25 June 2011:

The walk back from the Blue Lagoon turned out to be one of the most beautiful walks of the trip. As the sun was setting, everything turned warm and golden, from the lush cassava fields the path cuts through to the softly drifting palm leaves to the gently shimmering water. Sadly, I didn't bring my camera with me, but have fond memories of that beautiful moment of warmth and calm. The Australian also told me about Cambodia and Laos, and here is where I made up my mind that I had to go see Vang Vieng and what everyone describes as the worst thing they've see, but everyone has to experience once. Dinner was good, any meal with taro or cassava is a good meal for me.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44.html

25 June 2011:

A view of the dorm I stayed in. I wonder if anyone was ever accidentally locked inside since the door is locked by a padlock on the outside. I met a few new arrivals, including an Australian geologist who worked in Canada piloting a helicopter attached to a giant metal detector. Seems like exploration geologists get to go to a lot of interesting places. In the afternoon, I went for another snorkel at the Blue Lagoon with the geologist, were I dove down deeper and found some weird large pouches that closed when I fan water at them. I also sent a postcard from the resort, which looked very fancy.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44.html

25 June 2011:

Here's a picture of the string of shell rings in progress. I didn't do much today. In the morning, I went out for a snorkel near the hotel. There wasn't much to see near the shore, but farther out past the sea grass were patches of coral colonies filled with fish. They were like little islands of life surrounded with schools of fish in an otherwise barren sandy seascape. It was quite choppy out here, so I had to be careful not to be swept into the coral. There was a great variety of things, including many very large fish who were very skittish. I also saw more clown fish, some of which were protecting cute babies staring out at me in the anemones. They were still quite aggressive, and one of them swam up and bit my mask.

Rough notes: http://mandarinmanmarktravelnotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/2011-nz-to-sf-day-44.html