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!)

it's time to move forward. tomorrow we start our over one month trip to south east asia. on the list there are thailand, cambodia, vietnam, laos, malaysia and hong kong. we have no specified plans and arrangments. all we have are our backpacks and open minds.

see you later.

being vegan makes me more aware of what i eat. i like food. i like trying out new things. i like dining out but i also like to cook. the above pictures are from Jeombongsan Mountain Vegetable Village in Sokcho, South Korea. i think it is the best meal i have had in korea. it consisted of various mushrooms and plants that grow in mountains. the most interesting mushroom was black mushroom that grows on stones. i have also liked the pickled garlic leaves. on the pictures you can see only half of the food that was served. for desert there was omija tea. this all costed only 8 euros per person.

summer in the city. it's getting really hot and humid. we escaped for a few days to seoraksan national park and east sea. the water was a bit too cold to swim though. i think it was one of the best times i had in korea.

my day today.


6:30 am. the day started sunny and warm. taking bus from suwon to seoul.


7:16 am. arriving to gangnam station in seoul.


7:20 am. taking metro.


7:31 am. arriving to seollung station.


7:48 am. arriving to work.


12:03 pm. going for lunch with youngdoo. i had barely bibimbap.


2:47 pm. brainstorming with juni and youngdoo on work project.


4:32 pm. it started to rain.


5:03 pm. leaving work and taking metro to gangnam station.


5:34 pm. meeting teemu and hyojin in gangnam for dinner.


5:57 pm. having dinner in tofu house.

i have a huge red pimple on my forehead and it is my biggest problem right now (well i have some other serious problems but i refuse to deal with them). i tired to apply toothpaste on it for a night but it didn't help much. my skin got so much worse during last 10 months due to heavy pollution and spicy food.

in one month im homeless and jobless but im going to be a traveler so i guess it is okay. i made a list of places i want to visit before going back home:
- Seoraksan national park and east sea (june 6-8)
- DMZ (june 14)
- Namsan tower (i can't believe i haven't been there yet)
- SOMA and LEEUM museums
- Insadong (i went there once on sunday but there was too much people. i have to go there on a week day when it is less crowded)
- Carribean bay (just because it was so much fun two years ago)

oh, and finnair was selling on a weekend return tickets to seoul for only 399 euro! i was tempt to buy it as a christmas gift but i should really go to poland then. :)