Oslo, Norway

In June'15, I had the opportunity to travel to the Scandinavian countries, mainly Norway and a short getaway to Sweden. It was lovely! It always makes me marveled at how wonderful and how big our world is.

Flight-Delay Drama

Before I begin to share all the beautiful photos, let me share the most frustrating flight delay I've ever experienced!

Our flights were supposed to depart from Penang at 3.15pm, transiting in KL and then Dubai before reaching Oslo, Norway the next day. After boarding the Penang plane, we were told that one of the wiper at the cockpit has malfunctioned and would require a replacement. The replacement would only arrive at 9pm. This causes us to missed our flight all the way to Oslo! After many hoo-hahs with the airport personnel, we managed to secure our replacement flight, which will only depart from KL at 7pm the next day! We would transit in Bangkok and then flight all the way to Oslo, arriving early morning the following day. After securing our tickets, at 3.30am we were transported to a five-star Marriott Hotel in Putrajaya at 3am to rest. Although we were given free breakfast buffet, we only manage to get up for the free lunch buffet. Too tired to even unpack and grab my pajamas.. just had a quick shower and KO-ed in the bathrobe.

One wiper down and all the trouble and stress were involved! And we ended up losing one day of our trip! =(  Luckily we were not following any tour or had our travel plans begin the very same that we arrived!

Oslo, Norway

Oslo, the capital of Norway, is situated at the southern part of the Norway. Being further away from the North Arctic means it shouldn't be very cold right at the end of spring and almost beginning of summer season. WRONG! Oslo happened to be very cold when I landed. Even the locals are still wearing jackets, not t-shirts and shorts!

Despite the sun shining brightly, we still hid behind layers of clothing and jackets. We regretted not bringing over thicker winter jackets in this trip! However, the places are still too lovely not to share!

Oslo is also one of the most expensive city in the world! So being Malaysian earning only in Ringgits, it was a heart attack each time we went food hunting or looking around at souvenir shops. 

Luckily for tourists, they offer a 3-days Oslo Pass which covers most of the entrance tickets to attractions and most importantly, free rides on public transports such as trams, boat rides and buses. The 3-days Oslo Pass also gives a free Ferry Cruise Ride at the Oslofjord.  

Below are the places that I've managed to visit during my Oslo trip :-

Old Aker Church

This church is located very near to the place I was staying, but somehow during my week-long stay in Oslo, I somehow didnt find my way inside the building. Only to realized after my return that this church is oldest existing building in Oslo.

Old Aker Church

Cute looking flowers near the church

Akrobaten Bridge & Barcode District
The modern looking bridge that links to the beautiful commercial office buildings that are designed so futuristic that it reminds people of barcodes. They are so mighty and special to look at!

Alot of accounting companies here... KPMG and PWC! 

On the Akrobaten Bride, walking towards the Barcode Buildings

Oslo Opera House

Not as famous as Sydney Opera house, but I love the slope walkway at the side that brings you up to the top of the building!

View of Oslo Opera House from the opposite

The slope roof that me love!

The floating glass and steel iceberg monument that serves no purpose in front of the Oslo Opera House

Lovely view despite the gloomy weather

One of the wall inside the Oslo Opera House

This is a display of the piping use underneath this bay area

Oslo Parliament Building / Storting Building
This parliament building is located in a square and it was a lovely sight with flowers in full bloom surrounding the square. (that's why i dont like travelling in winter where no flowers are in sight!)

Lovely purple flowers in full bloom

The infamous Grand Hotel Oslo is next to Parliament building, where many of the Nobel Peace Prize guests stays each year.

Love this square... so picturesque

Karl Johans Gate
The shopping district where all girls will spend hours and hours! But it doesnt help when we earn in Ringgits. Everything was expensive!

Karl Johans Gate

it's also the road leading towards the Royal Palace

Big ZARA

Love this fountain, reminds me of a porcupine somehow! hehe

The crowd in Karl Johans Gate during Midsummer on my 2nd last day in Oslo

Royal Palace

Royal Palace

Guard in the Royal Palace..And also a clear description of 'Tall Ang Moh, Short Asians'... lol

Yeaps, we walked all the way from the end of the road towards the Royal Palace

The park beside the Royal Palace Park

Oslo Cathedral
Just a simple cathedral, but I always have a heart for cathedral, because of the beautiful stained glass windows!

Entrance

The side / back of the cathedral - Somehow reminds of The Sound of Music

Lovely stained glass windows!!

Oslofjord
My most favourite thing of Oslo is their blue skies. Blue blue skies with little white clouds! And when it is combined with beautiful fjords and ships, it is a really beautiful view. Glad my 3-days Oslo Pass includes the 'hop-on-hop-off' boat trip to fully enjoy the experience from the sea. 

On our 'Hop-on-hop-off' Boat Ride towards Bygdøy

Fram Museum

Norway have a lot of history in their sailing expeditions to the North. This museums honours the famous explorers in their polar exploration. Also, this museum gives us a chance to enter into the ORIGINAL Fram ship that was used, so it was kinda a cool.

Standing in front of the grand Flam

Viking Ship Museum
A real viking ship on display! There are many other viking ships in this museum, but the picture below shows one of the largest and most intact viking ship that was excavated from the grave ship! 

Love the shape of the viking ship

Kon-Tiki Museum
Another museum, another expedition - Kon-Tiki expedition... but I looooooove this ship! Isnt it just lovely?

Banana shape but soooo pretty

Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum)

What I love about this place is, it's not just a typical museum, but it's an open-air museum. They show the rural buildings and some of them are REAL buildings that was re-located to this museum, such as the beautiful Gol Stave Church!

The plants/vines on the wall, with super blue sky is just too lovely

One of the rural buildings in the open air museum

Gol Stave Church made entirely of wood

Akhersus Fortress

Inside the fortress

One of the door that leads towards the underground floor

Frogner Park / Vigeland Sculpture Park

This park is famous for the sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. Most of the sculptures shows the actions of humans, and the highlight is the Monolith, which is a totempole that is carved into 121 human figures rising towards the sky. 

The Monolith

The view from Monolith

One of the famous bronze sculpture on the bridge - The Angry Baby

Look Ma! I'm a sculpture!! (errr, if you look at the shadown.. lol)

Vigeland Museum
This museum shows more artwork from Mr Vigeland, and also shows how the famous sculptures and the Monolith is built, originally from clay to plaster to stone. 

The replica of the top of the Monolith

Holmenkollen Olympic Ski Museum
Norway is famous for their ski jumping sports and this is the venue where the sports take place every year.

The right way when you ski jump... almost parallel with the ground 

On top of the ski jump

Nobel Peace Center
Who has never heard of Nobel Peace Prize? Well, the event will take place in Oslo every year, and this center honours all the Nobel Peace Prize winners and their contributions. You cant help but to feel overwhelmed by how much a person can help change the world.

Aker Brygge
Aker Brygge is famous for its high end shopping, eating, residential area. A nice pier to sit and chill, and pretend that you can afford all the luxuries surrounding you. Hahaha

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art
Art never fail to amuse me. Sometimes i'm amazed by the beautiful art created, but sometimes I would wonder "why can this be called art? I think I can draw better!". 

Love the shape of the building.. very artsy!

My favourite art in the museum - made out of butterfly wings (erm, but i hope they are not caught alive! >.< )

Notice how everyone was listening to a guide explaining? There's actually a receipt that was stuck to the wall, and yes, it is one of the art in display. I have no idea why that receipt is an art because the guide was speaking in Norwegian.

Spot the receipt!

Fiskeriet - Fish & Chips

Introduced by our friends, this place serves the BEST fish and chips, so of course we've got to try it out! This is us, having our dinner with our glasses on at 7pm, because the sun sets at 2am in Norway!

Cemetery in Oslo
Had lots of time during my last two days in Oslo, and even visited the cemetery that has the grave of Edvard Munch - the artist of the famous painting 'The Scream'. Their cemetary is so peaceful and not scary at all. Many locals have a stroll with the babies in pram or walk their dogs in the cemetary.

Edvard Munch

Random photos

View from uphill

Rich people's boats

Nice view, but i had to crawl my way un-glamorously to the end of the dock for this photo lol

Walking along Majorstuveien

Outside Oslo Train Station

Random Street

Grills can be pretty too! LOL

With this car, no need to do side parking ever again!

Great memories of beautiful Oslo and great friends!

Great friends and great food = Great memories!

O-S-L-O!

Next destination in Norway.....to be continued!

Beijing, China - Day 4

Day 4
The wind has slowed down a little. Still cold, but at least not freezing anymore! It was also our last day to do some sight-seeing in Beijing as we will be leaving to the airport early morning the next day. Another DIY day as well.

Saw a random stall selling fresh pineapples so we each grab a piece.

Yuyuan Park (Jade Lake Park)
We decided to go to the Yuyuan Park as it is famous for its beautiful cherry blossom garden especially in Spring season.

We do have a little difficulty finding the entrance of this park. Maybe we came down at the wrong stop from the subway. While searching for the entrance for this park, we stumbled upon this huge bell that serve as a monument.

Finally, after about 10 minutes or so, we managed to find the entrance to the park. There is a fee of RMB10 per adult.

There is a huge bridge in the middle upon entering the park. The bridge is so big that it makes us small.

There are also a few stalls selling souvenirs and candies. Spotted a special candy called the "blow sweet", where the sugar is blown into the shape of animals. First time seeing it in real life after watching it so many times in movies/films.

We bought a huge cotton candy because sis havent had a cotton candy in years. Look! It's bigger than her head!

We strolled along the park, heading towards the cherry blossom garden as our aim.

Along the way, we spotted lots of willow trees, and I love them so much.

This garden is built in the middle of the city, thus we can see a lot of skyscrapers surrounding the park.

Along the way, we were accompanied by beautiful sceneries.

Before that, we thought it was a short walk to the cherry blossom garden, but we strolled for more than one hour and we still havent finished half the park or reaching the cherry blossom garden.

We finally spotted a place with a few of blooming cherry blossoms trees. We are not sure whether if it is the cherry blossoms garden, but the flowers have not fully blossomed yet....or if we have yet to arrive at the cherry blossom garden. But we decided to just make do with what is around, and call it a day for this garden.

Although not much, but it was still lovely!

We walked our way back to the entrance and subway station.

We had higher expectation for this park. It was so huge that we got a little tired walking just to reach the cherry blossom garden. Maybe we should've taken the boat ride along the lake. 

Wangfujing 

With no more itinerary to go, we decided to head back to Wangfujing as some of them did not join us yesterday (it was too cold for the Ethan baby and even the adults!)

We reached Wangfujing early, so we headed to one of the food court in one of the malls to have proper food first. One that sells noodles and rice, not live scorpions or worms!

Then we headed back to the Wangfujing Food Street. This time we remembered to take a picture at the entrance!

We walked around, then headed to the souvenir area to grab some souvenirs back home.

We also managed to take a photo with the trishaw statue.

Overall, the souvenirs are cheaper here than in other tourist areas. We also realised that it is also cheaper to buy souvenirs here than Silk Street. 

That's the end of my Beijing Trip itinerary! 

Beijing, China - Day 3

Day 3 
We woke up to a super strong wind in Beijing. The moment we stepped out of the apartment, we were hiding every inch of our skin and hugging our jackets tight. 

And this day happened to be a DIY day with no more tour guides and the convenience of the tour van to walk around Beijing. Hello Beijing Subway system!

Inside the subway

Nothing really special with the subway in Beijing. Just like any ordinary subway system!

A very long escalator ride

Olympic Green aka Olympic Park

The Olympic Park was constructed for the 2008 Olympics. It consists of many stadiums for the games.

Map of Olympic Park

The most famous building in the park is the Beijing National Stadium aka Bird's Nest. I LOVE the architecture of the building.

The Bird's Nest

A closer look

Another infamous building is the Beijing National Aquatics Center aka Water Cube.

The Water Cube

Look at the spacious ground surrounding the stadiums.

Panaroma view

Still remember the Dragon Line from Day 1?
It is known that this Olympic Park was also built on the same Dragon Line for good feng shui. Not too sure if we are standing on the right line in the picture below, but it seems to be the only straight line from the entrance all the way....

On the Dragon Line

Midway in the Olympic Park, we also spotted a cute police car...

A tiny police car

And a grand gold vintage car!

Gold vintage car

We also passed by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) entrance and took a poto with the beautfiful colourful wordings.

APEC

The Bird's Nest and Water Cube was not a disappointment at all, but the super windy cold weather was not convenient for us to stay outdoors for too long. We almost froze to death despite wearing so many layers of clothes!

My sis and I tried to take a selfie, but the wind blew our hair away from our faces. This is us, with our big foreheads and messy hair!

Selfie

Yonghe Temple (Lama Temple)
This is a temple or monastery with huge influence of Tibetan Buddhism.

At the entrance of Lama Temple

We were greeted by nice row of green trees on each side of the walkway. It makes the place so peaceful and beautiful. We were also given a packet of joss sticks for prayers.

Beautiful walkway

We didnt expect the temple to be so huge. So many buildings and halls. We spend around 2 hours just walking from one end to the other end.

One of the many buildings inside

Another building  

And another building

In one of the building, there stood a 26 meter tall sandalwood statue of Maitreya Buddha. It was really grand and magnificent.

26m high Maitreya Buddha

The Lama Temple was a nice place to visit, but as it was so huge, we did get a little bit tired after 2 hours. We didnt really see in details all the statues and carvings and architecture of this place.


Silk Street aka Silk Market
This place is something like a mall and you can find anything here. From souvenirs to fashion. And it is indoor so we can hide from the wind (if it's cold) or the sun (if it's too warm).

Although it has like 6-7 floors, we somehow didnt manage to really buy anything from here. Maybe we were just not in the mood as we were so tired battling the cold wind since early morning. Imagine being so tired that we even forget to take any photo from this place! o.O


Wangfujing Food Street
This is one of the MUST visit in Beijing. It was really an eye-opener place even for an Asian. It is a narrow street located in the Wangfujing Shopping District. The entrance is located right next to the main street of Wangfujing.

Along the street of Wangfujing

We were greeted by lots and lots of local delicacies in the street.

From buns, to scallops, to colourful glutinous rice, to prawn balls....

Clockwise from top left : Buns, Scallops, Glutinous Rice, Prawn in Egg Balls

 ....to crabs, to decorate desserts, to animal intestines....

Clockwise from top left : Animal's intestines, Rice Cakes Korean Style, Cute Desserts, Crabs

....to cute buns to roast sparrows....

Clockwise from top left : Cute buns, Roast Sparrows

....to SEAHORSES, to WORMS, to LIVE SCORPIONS, and to BULL'S BALLS AND PENIS!!!! Yes, you can find a bull's manhood in this street!

Clockwise from top left : Starfish / Live Scorpions, Worms, Seashorse, Bull's Testicles & Penis

We did not take any of the exotic food though. We only had the normal food such as the bbq beef and chicken satay. I think the fried worm and fried grasshopper taken in Phuket was my limit! Bucket list already ticked. LOL

Eating safe food like beef satay topped with chili powder

Besides food, the street also sells lots of souvenirs such as keychains, fans, decorative stuffs, handmade musical instruments, etc.....

Colourful beads , Hand-knitted cartoon plants

Among them, one of the alley played a live opera show on a mini stage.

Live opera singer

The Wangfujing Food Street was really a fun place to explore and experience. It was a cultural shock to see people selling and eating those live, moving scorpions and other exotic food! One can definitely experience the Asian and China culture here!

Bar Street

We googled and found out that there is a famous bar street in Beijing so we thought we should give it a try. We were expecting the street to be very happening and filled with crowd for nightlife. However, when we arrived, it was really quiet. Maybe the strong wind was keeping everyone at home. (We checked and the temperature was 9 degrees but feels like -3 according the weather report).

But since we were here, we decided we might as well grab a drink. Went inside a random bar (forget the name already), and got "chopped" by the price of two bottles of beer. (Note: always remember to ask the price before ordering).  

Sad by the price of a Heineken Bottle

We chilled in the bar for awhile, listening to live music. We left slightly around midnight, and only to be told that we missed the last train home at the subway station. (Note: Please check the time of the last train home the next time). We ended up taking a taxi, and thankfully the driver did not "chopped" us with the bill by charging us using the meter and not a fixed amount at an exaggerated rate.

Overall, we survived Day 3 without a guide and I think we deserve a pat for a group of people that doesnt read chinese at all and only speak little mandarin! =)