Animals!!!

Alrighty everyone - this is what you've all been waiting for! At least this is what I've been waiting for. Game drives and pictures of lots of animals!! I'm so excited - we were in Etosha National Park in Namibia for 2 days and went on some game drives and saw really cool things! I also took some videos, but they are apparently all 65 MB and not dealing well on YouTube. I'll upload them back in the States. Anyways, so at Etosha, we stayed at this campsite that had a watering hole - and what's cool about the winter is that it is dry and the animals seek out the watering hole throughout the day and we just sit there and watch them. We saw and heard a lot of great things - elephants, rhinos, and lions roaring, but not approaching the watering hole. So on to the pictures:

Giraffes! I don't think I really need to explain, much, right? You guys just want to see the pics, no?


This elephant is by our watering hole - there's another picture further down by our watering hole, but I uploaded them out of order - sorry.
Zebras! There were lots of zebras, I actually got a little zebra'd out.

Zebras mingling with some Oryx - their horns were super long and sharp. They can actually pierce through lions and throw them.
Zebras hanging out with the wildebeast. Wildebeest. I don't know how to spell it.
Elephants! Look at the baby elephant!
And here are the elephants again at our watering hole - near sunset.
This is a little far away - but it's a rhino! Actually 2. or 3. Anyways, we saw more rhinos at night at our watering hole, but it was dark and my pictures never came out. Sorry.

And finally - LIONS!!! We saw lions! I was so excited, actually our entire bus was super excited. Here is a male lion, he was prowling around the watering hole (a different one) and got lazy and just lied down. It must have been too hot for him. The female lions are the ones that hunt anyways, so the males can just laze around - typical.

And here is another male too - we thought it was a female because of the lack of a mane, but our guide said that it's just a young male and you can tell (through binoculars) that he has a small mane growing.
But here is the young male lion across the watering hole from a giraffe - I think the giraffe got a little freaked out.
So that's all the pictures that I am going to upload. That should capture the past two days. We are in Windhoek right now, the capital of Namibia - just for the night, and tomorrow we go to Botswana! We're going to the Okavango Delta on Thursday and Friday - where we do some "game drives" in a dugout canoe - so more of a hippo and crocodile type of drive - I am excited for that one! Although there's supposed to be a lot of mosquitos too, I am going to have to sleep with my mosquito net - another key purchase apparently. Gotta love REI. After that, we go to Chobe National Park for more game drives - not sure what other animals we are going to see. But so far, we've seen 3 out of the Big Five - Lion, Elephant and Rhino. The remaining 2 are Water Buffalo and Leopard. Hopefully I can see those two before the end of my Africa trip. And then we go to Zambia - for Victoria Falls. And this group overland trip that I am on ends on June 6. I am not sure what Internet will be like in Botswana, so I might be without an update until we reach Livingstone in Zambia - which will be June 4.

Until next time everyone!

Quad Biking, Skydiving and more Photos!

Okay, so here are more dunes pictures - we are at the edge of a dune here, and this is my group - the pics are a little foggy because my camera is in a plastic bag to make sure that sand didn't get in it. We've had two cameras on the trip ruined due to sand already! I've been super careful with mine. Here is the vew from the top - I don't think the steepness comes across as well - and we ran down this dune! Needless to say, I got sand everywhere.
This is Dune 45 - that famous one, the one where we woke up at 4:40AM to see the sunrise. This is my picture from the ground - as I said earlier, I went 2/3 of the way up. The sunrise was great though.

Here are Mina, Ann and me at the Tropic of Capricorn. Notice my hair is in a ponytail and in a bandana - I'm at 2.5 days w/o a shower here. Lovely.

Like I said before, on Thursday, we went Quad biking through the dunes of the desert in Namibia. Here is Mina (on the right) and our new friend Tori from New Zealand on their bikes, looking tough girls! Here we all are at another rest stop. The red bikes were more powerful, I was on a weak blue one.
The views were great - Atlantic Ocean and Namibian desert all at once!
And like I said in my last entry - I went skydiving today! Woo hoo! Here are me, and two sisters - Nicole and Kirsten in our neon suits, looking hot!
And here we are on the tiny plane flying up to 12,000 feet - the guy behind me is my tandem partner - Michael, he was super nice and made me feel really safe!

So, that's enough photos for now. The Internet Cafe I'm in right now is playing Christmas music - it's really random. Tomorrow we leave Swakopmund - no more beds and real bathrooms! Back to the camping. I think we're swinging by a seal colony and possibly a cheetah camp! And then on Sunday and Monday, we're in Etosha National Park - which is in northern Namibia - and we're doing some game drives - ANIMAL TIME! And then we're spending a day in Windhoek - which is the capital of Namibia and a bigger city than the one we are in now - so there will be another blog update then.

Overall, so far I am glad that I came along on this trip. The weather conditions haven't been great, but I'm in Africa! I do miss Chinese food. And sushi. And TV. I missed the end of American Idol, sigh. But I've been getting updates from home, so all is not lost. Apparently, the Yankees are still awful.

Photo Updates!

Alrighty, it seems that the Internet is faster today in Swakopmund, so I am uploading as many pictures as possible. By the way, I just went skydiving - it was awesome, I jumped at 12,000 feet over the desert and ocean (naturally I went tandem), and it was amazing! My ears are still a little popped. I am trying to upload my dvd to youtube, but it doesn't seem to be working...

Anyways, here is a picture of the Acacia bus that we have been trekking around in. This is at the Orange River campsite. All of our food and stuff go into those bottom storage areas.

And here are the tents that we sleep in.
Here is Ann, Mina and I at Fish River Canyon - the 2nd biggest canyon in the world (Grand Canyon is the biggest - and better)

Here are pictures of the dunes in Namibia - the pictures don't really capture how awesome they are - they change colors with the sun, etc. We went on that desert walk and saw some cool beetles and spiders and learned that water in an ostrich egg (after you empty it out of its original contents) can last a long time.

Interestingly enough, this computer isn 't letting me post pictures in any order, so I am starting a new post with more pictures. More to come in a few minutes!

Overland Tour Update - Namibia

Okay, I realize that I have not updated this blog in about a week. I haven't had internet until now! This is what happens when you're on a "roughing" it trip. I'm in Swakopmund, Namibia now - it's the 2nd biggest city in the country behind Windhoek - I will be there in about 5 days, so expect another update then. Anyways, let's do a quick recap, shall we:

Day 1: There are 23 of us on the tour, with 2 guides, originally from Kenya - Sam and Letaloy (sp?). The first day, we went did a township tour in Capetown - essentially townships are where blacks and coloreds were "exiled" during the apartheid era in South Africa. There are different "neighborhoods" in these townships - some for the middle class (who are doctors, etc), there are hostel type areas for migrant workers, and then there are the shanties - which are essentially tin shacks for the poor - it was actually quite somber and you see that those who live in the shanties just grin and bear it. I have pictures, but the connection in Namibia isn't great, so those will be uploaded at a separate time. It also rained all day and made the bus ride/tour/overnight camping not as exciting.

Day 2: We drove to the border of Southy Africa and Namibia - at the Orange River and camped out there. Camping isn't that bad - I must say I did buy a really warm sleeping bag which was potentially the best thing I did. That and my headlight - two best purchases I made for this trip so far. We just putzed around there, it was nice and relaxing. We ate steaks and potatoes for dinner.

Day 3: We went to Fish River Canyon - the 2nd biggest canyon after the Grand Canyon. Honestly, it was pretty and all, but the Grand Canyon is so much better with the different colors and scenery. We camped in Namibia and it was super freezing out. It actually reached freezing temperatures at night and I woke up to some frost in my tent. Seriously! But my sleeping bag rocks!

Day 4: We are in the deserts of Namibia now! We took a desert walk through some sand dunes and the dunes in Namibia are amazing, especially when they change color in the sun. Apparently, the wind only blows East/West so the dunes are always shaped the same way. But the heights of the dunes vary, some up to 100 meters tall - I think, I could be making that up. We camped out in the desert and it was super windy, so there was sand blowing everywhere and our tents were threatening to blow away. Not a good sleep night.

Day 5: We got up at 4:40AM to see the sunrise over Dune 45 - which is apparently the most famous dune in Namibia. I don't know. It was pretty awesome, I was tuckered out, so I didn't climb to the top, I made it about 2/3 to the top - it was super windy and a little narrow, so I got nervous and ran back down. Then we drove to Swakopmund - which is a German influenced town and we're staying here for 3 nights in dormitory type hostels - yay! real beds!

Day 6: Today I am here, updating my blog, and I think I am going quad biking through the dunes later this afternoon. It's nice to be in some place for more than one night, and the weather is great! I'm in shorts, it's not super hot, but a good day. We're on the coast so there's a beach too. Oh, we drove by where Brad and Angelina stayed when they came here to have baby Shiloh. Sweet.

After we leave Swakopmund in a few days, we're going to Etosha National Park - and I think we're going to see some big animals! I'm excited to do some game drives. Honestly, I might be a little scenery'd out and need some animals - lions, rhinos, hippos, anything really bigger than a penguin or ostrich really.

As for the other people on the tour - it's mostly Aussies and Brits - as usual. Besides the three of us, there are 2 other Americans. About 4 or 5 couples on the trip, two sisters, and the rest are solo travellers and then me, Mina and Ann. It's a good group of travelers - a lot of different accents. We drive around in this huge bus/truck that we essentially live in, I'm a little sick of it, it needs a little sprucing up, so hopefully the 3 days we're here in Swakopmund will do us all some good!

Until next time!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Alrighty, so today it's raining again. Monday and today have been the only two crappy days, so I guess we should count ourselves lucky. Yesterday was a beautiful day when we went out to Robben Island. Oh, our fourth, Ann arrived on Tuesday afternoon after an ordeal in Frankfurt. Never travel with full passports - always make sure you have at least one full blank page! So, it was a really informative trip - I knew very little about the politics behind apartheid and the situation on Robben Island with white guards and black prisoners. They also had black guards, but there was even a race distinction between the guards. And on Robben Island there were serious criminals and political criminals, like Nelson Mandela - and they were treated differently, etc. It was kind of like Alcatraz, but friendlier. Most of the tour guides and people who worked on Robben Island are former prisoners and they still live there in houses around the island. And there's wildlife on the island as well - more penguins!

BTW, tomorrow evening, Mina, Ann and I embark on our Overland camping tour. We officially leave on Saturday morning - and we take a township tour in Capetown first before leaving. For those newer to the blog, here is our schedule - it's on an older April posting:

May 19: start Intrepid Tour in Capetown
May 20: Orange River
May 21: Fish River Canyon in Namibia
May 22-23: Namib-Naukluft National Park
May 24-26: Swakopmund
May 27-28: Etosha National Park
May 29-30: Windhoek (capital of Namibia - or something like that)
May 31-June 2: Okavango Delta (Botswana)
June 3-5: Chobe National Park (Botswana)
June 5-6: Victoria Falls/Livingstone (Zambia) - end of Intrepid Tour

I'm pretty excited for it. Namibia is supposed to be amazing! I'm excited to see some serious animals, aside from penguins and ostriches. A lion would be nice. Although hippos and rhinos would be awesome too.

I have no idea how "modern" our trip will be, so I am not sure how often I will be able to update the blog. I know, I know, the 10 people out there reading this will be devastated. I am too. But I will try my best to use the Internet whenever we get the opportunity. I might not be able to upload pictures until maybe Livingstone in Zambia or Johannesburg (which is after the Intrepid Tour).

I think one of our missions for today's rainy day adventure is to find this legendary donut that they make in Capetown. It might not be legendary - but it's called a Koeksister. Here's a link about them:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/3883297a6534.html

That and maybe Ann and I will have some more sleeping bag races around our apartment. I'd give you a YouTube link to the videos we took of our sleeping bag adventures the other evening, but apparently, the files are too large and Laura uploaded 0% in 30 minutes. That was progress.

Wine Tasting and such....

So not much to update you on... Monday was rainy and Laura and Mina were tired from their hike up Table Mountain - apparently I would have freaked out all over the place if I went up there. Mina and Laura have all these great pictures. I will try and steal some and post them here.

Anyways, so today, Mina and I went on a wine tasting tour around Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek - these are the three major wine regions by Capetown. Apparently, there are over 5000 wineries here. We went to five. We went along with this charming German lady - she has a son around our age and was traveling by herself for two weeks. The three of us chatted it up with our cool tour guide - an Indian, 4th generation South African. Speaking of which, I haven't seen any Asians in general around here and apparently there's a big population of Chinese people. I think that's a lie and I'm the only one. But I'm off topic - as usual.

So wineries - quite nice - the estates are beautiful, the scenery was amazing. There were mountains in the background - some flowers (remember it is winter here).

oops, that turned out uncentered - so this is at Lindhorst, in Paarl. They also had a lawn for the game of Qolf - which is part golf, part croquet. we did not play. So this picture below is kind of far away, but the lady in the middle is the German lady that we like.

This is the entrance to another Paarl winery - this place was so pretty, they had those Japanese fish in a small fountain when we walked in.

And this one is the inside of one in Franschhoek. Apparently, the owners of the vineyard are quite wealthy.

So, that's it for today! A good amount of wine and some nice conversation and great weather - what more could you ask for? Hopefully I'll be back posting tomorrow about Robben Island!

Lighthouse, Penguins, More Shark Pictures

Okay, so here we have some more pictures - the first one is kind of dark, but it's at the lighthouse at Cape Point and it points out that it is over 12K kilometers to New York.

Here is a flower that is native to South Africa - someone in our tour bus wanted to get out and take pictures. This is from my seat in the tour bus - check out my zoom on my camera!

Here we have another penguin from our visit on Friday, Mina has a picture of me apparently being aggressive with one - we'll send those out another time.

Here is Laura getting into the shark cage from our dive on Saturday - she's ready to go!
And finally, our last shark picture - it was honestly quite cool - if anyone is coming to Capetown, we highly recommend it - the sharks are quite friendly except when they try to gnaw on the cage, but whatever.

That's all for today! I'll check back with you all in a few days! Or tomorrow. Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

New Pictures

Today, I am in a new Internet cafe - faster and cheaper - good stuff. A win win if you ask me.

Laura and Mina are hiking up Table Mountain, and I am in the tourist office - I just booked us a wine tasting tour for Tuesday. Ann arrives tomorrow. I think we'll just putter around town tomorrow. I think Wednesday, we are going to Robben Island. Friday, Ann, Mina and I begin our 19 day overland tour - camping! I've been testing out my sleeping bag, I think it'll do.

Anyways, I am going to try and post more pictures. Here is a video I uploaded to YouTube of a shark diving for bait around the cage yesterday - it's super short.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T-sd1QL9P0

By the way, in yesterday's pictures, the girl next to the Cape of Good Hope sign is Mina. Laura is a tall brunette. And I'm Chinese - in case anyone forgot. Oh, and I got my bangs cut really short right before this trip - so don't be shocked when you see some more pictures below - I've warned you! They will be normal in about 3 weeks - I hope.

Here are two photos from Chapman's Peak - during the drive along the coast to Cape Point on Friday.

Apparently, I am going to start a new entry for other pictures. This is annoying.

Capetown and Pictures!

So, I got my act together and am putting some pictures up for you all to see. The past few days have been really fun.

First off, here is a view of the mountains from the patio of our apartment on Kloof St.


That's nice, no? Anyways, yesterday Mina, Laura and I took a 1/2 day tour down to the Cape of Good Hope - except we wound up going to Cape Point - which is almost the same thing - but not quite. We saw all these ostriches and penguins along the way. Here are some nice pictures of them.
The internet connection in capetown is pretty horrible, so I am going to upload minimal pictures - I have been here for 40 minutes already! Anyways, that was yesterday and then today, we went DIVING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!!! Surprise! I didn't want to say anything earlier or else my mother might have a heart attack. But it was really safe - in fact, quite benign. We were put in cages, 4 at a time, and we were only dipped like 6 feet underwater - and the cage was like 8 feet tall, so 2 ft were above water. We essentially were in wet suits and masks and just went underwater whenever a shark came by and held our breath. That's how it worked. For the first 3 groups, nothing serious happened, the sharks just swam around, came somewhat close, but were bored by us. Somehow, the last group that went got all the action! One shark came up and gnawed on the cage, and another two were really violent with the bait that was thrown out and dove for it and rattled the cage. And a final shark came by again to bite the cage. It was awesome - watching from the top of the fishing boat. Here are some pictures of the cage and sharks. This will take me another 30 minutes. Maybe 45 since it just crashed on me. I would upload more of us, but I don't think I can afford the Internet time.
And finally, one last one! Scary! Kind of. In a far away type of setting - more if I were actually in the cage at that time:

Tomorrow, Laura and Mina are going to hike up Table Mountain, as I am scared of heights, I will not be joining them. I'll probly sleep and go do some sightseeing and window shopping. And come back here. To upload more photos. and a shark video. Because now I'm getting hungry and cranky.

Capetown

So I arrived in Capetown on Tuesday evening and got to my apt with no hassles. Capetown is really nice - it's a relaxing city - no real hustle and bustle. The weather is a lot like SF - foggy and cool, but when the sun comes out it is quite warm.

Our apartment is really nice - it's on Kloof St - which is in an artsy and funky neighborhood. Its not very touristy, but still a popular hangout place. There are a lot of restaurants in our neighborhood. Lang St is the main drag in capetown - the main hostel is there and a lot of bars, etc.

So far, we've taken a city tour on one of those double decker buses. And we took a cable car to the top of Table Mt and walked around the top. I'm kind of scared of heights - we plan on actually doing a full day hike in a few days up the mountain - we'll see if I'm up to it. We also plan on going to Robben Island - where Mandela was held prisoner, and hopefully the Cape of Good Hope.

I took some pics today but forgot to bring my cable with me to upload them - I will try tomorrow so I can add some more flair to this text heavy blog.

Time to go to Africa!

Okay, I'm about to leave for the aeropuerto in 45 min. My backpack is too heavy and I'm carrying two day packs. I figured after a week in capetown, I can throw some stuff out and get rid of a bag and travel like a normal person. Until then, I am overpacked. It's all my toiletries. Seriously.

For those of you who are curious, my schedule is blogged about below - I think it's my 2nd entry... I'm a little nervous about Africa, I'm sure it will be amazing, but the infrastructure and general unfamiliarity makes me a bit stressed. But as most of you know, I'm always stressed about something, so this is normal.

I will do my best to keep in touch and update this blog. I don't know how successful I will be in uploading pictures - as you can see, I've only uploaded one so far. Hopefully I can upload one of a lion. Not attacking me. Or anywhere near me.

I will miss you all terribly (you all being my friends and family, not random ppl reading this blog - although I don't know who would be reading this except friends and family). I'll see you all when I get back! Maybe I will be tan.

Seven Weeks in a Backpack

Now I am trying to fit everything that I am going to need for 7 weeks into a backpack. I've already whittled down to 3 pairs of shoes - including flip flops. I think I'm bringing too many tee shirts. But I'm really grossed out by wearing sweaty clothes. And I think I might have too many bottoms too - do I need 3 pairs of shorts and 3 pairs of pants, and 1 pair of convertible pants? I'm not entirely sure. I'm bringing about 10 Michigan t-shirts, and about 4 regular shirts - we're going to be doing normal stuff in several different towns... and then there's the toiletries and miscellaneous. Do I need 2 bottles of sunscreen and 2 cans of bug spray? Do I really need a mosquito net?? What about my big bottles of soap and lotion? That's probably pushing it, but maybe I'm being spoiled. The fact that I wear contacts doesn't help - saline solution takes up so much room! And socks! How many are enough? My sleeping bag is much bigger than I thought too, or my backpack is smaller than I remember it. I bet I exceed the stupid weight limit on internal flights in Africa and have to pay $100, or something ridiculous. Who knows.

But I'm excited. Don't get me wrong. I'm a good complainer. My flight is tomorrow (Monday) at 5:25pm out of JFK - it's going to be a mother of a flight - I connect in Amsterdam. I don't get into Capetown until tomorrow at 9:30pm - which is 3:30pm here, so I'm traveling for 22 hours. That is going to be awesome. I bet I smell like roses when I get off the plane.

Okay, off to decide which Bermuda shorts I don't need....

Back in New York

Goodbye Ann Arbor, HELLO NEW YORK! I'm so excited to be back - you do not understand. I drove back to NY with Vince on Thursday, actually, he drove the entire way. Not sure how that happened. We putzed around the city yesterday - it was a great day, I bought a new camera, got some more Africa stuff, we lounged around in Central Park - perfect NYC day. Today I shipped Vince back to the AA - sad days, he's off to Seattle to build jets for Boeing.... I also got a haircut - getting ready for Africa - bought 3 new books, I'm a fast reader, I'll finish these in 3 weeks, hopefully the other ladies are bringing tons o' books.

In two days, I'll be on a plane to Africa - for a ridiculous flight, I'm not looking forward to that one... at least I have aisle seats all the way to Cape Town.

My dad's computer is in Chinese... I hope this comes out right.