Chillout and bikeout

Sorry for the short absence of the blog for the last few weeks but I've been busy... doing nothing. Yes Vietnam is my home address for the next couple of weeks as the lovely miss Vassie will be arriving here to make life on the road more intresting. Destinations include at least the world heritage site Halong Bay or more likely its little brother which is not so turistic. But before I start to tell what the future holds in store for us I would like to tell whats happend since I left Japan.



Actually leaving Japan felt kinda like leaving home again because Shanghai and Japan both felt so close to the western way of life that it could be compared to home and Vietnam was definately not goig to be all that. I managed to screw up on reading the time table for my scheduled departure from Osaka and spend 24 h at the airport! Fortunately for me the place had its own manga kissa where you could use the Internet, read comics, drink beverages and eat a shitload of icecream. Hurrah for the Japanese subcultures!



I arrived Hanoi at 9 PM local time which ment that not alot of busses were heading out the city. For some reason you couldnt change your money to Vietnamese dong at the Osaka airport and it was even a bigger suprise when I found out that the foreign currency exchange office was closed at the Hanoi airport. That leaves me with hundreds of dollars and alot to hope for. Fortunately dollar is a payable currency in Vietnam so I manage to get a taxi to the host I'm staying with in Hanoi, another couchsurffer. Mark is a university professor who has pretty much done and seen it all. Being a traveler for 4 years all around the world can leave a man with alot of stories to tell. He hosted me for a week at his pad which offered free wakeup calls in the form of jackhammers and motorbike horns from 7 AM in the morning.



As for Hanoi I can say only that its not much of a tourist town. Great bars and cafes and tons of lovely cheap local food but other than that it was just a place for me to catch up on some reading. I want to do it properly when my counterpart arrives here :). Managed to read two books during that week. The first being a one man adventure story about survival on your own without money, accomodation or transportation called Into The Wild. A decent book to read while your traveling but doesnt reach my top 5 books so far. The other book was of corse the one I've been trying read for a month now, George Orwel's 1984. God what book. Hope we wont have to endure anything of that sort in our lifetime although there are some signs in the air...



Anyway after one week of staying in Hanoi I decided to check out the lovely hill station in the northern Vietnam called Sapa. Filled all around with gigantic hills and local minorities making it a place deffo worth visiting. The day of arrival I checked in to a cheap hotel headed out to the local villages near the town. At the bottom of the valley lies the village of Cat Cat with waterfalls and rivers running through the villages, creating small ponds where to swim, relax and bathe in the sun. Most tourist decided only to look from a distance and take pictures so it was a really great experience mixing with the local kids in their water sports (throwing rocks into the water next to people to get them wet).



Also managed to meet two italian guys named Criss and Gabri with whom we spend the next day cruising the countryside with motorbikes and getting into some sticky situations on the outskirts of Sapa. Basically we went on a dirtroad that supposedly lead to a minority village but the road was so bad we had to dump the bikes midway where we talked to some local folk. After the visit we came back to the bikes to find them a bit out of shape and took a while to find out that the locals (god knows for what reason) had made some adjustment to the bike that made them run like shit. After a little figuring out we managed to fix the problems and drived into the sunset like the cowboys we are! Now its time the head back to Hanoi to meet my beautiful girlfriend who will be here in a matter of days!



More pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/timo.laaksonen/

A temple is a temple. is a temple. is temple. is a

temple. or Kyoto. or Nara. Who cares! I surely don't as I have now officially seen too many shrines for one lifetime. Seriously though. Every single religious sight I visited in Kyoto and Nara were exact replicas of one another. Nothing different about them. You can even browse my photos and ponder if all of the pics were taken in one specific place or multiple locations. There are over 2000 temples alone in Kyoto and 1,43 million people. That means there is more than one temple for every 700 people there is in the city. After almost collapsing under the tourist masses, a insane idea came to my mind that all of the temples should be housed by the people who live here and making them off limits to all tourist. Shouldn't be that hard considering the cultures nature of fitting big things into small places. Just an idea nothing more.



Sure they had a couple of nice gardens and statues here and there and the city of Kyoto seemed really small compared to Tokyo mainly because of the absence of skyscrapers. Another nice treat in the city is the Manga museum and the geisha/maiko stacked avenues on the city's east side. I predicted that getting a geisha to pose for photo would be a chance not likely to happen as somehow I had the perception that the highly trained entertainers wouldn't have time for common folk. How wrong was I! Once I spotted one in the buzzy streets I waisted no time and put on a big smile and asked nicely in Japanese could I take her picture. The white faced girl was more than happy to pose for me and the rest is history.



Nara turned out to be a miniature copy of Kyoto where you replace geishas with deers that are something of natural treasure and obsessed with making little Japanese kids cry as they stalk them for those dear cookies. The parents laugh as the evil dears trample over their small beloved ones in search for a piece of sweet and all I can do is join the laughter, what great fun! Besides the dears, there is a nice hill to climb of to for a picnic and take some photos of the city.



For Osaka I cant say that much except had a good time with my host Brian and Renata from couchsurfing and had some of the local cuisine called tacoyaki or in English octopus balls! Trust me, their better than they sound. Nearing the end of the Japan experience I decided to try my luck with Himeji where they have one of the most well preserved castles from the 17th century. If the place wasn't a complete tourist attraction nowadays I probably would have enjoyed but with German and American tourists walking in never ending lines through the rope created tour route trough the castle, I could not help but feel like a rat in a maze. Wouldn't recommend it unless your arriving early there.



Tired by all the tourist that seemed to flock around me like a pigeons, I decided to do something different and head for the onsens in the southern part of Kansai by train. As I was stepping in to the rapid service bound for the my destination, the conductor asked for my ticket and decided its not valid for this train and would have to catch the local trains with 3 switches along the trip. Time was 8PM so scratch that and head for a manga kissa place overnight. Next morning had an idea to go see the worlds largest suspensions bridge near Kobe which I had seen on the previous day from a train window as we went past. So hop skip and jump and I'm in Maiko with a San Francisco feeling to it with ocean breezes, Japanese guitar players and of course the big ass bridge with the length of 3,9 km. Have some miniature beers, eat some strawberries and let the sea breeze hit my face. Next its time for Vietnam and the bustling Hanoi. Ill keep you posted.



More pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/timo.laaksonen/

Beyond the future

It was time to leave Tokyo in search of little peace of mind but first I had to get rid of my ever so wonderful beard that had gone to the limit of being attractive. Japan isnt really know for its bearded people so I had to settle the score myself. Naturally traveling with a budget doesnt give OK-GO! to a electric shaver and I never had a lesson in switchblades while I was in college. The next best thing was a 1000 yen costing razerblade with a battery operated shaver attached. Cheapest things I could find on a short notice and worked out great except that the shaving process took almost 1 hour.



I had already booked cheap tickets which permit me to travel around Japan as much as I want with 5 separate days for 11500 yen (around 70 euroes) with the catch beeing that you can only use local trains which is the equilevant of the dictionary word slow. Train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto takes 2 hours and 20 minutes with a bulletrain without changes and the same trip with the local trains takes around 9 hours with 5 changes. Then again the bulletrain costs already more than the 5 day pass so this works for me fine as Im going to Osaka and Himeji also.



During the train ride I had a great chance to practise my growing Japanese skills and had great fun with the local train riders. Managed to spot Mt. Fuji also during the ride as the train swaping goes trough the town of Fuji. Originally I planned to climb up to that easily accessible hill but turns out its one of the worst times to go up there. With the combination of some reasent year deaths of people who have attempted the odds of going up there, I decided to be a good dog and just chase my own tale instead.



Upon arrival Kyoto I was quick to notice that there are no available places to stay in town so decided finally to stay at one of these 24 hour internet cafes that can serve as temporary places of rest for fairly cheaply. 12 hours with access to bathrooms and unlimited supply to tons of beverages for 20 euros isnt that bad of a deal in a town where room prices start often at 30 euroes.

More pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/timo.laaksonen/

Big things come in even bigger packages

Konichiwa, Domo, Sumimasen and so on. We are in Japan-time now and although it's only been a few days it feels like a lifetime experience. It's even hard to decided where to begin so let's just on with it! The flight to Tokyo was smooth one and the first thing that caught my attention from the airplane was the fact that the country is very VERY mountainous. After checking with LP I found out that around 80% of the country is at least a hilly if not mountainous. As the planes skits to the airstrip I listen up to the old classic by Deep Purple (you know which one) and think about my girl overseas. Not long now..



From the airport it's a quick 40 minute ride to the center of the city but I decided to skip sightseeing and head for the outskirts of Tokyo to the couchsurfing buddy. The first day is spend waiting the host and other guest turn up at the house but it was a good time to get to know the local town. I make up time by checking into a local Manga-kissa. A Internet cafe with loads of manga to read around as well. I get to the house around 00.01 AM and it's straight off to bed waiting excitedly for the next day.



The Sunday starts with a stop at the Harajuku part of greater Tokyo which is known for it's cosplay kids. The kids from the suburbs of metropolis gather to this spot near the Yuyuji park to play out their fantasy costumes varying from popular manga characters to their on own creations. Nowadays the days has become such an attraction that there are exponentially more tourist than cosplay kids. Yuyuji park is a host to all sorts of free attractions as local folk of Tokyo come out here to play out their part in the world of arts. You can find anything. Drums, jugglers, step dancing, hackey sacks, BMX bikes, skaters, guitars and of course the Tokyo Rockabilly Club that throws their thing down at the entrance park with big ass speakers playing the coolest 60-70's rock & roll songs with Japanese lyrics added. Just get your hair full of boot shine, boots worn out to the point of lacing them and gets your groove on!



On Monday it was time for the electronics/manga part of town which is the mekka to any die hard fan of gizmo's, hentai or old school video arcade games. The streets are filled with second hand junk (that is still appreciated here in Japan), nerds seeking for the ultimate cosplay cafe experience and the classic songs from ancient video games. You can observe the most adorable miniatures from hit animes or check out authentic Darth Vader helmets without forgetting of course, Gozilla!



On the other hand you have manga, porno and hentai that have made a small foot hold. Like the miniature shops, you can find the stuff from small rat holes to six floor shopping halls. The subjects vary from Hamtaro styled stories for kids to the stocking bondage for the big kids. Up next it was a visit to see the amazing masses of people at the Shibuya square and the Shinjuku metro station rush hour that 3 million people use daily. To make the day even more memorable, I headed out to see the Tokyo skyscraper ward with outstanding views. First it was a free visit to the 29th floor of the Tokyo NK Building followed by 41th floor views from the Park Haytt Towers Peak Bar. Accompanied by a cake and pint Guinness and the breathtaking views of the greater Tokyo, these are the moments that really make life worth living. "Where is my girl now?": I ask myself as I gaze in to the endless path of lights



Took a days rest and then it was a early wake up for the Tsujiki fish market. Get up at 5.30 and drag my corpse to the metro station for the 50 minute ride to every cats heaven. At the outer rims the action seems to have died down and I'm contemplating if we didn't get here early enough but once you get to the main market, the game is on! Once again Tokyo doesn't disappoint as I roam through endless alleys filled with squid, tuna fish, crabs, shellfish and blood filled buckets full of fish that probably haven't been discovered by any scientists yet. Trying to dodge the forklifts I realize that the place is very well airconned' and the smell of dead fish doesn't go over the top. The day has just begun but I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll head for one of those Onsens to get relaxed.



More pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/timo.laaksonen/

a list of things..

..that make me happy. Shanghai, beeing the modern city that is, doesnt really have that much cultural heritage but rather the towns about partying and the economic boom thats still is in function. There have been a few party's during the stay here so far and they have varied between cool house parties to awesome raves in the clubs. Zapatas, Logos and The Shelter just to name a few. Parties aside though, its always nice to make a list of things that make you happy so when your in the deep hangover recovery phase you can read something that reminds you that every is not lost. Here is my list as it goes:

- cooking with friends, even though its not often
- the smell freashly cut grass
- the way everything lights up with that orange glow during sunset
- creating
- organizing and planning ahead
- rooms with high cealings or decorative lights (have both and i'm yours!)
- making people happy
- touch the stars in the dark quite hours of the night
- to cry
- making faces
- Snickers
- the way Sas answers my to smile. I get such a lovely smile in return
- how director Steven Sodeberd uses lights in his movies
- comics
- film noir
- photoshopping the hell out of everything
- the way a wooden floor feels under my feet
- Jack Johnson's Taylor song intro, suchs a good tune
- painting miniatures
- the Finnish summer
- when my father cooks meals (the former navy chef knows his stuff)
- the true stories that seem to rival the fictional ones
- the few times that I've had the pleasure to sail
- Vevey - Montreo coastline in Switzerland
- my parents and their eternal support for me
- the small clubs of Alicante
- starting a trip to the unknown

Thats a part of it. There are more. Next time I talk to you readers it will be Japan time!

Letters from Shanghai

It's been too long again since I've posted one. Partially the Chinese Internet-byrocracy, partially me is to blame. Also I'm not able to upload pictures to the picasa site so will have to the story without them. Anyway let's continue where we last dropped off.

After getting back to Pokhara I immediatly got the commonly known "Delhi-belly" again which took a couple of days to recover. Diet was mostly brown rolls, porridge and hot chocolate. Still dont know why I didnt get it during the sancuarry trek though. When I left for the trek I had left my passport to one tourist office so that they could handle my Chinese passport while I'm doing some trekking. Saves time and effort.. or so I thought. Once I got back from the trek I was told that my passport is still in Kathmandu (where they issue the visas) because my passport already had a chinese visa and the embassy was currious why I hadnt used before. The truth was that I had no previous visa to China and the other office had mixed my passport up with somebody elses. After clearing this up it was time to get the plane ticket to Shanghai. The fact that the same tourist office in Kathmandu was handeling that also didnt make my heart feel at ease. After waiting a couple of days the passport and plane ticket arrived Pokhara. Guess what. The ticket is not to Shanghai but to Bejing!!! So lets send everything back to Kathmandu and wait a week to get the right plane ticket. All ends well but because of these errors I didnt have time to visit the lovely village of Bandipur which lies between Pokhara and Kathmandu. Of to Kathmandu then it is.

Durbar Square, Monkey Temple and the tourist ghetto of Thamel. Thats my Kathmandu in a nutshell. After living it cheap in Pokhara for almost a month! I decided that spending a few extra bucks in Kathmandu wont hurt anybody. So i decided to book in to the Kathmandu Guest House, one of the first guest houses to operate there and its been around from the 70's. 5 US dollar rooms werent that much of a bargain but the lobby with hotel like reception and satelite tv, the courtyard with its own restaurant and sauna facilities were more than the moneys worth. The lobby was a good place to meet other travelers, read Shogun which is taking way too long to read and watch the news or movies on the telefizel. Situated in the center of Thamel as it is, after stepping out of the complex gates you will be surrounded by drug sellers, rickshaw drivers and trek operators who all want your money. Coming from India though, this is more like the kiddies corner of Varanasi so I managed alright.

As for the sightseeings.. Durbar Square is the blessing and living point of the kings but nowadays it works as one of the main turist attractions of the city with lots of local people handling everyday business in the mix. Flock of tourist here, a couple of goat heads there and a million pidgeons everywhere. You know how it is.. The Monkey Temple was a bit of a let down though. Sure there were monkeys who tried to steal practically anything plastic you were carrying around but otherwise it was just another temple. Think I'm getting templed out after India and Nepal.

Besides the briliant german bakery's and lovely italian cusine, Kathmandu has live music for every day of the week. The narrow streets of Thamel are filled with the golden oldies of The Doors, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin that invade even the hotel rooms. Naturally I was compelled to buy some tourist crap before I left this pleasent country so bought myself some fancy pirate gear! More of that later. Now it's time hit Shanghai!

PS. My lovely girlfriend Sas told me I should write a list of my favorite things so stay tuned for that!

More pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/timo.laaksonen/

Trekking

Yes, I know. It was I shame that I survived the accent to the Annapurna base camp (from now on it will be shortened to ABC). It took 7 days to go back and forth. 4 and half day going up and 2 and half coming down. I imagined the experience to be more exhausting but it really was a peace of cake! Watch out for avalanches there, jump off a cliff there and boom, your at the base camp. As the explanation may sound a bit dubious, I will explain how I got up there.



Day 1-2:
Started off in around 11 AM in Pokhara by walking to the buss station to catch a buss on the way to Baglund. Then it’s a easy ride for 20 minutes and I got off at this village called Khare. From there the walking starts and with a accent of around 500 meters or so to the place called Australia camp. The people there don’t even know why it’s called that so it is hard to say where the name comes from. Anyway decided to have lunch later on so strolled around the cloudy landscape and watched the world go by. Wasn’t really much to see on the way because of the shitty weather so can’t really tell much except I ran in to a apparent bunch of western missionary at lunch brake. They were carrying their lives with them up to the mountain so I decided not to stick around too long with my lightweight backpack. First night was spent in a place called Tolka basically eating dhall bhat and rescuing baby chickens from the gorges of hell! Second day was a bit of a bore as it was raining when I woke around 7 AM. It took a couple of hours to pass and then it was cloudy all day. Tolka should be the first places where you really get to see the mountains close so naturally the clouds were disappointing. Passed a bunch of Koreans on the way and their porters were carrying ridiculous amounts of stuff with them. The route followed down to the river Modi Kola and stayed with it until the next big accent to Jinu and Chhomrong up almost 800 meters. Jinu is good place to stop for the hot springs but as the weather wasn’t getting any better I decided to head all the way up to Chhomrong. Their I stayed a lodge listening to the horror stories of the people coming down from the ABC telling how already half way up there is waist high snow. Seriously doubting that, I went to sleep.



Day 3-4:
Weather was clearing up a bit in the morning so decided I will at least try to get as far up as I can. So I set off to Bamboo! The day was pretty boring with only the cloudy forest as my only real sightsee that day. Fortunately at the resting place, the household cat Jenny kept me company in my lap and I decided to rename her to Sarah because she used to purr the same way. The pink haired island girl was on my mind a lot that day and wrote some stuff about her in my journal. I’ll keep that part private :). During the evening a Korean couple with their annoying Nepalese porter arrived at the same lodge and I decided by myself to use them to lead the way to the next checkpoint so I get a better foothold on the ground as they walk before me. The next day was beautiful! All the clouds were gone and the Fish Tail -mountain could be seen clearly. Definitely took too many pictures of that damn thing which apparently has never conquered. Snow was so bright that you really needed sunglasses to see the way you were going. The accent that day was up to Deorali and 3 200 meters. During the evening we met 3 Nepali cooks coming down from the ABC and MBC lodges telling us it is too dangerous to go there as the snow is almost neck high! They told the locals they were going down to Chhomrong for a week and would come back after that. The Koreans who had intended to stay up at ABC or MBC were shocked and could not believe that they couldn’t stay up there the in the following nights. After listening to the uncomprehending English between the Koreans and the Nepali I really didn’t know should I laugh or cry. They just could not understand that I can’t stay up there. I was going up and coming down the same day. No biggie.



Day 5:
By morning, the Koreans had finally understood that they would have to do the same accent/decent thing as I was planning to do and we went off. Part of the trail goes through dangerous avalanche chutes and you have to clear off them before the sun has shined too long on them. We started around 8.30 AM and were at MBC after a relatively easy 2 hour walk even though oxygen was little bit lower at this height. From there on, it was going to be difficult. Not a lot of people had crossed between ABC and MBC so there was only a slight trail and the snow was knee high, sometimes even more. It was though but half way through we could already see all the mountains and it became easier to walk as wind had blown the snow of the rocky surface. The sights were to say the least breathtaking and pictures don’t really give justice to the place. I could see that the usual mountain clouds had started forming around the edges of the pass and asked the porter how long it would take to get to base camp. The answer was around one hour and I could make it out from the distance. No way were we going to get there before the clouds cover all the mountains and there is nothing left to see from there so I decided to turn back there. One of the Koreans was so eager to get to the base camp that they decided to go up anyway. In 15 minutes everything was clouded and that was the last I saw of them. Coming down seemed to take for ever and I had decided to get as down as I could that day as I didn’t want to waste time looking at the same stuff twice. I got to Bamboo around 6 PM and was beat. After hanging my stuff to dry I just sat there and looked at the table corner for a hour. Everything I was wearing was almost completely wet and smelled horrible. It was time for bed.



Day 6-7:
I wake up at 7 AM and want to kill myself. I wake up at 8 AM and want to kill myself. I wake up at 9 AM and ask the doctor am I dead yet. Don’t remember when I have been so tired last time. 9 hours a day trekking is not a good idea after all. But I got to keep going and sleep when I’m dead. Decided then and there that I’m only going to get to the river side today because after that there will be no more accents on the way back for the last day of trekking so it will be easy. Clouds had gathered again so 5 hours later I was at New Bridge waiting for my lunch and went to look at the dried up river more closely for the rest of the day. Last day was a easy walk around a different route which I found to be surprisingly joyful as you really went through a nice variety of small villages with lovely people, scenery and sounds. Finally I got to Birethani and on to a bus. The journey to the mountains was over. On a side note I have to say that I have never seen so many Korean people in such numbers. I saw maybe 5 people from western countries and 100 people from Korea. There were more Koreans than Nepali people.



More pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/timo.laaksonen/