2013/1 Off Again but snowed in.

Mid March and here we are snowed in at Val Thorens 2300m altitude.  Why are we here – to ski but especially Val Thorens, as Katie is working in the ski shop of the 5 star Altapura hotel.   So we have been here few days and met Katie, seen her apartment where 5 of them share the less than 30 square metres – luckily they (Norwegian, Aussi and a Kiwi friend Elli), all get on well and together with the other apartment dwellers seem to lead a very full social life in the middle of the night. However it’s the skiing that marks Val Thorens out, highest resort in the Alps, great snow and links the other stations in the valley and links to the ‘Trois Vallees’.  So far we have only skied a couple of days since arriving 4 days ago, but what skiing – yesterday up in a 150 person telepherique to 3,200m to ski down and then in the afternoon again to 3,230m and down and into another valley to the South – great day, sore muscles.

Val Thorens being a recent ‘designer’ resort makes it easy to ‘ski out-ski in’ from all the hotels etc.  The resort is built on a hillside and it seems like a 1,000 m climb to go from our parking up to Katie’s apartment but through covered passages, past the maximum of shops and cafes, especially when you are over 2,000m up (and not as fit as we had hoped).

Departure from NZ in the middle of the night and arrival in Hong Kong was all normal except for manoeuvring the bags which has set David’s shoulder tendon healing back a month or two. The drive from the now remote airport is pleasant enough before arriving amongst the wall to wall sky scrapers and settled into the 28 th floor of our hotel at North Point.  One of the challenges is getting the public transport – the tickets on the metro, the pay as you leave on the trams.  We took a fancy to the trams to and from the centre to our hotel you can see the world and pay only NZ$50c for Joanna and a half that for the old man David.  English being a official language helps navigation and all the traditional British names for roads and arrears.  Most of the sightseeing was via Big Bus ‘Hop on, Hop off’ system over two days. We saw most of the sights on the island including the floating village at Aberdeen Harbour and the forgettable Stanley Market.  However the weather did not help with mist and light rain all the time – the visit up the steep tram to the Peak to see the harbour spread out below only revealed the tops of the buildings.  Of course we had to sample the cuisine and one memorable lunch was in a back street very close the commercial centre with it’s big flash buildings (not sure in hindsight we would choose to eat at so dirty a table/environment – but it was tasty, cheap and there were no nasty consequences. Otherwise we chose a recommended restaurant for a dinner and again for a Yum Cha lunch, crowded, animated and tasty. Some time in the markets on Kowloon, can’t believe how so many people can live in such a small space with tall apartment blocks old and new.  Did not try Macao as weather no good and we decided better things to see in HK.  Overall the impression of so many people, rich and poor in such a small space.

And so to England and down to Hastings to stay with Maureen. David managed his to take his traditional walk over the Firehills with Maureen and her dogs, visit Joanna’s old friend Pauline, see Max and Lucy to talk of their Canal boat plans over a pint down town, take a look at John’s Southerly 100 yacht and of course set up Stan with water and provisions and in 5 days we were away. The Channel crossing was special – calm sea but thick fog with fog horns blasting every minute.  In order to meet Katie on her days off we drove straight down to the Alps but avoiding the French toll roads by passing through Belgium and Luxemburg to take advantage of their free motorways.

And so this is where we find ourselves snowed in.  The parking at Val Thorens is right in town and hence expensive although with great views BUT no electricity. The temperature is minus 21 degrees C with a wind chill factor of –30.  All the water systems are frozen up, we use water collected in a container.  Luckily we have gas heating but Stan is far from airtight.  The engine was hard to start yesterday and we need it to charge the house battery for lighting etc, neighbours have portable generators, but we are ill prepared.  Everything around is frozen, has Stan got the right anti freeze for this weather, is the diesel filled up in Luxembourg OK for these low temperatures.  The sun is not far away we will have to borrow a shovel to move, in mid March two years ago it was sunshine and snow. Can  we start the engine charge the batteries !!!!

  Ho hum watch this space.

!!!!!!