6/6/24
Thurs: Don’t think I slept well last night either because I woke up three times
at 2+, 4+ and 7+am. Had a weird dream of someone performing how he cut pages in
a book to form the words “佛学刻人心”…
impressive.
Had
heavy breakfast at 8.30am since it will be a long drive towards the Southeast
later. With road 1 towards the East opened this morning, we discussed the
possibility of sticking to the plan or going back towards Reykjavik instead. We
needed to consider many factors like road conditions (wet snow, snow, wind and
rain etc), places to go, time taken, petrol and the need to re-book accommodations
and the change in the timing of the activities if we went Westward. After a serious
discussion, Potato decided he was confident of driving through the snowy
conditions.
We
set off at 9.30am and the strong wind combined with snow made visibility bad at
times, but the wind was already milder today. We passed through Myvatn area
again and it was a different sight seeing the entire area covered in snow
today. *it certainly did not look like Summer… quite magical in some ways~* Saw
many places filled with snow inland. While on the way, we saw one car that
veered to the right and fell out of the path, but think the humans were fine because
another car went to check on them. Also passed the huge snow plough truck
clearing snow but damn the smell the vehicle left behind was bad.
The
weather looked better and finally a “glimpse” of “real summer” as we were near
the East. After a four-hour drive, Potato stopped to refuel petrol (5000 ISK) and
we ate hotdog (499 ISK), in which the raw and fried onion bits were their
signature I think.
Saw
calves wandering around as we drove towards Eggin í Gleðivík in Djupivogur.
Came across a really beautiful natural landscape at one point so we got down
the car to take photos but crap, the wind was crazy! We could literally be blown
off if we stood too near the edge. *Well, I deserved it for not wearing down
jacket lol.*
After
reaching Djupivogur at 3.30pm, we had leftovers from last night as lunch since
there was nothing that caught our eyes in the café there. Eggin í Gleðivík was
a group of 34 sculptured eggs done by visual artist Sigurour Guomundsson, each
to represent a species of bird in Iceland.
Stopped
at a random lookout point. Saw a few cars and bus stopped by the road side for
reindeers. We then drove up to the top of the Almannaskarð Pass to take in some
nice views at 4pm.
Reached
Kaffi Hornid at Hofn for dinner at 5.30pm. It was a town known for their langoustine.
We ordered the lobster (langoustine) pasta and reindeer burger (7600 ISK,
S$74.36). The langoustine was plump and nice, clearly the “star” of the dish
but the penne had wok hei smell, was rather bland and got a bit bitter towards
the end though. The reindeer burger was nice overall.Passed
by Eskey at 7+pm and we walked over to Eskey viewpoint to take photos. *The
sight of large mass of glaciers was wow!* Only stayed there for 10 minutes
because it was cold and wind chill was not helping.
Got
to Hotel Smyrlabjörg at 7.30pm. It was a very old, European-style hotel, with viking
and sheeps around. Decided to try their Vatnajokull beer (1200 ISK, S$11.78),
brewed with local artic thyme and heather that grows in the black sand during
the short summer, at 8.30pm. It was okay, I guess.
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