Archive for the ‘travel’ Category
Romania: a short blurb.
In travel on July 21, 2008 at 23:44From the air Romania is a checker board of greens and browny yellows. From the ground you can see the farmlands and fields of sunflowers. I ate a ton of fresh fruit from the markets. I feasted on freshly baked cakes and breads. I saw a ton of Gypsies, but did not manage to take any photos of them. I went on an adventure to Transilvania, in search of Vampires. Sadly, i did not see any, but Transilvania was beautiful. I sat outside of an orthodox church for an hour listening to the music/chanting and photo stalking the old people walking in. I took the train back to Bucharest where i found the temperatures too hot to walk. I spent too many hours in search of a post office on a sunday. I wrote postcards, but they will remain unmailed.
And now for a vacation…
In travel on July 4, 2008 at 20:53I’m off to Romania for a week to visit a friend, possibly help build a house, and try to get gypsies to kidnap me.
Saturday July 5th
Helsinki – Bucharest
Finnair Flight # AY725 Z
Take off: 09:55
Landing: 12:30
(times local to Helsinki and Bucharest)
Due to no fault of my own..and everything to do with normal quinn flight freakishness i arrived to the airport this morning to find that i infact had no ticket reservation dispite the confirmation email i recieved and the e-ticket receipt i held in my hands. After an hour long emotional breakdown and several frantic phone calls i was reascued by Deb and escorted back to her place where i awaited several more phone calls to see if a plane ticket for tomorrow could be purchased. It has been and i should be on a flight on sunday around 17:00 due to land in Romania around 19:35. I would like to thank my many helpful and lovely minions friends. (especially ones who drive for 6 hours to pick me up from airports just for me to not show up on the right day but insist on waiting until i am due to arrive (2 days later)…thanks Joe)
Everyone should know when its over, travel-log (day 134, the end), Jyväskylä Finland
In finland, randomness from my mind, travel on December 31, 2007 at 20:01When i started traveling i had some bizare idea that i would meet locals and learn about cultures. essentually i was going to have a go at being an anthropologist. I had planned to visit majour places but avoid the backpacker traps. I soon realized that i didn’t know hwo to do that. I still tried, but somewhere along the way.. probably Vietnam where i grew to hate all people… i stoped trying. I still didn’t end up bar hopping in every backpacker ghetto but i found myself surrounded by those people who did. I started to think that i had failed myself. I the anthropologist had just become another one of those westerners along for cheap thrills.. but then i realized that i was never really there to study the natives of the lands i was in. I wasn’t prepared for it. I had little background on them there was no way i could accurately study them. i did however come with th eknowledge of the western world. And i was very capable of observing, judging, and analyzing the actions of the backpackers around me. And so i did.. and it was good.
My travels are over for now. Soon i will be safely settled in Finland. New job, New home, New city to explore. But its stable, no more adventurous bus rides next to chickens, or sketchy boarder crossings. No more dirty guesthouses with questionable food. By the end i grew weary of hot weather and strangers, but i will miss it. For now i will try my best at learning Finnish, and hope it decides to snow.
Goodbye 2007….
Happy new year.
your kingdom for a drink, Travel-log (day 117), Bangkok, Thailand
In randomness from my mind, Thailand, travel on December 14, 2007 at 12:57
written in bangkok, posted from london.
In the city 65 baht would have awarded me, for example, one 1.5 L bottle of mineral water (15 baht), one95g bag of potatoe chips (30 baht), and one 250ml carton of veggie juice (20 baht). Or 3 servings of pad thai and a pack of gum. Sadly the thirsty and starving me found out that at the new shiny
Bangkok airport my 65 baht was not even enough for a small 500ml of water (70 baht). I paced the halls of the shopping mall around and glared at the hugo boss stores and the perfume stalls, the duty free shops and the cafes where the price signs mocked me and my 65 baht. I finally i found one cafe that would allow me to gift them my dingy 65 baht for one crusty croissant. I handed over every last baht i had and tried not to snatch the bag out of the guys hand. The croissant might have lasted two mins, and i think i even managed to taste it. And with the last bit of my thai money gone i sat desperately trying not to think of water.
Bangkok airport my 65 baht was not even enough for a small 500ml of water (70 baht). I paced the halls of the shopping mall around and glared at the hugo boss stores and the perfume stalls, the duty free shops and the cafes where the price signs mocked me and my 65 baht. I finally i found one cafe that would allow me to gift them my dingy 65 baht for one crusty croissant. I handed over every last baht i had and tried not to snatch the bag out of the guys hand. The croissant might have lasted two mins, and i think i even managed to taste it. And with the last bit of my thai money gone i sat desperately trying not to think of water.
manditory update #2, Travel-log (day 109), Phuket Thailand
In Thailand, travel on December 6, 2007 at 12:32i am running out of money and internet is expensive so im cutting it out. There will be no further updates until i get to london on december 14th.
South Thailand is full of sweedish people..and will now be called New Sweden.
It is hot and i am looking forward to cold weather.
That is all.
manditory update, travel-log (day 106) Koh Phi Phi, thailand
In Thailand, travel on December 3, 2007 at 20:31Still alive. Swimming with fish. Laying on beaches. Island hopping.
Quinn and the flock of Swedes, Travel-log (day 101), Koh Tao Thailand
In Diving, Thailand, travel on November 28, 2007 at 20:15
On the first day of my diving course i met with the teacher and 5 other students. They were all guys. One guy from england, and the other 4 were from sweden. The british guy for some reason had to back out of the class and fly to away for some sort of emergency, this of course let me with the 4 swedes and suddenly without a partner. That was the creation of team no-swede. I had the pleasure of being the solo member of team no-swede only for half of the first diving day. One of the guys decided diving was not for him. Sad because he was nice, but good for me because i suddenly had a diving buddy! This was the creation of team Sea-sick. Yes, my new dive buddy was the guy who nearly vomited his lunch on me. He claims it was to make us closer.. a bonding expeience. Team sea-sick would be awesome and fearless. Both members of team sea-sick decided that taking motion sickness pills would be best for subsequent trips on boats. Yesterday we felt no sickness at all, and were forced to abandon our name and come up with another. And that was the start of team nose-bleed. I myself did not have any, but my dive-buddy had. He will now be known as Captain Nose-bleed.
SCUBA diving + Typhoon winds + full moon = BAD IDEA, Travel-log (day 99), Koh Tao, Thailand
In Diving, Thailand, travel on November 26, 2007 at 13:40We did our confined water dive on saturday afternoon in a swimming pool. The pool was more difficult than i thought it would be because of the confined space and the people around me, but it was still not frightening or hard. On sunday afternoon we set out for our first open water dive. I was nervous. We got on the longtail boat from the beach and it took us the rest of the way to the large boat that would take us out to sea. The water was choppy. We got on the boat and i imediately felt a bit odd, at first i decided it was just my nerves but after a while i realized i was again experienceing motion sickness. I felt like an absolute sissy, but then realized that almost everyone else on the boat had already taken a motionsickness pill, so i took one too. I still felt like i was going to vomit. We prepared our gear and started to get ready to get into the water. The person to my imediate right suddenly leaned over the edge where he released his captive partially digested lunch into the water. I froze just incase the boat moved suddenly and he ended up emptying his stomach out onto me. I was sure i would be next the boat rocked and swayed. Eventually we all managed to get into the water. I felt much better. The rocking did not bother me anymore but still i was nervous and this still a little shakky in the tummy. We started to go down, but about half way to our desired depth our instructor aborted thedive. The conditions were horrible. We went back to the boat and proceeded to the second dive site which aparently is more sheltered. At that point one guy in the group decided scuba diving was not for him and that he was finished. We got ready at the second site and got in the water. We got all the way down this itme, but shortly there after the instructor aborted the dive again. The conditions were no better, and as beginners we could not know hwo to control ourselves and so the dive was deemed unsafe. We were the only group on the boat that were unexperienced and so ended up having to wait until eveyrone else was finished. I took off all my gear and got back into the water. I felt more comfortable in the water than i did on the boat. Eventually we headed back to the boat and back to shore. I was a bit deflated, and my nervousness had not been delt with properly. I would save it up for the next day.. today.
We went out early. i felt less nervous. We got in the water and managed to go down. I was fine. I had a little trouble with bouancy, but thats something you have to work out with time i supose. The first dive was great and then we went for a second dive which was even better. I could easily get used to a life under water…
Tomorrow 2 more dives! LOOK MA IM A FISH!
Island life, Travel-log (day 96), Koh Tao Thailand
In Thailand, travel on November 23, 2007 at 11:52I just realized that i missed Turkeyday. I will probably be craving cranberry sauce all week. Damn.
My journey from Laos to Bangkok was uneventful. We arrived at the bus station 2 hours early at 4:30 in the morning. The central bus station was suprisingly busy. I hailed a tuk tuk and headed to the southern bus station 20km away. I arrived and foudn that my bus to Chumpon did not leave until 9:00. Im not very good at staying awake at bus stations or airports when ive been traveling for a long time, but i somehow managed to keep myself occupied until i could get on the bus. I promptly fell asleep, and awoke to find myself deooling on the old man next to me. He did not seem to mind, so i decided to go back to sleep. The nice old man woke me up when it was time for me to get off the bus at Chumpon. I collected Giles ( my backpack… it not only has a name but also a name tag) and started walking in a random direction. I have no Thailand guide book, i abandoned it months ago because it was heavy. I meant to pick up a “new” one but i never got around to it, so i just wandered until i found a hotel that had beds. It was a crappy hotel but the bed was comfy and they sold boat tickets to Koh Tao. I only managed to eat food and shower before i decided it was bed time again.
The peir to the boat for koh tao was about 1km long. It looked almost exactly like something a 3 year old would have built. I walked along and tried not to look down, or straight ahead. The boat was comfortable enough, and the sea looked beautiful. I wanted to sit/stand outside but once the waves started crashing aginst the windows i realized it was a good thing i did not. If i had been paying any attention to the news or weather i might have been prepared for the ride, but i have managed to remain blissfully ignorant. The waves were nearly as tall as the boat, and the rocking rollercoaster like. This is the closest i have ever come to puking from motion sickness. I was one of only a handfull of people who managed to not get sick. I closed my eyes and pretended i was on a nice turbulant airplane ride, and went right to sleep.
Koh Tao is full of tourist, but it isnt crowded. Tomorrow is the full moon party and so everyone is on the party island south of here. I pondered going for the experience and decided the party island during a full moon party was too much party for me, so i will stay here and learn to scuba dive instead. I must go now to sit by the brilliant blue water with my book and a fruity drink with an umbrella….. Enjoy your weekend.
p.s.
My job in Finland fell through… so if anyone knows a family in helsinki that needs a nanny please pass my name on… thanks that would be great!
