GuerillaZ

It was an invigorating drive down from the Finnmark plateau. It took 7 hours and it snowed incessantly. The road was solid white like a toboggan run. We arrived in Ivalo, a large village razed by the Germans in 1945. Another 40 odd kilometres brought us to the border. There are two choices of border post. The official one at Raya Jooseppi on route 91 to Murmansk and the old border crossing at Paksuniemi.

So I am in the Arctic Circle again. It's otherworldly in the Lofoten Islands.  Snowstorms come out of nowhere. Driving the European route E4, a rhythm established itself - -  bridge, bend, tunnel, fjord, rain, sun, hail, snowmelt, then freeze, then sea eagle, bridge, bend, tunnel, fjord . . . Many travellers mention the tiny towns towards the end of the archipelago. Personally though I found the archipelago midsection utterly jawdropping. In fact I went back to it. Twice. Happy Travels everyone!

Visit to Bao Loc, Lam Dong Province About 200 km north east of Saigon, Bao Loc has an elevation of around 1000 metres. It's climate is perfect for agriculture. You name it, it grows here. Best of all it's cooler in the day, has few people and has sidewalks unencumbered with food stalls and motorcycles. Tea plant Coffee Plant Extensive tea and coffee plantation. Thuy and Sophie by the lotus fields Descent into the rainforest on a rollercoaster Rainforest Tea and coffee working class style D'am Bri Falls                                                                                                             Sophie presented with a melon                                                           Old dad sweating it out with the BMX kid                                                                          

Viet Nam With my daughter Sophie at the tender age of one travel was limited to travel inside Vietnam Phu Quoc - Autumn 2017 Long Hai  - May 2018 Vung Tau - June 2018 Nha Trang - August 2018 A short one hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City  Phu Quoc  was my favourite spot of the last year. The level of development is low with the exception of one or two spots on the island. Long may it last. The beaches and one or two parks inland were exceptional, rustic and still very fresh. The white sand beach in the south of the island was quite wonderful and the so-called coconut prison quite a place to visit especially in the heat of the day. Coconut Prison * Long Hai  was a so-so experience. Really it was just about having a long weekend. Long Hai has a long beach. And that is pretty much it. There is a temple with rhesus monkeys in attendance. Sophie in the homestay garden * Vung Tau  is somewhere I have been five or six times. Initia

The scene on arriving in Mindoro by motorised Catamaran. This was a family holiday of sorts although winging it from London in the UK to Saigon then Manila before reaching Oriental Mindoro by coach and ferry was not the typical undertaking. Thuy and Sophie on the empty beach outside our apartment. At least one person is tired here. Can you see which one? A cheese ice cream. It is a grim thought but it was okay. I wouldn't run to find another one. A durian ice would have suited me far better. A idyllic view from upstairs in our apartment with the outline of Luzon island to the north This was a private beach of sorts. That is to say no one ever sat on it.  No question it was pristine and clean. There was even bit of coral in the bay. As a new (old) father I was actually too tired to swim more than a couple of times. We were several kilometres from the nearby town. Several westerners lived in the neighbourhood with pretty