learning how to ski in andorra

We went on a 7-day ski holiday to the resort Sodeu in Andorra with our friends Cui-Cui & Ting. Andorra,  a tax haven known for good ski resorts, is a small mountainous country in between Spain and France

We booked the beginner's package which included a week of ski lessons. On our first day they divided us beginners into three groups - Joe got in the top beginner's class while Ting, Cui and I were relegated to the bottom class.

Joe progressed fast. By the second day he was going down a blue run while the rest of us were still  snow-ploughing our way around the nursury slopes. Knowing that Joe had gone down a blue run, Ting was feeling confident he was ready to take on a blue as well... So at the end of the day, we decided that Joe was to take Ting down a blue run while Cui and I take the gondola down, and we would meet at the bottom.

At the bottom of the run, we waited and waited for the boys to arrive. It was late afternoon, and lots of people were descending on their last run of the day.

After awhile the chairlifts stopped, and the traffic of people coming down slowed to a dribble. We went to retrieve the boys' boots from the ski lockers as it was near the lockers' closing time. By that time the traffic  had stopped completely and the only people still out there were rescue workers in orange vests. I was feeling slightly anxious - the run should have taken no more than 30 minutes to ski down...

After a long time, two figures appeared on the slopes. They were descending very slowly, with one of them - Ting - falling down a lot. It was another 20 minutes before they made it to the bottom...in total they took an epic 75 minutes coming down the run. It was a lesson well learnt for Ting - who finally realised the importance of knowing how to turn. 

Joe and Ting arriving at the bottom - Joe in the foreground, Ting at the back. The people in between are rescue workers. lol

That night at the pub quiz organised by our ski operators, there was a competition to create a holiday-themed sculpture out of aluminium foil. Joe got runners up for his al-foil masterpiece entitled "Ting falling down the mountain".

The next evening we went taboganning & tubing. Tubing is where you kick a big blow-up rubber tube, and throw yourself on top of it as it slides down the hill.

Despite this awesome action shot making me look like i'm flying down the slope, my landing was off and I didn't quite make it on to the tube. Still, I looked pretty cool!

The worst part about toboganning is it takes 30 seconds to go down but 10 minutes to drag yourself back up the hill. Quite exhausting after a hard day skiing!

We experienced a range of weather conditions at Andorra. There was one stormy blizzard day where the wind was so horrible our class was cut short because we could barely stand upright in the wind. Luckily most days were beautiful, sunny and so warm I could almost ski without a jacket.

After a few days of practice, we all got good enough to explore the blue runs. And boy the scenery is amazing!

Although there were some tricky parts on blue runs that we got stuck on. Ting and I got stuck pretty good on this particular steep bit of a blue run - while joe took photos of us falling over from the bottom of the hill.

The trick is to never lean back... though easier said than done!

More fine weather shots of the slopes...

By the end of the week, we were all exhausted but so happy that we could all ski comfortably down blue runs. I was amazed how much I skiied and how much I enjoyed it - every day from ski lift opening til close for six days straight!  I had an amazing time and I would highly recommend Sodeu for beginners & intermediate skiirs. The food at the pub ain't bad either!

I hope we get to go on one ski trip every year!

ice ice iceland

For my 30th birthday, I decided to treat myself to a holiday in Iceland... a long weekend of spas, waterfalls and the Northern Lights... sounds perfect! Thanks me! I let Joe tag along too.

We took the early morning flight into Reykjavik and went straight to the Blue Lagoon from the airport. There really is no better way to spend a beautiful winter morning than to soak in a geothermal spa.

See that cube to the right? That's a bar! You could just float over and get a beer (which is charged to your bracelet.) Ingenious!

 Ahh... to just float along without a care in the world... To make the experience more luxurious, there are these buckets of silicon mud around (and at the bottom of the spa) which you could slather on your face. I saw later at the airport shop that they're selling a tube of these mud mask for about 40 pounds! Should have bottled some myself!

We spent a whole afternoon there, alternating between spa, sauna, and steam bath, and left feeling quite relaxed.

That night we went on a Northern Lights tour. It was cold and quite tiring, and we didn't end up seeing anything as the cloud cover was too thick :(

Never mind! The next day it was onto the "Golden Circle" tour - which covered the major natural sights close to Reykjavik. Our first stop was a massive crater with a frozen lake. You could see waves under the frozen ice, it's pretty cool...

It was also very windy and freaking cold up there.

Onward to see some waterfalls...

and geysirs.. The very active Strokkur geysir erupts every couple of minutes, which is great for us tourists chumps.

We were standing camera ready for a good 10 minutes waiting to get a good shot of me with an erupting geysir.

They used to cook food in these geysirs... Mmm sulfuric!

 Joe the anarchist.

Next was the spectacular Gullfoss waterfall, which is formed of two converging waterfalls.

Did I mention it was damn freezing?

Iceland sits between the North American and the Eurasian plate. These plates are actually drifting apart from one another, which is why Iceland is so rich with volcanic activities. This is the valley between the two continental plates.. so called "no man's land".

The drifting apart of the plates carves up valleys and ridges in the landscape. You could say this is like the border between Europe and America.. (kinda)

 That shimmering in the stream is coins people have thrown in for good luck (or something)

Some awesome scenery here... 

Apart from being the boundary of the continental plates, this place is also historically significant as it was where the oldest parliament (formed by the first settlers of Iceland) in the world convened in the 10th Century.

On our last day in Reykjavik we decided to look around town - starting with the Sun Voyager sculpture in the centre of town - it is an "ode to the sun", facing out to sea.

We stopped by the Cathedral to gawk at its towering modernist architecture. Inside, the vibe is very tranquil and comfortable.. all muted pastels, soft edges and rounded corners. Comfy padded pews too.

 View of the city from the Cathedral tower.

 View of us at the Cathedral tower

Across from the Cathedral is Loki Cafe where we had a taste of Icelandic cuisine. We weren't adventurous enough to try the fermented (rotten) shark, and settled instead for cod and egg on rye bread, smoked lamb, soup, and rye bread ice-cream.  All quite delicious, though the rye bread ice-cream was a standout.

The rest of the day we spent at the Laugardalslaug swimming pool. We've got no photos of the pool, but it is seriously the best value fun you could have in Reykjavik (the entry ticket is less than three pounds!)  It is equipped with an Olympic sized pool, a couple of smaller pools, a 38C seawater pool, and four hot tubs from 38 to 44C. Oh and there is a giant water slide! All pools but one are outdoors and geothermal heated to various warmness. It was truly the best way to spend a freezing (-4C), snowy day!  I soaked in the hot tubs until I got quite hot, then I did a few laps in the swimming pool, followed by a few turns down the water slide, and then it was back to the hot tubs to repeat the cycle.

And before we knew it, it was getting dark. We ate some hot dogs and took a bus back to hotel.

On the way back we saw a bubble tea cafe.. even in Iceland!

In the end, even though we tried all three nights, we didn't end up seeing the Northern Lights. But we had such a great time touring the beautiful scenery and soaking in the geothermal pools.  Perhaps we'll be back again someday, and try our luck again with those tricky Northern Lights.