A 20% experience

Top of Welirang Gunung

The ridge that leads to the Welirang peak

Chopin's Nocturne on my ipod, train's rumbling noise in the background along with sporadic cries from an adorable baby fill my ears as we head from Surabaya to Yogjakarta in Indonesia. Two burst sores on the left foot and several hidden ones on the right, a bit of sore on the unused skin of my shoulders and in common one word can describe properly what is present at several parts of my body - pain. Yet a sense of happiness lies in my head, a sense of pride - a reason for which or may be several lay inside my DSLR.

Sulfur vents on the surface of volcano

A flood of thoughts rushed into my head as soon as I pulled my book to write something for the first time on this trip. There was no respite so far, for four days everything happened quite quickly. The experiences - each setting limits beyond the previous ones. The first glimpse of a volcano with sunrise in the background and clouds rushing against it as if they were waves [video]. A first glimpse of a beautiful lake in the middle of a crater with sulfur fumes dancing on the green surface. But somehow the latest experience is what took the first place to be penned down, perhaps because of the signs on my body or the feeling of awe - it left me with.

The title probably suggests the most impressive part of the 24-hour-2-segment trek. We started right next to the Tanjung plaza hotel in Tretes[880 m] with a motivation to scale an active volcano named welirang. Now, the planning for this trip actually never happened for several reasons. For Indonesia, all we had were the plane tickets and a skeletal itinerary. So a 2-day hike had to happen at some unheard place before. We gathered some information about possible peaks and finally picked Welirang. But we did not know anything about the heights or durations. All we could gather are a few sentences from lonely planet and some extremely horrible estimates about time and distance. Trust me, people here are hopeless in this sense - the hotel manager even suggested a 75 KM hike in 3 hours.

On the way to the top

So finally packing our bags close to 10 KGs, we started at around 5:30 AM from the hotel. There was a bit of registration at the national park. The funny story begins here, this specific hike is basically an upward sloped hike for the whole path, from the point where we start all the way up to the summit. Usually we have hikes where there are some horizontal stretches, even some downward slopes. But this one had none! So, not an impressive speed but a consistent one for around five and a half hours took us to the base camp at approximately 2500 m at a distance of mere 8.5 KM from the starting point. We borrowed one of the extra huts from the sulfur miners, put some grass inside and on top of it to make it rain proof. The plan is to sleep from 5.30 PM to 1.30 AM and go for the summit.

The conditions changed rapidly, there was rain at the base camp with lightning and thunders at a distance visible straight from the huts. It could be quite far, but the continuous rain made it hard for me to sleep. I gathered around 2 hours of sleep and we started for the hike at around 3 AM. It was quite a spooky summit attempt - there is no light, in the middle of woods and all we could see was the diffused light from the occasional lightnings behind the volcano.

The view from the top

Approximately two hours later we reached the summit at a height of 3154 m, so far the highest we reached in Indonesia and probably will remain the highest for this trip. We reached there just before sunrise with the intentions of grabbing amazing views and some good pictures. But we had a surprise in store when we reached the peak.

The lightnings were right infront of us! From where we stood, on the right hand side we had the sunrise with several of famous volcanoes in the foreground and on the left side was the crater where fuming sulfur deposits were present. And straight infront of us were massive clouds with occasional lightning. The feeling we had, apart from cold for being uprepared, is pretty much indescribable.  As the sun slowly came up the textures became clear, so did the the colors in the crater. It was incredible, the feeling of just us being out there in a completely exposed situation. The hike up was worth it!

Close up of a sulfur vent

Then we went down to where the sulfur miners work. There are several vents on the surface of the volcano with incredible colors, steaming sulfur fumes out of them. The sight was amazing, but the fumes were hostile. It is not pleasant to have them in the face for more than a few seconds. We tried to grab some pictures whenever the winds played on our side.  It is quite fascinating to see how accustomed these miners are to the fumes.

The descent was pretty fast taking less than 3 hours. The worst part was that the whole path was full of stones. Without any padding, anybody with some hiking experience knows very well that it's a pain. In all, the title describes everything aptly - a 20% slope all the way.

The accomplishment picture

To a nation that once conquered the seas

Seville had a strong moorish influence.

Sevilla - a place full of energy

Easter of 2011 provided me one of the best backpacking trips I ever had. When I travel alone, I get the best out of the trips - time expands, my memory card fills up quicker and battery cycles get shorter!   But that is the fun of traveling when there is limited time, if I want to relax I can do it at home on my couch. One of the most important things about this specific trip was that I experimented with different kinds of photography, not just sticking to my usual genre of landscapes. I started out to capture good images of people, birds, flowers, buildings and anything - so basically good images!

My starting point was Granada in Spain, and the major motivation was to travel across Portugal with a few interest points. So Seville was a natural first destination in Spain and then crossing the border to the southern most part of Portugal. Due to the lack of seats on the bus, I had to stay in Seville for the day and take the bus towards Faro at midnight. So re-visiting Seville it is! We had a pretty messy road trip in Seville before.

Sevillanas like to have flowers in their hair

An old city with cute narrow streets to keep a cool air flow in summers and rocky old buildings add a lot of charm to the picture, if one is reading a romantic novel or watching an actress walk around those streets in a bright red dress. But certainly not if one has to drive a rented car through those streets to an unknown destination. That is why it was a messy one, but the city definitely has a charm. I only found it when I visited it on foot. There are open concerts, ladies in nice dresses and kids playing in the park - in one word "Energy". The city was full of energy, owing to the approaching Semana Santa, a huge celebration during the Easter week. It is said that Seville is the place to be during that particular week. The old part of the city is quite charming with the Cathedral that is partially visible from most of the small streets. After a nice dinner, I embarked on my voyage to the country that conquered the seas during the 15th century.

Downtown Faro on a non-crowded morning

I often overestimate my abilities and this was one such time when I reached Faro at 4 AM. The city with small dark alleys, not a single soul roaming around and the sound of tides hitting the port sent all sorts of creepy thoughts into my head. Luckily it was safer than it seemed. I started my day with a nice breakfast and set out to explore the town really early. It is a really impressive cute town by the side of the sea. A lot of old stone-buildings occupy most of the old town. I went into the town on a sunday morning at 7 AM, so I had some of the really amazing shots without many people. It always proved as a good tip for shooting city scapes to wake up early on a sunday morning and usually the city is all yours. The trip to Faro was just to reach a more remote place called Portimão.

Formations on the sea side close to Portimão

Praia da Rocha is a beach with rock formations next to the sea close to Portimao. There are cliffs that drop straight into the ocean and provide a surrealistic landscape. It can be seen in the image. There are several cave formations that are fun to explore, but one must take care because the rocks are sharp and can easily injure badly if someone slips on them. A funny story happened on my way back to Faro. I got adventurous and just got down at some random stop knowing very well that the bus I was on was the last one for the day. The only way back to Faro was to take the last train from a small town close by which was 6 KM from the stop. I went to a small cafe by the train station for a warm cup of coffee and ended up starting small talk with the locals there. Apparently, they confused me to a well-tanned spanish guy. I used Spanish as my communication medium in Portugal, it works better than English there. And when I actually pointed out India and told them that I was from there  - they were surprised, they said I was the first Indian guy they ever met.  My trip to Faro to get a glimpse of Algarve district was a success. I would like to go back there and spend a few days just exploring that one district, which is rich in nature. From here, the next stop is Lisbon - the most beautiful city I have seen so far.

This blog is the first of the series of four blogs describing my Easter vacation in 2011.

More pictures :

Small post-its I left in each city - Seville

Interesting poster encouraging use of condoms

Narrow alleys of Faro

Seville river side during sunset

Post-it in Faro

Nordmark : The relief zone for Oslo folk

Nordmarka is the forest region to the North of Oslo

One of the perks of living in Oslo is it's proximity to nature. The Norwegians are in general an outdoor crowd.  When I moved to Oslo, it came as a surprise to see some one jogging on the street in the middle of the night - Not anymore! A simple glance at the map of the woods, starting from the North of Oslo, provides a rough estimate of the surplus in hiking paths and lakes. Officially the summer of 2013 is my first summer in Oslo.

View from Mellomkollen top

When it comes to hiking, there is always something that can excite me. It does not have to be a new route every time. For instance, Mellomkollen [537 m] is my favorite peak and the highest in the region, there are two major paths leading to the top. The view from the top cannot be matched by anything in the surroundings, one can look all the way down to the Oslo city and the sea.  And I have been up that place several times. Once I even took my bike and biked all the way down to the city center. The area is full of blue berries during the season.

Fagervann

There are quite a few lakes in the region too. One of them is Øyungen, it is a common outdoor excursion for a lot of people on sunny weekends to barbecue here. The lake is quite big and one can even swim there when the water is warm. But if one really wants to avoid any signs of civilization, there are other less popular lakes but small ones. Fagervann has less popularity than Øyungen and it is perfect for an afternoon barbecue session.

The paths also vary quite a bit in the woods. Some paths are well prepared gravel roads that can also be used for biking. And some are well shaped by the flux of the hikers they experience. There are some less trodden paths, where following the signs becomes a must in case losing the way is not a priority.

In general the woods provided me several opportunities to experiment with photography and improve my skills. I made a few time lapse movies in Nordmarka. One of them can be viewed here. It is best if viewed in HD. The idea of time lapse is to capture and exaggerate slow movements that naked eye fails to appreciate.

A moody Oslo sky from Vettakollen

Another favorite spot of mine is the top of Vettakollen, this peak is actually just next to Oslo. So one can take a metro to the Vettakollen station and start walking up to the peak for about 2.5 KM. It has the best panoramic view one can get from an easily accessible peak around Oslo. During summer evenings, it is a very nice spot to be to catch the setting sun. One can reach the top in about 45 minutes from downtown Oslo. The view from up there can be seen in the image. But the timelapse of moon rise as shot from the top,  is something that I like showing off. Nordmarka is one of the reasons that one may fall in love with this city, there are more reasons but they will be covered in a story about Oslo.

View of Oslo city and fjord from the top of Vettakollen

Andorra, the lesser known heaven

Mountains and Lakes mark the landscape of Andorra

A vacation for me always has to have a beautiful picture. There must be atleast one that I can just print and hang on a wall. Such a requirement puts a high pressure in selecting a place. When the week long visit to Toulouse finalized, I had exactly one such pressure. I needed to plan a trip somewhere close to Toulouse. A trip that can provide me with amazing experiences but still short in time. The obvious choice was to look at Google maps and place a point. Andorra, a small land locked country between France and Spain.

Beautiful streams and meadows are also a common sight

  If I were to sum up Andorra in two words, mountains and lakes. The country has a picturesque landscape. Even a random image captured in some direction aligning the horizon horizontally would lead to an amazing landscape picture. So the opportunities were umpteen, the places were amazing and the paths challenging. There was only one problem, I had limited time.

And another good thing making Andorra a hiker's heaven is the existence of mountain huts. They call them Refugis, the huts provide a stable shelter against all weather conditions. Most of them even have wood for lighting fire to heat or cook. And anybody is free to stay in them. All one needs to carry is a nice sleeping bag. So ideally the best thing to do in Andorra is to visit all the refugis. One can even get a "passport" from the tourist office and fill it with stamps from all the huts.

 

Reflection of sun light from clouds

Owing to my limited time, I organised my hikes as two per day. One starting crazy in the morning and the other during afternoon. I reached  El Tarter late at night and went straight to the hostel. An interesting anecdote here worth mentioning, when I reached the hostel, there was a guy making his dinner. So I started small talk, he is from Australia. And he mentioned that he planned a trip to a lake for the entire day. I thought about it and said, "i dont have time for doing it the whole day, I am doing it early in the morning and come back before breakfast. You can join me if you want." Considering the fact that the discussion was at midnight and the plan is to start at 4 AM, any sane person would skip it. He said yes!

So, the first plan was to go up to Estanys de Juclar. A small hike with a total length of 9 KM and an elevation gain of approximately 450 m lead us to a beautiful lake. The lake itself is at a height of 2250m. An early morning hike allowed me to capture some really great images, one is of the clouds reflecting the light from rising sun, the other is from the lake itself.

Estany de Juclar

Then I headed towards Arinsal, where i started walking up to tick Coma Pedrosa - the highest peak in Andorra. Arinsal lies at an elevation of 1470m and the peak itself is at 2943m. So me assuming that I can do the peak and come back to the hut on the first day for an afternoon hike proved to be an impossible task. Instead, I ended up at the refugi coma pedrosa at 2265m and played with dogs for the evening.

From the top of Coma Pedrosa, highest peak in Andorra

I had some of the really great interactions here. The hut is run by an old lady who knew a lot of languages and things. She was charming and liked me for some reason - leading to special treatment at the hut. I met a really nice family from catalunya, a couple with two lovely daughters. Early morning next day I ventured up the peak alone. The hike up was slightly hard. After the peak I headed towards the capital city - Andorra la vella. The city did not impress me, largely because of its emphasis as a tax-free shopping city rather than a cozy capital of a beautiful nation.

Lakes from top of a ridge

  The afternoon hike was to complete as much as possible towards Estany de l'illa. The problem was that it was too much to do up the peak and all the way down to the city in the morning, then start with another hike. Luckily the slope was gradual, but I didnt realize the length of the hike. So I stopped at Refugi Riu dels Orris, also because it started raining a little and I was tired. I gained a bit over 1200 m during the afternoon hike. So I had my food and hit the bed early.

The next day's hike is a bit relaxed, as I just needed to get back to Tarter and finish my trip. But the path is over a high mountain range - around 2800m. The view from up there was incredible. The image shows the lakes below when seen from the top of the range. Then more lakes lied on the other side. After returning to Tarter, I took the bus back to Toulouse. But in all the country is amazing for hiking. All the paths are well marked, no wild animals and quite friendly people.

More Pictures :

Flowers

Flowers

Estany de Juclar

Signs marking the paths