Tromso, Norway - Christmas 2011

Christmas in Tromso, NOR


Dark, cold, shut (at least on Christmas Eve), quiet, often deserted...

Zan and I prepared our Christmas meal (on Christmas Eve) in our room in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Tromso, with food and champagne brought from the UK, everything shut. We lit a few candles, to give some festive cheer. We were brave, and we enjoyed it.

We failed to see the Northern lights (weather too bad), and hardly saw daylight - when did it get dark? 'In about October', said the taxi driver on our arrival.

But the trip lit up on Christmas Day when we departed for our two day husky-sledding adventure.

Led by the awesome Tore Albrigtsen, we each drove our sleds through the Arctic wilderness - on day one with four dogs each (and two Chinese girls who were totally unable to keep upright or hold on to their sleds - both teams of huskies disappeared into the blue (black) beyond on many occasions, disappearing totally on one occasion). An exhilarating but tiring day, inevitable arm fatigue, and a few head plants in the snow!!

Finally exhausted, and back to the main lavvo for a warming meal of reindeer stroganof and chocolate cake. We talked to Dan and Manisha, on their honeymoon and basking in the warmth of the Brazilian sunshine, on the beach. A stark contrast!

We slept in a smaller lavvo, with a roaring fire in the middle, good down sleeping bags and layers of reindeer skins to keep us comfortable beneath. All well and good - but the storm grew to massive proportions, the wind howled, the canvas walls flapped, the dogs (all 270 of them) 'sang', and sleep was hard to come by. When we eventually dropped off, the fire went out, and the snow and ice came in through the massive hole in the centre of the roof.

It wasn't fun waking up.

But day 2 on the sleds more than made up for it. I opted for the cosy ride in Tore's sled, with ten dogs, while Zan had her own, with six (all white).

And wow, what a day it was!

50km of arctic wilderness, with genuinely arctic weather in parts, ie horizontal snow and complete white-out to the extent that you couldn't even see the nearest huskies! When the snow drifts were deep, the lead dogs slowed, and the rest piled up (needed braking), and when the snow was less deep, they fairly whizzed along (needed braking)!

A good training run for Tore and his racing dogs for the 1000km Finnmarksloppet dog-sled race in March.

Zan rode her sled like a champion, never faltering, her dogs (and ours) were little heros. Tore offered her a job, and I know she would love it. He also spent time talking about his experiences with the dogs and in the mountains; how he has twice traversed Greenland on skis; we heard how he lost his finger tips to frostbite in the Andes, and he encouraged us each to seek and conquer our own 'Everests'. We were quite simply in the safest hands.

We fed the dogs afterwards; never once during the day did they stop straining to run - miniature hairy eager athletes with boundless energy and enthusiasm for the work, boundless affection and genuinely good natures. Every stop was greeted with howls of 'why can't we go on'????

Having eaten reindeer, seen reindeer (and an eagle), slept on reindeer and even worn reindeer patterned PJs (Zan) over the previous 24 hours, it was time for a change. We dined on excellent fish soup, and a fish main course. More chocolate cake though - no complaints!

The last night was spent warming up; hot bath, cold walk, cold beer, warm bed....

And then a brief moment for shopping, and the flights home - nearly missed connection in Oslo because stormy weather delayed take-off from not-so-brief stopover in Bode!

A memorable trip - sporty, Arctic, dog/mountain/snow-focussed.
And I loved spending the time with Zan.

Via Mongolia...

And it was a stunning day in Mongolia.
One day I'll grow up to be a pilot.

Chinese market, hutongs, Houhai Lake, and a sad farewell to Beijing

Day 13

Slept really badly, finished my book, started another, and still couldn't sleep - so it was a weary Jen that walked out for a final day of exploration. The hotel all set up for a wedding, double happiness signs everywhere (I want one for D&M!), and just down the road a group of gaily clad guys were tuning their instruments and preparing a bright red-draped sedan chair and a dragon costume, presumably to transport the bride.

Single stop on the metro, to Andingmen, and walked to the Temple of the Earth. As before, plenty of activity in the park, and the definitely not-so-impromptu band playing again. Sang, as last time!

The market had extended massively, and was positively enormous. Paintings, embroideries, lots of good/bad junk, kitchen/home-wares, clothes of all sorts (brand new HH and North Face goretex jackets for around £40). I invested heavily in chopsticks and gourd seeds, total spend approx £5 (that's a whole lot of chopsticks!). Glad I didn't miss the food area, vast piles of many assorted types of seaweed, noodle, dried fruit, mushroom, nuts, dried fish, and much more, all offered for tasting.

Lunch was nibbles, stone pot yoghurts, skewers, Zhou and fruit, all taken on the hoof.

Marched back from Ditan Park through a new hutong area (well, new to me), and eventually to the Silver Ingot Bridge at Houhai, where I all but fell asleep over a pot of tea.

Back to pack, tried to negotiate a double happiness sign from the hotel, and now really looking forward to a last Sichuan supper!!

Drew heavily on Tim's recommendations here; chicken with nuts/chillis/shallots/ginger/ma, sour gourd, bean curd sponge, and kidneys cut spectacularly to match the cut stalk of a vegetable that was part of the dish; tasty, spicy, not too hot. Plus tea, glass after glass served in a wine goblet.

All delicious and lovely; then enjoyed a touch of Fawlty Towers with someone else's elegant fish dish. Girl coming away from table and incoming fish dish with burners beneath collided; slippage and some spillage. Back to kitchen. Girl tried next, some spillage. Back to kitchen. Fish entrusted to strongest young man who delivered safely. Comes away in obvious pain, has burned his fingers in the process, but smiles at the comedy of it all!

Tip not accepted, but pleased that I enjoyed the meal - so pleased that the manager wrote a long message in my book for Tim to translate at some point. She indicated that it was good, but for all I know could have been saying something along the lines of 'you greedy pig, you ordered far more than you could eat'!

I'll find out in due course.

Packing now all done, but not ready or willing to leave after this extraordinary adventure.

Hard to believe I'll be in King Edward Street on Monday.....

But I'll be back.

Liulichang, the Beijing Metro, and (you've guessed it) great food!

Day 12

Woke late, relaxed.

Not hungry, so a simple roadside stone pot yoghurt for breakfast, and then followed my nose without a real plan via the metro to Liulichang. The nearly full train stopped at the first station, and we were all asked to get off, all waiting for the next to arrive. When one nearly full trainload tries to board a nearly full train you get, well, chaos, and a very unpleasant juxtaposition of bodies. Still, got my arse into gear, and discovered it was a quicker arse than any surrounding Chinese ones when it came to reversing into a newly vacant seat - I had no idea just how far I could stick it out!

A gentle meander down the western part of Liulichang (not previously explored), and then enjoyed browsing through couple of great art bookshops. Paint brushes by the hundred ranging from mouse- to full horse-tail size.

Found a superb place to have lunch, 50m south of the Liulichang road bridge, east side. Not a Westerner in sight, and I was pretty pleased with what I ordered, though it would have fed four. Chicken kung po, shredded cabbage and bean curd, bitter gourd (yes, by choice, Tim!), and the best (very hot) prawn hotpot. So had crispy, soft, firm and crunchy textures, with bitter, hot, ma, and sour flavours. Missed out on sweet, but made up for it later with cake and coffee at Starbucks, where I sat at the top of the main drag leading to Tiananmen Square as the sun went down; it got dark very quickly. 

A little more gift shopping, then enjoyed the food stalls just off the main street, though not remotely hungry!!

Back, then to the hotel via metro, full circle of line 2 today, to write postcards with a beer in the very Chinese bar with underfloor fish tanks at the Bamboo Garden.

Last day tomorrow, just as I'm feeling really comfortable in this amazing city.

Now right out of socks, pity; my room smells of feet...

Oh, did I mention the spitting? Noisy oik/spit, anywhere and everywhere - in the street, in taxis, in restaurants. Comedy now, no point finding it offensive.

Forbidden City and Jinshan Park + Acrobats!

Day 11

Breakfast on the way to the metro.

Pancake mix, smeared with whole fresh egg and a few seeds, then chopped herbs and spring onions. Turned, and painted with chilli and something else, then large crispy item placed on top. Folded, cut, bagged, and totally delicious.

So by metro to the Forbidden City, having discovered that the Guloudajie station is but a ten minute walk from the hotel.

The FC entrance was packed, as was the whole central walkway, but found that advancing on the right flank was quieter, and interesting. Saw the treasures housed in various buildings, gold, jade and jewellery. Certainly these were areas unapproached on my last visit.

Then Jinshan Park, straight to the central and topmost pavilion, with book.

The view over the Forbidden City would have been spectacular on a clear day, and even on a rather murky afternoon it was good, the myriad of tiled curved roofs striving to clear a way through the shrouds of mist.

I walked all the way back through the hutongs and round Qianhai Lake, feet very tired.

Quick change and back in the metro - rush hour sardines a million times worse than anything experienced in London, and finishing with a mile or two in a small tin shed surrounding a motor-trike, a very special sort of taxi - to the Chaoyang Theatre and an acrobatic show to end all others. Balance, contortion, awesome arm strength of some of the guys - and finally a motorbike spectacular to take your breath away. First one, then two... and finally five guys on motorbikes spinning very fast, and doing coordinated fast manoeuvres inside a wire sphere no more than 10m in diameter. Roaring engines, smell of diesel, headlights on, and just the most exciting thing to watch!!!

Back to base by metro, and needing food. 10 assorted skewers of dubious nature retrieved from some hot bubbling liquid, finished with chilli, from streetside stall. Probably wouldn't pay to ask what they were, but they were tasty, and I seem to have survived so far.

Night night.