Last Post: The End of the Ride

After a long silence, I decided to write the last entry of this season. Im writing this last post exactly at the same location when I wrote the first entry on this blog… a long… long time ago. Yes, Im finally home. Im now inside my room in my homesoil in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia… and finally now, Im enjoying the heat, my aircond is still not working as usual! Im sweating while writing this! I feel so comfortable to finally sleep in my own bed in my own room. No more sleeping inside the warm sleeping bag covering myself from the deadly -30c in the Arctic. Instead, I covered myself with the thin blanket from the blood sucking mosquitos. While looking at the window, I saw exactly the same view of what Ive seen for many many years since I was a school kid, nothing much changes… except that my neighbour’s houses are getting bigger than there are less trees. Its funny to think that Im home after a long time being a nomad, yet sometimes I do close my eyes, take a deep breath and start to imagine that Im breathing the fresh air in the wild mountains of the Arctic. My mind is still there somewhere in the northern mountains. Norwegian landscapes are magical, the Norwegian fjords are legendary and the snow-capped mountains look really grand and when the northern lights show herself, dancing in the sky under the stars… it feels like you are in a huge Hollywood movie set in some Disney fantasy movies. Yet I still feel a bit of regret because I don’t have enough time to cover the whole length of Norway. I only rode almost half of Norway. I missed all the grand superlong fjords downsouth of Norway. But still, I feel so lucky to be able to get the best experience staying 88 days in the Scandinavia peninsula.

 

My ride ended in Trondheim of Norway. I had to cut short my ride in Norway because of visa restriction. I flew out of Europe 2 days before my 3 months visa expired. The last part of my ride, I wasn’t so lucky with the weather. It was cloudy and raining most of the time, covering the incredible view of the magnificent Norwegian fjords in the north. And the wind keeps on blowing against me. I felt less energetic due to less motivation, since I knew that Im gonna end my ride halfway in Norway. But the best part of my ride in Norway is actually the people around me. I was given the best hospitality from its people. I consider myself really lucky… and my crazy idea riding bicycle alone in the Arctic region in the middle of winter was really a good choice! On the road, I was the only cyclist who braved the harsh cold Arctic winter which makes me special to the locals. People were waving at me along the road and I even get a free ferry ride from Andalsvagen to Horn while I was riding towards the end point to Trondheim. I never paid full price for accommodation in Norway. Its either I get a very good discount or most of the time, I get to stay in hotel or cabin for free. Upon reaching Trondheim from Steinkjer, I received an email of invitation from our Indonesian sister who got my contact from one of my silent blog reader to stay in her small village up in the mountains near Hommelvik. So I took the opportunity since its very rare to meet our brothers or sisters from Indonesia in the middle of nowhere in Norway! And when I was there for 2 days, I got to meet even more locals who live in the small village in the mountain and get to share the stories of my journey with them. And basically I ended my cycling journey there since it was only some 45km towards Trondheim and the road was downhill all the way to end my journey in Trondheim.

Nelda, the Indonesian woman who was kind enough to host me for 2 days

its sooo easy to finally able to camp normally on grass. no problem pitching my tent and the pegs finally works!

When I reached Trondheim, I was greeted by my Malaysian friend who is on a vacation there. It feels really good to finally meet another Malaysian after for so long. I spent a few days there in my friend’s house, Erik, a very nice and friendly guy and the only Norwegian man who speaks Malaysian-style English hehe. After spending a few days there in Trondheim, I then took a train back to Sweden, to Uppsala then to Bjorklinge and stay a day there with Fredrik and family. It feels like Im in a totally a different world, it’s the same place but with totally a different look. The last time I left Bjorklinge was in the middle of February, which is in the middle of winter. The snow was everywhere and thick and it was really really cold. But when I got back there, it was totally different, I can enjoy walking barefooted on the grass and its so green and brown, compared to a few months ago when it was white and blue. No more wearing layers after layers, just a thin cotton shirt will do.

taking the train back to Sweden. Wheres all the snow hah??

Erik, a cool Norwegian man who has now been infected by a Malaysian. He speaks very thick Malaysian-style English lol! Good job buddy :p

back to Fredrik&Karen’s place in Sweden. Same place but big difference between winter and spring

 

winter vs spring

winter vs spring

Surprising, on my 3 months traveling here around Scandinavia, I spent less than I ever expected. This is the most expensive region to travel in the world and Norway being one of the most expensive country in the world to live. But somehow, for the whole 3 months… I managed to spend less money than a normal tourist would spend a week traveling here. And this is possible because most of the people that I met along my way didn’t treat me like a tourist… but they treated me like a family, like their own brother or son! I am sooo glad that I crossed path with these people while I was biking in the Scandinavia. Some of them let me to sleep in their home, some let me to stay in their hotel for free or very good discount, some cook delicious food for me, some bought me clothes, food or a coffee, some made me smile and laugh, I met so many of good people. Before I came… we were complete strangers, but we met, learn how to pronounce each other’s name and became a family. We will definitely keep in touch, as I will never let the good ones go away easily in my life :) And I learn a lot from these people.

sexy mamacota!!

Trondheim…

This journey really taught me sooo many things. It has changed me a lot! I started to learn on how to appreciate things… everything…. even the bad ones. Traveling, living my life on the road has taught me to embrace everything that comes to me, the good luck and the bad. I realized we usually forget to appreciate things that we get easily and often. In this journey, I appreciate so deeply everytime I had the chance to take shower, everytime I get the chance to sleep in a proper bed under a roof or get to eat good food… and I even appreciate the most basic thing in this life, breathing normally. It happened a few times while I was camping outside in the forest at some -20c or -30c, where I couldn’t even breath normally since my nose were filled with ice! My nose were so painful and I was struggling to breath through my mouth instead. And as we all know… breathing through our mouth for a long time, it will make our mouth feels so dry. And when its dry under extreme cold condition, it really hurts. So Ive been through the situation where I was struggling even to breath. Now I really appreciate it whenever I can breath normally again. Sometimes I even close my eyes for a moment while taking shower, thanking the creator of the universe for letting me to enjoy this very moment right here, exactly the place I should be and right now, enjoying every single drop of water that run through my skin.

the sky and water turned into gold!

Living on a bicycle also has taught me to be less materialistic. I know that if I buy more things, I will suffer more since I will be carrying heavier load on my bicycle. I just need to live simple. The less I carry, the easier I can cycle… So its actually better for me to possess less things. After a while I realized that I don’t actually need so many things to live. I realized if we want to feel rich, we don’t need to possess so many materialistic things, but instead to be grateful… and thankful. Feeling rich is more like a state of mind really. I don’t know how to put everything that I learned through my journey into words, nobody will understand. Some things, can only be taught by experience, not through reading or listening. Its just not enough… So sometimes we really have to go out there and experience it firsthand. That’s all for this season. Thank you so much for reading. I hope some of you guys will get inspired, learn a thing or two or even at least enjoy reading and looking at the pictures. May peace be upon all of you… The End.

Through The Rain and Wind

The winter is really over in this part of the world. I can officially say now that I have survived the cold Scandinavian winter and this is one of the longest winter. I was surprised that it was snowing once even it was almost May when I was somewhere near Ornes. But the temperature is never below zero degrees anymore. Whenever the sun is shining, it feels like heaven. My skin once again be burned by the heat of the sun and it feels great to ride under the sunshine. But the problem is, the sun only appears a few minutes in a day. Most of the time, thick clouds covering the sky, making everything look dull and the rain is pouring almost all the time. Im now riding along the beautiful arctic road along the coast of Norway heading south but sadly I couldn’t see much due to the bad weather. After I rode to the most southern part of Lofoten, I took a ferry in Moskenes towards Bodo, the capital town in Nordland.

the ferry from Moskenes to Bodo

I arrived Bodo in the middle of the night when everything was closed, there was a youth hostel there not so far from the ferry terminal so I decided to wait there till morning to get a place to rest there. It was raining the whole night and I had no place to hide, so I just wait at the roadside and let the raindrops hit me all over for the whole night. I realized the night is really short now, it gets dark only around 10pm and the sky is bright again as early as 4am. In the middle of the night, the sky is not completely dark anymore. Its blue color and I don’t see the stars at all due to thick rainclouds. At around 7am, I see people start walking towards the town centre going for their everyday life routine and at around 8am I quickly went to the reception of the hostel. Too bad the hostel was fully booked and the receptionist told me that all accommodations in Bodo town centre are fully booked. I was surprised, I really thought there were not so many people coming around here during this time of the year and I was completely wrong.

I was hungry and sleepy since I was awake for the whole night, so I decided to ride only a few kilometres outside Bodo and found a campsite. The snow was melting and the ground was completely wet with melting snow, so the owner of the campsite let me to use the cabin for half the price! It was a good thing for me, at least I can hide myself under the endless rain. I took a day resting there before a long journey south towards Trondheim. The road is never flat here, always up and down which slows me down by a lot. I don’t really feel how heavy Im carrying my winter gear on my bicycle all these while when I was in Sweden because the road is mostly flat there. But here, I realized that Im actually carrying really heavy and it really slows me down by a lot especially climbing uphill. Good thing, whenever there is up, there is also down. So whenever I go downhill, its time for my legs to rest and prepared myself for another uphill climb. And the rain is pouring heavily and nonstop here, I was wet all over and my waterproof outer shell seems useless with the combination of strong wind and rain. 

While I was riding south from Bodo, I came across a campsite and decided to have a look. There were some cabins there and I tried to ask the owner if I can get a cheap price for the cabin. I would love to stay indoor to keep dry if I can get reasonable price. There is an old Norwegian man greeted me and asked me a few questions about my trip. He then told me not to camp with this condition and offer me a cabin instead. The price of the cabin was 500Kr but he was kind enough to let me stay for only 200Kr. Hehe again I got lucky here. I never have any skills on bargaining but people are just nice around here. Plus its rare to see cyclists passing through this region at this time of the year, so I got a special discount! :) There were some guys from Libya staying here in the campsite too in one of the cabins. Some of them are trying to find a job here and some are just tourist. After I was done taking hot shower, I felt so tired and didn’t even have enough energy to cook or eat dinner. I straight went to sleep in hunger.

the cabin I stayed, not so far from Bodo.

In the middle of the night while I was sleeping, one of the Libyan knocked on the door. I woke up and opened the door and was surprised to see he was holding a delicious pasta for me. I was so thankful for the good food. After finished eating it, I went outside for some fresh air and while passing the owner’s house, I saw from the glass window that the owner was having dinner together with his worker from Yemen. It touched my heart. Some employer that I see in many parts of the world, surprising even in my own society, really treated their worker like they have no value, especially foreign workers. The boss will usually have good expensive food while treating their workers cheap unhealthy food. They really set the distance between the employer and the employee. But its totally a different level here. He treated his worker like his own family. Im actually glad to see there are many immigrants here in Norway. Reason is because these people, who are mostly from countries like Afghanistan, Somalia or Libya are here for a long time, being treated really nice and they had a chance to learn the good value from the local people here… especially in the countryside. They have a chance to live in a society who lives in honesty and that will shape them.

the campsite owner, very nice man

Ali, his worker from Yemen

I ended up staying there in the cabin for 2 days waiting for the weather to turn out to be good. The campsite owner was really nice to me, offering me tea everytime when I come to visit him in his house. And he was so kind to drive me to the neaby supermarket to get some food, which is 7km away as I was lazy to ride my bicycle on my restdays. I then realized that if I keep waiting until the weather gonna turn out to be good again.. I will wait for the whole spring. So I just kept riding south through the wind and rain. I really decided wrongly, when I was in Sweden, I was riding north and the wind always coming from the north slowing me down. And here riding along the coast of Norway, the wind will either come from the west or from the south. If the wind comes from the west, it brings rain from the sea and if it comes from the south, the weather is better. Either way, it’s a tough ride for me. Most of the time, the wind will blow from the south which slows me down by a lot since Im heading south. And the weather is not better, its raining most of the time. And tunnels, I scratched my head everytime when I see tunnels in front of me. And theyre usually long, some 2-3km long and there are so many of them!

i love riding through tunnels! it feels like riding in the underworld and a new experience for me! (hows my reverse psychology skills? :))

And not so long ago…while I was in Bodo, I received a news from the Norwegian embassy in Malaysia regarding my application to extend my stay within the Schengen area. It failed… it seems that the 90 days staying inside the Schengen area is really strict and there is no way I can extend it. I can only come back here after 90 days staying out of Schengen. I was hoping that they can extend my stay here for at least another 5-6 more weeks so that I can be able to ride the whole length of Norway. But since I received the news, my plan now changes. I will ride only until Trondheim, in the middle of Norway and from there I need to get a train back to Stockholm and fly back home, away from the Schengen area before my visa expires. It is quite sad since Im gonna miss those grand huge superlong fjords in southern areas of Norway. But at least Im really happy since I got to see so many things especially the northern lights and survived the cold Scandinavian winter. And this news somehow affect my journey. After I received the news, I wasn’t feeling so energetic during my ride anymore. I couldn’t concentrate much, finally after almost a year, I started to get homesick! Cant believe that whenever I feel hungry while I was riding, I can imagine our spicy food back home, especially my favourite chicken beriani hehe.

Beautiful Ride and Good Hearted People in Lofoten Islands

My ride was slowed down a lot in Lofoten Island, not because of bad weather, bad roads or tough terrain, but I was slowed down by the warmth of its people. Since I crossed into Norway, I find everything very expensive.  There was once I found a hotel in a small village and asked if I can use the bathroom for a few minutes for a hot shower. Kinda shocked to know that the price is 150Kr (roughly 80 ringgit our money) just for a shower. I would like to keep clean and fresh sometimes but with this price, I think it’s a bad idea. Im not going to hug anyone at this point anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. There was once I stopped in a petrol station to get 2 juice drinks and 1 can of energy drink and it costs roughly 50 ringgit. With this rate, I believe that in a few weeks time I would be joining the horses to eat the grass and drink all the snow clean. The first 2 nights while I was camping in Lofoten, I was shocked to see my thermometer was reading at -15c at night here in Lofoten on April. And when I woke up the next morning, it was snowing and still quite cold, which is shocking to me since I never expect the coast can be as cold as the mountains. And its April!

camping somewhere near Lodingen, north of Lofoten

many bridges here crossing between the small islands

But since I crossed into Norway, I’m surrounded by great views, combination of fjords, mountains and the ocean. Its much more interesting here but the road is more hilly and my biggest headache is… tunnels! And this is my challenge here in Norway, there are thousands of tunnels here. I always fear riding in dark tunnels since I had some bad experience riding in total darkness through tunnels in China years ago while I was climbing the Sichuan Mountains. Its even more scary to see trucks here drive really fast, as in theyre in a F1 circuit. Everytime I rode through tunnels, my heart was beating fast, I rode fast through the tunnel hoping to see the sun and blue sky again. It is really the end of winter now and there is a big difference of temperature between day and night. It is around 5-6c during the day and when the sun is hiding, it can go down to -10c. The road is really icy and wet… and slippery. Everything will get wet… then it will all turn into ice. So once in a while I have to take my knife to scrape the ice from all over the small parts of my bicycle.

aww I hate tunnels!! Whhyyyy sooo many of em here???

There was once when I reached a junction, I found it hard to make my mind. There was still another 3 hours before sunset which means I can still ride another 40km roughly, but there is a small village 4km away if I take the junction. I was feeling cold since I was sweating so much and my bicycle needs some minor repair, so I finally took the junction and went to a small village. I wasn’t sure at first if it was the right choice, I saw a hotel which has the cheapest room at 500Kr. I kept going further to try if I can get lucky, trying to get a cheaper room for the night and a hot long shower. I then found a hostel which might be cheaper and was shocked to see the style which is sooo similar to Indonesian! I then began to think, no this must be Thailand, since I saw so many Thai women here married with Swedish or Norwegian. But when I looked closely, it is not Thai, it is really Indonesian! So I went in to try and pressed the bell. There was a Norwegian man greeted me and I politely asked how much does it cost for the cheapest room available. He said he can give me for 300Kr. I tried to bargain, I have a sleeping bag and I can sleep on the floor. And I wanted to stay for 2 nights here if I can get 200Kr. I really need a rest day. He then studied my face and asked me if Im Indonesian or Malaysian. I said Im a Malaysian traveling using a bicycle. He then told me to come in and I can stay for free! My heart was shouting in silence happily when he said that.

Instead of sleeping on the floor, he gave me a comfortable private room and told me to feel like home. After a good long hot shower, where I enjoyed every single drop of warm water to hit my body, he prepared food for me. He made rice and chicken for me (which is my favourite) and said if I want to eat with my hand, so that I will really feel like home back in my country. The best thing was, he even tried to speak Indonesian to me. He still remembers most words since he had been traveling a lot especially to Indonesia and sometimes to Timor Leste and Malaysia. After a long talk over the dinner, he showed me some of his traveling photos mostly in Lombok areas in Indonesia. Looking at those photos, I suddenly have this feeling that I miss home. Once in a while when I looked outside the window, it was snowing lightly outside and I saw snow mountains all over the horizon, but suddenly my mind was back in my homeland, thousands of kilometres away in the hot weather of southeast of Asia, with the green landscape of rainforest, coconut trees at the beach and even the annoying mosquitos.

the small village that I stayed a while…

arctic sun!

love all these views…!

Steinar, the hotel owner, really a nice guy!

His name is Stainer and is really a humble and good hearted guy, I ended up taking a long rest there where I stayed 4 nights in the hotel. He told me not to spend a single cent while my stay there! He laughed so hard when I told him I mostly eat spaghetti and meatballs while camping. So for my whole stay there, I really ate good food, mostly rice with delicious arctic fish which I hardly remember the name. I can surely grow fat if I stay long there. I ate a lot… really a lot while staying there as the food was great! He also drove me all around the area to show me some scenic spots with beautiful view of Lofoten Islands. We exchanged a lot of interesting ideas and he really inspires me with his life, struggled earlier in his life but finally became a successful man. The weather was quite bad, snowing heavily the whole day while my stay there, which was a good reason for me to take a long rest there before continuing my ride. After a few days of rest, the weather was getting better and he told me that he will drive me for some distance to Svolvaer, so that I can escape the longest tunnel in Lofoten, which is 6km long! When I heard about the length of the tunnel, I felt so thankful that I can escape it. We hooked my bicycle at the back of his car and he drove me to Svolvaer, where he introduced me with a friend of his, a guy from Afghanistan who has been living here in Norway for many years.

my horse being tied up in a sports car

escaping the 6km tunnel hehe!

mountains everywhere on our way to Svolvaer

Again, I got lucky. I stayed a day with Majid, the Afghan man and he served me very delicious Afghan rice, something like our Beriani, or the Uzbek plov, but maybe this one is better! He then took me to his old school, which is a school mostly for refugees, mainly from Afghanistan and some African countries. So I had the chance to share my travel experience with these students and we even exchanged contacts with each other. Its always great to make more friends from all over the world, strengthen the brotherhood among us humans. Its good to see there are many refugees here in Norway. And its good to see that the Norwegian people here are really nice to them. From my observation so far, I see the Nordic people are really good hearted. I heard from the news only a few days ago where there was a boy who found a bag in a train and discovered that the bag is full of money, total of nearly 500 000 Kr… and he returned it back to the owner, who is an old man! That news shocked me… and I actually feel really safe here. I can just leave my bicycle unlock in most places. Of course it will be different in big cities like Oslo or Stockholm, but when I ride I always escape cities and stay mostly in the wild. And its good that the refugees here learn from the people here after some years of staying here. Its really a good example for all of us to live with honesty.

macam killing fields kat cambodia.. hehe…

beautiful fishing village in Henningsvaer

I was also invited by Majid’s teacher, Else, to her home for dinner, on my way to southern Lofoten. Again, I got lucky, I was served by really delicious arctic fish and rice (again!). The problem was, after feasting all the food, I got sleepy. And I slept a while on her couch until it was too late to cycle. So she invited me to sleep a night in her house before continuing the next morning. And when I was back on my bicycle, the weather turned bad… thick clouds covering the blue sky and the sun, the landscape became dull but still interesting. Finally after months and months surviving the snow, the rain was pouring again while I was sleeping inside my tent in the south of Lofoten. This was the first time for me to see the rain after Scotland! And the rain continues all the way until I reached the ending of southern Lofoten Islands. This is bad for me. My equipments are all meant for the snow, its winter equipments. And now the spring has come and the rain started to pour, I struggled to keep everything dry. Always wet…. wet again! I also rode through many tunnels which I cannot escape. Norwegian roads mostly snake through fjords and mountains, so there are thousands of them and theres no way I can escape them. Norway even has a more than 20km long tunnel! Sometimes I went through 3 tunnels in a day. Its in good condition, some have walking path and properly lit but I just hate them. Hehe… So I can basically see what I will go through for the road ahead of me. Gonna be rain and tunnels… hmmm….

again, just wanna remind you people that I hate tunnels…

clouds are so thick like a dictionary! But the views are still awesome mate…

me and the Afghan gang! Thats Majid in the middle. Look at lot like 1 of my malay friend back home hehe… and the other guy looks a lot like chinese

making new friends! mostly Afghan and some Arabs here. The asian girl in front is our sister from Thailand! And thats Else, the teacher who cook the fish for me

some bad roads mmmm…

the last sun

 

Fierce Blizzard in the Arctic Tundra!

Abisko was my last town in Sweden. I took a day rest in a hostel there. It was just nice, when I was done shopping with food and drinks in the supermarket there, I only have 8 Swedish Krona left, which can buy me.. nothing! Hehe… and I had some Norwegian Krona with me. So I really have to leave Sweden the next day. But when I woke up in the morning the next day to prepare to cross the border, there was a bad snowstorm outside. The wind coming from the west, which means I really have to fight the wind all the way to the border of Norway. I went outside to feel how strong the storm were, it was actually really strong but not so cold. It was only somewhere around 0c. So I said to myself, “Lets face this storm head on!”. While I was preparing, the hostel owner told me that the road up in the mountain in Bjorkliden is closed. Awww… I then asked him if I stay another day here, can I pay with Norwegian money. He said its okay but the problem is the hostel is fully booked and I cant stay there anymore. “Ahaa no worries mate, Ill camp somewhere in Bjorkliden”, I told him. He then told me to becareful of the weather and as usual I gave my automatic scripted answer, “Don’t worry, Ill push slowly”.

I then rode very slowly to Bjorkliden which is very very near. So I took my time snapping photos and really took my own sweet time along the road. I don’t really feel like struggling fighting the wind that day, I was just looking for any nice spot to camp. I then arrived Bjorkliden and found out there was a long queue of cars on the road ahead. The road was closed, but I just sneaked in with my bicycle. I didn’t plan to go far, I rode for another 5km on thick snow and found a good spot to camp. The storm never stopped blowing. As usual I did my normal routine, boil some snow, cook dinner and sleep. Early the next morning, I woke up and I thought I heard the sound of wolves. My mind was half awake, my hand automatically trying to reach my knives and wanted to go outside my tent. My mind was thinking that the wolves were trying to steal my bicycle hehe. Then when I was fully awake and my brain started to function fully, I realized that it wasn’t wolves, it was the sound of dogs and sound of kids screaming and laughing. Ahh… someone is enjoying the dog sledding! When I looked from the window of my tent, it was some happy family having fun with dog sledding in the frozen lake. After done with breakfast and packing, I cycled towards the border of Norway. The weather was calm but very cloudy and the road was really in bad condition.

Upon reaching the Norwegian border, the headwind started to blow fiercely. I kept moving forward and it was going uphill and the snow was really thick. I couldn’t cycle anymore, too tiring so I pushed my bike slowly to the border. I was surprised to see the border is really simple. This is actually my first time crossing land borders in Europe here between Sweden and Norway. Before this I entered European countries all by flights, Iceland, Scotland and Sweden. There was a simple custom building for people who need to declare goods. The wind kept blowing but I kept moving crossing the border. I then rode further for some 2km after the border. And all out of a sudden, the wind started to blow really really strong! For a while, I kept going fighting it. But in a split second, things changed into a really brutal situation, the wind produced a horror sound like a screaming woman, the air was filled with flying snow and I couldn’t see anything. It is impossible to see even 5 meters ahead. If there was a car or a truck, I could easily get hit… the visibility was zero. I was fully covered, I was wearing my balaclava and snow goggle. But I felt so painful, sharp ice and snow hit my body so hard until I could hear the sound of them hitting my body and my bicycle. I felt like I was being shot rapidly by thousands of bullets from a machine gun. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was in great danger. My heart suddenly shouted at myself, “Blizzarddd…. runnn!!!”. I quickly turned back, there was only one building that I can seek refuge, which was the custom building 2km behind me. There was nothing in front, only tundra. While I was riding back to the border, I couldn’t breath! The blizzard was really strong and I felt like I was drowned in water. This time, I was really panic and afraid. My heart was beating so fast and I was questioning, will I make it to the custom building alive? Or I have reached my time? I tried so hard to breath but not even half oxygen got to my lungs. I really felt like dying and 2km feels like so far away. There was no one there to rescue me. Finally after a few minutes (which feels like forever) I reached the custom office. I didn’t even park my bicycle properly. Right in front of the door, I simple jumped and threw my bicycle on the road and ran towards the door. I still couldn’t breath and really felt like dying.

the border of Sweden-Norway

on the Norwegian side

Once I got in the building, I ignored everything, lied against the wall, closed my eyes and took a few deep long breathe. I was making a loud sound while breathing, I really need the oxygen. After a while when I opened my eyes, I saw a few custom officers were looking at me with shocking face. I then asked them the permission to stay indoor for a while, telling them what happened as I was on my bicycle. They were all shocked to hear that I was cycling in this weather and told me that Im crazy. They were really nice people, they let me to stay indoor and gave me some coffee. After a while, one of the officer told me that the road is now closed in both sides, both Norway and Sweden. Im now stucked here at the border for god knows how long. He then told me that he will drive me to Narvik, the closest town in Norway from here. But I have to leave my bike here, stay a night there and come back here again the next morning to take my bike and ride down from the mountains when the weather is clear again. Really nice guy, he gave me some tips on cycling in Norway and contacted the cheapest hostel in Narvik to reserve me a bed for the night. After a while waiting, he then drove me to Narvik. Thank god, the blizzard started when I was still near the building. I couldn’t imagine what would happen to me if the blizzard started when I was in the middle of the arctic tundra, I could have easily died in the no man’s land. When he drove towards Narvik, the condition was really scary, the blizzard was still going on the whole day.

few hours after the blizzard

the view of the tundra on the Norwegian side the next day. Its clear and sunny now, I would have died here if I proceed the day before…

the tundra on Norwegian side

taking a quick rest in the tundra

Upon reaching Narvik, I went to the cheapest hostel to put my bags and was really starving. When I went around town to buy food, I discovered that everything was closed and it was 11.10pm. I was late by 10 minutes! I then went to a small café and saw from the glass window that the worker inside was still cleaning the shop. I was really starving, so I knocked on the door and begged her for food. She said everything is closed but I told her that I could eat anything that she gave me. I really need to eat something as I was really starving. She then went inside and talk to her boss and they were so nice to give me some chicken salad for free. Again for god knows how many times I got lucky, people seems to help me everywhere here. I slept well for the night and woke up early the next morning to have a quick breakfast, get a Norwegian simcard and took a train back to the Swedish border to get my bicycle again. Upon reaching the border, the weather was really nice, blue sky and no more strong wind in the mountains. I then took my bike and enjoy the amazing ride down from the border to the fjords of Norway through the 30km of Arctic Tundra. Once I reached the coast, I was riding really slowly, my eyes were fixed looking at the beautiful Norwegian fjords all around me. I then decided to camp in the snow to enjoy the fantastic view of the fjords. I was surprised that it was still cold here, some -10c at night but I was rewarded with beautiful view of the dancing Aurora Borealis all over the sky of Northern Norway.

riding down from the mountains to the Norwegian fjords

frozen waterfall down the mountains…

the grand Norwegian fjords all around me

enjoying the sunset

Dancing Aurora all over the Norwegian sky

I would like to say thank you to all the kind, caring and loving Swedish people that helped me out on my journey while I was riding for weeks and weeks through the Swedish forest and the extreme cold. Thank you so much for letting this homeless traveller to sleep under a roof and get warm and having a long hot shower, cooking delicious food for me, showing me direction, providing me tips and making me smiles and laugh. Helping a traveller is really a great thing and noble… and now you guys have helped me through my tough but interesting journey in Sweden, I hope that one day there will be someone to help you out when you’re in need. I believe that God hears the prayer of a traveller, and I will pray for all of you who have helped me out. I’m now riding through the fjords of Northern Norway at the time of writing, but I will never forget the kind hearted Swedish people!

Good bye Sweden… Hello Norway…

Some timelapse I captured on the “Mystical Aurora Borealis”!

Some amazing movement of magical northern lights were captured on film during my cycling journey beyond the Arctic Circle. This year (2013) is the peak of the northern lights, where the solar activity is at the maximum and I was very lucky to be able to capture this magical… unearthly… Aurora Borealis almost every night since I crossed into Arctic Circle. These are only some footage from my upcoming complete documentary film, “Dengan Basikal Aku Menjelajah” (With Bicycle I Travel)

I really appreciate whenever the light started to dance in the sky, since I came a loonnggg way to see this and… I chose the hard way to come all the way here.. on bicycle. So I really really appreciate it whenever the Aurora Borealis show up!

Challenging the Strength of the Arctic Wind

After 3 days taking a good rest in Kiruna, I fully recovered and well prepared for my next journey to get deeper inside the world of Arctic. My target is to get to Abisko, which will put me closer to the Norwegian border. I felt that I cant wait to be on the road again, staying 3 days inside the hostel making me to feel bored and I started to miss being on the road. It is nearly 100km away but when I looked at the profile map, it is a good downhill and I was confident that I can reach it within a day. The gravity will be my friend and will push me fast towards Abisko. When I left the hostel in Kiruna, it was around 10 am and once I reached the road, I saw dark clouds in front of me and very strong headwind. Awww its a bad day to cycle, I said to myself.

I then just started pedalling fighting the wind, it seems endless and really slowed me down even though it was a good downhill from Kiruna. After some 15-20km of riding, I saw a man stopped his car at the roadside some 300m in front of me, standing still while holding his badass huge 600mm Canon lens and kept snapping my photos until I passed him. He then drove far in front of me and stopped again at the roadside and kept snapping my photos until I passed him. Again for the third time, he went far in front of me and stopped again, and kept snapping my photos. Mannn this guy just couldn’t get enough of it. That third time, I decided to stop and talk to him, asking him if he can email me the photos. He must have good pictures of me with that huge prime lens, which is basically a price of a car. He is actually a professional photographer from Sweden, who has been all around Scandinavia photographing the landscape and the Aurora Borealis and the Midnight Sun in the Arctic. After chatting for some 5 mins, I then continue cycling further and he told me he wont bother me anymore hehe. Mann I don’t mind at all actually. While I kept pressing further, 2 more guys did the same but with normal compact camera, stopped at the roadside in front of me to photograph me while I’m riding. Hehe they really made me feel like a superstar lol. They said its really amazing to see a cyclist at this time of the year and were really interested on the spiked tyres that I used to ride on snow and ice. One of the guy told me that to be careful, there gonna be a snowstorm in few hours in the mountains in front of me soon from the forecast reports. I simply gave him my usual automatic answer, “Don’t worry, Ill push slowly”. And when I left, I could hear the sound of the camera from behind, the guy just couldn’t stop snapping my photos from all possible angles lol!

Riding towards Abisko feels like forever, I don’t feel like Im going downhill. The headwind was way too strong and I had to pedal very hard, I was actually panting even going downhill. Worst… my mouth was so dry and I kept drinking every few minutes since the wind got inside my mouth even when my scarf covered all over my face. I couldn’t wear my balaclava since its not so cold anymore, it was just around -5c so I had to use my scarf instead. The wind blew more and more fiercely the further I go. After some 50km of ride, I crossed the mountain areas in the arctic tundra and had a bad snowstorm. I felt really tired even when riding downhill, the fierce Arctic wind seems much stronger than the gravity. I took so many stops, I stopped every 5km of ride, just stood still while holding my handlebar and kept my head down to prevent the wind from getting through my mouth. But I couldn’t stood still for long, even though the temperature was only around -5c, but this fierce Arctic wind made me feel much worst than being in the -20c! I stopped only a while, a few seconds just to let my breathing back to normal before continued fighting the wind. I went slower and slower after each kilometre and reaching Abisko on the same day had become a distant dream. After some 65km of ride, there was a big climb and I was really struggling, now I’m fighting 2 enemies, the gravity had change side and became an ally with the headwind.

After the big climb, I looked up and was really amazed by the very beautiful view, the landscape had totally changed. There is no more forest up here, it’s the Arctic Tundra… its mountains after mountains and frozen lakes in between. Whenever I see beautiful view, it gives me extra strength. I ignored the endless headwind and riding slowly enjoying the scenery. The sun was at the horizon giving very special lights to the landscape, makes it look really dramatic and I feel like Im in a fantasy movie. The mountains look mystical with the special sunset lights, I then decided not to get to Abisko on the same day but went scouting for a place to camp in the wild to really enjoy the beautiful sunset. I kept pedalling only for another 5km which put me really close to Abisko, only some 20km away which I can do easily the next morning. I then found a very nice spot, it’s a big parking place at the roadside with free public toilet and has heater and running water inside. Nearby the parking place there was a wooden table and a BBQ place to make fire, I then dig some soft snow out and pitch my tent near it. I felt really comfortable camping here knowing that theres a toilet with a heater and running water. It is not so cold now anymore, at night the temperature went down maximum to only -8c and I slept sooo comfortably inside my -29c rated sleeping bag.

 

Recovering in Kiruna

I stopped 3 days in Kiruna… resting and recovering since I felt a bit ill when I first reached Kiruna. I guess the incident that I fell inside the frozen river made me felt a bit sick since I was cold for the night. My body was feeling weak and I spent most of my time lying on the comfortable bed. This is the first time I paid full price for a dorm since Im in Sweden. Sadly, the hostel was fully booked and they gave me a bed in the basement with the same price as the normal bed in the dormitory. But I feel really comfortable, I was alone in the basement and its quiet down here, which I always like. Always feel good when Im lying on a bed and the heater is just next to me so I kept warmed at all times.

the view outside my hostel in Kiruna

the centre of Kiruna. Small and peaceful town

Sami hut, looks almost similar to Kyrgyz yurt but much more simpler

On my 3 days staying in Kiruna, I met many exchanged students mostly studying in Stockholm who are now on a short semester break. Most of them are from Europe and I also met a girl from China, Wen, who is studying in Berlin. Its good sometimes to meet some other tourists as well. Theyre doing short trips around northern Sweden and they had totally different experience than what I had. It made me think, from the experience that they shared with me, surely they look at things at totally different perspective from me. They experienced things that I never had. During their 3 days staying in Kiruna, some went for horse riding trip, some went for dog sledding trip and made a visit to the famous Ice Hotel nearby Kiruna, which is really famous tourist attraction here in northern Sweden. I couldn’t experience any of these since it is so expensive for me. Theres no way I can spend thousands of Swedish krona a day like most normal tourists… so I just enjoyed looking at their photos and videos of doing dog sledding and stuff.

very strong northern lights all over my head!

Surely there are advantages and disadvantages living the life on the road for a very long time. Traveling for a long time, I really have to be careful with my financial, the less I spend the longer I can travel… which means I can go further and see more. But to have the same experience on what normal tourists have is something difficult to have. I just live my life on the road and took myself really close to nature, as close as I can. Tourist attraction places, I can just look at it from far… from outside the fence. When I first started my journey on a bicycle years ago, I always have a target on how many kilometres I should go, places that I should visit, starting and ending point etc. But now after being long on the road, I realized none of those matters. Theres no difference if I cycled 20 000km or 200km. The most important is the experience I gain from it, what I see and what I learn and how it changes me. I usually don’t go to cities or even tourist places. But here in Kiruna, it’s a tourist place. So it feels weird when other guys who stayed in the hostel are busy with their activities doing horse riding, dog sledding and stuff for the whole day while Im taking a good rest on my bed reading books. At first I was thinking to visit the famous Ice Hotel here near Kiruna but since I heard they said its expensive even to go in to snap photos, I decided not to go. I can always look at the photos on google. I don’t consider myself as a tourist but when Im traveling, I consider the road as my home, the forest and mountainside as my bedroom… the stars as my ceiling and the moon as my bedroom lamp. Many people that I met along the way asked me how long it took me to save up the money to do this long trip. They really thought that I spend a lot of money to do this. Shockingly, I spent more when I went backpacking a month around Thailand Laos and Myanmar 5 years ago compared to a month here in Sweden. Back then, I took train, bus and van to move from places to places. I sleep in guesthouses everynight and eat in shops every meal. Here, even its much more expensive in Scandinavia, I sleep in the forest or hosted by kind people, I cook myself, drink the boiled water from the snow in the forest and move slowly with my bicycle from village to village, hills after hills.

I never let even a single panadol to get inside my body since my school days whenever Im sick, to train my body to use its own power to fight the sickness. So I drink a lot of hot water and a good enough rest is the key to feel better again. Once in a while I walked around town and the nearby hill to film a timelapse video of the beautiful sunset. Its really getting warmer now, sometimes the temperature can go above 0 degrees and the sun is really shining now. It is already spring now, it feels sooo good! But each night when the sky is dark, I went to hunt some Aurora Borealis with the guys in my hostel. We were really lucky, for 3 nights we hunt the northern lights, we were successful for 2 nights. Actually we saw the magic lights every night here but we saw really strong northern lights for 2 nights. The first night was the strongest. It was all over above our heads for many hours and for 2-3 minutes, it gets really strong and it was the combination of green and pink color above our heads. It was the most beautiful thing ever. Sadly I missed the strong green and pink color lights on my camera since my camera was filming the same lights on the horizon. It was all over and moves really fast, very hard to predict where the lights dance.

On the second night we went again to another location, with much better views but not so good place to enjoy the lights since it was too bright there. We stayed for less than 2 hours and went back earlier since the guys were feeling cold. On the last night I was there, we went to another place which is dark and we managed to see it again. This year is actually the peak of the northern lights, something like the solar activity is most active for every 12 years cycle. So the next time where the maximum activity of the northern lights will be is the year 2025. This is one of the main reason why I choose to bike in the Scandinavian Arctic on winter this year. To see the magical Aurora Borealis has long been my dream. But we didn’t stay too late on the last night I was there, since I need to sleep early and wake up early the next day for a long ride towards the Norwegian border.

nothing interesting activity in the night sky in the second night

hours of waiting in the cold but nothing showed up

Its good to see the landscape dramatically change from forest to mountains. I see less trees after Kiruna, it looks like tundra up here. This is good, since Ive been cycling through forests for a month now. And now the landscapes slowly change into tundra and will slowly change to mountains and finally the grand legendary Norwegian fjords! Spring is really here already, I don’t feel so cold anymore, riding between 0c to -5c is really comfortable. And the sun… ahh… it feels… sexy!!.. to ride under the bright sunshine! Now I just hope that the wind will blow me forward, fighting strong headwind is really tough. And they said that the Aurora Borealis will still show up for another week or two up here, hope that I will get lucky to see it few more times before it disappear until the next coming winter.

 

 

 

Near death experience… but a very good lesson for me!!

The ride from Porjus to Gallivare was easy. Its only 50km away and the road was kinda flat. The wind was blowing me forward and I reached Gallivare early without feeling much tired. In Gallivare, I was hosted by Anna, whom I knew from Lena, my host in Jokkmokk. She was kind enough to cook me delicious dinner and let me to sleep in a warm room for a night before I keep pressing north towards Kiruna. She has adopted a cute playful young boy from Vietnam and working as a nurse in Gallivare. She is maybe my last host in Sweden, as my ride in Sweden will end soon. Norwegian border is getting closer and soon I will cross into Norway. The next morning, I woke up around 8 and realized Anna has gone to work and sent her kids to school early. So I just took my time having my breakfast and prepared myself for a long ride towards Kiruna. I left Gallivare at around 9.30am and the road was good for the first 15km.

After an hour of cycling, the road turned north and the climb started for me. The headwind started to blow fiercely and I was slowed down a lot fighting the wind and the climb. I realized that the road here is much busier, there were so many trucks passing by here. I guess most of these trucks are going to northern Norway and they chose the Swedish roads because theyre straighter compared to the Norwegian roads which snakes along the fjords. I was going slow with many climbs and headwind but steady without much rest. I realized that the day is getting longer now. So I kept pedalling until I finally reach the junction where I have to decide which route to take. Its been long that I tried to decide whether I should keep pressing north until Nordkapp (the most northern part of the Scandinavia peninsula) or finally turn northwest into Kiruna and the fjords of Norway. I actually stopped right at the junction for some 10 minutes to decide my next route. Getting to Nordkapp, I can brag about it that I have reached the most northern part of Europe, where there is nothing between me and the northpole except for Svalbard islands. But the road west towards Kiruna is exciting, plus getting to the fjords of Norway is another long dream of mine. So after few minutes of deciding, automatically my hand turned the handlebar to the left and my legs started pedalling again. I took the road northwest towards Kiruna!!!… and cycled for another 10km or so before I find a place to camp.

As usual, I scouted for a few minutes looking for a good place to camp. Usually I will camp in the forest, but that evening, I feel like camping near the frozen river, just to have a different view. So I went quite deep inside the woods, far from the road, to a very quiet place near a frozen river. From where I put my bicycle, I walked about 100 meters towards the river. Getting nearer and nearer the river, the snow was getting deeper and deeper. There is no way I can camp on very thick snow, so I turned back. Then I realized that I accidentally left my gloves near the river and when I turned back, the gloves fell into the thin ice in the half frozen river. I knew that it was dangerous to get there, I should have cut some tree branches and use it as a chopstick to get my gloves back instead of walking through the thin ice. But as usual, Im a clumsy guy, I just want to get things done. Hehe… I then walked towards the river and just about 2 meters away for me to reach my gloves, I stepped on a very thin ice. I could hear the ice broke and I fell into cold, very very cold water underneath the ice layer. I was surprised it was deep, I fell almost to my shoulder and I was struggling to get back on top. It was too cold and my legs were cramped only in seconds. Only my upper body still working. I tried to push myself up, but when I put my hand on the ice layer to push myself up, the ice broke and again I fell inside. Even when I put my  hand on the snow, it was too soft. There is no one there, I was alone in the wild, very quiet place, impossible for the people to help me out.

the half frozen river that I fell into. Looks beautiful yet deadly. Once u go in, theres no way out darling :)

But the good thing was, I wasn’t so panicked. I was panicked only for a split second when I fell into the ice but while I was struggling to get on top, I was actually telling myself, “Wow, macam dalam movie siot” and instead of panicking, I imagined Jaguar Paw inside the movie Apocalypto when he fell inside the quicksand hehehe. After a few seconds of struggling, I finally got back on top and feeling so relieved that I was still alive, I just lied down on the snow looking at the sunset while taking deep breaths, ignoring the cold for a few seconds. I was wet all over, luckily it wasn’t so cold. The thermometer reads only at -6 celcius so I think I will survive the night. I then quickly pitch my tent nearby, make fire and dry all my clothes near the fire. The temperature dropped to the lowest at -13c that night and I was really hoping that it wont drop further below -20c or I might suffer for the whole night. I couldn’t sleep much that night thinking of the incident, I would have died there inside the river. The next morning I woke up early and had a quick breakfast before riding another 40km towards Kiruna. I really need to get indoor again and wash and dry all my clothes. I realized not only the day is getting longer, but its getting warmer now. The sun is shining proudly everyday now and the temperature is always between 0c to -8c during daytime, which is really good. Only at night is still quite cold but rarely reach below -20c anymore. Spring is really coming in this part of the world it seems. Only after 3 hours of easy climb, I finally reached Kiruna and for the first time, I paid the full price to get to a hostel here since I was in Sweden hehe. I will take a good day rest here in Kiruna since this is my last town in Sweden before I cross into the Norwegian border very soon. Now, I will really enjoy the good shining sun and warmer air here. Spring is really coming!! :)

 

 

 

Exploring deeper inside the Arctic Region

I left Jokkmokk very late at around 2pm since I slept so late the night before hunting the northern lights. I knew that I wont make it so far that day. The road is hilly after Jokkmokk and the headwind was blowing fiercely. The next village is Porjus which is only 45km away but I don’t expect to reach it on the same day. The wind was really slowing me down by a lot and I was struggling on each climb even though it is not so steep. I had my usual problem, I was thirsty but all my drinks were completely frozen. But at least the sun is shining more fiercely now, well, most of the time… I went slower and slower after each climb, I was hoping to reach Porjus on the same day but its getting darker and I still have some 20km to go. While I was climbing one of the hills, a car from the opposite direction stopped at the roadside. And a guy came out from the car shouting and laughing at me. I was shocked, it was Adrian, a Swiss traveller that I met in a café in Jokkmokk. He was actually hoping to see me again on the road. He is a very talkative and fun guy, always smiling and has a good characteristic. So I stopped there, had a good conversation with him and decided to camp there for the night. The ground was a paved road so it was impossible to pitch my tent there and since I was lazy to camp in the snow that day, I decided to sleep in his car. So we cook dinner together and have a long conversation before went to sleep early. It was surprising that it is also cold to sleep in the car, almost as cold as sleeping inside a tent and he had a very good sleeping bag as well. He is currently traveling all around northern Europe with his car from his home in Switzerland, mostly sleeping inside his car.

Adrian, a cool Swiss traveler, hope to meet him again on the road someday…

The next morning, after cooking our breakfast, we finally said goodbye to each other and I proceed a few more kilometres towards Porjus and he drove back south towards Jokkmokk. It was only some 13km left to Porjus so I took my time taking photos of the beautiful landscape in the Swedish Lapland. I arrived Porjus somewhere at noon, a very small village but there is one supermarket so that I can get some food and drinks. There was a hotel at the end of the village owned by a lady from the UK. Surprising, she let me to stay in the hotel for free for as long as I want. I guess she knows that I’ve been camping in the cold in the forest and really need a warm shower and a good bed to sleep. The rate for the room there is very expensive especially for me, who travel with very limited resource, but I was so lucky that she let me in for free. I had a big room complete with fast wifi connection, private kitchen and living room all by myself. I felt so thankful, traveling alone on a bicycle especially in the Arctic during winter is not something easily done, especially without much money. But here the local people are helping me everywhere!!… and this tough journey seems easy for me somehow, because of all the help.

me chilling the expensive hotel like a boss!!… doing some video editing for my upcoming film while taking a good rest…

the hotel was visited by some Malaysians and Singaporeans as well. Notice that theres a red pin there.. thats mine. Its red because she said Im the special one hehe…

beautiful sunset in Porjus

The hotel owner, Patricia, is actually an expert in photographing northern lights and has been living here for more than 15 years. She has webcam cameras everywhere near her house to detect the northern lights. Shes been photographing the northern lights for many years and had published a book on it called “Arctic Light – The Eyes of My Heart”. Please have a visit at her website, http://www.arctic-color.com/ . I’m promoting her now because she has saved me from the harsh -20 celcius for 2 nights and sleep so nicely with soft pillows hehe. Too bad I didn’t see any strong northern lights during my stay in Porjus. Only some very weak green aurora in the sky for a few minutes before it disappears again. The Aurora Borealis is very difficult to predict.

the hotel that I stayed…

some Nordic ski for rent

some photobooks on stunning Aurora Borealis moments

not so strong northern lights were seen in Porjus

The Night Colors in the Arctic World

Jokkmokk is the first town for me in the world of Arctic. I was hosted by Lena, my friend’s mom who is working as a teacher here in Jokkmokk. She was really kind to host me for 2 days here and cook very good food for me. I tried the exotic Arctic fish and reindeer meat while my stay there. Lucky me to experience such things, since I cant get any of that in other parts of the world. I had my own room while my stay and really feel like home. I was impressed to see that a woman at her age, she is really computer literate, she uses a Macbook and a smartphone and really knows how to use it well. She is also active in winter sports and music, I can see different types of musical instruments in her house. She also spends most of her time drawing and painting. Most old people that I see back home, they usually just spend their old age watching TV at home and nothing else.

Lena, Hugo’s mom who hosted me a few days in Jokkmokk, were so nice to prepare a delicious dinner

On my second night in Jokkmokk, I saw the sky was really blue and clear, without a single cloud covering the sky. It is a good sign that I can have another chance to witness the magical Aurora Borealis again. I then went to the frozen lake nearby, some 4km west of Jokkmokk to enjoy the quiet cold sunset, watching the sun slowly hiding behind the hills of northern Sweden, slowly giving its lights to some other parts of the world and to see the moon started to glow in the dark sky. I stayed an hour in the frozen lake and my fingers started to freeze since I only wore thin gloves without my mitten. I then quickly get back to the house the get warmed again and had a delicious reindeer meat cooked by Lena. At around 10pm, wearing very thick clothes, I went out again to the cold to hunt the Aurora Borealis. Only after 10 minutes walk to a dark area, the northern lights appeared to be massive, covering the night sky. Compared to what I saw in Umea, this time the magical Arctic light was above me, all over the sky! It was everywhere, all over! I then quickly took my camera out to film this amazing phenomenon. I stayed for more than an hour and film the magical Aurora Borealis until the memory of my camera was full! I then quickly went back to transfer all the files into my computer while the green lights never stops dancing in the sky.

watching the sunset at the frozen lake. clear sky, big chance for me to witness the northern lights!

massive Aurora in the Arctic!

After I finished transferring all the files into my computer, I went out again after midnight, took my bicycle to go further away from the town to get another view of the Aurora, ignoring the -23 celcius. This time, I stayed outdoor for nearly 3 hours in the cold in the frozen lake and was really amazed looking at the night sky. The northern lights seems very near me, its all over in the sky and had very strong green color. I witness how it dances in the sky, it was actually much faster than I always imagine. Sometimes, it can appear to be quite scary, looks like a ghost moving in the sky. But it was something very beautiful, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

My feet were so painful, my shoes were freezing badly. But I tried to ignore it and keep watching the movement of the magical green curtain in the sky. It was my dream to witness this, its been long that I have always wanted to see this and I was really lucky that night to witness it. The northern lights were dancing for the whole night, and I realized the ground became bright, the snow became green, reflected the light of the unearthly Aurora Borealis. After almost 3 hours being in the cold in the frozen lake, I finally went back home at nearly 4 am in the morning to take a rest. I realized my balaclava and my outer Goretex jacket were all filled with ice. My nose was really painful. But it was nothing to me since I can sleep indoor. I really hope to get to see more of the northern lights as I will keep pressing north, I wanna get deep, far north from the ring of Arctic. I just cant get enough of it!!… my dream, the Aurora Borealis!!