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 | Mon 29.05.2006
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Tampere, Finland. One full week in
Tampere behind. There seem to be too many things that need my attention and so many people I want to
see, but more than anything I want to be at my home, cook my own food, surf on my computer, read my daily
newspaper, and just enjoy my life in my home. I missed this so bad!!!
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| Mon 22.05.2006
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Tampere, Finland. Home. Home. Home. The trip was unbelievably wonderful but nothing beats home. :)
138 days, 15 countries (+ Hong Kong & Easter Island),
9 languages, 28 flights, 107 nights in a hotel, 19 nights at friends', 5 nights on a train, 4 nights on an airplane, 3 nights on a bus. No more buying water,
no more pickpockets, no more scams, no more being too hot, no more diarrhea... But of course: no more adventure, no more excitement, no more new
culture/people/languages/music/anything.
Well, I believe I will be ready for more in a few months! ;) The best part: Riksu and I are still speaking to each other. :D
And thank you of course Tero&Jonna and their wonderful Aventura!
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 | Sun 21.05.2006
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Madrid, Spain. It was quite unbelievable to land on
Madrid Barajas, switch on my mobile phone, and start receiving dozens of text messages declaring
the same thing: our Finnish
Lordi has wond
the Eurovision Song Contest! I thought I'd never see this day.
Finland winning
"euroviisut" can happen only once in my lifetime and now I had to be on a plane flying over
the Atlantic and miss it... Well,
we celebrated the occasion with our friends Lotta and Teemu (who live in Madrid) over the most
wonderful breakfast they had made for us. In the afternoon, we got back to the airport and began the best journey of all: we are finally going home! :)
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 | Fri 19.05.2006
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro is possibly
the most beautiful city in the world, at least compared to other cities I've seen so far. We arrived on Monday 14th and got to spend 5 days in this heaven. Everybody
should once go up on Corcovado and take a good look from 710 metres (2330 ft).
This is the last stop in Brazil. This country has been everything and more I have been wanting to see
for so many years. I must come back.
O Brasil é maravilhoso! Vou ter saudades deste país, desta cultura, da música e dos brasileiros.
VIDEO
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 | Sat 13.05.2006
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Salvador, Brazil. On Monday night (1st of May) we landed in
Salvador, the capital of
Bahia. Juha, who's a Finn, owns his own travel agency
Tripbrasil, and who's been living in
Salvador for ages, picked us up on the airport and drove us to our lovely appartment he had
rented for us in Rio Vermelho. We had the appartment for two weeks during which I took a language course at
Diálogo language school. I can warmly recommend this school and expecially my teacher
Jamilly!!!
Salvador is the capital of good music (at least in my opinion!). I bought tons of cds and
actually managed to get Riksu excited about Bahian music as well, at least about
Axé and Ivete Sangalo. :)
It must be mentioned that the historic centre of Salvador, Pelourinho, is also a
World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
VIDEO
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| Mon 01.05.2006
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Itacaré, Brazil. Itacaré is paradise!!! 6 days of nothing
else than relaxing, swimming, sunbathing,
Bahian food, and sleeping. You need to make a little effort to get here but it's all worth it!
(Our route was:
Foz do Iguaçu–
São Paulo Congonhas–
Ilhéus–
Itacaré.)
On the beaches you get to see some of the last bits of
Atlantic Rainforest left
(World Heritage Site,
see Unesco description).
The only tourists seemed
to be Brazilian, and everybody but us were there for surfing. We had booked (through internet) a room in
a lovely pousada i.e. B&B called Coqueiro Verde. We can highly recommend it!
VIDEO
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| Tue 25.04.2006
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Itaipu, Brazil. We had a flight on Tuesday afternoon, so we still had time in the morning to visit
Itaipu, which is
the largest operational hydroelectric power plant in the world. 14 GW cover 95 % of energy consumed in
Paraguay and 25 % consumed in
Brazil. Although I never studied energy or power plants, I am still on
engineer and excited about visiting places like this. Riksu was not equially excited... :D
VIDEO
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 | Mon 24.04.2006
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Iguazú, Argentina. On Monday we were back to
Argentina as we wanted to see the falls from
the other side, too. (See Unesco description.)
And I must say, you don't really get the full picture without visiting both sides. Check out the photos, words do not do justice.
VIDEO
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| Sun 23.04.2006
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Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. I am in Brazil!!! I've been wanting to
visit this country as long as I remember and finally I made it!
Foz do Iguaçu is not really a town one needs to visit but the point was to see
Iguazu Falls that are a
World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.) We arrived in
Foz do Iguaçu on Saturday evening and on Sunday morning hopped on a bus that took us to
the falls.
VIDEO
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| Sat 22.04.2006
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Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. I can hardly say I've been to
Paraguay. Because of the rules of our
TAM - South American AirPass, we had to fly to
Ciudad del Este instead of flying straight to
Brazil. From the airport we took a taxi and drove right to the border. Next time we need to spend more
than 45 minutes in the country... :D
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| Fri 21.04.2006
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Buenos Aires, Argentina. On Saturday 8th in the afternoon we FINALLY made it to
Buenos Aires. Because of us missing busses, busses being broken
and replaced by even worse busses, the planned luxury night bus experience turned into a never-ending (about 21 hours all together) journey. But the prize was
worth it: Buenos Aires is just wonderful! And it was sooooooo nice to be able to stand still for
2 weeks and enjoy living in
super
nice appartment we had rented. We had a flight on Saturday 22nd but it feld we really did not want to leave.
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| Thu 06.04.2006
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Mendoza, Argentina.
Argentina is great!
In Mendoza we realized how extremely nice our euro/peso exchange rate is and got the first taste of
wonderful Argentinian wines. And now that we where there where the wine's made, we wanted to visit a vineyard and ended up in
Bodega La Rural. We got to see all the equipment and got a little taste too.
(There's also a nice and very informative little wine museum there!)
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 | Mon 03.04.2006
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Valparaiso, Chile. On Friday 31st we spent just about 2 hours on a bus and arrived in
Valparaiso. It's a nice seaside town with absolutely delicious fish served everywhere.
The historic quarter is also a World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
After a relaxing weekend, we climbed on a bus on Monday morning and crossed the
Andes.
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| Thu 30.03.2006
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Santiago, Chile. On Tuesday night we were back in continental
Chile.
Santiago is "an OK city": nothing special but quite OK anyway. We went to movies and enjoyed
taking unplanned walks in the city. It was pretty nice not do too much of exploring for a change. One remark: the air here is really polluted and
hard to breath. :(
VIDEO
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 | Sun 26.03.2006
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Easter Island, Chile. On Saturday 25h, after 4 flights
(HAV–
CUN–
MIA–
SCL–
IPC)
and 33 hours, we landed on
Rapa Nui = Isla de Pascua = Easter Island.
It feels quite extraordinary to be 3600 km away from
Chilean coast and 2000 km away from
the closest island. We rented a car and drove around
Rapa Nui for 2 days and got to see the unbelievable
moai statues. This was a total once-in-a-lifetime-experience! No wonder it is also a
World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
VIDEO
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| Thu 23.03.2006
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Havana, Cuba. On Saturday morning the 18th we arrived in
Cancun. It was a brief stop since we had a flight the same night to
Havana, Cuba. We wanted to see
Havana now that it still is a "live museum" of 1959. That will probably change after a certain
Fidel is gone, although no-one knows if it will still take another 20 years... We stayed in a hotel
for 2 days and then 4 in 2 different casa particulars. What comes to quality of rooms, food, and atmosphere
AND price too, casa particulars are a way better choice than hotels! We found ours with help of our guidebook. You need to speak a little bit of Spanish
though, when you start knocking on people's doors.
La Habana Vieja is by the way a
World Heritage Site
(see Unesco description), but we liked
Vedado best because of it's beautiful 50's architecture.
VIDEO
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| Thu 16.03.2006
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Palenque, Mexico. The warm and very humid air blowed over us right when we stepped off the bus in
Palenque. (Also a huuuuge
cockroach greeted us by landing on Riksu's chest.....yaurghlgh!!) On Thursday we visited the wonderful
Maya sight, which is also a World Heritage Site
(See Unesco description.) And so far the worst diarrhea hit me in
Palenque... We actually had to postpone our next bus on Friday night
(to Cancun), as I had to make a run for it every now and then...
VIDEO
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| Wed 15.03.2006
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On the bus, Mexico. On the bus again! We left the nice and cool
San Cristóbal de las Casas and in about 5 hours arrived in the hot and sweaty
Palenque.
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| Mon 13.03.2006
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San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. On Sunday night we hopped on a night bus to
San Cristóbal de las Casas. We spent two really nice and relaxing days in
this beautiful little town. It was sooo nice the weather was cool (around 20 Celsius). We also took half a day to visit
Reserva del Huitepec which is just a 20-minute
bus drive away from the centre.
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| Sat 11.03.2006
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Oaxaca, Mexico. Buying bus tickets was the first real test of my extremely broken Spanish. :) We got the tickets
and travelled to
Oaxaca on Friday 10th. Mexican busses are really nice, spacy, and airconditioned. (You need
a jacket so you don't freeze on the bus!) Oaxaca, the chocolate capital of
Mexico, was a beautiful little town. And the chocolate of course yummy. And AGAIN, we were at a
UNESCO World Heritage Site!
(See Unesco description.)
VIDEO
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| Thu 09.03.2006
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Mexico City, Mexico. On Wednesday morning we left
Eagle-Vail behind and flew to
Mexico City (changed planes in DFW).
I have never ever seen so many buildings and houses! Literally, as far as you could see from the plane, you saw only buildings and more buildings and
more buildings. It was impressive but also a bit scary. Our hotel was right in the heart of
D.F., just a couple of blocks away from the historic centre, which is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
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| Mon 06.03.2006
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Eagle-Vail/Leadville/Vail/Avon, CO, USA. On Friday 3rd we flew to
Eagle-Vail to meet our friends Katja and Ara.
It was just wonderful to stay with them for 5 nights, chill, do laundry, watch tv, chill, eat home-made food, chill... :) On Saturday we drove to
Leadville just for the fun of it, and on Monday I got to go skiing in
Vail, which was totally wonderful. On Tuesday I got my first haircut on the road in
Avon. It sure was time, as it had been 2 months since we departed! Did I already mention
that we enjoyed just chilling at home? :D
VIDEO
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| Fri 03.03.2006
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New York City, NY, USA. On February 28th we took off from
Narita airport at 17.40 and arrived EARLIER at
JFK! It fealt strange to sleep for a long time, land, and then
continue life as the flight never took place! :) My friend Brent was superkind and let us stay with him for 3 nights.
New York was cold but it was nice to be there for the first time at winter time.
For me it was the fourth time in NY (see November 2005) but it was Riksu's first.
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| Mon 27.02.2006
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Tokyo, Japan. We spent 5 days visiting my brother Juho
in Tokyo. I absolutely love Tokyo and want to go back
as soon as I have money to travel again. Riksu prefers Kyoto. We definitely need to go back to
Japan and see more.
VIDEO
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 | Thu 23.02.2006
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Kyoto/Tokyo, Japan. On the 23rd we finally got to ride the famous high-speed train
Shinkansen when we left
Kyoto for
Tokyo. What a ride!
VIDEO
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| Tue 21.02.2006
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Kyoto, Japan. On Monday 20th we flew from Beijing to
Osaka and then took the
Haruka train to
Kyoto.
We loooooove Kyoto! Strange but true: coming to Japan feels A LOT like coming
home. It's like second
Finland! :)
The temples are by the way a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
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| Sat 18.02.2006
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Taiyuan, China. For our way back to Beijing we did not have tickets
for a direct train from Pingyao but we had to take a bus first to
Taiyuan and then a night train back to Beijing.
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| Fri 17.02.2006
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Pingyao, China. On Thursday night we hopped on a night train to
Pingyao. It is a beautiful small town that dates back to
Ming Dynasty era and is also a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
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| Wed 15.02.2006
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Beijing, China. We arrived in
Beijing early in the morning on Tuesday 14th. We got to stay with Tarja and Riku who are friends of
my brother Juho. They were a huuuuuge help since it is practically impossible to get around (and book
train tickets or hotels) independently without speaking Mandarin. We of course went to see the
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Forbidden City (See Unesco description.),
Summer Palace (See Unesco description.),
Great Wall of China (See Unesco description.),
and also the famous Tiananmen Square. Tarja and Riku also took us to wonderful restaurants
that a regular tourist would never find.
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| Mon 13.02.2006
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Hong Kong, China. Two more nights in
Bangkok and then a quick stop in
Hong Kong. HK was nice but a little chilly. We must go back sometime and stay longer.
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| Fri 10.02.2006
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Koh Mak, Thailand. After spending a few days (again) in
Bangkok we started our "beach holiday". We flew to
Trat, took a taxi to the coast, and then travelled about one hour on a speed boat until we
got to
Koh Mak. It is a small island with not too many tourists and practically nothing else
to do than relax. That's exactly what we wanted so we were very happy. It was nice to spend some time on a "real" holiday after all that endless exploring in
Vietnam and
Cambodia.
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| Wed 01.02.2006
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Siem Reap, Cambodia. On the 1st of February we flew back to
Bangkok, Thailand.
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| Mon 30.01.2006
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Angkor, Cambodia. We started our Monday morning in
Siem Reap very early: our motorbike-taxi driver picked us up at 5.20 in order to catch
the sunrise in Angkor Wat. And boy was it worth it!! You can't really have an idea of
the beauty of Angkor until you see it for yourself. Seeing
Angkor Wat appear from the darkness truly was a once-in-a-lifetime ecperience.
Angkor
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.)
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| Sun 29.1.2006
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Our bus from
Saigon arrived in
Phnom Penh on the 27th in the afternoon (about 6 hours on the bus and 2 on the border).
It was here when the poverty really hit us. It is hard to stay calm and eat your dinner in a restaurant when there are hungry and
dirty children staring at your meal just a couple of metres away from you... We found
Cambodians to be very kind and helpful and the atmosphere in general much calmer and
more peaceful than in Vietnam. We left
Phnom Penh on Sunday 29th when we took a morning bus to
Siem Reap.
VIDEO
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| Thu 26.1.2006
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Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. Our night train arrived in
Saigon on Wednesday 25th early in the morning. We stayed there until Friday 27th when we took the bus to
Phnom Penh
Cambodia. This visit to
Ho Chi Minh City will probably be the only time I'll ever be there:
it was dirty, hot, and the traffic was crazy. There is no comparison to the beautiful
Hanoi where we started our Trans-Indochina route 10 days ago.
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| Mon 23.01.2006
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Nha Trang, Vietnam. On Sunday 22nd we hopped on a train from Da Nang to
Nha Trang, which is the beach capital of
Vietnam. Too bad we did not catch any beach weather. On Tuesday 24th late in the evening
we started the last part of the 1750-kilometre-long Trans-Indochina route when our train departed for
Ho Chi Minh City.
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| Sat 21.01.2006
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Hoi An, Vietnam. We arrived by train in Da Nang and then took a taxi
(unofficial taxi, had to negociate the price) for the 45-minute ride to Hoi An. The old town of
Hoi An is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and
definitely worth visiting. (See Unesco description.)
Hoi An is also the "tailor capital" of Vietnam, where
you can have anything tailor-made for an extremely cheap price (a smart shirt for 7 dollars, for example). The quality varies a lot depending which shop you choose, so you'd better try several.
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| Thu 19.01.2006
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Hue, Vietnam. On Wednesday 18th we woke up in Hue which is the former capital of
Vietnam. There's not much there, but we wanted to see the old Citadel so we stayed for a day and a half.
The Citadel in fact is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
(See Unesco description.) On the 19th we took a day train (for a change) to
Da Nang, which was by the most beautiful train trip I've ever taken!
VIDEO
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| Tue 17.01.2006
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Hanoi, Vietnam. On Sunday 15th we flew from
Bangkok to Hanoi,
Vietnam. Hanoi is a wonderful city
full of beautiful old architecture and unbelievably delicious food with French influence.
On Wednesday 18th we hopped on a night train to the former capital city
Hue.
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| Sat 14.01.2006
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Bangkok, Thailand.
Bangkok is a very nice city! Thanks to
Skytrain,
Metro, and cheap cabs &
tuk-tuks getting around is very easy. The weather can be HOT but you can always cool off in shopping malls.
Bangkok is a nice combination of East and West and GREAT for shopping! :)
VIDEO
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| Tue 10.01.2006
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Hat Yai, Thailand. After a one-hour stop on the border, we arrived in Hat Yai in the morning.
The plan was to change trains after a brief stop, but surprise surprise, there were no tickets
to Bangkok... It's a fact that Hat Yai is not
a town you want to spend more time in than what is absolutely necessary. (Finnish comparison would be
Riihimäki.)
Luckily we were able to secure cheap
AirAsia plane tickets for the same night.
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| Mon 09.01.2006
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. On Saturday we took the train from Singapore to
Kuala Lumpur. On Monday 9th we continued our journey and hopped on a night train to
Hat Yai,
Thailand.
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| Fri 06.01.2006
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Singapore, Singapore. First stop Singapore! We stayed at my ex's i.e.
Michele's for 3 nights, although he was at the time travelling around
Philippines.
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| Tue 03.01.2006
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Tampere, Finland. It's hard to believe I'm actually going to take off in a few hours...
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