Day 3: Mereno – Brunico – Dolomites
The highlight for this day would be the Dolomites itself. Located in the provinces of Belluno, Trento and Bolzano-Bozen in Italy, the Dolomites is renowned worldwide for skiing in the winter months and mountain climbing, daily excursions, climbing and base jumping, as well as paragliding and hang gliding in summer and late spring/early autumn – certainly the views would merit some fame as well. The rust-taupe-brown colours of the rocks is amazing when viewed from a distance and especially during sunsets. More about that later…

Again, click on the pics for a better view!

Our path today takes us closer to the Austrian border and as such, there are clear Austrian influences in this part of Italy. A chance visit to the Mereno market revealed dual language usage with German being more predominant than Italian (coupled with the “boom” of German tourists) – spoken and both written – and German food such as sausages and sauerkraut (sp) (pickled cabbage). Even houses here were more organized and less colourful; although the distinctive Austrian styled balcony (think plenty of flowers) is typical in this area. Even town names are dual (like in Switzerland, ,eg Lucerne/Luzern, Geneva/Genève, Neuchâtel/Nueunberg) but for the purposes of this travelogue, they have been written only in Italian.

Going back to the Dolomites, during World War I, the Dolomites was one of the sites of confrontation between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces. As such, there are open air war museums located at some of the Dolomite sites, specifically Cinque Torri (Five Towers) and Mount Lagazoui – both of which we visited. It is also around this time that the via ferrata first kicked off. The Dolomites has the priviledge of being one of the best place to explore this historical “sport”. The via ferrata run through paths that were first created during World War I and amazingly, the equipment is still in fantastic shape.

Be warned though – if you’re not used to walking for long distances or hiking, the rocky & sometimes narrow paths can get tiring. The views, however, make up for all the effort. Like with every hike, do bring plenty of water and some snack to replenish energy & water levels. Oh, don’t forget your camera as well!

We ended off the day by camping off the beaten track somewhere along Stelva di Cadore and slept under the stars, namely the Pan constellation, with the view of the Dolomites greeting us before we hit the sack. Austria is where we’re off to next and again, a passport is not needed!

To be continued…

Day 2: Bellinzona – Lugano – Bormio
The highlight for this day would be the trip into Italy itself but first, a little about the Swiss Italian canton of Ticino. This canton became part of the Swiss Confederation in 1803 – talk about a long time ago and today, its capital city is Bellinzona (people often assume it’s Lugano though)! Being the only Italian canton in Switzerland, Ticino sits around the border of, yes, Italy with the Ticino river, Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore as its key water landmarks. Because of the moutaineous landscape, one of the canton’s main economy comes from hydroelectricity and as you drive through the canton, you can see evidence of this in the form of power stations and electricity towers/cables. The canton also produces wine, namely merlot, together with cheese, and milk.

The city of Bellinzona is well-known for one thing – its castles or rather The Three Castles of Bellinzona. Officially listed as the Three Castles, Defensive Wall and Ramparts of the Market-Town of Bellinzone, it has been an UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. The site is composed of Castelgrande, castle Montebello, castle Sasso Corbaro plus fortified walls. The Castelgrande is located on a rocky peak overlooking the valley, with a series of fortified walls that protect the old city and connect to the Montebello. The third castle (Sasso Corbaro) is located on a isolated rocky promontory south-east of the other two. Till today, you can still see all these three encircling the old quarter of the city. It is also a quaint city with colourful apartment blocks and palm tree gardens; definitely more charming compared to the more metropolitan Lugano.

Nicknamed “The Monte-Carlo of Switzerland”, it is hard not to agree when you see brands such as LV, Bvlgari, Giorgio Armani, Hermes and others lining its streets. It’s a shopper paradise here, if you have the cash to spare. But otherwise, console and occupy yourself with the many tourist spots such as the St. Lawrence Cathedral (from the 9th and 15th century) and the St. Mary of the Angels Church (from the 16th century). Alternatively, just get lost in the narrow streets of the city. We didn’t spend much time in this city; the traffic, hustle & bustle plus stylish Swiss-Italian folks in their suits just made us feel rather awkward so we decided to follow the lake and head off into Italy.

After about 10 to 15 minutes, we were in Italy; all we did was just drive through which is amazing considering that you probably won’t be able to do the same when you’re crossing from Malaysia into Thailand/Singapore and vice-versa. We did encounter one stop and it was enroute to Bormio where the local carabenieri (Italian for local police) stopped us out of the many Italian drivers. I think we were picked out because we had a Swiss plate. It was a typical check – funny considering that Nil couldn’t understand a word he was saying but I knew what the carabenieri was going to ask for – driver’s license and insurance. HAH! Anyway, we were sent off without much boohah after that. We spent the night near Passo Stelvio/Bormio and were glad to spot some wild deer busy having dinner.

To be continued…

Our first road trip together saw us on the Alpine trail, covering four different countries within a span of six days – Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. We rented a car – again from Autoeurope (because they have the best deals around – and camped (in a tent with sleeping bags & mats) under the stars. Yes, late summer/early winter and we’re camping along mountain passes at temperatures of around 2.5 to 5 C. I’m brave, aren’t I?

Anyway, verdict? The entire trip was amazing – great views, good food, and plenty of bonding time and no, I don’t mean sex but really bonding! Oh, if you can, stock up on baby wipes and fruits/snacks in the car plus plenty of CDs. And don’t forget a lantern if you’re camping, otherwise, it’s lights out after 8pm.

Day 1: Neuchâtel – Interlaken – Airolo
The highlight for this day would be the Interlaken region, specifically around the small town of Kleiner Scheidegg which is the take-off station for those heading to the Jungfraujoch. If you’re heading there by car, it’s best to stop at Grindelwald and take the train up to the Scheidegg. There, you can opt to take another train to the Jungfraujoch or go for the many hiking trails around the area. Either way, you’ll have a spectacular view of the three famous Interlaken mountains – Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau.

It took us about two and half hours to get from Neuchâtel to the Interlaken, longer if you’re taking the train. The view gets better as you’re nearing the region so don’t despair if the countryside, farms and dots of cows don’t tickle your fancy at first.

Anyway, at the Scheidegg, we chose the latter and took a 45 minute walk up the slope facing the centre and those three gorgeous mountains. The weather was amazingly good with clear blue skies and warm sunshine; great weather in fact for a picnic which was what we did. Don’t forget to dress appropriately for the weather. Even though it was a clear day with ample sunshine, the winds make things rather chilly for unsuspecting/unknowing visitors so a good fleece jacket plus a thin scarf is good for trips during the late summer/early autumn season.

After spending about two hours or so at the Scheinegg, we took the train back down to Grindelwald and headed off in the direction of Airolo, choosing to use the mountain pass road. Being in the Alpine region means that many countries have mountain passes offering shelter and food not to mention great opportunities for a picture postcard view to visitors, travellers and tourists. Located at an altitude of 2165 metres, the Grimsel Pass is between the valley of the Rhone River in the canton of Valais and the Haslital (upper valley of the Aar river) in the canton of Bern. The Rhone river starts nearby at the Rhone Glacier and flows down through Geneva and heads pass Lyon before ending in the Mediterranean Sea. A long trip, if you ask me!

After the pass, we tend proceeded to head off to Airolo via the Nufenen Pass (2478 m) and at the time, it would probably interest you to know that we’ve actually crossed over from the French speaking area to the German and finally to the Italian side of Switzerland. Airolo is a small-ski resort during the winter but most of the time, it is a pretty quiet Italian town that is characterised by colourful houses which are not quite as arranged as compared to the German villages/town. It was here that we camped for the night.

To be continued…

Just a friendly reminder that I’ll be off for the week – there is a wedding and some berries calling out to me in France. Keeping your fingers crossed; I may have heaps of pics in the waiting when I get back.

After months of deciding, I finally went pro on Flickr and eventually nuts with organizing my sets and collections. It doesn’t help that I have another entirely separate account for my knitting items and yarn stash; I could take a bit of time moving that to my current account…

As I was moving stuff, I realized that I never shared much of the pics from my travelogue when I was still in Malaysia and moving around Asia. I still have more to upload but here are some of the complete albums courtesy of a nifty plugin and Flickr (naturally)…

Vietnam (Hanoi) ’05
It was supposed to be a break for me while I was in the middle of switching jobs. Turns out to be more that what I bargained for. Anyways, here are pictures from our Hanoi trip (Aug 6 to Aug 14) taken with a disposable panoramic camera, Canon Powershot A75 and Olympus SLR OM2000.

[flickr album=72157605879439061 num=50]

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When Mum first arrived, one of the “juicy tales” she filled me in was about a fellow traveller in her Eastern Europe tour group who ended her holiday in an Austrian hospital, recovering from a mild heart attack.

It got me thinking for a moment – exactly how many of us have travel health insurance or are protected in one way or another when we travel for either work or leisure? If we are insured via a health insurance, is it necessary then to purchase a travel health insurance?

You have to forgive me for asking really weird questions – I woke up at 455am and went on to spend about three hours on a train just to get from Lucerne to Neuchatel.

To hit the point home, I caught the flu in France. Bleck. Not that I need insurance for that but it was hardly pleasant to catch the flu while you’re on vacation.

Anyway, I better go read my insurance clause to check…

Visa-issues aside, Nil (and I) have been thinking of make a trip to the US – it has always been on his list, the whole Grand Canyon exploring thing among other stuff – and after my parents’ trip last year to the States, well, lets just say that he brings it up at every opportunity he gets!

I’m still trying to delay it because of the whole visa thing; it’s pretty difficult for Malaysians to obtain a visa and once you’re rejected, you can forget about ever applying again…or so I have been told.

Sure, I would love to check out the States but for purely selfish motives – I want to do more yarn shopping!!!!!!!!! This would probably entail me bugging him to head over to the West Coast instead of the East. He may not jump on the idea; after all, this hubby of mine is pretty selective when it comes to travelling. I don’t think he’ll even bite if I try to feed him this “Orlando vacations” thing. Theme parks are just not his style…even though he did enjoy the water slide at Sunway Lagoon.

Anyway, we’ll see how it goes. Right now, we have a budget to think of not to mention other family commitments. Life is really different when you’re married, y’know.