Abisko

The journey to Abisko was cozy, I caught up on some sleep most of the night. I was awoken when Tristan had left, I gave him a handshake and bid him farewell before drifting back to sleep. The morning was calm, I once again felt light and present in the moment. Finally appreciating the world around me and happy that I've left Stockholm behind. I was the first one up as well as Trina. She was once again enjoying opening the window and feeling the cold wind. Louis later told me just how much his feet were freezing because of her, poor guy. The sun was barely up around 8 AM, we were very far up north by this time. I went to have breakfast and had a delicious mushroom sandwich as well as some falafel. When I went back to our carriage, I was surprised that the whole place was empty now. It seemed like everyone had already disembarked. We were already at Kiruna. I thought I was even in the wrong carriage until Yaseen called out to me.

Abisko was just a few stops away. I was able to save Yaseen by telling him he was going down the wrong stop at Abisko Ostra since our stop was the STF Turistation. Yaseen and I actually got down the wrong side of the train and were asked to go to the other side. From the distance, I saw a girl hauling a gigantic red luggage but I had no idea whether she was heading to the Turistation or not. Yaseen and I walked over to the hotel and Yaseen just started chatting up some girls from Australia, talking about how there was actually a Northern Lights display last night around 11 PM but only for an hour. We checked in and I was given the keys to our room and my bed: 1234. The receptionist laughed at that.

Outside, we encountered the girl again. Yaseen offered to help her with her luggage. Her name was Avery, hailing from China. Turns out we were roommates, she had a jolly attitude and we got along well from the get-go. She asked if we had any plans and I told her that we were going hiking around the area before sundown, she wanted to come with us which I thought was a splendid idea. Avery somehow had a lot of apples with her and I was able to get a couple to eat while out in the snow. We talked about random things, like how the snow changes how the apple tastes or how it was actually warmer in Abisko rather than Stockholm because the snow around here was melting(?) Some funky science stuff that was proven to be unfounded.

We ran into Avery's cabin mate from the train: Jess who was from Australia. We invited her to go do a trail with us going to Lake Tornetrask through the Canyon. After we were joined by Yaseen, we set off. The scenery was mighty impressive, who knew such a winterscape was just a few minutes walk from our hostel? It was like we were transported to another world. The river meandering through the canyon and the waterfall shooting out from the cave were some of the highlights, not to mention a frozen waterfall.

There were plenty of stops to see along the way, including a bridge and some lookout points. At one time, I even slid down the frozen stairway and hit my bum on the ice. We had a spontaneous race with Jess and Yaseen leading up front, Avery and I could only just watch them speed past us. We had our little own race as well and finally we got to Lake Tornetrask where it spread out in front of us in its vast expanse. I decided to go further down its shores to touch its waters. Yaseen stayed up while Avery and Jess joined me. We got to take photos of the icicles hanging deep under the rocky crevices of the lake. We took another way back, the easier trail going straight to the hostel except Avery somehow realized she had dropped her camera lens cap, she went back to the lake and I decided to help her try and find it. Luckily enough, a kind passerby noticed we were searching for something and voila, it was with him! He had found it all the way back from the lake. This wasn't going to be the first time Avery would lose her camera's cap.

When we got back to the hostel, it was now my turn to realize that I had lost my phone somewhere. Jess had to go back to her friend so we said our good byes while I backtracked. Luckily, I was able to find it immediately buried under the snow.

Since we still had some time, Yaseen wanted to walk towards Abisko Ostra, the main town, to ask about dog sledding and visit the local supermarket. It was another long walk in the snow and darkness was fast catching up even though it was just 2:30. By the time we got to the town proper, it was already pitch black. We paid the supermarket a visit and checked out the various goods they had available. Avery and I were quite enticed by the kids section where they featured a lot of strange candy contraptions. I got some coated Oreos and Avery got some marshmallows while Yaseen got some chips. On the way out, we encountered the same girls from earlier, they mentioned that they went to the Sami Camp earlier in the day which was really good information for us. Yaseen asked them about the huskies and turns out those ladies were staying in the exact hostel that had the husky farm so we waited for them to finish their shopping and went together.

We went inside the hostel where a single telephone was. Apparently, one had to call for them using that one so while Avery and I waited at the lodge, Yaseen had already started to chat up with another person. She tried to show us the way towards the husky farm but went back as it started to get cold. Yaseen was kinda behind us I think but somehow we lost sight of him. Avery and I decided to follow the barks and found the husky farm where a lot of cute dogs were very much excited to see us. We saw some staff and thought that they would ask us to leave but they were really kind and even offered to light up the dogs that were tied to the sled so we got to take some really nice photos. Avery and I made our rounds to say hi to every dog that was poking its head out of the tiny holes. Yaseen later called me to ask where we were since he was going to the supermarket. I told him we were at the husky farm and he should come check it out. We were later joined by him and after another round of enjoying the dogs, we walked back to the supermarket since Yaseen wanted to buy some beer. Then we made the walk back to the hostel. I ate an early dinner with Yaseen at the bistro, we got some pizza while Avery went back to the dorm to eat some ramen.

Yaseen and I got to know each other a bit more, talking about life in Malta, spirituality, and exchanging stories. He seems like a very charismatic person, though I could tell he's a good person. I went back to my room and took a shower, borrowing some of Avery's beer shampoo which was going to be my default shampoo for the rest of my stay in Abisko. I had joined a Northern Lights tour with Lights Over Lapland today but I wasn't feeling too confident as it was too cloudy.

We met up at the lobby and got on a van that took us all the way out to Kiruna, to a campfire spot. We traded some stories and were given the explanation on why Abisko was a prime spot to see the Northern Lights but alas not tonight, though it was fine for me. We got to try some lingonberry juice and I got a heads up that some moose were spotted over at Fagelkullen AKA Bird's Hill. Avery was initially in charge of setting up the next day's itinerary and she sent me one composed by the great ChatGPT. I counter-proposed with the idea to check out Bird's Hill along with the Sami Camp and the trail she wanted to do. "Deal!" and it was done.Read more