The latest Journal Entries from Rachael at Footstops.com en-us Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:56:26 -0700 Copyright 2008, Bryan Rite @ Footstops.com Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:56:26 -0700 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 240 http://www.footstops.com/racharach/ We went to Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island (the world's largest all-sand island and the only place in the world where rainforest grows out of sand!) where we drove around in a huge truck/bus on sand (no roads!) which was very cool. Then... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5267/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5267/ Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:56:26 -0700 Kelly and I spent a weekend on the Habibi, sailing the gorgeous Whitsundays! We visited Whitehaven Beach, a pure white 99.6% pure silica sand beach that is rated one of the top 3 beaches in the world, and we also spent a bunch of time snorkelling in ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5173/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5173/ Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:46:09 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5177/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5177/ Thu, 29 May 2008 15:17:36 -0700 After stopping in one last time to see the great Tane Mahuta, I made my way back to Auckland...I can't believe that I am leaving this amazing country tomorrow! The Northland was definitely among my favorite places in NZ...I met really great peop... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4914/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4914/ Tue, 27 May 2008 22:14:23 -0700 Instead of going straight from Paihia to Auckland, I hopped off in Opononi, a place strangely infamous for having had a dolphin named Opo that lived in its harbor in the 50's! (We watched a very interesting video on it in the information cent... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4912/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4912/ Sun, 25 May 2008 22:13:05 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5176/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5176/ Sun, 25 May 2008 06:12:26 -0700 Took an amazing daytrip to the Far North. We stopped at a forest to see some kauri trees then went to Cape Reinga, the furthest northern point of NZ and a very isolated area! A beautiful lighthouse at the end and such, it was wonderful. Then we we... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4911/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4911/ Sat, 24 May 2008 22:07:14 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5175/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5175/ Sat, 24 May 2008 05:55:05 -0700 Made my way from Auckland to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately it rained all afternoon, during which we went on a boat cruise to spot dolphins (all we saw was gray fog and pouring rain all around us, with a brief spotting of the infamous &q... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4910/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4910/ Fri, 23 May 2008 22:03:28 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5174/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/5174/ Fri, 23 May 2008 05:51:41 -0700 Just here for the night and then back to Auckland and on to the Bay of Islands.  However, did stop briefly in Rotorua again today and did Zorbing (basically you climb into this huge ball with some water in it and go down a zig zag cours... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4859/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4859/ Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:21 -0700 Napier is known for being entirely Art Deco because it was destroyed in the 1930's by an earthquake and rebuilt that way. It's also known for being surrounded by vineyards, so we did a wine tasting at a winery estate outside the city. ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4855/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4855/ Tue, 20 May 2008 23:44:24 -0700 Flew from Picton on the South Island to Wellington on the North. It was a 25 minute flight on a tiny airplane (Mom would have died!) that held something like 10 or 12 people. I sat right behind the pilot and could see all the panels and such. It w... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4854/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4854/ Sun, 18 May 2008 23:49:57 -0700 A nice small town on the sea. I did whale watching! Typically they only see one or two whales...we saw 6 sperm whales and 2 humpback whales! We were really lucky! It was amazing!!... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4856/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4856/ Sat, 17 May 2008 23:46:55 -0700 Met back up with some friends in Christchurch, called the most English city outside of England. Not much to do, we climbed the cathedral tower in Cathedral Square, went punting (basically riding a little boat with a guy rowing or "punting" ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4853/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4853/ Fri, 16 May 2008 23:47:59 -0700 A nice lake in the mountains that is supposed to have one of the best night skies for viewing stars and has a world-famous observatory..however, I've seen much better and darker night skies with better stars, such as in Bali and such and other p... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4852/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4852/ Thu, 15 May 2008 23:48:35 -0700 A Scottish-influenced (named and structured after Edinburgh, and many of the street names are the same as well) college town, a nice place. I went on a wildlife tour and saw albatross, seals, and yellow-eyed penguins (did I mention they are the rares... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4851/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4851/ Wed, 14 May 2008 23:36:21 -0700 Did a day driving from Te Anau (outside Fiordland Nat'l Park) to Dunedin via the Catlins, the furthest south part of New Zealand, and the farthest south I've been thus far in my life...the next thing is Antarctica! It was really pretty, tho... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4850/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4850/ Tue, 13 May 2008 23:33:56 -0700 Cruised through a fiord in Fiordland...saw seals! And the scenery on the drive from Queenstown was amazing! And saw kea, green parrots that live in the mountains.... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4849/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4849/ Mon, 12 May 2008 23:32:27 -0700 Great place, Queenstown is. Went paragliding, did the crazy Canyon Swing (one of the scariest things ever...they say way scarier than bungee jumping) where I jumped off backward (you basically lean backward off the edge until you fall off!!) and in a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4848/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4848/ Fri, 09 May 2008 23:30:56 -0700 I spent 8 hours climbing a glacier...it was cold but amazing!... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4714/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4714/ Thu, 08 May 2008 00:03:46 -0700 Monteith's Brewery. That's about it.... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4857/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4857/ Tue, 06 May 2008 23:54:55 -0700 ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4858/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4858/ Mon, 05 May 2008 23:56:28 -0700 Today we left Taupo and drove through some incredible landscape (past the previously  mentioned volcanos and mountains--covered in snow!) to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I will stop here again on the way back up to Auckland, so today ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4662/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4662/ Sat, 03 May 2008 22:52:09 -0700 Taupo is a lake the size of Singapore, with Tongariro National Park (hosting the volcano that features as Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings, plus other scenery from the movie)...and I SKYDIVED OVER IT! It was one of the most amazing things I've ever... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4661/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4661/ Fri, 02 May 2008 22:49:46 -0700 Spent a couple days in Rotorua...not the nicest city in New Zealand, but it was alright. Went and explored some thermal areas...bubbling mud pools and such! Pretty cool. Pictures to come later.... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4660/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4660/ Fri, 02 May 2008 22:47:49 -0700 We visited Waitamo where we went in the caves and saw glow worms -- amazing! The landscape as we drove through the North Island was amazing!... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4659/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4659/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:46:08 -0700 I arrived in Auckland, ready to start my "Magic"  journey through New Zealand!... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4658/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4658/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:44:42 -0700 I went from Bangkok to Surat Thani to Krabi to Hat Yai to the border and finally to Malaysia! The 8-9 hour ride was an interesting journey through the deep south of Thailand, but made it all right. I'm in Kota Bharu now, headed to the Perhentian... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4526/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4526/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:39:07 -0700 I arrived at 10:30am (3 hours late!) on the train from BKK to Surat Thani (well actually a town outside Surat Thani, had to take a bus into town). Wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so went to Krabi with my Swiss friend from the train. He went on ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4527/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4527/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:37:47 -0700 I took a night bus from Laos to Bangkok, arriving at 6:30am for a long day to wander Bangkok until my night train to Surat Thani. I did a little shopping at Siam Paragon and MBK before relaxing at Lumphini Park, watching all the Thais exercise ;) Pic... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4525/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4525/ Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:37:59 -0700 Went to Vientiane and Vang Vieng in Laos. The country seemed like it would be interesting, but the places I visited were so touristy and it was so many tourists around, I wasn't a huge fan and ended up leaving the country earlier than expecte... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4524/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4524/ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:29:04 -0700 Songkran, the Thai New Year, is soo much fun! It's a 3-day festival complete with a loooot of water fights (everyone has water guns, hoses, buckets of water, etc etc) and pasting each other's faces with white paste (good luck). &nb... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4417/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4417/ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:05:27 -0700 Well, first, our second-to-last night, Becca, Betty, Galina, and I spent 2 hours doing karaoke! (here, on the street, they have places with tons of booths with karaoke stations in them and you can just go in and do as long as you want, they have b... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4370/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4370/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:55:42 -0700 We spent 6 days in Hanoi, taking a day trip to Tam Coc (called the "Halong Bay on land/the rice fields") and spent the night on a boat in Halong Bay.... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4345/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4345/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:04:50 -0700 We rode elephants, went bamboo rafting, visited tribal villages and all that good stuff!... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4181/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4181/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:25:34 -0700 Sadly, not a single piece of photographic record exists of Pangandaran (or if it does, it is in the hands of the horrible man we like to call the "Happy Jus Thief"--after the juice boxes he stuck in our purses to replace the weight of our stolen i... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4022/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4022/ Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:32:31 -0700 Yogyakarta, or Yogya as everyone calls it, is a bustling city. We arrived early in the morning and tried to see the Sultan's Palace, but there were some miscommunications about when it was open. Everyone in the city wants to "help" you but they fo... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4021/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4021/ Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:02:15 -0700 From Bromo we had a long day of buses (super crowded, always stopping buses with no A/C and with Indonesians constantly getting on selling food, drinks, and playing guitar and singing, begging for money). We arrived that night in Bali and went to ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3948/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3948/ Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:39:32 -0800 We flew early morning from Singapore to Surabaya, where we immediately felt the difference! We had definitely move back to a third world country. Immediately off the plane and then off the bus from the airport we were approached by a million peopl... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3926/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3926/ Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:05:40 -0800 Singapore is a super modern and clean, efficient city. They have so many rules, laws, and crazy fines to enforce them, that the city is very orderly and clean. We got around really easily on the metro system and it was an easy city to navigate. Bu... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4015/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4015/ Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:25:00 -0800 We met back up with Chad in Kuala Lumpur. KL seems like a huge city at first, but it's actually not too hard to get around. We spent the morning around the Petronas Towers (the largest twin buildings in the world (and were the world's tallest buildin... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4014/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4014/ Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:16:30 -0800 Georgetown is supposed to be a colonial-like city in northern Malaysia, near the border of Thailand. It didn't prove too interesting for us. It served more as a place to do some quick shopping (I obviously had to pick up a new camera, purse, walle... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4013/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4013/ Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:58:55 -0800 From Khao Sok we took a minibus to Krabi and caught a boat to Ko Phi Phi...one of the most beautiful places in the world! The water is the kind of clear blue you imagine when you think of paradise. It WAS paradise there! We spent our first day there ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4012/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4012/ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:57:02 -0800 Later Betty, Becca, Chad and I went to Khao Sok, a national park in the middle of the peninusla. We spent a day trekking through the jungle to a waterfall, which was quite an experience! Right around the time we got close to reaching the waterfall (a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4011/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4011/ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:54:12 -0800 Sadly I have no pictures of Ko Phangan, Khao Sok, or Ko Phi Phi because my camera was stolen my last night on Ko Phi Phi. Ten of us took a long night train (we had 3rd class, the cheapest seats, which were basically these little wood benches... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4010/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/4010/ Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:59:21 -0800 We've been taking it easy a little bit the last couple weeks. Last weekend we stayed in Bangkok, went downtown and visited the Grand Palace, but couldn't get in because of the fact that the King's sister's body is still on display and apparently o... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3708/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3708/ Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:05:43 -0800 Our last field trip was a 3 day trip to Kanchanaburi. We visited the War Cemetary, the bridge over the River Kwai, a tiger temple, the largest pagoda in Thailand, and, my personal favorite, Erawan National Park, which contains 7 incredible waterfalls... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3578/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3578/ Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:36:38 -0800 We spent four days in Cambodia, and it was a really great experience. The road from the border of Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia is quite an interesting drive...the roads are really bumpy and unpaved. But it wasn't too bad, and after 3 1/2 hours ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3493/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3493/ Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:16:26 -0800 Khao Yai was a lot of fun. Becca, Chad, Sean and I met up there with Will & Jessie. We camped out for the night and trekked through the jungle to a couple waterfalls. It was really cool. We saw a lot of deer and monkeys, even a lemur, lots of birds a... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3432/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3432/ Sun, 20 Jan 2008 07:10:10 -0800 The Ancient City was really just a park that the owner of Mercedes Benz built like 40 years ago to look like what the ancient city would have looked like, so it wasn't that great. We walked around a bit then took a boat through the "floating market" ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3431/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3431/ Sat, 19 Jan 2008 02:21:58 -0800 Saturday Rangsit took us on a field trip to Ayuthaya, the original capital of Thailand and a place full of history. We visited some wats, including a leaning one (sort of like Thailand's own Leaning Tower of Pisa) and the ruins of some temples. We al... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3343/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3343/ Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:16:21 -0800 On Friday we visited Wat Pho, a famous temple in Bangkok with a HUGE gold Reclining Buddha.... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3341/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3341/ Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:34:27 -0800 Saturday and Sunday, we spent a day and a half on Ko Chang, a pretty different island from Ko Samet. Ko Chang is the third largest island in Thailand and the whole center of it is jungle! Unfortunately, we didn't have the time or funds to take a t... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3293/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3293/ Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:03:30 -0800 We spent the past couple days in Ko Samet, a gorgeous island just 3 1/2 hours from Bangkok. Eight of us from the group went and we had an AMAZING time! The island was a paradise, absolutely beautiful. It's also a huge place to stay, especially thi... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3219/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3219/ Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:39:00 -0800 I am here in Bangkok now! I arrived yesterday. Our apartments are VERY nice! We each have our own, with a full bed, TV and fridge (most of us), and balcony, and big bathroom! (Though our water isn't very warm) It's sooo hot here! Last night ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3201/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3201/ Sun, 30 Dec 2007 17:12:32 -0800 This is where I will be posting pictures and updating everyone on my semester in Thailand. ... Read More at Footstops.com http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3119/ http://www.footstops.com/racharach/blog/3119/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:54:10 -0800