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I must admit to being slightly apprehensive at the start of this trip. In the past, our cross country ski treks have involved long, exhausting days exploring the beautiful, expansive wilds around Geilo and Finse. Trysil, however, is far from wild. On the contrary, this is a developed ski centre with a large alpine area
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Early morning, and as the first rays of sun filter through the valley, the sound of a thousand little bells rises up into the air accompanied by the bleating of sheep. Dawn chorus in the mountains. A cool breeze catches the pungent aroma of rosemary and lavender and wafts it enticingly into the room, urging
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There’s a buzz that reverberates through the little town of Non Nuoc. A shrill energetic hum that seemingly has no single source. Rather, it comes at you from every nook and cranny, every side street and alleyway. Literally bouncing off the walls. An industrious, dusty hum that fills the day, the only reprieve coming at
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It’s eight a.m. and our car is winding it’s way uphill through a cold, grey drizzle. In the damp of the morning, we’ve passed silently through a strange landscape that shifts unexpectedly from the impossible green of the coffee plantations, to the deep, terracotta orange of the soil that provides the raw material for the
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The arrival of the train from Saigon seems to have brought the small white station in Hoi An to life. In the bright glare of the morning sunshine, everything is a messy blur of chatter and business as people disembark in one confused mass of bags, boxes and bodies. Everyone seems to know where they
