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 Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki As you travel through the country, the New Zealand government has provided funds to develop walking paths and informational signs for many of the more interesting coastal areas and geological features. The ones that we came across were well-signed, provided plenty of parking, had both paved and non-paved walking paths, and either had a series of informational placards or a full-on information center. There was no cost to you unless you gave at the donation box at the end of the walk.
One of the spots we stopped is a few kilometers north of Greymouth—Pancake Rocks. New Zealand is chock full of unusual geological formations and these limestone rocks are pretty cool. They appear to be layered and are quite stunning with a carpet of sea grass and local flora on the top layer of some, while others have pointed peaks that reach up into the sky. The path is on the top of the cliffs, so you are always looking down. There are some stunning views up and down the coastline.
It was a nice walk, a good break from riding in the car, and the weather was warm and sunny. In fact, surprisingly, we realized we should have put on sunscreen. I think we would have even enjoyed the outing more if we had been there at high tide. Apparently one of the big tourist pleasers are the blow holes. We saw where they would come up, but didn’t have the time to stay that long. I think we hit it right at low tide…just our luck.
All we hear about growing up in the United States is the Vietnam War, where our fathers fought. My father did, and I sat in front of the black and white screen of our t.v. watching Walter Cronkite every night waiting for him to mention my dad. He never did, thankfully.
 At any rate, when I started hearing what a wonderful place to visit Vietnam was, I had to go. Call it morbid fascination, but I couldn’t wait. Of course entering any communist country is a little unnerving; at least before you get there. It’s the preconceptions and the unknown that gets you. Once you get your visa stamped and are through customs, you look around and you begin to realize what a friendly people and what a beautiful country it is.
We started in Hanoi and worked our way south. We hit a number of the big places to visit on the way, Hue, Hoi an, Nha Trang, and of course Ho Chi Minh City (still popularly known as Saigon). We traveled by public transportation and since everything was usually in a rather concentrated area, we walked. We took the train from Hanoi to Danang, and then it was a short taxi to Hue. The train had spectacular views. I’ve heard of many people taking the overnight trains as well, but we didn’t quite go that far.
Attractions:
Hanoi – A very provincial city, looking like some old European capital with a certain flair, Hanoi was the perfect place to begin our Vietnam holiday. We did the usual stuff: water puppets, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, temples and markets. All good.
Hue—A wet city, it rained the whole time we were there. The hotel had loads of mold in some of the rooms and at first we feared we would have to find another hotel, but finally the concierge found us a suitable room and we were mollified. Hue is a host to many important sights in Vietnam, a series of which combines to make the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Complex of Hue Monuments. We visited the many areas and found that although the architecture was extraordinary and could have been quite majestic in their day, that at this time they were rather dilapidated. I’m hoping that being named a World Heritage Site and the continuing tourism that accompanies that prestige, that the powers that be will not only maintain the site, but do some much-needed repairs.
My Son is another UNESCO World Heritage Site, located up the famous Perfume River. The only way to get there is to take a day tour, but these are plentiful. The day we went, was one of the drier of the few we were in the Hue area, so it was quite satisfying walking around the temple complex. Everything was very overgrown, and very green.
Hoi an- Yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was much cheerier than anything in Hue. Of course the major draw to this quaint town is the abundance of cheap tailoring. Everywhere you walked, there were tailor shops promising to make you a suit, coat, or any other type of clothing that you desired. And yes, it would be done when you pull out of town. We’ll have it to your hotel before you leave…and they did. What fun to have clothes made for you. Hoi an is a town where a lot of backpackers head and then hang out for awhile and there were plenty of good little hang-outs, all kinds of restaurants and bars.
 Nha Trang- A resort town, Nha Trang is not someplace I would often head to, but the draw here was the little island that you can take a round boat made out of bamboo fronds to a fishing island. We never did find out what the island was called, but it was quaint and riding in the boats were a lot of fun.
We also visited Long Son Pagoda with its gargantuan white Buddha. It was also a home for orphans who would try to peddle their artwork to you. The best part of this was running into a young man who was coddling his prize cock. Boy, was he proud of that bird.
Our final stop was Ho Chi Minh City, which after the countryside and the charm of Hanoi just seemed like a money-grubbing metropolis. I’m sure there is plenty to see here other than the Continental Hotel made famous by the journalists during the war. We dove into the coffee shop out of a torrential rain. One thing we learned, going to Vietnam in December, is that I feel for those poor souls who had to trudge through the Mekong during those downpours.
To sum up our experience this mysterious country fraught with a sordid history that involves my own country, I loved it. Even though the sites were run-down and crossing the street was slightly hazardous, the food was delicious and the people were wonderful I would go back in a heartbeat!
 Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
After a hard and chilly day of visiting the Franz Josef Glacier, warm up at the Blue Ice Restaurant in town. It has it all. There is a bar with a fast food and pizza menu on the top floor (Wednesday nights are Karaoke nights) and on the bottom floor an a la carte menu matched to some superb wines.
I love a restaurant that is friendly and the service is good, but also leaves you alone to enjoy your meal and your company. Somehow the Blue Ice achieved this even though there are not many eating establishments in the town and they were turning people away. We were extremely lucky in that we took the last available table downstairs. The latecomers were relegated to the porch or the bar upstairs. I would suggest making a reservation, if you know when you will be going through.
The prices were not cheap, but not too expensive. If you paired every dish with the appropriate glass of wine, you will be paying for it. I would say the restaurant was worth every penny.
 A Whitebait patty New Zealanders like fish and on the west coast one of their favorite types is called Whitebait. Whitebait is featured in many restaurants and cafes throughout the region. It’s not adult fish, because it is harvested in the November when it is still smelt. We had to try this local delicacy and once again I would categorize it as a “once in a lifetime” experience.
Even though we saw sign after sign advertising this local delicacy, we had a hard time finding it on the menu. As we were turning off of Highway 6 to go inland, we figured that we’d better have it before we left the area from which it became famous.
At high noon, we were driving down the road and saw a sign so we careened through the sharp turn and drove down a driveway to a house. Not a good sign. By the time we actually arrived, we’d figured out that it was probably a fisherman’s house and he was selling raw whitebait, which of course wouldn’t do since we had no cooking facilities and had no idea how to cook them.
Now, not only are we hungry, but we’re getting a little frantic that we might miss out on this opportunity, so we stopped at the very next café which did have whitebait on the menu. I have to say, it sounded a bit pretentious, though, as it was featured on a fancy salad. We passed.
Our next and final try, we drove into Haast where there was exactly one open café. The only whitebait on the menu was a sandwich which cost an astronomical amount of $15. So, we asked the lady if there was any other way to try it and luckily she said yes. For only $6 per patty, we could try one to see if we liked it.
We didn’t.
When the waitress brought it, we were beginning to get skeptical. Basically an omelet filled with whitebait and garnished with a slice of lemon. I like eggs. I like fish. I have decided, though, that I don’t like whitebait.
Yes, we ate it. Yes you should try it. I always try the local foods and especially ones that they are so proud of, so….check!
 Franz Josef Glacier Te Wahipounamu
New Zealand 1 Out of 3 (It’s a Start!)
UNESCO World Heritage Count
As we drove south on the West Coast, one of the main areas we headed to was Westland National Park where Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are located. These two sites are a must-see for many people who have not done glaciers before. You can ice climb, ride helicopters, go on hikes, etc., but honestly I wasn’t that into it since living in Alaska we were really good at doing the glacier thing.
A couple of nice things about this World Heritage site is that you don’t have to pay unless
 I loved the ferns! you want to engage in a guided activity; there is plenty to do here for absolutely free. The other thing is that it is realatively easy to get to. There are buses from all the major jump-offs, so if you are already as far as New Zealand to begin with, I wouldn’t miss this one.
There are tons of hiking paths and the scenery is absolutely stunning!
Yet another post not for vegetarians! (What does this say about me? Am I too obsessed with meat?)
 Cute and tasty! Deer meat. In the U.S. we have a number of men who like to wake up early, put on some bright orange and camouflage clothing, load up their guns and head out to the woods where they hopefully will snag a buck! When they are successful, they butcher the meat, freeze it, give it away, and all this with the intent of eating it. Therefore I believe there are many families that regularly eat venison. I have myself a number of times, since my father was an avid hunter. I even tried going with him one time. Thankfully we did not shoot any cute animals that day, and it was cold and boring, so yeah, another once in a lifetime experience.
Ok, so we’ve established that Americans do eat venison, but do they put it on restaurant menus? If we do, it certainly isn’t very common. I’ve seen it offered on a number German menus, but never in the States. The thing is every single restaurant I went into in New Zealand offered venison in some form. I even came across a place selling venison meat pies. Now, I was well aware that the Kiwis ate lamb, and I wasn’t at all surprised to see beef and even some pork on the menu, but the abundance of venison was a bit of a shock. Then I noticed that there were plenty of sheep farms, sometimes intermixed with the cows, and yes, many, many deer farms. I saw one farm that had a paddock for sheep, next to the cows, which in turn were next to the deer. I have nothing to corroborate this, but I’m pretty sure that no one is dressing up in ugly clothes and waking too, too early to harvest them, so it may not be quite as much fun there, but they do eat it, and according to one guy, “It’s quite nice.”
So, there it is, if you like to eat venison, go to New Zealand. I can tell you, it was tasty!
 Christmas Tree in Dunedin Ok, so being an American, I just expect all westernized countries to go ga-ga during the season. This just doesn’t happen to be so in New Zealand. Watching t.v., you do see some commercials about buying gifts, and there are a few houses that have the token Santa Claus out front, albeit not many. It doesn’t get dark until about 10:00 so there’s no reason to put lights on the houses, and the only things I’ve seen somewhat decorated are the cars. People have put tinsel around their gear racks. I take that back. There are about six garlands hung up as you drive through Dunedin and there is a Christmas tree on the octagon lawn, but that is it.
A few days before Christmas, everyone who talks to you says, “Have a Merry Christmas”, and according to some reports the malls are a mess, but honestly, I haven’t seen it. Today is Christmas, and I’ve only heard a couple of Christmas carols, but all the stores and most of the restaurants are closed. Most. We’ve seen families out swimming, barbecuing, riding bikes, etc. No one is wearing santa hats and only one person was sporting the paper cracker crown. I know they do Christmas dinner in a big way, and I imagine it is a time for family to get together, but all that with no hype. I love it! Can we export this to the U.S.?
Happy Christmas everyone from Jim and me.
*Warning- This post is not for Vegetarians.
 The mosque at Avanos. Last week was Kurban Bayram, which in Arabic is called the Eid-al-Adha or Eid-el-Kebir. This is a religious holiday that celebrates Abraham’s obedience to God. He was told to sacrifice his son, which he was willing to do. At the last moment, after he had proved his faithfulness, the son was spared and instead a ram was sacrificed. Therefore this holiday celebrates a Muslim’s faith.
Today, each head of household is responsible for making a sacrifice. Usually it is a sheep, but it is also often a cow. The meat is shared with the family and neighbors as well as a portion given to the poor. Everyone prepares large meaty meals and it is a time when family and friends spend time together.
We chose not to remain in Ankara during this Kurban Bayram, because it happened to coincide with our Thanksgiving, which for Jim and I means a chance to get out of the city and do some sight-seeing. This time my sister was able to come visit, and we all went to Cappadocia.
One of the reasons we wanted to be out of the city is that there is a law which prohibits the sacrifice within the city limits. Last year, we didn’t even really realize what was going on at all. If you live in Ankara, and don’t travel to the country to be with family, then there are some areas where everyone goes to buy their sheep and have it sacrificed right there, then the family member brings the meat home. This is perhaps more aesthetic, but from what I understand, it doesn’t really have the same feeling attached to it.
At any rate, we wanted to be in a more rural area to see if our experience would be different. For some reason, I expected the sacrifices to be very early in the morning, and since we couldn’t eat breakfast at our pension until 8:00, we didn’t leave the hotel until almost 9:30. As I was standing there talking to Jim and waiting for the others, we were discussing how we still didn’t see any sacrifices. Seconds later I looked down to see a river of blood run right by my feet. The house next to the hotel had just done the deed.
 Dog enjoying bayram. After that we saw many families gathered to butcher the cows or sheep and start parceling out the meat for delivery. Everyone was very friendly and happy. You could tell everyone was working together to get the work done, start cooking, and enjoying being with each other.
Even the dogs enjoyed the day. We saw many enjoying their share. We even saw this one cute small dog that was proudly carrying his cow hoof to a safe location.
Time-Lapse
So, due to my inconsistency getting this blog going, I’ve missed being able to talk about many of the countries we’ve visited over the years. I’m going to start a new feature. It’s a Time-Lapse, which will highlight the places we visited and our thoughts on a place. Tell me what you think of the idea.
 Camel and handler in Petra.
Jordan
We went to Jordan last December for about 10 days, which was plenty since it is such a small country. We rented a car and drove ourselves all around. After living in both South Korea and Turkey, driving in Jordan was quite easy. All the directional signs are in English and in Arabic, and the roads seemed very well maintained. Driving in Amman was a little hairy, but no more so than any other big city where we don’t know our way around.
We found the Jordanians to be some of the friendliest people that we’ve ever encountered. Even though our countries are on two sides of the Palestinian-Israeli issue, not one person said anything negative to us. In fact, since Obama had just been elected if they did bring up politics it was with a jubilant note that things would be changing for the better in their eyes.
The main attraction in Jordan is Petra, of course, and it was stunning! We spent two days there and our favorite times were before 10:30 in the morning and after 3:00 in the afternoon because it seemed that was when the busloads of tourists were not there.
I would suggest buying the three day pass to Petra as there is so much to see and do. The first day we didn’t get too far in because it was in the evening. The light was gorgeous for taking photos and there weren’t too many people there. Although trying to get a photo without a tourist in it was still pretty difficult.
 The Jordanians are some of the friendliest people we've ever encountered. One of the best parts of our Petra visit was hiking up to the monastery. It was a gorgeous walk; the vendors offered to make you cups of tea, and there was a goat herder with his flock at the monastery, so that always makes for great photos.
Jerash – Situated a few hours north of Amman, you can easily have a taxi or car and driver from the hotel take you here on a day trip. The site is a very large Roman area with a colonnaded central area and much more.
Umm al-Rasas- This site is one of the World Heritage Sites, and the big draw were some large mosaics. We went later in the day, and there were no people there at all. One of the guards took us around and shared some stories with us.
The Umayyad Desert Castles – Taking the long road east towards Azraq (180 kms from the Iraqi border) there are a number of desert castles that historians can’t agree what their use was. Some think they were royal retreats, others think they are stops along the way (like a caravanserai) and still others believe they are meant to oversee the crops in the area. At any rate, they are all different. Again, this is a pretty good day trip out of Amman, and well worth it.
We visted two castles which are within 18 kms of each other, Qusayr Amra and Qasr Kharaneh; both were amazing. Qusayr Amra is very small, but with well-preserved frescoes decorating much of the walls and ceilings. It is the main reason the castles are designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites.
The second one, Qasr Karaneh, was very impressive as well, but in an entirely different way. The building itself, even though undecorated was fascinating.
Azraq Fort – This fortress was built in the community due to its location on an oasis. Apparently, the site has been occupied since Paleolithic times. Lawrence of Arabia liked it so much that he made this fortress his headquarters during the Arab Revolt.
Biblical Sites
Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan – The site is right on the river, and on the other side the Israelis have built a similar site. The water was brown and the site was very small.
Madaba- The Greek Orthodox Basilica of St. George located here is very ornate and filled with icons and frescoes as well as the famous Map of the World mosaic. It’s a short stop, but well worth it.
Mount Nebo – Along with some more mosaics, this offers the view of the Promised Land that Moses reportedly saw coming down the mountain. It was amazing how high you felt and how much you could see.
The Dead Sea – It was cold…and expensive! The Jordanians know what they have and they want you to pay dearly to experience it. I would have paid the outrageous cost if I thought I could have enjoyed it for awhile. My friends went and they only stayed in the water 15 minutes. They did say it was a strange feeling, being able to stay afloat as well as they were. I would definitely go if it were warmer.
Red Sea – We did go to the Red Sea and went snorkeling one warmer afternoon. The wind wasn’t blowing quite so badly, and when it did pick up, we left.
The snorkeling was great! We saw many, many varieties of fish and were able to enjoy some interesting people watching as well.
Again this endeavor is pretty pricey, but it was worth it in my opinion.
Amman Citadel - In the middle of the city, on top of the hill, lays the citadel. It has some Roman ruins and is overall a smaller site, but the one real gem is the National Archaelogical Museum. It is small in size, but had exhibits ranging from the Bronze Age.
Roman Theatre – Downhill from the citadel (about a 15 minute walk) is the Roman Theatre, which although small, was well-preserved.
Amman Hotels – Canary Hotel email: canary_h@hotmail.com, phone: 4638353
We were absolutely not impressed with the Palace Hotel mentioned in the Lonely Planet. It was run down and many of the amenities did not work. However, they did have a good tour guide service where you can rent a car and driver to take you to all the sites. The phone number is 4624326 and their website is www.palacehotel.com.jo .
Eating in Amman - Definitely try the Hashem Restaurant. They only serve one thing, falafel, hummus and mint tea. Delicious and cheap. You sit in the alley and it’s a great place to watch people. Address: Al-Amir Mohammed St.
 The fortress in Azraq.
 Temple of Augustus Ankara is an ancient town; it has been inhabited by someone since about 3000 BC. The first to arrive, the Phrygians had a small settlement. The capital of Phrygia was Gordion about 45 kilometers to the west.
It didn’t become a major city until the Celts conquered it in 278 BC. The Galatians (a Celtic tribe) were very influential with the Phrygians and the language of the Celts (a sort of Welsh or Gaelic) hung around for centuries after the Celts had left the city. The only monument that I know of that still exists from this time period is a tomb which, although found while constructing one of the buildings not far from our apartment, was moved to the outdoor museum of the Roman Baths. The Galatians were the first to build a fortress where the Citadel stands today, but what we see was built during the Seljuk period with left over pieces from previous times.
After the Celts came the Romans, and they really made Ankara into a thriving city. The Romans were around from 25 BC until 2 AD. Population estimates for that period are all over the place, but conservative academics think that there were at least 100,000 people at the time. Hidden away in the musty corners of Ankara, aournd the Ulus area, there is still quite a bit of Roman evidence to be found.
 Columns located in the Roman Bath complex. Overall the Roman sites in Ankara are not as impressive as other places in Turkey, but they are here. We’ve visited the Roman Baths, the Roman Theatre, and the, very short, section of the Roman Road which used to lead up to the Temple of Julian.
All of the sites are not far from the shopping in Ulus, so it is easy to spend a day in and around the area, and that’s without even visiting the wonderful museums there.
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