Khrys weblog

We have been working on it for a while, and departure day (beginning of January 2009) is getting closer: we are going on a trip around the world !
Here are a list of countries/islands we will go through:
– Peru
– Bolivia
– Argentina
– Chile
– Easter island (Chile)
– Tahiti (French Polynesia)
– New Caledonia (French Oversea Territory)
– New Zealand
– Australia
– Japon
– South Korea
– China
– Vietnam
– Laos
– Cambodia
– Thailand
– South Africa
– Mauritius (to visit Alex and rest a bit)

I will of course try to keep this blog updated as much as I can to give news and show you our route :)
Right now, we deal with practical things like vaccinations and tickets, and I also had to ask for a new passport. After that, we also have to check about visas. We also are making a list of the equipment we don’t have yet … hopefully, that won’t cost too much.

it’s going to be such a dream trip !

To see Part 1/3, click here.
To see Part 2/3, click here.
The return trip starts with that zigzag road we could see while hiking. It was a bit hard for the car, and we had to stop a couple of time to let the engine cool down. Our first target was Trollstigen (Troll’s road), and we hoped to have good weather to admire the mountainous landscape. Unfortunately, the closer we got, the darker the sky and the thicker the fog, and we even reached point where it was barely possible to see the car in front of us.
   

Road is quite steep again, but was mostly downhill, and had a few very nice waterfalls along it.
   

At the other end of the road, we could say bye to the Trolls :

After that and going through lake ferries, nice countryside roads and the city of Molde which has a very nice viewpoint over 220 peaks:

We then reached Atlanterhavsveien (Atlantic road), which has been built over a few islands. For this one, I was personally hoping that weather be bad, with a lot of wind, so that the waves be impressive :) Unfortunately, sun started to show up and there would be almost no wind. But the road was still amazing.
      

It was late at that point so we set to eat dinner in Kristiansund. The town is beautiful and although I’m not sure about the name of the restaurant (“Smia” I think), it had delicious sea food.

Driving in Norway is easy but expensive. To deal with the mountainous and fjord areas, they’ve had to build a lot of tunnels and bridges, and set up ferry lines. That also means that you should always keep your wallet ready … Some of these road work are really nice:
(if I remember well, this one didn’t require payment, but it looked good :p )

The road we took then went through Sunndalsøra, Oppdal and Tynset in Norway, then stopped for only 4 hours of poor sleep (probably from 4am), then Mora and Falun in Sweden. Here are some pictures taken along the road:
   
I have to say a word about that road in Sweden: they made it red, and it really helps when things get dark. It’s also beautiful with the forest around it and the rising sun :) Too bad my photo isn’t good at all. There were also a lot of wild life along that part of trip, both in Norway and Sweden, mostly elks.

We stopped in Uppsala to visit a friend, before taking the ferry from Stockholm back to Helsinki.
Distance driven from Geiranger to Stockholm: 1225Km.

I don’t know if you remember it, I had linked this article in August 2006 :
Economics of Empires

I now suggest you go and watch this video (1H long) from an Indian Economy professor, who explains in easy terms why the crisis should and has come:
Global Imbalance – An Imminent Dollar Crisis

To see Part 1/3, click here.
Breakfast (55 NOK) at the camping place had enough food and we needed that for the rest of the day. We wanted to start with the cruise, but we missed the boat (we somehow remembered the hours wrong), so we took the tickets for the last trip of the day. That left us with 4 hours … well, let’s do one of these hikes recommended by the tourism office, perhaps two. We started with the one going from Vesterås Gard to Storseterfossen. It took us half an hour to get up there, but we then took a break to take fun pictures of the waterfall (you can even get behind it !) and enjoy some Swedish chocolate :p
   
The way down is faster, but more tricky, as some parts are wet and slippery.

Back to Vesterås Gard:
      

We then went from the same place to Vesteråsfjellet, a very good view point over the fjord and Geiranger center.
      

Since we still had some time, we then went up to Løsta, another excellent viewpoint over the fjord (but from higher up) and over the next mountain where the road does a very nice zigzag on its side.
   

After that, we just had time to change clothes and drive back to the center: the boat won’t wait ! Cruise costed 130 NOK, and was definitely worth it. The ship takes you for an hour and half along the fjord, introducing the main waterfalls, mountains and old farms, in 4 languages (Norwegian, English, German, French).
      
      
   
The famous seven sisters waterfall and their pretender who proposed them all, one by one, but never got a positive answer:
   
Remember to bring warm clothes if you take this trip, as the wind is quite fresh (and even nice, if sun shines), and cold rain comes quickly without warning. In the evening, we came back to the same camping place, since they had one of the smaller cottages available (430 NOK). It’s a lovely one, with grass on the roof, a small kitchenette with fridge and cooker, a double bed and a single one above it, and a sofa.

To see Part 3/3, click here.

We took a couple of weeks of holidays in July, of which about 10 days for our honeymoon. We had been to Norway already 3 times: twice to the north and once to Oslo (see the second trip here and there and the one to Oslo there). But this time, we wanted to visit Geiranger area, and its famous fjords.

We started from Savonlinna on Saturday the 12th, since we were there few days to visit relatives and, of course, the mökki. Since we didn’t start very early, we drove about 650 km, through Rantasalmi, Varkaus, Kuopio, Iisalmi, Piippola and Oulu. Here’s Piippola:

We reached Tornio, in the north, just next to the Swedish border. The camping there was nice, but taking a walk around it doesn’t exactly show the best part of the area, plus mosquitoes are really hungry …

On the Sunday, we passed the frontier, and from Luleå we passed Skellefteå, Lycksele, Åsele, Dorotea, Östersund and reached Åre. Travelling through Swedish Lapland we realised how similar it was to Finnish Lapland, with all these typical forests and lakes and swamps and mosquitoes :) Enough to remind us how nature doesn’t care much about frontiers. On the road to Åsele we met with a cute and not too shy local:

Plan was to stop in Östersund. Nice view over the lake, but the camping site was too crowdy to our taste, and belung to some chain, for which one needs to buy a camping card for 120 SEK first and then still pay a not that good price for the tent (170 SEK for 2). Since it wasn’t that late yet, we decided to go a bit further. We found a cottage to rent for the night for 500 SEK at the doors of Åre. The owner was really kind, and the cottage included a kitchenette with fridge, cooker, oven and even a microwave oven, a clothe dryer (perfect in the winter, if you come to ski), 4 single beds, a big TV and … a sauna ! I’ll give the phone number in the comments. It was quite time to rest, we had been driving for 800km !

Monday the 14th, we headed to Trondheim, our first stop in Norway. It’s a beautiful city to visit, with gorgeous cathedral and university:
      
      
   

We have to drive a bit more today if we want to enjoy tomorrow a bit more, and it’s not too late yet. The sky looks better as we approach Geiringer, let’s hope it will continue tomorrow. Lanscape reminds us a bit that part of Ireland between Connemara and Donegal, for the small lakes and the stony plains, the rivers and the colourful flowers. But behind these, green hills covered with pine trees, and behind them, higher dark mountains with still a bit of snow play with rain clouds and the occasional sun appearances. Houses either look like Alpe’s chalets, or follow Norway red-roof wooden cottage tradition. Some cottages even still bear the good old �stuff� on the roof :)
After we had passed Oppdal, Dombås, Otta, we stopped between Lalm and Vågåmo because the river looked wonderful and had this green colour. Distance driven that day: 450km.
   

Apart from that, this place was a big disappointment as the camping place was surrounded with dump places and abandoned construction material, showers are to be paid separately, toilets don’t have soap nor hand drying solution (does it cost so much to put some paper ?), cottages are dirty and smell tobacco, etc. Too bad we realised it too late …

We finished the first part of our travel the following day, the 15th. That part is only 150 km, but it is soooo beautiful landscape !
      
      
      

We didn’t drive that many kilometres, but it was mountain roads, so it took some time. Anyway, since we had reach our destination area, plan was to take our time, and nice pictures along the road :) We also booked a cottage for the night as soon as we got there, and that seemed to have been a good idea: an hour later, no rooms were to be found anywhere … The cottage place, called Dalen Gaard, is surrounded with high mountains, is well maintained, and the people working here are much more welcoming than those in the camping the previous day.
      
Cottage had 5 single beds and a sofa, a kitchenette with fridge, cooker and a microwave, toilet and shower. Very confortable but too big for us; unfortunately, that was the only one left (810 NOK). Good part in this camping: they seem to have wireless internet connection for free !

After a warm shower, we went around to visit Geiranger city and ask for informations about hikes and cruises. Looks promising !
   
   

To see Part 2/3, click here.
To see Part 3/3, click here.