Travel to the Wonderland: December 2016

Monday, 26 December 2016

Finland & Norway Trip Day 6 - Inari & Karasjok

Initially, we planned to visit Guesthouse Husky before making our way to neighbouring Norway, but since the snow is not thick enough to do any husky safari, we decided to visit Siida, a museum showcasing Sami culture and nature of Northern Lapland instead. After breakfast, we check out of the hotel with our luggage and went to the nearby bus terminal to wait for the bus to Inari.

The bus journey from Ivalo to Inari passes by various scenic lakes, including Lake Inari. After alighting from the bus, we lost our way and ended up at Sajos, a cultural centre. Luckily, a kind lady at the cultural centre allows us to deposit our luggage with her while we make our way to Siida.

Passing by Lake Inari on our way.

We spent the whole afternoon learning more about Sami culture and how human, animals and plants survive under the harsh environment of this northern part of the world.

We went back to pick up our luggage, and since it was still early, we shopped for some souvenirs at a souvenir shop nearby before waiting for the bus to Karasjok outside Hotel Inari.

Lake Inari next to Hotel Inari

The road from Inari to Karasjok was quite bumpy, especially along Utsjoki, and we reach Karasjok after a 2 hours bus ride. For our first night in Norway, we'll be staying at Lily's House which we booked through Airbnb. There wasn't too much accommodation choices in Karasjok, and Lily's House stood out due to its price, and its reviews in Airbnb were quite good. We took some time to locate Lily's House, and spent another 15 minutes standing out in the cold as the person inside the house did not respond to the door bell and various knocking at the doors & windows. When we finally caught her attention, we were led into the house and then she left us almost immediately with no instructions. One of my friends immediately tried to contact Lily, while the rest of us went around to inspect the house. Adding on to our astonishment, the house was quite dirty with bread or biscuit crumbs all over the table, unwashed glasses in the basin, and the beds were not even made. Based on the condition of the house, we decided that it is better to keep it as its current condition, and just boil some water to eat the cup noodles that we fortunately bought along with us for dinner.

Things did not get better when Lily finally appear, and she told us with a very straight face that we have to make our own beds. As we were quite concerned that it will get cold in the night since there is only 1 small heater in the bedroom, Lily started the fireplace in order to heat up the whole apartment before leaving us to go back to work. We decided to make do with whatever we have since we'll only be staying there for a night. This was my first time staying in an apartment booked through Airbnb, but my friends assured me that their other experiences with Airbnb were much more better. Anyway, for the price that we paid to stay in Lily House, we probably cannot expect too much, since the standard of living in Norway is exceptionally high.

After checking the forecast, we decided that was not a good night for aurora hunting. We went to bed early and hoped that the subsequent days of our journey in Norway will fare better than today's experience.

Up next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 7 - Alta

Previously: Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 2 - Ivalo

Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 2 - Ivalo

The trip from Kakslauttanen to Ivalo took about 1 hour, and we drop off at the bus stop in front of Hotel Ivalo. As it is not the peak season yet, we were offered the rooms with better views (facing the Ivalo River).

Rocking chair next to the fireplace where you could relax while staying warm

Our room

After settling down, we spent some time strolling along the Ivalo River, before walking to the town centre for our late lunch.

Ivalo River

There aren't too many shops in the town other than a big K-Mart, and we settled our lunch at a random burger shop.

Even though there is virtually nothing to do in Ivalo, we made a point to come here as Ivalo is listed in many websites as 1 of the top 5 locations to view the Northern Lights in the world. Since our knowledge of the Northern Lights came mainly from the Internet, we decided to understand more from a local - our friendly receptionist in Hotel Ivalo. She taught us to check the local meteorological website for cloud coverage, and also the aurora forecast website of the University of Alaska Fairbanks for aurora activities as the website uses the satellite data to do the analysis. Kudos to her for patiently answering our all questions, and also giving us suggestion on where to go the next day! Based on her checks, there is a solar storm that night. However, as the cloud coverage is also high, she suggested that we could join the Northern Lights hunting tour organised by Club Nord, Hotel Ivalo's in-house tour company, as the tour would bring us to places where the clouds are usually less dense to wait for the Northern Lights.

My friends and I discussed our options while doing our sauna; I was looking forward to soaking in the jacuzzi pool before the sauna, but unfortunately Hotel Ivalo did not open the pool, probably because it was not the peak season yet. Anyway, we were not too optimistic that the clouds will disperse, and from various reviews, we knew that if we were lucky enough, we could also see the Northern Lights conveniently at the back of Hotel Ivalo along the Ivalo River. Coupled with the information from some other smartphone apps, we came to a conclusion that we will not join the tour, and try to wake up close to midnight to do some aurora hunting ourselves along the Ivalo River.

Indeed, our strategy paid off, and we managed to see some Northern Lights after waiting along the river for a while. Although it was not visible across the whole sky due to the heavy clouds, it was already a very awesome feeling for us to be able to witness this natural phenomenon.

As the clouds move in once again, we went back to our rooms to "thaw" ourselves, and we really look forward to seeing more sightings of the Northern Lights in the days to come.

Up Next: Finland & Norway Trip Day 6 - Inari & Karasjok
Previously: Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 1 - Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort

Saturday, 24 December 2016

Finland & Norway Trip Day 5 Part 1 - Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort

For a person living in the tropics like me, staying in an igloos is a far-fetch thought, and we can only wonder how does it feels like staying in these snow houses. Since we've already travelled so far to the arctic region, we did not want to miss the opportunity to sleep under the stars in the warmth of the igloo. As such, we booked a 1 night stay at Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, a famous glass igloo resort which attracts even the world renowned fashion label Ralph Lauren to go there for a photo shoot in 2015.

The long distance bus from Rovaniemi stops near the East Village of the resort, but our 4 person igloo is situated at the West Village. As such, the receptionist at the East Village arranged for a van to pick us up to the West Village. The van was quite prompt, unlike what was mentioned in certain reviews, and the journey to the West Village took less than 10 minutes.

Reception area at East Village

Reception area at West Village

Inside the reception area

Map of the West Village

As the 4 person igloo is big enough, we do not need to deposit our luggage at the deposit area. The receptionist kindly offered to send our luggage over to the igloo so that we do not need to drag them along the uneven roads. However, we kept our hands busy by going around and taking photographs of the glass igloos in the west village.

The 4 person igloo

With attached toilet & shower facilities

After settling down, we walked to the sauna centre that is located near our igloo, and spent the rest of the evening experiencing Finnish sauna. The snow greeted us as we finished the sauna, making the experience even more magical.

As it was a cloudy night, we couldn't see anything out of the glass panels, and so we tried to keep ourselves entertained by taking pictures of our own reflections.

The next morning after breakfast, we were given the golden opportunity to be shown around the resort, where we visited the different types of accommodation and various attractions in the resort.

Log Chalets - fully equipped with a kitchen and a private sauna

Inside the log chalet

Kelo-Glass igloo

A combination of the glass igloo & the log cabins, where you can enjoy the best of both worlds

Inside the Kelo-Glass igloo, where the beds are in the glass igloo section, and the rest such as living room, kitchen, sauna, bathrooms etc are in the log cabins