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Read more: North Island New Zealand March 2018I have neglected the North Island in favor of hiking down on South Island, so now I’m embarking on 3 weeks touring North Island New Zealand by car. Flying in to Auckland from Queenstown I like the Kiwi attitude towards their natural environment. I love this old downtown Auckland park for its gigantic mature trees Donate spare clothing here Auckland is a very lush, green city with lots of parks like this one. Banana plants grow here, which seems a bit odd for a rather cool place, but it doesn’t freeze them out in winter. Lots of very big trees…
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Read more: New Zealand March 2018I have come to love New Zealand, and keep coming back. I just returned to do some sailplane gliding and hiking. Previous 12 trip reports for New Zealand As always, I began my visit by stopping to see my Kiwi family in Auckland. Here is a snippet of them from back in 2016: My Kiwi family lives in the Mount Eden neighborhood of Auckland. Nearby Mount Eden (an extinct volcano, one of several in volcanic NZ) beckons. New Zealand is a long way from just about everywhere except Australia. It’s not that far from Antarctica, however. I like to…
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Read more: Bangkok, Thailand January 2018Judy and I came to love Thailand, and returned many times. During one stay in Bangkok, I began studying Chen Tai Chi with a club in Bangkok. Tai Chi is very good exercise, and also has a meditative component. Now I have come back to Thailand to practice. I’ve settled into a routine of early morning Tai Chi warmup and practice on the 40th floor roof deck (while it is cool), then a swim in the pool. Later in the day, exercise in the cooled gym area. Then walk out in the city, and have lunch. Sometimes get a therapeutic…
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Read more: Myanmar (Burma) December 2017My next trip is a short excursion to Myanmar (Burma), to the northeast of Thailand. About the size of France, it has about 52 million people, mostly Buddhists. I will begin in Yangon (formerly Rangoon), and then spend Christmas week on the beach to the northwest on the Bay of Bengal. I am saving the northern reaches for another visit. Internet connectivity may be problematic. As I am in a country until recently ruled by its military (and perhaps still so to some degree) I will keep commentary to a minimum for now. Thanaka face ‘paint’ has been used in…
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Read more: Dengue fever December 2017One of the risks of being a global nomad is exposure to illnesses not common at home. I’ve been to 73 countries now in my life, and managed to avoid malaria and other serious tropical illnesses–until recently. I am in recovery from an episode of dengue fever now. One of my readers asked that I chronicle my experience with it, so here goes. From WebMD: “Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by any one of four closely related dengue viruses. These viruses are related to the viruses that cause West Nile infection and yellow fever. An estimated…