good guys often fucked themselves up simply by being good.

finally… HOLIDAY!!!!!!! Most people have left for their home countries. The nbs dudes are all gone.

Girl with the candles on her head. Swedish somehow celebrated this Lucia Day, which is in conjunction with christmas celebrations I suppose.

It’s the exams for second segment in a week. Time to hug buddha’s legs again. After these, it would be pack up to leave Sweden. Christmas here, and leave for Rome the next day, London after Rome, and back to Sweden after new year’s day. Skiing around in Sweden when I’m back from the trip, then it’s the long flight back to Singapore. Hai~

I’m back from the arctic circle, KIRUNA, Sweden….. a few frozen fingers and toes…. but I’m still alive.
It’s warm here in Jonkoping, 2 deg C.

Pictures: end of November activities

Pictures: kiruna

Members: Me, Richard, Gigi, Aras, Xia Heng

We set off from school at 4pm, went to Falkoping by bus, changed train to Boden, the very long night train ride. At Boden, change train again to Kiruna. About 18 hours on the move, over 1000 km across the vertical length of Sweden. Day 1 was just spent travelling really.. When we arrived on day 2, we went straight to visit the Ice Hotel. Still under construction as we are “early”, so we didn’t really see much of it. Kinda disappointing though. Checked into our hostel and the rest of the day was spent walking round and exploring the small town.

Day 3 next morning, we went for cross country skiing. First time on the ski, I was pathetic. Trying to climb up the slope was the worst. Everyone went ahead, and soon it was just me and richard left. falling and hurting our butts. Going downhill was nice, but I couldn’t control nor stand up properly… hahaha so it was just squatting down and sliding. After a few painful hit to my tailbone, I call it quits, and went back to hostel for lunch with richard and xia heng. Aras was long gone. lol, injured his shoulders. Gigi was the only one surviving well and playing with daniel, reno, sergio and denise. Probably thanks to her big butt to cushion the impacts. HAHAHA just joking. Went to the world’s largest iron mine in Kiruna for a tour. It turned out to be better than expected, and changed my perception of mines. The working conditions in the mine is really different, remote controls removed most of the hazards and noise from the extraction. Rest of the day is spent walking around the city again, taking random pics and joining a quiz between the Latinos, Asians and Central Europe.

Day 4, wilderness adventure, where the fun begins. We set off in 3 vehicles to the meeting point of the dogs and snow mobile. Long time to prepare the dogs and briefing on the safety and precautions. But it was a great experience on the dog sledge. I didn’t get to drive the snow mobile towards the hut, but I did when coming back. Driving snow mobile is easier than driving toy cars. HAHAHA The dogs (huskies) howl a lot and has a very strong smell. HAHAHA therefore the girls aren’t too happy near it. Wind makes the -13 deg C feel like -30… my fingers and toes started to freeze. First up is to cut firewoods, it’s difficult somewhat… Maybe I’m too weak. LOL. Then it’s lunch, reindeer pasta. I didn’t quite like the way he cooked it. Still have the meat smell. BBQ was for dinner, some frozen chicken breasts, rice and tomato sauce. Not nice. Night was spent playing cards again. Nothing better to do. Slept a lot while others went for sauna.
Day 5. Woke up super late, everyone had their breakfast and nothing left for us. There’s choice of skiing or butt skiing as I called it. I took a walk down the frozen lake to take pictures instead. Soon it was lunch again. HAHAHA outfield life is like this. Always looking forward to the next meal. This time the reindeer meat pasta is better. Gigi said this time it’s smoked reindeer meat. She and the rest didn’t quite like it as they find it salty. I thought this is the best. HAHAHA I’m weird. Snowball fighting is next, Asia vs Non Asia. We lost pathetically. Soon it was time to go, dog sledging and snow mobile back. This time I drove the snow mobile, in the dark. So simple. Switched to dog sledge halfway, but the dogs are so slow this time. Wonder if it’s because we are heavy and fat. Getting back in hostel, it’s dinner, bath, shit and sleep again.

Day 6. We had till 1.30pm to roam around. So we went shopping, and soon we’re back on the train to Boden. Then the long night train to Falkoping. Bus back to Jonkoping on day 7. Wanted to do laundry and sleep, but was dragged to the christmas market by the girls. Since they are pretty, I said alright. HAHAHA But the market was disappointing enough. Nothing much to see or buy. That’s all. Rainy Jonkoping. We want SNOW.