
Towel and Sam
Nos aventures en mauvais français et franglais
Mekong Crossing ข้ามแม่น้ำแม่โขง

Hanging Out with the Coconuts



We didn't have a tripod to reliably take good, sharp photos in the darkness of the cave, but here are a handful of pictures which came out.
Where Are the Penguins? นกเพนกวินอยู่ที่ไหน
Hi, we're in Thailand now! France had great cheese and chocolate, but now we'll dine on spicy food and Thai fruits: longans, salaccas, rambutans, mangosteens...
Okay, so it's a pain in the butt to type in a language that has 42 consonants and 32 vowels. We're also not sure how the Thai looks to readers who may not have the Thai font loaded on their computers. So we'll stick to English for the most part.
We made an excursion to Kanchanaburi, the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai (aka Death Bridge). Unlike the pronounciation used in the 1957 film, the name of the river is pronounced with a short a sound- a bit like the word "square", but without the s in front. Not sure how the mispronounciation in the film came about, but I think it has gotten all the farangs confused.
There's a handful of Japanese tourists here. One can't help wonder what goes through their minds, when visiting a site like this. Perhaps the younger generations do not relate- it's not their war, but how about the older generation?
Guten Tag aus dem Land der Großbuchstaben!
Given that we didn't want to cut things close with our connecting flight, we were not very adventurous and more or less waddled between Konstablerwache and Hauptwache. Unfortunately, this meant we didn't get to explore many Germanic charms of the city. However, we did make sure to eat appropriately for tourists in Frankfurt!
Oh, and remember that French movie poster for "Le Voyage Extraordinaire de Samy"?

"Sammys Abenteuer: Die Suche Nach der geheimen Passage"
Hail Britannia!

Paris is a beautiful city. Lovely weather with everything stylish about it, its monuments, museums, cafes, the bridges and walkways of the Seine and the grand rues. However, there is something appealing to the grit of London.





While we're at it, we'll continue snapping photos of amusing goods and packaging for sale abroad.
I understand that not every nut particle can be avoided in a factory that works with them, but what is this company's operation like that the "May Contain" list is so inclusive?

Not sure if natural pebble is what I want printed prominently on my toilet paper.

Hey, penguins!

Teeth and lips gummies? Creepy.

So all the other bags of crisps featured pictures of the ingredient representing the flavor (e.g. onions, pepper, barbeque.) So why does the mature cheddar have a picture of three older women?

Dans Paris
It probably was not the smartest thing to do, but it seemed rude and counter to the whole cultural immersion spirit to not do it. Taking a dip in Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) is the favorite mode of relaxation for the locals and you were crazy not to partake. In spite of it being a still body of fresh water, Lac Léman seemed perfectly safe. It was easily the clearest looking lake I've seen and heck, Evian was nearby.
I wish I could say that resolved everything with the rash, but it continued to spread and it started succumbing to the itchiness. A visit to the hospital in Thonon two days led to an antibiotic prescription and a cleanser. Price for hospital emergency room visit? 55 euros. Unfortunately the side effects of the medications include nausea and drowsiness and I'm to avoid sunlight. This basically makes me both miserable and useless on the farm. I'm also pretty hideous at this point.
Apparently there's nothing that can be done other than to wait it all out and moisturize and continue to use cortizone for the itching. The third doctor seems certain in his conclusion that I'm sensitive to some parasite in the lake. Argh. John's been in the lake more than I have and there's nothing on him! At this point our relationship with the raspberry farmer, who had a bit of an anti-American disposition to start with, has broken down. While we have encountered locals and other Europeans who seem to have a preconception that all Americans were ugly Americans, we had managed to dispel that until we hit this farm (who also had a grudge with city people and city life as well, which was a bit rich coming from a farmer who admitted to never ever having visited a city). It seemed best to part ways and as we left we were given a diatribe on how Americans all leave the light on when not in use, or cleaned up after themselves (which totally did not apply to us) and never participated in farm life and fun like enjoying Lac Léman. Really?! I so regret ever having fun in Lac Léman! Of course, they write off the third doctor's conclusion as impossible. I do find it interesting though that my face is the only part of me unaffected by the rash and I never did submerge my head in the water.
Dr. Mira Kamdar is a writer and India expert. She is an American francophile partially of Indian descent. She will be working this school year at the Centre des Etudes de l’Inde et l’Asie du Sud at the EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. She is also a friend who was generous enough to put us up until our next stop.
We've all been to Paris before, but it's been a while and the city is a lovely walking city with all the musées, ponts, jardins et monuments. We spend our time refamiliarizing ourselves with the city and athough we spend all our time on foot, we appreciate the free-cycling program launched by the city. Our next stop in out tale is another major city that has very recently launched a similar bike program... London.
Want to Tackle the Tour du Mont Blanc?

While climbing up and down peaks in a series of day hikes with a weighted backpack over varied terrain for a week and a half is not trivial, there are many options for making the complete tour more or less challenging to accommodate different fitness levels. However, the less challenging and more pampered options will generally cost more in terms of both time and money.
While the Kev Reynolds guide divides the tour up in 10 - 11 stages, there were groups taking more than 10 - 11 days to do the tour. Extra break days will allow for extra recuperation. Les Contamines, Courmayeur, La Fouly and Champex are all little resort towns where one can pamper oneself with hotels (read: private rooms with private bath), restaurants and shops for supplies. The endpoints of the latter stages like Col de la Forclaz, Tré-le-Champ and La Flégère are near resort towns which can be accessed by public transportation. Obviously, the more fit you are the more you'll be able to enjoy the hike and there's lots of pride in tackling the entire tour on foot without cheating (e.g. catching rides, hiring a mule to carry luggage).
On the other hand, if you're up for lugging around your own tent, tent floor, sleeping bag, gas stove and what not (we didn't), you can save a bundle on lodging. Might be nice to stay indoors if it's raining or if you need to dry anything out. Food is generally cheaper at a grocery store in one of the towns than at the refuge restaurant. Food is significantly more expensive in Switzerland.

Given that, it's good to be aware that there are long swaths of the trail where the only choice of shelter for kilometers is a dingy mountain hut with no road access and where food and supplies need to be brought up either by mule or even helicopter (which explains why a shared dortoir filled with other stinky hikers can still go for 40 euros/night per person demi-pension, or even higher in Switzerland).

As far as what to bring on the trip goes, there's the fairly obvious:
A comfortable, properly-fitted rusack to carry everything.
Water.
Technical clothing for varied weather: waterproof shell, a fleece/sweater layer, technical long sleeve, multiple technical short sleeve layers; hiking pants, Gortex backpacking boots, hiking socks all essential; hat or some sort of head protection as the sun is strong and there's less atmosphere protecting you; on the same note, sunglasses; gloves would have been nice, but we forgot to bring them.
Clothing and flip flops for cold nights in the dortoir- actually, the fleece/sweater layer was used more for this.

Technical towel: Mountain refuges and dortoirs do not have towels for you. Technical towels are nicely light, absorbent and they dry quickly.
The Kev Reynolds guide is immensely informative. We used it all the time.
First-aid kit: we used bandages, moleskin, alcohol pads, Neosporin/bacitracin, Swiss Army knife, allergy medication, ibuprofen. Basically, our first-aid kit was pretty well used; the mylar blanket was probably the only thing we didn't need to bring (thank goodness).

Wallet (some refuges take only cash), identification, passport (some hotels require it and you'll probably have it on you anyway), etc...
Hiking poles are highly recommended. It's almost a must-have if you have any knee problems.
We had a Mont Blanc area map and compass and we used them, though the trail is marked well enough for the most part for these to not be a neccessity.
Don't forget the camera!
Anyhow, that's more or less it! There was little need to pack extra diversions as by the time we reached our endpoint for the day we were either too busy socializing with our fellow hikers or looking to just wash up and catch some z's.
Happy trails!
Le Tour du Mont Blanc: Days 8 - 10
Route: Col de la Forclaz - Tré-le-Champ
Distance: 13 km (8.2 mi)
Start altitude: 1,526 m (5,087 ft)
Height gain: 1,069 m (3,563 ft)
Height loss: 1,178 m (3,927 ft)
Date: le 31 juillet (all distances approximate)
Route: Tré-le-Champ - La Flégère
Distance: 9 km (5.7 mi)
Start altitude: 1,417 m (4,723 ft)
Height gain: 953 m (3,177 ft)
Height loss: 477 m (1,590 ft)
Date: le 1er août
Route: La Flégère - Les Houches
Distance: 17 km (10.7 mi)
Start altitude: 1,875 m (6,250 ft)
Height gain: 772m (2,573 ft)
Height loss: 1,546m (5,153 ft)



The ninth day (stage 10 in the Kev Reynolds guide) is supposed to be a short stage, but a slight diversion of the TMB route came highly recommended in good weather. The diversion is both longer and higher, but brings us to Lac Blanc. The route we chose also involves climbing a series of steep timber steps and ladders without which the route would become a technical climb up rock walls.


Our penultimate day took much longer than we thought. Until today, we had kept a close pace to the time estimates provided in the guide. Perhaps a combination of the Lac Blanc detour and fatigue from the previous stages is taking its toll. Whatever the reason we are happy to reach La Flégère, but are daunted by the prospect of the massive descent into Les Houches for the last stage- it sounds like a knee breaker.

We are back in ski tourism country again and as majestic Mont Blanc is up close, the trails are ski scarred around La Flégère. The ski scarred trails make for rougher hiking as the boulders are both jarring and loose, not to mention somewhat unsightly.
It's unfortunate because Mont Blanc is simply magnificent here. Italy had the gorgeous valley views of Mont Blanc and the massif; in this part of France, Mont Blanc is right in front of you. It's truly striking and a photograph just can't capture the grandeur of the mountain at close range.
Pictures from the final decent

Towel looks a bit like a cairn
We finally tumbled down into Les Houches and congratulated ourselves on completing the hike. It was an amazing trek. After a rejuvenating bath back at our hotel in Chamonix, we treated ourselves to the very un-Alpine meal of sushi. We finished our final leg in good time too because the photogenically sunny skies had turned to strong, windy rainstorm by evening.
Le Tour du Mont Blanc: Days 5 - 7

Route: Courmayeur - Rifugio Elena
Distance: 19 km (12 mi)
Start altitude: 1,226 m (4,087 ft)
Height gain: 1,138 m (3,793 ft)
Height loss: 939 m (3,130 ft)
Date: le 28 juillet
Route: Rifugio Elena - Champex
Distance: 28 km (17.7 mi)
Start altitude: 2,062 m (6,873 ft)
Height gain: 1,037 m (3,457 ft)
Height loss: 1,734 m (5,780 ft)
Date: le 29 juillet (rain, some thunder)
Route: Champex - Col de la Forclaz
Distance: 16 km (10.1 mi)
Start altitude: 1,466 m (4,887 ft)
Height gain: 742m (2,473 ft)
Height loss: 682m (2,273 ft)



Italy really holds gorgeous views of Mont Blanc and we were blessed with great weather. The views of the massif really keeps you going for miles. We try to soak it all in as we've read that Mont Blanc cannot be seen in the Swiss portion of the tour. The hike to Elena goes smoothly. A heard of cows made a mess of the trail along the way and trudging through the mud makes everything feel heavier, but still, the views really keeps you going.
Resting up at Rifugio Elena, our last night in Italy:
Switzerland! The hills are alive! Sam has gone all Fraulein Maria and is belting "The Sound of Music" and, especially as we muscled our way through the final ascent of the 28 km (17.7 mi) day into Champex, "Climb Every Mountain".

A silver ball in the centre of the lake at Champex Lac is part of an exhibition of sculptures and installations by Etienne Krähenbühl at the Jardin Flore-Alpe which is on until 3 October 2010.
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