new photos

Here are photos from the southern half of Vietnam....
My South-East Asia adventure has come to an end; tonight I fly back to Australia to figure out what comes next and Tomer will continue his trip in Asia before going home to Israel. Enjoy the photos and Chag Sameach again to those doing Passover...

photos....

Click here for photos from Southern Laos...

Warning: Longest Blog Entry Ever Because It Hasn't Been Updated in Almost a Month

So I haven’t written on this thingy in a really long time….In an attempt to catch up, I’ve copied and pasted bits of emails that I’ve sent in the last month to describe where I’ve been. Forgive the horrendous typing, and read until you get bored…..Love Mara

March 12—Chiang Mai, Thailand
“…..i have SO many mosquito bites....i guess i should start wearing deet....:( SO here i am in chiang mai! today i was actually supposed to go help out at this school that the ngo i contacted is refurbishing but i oculdn't find it. the woman told me what street it was on but i couldn't find anything. i asked this old dude who turns out to be an old hippie from chicago if he knew where it was, so he pointed out their building (locked) and told me the place is run by aging hippies like himself. oh, aging hippies. Anyhoos, thats kind of sad so i'm just writing an email to her to maybe meet up again? hm.
so anyways, despite my awkward antisocial tendencies, i actually made friends yesterday. the first two days i was here i actually didn't want to talk to anyone, i was really enjoying being alone. then yesterday, i was like, okay i'm bored. there were two north american dudes about my age eating at the guesthouse, so i went up to them and was just like, mind if i join you? they turned out to be from right outside toronto so we had stuff to talk about, then two female friends of theirs randomly showed up at the guesthouse. so i persuaded the two boys to come to a museum with me, and the four of us went out to a bar last night. arent you proud of me? i'm proud of myself for talking to strangers.”

(Note: I never managed to get in touch with the woman, I scheduled a visit to volunteer at a dog shelter outside Chiang Mai, but the day before I burnt my leg when I brushed up against a still hot motorbike exhaust pipe. It turned into a pus bubble and I didn’t want to risk infection by being around dogs....so in the end I never actually volunteered! But being on my own was enough an experience, I always thought I would hate traveling alone but I learned that I can totally do it and it’s even enjoyable.)

March 21—Bangkok, Thailand
“i'm back at the red sons inn, cozy, air-conditioned and with rubber sheets. I took the night bus from chiang mai into bangkok on thursday night and when we got to bangkok, they dropped us off a few streets over from ko san road and tried to trick us poor sleepy backpackers that we were kilometers away and we'd have to take a tuk tuk. I almost did, but i met this hippie girl who went to nyu and now lives in la, and she knew where we were and we walked, then we split a room to crash in….”

(The next day I met up with the two Israelis that I did the Great Ocean Road Trip with in Melbourne. David headed off north to Chiang Mai with some other Israelis and Tomer became my new travel buddy for my last few weeks in Asia.)

March 31—Pakse, Laos
“it's me! i'm in pakse at the moment, in southern laos. so the update: after a few days in bangkok hanging on khao san, eating at the israeli restaurant, and seeing ayutthaya, tomer and i headed for the border and crossed into laos. we spent a couple of nights in pakse and did a tour of this area then we spent two nights in the four thousand islands, on one of the islands that seems popular with the tourists. its still quite undeveloped, i think outside of pakse, which is a proper town, this is the most rural and least developed place i have ever been too. the island has no electricity, save for some generators to refrigerate food, and we got a bungalow that had generator power from 6-10 pm. so no fan, no air-con. yikes. i never realized what a westernized lady i was....it would have been fun if it werent sweltering hot. we went swimming in the mekong to cool off and i was trying to avoid putting my face in the water in a perhaps misguided attempt to avoid any water parasites that i'm scared of...but then discovered that the shower water was pumped directly from the river anyways so it didn't matter. We rented bicycles one day and biked to a waterfall, all in all it was really nice but almost unbearably hot and humid.”

April 2—Hue, Vietnam
“…then we took a bus from pakse across the border into vietnam. we went for the local bus option because we wanted to go at ni9ght, and the local bus i took in laos the first time wasn't too bad. that, however was only four hours. the bus to vietnam was like a 17 hour ordeal with women transporting baby birds, abouta thousand pounds of rice stuffed in sacks under every seat, random hour long stops that seemed to serve no purpose other than to let the bus driver watch an episode of who wants to be a millionaire at a roadside restaurant......mostly it wasn't too bad, but tomer realized after we arrived in the city of hue that someone on the bus had stolen his camera and cellphone....bad news. but we survived, and i'm currently in hue right now, it's a lovely city. tomorrow we'll head south and seder will be in ho chi minh city.”

So now April 7, Today! I’m in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and we’ve been making our way south. In Hue, (pronounced Hoo-way) we went to see the citadel, where it used to be the royal center of Vietnam. I really loved it, I mentioned before the architecture and art in Vietnam is so different from the rest of Southeast Asia, because of their historical closeness with China. We also saw a pagoda and a tomb of one of the former emperors, all with beautiful architecture. From Hue we went to my favorite city so far—Hoi An. Sigh…. Hoi An. So lovely. Hoi An is well known amongst tourists because it was in its time a major trading port and its status as a World Heritage site has kept the old part of the city intact; the style is a mixture of Vietnamese/Chinese old homes and French colonial architecture. At night, the whole place is lit up with tons of Chinese lanterns, and it’s seriously magical. Hoi An is also famous for their tailors, you can’t walk two feet without someone trying to entice you into their shop. I bought a winter peacoat and pair of nice black pants from a very convincing woman named Emma…I love her. I spent a day exploring some of the sites in the old town on my own (apparently not everyone is excited by a place called “the museum of trade ceramics”) and it cemented my love of Hoi An. Now we’re in Nha Trang, a beach town where we took a tour boat out to the islands off the coast today, with sunburn to prove it; tonight we take the night bus to Saigon. Time flies….

Photos from Laos

Click here.

Now where the hell is she?

So it's been almost an entire month since I've written anything on this blog...that's nuts. I just updated my journal today which was exactly a month behind. So I'm here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a city in the northern part of the country. Its been a busy few weeks, with a double dose of Laurens, so I don't even know where to begin....

The last time I wrote anything I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We stayed in a super swanky guesthouse that came with the tour, but unfortunately it was in the middle of nowhere. Lauren and I ventured out for dinner with our guidebook handy to point out the Khmer language version of the sentence "I'm a vegetarian." Unfortunately, this was met with much laughter, and we ended up eating at a strange casino recommended by some Aussies at the guesthouse. We moved into the backpacker neighborhood and spent one sleepless night plagued by weird noises in the wall that sounded something like a duck might sound like if it were coming to kill you....So we upgraded to a guesthouse near the river with no killer animals. Phnom Penh is a strange city...its very poor (as is the rest of the country) and it has a strange mix of elements. On the one hand, there are wonderful cultural institutions to visit, like the National Museum and the Royal Palace; on the other, most tourists come to view the Killing Fields, sight of most of the Pol Pot regime's executions, and Tuol Sleng, the high school that was converted into a prison for the same regime. We viewed both of the latter in one day which was incredibly overwhelming, not only for what happened, but the fact that I knew so little about what happened. It was a terrible awakening and one that I still haven't really come to terms with. In Cambodia, their history is evident everywhere. The genocide was so recent, and there likely isn't a person anywhere who isn't affected by what happened. Around 1/4 of the entire population was lost and Cambodia is now stuck trying to rebuild itself amid crushing poverty and the trauma of its people. The regime ended in 1979 but it's estimated it will take several generations to recover. Being there, especially in the Killing Fields and seeing children begging and landmine victims--the tangible remnants of the regime--has made me reevalute my place as a tourist in this part of the world. I felt a bit strange before, but even more so now. I'm not sure how to reconcile my desire to see more of the world without contributing something to the places I visit other than tourist dollars. I feel guilt at having so much but haven't yet figured out how to turn the guilt into something productive. And I'm not even sure I'm explaining myself properly, but these are the beginnings of the thoughts....

From Phnom Penh we traveled north to Siem Reap, site of a much prouder period in Cambodian history: Angkor Wat and the temples surrounding it. We were able to meet up with Lauren Clarke, our English buddy we met in NZ. She was meant to meet us in Phnom Penh but sprained her ankle in Bangkok! But she was a major trooper and managed not only to get to Siem Reap but spend 3 days exploring temples with a bad foot. Angkor Wat is the most famous of the temples, which were built in the period of roughly 800's-1400's. We saw it the first day and the second day we saw the Bayon, built by the last of the major Angkor kings; I thought it was amazing, and you can see the pictures I've already put up. I'm afraid I'll butcher the historical information, so if you want more you can check it out here. We also ate at a restaurant that is rumoured to be owned by Angelina Jolie (she filmed parts of the Tomb Raider movies in Angkor) but I think she maybe just visited it. Cambodia had really good food...amazing coconut veggie curry and a dish called amok--fish wrapped in banana leaves and steamed with coconut milk. Yum.

So on from Siem Reap we took a bus to Bangkok (it was a loooooong day of waiting at borders) and were there for two nights. We had heard it's easier to enter Laos from Thailand, and it gave Lauren K a chance to see Bangkok, when we weren't originally planning to go. Bangkok is a crazy city, so busy. It was nice to enjoy some of the finer things in life that Thailand has to offer...like 7/11. Then we took another overnight bus to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Vientiane is a sleepy little city, not anything you would imagine a capital to be. We tried to find a restaurant listed in our book that was a bit of a walk, but couldn't find it (I have a habit of insisting on going to places that turn out to be closed or non-existant) and we ended up at a vegetarian restaurant in a residential area, where no one spoke english and they gave us a menu made up of pictures. We each picked a dish, then were told there were only two available. So we picked again and the guy indicated we should all pick the same thing, presumably to make the cooking easier. It was a kind of soup that looked like it had chunks of pork in it, though the restaurant's English sign said vegetarian. It turned out to be the most convincing fake meat I've ever had and was delicious. The next day we saw That Luang, a giant gold temple of sorts that is the national symbol of Laos, it was pretty cool. We intended to take a night bus that night up to the town of Luang Prabang, but then it was cancelled for unknown reasons. The woman who sold us the ticket offered to put us up in her guesthouse for free that night, which seemed a nice offer until we went to sleep in the sketchy dorms on bunkbeds paranoid about bedbugs. And not to mention there was a fellow traveller who kept us up all night with his screaming. Actual screams, like of horror. At first I nearly pooped myself, but I think he just had night terrors. Well, hopefully he had night terrors and wasn't slowly being murdered or something. I'll never know.

Phew....I'll keep going....Luang Prabang is a beautiful little town high in the mountains (the bus ride there is rather nauseating). Its a World Heritage site and is sometimes described as the most beautiful city in Asia. I can't be sure of that, but it was lovely. One day we did a little trek through the countryside to see Kuang Si waterfall, a major attraction that is pretty beautiful. There is also a small bear sanctuary there that takes in bears that were being traded illegally. Luang Prabang also had a amazing night market that we visited, well, every night. On March 2, Lauren K left for Vientiane to start her long trip home; Lauren C and I went down through Vang Vieng to go tubing on the Nam Song river. And play with puppies and a kitten. They find me, I swear! Then we took a another rough bus ride back to Vientiane (a little Lao girl vomited on my foot) and our last night together. The next day I headed for Chiang Mai, and Lauren went down to Bangkok, where she is leaving for the UK tonight.

So now it's just meeeee....alooooone. Well, only for a little while. I'll be going back to Bangkok as well in 10 days to meet up with the Israelis. For now I'm actually enjoying being alone and finding lots to do in Chiang Mai, and looking for some volunteer work if I can. So thats where I am and whats going on! Sorry for the failure to write for so long....Lots and lots of love from Thailand....

Mara

vietnam photos

are here.......

No, seriously, Where's Mara???

She's in Cambodia! Lauren and I just spent a week in and around Saigon, Vietnam (or Ho Chi Minh City if you want to be official about it). We left Darwin, Aus. on February the 6th, and yesterday we arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Saigon was a nutty city, so busy, with a total population of 8 million people, and 6 million motorbikes. Needless to say, crossing the streets (I think we saw maybe two traffic lights) was a death defying stunt. The locals just walk right across but tourists aren't used to it. They can usually be spotted holding hands, running and dodging and loudly squealing. (Okay, that was me.) We saw some of the main sites, the Reunification Palace which has had several different names, this one marking the reunification of North and South Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, the main man. My knowledge of the Vietnam War (or, the American war as they call it locally) is shockingly inadequate, so I learned a lot, yet I feel I only scratched the surface of both the history and the country itself. The War Remnants Museum was particularly moving, it had loads of photographs of the war and its victims, and information on people who are still feeling the effects today from the use of chemical defoliants. The museum opened in 1975 as "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam". They changed the name once Vietnam and the Us normalized relations, however they don't attempt to be unbiased and it's been really interesting to hear the story of the war told by the other side. Beyond all the learning, mostly we did a lot of eating. Vietnamese food is amazing and cheap. I don't think I ever had a meal that wasn't delicious, and the best part of being in Asia foodwise is fresh fruit smoothies....mmmm.

After a few days in HCMC we hopped a tour to the Mekong Delta, the heart of Vietnam's rice production, and slept in a town along the Mekong. The next morning we saw the floating village nearby, which is made up of wooden and corrugated iron houses out on the lake. Many people live in them because they can't afford to buy property on land and so live on the water and make their living by raising fish. The rest of the day was spent on a series of boats and buses, making our way to the Cambodian border, and then onto Phnom Penh, the capital. Its also very busy here, lots of motorbikes and tuk-tuks, but the architecture is different. Because Vietnam was ruled by China for so long, the aesthetic is very Chinese, in the decorations and traditions. Cambodia was historically more under the influence of India and China, and there are more elaborate Thai-style temples here. So that's the news from here, I'll update again soon and post some photos once I remember to bring my camera cord with me. Today we saw about 5 monkeys hanging out on the telephone lines, then they came down and were eating food off the street. One of them found a half empty soda bottle, unscrewed it and dranak the rest of it! These monkeys were street savvy. And cute. And probably rabid, so I kept my distance, don't worry. I took lots of photos. Anyways, lots of love from Asia!

Mara

photos (i always forget the link...)

Photos from the outback here....

Red Dirt and lots of Flies..aka the Outback

Hello from Darwin! Check your maps, I'm all the way at the top of Australia in the capital city of the Northern Territory. After Melbourne, Lauren and I took a somewhat ill-fated train/bus combo to Adelaide (the bus left us behind, but we made it) and then straight to the airport to hop a flight to Alice Springs. Alice is right in the middle of Australia and where most people end up if they want to see Uluru (known as Ayer's Rock to the Europeans who ignored the fact that it already had an aboriginal name, like most things in Australia). The town got its start as a repeating station on the north-south telegraph line in the late 1800's. There's a lot of interesting history to check out in Alice Springs, but unfortunately I didn't get to see any of it on my one free day there, we'll get into why later....

We booked a three day trip out to see Uluru, Kata Tjuta (also known as the Olgas) and King's Canyon so we left bright and early the day after arriving in Alice. It took quite a long time to drive out there (another one of those things that reminds you of just how huge Australia is, I thought Uluru was like down the road from Alice Springs but it's really 460 kms away) and we made a few stops along the way. There's not much out there but trees and lots and lots of red dust. We arrived in our bush camp in Yulara in the afternoon and visited the cultural center in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, mostly for the air-conditioning. Then we drove to the prescribed "sunset viewing platform" to watch duh, the sunset. I had, and still have really mixed feelings about visiting Uluru. It's essentially a really big rock in the middle of the desert (you can read about it here) but it's a very sacred place for its Aboriginal caretakers, the Anangu people. It was finally recognized as an Aboriginal site in the 1970's after lengthy litigation and the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. But before that it was incorporated as a national park and has become a huge tourist attraction and one of the most iconic Australian images. The Anangu people ask that tourists don't climb the rock as it's seen as very disrespectful, yet thousands climb it and snap millions of photos. There are marked signs on the track that runs along the base of the rock indicating where pictures shouldn't be taken because of the sensitive cultural meaning of the site, but I think actually they would prefer that no photos were taken. The Anangu believe that taking a photo takes away a piece of the spirit of the place.

I feel strange and uncomfortable taking part in tourism that explicitly goes against the wishes of local people, but I also see Uluru (Ayer's Rock) as a kind of symbol for how Australia deals with its indigenous people. I won't get into a history lesson, but comparisons can be drawn to the treatment of Native Americans by the European settlers of America. A lot has changed in the last half-century, Aboriginals have begun winning a lot of their land back (though sometimes the court cases last a lifetime or longer), and full citizenship rights were given to them in the 60s (though that seems shockingly late to me). However, Aborigines struggle to join mainstream Australian society and racism is still a powerful part of life. What gets me especially is how much Aboriginal imagery and tradition is co-opted for the purposes of tourism and marketing. When one thinks of Australia in an abstract way, what comes to mind are didgeridoos, boomerangs and images of Aboriginal tribes in the desert. But in reality, they are a largely invisible and marginalized people, in the context of contemporary Australian society. Uluru is just another "Aboriginal thing" that can be used to exoticize Australia and lure tourists. Its kind of just another form of colonialism, no longer using the indigienous people for our own means, but instead their culture.

Anyways, those were some of the thoughts I was having while we did the walk around Uluru shortly after sunset. When I wasn't thinking about how long it might take me to die by being exposed to the strong outback sun for too long. It would get up in the high 30's (celsius) at only around 9 in the morning, and wouldn't cool down again until well after sunset. My Eastern European genes were seriously being challenged! After Uluru we drove out to the King's Canyon region and set up camp for the night. Both nights we slept in swags, a kind of cross between a tent and sleeping bag. The sunset at camp was stunning. Did I mention though that both mornings we woke up around 5? The third day of the tour we hiked Kings Canyon, which I enjoyed much more than Uluru, the scenery is incredible. Everything in the center is so colorful in a way I hadn't expected, the red dirt, rich orange rock contrasted with a clear blue sky. And more trees than I expected, since it had rained a lot recently. There is a famous Australian Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira who is worth looking into, he was famous for his watercolors of the center landscapes. King's Canyon has a permanent water source caused by impermeable rock that collects the rainwater, it makes a lush green area they call the Garden of Eden.

After Kings Canyon we headed back for Alice Springs, which took most of the day. I'm not sure I've ever been so sweaty for such a continous amount of time...I highly recommend a vist to the outback, just maybe not in the middle of Australian summer! The next day back in Alice, Lauren and I booked a visit with a local clinic to make sure we got everything we needed for Asia, like vaccinations and malaria pills. It turns out that typhoid vaccines only last 3 years so I had to get another one....and I almost had a full-on Mara episode! It was kind of rushed and I was still really tired from the tour; the shot really hurt and was stinging afterwards. Bad conditions.....oh dear, I almost barfed/passed out and had to be monitored by the nurse for around 45 minutes with an ice pack on my arm and my head. Oops! That pretty much took up the whole day, hence I didn't do anything in Alice. Lauren was a very patient and helpful friend and waited with me, then we had to kind of rush to get to the train on time. We took the train from Alice Springs up to Darwin (23 hours) with a 3 hour stopover in Katherine to explore and sweat profusely. The train is called the Ghan, like Afghan--named after the Afghan "cameleers" who helped blaze trails into the interior of Australia. The track starts in Adelaide and goes up to Alice Springs, and the section from Alice Springs to Darwin (over 2000 kms) was only completed in 2004. It was actually really fun and the scenery is pretty great.

Now we're in Darwin, and flying out to Vietnam on February 6th. Mom, if you read this today, call me again, we're leaving a day later than I orginally told you! Lots of love from me and the live cholera vaccine I just injested,

Mara

new photos

here are the photos from Melbourne...

oooh! that sun is melbourne-ing! no? i tried to come up with a pun. it didn't work.

Hello!!! So right now I'm in Alice Springs, but I spent the last two weeks in Melbourne. What did I do?? Museums! Some other stuff too, but Melbourne is a major center for arts and culture, so obviously I was a little overwhelmed. Lauren and I spent the first weekend with a family we contacted through Lauren's sister, then we moved into the city. Unbeknownst to us, the Australia Open (tennis championship) started right when we arrived so everything was booked solid! We spent one night in a lovely hostel but then had to spent one hilarious evening in a dodgy hostel because of the booking situation. It was like a backpacker factory, the kind we usually try to avoid. Because there were so many people looking for a place to stay in Melbourne, I think there were a lot of traveller's crashing there illegally so we had to share one bed together or sleep on the street! And we paid $15 each for the privilege! But no worries, as they say, it was more funny than anything else, and then we got back into the good hostel, "the Nunnery" which had a very funny faux religious theme and a cat named St. Francis.

I visited as many nerdy Mara places as I could: the National gallery, the Ian Potter Center for Australian Art, the Australia Center for the Moving Image, the Koorie cultural heritage center, the immigration museum, the melbourne museum...oh! and a gallery showing artwork by a two year old. Melbourne was an awesome city, and I even got to check out the Australian Open one day, you can get a pass to see most matches except the really famous ones. I settled for watching Serena Williams on tv. We met some cool fellow Yankees at our hostel (LA and Seattle)and ended up going to this really funny event called the "Bye Bye Bush Ball" in South melbourne, it turned out to be organized by this group Democrats Abroad. It was the Friday following the inaugeration and was a mix of students and older ex-pats all looking to party down in the name of Obama. There was lots of disco music and Americans letting loose--so much so that there was a conga lina at one point, I almost died! We also spent a ridiculous amount of time negotiating visas and whatnot for our journey further north into south east asia, we had some problems because of an embassy being closed for Chinese New Year, but I think we've worked it all out.

We also went to see the Great Ocean Road with some Israeli friends that we met in Queenstown, NZ, which was very fun. the Road is kind of like the Australian equivalent of the Pacific Coast Highway, its very beautiful. It was really nice to hop in a car for once and not take the bus, especially with Israelis that know how to cook! Then we flew from Adelaide to Alice Springs, and here I am now. Tomorrow morning we head out for a three day tour out to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and other highlights of the desert around Alice Springs. I'm a little concerned I'll die of heat....Must go out and restock the sunscreen supply. Thats all for now, lots of the Love from the OUTBACK.....

Mara

i'm leaving on a jet plane....across the tasman sea

Hello again! So another time has come to a close....we're leaving New Zealand and heading back to Australia. Melbourne specifically. The plan is to spend about a week in Melbourne, then go straight up the middle to see the outback, and a flight is booked on Feb. 5th into Vietnam. I think it's been 6 weeks in New Zealand total, and I have to say, I really love it here. New Zealand is just so incredibly beautiful, I feel like I just can't describe it properly! I've had a great time in this country, and I'm contemplating coming back after Asia to use my work permit. So tomorrow (well, today really, it's 2 am here) we'll be flying out from Christchurch. The last week has been interesting, I spent a few days on my own checking out the college town of Dunedin and then got back on the Stray bus with a hop off in the town of Twizel. From there I took a shuttle with a few people to Mt Cook Village. Mt Cook is New Zealand's highest mountain, and a particularly treacherous one for climbers. We only took a hike around the bottom of it, don't worry! It was amazing scenery. I stayed 2 nights and then got the bus onward to Christchurch. There are some new photos on FB here.

By the way, the title of the albums from New Zealand are lines from the tv show Flight of the Conchords, about two Kiwi guys in a band trying to make it in New York....it's an awesome show. I only mention this because Mom asked "who told you you could be a part-time model??" The answer: no one. It's from the show. But thanks for thinking I could be a part-time model...Mom.

The next time you hear from me I'll be back in the land of Oz.....

To the people of Queenstown, be glad I didn't puke on you from 5000 feet up

So. In my quest to annoint myself wildest Kurlandsky (it's not really that hard seeing as how we're all fairly innocent), I have jumped out of a plane. Well, it was more like a Dutch dude whose name I can no longer remember jumped out of a plane with me strapped to his front. (ps, that's not me in the photo).

New Zealand is known for its love of adventure sports; the first commercial bungee jump was created by two Kiwi guys and they have a whole load of ridiculous activities you can do in this country besides the usual skydives and bungees. I hadn't really ever considered skydiving until I started reading about NZ, supposedly they offer the cheapest skydives in the world and once you get here you realize it's almost like a rite of passage to do one. Most people do it in Taupo, in the North Island. I was going to do it, then it was raining. The next day was better but I lost my nerve. The weather foiled us again in Franz Josef and I had about given up, a)cause duh, it's scary, and b) I'm running out of cash quickly! But, I decided that I couldn't come to Queenstown and do nothing, and if I have to throw myself out of a plane just to say I did it, it may as well be in spectacularly beautiful New Zealand. By the way, I realize I'm describing this in my usual textbook style, but just because I skydived I'm no less of a nerd than I was before! Take comfort in that.

Okay, but for real, and I really apologize for the language, but it was FUCKING TERRIFYING.

I was purposefully trying not to think too much about it before going because I knew I would just make myself really anxious. I went with my friend Lauren, the Lauren from England we've been travelling with for about 3 weeks (and we'll be splitting up soon and it's really sad). I was totally excited when we got to to the field and we spent about 45 minutes watching other people land while we waited for our turn. Then they called us and we suited up (this is of course after a briefing session in town) in some awesome jumpers with little caps. (I think I'm developing a fetish for all these outfits I've been wearing--skydive suit, scuba suits, ice crampons...) Each person gets a "tandem master;" the actual professional skydiver who does everything for you and is attached to your back. Then they just load you on the tiny plane and head out, there was enough room in the plane for 4 jumpers and 4 masters, and everyone is sitting on the floor basically in each others laps. I thought the plane ride would be the hardest part for me, and my biggest fear actually was that I would have a panic attack on the plane. But I managed to be okay, I was just like in a meditative state staring at the wall, and totally ignoring the tandem master who was trying to pump me up like, "Yeah it's going to be so awesome!" Then eventually they attach you to them, you put on your goggles and hat and gloves (I was actually barefoot because I didn't bring proper shoes and the guy said it was okay to not wear anything) and the real fear starts. At some point the door opens....and I had to close my eyes because I didn't want to see the first two fall out! I was third, then Lauren. They scoot you over to the door and you realize that there's no choice really, as your strapped to this man. He dangles his legs out the door and since I was in his lap attached to him, I was just kind of hanging in mid air, completely outside the plane. Then he asks if I'm ready to which I reply, "Oh my god!!" And then we jump.........

The first few seconds were the worst feeling I think I've ever had. We were just tumbling around in circles in nothingness. They tell you beforehand to keep your eyes open but I just remember thinking "I don't liiiiiike thissss!!" And I squeezed my eyes closed. But then they let out a little mini parachute that helps keep your bodies steady, and you're just freefalling. It feels like there's a giant fan in your face and you can finally notice that you're thousands of feet in the air, above Lake Wakatipu and there's snow capped mountains everywhere. It's pretty amazing. Though they tell you in the briefing that it doesn't really feel like you're falling, more like floating, I really felt like I was hurtling towards the earth! The freefall is I think, about 45 seconds, but it felt so fast, then the parachute opens and you slow down. Now, this is supposed to be the part where you can relax and enjoy the scenery and float down. But I'm Mara, so obviously I was sooooo nauseous and had to inform the dude that I might be on the verge of barf. He was nice and tried to help me out by handing me a barf bag (do they pack those in with the parachutes?). The scenery was lovely but I think I was concentrating so hard on avoiding the possibility of crushing some poor unsuspecting local with the velocity of my illness. We made it back to land without incident and Lauren landed seconds later. I just wanted to sit on the ground or like have a hug or something! My hands were so shaky. Anyways, I survived! I did it! And I never have to do it again! Yaaaaay!

Anyways, we're still in Queenstown, Lauren USA and I will be going on a daytrip to see the Milford Sound tomorrow, then she goes to Christchurch for a week-long stay on a farm and I'll make my way slowly to Christchurch via Mt. Cook and through the college town of Dunedin. Sorry for not writing for so long, but I hope you enjoyed my story!

Lots of love from NZ, Mara