Backdate: Norway, Sweden, Finland Nov - Dec 2025 Day 9

5/12/25 Fri: Packed up and left for breakfast at 7.15am. I really like the well-lit stairs with the snow! There was no lingonberry this morning but it’s okay~  *still felt floaty during breakfast~ think PPPD has been triggered since the day I got anxiety trigger after cup noodle's dinner* 

Left at 8am and we drove to Finland, which took us about an hour on the bus. Had to take a short walk in and we saw the Finnish horses! Meet Lorano~ the 8YO female Finnish horse who’s doing "on-job-training" behind the sleigh that day~

We had Topas leading us on the two-minute leisurely horse sleigh ride at about 11.30am. The feel was there but it was just very short lol. Everyone esle was gathered in the tent and warmed themselves up before the fire. We had sausages, hot cinnamon ginger drink and Potato helped barbequed marshmallows for us too~ fulfilling his “husband duty” lol.

30sLGEgang and some members were doing the snow sleds for kids outside. I think it was "no kick for Potato" because he looked so calm all the way down the slope lol. I, on the other hand, skidded sideways on my first ride down and Anthony panicked for a bit lol. Had a second try and sped down haha.

the coach then drove us for some Chinese lunch at Xiang Long restaurant at 1pm. Eight-course woohoo~

Six of us choped a table together. I thought the ABC soup was nice and with that tinge of ginger. The sweet and sour pork was sweet but not bad. The omelette and fried wingswere nice too. Long beans were yummy and the salmon too. Just not a fan of lettuce. Concluded with oranges. I think we have been deprived of good Chinese food for a while now haha.

Our next destination was the Santa Claus village, and we got there at 2.15pm. *Random Potato drawing a heart on someone’s car lol~* 

Kee said one has to queue for very long to take photos with Santa Claus normally and pay for it, but because LGE has arrangments with them, we could skip the queue and get a free group photo!

It's a small area, and there was only a few spots we could take free photos inside. Any shots of him were not allowed and cost money tsk.

We were given time to wander inside till 5pm. PotaTOHs took photos at random spots and also one (a Japanese tourist lady helped us with those two shots) which signified we crossed the Arctic Circle. We even received a certificate for that haha.

Took a random walk in one of the touristy buildings, and saw reindeer rides but the queue was damn long.

There was nothing much because everything cost money, so we ended up inside a crowded bar called Three Elves where he drank dark lager for Euro 8.5. He said it was not bad.

Just before we left, 30sLGEgang decided to write postcards for each couple, which we would receive by the end of December!

Arrived at one of our more anticipated stays on the trip~ Halo Igloos at 6pm and we've got cabin 21 haha! The private jacuzzi outside was filled with thick layer of snow, but the room was warm. The bed fur was very soft~ There was also a sauna in every igloo too. We tried it but we did not heat it up to the point we would perspire madly.

Desserts were self-serviced at their restaurant. The mains, the salted reindeer, was gamey but okay~ pickled greens a bit too much for me though.

Potato shoved away some ice in case we stepped onto them too much with our bare feet later. Had to shower, warm ourselves up in the sauna before going out to go into the jacuzzi at 10+pm. It was cold but atmospheric temperature was probably hovering up and down 0 degrees Celcius, but we felt shiok in the 38 degrees celcius water! There's the quiet forest behind us.

We only soaked for 15mins and it was snowing a bit as we did.

There's a nice glass roof that can be heated up and for aurora viewing, but it was still cloudy, but this stay was the best one among all, albeit with a few mehs in the room.