2 February 2001, Hi Everyone!!!
I know I have been extremely slack and I do realize this is my second email so far - there is just so many things to see and do, and people to talk to…so sitting in front of the computer is the last thing I feel like (reminds me too much of doing my thesis!!)As for my trip so far, I am absolutely having a ball.
Israel: I think last time I wrote from Israel and had just finished my visit with my friend efrat and the hikes in the southern desert. I then stayed with my other friend in Israel, Nisu. We drove up north (yes I got to drive a car on the opposite side of the road in peak hour in tel Aviv where its the loudest horn which allows the car to push in front of you. I have never concentrated so hard in my life – it was exhausting!!! Nisu and I drove up north and did a 5-6 hr hike through Ein Giedi which is a beautiful hiking area full of stony and bushy mountain ridges with ample small and large rock pools and waterfalls along the way. The view was gorgeous from the higher grounds (blue skies, lake in the background, and green valleys and mountains/ridges surrounding us). Then we drove to beautiful lake Kenneritt (Israel’s largest water supply) and had lunch. We stayed with Nisu’s friends high up in the mountains!! I also lost my camera (my mum's... oops sorry mum!!!). We spent the next day driving to some sulphuric warm springs which smelt like rotten eggs and looked around in the zoo they had there - all very interesting, it also had some old roman ruins at this place. Then next day we drove to Jerusalem and spent the morning going to a historical lecture/time machine show which taught you about the history of jerusalem/israel - there is so much I didn't know. Then we went on for a walk through the Old City in which nisu took me to the Jewish quarter only. Very interesting and the architecture inside is traditional and old style – beautiful!!!, we also walked to the Wailing Wall where men and women were separated for saying their prayers near the sacred wall.
London: The next day I flew to London where the temperature plummeted to about 2 degrees and there was snow on the ground on my arrival. I stayed with my friend Julia and met up with my aussie flatmates Jen and Darryl who were also staying there!!! During my London stay we did heaps of walking and pretty much played the tourist role very well by walking to Buckingham palace, we saw the changing of the guard (boring and pompas ceremony), St. James palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar square, Piccadilly Circus, St.Pauls cathedral, London Tower, Tower of London, London Dungeon, West-Minister Abbey (very beautifully designed and built with immaculate stained glass windows in it), I went on a ferry ride down the Thames river, and saw lots of other sites. I just walked everywhere and caught the tube to all places(very efficient underground system). I found it very cold and longed for warmer climates.
France: Then I flew to France. To state the basics, it definitely helps to know French in France.... a very simple and logical idea but it never occurred to me to remember my grade 8 French classes for this very occasion!!! What a nightmare – I found some very rude and arrogant French people (if you don't know French) and some friendly French people who were genuinely nice or were only friendly if you were dripping with money)!! That definitely wasn't me so I got the lower end of their hospitality. Similarly to London, I did heaps of walking and walked to the Eiffel tower (just tall and huge lumps of steel all put together in this decorative, stylish and sturdy fashion. Beautiful views (360*)from the top - just immaculate at night with the lights. By the time I got up there (waited 5 hrs in the freezing cold tornado type winds while lining up) I think I lost an ear to frostbite!!! I also walked to the Louvre Museum, Notre Dame cathedral, the Opera house, Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysee, and saw small palaces and other parks and buildings on the way. Most of France had very old style buildings - you just step back in time… just beautiful.
Mexico: Then on to warm Mexico where I got to defrost!!!. I wish I bought the ear plugs off the plane to stick up my nose!!! The smell of Mexico City was a shock to my system!!. Think about vegies and scraps just putrefying in the sun and you have the aroma of Mexico City. I went to the anthropological museum of Mexico (apparently the biggest and best one in Mexico and it looked at all the historical artifacts of the various cultures within Mexico over the past 100’s of years!!! It was very interesting to see that people did live without electricity and TV!!! When we started the tour I met a great bunch of girls (yep, one crazy fun lovin' yank called Jean!!) on the tour from all over the world. Most had a sense of humour and a thirst for adventure so it was great. WE got to visit isolated and tourist beach locations – I loved the off-the-beaten-track beach campsites, they were the best, just so untouched (although in these places the toilet/shower amenities were ‘untouched’ in the same way!!! We did however have running water for showers!!! WE also drove through little country hillside villages where the streets were cobblestone, they curved like snakes, and were as narrow as the width of one car, and had brightly decorated shops with vibrant yellows, pinks, greens, and blues, and ALWAYS loud blaring music. In one place we stayed at Taxco we had immaculate mountain ridge views as our motel was wedged on a mountain side so if you looked over the balcony it was a good 80m drop. If you were even more lucky, you could have a pet donkey heeing at your window in the morning- what a unique alarm clock!! Of the places we went to, we visited taxco where it was a silver city(cheap silver jewellery), saw a mummy museum at guanajuato (with lots of dead bodies in it), we did a 8hrhike up/down a volcano (fantastic), and lots of other stuff like rock climbing, jet boat ride, tequila factory tour in the town of Tequila where it was originally made, and watched men dive off cliffs at Acapulco. I loved all parts of Mexico but especially the rural parts where the air was cleaner and not so populated!!
Vancouver: Then onto Vancouver to meet my aussie friends Tracey and Rael. So far we have walked everywhere in the city to visit gastown (a bloke gassy discovered it, saw a steam clock - yes it runs by steam), walked to Chinatown, walked down the drugs/prostitution street (only saw one guy snorting something up his nose), saw the narrowest office in the world (in the Guinness book of records), walked around the perimeter and all the way through ?Stanely Park (a big park in the city which covers hectares of bush/forest near the city centre), walked to the University of British Columbia, went snowboarding, tobogganing, and tubing (I got to see snow for the first time in my life, its the greatest and doesn't taste too bad either!!.
Seattle: Tracey, Rael, and I all drove down to Seattle to stay with their fantastic Seattle friends (Jackie, Jeremy, and their cuty kids Zed and Zoe). In Seattle city I went up the Space Needle (tall, thin building) and looked at 360* view of the city and Mt. Ranier (it was a bit hazy but it would beautiful on a clear day), and looked at down town shops and visited the famous Pike Markets and of course we have been drinking hot chocolates/coffees from Starbucks Coffee shops (one on every corner). Basically, I have been busy every day and loving it. I will be leaving for Auckland in 2 days and then home in about 2 and half weeks. See ya. Penny
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