Author Archives: Julia

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SE Asia Chronicles: Tired in Bangkok

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The initial honeymoon phase of my SE Asia trip lasts 18 days, calm and pleasant from Singapore to Malaysia to Koh Lanta, Thailand. Then we hit Bangkok. Or rather, Bangkok hits us. Hard. In the face. It instantly becomes one of only two places in all my travels that I badly want to escape from and never look back.

Can’t Live With it; Can’t Live Without It
Bangkok is pretty much unavoidable as it’s the main transportation hub in SE Asia. It’s centrally located and cheap for traveling to almost anywhere else in the region. Despite our disdain for the city, J and I end up traveling through Bangkok three different times in all four directions: South from Malaysia, East to Cambodia, West to Myanmar, and finally North to Laos via Chiang Mai.

Bangkok

The first time around we arrive with the sole intent of obtaining a visa for Myanmar. Khao San Road in Bangkok is notorious for being full of backpackers, bars, and bogus scams. Unless you’re into that scene, most advise to get the hell out of there. J and I know this, yet we decide to stay in a hostel there anyway because it’s 5 am and we’re exhausted from just stepping off the night bus. (Hindsight: No reason is ever good enough to put up with the clusterfuck that is Khao San Road.) Immediately after check-in — sans-sleep and sans-shower — we take the express boat to the Myanmar Embassy only to find a notice on the door saying that they are closed for the next two days for some Burmese holiday. (Hindsight: We probably should’ve checked the embassy website first.) A complete wrench in our plans! J and I spend the next few hours wandering aimlessly trying to figure out our next move. We really want to go to Myanmar, but neither of us want to spend the next week in Bangkok waiting to get a visa.

The express boats in Bangkok are actually pretty cool. Easy to hop on, hop off -- and one of the few transports where you don't have to worry about being scammed.

The express boats in Bangkok are actually pretty cool. Easy to hop on, hop off — and one of the few transports where you don’t have to worry about being scammed.

Beware of the Kindness of Strangers
Sometimes the universe gives you exactly what you need; other times it sends you suspiciously helpful strangers on the streets of Bangkok. We encounter several of them in our short time wandering: local Thais that stop to give us completely unsolicited advice on where, when, and how we should spend the day. They are nice and we are tired. One of them manages to bamboozle us straight onto a tuk-tuk.
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SE Asia Chronicles: Trading Shoes for Fins

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“Have you ever been scuba diving?”
“No.”
“Do you want to try?”
“Sure.”
“My Lonely Planet book says this island in Malaysia is one of the cheapest places to take a certification course.”
“OK, let’s go.”

If only all life-changing decisions were made this easily and arbitrarily.

We thought the night bus would bring us directly to Kuala Besut where we could catch the morning jetty to the island. But of course that would be much too easy. Instead the bus drops J and I off on the side of the road at 4 am. It’s pitch black and we have no idea where we are. Luckily, a man with a “taxi” (see: unidentified vehicle) is waiting to take us the rest of the way. How did he know we were coming? It’s better not to ask these questions in Southeast Asia. After a brief half-hearted negotiation on the fare — I did mention it was 4 am, right? — we hop in. He does take us to the correct destination and four hours and a jetty ride later, we arrive: Pulau Perhentian.

Perhentian Map

Map of Pulau Perhentian and dive sites (Photo credit: Julia Thompson)

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10 Things I’ve Gotta Say About New Zealand

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Leaving New Zealand soon. It’s strange because I arbitrarily decided to come here in November and am now arbitrarily moving on. Not much contemplation went into either decision, just a feeling. Some thoughts on this country and my three months here.

1. I will miss having gorgeous beaches all to myself, running on beautiful trails every day, and being able to start the day on top of amazingly lush mountains and end it staring up at millions of stars in the middle of the ocean.

2. I never want to live in a concrete jungle or run on pavement again.

3. I will NOT miss the ridiculous prices ($8.50 beers and $30 campsites?!), the lack of Internet access, or empty city streets after 5pm.
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Gypsy Family Road Trip

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Just finished a road trip through New Zealand. Two Spanish, one American, one gypsy car and tent, 18 days, at least three near-death experiences. We started in Auckland and finished in Queenstown, driving more than 4,000 km in between. It was an unforgettable trip with too many beautiful places and cool people. Here are some highlights:

Water, Water Everywhere
Every day we encountered beautiful bodies of water. This must be why NZ is so green. We swam in lakes, rivers, streams, thermal pools, and oceans, sometimes with snow-capped mountains in the background. These swims often also doubled as baths since we mostly camped in places without showers.

Cathedral Cove in Coromandel

Cathedral Cove in Coromandel


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Adventures With Barrier Blokes

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I just finished a WWOOF stay on a veggie farm on the Great Barrier Island. What a great experience! Even most Kiwis don’t get the chance to visit the Barrier, so I feel very lucky to have spent four weeks there really experiencing island life and getting to know the local people. Our WWOOF hosts, Caity and Gerald, were wonderful. They’re the only people doing commercial agriculture on the island. Our main tasks involved harvesting and preparing all the produce for weekly veggie box deliveries and markets. It was harvest and tourist season at full bloom, with an abundance of beans, strawberries, tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, and more to pick every day. It was hard but satisfying work.

The Barrier is unlike anywhere else I’ve stayed. The island has a small community of about 600 people (except around Christmas/New Year time when it gets inundated with tourists from Auckland), and everybody knows each other. There are only a handful of restaurants and shops, and prices are high since most things need to be imported from the mainland. The island is also off the grid and has limited cell phone and Internet access. We had to learn quickly how to conserve power and live with limited resources. It’s a simple and quiet life, tucked away among beautiful beaches and mountains. It really is a whole other world!

View coming into the Great Barrier on the Sealink ferry

View coming into the Great Barrier on the Sealink ferry


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Kiwi Introductions

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Kia Ora from New Zealand! This is only the second time I’ve been in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s quite nice to be walking around in shorts and swimming in the ocean in December.

I’ve spent the past 3 weeks WWOOFing on a permaculture farm about an hour north of Auckland. The property is run by a woman named Audrey, and there are many WWOOFers coming through from various parts of the world: France (so many French!), Germany, Netherlands, America. The land itself is beautiful, consisting of 20 acres of forestry, fauna, streams, and walking paths. Our work included planting, mulching, clearing bush, feeding chickens, cleaning, and building a huge community earth oven. I didn’t end up learning much about permaculture or farming, but it was a nice first stop that introduced me to many things about NZ.

Part of my morning run

Part of my morning run


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From Skinny Dipping to Snow

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Some crazy weather up here in the Sierra Nevadas. At the beginning of this week, we were wearing shorts during the day and still skinny dipping in the pool after work. This morning, we woke up to 40 degree weather and snow! We spent the day harvesting the rest of the summer tomatoes and peppers. Winter is here, and the farm is transforming again.

Fruit orchard and part of the winter garden before the snow

Snow!

Working on beds in the green house while snow falls outside

We got more new WWOOFers and a few visitors this week, which makes for a great work crew and a full lunch table. Tuesday night everyone gathered at the main house to watch the election results. Hansel broke out bottles of farm-made wine,  I baked a ton of snickerdoodles, Emma (one of the new WWOOFers) shaved her head, Obama won reelection, and marijuana was legalized in Oregon and Washington. Great night!

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Time Flies

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Alex, another WWOOFer who arrived on the same day I did, reminded me that we’ve been on the farm for exactly one month today. Time is flying! I’ve done a bad job of keeping up blogging, but it’s a testament to how wonderful this place is. There are so many cool things going on and so many great people here that the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer screen.

This 80-acre farm is run by the Kern family, who are incredibly warm and inspiring people. Everything here is owner-built, and they’ve had more than 300 WWOOFers come through so far. There are currently 10 WWOOFers here, and most of us live in a community of trailers and RVs called WWOOFVILLE.

We just started working winter hours (9 am – 1:30 pm). The Kerns are really great about mixing up the work so things never get monotonous. I love having a farm-fresh breakfast every morning and meeting Hansel to talk over the day’s tasks. Just a sprinkling of some of the cool work we’ve been doing:
– transplanting kale, chard, cabbage & onions for the winter garden
– climbing walnut trees and getting stained fingers from peeling walnuts
– moving firewood for the winter
– harvesting everything from tomatoes and peppers to apples and peaches
– working with kids at the local North Fork school garden every Friday
– canning tomatoes and peppers
– making goat cheese
– milking goats!
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Let It Rain!

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I arrived at the Kern Family Farm in North Fork, CA on Oct 2, and there are too many great things to say about this place! I’ll be here up until Thanksgiving so there’s plenty of time for updates. This post is solely dedicated to the fact that… it rained!!

Most places around here haven’t had rain in months, and I haven’t felt a drop since getting to the West Coast in early August. It truly was a noteworthy event. We didn’t get more than a quarter to a half an inch, but I got to finally break in the new rain coat. Along with the rain came the fog, which up here in the mountains completely transforms the farm. It’s really an incredible sight! Even though the sudden temperature drop left us all feeling freezing, it was a really great day. We spent the morning planting hundreds of onions in the rain and fog and the afternoon warming up with delicious Mexican food and homemade wine.

Our newly transplanted rows of broccoli in the morning fog

Beautiful little green onions ready to be transplanted

Planting onions

Warming our freezing hands over the stove

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Catching Up on the PNW

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Pulling an all-nighter at SeaTac airport for a 6:45 am flight tomorrow. Perfect time to catch up on blogging!

After a WWOOF stay with the Bobcat Ridge family in Watsonville, I’ve spent the past couple weeks exploring the Pacific Northwest. Got to see some awesome places, experience great outdoor activities, and visit wonderful friends I rarely get to see. I also tried out CouchSurf for the first time, once in Seattle and again in Vancouver. I was wary at first but it’s quickly becoming my favorite way to travel. So heartwarming to know that there are such generous and cool people out there.

There’s way too much to cover everything, but here’s a little recap.

First Stop: Boise
Visiting Lily and Nick, the sweetest hosts! Boise would never be on my radar if I didn’t know someone there, and it was very different from what I expected. It’s a city without a big city feel and has gorgeous foothills and trails at your fingertips. I got to experience a Boise State football game and whitewater rafting for the first time. Lots of fun!

Lily and I at the Boise State game on the blue turf


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