Thursday, May 29, 2025

Day 5 - Mount Fløyen

I was all on my own
almost glad to be alone
Loving Is Easy - Rex Orange County feat. Benny Sings

Day 5, it's time to leave for Norway. I got to the airport okay, but I underestimated the time needed in the airport - really need to drill this in my head that security check in European airports tend to be looong. I may have freaked out a bit being in the line for security check, but then when I managed to pass through security check, my stupid brain didn't rush me straight to the gate and I went to check out a store or two. When I reached my gate, everyone was already boarding that I saw no one - yep, I was in deep shit. The gate wasn't closed yet though, praise be to God. I saw the staff in charge of the gate was kinda walking out a bit calling for people who's going to Oslo. She didn't see me and was some distance away and instead of flagging her, I just scanned my own boarding pass which let me through the automatic gate but then I was confussed on where to go because the next door was closed. Total freak out at this moment and then suddenly the door opened up and I walked through and I was the last person getting on the plane. It was embarrassing. All was good though and I made it, again praise be to God. Me rushing to go to places is really ... please I wasn't badly educated, none of my family are like this, I could imagine my dad's annoyed face, but as an adult, I don't know how I become this.

So first flight was to Oslo then Bergen. I chose SAS / Scandinavian Airlines for this. SAS has a pricing system that got me stunned. The cheapest flight allows just one carry-on that needs to fit under the seat. The level above it allows for non-checked baggage that goes to the overhead compartment - this part was the one that got me stunned. Like geez, this kind of money making scheme, it feels too much though perhaps in the context of Indonesians, who like to cram as much as they can in the overhead compartment, this could really be generating some revenue. I don't know how this is enforced though. Who checks this? Do people get checked about their carry-on when they're trying to board the plane? I had my luggage that I needed to check, so I paid for one-checked luggage, no overhead carry-on, and I got the free under-the-seat carry on. I also chose a flight with a transit in Oslo because it's cheaper. It's not a long transit in Oslo, around 55 mins and though I had time, I wasn't going to muck around. I got off the plane and straight away went to find the gate. An interesting thing in Oslo airport, though it's pretty much open border in Europe, in Oslo there's like a custom gate you have to go through when landing from another European country and continuing on to a city in Norway. I suppose if you declare you have something on you, you'll get extra check, but I'm like really curious who really declare things they bring to any country in this world? Anyways, nothing eventful getting from Oslo to Bergen.

Arriving in Bergen, an interesting thing I saw was the luggage belt. They put a yellow line around 1-metre away from the luggage belt and you're supposed to stand behind the yellow line. On one side I was like, rules and we hate more rules :( but on the other side, this is actually a good idea. When people crowd around the belt, it could get really difficult trying to haul your heavy luggage off the belt without injuring people - not that I have seen that happen, but you know what I mean. Also you know little toddlers who like to run around, at least they wouldn't get too close to the belt. After I got my luggage and put on my jacket, I made my way to the tram station. Good God, if I'm not mistaken there's only one ticketing machine in that whole station. They really need to put more. The person before me was confused on why the tickets didn't come out. Then I recalled, there's no physical ticket. It's tied to the card we used to pay so if there's a check, we need to show the staff our card. We could get the ticket reference / receipt sent to us by sms but I told the guy I wasn't sure it would work with our international number. He tested it and it worked and I did the same. It's quite a long tram ride, but I made it to the city and found my hotel easy enough. I checked-in and so I went to find my room. The corridor of my floor looks like this.

I was like, what's with the weird funky prison vibe? The room though was great and I was so so happy when I entered it, especially after the underwhelming room in Copenhagen. The room is smaller but it's really nice and I love it when the design is clever in maximizing the usage of the space. Then about the corridor, as I walked it a few more times during my time there, I think it's the Squid Game vibe :D

Anyways, after I got my stuff settled, I went out to explore the city. The plan was to take the Fløibanen funicular and do some of the easy hikes in Mount Fløyen. As I made my way to the funicular station, I realized Bergen is much livelier than I thought it would be. I don't know why I thought it would be a quiet sleepy town. There's quite a number of tourists here. I found the funicular station easy enough and I actually had booked the funicular ticket online so I straight away went in to get on the funicular. I heard the queue could be long, but when I was there it's pretty much empty. When you arrive at the top, you have an expansive view of Bergen. After days of gloomy sky in Copenhagen, I got sunshine and blue sky everyday of my time in Bergen which was not what I expected. I read it's the rainiest city in Norway so I was expecting that, but I got glorious weather. I have downloaded the recommended easy walk guides and proceeded to find the first stop, Skomakerdiket lake. As I walked among the trees, I noticed that there's many chirping birds - it felt really good. I found the lake and there's not many people there, I remember seeing two people some distance away. By the way, it's called a lake, but it's not very big so I would say it's a big pond which makes me wonder how big a body of water should be to be called a lake. Anyways, I sat down on a bench by the lake to eat a pastry I bought. Not a danish but still good. It had pistachio and custard and it's big and the custard was quite a lot - for the Indonesians, it's like two kue sus :D A duck came and stopped before me but I didn't give it any and said sorry duck :D It's really nice and peaceful to be able to sit there eating something nice without a care in the world.

After that snack break, the next stop was to another lake, Revurtjern. The walks are considered easy and yes the paths are clear and nice, but quite a few times the path is also going up and up on a slope, so there's effort required. It could be because I do not exercise at all that I was thinking, this is not easy peasy. By the way, I love the moss growing under the trees.

Revurtjern is even smaller and no one was here. I took a walk around the lake to reach a wooden dog sculpture overlooking the lake. Behind the dog, there's also a smaller body of water, it's unnamed in Google Maps, so I don't know if it has a name.

After that I made my way to see Blåmansvannet lake. Unlike the rest of the lakes where you can really go up close to the lakes and touch the water, you could only see this lake at some distance away. This is a big lake though, like a proper lake.

I continued on with the path in front of me, following the route in the guide thinking I would see more of the lake, which I didn't. I then started to take pictures of the wall of cliff on my left which does have interesting thing on them.

As I walked along, I then saw to my right there's a wooden plank path and I was like that looked interesting, shall we? So I did and then began a walk that became quite difficult. I have strayed from the path in the guide on to unclear path that involved navigating rocks, fallen branches, getting oneself up and down slopes. It became a real hike and I wasn't even sure what I would find. Somewhere along the way I saw a single lady coming from the opposite direction. We said Hi. I asked if you could see the lake closer and she was like what lake. She did say it's a shortcut to somewhere nice, but I wasn't sure what she was saying. She was friendly so I was like thank you and we said bye and I continued on, but this path was really not easy and my mind being what it was, I thought this was how I was going to die alone without anyone knowing. Dramatic? Yes, but I think the first rule of going on a hike is to tell someone where you're going and how long you'll be and no one knew I was there. I couldn't recall if I had told my mom yet that I had arrived in Bergen, maybe I did. If I fall and hit my head or break something, I may just die there without anyone knowing. Mind you, I only saw that one lady and no one else throughout this unclear path. I also thought not 15 minutes ago you told yourself you're going back the same way you came, no diverging around - well I thought that way because it's been tiring going up slopes, so I wanted to enjoy the fruit of that labor by going down slopes - and yet here you are on this unclear path to you don't know where. I couldn't see the end. I decided to stop when I saw ahead I had to navigate more difficult rocks going up and I didn't even know if I was closer to the main path. Looking at the guide I downloaded, I then realized what shortcut I took, but I really didn't know how far along I'd been. Google Maps couldn't tell me where I was. So I decided to go back the way I came - defeated, but perhaps for the best. Then I thought, I do this a lot, straying from the path and I don't know if this is something I need to fix about me or hold on. It has never done me good I think - like I've been fruitlessly lost so many times - but at the same time I think it's good to go outside the line or the box, to explore, but yeah this time again I got nothing. I don't have many photos from this walk because I was concentrating on how to get through. When I walked back to get back to the main path, it turned out to be much much faster, so perhaps I hadn't gone far.

Back on the main path, I did try to continue on, but again going up slopes, it was tiring, so I decided to stop and turn back, back the same way I came. Back to Skomakerdiket lake where I enjoyed the view a bit, watching a dog who swam in the water chasing a stick its owner threw. It was so good. Then back all the way to the funicular station where nearby there's a Troll Forest, where you have a number of weird looking troll scupltures. I didn't explore deeply to find out how many there are.

Then this is the view of Bergen down below. I tried to find my bearing, trying to find where my hotel was down there, but at that time I wasn't fully familiar with the area yet. On the right there, you could see the winding funicular track.

Before I left, I checked the map of the nearby area one last time and I was reminded that there are goats there, so I set to find the goats. I found their shed but no goat inside and then I thought I heard the goats so I walked towards the sound and found these two goats. They were really really cute, pretty even. When one of them started walking, I followed it but then it went to the cliff. A little girl followed that goat and I was concerned that the girl was going to fall, but she turned back when the goat went deeper. It's really something how these goats can navigate the cliff and rocks and not fall. You really need four legs to do this?

Anyways, then it was back to the funicular station to take the funicular down. For more pictures from Mount Fløyen, go here. Back down in Bergen, I explored the Bryggen area a bit, then off to dinner. Dinner was good, had non-alocholic beer which was really good. It was a good day, the sun and blue sky were really really missed. The fact that I made it to Bergen and didn't have an accident while walking around, I really have to thank God for that.

:) eKa @ 10:49:00 PM •