I am so behind in blogging! I'm just back from Norway for a short 4 day trip to my dear friend Kine's hometown of Søgne. You should have read by now in the news of the crazy gunman who created so much destruction in this peaceful and beautiful country, and it was really unfortunate to have happened. We were told that all TV shows in Norway have been replaced with non stop news of this tragedy, as people are still reeling in shock as how such evil can happen in this peace loving country.
In Kine's garden; love this pic of us :) me and my fav Norwegian girl
On Thursday, we flew in to the nearest city of Kristiansand in southern Norway. Really blessed to be able to spend a short few days in this gorgeous country with the locals. We learnt so much about the country than we would have otherwise on our own, and we were welcomed with open arms by the amazing Nordstokka family.
Day 1, where everything was blue all around. The sky, the sea... gorgeous!
In fact on the first day, when K and I flew in much early than Kine, her brother in law came to pick us up, and brought us to the Kristiansand harbour to meet Kine's dad Jan, who planned to take us out in his boat. His own boat! How amazing is that?! That afternoon, he drove us out to sea doing island hopping, and explained to us the different places in the beautiful south of Norway, the history, etc.. he was a proper tour guide!
Jan parked his boat in this small area surrounded by typical Norwegian houses and insisted on buying each of us a big fat ice cream. He loves ice cream so much, such a cute dad Kine has.
Norway is a huge country with only 4.5 million and rich in oil. We were told that Norwegians flock to the south during summer to enjoy the warm sunny weather, and the main town is Kristiansand, the fifth largest city in Norway. From the south, it probably takes 2 days to drive all the way to the north and is equi-distance to Rome if you travel downwards. The typical houses in the south are white washed unlike the rest of the country. Many farm houses are painted in dark red (which I thought looked very pretty in contrast with the green pastures and blue skies), and then I found out why- red paint was the cheapest among all the colours.
View from Kine's house; it faces a farm and you see some red houses nearby.
That day was gorgeous, in fact, the whole time we were there, the weather was superb. The photos all turned out so beautiful that I am having problems choosing which ones to share with you. Be prepared for a few posts with many pics... coz Norway is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been to. In fact I know you were busy looking at the small pics I have compiled above, so I will post some of them bigger for you. :) I promise you, the photos you see are exactly how they were. No photoshop needed whatsoever.
One of the thousands of islands in the South, with an old lighthouse not in use anymore
We met two Norwegian guys who kayaked around for hours doing island hopping.
Many light houses on islands in the south are today converted to hostels where people can pay much cheaper rates (this is Scandinavia where things are all so very expensive); only thing is they need to take some ferry boat to bring you to the island. We visited one and spoke to one of the families who rented this family house on the same island and invited us to explore freely.
Someone say "Aye aye Captain!"
Above all else, the best experience that day was probably learning how to drive Jan's boat! His main hobby in the summer months, very cool. In fact, he taught K too, and K had to drive us back to Søgne from the island.. it took us 1.5h by boat to get back home.
Teacher & Student
So while K was in charge of the boat, Jan brought out a bag packed full of food. His lovely wife Karin packed us a simple but yummy snack bag for us to enjoy out at sea. There was a big fat homemade sandwich for each of us, coffee, tea, juice, fruits, chocolates... I thanked him profusely for his kindness while he laid the small table, and I will always remember he looked back at me saying "This is what we are made to do- to be kind to others." What can I say... except we were super blessed.
She even wrote "Bon Appetit" on the sandwiches! Bless her.
Setting the table
So after 1.5h, we were finally approaching Søgne's harbour. And Jan took over to steer it to his designated "parking lot". Time check. 6.30pm. And Jan says it is time for dinner. "Dinner?!" came our same reply. But.. we just had a very full on snack!
Spotted. Jan's boat parking space.
We were greeted with Karin back at their house, who showed us our rooms, and there was already dinner waiting for us. We thought we couldn't eat so soon so we washed up and started having dinner at 8ish where it was still bright and warm.
We had dinner on their patio, and they found out more about us- what were we doing in London, etc... still bright by the time we finished dinner at 9ish, and so we went with Jan to the airport to pick up Kine. Hehe it was funny while waiting for her, and we greeted her with a big hug "Welcome to Norway Kine!"
In Kine's garden; love this pic of us :) me and my fav Norwegian girlOn Thursday, we flew in to the nearest city of Kristiansand in southern Norway. Really blessed to be able to spend a short few days in this gorgeous country with the locals. We learnt so much about the country than we would have otherwise on our own, and we were welcomed with open arms by the amazing Nordstokka family.
Day 1, where everything was blue all around. The sky, the sea... gorgeous! In fact on the first day, when K and I flew in much early than Kine, her brother in law came to pick us up, and brought us to the Kristiansand harbour to meet Kine's dad Jan, who planned to take us out in his boat. His own boat! How amazing is that?! That afternoon, he drove us out to sea doing island hopping, and explained to us the different places in the beautiful south of Norway, the history, etc.. he was a proper tour guide!
Jan parked his boat in this small area surrounded by typical Norwegian houses and insisted on buying each of us a big fat ice cream. He loves ice cream so much, such a cute dad Kine has.Norway is a huge country with only 4.5 million and rich in oil. We were told that Norwegians flock to the south during summer to enjoy the warm sunny weather, and the main town is Kristiansand, the fifth largest city in Norway. From the south, it probably takes 2 days to drive all the way to the north and is equi-distance to Rome if you travel downwards. The typical houses in the south are white washed unlike the rest of the country. Many farm houses are painted in dark red (which I thought looked very pretty in contrast with the green pastures and blue skies), and then I found out why- red paint was the cheapest among all the colours.
View from Kine's house; it faces a farm and you see some red houses nearby. That day was gorgeous, in fact, the whole time we were there, the weather was superb. The photos all turned out so beautiful that I am having problems choosing which ones to share with you. Be prepared for a few posts with many pics... coz Norway is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever been to. In fact I know you were busy looking at the small pics I have compiled above, so I will post some of them bigger for you. :) I promise you, the photos you see are exactly how they were. No photoshop needed whatsoever.
One of the thousands of islands in the South, with an old lighthouse not in use anymore 
We met two Norwegian guys who kayaked around for hours doing island hopping.
Bel learnt how to drive a boat!
Someone say "Aye aye Captain!"Above all else, the best experience that day was probably learning how to drive Jan's boat! His main hobby in the summer months, very cool. In fact, he taught K too, and K had to drive us back to Søgne from the island.. it took us 1.5h by boat to get back home.
Teacher & Student 
Practice time. And no one's complaining :)
So while K was in charge of the boat, Jan brought out a bag packed full of food. His lovely wife Karin packed us a simple but yummy snack bag for us to enjoy out at sea. There was a big fat homemade sandwich for each of us, coffee, tea, juice, fruits, chocolates... I thanked him profusely for his kindness while he laid the small table, and I will always remember he looked back at me saying "This is what we are made to do- to be kind to others." What can I say... except we were super blessed.
She even wrote "Bon Appetit" on the sandwiches! Bless her.
Setting the table
Spotted. Jan's boat parking space. We were greeted with Karin back at their house, who showed us our rooms, and there was already dinner waiting for us. We thought we couldn't eat so soon so we washed up and started having dinner at 8ish where it was still bright and warm.
We had dinner on their patio, and they found out more about us- what were we doing in London, etc... still bright by the time we finished dinner at 9ish, and so we went with Jan to the airport to pick up Kine. Hehe it was funny while waiting for her, and we greeted her with a big hug "Welcome to Norway Kine!"
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