Suomi!!!

So I'm finally home! The best place on the planet. It's fucking freezing, even though it's supposed to be a warm spring but it's great. It was awesome to surprise my friends, most of them had no clue I was coming. They are greatest people on the planet. It's was nice to spend a evening with people who all you like, no one you have to tolerate.

I should try to get my lazy ass into university, finally. So spring is gonna be hard core studying. But I'm planing new trips too. Let's see. If you are in Finland, let me know.

But now. It must be time to sum stuff up. I would like to start with a list of some high lights:
-Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
-Lake Baikal, Russia
-Ulan Ude, Russia
-Gobi desert, Mongolia
-Beijing, China
-Monkey Jane's, Yangshou, China
-All the massages I got
-M.A.S.H guest hous, Sihanoukville, Cambodia
-First views to the jungle in Taman Negara, Malesia
-Water falls, Luan Prapang, Laos because it was so impressive, the ones on Koh Chan, Thailand for more personal reasons
-That cool bar in Chian Mai, Thailand
-My 21th birthday on Don Det, Laos
-Bangkok,Thailand for shopping. The week end market is pretty over whelming
-Getting my first tattoo in Bangkok. A cute Singapori guy did it
-The markets. The ones with live chickens, weird medicines, tons of flies and smell of dried fish and the ones with cool handicraft souvenirs
-Yagon, Myanmar. The biggest culture shock on the trip
-Bagan, Myanmar
-Buddha Park, Vientiane, Laos. Weirdest sight ever.

The true high light on the trip, however, were the people. So thank you Olga, Flo, Vidar, Frank, Tilman, Fracisco, Franzesko, Stine, Hanne, Dan, Makic (even), LAsse, Heli, Susi, Hila, Or, Martin, Tom, Jane, Jason, Mike, Jean-MArie, Dinah, David, Marty, Nadia, Billy, Sussu, Sarah, Carina, Franziska, Ilse, Niko, Stilman, Kim, Erik, Mary, Atro and many others.

I'm probably gonna continue writing in Finnish from now on but some pictures should appear. Plus I have this thing written in English about traveling. Maybe later. Take care.

Guten Abend.

Europe is the best continent on the planet. That's a fact. I'm a euro girl. At least that's what I felt like when I had my first Finlandese sandwich on the Dusseldorf rail way station. On the second bite I also noticed I have been here before. Didn't even remember that...

Everybody speaks a language I know (well, sort of), it's not that cold, I think you can drink tap water and flush toilet paper, my hair is finally straight, my hostel is nice (whopping 22 euros, though) and I can't stop smiling. The time difference is six hours but I feel super. It's like 3 am. in Bangkok and I got up at six. I'm a bit worried it's gonna hit me tomorrow. The whole thing.

'Cause it wasn't like this this morning. I was swallowing tears when I realized I really had to leave Bangkok and Asia in general. It was pretty bad. And the thing about flying is that Banglamphoo still feels like it's round the corner. Unfortunately, it's pretty fucking far.

How will I ever explain this? The whole thing.

More about diving

My new love deserves some more time and effort. So I took a scuba diving course in Koh Tao Thailand and it was great. I'm a certificated open water diver diver now. Cool. Our group was nice and the instructor, Jack, was excellent. Good combination of stupid jokes and proffessionalism. Plus he has taught over 5000 people how to dive.

If you know me, you might guess that this wasn't easy for me. I am what they call, well, chicken shit. Basically scared of everything and that is because I hurt myself everywhere it is possible. And it wasn't easy for me this either. Or let say it was a bit more challenging for me than for most of the people in our group. But I wasn't that bad. Just needed some special attention from Jack. Finally I made him proud by finally getting right stuff everybody else was capable of doing the day before. Seriously, diving is easy. Anybody can do it, if I can.

If you have read this blog before you might remember that I have mentioned being a big water person. I guess everybody has an element they are most comfortable with. (That might be New age crap, though.) Of course, that made diving fun for me. Or maybe it was just the nitrogen. There are fish too. Anyways, I couldn't stop smiling after a dive. You just feel so fucking serene.

Now I'm back in Bangkok and doing my other favourite activity, shopping. And eating. Verna, Ella, teidan uni saattaa toetua siis...

I kid you not

...I was down in 18 meters today. And took my mask off. Have video to prove it. Yesterday I was swimming next to a turtle. Diving is the best thing I've ever done. The cliches are true.

Unfortunately, tomorrow Bangkok and reality calls again.

Happy women's day.

Kiitos kaikille numeroista...

More random shots from Burma

Some pics from Burma

Hi! I'm a enviroment friendly napkin

Sometimes I wish the whole world would be like a coffee house. You know, maybe not Starbucks, but like that. Color harmony, nice backround music, smell of coffee, stylish pictures on the wall and all that. Your biggest problem is choosing between a latte and frappucino. Your paying ridiculous prices of course but you don't care 'cause you know your also paying for the nice staff, magazines, nices couches and armchairs and clean toilets. They are the same everywhere in the world, only with charming local influences like in Finland rye bread, not drunken idiots. Maybe there are black and white photos of local old people on the walls or perhaps paintings from a young artist.

You feel like the world is a good and juste place, you read a pamphlet that tells you that the farmers get enough money for the coffee beans. A sign politely asks you to use as little as possible of plastic spoons. The napkins have a message.

However, the actual beauty of these kind of places lies in the fact that they are havens. After an hour or two in one you feel more armed to deal with hars world. Fortunatly today, I didn't even have to do that. After a cappucino and a tomato wrap I started my small excursion to Hong Kong. Loved it. Much more humane than I thought. Plus, if you look it down from the Peak, (a hill there) you notice that a huge part of the Hong Kong island is green. Very green, it's like jungle.

Yesterday wasn't bad either. Walking around in Macao which is a weird place but I like it. Makes me miss China and Europe. And of course, I'm visiting Olli, a good friend from back home. He shares apparment with a central location and a nice room mate. No complains.

I've been working my way up

Mingalabaa. "Hi" in Burmese. You don't have to know that. Everybody will hello you anyways.

Where to start? Missed me? Well, today has been my last day in Myanmar and I'm back in Yagon. It's still a cool city. I haven't been writing 'cause outside Yagon and Mandalay Net costs you almost 3 bucks. And I've been lazy. So I guess it's time to sum up the country. It's not a party capital so it has had a climbing theme. Let me explain.

Like I told you guys earlier, I went to Hpan An on to do I a random pilgrim thing on 772 meter mountain. I went to test my now smoke-free lungs. I was still out of breath after like 10 meters but I didn't get this disturbing pain on my chest like I used to. I guess that's something.

Next was the Golden Rock. There was the one hour climb and my first taste of the massive Burmese internal tourism. The cool thing about this country is that the sites are actually more exciting for locals than for foreign tourists.

The Golden rock is just that, a golden rock. It's supposed to be there 'cause couple of thousand years ago Buddha gave his hair to someone. A pagoda here Yagon has the same story and it's the most famous site in the country. The guy covered it with gold, people took this a bit too far and still add layers on it. So there is a big rock on a cliff on a small mountain and pagoda round it. If it doesn't have any religious meaning to you, it can feel a bit odd. But the hike up was fun with people selling bear parts and all the Burmese ladies admiring my "round eyes" and white skin.

Then a bit of climbing in Bago to a couple of pagodas.

After an real 28-hours-on-the-road-mission I finally did reach Bagan. Well worth it. Got a nice cheap room and ended up staying five days. Bagan is like Angkor Wat but nicer, I think. The temples are smaller but more close to each other so the area is cooler. You get good views on a endless field of pagodas. The roads are paved (thank you government forced labor on tourist sites) and ideal for biking. For one day I hired a horse cart with a German couple to see more remote temples.

The place also so differs from Angkor drastically when it comes to number of beggars, souvenir sellers and tour groups. There is totally enough though.

So, in Bagan there was a lot of climbing to get pictures of the pagoda fields.

Next was the famous Mandalay. On the bus there (which had to wait for me for a half hour, not my fault) I met the lovely Dutch girl, Ilse. We were both were at the same stage of our trips and had a lot of similar experiences to share. She convinced (well, I just told her I'm gonna come with her) me to go the beach for a couple of days. I convinced her to stop at Kalaw after Inle lake.

In Mandalay we climbed the Mandalay hill which was nice, I guess. The city it self is not knocker though. Very polluted and shit. However, we visited a nice monastery and got essential South East Asia experience of being offered tea and biscuits ( pop corn balls with sugar) by a toothless nun who doesn't speak any English. Great. Something I can tick out of my To Do -list. Then we went to see pythons getting a bath in a temple. Again, locals getting kicks out of weird stuff. Then Inwa a town near by. Climbed a watch tower. Not very tall.

In the evening we got to see the Moustache Brothers which was fun. They were ripping us off and making jokes about it. It's a stand up kind of thing with some Burmese dancing and a clip from About a boy. The show is famous because they two of the brothers went to prison for making jokes about the government and bunch of Hollywood stars made a fuzz about it. Rich people wanna do goo stuff too, you know. Now the shows in English and the government tolerates it.

Next destination was Inle lake and there was no climbing. Hardly even walking. We took a boat for the day and went around the beautiful lake. Some places had that great human zoo feeling with the long-neck Karen girls (you know, the ones with the dozen metal rings on their neck) but most of it was great fun. Another weird Burmese thing can be found on the lake. A monastery where the monks have trained cats to jump through hoops. How bizaar. Again.

Then we headed to Kalaw. The trekking HQ. We did a 15 km six hour trek to two villages. There was plenty of climbing. Enough. The villages were nice and everything but it's not my thing. I really love trekking in the nature and seeing people pass me, maybe talk to them for a while, you know interaction in a natural way or something. But I just think it feels odd to treat a village as a site. I don't know. Plus, it's hard to turn down people selling you stuff there. Even though you don't want or need it. Fortunately I'm becoming heartless.

We got out of Kalaw pretty quickly, partly 'cause it was fucking cold. During night time it got down to 4 celcius. The days were T-shirt weather though. We started our odyssey to reach the beach.

After 29 or so hours we finally did. Chaungtan may not be the most pristine one on the Bay of Bengal but it was the only reachable and affordable one. And it was pretty enough. And I'm just happy as kid when there are waves. On my last they there I was unfortunately so badly burned that I couldn't even swim. It was again a cool place to watch the Burmese on holiday. Swimming fully clothed and taking portrait pictures with stupid straw hats. There were also monks begging every morning and ladies trying to sell the same fish whole day.

The staff at our resort was the nicest in Myanmar, possibly on the whole trip. Me and Ilse just laid on the beach chairs right outside the hotel and somebody came to ask what we want for our next meal. So much for being a good traveler and spreading your money around. We were just so tired. It was just nice to not do anything and not to go anywhere. I finished Buddhism explained and Burmese days. Orwell never fails but I still don't know much about Buddhism.

As a whole, I think I saw a lot of Myanmar. But just the touristy stuff. I'm happy I came, I'm happy to leave. It was a bit more expensive than I thought. The other alternative is to take a tour. I'm not judging anyone's way of traveling but I'm saying fuck those people. I'm not saying I spreaded the the gospel of democracy here or anything but people should at least have the decency not come to totally poor underdeveloped country and go around just flying and sleeping in luxury hotels. Plus they are the people the government wants here 'cause they really don't have any contact with the people and most of the money goes straight in to the officials pockets. Plus, they make it more expensive for the rest of us.

The famously nice Burmese are also very poor so the walking ATM thing is very strong. Today like two people ripped me off. In one case a monk was heavily involved. Well, it's not big money, less than a euro combined but it's more the principle. But at least I learned I was born on Friday which means my lucky planet is Venus and my lucky animal is a hamster.

Traveling here is hard but can be done. A big part of the fun is that there are no tourist bail outs. No tourist buses, most of them look like their trying to set a world record every time they set off. A lot of shitty roads and all that of course too. No credit cards so you really have to make you buck last. You are still a wonder to many locals. People wanna take your picture and wanna practise their English.

The government thing is weird too. It's a lot of passport controls and you are not allowed to go everywhere. There are a lot of ministries and military stuff. People are either so poor that they don't care, (that's what the government wants and is keeping them that way) or they are a bit richer and they seem to treat the whole thing as a necessary evil. "It's too risky to do anything about it so let's just bend the rules" -attitude is strong here, I think. That's only natural of course. If you work hard to get a bit ahead, you also have more to loose. It's just a shame that now most of the country's population are living in the same way as they did 50 years ago. A lot of things seem to not have changed since Orwell's Burmese days. The guy on the next computer is up loading porn though. The wonders oft he world wide web.

So, tomorrow I should be flying out and might be greeted by a familiar face in the evening. Cool.
I would like to end with a Mark Twain quote which an American guy I shared a room with told me yesterday: "Don't let schooling come in the way of you education".

Ps. There was also too much Indian food involved.

I will not let thee go unless thee bless me

The same Bible quote in two books in a row. Read Zadie Smiths On Beauty. It' pretty great.

I'm still in Myanmar, in Bago now. I've been doing pilgrim stuff - climbing to places that is. In Phan an, on the 772m climb I really had to tell myself it's usually worth it. I guess it was. There was a cute kitsch monastery on top. And it was quite, nobody was shouting "Hey you, where you go?!"

Climbing the golden rock was less challenging but with sore muscles, it was something. But well worth it. And on the way back I met a burmese christian couple who wanted to take their fellow christian to dinner. They were a bit disappointed when I had no idea how to say grace.

There has also been a lot of time spend on pick ups and one major bus brake down. Talk about rubbing shoulders with the people. Tonigth I start my mission to reach Bagan. Doing good.

Right then

It's my second day in Myanmar. It's fucking amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Yagon is an unbelievable city. Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong or doesn't enjoy the same things as I. Walking around, taking in the atmosphere, smelling and seeing weird stuff, watching the people and admiring the beautiful houses. Are they beautiful is of course a good question since the ancient colonial buildings with bright colors have seen better days. But that's the way I like it. You don't need activities here. Every evening you're still exhausted.

This place is just so colorful in every way. Everybody is wearing longyis. Actually, not all, some have saris, burkhas or even western clothing. Everybody loves sitting in tea shops, anyways. People have weird paint on their faces. I guess for sun protection. Street food is good and almost free. Everything is deep fried, though. There are churches, wats, temples, synagogues and mosques here. It's nice to hear the call for prayer again. The place definitely has chinese influences and I can imagine it's also a lot like India. Some how it also reminds me of Egypt.

It's just so far from the Kafka-like place I had in my head, when I thought of Myanmar. People are more openly anti-government than I expected. And at least here the internet works in a normal way.

However it's also a hars place. It's very dirty, everybody spits red disgusting stuff around. There are a lot of beggars and people stare at you. Men shout at you (nice things though). The cars are older than I am. There are holes on the streets.

I don't wanna get into any kind of trouble here. The guy I changed money with told me that the guy I spoke earlier to just went to jail. Or I misunderstood, don't know. Changing money is funny business. Black market rates beat the official ones so well, that everybody uses them. Plus it's fun. You sit in a tea shop and get feeling your doing business.

When I was leaving Bangkok I was seriously questioning could I do the third world thing any more? All the chaos? Mosquitoes? (still not taking anti-malaria...)_ It was just so nice to have all the things Bangkok has. But when I got here I realised, fuck yeah, this is what I love. It's just so fucking different from home and in fact, anything I've ever seen. And in a way it's not. People go on living even though the governments suck every where (okay, this one sucks big time). Anyway, you can buy Avril Lavine posters and listen to local hip hop here.

The other side of it is that I am really tired. I miss home. I'm fucking lonely. There I said it. It's not all fun and games. I'm so sick of making new friends. I miss the ones I have! I don't think I would have made this far or this for this long if it wasn't for the internet. It's better to be on-line than just to keep all in your head. God knows I have had more than enough time to reflect on this trip.

But don't be worried. It's still fun and I'm learning. Hope you are too.

As a closure, I would like to recommend a excellent book, specially for traveling anywhere. Karen Blixen's Out of Africa.

Big News and Commitments

http://www.basso.fi/uutiset.php?id=1432

Tomorrow it's of to Myanmar - maybe. Unfortunately by plane. If karma and the officials are on my side. We'll see.

Few days ago I ran into Flo, my old pal back from Siberia! And Franziska came here to spend a couple of days with me. With friends Bangkok is even cooler!

Yesterday me and Franziska went to this roof top bar on Khao San. Being in the most touristy area in Bangkok, we didn't expect much. However, we found a huge thai band of the cutest guys I've seen in a while playing some disorganized but fun music. We were the only people there not involved in it some how. The beauty of Thailand. If you understand the concept of thai rastas, you know what I mean. Cambodia doesn't exactly have that.

A Life in a Day

From the boat
Me trying a new dress on. There's no big mirror in my room.

Me after the market and a good indian dinner yesterday.

http://www.viceland.com/int/dd.php?id=642&country=se

Well. Some of you might be wondering what am I actually doing in Asia. So I thought it might be a good idea to take you through a few days in Bangkok.

26th of Jan 2007

I got here at 5 am after 10 hour bus ride from Chiang Mai. The bus was okay, I was well prepared. I had my hoodie, pashmina and two blankets from the bus. Still it could have been warmer. Fucking air con.

It was cool coming to Bangkok again, it's always a nice feeling when you get to a place been to before, particularly if it's 5 am. I found the guest house Carina had told me about and checked inn. I got a weird room. It has air con which I don't need, no bathroom and two beds. And it's quite expensive. I only stay there 'cause it has a wooden floor and a high ceiling, hence it reminds me of my place back home.

Anyway. After I checked in I went to sleep for a couple of hours. Then I just walked around, checked out if Khao san is the same as a couple of months ago. It was. My favorite designer had a shop now, though.

The I went to have curry for dinner in a place where they showed the Blood Diamond.

27th of Jan 2007

I decided to follow more of Carinas advice and went look for a Saturday market near the university. I found it. Then I went looking for a amulet market, found that too. I spend a few hours choosing the six amulets I ended up buying. Then I walked to China town which is like a huge market selling flowers, fruits, food, Buddha statues, chinese medicine and other stuff.

The whole way on from the first market was actually continuous market on my right and on my left I could marvel the Grand palace and beautiful wats. Didn't go in 'cause I was wearing a top. On the way I met a South African woman who had had her money belt stolen and was now trying to find a bank that was open. She asked to borrow my guide book and we chatted for a while. I was proud of myself for not smoking when she offer. I quit like four days ago.

From China town I headed back to Banglamphoo, where my guest house is. With dinner I watched Brokeback mountain and Baabel.

28th of Jan 2007

I went on my big mission. I was determent to Chatuchack market. It's actually easy to get there but some how I was sure I'm gonna fuck it up. It takes a boat and two different lines on the sky train. When I was looking at my map some where a very nice looking police officer came to help me.

Anyways, the trip was good. From the boat it's cool to watch how people here stretch their houses on the water. Back home we just live by the water. that might be because we don't wanna pollute the water in any way, though... Getting there also gave me a better picture of Bangkok. I noticed some places me and Francisco were when we were lost in Bangkok.

Nothing could have prepared me to what I was about to encounter. I was told that the market is big or even huge. It was bloody enormous. I think I didn't see half of it. Best of all, it's not just a typical Asian market. There's also cool vintage clothing and young designers selling their stuff. I bought six shirts. I don't wanna think about the money I spend.

When I got to Banlamphoo I was exhausted. As you can see above.

Today I have done absolutely nothing. Had a good chat with an indian-american guy who lives here. Wearing a watch is good. It's a reason for people to come up and talk to you.

Every day I make small notes in my head about the life here. Some times I write them down sometimes I don't. Everyday I think about Finland, Helsinki and all the people there. There are also a lot of people in other parts of the world I think about every day. I wouldn't say I'm lonely or home sick but I do spend a lot of time on the Internet.

Often I'm tormented with guilt for being here. I feel so privileged. I feel like I'm not doing enough, seeing enough. But one thing I set out to do, I've done. I came to see if people actually live like they do on travel programs. And fuck me, they do! I have had some extremely surreal moments on this trip because of that. It's funny how easy you also get used to it. After a while, living chickens on the markets, fried crickets, tuktuks, monks and packed buses stop amazing you. They don't annoy you either. They just are.

The thing I have to tell myself all the time that it's okay to eat western food. Actually I have to. Rice is coming out of my ears, noodles I haven't been able to eat since Mongolia and I'm still going to places where there is nothing else.

One thing I thought I would do and haven't done was working or at least taking part in some projects. I justify myself by saying that I haven't stayed in one place long enough for me to do that. Or maybe I've just been lazy and enjoyed being a tourist. 'Cause that's what I've been, for almost six months now.

I don't think I'm gonna travel like this ever again. My next big trip is gonna be about learning a language getting integrated into another society. But that's not to say I haven't enjoyed every minute of this one. Traveling is fucking cool, man! Do it.

Thailand's defence

-not that it really needs one. It's fucking cool. All you hippie backpacker three hugging world healers might say otherwise, but I know what you are really thinking. Why? 'Cause I'm always right and I'm one of you.

And this what you all say: Thailand is too touristy.

Well, of course people come here. It's pretty, there's lots do, it's fairly safe, people are friendly, it's easy to travel and it's cheaper than back home. Anyways, what you are saying is there's nothing wrong with Thailand per se, just the people who come here annoy you. Whatever. I guess you are right on that one.

Of course, you have the right to go to the remote areas, off the beaten track, where it's more authentic, where the real Thailand or the real Asia is. Be my guest. I just hope you are not taking part in making more areas depended on the unpredictable tourist industry and turning more villages in to human zoos. But of course not, you are special.

Some people say that Northern Thailand is more authentic. I was just there. I wouldn't call it more authentic than for example Bangkok. Here is a very important thing for all you hippies to think about: A MULTIMILLION CITY CAN NEVER BE JUST TOURISTY. Who said you just need to walk Khao San up and down? (Although, I think Khao San's cool. There's so good shopping to be done and some very good looking people among the idiots.) Go a couple of street down and the number of dreaded whities goes down.

And the islands being touristy? Well, if you have been on one, you know why. They are fucking amazing. Of course people go there! And all of them offer different kinds of atmospheres. (Not sure, though. Only been on one. I guess that was touristy, but there were some Thai people living there too.)

The other point you hippies bring up, is that Thailand is too western. You meant to say developed, right? It horrible that streets are paved, isn't' it? I don't think it's very western. Thailand is a country with very uniq own culture. Like most countries. I think it's cute, a bit kitsch, great and interesting. Influence from west and the existence of a middle class have created ground for a very cool youth culture. You don't see that everywhere in South east Asia.

Long live the King!

Familiar feeling

I can't believe it. Yesterday I was actually glorifying hang over. That must be good enough proof that I don't drink as much as home. It's funny. My friends back home would not believe how little I drink here and the friends I've met while traveling could not believe how much I used to drink back home.

Yesterday me and Carina were celebrating our last night together, at least for now. We were in one of the coolest bars in South east Asia, got to smoke shiisha and I ended up eating a fried maggot and Carina stole bananas. All in all, very funny and confusing.

Anyways. I'm in Chiang Mai at the moment. It's a cool city with a huge night market but so far, I would give our last stop, Chiang Rai even a higher grade. Funny town with the best tourist infrastructure I've ever seen but the place seems to be doing just fine without us too. Only the extremely scary dogs were the downside. They obviously target on tourists.

ONNEA MANDI!!!!!!

The israeli
School kids in Honsa
Thailand on the other side of the river.

Voi Mandi, aivan mieletonta. Ihanaa! Mahtavaa, etta kaikki meni lopulta kuitenkin hyvin... Voimia! Kiitos kun jaksoit ilmoittaa.

Man, I can't believe it! My friend just had a baby! Another thing to look forward for when I get home! It's gonna be great.

All that still seems a bit distant now. I'm leaving Laos, my favourite country so far and going to northern Thailand. I'm still traveling with the lovely Carina. We got kind of stuck in Luang Prapang for six days or so but we kind of did stuff too. Like kayaking which was cool and, most importantly, still falls into the "can be done in flip flops*" -activity category.

Then, couple of days in Hongsa with the resident Israeli. And no, there is no elephant center there. They work in the jungle. However, it's easy enough to organize a ride and it's definitely a nice sleepy little Lao village.

I'm sad about leaving, especially ' cause I'm already regretting not doing the Gibbon experience (Google!) and not going to the Bolaven plateau down south. That's where the good coffee is from). But hey, now I have a reason to come back. Sweet.

*Flip flops. A funny anecdote about them. A couple of days ago I was a proud owner of, not one, but two pairs of them. Some how, I lost them both in a couple of days. For me thoug, that's just a good reason for buying new ones. I went for the classic black rubber.

Sabaidee!

A few more pics from Vientiane. The temple is on the cover of LP Laos.

Franziska, Carina and Atro eating sticky rice.

People taking pictures of the sun set on a hill in Luang Prapang.

Buddha cave

Still in Laos and it still rocks!

I got to Luang Prapang yesterday with my German-Australian-Finnish traveling crew and we are all loving it. This is a pretty UNESCO world heritage town with the best souvenir market ever (AUCH!). The only down side is that it's proper cold here during the night and after all this time in South-east Asia I have only one shirt with long sleeves. Oh well, I'm Finnish after all.

Our last stop was the backpacker hell of Vang Vieng. It was pretty bad. But the place is beautiful and the ones from our cynical group who got into the river with the tube, truly enjoyed it. And our bungalows were nice.

Our conversations mainly involve pains and aching but we are having fun. Hope you are too. Big thanks to everybody who remembered my birthday!

This time I'll take it slow

Few pics from the lovely Don Det

Few pics from Buddha park

So. Again I GOT MY CAMERA AND MY CELL PHONE STOLEN. I was kind of stupid with my stuff so this was very predictable. But good things always come from bad things. As a result of my extra day in Stung Treng I met two nice girls, Fransis and Carina, went to the peaceful river island of Don Det with them. We stayed next to a Reggae bar, where was the only party on the island for New years. We mainly ended up watching the fun from distance of our bungalow balcony.

My birthday was great. The girls, nicest Canadian couple ever and I decided to celebrate on the second, 'cause we were all together. Of course, being in Laos, you have to celebrate with a happy cake. On the menu it said it's feeds 4 people. Eventually there was six of us and I can say everybody had enough cake. There was even some left for the next day. It was fun.

Whole Don det thing was cool. Nice, quite, good food, interesting people. I even got to meet the legendary Grant, the Scottish crazy man. It was also extremely beautiful and I though it was a shame I can't show you pictures. But my personal travel agent, Francis lended me her extra camera for the rest of my trip, so I guess I will get some pictures on line at some point.

This morning me and Francis arrived to Vientiane. All the legends are true. Scandinavian bakery is great, the traffic is humane and the National history museum was hilarious. And bus ride was luxury.

By the way, you metal fans. Check out the link to Tuska-festival. The rest of you, check out what the youth of Helsinki looks like on Hel looks.

Egyptian bells are ringing when it is her birthday

Haudi gang!

A lot has happened. First I left the rock and roll town of Phnom Penh, then I got my camera and cell phone stolen on the way, had to spend an extra day in Stung Treng try to fix a police report - like that would ever happen in Cambodia, then I met two great girls, went to Laos to a peaceful river island. Now I am heading to Vientiane. Excellent.

I ll slow down and tell you all about it. Later.

Kids on the block

I have to write again. It's been such a good day. Whole PP seems to be in a good mood today. I tried smiling for the first time in while when dealing with the tuk-tuk drivers and I'll be damned, it worked! The guy said, okay, with your smile, 2 dollars less. I was trying to get to the Killing fields where the Khmer Rouge slaughtered people. It's a peaceful place now but you can still see bones and clothing everywhere.

The drivers was good (meaning quite). No weird laughs or creepy pick up lines! Just the basic questions. Excellent!

Yesterday I went to visit an orphanage. The kids were extremely sweet and nice. But I realized that I'm really not good with kids!

When the guy working there had giving me tour in the place, he was like, okay, now you can go play with the kids. I freaked! What do I do? Every time I meet a child, I try to have a conversation with them. I ask what do they wanna do when they grow up, what kind of movies they like etc. But if their English is limited to very basics, I'm totally lost. But this guy there told me there's hope. It just takes a bit getting used to.

Because it was Christmas and all that I bought them rice for 30 dollars. I have to say that made me feel good. Even if I'm totally handicapped with playing, at least I can give them food.

One kid I do get a long with is this girl selling books on the street where my hostel (if you can call that crappy place that) is. When I first met her, she looked really starving and I bought her a bunch of bananas. Ever since we been on good terms. Last night she came to sit with me while I was having dinner. She was just smiling, drawing and drinking an orange juice. I think she didn't like it but was trying to be polite.

I asked her how old she was and I hope she answered wrong. She showed me that she is 13. That freaks me out because to me she looked more like 10. But then again, I don't know anything about kids.

That's the benefit of staying in one place for a while. You are a familiar face. I guess I shouldn't be so negative towards people approaching me. If they don't touch me (some do) I am fine. Anyways, in Finland I will probably miss people telling me I'm beautiful on the street.

Ps. Heli! Ostin just Valkoiset hampaat divarista! Tuli fiilis, etta se ois kiva lukea taas ja alkuperaiskielella... Meilaile, babe!

WTF?

I was planing on not writing for a couple of days but I really have to tell you guys about my Christmas Eve. Around seven o'clock when I got back to my hostel I heard music from the bar. I went to see what's happening and to my surprise there was a band playing and people singing in stupid Christmas costumes. Kids were running around, people were eating, drinking and dancing. Everything, including the Buddhist altar was decorated with neo lights and all kinds of other Christmas shit.

There was maybe 15 of us, who were guest at the hostel. Rest of the maybe hundred people there t were the people working there, their families and friends. There was a Santa Claus and he was dirty dancing with a Japanese tourist. Maybe it was the traditional Khmer herbs but, damn that was fun!

After a while I was convinced that I need a hamburger. Yesterday it seamed like a really funny idea (many things did) to eat a hamburger on Christmas eve. Well, after that and a few beers I was ready for bed. I think this was around ten o'clock or something. I think the party went on for several hours.