Iceland : Land of Fire and Ice.

Sitting just below the Arctic Circle just above the mid Atlantic Ridge that marks the junction of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, Iceland is home to some 30 active volcanoes, spouting geysers, thermal springs and frequent earthquakes. The seismic landscape is dotted with thunderous waterfalls, towering sea cliffs, vast inland glaciers and iceberg strewn beaches from 13 major glaciers that cover 11% of Iceland's surface. Little wonder it is called the Land of Fire and Ice.

The early settlers of Iceland were small lords and kings fleeing the tyranny of Harald the Fairhaired of Norway in the 9th Century. Harald had wanted to unify Norway under one king, namely himself. Afraid that their enemies might pursue them, the settlers had sent deceptive words back to Norway that their island is uninhabitable, being full of Ice, an Ice Land. But another island, a bigger and more distant and indeed covered with ice was "inhabitable" green land. And so, the green land came to be called Iceland while the larger icy land became Greenland.

The other peculiarity of  Iceland is the name of the inhabitants. The male would have their names end in ...son and female names would end in ...dottir. They actually refers to son of, or daughter of, much like the Indian names. So Helguson is son of Helga and Tinna Olafsdottir is daughter of Olafs. There is just the father's name but no family name.

Our flight from Edinburgh took two and a half hours. We landed on time and as arranged, Ah Teck and Susan arrived half an hour after us. We met at the scheduled spot at the car rental area.

In the transit bus after disembarking from our Wow airline.

Wow is a low cost carrier plying in Europe and the United States.

At the airport terminal.

Waiting for our bags at the carousel.

Activating our phone lines while waiting.

The clearance was smooth and in no time we are at the car rental section.

This is where we are to meet up with Kim Teck and Susan.

In less than half an hour, they appeared, looking fresh even after flying over from Ireland.

We waited for a shuttle to take us to Thrifty Car Rental depot.

And here we are getting the paper work done.

And posted at the notice board is this sign that advise us not to be on the road tomorrow because of extreme strong wind speed of 125 to 145 km per hour with heavy rain. That got us worried and we tried to cancel our room bookings at Vik but to no avail due to the non refund clause. 

We were given another notice on careful driving in Iceland.

After picking up our car, we headed straight for Nordurey Hotel, Reykjavik. It's a small but highly efficient hotel with only a staff at the reception. We were not aware, but before arrival, they had email us the code to enter the hotel reception and the same code to our room. It is a clean and comfortable small hotel and expensive.

After checking in, we congregate at the dining hall of the hotel and help ourselves to the coffee that was provided. After further discussion with the hotel reception, we decided to leave Reykjavik early at 6.00 am the next day. The strong wind and rain is not expected to hit the South Iceland until 9.00 am. By that time, we should have safely arrive Vik. That is our only option.

After some rest, we drove into the city center to explore.

We did not know it then, but this is not the active part of the city.

We nevertheless walked around and pick up some groceries at the Convenient Store. Things are pretty expensive here. The small plastic bag of stuff costs us close to RM400.00 !

The buildings here are different so we have a look around.

Kim Teck and Susan are glad to have group up with us in this leg of the journey.

There are not many people out at this time.

It is cold at Reykjavik with temperature at 6 degree.

Cheong at the souvenir shop. 

Having a feel of a distinctly different place.

Our smiles in a country that nearly went under 10 years ago.

Iceland was technically bankrupt when three local banks ramp up foreign debt is excess of 50 Billion Euro and defaulted. Iceland GDP was only 8.5 Billion Euro. But that is water under the bridge now.

This is our rented car, and it cost a bomb to rent it including zero excess insurance.

We drove over to a nice looking restaurant called Grillhusid.

Inside is the unmistakable feel of an American Bistro with Rock and Roll paraphernalia adorning the walls.

The food is good and so is the service. The waitress took this photo for us with full enthusiasm.

The Selfie king doing his thing.

The bar section where customers can come just to drink.

It's a cold day and by the time we got back to our hotel, we had an early night as we have to leave early next morning.

Vik.

We had to forgo breakfast that was provided as we were already on the road 10 mins before 6.00 am.

It was drizzling slightly when we set out and this continued all the way during the two and half hour on the road. At certain stretch, we could feel the wind blowing strongly, but those are sporadic.

The journey should take us two and a half hours, but driving under this condition, we kept it to 90 kmph to be in control of the car.  

From the main road at Skogafoss, we could see this striking waterfall.

We had plenty of time, so we turn in and head towards the fall.

And there it is, as majestic as can be,

It was drizzling, so we did not step out from the car.

After admiring the beauty, we headed back to the main road and continue our journey.

As we approached Vik, we saw this solitary chapel like in the middle of nowhere..

It was 9.00 am when we reach our cottage. As we got into the house, we realised that the earlier tenant had probably vacated not long and the house was not yet cleaned. 

I text the host to let her know that I am already in the house and if I could stay in early as it was wet and cold outside.

She was kind enough to allow us but requested us to go somewhere for lunch at 11.30 am to allow the cleaners to do their work.

That we did and we drove over to a restaurant on the hill behind where our cottage is.

The restaurant is called Sudur Vik, and is well recommended online.

The restaurant is a fusion of Thai Western food and they did whipped some very unique dish.

Nice sandwich

 Pizza is the easiest to eat when you are hungry.

 Appertising just to look at it. In Iceland, you can't go wrong if you order fish, any fish.

I ordered this Thai fusion curry and is certainly a very good creation. Tasty.

Susan is excited at every place.

It was raining the whole day and the wind blew really strong at times. Aside from our trip to the Convenient store to purchase more groceries, we stayed indoor the whole day.

In the evening, we prepare our own simple dinner.

In cold weather, anything hot is satisfying. You can see we ate to the last bit.

Despite the wind and rain, the temperature is higher than yesterday.
We retired to bed early as we had a long uneventful day due to adverse weather condition.

Jokulsarlon.

The weather threw our plan off a bit yesterday, but the today,  we woke up to beautiful nice weather  and is certainly looking forward to exploring the road journey to Jokulsarlon.

The forecast is good weather the whole day.

The simple hot homemade meal taste so wonderful in cold weather.

Outside our cottage and our rented MPV.

The neighbour's cottage has the same design which looks pretty.

That's the name of our cottage, Engigardur.

We are all ready for our next leg of road journey.

Just half an hour into our drive, we stopped by a vast area of light vegetation to have a feel of the environment. It's a scenic stop and the area is filled with stunted vegetation.

We decided to have some fund with our iphone.

Well, this was after two takes and we get double image.

Then we decided to have some fun on the largely deserted road.

Whao ! This is fun.

It is infectious. Three of us decided to go airborne together.

Our journey continues.

Then from the car, we started to see some stunning landscape.

At each bend, you start seeing different landscape.

Yes, coming down from the car to admire and taking a picture is mandatory.

The bare landscape is just out of this world.

What makes it stunning is the absence of crowd that very often mar the beauty.

Then we came upon another fantastic vista surrounding a farm.

This is living in paradise.

We were rewarded to endless beauty of nature.

Even in nothingness, there is beauty.

Our first stopover was at Fjallsarlon. There is only one building that serves refreshment. This is where boat tours are conducted to the glacier lagoon and hikes to Ice Caves.

We walked to the back to where the lake glacier is and marveled at the scene.

How not to get excited with this glacier so closed.

Oh yes, it was all conservative pose at the beginning.

Then Cheong remembered the jump earlier.

Okay, slowly warming up.

The cool Magnificent Five Pose.

Then we get crazy.
We left Fjallsarlon and continued our journey.

About 10 minutes ahead is the fame Glacier Lagoon.

Here, big chunky ice floats down the river to the sea from the glacier, all st sea level.

Up close and personal at the glaciers.

Here is where, Chiap Chan did his memorable jump.

Me, I too can't resist.

Getting yourself airborne against the fantastic backdrop adds to the holiday fun.

Susan and Kim Teck enjoying the journey with us.

This place is god gift to man. I'm not sure if there are any other place in this world where one need not have go up any mountain to see a glacier.

It is all there at sea level and ice blocks actually floats down the river to the sea right in front of you.

Happy faces in nice environment.

Have to feel it.

Then behave like a kid and have fun.

Take as many pictures as possible. Do not regret you did not take enough.

A group photo is mandatory, however boring the pose.

But then again, you can always make it fun. We just could not stop jumping.

That's as far as we go.

And we began heading back towards Vik. The same scenery seen from the opposite side.

It still grab our attention.

We are back at Vik.

At the Supermarket where we got some groceries.

Behind the building, there is a stunning landscape out in the sea. That is the Troll Fingers Rock just off the famous Black sand beach in the distance.

From where we were, there are some chalets against the rocky mountain. It's a fantastic view with good geomancy, back protected by mountain and front facing the sea.

At the background is the same solitary chapel high on the hill.

I took a picture with the unique sea rocks at the back.

We drove up the hill to the chapel for some more photos.

From the vantage point , you could see almost the entire Vik village situated between the mountain and the sea.

At night, the temperature dropped to to five, and it was a night with cloud covering. Nevertheless, at late night, we drove out towards the Black Sand Beach area where there is very little light in the hope of catching the Aurora Borealis in action. It was not meant to be and as was forecasted, the thick cloud cover blocks all our chances of sighting it. We call it a night and hit the sack, contented with the day's activity.

The Golden Circle.
Our two night stay at Vik was to explore the sights at the South Eastern corner of Iceland. The plan was only to go as far as the Glacier Lagoon at Jokulsarlon.

We now head back towards Reykjavik and will connect to the Golden Circle route for some more sightseeing.

  Along the way, we began to see what we had missed when we came pass here in the dark at the early morning hours two days earlier. We certainly did not see this Batman-like mountain.

 The landscape at this leg may not be as stunning but is still outstanding.

 Chiap Chan continue to drive us in this "moonscape" place.

The rest relaxes and watch the view like in National Geographic documentary.

This table top mountain is rather unique.

 The small settlement as we passes by.

 Some offer lodgings for tourists who likes the solitude against bare rugged mountains.

 It never ends.

 Every 15 minutes or so, some unique landscape came into view.

 On certain stretches, the straight road goes as far as the eye can see.

At Skogafoss, we turn off the main road and return to the waterfall that we stopped by briefly in the rain on the way to Vik.

At 25 meters wide, this is one of the largest waterfall in Iceland.

The height of the fall is 60 meters from the Skoga River.

 There is a staircase to climb to the top, but we skip that and spend some time taking photos of one of the most elegant waterfall. 

 We continue driving after spending sometime at the fall.

 Hays are plastic wrapped in Iceland so that they stay dry for long periods.

It is not uncommon to see different colours of wrapping like black, white or even pink.

 The contrast between foreground and background that sandwich the fog in this stretched makes it magical.

 We were headed towards Haifoss along this secondary road off the Ring Road.

 Out of the blues, our car rolled onto an unpaved road. There was no signage to indicate so and we are not sure how far it goes.

 We continued driving at a very slow speed of 10 Kmph. Our fear is this kind of road could cause a flat tyre and we do not want to risk it. Our MPV is not equip a spare tyre and we are aware of that.

 The unpaved road is about 10 KM and it took us an hour to drive that stretch.
As we were headed towards Haifoss, we came across another unpaved road and we decided to give that waterfall a miss. It's preferable to use a 4WD when driving in Iceland.

Gullfoss; The Golden Fall
Gullfoss is just a short distance from Haifoss, and we took the road straight to Gullfoss.

 Gullfoss Waterfall is spectacular as the water plummets in two stages against rugged canyon with walls up to 60 meters high.

 The water that flows on the Hvita River is fed from Langjokull, Iceland's second biggest glacier.

Susan could not resist having her photo taken here.

 No waterfall in Europe can match Gullfoss. In terms of fury and wildness, it outdoes the Niagara Falls. Thousands of unharnessed horsepower flows into the gorge year in and year out.

 The tracks are routed for you to come up close and personal with the fall.

 You can feel the power of nature when you come up that close.

A view from the top.

 The raging water leaves you in awe.

The rainbow and evening hues "colour" the water gold, and that gives it the name Gullfoss, The Golden Fall.

 The rainbow always appear due to the rising mist against the sun.

 There were attempts to harnessed electricity privately before it was sold to the government. It is designated as a nature reserve in 1979 and permanently protect the waterfall for the public to enjoy the unique area.

 After enjoying the falls, we walked back up to the top to meet the other three guys who did not come down. At the tourist shop, I came across this souvenir. Icelanders believe in Elves!

 As we were leaving, this huge 4WD caught our attention.

It is cold the whole day.

 We continue our journey to the next attraction, the Geysirs.

Geysir; a geothermal wonderland.

The Geysirs is just 10 km from Gullfoss.

 The Haukadalur valley is an active geothermal area.

Waiting for the boiling water to shoot.

 This popular geyser spot shoots as high as 40 meters every 10 minutes or so.

 The word Geyser came from Iceland word "geysa", meaning gush.

Satisfied that we've seen enough, we soon move on.

 As we drove out the valley, we could see many steaming smoke coming out from the ground. This valley is indeed a hotspot for geothermal activity.

Reykjavik. 
Our plan was to explore the city for the next couple of days before leaving.

This time, we had a spacious apartment with two rooms, living and dining hall. Everything is good except the water that flows from the pipe smells like rotten eggs. The geothermal sulphuric water from underground is mixed with cold water to get rid of the oxygen. This is to prevent corrosion of pipes and radiators in homes resulting in that stink. Icelandic people smells it everyday that they do not notice any difference!

We had read about the Naughty Rabbits in WOW's Inflight magazine and had to check out that pub.

It is a nice and cosy sports bar with friendly patrons.

The Ryder Cup was playing in France and we watched the delayed telecast here.

Yes, it is the place we would recommend, for beers and other drinks.

Iceland most famous architecture is The Hallgrimskirkja Cathedral. We did not go inside, but from the outside, it does look unique. Apparently, it took 41 years to construct!

Queuing up for the most famous hotdog in Iceland.

Here we are at Baejarins Beztu, selling that famous hotdog!

Cheong and I waited while the other two went over to queue.

The hotdogs are lamb based with pork and beef and served with ketchup.

As in all hungry wolves, we over ordered, three dogs per person!

Can't wait to sink our teeth into it. The first bun tasted good. The second one still has that taste. The third one was just shoving it down the throat. Next time, don't allow any hungry person do the ordering.

In Reykjavik, one thing that you'll notice are their pretty colourful buildings, be it retail shops or houses. I could not help but took as many pictures as I can. These are all taken while we explored the city.

The Cathedral beckons.

One more take to satisfy ourselves.

Chiap Chan wants a unique pose for a unique building.

This Vietnamese Restaurant is below ground, the entry is the opening at the green side boarding.

Inside is cosy and warm.

We like the food here.

It is a good place for Asian food.

We were drinking at Bravo while waiting for Chiap Chan to meet us here.

And here he is.

The next day, we had an afternoon flight to catch.

There is some time after breakfast and drove to nearby Seltjarnarnes

The lighthouse at Grotta Island.

We went to the headland where there is a golf course, GolfKlubber  Seltjarnarnes.

The blistering wind was blowing cold that puts them in a huddle.

At the tip of the headland.

 Yes, a picture at the golf club is mandatory even when not playing.

Annika Sorenstam played here just four months ago.

I posted the above sequence in FB entitled " Flying to London today".

And by afternoon, we were at Reykjavik International Airport catching our flight to London.

 Our six days in Iceland had been adventurous, from facing strong winds that threaten to derail our plan to finding ourselves driving on unpaved roads. But we did what we came to see except that Northern Light which evaded us. While we were at Vik, it was visible at Reykjavik, and when we return to Reykjavik, it was visible at Vik!
But we were glad to have come here to this moonscape place that has some of the most stunning vista on earth. It is also not everyday one can come so close to the ice blocks, feeling it, and seeing it float down the river from the glacier towards the sea. We also got close to that raging river at Gullfoss and the steaming hot geysers shooting skywards up to 60 meters. The Island is also a Ring of Fire where there are many active volcanoes.
Iceland is truly a Land of Fire and Ice.