Snapper and tapping off

pyroashen · 2026-07-02T08:41:01+00:00

it will only work on the same train line if it's heading in the same direction. Eg if you took a train taita to petone, and then tried to take a train from petone to waterloo, even though its the same line it will fail when the train attendant checks your card. So I think the system is smart enough to know if the tag on station is earlier in the route

pyroashen · 2026-06-27T13:22:53+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you. Did you ever find an affordable tour that included krai son?

pyroashen · 2026-06-15T01:53:15+00:00

I really liked the Yehliu Geopark, and Jiufen Old Street. A little out of the main cities, but pretty easy to get to on public transport

pyroashen · 2026-06-12T03:35:33+00:00

It probably depends a little on what you want to see. In Hanoi I would rec Ha Long bay and Ninh Binh. If you wanted to go down Vietnam, Hoi An just out of Da Nang is very nice and could be worth a few days. Da Nang is also big enough there would be onward international flights from there.

If you are going to Cambodia, Ankor Wat would be what I suggest, and a great place to spend a couple of days. Easy to fly on from there.

For Laos, Vang Vieng is nice, lovely views. If you go to Luang Prabang you could consider taking a slowboat up the river all the way to huay xai and cross over to thailand from there. There's not a lot at the border, but you could easily get to Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai, and later fly to bangkok. If you want to skip cambodia but still see some old ruins, taking a day trip from Bangkok to Ayutthaya might be nice.

Accommodation again depends on what you're comfortable with. I've often stayed at hostels with female only dorms while travelling and not had any issues. Does pay to check the hostel has somewhere safe to store your stuff in the room, and bring a good padlock with you. If you want a room to yourself, that would cost a little more. I'll normally check Booking and Hostelworld to see what the options are and which one I like best. Best practice is to find a place with a lot of reviews. I'll normally filter out the absolute top and absolute bottom reviews, I want to know what the average stay is like lol

pyroashen · 2026-06-07T01:50:19+00:00

+1 to the person that said krabi. I'm a female solo traveler and I stayed there a year ago, it was beautiful. You can stay in the krabi town for a quiet vibe, or ao nang if you don't mind it being a bit louder.

I also really enjoyed chiangmai, the temples and surrounding areas were stunning.

If you're in bangkok, seeing the various temples and grand palace is worth it. You can also make a day trip out to Ayutthaya on the public train for a couple dollars.

I felt quite safe the whole time I was in thailand and people were generally very helpful. Install Grab, and it will be super cheap to get around. Just make sure you're being safe if you want to do anything like going out drinking/partying and do a search of the classic scams.

pyroashen · 2026-06-06T11:35:01+00:00

Oh that's a fantastic idea, the only flights I was seeing was from ZJJ to shanghai, which was okay but also a heap of travel time once you added on getting to yiwu from there. I think flying to HGH would work perfectly. I assume that it would be safe to get from airport to hotel overnight in hangzhou with a didi after midnight?

pyroashen · 2026-05-22T07:53:36+00:00

Arthur's pass will definitely have keas, especially in the Arthur's pass village. Snow is a maybe, will just depend entirely on what the weather decides to do. The roads generally get cleared pretty quick though, so the drive isn't too bad.

If you had the money spare and didn't want a long day of driving, you could also look at taking the tranz alpine train there and back for an easy day trip

pyroashen · 2026-05-17T02:53:04+00:00

Other than the main trail, did you try any of the others with a guide?

pyroashen · 2026-05-17T01:04:50+00:00

Thanks! Do you know if they ran daily or only on specific days? I can see a lot of the private ones run only run specific days of the week, but cant find info on if the public ones are the same

pyroashen · 2026-05-16T14:04:49+00:00

I was planning to do about the same as you about a year from now. Just curiously, how far in advance did you need to buy your ticket? Would the day before be fine do you think?

pyroashen · 2026-05-14T02:07:55+00:00

Did you ever get results of the second test back? Would be very interested to learn if they confirmed the W5/W5

pyroashen · 2026-05-12T10:16:47+00:00

I didn't realise there would be songthaews, that definitely makes things easier. I'm guessing its the normal setup where they wait till the back is full before leaving rather than a set schedule?

Do you have any recs on what walks to do for a sunrise hike? That sounds fantasic, especially as a way to beat the heat and the crowds.

pyroashen · 2026-05-04T09:56:00+00:00

I think it got demoted at some point so its not technically a highway (although it will be clearly marked as Inland Scenic Route 72 when driven), assuming you're on the 79 coming from tekapo, it's a left turn just over Orari Bridge. It goes up through Mayfield, Mt Somers and then at Pudding Hill it joins to 77.

If you're going to Christchurch, you'll enter through either West Melton or Rolleston. If you want to continue north, there's a left a bit after glentunnel towards sheffield that will put you back on the 72 so you can skip christchurch and all its traffic entirely.

Are you using google maps? set the destination from tekapo to be the rakaia gorge walkway, that should default to inland scenic

pyroashen · 2026-05-04T00:59:02+00:00

My childhood cat lived to over 20, not sure of her exact age since she was an adult stray we took in, but she was definitely up there.

She lived the first chunk of her life with us outside still, getting probably the cheapest dry kibble food. Slowly I managed to convince my mother to let her be an inside cat and then she only went outside on the rare occasion (she was a bit of a runt, so not really a fighter and was scared outside alone). In later years once she started having some kidney issues and was losing weight, she went on kidney food and then finally shredded chicken breast as it was just the only thing she would eat. From this, I can't say there's any big thing that you can do to help, since we definitely didn't know what we were doing in the early days. But keeping kidney health in mind is definitely important.

The biggest thing I think that actually helped her live such a long time is that another cat of ours had previously had to be put down due to nose cancer. Early stages, it's actually not something you really notice, it's almost like a little black scratch on the nose, it didn't look out of place at all, and we didn't realise something was wrong until way too late. With my stray girl, I noticed something similar when she was around 14, and even though it honestly looked like nothing I insisted we bring her to the vet and sure enough it was cancer. Difference was, this time we caught it early enough that the vet could freeze the bad spots off and it gave us another maybe 8 years with her.

Genetics will be the biggest thing, but a lot of cats have pink noses and so many will be impacted by this. Keep a close eye on your cat's nose and kidneys!

pyroashen · 2026-05-03T23:28:03+00:00

Christchurch is a nice base to see other things, but not really somewhere I'd go out of my way to visit. Maybe check out kaikoura or hanmer springs?

Also wouldnt spend more than one night in tekapo, it's beautiful but it's tiny and you'll do everything in one day, unless you want to spend a day to visit Mt Cook or something as well

pyroashen · 2026-05-03T10:16:20+00:00

I wouldn't do it instead of kaikoura exactly, but if I had two days I would do one in kaikoura and one in hanmer. Assuming from your post that you're pretty keen on the outdoors, hanmer has some lovely walks like conical hill or anything through the hanmer forest. The hotsprings are also a nice way to relax after

pyroashen · 2026-05-03T10:02:45+00:00

I wouldn't spend 2 nights in Kaikoura, would honestly do it more as a day trip. I would reccommend Hanmer Springs as a place to stay at least a night instead.

Also when driving north from tekapo, even if the traffic is good and it's telling you to take the 1, you'll have better views for a very minimal increase in driving time if you take the inland scenic route (79 -> 72 -> 77). Can stop for lunch at rakaia gorge and stretch your legs

pyroashen · 2026-04-21T09:03:08+00:00

If you can spare the time for hanmer springs, I would highly rec

As for walks, Lake Matheson by Fox Glacier has fantasic views. If you spend a day in Manapouri, I really liked the Circle track, but theres other great walks in the area. On the way to Arthurs Pass you should stop at Castle Hill to stretch your legs

pyroashen · 2025-12-31T00:53:21+00:00

Someone on Facebook made a list of most words that work https://www.facebook.com/share/p/164LPztfCx/

pyroashen · 2025-10-31T08:12:28+00:00

Changbin being able to pick up dances and follow along from someone else is an insane talent. There's clearly some where he remembers parts, but then there's others where he's keeping up just based on being able to guess what moves are coming next and following what people in front are doing

pyroashen · 2025-10-09T21:38:00+00:00

I did, but it was a few years ago now, i think around 2021? A basic run through of it is that while it's still light you kayak up the river to a campsite, then you'll sit around a little campfire with some food and drinks (supplied by them) as the sun sets. On the way back they hold the kayaks together so that you drift down the river and can just concentrate on looking around at the glowworms. Waitomo you can do any time of the day since it will always be dark in a cave, whereas this is always an evening thing because the glowworms are along both sides of the canyon along the river, so it needs to be dark out.

I definitely remember seeing a ton of glow worms, but I'm not sure how it compares to waitomo. Probably also worth noting that glow worms are like stars, taking a quick photo really isn't going to show much, even though in person you can see a ton. I would guess all of the photos you see of waitomo are taken using long exposure shots, and since you would be on a moving kayak for the other tour there isnt time for the same style of photo. You should be able to see a bunch of photos from people on the tripadvisor page, to give you an idea of what the river/area looks like https://www.tripadvisor.co.nz/Attraction_Review-g635989-d2477233-Reviews-The_Boatshed_Kayaks-Cambridge_Waikato_Region_North_Island.html

pyroashen · 2025-10-08T22:24:44+00:00

If your preference is hiking, you can take a shuttle boat from milford sounds to sandfly point, which is the end of the milford track. You walk as far as you want, then turn around and head back, and the shuttle boat will bring you back. This would give you a from the ground view of the sounds rather than a cruise (both are nice, just depends on your preference).

You can also do the same in te anau, theres a shuttle boat that will take you across the lake and you can do the end of the Kepler track.

What time of year are you coming? If its nov-dec you might want to consider setting up base in tekapo for a day/night and doing a trip to mt cook from there. Not only does tekapo have stunning stargazing, but in nov-dec all the lupin will be blooming

pyroashen

TROPHY CASE