Finland(+ a bit of Norway and Estonia) Trip 2016 Review
[Disclaimer: This review is not done for commercial purposes. This review only reflects my personal opinions. :D Happy reading!]
Okie, I'm back from the long-awaited Finland trip and super glad that it turned out great! In fact, our tour manager, Mr Chong, was so friendly that we couldn't bear to end the trip so quickly.
Finland Service
Overall, I feel that Finland offers excellent service. Of course, out of the countries that I have visited, none has been able to climb over the almighty wall of Japanese service- arguably the best customer service in the world. However, Finland may fare quite well on the service ratings in the world.
Comparatively, I may say that Estonia, a country that is a sea away from Finland, is not as friendly as Finland in terms of service. Why do I say so? This is because Finland staff serve with a smile and thank you and acknowledge your thanks, unlike in Estonia. However, not to forget the owner/guide of an Italian restaurant in Estonia that we didn't eat at. He was kind enough to show us around the restaurant to see how big it was. Our local tour guide in Estonia was also friendly and approachable.
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| The cool recycling machine |
Back to Finland. The Finnish service made a good impression on the very first day we touched down in Rovaniemi. We stayed in the Santa's Hotel and the convenience store was a stone throw's away(walk for ~5minutes). The female staff made an extra effort to introduce us to this cool recycling machines at the back of the store. Any bottle or can with the recycling label with varying amount, for example 0,10 or 0,20 Euros, can be recycled. So cool! We tried our hands on it. The machine will scan the bar code on the bottle or can (so don't remove the label), then a receipt will be printed to give you a discount on your next purchase. It is very convenient indeed. If they implemented this in Singapore, I'm sure that this will encourage more recycling, thus strengthening our local recycling culture so it will be wonderful!
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| The convenience store which has friendly staff :) |
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| When I think of Rovaniemi's modern area, I think of this. |
Finland experiences
Well, as I read from the magazine on Finnair( called Blue Wings ), they mentioned that what matters is the experiences gained, not the material goods bought or collected. Thus, more people wish to travel abroad to gain more experiences. Even bad experiences count because you can recount it to your friends, for instance, " I went to Finland and they got my name mixed up at the airport..." It can turn out as a good conversation starter. :P
We had so many new experiences during this trip, making it super duper exciting.
Reindeer ride
The most relaxing activity would be the Reindeer ride. You don't even need to control it. One reindeer can ferry two passengers. They are sure strong! Just admire the scenery as it brings you along. Ahh... Such a relaxing experience indeed. The truth is, perhaps in order to save time, the guides took over instead while we just relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
Snowmobile ride
Next, the snowmobile rides are conducted at night. Mummy said that the ride was more challenging than that in Hokkaido 2 years ago.
In fact, I would award Mummy with the "Most Daring Award" if there was one for this trip! At first, our family was reluctant to ride the snowmobile, fearing that the conditions may be too dangerous during the night, which may compromise our safety. Hence we tried to opt to ride the sleigh, which was attached to the main snowmobile. It can accommodate 10-14 people, depending on its size.
What's a snowmobile ride without the thrill? Luckily, all 4 of us took a chance with the snowmobile ride. Despite it being dark, as we were a relatively large group of 31 members, we had 10-15 thereabout snowmobiles trailing behind each other, forming a trail of bright light to guide us on. Not to fret for your safety, as there are guides in front, in the middle and at the back if I don't recall wrongly.
Why didn't I ride then? Although a driving license is not required,(it's best to own a driving license though), my hand-eye coordination skills were not in place yet. One instance was when I tried to ride a 4-seater "bicycle" with a steering wheel, but ended up steering off track and landed up in the grassy patches at East Coast Park. Haha :P So I thought, I'd better leave it to the more experienced adults or those who have had prior experience with snowmobiles, like my elder brother. Undoubtedly, it was much more challenging because of the terrain- with slopes and curves and driving in the dark, rocky, snowy paths( not concrete obviously), it was thrilling and fun. We definitely did not regret taking a chance on the snowmobiles again!
Sledging
On the day that we proceeded to the Kelo glass igloo, there was nothing else included in the itinerary as the tour agency roughly estimated that the travelling time would take almost the whole day and left us some time to rest instead. Thank you Mr Andi(our bus driver) and Mr Chong for arranging the sledging session! It was our first time sledging and we enjoyed it very much. Previously, in South Korea, Japan and Switzerland, we didn't receive the chance to go sledging. It has been my dream to try it out and I finally did, so I was overjoyed! Although the climb up the hill was strenuous, the sledging down the slope made it all worthwhile. We were exhausted but totally satisfied! I want to go sledging again in the future!
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| At the sledging hill |
Husky dog ride
Entering the area, we were greeted by a group of barking dogs- some howling, some screaming, some even crying( the sound was reminiscent of that, very high pitched.) That was my NIGHTMARE!! Almost 100 dogs(including those in the farm) were howling and screaming, something that I never ever encountered in my life before. As we passed by some of the dogs, they were really excited. Excited for what? I didn't know... The only thought in my mind was how to be as far away from them as possible as my adrenaline kicked in from all the barking, nudging me to escape from that area.(Okay, I didn't. *Pats myself on my back for being a brave girl.*) Fortunately, we were allocated the gentler, calmer and more obedient dogs! They were very chic and cool, just lying down on the ground, until they became influenced more or less by Daddy's and Gor gor's more aggressive dogs who wanted to fight and loved to bark so much that Daddy joined in. Hahaha. That's called "Rather than being displeased about something, why not join in?"
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| Husky dog farm |
This time, Mummy also took control. She mentioned that this was more challenging than the snowmobile ride as she controlled animals who had a mind of their own, not a machine. In fact, 6 active dogs who desired to run, as if it was their destiny. Even when she stepped on the metal brake with 2 feet, using her entire body weight, the dogs still wanted to move ahead! Phew! I didn't mind sitting in the passenger seat (nearer to the dogs) and Mummy wanted to be a distance away from the dogs too, so I guess we were the perfect pairing for this ride? Daddy was NOT at all afraid of the dogs. (perhaps since his zodiac is a dog too, hahaha XD)
Oh, oh, oh! It was absolutely FREEZING COLD!! The temperature was -20 degrees Celsius. It suddenly dipped from the previous day's temperature of -7 degrees Celsius. So cold that my hands and feet were numb. I cannot feel if my hand was mine at all and took 2 precious videos and some photos on board the husky dogs ride. A memorable experience indeed. My fear of dogs decreased (by about 50%) too!! Yay! I usually am scared of their ferocious barking.
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| Husky dogs in action |
After the ride, I understood why husky dogs barked. They really desire to run, so they bark. Once we stopped, they started barking after 1 minute. Aren't they cute? They won't bite people, so they are friendly to humans too. I patted a dog for the first time in my life!! Isn't that an accomplishment for someone who fears dogs very much? Hehe yes indeed. (Thumbs up!) 대박! (Awesome!)
Finland drinks
We LOVE the blueberry juice and Glögi in Finland. Little did I know they hid ginger juice in Glögi as I cannot taste it at all (For your information, I don't really like ginger, so you can imagine my adverse reaction upon tasting it!) It is the PERFECT drink on a cold winter's day as it warms your entire body, from head to toe. The strong cinnamon smell is what identifies Glögi, giving off some sort of a Christmassy feel to it. I LOVE the hot chocolate drink as well, as always, being a lover of all things chocolate. Within 1-2 minutes, the piping hot drink will turn cold, even forming a thin solid layer after a while!
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| Hot chocolate. Mmm. Missing that rich chocolatey flavour. |
Finland food
You could say Finland is unanimous with reindeers and Santa Claus. The Finland diet consists of lots of meat, little seafood and a moderate amount of vegetables, with a little chocolate. (Fazer for the win!) We primarily ate beef, pork, not as much chicken as we do in Singapore, and deer meat. We tried the reindeer meat in Santa Claus Village. It was traditional sautéed reindeer meat with mashed potatoes, lingonberries with syrup and 5 to 6 slices of pickled cucumber. I'm glad that we did not regret sampling it. Finland does its mashed potatoes and oats very well. The next day, in Norway, the reindeer meat with rice which does not taste like rice at all was a pure disappointment! Fortunately, we tasted a better dish previously, so it didn't ruin our impression of reindeer meat. Mummy expressed that it had a gamey taste, meaning that the meat taste was too strong. With many plates of this dish left uneaten or half-eaten, you can obviously tell that it was not to our liking.
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| Beetroot Soup in Tallinn, Estonia |
Why does Finland serve little seafood? They only usually consume salmon-either smoked or cured- for breakfast. I like it as it is reminiscent of RAW salmon!! :D They also serve creamy salmon soup, which I enjoyed as a salmon lover. If you are not a salmon lover or cheese lover, then Finland's not for you! Another fish was white fish. It was delicious, leaving a lingering taste of freshness that left me craving for more! It was a baked or fried fillet with a cream sauce with mushrooms which tasted like creamy mushroom soup, served alongside sliced potatoes. Yummy!
Vegetables would usually mean salads or pickles. Something more unique during our trip was the beetroot soup in Tallinn, Estonia (Not in Finland) Special and delicious!
Fazer chocolate
Geisha, the chocolate with a hazelnut filling, was to my liking. I also enjoyed Fazermint and Mariamme and the "Fox sweet". I researched these brands owned by Fazer before the trip and like them a lot!
Hesburger (not sure if we read it as Hes-burger or his-burger (like he-s))
It is the only fast food outlet chain that is LARGER than McDonald's. It's their local brand and has yet to expand out of Europe. Offering freshly made burgers etc, it is quite delicious. One special menu item is the soy fingers. We did not know what was it but went ahead to try it, dipping it in the sauce of our choice- curry mayonnaise. Not bad! I thought it was squid at first :P Like those sold at Old Chang Kee. Who knew it could be soy? Yum.
Special mention: Meatballs! They were scrumptious and I did not get sick of eating them. They do go very well with a brown savoury sauce.
Another special mention: At the X'mas market in Finland, the Roasted chestnuts were delicious and bigger than those in Hokkaido. Left us craving for more!!
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| 150g of roasted chestnuts. Yummy yum |
Other Finland attractions
Ranua Zoo
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| Map of Ranua Zoo |
Ah, you may wonder, why spend an entire day at the zoo? Aren't all the zoos the same? No, no, no! This zoo is special as it showcases ARCTIC animals which are hard to see in our zoo in Singapore, due to the different climatic conditions. We saw arctic foxes, massive polar bears, reindeers etc. Not a wasted trip as I learnt a lot more about them as I observed them given ample space to roam freely in their natural habitat. :)
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| The reindeers were so close to us! We got to witness what is called "eat and poop at the same time". |
Santa Claus Village
I LOVE Santa Claus Village lots! I've been anticipating to meet Santa Claus for a long time. Until now, I still vividly remember when my Geography teacher showed us the virtual reality at Santa Claus Village in the classroom, I was wishing that we would visit it one day, and TA-DA! That day has finally arrived. I was super exhilarated and I flaunted a bit of my Finnish with "Hauska Tutustua"("Pleased to meet you") when I met Santa Claus and shook his hand. He is very warm, kind and friendly, just like everybody's jovial grandfather. He praised me, saying that I spoke Finnish very well. I wanted to ask "Mita Kuuluu?" ("How are you?") too, but due to time constraint and context, I didn't. It's okay. We have a photo with Santa too! By the way, some humorous and memorable moments were when multilingual Santa said "恭喜发财", "新年快乐", "笑笑笑笑" (when smiling for the camera), and "谢谢" XD
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| Ta-da! Finished writing the postcards! #Accomplishedsomething |
We also bought souvenirs for both friends and family members. I've been wanting to send out postcards and can do so at the Santa Claus Village. That is really a souvenir paradise! Key chains, postcards ( they offer a large variety there), T-shirts, magnets, wooden carvings, fur, snow globes, stuffed toys, you name it, they have it!
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| The main building at Santa Claus Village |
Santa Claus Village was also where we enjoyed a relaxing reindeer ride at. Immersing yourself in the joyous atmosphere with a snowy backdrop and with snow-capped structures and cabins, it gives off a Christmassy and wintry feeling to everybody. It is truly Santa Claus' homeland. For your information, Finland's flag has a cross also because it was the land of the Vikings.
Helsinki: City tour and stone church
Well, nothing much to say about the structures in Finland's capital in the South- Helsinki. It is very modern, but most shops are closed on Sunday.
We visited Stockmann- a shopping centre which is based in London. It is quite huge, perhaps 7 to 8 storeys? Mainly we went there to purchase souvenirs for Daddy's colleagues and other relatives and I bought Mariamme for ourselves. Mariamme has a crispy mint outer shell and a chocolate or toffee filling inside. Not too sweet. The first hotel, Santa's hotels Tunturi gave us this complimentary sweet to try and I liked it. Then we bought some shirts in Hard Rock Cafe. Yay! Mummy wanted to visit it and we chanced upon it! Call it overpriced, but wouldn't branded goods be a little more pricey?
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| Interior of the Stone Church |
Accommodations
The hotels were generally okay. They were clean and comfortable.
Special accommodation: Kelo Glass Igloo
Unlike the old generation glass igloo, the Kelo glass igloo came with a shower and a sauna. There was a special glass partition for you to view the stunning night scenery(if there were the Aurora lights, then lucky you!), connected to the log cabin, so that you can enjoy the best of both worlds. How cosy it will be to enjoy a hot piping cup of instant noodles late in the cold wintry night? (They have a kitchen with all the utensils provided too) This log cabin can actually fit 4 to 5 people comfortably, and even 6 to 7 people if some are willing to lie on the sofa and sleep on the upper bed.
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| In the log cabin of the Kelo Glass Igloo |
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| Adjustable beds(not connected) in the glass partition. Very comfy. |
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| The kitchen |
There were the aurora lights that night!! But the lights were faint, between really light green and white, so I couldn't tell if those were the actual lights or not. Our group mates said that it lasted for 5 minutes only, around 10.30 to 11pm. We should have went out to take a picture with my camera as they said that it was not really visible with our naked eyes too. It was a wasted opportunity but at the very least we saw it. Daddy was sleeping throughout the night though. :P (No choice, he was unwell)
For those who are eager to catch the Aurora Borealis phenomenon, I recommend going in December. Somehow the later it gets( in the year), the more likely you will be able to view the lights. We went to Finland in late November and were at the glass igloo in the start of December, but no matter what, the lights weren't very obvious.
One crappy hotel will be the Holiday Inn Club Saariselkä. It has positive ratings online but the door is so lousy that we want to knock it down. It is constructed in such a complicated way. We cannot touch the handle and must turn the lock with the key and give the door a push (in order to pull the door OUTWARDS). What made it worse was that our door handle was a little faulty. There was also no light in the shower area, so we were pretty dissatisfied with it. However, we only stayed there for one night. Phew!
One super good hotel, the best, in my opinion, would be the Thon hotel in Kirkenes, Norway. The hotel is willing to spend a huge amount of money to install a 50-inch LG smart TV in every room. It comes along with a super duper cool TV remote control, combining the functions of a normal remote control with the magic remote control, allowing you to surf the Internet with a cursor and type on the keyboard buttons on the remote control. I surfed Youtube and watched Yixing's interviews and Happy Camp ( of course with Yixing in it) and played Angry Birds( other games such as Candy Crush Saga are available too)! Hence you can tell that I was extremely impressed with this hotel- no complaints! Spacious, clean and the shower area did not allow water to flow out to make the toilet floor wet and slippery.
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| Yixing!!! A different feeling when you view your idol on a 50-inch TV as compared to your laptop. :P |
Norway Experience
King Crab Safari!!!
This is the highlight of the trip! We made our way up to Kirkenes in Norway solely for this activity.
I must say, it is really taxing for cameramen and the production crew of documentaries, as well as the fishermen(but they may be accustomed to these conditions after a long time, after all, it's their livelihood), to head out to the seas in stormy weather conditions. How does it feel like to have snow pummelling against your face without much protection and the brutal wind opposing the motion of the speedboat? Sure it feels uncomfortable and at most unbearable. But I think it was a really, really interesting and exciting experience that is truly unforgettable. Out at the fjord, they caught a basket full of gigantic king crabs, the oldest being more than 20 years old! They use mackerel as the bait for the crabs and normally release the females back for breeding and reproduction. So what we eat are the male crabs. We had the pleasure to feast on as many crabs as we wished to. The local eating style is to spread butter on a slice of bread, with a generous serving of king crab meat above, mayonnaise, and sprinkled with lemon juice. Mmm. Yum! However, being Singaporeans, we may prefer eating it without any condiments to taste the freshness of the boiled/steamed crabs and of the sea. Personally, we think that the Norway crabs beat the Hokkaido snow crabs/ long leg crabs hands down. They are meatier, while the Hokkaido crabs are not worth their price(too exorbitant!) and when eaten raw, the Hokkaido crabs taste like salty jelly(which I don't really mind, but they resemble bloody fingers). I wonder if they will taste better if the crabs were steamed/boiled too?
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| Catching the King Crabs! Exciting! |
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| Freshly caught crabs |
Estonia
We were at Estonia's Tallinn ( I always misspell it as "Tailinn"). It has an Old Town, but the architecture isn't that old. Sadly I have to mention that the service isn't very friendly or up to par with Finland. There was even one dishonest staff at the cafe who hid the change and distracted Mummy deliberately by asking her to return to her seat. Only when Mummy requested for the receipt, she automatically handed over the change, not wanting to get into trouble. That is sure scheming! What are you after, 2,80 Euros? So despicable!
The Russian Orthodox Church was spectacular, the bells were a little annoying (Sorry!), going "Ding-a-dong and a ding-and-a-dong", but I have to comment that this is really impressive as the people have to coordinate well together to create a synchronised sound. This is because the bells are not automated. There are 11 bells in total, according to the local tour guide. She said that the bells are used to inform people that the mass is about to begin since there are not many residents in the vicinity. The local tour guide is friendly though!
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| Outside the Russian Orthodox Church in Tallinn, Estonia |
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| Inside a Lutheran church in Tallinn, Estonia. More lively since it's nearing Christmas |
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| They put up all these badges to remember those who were buried in this church. First time I'm seeing this. Such an eye-opening experience. |
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| The X'mas market in Tallinn, Estonia |
The X'mas market at Estonia has a pleasant atmosphere too, with singing performances and a gigantic X'mas tree in the middle of the market. I played a game to catch a duck and won myself a bookmark. 3 Euros is expensive, but it's all about the fun experience and memory this time.
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| 3 Euros for some fun! :D |
There was also a cool "haunted house" experience lasting for 40minutes, with 15 cool effects, as well as a museum of torture instruments, which we sadly missed due to the lack of time.
Overall, the scenery in Estonia is breathtaking. We love old towns, as it is like taking a breather from the hustle and bustle in Singapore, a totally contrasting image from the city life! ( I would call this "耳目一新"(refreshing) in Chinese.) For our future trips, we can then consider Eastern Europe or other destinations with similar architecture.
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| Town Hall |
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| Picturesque scenery that can even be featured in postcards. |
Okay, I'm finally done with my Finland trip tour review and thoughts. It is unlikely that I will return to Finland in the near future, but I enjoyed myself there. Having conquered 3 countries at once was SHIOK! Looking forward to my next trip next year! :D
Glissie Lim
Originally written on 2016.12.07
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