Auckland presents a bit of culture shock for someone who has been tramping about in the bush for the last month. Of New Zealand's four million inhabitants, 1.4 million of them live here. Its much larger than the capital Wellington, yet all the feedback I got about the place was largely negative, with comments about its plainness or soul-lessness. I read a report about how New Zealand women are the most promiscuos in all the world - soul-less?
I think not.
What struck me about the city is how young everyone is. You take a stroll through the downtown district in the afternoon and you see all these young, 20ish faces. It helps that the University of Auckland is located right in the city center and all these kids give off a huge vibe of happiness and good times (which may also explain about the promiscuity factor).
Its that exact sense of good times that I love about the Kiwis in general. The perfect example of this happened on my cab ride out to the airport from Invercargill. The toll was for $11, but my cabbie waved me off and gave me a tip - in the form of a dollar discount! Now, where in the world will you run into that kind of easy going attitude?
And in a city filled with these kind people, these events become regular occurrances. The airport, for example, didn't check my ID - just asked for my last name and out popped my plane ticket. No bag checks either. And as I sat in the plane, reading the newspaper over the shoulder of the passenger across from me, I spied the banner headline of the Southland Times simply stating: "Turtle Missing". Intrigued, I borrowed the paper and read how local security at a childrens hospital was being bumped up after their pet turtle had gone missing. This gem pushed back Iraq, Obama, and Columbia to the back pages.
I have another 24 hours to spend in New Zealand and then will be flying out to my next destination: Singapore. I've been reading about all sorts of tropical maladies that can affect me in SE Asia and I'm quite excited for it. The goal is to travel north from Singapore, through Malaysia, then into Thailand. From there, I'm hoping to pop through Cambodia by May, then hitting Laos and Vietnam before going into China.
Or I might contract dysentary or malaria and fly home.
The budget is going to get slashed dramatically as well, so while I'm fully aware that there will be western food and drink available in Singapore, the wallet will demand that I branch out a bit. So, these last few days have had me chowing down my favorites before the flight.
The irony is that I contracted food poisoning today.
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