At last, snow in Morzine

It had been forecast, but it was still very welcome to wake up on Saturday morning to see the whole of Mozine buried deep in a blanket of snow, with heavy snow still falling.   If we had planned to go skiing again today, we might have been somewhat disappointed as many of the Avoriaz lifts were closed the whole day due to very high winds, with white-out conditions on most of the pistes that were open.  Fortunately Adam had elected to spend a gastronomic day in the apartment and food shopping in Morzine, so the skiing conditions were not an issue for us.  For the second time this week, I was very grateful for the grippy apres-ski boots that Alison had given me for Christmas, which made walking around the icy Morzine pavements a much more pleasant experience.
For dinner, Jessica produced her signature dish: Pasta Savoisienne, which was followed by a chocolate fondue.  You have been warned!

Boxing Day in Avoriaz

The plan for the day was for me and Adam to head up to Avoriaz for a day's skiing and meet up with Claire and Jessica for lunch.  I had expected the worst in terms of getting up there since, with no snow in Morzine, the whole world would be heading up to Avoriaz. In the event it turned out to be easy enough, with no queues for the bus or the main cable car up to Avoriaz.  Once up there it was certainly quite busy, but not too crowded and in general the lift queues were not too long thanks to the ski pass rationing imposed by the lift operating company.  They had done a good job with the snow making machines since I was up there the previous week and there was good skiing on at least 60% of all the pistes in the resort.

After some confusion over our restaurant rendezvous we managed to meet up with Claire and Jessica for a rather chilly lunch on the terrace.  Then it was off skiing again for the rest of the afternoon, before heading back down the lift to Morzine.  

In the evening we treated ourselves to a cheese fondue, courtesy of the fondue maker that Jessica had given me for Christmas.  I suspect that this will become a regular menu feature for any guests staying at Le Sappy this season.

First guests at Le Sappy

Christmas arrangements at Apartment Sappy:
Alison to Geneva Airport en route back to a family Christmas in Essex.
Jessica, Adam, and Claire arriving from the UK from Christmas in Morzine.
Probably the first of many trips to Geneva over the season?

We had tentatively planned to have a day's skiing in Avoriaz but that was shelved due to the need for some serious sleep catch-up on the part of Jessica and Adam  So a more relaxed agenda incorporating a leisurely breakfast followed by a major cheese shopping expedition to the local market.   Then a cable car ride up the the snow-starved Morzine hill followed by a short walk to Restaurant Vaffieu for a light lunch on their sunny terrace.

  

On the way back to the cable car disaster strikes! Claire falls on the treacherous icy snow and hurts her wrist.  When we get back to base, a trip to the medical centre reveals that her wrist is indeed 'bien cassé'.  Not a good start to the Christmas holiday, and we haven't even got to the ski slopes yet!  

First Ski of the Year

At last, I have the time to get out and sample the skiing. Although there is no snow in Morzine, there is a fair bit of the stuff in next-door Avoriaz.  Only 8 out of about 50 pistes open at this stage, but certainly enough for a day's skiing, and the snow conditions weren't at all bad, considering the relatively high temperatures we have had this week.  Anyway, good to get the feel of being on skis again, even if it does make me aware how much room there is for improvement over the coming season.

Good to rest aching legs with a beer and lunchtime 'snac', sitting in the Avoriaz sun.

Hopefully plenty more of the same  in the next few weeks.

Morzine for the Season

We are now resident in apartment Sappy for the start of our ski season here in Morzine, in the French Alps.   The place looks like a good choice,  with pretty much everything we need to make us comfortable for the next four months or so, and well located for the centre of town, the ski bus, and most importantly the Dixie Bar, where I hope to spend many an evening listening to the various visiting bands over a pint of beer.
Only snag so far is that there is no snow to speak of in Morzine!  Although that has not had much impact on me so fas as I have had to work flat out for the first few days of this week, and hardly had the chance to set foot outside the door.  Unfortunately, this is not a holiday, but rather a relocation to work somewhere with a few more outdoor opportunities than are available in Brentford.

Koh Tao

Having finished work in Bangkok it was time to head south to the island of Koh Tao for a spot of scuba diving.  I had originally scheduled five days for this activity in the hope that Alison would be able to join me for a mini holiday.  Unfortunately that was not possible so I oped for a cut down three-day   reconnaissance trip.

Travelled there on the cheap via overnight coach and high speed ferry, rather than the slightly quicker but more pricey route flying via Koh Samui.  Definitely a back packer destination. I was the oldest person on the ferry by a good thirty years!

Good off season rates to be had in many of the islands resorts.  The one I opted for turned out to be a good choice.  Comfy rooms set into the steep rock of the island, sloping down to a charming private beach, which was ideal for snorkeling and diving.  Dining was in a wonderful restaurant situated on a platform over the rocks, with some great sunset views to be enjoyed over cocktails.

Day two included some scuba refresher training as I had not dived for over four years.  Also plenty of time for lounging on the beach.  The following day I met up with my diving buddy, Gary, who was staying at the adjacent resort to mine, and we headed out on my resort's dive boat to our dive sites for the day.  Since there was a total of three customers in our party, apparently that was enough to justify a longer journey of about a hour to the first dive site, Southwest Pinnacle.  Lots to see there, with the sea teeming with shoals of fish of all sizes.  The swirling baracuda shoal was probably the most impressive.  (Videos to follow later, watch this space).  Then on to the second site, Shark Island.  This was not so interesting due to poor visibility and some erratic currents, but a variety of soft coral to be seen.  But no sharks!  All in all, a good day's diving after such a long break.

I did a bit of exploring of the main town in Koh Tao, and concluded that whilst that was fine for the backpacker set, I was better off in my slightly more secluded resort.  Apparently when the high season kicks off, there is partying all night on the main beaches, so best avoided for us oldies who like to get to bed early.

On my final day I did some more snorkelling off my local beach, but the water was very murky due to a massive storm the previous night that marked the start of the rainy season in Thailand.  Then it was time to head off on the long ferry/coach/taxi/skytrain/plane journey back home.  Final assessment:  Koh Tao is justifiably rated as one of Thailand's top dive sites, and well worth a longer follow up visit.

Bangkok - without the bang

I had expected by this stage in my trip to be in a position to share with you a picture from the coup frontline here in Bangkok.  APC's trundling up Sukhumvit maybe, or troops firing on rioters in Victory Monument square. However, none of that is happening and I have not so far seen any sign of the military. The only tangible effect is due to the 10pm curfew and even that is now being ignored by the bars, which are mostly staying open until midnight.

Anyway, with my work finished for this trip now time to head off to the even more peaceful and quiet Koh Tao, hopefully for a spot of diving.

I had an hour or so to kill before the coach was due to depart Bangkok, so I decided, on Adam's recommendation, to check ot the Khaosan Road - home to the world's backpacker community.  Can't say that I was over impressed.  The adjacent road seem to have much better bars, restaurants and musical entertainment.

Thailand - same same

Predictably, based on my previous trips to Thailand (see earlier blog posts), my arrival here coincided with the Thai army declaring a state of martial law.  That was something of a non-event.  However by Thursday this had morphed into a full blown military coup.  Still no signs of the army on the streets, at least in areas that I frequented.  The main impact has been the imposition of a curfew from 10pm to 5am every day, and the shutting down of all Thai TV channels (see picture).  Many ex-pat commentators have seen this as a positive outcome, since we can now get to sleep before midnight without  the pounding sound of some nearby bar's soundsystem, and we are spared the crap put out by most Thai TV stations.  Let's see how things develop!

Meanwhile, my best advice is that if you see a planned Thailand trip on my calendar then best avoid the country for that period as inevitably it will coincide with a Red/Yellow Shirt sit-in, army take-over, or natural disaster (think flood, earthquake).

Skiing in Cervinia

Now half way through our skiing holiday in Cervinia. The weather has been excellent so far with a good snow base at all levels and sunshine and blue skies  every day.  Club Med is not as bad as I had feared, with good food every evening, and excellent ski guiding. Our guide seems to know what us oldies like, and always gets us to an excellent restaurant for a late lunch with much additional alcohol thrown in!

Avoiding the dire Club Med 'entertainment' is not too difficult, so the evenings are reasonably civilized, although I do miss the social scene that one gets on chalet holidays. Cervinia is proving to be an excellent ski area including as it does the whole Zermatt ski area too.  Loads of easy intermediate runs that don't require too much effort, even if not particularly challenging,

All in all, this is turning our to be a great holiday.

Moscow

After a couple of busy work days here in Moscow, I just managed to fit in a morning's sightseeing before having to head off to the airport for my flight home. Not much time to do justice to the many cultural sights on offer in this city, but I did at least get to ride on the Moscow Metro, walk around the Kremlin, stroll though Red Square, and visit St Basil's.  Hopefully I can manage a longer itinerary on my next trip here.

Dr Feelgood, The Half Moon

Another Urbane Foxes social night, this time involving a curry at the Putney Tandoori to start the evening off, then down the road to the Half Moon to see the Feelgoods performing.  I last saw them at the headlining Ealing Blues Festival in July 2013 and they delivered a storming performance on that occasion, so I was really looking forward to seeing them again close up at the Half Moon.  For anyone who followed the band back in the 70's, the first thing one would notice is that none of the original members from that era are in the present incarnation.  Nevertheless, there has been a gradual evolution from that first line-up to the present day and the current line-up still channel the spirit and essence of the original group. So we were treated to a very energetic performance from the band and went away well entertained.  

Nearly Dan, Jazz Cafe

A very polished performance from this Steely Dan covers band, which included some of the more obscure Becker/Fagin songs as well as their better known materiel .  They sounded uncannily like the real thing - not bad for a bunch of guys from Stoke-on-Trent!

Final Day in Yangon

On our last day in Yangon we decided to do a walking tour of some of the few remaining historical sites in the city, which were conveniently located within a relatively short walk of our hotel.  This process was aided by a neat GPS navigation app on my phone, which gave us a bearing and distance to our next location, though as it turned out this was largely unnecessary as most of the sights were clustered together around the independence memorial in the centre of the city.
It has to be said that what remains of old colonial Rangoon is a rather sorry sight, although there are some signs of renovation.  But the bulk of the city blocks are depressingly drab concrete structures that are deeply uninspiring.

In the evening, after an afternoon relaxing by the pool, we dined out at an interesting restaurant called the House of Memories. This was located in an old colonial style house which had been maintained in what looks like pretty much its original condition.  Its claim to fame is that it was used by General Aung Sang as his office during the last two years of WW2 while he was initially allying with the Japanese to kick out the British, then subsequently changing sides to assist the Allied forces in pushing the Japanese out of the country.  His office has been restored as a sort of mini-museum to commemorate that era.    The  restaurant also did some good cocktails and a fine selection of Myanmar food, so a good way to spend our final hours in Yangon.

Exit Via Yangon

Saying goodbye to Ngapali Beach we flew back to Yangon for the final part of the holiday.  First impressions of the city are not great as you ride in from the airport by taxi, with crumbling and drab buildings in every direction.  Our hotel, the Traders, stood out like an oasis of modernity in the otherwise dilapidated landscape.
After some recovery time by the pool enjoying the 5 star Traders service, it was time to head off to Yangon's main tourist attraction, the Shwedagon Pagoda.   Although we had seen a fair few pagodas already on our trip, to say nothing of several thousand Buddhas, it was hard not to be impressed by the sheer scale of the Shwedagon.  Its central stupa is a massive golden structure that glowed in the setting sun, but equally impressive were the ring of Buddha shrines that surrounded it, and the numerous smaller temples and stupas that filled the courtyard around the main pagoda. 

Serious Relaxation at Ngapali Beach

It has been tough getting into relaxation mode after our strenuous 12 days of cycling, but I feel that we have managed quite well under the circumstances.  With four nights and three full days of beach life I have notched up four massages, four sunset cocktails and four delicious and cheap seafood dinners.  All this as well as getting though six centuries of Burmese history in the excellent book that Alison and I have been reading.

Ngapali Beach Chillout

With the Grasshopper cycle tour completed, we headed on to our next destination, Ngapali Beach on Myanmar's Andaman coast, for some well earned total relaxation. 
Ngapali Beach is the best known of Myanmar's beaches and is a long crescent of white sand stretching about 2.5km from end to end.  Thankfully the hotel developments have been kept low rise and discretely integrated with the surrounding trees so that looking inland from the beach, you would hardly know that there was anything there.
Our hotel is situated next to a small strip of beach populated by local bars, restaurants and massage shops.  The price of food and drink here is really cheap compared not only to the UK but also to nearby tourist destinations such as Thailand.  For example, last night we were able to dine out on freshly cooked barracuda and tuna, with side dishes plus beer and cocktails for less than $13 - a real bargain. 
During the day time, passing fruit sellers carrying baskets of fresh fruit on their heads, will sell you coconuts, pineapple, pomelos, etc, for $1 each.

Day 11: Bagan Temples

The balloon flight was only the start of our day in Bagan.  Back in the hotel it was time to change into our cycling gear again for the final ride of the holiday: a tour of just a few of the thousands of temples that can be visited on the Bagan plain. Although this was to some extent something of an anticlimax after seeing the whole of Bagan spread out below us form the balloon, it was still well worthwhile being able to see some of the structures up close.  Only then can you appreciate just how much effort had originally gone into their construction and decoration.  Not surprisingly, much of the original architectural and artistic detail has been lost over the centuries due to earthquakes, vandalism and the ravages of time.  Nevertheless, there were still some miraculously preserved examples of wall frescoes dating back to the temples' original construction.
After our temple tour, we were treated to a boat ride along the Irrawaddy so that we could view Bagan from that perspective, finally ending up at the jetty near our hotel.  Not a particularly inspiring sight it has to be said, compared to the view from the air.
The final activity of the day, prior to the New Years Eve celebrations that were to come later in the evening, was the obligatory trip to view the sunset over the temples of Bagan from the vantage point of another tall temple.  This particular spot was clearly on the itinerary of every other tourist in Bagan, as we observed when we climbed up the temples steep steps to join the hundreds of Japanese, Koreans, Germans, etc, gathered there to enjoy the sunset view.   Still, not a bad way to end our Bagan temple experience and see out the last rays of 2013.

Day 11: Balloons Over Bagan

 

This was probably the most eagerly anticipated part of our whole Myanmar trip.  My birthday present from Alison was to be a balloon trip over the Bagan temples!
We set our alarm for some unearthly hour as the balloon flight was scheduled to take off at dawn when the air was at its stillest.  When our transport arrived at the hotel to drive us to the take-off site, we got onto ancient buses that looked like they had been converted from old WW2 army trucks. (Subsequently we were informed that in fact this is exactly what they were.  Apparently, the vehicles had originally been shipped over to Burma from Canada to take part in the Allied offensive to drive the Japanese out of the country in 1945.  At the end of the war, it was too expensive to ship them back and so they were converted for use as buses.  To think that maybe my dad might even have ridden in one of these vehicles as he travelled from Bagan to Mandalay in the war).

Arriving at the take-off field, we were given a reassuring sounding safety briefing by Graham, our English pilot working for the Balloons Over Bagan company that runs this operation.  We were then able to watch the Burmese ground crew going about the task of inflating the balloon envelope, first with cold air blowers, and then using the massive quad propane burners to fill the balloon with hot air.  Gradually the balloon envelope rose into the still rather murky dawn air until it was fully vertical. Then it was time to get into our 16 seater balloon basked and watch Graham and the ground crew make the final preparations for take-off.  With a long blast on the burners we rose gently into the air and looking around we could see the other 9 BOB balloons lifting into the sky with us. 

Soon after take-off we could see that we were heading for what is arguably one of the most impressive temples on the Bagan plain – the massive gilded pagoda of the Shewzigon Paya.   Another quick blast on the burners lifted us gently over the pagoda, and looking down we could see the early morning worshippers looking back up at us and waving.  Looking out to the East, we could now see the sun’s red disk starting to emerge from below the horizon, casting an orange glow on the brick pagodas that stretched off into the distance. The light Easterly wind was blowing us out over the Irrawaddy, and the balloon started to sink towards the surface of the river.  At one point I thought that we were about to touch down on a sandbank, but Graham was just toying with us, and fired up the burner again to blast us skywards to  higher airstream that would carry us in a Southerly direction back over the Bagan temple plain.  

As we floated over the vast expanse of temples we could see our fellow travellers in their balloons, each following a slightly different trajectory over the landscape as the wind decided where they would be blown.  It is hard to imagine a better way of getting an overall view of the sheer scale of the Bagan temples region than from a balloon.  As we progressed slowly across the landscape, Graham showed off his piloting skills by performing a 360 degree pirouette with the balloon.  I had not appreciated the amount of control that the pilot actually has at his disposal, by opening various flaps around the balloon’s envelope to allow the hot gas to escape and push it around.  He then allowed the balloon to sink towards the ground as we approached one of the largest of the Bagan pagodas – the Sulamani Temple, which made for some good photo opportunities.

Finally, after about one hour of flying, we had reached the edge of the temple plain region, and it was time to think about landing.  All the time we had been flying, Graham had been chatting to the ground crew on the radio to give them our location, and as we neared his chosen landing spot we could see the old bus racing along below to intercept us.  Narrowly missing a tree, the balloon sank towards a clear-ish field and Graham chucked out an anchor line to the ground crew running along below.  Grabbing this line, and with a whole lot of shouting, they brought the balloon under control and guided it to the optimum landing spot where it could touch down and allow the envelope to collapse into the field – which they rapidly cleared of all obstructions with their machetes.  The basket made gently contact with the ground then Graham pulled on the line that released air from the top of the balloon.  We were now well and truly landed.

The adventure ended with a champagne breakfast and presentation of our certificates to show that we had indeed flown in Balloons Over Bagan.  A truly magical experience and a wonderful birthday present which I am sure I will remember for a long time to come.