The aurora factory

(This is a ridiculous travelogue - real experience fantasized for no good reason.)

The Aurora factory

This is a magical factory. It comes into being only once in a blue-green sky. One can't reach it with a map. What you need is a recipe of luck. I don't know the exact recipe, but i have a fair idea of it's ingredients. 

you need - 

1. Good warm pajamas

2. A belt (to hold the pajamas in place)

3. A bicycle with 2 happy tyres (The factory goes invisible if one tries to see it through car windows.)

4. A equal partner in crime

5. A town in arctic with bridge over lakes

6. An alarm clock that is able to wake you up at 4 am

7. 3 hours of sauna the day before ( to have red enough eyes. it's a must. it acts as a sort-of filter that makes visibility of magical things easier. )

8. Loads of luck. 

Armed with all these things, we woke up the third time (once at 12, then at 2, then at 4) and stepped out of our warm warm cabin in Kemijarvi. Let me show you a pic of it. 

our warm warm cabin (centre) at the youth hostel in Kemijarvi. 

In: 24 degrees, Out: freezing (what do you expect? its Arctic.)

In: Pajamas and T - shirt, Out: 3 layers of suede, wool & cotton, 2 ugly caps, 1 solid pair of shoe. 

In: conversations of this and that, Out: Brr.... (teeth individually chatting among themselves)

Yes, it was a brave thing to do. :P We wore some of our bravery as warm gloves and stepped out. 4 hours ago, it was raining outside, so there was no chance of seeing an Aurora. 2 hours ago, the sky had magically cleared up and the stars were twinkling at their boisterous best. But yet, the fox's tail hadn't set the sky ablaze at that hour. Weather predictions were talking of a 10% chance of an Aurora. The third time however, the sky had clouds again. But in the north near the horizon, under the cloud covers something appeared to be moving. It lent clouds a slight blue hue. and it moved ever so slightly. our eyes widened into ecstasy. 

We wore our braveness as cushion under our butts before we rode the bicycle out in search of a better vantage, with less street lights obstructing the view. 

We ran here and we ran there. well, it turns out that the lovely people of Kemijarvi have electrified all roads in Kemijarvi. The ghost of 2 people were roaming the street of Kemijarvi in search of reasonable darkness and couldn't. :P Well, reflecting back at those mid night capers in the arctic, I am quite amazed at the fact that I was not amazed with the beauty of that small town when its lit in the night like that. I was too preoccupied chasing fox's tails. The earlier rain had infused light and colorful vigor in tarmac and  trees. The lone fluorescent lit museum stood beautifully amid a long string of orange street lights. But there was greater beauty to be discovered.

A little more cycling and we ended up here: The mysterious color changing factory- the farthest outpost before the horizon. It was bellowing out blue light into the clouds silently.