The Gears

Mikhail came pick me up and we drove to the hangar where they store all the equipments are gears for the trip. It's not a huge hangar, small rather. There are a few beds inside. I guess the Russian really do it thrifty way. I finally met Victor. Apparently I missed out a lecture he gave yesterday. The communication is broken I supposed. Mikhail seemed to not aware of the lecture hence I did not know about it. Anyway, I tried out all the stuffs for the trip. A lot of them. They equip participants inside out, literrally, from underwear to outter, head to toe. Everything fits me ok except for the boots and the ski pants. The boots are my size for sure but somehow feel a little loose. I probably will opt for my own boots I got from REI and tested in Alaska. The pants are a little long (even tho it is the smallest size -- it's not good to be so "petit" :)) so they digged out the old stuffs and found one pair one size smaller. Those are ok.

Along came with us was Rima. She's from Singapore but probbaly grew up in UK. She speaks English with British accent. She's going to join us to the base camp and from there she and another person will do 20-something day expedition to the pole, unguided! It's really cool to be here and meet these people. Super driven, and tough. She will also conduct some experiments to collect weather data. I didn't have much time to chat with her. I will later on for sure.

I asked Mikhail again about the head count, still unclear. But looks like a lot of them will either have their own guides or unguided, except two participants with a guide (one is me). I will update once I know more about this. My guide will arrive to Longyear tomorrow afternoon, so I am not sure if I will have a training/mockup session as planned or not. Most likely not. This is not the first time these people organize this and yet they're still very unorganized. I will go to the airport with Mikhail tomorrow to pick up my guide and hope I will know more what's coming up next.

These are the pictures I took about two hours ago. Can't be more live than this, can it? :)


The gears I collected today -- the room is different cuz I moved to different hostel.





Me again. It's -20C but seriously not that bad because there's no wind






Rima is trying to sort out the fuel for her expedition





A polar guide for the trip (not my guide) - I didn't catch his name -- he helped find my gears




Outside of the hangar where all the equipments are stored. Notice the cars are very clean, not like those in Toronto in the winter.

A gorgeous morning

A Few Pictures

While waiting to collect the gears, thought I should post some self photos

Me in "downtown" Longyear

Frying the onion with butter

Pasta sauce - not bad looking eh


Final product

Waiting Game

As expected, things always get delayed up here. I was supposed to meet up with Victor today but did not get any message. I had to call back to Mikhail and no meeting. He said my guide will arrive the day after tomorrow (3/31), one day later than scheduled. I am going to meet up with Mikhail tomorrow to collect the gears. There also will be an introductory dinner. Will see if I will have any.
One will have to remain very flexible and patient, as I was told my Robert (the agent).

Longyearbyen

It's always nice to come back to the place you visited before. You feel like you know the place and this is the time to kick back and relax and explore things at an easy pace. This is how I feel when I arrived to Longyearbyen this afternoon. This is my second time here. Last was 3 years ago when I came to check out the town and any North pole operator and the possibility of last minute deal just like the one I had in Punta Arenas for the Antarctica. The town is still the same, only more snow and brighter. The sun was out brilliantly. The pilot announced that it was -17C but it felt warmer, probbaly about -10C or so. Picked me up at the airport was Mikhail, an employee of Vicaar, the outfitter for the expedition. We introduced ourselves and the next question I asked was how many people are on this trip. He wasn't so sure but so far it is about 12. That is crowded! However, he said there are some unconfirmed so they only the count early next week. And if needed they will split us into two groups. I am one of the earlier people to show up in Longyearbyen for this trip. Mikhail also said Victor, the guy who runs the company are not around. He's in the base camp. He will be back tonight and hopefully I will get to meet him tomorrow.

I was starving when I arrived. In fact I was hungry since last night. My stomach was bothering me that I couldn't sleep at all (plus the jet lag and the long sleep in the business cabin of the previous flight - damn business class to screw up my sleep :)). I was hungry that this morning at the hostel I shoveled three big slices of bread, lots of meat and an egg plus fruit for breakfast. I almost missed my flight. By the time I got to the airport, the checkin was closed. I had to beg the airline ground staff at the check in counter to let me check in. At first they wouln't but then they found out the flight was delayed for 20 mins. Lucky me. So as soon as I checked in the hostel in Longyearbyen, I went to the grocery store right away to grap some protein and something for a hot dish. I ended up buying beef, pasta and pasta souce. A quick meal but healthy and loads of carb which I need.

Food prices in Norway are outrageous. I paid 27 kroners (approx $5.5) for a hal a litter of Pepsi bottle. And guess what? Water is not free in flight! I don't know if they expect people to dehydrate themselves to dead on a 4 hour flight. I had to pay 4 bucks for a bottle of water. And I remember to pay $16 for a McD's meal 3 years ago in Oslo.

Food is not the only thing that is expensive. Last night I arrived at Oslo late and I did not want to walk around finding the hostel. I jumped on a taxi. I know the distance is very short from the Sentralstajon (Central Station) to the Perminalen Hotel, and expect to pay maybe $10 at most. Soon as I got inside the cab, the meter showed 55 kroners ($11). When I got to the hotel, I paid 127 kroners (~$25) for 1.1 km of taxi ride. Gotta be the most expensive 1.1 km I ever paid.

The following are the newest photos of Longyearbyen. I snapped them on the way to the grocery store. Enjoy.

My bed for the next several days

A school (not sure what - could be elementary)

One of the main transportation

Perfect Flight

The flight from SFO to Oslo was so smooth. All the connections including bus to the the hostel were seamless. Adding to that is the service in business class. This is my first time in business class on a long trip. I slept 7 hours on a near flat bed/seat. The seat even has massage function. Very sweet. When I woke up, the flight attentdant was so nice to ask how my sleep was. It was good obviously :). Orginally I only wanted the economy class because I wanted to save the miles accrued over the years, but they only have the business class for 20,000 more point. What the heck, i need to treat myself nice before going thru the torture :).

I'm leaving for Longyearbyen tmr morning.

Food for the Expedition

Can you imagine eating the same food as listed below for the whole week?

Breakfast:

• Muesli ( oat meal )
• Sugar
• Butter
• Milk powder
• Salami/ Speck
• Biscuits / bread
• Tea or Coffee

Lunch:

• Mixed nuts and fruit
• Chocolate
• Energetic drink
• Cheese

Dinner:

• Dry soup
• Mashed potatoes/rice
• Olive oil
• Bacon
• Biscuit / bread
• Butter
• Herb tea
• Sugar
• Spices

That's the stuff I am going to have on the trip. Yuk.

I decided to bring some of my own, hopefully they'll let me bring them, or at least trade with what they provide:

• Beef jerky (kho bo)
• Freeze dried food: Kung pao chicken rice, Mexican chili, Indian curry and teriyaki beef rice
• Dry shredded pork (cha bong) (half homemade (my mom gave me some) and half I bought from a store)
• Potato chips
• Power bar and trail mix bars
• Instant noodles

If they dont let me bring these, I'll have to smuggle some of them in my jacket :)