Friday, June 13, 2025

Day 7 - Osterfjord + Mostraumen Strait and Bergen

untungnya hidup terus berjalan
untungnya ku bisa rasa
hal-hal baik yang datangnya belakangan
Untungnya, Hidup Harus Tetap Berjalan - Bernadya

I found that song when randomly I stumbled into this online article on the local newspaper written by a guy reflecting on his time in Jakarta. Something about how the city taught him acceptance and there's a mindset of the people there that he found admirable, things like still being able to be chill when things don't go our way because it is what it is. I myself have felt for many years now when coming back to Jakarta that Indonesia does teach you patience. Coming from Singapore when things work and work in an efficient manner, going to Jakarta you do need to kinda hold your horses a bit. A queue will move slower - sometimes it's not because the people work slower but the steps they take to serve you may include pleasantries that one may not get in Singapore. I notice many of the service staff will end the conversation with is there anything else I can help you with and after that there could be another bye message, my favorite is the one that says something like may you'll always be successful (the English translation is weird). So anyways, the writer of the article mentioned this song that he said reflected his life at the time. I would translate the song title in English as luckily, life still needs to go on. Interestingly, Bernadya also has another song with a title that I would translate as darn, life still needs to go on. Both songs are really nice and while the titles may suggest opposing takes about life needing to go on, they both actually acknowledge that because life needs to go on, you will move on and in the case of luckily, she sings how about luckily then she could experience good things that come later.

The song does kinda resonate with me too, though it wasn't heartbreak that I experienced or perhaps one could call it heartbreak too - afterall a breakdown in friendship could cause you heartbreak right. That song and thinking about how I travelled to many places alone, my mind goes to a major breakdown of friendship that caused me to be a lone wolf. Darn those days was a shock to my system, but starting from that time when I needed to go figure out life on my own, well it led me to doing more things on my own and eventually to travelling everywhere on my own. It couldn't have happened if I hadn't been so alone with no one. So I guess one of the most traumatic time in my life (still don't like to talk about it) changed me so much but that change did bring me to good things. I chose that song to start this post not for some deeper insight, but more because I made a stupid careless mistake on day 7, but thanks be to God, luckily I still experienced good things.

For day 7, I had booked a ferry ticket that would get me cruising Hardangerfjord and then spend a few hours in Rosendal before taking the same ferry back to Bergen in the afternoon. I was looking forward to it. I have figured out where the ferry terminal was and I thought there's not need to rush, we could make it on time. This is where my bad trait became my downfall - somehow I have become this person who gives very little margin of time when we need to get somewhere. Unlike my mom and cousin who like to come early to places like the airport and wait there, I do not. I arrived at the terminal around 10 minutes before departure and the ferry terminal was empty. There's a listing of departures on the screen and I found my ferry on the list, but there's no information on which platform. I went out and saw no boat and I was so confused and started to freak out and there's no one to ask. I didn't know what to do. Then I saw that there's a boat coming but it's on the other side of the wharf and I thought that's the boat and I started running there and somehow then there's a guy running near me. We both were supposed to take the same ferry to Rosendal. We asked another guy if this was the boat, the guy said no, the Rosendal boat was one the other side, the side I was earlier on but quite at the end of the terminal, a part which I didn't explore. The guy also pointed out that the boat was leaving now and we saw it leave. My heart sank. The guy, a long-haired dude (which I'm so indebted to) told us, I could change your ticket to tomorrow or if you would like to change to the Mostraumen straits cruise which was leaving at 10 AM, he could also do so. I have read about the Mostraumen cruise and thought it was less interesting than the trip to Rosendal hence I didn't choose it, but I would have taken the Mostraumen cruise anyway due to this mistake of mine and this guy offering to help us change my ticket due to our own mistake was really heaven sent. He could have just let us know of this other ferry ride and get us to buy new ticket, but he offered to change our ticket so that our day was not wasted (his word) just like that - I don't know what kind of access he has to do this, perhaps admin access, blessed be admin access :) I took his offer without hesitation, I don't know if the other guy did the same. The Mostraumen cruise cost 12 NOK more. I tried to pay but the guy said you would get a email about this, just pay when that email came. He did his thing and sort me out and I got new ticket for Mostraumen. Being someone who doesn't get over failure easily, this weighed a lot on me. I checked my earlier confirmation for Rosendal and it did say arrive 20 minutes before departure, so that was my mistake right there. Sometimes when I want something and it doesn't happen, I like to say to myself God said no, but this time around it's not God who said no, it's me and my dumb self. This mistake was all mine, I did this to myself, but the good Lord, He really helped me out in the form of the long-haired dude. After I confirmed the point of departure, I went off to walk around.

With time to spend before 10 AM, I walked around the Bryggen area. It's a UNESCO heritage site so the buildings there need to preserved in the old ways. It was still early, so many of the shops were not open yet and were not crowded with people.

Determined to not be late this time around, I made it to the boat early. The boat was not as big as the one for the Nærøyfjord cruise, but the inside was similarly nice. This time around I also spent all the time outside. Because it's not as big of a boat, the outside area was also smaller, but I found a place and pretty much just stood there the whole time. It was kinda nice to see another side of Bergen as the boat was leaving it.

The boat moved faster than the Nærøyfjord boat especially when leaving Bergen. It only moved slower when it's near places where there's a village. I guess for safety reason just in case the people there were also going out in their small boat. Now that I googled it, this cruise went through Osterfjord and then the Mostraumen strait - obviously I don't know where one starts or ends. It was really windy standing outside. At some point, I actually put on a beanie and glove. That being said, I also like this cruise. Through these 2 fjord cruises, I found that I really love cruising a fjord :)

For more pictures from the Mostraumen cruise, go here. The whole cruise took around three and a half hours and we're back in Bergen. I walked around a bit, here and there aimlessly. I went back to the Bryggen area and also explored other streets.

Then I decided to just eat. I chose a nice place by the wharf and had perhaps the nicest meal of the entire trip. It was seafood pappardelle with lobster sauce. I'm not one who takes photo of the thing that I eat so I have no picture of it, but I remember thinking it's beautiful when it arrived and when I was having it, it was so good. It was on the expensive side, but oh well, that day being my last day. After that, I walked around a bit more but I didn't know what else to do so I thought maybe let's end the day and just get a good rest before beginning the journey back the next day. I stopped by a mall nearby the hotel and I thought of getting some snack. Saw that there's a supermarket on the floor below where I was and I was intrigued by the layout. It seemed that there's only one way of getting in and out. The escalators by the exit and entrance only go in one direction. You may not get what I'm saying, but anyway I went to the supermarket. Got some chocolates and then I chose the self check-out machines. This is normal; it's what I've been doing in Singapore. However what's different is that the machine tells you that you may get a random check and in the receipt there's a QR code that you need to scan to open a barrier gate before you could actually exit. So this kinda poses a problem if you go to the supermarket and end up not buying anything. I suppose you can wait for someone to open the gate with their receipt and follow from behind. Overall, this kinda thing is interesting for me and I wonder how other countries who have self check-out machines deal with this. Up to that point, I did not realize the level of trust the supermarkets or stores in Singapore put in their customers with their self check-out machines :D The supermarket staff here are more likely to ask if you have scanned for the plastic bag that you use instead of checking if you have scanned everything that you take.

After that I remembered hey there's like a big pond lake by the hotel, let's check that out before we go back. The pond has a big fountain and all around the pond there were blooming cherry trees and I spent sometime taking their photos. Unlike in Copenhagen, it was a blue sky sunshiney day. I didn't have the energy to explore the whole perimeter though. Google Maps told me there's a number of art museums there.

After that I really decided to end the day, but I still made a stop to get some fried chicken and a chocolate mousse cake before going back to my room - I was afraid I might get hungry later :D For more pictures from Bergen go here. Despite of my self-inflicted major mistake that day, I had a good time in Bergen and I like the city. Well the weather helped, I suppose. It's not common I think to get getting all that sunshine and blue sky that I had. I was thinking that somehow this trip was a bit like last year where I got uncooperating weather in the first leg, but then after the rest was all blue sky and sunshine. Then thinking back to all my other trips, I usually had been lucky with the weather, but these past few years they hadn't been that perfect. Still I'm grateful though. I have to be grateful. God really had his hands on me throughout. That evening I remember thinking I wasn't ready to go back to real life, but I must and we did still have one more thing to do before the journey back so there was that to think of.

PS: I did pay the extra 12 NOK for the Mostraumen cruise. There's no email that came stating I needed to pay actually. I just happened to check the email that showed the change of booking and there's a section that I could click to see the booking detail and then I saw that I still needed to pay 12 NOK, but all this happened when I was already done with the cruise and back in my room. I thought about it and thought about karma and I didn't want the guy who helped me get in trouble if I didn't pay, so I did. You cannot be that bad when God has been kind to you.

:) eKa @ 11:06:00 PM •