In any case, I really should note down at least a few points about the trips that I've been to till now, lest I forget about them in time to come. Yep so here goes!
Kiruna, Sweden:
Hmm let's see... I don't even know where to start talking about this trip! For one, we have been planning this trip ever since we got to Copenhagen. Problems and obstacles just kept popping out from everywhere, and lots of time and effort was spent to overcome these.
And even up until the last moment, we just went ahead and booked everything when everything's not settled yet. Imagine us rushing to get the tickets and make reservations on the day of the trip itself. To be honest, it was a reckless decision to do so. One wrong move and there goes our trip and money.
But luckily luckily luckily, everything went smoothly. And here starts our adventure, up north, into Sweden, towards Kiruna.
For those who know me well, you should know that I have motion sickness. So traveling 24 hours on a train (or a few trains) wasn't really my cup of tea. And indeed, I was already half dead when we reached our destination. But in any case, it was all worth it. This trip was really a once in a lifetime experience. We did SO many things that can only be done in winter.
All at a temperature of around -30 degree celcius.
It was SO cold until our fingers and toes hurt, even when we wore as much as 9 layers of clothings and look like huge stuff toys. But it was still fun though. And here are some of the activities which we did!
1) Snow Mobile
Yes we rode the snow mobile, which feels like riding a motorbike in the snow. Going as fast as 90km/hr is no joke, especially when the freaking cold air blows onto your face. It is painful just to keep your eyes open, not to mention the uneven snowy ground which makes u bump up and down so hard your bottom hurts.
And as if that was not torturous enough, I was thrown off the snowmobile by my "trusty" room mate, Donaphan, who took such a sharp turn that I flew out of the snowmobile, 50 meters away, and rolled on the floor 99times, before standing up and pointed something at him (if he can see through my glove).
Just joking la. Haha fact is, I DID fly out of the snowmobile due to him, but nothing happened to me and of course, I did not point anything at him. (or maybe i did?) Hahaha.
2) Ice Fishing
Well basically, all we have to do for ice fishing is, find a spot in the frozen lake and start digging until you see water before you start fishing.
Sounds easy enough right?
It is NOT. We spent 4 freaking hours out in the super cold weather to dig the hole that you see in the picture. 4 HOURS! And we still didn't see any single drop of water. So we decided to give up since we had to rush to another activity.
The stupidest thing is, another group of people came by and asked if they can continue digging our hole. We, as good and kind humans, of course agreed. 10minutes later, when we passed by the place again, they were sitting around and FISHING. Yes fishing not digging. Apparently, they only spent like 5 more minutes digging and water came gushing out.
Boo.
3) Skiing
Well, to be exact, we did cross country skiing, not the ski down the mountain kinda skiing. There is a vast difference between this 2. This skiing is like, walking. It's just like walking with sticks stuck to your feet and aided with 2 walking sticks. =/
So, as you can probably imagine, it isn't too fun to do that. Haha. To make the experience more enjoyable, we went and found some slopes to ski down on. And in the meantime, we made friends with some hongkong pretty girls who were there for a holiday! =))
4) Visit the Ice Hotel
A hotel made purely out of ice. How cool is that! (no pun intended) Ever single thing, from the exterior walls to the interior beds and toilet bowls are all made out of ice. And people DO actually stay inside. They must be the coolest people around eh? (pun intended)
One regret was that we didn't have alot of time to tour around the hotel and so I didn't manage to get any souvenir there. Wanted to get the ice cups they have over there though, but I figured that it would melt by the time I bring it back to Copenhagen. =/
Oh well.
5) CAMPFIRE
Who would have though that I would have the chance to gather around a campfire again after being in Scouts in secondary school?
And the biggest difference here is that, this is the first time in my life that I really appreciated what a campfire brings to me. Warmth. Both from the fire, and from the friends around me. Imagine being in the utterly cold weather, and seeing everybody surrounding the fire trying to get warmed up, and eating piping hot food and drinks cooked using the campfire. It is such a touching scene that I would have bet that anyone seeing it will drop a tear or 2.
But well, I don't bet. Hahaha. THE point is, it was really a good feeling to see everyone gathering around the campfire. =)
6) Heart To Heart Talk (aka HTHT)
Well, I probably should have mentioned that the point of our whole trip was to catch the Northern Lights. And in order to catch it, we decided...... Not to sleep!
And so, what can we do if we don't sleep? That's right! HTHT!
*** **** *** **** **** * ***
Yes everything we said that night is a secret. That I wouldn't blog down. Haha. In any case, I think I have already forgotten about most of it anyway.
And, guess what?
We did not manage to catch the Northern lights. =(
7) Dog Sledding
This is probably the most memorable activity that we did in Kiruna. Well at first, it may seem a little cruel to sit on a sled and let the dogs do the job. But riding through the vast snow plain in the middle of the night, with the ultra clear night sky and the bright full moon lighting up the way... No amount of words can truly describe the feeling.
All in all, this Kiruna trip is really one heck of a fantastically memorable trip man. Only after being through Kiruna can we truly say that we have really been through winter in Europe.
And up next, when I have the time, I will be blogging about my trip to Amsterdam, the city of sex, drugs and lots of fun. Haha stay tune to find out more! =D
No comments:
Post a Comment