Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Passing through: Bangkok and Helsinki

Sitting in a cafe with Wifi zone in Helsinki. Not quite sure if one espresso meets the polite requirement for free internet for an hour or so, maybe Penny should go and buy me another coffee.

We have been strolling the boutiques of Helsinki trying to find PK a dress for Aaron and Saras wedding. We are stuck between the practicality of a fitting woollen dress or a pretty skimpy one (the first ideal for cooler climates and I reckon tramping, the second perhaps coming into its own back in warmer climates). The problem is made even more intractable due to our inability to decide where to go next, a post monsoon mission from Thailand to Nepal, or perhaps back through Indonesia!

This morning we woke early and went for a run!!!! It felt so great to be running again and its amazing how much of a buffett breakfast you can fit in after a two hour run, when its 20degrees colder outside that what you are acclimatised to and the hostel has cost you 35Euro each. We ran the western waterfront of Helsinki, zipping along single track and bare rock dodging fir trees. We discovered a replica village of the old Finnish style and swam Scandinavian style. (Great to be able to skinny dip without the fear of a little Indonesian man watching you from his coconut tree.

Helsinki is growing on me. They love their bookshops and their vinyl. The streets are wide and the buildings rise of the footpaths 5 stories high European style, their facades unspoit with pedestrain shelters (what is the right word for this?). There is a real sense of space and its a relief to be released from the noise pollution of Asia.

We only really passed through Bangkok, staying at a backpackers in the burbs "Sukhumvit on Nut". We are back there in a couple of weeks though. The funniest thing to happen was us missing the bus because of my fried banana addiction. The lady was surprised when I flung the bananas back at her and sprinted off down the road jandles flapping and backpack dangling! We caught a later bus only for it to sideswipe a car. A taxi got us to the very nice airport in the end. We then went on voluntary standby on the hope of winning $1200 if the plane proved to be overbooked, to no avail unfortunately and with time counting down to boarding we missed the duty free opportunity.

Tomorrow, another day in Helsinki, then off to Sweden late. Should be awesome.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello you two!!
What a great start to a Wednesday morning at work - reading all about your adventures! How freaking wonderful.
Ryn forwarded me your email Pen, about my email address hence knowing about the blog. Glad that you guys are having such a wicked time. Man alive. I need to get in on some of that international travel action.
Take care, and I look forward to checking in with the blog every now and then.
And re dresses - if you can find a nice wooly one, they are harder to come by than nice summery ones...!!
Mucho Aroha,
Kendyl.
xxxxxxxxx

Greg said...

When are you going to be able to buy your own coffee Jamie?