New Zealand... One of the many trail-blazers towards "Sustainability"

Wellington ( the capital)
May was New Zealand's fall so I got to see beautiful autumn leaves like this everywhere

The City Council just passed a bill to provide street recycling in Wellington! FANTASTIC!
These stickers were on every single outlet!
It's a part of their culture... sustainability is not a new idea... neither is supporting Fair Trade
Local Brews




If I had planned the last leg of my trip instead of being burnt out by trying to cram too many places in such a little time, I would have stayed in New Zealand for longer than I did. Not to mention New Zealand was one of the most expensive destinations and I had already gone over budget.

Because of a number of factors New Zealand boasts some pretty fantastic scenery . The government has strict regulation about the amount of logging that they will allow for grazing sheep and cattle. Apparently there are more sheep in New Zealand than people. Many of the cities have very active Municipal Councils and participation of people in local initiatives. In the capitol or Wellington the City Council passed to have recycling bins outside in the streets of Wellington. Everywhere you go you see people recycling, using environmentally friendly bags, products etc...

The indigenous people's of New Zealand , the Maori who had originally came from Tahiti and before that from South East Asia had developed a very respectful relationship to the land and all things natural. There are a number of Maori proverbs that still have the same or not even more relevance. My favorites that I got from an exhibit from the National Museum "Te Papa" in Wellington were:

• What is given by the land should return to the land

• Swift to fall, long to resurrect
  

• I will never be lost/I am a seed of this land

• Embrace the past / Prepare for the future

These beliefs stem from a Maori concept of sustainability called "Kaitiakitanga" ( I hope I spelled that right ) which means "balance with nature."

These ideas are implemented in everything from legislation to commerce. In 1991 Rudolf Steiner pushed for the Resource Management Act which maintains biodiversity. Though allot of New Zealand's forest is being cut down for sheep and cattle farming, there is a quota and limit to how much forest is cut and in what time frame. In addition there will be a project of replanting of trees to ensure that the cycle is sustainable.

Auckland is the most populated city in New Zealand. While in Auckland I noticed the pr essence of many immigrant communties. There are allot of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, as well as Turkish, and Lebanese immigrants. It was nice to see the diversity after being in more homogeneous places for a few months. After talking to New Zealanders though, you get mixed reviews about how they feel about Auckland and how they feel about immigrants. With an election this year, I heard allot about trying to get new immigrants to participate and be more engaged in the election. In addition, there was also some talk in the media about getting Maori communities to be more engaged in the election, as high numbers of Maori people are not registered to vote and do not participate in the election.

New Zealand was a very expensive destination for me to travel on my struggling student budget. I stayed in hostels, bought my own groceries, and learned to be as thrifty as possible. It was easy with all the great hostels. I bought a package in which I traveled around the North Island on a bus and could hop on or off at any point. Most of my days consisted of going to museums, taking photos, walking around the city and talking to as many people as I could. Many tourists are attracted to New Zealand for adventure sports. It wasn't high on my agenda and I didn't care because I didn't have any money to do any of them anyways. I was happy to find out just that they had an engaged citizenry. Strong municipalities, vibrant and diverse towns and cities as well as a sustainable model of development. Hats off to New Zealand for blazing an exemplary model. I hope to be back again to check out the South Island!

In Hong Kong with friends...

Hill in Cambodia
The view from Hill's bedroom
Market in Kowloon
Macau Island
The Bar District-Lan Kwai Fong
Chueng Chau Island
Giving offers to Hill's ancestors at the graves
A dragon that will be used for festivities on Chueng Chau Island
Macau Buddha
Danny and I went out during Typhoon 3 and were stuck in a restaurant for a few hours when I took this
Chueng Chau Island

I apologize to all my regular readers for not updating this. I never leave projects unfinished once I start them.

So ... Hong Kong.. Why did I go to Hong Kong? Well I originally did not plan to go to Hong Kong. There was nothing that I absolutely had to see there but I was quite surprised at how much I did learn and was thoroughly impressed by. Hong Kong was a lay over on three separate occasions so I decided to just extend one of them for 8 days.

When I was in Thailand, I met a girl named Hill, whom I met again in Cambodia since we were both traveling the same route at similar times. Hill is originally from Hong Kong and has family there. She had been in Australia for more than 4 years for college and was doing a trip on her own over land through southeast Asia and then up back to Hong Kong. Hill was an inspiration and a delightfully fierce woman to travel with. She told me to contact her once I was in Hong Kong and I stayed with her and her family for the most of my stay in Hong Kong.

The first day in Hong Kong after taking the express train to another island and then taking a taxi we got to her complex in "New Territories". Hong Kong is too dense for any houses. People live in huge high rises. Hill was on the 38th floor. What a view... mostly of the harbor. The first day I went with Hill's family for a long practiced tradition of giving respects to their ancestors. We met up early, at some dim sum and then went to several cemeteries where we gave offerings of inncense, fruit, and burned certain symbolic things like fake money in which was supposed to be used in the afterlife.

For one weekend I explored Hong Kong with an old friend from high school, Danny. Danny has lived in Beijing for 2 years and speaks fluent Mandarin. He has been there for work and travels to Hong Kong and other close destinations pretty often. Danny loves urban planning and likes to explore interesting neighborhoods with complex histories. We went to Wan Chai which is more a working class, both residential and commercial area of Hong Kong.

Hill took me to several museums and areas of Hong Kong. We went to view a giant buddha on Macau Island.

My favorite part of my stay in Hong Kong is when we went to Chueng Chau Island. Hill had some family still living on the island , including her grandparents who were in their 90's and still run a store on the island! They are beautiful energetic spirits and it is amazing that they can keep up a store on their own. Chueng Chau island has more than 30,000 people and not one single car other than an ambulance. There are no cars allowed on the island. So what is the main form of transportation? Bikes! Hill and I borrowed some bikes from a friend and biked all over the island. It was absolutely beautiful. Fishing is the biggest economy on the island and the boats are colorful and bright.

Staying with Hill and getting a tour off the beaten path from Danny as well really allowed me to see how people in Hong Kong live. So they have always been a hub/major port for the rest of capitalist asia. They have a very different history than China, and yet you still see both the Hong Kong and Chinese flag flying all over. Hong Kong has its own government that provides for its immigration, police force, legal system, monetary system as well as delegates but Hong Kong is under the Central People's Government which provides the territories defence and foreign affairs. There are sooo many x-pats in Hong Kong you can go to completely gentrified areas where you will see very little Chinese. In these areas you can get away with speaking English all the time. It makes it a very easy place to travel.

I loved the transportation system in Hong Kong! Thumbs up the the Octopus card which can be used on 7 lines - bus, shuttle, train, subway, ferry, as well as other forms of transportation.

Thank you to Hill and her beautiful family for taking me in and feeding me, giving me a bed and being my host family for a week. Hill if you are reading this.... I hope you are still dreaming big and I hope to see you out there as we keep blazing new paths and finding out more about the world.