The amazing Alps
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
14
23
Trip End
Oct 14, 2008
Courmayeur,
Italy
Monday, July 7, 2008
My trip through the Alps started with a cable car ride that lifted me up to 3800 meters, crossed a glacier, and brought from the Italian Courmayur to the French Chamonnix. From Chamonnix, 4 days of hiking along the famed Route de Monte Blanc, a premier alpine hiking trail that goes around the magnificent Monte Blanc gets me back to Courmayur for luggage pickup and a nice shower.
The cable car ride was amazing. Snow capped mountain peaks surrounds you, huge, glaring white glacier spreads below you. Daring mountainneers traversing the snow appear first like little black dots, as you get closer to them, could see the rope connecting each person in the group.
Then there is the TMB trail itself, winding through alpine meadows with a backdrop of magnificent glaciers and waterfalls. Purple, white, yellow and golden wildflowers fills the meadow. Cows wearing basketball sized bells feed leisurely all day, and produce most delicous cheeses.
The company- I had the joy of doing the walk together with John and Stuart, who must be the finest example of Irish friendliness and fun loving. Together we trudged through icy rains and hails, and survived a thunderstorm, always laughing when not smiling, maybe with just a bit of teeth grinding when things got really tough. For my part, I contributed much laugh stock, mostly by carrying out a certain silly act involving a certain foil blanket (John and Stuart, I know you are reading this, stop laughing), but I got back by beating the Irish at their own game of Scrabble.
The lodging- mountain huts on the trail are very characteristic places. We had one sitting on a slope with paranomic view. A herd of Ibex hang out around the hut all afternoon. After dinner the troupe of 5 chefs came out and presented a fine music show with trumpets, accordion, and much singing and dancing. It gave me much proudness to be informed by the chefs, cousins from a nearby valley, that I was the first Chinese to stay at the hut. Not just the first Chinese woman mind you. At the next hut though, I met my traveling nightmare, the bed bug. Why, you ask, would someone who climbed 700m mountain passes, and fell on the stairs flat on cheekbone (yeah, did that too) be freaked out about a little insect. Well, sometime ago National Geographic carried these magnified pictures of blooding sucking insects, and the bedbug was this little hairy monster with huge biting teeth looking dearly like some alien fighting machine. Looking at the biting marks on my arms, and thinking that one might be hiding in my clothes ready for a hitchhike trip, give me chills. PS next day- no more new bits, no free riding bedbug, yeah!
