Iceland was never part of my must go places simply well... because I thought it's just covered in ice or smtg.. *pardon my ignorance* until I came over to London and then Cynthia's friends asked if we wanna join them but due to leave reasons we gave it a miss and decided we would both go ahead during the August bank holiday.
It was such a wonderful & enjoyable trip that now I understand why people who've been to Iceland would tell me it is one of their favourite countries.
Some fast facts I found out during the trip:
It is one of the biggest islands in Europe.
It is one of the least polluted countries coz it uses geothermal energy.
It has a population of only 320,000, and half stays in the capital Reykjavik (pronounced Rey-ker-vik).
70% of the land is uninhabited.
Also known as land of fire and ice.
There are more than 30 volcanoes and hence many lava fields, n right in the middle of the country there is a desert made up of lava rocks.
The glaciers in Iceland are much more than the whole Europe combined.
They consider themselves not to be part of Europe due to their location on the two continental plates, and claim they are "new land" because every time an earthquake or volcanic activity occurs, the land is shaken and new land emerges/ is formed.
They are super well prepared for earthquakes. Just in June they had a 6.3 on the richter scale but there was minimal damage done.
For me, geography has come alive. All those stuff which we studied during geography lessons like the plate tectonic theory, volcanic activity, earthquakes, etc were right in front of my eyes. Amazing.
Day 0 - we arrived late at night at Keflavik. Took the Flybus to Reykjavik abt 45min away, everywhere was pitch dark. We reached the bus terminal but no one from the B&B came to pick us up. Met a driver who couldn't speak much English and he sent us to the Fourth Floor Hotel (FFH) instead of BB44! We approached the lady at FFH and she was like heaven sent! She helped us call our B&B at 1am in the morning, and then kindly helped intro us to some tours we could take (the cheapest somemore!) and then helped us book even! Such an angel! -- good start already!
Day 1 - woke up early for our Golden Circle tour. Majority of the tours in Iceland will include pickup from wherever you stay, and then they will send u back to your doorstep after the tour. The Golden Circle tour is one of the must do tours coz they drive you in this ring road and you see beautiful & majestic waterfalls, geysers, mountains, the Eurasian & American continental plates, etc. It rains quite a bit in Iceland but the sun comes out too so you can spot rainbows once in a while (I like!). We drove past the place where the 6.3 magnitude earthquake took place and saw what they term as "new land" caused by the movement of the plates.
Day 2 - we signed up for the Glacier Lagoon tour (a 14h tour!) which starts at 8am and we toured the south coast of the country. Beautiful sights and more waterfalls and glacier tongues. Good weather today, managed to see Mt Hekla, the most active volcano in Iceland. Above the magma/ lava is a 670m of thick ice so they anticipate a powerful eruption, and it is already 20 years overdue! Scary right!
Thingveller National Park where it lies between the Eurasia and American continental plates, also a significant place for Icelanders as this was where their first parliament started.
Finally after lunch we reached the highly anticipated glacier lagoon (Jökulsárlón)! I must say it took my breath away and we were just going "oh my god... oh my god...!" In awe of God's creations.. totally. This lagoon used to be one of Europe's largest glacier formed 1,500 years ago, and due to global warming, it has melted and broken into pieces of icebergs thus forming this enclosed area. We took a cruise out (like the Duck Tours back hm) and the guide sliced out a piece of ice from an iceberg and later cut them into pieces for us to try. She assured us this would be the oldest thing we have and ever will taste.
Awesome.. breathtaking place!
closeup of iceberg; the black parts are sand, not that they are dirty
Dropped by a few other places on our journey as well. I secretly prayed for a beautiful rainbow and guess what, minutes later, it was an answered prayer! In fact, there was a double rainbow right in front of us when we were in the bus and then one of them just shone brighter and brighter! Traffic stopping coz drivers came out to snap pictures of it and I was just soo happy :D
~~~
Day 3 - our day of mini adventure! Started the day by going for horse riding! yippee something which I've always wanted to try. It's said that you've never been to Iceland until you've seen it from the back of the Icelandic horse. I love the Icelandic horses! They are slightly different from the normal horses; very tame and smaller in size and have long manes. Very beautiful. I was scared & excited man.. shocking thing was that there was no lessons whatsoever.. once the gates of the stables opened, the horses just went out in an almost orderly manner following the leader (this black stallion) and surprisingly they know how to stand in line! Very disciplined. (But my horse Flori knows how to cut queue very well haha he knows how to accelerate when there is a small space in between two horses and loves to be in front. Super cute!) We rode for 2h and the horses went up the mountains and we saw beautiful sceneries along the way, stopping halfway at a canyon and a waterfall before we made the trip back to the farm. Memorable experience! (unfortunately even after two days have passed, my body is still aching badly!)
Once the gates opened, the horses just knew they had to start walking.. and Flori loves to cut queue!
Resting halfway and admiring the scenery and appreciating fresh fresh air.
After the horse riding, the owner of the farm kindly dropped us at the old harbour, coz we were going whale watching! Okay we were warned it's gonna be freezing temp coz it's the Atlantic Ocean, no joke. Thankfully it was bearable and we saw many dolphins jumping out of the water (they love to play it seems!) and caught glimpses of a few Minke whales, a common sight in the Icelandic waters. Hmm overall not very enjoyable for me coz my face was almost numb from the cold wind, and a lot of time was spent squinting at the waters trying to figure out if that is a fin or just simply waves (very choppy waters btw).
Day 4 - time to wrap up our tour in Iceland by visiting the famous Blue Lagoon (http://www.bluelagoon.com/)! This is a big pool, natural of course, made up of geothermal seawater with lots of minerals supposedly good for the skin. The water is at a constant 37deg, which reminds me of Pamukkale in Turkey. And then there are buckets of white silica mud where you smear all over yr face for that perfect mask.. Mmm... relaxing...
enjoying our geothermal spa... so niceee
All in all, a really wonderful trip and... yes I'm also convinced that Iceland is one of my favourite destinations too!
It was such a wonderful & enjoyable trip that now I understand why people who've been to Iceland would tell me it is one of their favourite countries.
Some fast facts I found out during the trip:
It is one of the biggest islands in Europe.
It is one of the least polluted countries coz it uses geothermal energy.
It has a population of only 320,000, and half stays in the capital Reykjavik (pronounced Rey-ker-vik).
 |
| Downtown Reykjavik |
70% of the land is uninhabited.
 |
| In the middle of nowhere |
 |
| Where silence can be deafening |
Also known as land of fire and ice.
There are more than 30 volcanoes and hence many lava fields, n right in the middle of the country there is a desert made up of lava rocks.
 |
| Mount Hekla, the most active volcano |
 |
| Typical lava fields |
The glaciers in Iceland are much more than the whole Europe combined.
 |
| Glacier tongues |
They consider themselves not to be part of Europe due to their location on the two continental plates, and claim they are "new land" because every time an earthquake or volcanic activity occurs, the land is shaken and new land emerges/ is formed.
They are super well prepared for earthquakes. Just in June they had a 6.3 on the richter scale but there was minimal damage done.
For me, geography has come alive. All those stuff which we studied during geography lessons like the plate tectonic theory, volcanic activity, earthquakes, etc were right in front of my eyes. Amazing.
this does keep warm in such a freezing cold country, can't imagine winter here. brrr...
~~~
Day 0 - we arrived late at night at Keflavik. Took the Flybus to Reykjavik abt 45min away, everywhere was pitch dark. We reached the bus terminal but no one from the B&B came to pick us up. Met a driver who couldn't speak much English and he sent us to the Fourth Floor Hotel (FFH) instead of BB44! We approached the lady at FFH and she was like heaven sent! She helped us call our B&B at 1am in the morning, and then kindly helped intro us to some tours we could take (the cheapest somemore!) and then helped us book even! Such an angel! -- good start already!
~~~
where we stayed - BB44 *thumbs up!*
Day 1 - woke up early for our Golden Circle tour. Majority of the tours in Iceland will include pickup from wherever you stay, and then they will send u back to your doorstep after the tour. The Golden Circle tour is one of the must do tours coz they drive you in this ring road and you see beautiful & majestic waterfalls, geysers, mountains, the Eurasian & American continental plates, etc. It rains quite a bit in Iceland but the sun comes out too so you can spot rainbows once in a while (I like!). We drove past the place where the 6.3 magnitude earthquake took place and saw what they term as "new land" caused by the movement of the plates.
 |
| Gullfoss |
 |
| The magnitude of this waterfall is scary.. there was so much mist coming up from it and we were totally wet! |
 |
The famous geysir which shoots up more than 20m every 5 - 7min.
Caught shots of the process.
|
"whoosh!" there it goes and everyone goes "awww...!"
~~~
Day 2 - we signed up for the Glacier Lagoon tour (a 14h tour!) which starts at 8am and we toured the south coast of the country. Beautiful sights and more waterfalls and glacier tongues. Good weather today, managed to see Mt Hekla, the most active volcano in Iceland. Above the magma/ lava is a 670m of thick ice so they anticipate a powerful eruption, and it is already 20 years overdue! Scary right!
Thingveller National Park where it lies between the Eurasia and American continental plates, also a significant place for Icelanders as this was where their first parliament started.
Finally after lunch we reached the highly anticipated glacier lagoon (Jökulsárlón)! I must say it took my breath away and we were just going "oh my god... oh my god...!" In awe of God's creations.. totally. This lagoon used to be one of Europe's largest glacier formed 1,500 years ago, and due to global warming, it has melted and broken into pieces of icebergs thus forming this enclosed area. We took a cruise out (like the Duck Tours back hm) and the guide sliced out a piece of ice from an iceberg and later cut them into pieces for us to try. She assured us this would be the oldest thing we have and ever will taste.
Awesome.. breathtaking place!
closeup of iceberg; the black parts are sand, not that they are dirty
 |
| Holding the 1,500 year old ice |
 |
| Solitude |
Dropped by a few other places on our journey as well. I secretly prayed for a beautiful rainbow and guess what, minutes later, it was an answered prayer! In fact, there was a double rainbow right in front of us when we were in the bus and then one of them just shone brighter and brighter! Traffic stopping coz drivers came out to snap pictures of it and I was just soo happy :D
 |
| and God spoke |
 |
| a double rainbow! |
~~~
Day 3 - our day of mini adventure! Started the day by going for horse riding! yippee something which I've always wanted to try. It's said that you've never been to Iceland until you've seen it from the back of the Icelandic horse. I love the Icelandic horses! They are slightly different from the normal horses; very tame and smaller in size and have long manes. Very beautiful. I was scared & excited man.. shocking thing was that there was no lessons whatsoever.. once the gates of the stables opened, the horses just went out in an almost orderly manner following the leader (this black stallion) and surprisingly they know how to stand in line! Very disciplined. (But my horse Flori knows how to cut queue very well haha he knows how to accelerate when there is a small space in between two horses and loves to be in front. Super cute!) We rode for 2h and the horses went up the mountains and we saw beautiful sceneries along the way, stopping halfway at a canyon and a waterfall before we made the trip back to the farm. Memorable experience! (unfortunately even after two days have passed, my body is still aching badly!)
 |
| My first time on a horse! Meet Flori, a 23 year old Icelandic horse. |
Once the gates opened, the horses just knew they had to start walking.. and Flori loves to cut queue!
Resting halfway and admiring the scenery and appreciating fresh fresh air.
 |
| Horses taking a break |
After the horse riding, the owner of the farm kindly dropped us at the old harbour, coz we were going whale watching! Okay we were warned it's gonna be freezing temp coz it's the Atlantic Ocean, no joke. Thankfully it was bearable and we saw many dolphins jumping out of the water (they love to play it seems!) and caught glimpses of a few Minke whales, a common sight in the Icelandic waters. Hmm overall not very enjoyable for me coz my face was almost numb from the cold wind, and a lot of time was spent squinting at the waters trying to figure out if that is a fin or just simply waves (very choppy waters btw).
 |
| Cold cold... cruise out to the Atlantic Ocean |
 |
| The Atlantic Ocean |
~~~
Day 4 - time to wrap up our tour in Iceland by visiting the famous Blue Lagoon (http://www.bluelagoon.com/)! This is a big pool, natural of course, made up of geothermal seawater with lots of minerals supposedly good for the skin. The water is at a constant 37deg, which reminds me of Pamukkale in Turkey. And then there are buckets of white silica mud where you smear all over yr face for that perfect mask.. Mmm... relaxing...
enjoying our geothermal spa... so niceee
All in all, a really wonderful trip and... yes I'm also convinced that Iceland is one of my favourite destinations too!
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