Bangalore

November 2007

Bangalore is a bustling city of LOTS of people (ok 6.5 million) and as many motorized vehicles. I am here for work, staying at the Taj Residency, which is a very nice hotel on MG Road.

I flew in from Tokyo via Singapore, and landed around 10pm. FYI you need a visa for India. After waiting around the one baggage terminal and getting my suitcase, I walked out of the exit where a number of hotel representatives were greeting passengers. I asked around for the Taj guy, and he said he would bring me to my driver. (When I was booking my tickets, I asked about transport from airport to hotel -- do not take a cab, either pre-arrange with your hotel or go to the pre-paid ride station).

I walked around in the morning on MG Road. To be honest, my first time out I ended up taking a 20 minute walk around the block, with four right turns, because I couldn't figure out how to cross the street. I talked to the concierge and armed with a map (useless because there are no signs) ventured back out and tagged along with other pedestrians to make it across a few streets. I stoppen in at a shop on MG Road (Naina Sarees). A saleswoman was by my side the moment I walked in, they gave me a welcome drink (papaya juice I think) and upsold like crazy. An hour later I ended up with a few bracelets, a shirt and a scarf for my mom.

I had lunch with some co-workers at the hotel restaurant. Dosas are these enormous thin pancakes (literally a 12 inch side equilateral triangle) with potatoes inside. You pour sauce on and eat the pancake with dipping sauces (definitely did not eat all of the pancake). Good Kingfisher beer too.

After lunch, one co-worker Gary and I walked back down MG Road. We realized we'd have to cab it to see any sites. We caught one (for 40r) to Vidhana Soudha, a beautiful government building, which unfortunately we were not allowed into. We did however, explore the Karnataka High Court across the street, which was pretty cool. It is a functional state court house, with lawyers in their robes milling about, and live court proceedings that we peeked into from the open air hallway.

We caught another cab to Bangalore Palace. We had a chatty cabbie, and he came in with us. The Palace costs 200r for admission, and another 500r per camera! (I actually did not take pictures at this place...) It is the old palace that belongs to the Maharaja of Mysore, and apparently the Wodeyars were kings until six years ago. The palace is interesting -- it is not the most well kept place, and it's kind of weird because you are definitely looking at someone old house. Family pictures, used furniture, and random collections. Elephant bust and the stools that were made of elephant feet and bison legs were definitely the most eclectic (too bad no pictures huh). The gardens are nice and the interior open air plazas were beautiful. One of the palace employees walked us around, and asked us for a tip at the end.

I was recommended Mysore and after looking at all of the pictures of the king's palace there, I would go there if you have time for the 160km trip. Looks amazing.

On the last day, we took another auto-rikshaw ride out to Lal Bagh Gardens, a 240 acre park on the southern side of Bangalore. It was a really long ride out there, I think I lose a lung from all of the road gases, but we drove through some new areas which was really interesting. 70 rupees for a 30+ minute ride... It was really nice to see so much green in the middle of Bangalore, and this was the first place I saw a lot of families out together. We saw the weird clock with dwarfs, the glass house, watch tower, and rose garden. There is a lake on the north end with pelicans and carp, and the path around the lake has monkeys.

I met up with Chaitra, one of my classmates, on the last day, and she took me to a mall where we hung out and got some Indian fast food snacks (chat). So yummy, I think the yogurt one was my favorite, though the puff pastry you poke a hole in and fill with grains and masala was quite good too. Then we got "American Corn", sweet corn with spices, butter and lime.

Click here for more pictures

Japan

**I have often been asked about travel advice for Japan. Here's a good start for planning a trip to Japan.

What you do would probably depend on what your traveling style is, whether you like to hit all the sites vs. more chilling out, but hopefully I can offer some suggestions for both.

The two cities that are the staples for traveling in Japan are Tokyo and Kyoto. Tokyo is the capital and center of just about everything, while Kyoto is the ancient capital with wonderful history. If you are going south, it would be worth going to Hiroshima and Miyajima. The museum in Hiroshima is incredibly powerful and my personal belief is that everyone should have to go there once in their lifetime. Miyajima is about half an hour from Hiroshima by ferry and is where the famous floating red Shinto gate on the ocean is. Another beautiful site is obviously Mt Fuji. I have never done the hike, but it can be done in July and August, you go the night before, hike though the night and summit in time for the sunrise.

Tokyo
So many things to do in Tokyo, I actually like it more for the experiential piece than sightseeing, great place for eating, drinking, walking around.

Walk around Shibuya, maybe early evening/night, that’s where that huge intersection is you see in pictures all the time, I think it’s supposed to be the busiest in the world. Tons of shopping, restaurants and bars, and you will totally see the variety of Japanese pop culture there. FYI easy to get lost in there. And trains stop running around midnight. Not sure if you will be traveling with someone, but karaoke is a must. Integral part of Japanese pop culture.

Also just for the experience, go to like Ikebukuro or Tokyo station during rush hour. Any train station actually at like 8am. Pretty intense just to see. Tokyo Station was completely renovated and has amazing new restaurant rows and shops, definitely worth wandering. Also check out Shin Maru Building across the street - the view of Tokyo station from the 7th Floor restaurant/bar patio is the best.

Akihabara is the “electric city” where there are tons of electronics stores. Japanese electronics are so cool, I have spent hours in Big Camera, Yodobashi-camera and Sakura (equivalent to a Best Buy or Circuit City), though Akihabara are less branded retailers. Streets upon streets (and I use street liberally, many are alleyways) or shops that sell tvs and phones and computers and just gadgets.

Ginza and Omotesando are the really ritzy high end areas where lots of foreigners (gaijin) live and where all the Gucci, Prada, etc stores are.

Especially if you are jetlagged, I would go to the fish market at Toyosu* early in your week. The Tsukiji fish market was my favorite Tokyo site that I have brought many people to (old photos here). It's now Toyosu, and still the largest in the world, with 2000 metric tons of seafood passing through per day. The tuna auctions are exciting but done around 6am, and you need to apply for a spot to be on the floor. It's free to watch from the observation area above.  You can still walk around the the market to see all the seafood that you could ever imagine (and some that you couldn't dream of). Please keep in mind that this is an active market and these people's livelihoods -- stay out of their way!

After the market, find the rows of sushi restaurants at Toyosu (and still in Tsukiji on the outskirt of the old markets). Some are more famous than others (hence the lines) and I have a favorite (check out Sushi-bun), but you can't go wrong here.

*NOTE: Tsukiji still exists as a destination for restaurants and shops (recommend!), but the fish markets were moved to Toyosu in advance of the Tokyo Olympics and to modernize this important market. Toyosu market website and a guide to visiting.

While we are on the topic of food, other things you should consume…

• Yakitori – grilled skewers of chicken and other meat/veg, and is so much more delicious than you would ever expect. Might be tough to order, so get a local to take you or be ready for a food adventure.
• Kaiten sushi – others are better than me for sushi recs. Kaiten sushi is uniquely Japanese, and I think it's fun to experience. It comes around on conveyor belts and you pay by the plate. Can be very cost effective, kind of fast food though it’s good sushi
• Ramen – especially if you can find a little ramen cart. But also great at Tokyo Station Ramen Street
• Tempura – have the real stuff, nothing like the heavy greasy stuff you get here. If you can, high end places are this famous Ginza restaurant Ten-Ichi and these Tempura Yamonoue
• “Bento” – go to a “conbini”, or convenience store like 7-11 or Lawson’s, and get the ready made food to go (bento = lunch set). Also check out "eki-ben" which are bento that you get at the train station for long train rides.
• Beer – Japanese beer is great. “Nama” is the draft. Good stuff.
• Izakaya are local bars with small plates. Apparently the Ichibangai street in Akabane (where my mom grew up) is now known as a destination for izakaya and cheap(er) eats!
• Sake – have some beautiful, cold, unpasteurized ("nama") sake, there is nothing like it outside of Japan, because almost all sake that's exported has to be pasteurized to be shelf stable. Tsubo no Naka is my favorite Tokyo haunt, an all-you-can-drink sake bar, BYO food, and wonderful owner "Papa" to guide your evening

Here's a NYT article on eating in Tokyo, and another on cheap recs.

Also, summer is prime baseball season. If you can get tickets to a Tokyo Giants game (you can do it online, though you may need a Japanese address to get the tickets delivered, maybe your hotel?). They’re fun and pretty different from American games. The Giants are the biggest team in Japan, in that half of the country actually roots for them, huge empire (kind of Yankees-esque) and is where Hideki Matsui played. I actually took a classmate of mine from Kansas who was passing through Japan, and we had a great time. Watch for the little beer girls who carry quarter kegs on their backs, Zach got a huge kick out of that for some reason.

Sumo would also be interesting to see. The tournaments occur six times a year and the tickets are quite expensive, but it is supposed to be a great experience.

Pro-tip: Japan has many public holidays and a few holiday weeks (Golden Week, Obon, New Years) that you'll want to plan around.

The Tokyo sightseeing stuff might be better gleaned from a guidebook, but here’s a quick list

• Meiji Jingu – Meiji Shrine, beautiful and historic
• Imperial Palace and Gardens
• Senso-ji – also known as Asakusa Kannon, it’s the main Tokyo temple (see right). Nakamise-dori has lots of little shops and stuff, good for buying trinkets and gifts
• Harakuju - center for fashion from high-end international showcases to bargain boutiques. Ometesando has the boutiques and Takashita-dori the teen culture
• Tokyo Tower or Skytree
• Tokyo Disneyland if that's your thing
• teamLab Planets Tokyo in Toyosu is a cool digital museum

For the totally rare experience, Ogasawara is an island off of Tokyo’s coast. It is a surfing mecca, supposed to be just beautiful, sea turtles and dolphins, great natural beauty, and odd nature (mushrooms that glow at night), and this is in Tokyo Prefecture. BUT there are not many ferries to the place, takes 25 hrs? But everyone who makes it there just comes back enthralled. The nature there is incredible because it’s so hard to get to, but supposed to be an incredible experience if you are looking for something off the beaten path.

Here's a post on the Tokyo layover, if you only have a few hours to spend in the city!

Nikko

Nikko is a beautiful historical city in the mountains, and can be a day trip from Tokyo (about 2 hrs north by train). Toshugu is the famous shrine built by Tokugawa Ieyasu (shogun who started Edo-period) and you can also take a bus up to the beautiful Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Waterfall. If you can, I highly recommend staying at a ryokan at Okunikko. We stayed at Yu no Mori where every guest room has a private outdoor hot spring bath. As many with most ryokan, they serve a beautiful dinner and breakfast that's included in the price. 

Kyoto
Kyoto is beautiful and unusual in Japan that the architecture is intact because it was left untouched in the war. So there are temples and shrines that are over a thousand years old and the city has literally 150 or 200 shrines and temples I think. By the way, Japanese are generally one or both Shinto and Buddhist, and a lot of both are ingrained in the culture more than being active religions. Shrines are Shinto places of worship and temples are Buddhist. There is actually a path, I think it’s called the Philosopher’s Trail, that is probably one or two km, with some famous temples/shrines along the path.

Some of the must sees in Kyoto…

*Kinkaku-ji – temple that is painted completely in gold)
*Ginkaku-ji – the sister temple with amazing gardens
*Kiyomizu-dera – ancient wooden temple that overlooks city
*Sanjusangen-do temple – there are 1001 sculptures of Buddhist gods there
*Ryoan-ji – zen gardens
*Nijo Castle – less a fortification than imperial court

Nara (with Todai-ji and the HUGE Buddha) and Uji are both old cities that are near Kyoto and have many temples and shrines, but unless you are really interested in the ancient religious architecture (which I was so I saw a lot of), you might get your fill in Kyoto.

Hiroshima This can be a day trip from Kyoto. I truly believe that everyone should go to the museum they have there. They still have a number of buildings they left as it was after the bomb (the famous dome is one), and the museum is both a memorial for those who were lost as well as a tribute to peace and education against war and nuclear weapons. Really powerful. Also eat okonomiyaki, one of the signature foods of the area.

Miyajima
This island is about half an hour from Hiroshima, and it has that shrine that floats on the water. I was really surprised to find that it only “floats” during high tide and that you can actually walk up to it during low tide, so I would make sure that you are there during high tide. Also can do a pretty cool hike to the top of the mountain there.

Mt. Fuji
A few hours from Tokyo, this would be awesome if you could fit it in. It is a 5-6 hour hike, I think, though I haven’t had the opportunity to do it yet. Not too difficult, and you can drive to a certain point. If you can stay at a minshuku (inn) for before and after, you can experience the hot springs, which you definitely should do. Either way, you should try to find the baths wherever you end up going. Very Japanese experience.

Okinawa
Okinawa has the most beautiful white sand beaches and would be a great break depending on what you're looking for in your trip. Very different from the rest of Japan, including their food!

Onsen If you have a few days to go to an onsen area, I would HIGHLY recommend it. Onsen are hot springs that result from volcanic activity that created the Japanese islands and still rock them today with earthquakes. Atami, Hakone, and Izu are closer to Tokyo.

Kinosaki Onsen is off the beaten path but one of my favorite trips I've taken in Japan. A beautiful village on the western Sea of Japan, it's about five hours from Tokyo (2 hrs past Kyoto) with lovely public hot springs and amazing seafood. Nothing better than walking around in a yukata (casual kimono) for three days, taking baths and drinking sake.

ETC.
There are so many other places that are not on this list or I haven't been. Other cities that may make your list are Osaka, Kobe and Nagoya, which are all major metropolitan areas with lots of commerce, but not sure how fun to visit. Kanazawa is a beautiful city on the Sea of Japan (west coast of main island Honshu) with well-preserved Edo-era feel and fantastic seafood.

Hokkaido is the northern island, the biggest city is Sapporo. Hokkaido has world class snow in the winter for snowboarders/skiers, and phenomenal food (seafood and ramen to start).

Traveling with kids is relatively easy in Japan. Here's more on traveling with a toddler

Madrid

Click here for pictures on Kodak Gallery.

Barcelona

Click here for pictures on Kodak Gallery.

Chantilly

Naoto & Mikiko's Wedding
July 6, 2007

Chateau de Chantilly is a beautiful castle about an hour outside of Paris. The grounds include the magnificent castle in addition to stables, a racetrack, and numerous gardens and smaller houses.

Naoto is a GSB classmate and met Mikiko in college at Keio University. She has been working in Paris for the last year, which is why the wedding was in France. She looked absolutely gorgeous in her wedding dress, it was fun taking pictures.

In addition to their families, each of them had about a dozen friends in attendance, including ten GSBers. We all met at a hotel in Paris to take a bus to Chantilly. We got to see the grounds and take pictures, then headed to the chapel for the ceremony. Naoto and Mikiko pulled up in a horse-drawn carriage for the intimate ceremony and reception at a small chapel on the grounds. We returned to Paris for a wonderful boat cruise on the Seine River for dinner and drinks.

Click here for more pictures on Picasa.

Paris

July 2007

We were in Paris for a few days before and after a friend's wedding in Chantilly...

Here were the restaurants
http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/search/label/Paris

Seville

We left Granada for the 300 km drive on A92 to Sevilla after an early lunch. After another confusing driving experience, we settled down at Hotel Vime Corrigidor and set out to explore the city. We walked along Rio Guadalquivir to the Santa Cruz area with the Catedral and Alcazar. We stopped for tapas at a great bar close to Plaza del Triunfo called Bodega Santa Cruz. The food was awesome and cheap and people super friendly. After another walk under a beautiful evening sky, we had dinner outside on one of the side streets by the Catedral.

The next morning we visited Alcazar, a beautiful Muslim palace and gardens (€5 and €3 audioguide). It was nice to walk around the different wings of the gorgeous palace. We had more tapas for lunch, including a thick version of gazpacho called salmorejo, Lowell's favorite tortilla, and more berenjas con queso (eggplant with cheese). I love Spanish food. Since it was Sunday, the cathedral (€7.50) opened at 2:30pm, though it wasn't too crowded. We then walked up winding stairs to the top of Giralda, the cathedral minaret, which had great views of the city.

After a little shopping trip and siesta, we went to a flamenco show at El Arenal. We found this place through the hotel so it was a bit touristy, but easy and the show was interesting. We head out for a late dinner after the show and decided on El Giraldillo on Plaza del Triunfo. It has prime real estate right on the plaza with an amazing view of the cathedral. The restaurant is a bit expensive, but we decided to splurge for our last night in Andalucia and it was totally worth it to sit on the plaza on such a beautiful night.

Click here for more Sevilla pictures on Kodak Gallery.

Notes on Sevilla:
**For flights, cars, and hotels in Europe, we have been using Wegolo, a Dutch run travel site. Pretty good hotel deals and we found a lot of flights with the low cost European carriers like vueling (my favorite), clickair, and easyjet.
**The flamenco show was nice to see, but super touristy (€35 for show and one drink). Definitely don't do the dinner option, go out after.
**El Giraldillo charges a fee for sitting outside, as other restaurants do commonly. It was about €100 for an appetizer, dinner, and wine, and Lowell says the shoulder of lamb he had there was his favorite dish in Spain (check out more at food blog)

Granada

We drove a few hours on highways along sunflower and olive tree fields from Ronda to Granada. After a nightmarish hour of being lost on Granada's narrow one way streets, we left our car a few blocks away from Plaza Nueva where we were staying at Hotel Macia Plaza (€60 per night).

After short siesta, we explored Plaza Nueva at the center of town and has tons of restaurants and bars. Dinner was great--iceberg lettuce and garlic salad, and an awesome cheesey eggplant stuffed with shrimp, hake and mussel gratin. After dinner, we had some sangria at a bodega down the street called Antiguedades II. Like many of Granada's bars, they serve free tapas (mini ham sandwich and fries) with your drinks.

In the morning, we took bus #32 from Plaza Nueva to the famous Granada Alhambra (€1). The Generalife stop is where the main entrance is. We got tickets for the Alhambra and Generalife (the gardens) about a week in advance on the Alhambra website (€10), which let us skip the long lines to get in. If you go in order of the audioguide, Generalife is last, but we chose to see the gardens first (though it might be better last). It is sprawling with many fountains and smaller gardens and a wonderful walk.

Within the Alhambra grounds is the Parador Granada, an expensive hotel and restaurant with beautiful views of the city. I was famished so we stopped for gazpacho and sandwich. Worth stopping for a coffee or drink, but don't eat there--there is a food stand with hot dogs and sandwiches in a plaza before Alcazar (audioguide #8). It was nice though, and we met a GSB'09 who saw Lowell's OA trips shirt.

We had a 1:00pm Nasrid Palace reservation--they have a limited number of tickets for the palace and you can only enter during a designated 30-minute time slot. The palace is an impressive Moorish structure with later Christian influences. There are numerous courtyards and gardens, and the facades and pillars have incredibly intricate designs.

We continued on to the Alcazar which is a cool military complex with awesome views of the city and rest of Alhambra. The Carlos V Palace, which was built when the Catholic Spaniards captured Granada, is another tour stop with a museum inside.

We were pretty exhausted after almost six hours in the hot sun and head back for siesta. After a nice drink on Plaza Nueva, we had paella, and went back to the bodega for more sangria.

Click here for more pictures of Granada.

Notes on Granada:
**Driving near Plaza Nuevo is a nightmare. Find out in advance about where you will be parking (hotel or public parks for €20 per day).
**Buy your tickets in advance for Alhambra! The line for same-day tickets was considerably longer than pick-up. We went during the day, but you can also get times at night for the Nasrid Palaces. Remember to bring your reservation number, credit card, and passport to pick up your ticket!
**Definitely get the audioguide (€3), there are almost no descriptions anywhere. We did fine sharing one guide, though you can't listen to it at the same time.

Ronda

The drive from Gibraltar to Ronda was about 2 1/2 hours inland through winding mountain roads. Little white villages sit in the sides of these cliffs, it's a pretty drive. There are great miradors that I loved to stop for pictures on the way. Note, cars in Europe are much cheaper to rent when they are manual--hence Lowell is the driver in all of these stories.

We made it to Ronda, which is a breathtakingly beautiful city. It sits on both sides of a gorge, connected by several bridges. We stayed at the Hotel Alavela de los Banos which was wonderful, a beautifully adorned in Middle Eastern style exactly like Lonely Planet said. It is at the bottom of the steps to the main town, but very close. We walked around and settled on dinner at Plaza del Socorro, where we had mussels and rabo con vino tinto, or oxtail, one of the signature foods.

We grabbed drinks at an awesome cerviceria after, El Grifo, where they have taps at each little bar table so you can pour your own drinks. There is a counter on it, think it ended up being about €6.50 for 2 liters of beer.

After a wonderful breakfast on the patio of the hotel, we head into town for the biggest picture-taking spree I have been on in a while (which is alot for me). We walked up the garden from Puente Viejo at the top of the steps up to Puente Nuevo (puente = bridge). Worth the €2 to see the bridge museum, great views for more amazing pictures. We walked along the cliffs and then head to the bullfighting ring and museum. Modern bullfighting was born in Ronda so they take great pride in the sport here. Had lunch in town, best gazpacho ever, then head back across the Puente Nuevo to La Ciudad, the old Muslim part of the city. Then off to Granada!

Ronda was our favorite--really nice and small town that was easy to get around, and simply beautiful. Highly recommend it!

Click here for more Ronda pictures on Kodak Gallery

Notes on Ronda:
**Do not drive in the town if you can help it! A mess of one-way and really narrow streets.
**We stayed at Hotel Alavera de los Banos for €95 and totally loved it. Parador de Ronda next to Puente Nuevo has amazing views and looked interesting, though more expensive.
**We got to town in the evening and grabbed dinner on Plaza del Socorro. If we had another night, we though a dinner overlooking the cliffs would be great. The two restaurants we noticed were Restaurante Casa Santa Pola in La Ciudad with an amazing patio on the cliffs and Restaurante Don Miguel which has outside tables right by the bridge (and is also a hotel). Not sure if you'd need to book in advance for an outside seat but I think it would be worth it!

Barcelona, Tarifa, and Gibraltar

Barcelona
Lowell and I landed in Barcelona at 7am, with a 6 hour layover until our flight to Jerez (southern Spain). We left our luggage at the consigna at the airport and hopped on the A1 bus for a 45 minute ride into central Barcelona. The bus dropped us off at Placa de Catalunya at the end of La Rambla and we walked around for a few hours.

Tarifa
The Vueling flight to Jerez was uneventful (big nap) and we got our little rental Fiat and drove down to Tarifa. The town is the windsurfing capital of Europe and maybe the world. Unfortunately we didn't see too many kitesurfers, but the highlight for me was seeing the rows and rows of windmills along the highway and on the mountains. Literally hundreds of them were powering the region, which is pretty cool. They are enormous too--we saw a caravan of trucks carrying one blade which was the size of a pre-fab house.

So we stayed at Hotel Dos Mares about 4km from Tarifa center in a little bungalow. The town itself has an old castle (unfortunately closed) and ferries to Tangier, Morocco. We walked around a bit, then settled at a little cafe where we had this awesome huevos con aioli tapas and two beers all for €9.60. We had a great seafood dinner outside on the patio of the hotel restaurant of a scallop and shrimp avocado salad and I had an amazingly meaty grouper.

Gibraltar
We had breakfast at the hotel and a nice walk on the beach, before heading off to Gibraltar. It's a UK state on the little tip of a peninsula in southern Spain. We parked the car at La Linea on the Spanish side and walked across the border crossing. There are British police officers and use sterling. We saw the Gibraltar Museum which was surprisingly good, and stopped in to get a hotel for the night in Ronda. Had a chicken shwarma kebob lunch at an awesome hole-in-the-wall Middle Eastern place--this area of Spain has great food influenced by North Africa.

We head up to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar on cable cars next. Gibraltar is home to the only non-African macaques, which hang out at the various sites on the Rock. They are used to people, as one jumped off of me on his way up a rail. Gorgeous view of the harbor and Africa from the top, easy to see why this Rock was important strategically for all of the countries that have warred over it. We walked down to the Great Siege Tunnels, which were pretty cool, and then the Moorish Castle before heading back across the border.

Click here for more pictures on ofoto.

Notes on Gibraltar:
**Do not drive into Gibraltar! The car line to get in and out of the border was a mess. Park on the street before the border and walk the few kms. You can get a bus pass to get to and from city center for €2
**The cable car fee does not include entry into Tunnels or Moorish Castle, they took an additional €13... Don't need round trip cable car--it was hot but we easily walked down the few km to the bottom

New Zealand

New Zealand
GSB Spring Break 2007

Click here to see pictures on Picasa: Through Milford Track, After Milford Track

New Zealand is a beautiful country with loads of activities for those seaking adventure and R&R. I had the opportunity to spend two amazing weeks over spring break in NZ with 9 GSB classmates (or 8 + a husband).

We left SFO on Friday March 16 within hours of our last winter term class for our 13 1/2 hour flight to Auckland. Air New Zealand has the best entertainment system of any airline hands down, including dozens of on-demand movies (all 3 LOTR), TV shows (CSI!) and music. Good thing because I was in the middle seat with an enormous snoring woman who kept me from getting any shuteye.

After connecting to our final destination in Queenstown, we settled in at the Sherwood Manor and headed downtown. We refueled then head up the gondola for wonderful views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu, then luged at the top of the hill. So fun! After a few drinks, we head back down to the wharf for a jet boat ride around the lake and nearby rivers.

Queenstown; Lowell, me, Katy, Kermit and Libby before jetboating

Day 2 started with bungy jumping from the Kawarau Bridge, the original location where AJ Hackett did his first jump. I got pretty nervous as we waited to go, super windy up there and it's a 43 meter drop to the river. It was scary to let go of the edge to waddle out onto the plank (legs are tied together so can't walk normally), but once I jumped it was exhilerating. Super fast and don't remember much except bouncing around after. They are super precise--I told them I only had a change of shirt and they dunked me in the river just up to my waist! Kermit, another GSBer, asked to be dunked to his socks, not shoes, and they did it!

Kawarau River bungy (picture of jump coming soon!); All of us at Amisfield Winery

After we all jumped, we head for the Queenstown Wine Trail, a bus that took us to four local wineries. Favorite was Amisfield Winery & Bistro, we didn't get to have dinner but their dining room is beautiful also. It was the start of a looong day, as we tasted wines, then head into town again for a night at the Minus 5degree vodka bar and sake bombs at Japanese place Tekka.

Me and Lowell at Gibbston Valley Winery; Lauren and Rick at Minus 5degrees

So Day 3 in Queenstown ended up being pretty mellow for me, as I recovered from the night before. Strolled and napped in the Queenstown Garden, while some others frisbee golfed on their 18-hole course.

Early the next morning, we set off on the Milford Sound Track. Being early fall in New Zealand, the group was about 22 people (including 9 of us). Our group included two older couples from Los Altos, newlyweds from UK, single women from Japan and Canada, and an older NZ couple. The Department of Conservation keeps strict tabs on the number of hikers that go through the track so between trackers (up to 50 in summer) and independent hikers, there are never more than 90 or so that hike a day. Pretty nice.

After a bus ride to Te Anau, we boarded a ferry to take us to the northern tip of Lake Te Anau where our track would begin. We had a short mile hike to Glade House where we would stay the first night. The guides took us on a nature hike into the hills and we learned about the evil possum and stoats, the weasel-like rodents that terrorize native birds. We also got powerpoint presentations on the animals and plants that we would come across each night before the hike, which was great because we actually noticed the birds and ferns on the walk. Note on hike: while the generator turned off at 10pm every night, with bunk beds, hot showers, and venison for dinner, we were nowhere near "roughing it."

Our group at the Glade House; fern curl we saw on the nature walk

We were awakened by the generator turning on at 7am the next morning. After a hearty (multi-course) breakfast and packing our lunches for the day, we set off for a flat 10-mile walk, the first real leg of the track. Not too hard and we got to take little side trails for some amazing views. My favorite bird of the track is the bush robin--a little grey guy, not so smart but very curious, will hop on to your shoes and pick at your shoelaces if you stop walking for a few seconds. Super cute. We stopped for lunch at a hut near Hirere Falls, where we had to watch out for Charlie, the resident kea (mountain parrot), who kept sneaking over to steal our food. In the afternoon, we skipped rocks at some watering holes and saw some waterfalls, before heading to Pompolona Lodge.

View on Day 2 hike; Lowell and me at Mile 4 marker

Day 3 is the hardest day, with elevation gain of over 2000 feet by lunchtime and back down to Quintin Lodge. There were lots of steps and switch backs from the start, and it was pretty tough. I was "Herbie," the slowest of my hiking group, but they were wonderful and supportive and let me go in front to pace the group. Rick, a former Navy SEAL, also taught us how to count off and march SEAL style, which kept us occupied for a few miles. Cool stuff. The climb was hard, but absolutely breathtaking. It was hard not to stop every few steps and take a picture (I learned to shoot on the move...)

We stopped at Mackinnon Memorial, which had some of the best views (see 360 degree video in Picasa), and then started back downhill after lunch. The downhill was actually harder for me (crappy knees) and the hiking pole that I rented was invaluable. There were tons of waterfalls on the way to Quintin Lodge. From there, we took another short hike to Sutherland Falls, the 4th tallest waterfall in the world at 580 meters. It was spetacular and huge. Some ventured behind the falls, but I think I just got wet.

Me and Lowell at Mackinnon Memorial; Andrea at base of Sutherland Falls

The last day of hiking was the longest at 13.5 miles, but also the easiest in terms of elevation and number of pitstops. There were a few sights on the way, like Mackay Falls and Bell Rock. We had lunch at Great Bear Falls (I think), which was gorgeous albeit sandfly-infested. Miserable little buggers, I highly recommend a lot of DEET for anyone who does this track. The hike ends at Sandfly Point, which also unsurprisingly housed a lot of sandflies, 33.5 miles from where we started at the northern tip of Lake Te Anau. Btw, I would like to give a special thanks to my hiking buddies who patiently allowed me to take pictures at every mile post, not to mention the pretty photos in between. A boat took us from Sandfly Point to Milford, where we had wonderful accommodations at Mitre Peak Lodge and an interesting night out.

Group on last day of hike; me and Lowell at Sandfly Point, 33.5 miles from the start

Our last day on the track was a two hour boat cruise around Milford Sound, which included some whacky times on the boat, and then a five hour bus ride (=nap) back to Queenstown. We were joined there by our hard-working 10th trip member, Katy's husband Jason, who would instigate much of the daytime alcohol consumption for the rest of the trip.

The next morning, we flew out of Queenstown to Rotorua on the North Island, where we would spend one night. The town smells a bit like rotten eggs due to the geothermal activity, and apparently has excellent spas though we didn't have time to go. However, we ZORBED. Zorbing might be the most fun thing ever. Basically, a zorb is a big double-layer rubber sphere. In the case of hydro-zorbing, which is what we did, they stuck us in the ball with some water, and then rolled us down a hill. Hysterical. I will never look at a hill the same way. After we stopped laughing, we were picked up to attend a traditional Maori hangi (dinner) at Tamaki Maori Village.

Zorb rolling down the hill; Katy and Jason getting out of their zorb

We head out early the next morning to the Waitomo Caves, an amazing network of limestone caves and underground rivers. We were signed up for the Black Abyss Tour, which started with fitting us into heavy wet suits, helmets and boots, as well as harnesses. We learned to abseil, which I found out means hanging yourself off a rope, and then we abseiled 37 meters into a cave. We walked with our headlamps, did the flying fox (zip line), and tubed down underground rivers while admiring the glowworms (or technically glowing maggot poop as we learned). We played a story telling game in the cave with out guide Cowboy Dan, and learned I am like a raccoon according to Lowell, or he just likes smearing mud on my face. Then we basically rock climbed up these little waterfalls to crawl out of the cave. It gets super cold and a little scary sometimes but was totally worth it.

Me and Lowell after the mud; All of us in the cave

After the caves, we had a looong (7 hr) drive up to Bay of Islands at the northern end of the North Island. Unfortunately for us, Bay of Islands was hit by a torrential storm at this point, and got about as much rain in a day as they usually do in three months. This was a serious storm, the last article I found cited 400 homes damaged and $5m from the landslides and floods. We were actually trapped in the town of Paihia because the roads in and out were flooded, and Russell across the bay had lost power.

So we spent the next few days playing card games, some epic games of Solid Wood Jumbling Tower (otherwise known as Jenga), spa-ing, drinking, eating and karaokeing. I was getting sick at this point, so missed the mud frisbee, but had a great pilates session with Andrea and Helen. The group was getting stir-crazy though, and fortunately, the rain stopped after two days. While the bay was yucky from all of the mud, we could play outside again.

Jason playing Solid Wood Jumbling Tower; Paihia harbor after the rain

Hoping to pack in as much as we could, we signed up for a boat tour called Dolphin Discoveries, that guaranteed dolphin sightings and potentially swimming. We were excited to see a pod of dolphins, but a bit too commercial for us. The Dept of Conservation has strict laws around dolphin interaction and it was a bit weird to have three big boats with 40 people each hovering around the pod. Nice cruise though. Afterwards, Lowell and I went on a date night to Russell across the bay. There was a gorgeous sunset as we took the ferry over, and after walking around for a little bit (very small town) we ate at a really lovely called Sally's Restaurant. Wonderful seafood chowder, scallop and spinach salad, and Lowell had a great lamb with kumara mash. They were super friendly and even passed on my thanks to Sally's daughter's roommate who had recommended it when we met her at a Paihia bar.

Lowell and me on the Dolphin Discoveries boat; the boat dock in Russell at night

We booked ourselves on the Carino for our last day in Bay of Island. We made up half of the boat plus the captain Vanessa and skipper who were a wealth of knowledge (and grilled a mean hotdog for lunch). The catamaran motored out to the Bay and found a pod of dolphins, and we didn't get to swim with them, but swam around in the water after they moved on. Some of us swam over to the island, some boated, and went on a little hike, before getting back on the boat for lunch. They put up the sails and we basically lazed on the boat until they took us back.

Dolphins playing in the Bay of Islands; girls on the Carino

We drove to Auckland that night and had a taste of urban New Zealand at a Japanese ramen place and bar in town. The next morning was our last. We packed up our rental cars and headed to the ferry port to catch the 10am to Waiheke Island, about 35 minutes by boat. It was a little overcast, but still pretty. We had called ahead for a cab and head to Stoney Ridge, where we got a tour of their vineyards and olive orchards and learned about NZ wine making. Our next stop was Onetangi Road Vineyard. While it was on the same driveway as Stoney Ridge, we missed it because there was a sign that said "closed for a private party." Turns out we were the private party with ten. What was more remarkable was that this adorable little winery and microbrewery, with outdoor cafe and bocce court, was in its last day of operation, and we were its last customers. Really, this place was wonderful and I was sad that it would be no longer. But we drank its wine and beer and were in good spirits to board the Air NZ flight back to San Francisco.

Last view of Onetangi Road Vineyard; the whole group at Onetangi