The Day After the North Pole

The first thing I can say is my body is sored, all over. I'd never done anything physically this instense. I felt like I run a marathon everyday. Those sweaty workout sessions in the Cisco gym was nothing compare to this. But I'm glad I did the workout before hand or I don't stand a chance. But even so, I am still weaker compare to the rest of the team.

Another thing is I have to say is I already miss the time on the ice. As we flew in the helicopter from the North Pole to the Barneo base camp, I couldn't help but look out the window and feel that I am missing it. The expedition was extreme, too extreme for someone like me, in any aspect but then it's quite rare to expeirence this kind of extreme, and survive it. I'm glad I did this. But if you ask me now if I jump on any opportunity to get back to the ice, the answer is no :). Not yet anyway.

The first thing I did last night was taking a long shower. Ghosh, I smelled like a pig. Wash my hair twice and my face has layer upon layer of oil :). Most people do not even brush their teeth on this kind of expedition. Every ounce of stuff counts. I slept at the hangar last night since I didn't have an accommodation. Mikhail was nice enough to let me stay at the hangar. It was nice to sleep in a heated room and on a real bed.

There are so much to talk about the expedition. In fact, I wrote diary every night, from day one to 9, almost half of the small note book. I will post them eventually. There are so many things that happened during the expedition and the satellite communication simply could not do it.

Here are a few photos during the expedition:

The tents on the ice

Me

Me lying at the exact North Pole 90 degree, and the rest of the world south of me (well, not really, at least the guy who took my photo was not :))