การเดินทาง: Christchurch, New Zealand

Day 25

I catch the early bus to Christchurch. It takes all day to get there, but luckily the bus stops at some great stops on the way. A couple glacier fed lakes are the highlight. The water is almost neon blue. I learn that the glaciers break up the rock into a fine powder and carry it suspended in the water. When the water reaches the lakes, the rock particles stay suspended and in combination with the sunlight create the bright blue color. Interesting. The areas around these lakes also have an abundance of a purple flower called Lupin. I've seen it before elsewhere but didn’t know what it was. It’s in full bloom right now in New Zealand and there are rivers of it across the countryside near the lakes. Driving down the road in the bus, I see people constantly pulled over taking pictures of it. It looks like something out of Pandora in the Avatar movie. It’s absolutely stunning…and I don’t use that phrase often.

The funny thing about Lupin is that the bus driver calls it a weed. Apparently, it takes over all the native plants by creating acids in the soil. The damn English brought it in hundreds of years ago and the Department of Conservation is currently trying to eradicate it. This, of course, is ridiculous. Look at the pictures.

I get to Christchurch and the bus drops us off near the city center but my hostel is on the outside of the city near the beach in New Brighton. I have a decision to make: Walk about 8km to the hostel through the city or find a bus. Keep in mind that this city has been experiencing strong earthquakes for the past year. Two of the earthquakes happened earlier in the year and basically destroyed the downtown part of the city. A couple days before I get here, the city experiences two more earthquakes in 6 RS range. It was all over the news and was no joke. Certainly not the best Christmas present for the city.

I decide to walk so I can check out what an earthquake does to a city. Trust me it’s not pretty. Anything made of concrete, asphalt, brick, metal, or glass (which is what a city is made of) is compromised. The roads and sidewalks have cracks all over the place and where there aren’t cracks there are potholes and sinkholes. Windows are busted out in a random fashion; some are boarded up and some are not. Grasses begin to overgrow in peoples’ yards that have obviously left. Underground pipes burst and are temporarily replaced with flexible pipes which run over ground.

The whole place feels like one of those movies (take your pick) where most of the human race has died. I see more cats than people and everything is a little too quiet for the time of day. Many of the stores have all of their stuff still inside, but dust, weeds, and graffiti have begun to creep in. This city is definitely losing the battle with Mother Nature. It’s creepy.

I get to my hostel and am greeted by an enthusiastic woman, who doesn’t seem to fit in this place. She explains they have been having aftershocks for days now. Luckily the hostel is in an old bank, so it was built fairly sturdy (I hope). I go to the store, buy some pizzas for dinner. I’ll be in Asia for the next couple months and so pizza seemed like the only logical choice. I won’t eat it again for awhile.

I meet a big group of Americans in the hostel which is odd because there are very few of them over here. I learn that they are on some college program which gives them credit for doing some kind of reporting over their winter break. Lucky them. They ask me to go out but I’m exhausted from Queenstown so I decline. I go to bed early, but get woken up at least three times during the night because the earth is shaking. More aftershocks, how exciting!

Lupin flowers

Lake Tekapo

Lake Pukaki with Mt. Cook in background

Lake Pukaki

"Life is but a walking shadow"

Day 26
I take it easy today and get ready for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. How am I going to get to the airport? How am I going to get to my hostel in KL? What language do they speak? Etc. I find a nice place by the beach with wifi and hang out there all day. I feel the ground shake a couple times; nothing strong but the earth is shaking none the less. I walk by a library which is closed. I look inside and there are books everywhere on the ground. Damn. The wifi I am using is free because the phone company wanted to ensure people could still communicate with all the earthquakes going on.

I decide to go to the center of the city to see the BIG buildings which are condemned. I take a bus and arrive at a makeshift bus station near the center of the city. It looks like a bomb went off in the city center. I can’t even get close because they have the center fenced off and there are ‘DANGER. DO NOT ENTER.” signs everywhere. All the buildings have orange spray-paint with a date and ‘clear’, which I guess indicates that the building was searched for people and then locked. I decide to leave because it’s depressing. I go to a huge botanical garden near the city center. It is alive and well. The rose garden is crazy, and there are probably over 600 different kinds of flowers blooming. It’s the only jewel in a destroyed city. It’s sad but I guess this is what happens when you build a city on a fault zone.

Back at the hostel I make my last pizza, and I have one more cooking experiment to do. I bought some Nutella which apparently is quite common in Europe but I’ve never had it. Its hazelnut spread...kind of like peanut butter but with hazelnuts and chocolate. I use my last pizza crust, spread some Nutella over it, and top it off with strawberries, and throw it in the oven. It is damn delicious, and I share it with everyone in the kitchen who have taken an interest!

On my way to Malaysia tomorrow. Heyo!