All I can say, that this Norway trip is the MOST EPIC adventure we have ever done! First of all, we decided to hop over to Norway because we found a return flight for 20 pounds. Like seriously, two flights for SGD 40?! Hahaha, and there we go, starting to plan our first trip to the Scandinavian country.
Planning wasn’t easy cause Norway is famous for being ridiculously expensive and most of the good (tourist) sights are in Bergen. A return flight from Oslo would be a challenge. However, looking at the Aalto kids and Haoqing’s insta hatched a really cool idea – let’s hike Trolltunga! This famous hike, literally named Troll’s Tongue, is one of the top 3 hikes in Norway and it is reachable by Oslo… through a 6 hour bus ride… So it didn’t seem so feasible after all, but no, we decided to turn this LONG BUS journey into our accomodation for the night. In order words, to and fro overnight bus rides replaced 2 nights of accom and we only need to search for one night in Odda, the nearby town. And we secured the bus rides😂
The next thing is, Odda to Trolltunga would take a good 25 mins by car ride and we did not want to rent a car just to drive up to Skjeggedal carpark. So our next option would be to cab. Luckily while looking for accomodation, Limxin came across a really impressive Airbnb host. His name is Shakir and he is a Norwegian student. This guy drove his guests to and fro Odda to the starting point of the hike, regardless of what time they start/end. We were sooooo in luck, and she went to contact the host immediately – and he said YES! Omg thats accom and transport settled!
Next would be the hike, how the heck would two newbies be able to tahan a 11+ hours hike? And the period is the no hiking season too.. Well, we guess we just have to try it!
And so we are off to Oslo on Friday. Woke up at 3am, transferred 3 buses and 1 flight to reach Oslo at noon! Shag is for real but when we stepped foot onto Oslo, we did not feel the fatigue at all. Oh but we did feel the the temperature drop, it was about 2 degrees outside😅 Oslo is a very developed city and it felt like CBD everywhere. There are so many hotels and landmarks around and the big 4 accounting firms have a super legit building one beside another. The view was incredible. Sadly, Oslo is just a city that is heavily invested onto by the Norwegian government and it is not a good representative of Norway. What we have seen in Oslo are probably built up by the government to attract investors and tourists to Norway in an attempt to beef up its tourism hub. In fact, we do see alot of ongoing constructions just near to the Oslo Opera House and the street beside it; who knows what is Oslo gonna be like in 5 years?
Besides the CBD like area, we did walk up the river and visited the waterfall in the centre of the city (supposedly a massive sight). Turned out quite disappointing because its rather small in size and there are constructions nearby *yawns* On the other hand, we did chance upon a pretty ARTSY street with random grafitti, sculptures and a glass chandelier, yep all outdoors. Pretty random but we took some STEP photos there😁
Actually there is a trick to it, dont ever order set meals in fast good restaurants. A cheeseburger costs 20 NOK and why would one pay an additional 60 NOK for fries and drink? Buy the ALA CARTE! Norwegians can’t price for nuts! For one of the meals, we bought a snoothie, a cheeseburger and cheesy chilli pops for only 60 NOK. If you are looking for an even cheaper option, consider buying soup packets from REMA 1000 or KIWI. We got Bergen Fish Soup for 7 NOK. It was filling for two people if you eat it with bread! One thing to note is that the supermarket options in Norway are very limited compared to UK! So don’t expect to find ready to make sandwiches; you probably have to buy ham, cheese and bread to wrap hahaha! And they are not cheap when you sum them together..
Okay enough about yaking about the price of Oslo. We soon took the coach over to Odda and it was about 5.45am when we reached Odda. Waited in the bus station till 7 for the host (it was already really good that he is willing to pick us up at wee hour). He then drove us to the starting point and offered to bring our non hiking bags to his accom first. SO MUCH THANKS! Because of his kindness, we could start the hike at 7.50ish?
Yep, now to the amazing hike! I would split the 11km hike into 5 parts:
1) The steep ascend up till 700m mark. Very tiring if you have not hiked before because it requires alot of ascending endurance to climb all the steps and not trip. Going down is the worst because it seems never ending and you just have to be wary thoroughout😅 Lucky for us, the terrain was dry cause it has not rained for a week or else it would turn into a muddy pool throughout!
2) The deep U shaped valley. Our first encounter with a relatively flatter terrain and super awesome view of green mountains rather than snowcapped. There are also some sparse houses scattered along the path. Xinyi slipped a little here cause the rocks can seem normal but they are icy! The temperature is 0 degrees~
3) The valley of the winds and safety hut 1! Did I mention that this place is so windy that they can suck out all the moisture of you within minutes? Proper gear has to be worn here and even with them, the wind will make it very hard to progress forward due to air resistance. Going down was okay cause the wind subsided somehow! There is also a safety hut for people to hide from the wind, get some warmth and pherhaps have a little break. We took a break here when we ascended and also when we descended! A lot of people would camp here or jump into the lakes during summer. We did not because the lakes are frozen😪😪
4) Never ending hills.. this is the easiest but longest part. Going up and down and around the various hills help to gain some morale because we got to see picturesque views of the nature! There is also a safety hut at the 9km mark for people who needed the emergency once again!
5) ICY PATHS. Most hated stage because every few steps we would encounter ice paths and we needed to go around them. Slipped a few times here and there too! Oh and the retarded me wanted to try some fresh lake water but i trodded on thin ice, and…. Bingo, I felt through it😅 xinyi was so worried for me, but it is okay cause my pants and jacket are waterproof but I needed to change my socks! Sorry for being burden😅
And finally after 5.5 hours of walk, we FOUND THE ULTIMATE VIEW of trolltunga! There weren’t alot of people compared to summer and most people would practice photo etique by not standing in the frame of others. Unfortunately, ours had some idiot whon did not abided and we were kindergarten!
It was also freezing cold up there cause of the wind being strong enough to kick up some minor sandstorm from the cliff! And so this concludes our awesome hiking experience!
Just wanted to share 3 more learning points for newbie hikers like us:
1) Always bring water bottle, best if it is filled. But dont worry if they are not fully filled because most hikes do have places that sell water👍🏼
2) Hike with someone of common interest, fitness level and would motivate each other along the hike. If you are thinking of hiking alone, I would advice you pick an easy trail! Having a partner would help to make the hike so much more present:)
3) Pack compact food! Things like banana, bread, skyflakes, cereal bars, rice and mushroom soup are welcomed! During the breaks, do fill up your hunger for a bit but it should not delay the school work!
Last day touring in Norway was spent in Odda. Sadly it was a Sunday and everything else is closed:/ no shopping and fortunately, our host saved our Sunday by offering to drive us down to Latefossen, the waterfall we initially planned on going via cycling. It seemed that the waterfall was not so powerful cause it had not rained for a week or so. However, it still looked super majestic with two streams of jet pouring down. We saw a professional photographer camping at a spot below the bridge and we decided to risk our lives (okay not really) and follow suit. On the journey down, my lens cap loosened and fell into the river!!! Thank goodness the host helped me to retrieve it back for me. OMG, we owed the host too much! Taken some cool waterfall shot before we went back to the accommodation.
In the afternoon, we went to the abandoned factory opposite the accommodation. Odda used to be a bustling town exporting goods to the municipality but ever since the town petitioned for the industrial areas to be closed down in 1999, the town began to decline into a resting ground for retired folks to stay. Now, it became really quiet. When we went to the abandoned factory, we noticed that the town did not cleared up the rubble even after so many years and there are so many buildings that are reused as offices, even when the windows have been smashed (by protesters, we assume). There seem to be a lot of history in Odda that only the people who lived there before 1999 would be familiar with!
And lastly, we would want to thank our kind host Shakir for hosting us really really well. Shakir is a University student from Somalia and he was a refugee from war. Coming with almost nothing, he told us that he needed to move from camps to camps in Norway, hoping to get positive reviews from the Norwegians so he could be given a permanent housing and citizenship. He came a really long way and it is very heartening to hear that he is returning the favour by helping travellers coming into Odda!
And so, here’s the end of this super massive post about Norway. The key takeaway for this trip would be to be really flexible with plans, but you have to still plan for it. No plans may be the best plans, but that do not always work out for everyone! Looking forward for our next trip, CHOCO HEAVEN!
CinqeMinte 
