Harrytur, what’s that? I was not familiar with the concept before, so I asked around, and the answer astonished me! Norwegians going to Sweden to buy cheap food?
I’ve always thought Norwegians have more than enough money, even for the most expensive country in Europe. But apparently the food in Sweden is so cheap that Norwegians can’t resist.
So I told myself I will not do that. I will not go on a Harrytur, because I believe that the money I’m making in Norway should be spent in Norway and that’s merely my opinion, and when I shared it with other immigrants here, they told me "the price level is not the only reason we go to the Swedish border".
I was intrigued, what other reason than money could that be?
Halal meat, that was their answer. Apparently Halal meat is hard to get in Norway, so they travel to Sweden every week to shop there, then I asked them how much do they spend on the road going back and forth every week? That’s when I was struck again.
"We go for free" someone said, "there’s a bus that take us for free to the Swedish shops over the border" another said.
At that moment I was determined to go with them to do a story, and maybe buy me some cheap chocolate and wine!
I called the guy responsible of the bus to book a place in advance, and luckily I found a place on the bus.
Next morning, I went to the stop where the bus would leave for Sweden, and there were a lot of immigrants waiting for their turn to get on the free ride to the border.
We drove to Asker first to pick up some more people, and after that to Sandvika, where more immigrants hopped on, plus two Norwegian ladies (my guess was they were alcohol shoppers).
On our arrival in Sweden, people rushed into a mall with normal shop and body building shop, but the people seemed to go to one particular shop, Taste Land, which is a Halal store, at first glance it seemed I was back in the Middle East,
They had all the goods that you can find in the Middle East and north Africa, even the atmosphere, and the smell, was Middle Eastern.
I couldn’t resist the prices so I bought some stuff there and then turned to the Swedish store to buy some cheap beer and pork, funny to mention that while I was going to the Swedish store Maxi Mat, some of the guys warned me that this place doesn’t sell Halal meat. He didn't know that I was going to buy bacon and pork and not chicken.
By the way, in the Halal store there were four queues. Each one has at least one-hour waiting time till you reached the cashier.
On the way back I asked the bus driver why the trip was free?
The answer I got was that the Halal store pays for all the buses that bring people over from the expensive side of the border.
When I asked some of the immigrants how much money did they spend in Sweden that day, they said about 5000 NOK per person, and that would’ve cost them almost 8000 NOK in Norway
They said that almost 75% of their budget is for food and other stuff from Sweden, and with the amount of money the government giving them now, they cannot buy enough food in Norway!
Finally, I have to say that I understand why immigrants and refugees take this Halaltur, but I was surprised to see more than three Porsches and four Teslas with Norwegian plates on Harry-shopping.