Sydney

Nadi, Fiji 29.1.2015

We left from Melbourne the 16th of January.

We had bought beforehand a bus ticket from Greyhound because we were told it's the only company operating the route. It was not, Firefly operates on the same couchs by half price. There are also trains. We had a stop over in Canberra for two hours which was enough. Happily we found phonebooths in the centre so we could book a hostel to stay in Sydney since the wifi connection on the Greyhound bus was not working.

We spent the first three nights in a hostel which accomodated many people staying long-term working through working holiday.

First we wanted to head to the Sydney opera house and public transport works very well with Opal -card that works on all trasport vehicles. The city felt right away more a city than Melbourne. We walked around the opera house, the Rocks and to the other side of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the view was stunning. A must was to try fish&chips and it was totally worth it! So good and the quality of fish mind-blowing. Sydney fishmarket was probably the cleanest fishmarket we've ever seen (or smelled) offering fresh oystes, lobsters, different fishes and sushis. We tried the last one and it was one of the best we have had. Tip: go closer to 4pm and get them on discount.

We went to a punk/rock concert on Saturday 17th and met many awesome new friends. The venue was quite unique, our gig was downstairs with mainly punk styled people and upstairs some local radio anniversary with people dressed up and around 50-60 years old. Locals told a lot of celebrities were there but we didn't know any.

Sydney is full beaches. We visited Manly by taking a local ferry. This is the cheapest way of looking at Sydney Harbour from seas. We also walked from Bondi beach to near Coogee beach passing many other beaches full of surfers. There is also a big cemetery facing the ocean where locals go near to picnic.

We had a small scratch of Australian history by visiting The Rocks Museum (free). It was a great place to understand the basics of the culture. Especially the history between Aboriginals and Westerns is something not to be so proud of. The Museum of Contemporary Art was also free and some of the works really good.

One day we visited Featherdale wildlife park and feed koalas and kengurus. Australian nature is just amazing. The park was easily accessible by public transport.

After the three nights in hostel we couchsurfed again the rest of the time. Liam was so kind to have us staying just in the city centre. He also took us to Mary's, a divine hamburger place in Newtown which is the hipster part of the city.

On our last day we met the British family that we met on the Trans-Siberian and in Langkawi! We had good pale ales and later oysters with wine. What a luxury!

We left to Fijis on the 22nd of January, tired but happy, ready to relax.

Melbourne & Great Ocean Road

Nadi, Fiji 29.1.2015

We landed in Melbourne expecting +45 degrees and sun as it was during the previous week. We arrived and it was raining and +17 degrees!

We decided to find accomodation for the first time on our trip through Couchsurfing. Jordan was so kind to let us stay at his place. It took a while for us to find a place to stay but happily we got to experience 'real' life in Melbourne in a suburb called Thornbury.

After Asia, Australia felt so easy. Everything was easy to organise and services worked as promised. The price level shock began already at the airport when using the airport shuttle, AUS$18 per person to the city centre.

We met there our Finnish friend Krista who is now living in Australia through working holiday. We enjoyed good food and beer and the Great Ocean Road with a rented car. We were told Melbourne has its own microclimate that was surely unpredictable. The view almost anywhere was always beautiful and the ocean so powerful.

The Great Ocean Road was possible to drive in one day but prepare for sitting in the car for most of the time. We had bad luck with the weather so we didn't stop continuosly to swim even the beaches were so nice. We also spotted wild koalas just next to the road, they were so cute! We drove until the 12 apostoles and back. We stopped a few times, for looking at the view, koalas and for food and coffee.

The city was cute and we saw wild opossums in centre parks and penguins living just on Melbourne pier. It was also very good for shopping and visits in nice cafeterias. Especially the area of Fitzroy and Brunswick were hipster, Kallio's hipsters don't even compete in the same league.

We enjoyed the city life and walked a lot around. And last but not least we visited AC/DC Lane!

Kuala Lumpur

Nadi, Fiji 29.1.2015

Time is flying. Kuala Lumpur was the best part of Malaysia we saw. The contrast of rich and wealthy and poor and dirty was huge. The Petronas towers with its luxury malls were really beautiful. But we ate street food just next to the towers and rats ran in the kitchens and below tables. Also a lot of homeless people were sleeping in the street.

The city was cheaper than Langkawi and Penang and we enjoyed especially the food. It's easy to move around with  monorail and with the metro.

We visited Chinatown and Little India which were both more an area than a town. Food in both was so good. Kuala Lumpur is indeed a good shopping city but we didn't find the stores in malls much cheaper than in Europe.

Thailand - Krabi & Khao Lak

Melbourne-Canberra-Sydney bus, Australia 16.1.2015

We arrived to Krabi late Sunday night on the 28th of December. The trip was hell and we didn't know where to sleep but we were too tired to care. Just few seconds after stepping out of the van a man from the hotel in front came asking if we had accomodation. We asked something cheap and nice and he laughing, showed us the road to a guesthouse. We arrived around 11pm but the receptionist was happy to see us and gave us the cheapest bungalow styled room. It was so cute and clean with an own bathroom and towels! Just about 6 euros per night. In the morning we went to buy fresh fruits and nuts from the fresh morning market that was next to our guesthouse. Everyone was so friendly giving free samples of fruits and smiling and not taking tourist prices. Really positive experience.

In the afternoon we decided to head to Ao Nang beach which is the most touristic one. We thought we could get a relatively cheap place to stay but everything was full and bungalows starting from 2000 bahts / 50 euros per night! Also the atmosphere there was not what we were looking for, sexpats, party animals, mcdonald's etc. The beach was nice but crowded. We left back to the city and booked few nights more from our kind guesthouse.

On New Years Eve we decided to leave to an island tour including four islands near Krabi. We chose a good sunny day and paid about ten euros each for a eight hour trip including lunch and snorkeling equipment. It was touristic but the view and islands were so beautiful! Definitely worth it.

Once we walked back pretty tired with no new years eve plans, a local ice vendour living in the neighborhood shouted to us on the street inviting us to join his family festivities. Of course we joined and after a few whiskey-sodas Johannes got in the men's group exploding fireworks and Monica was dancing with the girls and singing karaoke in Thai. They offered us lot of food and I think we tasted the most amazing grilled fish. The family was so beautiful and friendly.

On the 1st of 2015 we left to Khao Lak by  local bus to see our friend Maria that had been staying there for a while working as scuba teacher. We had to change in Takuapa but it left us right on the right spot in Bang Niang beach were we walked around asking for accomodation. We found pretty soon the cheapest one in the area that for us was the most expensive place we stayed in whole Thailand. The room was 15 euros / 600 bahts per night but was air-conditioned with a warm shower! Luxury.

We had one long relaxing beach day which we spent all in the sea because of huge waves. Then one day we went to Memories beach by scooter where Johannes tried surfing and got really excited about it. The same day we also visited a national park area with beautiful waterfalls. One of them we swimmed in and fishes came to eat the dead skin of our feet! Like in fish massages.

On the 4th of January we started our journey towards Kuala Lumpur. We took a bus to Takuapa where we changed to one to Surat Thani that had the closest train station. Monica met on the bus a great travelling daughter and mother from South Africa, Nadine and Hope if I remember right, that made my day. In Surat Thani we were dropped in a travel agency were a woman wanted to have our passports right away before agreeing on the price etc. She tried to say that all buses and minivans and trains were full because of people returning from holidays and showed us many tickets she sold for other tourist just before us. We had to ask the price four times before she answered and showed it with a calculator: 3550 bahts /~100 euros PER PERSON. Nothing costs so much in Thailand so we left pretty pissed off towards the city. We didn't know if she was right but we knew the price was outrageous. We took a local bus for 0.50ct to the train station and bought easily train tickets to Hat Yai which is in the South for just four euros /172 bahts.

Finally, we took a night train to Hat Yai. The journey took about eight hours but was late almost two hours.. We were so tired that we slept all night even the seats were not a sleeping place ;) this time we bought 2nd class tickets and it was much better and still ridiculously cheap.

In Hat Yai we tried to buy train tickets to KL but there was only one place left on the whole train. So we went out to travel agencies to negotiate a price for a big bus trip. After Monica negotiating for maybe 10 min we succeeded in dropping the price pretty well, because we were in better position since the travel agents didn't know that the train was full. We  booked a big luxury sleeping bus for about 18 euros / 700 bahts each. The train would have cost around 500 bahts but the journey takes 15 hours. The bus took only eight hours. And we didn't have to stay in Hat Yai for one night.

We arrived to Kuala Lumpur on the evening of 5th of January.

Malaysia - Penang Island

Kuala Lumpur airport, 8.1.2015

Happy new year!

Christmas went by quickly and Harrison Ford was our Santa Claus. It was raining every day in Penang / Georgetown so we relaxed indoor watching Cinemax. Our hotel had a sauna and as Finnish tradition we used it on Christmas Eve. It brought a little christmas feeling. A group of disabled people were singing Christmas carrols with full heart for charity was touching. Of course we had skype contact to home too.

Penang was quite a big city, but the main thing there seemed to be tourism and shopping. Because of the weather we probably missed the best sides. Penang is also famous by its streetfood. Nearby the hotel there was a food court where we ate mostly. The food was cheap and tasty. Just a bit too spicy sometimes, note to self: always remember to mention that no hot/no spicy/no chili with every meal you order. Even foods that are not usually spicy can be it in Malaysia.

We went also to check Georgetown and some shopping malls. Town center was pretty crowded and because of the rain walking around was not a thing to do. The Unesco heritage buildings looked nice but were not maintained well and were spread around with no signalations. So you just have to walk around and find them which is cool in a good weather. In malls the products were usually bad quality or expensive, and sizes of the clothes asian standards. We shopped instant coffee and a pack of socks. They were cheaper than in Langkawi which was widely adverted to be duty free for textiles and best for shopping.

A big plus was easy and working transportation. Buses were cheap and easy to use. Taxis expensive, those we didn't use.

We spent few sunny moments at the hotel pool which was big and really nice. Sometimes it just felt too intimidating to be there in bikinis and swimming shorts, when almost everyone else were wearing full body swimming suit for religious reasons.

Still, a week with clean sheets, big bed, warm shower and breakfast buffet was refreshing. With new energy we decided to return to Thailand for about a week and not straight to Kuala Lumpur where our next flight was about to leave the 8th of Jan.

We booked a minivan to Krabi, about 17 euros each and 10 hours. (Was said only 8 hours.) After that we decided that no more minivans.

Malaysia - Langkawi Island

Penang, Malaysia 24.12.2014

We decided to spend in Langkawi ten days. At first it was really nice but after a couple of days the tourist stuff started to be annoying. Also the weather was challenging because it was raining every day.

Langkawi is a quite big island but it has not so many things to do and see. It's promoted as a heaven of 99 islands but it's so expensive to visit even the closest one that if you are not sailing by your own yacht (that we unfortunately left home) you stay only on the main island. We rented a moped for two days and drove all around the island to see main attraction; The Black Sand Beach, 7 Wells, waterfalls, Underwater World, Craft Complex, Hot springs, Kuah city, Kok Beach, Cable car. The distances are long and the majority of places are hard to find. The Black Sand beach did not have black sand but only a huge cement factory next to it. We walked past the 7 Wells because we didn't understand that it was it and ended up on a jungle trail that after 45min of hiking informed us that it was some Extreme Challenge route. Monica did it in flip flops. The waterfall next to the wells was nice. 

The hot springs were unbelievable. There was not any heat from land but only some terrible ponds where water got warm by standing still. They were full of dirt and it would have cost 200RM/50e per hour! We skipped. The craft complex was closed on both days even it's high season. Kuah city was mainly hotels, shopping malls and construction work. We skipped also the Cable car because of the bad weather and actually we hiked up the mountain already earlier so we saw the view..hah. Kok Beach was nice but the security signs of the luxury hotel next to it was a little scary.

In the end we droved almost 100km per day. The underwater world was the biggest disappointment. It costed RM40/10e and included unhappy pinguins and nobody seemed to care about the animals. Tourist took photos of the animals with flash even the signs clearly forbid that. Many also knocked and hit the glasses of fished etc and nobody seemed to care. It was just sad. The exhibitions was build so that after every sections there was some shop. Or popcorn selling point. And everything was so dirty.

The best thing we saw on our drive was a shark on sale in a little fish shop in the middle of the island. And many monkeys.

A good thing in Langkawi were the little malay cafees that are delicious. Also the beach was nice but the waters are full of jellyfish. It's difficult to swim without getting burn. Langkawi is also promoted for it's tax free prices but they compensate with taking tourist prices. Now that we are in Georgetown in Penang the prices are almost the same. Actually textiles are cheaper.

We took advantage of the fact that we can't do anything and relaxed reading, running every morning and eating well. We got a nice routine. We also had time to book this nice hotel for Christmas in Penang.

Merry Christmas everybody! Here Christmas is seen mainly commercially and as our taxi driver said on the first day: "You can go to a shopping mall at Christmas and shop all day!". Not.

Happily we are here together :)

Thailand - Koh Mook Island

Langkawi, Malaysia 14.12.2014

The train journey from Bangkok started almost in a two hour delay. Still we were on the train ready which meant that instead of 15 hours it would be a 17 hours trip. We were in the third class of the train and happily it didn't get too packed. You have in third class only a sitting place on a hard bench. There was no air conditioning but all the windows were open and on the roof of each vagon were three fans. At first it was really hot but in the night a bit cold. Lot of insects flew inside from the open windows. We were prepared with our own snacks but also on the train there were granmas and others selling lot of food and drinks. We managed to get a few hours of sleep and arrived to Trang in the morning. After breakfast we headed to the travel agency of the brother of our nice waitress and decided to leave right away to an island called Koh Mook.

The first impression was amazing and continued to be after the ten days we stayed there. We spent the first four nights in a bungalow we booked from the travel agency and the other five in a cheaper place we booked on the island. Both were really nice and close to the beach. The island is quite small but it has the touristic beach side and a fisherman village on the other. The village was really traditional and most people are muslims. But it was a lot cheaper than the other side so some morning we ran there to get fruits for breakfast. Mainly we spent our days on the beach and snorkeling and reading in our hammocks. The island is really quite and relaxed - not really a party place. Still, it is popular for island hopping and visitors for a day.

The main attraction is the Emerald cave. It's a cave that is almost 90 meters long and opens to a secret beach inside. Pirates used to use the beach to hide their treasures. We went there by kayak that we rent for one day. We kayaked the whole island around which was about 10km.

The island is full of nice restaurants but our favorite was a family who had one called Hilltop. The mother was so funny and cooked herself everything. Portions were huge and delicious.

We left on the 10th of Dec for Trang and our intention was to go straight to Langkawi. We probably pronounced the name of the pier wrong and ended up in a bus which took us to the opposide side of Thailand almost on the east coast! Once arrived we took a new bus to Satun and headed to back to the west coast. We lost a few hours and so missed the last ferry. Thankfully we had one day extra on our visas so we just stayed one night in Satun. Our hotel was extremely cheap and extremely ugly. But no insects or animals inside so we stayed there. We had a few rhum and cokes so that we could sleep easier :D We left early in the morning and took the first ferry to Langkawi. There was almost no border control for Finnish passport holders.

We hadn't booked anything beforehand so we just took a taxi to Penang Cenang where most of accomodations are situated. The taxi driver was so nice and worked for us as a tour guide through the island. He dropped us in a good spot and we found a place to stay nearby. It is high season and public holiday in Malaysia so prices are much higher than other times. It was so weird arriving in a total turistic and western style island with shopping malls, mc'donalds, starbucks etc. We ain't going to visit these but the proximity comforts after jungle life.

During the first evening we bumped to some people we met on the Trans Siberian route! A family that travelled and had partys with us for five days during Moscow-Ulan Bator. It was unbelievable and we had once again a really nice evening :)