Midsummer Night

Today is the longest day in Finland. Sort of. In this part of the world, they celebrate midsummer either on 21-Jun or 24-Jun. Traditionally with a big bonfire. Everyone goes off this Thurs to their summer cottages to enjoy summer. And then Finland shuts down in July. I was told there are abt 1mil summer cottages in Finland, for a population of 5mil....

We had wine & bbq dinner by the lake at 9:30pm until 11:30pm and it's still bright daylight now. It feels only like 7pm with a bit of reddish sky. But it doesn't get pitch black dark here. Even at 1 or 2am, it feels like very bright moonlight and one can see the outside surroundings. The body also feels awake. I'm sure if we had Sundown ultra here, it'd be very nice. And of cos they do have such midsummer marathons and ultras in this part of the world at this time. Very lovely. Minus those stupid retarded pesky mozzies that swarm around you.... I swear they can pierce through my jeans!

It was abt 15-16deg. I went for an hour's run at 7:30pm and felt like 5pm. Then traditional finn sauna. Nice and warm. The guys swam in the lake. More like a dip and a few breast strokes, cos the water is quite cold, maybe less than 18deg. Without wetsuit. I didn't want to get everything wet. I mean, our idea of a swim is 30laps right? Haha.... So just steamed myself inside the sauna. But it isn't hot enough. In winter, the really really hot sauna felt so shiok.

Ahhh.... midsummer night. Also known as white night. One of the best times to visit Scandinavia. Maybe we should organize some long trekking trip or something. Not swim bike run for a change. :)