http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mksharpe/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mksharpe en-us Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:03:48 +0000 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:03:48 +0000 Xin cho dear readers Hello in Vietnamese sounds like sin chow Its been a while.. but here goes my attempt to catch you up this is forever long and I apologize... but hope you enjoy if you make it to the end As I finally controlled my laughter over the whole name debacle I found myself on a bus headed up to the town of Sapa Vietnam. Adventurous would be an understa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Southeast/Ho-Chi-Minh-City/District-1/blog-523573.html Sabaaidii Hello in Lao As I mentioned before.. minibus bus minibus bus tuk tuk boat and I made it to Laos successfully The first instant youre in a new place has always been weird to me. I was just in Thailand and all of a sudden now Im in Laos. Even going from state to state or county to county etc. its weird. My family used to have races to see who could be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Quang-Nam/Hoi-An/blog-519940.html Hello all Not surprisingly I left out a million things on the last blovel but one thing I really to tell about are the barracudas. On our night dive when you shined your torch on a smaller fish maybe the size of your hand or palm and followed it with the light a barracuda would creep up hover behind it and then whoosh it was gone. Of course I have heard of barracudas Legends http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Luang-Prabang/blog-517474.html After sleeping in the Christchurch airport a quick jump to Sydney and a grueling 9 hour flight amongst loud obnoxious teenagers I landed it to Phuket Thailand. The doors of the plane opened and bam I was hit smack in the face with the heat. I thought I was in heaven until I breathed. I think the best and most polite way to describe the smell is a slight stench. It was extr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Tao/blog-514122.html Since I am still in Kaikoura I really dont have that much exciting stuff to tell ya but I will try my best to clue you in on whats been going on in my little working world. The bakery has been great. I was a little skeptical of the boss man at first but got along with his wife wonderfully. They bought the bakery 9 years ago from a family friend and have been running it without an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Franz-Josef/blog-508627.html Hey It's been a while... but I'm alive and well I have tried to type this thing 2 times each time the internet has messed up and erased most of it... third times a charm.. I hope After dropping Morg at the airport Karlene Jean and I cruised our way once more up to Kaikoura. It is such a beautiful place that I can't seem to stay away from. I stopped at the lookout to admire the mounta http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-496194.html 10 days goes quick Morgan was here and we were on the move Delwynne and I picked her up at the Auckland airport around 9 in the morning. We went back home she was able to shower and recover a little from the long flight. We took a tiki tour around downtown Auckland and headed back home for some lunch. Del was test riding a motorcycle for the weekend.. so Morg and I made us a picnic lunc http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-480371.html Kai Ora or Welcome as they say in Maori.. which I found out can be pronounced like moldy.. as in moldy bread.. so... either mow as in cow ree or mold ee.... either way... HEY I left off with us wandering around the Northern tip of NZ and the horrendous outdoor showers... Did I mention the hike we took was supposed to last max 2 hours but ended up taking about 7 12 haha.. oh well tho http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Mount-Eden/blog-477886.html Hello Hello I have been getting 'heaps' of flack from some of you for not posting more but it's hard Internet is not readily available... or cheap So be patient with me I am trying to keep up with myself as well. Plus I don't want to just write a sentence or two you know I have to go into unnecessary detail.. Soooo... back to what feels like a really long time ago. We were in http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-474806.html Heeey Hey Good rainy day to catch you up a little more up to speed So yet again grab that chair. The last blog said Dec 28 bc thats when I started typing it.. took me a while to get back to a comp eh This is a fresh one We made our way in and around Christchurch to our random girls only hostel. It was something German and I still can't pronounce the name of it but it was by http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-470520.html I thought I was behind last time but this time I am really behind on catching you up Getting overwhelmed with the stuff I could tell you So grab your chair.. this is a long one. We were on our second night of camping in Abel Tasman. The sun doesn't set here until 930ish but we were so worn out from the day and the day before that we decided to call it a night. We were all snuggle http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-463140.html Ok hope you're comfy because I have a lot of catching up to do with you I know I said I'd put a pic of Karlene Jean on the last blog but I completely forgot Oops.. and I don't have my memory card right now because we are getting CDs made.. yes I've already filled 2 SD cards So be patient dear friends.. the pics are coming soonAlright... So... we were preparing to leave Wellington and he http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-460932.html I cannot believe it's already been a month We've been going and going so much that it seems as though we've only been here a few days. I am so sorry that on the last blog I talked about the great pancakes we had and told you to see pic haha well not until I published it did I realize the pic next to it was of the chicken hearts and not of the pancakes. I didn't arrange the pics.. so.. haha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-459724.html Let me start by saying that I do get your comments on here and I love them I don't know if they show up on everyone's or it's just mine. Keep them coming As you know it's hard to respond every time but I do read them every time. We were on our second night of camping in Mount Maunganui main gan oo ee. We were on the beach most of the day and got pretty red on the backs of my legs. The http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-456813.html It's been a while since the last blog but I'll try to catch you up as much as I can I tried to blog a few days ago but it didn't save and I was too frustrated to retype the whole thing. I'll pick up somewhere after the Waipou Forest. It was too long a drive to make it back to Auckland so we picked a random spot on the map called Mangawhai Heads. We pull up to the hostel which was more l http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-456622.html First Eliza is having major issues with her blog. So just be patient while it is under construction also those of you who didn't know.. she is obviously listed under her name but her nickname is margaretthedog so look her up it will be quite interesting to hear two sides of this journey So I left off somewhere around our camping venture. We were warm and cozy until we woke up that http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Mount-Eden/blog-454485.html Hey everyone We bought a lovely little beauty of a car She goes by Karlene Jean and is a Toyota Windom.. which I have no idea what is but looks like an old school LexusCamry mix. She is dark green with a few birthmarks where the paint is chipping. We met up with our Israeli friend Noam sounds like No om who we met at the first sketch of a place where we tried to buy a car and deci http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Russell/blog-453783.html HEEEY Sorry it has been a while.. especially to Mom and Dad since I haven't called in a while. This whole time difference has me a little off kilter with everything relating to home. I don't have time to go back and read what I wrote last time.. but I know many of you are all laughing with us .. so I can't really remember what I wrote about crazy things in NZ. I'll start with the time... http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-453552.html Hey Hey Hey We made it safely to Auckland We left Tuesday Nov. 10. Eliza and her mom picked me up and I quickly realized that I am not as much of an overpacker as Eliza.. amazing. She has 2 serious bags jammed full. My backpack looks like a purse compared to those things. Our first flight from Jackson to Dallas went super fast short layover in Dallas and onto LA. That flight was th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Central/blog-452804.html