Travel

My blog posts related to travelling and what I experience abroad.

Fortress Hill, HK

koupipii Leave a comment

I decided to start series of my Subway station related writings from Fortress Hill station in HK Island. It’s not a major hub but it was the site where I decided that these stories have to be written to my blog.

 

 

Here is the name of the station both in Chinese and in English. The station is situated on the (HK) Island Line 5 stations to the East from the Central.

Compared to the Kowloon side of the sea, this part of Hong Kong called the Causeway Bay is much more influenced from Chinese culture and it’s remarkably less filled with tourists and expats as for example Tsim Sha Tsui region. For an occasional tourist, there is not much to see around the station. A few Chinese restaurants and the famous Tim Ho Wan (world’s now second cheapest Michelin star?) restaurant is situated in vicinity as well as a  quality burger restaurant Texas Burger (109 Electric Road).

So for the food explorer it might be a decent destination for an evening trip. I took a nice picture from the roof bar of the Harbour Grand Hotel situated near Fortress Hill Station. It shows the skyline of the HK Island side. For better resolution, I suggest you to visit my IG feed.

 

 

Sai Kung ja lähisaaret / Sai Kung Town and the Surrounding Islands

koupipii Leave a comment

Sai Kung on pieni kaupunki, joka sijaitsee Hong Kongin koilliosassa. New Territories -alueella, johon siis kuuluu oikeastaan kaikki paitsi HK Island ja Kowloon. Se oli aikaisemmin kalastajakylä ja on säilyttänyt vanhan elinkeinonsa ainakin osittain, sillä kaupunki on toimii edelleenkin kalastajien kohtauspaikkana ja on myös tunnettu erinomaisista mereneläviin painottuvista ravintoloistaan.

Sai Kung is a small town located in North-East Hong Kong in the area called New Territories (which includes almost everything besides HK Island and Kowloon). It used to be a fishing harbor and it has kept it’s old style in many ways. It’s also well known from its great seafood restaurants.

 

 

Sai Kungin rantakatu on erittäin vilkas ja elävä paikka. Vaikka kaupunki ei sinänsä ole kovin kaunis, on rantakadulla mukavasti elämää. Muutamat isot seafood-ravintolat erottuvat jo kauas kookkaine kalatankkeineen. Ruokailu alkaa haluttujen merenelävien valitsemisella. Asiakas käy katsomassa tankeista mitä haluaa syödä. Tämän jälkeen kalat tai äyriäiset punnitaan ja kuljetetaan keittiöön valmistettaviksi. Ruokailun hinta muodostuu merenelävien painon ja joidenkin eurojen kokkausmaksun yhdistelmästä. Kokkausmaksu määräytyy halutun valmistustavan mukaan. Hieman monimutkaista, mutta aivan käsittämättömän hyvää! Ravintolat on myös listattu paikallisessa Michelin-oppaassa.

Sai Kung pier is a very lively and even busy area. Even if the town itself is not very beautiful, the pier and its surroundings are worth visiting. A couple of major seafood restaurants with their fish tanks can already be seen from distance. Eating in those restaurants start by going to the fishtanks to select the desired seafood. The selections are being weighted and then carried to the kitchen for preparation. A small cooking fee is added to the price of seafood which depends on the desired cooking style.  It might sound complex but it’s definitely worth it. Those restaurants have also been listed in the local Michelin guide.

 

 

Kuten jo mainitsinkin, on rantakatu muutenkin elämän keskus. Itse asiassa en ole kolmella kerralla Sai Kungissa käydessäni edes kauheasti käynyt muualla kun rantakadulla.

Rannalta pääsee helposti paikallisten venetaksien kyydillä myös lähisaarille. Meno-paluu -lipun hinta vaihteli 30 ja 40 HKD:n välillä ja kyydin sai muutamassa minuutissa. Saarilla on melko paljon nähtävää ja niillä sijaitsevat myös paikalliset uimarannat, jotka ovat yksinkertaisia ja karuja, mutta hyvin valvottuja. Kävin viime kerralla Sharp Island -nimisellä saarella (tai oikeastaan saaria oli kaksi, joihin molempiin pääsi laskuveden aikana kannasta pitkin kävelemään). Luonnonkauniilla saarella sai todella haistella trooppisia tuulia ja ihailla luontoa, sillä trooppisen metsän keskelle oli raivattu luontopolku, jota pitkin pääsi kulkemaan. Jo pelkästään nousuveden alle jäävää merenpohjaa pitkin käveleminen oli mielenkiintoinen kokemus. Kivien välistä saattoi löytää jos jonkinlaisia äyriäisiä ja mereneläviä. Lisäksi pyöreät merikivet olivat itsessäänkin varsin kauniita.

 

As I already mentioned, the pier is the living center. Actually during my three visits to Sai Kung I haven’t even visited the other parts a lot since they don’t seem to be very attractive.

From the pier you can also buy a trip to the islands nearby. A round trip ticket to Sharp Island costs about 30-40 HKD per person and the service was rapid. The islands are definitely worth visiting with beautiful views and local beaches which are simple but well-guarded. During the low tide it was possible to walk on the seafloor to another island.

 

 

Sai Kung on erinomainen päiväretken kohde, jossa kannattaa ehdottomasti ruokailla. Olen aikaisemmin mennyt sinne taksilla (n. 200-250 HKD suunta), mutta tällä kertaa päätin valita julkisen kulkuneuvon, mikä oli itseasiassa hyvä idea. Menin ensin vihreällä linjalla Choi Hungin metroasemalle, jonka uloskäynnin (C1) ulkopuolelta lähti Sai Kungiin minibussikyyti. Kyyti maksoi 8,9 HKD/suunta ja maksettiin Octopus -kortilla, jollainen kannattaa joka tapauksessa aina hankkia jos aikoo Hong Kongissa matkustaa julkisilla. Bussin numero oli 1A ja sen pysäkki oli heti metron uloskäynnin vieressä. Pysäkillä oli molempiin suuntiin ainakin kesälauantaina jonkin verran jonoa, mutta pienistä busseista huolimatta jono eteni nopeasti, sillä vuoroväli oli vain muutamia minuutteja. Bussimatka kesti noin 20 minuuttia ja päättyi rantakadun kupeeseen. Alla vielä kuva bussista.

I definitely recommend Sai Kung for a short day trip. Previously I have used taxi to get there but this time I decided to take the mtr and bus (which was a good idea). I took the green line to Choi Hung mtr station. The mtr station exit C1 leads to the bus stop from where the small green minibus 1A departs to Sai Kung. The bus ticket costs 8,9 HKD and was payed with Octopus card which I recommend everybody using the local transportation system to get. The trip takes about 20 minutes and you can jump off the bus only a few meters from the pier. I included a picture of the bus below.

 

 

 

Traveling to Finland? What to expect for weather?

koupipii Leave a comment

Since Finland is situated quite north, between latitude parallels 60 and 70, one might expect that the weather here is always cold and share some characteristics with Greenland and Northern Canada. Thart’s not actually the case. The climate in Finland is actually dominated by Golf Stream and the climate is a mix between continental and sea climate.

The Polar Front, which is the boundary between Polar and Sub-tropical air masses is usually situated near Finland. In summer it’s usually north of Finland and in winter somewhere over South Finland. Waves in the Polar Front cause depressions that frequently pass over Finland with moderate winds and rain.

Sometimes Finnish weather adopts the characteristics of continental air for some time (usually Siberian) and that may cause a longer period of hot weather (in summer) or cold weather (in winter) with little to no precipitation.

So nothing can really be said for the weather in Finland but most propably it’s raining/snowing from November to February and at that time it’s also colder, temperatures may vary from approximately +4 degrees to -20 degrees in South and it’s even colder in Northern Finland with almost permanent sub-zero temperatures during winter months.

In the summer, temperatures vary from about 15 to 25 degrees in South and again it’s a bit cooler in the North. Finnish weather very rarely adopts the characteristics of tropical climate meaning that the night is very often remarkably cooler than the day.

One other thing to mention is that the amount of daylight from November to February is very little and the days may be surprisingly short (especially in North). During the summer it’s a completely different story with almost 24h/day light (in North that actually happens).

So I personally would suggest you would come in summer from June to August, but September and March-May are also a good choice. For the seekers of extreme, November-February is also ok – especially in the Northern Finland.

 

I need YOU!

koupipii Leave a comment

All I need is YOU! I’m planning to shoot a series of selfie-like pictures in near future. I’m going to need YOU for them. I need to take 3 pictures from every person: right, left and center. I hope some people are interested since I’m sure that together we can do something great. Since there are 3 pictures of each model, they look great also in Instagram!

Message me if you want to be part of the story!

 

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore (a place to get a break from the city)

koupipii Leave a comment

It’s needless to repeat it all the time, but one more time: I really love Singapore. Even if the city itself is not as noisy and busy as some cities like Beijing or New York, one may still need a break from the city.

 

Only a short distance from the world-famous Marina Bay Hotel, are the Gardens at the Bay, which is an answer for the ones looking for a getaway from the city noise. It’s truly an amazing and extremely well maintained park filled with beautiful plants, trees and modern art. It’s actually the fact that the gardens and the art were combined in such a seamless way that it impressed me a lot. 

So next time you’re in Singapore, head for the beautiful Helix Bridge and take left after the bridge. You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

A Word about My Stories

koupipii Leave a comment

 

First of all, welcome to my site! I introduced this “My Stories”-section today as a response to the Finnish-only “Ajatuksia”, which is actually a Psychology-oriented look to my encounters.

 

In this part of the blog, I share my thoughts with a little more wider range of topics. Some posts are related to Traveling and some may even be displayed on both sections. Some are not and I’ll publish them here. 

 

I’m not going to apologize this in all of my posts but I’m not a native English speaker, so my writings may reflect that fact. I don’t let it disturb me. Languages exist for information sharing and that’s why I invented this blog and this site too. 

 

I’ll get back to this question a bit later but I want to ask you what really is the point (in your opinion) in traveling? Are you exploring new worlds to gain new experiences? What can you as a traveler give to the ones living in the target country? Does cultural exchange happen if I go to… let’s say Thailand? I’ll leave you with these questions. I would be more than happy if you, my dear visitors, would comment them. I’ll write about it a bit later.

 

 

 

 

Hunger Grows after Eating

koupipii Leave a comment

 

I have to admit: hunger really grows after eating. I have now been photo blogging actively a few months and the day came today when I realized that I can’t survive with my phone anymore – I’ll have to start carrying my DSLR camera with me.

 

The problem is that I only have a 50mm lens for it and I’m much more used to cover a wider area in my pictures. So if in near future you see a lot of closeups from me, it’s probably due to getting used to my DSLR again after a break.

 

I love taking pictures but it’s always a choice you have to make: are you a general-purpose all-round panorama guy or a closeup master? I would love to be both, but my best images are somewhere in between those two genres. So now I’m planning to add an approximately 35mm lens to my bag ASAP to have a little more choice.

 

So stay tuned, there will be much more to come in future!

 

 

The Great: Jin Jin Eating House, Singapore

koupipii Leave a comment

 

I prefer street food over fine dining since I think that I get better vibes from street food and of course the price is also lower which is always a good thing when you eat 100+ times a year in a Restaurant.

If you love street food too, Singapore is a GREAT place! It’s filled with especially local/Chinese/Malaysian food courts or Hawker Centers as they are also called. Since it’s generally pretty expensive to eat in SG, food courts are an affordable option to the expensive food served in most restaurants (well you can also find cheaper restaurants especially from China Town but that’s a different story…)

I wanted to show you one food court. It’s definitely not the only one, maybe not even the best and it’s one of the smallest for sure.

But the most important thing to consider is the food… I got the very best noodle soup from there. Ever. Period.

 

 

 

So here it comes: Let me introduce you the Jin Jin Eating House (no website and it’s NOT Chin Chin Eating House)

It’s situated in the crossing of North Bridge Road and Liang Seah Street near the center of Singapore (Raffles and others) and there is only one thing to say about it: I recommend.

The pricing could be described being reasonable. Noodle soups cost about 4,5 SGD per portion so with the price of food and drinks in an average restaurant you eat here probably at least 10 times. So next time you’re starving in SG, I really advise you to try it.

 

 

Jin Jin Eating House
My tasty noodles

 

NamNam Noodle Bar Sub-type Sandwich, Singapore.

koupipii Leave a comment

 

NamNam Store Front

 I have been a heavy Subway-customer for years now and this time I wanted to try something new in Singapore. I have been looking for an alternative to Subway since the menu in most countries is already too familiar to me.

I once saw that NamNam Noodle Bar is serving Subway -type subs and I decided to give them a try!

This review has nothing to do with NamNam Noodle Bar (NNNB) noodles or anything else than their filled sandwiches.

I had a choice of  six different ingredients for the bread and only one bread type (unlike Subway where you can choose between tens of ingredients and many bread types). Pricing was quite about the same. I ended up ordering a Chili Lemongrass Chicken, Egg Omelette, Chicken Floss sandwich.

I was a bit disappointed about the bread itself since I feel that bread in Asia is almost always inferior to the bread you can get from Europe. With the ingredients it was a completely different story…

sandwitch

…because I really enjoyed what I tasted. The fillings were of a good quality (fresh and tasty) and the taste was genuinely Vietnamese and that was what I wanted, so I can recommend this one.

It would be nice to have this kind of concept in Europe (currently the restaurant chain only runs restaurants in SG, Indonesia and Philippines). For a fast food and an almost-healthy Suway replacement NNNB is a good choice. Once again, a definite TRY but don’t wait too much for the bread itself.