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...