Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by wlcling

Tromsø, Norway

wlcling — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:43:17 +0800

Just to share about this small little town. I think it's a very special holiday destination but you need to save up a little first!

I'm posting this from Tromsø itself, so i haven't uploaded my own pictures yet! Photography is my hobby, and the views here are definitely not disappointing!

Special things to mention about this place

Aurora Borealis
Wiki:- Tromsø is in the middle of the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) zone, and is in fact one of the best places in the world to observe this phenomenon. Because of the planet's rotation, Tromsø moves into the aurora zone around 6 pm, and moves out again around midnight. Due to the light, no aurora is visible between late April and mid August.

Aurora Borealis(not my image)

Midnight Sun & Polar Nights
From mid May to mid July, you have the midnight sun where the sun shines almost for 24 hours.
From mid Nov to mid Jan, you have the polar nights where during the day, it is dark. It is not completely dark so the lights and color in the sky is supposed to be amazing!

Polar Night (not my image)

Snowfall
There is a lot of snow in Tromsø! According to records, there was once 240cm of snow! Strangely enough, this place isn't as cold as people think. The average winter temperature is only −4 °C. During winter, there are skiing activities, dog-sledding, ice-fishing, etc...

Thick Snow(not my image)

Norwegian food
I'm not too sure what the specialty or delicacy of norway is like, but in Tromsø, you will be able to find some special items:-
a) whale steak(usually smoked and served with dressing, it looks like beef, tastes like beef... hmmm)
b) reindeer meat (prepared like steak, meat is somewhat deer-rish but its very soft.)
c) Seal lasagne (never tasted this. is said to be a little strong tasting, so i dont dare to try )
d) The main variety of fish served here is stock fish, halibut, artic char, salmon. They are amazingly delicious

Getting here
I flew from Singapore to Oslo, before taking the local budget airlines from Oslo to Tromsø. Total return flight fare per person from Singapore to Oslo using KLM (Dutch) Airlines is only about SGD1,200. The return flight from Oslo to Tromsø is about SGD250. Even if you're flying from Malaysia, it'll probably be cheaper to fly from MY to OSLO and then OSLO to TROMSØ instead of direct MY to TROMSØ.

Getting around
Tromsø is a small town, so you can get around pretty well on foot. If you want to explore outside Tromso, you can take the bus to Lyngseidet, where you can see the Lyngen Alps, or take a catamaran to surrounding towns, and see the amazing fjords on the way.

Accomodation
I chose Ami Hotel, a bed and breakfast hotel. This is probably the cheapest place to stay in. It's around RM200 per pax per night. All the hotels here go by per pax rates instead of per room.

Cost
Norway is just very expensive. I'm thankful i brought some instant noodles!
Burger king here is about RM50 for a set. At a restaurant, be prepared for about RM120-RM150 per serving. The convenience stores sells hotdogs, sausages, bread, etc. So for about RM20-30 here, you can still fill up your stomach pretty decently. Problem is, with the cold weather here, you get hungry really fast...

Well, looking at the costs, you need to plan your trip really well. There are so many other places in the world you can visit with the money, but this is really a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you have questions, please feel free to post them, i'll try my best to answer them

I will put up my own pictures later

Norway, Tromsø

wlcling — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:24:24 +0800

where to go for romantic yet decently affordable getaway?

want to suprise my gf, but run out of ideas... got around 10 days leave dunno where to go but budget not high enough to go europe that side la..

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Last update:-
Well, folks after much thinking, i'm heading over to Tromsø, a small town high up north in Norway. One of those places you'd probably want to visit if you want to view a one-in-a-lifetime experience of viewing the Northern Lights @ Aurora Borealis!

Tromso

Northern Lights

Tromsø also plays host to the midnight sun, where the sun shines through for 24 hours in June.

Where to go? Oversea destinations

wlcling — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:43:21 +0800

Hi guys, any recommendations?

Initially wanted to go Japan (tokyo) for a holiday for 1 week, but kind of expensive i feel...

any cheaper alternatives that you can think of that has:-
a) Shopping & sight-seeing
b) bonus if the weather is cool (as in cooling ) assuming travel around October period

Can strike off bangkok, shanghai, hongkong from recommendations since went b4... thanks!

Wedding dinner or not?

wlcling — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:34:35 +0800

nowadays hold wedding dinner still can earn money or at least break even or not?.. scared will end up lose money that could have gone into other important things leh.

Proposal

wlcling — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:17:11 +0800

wondering if its necessary to "ask permission" from your SO's parents or own parents before proposing?

still stuck on a nice proposal plan too... see pg 2 for my ideas

thks everyone... proposal plan finalized...thks!

Upgrade?

wlcling — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:42:10 +0800

hie guys... just want to get some advice if an upgrade is needed?

bought a 22" inch widescreen LCD & not sure but my gaming experience seems laggier now (when trying out on Crysis although no in-game resolution was changed). Weird? Regardless, i reckon with a bigger monitor, i should aim for higher resolutions in order for things not to get too pixelated?

My current hardware setup is a 3.0Ghz Dual Core, 1gb RAM, and Nvidia Geforce 7600GT(256mb).

Now, i'm considering if i need a Ram upgrade (2gb?) or a graphic card update (i.e, 8800gt) or should i go for both. Also how to check if my board supports ddr2 ram? (sorry... noob in computer these days) ...

Melbourne & Gold Coast

wlcling — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:12:59 +0800

I will be travelling down to Melbourne for 2 days, before heading to Gold Coast for about 5 days, and finally heading over to Sydney for 2 days.

Any suggestions where to stay in Melbourne & Gold Coast? (Accomodation settled for Sydney liao)

Looking for something cheap & value for money... below AUD $80... thanks!!

Aside, what to do in Melbourne ah?

Dual-Sim Phones

wlcling — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:33:31 +0800

hi guys, need help on dual-sim phones.... can you list down the models available for us people to buy? thks tks

Poll - When did you get your first DSLR?

wlcling — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:23:12 +0800

Seems there is a DSLR craze where everyone nowadays seem to own one. Vote vote vote!

Digital Photo Frames

wlcling — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:21:31 +0800

Anyone that can share comments these thingies? I'm talking about electronic photo frames that display slideshows of jpegs or even videos

Something like below...

D3 & D300 Officially Announced!

wlcling — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:12:41 +0800

http://press.nikonusa.com/cameras/digital_slr/

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!

[addedon]August 23, 2007, 12:16 pm[/addedon]UWA for FF!

http://press.nikonusa.com/2007/08/professi...enses_enter.php

and super teles!

http://press.nikonusa.com/2007/08/nikon_ad...w_supertele.php

Tokina 50-135 f/2.8?

wlcling — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 21:53:52 +0800

anyone had experience with either Tokina 50-135 f/2.8 or Sigma 50-150 f/2.8 lens before? Thinking of getting one as I like fast lens and is a compliment to my Tamron 17-50 plus it is much cheaper & lighter than a nikkor 70-200 or 80-200mm f2.8...

wlcling's shOTZZzz

wlcling — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 01:36:04 +0800

Hi guys, enjoy my gallery...
*Click on pics, and select "All sizes" to enlarge.

Thanks to Wing Shing in Hong Kong, set is now more complete...

Macau - pg 1

#Sample a - Landscape shot in Macau

Hong Kong - pg 1

#Sample b - Panning in Hong Kong

Shanghai - pg 2&3

#Sample c - Shanghai's Skyline

Sabah - pg 3

#Sample d - Sunset in Sabah

Bintan - pg 3 & 4 & 5(separate trip)

#Sample e - Sunrise in Bintan

Bangkok - pg 3
#Sample f - Wat Arun at Bangkok - pg 4

Tromso, Norway - pg 4

wlcling's photography

wlcling — Mon, 28 May 2007 23:28:00 +0800

Decided to try salvaging photos through Photoshop. Here's what i did.

End result?

Comments?

The beautiful things around you...

wlcling — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:30:25 +0800

I seriously never liked Pepper. He shits all over the place, is always begging for attention, and makes a great deal of whimper while he's at it... However that aside, I still do care about him and believe the best for him.

This is Pepper. He's quite a young chap with trails of pearly fur

He lives really comfortably in his fine luxurious house... if you look closely, you can even see his house is surrounded by gates to prevent burglars from breaking in... I always believe in providing security to him.

[attachmentid=216876]

To top things off, he also has a skyroof installed on his house. Whenever he feels like relaxing his mind, he just easily extends his body up and enjoys the beautiful scenery that his skyroof provides...

[attachmentid=216880]

His life is all about pure relaxation and bliss. If its not the skyroof, it's the pure bliss of resting on the fine floors of his house.

[attachmentid=216877]

He really is a very lucky chap... His life is full of excitement and fun...

[attachmentid=216866]

[attachmentid=216871]

That's basically the life of Pepper, in fact he knows he has been gifted with such luxurious blessings, that if you look really closely,... you'll be able to make out a smile on his face

[attachmentid=216873]

Good night!

D200 owners pls come in

wlcling — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:07:29 +0800

need your thoughts if i should get a d200.... migrating from a prosumer to DSLR....

Also should i get a 2nd hand or a brand new one? grip or without, etc, etc....

BlacK's Galerie de Photographie

wlcling — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:18:20 +0800

Taken in Sentosa, SG. Pls comment. Did some touch up on Photoshop, mainly contrasts

Fishie
[attachmentid=139519]

Crabbie
[attachmentid=139520]

Jelly
[attachmentid=139521]

Some kid playing his PSP
[attachmentid=139522]

Pink Dolphin Show
[attachmentid=139523]

[attachmentid=139524]

Peacock running around

[attachmentid=139525]

Some waterfall at the Magical Show

[attachmentid=139526]

PMP

wlcling — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 23:12:13 +0800

Hi Guys,

Helping a friend shop for a PMP. Haven't researched PMPs in quite some time. Whats a good one right now.... Without looking at a budget or without being too bulky:-

Able to read most movie formats (AVI/MPEG4, etc, etc...)
Pictures (I guess most can read JPEG anyway)
MP3 (playlist functions, etc)
Storage space, 20gb+ (I guess most is more than 20gb anyway)
Battery life should be reasonable (at least playback more than 2 hrs worth of videos?)

Additional plus would be TV In/Out recording or playback facilities
A big LCD would be good too

Any recommendations?

Masters

wlcling — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:49:01 +0800

Is a master's worth it? Have a degree... as a passport to the working world. but if I were to have a master's, would it be useful?

Also can't be decided on what courses to take...

Nice web comic (Radd)

wlcling — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 12:43:49 +0800

Here you go.. just unzip and enjoy!!! Its very interesting and funny too...

http://home.att.net/~kidradd3/KidRadd.exe