"Merry Xmas" = "God Jul" in Swedish!! TTz the cute leetle piggie in the Europcar office where Marpig and PS signed sm documents and rented a car to drive up to Abisko National Park, c. 100miles away from Kiruna
B4 going further, letz backtrack to the daez morn. Recalling from Day 8, PS was totally in a very bad shape + she didnt sleep wel on the previous night (or was it every night?)
However, as it was their last dae and more importantly, their chance to catch a glimpse of the Lady (Aurora Borealis), PS gallantly 发功 for the last time and they quickly went to the tourist infomation centre str after bf to enquire bout the Lady/Sami tours for the dae
Heu!! All tours for the Lady were either fully booked or had already left!! :S Wanted to go up Abisko via trains but therez no returning trains on the same night!! *bengz*
To cut long story short, the kind-lady-over-the-counter, who sold us certificates for reaching the Arctic Circle (yeah, 3 of these now), advised tt our best bet would be to rent a car and drive there ourselves
And this is the sort of time when Marpig feels tt travelling with PS is great; she go about renting the car, which Marpig noe nth bout the entire process *wide silly grins*
Leaving it al up to her, Marpig just 坐享其成 and waited (inpatiently) for the person to pick us up to collect the car @ their office
A pic in the Europcar office. Totally cool to pitch a tent up an snow-covered cliff!!
Anyw, need to blog bout this which was 1 of the many ths tt spiced up this Arctic trip
Every1 of us have 1 or more habitual "指定动作". Most of the time, our frens wil point out our 指定动作 which either irritate or amuse. And so PS notices tt Marpig often shook her head while Marpig noticed PS often rolled her eyes, in response to many ths they said to each other
When the
staff was preparing documents for Marpig to sign, PS 竟然 shook her head in response to smth Marpig said (cant rem)
Marpig: *!!* U r picking up al my "gd" habits!!
Staff: *laughed*
PS: No. *speaking to the lady* She (Marpig) is a bad influence
Marpig: U R a bad influence!!
Staff: I wonder how this trip wil end for the 2 of u...
All: *laugh*
Recovering from their laughter, this was the car they rented!!
Marpig in green jacket, green boots and green car!! Getting into the car, they realised not only was it a left-hand drive, itz also manual with the gear stick on the right!!
Being Marpig, she dont mind taking up the challenge of driving on the left manually as wel as with winter tyres on snow and ice
Marpig nearly drove off happily if it wasnt for PS to drill sm practical sense into Marpig for being foolhardy. And hence, they change from the 1.2L manual SEAT Ibiza to a 2.0L automatic Skoda Octavia, much to Marpigz dismal for not being able to take up the challenge of driving manually on the left and the non-matching green car
Oh wel, at least the 2.0L Skoda was a big car which allowed Marpig to show-off her handling skills :D Next time wil try a 4x4!! :D Oh oh, they rented a Tomtom too!! :D
And so, with the car, they decided to head back to the hotel to fully gear up for the wonderful drive to Abisko (itz also a chance for Marpig to get used to driving on the left)
Back in the hotel room where as though the place just saw the end of a war!! Ya noe, on Day 1, PS was saying shez staying with 2 pigs (Marpig and Piggie) and a reindeer (refer to Day 2 Part 1) bcos the room was in a mess and like a "pigsty". Dont think she care anym then :D
Partly geared up with their thermals and showing off their woollen socks in a... *a-hem* soccer pose?!
After gearing up, itz lunchtime (yeah, took quite smtime since morning) and can u believe it? Therez Thai food up in Kiruna!! Totally deprived of smth Asian and specially Thai, they had rice and 东粉 with chicken!! Itz the standard lunch menu and apparently, itz the only food choices since the other dish was beef stew which both of them dont take (beef)
As usual, Marpig finished every single grain of rice, leaving her plate super 清洁溜溜!!
Smth worth mentioning was therez actually chilli padis!!!!!!! OH BOY!! :D__
Feeling totally satisfied and glad therez Thai food AND chilli padi in Kiruna, they took a pic with the lady boss, who was from Thailand but migrated there for over 20+ yrs!! :D
And itz on the road again!! The drive was xxxciting; therez barely any cars, the dual carriage lane was narrow and ful of snow and ice, itz super pitch black dark throughout since therez no road lights nor reflective strip. Occasionally, there would be a 20-tonner coming and the view would be obscured for a few sec bcos of the snow it managed to disturb
Finally, after 2+ hrs of driving on highway E10 (no need for Tomtom at al!!), they arrived at Abisko National Park!!
The place boosts different types of accomodation for tourists and researchers, since itz also where the Abisko Scientific Research Station is. Therez also spa, restaurants, etc!! Oh, just a red herring; Marpig dropped her 黑仔 here...
They were early, even though itz already 6ish pm, since the Abisko Mountain Station, where the chair lift was and which would take them 500m up the mountain to Mount Nuolja, opened from 8pm to midnight
And so, Marpig had a wonderful and scrumptious salmon steak for dinner!! PS didnt eat then; cant rem why though, mayb shez just too ful from the Thai lunch :D__ They also played Scrabble (they were at it most of the time throughout the trip) to kil time
During Dec - March, Abisko Mountain Station (pic above), which is only a few km away from the Abisko National Park, opens from 8pm to midnight. Itz really like a house ful of "spacesuits" for visitors up the mountains. Why do visitors need to put on additional "spacesuits"?
Imagine this; temp at the park and station was already -14.5 decC. 1/2 a km up the snow mountains would mean -30 to -40 degC!! And from Marpigz xperience tt night, it was -30ish degC!!
Marpig and PS al wrapped up in the oversized (the smallest Asian size tt they could find!!) "spacesuits" and boots!! Notice the chair lift cables? Yeah, itz nth too sophisticated!!
Ddnt take any pics of the way up simply bocs itz bloody f**king freezing cold, itz super duper high (Marpigz afraid of heights, rem?!) and Marpig was trying to calm herself for the 1st 5 mins so tt she would not hyperventilate!! BUT!! The ride was really breathtaking!!
Try picturing this; itz a cold, calm and quiet night with the ful moon shining down on the snow-filled forest below. With the feet dangling in mid air, one sees lotsa trees and their shadows. Above, the sky was lit with a blue hue bcos of the ful moon but 1 could stil see the stars clearly, which filled up the entire sky. And al around were a sea of mountains with their snow-covered tops which made them looked like huge sea waves. AH~~~ really miss tt ride which felt like 1 was flying in mid-air...
Anyw, after 30 mins or so (?), they reached Mount Nuolja where the Panorama Cafe was (pic above)
Therez a mini talk (wouldnt say itz a tour since itz only within this leetle mountain cafe) by a guide about the Lady but Marpig was more interested in waiting for the Lady to appear and taking photos!!
Getting out of the cafe and standing on the observation deck outside was an xtreme th to do, since itz really so cold with temp plummeting to -30+ degC!! Worse, Marpig got to take her gloves off in order to operate 黑仔z buttons!! But 为了拍照, 那是值得的!!
BTW, FYI, this is the sort of xtreme situation when a ziplock bag for a camera is a must. B4 bringing the camera back into the warm room after xposure to sub-zero temp, 1 needs to put it into the bag and sealed it. Otherwise, condensation would form on the lens and damaged it. Wait a good 10 mins or so b4 taking the camera out of the bag, once the camera is at the same temp as the room
Can see how far they had driven from Kiruna to Abisko as wel as how high they were from the National Park...
Marpig didnt do any editing of the pic above; the sky was really a blue hue bcos of the BIG and BRIGHT ful moon!! Notice the sea of mountains tt looked like huge waves? :D
And of cos, they wouldnt miss the chance to take a pic tog with the snow-covered mountains as the backgrd!! Too bad they did not take a Singapore flag along!! Oh, they had the hoods removed for a quick few secs just for the pic. Luckily Marpig went with 黑仔, tripod and remote shutter!!
After taking photos, itz time to get back into the cafe with a roaring fire within to wait patiently for the Lady to appear. But heu, She never did tt night. After the trip, Marpig read smwhere online tt 1 would not be able to see the Lady on a full moonz night... ... ... 靠!!!!!!! *晕掉*
After waiting for the Lady in vain, they left the place xactly at midnight, when it closed for the dae. Taking the lovely ride down, Marpig tried her best to soak in as much melancholy as she possibly could... just so loves the bittersweet feeling...
Since Marpig didnt manage to see the Lady nor did she has any pics of the Lady (yet!!) to share, she shal post sm pics of PS, caught on camera without much 形象 :P
PS trying to take off her boots. In the end, Marpig had to literally 拉她(的脚)一把!! :P
PS trying to warm her boots up while squating on the seat...
Wating for the carz engines to warm up!! Itz 10mins to 1am and -14.5 degC then!!
Dont noe if itz to PSz horror in retrospec, but Marpig couldnt really rem the drive back to the hotel then bcos she must admit tt she was dozing off on the wheel 80% of the time!! The rest of the 20%? Marpig was WIDE awake as itz after she nearly ran into reindeers xing the road in the middle of the night!!
说时慢, 那时快, Marpig didnt really see them until when they were 500m or so away (notice how dark the road was) And so Marpig jammed the foot brakes as wel as pulled the handbrake, with PS clutching Marpigz right hand, screaming smth like "stop!!" or "brake!!" Didnt really hear her since Marpig was also screaming "ah!!" and feeling the car coming to a complete halt but skidding ylwols towards the reindeer who dont give a hoot bout anyth
As soon as the car ground to a stop, the reindeer happily trotted away, as if gloating tt it had given them a FRIGHT at 2ish am... After tt, Marpig was WIDE awake + driving at 50km/h + whole body shaking due to shock for a good 15 mins!!
REINDEERS!! Why were they xing the road in the wee morning?! They should be sleeping!!!!!!!
It was a fun dae, despite not seeing the Lady, dropped 黑仔 and nearly ran over a reindeer
FYI, the reason why Marpig named her Nikon D90 as 黑仔 was not bcos itz black. Itz bcos Marpig had already spent over SGD500 to repair it twice in less than a yr. She 1st dropped and cracked sm of the lens at LHR from new and then dropped and cracked the cameraz body and lens barrel while on this trip!! So u see, itz really quite a 黑仔!! :P
All right, 2 more entries on this Arctic trip to go!! But for now, 1 of Marpigz colleagues managed to see the Lady and hence, Marpig kop his pic to oogle at...
Marpig wil track down the Lady no matter wat!!!!!!!
*beaming al over* How thoughtful of Beenie!! 超像 Marpig and Foldie!! :D *piggie hugz*
Then again, shez not really an avid collector since she selectively collects pins and have no particular 准则 to go with
Stil rem tt time 创意 published the 1st local comic book and Marpig drew smth and sent it to them!! :D OMGosh!! The oh-so-familiar handwriting!! hahahahaha 真的 lor, whoever owns smth which Marpig had drawn must feel so lucky and proud!! *超不要脸* :D
Gosh, shez bored and tt "usually leads to bad things" and she said shez got a webcam. Tsk. Marpig should have just continue the conversation to see wat happens right?! hahahahaha 真的是笑死我!! Think ttz how pple got to noe where to get online cyber s*x!!
Itz already been ard for smtime and based on the notion above where cancer is merely our cells growing out of control, Marpig totally agrees tt DNA testing to treat cancer is an effective cure, albeit more research needs to be done to build up the library of different genes responsible for each type of cancer, on top of coming up with the right type of medicine to target the mutated gene(s)
Hmmm... if such technology existed 10 yrs ago and with early detection, not sure if Marpigz mom wil live longer... oh wel, itz too late now
