November 30, 2007

[need more time] In 30 minutes' time, my workweek will come to an end, yay! Well, unless there are more work calls like the 3-hour one last night from Tokyo which lasted till midnight (ugh). After last night's multi-happy hour sessions plus a fantastic seafood dinner at Pesce with Chris (who I have not seen in, seemingly, months!), I am so ready for a quiet weekend... although tomorrow night will be anything but when the first of more than 10 holiday parties this season kicks off at Rob/Mikko's.

In a few hours' time, the final month of 2007 begins. Yup, December is here. Shocking isn't it? We are only spending three full weekends in DC this month (see below) and they are all completely packed with holiday parties. I have already declined half of them due to schedule conflicts, sigh. Saying no to a party is like cutting my fingers off. Not fetch.

In exactly three weeks' time, we will be flying across the country to SF before flying across the Pacific to Japan for Christmas and New Year's. We will be having an elaborate kaiseki meal in a ryokan with a view of Mount Fuji on Christmas Day. And for New Year's, we will be living it up at the new Ritz Carlton in Tokyo's brand spanking new Midtown complex. I can't wait!

And in 31 day's time, 2007 will come to a close. It's always bittersweet when a year comes to a close. All the wonderful memories from the past year are safely tucked away, and all the possibilities -- not just new travels and new people but also old friendships -- for the upcoming year excite.

My how time flies, doesn't it? Scary. I need more time. I always do. @ 18:04

November 29, 2007

[miga, quatchi and sumi] Recognize these little furballs?

No? Their names are [from L to R] Quatchi, Sumi and Miga and they are the new mascots for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010!

Quatchi is a Sasquatch aka Bigfoot (weird). Sumi, the Paralympic mascot, is a, umm, Thunderbird? Or a bear with wings, take your pick (weirder). Whatever, that helmet looks kinda fierce. Finally, we have Miga the Sea Bear who is a combo orca and kermode bear (weirdest!). Looks like a panda, doesn't it?

And then there's Mukmuk, a Vancouver Island marmot. It's the only real creature of the four but it is not an official mascot but merely acts as their (online) sidekick.

The whole mythical theme is kinda bizarre, if you ask me.

Whatev, perhaps I'm biased but I still think the 2008 mascots are the cutest -- blue Beibei the Fish, black Jingjing the Panda, red Huanhuan the Olympic Flame (my favorite! Yes, Flame... go figure :-p), yellow Yingying the Tibetan Antelope, and green Nini the Swallow. Five mascots representing the five colors of the Olympic rings and also spelling out Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni (Beijing Welcomes You!). See? The Chinese are clever :-D

BTW, the first Olympic mascot was as recent as the 1972 Munich Games -- Waldi the colorful striped dachshund. @ 15:20

[penny wong] Emerging victorious from this past Saturday's election after more than 11 years of conservative rule under the vile John Howard, Australia's PM-elect Kevin Rudd, 50, made a couple of historic decisions today when he unveiled his new cabinet.

First, Julia Gillard becomes Australia's first woman and the first foreign-born person -- she was born in Wales -- to hold the position of Deputy Prime Minister. She will also be the highest ranking woman in the history of the Australian government.

And then there is Penny Wong. The 39yo former lawyer catapulted from relative obscurity to one of the most important jobs in the Rudd administration as Minister for Climate Change and Water. Penny becomes Australia's first Asian-born minister and has the unenviable position of representing Australia -- who, under Howard, has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol signed in 1997 -- at the international climate change talks next week in Bali. Senator Wong, together with Peter Garrett, is one of two ministerial guardians of the environment.

Penny's appointment is significant because Penny was born in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia! BTW, I spent the first five years of my life in KK. Anyho, she came to Adelaide, Australia with her Australian mother as an 8-yo child the year I was born (1977), and worked as a lawyer and barrister before entering parliament in July 2002 representing South Australia as a senator and also the first Asian-born woman to enter federal Parliament.

When she first came to Adelaide, Australia had only just abandoned the White Australia policy (in 1973) which had been law since 1901. At the height of the White Australia policy, then Minister for Immigration Arthur Callwell famously said this in Parliament in 1947: "Two Wongs don't make a White". And then in 1996, Pauline Hanson's One Nation party received 9% of the national election vote and said this in her maiden speech to parliament:

"I and most Australians want our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished. I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. Between 1984 and 1995, 40 per cent of all migrants coming into this country were of Asian origin. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate."

Awful, innit? And so in Ms. Wong's maiden speech to Parliament, she fired back:

Let us reclaim the phrase one nation.

I seek a nation that is truly one nation.

One in which all Australians can share.

Regardless of race or gender, or other attribute.

Regardless of where they live.

Where difference is not a basis for exclusion.

We do not live in such a country.

We are not yet truly one nation.

But it is the task of political leaders to build one.

It's tough to grow up in a foreign country especially if you look a bit different. I can relate. The fact that she has made it as a proud Malaysian-born woman in a predominantly white society like Australia makes me proud of her achievements.

Oh and BTW, she is also an out and proud lesbian which makes her the first openly gay member in the Australian Cabinet. Gay and Asian. Being a double minority is doubly tough. THAT, I can totally relate to.

Hats off to Penny. You go gurl! @ 14:56

[w dc] At long last, a W is coming to DC and this one will be loved (perhaps) instead of universally despised.

In its continued demand to select only world class destinations, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announces plans to open its first W Hotel in Washington, D.C. Scheduled to debut in 2009, W Washington D.C. will open in what is currently the historic Hotel Washington, an Italian Renaissance revival building occupying the corner of the citys world-famous Pennsylvania Avenue and 15th Street. Owned by Istithmar Hotels Washington, LLC, W Washington D.C. will be located directly across the street from the White House, offering 317 luxurious guest rooms, including 32 suites, a spectacular rooftop bar and terrace and a world-class signature restaurant.

W Washington D.C. will feature rooftop bar and terrace with unprecedented views of Washington D.C. and the White House, and a world-class signature restaurant and spa.

Originally built as a retail store and apartment building in 1888, the 11-story property was transformed into a hotel in 1917 by the same architects who designed the Senate and the House on Capitol Hill. Within walking distance of major landmarks including Capitol Hill and the Washington Monument, the hotel is also close to renowned museums such as the Smithsonian and the National Gallery as well as major corporate offices and government buildings. A perfect setting for enjoying a cocktail with friends or colleagues, the hotel is also an ideal venue for meetings and functions, offering more than 13,000 square feet of flexible meeting space including an 11th floor rooftop meeting level with direct views of the White House and the Washington Monument.

This is great news indeed. The Hotel Washington rooftop is a gorgeous space and I would go far more often -- and take all my guests there -- if it weren't for the Nazis that run that place right now.

I love the W! My first ever W experience was at the original W in NYC. Even though the room was cramped (which is why I've vowed never to stay there again), it completely changed my view of how a hotel should be and it kinda sorta revolutionized the hotel industry as well, pushing all the big chains to be far less business-y and more boutique-y and personal. Love it.

Since then, I have stayed at two other Ws in NYC (The Court and, my fav, Union Sq), the W French Quarter in NOLA, the beautiful W in Mexico City in the leafy Polanco area, and, last but definitely not least, the magnificent W Walkerhill in Seoul with jaw-dropping views across the Han River.

Having a W in DC is WAY overdue. 2009 though... This good W comes just in time for the bad W to exit. Perfect! @ 10:50

November 28, 2007

[window office] Check out this amazing sunset outside my window right now:

I love my window office :-) @ 16:59

[i ♥ garlic] Check this out:

In a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show that eating garlic appears to boost our natural supply of hydrogen sulfide... the body makes its own supply of the stuff, which acts as an antioxidant and transmits cellular signals that relax blood vessels and increase blood flow.

The power to boost hydrogen sulfide production may help explain why a garlic-rich diet appears to protect against various cancers, including breast, prostate and colon cancer, say the study authors. Higher hydrogen sulfide might also protect the heart, according to other experts.

Der, garlic is awesome. I'm Asian, I should know.

Now, the downside. The concentration of garlic extract used in the latest study was equivalent to an adult eating about two medium-sized cloves per day. In such countries as Italy, Korea and China, where a garlic-rich diet seems to be protective against disease, per capita consumption is as high as eight to 12 cloves per day.

TWO cloves a day? That's nothing. You should see how Tony puts garlic in everything. I love it!

I will pretty much eat anything if you throw garlic in it (even spinach!)... Well, except maybe for ice-cream :-)

Me love garlic long, long time! @ 14:00

November 27, 2007

[pimp my escort] So... Tony's new company is gonna give him a car. Wait, hold the applause. Our choice is a Ford, a Ford or a Ford.

Yup, I cannot imagine I will be seen riding in (or driving, even) an American car. Bleagh.

We do have a choice of getting a Lincoln though but there's an uplift. I was bitchin' about it and my co-workers today told me I should just get an Escort. I sneered at them, at which point they threatened to put me up for MTV's "Pimp My Ride"...

...or more like "Pimp My Escort".

LOL! I do like going to work. Only coz my co-workers are fetch. @ 22:33

[reminiscing] The sunset is beautiful outside my window right now -- making me kinda nostalgic for all the amazing ocean sunsets we got to see during the cruise -- and it would be a lot more beautiful if it weren't for (a) the frigid low 50s temperatures, and (b) the fact that it is not even 5pm yet!

Winter is here. And I don't like it. But I promise momma nature I wouldn't complain (for at least one more month, me thinks) because of the glorious summer extension into end-Oct that we had. So I won't. I can still bitch about the ridiculously early sunset though, especially since we just got back from extended daylight hours in the Southern Hemisphere spring. Walking home in the dark is so not fetch.

Surprisingly, I haven't had much jet lag since I got back. I've been sleeping at midnight-ish and waking up at 9-ish which is pretty normal for me. Having to go to work sucks though, but that's another story altogether. Not having a hot tub, sauna, pool and a new port to visit everyday? Now, THAT'S crimes against humanity...

Anyho, I was reminiscing about my holiday (wishing I wasn't here at work) and thought I'd share pictures from the SkyJump that I finally got to scan into the 'puter. Check 'em out:

[L] Posing with my (hunky) jump guide moments before taking the leap
[R] Dangling 192m/630ft in the air!

Kwazy huh? LOL! Oh, and check out the certificate -- sorry, it's a big download -- they gave to us after we had completed the jump...

Mother Earth and Grandpa Gravity... *giggle*

At 328m/1076ftm, the Auckland Sky Tower is the Southern Hemisphere's tallest tower. The SkyJump basically is a base jump with a controlled fall from the 192m/630ft level. It is officially New Zealand's highest jump. It's "controlled" coz, well, otherwise you might hit the tower and that would be bad joo-joo. They say it is "gentle", since it's controlled, but it is still frightening. There is no hanging upside down, though, as you can see and definitely no bouncing around.

The fall itself lasted for about 11 seconds at 85kph/53mph before slowing down at the bottom for a gentle landing. Well, Tony landed on his feet but I, on the other hand, landed on my knees. It hurt :-( Not as much as the lady who did it after me... she landed on her face, LOL!

Anyho, back up. I kinda sorta wanted to do it coz Bernie and Taylor (I think) did it and they were raving on and on about it. And I figured, well if they could do it, I could too!

Hah. I 'bout pee'd ma pants when we got to the Sky Tower just before lunchtime and was about to sign up for the Jump. I was praying there would be a line so that we could come back later in the afternoon (or not at all) but there was no line (it was a Wednesday and it costs NZ$175!). Before I could even sign my life away, I was already in a jumpsuit (literally) with a harness encircling my entire torso. Then they weighed us and wrote the weight in big blue marker ink on your left wrist. Mine said "69" (in kilos, that is) which I had on me throughout the day *giggle* No, I'm not 152lbs :-p The clothes, shoes, jumpsuit, harness weighed a ton. Then again, we *were* like 12 days into our cruise!

When we got up to the jump platform, they asked which one of us would like to go first. Tony pointed at me coz he knew that if he did it first, I would run back downstairs. So off I went. The hunky jump guide strapped me in real tightly (suffocatingly so) and we took a bunch of photos. He briefed me on a few things but at this point, I was hearing but totally not listening. My mind was scrambling. I was standing out in the open, 630 feet above the ground, there was a strong breeze which I thought would blow me over the platform, and the only thing (or six) that I could think of was (a) stopping myself from peeing right there and then, (b) I'm going to die, (c) how can I run back inside without being tackled by the hunky jump guide, (d) don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, (e) OMB, how am I going to fucking jump off this platform and get down there??, (f) I'm going to die!!

Panic-stricken, I think I about threw up when the guide put me at the edge face forward and briefed me about what I had to do to get to the bullseye at the bottom. I resisted and told him he was out of his mind. He then told me to turn around and back myself to the edge. OK, I'm thinking I can do that, if for nothing else just to buy time. I crept ever so slowly in the teeniest babysteps I could muster without my feet being bound like Mulan, and walked myself backwards towards the edge. Once I got there, the guide held on to my harness, signalled the other guide inside to tighten the ropes, and told me he would countdown from 3 before letting me go. Before I could protest (or plead for a count from oh, say, 9475), he said 3 and let go.

I was immediately flung into the air and dropped about 30 feet or so from the platform, screaming like a banshee, arms and legs flailing and my stomach in my mouth wanting to empty its contents into the open air. Did I mention the high-school-girl-like screaming? They told me to look up, took my picture (that's the one on the right), and before I could even process that I was dangling in mid-air and, most probably, soaking my pants in fright, they dropped me for the controlled free fall all the way down that lasted 11 seconds (apparently) until I landed on my knees on the bullseye (yes, yes, how poetic :-p).

I was shaking at the bottom, but completely outside my body. Before you know it, it's all over. The rush stays with you for awhile, and you end up buying pictures and DVDs of the experience that cost a fortune, but why not right? Once in a lifetime, as they say.

Will I do it again? Hell yea. Should you do it if you ever find yourself in Auckland? Fuck yea!

After the jump, we went back up to the Sky Tower (for free) and checked out the scenery... which included SkyJumpers dangling in mid-air right in front of you. Little did we know that while we were suspended in mid-air getting our pictures taken, the people in the Sky Tower are pointing and laughing at you and your facial expressions! Mine must've been priceless. I was so glad right then that we all look alike.

We did plenty of other things in Auckland, which also happens to be an amazingly walkable city, like sightseeing, shopping, an amazing lunch at The Grove, the usual touristy stuff... But I'll never forget the SkyJump!

Bungee jumping next?? Wheeeee! @ 17:40

November 25, 2007

[sunsational sydney] Getting off the ship yesterday morning was hard. It meant our vacation was coming to a close. But we actually had more than a day of play time left in Sydney and we made the most of it.

Getting off with 2000 other passengers was a mess. Even though we had disembarkation time slots, the baggage claim area was a sea of bags and people. There was a big line to get through customs and then an even bigger one to get a taxi. All those lines can be avoided if you had gone with Royal Caribbean's $30/pp airport transfer package, but any seasoned traveler would know that $30/pp is a huge ripoff considering the cab fare to the airport is, at most, $40 (i.e. $20/pp). Plus we weren't going to the airport.

It alternated between drizzly and cloudy as we pulled into Sydney's magnificnet harbor but as soon as we got to the Sheraton across from Hyde Park, the clouds parted and the city was bathed in sunshine instead of rain. My uncle who lives outside of Sydney had come to pick my parents up to take them for yum cha (aka dim sum) and then to the airport. I joined them for both activities, massively pigging out at East Ocean in Chinatown for my first big Chinese meal since leaving DC more than two weeks ago. It was great to see my uncle and aunt as I had not seen them in over 4 years and they had so generously put me up back in 1995 for close to four weeks while I toured Sydney on my own. Tony had to sit it out coz, well, I'm not really out to my extended family; and not by choice either, if I might add.

After seeing my parents off at the airport (sad...), my uncle dropped me off at the hotel to rendezvous with Tony. We proceeded to walk around the CBD area and shopped quite a bit along the way. It was weird to see Christmas decorations and a huge Christmas tree in Martin Place and yet it was in the upper 70s and the sun was shining brightly! The holiday display window at David Jones (think Macy's) had a Nutcracker theme this year. New York it is not, trust. I didn't find a tux or a new bag, but we both got some shirts at Ben Sherman. It was funny coz our total was 20 cents short of the lower limit (A$300) to get a 10% refund on the GST (it's like VAT or sales tax). The store manager chose to mark up one of our items by 20 cents and, voila, we got A$30 back! Wasn't that nice of her?

Speaking of shopping... We bought so much during this trip we came home with an extra 25kg-sized DHL box worth of souvenirs. The horrendous exchange rate only made me hesitate but it definitely did not deter, *giggle*!

From there, we cabbed it to Chinatown... OK, before I go on, Sydney taxis officially suck goat's dick! First of all, it is quite expensive and the exchange rates don't help. We had 3 cab experiences and two of them were utter nightmares. The first one -- from the cruise ship to the Sheraton -- was amazingly pleasant and as soon as he found out that we were from DC, we talked about politics and the Australia elections happening that day throughout the journey. It helped that he was rooting for the Labour Party :-)

The second experience was from the Hilton to the Paddy's Market in the Haymarket area near Chinatown. When we got into the cab and told him where we wanted to go, he immediately said that our destination was just down the street like we were inconveniencing him and he really wanted to take someone to the airport instead of our cheap fare. Um, OK... So I said, "does that mean you don't want to take us there?" The cabbie could have lost his license if I had filed a complaint so he begrudgingly took us to our destination; which, for a A$9 fare, was NOT "just down the street", spankyouverymuch. Asshole.

The third experience was from our hotel to Marque in Surry Hills for dinner. Another A$9 cab ride but when we handed him a A$50 note (which all the ATMs spit out), he couldn't make change. Um, OK whatever. They are legally required to take up to an A$50 note so I was in no mood to compromise. Instead of offering to go break the note for us, he asked us if we could do it. I was like, fuck no. Then he said we could pay by credit card. Now, mind you, this whole time we're having this negotiations (aka bully tactics), he let the meter run. So much so that when he ran my credit card, he ended up charing me A$11. The meter had run an additional dollar AND he neglected to tell us about the A$1 convenience fee for credit card payments.

W. T. F??? I almost lost it. I insisted on getting the A$1 back for letting the meter run. He gave it to me and said, "there, are you happy now?". If I had not been so furious, I would've methodically recorded his details and got his license revoked. I don't care if he has to feed his family, he should know better than to be disrespectful to customers.

I'm still seething thinking about that whole experience, LOL!

Oh, here's another good one. One of the strings for my jade necklace snapped so Tony had a bright idea to get it re-strung in Sydney's Chinatown, so off we went. The string itself is cheap, of course, but the labor involved in tying it to the way the elderly woman in Shanghai (who sold me the jade) so lovingly did, was gonna cost me. I already anticipated that. So we get to this jewellery store and the canto-speaking ladies behind the counter (all from HK) were bickering about whether the knots could be replicated and all that. When they were sure they could, they discussed pricing -- the entire conversation taking place in cantonese and we, of course, had been speaking to them in English. They mentioned to each other that they should charge us A$15. Fair 'nuff. She then looked at me and said, "it cost twenty dollah".

Hell hath no fury like a gaysian ripped off.

I immediately went into full-on attack mode in Cantonese and slammed them for trying to cheat me when I had clearly heard and understood their entire conversation. They -- startled, of course -- mumbled something specious about how they needed a longer string that they thought, etc. I was like, are you fucking kidding me? It took them 5 seconds to change the price from 15 to 20 and in that 5 seconds, they also decided that extra string was needed and that it would cost FIVE dollars more?? WTFever. Long story short, I paid A$15 and got what I wanted (well, not all... they did a poor job with the knots). Rude bitches, all of them. I'll probably have to get it re-tied in China when I visit next August. Stank!

Anyho, dinner at Marque was jaw-droppingly good. And expensive! I'll try and put up the menu when I get a chance. They only served a Nouveau French degustation menu on weekends (we would've chose that anyway) and it was 8 courses. We got the wine pairing which, all but one, was absolutely spot on in terms of complementing the taste of the food with wine. Interestingly, none of the wines were from Australia or America as the sommelier thought those countries produce big wines that are poor when matched with subtle flavors of French cuisine. He was right, of course. They also didn't tell us what we were having until the course came, and we were kept in the dark throughout. Amazing. It was such a great experience. One of the most memorable and inventive courses involved chopping up squid into little pieces and cooking them risotto style. Instead of little pieces of rice, we got little pieces of squid. Brilliant.

After dinner, we met up with Sham -- my fellow bridesmaid at Su Ann's wedding last year -- and her crazy but fun-loving Sydney buddies at Bayswater Brasserie in the nightlife district of King's Cross before heading the invitation-only The Cross; a pumping nightclub with a beautiful outdoor balcony. We also met up with Aryan who I went to high school with but had not seen in 14 years. It's been a long time but we instantly recognized each other and got along like we had never left our formative years in Methodist College. That's how we Malaysians are -- wherever we are in the world, we always come together like a band of orangutans.

We partied long and hard that night. Jaeger girls were hawking shots and Tony ended up getting a A$10 Jaeger bomb for me. Not wanting a repeat of the Felch Trinity at St Tragic's, I gave it away to Sham. With the shot, we also got a free tank top and a free raffle ticket to win an MP3 player. All night, we "flirted" with these Jaeger chicks so much so that at the end of the night, they didn't even bother with the "raffle" and just gave the MP3 player to Tony, LOL! Who knew that Tony's charms extended to ladies as well ;-)

Note to self: There are no cabs to be found at 2am in King's Cross. We walked that walk of shame from The Cross to the CBD -- along with hundreds of other drunk Sydneysiders -- under a brilliant full moon and crashed by 3am.

The next day, we awoke to Sydney drenched again in sensational late-spring weather. The Christmas Parade wound its way through the City while we had yet another yum cha session but at Palace this time around. We met up with Celia and her husband, Chris, and the cutest and most well-behaved little 11-month-old on the planet, Alex. Celia, like Aryan, and I had lost touch 14 years ago and reunited during this trip. We chatted up a storm over 2 1/2 hours of dim sum (trust me when I say we royally and massively pigged out) before our flight time was catching up to us.

Now, Christmas Parade = closed streets = crazy traffic = no cabs. Celia and Chris very generously offered to take us to the airport and we got there in record time. During the drive, Tony and I stroked Alex's hair until he passed out cold in the backseat. So cute!

Eat. Shop. Sun. Party. Sleep. Rinse and repeat and you have Sydney -- the most sunsational city on the planet! You know a city is amazing when even its own residents are gushing about it. In fact, we overheard a guy at Marque saying to a gentleman from the States that "Sydney is the best city on Earth. Why would you ever want to leave?"

Well, I desperately wanted to stay but knew I had to go...

...back to reality.

OK, gotta go. Captain just came on and said the temp in DC is 47°, eek! @ 20:17 EST

[two sunsets] We have seen two sunsets today -- the first one flying east out of Sydney where it got dark at a late hour (as it does in the Southern Hemisphere summer) just north of NZ, and a beautiful one just now as we flew east into darkness somewhere over the Midwest chasing the moon as it heads west across the continent.

And both sunsets happened on Sunday! Aren't timezones, date lines, and the Earth's rotation just fascinating stuff?

Thanks again to the powerful jetstream, our transcon flight today is a quick 4 1/2 hours. It will be 9pm before we meet Rick at Dulles, which will be 1pm in Sydney. I am going to have to force myself to bed at a not-so-late hour so that I am ready for work tomorrow. Ugh.

We had a delicious beef short ribs for lunch onboard this flight which ended on a high note with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Yum. I am scared to death to weigh myself when I get home on my trusty IKEA scale. After so many meals on the cruise ship and on planes, I shudder to think how many pounds I have gained in the past two weeks.

And you haven't even heard about our pigginess in Sydney! @ 19:04 EST

[friendlier skies] I have noticed quite a few improvements and pleasant surprises on United on this trip after years of cost-cutting and skimping.

First and foremost, First Class is now quite a step up from Business. You get two big pillows, a noticeably larger and more plush blanket, a menu that serves bigger and better food than in Business (they used to be similar), AND the biggest improvement of all -- vigilantly reserved restrooms (no Business Class passengers allowed) and priority deboarding a la SQ-style where the flight attendant blocks the aisles until all F passengers have deboarded. Lovely.

We were thrilled with being able to share one on-demand movie across adjacent Suites. The amenity kit was a huge step up from Business Class (though still far behind SQ or Lufthansa). The service was also a pleasure; none of that surly matronly attitude from trolley grandmas. I was very happy with the flight actually.

At the Arrivals Suite, they used to hand out shampoo and shower gel in a little amenity kit and nothing else. I was very surprised to find a whole array of toiletry items in mine today -- toothpaste/brush, deodorant, razor, comb, face moisturizing gels, etc. I was so excited I used every single item in there and spent 30+ minutes in the shower *giggle*

And as of last week, United rolled out new First and Business Class suites with lie-flat seats AND Audio-Video On-Demand (AVOD) in both cabins!

Total happiness. @ 12:25 SFO

[40 hour day] It is obnoxiously crowded today -- the Sunday after Thanksgiving also the busiest travel day of the year -- in the Red Carpet Club in T3 of San Francisco's Int'l Airport.

We have just come from the far-less-crowded Arrivals by United Lounge where we showered, changed and freshened up for our 5 hour flight to DC which boards in about 20 minutes. It is so civilized to be completely awake and fresh getting on a transcon flight after a trans-Pacific flight. We rarely get to use the Arrivals shower amenities because they only hand those invites out to paid International First/Business Class passengers or passengers on International First/Business award tickets, but never to upgraded tickets which is how I usually get pushed to the forward (or upper) cabins. This time around, they considered our Business Class fare a "paid" one; albeit at a ridiculously low mistake fare. Yay me! I especially love using the lovely Arrivals Suite in SFO which is a far cry from the cramped Chicago one.

We rode the super-express across the Pacific today, shaving an hour off our flight time and landing in SF a half hour early after departing Sydney a half four late. That gave us 2 1/2 hours in SF which gave us time to go through immigration, baggage claim -- um, what happened to "PRIORITY" baggage?? -- and customs followed by Arrivals at the beautiful new International Terminal here at SFO before proceeding through T3's security.

The 12-1/2 hour flight felt far too short, as is usually the case when you fly eastbound across the Pacific while riding the strong winter jetstreams. After a hefty dinner onboard accompanied by our own shared private viewing of Spiderman 3 (yawn), I crashed on the completely lie-flat beds in the United First Suites for about 9 hours and woke up to an omelette/sausage/croissant breakfast 45 minutes prior to landing. There was barely time to do anything else like read, write, etc.

Due to the 16-hour time difference between EST and Sydney, our day will be 40 hours long today as we gained all those hours by crossing east through the International Date Line. Our Sunday started at a pulsating (straight) club in Sydney at midnight there (or 8am Saturday in DC) and continued with our 5pm (1am DC) departure out of Sydney, and now here we are in SF at noon (3pm DC) waiting to get home by 9pm tonight. A very, very long day indeed.

I miss the South Pacific already but now that I'm in SF, I cannot wait to get back to DC. Another airline meal awaits us on our transcon to Dulles! @ 12:13 SFO

[happy days] Lots of big events happening in Sydney this weekend and the city is packed with people. For one, the Australian Idol finals are tonight broadcast live in front of the Sydney Opera House. The Christmas Parade is going on this afternoon (what is with the Southern Hemisphere's penchant for celebrating Christmas in November??).

And the biggest news of them all -- in my book, that is -- John Howard was humiliatingly defeated yesterday in his quest to be Australia's Prime Minister for the fifth election in a row in a spectacular landslide election victory for the center-left Australia Labor Party. And deservedly so, yayyyyy!!!

Better yet, Howard may lose his *own* seat -- Bennelong in Sydney -- in Parliament! He has held that seat for 33 years and he will be the first sitting Australian PM since 1929 to be dumped by voters.

We arrived in the midst of election day in Australia yesterday and when I checked my mobile news at 2am this morning -- on the way home from the clubs -- I could not have been happier that John Howard had officially conceded the race. Him, Blair and Dubya are the true Axis of Evil for orchestrating and executing miserably a needless and unprovoked war in Iraq. For all I care, they should be tried in The Hague!

Incoming PM, 50yo Kevin Rudd of the Labor Party, will become Australia's 26th Prime Minister after 12 heartless years under John Howard and the right-wing Liberal Party.

Happy days are here again Down Under! @ 09:29 Sydney

[want to stay] We are approaching the final hours of our 2+ weeks South Pacific vacation extravaganza. Pout.

Both sets of parents left yesterday afternoon; flying in opposite directions. My parents touched down in KL about 9 hours ago. Tony's parents are still in the air.

13 1/2 hours from Sydney to San Francisco, 2-hour layover followed by 5 hours to DC. It's not too bad considering...

...we got upgraded to First (yay!) from Sydney to San Franciso and also from SF to DC. I am super excited!! After having missed the upgrade to F from SF to Sydney, I was beginning to think my mutual love affair with United was ending. But with this upgrade, I can't help but think that they love us, they really do love us!

We secured the last two coveted lie-flat International First Class suites on the 747 across the Pacific. The service, food and IFE is about the same as Business Class but what makes First Class on United so special are the lie-flat beds. That will change shortly when they refurb all their planes with lie-flats in Business Class too.

And I definitely need a bed in the air today. I am *super* exhausted! I know, I know, I'm sposed to rest and relax on my vacations but we partied -- hard -- two nights in a row (more on that later) and are now ready for a big long nap on the plane over the entire length of the Pacific.

Want to stay... but, as usual, can't. It is so very, very sad to have to leave the Southern Hemisphere summer (77° here today!) and come home to the DC winter.

We're comin' home, ladies!! @ 09:02 Sydney

November 24, 2007

[goodbye rhapsody] This is it folks. The cruise has come to an end. Sad :-(

We were brutally awaken by the immigration and customs announcement at 6:30am after having partied till 1:30am last night (this morning?), mmm-hmm. Our past two days at sea have been jam-packed with activities. I haven't had time to do e-mail, much less write. I definitely won't have time to do much during our hectic 30+ hours in Sydney. I'll try to fill in the gaps when we're on our way home tomorrow.

Anyho, the early wake-up call was tempered by the view of the stunning Sydney Opera House outside our balcony (port side) after we opened the curtains. Magnificent! Don't you just love Sydney instantly? We did miss sailing into (and out of) Sydney Harbour this morning. Oh well. I've done enough harbor cruises in this city to know what it looks/feels like. Plus, it's kinda gloomy outside anyway.

Still... one absolutely cannot get jaded to waking up -- albeit at 6:30am -- with the view of the Sydney Opera House outside your balcony.

What a magical way to end this 14-day Oz/NZ cruise.

Goodbye Rhapsody! I never really wanted to knew you, got to know you anyway, most likely won't see you again, but thank you for a fabulous two weeks in the South Pacific! @ 07:25 Sydney

November 23, 2007

[rain??] OMB, it's raining right now for the first time since we cruised the Sounds 8 days ago. Tragic!

Oh well, I guess an indoor activity would be appropriate. Let's see... Lunchtime! @ 12:55 GMT+11

[gobble gobble] Happy Thanksgiving from the middle of the Tasman Sea! Yea, yea I'm kinda sorta a day late since it's Friday morning here, but it's still only Thursday afternoon in the US so nyah :-p

This morning the ship's clocks fell back another hour which means we have now completely fallen back to Sydney time -- 16 hours ahead of EST. We only have roughly 24 hours left on the ship before we pull into Sydney Harbour. Gotta go, we've got things to do, things to see and, most importantly, things to eat! :-D @ 08:10 GMT+11

November 21, 2007

[fall back... twice] It's 12:30am, but it really is 11:30pm. The ship's clocks fall back an hour tonight and it will do so again tomorrow for no apparent reason other than to readjust to Sydney time; which is 2 hours behind New Zealand and 16 hours ahead of DC. Yes, mind-boggling stuff this timezone thing is.

We gain an hour tonight and since the ship doesn't dock tomorrow i.e. no early wake-up calls, one would think that there'd be people out and about partying, right? Wrong. Everyone goes to sleep before midnight. It's quite shocking really. I guess it's all good since it saves my liver from consuming, ahem, overdosing on hard liquor (which I haven't done in the entire time we've been onboard).

Regardless, I have two more days of relaxation to look forward to. I can do everything -- and the list of onboard activities is hideously long -- or absolutely nothing at all. The latter sounds particularly good right now.

Fabulous! @ 23:44 GMT+12 or 00:44 NZ

[all aboard] That's it folks! Another sensational day in New Zealand was had by all in Auckland today. The sky was blue, the sun was up, the ocean was sparkling, and the weather was simply perfect for a trek around this biggest of all New Zealand's cities today. It was so perfect, in fact, that we both decided to jump off the 328m/1076ft-high Sky Tower :-o *giggle* More on that later!

Moments before doing the SkyJump

The Auckland harbor and skyline from the top of the Sky Tower

We are now back onboard the cruise ship and getting ready to make our way to Sydney, our final destination. It seems like just yesterday we entered New Zealand, doesn't it? And now we're leaving it already. Sigh.

Goodbye NZ! We only had 7 days with you but we love you and are going to miss you long, Long time.

All aboard! @ 17:25 Auckland

[DAY 12 - AUCKLAND, NZ] Auckland is our final port of call in New Zealand before we embark on our 66-hour journey back across the Tasman Sea to our final destination, Sydney. The end of the cruise is near, pout. This is our final chance to stretch our legs on land before being "stuck" on the cruise ship for the next 2 1/2 days.

From the Cruise Compass:

LATITUDE:: 36° 52' South
POPULATION:: 1,318,700
SUNRISE:: 06:01 | SUNSET:: 20:23
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Cloudy, 64°F (18°C)

A cool, cosmopolitan vibe is only of the many reasons visitors and locals alike adore Auckland. New Zealand's largest urban retreat is jammed with everything a big city should have: trendy cafeas and bistros, a sophisticated arts scene and rich cultural diversity. With the largest number of pleasure boats of any city in the world (numbering 80,000 - 90,000 hence its nickname, The City of Sails) people who live here certainly treasure their leisure time. Being a mere hour's drive to amazing beaches and bush tracks, who wouldn't?

This morning, we are docked along Princes Wharf in the heart of Auckland with a dead on view of the iconic Sky Tower, yay!

Wellington may be New Zealand's capital but Auckland is the most important city, the main industrial and commercial center, and is the country's major gateway for ship and air traffic moving between Oceania and North/South America. Auckland is also designated as the largest city in the country with nearly 1.3 million residents and basks in a mild, maritime climate. Built atop a cluster of extinct volcanoes, the municipality is located on a constricted isthmus -- the Tamaki Isthmus -- that helps the landscape blend nicely with the city's modern skyline. Auckland is a maritime city that looks to the sea in all directions: the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf to the east, the Manukau Harbour and Tasman Sea to the west.

New Zealand's first Governor, Captain William Hobson, moved the capital to Auckland -- named after the Governor's former commander, LOrd Auckland, who was a famed British hero and then, the current Viceroy of India -- during the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. Auckland experienced many set backs and failures in its early days so much so that it only held the title of capital for 25 years before it was moved farther south to Wellington in 1865.

Today, Auckland extends 40km/25mi north to south and its suburbs sprawl west to the Waitakere Range and east to Waiheke Island. With over 20% of its people being Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island or Niuean, Auckland is the world's largest Polynesian city.

We're here, ladies! Time to get out and about in this, our final port before arriving into Sydney @ 08:53 Auckland

November 20, 2007

[volcantastic] I'm starting to doubt the weather forecast put out daily by the Cruise Compass. Even though it called for a Cloudy day in Tauranga, it was glorious sunshine and clear blue skies all around the picturesque seaside resort town of Tauranga and inland towards the stinky sulphuric (aka rotten egg) volcanic area of Rotorua with its steaming geysers and bubbling mud pools.

Our morning got to a late start, thanks to the ship's late docking time of 9:15am. We rushed out of the ship and into our rental minivan which was waiting for us at the port -- cool, huh? From there, we only had an hour to make the 55-mile journey to Rotorua in 1-lane-each-way roads so that we could make our 11am tour at Te Puia, one of NZ's famous Maori cultural centers.

We barely made it and it was well worth the rush. Te Puia is a really neat place to learn about a specific Maori culture -- in this case, the Te Arawa tribe -- in a contemporary setting. Of course, Te Puia is world famous for the Pohutu Geyser -- erupting on average once or twice each hour and reaching heights of 90ft -- but the other parts of it is pretty cool as well. I loved how they recreated the entire Maori experience and modernized it a little for tourists who get bored easily with too much cultural stuff (like me!).

In front of Pohutu Geyser in Rotorua!

The best part was we also got to witness the Maori welcome concert in an authentic Marae, the center of traditional Maori settlement, cultural life, performance and important gatherings or events. The concert consisted of action songs, female poi dance, traditional stick games and the famous war dance, the Haka. I know it sounds corny but I was greatly entertained; especially by the Haka which was fierce! It helped greatly that some of the half-naked Maori male performers were H-O-T. Who knew that Pacific Islanders could be so yummy ;-)

Anyho, after the performance we rushed off to Rotorua's Airport for our 3hr+ Volcanic Overload tour of the central North Island... from the air! In a tiny 4-seater Cessna! So fetch. There were so many places we couldn't and didn't have time to get to during our very short stay in Tauranga so the flyover came in very handy.

Among the highlights were the views of Rotorua and Taupo from the air, the dormant 3,644ft Mount Tarawera volcano with a 10.5mi-long-by-984ft-deep crater, NZ's largest lake -- the glacier-fed and very calm/reflective Lake Taupo at 1,282ft above sea level -- fed by NZ's longest river -- Waikato River, the famous and dramatic Huka Falls, and the crowning geographic feature of the central North Island -- the trio of lofty snow-capped volcanic mountains, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu, dominating the landscape like three giant cones.

We were slightly unlucky in that the Tongariro National Park area had low cloud cover but we managed to catch quick glimpses of the tops of 9,174ft-high Mount Ruapehu and the perfect cone of 7,514ft-high Mount Ngauruhoe. 6,451-ft high Mount Tongariro itself was not visible the entire time we were there *pout*. We also didn't get to see the crater lakes as the cloud cover at the tops of these mountains was too dense *double pout*. Regardless, those mightly snow-capped volcanoes were an awesome sight from up high.

At the end of the tour, we landed at Rotorua's Airport... on the grass runway! It was quite cool. Never done that before. I am no longer a grass runway virgin :-)

Driving back was far less stressful. We did have to refuel the minivan prior to returning it and since the gas stations were the old-fashioned "pay before you pump" ones, I went inside the little Shell shop to hand the guy my credit card so that we could fill up the van to the max. The attendant gave me this puzzled look and asked me why I was paying before I had filled up. Much to my shock and pleasant surprise, the pump did not require manual intervention from the attendant or prior payment for it to be operational. You pumped and then you paid. If you drove off, I don't think they would've noticed. Over the course of the week in NZ, I found the Kiwis to be extremely friendly and trusting. It's quite amazing, really.

We spent the rest of our time lazing about the beaches of Mount Maunganui; with ice-cream in hand of course. It was a spectacular end to a spectacular day.

So very tired now. Auckland beckons. Must. Go. To. Zzzzz... @ 23:18 Tauranga

[tale of two ships] We have now taken two cruises 6 years apart. Our first was a fantastic Alaskan cruise on the Sea Princess. Here is a comparison of the two ships:

	Sea Princess	Rhapsody of the Seas
Year Built	1998	1997
Gross Tonnage	77,499	78,491
Length	857 ft	915 ft
Width	106 ft	106 ft
Passengers	1,950	2,000

In short, they're about the same size though the Sea Princess was only 3yo when we sailed on her in 2001. The Rhapsody is about 10yo. And it shows.

Not sure if it was the novelty factor on that first cruise but, just 'tween you and me, I much preferred the Sea Princess. @ 08:47 Tauranga

[wakey wakey wakey] Last night's formal night was fun! I wore my newly-purchased (from Universal Queer, no less) Ben Sherman tux with my typical pink shirt/tie combo from, you guessed it, Pink and we took tons of piccies. Hot. The sunset was earlier and less dramatic than the day before.

Prior to that, we had half a day to play on the ship so we had (not-so) deep tissue massages followed by a nice sauna and outdoor hot tub session. It's so tough to be cruisers :-)

For dinner, I royally pigged out on a shrimp/crab salad, chicken consomme and seafood pasta plus, our special entree, an a-MA-zing fish curry. Superb. After dinner, we checked out the Champagne Bar and the disco -- which was less sad last night but not by much -- before heading back to the Edelweiss dining room for the midnight chocolate buffet.

WOW. what an amazing spread of all-you-can-eat chocolate desserts of all kinds crowned with ice sculptures and a huge chocolate statue of Neptune holding his typical spear; the tip of which is the logo for Royal Caribbean. Fantastic! You could literally drizzle warm melted chocolate over everything if the desserts weren't chocolatey enough for you.

We made it a late night (1am!) thinking we could sleep in today because of our late docking time (9:15am). Um, NOT. The Captain decided that, for the first time since Dunedin, he would come on the PA system and blasted "wakey, wakey, wakey" into all the cabins at just before 8am (WTF?). Not fetch. I am slightly groggy this morning, but I shall presevere through our exciting itinerary today.

Our Norwegian Captain proceeds to tell us that the weather will be "goody, goody, goody" today (what is up with the Norwegians repeating each word three times for emphasis?) and that the temperature will be "a hundred degrees today, fifty in the morning and fifty in the afternoon".

He so silly *giggle*. It's another beautiful day in the North Island! @ 08:39 Tauranga

[DAY 11 - TAURANGA, NZ] We will actually be spending no time at all in Tauranga (pronounced Tao-raw-ngah) today. Instead, we will be in a rental minivan and headed an hour or so south towards Rotorua -- the center of geothermal activity and Maori culture in New Zealand -- where we will split up with the 'rents and do some joint activities and some separate activities. I hope we don't get lost! *giggle*

From the Cruise Compass:

LATITUDE:: 37° 39' South
POPULATION:: 101,000
SUNRISE:: 05:54 | SUNSET:: 20:08
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Cloudy, 64°F (18°C)

Tauranga has become one of New Zealand's fastest-growing areas, thanks to plentiful sunshine and beautiful beaches. The city hosts a variety of festivals throughout the year, including arts, comedy, film jazz and blues. No visit to Tauranga would be complete without a trip to Mount Maunganui. This extinct volcano peak rises from the mists of Tauranga Harbour, attracting tourists from all over New Zealand and abroad. While you're there, take a dip in the hot saltwater pools located at the base of the mountain.

The Rhapsody docked in the Port of Tauranga today, a short stroll away from Mauao or Mount Maunganui with its shops and beautiful beaches.

Tauranga -- meaning "resting place for canoes" in Maori because it is where the first Maori to arrive in NZ landed -- is the center of the Bay of Plenty and one of New Zealand's premier holiday areas, a sun-drenched, fruit-growing district with endless golden sand beaches and sparkling seas. The coastline appears to curve away to infinity, extending as it does from Mount Maunganui, east to Cape Runaway, 105mi away.

Tauranga is the country's fastest-growing city, yet it retains its relaxed, holiday atmosphere, built as it is over a finger of land extending into a wide, sheltered harbor. The city is connected by a harbor bridge 2mi long, to nearby 761ft Mt Maunganui. "The Mount", as it is known locally, caps the end of a tombolo -- a long sandy peninsula -- and overlooks the narrow entrance to Tauranga Harbour and neighbouring Matakana Island on one side and a beach noted for its fine surfing on the other.

We will be piercing deep into the central part of the North Island today, a region of tremendous geographic diversity -- plains, mountains, lakes, volcanoes, forests, farmland, beaches and a cold desert.

Rotorua or "Two Lakes", perhaps best known for its geothermal activity, is only a 1 1/2 hour drive from Tauranga and is the spiritual heartland of the Te Arawa people. For nearly 150 years the thermal wonders of Rotorua have lured visitors. The forces of volcanism here are seen at their most dramatic. Geysers, bubbling mud pools, scalding hot lakes, mineral hot pools, belching vents, sulphurous odours, silicone terraces, a buried village, a volcanic chasm and other earthly forces capture the imagination of all visitors, joining less restless natural attractions such as crystal-clear trout streams and forest-rimmed lakes.

There is also no better place in NZ for people to experience first hand the traditional Maori culture. From carving and weaving to song and dance, there are endless opportunities to experience the warmth and friendliness of the Maori in Rotorua. @ 08:29 Tauranga

November 19, 2007

[ocean sunsets] For some reason, sunsets while you're at sea are far more magical than the ones on land. That is partly because you're having a good time and sunsets always coincide with dinnertime i.e. happy tummy time. But I think it's mostly coz when you're at sea, there's nothing but expansive sky and water providing a perfect backdrop for the fiery hues of the sun's last gasp for the day. And the stunning deep water reflects the sky's brilliant colors so vividly it's almost too beautiful to describe. And, of course, the moving scenery provides a great variety of sunset pics.

From last night

We sailed south-east out of Wellington last night -- before turning north-east along the Pacific Coast of the North Island -- and the magnificent sunset on the starboard side exploded across the sky and reflected by the Pacific Ocean.

Words can hardly describe. Truly amazing.

Too bad it's damn near impossible to wake up early enough to catch the sunset. Nonetheless, I am already looking forward to tonight's sunset! @ 14:34 Napier

[another beautiful day] We are now back onboard the ship after a pretty quick half-day tour of three wineries in the Hawke's Bay region as well as a brief tour of pretty little Napier and her rich Art Deco architecture. Due to the long sailing ahead of us to Tauranga, we only had about 5 hours of land time in Hawke's Bay.

We spent it wisely, of course, making our way through three wineries -- Mission Estate, Church Road and Matariki -- in this the second largest wine-producing region in all of New Zealand (after Marlborough). We tasted many fantastic Sauvignon Blancs, Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Syrahs, Merlots (yuck) and some interesting ones too like Sangiovese and Marzemino from Italy. We got very, very happy tasting the wines :-D

Happy (and tipsy) faces at Mission Estate Winery

We were led by our wonderful tour guide, John, who could not be any prouder of the city he was showing to us. He knew so much about every little detail of the region that it was a joy to listen to his stories. To top it all off, the weather could not have been any better -- definitely SoCal/Med in the springtime. It was just perfect, capped off by a lovely al fresco lunch -- I had a Thai curry chicken pie which was delectable -- in a courtyard surrounded by roses. Sublime.

Ohhh, John also took us up Bluff Hill which had a fabulous lookout over Napier AND of the Port with our gimongous ship docked!

Anyho, our first formal night (the ship's second) is 6 hours away. Time to get ready! @ 14:21 Napier

[bon voyage] As you know by now, every port that we've been to, we have been the star attraction. Onlookers -- dozens of them -- crowd the high grounds to watch our big fat ass sail into port in the morning and then out later in the day. I always feel kinda bad waving at them as we're leaving; like we're leaving them behind in a God-forsaken place or something, and them thinking we are off to yet another exotic destination.

Well... that's all true. Sucks to be them, hah! @ 14:06 Napier

[smallest port] It was a very tight squeeze to get into the Port of Napier this morning. Napier is certainly the smallest port we will visit on this 2-week cruise and the Captain just informed us that, in fact, Napier is *the* smallest port the Rhapsody of the Seas has ever visited in the past 10 years of her existence.

Cool! @ 13:44 Napier

[DAY 10 - NAPIER, NZ] Day 5 in NZ, day 2 in the North Island. After this, there will only be two more ports to go before we sail back to Sydney. Pout.

Oh, and there will be a formal night tonight, yay! I have never looked forward more to dressing up in a monkey suit but dammit if they made me lug my tuxedos all this way I better damn well have an opportunity to wear 'em!

From the Cruise Compass:

LATITUDE:: 39° 29' South
POPULATION:: tiny
SUNRISE:: 05:47 | SUNSET:: 20:08
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Showers, 64°F (18°C)

Attention oenophiles and fans of art deco architecture: this is your kind of town. Following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in 1931 (the peak of the Art Deco era) which killed 256 people in Napier and nearby Hastings, Napier was immediately and almost entirely rebuilt and today holds the distinction of being the "Art Deco capital of the world". So steeped is this city in the period style, you might feel like you are on a movie set as you stroll past Napier's pastel buildings with their lightning flashes, rising suns and other geometric details.

Napier enjoys New Zealand's highest number of sunshine hours, an aspect which places it at the center of the country's most important wine-producing regions.

Lying on sweeping Hawke's Bay, Napier is a fascinating city, architecturally rich, blessed with a fine coastal position, good restaurants and a friendly population. Hawke's Bay is a sheltered lowland and a productive horticultural region with fertile alluvial soils that enjoys a Californian/Mediterranean climate with high sunshine hours and is known for its fruit growing and wine vineyards. The bay itself, called Hawke bay, faces the Pacific and is bounded by two promontories, Mahia Peninsula in the north and Cape Kidnappers to the south.

Bluff Hill (102m/334ft), located just south of the port, was originally an island connected to the mainland by a bridge. All that changed on 3 February 1931 when the massive earthquake -- New Zealand's worst natural disaster -- raised the level of the land by 6+ft/2m in the area surrounding Napier. The island became part of the mainland which, in itself, expanded by 25 sq mi/40 sq km. The buildings and homes on Bluff Hill were the only ones to survive the quake intact and as a result, this is the only remaining Victorian-style suburb in Napier.

Captain Cook sighted the area in 1769, but the British general and colonial administrator, Sir Charles Napier, planned the city in 1854. Napier and its neighbor city, Gisborne, are the first urban areas to see the sun rise on 1st January of each New Year.

Fascinating! @ 08:14 Napier

November 18, 2007

[awe-inspiring] Everyone else is off to see the magic show at the theater today -- btw, the shows are hit or miss and last night's country-western theme was *def* a miss! I am here in our suite, nursing my sunburn and writing, writing and writing. Posting all this is another story -- the ship's internet is slower than geology and ridiculously expensive!

We are sailing out of Wellington Harbour now, passing the lighthouses that stand proudly at the top of the hills that guard the entrance to the harbor. The view of the rolling hills and rugged cliffs from where I am right now, in bed, looking out the balcony is awe-inspiring!

I'm such a lucky girl :-)

This landscape will forever be seared in my memory. New Zealand is awesome!

One more hour to dinner, yay! I'm *hungry* (bitches, you would be too after walking 8 hours non-stop). @ 19:31 Wellington

[rainy? wtf?!] Go figure that on the day we are scheduled to tour Napier -- with, apparently, one of the sunniest and most pleasant Cal-/Med-like climates in all of NZ -- it is scheduled to rain, LOL! Good thing we are doing wineries (i.e. indoors) during our very short stay in Napier tomorrow. I think we are only there for 6 hours which means only 4 1/2 hours of touring time.

I can't wait! @ 18:57 Wellington

[capital fun] In terms of excitement, our day in Wellington today paled in comparison to the wildlife fun in Dunedin and the amazing scenery outside of Christchurch. In terms of weather though, Wellington basked in fantastic sunshine today with temps in the high 60s. What I didn't take into account was the fact that the sun is much, Much stronger down here in the ozone-less Southern Hemisphere and let's just say I am now a redneck and my forehead and nose will be peeling in a couple of days. It's no fun, trust me. Nonetheless, it was an absolutely gorgeous day to tour around New Zealand's capital city on our own.

Our day in Wellington got off to a pretty late start; we woke up an hour after people were allowed to leave the boat *giggle*. The extra sleep felt great! It was also great that we did the city by ourselves today, while the 'rents joined the ship's shore excursion. No offense to them but it was nice to be away from them after spending every waking moment with them for the past week or so. Space is the key to all relationships, don't you agree? :-)

Back to Wellington... We started off the (late) morning checking out the parliamentary complex -- including the modernist Beehive -- before taking the single-track, 105-yo cable car up to the 64-acre Botanic Gardens which have a sweeping view of the capital city and its beautiful harbor. Wellington is defined by its magnicient harbour, no doubt about it. It's a pity, really, that all these quaint little towns in the South Pacific have such amazing harbors and so little people living around them. Perhaps that is why they have remained so beautiful. Wellington, though, has a shortage of level land around the harbor which is why much of the city is built on reclaimed land.

The fantastic view of Wellington City and Harbour from the Botanic Gardens

Anyho, moving along. We descended from the Botanic Gardens to the fantastic Lady Norwood Rose Gardens -- with over 100 kinds of roses -- and the Thorndon area, NZ's oldest suburb. After that, we strolled along the magnificent revitalized waterfront area that forms a semi-circle from the cruise ship terminal all the way to Oriental Bay beach; crowned by the beautiful multi-storey architectural wonder that houses the Museum of New Zealand or Te Papa Tongarewa. Because of the amazing weather, the Kiwis were out in force sunbathing, rollerblading, sea-kayaking, swimming (!), and every outdoor activity that you can think of from cafes to throwing a Christmas parade. Yup, a Christmas parade in beautiful sunshine and almost-70 degree weather. In November!

Ahhh, as I'm typing this, we are being serenaded by a lone bagpipe-player, bidding our gigantic ship goodbye as it departs from Wellington Harbour. How very sweet!

We had lunch at a local pan-Asian restaurant (Chow) which, after 8 whole days of ship food, tasted a-MA-zing! I had some banana leaf-wrapped chicken thingie with the most phenomenal sauce on the planet (or so it seems) and it was just mouth-wateringly good. Trust me when I say I am quite sick of ship food already and we still have 6 more dinners to go! I've already been going without the ship's breakfasts and lunches.

After lunch, we checked out the Civic Square area (City Hall, etc.) -- which is spectacularly located on the harbor -- before the parade started winding its way through the commercial areas of the City. It was a fun little parade for a city of this size. The crowds were out in force but it was way easy to get a viewing spot; again this city is not very big.

After the parade, we shopped for fun lil' gifts and souvenirs along the pedestrianized Cuba Street and the pretty Lambton Quay shopping area. The conversion rate is definitely not in our favor as we surveyed one hideously overpriced souvenir after another. We finally settled on a beautiful abstract watercolor painting of Milford Sound which we found at a local Art Exhibition. It was a chunk of change but definitely well worth it.

After more than eight tiring hours of non-stop walking -- trust me, we needed the exercise! -- we made it back to the ship just in time for them to pull up the gangway. We are now cruising around Wellington Harbour for a bit before heading out into the open seas once again, making our way to Napier early tomorrow.

I liked Wellington for what it is -- a quaint little town with a beautiful harbor which also happens to be New Zealand's capital. Wellington is especially easy to love on a magnificent day like today when the outdoors is accessible to all. And Wellington, unlike DC, is very much an outdoors city. Fabulous! @ 18:37 Wellington

[eiffel high] Our very chatty but also very funny Norwegian Captain just came on the PA system and told us that if this ship was put on aft, it would be as tall as the Eiffel Tower.

There ya go... Your fun lil' factoid of the day :-) @ 17:47 Wellington

[DAY 9 - WELLINGTON, NZ] Kia Ora (Maori for "Hello") from Wellington!

Today, we hit the North Island and our first port of call is New Zealand's capital - Wellington! We are sailing north (towards the Equator) and it's getting closer to the summer months of Dec - Feb in the Southern Hemisphere. Naturally, the weather is warming up nicely, yay!

From the Cruise Compass:

LATITUDE:: 41° 17' South
POPULATION:: 350,000
SUNRISE:: 05:51 | SUNSET:: 20:20
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Sunny, 64°F (18°C)

Sandwiched between steep hills on one side and ocean on the other, Wellington is a walker's paradise. Because so much of the city is within walking distance, you'll never feel the need to hire a cab. And considering the number of cafes, bars and nightclubs that line the streets, you'll probably never feel the need to come back to the ship either! You'll definitely want to visit the Te Papa Tongarewa national museum. This enormous $317 million cultural and architectural masterpiece has received 10 million visitors since opening in 1998, with almost 30% from overseas. Located on Wellington's spectacular waterfront, Te Papa has built a reputation for its "fresh and bold approach" to presenting the country's treasures and stories.

After two days of docking in ports far away from the intended destination, the Rhapsody of the Seas docked within walking distance to Wellington this morning.

Wellington was founded as a planned settlement in 1840 and quickly became New Zealand's capital in 1865, growing around the shores of the harbor and up the steep hills that surrounded it. Wellington was a pioneer in the Women's Suffrage movement in the early 1890s, granting women the right to vote nearly 30 years before any other nation. Wellington supported the Allies in both World Wars and paid dearly by losing more soldiers as a percentage of its population in WWI than any other country.

Wellington's harbor is her focal point -- one of the world's best protected and most beautiful. Flooding of a very large, long extinct volcano crater formed Wellington's harbor. The city bends gracefully around the port and the houses seem to flow out of the hills right down to the sea. Edwardian buildings and narrow streets contrast sharply with the modern skyscrapers. The picturesque rugged hills and cable cars have often caused this city to be compared to San Francisco.

Since Wellington lies in the path of the only major gap in New Zealand's central mountain range, the city has earned its nickname of Windy Wellington.

BTW, the Wellington region is home to many locations for the filming of the LOTR, including Kaitoke Regional Park and Fernside (Featherston), while the Hutt Valley became Rivendell and the River Anduin, Outer Shire, Ferry Lane, Trollshaw Forest, Weathertop Hillside and Bree Streets. Closer to the central city, filming included the woods of Central Mount Victoria thorugh to Fort Dorset in the seaside suburb of Seatoun, which became Bree. Indoor sets were built in Jackon's company's studios in Miramar, Wellington, leading to the city now being nicknamed "Wellywood". @ 09:21 Wellington

[late night] Yea, yea it's late. But we decided that since tomorrow (today?) was gonna be a free and easy day without any tours lined up for us, we would go check out the disco -- aka Viking Crown Lounge -- after dinner.

To say it was dead would've been an understatement. There were more staff than patrons. I had a lovely cosmo (OK, I lied... I had two, but one was free! :-p) and danced a little to some Beyonce before the music turned stank (60s and 70s anyone?) and we decided to check out of there faster than you can say borrr-ring.

Dinner was quite yummy tonight -- an amazingly spicy crab and noodle (YUM!) salad, delicious and surprisingly authentic Malaysian curry laksa and lamb curry! Well, my entree was actually the Hawaiian chicken which was yucky so I opted for the special Indian entree of lamb curry instead. I'm so glad that our head waiter is humoring us every night with Indian entrees so that we can avoid the bland and blander Western cuisine on the menu.

OK, it's late. Bedtime. Zzzzz (snore). @ 00:27 Christchurch

November 17, 2007

[fetch-tastic] OMB, we had such a FANtastic day in Christchurch today! I don't even know where to begin.

Perhaps it was the fine, very un-English-like weather that greeted us this morning in this most English of all cities in New Zealand. Glorious.

Perhaps it was Andrew, our effervescent and hilarious tour guide who moved to the South Island from England 9 years ago. LOL!

Maybe it was the stunning train ride with jaw-dropping scenery up through the Southern Alps -- the spine of New Zealand's South Island. Awesome.

All of us posing in front of Mount Rolleston

Pictures don't lie :-) Footnote, if you've done the train ride through the Swiss Alps, the Southern Alps pales in comparison, mmm-kay?

Or maybe it was the outdoor picnic of delicious chicken salad in glorious weather surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the majestic Southern Alps. Wow. Hats off to Andrew for arranging such a scenic spot to have an outdoor picnic. Imagine blue skies, crystal blue rivers, and surrounded by white-capped mountain ranges on all sides. TDF!

Then again it could've been the exhilirating jetboat ride through Rakaia Gorge that made me scream like a high school girl throughout. Squeal!

I know it couldn't have been the sheep-shearing demonstration which turned bloody when the shearer cut the sheep with his super-sharp scissors. Ouch!

It might've been the brief tour of the quaint lil' city of Christchurch at the end, whose gardens and parks and old-English architecture sparkled in the brilliant sunshine. Lovely.

Or perhaps it was the much-needed 2 1/2 hour soaking in the outdoor hot tub watching the scenery go by as the ship sailed out of Christchurch. Heaven.

All's I know is I had a blast. And it was one of the best day tours I've had in a long time. It was quite expensive but SO worth it. I wish I could've stayed longer and seen more. This area is gorgeous!

Fetch! @ 23:55 Christchurch

[halfway mark] BTW, today is officially the halfway mark through our 2-week cruise. And here I'm thinking the fun is only just beginning... 07:00 Christchurch

[DAY 8 - CHRISTCHURCH, NZ] Another day, another port. This was our second and last stop in the South Island before we head off to the North Island tomorrow to hit four different ports beginning with New Zealand's capital, Wellington.

Our personalized tour itinerary today involved the TranzAlpine Express train ride up to Arthur's Pass (more on that later), followed by a thrilling jet-boat ride through Rakaia Gorge, then a visit to a sheep farm and, finally, ending with a brief city tour of Christchurch.

From the Cruise Compass:

LATITUDE:: 43° 31' South
POPULATION:: 350,000
SUNRISE:: 05:54 | SUNSET:: 20:32
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Sunny, 68°F (20°C)

Internationally known as "The Garden City", Christchurch is considered to be the prettiest in all of New Zealand (too bad we won't see much of it). With Pegasus Bay on one side and the Southern Alps on the other as well as a plethora of parks and gardens in between, it's easy to see why.

Christchurch is a dream to explore. As you stroll the sleepy streets with tons of Colonial charm, old stone architecture and the lazy Avon River running through it, you'll feel more like you are in an old English town than a city in the South Pacific.

The magic words that we'd been waiting to read -- "Sunny"! And warm to boot.

We were docked this morning starboard-side at Lyttelton -- Christchurch's Port -- which meant that we couldn't watch the ship dock *pout*. Lyttelton Harbour is situated on a crater of a long extinct volcano.

Christchurch -- located on the Avon River -- is the focal point of Canterbury flanked by the extensive alluvial Canterbury Plains -- NZ's largest lowland -- to the west and, beyond that, the imposing Southern Alps and Arthur's Pass National Park. To the north, beyond the rolling hills, are Hanmer and more forest parks; and to the south-east is the absorbing Banks Peninsula -- an extinct volcano indented by several bays and harbors.

It is the largest city in the sparsely-populated South Island and is often described as the most English city outside of England and is known for its parks, gardens, tree-lined avenues and gracious 19th century stone architecture. It is a large, orderly and pancake-flat city with many statues honoring persons with English names, and trams rattle past streets with English names (Oxford, Worcester, etc.). Even the central square -- Cathedral Square -- is dominated by a neo-Gothic cathedral in the fashion of English towns.

The first Europeans in Christchurch came in 1851 and it quickly became a city eleven years later. The name Christchurch comes from Christ Church College at Oxford.

Considered one of the world's finest rail journsy, the TranzAlpine Express departs Christchurch, cross the Canterbury Plains, then travels through Arthur's Pass National Park, winding its way through the Southern Alps before descending to the town of Greymouth on the West Coast of the South Island.

More on our personalized tour of Christchurch and Arthur's Pass in a few! @ 17:35 Christchurch

[sunny morning] I had gone to bed immediately after dinner last night because I knew that today would've been an early to rise day. BTW, they had Maryland Crab Cakes on the menu (it was nasty). Yup, we flew across 18 timezones to eat food from just across the bay. Anyho, I totally skipped the entree on the menu and lunged for the chicken curry on the Indian menu. Yum.

I woke up nice and early at 6:30am (don't look so shocked) to sun shining through the balcony and into our room! What a nice surprise. Our first glimpse of the sun-soaked hills with cloud-covered peaks of the Banks Peninsula -- across from Lyttelton -- was magical. The landscape looks so pristine and amazingly unspoilt this close to a major metropolitan area. I mean, it may seem like I'm trying to say that the view is the same ol' pretty shit but on a different day. Well, I'm not. Every morning so far, we have woken up to scenery that will take your breath away. It's damn near impossible to get jaded.

I am literally writing this while looking out the window to those glorious hills in hues of multiple shades of lush forest green and vibrant sunny orange dotted with pretty perfect white houses perched on cliffs that tumble into the harbor. What else is there left to say?

Anyways, the ship is now stationery and getting ready to dock. Time to get ready. Lates! 06:58 Christchurch

November 16, 2007

[chile and argentina] An interesting fact about Dunedin: If you travelled east out of Otago Harbour, you will not hit land again until you've crossed the entire South Pacific Ocean ending up in Chile in South America. Similarly, if you travelled west out of Dunedin overland to the Fjordlands and then sailed west, you will not hit land again until you've crossed the entire length of Australia, the Indian Ocean, pass South Africa and the whole South Atlantic Ocean before ending up in Argentina, also in South America.

That gives you an idea of how much ocean there is on both sides of the southern end of the South Island of New Zealand. @ 18:14 Dunedin

[land and sea] Tony's stepdad, Jim, had an interesting observation today: why is it that we look for land when we are out at sea, and we look for sea when we are on land?

So true.

The Captain just came on and told us we're leaving and we will be heading towards Christchurch at a speed of whatever it takes to get us there by 6am. He's a funny guy for a Norwegian.

I don't think we're getting the fantastic bagpipes sendoff we got in Hobart. Port Chalmers, after all, is an industrial/container port.

Anyho, I'm already looking forward to dinner! Food. Eat. Now. Hungry. @ 17:59 Dunedin

[fantastic wildlife] We had an near-perfect day out in Dunedin and around the Otago Peninsula today.

We totally slept through the ship sailing into Otago Harbour this morning *giggle*. The ship moved very, very slowly and it was a pretty delicate maneuver to dock the ship. Quite interesting indeed. The day then started off pretty annoyingly when the ship docked at 7:45am and wouldn't let us off the boat until an hour later (!). That whole hour was literally spent building the security cordon around the ship's gangway. Um, hello... they've done it a BILLION times!! I was so annoyed.

Once we met our Wildlife Tour guide (Tony!), it was smooth sailing all the way. The weather started off a little chilly but warmed up quite nicely to the point where it was sweater weather. It wasn't super sunny but it didn't rain either. Perfect.

We did miss the royal albatross -- we've been told we might get one last chance to see them on our way out of the Otago Harbour -- but we definitely saw the other big three animals: Hooker Sealion, New Zealand Fur Seal and the rarest of all 18 species of penguins, the Yellow-Eyed Penguin. We saw about 6 of the 6,000 yellow-eyed penguins left on this planet; including one that was so close I could smell it. We also saw tons of birdlife like the Black Swan, the Paradise Shelduck (aka Putangitangi... fun name, eh?), the Oystercatcher, the Pukeko, the Pied Stilt (or Poaka), the Spur-Winged Plover, the Australasian Harrier, a whole bunch of Shags and Gulls, etc.

We spotted most of the animals at a private conservation area that is all farmland, all sheep and no tourists. Access is only by 4x4 and we rumbled up and down through rolling hills before trekking breathlessly down to (and then up from) the beach where the seals, sealions and penguins were. The animals were just roaming around in the wild with no care for us or any other human in the vicinity. It was like our own private safari!

Here we are on the Pacific side of the Otago Peninsula near the fur seals area:

Interesting fact: There are no mammals native to New Zealand which explains why most native birds -- including the endangered Kiwi -- do not know how to fly. No mammals = no predators.

There is so much to learn about all these animals. One thing's for sure -- they were all truly amazing and fascinating! The tour definitely lived up to its Wildlife name. We even got a brief City tour out of it, including a panoramic view of Dunedin from Signal Hill and a stop at Baldwin Street - the world's steepest street.

We are now back on the ship waiting for the ship to cast off. I think I hear the engines rumbling. Next stop: Christchurch! Yay.

Here is some info about the big four animals in the Otago Peninsula:

Albatross are the largest of the world's seabirds with the Royal Albatross (Toroa in Maori) -- numbering approximately 21,000 -- being the largest of all at 4ft from beak to tail and 11ft (!) in wingspan. That's almost twice my height from wing tip to wing tip! The Taiaroa Head breeding colony is the only Albatross colony anywhere in the world which is based on a mainland.

New Zealand Sealions are the rarest of the world's five species of sealions. They are making a comeback to mainland NZ after being eliminated by Maori hunting centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. They are gregarious animals and enjoy each other's close company, unlike fur seals. Adult males reach 10ft in length, weigh up to 900lbs and can live to 25 years. Sea lions are highly agile in the water and can dive over 650ft deep. They may look like lumbering pieces of logs but if you get too close to one, they will chase you down the beach at speeds of 12mph. That's a 5-minute mile!

Yellow-eyed penguins (Hoiho in Maori) are the rarest of the world's 18 species of penguins and, like the Hooker sealion, are found only in New Zealand. They are the largest penguins living in a temperate region and were named Hoiho or "noise shouter" by the Maori because of their loud and distinctive call -- the loudest of all penguin species. Yellow-eyed penguins do not migrate, tending to go to sea during the day to feed and return to their roosting areas late in the afternoon. They do not nest in tight colonies as they are a very shy bird and prefer to nest in coastal vegetaion and forest to be hidden from their neighbor. They are rare because of the introduction of mammalian predators by humans which eat the penguin chicks (awww).

New Zealand fur seal (Kekeno in Maori) prefer rocky shores close to their food supply. They were hunted to extinction by European seal hunters in the past century, but they have made a dramatic comeback in the past few years. Adult males can reach 8ft in length and up to 400lbs in weight. Females are only about half the length and a third the weight. Females bear their first pup at 5 years and are bred again about 8 days after the birth of their pup. Talk about baby seal factories!

There ya have it. Your own little National Geographic! :-) @ 17:54 Dunedin

[DAY 7 - DUNEDIN, NZ] This is it, folks. Our first port of call in NZ. Finally, land! It feels weird to be out at sea for more than 3 days. My head and my sea legs are, by now, so conditioned to motion that I got pretty wobbly when I got my feet on solid ground this morning.

Quarantine is in effect while we're in NZ and since this is the first port of call, we have been reminded to not bring food or drinks off the ship; with the exception of bottled water. We're not even allowed to take coffee ashore.

From the Cruise Compass:

LATITUDE:: 45° 52' South
POPULATION:: 122,000
SUNRISE:: 05:57 | SUNSET:: 20:46
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Partly Cloudy, 56°F (13°C)

Heaven on earth for architecture aficionados, Dunedin is one of the best-preserved Victorian and Edwardian cities in the Southern Hemisphere, with lots to see within the city's slight square footage. Here you take in views at the country's only castle or admire more architectural wonders with a tour of Dunedin Railway Station. Then hop onboard the Taieri Gorge Railway for a scenic adventure past steep ravines and rugged tunnels into the Taieri River Gorge.

We were docked this morning port-side at Port Chalmers, about 8mi/13km or a 15-min drive from central Dunedin (pronounced like doon-E-din). Dunedin is very much a university town (Univ of Otago has 19,000 students) located at the head of the long, narrow, sheltered and picturesque Otago Harbour. It is the second largest city in the South Island and it has a very distinct Scottish ambience, thanks to its original settlers that came in 1848. In fact, Dunedin is the ancient Gaelic name for Edinburgh.

Dunedin has grand 19th century public buildings and homes reflecting the wealth derived from the goldmines in the interior of the Otago Province in the 1860s which made Dunedin the commercial capital of NZ for the next two decades. So rich, in fact that in 1879, Dunedin was the first city outside the USA to have its own tram system (it was phased out in 1957).

The gold rush brought large numbers of settlers and the British authorities had to plan for a classic 19th century English town hastily. As a result, the plans disregarded the actual topography of the land and many of the city's streets go straight up very steep hills. Dunedin actually has the steepest street in the world -- Baldwin Street with a gradient of 1 in 1.266 -- according to the Guinness Book of Records.

The Otago Peninsula that protects the harbor is a haven for wildlife such as the royal albatross colony at Taiaroa Head, and the yellow-eyed penguins. Also here is NZ's only castle - Larnach Castle. The yellow-Eyed Penguin, or hoiho in Maori, is one of New Zealand's most precious forms of wildlife and one of the rarest penguin species on earth. This unique and endangered species can be viewed from special hides at Penguin Place, a conservation reserve near the end of the Otago Peninsula, just 50 minutes' drive from central Dunedin.

More on our personalized tour of Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula in a few! @ 17:19 Dunedin

November 15, 2007

[cold and wet] Ignoring the prevailing climate of the Fjordland region (i.e. cold and wet), we decided to try out the outdoor hot tub for the very first time after a 40-min workout and some sauna time.

It wasn't so bad getting in and it felt great soaking in the hot water while the air temperature is, well, frigid. But then it started to rain. And the cold rain on your head is not very pleasant.

Getting out, wet, with the biting winds blowing all around you is decidedly not fetch. Wrapping a towel over your head and huddling in your bathtub as you are running across half the ship to get back indoors while people are watching? Totally not fetch.

Dinner in an hour, yay! So hungry... Ahhh, life on a cruise ship :-) @ 19:25 Somewhere off the South Island

[food!] It's impossible to go hungry on a cruise ship unless you are a Hilton or a Ritchie and choose to starve yourself to death or barf after every meal.

I have been nibbling on pastries since I woke up, had a good fresh-cooked seafood pasta thingie with tomato sauce for lunch (we decided to skip the buffet), and tonight's dinner is unthemed with a casual dresscode. Yesterday's dinner was Caribbean themed and was also casual. So far, we've had one formal (which we missed) and one smart casual night. The rest have been casual. The smart casual night, incidentally, had a Venetian Feast theme (with subpar food) complete with a whole bunch of waiters singing O Sole Mio -- in Italian, der, and none of them were Italian! Hot.

Last night, I pigged out on a seafood bisque appetizer, a tropical fruit plate salad, a snapper entree AND a chicken curry dish, before settling on a chocolate cake dessert. The chicken curry dish was not on the menu but our head waiter (Chris from the UK) decided that we would be more amenable to Asian flavors (he was right, but did he really need FIVE days to figure that out??) so he brought it out for us. It was an instant hit. Compared to the bland and blander food onboard (to cater to the floating retirement home peeps), the curry chicken was explosive in flavors and rescued yet another unimaginative dinner in the Edelweiss dining room.

I've been told that I may get fish curry tonight, woohoo! Even though it was fed barely two hours ago, my tummy is growling just thinking about it.

The gluttony continues, yay!

p.s. I'm gonna need to start throwing up overboard after every meal to keep myself from exploding at the waistline! *giggle*

pp.s. Um, kidding :-p @ 16:11 NZ Fjordland

[84 hours] I have been able to write so much because we have been out at sea this whole time. There's a lot of downtime when the ship is out at sea which is great for relaxation. By the time we dock in Dunedin tomorrow, the ship would've spent 84 hours straight without calling at a port. That's a lot of supplies for 2,000+ guests and all the crew!

We'll be hitting 6 consecutive ports over the next 6 days, starting with Dunedin and Christchurch on the South Island and moving north (and hopefully warmer) to Wellington, Napier, Tauranga (for Rotorua) and finally Auckland on the North Island. The schedules are pretty hectic so I'm not so sure I'll be able to write as often for the next week or so. This may be the last you'll hear from me in awhile (stop celebrating :-p).

The Captain mentioned that the open waters as we sail around the Fjordlands, eastward along the southern edge of the South Island passing NZ's most southerly city -- Invercargill (pop. 57,000) -- before turning north-east for Dunedin will be kinda turbulent (and it has been!). Oh yay. I'm definitely not getting on the treadmill.

The weather forecast in Dunedin for tomorrow is also unusually cold. The usual max temp is in the high 50s but we are probably gonna get mid-40s to low 50s for tomorrow instead. As long as it doesn't rain (and it does rain a whole lot in Dunedin), I'm happy :-)

What a chilly start to our travels around New Zealand. Tony's probably got the right idea -- he's in the sauna right now warming up from the chilly Fjordlands weather. Perhaps I should go join him, hmm. Or maybe I'll just sit here typing on my laptop, staring out into the horizon and watch the magnificent landscape of New Zealand's Fjordland pass the ship by...

Yea, definitely the latter. @ 15:55 NZ Fjordland

[milford, doubtful and dusky] I am writing this as we are cruising out of Dusky Sound, the final scenic cruising destination of the day after tackling Milford and Doubtful Sounds earlier.

We have been running 90 minutes ahead of schedule throughout the day, hitting Milford at an ungodly 7am and then spending almost 2 hours in there. We then entered Thompson/Doubtful Sound at a surprisingly early 11:30 and spent 90 minutes in there. And just under an hour ago, we cruised into Acheron Passage/Dusky Sound and will then be circumnavigating the southern tip of the South Island by 3pm; again 90 minutes ahead of schedule.

The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. The weather could be better, but the flooded glacial valleys of the New Zealand Fjordland are just a sight to behold. It is exhilirating to watch the ship's bow navigate into these narrow sounds and passages with sheer cliffs and soaring snow-capped peaks on both sides of the ship, so close that you can stretch out your arms and touch 'em.

All six of us have been spending lots of time on our balcony because the chilly weather and the whipping winds together with the dampness makes it quite a bone-chilling experience on the exposed top decks.

Oh, and we've been eating non-stop :-D

The Captain just came on and informed us that we will be docking on schedule in Dunedin tomorrow morning (around 7:30ish). Hopefully we'll be off the ship by 8am. Land soon, yay!! @ 15:27 NZ Fjordland

[spiderkiat] Check me out climbing up the rockwall at the aft of the ship!

Stop laughing :-p @ 10:18 NZ Fjordland

[way down under] We were cruising slightly south-southeast departing from Hobart and Tasmania. After hitting NZ's fjordland this morning, we are now sailing southwest towards the southernmost part of NZ's South ISland. We will sail around the southern tip of the South Island, going from the Tasman Sea into the South Pacific Ocean.

At the southernmost tip, we would've gone the farthest south and closest to Antarctica. Ever. Our next port of call is Dunedin tomorrow, which will also be the southernmost land we have ever stepped foot on.

I know, I know, I'm a geographic geek :-p

The Fjordland scenery that is passing us by now, as the ship is hugging the coastline, is breathtaking. Every snow-capped peak and every mist-covered sound adds to the drama of New Zealand's most spectacular landscape. It's almost like a chinese painting. By the ocean.

Here are some piccies to tide you guys over:

[L] In Milford Sound with Mitre's Peak on the right
[R] Me and my parents!... with the scenery of the Fjordland coastline

I am definitely impressed! @ 10:18 NZ Fjordland

[DAY 6- CRUISING THE SOUNDS] Captain Rune (from Norway) came on the ship-wide PA system and blasted us out of bed at 6:45am this morning. Argh. I was about to invoke the Geneva Conventions until I realized he had good reason to do so -- we were within sight of the entrance into Milford Sound! I barely had time to put on my lashes before the pilot from Te Anau came onboard and guided us into the Sound. My hair was a complete disaster.

All that was worth it though.

Ladies, I about pee'd ma pants when we saw land this morning! After more than two days of seasick-inducing cruising through the Tasman Sea, I have never been so happy to see land.

We are officially in New Zealand, yay! A full 13 hours ahead of GMT. That means a new day starts in NZ when it's 6am in DC. Japan may be the Land of the Rising Sun, but New Zealand greets everyday before anyone else (in a major country, that is) -- including the Japanese.

From our daily Cruise Compass:

SUNRISE:: 06:16 | SUNSET:: 21:04
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Showers, 55°F (13°C)

Be prepared to get breathless and awestruck as you cruise this remote route through New Zealand's dramatic Fjordland. Milford Sound remains an unspoiled beauty dominated by the famed Mitre Peak and marked by pristine waters that mirror the sheer granite peaks surrounding them. Doubtful Sound was named by James Cook as he was doubtful that he could squeeze his ship through. (Don't worry, we fit!) It is a popular spot for seals, crested penguins and bottlenose dolphins, so keep your eyes peeled and your cameras ready. Dusky Sound finishes off our trio of wonderful sights today. Amazing.

True to the forecast, it was rainy, cloudy, misty and foggy as we entered Milford Sound this morning (as it is every other day). The inclement weather made it less dramatic but it was no less impressive. We spent two hours going into the Sound, turning around and then coming back out again. Initially, we were up on the top deck (Deck 11) so that we could have a panoramic view of the Sound but we realized it soon got too cold and too wet. So all of us huddled back into our Suite's balcony -- alternating between warming up inside and braving the cold outside -- and watched the magnificent mist-covered view go by.

Steep mountain sides that plunge into the Sound, dozens of waterfalls, U-shaped valleys, hanging valleys, shimmering icy lakes, beech forests and towering snow-capped mountains... they were all on proud display like the set of Jurassic Park meets Lord of the Rings.

Jaw-dropping scenery!

Our Suite is on the port (left) side of the ship which, throughout our time in NZ, will have a view of the NZ coastline as we hug the coast from the South Island to the tippy top of the North Island before crossing the Tasman (ugh) back to Sydney.

Right now, we are hauling ass towards our next destination -- Doubtful Sound -- as we pass by the mist-covered and mountainous coastline of the remote south-western corner of New Zealand. It says here it will take us about 4 hours to get there.

Stay tuned! @ 09:25 Milford Sound

November 14, 2007

[chinky san diego] I just sent Jason a text and told him I was sending it from the middle of the ocean between Australia and NZ...

Jason:: Hot. Tinkle. Enjoy your trip. Been reading parts of it. Where in the world is chinky san diego. Lol.

ROTFLMAO!

Dinner... is served! @ 19:43 GMT+13

[rough and tumble] Confucius say he who run on treadmill on ship swaying in rough seas will fall off.

And everyone will stare. @ 19:41 GMT+13

[milford bound] I am super-excited about getting my first glimpse of New Zealand tomorrow; beginning with Milford Sound at 8am, followed by Doubtful Sound at 1pm and finally Dusky Sound at 3:30pm. The Rhapsody is scheduled to spend an hour in each Sound without docking.

Milford Sound, as we all know, is a fiord/fjord. OK, backup. What are fjords? During the cooler past of the Ice Age, glaciers from the Southern Alps -- crowned by the 3,754m/12,316ft-high Aoraki/Mt Cook -- carved many deep, long, narrow landscapes with steep sides, waterfalls, U-shaped valleys, hanging valleys, shimmering icy lakes, beech forests and towering snow-capped mountains. These geographic features are now flooded, of course, and have become estuaries.

Located in the 12,500 sq km (4,830 sq mi) Fiordland National Park (largest in NZ) in the south-western corner of the South Island, Milford Sound is also the most famous tourist site in NZ even as Doubtful Sound is larger, deeper and has more and longer branches. The Fiordland region, btw, is uninhabited.

Milford Sound is relatively small as it only runs 9.3mi (15km) inland from the Tasman Sea. It is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1200m/4000ft+ on either side; including The Elephant (1517m/4977ft), and Lion Mountain (1302m/4271ft). Milford Sound, with a mean annual rainfall of 6831mm (269"!), is the wettest place in NZ and one of the wettest in the world. On average, it rains every other day in the Sound. Because of how wet it is, there are lush temperate rain forests clinging to the mountains in this region! Cool, huh?

I can't wait to see the Sounds tomorrow. I hope to also catch glimpses of the famous Helena Falls and Browne Falls in Doubtful Sound.

Super-excited!

p.s. Near Milford Sound are locations used to film some of the scenes of the Argonath (The Gate of Kings) in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. @ 11:10 GMT+13

[the bitch] We are on Day 5 of our cruise and the second day at sea as we cross the Tasman, and I slept 11 hours last night, woohoo! Actually, it's only ten since we sprung forward again at 2am this morning to catch up with NZ time. Bizarre. On the way back to Sydney at the end of next week, we will fall back in two 1-hour steps which means we gain two hours of sleep, yay!

The Ozzies and the Kiwis call the Tasman Sea the "ditch" (I have no idea why), but I call it the bitch! It has been quite a rough journey so far. The waves are HUGE out here! And the winds are quite strong causing the ship to sway back and forth so much it's hard to walk in a straight line (unless you're drunk). And y'all already know how prone I am to motion sickness so I have been popping Dramamine for the past day or so which makes me incredibly groggy and bitchy. That's why I call it the bitch! Plus, the winds make the high 60s air temperature seem way colder. Stank.

The food on this cruise has been so-so. Dinner, in particular, has been slightly disappointing. Perhaps I'm a little bit more (OK, a LOT more) discerning now than I was 6 years ago, but it just seems like the food and the service is bit of a yawn. We had a casual night on Day 3 featuring, well, forgettable food, and a smart casual night last night featuring Venetian cuisine. The choices are somewhat unappetizing and not very thrilling.

Breakfast and lunch are buffet-style by choice. You can eat those meals in the formal dining room if you want but I can't imagine having multi-course meals three times a day! The buffets have been so-so as well. I was hoping for more Asian delicacies like sushi and noodle soup but there's none of that. They do have *some* Asian food but not nearly enough variety to sustain me for two weeks. I can't eat two weeks of scrambled eggs and bacon!!

I also feel nickled and dimed on this cruise. No surprises there but seriously, do they really have to charge me for fresh OJ to the tune of $4?! I guess I could suffer through the boxed stuff but it's just annoying that they have to charge for fresh OJ.

Regardless of the quality, one thing is for sure -- there is no lacking in the quantity department. We have a different dining schedule everyday. Check out today's:

The breakfast buffet is served from 06:30 - 11:00. The lunch buffet is served from 11:30 - 15:00. The sit-down multi-course dinner is served from 18:00 - 23:00. Snacks are available from 07:00 - 02:00. You can have all your meals/snacks in multiple locations. All that, plus you get 24-hour free room service!

I have been onboard a little more than two days now and I am already officially tired of eating. I am gonna have to figure out an exercise regimen to keep the pounds off.

Due to the roughness of the sea, the outdoor pool and the indoor hot tubs are open. The indoor pool and the outdoor hot tubs are closed. I wish the outdoor hot tubs stayed open as it's always cool to soak in hot water when the air temperature is cool. Plus, you get to watch the scenery (ocean, ocean and more ocean) pass you by.

My mom, Tony and I had a fun little hour-long spa session yesterday, complete with sauna and steam room and all that goodness. We also checked out bingo (don't ask) and participated in an Olympic trivia thingie (we came in second, boo). I cannot even begin to tell you all the activities that are onboard at any given time of the day. Today we have more bingo, Rhapsody's Got Talent (kinda like Cruiseship Idol), family karaoke, lots of seminars and workshops, ping pong competitions, bridge lessons, ballroom dancing lessons, bingo, bingo and more bingo (the old people looooove their bingo), a texas hold'em tournament, ball games (not the type that I like), lots of trivia challenges, massage and acupuncture classes, wine tasting, rock climbing competition, champagne hour, motown music hour, gameshows, etc. Plus, a headliner showtime before dinner (for 8:30pm seating guests like ourselves)! All that's just for today!! And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

One can choose to relax all day (me!) or one can stay busy all day doing everything.

Anyho, we haven't been on land for about 40 hours now and we won't for another 45 more. I am going to be so wobbly when we get off at Dunedin!

And no, I am not contemplating breakfast this morning. @ 10:12 GMT+13

November 13, 2007

[hobart] We did manage to eventually spend a quick 2 hours in Hobart after we had sorted out our embarkation and immigration stuff (let's not forget the buffet lunch onboard).

What can I say about Hobart... I have never been this far south (43°S) ever -- Cape Town and Sydney are both at 34°S. We will top (bottom?) that when we get to Dunedin which is just a hair farther south than Hobart. We didn't get to see the Tassie Devil. We didn't do much really, but walk around the harbor (it's pretty but nothing compared to Sydney) and shop a bit (for sunscreen and insole support). Hobart was a yawn. WAY too provincial for me. I guess all the pretty stuff is outside of the city; like Port Arthur, Mount Wellington, the wineries, the wildlife parks, etc.

I can now say I've been to Tasmania. And I probably won't come back :-) 07:50 GMT+12`

[onboard and onward] Yes, it's quite early in the morning. I am still a little jet-lagged. Last night was only our second night in this timezone so hopefully we'll adjust pretty soon. Nothing a spa session can't fix (we're getting one at 5:30pm today, yay!) :-)

At 2am this morning, the ship's clocks sprung forward by an hour in a two-step process to switch from Aussie time to Kiwi time (2 hours ahead). It's quite bizarre to lose one hour of sleep for no apparent reason. I guess it's better than the shock of losing two hours of sleep upon our arrival into NZ. Couple the lost hour of sleep with my state of jetlaggedness and I'm pretty tired this morning. Good thing we have the next two days out at sea to relax.

Oh, I just found out that the ship's clocks will be sprung forward by another hour tonight/tomorrow morning. Woohoo, another night of lost sleep!

We arrived onto the ship yesterday morning and were surprised to see both sets of parents waiting for us; they had just finished their shore excursion in Hobart. Oh, back up. Partly due to 9/11 perhaps, we encountered four (or more) ID checkpoints and jersey barriers and metal detectors and just a ridiculous amount of security as we were trying to board. I don't recall facing this much security when we last cruised 6+ years ago in Alaska. It was insane, especially the jersey barriers that separated the ship from the dock as if to repel any car/truck bombs being driven into the ship...

Oh... Now I see why they need those barriers.

There she is!

Once we got onboard, everything went pretty smoothly. My first impressions of the ship is, well, less than favorable. It's a little rundown, to be honest. I think the ship is about 10 years' old but still. The level of maintenance is just not up to what I expected it to be.

As with most non-Caribbean cruises that run longer than a week, this ship is like a floating retirement home (on the plus side, there are almost no kids onboard, yay!). Nah, it's not that bad. It's quite an eclectic mix of international peeps and a broad age range; heavily tilted to the upper end, of course. The vast majority of the cruisers on this voyage are from Anglo-Saxon countries -- US, UK and Australia. There is also a sizeable Asian contingent. Coupled with the fact that 70% of the crew is from mainland China and the entire ship is crawling with Asians. My ultimate nightmare, right? ;-)

We are sharing a two bedroom Royal Family Suite with my parents, and Tony's parents are in a balcony cabin next door. Yup, we are sandwiched between both sets of parents. For two weeks. Oy!

[L] The hallway leading to our suite mid-ship on Deck 7 - Room 7102!
[R] On the left is my parent's bedroom and the right, their bathroom

[L] The living room; and [R] Our room!

The Suite itself is fairly large, though not nearly as spacious as the cavernous suite that we had on our Alaska cruise. The furniture is very dowdy and, like the rest of the ship, the upkeep is subpar. But all in all, it's spacious, we have fluffy robes/slippers, there is a nice little balcony and it certainly isn't tragic.

The rest of the ship is fairly familiar if you've been on a cruise before - a soaring 6-level Centrum, a multi-level formal (and beautiful) dining room and theater, about 10 bars/lounges/public areas, a casino, shops, indoor/outdoor pools and hot tubs, a rock-climbing wall (!), a disco that is suspended over the ship, 24x7 all-you-can-eat food service, etc. We also have seriously expensive wi-fi at $0.33/min (but not in the rooms *pout*) and cell service! I don't even want to know how much the cell service costs but I can get text messages (and work e-mail, ugh) while I'm out here in the middle of nowhere and that's a Godsend ;-)

Our Suite is located in a super-convenient location mid-ship and spitting distance from the Centrum. Two floors up is the Solarium (indoor pool/hot tub), spa and fitness center. One floor down is the wi-fi area and two floors down is the dining room.

The array of activities everyday come in the form of a "Cruise Compass". Today is Day 4 and since we're at sea, the newsletter is mind-bogglingly long.

I'd share more but it's yoga time! Lates... @ 07:49 GMT+12

[good morning...] ...from in the middle of nowhere :-)

We steamed out of Hobart last night at exactly 6pm to the blasting of the ship's horns and the melodious (to some) and piercing (to others) sounds of bagpipes from the local band. It was quite a unique and wonderful send off as we depart Australia for New Zealand. For the next 60 hours, the Rhapsody of the Seas will gracefully cross the 1,250-mi-wide Tasman Sea from Tasmania to New Zealand.

Quick lil' factoid: The Tasman Sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, the first recorded European to encounter NZ and Tasmania. And I have no idea how he crossed the Tasman without getting seasick coz even with stabilizers, this gigantic ship is rocking from side to side pretty wildly.

Cruising at an average speed of 22 knots (25.3mph), it will take us about 2+ days to get to NZ. Our first stop -- but not port of call -- in NZ is the world famous Milford Sound on Thursday (15th) at 8am.

It may sound boring to be stuck on a cruise ship (with your parents and your in-laws!) for the next 2+ days but truthfully, I am quite psyched that I get to decompress and relax as we cross the Tasman and not have anything to do but be sybaritic and enjoy every amenity (and there are tons!) this gigantic ship has to offer.

Oh, and EAT! @ 07:18 GMT+12

November 12, 2007

[DAY 3 - HOBART, AUSTRALIA] From our daily Cruise Compass:

SUNRISE:: 05:42 | SUNSET:: 20:06
TODAY'S FORECAST:: Partly Cloudy, 69°F (21°C)

Sitting pretty off the South East corner of Australia, Tasmania presents an endless supply of outdoor adventure. With over a third of the landscape covered with national parks and World Heritage wilderness areas, it's no surprise nature-loving Aussies head here for a taste of tranquility. The island is also home to one of the world's best beaches and tons of aboriginal creatures such as the short-beaked echidna, little pygmy and yes, the Tasmanian devil himself. And no outing to Taz is complete without a treak up to 4166ft/2170m high Mount Wellington, so slip on your walking shoes and pack your binoculars as the views are simply out of this world!

@ 23:01 Hobart

[seaman] We were interrogated by both the New Zealand AND the Australian immigration officers yesterday *giggle*.

OK, it wasn't that funny but in retrospect, well, it is! Upon our departure from Auckland, we were pulled out of our seats on the plane and led to the jetway, and had to explain our whole bizarre itinerary to the NZ officials before they let us take off. Nary an apology from the NZ immigration guy. That got my blood boiling, which was a harbinger to our next confrontation.

Upon arrival into Sydney, we were interrogated again at the immigration counter. Right, I guess it *is* a little bizarre to have landed in Sydney earlier in the morning only to turn around and fly to Auckland AND back before finally clearing immigration in Sydney that same night. It might sound like we were smuggling drugs or some shit like that but, in my mind, I didn't do anything wrong and I didn't enter their countries so why should they care right? Add fatigue and an I'm-so-over-this-BS mindset to the mix and it was a lethal concoction of snootiness, my-shit-don't-stink and holier-than-thou attitude on my part towards the Aussie immigration officials. Tony thought we were gonna land in jail, LOL!

AIC = Aussie Immigration Chickiepooh

I am sufficiently pissed at the interrogation at this point that I refused to give more than one word answers...

AIC:: Where did you just come from?
Me:: Auckland
AIC:: Why are you here?
Me:: Holiday
AIC:: Where are you going?
Me:: The hotel
AIC:: After that?
Me:: Hobart
AIC:: What will you be doing there?
Me:: Getting on a cruise ship
AIC:: Are you a seaman?
Me:: [WTF look] *CRUISE* ship
AIC:: Oh... are you working on a cruise ship?

Um, no she so eff-ing diin't just say that.

At this point, I turned to Tony and gave him that, "if you don't tell her to shut up I'm going to shit a panda and slap her with it" look. I don't know which part of that convo made me more indignant - that she suspected I was up to no good or that she thought I worked on a cruise ship! The nerve.

I guess if they were just a tad smarter, they would be doing something better than terrorizing innocent people at the border. Or assume that I *served* people on a cruise ship!!

Skank. @ 10:24 Sydney/Hobart

[wishful thinking] We are (un)comfortably seated in Row 14 on our virgin Virgin Blue flight from Sydney to Hobart this morning. After flying business class on three different airlines over the past few days, it comes as a complete shock to be sandwiched in Economy cramped-seats-with-crying-babies hell. Oh well, it's only a 90-minute flight. I'll live.

Our flight hugs the East Coast of Australia as we head due south today towards the southern tip of the island of Tasmania. Our departure this morning afforded us a sensational view of Sydney's amazing vertical skyline crowned by the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, the spectacular harbor glistening under a cloudless blue spring Southern Hemisphere sky, the golden sands of Sydney's most famous beaches literally at the city's doorstep, and the city's leafy and wealthy suburbs spread out like an ocean of good living surrounding one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. With a climate to match too.

Looking down at the breathtaking beauty of Sydney this morning, one can almost relate to the familiar phrase: "After you have lived in Sydney, how could you live anywhere else?"

When I first came to Sydney 12 years ago on the eve of my departure to the UK for Uni, it was my third trip ever overseas; but also my first on my own. I had been to Bangkok (with family) and Tokyo (with the Malaysian government... don't ask *grin*), but my first impression of Sydney back then was "Wow!". Clean, orderly, and jaw-droppingly scenic, it was unlike any place I had been to at that time and I quietly dreamt then (and perhaps now) that I will someday get to live there.

It would certainly be far closer to my parents than where I am now.

Anyho, wishful thinking aside... We are now so close to rendezvousing with our cruise ship I can almost picture myself unpacking my ginormous suitcase (2 weeks' worth of clothes!) and not repacking again for the next two weeks.

I am so over flying. I am ready for some cruisin', baby! @ 10:09 Sydney/Hobart

[good morning sydney!] The sun rose at 5:45am this morning and it's already a brilliant 60° in Australia's largest city.

I wish I had a picture of the view outside our window to put on here for y'all to see, but we're at the airport hotel and we're overlooking, well, the airport.

Eight hours of rest later, we are off to Hobart on Virgin Blue in less than 2 hours to catch up with the Rhapsody of the Seas. The weather in Hobart is sposed to hit 66° today.

A great start to our South Pacific vacation! @ 07:17 Sydney

November 11, 2007

[34 1/2 hours] I have never been so happy to see a hotel bed in my entire life. Zzzzz... @ 21:25 Sydney

[3 hours in auckland] Here we are in Auckland, New Zealand. Another flight, another destination, another timezone, another airline lounge.

The Emirates flight that brought us here from Sydney met expectations. The lounge was beautiful, the food onboard was amazing, the inflight AVOD entertainment system was magnificent (I watched Fantastic Four 2!) and the amenities were all there. The plane was a little old so we didn't get the new lie-flat seats. The service was also marginal. But it was a good experience nonetheless.

[L] Looking east towards Sydney on takeoff
[R] The stunning beaches of Sydney's Pacific coast; including Bondi

[L] Lunch onboard the fabulous Emirates
[R] Tony pigging out on veal shank, yum

We are now in the GMT +13 timezone (18 hours ahead of EST!), comfortably seated in the Qantas Club Lounge in Auckland's International Airport, and awaiting our next flight out on Qantas back to Sydney. One last flight and we're done, yay! I can't wait.

Our Qantas 767 back to Sydney

Just so you know, I cannot possibly eat another morsel of food! Good grief.

I'm looking forward to dinner on our flight back :-D

Anyways, Auckland's airport has only one runway. Mmm-hmm. The airport for the largest city in NZ served 12mn passengers last year. That's a pretty tiny figure until you realize that 70% of NZ's international travellers come through this airport. It is also the second largest airport in the South Pacific in terms of high-yield international passengers (after Sydney).

To put into perspective how remote NZ is... The closest international destination to NZ is Sydney -- a 3-hour flight away. This place really is out in the middle of nowhere, hiding in a little corner of the Pacific. So it was a little puzzling that the security peeps interrogated us just now as we were going from the Emirates to the Qantas gates. I mean, we weren't even entering the country so why should they care, right?

They wanted to know where we came from, where we were going; at which point they got completely confused as to why we would fly all the way from Sydney to Auckland just to go back. We had to explain the whole "the fare was far better going to Auckland than it was to Sydney" and they mumbled something about how everybody would prefer to come to Auckland anyway. Then we had to give them a rundown on our cruise and how we were going to Hobart to meet it before coming back to NZ, at which point they got all ruffled and were like, "you're coming back to NZ??"

Good Lord.

Then they wanted to see our flight tickets out of NZ and we had to explain to them that our cruise would take us back to Sydney. And THEN they wanted to see our flight tickets out of Sydney. I'm like whatever at this point. Then the X-ray person chastised me for not pulling out the liquids from my bag (um, they only asked for my laptop) and finally, the Qantas Club lounge Nazi gave me attitude about wanting to check-in at the lounge. She forced us to go all the way back out to the heathen... I mean, transit area and check-in at the transfer desk. When I asked if we could leave our bags while we go accomplish that task, she sternly said no.

Needless to say, hell hath no fury like a gaysian inconvenienced. When we got back to the Club after getting our boarding passes -- a non-trivial process through this labyrinthine and poorly-designed airport -- I literally shoved the boarding passes in her face and gave her 'tude back, mmm-hmm. I ain't putting up with rudeness. If this lounge didn't have free wi-fi, I would've stormed out. Yes, it's all about free internet, LOL!

What happened to all the friendly kiwis that people are talking about??

OK, I'm just cranky. We've been flying and/or transiting now for, like, 31+ hours. It will be at least 6 more hours before my head hits a pillow that's not on an airplane. Our flight boards in a little over an hour. Time to go... shopping! @ 16:49 Auckland

[reformasi] Wow. These *very* rare pictures coming out of Kuala Lumpur:

I have never witnessed a single public protest in Malaysia in the entire 17 years that I have lived there. In the US, it seems like it happens every 17 days.

Shocking pictures indeed. Check out this video:

@ 09:02 Sydney

[embarrassing] There is only one word to describe the buffet breakfast spread in the Emirates Lounge here in Sydney's Kingsford Smith International Airport: Embarrassing.

As in an embarrassment of riches! Holy shit. Wanna know what $100/barrel of oil buys you? Veuve is the default champagne. Yes you read that right. And all the top-shelf liquor, wine, beer, champagne, water, soda that you can drink. What happened to Muslims not being allowed to drink, right?

And the breakfast buffet? OMB! The most amazing quiches and tarts with TDF breakfast delicacies in them. No messy or runny scrambled eggs, overcooked bacon/sausages, or frozen smoked salmon. And there are showers too, which I will take advantage of in a few. In one word, this lounge is AWESOME.

View of our plane from the lounge

While I'm here luxuriating in this lounge that puts the RCC (or any lounge in the US for that matter) to shame, Tony is out battling immigration, baggage claim and customs. Our bags will stay here in Sydney and he is out to ensure that happens while we go off on our round-trip to Auckland. You should've seen the puzzled looks I was getting from the Emirates check-in ladies here when I told them I would be coming back to Sydney today and I have no checked luggage. It was quite priceless.

I feel like pigging out on the smoked salmon + creme fraiche or the scrambled eggs + bacon tarts. They have tons of other tarts as well, not to mention a huge spread of cereal, pastries and dessert (for breakfast??). But I shan't. I want to enjoy my lunch onboard Emirates i.e. I must practise self-restraint now.

It will be good practice for the 2-week diet-busting cruise that's coming up!

It is a beautiful 61° now in Sydney, heading towards 70°. It is a beautiful day to fly! @ 08:31 Sydney

[22 hours] We are currently just off the