Friday, April 28, 2023

Day 6 - Reykjavik

we're always right place and wrong time
we always wait in the sunshine
and we're always on the cusp, I'll forever put my trust
in silver linings, silver linings
Silver Linings - Easy Life

Honestly, I can't say I'll forever put my trust in silver lining because I can't see the silver lining in the first place. Day 6 was the last day in Iceland and I was spending it all in Reykjavik. The only engagement for that day was something at 12:30 pm. So after a really tiring day the day before, I could just be slow and take my time that morning. After breakfast, I went out to explore the capital starting with going to Tjörnin / the lake. As lake goes, there were many ducks and swans. There's a family that morning feeding them. What's quite interesting was that some part of the lake was frozen and it's quite funny seeing ducks trying to slide walk slowly on ice and it's especially funny when they just flew and tried to land on the ice upright :D I walked around the perimeter of the lake until the other end which I found gave me a more beautiful view but perhaps it's because the sun was out a bit when I reached there.

Then I made my way to Hallgrímskirkja / the church. A paid concert was about to take place at that time, so only audience could enter the church. I just walked around it a bit and then I took the main street in front of the church, taking pictures of what I thought was interesting like the mural arts or arts on the ground (like the picture below). The weather was changing, cloudy with a slight drizzle. It's been like that for the past days, so yeah what can you do about it right?

The main street in front of Hallgrímskirkja brought me to the rainbow street. Entered some shops that looked interesting as I walked. There's quite a number of mural arts in this town, not just in this street but throughout as I had been walking, so it's kinda interesting to be turning a corner and see some art on the wall.

Walking around, I was concerned about where to find a taxi. My 12:30 pm appointment was for a helicopter ride. I have googled the bus, but I didn't have exact cash for it and the ISK / Icelandic Króna that I had should be enough for taxi. By the way, I read a lot that you could go cashless in Iceland and it was so true. You could pay everything tapping your card which is so convenient, familiar, but then I thought this was too easy, like you ended up not thinking if you have spent too much. One time I went to dinner not bringing my bag because I just needed the card to pay and I thought this felt like being a guy because girls usually need a bag to hold our things and most of the time guys just have things in their pocket :D Anyways, I wasn't sure if I could pay the taxi with card and maybe holding some cash would be good so I exchanged 50 euro in Helsinki airport during my transit there. I ended up not using the cash much, so I had to spend it that day. Back to me looking for taxi - I tried to look around to identify a taxi, but couldn't, but by some luck I found a taxi stand with some taxis there. The taxi driver knew where the hangar is, so it's good. There's a partition in the taxi and the driver was wearing a mask. He didn't insist I wore one, but I wonder if it's a requirement. Side note: my mom would say it's always better to wear one, but the thing is in a world where no one wears a mask, wearing one just makes me worried people think I'm weird or I have the disease or worst I would be targetted because of it's a sign I'm a foreigner and Asian at that. Anyways the taxi driver was saying the weather didn't seem to be very good that day for a helicopter ride and I was like yeah, but hopefully it'd work out. When I paid him, he was like so you want change? Good God :| So I asked, do you have one 50 ISK coin? He said he did and he gave me that. I needed the coin for the bus ride back. Arriving in the hangar, they told me it was cancelled precisely do to the cloudy weather. ARRRGHH!!! They said they texted me but I didn't receive it. They said they tried to call, I did see there was a miss call but the number wasn't listed :( I wonder why on earth they didn't email like all of our correspondence. AARRRGHH!!! I tried to keep it cool there. I asked about refund, they said they would of course do that. The refund did come some days later but what freaking annoys me (still present tense) was that due to exchanges or whatever admin fee there is, I lost like 30 SGD. It's not the helicopter company's fault this happened; it's whatever money processing currency exchange system going on in this world - that is hella annoying. 30 SGD is like enough for a meal both in Singapore and Iceland :( The other thing that added to my disappointment was that I was really quite on a fence on doing this helicopter ride because it's expensive. I was tossing between doing it or going on a horse ride, both things I have never done before. Thinking that the helicopter was more awesome, I ended up choosing it even though the timing was not ideal. I was hoping I could do it in the morning so I would have time to go to the Blue Lagoon. When I was given the confirmation, I thought okay maybe God told me to save money and not go to the Blue Lagoon which I was also very much on the fence about going. So that was the thought process and everything didn't work out, aarrghhh!!! Anyways, I already planned to go to Perlan after the helicopter ride. Now that it's not gonna happen, I thought okay, on to Perlan then. The helicopter people asked if I would need a taxi to the city and they would pay for it. I asked a taxi to Perlan instead. So they called the taxi and I used their toilet before I left. The taxi driver was the one who took me there and he laughed when he saw me. Apparently the helicopter people paid him quite generously for a short ride to Perlan which was around 15-17 minutes walk.

I cannot remember how much Perlan cost, but I had nothing to do and it's raining outside so I bought the ticket that encompasses all. Perlan is like a small museum which shows the nature of Iceland. There's a planetarium which has a story about the aurora. I did that one first. Then there's the ice cave which was built using ice that they actually brought in from actual glacier. I was thinking when they did that, wouldn't that ruin that glacier. Turns out the ice cave was small, so maybe not much harm done. They have a section explaining glacier, how they're formed and such. There's also an exhibition about volcano and the different volcanic rocks and there's a wall in which there's a model of what the natural habitat of puffins look like. I was quite interested to see the puffins, but you could only see them in the summer. One of the last thing I saw was the volcano show where there's a video of a volcano erupting. I forget which volcano it was but it was in the winter and it became like a tourist attraction where people could actually come quite close to the lava flow. The room simulates the smell of the volcano erupting. I can't really describe it, the smell was strong and it was quite unique, nothing like what I have smelled before.

Perlan also has an observation deck. I went out there twice, once it was cloudy and drizzling and windy and the other time there were some sun but still windy. It gave a nice view of Reykjavik. Then in the cafe there I decided to have lunch, fish and chip. The cafe is on a floor that rotates ever so slightly. I don't think I completed one whole rotation during lunch. Overall I think Perlan is so so, like if you really really have nothing to do, then I guess you can go there.

Going back to the city, I gave myself some time because though I knew the schedule of the bus, I wasn't sure about the walk there. I have downloaded both Helsinki and Reykjavik map for offline use for this trip, but what I didn't realize was that Google Maps was somehow able to locate my location on the map without data or even during flight mode. I usually deny access to location for the apps in my phone, but apparently I always allow it for Google Maps and it was so so useful. I've travelled to many places for some years now and yet this crucial information was only something that I learnt then. I am embarrassed. So anyways, Perlan is on the Öskjuhlíð hill and I knew nearby there's like an area with trees which would make for a good walk. I found the trail and I thought it was really interesting, the trees were taller and green, but then I also realized, it was stupid of me to be doing this. The weather could change into heavier drizzle which would make the trail muddy, I'm not an outdoor person who does hiking at all so I have no safety knowledge whatsoever except for this one where I understood what I was doing was stupid. No one knew I was going there. I do not know the trail at all. I also do not know any emergency number. If I got hurt or if suddenly someone did something bad to me there, I would just be gone. So I decided as much as it looked peaceful and interesting, I needed to get out. As I was walking out, I saw 2 guys walking the trail dressed very casually. I wondered what they were doing there. Were they there to smoke some weed? That's where my head was going and I also thought just when I thought someone bad could do bad things to me there, I saw other people. Nothing happened, but it's kinda a sign to me that maybe it's better for me to get out.

I got to the bus stop quite early which gave me time to check if the bus would be on the street I was in or the one opposite. Kinda daunting not understanding the bus stop information in the bus, but I managed to get off correctly at the bus stop near Hallgrímskirkja. This time around I could go in. I said a little prayer to thank God for helping me on this trip and to help me with safe travel back.

Then I made my way back to the hotel, taking the rainbow street again. Before I turned in for the day, I went to the nearby supermarket, Bónus, whose symbol is a pink pig :D Got chocolate there. Then I remembered there's an ice-cream shop nearby. It was cold out but I thought maybe I could use my remaining ISK. I thought it was a bit silly going for ice-cream on a really cold day but ahead of me was a close-to-elderly couple going for ice-cream too so I didn't feel so silly and as I was looking at all the flavours, a group of family came in. 2 scoops for 1000 ISK and I thought that was perfect, I could spend my last ISK there. I couldn't remember what flavours I got but it was money well-spent :D Since it was really cold out, I was already planning to have my ice-cream inside. Appparently all were doing the same. It kinda made me happy seeing all just standing around with me by the wall eating ice-cream. It was a good ending, but I have to say that I don't think me and Iceland gel. Somehow we just didn't work out and as ungrateful for me to say this, I'm not that super blown away as many people who have been to Iceland have said or written. Many things didn't happen, that would usually spur people to dream for another visit, but I think I'm good. I could very much be dead inside that I didn't feel much *sigh* that is for another post. When I went back to my room that day, I saw another rainbow from the window. I saw a lot of rainbows in this trip and as I saw that rainbow I told God, I don't know God, I don't understand the reason why things didn't work out. I know I should be grateful for all the good things so I asked for forgiveness that I'm not all that. For pictures from Reykjavik, please go here. One more post to write and that'll wrap up the story about this trip.

:) eKa @ 9:33:00 PM •