Jamie: OK, so what I want you to do – is run as fast you can and jump off that cliff. Me: What?... THAT cliff? *shock in terror* Jamie: Yes. Me:… no, no… I can’t do it… *silently thinking of backing out of this* Jamie: Come on, you need to put more commitment to it. Run, and then jump. Is that man crazy? No, I’m the crazy one. Because I paid that guy 176 NZD to push me off a cliff (it’s already early bird discount price, btw – from original of 199 NZD). It’s New Zealand after all. You’re bound to do something crazy at least once. I admit I don’t have the balls to do skydiving, or bungee jumping. So I chose the “gentler” option – which is Paragliding. Tandem, that is. With ... read more

When I saw pictures of my friends doing glacier hike in Facebook, I’m determined I will do it one day. And then when planning the trip, I realized there is more than one choice. The famous options are: Franz Josef Glacier or Fox Glacier. I googled up view images and see the videos as well – and decided to do the Franz Josef. Why? Well, from what I read – the Fox Glacier requires more bush walking before you’re in front of the glacier itself. Besides, Franz Josef looks bigger. I already set my expectation that the glacier will not be all blue like in the cartoon. From what I saw in the internet, it will actually be dusty grey with dirt everywhere. And indeed that was the case. Well, unless you climb really far up, ... read more

Tour Guide: “So which one is your favorite character in Lord of the Ring? How many times did you watched it? 5 times? 10 times? Me: “Errr…. Sorry, I don’t really watched LOTR… I’m only here to take pictures” *grinning* Tour Guide:”Err…. Well, that’s alright mate… Sometimes we do have people like you joining” *smiling* Another Passenger: “Yah well I saw it like 10 times or so” *obviously a die hard LOTR fan* I was having difficulty finding another activity to kill the time in Christchurch. Kaikoura? Nah, experience is too similar with Akaroa. Hanmer Spring? Nah, don’t feel like jumping to hot pools. Nelson? Too far. I ended up finding this LOTR Edoras tour which happened to be discounted 50% on bookme.co.nz (from original base price of 235 NZD). The irony is – I ... read more

“Ladies & gentlemen, soon on your left you will see Mount Cook range…” – the pilot announced it when our flight almost landed in Christchurch. I immediately try to look for it from the window, and pull out my beloved Canon 7D camera. And there it is! There it is! The (slightly) snow capped Mount Cook is majestically there. I saw it! And not long, after the mountains, the shoreline started to show (is that Kaikoura from afar?). The plane is getting lower and lower, and the field patches started to show as well as the dots of sheeps! Didn’t expect to find sheeps this easy – even before landing! After landing, what I noticed everywhere is the “Amnesty Bin”. Yes, you need to know that New Zealand’s custom is very strict on their bio security ... read more

I woke up in Maywood hotel in Istanbul. Erboy was really much better.... Anyway, I felt that our prayers has been answered. The sky is blue today! The first one in Istanbul during our 9 days trip in Turkey! Timing is just perfect because today is the highlight of this whole trip! Tulip fiesta! We rushed to Emirgan Park where there suppose to be a lot of pretty tulips. Hopefully some has blosomed (as few days ago many tulips are still green and hiding). We took tram to Eminonu, then bus to Emirgan (Buses: 40, 40T from Taksim; 22, 22RE, 25E from Kabataş). It was truly a very long bus ride! We go quite slowly with the traffic jam and all - passing Dolmabahce, Ciragan Palace, Ortakoy, Bebek (seems to be a very hip hangout place) ... read more