Snow in Norway

From the title of this post you already know what i experience. I experience Norway!!! This trip means a lot to me. Its my first time to come to Europe. Special thank for Andreas and his family to make it happened.

 I started to list everything i might need for this trip and things i might be doing in Norway 4 months before the date of the trip. I was pretty excited and i am still excited since im writing this post in Norway.

Well, i will share what i have done during my stay in Norway. Today is my 8th day staying here. When i arrived at Oslo airport i could feel the cold air through my nose. I never breath this cold and fresh air .. Its different from air in tropical weather country i am from. It was raining when i arrived, the temperature was around -2 celsius. It was really cold for me. It was almost 2 hours driving to Kapp,the name of area where i stay. 

Hey balls aka tractor eggs aka  marshmallow
- livestock foods

On the way to Skvaldra

On the way i enjoyed the view of the houses lightly covered by snow. But it was not much snow at that time. I heard that is caused by the warm wind from the south blows to the north, to norway. It causes the temperature in Norway was not as cold as the winter supposed to be which is around -15 to -25. Well i guess thats luck for me. Since i dont get use to cold temperature. 

I enjoyed my time relaxing and visiting friends during that time. But one thing i have always been waited is the snow pours on me and playing in the snow. After 5days being in Kapp, i have not experienced the 'real' winter with thick snow around. Luckily, Andreas' family has a cabin on the mountain in Skvaldra where there is snow all winter. Yeeesss! Finally its time for me to taste snow and play with it. I was so excited.

To get to the mountain it took 1,5 hours from Kapp. Entering mountain area, snow was all around me, the street was white, trees were covered by snow, the river was frozen to be ice where the birds can freely step on it. It was amazing view i have ever seen live.

 After some minutes driving on the 'snow' street, we arrived at the cabin. But opps, there was too much snow on the path way to the cabin. It was kinda hard to get through. But there must be way; first by deeply stepping on the snow, second, by crawling on the snow :) We did it. 

We got to the cabin and got warm inside. Dont worry, in every house or cabin in NOrway has heater, electronic heater or fireplace inside the house. It is awesome country i think.

 Back to the cabin. After i got warm and changed my wet socks, i went out to shuffle the snow and yes i tasted the snow! It tastes exactly the same as smooth ice in my fridge at home. Haha.. 

Then i tried to make a snow angel but i failed. I will try next time . Hihi Time went really fast. We had to go home cause we had dinner invitation. On the way home i saw a really nice sunset view.. I love it. 

Batu Caves in Malaysia

On the second day in Kuala Lumpur, i went to Batu Caves. It is around 13 km in the north of Kuala Lumpur. I went there by taxi and paid MYR 100 for return. We took taxi from central KL and did some bargain before taking the taxi. Why did i take taxi to go there? Because thats the fastest way and i think its the only way to go from KL.


And i heard from the taxi driver its hard to find and stop a taxi at the street in Batu Caves Temple, since its not in the city. Then i decided to book the taxi for return.

In Batu Caves Temple, there is the world largest statue of Lord Murugan. Based on KL smartguide book i have, it is said to make the statue it spent hundreds of tons of concrete and steel bars and 300 litres of gold paint to make the 43m statue that welcoming visitors at the base of the hills of the cave.










 To reach the cave you need to step the stairs, 272 steps up. It was a bit tiring for me :) .

Cave entrance 

When you get to the top of the stair, you will see really big cave with beautiful cave wall with many birds around. 

The Main Temple

There was the main Hindu temple inside the cave after passing through such a big hall in the cave. 

Me and Andreas :)

On the other side of the main temple cave, there is an adventure tour into the dark cave. Of course you need to purchase some amount of money to join the adventure.

One thing that i like when i was here is that there were hundreds friendly pigeon birds at the base on the hill. It was nice being among them :)

Pictures in Merdeka Square Kuala Lumpur

On the third day in KL, i travelled to Merdeka Square. At first, i thought Merdeka Square is a mall in the middle of goverment building area. Then i was expecting to do some shopping there. But when i got there, i realized that Merdeka Square or Dataran Merdeka is a venue where annual National day parade held on Independent Day. I guess its like Istana Merdeka in Jakarta (Indonesia) where flag ceremony is anually held.

In Merdeka Square, you can see many buildings that have fine architecture like these below :)

Many tourists visit Merdeka Square

The kings that have ruled Malaysia

 You can see the miniature of Kuala Lumpur city in KL City Galery next to Merdeka Square . You will be served with a short video about the city that is ended by the shining miniature of the city.

Petronas - Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur

The Twin Towers is one of Kuala Lumpur icons that located not so far from Kuala Lumpur Tower. The skyscrapers have 78 lifts each. It was the highest building in the world from 1998 - 2004. These two towers are owned by KLCC (Kuala Lumpur Convention Center). 

Inside the towers there are Petronas office, Convention Center, many big company offices. No wonder when you are there, you will see people in formal suites: businessman and women.

On the feet of the two towers there is a big mall named Suria Mall. It has underwater aquarium called Aquaria, Science Center, Art Gallery, and shops that sell international branded products.

Outside the towers, there is KLCC Park with high water fountains and a park with public swimming pool. The parks are so clean and neat. It can be a relief in the middle of crowd city. When I was there, there were many people having picnic on the grass. It seems it is an alternative to spend time with family J.

Short Story on the 3rd day in Kuala Lumpur

Finally on the third day in Kuala Lumpur, I saw the sky was blue, after little rain..

On the third day in KL, i travelled to Merdeka Square. At first, i thought Merdeka Square is a mall in the middle of goverment building area. Then i was expecting to do some shopping there. But when i got there, i realized that Merdeka Square or Dataran Merdeka is a venue where annual National day parade held on Independent Day. I guess its like Istana Merdeka in Jakarta (Indonesia) where flag ceremony is anually held. 

There are many beautiful building around Merdeka Square. If you like to see architecture, its a right place to visit. 

After Merdeka Square, I wanted to go to Little India or China Town. I asked people around, apparently Little India is quite far from where i was, but China Town is just around. I tried to find China Town and I arrived in a street where there are many Indian sellers. It was just like Little India but it was not, it was at Masjid India street. 

I continued my walk to find China Town and arrived on Central Market. In Central Market there are so many stuffs you can use as souvenir or oleh-oleh.

After some shopping in Central Market, I was tired of walking and decided to take taxi to Berjaya Time Square. I planned to watch Wolverine 3D in Golden Screen Cinema (so damn big cinema just like in Singapore).

On the way to cinema from inside the taxi I passed the China Town street which i have tried to find so long time, but i was too tired so,, maybe next time :p

Dream Beach in Lembongan Island (again)

Mushroom Bay

   Yes, yes, yes Lembongan again..

It’s such a good place to run away from the crowd of Kuta.. Besides, this island is the closest island to reach from Bali, and of course the cheapest (if you depart from Sanur).

In this occasion, I went there to spend my short holiday and to host my Norwegian friends since they wanted to go to the island.

As my previous post, this time I also departed from Sanur taking fast boat to Mushroom Bay Lembongan. Well, the price for the ticket for local increases 10k more which is now 60k rupiah. Ticket for my friends I got good price that was cheaper than the price list on the brochures.

Hut with hammock 

We went there in the end of June. At that time, there were many tourists visiting the island. Mola-Mola House where I stayed last time was full-booked; villa behind Mola-Mola where I recommended staying was also full-booked. Fortunately, my friend, Kadek who owns Mola-Mola House helped us to find place to stay. 

After strolling on the beach, we arrived in Mushroom Beach Bungallows and we decided to stay there for a night. There were two kind of building; hut and villa. Hut room is cheaper than villa room because of the difference of the size and the facility between those two kinds of room. I love hut room since it has hammock where I can relax on it. 

During my stay in Lembongan, I visited the places that I have visited before (since I was hosting the guys). The new place I visited is Dream Beach. I’m not sure why it is called Dream Beach, but I dreamed about this beach the night before I went to this beach. Weird. :D

I admit that this beach has beautiful view with white sand and blue water and clear blue sky at that time, the weather was fire hot. Love it. It is not far from Mushroom Bay. How to reach the beach? I recommend you to rent a bike to get there because its quite far to reach by walking. When you get there, there are two ways to go down to the beach. 

First, you go inside a restaurant and down the stair to the beach. Second, you can go down the stair outside the restaurant but it is ‘a hanging stair’ that you need to jump down. Its about 2 meters.

Enjoy the pictures and the beach when you get there …

'hanging stair'