The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| After the ash, Iceland volcano rakes in tourism cash Posted: 24 Jul 2011 07:54 PM PDT EYJAFJALLAJOEKULL (Iceland), July 25 — Iceland's volcanoes gained notoriety last year for their ash-spewing ability to ground airlines and make a mess. But they also pay their dues, drawing tourists eager to see the source of the chaos. "People are really interested. They want to stand in the crater of the volcano that made them lose their flight," laughs Arsaell Hauksson, in his 30s. He runs a campground at the base of the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier that encompasses the notorious Eyjafjoell volcano, whose eruption in April 2010 stranded more than eight million travellers.  Tourists are driven up the side of the Eyjafjoell volcano to reach the crater. — AFP pic "We all know someone who was affected... This is the eruption people will be talking about for years to come," said Hauksson. His own business is bustling despite an icy start to the summer. Things weren't quite so rosy when the peak began erupting last year, spewing nine kilometres into the sky. By Icelandic standards, Eyjafjoell was puny — the Grimsvoetn volcano which erupted this May spat out more ash in one day than Eyjafjoell did in 40. But strong winds pushed Eyjafjoell's output towards Europe and caused the biggest air space shutdown since World War II. The eruption dealt a harsh blow to Iceland's vital tourism industry. "I had my best booking ever for May last year ... and nobody showed because of the ash," laments Unnar Gardarsson. The 49-year-old heads Oebyggdaferdir, or Ice Safari, which for the last five years has offered tours of Iceland's desolate highlands. Sixteen months later, his mood has changed as he stands gratefully at the edge of Eyjafjoell's still fuming crater: the eruption is paying off. "It has done a lot to let people know Iceland is on the map. And it has been really good for my business," he says. "Eyjafjallajoekull was always very beautiful and now it's famous!" Gardarsson began offering trips up the glacier in May this year and has already taken some 50 tourists up to the crater, each dishing out a whopping 39,000 Icelandic kronur (RM1,050) for the experience. To reach the top, Gardarsson leads small groups on quad bikes up the rugged landscape, which starts with spongy yellow-green moss broken by jagged black lava rock and bubbling streams. Once they hit the ice, the all-terrain vehicles are swapped for bright-red belted quads that effortlessly climb the steep snowbanks, still sprinkled with last year's ash making the glacier look like a gigantic charcoal sketching. Along with helmets, the group wears padded, water-tight jumpsuits and boots that can withstand temperatures down to minus 90°C, provided by Gardarsson. "It's pretty incredible," exclaims Nancy King, a 36-year-old advertising executive from New York standing at the edge of the steaming, black crater. A steep, rocky riverbed created by last year's massive meltwater flood stretches down below. "I've never seen anything this enormous before," she says, gazing at the breathtaking view of mountain ranges, massive rivers and the island-specked Atlantic in the distance. "In New York, I spend most of my time sitting in front of a computer ...This is definitely a different day." According to Icelandic Travel Industry Association chief Arni Gunnarsson, volcanoes and other natural phenomena are the main tourism draw to the country. "That is what tourism to Iceland is all about: the extraordinary nature you see here, the glaciers, the volcanoes," he says. "And last year's eruption really put the country more on the map as such a destination." With a tiny population of only 320,000 inhabitants, Iceland has already had a record 206,000 tourists visit in the first half of this year alone, recent statistics showed. This is an increase of more than 20 per cent from 2010, and while the figures didn't show how many visited volcanoes, Gunnarsson says it was likely "a large portion". Despite volcanoes' tourist draw, experts warn they are not without risks. "It's problematic, because volcanoes are exciting and people want to see them and get close to them. But it's not good to have many people in the wrong place when an eruption happens," cautions Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland geophysicist. While no one was hurt in Iceland's recent eruptions and Eyjafjoell today is believed to be safe, its northeastern neighbour Hekla is seen as "a prime example of dangerous volcano tourism." Hekla is one of two Icelandic peaks that began rumbling earlier this month and which experts say could go at any time. It "gives a very short warning. You are taking a real risk hiking near the top now," Gudmundsson says. But Gardarsson, who has a tourist lodge at the foot of Hekla and also offers quad tours up that volcano, isn't worried. "I'm not that unlucky," he insists, conceding he always checks online volcanic activity measurements before heading up. And seeing what the Eyjafjoell eruption is doing for his business, Gardarsson wouldn't mind if Hekla blows too. "An eruption would be OK," he jokes, "as long as the wind blows away from me." — AFP-Relaxnews Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| At Iceland’s Phallological Museum, size is everything Posted: 24 Jul 2011 07:45 PM PDT HUSAVIK (Iceland), July 25 — From gigantic whale penises to speck-sized field mouse testicles and lampshades made from bull scrotums, Iceland's small Phallological Museum has it all — and recently put its first human member on display. "This is the biggest one," founder and curator Sigurdur Hjartarson told AFP, patting an enormous plastic canister. Inside was a liquid-immersed greyish-white mass as wide as a small tree trunk and as tall as a man.  A section of the Phallological Museum showing some of the exhibits. — AFP pic "The full penis could in fact be five metres and weigh something like 350kg to 450kg — but of course, the animal it came from weighed around 50 tonnes," said the 69-year-old retired headmaster, chuckling beneath his woolly, grey beard. A total 276 specimens from all of Iceland's 46 mammals, along with a few foreign contributions, are on show at what may be the world's only penis museum. The cramped room is filled with test tubes and glass containers in all shapes and sizes, holding formaldehyde-immersed offerings from whales, dolphins, walruses, redfish, goats, polar bears and rats, just to mention a few. The walls are decorated with massive dried penises, while several dried bull and reindeer organs have been transformed into whips and walking sticks. Fifteen silver-coloured casts of different-sized human penises also stand in a glass case below a picture of Iceland's 2008 silver medal-winning handball team. "Let's just say each has its original model," Hjartarson laughed heartily. "The only thing I can say is that the order on the picture is not the same as the casts, but I'm sure their wives would recognise them." The Icelander's collection started with a story in 1974. He recalled to some friends how as a child he was given a whip made of a bull's penis to take the cows out to pasture. One of the friends responded by sending him a new one. Soon acquaintances working at nearby whaling stations heard the tale and "they stated bringing me whale penises, too." After that, the collection took on a life of its own. The museum, which Hjartarson opened in Reykjavik in 1997 with 62 specimens, has since 2004 found an unlikely home in the small northern fishing village of Husavik, population 2,200. Unmissable with a huge wooden phallus sculpture outside, the museum has drawn up to 11,000 visitors during its May-September season — and even more notoriety this year when the first human member joined the mix. It was donated by 95-year-old Pall Arason, a friend Hjartarson described as a "a pioneer in Icelandic tourism and a famous womaniser" who died in January but had promised his organ to the museum in 1996. "I'd been waiting for him for 15 years," Hjartarson joked. Glancing down at the glass container holding a greyish-brown, shrivelled mass, he admitted that "the preservation was not successful". "I should have stretched it and sewn it at the back to keep it in more or less a normal position" but it "went directly into the formaldehyde" instead. Visitor Martin Thorsen, a 43-year-old Icelander, said he was astounded by the whales though "kind of disappointed by the homo sapiens". But Hjartarson shrugged off the mishap. "It doesn't really matter. He was an old guy and I will get a younger and a bigger and better one soon," he said, pointing out that he has donation letters from a Briton, a German and an American. Hjartarson admits that Husavik locals were at first sceptical "but when people realised there was nothing pornographic here, they came to accept it." Karin Konradt, 65, and husband Dieter, 64, said they heard about the museum back home in Germany and made it one of their first stops on a two-week trip to Iceland. "It sounded interesting, so here we are," Karin said, nodding towards a "quite impressive" mounted whale penis jutting out into the room. "But I am wondering what children think about this when they come in. I hope their parents talk to them and don't leave them alone," the retired teacher said with a wrinkled brow. Hjartarson, who carves his own wooden penises that cover the museum's phone, wall clock and chandelier, said whether he'll make a personal donation to the collection depends on his wife of 50 years. "If she dies first, my specimen would go in here," he said. "If I die first, well I can't say. She might say no." — AFP-Relaxnews Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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