Destination: Rovaniemi

It was 7.00pm. I arrived at the railway station in Helsinki, ready to catch express train 61 to Rovaniemi (lapland). There I met a new friend. He is from Taiwan and is joining me and daida for the trip (or rather I was the one who joined them). Kuo Yi had done some research on the cultures of societies (民间文学 - not sure if I did a right translation) According to him, Finland was the first country to recognise this as a school of thought and then it spread to US, England then to Japan and China(who is still reluctant to accept this idea).
Apparently, the Finns were in search of a national identity after the numerous wars they have been through (winter war, etc) so there was this great man, Sibellius, who wrote a song, Finlandia that united the country. How amazing was that? I guess they should hire him to help singapore to write her national day songs.
It was really interesting listening to him on the train ride. He really value-added my trip to lapland since my only objective was the northern lights. (aurora borealis)
Unfortunately, there are no photos of the scenery of the journey bcos it was at night when we travelled (for the sake of saving on hostel charges and time).

enroute!

It was a 12 hours ride before we reach Rovaniemi. Prior to this, the weather forecast was not promising at all for an aurora sighting but I decided that the forecast can't be that accurate and I left it to fate.
So when we stepped out of the train. MY! Clear sky!!! totally opposite of the weather forecast. Dai Da and me just couldn't stop grinning.... Aurora Borealis!!

Rovaniemi is totally amazing - snow's thicker, finer, whiter! To describe snow as Ice Kachang here will never do it justice. Can't wait to dive into it man.

Rovaniemi city

I like this picture

Hostel Rudolf