Singapros & Cons

SINGAPROS:

1)The super efficient and easy to use transit system. The underground train was always on time, with clocks at every platform that counted down until the next arrival, and so clean you would've felt comfortable eating off the seats (if they allowed food and drinks on the trains, that is). Our EZ passes allowed us to sweep in and out with no hassle and even made us look like we knew what we were doing. Kinda.
2)Singapore's zoo is quite impressive. They've made significant efforts to afford the animals ample space and create a natural habitat for them. We were entertained by many new creatures that you don't find in Americans zoos too often, a few of our favorites being the mandrills, giraffes, and pygmy hippos.



3)The timing of our visit. Without the many sights and festivities associated with Chinese New Year, Singapore would've received the same dimly glowing reviews from us that we hear from every other traveler. But there was lots of cool stuff going on while we were there, the highlight being the floral festival on Sentosa Island. (There are many pics you can check out in the Picasa folder). The crazy décor covering most of the city enhanced our experience as well. And Jer couldn't have been more stoked that the timing allowed us to catch the qualifying soccer match between Singapore and Jordan.




SINGACONS:

1)The food. I think you got the picture with “The Foodie Rings In” blog post!
2)What a stinky city! Yikes! Singapore seemed pretty clean overall, especially for such a big city. You'd expect that with all of the rules and restrictions though. Speeding = $1000 fine, chewing gum is illegal and = $5000 fine – are you kidding me?!? The fine for littering was crazy too but I don't remember exactly how much. But despite it's tidy appearance, the smells you'd encounter as you walked down the street were truly shocking. It smelled like a mixture of sewer, rotting fish, the Purina dog food factory in Reno, and the mill in Albany on your drive to Corvallis, all baking together in the heat and humidity. I wasn't kidding about the shocking part!
3)Singapore is a pretty expensive city in general, but the cost of beer was astronomical. One bottle of the national favorite, Tiger beer, (which is shit, by the way) was around $13. I think we saw it on happy hour for a steal at $10 each. We're ashamed to admit we passed up an entire country and didn't imbibe a single sip while there but the budget doesn't allow for those kind of prices! We promptly tried Tiger upon arriving in Malaysia to make up for it...and realized we hadn't missed much. And it cost us $4, still quite expensive by the standards we've become accustomed to!

Bali - Cheap shirts and bad squirts

Bali Pros and Cons...

Pros:

1)Everything is dirt cheap! Rooms with attached bathrooms cost us $7 or 8 dollars a night. Meals were anywhere from 90 cents to $5 or so dollars. Large 22oz. Bintang beers cost $2. And all the handicrafts are amazingly affordable....we are now the proud owners of REAL art – 5 paintings for all of about $75 dollars! Which brings me to point number 2:
2)The shopping! Oh man, if we didn't have to carry everything, I would've gone apeshit on this place. I'm already plotting my return trip just for the shopping! The quality of the work is incredible too, and it all costs so little. We got pretty good at bargaining toward the end (you bargain for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING) though we'd still give in a lot. Unlike some tourists we overheard haggling to the death over what amounted to 60 cents, we figured they could benefit from that more than us.
3)The food was all so tasty! We enjoyed trying the local fare and truly loved everything. There are copious rice and noodle dishes on every menu, with variations of chicken, fish, and a variety of veggies tossed in. Coconut milk and lemongrass are common features. We had some amazing grilled fish a few times and one of our faves was the Lillit something-or-other which was spicy grilled chicken bits skewered onto lemongrass sticks. You could find those at the warungs (food stalls) or even just walking down the beach. The smell of them grilling on the little charcoal bbq's was intoxicating! And it seems that everything is served with a side of sambal chili sauce; could it get any better?
4)The people were the most kind-hearted, giving people. I guess living in a tropical paradise does a person's mind and mental health good! Everywhere we went, we were greeted warmly, asked questions with sincere interest, and made to feel extremely welcome.
5)The traditional Balinese massage!! At less than $7 a pop, I wish I would have gotten 2 a day. I only spoiled myself with 2 total, but was comatose and drooling both glorious times.
6)The natural scenery was gorgeous, ranging from jungle mountain tops to beautiful beaches and clear water. Everything was so green and lush. We saw countless monkeys in the wild, which was a hoot. We toured a few amazing temples, all with breathtaking views of the surrounding area. It really is a paradise island.
7)The smells. I found myself deeply inhaling the aroma of tropical flowers and incense that constantly fills the air (every offering always has a burning stick of incense skewered through it), whereas at home incense makes me sneezy and I've never enjoyed its scent. At first we assumed the incense would be great for covering up the unpleasant odors you expect to find in the less developed world, but Bali really never had any stink, even in Kuta where there are huge piles of trash on the beaches.

CONS:
1)Pro: the food going in. Con: the food coming out. While we thoroughly enjoyed every single meal we had, we were both struck with cases of “Bali Belly” a few times (not a good sign when they have a name for it!). We never could make sense of it either, as we'd both be struck, but always at different times, and we ate the exact same food the whole time. We love to share meals so we can try more dishes. I still think it was worth it, but the hotel must've thought we were crazy with how much TP we went through!
2)Well.....can't really think of a genuine con....let's see, hmmm. I'll get back to ya on that one! We didn't get to stay longer and we didn't do any diving because of the head colds we suffered! Does that count??

Australia - The Oys and the Noys

PROS:

1)The Great Barrier Reef. Not much more needs to be said. We saw countless sea turtles, lagoon rays, funny furry looking pineapple sea cucumbers, fish of every color and size including lots of Nemos (but the most impressive was a HUGE bright green and turquoise Mary Rass, which of course we didn't get a picture of), beautiful coral forests of every imaginable color and texture, and even a few barracuda and sharks. The scuba diving experience we had was something we'll never forget. We're just hoping we didn't blow our wad by starting with the best first!
2)Beautiful beaches all along the east coast. Soft, white sand and crystal clear water. Unfortunately we weren't able to swim in the ocean until much further south, due to the box jellyfish that migrate through that time of year (their sting can be fatal). But the saltwater lagoons found in many towns' squares serve as a terrific replacement.
3)The wildlife was so different and impressive.....kangaroos, wallabies, penguins, emus, koalas, kookaburras, large monitor lizards, and the constant background music of every kind and color of bird imaginable.

CONS:
1)The people. I debated commenting on this for fear of sounding too judgemental (I realize it's unfair to categorize an entire country based on a handful of idiots) but too many f'ed up things happened to leave it out. Our blog is meant to document the good AND the bad, right? With the exception of a wonderful older couple from Brisbane who sent us off with countless great tips for Thailand, the Aussie locals were such a contrast from the Kiwis! It ranged from small things like rude holiday park owners who treated us as a nuisance rather than an income opportunity, to people shoving their hands in our faces and yelling to scare us when we rode by on our bikes in Byron Bay (we had a few very near crashes due to this lovely behavior), to getting pebbles thrown at us from a third story window as we innocently walked down a city street in Brisbane in the middle of the day. New sport – tag the tourist? Not that we look any different from an Aussie local. Other travelers we met described them as aggressive and combative and we agreed that in general they seem to be an angry lot. We'd witness at least 2 or 3 fights a night while in Melbourne but the highlights were definitely these two instances: the night we met up with our friends from scuba school at a popular bar/restaurant in Cairns for our 'certification celebration.' We ordered dinner, Jer and I getting a large pizza so we'd have lunch leftovers for the 12 hour train trip south the next day. They were happy to wrap up our leftovers in foil as we continued to order drinks, dance, and hang out with our buddies for the last time. All of a sudden I see Jer being physically and forcibly escorted from the bar, surrounded by 3 large bouncers! Panicked and completely oblivious as to what could have happened to spur this (he was definitely tipsy, but you all know Jer is a happy and harmless drunk), I catch up with the stampede near the top of the stairs and plead with one bouncer to tell me what's going on, what did he do, why is he getting thrown out??? Instead of giving me any sort of explanation, the bouncer grabs my arm and shoves me down the long flight of stairs, through a huge crowd of people, and literally THROWS me out, down a few more steps and into another crowd of people. I had two huge black welts on my leg for over a month. I've never seen Jer so ready to tear someone apart as when he saw the guy shove me with so much force! All the while, the bouncers won't say one word as to why we're being treated like criminals. We finally got an explanation from the head of security - it turns out that once the restaurant switches to a bar license for the night, food is no longer served (or, apparently, allowed). So we were physically thrown out for having leftover pizza, that we bought THERE, that they were HAPPY to wrap up for us, and no one could even take one moment to explain this to us so we could have simply thrown the leftovers out! Wow. Can you say OVERREACTION????? The second and craziest instance of all happened as we strolled Brisbane's Botanical Gardens one evening. We saw some unidentified possum/rodent/ferret looking creature moseying along between the trees and stopped to take a picture of it. We hadn't taken 3 more steps before this crazy and obviously intoxicated white trash lady comes tearing out of the bushes, gets right IN OUR FACES and starts SCREAMING and cussing at us that we are so rude and disrespectful, we need to “step off,” who do we think we are, etc etc. Thoroughly and utterly confused as to what crime we committed to send this woman into a such a rage, I think that maybe she was doing something scandalous in the background and thought we were trying to capture her on film?? We desperately try to explain ourselves, that we were just taking a picture of the possum thing, didn't mean to offend, etc, when her WT man comes racing up and continues the same behavior. They are now both in our faces, reeking of alcohol and screaming and gesturing wildly, threatening us to get the hell out of there and “how dare we”, yada yada, though still not making much sense at all....I half expected the dude to pull a gun on us. Seriously. We hightailed it down the path, apologizing and hoping we'd just make it out of there in one piece.. We were both silent for a bit, trying to process the whole thing, and later it was hard not to laugh at the sheer craziness of what had just happened. Even putting all the pieces together, we are still utterly clueless as to what we did to offend them so greatly. There were a handful of other annoying experiences with rude and offensive locals that I won't even mention, as well as stories from other travelers about Aussies being the most racist people on the planet, spitting in the face of one traveler's Jamaican friend who was just walking down the street minding her own business. In the end we felt that we'd given Australia a little too much time, and would've liked it if our plane ticket had been booked for a few weeks earlier. Ah well. Though in Bali we still couldn't escape and kept running into more Aussies, since it's a close paradise location for them to travel to. Each one we came across were equally obnoxious but it seemed even worse since they were treating the sweet Balinese people with such disrespect. Jer openly admits that he now cringes when we hear an Aussie accent and he's come to despise Claire on Lost (thanks Nate, for buying all those seasons through our Itunes! We had benders while we were down and out with Bali Belly and bad colds). I think it's partly because she's so whiny, but mainly because he can't stand the sound of her! Sooo, not to discourage any of you from traveling to Australia, but consider yourself forewarned!
2)Blah food. Fried everything, (mainly fish and chips) and boring toasted ham and cheese sandwiches are about all you'll find on most menus. To be fair, NZ wasn't any better. Though Indian has proven to be good wherever we've gone. We ate mostly ethnic food all through OZ!
3)Lots of trash and rubbish on the streets, beaches, etc. No ones seems to have a problem littering and they definitely don't take care of the beautiful landscape like the Kiwis. We were also disappointed to find that for such a Westernized nation, they don't promote recycling or sustainable tendencies at all. Shame, shame!

Though we only experienced a small portion of Australia, and would like to check out the outback and west coast, it will probably be a long time before we head back here. There are so many other places to tackle before giving OZ another shot!

Turning Back the Clock - New Zealand Pros & Cons

We decided we're going to try and summarize our experience in each country with a list of pros and cons. This one is a tad old by now, but oh well!

The list of pros for NZ are extensive:
1)Jaw dropping natural scenery. Everyone on the North Island said the South Island was even prettier but I had a REALLY hard time imagining that to be possible. But now I believe it...we've gone from lush greenery and rolling hills to giant snow capped mountains plunging directly down into the the clearest, bluest ocean/lake/river (insert your preferred body of water here) you've probably ever seen.
2)The Kiwis we run into are truly the friendliest, most helpful people who genuinely take an interest and joy in helping you along your way.
3)The fruit (Anya, you would die!). We bought a 20 lb. bag of KeriKeri oranges (the area is dotted with orchards) for $3 USD and they are the sweetest, juiciest oranges I've ever tasted. They are like candy! We've been eating them for breakfast/lunch/snacks/dessert for weeks now and they haven't gone bad. The kiwis are juicy and amazing (and inexpensive) too.
4)The exchange rate. It's bounced around a tad since we've been here, ranging from .52 to .62 cents on the dollar. Nice.
5)The birds. There must be a gazillion different types of birds in NZ, all with their own sound and personality. When they get going together, it's really something. We seemed to wake up to a cacophony every morning, no matter where we were. I had an existential moment listening to the birds one night, but when I've tried to convey the experience to anyone else, they all look at me with the crazy eyes, so I'll keep it to myself. It was an amazing moment though. Now that I think about it, I've had a few bonding moments with the wildlife on this trip so far.
6)NZ is a very environmentally friendly place, which the hippie in me absolute loves. Every toilet (even in gas stations, campgrounds) has a half flush option. Rarely will you find paper towels for drying, and the superpowered airdryers dry your hands in a flash. Recycling is generally easy to find, everyone uses cloth shopping bags, and the population is conscientious enough to pick up after themselves. In general, it seems much less wasteful in terms of nearly everything. It's refreshing. They are obviously aware of this treasure of beauty they are living on, and intend to do whatever they can to keep it that way.


Cons (aka things America does better):
1)Single ply toilet paper. Wow, I didn't realize how much I appreciated that nifty little invention until it was gone! Eeeevery once in a while we'll stumble upon a place with double your pleasure two-ply and it really feels like Christmas when that happens!
2)Sand flies! These buggers are so small you don't see them coming but boy do they leave a lasting impression. They love to snack on our feet and ankles, leaving itchy welts that last for WEEKS. They are like the mosquito's evil cousin.
3)This is one I've yet to figure out – the faucet sinks are nearly always separated out into two taps. This means that you can't have a happy medium temperature when washing hands, doing dishes, etc. It's either scalding hot and removing layers of skin or freezing cold so that you can't feel your fingers after washing. This is not a better solution! Not only that, the taps are usually always very short in length so that the water runs at the very back edge of the sink which makes getting hands and especially dishes actually INTO the water stream somewhat of a feat.

So all this being said, the pros of New Zealand infinitely outweigh the cons. It has been one of our favorite places to visit so far and we HIGHLY recommend it.