Stories of Summer: 3 Weeks, 3 Trips

My concise, condensed summer travel-highlight-log. If I don't remember it, it's not here!

KL, 22 - 24 July (Weekly Affair) 

• Destination Camp5! Largest climbing gym in SEA situated in Petaling Jaya's 1 Utama Shopping Centre.
• Highest effort put into bouldering in a very long while. Attempted to piece a 6C route on an awesome low roof.
• Shaved off more than a fair amount of skin. Hardly makes sense to describe raw fingers as feeling burnt, but that's really how it was. And before lunch on the first day at that.
• Shouldn't have bouldered so much.
• Corner routes!! Crack wall!!!! Nice to be able to find the flow through these, and then every move fits. Lost more skin from other limb parts.
• Weird toprope roof routes though, do they really expect us to campus?
• Too humji to lead anything more than one 5C route (excuse: raw fingers).
• Ate Cinnabon coz it was cheap and sugary.
• Watched Star Trek Beyond coz it was cheap. Spock and the Malay subtitles were hilarious ("Diam lah!").
• <Too busy climbing/too tired to take photos>

Bali, 30 July - 2 August (Sleepy Cats)

• First time having a fried chicken dish where everything could be eaten, save the beak. Bones felt like love letters.
• Villa was like a lush jungle chalet, complete with shower-side greenery and frequent visiting creepy crawlies.
• Set off for Lovina sunrise dolphin tour at 3.30am accompanied by a Cheshire Cat smile and a generous helping of stars.
• Sat shaking on a spiderboat (the outriggers looked like legs) due to the cold and fear of toppling over the short, narrow hull. The dolphins made everything worth though, and so many of them! Afterwards we discussed that they were probably scared and annoyed by the crowds chionging into their breathing space.
• Rafting was... ok. The most fun part was when I got flung into a 四脚朝天 position coz we were too engrossed in splashing the raft in front to notice the rock face speeding up behind.
• Watched 中国新歌声 on a tiny screen in the nights. Always funny, always more fun to watch with this bunch.
• Loved unleashing creativity in the Upside Down World. All those sticky/Sadako/falling photos!
• Didn't have much chance to feel hungry throughout the trip, car rides not being the best activity for expending energy+inherently small appetite. All that food wasted D: 
• Last dinner was on the beach. Having to discern the edible anatomy of a fish, post-sunset, by candlelight, made for an intense experience => what phone lights are for.
• Then it was time to go home, but Rinjani on neighbouring Lombok had other plans. I very much wanted to be annoyed at something, but it is very difficult to be annoyed at a volcano. The extended holiday hence became a weird cocktail of amusement and sianness. 

Taiwan, 4 - 9 August (姐妹们)

• Had to wake at 3am to catch transport for the 2nd time in days. Budget timing yea.
• Never expected to have to use so much climbing muscle in the first 2 days:
• Experienced varying levels of centrifugal force while getting dragged around at sea on inflatables of varying shapes - the banana boat was the LEAST 刺激 and I have no idea what the English names of the rest are. Always thrilling and terrifying to get lifted off during sharp bends, attached to the inflatable only by my locked grip on the holding thingy. Great one-hand-catch-dyno training!
• Went for a jeep ride with complete ignorance, zero expectations. Best description of this would be standing on a small roller coaster with my hands as my only safeguard, again. Was (a sadistic kind of) fun hanging on for dear life (no sea for cushion here) while trying to read the titles on each of the manoeuvres along the route. Chinese ain't that good, but "龙卷暴风" was pretty apparent. Ended with driving into a river and getting all soaked, again.
• Always a good idea to marginally over pack.
• The scenery in Kenting was AMAZING. Green rolling hills + Blue endless waters = best of both worlds.
• For those who know how little I eat, I'm not the worst with this bunch. Even after forgoing lunch and going 14 hours without food, we bailed out early at the 夜市 on the first day. All it took to fill us (6 girls then) was 2 串 of sotong, 3 hotdogs, and 2 large cups of 珍奶. After a few bouts of food wastage, we eventually identified 4 persons' worth as our ideal ordering capacity.
• NOTE: bad idea to go for any kind of ocean transport after lunch. Seated in a "viewing boat" submerged under the surface of Kenting's choppy sea, I found myself fighting seasickness while aiding those of my friends who succumbed. 50% casualty rate.
• Alishan was nice and cool, although a little underwhelming. This I attribute to high expectations, so I should prob treat every holiday destination as I did the jeep ride.
• While I like the feel of misty places, they make my specs seem perpetually dirty.
• Laughed my heart out watching variety shows on TV at night. Getting the saboteur card 4 times in a row: FUN ==> shag. 
• Did more shopping than I'd expected back in Kaohsiung. Pretty satisfied with what I've got now! Aside from the sister stuff, got myself a new pair of comfortable formal flats (which has since been praised :)), and TiinLab headphones. Considering that the latter cost less than half of their sg price, and that they feel like ear pillows, I'm glad my friends were willing to make those extra MRT trips with me to get them.
• Taiwanese people are extremely friendly and helpful, and they go out of their way to make clueless visitors feel at home. [although i've heard that they may scam angmohs] 
• Was having much trouble reading all the 繁体字 and asking for specific things in Mandarin. Like I couldn't even begin to read certain words, coz 有边读边 but wth is the 边 in the first place. Good thing my friends were all Higher Chinese students xD
• Had a great time! 10 years of friendship provides many happy times to treasure :)

7/8

Additional: I'm not the best person to invite to catch sunsets. Must be 5 or 6 consecutive fails to date sorry friends.

Bali 1: no

Bali 2: nuuu

Kenting: NUUUUUUUU

And so ended an eventful summer, the final one. I think I won't be taking any grad trips, I've had enough fun with some treasured groups of friends to last a while :) Now it's back to the horrors of REALity and a butchered bank account *sobs*.

Fontainebleau 2015

I enjoyed this trip so much that it was boosted right to the front of the blogging queue (sorry drafts). Bouldering! Outdoors! And the company was really really awesome :) Not everything was perfect (that's looking at you, weather), but it was such a great experience that all those grouses don't really matter anymore. I also think I did better than I ever expected of myself, so yea, I'm happy :)

Prelude
Down south from Paris lies a region called Fontainebleau, well-known as a bouldering haven. [For non-climbers, bouldering is a climbing discipline involving (relatively) short rocks i.e. boulders. No ropes/harnesses needed, just shoes, chalk, and crashpads for softer landing.]

It's just a hop over to France from London so this was the best ever time to go to not tear a hole in my bank account. It was a bit of a hassle to fit this trip in between all our clashing schedules for Easter, but we somewhat succeeded in the end. Even before the trip, the weather forecast told of clouds and rain. And true, when we landed in port Calais, the sky was simply, continuously, grey. It was grey throughout the half-day we spent in Paris, and at one point, the Eiffel Tower was shrouded in fog so thick that only the bottom half was visible. [Sadly, the fog cleared and I didn't manage to get a picture of that unconventional look.] After flitting around the main tourist attractions of Paris, it was off to Font in our rented car.

The view from my backseat. 2 crashpads in the boot and one more squashed in front of our knees.

The places
The boulders are located in forests dotted around Font, so having a car was important. We went to Bas Cuvier (1.5 days), Franchard Isatis, and L'Elephant in chronological order. The former two had the usual forest floor, covered in mushy leaves esp after rain, but L'Elephant was different. I'd read that some areas were sandy, but I wasn't expecting the boulders of L'Elephant to be surrounded by Sentosa-esque soft white sand. [When searching for crashpad rentals online, I found comments on how the sand provides a good soft landing. Please, no, you still need crashpads. Read on to find out why I think that way.] It rained intermittently for the first few days, but we got a decent amount of sun so it wasn't so bad.

Bas Cuvier (29th and 30th March). The crowds made it seem like an outdoor boulder gym.

Franchard Isatis (31st March).

L'Elephant (1st April). Really like Sentosa right?

L'Elephant is named as such because there is a boulder there that really looks like an elephant. A gigantic one! [We didn't get to climb this particular boulder, but I've been told it's v difficult to get down off it...]

L'Elephant itself. With a Denise for scale.

THE CLIMBS!!!
I didn't keep track of the routes we did, but it was mostly blue routes (orange for the first 1.5 days and some red). [Looking at the Font grading system on wiki] Blue is... not a v zai level, but the climbs were a sufficient challenge for us.

"I have always dreamed of coming to Font." (Lee, 2015)

Routes in Font are v footwork intensive. On many routes one is free to choose from a selection of footholds, if one can locate them. It's better to climb in a group so ppl can point out out-of-sight footholds, whether you're on or off the wall. Having to step on ~1mm scuffs is no joke man, same goes for those polished nubs. Sometimes, there really are no obvious footholds - what to do? Smear. You really have to trust and step well if not you'll just slip and get a nice scrape right down the leg. My big toes were red and raw at the end of those days coz of all those minuscule footholds. Also, I don't think I've ever done so much heel hooking in an equivalent space of time.

In general, I think my footwork was not bad, and it really helped me keep up. One route was particularly symbolic - a red route that we were trying on the 3rd climbing day. Although I didn't manage to finish, I was quite satisfied with the level I reached. The bottom half of the rock was full of like "inverted nail marks" which I managed to utilise with minimal scrabbling so as not to wear down my poor shoes. In the end, I was bested by a slopy left pinch. More finger training then.

This is not that route, but this was footwork training. Notice the shoes are not my own (coz we were blur in the morning and forgot to bring our communal plastic bag of shoes). So when we found out at the place we had to borrow spare shoes from Dong who was there with ICMC. We went back to retrieve our shoes in the afternoon xD

Throughout those days I met a really wide range of handholds - like a exhibition of what I learnt the first day I walked into the SRC gym. There were jugs that felt as good as those made of plastic, lots and lots of crimps, and even monos. All these on curved, flowing features that would seem right at home in some serene chinese garden. Near the end of the first full climbing day, my right middle finger got irritated after 4 hard tries (2 with the wrong beta >.<) on a route with a right crimp on the crux. From then on, I decided to maximise my climbing mana through self-preservation. This meant avoiding right crimps/monos, or at least not wasting attempts on routes. But handholds weren't really a big problem for blue routes, at least not until the top...

This photo was taken to point out one particular bump to be aiming for (coz it's not clear from below). NTU+NUS just grinned anyway hahaha.

Outdoors, there is no final hold. A route hasn't been sent until one is standing on top of the boulder. As I now know, that final struggle can be a pain as the tops are mostly just one huge sloper to mantel up upon. [Mantling is an actual skill.] Whatever small edges on the top face were awesome help in hauling body weight up and over. But most of the time, even those were non-existent so us unskilled people had to flop in the most unglam manner and wriggle until our centre of gravity crossed into the safe zone. à la beached whales. These moments would've been quite funny to watch if there wasn't a need to worry about my friends falling off. Of course, the boulders have varying heights, and the higher they are, the worse the consequences of falling.

The first route we did on the final climbing day is a v good example. It was meant as a warmup blue route and it looked decent from the ground: a little high, but with a large sloping ledge to step on along with what seemed like many jugs. Epitome of misjudgment.

This route.

The start wasn't that easy, nice handholds but no obvious footholds meant smearing up and perching on the ledge, and from there it just got scarier. Crawling up the ledge was fickle business. It turned out that there were not many nice things to hold, and the smooth ledge wasn't v promising either. All that time I was scared I would roll off the ledge and break smth... At a certain point, it became impossible to down-climb [in desperation, many things come to mind], or jump down [alr too high and it's not the top yet!], so the only way was up. It really felt like leading outdoors, having to pause to calm and steel myself and all that. When I got to the top I was really trembling, I think more so because of the fear than the effort, coz the route wasn't that difficult, just v scary. And I plastered myself to the rock for fear of toppling off the way I came. At least getting down the other side was easy.

With me for scale. Not daring to sit on the tip of the boulder for a photo after that ordeal.

Speaking of getting down, that can be annoying too. Some boulders have gently sloped faces on one side, so after climbing up the sheer side [lol, so apparently the essence of climbing is to make things difficult for ourselves], one can walk down the other way. On other boulders that are more rounded or cube-shaped, the usual way is to "butt" down the side gingerly, taking care not to slip and lurch headfirst off the rock.

My final climb in Font ended prematurely when I fell outside the crashpad, onto my back, and hit my head. The sand and my ponytail helped soften the blow and I'm just glad I wasn't far from the ground and nothing serious happened. The sequence in question involved a right heel hook at about waist-height before bumping the left hand to a higher hold. I missed the left hand catch and my right heel was hooked so beautifully that it was the last thing to fail. The hook wasn't particularly nice/deep and I was surprised it stuck so well. Aside from being surprised at my own footwork, I literally had some sense knocked into me. My spotter and I were so fixated on the next hold that we forgot I hadn't gotten there yet. Partly coz I'd attempted once before and got higher, so I never expected to fall like that. Anyways, SPOTTING IS IMPORTANT. If everyone looks out for each other we'll all be able to climb together safely :)

[It happens that my fall was captured on video. Even as I was rubbing away the headache, it looked so comical I might have laughed. But then, these things are only funny till smth bad happens. So to my friends who might be reading this, never underestimate the importance of spotting. At least the headache didn't stop me from watching Poh finish his 6c.]

Last few moments at L'Elephant.

Everything else
During our recent trip to Building One (another gym in London with cool dyno routes and more), I suddenly rmbed that I own a Canon Legria camcorder. I used to use it extensively (esp during the JC touch league), but after a while I kinda... forgot about it. So I made it a point to bring it along and use it on this trip, to immortalize awesome moments. It might be 5 years old but still it captures in HD (though it doesn't show on blogger) with satisfactory audio - pretty damn good. On hindsight, I was evidently not thinking enough and didn't borrow a tripod for it. It would have saved me the trouble of finding flat rocks to plant it on and using random stuff to prop it up. This and the cui battery life meant that I couldn't use it all the time too. Ah, but the things I've caught on video, all those funny things we did and said xD [I have since bought my own Gorillapod to go with it, and will be on the lookout for chances for use :)]

If there's any one general thing I've learnt from my exchange travels, it's that good company is the backbone of a great trip. [I consider myself quite lucky in this aspect.] This bunch (and the rest of the sg climbers here) is peculiarly like a mini UMC - people I'm comfortable climbing, talking cock, and having fun with. Friends, really. Same as back in NTU, a large part of why I climb is the people I get to spend time with.

I was the weakest member of the group (3 guys, an interwoman, and me). So I knew the worst that could happen would be them doing routes that I wouldn't be able to even start on. But I managed to keep up, doing the same routes that they did, and at times, doing better than some of the guys hahaha. In some routes, I struggled a bit with strength and took a few more attempts, but in others I had better footwork and was more stable. At least we all attempted the same routes (save for Poh) and I finished most of them. This is smth I'm really happy about :D

I'll miss this place. We climbed for about 3.5 consecutive days and that was pretty much the physical limit. Any more and I'd have been in too much pain (raw, scraped and aching) to want to climb, let alone climb well. I guess if we had gone for longer we'd have to factor in repair days. But it was not to be, at least for this time. The trip really flew by and in no time it was back to London and reality - proof of how much I enjoyed myself. And I dare say: best outdoor climbing trip I've been on so far.

And lastly... this.

Nuuuu a hole T.T

10 months ago, I was unable to fit my old pair into my luggage, so I don't have my designated outdoor shoes here with me :( On top of my regular gym climbs, this pair has braved the abrasiveness of natural rock 3 times to date and the left heel has become loose. They will turn 2 years old come August 24th (it's not difficult to trace back the date) and I've been v happy with them thus far.

How highly is my happiness valued? ;)

Winter (Spain/Portugal) 2014

It's back to the travels, starting with winter.

I've left this too late and I regret it. When asked what I did in winter nowadays I can't rmb much, even though I know I definitely enjoyed (most of) it. Had no feel/mood to blog for quite a while now (due in part to the deadlines and in part to other negative stuff), but there are still photos and snippets worth sharing from my winter trip. So here's a "short" post on the highlights, captioned and elaborated to the best of my memory.

Getting there
On 21st Dec 2014 I flew alone into Barcelona to meet up with my grandma, gujie, and gujeong on the following day. And thus started my 13 day winter holiday in Spain + Portugal.

First time flying alone, so great that things went smoothly. I think the exceptionally high number of flights I took in 2014 really helped me ease into the procedure. The trouble came after that when I got a bit lost trying to find my hostel (there wasn't so much as a sign, just a small paper with the name written on it on the door frame). I'd reached earlier than what I indicated in the booking and... the reception was closed. I called the "emergency number" and got let in, but by then I was feeling quite unsafe. The look of the place didn't help one bit and I actually considered going back to the airport to stay that one night. But eventually, I settled my stuff and went out to explore Placa de Catalunya.

The place(s)!
The trip went like this: Barcelona - Valencia - Granada - Seville - Lisbon - Fatima - Porto - Segovia - Madrid - Toledo, as koped from the tour website [yes my parents paid for my travels, but before you start judging, I fully intend to return the favour and more when I'm capable]. Ain't gonna talk about everything coz I don't have the time/not everything was interesting/I couldn't get good photos in the first place HAHA.

For continuity's sake - I was in Placa de Catalunya i.e. Orchard Road, or maybe Orchard Square, where I did some window shopping. And the next day I finally met my family members again!

22/12 - Valencia. This was one of the places I distinctly rmb wishing I'd had more time and freedom to explore. The thing about being a student is that you tend to walk everywhere to see everything coz walking is free. Yea sure it's tiring, but the intimacy of this way of travel cannot be gotten from inside a moving bus, craning the neck for a crappy view of smth that would've been beautiful were it not viewed from behind slightly grimy glass. On the other hand, there's no way to run all of those places on foot/train in 12 days, so moving on.

City of Arts and Science, Valencia.

Palm trees everywhere~ When I first landed, I thought I could be in Malaysia. Aside from the mild cold, it was sunny and the land was wide open with fields of palm trees spread far and beyond.

Just the City of Arts and Sciences would've taken a whole day to explore! We didn't get to go in - more of just take photos from the outside and move on, except for the pathway through the mini garden. [I did get one of my best shots from the trip though.] Other than this, it would've been nice to simply walk along the river Turia. And... I unfortunately can't rmb much beyond this...

23/12 - Granada

Part of Alhambra, an Islamic palace in Granada.

View from the palace.

24/12 - Cordoba. On this day I retired my trusty S3. Welcome S5! Hello to more awesome-looking photos and Whatsapp grouses.

Tested my new phone camera at a random rest stop. Wider screen + noticeable improvement in reaction and quality. Who says iPhone camera better hahaha.

25/12 - Seville, where oranges are aplenty. I learnt how to tell a bitter orange from its leaves (there's a smaller segment at the stem so the leaf has a rough '8' shape) and that Seville oranges are too common to be a special thing - but foreigners who buy them outside of Spain don't know this xD.

The Gardens of Murillo, Seville.

Plaza de España (Seville), featuring random horse.

Plaza de España (Seville), featuring random rainbow!

26/12 - Lisbon. On Christmas evening we crossed over into Lisbon, one of the places I especially rmb. Where to start - the four pictures I've chosen to represent the 1.5 days there are drastically different in location and feel. But overall, Lisbon struck me as a beautiful place - the presence of open water and panoramic postcard views might have helped.

Eduardo VII Park, Lisbon.

Living in London means being pretty inland, and same goes for many parts of large countries. Not like in Sg where you're never really far from the sea, esp for this Pasir Ris girl who simply has to take a 10 min cycle to reach the water. I rmb now how I felt this day going around Lisbon - this calm sense of freedom. First up was Belém, on the banks of the River Tagus. It was a windy day, and the sun was shining (as I'd come to love about the trip), and this was where I took a single, random selfie that would become my fb profile pic.

Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries), on the bank of the Tagus River in Lisbon.

Next we headed down/up winding roads to get to Cape Roca in Sintra, the westernmost point of Portugal and by extent, Europe. This time, there wasn't just a river, there was the Atlantic. I walked down this path on the cliff to take in the view, bearing the brunt of the winds and trying not to twist my ankle along the way. Sunset came really fast then, and we had to leave coz according to the tour guide, monsters swoop down after dark to catch unsuspecting tourists at the cliff.

Cape Roca, Sintra.

Just the sun melting away into the great divide.

27/12 - Fátima and Porto. Fátima is a really religious place. I'm not well-versed in these things, but apparitions of the Virgin Mary happened here, and the exact spot is marked by the Chapel of Apparitions. These are interesting stories to hear, but belief is up to the individual. I witnessed some devout followers kneeling their way across the sanctuary on the marble pathway that extends far far beyond the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Just wow. Outside the Sanctuary there were many (touristy) shops selling prayer candles shaped in whatever ailing body parts a person could have. So if one wants to buy boob-shaped candles, here's the place to go.

The Sanctuary of Fátima

Must be somewhere along the way to Porto. Using the photo dates and Wikipedia in trying to put a name to places.

In Porto, I mostly rmb nice views and the port wine cellar tour in Sandeman. Don't ask me to describe how the wine tastes coz I dunno how to other than it was sweet (both red and white). I just drink only lol.

On the banks of the Douro river, Porto.

28/12 - Segovia. Next up we were heading back to Spain for a student town high up and far inland. At 1000m above sea level it's definitely colder, even colder than London. In this place, old college walls would be vandalised with the names of top graduates (??) as a mark of victory. Haha, cool kids from the past.

30/12 - Madrid. Where I didn't manage to capture any good photos :(

31/12 - Barcelona. It was back to the starting point and where we welcomed the new year. I managed to eat 11 out of 12 grapes (one for each of stroke of midnight, a Spanish tradition), so hopefully my luck this year will be not bad HAHA. [Thus far it's been ok :)]

View of Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

The Sagrada Familia was one of my favourite places from the entire trip. Designed by the amazing Antoni Gaudi, construction began in 1882 and... is still ongoing. Completion is projected for 2028, but looking at the scale and the design, it wasn't difficult to justify the crazy long construction time. We visited many many cathedrals throughout the trip and all were majestic, but this one was different. Not just good looking, but also so well thought out it seems out of its time (at that time). But then again, this is characteristic of many of Gaudi's buildings - that genius.

While the outside was spectacular, the interior was even more amazing. In conventional structures, straight, evenly-spaced columns may be way to go. But here, the columns bend in a manner calculated to support the massive load. They are also designed with a "double twist" to resist twisting moments in both directions. True engineering man. And note that this was done in a time where computers didn't exist. So much respect. Nerdy stuff aside, it was also so pretty! The stained glass is arranged by colour so that the light is projected in a colour-coordinated spectrum. In general, the place felt more welcoming instead of giving this dark and creepy feeling that ancient places of worship tend to exude.

My phone camera does not do the interior justice.

The final bit of the trip involved taking the bus up the winding slopes of Montserrat. I can never get tired of these views.

View from Montserrat.

The food!
We ate many many things throughout the way, and drank much alcohol too xP. Paella, suckling pig, tomato rice, seafood... In general, I ate lots more than I usually do and gained some significant weight. I think after all is said, I still have Chinese taste buds lol. So even though I was being Asian and let my camera taste most of my food before I started, I only want to make two special mentions, coz I have distinct biases hahaha. From the looks of it, I'm a dessert person ;) [Maybe coz I usually have to force myself to finish the mains >.<]

Portuguese egg tarts. I honestly dun rmb when the last time I had any of these was (or if I'd even had them before). Loved the custardy, flaky goodness so much that I whacked two at once, and wished I had more xD.

Churros with chocolate. The chocolate is wayyy too gau to drink, so I made sure to fully utilise my churro in wiping it all up. Kinda like you tiao in chocolate sauce :P.

Ending off

Some people will have received one of these:

Physically writing essays after such a long time wasn't easy, I must say. Haha, as was the search for international stamps. I was told to go look for tobacco shops, but even after the entire trip, I have no idea what a Spanish tobacco shop looks like. In the end, I submitted these to the hotel front desk, and they helped me send them home.

Then, it was back to London to start a term that is now going to end.

Oslo 2014 - Frozen Everything

When ppl ask me about my Oslo trip, I usually talk about (in this order) jumping on frozen puddles, the meteors, and the frozen grass. Not your typical city trip [honestly, there's not much in the city - it's a ghost town at times], but I learnt the value of self-entertainment on top of the importance of good travel company xD.

On the weekend of 13th-14th Dec, a few of us headed up North into frigid weather. The first day started v early - meeting time 0430. [I've since had an even crazier experience, wait for the post ;)] Cheap flights usually depart at weird hours, hence the need to get up at even weirder hours. At least there's chance to sleep on the plane/train/bus shuttling from place to place.

Flight/train ride was uneventful. Fast forward to Oslo city centre, where our first stop was the Viking Museum. While not v large, the museum still had pretty cool exhibits. All those huge ancient viking ships were feats of engineering in their own right, esp since they didn't have machines and such to help out back in the day. Really takes hand-made to a whole new level. Even the smaller tools, though rusted and crude, looked functional and sensible.

[Side note: Norwegians can speak English well and are damn good looking (based on the nice bus driver who let us know where to get off!)]

The real adventure came after that. Heading back to the city centre, we deviated from the pavements (a good 6km walk) in favour of a short cut. This short cut set us on a direct line to the city centre through a massive field of frozen grass (and some trees). My cheap boots were no match for the slippery terrain and it was quite scary - small slopes (~0.5m high) = potential ankle sprains. Lucky I brought gloves man, coz I had to brace myself a few times. At points in time we met fences, and though these were easy enough to cross (heng ah if not need to turn back!), it meant we were trespassing. So we shut off the assistive lights and carried on under the moonlight. We got out ok in the end, but somewhere in this frozen field, I lost my oyster card T.T which I'd just topped up that same morning (with £10!!!!) T.T What to do, let it go~ At least we got a nice view of the city along the way, and the shimmering grass was pretty, although I really wanted to thaw my feet after that.

You don't realise how numb your feet are getting as you admire the view.

After that, we walked around looking for good affordable food and ended up in macs coz we were too hungry or just didn't care anymore. [Singaporeans dun complain, overseas macs are damn ex and you have to pay for extra sauces.] Although it'd been dark for quite some time, the night was actually still young and we went hunting for a good spot to view the Geminid meteors. There was time to spare, so we went to some sculpture park (Europeans really like their nude sculptures) and took some cool long exposure shots.

Photo credits: Bingjie

Then, we decided that that park was too bright and went somewhere else. Then, we discovered a trip highlight - a frozen water feature. From testing our weights on the ice we proceeded to stamping on it and got some kind of childish joy from seeing water seep/burst through the broken surface. Never see before of course excited la. No judgments k, it was fun :) 

Funny reflection = frozen surface = throw sticks and stones to confirm

And finally, the best moment of the night - the meteors! Well, they weren't showering like rain (yet), and so we entertained ourselves for quite a while finding constellations. Funny enough, coz I'd never been interested in astronomical stuff. Must've been the post-Interstellar craze haha. When I caught my first meteor, it was magical... But not all of us caught it - I just happened to be staring at the correct portion of sky. It was gone in a second and the sky extends past the peripheral vision, so we stayed for more! I managed to catch about 6 in the end, which I was quite happy with. Another friend told me she caught over 15 from 1-2am at a darker place :O We retired at around 11pm, prying our frozen selves from the park benches with necks aching from staring directly upwards. No pictures although I did try - coz I possess neither a super camera or lightning reflexes. Just contented to watch. It's amazing how exciting those fleeting moments were, and how pieces of rock hurtling through space could make one feel happy.

I swear there were stars.

Next day we struggled to wake. The plan was to catch the sunrise (at a v "worth-it" time of 9am). While we made the time in the end at the harbour, that plan fell through thanks to the clouds. Wondered around a war exhibit and stuffed a member of our group into a canon xD. I don't really rmb what happened from there... except that we were pretty excited to see ppl again. Oh yea and we found more frozen puddles! One of them had mud inside and it's not difficult to imagine the consequence of jumping on it hahaha.

Immense grey view in place of sunrise.

Our favourite pastime - the dirty version.

That was also the day we got really good food. Our targeted eating place had actually closed down months before (and the tourist website wasn't updated -.-) so we diverted to a nearby pub. I don't really know how to do justice to the awesomeness of the food, but I know that even without the cold and tiredness, it would've been a fantastic meal. It wasn't cheap (worked out to be over S$40 per person D:), but at least we managed to have one v good meal in Oslo, if not we'd have eaten macs for nothing lol.

Being Asian, although this wasn't all the food.

Back in the city, we stumbled into an xmas market, where we finished half a plate of lefse samples (we did buy some in the end), sampled a large variety of jams which prob had a thousand servings of saliva in them, and ran afoul of some cheese. I unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) didn't get to try the super weird cheese. My friends had to douse the flavour with chocolate.

Running out of time by then, we took a quick stop at the Royal Palace before fast-marching back to the train station to catch the train back to the airport. And that's it.

While editing the photos for this post, I was playing around with the colour saturation. In the end I decided not to be overhanded, coz the true colour of Oslo (at least when I was there) was grey. The city is really not the most lively of places, but self-entertainment can save the day. I still can't forget the frozen ponds/puddles. See, being a suaku isn't all too bad - there's some innocent fun to be had :)