Why do I travel?

I was asked to write for the Logica’s Women Network blog on Travel. They couldn’t  have chosen a better topic for me to write on. Below is what I posted on the Garam Chai blog.

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page! -  St. Augustine

I love to travel, explore new places and re-explore already explored places!
People who know me say, my eyes twinkle and I become a different person when I talk of old travels and plan for new travels.
Why do I travel? To learn and grow – when I visit better countries, I wish to improve my own. I have now realized it is possible to drive without honking and I do try to do so. And if I travel to a country worse than mine, I learn to appreciate my own country.

The perspective of the word Still changed after my visit to the Amazon Forest.
Visiting Hampi, Ajanta & Ellora, Golden temple, I learnt that as we build the so called ‘state of art’ sky scrapers, we forget Beauty.
Fear was redefined after being chased by an elephant in Kabini.
Skydiving in New Zealand instilled in me a new found Respect for myself.
Scandinavians give a new character to the word Honesty.
As we travelled in the Norwegian Fjords, I discovered Majestic.
For the first time we Listened to our guide to stick together, after my friends were mugged on Copacabana beach in Rio.

I could go on and on but for now I want to leave you all with a beautiful quote from Mark Twain - “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Helle

Almost half of 2010’s July in Oulu has been classified as ‘helle’. Helle is used to refer to temperatures above 25 degrees!!! All days in Summers in all cities in India by these standards would be Helle.

Trust my luck – the year I go, Finland has the most severe winter in 40 years followed by a Hot Summer as Oulu temperatures broke records with the officially recorded highest temperature of 33 degrees.

33 is not that hot, but with no fans and AC, a top floor house and blinds needed to block the sun in the middle of the night, it can be Hell!

Attacked!

One Summer weekend I decide to visit Turkansaari, the open air museum in Oulu. There was a guided tour conducted by GoArctic,  at a price of 40 € (incl. lunch) - traditional tar boats with the help of engines would be used to follow the old route of tar transporters in Oulujoki river to the Turkansaari museum area.

The other option was to take a bus (free as I had a pass) and an entrance fee of only 3€. Somehow a ride in a tar boat on the hot summer day didn’t excite me that much that I would want to spend 40 € so I decided to go for the 2nd option.

So off I was on the Sunday morning …30 mins later as the bus left the city the apprehensions and doubts on my decision started haunting me. The linjakas site showed that the walk from the bus stop to the museum was 2 kms. I assumed that there would be something like a city with people all around whom I could ask for directions etc…but the bus had got on to a highway kind of road and there was not a soul in sight. Vast endless green grassy fields with a house here and there!!! No cars also on the road. That's a picture of the road I walked!

I had asked the bus driver to let me know when my stop came…as I got off he smiled and with a look of disbelief said you are joking that you haven't been here before. You know your way around here, right? I didn't know what to say.

Got off the bus and looked around me in disbelief…I was like in the middle of nowhere! I nearly thought of running after the bus and trying to get on to it again!  Then I thought, what the heck…let me see. Otherwise after 1 hr another bus will come across the road on the way back to city and I will get onto that. 

Luckily there were some road signs for Turkansaari.  But they didn't really help in addressing my apprehensions….as soon I found myself on a narrow road with forest on both sides.

And then I was ATTACKED….by mosquitoes. It was impossible for me to walk. I was soon hopping, jumping, skipping and smacking myself trying to ward off the mosquitoes. I am sure I must have looked a funny  sight. It was so bad that when I finally reached the museum car park I approached 2 total strangers for the mosquito repellent they were using!

Turkansaari was an important market and fishing place  as early as the 15th century. The islet in the valley of the river Oulujoki is now what is called an open air museum (its been there since 1922!). 

Open air museum – the  old ways of life: farming, cattle-farming, fishing, logging,
timber floating and tar burning are replicated as is. So there are huts and farms as they would have existed in the 1500s. The traditional tar boats and tar pits can also be seen here. I really enjoyed the whole concept …made a museum so much more interesting. Instead of being in one closed building its like walking in a small ancient village!

The pictures say it all. The ancient Coffee machine is really pretty

The Old Lutheran Church from the year 1694 is was restored here and still is functional. There is a service every Sunday and I was lucky enough to attend it. I really enjoyed the service…even though it was in Finnish! Saw some similarities with a Gurudwara. One man came around collecting some money in a hat and then the priest said a little prayer over the collections, blessing all the people who had made those contributions…..like we give money to the priest or giani in the Gurudwara and ask him to say a little prayer for us. Then often they would stand and the priest would say a prayer and they would sit again.

The church itself was very quaint and nice.  No idol of Jesus but Jesus was represented as a fish!

Good experience…leaving me a fan of open air museums.

Oulu Tidbits- II

Finnish people eat the 2nd most ice-cream in the world…2nd only to the Americans. The latest average is 18 ltrs per person!

The people of Oulu also read a lot! The average is 23.4 books per person. They have a wonderful City library and there is this very interesting anecdote about it. There was this lady who wanted to loan some music but couldn't remember the name of the album, so she sang the song on the phone, and they were able to provide her with the CD. So you can get service by singing at this library!

Oulu has a FACEBOOK page!

The worlds Northernmost Pyramids are in Oulu – Romeo and Juliet, the 2 greenhouses at the Oulu University Botanical Gardens!

There is a 300 year old Pine tree in Oulu. This was used by the sailors to navigate when arriving in Oulu. The farmer on whose land this tree grew was a smart fellow. He threatened to chop off the tree unless he was paid 2 sacks of salt  by the sailors…hence it is now called the Salt Pine Tree.

Oulu boasts the longest land bridge in Finland. Just step out of my flat and look right and one could admire the Swan bridge…so called because the street lights are in the form of Swans.

Not to miss…Castle of Oulu- from Fortress to Cafe! Bit surprising since its such a young country…and one associates castles with ancient and medieval times…but Oulu has it all, I guess:-) 
Built in 1590 and destroyed by lightning in 1793. The lightning set the wooden parts of the store cellar where the weapons were kept on fire.  The fire reached the powder magazine and  there was an explosion that destroyed the building and caused what is called the Big Bang of Oulu – it is said that the blocks of stones were thrown to the town and in many houses the windows shattered!  The old observation tower built in 1875 for teaching astronomy now serves as a summertime café.

Central Park in New York, Hyde Park in London…was Oulu to be left behind. Hupisaaret with the Ainola park competes with the best in the world. It’s got beautiful natural scenery, a summer theatre, a large playground and the longest fish passage in Finland. When I went to Hupisaaret for the 1st time, I didn't know it was a fish passage, I thought it is just some nice landscaping. Later I was told that the Salmons travel upwards on these steps to spore here. Its amazing how they can swim uphill…i would think it is more like jumping or flying!

And of course the Merikoski fountains in Hupisaaret – a very popular concept seen in Oulu. Having water fountains in the middle of the water bodies.

Nallikari island– oft visited by me in Winter and Summer was actually 4 islands that merged into one due to the 8mm uplift of land every year.

My 2nd weekend in Oulu I went to Tietoma. Close it it I saw this big building which said Oulun Vankila. I wondered what it was, I even got a snap of the place….was quite tempted to go in and check it out but was tired. Thank god I didn’t, as couple of months later I realized Vankila is Prison!!!

Oulu has its wee bit share of scandal. Sara Wacklin was very popular writer in Oulu, who began her career as a teacher. She founded 4 schools for girls in Oulu, Turku and Helsinki. Unfortunately both the ones in Oulu burned down!
She wrote a popular book, A Hundred Memories of Ostrobothnia, with ironic and sarcastic stories from the area during the Finnish war of 1808-1809. These stories had make believe characters, but the way she wrote them, one could easily point them to real people of those times causing quite a furore at that time.

Am trying to get hold of a copy of this book but cant. Its on my list of Must Reads!

As I have described Oulu above, would you be able to imagine that till the road network was built in Finland (in 1800s), it was possible to reach Oulu only via sea in Summer. No access in Winters!

When I started out on the 1st post, I never imagined that I would write so much…after all Oulu is a small city (head count only 2,20,000)…albeit a mesmeric and intoxicating one. I never thought that I would miss Oulu, but I do. Like I often say…cold, cold city, warm, warm people!

Oulu Tidbits - I

The name of Oulu is derived from the word Oula, which in traditional Lappish means floodwater and in ancient Finnish sludge on the ice.

The City Hall… the neo-renaissance yellow stone building with the beautiful flower beds was originally an Assembly Hall. Since that wasn't very profitable so to say, a part was converted into a Restaurant! This current structure was built in 1887 after the original burnt down in the Great Fire of 1822 and the town had no place to celebrate the completion of the railway line to Oulu.

  There is a fountain outside the City Hall…has travelled here all the way from Glasgow. The story is that a gentleman got really drunk at the restaurant, stumbled out, and ruined the flower beds outside. In order to avoid a scandal he donated this fountain. The fountain is very intricately done. There are glasses attached which could be used by the riders for a drink while the bowls underneath were used by the horses.

In order for any town to be called a NOBLE FINNISH town, it seems it should boast of at least one big fire. Well, Oulu can boast of several. The biggest fire in the history of Oulu destroyed practically the whole wooden town in 1822. Of the 400 odd houses, 330 houses were burnt to the ground and only 65 were saved.

Prior to the Great Fire of 1822, the assembly hall also had a theatre which could seat 600 people. Considering that the population at that time was about 4000 people, it was a huge theatre. The current theatre can seat 500 odd people for a population of 140,000.

The church too were destroyed in the fire of 1822 and was rebuilt within the old stone walls according to designs of architect Carl Ludwig Engel. In fact, the current cathedral is the 4th one in the same place!!! The 1st one was built in 1777.  Most church buildings face east, to symbolize that a person who enters the church goes from west to east i,e goes from the evil of the present world to the glory of the New Jerusalem to come. However, this is NOT the case in Oulu cathedral as it is built at the crossroads of the roads so it accommodates the general directions of the roads.

The church has a portrait of  Johannes Messenius, which is Finland's oldest painted portrait from 1611. Its funny, but the picture has been modified over time to reflect the latest fashions and the changing size of the collar is visible in the picture!

Another funny thing I noticed that Saturday…the Church clock tower shows the incorrect time. It is running 10 minutes behind, though it bell indicating the hour sounds at the correct time!

The statue of the poet Frans Michael Franzen in the park near the church was sculpted in 1879 and is the second oldest statue of anyone/anything in Finland (the oldest one is in Turku)!

The building with beautiful palatial facades to the North of the church are the Provincial Government Offices – Lääninhallitus. It used to house the Governor’s residence and is considered as the only "palace type" building at this latitude!

One of the buildings often admired by me…the pink one behind the city hall which is now the Cultural Centre Valve was at one time it a POLICE STATION. A pink police station…sounds interesting!!!

The beautiful statue depicting the passage of time behind the city hall, that had left an impression on me on my 1st weekend in Oulu was created to commemorate 400yrs of Oulu.

One of the depictions in this statue is of a Star Boy. The Star Boys pageant as it is known today in Oulu is an offshoot of the old European tradition of the “The Epiphany Carol singers". While this is a dying tradition in other parts of Finland and the world, the people in Oulu are proud of the tradition and have a very popular annual Star Boys competition.

The little boy in the front is called Markki…when at the ceremony to unveil this statue, a young girl commented that ‘ohhh…he looks like Markki’  who was a friend of hers in kindergarten! In winters, someone even gives little Markki a cap, cape and woolen socks! This is the MOST often stopped at point and most photographed place in Oulu.

Linja C

My little bus deserves a post. Its the Linja C, pronounced Linya C. I have had the most interesting time using this bus.

It has a very small route and completes the whole round from Torikatu to Limingantulli and back in just 30 mins. I know because once we reached the stop early and it was going towards Limingantulli. We should have taken the bus when it returned but we decided…lets just get on and once sit through the entire round and check it out.

Many times we would get on at the 1st stop, Torikatu and there would be no passengers till my stop which is halfway on the route!!! And I don't think they would get any other passengers for the rest of the route too! Moreover, since we were such regulars on this bus, that soon most of them started recognizing us.

I don't know if the bus drivers on the city bussi route are generally a very jovial and friendly lot but sometimes while just walking on the road if the bus passed by, they would wave at us!!!

My colleague and I got on to the bus at 2 consecutive stops, me first, she on the next one. One Saturday afternoon we had some interesting incidents…

When we reached her stop, she was not there. The bus moved on and took a turn. I was just thinking of calling her, when suddenly he stopped. And opened the door and madam gets in. I was shocked. Its so unlike Europe for buses to let passengers in at any place other than the stop! And it seems she didn't even try and flag him down! He himself stopped and gestured to her asking her if she wanted to get on.

I still hadn't got over this incident. I was thinking its a one off, but later in the day we were returning from Limingantulli and were a short distance from the city bus stop. We were walking along the road when another driver slowed down near us and enquired if we wanted to get on!!!

Unfortunately I didn't know about this bus in the winter…it would have saved me lots of trudging in the snow with my laptop since it leaves me just behind my flat.

Cooking Naan Breads and Pullas!

My Finnish friend Sirpa wanted us to teach her how to make Indian Naan Bread…so she organized a cooking evening at her place. She had invited another friend of hers – Pahvi and while Harsha was to teach them Naan Bread, they would teach us how to make traditional Finnish Pulla (sweet bread).

Equipped with our atta (wheat flour), rolling pin and pan, off we went to her place. While Harsha rolled out nice round chapatis, we 3 rolled interesting maps!

What I also found interesting was …Sirpa wanted to know how much water and how much flour to use to knead the flour? How much salt and how much oil was added to the flour? And like all Indian women…we didn't have any answer! Its like ‘Andazay sey’. I still think she is not convinced and thinks we are hiding it from her. I understand that she can’t figure how we just do approximations…coz i have the same problem when I am taking a recipe from someone. I want to know the amount of each ingredient including the salt and no one is ever able to tell me that!!

Sirapa made Saag Paneer – she used mozarella cheese - to go with the Chapatis. And it was good!!! I guess if someone had not seen her make it, they would have thought we only made it because she used most of the Indian Spices so that it tasted like proper Indian saag paneer, only not that spicy. And then we all – her family and us – ate the chapatis and saag paneer…finnish style - the saag is buttered on the chapati and then rolled up and eaten!!!

Now it was their turn. In contrast to us, proper measurements (its a different thing that Pahvi was chatting and forgot the count in the middle when measuring the flour) of each ingredient was used.

We made traditional Cinnamon Rolls and Berry Pulla, both of which came out very, very nice.

At times I felt like a small girl…its my turn now to roll the chapati, to cook it, to cut the roll, to fill the berries!!! It was a lot of fun!

At the end of it all, Sirpa wrote out the recipe for us coz she expects us to make it for our friends and family in India.

And that is the challenge – with my cooking skills how to make these in India!

My Nordkapp Trip

Well, well, well…don't now where to begin. This trip was fun…no doubts, very tiring…again no doubts, and in its own way truly UNIQUE…yes, that is definitely a “no doubts”!!!

For when have I been on a conducted tour, where its me, a traveler, shouting Yalla Yalla (hurry up, hurry up in Arabic..something I picked up in Egypt) and not the guide herding the tourists around!!!

And where have I experienced this convoluted communication pattern…so the Driver is a Sudanese who speaks Finnish and Arabic, the Helper with him speaks some Arabic, Tamil, a bit of English, the Guide (also, the helpers wife) speaks Finnish, Tamil and some English, and finally the Tourists – 3 Indians speaking English and Hindi and 3 Chinese speaking English and Chinese!!!

And we had 2 GPS which didn't work!!! Ummm…maybe they worked only in Finland and since we had somehow landed in Sweden. Whatever!

And a guide with no money and no change!!! Always borrowing from us!

And finally where have I met a guide who says…we don’t know the name of the hotel we are going to, or doesn't have addresses or names of the points where we break for coffee etc but just a small 3 inch by 2 inch photo of that place and searches on the highway for that place using the picture, or asks the tourists to read the map and tell them how many kms are we from point x because we are running out of diesel!!!

But I guess after several years of travelling, I have finally matured to a good traveler, one who takes all these things in their stride and learns to laugh at this rather than getting irritated.

To begin at the beginning…Friday 25th was a holiday here. We started around 1:30 from the city. Since bus service was restricted, the organizer had provided a pickup for us. It was a long trip…nearly 2500 kms up and down so I was glad to see our luxury  Ford mini van.  We could have started earlier, it being a holiday, but for some unknown reasons that was not the case. But like they say…every cloud has a silver lining. So we started late and then got lost, and so instead of reaching our destination at 8:30 PM, we were driving through the night and reached only at 2:30 AM and so I got to experience the midnight sun!

On the way we picked up our packed salad at Haukipudas and packed Chinese dinner at Kemi. The salad was devoured sitting by River Torne at Haparanda Tornio. 2 countries, 2 towns, 2 currencies and 2 time zones. Yet one city. That is Haparanda Tornio for you. Nearly half of River Torne forms the the border between Sweden and Finland. 

Barely 30 mins later we were told we are stopping for coffee break. I thought that odd…were they planning to feed us after every 30 mins or what. The place was Kukkolaforsen.  We got out and started clicking snaps and generally hung around for nearly 30 mins….but no coffee. Then we were told…this is the wrong place!!! But no matter, it was a beautiful place.

Kukkolaforsen is in Sweden…we were supposed to travel on the Finland side along this river…how we managed to get to the Sweden side…I don't know.  None of us realized it then…including the driver and guide. It was only later when I was looking at the map and our planned route and actual route I realized that we had got on to the wrong side of the river!

In Sweden on Midsummer, family and friends get together and decorate a huge maypole with creepers and flowers and then raise it. This is followed by traditional dancing around it. Many wear crowns made of wild springs and wildflowers on their heads.  Because Midsummer was thought to be one of the times of the year when magic was strongest, it was considered a good night to perform rituals to look into the future. Young women pick bouquets of seven or nine different flowers and put them under their pillow in the hope of dreaming about their future husband.

As we were travelling, I noticed that most of the houses had the Swedish flag fluttering. Was it because of the holiday or do they generally have their flag up in their houses, I  couldn't figure out. Also noticed that, across the river, very few houses had the Finnish flag!  I had heard from the Finns that Swedish is compulsory for them to learn in school. At our next stop I learned from the Swedes that their is no corresponding mandatory Finnish learning in their country! I don't know why I got upset! I guess I am getting fond of Finland…4 months and am getting possessive. Never felt like that in UK, even though I was there for 2 years!

We stopped again and started looking for our Coffee place…no name… just using a small picture and comparing it with the buildings there to see if it was similar! There weren't many people around too. Then we saw a sign…the Arctic Circle - Polcirkelland  and a small cafe. So we decided to stop there and while we clicked snaps we thought that the guide and driver will get some directions. They did talk to the cafe owner, but still didn't realize that we were on the wrong track!

While our Chinese friends slept peacefully in the last seats, the 3 of us in the centre seats realized that something was wrong. Then Mohammad and myself decided to take over the map. And we realized that we were moving towards the interiors of Sweden. So we would have to take a detour and return to the main highway! It was already 10:30. We should have reached our destination –  Sana mountain at Kilpisjärvi by 8:30!!!

But like I said in my earlier post too…no harm..we got to see Sweden and experience the Midnight Sun.

Finally we reached Kilpisjärvi at 2:00 AM. After going round and round for a good 10 mins we finally found our cottage. But it was worth the trouble. It was beautiful – the cottage and the place. I finally got to stay in a traditional Scandinavian Cottage. The view of the Sana mountain was awesome. That made me get up at 6:00 AM…and while many slept, I took a quick shower, a hurried breakfast and went for a good 40 mins walk. It was AWESOME!!! I wanted to stay on for some time but Nordkapp was beckoning and so off we went.

10 mins later, we realized we are entering Norway and our guide realizes that he should have filled the diesel…you see diesel is very expensive in Norway and it is recommended that we fill the tank up in Finland itself. Only god knows why they didn't do it in the morning while everyone was getting ready :-) I would have thought that they would try and save time considering our experience of the previous day.

So U turn and off we went hunting for diesel! The pump took only 5, 10 and 20 euro notes…and our guide had only 50 euro notes! Somehow we managed to get the diesel and off we went.

Norway…awesome, beautiful, out of the world. The fjords were beautiful and it was a really, really enjoyable drive. Made the whole trip worth it.

Finally without any major adventures, we reached Nordkapp via the tunnel that goes under the water from mainland Norway to the island around 8:30PM.

The plan was to go the cliff around 11:00. On our way we stopped at a Sami camp and then rain struck. It started pouring and became so foggy that it was impossible to see even a few meters ahead. So we decided to return and revisit in the morning. Anyway there was no chance of the sun!

Early morning, knocking on my door. Bad news...Nordkapphallen didn't open till 11:00. We had to reach back because all of us had to go to work on Monday and this meant that we would not reach at the planned time of 1:00 AM Monday morning!

But come all that way and not visit Nordkapp…we decided that we would go and somehow not take any breaks on the way so that we can make up time.

But even at 11:00 AM there was too much fog and freezing cold. Still shivering in the cold we somehow managed to visit all the touristic places.

Left Nordkapp at 1:00 PM. 10 mins before we reached the tunnel I warned the guide. we need to take money out as we need to pay the toll at the tunnel. I would have thought that they would know this. Its something that every website screams about…how expensive Nordkapp is, how they overcharge for everything etc etc. But she maintained that they had paid the toll the previous day and it was not required today. I decided not to argue. When we reached the point, she realized that she needed to pay the toll. But she had only ONE 500 euro note. And that fellow was going to return the money in Norwegian Krones, which also was not acceptable to the guide. Ufffff... Patience...I collected money from everyone and made her promise she would return it to us in Finland after getting change for the 500 euros.

Several hours later began the story of the diesel. We were running out of diesel and they wanted to avoid filling up in Norway. I guess this was the only time I got cheesed off. If we had got stranded, what would they have done, I DONT KNOW.

They asked Mohammad to tell them, how many kms was it from where we were to Finland as we had diesel for about 100 kms. I mean...should they be reading the map or us!!! I wanted them to fill up a bit, but they were like, we’ll manage. Yes you will..provided you stay on the right track. We reached this junction. In the map there were 4 roads, at that junction I saw only 3. So I was just telling them that are we sure we are going the correct way, and I was overuled with a "this is correct..its Highway 92 that we have to take". So i kept quiet. But 92 in the correct direction is what I wanted to say! I had my doubts and so kept looking for some road sign telling which city and looking for the same in the map. 25 kms later…I screamed…we are going in the wrong direction…into Norway instead of towards Finland! U turn and back!!!

The Chinese still slept peacefully while Mohammad and myself got totally jittered.

Finally some diesel in Norway and off we went. I wouldn't take my eyes of the road and the map till be reached Inarvi...where we had some nice hot Mushroom soup even though we had planned for dinner in Rovaniemi. We actually reached Rovaniemi only at 2:30 AM and Oulu at 5:15AM.

What a trip!!!

Midsummer and Midnight Sun

Midsummer as the Scandinavians call it, is the longest day of the year…what we as kids mugged by as the Summer Solstice. I was lucky to be in Finland this year…cause this day makes sense in these northern countries. From where we come, its just a day in the geography text book. Here its a festival!!! They celebrate this day as the beginning of Summer, of their vacations, of the time to wake up fully from the cold, cold winter and just enjoy the Sun.

I decided to visit Nordkapp or North Cape @ 71^o 10’ 21” to experience the Midnight Sun. Considered to be the northernmost point of Europe – I say considered because actually the northernmost point is Knivskjellodden which is about 1.5 kms more north of this, but this is the more touristy one, better marketed – just the entrance to the cliff costs 215NOK (which is about 30 euros). Anyways it attracts people from all over the world for its spectacular beauty. Its a cape right on top of Norway on a small island called Mageroya …a steep cliff overlooking the  Norwegian Sea.  Check out the Google Map…that was supposed to be our route, though we got a bit lost and went into Sweden….not that I regret that. But more details on the trip in another blog.

This blog is about MIDNIGHT SUN. Several conversations I have had made me realize that people have misunderstood the word Midnight Sun. Many people asked me if I captured it on camera. Earlier also people had told me to …take snaps of midnight sun for us. 

Well…I didn’t…because its not a moment that we can really capture unless we take snaps regularly for a couple of hours from the same point, same angle etc etc…  Its an experience. As the word suggests, it is NOT about seeing the sun at midnight. You can see that right through the Summer even in Oulu!!!!

Its the experience that the SUN DOESNOT SET. So over a period of 3 hours or so you can see the sun gradually setting and then without actually setting it will start rising again!

And about clicking photographs...even if I do click a snap, it might as well be a snap taken in the afternoon...there is no way to distinguish whether the snap was taken in the afternoon or in the midle of the night...it looks just the same.

It’s beautiful to see sunsets over the sea…anywhere in the world. So it would have been wonderful to have this experience in Nordkapp. But the normal weather conditions there are foggy so chances of experiencing Midnight sun there are rare. And that is what happened when we reached. It was raining and very, very foggy.

My trip mates were very disappointed. I wasn’t…because the previous day we had got lost and while driving through Sweden around 1:30 AM, I had told my trip mates…do you realize that the sun didn't set and has started rising again. And this is, I think, the few times in my life that I haven't regretted that I am just not able to sleep unless conditions are favorable (read..dark night, nice cozy bed, soft pillow). While some of them slept peacefully, I as wide awake staring out of the window when I realized that I had just experienced the MIDNIGHT SUN!!!

Midnight Walk

Renuka sure caught me by surprise by calling me at 10:00PM last Saturday night. Actually I should not use the word night…that's relevant in India…but not here! Saturday evening would be more appropriate. They were out on a walk and quite close to my house and wanted to know if I would like to join them.

Obviously yours truly wouldn’t refuse and within 5 minutes I was on the road. It was nice and bright and the sun was at the same level as around 5:00 PM on a Summer afternoon in India.

I thought it was quite late and we would probably walk for around 10 mins and then  return. But they seemed to have something else in mind. So we walked from my house towards Meritulli harbour, but not using the usual route from the main road. But some convoluted route from behind my house through some nice green area…full of the famous Finnish mosquitoes!

Yes…mosquitoes …sounds a bit odd. But it is true. The are zillions of mosquitoes here. Initially in March when someone mentioned mosquitoes in the coffee area in office, I thought they all were just pulling our legs…teasing us about the mosquitoes in India and joking around. Specially so because of the way he went on about how big the mosquitoes are. I couldn't believe him. But I guess not. In fact Shriram, an Indian friend I made here described it beautifully - ‘if you don't use mosquito repellent, they can carry you all the way from Tornio to Rovaniemi!!!’ But the nice thing is…they seem to like the outdoors only, and even though I leave my balcony windows and door open, they don’t enter the house. And more importantly you don't need to fear Malaria, Chikungunya…they are quite harmless.

By the time we reached the City Centre it was 11:30 PM and was the city alive? All these months I have never been out so late and till around 7:00-8:00 PM, the market can be quite dull and normal. In fact I had thought that the Finns aren't fond of Pubs the way they are in UK. The scene in the market square at 11:30 PM was what I had often seen in London when I left at 5:00 PM from office. Everyone hanging out on the roadside bars and cafes enjoying their drinks. I guess the late sun here makes the people start their evenings much much later!!

We just hung around at Renuka’s place till 00:30 (I like writing it like that…seems to give more emphasis on the time!) and then went down again so that we could walk back to my place. You would think that by now the city would have quietened up a bit and maybe darkened up. Well..no. They were still as many people in the market place and they don't lie when they say you can sit on the roadside and read a newspaper without any street lights at midnight here in Summer!!! It is absolutely TRUE.

Crowded Buses and Long Queues

So I see this add on the Oulu city tourist website – “The world’s largest sailing ship SEDOV will arrive in Oulu at the Oritkari harbour” You could watch the ship’s arrival from several places including Nallikari. But that would be on a Friday afternoon, and with the way our UAT was going I had a strong feeling we wouldn't be able to get out for an hour or so in our lunch time to see the arrival. That was a bit of a disappointment, as I would have liked to see the sail ship with all its sails open.

But then there was this other option to visit the ship that weekend. The tickets which included the bus transport from and back to the City center and entrance to the ship’s public spaces was only 5€. That was a bit of a pleasant surprise since generally Finland is quite expensive and the minimum bus ticket fare (one way) is 2.90€. But what surprised me a lot was that they hoped (that's the word used on the brochure) that everyone will buy their tickets in advance. I was thinking…how many people are there in Oulu, that we need to get tickets in advance!!!

Was I shocked? U bet! When we approached the bus point we could see several people getting on to the bus. That was still OK. When I reached closer and entered the bus…IT WAS FULL AND PEOPLE WERE STANDING!!! Like a bus in India. Not Oulu!!! There were days when I got late at office and I would be the ONLY one on the bus.

Bus on the way to Sedov Ship!!	Bus on a normal day!

 

Well…the shock didn't end there. When we reached the ship, I saw a queue of about 25 –30 people and I was like...oh no!what a long queue!!! After an hour on the ship, I just looked over and what I saw made me thank my stars that we came when we did. WOW...that was some queue!!! But the amazing part was, like in all other parts of Europe, how everyone including the small children were standing in an organized way and waiting so patiently for their turn. It looked as if the whole of Oulu was there. Later I read that 20000 people visited the ship that weekend! I couldn’t stop imagining if this was in India…there would definitely have been a stampede. This is one of THE things that I wish we could somehow enforce in India… no cutting queues!!! By the time we left the queue was some 250 people long at least and the waiting time would have been close to an hour. Even on the ship, people weren’t just roaming around at will, but moving slowly in a queue to take a complete round of the ship. so damn organized!!!

The ship itself was a beauty! Sedov, so named by the Russians when they acquired it after World War 2 after the Russian polar explorer George Sedov. The big modern cruise ships are no comparison to the traditional sailing ship. This one in use since 1921, holds several records…world’s largest sailing vessel still in use, also the longest training ship which is used to train the marine cadets since the Second World War when this vessel was used as a school ship in the Baltic Sea. And that’s why we saw young sailors  boys and girls on the ship. It can accommodate round 100 cadets being taught navigation and engineering. In its Cargo carrying days it used to take only 92 days to reach the Isle of Wight from Sydney.

As we left the ship, I couldn't help wishing that I too get a chance to sail on this beauty...It was a lovely way to spend a Saturday morning.

O-India, Cycling, Indian Cultural Evening in Oulu!

I heard of an Oulu India group when I first came to Oulu. I tried to get in touch with one email id given on that site, but didn’t get any response and then just let go (I was told later that they don't entertain emails from official IDs. They want our personal IDs.). I nearly jumped out of my skin when about 3 months later, as Harsha and myself were window shopping at Rotuaari, we heard a loud, jolly voice asking us – are you Indians? It was Jacob Uncle and then he went on to explain to us about Indian community …the surprise being that there are nearly 200+ Indians in Oulu!!! and he was their patriarch! We were introduced to the term Findian – Indians staying in Finland. He gave us a quick rundown on how he had landed there etc. Told us to visit his blog and add ourselves to the Google group.

2 days later, I bumped into Renuka in the market square, a girl we had met at Nallikari when we first came to Oulu. She told us about some Cricket match that was happening and we decided to go with her…and who do we see there? Our very own Jacob Uncle!!!

What a day!!! Met several Indians and came to know what an active social life they keep…what with cricket matches, cultural programs and just general get togethers.

But the best part of the day was the Cycling! Wow…after nearly 20+ years I tried cycling again and in 2 mins I had overcome all apprehensions and doubts…it is true…YOU NEVER FORGET CYCLING!

Rubini had got her cycle along to practice, but between me and Harsha we didn’t want to return it to her. In fact we didn’t want to give anyone else a chance. Once she had it she didn’t want to give it to me and when I had it I didn’t want to give it to her! Rubini could have earned a few quick bucks if she decided to loan out her cycle for 30 mins!!!

After the match got over, we went to Jacob Uncle’s office just to hang around. There are 4 flats there that he rents out and loads of cycles. So while some played Badminton, some Carom, I got him to unlock a cycle for me and went off again!

It was awesome! I was so excited that I wanted to get myself a good second hand cycle and started asking all the people around if it is possible. Arun, from the university promised to help me and even tried. But unfortunately, the last week of May when many students return and decide to sell of their stuff, I had to go to India for urgent work and couldn’t get hold of a cycle. :-(. But the search continues!

After few days I heard that Oulu Indians are planning a Cultural evening on 12^th June, what with a full toosh singing and dancing program. Went for one of their planning meetings and was amazed to see the enthu that these people had. They had booked a nice YMCA hall and had nice professional posters printed and put up everywhere…including my office.

It was an excellent program around the Seasons in India, with all of them doing nice Bollywood numbers that went well with each season. I guess for me the surprise package was Bala, which I did tell him. Rubini, his wife, I kinda expected would dance well as I had seen in her one of the initial meetings show everyone a sample. But Bala had this ‘kuch toh kar layngay’ approach – we’ll do something…like this..like that.  But he did dance very well!!!

I had invited my friend Sirpa for the evening and she looked beautiful in the Indian outfit I got for from India. Infact she was quite happy as someone mistook her for an Indian and she took this as a compliment!!!

Kudos to all who the O-Indians who organized the event so well and to all the participants who put up such a great show!

Pleasant Surprises

Tring Tring…my phone ringing on a Saturday morning…and that too an unrecognised Finland no. Was I surprised??? It was Sirpa, a lady I had chatted with for a couple of minutes in the office break out area. She had made the effort to call my manager to take my number from him.

She wanted to take us with her to a place called Koiteli, about 20 kms from Oulu where the Kiiminkijoki river runs.

I sure was pleasantly surprised! I asked her where should we reach…and she was like… we will come and pick you up. That was the 1st surprise of the day!

The second surprise was Koiteli itself. This was in early May and the river was so full of water because of all the snow that has just melted…lots of rapids with people river rafting, which actually bought back memories of another trip quite a few years back.

The place itself was very beautiful….a perfect picture postcard place. It had a freshness about it. Bright blue sky, white clouds, a rapidly flowing clear blue river, CLEAN river banks…

It was so peaceful…maybe some 10 – 15 people only. When we parked the car, there were some 3-4 other cars and one mini van and Marco, Sirpa’s husband was like…its quite busy here today!!!!

I couldnt help thinking of all the picnic spots in India where we have rivers and falls. On a weekend, easily one can see some 20-25 buses and uncountable cars…And all the kids and adults in the water, having a blast, making so much noise.

We walked around a a bit. It is like several small islands in the river.

And then it was time to leave. Again I suggested to Sirpa that Harsha and myself could take the bus back to Oulu, but she surprised me ONCE AGAIN. She invited us to her place for some snacks and tea. That is so so unlike Europeans. I thought that it is ONLY Indians, who will open their houses to everyone and even offer the master bedroom to house guests while they themselves  will take the couch. Only Indians who go overboard with cooking for guests!

But so was the case with Sirpa. She laid out a full table of snacks for us. I was so touched.

This just reiterates the point I have made in in several posts that the Finnish people are very warm and nice. Don't know why when I say this to any Finn he or she insists that they are surprised to hear that, as they are generally an unfriendly race!!!

Spring…Summer???

The way the seasons change here is amazing.

First it was the way the snow melted…2 days flat and it was mostly gone.

3^rd May we had a team outing to HailuotoIsland and though it was a nice sunny day and so called Spring was here, there was this chill in the air and we had to have our jackets and mufflers on. I thought it should take another one month for the weather to improve.

Barely 10 days later, and I was sweating…13th May Ascension Day and a holiday here. Decided to walk via Pikkisari Island to Nallikari Beach.

When I went to pick up my friend she was like, its quite a warm day, don't think we need our jackets.  My advice to her…we are going near the beach, there may be wind and it may get chilly. In these places you never know about the weather so carry your jacket.

10 mins of walking and I was like…this woman must be cursing me. It was bloody warm. It seemed more like SUMMER than Spring. When I returned home I checked…the temp was +28!!!

I was just wondering…that it gets quite warm in May itself and these people always say July and August are warm…so it may get quite hot here at that time. Then I was told, this weather is unusual at this time of the year. Infact someone also said, there are only 6 –7 days in the year when temps are above +25…and they have come so soon!!!

On the way we noticed that the bare trees that we had seen barely 2 days back were now sprouting the leaves. And it took just 2 more days before they were nice green leafy trees.

Same street, in late Winter and in Spring…just 2 days after we saw the buds in the trees!

 

It was a nice, long walk…about 3.5 kms all the way to the beach. The first ice cream trailer I saw and I was like…that is needed!!!! Those people were doing some business as every single person seemed to have an ice cream in their hands. It seemed that the whole of Oulu was out….walking and cycling. They were making the most of the 1st warm day of the year.

As we reached the beach, the only thing that I wanted to do was remove the warm socks that I was wearing and get into the water. Yikes…the water was COLD! Ok..agree, it was still Spring and not Summer!

Then me being myself…got all excited. I couldnt get over that this is the same place that I visited in Winter. I kept telling Harsh again and again that here na…there was all snow. Not a drop of water to be seen. And I wanted to take snaps…the then and now kinda snaps!

In the 1st snap, we are standing on a snow wall which is actually the row of stones that can be seen behind me in snap 3. Also the light house in the 2nd snap can also be seen way behind us in a bed of snow in snap 1.

Seasons

In one of my previous posts on Spring, I had pictures of the same place in Winter and early Spring. Next in series is the same place in late Spring.

I may say Summer, but the Oulu people say, Summer is not here yet. It will come in July.  Lets see what the place looks like then.

There is JUST one reason for me to want to be here longer than August…and that is to capture this place in Autumn!

Karelian Rice Pies

Finally…traditional Finnish food…eaten the Finnish way!

These rice pies were served at breakfast in the hotel on my visit to Salo. I took one but didn't like it at all!!!

However, at a recent visit to a Finnish home, Sirpa warmed them and asked me to try it with butter or cheese or egg. I didn't want to hurt her so took half of it with some butter and it was yummy! Obviously I tried another with cheese and really…to enjoy traditional food one must eat it the way the locals do.

Team Outing - Hailuoto Island

When I first reached Oulu (in all that snow!) and asked anyone what is a  nice thing to do around Oulu they would suggest a visit to Hailuoto Island, but with a caveat…wait till Summer. There is a nice sandy beach and in Summer there is lot of greenery and its very beautiful…hmmm…it sounded like a must visit! Lot of bird watching also since migratory birds stop here on their way back home!

A pleasant surprise when the Jouni and Tero suggested that they wanted to show us Oulu countryside and the place they chose was Hailuoto Island!!! And on a Monday…even more exciting!!!

Hailuoto means "Shark Isle". There are no Sharks! but why it is called that I STILL haven't been able to figure out. Even Google wasn’t able to answer this one!!!

The island is accessible by ferry year round. In Winters, the  sea ice thickness reaches 40 cm and then you can DRIVE the car OVER the ice!!! That would have been interesting…as it is I couldn’t get over walking on sea…imagine DRIVING on sea!

But even in early May the ferry ride itself was very nice. It felt like a trip on an ice breaker crushing large ice floes. So I saved the *** euros that you need to pay for a trip on the Sampo Ice Breaker! This is a pic of the ice sea taken from the ferry as it breakes through the ice!

We drove right across the beautiful island to the most western point called Marjaniemi. There was a small exhibition there about the island. Its actually a very young island which came into being in the medieval period as a result of a rise in the level of the land. The island is continuously expanding and in a couple of hundred years it will be a part of the continent!

Some stuffed birds and salmons…I had seen these in Rovaniemi also and thought that they were fakes, but I was told by Jouni that they were real!!! Yikes!

Lunch at a restaurant there…I felt this could be my opportunity to try the traditional Finnish food as I would have the locals to help me out. But there was this fixed menu and the vegetarian option was vegetable au gratin. Unfortunately not terribly Finnish, but made well.

Fixed menus – a main course, some side salad and a drink- makes me want to mention one more thing.  This is the ONLY place in the world that i have seen adults – men and women drink MILK at lunch time!!! Milk is the drink option with the food here. No coke, Fanta etc!

After lunch we decided to walk along the beach. It was kinda funny as in some places the snow still hadn't melted and since it was still a bit chilly and windy so we were all packed up with jackets and caps…it was like a contradiction…walking dressed like that through snow to go to the beach!!!  The sea at the back is still a bit frozen…maybe another 2 weeks till it melts completely.

The Finns love their coffee breaks. In office itself, Tero was like I am prepared for our picnic today as he took a coffee mug out of his pocket! the plan was to stop off at a cottage and make a fire and enjoy the coffee and doughnuts.

That's another great thing. There are these cottages all over the island, where one can just go and use (for free). You can make a nice fire and just relax there.  No need for bookings, if too many people land up, the accepted rule is FIFO.  Its OK to camp there too. If I am here in Sept, this would be an ideal place to hunt the Northern Lights!

When we reached the ferry point, we realised that the next ferry was after another 1 hr, so we decided to go back…and maybe buy a reindeer!

This was an interesting sign that we had seen on the way. When we reached this place it seemed very quiet. Even when we parked the car no one came out or anything. We ventured out and into the persons backyard, where we actually saw some reindeers.

But the place had this eerie atmosphere…I had this feeling, that this guy is gonna come out with a shot gun and shoot at us for trespassing! Maybe it was the after-effects of doing a project for the Mexico factory!

No one around, very very quiet place …and then we noticed a key in the back door. Probably the owner had gone out. Now I agree…this is one helluva safe place!

But this also meant…We couldnt buy the reindeer ;-)