San Francisco

I've been trying to put photos on the blog for a while and right now this seems the easiest way. If you click on the first picture (China Town Gate) a new window might open, hopefully, with an album of all the San Francisco pictures.

We are in Auckland again at the moment and today we're going to Rangitoto to climb a volcano, even though the skies look as though they are about to open. It's difficult to get the lie of the land here without going somewhere high.

Last night we had dinner at the Skytower which is apparently the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. We ate at the Observatory which is the buffet restaurant. The food was not so good but the view was spectacular. If you're planning a visit I'd try the revolving a la carte restaurant, Orbit, upstairs.

Tomorrow we set off down the North Island.

Auckland for a day and Fiji

On Friday morning we found ourselves on a bus, it was cold and drizzling, the bus drove on the left hand side of the road and we passed fish and chip shops - no we weren't back in the UK, we were in Auckland, but it sure felt like home.

We only stopped over in Auckland for an afternoon and a night (it had to be less than 24 hours for a round-the-world ticket) but from what I saw of it I really like it. Some sort-of relatives took us to a lovely restaurant for dinner. When you're travelling it makes a huge difference if you have someone who knows the place to show you around and above all the best eateries.

We are now in Fiji, on the main island, in a really cheap but good 'flashpacker' resort. We're definitely getting into the backpacker spirit in our dorm room - no more hotels for us). I'm scuba diving this week and C is surfing.

From the little of Fiji that we saw on the drive to the resort it appears very different from Tonga culturally. The 'Indian' presence is very obvious in the form of both Mosques and Hindu temples. Fiji is ethnically 50% Indian as a result of the endentured Indian labourers who were brought here about 100 years ago ... probably by the British. This has been the subject of major political upheaval for at least the last 30 years but I'm not going to write about that because I don't know enough about it. Suffice to say that we have seen no evidence of it (and there is an ethnically Indian chef in the kitchen)and all the staff have been very friendly.

I have to go and beef up on my diving theory. The next post will probably be from Auckland.

http://picasaweb.google.com/111926669880466215152/Fiji?authkey=Gv1sRgCP_w1MLaqr_FtQE#

Tonga

Good Morning!

Today we are going into the capital Nuku Alofa... because they have good banana cake! This is where the King's palace is (the only wooden royal palace in the world).

The buses here are awesome. Barely road worthy and yet fitted with a thumping bass system. People are very friendly and always offer their seats. The maximum road speed in Tonga is 40 km/hr. Nothing is rushed.

Yesterday we cycled for an hour and a half at mid day to the 'Blow Holes'. We had to go at that time to coincide with high tide when they are the most spectacular. Whilst these sound whale related they are actually natural holes in cliffs that run for at least 2 kms where the tide crashes against the waves and the water initially sprays up through the holes until it bursts over the cliffs. We took some spectacular pictures which I'll put up when I have a faster internet connection.

On Sunday our hosts Sven and Carolina held an Omu. This is when food is cooked in the ground on hot stones which are covered with palm leaves and left for about 4 hours. A similar method of cooking is used for special occasions, traditionally in Tonga on Sundays, throughout the Pacific, including by Maori's in New Zealand. We had chicken and snapper which was delicious. Afterwards Carolina's nieces came to perform traditiinal Pacific dances, including from Tahiti. I think I might have written previously that we had seen similar dances at another resort further along the beach. The evening at our own resort was special because it was more informal, with our hostess's own family

Whale

August is peak calving season for Hump Back Wales off Tonga and about an hour ago we saw a Hump Back and her calf swim passed our beach, just beyond the reef. They were both waving their flippers/fins. Made my day!

Tonga

Hello

I'm a bit behind with posts at the moment and have decided to jump to where we are now and go backwards.

We're currently on the friendly island of Tonga, so called apparently by Captain James Cooke. The Kingdom of Tonga, and it really is a semi-feudal kingdom, is actually comprised of over a hundred islands but we are only staying on the mainland because we have found a fabulous place to stay (see pictures) and because it costs so much to go to other islands and we are having a budget week after the USA.

Our 'resort', Hai'lala Holiday Resort, is run by Sven who is German but has lived in Tonga since he was 14 years old, and his Tongan wife Carolina or Caroline. They have recently moved their resort (including all the plants) from a different area and there are tons of builders, electricians and members of Carolina's extensive family industriously putting in finishing touches. Sven and Carolina are incredibly, genuinely welcoming which is very refreshing after the 'have a nice day but give me a tip' culture in the US.

This week will be quite uninteresting blog wise because we are just snorkelling, reading and generally chilling out. Hopefully you will be able to see photos of where we are though.

It's winter at the moment here and the water temperature is only (!) 24 degrees C. Think pretty cool bath water. I think normal UK cold water is 20 degrees. I have ventured for one snorkel and it was fine once you were in. The New Zealanders here think the water is pretty warm but then they are coming from deepest winter and keep telling us of all the merino thermal vests we will need to get when we arrive in Auckland.

Yesterday evening we went to the next resort along the beach which was hosting a buffet of traditional food and dancing. The dancing was awesome. The boys seem to have the more interesting parts, including the Tongan version of the Hukka (the Sipi Tau I think) as well as performing the Mauri Hukka. One of the girls who worked in that resort performed fire Poi with balls of fire at either end of two pieces of string that she whirled around her and a ten year old boy performed with a baton on fire at either end (I could barely watch).

One dance required audience participation and Charlotte (with camera) made herself very scarce whilst the Tongan dancers made us go up on stage. I'll get her back.

Las Vegas and San Francisco

We have finally set off and if the last 4 days (it seems so much longer) are anything to go by we are in for an amazing trip. Already I've been surprised by how much I liked Las Vegas and the slight disappointment I feel towards San Francisco. But I''ll start at the beginning.

At one point as the aeroplane flew from London to Las Vegas I lifted my blind to see white blobs surrounded by blue. Often when you are so high up it is difficult to distinguish what you are seeing below you, especially if there is no form of human settlement to act as a scale. In this case the appearance of a coastline confirmed our first suspicions. These were iceburgs. I asked the flight attendant about this at the end of the flight and he told me that we flew over the magnetic north pole (but didn't explain why we had taken this route).

As you approach Las Vegas the pilot tells you that the plane is starting its descent yet all you can see below is barren desert. The earth looks like a brown piece of paper that has been balled up and then flattened out again. There are the outlines of long dried up river beds. It seems impossible that any settlement could exist in such an inhospitable place. Then suddenly, very, very shortly before landing there appears the perfect grid of roads and houses that I now recognise as a US city. There are roads that traverse Las Vegas in a straight line and then continue, still in a straight line out into the desert as far as the eye can see. C told me on the plane that there are roads that go straight across the USA and that every so often they have a slight kink to take in the curvature of the Earth. As a European coming to the States you realise that the age of civilisation that you take for granted, especially for example in London or Paris, actually doesn't exist in many parts of the world. Everything looks uniform because it was built at roughly the same time and has never been bombed or had the chance to fall down.

When you step out of the plane in Las Vegas you are instantly aware that you're in the desert. The heat is intense and it's very dry.

We were staying at the MGM Grand and when we checked in I asked for a high floor so we were given the 27th with a spectacular view over... Hooters! If you've never heard of it the name kind of gives away the main theme of this hotel-casino. Unfortunately timing and the formidable freeway between the two hotels prevented us from visiting and getting a T-shirt for C.

Las Vegas Casinos are very strange. Obviously there is the large casino floor, shops, restaurants (including Starbucks and McD's as well as considerably more upmarket eateries) and all with absolutely no natural light. There is nothing whatsoever to indicate the time of day or night.

So why did we like Las Vegas so much? On Wednesday morning we woke up at 6am (jetlag) and were by the pool at 8am. For two daylight starved london students who have been tied to a desk for the past 9 months lying by the pool in Las Vegas, surrounded by palm trees, is, for a day or two at least, pure bliss. A stay in LV is a guarantee of pure sunshine and warmth.

Las Vegas has a monorail that goes between the main hotels, and also internaly linked bridges so that you never have to go down to the main road (the strip). We took the monorail to Bally's which is the nearest stop to the Bellagio where the modern Oceans Eleven was shot. Bally's is itself a casino. There are Casinos in Las Vegas for all pockets ranging from the Bellagio which has Chanel and Prada boutiques within it to "Bill's Steak House and Casino". Actually I didn't go into Bill's so can't judge. The Bellagio has the most incredible Baccarat glass flower roof in it's lobby and a display made of fresh flowers in the shapes of frogs, ladybirds and butterflies. The weirdest casino we decided was Paris. This casino famously has a giant faux Eiffel Tour actually built through it, so that when you go inside you see the tower's feet coming down from the ceiling, and a faux Arc de Triomphe in the parking circle. When you go inside the ceiling of the casino floor is painted with blue sky and clouds and around the edge are little shops like the winding roads of the 6th Arondisement.

After a mere 24hours we had to catch the plane to San Franciso. A lot of the time August in San Francisco feels like living in a cloud. However, at the moment the sun is shining so I'm going for a walk.