Back home

Six months of being away from Finland is now done, until the next time. One thing is for sure though, next time I think I'll take Matti with me. I still need to work on my Chinese a lot, so that I can some day speak it fluently. But my dormitory days are done for good. Five months was enough and I do like my own bathroom and sauna, not to mention my kitchen. I haven't done a lot of cooking yet, partly because last weekend was spent in Ankkarock and my stomach is still getting use to Finland.

Coming back to Finland has been interesting. I'm slowly starting to get used to the fact that I can again understand ads etc on the streets and I can understand everything that people are talking around me. During my first week back in Finland, I've seen Linkin Park and Metallica in Sonisphere festival in Pori, I went blueberry picking (and baked a pie and muffins from the berries), I went to Ankkarock and even went to a karaoke bar in Korso! Quite a return back home :)

I've almost put all my stuff back in their place, but there's still something left. I managed to finish writing all my blog updates around Wednesday last week. The reason they were so late, was that I wasn't able to open my laptop in Tibet, because of the high altitude (the laptop might have exploded). So, I had to finish writing my blog updates in Finland. But it was quite nice lying in the hammock and writing my updates :) The thing that took the longest though, was going through my 500 and so pictures, picking the best ones and doing some small fixes. But now everything is done and the pictures are online, and so is the blog.

Now it's time to get back to normal, find a job, write my thesis and graduate. Maybe I'll start with cleaning the rest of my stuff from the living room floor and washing the last laundry. While I'm waiting for my Chinese books to arrive to Finland, I think I'll get my pictures printed and put them in an album.

再见！

23.07.09 Fatehpur Sikri

In the morning we went to Fatehpur Sikri, which is an abandoned city near Agra. The city was build as the capital by one of the Mughal Emperors. However, it only functioned as the capital for 14 years and then it was abandoned for one reason or another. It was very interesting to walk around the palace, that is left of the city.

Fatehpur Sikri

After Fatehpur Sikri, it was time to start traveling back to Delhi again. This time we didn't have to stand that much in traffic, but some of course. After getting back to the hotel, we went souvenir shopping near the hotel. There were a lot of shops near the hotel and we were walking around the street, trying to look at the things they were selling there. The only problem was that sometimes it was quite annoying to try to walk around in peace, when there are about 10 men staring at you and your white skin and red hair...

Fatehpur Sikri

Anyways, next time I go to India, I'll cover myself from head to toe. And I did get some shopping done also. So, there will be some small souvenirs coming to Finland. After shopping, we had dinner at the hotel and got all our stuff ready for tomorrow. We'll leave for the airport tomorrow at 5am and a little before 2pm, Finnish time, I'll see my dearest again, and Finland :)

The travelers

22.07.09 Agra

We left towards Agra early in the morning and got stuck in traffic in Delhi and in a city outside of Delhi. After about four to five hours in the car, we finally reached Agra and the hotel there. After settling into the hotel, we started our tour in Agra. We visited the Agra Fort, which is said to be the most important fort in India. After that it was time for the Taj Mahal.

The Agra Fort

The Taj Mahal was beautiful and it's quite impressive how people were able to build all that with the tools they had then. Also, all the work, workers and time that was put into the building is unbelievable. And imagine, that all that work was done for the Mughal Emperor's wife, because originally the building was meant for the Mughal Emperor's beloved wife, but also the Emperor was later buried there.

Taj Mahal

After the Taj Mahal, we were more than ready to go into the hotel and get a break from all the beggars asking for money and people (including our guide) trying to sell us things we really don't want. Either we're starting to get tired from all the traveling, or then the "buy, buy, buy" and "give, give, give" is just even more persistent in India. But we did see few elephants at the street today with all the water buffaloes and cows, which was kinda cool :)

The mosque next to Taj Mahal

21.07.09 City tour in Delhi

Today it was time to tour around Delhi. We started from the Red Fort with our guide, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, again :). From there we took rickshaws to the Jama Masjid Mosque, which is the biggest mosque in India. There all foreign women (despite how they were dressed) were given a big dress to cover everything, except the head. I got a pink one with white flower pattern.

The Red Fort

Then it was time to visit the Raj Ghat, or more specifically the Mahatma Gandhi memorial. The memorial is the platform where Mahatma Gandhi was cremated after he was assassinated. We continued the day with lunch and Humayun's Tomb. The tomb was build for a Mughal Emperor by his wife, and is a little like mini-Taj-Mahal. After that we saw the world's tallest brick minaret (a tower), the Qutub Minar and drove through India's parliament area.

Humayun's Tomb

The parliament area is around the Rajpath (King's way, in other words, a big and long boulevard) which has taken a lot of influence from Washington D.C., London, Paris... Around there you can see the President's house, circular Parliament house, ministries and the India Gate (kind of like the Arc de Triumph in Paris).

Qutub Minar

After all the touring it was time to get some rest, so we went back to the hotel, took a rest, walked around a little later and got ready for the next day.

20.07.09 Leaving Nepal

In the morning we went shopping for some souvenirs near the hotel, and at noon it was time to start moving towards the airport. The airport was a mess. I've never seen anything like that. Can't believe I'm actually saying this, but the airport was more lost in what it should do, than a Chinese tourist group. When we came to the airport, we had to put our stuff through an X-ray machine. After we had checked in, it was time to go and wait in the customs line. After that the security check, where they first x-rayed the bags and then checked them by hand. The strangest thing was that the person looking at the x-ray machine's screen didn't have any contact with the people checking the bags by hand....

Well, unlike any other airport I've ever been to, the only shops were between the customs and security check. And we realized that after we had gone through the security check and ended up in a small hall filled with people waiting for their flights. Despite the fact that everyone had been security checked, everyone was checked again at the airport before going into the airplane.

After being about on hour late, the plane finally took us to Delhi, India, where everything went much more smoothly. We were picked up from the airport and taken to the hotel, where we had a three person room, with a shower with cold water. It was starting to be quite late already, so we just had dinner at the hotel and went to sleep.

19.07.09 Touring Kathmandu

In the morning we met our tour guide for the day and started our tour from the Pashupatinath Hindu temple. Non-Hindus are not allowed to go into Hindu temples, so non-Hindus are allowed to see the temple from the other side of the river that flows next to the temple on one side. On the side where foreigners were allowed, were the cremation platforms and we actually saw a cremation ceremony when we were there. Quite special.

Pashupatinath temple

From Pashupatinath, we went to a Buddhist Stupa, called Boudhanath. It is one of the largest in the world and like Pashupatinath, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the stupa we went to Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple, due to the holy monkeys living there. The temple is on top of a hill (lots of stairs!) and you can see Kathmandu very nicely from there. There are also the statues of the five different Buddhas there, as we learned. Due to this trip, I think I might be starting to understand something about Buddhism, but it's still very confusing with all the different Buddhas and everything.

Boudhanath

I was starting to get hungry from all the sightseeing, so it was time to go to the last place of the day, the Durbar Square (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and have lunch there. After lunch, we walked around the Square which is filled with all different kinds of small temples. In the end we went to see the living goddess, Kumari, who appears at her window for few seconds twice every day. The Kumari is a young girl who is chosen by a special family from certain families, and she lives in a house in Durbar Square until she reaches puberty. After that a new Kumari is chosen and the old one can do what she wants. The Kumari can not leave her house, but her family can come and visit her.

Kumari's house

After the sightseeing, we went to buy some CDs and have tea with our guide. I had agreed to go shopping with a friend from our tour group, so our guide drove me to my friends hostel with his motorcycle. I met her there and we agreed to meet at my hotel in half an hour. Then back on the bike, get my parents and then to the hotel. We managed to do a little shopping and then it was time for dinner with some more people from our tour group.

18.07.09 Arriving to Kathmandu, Nepal

We drove in the dark and reached the last town on the Tibetan side when the sun was starting to come out. After breakfast, we went to the boarder and crossed it. On the Nepali side, we got on a bus and traveled through a very scary road to Kathmandu. The road went on the side of the mountain and there was a river on the bottom. Sometimes the bus was right on the edge of the road and the road was not very good. Not a good road for a bus, especially with water running across the dirt road and making it muddy and even scarier.

View of Kathmandu

Somehow we survived though and reached Kathmandu in one piece. There it was time, for most of us from our tour group, to go on our own ways, meaning different hotels. Fortunately, the travel agency had arranged a Nepali dinner for all of us. The dinner was very nice and very fancy. The waiters brought everything to your plate and we only had to sit on our seats and eat. :)

Waterfall in the Kathmandu Valley

17.07.09 Mt Everest Base Camp & Lao Tingri

In the morning the Land Cruisers took us four kilometers from the Base Camp, from where we walked to the Base Camp. And in 5000 meters, that was a pretty hard walk, but we made it and the view was amazing. We saw the Mt Everest without any clouds. After sitting around there for a while, it was time to start walking back.

Going to the Base Camp

The roads to the last place on the Tibetan side was very very bad and all off road. In the end we reached the Lao Tingri, the last town we were going to sleep in Tibet. After dinner, we went for few hours of sleep, because we were going to start driving towards the Nepali boarder at 3am.

At the Base Camp

16.07.09 Rombuk

It was time to start going towards the Base Camp of Mt Everest. We went back to the Friendship Highway (the main road going from Lhasa to Nepalese boarder) and continued towards the Base Camp. The road towards Base Camp was not so good, dirt road with lots of bumps. We also went a little off road in few places.

Snow mountains on the way

When we finally reached the hotel, with only one toilet for the whole hotel and no shower, it was time for dinner. We went for dinner in the monastery guesthouse next to our "hotel". We also took a walk around the town, or well, the monastery, which was the whole town. We saw Mt Everest from the hotel, so we took some pictures and when it got dark we went inside to have some tea and play UNO.

Mt Everest in the evening

15.07.09 Sakya

We started driving from Shigatse towards Sakya, the old capital during the Mongol rule of Tibet, in the morning. We had few photo stops on the way and reached Sakya after traveling the last 25 kilometers on a dirt road. We decided to spend the night in Sakya instead of another town further away. After settling into the hotel, we went to visit the Sakya monastery. The monastery was under repairs and quite dark, but there were a lot of old statues there.

On the road

After the monastery we went to walk through the old town and climb around the mountain. After all the climbing it was time to get some dinner. In Sakya, a foreigner was not allowed to walk around too much or go too far from the hotel. So, we did try to stay around.

Sakya Monastery

14.07.09 Shigatse

We started the morning by going to the Gyantse monastery and the Khumbun Stupa. In Khumbun there were a lot of different rooms with different statues and we only visited a fraction of them. There were just too many rooms. After the monastery and Stupa, it was time to start driving again.

Khumbun Stupa

On our way, we stopped at a barley mill, where they were making barley flour. By lunch time, we already reached Shigatse. After lunch and settling into the hotel, we went to see the Tashilumpo monastery in Shigatse. There was a huge Buddha statue in the monastery and they charged ridiculous amounts for taking photographs inside the monastery. So, no photos from there.

Tashilumpo Monastery

In the evening we went to walk around a Tibetan market and I went to have dinner with part of the group. We also went to a bar later in the night. The bar was quite interesting with singing and dancing shows and waiters bringing everything to you to the table.

13.07.09 Gyantse

In the morning it was time to climb into the Land Cruisers and start traveling through the Tibetan countryside. The Land Cruisers took us up and down the mountains. The roads were on the sides of the mountains and sometimes it was scary to look down from the window. Despite that there were some very nice photo spots where we stopped and beautiful scenery. On one photo stop dad even paid (one euro :) ), so that I could sit on a yak.

On the road

In the afternoon we made it to Gyantse and the hotel there. We went for a walk around the town and then for dinner. On our walk, we went to see a food market, which was unfortunately almost closed already, but we did see some chickens and ducks in cages and lots of flies. In the alley behind the market we saw a cute little cow, a yak and a water buffalo. We also saw a woman making fuel out of cow and yak droppings with her bare hands. In Tibet you can see a lot of houses drying dung on their fences which they later use as firewood.

The brave yak I got to sit on :)

12.07.09 Last day in Lhasa

In the early morning we went to see the pilgrims in front of the Jokhang temple. There was a fire burning where you could throw dried plants for prayers and people praying in front of the temple. Tibetan Buddhist pray by going from standing to lying on the ground and this is repeated several times. Some even go around the whole Jokhang temple by doing this, but some just walk around and then stop to pray in front of the temple in the end.

View from the hotel room

After few more hours of sleep and breakfast, we walked around the Old Town and around the Jokhang temple. After getting some lunch and rest, we went shopping for souvenirs at the Barkhor Square, which is around the Jokhang Temple. Bargaining is hard work, so some more rest and then an evening walk, and cake and tea for evening snack.

11.07.09 Potala and Jokhang

We had our reserved visiting time to Potala at noon. So, the bus took us to Potala and we entered through security checks and started climbing to the palace. Potala is the palace of Dalai Lama and perhaps because of that with limited visiting rights. After going through the allowed sections of Potala in the allowed one hour time, we went to the summer palace of the Dalai Lama, the Norbulingka.

Potala

Norbulingka was nice and there were not so many people. In Potala there were some people but probably because of the regulations it wasn't so full. After the Norbulingka, we went for lunch to the hotel. After the lunch it was time for Jokhang temple and Barkhor Square. Jokhang was filled with pushing and yelling Chinese tourists, and thus, very full. In Jokhang some of the statues were half old, half new, like everywhere.

Jokhang Temple

Tibet sure is interesting with people walking around the streets spinning their prayer wheels and wearing the traditional dresses and some women with their hair in 108 little braids, decorated with flowers. But it's sad that so many of the statues and temples have been destroyed.

Barkhor Square

10.07.09 Visiting monasteries

After breakfast at the hotel, we started sightseeing with the group. First we went to the Drepung monastery in Lhasa which was pretty. We got to see the little dwelling where a nun lived. The dwelling was called a meditation house where the nun was supposed to live for 10 years.

Debating monks in Sera Monastery

After the monastery, we had lunch at the hotel and I had yak meat momos, that were like fried dumplings. After lunch it was time for the Sera monastery, with the debating monks. We saw a group of people making a ceiling in the monastery. They were singing and pounding the ceiling with sticks, and making the ceiling out of clay that way. The guide said that depending on where the ceiling is being made, it can take up to 30 to 40 days to make.

Drepung Monastery

In the evening, we had a Tibetan dinner with a dance show, that even included a dance for taming the yak. We also got to taste the traditional Tibetan yak butter tea, which was quite interesting. I think the yak butter works better for the yak butter candles in the monasteries. :)

Drepung Monastery

On the streets of Lhasa, you can notice the Chinese influence, but there are a lot of women dressed in the traditional Tibetan dress and also some men. And people walking around spinning their prayer wheels. But like I said yesterday, also a lot of police and army with their guns and shields, and the police cars have sometimes also bars in all the windows.

08.-09.07.09 In the train and arriving to Lhasa, Tibet

First full day in the train went pretty fast with reading, having lunch in the train's food car, looking at the scenery and sleeping. We also got a show in the morning when the train stopped in Xi'an and two Western women came in with their two sons. The cabin they got had been used the night before and the previous passengers just got out in Xi'an. The cabin, of course, hadn't been cleaned and the women weren't happy. It ended up being an hour or so long show with them wanting the cabin to be cleaned and trying to stuff their huge suitcases into the small cabin, and complaining how they pay for first class and this is what they get.

Scenery from the train

The second day seemed for one reason or another never ending. The scenery started to change into mountains and grassland and there were yaks, dear, sheep and horses around. In the evening, we finally arrived to Lhasa and got picked up from the train station and got white scarfs for protection and welcome (a Tibetan tradition). After putting our bags into the hotel room it was time for dinner with the group that we would be spending the next week or so. The group seemed nice and I had a yak meat soup, so now I've tasted yak meat.

Scenery from the train

After the dinner we went to get some drinks and snacks with dad and saw a lot of army on the streets just standing and watching at their stations, and also some times walking around. We also saw an old woman dressed in traditional Tibetan dress walking on the street with her goat.

Scenery from the train

07.07.09 Getting ready for 48 hours in a train

The train to Lhasa, Tibet, leaves tonight at 21:30 and we still don't have the train tickets. We should get them 45 minutes before the train leaves, so hope for the best and hopefully the Chinese travel agency guy is this time on time. He has promised the tickets for Saturday evening, Sunday, Monday evening and now 45 minutes before the train leaves. Yesterday he did come to the hotel 11 o'clock in the night and brought a copy of our Tibetan permits....

Anyways, we went to Wangfujing Street to buy shorts for dad and we also found a shirt for him. After that we went to a big grocery store to buy snacks etc for the 48 hour train trip to Lhasa. At the hotel we finished packing and took a shower. In the evening a taxi took us to the Beijing West Railway Station and we started waiting for our tickets at the station.

Finally about 45 minutes before the train left the guy came with the tickets. He quickly gave us the tickets, said something about being very busy and left. We got into the train and after getting ourselves organized it was time to start sleeping.

06.07.09 This and that

It has been very hot in Beijing, so we decided to go to a museum today where it should be cooler. Unfortunately the museum is closed on Mondays, so we went to Yashow market to do some shopping and get what mom wanted to buy from China. After that we went to see the Water Cube and Bird's Nest.

We had another dinner agreed with my roommate and the Bulgarian Consul, so after the Olympic Park, we went for a small rest in the hotel and then for pizza dinner with my roommate and her friend.

05.07.09 Ancient Ming Village

Fiona organized a car for us for today and we went see an Ancient Ming Village a little outside of Beijing. The whole village was built during the Ming dynasty and it still has all those houses. You could stay there in an inn in an old Ming dynasty courtyard house with a bed that is heated with burning fire inside the bed.

The Ancient Ming Village

We had a good lunch at the village and also some really good corn. We left from our hotel, so we went back to Paula's hotel where her parents are also staying. Fiona had some discussion with the manager of the hotel where Paula is staying, because her room smells very badly of mold and they still haven't changed her room despite all the promises.

After that we decided to take a taxi to the hotel because it was starting to look like a storm was about to hit us. We got a taxi and right at the moment we got in there the skies opened and it started pouring with rain. We got to the hotel dry and even the taxi driver was very happy she picked us up right on time.

The Ancient Ming Village

We had some tea and snacks in the evening and then Fiona had to go to the train station to catch her train to Shanghai and from there to Suzhou the next day.

04.07.09 Taking care of things

Early in the morning Fiona came to Beijing by train and after coloring my hair with mom and Fiona, we went to Wangfujing street. At Wangfujing we went to two big bookstores. Mom and dad found two books and I bought one more Chinese book for studying more in Finland. We also closed my Chinese account and after having a cup of coffee, we went back to the hotel. Mom and dad went to rest and we went to the post office with Fiona to send by books to Finland. Bye bye books, hopefully I'll see you in two to three months.

For dinner we decided to go to the Sichuan restaurant where we went with Fiona and Roger in February. Paula's parents also came to Beijing today, so all the seven of us went to the restaurant. We had good food and saw the mask changing performance, that we also saw in February. It's still very very good.

03.07.09 Summer Palace

Three oxes

After noon, we traveled to the other side of the city to see the Summer Palace. We walked around there for few hours and then took a taxi to the university. We walked around the campus a little and then went to meet a Finnish couple at the subway exit. After that we met with my roommate and her friend to go for dinner at a restaurant near by that serves very good lamb dishes.

The Marble Boat

My roommate just started an internship in the Bulgarian embassy and it turned out that my roommates friend was the Bulgarian Consul in China. Anyways, the food was good and after the dinner we went to get my books from the dormitory, because I didn't want to carry everything on Tuesday. Mom and dad got to see the dormitory and now I won't be going back to the dormitory anymore.

02.07.09 Mom and dad to Beijing

An hour or so before noon, mom and dad finally arrived to the hotel. After they got settled down we went to walk around the Tian'anmen Square area and had a small lunch at KFC. After that it was time to start moving towards Wudaokou, near the university, for a massage. Mom and me had my last oily massages that I had left from my card, and dad had a foot massage. After the massage we went back to the hotel and tried to stay awake for few more hours before sleeping nicely after the massage.

30.06.09 Moving to the hotel

I finished packing in the morning and picked up my certificate of studies from the international office. After few hours it was time to get going. I managed to check out of the dormitory with no problems and started to make my way to the other side of the city with my bags.

View from the hotel room

I took the subway and I had to use three different lines to get to the Beijing Railway Station. The hotel is very near to the railway station and my room is very nice. I took a shower and then went to Yashow market with Paula to do some window shopping, and get my last manicure and pedicure in here. In the evening we watched TV at my hotel with Paula and had some TV snacks.