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I have returned from my holiday! I had fun! Did you have fun? Fun with the fundies? I'm sure you did. From the comments, most of you seemed really excited about the prospect of wearing them.
In case you fail to remember where I went, I went to Scandinavia - Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark to be exact. I have never been to such beautiful countries before. Stunning, absolutely stunning...but also exuberantly expensive. Come on, HKD 25 (USD 3.2)for a 0.5 litre bottle of coke?
I took more photos than you can shake you stick at over the last thirteen days, so I've had to split the report up into smaller segments. I don't want to make your internet implode from the sheer amount of photos. So first up...
Part 1 - The Midnight Sun: Hong Kong - Helsinki - Rovaniemi - Ivalo - Honningsvag - Nordkapp
(With the last two being in Norway and the rest in Finland, exluding Hong Kong)
Check out the guy with his feet on top of the seats. I wish he didn't have to sleep like that - the seat probably reeks now.
I've been to a ridiculous number of different airports, but Hong Kong's airport remains no. 1. It's clean, it's efficient, it's idiot-proof - almost. Seriously, you can very easily get lost at the Helsinki airport. They place the signs in the strangest of positions. Rather than having a sign in front of you, they put the sign after a corner. You're bound to miss the sign if it's stuffed in the corner.
MISERABLE WEATHER.
The average time of a flight from Hong Kong to Helsinki is a surprising 10 hours. That's really fast. During those 10 hours, I amused myself by taking photos of very generic looking blue skies and clouds. Inflight movie was Shaggy Dog. Needless to say, the movie was utter shite.
H-H-HELLO, H-H-HELSINKI!!! I didn't stay for long, though - there was a flight to Rovaniemi (still Finland) waiting for me!
One thing that ceases to fascinate me is the abundance of greenery in Scandinavian countries. I can't comprehend the massive tree populations scattered throughout the land.
HELLO, RRRRRRRRRRROVANIEMI! In spite of it being the 'capital' of sorts of Finnish Lapland, it's a mighty quiet place. Very nice, though.
This photo was taken at 10pm. The sun never sets during the summer time in places within the Arctic Circle. Indeed, this can qualify as being the midnight sun, but it's not The Midnight Sun that I came for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_sun
The Midnight Sun I came for was at Nordkapp.
Absolutely beautiful weather the next day.
Anybody can take beautiful photos in this sort of weather!
ZOMG!!!!
MY BADASS HOTEL. THE NAME ITSELF IS ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU WANT TO STAY THERE, YEAH.
Then we went to visit a Reindeer Farm...
AYEEEEEEEE, REINDEERS! NONE WITH RED NOSES, OR WITH PARTICULARLY SHINY NOSES.
...and then we went to the Santa Clause Village. I met Santa there.
A obligatory shot of the Arctic Circle boundary line in the village, and HOLY MOLY CONAN O'BRIEN! I remember the episode where he went to Finland. BUT AH HA, CONAN!
Doo doo doo, more scenery.
Nordkapp is the northenmost point in Europe, so it's quite remote. Long bus journeys were a necessary evil, and how numb my buttocks felt at the end of each day! :{ But there was plenty of nice scenery to look at. These photos were taken through the window of the bus.
I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at vast amounts of water. Don't think I'll ever get tired of vaguely amusing road signs either. Yes, those are reindeer lingering behind the road sign. Wild reindeer roam the roads like its their turf.
PICKELED HERRING. MMM. (Are you liking my wrinkly hands? I was a rough, wrinkly person throughout the whole trip because my skin refused to cooperate with the beautiful Scandinavian weather. Oh skin, why must you prefer polluted death traps like Hong Kong?)
AND THEN....WE GOT TO NORDKAPP.
Well, er, not quite. Still on the way. But we're getting close! The closer we approached Nordkapp, the darker the sky became and the more enigmatic the scenery. I swear, it's so beautiful up there.
AND THEN....WE GOT TO NORDKAPP. THIS TIME FO' REALZ.
I have nearly fifty identical photos on my camera. When you're at Nordkapp, you can't resist but to snap photos of the sun every minute in an attempt to capture the movement of the sun towards the sea. Only when you get back home do you realize that each photo looks nearly the same and you can't really decipher which photo came before the other.
The sun kissed the horizon at 12am.
At about 12.30am, the sun began to rise from the water to the east.
It's so beautiful up there! Words do no justice, and neither do my shitacular (NEW WORD) photos.
Up next: Helsinki (Norway) - Stockholm (Sweden) - Bergen (Norway) - Flam (Norway)
Or at least I'll try to.