Before I start off… let’s clarify what’s what…
Laplands: this area which is so up north that it’s within the Arctic Circle
Rovaniemi: the start of Lapland in Finland and where Santa Claus stays
Inari: even further up north where the Sami live
Sami: a group of people who are the original people who stayed in the Lapland
*this is going to be long!!!*
That’s so Finnish-ly nice
On the overnight train to Rovaniemi, we were in sitting in a café/drinking place playing “dai di” but we didn’t buy anything… then one drunk Finn tried to chase us away cos he wanted to the seat. So we got up to leave, I mean , since we didn’t buy anything so he’s justified to do so. But then the other Finns in the place told us to stay! They were all like “he’s drunk, just ignore him and play”. It’s so nice to see all of them support us, even though we didn’t “deserve” to stay there actually!
That’s so Santa
When we arrived at Rovaniemi, we visited the Santa Claus Village… Finland’s speciality! Haha… but it’s nothing much one lah… just that it’s where the “real” one is from… kids actually do write to him!
Apparently Singapore is 9394km from Santa
A real fire place in Santa's office
Letters from Singapore
That’s so beautifully white
The Santa Claus Village was located in the middle of no where… haha (actually it’s at the start of the Arctic Circle) so it was just trees, trees and more trees. But gosh, it’s so beautiful… I felt like I’m not on this earth, but in a winter white fairy land!
The Santa Claus Village was located in the middle of no where… haha (actually it’s at the start of the Arctic Circle) so it was just trees, trees and more trees. But gosh, it’s so beautiful… I felt like I’m not on this earth, but in a winter white fairy land!
The view from a tower
Isn't it so white? (I'm the one in red)That’s so woooo… piAk
While in Inari we tried kick sledding and a teeny bit of skiing on the frozen lake! It was fun. Haha… although on the first try… I fell and looked like a starfish on the ground. Hahaha, feel free to laugh when viewing the video! Haha I laughed till I cried… but it was a bit pain lah. Haha.
While in Inari we tried kick sledding and a teeny bit of skiing on the frozen lake! It was fun. Haha… although on the first try… I fell and looked like a starfish on the ground. Hahaha, feel free to laugh when viewing the video! Haha I laughed till I cried… but it was a bit pain lah. Haha.
View my fall here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD8KlZSJLSs
The kick sled
On the frozen lake - 2nd largest in Finland
The five of us
On top of a snow heapThat’s a reindeer
Yups! I fed reindeers… haha. but they are very scared-of-people-animals. Cos they are not the “commercial” reindeers, so they hardly have contact with people. View me feeding one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-sExLTNIg
Yups! I fed reindeers… haha. but they are very scared-of-people-animals. Cos they are not the “commercial” reindeers, so they hardly have contact with people. View me feeding one here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ-sExLTNIg
me and the reindeer
A running reindeer - cool pic right?That’s a Sami costume
Ellamaari – that’s the name of the Sami we visited. And she showed and told us about the background of the Samis. It’s very interesting… sadly they are a small bunch of people… and the language and culture is dying out.
Ellamaari and her husband's wedding picture. Looks like a prince and princess wedding right?
Me in a Sami winter costume!That’s sparklers
Haha, to celebrate a bit of Chinese New Year while in Lapland, we bought some sparklers to play with! It was freeeeeeezing out there in the dark lake. Haha, but it was fun while it lasted.
That’s how cold it was
When I said it was freezing… I meant it wholeheartedly. It was -27 degrees. How cold is that, you may ask… gauge how cold it was by the description of what I wore on my feet:
Layer 1 – tights
Layer 2 – cotton socks
Layer 3 – woolen socks
Layer 4 – heat pack
Layer 5 – my boots which has a fluffy woolen layer
And guess what? At first when I didn’t have the heat packs, my toes were freezing. With the heat packs, I felt “normal” without feeling the heat from them, although they were pretty burning hot. Amazing!
That’s a gamble
We didn’t see the aurora borealis (northern lights)… so we took a gamble to stay one more night to give it a shot (cos the sky was so much clearer that day). And yes! Our gamble paid off! It was amazing… out there in the middle of a dark frozen lake… we saw the fireworks of nature. You have to see it to be completely amazed at the wonders of nature. We only saw green colour… but hey, better than nothing! (pictures thanks to Fu Xiang's photography skills!)
We didn’t see the aurora borealis (northern lights)… so we took a gamble to stay one more night to give it a shot (cos the sky was so much clearer that day). And yes! Our gamble paid off! It was amazing… out there in the middle of a dark frozen lake… we saw the fireworks of nature. You have to see it to be completely amazed at the wonders of nature. We only saw green colour… but hey, better than nothing! (pictures thanks to Fu Xiang's photography skills!)
the sunset 
the northern lights!
To see more pictures, go click on "Flicker" on the right hand side of my blog!
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