Norway and Norgay:
Pictures and Slapstick
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On Norgay, Norway, a Norg, and Norge -
Norgay
The dramatic photo of the Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay on
the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 got world famous. It was taken by the New Zealand
explorer Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008).
Norway: Facts and Findings
THE SPECIAL 15th anniversary issue of the National Geographic magazine includes coastal Norway among "the 50 greatest places of a lifetime. These are destinations we believe no curious traveler should miss." And National Geographic Traveler of March 2004 has Fjord-Norway as the very best destination. Well, summertime may not be all bad, but it is very expensive in Norway today. ▾National Geographic's Coastal Norway.
OF TOURISM: According to National Geographic Traveler, March 2004:
- Fjord-Norway: 82 of 100 attainable points.
- Cape Breton Islands, Canada: 78
- Smith Island, New Zealand: 78
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| The Geiranger Fjord in Sunnmøre, Western Norway |
The magazine used 200 experts on sustainable tourism to evaluate the destinations. Other travel agencies, including Lonely Planet, have ranked similarly. A cruise could work well, for the West coast climate is "exotic" and rather "unstable". Tastes differ; there are those who like plains above fjords too.
And in their October 21 issue of 2009, National Geographic once again selected the fjord region of Norway as the best destination. An independent panel of 437 experts were behind the choice. One panelist found Norway's fjords to be "about as good as can be done." Well, the rugged terrain impresses, and a limited population around some fjords pollutes less than a large one . . .
SCENIC WORLD HERITAGE FJORDS TOO: On 14 July 2005 the scenic Geiranger fjord and the Nærøy fjord - the latter lies deep in Sogn - were included on the United
Nations' "World Heritage List", chosen for natural scenic value, and are hence in the
company with the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef off Australia and the Galapagos
Islands.
[www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1080102.ece]
A SADDER NOTE against faulty idyllisation: It should be good to know there is a list from 2007 of 34 poisoned Norwegian fjords and their main poisons. Generally quicksilver, PCB, cadmium, and lead stand out. One is advised not to eat fish and shellfish from these fjords.
[www.dagsavisen.no/innenriks/article300728.ece]
Not too bad living conditions by and large
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| Norway lies as far north as Siberia and Alaska. |
Not only the scenic beauty, but the economy and education level function in Norway too. For six years in a row the United Nations selected Norway as the best country to live in (2001-2007). In 2008 Iceland topped the list, with Norway as second (2008). Since then, Iceland has experienced an economic downfall, and the UN statistics published in 2009 has Norway on top again, closely followed by Australia, Iceland, Canada og Ireland. [▾Wikipedia link]
However, we do not have to agree with the ranking. Professor Svein Sjøberg at the University in Oslo, for example, says the UN report's criteria are too crude, and the variables that go into it, are a selection based on figures from before the global financial crisis that hit Iceland very hard. Norway has oil money that goes into funds that Norwegians do not get much from so far. Apart from such reserves, there are a lot of countries en par with Norway. The professor finds it completely unreasonable to say it is better to live in Norway than in any other of the twenty countries on top of the list.
I may add I don't agree completely with that: Different countries are not all alike. Besides, what you prefer - much and free access to nature, wildlife, the sea, a warm climate and cheap wine, for example, will make some countries stand out as better than others for you; it is also somewhat individual, in other words.
Norway seems better than Sweden only because of the oil reserves and oil funds, and seems better than Denmark because Danes do not live as long as Norwegians, holds the professor. What the UN reports misses, is that Danes say they are happier than others . . . [▾Wikipedia link]
Other parameters (variables) could go into the reckoning too. For example, there are about 80 000 poor children in Norway currently; long queues of ill persons waiting for hospital treatment; and other blemishes. If such factors were counted in by UN, and given some weight, Norway might not get one of the top ranks. Norway is less than ideal to live in for many - but perhaps not if you like the cold.
If self-declared happiness is a good sign of a country worth living in, Denmark is number one. If a count of the poor goes into the reckoning, Sweden is best, even though it is ranked as number 15 when it comes to wealth - and Norway has used to be second best for the poor.
Finland is ranked as number one in technology.
Finally, the UN report has focused on health, education, and economy. But living in a society is more that that, says Sjøberg. Freedom of speech counts, legal security, democracy, absence of corruption, happiness in life, and condifions for realising oneself are significant factors too, but not measured in this UN report, which therefore is not really a proper documentation that "Norway is the best country to live in.". The report does not really say that, even though some seem oblivious of such apt points, concludes the professor. [Ibid]
More Pictures from Norway
There is more than one way to present one's background. Now for some pictures with comments.
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| Borgund Stave Church in Western Norway |
You could say the rustic stave church attempts to rise toward the sky in a flatfoot kind of way.
Now consider parachutes or hang-gliders. If you have got it in you to hurl yourself out from cliffs and steep mountain sides, get a hang-glider and some training first. That could be fun. Expect that results will be more convenient than if you train yourself in the art of casting real mountains into the sea, you should also master how to let it be - just to stay on the safe side.
Besides, there are some dozens of illustrations of typical Norwegian sceneries and memorable cultural facets, many artist outlets, and some animals from up north on a page of Norwegian folktales. You may leaf through there and find such as a picture of another stave church; one of the six Unesco sites in Norway. [Link]
Norwegian fjord horses: The now Queen Elizabeth owned one, Glen Tanar.
Riding the wind like a wiltered remark
LONG AGO back in China, an emperor questioned about a sage or two he had heard of:
"Lieh Tzu could fly in the wind, could Lao Tzu do things like that?"
The other replied; "Surely, but he could also let it be -" [See Ded below]
Drowned Cattle and the Geiranger Fjord
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| High above a Norwegian valley and Geiranger. [See all] |
Along the west coast of our country there are mountains and cliffs that one may
throw oneself out of with a hang-glider to ride the wind in the easy way. Or if the
view from the mountain top is a quite all right experience, one may do without a hang-glider.
Rocks and boulders in the mountainside may be used for adamant practice too, for
those eager to follow Jesus all the way as he said. But think twice first. There lies a
dormant, confluent warning to take heed in something that took place in the pretty fjord
around Tafjord on the west coast of Norway back in 1934. All of a sudden a huge avalanche of
rocks - 3 000 000 cubic meters of rock - rushed into the sea and drowned cattle and pigs and
40 people in Tafjord and Fjørå. The waves were up to 64 meters high. Most
houses, roads, bridges, boats, and quays were washed away.
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| The Geiranger Fjord |
The Geiranger fjord area is now a Unesco site too, along with Bryggen in Bergen, Urnes Stave Church, Røros Mining Town; Rock Art of Alta; The Vega Archipelago; and another West Norwegian Fjord, the Nærøyfjord. Struve Geodetic Arc may be counted in too.
The Astronaut's Range of Vision
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| Just the earth . . . |
Ss he stood there, he was asked by eager ones from Houston, Texas: "Have you ever seen anything more breath-taking?"
"Only the elps and fjords of the Sunnmore district of Norway." [This is a brief rendition only]
COMMENT
A person who grows up near these elps may sooner or later get bored with them, go way to a flat, windy, and moist country like Denmark, only to discover than he misses those mountains, that scenery.
Be that as it may; there are lots of gulches and sagging fjords along the west coast of Norway. There is also a lot more to earth living than plenty of fjords and mountains.
❖ And Tao needs to be put to good use.
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| Vøringfossen, one of the most visited waterfalls in Norway. It falls 183 m, and the waterflow is regulated - Many waterfalls in Norway are "hydroelectric-tamed". |
Norge, Noreg, Norway
Der böse Norg - The evil Norg
On the Riffianer Alm a bad Norg often appeared after sunset and damaged the cattle so that they died of poisoning. (Riffian.) [Sagen aus Tirol, collected and edited by Ignaz V. Zingerle, Innsbruck 1891, No. 129.]
Norwegians
People who are dainty must not come to Norway. [Mortimer, p. 286]
The magpie . . . is the favourite bird. [Mortimer, p. 289]
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| Magpie |
SIGHT-SEEING. "A temple of bones is more than a castle of stones" is an apt proverb.
Ded: Marcus, Aage. Den blå dragen. Oslo: Gyldendal, 1965.
Ebu: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. London: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2008.
Favell Lee Mortimer. The Countries of Europe Described. Philadelphia: Appleton and Co., 1850.
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