Winter wonderland...

19th March Monday:

Carlos drove me to the reindeer farm, which was about 23km away from the city. The usual route was block by snow, and there wasn’t a way to get there except by driving. The safari itself was good. It was a trip booked purely for me, a so called “VIP treatment” by Marina...haha...(Long story...kinda hard to explain it here...) All the baby reindeers at the safari were damn cute...Regretted that I didn’t get to hug any of them...sigh...

Went for a reindeer sled ride through the snowy forest along the perimeter of the land own by the reindeer herder. He is an original Sámi people, and oh man, he does own a freaking big piece of land in the forest. The sled ride was only traveling at a comfortable pace, not as fast as I expected. (okok...I think I watched too much Santa cartoons...haha) But it was truly an unique experience traveling through the forest on a sled pulled by the reindeer, with knee-deep snow around you, playing with the dog that ran by the side of the sled and having a reindeer kicking up snow onto your face...haha :)

Took a break at the middle of the forest while he explained reindeer stuff to me, showed me a kota that belonged to one of his friends. We were trying hard to understand each other as he hardly speak English and I don’t understand Sámi language...universal smile and sign language...that’s it...haha :)

Tried to control the reindeer on my own. As the reindeer was trained to follow the herder, it wasn’t really difficult to control it. All I had to do was to make it move or stop...Back to the farm, was serve some hot juice and salmon snacks in a kota...damn shiok la...So there we were chatting a bit more about reindeers, browsing through all the reindeers souvenirs, and received my reindeer driving license...haha

20th March Tuesday:

Went for a snowmobile and husky safari trip with a family from Hong Kong. By right the safari’s policy was 2 person per snowmobile, but I actually got to ride on a snowmobile all by myself. (Long story again...haha) Anyway, the ride was terrific, and we were driving on a frozen river and through cross-country terrain through the snowy forest!!! The speed we were traveling at and the chill wind on your face…It’s really an unforgettable experience!!! I actually requested to stop in the middle of the frozen river for some pictures...Not everyday you can stand on one, especially for Sgrean like me...haha...And there I was, trying to dig my way through the snow trying to break the ice…woohoo!!! (See the pic with a hole in the snow…According to our guide, 40cm more to go to reach the river water...haha)

Reached the husky farm on snowmobiles. The husky puppies were damn cute and playful. Too bad we were not allowed to bring them out of their cage to play with them...Went for a husky sled ride out in the wild...6 husky dogs per sled…But the speed of the ride still disappoint me...bleah...Oh well, maybe I was too heavy for the dogs...Can see the dogs lying flat on the snow when we took a break during the ride...haha...poor thing ya :)

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It's not how long you live, but how you live that matters most...