Anoothi Vishal

AS A card-carrying member ofthe beach tribe, my relation-ship with snow has alwaysbeen,well,complicated.Showme the sea, and I will happily

wade in; sometimes dangerously treadingthe edge in the twilight. But show me afrozen lake, and unless it’s on a picture-per-fect Christmas postcard, I’ll freeze!

As the plane touches down on a worldbathedinwhite,thepowderystuff liningtherunway, clinging to trees and sloping roofs,myworld-viewisabouttochangetectonical-ly.Only,Idon’tknowitjustthen.

LeviisFinland’s largestskiresorttownmore than 100 km inside the Arctic Circle.And while there are the Alps with theirheightandsnobappeal, thisoneisreveredin Europe for the quality of the snow—which does seem purer, cleaner; while thesun, on days when it chooses to come out,seems brighter, whiter—and for some ofthe gentler slopes, great for beginners andchildren. Besides, the waiting time for thelifts here is lesser than in those crowdedAlpine resorts.

Sincewearealmostatthenorthern-mostedge of the world, winter and snow sports

last much longer here than elsewhere, run-ning right into spring and April, when themidnight sun with its midsummer mad-ness and weeklong forest parties is still acouple of weeks away.

I have travelled with a brand new copy of

Orhan Pamuk’s Snow, quite appropriatelyIthink,tothis“winterwonderland”.Butasthe soft, downy flakes start falling, I hardlyhave the time—or inclination—to turn thepages.Leviisquiteacompactvillage/townreally but lively: There are a clutch of ho-tels, including the quirkily named HulloPoro (“crazy reindeer”), a big brand, andcafes. There are also the traditional Lap-pish restaurants (where you can have any-thingfromArctic fishliketrout,perchand,salmon,tocloudberries,plentifulinthisre-gion, reindeer meatballs, stew, mash andeven thinly-slivered reindeer heart that Isample with cheese…) and energetic barswith blaring Finnish rock (or pop) andsome table-top dancing in the night.

Then there’s the spa and sauna in-evitably. (There are more saunas in Fin-landthanpeople,thesaunahavingbeenin-vented here.) Not to mention a smallmarketplaceof thekind you’llusuallyfindin self-contained European towns and vil-lages.It’sagainstthisbackdropthattheskislopes loom magnificent, silent and white,

evenasanoccasionalskierstopsbytogushat his day’s adventure, the beauty of thenatural surroundings or merely to chatwith an Indian girl, a solitary tropical soulthis far north.

The Arctic can be a mystical place. Youcan experience its pull when you ski off theslopes on a clear day. Or, when you first seethe Aurora Borealis, those spell-bindingnorthern lights, visible on clearer nights.You can feel it as you are being pulled in asledge by reindeer (this is the original San-ta country after all) or by huskies (the lov-able, well-trained though fierce lookingArctic canines) on a safari in nearbyRovaniemi. Or, you can experience thiswhile riding your mean machine on snowtracks across a silent, frozen lake.

Skis may have been invented in Laplandmore than 4,500 years ago, but there is morehere than just these.Snow mobilesare bikesthat you can ride at serious speeds of 80-120kmph on well-defined tracks, provided youhaveadrivinglicenceandarereadytostrict-ly stick to rules like the Finnish people do.Thebikesarenotdifficulttohandle—thoughbalancingthemmaybealittletougherinun-even terrain. The thrill is unmatched as yougo whizzing past frozen forests to arrive inthemidstof anicylake,whereyoucantakeabreakandindulgeinaspotof icefishing.

The last is akin to meditation. The guidedrills a hole in the lake, unfolds a chair andinvites you to sit down with the rod in themidst of the Arctic wilderness. Despite thelayersyouwearandthespecialgear(every-thing you need for outdoor activities can berentedeasilyattheadventuresportsopera-tors’ here), you can feel your toes go numband nose running. And yet you persevere,moving the worm from time to time. Youcan count your breath, and hold allthoughtsasif itwereayogicexercise.Attheend of it, if you manage a fish, even a tinyperch, it’s a reward no corporate existencecan contemplate.

If you don’t, there’s always the lavvu orkota, tents originally pitched by the in-digenous reindeer herders, but today usedwidely for camping, where you can toastyourself next to an open fire and drinkwarm berry juice or eat your lunch ofsalmon-potato soup.

The ride back seems much shorter andmuch warmer even though fresh snow isnow steadily falling. Back in Levi, I trademy helmet for an uncovered head and walkaround, feeling the flakes melt on my face.This part of the Arctic at least isn’t thatcold. It’s only magical.

How to get there and what to doKittila airport is just a quarter of an hour’sdrive from the Levi ski town, where theslopes are suitable for all kinds of skiers, in-cludingwomenandchildren.Therearealso886 km of snowmobiling trails in the area.Operators can arrange stay in glass igloos,from where, in insulated comfort, you cansee the northern lights if you are lucky orlargesnowfieldsatanyrate.Rovaniemi,theunofficial capital of the Finnish Lapland, isjustabouttwo-and-half hoursbycar.Besidesbeingtheofficialresidenceof Santa(yes,allthose letters marked to Santa Claus, NorthPole, find their way to a post office here),Rovaniemiisagreatbaseforsafariholidays,snow-mobilingandtheworks.

ThewriterisacolumnistwithFE

The Financial Express APRIL 22 l 2012 l 9

l F l O l O l T l L l O l O l S l E l

AS A global member of the WorldTravel and Tourism Council(WTTC), I had the honour of par-

ticipating in the organisation’s globalsummit for travel leaders. The globalsummitwasinSendai,Japan,theregionhardesthitbytheearthquakeandtsuna-mi last March. Along with many of thedelegates,Iwasconcernedthecitywouldnot be prepared to host such an event sosoonafterthedisaster.ButIneednothaveworried: Sendai, the region, and the en-tirecountryof Japan,havebouncedbackinanincrediblefashion.

I also expected to find a rather smalltown.Instead,weweretreatedtoathriv-ingcity.Thecitywasrestoredquicklyaf-terthedisasterslastyearandthepeoplewere both pleasant and optimistic. I canunderstand why: the city is beautiful

and is full of greenery, the food is won-derful, and yes, you can even find everyluxury brand in Sendai. The region isactively promoting tourism and if yougotoJapanyoumustvisitSendai.If youwantalessoninmanagementanddeter-mination, you will find no better rolemodel than this resilient city.

Theglobalsummitwasagreatwayto

take a step back and think about the bigpicture. Technological advances arewonderful but videoconferencing can-notchangethe worldthewaythattraveland personal engagement do. Traveland tourism is the best way to promotepeaceful bonds between countries. On atangentially related note, I was remind-ed of a fact of which India should be

proud: two democratic nations havenever started a war with each other.

One of the highlights of my visit toJapan was a specially chartered trainjourney hosted by Japan Eastern Rail-ways, which took the WTTC membersfrom Sendai to Tokyo. The trip revolu-tionised my thinking about trains. I lovetofly,butitcanbeahassle,especiallyforashortflight.Here’stheproblem:theflightitself isfast,butgettingfromthecitycen-tre to the airport can take hours. It’s onlygetting worse as authorities locate theirmega-airports further and further fromtheCBDs.Fortunately,theJapanesehaveanelegantsolution:Shinkansen.

Thetrainsand,moreimportantly,thesystem, network and monitoring aretechnological marvels. Of course, theyarefast.Ourtraintravelledat300kmperhour. The bullet trains are also fantasti-cally punctual; on average they arrivewithin just seconds of their scheduledtime. More impressively, during themassive earthquake last year, not a sin-gleriderwasseriouslyinjured.Thebul-

let trains have a network of sensors todetect earthquakes and all of the trainsweresafelyhaltedwhilestabiliserskeptthem level during the tremors. Amaz-ingly, there has never been a fatal acci-dent on the bullet trains due to crashesor derailments. The trains were back inservice less than two months after theearthquake last year.

With that peace of mind, I happilyboarded my train to Tokyo. The ride wasswiftandtheserviceoutstanding.Infact,the large leather seats of the first classsection put most airlines’ first class toshame.IenjoyedtheShinkansensomuchthat I plan to visit Japan again soon andtravelmoreextensivelyonthenetwork.Itwas also a time-saver. With theShinkansenIarrivedrightinthecityandreadyformynextmeetings.Iwasalreadyready to visit some of the world’s finestrestaurants, which I look forward to re-viewingforyounextweek.

Deepak Ohri is CEO of lebua Hotels &Resorts. He can be reached at

deepak@lebua.com

DEEPAK OHRI

If you want a lesson inmanagement and

determination, youwill find no better role

model than theresilient city of

Sendai in Japan

Japan bounces back

Apart from the skiing,there’s much more tothe Finnish Lapland:Snow mobiles,reindeer and huskysafaris, ice fishing and,of course, the AuroraBorealis, which makethis snow show anear-mysticalexperience

WinterWONDERLAND

If you are lucky, you might get to see the Aurora Borealis, or the northern lights

Snow mobiles are bikes that you can ride at seriousspeeds of 80-120 kmph on well-defined tracks

You can also experience rides on sledgespulled by reindeers

BLOOMBERG

Shinkansen trains were back in service less than two months after the earthquake last year