Ducking the Rope

If you want to ski fresh, untracked powder and lay down the first run in a freshie, you've got 3 choices:

1. Get up at the crack of dawn after a big storm at a resort.
2. Go heliskiing.
3. Go backcountry.

Option 1 might be the simplest, but you'll probably only get one or two runs before everything is skied-out. Anyone who knows Mary and I will also realise, this is not an option available to us.
Option 2 guarantees a lot of runs, but is hellishly expensive.
Option 3 involves a lot of hiking up for each run down, and sometimes camping out in the snow. Unless...

Ducking the rope at the edge of a ski area and skiing out-of-bounds gets you backcountry skiing, with a lift at the end of each run. Fresh, untracked powder every run, all day. You may loose your pass, but for conditions like this, isn't it worth it? And ski patrol have to catch you first ;-)











Name the skier and win an invitation to our 'lil ski cabin in Tahoe!

Competition Time!

To mark our arrival in Tahoe for the ski season, picotrip is pleased to announce our first competition! Try and spot the weather-related difference between the 2 pictures of our 'lil old ski cabin - one taken in the autumn and one taken this afternoon. Every correct answer wins an invitation to come and stay in our cabin and ski with us in Tahoe! Look closely and good luck!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Through Asia

My cycle odyssey through South East Asia has come to an end! As a final post for this trip I thought I'd share some oh-so-funny things I saw along the way.

Tonight's Specials
Menus are often the victim of some amusing translations. Here are some of the funnier things I found available for dinner.

• Pork party with spaghetti
• Killed beef, Korean style
• Batterian Fish
• Fried rice with pork pies and vegetable (one for the Brits)
• Bits of pork
• Fish of the year
  

Health and Safety
When there are so many other basic necessities to worry about, safety often falls down the list of concerns in developing nations. Here are some violations that would stop a health and safety officers heart.

• A guy arc welding, using a stylish pair of aviator sunglasses for eye protection. Less funny were the many instances of welders using no eye protection at all.
• Two guys on a motorbike, carrying an enormous sheet of glass between them, across the bike. Other cargo carried by terrified motorcyclists included double beds and mattresses, large cabinets and all manner of household furniture.
  
• A family of four on a motorbike (nothing unusual about that) with the woman holding aloft a stand, suspending her intravenous drip.

Useful Phrases
I stopped for noodles in Laos and 'talked' to a Vietnamese girl whose only English came from a Viet phrase book. It was a tricky conversation, particularly since the phrases in the book were not the kind you'd usually expect to find. There was an emphases on military vocabulary and rather extreme situations. Here are some examples:

• She has been dead for 3 hours
• He has been dumb from birth
• How did you escape?
• You are hurting me
• Can you make me a set of false teeth?
• My beard is very hard
• Can we buy some nuts for the monkeys?

The first time I saw these frames for carrying chickens in Cambodia, I thought they were clever. Then I realised the suspended chickens were still alive. Super fresh and super ingenious!


Cambodian minibuses are both passenger and freight carriers. Bags of rice and cement are commonly carried like this with passengers inside and on the roof.


A few more live chickens and this biker may even take off!


No health and safety problems here. A chap at a metal shop in Phenom Penh machines a new stem for my bike.


What's the English for guerrilla warfare? The phrasebook told us, but conversation was still tricky with this eager young Viet lass.


Everything and the kitchen sink, but no cycle panniers.

Hanoi

I already miss Hanoi. A jumbled, pulsing city full of back streets filled to bursting with all sorts of stalls, shops and street food. It's a great place to hang out and meet people.

Hanoi traffic is particularly crazy, even by the standards of developing countries. Traffic is dominated by bicycles, scooters and motorcycles and if the road is clogged, these all flood onto the sidewalks. The best (and indeed only) way to cross the road is simply to walk out into the traffic and let it flow around you. It's important to go slowly so that the various bikers have a chance to judge your speed and trajectory. Junctions are a wonder to behold, particularly from above. Traffic signals are rare - instead, traffic slows down and merging streets weave through each other in an intricate dance. The system doesn't always work however and I was twice involved in minor crashes while perched on the back of motorcycle taxis. No one ever gets irate. It's just all part of the wider traffic of life.


Uncle Ho's mausoleum. The poor chap wanted to be cremated but the state had other ideas. I filed past his waxy remains with lots of Vietnamese. He's only open from 8am to 10:30am, 5 days a week. Being a dead communist leader would seem like a good gig, at least in terms of the hours.


The Ho Chi Minh Museum was the strangest museum I've ever been to. Rather than historical exhibits or information it instead displayed a collection of symbolic exhibits, attempting to show Ho's struggle and that of the nation. It was all pretty impenetrable to me, this strange sculpture being a prime example.


A typical back street in Hanoi's Old Quarter.


I bought some oranges from this bright and breezy street seller.


The street food in Hanoi was excellent. Each stall specializes in a particular kind of dish, which makes repeat ordering very simple but the first visit very complex.


I bought an old Soviet watch from this repair stall. The number of shops and stalls devoted to repairing everything from motorcycles to clocks makes you realise what a throw-away society the West has become.


On the way back through Bangkok I enjoyed this super tasty street stall meal, which came with beer served over ice in a child's bucket. Mmmm. Bucket of beer.


Spectators in Bangkok rooting for their boxer at a Thai boxing arena.


Thai boxing is a very young mans sport and surprisingly full of fascinating ritual.