Russia with toddlers : Day 6 - Murmansk 'into the unknown'

Michael's place is well equipped including washing machine. Malam tu jugak dah basuh baju. Dan we really appreciate the kitchen facility masa kat Murmansk. Bila sejuk dan gelap, ada jugak perasaan malas nak berpakaian penuh dan berjalan keluar.

Last night bebudak seronok dengan space dalam rumah yang lebih luas dari hotel dan tv yang banyak kids channel, cumanya semua in Russian. While lepas dinner we talked about how lucky we are, sampai juga ke tempat paling utara ni... As we only starts at noon tomorrow. We got to rest a bit more and ni rush. Sesungguhnya bila ada driver dan guide ni, lebih mudah bila travel dengan anak2. 

So today we started the 2nd part of the trip. Antara benda aku nak alami dan nak tengok, macam mana gelap nya suasana takde matahari ni. So pagi tu aku jalan kaki to the nearest supermarket. Huge supermarket. And sebelah dia ada the biggest mall in artic circle - Murmansk Mall. Memang 5 mins door to door. Aku tengah edit video, nanti aku upload. Mall dia sama je macam Tesco or Giant kat Malaysia.

Pukul 12 Michael datang pick up. Our destination today, Saami Village. Jarak ke tempat ni lebih 100km, hampir 2 jam. Saami ni kiranya penduduk asal kawasan scandinavia, kiranya orang asal area ni. Dalam frozen 2, the people are prescribed as northundra. Tempat ni macam tunjuk budaya Saami people mcm de Te Puia New Zealand dan Sarawak Culture Village la konsep dia. But at the same time sini ada reindeer, which the kids are excited untuk feed.

Perjalanan 2 jam yang penuh snow... Gloomy... Cantik... Depressing... Cold... Ni green... No sun... Dirty... White... All in. Kuasa Allah. Alhamdulillah. On the way tu, Michael stop kat tepi jalan, so we could feel the snow... yup... kami dah too excited to see the white forest.

 

 

We arrived about 10 mins sebelum pukul 2. Sempat solat jama' sebelum start event. Solat atas salji je.

First, diaorang bawa masuk the dining hall... Dia cerita serba sedikit pasal program hari tu dan latar belakang orang Saami. We were lucky sebab group Malaysian semalam tu ada kat tempat yang sama. They come with an english speaking guide yang translate semua presentation. In actuality, semua information dalam Russian je. Kalau nak english guide ada travel agent quote for usd 150. Kami redha je without, but dapat pulak for free. And the group was also happy to see us and invite us to join them. Memang ok je lah.

After the talk kami di bawa untuk tengok the animals. But sebelum tu kami singgah visit the tiang-tiang ni dan diaorg explain pasal their rituals and belief. And of course the pray for luck. When you walk with the kids, all the luck you need is for them to follow instruction je dan possibly nak bergambar :-) Nak dengar these explanations ni kalau sempat lah.

Lepas little talk tu, kami tengok certain small artic animals. Then kami ke reindeer farm where we are allowed to feed the reindeers. Tetiba Hesaa and Muhammad were frantically takut nak tengok... Hahaha... Kome ni dari jauh datang nak feed 'Sven' bila jumpa 'Sven' kome menjerit2 takut... Ceh... Kids can be very unpredictable. Dok la aku tenang kan depa kat tepi farm 😂. Orang ambil gambar dengan reindeer, kami bergambar dengan budak menangis je, hahahaa...

Then, we had some traditional games - tarik tali lah... Main bola la... Baling bola... Etc. Sebab explanation in Russian dan kami ada budam yang berlari sana sini main snow dan kejar rabit... Kami x main sangat lah. But bila time main slide, both Hessa and Muhammad. Bab thrill macam ni depa tak takut, ada budak lebih besar pun tak buat.

Then the most exciting part, the sled with the reindeer. Kami duduk atas sled dan reindeer tu tarik. Nasib baik both Hessa and Muhammad so into this. Dia tak takut, plus boleh je bawak budak. So kami semua dapat naik satu sledge. Dan 3 ekor reindeer tarik. Yang ni tak boleh nak ambil video or gambar sebab satu tangan kena pegang sledge, satu tangan kena peluk budak. Dapat 3 round dia pusing. Laju ya amat.

Lepas tu, dapat pulak naik banana boat yang ditarik dengan snowmobile. Yang ni sangat laju, ingat kan budak2 tak boleh but actually boleh je, but diaorg dah distracted untuk main snow. so kami je take turn naik banana boat tu :-) dan let them main snow sepuas puasnya. Nak ambil gambar dengan sledge and reindeer pun tak nak. Dapat gambar atas sledge pun marah, tak nak tengok kamera. 

Then lastly we get back to the dining hall for salmon soup dan roti. Sedap ya amat walaupun salmon masak singgang je. Kami lapar kot. Kami ada bekal nasi impit, bebudak makan nasi impit dan soup. Bertambah2 nasi impit. Settle lunch. 

The tour semua rush balik by then. So we had the place to ourselves. Diaorg suruh kami pakai costume and ambil gambar... yang ni semua Hessa yang ambilkan, Muhammad could not care about it anymore :-) 

But when the place was so dark and kosong... Rasa tenang je... sempat lah gi toilet break kejap.

The whole program dalam 2 jam. But we spent quite a bit of time to pack. Toilet break etc. And Michael dah tunggu kat luar. Dia memang bagi 3 hours kat tempat ni. Then we headed back home. 

On the way back, we discussed about aurora hunting. Prediction said.. Weather tak bagus dan Michael kata tonight could probably the best night among all other nights to see the aurora. So pukul 9 dia janji akan ambil kitaorg semula for aurora hunting.