Day 125 Into the wild

Today's weather was unbelievably nice. Temperature was around 21 degrees Celsius. We decided that we should go and explore the National Park in Espoo.

(Photo: On our way to Espoo national park)

(Photo: Just chillin')

(Photo: The map. LOL.. kidding, this wasn't the only map there, there were a lot of other maps with more details!)

(Photo: And so the journey began. Into the wild!)

(Photo: Picnic near the lake. Amazing view.)



Walking around the park and following the hiking trial, for a moment, I thought I was in one of those Enid Blyton's books (which I was obsessed with when I was young). I have made up my mind that I would hike more when I get back to HK.

Day 55 Jogging in the snow!

This morning, inspired by my parents (who just ran their marathons), I decided that I should put on my jogging shoes that my mum sent me all the way from Hong Kong (probably to remind me to exercise and not just sit on my chair like a potato), and go out jogging.

Only problem was, I have never jogged before on a ground that is covered with snow and in a near zero temperature. So getting dressed for jogging was a big issue. I had to keep warm, but not too warm because I would be exercising. I decided that I would only wear one pair of pants- my gym pants, a T-shirt, a fleece jacket that can zip up to my chin and gloves, of course. I thought that I would jog around till I am really cold and cannot take it any longer, then go back home and layer-up again. Since the temperature was considerably warmer than before, I anticipated that the snow will be melting a little, so I had to expect some slippery and muddy road.

Overall, I think it was a really good jog! I started at around 8 am, and just jogged all the way to some unknown roads that were near home. I didn't even know what the names of those roads were, but I just jogged and jogged and jogged, till I was out of breath, and feeling really warm under my fleece jacket.

I quite enjoy jogging in the cold weather and in the snow. In a way, it trained my brain, because I had to jump around for firmer snow when I jogged on. It is sort of like jogging outdoors in HK, where you have to jump around to avoid water puddles. And the temperature made me want to move around, so definitely a good motivation. I think I jogged for about 30 minutes and got really out-of-breath, probably because I haven't exercise for quite a long time.

Then on my way back home, I took a wrong turn on a road junction and got lost for a moment! It took me another 15 mins before I find myself on the right roads again.

Phew!

Day 49 A happy ending to a scary day!

The flight back to Helsinki from London was really good. Not only was my chair in perfect condition (i.e. I can recline.), there was also an empty seat between me and another passenger, so my arms could fully rest on the arm-rests! It was my first time traveling by budget airline, and I think I quite like the experience!

I am now back in Helsinki. Phew, it felt just like home when I stepped out of that plane. Although it was snowy, windy and colder than London, there is this tranquility in this place that I felt that I belong here, and nowhere else. London is a nice city, but it is way too crowded, people are too "city-like", so I like Helsinki so much more.

I met up with Barbora today at lunch to talk about my amazing trip, and learnt from her two scary pieces of news about downhill skiing.

1. Barbora's family went onto a downhill skiing trip, her father got hit by another skiier and needed stitches in his mouth.
2. A turkish girl in our exchange lost a front tooth when she was doing downhill skiing in Lapland.
God bless them, hope they feel better.

I did an entry in Day 44 about downhill skiing and its dangers. I think these news just confirmed my fear of downhill skiing. It is actually really dangerous!

Today was really a scary day for me. It so happened that I stayed in the computer lab till late, at around 9 pm. As I had put my coat near the front door, I needed to get from the computer lab to the front door. But the door inside the school to the front door was locked! (probably because it was late already!) It was freezing cold in Helsinki and seriously, I don't think I can live without a coat outside.

There was no one around the campus that we could ask for keys to unlock the door for us. As we frantically looked for telephone numbers of janitors and security guards, Barbora had an idea that we should probably just leave our coats there and called Karin and Klaus for help.

Klaus got some sweaters and coats for us and met us outside of the front door of the gate. So we went through the backdoor of the computer lab, to the front gate to meet Klaus. Just as we were putting on Klaus's sweaters, Klaus suddenly pointed out that the front door was actually unlocked from the outside!

Phew, what a strange school, the doors inside the campus are locked, but the doors to the outside are unlocked?! Hm, does that make any sense?

But still, we were just so happy to get our coats back!

A happy ending to a scary day.

Day 44 Downhill skiing and its dangers

I heard today from the Hong Kong newspapers that there was a Queen's College student who went downhill skiing in Korea, hit his head on a skiing post and died. News said that he knew how to ski, but probably not very good at it, he then tried out the advance course and that was when the accident happened.

As you know, from my previous posts, that I have recently grown in love with this sport. But I will have to admit, downhill skiing is actually quite dangerous and can be fatal when a beginner is 'too brave' and tries out the advanced course.



Having skiied only twice in my life, I have tried the advanced course in Lapland and as I was skiing down from that steep slope, I could think of multiple ways of getting myself injured or killed:

1. Other skiiers bump into you at a dangerously high speed.
2. you want to make a turn but lose control, your neck snaps or you crack your head.
3. you lose control of your skiis and bump into a tree, a block of ice or the ski lifts
4. you cannot get off the ski lift or the ski lift in front of you hit you on the head (I am not kidding, the ski lifts I am talking about are those that you wrap between your legs, not those that you sit on.)



So here is a little advice from a beginner like me, to all the beginners out there.

1. Stick to the beginner's course
2. If you really want to do a harder course, go with someone who skiis better than you and is willing to take care of you
3. If you are on a harder course, make sure that you are not going really fast.
4. If you feel like you are beginning to accelerate, intentionally make yourself fall down before it is too late (i.e. when you are at a dangerous speed).
5. Make snow plouge when you ski
6. Know that to be really good at skiing takes time. There was a Swiss exchange student who started skiing when she was 3 years old and probably go skiing every single day in Switzerland, she went crazy fast down the slopes. But beginners beware, don't try to follow the pros!

Well, that is all I have to say, skiing is fun, but sometimes you really have to watch it!

Happy skiing everyone!



By the way, I am heading to LONDON tonight! I am SUPER DUPER CUPER CHUPER EXCITED, WOOOHOOOO.
Oh, and I discovered that my 20-Euro universal adapter BROKE. =.=!
I think I will get an adapter in London.

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.)