Durmitor National Park, Montenegro

Most travelers to Montenegro would make a beeline to its coast, notably to Kotor or Budva. And why not? Easily accessed from Dubrovnik in Croatia, Montenegro's tourism could easily benefit from Dubrovnik's popularity. But for those who love mountains, Montenegro has something to offer too!

Up in the northern part of Montenegro, Durmitor National Park is Montenegro's biggest national park. It is also inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Within the park are 18 glacier lakes and the Durmitor mountain range consists of 48 peaks. 3 river canyons meander through it, of which the Tara river canyon is the biggest at 80km long and 1300m deep! So in terms of scenery, sights, and activities, there are certainly no lack of it for tourists.

Zabljak - early "spring"

The access town to Durmitor National Park is Zabljak. During winter, most tourists come for skiing and in summer, there are plenty of hiking opportunities to keep tourists happy. In fact, just a short distance away from the town is one of the most popular of Durmitor's 18 glacier lakes - Black Lake. Numerous hiking trails surround the lake too, and so, makes for an easy and excellent outing from Zabljak.

Black Lake

Aside from glorious mountain views, the Tara river provides another avenue for a popular tourist activity - river rafting. Set within the Tara canyon, the river shone like a turquoise snake in the mountainside. And one of the best views of the canyon, river and mountains is from the Curovac viewpoint, 9km from Zabljak. However, when I was there in early spring, there was still heavy snow, and I couldn't quite make it to the viewpoint. Even then, from a rest-point along the trail, the views were already stunning!

Rest point with a view

Trail to Curovac viewpoint

The Tara River and Canyon

Durmitor National Park - winter to spring

Zabljak is easily reached from Podgorica, and Kotor even. For those who are touring the Balkans, try the border crossing from Bosnia and Herzegovina into Montenegro. Take the Sarajevo-Niksic bound bus. While not as popular, the scenery at the border crossing is fabulous!

Do check out the mountains of Montenegro!

Museum on Water, Bay of Bones

Ohrid is one of Macedonia's (or Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) top tourist attractions, as evident from the crowds in the old town square and the lakeside. In fact, the number of tour groups I see there were more than Skopje's main square.

And further 10km away from Ohrid, near the village of Pestani, is an interesting attraction worth going out for. Situated on the Gulf of Bones (or Bay of Bones) is the Museum on Water - an archaeological complex that is one of its kind.

When I think of the term 'prehistoric settlement', something land-based would come to mind. However, the Museum of Water is a partial reconstructed prehistoric settlement on water, dating as far back as 1200BC. The restored houses sit on a platform on stilts 5 metres above the lake, and within these houses, artifacts salvaged from underwater excavations in the area are exhibited. These include stone tools, bones of animals and deer horns etc. Thus the museum is the whole settlement itself, and it's a really nice walk around the museum/houses and browsing through the interiors of the houses and their "possible setup".

A Roman military fort (Gradiste) had also been reconstructed on the hill overlooking the Bay of Bones and can be accessed with the same entrance ticket. Compared to the Museum on Water though, the fort seemed woefully "uninteresting".

For those who have a little bit more time, consider staying in Pestani, a village on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid. The museum is just 2+km from the village of Pestani, and can be easily reached by walking. Pestani is also a launchpad to hikes to Galičica National Park, and makes an excellent 'getaway' from the touristy crowds of Ohrid. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to any of the hikes due to a spell of bad rainy weather in the area. During low season though, you could get a private ensuite room for the same price as a dorm bed in Ohrid - about 10 euros!! And alot of the accomodations are on the lakefront!

Minivans and shared taxis ply the route between Ohrid and Pestani, and its only a 20+min ride. Cost is the same for both at about 30 denars. Check it out!

Fuji Five Lakes - Kawaguchiko

Most tourists in Japan would want to have a nice view of Mt Fuji, and the most common and easily accessible places would be Hakone and Fuji Five Lakes (Fujigoko) area. Lake Kawaguchiko is one of the five lakes in the Fuji Five Lakes area.

Kawaguchiko is the easiest to access of the five lakes in Fujigoko. So, inevitably, there will be a lot of tourists which I usually try to avoid. However, during autumn, the foliage around there is quite fabulous, and I was happy that I went to take a look. The town area is also quite spread out, so I didn't get the feeling of being too crowded. Which means also that you are at the mercy of their bus shuttle schedules (if you are backpacking alone), which can get rather annoying during the peak hours.

Getting there is also easy, with both bus and train services available. However, for trains, you would need a change of train at Otsuki. There are direct buses between Shinjuku and Kawaguchiko, so it was rather convenient.

So here's sharing a small gallery of Lake Kawaguchiko!

Kawah Ijen, East Java Indonesia

Volcano visiting in Indonesia is definitely one of the must-do's given that there are so many volcanoes in the country. One of the more interesting ones to visit is Kawah Ijen in East Java.

Kawah Ijen is an active volcano and it's crater holds the world's largest acid lake. The crater lake is quite a sight to behold with its mesmerizing turquoise colour. But its beauty belies the danger surrounding it. The water in the lake was measured to have a pH value of 0.5!! So it's literally really acid! And at the edge of the crater, a vent throws forth volumes of noxious fumes and volcanic gasses. And it's here that an active sulphur mine operates.

Visiting the crater lake entails close to 2 hours hike up, but half-way through the journey, one would have encountered the sulphur miners already. These miners literally carry blocks of sulphur weighing 75-90kg on their shoulders, and make their journey from the crater edge down to the volcano base. The sulphur fumes that they had to endure further aggravates the situation, and to make matters more miserable, they are paid pittance. It was an eye-opener (and heart-wrenching one) watching these miners working amidst the harsh and surreal environment.

For the adventurous, one could start the journey to the crater and sulphur mine at 1+am, and you would be rewarded with views of the 'blue flame'. Essentially, the molten sulphur in the mine burns with a beautiful blue flame, and it would really been quite a sight. After that, a hike to a viewpoint for sunrise completes the adventure. I did not take up this option as I arrived at 11pm after a 9+hr ride from Surabaya and was pretty tired. Do note that it is actually quite dangerous as the descent into the mine is quite steep, and even with torches, once the sulphur fumes obscure your sight, you are pretty much helpless!

Accommodation options near Kawah Ijen is limited though. The nearest village of Sempol has a Arabica Homestay which was popularly used by many agencies but reviews were pretty bad, and the room we had was indeed not particularly clean. The other options would be in Bondowoso, which is abit further away.

There are many agencies in Surabaya who can arrange the trip (together with Mt Bromo) and I think it's one of the more interesting volcano trip I had! For Singaporeans, it makes a great long weekend trip, especially with so many cheap flights to Surabaya. Check it out!

Dilijan National Park, Armenia

Of the two National Parks in Armenia, Lake Sevan in Sevan National Park seemed the more popular. However, I found myself in the other - Dilijan National Park, and really enjoyed myself there.

Covered by a large expanse of forest, Dilijan National Park is a fairly new National Park, being only established in 2002 (formerly known only as a 'Reserve'). But all along, it had been known for its flora and fauna, as well as hosting some cultural monuments (mainly monasteries and churches). It is also no wonder that hiking through the park a common activity.

Dilijan National Park in Autumn

Within the park is also a small lake, Parz Lich (Lake Parz), from where a popular hiking trail starts. It is an image of this lake in autumn that got me to this place. And indeed, the autumn foliage in Dilijan is amazing! Certainly one of my higher-ranked autumn foliage sceneries! And I was lucky that I met a group of hikers from a local outdoor/hiking group in Yerevan out on an outing. So I managed to join them for a wonderful hike ending at one of the cultural monuments in the park, Goshavank Monastery.

Autumn foliage at Parz Lich

The hike, was of course, an amazing way to enjoy the sceneries of the park, and passing through some villages, we were also treated to their hospitality. It happened to be fruiting season, and the villagers were collecting loads of plums and we were welcomed to help ourselves. Truly refreshing! Apparently, the forests of Dilijan not only contain many fruits trees, but medicinal plants as well!

Hiking

Rest break

Villagers picking plums (of some sort)

Goshavank Monastery is a 12-13th century Armenian monastery complex consisting of several churches, chapels as well as a bell tower. The buildings looked well preserved, as it is now a popular tourist attraction. When we ended our hike there, there were quite a few local tourists there as well. Within the autumn backdrop, it was really pretty.

Goshavank Monastery

However, there was no public transportation there now from what I'm aware of. I had arranged a car/taxi ride to Parz Lich, and had hoped to hitched a ride back to Dilijan town at Goshavank. But as I said, luck was on my side since I managed to join the hiking group for the hike, and got my ride back with them! (They had a specially chartered van from Yerevan). However, it's easy enough to arrange a car/taxi dropoff at Parz Lich and pickup at Goshavank.

Remember next time, for autumn foliage, consider Dilijan National Park!

Oirase Stream, Tohoku Japan

When I was researching my autumn trip to Japan, one of the places that was really popular was Oirase Stream in Tohoku. So I decided to head over to take a look.

Autumn foliage over pretty mountain stream

Oirase Stream is a mountain stream in Aomori prefecture, with water flowing from Lake Towada. There is a hiking trail running almost parallel to the stream, but unfortunately, a vehicular road also runs almost beside the hiking trail!! This is also the access road where the major cities of Hachinohe and Aomori connects to Lake Towada, so it can get busy. However, it is still well worth an outing, especially if you are a photographer who loves "flowing water among foliage" photos!

As it turns out, the foliage in most parts are actually quite thick, such that when you look at the pictures, it's hard to imagine that a road is just 5 metres behind you! Moreover, with the thick foliage, you could get beautiful sunlight streaming through the trees, and in most cases, provide enough cover so that you could slow down your shutter speed to achieve the silky smooth flowing water effect of the streams and waterfalls.

Some parts of the hiking trail unfortunately "spill" over to the road

Hard to tell that these scenes are just beside a busy road!

Besides hikers, there are many artists as well!

My main gripe as a solo backpacker is the access. Unless you have a vehicle, you will be at the mercy of the public bus schedules. There are buses from Aomori and Hachinohe that goes to Yasumiya (the access town of Lake Towada) that passes through the road beside the trail. There are a number of bus-stops along the way, and hence you can opt to only do partial parts of the trail or all (the whole trail is 9km long). Unfortunately, the last bus back to the city was like 4pm which I felt was way too early. Also, the bus fare is ridiculously expensive - a 1-way fare from Hachinohe to the extreme end of the trail (Nenokuchi) is 2000yen (~us$25)!

Nevertheless, the place is very pictureque! (hopefully evident in the photos :p) The best parts of the trail (with flowing water over rocks and foliage) is probably at Ishigedo. For those with enough budget, there is also a hotel at Yakeyama, which is the other end of the hiking trail, so you could have the hiking trail for yourself at later parts in the day (yes, it gets really crowded!). If you drive, you also also base yourself at Lake Towada (Yasumiya).

All in all, well worth a trip!

Beautiful light, beautiful waterfall

El Chaltén - Los Glaciares National Park

Truly one of the most beautiful places I've been, and a dream destination come true for me, is Patagonia. Spanning both Argentina and Chile, the landscapes in the whole region are a photographer's heaven. Several National Parks are defined within each country, and the stunning Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina is a top favourite.

El Chaltén, a village within the park provides convenient access to the wonderful scenery. A very helpful visitor information centre/park ranger station provides excellent information for treks in the park, of which the favourites include 2 separate day treks to the Laguna Torre viewpoint and Laguna de los Tres viewpoint. Here, the famous beautiful peak of Mt Fitz Roy can be easily seen.

But words do little justice to the place, so here's a photo gallery to whet your appetite. But even then, I confess that my pictures also does not convey the feelings you'll get when you are there!

Nevertheless, enjoy!

The village of El Chaltén

Views from El Chaltén

Trekking in Los Glaciares National Park

Some treks go through beautiful ancient forests

Enjoying the views of Mt Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres

A lone hiker walking along the beautifu glacier lake Laguna de los Tres

Jagged mountains and snowy glaciers are just part of the landscapes

Alpenglow on Mt Fitz Roy!!

Alpenglow on the elusive Cerro Torre!!

Kilpisjärvi

Nestled in the northwestern corner of Lapland Finland, Kilpisjärvi is a village some 350+km above the Arctic Circle (GPS 69°02'N - 20°47'E). With only 120 inhabitants, it is truly a village quite off-the-beaten-path.

Two of the main attractions of Kilpisjärvi is Kilpisjärvi Lake and Saana Fell, a mountain great for hiking. It is also close to the border of both Sweden and Norway, and so there is actually a point where all borders of the three countries meet. A stone marks the exact location (which is on an actificial island) but as I went in early winter, there was no public transportation there and it was too expensive for me to hire a taxi myself. I didn't hike up Saana as well as there was too much snow and so, special equipment is needed.

However, I went there during this period because Kilpisjärvi boasts one of the highest sightings of Northern lights in Finland! Unfortunately, the 2 days/nights I was there, it was cloudy and I did not managed to see the Aurora :(. But the winter sceneries there were absolutely beautiful and made the trip worthwhile.

I did managed to go across over to Norway to the village of Skibotn, close to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. In summer, with the availability of bus transportation, it is possible to go all the way up to Tromso even!

From Helsinki, train travel can only reach as far north as Kolari. From Kolari, you will have to take a bus to Kilpisjärvi (in winter, you have to change bus in Muonio). Another alternative is train travel from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, where you will have slightly more bus options straight to Kilpisjärvi. If you do decide to take the train both ways, it is recommended to get the Finland 3-day railpass. It is cheaper than the 2 separate tickets between Helsinki and Rovaniemi!

For more information, check out the village website.