New Zealand Road Trip

This is 6 months late, but...better late than never!

In August and September 2023, I spent time with my partner in New Zealand (also called more commonly there as Aotearea). In the first week, I worked with a client in Auckland, and we extended my trip by 11 days to explore the North and South Islands. We moved around for this trip - we were practically in a new town daily! Overall, we had a nice time on this trip! New Zealand is beautiful and full of lush rolling hills and rocky mountains that can be dramatic. But it wasn't our favorite trip to date, partly because we overcommitted ourselves and planned on driving a lot, and it wasn't as whimsical as our previous trips because we had a lot of distance to cover.

Overall Reflections

We had some impressions of things worth sharing before getting into some details.

• A Mix of Aussie and Brit: When experiencing the culture in New Zealand, we determined that the country was between the laid-back vibes of Australians and the pressure for proper systems of Brits. This is not surprising, as it is part of the Commonwealth and has a Pacific Island culture similar to that of Australian Aboriginals. What this also meant was that there were a lot of meal pies, slow speeds, and quiet places.
• Sparsely Populated: It seemed to us that the country was largely not populated even though some cities exist. There's just a lot of land and people living remotely in the country. Partly this was due to many farms with lambs and cattle, but there was also a lot of quiet land otherwise.
• Seasons Matter: We came in its off-season, which was a bit out of our control because I was there primarily for work, but it made our trip very cold, wet, and windy. We were either always cold or hot, which made us come down with some colds. We have agreed that we should come back sometime in the summer, which is also peak tourist season - we now understand why.
• Driving Wasn't Fun: We were also in the car a lot because New Zealand is larger than we expected, and the roads are much windier than anticipated! Much of our driving was for hours weaving around mountains and hilly terrain, making it not terribly relaxing to have a road trip across the country. It also meant we had to forgo places we were interested in seeing because we needed more time. For example, we wish we had seen more of the northeast of the South Island. Ultimately, we agree we should have planned to see less and probably focus on one island for our trip.
• Animals Everywhere: We saw a lot of animals on our travels, from keas harassing us for food on the South Island to other birds everywhere. New Zealand's native animals are all birds, many of which are flightless, like the little endangered kiwis. We also saw a lot of roadkill on our trip.
• Quirky Accommodations: On our drive, we stayed at many different kinds of lodging - all of them slightly quirky! From a trout lodge to a shipping container and a BnB in a Slavic-cum-American-cum-Kiwi household.
• Beautiful Public Toilets: The country seems to pride itself on having good, reliable access to public toilets. Even in less-populated areas, we can always find a clean, functioning, and nice-smelling toilet building. Many are decorated with whacky art and designs, which appeal to toilet nerds like me.

Travel Notes

Auckland

During the first five days in the country, I was bound to Auckland, facilitating workshops. I really liked it - the weather was pleasant there, and we enjoyed a quiet lake outside the city in Mount Wellington. We went into the city for a night and enjoyed a lovely meal at the pier. The pier in Auckland is peaceful and has a fun park that includes an installation of old silos that are now art. I was surprised to see a public swimming area in the heart of the city, as well.

Queenstown & Milford Sound

We then flew to Queenstown, marveling at the snowy mountains below us. We then drove down to the Milford Sound for a few nights. The drive showed us just how winding the roads are...and how dramatic the South Island's landscape really is. We enjoyed the Sound in the lodge there, though it was constantly raining while we were there. We took a treacherous boat tour of the sound's fjords - it was windy and rainy - and while the visibility wasn't all that great, we saw many waterfalls pummelling water down the fjord cliffs. We also saw a few penguins from far off, enjoying some rocky shelter. At the lodge, a baby kea kept coming over to us to look (and sound) pathetic and hungry, but we followed directions and didn't give the poor guy anything to eat.

On the day we were going to leave, the weather cleared up in the morning for a few hours so we could walk to the port and see the fjords in all their majesty. It didn't last long, though, and we had to leave early because they announced they were shutting down the area for a few days due to an incoming snowstorm. We drove out a few hours before the full closure started, and the snow started falling on us slightly. The idea of driving on snow on those winding roads terrified me.

We returned to Queenstown and stayed at an old dairy warehouse before continuing our drive north. We enjoyed hopping around the downtown area and strolling through its parks, even with the chilly breeze getting to my bones a bit. We also spent some time in the Kiwi Park to see some kiwis in person, but they shouted at our tour group when we entered the dark room. I could have spent more time there, though I'm not big on skiing or heights, including the other major tourist attraction - a funicular.

Lake Tekapo

We drove towards the central part of the South Island, and it was surprising how much the landscape changed from craggy mountains to a browner range of large hills covered in brush and distant mountains. We then paused at the badlands - Putangirua Pinnacles - and looked at the surreal structures. I felt a bit nervous, and my gut warned me of something I didn't like, so we bounced. We also saw beautiful blue reservoirs along our drive.

Once we got to Lake Tekapo, we were hit with a brutal cold wind that made us feel freezing! And the town looked half unmade. It was as if the town had been built a week before we arrived - our hotel was made of shipping containers. We had three restaurants to get into for dinner with a slew of confused-looking foreigners from tourist bus groups. Fortunately, we accomplished our goal of visiting the lake - we took a late-night stargazing tour and looked up at a really incredible starscape that almost seemed impossible. This area held many of the country's observatories because of its clear skies and limited light pollution.

Christchurch

We drove to Christchurch for our final visit to the South Island. It was an interesting city but not a place we felt like staying. It hasn't fully recovered from the 2011 earthquake, and the city felt silent and empty...and tired compared to the other areas we had visited. It almost felt like a Kiwi version of Cleveland. It was pleasant enough, though, and we saw some pretty waterways. The old university was rebuilt after the earthquake to become a town recreational area.

Wellington

The next day, we flew to Wellington, the bottom of the North Island. Our flight got delayed, and we learned it would be a bumpy hour. A Kiwi from the area told us to gear up to be jostled around like never before, and we all started talking about things. His name was Justin, and he invited us (after a windy landing) to lunch at his favorite spot near the airport. It was pretty tasty! He then gave us a quick tour of Wellington in our rental car before we dropped him off. We also dropped off our luggage at the hotel so we could start cleaning our laundry.

Our trip north changed slightly, as we found disappointing news that our big planned adventure—visiting Kapiti Island to have a night tour of kiwis in their natural habitat—had been canceled due to the weather. We're sad about this but made the best of it and toured Wellington more than planned. That town is really windy, and that's normal!

We walked around a lot, and saw some fun things like the lobster toilets that Lonely Planet made famous years ago. We also visited Te Papa, the national museum that shared the country's history and interactive areas about its nature that had Maori influence. It was lovely - probably one of the best museums I've visited - and we stayed warm there for a bit. After, I ate some delicious fish pie and pavlova at an old local restaurant, and we ate dinner with a colleague friend who lived in the area.

Before we continued our journey north, we also visited the nature reserve - Zealandia - but had to cut it short because the sky opened up on us in the middle of our visit.

Turangi & Rotarua

We first drove to Turangi, which didn't have much there. It was a trout fishing mecca popular with octogenarians, and I ran into them while walking around town and past the river. And our lodge was covered in trout art. But the river was peaceful, and the quiet was a nice break.

The next day, we continued our drive north towards Rotorua. Our first stop was Wairitomo Glowworm Caves to see the glowworm caves. We really enjoyed this! The first part of the tour included a visit to the stalagmites that resembled a cathedral, and then the guides cornered us into the back, turned off the lights, and showed us all of the blue, glowing worms hanging in the back of the cavern! We then got into a boat and floated around the glowworm caves in darkness for a few minutes before heading back out - all very pleasing to the eyes.

In Rotarua, we stayed at an odd little BnB that was more like a guestroom in a heavily populated family house—not our favorite, but it was just for a night. At night, we agreed to go to Te Pa Tu, a Maori village that they transformed into a dining experience. There, we learned about Maori games, snacks, and old house setups. They performed songs before bringing us to dinner in a pretty dining hall.

The next day, we also visited Te Puia, where we saw active geysers in a park with Maori artists building big pieces of art before heading out again.

Driving to Auckland

We stopped at the Big Dog/Big Sheep buildings on our trip back to Auckland. I was so pleased to see that they were public toilets! These buildings on the side of the street were shaped with corrugated metal like a dog and sheep. They have since added another building that looks like a ram. This stop was right before we headed to a farming town for dinner.

Our dinner was at Hobbiton. I know, people complain about how over-commercialized it is there, but we were really pleasantly surprised!! We started with a slow walk through the Hobbit movie set area, with the tour guides sharing detailed and interesting stories. We ended up in the tavern, where they fitted the tables with a hobbit's food feast for all of us. Honestly? It was really delicious! Probably one of the best meals we had while in New Zealand.

They also apologized to us for some construction work they were doing and gave us free hobbit mugs, but honestly, I barely noticed it because they do such a good job keeping the magic there, even with the construction.

Afterward, we drove for a few hours, and we stayed in an apartment complex that perplexed me tremendously for about an hour before we found the entrance.

Beyond Auckland

For our last night in the country, we drove up from Auckland to Ruakaka for my sake. There are a lot of cool public toilets further north around there, and I was determined to see them. The first one was in a small town with beautiful, artistic toilets that looked like the hulls of fishing boats. The next stop was at Ruakaka, where we could see the Hundertwasser toilets. These toilets were some of the first famous public toilets in the country, and apparently, the government used them as inspiration to make other pretty toilets, like the others we saw along our road trip. The town had also put in a newer model of the toilets nearby to house a library, art center, and RV showers for the transitory guests they see regularly.

We stayed in a community halfway between there and Auckland, at a quiet couple's house that wasn't near much but had a lovely sunset view next to the water. Once we woke up, we returned to Auckland to grab some curry pies and visit the Botanic Gardens before our evening flight home.

Pimping Out Matatus

(White) Jesus Boda

I noticed something awesome about a month into my visit here that I feel like sharing briefly now.

It started with an early morning work commute when I first noticed a Jesus Boda. This boda was wrapped with numerous pictures of Jesus all over its exterior - on the wheels, on the front, on the side, by the wheels. The boda was pimped out with Jesus! And, more perplexingly, a white Jesus (I could have sworn he was black or Arab?).

I began looking for bodas with fun, elaborate designs while we drove to work in the morning. I was audibly delighted whenever we drove past fun designs, and my driver friend Calvin let me know that this was actually quite common in Kenya, and especially for matatus. 

Sure enough - I started noticing that the matatus have incredible, vibrant designs on them. Many of the matatu designs were flashy and brightly painted - many include Drake, Rihanna, P.Diddy, and other celebrities I don't recall. Some of these matatus blast music that can deafen bystanders while driving past, while others install movie screens on their seatbacks. I wondered why.

Luckily, Calvin could explain it all. There's a culture of pimping out vans here, and for good reason; the fancier your matatu is, the more passengers you get. The more passengers you get, the faster your matatu gets filled up. The faster your van gets filled, the more trips you can run in a day. The more trips you can run in a day, the more money you can make. And when this chain reaction happens, you end up kind of winning at the matatu hustle.

Matatus look for different ways to pimp out their rides. Some install the movie screens in the seatbacks because passengers become willing to pay more for their ride if they are entertained while stuck in traffic. Others blast the music to give the air of a mobile night club (with flashing lights, of course), to entice some passengers to feel like their commute is a fun party.

It all costs a lot of money - Calvin estimated that some people can spend $10,000+ to pimp out their matatus. But, if done well, a matatu can recover the costs of the "pimping out" within a year. And the nicer matatus tend to have better drivers (because they can pay them more), which means even better odds they'll fill up with people willing pay for their services.

And there are even competitions for who has the fanciest, most pimped out matatu, which can get the winning vehicle a nice pot of money. I've seen a few Facebook groups that simply admire the amazing decor of some matatus, and I have to say - I'm always impressed with the flamboyancy of them.

Of course, some matatus are simple vehicles - utilitarian. I guess they have really popular routes, so they may not need to focus on the fancy frills of matatu culture (or they just can't afford to decorate).

Nairobi is brimming with matatus, and I think someone could have a really fun time making a photo album of all of the unique, colorful matatus and bodas here. I don't think that will be me, though (I'm never ready with a camera); I'd be happy to pay for that coffee table book, though!

Note: It took me 2 more months before I found (white) Jesus boda again so I could take a picture of the guy with his bike after grocery shopping. The picture delights more more than I can express.

Chilling in Zanzibar

Zanzibar really does look like the pictures.

On Boxing Day, Mr. CT Lawyer and I took a 1.5-hour flight in a prop plane from Nairobi to Zanzibar, circling Kilimanjaro en route. When we landed and exited the plane, we found ourselves in a hot and humid tropical environment in Zanzibar, different from the crisp and warm temperature of Nairobi.

We went through customs in a one-room, lo-fi airport – the type of stereotypical developing country airport I used to encounter before they all started upgrading.  Afterward, we drove to our resort at the bottom western coast of the main island, zig-zagging through more potholes along the way.

Our resort was in a quiet southern fishing and beach town called Kizimkazi, and we were floored by how beautiful the beach was there. Everyone talks about how pristine and blue the waters are in Zanzibar, but I wasn’t convinced that it was going to be that impressive. I was wrong. During low tide, the beach seems to go on for a mile, and the shallow depths spot the coast with different blues and greens, depending on where you are. Dhows speckle the beach’s bay and stick to the compacted sand until the tide comes back in.

We later learned that our beach remained somewhat hidden and not quite touristy compared to a lot of the other beaches across the island. For example, we heard the northern beaches are for partying, and the southeast side of the island was riddled with resorts and activities on the beach. Having learned that, I feel that we really lucked out with our quiet and peaceful (if short) beach that was only shared with one other resort.

We lazed around the resort for the first day, relishing the quiet breeze of a small bay with little else but boats and trees along the beach.

On our second day in Zanzibar, we went on a famous spice tour. We drove an hour north and found ourselves in a spice farm called Maganga, which looked more like a forest. We were greeted by a community member who walked us through their spice farm for a few hours, tasting and learning about the different spices they grow in the mess of forest plants – cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, lemongrass, and vanilla. We also got to sample some fresh coconut from a guy who crawled up a coconut tree and dropped us a nut. While we walked around another guy wove for us beautiful, but sorta silly looking (on us) hats and necklaces out of the flowers and palms that we walked by in our tour. We finished the tour with an amazingly spiced pilau.

For our third day, we drove up to the main port on the island and UNESCO World Heritage Site – Stone Town. Our driver got pulled over by a cop along the way for some unknown infraction, which Mr. CT Lawyer was thrilled about because he had a fantasy about getting a driving-related story while in Africa.

Once in Stone Town, we hopped on a small boat that pulled us through choppy waves to get to Chengu Island – aka Prison Island (though the prison was only ever used for yellow fever quarantines). We wanted to get to this island not to view the prison ruins, but to feed tortoises at the island’s tortoise sanctuary. There were dozens of tortoises crawling through the sanctuary, some as old as 190 years…and hundreds of tourists chasing them down, waving cabbage leaves at them. We joined the masses and stepped around tortoise manure to hope a tortoise would accept our meager cabbage offering. They would skeptically eye the cabbage leaves before quickly grabbing and crunching away on them. It was a real treat.

Once through the choppy waters and back to Stone Town, we walked through the labyrinthine streets of the town to get to Emerson’s Tea House for a lunch reservation. We climbed up about 5 flights of stairs, breathlessly, to get to the airy rooftop restaurant. The view of the city below was really awesome, and we enjoyed the soft hum of mosque singing nearby while sitting cross-legged on thick carpets and plush pillows, waiting for our lunch. We ordered the fancy seafood meal and were blown away by it. The seafood was super fresh and perfectly spiced. I’m still thinking about the calamari.

Afterward, we meandered around the town, checking out the spice market, walking past Freddie Mercury’s childhood house, and quietly visiting the sobering Slave Chambers exhibit. We got lost while walking around a lot, appreciating the ornate doors that are quintessential to the town’s identity.
We stuck around Stone Town until sundown. While exhausted, I was keen for us to see the Night Market at the Forodhani Food Stalls by the port. Once we arrived after the sunset, the place was teeming with people – locals and tourists. I got a tasty and local sour soup called urojo, and we both sipped on refreshing sugar cane juice as we contemplated the Zanzibar Pizza (much like a crepe sandwich).

We wanted to see the fuss about other local beaches on our last full day, so we went to Jambiani on the southeast side of the island. There, we saw all of the tourism and hawking that happens on the beaches outside of where we were staying, and we quietly hid from much of the beach hustling in a quiet restaurant.

Our final dinner reservation was at The Rock Restaurant. It was a neat place – the restaurant is perched on top of an outcropping of rock and corral. That meant that when we arrived for dinner when the tide was out, we walked up to the restaurant’s staircase; when we left, the tide was in and we had to take a boat to get back to the beach. The food was fine, but we were really there for the views and the uniqueness of the location.

We decided to leave Zanzibar a few hours earlier than initially planned – it’s a gorgeous place, but we felt we had our fill and wanted to get back to Kenya before it was too late.

After leaving, I reflected on the island and its country a little bit. For one, I was fascinated with the Arabic influences felt in Zanzibar’s world. You can clearly tell – especially in Stone Town – that the culture is at the crossroads of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, and I think it has given it a unique flavor. I’ve heard there are similar vibes on the Kenyan coast. Additionally, if Zanzibar is a fair representative of Tanzania as a country despite its semi-autonomy, then it’s clear that Tanzania is a bit further behind Kenya in terms of development (infrastructure, capacity, etc.). I find it interesting that, despite being such close neighbors, their development rates don’t seem to be in lockstep with each other. But I’m sure I need to see mainland/Tanganyika to make a better assessment of the country.

A Holiday in Jordan

Quintessential Jordan picture:
Petra's Treasury

I just got back from a wonderful 8-day trip through Jordan. I had originally just planned on going for a 3-day conference about water management, but I decided to road trip across my first Arab (and Middle Eastern) country. I ended up having a really interesting and peaceful week.

I didn't see all of the popular spots in Jordan, like Aqaba or the Baptism site, and I didn't walk through Jaresh (I drove by it), but I do feel like my trip was perfect for me.

I hired a Jordanian company called Dry Ver Jo to drive me around the country while I was there. It was one of the best decisions I made because I never worried about how I was getting anywhere, and my driver(s) showed me around the country's back roads and took care of me when I got my typical trip's food poisoning. My main driver was Abdullah; he was fantastic and made me feel like I had a best friend in Jordan driving me around and even brought me out for dinner on my last night.

Days 1-2: Dead Sea
I started my trip near the Dead Sea, for the conference. It's a hot and humid place, which isn't surprising as it's one of the lowest points on Earth you can visit without getting into the ocean AND has heaps of salt on the surface of both soil and water.

The first thing I did after arriving was to make my way to the Dead Sea, a 7-minute walk from the hotel I was staying. I could see clearly the lake's recession as the hotel's path to the water was riddled with derelict beach areas when the water was once much closer to the building; I found this very sad. The sea is receding about a meter annually because its tributary (the Jordan River) has been diverted too much by countries further upstream (which has also led to a lot of sinkholes in the dregs of the dying sea).

The sea is definitely saline, and when I finally made it to the waters, I floated like a rubber ducky and made the mistake of putting some of the water far too close to my lips (it tasted like nasty salt).

For the rest of my stay in the area, I was mostly in a conference room listening to academics talk about the history of water reuse. It was a fine conference, albeit small and a bit "aged". I was very jetlagged during the conference, but I forged through it and met some interesting water historians.

Days 3-4: Wadi Mujib & Petra
Part of the conference included a day trip to Petra to look at ancient water systems. We piled into a tour bus and drove three hours south to visit the famous site.

I have to explain something: I have never liked being part of tour groups. I find them too restrictive when exploring. This day trip reminded me how much I don't enjoy being part of groups - much of the conference attendees were slow to move and were interested in capturing pictures while a guide patiently tried to usher us from the Petra Museum (with a lovely exhibit describing the culture of the people who built Petra - the Nabateans) and through the Siq. About two hours into the tour, I grew impatient and asked to break away at a faster speed so I wouldn't miss out on seeing the rest of the site (at their speed, we'd only get to the Treasury and would have no time to see the rest of the place).

Petra is beautiful and fascinating; there's a reason why people flock to see this archeological location. The buildings were expertly carved out of the canyon's soft sandstone for different purposes - an amphitheater, tombs, monasteries, homes, etc. It was hot when we were visiting and Petra doesn't have a lot of shade, but I pushed forward and was awed when I got to the Treasury. It's the most famous (and photogenic) aspect of Petra, and with good reason; the carvings are still very much defined, and it's a brilliant view when you reach it from the Siq.

I also walked down the main thoroughfare and saw the panoramic sights of the city of Petra, with the smaller carved-out houses in the rock (and donkeys inside to seek shade), the tombs and church further up flights of precarious steps, and through the sandy old road. I was due to meet the tour group shortly after I broke away, so I didn't have time to climb up to see some of the tombs or monastery up close, but I didn't mind (I liked looking from afar just as much).

One of the incredible things about Petra and the Nabateans is their sophisticated water management systems from such an early time. Jordan has always had water quantity challenges, but they had perfect water piping systems and cisterns that stored and reused water within their habitats. Some of those systems could probably be adopted in parts of the world still. So neat!

A bummer of Petra (for me) was seeing the sad animals being overworked. The donkeys drag carriages up and down the rocky hills of the Siq. These donkeys are prodded to go fast and trip across cobblestones until they are heaving and clearly distressed. It was really sad to see them zoom back and forth in the site and even sadder how many people were willing to pay for their use. A suggestion: don't use the donkeys in Petra.

The tour group drove back to the Dead Sea for the night. The next day I made my way back.

Along the way, we stopped at Wadi Mujib. Before I showed up, I didn't know much about Wadi Mujib other than it was supposed to be a beautiful place in a canyon and a fun side adventure while in Jordan...so I got there and asked the admission's fee. The entrance guy looked at me in my linen pants and politely asked me if I was ready to swim, climb, and crawl through the canyon. Clearly not sure what I was getting myself into, I changed into some more "athletic" gear and headed into the canyon with a tour guide.

Wadi Mujib's adventure is a great and safe experience, but it's also hard. I found myself in a canyon with a stream-cum-rapid that I was wading through to get to the big waterfall at the end of the 2-hour hike. The further along you are, the deeper and faster the water gets. My guide made the trecking a lot easier; we'd watch people in front of us struggle and he'd respond by showing me a much simpler method to get past a rapid that saved me time and energy (thank god I paid extra to have him join me!). It was still a tough course to get through, though, and there were moments where I slammed into rocks or had to drag myself up a pile of rocks with a rope and felt myself pull one of many muscles along the way. I also accidentally got a lot of water in my nose and mouth at different parts of the journey, which I suspect gave me the sickness I had a day later. Sadly, my fear of heights kicked in strongly about 2/3 into the trek, and I made my guide turn around after forcefully shouting at him "NO!" in Arabic (rather, "La!" / "!لا").

I'm glad I did it, but I felt the pain from that adventure for a few days after.

En route to my next stop, Abdullah brought me to a tea shop on a cliff in the mountains near the Dead Sea. I got some sugary tea and enjoyed a gorgeous backdrop of rolling hills and distant views of Palestine. An old man was sitting at the tea spot and started talking to my driver about me. The old man informed us that he was a fan of Trump (much to my dismay and Abdullah's confusion) and was a proud veteran of the Jordanian Army. He pulled out of his wallet a medallion from his service and asked me to wear it for one of my pictures. I was touched and honored that he shared such an important thing with me for a few minutes.

After that adventure, we drove on to Wadi Musa, where I had arranged to stay at a Bedouin camp for a few nights. The camp I stayed at was in the middle of an empty desert area near Little Petra, so it was beautifully quiet. At night, they lit a campfire to warm up tea and one of the nearby rock formations lit up with twinkling bags of light they had placed in its crags.

Day 5: Little Petra
The next day I woke up feeling like I was in an otherworldly place - the camp felt like it was some outpost on the moon!

I had decided to spend most of the day reading quietly and relaxing - it was my vacation, after all. Before sundown, though, I wanted to walk 30 minutes over to Little Petra for a while. Way back in the day, Little Petra was likely the suburb of the popular Petra, and important people I think would "park" their camels and caravans at this place.

Honestly, I liked Little Petra a little bit more than the other one. It was quieter (most tourists don't bother visiting), it was shaded, it had some preserved ceiling art, and I could more realistically envision people coming into this area and living there.

One of my favorite parts of visiting ancient sites is visualizing people back in the day living there normally - it makes the place feel more real to me.

A younger shopowner at Little Petra showed me around the area, and I happily followed him knowing I'd pay him afterward. With my Wadi Mujib injuries, he helped me safely climb up and down steps in the area and showed me places I wouldn't have bothered looking into if he weren't with me. He was concerned about my limp and showed me a local tree that apparently people use to help soothe muscles. He then invited me to apply it on my leg in his cave a few minutes' away.

For the record, this man lived in a cave. The cave had carved out pillars and was clearly old (with some new carpets and mattresses lining the floor). Essentially, he appeared to live in a Nabatean-built cave and modernized the place a little bit. I was floored! Apparently, much of the Nabatean caves that were part of the Petra civilization are not completely what the tourists see, and some people are still using these caves to live (and others probably have still yet to be fully discovered).

I put on my homemade ointment (that may have helped a little bit) and hobbled my way back to my camp for the night.

Day 6: Wadi Rum

Early the next day I got picked up to drive even further south to the UNESCO-protected desert in Jordan - Wadi Rum. This was the place they filmed The Martian and Lawrence of Arabia. I got to the desert village a little after midday and my bedouin camp in the desert picked me up for my five-hour Jeep tour through the protected area.

The Jeep tour was incredible - it was as if we were driving through Mars for much of the trip. The Bedouin man who was driving me around showed me some breathtaking sights and took me all over. We started in an area that had prehistoric petroglyphs carved into the stone walls, climbed a number of red rock formations so I could hover over a natural arch, then he drove me far away from any other living beings, in absolute silence and desolation. He showed me how the desert has two regions: red and white. The red region is where the camps are and is better traveled by tourists; the white region is furthest from any road and is not allowed to have any camps built in it. There were camels hanging out all across the desert; some had tourists on their back, some were just hanging out as if life was mellow and they were just along for the ride. My guide drove around the desert as if there were well-marked streets through the barrenness of the desert that I just couldn't see for some reason. I'm still baffled.

The camp where I was staying for the night was the last camp in the desert and the closest to the white desert and without any internet or connectivity. I also happened to be the only person there for the night. They asked me if I wanted to change my camp to be with other people, but I was excited about having a very quiet and alone evening in the middle of nowhere. I had the whole night to myself (and three guys running the camp) with the dunes and starlit sky. One of the camp staff brought out an oud and played some traditional music just for me. We sat and talked quietly over a small campfire, and I watched shooting stars.

I was very much alone in a lot of ways that night, and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed being the only person using the bathrooms and the silence echoing in the stillness of the desert. What I did not enjoy was a night in and out of the bathroom with some medium-level food poisoning (most useful in Arabic during my stay - "Ana murad"/"انا مريض"/"I'm sick"). The camp staff guys were concerned about me and, with limited ability to speak with each other, helped me decide that the next day I'd go see a doctor in Amman while I started taking some Cipro I had carried with me "just in case".

Day 7 - 8: Amman (and North)

The next day my driver friend picked me up early at a nearby tourist rest stop and drove me (slowly, at my request) from Wadi Rum to Amman. One of the local women at the conference had helped me find a GI doctor and I had booked an appointment for early in the afternoon to make sure I hadn't picked up those irritating parasites (that I'm prone to getting while overseas).

The GI doctor was very helpful and well-informed. He checked out my gut, got me to leave behind a sample for testing, and instructed me to get a second opinion about some of the treatments I am taking for other more chronic GI issues. With his visit and the lab tests he ran, the tab ended up being $100...without any insurance. In the US, that bill would have been the same WITH insurance. And the healthcare in Jordan felt more personal and less like a factory. If you ever get sick in Jordan, rest assure there is really great, affordable care out there.

My hotel in Amman was fine. The hotel manager had very limited English but tried to talk to me anyway about things that strangers shouldn't ask guests in their hotel. I kept to myself and avoided him as much as I could.

The next day I went for a tourist jaunt across the city. It was a jarring experience - not just because I had just spent the last 3 or 4 days in very quiet, secluded areas of the country and I was accosted by the noises of urbanity suddenly, but also because the people I encountered were less kind and less helpful. It was a helpful reminder that people in cities are not good reflections of the rest of the country I'm in. I mean, I knew this already - I'm a New Yorker, after all.

I started the day at the Amman Citadel. It resembles a Roman ruin but dates back much further than that. I slowly walked around the fort and admired some of the ancient water storage sites they had built so long ago.

After I was finished, I made a mistake. I agreed to let the first taxi driver I met to drive me around the city for two hours. The guy was a creep and talked to me all about his taste in women and asking me all about my weight management (ugh). He ended up stealing about $20 from me on top of what I had originally agreed to pay him, and he pissed me off a lot. It was my fault, I know, but it was another reminder that city people are not always the best people in the world. That's what I'll say about him.

I visited the Amphitheater and its two museum exhibits about traditional cultures in Jordan. They were interesting to see and I do recommend people to visit at least for a little bit.  The remains are quite well preserved and are neat to walk through, as well.

The creep taxi man also made me go to the King Abdullah Mosque in the city. It's not a particularly old mosque - it's not quite 40 years old yet, and I was honestly unimpressed by it. Don't get me wrong, it was nice; it was just like going to any other modern building in use with stained glass windows, which I was not interested in. There was also a tourist shop under the mosque that I was pushed to visit and I decided to at least make the stop useful to finish up my Xmas shopping, so I spent too much on some nice souvenirs. Much of it was soap (spoiler alert?).

I also went downtown to buy 1.5 kilos of spices (za'atar and sumac) and ditched the creepy cabbie to get some lunch. I stopped at the famous Al Quds for lunch and ordered some delicious mansaf, which is a rice dish with a tangy yogurt sauce, nuts, and chicken. I also sacrificed my glutenfree health to give knafeh a try (a popular local dessert with unsalted cheese and a honeyed pastry top)...and it was very much delicious and probably worth the pain I will deal with for the next few weeks.

By this time it was sunny and 95F/35C out, but I wasn't ready to quit my tourism quite yet. I walked uphill for about an hour to see Rainbow Street, which is apparently a popular and swanky tourist spot. Much of the uphill walk was a multi-story staircase that felt like it was going up forever; I trudged my way up and took my sweet time, panting and sweating bullets. By the time I got to Rainbow Street, I was far too hot to enjoy it and opted to double fist iced sodas for a few hours at a local shop before I made my way to my evening dinner.

I had booked my dinner plans as a cooking class at Beit Sitti (Grandmother's Kitchen). The place is a great cause - they hire older women who are refugees from local countries to teach tourists common Arabic dishes for a few hours. The class was lovely and in a small house with a beautiful balcony for us to enjoy our class's output. We cooked a one-pot rice dish called maglubah and some eggplant dish like baba ghanoush. 

The next day was a searing 100F/38C, so I decided to change my trip plans with Abdullah. We were scheduled to visit Jerash (a well-preserved Roman city) in the north for the day; instead, we agreed to drive around it a few times in the airconditioned car and eat more knafeh at the gorgeous Ajloun Nature Reserve. I gazed down over a balcony at the reserve center at a sea of oak trees before we hopped back in the car and got dinner in Amman.

For my final dinner in the country, Abdullah brought me out to a local restaurant that specialized in more generally "Gulf country" food. I got fish, rice, and a bowl of delicious lentil soup that I plan on trying to cook for myself sometime. It was a wonderful send-off from a friend before I passed out in my airport hotel for an early morning flight back to NYC.

Last Thoughts
My trip was rejuvenating and fascinating. As usual, here are some overarching things I wanted to mention about the trip.

• Deserts are Surreal: Drying through the country meant mostly being in a desert. I found it unreal driving through it because the color palette of the region was monochromatic and meant that everywhere I went was very hot and super dry. This isn't particularly poignant, but it was a new experience for me and I felt it very differently compared to most other experiences I've had. I'm not sure if I liked it or not.
• Jordanian Hospitality is Awesome: Barring a few unpleasant encounters in Amman, everyone I met in Jordan was extremely nice and hospitable. People were eager to help me get oriented, travel, eat good food, and feel better after my bout of diarrhea. Sometimes I was shocked at how people didn't often seem interested in taking money for helping me, which made me feel even more awe for their compassion and kindness to a stranger. It humbled me.
• Solo Traveling is Safe: Most people I met (especially other tourists) were particularly concerned about me being alone and going through Jordan mostly solo. People kept asking me if I was safe or if it was "wise" to go to XYZ area alone...but I found being alone was a super way to really experience the area without having to manage others and their expectations in my travels. The one day I toured with others reminded me how my pace is so different from others, and Jordan people's kindness and interest in my well-being made it okay for me to be alone. Even being completely at the mercy of the camp staff in the desert with no communication with the outside world felt completely normal and secure. I don't feel this way at home, usually.
• Arabs Have Opinions about Arabs: Jordanians have a lot of opinions about other Arabs, which surprised me especially given their hospitality and generosity. Some Jordanians I met warned me about Syrians, others felt very poorly towards Saudis, and some went on about the corruption of all Egyptians. And so on. I was slightly sad to hear that Arabs apparently fiercely judge against each other, especially while the rest of the world judges them at least as harshly.

A Danish Break

The famous Nyhavn port

The CT Lawyer and I try to take international holidays every year. For this year's holiday, we had a deep desire to go to places that were clean and quiet (and low risks of giardia - my own request). We chose Denmark and Iceland on our two-week trip.

It was indeed clean and quiet.

Much of our trip to Denmark was centered around Copenhagen. We had Airbnb-ed a very quaint boathouse on the edge of the city, which meant we woke up to beautiful rays of sun on placid water.

Much of our visit to Denmark was simply walking around the streets of Copenhagen and other towns, admiring the quirky old buildings alongside the sleek new ones. We walked so much mostly because it was really enjoyable and quiet to do so (and we were blessed with great weather). We also unexpectedly walked into Nyhavn, the hotspot port that all tourists orbit, which was indeed a lovely place. I was more fascinated with the port's great many public toilets along the waterway...but the colorful buildings were lovely to look at, too.

We also dedicated a lot of our trip to enjoying the great food in Denmark. I mean, Denmark is known for its amazing culinary renaissance, and we can confirm the truth in that. Even if we weren't eating delicious food at a Michelin-starred restaurant, I loved how vibrant and colorful the food was in most of our meals. I also was so pleased to have so many gluten-free options, including really tasty cinnamon rolls from Landbageriet! I ordered a box of rolls for myself on day one to consume each day we stayed in the country (they were that good).

One day we met up with my friend Martin who lives in Malmo, Sweden (it's only a 30-minute train ride to Copenhagen). Martin showed us around some tourist areas while we caught up and joked about American politics. He took us first to a greenhouse in the city so we could enjoy butterflies, and then led us to the Vor Frelsers church so we could scale the corkscrew steeple. It was a harrowing climb up the stairs - they were so narrow and curvy! It was clear the staircases were old. Once we neared the top of the steeple, we ended up outside, clinging to railings as we stepped up the corkscrew incline!! My fear of heights dutifully kicked in and I waited for CT Lawyer and Martin by the indoor stairs, grasping the building for dear life. The cool thing about going up and down the stairs for the steeplechase, though, were the hodgepodges of assorted churchy things scattered on the different stair landings - a heap of cherub statues lying down on this level, an old organ patiently waiting on the next....it was like hide-and-seek with Christian artifacts!

We then ambled towards Christiania, a micronation within Copenhagen that's all about free love and weed (but we didn't consume any - truly!). The lakeside community was very much doused with hippy paraphernalia...but honestly? The place looked kind of sad and run down. The buildings were worn significantly and there were lots of tourists pilfering magnets and mini bongs out in the open, which made it feel less like an alternative living experiment and more like a region in a dystopian theme park (with some artwork definitely appropriate for unsavory adults). We stopped for a vegetarian lunch (that was actually quite delicious) and headed out to take a quick look at the fun things in the Museum of Design and eat ice cream before Martin headed back home.

Later that night CT Lawyer and I went out for a nice dinner date at Hoest. We opted for a prix fixe dinner that was paired with mocktails. I cannot tell you just how incredible the meal was, but we were both floored by each of the dishes (and there were so many!). One of the mocktails was a tomato juice seltzer, and to be honest it was mind-blowing. I'll be thinking about it for years to come.

The one Michelin-star restaurant we reserved in Denmark (sorry, Noma) was so we could enjoy a Sunday brunch at Den Rode Cottage. When arriving, we found ourselves in a wooded area with a sweet little red house in the middle of a clearing - I was enchanted (...for a price! And the restaurant is out of the city and in a very fancy little town full of tennis courts and high-end shops.) We had a charming brunch that had a mashup of quintessential breakfast dishes for each course (pancakes, toast, eggs, etc.).

After my pants were charmed off at brunch, we cabbed over to a suburb called Fredericksburg to visit the Cistern Museum. The neat thing about this place was that, since it was historically a community cistern, it was underground and inside a bucolic park. The art exhibit in the quiet, dark, musty museum was simple and fun - there were soft balls shuttled around the cisterns on pulleys that would eventually ding one of the many singing bowls in the space, making nice meditative echoes.

We walked back slowly to the center of Copenhagen, making stops for rehydration along the way. Did we visit Tivoli Gardens? No, but we did walk past it! I know, I know...everyone insisted on us visiting Tivli, but while walking past we couldn't bring ourselves to disrupt our relaxing time with the buzz of a theme park.

One of the last days we were in Denmark we rented a car and drove across the country four hours to the oldest town in Denmark - Ribe. When we entered Ribe, we parked at the Viking Museum and explored the exhibitions inside. I have to say, it was a great museum - I highly recommend. After that, we meandered around the old town, admiring buildings that were so old that structures were sagging dramatically. We also visited the old cathedral. It was a really lovely respite from urban exploration.

We got back to Copenhagen in time for dinner. We swung by an outdoor market before they closed.

Before we left the next day, we wanted to make sure we could see a few of the Forgotten Giants hidden in different parts of the country. These art installations aim to get people exploring in nature more. It worked! We had to hike around an industrial park into a grassy meadow to find one; the other one required us parking at some stranger's house and trek up a forested hill. It was fun!

And then we were off to Iceland

Some final thoughts on Denmark I'd like to share:

• Toilets: The place is SO TOILET FRIENDLY! It's a big deal for me, and I was so pleased to keep finding toilets in almost every situation where I had an urge.
• Bees: We experienced a lot of bees swarming us. Almost every day there was a short period where we were surrounded by either bees or hornets. I'm not sure what that was about...climate change?
• Food: I already said this, but there really is some amazing food in Denmark! Just be warned that it's pricey. The ice cream there is ample and recommended, as well.
• Living vs Touring: While Denmark isn't exactly an exciting place to visit for most tourists, we were so excited about how livable Denmark really is. We read about it in the news a lot, and it was clear how true it was to us. There are so parks everywhere, and we saw many dogs frolicking around with their humans (this is very important to us). Copenhagen is on the water, and we got to use a ferry quite a bit to travel up and down the city, which is soothing. Some of the apartments there even had docks into the water with kayaks and floats stationed for use, which is a new life goal for me. Lastly, we didn't see many police lurking around, and people even honked more pleasantly (aka never)! If we only could figure out how to move there...

A Malaysian Wedding Trip

Murals in Penang

Malaysia was Stop Three on my flight around the globe. Malaysia was originally going to be Stop One, as I was going to join up with a few friends to attend one of our (Denise's) weddings. But then my work trip was tacked on. And here we are.

Jetlag & Confused
When I arrived, I was confused about where I was ("Which country am I am? Who am I?"). I realized while in the immigration line that I had arrived a day earlier than I had thought and realized that the connecting flight I had to Penang wasn't until the next day.

My friends, mystified that I didn't know where I was or what day it was (and that I was a day earlier than I told them I'd be - surprise!), took me out for dinner at an outdoor market. We feasted on all kinds of fish and vegetables and chicken dishes. Eating with friends and soaking in the heat of KL melted my confusion.

I found a KL boutique hotel for the night in Chinatown that was beautiful and had outdoor bathrooms, which was delightful. My toilet and shower were in a private courtyard! There were shades that kept any guest staying above or below me to peek at me. There was rain falling down on the courtyard next to the courtyard when I showered.

The next day I hopped in a car with friends from Colorado for a road trip to Penang. We had decided to remove ourselves from the wedding chaos so Denise could have one less thing to worry about...and so we could travel around the country some.

Once we got out of KL, driving to Penang felt a lot to me like driving through much of the US, aside from the tropical vegetation everywhere. There was a lot of open space with small towns hugging the highway. Much of the drive to Penang was pretty uneventful.

In Penang
We got to the island of Penang and drove in the rain to the UNESCO town of Georgetown and waited for our Airbnb host. Our Airbnb was outside of the tourist areas, which meant that it was quiet and had a nicer view of the water. After we checked in, our host insisted on cramming us into his car and give us a tour around town for a while. While it was a nice gesture, we were starving and really weren't interested in getting a full-on tour. We wanted to gorge on street food, which is what Penang is known for! We finally got let out in a food alley, ravenous and eager to eat something. Anything.

Luckily for us, "anything" in Penang is worth trying. And so we did. We ate a lot of great things while in Georgetown: assam laksa, duck sausage noodles, chendol, laksa regular, nasi lemak, and so many other things of which I don't remember the names. Everything was fresh and bursting with flavor. I didn't know half of what I was eating....but I was pleased as punch with all of the the tastes.

We seemed to arrive there on a quiet day for the town. We saw a lot of tourists (which, with its UNESCO status, isn't very surprising), but things were not open for tourists to do. We managed to find a small museum - the Museum of Glowing Image - where we walked around under purple lights for an hour. It was ridiculous, but we had fun being silly while glowing in the dark.

We were still fighting off jetlag, so we went to a night market for a bite to eat and quickly walked back to the Airbnb to crash hard.

The next day we decided to drive around the island to see what is happening in Penang outside of the tourist-centred area. We visited the local snake temple (it is a temple with snakes in it, and you can hold them!) and got lost driving around because Google Maps gave us directions to roads that didn't exist (or were lost to the jungle overgrowth). That's when we stumbled upon the Tropical Fruit Farm. The title of the farm tells you exactly what the attraction was - a farm of tropical fruit...but we had a blast on the tour, tasting and learning about the plants along the farm.

We spent another day in Georgetown before heading back to wedding ceremonies. It was a supremely hot and exhausting day. We walked around to see all of the tourist sites like the murals, ate some not-so-local cakes, visited the Cheah house, and walked around the port neighborhoods with drop toilets on the edge of the docks. Walking around in 90F degree heat and 95% humidity, though, can be trying on the body. We slept early and hard that night.

Back in KL
The next morning we drove back to KL to get ourselves fitted in saris for the wedding and have amazing ice cream with the bride-to-be and some other international people. The couple had a group of us foreign friends attending their wedding, and we quickly became an international group of friends (I'll call them "The Friends"). We agreed to go touring around the next day to stay out of the couple's way while they ran last-minute errands for the wedding.

Batu Caves
The Friends arranged to visit the Batu Caves in the morning. We got there before it was too hot outside, which to be honest isn't saying much because it was still very hot.

The Batu Caves are an impressive sight because there is (1) a large, steep staircase to the caves (there are two) that loom above the tour buses and (2) a massive statue of Lord Murugan that guards the height of the stairs. The climbing....was treacherous. Not because of the number of stairs to climb - I mean, I'm a New Yorker and we climb stairs a lot - but because the stairs were narrow and uneven. To make our trip up to the caves more precarious, there was a mound of sand next to the stairs and a pile of small plastic buckets next to a sign requesting tourists to carry full buckets of sand to the top (for construction...which, of course, we did).

Once we reached the top of the stairs and went into the cave temple (the popular cave), we were all appreciative of the gaping hole in the mountain, but I kept thinking "...was this why I lugged two buckets of sand for?!" My travel partners agreed to go to the more sciencey cave (the other, less popular cave) and take a tour that walked us deep into the darkest crevices inside the mountain. We were loaned hard helmets and penlights, and off we went with a tour guide into the depths of the cave. It was beautiful and so well worth the expense. We got to explore different rock formations and got to an area where there was a skylight into the cave that lit up a gorgeous, quiet, mossy nook of the cave that made me think of some kind of magical backdrop to a fairytale.

Upon leaving we saw an armada of tour buses coming to the caves and watched hordes of tourists drip with sweat as they crawled up the stairs. I'm so glad we went early.

Before we made our train back to KL, we visited the only other tourist site nearby - the Ramayama Cave. This cave was ground level, and a wild(ly strange) sight to behold. There, the Hindu community took a natural cave and carved it out so that the inside of cave walls became platforms all along the perimeter to showcase a life-sized 3D display that unfolded the story of the Ramayama. With statues and paintings. Most of The Friends didn't know much about Hinduism, but even my knowing smatterings of the story didn't keep me from being bewildered and amazed.

Once back in KL, another friend of Denise and mine - Alicia - joined us getting our hands henna-ed for the wedding and partaking in essential tourist shopping in Central Market. Later on, she led us to a local restaurant that served Chinese food and ordered us a whole lot of foods that were delicious and fascinating and things many of us had never eaten before - smelly fish soup and congealed pork knuckles. It was family-style and a local hangout. We had so much fun we shut down the shop.

Wedding Time
The big day finally came - the day for Denise's wedding! And it was all day, so it was a big deal. Why was it so long? Because of the cultural mash-up that was going to happen; she is Chinese and he is Hindu, but both are also Malaysian. We had three different chunks of wedding celebrations to experience before the day was over.

The first part was Chinese. We arrived at Denise's family's house before the sun rose. We met a lot of bleary-eyed family members setting up the buffet (it felt so weird to eat spring rolls so early) and prepare the festivities. This part of the day was when the groom had to play games with the bride's family and friends and persuade them to let him into the house to find his bride. This took a few hours and a number of different "obstacles" for him to overcome. It was all in fun, luckily, and he was successful in retrieving his bride.

Once that happened, The Friends (and some of the bridal party) shuttled over to another home to get changed into saris and kurtas for the Hindu festivities, which were scheduled around lunchtime (based on the celestial alignments the Hindu priests deemed appropriate). The sari changing took a while - by the time we were fitted and ready to go we hurredly drove into town to the temple.

Once we got to the temple, we were pleasantly surprised to see one of our other girlfriends (Pritha). She flew just that morning there from India with her husband to attend this part of the weddings.

A few hundred other people also decided to observe the wedding at the temple.

It was fun to watch the Hindu wedding because it was a whirlwind of noise and processions that none of us understood (and apparently not even the couple fully comprehended). There was flowing music and vibrant colors that made it still exciting to witness. AND we all got snack bags during the ceremony. The Friends sat in a clump and were fortunate that a few of the older aunties sat near us and explained in English as best they could what on earth was going on. The rest of the crowd seemed just as bewildered about us being there as we were watching the ceremony.

The public wedding processions ended after a while and people grabbed plates of buffet food before heading off. The Friends slowly shoveled food in our mouths as we sweated it back out again and left for a long break before we rejoined the now-married couple. I napped the entire break

The final part of the wedding was the reception in a restaurant and felt a lot more Western than the rest of the day. There, we ate even more food and danced the night away. We also watched some of the FIFA World Cup game when we needed breaks from the dancing. It was a wonderful ending to the wedding, and more intimate than a lot of the rest of the day.

But I was exhausted and burned out. Not as burned out as the married couple was, of course.

The next day I requested a day alone. I went to the Patronus towers mall (oh the irony of finding quiet time in a big mall). After my break, we met up for dinner one last time with the married couple before my flight out. The dinner was a lot more low key than the rest of the wedding festivities - we hung out at tables in the groom's front yard and talked about nonsense, and caught up on each other's lives. What was so extra wonderful about this trip and wedding was that we ended up making more friends.

End Thoughts
The trip to Malaysia had a few themes that I will reflect on more as I continue my life of travel:

• I prefer slow travel. This trip, albeit fun and action-packed, was not slow. A lot of my fellow travelers wanted to see everything, exploring all of the things and walk all of the roads. That path is not for me - I was exhausted so much of this visit. Instead, I like taking my time while I travel. Maybe I won't see everything (read: all touristy things), but I get to go at a relaxing pace and see the things that really mean something to me. And often, I don't find the touristy stuff very interesting. This does mean that I do more research about where I am going before I get there, normally. Oh yeah, and mid-day naps are the best, even when I'm missing out.
• I love SE Asian food. I love the unique flavors smashed together in one dish. I love that the desserts are funky and not chocolatey (even though I love chocolate). I love the comfort in even the spicy soups. I love everything about them. It is amazing.
• Hot and humid is hard. I already knew this from my previous trips in SE Asia, but it bears a reminder, especially after scaling Penang in 95% humidity and 95F heat. Hydration salts are my saving grace on those kinds of days.
• Malaysia? It's Okay. Surprisingly, Malaysia is not my favorite place, despite it having amazing food and some very interesting spots to see. For me, it was culturally not too far away from the US, which to me is a mix of a bunch of cultures to the point where there is a missing keystone to the culture. It is an odd place of rigid laws and lax customs, which is a bit confusing. I can't say I would ever want to live in Malaysia, but I was glad I got to see more of it with my friends and see my friend at a joyous occasion in her life.

Leaving Brisbane

When I returned to Brisbane, I was surprised with the challenges I had with readjusting. I had major jet lag from the flying, and people commented for a week or two that I seemed flat or unwell. I’m not really sure what was going on, but I was hurting for a little bit after returning from SE Asia. Either I missed the lifestyle I had grown accustomed to in Phnom Penh, or I was recuperating from months of being sick off and on there. Either way, it was hard.

I do know that I was struggling to adjust to the bus system in Brisbane. In most of my adventures through SE Asia I was used to hailing a tuk-tuk driver with a simple nod of my head and for small denominations of dollars get carried to anywhere in the area I desired to see. In Bangkok, there’s a transit system that operates regularly, much like the NYC subway system only above ground. In Brisbane, on the other hand,  I lived in a place where buses were maybe every 30 minutes normally needed at least one transfer somewhere to get where I wanted to go. There was a lot more planning that had to happen for me to get anywhere.

Brisbane, after all, is a very large suburban-urban area. Or, as many people told me time and time again, Brisbane is a big country town.

Which meant I was at the mercy of the usually-late TransLink buses that would take me from Point A to Point B..with about 20 points between the two. During Brisbane’s cool winter time. With shops closing at 6pm every day (as opposed to SE Asia’s “open late” culture). Being a famously impatient and cold-adverse person, I did not take to these readjustments easily.

Most of my first four weeks of being back emphasized finishing my piece de resistance – my Final Project for the Masters of Integrated Water Management! I am pretty good at time and project management, so I was ahead of schedule and was able to calmly hunker down and polish my 70-page paper over and over again until I could submit it several days early. I booked several health appointments during this time (I wanted to check everything before I left since it was cheaper there than in the US), where most professionals remarked how calm I seemed considering how close my deadline was.

Admittedly, my calm demeanor and confident project management did not prevent me from stress eating. And I did have a hospital run a few weeks after returning…but that was mostly because I had had my medication adjusted just before and my health insurance told me I needed to make sure I was not reacting adversely to the change. Unfortunately, I had another infuriatingly bad run with the public hospital system in Australia (with a doctor yelling at me about how we are all going to die someday while I was asking him if I was okay) that may haunt me for a while to come. Don’t worry – I am still fine, just angry at a cocky doctor who was less than helpful with a simple concern.

Also, one week before submitting my paper there was a full-time conference on WASH in Brisbane. This was a huge week, as I was wearing several different hats every day at the conference, depending on the audience and time of day. I was working my consulting job a few hours during each day of the conference while I also represented my masters program…while trying much as possible to network for my own emerging WASH career. In some ways, the week was overwhelming because of the amount of people I talked to, but I also felt in my element. I am a social person who is hungry for learning and likes to network, after all. It was also very fun to see those I met in Phnom Penh and throughout my consulting/education come together and weave in and out for a few days.

And then, I submitted my paper.

I submitted it early, and it was anticlimactic. I was expecting some kind of little trumpet announcing my completion, or maybe a hug. Instead, I simply got an email saying, “Assessment Received”. And that was that. A few days later my friends from the class got together to celebrate our completion of the program – only then did I feel like I was really done.

Of course, my six weeks back in Australia included reuniting with friends and seeing people I had met throughout the last year and a half. I met up with friends as much as I could before I left – for dinner, for lunch, for festivals, for walks.

Some of my closer friends and I took a few days to rent a cabin in the Bunya Mountains and enjoy some relaxing freedom with each other before we started to return to our own countries. On our trip, we stocked amazing amounts of food that we cooked between long hikes around the mountain trails. There were wallabies carpeting the landscape with little joeys poking out of pouches everywhere! The air was clean (and COLD!) and smelled like trees and wooden stoves. At night, we’d go outside and gaze at the Milky Way in the darkness of a quiet, lamp-less place. We talked about funny and serious things over wine and movies. We fought off red-bellied black snakes before munching on trail mix. The retreat was a lovely respite from the rest of the world.

I worked until I left to return to the US (I am still consulting, too) so I did not have a lot of downtime before leaving. But that’s okay, because it meant I was busy and productive, which I like. 

A few days ago, I got on a redeye plane that took me out of my Australian Chapter of Life and placed me soundly back into the US for the next chapter that I have yet to open. I got a bit emotional while I left, but by now I have moved back and forth so much that it's become almost standard procedure for me.

In reflection about Australia, people asked me if I would take a job and live there. The answer is, I’m not sure.

The whirlwind 18 months have been so incredible and eye-opening that I feel it really gave me a chance to learn about my adult self and become more me. Australia was definitely a key piece to my transformation and incredible experience. It’s definitely a beautiful and peaceful place with more adorable and fuzzy animals than you can shake a stick at. And the people I’ve made friends with in Australia are outstanding and supportive friends. I am so glad that they are in my life and I wish I could safely bottle them up and take them with me wherever I end up. 

That said, I’m used to a different lifestyle that lets me be more mobile without a car or worrying about early business closing hours. I’m not used to watching TV in the evening - I'm more about  exploring interesting social events in random parts of the world. In some ways, the Australian culture is perfect and family-friendly and relaxed and secure…but I don’t think it’s for me. I like messy, adventurous, buzzing, aggressive places and cultures…like what I've experienced in NYC and Phnom Penh. I like dirt and tightly-packed streets where I can escape for a weekend. I like knowing that I have a small patch of city I can walk around and get everything I want without taking a 45-minute bus where I will feel carsick. 

I think if I was a quieter person with a lot less demands on a place (i.e. free and diverse activities, late-night options), and with a family to care for, I would jump on the opportunity to stay in sunny Australia. For now, I think I will love my Australian Chapter and look forward to visits back for friends and vacations.