Skiing is great. The views are to die for, you get a great sunrise and sunset everyday, and you get to drink all the hot chocolate in the world. I’m pretty tired after my 3rd day, but views like this keep me going up and down the slopes no matter how tired I get.

This background photo of a sunset at Phnom Bakeng was submitted by Ben Mathes. On the blog he kept for his trip, you’ll find the description for this scene:

For our last evening we went up to Phnom Bakeng (Mount Bakeng), atop which sits a moderately-size temple by Angkor’s standards. It was about 30 meters high. With the hundred or so other tourists up on the top we watched the sun go through the most spectacular light show I have ever seen.

I took 36 photos of the sky, and each one beautiful. Unfortunately we are in Battambang now, which is not much of a tourist spot despite being the second-largest city in Cambodia. Consequently the internet connection doesn’t appear to be the best so i can only share a couple of photos at a time.

Thanks Ben! If you have a picture that you think would make a good background, send it to me at weldon [at] questingforadventure.com with the story and I’ll put it in rotation.

One of the first major differences I’ve noticed between Le Plagne an other ski areas I’ve stayed is the abundance of slope side accommodation. There are hotels in what I would consider to be the middle of the ski slope. And at the bottom, you have places like where I’m staying, the 2nd building from the right in the picture. This is cheap budget accommodation with 4 people in bunk bends in rooms smaller than my first year dorm room at college. It blows my mind that places like this have ski-in ski-out access as the only places I’ve seen in the states with that type of access to the slopes are the most upmarket of hotels. Score one point for the Alps.

I’m officially on holiday, which means travel. And unlike Alan, my trip is on like Donkey Kong.

Tomorrow I’m taking a 16 hour bus ride to Le Plagne 1800 high up in the French alps. I got a sweet deal on the trip through the Imperial University Malaysian Club. Yes, I fully expect it to be completely hilarious. I’m there until the Dec. 27.

I’m then taking the train up to Geneva, where I’ll spend a couple of nights before taking train and boat over to Montreux. My friend Aaron, of penguin kiss fame, and his buddy Evan will be picking me up at the casino in Montreux and we’ll head to Grimentz for another week of skiing. We’ll then road trip it to the Netherlands on Jan. 3. I’m flying back to London on Sunday, then right back to the desk the next day.

The toughest choices about this trip have been in packing. I’m taking my laptop. I want to blog this trip so I’ll need the laptop. Also, I know it will be nice to be able to skype with my family during the holidays I would normally be spending with them. Also, I’m taking my SLR, but no surprise there. With all my ski gear this is a fair bit of kit, but I’ve managed to get it into my 44 liter day bag and my camera bag, so I’ll be rockin the 2 backpack look.

Updated: with map!

Kristina Roe is guest blogging here on behalf of responsibletravel.com. After my largely uninformed posts about volunteer travel I reached out to responsibletravel.com to see if they could offer some advise on having an impact with a volunteer trip. Here’s the result. – Weldon

There are more and more organisations that are beginning to offer volunteering trips and for this reason, we at www.responsibletravel.com feel it’s more important than ever that people take the time to research the different options, choose a trip that best suits their needs / ages / skills sets and take steps to ensure that the company they are traveling with, offers ‘responsible’ volunteering options. We believe that all volunteer projects should be based on a real local need and work in partnership with local people. We always encourage travellers to ask plenty of questions of companies before making any decisions. Here’s our ten-point checklist of questions to ask companies that they are speaking with:

1. Is the project based on a real local need? If so, what?
2. Was the project suggested by local people rather than invented by a marketing department?
3. Is the project run jointly with local people? (this transfers skills and ensures longevity)
4. Can you see an independent report on the benefits (both short-term and long-term) of the project to local people/environment?
5. Can you speak to a previous volunteer?
6. What pre-trip briefing and training is needed or available?
7. Can you see their policy for responsible tourism?
8. Do they offset the Co2 from the flights of all personnel?
9. Is there transparent information around cost and where the money goes?
10. Does the organization take steps to match your skills to the needs of the project?

For more check out these two articles: Change your life and take a career break and A taste of volunteering

- Kristina Roe