stranded trip
“So I have been away from home since February 23, having gone through two periods of self-quarantine in two different countries. I still feel lucky to have passed through 10 international airports and still be safe, and to have been taken care of by friends in a remote place like the North Pole.”
Since February 23, Hoang Le Giang has traveled through South Korea, Mongolia, Russia, France, and Norway. After two quarantine periods in Mongolia and Norway, he is currently “stuck” in Finnmark, a province in northern Norway, which is also the northernmost part of Europe. Because flights between countries are still restricted, he continues to stay in Norway without a return date.
As a travel blogger, this is not the first time he has made such a long journey away from home - but this trip is completely different, because the whole world is going through a disaster, a crisis both medically and mentally. In the far North, he looks forward to news about Vietnam every day. Every good/bad development of the epidemic becomes good/bad news that directly affects his work and personal life.
“I myself am torn between calmly enjoying my current life, and putting myself in the shoes of the person left behind, having to shoulder the work amidst all the chaos.”
Travel blogger Hoang Le Giang and her "stuck trip" in Finnmark, Norway
miracle at the end of the world
Hoang Le Giang lives with his friends in the mountains, where there is a wooden cabin in the open air to herd reindeer. Every day, he helps his friends herd reindeer and does odd jobs such as transporting goods, chopping wood, fetching water, cooking, etc. People in this area rarely come into contact with each other, each house is 2-3 km apart, so even though the number of infections in Europe and Norway is increasing, this place is still quite safe.
The Sami people living here are inherently calm and optimistic. Facing the pandemic, on the one hand, they still focus their energy on the work at hand, on the other hand, they see this as an opportunity to spend time with relatives and family. As an Asian lost in Europe, Hoang Le Giang has not been discriminated against (because Asia is considered the first place where the Covid-19 virus broke out). On the contrary, his friends all over Norway have offered to help if he needs it. Some even offered to lend him money or a room if he was short. The Norwegian government also allowed him to stay in their country, even though his visa had expired, without any responsibility.
“This pandemic does not care about nationality, social status or wealth; we are all the same species. This is an opportunity for us to look back, to be more sympathetic to each other’s difficulties, to understand the mistakes of others, then life will be warmer.”
Every day, he keeps himself busy with work like a real Sami, while still taking time to film and take pictures. His bed is right next to the window, from which he can look out at the starry sky, sometimes the Northern Lights appear in that sky. Although he has been to Norway, Iceland or Sweden many times to hunt for the myriad forms of the aurora, Hoang Le Giang finally found the most beautiful aurora scene during this chaotic time. Not only did it have overwhelming colors, the aurora sky that night also appeared in the shape of angel wings, which, according to the beliefs of the Norse, are the signs of the wings of the Valkyries (the little goddesses serving the supreme god Odin, according to Norse mythology).
“Morning, noon, afternoon, evening, foggy, night, bright sunshine are always beautiful. Even 4, 5 day snowstorms have a fierce and uncompromising beauty.”
live like a Norwegian
Living in the forest, Hoang Le Giang has become familiar with the natural lifestyle of the Sami people. If he wants to burn firewood, he goes to cut it himself; if he is thirsty, he goes to the river to get water; if he wants to eat fish, he catches it himself; he makes his own bread; he dries his own meat… In the remaining time he spends herding reindeer, he also comes to understand the lives of people at the end of the world. They choose herding reindeer as a lifestyle: loving nature, living in the mountains and forests, not paying attention to the time but watching the weather, spending little time in the city but staying with their herd, protecting and herding them from one pasture to another. Even the reindeer have… become familiar with him. “In the past, filming these animals had to use a drone and a telephoto lens, because they were too shy. Now they have been here so long that they are familiar with their faces, just using a phone,” Hoang Le Giang humorously shared.
Recently, Norwegian TV channel NRK Finmark even made an interview clip about Hoang Le Giang with the description "after a month in Kautokeino (Finnmark), the Vietnamese guy has become a real reindeer herder".
“I love the fresh air here. Every morning I like to open the door to breathe in the cold air, then go make a fire to get water. Each day here passes very quickly, from morning to night, just eating, then going to herd reindeer with friends, then coming home to sleep.
I try to find a way to live a useful life, learn more skills in this polar region. Now I can drive a snowmobile quite well, but sometimes I still get lost or the snowmobile gets stuck in deep snow…”.
“Many people say I have the quarantine life of my dreams. I know I am in a place that I and many others wish they could experience. But every day, I still wait to see if there is a flight home.”
