brett leaves asia

That's right. Time for a new continent.
And I choose....New Zealand. I keep trying to catch up with this Canadian but he keeps evading me like an elusive fish. I arrived to Auckland two days ago and will continue to the Maori town of Rotorua and then on to Wellington, followed by some tramping (hiking) in the southern island. Graham has been in NZ one week and is already down in Wellington, making his way to the south island. Hopefully we'll reunite at some point.

Nevertheless, my last few days in Asia were amazing. It was the Thai New Years, and they certainly know how to celebrate. I met up with some old friends from Chiang Mai as we joined in the festivities of the Water Festival.
The city of Chiang Mai is surrounded by a huge moat, and the entire town is out on the streets for a full week from sunrise to sunset drenching each other. They're pulling buckets of water out of the river, using water guns, hoses, anything they can find to keep everyone completely soaked. The fire trucks come out and spray everyone in the streets. The roads are full of people in taxis and trucks throwing ice water at those on the streets. Its a scene of chaotic flooding that goes on for blocks!

Take a bite out of that, chew it up and swish it around in your mouth for a little while...how does it taste? If its the taste of uninhibited, childlike, joyful rivalry and revelry, then you got the idea.

After Chiang Mai I made my way back to Bangkok for a day or two to catch my flight. They celebrate New Years a little differently in Bangkok. Since there's no moat (and no clean water) in Bangkok, they use some type of white powder that they mix with water to create some gooey cream and then continue to get it all over each other. The streets are packed with white gooey people who wipe this junk all over you. I spent one day enjoying it, but the next day I had to catch a taxi to the airport. They close the streets for all these people walking through, so there were no taxis!
I had to walk for half an hour to get to an open street with my backpack on. All this walking was through the jam-packed maze of gooey people who had no qualms about wiping the cream all over me and my bags.
So I finally get to a taxi and arrive to the airport caked in a white body suit. It was quite a sight for the airline attendent who checked my baggage.

Auckland has been quite a change from my 3 months in Asia. I feel like I'm in Europe with this big, beautiful, industrialised, clean, friendly city on the ocean. I was offered a job working in a Tex-Mex restaurant today, but unfortunately I don't think I can start rolling burritos full-time...yet.

I'll update further on New Zealand when I can. Until then, I'll continue chasing down the Canuck.
Cheers,
Brett

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