Uploaded more pics to supplement the stories in the previous post :) Sorry pictures are taking forever to be uploaded and I'm giving up. I'll resize them before uploading them on another day.
And realized that I didn't get a picture of both my uncles' car despite being such a car enthusiast. Nothing special, 325i and S40, but the number plate for the 3series coupe is SAY666, which is pretty cool. Other than that... No comments on his driving. The many cars I saw on the roads are the TT, Carrera, Cooper and the various Benz and Volvo which are used as cabs. I saw only one Fairlady, on my last night there hehe. Oh I saw a few Ducatis, sounded really good and the riders looked so hot cos they wore black leather jackets with black helmets. They looked like this. Well sort of. I saw many bicycles too haha.
I've been driving around so much since I came home I'm so sick of driving...... I AM gonna go on public transport the next time I go to the city. AND! I went shopping...... Lalaalalala... I am so thankful for the shopping here. I think the amount of money I spent today is about what I spent in Finland in a week. Haha, boy am I glad to shop again.
Okay, I'm back home! The internet at my uncle's place got terminated from the start of September cos he wanted to change the ISP so I couldn't update this blog or reply any mails. Hmm.... So I was left with about 6 days after I got back from the Santa Claus place. I went to Nuuksio National Park in Espoo, slightly less than an hour away from the city center.
The beginning of the looooong walk in to the starting of the trails.
This video summarizes whatever I saw there but being there in person is 13 times nicer. And if you hear nothing at all, nothing is wrong with your computer cos there was complete silence. Almost deafening.
After spending about 3 hours there and walking for about 10km, I finally started on my way back to the city center. While waiting for the train, I decided that it would be nice to take off my socks so that my toes would have more room to breathe. Horror of all horrors! When I took off the left sock, I saw my third and fourth toe completely covered in blood!!! I looked at the sock, it was soaked with blood! OMG. By that time, my feet were already aching all over but I didn't think that it was bleeding so badly. Anyways, I had to get on with my journey back to the city center. Ugh, horrible experience.
On Monday, I boarded the cruise to Stockholm, Sweden. I shared the cabin with 3 friends of a friend. A chinese guy going to Stockholm to study for his masters and 2 other finnish guys who kinda helped the chinese guy with his luggage. They were boring people. The chinese doesn't drink and the finnish kept on talking about military history. Boring topic to talk about while drinking. The finnish guys are young, only 19, maybe it's the age gap, I don't know.
On the deck, in the background if you squint you can see some of Helsinki In the old town of Stockholm. Also known as Gamla Stan. Many souvenir shops, eateries and churches. This is the Palace Grounds. Too bad a section was closed because of some important visitors from Brazil. If I don't remember wrongly the Residential Apartments were closed so we couldn't tour the place.
Tuesday evening, the cruise leaves Stockholm at 4.45pm and I missed the bus to the harbor! Fcking lady at the cruise ship counter gave me really lousy directions to the public bus stop I swear I wanted to shout at her. After trying desperately in vain to find the bus stop, I went back to the counter and said that I can't find the bus stop. I even asked someone from a flower store and she gave me different directions. The counter lady said, 'Oh I think you should take the metro instead and take a bus from Slussen. You gotta go now cos you have not much time.' It was already about 3.55. Well, thank you for wasting my time by giving me sucky directions to the non existent bus stop and then conveniently telling me that taking the metro would be a better idea. Dumb blonde. Her directions to the metro sucked as bad and so I asked 2 girls who were standing around. It was already later than 4 and I was starting to freak out. I thought, fuck maybe I should just take a cab. Every single person I spoke to discouraged me to take cabs cos it's expensive. But well, who cares when I'm about to miss my cruise and subsequently my flight home too. The price was okay, not as cheap as what we get here but it did get me to my destination in time and it was comfortable. I don't think that cabs are expensive, it is what passengers should pay when they get to ride in Chryslers or Benz decked with good GPS systems.
A popular chain department store in Helsinki. While waiting for the bus at night.
Too lazy to upload the pics. Will do so another day. Ciaoz!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Hehe... Long time since I've updated.. I went to Estonia during the weekend and came back from Santa Claus land this morning..
Pictures! :D
Bleh, nothing much to see in Estonia.. Moving on..
On the train to Rovaniemi, where Santa Village is. The train ride took 11 hours and I bought a bed ticket so I could sleep soundly hehe.
I was there early and had to wait for the bus to Santa Village. So I drank some coffee in a restaurant and looked at their menu. Wonder how it tastes like. Heard it's not nice.
Kay, I've reached! I think the time was slightly before 10.
This is the passageway to the room where Santa sits all day doing nothing but make idle talk and take pictures with visitors. He is such an ass I asked how many days does he work a year and he refused to answer my question as 'not-santa'. Get what I mean? I tried asking other questions and he answered them as if he was really Santa. Well...... And he stinks of b.o. That coat must be really warm. Ah, anyway, I did take a picture with him.
Poor quality cos I used my cam to take a picture of the photo which I bought from the 'elf'. Who was fully convinced that he is a real elf. His elf-beard is REAL. And elf-beards aren't very nice looking.
Letters from kids to Santa. Don't be fooled by him anymore, kids!
And the line where the land starts to belong to the Artic Circle. Pretty cool..
A map depicting the imaginery line of the Artic Circle. It's like the top 1/4 of the globe. The whole 1/4 area is the Artic Circle. Yea, something like that. The Artic Circle line is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.
Then I went to the Ranua Zoo!! Or the Wildlife Park. The people there used the terms exchangeably and I was pretty confused as to where I was at. The bus said Zoo but the entrance sign said Wildlife Park.
On the bus. In the distance you might be able to catch a glimpse of the ski slopes.
At the beginning of the trail
I hate owls!!! I was traumatised by a story I read when I was a kid. An evil owl bit off a squirrel's tail. Argh!! Fcking scary click to enlarge and look at it's evil eyes.
Polar Bears! Can you spot them in this huge ass enclosure??
The Polar Bear enclosure is to the right and to the left, miles and miles of forest. Bambi!
Reindeer. I took the picture of the one with the largest horns I could find.
Hi!
Took a walk around the city of Rovaniemi.
One of the many nice houses overlooking the lake in the previous picture.
Okay, so many pictures! Gonna go to Nuukiso National Park tomorrow, last day of shopping on Saturday, visit to my aunt's on Sunday... And from Monday to Wednesday I'll be in Sweden! AND FINALLY, I'll be taking the flight back on THURSDAY. Ah I can't wait.........
Ciaoz!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
I went to Porvoo, an old town about 45 mins from the Helsinki city center. Not much to see cept for some wooden houses. The church was under renovation. Too bad.
My lil cousin went fishing with his dad and caught this fish by himself! How cute :) I'm so proud of him.
I went to Suomenlinna. An island about 15 minutes away from the harbor. It used to be a sea fortress and all that. Not much of a view from the ferry. And I did not go to the upper deck where everyone was cos of the scorching sun. I have tanned sufficiently so that I MUST take precautions when I'm outdoors. Nothing going on there.. Just plenty of these stone buildings and walls.. Can get creepy at times cos some of the walkways are pretty deserted.
And this is the sauna in the basement of my uncle's house. This is the balcony of my room. Haha lousy pictures I know.
Today I walked for about 1.5 hours to get to the island I wanted to visit. The distance was like walking from my house to YioChuKang. My flip flops look so worn out only after wearing them like thrice. And with all the walking I've done the past few days, my leg muscles are pretty sore. Imagine walking at least 6 hours at a stretch for everyday. In flip flops. Or nice shoes. Without proper foot support. Blisters galore!
Creepy inside the old houses. But I like the smell of the wood, reminds me of my childhood days when I stayed at my grandparents house during the holidays. My grandparents have since passed away and the land on which the house stood on has been sold. At the entrance of these houses, there will be someone sitting there, engaged in some sort of 'traditional' activity. Like sewing, cross stitch, reading some worn, antique book. These people were dressed in 'traditional' wear and I was impressed at the effort they put in in guaranteeing an experience as authentic as possible.
And this is the freaking restroom!!!! Fcking stinky! There's no water and visitors have to scoop some dry stuff to throw into the toilet after finishing their business. This stupid dry stuff doesn't remove the fcking stench of urea like water does but I had to use the toilet badly so I went in with tissue over my nose and mouth. So much for the experience of authenticity!!!! And of cos I took pictures for memories. As bad as those in China.
Realized that my soles were dirt black from walking.
