Why do people compare themselves to other people? In the end everybody has their own reality, so why would someone else's reality have any relevance to one's own way of seeing things? Somehow it seems quite a common thing to do, to compare myself to the other person. And of course, then feel bad about not having/doing something the other person has/does. What if I just would realize there is a) no sense in comparing myself to anyone as everyone has their own dreams, which are made to come true - no matter what, and; b) it will not benefit anyone: not you, not me. Just making things worse. The need to belong, to "be something"... 's a terrifying force. Release me.
Why are people so afraid of opening their hearts to the fellow(wo)men even if they just met? Why do people get scared of touching, of talking freely.. of having no limits in their wise actions. Do we always need the secure feeling that everything is like before, that nothing is going to change. That everything will be quite OK. Is it OK though if I talk to you freely and you will not withdraw or start having negative feelings towards me? Sometimes it feels - when talking about STUFF - the other person gets angry at the person speaking - me - instead of the actual topic. I do not equals the topic. Let's talk about stuff and disagree.. and then have the greates time of our life aftewards, shall we :)
perjantai 15. lokakuuta 2010
sunnuntai 10. lokakuuta 2010
Openness as a way of life
There are lot of things in our society, which are widely discussed and held as "the way it should be". Unfortunately, it is evident that in most cases the thing being talked about is not really in the fundamental thinking of us humans, even though, as I said, they are often talked about.
For instance, everyone seems to think openness is the way to go and everybody are open, of course. Are they really? I feel people think and feel a lot of things, which they truly do not believe. What it is to really be open and live according to the idea of openness? I've tried to implement this during the year. And boy it's fun! :)
For me, openness is to be 1) able to say how I feel about something while at the same time being 2) assertive. I may not always make other people happy. Being open and having integrity does sometimes mean downhearted situations, but I feel it is something not to be afraid of as long as I am assertive - i.e. respectful, supportive, empathic but firm. Sticking to the truth will always come out right. Then I'll know I was being honest - not with only the other person(s) or the external situation, but also and more importantly with myself.
In human-to-human context, I feel the way he/she is able to receive the openness I want to share is actually a measure of the other person.. In a way u know. Being open about stuff is actually a very frightening thing to do for some people. The way I see it, partly this is due to the insecurities or inability to interact as openly as the other person is doing. Consequently, this induces a stress reaction, which results in refusal of the whole concept of openness. In this way I feel I can tell how self-aware some person is. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to criticize anyone for not accepting openness as it may come out as a very dreadful thing. But as I said, it will give me hints of certain things. I respect you anyway, however you come out.
I feel being open has made my living a lot easier. It just makes all the..surplus thinking go away. There is no need to think whether I should have said something different or how is she now feeling or... I don't know, maybe this is quite normal behaviour for all you folks, like being honest always n stuff, but for me it has not been obvious at all. Maybe it's the way I was raised dunno. I feel now I don't need to say things I don't mean, do the things I don't want to do and finally I really can tell the people who are open as well and appreciate it. As an extreme example: when two people make love and are both being very open.. it is like the playfulness and the irrational side of the sex can emerge. No rational actions - just plain living in the moment, letting the moment evolve and come out as it comes out. Letting go of the fear of the other person and her reactions. Or of the way you might react.
Openness - hard thing to do in practice because of various social norms, because of how we have been raised. Give it a go and you might never be the same :)
P.S. Let me know if I'm being too open with this stuff ;)
For instance, everyone seems to think openness is the way to go and everybody are open, of course. Are they really? I feel people think and feel a lot of things, which they truly do not believe. What it is to really be open and live according to the idea of openness? I've tried to implement this during the year. And boy it's fun! :)
For me, openness is to be 1) able to say how I feel about something while at the same time being 2) assertive. I may not always make other people happy. Being open and having integrity does sometimes mean downhearted situations, but I feel it is something not to be afraid of as long as I am assertive - i.e. respectful, supportive, empathic but firm. Sticking to the truth will always come out right. Then I'll know I was being honest - not with only the other person(s) or the external situation, but also and more importantly with myself.
In human-to-human context, I feel the way he/she is able to receive the openness I want to share is actually a measure of the other person.. In a way u know. Being open about stuff is actually a very frightening thing to do for some people. The way I see it, partly this is due to the insecurities or inability to interact as openly as the other person is doing. Consequently, this induces a stress reaction, which results in refusal of the whole concept of openness. In this way I feel I can tell how self-aware some person is. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to criticize anyone for not accepting openness as it may come out as a very dreadful thing. But as I said, it will give me hints of certain things. I respect you anyway, however you come out.
I feel being open has made my living a lot easier. It just makes all the..surplus thinking go away. There is no need to think whether I should have said something different or how is she now feeling or... I don't know, maybe this is quite normal behaviour for all you folks, like being honest always n stuff, but for me it has not been obvious at all. Maybe it's the way I was raised dunno. I feel now I don't need to say things I don't mean, do the things I don't want to do and finally I really can tell the people who are open as well and appreciate it. As an extreme example: when two people make love and are both being very open.. it is like the playfulness and the irrational side of the sex can emerge. No rational actions - just plain living in the moment, letting the moment evolve and come out as it comes out. Letting go of the fear of the other person and her reactions. Or of the way you might react.
Openness - hard thing to do in practice because of various social norms, because of how we have been raised. Give it a go and you might never be the same :)
P.S. Let me know if I'm being too open with this stuff ;)
keskiviikko 6. lokakuuta 2010
What can be achieved by meditation
The ultimate experience for me, so far, has been during this summer. It was a 4-day retreat into the wilderness in the Porvoo archipelago.
Having spent a wonderful midnight summer's festival in an island, where my dear friend has a summer cottage, I went to the island next to it, erected a tent (shame on you for thinking something..something ;) ) and spent four days and four nights in solitude. Only nature with its sounds around me.
I had never done anything quite like this. Initially, when I came back from China, I thought I might attend this 10-day retreat which was somewhere around in the beginning of September in Kempele (organized by the vipassana organisation in Finland). In the beginning of June I knew that at that time I would be doing my master's thesis (and actually, bachelor's thesis as well), so I discarded the plan for going to the 10-day retreat. I thought: "why not organize my own retreat. That way at least there is no external human disturbing factors. And I would not have to spend the unbelievable 10 days in silence, I could define my own time to spend there."
So, having bought all kinds of can food, vegetables and näkkileipä (+water from the summer cottage's water well) and stupefied by the festivities of the midnight summer I then proceeded to the island for meditation. I got a lift there with a rowing boat :).
The days passed by.. sometimes slowly, sometimes not so slowly. The weather was merciful and the sun was shining nearly all the time, so I got lucky. I didn't keep track of time, I merely followed the movements of the Sun to define the approximate time of the day. Usually I climbed on top of this big rock boulder, did some stretching and sat down. The sun was gleaming through the branches of the trees, sometimes warming me, sometimes shadowing me.
The most bothering thing were the mosquitoes. For this, I had brought some Off-insecticide. It helped a lot and at some point I noticed the mosquitoes weren't that much interested in me anymore. Maybe I started to smell of forest, dunno. Only once did I wash myself in the shores of this island, on a sunny day when there were no boats passing by (there were lot of boats moving in that area all the time).
The meditation.. I noticed it was not easy to sit still for any more than 45 minutes. So I kept pauses - a lot. In total I think I meditated maybe 5 hours a day at least. The rest of the time it was eating, resting, walking amongst the woods and on one day basking in the sun.
OK so now the achievements part, the moment you've been waiting for. The peak moment of this endeavour occurred on Wednesday evening (third full day). I felt like nothing before.. This feeling had been building up during the whole day and now it reached its climax. I felt completely calm. I felt serenity and that I am completely aware of myself.. somekind of totally peaceful confidence in myself, my life. I felt like I am drawing energy off the trees, off the forest, the whole world. It was like I felt the whole mental energy sphere of all people in the world, to which I was connected. I just sat there with my eyes now open, smiling, breating deeply, calmly and without any anxiety in my stomach. Everything was light. It was kinda ecstatic.
This was what has been my ultimate experience regarding meditation. It took three days in forest alone (with the Sun as a big bonus). From the time required to reach this climax we can infer that the amount of time required for reaching a totally serene state by using this.. semi-constant meditation is not so short a time. Obviously this is not possible in a city-environment. I feel it is only in nature, where a human can ease her soul completely. Consequently, I'm not able to achieve this back at home. But nevertheless I always feel calmer, lighter and more relaxed than prior to any meditation session, regardless of the place or the time spent into it. I really recommend it for your mental health, for your self-development.
I did not speak anything the whole time (4 days) in the island so it was very weird feeling to hear my own voice for the first time.. I was like "whose is that voice that I hear" when I was saying some words to the person picking me up from the island.
As I returned to Kallio, HKI, I felt how the air quality was so completely different than what it had been for the previous week. I felt how a city is somehow not the place for humans to be, if relaxation is needed (cities are nice though). People running around like ants, busy and doing stuff. Yeah, it just felt somehow very apparent after spending such a long period of time in silence. But soon I got adjusted to the city-life. Humans are quite adaptive creatures...
Having spent a wonderful midnight summer's festival in an island, where my dear friend has a summer cottage, I went to the island next to it, erected a tent (shame on you for thinking something..something ;) ) and spent four days and four nights in solitude. Only nature with its sounds around me.
I had never done anything quite like this. Initially, when I came back from China, I thought I might attend this 10-day retreat which was somewhere around in the beginning of September in Kempele (organized by the vipassana organisation in Finland). In the beginning of June I knew that at that time I would be doing my master's thesis (and actually, bachelor's thesis as well), so I discarded the plan for going to the 10-day retreat. I thought: "why not organize my own retreat. That way at least there is no external human disturbing factors. And I would not have to spend the unbelievable 10 days in silence, I could define my own time to spend there."
So, having bought all kinds of can food, vegetables and näkkileipä (+water from the summer cottage's water well) and stupefied by the festivities of the midnight summer I then proceeded to the island for meditation. I got a lift there with a rowing boat :).
The days passed by.. sometimes slowly, sometimes not so slowly. The weather was merciful and the sun was shining nearly all the time, so I got lucky. I didn't keep track of time, I merely followed the movements of the Sun to define the approximate time of the day. Usually I climbed on top of this big rock boulder, did some stretching and sat down. The sun was gleaming through the branches of the trees, sometimes warming me, sometimes shadowing me.
The most bothering thing were the mosquitoes. For this, I had brought some Off-insecticide. It helped a lot and at some point I noticed the mosquitoes weren't that much interested in me anymore. Maybe I started to smell of forest, dunno. Only once did I wash myself in the shores of this island, on a sunny day when there were no boats passing by (there were lot of boats moving in that area all the time).
The meditation.. I noticed it was not easy to sit still for any more than 45 minutes. So I kept pauses - a lot. In total I think I meditated maybe 5 hours a day at least. The rest of the time it was eating, resting, walking amongst the woods and on one day basking in the sun.
OK so now the achievements part, the moment you've been waiting for. The peak moment of this endeavour occurred on Wednesday evening (third full day). I felt like nothing before.. This feeling had been building up during the whole day and now it reached its climax. I felt completely calm. I felt serenity and that I am completely aware of myself.. somekind of totally peaceful confidence in myself, my life. I felt like I am drawing energy off the trees, off the forest, the whole world. It was like I felt the whole mental energy sphere of all people in the world, to which I was connected. I just sat there with my eyes now open, smiling, breating deeply, calmly and without any anxiety in my stomach. Everything was light. It was kinda ecstatic.
This was what has been my ultimate experience regarding meditation. It took three days in forest alone (with the Sun as a big bonus). From the time required to reach this climax we can infer that the amount of time required for reaching a totally serene state by using this.. semi-constant meditation is not so short a time. Obviously this is not possible in a city-environment. I feel it is only in nature, where a human can ease her soul completely. Consequently, I'm not able to achieve this back at home. But nevertheless I always feel calmer, lighter and more relaxed than prior to any meditation session, regardless of the place or the time spent into it. I really recommend it for your mental health, for your self-development.
I did not speak anything the whole time (4 days) in the island so it was very weird feeling to hear my own voice for the first time.. I was like "whose is that voice that I hear" when I was saying some words to the person picking me up from the island.
As I returned to Kallio, HKI, I felt how the air quality was so completely different than what it had been for the previous week. I felt how a city is somehow not the place for humans to be, if relaxation is needed (cities are nice though). People running around like ants, busy and doing stuff. Yeah, it just felt somehow very apparent after spending such a long period of time in silence. But soon I got adjusted to the city-life. Humans are quite adaptive creatures...
tiistai 5. lokakuuta 2010
Being alone vs. being not-alone AND long-term plans vs. living NOW
I was talking the other day with my flat mate about the basic human needs. We stumbled upon the subject of "being alone vs. sharing experiences with the special someone".
Why is it that sometimes I feel I want to share my life, my ups and downs, my journey in this wonderful thing called existence with someone? Why is it that on other times I feel like I am living my life to the fullest just NOW, without any need to share experiences in order to be truly happy?
Having returned from Beijing last spring I had already changed quite a bit when it comes to the approach towards life itself. I started eating healthily, started to develop myself both physically and mentally. Mentally in terms of conversations, meditation and by trying to be downright as open, as honest as I could ever be. I sincerely and without arrogance am very pleased with myself at the moment. I feel I treat people with respect and at the same time preserving myself, my integrity. I feel confident.
Yet there becomes times when I doubt.. I doubt whether I would ever find "a path" in my life. You see, I never seem to be able to "just keep on doing something for the rest of my life". I feel I would just stand still and repeat something endlessly. Without development. I never seem to "fit in" whatever it is that I'm engaged in, say in my self-defense exercise community. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy every second of this hobby of mine. It's just that I don't go into this community. I don't live my life for it. I am no elämäntapaintiaani in any respect. I feel it would bound me. Instead, I am always interested in new stuff, constantly. The flipside of the coin is always feeling a bit of a loner. THERE IS SO MUCH IN LIFE I WANT TO DO!! What could I do to embrace the whole world, to FEEL and love all the people without locking myself to one chain and ball?
The same goes for sharing my life with that special someone. Sometimes it feels it would bind me, prevent me from doing something I would have wanted to do. Sometimes it feels that if I found a person who would share my views on lot of things, that our minds would think in unison, I would not need to even think of this ball and chain thingy.
On to other stuff.
I have no long-term plans. No pre-defined, pre-decided thing that is supposed to happen. I'd rather not have them. I feel they would bind me to living according to some set of rules. Take mortgage for instance. And sell your soul to the banks. Own lot of stuff and sell your soul to your boss. Having said the previous sentence my mind flies into thinking this:
Why is it that people always say: "It is pain now yeah, but AFTER I have done this, I...". In my opinion there is something fundamentally wrong in that sentence. I'd much rather it be said like "It is pain now so I will get rid of it and enjoy life NOW". In practice, it is not so simple. It definitely isn't easy to take the pain away, because the external world (and perhaps you yourself) has expectations towards you. They (or you) say: "finish this and you'll get more money" or "do this and you'll get that". As a vague solution I would say then: the approach to this dilemma should always be done with your NOW as the first thing in your mind. Even if you are unable to make the change, you know and acknowledge the existence of this thought. And conciously or subconsciously you will strive towards getting out of the pain-making situation. At some point you will notice things are better. "Hey, I feel good actually". What is wrong today is that people seem to believe that "after doing something it will get better". Reality check: it will never happen. Once you reach the goal, you will wonder: "so what is actually better now than before". Then, suddenly you notice you are wrinkled and in your late 50s, wondering where the life, you were meant to lead, disappeared.
Why is it that sometimes I feel I want to share my life, my ups and downs, my journey in this wonderful thing called existence with someone? Why is it that on other times I feel like I am living my life to the fullest just NOW, without any need to share experiences in order to be truly happy?
Having returned from Beijing last spring I had already changed quite a bit when it comes to the approach towards life itself. I started eating healthily, started to develop myself both physically and mentally. Mentally in terms of conversations, meditation and by trying to be downright as open, as honest as I could ever be. I sincerely and without arrogance am very pleased with myself at the moment. I feel I treat people with respect and at the same time preserving myself, my integrity. I feel confident.
Yet there becomes times when I doubt.. I doubt whether I would ever find "a path" in my life. You see, I never seem to be able to "just keep on doing something for the rest of my life". I feel I would just stand still and repeat something endlessly. Without development. I never seem to "fit in" whatever it is that I'm engaged in, say in my self-defense exercise community. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy every second of this hobby of mine. It's just that I don't go into this community. I don't live my life for it. I am no elämäntapaintiaani in any respect. I feel it would bound me. Instead, I am always interested in new stuff, constantly. The flipside of the coin is always feeling a bit of a loner. THERE IS SO MUCH IN LIFE I WANT TO DO!! What could I do to embrace the whole world, to FEEL and love all the people without locking myself to one chain and ball?
The same goes for sharing my life with that special someone. Sometimes it feels it would bind me, prevent me from doing something I would have wanted to do. Sometimes it feels that if I found a person who would share my views on lot of things, that our minds would think in unison, I would not need to even think of this ball and chain thingy.
On to other stuff.
I have no long-term plans. No pre-defined, pre-decided thing that is supposed to happen. I'd rather not have them. I feel they would bind me to living according to some set of rules. Take mortgage for instance. And sell your soul to the banks. Own lot of stuff and sell your soul to your boss. Having said the previous sentence my mind flies into thinking this:
Why is it that people always say: "It is pain now yeah, but AFTER I have done this, I...". In my opinion there is something fundamentally wrong in that sentence. I'd much rather it be said like "It is pain now so I will get rid of it and enjoy life NOW". In practice, it is not so simple. It definitely isn't easy to take the pain away, because the external world (and perhaps you yourself) has expectations towards you. They (or you) say: "finish this and you'll get more money" or "do this and you'll get that". As a vague solution I would say then: the approach to this dilemma should always be done with your NOW as the first thing in your mind. Even if you are unable to make the change, you know and acknowledge the existence of this thought. And conciously or subconsciously you will strive towards getting out of the pain-making situation. At some point you will notice things are better. "Hey, I feel good actually". What is wrong today is that people seem to believe that "after doing something it will get better". Reality check: it will never happen. Once you reach the goal, you will wonder: "so what is actually better now than before". Then, suddenly you notice you are wrinkled and in your late 50s, wondering where the life, you were meant to lead, disappeared.
An attempt to describe the meaning of music for me
To You, dear reader, I could never express in spoken language what music means to me.
To hear the sweet melodies that make you calm in the eye of the storm. To hear the coarse sounds that dissipate built-up negative thoughts. To enable one to concentrate and reach a meditative state with ambient sounds flowing from the loudspeakers. To align oneself for weekend with something groovy. To caress another person with warmth that is emphasized by soothing and beautiful chords of the songs I know will have deep impact on whoever. To see people dancing their hearts out with the sounds you recreate in the DJ-booth. To feel the energy of the beat, which spreads out into the minds of all the party people in da house. To touch a woman's palm gently with one finger with smooth strokes, to feel the other person, the feeling that is amplified by the music, connecting the two of you into the oneness of the universe. To embrace her with all your might, becoming one for even just for one second, until again becoming the oneselves who reflect the consciousness of mankind with the own prism that is within.
And it is so much more...
--
The sun will set on you
Caress the darkness
Let it be a womb to you
Loving and spacious
You're a star
Love is all we are
The rest amounts to nothing
Our flesh the temples of
The one thing that is everlasting
You're a star
Vibrasphere - Tierra Azul (Omnimotion feat Krister Linder Rmx)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wILYOuRCllI
To hear the sweet melodies that make you calm in the eye of the storm. To hear the coarse sounds that dissipate built-up negative thoughts. To enable one to concentrate and reach a meditative state with ambient sounds flowing from the loudspeakers. To align oneself for weekend with something groovy. To caress another person with warmth that is emphasized by soothing and beautiful chords of the songs I know will have deep impact on whoever. To see people dancing their hearts out with the sounds you recreate in the DJ-booth. To feel the energy of the beat, which spreads out into the minds of all the party people in da house. To touch a woman's palm gently with one finger with smooth strokes, to feel the other person, the feeling that is amplified by the music, connecting the two of you into the oneness of the universe. To embrace her with all your might, becoming one for even just for one second, until again becoming the oneselves who reflect the consciousness of mankind with the own prism that is within.
And it is so much more...
--
The sun will set on you
Caress the darkness
Let it be a womb to you
Loving and spacious
You're a star
Love is all we are
The rest amounts to nothing
Our flesh the temples of
The one thing that is everlasting
You're a star
Vibrasphere - Tierra Azul (Omnimotion feat Krister Linder Rmx)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wILYOuRCllI
tiistai 15. kesäkuuta 2010
The Meaning of Life, vol. II
To this post I have collected some various opinions about the meaning of life that I received due to my last post. They are from my friends and apparently are quite deep thinkers :).
THE VIEWS:
General purpose of living is to get pleasure while treating nature and other people (and species) as good as I would want them to treat me.
In other words, to live in harmony with environment and tend to get pleasure. This requires practical skills/ academic education/ experience & wisdom.
(1) Only getting pleasure won't make me happy. Because only getting pleasure I stop appreciating it.
(2) Only getting wisdom, knowledge, practical skills working hard day by day also isn't the right way to live, to happiness. Body wants to get awarded for its effort.
-----------
Human beings are not subject to any given end(purpose/mission), we serve our own purposes and are free to live any life we choose. An external purpose would debase us to mere instruments for whatever presses the purpose upon us.
Don't get me wrong. Precisely because we are free(self-serving) and accountable for our own deeds, we are capable of virtue and love, which I think are what being a human being is about.
Put it in a nutshell: you don't need any meaning if you serve your own purpose.
In fact, if you begin to wonder what's the point of all of this, it's a pretty good indication that you are serving an external purpose instead of an internal one, you are living somebody else's life instead of your own.
MORE ACCURATELY:
Virtue is the intrinsic good. "if you need a reason to be good, you haven't yet understood what is good (Immanuel Kant)".
I agree with the Ancient Greeks: we are gods trapped in mortality. In spite of being pressed by physical needs and suffering from various physical limitations, we share with gods the capacity of virtue. "What would Jesus do?" is a good motto, even for non-Christians.
In platonic sense (since I'm talking Greek), love is the recognition and appreciation of the "divinity"(virtues) manifested by a person. But love can mean more than that.
-----------
For a long time the meaning of life is to meet with new and different people and to see different places and replace the good way of lives or positive aspects of their character to myself. I want to see different thinkings so that I can find the one which I'm the happiest with it.
-----------
END OF VIEWS
So here we have them. What do YOU think?
Have a relaxing day!
-Junnu
THE VIEWS:
General purpose of living is to get pleasure while treating nature and other people (and species) as good as I would want them to treat me.
In other words, to live in harmony with environment and tend to get pleasure. This requires practical skills/ academic education/ experience & wisdom.
(1) Only getting pleasure won't make me happy. Because only getting pleasure I stop appreciating it.
(2) Only getting wisdom, knowledge, practical skills working hard day by day also isn't the right way to live, to happiness. Body wants to get awarded for its effort.
-----------
Human beings are not subject to any given end(purpose/mission), we serve our own purposes and are free to live any life we choose. An external purpose would debase us to mere instruments for whatever presses the purpose upon us.
Don't get me wrong. Precisely because we are free(self-serving) and accountable for our own deeds, we are capable of virtue and love, which I think are what being a human being is about.
Put it in a nutshell: you don't need any meaning if you serve your own purpose.
In fact, if you begin to wonder what's the point of all of this, it's a pretty good indication that you are serving an external purpose instead of an internal one, you are living somebody else's life instead of your own.
MORE ACCURATELY:
Virtue is the intrinsic good. "if you need a reason to be good, you haven't yet understood what is good (Immanuel Kant)".
I agree with the Ancient Greeks: we are gods trapped in mortality. In spite of being pressed by physical needs and suffering from various physical limitations, we share with gods the capacity of virtue. "What would Jesus do?" is a good motto, even for non-Christians.
In platonic sense (since I'm talking Greek), love is the recognition and appreciation of the "divinity"(virtues) manifested by a person. But love can mean more than that.
-----------
For a long time the meaning of life is to meet with new and different people and to see different places and replace the good way of lives or positive aspects of their character to myself. I want to see different thinkings so that I can find the one which I'm the happiest with it.
-----------
END OF VIEWS
So here we have them. What do YOU think?
Have a relaxing day!
-Junnu
sunnuntai 13. kesäkuuta 2010
Meaning of Life
Ultimately, what is the meaning of life?
A question that has been haunting me for the past month more or less so. I see people going on about their businesses, sometimes very happy looking, others not so happy-looking.. If you think about it.. When someone would say the meaning of life is to find a life-long partner, with whom you can share the life's chills and thrills, to laugh and cry and feel completely safe and to reproduce, another person could say it is to enjoy your own life to the max, which, in some cases, could mean being "wild and free" without a care in the world, just sing and dance, while walking in the street (e.g.) without being frowned upon, just feeling super and doing just the things you want and not be submissive the least bit.
The two alternative views above are seemingly confronting, but ideally I think they could go hand in hand. But only ideally.
The abovementioned alternatives are kinda two sides of individualism: in the first view it is to go along with the general views of the society about how to lead one’s life and to commit oneself to another person and wanting to carry on the bloodline to feel good about it. To be old and to know you raised the kids, whose kids are playing in your backyard. Grandpa. The other view is to dedicate more pleasure in life directly to oneself instead of sharing and spreading it around. Is it equally acceptable to do this, to enjoy life in, some might say, selfish way? Isn’t the meaning of life at least partially to have a good time? What else is important? What if all the people had good time all the time.. would they be walking down the streets with a super-wide smile in their face?
So again, what is the meaning of life? Why do we wake up everyday to do the things we do? What makes it worth it? Should we even not think about it - just live it through? Maybe the meaning of life is to be discovered individually as everyone is different from each other? Should we not waste any time pondering this crap? :) But I’m curious about all this.
Share your thoughts.
A question that has been haunting me for the past month more or less so. I see people going on about their businesses, sometimes very happy looking, others not so happy-looking.. If you think about it.. When someone would say the meaning of life is to find a life-long partner, with whom you can share the life's chills and thrills, to laugh and cry and feel completely safe and to reproduce, another person could say it is to enjoy your own life to the max, which, in some cases, could mean being "wild and free" without a care in the world, just sing and dance, while walking in the street (e.g.) without being frowned upon, just feeling super and doing just the things you want and not be submissive the least bit.
The two alternative views above are seemingly confronting, but ideally I think they could go hand in hand. But only ideally.
The abovementioned alternatives are kinda two sides of individualism: in the first view it is to go along with the general views of the society about how to lead one’s life and to commit oneself to another person and wanting to carry on the bloodline to feel good about it. To be old and to know you raised the kids, whose kids are playing in your backyard. Grandpa. The other view is to dedicate more pleasure in life directly to oneself instead of sharing and spreading it around. Is it equally acceptable to do this, to enjoy life in, some might say, selfish way? Isn’t the meaning of life at least partially to have a good time? What else is important? What if all the people had good time all the time.. would they be walking down the streets with a super-wide smile in their face?
So again, what is the meaning of life? Why do we wake up everyday to do the things we do? What makes it worth it? Should we even not think about it - just live it through? Maybe the meaning of life is to be discovered individually as everyone is different from each other? Should we not waste any time pondering this crap? :) But I’m curious about all this.
Share your thoughts.
sunnuntai 2. toukokuuta 2010
Back to the old drawing board
Every year it is as big a surprise as it was the last year. Wappu truly is the Christmas of teekkarit (technology students). For the last 7-10 days or so my life has been filled with happiness, laughter and joy. The people around me have managed to fill my heart with warmth and solid belief of the incredible power that lies within each of us - the power to create positive energies for us all to enjoy. That is why the last week's atmosphere has been unprecedented once again. Even the semi-lousy weather could not interfere with the passion of the teekkarit to gather as a group and show how innovative they can be when they are called upon. Of course, all the people - regardless of their student background - have been contributing to this amazing series of events.
I would like to extend my greatest gratitude towards all of my friends and their friends, who made this once again possible. Best regards to all the people who are following this blog as well!
The past week has included meeting a vast array of good people, all with their unique flavour of expressing themselves. They are all equally welcome and appreciated by me. Thank you friends.
Last week was quite a rush as well because of where I live and the fact I tried to eat quite a lot vegetarian stuff when barbecuing (the only form of preparing food last week). Apart from briefly ending up to my apartment on Friday-Saturday night, I did not see my place from Wednesday morning until today (Sunday). Thank you all you kind ppl for hosting me during the sleeping hours. JMT 5 rooftop barbecue was fabulous once again on Friday, which surely will be remembered. Last night's unspeakably weird private party was something to be surely remembered.. :D Yeah, well what happens in the student village stays in the student village :P.
What was also very unforgettable was the fact I got to talk Chinese quite a lot during the last week. Which was nice. Tai hao le! Lot of good Chinese and Chinese-speaking people apparently in the Otaniemi-area.
Now it is time to continue working on my master's thesis at work, focus on that. Little by little it advances inevitably evolving.. We'll see how it will end up, I'm kinda excited about it!
As a concluding remark I'd like to offer you readers some bits and pieces from the last week.
Keep in touch!
I would like to extend my greatest gratitude towards all of my friends and their friends, who made this once again possible. Best regards to all the people who are following this blog as well!
The past week has included meeting a vast array of good people, all with their unique flavour of expressing themselves. They are all equally welcome and appreciated by me. Thank you friends.
Last week was quite a rush as well because of where I live and the fact I tried to eat quite a lot vegetarian stuff when barbecuing (the only form of preparing food last week). Apart from briefly ending up to my apartment on Friday-Saturday night, I did not see my place from Wednesday morning until today (Sunday). Thank you all you kind ppl for hosting me during the sleeping hours. JMT 5 rooftop barbecue was fabulous once again on Friday, which surely will be remembered. Last night's unspeakably weird private party was something to be surely remembered.. :D Yeah, well what happens in the student village stays in the student village :P.
What was also very unforgettable was the fact I got to talk Chinese quite a lot during the last week. Which was nice. Tai hao le! Lot of good Chinese and Chinese-speaking people apparently in the Otaniemi-area.
Now it is time to continue working on my master's thesis at work, focus on that. Little by little it advances inevitably evolving.. We'll see how it will end up, I'm kinda excited about it!
As a concluding remark I'd like to offer you readers some bits and pieces from the last week.
Keep in touch!
 |
| Lähettäjä Wappu '10 |
lauantai 17. huhtikuuta 2010
The Christmas of the Finnish technology students..
..is starting to show signs of life. The annual event of 1st of May is the grande finale for this. However, it is more a rule than an exception to start the festivities at least a week beforehand. The events are plentiful among our student guilds and the students themselves are active in party-having regard.
What can I say.. the Sun is (again) starting to warm us up and the snows have just melted, colours of the nature emerge and people start to smile. It's a good time to get the grill from the closet and invite your friends to have some good time in a weird place, e.g. a roof of a technology students' campus dorm. It is a perfect place to let the world know of your music (with the heavy-duty music machinery you brought along), your energy, inviting all the bypassers to join the fun. Or then we might have a mega-picnic in the backyard of our school's main building (the backyard is quite big and green :) ) - more than 1000 people having good time.
For me 1st of May festivities are still on hold partially. What I am glad about is the fact I probably will be able to do my master's thesis at work - little by little figuring out how it's going to be while at the same time dealing with the bureaucracies of this process. It is also relaxing to know the thesis subject is doable and will not be some boring thingy as it many times can be. I'm eager to kick it off (properly after festivities ;) ).
The last Thursday there was more than 2000 students in a student event, whose purpose is to collect stamps from various bars in certain locations (luckily the area was quite near to where I live) to earn their levels. There are four levels: appro, cum laude, laudatur and doctor. One has to do them in order and cannot be acquired before the lower level is obtained. So it takes at least four years to get the highest rank. I got it last year so this year I only hanged around, although the amount of alcohol consumed was not substantially different than in the last years. I got to work on Friday in a good shape though and was productive. I don't know why but it seems I am quite energetic on the day-after...
On Friday Silja was supposed to return from China. Unfortunately the fucking volcano erupted in Iceland thus trapping Silja to Moscow. She will miss today's student party, an annual student party for older technology students - drinking, singing, eating, bad humour and beautiful people. So that's what is going on today for me. Volcanos suck!
Tomorrow it is time to go for an annual trip to Estonia to fetch some cheap booze for the upcoming "trials". It will eat one day out of my work week but I was able to have it as unpaid leave. Which was nice.
I hope to hear from all of you still reading this blog :). That's not much I guess :P
Your Truly
Junnu (You Feng)
What can I say.. the Sun is (again) starting to warm us up and the snows have just melted, colours of the nature emerge and people start to smile. It's a good time to get the grill from the closet and invite your friends to have some good time in a weird place, e.g. a roof of a technology students' campus dorm. It is a perfect place to let the world know of your music (with the heavy-duty music machinery you brought along), your energy, inviting all the bypassers to join the fun. Or then we might have a mega-picnic in the backyard of our school's main building (the backyard is quite big and green :) ) - more than 1000 people having good time.
For me 1st of May festivities are still on hold partially. What I am glad about is the fact I probably will be able to do my master's thesis at work - little by little figuring out how it's going to be while at the same time dealing with the bureaucracies of this process. It is also relaxing to know the thesis subject is doable and will not be some boring thingy as it many times can be. I'm eager to kick it off (properly after festivities ;) ).
The last Thursday there was more than 2000 students in a student event, whose purpose is to collect stamps from various bars in certain locations (luckily the area was quite near to where I live) to earn their levels. There are four levels: appro, cum laude, laudatur and doctor. One has to do them in order and cannot be acquired before the lower level is obtained. So it takes at least four years to get the highest rank. I got it last year so this year I only hanged around, although the amount of alcohol consumed was not substantially different than in the last years. I got to work on Friday in a good shape though and was productive. I don't know why but it seems I am quite energetic on the day-after...
On Friday Silja was supposed to return from China. Unfortunately the fucking volcano erupted in Iceland thus trapping Silja to Moscow. She will miss today's student party, an annual student party for older technology students - drinking, singing, eating, bad humour and beautiful people. So that's what is going on today for me. Volcanos suck!
Tomorrow it is time to go for an annual trip to Estonia to fetch some cheap booze for the upcoming "trials". It will eat one day out of my work week but I was able to have it as unpaid leave. Which was nice.
I hope to hear from all of you still reading this blog :). That's not much I guess :P
Your Truly
Junnu (You Feng)
maanantai 12. huhtikuuta 2010
Human
In the last four days I have felt / been:
-happy when seeing or talking to dear people (both foreign and Finnish)
-crying in a car when listening to music that induced some strong feelings. Can't actually remember crying that much at least in..well I don't even know!
-drunk and happy with the company I had
-hung over and happy and energetic - well enough to cook super-good food and make my own chocolate out of coconut oil, cocoa butter, cocoa beans etc.
-content over getting my apartment to look like nearly something I would call home (yes I have materialism in me at least some amount, forgive me ;) )
-in sauna with my little brother, my mother and father, sweating my ass off
-been uneasy because my blood pressure is up, for reasons unknown to me. Maybe I should go jogging or stop stressing.. Maybe I just need a good back massage from someone who really cares for me and so that I could feel (preferably) her warmth flow through me, making me peaceful at least for that short moment.
-trying to start things smoothly in my work place. Unfortunately, I've been only partially successful in this respect.
Love. Hate. Courage. Fear. Jealousy. Pride. Addiction. Despair. Joy. Pain. Compassion. Faith. Prediction. Compassion. Love. Joy. Human.
-happy when seeing or talking to dear people (both foreign and Finnish)
-crying in a car when listening to music that induced some strong feelings. Can't actually remember crying that much at least in..well I don't even know!
-drunk and happy with the company I had
-hung over and happy and energetic - well enough to cook super-good food and make my own chocolate out of coconut oil, cocoa butter, cocoa beans etc.
-content over getting my apartment to look like nearly something I would call home (yes I have materialism in me at least some amount, forgive me ;) )
-in sauna with my little brother, my mother and father, sweating my ass off
-been uneasy because my blood pressure is up, for reasons unknown to me. Maybe I should go jogging or stop stressing.. Maybe I just need a good back massage from someone who really cares for me and so that I could feel (preferably) her warmth flow through me, making me peaceful at least for that short moment.
-trying to start things smoothly in my work place. Unfortunately, I've been only partially successful in this respect.
Love. Hate. Courage. Fear. Jealousy. Pride. Addiction. Despair. Joy. Pain. Compassion. Faith. Prediction. Compassion. Love. Joy. Human.
tiistai 6. huhtikuuta 2010
sunnuntai 4. huhtikuuta 2010
Adjusting back to Finland
Hi there everybody!
Lately I have been too lazy or busy to write anything but I thought I'd give it a try now.. I'm also trying to figure out the future of this blog. After all, this was meant to be my travel diary.. but maybe I would now start writing here whenever I feel like it, when I have something to say or on my mind and I want to share it and write it down.
When walking down the streets of Helsinki, Hyvinkää or wherever here in Finland (or in Stockholm for that matter on last weekend) it really feels like there are no people here. It's really spacious back here in Finland. Those people who are here hold their heads down while rushing on about their businesses. Where is the joy which was so prominent e.g. in Thailand? I guess the Finnish winter really makes people depressed.. And now it is the time of the year when all the snow is melting away (painfully slowly) and one has to walk in this sloshy snow getting wet and sharing this fun with everybody around.
Ì have managed to adjust to Finland quite well I guess. None of that stuff occurred they mentioned in my home university's foreign studies pages, like "the culture shock may be even bigger when returning back home than going to the foreign country". I've been having good times with my friends in various occations and now I feel kinda like home here, now that I have established the social relations again back here. One good way of doing that is e.g. having an elevator party in a boat to Stockholm ;).
I now live in Helsinki, Kallio to be more exact. It's a place with 44 square meters and is owned by my friend's mom. The rent deal is... very lucrative I would say :D. So I'm living cheaply here in 8th floor of this storeyed building near the amusement park Linnanmäki. It's a short way to Helsinki's cheapest pubs from here :) You are welcome to join me!
I will start working on next Tuesday as well. Probably doing some programming-typish stuff or otherwise play around with mobile devices. I would try to start doing my master's thesis as soon as possible because otherwise I would be in a total hurry to do it. Damn school bureaucracies and other stuff-that-make-you-graduate-against-your-will :)
I also now have been starting to eat more healthy stuff (even though I eat bad stuff still cause it's good), of which a proof of several hundreds of euros worth of healthy food stuff exists in my apartment now. I would eat some raw-food shakes, more organic stuff and some additional stuff I add to my normal food.
Here's some pics first from my condo and then from Helsinki, beside the railway tracks.
And finally a picture, which you should take a look at while listening to Gary Moore's The Loner.
Lately I have been too lazy or busy to write anything but I thought I'd give it a try now.. I'm also trying to figure out the future of this blog. After all, this was meant to be my travel diary.. but maybe I would now start writing here whenever I feel like it, when I have something to say or on my mind and I want to share it and write it down.
When walking down the streets of Helsinki, Hyvinkää or wherever here in Finland (or in Stockholm for that matter on last weekend) it really feels like there are no people here. It's really spacious back here in Finland. Those people who are here hold their heads down while rushing on about their businesses. Where is the joy which was so prominent e.g. in Thailand? I guess the Finnish winter really makes people depressed.. And now it is the time of the year when all the snow is melting away (painfully slowly) and one has to walk in this sloshy snow getting wet and sharing this fun with everybody around.
Ì have managed to adjust to Finland quite well I guess. None of that stuff occurred they mentioned in my home university's foreign studies pages, like "the culture shock may be even bigger when returning back home than going to the foreign country". I've been having good times with my friends in various occations and now I feel kinda like home here, now that I have established the social relations again back here. One good way of doing that is e.g. having an elevator party in a boat to Stockholm ;).
I now live in Helsinki, Kallio to be more exact. It's a place with 44 square meters and is owned by my friend's mom. The rent deal is... very lucrative I would say :D. So I'm living cheaply here in 8th floor of this storeyed building near the amusement park Linnanmäki. It's a short way to Helsinki's cheapest pubs from here :) You are welcome to join me!
I will start working on next Tuesday as well. Probably doing some programming-typish stuff or otherwise play around with mobile devices. I would try to start doing my master's thesis as soon as possible because otherwise I would be in a total hurry to do it. Damn school bureaucracies and other stuff-that-make-you-graduate-against-your-will :)
I also now have been starting to eat more healthy stuff (even though I eat bad stuff still cause it's good), of which a proof of several hundreds of euros worth of healthy food stuff exists in my apartment now. I would eat some raw-food shakes, more organic stuff and some additional stuff I add to my normal food.
Here's some pics first from my condo and then from Helsinki, beside the railway tracks.
And finally a picture, which you should take a look at while listening to Gary Moore's The Loner.
maanantai 15. maaliskuuta 2010
Some more winterish pictures for all you lovely people in the warmer climates
Yeah, this is the south of Finland at the moment and let me tell you it is both snowy and cold. Exceptionally. I mean, usually at this time of year it does not look like this.
The picture above is my home university TKK (Helsinki University of Technology). The picture below is from Tapiola - a district of Espoo (the city were TKK is located). I was standing on ice and soon after headed out for a newly-opened organic food shop, from which I bought some organic chili powder and organic chocolate. Chili because I used all my chili powder on Sunday cooking some lovely Mexican beef enchiladas <3 with my little brother (who was on his weekend holiday from the Finnish army).
This one is from the airport as seen from my parents' perspective when arriving from the baggage conveyor belts..
The picture above is my home university TKK (Helsinki University of Technology). The picture below is from Tapiola - a district of Espoo (the city were TKK is located). I was standing on ice and soon after headed out for a newly-opened organic food shop, from which I bought some organic chili powder and organic chocolate. Chili because I used all my chili powder on Sunday cooking some lovely Mexican beef enchiladas <3 with my little brother (who was on his weekend holiday from the Finnish army).
This one is from the airport as seen from my parents' perspective when arriving from the baggage conveyor belts..
sunnuntai 14. maaliskuuta 2010
So what's it like back in Finland
These two pics tell u everything essential. The first one is from the front yard of my parents' house. The second one is me on a Sunday morning in the kitchen.
perjantai 12. maaliskuuta 2010
PICTURES FROM LAO UNTIL KOH SAMUI
For your viewing pleasure in chronological order. Silja and I were travelling together in all places except Koh Pha Ngan.
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| Laos - Luang Prabang |
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| Silja Luang Prabang |
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| Laos - Luang Prabang - Kuangsi Falls |
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| Laos - Vang Vieng |
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| Silja Vang Vieng |
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| Laos - Vientiane |
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| Silja Vientiane |
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| Bangkok |
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| Bangkok Silja |
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| Koh Tao |
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| Silja Koh Tao |
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| Koh Pha Ngan |
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| Koh Samui |
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| Silja Koh Samui |
torstai 11. maaliskuuta 2010
I'm back in Finland!
!!!
Jesus it's so snowy and..well not meaning to be cocky or rude but quite sparse...I mean all I could see from the airplane until Helsinki-Vantaa Airport was snow and forest.. And a few cars. As opposed to the cities I have visited recently. What a contrast!
The trip went well. Koh Samui airport was an open-air mall with shopping streets and comfortable boarding gates. Even the electricity shut down for 2 minutes :) It was all dark and nobody said anything as if it was normal. It was pouring down water like hell but the flight left only 20 minutes late. In Bangkok I hanged out and read Silja's newly bought book "Omnivore's dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Prior to leaving the huts I took macro-pictures of the pages of the book and so were able to read it whilst leaving the actual book to the hands of Silja. :)
In Bangkok I almost fell asleep as I slept the last night only few hours. Well, the flight from Bangkok to Beijing (transfer flight, that's why I went via Beijing) went well in the night-time and I slept maybe 1½ hours. Then hanging out in Beijing for five hours without sleeping, just chatting with an old Finnish man with some basic old-guy-in-Thailand stories involving escort service.... What a shame people do that. The trip from Beijing to Helsinki-Vantaa was 8½ hours. Only 30 minutes before arriving to Helsinki-Vantaa I realized that I had all the time a display with movies, news, games, whatever arranged for me had I realized to take it out from its cover. So I got bored on the flight and slept maybe 2 hours. Food was basic Finnish stuff, so did not taste that much of anything. One funny thing is that all the other airlines seem to have young ladies as the stewardesses whereas Finnair has substantially more old ladies. I did not speak to the Finnish stewardesses but to a Chinese one (it was a joing flight in cooperation with Air China), with whom I chatted some Chinese and to my surprise I actually could say still something in a way she understood me.
Arriving to H-V the lack of personnel became evident as we had to wait for our luggage so much longer than in any other airport. Well, what would Finland not do to be more efficient in financial terms.. I really despise this deeply. My parents came to pick me up from the airport and so I got a good ride home to my parents' house in Hyvinkää, Finland.
Jesus it's so snowy and..well not meaning to be cocky or rude but quite sparse...I mean all I could see from the airplane until Helsinki-Vantaa Airport was snow and forest.. And a few cars. As opposed to the cities I have visited recently. What a contrast!
The trip went well. Koh Samui airport was an open-air mall with shopping streets and comfortable boarding gates. Even the electricity shut down for 2 minutes :) It was all dark and nobody said anything as if it was normal. It was pouring down water like hell but the flight left only 20 minutes late. In Bangkok I hanged out and read Silja's newly bought book "Omnivore's dilemma" by Michael Pollan. Prior to leaving the huts I took macro-pictures of the pages of the book and so were able to read it whilst leaving the actual book to the hands of Silja. :)
In Bangkok I almost fell asleep as I slept the last night only few hours. Well, the flight from Bangkok to Beijing (transfer flight, that's why I went via Beijing) went well in the night-time and I slept maybe 1½ hours. Then hanging out in Beijing for five hours without sleeping, just chatting with an old Finnish man with some basic old-guy-in-Thailand stories involving escort service.... What a shame people do that. The trip from Beijing to Helsinki-Vantaa was 8½ hours. Only 30 minutes before arriving to Helsinki-Vantaa I realized that I had all the time a display with movies, news, games, whatever arranged for me had I realized to take it out from its cover. So I got bored on the flight and slept maybe 2 hours. Food was basic Finnish stuff, so did not taste that much of anything. One funny thing is that all the other airlines seem to have young ladies as the stewardesses whereas Finnair has substantially more old ladies. I did not speak to the Finnish stewardesses but to a Chinese one (it was a joing flight in cooperation with Air China), with whom I chatted some Chinese and to my surprise I actually could say still something in a way she understood me.
Arriving to H-V the lack of personnel became evident as we had to wait for our luggage so much longer than in any other airport. Well, what would Finland not do to be more efficient in financial terms.. I really despise this deeply. My parents came to pick me up from the airport and so I got a good ride home to my parents' house in Hyvinkää, Finland.
Best crazy thing
Bungy jumping, definitely, in Koh Samui. Thank you Silja for making me go <3.
Best location for accommodation
Koh Samui, New Hut Bungalow :) The hut was literally on the beach. What a morning wake up, to go jogging with Silja at 6.30 a.m. just when the dawn is at hand. The calmness.. just listen to the song "Yello - Capri Calling" and you'll get the mood.
Bungy jumping, definitely, in Koh Samui. Thank you Silja for making me go <3.
Best location for accommodation
Koh Samui, New Hut Bungalow :) The hut was literally on the beach. What a morning wake up, to go jogging with Silja at 6.30 a.m. just when the dawn is at hand. The calmness.. just listen to the song "Yello - Capri Calling" and you'll get the mood.
keskiviikko 10. maaliskuuta 2010
Game over man, game over!
I am now at the end of a journey. It lasted from the end of August 2009 until 11th of March 2010. That is almost 7½ months. It feels weird. I know what is expecting me in Finland but I still can’t help but to think what it is to adapt to completely new surroundings again, even though it is the most familiar to me. The people, the climate, the way people think and look – the culture – is completely different. It will be a culture shock for me so please do help me back to the tracks :).
Now begins a new chapter. I return to Finland, back to the old drawing board so to speak – to work and to study. I need an apartment first. Still don’t have one, which bothers me the most. Then I would like to start doing some Krav Maga again and start taking care of my physical form after 1½ of travelling. This time also mental health in the form of reading some good books, meditating... Physical and mental health combined I will start eating better food. Not bad food. I would like to see my beloved friends again and have lots of good times with them.
What is it exactly I got from this 7½ month journey? I got time to contemplate my future, my past and I got to live in the present very much so. With countless sweet memories, wonderful friends and obtaining alternative views of how to spend one’s life and how people live in different cultures, I think learning Chinese was just a small part of this big picture. As useful, interesting and fun it was to learn, speaking Chinese is another way for me to understand people as well. However one uses her throat and mouth to produce spoken language, we all have a common language. It is the one where by reading another person’s face one can see the true nature of this another human being standing there, just like you. As in many cases for me, I could not speak the native language. Then smile and a polite glance at the other person is the universal language.
I have so many pictures I want to show you but let me first get my shit together! :)
Thank You dear readers for following my (too long) blog. I hope you can use it for your own insights when planning something like this some day – and I am sure you will ;). Go for it! I then say you will never regret it.
As for the future of this blog, I might start writing an another blog or then just continue with this by changing the theme from travelling to some deep stuff :P We’ll see what happens.
Thank You again my friend!
Now begins a new chapter. I return to Finland, back to the old drawing board so to speak – to work and to study. I need an apartment first. Still don’t have one, which bothers me the most. Then I would like to start doing some Krav Maga again and start taking care of my physical form after 1½ of travelling. This time also mental health in the form of reading some good books, meditating... Physical and mental health combined I will start eating better food. Not bad food. I would like to see my beloved friends again and have lots of good times with them.
What is it exactly I got from this 7½ month journey? I got time to contemplate my future, my past and I got to live in the present very much so. With countless sweet memories, wonderful friends and obtaining alternative views of how to spend one’s life and how people live in different cultures, I think learning Chinese was just a small part of this big picture. As useful, interesting and fun it was to learn, speaking Chinese is another way for me to understand people as well. However one uses her throat and mouth to produce spoken language, we all have a common language. It is the one where by reading another person’s face one can see the true nature of this another human being standing there, just like you. As in many cases for me, I could not speak the native language. Then smile and a polite glance at the other person is the universal language.
I have so many pictures I want to show you but let me first get my shit together! :)
Thank You dear readers for following my (too long) blog. I hope you can use it for your own insights when planning something like this some day – and I am sure you will ;). Go for it! I then say you will never regret it.
As for the future of this blog, I might start writing an another blog or then just continue with this by changing the theme from travelling to some deep stuff :P We’ll see what happens.
Thank You again my friend!
Best of the best
On this trip I have encountered many new and exciting things. Of the more familiar things I now want to present You the best ones… So here we go!
The best food
Hard one. Chinese food was as good as it was diverse. On the other hand, Thai food they really know how to make their fried rice or pad thai or thai curry. I would call it a draw with a slight inclination towards the Chinese chow.
Laying on the beach, by the way, one comes across with many thoughts. One of them was my “top-in-the-world cuisines”, i.e. what type of food I really like and would especially enjoy preparing and eating. I came up with this list in no particular order: Mexican (is so good I can’t believe they eat it everyday), Italian (love it all), Israelian (lot of influence from Arabic food), Indian (the vegetarian stuff is especially good), Thai, Chinese, South Korean (the best made warmed-up seafood), Japanese (sushi and e.g. Osakan omelette is soo good). I guess I would be eating this back in Finland then. And lot of green stuff, organic stuff and especially I would like to start making these delicious shakes I have enjoyed with Silja here in Indo-Chinese countries.
Winner: inconclusive
The best beer
Tsingtao (Chinese) is definitely better than Finnish lager. It’s milder and more refined (subtle). There are, however, better options. The Vietnamese Tiger beer was maybe a bit better than Tsingtao. The taste of the Tiger was matched only by Chang beer in Thailand. As Chang is stronger (still very cheap) I would say Chang beer wins this battle. I heard Chang beer’s alcoholic content can be anything between 4-10% (officially it’s 6,x %). Tastes still good and gives you a good run. The acclaimed Beer Lao did not impress me and tasted something like Finnish lager, again. This was the case with Singha from Thailand as well.
Winner: Chang beer
The best massage
Chinese massage was quite generic but good (I don’t know how a massage can be bad). It was somethinglike what we in Western countries are used to. Thai massage, on the other hand, is based on using a lot of force and by pressing muscles for longer periods of time instead of the faster western massage-style. While Thai massage was excellent, I found the combination of Lao herbal sauna and Lao massage to be unbeatable. The Lao massage was very calm but firm massage where one could just fall asleep as it was done so gently. And yet the effects were as in any massage. We nearly could stand up after this Lao treatment.
Winner: The combination of Lao herbal sauna and Lao massage
The chillest place
Lao was definitely the chillest country of the lot. So laid back everywhere. It’s kind of hard to choose between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. Luang Prabang had many chill-out moments but I was having a food-poisoning there and could not enjoy all there was to chillax. In Vang Vieng we did the tubing just on perfect timing, starting before the drunk crowds and ending up having very nice and chill time with other Finnish people along the river. And the music in the Mud Bar was so good and felt so perfect at the moment… The lagoon place where we rode to with motorbikes was also very laid back and chill. It reminded me of Luang Prabang’s Kuang Si waterfalls…Kuang Si was better though. I have to say Vang Vieng surprised me positively and will feel inclined to promote it to be the chillest place on this trip.
Winner: Vang Vieng (against expectations; really it was just a matter of timing)
The best place for party
I will exclude Beijing from this - being so obvious winner because of the amount of friends with whom I had good time there. Because having good time with friends counts more than the surroundings. If it was more up to the surroundings the answer definitely would be Koh Pha Ngan. The parties were in such a beautiful place and the music was awesome, people were nice and the atmosphere still remained relaxed even though the beach was packed with loads of people dancing with their buckets in their hands. I also partied in Hong Kong, in Halong Bay (Vietnam), Hanoi (Vietnam), Vang Vieng and Koh Samui. In a way I partied also in Koh Tao and Bangkok but still, not that much. I found a lot of amazing and good people from all of these places but many times something was missing. HK was expensive (we still managed to have verry good time though), Halong Bay party was very good but the trip as a whole did not live up to my expectations, Hanoi was the place of “snake blood shots and free home-brewn whisky” but the surroundings were somehow dirty and did not have the proper atmosphere. The winner will have to be Koh Pha Ngan.
Winner: Koh Pha Ngan
The best all-rounder place
Koh Tao. Even though I did not party there properly, I saw the potential. I will want to play some music there some day for the crowds. The surroundings are great, the atmosphere laid back but when in need of a party, it is right around the corner. The food is good and cheap when you want. The diving is good all-year around there with lot of things to see underwater.. Maybe the only downside was there was too many Scandinavians and not enough people from all around the world. Or then I just was too shy. Bangkok was also impressive place. Cheap but very modern with cool stuff like Muay Thai or the grandure of the tourist attractions. A bit too hot there though. Hanoi – too busy and stuffy. HK – too expensive (ok you can get by cheaply if you want, but generally speaking). Lao – good for laying low but for me enough is enough.
I have to say South Korea was a very good place in many aspects as well. Nearly as good but Koh Tao is not really comparable – the other one is a city.
Winner: Koh Tao
The city where I had the most laughs
Hong Kong. Thank you Natalie for your weird sense of humour and putting up with me! :) Again of course excluding Beijing.
Winner: Hong Kong
The nicest people
Lao. Nobody came to offer you something you did not need. Which was rare in other countries. Thais are very nice as well, though Lao wins.
Winner: Lao
The best bar
Excluding the unchallenged Helen’s Café back in Wudaokou, the best bar must have been in Hanoi: either the bar where we drank snake’s blood (it was also a restaurant) or the bar just next to our hostel, where we could get free Vietnamese rice wine and was otherwise small enough to host an enjoyable atmosphere.
In South Korea we did a bunch of good bars and had maybe the best time excluding Beijing. 6 different places, very good food, friends and partying with lots of soju. I almost have to actually say this was the best overall run of multiple bars.
Winner of one bar in one night: Hanoi
Winner of the “bar-crawl”: Seoul
The best spa
Nearest rival being Japanese public bathhouse and Lao herbal sauna, the Korean jjimjilbang was definitely the most ****** relaxing thing I did in six months. Unbelievable…
Winner: Jjimjilbang, Seoul
The best fighting
Chinese martial arts do not come close in roughness when compared to Muay Thai. Me and Silja went yesterday to see again Muay Thai here in Koh Samui. The fights were very good and Bangkok seemed to have better fighters that Samui’s ringmasters. There was one very sleek knockout after a battle, whose winner was unclear until the critical blow.
Winner: Muay Thai, Thailand
Hmm I did not come up with anything else interesting. Maybe you have something you want to know?
The best food
Hard one. Chinese food was as good as it was diverse. On the other hand, Thai food they really know how to make their fried rice or pad thai or thai curry. I would call it a draw with a slight inclination towards the Chinese chow.
Laying on the beach, by the way, one comes across with many thoughts. One of them was my “top-in-the-world cuisines”, i.e. what type of food I really like and would especially enjoy preparing and eating. I came up with this list in no particular order: Mexican (is so good I can’t believe they eat it everyday), Italian (love it all), Israelian (lot of influence from Arabic food), Indian (the vegetarian stuff is especially good), Thai, Chinese, South Korean (the best made warmed-up seafood), Japanese (sushi and e.g. Osakan omelette is soo good). I guess I would be eating this back in Finland then. And lot of green stuff, organic stuff and especially I would like to start making these delicious shakes I have enjoyed with Silja here in Indo-Chinese countries.
Winner: inconclusive
The best beer
Tsingtao (Chinese) is definitely better than Finnish lager. It’s milder and more refined (subtle). There are, however, better options. The Vietnamese Tiger beer was maybe a bit better than Tsingtao. The taste of the Tiger was matched only by Chang beer in Thailand. As Chang is stronger (still very cheap) I would say Chang beer wins this battle. I heard Chang beer’s alcoholic content can be anything between 4-10% (officially it’s 6,x %). Tastes still good and gives you a good run. The acclaimed Beer Lao did not impress me and tasted something like Finnish lager, again. This was the case with Singha from Thailand as well.
Winner: Chang beer
The best massage
Chinese massage was quite generic but good (I don’t know how a massage can be bad). It was somethinglike what we in Western countries are used to. Thai massage, on the other hand, is based on using a lot of force and by pressing muscles for longer periods of time instead of the faster western massage-style. While Thai massage was excellent, I found the combination of Lao herbal sauna and Lao massage to be unbeatable. The Lao massage was very calm but firm massage where one could just fall asleep as it was done so gently. And yet the effects were as in any massage. We nearly could stand up after this Lao treatment.
Winner: The combination of Lao herbal sauna and Lao massage
The chillest place
Lao was definitely the chillest country of the lot. So laid back everywhere. It’s kind of hard to choose between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. Luang Prabang had many chill-out moments but I was having a food-poisoning there and could not enjoy all there was to chillax. In Vang Vieng we did the tubing just on perfect timing, starting before the drunk crowds and ending up having very nice and chill time with other Finnish people along the river. And the music in the Mud Bar was so good and felt so perfect at the moment… The lagoon place where we rode to with motorbikes was also very laid back and chill. It reminded me of Luang Prabang’s Kuang Si waterfalls…Kuang Si was better though. I have to say Vang Vieng surprised me positively and will feel inclined to promote it to be the chillest place on this trip.
Winner: Vang Vieng (against expectations; really it was just a matter of timing)
The best place for party
I will exclude Beijing from this - being so obvious winner because of the amount of friends with whom I had good time there. Because having good time with friends counts more than the surroundings. If it was more up to the surroundings the answer definitely would be Koh Pha Ngan. The parties were in such a beautiful place and the music was awesome, people were nice and the atmosphere still remained relaxed even though the beach was packed with loads of people dancing with their buckets in their hands. I also partied in Hong Kong, in Halong Bay (Vietnam), Hanoi (Vietnam), Vang Vieng and Koh Samui. In a way I partied also in Koh Tao and Bangkok but still, not that much. I found a lot of amazing and good people from all of these places but many times something was missing. HK was expensive (we still managed to have verry good time though), Halong Bay party was very good but the trip as a whole did not live up to my expectations, Hanoi was the place of “snake blood shots and free home-brewn whisky” but the surroundings were somehow dirty and did not have the proper atmosphere. The winner will have to be Koh Pha Ngan.
Winner: Koh Pha Ngan
The best all-rounder place
Koh Tao. Even though I did not party there properly, I saw the potential. I will want to play some music there some day for the crowds. The surroundings are great, the atmosphere laid back but when in need of a party, it is right around the corner. The food is good and cheap when you want. The diving is good all-year around there with lot of things to see underwater.. Maybe the only downside was there was too many Scandinavians and not enough people from all around the world. Or then I just was too shy. Bangkok was also impressive place. Cheap but very modern with cool stuff like Muay Thai or the grandure of the tourist attractions. A bit too hot there though. Hanoi – too busy and stuffy. HK – too expensive (ok you can get by cheaply if you want, but generally speaking). Lao – good for laying low but for me enough is enough.
I have to say South Korea was a very good place in many aspects as well. Nearly as good but Koh Tao is not really comparable – the other one is a city.
Winner: Koh Tao
The city where I had the most laughs
Hong Kong. Thank you Natalie for your weird sense of humour and putting up with me! :) Again of course excluding Beijing.
Winner: Hong Kong
The nicest people
Lao. Nobody came to offer you something you did not need. Which was rare in other countries. Thais are very nice as well, though Lao wins.
Winner: Lao
The best bar
Excluding the unchallenged Helen’s Café back in Wudaokou, the best bar must have been in Hanoi: either the bar where we drank snake’s blood (it was also a restaurant) or the bar just next to our hostel, where we could get free Vietnamese rice wine and was otherwise small enough to host an enjoyable atmosphere.
In South Korea we did a bunch of good bars and had maybe the best time excluding Beijing. 6 different places, very good food, friends and partying with lots of soju. I almost have to actually say this was the best overall run of multiple bars.
Winner of one bar in one night: Hanoi
Winner of the “bar-crawl”: Seoul
The best spa
Nearest rival being Japanese public bathhouse and Lao herbal sauna, the Korean jjimjilbang was definitely the most ****** relaxing thing I did in six months. Unbelievable…
Winner: Jjimjilbang, Seoul
The best fighting
Chinese martial arts do not come close in roughness when compared to Muay Thai. Me and Silja went yesterday to see again Muay Thai here in Koh Samui. The fights were very good and Bangkok seemed to have better fighters that Samui’s ringmasters. There was one very sleek knockout after a battle, whose winner was unclear until the critical blow.
Winner: Muay Thai, Thailand
Hmm I did not come up with anything else interesting. Maybe you have something you want to know?
maanantai 8. maaliskuuta 2010
What it feels like for a man (to jump down from 50 meters)
It feels horrible. Add a pair of paddings to your legs and a rope to them, the jump becomes adrenalin-pumping as well.
Yes, now I can finally erase bungy-jumping from my todo-list (although I certainly will do it again sometime ;) ). Me and Silja went to do a 50-meter bungy-jump here in Koh Samui near Chaweng beach. Silja had already jumped once back in Finland from as high as 155 meters. According to her the scarier it is the lower you jump. So I was now in for a treat.. The location was at a nice bar with a pool and a trampoline as well.
Silja did it first. She came down almost as soon as she got up so I was kinda unprepared for that.. I thought one would have to ponder and think of death at least for 2 minutes before doing the impossible decision of leaning forward and falling. And of course, the views up there are nice. The rope stretch was measured so that our heads or upper-bodies would dip into the pool of water, which was a nice extra bonus :).
When I became my ascent towards the peak of the crane with my legs tied together I was beginning to feel more and more tense as I realized just what the **** I was about to do. During the trip the instructor gave instructions: "do not grab the rope at any time, close your eyes when you get to the water, put your feet half-air half-platform when jumping, put your hands in a T-position and then just lean forward, do not jump". OK....
At the top then I moved to my position. I glanced around the sea and the island. The views were cool as you could see the coastline as it was depicted in the map. Then I looked down where Silja and a bunch of other people were glancing up, waiting for me to do the drop. I looked at the pool. It seemed as if I would hit the concrete slabs beside the pool if I would do the jump. I calmed myself by saying to myself "I have to trust the organizers, they have been doing this for years and they know if I would hit the concrete.. besides they said no one has been killed here yet". Then I felt calm. The idea of leaning forward was not still imprinted to my brains so I thought about just doing the critical small lean, so I would not have to worry about it anymore, the nature would take its course - either I'd die or survive. At the moment of starting to lean I felt calm. I felt calm when my body was in horizontal position. Maybe 200 milliseconds after my feet had detached from the platform I got a primal instinct going like a shock through my body like 400 kilovolts. It felt just terrifying to know I had jumped and the gravitation is pulling me down with an increasing speed (9.8 m/s every second). And I felt like falling towards the slab. I shouted and shouted as adrenalin was pumping through my veins and I felt like I needed to explode. I don't remember exactly the moments of the first fall but I remember dipping to the water with my eyes half-closed. It was relieving in a way to know you did not fall to the slab. I bounced up and had to continue shouting as the lifeforce was flowing through me and I felt so animal at the moment, my muscles definitely making their best efforts to protect me from the unknown danger.. I could just say few words like..unbelievable and something less polite. I had to let it out. The experience was beyond words.. Man you have got to try it! It's like saying: "I now release the fear of death and the fear of heights. I submit to my fate."
And this happened on Saturday - the day Silja arrived to Koh Samui. We spent a very nice evening down at the Chaweng beach, first laying on the beach and the wondering the night-life. Definitely one of the weirdest things there (for me I mean) was the transsexual-show. The ladyboys were doing a cabaree show for the (maybe bi- :D)curious audience. The beer was expensive but the show was quite interesting and fun to watch. They sang all kinds of classics with cool outfits. And they all were men without dicks. One could tell.. Or then they had it like Lieutenant Einhorn from Ace Ventura :P. We ate at a good Indian restaurant and ended up as well to a beach party but found it to be boring. Silja got properly wasted - I mediocrely. The last destination was "a reggae bar" with live music, wannabe-rastafaris were playing every song that is played in the clubs nowadays in guitar-pop way. Sounded cool. The bar was of course, as it is in every bar here, filled with Thai girls with daring outfits, trying to entrap western men with low self-esteem (:P). I don't know who knows it might be good times though.. When we were back at our bungalow - New Hut bungalows, right on Lamai beach - 01.30 we still watched for the oddly-shaped moon and the stars for some 30 minutes on my newly-bought sarong. And the two dogs that hang out there were playing with us :) They are funny chaps, biting always each other's necks and running around. At some point of the night I woke up to some American accent English and a definitely Thai English (male and female, respectively). No question it was a case which is quite common here. A western guy and a Thai female. After 15 minutes of aural agony it became silent. Sleep.
The bungalow is just like from a movie. Silja and me share a very simple hut, area of maybe 8-9 sq. meters. The usable area is smaller because of the shape of the roof. We lock it with our own padlock. Out of the door is the beach right in front of us. The bathroom is common for all of the inhabitants. It's a nice feeling brushing my tooth on a beach. Toilets are self-flush. It's hard to keep your eyes closed while trying to pour water from a bowl to the toilet :).
On Sunday we just chilled out and explored our beach surroundings and basked in the sun. Took a Thai massage and such.
Today, on Monday, we visited the Ang Thong national marine park - 1,5 hours from Koh Samui by boat. It is an area of 102 sq. kilometers with over forty islands and views that are breath-taking. Heard the Beach movie took inspiration from this area. We kayaked, saw a lagoon and trekked a very good trek up to a viewpoint where you could see so magnificent views that..whel I don't know what to even say! Lunch was plentiful and there was lot of Italian people on the boat for some reason. We swam, we sunbathed. It was the granniest trip maybe so far, but nevertheless enjoyable. With patience these trips are OK ;).
I came to Samui on Thursday. I accommodated myself after a veery sweaty search to Bophut beach where I heard it's like a compromise of peaceful and having parties. It was way too peaceful for my taste and there was not so many people. I ate lot of good Thai food there though. And bought some decorations for neck and wrist. I spent my nights in a fancy two bed room with a tv, a/c and a refrigerator. They even had a FHM-magazine on the table so everything was set. On Friday, I treated myself on my birthday with a zipline tour. We went with a 4x4 jeep to the jungle with two Germans, two Russians and one American. The ziplines were some 30 meters above the ground but the vegetation was quite dense you could hardly see the ground. Some of the ziplines were totally cool when they went fast. We had gloves in our hands to control the speed.
I booked all the travels I and Silja have made through a travel agency which was in the Bophut beach. It was called Fisherman's tours (I promised to advertize this :) ). The owners were Mrs. Good and Mr. Num. They have been married for 12 years and have one child. They were always very nice to me and gave me discounts from the prices mentioned in the tour-leaflets. I e.g. arranged my transfer from Bophut to Lamai beach for free when I promised to take some of the tours (which I was going to get anyway). The transfers between beaches here in Koh Samui are namely quite expensive. So, on Friday night Mr. Num invited me to drink with his friends to the beach and do some BBQ. We went to a market with Mr. Num's motorbike and bought some meat and vegetables. Then he said he would marinate the meat and make some sauces, after which he took me back to my hotel. In the evening then I went to the travel agency to wait for the go to the beach. And Mrs. Good started to tell me how she got hospitalized only two weeks ago by Mr. Num as they had had some arguments about him drinking too much with his friends and being "too friendly" with other girls. And it was bad for the business as he, according to her, could not get early enough to the office to open up places every day. Well I understood Mrs's concerns, it is bad for business if the other person does not do his duties. I also understood that Mr. Num apparently wants some kind of change in his life. I found it very weird she wants to stay with Mr. Num if he beats her. I guess the relationships here down south are based on other things as what we are used to in western countries. Anyways, we got hammered at the beach eating good food and I tasted also cows skin, which was very good. I also sat on the beach and watched the stars in the higher energy levels... Finally Mr. Num drove me back home. Nice experience by the locals.
Tomorrow we will go again to Chaweng beach to hang out. I will miss quite a lot there is to see here in Samui, but I guess I have seen on this journey quite a lot already. Silja is planning to do the island safari which includes all the stuff here like crocodile shows and waterfalls. Silja will travel back to Bangkok on Sunday and continue her journey from thereon until the mid-April'ish. Hope she gets her blog up n' running again ;).
I will end my journey at this time on Wednesday. I will fly from Koh Samui to Bangkok and then wait for the plane to Beijing. In Beijing I will wait for some hours and then finally return back to Finland only to live with my parents.
Yes, now I can finally erase bungy-jumping from my todo-list (although I certainly will do it again sometime ;) ). Me and Silja went to do a 50-meter bungy-jump here in Koh Samui near Chaweng beach. Silja had already jumped once back in Finland from as high as 155 meters. According to her the scarier it is the lower you jump. So I was now in for a treat.. The location was at a nice bar with a pool and a trampoline as well.
Silja did it first. She came down almost as soon as she got up so I was kinda unprepared for that.. I thought one would have to ponder and think of death at least for 2 minutes before doing the impossible decision of leaning forward and falling. And of course, the views up there are nice. The rope stretch was measured so that our heads or upper-bodies would dip into the pool of water, which was a nice extra bonus :).
When I became my ascent towards the peak of the crane with my legs tied together I was beginning to feel more and more tense as I realized just what the **** I was about to do. During the trip the instructor gave instructions: "do not grab the rope at any time, close your eyes when you get to the water, put your feet half-air half-platform when jumping, put your hands in a T-position and then just lean forward, do not jump". OK....
At the top then I moved to my position. I glanced around the sea and the island. The views were cool as you could see the coastline as it was depicted in the map. Then I looked down where Silja and a bunch of other people were glancing up, waiting for me to do the drop. I looked at the pool. It seemed as if I would hit the concrete slabs beside the pool if I would do the jump. I calmed myself by saying to myself "I have to trust the organizers, they have been doing this for years and they know if I would hit the concrete.. besides they said no one has been killed here yet". Then I felt calm. The idea of leaning forward was not still imprinted to my brains so I thought about just doing the critical small lean, so I would not have to worry about it anymore, the nature would take its course - either I'd die or survive. At the moment of starting to lean I felt calm. I felt calm when my body was in horizontal position. Maybe 200 milliseconds after my feet had detached from the platform I got a primal instinct going like a shock through my body like 400 kilovolts. It felt just terrifying to know I had jumped and the gravitation is pulling me down with an increasing speed (9.8 m/s every second). And I felt like falling towards the slab. I shouted and shouted as adrenalin was pumping through my veins and I felt like I needed to explode. I don't remember exactly the moments of the first fall but I remember dipping to the water with my eyes half-closed. It was relieving in a way to know you did not fall to the slab. I bounced up and had to continue shouting as the lifeforce was flowing through me and I felt so animal at the moment, my muscles definitely making their best efforts to protect me from the unknown danger.. I could just say few words like..unbelievable and something less polite. I had to let it out. The experience was beyond words.. Man you have got to try it! It's like saying: "I now release the fear of death and the fear of heights. I submit to my fate."
And this happened on Saturday - the day Silja arrived to Koh Samui. We spent a very nice evening down at the Chaweng beach, first laying on the beach and the wondering the night-life. Definitely one of the weirdest things there (for me I mean) was the transsexual-show. The ladyboys were doing a cabaree show for the (maybe bi- :D)curious audience. The beer was expensive but the show was quite interesting and fun to watch. They sang all kinds of classics with cool outfits. And they all were men without dicks. One could tell.. Or then they had it like Lieutenant Einhorn from Ace Ventura :P. We ate at a good Indian restaurant and ended up as well to a beach party but found it to be boring. Silja got properly wasted - I mediocrely. The last destination was "a reggae bar" with live music, wannabe-rastafaris were playing every song that is played in the clubs nowadays in guitar-pop way. Sounded cool. The bar was of course, as it is in every bar here, filled with Thai girls with daring outfits, trying to entrap western men with low self-esteem (:P). I don't know who knows it might be good times though.. When we were back at our bungalow - New Hut bungalows, right on Lamai beach - 01.30 we still watched for the oddly-shaped moon and the stars for some 30 minutes on my newly-bought sarong. And the two dogs that hang out there were playing with us :) They are funny chaps, biting always each other's necks and running around. At some point of the night I woke up to some American accent English and a definitely Thai English (male and female, respectively). No question it was a case which is quite common here. A western guy and a Thai female. After 15 minutes of aural agony it became silent. Sleep.
The bungalow is just like from a movie. Silja and me share a very simple hut, area of maybe 8-9 sq. meters. The usable area is smaller because of the shape of the roof. We lock it with our own padlock. Out of the door is the beach right in front of us. The bathroom is common for all of the inhabitants. It's a nice feeling brushing my tooth on a beach. Toilets are self-flush. It's hard to keep your eyes closed while trying to pour water from a bowl to the toilet :).
On Sunday we just chilled out and explored our beach surroundings and basked in the sun. Took a Thai massage and such.
Today, on Monday, we visited the Ang Thong national marine park - 1,5 hours from Koh Samui by boat. It is an area of 102 sq. kilometers with over forty islands and views that are breath-taking. Heard the Beach movie took inspiration from this area. We kayaked, saw a lagoon and trekked a very good trek up to a viewpoint where you could see so magnificent views that..whel I don't know what to even say! Lunch was plentiful and there was lot of Italian people on the boat for some reason. We swam, we sunbathed. It was the granniest trip maybe so far, but nevertheless enjoyable. With patience these trips are OK ;).
I came to Samui on Thursday. I accommodated myself after a veery sweaty search to Bophut beach where I heard it's like a compromise of peaceful and having parties. It was way too peaceful for my taste and there was not so many people. I ate lot of good Thai food there though. And bought some decorations for neck and wrist. I spent my nights in a fancy two bed room with a tv, a/c and a refrigerator. They even had a FHM-magazine on the table so everything was set. On Friday, I treated myself on my birthday with a zipline tour. We went with a 4x4 jeep to the jungle with two Germans, two Russians and one American. The ziplines were some 30 meters above the ground but the vegetation was quite dense you could hardly see the ground. Some of the ziplines were totally cool when they went fast. We had gloves in our hands to control the speed.
I booked all the travels I and Silja have made through a travel agency which was in the Bophut beach. It was called Fisherman's tours (I promised to advertize this :) ). The owners were Mrs. Good and Mr. Num. They have been married for 12 years and have one child. They were always very nice to me and gave me discounts from the prices mentioned in the tour-leaflets. I e.g. arranged my transfer from Bophut to Lamai beach for free when I promised to take some of the tours (which I was going to get anyway). The transfers between beaches here in Koh Samui are namely quite expensive. So, on Friday night Mr. Num invited me to drink with his friends to the beach and do some BBQ. We went to a market with Mr. Num's motorbike and bought some meat and vegetables. Then he said he would marinate the meat and make some sauces, after which he took me back to my hotel. In the evening then I went to the travel agency to wait for the go to the beach. And Mrs. Good started to tell me how she got hospitalized only two weeks ago by Mr. Num as they had had some arguments about him drinking too much with his friends and being "too friendly" with other girls. And it was bad for the business as he, according to her, could not get early enough to the office to open up places every day. Well I understood Mrs's concerns, it is bad for business if the other person does not do his duties. I also understood that Mr. Num apparently wants some kind of change in his life. I found it very weird she wants to stay with Mr. Num if he beats her. I guess the relationships here down south are based on other things as what we are used to in western countries. Anyways, we got hammered at the beach eating good food and I tasted also cows skin, which was very good. I also sat on the beach and watched the stars in the higher energy levels... Finally Mr. Num drove me back home. Nice experience by the locals.
Tomorrow we will go again to Chaweng beach to hang out. I will miss quite a lot there is to see here in Samui, but I guess I have seen on this journey quite a lot already. Silja is planning to do the island safari which includes all the stuff here like crocodile shows and waterfalls. Silja will travel back to Bangkok on Sunday and continue her journey from thereon until the mid-April'ish. Hope she gets her blog up n' running again ;).
I will end my journey at this time on Wednesday. I will fly from Koh Samui to Bangkok and then wait for the plane to Beijing. In Beijing I will wait for some hours and then finally return back to Finland only to live with my parents.
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