Fish Cakes, Gimbaps, and Bullet Train Bentos...

 

Months after our trip, we are still keeping up with our Duolingo language learning apps (free version), even if sometimes only just barely making it before the midnight cut off time to keep our daily streak going (it counts for nothing, but the little visual reward and celebration makes it feel like it's worth it for the two of us stubbornly goal-oriented individuals..). Well before our trip, mostly out of entertainment to be honest, she had started learning trivial impractical Korean on the app, and eventually I joined in on the experience with learning useless Japanese phrases such as how to order water and rice and "where is my red shoe?". It served us almost no purpose for pretty much our entire trip, but after we had came home we had kept up with it, for me almost out of sentiment as a lasting reminder of our travels, until most recently she eventually gave up on the Korean bit to play around with trying to refresh her Italian.. (our next adventure? maybe..).

All that was for me a vivid lingering reminder of our wonderful trip, now feeling ever so distant, for it had occurred last fall, before the Christmas, New Year, and most recently the Chinese New Year rush. We have both flew a few times since then, to see each other in our respective cities and to hang out with our families. Life has continued to rush us by with tasks after tasks, our minds numbingly sometimes with work stress or life stress or stress in general. I have yet to upload all of my travel photos, which for me has always been somewhat of an act of recognition for my trips (in a sense I felt, if I didn't post my photos, it almost felt as if it did not happen, as with my previous two Spanish visits back in 2018 and 2019 that none of you have really caught a glimpse of other than a few random pics here or there on my blog or instagram). Posting a story here on my blog, as well, usually serves as a formal wrap up of my travels, even if it takes a little more effort and most of all, inspiration and a calm reflective mindset. Those are sometimes hard to come by in our daily lives.

And so I sat here, on my flight to Ottawa once again to see my lovely, that suddenly I felt perhaps it be the perfect time to take out my ipad and start typing away, even if it will be ever so disorganized and not at all useful as a travel reference for anyone who wish to visit the same places we went to…

(as an aside, while I hung on to my ancient habits of photo taking and occasional blog writing, my millennial girlfriend is from our modern century and actually knows how to make use of current technologies and logs our trips with lovely videos and beautifully curated video blogs on her youtube channel. Be sure to catch a glimpse if you wish to experience some of our live goofiness and more descriptive scenes of our trip at her youtube channel, and you may also get to enjoy other amazing videos of her brother's travel that she also edits videos for as well as many of her creative baking ideas and recipes... https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5SoiMjywTGmm14E63mMdiE6RAjuPNxfA&si=zJBOIr6KRuXejVeT )

Now back to thoughts of our trips, loosely pieced together.

It had been amazing. It was something I had always wanted to do with her, to go to that part of the world. As a boy from Hong Kong, much like my other counterparts, we grew up with Japanese anime and have always grew a fascination for all things day to day Japan, from its food to social culture to its simple street scenes, for every corner seems to remind me of some similar imagery from past anime shows. I had actually been to Japan several times, often alone but also with family. But I was particularly excited to show this part of my interest with Ellen, as we continue to enjoy sharing little bits of ourselves with each other. For her, she had also developed a following for many things Korean, a place that I have never been to. And so when we decided that we could split our trip in half and easily spend a week in each of these countries, be it short but concise enough for us to get a taste of the culture, it was a perfect arrangement. Traveling through Japan and Korea as a combo is super easy, and it would have been even more adventurous had we picked our timing better for usually there was a fast ferry that could take us from the Southern tip of Korea in Busan to the nearby Western point of Japan in Fukuoka (sadly, for that week in November, the fast ferry usually goes down for maintenance, and so we had to choose the much less interesting option of flying, but actually still got to try a very reasonable local budget airline option of Jeju Air).

Speaking of timing, our visit to that area in late November and early December worked out perfectly weather-wise, as what most people have told us beforehand already. The weather was mild enough, but also still at times cold enough for us to FEEL like we were in Korean (I think the coldest day was -7, which was peanuts to Ellen from Ottawa..). Most days were dry and sunny enough. Crowds were not an issue except for the bigger centres of Japan such as the Osaka and Nagoya train stations and of course in all places Tokyo. But overall, it felt like a perfect time to travel, and much easier sometimes for both of us to get time off away from work.

 

Korea really impressed me, particularly Seoul. To be honest I knew very little about it, and actually invested very little time in researching it prior to going. I sort of let Ellen lead me along to the places we went, as usual now with a few our our other tips, cause she usually has an idea of what she wanted to see and did her homework beforehand and usually we both enjoyed hopping to all these random low key places that she came up with anyway. We are pretty low frills travellers, not necessarily a huge fan of hitting all the tourist sites or major tourist traps, but sure we would do our part and pay homage to at least some more representative areas. Mostly, though, we just like to walk the streets, do some various local shop hopping or window shopping, jumping in and out of coffee shops and also sometimes to use their bathrooms or simply to get a brief breaks from logging our steps. We also didn’t particularly feel the need to hit the famous or fancy restaurants in towns, unless it happens to be something we were desperate to try. Travelling together was great because it allowed us to try little things here and there together, as sometimes simply a single portion of a cool treat was all we really needed to invest into to get a feel, leaving room in our tummy for the next impulsively taste test...

But more on Seoul. While I knew it was obviously modern and busting, I didn't know how grand and developed it was. Being the proud Hong Konger that I am I always felt that Hong Kong ranks as one of the top world class cities in Asia (and it rightfully is but its status as such is indeed fading...), but as I hop from one large modern and hip district to another in Seoul, it dawned on me how much bigger Seoul actually is (Seoul has a population for about 10 million while Hong Kong has about 7.5). While I could perhaps count in one hand some of the biggest shopping areas in Hong Kong that was worth visiting, there felt to be so many more such places in Seoul. Every time we emerged from the subway, I stood wide-eyed looking around all the lights and scenes. The city is spread quite wide, and many of the markets seems to go on forever. It felt less crowded though, perhaps because it was so spread out, but there were lots of youthful or hard working energy that seemed to be very palpable throughout various part of the city.

The other thing that made me felt at home in Seoul was actually that, almost simultaneously it could remind me of scenes in Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, or various cities in China such as Shanghai or Shenzen. For me, all those cities above as their very distinct feel. Hong Kong is compact but consumer focused, with street-shops everywhere that always seem to have customers ready to make purchases. Taipei has a more down to earth feel and more personable, but with also the visuals of the numerous mopeds jamming along busy streets or sideways. Tokyo is a wonderful blend of modern architecture with neat, zen-like Japanese cleanliness and the always apparent attention to fine details. Cities in China, while nowadays increasing modern and world class, still always reminds me of wide streets and sometimes dusty scenes, perhaps mostly due to geography (such as Beijing) or simply pollution. As we went along Seoul from district to district, whether it be by bus or foot or even sometimes by train, I had at various moments all those familiar feelings. I think that helped developed some fondness for the city.

After a brief four days in Seoul (a good amount actually, with various servings of hearty noodles and dumplings in our tummy and LOTS of souvenir Korean socks and skin care products...), we went down to the other major hub of Korean in Busan. Busan is a costal city and a smaller sibling, much like Vancouver is to Toronto, and I think my feeling of it was much alike in that comparison. Equally modern and almost as grand, it had a lot less people (says 3.5 million as per wikipedia..), and sometimes makes me wonder if it was actually over-developed for its population (probably not, but I did not dive into the detailed statistics yet..). One of the key tourist scenes was the beautifully done refreshment project of the Gamcheon Culture Village, a collection of previously poorly constructed impoverished area (think Brazilian favelas) for displaced Koreans fleeing the Korean war. It was all due for demolition, only for the city to make a sudden turn and spearheaded a collective effort to revamp and repaint it into something of a proud representation of their past (and oddly enough, with various cameo appearances by the characters in "The Little Prince" novel..). The historical site is actually a good reminder for the effects of the tragic warring past in Korean on its people. Actually throughout Seoul and Korea, I see slowly but steadily the progressive transition the society is taking as it tries to emerge from its warring past into the world class country it is today. Old places still has numerous Chinese characters visible reminding us of their past influence on language and culture, with such characters interestingly banned in the 70’s (and then, evening the hanja translation of the capital Seoul was officially changed from 漢城 to 首爾 in 2005), partly, I’ve read, in an effort to detach Korean from its Chinese influence to help the country establish its own culture identity. Today in modern Seoul and Busan, the city is welcomely international, with clearly visible Chinese character labels again (probably to also facilitate the many Chinese tourists from its closest neighbour) as well as perfectly spoken English announcements, indicating that Korea is now firmly comfortable of their importance in the world and its outwards influences. Today's young Korean appears trendy and self assured (we playfully started counting the number of almost identical black and white Nike sneakers, a trend that has yet to hit North America but undoubtably will come soon likely next year..). But we see in the faces of the old and able, many aged but had no problem navigating the many streets and stairs and subway rides, of where they come from. I think with its hard working but tragically warring history, together with the harsh and extreme cold weather, Korean is a very, very hardly bunch, and now they are finally enjoying their time to shine on the world stage. And they seem to know to take advantage of this moment. In a very curious subway advertisement that I saw, as if they also know that their time in the spotlight may not always last, their travel agency proudly proclaimed to the world in a poster, "Come to Korea, Ride the hype!". 

After our week in Seoul and Busan, we hopped on a flight to Fukuoka in Kyushu, a region I had previously visited with my parents years ago but honestly do not remember all that well. Ellen has also wanted to see Fukuoka because her Dad had been there before when he was young, and of course told her that she had to try their noodles (not just ramen apparently, but OTHER noodles). Because we realized that a week in Japan is honestly quite short, we knew we would only be able to capture a few pieces of experiences. In my mind, that wasn't a worry, for I always felt as Asians we could easily come back to either Japan or Korea in many of our future Asian visits, so there really was no requirement to make sure we see everything. Moreover, we never needed to see all the major sites when we travel, and in general we don't like crowds, so that usually trims a lot off the list. Because I knew Japan a little more, and that this was her first time in the country, I had suggested that we could simply just see a few things before we end in Tokyo where we would fly back (as much as Tokyo has became unpleasant to many who frequents Japan, we still felt that at the very least, we should see and experience it ourselves together). We also got incredibly luckily in our timing as the now famous JR Pass for foreigners was going up in price by almost 60-70% in October 2023, but because we were able to get the pass ahead of time in September (for use until January as we didn’t need to activate it right away), we were able to get a week-long-pass right before the price increase. So, with two JR passes in hand, we decided to spend a couple of days in Fukuoka, then hit Nara (stayed in a Ryokan, and had probably one of the best meals with their Kaiseki dinner that we've had to this point), with a brief stop in Nagoya mostly to pay homage to Toyota and check out its automotive museum (both our families grew up with Toyota so it's only natural to visit the city that was essentially built by the company..). We would then end with 3 days in Tokyo as well as a brief day trip to Yokohama to, yes, see the life size Gundam before it is being decommissioned in March 2024 (sad face).

Japan is always a treat for me and is usually a relatively easy travel. Having failed miserably at trusting that my Duolingo language app lessons would have armed me with a working knowledge of Japanese, you can honestly just rely on pretty-clear English instructions (and the occasional Chinese characters) to navigate your way through all the big cities. Transit infrastructure, especially by subway and train, are world class, with one caveat: stairs. Japanese has yet to make themselves widely accessible in some of the smaller more remote stations, and if you happen to have a luggage in hand, you may find the need to lug it up and down a few steps to cross to the correct platform (as we did, for in Nagoya we had decided that our two heavily loaded backpacks just wouldn't cut it in carrying back our numerous socks and skin care products among some other exciting but cheap finds, and therefore Ellen wisely picked up a lovely piece of luggage before we embark on more shopping in Tokyo..). In addition to this little bit of inconvenience, a separate but even more annoying challenge when strolling along almost all of Japan was the complete lack of garbage bin anywhere. I have absolutely no idea how Japan manage to keep its street and train stations so spotlessly clean when, in fact, you have absolutely no way to toss away your trash other than to awkwardly stuff it back into your pocket until perhaps the next time you find a bathroom (which, fortunately, there seemed to have been plenty, and usually equally clean and tidy).

In terms of shopping, as much as we were overwhelmed with excitement during our stops in Korea, I honestly felt Japan felt like the next level in the shopping experience, at least in terms of selection and presentation (quality, however according to Ellen, may be debatable, as many shops in Korea actually carried well-made products from Korea with attractive prices, while Japanese shops usually sell slightly more expensive products that were mostly imported from China). It could feel overwhelming, however, with its dense product placements and alarming selection, as well as an abundance of creative products for things you didn’t even know you would want. And of course, Japanese presentation and packaging is top notch, although nowadays potentially a little wasteful and environmentally unfriendly. We were actually very modest in our shopping adventures, as we were most excited about finding products for basic daily needs but with the Asian creativity. We loved hopping along markets for all sorts of goodies, and of course, our favourite Asian versions of Daiso and various supermarkets (many of which sold gorgeous looking fresh sushi that we could grab as a cheap but fantastic meal). As for clothes and fashion, Korea and Japan were obviously big trend setters, but we had little room in our luggage to add to. We did however, on an impulse, found some very lovely pieces at a store called Public Tokyo, where Ellen tried on some beautiful tops and dresses and decided to get a couple that I cannot wait to see her wear back home. And of course, Japan is always a mecca for snacks, and we did manage to stuff a few random pieces of interesting finds into our ever expanding luggages to take home to share with our families.

All the sights, sounds, and tastes aside, my favourite memories of this trip will remain to be all the time I spent walking or sitting alongside Ellen with the world as our backdrop. Sitting and goofing and snuggling into her on the plane, getting dizzy and car sick on the airport shuttle ride and minibus ride at Gamcheon Culture Village, riding the various subways in Korea and Japan, and of course, our first bullet ride trains together, with her doing her diligent video edits on her computer, while I mindlessly stared out the windows admiring the countryside passing us by. We even caught a glimpse of the (almost snowless) Mount Fuji, her first time seeing it, and waved it goodbye as we sped along from Nagoya to Tokyo. On our way home, we flew from Tokyo to Vancouver via Seoul, with a 13-hour layover where we caught a brief nap to refresh in the airport hotel (an interesting experience) but then managed to rush back out into town to pick up a few more items before rushing back to catch our flight home (an even MORE interesting experience). I loved every minute of it, and thank you honey for making this trip a dream come true for me. I look forward to doing more of these with you, but even more just simply more of these day to day things with you, wherever we are, as we continue to build a life together.

Can't wait to eventually get to post the rest of our travel photos for you all to see. Until then you will just have to live with my rambling thoughts here. My flight still has about 1.5 hour to go. I should go stretch my legs. :)

Oh, and a plug for the eSIM company Nomad (not sponsored, I just really enjoyed them). With travelling to various countries I find it useful now to simply get a regional eSIM, and usually the pricing is very attractive and in fact better than whatever you can get on the ground locally. Nomad has a regional version that covers both Korea and Japan among other countries. Purchasing and installation is easy before leaving simply by scanning the QR code. Then upon arrival, my phone already started connected to the local network (usually with the big telecoms, so signal strength is not an issue). We paid like $16 for 5Gb (good for a month), and at one point Ellen thought she had used it up already and very easily purchased another one on the fly when we are out shopping (we realized after that perhaps we did not need to, for the data usage calculation on the iphone was a bit misleading and made us felt we had used up more than we actually did). Having mobile data when travelling is so incredibly crucial for navigation and also for our numerous translational needs (thank you Google Translate). It also made it easy to post shots on the fly and stay connected with our digital network. I'm sure there are plenty of similar companies around, but we just went with this one and were quite happy with it.

Thank you Seb and Daniel

 

Got up this morning and was able to catch a bit of the last F1 Race of the season (ever since the Netflix documentary introducing me to a glimpse of the characters inside the helmets, I’ve been an avid follower..). Also concluding with the season is the retirement of a wonderfully outspoken 4 time world champion Sebastian Vettel. I was never a close follower during his golden years but became quite a fan of him using his platform as a racing driver to support many more worldly deeds.  His post race exit interview was as insightful as ever. He’s really grown from a young scrappy racing driver to a man with a vision much more than his role inside Formula One cars driving in circles week in and week out. I thought his exit interview was as inspiration as ever. So articulate. So composed. So thoughtful.

“ …there’s the racing side… which is a huge side of who I am… and then there’s so much more… the last couple of years I really understood the privilege that I have… having the opportunity to reach out to so many people… having a voice and trying to use that more and more… I look forward to many other things… and once it all goes quiet… see what it does to me… to rediscover about myself. It’s other people who gets to decide what your legacy is… and you can try to actively have an influence on that but I’m not sure if it’s really the way it should be… you should just be yourself. As much as you have role models.. you still have to find your own way and what works for you… and stand up for the things important to you. It doesn’t have to be the same for all of us. That would be a shame because we are all different and celebrating that diversity and learning to speak up for it… ”

Leaving the grid is another one of my favourite drivers, Daniel Ricciardo, probably more liked because of his infectious personality and wide smile, despite a challenging last two years on the grid. His exit interview, also humble and reflective, felt that it can apply to many of us when our work gets tough and we come home defeated, grumpy, and frankly often feel like we don’t want to go back…

“…probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is perspectives… it’s so easy to get caught up in what we do… and when it’s not working… you can so easy be angry, frustrated, bitter… so finding the right side of perspectives allow me to maintain a kind of happiness… a kind of appreciation. Because yeah you have your bad days… but ultimately it’s a privilege to do what we do….. I think in anything you do in life, if you just find perspectives, and a little bit of that gratitude, it helps you kinda of move forward a lot…”

Thank you Daniel and Seb for your inspirations. Hope to see Daniel back on the grid in a year or two with a new powerful drive.



 

Off we go again (Finally!)

And so we went off again. Jet-setting. Country-hopping. Backpacking (yes, I still travel like that preferably). After more than 2 years of travel-hibernation and covid intense precautions and restrictions, I finally felt comfortable and found the opportunity to fly off again, internationally. It’s been a while since my last significant overseas trip. Spain, I think it was, back in 2018 (twice, in fact, that same year), if I didn’t quite include my family trip to the Philippines together with my brother as they joined us from Hong Kong (I always tend to classify family trips in a different category. While they are always fun and warm, I find that my mindset is a little different than when I set out to see the world on my own, preferably with a pack on my back).

Of course, this time, for the first time (?ever?), I wasn’t going alone. (And for the first time in my blog, I am glad to introduce Ellen, the owner of the pair of feet in the photos on one of my earlier posts that we took on our day trip to Quebec from when I visited her in Ottawa). We were lucky enough to be able to plan ahead in advance to block off some time to travel together. I had told her that backpacking together has always been part of my to-do list in a relationship. I feel you can learn so much about the other person when on a trip. How we plan, the style with which we like to experience the world, how adaptive we are to challenges and how we grow under new experiences are all sweet moments to go through and equally vital to the growth of a relationship. With the style of trip that we intended to do, I suggested that she consider getting a backpack, and she happily obliged (and ended up getting a great deal on essentially the female version of my pack!). It was honestly such a joy planning and taking this trip with her. More so than I ever could imagine between two people who grew up differently, experienced life separately up to this point, and had different tendencies and desires. She was expectedly always creative, always open, adventurous, and adaptive to changes. We both listened and respected what each other wanted to get out of this trip (I hope!), and without having to bend over backwards too much, felt comfortable delivering what each other had wanted in such a journey (also true I hope!). I do want to thank her for being such a lovely companion and for being such a wonderful travel buddy, in addition to how we already are day to day back home, to allow us to add these wonderful memories to our banks as we look forward to continue to build on them.

And with that, we set out, packs on our backs, cameras and phones in tow. I was honestly quite excited in being able to fly with her together for the first time. I find flying together with someone a really intimate experience. Those who know me would know that I’ve always enjoyed airplanes meals (as she does too!). And once settled into our seats, I find that sitting beside someone you know in a cozy little corner for a long  flight feels incredibly joyful. We also derived a lot of excitement in airport lounge hopping, some perks that we got from both of our respective credit cards. It made time spent inside various airports particularly unnecessarily exciting… 

 

Landing in Europe, for the first time together, was also immensely gratifying. I’ve always enjoyed Europe. To me it’s always been somewhat of an “easier” destination. Usually more established, largely English fluent, well-built infrastructure such that you can essentially just land and THEN figured out where to go after. For this trip, we chose the so-called Golden Triangle in Scandinavia, sandwiched by Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen (this was largely her suggestion, for I have already been to quite a few places in Europe and I wanted to let her pick a destination that she was curious about, and naturally she chose that region of the world of which she has already been inspired by their designs, their tidiness, their food and culture. As well, we are both big fans of IKEA, which no doubt created some curiosities in our mind about their home country). Scandinavia also made for an exceptionally easy destination. Geographically, it is so similar to Canada that there is obviously no culture and weather shock when you step outside the terminals. The landscape, the roads, the signs, and much of the buildings are as we would experience in the North American setting, although admittedly with a much more classical look and that undeinable sophisticated European style and language that made everything seems so much more cultured and exciting.

Stockholm, our first landing spot, is perhaps the most crown-jewel like of the three. Highly imperial in its look, the city is built on a series of canal with confusing waterways everywhere but all lined with similarly looking yet beautifully old and stately buildings. The streets were grand, squares wide open and busy, streets immensely tidy, and the city felt very self assured. The people were friendly, as I would expect from most of the Scandinavia, but of the three cities, the citizens of Stockholm seems most sophisticatedly dressed, if not a little bit snobby on the extreme end of things. And like what we have come to learn of the Scandinavia world during covid, they are perhaps some of the most progressive regions of the world in which virtually NOBODY wore masks anymore (we felt inclined to frequently remove our own masks once we were in the open air as to not come across overly impolite to others, but we religiously kept them on once we entered buildings). Progressive as they were, it wasn’t as if they turned a blind eye to the whole thing. Hand-washing and social distancing reminders were still everywhere (although largely ignored), and hand sanitizer stations were abundant (although almost all were virtually neglected now and stood empty as everyone walks by). Still, Stockholm felt safe and comfortable, and probably one of the prettiest cities I have been to in my travels. And just as it was classical and imperial, its newer areas where the locals and younger people hung out were modern and upscale. Its subway system is impeccably easy to navigate, as most European cities are, while its many underground stations are often lined with obscure art work lining its somewhat dingy looking rock face ceilings. Above ground, as a sign of the modern times, scooter rentals are everywhere and most locals, helmets-bearing or not, zoomed around on these two wheelers as if walking on our own two feet were meant only for primitive creatures like ourselves.

 

After Stockholm, our plans took us west to Oslo by train (we had made it a point to experience a variety of transportations together, from riding local subways to high speed rails between cities to long distances buses (generally much less appealing) to renting a car for a little road trip in the Norwegian countryside. I was also looking forward to the rental given that Europe is one of the few places in the world to still rent out manual transmission cards... but sadly, in 2022, even European car rentals have finally been depleted of the stick shift variety…). We got up early, as tickets were cheaper for the earlier route, and sheepishly found our platform to take our first train ride for the trip towards Norway. Arriving in Oslo, it felt immediately very different than Stockholm. Industrial, modern yet a little rough around the edges, a little grungy, a little tough, Oslo had the feel of a more pragmatic working city. Less clean, less tidy, and with graffiti everywhere, even the locals looked less perfectly dressed than their Stockholm counterparts. But it has a sense of practicality and modernism, with creatively industrial looking buildings in juxtaposition to older heritage style homes. Many of the areas we walked by seemed heavily immigrant-focused, as I’ve read that Norway has gone from previously very anti-immigration to now having immigrants be a substantial portion of their population. There were more smokers too, we felt subjectively, as it seemed we had to dodge smokers (and their maskless breathes) at essentially every street corners of every block. It still felt safe, although we felt we needed to be on slightly higher alert. We also got a few more verbal jabs at our masks-wearing, as one young passer-by innocently blurbed out “corona isn’t here anymore…”. I didn’t care to talk back, but if I had I would probably simply be pointing out for him to just pay attention to international news every once a while. All in all, though, Oslo actually felt like a much more comfortable and grounded place to live. Many of the older buildings were still neat and tidy, with pastel colours everywhere, but seemingly with much less structural details on them than I had remember them back in Sweden. 

 

After Oslo, we rented a car and hit the countryside, as Norway is much more about its land than its cities. Known for its epic landscapes signified by its many majestic fjords (I still cannot seem to pronounce this word), you really have to leave the city to experience Norway at its finest. Ellen found a lovely little airbnb in a small town called Voss, near enough to Flam, traditionally the gateway to many fjord train or ferry tours. Preferring to chart our own way, we took our little rental car and weaved through countless tunnels (Norway, being a world leader in tunnel building, has over 900 tunnels in the country, including the longest one in the world (the Laerdal Tunnel) of almost 25km and took us about half an hour to get through). Scared as you might be of such tunnels and mountain roads, however, they are mostly extremely well-lit and well paved (although still single lane opposite traffic with frequently tight-fitting large trucks roaring towards you…). It also has LTE signal throughout the systems both inside and outside of tunnels and mountain ranges (puts Canada to shame on this) and intermittent wider "pull over lanes" where you can perhaps stop for a break and stretch (under some rather mesmerizing disco lighting). Still, I would caution most people in taking those roads lightly, or trying to pull an all-nighter to rush through them. Risky drives, to be sure, but epically rewarding nonetheless. The fjords themselves were stunningly beautiful, especially in the early morning hours when we decided to beat the crowds (as it turns out, there were NO crowds, for we were in the shoulder seasons and tourism in Scandinavia seems to be an exceptionally SHORT industry in the summer months only). More memorable than the views, perhaps, were the little tingling sounds from the neck bells of the numerous sheep that we came across throughout the countryside. So much, in fact, that we would not have been faulted for pretending that we were travelling through the villages in New Zealand. 

 

Beyond the fjords we went to Bergen, Norway’s second largest city and sometimes quoted as one of the pretties cities in Europe (as well as the rainiest, but luckily we caught a dry day..). Bergen was indeed a very beautiful port city, lined once again with by-now commonly seen Scandinavian looking houses against a set of rolling hills where a short uphill walk could take you to some of the nicest views of the region. We spent only an afternoon and evening there, needing to wake up for a day-long drive back towards Oslo the next day. On that drive, we took a slightly different route and drove along some of the most epic sceneries I have experienced on highways when crossing the vast and bare Hardangervidda Mountain Plateau, with such remoteness paralleling what I remembered during some of my drives in Newfoundland or years ago my family and we took on the Alaska Highway. 

 

Back in Oslo, we crashed for the night before taking an early morning bus to Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden, for a brief stay simply as the halfway point towards Copenhagen. Interestingly, there has yet to be an efficient train line between Oslo and Copenhagen, as one would expect there should be. Looking online, it seemed that some long distance train services, as well as a night train, had been in the works since before covid times, but no doubt got delayed like everything else with the pandemic. It did however let us enjoy a brief stop in yet another Swedish city. Gothenburg, like Oslo, is very unassuming, and actually has a lot of quiet charm without all the glamour of Stockholm. We also took the opportunity to visit the Volvo Museum nearby, paying homage to one of the most iconic Swedish brands of the world (sadly, the “first” Ikea was too out of the way for us to visit, as that would have been the first choice on our list of a famous Scandinavia brand to check out). 

 

 

We ended our almost 2-week trip in Copenhagen (surprisingly, it was much cheaper to fly into Stockholm and out of Copenhagen than the other way around). Two things struck us as soon as we arrived into the city. The first was bikes. They were literally EVERYWHERE. If I remembered correctly, not too long ago our mayor of Vancouver had visited Copenhagen and couldn’t stop beaming about how he wanted to model our city after theirs in terms of bike transport (it wouldn’t work, since Copenhagen, like Amsterdam, another bike friendly city, is largely flat, while Vancouver and its vicinities are largely hills..). Cophehagen also has some of the mildest weather in Europe, and its streets are often wide enough to accommodate the masses of bikes tearing through them at every hour. It does feel very efficient, and very environmentally friendly, if not a little nerve-wrecking and at time down right dangerous. The second observation, having just spent two weeks in the rest of Scandinavia, was just how international Copenhagen felt compared to Stockholm and Oslo. Throughout much of Sweden and Norway, we got used to seeing many local brands, local designer, and local store names. Stepping into Copenhagen you were once again reminded of the world that exists around you. Although they still obviously boost their own language and culture, in many places English is now the dominate language in their signages. Food from all over the world once again seems to be present in every corner, as we are so accustomed to seeing here in our multi-cultural country of Canada. Copenhagen also seems to effortlessly mix both elegance and grunginess, marrying the imperialism style that we saw in Stockholm to the humble and pragmatism of Oslo. In a nutshell, it probably has everything, as it should being the connecting point between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe and the world. It probably also boosts the most number of people talking on or looking down at their cell phones while crossing the street, as we’ve had to dodge quite a number of individuals who were completely oblivious to our existence. Appropriately it seems, it is sometimes referred to as “the happiness city in the world”, of which I can probably see why. It strikes a good balance, between having the energy and convenience of a large city, while still maintaining the chill and relaxing atmosphere of what Scandinavian are so proud of. 

Of course, a large part of travelling has always been about the food. Admittedly, Scandinavia has always been known as an expensive destination, and with our weak Canadian currency, it was particularly difficult for us to stretch our dollar. Luckily, we didn't often have a strong desire for superbly fancy dining in multi-starred restaurants (Copenhagen IS known for having some of the finest restaurants in the world, with many already recognized with various Michelin star designations). In truth, often the most memorable eats when you travel is not necessarily the obscurely delicate fine dining restaurants, but the stuff that the locals would eat day to day, mixed in with some traditional foods that usually reflects their heritage and geography. Shrimps, smoked fish, and various open face sandwiches are probably the area’s best known delicacies. We happily ate along the way on our city walks, frequently stopping into various eateries or markets and particularly grocery stores to see what products they had that we haven't seen elsewhere (we must have hit probably every single grocery store on our routes, and many of them numerous times). And of course, as we are both a fan of coffee shops, a LOT of cafes (Scandinavia have some of the best cafes in the world, with many also serving some wonderful little bites that feels so representative of their local flair). Scandinavia would definitely not be a destination where you can stretch your budget easily, but if you are not overly fixated on fine dining, you could still enjoy a lot of wonderful eats and perhaps get a even more intimate experience with their culture. (We also, evidently, take a lot of photos of our food. And more importantly, take a lot of photos or oureslves taking photos of our food...)

Finally, we also stayed in a variety of budget friendly places to make our dollars last. I’ve always been a fan of the hostel experience, and was somewhat worried that those days were behind me when covid came. Luckily, we are now in a stage where we felt comfortable taking some measured risks again, and Ellen was a good sport in even trying out a few hostels with me despite never trying them before. We also tried a few reasonably priced hotels, clean and many in convenient locations along a subway stop. Among them, City Box, a chain which has a number of locations in the region, were always clean and tidy, and often with common eating and kitchen area where you can heat up and enjoy some simple meals. Before covid, I frequently found that these down to earth places to stay were much more memorable, especially when I travelled on my own. I could usually strike up a conversation or two with fellow travellers and swap travel tips or just interesting experiences. This time around, we didn't need to mingle quite as much as we already kept each other company, but we both still enjoyed many of these relaxed atmosphere as we recharge after usually a long day of walking. I hope we can continue to strike the balance between travelling comfortably without excessive luxury while maintaining our adventurous and curious spirits. We don't always need to feel pampered, especially when we are out seeing the world, as long as we are safe, fed, clean, warm, and as I’ve experienced during this trip, have each other to goof and kid around with.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. Here’s to many more to come. :)

(Thank you also to all who read this ridiculously long post. Or at least attempted to. I tend to write about nothing in particular and just let my fingers take me to places I didn’t know I was going to. In the coming days I’ll also be posting some more travel photos to my account for causal browsing. I’ve taking over 1200 shots during this trip, and every one seems as precious to me as the next, even though they would likely make no sense to others. I’ll trim them down and post some shots of the trip to share what we saw. Thank you for reading and viewing!)