Rented a cabin in Queenstown for a week. It was nice to have a home.... read more

Road Trip on the South Island Week 2: Blenheim - visited wineries, most notably Cloudy Bay Kaikoura - camped in a DoC free campsite and swam with dolphins in 17C degree water Springfield - a campsite 35k outside of Christchurch westayed at since Christchurch was not an option Jacksons - Arthur's Pass stop, definitely nicest campgrounds of the trip Greymouth - worst town ever. next. Punakaiki - pancake rocks, this was a day trip Franz Josef Glacier/Fox Glacier - did a glacier walk on the FJ glacier. had dinner with a family from colorado and relaxed in the hot pools.... read more

10 days driving and camping around the north island: Auckland - 2 days in the big city, buying camping gear, enjoying the northern heat, and seeing movies. We ended up buying our tent, Tenty, from another traveler who wanted to sell his camping things. Rotorua - lame. next. Taupo - beautiful lake, free campsite, skydiving (Matt only) Tongariro Alpine Crossing - this was the day of the big Christchurch earthquake. We hiked from 7am to 3pm and learned about the quake thru facebook once we made it to the campsite in Ohakune. Ohakune - carrot-ville. Martinborough - first wine tour of New Zealand. Shubert sauv blanc was a standout. Wellington - The coolest city in NZ. lots of bars and restaurants, beautiful water in the bay and good company. ... read more

Tonle Sap lake is a great hub in Northern Cambodian for both tourism, enjoyment of Cambodian people and culture, as well as a place to lend a hand. There are a lot of places in Cambodia that seem like good places to volunteer, but in fact, exploit the Cambodian people. For example there are tours set up where you can visit an orphanage, help out a little bit, and meet the children. Unfortunately, the money you pay for your trip to the building does not in fact go to the orphanage or to help the children in any way, shape, or form. This corruption has led to some skepticism on a traveler's part about volunteering and difficulty avoiding corrupt volunteer opportunities when one is seriously looking to offer help. Matt did a fair amount of research ... read more

Bangkok was a Thailand hub for us, having visited the city 3 times. Though we only stayed in the city for a total of 4 days, we probably inhaled the same amount of engine exhaust as one inhales in New York City in a month. Trip #1: 10 hour evil layover after flying from San Francisco to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Bangkok. We traipsed around the city from 11am to 9pm, waiting until our overnight bus left for Koh Pha Ngan. We visited Wat Traimit and Khao San Road, in a total haze. I would upload post-trans-pacific flight photos of us here, but they are really just pitiful. Trip #2: A two night stay on Rambuttri (a quiet-er street near the Khao San Road with plenty of tourist friendly amenities) after a 12 ... read more