, but I cannot tell the difference between the flavours of it.

The third thing we learned is that there’s way too much to see and do here. We failed miserably at doing any research before landing here, but fortunately Ryan & Nuala (Nuala mostly) have put together a sightseeing binder after having so many visitors since they’ve been here.  After hashing and rehashing a timetable, Julie & I’ve decided to extend our stay by one week. It cost us the amount of one of our flights down here to make the change, but it will permit us to see most everything and do a little bit of travelling with Ryan & Nuala.

Julie’s Spanish language skills are coming back nicely, so she’s handling the dialogue although I think I’m better on knowing the numbers, just like Ryan can conduct full-on business conversations but Nuala’s better at simple words like “fork” (it’s a tenador).

Anyhow, Ryan & Nuala have set us up very comfortably in their apartment here in Quito. It’s going to prove to be quite handy to be able to leave behind some of our big bags while we go off on small trips around the country. The best perk is their little (quite little, literally) cleaning lady Carmen who tidies our room and does [some of] our laundry in between escapades. We’re so spoiled!

Haciendas and Andean markets

The cultural concert that was scheduled for tonight was cancelled (and then re-instated – that’s Ecuador!), thus Ryan & Nuala became free to take off for the weekend. The embassy office shuts down early on Fridays so we managed to get out of town a [little] bit earlier. Although it took us a while to get going after stopping for a snack at KFC and plodding through traffic. Driving in Ecuador seems quite similar to Malaysian Borneo: two-way traffic on windy roads through the mountains with large slow trucks belching exhaust and crazy people passing wildly on corners. Eventually you join the crazies because you get sick of breathing diesel smoke and also get impatient at going so slow. Otavalo is relatively close to Quito, but the drive takes so long due to traffic.
Hosteria Hacienda Pinsaqui is a historic (tres siglos de historia - 3 centuries of history) hacienda located 5km north of Otavalo on the Panamerican highway. When it was built in 1790 it was originally a textile factory, but then an earthquake levelled most of the place and new owners turned it into a hotel. Revolutionary Simon Bolivar stayed at the place while en route from Quito to Bogota and an  important treaty between Ecuador and Columbia was signed in the room that's now the bar.  It's all pretty neat, and the rooms that were shown to us all smelled really old (that museum smell) but were very nicely decorated and equipped. We chose #6 with two double beds, a fireplace plus the added option of a loft bed above the bathroom.  Since the place is owned by a grandson of a former ambassador, they try to maintain diplomatic relations and as such Ryan’s presence ensured our comfort.
A "surprise" concert was put on for us by a local band of brothers who played traditional Andean music (pan flutes and guitars/mandolins and drum) while we enjoyed cinnamon tea with sugarcane alcohol in it (tasty - a perfect winter drink!) and then were encouraged to dance around while being poured shots of liquorice liquor by Hector. Pretty fun with the small crowd of guests.

We had dinner in the restaurant with an adorable little Otavaleno lady (standing up she was as tall as Ryan & I sitting down!) as our server. The food (I had Carne Colorada - locally spiced beef) was good and we're getting used to enjoying freshly made juices once again! 
We had some drinks in the room and played cards for hours (Julie never lost “president”) while the fire warmed up the room.

Reservations: Ph: (593-6)294-6116, manager Hector

Photos of this weekend –> http://kalicinski.smugmug.com/gallery/8918639_LefZp/1/592015075_A96jN

Living the island lifestyle in Bermuda

To sum up Bermuda: it’s nice here!  Flying in over the turquoise  waters, seeing an odd tall ship sailing in, and then the rainbow of pastel-coloured houses with their white roofs gleaming in the sun, we were pretty excited to be heading towards sun & sand after the cold weather in New Zealand.

Julie’s sister Chantal had been bugging Julie about not visiting her during our around-the-world voyage, however it was Chantal who almost missed the visit due to an off-island volleyball tournament.

Chantal and Rob had a bunch of events lined up for us over the weekend, which turned out to be a long weekend for the Queen’s birthday.  Julie & I had one day to recuperate from the jet lag and relax on the beach before the parties began.

Bermuda was playing host to the Tall Ships this weekend and it put the whole place in a festive mood, along with jamming the place up with tourists. I was pretty happy to see the big boats in the harbour, but since nobody else was all that interested we didn’t go aboard to take more in-depth looks. But they were impressive, sitting in Hamilton harbour with their flags waving.

To visit Bermuda is a good time. Lots to see and do and the people are nice.  To live in Bermuda is a good time too, as from what we found a lot of peoples’ (expats) jobs are pretty slack, after work is golf or drinks, weekends are out on a boat with drinks, or floating in the water with drinks, or out on the beach, with drinks. We came from NZ where pub-culture is alive and well, but these folks give them a run for their money!  Needless to say, that’s what our weekend entailed for the most part.

The ritzy Princess Hotel plays host to an after-work garden party on Fridays where we got to sample the Bermudian drinks of “swizzle” (rum punch) and a “dark’n’stormy” (dark rum with ginger beer).  As the night progressed Julie started ordering swizzles with an extra shot of rum for good measure. By the time we met up with Rob and his mates at the Pickled Onion, we’d swizzled enough.

Saturday saw us sailing on the Sally Bum Bum for another typical Bermudian scene.  The rains spared us in our little bay and it was pretty fun hanging out on the boat, or in the water floating on noodles. It’s weird how drained you feel after an afternoon of floating around drinking beer, but we were knackered when we got home. Which is a good thing becuase we needed to rest up for tomorrow’s volleyball tournament.

Now Chantal plays volleyball seriously as a member of Bermuda’s national team. So she’s good. The rest of us (myself, Julie and Rob) don’t count volleyball among our skill sets. So as the DesBrownskis took to the sands for the beach volleyball tournament we weren’t expecting to do well, at all.  But we managed to pull off a couple wins and occasionally showed good form, coordinating with each other to complete the 3 hits per volley.  Regardless it was a great day on a great beach (Horseshoe Bay) and sweet as to jump into the azul waters to cool off betweens sets. And to wash the sand off.

We capped off our Bermudian vacation with a BBQ at Chantal & Rob’s place. Andrew caught up with an old roommate (Nicole) from university who’s now an islander and learned that there are a bunch of Winnipeggers who’ve decided accounting in Bermuda is better than at home.

As the Tall Ships sailed on, so did we – starting our journey back south of the equator to Ecuador.

Best. Layover. Ever.

When planning our flights from Auckland, NZ to Bermuda via Los Angeles, one may have thought we were insane to schedule two consecutive red-eye flights. But in the effort to get to the island as soon as possible while leaving significant time in LA to actually leave the airport and do something, this is how it worked. And the flights were pretty cheap. (C$338 each to fly from LAX-BDA-MIA on Delta. C$604 each MIA-UIO-LAX on AA.)

9 June 2009

In our final few hours in New Zealand we hurriedly packed up our room in Dylan’s flat. It took us a while to muster the courage to tackle that room – it had become filled with clothes, books, tourist pamphlets, CD’s, receipts, bags, notes, etc.  We filled a big blue box and found that we had a pile of stuff that would need to be shipped home (that wasn’t surprising).  After considering the costs of shipping a large, heavy box home, we elected to buy another cheap piece of luggage and ferry it home ourselves. Why pay for shipping when our flights already included two pieces of luggage (@23kg) each?  Then came the fun part of trying to spend every last Kiwi cent at the airport.  (Jenn: you’re requested chocolate bar is in my bag. You may get it sometime, unless it gets smushed or confiscated by customs somewhere.)  The Air New Zealand trans-Pacific flight was pretty good. Food was fine (Moroccan lamb was tasty) but I gotta remember that eggs are never good on an airplane!  We were both surprised at how little we slept on the 12hr flight – me especially since I think I slept more than Julie (!) listening to Kiwi reggae-dub music while she watched a couple of movies.

9 June 2009 - PST

Andrew had researched various activities for us to do during the layover: myriad beaches are within a short drive of LAX – Manhattan, Hermosa, famous Venice beach; television show taping – Tonight Show was sold out due to transition between Leno & Conan, and Jimmy Kimmel promptly sold-out when he booked Paris Hilton before I claimed tickets.  It wasn’t until I had received an email saying that the Tragically Hip (one of Canada’s premier rock bands, affectionately referred to as “God’s Band” by a former Winnipeg DJ Brian Cook) were adding a fourth show in Winnipeg. I went to their website to check the dates, and while scrolling down to find Winnipeg I noticed that they had some gigs in LA – and on the day we’d be there!  A quick scan on Ticketmaster told me that for the price of one good ticket in Winnipeg I could get us both into the show in LA – that and I couldn’t even find 2 tickets for any of the Winnipeg shows.  So we booked ourselves in.  Making it even more of a tantalizing option was that the LA show would be in a landmark rock’n’roll venue in West Hollywood – an intimate venue where many famous rock legends of yore made their debuts. Check it out on www.troubadour.com

Arriving in LA we were greeted with the same overcast skies that we left in Auckland, which didn’t lend itself to going to the beach.  That didn’t matter anyway because after finally getting ourselves sorted out in the airport (changing terminals & checking in for next flight) we used up a third of our layover time.  We learned a few things here: hawkers set themselves up outside of the international doors trying to sell you stuff; there are no longer any storage lockers in the airport after 9/11; air travel within/to/from the USA is not as enjoyable as elsewhere in the world (holy security-paranoia batman!).

We had rented a car to get around and we had a laugh as we got in the car and the steering wheel was on the “wrong” side. And then we had another laugh as Andrew turned on the wipers instead of signalling. And Julie screamed a couple of times as the car turned into the right lane instead of the left. But we managed. And the GPS helped a bit too.

We had lunch at a “Westfield’s” mall in Beverly Hills. It caught our eye because Westfield’s operates all the big malls in Auckland. We took advantage of the Fuddruckers to fill our stomachs with a big burger and Julie got randomly complimented on her purse - “oh! I like your purse – who’s it by?” – by a bloke, which was the weird part. But I guess this is Beverly Hills…

We desperately needed coffee before heading back to the Troubadour. And luckily Andrew studied the map a bit more and realized that there’s a much faster way of getting back to West Hollywood – take the freeway!  With that, we made it to the show just in time.

A long line-up greeted us at the venue, along with a hand-scribbled note saying “show sold out!” so we were pretty happy we already had tickets. Passersby would see the line and ask who was playing, only to respond with a blank look and a shrug.

The interior of the place was so small! Smaller than the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg for sure.  I’m not sure what capacity was.  Doors opened at 8, and the band got on just after 9 to loud cheers and chants of “Hip, Hip, Hip”.

While ordering a drink at the bar, I noticed one fellow ask for “CC” and the bartender went off in search of the bottle. She found it, came back, poured the drink and place the bottle back on the shelf. The next customer asked for the same, sending her back across the bar to retrieve the bottle. By the time she got to me, and i also ordered a “CC & dry”, I suggested to her that she keep the bottle handy. She exclaimed “yeah, if only we’d known that we’d be getting a bunch of Canadians in here tonight!”

The concert was awesome. It was such a treat to see these guys up close, and perhaps the band also felt it was a treat to be so close to their fans again. Gord had guys in the front strum his guitar and he rubbed some bald dude’s head. The place was packed solid, and it got super hot in there. I can’t say much more about the show other than it was great! They mostly played songs from the new album “we are the same” during the first set, interspersed with some oldies like “new Orleans is sinking”.  They took a break after an hour, and I started to fret that we’d have to leave as soon as they got back on stage. Fortunately they come back and started the second set with an acoustic set, which was pretty neat.  After the third song I tugged Julie to the door, until they started into one of my favourites “Nautical disaster” at which point Julie had to tug me out the door.  dammit.

So off we go! 80mph down the freeway to the airport, return the car (we drove so little we didn’t even have to add gas!), jump on the shuttle bus, run in through security, and then wait… We got there with loads of free time, teasing us with the possibility that we could’ve seen more of the concert. Ah well.  Time to settle in for our second iteration of our “groundhog day” red-eye flights.

Link to Pictures

The best of Nueva Zelanda

Here’s the stuff that I’ll miss from this place.

1. amazing scenery.  It’s everywhere. north island, south island. everywhere.
   • but there’s a catch – a lot of it’s starting to look the same. Same quaint little seaside towns. Same quirky little small towns in the interior.
2. Wine. I thought Australia had wine regions! This country’s got them all over! And they do them quite well – sauvignon blanc pretty much put this place on the global wine map. But then there’s all the other varieties that each little climatic zone has targeted: Marlborough Sav Blanc, Otago Pinot Noir,
   Our favourites are:
   1. Rockburn [central Otago] Pinot Noir 2008, ~$50 (full-on good stuff)
   2. Mission Estate Gewurztraminer, $30 (a sweet, light gewurzt but with a bit of spice that makes it good)
   3. Montana Sav Blanc, ~$15 (we drank loads of this during summer mostly because it was always on sale at Foodtown)
   4. Omaha Bay Vineyard OBV “the Impostor” Flora, ~$25 (semi-sweet wine with citrus flavours)
   5. Heron’s Flight Sangeovese
   6. Matua Estate [Marlborough] Pinot Noir
3. Mac’s Sundance beer – I think this beer wins the “best of the trip” award. Surprisingly it’s a wheat beer (I usually don’t like ‘em) but it’s bloody tasty! 
   

   Quoth the bottle: “every season plays host to some sort of unhinged behaviour, and this year the sun has bake our brains long enough to give birth to SUN DANCE, Mac’s own summer ale. It’s not so much the wheat malts we’ve used to quench your post-swingball, pre-backgammon thirst, or indeed the Riwaka hops we added late in the boil for a suggestion of citrus and exotic fruits. It’s more the lemongrass.  Only in summer could anyone come up with an idea as crazy as pacific-rim fusion beer.”

   1. Close seconds: Monteith’s Radler (quite similar to above), Mac’s Gold or Speight's (just a good straight-up beer), Steinlager Pure (if you want a premium brew). For such a small country they brew an incredible amount of beer here! And for the most part, it’s all pretty good.
4. Cheese – New Zealand does dairy. New Zealand produces about 3% of the world’s dairy products, but Fonterra markets about 60%+ of the world’s export dairy products. Anyhow, yeah, the cheese here is good. My favourite is “colby”
   • I’m going to expand this to just say that they’ve got dairy freakin’ covered here. Cheese is one thing, but the milk is super – they’ve got this one brand that’s marketed as “milk for blokes”! Basically it’s low fat, skim milk but it’s creamy tasting instead of watery. Choice!
   • Cheese of choice is Mainland brand Colby (www.mainland.co.nz)
   • And then there’s the yoghurt.
     • Puhoi Valley yoghurt is so creamy and covered with fresh strawberries. (www.puhoivalley.co.nz)
   • And the ice cream…
5. Lisa’s Hummus: this stuff’s goooood. Look it up. somebody import it. please. The Jalapeno & Lime is probably our favourite one.  www.lisas.co.nz
6. Seafood: NZ’s an island, surrounded by ocean so naturally they’re going to have some good seafood here. Our favourites are:
   • New Zealand green-lipped mussels. Preferably in the pineapple/coconut-milk mixture @ Sahara. Else, they’re good in either a cream or tomato-based sauce.
   • Snapper: lightly breaded and fried at home, or deep-fried at a fish’n’chips shop.
   • Kingfish: we bought it on a whim from a fishmonger, grilled it up at home and it was deelish!
   • Orange roughy: same as the king fish, well no. Kingfish is like a steak, the roughy is light, fluffy and tasty.
   •  
7. Mackenzie Station Seed & Grain Bread. Thick cut, heavy on the grains, great taste. At nearly five bucks a pop it’s expensive stuff, but compared to the rest of the dismal-looking super-thinly-sliced stuff, it’s well worth it!
   www.mackenziebread.co.nz
8. Fashion. Julie was right – they do like to dress nicely here. Although, it’s all black for the most part.  I’m just impressed with the number of ‘home-grown’ clothing stores for such a small country. Barkers, Meccano, all sorts of woollens, IceBreaker (huge fan!), and others I can’t think of, but they’re probably all owned by some Auzzie outfit.
9. L&P. No, not Lee & Perrins Worchestershire sauce. Lemon and Paeroa. World famous in New Zealand, this soda is a cross between ginger ale and 7up. Tasty-as, it’s a perfect mix for New Zealand’s 42Below feijoa vodka.  Otherwise it’s just refreshing!
   
10. Flight of the Conchords; a comedy duo a la “Bob & Doug”. We’d heard about this show from Julie’s friend Candice, and we happened to catch an FOTC marathon on New Year’s Eve day and were immediately hooked. The two guys have a very dry humour, and you could say it’s similar to Canadian humour in that sense. Check it out: www.conchords.co.nz

 

Favourites
Best Day trip from Auckland	Waitakere Ranges (Piha & Bethels beaches, forest walks) Matakana (wineries and scenic coastline)
Best Boat Cruise	Haparanda Sailing (boat charter for Andrew’s birthday) Perfect Day Cruise (Tutukaka)
Favourite Winery	Trinity Hill (Hawke’s Bay) Omaha Bay Vineyard [OBV] (Matakana; great views from the hilltop over the bay)
Fave Restaurant (AKL)	Mai Thai (CBD) Sake Bar Rikka (Victoria Park)
Fave Restaurant (elsewhere)	Sahara Mediterranean, Orewa (www.saharaorewa.co.nz)
Best Farmer’s Market	Parnell Or Matakana is good too.
Favourite bar	The chain of Mac’s Brewpubs: Steamship Lines down on Quay street close to our place, Nuffield up in Newmarket and the new one in Kingsland. All have great interior design, and of course loads of Mac’s Beer on tap. www.macs.co.nz
Favourite Drive	Lake Tekapo to Milford Sound if you’re up for a solid 8hr drive through some majestic scenery. For a nice Sunday arvo drive, head east from Auckland around the coastal highway. Andrew thinks that the incredibly twisty road up through the Mangamuka Gorge was pretty fun.
Favourite mates	you know who you are Dylan the Villain and our other flatmate Becs Joel, from Vancouver Niall & Nadine Ty & Lauren, the other Canadians Doug & Amy, the “bohemian” Brits JP & Clare, the skydive specialists We’ll miss ya! and hope to one day play host for you in the tourist hot-spot of Winnipeg!

Farewell New Zealand, it’s been a blast!

cheers,

A&J

Andrew & Julie’s Top 10

Okay, this isn't a top ten list. It’s just a list of the highlights of our RTW trip so far.

We wrote this while having dinner in a waterside restaurant (35° South) in the little town of Paihia on the Bay of Islands, NZ. The dinner itself wasn’t anything to write home about but we did enjoy reminiscing while thinking of our favourite experiences.  We haven’t blogged about too many of them, so perhaps this is the first time we are sharing them with the world.

Biggest personal growth or learning experience	J: valuing relationships, there’s  “no place like home”
	A: becoming less risk averse, recognising the good relationship with Julie
Most interesting learning:	J: Buddhism, plight of Thai lady-boys
	A: Forbidden City
Scariest moment:	J: fear of being locked inside the Summer Palace gates in the pouring rain (Beijing)
	A: hot, overcrowded boat departing Haiphong to Halong Bay. (and see above)
Greatest drama	J: taxi crash in Istanbul
	A: Julie’s friends!, or personally learning that a friend who I thought was married is now not, and is now gay. oops.
Favourite drink	J: Otago Pinot Noir
	A: watermelon shake	I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of us drinking one!
Favourite cheer	J: “Whoop, whoop!” – Tara, kayak guide in Milford Sound
	A: “More of everything!” –Dylan, AKL flatmate
Favourite saying	J: “mmmmm” = “yes” in Kiwi-speak, also “sweet as” and “choice”
	A: “can-not” said with a Swedish accent –David at Seedaeng guesthouse, KohSamui
Biggest over-hype	J: Great Ocean Road, Australia
	A: Patong town, Phuket
Worst tour	J: Chiang Mai mountain trip
	A: Koh Samui boat trip to marine reserve with bad snorkelling
Favourite meal	J: Lao She Teahouse Chinese food, Beijing
	A: home-made Vietnamese lunch during CatBa trek	story
Worst meal	J: Bambi kebaps, Istanbul (sick for the next day+)
	A: ABC meal-replacement drink at KK market
Best new food	J: Thai pomello fruit
	A: Feijoa fruit (NZ), or Nashi pears (NZ)
Worst new food	J: Durian fruit	read the story
	A: DURIAN!	gawd! those were awful tasting!
Best market	J: Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne, AUS
	A: KK Night Market, Kota Kinabalu, Borneo
Favourite night out	J: Lan Kwai district, Hong Kong (cheap martinis, people watching)
	A: meeting Bruce Nesbit in Melbourne (pub, restaurant, wine bar)
Best hike	J: Rob Roy Track, South Island, NZ
	A: Mt. Kinabalu, Borneo
Best hotel/lodging	J: Great Ocean Road Cottages, Lorne, AUS
	A: Museum Hotel, Wellington, NZ. …although Seedaeng guesthouse in Samui was a great place to hang out.
Best day trip	J: Halong Bay hike/lunch/boat
	A: Similan Islands, Phuket, Thailand
Favourite City	J: Hong Kong
	A: Istanbul
Most sketchy circumstance	J: boat ride to full moon party,
	A: Hostel in Kowloon, HK     Scooter transport in Halong Bay