Kiruna

Frozen in the Ice Hotel.
Finally managed to upload the pictures that we took in Kiruna.
The lower half of my body is totally sore and in pain. The aftermath of once-every-3mths squash.
This afternoon, I was catching the bus downtown and I saw it at the bus stop which was just 20m away. I tried to run but the moment I moved my left foot forward, my body violently protested and I just decided to catch the next bus. So I had 20 minutes to kill and it was cold, wet and disgusting. Guess what I did? I popped into the Skejby Centre for a nice fat juicy frankfurter sausage. So much for exercise eh. Its a vicious cycle.
So here are the photos

Dog Sledding
I swear I'll never buy a Husky in Singapore. These dogs work best at -30 to -50 degrees and can run or rather need to run 200Km a day. Imagine what a husky would feel like in +30 degrees Singapore confined to such a small place. Anyway, the dogs were so cute and friendly! Like giant stuffed toys. Always eager to run, barking and yelping when we stop and efficiently silent when running. All you can hear are the panting of the dogs and the rush of the wind. A really fantastic experience.

Snowmobiling
Before we went for our snowmobile trip, we visited the LKAB mine which is supposedly the most advanced mine in the world. It actually did feel like it was the most advanced. Lotsa high tech machinery and equipment operated remotely by operators in offices above ground. Really cool.
Snowmobile was definately fun, considering that I have not driven anything remotely motorised for the past 5 months. All that power between your legs and a hot chick holding on to you tightly, what more can a man ask for?

Ice Hotel
Really cool joint, no pun intended. Outside it may be -20 as it was on the day we visited but inside the temperatuer is a "nice" -5 degrees. They keep juice in the fridge so that it stays warm. No regrets about not staying in the ice hotel. The thought of having to dress up (think -20 degrees), lace up my boots and run in 30cm high snow to the nearest toilet in the middle of the night should I feel the urge doesn't really sound like a nice experience to me. Besides its not as if its cheap(2500 kronnors). And for that kinda money, you sleep on a block of ice and in a sleeping bag. Did somebody say "rip off"? Nevertheless it was most definately worth the visit and checking out the ice sculptures and of course the ice bar with the Ice cool cups.

Kiruna Central
Kiruna Central felt a bit like Kovan City. Really has a small town vibe. The bad thing about Kiruna in December is that the sun never rises above the horizon. You get a tiny winy bit of "daylight" for a couple of hours and then darkness the rest of the time. But it was really fun fooling around in the snow(in a kiddy sense, not Adult sense, it was too cold for that) and walking around the place. I am most definately sure its the good company that I had. Apparently it was warm for the time of month when we were there. It was supposed to be -25 to -30 with 1m high snow but when we were there the coldest it reached was -20.