this post is mainly about the lucky 5th of Jan 08. we decided that we've had enough of kiruna and would like to spend a day in Abisko National Park, around 1hr20mins train ride away from Kiruna and 20-30mins away from de Norwegian border. we were late and ran all de way from the youth hostel down to kiruna C and not more than 5 seconds after we board, the train started to move ^^
Abisko is such a small stop and there was only one way rail, which means we had to get off the train from the other side. so we missed the stop and got off in Björkliden instead :P but we were so lucky there's a train going back to Abisko in 20mins. and we took in as much as possible wot Björkliden has to offer.
When we finally got to Abisko, the tourist centre was closed. Great! Saturday! but there were ppl chatting beside the tourist counter and we still got the map we needed ^^ and just after we finished our packed lunch, and refilled my water bottle, they shut the whole place down... i dunno wot kind of luck were we in...
anyway, we followed the map and decide first to see the Torne Lake, 4th largest in Sweden. I had to believe it coz the scenery was dominated by this lake for more than 30mins on the train. For some reason, the lake has a colour of very dark blue, close to black. and when we got close, it's not unlike the sea in the north pole we so used to see on TV.
there is a very interesting illustration on the map which says "canyon". and there was where we were heading after deciding that we better make good use of the remaining sunlight and not to get too carried away by the magnificent scene at the lake ^^ it was a good decision. as wot we saw at the dight was totally out of this world... i was constantly yelling "let me die here! let me die here!"
camera cant depict the depth of the canyon, and the frozen part, the flowing part, the sound of the waterfall, the glacier, the clear water of green, the snow on the ice, the hot spring coming out from the steep wall... it made me thought "aurora or not, it doesn't matter anymore..." and i totally hate these pictures as they dont bring out a tenth of the beauty of the place.... but there's nothing better to show...
we continued to hike to the entrance of the canyon. pass it, and until de day got pitch black. we then follow the faint light refelcted on the snow back to the train station. hiking is good coz with so much exercise, my toes didnt freeze :) we arrived at the station around 3.45pm. rested for a while and decide to go into the woods again to look for a Sami Camp indicated in the map. it was rather disappointing with only 3 storage houses but we saw ursa major! (北斗七星) it was getting very cold suddenly, so we went back to the station.
but combination of clear sky and sudden drop of temperature are welcoming signs of the arrival of aurora! so i wouldnt go into the waiting room and kept staring at the sky which drove my travelmate crazy :P but before his third complain, the show begins...
it started with a faint curtain of white, then the curtain shifted. some parts becomes brighter than others. then they disappear all together, and reappears again in a matter of minutes. then the white curtain narrows into a white band... and it suddenly turns green! it has to be aurora!!!!! we were shouting and shouting like maniacs, running for the camera. it was quite static in the beginning, only narrows and expands as a band. then the climax came, and it was shifting in shape, winding like a giant dragon as seen in the pictures above ^^ for these pictures, camera exposure time was around 7-9 seconds. we din have any tripods so they are a bit blurry. but ursa major is still captured in sequence 4 and 5, see if you can spot it ^^
it died out rather quickly after the big ending. we've been meeting a lot of other travellers. from US, france, mexico, china, japan, spain, england, australia, and even malaysia and singapore! everyone talks about the northen light and the ice hotel. most of those who've seen the aurora saw it outside kiruna, coz there's too much light in the town. but none that we've heard from had seen a big show like this ^^ wot luck! charmed~ charmed~~
another dream came true... though the original dream consists of different characters in the story, but i'll take this :)
(to be continued...)
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