The Fjord, the Rain, the Stupid Washing Machine and the Big Brother I Never Had

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Last year I lost a bet in NZ. Against all odds, it was bright blue sunny day in Milford Sound – one of fjord in NZ. Since then I’m “allegedly” a lucky person when it comes to vacation. Secretly, I kinda started to believe that. It was rainy for 5 days in Istanbul – there was only 1 sunny day – which was the day where I visited the tulip park that I’ve anticipated so much. It was rainy for 2 days in Furano Hokkaido, except for 1 day where I went lavender fields hopping. And it was sunshine all the way – in the South Island NZ for at least 7 straight days. So no wonder that for this trip, I secretly banking on my “alleged” luck. I know that Geiranger had 85%!c(MISSING)hance of rain; but I somehow believe that my luck will again beat the odds. Plus, I’m going in the summer – so that should crank up my chances.

But there’s a first time for everything. And this time, my “alleged” luck didn’t push through. It was another wet day, as the rain pouring heavily in this part of the world. As I gobbled my leftover pizza while watching old re-run of “Everybody Loves Raymond” (luckily it’s in English, not dubbed to Norwegian) – I sincerely wish I have the super power to brush away the clouds. The plan was to have a warm cup of sweet tea at the porch of this wooden cabin – while being awed by the majestic Geiranger fjord just stone throw away. Oh well, that’s life.

As planned, we drove back up to Flydalsjuvet – which is a scenic stop to take in the Geiranger fjord view. But drenched in rain, and 6 degrees celcius (that’s cold for Asian like me, btw) – it’s not fun. I was imagining before that THIS will be the spot where I finally cried some happy tears that I finally made it to Europe etc etc – but nope, it was just rain running down my cheeks. Still lucky though that we came before the hoards of tour busses. We then drove up again to hairpin routes from yesterday, again take some pictures. There were some interesting abandoned shacks with greeneries covering it’s roof – blending in with the hilltop. But again, could not get a good shot. Finally found a nicer spot down below – near Utsikven hotel. However, it’s only a small nook fit for 5 skinny people. No wonder that spot is not heavily commercialized – as tour buses cannot stop there.

We rushed down back to Geiranger town to catch the 11 am car ferry from Geiranger to Hellesylt which was suppose to be magnificent according to forum reviews. I remember some poster comment that “It’s actually good if it’s raining cause it made the waterfalls more dramatic”. I disagree. When queuing I noticed a Czech bus stopped near our car. I know it’s from Czech cause I can see the writing on the bus. Hmm, that’s interesting, why would a Czech tour bus ended up here in Norway? Not long, line of tourists came out and… they are… Koreans. Wow. It seems like the tour organizer aligned with the boat operators as there was some Korean version for the tour announcements.

Anyway, the boat started to move away from the dock. I know it’s raining. And I know it’s freezing. But there’s no way I’m going all the way from Singapore, waited 4.5 years to go Europe, and stay behind a window glass. I walked up to the deck, and stayed there. The wind makes the temperature feels like 5 degrees, although in reality it might be around 8. Gosh, my jacket and gloves are too thin… I fidget around my camera buttons; always ensuring it’s strapped to my neck. It would not be funny at all if my beloved SLR fell into the water.

It was actually a nice ride. There are many waterfalls, and abandoned farms left and right. You can’t help but feeling so small among these giant fjords…

There, drenched in rain and shivering by the dropped temperature – I managed to… actually feel happy and smile. This is beautiful. Many people left the deck. I stayed there, as I know – this most likely is my one and only chance to cruise this particular fjord. I just don’t want to miss a thing. I pulled M aside and thank him for coming to this journey with me (I was initially planning to go solo) and for being such a good friend these past years. He pushed me away and said I was too mushy mushy ha ha ha… Well, I probably am. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t sincere when I said it.

After arriving in Hellesylt, we drove via curves of fjords to Bergen. It was (supposed to be) scenic. I started to recognize the pattern of this part of Norway. Red house on the foot of the mountain range, surrounded by greeneries, in front of body of water, and at the back there are some waterfalls. The pattern kept repeating itself. Gorgeous. But after a while I lost track of where we are. Everywhere started to look the same. Lucky there’s GPS. Still wished for blue sky. This gloomy weather is can’t be helped even by Adobe Photoshop.

With hardly any stopping point and the bad weather, we’re pretty much just stuck inside the car and purely driving. M and I ended up having chatting from light chit chat to deep heart to heart conversations. He gave me good advises. Some I actually don’t want to hear, although (ego aside) they are probably right. I’m happy that he’s back to his smart witty self – after a bad episode in his life last year. Gah, now I’m the stupid one again. Well, I guess someone has to take one for the team. And there, inside the car surrounded by bad weather and the repeated Michael Jackson's "The Girl is Mine" song I grew to like – I’m actually having the time of my life. Because I’m there with my big brother from different parents.

Ah, writing this post makes me wanna drink a cup of hot sweet tea… Let me treat myself that first.

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After 6 hours of driving, we finally arrived in Bergen before sundown. I booked a place in the back of the historical Bryggen quarter. It’s a B&B in one of the old wooden buildings – simply because that was the cheapest I can find. And trust me, it was actually not cheap. I could probably treat myself for a 5-star in Budapest for the same price. There was some confusion of where can the car be parked in such narrow lanes, but managed to solve it with a hefty 100 NOK price tag for the night.

Walked down to the heart of the town, which is surprisingly cold and smokey. I wasn’t expecting the smokey part considering this is a much smaller town compared to Oslo. It’s interesting how the old and the new collide. Saw a McDonald that operates in an old wooden building established in the 17xx. Walked some more and enjoy the blue twilight hour in Bryggen up to Bergen Fortress. I’m a bit annoyed with many blocks of woods lying around in front of the Bryggen quarter. It blocks the shots! Grabbed a very tasty smoked salmon wrap with potato salad inside – just before the shop closed. Mmm, yummy…

End the night by skype chatting with my husband half way across the globe (where he stayed up, up to 3 am his time just to catch me) and try to tackle a washing machine that’s purely in Norwegian. Not a dash of English on it. My clothes at one point were “stuck” inside and I don’t know how to get it out. I fumbled around the buttons and finally able to crack the code. Now I just have to figure out how to sneak back to my room without waking up the other guests. I was wondering how in the world I could survive another grueling backpacking day with only 4 hours of sleep – but I guess I’ll figure it out somehow. As always.

To view more of my Norway pics - click here

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Photos

Geiranger Fjord from Utsikven
tips: you'll get better view from Utsikven vs from the famous Flydalsjuvet