I did the artic (again)....

Hi guys,

If you wondering where were I for sometimes, guess what, I just did the Artic (again)!
But this time, I traveled a lot lighter - only my camera (Canon EOS 5D mark II), tripod, remote control, and Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L USM - only lens I took with me.

I am on my way to work with pictures that I took from up north, but since I took more than 2500 shots, I hope you will understand if it takes me sometimes before I finish with them.

But for the moment, here is a  little souvenir from Bergen - HOMEMADE POSTCARD made by me with all my digital scrapbooking things that I have around my computer. I hope you'll like it.

I promise, later on, I will give you tips about "IF YOU COULD ONLY HAVE 1 LENS WITH YOU" ... and of course gallery picture of my trip (when I've done with them, of course *_* )

Cheers,

Novita

Hunting The Light - Part VI ( The end)

Last day of my trip with Hurtigruten MS Polarlys. I arrived 30 minutes late than scheduled at Kirkenes, which I didn't mind at all, at least I had more time to spend on the boat.

As instructed on the paper the night before, I had dropped my luggage to the nearest elevator on my level, so I only need to carry my 16-kg camera bag, plus my all-in hobo bag with me (I was over charged with things I carried with me). Tell me I if I am stupid, but I don't care, I skipped the breakfast, which is already included to the price of my room, instead I waited at the cafetaria until the waffle was ready, of course accompanied with the super good hot chocolate, and why I said I was stupid, because I had to pay for them from my own pocket.

Arrived at Kirkenes, I found my luggage outside the port, right next to the bus stop, and no one touch or steal it (hey, I was in Norway per say LOL). I took the bus for the center of Kirkenes, to be exact for the Rica Artic hotel, and this 10-minute trip cost me NOK 25, which is less expensive than either my waffle or my hot chocolate LOL. In between this trip, I saw something that mesmerized me. According to the information I found on the boat, Kirkenes had only about 5000 habitant, which mean, not that much people for a town. But what I saw during this trip was a huge cemetary on the road side, and I bet there hundreds of tombs stone on it. I wonder if it's the victim of the alcohol, because as I heard, people at Finnmark, where Kirkenes was situated, they never drink alcohol during the winter when the sun is up, but the problem, during winter, they never had sun, or the direct translation was, they were kinda "alcoholic" per say.

I actually had another night to pass on at Kirkenes before catching my flight to go back to Zurich the next day. I went to have a walk around Kirkenes, including visited the site of the famous "snow hotel" - they haven't built the hotel yet during that time cause the weather wasn't cold enough to hold the igloo with all it's electrecity supplies, took pictures of reindeers, huskies, and even almost got tailed by some "punk" teens.

Well, that's all the adventure I could share with you from this trip. I hope to travel again sometimes soon to the place where I could experience something totally abnormal so I could share my "bonheure" (hope I spelled it correctly" with you :)

*_* Novita

Hunting The Light - Part V (Journey Up North Part II)

In this part, I will reveal two important things : my encounter with Ms. Boreale, and my favorite parts on Polarlys.

So, let's talk about Ms. Boreale first. I just finished with my dinner, I haven't even touched the dessert (how bad was that...let's my dessert wasted...darn), and we heared the announcement that "there were northern lights appear on the sky", I grabbed my camera and tripod which I carried with me to the restaurant (how freaky I was), but I left the most imporant thing behind...my jacket, but that's the detail, I ran to out to the passage on the 5th floor (the restaurant was on the 4th floor) asked everyone to excuse me if I blocked their view or stepped on their feet, took my place and started to take pictures. After sometimes, I started to shake and that's the time I realized I was taking picture in the artic circle without any jacket on me, duhhhh..............anyhow, I took about 200 pictures of it (how lucky I was, Ms. Boreale was in the good mood so she made the appearance for about 2.5 hours on and off), even though only a fraction of them I really like.

Now, about my favorite parts on Polarlys. I like the cafetaria area, because they have the best hot chocolate and waffle. Prices on the cafetaria were quite descent if you compare with the price at Tromso (don't compare with prices on your home country, then you will let yourself starving in Norway). A cup of hot chocolate for 26 NOK, and about the same for a hot waffle fresh from the maker ;)

I also love the passage on the 5th floor. I could make the tour around the boat without anything obstruct my view. What I experienced with the massive cruise ship is that, I always have to find my way to get to the place where I could take picture without anything that blocked my view, and without the marked of restricted area...ugh.

If there is anyone on the polarlys that will hate me, I think it'll be the lady on the tourist advisory desk. I kept disturb her with the question about "how's the chance for me to see Ms. Boreale tonight?" LOL...I believe she felt relieved when I left the boat.

During our stop at Honningsvag, I went out for the excursion to the Nordkapp with other passangers. It's an hour bus ride from Honningsvag to the Nordkapp, which based on Francesco Negri was the end of the world. We're quite lucky because the weather was "nice" on that day, so I still had about 10 minutes of "sunlight" to take pictures with when we arrived there.

(to be continued...)

Hunting The Lights - Part IV ( Journey Up North part I)

I took me 3 hot chocolates to encourage myself to lift my butt off the hotel's chair. If I have other choice, then I will want to stay forever in Tromso. But well, time to go...I arrived couple minutes before my ride hit the pier, so I had enough time to take some close-up of her.

Isn't she is a beauty???

This time, I will ride on Hurtigruten MS Polarlys. In term of size, this is the smallest "passanger boat" I ever took in my life, but have someone already told you about "small is beautiful", so does Polarlys. This is the cutest passanger boat (they called it postal boat in Norway) I've ever seen. It's so cute, it took me about 30 minutes to explore the all levels of this boats LOL.

Polarlys is a descent size of passanger boat. It has a nice size restaurant, bar, panoramic bar and a 24 hours cafetaria. Don't try to compare it with any "leisure cruise ships" because they are just incomparable. I should say, even for me, the size of the bedroom is small, something around 3 meters x 2 meters, with a very standard amenities, and in this case, I am not trying to describe on details about the size of the bathroom in that size of room, you guess it ;) But again, since this is the most challenging part of this journey, put behind all the luxury and try to enjoy yourself with the basic. The restaurant, even it's small, but it served great foods in small portion, but again, it's one of those delicious foods you will find on those 5 stars gourmet restaurants. I will tell you in detail about my favorite parts of the boat next time, for the moment, I will just go through the list of facilities they have. Ok, so, they have a tiny sauna, a limited playing room for children, a 3-computer internet "cafe", a small but packed souvenir shop, and a travel advisory center. There were also 2 mail boxes on the ship, one in front of the souvenir shop, and the other one on the receptionist area. If you drop your mail on the one at the souvenir shop, then your mail will have the post mark of the boat. If you drop it to the one at the receptionist area, then your mail will have the post mark of the next stop of the boat from the local postal office, depends on when you drop your mail. But if you want your mail marked with the post mark of Nordkapp, then you have to carry your mail all by yourself to the Nordkapp, and drop it into one of those famous red mail box at the Nordkapp Hall.

(to be continued...)

Hunting The Light - Part III (I was doomed)

My main reason to go to Northern Norway in the winter was simply to take picture of the northern light a.k.a Aurora Boréale. I had contacted couple of people who could provides me with the "Chasing the Northern Light" tour, bought all equipments I might need during that "chasing" part, and worse, got super excited with what I will see based on the story I read on blogs and internet.

When the day of my "chasing mother nature" activity arrived, I got a bit jumpy, typical highschool student who will got her first-time date LOL. First bad sign, the sky was covered :( Even though it was "dark" all day, I still could tell when it's a clear or cloudy sky in Tromso (for this, I felt I was cool enough LOL), second sign, the guy who should gave me a company, Gorran, he couldn't show up, so he replaced by his friend, Ygor. When we started to drive and stopped in the middle of nowhere, I felt the gust of the wind around me wasn't typical what Ms. Aurora Boréale would like best, it's too gusty. But Ygor told us, no worry, he was contacting his friends, and they found some clearing spots somewhere around the E6. Then we drove again, but I started feel suspicious with what I will achieved that night. Couple hours later, he told us, we almost reached the border with Finland, so he though there were no use for us to continue, and that's the end of the super adventure for "chasing the northern light", FREAK!

(to be continued...)