Destination Melbourne

I am currently at the Bangkok airport, cranky because the wifi is not working and there is nothing to do and tired cause I haven’t slept at all last night.

Phuket was a bit of a disappointment. In the evening when we went out, Patong beach seemed beautiful and I was quite excited to be there. Joonas had been throwing up the whole night and he didn’t feel good so he stayed at the hotel. When we got to Bangla Road I was shocked. Although I had heard how bad it is, it was even worse than I imagined… Old western men surrounded by hookers everywhere, it is pretty gross! We went to Hollywood bar, had a few drinks and played this stupid game where you have to hit a nail with the wrong side of the hammer.

When I saw Patong Beach in the daytime I was disappointed. I tried to sleep, but you really can’t get a moment of peace there. All the time somebody is trying to sell you something, whether it’s massage, t-shirts, food, drinks, jewellery… And the beach road is the same. Indian people selling you a suit or dress, girls yelling ‘massage, massage’ and all the time somebody is pulling your sleeve and trying to get you to buy something. The water on the beach is muddy and there is rubbish in the water. Patong is the worst tourist trap ever. It’s really expensive too. Food is almost as expensive as in Finland. Tuktuk costs 10 times as much as in Bangkok and the clothes and drinks at least double what they cost in Bangkok. In Phuket there are also probably more Finnish people than in Finland. I don’t want to travel to the other side of the world and only meet Finnish people.

After two nights the boys moved on to Koh Samui and the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan. I decided to stay in Phuket because I only had a few days left and the one-day-journey felt too long for that… I took a room at the same hotel because the manager gave me the cheapest price that I could find (which was not cheap at all, 10 euros per night!). I went to Patong beach again and chilled with some crazy Brazilian boys that I had met at the Finnish club Seduction the night before.

The next day I had a moral hangover about not working out at all in 2 weeks and so I packed my bag and took a tuktuk to the only gym with bodypump classes in Phuket, in Kata Beach. It turned out to be a luxury resort and one bodypump class would have cost me more than 20 euros so I decided to skip it. I went to Kata beach instead. It was beautiful. White sand and clear water and nobody trying to sell me anything. I stayed there until the sunset.

In the evening, when I was walking around looking for a good internet café, I ran into two Finnish guys and later I bumped into them again at Tiger club. The next day I went to see the waterfall with the boys. We climbed 130 metres up just to find out that the weather’s been so hot and dry lately that there is no water at all. From the ‘waterfall’ we drove to the shopping centre in Phuket Town, Festival Centre. Not very good. After shopping we went for a quick swim to Kamala Beach, which wasn’t much better from Patong.

After that I was going to get my nails done, when I found the shoe shop of my dreams. I spent two hours trying on different boots and sandals and ended up buying 5 pairs and spending 4 days’ budget. My nails cost just 10 euros but the result was a disaster. I got my toes painted at the same time and that was also a disaster. I would have done a better job if I had done it myself.

I had some problems with the manager of the hotel who was coming on to me a bit too strongly and in the end I had to leave the hotel at night before I had a chance to get any sleep. I was outside on the beach until morning and then took a taxi to the airport. The beach in the moonlight is one of my favourite things in the world and with the right person it would have been really nice...

All in all, Thailand was a bit of a disappointment. The beach parties were fun and the water was clear, the snorkeling was really good in PP island and also Kata Beach was beautiful. However, I’ve seen more beautiful beaches with less tourists for example in Greece. I think that the tourists have ruined Phuket and Phi Phi. Even the partying wasn’t good, the bars weren’t good and they closed at 2am!!!

On the other hand, I only saw a small part of Phuket or Thailand. I wanted to visit Similan island cause I heard it’s beautiful but I didn’t have the money for it. Also, I should have rented a motor bike the first day I got to Phuket. I would have saved money and I would have got a better picture of the whole island. Although I don’t have a driver’s license, but from what I’ve heard it wouldn’t have been a problem =). I’m sure there are still good places in Thailand that aren’t yet ruined by tourists. However I’m happy to move on to Australia!

Chilaxing in the Phi Phi Islands

On Saturday Lasse and me flew to Surat Thani. My backpack was so full that I had to leave half of my stuff at the guest house. Hot sunny weather in Surat Thani felt great after the hectic and polluted Bangkok. Lasse wanted to stay there for one night cause he had the worst hangover, but I wanted to continue to Phuket right away. So we took a bus from the airport to Phuket Town. The trip took about 6 hours.

We didn’t sleep at all the previous night because we were afraid that if we go to sleep we will oversleep and miss the flight like I did the last time... So we were pretty tired, hungover and cranky when we finally got to Phuket. We took a room from Phuket Town. Lasse’s friend Joonas also joined us there. The 3 of us went out to eat and for a beer and then to sleep.

The next day we took a boat to Phi Phi islands. Again, we took the first cheap room we could find, 8 euros per night. The sun was already going down so we bought a big bucket of Sangsom and coke and went to the beach…

The next day we spent at the beach, first time! Crystal clear water, white sand and clear sky... Just what I had been waiting for J In the evening we had a few buckets again, and I convinced Joonas and Lasse to try thaiboxing. I suppose I just wanted to see somebody to kick Lasse’s ass for me. They were drunk enough to do it. It was so funny to watch and I laughed my ass off!! Afterwards Lasse was spitting blood and couldn’t open his mouth and Joonas still has a sore leg.

We met two Finnish girls and one guy and decided to take a longtail boat trip together the next day. We spent some time at Maya Bay (from the movie The Beach), it was really beautiful. Then we wanted to find some quiet beach where we could chill and relax and clean our livers and suffer the hangover away… So the boat left us at this quiet, beautiful beach with just a few bungalows. We paid about 3 euros a night for our bungalow. We only had electricity in the evening for about 5 hours. There were ants and lizards there, cold shower and the toilet had to be flushed with a bowl of water. Back to basics! Two days there without alcohol really did wonders and after that we felt a lot better, but we were also eager to get back to civilization.

So yesterday we got back and took a bit more expensive room, about 10 euros each but it also has warm shower, minibar, tv+dvd, internet… We felt like we wanted some luxury after the aboriginal life J We opened the first beer as soon as we got to the harbor and after that …. Well I exceeded my budget big time buying those buckets!!!

Today I woke up at noon and tried to wake up the boys, but they wanted to sleep although we were supposed to check out Long Beach today. So I was gonna go there on my own, but Lasse finally got up and came with me. Joonas stayed at the hotel suffering his hangover. Lasse and me spent the day on the beach enjoying the sun, sea and cold drinks.

Still in Bangkok

On Tuesday I went sightseeing on foot and got totally lost... I walked around at least 5-6 hours. Then this local guy helped me out and we went to eat together. I tried chopsticks for the first time. He gave me a ride in a taxi to the centre of Bangkok. There were some huge shopping malls but I couldn't even go inside cause I knew that my heart would have cried blood cause I have no money to buy anything... I started to be exhausted from all the walking so I took a taxi home.


I was just on my way to sleep when I ran into the same French guy, Mohamad, again. I was pretty thirsty after all the walking so we went for a drink. At the same bar there was a girl eating grasshoppers like candy. She came to offer them to us, too, and of course I had to try it! They taste like popcorn! After that we took a tuktuk sightseeing tour again and ate lots of the basic touristy banana pancakes :)



We said goodbye and again I was going to go to sleep when two Canadian guys, Brian and Jimmy came to talk to me. We sat on the street and drank beer, it was fun.:)




Yesterday morning I woke up when my friend Lasse knocked on my door. I was a bit worried how we would get along, and after just 2 minutes we were already arguing. Then we went for a beer and he could finally chill... In the evening we met Brian and Jimmy and went to a bar called Gazebo, had some beers and tequila and shisha, of course. Then I had to stop drinking because my flight was gonna leave at 7.20 am. We went to eat with Lasse, who started to be REALLY wasted after drinking all day. I told him that I had eaten a grasshopper yesterday and he decided that we have to do our own mad cook -program. We ate maggots, grasshoppers and I don't even remember everything we had... People were filming us eating them :)


I'd had a terrible headache for two days and I was also really tired when I had to go and pack and get ready for flying. Well, I fell asleep and missed my flight. I slept till 3.30 pm. Probably still suffering from jetlag.. Now my plan is to fly to Surat Thani on Saturday with Lasse and take a bus from there to Phuket. We booked that flight ages ago and I didn't intend to use it but I suppose now I have to wait until Saturday before I get to Phuket...


Bangkok is crazy. You can do basically anything you want. Bars advertise 'we do not check ID cards', tattoo shops advertise 'new needle every time' as if it's not self-evident... And you can buy your driver's license or any diploma on the street. :)

One Night In Bangkok...

... is enough. My plan was to check out Chinatown last night because the local guy told me that it was the place to be last night. After that I was gonna go to sleep because I wanted to go to gym today. Anyway, on my way to Chinatown I bumped into this French guy who wanted to buy me a drink. And with my travel budget I don't say no to free booze!!! He is also on his own in Bangkok until his friends arrive.

After 2 buckets of Vodka Redbull I realized that I have to forget gym and bodypump class today. After that we went to The Club on Khao San Road and had another bucket, and another, and another... But don't worry mum, I was watching my bucket all the time and didn't even go to the toilet without it :) One bucket of vodka redbull was about 4 euros.

The Club was cool, but I didn't really like the music. Then we went sightseeing in a tuktuk, went to some places that I don't really remember what they were, but they were cool, I think. Then we went to eat some dog in a stick, or whatever it was, and then I went to sleep. I woke up at 3.30 pm with no hangover!

I decided to stay in my guesthouse while I'm in Bangkok because I went to see some other guest houses yesterday and they were either full or they were much worse than my room. I'm quite happy with my guest house, the staff is friendly, there is a warm shower and I haven't seen ANY bugs there yet.

Lost in Bangkok

Just as I expected, leaving was really hard. It was almost impossible, as they almost denied me from the flight because there were some problems with my flight documents. The flight to Berlin went really fast, but from Berlin to Bangkok it took forever. I couldn't sleep because my thoughts wouldn't leave me alone. 

At first I was pretty lost in Bangkok. I had no idea where to go or what to do and my backpack was killing me in the heat. I took the first cheap guest house I could find, Budget Guest House on Khao 'Chaos' San Road, about 6 euros a night. Not booking a hotel beforehand didn't seem like a good idea anymore. There I was, wandering around randomly, when I noticed this local fellow who was laughing at me and he offered to show me some better tourist attractions than the one I was just photographing... We went to see the big golden Buddha in a temple. It's the Chinese New Year today so there were a lot of people praying in front of the Buddha. After that he offered to show me other cool places, but I started to become suspicious as he took me to some shady alleys so I lied I'm so tired that I have to head back to the guest house.

Later I checked if there really was something to see in that direction and yes, there would have been... So perhaps I was just being paranoid. In Berlin I met this bloke Justin who eagerly insisted on carrying my bags but I wouldn't let him because I thought he was going to steal them :D I'm starting to think that I'm being too careful when people are just trying to be nice and helpful :)

On my way to the guest house I ran into this Chinese New Year ceremony. Huge elephants and everything :) Now I'm going to join the New Year celebration and reward myself with an ice cold beer (yes, I've started to drink beer cause it's cheap).

Pics coming up soon!