Lapland (11th Feb)

Day 2 of the Lapland trip was a Lapland Survival Course! I was a quite excited about this even though the rest were probably not because of the Jungle Confidence Course i went through while in the army. Plus i'm a big fan of Bear Grylls on Man Vs Wild (Discovery Channel).. =)

Introducing our instructors! Left to right: Kirsi, Esko, Mikka.


Kirsi is an old lady who is super knowledgeable about Sami (indigeneous) people and living in Lapland. Esko is a typical cool as a cucumber Finn.. and it seems like he and nature are ONE.. haha.. Mikka is a small sized lady but don't be fooled by her size.. she's tough =)


First up, snow shoe orienteering. Walking on thick snow is really tough without these because your feet sinks and the snow comes up to knee level. Now orienteering is basically using a map and compass looking for checkpoints. Nothing difficult actually considering Brunei had closed jungle terrain. What made it interesting was learning to navigate through lapland terrain.

One of our checkpoints overseeing a frozen lake

Sausages (with yummy mustard) , Mashed Potatoes and (crispy!!) Bread for lunch.. prepared for us over open fire.. I'm a happy man..

These 2 dogs belong to the instructors.. they're super cute! Free to run and play in the snow.. =)

I had to thaw my frozen feet.. gotta love open fires

Learning to dig a hole through half metre deep the ice and how to use special equipment for Ice Fishing.. didn't manage to catch anything though..

Making fire in the arctic is slightly different than in the tropics.. Choosing wood, making chips.. Shu Shan, Pei Joo and i were in the same group.. nice fire.. =)

Emergency accommodation in the arctic.. making a Quinzee.. something like an igloo.. but made of compressed snow reinforced with sticks.

We managed to all fit inside the quinzee to take a photo.. it was surprisingly warm inside.. maybe about -1 degrees? .. I have flat beanie hair.. haha

The 2nd night we managed to convince the girls to join us for sauna and arctic swimming.. but sorry those photos i can't post! We agreed to only post photos of ourselves =)

Cloudy night.. No Northern lights.. and i went to sleep with an aching body.. Survival is hard work!