Page 72 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

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SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES

ABOVE Tour skaters on frozen Nordreälvs Fjord near Gothenburg, Sweden
RIGHT Locals performing a dazzling capoeira move on a beach in Bahia, Brazil

TOUR SKATING, SWEDEN Skating rinks, whether you zoom round them with poised CAPOEIRA, BRAZIL Like many martial arts, capoeira came into existence because of the
efficiency or wobble your way along the barriers, are fine for a few sessions. But if you don’t limitations placed on the poorer members of society – in Brazil’s case, slaves who were
want to be restricted to such a small area, there are alternatives. Tour skaters use longer, forbidden from carrying weapons or practicing formal fighting techniques. Couched in the
thinner blades, often attached to skiing boots, which are far more stable than figure skates, movements of dance, the kicks, spins, cartwheels, and blocks of modern capoeira are
meaning that even beginners can cover around 6 miles (10 km) on a lake, river, or canal. generally backed by the beat of the single-stringed berimbau. The relaxed coastal city of
Sweden presents a wealth of clubs that can point you in the right direction; for the more Salvador is regarded as the activity’s heartland, and as well as the displays on the city’s
experienced, forays onto frozen stretches of the Baltic Sea are possible. streets, visitors are welcome at the various schools around town, either to watch or learn.

LUMBERJACK WORLD HORSE-RIDING, KYRGYZSTAN WALKING THE CHORO TRAIL, BOLIVIA Peru’s Inca Trail is, of course, magnificent – but
CHAMPIONSHIPS, USA Wisconsin’s Follow part of the Silk Road, Central Asia’s it’s also busy, and hikers are restricted to joining organized groups. Landlocked Bolivia
vast pine forests make it an obvious ancient trade route, on horseback through arguably has better trekking and mountaineering opportunities, many close to its
base for this three-day festival of sawing, Kyrgyzstan. Canter across the wide, open sprawling high-altitude capital, La Paz. The Choro Trail follows Inca paths past ancient
chopping, and climbing, which features steppes dotted with traditional yurts (felt remains, over mountain passes, and into thick cloud forest, and should take three or four
several hundred competitors, 12,000 tents) and over the high passes of the days. It’s a fine way to experience Bolivia’s unique environment, with impossibly blue,
spectators and a whole lot of wood. awesome Tien Shan mountains. broad skies, rare birdlife, and glimpses of the Altiplano’s ancient civilizations.

CRICKET IN THE TROBRIAND ISLANDS, PLAYING CARAMBOLE POOL, THE SKIING IN YONGPYEONG, KOREA
PAPUA NEW GUINEA The inhabitants NETHERLANDS Of all the takes on It’s not the most obvious haven for snow
of the remote Trobriand Islands play their everyday billiards, carambole pool is one hounds, but South Korea’s substantial
own unique form of cricket. The Trobriands of the more unusual. It dispenses with mountains and freezing winters have
come to life during the Milamala Festival, pockets entirely; instead, you carom your put the country in the running for several
usually in July or August, when cricket cue ball into other balls, and rebound off Winter Olympics. Yongpyeong (or Dragon
combines with raucous festivities – the table edges. In Amsterdam’s numerous Valley) is the country’s largest resort, and
presumably not what the missionaries bars, experts put impossible amounts of the 31 runs here offer a variety of terrains,
who introduced the sport had in mind. spin on their shots – and most will be lined with trees and often blessed with
delighted to give you a lesson. sharp blue skies.

KAYAKING IN GWAII HAANAS SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX September KAYAKING THE ARDÈCHE, FRANCE
NATIONAL PARK, CANADA The 2008 saw Singapore host its first Grand Prix The limestone of the Ardèche Valley in
archipelago that makes up Gwaii Haanas – and Formula One hold its first nighttime France’s grand Massif Central provides
National Park, miles off the coast of British event. The race exceeded all expectations the raw material for some wonderful
Columbia, is untouched by roads and and is to become a regular event. The features, including the photogenic rock
joint-run by the government and the tight, bumpy track, illuminated by over arch of Pont d’Arc. It’s the start of a series
Haida people. A kayaking expedition is the 3,000 lights, threads through the city of dramatic gorges, pockmarked with
ideal way to experience its thermal pools, streets past colonial buildings and a crowd stalactite-riddled caves and surrounded
fjords, and traditional villages characterized delighted to see motor racing’s biggest by epic cliffs and thick forest that are best
by longhouses and totem poles. series taking place on their doorstep. seen from a kayak.

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