"原来最暗的天空，总有最闪烁的星星。"
As usual, we reached London Gatwick Airport by taxi and throughout the whole journey, I listened to nothing else but Taylor's fourth album, which still stood as my favourite album of all time. We had our lunch while waiting for our flight and just when I was ready to fly with all of my smurfies, we received the bad news that our flight had been cancelled. =(
As a result, we're stuck in the airport with hundreds of others due to system failure. Frankly, I did not realise how much I wanted to visit Norway until the moment when I was told that we might get our full refund back and also that the seats for the next few days were fully booked.
Our trip came so close to being cancelled but thank God that everything worked out in the end. Our flight was delayed for a bit but the most important (and extremely lucky) thing was that we're still able to board the plane and we reached Tromso safely at night.
On the first day, we took a bus to cross the bridge and then a cable car up Mount Storsteinen to admire the exquisite panoramic view of Tromso from the top. Up there, we could literally see the entire Tromsoya island. For our entire trip, we experienced the unique phenomenon that was known as the polar night, in which the night lasted for more than 24 hours. Thus, we needed to grab and savour the only few hours of incredibly alluring blue twilight every day before the sky quickly became dark all over again.
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| Enchanted by the unbelievably beautiful landscape. |
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| The view of Tromsoya. |
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| The playground all covered in white snow. |
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| The surreal feeling. |
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| Just loved it here. |
However, due to strong winds and freezing temperature, we could only stay out in the open for a while before our fingers and toes turned cold and painful. Therefore, we had to retreat back to the building a couple of times to gather around the heater for warmth before we ventured out again.
Due to all of the shivering, we got hungry real quick and decided to have our lunch at the cafe up there. There was absolutely nothing better than a perfect glass of hot chocolate in this cold weather and we even tasted the reindeer burger for the first time (guilty but not guilty). =P
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Perfect to counter the cold weather.
And did I mention about the whipped cream that's so good? |
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| The reindeer burger. |
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| All of us in the cafe with amazing view. |
At night, we waited in front of a hotel for our tour guide to pick us up for our northern lights excursion. All of us did not dare to expect much as we knew all too well that with high expectation came big disappointment. The drive took about two hours and we were given some mandarin oranges to eat while he drove seven of us from the city into the middle of nowhere.
Once we reached our destination, we changed into a warm set of outfit provided or I for sure would freeze to death. With only a few flashlights flickering in absolute darkness, we formed a line and followed our tour guide into a big area of plain ground filled with thick snow.
We're offered hot chocolates and then treated with biscuits, BBQ hot chicken wings, fish cakes and marshmallows in order to keep ourselves warm. I did not know exactly why but hot food definitely tasted a lot better when eaten out in the cold by the fire.
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| Waiting to be picked up. |
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| The display early in the night. |
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| The formation of more distinctive arc from the faint display earlier on. |
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| Spellbinding. |
Needless to say, we're all in the state of euphoria when Lady Aurora decided to reveal herself across the sky. All of us were beaming with joy as smiles etched out instantly on our faces. The elegant swaying of the northern lights resembled the tails of a nine-tailed fox, moving as if they were blown by a soft and gentle breeze. Honestly, it's hard not to tear when the colour became stronger over time and developed into curtains of lights that danced gracefully in front of our very own eyes.
Before long, the dark sky was completely lit up by the bright emerald lights. As the thick wavy rays with vivid colour slowly spread themselves all over the sky, we were all thrilled beyond words and for a moment then, I felt as if I had transcended into a world of make believe. We were extremely lucky to be able to experience such a captivating and spectacular wonder of nature that few had the the good fortune to witness. And for that, I would eternally be grateful.
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| Part of the long-stretch of aurora borealis above us. |
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| It was like nothing that we had ever seen before. |
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| The moment the lights filled the whole sky with magic. |
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| Aurora swirling lazily across the clear dark night. |
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| My everything. |
Remembered the time when I mentioned that how sitting by the blue Adriatic Ocean in a Dubrovnik cafe was the best experience that I had ever had in my entire life, well this certainly topped that. As we lay ourselves down on the ground and glanced right back up, our gaze was met with billions of stars that sparkled like jewels in the sky. We watched the twinkling stars shimmer as meteors rained down constantly in the background. The bewitching view looked as if it was part of an idyllic movie scene, so surreal yet calming at the same time.
Before we left, the unexpected cratered moon rise took all of us by surprise. We watched in silence as the glowing orange moon rose up slowly and elegantly from the sea in the distant sky, casting its glow as far as the eyes could see across the emerald water that reflected off the northern lights above. It was indeed another mesmerising scene that I could and would never hope for, not even in my wildest dreams.
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| A sky full of stars. |
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| The orange moon rise. |
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| The slowly fading aurora borealis before we decided to call it a night. |
The next day, we walked around the city, tried out cakes in a renowned cafe, and even visited the Polaria, an arctic aquarium that was known as the world's most northerly located aquarium. There were walkways in which we could watch the bearded seals in close distance. They swam so swiftly yet so gracefully and the most beautiful part of their body was definitely their fur, which was truly exotic.
One of them even swam towards my gloves that I had left beside the glass, mistaking it as some kind of fish. If only I could watch them swim and play all day long. At night, we ended the day by spoiling ourselves with a big seafood feast that was completely satisfying.
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| Strawberry behind me. |
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| Cake, cake, cake and cake. |
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| Decorations in the city of Tromso. |
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| Loved the company, weather and view. |
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| The playful creature. |
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| My dinner. |
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| Miracle of the day: Strawberry peeling prawns for us! |
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| Never had so much seafood in a day. |
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| Camouflaging in the snow. |
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| Beautiful creatures they were. |
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| Snow mobile. |
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| Bye bye Norway! |
Before we left Tromso, we're so in luck that we even spotted the lights again from the plane! It was definitely a blessed and unique once in a lifetime experience to travel to 350km above the Arctic Circle. Norway was no doubt a beautiful country and I hoped that I could have the chance to visit it again in the future.
All You Had To Do Was Stay - Taylor Swift
