As Christmas approaches (plus the cold weather), I can't help but remember the white Christmas we spent in Finland in year 2005. We departed on Christmas eve and landed in Santa Claus land on Christmas Day. Of course, we visited Santa on that same day too.
Everywhere we go, it is white, snow, wet and below 0 degrees celsius. It was so cold that we were wearing layers of clothing. As we were in the Arctic region, the sun rises at 10am and sets at 12noon. Even though we were doing reindeer sleighing at 3pm, it was like riding the reindeer sleigh on a 10pm kind of dark night. I always remember, it was minus 25 degrees that fateful night. Because it was also the night we managed to see the Northern Lights (also known as the Aurora Borealis").
To cut the long story short, we hired a taxi driver to drive us to some place to view the lights. The best spot to see the lights is a vast field, lake, forest or a flat plain that is in total darkness. Because any lights from the ground will dis-illuminate the Northern Lights up in the sky.
I tell you, we trusted whole-heartedly with this driver when he really drove us to some remote forest. And in the cab, we sat and waited. No sign, just the "crown", a greenish streak of light across the sky. Then he turned around and tell us,"you need to whistle to attract the light to come to you." We were thinking to ourselves,"Another local myth." But he went out of his cab and started whistling. True enough, in a minute, the lights came. And from green, it turned into yellow, then to orange then to red. Right above us! If I can describe it, it was like burning curtains hanging from the sky. These lights are in constant movement. So they change colours constantly as they shift in wave forms.
The sight was awesome. It was amazingly beautiful. We probably spent 2hrs for this experience as we continue deeper into the forest and to a lake. Too bad, we couldn't capture any of these sights as you need a SLR camera with wide exposure set on a tripod, given the limited amount of light and cold temperature.
I find that the best substitute to see a moving Northern Lights is the first 5 and last 30 minutes of this movie call "Brother Bear" by Disney. I think its the other best option from postcards (which is still).
For those who are interested, the peak seasons to see the Northern Lights starts from September to October. And from end January to April. You need to have a clear sky to be able to see this natural phenomenon. That explains why its peak is in the beginning and end of winter when the clouds are clearing.
So much about Northern Lights, here are some pictures we took from our trip. Yep, we did eat the reindeer meat other than riding it!
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