Life in The Northernmost Town on Earth near North Pole | Svalbard
Extremely tired after a very long flight. Africa to Dubai. Dubai to Oslo. And we have finally reached Oslo airport.
We have a hotel here for a 2 or 4 minute bus ride. It's very cold. So let's take a bus and go to the hotel. You can say that this is going to be my most expensive bus ride. The hotel that we have booked is about 1 to 2 km away. But actually it's about 4 to 5 km if you take a bus. So we have paid 80 crores per person.
That is almost like 8 or 9 dollars. Welcome to Norway. Hello. How are you?
I'm good. Thank you. So we have a reservation here. We have checked in at the hotel. The room is so big that it ends as soon as you enter.
There are two beds here. Because there are two of us in this tour. My younger brother Anwar is with me. He lives here in Sweden, Denmark. So I thought that since we are in his neighboring country, why not take him along.
We'll have some fun. He is a little shy. Let's train him. Let's go outside and explore Oslo. Assalam Alekum Everyone and welcome back to the channel from Oslo, Norway. You must be wondering how I reached Norway straight from Africa. There is a reason for that.
A few days ago, Infinix approached me. They recently launched a mobile phone that you can see in my hand. It's a beautiful phone. Infinix Note 40 Pro. It has a unique feature which is Extreme Temperature Battery. Which performs even when the temperature drops to as low as minus 20 degrees.
And not only this, you can even charge it at minus 20 degrees. Recently, there was a CES event in Jain. These features were announced in that event. Within a couple of months, these features are available in this mobile phone.
Which is quite remarkable. Infinix said that since you are an adventurous person, we want you to go to any location of your choice. A place where you can test the features of your mobile phone. I had an opportunity to visit one of my favorite countries.
I have been to many places in Norway. But there is one place that I have always wanted to visit. But I never got a chance to visit it. And that is Svalbard.
It's a permanent settlement in the extreme north. Near the North Pole. I think there are around 3000 people living there.
I will tell you about that later. So, I decided to go there. It's a unique location. Let's explore that location while we test the features of the mobile phone. Let's explore Oslo and show you some interesting spots. This is Oslo's Opera House.
And the iconic building here. I think if any tourist is coming here, this is a must-visit place. It's located in the center of Oslo.
It's easy to walk around here. Today is a holiday. Most of the places are closed. This is the Nobel Peace Center. The Nobel Prize ceremony or any other event of that sort takes place here.
And today, we have been helped by Dr. Mansoor. He is our family friend. He is here with his son Yusuf. Yusuf is fasting right now. So, we will leave here in a while.
Because it's almost sunset time here. Are you excited? So we are ready for the flight. The place where we are going is the town of Longyearbyen. Is it the correct pronunciation? I do not know. But I think it is. Two flights leave from here. SS and Norwegian.
Welcome to Svalbard. Let me show you the temperature here. It's minus 21 degrees Celsius.
And it's written here, it feels like minus 32. We are about 2050 km away from Oslo. From where we took our flight. And boy oh boy, what a beautiful flight it was. It was probably one of the most beautiful and spectacular flights. Especially the last 50-60 km, which we have traveled close to the islands.
So we could see the peaks covered with fresh snow. It was stunning, absolutely beautiful. We have just rented a car here. Because it's very cold here. And you can hardly stand outside for 4-5 minutes. So let's go in the car.
I'll tell you the rest there. Mr. Anwar is packing his stuff. This is the car we have rented.
KIA Sportage. It has a lot of scratches. But I think it should be fine to do this adventure. Let's go. Is it cold? No.
There are only 50 km of roads in this area. I am not sure if it makes sense to rent a car. But at the end of the day, you need something to travel around. Especially if you have to go somewhere.
There is no public transportation here. Only buses go from the airport to the city. And from the city to the airport. In between, if you have to walk somewhere, especially if I have to film or fly a drone, I need a place where I can wait for a good light. If the weather is bad, and I am alone outside, I need a place where I can sit, turn on the heating and not get frozen. -20 .... -25 onwards...
It is extreme. At least for someone like me. It might not matter much to a Norwegian though. But one has to be very very careful in these temperatures.
That's why we rented this car. Quite expensive. I think 130 - 135 USD per day. We will stay here for 4 days. So we have rented it for those 4 days. So we have checked into this nice, cozy, beautiful cabin which is called Coal Miners Cabin.
That's because the people who worked in the coal industry used to live here. And now it has been turned into a tourist hotel. And similarly, there is a very beautiful restaurant with it. So that we can go there whenever we are hungry. And the view from the room is also very beautiful. Although it is minus 30 degrees outside, one can comfortably be in a T-shirt, indoors.
Heating is working perfectly. So I think we are going to enjoy our stay in this nice cabin. And I think we paid around 150 USD for it.
A very important information about Svalbard which I think many people already know. It is common knowledge that the night and day here are each 6 months long. Actually, it is 4 months here. From mid-October to mid-February, there is total darkness and the sun does not rise.
And then slowly, as the sun rises, within 2 months, you get 24 hours of sunlight. From mid-April to next 4 months, you will have the sun all day long. There will be no sunset. And this is because the location here is so extreme in the north. And the rotation of the earth is on the tilted axis. And because of that tilt, the earth moves away from the sun so much that the light of the sun does not reach there.
And when there is 24 hours of sunlight, the area is close to the sun. And because of that, there is no sunset here. So this is the small town of Longyearbyen behind us.
Around 3000 people live here. Today is a holiday and we cannot explore the local life and markets here. But we have time. We will do it and show you.
Absolutely freezing cold and behind me is the Arctic Ocean. There is a layer of ice on top of it. And slowly, fog is coming out of it. Of course, the environment is absolutely stunning.
The atmosphere here is very unique. And on our right side, there is a polar vessel. Because a lot of expeditions go from here for exploration of the polar region. And I think there is a research center here.
So finally the day has come. We are going on a snowmobile adventure today. I am very excited and also nervous. The temperature here is minus 22 degrees Celsius. And it feels like minus 30 degrees. In this kind of temperature, we used to get in the car first.
We used to sit in the car whenever it was cold. Today we have worn so many layers. And I have bought a layer of wool from here. I am very nervous about the environment. I have not worn gloves yet. I have been standing here for 2 minutes and my hands have started to freeze.
We have 10 hours today. We are going to the east coast. We will cover 90 km on one way. We will cover a very unique area.
And then we will come back to 90 km. Let's see how this mobile performs. And how we perform with the mobile. We are ready.
Let's see if our instructor is calling us. This is for the gas lamp. It's absolutely crazy here. Landscape is very beautiful. But as you know how extreme this temperature is.
Which is making it very difficult. In this harsh climate, I am trying to warm up my hands with a hand warmer. We have seen some reindeer here. Of course, in this wild and harsh climate, you will definitely see wildlife here.
It is very dangerous. Extremely cold. And it is totally washed out here.
The weather is very bad. It is snowing here. We are not even sure if we can continue all the way to the east coast or not. Because it is difficult to find the way. We are going over glaciers.
Because of which, a wrong turn can turn out to be very dangerous. Right now, it is minus 23-24 degrees Celsius. We can try to charge the mobile in this temperature. Let's see. Infinix has claimed.
You can see. 89% and charging. And for the first time, Android has 20W Mag Charge.
So you can easily snap it on the back of the mobile. And you will get extra charge. So let's see.
Start charging again. This is very convenient for extra battery life. The only issue is I am feeling very cold. I am freezing at the moment. Our return journey was very difficult.
Especially because of the icy Arctic winds. Such windy conditions... And riding at such a low temperature.
That too, 90 km. It took us more than 2 hours. It was extremely difficult. And we completed our journey with great difficulty. You can see some frostbite on my face.
You will see more frostbite on my brother's face than on mine. Show your face to the camera. Oh, it's okay. There are also some crunches on this side. Infinix Note 40 Pro performed flawlessly. Even in these extremely low temperatures.
Without any issue. And my drone's battery died. That's why I couldn't fly the drone. Sony A7 IV wasn't working all the way.
And still, we tried to make as good video as possible. I can tell you that you get a 70W fast charger with the phone. And 15W charging pad. Right now we are in the city center and this is the place where you can find most of the commercial activities like supermarkets, shopping malls, etc. Even though this place is so far from other areas, it doesn't feel like you are in a remote place. You are getting all the facilities of the world here.
School, college, university, hospitals, all facilities are available and along with that there are shopping facilities. Today the markets are open because there was a holiday last week. Now we will show you the shopping area of Svalbard. We have to buy some things from the supermarkets. We will show you the prices here. Svalbard is a tax-free zone.
I think the prices here should be similar to the prices in Norway or even cheaper. Let's go inside. The shopping mall is behind us. Let's explore this. On the right side are the supermarkets. You get the highest quality equipment here.
And it is probably cheap as well. The reason is that the tax rate here is 25% less compared to the mainland Norway. And the world's top brands are available here. You need the highest quality equipment in this environment which you can trust. Personally, if I didn't do all the shopping, I would have done it here.
And I think my shopping would have been cheaper here compared to what I have spent on it. And I already had a lot of equipment. But I would recommend that if you are coming here, you can buy anything here. Just make sure that you don't miss your holidays here. You don't want to come here only to find that the shopping malls are closed. Apart from that, A1.
You are getting this quality and the prices are also good. I didn't want to buy anything, but I really liked this hat. I thought that I will keep it with me when I travel in the future. And the prices are also good. Almost 25 USD.
If you buy it from anywhere, you will have to pay more for a better quality. And I think it is 100% wool. Let's buy it. Let's see if I like something else. And you can see that there is a gun mark outside the supermarket door.
Because it is a law here that whenever you want to go out of the city, because there are polar bears here, you need a gun. However, I don't think you are allowed to take it inside the shop. Or you can't show it to anyone.
So let's go inside. And you can see how big this supermarket is. I think its name is COOP.
So in Norway and even in other Scandinavian countries, you can see this supermarket everywhere. We actually wanted some eggs. We bought it from here. And what is the price of it? I think it's around 48 crowns. So it must be around 4-5 USD.
Almost everything is expensive in Norway. So the prices are similar. Or even the prices of the supermarket are a little less than that of Norway.
Because there is no value added tax here. Our shopping is complete here. And I will definitely mention one thing. And that is that Svalbard is a visa-free area. Although it is part of Norway.
But you don't need a visa to live and work here. However, there is one catch. Because Svalbard's location is so extreme in the north, that it is very difficult to come here by sea.
But you have to come by air via Norway. Because all the flights here come through Norway. And to enter Norway, you need a Schengen visa.
I think there are flights from two major cities in Norway. Oslo and Tromsø. Apart from that, I am not sure if there are flights from any other city.
This building behind me is not only Svalbard, but also one of the most important buildings in the world. Because seeds of different crops are stored here from all over the world. And that's why it's called the Global Seed Vault.
Just like you deposit money in the bank, the Norwegian government built this building in 2008. So that seeds of different crops can be stored from all over the world. And in case of a natural disaster, a war, or if a crop is sick, you have a backup of these seeds to grow those crops again.
So more than a million seeds are stored here. Of course, the owner of this seed bank is the Norwegian government. But the country or research institute that keeps the seeds here, they are the ones who have their ownership.
And they can access these seeds again in the future. For example, there was a research institute in Syria during the war. They were not able to maintain the seeds with their samples. So later they accessed the seeds from here and grew the crops. And because the temperature here is very low throughout the year, this facility is also maintained below minus 18 degrees.
In case the temperature rises here, they can still maintain the temperature using power supply. The surrounding land here is permafrost. And the growing process of the seeds slows it down. Permafrost is the land that is below zero degrees for two years. So we cannot go inside this.
And no one is allowed to go inside. But we can show you this from the outside. So we are finally back at the airport. And we have just fueled up the car. And here, we hardly drove 50 to 70 kilometers. But still, we got almost 17.5 liters of fuel.
This high fuel consumption is probably due to the very cold climate. But the fuel prices are on the lower side. So we paid $1.4 per liter. And you can see small spikes on the tires of the cars. Because of which you can comfortably drive on these icy roads.
We tried our best to cover this area for you. And hopefully, you liked it. Please remember us in your prayers. And yes, do hit the like, subscribe and share buttons.
Allah Hafiz.
2024-04-12 14:06
