Iceland Day 5

Day 5! After waking up early at the Keldunes cottage, we stopped by the gas station/diner where we had a hearty breakfast. Right as we left, we passed a couple looking for a ride. They looked nice enough so we stopped the car and asked them which way they were going, to which they replied Dettifoss. We were passing Dettifoss again so we cleared out the back seat and told them to get in. The guy was from France and his girlfriend was from the Czech Republic, they met studying landscape architecture in Sweden. They were working at Jorkulsarlon during the summer! We talked about the state of looking for jobs out of college, our personal histories and I mentioned that I lived in Sri Lanka for 13 years and the girl shouted that she was going to Sri Lanka in January, so that was pretty cool. Myvatn was on our list but they told us to definitely go. Myvatn is named so because the little bugs that fly around there are called my (pronounced me). They also told us to skip the West Fjords because of time and go to Snaefellsnes peninsula so that we can make the most of our trip.

We dropped them off at Dettifoss and got to Myvatn about an hour later. The first place we stopped at was another sulphur field, Hvenir.

There were also these rock piles that had a lot of steam coming out of them. They were pretty hot!

Recommended by the hitchhikers, whose names I wish I had gotten, we stopped at the nature baths. The water is slimy, but you're wading into a lot of minerals and it's nice and warm. The hitchhikers said this is basically what the blue lagoon is like, except less expensive and smaller, with less people. I felt as though I had a cold coming and my body was aching from the 2 hour kayak, and this bath made me feel good as new!

Afterwards, we departed for Akureyri, the capital of the North. 

We passed by a group of three leading a group of horses somewhere, right next to a waterfall. So we had to stop. And later, we saw the horses again!

We drove to Dalvik first, north of Akureyri, in hopes of catching the fish festival, but unfortunately, I was too tired on the way and took a nap so we missed it. Oh well, maybe next time. We drove back to Akureyri. I like it better than Reykjavik. It's quirkier, it feels more modern, but quaint at the same time. We decided to eat two dinners, first at Hamborgarafabrikkan (Hamburger Factory), which was delicious, and then at Rub23. We had a break in between of course. 

We stopped at this cozy cafe called Blaa Kannan to recharge and have some Daim Merengue, which was delicious as usual. Nothing is too sweet in Iceland, it's like they never add sugar and rely on the natural sugar in food.

We stopped at this other juice bar to have a smoothie, which again, was not sweet, but healthy-tasting. Of course, you can't go anywhere in Iceland without seeing a little bit of graffiti. 

Rub23 was a nice, cozy restaurant. We had fish and you can choose the seasoning you want them to rub into the raw product before they cook it, hence the name Rub23.

We left Akureyri that night and drove for 2 and a half hours toward the Snaefellsnes peninsula, before we stopped the car and fell asleep for a little bit.

Iceland Day 3

So much for updating on the road, huh? I'm sitting back in my room in New Jersey, looking at pictures from the days I haven't written about yet. It hasn't even been a day, but I'm reminiscing about sitting high in the mountains overlooking the fjord in Seydisfjordur, grabbing a hot cappuccino at Blàa Kannan in Akureyri and shouting "sheep," every time we saw one. I miss Iceland already, with it's homely atmosphere, good food and incredibly nice people. Anyway, while I wallow away in my longing to go back, follow the rest of Ms. Chan and I's trip through pictures.

At the end of day 2, we were sleeping in our car, next to a waterfall. Day 3 starts with us waking up early to be one of the first few that morning to walk up to see the waterfall. Here's Ms. Chan at the base of Skógafoss.

I miss seeing sheep littering the landscape. They're so cute!

There were a lot of campers when we got there late at night. We didn't have a tent. but a lot of people slept in their cars, like we did.

You can climb a pretty steep cliff to the right of the falls to go to the top. At the top, if you look past the falls, you can see the base of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull in the distance.

Afterwards, not too far away is a plane crash site, Sólheimasandur. It was a bit of an adventure to get there, since we had to get our 2x4 off the road and drive a few miles out on the black sands beach. We had to be careful so as to not scratch up the rental car. It's definitely worth it. Though people on board this plane survived the crash, you can't help feel as though the plane is haunted. The heavy wind continues to make the scraps of metal, hanging from the husk of the plane, sing for those travelers that drive out seeking it.

And not too far from the crash site, fortunately, is Dyrhólaey. It's a small peninsula that is the home of a lot, and I mean a lot, of puffins, which if I haven't already mentioned, is delicious.

We were running low of snacks at this point and it was getting close to lunch. We were going to be passing through a small town so we decided to find a place to eat. Vik, which means bay (Reykjavik = smokey bay), is a beautiful little town on the southern coast of Iceland. I wish we had more time to explore it, but we only had time to stop at a bed and breakfast for food, and fill up on gas.

We stopped at this spot alongside the Ring Road to walk around and climb these porous rocks.

Our next destination, which was about an hour or two away from Vik, was Fjaðrárgljúfur. It was a really beautiful canyon, and instead of going to recommended path above the canyon, we decided to go through it. We didn't go too far, since we would have been in knee-high water, but we settled at a cozy spot and skipped stones across the not-so-calm- river.

This was the grassy area surrounding the entrance of the canyon.

We had passed a restaurant on the way to the canyon, so we decided to stop at it when we were heading out. All the food was locally-grown at the nearby farm. It was super delicious!

Next stop: Skaftafell at the Vatnajokull National Park. Above is a piece of bridge, left as a monument to when the old bridge was swept away after a volcanic eruption.

Unfortunately, when we got to Skaftafell, the glacier tours were over and there was only a hiking trail to do. We decided to go take a closer look at some of the glaciers. You need a guide and the right gear to actually go walk on them.

We hurried towards Jökulsárlón, a glacier lake about an hour away. Below is the only seal we saw on the trip!

Jökulsárlón is much colder than other areas, but it's really beautiful. The lake is littered with slow-moving icebergs, with snow-capped mountains in the background. We did a tour on an amphibian vehicle and got to move around the lake and even take a 1000-year old piece of ice for ourselves. The bluer the iceberg, the more recently it surfaced from underwater. The black streaks are dirt flowing through the wind from great or small distances.

Ridiculously photogenic tour assistant.

And so ended our night. Well, not exactly. Our next destination was Seydisfjordur, but that was about 5 hours away. We ate at a restaurant on the way (I had langoustine pizza, which was great) and the owner helped us find lodging at a hostel in Hofn, 30 minutes away. By the way, if you're ever in Iceland and need to know if you can find lodging in the area, just ask store owners. Apparently most of them know the numbers for nearby hostels and hotels and can find out if they have available rooms for you, which is pretty neat.

Iceland Day 2

Things have been a little hectic, being on the road and all. Right now we're holed up high in the mountains in Seydisfjordur at a coffee shop. Our data has also been spotty, otherwise we'd have updated much quicker. Unfortunately that means more photos to sift through, but no worries, below are photos from day 2 of our trip. We left Reykjavik a little late, around 10 a.m. and headed straight to Reykjanesfolkvangur, a national park. We climbed a tiny hill, stopped at a lake, saw horses, walked through a mud spots and sulfurous hot springs (Seltun) before we headed towards the town of Selfoss.

The odor from these mud spots are vomit-inducing but it's still really awesome to see up close.

Near this sulfur field in Seltun, we ate a small breakfast at a food truck. I had a ham and cheese sandwich with a potato salad, and Ms. Chan had a really delicious vegetable soup. We can't stress enough how nice people are here, and you'll read more about that in upcoming posts. The owners of the food truck, a nice old lady and her husband, gave us directions to Selfoss as our GPS wasn't working.

Selfoss was mostly a pit stop. We got gas and some snacks at a gas station and continued towards Solheimar eco-village. The entire village is sustainably-driven. We stopped at the coffee shop (below), where we were served by a half-Japanese and half-Filipino woman, who said she left Japan to follow and live with her husband.

We left Solheimar and headed to Geysir.

Walking towards the Geysir.

I have more photos and a video, which I'll probably update later. This Geysir erupted every 10 minutes or so.

Gulfoss waterfall was 10 minutes away. Here are a few pics of the scenery on the way!

Gulfoss!

After that we drove for quite a while to our next destination, Skogafoss. We passed the famous Eyjafjallajokull, a volcano that last erupted in 2010.

We were out of food and it was nearing midnight. We were hopeful we'd find something but everything was closed (even though it was still nearly bright as day outside). We stopped at this inn and even though the restaurant was closed, the chef, who was about to leave, brought us soup and bread, both of which were delicious. We thanked them and headed to Skogafoss, where we slept in the car for a few hours until daybreak.

We're on day 4 currently, but day 3 will be coming soon! We're about to go kayaking along the fjord.

Outskirts of Ipoh

Ipoh is surrounded by beautiful limestone caves and is about an hour drive from Teluk Intan, where we were spending a few days. We first stopped at Kellie's Castle, the ruined mansion of a Scottish planter. Then we traveled to a cave temple near the city. We were only able to take a look at one as the other temples had closed by then.