Kiruna I

Things a bored passenger will do while waiting for his flight...

Snow wilderness...

Kiruna Airport...

It isn't a tour without a group photo!

Just a few feet away from Ice Hotel...

Look what I have found at Ice Hotel...

Striking a pose be4 entering Ice Hotel...

Auto freezing Cups!

Ice Lounge...

Intricate cravings......

A lovely nuptial bed...

A tiny room tucked upstairs with space for just 1 bed...

Frozen Throne...for 4?

Bed...

Ice Chapel...

My favourite frosted glass...a souvenir from Ice Hotel...it isn't free though...abt SGD14..

Primitive sledge outside the Ice Hotel...

Inside the Lodge...

Mushers Lodge...our 1st nite lodging place...

Life has been okie if not boring until Kiruna trip. We headed north to Kiruna to see the Ice Hotel. Basically, it was a half-day affair as staying in the Ice Hotel would probably bankrupt Bill Gates' chauffeur. Even the entrance is exorbitant, but still, it's almost once in-a-life-time thing, so it's money well spent.

Kiruna and Back

Without any pictures (they are coming soon) to justify how enjoyable Kiruna, Sweden was, I shall just give a brief account.

Kiruna comes from the Sami Language Giron. It means ptarmigan which is a white bird local to the northern areas. It is located 145km north of the arctic circle, that means I have been to the Arctic!

Check-ins and transport were right on spot. No delays and miscommunications. Everything was clockwork. Many thanks to the planner, You-Ping for his efforts.

We had to take a plane for Copenhagen to Stockholm then another plane to Kiruna.Upon reaching Kiruna, everywhere was blanketed with fluffy puffy snow! It was literally a snow desert in the wilderness. First up, we popped by Ice Hotel.

Ice Hotel was very beautiful. It was also the first time I see snow. It came in heaps upon heaps. Dog sledge was interesting, the dogs were very cute and strong although they aren't exactly sure about toilet mannerism and also not quite discerning about what they eat(without getting too graphic let's just say they defecate and eat at the same place and eat everything!)

Ice-fishing was bad! Anyway, fishing in general did not occur to me as interesting to begin with. Haha. It was nonetheless an eye-opener. Snowball fights were fun, everybody enjoyed themselves thoroughly although the person bearing the brunt of the fights might have very different things to say.

Lappish (don't know if I got the spelling correct) hut stay was something like BMT field camp minus the barking commands and the heat. If there were proper sanitary facilities, I don't mind living there for a little longer.
The experience was made better with bacon-tasting reindeer meat for meals. Lingo berry jam was fabulous as was the crispy bread-like biscuit ( Frukost).

Oh before I forget, we were supposed to see the Northern Lights but becoz of the cloudy and snowy weather, we weren't fortunate enough. I am not complaining becoz the overall experience more than compensated for that.

Transited to Stockholm and spent a day and the half there. There were so many shops which made Orchard looked like a mama shop. However, being a pauper in Europe, shopping was near impossible. I had to seek solace in buying souvenirs which weren't exactly cheap either.(how auntie lar) haha.

Gist of my Kiruna Trip. Shall upload pictures real soon...

Weekend Out

some of the unfortunate members from the lake...

Big fat obnoxious ass...

Swan lake...

Two is good...

Perching on the 'sidewalk'...

Where there is food, they are there...

Standing on thin ice...

A birdy affair in the lake

This weekend, we decided to go to a winter flea market. On our way there, we passed by this lake. There were many birds which I have not seen in my life. Okie, maybe I have seen them somewhere in books or movies but they were stored in my fleeting memory.

It was the coldest day since my coming to Denmark. It was around -6deg the night before and ard -2deg in the middle of the day. Part of the lake froze and the birds can be seen standing on the thin sheet of ice. There were mandarin ducks, swans, some long-peaked birds. All weren't afraid of us since they were used to humans in close proximity feeding them.

On reaching the flea market, we were horrified to find out that there was admission fee! 30krs! OMG! How ridiculous. After coming to Denmark, I have come to this realisation that if you want to have fun, you got to have the $$$. Salsa costed 400krs for a semester. Shopping bags at the supermarkets are up for grabs at 5krs. Literally everything and anything need to be bought.

Had a wonderful buffet dinner at some turkish restaurant in Kobenhavn. It was 79krs and the food was fantastic. Wide variety and delicious food. Had to pay 17krs for a hot chocolate becoz buffet usually comes with a 'compulsory' drink over and on top of what you pay for the meal. The birds were not served at our buffet just case you did not know that my sense of humor is morbid.
Oh yes, did I mention that we are going to Kiruna in Sweden to see the Northern Lights and Ice Hotel. If I have, nvm me then. If I haven't, you have been informed...

A costly snub

$54million for a lost laptop? That's way too much! In fact, 100x less of that amount is still 100x too much. Campbell must be trying to get rich real quick.......or not?

She has a point in suing BEST BUY. The preceding judge should award Campbell a substantial sum to send stern warnings to errant service providers to make good on their end of the deal.

Some comments which I find absolutely foolish were that Campbell was not wise enough to remove all her sensitive data before sending it for repair. She should have. However, that's besides the point? Best Buy has a legal obligation to file a risk notice which they blatantly failed to. Also, the snub and attitude with which they handled the lost laptop has left much to be desired.

Campbell should have a very strong case since Best Buy wanted to settle out of court. This shows that they aren't confident of winning. Even if Campbell gets less than the $4100 Best Buy offered, she has already won. She has done the rest of the us good in bringing our attention that Best Buy is unreliable. In terms of economical loss, Best Buy will definitely lose quite a lot of sales. What a costly snub!

What I miss about Singapore

Food, cheap transportation like taxis(no puns intended), people, my room, tv, food again, weather, tennis, bed and more...

Growth Dividends
With a surplus of $6billion from 2007, the government will be giving away $1.8billion to everyone! Thumps up... $300 + $100 + $200(from GST) for me this year means I don't know why I deserve this amount, being a 'liability' of the nation but I am not complaining. We got some money in 2006 just before the elections, some more for GST offset in 2007 and this year even more.

Yes, to include one more 'miss' about S'pore is the money that our government gives.

A boring week

Caught in the act outside a candy store...

I was at Chirstiania...

A beautiful picture on one of the walls in Christiania...

Jeremie @ the international students' nite...

Spread for the international students' night...

School has started and work has resumed. Or at least it should have. By our very own definition, work is usually handled by the ministry of academic affairs, headed by Xiaoli. With a stellar accolade behind her belt, we are in good hands. There are so many projects to do. Not that I am complaining; if there r no projects for that module, it means there will be written exams. Now the idea of having a written exam isn't exactly that entertaining. It's a catch-22. You can't have everything for you.

On the topic of projects, our clique seems to have this mesmerising appeal. We have this group of other exchange students who try on one too many occasions to penetrate our clique and insisted we break up so that we can be offered opinions from people other than our own. Not that I discourage this idea, in fact, I applaud with the greatest agreement. However, they have a hidden agenda, that is to leverage on numbers. Excuse me, we may appear and act like intellectually challenged people from the far east, but we are smarter than we look or speak.

Our weekend routine is heading to Copenhagen to explore every nooks and crannies. Last weekend, we decided to search for some queer bars/pubs. We found a few but there were not as 'fun' as we have expected them to be. Later today, we are off to buy train tix for our Amsterdam trip.

CNY in DTU

CNY dinner 2008 in DTU...

A toast before the dinner starts...

Our friends joining in the festive celebratory gestures...

Best decor award goes to the scallop...

My fav dish of the night was the Korean Spicy Pork...

Chicken Stew by urs truly...

Fish with some colorful garnishes...

Sambal prawns...

Some spanish alcoholic drink which is my favourite...

Asia alliance...

L-R: Dan (Aust), Sam (Aust) and Adam(USA)...

With my Korean friend, Hye Jin...

Weirdo glasses...

The future of Singapore is in serious doubt...

Don't ask me who he is trying to smooch...

An intoxicated yet lovable bunch?

The gurls...

For the first time, I am celebrating Chinese New Year in a foreign land with friends whom I have known for just a while. We gathered mostly Singaporeans in DTU and Koreans who also happen to celebrate CNY for a sumptuous reunion dinner of our own. We were pleased to have with us friends from the States and Australia to join in the fun.

What's special is we cooked our own food! I tried my hands on Chicken stew and it was not too bad considering no one had a bad stomach after that. The next day, Dan cooked for us Cheese cake and chocolate cake. They were darn good, trust me. It had us asking for more!

We headed to Kampsax at DTU to have a few drinks. Place is alrite and the beer was very cheap! DKK10 for 1-1 beer between 9-11pm. Not wanting to turn into a chronic beer lover, I had to settle for a little more than 1 bottle. No offense but beer is so not my cup of drink. I prefer baileys and the spanish concoction which I had on CNY's eve.