UPDATE: From Tarmac to Operating Room

Well, the plan was to come home from Fiji, sleep for a few hours, and then start my new job. But as Steinbeck wrote, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Instead, I came home from Fiji, slept for a few hours, and then went straight into the hospital to have an operation on my infected leg...

By the time I had stepped off the Fiji-LA-Atlanta-Washington, DC flights, my leg had swollen to the size of Kobayashi's stomach after the Coney Island hot dog eating contest. First thing Monday morning I went to a doctor, who told me that I need to have leg surgery immediately. An hour later, I was waking up from the deepest sleep I've ever had with a golf-ball-sized chunk of my leg missing. Seriously, does this stuff happen to anybody else? At least this all happened on my last day of vacation and not in the middle. I would have hated to miss Everest.

Reflections--Trip's Final Posting

I have been resisting posting a lengthy reflection piece on my six months of traveling. I could write about all that I have seen, about how small the world really is, and about how much I have grown. But I don't want to write about it and you certainly don't want to read about it. I only hope that you have had fun reading some of my stories (though I think I only have about three readers, two of which are my parents) and seeing some of my pictures. I have certainly had fun.

Though I start a desk job next week, I hope to post a funny story every once in a while on this site. So check back in from time to time.

If you don't read another word of this blog, I urge you at least to take a minute to look through my Top 50 photos. Click on the picture below. Don't ever stop learning. Don't ever stop growing. Don't ever stop exploring.

Top 50 photos

Painful "ending" to my trip

I haven't had so much as a headache during six months of traveling. So it should come as no surprise to you that I spent the last day of my vacation, sprawled face down on a Fijian doctor's table, getting a HUGE shot of penicillin in the arse.

An inflamed hair follicle on my leg became infected while I was snorkeling on Fiji's outer islands. For some strange reason, the local remedy of tree leaves didn't heal the wound. By last night, my swollen leg could have passed for one of Kristie Alley's, and I could barely walk. Returning to the mainland, I got the penicillin shot in the caboose, some antibiotics, and enough painkillers to sedate Mike Tyson. At least the painkillers have dulled the pain of leaving Fiji and ending my vacation. If you want to see more pictures of Fiji, click on the image below.

Fiji

The Numbers

173 DAYS OF TRAVELING:
14 countries (2 under martial law, and 2 Communist countries)
10 time zones
418 miles of trekking
35 flights
32 boats
22 buses
20 ziplines
Countless taxis
14 scuba tanks
6 missed weddings
2 motorcycles
2 rental cars
2 horses
2 bike rides (one of which was 400 miles...)
2 ice picks
1 gondola ride
1 train
1 elephant
1 parachute
1 snowboard
1 sliding rock
Thousands of smiles.

Initial impressions of Fiji

The people here have mesmerizing looks. I can't help but think that everybody here looks like a darker version of He-Man's sidekick, Ram Man (picture at left). Fijians are the most impossibly broad people I've ever seen, with the women even having NFL-sized shoulders.

Fiji seems like the perfect place to get away from it all. Unfortunately, for the last six weeks I have been in Australia and New Zealand, about as far away as one gets from "it all." If I was any more mellow, I wouldn't have a pulse.

I can confirm that they sell FIJI "natural artesian water" here, the stuff that Americans buy for $5 a bottle at Starbucks. The half dozen Fijians that I've spoken with all think its hilarious that Americans are 1) obsessed with the water and 2) pay almost 10 times the local price for it.

And before you ask, no, I haven't run into Vijay Singh yet.

FIJI

Tomorrow I leave Kiwi-land for Fiji, my final destination before returning home. I'll be on the Pacific island-nation for a few days. By all accounts, there is not much to do there besides swimming in turquoise waters, roasting in the sun, and staging coups. I certainly don't forsee ice climbing in my island activities. I know you don't care what Fiji looks like, but I thought I would post a map just for the sake of blog consistency.

I've done it!

After 6 months of grappling with Moby Dick, I've finished the book. I've slain the white whale. It was worth carting all the way around the world, as it is a beautifully written book. Thanks Herman.

Hungry Hungry Hippo

Somebody recently told me that my blog has turned sappy as of late. With that in mind, I wanted to post a video of my new nephew chomping away. I embrace sappiness.

Ruminations

I went snowboarding today. I must be getting old, because I don't do any of the slopes, jumps, or tricks I used to do. Despite sticking to the bunny slope most of the day, I managed to have two spectacular and very humbling crashes...

I turn my rental car/motel in tomorrow. After two weeks, 2,000 miles, and many chilly nights, it will be a little hard to part ways with my Daihatsu (I swear it is a real car brand; I looked it up). I'll let you know if the rental company charges me for the overwhelming hints of lavender, juniper, margarine, and whatever else Glade puts in its "Garden Bliss" air freshener.

I thought I would share a few lines from a British friend I met traveling. He is describing Australia, but the same could be said for New Zealand:
"...great 5 weeks here but its not been travelling, its not been backpacking, its been a holiday like I would take in a European city. It lacks the adventure and the rugged appeal of a place like Cambodia. For example, since I've been here I've drank my weight in beer...but in Cambodia I'm told there is a place where you can pay 30 sterling and fire a heat seeking rocket at a cow. As I'm sure you'll all agree, both are equally valid activities but one of them just cries out a bit more than the other. This is obviously partly because I can drink at home but somehow I can't see myself being able to fire a bazooka at a poodle on Wimbledon common."

I go to Fiji on Monday (in three days). Today, Fiji imposed martial law. Great.

If you want to see more pictures of my final days in NZ, including ice-climbing and snowboarding photos, click on the footprints below:

New Zealand III--Nature, Ice Climbing, and Snowboarding

South by Southwest

I signed up to run the Austin marathon with my cousins on February 17, 2008. Let me know if any of you are interested in joining. Click on http://www.attaustinmarathon.com/cms/ for registration details.

And one more thing...

...please stop sending me emails about Michigan losing to Appalachian State.

Eugene O'Neill

Today I went ice climbing. Why ice climb? After 6 months, I was running out of new activities, so I decided why NOT ice climb. I know what you are probably thinking: "Dave is making this up. I was willing to go along with him on the hiking, the biking, the scuba diving, the kayaking, the skydiving...hell, even the zip lining. But ice climbing? Come on. Ice climbing? This is getting ridiculous. Now I know it is time for him to come home."

And so it goes. I will be home in 12 days. When I am sitting behind my desk under the flourescent lights, I can always look at my ice climbing pictures--ice picks, crampons, and clinging to Franz Joseph Glacier--to remind me how happy I used to be.... I'll post another NZ photo album in the coming days with more ice climbing pictures. Hope all of you enjoyed your Labor Day weekends.

Wedding Announcements...

Congratulations to two sets of couples: Steve Goodfriend and Gillian Parrot, as well as Xander Meise and Ben Bay. Their weddings are this weekend. Sorry to be missing out on the celebrations but know that I am sending big hugs to all of you from kiwi-land. Have fun!

More New Zealand Nature Pictures

New Zealand is a beautiful country indeed. If you are interested in seeing more pictures of the South Island, click on the album below. As usual, they are best viewed in the slideshow mode.

New Zealand Nature Pictures II

Sea Lions and Seals

The southern coast of the South Island is full of sea-lions and seals(and sheep). It is amazing, and not a little strange, to have beaches and whole coastlines alone with these animals. I have posted a video (apologies for the quality) and a picture album of the critters. Enjoy.

Sea Lions and Seals

The Perfect Storm

So as you know, I decided to rent a very small car for a two-week roadtrip on New Zealand's South Island. The car has become a perfect storm...of sorts. The factors:
1) I have been sleeping in the car most nights.
2) I have been living off a steady diet of canned beans and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
3) I have taken one shower in the past week.
4) The weather is too cold to roll down the windows.
5) I am carrying around a pair of tennis shoes whose biological properties could wipe out an entire army. (They would have gotten Saddam into trouble with the UN, had he possessed a pair.)

It got so bad that I seriously became worried that the car rental company was going to assess a cleaning charge/penalty when I returned the car. The solution: Glade air freshener, the kind you use to scent a big room in your house. The only problem now is that I feel like I am drowning in a potpourri bowl. I guess reaking of "Garden Bliss" is better than the alternative...

Flipper

Today was a good day. This morning, I signed up for a "Swim with the Dolphins" excursion off the east coast of New Zealand. The good news was that I saw dolphins, lots of dolphins. The other piece of good news is that I didn't swim with the dolphins. That may seem counter-intuitive...until I tell you that we were given TWO wetsuits (plus hood, booties, and gloves) to wear because the water was so cold. Remember that it is the dead of winter here. We couldn't get the dolphins to circle behind the boat, which is needed in order to swim with them. Instead, a pod of about 60 dusky dolphins sped alongside our boat for a few hours, jumping and playing, and I avoided frostbite. For a few more pictures of the dolphins, click on the album below (as usual, the pictures are best viewed as a slideshow):

Dolphins

Hightower

New Zealand is strange. They barely have laws; there are virtually no people here. They have no police; there is no violence. They have no traffic; there are no cars. Then how in the hell do I manage to get a #$@!!*$#@ parking ticket??? Incredible.

The Sterotypical American

I hate to add this clip to an otherwise good blog, but this is the stereotype that EVERYBODY I've met, over the last 5 months, has about Americans...

Pictures of New Zealand

Click on the album below to see some pictures of New Zealand's South Island. I decided to rent a car and am now in the midst of a two-week roadtrip around the island. Good times. Very good times.

New Zealand Nature Pictures

Skydiving!

Click on the album below to see pictures of the craziest thing I've ever done. I recommend everybody try skydiving at least once, but its not something I look to do again in the immediate future. There were several stages of fear associated with the experience:

1) I tell a woman at a travel agency that I am interested in skydiving. She says a group leaves in 15 minutes. I say yes. My legs immediately start twitching.
2) 15 minutes later I am standing in the skydiving office. I turn into a Chatty Cathy, saying anything to anybody who will listen.
3) We drive to the airstrip. I see how small the plane is. I have to pat my stomach to make sure it is still there.
4) The instructor, Sasha, tells us to suit up. Suddenly I can't walk very well.
5) Sasha shows us how we should position ourselves as we jump out of the plane. I think I am going to be sick.
6) Walking to the plane, Sasha asks what I do for a living. When I tell him that I am going to be a lawyer, he jokes that he may have to loosen my harness a bit. I am not in the mood for lawyer jokes.
7) The plane takes off the ground and climbs fast, very fast. I find myself wishing I was anywhere but here.
8) We pull even with the mountaintops. I think this isn't so high. My instructor says we are at 3,000 feet. I hold on to the inside of the plane with a pit bull-like grip that would make Michael Vick proud.
9) Why the hell do we keep climbing? Are they trying to kill me? Its cold in here. These are the last thoughts in my head before my brain completely shuts down.
10) We hit 10,000 feet. I am within a hair's breadth of hyperventilating. I literally have to force myself to breathe.
11) Sasha straps into my harness. I tell him, "please don't let me die." He lets out one of those Dr. Claw-type laughs...you know, the ones from Inspector Gadget. I don't think he realizes that I am being serious.
12) The plane door opens. Sasha and I are the ones closest to the door, meaning we go first. Sasha tells me to stick my legs out the door. Because my brain has shut down, I will do anything Sasha tells me to, even if it means dangling my legs out of a 12,000 foot high airplane.
13) Sasha starts rocking me back and forth out of the door. If there was anything in my bowels at this moment, Sasha would be neither happy nor clean. I close my eyes and tell myself this is not happening.
14) We are off! I open my eyes. The wind is coming up at us so fast that it is an effort to breathe. Not sure if I have slobber all over my goggles and forehead. I scream my only four-letter word of the skydive.
15) We are in free fall for 45 seconds. This is both the longest and shortest 45 seconds of my entire life. I think my stomach is still at 12,000 feet.
16) We reach 5,000 feet and Sasha pulls the chute. Thank God it opens. Arms, check. Legs, check. Family jewels, check. Wow, I am still alive.
17) We reach the ground. I kiss it.
18) Several hours later I get feeling back in my legs. I stop shaking. It dawns on me that I plummeted 12,000 feet earlier in the day. My adrenaline surge fades away and I am exhausted. I blog about how stooopid I am.

Skydiving Pictures!

Terminal Velocity

While I may not be stooopid enough to go bungee jumping, I was stooopid enough to go skydiving today! HOLY @@#$!$(!(!$()@!&^! That was the craziest thing I've ever done. Throwing yourself out of a plane 12,000 feet above a lake is not normal. Our top speed during freefall was 125 miles per hour. My body is still shaking several hours after jumping and I think I still have slobber all over my forehead...

While I don't get the official photos and DVD until later tonight, I thought I would post a few of my homemade clips now to give you some sense of my mood before and after the jump. Click on the images below to play the videos. Enjoy.

A few musings from Kiwi-land

Just had a few random thoughts that I wanted to share with you.

Two more reasons why I love America: One of Australia's national symbols is the boomerang. New Zealand doesn't have much going for it besides its unparalleled beauty and its rugby team. In the last two weeks I learned that 1) Americans win the international boomerang competition in Australia every year, and 2)Rugby has been an Olympic sport exactly four times. The U.S. team won two out of those four times. (And we don't even care about rugby!) Listen up Brazil, Argentina, and Germany--it is only a matter of time before we win the soccer World Cup. And for some reason Americans have a reputation for being arrogant....

Southern Hemisphere's weather. It is beyond bizarre to see snow in the middle of August. It goes against everything that I've known for the last 27 years.

The Final Countdown. As my 6-month vacation wraps up, I can't get that damn Europe song out of my head. "Dadaa-da, dada-daaaaa....its the final countdown."

Borat. If you thought Borat was big in the States, he was an even bigger hit internationally, especially among the backpacker community. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a Czech guy say in his best Khazak accent, "Very Nice!"....

Moby Dick. I am still chasing the conclusion of Moby Dick. I have been reading it for five months and I still haven't gotten to the chase scene. There is no way that I am coming back home without finishing this book.

If you want to see more pictures of Kiwi-land, click on the album below:

Auckland and Queenstown, NZ

Two more pictures

My friend just sent me this picture, which he took on our hike to Everest Base Camp. It reminds me just how beautiful the Himalayas are. (Its a little hard to tell, but I think I am looking up at Amadamblam.)



Here is another shot of the new baby (my dad and nephew pictured). I hope you aren't getting tired of seeing these pictures, because there might be one or two more coming your way in the near future.

A message from Queenstown

Sorry for the cheesy video, but its my first attempt at posting something from my camera. Click on the image below to play the video:

NZ!

I've arrived safely in Auckland, New Zealand. Tomorrow I fly down to Queenstown, on NZ's South Island. I've decided to forgo the North Island because I only have three weeks in the country and the South Island supposedly has more dramatic scenery and extreme activities. Looking forward to doing a little snowboarding in August. Ciao for now.

Tio David

I am still flying high, more than a week after becoming an uncle. Good times. (Aaron and Theo pictured above.)

Fraser Island Pictures

I don't know if I am running out of creative juice or its just that the First World isn't very funny. Either way, I don't have anything amusing to report. I left Australia today and am now in New Zealand. Australia was beautiful, felt like America, and provided me with many fond memories. I have to go back to Oz, if only to see koalas, kangaroos, Paul Hogan (google him if you don't know who he is) and a rugby match. I have added a few pictures from my final stop in Australia. Take a look while I go mull over the idea of starting a desk job four weeks from today...

Fraser Island, Australia

Whitsundays

My God, I've just seen one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Its called the Whitsundays island chain, part of the southern tip of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. I was on a racing sailboat for three days with a 23 Germans, Irish, Scottish, British, and Australians. You know what happens when these people get together? Let's just say that the skipper and I were the only sober people in the entire bunch. There is a reason people from these countries are stereotyped as having drinking problems. Jesus. My travel companions couldn't detract from amazing sailing, turquoise water, cotton puff clouds, whales, dolphins, turtles, and the most beautiful beach on earth--Whitehaven Beach (pictured above). I've included some pictures to make you guys jealous; don't hate me.

The Whitsundays

Baby Theo

If this isn't precious, I don't know what is. Congratulations again Aaron and Lucie. Theo is beautiful.


Roth nose?

GBR Pictures

Click on the album below to see a few of the Great Barrier Reef pictures. I probably won't have a chance to develop the underwater pictures (the ones without the whale shark) until I get back to the States. Enjoy.

Great Barrier Reef

The Land Down Under

I am really enjoying being in this country called Oz. It is beautiful, huge, and has almost no people . (Oz is slightly smaller than the United States but only has half the population of California.) I have no funny stories to report; I just wanted to give you a sense of where I am. I started with five days in Sydney (SE Oz) and then flew up to Cairns (NE Oz), where I spent two days diving on the Great Barrier Reef.
An eleven-hour bus ride later, I find myself in Airlie Beach, about to get on a racing sailboat to explore The Whitsundays islands (see picture on the left). I will eventually work my way down to Brisbane by next Monday, when I fly to New Zealand.

The Happiest Man in the World

I might just be the happiest man on Earth today. It started off with sunrise on a boat anchored next to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), 3 hours off the Australian coast. I saw, swam with, and touched a whale shark, the biggest fish in the sea. (My dive instructor had done over 4,500 dives on the GBR and this is the first whale shark he had ever seen.) It is exhilirating to accomplish a life-long goal...diving on the GBR.

After coming ashore tonight, I discovered Erika, my cousin, and Jim got engaged. Congratulations to both of you. Jim, I welcome you into the Roth family with wide open arms. Erika, you couldn't have chosen a better guy. Congrats.

Then the BEST news of all: Lucie, my sister-in-law, gave birth to Theodore Roth, a very healthy baby boy!! I spoke to Aaron, my brother, and my parents in Lucie's London hospital room. I don't know who was crying more--me or the new baby. My dad joked that the baby has lots of hair, which must come from Lucie's family because it sure as hell isn't a Roth feature... (I will post pictures as soon as I can.) Congratulations Aaron and Lucie on being new parents and to Mom and Dad on becoming grandparents. I've experienced amazing things over the last five months, but all pale in comparison to becoming an uncle. I am thrilled!

Shark!

This morning I saw a whale shark, the biggest fish on Earth. I was confused as my dive instructor began waving wildly and sprinted off at an angle. I figured something was wrong and that we had to get out of the water immediately. To my great shock, I then noticed him swimming straight toward a MASSIVE creature, the biggest I had ever seen underwater. It was an enormous shark, about 28-30 feet long. (By comparison, the great white only grows to about 20 feet.) I followed the instructor and only became nervous when he grabbed my scuba vest and dragged me next to the shark's tail so I could touch it. One swipe of that tail and I wouldn't be writing this email. Nevertheless, it was amazing.

The funny part of the story is that I debated for a few hours whether to buy a disposable, underwater camera for my two days of scuba diving. In the end I decided to buy the camera in case I saw anything spectacular. The whale shark was just such a moment! So what happens when I go to grab the camera to take a picture of this monster? I can't find the damn camera anywhere! I look everywhere for it. I couldn't even find the camera after the shark left. It wasn't until I was back on the diveboat that I found it sanwiched in between my scuba vest and my wetsuit. D'oh! Imagine my embarassment when all the dive instructors, none of whom had ever before seen a whale shark, asked how many pictures I took of the shark....Oh well, I hope at least the turtle pictures turn out.

If for any reason, you want to learn more about whale sharks, click on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

Gone with the Wind

Saved. The skydiving got canceled. Too windy. Whew.

If this is the last blog entry I post, its because something happened when I went skydiving. I am going to jump out of a plane in two hours, 14,000 feet over Sydney. Much love.

Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!

Sydney is easily one of the world's most beautiful cities. It reminds me a bit of San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver--laid-back and aesthetically pleasing cities surrounded by water. Sydney's strengths: they speak English, they use dollars (albeit Aussie dollars), the winters here are a joke (70 and sunny), the meat pies are scrummy (British slang), and they have opera! Sydney's Opera House is about as perfect a building as they come. I saw The Barber of Seville there last night. I had a good chuckle thinking about an American watching Australians sing a story in Italian about southern Spain.

For a few more pictures of Sydney, click on the album below (sorry there aren't any pictures of koalas or kangaroos; amazingly, I haven't seen any yet):

Sydney

Angkor What?

My stay in Cambodia was short but while there I saw Angkor Wat, one of the world's most spectacular man-made structures. (If anybody wants to learn more about Ankor Wat, check it out at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat.) After Angkor, it was back to Bangkok for a few days of handicrafts shopping and turning down prostitutes. I arrived in Sydney, Australia today. SE Asia was amazing but I can't tell you how nice it is to be back in the First World. I have a few days to explore Sydney and then it is onto the Great Barrier Reef for 10 days. My travels are quickly coming to an end; going home is not as tantalizing for me as it was for Odysseus (but then again he was gone for 20 years...).

For a few more pictures of Angkor, click on the album below:

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Good Luck Lucie!

My sister-in-law should give birth to a baby boy this week, making my mother and father grandparents and me an uncle. Exciting stuff. Lucie, I am thinking about you and Aaron, and wishing you the best of luck from Australia. I can't wait to hear the good news.

Its Great to be a Michigan Wolverine

So I am sitting in this restaurant in Cambodia (shouldn't all good stories start out this way?). Its the kind of place where they encourage their patrons to write on the walls. And I am sitting there thinking to myself that these walls really need a "block M." (For those of you who did not have the fortune of going to the University of Michigan, the "block M" is the University's symbol.) As the thought dances in my head, out of the corner of my eye, I spy it....a "block M!"

I've said it before, but its worth repeating. The University of Michigan is the best school in the world. Others schools may be better academically. Other schools may have better athletic programs. Certainly, almost all other schools have better looking people. But you will not find a school with more loyal and proud students and alumni. No other institution could provoke such a wave of euphoria and pride with one single letter on the wall of a restaurant 15,000 miles from home.

Only Me

Eight days and more than 400 miles biking through Vietnam. No flat tire.
Ten minutes and two miles to the Saigon market where I want to sell my bike. Flat tire.

This type of thing would only happen to me. I had a few precious hours to sell my bike in Saigon before getting on a plane to Cambodia. On the way to an open-air market, I got a flat tire. Can you imagine trying to sell a two-wheeler with only one good tire???? I had no time or supplies to fix my bike, so I found somebody with a pump and inflated the tire for just long enough to unload it for $60. I felt a little bad as I high-tailed it out of the market on the back of a motorcycle-taxi; but then again the guy got a slightly used $100 bike for $60. I am just overjoyed to be getting out of this godforsaken country.

Lance Armstrong I am not

Today is the last day of biking in Vietnam. The three of us board a bus today-- Turek and Jemale bound for the southern coast and I for Saigon.

Vietnam turned out to be an overwhelming experience--both good and bad. Our bikes took us to rural Vietnam, where many of those born after the Vietnam War had almost certainly never met a foreigner. We were treated as celebrities. People dropped their farm tools to stare at us, brought their kids over when we stopped to eat (rice), touched us, invited us to spend nights in their home, freely fed us (rice), chased after us on bicycles, and shouted a million hellos to us. In eight days, we neither met a single English-speaker nor saw another foreigner. In that sense, the three of us felt like we saw the real Vietnam.

On the other hand, we had quite a few negative encounters. People tried rip us off in literally every single transaction, Turek and Jemale had things stolen from them, one Vietnamese held my backpack hostage on an isolated beach and threatened to kill us if we didn't pay him ransom (we gave him a tarp in the end), I got bitten by a masseuse, we ate the same meal all day every day, the weather was blazing hot (105), and I have lost all feeling in my ring and pinky fingers on both hands.

Finally, I found it emotionally difficult at times to be an American in Vietnam. We killed more than a million North Vietnamese (we met one person whose older brother was killed by an American bomb in the war), deforested large parts of the country, left behind thousands of tons of unexploded ordinance, and set the country back decades. Evidence of the war is still fresh: we spent three days riding on the now-paved Ho Chi Minh Trail; we explored the Vin Moc tunnels used by North Vietnamese soldiers; we biked through the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and crossed the Ben Hai River; and we saw dozens of war memorials/cemeteries that lined our route in central Vietnam. It is hard to be here and not think about our involvement in Iraq.

So I am hanging up the riding shorts and getting on a bus with my bike. I hope to resell the two-wheeler before Tuesday, when I fly onto Cambodia. Ciao for now.

Cycling Pictures

I have quite a few stories from cycling, but not enough time to draft a blog entry. In the meantime, the attached pictures should whet your appetite. Ẹnjoy.

Vietnam Bike Trip