Freeze the light

The water is only zero degrees, so you should be fine,” said our newfound Finnish friend Juha, inside a traditional sauna in a cottage at the town of Levi in Lapland, north of Finland. He gave this information so calmly as he sipped his beer and asked us who was willing to go first. Juha was referring to the lake where we were supposed to jump into.

Minutes before this “briefing,” I made my own inspection of the lake to see how “okay” we were gonna be. It was frozen. Hence, the term “ice swimming.”

Now, I was never one to back out of anything adventurous — in fact, I was always the first in line when it came to roller coasters, truth-or-dare challenges, and other reality show type of situations that my friends liked to impose upon each other. I wasn’t the type to back out, but this time I was having second thoughts. It was really, really cold. I was practically naked, too. And most importantly, who was gonna take the pictures?!

“Post pictures, or it didn’t happen,” we’ve heard that so many times before on social media posts, but the painful truth is, we live in a generation where the participants are as eager to experience things as much as they want to post it on their Twitter, Facebookm and Instagram. Okay, make that WE, as I am guilty as charged.

FACING EXTREME CONDITIONS

Simran Sethi, head of Asia and the Pacific region based in Hong Kong, was scared out of his wits. “What if I die?! My mom wouldn’t know.” I just kept quiet, but just thinking of the ice lake was giving me chills. The Aussie side of our Nokia camp was up for the challenge. This, after shots of Finlandia and endless chatter about countless experiences all over the world. I was in the company of journalists, editors, and bloggers who lived to record their life experiences on print, online, and on their mobile devices.

We were gathered in a Finnish sauna. We were told that most cultural revolutions happened here. Well, we were about to have our own revolution for sure. We were about 10 guys being heated and melted like frozen dimsum in a wooden cabin. The conversations weren’t enough to keep us cool — because it was getting too hot. “I’ll go first,” Adam Baidawi, our mate from GQ Australia who just got up and went for the kill.

It happened so fast. One after another, I saw our naked selves run into the sea of white, hopping like bunnies (the snow was burning our feet — what a contradiction!)  and then jumping into the lake, only to jump back up because of the extreme cold. Simran was right in front of me, and I saw how he conquered his fear — by just going straight at it.

Of course, it was another challenge to get back into the sauna cabin — you had to go through hills of snow before you reached your final destination. Who cared if we all looked like characters in a Japanese game show? It was loads of fun, to say the least.

SNAP-HAPPY IN LAPLAND

Looking back, it all sounded like a gag show of adventure and laughter, but that moment before the jump was truly something else. And Juha had to take a picture with his Nokia Lumia 1520, or it didn’t happen.

Well, so many other things happened in those few days in Finland. Not only did we go ice swimming, we also snowmobiled our way through ice lakes. It was like we went through postcards upon postcards of snow as we drove through water and mountains all covered in white. In my mind was Let It Go (the theme of Frozen)” on loop as we took endless snapshots of all that pristine beauty.

The following day, our Carl Zeiss lenses were focused on foxes and huskies as we hopped from an animal park to a Sami house. We also got the ride of our life with them huskies, Santa style minus the reindeer. Uhm, we also had some reindeer meat for lunch and dinner. My apologies to Rudolf and his kind — but it was yummy, and a must try when heading over to that side of the world.

And did I mention ice carting? I was hesitant at first, but the resulting adrenalin rush was more than worth it. I think I’m gonna get into this even more, just as I’m getting to be an expert taking pics on my Lumia.

The photos on this page show the variety of activity we had, from Helsinki to Lapland, Finland, all seen through the lens of a Nokia Lumia 1020 and a Nokia Lumia 1520. As you can see for yourself, there lies a huge difference in color and cut, in megapixel size and megalomaniac size. The clue is to just snap away and have fun.

And besides, “the cold never really bothered me anyway.”

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(More adventures on twitter.com/officialtimyap and on Instagram, too check out the hashtag #lumiainlapland for more sights!)