Winter Wonderland - Haute Savoie Region - Part 1

Eiffel Tower

Winter Wonderland – Haute Savoie Region - Part 1

For the past few years, I have been coming back to the Haute Savoie region in the French Alps to appreciate the beauty and enjoy the scenic mountain landscapes that the region is famous for. Although most of the time we planned our trips during spring season around early April to end of May, this time we decided to experience what winter season that Haute Savoie has got to offer. The perfect time was during the last Chinese New Year long holiday breaks that allowed us to get the best of winter …..

Our journey started in Paris whereby after a long 12 hours 30 minutes flight from Kuala Lumpur, we booked ourselves into a cheap, yet very comfortable hotel Formule 1 Hotel at Paris Nord 2 www.formule1hotel.com a chain hotel that is run by the Accor group of Hotels. As low as EUR48 per night for up to 3 adults per room, this is really a bargain for an accommodation in Paris!!! After a quick rest and stretch back at the hotel, we took the day ticket into Paris cost EUR20.50 per person to discover and experience the romantic city of Paris with the must-go attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Musee du Louvre etc. To have your photos captured with the Eiffel Tower as the background at night is truly a very romantic experience that cannot to be missed!!!



Arc de Triomphe

Musee du Louvre


We only spent one night in Paris as we have a longer itinerary planned ahead of us at the Haute Savoie region. After collecting our car rental at the Paris Airport Terminal 2, we went straight down to Annecy, where our accommodation will be for the next 6 days. To really enjoy France with affordable accommodation, it is best to book for holiday cottages which are available throughout France. They can be booked through www.gites-de-france.com where you can find self-catering accommodation for up to 4,6,10 or even 20 people or more. Our accommodation sleeps a group of 20 people. Located at Puget, St Eustache, Annecy, our holiday cottage is nestled on a hilly terrain that overlooking Lake Annecy.  We arrived after a long 4 ½ hours drive from Paris with a few short pit-stops along Route A4 into Annecy. Finally after settling down, we had a nice hot dinner to end our day and be ready for the fun that has been planned ahead for tomorrow.

Day 3,

Manigod

Manigod

Manigod

Manigod

Our plan for today was to head up to La Clusaz, one of the top ski resort for the Les Aravis area. We didn’t take the highway to La Clusaz, but instead took the scenic route from Annecy towards Albertville, and then up the mountain via Manigod and lastly arriving at La Clusaz. The view along this route was breathtaking with the picturesque mountains surrounding us which covered with snow. The weather on that day was truly amazing which gave us post-card snap shots of pure white snow against the clear blue sky. We stopped at Manigod, which is another ski resort along the way to take some photos and for the kids to have some activity as well. We did rent some snow sledges at EUR2 per piece for the kids and decent adults who really wanted to have some fun. There was a dedicated area for the sledges along side with chair lifts for the skiers at that area. None of us was brave and tempted enough to try skiing and join the pros. The kids really enjoyed themselves running up and down the bunny hill on the sledges.

Kids enjoying the sledges...

Aerial view of La Clusaz

Aerial view of La Clusaz

We continued to descent down from Manigod and make a short stop en-route to get the best aerial view of La Clusaz from the top. The view was magnificent with the white tiny roof-tops covered with snow for the entire village. As it was peak winter season, mostly the roofs were about 3-5 feet thick covered with snow. Everybody posed for the best shots to capture this unforgettable view of La Clusaz.

La Clusaz’s skiing attraction is spread across five mountains, ie Beauregard, La Croix Fry-Manigod—Merdassier, L’Etale, L’Aiguille and La Balme. Upon reaching La Clusaz, we headed to La Balme, where the gondola station at the base of the mountain will take us up to the top. The top station house a cafeteria with viewing terrace where you can view the entire valley and surrounding mountains. It was simply breathtaking!!!! From this station, skiers could take the chair-lifts higher to the top for a more challenging down-hill treats…..  We stayed until the call for last return trip down, and then proceeded to La Clusaz centre-village to look for some souvenirs. The town during this season was completely different compared to our previous visits during Spring time. It was much livelier and busy with a lot of people around. But it turned into almost a ghost town in Spring! We ended our day and headed back to Annecy after so much fun and thrills on our second day trip.

Part of the French Alps....

Viewing terrace overlooking the valley...

Jewel of the Indian Ocean - Maldives Part 2.

Jewel of the Indian Ocean - Maldives Part 2. 

The next day, a more interesting activity has been planned for us. We signed in with Ocean Pro – Dive Team www.oceanpro-diveteam.com for diving lessons. Since the time was limited for us to have the 2 1/2 days training for the PADI certificate, we only took the beginners class that will enable us to dive not more than 12 meters deep. Our instructor Jovanna, an Italian gave the classroom lectures prior to the physical training that took place in the lagoon. Sound complicated at first, the physical part was much easier for us to understand and practice. The most important rule……. Don’t hold your breath!

Diving lesson at the lagoon...

Diving lesson at the lagoon....

Diving lesson at the lagoon...

I was surprised that the kids can learn and catch up much faster than me, especially my 13 years old boy. The physical training session last almost an hour, by then we were ready for the next “real” diving session in the afternoon at one of the Helengeli dive spots. My kids were very excited and have planned to take underwater pictures of the fish and live corals that they will experience later. We rented the underwater camera for this purpose and the results ……… whalla!!! The journey to the dive spot took about 25 minutes ride by boat from Helengeli.

Actual diving at one of Helengeli's dive spot...

Colorful fish....

Colorful fish...

There are so many activities that the resort has to offer. Among them, Dolphin and Sunset Cruise, Snorkel Safari, Cruise to Gaafaru Island, Beach BBQ at Kagi Island, Island Hopping (Meeru & Diffushi Islands), Male Shopping Tour and fishing trips. We booked ourselves for the Dolphin and Sunset cruise on the next day and the kids and I couldn’t resist the Snorkel Safari and joined the party on our last day at Helengeli. On Dolphin and Sunset cruise, the boat took us around the island and further north looking for dolphins. Apparently, three of them appeared 3 times out of the water and disappeared into the wide ocean. The boat gracefully cruised into the sunset and headed back to the island thereafter. On the Snorkel Safari trip, the boat took us to two different reefs where the former was full with beautiful and colorful corals and the later full with all sort of coral fish.

Regular visitor on the island....

Boat ready for the "Sunset Cruise"...

Sunset view over the Indian Ocean....

Ocean-pro Dive Team....

Sunrise view at Halengeli Island Resort....

Sapphire blue, cobalt blue and aquamarine blue sea surrounding Helengeli Island

Boat going to Snorkel Safari trip....

If you feel stress and your body needs some pampering, “Duniye Spa” at the resort will take care of your needs where there are many services offered such as full body massage, aromatherapy massage etc.

Our vacation ended on the 4^th day where all of us were very exhausted but truly enjoyed the whole activities that we did. The staff at the resort were very professional and extremely friendly especially the dive instructor who was really patience with us during our training session here. The whole experience was indeed memorable and we wish that we could come back one day, perhaps on another island resort…..   

Jewel of the Indian Ocean - Maldives

Jewel of the Indian Ocean – Maldives ( Part 1)

Maldives has always been one of my top list of the must-go destination. Unlike most of my other trips which took months of planning to the absolute details, this one I left it to my wife to take care of all the last minute bookings on our accommodation, sea and air transfer as well as the what-to-do list for this wonderful family vacation. Although Maldives is more suitable for honeymooners or couples, I decided to bring along my 3 sons as well since all of us really enjoy the sun, sea and underwater world of Maldives that awaits us.

Male town from Airport Island

Trans-Maldivian Air terminal

Taking off next to Ibrahim Nasir International Airport

Aerial view enroute to Helengeli....

Aerial view enroute to Helengeli...

Aerial view enroute to Helengeli...

Floating raft/docks for disembarkation from seaplane

Seaplane docking upon arrival

As the month of January until March is the peak season here, finding a last minute accommodation at Male or on the islands resorts was  really a daunting task. I found out that the best time to have your holiday in Maldives is around May until June during the low season. Accommodation prices are also much cheaper and easily available during this time. Finally my wife managed to book our accommodation at Sala Boutique Hotel http://www.salafamilymaldives.com/ in Male for 1 night prior to our transfer to Helengeli Island Resort at North Male Atoll, Maldives http://www.helengeli.net/

Being greeted by Thomas the owner of Sala Boutique Hotel on our arrival, the establishment’s atmosphere is highly influenced by Siamese elements, which make you feels like checking-into a hotel in Phuket. The rooms and restaurants also have similar concepts for its art-deco. It’s a shame that we could not enjoy our stay here being arriving very late at night and leaving very early in the morning for the seaplane transfer to our resort hotel. But definitely we will come back here if we had the chance to visit Maldives in future…..god willing…

In order to take the seaplane, we have to take the boat ride from Male to the airport. Just to highlight that the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport is located on an island by itself. Upon arrival into Male, everybody must take the boat ride to transfer to Male town, another island of its own. With hundreds of islands within the Republic of Maldives, the concept here is that “one island one resort” concept. All of us were too excited to take the seaplane ride as this will be our first time experiencing it.  I remembered during my childhood time one television series called “Fantasy Island” where this small seaplane carrying the guest to the resort……”…the plane!!! …...  the plane!!! ..…”

The seaplane is operated by Trans Maldivian Air http://www.tma.com.mv/ using 20-seater twin propeller aircraft.  The journey took almost 25 minutes from the Trans Maldivian Air terminal located on the Airport island itself. After take-off, I was mesmerized by the magnificent aerial views of a few island resorts and lagoons along the way with the azure blue water beneath…… opportunity not to be missed!!!

The seaplane landed a few kilometers away from the island, and has to dock onto a big floating jetty/raft. A transit boat was waiting for us to ferry the guest and the luggage to the resort island. Looking down into the cobalt-blue water, we can see manta-rays, big angel fish and others swimming around us….. can’t wait to snorkel and dive into the sea……

Helengeli Island Resort

Helengeli Island Resort

Helengeli Island Resort

Helengeli Island Resort

Prestine white beach....

Prestine white beach...

On arrival at Helengeli Island Resort, we were greeted by Sydney, the Sales Manager that my wife communicated with during our reservation. The welcoming fruit cocktail was really refreshing and we checked-in to our rooms in no time. After we settled down, my kids and I rushed to the sea and snorkeled for hours. The house reef surrounded the island is home to so many coral fish and sea turtles. I even managed to spot 12 inch lobster crawling between the hard corals. The crystal clear water enabled us to see the vivid colors of the underwater world as if we were snorkeling inside a huge aquarium.