I write this entry from my room in Puerto Escondido on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, there’s a nice breeze coming from the window where I can see the beach and its sprinkling of fishing boats
Now Oslo, wow, that seems like a long time ago, I guess it is a long time ago. From Stockholm I took a night bus to Oslo, I thought I’d be able to handle it well with 3 night buses under my belt in Turkey, but nop, I got to Oslo at a little over 6am and I was a zombie, quite literally.
Day 1
I dropped my bags at the hostel, of course I couldn’t check in yet, but somehow I convinced the guy at the hostel to let me use the showers, it wasn’t so straight forward, since all the rooms had ensuites and the hostel had no shared showers, but the guy was nice enough to let me use the showers in the sauna.
After the shower, I felt a little more alive and set out for the Viking Museum. It contains 3 excavated viking ships, 1 was almost completely intact, it was great to see. The one that was almost intact has amazing cravings on it, the shape and the swirl at the end is just like in the picture books! Though the museum is quite small, you can see it all in a couple of hours, but still worth the trek out from the city.
On my way back, I went to buy some groceries for dinner and guess what was happen in the square in the city?! Norway’s next top model! Haha! A small crowd gathered to watch while the contestants strut their stuff.
Early to bed that day!
Day 2
I went for a whole day of hiking in the famous Olso marka/forest. It was a Saturday and many Norwegian families were also out exploring the marka. So you take this train to the end of the line and the marka is right there in front of you. There are many different marked trails with varying degrees of difficulty, I chose the easiest paved path but there were still plenty of see on the way, 2 lakes, lots of different trees and does the words Norwegian Woods ring a bell? Haha, well being a Murakami fan, it felt great to hike a real Norwegian wood.
All these photos from the marka were shot on film

The hike was around 4.5 hours with some super hilly bits at the end, it took me near where the super crazy giant ski jump is, well, it wasn’t actually there, it was being rebuilt or something. Anyway, the point is I was really high up and the view was gorgeous. You can see all the fjords that runs into Olso, not impressive close up since the fjords are somewhat wide, but from that distance it looked amazing, the soft late afternoon light also helped.
The view there was amazing, my photo doesn’t do it justice
Speaking of fjords, it was a shame that I didn’t get to go to Bergen, where the really impressive fjords are and the train ride up apparently has great scenery all along the way too. Unfortunately I had already booked everything for Iceland and didn’t have enough time in Norway. Shame, next time.
Day 3
I walked around the city and went to see the Olso opera house which is quite an impressive sight. From the glistening blue harbour, this white roofed and blue glassed creation rises out. The roof, yes the roof slopes right into the ocean, from afar, to me, it looked like a ski field with all the tiny people on it. Looked amazing.
As I walked around the huge roof all of a sudden these kids carrying instruments start tumbling up, at first one by one, then dozens and dozens of them started coming up. Before you know a big crowd had gathered to watch the kids setup and perform right there on the glary roof
In the afternoon I went to the Vigeland Park. Lonely planet called the centerpiece in the park “the phallus”, alongside with the descriptions of all these nude sculptures, then it says that families flock to the park on weekends. Well! I thought to myself, man, aren’t these Norwegians open minded…
The phallus isn’t what I thought it was… It was a column sculpture full of nude intertwined people. The other sculptures along the wide path are either in stone or copper, some romantic, some thought provoking and many quite funny. The park is nice and green and no wonder families flock to it.
The phallus
You thinking what I’m thinking? Cos that’s exactly what I was thinking when I saw this…
C’mon you dirty minded bastards! :p
Day 4
I didn’t do much, took a walk around the cemetery where Edward Munch, the painter of scream and several other famous Norwegians are buried. Went to the national gallery, so one of Munch’s scream, there are several versions. I remember also going to the trendy part of the town, can’t remember the name of the area. I hoped to get some shots for the street fashion blog, but unfortunately the Norwegians don’t dress as well as the Swedes, so none were asked, none were taken.
Did I mention how freaking expensive Norway is?? Well, it’s freaking expensive!!! The first day I got there, I wanted some lunch and went to burger king, guess how much my regular whooper meal costed? 9.35 euros! Fuck! That’s 18 Australian dollars! So nop, didn’t step into another food vendor in Norway, packed sandwiches and cooked dinner at the hostel everyday.
Day 5
I flew to London, got a bus to Heathrow and flew to Iceland. More on Iceland, next time.
































































































































































































































































































