Our trip to Kiruna is over already (sad to say), but I must say that it is the best trip I have ever had. Although there were hiccups along the way, the entire trip itself was so enjoyable that I was kind of sad that the trip has already ended.
Well, speaking of misfortunes... As the Chinese saying goes, "祸不单行" which means "One misfortune follows another", our freaking train to Stockholm was delayed for 2 hours and we were stranded halfway as the train had to return in the other direction due to some technical difficulties. And it resulted in all 9 of us missing our flight from Stockholm to Kiruna! And the SJ officials had the cheek to say that it is not their problem that we missed our flight because they do not liase with the airline company. After months of planning, this really kind of pissed us off.
*5.28am at Lund Central Station*
And so, we had to book a standby ticket with the other airline which has an evening flight to Kiruna and we had to pay extra money for it. But in the end, it was still all worth it since everyone had fun.
*Us in Stockholm Arlanda Airport*
*Kiruna Airport*
Okay, so why did I say that one misfortune follows another? Well, we called the person who was to fetch us from Kiruna Airport to inform of the train delay, and he told us that the temperature in Kiruna is madness. It was supposed to be -30 deg C, but that day, it was +9 deg C!! There was no snow since it all melted, the snowmobiles could not be used, the dogs pulling the dog sleighs could not run, etc. My goodness.
*Camp Alta*
*The communist-wannabes*
*Our first meal in Kiruna*
But our perseverance paid off as we still pushed ourselves to go to Kiruna. The temperature dropped by the time we arrived at the airport. The temperature was also sub-zero on the next day when we were supposed to drive our snowmobiles to the Ice Hotel. The Ice Hotel was amazing, but sadly, the Ice Church wasn't ready for visitors.
Many snowmobiles overturned along the way too, and mine overturned too when we were heading back from the Ice Hotel to our hostel. Both of us (we were all in pairs) were rolling in the snow! Dangerous, but what an experience. In the evening, we headed back to Camp Alta to feast on reindeer meat for our super late lunch at 3pm. It already felt like it was dinner because the sky was already dark.
*Outdoor cooking*
Our third day was the snowmobile-cum-dog sleigh tour! We were embarking on our overnight Northern Lights tour on this day. The dog sleigh was really a cool experience as well! It was scary at first but I kind of got the hang of it after a while (although some people got into accidents). The camp site for the overnight tours was across a lake and we took a raft across it. It was almost like an army camp! We had to chop our own firewoods for our room's fireplace as well as for the BBQ house and Sauna house.
*Henrik and one of his huskies*
*Ready to go*
*The raft/canoe*
*Clockwise from left: Our room, lunch place, BBQ House*
Reindeer meat, fishes, and pasta is all part and parcel of our meals there. The most memorable part of the overnight tour I feel would be that on the morning of our fourth day where we brought our breakfast down to the frozen beach and ate there while sitting on the snow, watching the sunrise (even though the sun did not really rise). That was 21st December, also known as the darkest day of the year when the sun is at its lowest point. According to Arne (one of the staffs there) who was of the Viking descent, they used to celebrate their Christmas on this day before Christianity came in.
*Breakfast in the snow*
*Lying in the snow*
*Peter*
*Peter, Me, Arne - Brothers in arms they said*
*Reindeer-feeding*
We left the overnight camp back to our first accommodation via the dog-sleigh tours again. Again, accidents...... one dog-sleigh flipped and the snowmobile following behind it couldn't stop in time (because of some smart alec who has never driven it before didn't know there was such a thing called a brake) and it ran over two dogs. Luckily the snow was soft enough for the dogs to sink into the snow when the snowmobile went over them.
When we arrived back at our campsite, we went to the sauna! Woohoo... and I had the honour of entering the ice pool outside the sauna first! It was damn right freezing cold in that pool especially when you enter it without a shirt and just a pair of board shorts. After that, five of us were so crazy that we grabbed some reindeer skin and we waited outside for the Northern Lights to appear. I ended up falling asleep there, and waking up shivering in the cold. At least we saw the Northern Lights, albeit not a very magnificent one. It was dancing in the skies when we saw it, but few of us could get a good picture of it since it was so fast.
*Sauna*
*And into the Ice Pool*
*The Northern Lights*
The last day finally came when we packed up to return to Stockholm (which was freaking much colder than Kiruna). I had the chance to tour Stockholm once more since a few of us stayed for one night in a hostel there. The Christmas market was great although not as good as that in Vienna. But the shopping centres were full of shoppers. Everyone was doing their last minute Christmas shopping. Old Town was also more exciting since there were so many Christmas goods on sale and it was so crowded. Not to mention that I managed to catch the guards changing duty at the Royal Palace as well.
Now that we are all back in Lund, we are starting to miss Kiruna once again where there was abundant snow to walk on in a winter wonderland.
*Notice of accident between Malmö and Copenhagen*
*All my favourite food for the last time in Lund*
*Presents for me*
*Princess Cake to welcome the New Year*
*At Lund Train Station the next morning*
*At Airport*
