Milford Sound (It's Actually a Fjord)

We had to get up early to visit Milford Sound! I think we were all excited because we were going to see one of New Zealand’s proudest landmarks. Not many people we know can say they have been to Milford Sound! Anyway, we were excited (and a little sleepy) and ready to go at 7:15 am. Now, I have a bit of an explanation. Milford Sound was misnamed. Milford Sound is actually a fjord, because it was carved by a glacier, while sounds are carved by rivers. However, they did not change the name because it would be a huge confusion for every travel agent ever, as well as the fact that every other sound/fjord was also misnamed! Okay, now that you know that, I can tell the story.

Queenstown and the rest of the South Island is chock full of huge tour buses with names like, “Oceania,” or “KiwiExperience.” We decided we didn’t want to spend 8 hours of time on a bus with 60 million other people. We booked a small group tour called “The Milford Sound BBQ Bus.” We tried it mostly because it had great ratings on Trip Advisor. We climbed on board for a 4-hour journey there and a 4-hour journey back. We had a group of twelve people, two from Canada, two from Minnesota, one from Denmark, and two others (we didn’t really talk to them much so we have no clue where they are from).

We took a number of picture stops along the way to Milford Sound/Fjord. Just before lunch we went to a creek. Our guide said that the creek was so pure you could drink it! So we did, and it tasted really good! It was better than any tap water I have ever had. For lunch, we stopped and had sausage and pasta salad and coleslaw. It was yummy! Then we got back on the bus and drove to Milford Sound/Fjord. Once there, we hopped on a boat and sailed through the windy wet sound/fjord. We got some good pictures and lots of amazing views.

While on the boat, we saw mountains that went straight into the water! The rocks were almost vertical and still has grass and bushes growing on them. We also saw some fur seals! They were hanging out on a large rock in the sun. We also drove right underneath a waterfall… we got soaked! It seemed like we spent an entire day on the boat when we eventually got off, but it also felt like we had just boarded. Milford Sound/Fjord is completely amazing and is a very beautiful place. We took so many pictures and we must go back!

(PS, I think that fjord is my new favorite word.)

Summer Time

I feel like we are in the middle of summer vacation. We watch movies every night, we play in the pool and on the trampoline that is with the rental house, and we eat amazing food all the time. This may seem weird because I am doing homeschool almost every day as well.

I think a large contributing factor to this feeling is the fact that it is summer here. The seasons are switched because New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere. While you guys are getting blizzards we are hanging at the beach. Also, all the kids go shopping and eat ice cream all day long and it feels like everyone is on summer vacation because everyone is!

We also have some friends to hang out with. My dad knows a lot of people around the world, and we meet up with them occasionally and now we live 10 minutes away from some of them! We meet up with them once or twice a week. We have dinner, we play in the pool, we go to museums, and more! It makes you feel like you are back at home. Or, at least it makes me feel like I am at home.

When you haven’t had person to person conversation in forever, it makes you feel really good when suddenly everyone speaks your language, and your parents know people that you make friends with! It is a lovely feeling when you get really excited because PEOPLE ARE COMING OVER!!!

This was mostly a getting-a-feeling-across blog post than a regular here-is-what-I-did blog post.

Motorbike City

When you think about the roads in America, you hardly ever think of motorcycles. In my family, when we were younger, we would shout, “LOOK, A MOTORCYCLE!!!” whenever we saw one. In Vietnam, that seems a little unreasonable since there are over 4 million motorbikes or motor scooters in Ho Chi Minh. I’m not lying, that number is not an exaggeration at all. It is a statistic. Now, there are 9 million people in Ho Chi Minh. That is a lot of people with motorcycles.

There is another thing you can’t forget when thinking about Vietnam’s Motorbike City. People that drive the motorcycles think of themselves as pedestrians. They drive on sidewalks, in between cars, the wrong way on city streets, and in mobs as well. I learned that crossing the street is like playing dodgeball. Except, the balls are motorcycles, and they have a mind of their own. Red lights mean almost nothing. Why stop at a red light? It is easier to move when no one else is going! No one stops for anyone.

While the roads are a mess, the parking lots are worse. Now, there aren’t really parking lots. People park their motorcycles where ever they want and others will follow. If you want to go to a restaurant, you have to try and find a way to climb and weave through motorcycles because they are parked on the sidewalk. Also, unlike Thailand and Cambodia, there are no tuk tuks. If you don’t know what tuk tuks are, they are motorcycles that drive little carriage like things.

That means that if the place you want to go is out of walking distance, you have to call a cab. People in Southeast Asia really only use 5 seater vans. Now, because there is a driver, that means 4 of us have to cram into the back. The order in which we get in is usually Mama, then Tori sits on Mama’s lap, then Gianna, then me. Sometimes, if there is enough room, We squeeze extra tight and Tori and Gianna and I share two seats. I am often wedged against the car door, and if you open the door for me, I will fall out.

However, that is made up for with the amazing food that they have here. Until I went to Vietnam, I thought that Vietnamese food was mainly Pho. Pho is a noodle soup with different meats, scallions, beet roots, different types of broth, and often spicy sauce. It is absolutely delicious. However, people eat it for breakfast too. I don’t mind people doing it, but I don’t like it very much. I was also surprised to hear that Ho Chi Minh is more famous for another food, Bahn My.

I was excited for it because Bahn My is a sandwich with a slightly French influence, and I love sandwiches and French food. How could it possibly be bad? We had been walking earlier and we saw a Bahn My place with a line out the door. When you are a tourist and you find a line for food made up entirely of people from that food’s origin country, you know it is going to be good. So we ventured back to taht place for lunch. Sadly, it didn’t open till two o’clock. So we went somewhere else. We walked into what looked like a McDonald’s style restaurant. Their Bahn My was not good. We decided that we wouldn’t need to go back there.

That night we went to the Bahn My place, and went to eat in our hotel room. It was delicious. It was fantastic. Everybody just ate in silence. But then, “Oh, it’s spicy!” said Tori. I had noticed a little kick in mine but it wasn’t that spicy. I kept eating. Then, something hurt really bad. It burned and burned for six minutes. I was in tears. I had chomped on a raw chilli pepper and it had gotten stuck in my throat. I sobbed because it felt like there was an eternal fire burning in one spot in my throat. I didn’t sweat, and it didn’t make me cough or make my face red, like other spiciness had. Everyone (except Da) immediately took out the raw peppers from their sandwiches. I had already finished an entire coke and a bottle of water. I just sat and cried.

After that event, we watched Forrest Gump, and I finished my sandwich. All was well. Vietnam was quite an experience.