Our 15 minutes of fame

When we were on the island of Koh Rong in Cambodia we met a free lance photographer named Justin. He was in Koh Rong to take some pictures for the New York Time's travel issue. When he heard that we were going snorkeling that afternoon he asked if it was ok that he came along and took some photos.

Well, we thought who wouldn't want to be in the New York Times, of course he could come along. We were very excited when we found out that two of our pictures were used in the paper.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/01/08/travel/20120108_kohrong-12.html

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/01/08/travel/20120108_kohrong-4.html

Hot water beach

We had heard great stories about the hot water beach at the Coromandel peninsula and our expectations were set high.  It certainly did not disappoint us. We dug a hole in the sand and it was automatically filled with hot thermal water creating a natural hot pool where we could sit and enjoy the surroundings.

The hot water part of the beach is underwater until two hours before low tide. This day, the low tide was not until 5 p.m. which gave us plenty of time to drive around the scenic Coromandel peninsula before heading to the beach. The drive up the west coast of the peninsula provided some breathtaking views of green hills with turquoise waters in the background. We also had a chance to stop for some fresh oysters along the way.

Northland

Our first destination with the motorhome was the province of Northland. We visited 2000 year old Kauri trees, went to the lighthouse at cape Reinga and walked bare foot over huge sand dunes next to ninety mile beach.

The Kauri trees are huge native New Zealand trees. A large part of the Kauri forest was cut down by the early European settlers the the oldest (and biggest) trees are still standing.

Cape Reinga is the point in northern New Zealand where the water from the Tasman sea clashes with the water from the Pacific ocean. The meeting of the oceans is very visible due to the white water created by the strong ocean currents.

At Cape Reinga the rain was still pouring down but during the 15 minute drive over to the sand dunes the rain finally stopped. We had not rented any boards to go sand boarding. Instead we went walking, running and jumping around in the sand.

Heading south again we stopped the Waitangi museum to learn a bit about the history of New Zealand. Unfortunately the museum was a disappointment so we continued our journey towards Auckland again.

Our Northland journey was a good start to our New Zealand trip. We enjoyed some fantastic scenery with the highlight being the sand dunes at Cape Reinga.

After 48 hours in New Zealand...

...it finally stopped raining. Most of our things were soaked and the motorhome was already starting to feel damp inside. The second night in New Zealand we stayed at serviced camp site in hope to use a dryer.  We were not the only people with this idea though. The camp had only one dryer and the waiting time to use it was more than a day.

But, on our third day in New Zealand it stopped raining. The temperature was still well below the expected level and the wind was blowing hard, but at least it was not raining anymore. On a positive note the wind made it possible to hang our clothes up outside in the evening to dry...

With our fleece jackets on we sat outside for the first time and enjoyed a cold beer over looking the river.

Changing continent

Our second long haul flight on the trip took us to Auckland, New Zealand. Auckland greeted us with cold wet weather. After the warm weather we have had over the last six weeks in south east Asia the cold in New Zealand came as a bit of a shock.

On the positive note however, Erika's brother Peter flew in from Canada to join us for the next five weeks. The three of us will rent a motorhome and drive around New Zealand. We are really looking forward to unpacking our backpacks in the motorhome and not having to "pack up" again for another five weeks. Quite a change to the backpacking life that we have lived for the past eleven weeks.

Now we just wish that the rain would stop and that the New Zealand summer will arrive.

Diving in south east Asia

During our travels in south east Asia we have been fortunate to experience some world class scuba diving in several different countries. Our diving experiences on this trip started in Palau where Erika also got her scuba diving certification. After Palau we have gone diving in the Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand.

Our first dive in Thailand was also Erika's deep dive training. With this completed we are now both certified to explore the underwater world all the way down to depths of 30 meters.

When traveling in these regions the beauty of the waters are always within easy reach. In every coastal town and on every island with tourists there are several dive centers going out to the reefs everyday. There is no need to book diving in advance or plan your travel itinerary according to diving locations. If you feel like going under water for a day there will always be a boat going out to a near by reef that you can hop onto the following morning.

Lucky Lanta

On boxing day 2004 a devastating tsunami hit many countries around the Indian ocean. Traveling the Andaman coast in Thailand it is impossible not to think about this horrifying day. While certain islands and towns were lucky, other places suffered enormous damages with many lives lost.

Our two island stops along the Thai cost have been Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta. Two islands with very different fates that day. The location and topography of Ko Phi Phi turned out to be devastating. The island basically consists of two main land bodies with high steep cliffs. These two land masses are connected by a long sand bank that is only a couple of hundred meters wide and not more than a few meters above sea level. This gives the island it's fantastic beauty with one lime stone bay on each side but it also created a death trap when the waves came. Most of the buildings on the island are located on this sand bank and when the tsunami came towards the island the high cliffs tunneled all the water right into town.

Ko Lanta on the other hand was lucky due to it's location and shape. It is long and quite narrow and the tsunami came in parallel to the island. Most of the island was therefore not affected by the waves. After the tsunami Ko Lanta is nicknamed Lucky Lanta. One exception was the hotel we stayed at. It is located on a little peninsula in the north west of the island and as the waves travelled up along the cost it took out everything on this little peninsula. Luckily most people were already up and out of their bungalows as it hit at 10am. Two guests at the hotel lost their lives, one man sleeping in his bungalow and a young girl swimming in the pool.

We talked to several people on Phi Phi that had lost both friends and family to the tsunami. With everything now rebuilt you don't see any physical traces of the disaster. You do however know that everyone living on the island had their lives forever affected.

Ko Phi Phi

New Years in Trang

While in Thailand we imagined celebrating New Years Eve on a beautiful island or in the bustling city of Bangkok. What we had not imagined was to spend it in an unheard town called Trang.

As we have travelled around south east Asia we got used to the flexible traveling. It is extremely easy to book buses, trains and flights as you go along. It is usually enough time to buy tickets with a days notice.

What we had not anticipated was that pretty much everyone celebrating New Years in the south of Thailand was also planning on going back to Bangkok at the same time as us.

All sleeper trains between January 1st and 6th were fully booked. None of the airlines had any tickets left for January 2nd or 3rd. The only possibility left was to fly out of Trang early in the morning on New Years day.

This time the forced change of plans turned out very well. Spending New Years eve in Trang took us off the banana pancake trail*. We were the only westerners on the beautifully decorated streets around the Trang clock tower. We enjoyed a great New Years dinner in a street side restaurant where no one spoke a word of English and menus had not yet been invented. With lots of smiles and made up sign language we managed to order something that tasted great. We got to hear the countdown in Thai and bring in the New Year surrounded by a sky filled with rice paper lanterns.

*) Banana pancake trail is the nickname for places along the standard backpacking routes in south east Asia. No local would ever order a banana pancake for breakfast so without enough tourists you won't find a banana pancake.