The Blue Lagoon

one week after my trip, feel like ages ago, all ready for another one:>
Anyway, my week has been fine, busy bank holiday, will be on nite tomorrow..things are looking good, keep my finger crossed!!

OK, Iceland update!! We spend half a day whale watching, n the rest of the afternoon soaking our cool asses in the hot spring:>
Blue lagoon is iceland must go attraction. It is a superb five star geothermal hot spring lagoon. The couch drove us thru miles n miles of lava land, n suddenly out of no way, hot smoke n steam all around..

and we arrived the famous Blue Lagoon!!!

entrance cost us isk 1700..can rent towel if u din bring..

we were so excited..everything is so new in there..n icelander are so clean, all the tourist have to wash themself without any swim wear before u can go into the pool..

ofcos u dun wash infront of everyone, u do it in the toilet:> there is an active volcano hot spring in the middle of the pool..at time u will feel a sudden gush of boiling hot water run over u..HOT HOT HOT!!!!

tempreture of that day is about 10, 11 degree..so once u get urself wet, u have to jump fast into the pool to keep urself warm..n belief me, the water is so warm n nice, u wont feel like coming out:> The water taste salty ..even saltier than the sea water..

the other famous thing about the lagoon is the volcano salt mud, supposed to be good for our face..there are few mud stations, for people to apply as much as they want..

well, i dun know how good it is, but after this, my face got a major break out!! fangfeng say is normal, that means the toxin is clearing:>
other than soaking Ourself whole day in there, there is also a special sauna room, can steam all u want. and for better service, pay extra for the Lagoon massage..we din try that..
We were in the pool for good 3 hours, steamed our self for a little while..n we get changed n had some refreshment..then we outed to explore the nearby area..

all i can say is this place is beautiful!!!I do not understand y is the water so blue, n is so clear at the same time..they were saying is the mineral content of the water.

Also blue lagoon have their own body n face care product, made in iceland..suppose tobe really good:> But things that make in Iceland are so expensive!!!N u always thought that no place is gonna be more expensive than london, so wrong..

at last, we roamed around till 7pm, catched the last bus backed to our hostel..N NO!!!!! WE REALLY DUN FEEL LIKE LEAVING!!!

Thanks to Yeewan, I was kinda forced to develope this habit of sending postcard to others when ever i was on trip:>haha
And when i was in iceland, i decided to send myself a post card instead:> got it few days ago, faster than i thought it will be:>

n i have chosen a puffin one becos we cant see one clearly..we wrote all this in a fish n chips restaurant:>
cool:>

Also I was given an important task by Katini- buy a tie for Old Uncle Daniel..and i have to post it on my blog to show her!!HAHA!!!Last time i bought a tie for people?? I cant even remember..secondary school maybe??

Anyway, I think this is the one..simple n classy

come with a nice envelope, with logo seal..

so, Kat..what do u think?
there is no more yellow or light orange, the rest are all too bright:P
Let me know if u wanna change it:>

the yummy whale

A hungry evening in iceland, we were out looking for food..n we saw a BBQ stall selling sumthing looks yummy:>

MINKE WHALE!!! wah!! I was watching in interest, before i knew it, Fang Feng was already queuing in line:>
" But we are not suppose to eat extinct animal!! "I said..." But can I have a bite?"
Haha!! I am such a lier!! I love animal but i will never say no to yummy food especially something new..

whale meat looks so much like beef..
not only looks like one, it taste like one too!!! They make it medium rare, raw n juicy inside..i was expecting something like tuna or bit fishy..to my surprise, not at all!!!! we were like eating a piece of BBQ steak!!
And we were like" funny hor!!! it doesnt taste like fish at all!!!how come huh?"

Then the day after, we went whale watching( after the yummy meat, I must see them in my own eye:>)also puffin searching..

puffin season is almost over, so there is not much puffin left on the island. and our boat was abit far from the island, so i cant really see clearly..
we saw some restaurant selling puffin meat..but puffin doesn't looks/sounds like a eatable thing to me..n i read from book that they taste like calf liver!!eeeeee....Lucky we din try:>

anyway, is kinda fun going out to the sea to watch some puffin bird n whale..
the guide will shout:" 3 oclock, 3 oclock, look at the beautiful humpback..." and everyone will rush to the 3 oclock direction, n there the amazing whale, surfaced for the first time, second time, third time, four time, and the the fifth time, it will show its tail n went for a deeper dive, for good few minutes before it surface again..

But taking photos for whale is worse than Geysir..u will never know where n when there r gonna surfaced..u have to stand by spare camera's batteries..
but we were quite lucky ..we were expecting to see minke whales, cos it's the most common species around iceland, but instead we came across a few Humpback whale..

Guess all the minke whale was BBQed by icelander already..haha..

Then day after Fang Feng remember what the tour guide told us-

WHALE IS NOT A FISH!!!! WHALE IS A MAMMAL!!!

Hei!! We are not stupid ok!!!Everyone knew that whale is a mammal:> Biggest mammal in the world!!!

But the fact that it lives in the sea, I still cant help thinking that it is a fish( a mammal fish haha..)

AND THATS EXPLAIN Y THE WHALE MEAT TASTE LIKE BEEF!!!! BECOS THEY R NOT FISH!!!!!!

The Golden Circle

Day 2 in Iceland, we went for a day tour..Iceland got plenty of travel agency organise different day tours n activities..I find it is a good way to seen enjoy the place, ofcos will be even better if u drive, if not, day tour is the answer..The Golden Circle is one of the must see tour in Iceland.

We started from the city center around 9 am, we got a full coach, n a tour guide.
As usual, lots of good scenery along the way, n our first stop is Hverageroi Greenhouse village, well, is just a green house with lots of banana n plam trees:> warm n humid inside, like home:>
Then we proceed to this Volcanic crater-Kerio, this place is beautiful, the water is crystal clear, too bad is just a photo stop for us, no chance to walk down n do abit of exploring...

After the crater, they brought us to this wonderous waterfall-Gullfoss When we reached there, someone pointed far side of the sky, where the mountain n the cloud seems to be merging together n told me -hei!! look!! Glacier!!
I was like- huh? u sure? I think is just cloud..
till now, i still think that is just cloud:>
Gullfoss is a waterfall located on the White River (Hvítá) in south central Iceland. Its name means the Golden Falls. The flow of the river from the regular rains and the glacial runoff, particularly in summer, makes Gullfoss the largest volume falls in Europe.

Also, is one of the natural wonder of the world!!! looks like the water just flow in to the earth n disappeared..

those thundering noise ... we can barely hear each other ..

When u go near, u can see the water rush into the White river n created lots of mist..
too bad, no rainbow:-I
and all of us get the cold splashes from the water..
and talk about water..
Iceland got the most interesting hot water supply, first day when we arrived, i thought the water smell kinda rotten, i blamed it to the guest house system, then i realized, they use hot spring water as hot water supply, they smell of sulfur..n their cold water is the fresh spring water:> u can drink all u want:> better than Avian:>

anywhere, after the stunning waterfall, we went on to see geyser. Iceland is full of geothermal field, infact iceland is not the land of ice n land, instead is the land of fire n ice..n this is a hot water fountain that spouting out form the earth every two minutes..

the sight is unbelievable, every one is waiting there keeping the camera on ,i have to wait for a few time just to get this photo..n dun even think about wanted to get a picture with it, u have to be damn patience cos u wont know when is the next time.n the water jet only last for seconds..

then it will gone down to smoke

smoke..
smoke....
smoke......

After all the water n smoke, our last stop is the no man land- only woman..haha...
becos the north american n europian cant decide this piece of land is belongs to who...

Pingvellir national park

apparently is the oldest parliment house in the country..

n this is out tour guide..funny old man, telling joke without laughing himself..

well, i am not a big fan of politic n histories, the park itself has more than that to offer..nice formation of rocks n rivers..

not this one, the tour guide told us this river is channel down form the mountain by the vikings..amazing strong vikings people..

and this one is a wonder work of nature, imagine just 9000 years ago, this valley n the platform that i was standing is actually same height..ah..ICELAND!! most amazing land that i ever been..u guys must list it down, as a must visit place in ur life..place full of wondrous views n , n the place is so clean n not polluted..

the whole day tour cos us isk 7000..about GBP 65-70..is u drive urself u can get a car about
isk 9000 for a day, n u can share among ur friends, cheaper :>

The land of Ice n land

I am backed from my holiday!!!

At last, we are on the flight to our dream land, has been thinking about it for days n at last, here we are- ICELAND!!!! The youngest country in the continent..
We fly on 17 aug noon time from heathrow, reached Rekyjavik- Iceland capital around 3 pm..

Prior to the landing, only can see miles n miles of rocks n lave field and hot steam coming out form the ground, later i learned that the blue pool that i saw from the sky is actually the famous blue lagoon.

First impression of iceland, other than the lonely emptiness, they are super clean, hardly see any thrash on the road or path way, square n sharp building, and lots of beautiful art pieces ..this maybe the smallest airport that i have seen, but it is very impressive..

airport fly bus drove us thru miles of lave field, n send us to the city center, which is about 45 minutes away..funny thing is we are only 3 hours away from london, but i dun feel that i was any where near europe.. building design is so modern n people are so nice, they speak canadian/ US english with wicked sense of humour..u will never eperience this in any other europe country..but be fair, they r the youngest n newest country, n under heavy influence of north america.


the town center is not really big, one long shopping street, again, clean n nice, every thing slow n cool..

people like to visit iceland during summer time, city of day light, u will even get 24 hours sun light during certain month..we were not so lucky, sun rise about 5 am in the morning, n set around 1030 pm in the night..is good enuf fro us..n we get most of the sun light till our last day, i was raining non stop till we fly back to london.

First we visited
the city most attention seeking building/ church- hallgrimskirkla..it took 34 years to complete..everything look so nice under a clear blue sky, every one can snap a perfect post card standard photo out of it..
also we walked along the coast site n visit this again stunning interesting sculpture-Solfario..i called the Skeleton:> when we took this photos, is already 9pm , look at the sun shine!!!The weather is not as cold as i thought , about 10- 15 degree evry nite, lower in the night time, but is not so windy compare to london..


looking for a accommodation in this place is painful, not that is difficult, but is the price that killing us..so happen that we hit their culture week, most of the cheap accommodation was fully book..n this is the cheaest that i can find for our weekend..dorm bed, share wirh 20 other travellers, n cost us good 32 pounds/person/night

again, Iceland is one of the most expensive place in the world..u can do anything u want, from Glacier climbing to whale watching..all u need is money n time !!!

1 GBP= 122 krono

I have spend about GBP800 for the whole trip..the trick is to book the ticket earlier, as in few months earlier..n u can get cheap ticket..we book it quite late, n it cost us about GBP320 . Look for the cheapest accommodation, so far the cheapest that i have come a cross is GBP28 /p/n( four in a room). A single room can easily cost u GBP35-50/ nite..And n if u want anything cheaper than 25 pounds, u have to pack ur own sleeping bag:> Anything less than 15 pounds, pack ur own tent:>
Breakfast normally included, try to look for a guess house that have guest kitchen..n bring ur on maggie mee/ snack, will save u lots of money..
Anyhoo...no regret, definitely the best place that i ever been..more post n stories to come:>