So, I’m back from Sweden (Stockholm, Malmo, and CPH Denmark to be exact.) This is my second trip to the Nordic countries, so it was a déjà vu walking around the cities. Yet contrary to my last winter visit it was the beginning of summer in this trip. So everything was different nonetheless.

I enjoyed the weather immensely. During the day the temperature reached 15-20 °C, and when the sun set it dropped to around 10 °C. But having over 18 hours of daylight it means it never gets too cold when you go out.

My shifted focus also contributed to the difference. That for sure points to my love for photography and soft-brewed coffee. The Nordic countries are known for their excellence in coffee, and in this trip I was lucky to have visited a number of nice cafes.

As always I tried my utmost efforts to avoid doing touristy stuff. My previous trip in 2012 gave me a fantastic opportunity to figure out what were the places I liked most and worth revisiting. The rise of social media on the other hand opened the door for attraction and gourmet discovery. Following a city’s official Instagram account a few months in advance and you’ll know where you’d like to visit next. Likewise Yelp was handy in finding food, both fine-dining and eating down to earth.

There was one glitch in this trip. I thought I’d get the local currencies through UnionPay on arrival. Unfortunately the local ATMs did not support Union Pay. But both Sweden and Denmark were cashless countries. As a matter of fact in most locations they preferred credit card to cash. We therefore survived a whole week without cash.

The cities of Stockholm, Copenhagen and Malmo were small. And they changed less rapidly than Hong Kong. Many restaurants and shops remained unchanged from my last stay. Perhaps the new encounters were sparked by my shifted attention. Therefore a city is never boring, unless you are.