Monday, November 11, 2013

Flam, Norway

Took 8am train to Myrdal. It took around 4 hours to reach Myrdal but on your way, you can enjoy very nice scenery. Free wifi on board NSB but remember to register first before log in. You can book your train ticket in advance in order to enjoy minipris, which is 50% lower. If you buy your ticket on board the train, it will be super expensive.
There is a cafe inside the train just in case if you are hungry.


Inside NSB train to Myrdal

Inside train to Myrdal


Scenery
Myrdal and Flam share the same station, Mrydal is on the left track while Flam is on the right track. At this station, you will see a lot tourist here. Most of them join Norway in a Nutshell tour. You can buy your Flambana train ticket inside the train.

The Flam Railway

NSB Myrdal station

Inside the station

I waited around 30 minutes for my Flambana train to reach Myrdal station. Once on board the train. I pay my ticket fees to the conductor. There is audio explanation inside the train on your way to Flam and Flambana train. The train will stop at the below waterfall scenery for 5 minutes for us to take some pictures.

Waterfall

Proceed to Flam station. It take around 45 minutes to reach Flam.

At Flam, coming down from Flambana train
Most of the tourist who join Norway in a Nutshell stay in Flam for few hours and after that they proceed on to their tour. I think it will be a miss if you do not spend a night here. I actually spend a night here after reading so much comment and opinion in Tripadvisor and I am regret to stay one night only. I SHOULD HAVE STAY 2 NIGHTS!!!! If you are more to nature person, it is recommended for 2 nights.

Checking in my youth hostel
Just 3 mins walking from Flam station, I reach my youth hostel. (Flam Camping & Vandrarheim)

The cabin I stay
This cabin clean and nice. Cooking utensils and cutlery is available for use. Norway is very expensive city, if you want to save, it is recommended for you to cook yourself. Oil, salt and pepper is not available, you can only cook simple dishes or you bring it yourself.
One of the downside of this hotel is you need to pay for a hot shower!! When I check in that time, the receptionist never mention to me. I'm inside the shower and realized its too cold!! And while looking for the hot shower, then only I know that I need to insert coins inside the automatic machine. I'm too lazy to get back to my cabin which is 100 metres away and since i'm already naked, I just bear with it. :-(


Me with my bike
Not wasting time, I ask the receptionist to recommend places to me. She recommend me to hike the Brekkefossen which is the waterfall (the above pictures). I hire my bike and proceed to the waterfall. Flam is very small city. You can chose to walk, it is not necessary to hire a bike.

On my way
It is too slippery. I'm not wearing any sport shoes. Just a normal loafers. On my way up, two hikers which is coming down ask me do not proceed because it is too slippery even he's wearing a sport shoes. But I still proceed anyway.

Flam village

Brekkefossen Waterfall

The view is astonishing!!! It is totally worth it to climb to the waterfall. One of the downside is that it is always rain in Flam.

There is a lot more to explore in Flam, so if you have a bike, you can go further away. I cycle my way to Otternes and Aurland. And there is a train museum at the Flam station if you are interested to take a look. Free entrance.

Signboard Norway in a Nutshell


Park map which can be explore


Fjord view
My conclusion, Flam is worth visiting. I will stay 2-3 nights here if I ever come again. Not much restaurant and food choices here. And Flam is expensive.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Holiday in Norway (Oslo City)

Since i'm not working, I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to travel to a further place. And here am I !!

The first city i touch down
One of the most expensive cities in the world, OSLO !! From Oslo Gardermoen airport to the sentral station, it take around 20 minutes. 

Machine for check in and check out

I stay in Citybox Oslo hotel which is the cheapest I can find in Oslo city and near to sentral station.

This machine for check in and check out and a key card will drop to you once you finish key in all the information
Some information on the weather conditions

Im doing the check in

But if you have trouble checking in, there is a receptionist inside the hotel. The receptionist is very friendly and check in was fast.
You can look up for more reviews or information about this hotel in tripadvisor.
Overall, it is clean with good bed and shower!! Definitely will stay here again if I ever come to Oslo


Out to the city!


Oslo opera house, a must visit so here am i. Few minutes walking for sentral station.
For me, it is actually nothing much special. i think the features of this Opera House is the architectural
.


After the Opera House, i proceed and took a train to the sculpture park or Vigeland. It;s a very short journey but if you want to save money and have the time, you can walk to Vigeland from the sentral station. It is roughly 1 hour walking.

At sculpture park, you can spend your evening here where you can relax while the locals enjoy their outdoor life here

14-metre high sculpture
One of the most famouse sculptures is the Monolith. The column is over 14 metres and carved in one single stone. It consists of 121 human figures. There have been many interpretations of the Monolith: Man's resurrection, the struggle for existence, Man's yearning for spiritual spheres, the transcendence of everyday life and cyclic repetition.

This Monolith remind me the movie series Hannibal which the guy killed many people and put their bodies same like the Monolith.




Stroget, pedestrian street
After that I proceed to their pedestrian street. Surprisingly, there is not much people. I google search their population and realise that Oslo consist of 600k++ population. No wonder their airport is so small!!!

There is quite some beggar along this pedestrian street. And of course, the beggars are not Norwegian. I thought there will be no beggar in a world's most expensive country.

Some bars and restaurant at the pedestrian street

Had my burger king and back to hotel for a good night sleep!!!






Thursday, October 10, 2013

Ways to Cleaner floor

I hate doing house chores. To be honest, I forgot when was the last time i did my floor cleaning, i mean sweeping and mopping the floor. It might be due to my mum use force me to sweep and mop the floor when i was young or laziness.

Last week i went back my hometown and saw my mum new gadget, Shimono steam mop. Was very curious about the steam mop and ask my mum to lend me for a week to test the effectiveness. I never mop my floor for the last 6 months so this will be a good choice to test this mop!!! :-p

Shimono steam mop
Shimono steam mop uses hot steam to mop the floor. One good thing about this mop is that the hot steam can ease up dirt lifting especially lizard dropping which are glued on the floor!!! You do not need to use a lot energy to mop the floor. You just put the steam mop on the glue dirt and wipe few times, the dirt will come out. I google and to look for more information about this mop and and it says that it kill germ. I am not so sure about the germ killing. But anyway, even after you use this mop to clean your floor, you still need to sweep off the dust. This mop do not vacuum or absorb the dust.

My Irobot
So, I use my irobot to clean up the dust first. After that I will use the shimono steam mop for cleaner and shinier look on my floor. Or if you do not have irobot, you can use the steam mop first and sweep off the clump dust after that.


Wednesday, October 9, 2013

I have a blog???!

It's been a while ( 5 years actually!!) since I wrote this blog because I totally forgot about my blog.

Testing testing to see if this blog still works? Will try to add in my journal soon.

Some doggie face to welcome back blog writing