i had a nice time in helsinki but now im back in joensuu. it's so cold. today it was only 11 degrees and the trees are already turning yellow. i should enjoy this time before the dark days come. i think i will go to pick up mushrooms this weekend. hmm my life in finland is much different than in korea.

whenever i go to poland i rethink what friendship is. 6 years ago, i left all the friends here and moved to finland. it was really difficult to lose such wonderful people. i didn't know how to keep up long distance friendship and i did some stupid mistakes. however, each time i'm back, i meet my old friends and we have brilliant time together. we talk, laugh and cry... just like nothing has changed. now i know that you can have real friends and you don't need to be in constant contact with them.

above picture presents the district my parents live and i used to live.

spending a few days in poland and eating fresh berries. thinking a lot and perhaps even too much. it feels weird to understand perfectly what people say around you. i think i'd prefer not knowing those conversations.

i wanted to post something about coming back to finland but nah. my thoughts are unorganized and i don't know how to feel right now.

instead i will write a little about pop bands in korea. they're young, pretty, temporary with a couple of english words here and there. last fall there were two bands that made a breakthrough namely wonder girls and big bang.

big bang - 빅뱅 - is 5 cute boys which are 17-20 years old. they like to say that they're hiphop band but i think they don't have much to do with it. the most known song of big bang is called lies.


wonder girls - 원더걸스 - are the female version of big bang but just a little bit younger. they are very pretty and i guess they already have some plastic surgeries behind them. honestly speaking i can't distinguish the girls. to me they all look the same. the most known song is called tell me. all my students knew the dance from the video.


they have a newer song with their new more sexy image called so hot. the new image of wonder girls causes a lot of discussion as the girls should still be in high school...



it's not my kind of music but lies and tell me will always remind of me fall 2007.

one year in korea is over.
i can't believe this is it.
it is unfair to say goodbye.

hi hello from hong kong. it is almost the end of the trip and i feel so sad about it. i dont want to face the reality. im having great time and i love traveling to the bits. today i bumped into a swedish couple that we met in cambodia. the world is tiny.

tomorrow i will meet my long time lj friend/penpal for the first time in real life. im so excited.

hello from phnom penh. it is humid and sticky. just a moment ago we had a rain shower but it didn't help much. cambodia is definitely different than any other country i have visited before. angkor temples were the most impressive thing i have ever seen. s-21 museum was very shocking and reminded me of auschwitz. the difference is that it was done by cambodians to cambodians.

we have plenty of fun and try to enjoy every moment of it. i want to live in a country where 1kg of mangos costs 1 USD (if you haggle you may get it cheaper)!! so far we had mostly good experiences. the bad experience was only when an evil monkey tried to bite teemu's leg! oh, and i fell from the stairs in one of the angkor temples which ended up in small wounds, bruises here and there and slightly broken lens.

tomorrow we are going to vietnam. i hope we will spend some more time in nature there as im dreaming about diving into the ocean.

random highlights of the trip so far:
-fresh and cheap fruits! so far i like dragon fruit the most
-fresh juice
-cheap accommodation (so far we didn't pay more than 7$ per night for a room)
-unfortunately, this means you have to sleep with lizards in your room
-if you leave any food open in your room it will be full of ants
-public aerobic in front of shopping mall, everyone can join, i didnt
-food is so good
-however, vegetarian food contains oyster and fish sauce
-riding tuk-tuk (motor trailer taxi?) is fun
-foreigner cannot walk for 5m without being asked if she/he needs tuk-tuk ride
-you can haggle for everything and you can get more than a half discount on everything (im shy to haggle but teemu is so good at it!)