Day 6 - Eidfjord

The weather at Eidfjord turned out to be excellent. Blue sky, sunny, great for taking pictures and I managed to take a lot of nice pictures that look like something out of a postcard.

There were wild flowers everywhere and it felt like spring more than summer.

Dream house! How I wish I lived there! I love the houses in Norway, they all looked very pretty.

 

Edifjord is a very small town compared to Bergen. Went ashore to walk around after eating breakfast. There aren't anything much except for a hotel, 2-3 souvenir shops, a supermarket and some houses. But the scenery was nice and very relaxing. The whole town was very quiet with sounds of birds chirping.

Goats grazing on top of the souvenir store. They are the 'lawn mowers' for the grass.

Watched a short video in this nature center with some exhibits.

One of the largest dam in Norway behind me.

I saw these white fluffy flowers growing everywhere near the dam. They felt just like cotton balls. I guess if you gathered more of these and stuff it into a pillow casing, you will get a free pillow!

Hubby posing with a troll. Lots of troll statues in Norway.

Me posing with another troll, yup....it's a troll and not Santa's little helper. I can't help but felt like a troll/hobbit in this country sometimes compared to the Norwegian people here who looked like the elves from Lord of the Ring....sighz....

 

Had lunch on the ship. The flavours of the world theme for lunch at Lido was szechuan. Was hoping for Thai actually. We already had Indonesian, Philippines, Vietnamese, Chinese. The Chinese theme was the worse coz every dishes tasted freaking salty like hell. I hate salty Chinese food, seriously....Chinese food is not just MSG!

 

Heard that it was a HA's tradition to hold a desserts party at the end of the cruise. Btw, desserts on this ship were excellent! I ate mostly desserts throughout the entire cruise. The midnight snack for the last day was Dessert Extravaganza! OMG!! I never seen SO much mouth watering desserts displayed in front of me! I wish I can try everything but I can't unless I wanna die of sugar over-rush. I actually got a brain freeze from sugar overdose that night.

All were beautifully displayed desserts, ranging from cheesecakes, tarts, fudge, puffs, swiss rolls, mousse, etc....sadly I dun see my fave matcha desserts.....oh well. Guess elderly angmohs dun really appreciate matcha.

All u can eat, candied apple

A section for sugarless desserts, yummy minus the sin

Btw, about 85% of the passengers on this ship were elderly folks. Seriously, what is HA thinking by hosting this heart attack cum calories and sugar overdrive event at 11pm somemore?! I dunoe whether anyone die the next day.

The following day was a whole day at sea before arriving in Amsterdam.

Norway in a nutshell - definitely a place for nature lovers. Very scenic and tranquil environment, plus some celtic/Enya's music, and you will be in dreamland instantly. It's also very clean and orderly. Beautiful country, delicious food, beautiful blond people. A good place to relax, fall asleep (for me), and recharge. Cons: too freaking expensive!!

 

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Day 5- Bergen,Norway

Arrived at Bergen, the oldest and second largest city in Norway.

Bergen was a leisure day compared to Geirangerfjord. We signed up for this 'Queen of the fjords'' tour, which is purely sightseeing by bus and boat. Nothing strenous this time...yea....The scenery was so nice and soothing that it making me sleepy. Actually fell asleep on the bus and was surprised to see most of the angmoh elderly folks also sleeping. Everything looks so nice and beautiful in Norway. The weather is nice, the scenery is beautiful, and almost everyone in Norway are blond, tall, slim and good looking. Seriously, God is unfair. Why does he made some people look like angels while others look like trolls?! Hmm...now I am beginning to understand how the trolls in Norway come about. They are actually people from another part of the earth and since in those olden days, Norwegian people have no ideas who they are, they just referred them as trolls. Haha......

The tour started with the bus ride out of Bergen and then we boarded this ship shown above. No, we din get out of the bus at all. The entire bus was inside that ship, together with a few other cars. This is like a transport vehicle to transfer people with their vehicles from one side of the shore to another.

Hubby posing at the head of the ship. The whole head of the ship moved up and just opened up like a jaw and swallowed up the buses and cars driving in. Then it closed its mouth like a jaw and sail off...very interesting.

There's even a cafe and washrooms inside.

when we reached the other side of the shore, the backside of the ship will opened up like what the front of the ship did before, and spit us all out again....it's so fun...hahah

Visiting a wooden traditional stave church. It's no longer in use but used as a tourist attraction. Smell musty and old inside.

Lunch buffet at this Hardangerfjord Hotel. I finally tasted Norwegian smoked salmon! It's really different from those other smoked salmon I had eaten before. It's not as salty or slimy as the usual smoked salmon and had no fishy smell at all. Yum!

The hotel is situated right next to the fjord. Hubby posing at the hotel's backyard. We got about an hr of free time after lunch to wander around before boarding the bus.

Next stop at a waterfall.

Ice cream break

The ice cream cost about 25 NOK, about $5 USD.

 

Things are very expensive in Norway. Basically, you can't get anything to eat without at least $20 for a meal. All the magnets I found cost at least between $8-12 USD minimum. Even for those cheap looking magnets which I usually get for $2-4 USD. A simple souvenir tee short cost at least $30 USD. Thats about the same price as what i paid for a Abercrombie and Fitch tee in US (at normal retail price)

Constantly feeling drowsy and sleepy on this trip. Wonder why I always feel so sleepy and drowsy when I am on a cruise. Maybe there's something in the food or it's the motion of the ship?? Also, Norway had this lullaby effect on me, maybe becoz everything seemed so quiet, tranquil and soothing...at least I dun have to be on the alert for bears trying to eat me. Seemed like they were all killed by the Vikings long ago.

Dinner at Lido buffet. Its about 6-7pm and its still so bright outside. Eating light to save my stomach for the indonesian theme midnight snack at 11pm. Think I preferred Royal Carribean's buffet as its self serviced and had more varieties. Buffets are supposed to be self serviced, that's why it's called buffet!

Bye bye Bergen, next stop - Eidifjord

 

 

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Day 4- Geirangerfjord, Norway

Arrived at Geirangerfjord early in the morning at about 7am. The whole place looked misty and dream like.

It's so magical looking that I thought I was in some fairyland.

Drinking my orange juice and looking groggy with sleep....

 

Off to the kayaking tour that we signed up.

All dressed and ready to row....

Off we go, the water was very cold.....can't even see the top of the mountains as the cloud hung low and thick. It's a good thing we din sign up for the tour which brings you to the mountain top coz there is nothing to see except for a white blanket of clouds below.

There were several kayaks besides us also taking the tour but somehow we always ended up being the last. Man, we really sucks at this!

Arghhhh....I gave up!

Everyone had already reached the final point where the guide is explaining something about the place which we missed out since we were still to far away to hear anything.

When we finally reached there, the talk was over and everyone was getting ready to kayak back the same way we came. WTH!!!

Arms almost drop off from kayaking for a distance from about Harbourfront to Sentosa back and from twice!

Ended up being towed back by the guide's kayak coz we are the slowest pair, worse than elderly folks and a single mom with her 5 years old daughter....But thanks to that, we ended up from last to the first group to reach the land.

I was like, 'WTH!? If I had known I need to kayak at least 10km, I would never sign up'. Plus what the hell is wrong with these elderly people?! Are they are bionic human with superhuman strengths!!? It was like pure physical arm training torture session at $180 USD for me.

Although Geiranger was listed as a world heritage site for its beautiful fjords, I have no mood to appreciate the scenery as I was too busy kayaking. What a waste....and also my entire jeans was soak. Feeling miserable with a cold wet bottom, I can't wait to get back to the ship.

Something to cheer myself after an exhausting day with a fruit tart, chocolate puff and a strawberry cheesecake.

Ended up feeling feverish with very bad muscle pains in my arms. I have no appetite to eat anything after that coz I can't even hold the spoon or fork in my hand without shaking.

 

By the time, the ship departs from Geiranger at 5pm, the clouds had lifted and I can finally see the mountain tops.

A mountain farm in the distance.

This is the famous seven sisters fall in Norway

Bye bye, Geirangerfjord.

 

 

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