Crystal and Bryan in Singapore

Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T20:19:00.004+08:00

The city is decked out in red and gold, the shelves of every bakery are packed with cookies, and the lines at the bak kwa stalls are stretching down the block. It can only mean one thing - Chinese New Year! My favorite part? The 4-day weekend that we get to celebrate!

This Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the year of the dragon, which is, in my personal opinion, the most awesome of all the animals on the lunar calendar. There are 12 in all: horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, boar, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, and snake. Come on now. Dragon is obviously the winner. It could destroy all the other animals on the calendar. The monkey's pretty cool too. I'm a rat. I think I got the short end of the stick there.

It's been a quiet holiday for us. After two weeks in the US, Bryan's friend visited us here in Singapore for a week. Between that and applying to graduate schools (yikes!) it's been a very busy few months. So we've been laying low this weekend. In the year of the dragon, I'm hoping to get back on track and start updating the blog more regularly now that grad applications are out of the way.

In our weekend of relaxation, we did find some time to celebrate Chinese New Year by watching How to Train Your Dragon!


Clearly the coolest animal in the lunar calendar (Toothless, from HTTYD) Image: Dreamworks Animation

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

A Night on the Town

2012-01-17T17:55:00.000+08:00

My 27th birthday was recently, and Bryan went out of his way to make it extra-special. He even took the day off work to go follow monkeys around the jungle with me! When we got home, he told me to get dressed, but wouldn't tell me where we were going. So we put on some nice clothes and got a taxi. Bryan told the driver to take us to Marina Bay Sands. Then I said, "OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!! ARE WE GOING TO SEE WICKED?!?!" And Bryan said that we were indeed going to see Wicked, and I got really, really excited.

So we drove through the pouring rain and arrived at Marina Bay Sands, which we have never visited before. In fact, when we first moved here, we enjoyed watching the building get taller and taller as they built it. It was kind of surreal to be going to the finished product for a night out.

Standing at the bottom of MBS

We were early for our dinner reservations, so we explored a little bit. The place is so over-the-top I can't even handle it. I've never been to Vegas but it's what I imagine Vegas would be like. I mean, there's a canal inside the building. Inside.

Woah. There are people in boats...inside the building.

There was even a huge fountain flowing into the canal. I'm not gonna lie, it kind of looked like a giant toilet bowl emptying out.

The fountain, from inside and outside

Roaming around the Marina Bay shops was a little mind-boggling. I think every designer name I've ever heard of had its own store. There was Gucci, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Armani, Dior, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Versace, and lots more. I don't think I've ever owned anything as fancy as the stuff they sell at MBS. Well, maybe I have. But I probably got it at Goodwill.

A fancy Louis Vuitton on the bay

We went out the back of the building, and the views were amazing. We could see the skyline, the Esplanade, the Singapore Flyer, City Hall, the Supreme Court building, the Merlion, and tons of other Singapore landmarks. It was pretty impressive. Oh, and there were tons of big white beach balls floating in the bay, apparently in celebration of the holidays.

Downtown skyline

Slightly hazy view of the Esplanade

After we spent some time admiring the city and gawking at all the glitzy stores, Bryan led me to Mozza, where we were having dinner. And our friends Brian and Andrea were waiting there for us! The surprises just kept coming!

Oooh, it looks so fancy. And I bet they have loads of cheese.

We were seated and started perusing the (pricey!) menu. Everything looked amazing, and we decided to start with, of course, a mozzarella sampler.There were three kinds of cheese, all fresh and soft. The sampler was served with toast saturated with really good olive oil. The kitchen also sent out an hors d'oeuvre: crispy crackers topped with more cheese and tangy olive tapenade. Yum. Our main courses were served, and things just kept getting better. I got ricotta gnocchi with wild mushrooms.

Ricotta gnocchi with wild mushrooms

It was definitely an "only-on-your-birthday" kind of meal - cheese pasta in a brown butter sauce. Luckily those mushrooms were there to make me feel like my dinner had some nutritional value! But wow, it was super tasty. It was the kind of dish where every bite is a little different - sometimes I could really taste the smooth, buttery sauce, other times the savory gnocchi were at the forefront, and sometimes it was the earthy mushroom flavor that dominated. Bryan let me taste his meal too - cheese ravioli with five different types of onions, also in a butter sauce. My meal was great, but Bryan's was even better!

We had some time to kill between dinner and the show, so we walked around a little more. I was glad we did! One of the stores we passed (a place called Robinsons) had two Wicked costumes on display! I was very excited, because I knew I wouldn't be able to take photos in the theater. I was even more excited when we watched the musical and the costumes worn by the lead performers matched the ones we'd seen almost exactly!

Galinda's beautiful dress

Elphaba's witch dress. As our friend accurately stated,
"It looks like something Helena Bonham Carter would wear."

So then we went to the show. It was strange to walk into the theater, because it kind of just looked like another mall storefront but then you got inside and it was massive! We took our seats and things got underway pretty quickly. The show was amazing. I've been listening to the Wicked music for years, but I'd never actually seen the musical, so it was really fun to hear each song and think "Ohhhh that's what they were singing about!" I also read the book on which the musical is based (Wicked by Gregory Maguire), so it was interesting to see how the musical's storyline differed from the book (in my opinion: the musical is way better). I couldn't take pictures inside the theater, so here are photos of some sketches that were on display with the costumes!

The lovely Galinda

Dark and mysterious Elphaba. See that reflection?
It's a subliminal message telling you to go see Wicked!

I can't really say enough good things about the musical. The singing was fantastic, the cast was super talented, the dancing was exciting, the theater was lovely, and I would totally do it all over again. When Elphaba starts flying around and singing "Defying Gravity," you just might want to hop out of your seat and fly around with her. If you'd like to experience it for yourself instead of just listening to me prattle on about it, Wicked will be showing at Marina Bay Sands Grand Theater until February 26, 2012. It's fantastic, and I highly recommend checking it out. You can purchase tickets here.

So that looks like a night all wrapped up, but it turned out we still had a bit of a hassle to deal with. When we left the theater, we were greeted by the longest taxi queue I've ever seen - literally hundreds of people and not a taxi in sight. The bus stop was mobbed, and we weren't particularly close to an MRT station. We waited a comically long time at the bus stop before we gave up and just started walking. But our transportation woes turned out to be sort of a blessing in disguise, because it gave us a chance to appreciate downtown, beautifully lit up at night!

When the walk is this scenic, who can complain?!

Night skyline

After our surprisingly pleasant walk to Raffles MRT station, we learned that we'd had so much trouble due to an MRT outage, which had caused some of the buses to be diverted to take on MRT passengers, and lots of taxis to be taken up by stranded MRT riders. So it goes. The next day we learned that it was one of the biggest MRT service disruptions in history. What can I say? The city shuts down for my b-day!

Seven Links Blog Project

2011-12-28T22:33:00.000+08:00

Guess what!

This is the TWO HUNDREDTH post on Crystal and Bryan in Singapore!! Hooray!!

For my two hundredth post, I thought it would be fun to revisit some of the blog's highlights over the past couple of years. My friend Flora nominated me to participate in something called the Seven Links Blog Project, in which you repost links to blog posts from seven different categories. So here are my contributions!

Our Most Beautiful Post: New Zealand Day Six: Milford Sound

Gosh, this was a tough decision. Looking back over the past two and a half years since Bryan and I have moved to Singapore, my mind just reels thinking of all the astonishingly beautiful things we've seen. I went with Milford Sound because it was one of the most unusual and visually arresting things I've ever seen, and I think the blog post for it turned out pretty well.

A sight to remember

Our Most Popular Post: Pulau Ubin...Again!

I did this post after Bryan and I visited Pulau Ubin for the third time, so I guess I thought it would kind of be old news. But we ended up seeing some great wildlife that day, including wild boar and hornbills. We posted lots of pictures, and people really seemed to enjoy it. The post was linked to by several other nature sites, including Wild Singapore. Two people contacted me asking permission to turn Bryan's monkey silhoutte photo into a t-shirt and a birth announcement, so that was pretty neat!

This image turned out to be surprisingly popular

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Our Most Controversial Post: A Word on the Monkeys

I don't generally post on very contentious topics, but I suppose I have covered some controversial ideas, like shark fin soup. But I think my most controversial post was probably one I posted one day in anger after I got home from a trying day of doing research on the monkeys at Bukit Timah. One of the residents had scolded me for not keeping the monkeys inside the forest, as though I was some sort of monkey shepherd instead of just a research assistant. It was a post I typed out in frustration, but I stand by what I said: if you're not ready to put up with monkey antics, don't move in next to a nature reserve.

Eleanor, one of my favorite Bukit Timah monkeys

Our Most Helpful Post: Sumatra Day Three: Mud, Blood, Sweat, and Orangutans

This post was about visiting Gunung Leuser National Park in Sumatra. Visiting the park requires a guide, and we booked a great guide through a small tour company called Sumatra Travel. There is very little information about Sumatra Travel on the internet, and after we did this post a lot of people contacted me to say thank you, because our information had convinced them that the company was legitimate, and they had gone on to book tours of their own. We liked our guide so much, and I'm glad to have been able to help out their small operation, especially because their livelihood took a serious hit after a devastating flood in 2003, which killed several members of our guide's family.

Sumatran orangutan that we saw on our hike

Post Whose Success Surprised Me: Weird Groceries

This one has a hands-down winner. When I posted about the funny Pringles flavors in Singapore, I had no idea so many people would be as entertained by it as I was. The post was even featured on Boing Boing, which was nerd dream come true for me.

It still makes me smile

Post That Didn't Get the Attention it Deserved: Neighborhood Temples

Hmm...this is kind of a strange question for me. I started this blog to keep friends and family updated on our lives, and I've been surprised and flattered that strangers are interested in what we have to say. So I don't ever think, "HEY! Why isn't this blog post getting attention?!" But I always really liked the post on the temples in our neighborhood, and it never generated much interest from blog readers. I guess I think it really clearly illustrates the cultural diversity of Singapore. I mean, we can see all of these places from our apartment windows. I think that's pretty amazing.

At the Buddhist temple across from our house

Post I'm Most Proud Of: Cambodia Day Three: The Temples of Angkor

The post itself is actually kind of rough. I posted it a long time ago, when I was still new to blogging. But I'm proud of it not because it's the most refined post I've ever done, but because of what it stands for. I've wanted to visit Angkor Wat since learning about it in a college religion class, but I never dreamed that I would have the opportunity to travel all the way to Cambodia. But somehow I came to be living in Southeast Asia with my best friend, and we went there together. And I blogged about it, so I'll always be able to remember all the awesome times we had. I'm proud of that, even if the post itself isn't perfect.

One of the temples of Angkor

To keep the Seven Links Project going, I'm supposed to nominate three other bloggers to participate. I'd love to see what the following bloggers have to say:

Ivan at The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Lauren at Real Life of an Expat Wife

Hazel at 愛Makan

And thanks again to Flora for a fun idea, even though it took me a while to get around to it!

Trees of the World

2011-12-20T20:38:00.000+08:00

In the sweltering temperatures of Singapore, it can be a little hard for me to get in the holiday spirit. So when I heard that the Singapore Botanic Garden was hosting over 300 Christmas trees, I dragged Bryan along, hoping to capture some holiday enthusiasm. We decided to make a date of it, and started out with dinner at Casa Verde.

Casa Verde is a cool place, because it's located just inside the Botanic Gardens, so there's lots of greenery and bird song all around. We ate outside as the sun set and the lights came on in the garden. It was a great backdrop for dinner.

Dinner in a garden

The place has a wood-fired oven, so we got pizzas for dinner. We were both very happy with our pizzas, which is kind of unusual for us. Americans can be very hard to please when it comes to pizza in Asia! It was fun to watch the pizzas being made too!

There's a window to the kitchen so you can watch your pizza being made

Grilled vegetable pizza

It was a nice dinner, and it would have been really romantic, except that it seemed that every child in Singapore had also chosen to eat at Casa Verde that day. So it was pretty loud in there, especially because the two boys at the table next to us were tossing a rugby ball back and forth across the table (Yes, their parents were at the same table. No, they did not do anything to stop it). I think a lot of families had the same idea that we did - to eat dinner then check out the trees - so I'm guessing it's not usually that chaotic.

After dinner we strolled through the gardens. The lit-up trees were part of an event called Trees of the World. Over 300 tropical trees were sponsored by embassies of different countries, companies, and sometimes individual families. Each tree was decorated by the sponsor, so no two were alike. We started out right next to the entrance, where some of the country trees were.

The UK tree

Australia's contribution

Of all the country trees (and there were a lot!), there were two that really stood out. Russia's tree was all about their space accomplishments, and was decorated with rockets, satellites, and astronauts. It was pretty great.

Rocket on Russia's tree

A pretty "stellar" tree

My absolute favorite tree was Uganda's, which was covered in tiny animal ornaments. It was so cute!

Uganda wins "cutest tree," in my opinion. The hippo agrees.

As we walked along, we realized that we had passed the country trees and were looking at trees sponsored by companies. But we never saw a USA tree! So sad! The company trees were beautiful though. Lots of them used everyday products like water bottles or old CDs to make ornaments. I thought that was a neat idea.

Slightly creepy water bottle angels

Creative ornaments

Made from straws!

My favorite ornament! It's just dried glue!!

We noticed several trees that were sponsored by landscaping companies, which seemed like an innovative way to advertise. One even incorporated live orchids into their tree decoration!

Orchid with tree lights shining through

I had a couple other favorites, including one tree decorated entirely with ornaments made from LEGOs and another by a medical supply company that from afar just looked like bright stars, but up close revealed x-rays!

LEGO duckling!

Like Halloween and Christmas combined!

The gardens were decorated beautifully, and it was really nice to walk through them at night. It was easy too - the Botanic Gardens MRT station opened recently, so it's a cinch to get there now! I recommend checking out the Trees of the World while you can - they'll be lit up until January 1st. You can take the MRT and follow the signs to the trees, or you can get a taxi to the Nassim Gate. Visiting the trees might just help you find some holiday spirit, even here in the tropics!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

Things We Find in the Woods Part Nine

2011-12-17T11:22:00.001+08:00

Now that I'm back to working with the monkeys full-time, I'm seeing a lot more fun nature stuff. For example, check out this awesome bird I spied one day near Bukit Timah! Isn't it beautiful?! It's obviously a raptor of some sort, but I've been unable to pin down an exact ID, so any of my wise nature friends are welcome to chime in with a suggestion! (update: my knowledgeable nature pal Ivan says that this is a changeable hawk-eagle, totally capable of snacking on little monkeys! Woah!)

Doesn't he look regal perched up there?!

We've been having exceptional luck with birds lately, and we've seen several Asian koels, which we typically hear loud and clear, but don't often see. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see that they have blood-red eyes!

A male Asian koel

One day at Chinese Garden, we saw this yellow bittern, busy hunting prey along the water's edge.

The little fish hate to see this guy coming their way!

OK, brace yourselves, because this next one's a little weird. But it's so freakishly bizarre that I feel compelled to share it, even though it will involve using the word "poo" for the first time on this blog. You remember the super-cool colugo?

Remember these awesome things?!

We've discussed before the total weirdness of the colugo: they have a rat face, bat ears, and loris eyes. Well, apparently, it gets even stranger. You see, when the colugo takes a poo, it flips its back end over its front end, like it's opening the trunk of a car.

Whaaaaat?!?!

Isn't that crazy?!

While we're on the topic of strange things, have you ever seen dragonflies mating? They look like contortionists! It looks very painful! I read a little about it, and apparently dragonfly mating is rough stuff. The males often mate with the females against their will, and sometimes they bite them! Although these two are locked in a painful-looking position, I like that they're making a lopsided heart.

Iberian bluetail damselflies

And now my friends, I can think of no better way to end this post than with a photos of baby monkeys! I'm sure I'll be sharing lots more monkey pictures in the months ahead!

Cuddling with Mom

Thirsty baby

Cuteness triple-take

A Singaporean Wedding

2011-12-09T16:53:00.001+08:00

Whenever I tell someone in the US that I live in Singapore, they always have a lot of questions about how things are different here. One of the things that I'm often asked about, especially now that I'm engaged (YAY!) is what the weddings are like here. I never have a good answer, partly because I had never attended a Singaporean wedding up until a few weeks ago, and partly because there are so many cultures and traditions here, that weddings are often a mishmash of a lot of cultural components.

The wedding we attended last month was no exception. Bryan's co-worker Edwin and his new wife Septiana are both from Indonesia, but their heritage is Chinese. They studied in Australia and now they live in Singapore (people are always confused by Bryan's and my round-the-world history, but theirs is even better!!). So their wedding was a conglomeration of a lot of their experiences.

A pretty snazzy invitation

The inside was in English and Chinese

The ceremony was at the posh Four Seasons Hotel just off of Orchard Road. We were invited to the ceremony and reception, but no one told Bryan and me that the ceremony would be much smaller and mostly for family, so we rather awkwardly showed up. Oh well. Anyway, it was high up on the 20th floor, with a fantastic view of downtown.

The ceremony got under way and Bryan and I smiled at each other when we realized that the whole thing was going to be in Bahasa! But we just sat back and admired the lovely couple. The ceremony was Christian, so even though we didn't know what anyone was saying, we often knew what was happening. And, interestingly enough, Edwin and Septi exchanged their vows in English.

Exchanging vows

It was fun for us to note the similarities and differences between this Singaporean Christian wedding and the ones we've attended. Obviously it was in another language, so that was different. But the bride was wearing a white dress, was attended by her bridesmaids, and was given away by her father, so that was all the same. There was even a ritual where the bride and groom took their separate candles and lit a larger one together, like I've seen in lots of American weddings. My favorite difference came after the ceremony started wrapping up. An official-looking man stepped up and addressed everyone in English. He said he was with the Singaporean government and very officially pulled a form and a pen out of his jacket, which had to be signed then and there by the bride, groom, and witnesses. It was so funny to me! It seemed so Singaporean that the bride and groom would have to take care of business right in the middle of their ceremony!

Pink bridesmaids walking down the aisle

There was a long break between the ceremony and the reception, so we went home for awhile after offering the bride and groom our congratulations. We returned to the Four Seasons that evening for a dinner reception. We met up with some of our friends from Bryan's work, so that was nice. We had stressed briefly about what sort of gift to buy the bride and groom, but luckily someone advised us that it was appropriate to give money in a red envelope. Good thing we got advice! We would have been the only yahoos showing up carrying a big present with a fluffy bow on top!

The reception room was lovely but very dimly lit, so apologies for my grainy photos!

Elegant reception

The tables were beautifully set with gold china and cute favors: little jars of honey specially labeled with the couple's name!

Fancy

We had only been seated a few moments when the newlyweds welcomed everyone, and then the food promptly started rolling out.

I think they look like a celebrity couple : )

The food was traditional Chinese, served family style...sort of. A large platter of food was brought out, and then the waiters served each person off of the platter, so there wasn't that passing around of food that usually occurs with family-style serving. As a vegetarian, I was an exception, and all of my food was served separately, and plated as though we were at a 5-star restaurant!

When everyone else's first course came out, there were all sorts of things I didn't recognize. I watched, bemused, as the waiter dished onto Bryan's plate shrimp, duck, jellyfish, and whole baby octopi. Bryan looked slightly less amused than I did. But he ate most of it, quietly scooting the octopi off to one side. He declared the jellyfish "springy" and we moved on to the second course. At that point, I was even more grateful that I was vegetarian.

Vegetarian first course

The second course was shark's fin soup. You may have heard of it, as it's been in the news lately due to the ethical dilemma it presents, and the toll it takes on shark populations. Many Chinese people claim that shark's fin has health benefits, and it has become a deeply-ingrained tradition to serve shark's fin at wedding banquets. However, modern research has shown no significant health benefits for eating the very expensive delicacy, and research has actually shown that sharks have levels of mercury that exceed the limits considered safe for consumption by women and children.

Perhaps more importantly, shark fins are obtained through the cruel practice of reeling in live sharks, lobbing off their fins, then tossing them back into the water to die a painful death. The entire shark is thus wasted for its fins. This vicious and wasteful practice has led several places, including California and Hawaii, to ban the sale of shark fin altogether. Apparently attitudes toward shark's fin are shifting among young people in Asia, but when they get married, they face pressure from older relatives to keep the soup on the menu to avoid losing face. Hopefully attitudes will continue to shift and more young people will take a stand against the sad practice.

In the meanwhile, our table was faced with a tureen of shark's fin soup. A lot of the people at our table were foreigners that knew about the practice of shark finning and there was a lot of awkward shifting in our seats as everyone had a bowl placed in front of them. I dug into my vegetarian soup guilt-free, and Bryan and several others just pushed their bowls away untouched. Apparently the soup is pretty bland anyway...all that hassle for soup that doesn't even taste good.

After that, the courses just seemed to KEEP COMING! I think there were ten courses in all, including these angry-looking fish with their teeth still intact.

These are not the fish I grew up on.
Mine were rectangular and came out of a blue Van de Kamps box.

Even though some of the non-vegetarian food wasn't particularly appetizing to me, it was all presented beautifully. And my vegetarian food tasted fantastic!

Yummy veggie food

The festivities continued throughout dinner, with toasts from Edwin and Septiana's friends and family, a champagne fountain, and a cake cutting.

Oooooooh bubbly

OK, let me tell you about the cake cutting. Americans, this is going to make you laugh. So there was a cake cutting ceremony just like at most American weddings, except as I watched them cut the cake, I thought they were doing it rather awkwardly, just kind of skimming the knife along the cake. And then they didn't actually take out a slice of the cake. In fact, the cake just sat there the rest of the night. No one ever ate any. You know why? Because the cake wasn't real. It was just iced BOXES!!! Isn't that funny?! It's there for appearances and for the cake-cutting, but no one ever actually eats any cake. We had sago for dessert instead.

Looks tasty, doesn't it? Too bad! None for you! Well, unless
you want an iced slice of cardboard. In that case, feel free.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was when the new couple sang a song to honor their parents and thank them for putting on the wedding. Septi had a lovely voice and Edwin played the keyboard very well. It was neat to see them doing something as a team.

Talented duo

Another highlight of the evening was when some of the couple's friends got up and did a choreographed dance to the Bruno Mars song Marry You. It was really fun, but it made me want to get up and dance too! I guess I'm just used to being able to do that at weddings!

A friend of the couple, gettin' down

The thing that surprised me most about the wedding was the extravagance of it. The bride had one dress for the ceremony and a separate one for the reception. The groom also had a wardrobe change. There were fresh pink roses everywhere. There were four professional photographers and a videographer. There was a ten-course meal, wine, beer, and of course it all took place at the opulent Four Seasons Hotel. This would be a swanky wedding in the US, but here in Singapore where prices are high for virtually everything, it's that much more luxurious. It must have been very costly, but it was also very beautiful, and everyone had a great time. But most importantly, at the end of the day, Edwin and Septi were husband and wife!

Next on the marriage roster : ) Posing with that fabulous pretend cake!!

Silly Signs Ten: The NZ Edition

2011-11-30T19:47:00.000+08:00

New Zealand is celebrated for a lot of awesome stuff: amazing marine life, unusual birds, delicious food, friendly people, and stunning landscapes. But you know what? Somebody needs to recognize that that country has some of the most epic signs in the world. For your consideration:

The world's most awesome animal crossing

Come on, people! Penguins need privacy too!

Seriously. There's a fur seal army over there, and they don't like the look of you

Are you a train?! Yeah, I didn't think so. Get outta here!

Is it wrong that this makes me giggle?
Is it wrong that I kind of want to see someone do this?

Well...I mean, don't sugarcoat it or anything.

One light for cars, one for people, one for bikes!

Not messin' around about the tired drivers stuff.

A little reminder for all of us dopey tourists used to driving on the right side!

Oh, by the way, you might fall to your death down an unmarked mining shaft.
No big deal.

Oh, and this is an avalanche zone,
so if the unmarked mineshafts didn't kill you, this might.

I'm not sure what this next one was all about, but we saw these signs along a lot of hiking trails in New Zealand. It seemed to be something of a hot-button issue in the country, because we also saw huge signs in people's yards about how chemicals were destroying some of New Zealand's countryside. I don't understand the issues behind it, but the signs sure were intimidating!

We were extra careful not to munch on any random animal carcasses

They seem to do "blunt" pretty well in New Zealand:

Givin' it to you straight

The giant crocodile tears really drive the point home

See, didn't I tell you that New Zealand is jam-packed with some of the most fantastic signs ever?!

New Zealand Day Nine: Back to Christchurch

2011-11-08T17:41:00.000+08:00

Are you tired of hearing about New Zealand yet?! There's still more! But, sadly, not much more.

I woke up in our cozy cabin in Arthur's Pass, with the fire dying out in the living room. I was surprised to hear Bryan already moving about, and he brought me a cup of coffee and told me that he'd already been out exploring. Our cabin was full of posted information about the kiwi, New Zealand's national bird, a big flightless wonder. Apparently the woods around our cabin were inhabited by kiwi, and Bryan had gotten up early to see if he could spot some. He didn't get lucky, but I think he had fun looking.

We hung around in the cabin for as long as possible, reading a bit more by the fire and sipping coffee. Once it was time to check out, we made the 30-second drive into town and stopped at the Arthur's Pass Store/Cafe to get some breakfast. As soon as we got out of our car, we were greeted by one of the cheeky local kea, who perched right on top of our car! I was worried about him scratching our rental car, so I waved an arm at him, hoping he'd be startled and fly off. No such luck. He just looked at me like I was batty and continued his investigation of our roof.

Struttin' his stuff on top of our car

Erm...excuse me...could you not be on our car?! Anywhere else will do, really

Once the kea had realized that there were no delicious snacks to be had on the roof of our car, he flew off and we went inside to get some breakfast. We chomped down hearty meals of eggs and toast while we watched a few of the birds through the windows. I always think of birds as being graceful, but the kea are a notable exception to the rule. They kind of totter around, and we saw a couple lose their grip on gutters or car windows and have to recover by flapping their wings frantically.

After breakfast and kea-watching, we headed down the road to the edge of town, where there was a trailhead. We parked the car and began down the trail to Devil's Punchbowl Falls. Right away, we crossed a bridge and were rewarded with some stunning views. It was especially nice to see the sun shimmering brightly on the water after all the rain the day before.

What a day!!

It was pleasant in the woods. Everything was vibrant and green after the rains of the day before, and there weren't many people around, so it was very peaceful. We hiked along for a while without seeing any other people or animals. We heard the falls thundering in the distance long before we reached them. When we got there, the falls were very impressive!!

WOW! Big falls!

There was a good view of the falls from the path, but there was a viewing platform up closer. We hung out on the platform while Bryan snapped away with the camera and we both got misted by icy water coming from the "punchbowl."

On the viewing platform

It hadn't taken us long to get to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls, so we decided to continue on to another waterfall we'd been told about by a ranger at the Visitor Center in town. That path was also more or less free of other people, so we had ample room to stop and admire the plants and the few birds we saw, too high up in the trees to be photographed. Bryan did take some photos of the forest itself, since it was dense with some of the strangest mosses and lichens I've seen.

So dense! And it had that great, earthly forest smell!

So much green!!!

Extreme moss CLOSE-UP!

Eventually we got to a viewpoint for the next set of falls, which was called...BRIDAL VEIL FALLS! Yay!!! Perfect timing!

I can see where it gets its name!

After many ridiculous attempts by me to position my head so it looked like I was actually wearing the falls as a veil, we moved on, heading back down the path toward our car. As we walked, we got a nice viewpoint of Arthur's Pass village. You can see how small it is! It's the kind of town that my dad would refer to as "just a wide place in the road."

Arthur's Pass town...it's there, I swear! Just get a magnifying glass.

We stopped again as we crossed the bridge to appreciate the view one final time before we headed out of Arthur's Pass for good.

Wishing we had another week to stay here!!

Who would want to leave this?!

Somehow we managed to tear ourselves away from Arthur's Pass village, even though it was one of the most inviting places I've ever been. We had a plane to catch the next day and an All Blacks game to catch that afternoon, so we made our way to Christchurch. It was a lovely drive and we had great weather. There were a couple of memorable moments, for instance when a HUGE pheasant unexpectedly flew out in front of our car, causing me to scream like a little girl. It was actually a very beautiful bird, but unfortunately I was too busy flipping out to snap a photo. A few minutes later we were sitting quietly when I said "HEY! THOSE ARE REALLY FLUFFY SHEEP!" and Bryan looked up just as one of my "sheep" lifted its head and proved itself to be a llama. Smooth. Anyway, eventually we pulled into Christchurch and checked back in to the Ashford Motor Lodge, where our trip had first started. We knew that they had bathtubs and we'd be ale to watch the Rugby World Cup on our TV, so it was a pretty easy decision.

After checking in, we walked up the street and picked up some beer to watch the All Blacks play Canada. I made sure we were back in plenty of time for the start of the game so I wouldn't miss my favorite part- the All Blacks haka!!!

The haka is a traditional Māori warrior dance. The dance isn't the same every time, but it usually includes stomping feet, slapping of the arms and/or legs, and tongues sticking out. It's lots of fun to watch, especially when it's being performed by the good-looking All Blacks!! The All Blacks do the haka before every game, while the opposing team is forced to stand and watch. It's pretty funny to watch as the other team just has to stand there and be intimidated!

The game itself was eventful, but not particularly nail-biting. The All Blacks destroyed Canada with a final score of 79 to 15.

Watching the All Blacks stomp all over Canada made us hungry, so we walked down the street and revisited Spagalimi's, where we'd had dinner at the beginning of our journey (back when we weren't even engaged yet!). On the way, we passed a wedding gown shop, and I stopped and ogled through the windows for a few minutes while Bryan waited very patiently. But not even princess dresses can keep me away from good Italian food, so we moved on. Spag's was pretty empty, and we had a quiet and delicious meal.

Wishin' we had a Spag's in Jurong East!

So that was pretty much our trip. We went back to our room that night and took turns using the bathtub, knowing it would be awhile before we had that luxury again (our apartment, like most Singaporean apartments, doesn't have a tub). The next morning we got up and dropped off our car before catching our Singapore Airlines flight back to Singapore. Again, the flight was most excellent, and it was a nice way to end a trip that we'll remember the rest of our lives- the time we went to New Zealand and got engaged!!

New Zealand Day Eight: Arthur's Pass

2011-11-07T00:01:00.000+08:00

Well, our plans for a morning hike to Franz Josef Glacier were thwarted when we awoke to the pitter-patter of rain on our roof. When we looked outside, it appeared that it had been raining steadily for awhile, and it certainly showed no signs of stopping. Rather than poking around the little town all day or hoping for the rain to let up, we decided to just go ahead and get on the road, hoping we might be able to drive out of the raincloud.

Farewell, cozy Chateau Franz!

It rained pretty steadily all morning, but we dodged some raindrops to get a couple of pictures. We drove past lots of lush green pastures, and we actually saw cows instead of sheep for once!

Cows toughing out the rain

The pastures were also occupied by some very strange birds. I recognized them from the bird guides we'd been leafing through. They were pukeko, also known by the hilariously awesome name of PURPLE SWAMPHENS! They were pretty large, about the same size as a chicken, and they had this strange, rough patch of red skin on their faces. Like chickens, they fly and land rather awkwardly, so they generally try to stick to walking.

Most elegantly named bird in all of New Zealand: the purple swamphen

We stopped in a small town called Ross for lunch. Ross was a place just bursting with character. The Cardrona Hotel had me thinking of Clint Eastwood, but Ross was a little more showy and maybe even cheesy, making me think more of a Wild West show at Disney World.

Gold Town General Store. I think the rain just makes it look more Old West!

Billiards Hall

Roddy Nugget Cafe

Apparently Ross was more authentic than it looked. Info posted in the Roddy Nugget Cafe told us that the place was named for the fact that Ross was the site of the excavation of New Zealand's largest gold nugget (weighing at over six pounds) in 1907! The chunk of gold was named the Honourable Roddy, and the cafe was named after it. A pretty neat claim to fame. The cafe itself was pretty great, and we had a fantastic brunch there.

Most serious stack of blueberry pancakes I've ever had
Guess what Bryan had!
If you guessed something with bacon, you win the prize!

Half of the Roddy Nugget was a bar and cafe, and the other half was a hodgepodge of stuff: there were computers where you could pay to use the Internet, antiques for sale, and storage for the restaurant. There was a whole shelf of old bottles, and my Dad loves that sort of stuff, so we bought him one (Happy b-day, Dad!). I'm guessing they hadn't sold anything off of that shelf in about twenty years, because the waitress we handed our money to looked at us like we were bonkers.

Random antique bottle collection in the Roddy Nugget

We drove on through the rain for a couple more hours until we reached Arthur's Pass Village. We'd discussed staying there overnight, so we stopped on the side of the road to make a decision. We consulted out our trusty NZ guide, which informed us that Arthur's Pass boasted affordable, stand-alone cabins with fireplaces that we could rent out for the night. That sold us on staying there. Just as I was closing the book, I heard a sound and looked up, wide-eyed. "UMMMMMMMMMM," I said, surprised. "What?!" asked Bryan. I pointed out his window, where a huge parrot was perched on his side-view mirror!!

Look closely. Holy smokes! Giant parrot on our car!

We were afraid of the parrot's talons damaging the car, so we pulled slowly away, and it flew off. Arthur's Pass Village is about five buildings along the side of the road, so you can drive right on by it in about 10 seconds. That made it easy to find Mountain House YHA Backpackers & Cottages, the place where we were hoping to rent a cottage with a fireplace. Unfortunately, there was no one in the main office, so we headed across the street to have some coffee at the Wobbly Kea.

A real kea on the sign for the Wobbly Kea

Hanging out at the cafe turned out to be a great choice- the cafe was very homey, and we curled up on a comfy couch with a view out the front window. The woman working there was friendly and more than willing to tell us a little bit about the local kea, which appeared to be hanging out all over. In fact, when we sat in front of the window, one of them became keenly interested in our coffee. It reminded me so much of a monkey!

Hey! Are you guys eating something?! I love eating!

Pay no attention to all those DON'T FEED THE KEA signs...

Pretty please can I have some?! :::bats eyes:::

Eventually the kea figured out that it wouldn't be getting any food from us, and it flew across the street to the Arthur's Pass store. I asked the waitress about the feeding situation. She said that, despite the abundance of signs asking people not to feed the kea, it still happens quite frequently. She expressed frustration at the situation, and I heard more than a little of myself in her as she described marching across the street earlier in the day to scold a photographer who was feeding the birds. The reasons not to feed the kea are numerous, but here are just a few:

Don't feed the kea because:

1) Feeding the kea makes them more drawn to human civilization, and therefore more likely to investigate (and damage) cars and buildings.

2) It makes them more likely to approach humans for food in the future. This puts people in danger of scratches from sharp beaks and claws.

3) Drawing kea closer to human civilization makes them more likely to become victims of roadkill.

4) In the wild, kea live off of a lot of plant material, and human food can have serious detrimental effects on their health.

5) Kea have a conservation status of "vulnerable" and feeding them isn't helping to make that status any better.

Be a responsible tourist and don't feed the kea!

OK, I'll get off my conservation soapbox. But the kea are pretty amazing animals- I've never looked at a bird and seen such intelligence in its eyes. I hope efforts to conserve them in their wild habitat are successful. They're also stunningly beautiful animals. They're a gorgeous shade of green, but the real surprise comes when they spread their wings.

Their wings are RED underneath!!!

Pretty fantastic, huh?

Eventually we saw the office guy return, so we went back across the street to inquire about renting a cottage for the night. We got all squared away pretty quickly which was nice, since it was still pretty early in the afternoon. We drove around the corner to our cabin, which was out of the way on a back street.

The cabin was amazing. As soon as we pulled up, we were excited.

Our cabin in the sunshine of the next morning

As promised, there was a fire roaring in the fireplace. There were also two fluffy couches, a fully-stocked bookshelf, and windows with great views of the wilderness all around us. I was all ready to just move in and never leave.

It took me about five seconds to get comfortable

The bedroom had big windows with views of the mountains

My view whenever I looked up from my book!

We lounged around for a few hours, listening to the soothing sounds of rain on the roof and a fire crackling in the fireplace. We sipped red wine while Bryan read Planet of the Apes and I dug into A Game of Thrones, one of the best books I've read in awhile. It was the ideal way to spend a rainy afternoon, and I couldn't believe that we happened to luck upon such a great cabin on the one day that it rained all day long. At around 7 PM, we headed back into town with the plan of picking up some basics at the little store to cook dinner in our kitchen. As it turned out, Bryan and I have spent too much time in the big city and it hadn't occurred to us that the only store in town would already be closed at 7. We ended up back at the Wobbly Kea for dinner, munching pasta and drinking red wine.

Still showin' off my new bling

Relaxed after a laid-back day

We wrapped it up early to get back to our cozy spots by the fire. Besides, as we learned, there's not really anywhere to go in Arthur's Pass after 8 PM!

New Zealand Day Seven: West Coast

2011-11-05T15:07:00.000+08:00

By the end of an entire week in New Zealand, Bryan and I were both pretty enamored with the country. The people were unfailingly friendly, the food was delicious, the scenery was some of the most beautiful I'd ever seen, the wildlife was abundant and exciting. It would be hard to leave. But luckily we didn't have to think about that quite yet- we still had a few days to go.

We'd enjoyed our afternoon in Queenstown, and I felt that we'd gotten a good feel for the place. Since we didn't plan to do any of the adrenaline-seeking activities for which the town is known (skydiving, snowboarding, hang-gliding), we decided to head out the next morning. We took the scenic route up by Arrowtown, because we thought there was a Lord of the Rings filming site up there. Arrowtown turned out to be an absolutely quaint little historical town, but nothing there called to mind Lord of the Rings. The only thing I got really excited about was this cute red phone booth.

It's like a little house!!

We headed out of Arrowtown and followed a tip our hotel owner had given us. He said that we should drive along a road known as The Zig-Zag, which is known for great views. It turned out to be a good tip. As we maneuvered along the sharp angles of the road, beautiful vistas opened up around every corner. It was pretty fantastic.

View from the Zig-Zag

The Zig-Zag. Glad we weren't navigating it in the snow!

Yay mountains!

The guy at our hotel had also told us that we should stop by and check out the historic Cardrona Hotel. It was right on the road and impossible to miss. The hotel looked like something out of an old Western. I half expected Clint Eastwood to run out the front door and start shooting bad guys.

The Cardrona Hotel: looking awesome since 1863

This one's for my Dad. I'm sure he could tell me this car's make and model!

We checked out the grounds a little bit before we went inside. There was a tiny art gallery (literally named "The Wee Art Gallery," about 6 feet wide) across the street, but other than that, the hotel was the only thing in sight. The grounds of the hotel were pretty expansive, with old dilapidated buildings out back, along with some outdoor seating and a cozy firepit.

The buildings out back had obviously been around awhile

Finally we went inside. If the outside was well-preserved, the inside was even better. There was a bar and restaurant inside. The old wooden floors creaked as we walked on them, the walls were made of oddly-shaped stones, and the tables were worn wooden slabs. Antiques were placed all over the restaurant, and there was a fire roaring in the huge stone fireplace. It was so welcoming and comfortable in there, I just wanted to curl up in the leather chair by the fire, read a book and take a nap.

And now a picture for my mom. A very old sewing machine.

I didn't curl up by the fire and fall asleep, but we did order lunch. The food was great, but even if it hadn't been, it would have been worth it to get to sit in the restaurant and enjoy the warm atmosphere. Apparently the Cardrona is still an operating hotel as well, and it looked like a really great place to spend a couple of nights.

YUM!

Vegetarian lasagna for me and bacon pasta for Bryan.
I was getting concerned that he might turn into a giant slice of bacon.

The food was great and really filling. We hung around in the Cardrona awhile, staying warm by the fire and feeling content. But eventually we pushed on toward the West Coast. Driving along Highway 6 was lovely - Lake Wanaka was on our left side a lot of the way, framed by snow-capped peaks.

Lake Wanaka from the road

We couldn't resist a stop at a beach to see the lake up close. The wind blowing off the water was chilly, but the sun was shining so it was pretty pleasant weather. I ran down to the lake and dipped my fingers in the chilly water, then chased Bryan around, trying to get him wet.

Mean fiancee

As we drove on, the road curved upwards, and we stopped again to get a view of the beach where we'd just been. It looked even better from up above.

Looking back on the beach

Usually when on a road trip, I think of the driving as the bothersome part, and all of the stops as the good part. But this was different. The driving was one of the best parts, because the views were magnificent, even from inside the car.

I wish my morning commute looked like this!

Imposing peaks

When we passed through Haast on the West Coast, we started getting views of the Tasman Sea as well as the beautiful forested areas of the Haast wilderness. We stopped in at the Haast Visitor Information Center and got some information on where we might want to stop. Based on information we got there, we drove a little further and then stopped at the Dune Lake Walk. The walk led along a new-looking boardwalk and down to the Tasman Sea.

Didn't I tell you NZ has cool rocks? That's the Tasman Sea in the backround

When we left the beach and continued along a sandy path, we were bordered by the Tasman Sea on one side and Dune Lake on the other side. Before we left for NZ, we'd heard a bit about pesky sandflies, which are supposedly abundant. Apparently they bite and leave behind itchy red welts. This walk was the first place that we spotted any, but when they're around, they really swarm. The next day Bryan had an angry red mark on his hand that didn't go away for almost two weeks!

Dune Lake

Pretty flowers along the way

The path led to a lookout point where we could see for miles around. It looked like we were the only people on the West Coast!

Bryan at the lookout point

Looking back at the beach from the path

After our lakeside stroll, we drove straight through until we got to Fox Glacier. We took the turnoff and drove along a bumpy gravel road to a carpark, where we intended to start a hike along the Chalet Lookout Track. Unfortunately, the track was closed for construction and trail maintenance, so we couldn't do that. A couple of other trails started from the same trailhead, but the other trails were much longer and we wouldn't be able to complete them before sundown, so we turned around and decided to be content with a viewpoint that allowed us to see the glacier. We spotted the end of the 8-mile long glacier between two mountains. To my surprise, it kind of just looked like a frozen river!

See the thing that looks like a river? That's Fox!

We were a little disappointed to not be able to get closer to the glacier, but it's kind of hard to feel down when you're surrounded by such outstanding scenery. Anyway, we had plans to hike to Franz Josef Glacier the next day. We headed to Franz Josef town to spend the night. Along the way, we stopped at another trailhead and made the short walk to Peter's Pool, which is supposed to offer a view of the other glacier. The walk was short and, although the day was a bit overcast at that point, we did see the glacier.

The 7.5 mile long Franz Josef Glacier, seen from Peter's Pool

Peter's Pool is a neat little spot with a pond that's known for offering a lovely reflection of the glacier and surrounding mountains. That sounds nice, but that's not what we got. There was a gaggle of rambunctious ducks, flapping and squawking all over the place, so the water was disturbed all the time and we never quite got that great view. But I did enjoy watching those crazy ducks and reading the posted information, which informed us that Peter's Pool is named for the 8-year-old boy who discovered it. Pretty cool! A mini explorer!

A disruptive duck at Peter's Pool

It was starting to get dark by the time we came back off the trail from Peter's Pool, so we drove into Franz Josef town to find a place to stay. We stopped at Chateau Franz mostly because it was one of the first places we saw and it looked reasonably priced. It turned out to be a good choice- the rooms were pretty basic, but the price was reasonable and there was a big selection of videos to go with our old-school VCR. We headed next door to Guzzi's, where we ordered takeout from a quirky ex-fisherman type. We hung out on the tiny front porch while our foot was being made, admiring their brightly painted, tiny delivery vans and petting their obese cat. Once our delightfully bad-for-you food (pizza for me, fish-n-chips for Bryan...at least it wasn't more bacon!) was ready, we took it back to our room and had a tasty meal while we watched '90's VHS movies. It was a pretty great night, and we had a glacier hike to look forward to the next day!

New Zealand Day Six: Milford Sound

2011-10-31T21:55:00.000+08:00

We were up and ready to go early the next morning. We had a cruise to catch! The night before the nice lady at the Milford Sound Lodge had helped us book a cruise around Milford Sound. We had booked the Encounter Nature Cruise (sounds perfect for us, right?!) through Southern Discoveries, and it left pretty early in the morning. So we made our way for the Milford Wharf, where we met our cute little boat! We knew it was going to be a great experience because even the view from the wharf was nice!

View from Milford Wharf

Check out our cute little boat!

We boarded the boat, and sat down in the enclosed part downstairs. It was pretty chilly, so it was nice to get warm and drink some of the piping hot coffee that was provided. We were visiting Milford Sound in the off-season, so the already small boat wasn't fully booked, and there was lots of space. A hint: if you want to take one of these cruises, try to get on one that leaves first thing in the morning. Peak hours are around noon right after the tour buses roll in, so if you get tickets for eleven or later, there are more boats on the water to obscure your view, the boats are fuller, AND tickets are more expensive!

So anyway, once the boat got cruising, Bryan and I went out on the deck so we could see better. Every little turn revealed a new, astounding view.

Pulling away from the wharf

The waters were really calm early in the morning

We had a very knowledgeable guide who started to tell us about the area. He said that it rains there about 200 days a year, and that we were very lucky to be visiting on one of the few truly clear and sunny days of the year. Apparently rainy days have a silver lining in that when it rains, lots of additional waterfalls start running down the sides of the cliffs. On dry days there are fewer waterfalls, but they can be seen more clearly. Even though it was dry out, there were waterfalls ALL OVER the place! It was crazy!

Pretty falls

Sometimes the boat took us really close to the hills and we could see details in the rocks. Our guide said that there are lots of valuable minerals in the mountains, but luckily they're protected as part of the Fiordland National Park. No mining allowed!

New Zealand has cool rock formations!

Our guide also said that Milford Sound is inaccurately named. Both Milford Sound and its companion, Doubtful Sound, are in fact fjords, not sounds. Apparently New Zealand officials realized this later, and tried to fix the problem a bit by calling the whole area Fiordland National Park, but they used an uncommon spelling of fjord, so really they just kind of made things complicated.

If you look closely, you can see a rainbow about 2/3rds of the way up

When we got to some of the bigger falls, the boat driver would drive us right up under them so that some of the spray would hit the deck. The water was icy cold! Our guide said that some of the falls are higher than a 30 story building. That's bigger than our huge apartment tower!

Probably about 50 feet high

Trying to stay warm in about 4 layers of clothes!

Up close, the sound of the fall hitting the water was thundering

Milford Sound was carved out by a massive glacier during the last ice age, which has led to some interesting geographical features. In some places, large scars show where the glacier scraped along the rock as it moved. Due to the irregular shape of the glacier, there is great variation in the depth of the water in the sound. Other places show large cracks where water trickled down into crevices and then froze, pushing the rocks apart.

Moving glaciers do strange things to rocks!

Eventually the boat took us all the way out into the open Tasman Sea. After being hemmed in on all sides by steeply rising mountains, it was weird to suddenly be out in the middle of nothing. It felt a little desolate. But we were only out there for a few minutes as we turned around and headed back into the Sound. It's weird, when you're heading back from the open sea, it's hard to see how anyone ever found the place from the sea. It just looks like the water ends and the land begins right beyond the first couple of hills, but really the Sound extends for 15 kilometers!

Looking back from the Tasman Sea

Way more hidden at an angle. See the tiny boat on the right for perspective?

We hadn't had much wildlife luck on our way out. We'd spotted some pretty commonplace birds, but that was about it. As we headed back in, we got lucky right away with lots of fur seal sightings! It was exciting to watch them with some other people. We'd seen them a few times over the past few days, but some of the people on the cruise were ecstatic to be viewing them for the first time. We were excited too, because we'd never seen so many in one place! The guide said it was a group of young males.

A lazy band of bachelors

Lookin' proud

The seals had chosen a pretty cool hang-out spot, right next to another big waterfall. We tried to take a photo next to it but we kind of missed it. Instead we ended up with a photo where Bryan looks very nice and I look like a huge dork.

Makin' a serious fashion statement. My ears were cold!
Do you think Bryan's rethinking his proposal yet?!

The boat driver navigated into a small inlet, and we learned that our wildlife luck was still running strong. Our guide enthusiastically announced that there were penguins up ahead! We'd already seen yellow-eyed penguins and the adorable little blues, but we knew that neither of those penguins inhabit Milford Sound. Instead, they have the punkish fiordland crested penguins! Sure enough, there were three of them on the shore up ahead, with their yellow hair tufts sticking out conspicuously.

Hey! What are you lookin' at?!

The fiordland crested penguins live only on the west coast of New Zealand. They're not quite as endangered as the yellow-eyed penguins, but they're not exactly thriving either. Their conservation status is "vulnerable," and it's not likely to get better any time in the near future. Apparently these guys are very timid, so our boat kept its distance while everyone admired them in hushed whispers.

Their yellow feathers look like adorable penguin cowlicks

It was kind of hard to top such a cool find, so we didn't take as many pictures after we left the penguins. We were pretty near the wharf anyway. The cruise lasted over two hours, and I was the only fool to spend the entire time outside, freezing my buns off to catch every second of it. But it was totally worth it. Milford Sound is one of the most unreal places I've ever seen. It was fantastic.

One last waterfall. See the kayakers?

Touring the Sound was an experience of a lifetime, but after we got off the boat, we felt like we'd seen all the best parts, so we were ready to head out. We swung by the Blue Duck Cafe and picked up a couple of take-out sandwiches, ate them in the car, and got moving. Because we'd chosen the early cruise, we still had a lot of the day left, so we had plenty of time for stops. We pulled off at the Chasm Walk, which we'd missed the day before, when we were heading for the Lodge. We were instantly glad we'd stopped. Waiting for us in the parking lot were the infamous kea!!

The cheekiest bird I've ever met

Kea are another type of alpine parrot, and they have quite the reputation in New Zealand. The kea are troublesome in New Zealand for many of the same reasons that the macaques are troublesome in Singapore. The kea approach people to get access to human food, they perch on cars and chew on anything left out for them. They can cause substantial property damage with their sharp talons and beaks. And just like with the monkeys, people ignore the signs and feed the kea, which can be very bad for their health and can perpetuate their bad behavior. But despite their mischievous nature, they're very pretty, and a ton of fun to watch. There were three in the parking lot, and they definitely looked like they were interested in handouts.

After watching the birds for awhile, we started to follow the dauntingly named "CHASM TRAIL." The trail weaved along through a verdant forest for a few minutes, then emerged at one of the strangest geological formations I've ever encountered. It was a stream and a waterfall, cascading down very smooth, shiny rock that had obviously been worn away over a long period of time. The so-called "chasm" was very deep. We walked across it on a bridge, and it really gaped below us.

Photos don't communicate its gaping size

After some time spent gawking at the Chasm, we continued along the circular path back to the car. The kea were gone when we returned, so we moved on as well. We were again sidetracked by a viewpoint a couple of miles later, where we stopped and snapped some photos.

Snowy peaks

It was a smooth ride down the road to Te Anau. I took the wheel for most of the way. Bryan had been doing most of the driving and I wanted to give him a break and get acquainted with this whole left-side-of-the-road thing. It was a little weird, and the AVALANCHE WARNING signs were definitely a bit unnerving, but overall it was easier than I thought it would be. I noticed a few sharp intakes of breath from Bryan when I drifted a little far to my left, but I never accidentally found myself on the wrong side of the road or anything. We made a few more scenic detours before Te Anau. I was sad to be leaving such intense scenery behind, but I knew there was still great stuff ahead of us.

Our stop at Mirror Lakes was pretty neat. The lakes are named because they're so reflective that it's like looking at two mountain ranges instead of one. Unfortunately the wind was blowing a bit, so it was hard to capture the effect in a photo.

Mirror Lakes

Ducks hanging out on the lake

After we left Mirror Lakes, we got on the road for good. We were heading to Queenstown for the night, and we still had a ways to go. We drove straight on through, only stopping along the way for one more irresistible view. It was along a lake, and I couldn't resist a quick stop to run up and dip my fingers in the cool water. Besides, the view was excellent.

I don't know where we were, but it was worthy of a pit stop!

We were in Queenstown in no time. It's a big town, but it's very compact. After a quick drive around, we could see that it was a fun, young town with a laid-back, snowboarder/skier kind of vibe. It's the kind of place where you'd meet a lot of 45-year-old ski instructors who quit their 9-5 jobs because "that's just too mainstream, man." Anyway, town was a little congested with pedestrians and a little hard for us to navigate, so again we went toward the edge of town for a hotel. We ended up at the Alexis Motor Lodge in a cozy room with a great view. The friendly proprietor even let us borrow some DVD's off the shelf. Neat!

After getting settled in, we set off on foot to explore the town at a more leisurely pace. The place was full of hip little bars and restaurants, trendy clothing stores, and lots of winter apparel places. The best part of town was down by the shore of Lake Wakatipu. It was in the middle of town, but it felt more like a quad in the middle of a college campus. People were hanging out, drinking beer, listening to music, and playing hacky sack.

The local hang-out spot

Even the birds like it there!

Queenstown is a great place to wander aimlessly while you people-watch and window-shop, and we did that for a while before we started to get hungry. We decided to eat at Winnie's, a centrally located pizza place that smelled delicious even from a few doors down. We got seats on the second-story balcony, where we could continue scoping out the town while we ate. The view was nice from up there, and when we got our food, that pretty much sealed the deal. Winnie's is one of the best pizza places of all time.

The view from our tucked-away table at Winnie's

Hahaha....obviously we liked it! Try the skinny dips and breads...SO GOOD!

After dinner we went out in search of All Blacks t-shirts, but all we found were really expensive Adidas rugby jerseys. I did get really excited and started doing the haka in the store, but after I accidentally elbowed a man, Bryan decided maybe it was time to head home for the night. We swung by a grocery store and picked up some things we can't get in Singapore (black licorice for Bryan, cheap granola bars for me), then headed back to our place. Queenstown was fun to explore, but Milford Sound definitely took the cake for the day!

New Zealand Day Five: Catlins Wilderness

2011-10-29T10:39:00.000+08:00

You know something fabulous about waking up in New Zealand? Most of the hotels have electric blankets on the beds, so when you awake in the morning, it's like you're in a toasty cocoon. I used to have an electric blanket on my bed when I was young, so it just brings back all these warm and fuzzy memories for me...and it definitely does not motivate me to get out of bed. It was especially hard to get up on the fifth day, when it was cold and rainy outside, but somehow we managed.

That morning we got right on the road and left tiny Owaka behind. The Catlins Wilderness Area is full of trailheads that start right along the side of the road. We pulled off right away and followed a trail back to some waterfalls. It was drizzling, so we had the trail completely to ourselves. It was peaceful, plus the rain left everything bright green and smelling fresh.

A rainy morning walk in the woods

Matai Falls

The falls further up...with a branch in the way

I'd been flying high since we got engaged a few days before. New Zealand is already the destination of a lifetime, so I would have been excited just to be there, but combine THAT excitement with WE JUST GOT ENGAGED euphoria, and poor Bryan had his hands full, with me skipping up and down the path to the falls and making him look at my ring every five minutes (as though he'd never seen it before...). Well, he can't say he didn't know what he was getting himself into!

After our walk to the falls, we continued driving along until we got super hungry, realized we were in the middle of nowhere, and had to tough it out for a while until we came upon the excellently named Whistling Frog Cafe. In the meanwhile, the drive was beautiful enough to keep our minds off of being hungry (mostly).

Pretty even in the rain!

One of my favorite things about the food in New Zealand is that they seriously know how to do vegetarian food! In the US, the one vegetarian option on the menu is often something wimpy- a freezer-burned veggie burger with French fries, or some spaghetti with marinara sauce. Not in New Zealand - there, the vegetarian options were always creative, fresh, delicious, and nutritious. It was refreshing. One of the Whistling Frog's vegetarian options was thyme pancakes with a filling of silverbeet, mushrooms, pine nuts, and feta. I've never had silverbeet before, but I'll tell you what, at The Whistling Frog, it tastes awesome. Bryan said his quesadilla was pretty great too.

Yesssssssssssss

We'd planned on taking some more nature walks, but the rain got heavier while we ate lunch, so we decided to keep driving toward Fiordlands National Park. The drive was pretty uneventful for the next few hours, except that once the rain stopped, we pulled in at a small cemetery to look around a bit. We'd passed a lot of little graveyards, and many of them looked really old. Sure enough, when we poked around, some of the gravestones dated back to the 1800's.

A pretty spot for a cemetery

No more rain

One of the oldest tombstones

We decided to go ahead and try to drive all the way to Milford Sound so we could spend the night there. We stopped in Te Anau for gas, and the nice man working at the gas station let us use his phone to call ahead to the Milford Sound Lodge, where they said they still had a room and they'd be waiting for us. Great!

The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound takes about two hours and it's really beautiful. At first, it's pretty tame, with lots of sheep pastures and fields. We stopped along the way so I could gush over some little lambs while Bryan took photos.

Quite a backdrop for a pasture!

Looks like a pretty good life for these sheep

Did you just say "AWWW" out loud?! You should have.

Along the road from Te Anau to Milford is a place called the Wilderness Scientific Reserve. We pulled off there and took a walk. It was a strange area that seemed sort of mismatched with the rest of the surroundings. The reserve was a scrubland, full of short, scraggly pines and other small plants that called to mind New Mexico more than New Zealand. Apparently bog pines and cicadas are two of the most common things in the reserve. It doesn't sound too exciting, but it was a neat place.

Layers of color

Bright orange scrub plants

As we got further along the road, the scenery got more rugged. There were turnoffs all over the place, where you could get out of the car and enjoy the scenery. We pulled off at a few of them and enjoyed the crisp, clean air. Sometimes it's nice to get a lungful of something other than gross Singapore air.

Big mountains!

Foggy but still impressive

One of the turnoffs had a lake and a long, skinny wharf. We walked along it and reached down into the water. As expected, it was icy cold.

Snow-capped mountains beyond the lake

Chilly scenery

We definitely felt like we were in the middle of nowhere

The road was well-maintained, but we saw piles of rocks along the road at a few points. Then we saw this:

For 5 km Avalanche Zone. Well, that's one way to get people to stay alert!

I suppose the fact that I'm writing this blog post lets you know that we weren't squished by any giant boulders. But I did start paying more attention to the mountains around us. And when we drove through this tunnel, I think we were both a little tense!

Yes, we are driving into the side of that snow-covered mountain

The light at the end of the Homer Tunnel

On the other side of the tunnel, the scenery was even more intense, with high peaks rising all around us, with waterfalls cascading down the sides. As you probably know, The Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, and the scenery we passed was definitely looking more and more like Middle Earth. There were fewer turnoffs and the road was a little more twisty and tricky, so we didn't take many pictures of that part of our journey. But it wasn't much longer before we reached the Milford Sound Lodge. The accommodations were basic backpacker rooms - ours just had a bed with a nightstand, and we had to walk down the porch to a shared bathroom. But the lodge was so scenic and homey that it made up for the shared bathroom.

The cozy lodge. That's our room on the end!

OK, I'll be honest- I took that lovely picture the next day. By the time we got to the lodge it was raining again, so we didn't take any pictures that night. We just dumped all our stuff in our room, then drove the short distance to the Blue Duck Cafe. It was located right on Milford Sound, and the view was outstanding despite the rain. The Blue Duck has huge windows, so we got to enjoy the view while we ate dinner.

Milford Sound from the Blue Duck Cafe

The service at the Blue Duck wasn't so hot, but we couldn't complain much, because when we'd told the people at the Lodge we were going there, they'd given us coupons for two free drinks. So, hey, free beer and mediocre service. I'd say we came out ahead.

After dinner, we went back to the Lodge and hung out in the common room for awhile, playing Citadels and talking about travel plans. After our little taste of the sound, I was very excited about the next day's agenda, which included lots of exploration!

New Zealand Day Four: Happy Bird Day

2011-10-27T19:08:00.000+08:00

We learned something on our fourth day in New Zealand. The check-out time in all hotels ALL OVER New Zealand is 10 AM. We learned this at 10:30 AM when the manager of the Bella Vista Motel called our room, obviously straining to be polite, and asked us when we intended to check out. Oops.

Ten minutes later, Bryan and I sat in the car, frazzled and slightly disoriented from our whirlwind checkout. We decided to assuage our guilt by getting some breakfast and then heading to a wildlife sanctuary. We drove toward Orokonui Ecosanctuary and stopped at one of the only food places we saw along the way, which happened to be the oddly named Blueskin Cafe, attached to a garden center. It seemed like an odd place to eat breakfast, but as is the norm in New Zealand, they were serving everything up hot and fresh, and with a smile. I had a great omelette, and Bryan ate some more bacon as I sat there wondering how much bacon a man could consume in a week without getting sick. But bacon is not something that Singapore does well, so I knew he was loving it.

With full stomachs, we drove the weaving back roads to he ecosanctuary. It wasn't far, and we parked quickly and were walking around in the ecosanctuary in under ten minutes. It's an enclosed space, so there's an admission fee. It was established a few years ago as a space to rehabilitate local wildlife, and it's enclosed to keep out things like invasive rats and mice, but the birds can fly in and out freely. We didn't see much wildlife at first, but eventually we started hearing lots of chirping. We came to a feeding platform with LOTS of birds around. Some of them turned out to be pretty amazing.

Bellbird

Two bellbirds adorably sharing a drinkspout

The bellbird looks pretty nondescript at first, but then it starts singing. Its song is so lyrical and complex. Some people say it sounds like bells, but I don't really hear that (you can listen here). I thought they were called bellbirds because when they sing sometimes they kind of puff out, and they look a little bell-shaped.

Doesn't it kinda look like a bell?

Another bird was hanging around, making all sorts of bizarre robot sounds. We finally caught sight of the tui, which, in my opinion, sounds like it's seriously short-circuiting. But it's very pretty. Fun fact of the day: The tui is also known as a Parson bird because the little white tuft on its neck looks a lot like a priest collar! You'll thank me someday when you win Trivial Pursuit with that tidbit.

Tui, aka Parson bird

Also hanging around was the cute little silvereye. It's just so petite and adorable and nice. If the birds of New Zealand had a pageant, I think it would win Miss Congeniality.

Sweet little silvereye

OK, prepare yourself because I'm about to lay something awesome on you.

Did you know New Zealand has PARROTS?!

NEW ZEALAND HAS PARROTS!!!! Wild, native parrots! Isn't that cool?! I've always thought of parrots as something you see in the tropics, but NZ has several species of arctic parrots, and I think that is just super neat. Especially because we got to see some with our own eyes! The ones at Orokonui were called South Island kaka. Quite a name.

HOLY JEEZ! A WILD PARROT!

Is it funny that we live in the tropics and had to go halfway to Antarctica to see a wild parrot? I don't know. But it was really exciting. They're big and beautiful. They look like their feathers are a dark grey, but the longer you look, the more variety you notice- orange patches on the cheeks, red on the stomach, an iridescent blue on the wings. We saw several as we walked through the ecosanctuary, and every time it was thrilling to encounter such impressive creatures. Sadly, they're endangered. Doesn't that just make you want to run out and plant a tree?!

Thirsty parrot

It took us a long time to drag ourselves away from the feeding platform, but eventually we did, only to discover that there were several feeding platforms scattered about, mostly being frequented by the same types of birds we'd seen at the first one. It was very peaceful as we walked along the trails - we never saw any other people until we were heading back to our car. We made a pit-stop in the Visitor Center, where Bryan spotted a tank full of cool little frogs, which succeeded in sidetracking us for a few more minutes.

Cutie pie

We headed back to the car to get on the road for the day. Bryan and I really miss the freedom of hopping in the car whenever we want to go somewhere, so it was great to have that back again, if only for 11 days! That day we were heading toward the Catlins Wilderness Area, where we planned to spend the night. But half the fun of road trips is taking interesting turnoffs whenever they pop up, and that's just what we did that day when we saw signs for Nugget Point. After lots of bumping along over narrow dirt roads, we reached another turnoff for a penguin viewing area. Who can resist that? We stopped and walked along a very windy coastal path. The views were phenomenal, but it was a little vertigo-inducing to stand high on a windblown bluff, looking so far down into turbulent waters.

WOW...hey, do you see those little white dots? Guess what those are!

As we admired the view, another couple passed us on the path and told us to keep an eye out for three yellow-eyed penguins between us and the shore. Man, our penguin luck was just not running out!

Those white dots on the hill were penguins!

After some more penguin admiration, we hurried back to the car to get out of the wind, and then we drove up a steep hill and parked again. We couldn't see much of anything from the carpark, but as soon as we came around a bend in the path, the view was positively stunning. There was a lighthouse on a strip of land jutting out into the water, and waves were crashing onto the rocks below. It was breathtaking.

All kinds of awesome

This already amazing place had more surprises in store. To approach the lighthouse, we walked along the path that had a sheer drop down to the water on one side. As we looked over that edge, we saw some brown lumps that could only be fur seals. To make matters better, a posted sign informed us that the area is frequently used as a fur seal NURSERY! THERE WERE BABY SEALS DOWN THERE! Parrots and baby seals in one day! :::Cool wildlife overload:::

Can you spot two seal pups?! Hint: They're with their lumpy mamas

Up close, the lighthouse was a lot bigger than it had looked from afar. It was also a historical place- it's been around since 1870! Apparently it's fully automated now, but it was manned by a lighthouse keeper until the 1980's. That seems like a non-traditional career choice.

Trying not to get blown away

We walked around to the front of the lighthouse and the views from there were great. I could see why they'd installed a lighthouse there so long ago- the waters around us looked like they'd be awfully treacherous for a boat! The waves were big and choppy, and all over the place there were rocks sticking straight our of the surf. We could see shadows of more menacing rocks lurking just below the surface, looking like they were just waiting to punch a hole in a hull.

Rocks just beyond the lighthouse

Bryan at the Point

The sun was starting to set, and we didn't want to be stuck driving along those rugged dirt roads in the dark, so we hurried back down the trail back to our car. We continued our journey, and decided we'd stop for the night when we got to Owaka. But our adventure wasn't quite over for the day. As we whipped around a bend, both of us exclaimed at the same time, and Bryan slammed on the brakes. SHEEP! In the road! Right in front of us! Luckily Bryan stopped in plenty of time. I snapped away with my camera as a woman in a big car drove slowly along, kind of herding the sheep with her car. She waved at us apologetically, and when the sheep moved on, we did too.

Hey! You guys so do not have the right of way!

We managed to get the rest of the way to Owaka without any major sheep incidents. Owaka turned out to be a teeny town, so it wasn't hard for us to find a place to stay. We chose the reasonably priced Catlins Area Motel, which was more of a little apartment than just a hotel room, but even so it was cheaper than some of our other rooms. Plus the lady who runs the place is, like most New Zealanders, incredibly friendly. After chatting with her and dropping our stuff off, we went out to get some dinner. Despite the fact that it was only 7:30, almost every place was closed!! Small town stuff, right there! We did manage to find the cozy Catlins Cafe still open (kind of...the very kind person working said she was closing at 8, but would be happy to serve us!). I had low expectations for vegetarian food in such a small town, but she served me up some of the best vegetarian lasagna I've ever had (after my mom's, of course). It was full of pumpkin and spinach and pepitas. So. Good. Bryan's burger was pretty standard, but we were grateful to both leave with full stomachs before the whole town shut down! We spent the rest of the evening sipping hot chocolate and perusing the bird guides the hotel owner had loaned us. Another successful day in New Zealand!

New Zealand Day Three: Oamaru and Dunedin

2011-10-22T12:53:00.001+08:00

I woke up nice and early the day after our penguin adventure/proposal, thinking, of course, "HEY! We're engaged!!" Then I tended to some important business - calling my parents! I'd tried to call them the night before to tell them the good news, but I hadn't given much thought to the time difference so I ended up calling at around 5 AM and they didn't answer. This time I got through to my mom and made her cry with joy. It was a bummer that my dad wasn't around, but I knew my mom would tell everyone within minutes, so I let her go wild. Then we got ready for the day and reluctantly checked out of our awesome hotel room.

Oh hey! Have you seen my new BLING?!

We decided to revisit Bushy Beach, where we'd gotten engaged the day before. Some sheep greeted us when we parked the car.

GOOD MORNING, SHEEPS!!!!

Green pastures on a beautiful day

We had been at Bushy Beach in the evening the day before, and had hiked along a trail, but beach access is closed after 3 PM to give the penguins some privacy to come ashore. So we headed back to check out the beach!

Trail we walked the day before

To the beach!

It seemed strange to be on the beach in jeans and a sweatshirt. I guess we've grown used to Southeast Asia, where the only thing that ever keeps you out of the ocean is a thunderstorm. It was nice to be on the beach for once without feeling hot or worrying about sunburn.

Cliffs at the beach

Jagged rocks in the water

The beach was lively in the morning, with lots of little birds flitting around.

The dunnock, introduced to New Zealand in the 1800's and now thriving

Bird tracks in the sand

The variable oystercatcher. Some varieties are mottled, but this all-black variant is more common in the south

As we walked along the beach we noticed some hulking shapes back toward the brush...FUR SEALS!!!!!!! I've decided that these guys rank high on the list of the world's most unintentionally hilarious animals. The ones we saw on the beach were rolling around slowly and awkwardly, basking in the sunshine. They reminded me of big fat men who had just eaten way too much turkey at Thanksgiving dinner.

Because the fur seals are so cute and appear so harmless, it's often tempting for tourists to approach them very closely. However, it's important to remember that they're wild animals and you're intruding on their territory uninvited. Always give them a wide berth, and never block off their path to the sea- if they feel intimidated, that's where they'll want to run to make their escape.

Adorable tub of blubber

MMMMMMMM SUNSHINE

We moved on past the seals and ventured further along the beach, looking around for penguins and other wildlife. We heard a strange, loud scurrying sound and we both turned around to see a fur seal making a ridiculously awkward break for the water. With his big bottom and long flippers, he certainly didn't look very well adapted for running, but once he got going he could go pretty fast!

Having a bad day? Search YouTube for videos of seals running. For serious.

After I finished pointing and laughing, we continued down the beach, stopping periodically to admire great views and random birds.

It's hard not to fall in love with New Zealand

Common shorebirds, the great black-backed gulls

Just as I was deciding that Bushy Beach is one of my favorite places in the entire world, another sighting sealed the deal. Yellow-eyed penguins! We spotted three of them, up in the brush on the hill next to the beach. Some people come to New Zealand and never even see one of these guys, and here we were, spotting multiple ones two days in a row! After Bryan proposed next to these penguins, they'll always have a special place in my heart.

There are only about 4000 of these guys left in the wild.
Someone's keeping tabs on this one- see the band?

We'd headed to the reserve first thing that morning, and all the walking had made us hungry, so we decided to bid farewell to the birds, seals, and fluffy sheep, and head back into town for some grub. When we saw a big banner that said FOOD, we made a beeline for it. It turned out to be the cozy, historical Star & Garter Cafe.

Next to "quaint" in the dictionary, they should just put a picture of this place

So far the food in New Zealand had been seriously delicious. Everything always seems to be fresh, hot, and full of local produce. This meal was no exception. We dined on pork roast (for Bryan) and yummy vegetable quiche (for me).

Hearty lunches and postcards to our families

Once we were finished eating, we set out to explore the town on foot. Oamaru is a very historical town, with lots of well-preserved buildings, but it's also got a kind pf punkish/alternative vibe. The self-proclaimed "STEAMPUNK HQ" in the center of town is perhaps the most obvious indication of that. The punked out steam engine out front looks like something out of a Stephen King novel (in fact, the dark aspects of it made me think of Blaine the Mono from The Dark Towerseries). The building itself looked almost (but not quite) abandoned, with a big padlock on the front door. We poked around outside, where there was some other art in addition to the modified steam engine.

Steampunk HQ

The tricked out train lights up and makes sounds if you feed it a little money

Grisly conductor

Funky art installation

Next to the mysterious building was a path that led along a stream and through some small gardens. We followed the path and ended up in an old, forgotten train yard. Rusty trains and weathered buildings gave the area an old west feel.

Old grain store by the tracks

Doesn't an abandoned train seem like a great location for a haunted house?!

Creepy skull graffiti

We crossed out of the railyard, and popped out near a historical district called Harbour Street. In the US, historical districts like this one are usually really well preserved and are often populated by people in period dress doing things like dipping candles or darning wool. Harbour Street was a little different - it was still preserved, but in such a way that it still looked old, with crackling paint and faded store signs. The shops still sold the kinds of things they would have had in the 1800's (wool, secondhand books, breweries) but the people working in them were dressed normally. I liked the more casual approach- it seemed as though the historical district was well-preserved and the people in it were enthusiastic about their history, but it didn't come off as cheesy, the way women in hoop skirts dipping candles sometimes can.

Looking down Harbour Street

The stately Victorian Heritage Center

Weathered sign for a livery stable and forge

Fancy carriage

Loads of wool in storage

A somewhat sinister-looking jester

The best place in the historical district was Slightly Foxed Secondhand Books. It had everything a used bookstore should have: creaking wood floors, that musty old book smell, sagging shelves overpacked with books, and lots of nooks and crannies. It even had an exquisitely hand-painted Alice in Wonderland playhouse under the stairs for the little ones. We hung out in the nature section for quite a while, leafing through well-thumbed New Zealand bird guides, trying to identify some of the wildlife we'd already seen.

I ♥ Old Bookstores

I could've stayed in the bookstore all day, but it seemed like we should probably get on the road to Dunedin, where we planned to spend the night. So we tore ourselves away and weaved our way out of wonderful Oamaru. The drive along the Otago coast is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and it wasn't long before we got sidetracked by some signs pointing the way to the Moeraki Boulders. We followed the signs and parked the car at a sandy trailhead. Aftter a short walk along the beach, we found the incredibly bizarre, perfectly spherical, oddly placed boulders.

It looks like aliens dropped them here

Some of them are huge!

Boulders in the shallows

A broken boulder, covered in what looks like dried glue

The tide was coming in and strong winds were blowing off the ocean, so we decided to follow a sign up some wooden stairs to a cafe. While we sipped our Flat Whites, we read over some of the posted information about the boulders. I still don't fully understand the geological processes that led to these perfectly round rocks on the sandy beach, but I did learn that the glue-like stuff is mostly calcite, which does function as a sort of adhesive to hold the pieces of rock together. Pretty neat. I like rocks. Not as much as baby penguins, but they're still pretty cool.

We also learned that there are two entrances to the Moeraki Boulders- the free Department of Conservation entrance where we'd come from, and another, commercial entrance through a gift shop and cafe, where they ask you to pay $2 per person to go down to the boulders. So if you ever find yourself on your way to the Moeraki Boulders, be sure to follow the (much smaller) DoC signs.

After our boulder adventure, we got back on the road. But it wasn't long before we were diverted again, this time by some signs for a lookout called Shag Point. We turned off the main road, parked on the designated patch of dirt, and walked around, taking in the gorgeous views.

Rocky Shag Point

It was chilly, especially for those of us accustomed to the tropics!!

Bryan handles the cold more gracefully than me

There were great views of the water, and of a small island full of shag (the bird for which the point was named), but I was more excited about the abandoned building I'd spied back a ways, down a hill.

View of the dilapidated building from the top of the hill

Of course we made a beeline for the building. It was in its own scenic little nook, and on the rocky cliffs nearby, we spotted several lazy seals, lounging in the sunshine.

Lovely view from the old building

Much to Bryan's chagrin, I climbed over some piles of rubble to peer through some broken, rusty sheeting into the building. There was really neat stuff inside!! Best of all, there was an abandoned boat!! Who would desert such a cool treasure?!

If you look closely, you can see that someone before us wrote "BRYAN" in the thick dust of the boat's cabin. Cute!

There were lots of birds circling the rocky cliffs, including lots and lots of these guys:

A silver gull! Very common along the sea.

For the third time, we figured we should get back on the road to Dunedin. So we said goodbye to beautiful Shag Point and got back on the road.

Can we just live here?!

This time we managed to make it all the way to our destination without any distractions. We drove straight into the middle of Dunedin but we were a little daunted by all the traffic and the lack of parking, so we turned around, drove back to the outskirts, where we checked into the Bella Vista Motel. After dumping our stuff in the room, we headed out on foot. The town was easier to navigate without a car. We walked to Velvet Burger, where we had an excellent dinner. I know you won't hear a vegetarian singing the praises of a burger joint very often, but the place was great- they made, hands-down, the BEST vegetarian burger I've ever had, with some seriously good sauce, and Bryan really liked his meaty meal too. We went next door to The Bog Irish pub, where we washed our dinners down with a couple of Mac's. It was so cozy to sip cold beers by a roaring fire. We had had a long day, so we called it a day early and headed back to the hotel, where we drank New Zealand wine and watched Piranha. Piranha is one of those movies that's so bad that it's fun to laugh at, so after some serious movie mocking, we finally went to sleep.

New Zealand Day Two: The Best Day

2011-10-14T16:05:00.000+08:00

Our second day in New Zealand started with a little confusion. It turned out it was Daylight Savings Time! We don't have it in Singapore, so we hadn't given it a second thought. So...oops, we checked out of our hotel a wee bit late. But that's OK! Because then we went back to Sophies and had an awesome breakfast. Vegetarian breakfast burrito?! YES PLEASE. Bryan was also happy with his big plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

SO GOOD!!!!!

After breakfast we hit the road and started driving along the gorgeously scenic East Coast. It was nice to get out of the city and start experiencing the country side. A couple of things became apparent right away. One is that there are a lot of sheep in New Zealand. Like...seriously, a lot. The other was that there were a lot of confusing road signs. Even though things looked confusing, the driving wasn't so bad. As long as Bryan remembered to stay left, things were OK. Traffic circles were a little disorienting but other than that, we were all good.

At one of many, many sheep farms

Bryan the driving master

Ummm...what?!

You know what else they have in New Zealand that I missed from the US? Weird roadside stuff! Like this giant fish!

Big weird fish in Rakaia, NZ

Our destination for the day was Oamaru, only about 3 hours from Christchurch. Since we knew we had plenty of time, when in started to rain we made a pit stop in Timaru at a pub called the Jolly Potter. It was pretty deserted in the middle of the day, but it was a cool little place and I was glad we stopped. They had some local brews on tap, including a tasty one called Tui, so we sipped on those while Bryan watched the Rugby World Cup and I flipped through a stack of NZ food magazines they had sitting around (I'm guessing they were there for when guys bring their girlfriends to sports bars, hahaha). There was also pottery lining the walls of all the bar, apparently all made by local artisans.

By the time we left the pub it had stopped raining, so we had a nice view of our surroundings as we drove along. In addition to sheep, the countryside is full of beautiful churches that I did my best to photograph as we whizzed by.

Pretty church #1

Pretty church #2, complete with windshield sticker

It wasn't long before we were pulling into Oamaru. It was SUCH a cute little town; I couldn't wait to explore it. But for now we drove right on through to the other side, following the signs for the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. Bryan and I were both absolutely ecstatic about the possibility of seeing penguins in the wild. We'd never seen them in their natural habitat before, and we thought it would be pretty great. Plus, the little blue penguins are the smallest penguin species in the WORLD, making them extra adorable. They're called little blues!!! So cute!

We found the place easily, and bought tickets to get into a closed area at night to watch the little blues swim back ashore after feeding out in the sea. We also walked around their little conservation area with penguin nesting boxes. There was a barn where you could look down a bunch of pipes into some occupied nest boxes. A few of the boxes were full - some by lone penguins, others by penguin couples, and one by a mama penguin incubating some eggs. It was soooo cool to see them. They were SO LITTLE, they all looked like babies, even the adults! It was great.

Cozy penguin nesting box

There were chubby rabbits hopping all around the nesting boxes. One of the workers at the viewing area told us with an eye roll than the rabbits were not native and had been introduced to the South Island by British settlers. The rabbits, as rabbits are wont to do, bred like crazy and became considered a pest. Pesky they may be, but they sure are cute!

Bunny tail!

Itchy face

After spending an inordinate amount of time cooing over the penguins in the nesting boxes (no photos allowed, so a not to disturb the birds), Bryan and I walked over to the rocky beach. We were looking out into the water, hoping for a glimpse of a whale or dolphin, when Bryan spotted some movement up on the beach. A FUR SEAL! We hurried closer to admire him. He was huge and blubbery, and kept yawning and stretching his neck out. It was hilarious to watch him.

FUR SEAL! Is it just me, or does he look very suspicious?!

Flipper! With weird fingernails!

On my list of favorite things = ANIMALS YAWNING

As you can tell, we got pretty excited about the fur seal, and Bryan spent a long time photographing it while I stood by squealing "It's SO CUTE!" every time it moved. After a while, we took an interest in the blocked-off path behind us. We asked the guide why it was blocked, and he said we could go ahead and follow it awhile "at our own risk." So we did!

The path led right along the water, providing loads of jaw-dropping panoramic views. Seabirds were flying all around, some of them dropping down to the sea for fish, others perching along the rocky shores.

Spotted shag. I think they look like they just woke up! Bedheads.

Admiring the seascape

We hiked a ways along the trail but decided to turn around before it got dark. As it turned out, we had no concept of when it gets dark in New Zealand so we ended up back where we started in plenty of time. The people at the Visitor Center said we still had plenty of time before the little blues started coming ashore, but that there was a place nearby where the larger yellow-eyed penguins might be coming in for the night. So we hopped in the car and drove to the Bushy Beach Scenic Area, about 5 minutes away.

We parked the car on a dirt road next to some sheep and started down a narrow path. The place was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. To the left of us were rolling green hills covered with grazing sheep and fluffy little lambs. To our right, the Pacific Ocean crashed ashore next to tall, rocky cliffs. Between us and the ocean was some low vegetation and a sandy beach, and, upon closer inspection, some yellow-eyed penguins!!

Sheep at twilight

The yellow-eyed penguin, the world's second rarest penguin

We followed the path along to a viewing hide and hunkered inside, away from the wind.

Bryan enthusiastically pointing out wildlife

We didn't linger in the hide long, since we couldn't see any penguins from that vantage point. As we were walking back along the path, I stopped at a particularly scenic lookout spot. "This is such a great place," I said. I heard Bryan rummaging around behind me, but didn't pay much attention, figuring he was switching lenses on the camera. But when I turned around, he was holding a beautiful engagement ring and there were tears in his eyes. "Do you think it would be a good place to give you this?" he asked. I'm not quite clear on the next few minutes. I didn't put the ring on right away. I was too busy jumping up and down, then hugging Bryan and crying. Eventually he said "Is that a yes?" and I said "OF COURSE, YES, YES!!!!!!!" and finally remembered to put the ring on.

Engagement spot! Could we have asked for a more amazing view?!

Fiances!!!

Happy girl : )

MY RING! I love it!

I was so happy. Bryan said he'd had the ring since his last trip to the US in June (he got it at Lord's Jewelers in Montana) and it had been hiding in the TV stand ever since, with me walking past it EVERY DAY. He was just waiting for the right moment, and I'd say he picked the most perfect time. We were doing something we loved together - hiking outside in a foreign country, looking for wildlife. And there were PENGUINS! Who could ask for more?!

Needless to say, we were both flying high after our experience at Bushy Beach. We hurried back down the trail (I may have actually skipped at one point) and got back in the car to go see some more penguins. We arrived back at the Penguin Colony just in time to get some hot cocoa before the little blues (also adorably known as FAIRY PENGUINS) started coming ashore. Somehow I managed to refrain shouting "WE JUST GOT ENGAGED!" at everyone we saw, but I held it in, wanting to make sure that my mom was the first person that got to hear the news, not some random girl serving me hot chocolate. We curled up on the bleachers and watched the cutest penguins I've ever seen start surfing onto the beach, then waddling hurriedly to their nest boxes. There was a photography ban since the penguin colony has had problems in the past with people refusing to turn off the flash on the cameras.

We had a great time watching the penguins come in, group after group. Altogether there were about 70 penguins that came in that night, and more that were already up in the nest boxes and came out to greet their returning mates. Hilariously, the rabbits that we'd seen earlier didn't budge an inch, and the penguins and the rabbits often came within inches of each other without seeming to take notice of one another. About an hour later, after we'd watched all the penguins swim in, we got back in the car and drove about 10 yards before we noticed that there were penguins outside the penguin colony (and thus outside the photography ban). Taking special care to make sure our flash was turned off, we snapped a few shots.

Little blues, making a run for it

As we sat watching the little guys, one ran straight for our car...and then straight underneath it. Ummm...did we seriously have a penguin under our car? What do you even do about that? They totally don't put penguin extraction techniques in the Lonely Planet guidebook. We sat there awhile, while I kept watch on my side, waiting for him to pop out. And pop out he did! All of a sudden I saw a little penguin head poke out right under my door! Then he twisted his neck around, saw my face, and inched right back under the car. Oops. Eventually he wiggled out and waddled off on his own.

After the penguins had started to settle down for the night, we drove back into town and checked in at a nicer-than-usual hotel, the Kingsgate Brydone.

Bryan in our swanky hotel room

We didn't stick around long in our awesome hotel room. It was late, and we hadn't had dinner. We were hoping to have a nice meal as an engagement celebration. We asked at the front desk where we could get some food and the concierge looked doubtful. She said that given that was after 9 PM, we might not have much luck except at...McDonald's. As it turned out, we didn't have to stoop that low. A pub called Fat Sally's was still open, so instead of a fancy meal, I ate cajun potato wedges and Bryan ate nachos while we both sipped beers and watched rugby. And it didn't matter what we were eating. I think I was too excited to taste it anyway. I went to bed that night with a smile on my face, thinking

WE'RE ENGAGED!!!

New Zealand Day One: The Adventure Begins

2011-10-10T22:58:00.000+08:00

Didn't I tell you we had something big planned? We went to New Zealand! For 10 days! It was awesome! I hope you're excited to hear all about it, because you're about to get 10 straight blog posts, all about New Zealand!

As usual, we headed straight out after work on a Friday. Bryan and I have grown used to flying budget airlines like Jetstar and Air Asia, but this time the cheapest tickets just so happened to be through the illustrious Singapore Airlines. First, a disclaimer: they're not paying me to say this. Now: Singapore Airlines is the most awesome airline of all time. They're SO NICE, they give you a silky pillow and a real, fluffy blanket, not one of those weird paper towel blankets you get on United Airlines. The food is legitimately good, and they feed you about 10 times. The seats are comfortable and more spacious than other airlines; the flight attendants are all beautiful; the movie selection is great; the magazine has a good crossword puzzle; the entertainment systems let you play old-school Nintendo (seriously); and best of all, they give you all the free Singapore Slings you want. And they do it all with a smile. So our flight their was great. We did the crossword, played Super Mario Brothers, watched movies, and sipped Singapore Slings in style.

The direct flight from Singapore to Christchurch was about 10 hours long, and with the 4 hour time difference, we arrived at about 9 AM local time. We picked up a rental car from Omega Rental Cars, and Bryan got behind the wheel for his first try at driving on the left side of the road, in the seat that we usually think of as the passenger seat. We'd been in the car for about 3 minutes when we started hearing horns blaring all around us. Oh no! We both looked around frantically. Had we forgotten to stay left?! Had we already broken some unknown traffic law?! We quickly realized the problem wasn't us. We were on the correct side of a one-way road. Across a big grassy median was another two lanes, going the opposite direction. In that lane, we spotted the culprit: an SUV full of young Asian women, driving the wrong direction!!! Cars on both sides were honking their horns, and we slowed down to allow them to cross the median at a turning area. They drove past it. Oh geez. I was watching them and they were...giving me the thumbs-up?!?! WHY?! This was not a thumbs-up situation! We slowed again to allow them over at the next turning spot, and this time they came over, laughing and giving thumbs-up and A-OK signs all the while. Crazy.

Stay LEFT (crazy wrong-way drivers not pictured)

After all that driving excitement, we were eager to pull into a hotel and get settled. We went for the Ashford Motor Lodge, largely because it was one of the first places we encountered. It was a little early, so we went to get some coffee while they prepared our room. We walked across the street to quirky Sophies Cafe, where we got coffee with unfamiliar names - a Flat White for me, and a Long Black for Bryan. Both were tasty, especially after a long night on an airplane.

We're wearing warm clothes! Yay!!

Funky Sophies

After coffee, we checked into our spacious room. Despite all the caffeine we'd just consumed, we ended up crashing for a few hours. When we got up, we were energized and ready to explore. We started out by walking down a few of the streets around the hotel. Christchurch was devastated by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in February of this year. The quake killed over 180 people, and was responsible for billions of dollars of damage, much of which was concentrated in downtown Christchurch. The people of the city have obviously done a lot to rebuild, but seven months after the disaster, the city center remains off-limits behind barricades, as efforts continue to demolish unstable buildings and restore those that can still be fixed. Aftershocks (one occurring as recently as September 2) complicate rebuilding efforts. One local told us that 400 buildings have been demolished on the South Island since the quake, and as many still need to come down.

Knox Church, at the intersection near our hotel. Seriously damaged in the earthquake, but still standing.

Throughout the city, spray paint marked dangerous spots and indicated where buildings had been checked and cleared, to make sure there were no people still inside.

Broken window on an unstable building

Among the more official spray paint were some artistic interpretations.

Unusual street art

After winding our way through the damaged streets a while, we made it to our destination - the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. We came in sort of along the back way, off of a somewhat random path. Even so, it was lovely, with a calm stream full of ducks, big willow trees, and dainty cherry blossoms.

Botanic Garden stream

Grandmother Willow?! Man, I love these trees.

Pretty PINK cherry blossoms!

Bryan with the cheery cherry trees

There were regular mallard ducks in New Zealand, but also an unusual duck with an all-white head that I'd never seen before. Apparently it's called a paradise shelduck and it's endemic to New Zealand. I think they're very elegant!

Female paradise duck. Only the females have white heads.

Male paradise duck. Not quite as unique as their female counterparts.

New Zealand has a very uncommon ecology. They have hardly any native land mammals, but over time some mammals (such as rabbits and possums) have been introduced from places like Australia and the UK. Some introduced mammals have thrived in the absence of any serious predators, so now New Zealand does maintain some mammal populations. However, bird life is really where New Zealand thrives. In the absence of land mammals, birds evolved to fill all sorts of niches, and there are birds there that aren't seen anywhere else in the world. As with the mammals, there are also a lot of birds there that were introduced from elsewhere. The botanical garden was our first introduction to local birds, and it was fun seeing a lot of them for the first time.

The non-native chaffinch

Song thrush

Common blackbird

Silvereye (aka wax-eye) in a cherry tree

It was early spring in New Zealand, so a lot of the flowers were just beginning to bloom, and the trees were starting to fill out. We stopped by the rose garden, but it appeared to still be mostly hibernating. Even in its somewhat barren state, it was still lovely and peaceful.

The only ones in the rose garden

Dainty spring blossoms

So pretty

A perfect daffodil

After the rose garden, we headed over to the so-called New Zealand garden, which was full of local flora. Ironically, one of the first things we saw in the NZ garden was a mother mallard duck with her ducklings. Mallards are considered an invasive species in New Zealand.

Mama mallard and ducklings

IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!

There were some interesting flowers in the NZ garden, but I couldn't identify them.

Growing right out of a rock crevice

It was so nice to stroll around the gardens in mild, even chilly, weather. We're so used to stepping outside and being immediately drenched in sweat. It was like a dream to walk around comfortably in a hooded sweatshirt. People don't know how lucky they are to have 50 degree weather!! Eventually we left the garden and headed back through the city toward our hotel. On our way out we saw a neat photo exhibition along the street.

Extensive, nature-heavy photo exhibition on the street

It was strange walking through the city. Parts of it, like the area around the photo exhibition, are totally pristine, and then a block later the earthquake damage is evident.

Freshly reinforced historical building

Christ's College. The peak of the building is crumbled in front of the door.

Serious damage at the college, but on its way to repair.

Damage got more and more severe the closer you got to the city center, which is still completely inaccessible, and blocked by fences. Walking near there was eerie, kind of like stepping into an apocalypse movie.

Eerily still and quiet

The clock tower was still prominent and beautiful, even though it looked a little unstable.

Christchurch Clock Tower

All the walking through the city and gardens had worked up our appetites, so we weaved our way over to Spagalimi's (Spag's for short), a restaurant we'd passed a few times. As we got closer, we were lured in by the smell of garlic, and I was super glad we ended up stopping there for dinner. Our pizza was amazing, and we got to try a couple of local beers that they had on tap. We also got a taste of some quality service, which is always a nice change after Singapore's truly abysmal restaurant service. The restaurant started really clearing out around 7 and the waitress told us we'd better hurry if we were going to catch the All Blacks game!

When we were planning our trip to New Zealand, some friends of ours told us that our trip would overlap with the Rugby World Cup. Bryan and I aren't too interested in rugby and since our trip would be over before the semi-finals and finals started up, and most of the games would be on the North Island (which we were skipping), we figured it wouldn't really matter much. Anyway, after the waitress mentioned it, we figured we would grab some local beers from the store, then go back to our hotel room to watch the New Zealand rugby team (the All Blacks), just to see what the hype was all about.

It was awesome. Rugby is SO FUN to watch! Especially the All Blacks! They're amazing! We had a great time watching them and as soon as the game was over, we were wondering when we'd get to see them play again!

Go All Blacks!!!

A Guided Walk at Sungei Buloh

2011-09-20T22:10:00.000+08:00

Bryan and I have been to Sungei Buloh quite a few times now, and we always enjoy it. We've taught ourselves a lot about the nature of Singapore, but when an opportunity came along to go on a guided walk at the wetland reserve, we thought it might be a chance to learn something new, so we took it. The walk was organized through the National Population and Talent Division. The agency organizes events for foreigners living in Singapore, and sometimes we get kind of random things from them. We got invited on this nature walk, and they also sent Bryan a $5 Starbucks gift card in the mail for no apparent reason.

We met everyone else who signed up bright and early on a Saturday morning. Then the organizers gave us free notebooks, little motorized fans, and sandwiches in big plastic containers. It was a nice gesture, but I feel like every time I go to an organized, supposedly environmentally-friendly event around here, I get handed a bunch of plastic crap I don't need. It's kind of counter to the intended message. Anyway, once everyone was all signed in, we loaded onto a big private bus and had a smooth ride up to the reserve.

As soon as we got there, guess what I spotted just inside the visitor center?!?! BATS! Lesser dog-faced fruit bats, to be exact. Two of them, hanging upside down from the roof beams. The NParks attendant at the front counter said they just kept sticking around after all the other bats left. Aren't they neat?! I know bats are associated with creepy things, but I think they're amazing. I mean, seriously, echolocation is sweet. You just wish you could do it.

Also known as the short-nosed or common fruit bat.
(Insert cheesy vampire joke here).

When we were done craning our necks to ogle the bats, we met our guides, who coincidentally were from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, where I just went last week! Our busload split into two groups, and our guide spent some time telling us a lot of stuff that we already knew about Singaporean nature. Bryan entertained himself by taking pictures of some little tadpoles we found nearby.

BABY FROGS!

Pretty soon our group set off on the mangrove boardwalk just next to the Visitor Center. As we walked along, our guide told us about some of the plants we were passing. I don't know as much about Singapore's flora as I do about its fauna, so I was enthusiastic to learn. For example, did you know that the fish-tail palm is covered in little needle-like spines that can cause reactions if you touch it? But if handled properly, it can be tapped for its sap! Just don't rub yourself all over it.

Fish tail palm

Our knowledgeable guide

Crabs were all over the place, especially tree-climbing crabs. We stopped a couple of times to admire spots where a whole bunch of crabs had congregated together.

Crab party!

Way more happening crab party!

Tree-climbing crab

About 15 minutes into our walk, Bryan had a great sighting. A SNAKE! In the water! It was a dog-faced water snake (our second "dog-faced" sighting of the day!). We'd seen this type of snake one other time, also at Sungei Buloh, and Bryan had been the one to spot it then too. I think he has superpowers when it comes to seeing snakes in the water.

This snake's diet consists mostly of fish

As our group stood, peering over the edge of the boardwalk at the water snake, another guided walk came by. Their guide told our guide there was another snake up ahead. We moved on, and before long, we found it! It was another species that Bryan and I have seen at Sungei Buloh in the past (actually, on the same day we saw the dog-faced water snake). The snake was a mangrove pit viper, which is, in my opinion, one of the most awesome snakes in all of Singapore. They have RED EYES and they're venomous and aggressive, but tend to be less active during the day. This one looked like it was probably still a juvenile.

Mangrove pit vipers are also called shore pit vipers

I was interested in what our guide had to say about the plants around us, but it was all a little more dull after the excitement of seeing two snakes in one day. Anyway, she introduced us to the fish poison tree. Apparently Malay fishermen used to use the fruits of the tree to poison fish in the water. The fish would float to the top, and the fishermen would collect them up. Makes fishing sound a lot easier than what my dad showed me how to do, which involved hooks, hot dogs, and a LOT of waiting!

The fruit of the fish poison tree

We also saw these really funky roots, which I thought looked like something out of a Salvador Dali painting.

Trippy mangrove roots

Picturesque canopy

Another plant also had unique fruits, but I don't think they had any poisonous properties. It's kind of like a star, but I guess "starfruit" was taken.

Star-shaped fruit

We also saw some insects, but unfortunately I'm no good at identifying them. I liked this bright red one though!

Cool bug. I guess it's obvious I'm not an entomologist!

Of course, no trip to Sungei Buloh is complete without the mighty water monitor! We saw plenty, and our guide informed us of something I didn't know. These guys are poisonous! Apparently their bite is mildly poisonous, which is problematic for smaller animals (although if they're in the jaws of a water monitor, I'm guessing their day is pretty much ruined anyway), but isn't too threatening to humans. I had no idea.

The water monitor should be the official mascot of Singapore's wetlands.

So, a two-snake day at Sungei Buloh. Not bad! And if you have an opportunity to take a guided nature walk at any of the reserves in Singapore, I recommend taking it. You might not cover a lot of ground (we sure didn't go very far), but you'll probably learn something!

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research

2011-09-09T23:08:00.000+08:00

I've been dying to go to the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. Maybe that's a nerdy thing to say, but it's true. It's a whole museum devoted to one of my most keen interests- nature and wildlife in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the opening hours are incredibly inconvenient: from 9-5 Monday-Friday, in the middle of when I have to work. But since I'll be switching jobs soon (back to NTU to work with the monkeys!) and have some vacation days to use up, I went ahead and took a Monday off for my museum trip.

The museum is located at NUS, which is right near Bryan's work, so I met him for lunch at Fusionopolis then took the bus to the campus. It turned out to be super easy to get there from the bus stop (there are signs to lead the way), and I was there in no time. The museum is up on the third floor of the Biology building, and admission is free. Hooray!

The museum was cool and quiet. I was the only person there in the middle of the day. At first it was really cool, but after a while, I'll admit that the dim lighting and animal carcasses gave me a little case of the willies. I felt like I was in Night at the Museum.

Cool! But also kind of freaky... a sun bear, a dhole, some kind of goat thing, a leathery turtle,
a tiger, a leopard, a pangolin, a water monitor, and a wild pig

I took it slow around the small one-room museum. There were lots of preserved specimens, many of them from Singapore's earlier days. Some of the specimens were labeled as from the 1890's or early 1900's. Many of the animals had been collected in Singapore, while others were animals that were native to S'pore but the specimens had been collected elsewhere. A lot of the animals that were listed as native were ones that I've never seen here, but would love to get lucky enough to spot.

Oriental small-clawed otter, currently endangered in S'pore

Dugong skull, collected off the coast of S'pore

A HUGE Asian softshell turtle

A rather rabid-looking specimen of the greater mousedeer

The animal I'm most keen to see in Singapore is the banded leaf monkey. They're the only type of monkey other than the macaque that still exists here. My super monkey researcher buddy Andie Ang studied them and found that there are more still living here than the 30 that were estimated to still be surviving. Way to go, Andie!

The rare banded leaf monkey

I would also very much enjoy seeing the pangolin. They're still around the island here and there, but apparently they're pretty elusive. They kind of kick butt. A lot of people mistakenly think that they're reptiles because they appear to be covered in scales, but the scales are actually made up of fused together fur. Pretty cool, huh?

One of the country's stranger residents

The pigs were interesting. Bryan and I have seen them in the wild at Pulau Ubin, but I didn't know much about them. Information posted at the museum said that the pigs were thought to be locally extinct, but they repopulated Singapore when some individuals found their way across the Johor Straits. They're now common not only on Pulau Ubin, but on the main island too, including in the Central Nature Reserves.

Wild piglets

I had known that tigers once ran wild in Singapore, and several times have heard AR Wallace's quote that Singaporean tigers were responsible for killing approximately "a Chinaman a day." However, I never knew that leopards were also local in the early 1900's, although, due to their secretive nature, they were not seen nearly as frequently as the more conspicuous tigers. While a lot of the specimens looked a little freaky or weird, the leopard had maintained its beauty even post-mortem.

Beautiful and intimidating

The Raffles Museum has chosen the common palm civet as their mascot. The plaque next to the mascot said "This animal was chosen because it is one of the few large native species in Singapore that is capable of thriving in man-made environments." That may be true, but what about the long-tailed macaque?! They're the masters of thriving in man-made environments!! If I was choosing a personal mascot, I would choose the macaque. They're resilient, adaptable, fun-loving, cute, and super smart. Civets are cool too, but I'm a macaque girl all the way.

RMBR mascot

Are you ready for something seriously creepy? Prepare yourself, because when you close your eyes to go to sleep tonight, this image may haunt you. I admit, I was all alone in that museum and when I saw this guy I started having all sorts of frantic thoughts about zombified monkeys, thirsty for human blood. It freaked me out, and I'm pretty sure this specimen could have starred in the movie Blood Monkey.

AHHH! Seriously. What. The. Heck.

Creepy specimen, compared with what a real live macaque actually looks like. Very little resemblance.

In the middle of the museum was a display of Southeast Asian animals that live outside of Singapore. There was a sweet little family of proboscis monkeys from Borneo. They were cool, but, much like the detached rhino head in the corner, it made me sad to think about how all these dead animals had met their demise (even though many of them had been dead for about a century).


Less creepy monkey specimens

A Sumatran rhino, missing a rather significant proportion of himself

I love these weird guys!! A juvenile tapir.

After spending an inordinate amount of time ogling Southeast Asia's interesting mammals, I moved on to inspect some of the local specimens of birds, fish, and reptiles.

King cobra...another one I've never seen! Maybe that's lucky!

Keeled rat snake

Black & red broadbill in front, green broadbills in back

That's a LOT of dead birds!

Massive orange-spotted grouper

It was pretty neat to see the crabs. I've had trouble identifying some of the ones that we've seen in mangrove areas and along the beach, and there they all were, laid out neatly with orderly labels under each one. Perfect!

Coolest name = Dana's Eyes-Wide-Apart Crab

Coolest crab is definitely the hairy crab!!!

You know what else was pretty fascinating? The collection of insects! We'd seen some of them before, most memorably the giant forest scorpion (Pulau Ubin), the giant millipede (Bukit Timah), and the atlas moth (Sungei Buloh). Have you heard that the atlas moths wing tips supposedly look like snake heads in order to ward off predators? Look closely and you'll see the similarity.

BUGS!!!!!!!!

Despite scaring myself silly by thinking about all the animals coming to life and attacking, I really enjoyed my time at the museum. I highly recommend checking it out for yourself. If you're a nature buff I'm sure you'll love it and even if you're not, you don't have much to lose - admission is free!

Singapore Books: Singapore Biodiversity

2011-09-03T08:15:00.001+08:00

When I got back from my long trip to the US, Bryan had a surprise awaiting me - a GIANT book! The 10-pound monster was the recently published Singapore Biodiversity: An Encyclopedia of the Natural Environment and Sustainable Development. The book has a number of contributors, with much of the content provided by the editors: Peter K.L. Ng, Richard T. Corlett, and Hugh T.W. Tan. I was thrilled to see that such a comprehensive book had been published on a topic that I've come to care so much about. Perusal of the book further impressed me - it's chockablock with fantastic color photos of Singapore's flora and fauna, full of interesting factoids about wildlife and natural history, and sprinkled with useful maps. If you're looking to find out something about Singapore's nature or wildlife, this is the place to look.

Now, I don't want to undermine my own praise of the book - the huge project was clearly a herculean effort, but I do have a criticism. Singapore's most visible non-human animal, the long-tailed macaque, was definitely given short shrift in this book. While the elusive and uncommon banded leaf monkey got a photo on the cover and a special one-page write-up, the long-tailed macaque just got a standard entry in the encyclopedia section. To make matters worse, some of the information provided is actually incorrect, for example the statement that "It lives in social groups of up to about 30 individuals." It's true that 30 is a reasonable size for a macaque group, but here in Singapore, there are many known groups larger than that, including the highly visible Hindhede monkeys, a group of about 60 that always hangs out at the Bukit Timah Visitor Centre, and another group of at least 60 at MacRitchie. I think it's a shame that this huge book so obviously undervalued the long-tailed macaque. Singapore already treats the common monkey as a pest instead of an integral part of an eco-system. This book could have done something to help their reputation, but instead it glossed over one of the only large mammals remaining in the country as though they don't matter. I found that very disappointing.

Despite my misgivings about the coverage of macaques, the Singapore Biodiversity encyclopedia is still an invaluable resource for anyone interested in nature in Singapore, and I highly recommend it. However, if you're interested in learning more about long-tailed macaques, I direct you instead to this article about Singapore's long-tailed macaques, or this primate factsheet about long-tailed macaques in Asia in general.

Dairy Farm Nature Park

2011-08-30T13:29:00.001+08:00

Nope, Bryan and I have not yet run out of new nature places to visit in Singapore. This weekend we headed to Dairy Farm Nature Park. As its name implies, Dairy Farm hasn't always been a pristine nature area. Previously a farm (duh), it was opened in 2009 as a nature area that serves as a green buffer for Bukit Timah, the largest remaining patch of primary rainforest in Singapore.

Trails at Dairy Farm and Bukit Timah

I didn't really know what to expect of the new nature park. Because it's opened somewhat recently, I thought it might have an overly manicured feel, but its connection to BTNR made me think that it might have been populated by neat wildlife that had made its way over from the more mature forest. I was pleasantly surprised- Dairy Farm had nice trails and was much less crowded than more popular Bukit Timah, which was a good change of pace. Unfortunately one of the park's highlights, the Singapore Quarry, is closed for landscaping until September 10th. Instead of going that way, we headed the other direction, toward the Wallace Education Centre. There were lots of pretty plants along the way, some of which we'd never seen before.

Spiky!

Creamsicle-colored flowers

Looks like a pineapple!

Iridescent morning glories

We took a side path called the Wallace Trail, which had intermittent sign posts with information about Alfred Russell Wallace, a naturalist and contemporary of Darwin. Wallace was a bit overshadowed by Darwin, but made many important contributions to natural science himself. He also made a trip to Southeast Asia, where he stopped off in Singapore and braved the tiger-ridden jungle to catalog the species he found here. Apparently while here he also developed a deep and abiding love for the durian. Scientists are a pretty strange bunch.

When we came out the end of Wallace Trail, we found...(drum roll please)...AN ABANDONED BUILDING!!! YAY!!! The building looked pretty rickety and unstable, which is probably why NParks had taken the precaution of roping it off and posting an intimidating sign. It was also the only abandoned building I've ever seen with a beautifully maintained garden.

I just wanna fix it up and move in!

Front of the building

Back of the building...maybe a chicken shed?

The garden outside the house was full of blooming, vibrant flowers, chirping birds, and colorful butterflies.

(I think...) A female brown-throated sunbird

Fuzzy purple plant

Pink dragonfly!

After exploring the abandoned building as well as we could without breaking any laws, we moved on to the Wallace Education Centre. The Centre is an old cowshed that was converted to an educational facility when the nature park was opened. It had lots of info about Wallace himself, but more importantly, it had giant replicas of cows!

Yay cows! Made us Midwestern kids feel right at home. Also, the cow is kind of an honorary mascot of my alma mater.

When we walked outside, we saw a bunch of people standing around, staring into the bushes. We went over to see what they were looking at and saw...holy crap!!! A lizard eating another lizard!! It was pretty creepy- the little one struggled for a few minutes before finally being conquered, then the big lizard just gulped the little one down in a few huge gulps until all that was left was a tail sticking out of his mouth. Ick.

Ahhhh! Weird! The big one is a young water monitor and the unfortunate little one is a changeable lizard.

Once we'd been thoroughly eked out by the reptile predation, we moved on. We decided to go ahead and make the hike over to Bukit Timah by taking the Dairy Farm Loop to the North View Path, then the Rengas Path to the Main Road. As we walked along Dairy Farm Loop, we got another bonus. Another abandoned building! This one looked like it had probably served as a bathroom at one point, but had long since been left behind. It's not every day you get to see two abandoned buildings, especially in endlessly progressing Singapore!

Lots of moss and a little graffiti give it character

Inside the little building we saw lots of rogue vegetation, loads of bugs, and one cute little lizard. I think it was a flying dragon, but it seemed like an unusual place for one. Usually we only see them on tree trunks.

Flying dragon hiding out

As we went along the trail turned into mostly steps, going up up, and up some more. We hadn't realized that the trails that we chose would involve so much climbing, but it made sense considering their proximity to the Bukit Timah summit (the highest point in Singapore). We trudged onward and were rewarded a few times for our efforts.

Fat green larva

Archduke butterfly, identified with the help of Butterfly Circle

Once we finally huffed and puffed up all the stairs and made it to the Main Road, we started going down again. When we got to the bottom of the steep hill, we decided to just keep walking and go across the street to get something refreshing to drink. But on our way out we ran into the Hindhede monkeys, hanging out outside of the Mont Timah condos. We stopped and watched them for awhile, romping and playing in the trees. We were especially entertained by Kurt (one of the big males) who chased Keira (one of the adult females) all over the place. He was trying to mate with her, but was unsuccessful, because she kept running away. Finally he gave up and stubbornly ignored her while she fear-grinned and lip-smacked in the tree next to him.

Keira and Kurt, sitting in a tree...

So we ended our day on a high note by hanging out with the monkeys. If you're looking for something new to do in Singapore, go check out Dairy Farm (but maybe wait a week or two until the quarry is open). It was nice to see a different place, and to hang out at an uncrowded nature park. The hike over to Bukit Timah was fun too - just make a day of it!

Home Sweet Home

2011-08-21T17:07:00.000+08:00

Some of you may have noticed that the blog has been a bit stagnant over the past couple of months. My apologies for the irregularity of the posts - Bryan and I both traveled to the US separately, first Bryan for two weeks in June, then me for three weeks in July and August. The traveling has meant that we haven't had much time for adventuring together, and Bryan wasn't around to take photos, then I wasn't around to write. Anyway, we're both back now and we have something big planned for next month, so I'll try to start posting regularly again.

Since we haven't been doing much in Southeast Asia, I thought it might be interesting to share a bit of what it's like for Bryan and me when we go back to the US. Bryan's family lives in Montana, land of big sky, massive mountains, and abundant wildlife. I love visiting there with him, but I haven't been back since we moved to Singapore two years ago. When he was back in June he had a chance to go camping with some buddies, and he took some pretty amazing photos.

Outrageously gorgeous rainbow near Ronan, Montana

Twin Lakes, Montana

A pretty western tanager, in Montana

An American-sized portion of one of the things we miss most- Mexican food!

As you can probably tell, Montana is truly a beautiful, wild place. I love it there and I'm excited to move back to the US so that it will be easier for me to visit there with Bryan from time to time. It's pretty great that we get to go there to see his family, with the added bonus of all the amazing nature.

Usually when I go back to the US, I just head straight for Ohio, where my family lives, but this time was a little different. I had to attend a conference in Washington DC for a week before heading home. It was interesting to be plopped down in the patriotic capital of America after so long overseas. I always feel a surge of love for the US when I go back - sure, it has its problems (loads, actually), but it will always be my home. I suppose that's why, when the TSA agent stamped my passport and said "Welcome home," I got a little teary-eyed.

My mom was super awesome and took the Amtrak down from Ohio to hang out with me in DC for the week. She also brought a family friend of ours, and we spent the evenings sightseeing, enjoying DC's food, and taking in Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center. It was pretty great.

The White House, complete with snipers on the roof!

Capitol Building...pardon the photography, I took this from a moving vehicle

Honest Abe

Washington Monument at night

When our time in DC was up, I took the Amtrak with my mom and her friend back to Ohio to see the rest of my family. The taxi ride to the train station was the first time my mom and her friend had ever been in a taxi!

Union Station, where our train departed

The ride was scenic and included lots of abandoned buildings like this one.

We got to Ohio in the middle of the night. It was nice to be back without suffering from extreme jet lag like I usually am. I spent the next two weeks hanging out with family and friends, eating at my favorite restaurants (El Rincon, Pizza Oven, Bombay Sitar, on and on), enjoying my mom's home-cooking, splashing around with my niece and nephew at Wildwater Kingdom, and just generally basking in the joy of a hot American summer (hot by American standards, anyway...nothing compared to S'pore).

I also happened to be home for the biggest week of the year in my hometown of Canton: the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival. This meant that I got to join in some of the festivities, including watching the Timken Grand Parade with my niece and my brother, who thoroughly enjoyed making fun of me as I failed to recognize any of the famous football players parading by us (he almost fell out of his chair when I mistook Emmitt Smith for a lucky employee who was chosen to ride on a float).

A float modeled after a bridge in Canton


As my niece informed me with ear-piercing shrieks, THIS IS ABBY CADABBY!!!!

That's Emmitt Smith in the bowl of candy. I didn't get a good photo b/c
I thought he was just a guy who worked for Hershey's!

Pigskin, super-cute mascot
of the Stark County Visitors' Bureau

I also took advantage of my time in Ohio to stock up on some of the things that we really miss in Singapore. Some of the things we bring back because they aren't available at all in S'pore, and others we bring because they're available in the US at a fraction of the cost. A sampling of what was in my suitcase on my flight back:

Smart Start cereal (Singapore ~ $8 USD a box, US about $4 USD a box)
Kraft mac and cheese spirals
An assortment of nuts from Ben Heggy's, because they're insanely delicious
Old-fashioned black licorice for Bryan
Big containers of Italian spices
A huge bottle of Tabasco sauce (cheaper in the US)
Salsa, anything but Tostito's
Grape jelly. Seriously, S'pore has EVERY KIND of jelly (black currant, coconut, strawberry, blackberry, etc.) EXCEPT grape.
Ziploc steamer bags
Almond butter (also from Heggy's)
Cans of refried beans
Used books- Bryan and I like to have a stock of non-library books for traveling, and used bookstores in the US are much more abundant and much cheaper than in S'pore

Bryan and I are moving back to the US next summer, and we can't WAIT to have all of these things and more available to us all the time. But for now, we'll enjoy all the food I squirreled away in my suitcase, and look forward to stocking up again at Christmas!