Thailand and Malaysia

The view from Mt. Jasar, Cameron Highlands

 The postcards that we sent from Australia and New Zealand to family back in the US still hadn’t arrived by the time I packed my bags to cross the Pacific again, this time back to Thailand and Malaysia! The purpose of this trip was to attend Chefoo Reconsidered, a reunion/get together of former Chefoo School students back at Chefoo, the elementary school that we attended in the beautiful Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. I have written about Chefoo previously on this blog. Chefoo Reconsidered as a movement or group has come into existence as a result of former students who have really wanted to look at our shared experience attending boarding school at a very young age and the ways this continues to impact and influence us today.

I won’t post in great detail about our days together but will say it was such a rich and rewarding time and I left with a very full heart. Our days were spent hanging out and being together, sharing our stories in intentional planned events as well as during times where we explored former jungle haunts and climbed familiar trails and trees! We were blessed and fortunate to have two good friends of all TCK’s and experts in their own right – Ruth Van Reken, who wrote Letters Never Sent and who has been involved in several previous Chefoo Reconsidered events already as well as Paul Young, author of The Shack and an adult TCK himself. Both were so great to be with for the week and poured much into us.

For any friends wanting to return to Chefoo or the Cameron Highlands, the jungle still remains pristine and beautiful in many areas but the tourist and agricultural development (closely linked) has been devastating in some areas - as you can see in the following photos. 

Big monstrosities

Awful traffic heading into Brinchang

Brinchang

Of course I would not go to Malaysia without spending some time in Thailand! I spent a week in Thailand (mainly up in Maehongson) and posted regular updates on facebook during my short time there so won’t go into too much detail here, but wanted to mention two technological aspects that were very different than when I was previously in Thailand even four years ago.

Australia – New Zealand – Part 2

New Zealand

Our time in New Zealand was just one big highlight. We had decided (as many people do) to rent a campervan and get a relaxing taste of the North Island in the eight days we had. We rented the camper van from Lucky Rentals based on the recommendation of a friend who had used them a couple years ago. We were very pleased with their service and the van itself –– nothing fancy, but with a fridge, sink, small gas burner and the ability to transform into a bed each night that even Andrea could stretch out on AND fully stand up inside as well! It served us extremely well.

We decided not to go for quantity but rather quality and so we had chosen and booked all but one of our camp sites prior to arriving in NZ (the internet and an app called CamperMate being super helpful) and decided to spend two nights in each place which allowed us to relax and enjoy where we were instead of moving every day. We can't possibly describe every place but hopefully pictures do a little justice. Also check out our Trip Advisor reviews. 

Flying into New Zealand - almost right over our first camping spot - Piha and Karekare beaches

Though we just drove through Auckland, this was a good view as we came in to land.

Stop # 1 Piha Beach, on the black sand west coast, just an hour from Auckland, where we stayed at Piha Domain Camp with a visit to KareKare beach  (where The Piano was filmed) which was close by. We couldn't have picked a better place to begin our time in New Zealand. Andrea especially loved the black sand and the colors reflected off of it. Stunning!

Piha Beach

Karekare Falls

Stop # 2 Hahei on the Coramandel Peninsula where we stayed at Hahei Holiday Resort – and where we splurged a little and chose a beachfront camper site with direct sea views and beach access. The east coast is just as stunning and beautiful as Piha and KareKare but with white sand and a little less wild terrain. This is a large camp site with great facilities attracting families that have come for their holidays year after year. We just loved looking out at the water. We did walk down to the famous Cathedral Cove which was well worth it but passed on the over rated Hot Water Beach.

Australia – New Zealand – Part 1

Australia

The first three months of 2016 were busy and wonderful and so much more. We began the year with a long awaited trip - and a true holiday/vacation - to Australia and New Zealand. We were able to use miles to get us there which lowered the cost of the trip considerably. (Tip – If you are a Delta flyer and participate in their mileage program it is generally always a better to use your Delta miles on their partners and vice versa. Want more information see here and here.)We flew on Korean Air into Brisbane and returned from Auckland, transiting both times through Seoul. (However, back to Delta for a moment, I have heard recently that Delta has made it much more difficult to go to Australia via Asia as they want you to use their flights from Los Angeles - just another FYI.)   

There were so many highlights on this trip, beginning with an amazing view of Brisbane and the Brisbane river as we arrived, but our time staying with Jenny and Remo and their kids about an hour outside of Brisbane started us off on such a good note that we weren’t sure if the rest of the trip would measure up. I have known Jenny for thirty years. She was a year ahead of me at Chefoo and we continued on in school together at Faith Academy where we were also in the same dorm at one point. The last time I saw Jenny and Remo was a cold grey day in Seattle back in the '90s while they were both obtaining PhD’s in Minnesota. We have stayed in touch and valued each other’s voices over the years but I think we were both pleasantly surprised at how great it was to be together in person as adults and have so much to talk about.  And so we hung out and talked a lot, asked a million questions and listened to stories all while sitting  around their dining room table, exploring their property or driving.

The view from the front of Jenny and Remo's place looking down their driveway.

The view from the other side of the house

We didn’t do too many ‘touristy’ things but we did see a lot – one day going inland a little more to Toowoomba where Remo and Jenny were both working. We explored several parks and gardens and had some good coffee and food as well as a gelato donut! Another day we went with Remo as he drove his mother (who was also visiting) back to her home so we got to see a little more of the beauty of this country.

We did go into Brisbane one day and went for an hour long cruise up the Brisbane River to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was fabulous and a lot of fun to see so many Australian birds and animals and be able to pet Kangaroos to our heart’s content (something we were not able to do back at Jenny and Remo’s place with the wild wallabies that hopped through their property!)

One of the many fun bridges that cross the Brisbane River - this one has apartments you can live in!