Wintergardens

Happy New Year 2008!

2008-01-01T21:16:00.000+01:00

What better way to end a year than spending the last day with a close friend?

Back-country skiing the whole day in Les 7 Laux, enjoying the beautiful weather and fresh snow together & sharing Swedish reindeer sandwiches :)

I wish you all a wonderful year 2008! May it be filled with days like this one, enjoying your favourite things in life together with people that are important to you!

Monteverde in images - finally

2007-12-07T23:04:00.001+01:00

Here comes the photo summary from my 2 first weeks in Costa Rica as promised!

AT SCHOOL

Studying hard...
... verbes

... body parts

... and finally coming to a point where I just can't get anything more into my head ;)

My favourite teacher - Mayra

Cooking class with Sandra...
... it's so good that you just have to eat it!

Breaks
Relaxing :)

Hanging out on the terrasse with my yellow house in the background

FAMILY

My little "hermana tica" (sister) and her "prima" (cousin)

ROADS

No comments needed ;)

CANOPY TOUR AND "SKYWALKING"

NATURE

Hiking in the Monteverde Reserve with Nancy

Yes, it is called the Monteverde Cloud Forest ;))

One of the numerous amazing frogs to be found in the cloud forest

Costa Rica - I'm in love...

2007-11-25T16:43:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know... it's been many weeks since I last gave a sign of life... I've already been back in France for a couple of weeks & away again (Bucharest - but that's another story), and my blog still hasn't been updated with any news about my life in Costa Rica. Bad me!! But, as I told some of my dear friends who've been "complaining", it's a good sign... I was having too much fun & did not have time (or did not want to find the time ;) ) to sit down and get online ;-)))
However, I've promised to give a little summary of my trip and post some photos, so here we go:

Volcán Arenal
Following my first 2 weeks in Monteverde, I spent the weekend at the 3rd most active volcano in the world - Volcán Arenal - together with John & John.

Arenal is a gorgeous volcano situated in north-western Costa Rica. The trip there from Monteverde was done by "jeep-boat-jeep", crossing the beautiful Arenal lake at the foot of the volcano after driving through a nice landscape (on bumpy roads!) for a few hours.

The view from our hotel

We spent the first hours in Arenal hiking to Cataratas Río Fortuna and cooling off in the nice swimming hole below the waterfall.

After the hike it was time for some pure pleasure: an afternoon/evening in the hot springs of the volcano! I was expecting some holes out in the nature, but the hot springs have actually been built to quite luxury sites, with more than 20 pools ranging from 35 to 65° C, and floating bars in several of the pools! Sipping on a drink while sitting/lying in a hot bath... you get the picture ;)
The following day we were recovering by the pool of the hotel, with a view on the volcano, before it was time to move on to the next destination.

The only thing that we unfortunately missed out on was to see the lava at night - the pattern of the lava flows have changed after some major eruptions, and hence the flows are no longer visible from the side where we were. Well, I guess that's just another good reason to go back to Costa Rica ;)

Playa Flamingo
From the Arenal volcano, I continued down to Playa Flamingo on the Pacific coast for a 3rd week of Spanish classes.
My new Tica family was wonderful, they live in a cute little house in the Potrero village with their 4-year old son. It was a very nice feeling to come home from school and see my Tico parents sitting out on the porch and waiting for me for dinner!

Otherwise it was a new school, new teachers, new schoolmates, new ambiance... I got up early every morning to eat my huge breakfast (big plate of fresh fruit + gallo pinto & eggs...) before catching the school bus at 7am to go to the school in Playa Flamingo (a few kilometers South from Potrero). I had another week of private instruction - my teacher was a 23-year old guy, who introduced himself as being soltero (=single)... help! I want my nice middle aged female teacher Mayra back!!!

If the program after school was all about studying hard in Monteverde (well OK, not all about...), it was the complete opposite in Playa Flamingo... With the pool at the school and the beach right next to it, the program after classes was quite different! But well, I have to admit that it was kind of nice to hang out at the beach for a change ;)
In Flamingo I did not have any cara blancas outside my classroom, but 2 iguanas that would come and sunbathe in the patio, a monkey hanging out in front of the supermarket and funny looking crabs on the beach.

My biggest surprise was when I went for lunch (yes lunch) to one bar that is famous for its "ladies' nights" - Wednesday nights with free drinks for all women... I saw a license plate from the Åland Islands on the wall!!!

All in all, Playa Flamingo was a nice experience, and I have to admit that it was a little sad to leave. I was about to head down South by myself, without anyone from my little "tribe"...

Playa Hermosa
So, after 3 weeks of hard studying it was finally time for my "real" holidays: a week of surfing in Playa Hermosa on the Pacific coast (close to Jaco - I learned that there are 2 Playa Hermosas in CR). This was supposed to be the highlight of my trip, but after all the great things I had experienced since the first day I was wondering how it could get any better...

Well... with an all girls surf camp, nice chicas taking care of me and adapting the program to anything I wanted to do - an intense schedule including a lot of surfing, yoga, hikes, good food, parties, some horseback riding, massage and pedicure - I soon found the answer ;-))) I had certainly had a whole month full of highlights, but I definitely enjoyed my last week of "feel-good" experience too!
The following is a summary of the highlights - or most exiting moments - of the week:

Yoga: when I first arrived in the most amazingly beautiful place where my yoga classes were, I couldn't help but think "wow, the class hasn't even started yet and I already feel good & completely relaxed". The daily yoga classes under a bamboo roof in the middle of the rain forest, with the sounds of the nature and the green leaves all around me, did me a lot of good. I wish I could find a place like this back home!

Surf: the most adrenaline filled moment was definitely surfing "Boca Barranca" -a famous longboard spot. This very long left is situated at the mouth of one of the most dirty rivers of whole Costa Rica - which you have to paddle accross before passing the break. When I was just about to get into the yellow-brownish water (after much hesitation), one of the surfers kindly informed me that the big thing I could see on the opposite riverside - where I was to paddle - was a crocodile! My reaction was: "Yeah, right, and I'm Miss Universe"... The answer: "No, seriously, it is a 15ft crocodile." "WHAT ??!? And you want me to get into the water with THAT??" After even more hesitation (much more - I can tell you that I was not very brave), I finally got into the water and started paddling. At the middle of the river I was already exhausted from the strong current, and freaking out every time I put my hand into the water (wonder what's in there - maybe something will take a bite of me???). I think that the only reason why I finally made it to the other side of the river and then behind the break was that I was scared to death of staying too close to the croco!!

Hikes: in the rain forest on the surrounding hills - with a nice view down on the main spots where I was surfing when the tide was right. Once again the wildlife was incredible: on one of our hikes I saw not less than 7 (!) tucans - 5 smaller "rainbow" tucans and 2 magnificent big ones.

Horseback riding: a nice ride through the rain forest on "Velvet", the most sensitive horse, took me to a beautiful waterfall with a natural mud bath. Believe me, my skin has never been as soft as after having covered my body in the mud rich on minerals and then rinced it off in the waterfall. If I add that this little break included some fresh fruits and drinks, you can imagine why this was one of my many favourites ;-))

So yes, this last week was definitely a highlight and the best birthday gift I could ever have given myself (it was my little treat to myself, after all you don't turn 30 every day!) - along with the whole trip of course! Can't wait until the next one - have to find a good "excuse" to spoil myself like this again ;)))

And yes, I'm totally in love with this country :) If you get a chance, go there yourself to experience the amayzing nature, lovely people, good food and everything else that Costa Rica has to offer!

Hasta luego Monteverde...

2007-10-26T21:39:00.000+02:00

Don´t have much time to write, but I wanted to give you a quick update of life here in Costa Rica... Will try to post some photos later on - sorry for not getting them on here now.

If I thought that Monteverde was gorgeous in the rain, there are no words to describe it when the weather is nice. What can I say... I´m totally in love with this place ;)

We´ve had much better weather this week, and I´ve experienced so many amazing things! I´ve walked in the rain forest at night, seen tarantulas, run into a group of 7-8 huge howler monkeys on one of the hikes, taken a break during my Spanish lesson to feed bananas to the "cara blancas" (white faced monkeys) that showed up outside the classroom, been out dancing salsa & cumbia with the locals etc etc... Not to mention how much Sapnish I´ve learned :))

Today is unfortunately my last day here - tomorrow I´m heading up to the Arenal volcano for a nice weekend with a couple of friends, before going down to the Pacific coast for my last week of lessons. But I know one thing for sure - I need to come back here one day!

Hasta luego!

¡ Hola amigos !

2007-10-23T01:12:00.000+02:00

Lluvia, lluvia, lluvia... that´s probably the first word I learned here in Costa Rica...

Why? Well simply because it means rain and that´s what we´ve been having a LOT of since I got here!

I guess it was to be expected since it is the rainy (or green) season. However, when all the Ticas (Costa Ricans) say that they never have this much rain, it´s kind of worrying...

Anyway, let´s start from the beginning... I arrived in CR about a week ago, not without some trouble... let´s just say that I got here several days before my luggage - where I had obviously packed my raincoat!

After a first night in San José, where I met my little "tribe" - Nancy, John & John - it was time to head up to the Monteverde cloud forest in the mountains. Due to the heavy rains, the Pan-American highway was cut off (it had sank 30 cm in some places!) and the dirt roads in the mountains were almost completely washed away. There has been no public transportation to/from Monteverde since I got here - and it´s apparently the first time that happens!

(I have a vague impression that the bad weather is following me - remember being caught in floods on my last trip as well ;) )

Luckily we had our great driver Tony, who got us up here safely after using his shovel to fill some of the worst mudholes where we got stuck :)

So, what have I been doing since 10 days in the rain? Most of the time I´ve actually spent... studying!!!

For those of you who don´t know my travel plans, I´ll be taking Spanish classes for the first 3 weeks of the trip, before going surfing :)
The positive side of all this rain is that it´s actually very motivating to hang out at school and study ;)
It´s hard work, but also good fun! The school is great, we´ve got hammocks outside the classrooms, the teachers are nice & we get fresh fruits and cakes at our 10am break :)) Not to forget the cooking & dance classes once a week... What more could one ask for - except some sun of course ;)

Besides studying, I´ve been out on some nice hikes to enjoy the amazing scenery here in Monteverde - the nature is just incredibly beautiful! The best time to go on hikes is early in the morning (=before the 8am class!) - that´s when you might actually have some sunshine & a nice view!

The rest of the time, I´m mostly at home either sleeping or spending time with my Tica family. I have to admit that it´s still a bit of a challenge to try to play games - in Spanish - with the 5-year old daughter, or to have some kind of deaper conversation - in Spanish of course ;) - with my "Mama Tica". It´s a very nice family who lives in a beautiful house - far from the type of house I was expecting to (and most of my classmates do) live in. And the food is delicious, although I think I won´t eat "arroz y frijoles" (rice and beans) for a while when I get back to France ;)

I also try to make the most out of my weekends despite the rain: canpoy tours, hikes in gorgeous cloud forest reserves, excursions, a couple of "cervezas con amigos"... So, on the whole I´m having a great time & wouldn´t mind staying here ;)
However, I still have "mucho mejoramiento" to do in Spanish... for some reason one of the guides at our canpoy tour this weekend was very delighted when I tried to explain that I just LOOOOVE it (meaning the zip-lines & the tarzan swing) ;))) Guess I still need to work on the use of "me gusta mucho"...

Need to go - have a ton of homework to do before tonight´s night walk in the rain forest to see some animals :))
Hasta luego!

No comments...

2007-08-31T22:04:00.000+02:00

Sorry for those of you who don't speak Finnish - this won't be translated... Let's just say that I wish part of this were true, and that would be the reason for my "silence" lately ;-)))

Suddenly I realize that summer is almost over!

2007-08-31T21:58:00.000+02:00

How did this happen ??!?

As I mentioned in my last post from May (!!), time is flying by... Back then, I was busy doing all the things I love: having fun, seeing my friends, travelling, meeting new people, spending time in the mountains, doing sports...

Unfortunately time can also fly by when you're working too much - and hence forgetting to do the previously mentioned things...
Although it's not easy to say, I have to admit that the reason for my silence during these past months is the latter - my life has been limited to work :-(

I regret to say this, but now I've got the feeling that I wake up and realize that summer is almost over and that I've forgotten to live it... There've been some highlights that I've "squeezed in": my dad's 60th birthday, some close friends' weddings etc, but there've been even more events that I've missed out on - as well as many small daily pleasures...

I guess that the main thing that has given some kind of a balance to my life - and the only one who hasn't really been impacted by the time I've spent working (thanks to remote connections and my "home office") - is my dear Ollie ;-)
Luckily she's always there, always demanding her share of my time and forcing me to take a break: to go for a walk, play or simply to take care of her...
But now, time has come to take care of myself as well ;-)

Why am I writing this post? Shouldn't I be sharing only "happy things" here??
Hmm, I guess it's simply to thank my friends & family who've been there anyway, and say I'm sorry for all those times I couldn't join you...
Many questions are still open: what do I want to do with my life? where do I want to live? what is my future? ... But the most important thing is clear - I have people around me that I love and who care!

Updates from the last month...

2007-05-17T18:30:00.000+02:00

It's been a long time since I last wrote... been busy, busy, busy! After my holidays mid-April, that I spent mountainbiking in the nice summer weather (sunshine & 25-30 degrees Celsius), time has been flying by.
April/May timeframe is rather tough in France - we have so many bank holidays that there's hardly any time left for work ;-))

Below are some shots from the last month in the mountains around Grenoble:

Via ferrata at the "Bastille" of Grenoble. It's great to have a place like this 10 minutes from home...

Momo is looking down on Grenoble from the crest above Herbeys. After the effort biking up here, we now have the pleasure of the downhill part back to town :)

A day of biking by myself in the Vercors - one of the 3 massifs surrounding Grenoble - I discover the beautiful trails between Grenoble and St Nizier de Moucherotte!

Ski tour with the Pilard brothers...

2007-04-16T21:59:00.000+02:00

Time for the last ski tour of the season... if you have a look at the pictures below, you'll understand why ;-))

After a first part on the snow, Xav and Romain are getting prepared to carry the skis...

Looks like Xav got himself into some trouble ;-)

Something is definitely missing... or melting underneath my skis!

Sunshine + girls + Valfréjus =

2007-03-05T09:35:00.000+01:00

Do I need to add anything to this?? Thanks girls for a nice day of skiing & snowboarding (of yes, I'm finally back on my board again) in the sun! Let's do it again soon!

Ski touring in Maurienne, February 24-25

2007-03-03T20:24:00.000+01:00

Finally I have a moment to post some photos from last weekend...

Oh yes, we were a group of 9 people (including the guide) to dare the bad conditions last weekend in the search of some snow. How I happened to be the only women & the only one below 30, I don't know... Anyway, we went to Maurienne, one of the massifs north of Grenoble for 2 days of ski touring.
The first day, we actually had some sunshine climbing up to the Col de Rosoire (3023m). However, the conditions got worse during the day, and by the time we reached the mountain hut at 2511m the visibility was pretty bad (I guess this was partly due to the late hour as well...) and the wind was picking up.

Day 1
On my way up to Col de Rosoire - we could definitely use some more snow around here...

The mountain hut is close, just a few more meters to climb and then we're there

"Apero-time" while waiting that the snow for cooking water melts on the fire

After a rather restless night in the cute "Refuge de la Dent Parrachée", we woke up in a full snow storm! During the whole climb up towards Col de Labby (3328m) we were doubting that we would actually be able to reach the mountain pass to ski down on the other side. This was partly due to the bad weather conditions - hard wind & bad visibility because of the heavy snow fall - and partly due to the increasing avalanche risk.
At the end of the day, we made it to the top thanks to a moment of better visibility and the motivation of the group. On the other side, heaven was waiting ;-)) Fresh snow up to my thighs on the top - I honestly did not expect to ski in such snow conditions this year! And the difference in altitude to the village where we had parked the car was 2000 meters... The ride down was an adventure though, as we had some parts with very bad visibility where we knew that the slopes above us were very steep and potentially dangerous in terms of avalanches. This aside, I had one of my best days skiing ever - might be due to the fact that there's been so little snow this year ;-)

Day 2

Preparing for departure - in the snow storm

Some of the best moments of the weekend besides the skiing, were definitely when we saw an ibex climb from one rock to the other close to where we were hiking up the first day, and when several herds of a few dozen chamois crossed our path the following day. One of them even jumped out straight in front of us - from several meters up - when we were skiing down a narrow, steep part! Amazing to see the agility of these animals up close!! I wonder if anybody of us would have been able to pull off a similar jump ;-)

Semlor i massor - traditions I like

2007-02-26T14:04:00.000+01:00

One of the best things about living abroad is that you actually can choose which traditions you want to keep alive... And the following one is definitely one I like:

Semla, laskiaispulla, fastlagsbulle... the name is different if you are in Sweden, Finland or on the Åland Islands - but the taste is still the same! I am talking about the sweet little wheat bun filled with almonds & whipped creme, that you traditionally eat in the Nordic countries on "mardi gras".

Hence, a week ago it was time to bake again so that I could make some of my friends try the semlor - and so that I would not miss one of my favorite traditions ;-)

Hem ljuva hem...

2007-01-28T17:56:00.000+01:00

Back in Scandinavia for a few weeks. Between my trips to Stockholm and Helsinki, I manage to spend some time with family & friends on the beautiful little island where I grew up - the Aland Islands. It is still the peaceful place I remember from my childhood, although many things have changed since I left... Lately, I've discovered at least one new baby or a new house every time I've been back ;-))

Winter & snow finally came to France the day I left, so unfortunately I missed out on the powder - again.
Luckily there are ways to enjoy the winter even in an archipelago without mountains: Långfärdsskridskoåkning - or in other words: tour skating!
As usual, the best way to get some time with my parents on winter weekends is by following them in their search for the best ice. So, it was time again to pack the necessary equipment: a back-pack with a waterproof bag inside, containing a complete change of clothing, a towel and a pair of plastic bags to keep my feet dry in wet shoes. The back-pack has a waistband and a "groin strap" to keep it down - and myself up - in case I fall in the water (it works as a buoyancy aid thanks to the volume of the waterproof bag inside). A throwing-line, ice-pikes and ice-prods with a whistle, used respectively to pull people out of the water, test the strength of the ice and climb back up on the ice from the water, are required as well.
Once the equipment had been checked, I was finally ready to attach the long, blade-like tour skates to my hiking boots and head out on the newly formed ice (yeah, winter was late even in Finland this year...)!

Mom - I think you're out on thin ice...

... and I'm following!

Finnish Thai-dinner

2007-01-21T20:59:00.000+01:00

No skiing this weekend - when you read the French avalanche forecast for the region you understand why!
CONDITIONS D'ENNEIGEMENT : Suite au redoux de cette mi-janvier l'enneigement est bien pauvre pour la saison, plutot digne d'un automne... Il n'y pratiquement plus de neige en moyenne montagne. Which basically means that there is no snow...
Perfect timing for a nice Finnish-French-American-Vietnamese-Venezuelan-Swedish evening, including "Thai" food & Romanian drinks... I'm glad we managed to get together - love you guys!

Looks like somebody has chopstick problems...

... fortunately it does not seem to bother him for a long time ;-)

Look at these sleeping beauties - nothing such as a little nap after a nice meal...

Skating aux Saisies avec Ollie...

2007-01-14T08:58:00.000+01:00

Hier la recherche de la neige nous a amene aux Saisies (Savoie) pour une session de skating sous le soleil de printemps. Ma premiere sortie de ski de fond depuis plusieures annees - et une premiere jamais avec Ollie!

Nous voila pretes pour le depart!

La descente sur les skis de skating avec Ollie etait plus que casse-guele - c'est impressionnant la sensation de vitesse qu'on peut avoir... Malheureusement elle n'etait pas aussi motivee a tirer dans les montees! On a donc pas mal d'entrainement a faire pour etre coordonnees, mais ce fut quand meme une experience bien sympa - a refaire :-)

Sylvain et Ollie

Faire du skating avec vue sur le Mont Blanc - bonheur en arrivant sur la partie haute des pistes de fond!

La recherche de la neige continue... @ Pointe des Marmottes Noires

2007-01-07T20:45:00.000+01:00

Franchement, lorsque je me retrouve au debut de cette rando ce matin sous la pluie et dans le brouillard, je me demande serieusement qu'est-ce qui m'a pousse a me lever avant 5h30 le matin et quitter ma couette chaude pour chausser les skis...

... et puis on a fait la pause dejeuner au col des Teurs avec cette vue...

... plus de regrets de m'etre levee ;-)))

Älsklingsstorebror, bilderna är från dagens skidtur som började med regn & dimma... tufft när man har stigit upp innan halv sex på morgonen. Lyckligtvis tittade solen fram lagom till lunchen ;-)

Le Pic des Trois Eveches - la premiere rando de la saison...

2007-01-02T17:08:00.000+01:00

... et la derniere pour l'annee 2006. Le 29 decembre le moment etait enfin venu pour chausser les skis de nouveau. Depart donc vers le col du Lautaret avec Carine, Isa & Nat pour ma premiere rando depuis tres tres longtemps.

Mais ou est la neige?? En effet, c'etait des conditions de printemps, aussi bien en ce qui concerne la neige que la temperature. Au moins le soleil etait bien au rendez-vous, l'objectif de bronzage est donc atteint ;-)

2007!

2007-01-02T16:53:00.000+01:00

Gott Nytt År – Onnellista Uutta Vuotta – Bonne Année – Happy New Year

I wish you all a great year 2007 filled with love, happiness, nice surprises & great adventures ;)

Hope I'll see you soon!

Bye bye Vietnam

2006-12-19T16:17:00.000+01:00

Back in France after a fabulous trip! It's good to be home again, although I hope it won't be too long before I take my back-pack and leave to discover new places ;-)))

Life is tough

2006-12-19T16:14:00.000+01:00

Past weeks' photo summary

2006-12-17T05:32:00.000+01:00

Getting fastfood in HCMC... on your "motobike"!

Cu Chi tunnels (HCMC)

Here I come...

... you can tell that these tunnels were built for Vietnamese and not us other giants ;-)))

Mui Ne

Sunset over the red sand-dunes in Mui Ne.

Christmas has come to Mui Ne

2006-12-17T05:29:00.000+01:00

Ok, ok, I know that we are on the beach... but still - coconuts under the Christmas tree!!!

Rainy days

2006-12-17T05:20:00.000+01:00

Hoi An

View of the market from my hotel... in the afternoon water was knee high where this photo was taken from.

Flooding does not seem to bother locals in Hoi An - you just take your boat instead of the "moto".

Hue

Rainy day for cyclo drivers in Hue...

Sunshine - finally!!

2006-12-09T09:50:00.000+01:00

The sun is back!! I've been relaxing on the beach in Mui Ne after my 20 hour bus drive to this Southern part of Vietnam. However, since there doesn't seem to be any good surf here 1 day at the beach is enough...
Tomorrow I'll go back to HCMC to catch a bus to the Mekong Delta instead - and then my trip has almost come to an end...

Flooding...

2006-12-06T10:00:00.000+01:00

New weather update: the rain has finally stopped, but now most places on the coast are flooded.
In Hoi An the water has come up a couple of blocks from the river - I have to walk through knee-high water to get to my hotel, and there is now water in the room I slept in last night... I will leave with the nightbus (20 hrs!!) in a couple of hours, hoping that the roads are not in too bad shape.
Apparently my next planned stop has been severily touched by the typhoon, with many houses & all beach bungalows gone. Don't really know where to go next, as the typhoon has chosen more or less the same itinerary as I have :-(
Will keep you updated on my next stops - if I actually manage to get somewhere...

Rain, rain, rain...

2006-12-05T08:40:00.000+01:00

Ok, I should have known that my luck with the weather wouldn't last... It has been raining ever since I came to Central Vietnam - 4 days of heavy rain in both Hue and Hoi An.
I have adopted a new fashion - rubber pants and a rain coat that covers everything from my head to the knees (including all my bags etc). Wouldn't even imagine leaving my room without these essential pieces of clothing ;-)

Some locals told me that normally the rain period should have been over already, but the typhoon that came in from the Philippines brought some very bad weather... I was a bit worried that the typhoon would hit Hoi An again (as it did on Oct. 3rd), but it seems like the worst of it was a bit South from here, although we've had a few restless nights with hard winds and heavy rain. The streets closest to the river are all flooded - but this does not seem to worry the locals at all, so I guess it's just normal...

I'll stay one day longer in Hoi An, in order to avoid problems on the road. I have to wait and see if I need to cancel my surfing plans - if it looks very bad down on the South-east coast I'll probably go towards the Mekong Delta and then the West coast instead of Mui Ne.

More to follow from (I hope) a sunnier place...

Some pictures from my first week's adventures

2006-11-30T12:35:00.000+01:00

Back in Hanoi after a couple of exiting trips. Heading South tonight, with a halfday stop in Hue before going to Hoi An. Check these photos out for a quick summary of my last adventures ;-)

YES, I did it! Here I am at "the roof" of Indochina, i.e. the highest peak in Vietnam - Fan Si Pan (3143m...).

The trek up here was a great experience! After a relaxing first day (I was almost disappointed because it felt far too easy...), we got value for our money on the second day ;-) The first 1000m vertical were - almost vertical! Climbing up with a big back-pack and no security equipment other than roots and bamboo to hold on to was quite different from what I am used to... But as you can see, we finally made it up to the top ;-)

Noodle soup breakfast at 5am in the Fan Si Pan base camp.

The food during the trek was absolutely fabulous - the porters carried fresh meat, vegetables and fruit with them. Our dinner the first night was one of the best ones I've had here so far - a 6 course meal woked on the camp fire, including buffalo with ginger and lemon grass, tofu, ginger cabbage etc.

Our local porters on the first day hike up to the base camp at 2000m.

The porters were all from some of the hill tribes in the area, mainly Black H'mong. They carried all our food in their baskets, wearing traditional clothing and plastic sandals without socks.

I wonder if I would have been able to get to the top with the same kind of equipment...

Me and Jordan - a Canadian I met at Halong Bay who joined me for the Sapa trip - together with two girls from the H'mong hill tribe close to Sapa.

Rice fields in the Sapa valley.

Relaxing 2-day trip on the Bai Tu Long junk in the beutiful Halong Bay.

Xin chao!

2006-11-24T07:35:00.000+01:00

After a couple of months waiting and a trip full of emotions & excitement I finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday evening. I thought I'd never arrive to the hotel without an accident - traffic here is really something else: hardly no rules (at least none that are followed) other than biggest has priority. The taxi was surrounded by literally hundreds of motorbikes & bikes going in all directions- so close to each other that they almost touched...
After one night sleeping with earplugs due to the continuos noice in the street, I headed out to discover the center of HCMC, i.e. Saigon... and came back to the hotel exhausted!!! If I thought traffic was bad sitting in a big car, it was a almost a life or death project crossing the first few streets as a pedestrian!
No matter how well prepared I thought I was, the cultural choc was complete, with the smells, the people, the markets etc.

The very same evening, my adventure continued as I took the plane to Hanoi. Arriving at the airport at midnight, no car was picking me up as promised... so I got into a mini-bus (much cheaper alternative) for the 45 min drive into the center. The only problem was that the mini-bus left all the passangers in front of the Vietnam Airlines main office - except me since the driver insisted on bringing me to my hotel for some extra money of course. Finally after a rather scary ride through dark narrow streets in the old town, I got to my hotel - only to discover that they had no room for me!!! The guy from the hotel insisted that he take me to another hotel where they had rooms available. So off we went, in the rain at 1am on a motorbike without helmets and me carrying a big back-pack on my back and a small one in front... already the second time that night that I wondered if I would really arrive at a hotel!!

After 2 days of walking around Hanoi (although motorbike or cyclo drivers offer you a ride every 2 minutes, I prefer counting on my legs for now), visiting some pagodas, museums, parks etc, I'll be heading to Halong Bay for 2 days tomorrow. Sunday evening I'll catch the night train to the North where I will try to go trekking to the summit of Fan Si Pan (highest peak at 3143m). I guess I will have another cultural choc (the first is already history ;)) when I get to the mountains...
To be continued...

Ollie at Chamchaude

2006-11-08T13:44:00.000+01:00

Nice Sunday-walk with Ollie up to Chamchaude to enjoy the beautiful November weather. See you soon on one of the other peaks overlooking Grenoble!