Year full of travelling ♥

Year is ending soon and now is time to check all the places I travelled this year!

On February it was time for Japan! I discovered that I have distant relatives living there and I had an opportunity to go and meet them ♥ So on Valentines Day I headed to Osaka. I bought my tickets from Stockmans's Hullut Päivät-event and they cost only ~600€. My relatives were really kind and let me stay at their place and they took me to many places. It was so nice! I had a good change also to travel alone around Osaka and Kioto and it was really nice to just walk and look around. We went to Nara as well and we saw deers and temples. Finnish readers can read my posts from Japan in my main blog Matsukaze, starting from here. Actually this was my second time in Japan. I went to Tokyo for a month couple years ago and it was amazing trip. I need to write about it here too.

Kinkakuji - the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan.

June was really chilly this year but regardless of that my boyfriend told me that we are going north around midsummer. V's dad lend his car to us and we tuned it so that we could sleep in the back space of it. Our roadtrip started on 20th of June and we headed straight to north. We stopped in many places here in Finland because I wanted to see and explore my own country as well. It was actually my first time in Lapland so I was thrilled to see it. Unfortunately the weather was really cold and it made sleeping on first night really hard. But we learned from the trip so much so we are better equipped when we decide to go on a roadtrip again! The northest point where we went was Tromssa, Norway, but we didn't spend much time in there. The views in the northern Norway are unbelievable! We reserved a cabin from caravan site in Birtavarre and slept there one night. When we came back to Finland we visited Santa Claus in Rovaniemi and took a bit different route back to home. We went to Sweden also at some point when we drove near the border. Here is our route:

Actually we went back to Rauma but Google Maps can mark only ten places at the same time...

Tromssa seen from top of fjeld.

On September I went to Stockholm with my boyfriend but this time it wasn't for leisure; it was a trip to hell and back, to be more precise, trip to seminar where my opponent crushed me mentally. I survived, barely. Truth to be told, I don't really want to even remember this trip, but for your sake I will tell shortly our tour in Stockholm. We went there by boat because its really convenient and cheap way to travel from Turku or Helsinki to Stockholm. We arrived there on morning and travelled with tunnelbana (metro, subway, underground, you name it) to the centre of the city. We spend some time in nice cafe called Espresso House since there was a wi-fi and after that I wanted to show Gamla Stan (Old Town) to my boyfriend. It's really easy to go there with tunnelbana and it's truly a very beautiful place. You can find duty free shops and other small boutiques from there and also Royal Palace, Parliament House and Storkyrkan (the Great Church) among other things. Remember to wear good shoes before going there! After out tour in Gamla Stan we met with my teacher in T-centralen- station and went together to Stockholm University where my seminar was held. Our campus is really beautiful, especially in summer. It takes quite long to walk from the tunnelbana station to there and many students go there by bus. Anyways I had my horrible seminar and after that we went back to city centre and had some food in a Japanese restaurant. Unfortunately I was in shock still and I can't remember the name or exact location of the restaurant. The food was ok, nothing special, or it could also be because I didn't really have any appetite at that time. We came back to Finland with an evening boat, so it was only a day in Stockholm trip.

On October I went to Thailand as those who have read my blog can remember. Firts we went to Hua Hin and stayed there for a few days and then headed to Bangkok. You can read more from my previous posts! Thailand was really exotic for a Finnish girl and the best part was when we went to the jungle and waterfall. I hope I can have a change to see something as beautiful again someday.

On November, we decided together with my friend Elina to go celebrate our birthdays to Istanbul, Turkey. This was my second time in Turkey but first time in Istanbul and I really fell in love. For more information about Istanbul, please see my previous post! :) I really want to go there again for a longer period.

Istanbul on evening

On December I went again to Stockholm, but this time I went to see a Japanese band called One Ok Rock. Together was my best buddy Jonna and we sailed trought the storm (literally) to hop on a broken tunnelbana (literally) to find a expensive taxi (literally) who would take as to our hotel with the price of 666SEK. Literally. I mean what is the chances that the price is exactly 666? I must say that someone downstairs didn't like us showing our faces in Stockholm that night! Anyway we found our way to the place where the gig was held and everything was ok. Next day we did some shopping in Drottning-street which is easy to access from Gamla Stan. It's really popular shopping street in Stockholm and I found lots of nice staff (including Christmas presents) from there.

Truth to be told this was the busiest year of mine so far and I LOVED it. I had a chance to travel so many places with nice people so I feel very grateful. All in all I went to 5 different countries in one year. I wish next year will be full of travelling again. Next trip is planned to be on February but I'm not sure yet whether to go or not, because I need to safe money for my student exchange in Japan.

I wish you all a happy New Year 2015 and I hope you will have a chance to see many new places during it!

Historical Istanbul ♥

I had a change to go and see Istanbul this fall and I think I fell in love. I mean Istanbul has so much to offer for a traveller and those who love history (read: peoples like me).

Our journey took place in early November as we flew with Turkish Airlines from Helsinki to Istanbul. The travel time was really nice compared to the long flights to Asia! Only 3-4 hours and we were there. I think Turkish Airlines was chosen as a best European airline in some competition, but I have to wonder why. Well it wasn't bad, but the crew was all over the place and there was not enough food for everyone (or was, but not what they wanted to eat).

Anyway, we arrived to Istanbul and took a taxi to the hotel. Our hotel was situated in the old town and it was bit hard to find. The view was quite nice along the way although it was already completely dark as we arrived in the evening. It took as quite some time to reach the hotel because of the traffic jams and everything and when we finally arrived we found out that there had been some kind of mistake and the room was double booked. Well, we were sent to another hotel which was under the same name and in the same area, just a bit closer to the shops and everything so infact it was a good thing for us.

The hotel was nice and the staff was nice but the room was not what we expected. We had booked a suite because it was super cheap (like normal room price) and we only got... well, a normal room. It wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't a suite! :(

We decided to go and look around the surroundings on that same evening and we found out that Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia were basically on our backyard! It was a really amazing sight with the dark sky, gorgeous mosque with lights and all the people around.

Bangkok, Thailand

After 4 days in Hua Hin it was time to head back to Bangkok. Our plan was to take a bus, but eventually we just grabbed a big taxi and went with that. It didn't take as much time to go Bangkok as it took when we came to Hua Hin with taxi, so that was a big plus. Still, the way there is pretty boring and I slept some of the time. When we were near Bangkok I noticed that the sky was getting darker and darker and at some point it started to rain.

We stayed in a hotel named Bangkok City Hotel and our room was quite nice. It appears that there is many hotels with 'Bangkok' in their names, so taxi drivers can get a bit confused. Just a word of advice: take the hotel card from the reception, it helps you a lot.

So what did I see in Bangkok?

Baiyoke Tower II, the highest building in Thailand.

Bangkok seen from our hotel.

Khao Takiab "Monkey Mountain", Hua Hin, Thailand ♥

I know the last post was about Pala-U but actually we went there day after our trip to the " Monkey Mountain". And I have to say that it was a great experience, not only because of the monkeys (I love monkeys) but also because of the great views.

Khao Takiab is located in the southern part of Hua Hin and the easiest way to get there is to take a taxi or tuk tuk. Our hotel was located along the Damnoern Kasem Road, which is pretty much in the middle of the Hua Hin and it took maybe about 15-20 minutes to get to Khao Takiab. There was a tuk tuk station near our hotel, so we just walked there and asked someone to take us there. Unfortunately I can't remember how much it cost us to get there, but it was reasonable price.

When we arrived, we could immediately see why Khao Takiab had earned it's nickname Monkey Mountain; there was monkeys everywhere! They were sitting and walking among the people and some of them were climbing on the trees and eating bananas. How cute is that?

Truth to be told, there is nothing much besides the monkeys. Just some souvenir stores, maybe some restaurants and a buddhist temple. It's important to wear something that covers your sholders and knees before going to these temples, so I bought cheap pants from a souvenir store and used those. It was a really hot day and if you want to see the temple itself, you need to climb maaaaany stares to get there. It was painful and exhausting to get up there, but worth it. You could see the whole Hua Hin from there and also the blue sea.

Here is some pictures from our day:

Pala-U, Thailand

Hua Hin was a really great place to be. There was lots of places to do shopping, sea and other interesting places where to go. One of my favorites was our day trip to Pala-U waterfall located near the Myanmar border in Kaeng Krachan National Park.

Click the picture to make it bigger!

We took a taxi to there and it took approximately 60 minutes to drive there. The views on out way were really nice; countryside framed by nice looking mountains. The entry fee for the national park was something around 200 baht (~5€) and it was paid before entering the park.

First day In Hua Hin

Sawatdii kha!

Here we are in Hua Hin, Thailand at the moment! Temperature reaches +30 soon and I'm up already at 7:30. I've always suffered from jetlag and this time there seems not to be any exception: I woke up first time at 3:00 AM, but I managed (somehow) to sleep some more. There was some thunder and raining last night as I recall waking when I heard the thunder. Otherwise my first night in Thailand went well.

Yesterday I arrived with Elina and her mother in Thailand after 7 AM in the morning and then we took a bus to Hua Hin. The bus left on time at 9:30; before that Elina grapped some food from a coupon food market. It's a place with many different restaurants and you need to buy coupons first and pay the food with them. The prices were... Well, very different compared to the prices in Helsinki-Vantaa Airport or the whole Finland. 1 euro is approximately 40 baht and Elinas portion cost only 45 baht. My small Fanta cost only 15 baht, so it was around 50 cents!! Amazing. I no longer wonder why Finnish people love to travel to Thailand!

Anyways, our bus was supposed to take 2-3 hours to reach the Hua Hin, but it took way more time yesterday. There were many traffic jams and sometimes the bus couldn't move at all. We weren't in hurry so it didn't matter, but the lady close to us kept asking when we are going to be there. It took 4,5 hours before we were in Hua Hin, and I slept most of that time. The bus was nice and there was a (powerful) air conditioning, and I was soooo tired after a long flight.

I think the most funniest thing I saw on our way to Hua Hin was when this pickup went past us and there was lady sleeping behind the car with pillow and everything. You should have seen my face when I saw that! :D

Our taxi from Hua Hin bus station to the hotel was open as well, kinda like tuc tuc, but with a real car. It was my first time going with something like that and I have to say it was really something different to be middle of the traffic like that.

After we left our belongings to the hotel we found a place to eat and went shopping to Big C (big supermarket). The food was good but the supermarket was a bit small. And there was a Mister Donut!! I had to buy some donuts to celebrite my good mathematics number I got from our first exam this year. ^_^

My portion of fried rice with prawns ♥

Coming: Birthday Partying in Istanbul

I did it again.

I completely lost my mind and booked tickets to Istanbul with Elina. It seems I'll be busy writing this blog in the near future!

Actually, Elina is turning 20 and she wanted to have something special in her birthday, so she asked if I would like to go somewhere with her. One of our exchange students was supposed to come with us, but she decided to go to London, because she's not been there ever before. Can't really blame her, but we've been with Elina already in London more than once so Istanbul is a great opportunity to discover something new.

Before we bought the tickets we of course checked out what to see and do in Istanbul and we found out some great activities to do there! There's hor airballoon, mosques and big bazaar, great places to eat and drink and lots of history and culture. Can't ask for much more, huh?

So, our small trip starts on 6th of November and we're going to stay in Istanbul for 3 nights. We're flying with Turkish Airlines and we got direct flights with good price. Even better is the hotel where we are going to stay; we found a discount from Agoda and got a hotel suite for 3 nights with less than 200€!

Istanbul

My boyfriend's reaction was priceless when I reveiled our next destination to him. I think the fact that I'm staying in Finland for one week after the trip to Thailand and then leave again was the reason for that. Well, things happen and sometimes you have to just go when there's an opportunity. He might also be worried, 'cause he said that "you always go to war zones"... Well in Thailand there's been some issues but not anything big, and in Istanbul there's been a few terrorist attacks, but not in any location where I could see myself going. I think they're quite different from "war zones".

Well then, I guess I really have to start looking for my swimsuit; only 7 days left and then I'm off to Thailand. Next update might be already from Hua Hin.

(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

I'm coming soon Hua Hin, Thailand!

Oh man, I can't wait for next week! Only seven days left and then... off to Thailand!

We bought the ticket's from Stockmanns (Nordic's biggest department shop) Hullut Päivät-event, which is held every spring and fall. The event lasts from Wednesday till Sunday and there is everyday lots of discounts from variety of different products. Finnair cooperates with Stockmann and offers every day during the event 5 different locations with special price. We got our tickets to Bangkok with 599€ and I think it's a really reasonable price for a direct flight with Finnair.

Gotta love Hullut Päivät ♥ (Btw, it means Crazy Days)

We will arrive in Bangkok, but go with a bus to Hua Hin. It's located south from Bangkok, approximately 2-3 hours with the bus. I bet I'm going to be exhausted after the flight and the bus to Hua Hin.

 

We will stay in Hua Hin for 4 days and go back to Bangkok to enjoy the rest of our time.

What I really wait for is a day trip we plan to take from Hua Hin to Pala-u, a famous waterfall. Along the way is a possibility to ride on elephants and see a real vineyard. And before anyone can complaint about the elephants, yes, we are going to check that they are taken care well, before taking the ride.

I would also like to see the mangrove forest and stalactite caves near the border of Myanmar. With 4 days, I don't think we have time to go to both locations, but I'm still dreaming about it. I have to convince Elina that it's going to be worth it! ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ

As for food, I'm really looking forward to it! I've eaten in a Thai restaurant here in Finland and it was delicious. Spicy, yes, but excellent. I'm not that good with spicy food and I forgot to train my mouth and stomach so I hope I'll survive!

I also took Thai-language classes with Elina in school last spring, and I hope I can remember some phrases during our time in Thailand. I really need to check the vocabulary and grammar so I can surprise the local people. 

I have actually a problem conserning this supposedly awesome trip to Thailand: my swimsuit has mysteriously disappeared somewhere and I can't find it anywhere. I mean, it was with me when I was in Turkey and after that I haven't seen it. I guess I really have to start searching for it, or go and get a new one. Too bad though, I really liked the old one. (|||❛︵❛.)

Hua Hin © Asia Web Direct

The Beginning

Hi travellers!

Welcome to my new blog! I've really wanted to make this blog, but never had the energy to start it. Now things have changed and I'm ready to share my travel experiences with you! I decided to write this blog in English even though my main blog Matsukaze is in Finnish. I think it's better that way, so people around the world are able to read my posts.

Those who have read my other blog may already know something about me, but I would still like to tell something about myself in this first post. I'm a copycat (sorry!) for this time and introduce myself with pictures like my friend did in her blog. It was really nice idea, go and check for yourself.

Let's begin!

And I'm going to be starting from next years August ♥

V ♥

Blogs and stories ♥

I'll never get bored with that! ♥

So now you know something about me!

My next destination is Thailand and I'm leaving there next week with my friend and her mother. We're going to be there for almost 2 weeks, 4 days in Hua Hin and the rest of the time in Bangkok. This is my first time in Thailand so I'm really excited! I don't usually like tourist destinations or beach holidays because I'm a huge fan of history and cultures, but since we are going to Thailand... I just wanted to see at least one beach! There are many interesting places near Hua Hin and I will tell about those later (★^O^★)

I'm still working with the layout of the blog, but I think it will not change so much anymore. It's really simple, but I like it. I love big cities, urban life and comics so I chose a background to reflect on that. I hope you guys like it too.

Remember to drop a comment now and then!

Johanna ♪