Day two of skiing was great – warm, sunny weather all day long.  If anything, it was a little too warm, with temperatures near 10C.  By mid-morning the snow was soft and heavy, making it tough to ski.

We skied the Brévent-Flégère area, plenty of variety and lots of southern sunshine to keep us warm.  The gondola on the Flégère side was closed, so we headed back to the centre of Chamonix and caught the lift from Brévent.  Lots of beginners on the slopes, so we caught the connecting lift over to Flégère and basically had the mountain to ourselves (as access from the base of the mountain was closed).

Aside from sore feet, a perfect day of skiing!

After three weeks of waiting, our skis finally turned up.  I made a quick trip to our local ski shop for the final tuning, and we were ready to go.

The traffic getting down to Chamonix was very heavy, especially coming across Switzerland.  The entire nation of Holland decided to go on vacation all at once, and every car on the road seemed to be Dutch.  They were all in an enormous hurry to get where they were going, tailgating and weaving in-and-out of traffic.  With the predictable consequences. 

I managed to avoid being rear-ended, but the two cars behind me didn’t.  Someone didn’t react fast enough, and as surely as day follows night, there was a three-car pile-up in my rear-view mirror.

Halfway to Geneva, the traffic thinned out.  By the time we got to Chamonix, the roads were almost empty – a few Brits, a few Swiss, and mostly French cars.  We checked into our apartment, run by a British couple, and settled in for the night.  We headed out to the local restaurant (also run by the British couple) and found ourselves transported back to the UK: Guinness in proper pint glasses and not a word of French to be heard from the staff or clientele.  I guess it’s all about meeting what the market demands.

Despite paper-thin walls, we slept well and were up early.  There was a little snow overnight, but the roads were largely clear.  We hit the slopes around 10am and had the mountain to ourselves, at least until 11am when the French managed to struggle out of bed and onto the slopes.  Great conditions today, with temperatures between 6-10 degrees Celsius and clear, blue skies.

They’re predicting more snow tonight, so hopefully good conditions await us tomorrow!

Another view of the Sydney Opera House, this time with slightly nicer weather

The Rocks

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Transport, Aussie-style Saturday market at The Rocks, Sydney

Saturday market at The Rocks, Sydney

Lots of handicrafts on offer...

A glassblower goes about his work

I must have ‘tourist’ written all over my forehead.  With time to kill, I decided to head down to the Saturday market at The Rocks, near Circular Quay.  I was pretty impressed, because the quality of what was offered was pretty good as compared to most tourist markets.  Most of the handicrafts were genuinely hand-crafted, and although prices were high, I didn’t feel like I was being ripped off with the usual tourist-tat.

Which meant that I came home with quite a lot more than I intended to.  It drives Aude crazy, because getting me to buy souvenirs is usually like getting blood from a stone.  Unless it’s something really unusual, I simply won’t buy it.  Which is why I’m as surprised as anyone about coming home with quite a few things, and having my eye on even more things.

Maybe it’s because the things on offer here often crossed that thin line between ‘tourist souvenir’ and ‘art’.  They are souvenirs in the truest sense of the word: one-off creations by artisans that are unique to this place, and will help me remember my visit here.  I wish I could find more of these sorts of souvenirs elsewhere in my travels, but usually it’s just overpriced crappy trinkets.

I’m still on the look-out for one or two more souvenirs, though.  We have two puppets from Singapore on our stairs, and I’m still searching for the elusive counterpart to go with them.

I’ve been working in Paris too long. Time to return to the origins of this website and report something more exotic than my exploits in Clichy for a change. Time for a report from Thailand.

Two days and two massages into my latest trip to Bangkok, and I remember all the reasons I love Thailand. Great food, great service, friendly people, and warm weather.

I flew on Thai airlines from Zurich on Saturday afternoon. The flight was perfect. My colleague made the rookie mistake of ordering the western meal (filet mignon – always sounds great but ends up dry as boot leather when cooked in an airline oven) and looked on jealously as my pork curry came out – it tasted and smelled even better than it looked. After dinner, I settled in for some sleep, and managed to squeeze in eight hours of good sleep before being woken for breakfast about an hour before landing.

We arrived at 5:30am Sunday morning. Our driver was waiting and we were at the hotel about thirty minutes later. We dropped off our bags, took an hour to have some breakfast and grab a shower, then headed out to explore the city. We started with a little shopping, then had Japanese for lunch – and ordered so much food that they needed to bring a second table (Gina, if you’re reading this, you’ll recognize the situation from our Japanese meals in Singapore!). When the food is this cheap and this good, it’s hard to resist.

I passed the afternoon with a little snooze, a few hours by the pool, and a massage – just about the perfect way to pass an afternoon in Thailand in my book. Another of our colleagues arrived on the evening flight, and we all headed out to dinner at Ruen Mallika, a Thai place I’ve eaten in before and still one of the best that I’ve eaten in Thailand.

Despite asking the waitress to warn us if we over-ordered, we…you guessed it…over-ordered. Fish cakes, spring rolls, tom yum goom with prawns that were as big as lobsters, then red duck curry, more jumbo prawns in garlic, fried heart of palm, chili beef salad, fried morning glory, rice, noodles, and more. Moral of the story: never order when you’re hungry. I had taken charge of the ordering, but I had two willing assistants cheering me on from the sidelines… “Ohh, let’s have one of those, too!” Delicious fresh mango to finish it all off, and the ubiquitous Singha beer. (Apparently, it’s the formaldehyde that gives it the unique taste.)

It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it…

Today was a quiet day. Slept well overnight, had a late start, then a little more shopping, more pool, and more food. Took a few hours out of my afternoon to visit our office in Bangkok where I’ll be running workshops for the next few days, then off for another massage.

We’re just about to head out to the Seafood Market for dinner – you choose it, they kill it, they cook it, you eat it. My kinda dinner.

Not quite sure how I managed to land this job, but it’s not a bad way to make a living…

Life, as always, is busy here and I haven’t gotten around to updating my blog as frequently as I would like. So there are no pictures or entries of my recent trips to Boulder, CO or Pennsylvania, where I met my parents for dinner. Nor are there any pictures of recent outings with friends here in Paris, mostly because (much to the relief of my friends) I have been leaving my camera at home.

We have just returned from a week in Egypt, which seemed like a good excuse for a blog entry. Eight days in El Gouna, outside Hurghada, right on the Red Sea.

I arrived at the airport to discover myself sitting opposite the guy I share an office with – luckily for me, we get along well, because we realized that we were on exactly the same holiday – same flights, same hotel, same everything. Fabrice was travelling with his wife and two young daughters, Mathilde (3) and Tiffane (1). Over the week, Mathilde and I became great friends.

Basically, we had a week of sun-and-sand, although the high winds meant that we spent the days by the pool instead of the beach.

I managed to squeeze in a day of diving while Aude snorkeled. Warm water (23-24C), but the diving was disappointing – there was very little to see. The highlight of the dive was an octopus, although another couple on the boat told us they had seen dolphins two days before. I guess it’s sort of luck-of-the-draw, but for me it wasn’t even close to the diving I did in Asia.

I had to suffer a fair bit of teasing on the dive – having forgotten I was already certified, I had booked myself in to do the full certification course over a couple of days. Sure enough, went back to the hotel room to get my logbook and discovered my certification card – I had forgotten I’d finished it when I was in Mauritius a few years ago. Cue a rather-embarrassed Matt having to walk back to the dive centre and asking for a refund. And cue plenty of ribbing from the dive centre staff.

The other highlight of our trip was a 4×4 trip out into the desert – 30km into the desert to visit a Bedouin village, where we at dinner and watched dancing.

Aude in El Gouna, heading out on the dive boat

Matt getting ready for his first dive of the trip

Matt and Mathilde, his new best friend

Matt all geared-up and ready to dive

Fabrice, Matt’s office-mate and dive buddy for the day, gets ready for his first dive

Mathidle watches Matt and Fabrice go

Matt helps Claire set up her gear

Matt on the dive boat

Looking out over the lagoon — this was the view from our balcony

More lagoon shots

Red Sea beach

Kite-surfing on the Red Sea. These guys were absolutely mental — they were regularly being picked up by gusts of wind and pulled 15 feet out of the water

Umbrellas along the beach — unfortunately, too windy most days to spend much time actually on the beach

One of the many pools at the hotel

Our villa at the hotel — four bedrooms opened onto a common lounge and shared balcony. We even had our own pedalo and kayak, if we were so inclined.

Aude in the desert

Old-school Toyota Landcruiser. I looked at the odometer and our 4×4 had over 750k kilometres on the clock. They may not be comfortable, but these old Landcruisers are certainly well-built and robust.

Aude and Matt in the desert. Not much to see except a lot of sand.

My new ride. What you can’t see in this picture is the fact that my camel spent basically the entire trip leaving a trail of manure behind him. (Which, after a week of Egyptian food, is pretty much what I did, too)

Aude riding a camel. Trickier than it looks.

Aude, Matt and a camel. You can decide who’s who.

I’m guessing our Egyptian cameraman did not get to see women very often.

Aude poses with her new ride.

Bedouin man

A camel making faces at us.

Baking bread over a fire made of dried camel dung. For the flavour, apparently. Mmmm.

The evening’s entertainment in the camp. Not quite American Idol.

Fast-moving dancers!

OCD? Me? Never. I prefer to think of myself as very organised. I’m a Virgo, after all.

Well, I managed to make it back from the ski trip with nothing more than a bruised ego. We had a couple of fantastic days skiing, perfect weather conditions and perfect snow conditions, coupled with the fact that there was virtually no one on the slopes so no waiting in line. You really couldn’t ask for a better long weekend.

Everyone agreed, however, that it was my outfit that stole the show. Thanks, Ebay!

Skiing in Les Arcs

Aude gets ready to tuck into her tartiflette after a morning on the slopes

Francois and Gratiane on the slopes

Francois and Gratiane on the slopes

Francois and Gratiane on the slopes

Francois, Aude and Matthew on the slopes. You can decide: is Matthew enjoying the view of Mont Blanc, or is Matthew having a little trouble turning around in this photo, which is why is he being photographed from behind?

Matthew and Aude on the slopes

Matthew and Aude on the slopes. Please note Matthew’s colourful ski outfit. You may doubt it now, but next year everyone will be wearing a catchy number like this. And everyone admitted — it was virtually impossible to lose me. No matter how hard they tried.

A beautiful sunset after a good day skiing

Francois hard at work preparing the fondue

Getting ready to warm the fondue. Or, because we had assembled it incorrectly, prepare for a trip to the emergency room. This is why I only order fondue in restaurants!

Vincent & Alex

Gratiane and Aude

Francois tucks into the fondue

Francois is a little over-excited about the fondue

Fondue

Matt’s trousers are the star of the show again. You can’t pay for publicity like this…

Lunch on the piste

Aude at the restaurant after a tartiflette

Quite a few moguls on this run. Wish I had discovered that before I reached the point of no return!

A view over the Alps