Down under in Sydney

Sydney - that place you always see on New year's Eve on TV with big fireworks.. that place that seemed so unreachable.. that was our next destination. And to make things even more exciting my mum and my sister were going to visit us also :)

We rented a nice Airbnb place near Bondi junction for the four of us which turned out to be a cool location. It was so easy to reach from the airport via train and access to Bondi Beach was very painless. Me and Matias got to the apartment earlier and got to sniff the area a bit and do some grocery and wine shopping before the travellers aka my mum the birthday girl and my sis arrived later in the evening :) it was so exciting having them there and seeing them after almost three months was just so awesome!
We immediately introduced them to the world of Tim Tams and they brought me soo much Fazer blue and salmiakki ❤️

Tired but a happy gang

To my surprise the time difference and jet lag was not too bad for mum and Henna the next day and they were ready to head to the beach and get some sun action to their semipale and albinopale skins ;)
We spent some hours at the beautiful Bondi beach and it was so hot. The sun was really burning!

😘

Bondi Beach

After heading back to the apartment I felt chills like i was getting sick. I measured my fever and it was almost 39 degrees! I never get a fever so this was weird and my whole body was burning hot. Me and my sis started to wonder could it be a heatstroke or something more than just fever (assuming always the worst in my family 😁)..
I started to take cold showers and then at two a.m. when I was shivering in the shower and my sis kept me company in the bathroom the night had a nasty twist.. All of a sudden there were baby cockroaches appearing from different places like crazy. Seriously! It was like, we killed one and then another one appeared and then we killed that one and another appeared and we killed that and then.. yea you guessed it, ANOTHER one appeared. I am so sorry to say that we killed at least 30 to 40 of those little motherf**kers in that very short period of time. Luckily this was the only big outburst of cockroaches.. and luckily they were the little ones and not the adult ones. We did however have few bigger cockroach visitors during our stay as it's a normal thing in Sydney we heard.. Yikes 😬

The next day was for chilling as we didn't get much sleep that night and even though my fever was gone, we felt that it was better to take it easy. So Mum went to see the sights at the city center, Matias went to take the coastal walk to Coogee, Henna and i mainly chilled and tried to recover from the killing session. Later me and Matias binge watched Stranger Things season 2 from Netflix after he returned from the coastal walk.

Australia day!

26th of January was a big day for Aussies and how lucky we were that we could experience this right there where the magic happened :)
We headed to Circular Quay that day and got to see the famous Opera House finally! Unreal! There was a lot of people gathered around in the harbour area and no wonder, there was a huge event going on with music and dance performances and the show was broadcast all over Oz.
We were just wandering around, watching people, having snacks and following Ibis birds, enjoying the vibe. Mum was gradually getting really worried that we were on the wrong side of the harbour area as she suspected that the fireworks would be nicer at the Opera House side. We didn't think we had such a hurry and just wanted to take things more slowly.
But eventually when we started to walk towards the other end, there was a sign that the Opera House side had reached it's full capacity already and they had closed the gates to the area. Unfortunate, but luckily we could get back to the other side where we were before. Or so we thought until we saw the gates closing before our eyes. Uh oh.. now that was a shitty moment :( Luckily we started to walk to the right direction and found another gate to the Opera House side which was still open and we got in! Hallelujah! We got to see amazing fireworks and listen to cool music at the same time. Though I must add that it was somewhat difficult to enjoy the fireworks as practically everyone had their cameras high up pointed to the sky the whole freaking time.
Like come on people! Take few pics but put the camera or whatever device you've got and away and enjoy the moment and let others enjoy it too! You can get nice pics from Google so might as well take it easy okay? :)

Aussie Day! 

Light snack

Almost perfect 

We were told that Aussie day is like Finnish vappu (Labour Day), so we wanted to have a beer in the city center and see for ourselves how drunk do these people get :D but actually we were really surprised that the city area was kinda not turned up. I guess taking it easy and having a BBQ at parks, beaches and people's houses is more common around here.
But we went to have beers at Cheers anyway :)

Sightseeing 

The next couple of days we wanted to see more of the sights so we started from the city. We had beers at Darling Harbour and walked from there to the Harbour Bridge and got nice views of the Sydney Opera House. It was a good idea to walk because we got to see more of nice places along the way which you would not see if you were taking public transport. The journey felt longer than it appeared from Google maps. My sister's feet were so busted, but she pulled  it through👍 It was cool to climb up the bridge and the views were awesome! My mum is actually little bit afraid of the heights so it was a bit of a challenge for her. Luckily, with a little help she also survived the adventure :)

The views from the bridge

Picture this :) 

And once you get the climbing going and adrenaline flowing nicely you gotta continue,  right?  :) so the next day it was time to do a day trip to the Blue Mountains. The trip took something like 1,5 hours with the train and then we walked from the train station to the Three Sisters lookout point. (There were busses also, but it's nice to walk: it saves money and you feel better after all the Tim Tams 😅)
At the Blue Mountains there are several walking trails (long and short ones) that you can take and see some amazing scenery along the way. The main attraction is the Three Sisters but we were just in awe of the whole place and took so many pics. There was also this cool ledge that you had good views and you basically stand on..  well.. nothing :) I tried to get mum there, all the way to the ledges outer side but that was too crazy for her this time, but someday maybe she'll do it :)
We decided to walk one 1-hour track before heading back to Sydney. The first part of the trail went smoothly and it was so pretty, but dark clouds started to get closer and closer and then like a switch it started to rain.. a lot.
Luckily we were very close to a shelter so we didnt need to take a shower there and then.
All in all it was a cool place and the little city of Katoomba where the train stops was cute also.  We would definitely recommend the place. Just maybe wake up early and head there earlier than we lazypants did (lazypants team = me, Matias and my sis).

Three Sisters

Two sisters 

One si.. Matias admiring the views

Our crew

Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk

One absolute must that our friends from Brisbane recommended was to do the walk from Bondi beach to Coogee. It is 6km long walk alongside the Pacific ocean and it passes by beaches like Bronte and Tamarama.
Breathtaking views seriously! I can't believe that for some these are just a normal day to day hoods.. we kept stopping and taking so many pics :) we also got to experience a magical moment when we saw dolphins play in the water ❤️
Ah, so nice and so burning hot again! Loved it! :)
After the walk my mum hopped on a bus from Coogee as she went to see an opera and we went to do something fancy as well.. we had burgers and beers near the beach 👍

Sydney "home" 

Our whole trip was a cool, pretty chill stay at Bondi junction :) our place was super close to shopping malls and train and bus stations so we had an easy access to everywhere.
Lovely weather, sun, family, Tim Tams & Finnish chocolate and couple of cold ones.. and so many other things to be so thankful and grateful for ❤️

P. S. Australia is btw also known for its tasty oysters. We hunted them during our stay but it wasn't until the last night we (Matias) got to taste some on the last night. There's many places to get them in Sydney, we chose The Morrison Bar & Oyster Room. If you're feeling adventurous and want to try some it's best to head there on Wednesdays. They have 1$ oysters there between 6-7pm.

The oysters

Our next destination was New Zealands North Island with the same crew! Stay tuned :)

- Sini



Our route so far

Down under in Brisbane

We traveled from Surat Thani to KL to Bali and finally to Brisbane on 9th of January. The trip took almost 24 hours (we didn't get any sleep) and then it was time to meet the infamous Australian border officers at 6 am.. Matias had a wooden souvenir from Bali so first time ever it was time to take  the red line. The process was quick and easy to our surprise. Few questions and sniffs from a cute lab and we were good to enter the country. After some coffee we pondered whether we should get our prepaid sim cards from Vodafone or Optus. Google search didn't give a clear answer so we ended up with Optus which had a better deal at the moment. With 15$ we got unlimited calls and texts in Australia and 10GB data. (It was more than enough, after 3 weeks still had 8GB left 👍)

We took an Uber from the airport and went straight to meet our new lovely Finnish friends Solei and Sirpa. We had been in contact for months with Solei but this was the first time actually meeting the sisters :) Also it was so lovely that they had Finnish coffee, cinnamon buns and Finn Crisps (with Salami) there waiting for us. We were in heaven!
We chatted quite a bit and got to hear the valuable local tips on what to do around the area. Thanks to these ladies we also got to experience the local life little bit as Sirpa had arranged us to be housesitters and dog watchers for a week.
Housesitting is quite common in Australia and I hear there is some pages where you can register and you might find free accommodation like that and end up spending part of your vacation petting cute dogs and chilling at the backyard in the sun with a pool. That's what happened to us anyway :)

We had a car in our use for the first week which was great. It was scary though.. to drive a MANUAL car for the first time on the other side of the road. The shift stick was on the left and the signal on the right and window wipers where the signal usually is... So like our new Finnish friend Mika says "the tourists always have the cleanest windows" 😂. Well we sure had it like that. We had some car trouble after visiting Aldi (local Lidl) for the first time.. After visiting the shop and buying all the food, the car didn't start! Oh crap! Luckily the car owner's dad lived nearby so I called him and he came to give some extra power for the battery and he had it replaced so we would not have the same trouble again.

Our street with the quirky car

The north Strafford Island and Brisbane city exploration - week 1 

Solei and Sirpa say that one of the best places to visit (on Earth I think :) ) is the Straddie island. It's easily reachable from Brisbane and especially from Cleveland/Ormiston area where we stayed. The ferry ticket costs total of 14$ or 20$ per person depending which company you choose. You could also take your car there but it's more expensive and there is no point if you are just visiting for one day. The ferry trip took something like 20-30min I think and then there was a bus waiting at the harbour, ready to take people to Point Lookout. The return bus ticket was around 10$ each and the trip to other side of the island took maybe 25min. At first the bus ride gave me a feeling that we were in Ruissalo Turku, with the exception of road signs about koalas and kangaroos 😎 When you get to Point Lookout you'll find a couple of restaurants, beaches and also good public toilets, but the absolute must is to do the Gorge Walk. I mean really, you gotta do it! Even after seeing the pics that Solei and Sirpa had, that could not prepare us for the views and wildlife we got to see.. It was astonishing! We ended up seeing two kangaroos, stingrays, seaturtles and one undefined whale/dolphin/shark creature. We could have spend longer time there, but we were worried about the little doggies so we just spent few hours on the island and went back to our petting and belly rubbing duties :) (these little dogs that were on our watch, Keksi and Pertti*,  were so cute and affectioned! we really fell for them ❤️
*The names of the dogs might have been changed due to protecting their privacy :) )

Doing the Gorge Walk

A roo

The next day we hopped on a train and travelled 50 minutes to Southbank which is the cultural center and quite laid-back urban city area with many restaurants and a beautiful riverside. We wondered around for some time and ended up enjoying some greek food at Zeus restaurant and some live music at a park. It was very nice and with time and more money, we could have stayed longer there. But again the belly rubbing duty awaited us.. or so we though!

We arrived back home around 6pm only to find only one dog in the backyard.. that was weird at first but after looking all over the place, we realized that Pertti had gone missing! OMG! I called the owner's mom and she calmed me and said that Pertti has done it before and we should not worry too much about it or go look for him.. but we worried and went out looking for him and called his name hoping so badly that he would appear from somewhere.. but nothing :( after returning home we just sat by the open front door and waited.. and waited.. and waited. We must have looked so sad and desperate there. I started to search local missing dog sites from Facebook and at first we got nothing, but then at 10pm I saw Pertti's photo on Queensland lost pet registers site!! OMG we found him! Maybe 15 minutes after that Pertti was back home with us. We were so happy! Pertti on the other hand seemed very nonshallant and was playing it very cool. We learned that he had found the tiniest and quite high up hole from the fence and escaped from there and wandered a bit until a neighbour from the nearby street found him. Pertti ended up having great time with the neighbours and enjoyed some BBQ and got lots of cuddles also. Hah.. that little furball! Phiuuff luckily this story had a happy ending 🙏

After that episode we weren't too keen on going far from home and it was 37 degrees out so pool and some BBQ suited just fine for us. It was a wonderful place to housesit and the dogs, like I said, stole our hearts a bit. We also felt really good having our Finnish friends and the owner's parents support there as we tried the local life :)

Keksi

Week 2 

I have been in Facebook groups like "Australian suomalaiset" and "Brisbanen suomalaiset" (local FB groups for Finns) and I saw this one guy telling that he rents cars with affordable prices. After chatting with him we learned that he also has a homestay option at their own home, also with affordable price and it includes the nice company of Mika and Elina, the other Finnish travellers and two beautiful dogs :) So with the help of Solei and Sirpa again and after saying goodbyes to the doggies, we hopped on a train on one afternoon and traveled to Kuraby, Brisbane. Mika came to pick us up from the train station so we didn't have to climb up the hill in the heat with all our stuff.
Their place in Kuraby is nice and it gives you a homelike feeling as it is the actual home for Mika and Elina. Mika has helped various Finnish working holiday travellers to get their things going when moving here down under so we highly recommend starting your Brisbane life from here.

We rented an automatic car from Mika and put it in very good use from the get go as we drove to the Gold Coast. Our friend in Finland has said that Surfers Paradise is a marvelous place so we had to see it for ourselves. And it was pretty! Amazingly long coastline, lovely city feeling with restaurants and shops and highrise buildings. We spend few hours there and then continued our way to Currumbin and oh I found heaven there on the beach! Some spots had silky smooth sand so I could not do anything than just lay there for a bit. I was so offline :)

Enjoying the silky smooth sand

Coffee @ Hard Rock Cafe 

The next day it was time to do our duty as Finnish citizens and we drove up to the consulate to cast our vote in the presidential election. It was our first time doing it abroad so it was really an interesting experience. After that we drove to Mount Coot-tha as we heard that it would have an awesome view of the city. I think it would been even better to visit there around sunrise or sunset but the view was pretty cool daytime as well.

Mount Coot-tha lookout

After playing tourists it was time to put the gamefaces on and play some frisbeegolf (disc golf). Around Brisbane area, there are few courses but what was odd was that we were the only ones playing! We visited three different parks and in one of them (Logan) we met a local lady who said that in her 10-12 years living near the park she has never seen anyone play this game.. :o what the heck! I mean it's not easiest to get proper discs here as they don't sell them in the local sport shops (we googled).. but still! Though I must add that the weather was maybe too hot so maybe it's more like a winter sport for the Brisbanites.. well anyway we were amazed but extremely happy we had the courses to ourselves :)

Can you spot the basket? 

Weekend fun at Eat Street North Shore 

We heard from one fellow Finn at Mika's that there is this awesome event that happens on the weekends at the Northshore. It's like a food festival kind of, with something like 70 different stalls and many options to buy food from different parts of the world and enjoy live music and other shows at the same time, maybe with a glass of wine or beer. It costs only 2.5$ to get in. We first walked around and checked what the place had to offer and then decided what we wanted to eat.
We started to get hungry so we first tried small hot dogs for starters and then headed to South American joint where I took a beefy bun and Matias had a plate full of everything. We finished the foods with a nice local Out and a Bout pale ale.
We highly recommend to visit this place!

Huge portions, happy stomachs

how to get there? 

If you have a car then you could drive there, but we definitely recommend the ferry option. I don't remember how much the ferry was because we payed with GoCards, but it was not more than few dollars. The trip took about 40minutes from Southbank and it was a lovely way to see the area. The way back especially was wonderful as you can see the city lights in the dark.

- Sini

Brisbane city lights

Our route so far

Koh Samui highlights

We spent 3 weeks in Koh Samui and had some days doing absolutely nothing, which is a good thing when you're traveling but doesn't give you much to write about. So instead of the usual day-to-day story I'm gonna share with you some of the best places we encountered. We stayed in Mae Nam, Chaweng and Lamai during our stay. Mae Nam is the most quiet one of those three. Chaweng and Lamai are bigger and more touristy with tons of restaurants and bars. They also have nicer beaches but it doesn't really matter where you stay if you rent a vehicle to get around.

Hotels

Ampha Place (Mae Nam) 

This was probably our favorite and we stayed here on two occasions, three nights when we got to Koh Samui and two nights right before we left. The hotel is located in Mae Nam and there is no beach within immediate vicinity of the hotel but the pool is great and they rent scooters so it's easy to get around. The owner is really nice and helpful if you need information or ferry tickets etc. and the breakfast is good costing around 150 THB. Be sure to try their jams, mango-passion fruit was our favorite!

Ampha Place's pool

P.S. Leave a comment if you stayed in Ampha Place and found our blog after reading a certain book..

Chaweng Cove Beach Resort (Chaweng Beach) 

We wanted a little something extra for Christmas so we splurged on a little more expensive hotel and had a room with a whirlpool one of the three nights we stayed here. The location was nice right on the beach and the breakfast buffet kept our stomachs happy for a long time.

Our whirlpool

The Spa Garden (Lamai) 

The hotel was located a little further away from the beach but they have a free shuttle service and scooter rental so it didn't bother us. Their restaurant had some tasty dishes and there was a pool on the premises. The weather was not on our side so we didn't spend time there but it looked good enough.

Chaweng Skybar & Hotel (Chaweng) 

Drinking beer and playing pool, that's how we spent our days in Chaweng Skybar & Hotel. It's right in the heart of Chaweng, short walking distance from the beach and other restaurants. They had some good happy hour offers, free pool and the room price was pretty decent considering the location.

Everyday routine 

PTK Residence (Chaweng) 

Staying two nights here was nothing special. The pool was nice but that's pretty much it. The hotel was not bad but there's better options for the same amount of money if you're staying in Chaweng.

Restaurants

Roman Turkish Restaurant (Mae Nam)

We got here on a quiet night but the place was quite lively. They had live music and the guy performing Nessun Dorma was VERY talented. The act alone was worth paying for so the fact that the pizzas were tasty was just an added bonus.

Bavaria (Mae Nam)  

Go German! This is your place to get your sauerkraut and wurst if you're tired of eating Thai food all the time. You can find this sausagelicious restaurant in the middle of the Mae Nam walking street. 

Wurst! 

Noi (Chaweng) 

We kept coming back to Noi again and again. Thai dishes were delicious and cheap and they also have a good selection of western food. I also appreciate the fact that they gave us fish sauce with chili without asking.

Stacked Samui (Chaweng) 

You know those times when you just want to forget counting calories and that six pack that is just around the corner and just enjoy the flow of that delicious grease? Luckily you have these kind of places when you most need them. They serve heart attacks on a plate disquised as juicy burgers and fatty fries. It's better to go here hungry as the portions are big.

More cheese,  please. 

Crystal (Chaweng) 

This little place is located right next to Chaweng Skybar & Hotel. It's a shame we didn't find it earlier as the food here was absurdly cheap compared to the ones around it. Besides being affordable the food was mouth watering and the staff was overly friendly. This is a must visit if you're nearby. Five stars *****

Green Cafe (Lamai) 

This was our hotel's restaurant when we stayed in The Spa Garden. Savory Thai dishes and good selection of European dishes with reasonable prices makes Green Restaurant worth a visit.

Pamon Thai (close to Lamai) 

Oh my, it makes my mouth to water just thinking about Pamon Thai. This is a small local restaurant just outside of Lamai. We were here two years ago and I was extremely happy to be back. Last time Sini didn't eat here but this time she didn't let the simple looks to fool her and had a go also. The dishes are amazingly tasty and they cost next to nothing. You have to have a car or a bike to get here but I highly recommend to give it a try and give your taste buds something to remember!

Delicious! 

Coco Tam's (Fisherman's Village Bophut) 

I don't know if it was because we were very hungry or what but the pizza we shared here tasted heavenly! I've eaten pizza all around the world including Italy and Sicily. I've had pizza to cure hangovers. I've had cheap pizza, expensive pizza, homemade pizza, all kinds of pizza. but still the one we ate makes it in my top 3, easily. The tropical cocktails and the setting were nice too.

Tropical Cocktails on the beach, not bad 

Disc golf

There are 3 disc golf courses in Thailand and two of them are located in Koh Samui so this is pretty much a perfect island :D

Samui Disc Golf

The place is easily reachable from Mae Nam and they have signs along the way. For 250 baht you can play as much as you want for one day and if you don't have your own plastic with you the discs are included for the price. The course is pretty easy and if you're not totally new to the sport there's a good chance for birdies. It's also suitable for beginners and they sell discs with unique stamps so bring some cash with you.

A beautiful place to play a round or two! 

Laem Sor Beach Disc Golf & Acoustic Cafe

This course is aimed more for enthusiasts and more advanced players. You can find it with a navigator but be sure to check your location from time to time if you're arriving with scooter as they don't have any signs on the road. You can tell that Dave, the owner, is really dedicated to the sport as he has done an enormous job making the place playable. He seems like a nice guy and showed us around the course. They have 18 holes but only 9 were available to play when we got there. It was 200 baht for using the course and the level of difficulty was a bit higher than in Samui Disc Golf. It was a funny "coincidence" that we run into Finns both times we visited here :p

He posed for us near the disc golf course 

She made that putt :) 

Good to know

Songthaews

Taxis are expensive, use Songthaews instead. They are pickup trucks with two rows of seats in the back of the car and they run all around the island. It doesn't matter how long are you going, the rate is 100 baht for farangs. For shorter distances you may want to bargain.

Riding the Songthaew 

Make it spicy! 

Many restaurants adjust their dishes to be more tourist friendly and cut down the heat. If you love spicy food just ask for fish sauce (Nam Pla)  with chili as every place has it no matter how westernized. The stuff smells horrible but tastes awesome, I love it.

Fish sauce makes it better. 

Fisherman's Village Walking Street market (Bophut) 

There's a ton of market stalls popping up in almost 1 km long Walking Street in Bophut. The market runs every Friday from 5 pm until late. You can buy pretty much everything here from sunglasses and t-shirts to souvenirs, spices, handicrafts, jewelry and much more for low cost. In addition to stalls there are free performances you can admire while enjoying the atmosphere. There's a big parking area if you're arriving with car or bike.

Friday night market

- Matias





Our route so far

Surviving Yogyakarta & Bali

We flew to Yogyakarta on 12th of December. We arrived late in the evening and all I saw from the taxi's window was empty streets, darkness and graffitis so I of course thought that this place would be dangerous. The taxi driver left us in some dark alley and said "walk that way" pointing in even darker and narrower alley. Well... ok cool I guess. We started walking and very soon we saw 'Pondok Ijo', our guest house's name on the wall. We checked in and I discovered quickly that our room and particularly our bathroom was open. I mean open like when you sit on the toilet you can see palmtrees (bananatrees), spiders and the sky. Someone might say it's romantic, cool and like a healing environment (because there is access to nature. And for the locals it's normal..). Not me. No no no. I hid under the duvet and wanted so badly to change rooms. I do not like mosquitoes and all the other creepy-crawlies there are. I thought to myself "Sini.. please, next time remember that if the place's name has "Pondok" in it.. maybe it's better not to go there?!". The staff member was a cool and understanding dude and we upgraded to a better room which still had an open toilet and shower but the bedroom was more covered. Ok, I guess I can live with this.

Our guesthouse in Jogja

Enjoy the nature while taking a shower

The first night we just visited nearby restaurant Warung Bu Ageng and ate the local speciality Nasi Campur ("mixed rice" with little bit of everything). After that it was mandatory to have a beer in our Pondok's restaurant. It was kinda nice there and we played with cards at least for an hour or so. There was soothing reggae playing in the background and all of a sudden I hear Finnish reggae playing! Whaaat.. :D it was Raappana's Kauas Pois and I was feeling all types of feelings then. I missed my family a lot but still it felt so cool to be there.

At night though I heard some weird noises which spooked me a little...

I had never heard such noise before but after a Google search and asking the hotel employee, we now know that it was just a big gecko! :) It was kinda creepy because we never saw it and didn't know what in the world was it but luckily geckos eat mosquitos so I was cool with that.

The next day we went walking and started our search for a post office.
It quickly started to hit me that Yogyakarta is actually a huge city! I wasn't expecting that at all after checking the place from Google Maps and from some YouTube videos.

But yeah the post office was important because I have a godson so I wanted to send something small back home ❤️. Before finding the post office it started to rain and a becak (local rickshaw)  driver appeared from a distance. He was calling us, offering shelter and telling that he would drive us around for one hour and it will only cost us 20000 rupiahs (1.3€).. Mad cheap. Our censors were on but the rain made us hop on and the first stop was the post office. The rickshaw driver mentioned some places we needed to visit but he talked so fast that we didn't quite get it (or cared so much at first). While we were in the post office Matias did some Google research (local prepaids are handy) that this cheap of a ride will end us up in a batik clothing store where we are almost oblicated to buy something. The rickshaw driver would get his share (commission) on the overpriced products. Then Matias paid the driver the 20000 rupiahs and said that we would continue by foot. The driver still tried that "No no no, don't you want to see the batik store..".. no we would not, thank you.

Riding the becak

We continued our way by foot (despite the heavy rain) and ended up in some shopping district. After some walking around we got hungry and looked up this legendary pempek restaurant nearby. (Pempek is a savoury fishcake from Palembang, South Sumatera.)
This particular restaurant was called 'Pempek Ny. Kamto' and we would definitely recommend it.
We selected three dishes and two bottles of water and the total price was 64000 rupiahs so around 4€.

Tasty Pempek

Later, after lots more walking we wanted to head back to Pondok and we happened to see a Grab pick up stand outside of a mall. "hmm should we finally try it..?".. "yes!" So that's what we did and it was so nice that we were able to see immediately what the about 20 minutes trip was gonna cost us. It was 25000 which is less than 2€. Cool! And just like that we were hooked on Grab :D (we had never tried Uber or anything similar before because it's not a consept that works well with the Finnish laws and regulations.. bummer).

Now how does this work..? 

Superstar treatment at Borobudur

For the next day we scheduled a trip to Borobudur which is a famous place and actually the biggest Buddhist temple in the world and rightfully a UNESCO world heritage site.

Usually sunrise at Borobudur would be the way to go but now, when it was the monsoon season it was better to go later (Or so our guide said and that was ok for us as we weren't too excited of the thought of waking up at 03 am..).
We left at 8.30 from Pondok Ijo with our drivers (on motorbikes) and the trip took maybe like an hour. (We were actually waiting for a van and more people to join us but the bike ride was a nice alternative)

The entrance to Borobudur was 600000 for us two and the bike trip 190000/person so in total it was something like 30€/person. Quite expensive in my opinion, but I guess this was a once in a lifetime type of a thing so going over our daily budget was justified.
When we entered in we noticed that people were staring at us and it looked like people were trying to catch us in their selfies. And then it didn't take long for a group of kids to surround us wanting to take pictures with us! I was overwhelmed by the situation. I'm guessing that this was something that could happen to a celebrity, but I didn't comprehend at first why it was happening to us :D

We learned soon that it was a school holiday and there were a lot of people visiting also from remote places where people looking like us don't often visit. So we were something new. I also later read that to some extent "Western" is considered to be something cool and a pale skin is something to be admired. Some might also believe that Western people bring good luck.. well hopefully we succeeded in that :)

There were at least 5 different groups of student that wanted to ask questions (practise their English with us) and to have pics with us. Of course we wanted to help them out! It was fun for us too :)
But it took our time a bit so it was little hard to concentrate on the actual location of Borobudur.
There were quite a few adults also grabbing us gently, wanting to take pictures with us. Some said few words and some only wanted to shake our hands.
But yeah, it was all good. The kids in particular were so wonderful! So polite and cute and they were smiling a lot! Now based on our travels I could vote Indonesia for the new Land of Smiles :) (Koh Mook could still hold the title for the Island of Smiles).
After Borobudur we just chilled and the next day ended up changing Pondok to an Ibis hotel closer to the airport. 

First of many groups who interviewed us

Borobudur views

The Earth is shaking

On the 15th of December I was having a chill video chat with my mum and granny when we felt the floor moving. It was bizarre. It felt like a cruise ship in Finland  approaching the harbour.. but now there was no harbour to approach.
It was an earthquake. I put my clothes on and said to my spooked mum that "everything is alright.. we are just gonna check what's going on and I'll call again soon..". I mean I definitely wasn't sure what was going on and how dangerous the situation actually was. This was our first ever earthquake but I just hoped that mum and granny wouldn't worry too much.
After some confusion I learned that the situation was ok and we were safe. There were hotel employees on the corridor with Walkie Talkies for some while but there was no panic after some screams from the initial tremble. It had been an 6,7 magnitude earthquake in Java (the same island) but it was 250km away from us so it was ok to breathe and go to sleep. But I read that there might be some aftershocks also.. Yikes.
I called my mum again and made sure all was cool. I got a little spooked and I slept with my clothes on and my small backpack packed that night being ready to escape if that was needed. Luckily we got to sleep peacefully.

Bali

The next day did not offer aftershocks for us luckily but we fled and flew to Bali. Yeahh.. that place with the infamous volcano. I must say I wasn't feeling too good about this. We stayed at Kuta beach, near the airport for a couple of nights. Unfortunately it was raining A LOT so we weren't able to explore the place as much as I would have liked. We did some walking around, shopping mall exploring and checking out the beach (so dirty that day!) but it didn't feel right to stay there longer as we had originally planned.
We debated for awhile what to do next. It would have been only 200€ to fly to Brisbane the next day but the living in Australia is pretty expensive so we started to look for flights back to Thailand.. We realized that we would have to spend 500€ more (each) if we just went back to Thailand but it also felt something that had to be done and that is what we did.

I feel like I missed out on many nice places in Bali, but now I have reasons to return. Though I have to add that I hate that the taxi scene is so effed up there. I felt that there are too many scamming drivers and that the price system should be clarified. Grab would be good there also, because you get to know the final (good) price immediately with no surprises so it's nicer to give a tip and it gives a good feeling also.. like I can trust the system and the people.
But they are trying to ban Grab in Bali and Matias read somewhere that some Grab drivers get their asses kicked there by taxi drivers so.. no feeling of trust there :(

All in all.. Indonesia is huge and it's so diverse. There are a lot of wonderful, polite and very hospital people in Indonesia so the good outs the scumbags and I will definitely recommend visiting Indonesia. But please look beyond crazy Jakarta and the touristy places in Bali, there are tons of places to explore, all different (try Lake Toba or Bukit Lawang for example -editor's note)

Selamat Jalan! (Goodbye in Malay/Indonesian language)

-Sini

Rainy Bali

P.S it was fun to learn that 'di sini" means 'here' :D I also saw signs at bus stops which said 'turun di sini' :) I understood that it means "jää pois tässä", "get out of the bus here".
Cool language.. I wish I could understand it more.



Our route so far

Singaponesia

There was a wild rumor that you wouldn't need to go all the way to the Melaka bus station to catch the bus to Singapore. So the night before we tried to find a place that sells bus tickets. After asking around and redirected three or four times we found a bus ticket counter inside Mahkota Medical Center but it was already closed. Next morning after checking out from our hotel we went back there and got our tickets before enjoying our breakfast in Jeta Groves. I also tried the skyfruit coffee there this time and enjoyed the bitter, kind of grapefruity, flavor.

The bus ride took about four hours and the bus stopped two times at the border. First in Malaysia's side and then in Singapore's. After border formalities we went to the exit and looked for our bus. It took us some time to go through the border since there were plenty of people and the bus left almost immediately after we had hopped on. There were still some people missing but the bus driver didn't seem to care so it's strongly recommended to take good care of your ticket, because you can just hop on to the next available bus. Also take care that you don't leave anything on the bus while crossing the border.

The final stop was at Golden Mile Complex, where we walked about five minutes to Nicoll Highway MRT Station. There we withdrew some money from an ATM and took the metro to Chinatown. Singapore is an expensive place and we're on a budget so we had booked our stay in a capsule hostel. I've stayed in few capsule places but what was neat about this one (Chic Capsule Otel) was that they provided smart TVs in every capsule with YouTube and other apps. Much appreciated. We left our luggage in the hostel and made our way to Gardens by the Bay near Marina Bay Sands. We strolled around in the beautiful surroundings and found a place for Sini to enjoy her Fazer Blue chocolate which she had guarded for all our trip. It was Finland's 100th independence day so the moment was on point. After taking our time enjoying the garden we continued our walk but couldn't prepare for what was waiting for us next..

Happy Birthday Finland! 

We were really surprised to see a 100th independence day of Finland celebration event there in the middle of Singapore. As we stood outside the doors taking some pictures, a lady came out and asked if we were Finnish. We said yes and after chatting a while she handed over gift bags to us which was a wonderful surprise. With the gift bags in our hands we went back to the hostel. I drank my blueberry lemonade found in the bag and we went to bed soon after. As I mentioned there were those smart TVs so it was time for YouTube and some Jomez Pro disc golf before getting sleep.

Gift bags

Disc golf time!

Unpleasant wake-up 

Waking up in the small hours guns pointed at you and police telling you to get to the lobby with your passport is not an ideal way to spend your night. Well beggars can't be choosers I guess so we went downstairs and waited with other guests for a while until the police said we can go back to sleep and apologized for the trouble. Later we found out that there was somebody with a knive in the other room they were looking for. He had robbed or stabbed someone in the street or so we heard. What a nice first ever hostel experience for Sini. :p

We survived the rest of the night without interruptions and made our way to the Maxwell Food Centre before noon the next day. Singaporeans love their food and the place was packed. There are over a 100 stalls serving various delicious dishes so there is no shortage of choices. If you google Maxwell Food Centre one thing you come across certainly is Tian Tian Chicken Rice. They're very famous and the lines for the stall are exceptionally long. Anthony Bourdain has praised their chicken rice and Tian Tian has been mentioned in the Michelin Guide under Bib Gourmand (excellent price-quality ratio) two years in a row. Sini got to the end of the line for the chicken rice and I went to get something more.. unusual. I found a stall that served cheap Kuay Chap. Pig organs, intestines, all that good stuff with some flat white rice noodles.

Suspicious piece of organ

After the meal we crossed the road and visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. It has a free entrance and some interesting architecture so it's definitely worth a visit if you happen to be nearby. After the temple we took a metro to Little India and did some shopping in Mustafa Centre. There's all kind of stuff imaginable and the shopping complex is open 24 hours. 2 meter long usb extension cables were something like 5 euros a piece so we bought two of those. I'm using one right as I write this, very convenient when power outlets are sparse in the hotel rooms. It was raining outside so we didn't stay around Little India after getting out from the shopping center  but instead went back to the hostel.

I've had an itch for a good barbecue after visiting Best Beef in Bangkok. There was a Korean BBQ buffet restaurant within a walking distance from our accommodation and we were hungry later that night so that seemed like a good idea. The price wasn't too bad but the food was just mediocre. I had 5 plates regardless :D

We had to change our hostel next day because the one we stayed in was fully booked. We made our way to the new place located in Kampong Glam area and left our stuff there. Then we wandered in the area looking around for breakfast and later took the MRT to Marina Bay and walked there for a while. We also went to Marina Bay Sands and bought the tickets for the Skypark, then stayed on the observation deck through the sunset enjoying the views. We took a ride back to our hoods and went to a cat cafe we'd seen earlier. They seem to be quite popular in Asia so it was nice to visit one especially because the employees seemed to really care for the animals. It was getting a little late so after the cat cafe we had bitterballen and dinner across the road in a Dutch place.

View from Marina Bay Sands

Meomi Cat Cafe

Changi Airport was a place of joy. Sini found Finnish chocolate and there were free foot massage chairs which felt heavenly after so much walking previous few days. I read afterwards that there are also couple of full body massage chairs in terminal 3, so maybe next time.. Although the airport was good, we had a flight to catch and few hours later we found ourselves in the bustling city of Jakarta in Indonesia. There were plenty of people trying to offer us a taxi ride from the airport but we ignored them and got to the Blue Bird taxi line. It is the most reputable taxi company in Jakarta and they always use meter. Doing some research before arriving to a new place can save you a pretty penny. And taxi scams are one of the more popular ones.

Sooo good

We were greeted by a cheerful "Yello!" when we got to our hotel (Yello Harmoni Jakarta). The neighborhood was a little sketchy but the hotel itself was really nice with overly friendly staff. It was also raining almost all the time so we spent most of our three days in Jakarta in the hotel. We had the mandatory Hard Rock Cafe stop so I could expand my collection and we visited some shopping malls also. There was a free computer corner in our hotel so I made good use of it and updated the blog. It still took a surprisingly long time just for a one post even using a computer. The last night we got to admire a violent thunderstorm (myself in front of the window and Sini from the bed under the blanket) as our room was high up. We just hoped the weather would get better the next day when we had our flight to Yogyakarta..

- Matias

Storm approaching

Our route so far