Sweden: Kiruna (Snowmobile, Dogsled)

Next day we went to the 2-day, 1-night "northern light" tour led by Henrik as the guide



Here we were given thicker shoes and pants



So we took turns snowmobiling...



...thru the wilderness in the arctic circle...



...until we came to a lake.



A chain of dogs nearby, belonging to Henrik. Apparently, the dogs are chained apart from one another to keep them from attacking one another. Won't they be vulnerable to predators? What predators? The bears are hibernating.



Some of us went over first to help unload the things we need for tonight's stay @ lappish hut--food, bags and wood. Henrik explained that this area's trees are protected. So he actually brought the wood all the way to the lappish hut. Wah...



A male snowman was there to welcome us :)



We heaved the stuff up the slope...



...to the lappish hut



The P corner



Dear Mr P-man...




We had our lunch...



...consisting of reindeer meat, which is well-known for its low-fat(gd for losing wt) and tender meat. Anyway all our drinking water is directly fetched from the river that we rowed our boat across. No, the water isn't boiled.



During lunch, Henrick shared w us a few interesting stories. When he was younger, he used to hike around w his friends. Once in Greenland he and his friends were chased by polar bears. For a moment, he felt that he was nothing but dinner for the polar bear. No it wasn't a humourous thought but a solemn, grim and macabre thought. Just like how we look at chicken and pig as dinner for ourselves, the polar bear looked at us this way too.

He also taught us some basic survival tips. Eg It is always impt to wear a bigger shoe rather than a one just nice in such cold environment? Why?

Basically it all boils down to what we learnt in pri. school: air is the best insulator of cold. So u can wear less layers but as long as they trap air, it's better than more layers that trap less air.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chopping up wood for the night. Well, it was kinda ODAC or rovers, except that we were in the Arctic circle. And Henrik showed us how to chop the wood with a single stroke of the axe. Note the thick layer of snow on the roof.



Dinner was barbecue pork and rice



After dinner, Tim and I went for a walk around the area. Tim is this great Aussie whom I knew from the Russia trip. He's now probably somewhere in Germany and finishing off the rest of Europe b4 his Egypt tour.

The snow is really thick and soft so the snow is up to your knees most of the time.



I feel that walking around in the Arctic Circle is quite an experience. It's just deafening silence all around u and if u close your eyes, u'd think that u've placed earplugs in your ears. It's places like this when & where u question Man's ability to survive out here. Just miles & miles of emptiness in a cold, dreamy state. Yes, u feel like lying down, but there's the question of waking up.

We saw footprints made by some animal so we followed it all the way, arguing what animal it could be...(the left footprint is the animal's while the right is mine)



...until we came to a hole. I tried digging but it was too deep. The guide later told us it could be a weasel



Tim's Angel wing



Ice Stalactites are damn hard and there have been cases of person in Sweden being killed by dropping stalactites from the roofs of houses. Hence, the govt's decree that it's the responsibility of the house owner to remove the stalactite



I didn't want to go the Sauna so I stayed back to talk with 'Alnet'.



We managed to see glimpses of Aurora Borealis or northern lights but it was quite faint. My camera wasn't able to capture it, but this pic I found on the internet more or less shows what I saw, except it was fainter and the green lights were in streaks. Not that sorta fanciful ones that danced thruout the entire sky but at least I managed to see one.



Our cabin where we slept in reindeer fur



Next morning, I tried to ski but fell down a few times. :S



Everywhere around u is blue and u feel as if in a dream. A beautiful one.











Attempting to walk near the river is suicide. You never when those ice under u is just 1mm thick.



We dogsled the way back. Dogsled is v simple. All u have to do is to nudge your sled slightly forward. The dogs will sense it and they will start moving. If u wanna stop, u just use 1 foot to step on a brake at the back of the sled. The brake should always be pressed down if u dun wanna move. Only 2 things to watch out: 1.) if the sled catch up w the sled in front too much, the dogs might attack the other sled's dogs and it will be v hard to separate the dogs. 2.) if the string is slack, it might sometimes entangle itself around one dog's legs or neck, which will lead to devastating consequences when the other dogs start pulling



The dogs are really enthusiastic whenever they see u and will start howling and jumping around, eager to go. Here is the sound they make. Link

The dog sled way back was really really cold with the wind blowing on u. Some of us started to worry abt frostbite on the feet. Even my face, which never turns red no matter how drunk I am, does so this time.



Do u know that abt half of swedes have access to a second home? A second home far away from the city and out there in the woods. Swedes simply love nature.