Queenstown
Trip Start
Mar 20, 2007
1
7
15
Trip End
Apr 27, 2007
Queenstown, New Zealand
Monday, April 2, 2007
01 April
Woke up "late" (8 am) after my best night's sleep of the trip. The fresh air of Queenstown - and my quiet room - have put me in a dozing mood. I spent a few hours in the morning catching up on my blog - followed by a lunch of the biggest hamburger I have ever eaten. There is a popular hamburger joint here in town that serves 'em up big and tasty - the way they LOOK on the pictures of the Burger King Whopper - but only on the pictures and not in reality.
My only New Zealand friend, Rob, in Bangkok, asked me if I've been meeting many locals
01-On the road from Te Anau to Queenstown
. I'm afraid that I have to answer no to that. There are so many tourists here - and seemingly so few locals - that it is not that easy to come into contact with them. Most of the people working in the hospitality industry here are foreigners - young people working here on the so-called "working holiday visa" that I think I mentioned before. Today I was in the supermarket - and like in certain parts of America, I could hear Spanish being spoken by the staff there. I asked one of the guys where he was from and he is a Porteno - a citizen of Argentina from Buenos Aires. The few New Zealanders that I have spoken with have been without exception friendly (well, except for that manager down at the hostel in Te Anau.)They are friendly once I get into conversation with them, that is. However, I keep forgetting that in New Zealand (like in most non-Southeast Asian countries), it is simply not possible for me to smile at strangers without them thinking I'm a pervert! (I'm not saying that I'm not, but how do THEY know?) Out of habit I smiled at a passing couple of local gals and they gave me a very mean look. I'm sure they were thinking that I was somehow interested in them - heaven forbid. Just to test it, I even tried smiling at a fat, ugly one. And even from her I got a dirty look. Oh, well I guess I have to save up my smiles for when I'm back in Thailand.
02-Another shot from the road
One of my curious (nosy?) friends sent me an e-mail after my last update to ask me how the story ended with the Swedish girl in Te Anau. In case you were wondering the same thing, here is the rest of the story: As far as I know, she is still laughing.
You know you've been staying in hostels for too long when the first thing you look at when inspecting a prospective room is "Where will I be able to hang my clothesline."
My friend Art pointed out to me that the cold that I caught at the beginning of this trip was not caused by getting cold while sleeping, reminding me that if cold weather were enough to make us sick, then there wouldn't be any Eskimos. In fact germs are required. That made me think about how I caught my cold, and here is my conclusion: I got the necessary germs on the flight over (as there is always a mix of people and their illnesses on planes). Then those germs were able to get the upper hand after I slept in the cold and my resistance was lowered. So to catch a cold, it takes a combination of the two: germs AND the inability to fight them off. This information will hopefully be able to help me fight off future colds. Thanks for that thought-provoking comment, Art
03-Main intersection in Queenstown
.02 April
Woke up to a GORGEOUS, sunny, crisp, cool day. The first part of the day I spent doing housekeeping chores - washing my clothes and then hanging them out to dry on my balcony.
In the afternoon I took a hike to the top of one of the local mountains for a view of Queenstown from above. The pictures of what I saw are attached, but the highlight came when I was gazing over the town from this spectacular vantage point in perfect weather. I overheard the conversation between a young man and woman standing right next to me. The man said, and I quote, "I want to be on top of the world with you always." I suddenly felt like I was in the middle of something that wasn't meant for my ears. Then he dropped down on one knee, pulled out a little box with a diamond ring in it, and asked "Will you marry me?!" It was just like in the movies. My first thought was "Guy, do you really know what you're getting into? We're high up on a mountain - there's still time to jump." Anyway, I just kind of smiled to myself and snapped a picture of the couple just after she said yes. (Picture attached.) This little episode spoiled an otherwise perfect day. I thought about offering to e-mail the picture to them but in the end I didn't say anything as I didn't want to spoil their special moment. Their walk back into town afterwards was symbolic, I think: Downhill all the way.
Comments
Colds
You got it exactly right.
there seems to be some conflicting info regarding airplane air - but you are in close prox. to many.
The resistance must be down also.
It seems that the cold weather does something to nasal passages as well to make them more permious to virus.