Borneo!!! Guinness at Kota Kinabalu.

Last night I was listening to loud banging and car alarms going off under my hotel room window for quite a while. I think somebody was throwing new year explosives under cars. Maybe. I didn't go out to find out. So, welcome to Kota Kinabalu. Quite a difference after small & cosy Phuket town.

I came here on Saturday, flying from Phuket via Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian airlines. All went well except my first flight was a bit delayed so I had to run to catch the connecting flight. I made it, my backpack didn't. But all well, all 19 kilograms arrived sound and safe in the evening in my hotel. Which is quite posh btw., especially comparing to some of the ratholes I stayed at in Thailand. If you ever come here, Eden 54 is the place to sleep! In the evening I ended up in an irish pub drinking Guinness for 6 e a pint!!! Robbery!!! But omg it was soooo nice.

On Sunday I had my eyes on a hill. Again. What's with all the hills??? There's a nice one right behind the quite ugly center of KK. A small path through a jungle and up you are on a view point. From there there was a road to somewhere and those are the ones one should follow. After maybe half an hour I ended up in front of a sign "wetlands". I walked in the mangrove forest for a while having the best company: a small kitten! Sooo cute. The lady in the office told nobody owns her and I could have her. Oh dear. Those were some sad moments when I had to leave her behind, snif.

In the evening it was time for some more Guinness. Who knows when's the next time I can drink that dark creamy heavenly liquid again :( At the same time I was watching tennis on the screen coz Nadal was playing. Who cares about the game, I just want to see some close-ups and slow motions when the perfectly shaped abs shine through the lightly moist t-shirt.

Today I took a boat to a nearby island for some snorkeling and beach treatment. I was hanging out at Mammutik for quite a while with an icelandic girl, Sunna, who got me infected with the diving bug again. Now I've been looking at owd courses at Semporna (Sipadan!!!) but as after the voluntary work I've got flights booked to Mulu already I might not have enough time for it in Malaysia. Now it looks like that after Java I'll head to Gili for some diving and maybe surfing. That'd be early April. But this might change in a bit again...

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Sandakan where the people from BSBCC will pick me up and bring to the bears. Now it's sushi time. No beers today. 

Phuket isn't a swear word after all

The same scheme continues, the places I have been most suspicous of I have liked the most. No, I'm not at Patong, I ended up in Phuket town as my flight to Borneo leaves from here and I was getting a bored at Yao Noi especially in the evenings. Even my first impression of the town was positive, lively but not too crowded streets, old chinese style houses, lots of small unique cafes and bars and just a few tourist who are here for a day trip. This place has nothing to do with the picture I had of Phuket. This place is awesome!

I got a room on the roof of an old chinese building (photo) paying peanuts for a huge room with A/C & warm water & free wifi. Just next to my hotel is a bar which turned into my new local/stammkneipe/kantabaari. I love sitting in there listening oldies & watching life go by. They even had a table made out of an old singer sewing machine. I might just reserve until I have to leave to the airport.

On Wednesday I made a trip to a waterfall (if you can call it a waterfall...) about 20 km from Phuket town. There is also a Gibbon rescue center, where monkeys who used to be kept as pets and tourist attractions are trained to be independent again and with luck they can be released back to the nature. Really people, if you see a gibbon being held captive and tourist can f.ex take pictures with it, please let these people know!

From the waterfall was a path through the last remained jungle area in Phuket to another waterfall. A guy in the gibbon center told me it's a 3 hour hike and I should be aware of snakes and an aggressive male gibbon, who has already bitten 5 people. According to him it would be better to do it starting in the other waterfall where I can take a guide with me. No way I was thinking and just started walking. After a while I met a really nice french couple who I joined for the rest of the hike. Luckily, as Jeremy scared away 2 snakes. At the end it was only 1,5 hours hike. I didn't run but I've always thought walking slowly is for old people.

There was nothing wrong with the path!!!

Afterwards I had some beers with Jeremy & Pam (I was being social!!!) and then headed back to home for a few more in the local.

On Thursday I wanted to see some more monkeys! I heard that there should be some on a hill nearby and I started walking there. Reading a map is overrated so I ended up in a local prison. I was a bit wondering what's the deal with all the barb wire and why everybody is looking at me weirdly. Then two officers came to me and kindly told me that there are no monkeys, this is a prison. Okay... Fast turn and through the gate back to freedom. I found the right way to the hill and after a few minutes a car pulled to the side and a nice man offered me a ride. He was wondering if I was a bit mad coz I was walking. There are a few tv-stations in the top of the hill and he was working for one of them. So sure, there's AC in the car!

I finally found the monkeys when I was walking down. I also found a swedish man who was driving around with a moped. He used to be a photojournalist and was now living retired in Vietnam. Funny how interesting people you can meet when you least expect it. In the evening Hanna came to town with a few friends from Tampere and we had a few beers. I think I had one too many and considering I had only ate one springroll the whole day I'm now feeling a bit weak. Or maybe that's the punishment for being ridiculously social on one day.

Despite the hang over I did walk to another hill this morning and almost died on the way up. This is my last day in Thailand and I'll spend it by eating, not drinking. Though it's not so easy when a pink weirdo is staring looking at you. No more beers for me thank you very much. Tomorrow the journey continues to Borneo! Excited!!!

Diving at Phi Phi, discoing at Ao Nang & Climbing in Yao Noi

After Railay I went to Ao Nang to meet my old high school friend Hanna, who was there for diving. She actually managed to convince me to do a test dive. Seriously, I'm a person who enjoys being as high as possible (no, not speaking about ganja here) and is lightly claustrophobic. My worst nightmare is not to be able to breath. So yes, let's go diving!!!

Originally the plan was to go diving already on Friday. But luckily we didn't coz things on Thursday got a bit out of the hand and we came back to the hotel at 4 AM. I also got to witness what's a snorkel test for new divemasters. Jeezuz...

So early Saturday morning we were heading to Phi Phi Islands with Raya Divers for 2 dives. Everything went for sure smoother than I thought. I can actually breathe through the weird mouthpiece and I don't panic when a really annoying probably blind french dude is kicking&hitting me in the deep. Yes, there were a few too many people trying out scuba diving at the same time and I was an unlucky one to be in the same group with the frenchie. Also the dive sites weren't the best possible ones as I saw more sand than corals. But at least I noticed there's nothing really to be afraid of and I might consider doing owd later on the trip. Or in the next one. And thanx to Hanna for convincing me to try it out!!!

After a quick shower we of course went for a few beers. And ended up in a loud tourist/teenie disco. We didn't last long.

On Sunday it was finally time to move on to Koh Yao Noi, a sleepy island at Phang Nga bay with excellent climbing possibilities. I met a swedish-norwegian couple when I arrived and went immediately climbing with them. Luckily they were heading to a wall with routes beginning with grade 6. The guy had been climbing for 14 years and was confident with grade 8. So I actually went climbing with professionals.

To reach the wall was a pain in the ass, 20 minutes scooter drive in a muddy gravel road and then we had to slide through a jungle path climbing up and down for another 20-30 minutes. By this time I was sweating like the king (see photo).

But it was for sure worth it!!! The wall was amazing to climb, reminded me on a few places near Argo. And not to speak about the view!!! Just the sweat running into my eyes was “a bit” disturbing. Climbing in this climate is really hard. When it's over 30 degrees and the walls sunny I just don't enjoy it as much as f. ex. I do in Italy. And I also did miss my own climbing buddies. But enough with complaining, it was for sure a pleasure and hopefully can go climbing tomorrow again.

Today I just drove around the island with a scooter cooling down & dipping into the sea every once in a while. I also had the pleasure to watch how a cockroach came out of my beauty bag which I had left in the bathroom. Oh well, there are probably also a few of them in my backpack. I hope they'll crawl out at some point.

Railay doesn't really rock

This morning I surprised someone special having breakfast on the roof.

I stayed 3 nights at East Railay. Tanja was there until the 18th and then she left me weeping in the pier :( Well, not literally but still it's a strange feeling to be on my own now. But the rescue is also near as an old high school mate of mine is staying at Ao Nang. She's a devoted diver and managed to convince me to book myself for a test dive on next Friday. Seriously, I've got no problems with high places & hanging on a wall but I've always thought the deep blue is only for fish. I even think flying is more natural than diving. So considering how suspicious I'm about the whole thing I'm probably gonna love it.

That's also how it's been with almost all the places in Thailand. I thought the islands are gonna be the highlight but so far Umphang is beating everything 10 – 0. I was very suspicious of Koh Lanta and that's actually the island I liked the most. On the other hand I was really excited about coming to Railay / Krabi but I have to admit that in the end I'm not too fond of the place. Yes, it's amazingly beautiful and the climbing possibilities would be pretty fantastic, but the massed of tourists are really a turn off. And no, I don't want to speak with other tourists about places I've been before.

And I also don't wanna go climbing with an audience. So I'm heading to Koh Yao Noi on Saturday for a full week of climbing. That's an island with fantastic routes, hardly any tourists, just a few climbers and loads of local people who actually live there and don't just work for a resort. Yes I know, I'm probably gonna hate it.

The place I probably liked most at Railay was the lagoon. It's quite difficult to get there which means there aren't so many people. You have to climb up to a limestone formation and then go down a very steep & muddy path. Most of the people turn back when they see the last 10 meters. In climbing grading it might even be a 4 but there's also ropes so actually it's easier than it looks like. Just a tip: don't go on low tide like I did, then it's more like a muddy hole than a lagoon... Well, I should have known better. Also don't go with small bikini & flip flops, c'mon people what are you thinking??? Anyway, it is quite a unique & fascinating place.

One thing really pissed me off in Railay: it was the first place people tried to fool me with money. On one evening I payed the beers with a 1000 baht note, waited for change forever and finally had to ask for it. And even then the change wasn't correct. Okay, I lost 40 baht but it's the principle that counts. On the next day 500 baht was missing from the change in a restaurant. Yes, THAT I did notice. So from now on I'll always count the money immediately. But really, 500 baht? Does it say “I'm stupid” on my forehead?

Now it's thundering & huge storm outside so I'll use it as a good excuse for me to hang out in the hotel room, not to drink beer for probably the 1st time on this trip (the night bus doesn't count) and still to be pissed off about the waiter. Tomorrow I'll move on to Ao Nang for 2 nights for the diving. Excited!!!

Oh yea, I also had my first experience of thai doctors yesterday. I left to the trip with an eye infection and I thought it was healed already, but due to driving a scooter in Koh Lanta & getting all the bugs and sand into the eye it got worse again. It also didn't like to get sprayed with insect repellent. So it was about time to show it to someone. I found a doctor at Ao Nang which was a dental clinic at the same time. But at least it wasn't the dentist who took a look at the eye but a nose – throat specialist. He flushed it with some liquid and covered it with a huge plaster. Hmmm.... Yea. I could hide it behind my huge sun glasses but c'mon, in this heat it just doesn't stick. But anyways the treatment helped and I don't look like I'm having a constant hang over anymore.

Muay Thai & Rally at Koh Lanta

Alright, Tanja is taking a nap again so I can update the blog. I wish I also could sleep anywhere, anytime.

After a loooong muay thai free week we finally got a chance to see some more thai boxing at Koh Lanta. On Sunday Jan 14th there was a big event called Battle of Charity at Lanta Stadium baan Phra Ae, which is quite a big and very popular boxing arena. On that evening 15 fights took place and the tickets were expensive - again. We tried to get cheaper tickets by convincing the staff that we want to sit farther away from the ring and not by the ring side. They tried to explain that as foreigners, we have to buy the ring side ticket for 1200 baht but we can sit anywhere we want to. What's the logic in that? Finally we managed to negotiate the price to 1000 baht for ring side. When we got inside we decided to sit near the ring but not on the soft seats, which most probably are meant for farangs. And also we wanted to be as near to a ring corner as possible, as watching the trainers & families during the fight is very entertaining.

During the first fight the arena was filling up slowly but surely. The people from Koh Lanta were eager to see a local champion Penthai Sitnomnoi fighting. At some point we noticed that our section was full of very excited & loud men and money was changing owner frequently. We were sitting in the middle of bookies and men were shouting towards our seats from every direction. What an atmosphere!!! I also got to hand over money a few times.

For everyone's delight the local champion won :) Also a german guy won by knock out. It was a great evening. A special mention for the gorgeous tattooed fighter Manggornpek from Bangkok. I might have to stalk him somewhere...

The next evening we found out there's a fight evening on another boxing stadium. For that one we got stadium tickets for 700 baht and we thought that's where the locals sit. Well.... not really. The arena was quite a bit smaller than the one night before and it was filling up really slowly. With tourists :( Of which 90 % were swedes as a swedish dude was having the main fight.

One hour after the previously announced starting time disco lights went on and the first small 10 year old fighters came to the ring. The stadium looked more like a disco than a boxing arena and during the rounds they played Top 10 hits. Jeez... The atmosphere was quite something else than the night before, also the french couple making out next to us made us want to puke. Get a room!!! But nevertheless, it's always a pleasure to watch the fights. The thais can really kick, but clearly lack on boxing skills. That's how the swede also won his fight, it took only about a minute for him to land a good right straight and the opponent's lights went out.

I'm excited to see what Krabi has to offer on thai boxing!

And yes, rally. We decided to rent a scooter for a day because it's the easiest and cheapest way to explore the island. I drove my grandmom's moped in the summers when I was a teenager, but haven't touched a 2-wheel ever since so first I had to ask some quite stupid questions first: where's the brake, how do I start this thing, where's the tank... No wonder the guy looked a bit worried but Tanja convinced him that I'm a good driver during I was doing a test round in the hotel yard.

And driving a scooter is really a no-brainer. There's a scooter rally going on on the streets of Koh Lanta, everybody drives one. I of course drove very safely and slowly as I also had a passenger (this sentence is directed to Tanja's parents). I actually don't have any idea if I need a motorcycle license to drive a scooter in Finland, but in Thailand you probably just have to be tall enough so that your legs can reach the ground when you stop.

Now we are on our way to Krabi, let's hope we can find a cheap place to stay at East Railay.

Vi mår bra på Koh Lanta

Koh Lanta. A dream if you are a swede, want to speak swedish and hang out with other swedes. You can eat swedish meatballs and munch swedish candies (a diving shop here really does has imported lösgodis). Even our hotel's bar played swedish reggae. Heja heja! We didn't stay there long.

So this is an excellent chance for us to be unsocial again. That's a good thing in finns, if we hear that somebody speaks finnish in the next table, we speak in lower tone so they don't notice. The swedes on the other hand pull their tables together and act like they've known each others for years. I prefer the first option, I can see enough finns in Finland.

Otherwise Koh Lanta is actually a nice laid back island. I finally went for thai massage and the little lady tried to tie me into a knot. That was excellent, might have to go back tomorrow. And today we'll head to a thai boxing stadium but this time we'll get tickets for the locals area, I assume on the ring side the most common language is swedish. Nej tack.

We'll stay here until Monday and then it's time to move on towards Krabi. We booked a ferry directly to Railay, where I'll probably stay when Tanja flies back home on Wednesday. Or if it's also full of swedes I might head to Phuket and be social among the finns. Not.

Tomorrow we might rent a scooter and drive around the island for a day. The last time I drove a moped was 15 years ago. I'm more scared than Tanja who's the passenger. Keep your fingers crossed.

Crablife on the islands

On Monday we arrived in Trang airport in the late afternoon and thought it'll be an easy&cheap ride to get to Haadyao, where we had a few nights booked. But nope, there were no tuktuks waiting at the airport as we were told so we had to book a private car. It took us to the center of the town where we found out that last minivans had already left and the only way to get forward is to book a private van. Nice. So it was a about 400 % more expensive than we originally thought.

But anyways, after some hours we got to Haadyao nature resort in a small fishermen village and were ready for some sleep after a few obligatory Changs (Singha is so last season). The next day we did basically nothing. Explored the village a bit, had a few daytime Changs and chatted with a nice lady in a cafe and she ended up booking us to a small island nearby for the next days. Thanx a lot to Pai from Marine Room!

Haadyao is a quiet & nice place with only a few tourists around. Recommended if you're passing by to the islands and want to spend a few cheaper days in a beautiful surrounding. The beaches aren't maybe as nice but the rock formations absolutely amazing. There were also some caves nearby but we really couldn't really be bothered to do anything so we just hanged around, observed a cross eyed cat and looked lazy. And ate lots of squid of course.

On Wednesday 11th we took a longtail boat with a few local fishermen to the emerald cave at Koh Mook. The first boat broke down after about 10 minutes so they had to call a new one to bring us forward. But well, we're for sure not in a hurry, I really don't have any idea anymore which weekday & date it is if I'm not looking on my laptops calender.

At Koh Mook you have to swim about 80 meters through a dark tunnel to get to an amazing small lagoon/hidden beach whilst the waves are hitting next to the walls making a roar in the tunnel. Our timing wasn't the best one, there were quite a few other ones at the same time, but at least we weren't in a group and didn't have to swim in a row wearing life jackets. It would have been fantastic if the lagoon would have been empty but unfortunately we had to share the place with too many swedes&italians. Worth a visit for sure nevertheless.

On the way back out of the tunnel Tanja got surrounded by lots of fish and looked more than happy. Hangon keksi! It's really not fair, colorful fish like Tanja and mosquitos surround me.

The dogs also like Tanja and want constantly steal her sitting places but she has been fighting back and also has occasionally won!

After the cave trip the fishermen dropped us off at Koh Kradang where we spent the rest of the day walking around at an endless long amazing beach and also made a walking trip through the jungle to a remote small beach on the other side of the island. There's nothing really to do here, it's a true paradise island but maybe a bit too quiet for my taste. Especially as the only local ones are the ones working on the few resorts, nobody really lives here. But it's nice for a few days to relax and to take it more than easy. And to watch funny crabs on the beach. But I still don't like paying 60 baht for a small Chang.

Now we still have to decide what to do next, on 13th we should move on, maybe to Koh Lanta but it's full of swedes who pull their tables together at restaurants. But it's also too early to go to Krabi as I'll be hanging out there anyways for 10 days after Tanja goes back home. Any suggestions are welcome!!!

We love Umphang!!!

On Wednesday we flew from Bangkok to Mae Sot, which is quite near the border of Burma in western Thailand. It was a bit of a shock to see the plane but when we took a closer look, it wasn't that old, it was just really small. And bigger planes probably can't even land/take off from Mae Sot's small but cosy airport.

From Mae Sot we headed directly to Umphang with a local “bus” which was a mix between a pick-up & truck where we sat sideways for 4 hours on a road with over 1200 curves... On the way to Umphang we had some really nice company: a turtle. But it was in a leaking plastic bag so we had to pour more water to the bag to keep him/her happy. The cute little thing was on the way to Umphang to be a pet, not to land on a plate. Later we also got company from a policeman and a motorbike.

We had no idea where to stay when we got to Umphang so our “bus” driver brought us to place probably owned by his aunt/sister/mom. Nope, that wasn't a place for us, really far away and no windows in the rooms. He tried another one but the finns were on picky mood and reclined again. Finally we picked up a place from Lonely planet guide and it was the best choice we could have made.

Trekker Hill run by Mr T was terrific! We booked a trekking&rafting tour with them to Tee Lor Su waterfall, which has been called one of the most beautiful ones in the world.

Yeah a nice one, especially coz in the winter you can swim in it! And that's what we did until our guide looked so bored that we had to head back to the camp. We were also lucky to be the only ones at the fall so we swam in the huge pool alone. In the summer when it's monsoon time it's even more stunning, but the masses of water makes it impossible to dip in.

We slept in a camp a few kilometers away from the waterfall in tents (yea, I slept in a tent!!!). There were also a weird&unfriendly group of Danes and in the evening also a big group of Germans arrived and started doing odd exercises. I asked if they were Scientologists but at least they didn't admit.


We ended up in the guides&locals table having beers, nice chats and for sure much better company.

On the 2nd day we headed back to the falls for a morning swim before we trekked a few hours through the jungle back to the river & raft. And of course we saw a snake, what else... Why not a tiger or a gibbon?

Back in Umphang we stayed another night in the Trekker Hill and met up with 2 of the locals guys we had met in the jungle camp. And we had some more beers with them, first in a local bar, then at a bon fire in the yard :) We'll be back for sure and next time the beers are on us! And I'll also miss the cats!!!

On the next day it was time to leave Umphang behind, not happy at all. Mr. T had organized us bus tickets to Bangkok and when we arrived in Mae Sot we were hanging out at his brothers place. In the evening he gave us a ride to the bus station with an old hippie VW mini bus!!! And this was all without any extra charges, they were just being helpful.

It was a delight to meet all these sincerely nice & helpful people in Umphang&Mae Sot who absolutely made the trip!

Now it's time to fly to Trang & do some island hopping. Tanja also promised to start a food blog, as she's been photographing EVERYTHING we've gotten on a plate.

Muay Thai @ Lumpini

On our last night in Bangkok (Jan 3) we bought ring side tickets for Thai Boxing in the legendary Lumpini stadion. It's probably the most famous place to see some quality muay thai, and even if the price was ridiculous (1900 baht), it was for sure worth it. In that night there were 9 fights, of which quite a few were with very young boys. Or what do we know, they might have been 16-17 but looked like 12.

The locals arrived quite late and clearly came to see the main fights, which were quite something else than we're used to see in the thai box gyms in Finland. Worth every penny. Lots of knockouts! And they also served beer to the audience, points for that :)

Hopefully we'll have the chance to see some more fights in the islands with free/inexpensive tickets.

What to wear at Immortal bar?

Bangkok. City of angels and sweaty finnish women. I arrived here early yesterday after a horrible flight squeezed into a too small seat for 10 hours in a plane full of germans. Next to me sat a big smelly boy which I could have dealt with until he fell asleep and begun a snoring concert. But I do have sharp elbows and also the screaming kid woke him up eventually.

Anyways, I cant express how happy I am to be here. And I got even more happy when Tanja arrived 5 hours after me.

The first impression of the locals was superb as I got tip from the taxi driver. In most of the countries they would have made funny hand movements and pretended they don't have enough change. My driver had only big change so he of course gave me back more than we had originally agreed on the price. That's suits me for sure!

Also today we got a bit lost trying to find a pier and a local man was telling us the way we should go. After a while he and his wife drove past us and decided to give us a lift coz we probably looked like we would anyways get lost again. They also had a nice Mercedes so why not. I hope I didn't leave a big stain of sweat in the seat.

Yesterday was mostly filled up with eating & drinking at Khao San area. I suppose I don't have to tell anyone how delicious the food is down here, amazing! And to get 2 portions & 2 drinks for 3 euros... Okay if the drinks would have been beers then for 5 euros. It's quite ridiculous that I pay for a glass of latte the same as for 2 plates of food in a food stall.

Mira, my dutch friend recommended Gekko bar which was the last one we visited and yes, it is full of europeans who are stuck in Asia and quite lost in many ways. Nice evening nevertheless.

We also had to admit that Chang beats Singha big time. Important research based on quantity.

Okay time to wake up Tanja who of course is taking a nap. Then lots of seafood before it's time to test a local metal bar called of course Immortal bar. I wonder how the logo looks like.