Monday, April 30, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Rovaniemi Continued
So we had reached Rovaniemi by noon, got the rooms booked and had lunch.
We hit the road again after some rest in rooms, this time to the santa village outside the town of Rovaniemi. Went on a snow mobile ride, then crossed the arctic circle. The whole crossing the arctic circle thing was nothing but just four or five poles signifying the arctic line and we crossed from one side to the other. Like any other tourist got ourselves certificates that we crossed the circle and blah bla blaaa.. Most of the guys hit the souvenir shop and got busy. me and Bhaskar were not that interested in the usual souvenir, so i got a few stamps and stuff that i collect along with my brother. After spending a good part of the evening we headed back to the town, had dinner, spent time playing pool in a bar and hit the sack.
In all the time the souvenir shopping spree was going on, me and Bhaskar quietly got ourselves interested in the snow mobile safari that would last for an hour and lured into the rally car driving by our interests in the car. So we had blown 260 euros, needing some adrenalin.
We woke up the next day, realizing that we had a good day ahead. We went again to the santa village, got all suited up and ready for the snow mobile ride. And it started we headed through some forests, highways and river beds. In all this action i was happy accelerating behind the guide. The ride through the forest was fun, i was jumping up and down to balance the speeding snow mobile through the bumps and so on. Then we hit the river, for most of the time i was speeding at 100km/h, then we were on top of ice rather than snow on the river bed and by bike gave away and i did my first spin on ice more like a spin in ice skates. I brought the bike into control and headed up the order, again went over some ice in the river and this time started my second spin, spun twice and in an attempt to control the spin i braked and tilted the bike on its side. So again i started after getting the snow bike on its ski's and this time went a small distance and changed the bike with that of Bhaskar's, this time i had a pillion rider in Saravanan. So we started of again and entered the forest. Saravanan was already terrified with Bhaskar's drive and i had to slow down for him to recollect himself. This time again hit the 80km/h mark in the forests i was heading back to the village.
After stopping and Bhaskar informed me that my bike had a non working brake. Wow what i ride i had with a snow bike that had no brakes and another bike that was in full control but a really shaken pillion rider. anyways i was able to match both the guide and Bhaskar with the broken snow bike during the ride. So we were done with the activity for the day and again the rest of the group headed back to the souvenir shops as me and Bhaskar enrolled ourselves into the rally car driving session. We also got ourselves into the reindeer farm thing for the group.
okay i am getting bored writing blogs and i am bringing this post to a quick end.
So the next day me and Bhaskar went for snow boarding while the rest were learning to ski in the cross country track. later we went to the tarmac (actually Ice) for rally car driving. me, Karthick and Bhaskar took up the task of riding the car with the instructor beside us in rounds. Each drove close to an hour in total duration. All did a decent job of it without the idea how much we could push the car. Then after all our stupid driving , the instructor showed us how the rally car is driven. We were frustrated that we were not told about the limits to which the car could be pushed, but still left the track fully satisfied and extremely happy.
We hit the road again after some rest in rooms, this time to the santa village outside the town of Rovaniemi. Went on a snow mobile ride, then crossed the arctic circle. The whole crossing the arctic circle thing was nothing but just four or five poles signifying the arctic line and we crossed from one side to the other. Like any other tourist got ourselves certificates that we crossed the circle and blah bla blaaa.. Most of the guys hit the souvenir shop and got busy. me and Bhaskar were not that interested in the usual souvenir, so i got a few stamps and stuff that i collect along with my brother. After spending a good part of the evening we headed back to the town, had dinner, spent time playing pool in a bar and hit the sack.
In all the time the souvenir shopping spree was going on, me and Bhaskar quietly got ourselves interested in the snow mobile safari that would last for an hour and lured into the rally car driving by our interests in the car. So we had blown 260 euros, needing some adrenalin.
We woke up the next day, realizing that we had a good day ahead. We went again to the santa village, got all suited up and ready for the snow mobile ride. And it started we headed through some forests, highways and river beds. In all this action i was happy accelerating behind the guide. The ride through the forest was fun, i was jumping up and down to balance the speeding snow mobile through the bumps and so on. Then we hit the river, for most of the time i was speeding at 100km/h, then we were on top of ice rather than snow on the river bed and by bike gave away and i did my first spin on ice more like a spin in ice skates. I brought the bike into control and headed up the order, again went over some ice in the river and this time started my second spin, spun twice and in an attempt to control the spin i braked and tilted the bike on its side. So again i started after getting the snow bike on its ski's and this time went a small distance and changed the bike with that of Bhaskar's, this time i had a pillion rider in Saravanan. So we started of again and entered the forest. Saravanan was already terrified with Bhaskar's drive and i had to slow down for him to recollect himself. This time again hit the 80km/h mark in the forests i was heading back to the village.
After stopping and Bhaskar informed me that my bike had a non working brake. Wow what i ride i had with a snow bike that had no brakes and another bike that was in full control but a really shaken pillion rider. anyways i was able to match both the guide and Bhaskar with the broken snow bike during the ride. So we were done with the activity for the day and again the rest of the group headed back to the souvenir shops as me and Bhaskar enrolled ourselves into the rally car driving session. We also got ourselves into the reindeer farm thing for the group.
okay i am getting bored writing blogs and i am bringing this post to a quick end.
So the next day me and Bhaskar went for snow boarding while the rest were learning to ski in the cross country track. later we went to the tarmac (actually Ice) for rally car driving. me, Karthick and Bhaskar took up the task of riding the car with the instructor beside us in rounds. Each drove close to an hour in total duration. All did a decent job of it without the idea how much we could push the car. Then after all our stupid driving , the instructor showed us how the rally car is driven. We were frustrated that we were not told about the limits to which the car could be pushed, but still left the track fully satisfied and extremely happy.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Finally Something got going
Updating on the the previous post. Finally i have been putting some miles under my belt.
As planned i made the 2000km trip to the arctic circle and back (correction the previous post said it was 1700).
We started off from Helsinki after some roaming about in the city without knowing how to head to the Exit we wanted to be on. Finally close to 8:30 pm, we found the way out of the city. Bhaskar was driving the car, and it was quite uneventful after close to 250-300 kms we took a break, filled the car and ourselves.
And it was my turn to take the wheel, it was close to mid night and i started my shift as the driver going by all the landscapes and still having no clue how beautiful it was (i say beautiful cos on the return it was in the evening that i passed the same area to appreciate the landscape). I drove through some snow filled side stretches and headed straight to Oulu and past. Close to 4am we were past Oulu onwards to Kemi (the planned destination to have a look at the Ice castle/hotel). After 5 hours of driving , i parked beside some rest place on the highway, 80km before Kemi. Too tired to go on, we tried to sleep for the next 3 hours in a very cold car. Just before starting off towards Kemi we realized all that chillness inside the car was because the rear windows had been left open. Getting the car's heater in full blast we started off to Kemi.
Karthick drove this stretch towards Kemi, we reached to find the whole town deserted and
feeling more like a ghost town. All were busy celebrating Easter (by celebrating i mean sleeping). We also found out that the restaurants would open only after 10am. So after some driving through the town for some time. We stopped beside some wide expanse of white (this would be the sea i am referring to) . We got out to be greeted by very strong and very cold winds, after trying to appreciate the beauty of the landscape in the shivering cold and after having enough of the weather we headed straight to the comforts of the car. In all this discomfort we were in, there were a couple of guys ice fishing completely oblivious to the cold, this made me feel like a very sensitive moron.
We decided to check out the Ice castle/hotel. Only to find that it was closed, the short Winter here had taken its toll on the Ice castle. The whole setup looked like some badly gone Ice party. So after getting such a cold reception, we decided to hit the highway straight to Rovaniemi.
Bhaskar was the driver this time and we were at Rovaniemi by noon. Booked ourselves 3 rooms under my card.
Rest of the story in the next post.
As planned i made the 2000km trip to the arctic circle and back (correction the previous post said it was 1700).
We started off from Helsinki after some roaming about in the city without knowing how to head to the Exit we wanted to be on. Finally close to 8:30 pm, we found the way out of the city. Bhaskar was driving the car, and it was quite uneventful after close to 250-300 kms we took a break, filled the car and ourselves.
And it was my turn to take the wheel, it was close to mid night and i started my shift as the driver going by all the landscapes and still having no clue how beautiful it was (i say beautiful cos on the return it was in the evening that i passed the same area to appreciate the landscape). I drove through some snow filled side stretches and headed straight to Oulu and past. Close to 4am we were past Oulu onwards to Kemi (the planned destination to have a look at the Ice castle/hotel). After 5 hours of driving , i parked beside some rest place on the highway, 80km before Kemi. Too tired to go on, we tried to sleep for the next 3 hours in a very cold car. Just before starting off towards Kemi we realized all that chillness inside the car was because the rear windows had been left open. Getting the car's heater in full blast we started off to Kemi.
Karthick drove this stretch towards Kemi, we reached to find the whole town deserted and
feeling more like a ghost town. All were busy celebrating Easter (by celebrating i mean sleeping). We also found out that the restaurants would open only after 10am. So after some driving through the town for some time. We stopped beside some wide expanse of white (this would be the sea i am referring to) . We got out to be greeted by very strong and very cold winds, after trying to appreciate the beauty of the landscape in the shivering cold and after having enough of the weather we headed straight to the comforts of the car. In all this discomfort we were in, there were a couple of guys ice fishing completely oblivious to the cold, this made me feel like a very sensitive moron.
We decided to check out the Ice castle/hotel. Only to find that it was closed, the short Winter here had taken its toll on the Ice castle. The whole setup looked like some badly gone Ice party. So after getting such a cold reception, we decided to hit the highway straight to Rovaniemi.
Bhaskar was the driver this time and we were at Rovaniemi by noon. Booked ourselves 3 rooms under my card.
Rest of the story in the next post.
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