Day 1 in Tromso, Norway: Eating at Pastafabrikken & Raketten Bar

It was 1 degree when we reached the Tromso airport. It was snowing. 

We finally reached our hotel, Clarion Hotel The Edge, at about 4pm. 

After reaching the hotel, we met the guide at 4:30pm to walk to the town area where all the shops and restaurants were. After that, we were left to our own devices.

I chose to take my mother to Pastafabrikken, a very popular restaurant on Red Note. 

I used Google Map to find my directions but keying in the address brought me to a hotel near the actual place!

I asked the receptionist and she directed me to the restaurant.

It looked like a decent restaurant with soft lighting  and fabric chairs and large wick lamps.

We had to remove our spikes before we were given a table as the spikes might damage the wooden flooring.

We were informed that we had to scan the QR code to place our order and I remembered to make sure the payment went through to confirm that the orders were placed. I exercised caution and ordered the two most strongly recommended dishes: Zuppa nettuno (fish soup) at 184 kr and Pasta nettuno (seafood spaghetti with tomato base) at 275 kr. That came up to about S$63. Tips were optional.

Pasta nettuno in the background and Zuppa nettuno in the foreground

We found the fish soup too salty for our tastebud. I am surprised nobody mentioned that. Does everybody eat so salty?

I later found out from my tour guide that Norwegian food is on the salty side due to their cold weather. Many food types are preserved.

Nonetheless, it was creamy and rich with various seafood like shrimps and fish pieces. Quite delicious I would say.

The Pasta nettuno was tomato-based but it did not have the domineering taste of tomato puree. The prawns and mussels were fresh, unlike most mussels which have a strong shellfish smell I have tasted in Singapore.

Service was ok. I read on Red Note that they were racist or disliked Chinese as they served their own kind enthusiastically and volunteered to take their orders for them. The guy who served us was polite and didn’t give off a ‘I hate Chinese/Asians’ vibe. I was ok with him informing me that I had to order via the QR code. The guy also obliged me when I requested a change of table before I sat down twice. He also explained that a four-seater had been reserved so I could not sit there. 

I think the food was fine. Perhaps I had too high an expectation for it. It’s a super strongly recommended restaurant on Red Note. I had FOMO-ed. It’s spaghetti. How heavenly do I want it to be? 

Ambience was great. It was my first day in Tromso. I didn’t know what to expect but the restaurant was cosy and quiet with comfortable distance between each table. 

Would I recommend Pastafabrikken? Yes. 

Would I go there again if I had a choice? Probably not since I am not a big fan of spaghetti or seafood.

We were walking around the city area after having our lunner at Pastafabrikken when I saw the famous hundred-year-old hotdog bar. There was a short queue. I was thinking of coming back to it after walking around to work up an appetite. However, a quick search on the internet shows that it would close at 7pm, which was five minutes later!

FOMO kicked in again. I joined the queue and bought the famous reindeer and beef hotdog bun.

The sausage was dry and hard

I honestly was hugely disappointed. It didn’t even come close to ikea’s $1 hotdog bun. I don’t know what the fuss is about. 70 nok is about $9.58. That’s exorbitant for such an awful hotdog bun.

No prize for guessing if I would ever recommend it.

My thrifty mother who tried her best to eat as much as she could of the hotdog bun

Something funny happened after buying the hotdog.

I asked my mother to help me take a picture of me holding the hotdog in front of the bar. My other would take a long time to get a picture taken, and when it is taken, you would find that the picture is slanted beyond Photoshop surgery or she had taken a picture of you asking “Have you taken the picture yet?” after freezing your smile for 10 seconds. 

When she had finally taken the picture, I asked her disappointedly,”Why did you take a picture when a man was walking by?” 

You know what she replied? “Ya lor!” with a frown on her face, like the fault lay with the man.

I explained to her,”You see the man walking into the picture. You don’t have to photograph him.”

At this, a guy probably in his 30s stood up from a bench nearby and offered,”Let me help you.”

I laughed and thanked him.

He subsequently helped me take two pictures.

My mother was overjoyed when she saw the outdoor heater beside the hotdog bar

After that, we walked around the streets to explore the area, popped into shops to check them out and bought postcards from the northernmost Mcdonald's.

I looked like an idiot wearing that Taobao pouch

Where to go:

Pastafabrikken 

Sjøgata 17, 9008 Tromsø, Norway

(Reservation via website preferred)

Raketten Bar & Pølse

Storgata 94B, Tromso 9008 Norway

Window Seat

We were asked by our tour manager to check in and book our seats ourselves.

Two flights were needed to get to Tromso, Norway. One was a 13-hour Singapore-to-Zurich leg while the other was a 3.5 hour flight from Zurich to Tromso.

For both flights, I booked a window seat for myself with my mother seated beside me.

I love window seats but I haven’t had the opportunity to get a window seat ever since I became a mother. I believe it’s the same for all mothers. 

My mother prefers aisle seats as they are more convenient for her to go to the toilet.

It’s fortunate that for both legs, nobody booked the aisle seat next to my mother’s. She didn’t have to hesitate to go to the toilet when she needed to.

I got to enjoy the fluffy clouds and imagine how it’s like to fall through the deceivingly fluffy clouds. Another moment, the clouds turned into a desert of clouds, a wavy sea of clouds. I wonder if the sky is God’s canvas to release his pent-up creativity.

It was bright daylight halfway into our 13-hour journey

Clouds remind me of the Rapture. Since I was fourteen, it is said that the Rapture would happen anytime. As young Christians, we would imagine how we would shoot through the clouds as we raptured to go to the heavens.

Now, when I ask my friend if they think they would be raptured. They reply,”I hope.”

I hope, too.

half daylight, half night on the horizon

It was dark when we reached the gloomy Tromso

My Swiss Air Experience

As of now, I am on a 13-hour flight on Swiss Air with my mother to Zurich before changing flight to Tromso, Norway.

We are going to Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Taking this flight makes me realise that the Singapore Airline is indeed one of the best.

My mother and I fell asleep when dinner was distributed. When I woke up, the air-steward and stewardesses were still serving dinner.

After a few minutes, an African-American descent flight stewardess asked what I would like.   Usually flight stewardess would offer you the options but she asked me an open question. I was  stumped.

Then she asked,”Would you like to have chicken or pasta?”

I told her I would like to have one of each for both of us. 

She repeated her question again.

So I said,”Chicken.”

It was a set that came with basmati rice, which I already know from the menu given out earlier on.

I asked for pasta for my mother in case my option did not turn out to be a great one.

The lady passed my mother a tray of food, saying,”Pasta.”

It was chicken with basmati rice again.

Ok. It could have been a genuine mistake especially when the food was passed to her by her colleague.

As we were eating, my mother’s orange juice slid from the table and spilled all over her right side of her jeans. She was all wet.

We finished up our food quickly and I went to get help. 

For this incident, the flight stewardess was very helpful and prompt. She immediately rushed to my mother and helped us bring down her luggage to a more spacious area behind the toilet so that my mother could look for her dry clothes.

After changing, my mother brought the luggage back to the seat. When a younger flight stewardess came past with drinks, I asked if she could help us put the luggage up.

She gave an incredulous look and said,”If it’s heavy, I won’t help.”

God must have heard my plea. It was light enough for her to put it up. 

After that, she said to me quite loudly so that others could hear, with eyes that widened in some measure of anger,”You have to do this yourself. This is not my job.” 

The Singapore Girl would never have said such a thing.

My Experience with Radiesse FIller

 I had initially gone to Dr Siew for fillers and Ultera to save my saggy face. 

However, he deemed my skin too sensitive and angrily red to be subjected to intense heat so he prescribed me with some oral medication to calm my skin down.

Knowing my concern about my skin in view of my upcoming trip, Dr Siew proposed using Radiesse fillers. 

Having utmost confidence in Dr Siew, I accepted his suggestion immediately and the procedure was done after my consultation. The whole procedure took less than an hour and I left the clinic at about 8.30pm.

Many things had changed compared to the my last trip to the clinic. Numbing cream application before the procedure was the norm but this time, Dr Siew injected anaesthesia directly into the skin which worked immediately. That meant that I did not have to spend at least 30 minutes waiting before the procedure could commence. However, it also meant that I had to endure more injections.

Before the procedure started, Dr Siew said that my face would be pierced six times - three on each side -after the anaesthetic injections. However, it was definitely more than six times. I lost count as I was nervous and busy clenching stress balls with both hands each time I was due to have an injection.

Dr Siew seemed to adore Radiesse as a filler. He said that it filled up nicely and firmed up the skin. As he was injecting it under my skin, he commented assuringly that "we are getting nice results", "looks different now, right?" (to a junior doctor who was watching on the side).

Dr Siew asked me if I was on any chronic medication. I said no, puzzled why he asked me that. He commented that I 'oozed quite a bit' as he injected. I reminded him that I did tell him about my sister who has Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP), an autoimmune disease where blood does not clot well, when he asked me if I had blood clot problems.

He asked what autoimmune disease I had, to which I replied,"Hyperthyriodism." and he told me that I had 'delayed clotting'.

Dr Siew injected a few more times to use up the filler. I could feel that he jabbed me at the laugh lines and near the jaw lines. After the procedure, Dr Siew told me that the swelling of my face would take five days to subside.

I liked the effect as well. Not dramatic but enough for my sisters and a friend to agree that I looked different and better when they saw the before-and-after pictures.

Previously, I would experience hardness on my face for the first week but this time, it was soft from the get-go although my face felt tender due to the swelling and the many injections.

I hope that by the time I go for my trip, the effect would be even better. Dr Siew mentioned that it would take a few months before the effect reached its peak. 

My Journey of Melasma Treatment

I will be going on the most expensive trip in my life this year end with my mother. 

When I looked into the mirror, I was not happy with what I saw. For the ageing woman that I am, my cheeks are sagging and my eyes droopy. I hope to look decent in the pictures. I do not think that I am being vain. Nor am I afraid of getting old. I just thought that it isn't value-for-money if I am going to look bad in pictures for the kind of money I pay the tour agency.

So a fortnight ago, I returned to my most trusted doctor to consult about filler and Ulterapy.

This time, the pre-consultation process seemed more sophisticated than the last time I was there (in 2020).

The photography session for the before-and-after treatment was more particular. I was asked to look more directions and more pictures were taken of my face.

I was also led to a small room where I was asked to rest my chin on a machine and my face was photographed up close and later shown on a screen, with the inner layer of my skin being shown on Dr Siew's computer screen.

Dr Siew was appalled at the condition of my skin. He asked me what had happened such that my skin was so red and 'angry'.

I told him that I had gone to a reputable dermatologist in a private hospital, who came highly recommended by a colleague, to treat my melasma which formed a signature butterfly shape on my cheeks. However, while it worked very well for my colleague, it did not work for me. In fact, it exacerbated my problem.

Previously, my melasma was not that obvious. I would tell others I have melasma and they would ask me, "Where is it?"

Now, let's just say I do not need to tell anyone at all. My sister literally calls the two patches 'chao-tar', a hokkien term loosely translated as 'charred'.

It worsened my depression.

It seems the philosophy of the laser treatment was to draw the melasma out and lighten it using cream, until all of them was cleared.

However, the cream had to be used in sequence. I had to first apply the first cream and wait for at least half an hour before I could apply the second cream. But I often fell asleep before the next cream could be applied. That was because I came home at 11pm daily and would be so tired that I struggled to wait for time to pass.

Honestly, I was not convinced that the method worked. It's hard to be convinced when month after month, you come home with two burnt patches after the treatment, and you see them fade a little for a few days after the burnt scabs fall off, and then they return with a vengeance for the next three weeks.

After a year, I totally lost faith in the treatment and simply stopped going.

I had spent about $600 every month for a year and the melasma only became worse. I hated to take pictures because my cheeks would have two signature black patches. 

I also had to buy and use concealer in order to cover up the butterfly-shaped melasma on my cheeks. Worse, it didn't work perfectly. The melasma was still obvious in the pictures.

Previously, light powder would suffice. Now, even concealer had little effect. Imagine how depressing it was.

Dr Siew told me that my skin condition was not suitable to undergo Ulterapy. As the procedure required heat to penetrate the inner layer of the skin, he was worried that it could worsen my melasma. He said that my skin needed to stabilise and be calmer before he could carry out Ulterapy on me.

However, he knew I wanted to look decent in the pictures of my trip. He proposed doing filler.

At the same time, he proposed that I take oral medication for my melasma.

In fact, he said that oral medication is one of the most effective ways to treat melasma, but no doctor would tell you, because it is cheap.

My eyes widened in astonishment when he said that. I had been to a few dermatologists and aesthetic doctors but NONE of them had given me this option.

Besides the first dermatologist who prescribed me with cream, when my melasma was not so severe, the rest all proposed laser treatment.

He being Dr Siew, I decided to give oral medication a try. Indeed, a month's supply of pills targeting at treating melasma, a month's worth of oral sunblock and two weeks' worth of whitening pills set me back by just $495. 

Dr Siew said it would take six months to see the effect but just two weeks of taking the pills, I am seeing results. My melasma is lightening! Even my mother who is always critical saw the improvements. She was very happy for me. 

I will continue with the oral medication and hope my melasma could be further lightened.

I can't believe that so many doctors had been dishonest about this form of treatment just because they want to earn distressed women's money from laser treatment. It sends shudder down my spine thinking about the severe lack of integrity in doctors.

Come to think of it, I did see a poster about oral medication for melasma at a GP clinic near my mother's place. However, I chose to put my trust in the reputable dermatologist as my colleague had spoken very well of her. She said that the dermatologist genuinely wanted the best for her patients and was not working purely for money. 

How noble it sounded. Alas!

I solemnly declare that the one who is not working purely for money is Dr Siew. He is genuinely passionate about his work and wants the best results for his clients. 

For what he has done for me, I shall always be grateful. 

Changing Face of an ID

I have shared my horror stories of my renovation on various platforms.

Recently, a reader sent me a private message on a social media platform to ask me who my interior designer (ID) was. 

After I shared with her, she disappeared for a while before returning to me with a small screenshot of a property agent and asked if that was him.

Due to the tiny image, I was unable to tell for sure. However, as the ID’s name and surname is not a very common combination, I decided to go to his profile to take a look. 

As property agents’ pictures are professionally taken, and make them look younger, handsomer or more attractive than they really are, I was still not able to confirm purely by the image. However, something else confirmed the suspicion: his write-up.

He had a lengthy write-up about him having 20 years of interior design experience and giving honest advice.

I had no doubt that it’s him. 

A normal person would not emphasise on himself being honest, because it’s the least anyone should be. Only people who are dishonest need to stress that because deep down inside, they know better than anyone that they are dishonest and unscrupulous. 

I shudder to think anyone, especially female customers, would be tricked by him like I was. I wonder if there is any platform that I can warn others against him. 

I can imagine him telling his potential clients that he is able to propose design ideas when all he can do is to tell clients where they can put their dining table, sofa and television set, with some interior design terms thrown in. Think wabi sabi, japandi, modern luxury.

As parting words, I told the reader that I hope the scammer of an ID will fail at whatever he does. Apparently, his renovation business must not be doing well for him to try venturing into another field that requires nothing but good lying skills.

The Devil Comes in the Form of an Angel of Light

I had a friend whom I befriended when I became a parent volunteer.

She seemed like a nice and empathetic person.

She would invite me to be a parent volunteer for various events.

She was also on good terms with other parent volunteers. She would text me pictures of her attending gatherings with the rich tai-tais.

Her children were obedient and outstanding. She would tell me how thrifty and hardworking her daughter was and how promising her son was, and how her son's girlfriend was equally or more promising.

I put my guard down when she often talked about God. 

I started confiding in her. At first, she listened and was empathetic.

Then she started to change.

She would put me down and say that she was saying all the awful things because she cared for me. The typical "If I don't care about you, I wouldn't have bothered saying all these" line.

Almost everything I said was 'wrong'. She literally said, "You are wrong." in our conversation every time we spoke. She would call me and find out what I was up to and used the opportunities to tell me how bad I was doing or what I was doing wrong.

About Covid vaccination

During the Covid period, she supported Iris Koh's anti-vaccine movement. She would bombard me with links, articles. images and videos of how harmful the Covid vaccines were and how they were steps to getting the digital identification implanted in us.

Although I had my own reservations about the vaccination, part of me was influenced by her anti-vaccination ideas, thinking that she and her family also did not take any vaccination.

Over time, I suspected that she had received her vaccination. I asked her a few times but she was evasive. She ignored my question each time I asked if she had gone for the jab. Eventually, when it was made known that all school-going children had to take the jab, I asked her which vaccine did her child take. She said that she and her child took the Non-MRN vaccine.

So much for being anti-vaccine.

About my motherhood

She often criticised me for 'preferring to work'.

She would praise herself for being willing to sacrifice and be a stay-home mother to her children. The result was children who loved her and were obedient to her.

I tried to let her know that it is a privilege to be a stay-home mother and not every woman is so lucky to have a supportive husband who is able to bring home enough bacon for the family.

But no. She insisted that it was a lifestyle choice and I wanted to have a better lifestyle. 

I would tell her that she was lucky to be able to be a housewife only because she met a good man who had a normal idea of a family.

She was not convinced. She tried to tell me that her husband was not perfect either but she was very good at managing the household, that's why her marriage was such a blissful one.

About my income

She had always tried to find out how much I was earning.

Knowing her intention, I did not let her know.

She would assume that I was struggling and keep telling me I should earn more.

She kept saying that her friend who had returned to be an FAJT (Flexi-Adjunct Teacher) was earning $7000. If you are able to catch her drift, she was basically saying that I was earning a lot less than that amount.

After a few consecutive days that she said that, to shut her up, I told her that $7000 was actually not a lot, meaning "I earn more than that, ok!"

She really shut up about my income from then on.

About my job

After the episode about my income, she criticised that I was in my job for the money and not passion.

But soon after, her son who was still an undergrad was offered an assistant-lecturer job. She was raving over how well-paid he was 'just by sitting there'.

I was sarcastic, "Then your son is not in the job for the passion. He's only in it for the money."

Funnily enough, she did not see the elephant in the room. She did not think that it was a problem. 

About my ex-husband

To suggest that I was not a fantastic person, she mentioned that 'many people think that he is a good father'.

Well, by 'a good father', she meant that he was seen picking Baby up after school.

Remembering what Pastor Prince said (When people say 'many people'/'everybody', they mean they themselves, their wife and their dog!), I called her bluff, "I know J was the one who said that because she often talked to him when she met him while waiting to pick up her daughter." 

True enough,. That shut her up.

So basically, her 'many people' referred to herself and one other person.

About my disobedience

She was constantly telling me that she had a relationship with God, and that she was so blessed because she was obedient and did God's will. She told me one day God would question me why I never listen to Him when he had sent her to send His messages.

About my flat

During my renovation, she would criticise everything I bought or did.

In fact, she criticised the flat I bought. She said that she already bought the same kind of flat when she first got married. In case I did not believe her, she showed me a picture of her children in the flat.

Then she said how unsuitable the flat was for me and my mother.

About Coco

Of course. Everybody has an opinion about how lousy a mother I am to Coco. How could she miss that?

One moment, she criticised how permissive I was in Coco's upbringing; another moment, she criticised how controlling I was of Coco, resulting in how Coco had turned out.

Of course, she did not forget to juxtapose her daughter of the same age, but incredibly amazing, with Coco. 

About the ID

When I had doubts about the ID I was deliberating over, she dismissed my worries and told me that I was being paranoid and overly suspicious. "He is just trying to do your business" "He is not a scammer". When things turned out to be what I had suspected ie. the ID being a scammer, she immediately changed her tune, "I told you to stop hiring him already." 

When I reminded her that she was the one who asked me to hire him, she retorted ludicrously, "Now you are blaming me?"

About my renovation

When I said that I was going to install various smart or electrical devices, she warned me that my electrical bill was going to be "very high". I became worried, so I went online to ask fellow homeowners if that was true.

One of the homeowners commented, "I think your friend is jealous of you."

That jolted me into thinking why she had been saying all the awful things and finding every opportunity to belittle me.

About my problems

When I told her I broke down due to the renovation, she actually said, "You are a mess." and "You are too weak."

I decided that this person could not be the friend that she claimed she was. A friend does not hit you down when you are down. I also felt that she could not be of God. God is love. This person pretended to love but turned it into a sword to assassinate you when you were not looking.

I started to put up my guard and I was ready to block her on my phone.

I also started to retort her. I would also use "You are wrong" to let her have a taste of her own medicine. 

But I got tired of being nasty. I decided to block her. 

As I am typing this, I realised that the words to describe her was 'a hypocrite'.

I am glad I shut her out of my life.