Lake Tekapo (with Lake Pukaki)

27 August 2016

Angel and I stayed with our cousin and his family who were living in Christchurch. After contemplating between Hanmer Springs, Fox Glacier and Lake Tekapo, we decided to do a road trip to Lake Tekapo.

Lake Tekapo was only 3 hours away from Christchurch. We passed through vineyards and pastures and as we came closer to our destination, we could see the southern alps in the background. The area was sparsely populated. In fact, there was barely anything but sheep for thousands of hectares.

It was midday when we went to Mount John Observatory, which was overlooking the beautiful lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains. From the observatory, we could see the surrounding area which was a vast land of nothingness. Just dirt, shrubs and sheep. Lake Tekapo, being in the middle of nowhere and having a small population, enjoys minimal artificial light pollution and making it part of the UNESCO Dark Sky Reserve.

View from Mount John Observatory

It wasn’t snowing in Lake Tekapo during that winter but they made an artificial skating rink and tubing beside the lake. It had been about 10 years since I’ve skated and it was my first time tubing. With our 4-year old nephew, off we went burning calories and having fun.

On our way back to the Peppers Bluewater Hotel, we stopped the car by the lake as we noticed the sun setting down and the colors on the alps turning from white to golden orange and beautifully reflecting onto the lake. It was stunning. The scenery was the most breathtaking view in this New Zealand trip.

Beautiful view of Lake Tekapo

After having steak at Mackenzie’s for dinner, we went out and found ourselves looking up to the starriest night sky I’ve seen my entire life. My cousin brought us to Church of the Good Shepherd and although we couldn’t see much of the church in the darkness, we joined several groups of tourists in stargazing. I tried taking a photograph but the lights from the influx of cars and my tiny wobbly tripod made it quite a challenge (plus, my fingers felt really cold). Nonetheless, the night sky was absolutely amazing that you can see the milky way with your naked eye. I wanted to take more photos after we returned to our hotel but I was snoring as soon as I hit the bed.

I'm still practicing my night photography but could you just imagine how beautiful the starry night sky was?

28 August 2016

In the morning, we visited the Church of the Good Shepherd again. A small chapel with the lake behind it, it quite picturesque.

Church of the Good Shepherd

We then headed south for another scenic drive to Lake Pukaki. The lake was larger and the snow-capped mountains felt much closer. We didn’t have any plans so we simply drove around until we found an idyllic site to park the cars and enjoy the view. It was just as breathtaking as Lake Tekapo.

Lake Pukaki

After a while, we headed back to Tekapo, bought fish and chips for takeaway and found our way to Pines Beach (on one of the edges of Lake Tekapo) and searched for a spot to have our lunch. It was quite cold for a picnic outside but it was fun.

Finally, we made our way back to Christchurch and arrived before dinner. It was quite a memorable weekend—scenic drives and loads of fun. Special thanks to Oj and Katrina for hosting us that weekend. 😊

Wellington to Christchurch

26 August 2016

Today is road-trip day. That means, we’ll be travelling all day. We booked the Wellington to Christchurch route from Intercity about a week before (during our layover in Malaysia on our way to New Zealand). The route was a combination of a ferry from Wellington to Picton (120 NZD) and bus ride from Picton to Christchurch (84 NZD). The cost would’ve been cheaper if booked in advance (it was cheaper when we checked weeks before).

A faint rainbow across the Marlborough Sounds

The ferry left Wellington at 9AM. Breakfast and lunch were available at the ferry. Sometime around 11AM, we passed by Marlborough Sounds and the view was breathtaking. It was cold, windy and wet at the outside viewing deck but it was worth the pain.

Picton

  

After waiting for a while at the Picton port, our Intercity bus arrived and off we were on our way to Christchurch. We passed by vineyards with mountains as its backdrop. It was a refreshing scenery compared to pastures and farmlands of the North.

Kaikoura

Our bus stopped by Kaikoura, a quaint little town which was known for its beach and dolphins. It wasn’t the powdery white sand kind of beach (but rather smooth stones on the beach). It was winter during that time and the waves rhythmic crashing of the waves was soothing—the whole vibe of Kaikoura was simply relaxing. Our stop was quite short but I could imagine spending hours just walking around or sipping coffee in this little town. If I had another day to spend in Kaikoura, I would’ve spent it here. Unfortunately, a month after we left New Zealand, a big quake hit the country and Kaikoura was one of the badly hit areas.

No Pokemons!

After Kaikoura, there were more of the same mountain scenery. Soon, it was getting dark until there was not much to see through the windows. Fortunately, there was wifi onboard the bus though we didn’t have much luck catching Pokemons. After around 12 hours of travelling, we finally arrived in Christchurch.

The Wellington Layover

25 August 2016

Wellington was not on my destination list. For Angela, it was--but for me, it was simply a necessary stop to get to the South Island.

Arriving in Wellington

It was around 6AM when we arrived in Wellington. The intercity bus from Rotorua dropped us at Wellington station. We knew the city bus was in same place but Wellington station was huge. There’s Bus A, Bus B and Bus C. We asked for directions and found the right bus. So, we were on the right bus, we knew we needed to get off at Courtney Place and now it’s just a matter of knowing if we were already at Courtney Place. One of my difficulties in riding buses is that the bus stop signs are typically too small to read. We usually tell the driver if he could let us know when we’ve reached our destination, they don’t. Fortunately, we saw the street sign reading Courtney Place and left the bus as soon as it made a stop.

We made our way to the hostel to check-in. We knew it was too early to check-in and we were told we can return at 2PM so we just left our bag and went to Burger King, being the only place with seats that was open at this time. My foot was aching terribly and I was limping. Every step I took was a struggle. I took my time eating breakfast since I didn’t want to walk just yet. After a while, we went to Papa Museum and waited for it to open.

Te Papa Museum

Papa Museum was an interactive museum quite suitable for children and adults alike. Perfect for me. The museum seemed to promote unity among the different races. The Maori were one of the first settlers of New Zealand. Then the British occupied the country. Then people from around the world migrated to New Zealand as well. The museum gave us a glimpse of New Zealand’s past and present.

After 3 hours in the museum, we went back to hostel. The hostel was terrible. There was rotten food in the rooms and the sheets were dirty (it had LOTS of hairs!). But I was tired so I placed my towel on the bed and dozed off. We were planned on going to the cable car but we overslept. I didn’t want my foot to evolve from an ache to an actual injury so I figured that resting for the day would be a good investment considering we still had two weeks ahead of us.

Cuba Street

When we woke up at night, we headed toward Cuba Street. We walked along this popular street and ended up eating pizza from a street stall. Later that night, we went to a local place called The Library for some wine although we ended up drinking craft beer. After some waffles, we ended our short day and bid Wellington goodnight.

Kia Ora Rotorua!

24 August 2016

Rotorua is an interesting small town. There were geysers in the middle of the town’s garden park. Obviously, the town had a foul smell from the sulfur of the geysers but after a while, you get used to it.

Maori Haka (war dance)

We arrived in Rotorua the night before. After checking in at our hostel, we left for Eat Streat but ended up having cake and tea at a restaurant called Fat Dog. I had a bad stomach that night so I slept early and popped some pills for the stomach.

In the morning, we walked to the station for the bus to Te Puia. Unlike Europe, buses in New Zealand do not arrive on time. After 5 minutes of waiting from the bus. I was already wondering whether we were on the right stop or if the bus has already left us. Well, the bus was just late and I was just paranoid. The good thing was that the bus stops just right in front of Te Puia.

Te Puia

We bought our tickets at the Matamata i-Site, which was NZD1.10 cheaper although you might even get it at an even cheaper price if you buy online. Our Day Tickets included a free tour in Te Puia. The Maori guide started by saying that the Maori people live modernly just like the rest of us—they dress like everyone else and use modern technology every day. Duh. I guess a lot of tourists have been expecting Maori’s dressing up in feathers and cooking in a Hangi (natural steam vents).

Our first stop was the Pōhutu geyser (Te Waiariki o Pōhutu), which typically erupts every hour. When we went there, it just finished erupting. So, we proceeded to the mud pools (Ngāwhā uku) which looked like, well, boiling mud.

Mud pools (Ngāwhā uku)

We also went to aquarium housing one kiwi. The guide warned us that the dark environment was meant to keep the kiwi comfortable, being nocturnal creatures.  The first time we went to see the kiwi, it was running around and all I could see was blur. The second time around, I got a better look at it but the aquarium was very dark and I still couldn’t see much through the glass. Rest assured, I’m glad Te Puia gave it a good environment (although if I were a kiwi, I’d like to be accompanied by another kiwi).

The tour lasted about 30 minutes and ended just in time when the Maori cultural show started. We didn’t book for the show but they performed a short haka (war dance) for everyone just before they went inside the Marae (a gathering place) for the show.

Short performance in front of the Marae

After that, we went around to see the other geysers and took photos of the Pōhutu geyser (which was the biggest) from different angles. We also went to see the natural steem vent cooker (He hāngi ngāwhā), the weaving and carving shops, and the display of the traditional Maori village.

The weather was cold so it was nice to stay close to the geyser, where its mist was warm. Just before were about to leave the geyser, it started spurting more and more water. We had almost given up seeing the eruption, but luckily, we caught it in all its glory just before we left. It was already 3.30 pm when we left Te Puia and took the bus back to Te Puia i-Site.

Government Gardens

We have already checked out the hotel and we were only allowed to leave our bags at the hostel until 5PM. So, we grabbed our bags before 17:00 and headed towards the government garden. We were planning on walking around the park and see more geysers but it started to rain. We tried waiting but it didn’t stop. We ended up at Fat Dog again and stayed there for 2 hours, having fish and chips and tea.

Popular in New Zealand is the fish and chips

We spent the next two hours waiting at the bus stop, in front of the Rotorua i-Site. It was cold and was like déjà vu of our night at Nice. Worse, the bus was about 30 minutes late and my feet started to pain making it difficult to walk. When the bus finally arrived, most people were taking 2 seats and sleeping. The bus started moving before we could find a seat. It was pitch dark and I stumbled my way to an empty seat. I didn’t know where Angel was. I was on the last seat and it took a couple of minutes before we got connected to the internet and she told me she was on the second row up front. When the bus stopped at Taupo, we moved to the emptied seat in front. We bid Rotorua goodbye and tried to sleep in front with the full view of the road to Wellington. 

Kia Ora Aotearoa

22 August 2016

Touchdown New Zealand!

One of the Hobbit-holes at the Hobbiton Movie Set

Okay, so my first day in Auckland was more like a stopover. We arrived mid-afternoon and used the airport’s 30-minute free wifi to book the Sky Bus to the city (it was $2 cheaper to book online). We got off the last stop at Queens Street and walked to our hostel, Haka Lodge. We came from a 20-hour flight from the Philippines so we didn’t have any plans that night except apart from eating and sleeping. We were quite happy with our hostel. It was clean, they had a big (and well cleaned) kitchen and the staff were friendly. We each had our own pod that was equipped with a lamp and socket.

Matamata i-Site

 We noticed a number of Asian (middle eastern and south east Asian) shops near our hostel. Since they were cheap, we did our groceries in one of the Asian stores and had a takeaway dinner before we snoozed and snored.

23 August 2016

Today, we went to one of our trip highlights—to the Hobbiton Movie Set.

Green Dragon Inn

We woke up at 5:15 AM and took the 6:15 AM bus 02 to Britomart where the Mana bus pick-up point was just about 50m away. By 7:00 AM, we left the City of Sails for Matamata

Mana bus was convenient—it had wifi and an electrical socket. And the Matamata stop was just in front of the i-Site, where they sell the tour tickets and where the bus picks up the passengers. We booked the next tour at 11:00, left our backpacks at the i-Site’s storage room (NZ$5.00 for both our backpacks) and waited for the bus to arrive.

The tour began with a drive from Matamata i-Site to The Shire’s Rest, a café in front of the entrance of the farm. Along the way, the bus driver gave commentaries about the farm—some tidbits about Matamata and the impact of the Lord of the Rings movie to the little town. He showed us where Peter Jackson stayed, told us how the location was scouted (it was the party tree that attracted them to the farm) and how the Alexander family preserved the set and made a business that helped tourism in Matamata.

The Hobbiton is adorable. I’ve seen some of the Lord of the Rings movie but I’ve never read any of the books and I haven’t watched the entire movie franchise. The place is picturesque even for a non-fan. Although at 79 NZD, I supposed someone who is familiar with the movie would appreciate it more. The details on the set is amazing—they put in so much details from the book for a few seconds on-screen. 

We went to the hobbit holes, which were 60,80, 100% scaled to the size of a hobbit (5’4”). The holes were just a façade as the interior was shot in a bigger location. The tour ended at the Green Dragon Inn, which was like a pub. They served us one free beer (non-alcoholic drinks were also available) and you have an option to buy more along with some snacks.

The ride back to Matamata was quicker. Before 14:30, we were back at the Matamata i-Site. We went around Matamata and ended up eating a Charlie Pie at McDonald’s. Finally, at 4PM, our bus arrived and we were off to Rotorua.

Spontaneous Trip in Myanmar for USD 555 (no promos)

Bagan. Pyin Oo Lwin. Inle Lake. Yangon.

4 towns. USD 555. PHP 26,000. 9 days/8 nights. All in.

One of the difficulties of being employed is that your leaves are limited. My trip to Myanmar was a result of a small window in between jobs.  As soon as I knew about this window, my friends and I decided to go on this trip and we only had two weeks to plan it in between our busy schedule. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do much planning and left much of our itinerary for spontaneity.

Just to be clear, we did do some research about Myanmar and have already filtered out which places we wanted to go to. However, we haven’t booked our hotels (except for the first night which was required for my friend’s visa), we didn’t have an itinerary and we didn’t know how we’ll go from one destination to another.

We didn’t receive airline or tour promotions and we weren’t even travelling on a shoestring. We had full tummies throughout the trip, often stopping for fresh coconut water, sugarcane juice or milk tea. So, details of our expenses? Here you go…

Flight

Our flight was 52% of our expenses. Duh. We booked our flights 2 weeks before our departure. Our flight included 20kg checked baggage per person, meals and wine. Our total expenses would’ve been considerably low if we got a flight on promotion or flew with one of the low-cost airlines. But again, we were not on a tight budget during this trip.

Accommodation

Our first night in Bagan was pre-booked since this was required for my friend’s visa. I actually just randomly booked the hotel without looking at the reviews or the price and was planning on cancelling the booking after he got his visa. But we forgot to un-cancel it and luckily, we ended up at a nice hotel. We checked out online booking services for our second night but decided to stay in the same hotel. For Pyin Oo Lwin and Yangon, we picked our hotels through online booking services on the same day we checked in (in case of Yangon, upon our arrival at the city). As a regular traveler, I wouldn’t however recommend doing the same especially if it’s peak season (we went on a low season in August/September).

At the Shwedagon Pagoda

Going Around

I wanted to travel by train around Myanmar but we didn’t have the luxury to take our own sweet time. So, we ended up taking either the bus or taxicab to go from one city to another.

Yangon to Bagan: Overnight bus. JJ Express was highly recommended arounded the internet and true enough, the bus was clean and comfortable and their staff spoke in English.

Bagan to Pyin Oo Lwin: Taxicab. A local helped us hire the taxi and communicate with the taxi driver who didn't speak a word in English.

Pyin Oo Lwin to Inle: Taxicab to Mandalay; Overnight Bus to Inle. 

Inle to Yangon: Overnight Bus

Gokteik Viaduct

Activities

In Bagan, we went to several temples, notably Shwe San Daw, Dhammayangyi and Ananda. On our first day, we traveled by bike to see the temples. And on our second day, we rented an e-bike.

From Bagan, we hired a taxi to bring us to Mount Popa and we made several stops along the way including a small hut distilling alcohol and a sunflower field.

In the cool highlands of Pyin Oo Lwin, we went around by bike and visited the Botanical Garden. Then we spent a couple of hours just relaxing in a small shop, drinking milk tea (lots of it!).

From Pyin Oo Lwin, we took the train to Nawngpeng to see the popular Gokteik Viaduct. As soon as we arrived in Nawngpeng, we hailed a taxi to bring us back to Pyin Oo Lwin. Unfortunately, we encountered a traffic jam on the way back.

We spent an entire day in Inle Lake, seeing the floating village. The village is much larger than Siem Reap’s floating village. There were temples, shops (for tourists), schools and farms—all floating on the lake.

Long-Necked Kayan

In Yangon, we visited the impressive Shwedagon Pagoda. The temple was large, well-maintained and worth it’s price. We also visited the Strand Hotel, a popular 5-star hotel, and had our most expensive snack during the trip (although we bought the cheapest one in the menu) in their café.

Our trip to Myanmar was a lot of fun. We weren’t crimping (but it wasn't luxurious either) and we had a flexible budget. I was quite surprised that at the end of it all, we didn’t spend so much. I’m glad that I spent my 2-week window at Myanmar. It was worth it.