Yea...I don't know what I'm doing with my life

Ok, I understand that it has taken me a while to update my blog properly. The problem is, the internet is extrememly slow in this part of the world. I tried to contact the indian and nepalese governments, but they couldnt be bothered to fix the problem (j.k). ANyways, I left Bangkok during the Thai New Year on April 13th. It was amazing to experience their new year because everyone takes to the streets throwing water at one another.

So I arrived into India on April 13th not knowing what to expect. I was expecting to be overwhelmed at that is exactly what I got. As I departed the airport, I was bombarded with taxi drivers asking me if I needed a ride. I finally went to the taxi desk and booked a taxi to my hostel. Once in the taxi I feared for my life. Unlike the roads that we are all used to, there are no such thing as driving lines or just cars and motorcycles on the road. I saw more cows then cars at some point. Noone in INdia wears seatbelts and I thought I was going to die atleast 7 times in just a 15 minute timespan. That first night I just took it easy to prepare for my meeting with my group the following day with INtrepid Travel (I highly recommend in the future).

On April 14th, my tour began in delhi INdia. We stayed at HOtel GOodtimes. IT was the first time I had been in air conditioning in over 2 months. It was glorious. I had a roommate named Darius. Darius was a 28 year old from lithuania (capital of moscow) haha. ANyways, for the next 2 weeks we would be roommates and would have a great time talking about everything from girls to politics. THe first day we had our group meeting. A man named Umed was our group leader. Umed was an interesting guy. He had many life stories that he shared with all of us that we will always remember. At the start of my trip there were 8 people 4 guys (chris-norway, caspar-denmark, darius-lithuania, and me...plus, 4 gals (vicky-england, manuela-germany,paula-ireland, and georgina-england). From the start, all of us got along extremely well. The first day, we all wondered around the streets of delhi taking crowded public buses and walking around different areas looking at mosques, temples, and forts. We were also welcomed with our first cups of indian chai(tea). It was fantastic. We then later went to sample some nuts and spices at local markets. Later that night, the guys and gals decided to go separate ways. The guys went to an authentic indian restaurant where we met an italian guy and two swedish girls that later we would see in kathmandu. We had a good time with the swedish girls walking around the city and skipping over cows (literally).

The next morning we left delhi for agra. Agra is the home to the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Two of the most beautiful landmarks in the world. You don't truly understand these sites unless you experience them. Pictures do not do them justice. So we spent a night in Agra and we had no fan in our room or air conditioning. It was one of the hottest nights I have ever experienced. It had to have been atleast 108 degrees f. during the days. Rediculous.

The next day we went to Orcha, a beautiful city that is home to beautiful temples and shrines that not a lot of tourists know about. One good thing about this group was that we went to places of the beaten track. One of the highlights for me was swimming in the swimming pool for 4 hours. People who know me, know that I hate water and swimming, however, when you are sweating everywhere a dip in cold water is fantastic.

After Orcha, we went to allahabad where we saw where the first prime minister of india lived. Also, our trip got larger with the help of 4 australian,(michael, amos, ronald, and colin) They were very friendly. We were not their for a long time before we were taken by jeeps to the banks of the ganges river where we spent 2 full days of camping and sailing down the ganges. I have never felt more relaxed in my life as I did then. The only bad thing about the two days was that we were all attacked by moths for a few hours. It was something straight out of a movie.

After The ganges we took a 4 hour jeep trip to Veranassi, the oldest city in the world and the holy city for the hindi people. We spent 3 full days there. Including a night flower ceremony where we went on a boat and listened to live indian music while dispersing flowers with candles in the ganges wishing for different things such as love and health. Veranassi reminded me of Jerusalem in a way in respect to the importance of their religions.

After Veranassi, I began to not feel well. We had a 8 hour journey to the border and then onwards to lumbini nepal. Lumbini is the birthplace of the buddha or sidhartha gautama. Crossing the border was rediculous. Literally, you cross the border and then you take care of your visas. Once in Lumbini, we stayed at a really nice hotel. I needed a good night sleep and that is exactly what I got. The next day we went to see the actual site where buddha was born. IT was a beautiful site.

After lumbini, we drove for another 4-5 hours to chitwan national park. This is one of the largest national parks in nepal and one of the only places in the world where you can see tigers, rhinos, and elephants on a protected free range. In fact, on our hike we saw crocildiles,a tiger, an elephant, and a rhino. It was completely different then seeing them in a zoo. We also did a bike trip to an elephant breeding center. The fence was recently broken by a wild elephant who wanted a turn at one of the lady elephants.

After Chitwan, we drove 5 hours to Kathmandu. This is where are tour ended but not until we had a few more nights all together. We all really connected well. I would like to keep in touch with them the same way I keep in touch with my camp friends.


After the trek ended, I had a week in nepal to hang out and relax before my next trek. Mt. Everest Basecamp. I am excited to begin this trek and I know that as much as it is going to be challenging, it is going to be probably the most memorable event thus far in my life. Wish me luck and until I write again.

Aaron
livin the dream

Have any of you ever been on a bus ride for more then a day? If so...you can relate to my experience. or can you? It seems, that every bus driver has family or friends along the way. I left chiang mai (northern thailand) around 7 p.m. and it wasn't until 6:00 a.m. the next day that we made it to bangkok. It was extremely difficult to sleep on the bus ride since there were a lot of curves in the road. After spending approx. 12 hours in bangkok, I was back on the move. This time, It took 14 more hours to get to Krabi (southern Thailand). Once in Krabi, I was exhausted. I decided to splurge and stay at an $11 a night hotel. This was the first time my entire trip where I had satellite tv. Unfortunately, It was all in thai except for the news networks. Oh well. The next morning, I woke up and took a 2 hour ferry to Koh Lanta. For anyone who is wondering why I took the long bus instead of flying. The bus that lasted 2 days was only $23 u.s. dollars as opposed to $100 dollars to fly.

Once in Thailand, I realized quickly how thailand used to be prior to 20-30 years ago. Koh Lanta is one of the newest tourist islands(lets hope it doesn't grow to fast, I would like to go there again without the busy beaches). In 1998, Koh Lanta first got electricity. In fact, atleast once a day, the electricity shuts off. If you arent use to this, it is quite aggravating. However, it only take a day to get used to it. Another interesting thing about koh lanta is how expensive it is to get to Salodon (the main city in Koh Lanta). It costs anywhere from 200-600 baht each way. ($7-18). IF you are by yourself such as me. It can be expensive. I rented a motorbike for a day. However, I quickly realized that townies were always going into town so I began to bum rides.

Meeting people has never been a weakness of mine. I took a liking to 4 single travellers like myself. There was cash (poland), lin (germany), mark (canada), maurice(ireland). For the next 3-4 days we did everything together. However, on the 4th day, all of them left me. No worries. I met another group of people. A girl from mexico, a girl from equador, and a guy from austria. All of the travellers I met all had great stories about their experiences of traveling. But I must say, the greatest part of Koh Lanta for me was interacting with the family who ran my accommodation. The accomodation was called Lanta Top View Resort. I highly suggest anyone to go there. However, I must warn you it is no "resort" You have to worry about monkeys chasing you! (believe it...it happened to me!) Also, if ants, cockroaches, and mosquitoes don't bother you it is worth it. One thing that the resort has plentiful of, is the view. The view is unbelievable. I think it is worth it just to stay there and lay in a hammock all day just to watch the sunset. I have taken many beautiful pictures and can not wait to show them to all of you. All in all, Koh Lanta was one of my favorite parts of my trip. It was nice to wake up and not have anything planned. I was relaxing. It was also nice to have the opportunity to meet up with a friend of a friend, morgan. Morgan and I had some great conversations about life and travel. He is living in thailand for a year teaching english as well as learning about the culture. After 10 days in Koh Lanta, I headed back on another bus to bangkok. This time, it was 22 hours! At some point during this trip, you start to put faith in the travel companies hopeing that they take you to the right locations. LUckily, they did! I finally arrived in Bangkok just in time for the Thai New Year. THus far, I have been walking around the city meeting locals and trying different thai cuisine. I can not wait to get back to the states and cook some thai food. I leave for India on friday april 13th. I will be there for approx. 2 weeks. I know that it will be a lot different then Thailand. I am expecting to be culturally shocked.But more importantly, they will be shocked with me!!! Watch out India here comes Aaron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Why are there so many taxi, tuk tuk (3 wheeled taxis-bicycle or motorized), or motorcycles that ask where are you going? The thing is...you have no idea where you are going because you can't pronounce half the names and the drivers can't understand you...so what is the point of taking them in the first place?

2. When you buy postcards...they ask you if you need stamps. When you ask how much? They say a price and then plus 1 baht service fee. What is the service fee, you wonder? Good question. They don't help you put on the stamp, they don't make the stamp? They do nothing! I love this place!

Just thought that those two questions were worth their own journal entry.

Livin the dream,
Aaron

Since my last posting on my blog. I took a thai massage class. I learned all about the art of massage. It is a lot more strenuous then I expected. At first, I was aweful. But, with practice I became "average". I know what all of you are thinking...And no, it was not one of those rub and tug kind of deals! I seriously learned how to massage and I received a certificate and booklet for my hard work. The massage class was only for week.

As time twindles as it often does, I realized that I needed to lay low for a couple of weeks in order to save some money. My daily routine consisted of waking up, eating breakfast, checking email, walking around the city, eating lunch, walking around more, napping, eating dinner, and checking email. This isn't what you would call an ideal day of traveling but it helps me to think. THe thing is, I have been realizing a lot about myself while I travel. I am realizing all sorts of things. In fact, I would like to share with all of you a list.

Solidarity: THings I don't wan't to be
1. Don't want to be without love
2.Don't necessarily give up on brewing (or any other career for that matter) just because it is difficult. You can do it! Just work harder.
3. I wan't to be my own boss. I don't want to live in terms of other people's dreams.
4. I want to have a family one day that is full of love, like my own.


Although, there are only 4 things on the list. The list will get gradually larger.

Well, that is about all of the news right now. In the next few days I will be booking a bus ticket down south to Krabi and the southern islands. Hopefully, I will be able to escape from the polluted air and the warm-moist climate of the north.

Keep it real,

Aaron

Apparently that is a common phrase in thailand. "same same...but different" I have know idea what the hell it means but who cares.

Anyways, The last night was kind of hectic a lot of errands still had to be ran. Including, picking up my new tailored made coat. It is amazing what you can have made in this part of the world. The next morning came and I parted ways from jon and the rest of china on march 2nd. The 5 and a half hour flight went by really quickly because I had my own tv and game console. (if anyone needs a flight to southeast asia or asia or india, I suggest flying with sri lanka airways. It was an enjoyable flight)

So onwards to Thailand. I arrived into bangkok around 8:00 p.m.. I have never had to wait so long at immigration before. Unfortunately, there were more counters opened for thai residents then foreign. I arrived at my hostel at approx. 9:00 was really to tired to do anything so I went next door for a quick meal and then to bed. While at the restaurant I met an italian guy name roberto and a guy from holland (I forgot his name). We began to talk about culture and history and then we walked around bangkok for a while. As we were walking around I must have been asked whether I wanted a massage atleast 20 times! I am not sure what a "massage" meant but I wasnt interested in a happy ending. I dont pay for that sort of thing! Besides, my friend jon warned me about "lady boys". There are two terms for lady boys. 1)homosexuals (which I dont have a problem with 2) boys that are NOW girls! This one kind of scares me a little. In fact, did you know that it is cheaper in thailand to have a sex change ($1600) then liposuction? What is that all about?

Anyways, I spent a few days in bangkok. I watched some thai films which were really good if you ask me. I wouldn't be able to say what they were called since the letters are completely different from english letters. THe second day I was in bangkok I bought a train ticket for chiang mai. I wanted to take the cheapest way possible as well as have a place to sleep. The train was 14 hours but time flies when you are sleeping. It was def. an experience.

I arrived into chiang mai at around 9:30 a.m. (the train left around 7:30 p.m.). I met this guy named damir on the train from croatia so we decided to get a hostel together. My first reaction to chiang mai was how cheap everything was here. I could have my own hostel room for around 5 bucks a night. I was used to spending around 10 dollars a night for hostel rooms before chiang mai. Damir and I walked around chiang mai on the first day going to the night bizarre and being harrassed by the market sellers. The next morning I wanted to see the city again and do some more walking. I walked all around the city in search for massage schools. I found two of them. This is one of the main reasons why I wanted to come to chiang mai. There are these thai massage schools that you can take for 2 weeks and become certified. When I go home I will be certified and can give the ladies massages. (haha) maybe mine will have a happy ending...j/k but seriously. That night, I went to a Muay Thai Boxing Match. It consisted of 9 fights with the headliner opponent from new zealand. I saw a contender break his arm. The guy from new zealand totally dominated his oponenent it was something to see!

The next day I took a cooking class (uh oh...ladies in the states watch out!!!) I met two women from canada one from toronto and one from vancouver. They were very nice and we went to a couple of buddhist temples together later that day.

Yesterday, I switched from my original hostel to the current one I am staying at. It is called "sixty house" It is quite new and in this hostel I have my own bathroom. It is quite nice. The best part is it is only 5 bucks a night. I also purchased a book yesterday called "Goodnight Steve McQueen". I am not sure if anyone has heard of it but it was quite intriguing. I read 350 pages in less then a day. I stayed in my room and just read (something if you know me is very uncommon!)It is the story about this guy who is 29 and wants to be a rock star but his girlfriend gives him an ultimatum. If he doesnt get a record deal in 6 months she will leave him. The book is about his struggle with his band, girlfriend, job, and most importantly life. It is a great book. It is similar to "high fidelity".

Anyways, today I booked a tour that leaves tomorrow. I will be visiting and riding elephants. Going down a river on a bamboo raft, riding an ox cart, visiting local a local tribe and eating lunch. It is going to be a great day. I also have a new obsession, mango and strawberry shakes. They are amazing and extremely fresh. ANyways, that is all for now I will fill you in on more once things happen to me which is constantly.

Aaron

As I approach 2 and half months of traveling, two things are quite clear. Family and friends are just as important as ever and taking pictures is a necessity. Although the two don't necessarily go to together, I hope to one day share with all my experiences. This was brought to my attention by my friend jon in china in a different respect.

My last night in china jon and I took a cab to pick up my tailored coat. On the way back to his apartment. I kept on telling him all about my reasons for doing things. As I began to explain to him my thought process (not always the clearest as many people know) he began to explain that other people should not be my main concern in doing something as well as doing something solely because you are in a place that is foreign to you. I took this to heart but in a good way. I realized then how important my experiences are to myself and a million pictures could not explain to other people what I am going through. I am not saying that people wont be able to understand what it is I did traveling. All I am saying is that in 20 years I can look back at my travels and remember the big picture. The big picture to me is learning about myself coping with constant changes. So now that I got that out of the way, I would like to talk about my experience in china.

First off, china is much different then I expected. I expected a country who lags way behind the rest of the world. Now, to be fair I only have been in beijing. But, from what I have seen in beijing, I like it. Everyone that I have encountered has been friendly. Whether it is the people who are trying to sell you anything and everything or the guards outside of jons apartment to the cab drivers.

On another note, the food here is some of the best food I have tasted so far on this trip. I also would like to add how cheap food can be in a big city such as beijing. For instance, you can get food at a restaurant that feeds 2 people as well as 2 beers for the 4-5 dollars u.s. Incredible.

A couple days ago jon took me to the great wall of china. Seeing the great wall from a distance is spectacular. You sometimes forget how powerful human hands can be. As we ascended up the wall we took the cable car which was real sketchy. But nonetheless I am still alive. On the way down the wall we took the bobsled. It was amazing going down a mountain at 20 mph is such a rush. If anyone gets the chance to go to the wall or china for that matter, I highly suggest you take it!

China has been one of my favorite countries that I have visited. (karl...I did not go to 3 gorges that is in another part of china)

Thanks to everyone who reads my journals. I will try to update as much as I can. I have been having problems with uploading pictures. I will try and work that out soon but no promises.

So today I leave for thailand and southeast asia for 6 weeks. I am excited. Write to all of you soon.

Aaron

Disneyland was amazing! It is similar to the ones in america just on a smaller scale. It is astonishing to see how many people love disney. The next day in hong kong I met my friend jon at the airport. It was great to see him. I met 5 of his friends that he had travelled with in southeast asia. I changed my flight plans in hong kong from the 15th to the 20th. I wanted to stay extra days in order to spend time with jon and his friends. We had some great times in hong kong. Unfortunately, they could not all stay at the hostel I was staying at so they got there own place. However, they lucked in because the man we owned their hostel was super cool. Hong kong was amazing. It is such a cosmopolitan city. You almost feel as if you are any western city. There are buildings everywhere. In fact, there is this beautiful building that is 420 meters high. We all went to the 55th storey and the views were amazing.

I left hong kong after being there for 10 days to beijing. Beijing is the largest city I have ever been to. It is an interesting city. It is the first city that I have travelled to so far that I felt outside of western influence. Luckily, my friend jon speaks mandarin. Even at the airport I had a hard time communicating in english! My first day in Beijing consisted of relaxing. We stayed in jon's apartment which is really nice and watched movies. The second day, Jon took me to the 'temple of heaven' it is on this giant piece of land and they had this part that you can literally speak to someone 150 meters away and hear them perfectly. They called this the "echo wall". My future plans consist of tiannamen square, the forbidden city, the great wall of china, and other historically important sites. I hope that whoever reads this blog finds it meaningful. The experience of this trip is indiscribable in these few words.

Aaron

After starting and finishing my trip around melbourne, goldcoast, and brisbane, I decided to return to sydney and share in my friend dan's 22nd birthday extravaganza. For his birthday, he rented a double-decker bus taking 35 of his friends all around the city until the wee hours of the morning. It was truly something that I never dreamed about doing but am so glad I did it!

The last week that I was in australia was relaxing. From Dan's birthday, I met this guy named nick. Nick invited me to his house in parramatta (a suburb of sydney) for a night out. We all had a great time. I met so many people that night. I even told some random drunk guy that I was from north sydney and he actually believed me! The last few days I relaxed. I wanted to make sure that I had everything in order before I began the next part of my trip. I had dan take me to a market in sydney so that I could purchase a giant bag to fit my backpack in for extra security.

The day had finally come for me to leave australia. To be honest it made me a little sad to leave since that had been my home for a month. One great month. I could definitely see myself returning to australia again to do some more traveling. I fly qantus to hong kong. Qantus is the only airline who hasnt had any crashes. Rest assured I am alive and writing this so this is true! Qantus is one of the nicest airlines that I have ever flown on. For my 9 hour flight to hong kong, they gave me the option of over 20 movies, games, t.v. shows, and other fun-filled moments.

I arrived into Hong Kong around 6 p.m. however, it took me over 2 hours to get to my hostel (which is in a great location in kowloon). Kowloon is the next island over from hong kong island. I checked into my hostel late and met this guy from england named johnny. Him and I went to a local irish bar and watched rugby until the early hours of the morning.

The next day I woke up and met again with johnny. This time we took a ferry tour around hong kong island. It was quite impressive to see all of the giant skyscrapers. In every direction you look there are beautiful buildings. In fact, one of the buildings that I saw happend to be my home bank. After the tour we decided to go for a walk around Kowloon. This walk turned out to be about 10-20 miles. Once it began to get dark we decided to head back to the hostel and met some more englishmen at the irish bar and watched some more rugby.

Today, (feb 12th) I said my goodbyes to johnny but perhaps we will meet up again in thailand. I decided to take some of my friend mr. bauers advice and head to macau island. For all of you who don't know macau is the las vegas of asia. Within a 5 hour flight of macau 2.5 billion people live around it. It is quite amazing in itself. Unfortunately, it is extremely new and although many casinos are open, many are being built. I would suggest anyone who is interested in macau to wait 2-3 years. In that time it will be completely different.

Tomorrow, I am planning on going to disneyland hong kong. I know what you all are probally thinking (why am I going to all of these places that are more expensive?) the reason is easy...I am only taking this trip once. These things are a once in a lifetime opportunity and I dont want to lose the chance of not doing them.

On the 15th I leave for beijing china. I am excited to be going there. I will update my blog in a couple days. Please be on the lookout for more updates sooner then later.

Aaron

Sorry for the delayed writing. I have been busy traveling for the past couple of weeks. In this letter I will do my best to describe the past 3 weeks of adventure. Starting off with Sydney.

After staying with my friend sarah for a few days I moved in with my other friend dan from camp. While at dans, I cruised the internet and streets of sydney looking for potential jobs and progams that would further my experience. I have been seriously thinking about becoming a brew master. There are a couple of programs in australia that I am interested. I just need to find out more information and then make the commitment. Jobs in sydney are plentiful. THere are a lot of jobs geared towards travelers. My only problem is I did not want to stay in one place for a while and with a lot of the job you had to commit for atleast 3 months. At this stage of my trip I am all about seeing different places.

Hanging out with dan was exciting. He took me to his work and I played some poker (1st tournament ever! I came in 16th place out of 50 plus)It was exciting. I also met a few of dans work associates. They seemed to be very nice.

On jan. 18th I left sydney onwards to melbourne to experience the australian open (tennis grand slam). It was amazing! I met some interesting people while in melbourne. In my opinion if sydney is the financial center of australia, then melbourne is the cultural center of sydney. Melbourne had numerous museums and markets. The only problem with melbourne is that it rained every day I was there. I stayed at a hostel called nomads industry which was right in the city center so it wasnt so bad walking around even if it was in the rain.

On jan. 22nd I left melbourne and onwards to brisbane(more exact moreton bay). Moreton bay is the main marina area of brisbane. That is where my hostel was. It was great to stay here because I met a lot of locals and long term hostelers. I met a few people that I have been hanging out a lot with including a new zealander, an englishmen, 4 german girls, 5 canadians, and a couple of swedes. The hostel has some grreat features althuogh the management blows. I could do a hell of a lot better running it. But still...it is a great place to meet people. In fact, every wednesday they have a yacht race around one of the near islands. I got to participate in the race! I was a crew member on a 60 ft. yacht. They explained to me how much work it would be but I was up for the challenge. To be quite honest it is quite dangerous!

On Jan 25th I left brisbane area and went down the the gold coast to see my camp friend rob. It was great to finally stay in a bed after over a week sleeping in a room with no air conditioning. Rob showed me around the gold coast including surfers paradise. On jan. 26th was australia day. It isnt the same as back home but it was great to see the patriotism. ROb took me to meet some of his friends in the park and we played my first ever game of rugby and ricket. I am starting to understand both the games. They are quite interesting. Rob also took me to experience his favorite hobby of drifting. Drifting is a new motorsport where you go along a track and drift your car around turns. It is quite entertaining (even if I did get a little bit of rubber in my eyes).

Right now, I am back in moreton bay. I am going to be heading back to the gold coast tomorrow (wednesday) to catch my flight by thursday. I am going to stay with rob for one more night. It is great to know people in different countries. This trip only gets better and better.

Aaron

I left nz on jan 9th. I left on one of the first flights out of auckland. I had to spend the night at the airport. I was picked up at the airport by an old camp friend. After not showering for 3 days, I took a shower and then sarah gave me a brief tour of sydney. Sydney, is an amazing city! There are many things to do here. As I first saw the famous opera house, I remembered seeing documentaries with the structure. It is unbelievable. The next day sarah had to run errands before she left for thailand so I took a ferry to the Taronga Zoo. The Taronga Zoo put zoo atlanta to shame. It is expanding all the time. The next day, I left sarah and met up with another camp friend named daniel. Daniel and a group of us went to nelsons bay the following the day. It was amazing! We could actually drive on the beach. We also did some offroading on a sand dune. In all, Australia is a beautiful place. Although I have only been here for a week. Time has definitely flown by. I can not wait to continue my adventures in australia and abroad. I will write back soon.

Well, Well, Well...what can I say, I did quite a bit in the past week.
(Sorry in advance for the bad grammatical errors. I don't have the time to revise).

New Years was great! I met a couple from poland, america, and three germans. We ventured off to the harbor in downtown auckland to watch the fireworks. It was beautiful, but did not last long.

After a hard night of rocking on new years eve, I woke up and was picked up by stray (hop on-hop off bus company). Our first day we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and stopped in Hahai(hahey)-a small beach beach community that is packed during the summer months. On our first day there was only 5 of us making the trip more worthwhile since you could really get to know people in a small group. In hahai, we walked around the beaches and islands that were formed from erosion made of limestone. I barbequed that night for everyone (chicken, sausage, and beef...they all said it was delicious.

The next day we left from Hahai onwards to raglan. Apparently, Jack Johnson (the famous singer) hangs out there because it has the longest left break in the world. It is very easy to surf there. However, I did not surf. Raglan was an interesting town. It was full of retired people as well as surfers and hippies. We stayed at this really cool hideaway hostel in the hills. It was also home to the Raglan surf school. I met some interesting characters there and spent the night playing games and such with all of them.

We left Raglan on wednesday and went to Waitomo caves. This area of new zealand is known for 1000's of caves. I had the opportunity to tour a cave. In the cave, I saw millions of glow worms (larvae is the real name!). It was amazing! You couldnt see in front of our face. With the worms help, it looked like you were staying up into the starry sky. After the Waitomo caves we drove to rotorua. Rotorua is known for adventure sports. Unfortunately, I did not go sledging this time around(sorry matt!) but next time...Instead, I went to a small Maori community and learned a little about their culture. It was a little bit depressing to see how they relied so heavily on the tourism industry.

After Rotorua, I went to Lake Taupo. Lake Taupo was my favorite area thus far in New Zealand. It is busy year round with tourists as well as locals. There are some great picturesque views overlooking the near mountain ranges.

We left Lake Taupo on thursday and headed off to the national park. In the national park, they have some tall mountains. On friday me and 7 other people climbed one of the tallest mountains. The moutain that I climbed was the mountain right beside mt. doom(lord of the rings). I nominated myself to be the team leader and lead the group on the 17 km voyage up and down this particular mountain.( I forgot the name or else I would right it down). Once we finished the climb, we were all exhausted. The hostel that we stayed in was the most luxurious hostel in the world!(atleast to me). It was a ski resort built only four months ago.

Today, (sat jan 6th) we left the national park and drove 5 hours to wellington (peter jackson-lord of the rings). I am staying at the hostel that is right across the street from the world premier of the lord of the rings movies (thought myke would like to know!) Tomorrow, I am going on the lord of the rings movie tour featuring sites that they filmed the actual movie. I am also going to try to stop by the parliament building and take a tour there.

On tuesday I am leaving new zealand and beginning my journey in Australia. I am really looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting new ones.

Till Next time, ( I will try to write soon)

Aaron

Yesterday I had an easy day of sightseeing. I think I must have walked most of the city. I walked to the pier and the wharf. I saw some amazing yachts and sail boats. I was exhausted by 5:00 p.m. At the hostel,they offer a free dinner for all guests. Atleast that is one meal that I do not have to worry about. For the past couple of dinners I have been eating with two girls from austria named ella and ingrid. Both are nurses in salzburg and luckily took off 3 months to travel around australia and new zealand. I went to bed roughly early yesterday, 11:30.

Today, I woke up at 9:00 a.m.. That was the latest I have slept in thus far. Shortly after I woke up I decided to walk to the auckland museum. The auckland museum is beautiful. It has three floors of information. One of the floors is about the history of new zealand. The second floor has wildlife and living organisms. The final floor is dedicated to the new zealand armed forces. There was even a little section about the holocaust. It was astonishing to see how new zealand took part in both WWI and WWII. In america, you often forget that there are other countries fighting in battles. You sometimes take things for granted. New Zealand reminds me of england. The selection is not nearly as good for merchandise as it is in America. And everything is extremely expensive. Atleast in new zealand they have more customer service then England. Today, is new years eve and I am going to one of the local parks to celebrate in style. I will be watching 3 live bands on 3 stages and then there will be a giant firework celebration. The hostel is in a great location downtown. It takes me 5-10 minutes to practically walk everywhere including the park for new years.

Tomorrow, I will venture off on my bus trip around the north island. Speak to all of you soon.

Aaron
p.s. Happy Early New Year!!!!!!

hello from auckland nz. I arrived into auckland approx. 12:30 p.m. on friday dec. 29th (16 hours ahead of east coast u.s.). From nadi, it was about a 2 hr 45 min flight. I have never been asked so many questions at customs before. They asked me so many minute questions that I began to get a headache. They asked me questions about the where I was staying, what I was doing, and next destinations. However, everything went well in the end! My hostel that I am staying in is called the fat camel hostel. It is a giant hostel compared to the last one. I haven't met any of my roommates yet because I have been walking around the city. Everything in the city closes at 6:00 p.m. and nothing will be open for the next couple of days due to the new year. I am going to be listening to a free concert on news in one of the local parks. It is really clean and beautiful here. So far I havent met any people from north america. Americans don't do a lot of traveling so it seems. But, that doesn't come as a shock since only 8% of Americans have passports.

The main street in auckland is called Queens street. I went to an Sta travel (student travel store) as soon as I arrived. I already booked a hop on-hop off bus tour. I am going all over the north island. Starting in auckland, then hahei, hot water beach, raglan, rotorua, waitomo caves, taupo, tongariro national park, ohakune, and then on to wellington. I leave auckland on jan 1st at 7:50 a.m.. I am going to be extremely exhausted from the night before, but oh well!!! you only live once.

tomorrow I am planning on going to the sky walk. It is kind of like the cn tower but not nearly as tall. If the weather is nice I may go to the beach too. It is kind of nice to be in the summer months right now. The world is a giant place.

Aaron

So today was eventful. Yes it was! for about 30 minutes two stray dogs were hanging(wink wink) on the beach and all of the guests at the hostel were staring at them. That is one thing that I truly wont forget. It is ashame how the stray dogs live on the island. I truly feel for them. I wish I could adopt all of them, but that is unrealistic.

Today, I went to Nadi town again. It was more exciting. I got a free fijian mask and a bracelet. I told them it was my birthday. I figured I have been ripped off so many times traveling, that it was about time for me to rip the locals off. I went to this chain of restaurants called Nandos. I ate some chicken and stared at green fries. I did not eat them because they looked horrible.

I went to Nadi town with three other canadians. Phil, erika, and corey were their names. They leave tonight to go back to canada. It was cool to hang out with them although for a very short period. Well, that is all we did today. I leave tomorrow morning for auckland for 12 days. That should be exciting. I am probably going to rent a car with a few people while I am there. It is cheaper to rent a car then to take buses. I had a great time in fiji. I only wish I could have had an opportunity to see the "real fijian life" outside of the mainland. The next time I will come I will stay at a resort. This hostel was disorganized and expensive, however, it did have an amazing view of the water. My pictures of fiji will be up real soon. I will keep all of you posted.

Much respect,

Aaron

Today is my first full day in nadi fiji. I was supposed to go on a tour around bounty island (one of the local islands near mainland) but I decided against it and went to nadi city center instead. The city consisted of one narrow street. All shops were run down with discreet smells. I went with a couple of people and we stood out like a sore thumb. It was great to meet some locals. The locals offered us a local drink called kava-which apparently is like mud water with some sort of drug in it. I passed on the kava. Today I spent about 3 hours just sitting in front of the ocean talking to an american man who now lives in australia. We were both staring out at the beautiful mountains and islands in the distance. The man was telling me about all of his travels and that he was in his 40's and still wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life.(if anyone knows me...I laughed when he said that!)
Also, because fiji is extremely close to the equator, the sun is almost directly over fiji. It is incredible(next time you go outside look up and I can guarantee to you all that the sun will not be straight up in the air. It only happens near the equator).


Last night was interesting, my first night in fiji and I practically met everyone in the hostel. After I ate sizzling chicken (mom and dad know how obsessed I was with the sound of the sizzle when I was younger)there was a bonfire on the beach. About 20 of us sat around sharing stories about traveling and adventures. Later on in the night the crowd began to trickle down until there was about 7 of us. The conversations began to continue to the early hours of the morning until we were locked out of the hostel and had to walk around to the front.

I haven't worn shoes in over a day around the hostel. Everyone walks around barefoot here. The sights are so picturesque. In fact, during the early hours of the morning, the moon disappeared literally. It was incredible. No one in the group of 7 had ever seen anything like that before. We believe it had something to do with the international dateline or our proximity to the equator. Anyways, that was my first full night and day in a nut shell.

If all of my days can be as eventful as the first one, I am in for one hell of a ride.

Aaron

Is it 11:30 a.m. Dec. 26th already? It is a little strange to already be done with christmas! I arrived in Nadi Fiji around 5:00 a.m. Dec. 26th ( I am not sure what the time would be in America but somewhere between 20 hours and 17 hours behind) The weather here is beautiful. It is sunny with highs consistently in the high 70's to low 80's. The hostel that I am staying at is called Smugglers Cove Resort. It was built this year and its features are nice. I have already met a few people. Jen and Jared are two canadians who go to university in sydney. They went home to vancouver and now vacationing in fiji. I met this older women at the fiji airport and right away we talked about American politics. I wasn't going to argue with her, so I just walked away. I also met a couple of french students(although they said they were from montreal, they didn't speak much english). The fijians are extremely friendly. And thus far, noone has tried to rip me off. I sat at the beach for about 2 hours today just reflecting on my journey thus far. I can not believe I am here! I am a little bit tired but I slept fairly well on the flight. Well, that is about all for right now in nadi, fiji. I will probably go on a tour at some point to see some of the surrounding islands that make up this beautiful country of fiji.

Aaron

hello fellow inhabitants of various places.

Well, today was my last full day in sunny california. It was a great vacation spending time with my family. I know that it will be the last time all of us will be together for a long time so I believe we made the most of our time together. As I embark on this trip, I know that my family and friends will be along with me for the ride internally. I can not wait to share with all of you my world adventures.

P.S. I also wanted to invite you into my travel plans for the next few months(could be years...)The following is my tentative itinerary of my travels up until may 23rd.

dec. 24th-leave from lax to nadi fiji
dec. 29th-leave nadi to auckland nz
jan. 9th-leave auckland nz to sydney aus
feb 10th-leave sydney aus to hong kong
feb 15th-leave hong kong to beijing china
mar 2nd-leave beijing china to bangkok thailand
apr 6th-leave bangkok thailand to mumbai india
may 23rd-leave kathmandu nepal to london england

*plans will change of course and I will do my best in filling all of you in.

wish me good luck

Aaron

So, yesterday we dropped off my sister in Orange County. My dad and I went to Laguna Beach, Oceanside, San Clemente, and San Diego to kill time before picking up my sister. After that we picked my sis and drove back to Palm Springs. We ended up eating at the same Chinese restaurant as before, but I got to hang out with Ronda and Mike and their family and Uncle Stan and Diane ("little diddy about Stan and Diane..."). Today my dad and I are heading down to downtown Palm Desert to pick up a money belt.

Note: My sister typed this entry out because I'm a lazy boohoo.