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Posts tagged ‘nature’

Vietnam & Surrounds Day 10 (Part 2)

After returning from My Son, we go back to the Garden Palace Hotel and switch out camera batteries and go to the hotel restaurant to get lunch. After, we go to the lobby to join our next adventure! Our travel companion Hannah, has arranged for 7 of us to go on an unplanned excursion. So we board a small bus with a new guide Hwan (Juan). A truck loaded with ducks catches my cameras attention and one must wonder which restaurants they are going to!

An hour and a half later we arrive at Sun World in the Ba Na Hills, part of Da Nang, and we begin a journey into a building and up a series of 8 escalators, not one of them less than 2 stories! Some 3!

We eventually come to a cable car system. We board the cable car with 8 people (our group and guide). As we go up the mountain, we realize that there is a car every 100 feet or so. Then we look around and see there’s at least 6 cable car systems going up this mountain! There are cable cars as far as the eye can see! We move rapidly up through fog and mist. We disembark at the top after a 20 minute ride (and the car moved fast!). We are now at 1414 meters (approximately 4639 feet) above sea level. 

We navigate throngs of people and shortly arrive at the main attraction, the Golden Hand Bridge! This is a marvel of engineering at its finest! Our cameras are feeling like royalty! This bridge connects Marseille Station and the Heavenly Garden and is 150 meters long.

We spend most of an hour on the bridge and our cameras finally relinquish control to us. But we have been teased again! Off in the fog, we have spotted a tall Budda statue and we are off in search of more camera entertainment. Another mile of path brings us to the Budda statue after trekking through displays and the Heavenly Garden that would make Walt Disney proud! Everything is a bit surreal in the fog!

Our cameras satiated, we make our way back to the Bridge and decide to walk across it one more time. We meet up with Hwan, our guide, and head out, thinking we are going down. We board a different cable car and, in the fog, go to a different mountain top. Here we discover a medieval town, replete will castles and turrets galore!

Hwan leads us up and up and tells us to keep going up. We go up the path and find pagodas and views to excite our cameras again. It seems odd to be in the top of a Chinese building looking down on medieval Europe!  This is an amusement park built amongst a (fake) French Village on top of a mountain reached by one of the longest cable car’s in the world.  Keeping it’s original theme of when the hill station was a resort for French tourists back in the Colonial days.  It’s a hugely popular destination for families – a Medieval castle, cobblestone paths, a Neo-Classical cathedral, manicured gardens and (for the parents) a beer garden.  There’s a wax museum, an “Alpine Coaster” ride, an underground amusement park with rides and shows, countless restaurants and food stalls.

Hwan leads us on to a German Beer Garden where we will eat dinner. The sound volume is deafening! We are given coupons good for 2 beers each and dinner. The room is huge and we find a slightly quieter corner where we can at least shout to each other. Outside, we even come across a bride and wedding party!

The food is buffet style and I fill my plate with duck and other meats and toss on some noodles for good measure. Then I queue up at the bar for a beer and there is only one bartender. So I wait in line, plate of food in hand when they open a second line. So I take whatever beer she hands me. It is a 1 liter mug (more than a quart)! And I am allowed 2 of these?

I never order a second beer. We leave and are glad to be out of the din. We pass through revelers partying around a bonfire! We make our way to the correct cable car to go down the mountain. After about 10 minutes, we board the ride down. The fog has set in and it is quite dark, being after 8 PM. The cable car appears to fly off into a white wall and starts to descend. It is very eerie and we all make jokes about the Twilight Zone. 20 or so minutes later, we arrive at the bottom. Or at least the building at the bottom. Then we start descending the escalators, all 8 of them.

Finaly outside, we walk to the van and wearily climb aboard for the hour plus ride back to the hotel. The van is very quiet as we are all exhausted. So I type this Blog on the ride. I have over 16,000 steps in today, an exhausting amount! I don’t even know the elevation gain!

It’s time for bed. See you all tomorrow! Goodnight!

Northern Lights Tour Day 13

Day 13, Feb 10, 2025, To Svolvaer, Norway

Another morning arising at 7:00 AM. Go to the breakfast buffet and fill up. We load our luggage and board the bus at 9:00 AM. The weather is dreary this morning and we drive around a fjord. Even in the dreary weather, the mountain scenery is spectacular. Shooting through rain soaked windows is difficult but our cameras insist! We pass through small enclaves of picturesque towns. There are a lot of one way bridges which forces us to stop a lot.

We stop at a Kafe for lunch and rest break. The scenery around the Kafe is interesting and I take a walk. My camera thanks me! I even see what appears to be a tipped over outhouse? What’s up with that? There is an electric charging station in front of the Kafe. We are told that over half of all the cars purchased are now electric!

We experience light rain all day but our parkas and hoods protect us. There are fish drying racks everywhere. This area is famous for “Lutefisk”, mostly Cod that is dried and stored. Then it is reconstituted and put into soups and stews.

Today we are traveling to Svolvaer by way of Evenes. We come across Henningsvaer, a part of Evenes. Evenes is a fishing village with a soccer stadium. We hike up a very picturesque trail overlooking the stadium. We find unique angles of a small lighthouse behind a hill from the stadium.

It is unlikely to have a chance of seeing Northern Lights tonight due to the weather. We walk around the town of Moloen on the way back to the bus and have a brief stop for a drink. I find another IPA and all is well!

We are in another Scandic Hotel tonight, apparently a favorite hotel chain of the Tour we are on. The rooms are a bit cramped as a rule but they are comfortable. Add to that the breakfast buffets and there you have a popular package.

We all meet at a pub a few blocks away for drinks and jokes. We have effectively taken over this pub as we are 25 people and the pub holds about 30. There are a few patrons in the pub but all but one leaves. The one left is a genial man who sits and observes us. Upon buying drinks for Elee and I, I also buy the man a drink from our group and everyone cheers! People take turns telling bad jokes and we all laugh.

Then we go our separate ways for dinner. We meet up with new friends John and Di and go to a fish restaurant, ‘Bacalao’. Here we order their signature dish, “Bacalao”, which is a stew featuring dried, salted Cod that has been reconstituted. This is similar to a famous Norwegian fish, called “Lutefisk”. If you look it up, it sounds unappealing but we found it amazingly good!

It has been a tiring day, so we turn in. Elee is nursing a sore ankle after taking a light fall in the crowded pub.

Northern Lights Tour Day 08

Day 08, Feb 04, 2025, Karasjok to Nordcapp

Today is an early day. Breakfast at 6, on the bus at 7. It is only -12C to start the day, a Heat Wave compared to yesterday! There are 2-3 inches of fresh snow on the ground. The snowstorm last night warmed up the air. I remember this from my youth, it is always warmer in a snowstorm because the snow insulates. We drive away as planned. It is snowing. The snowflakes are pretty in the headlights. There is a brief shot of the rising sun but then it’s back to snowing. The road we need ahead is closed, it was closed yesterday also. We won’t know until 10ish if we can get through. Maybe by supervised caravan.

We slept well last night. Dinner was good. The Aussies are a friendly lot. Our bus is a 47 seater and we have only 25 people so we can sit wherever we want. We have been near the front of the bus for 2 days. Today we sit mid bus with close access to the side door. The front door malfunctioned 2 days ago so the side door is the only way in or out.

It’s a different world up here. It is cold and barren. But it is also mountainous and beautiful! We see the occasional house or cabin and wonder who lives there. We have earned 2 diplomas so far. One for floating behind an ice breaker and one for crossing the Arctic Circle. When we reach our planned destination of Nordkapp (North Cape) today, we will earn another for reaching the northernmost point in Europe. Then we’ll celebrate with champagne and caviar! We hope we can get there.

We have now crossed both Arctic and Antarctic Circles and stood on the Equator. What other lines are there to cross? Oh yes, the Prime Meridian! But we have been there too! Lines, lines, everywhere a line, ones to cross and others to stand on. You can see our location (blue dot) on the map and our destination is Nordkapp (North Cape) at the top of the map.

One hour and ten minutes into the drive and a snowplow blocks the road. The road is closed. We turn around. We are at the 17th parallel, equal to the top of Alaska. We drive a short mile or so back to a place to rest and wait. We spend 3-4 hours in a Circle K parking lot waiting to get road clearance. It never comes. But the Circle K has tables to sit 30ish people so we spend money and buy hot chocolate and snacks. Gas station hot dogs are cherished by some in the group. I have to admit they look increasingly tempting as the time passes. I get an ice cream smoothie. Yeah, I get it. But it’s good. Must be the cold air getting to me. Maybe I’m delirious, but it’s good.

Viktor drives us back across into Finland to the Alko. We see many moose. Several moose and even a red fox are spotted. Everybody in the bus are looking out their windows in hopes to be the next one to call out, “Moose! On the right!”

A bottle of brandy to spike my hot chocolate seems to be in order. Elee gets a bottle of Cloudberry Liquor to share with everyone. “Cloudberries” are a pale sweet berry that grows in this area and are absolutely delicious! We go back to last nights hotel in Karasjok and get new rooms. This time we have to carry our bags down a flight of stairs. But the hotel is comfortable.

I go up and sit in the lounge area and wait to see who shows up. Perhaps I’ll check out the sauna on the 3rd floor. I do go up and check out the sauna but decide against using it. Saunas have never held any attraction for me. It sure is hot and dry though!

Dinner is served at 6:00 PM and starts with Reindeer Soup. Then Salmon. Dessert is pudding with berries. All is good!

It is still snowing. But the storm clears before midnight and someone texts on WhatsApp in the group that the Northern Lights are spotted! We get our first sighting of the Aurora Borealis shortly after midnight. I jump up and pull on several layers of clothing, grab my camera and tripod, and head outside! A few photos are taken to figure out the correct exposure to use. By then the Auroras have dissipated. I do get one decent shot though!

Back to bed it is with the suggestion that the Auroras might peak around 5 AM. So at 5 AM, I’m back up and dressing. Outside the skies are clear and calm. No Auroras. Back to bed it is!