Day 42 Santa Claus Village: A major disappointment

I visited the Santa Claus Village when I was in Levi, Lapland, and my god, I was utterly disappointed by it. Sorry if it destroyed your dream of this fantasy land, but seriously, everything in the Santa Claus village is a money sucker. Okay, it's not THAT bad, but I guess I had higher expectations from this supposedly "magical" place.

But I think I still had fun at the village. Writing like millions of postcards, taking photos with almost everything there (except Santa because it costs like 20 Euros to take a picture/ see him).

(Photo: Me and the sign-post. I could not locate Hong Kong there though, the closest was Beijing.)

(Photo: Me in front of the two post-boxes.)

(Photo: yea, that's right. Santa is here.)

(Photo: Found one on the road.)

(Photo: Christmas Ornaments! The legit ones! hehe, not the ones Uncle Simon bought from China! Don't worry Auntie Kathy, I got you some, it should be on their way now!)

(Photo: Me and the sunset!)

(Photo: Oh and I was at the Arctic Circle as well, how cool is that!)

Day 41 Aurora Borealis, aka Northern Lights

Witnessing the incredible Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, did not happen on Day 41. In fact, I have left Lapland and is now in Helsinki, but I feel that seeing the Aurora Borealis is such a wonderful experience that it deserves an entry of its own, so here it goes...



On New Year's Eve, also our last day in Lapland, we decided to try our luck again by hiking for more than 20 mins (in the cold) into an open but dark area to see the Aurora Borealis. Just as we were finishing up our New Year's Eve dinner, there was a loud noise at the door and everyone was shouting that there was a tint of green in the sky. We decided that it was time for the Northern Lights to show, so we immediately added a lot of layers of clothes and headed straight to a dark area.

(Photo: On our way to the dark wilderness.)

And oh man, it was unbelievably amazing.

(Photo: Aurora Borealis in all its glory.)

The Aurora Borealis can be seen in any places (as long as there was one in the sky), but it would be better in a dark wilderness. So as we were walking into a darker region, it seemed like the Aurora was getting stronger and stronger, greener and greener and welcoming us along the way.

(Photo: See how the pattern changes?)

(Photo: This photo was only taken seconds after the photo above, and already, the pattern changed! How amazing is that!)

(Photo: See the tint of red above the green?)

As we got to the dark wilderness, the view was just awesome. It did amazing things to our eyes. If you stare at it for longer period, it changed from green to a bit pink then green again. The Aurora Borealis was never the same at anytime. It formed different patterns, different shapes, different colours, different intensity, different contrasts with the sky and with the surroundings. It was just amazing seeing the nature like this.

I don't think anyone can capture the beauty of the Aurora, nor should they attempt to do so. Because the Aurora is so much more than just green lights or any colour of lights on the sky. The camera can never capture my eagerness to see the Aurora, nor my excitement to see it, nor my amazement when seeing it.



Seeing something as pretty as this also makes me realize that there are so much in life than I don't know. I am not talking about academics, finance, economics etc, I am talking about the nature, how does the nature react the way it does, and how many more incredible phenomenon I have yet to experience.

well, I am officially listing 'seeing Aurora Borealis' as one of the things you have to do before you die.

Day 40 Can Levi get any prettier?

This blog entry is dedicated to my sister, who had her birthday on 11 Feb and probably had no time to celebrate because of her exams. Happy Birthday Jac, I did not have time to wish you a proper happy birthday because I was busy preparing this clip for you. Hope you like it!



What really shock me most about Lapland is the amount of trees I see here. Seriously, the number of trees I see in a day in Lapland is more than the number of trees I see in my entire life in Hong Kong. Staying in Lapland, I feel like mother nature is wrapping her arms around me. Everyday, I see trees, snow, rising sun and more trees, not sky-scrapers and concrete buildings.

I am enjoying myself here, seeing the nature, but I think that it is a bit too quiet here. I saw some houses in the middle of the road, and really, in the middle of nowhere. I don't think I can ever imagine myself or anyone living there, where you have to travel for hours and hours for school, work or even for groceries. I was actually a bit shocked to see that there are people living in the middle of the road.

But still I love it here so much. When I retire or am extremely sick of Hong Kong, I think I might spend some time back in Levi or anywhere in Finland.

Day 39 Chinese New Year at the cottage!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE! In the year of Tiger, I wish everyone good health and have great prosperity in the coming year! May the Tiger bless my family and my friends, wish them all a very healthy tiger year!

I think this year is my first Chinese New Year away from my family. (sniff sniff, I miss my family!! But I am sure that I will have a lot of years ahead of me spending my time with them in CNY!)

I have yet to introduce you all to the place where we stay in Lapland. Well, in the previous entries, I call it "the cottage", because it is what the locals call them. We stayed at the cottage in Lapland.


There were 5 of us in the cottage, it is a very cozy one and I love it so much.

(Photo: the front door, with Dong! Dong is a really really good cook!)

(Photo: The kitchen and the dining area)

(Photo: The Living Room, where we all hang out. The stairs lead to up upstairs, where there are two rooms.)

To brighten up our cottage with some CNY decorations, I brought along the decorations sent by Gloria! Thanks Gloria!

(Photo: They are so neat! Thanks again Gloria!)

(Photo: Dong also whipped up a delicious CNY feast for the entire cottage! It was delicious!)

Back to our cottage, it is very very near the skiing area and the major souvenirs shops. We just have to walk for less than 10 mins to get to the skiing area!
(Photo: Neat eh? I would recommend anyone to stay there when you are in Lapland! Hint hint, Barbora, you should check out these cottages!)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Day 38 Visiting Santa's rides: A day at the reindeer's farm

There are several must-do things in Lapland, while one of them is riding the husky-pulled sleighs, the other is visiting the infamous reindeer's farm and maybe get a reindeer-pulled sleigh-ride. If you are reading my entries from yesterday, you will know that I have already done the first one, so today, we did the later two. And oh man, the experience was INCREDIBLE!

So there we were, waking up early in the morning (as they say, the earliest worm catches the fattest worm), and headed to a reindeer's farm. It was cold but we, at least I, did not mind at all because I was about to see one of the most amazing creatures here in Lapland.

We got to the reindeer's farm at around 10 am, and were greeted by a genuine reindeer's herder, Johanna. She wore very pretty nordic traditional clothes which she later explained that she sew the entire outfit on his own and different tribes have different patterns of clothing.

We were first introduced to a reindeer. My first impression of reindeers is that they are wild animals and have different personalities. That reindeer we were introduced to was very reluctant to us stroking him.

(Photo: But Johanna talked to him and smoothed him down. Still, he was moving around when I took this photo with him!)

And then, we headed to the reindeer's sleighs. There were only 1 reindeer pulling a sleigh with 2 people in, unlike 8 huskies to one sleigh in the husky-sled. I have to say, I like the husky sleighs better than the reindeer's sleighs, probably because we cannot personally drive them, but there is a professional driver driving for us (so it took away the fun).

(Photo: Still, it was great fun being a passenger, and watching the reindeers run.)

After the ride, we tried feeding other reindeers. Surprisingly, they are actually quite reluctant to take our food, not sure if they are just not greedy or they are scared of us.

(Photo: hehe, but this small one is quite eager to eat from my hand!)

(Photo: And I tricked this one to come to me although I don't have any food in my hand. haha, tricked you!)

Afterwards, we went to Johanna's cottage, warmed up, had some coffee and pastries in front of a real wood-lit fire. Johanna said that the cottage is really old, her great great grandparents has once lived there!
(Photo: me and the fireplace, it is very very warm! It warmed up the entire room!)

While warming up, Johanna shared some of the traditions and customs of raising reindeers.

1. Reindeers have summer breaks! In summer, when there is no snow and no sleighs to pull, Johanna will let these reindeers go free into the forest and let them breed and have their summer holidays!

2. When winter comes, actually before winter comes, Johanna will go deep into the forest and go search for them! Each reindeer's ear has a unique marking that symbolizes that it is owned by someone.
(Photo: see the ears?)

3. Reindeers' antlers fall off by themselves and they grow on their own. But sometimes, reindeer herder needs to cut them off so that it is easier to work with the reindeers.
(Photo: this is a huge antler!)

oh and guess what, I got a reindeer's driving license! (Photo: Me and Johanna and my driving license! She said that next time we come, if it is summer, then we can help with rounding up the reindeers with her!)

(Photo: I know I know, this is such a touristy gimmick, but I love it!)

I had such a great time in the farm! And I learnt so much about being a reindeer herder as well! I think life is really simple for Johanna or any other herder, you train the reindeers, you take care of the reindeers. It is quite a hard life, but I think Johanna loves her work.

(Photo: Thanks so much!)

Day 37 Huskies and downhill skiing!

Yesterday I thought that Lapland is quite similar to any other places in Finland: snow and snow-covered trees everywhere. But today as I was on the bus going to the husky farm to go on husky-pulled sleds, I really do think that Lapland is quite special and so much prettier than Helsinki!

I had an amazing day today, so amazing! Early at 9 am, we went to the husky farm to go on husky sleds.

(Photo: This was the view I saw on the coach as we went to the husky farm. It was so pretty! These snow-covered trees have three layers of colours. Bottom layer: Dark green; middle-to-top layer: Snow white; top layer: yellowish white (because of the morning sun shining onto them). Simply beautiful! I think you can only see these colours on the trees if you really look at them, makes me think of the Pocahontas song about the nature.)

We arrived at the husky farm at about 10 am. We had a short lecture on how to guide the sled, as we had to drive our own dog sleds ourselves! It was so fun and those huskies were super cute!

(The huskies are HUGE! probably because of the fur though. They actually live in dog kennels IN THE SNOW! yes, IN THE SNOW! This makes me wonder how huskies survive in Hong Kong.)

(Photo: This little one I am holding is really really cute! He doesn't bark or move around when we try to hold him. He just stayed there, looking cute.)

(Photo: Me driving the sled, with my passenger Junrong on! I think I am quite a good husky-driver, I braked at exact moments, and I kept my distance with other sleds. Funny enough, I thought I would have a whip or something to tell the huskies to accelerate, but nope, they ran on their own. They got extremely agitated when we tried to stop them, barking crazy.)

(Photo: Me as a passenger this time, taking this photo. Oh, and some huskies shit when they ran as well.)

(Photo: More photos of me and the huskies! They are so cute, I want to steal one home, but I will have to put it into the freezer to keep it alive =.=)

After going on husky sleds, we had a quick lunch back at the cottage and went straight to do downhill skiing. If there is one thing I want to say about downhill skiing, that is:
"I LOVE SKIING!"
I now understand why people in Hong Kong would go all the way to Japan or Korea to ski. Skiing is SO MUCH FUN!



Well, my first try was pretty embarrassing. I tried sliding down without knowing how to brake. So I went down the slope, and thought, "Ah, this is fun." then I gathered speed, and thought, "Hm, okay, I am gaining speed." then I gathered more speed, and thought, "okay now, this is fast." then I gathered more speed, and thought, "okay, this is dangerously fast now." then I gathered more speed, and thought, "okay okay, calm down, should I fall over now or later".

Then as I was still mentally battling whether I should fall down or what, I was at the bottom of the slope, going dangerously fast, and hit a snow pile at the bottom of the slope. Yep, that was my first try.



So then, I learnt how to brake. After a few rounds of practice, I am so in love with skiing! I am not kidding, it is so fun. It is sort of like an adrenaline rush as you ski down the slope, and then everytime you ski down, you cannot wait to get up the slope again to ski down, and you think that the ski lift is way too slow to get you up the slope!

(Photo: This is the slope where I went down again again again again and again. It is so much fun! Actually this slope is the kid's slope, but please note that this is the Finnish kid's slope, so I think we ski quite good already!)

I had such a good day today, my entire body is really sore from the falling from snowboarding and the skiing! Looking forward to a relaxing evening, have a great night everyone!

Day 36 Snow-boarding In the land of Lap.

(I was misguided by a certain red-haired individual that there will be no internet connection in the cottage, but it turns out that there is, so I am borrowing my cottage-mate's laptop to update this, ARGH red-haired woman!)

I find names of places in Finland very interesting, first we have Finland, then we have lapland, what exactly do Fin and Lap mean in the first place? I have absolutely no idea, but I guess that is how things work here.

I left for Lapland yesterday at 10pm, the journey from Helsinki to Lapland takes about 12-1/2 hours (roughly the time necessary to go from HK to Helsinki by plane). Lapland lies to the north of the Arctic Circle, here you can enjoy the natural wonders of the northern regions, discover the tranquility of the virgin wilderness, experience the polar night, meet the real Santa and his reindeer.

But the first thing we heard when we left for Lapland was not good news at all, in fact,
(Photo: our coach broke down, so we had to wait for another coach to come, they originally wanted us to wait in the cold, but we fight for indoors, so here we are, in the broken-down bus, waiting for another bus.)

(Photo: There were only 2 stops on this 12-and-a-half hour trip. One was this food market/ gas station stop, we stopped there at about 3 am.)

(Photo: And so the coach went on for hours, I saw the sunrise on the bus! The sun then tailed behind us as we furthered our journey.)

(Photo: This is our coach, good job coach, we survived travelling on the snow!)

The highlight of today was snow-boarding. Well, sort of, I didn't exactly snow-board, but fell, tried to stand up, fell again, gathered my courage to stand up again, slided a few metres, fell down, and the cycle repeated itself.

But still, I think I looked cool in my snow-boarding gear, but looked like a fool snow-boarding down.
(Photo: The boots were really heavy! I felt like a robot wearing these!)

(Photo: Me and my rented snowboard. My arms and legs are aching from the falling, getting up on the snow and finally giving up and walking down the slope to a gentler slope.)

(Photo: This was the slope that I snow-boarded down. I later read on the map that it was one of the hardest slopes. Hm... maybe I should try an easier slope next time!)

At night, we decided to see the Northern Lights by hiking for about 30 mins to a really dark wilderness.

(Photo: Into the dark. But we did not see the Northern Lights at the end after waiting for about 15 mins. We decided it was too cold and left. I guess I will just have to try my luck tomorrow then.)