Jan 21st 2012, Helsinki, Olli

Today was a very interesting day for me, it was only a matter of minutes that I didn’t miss my flight! But first shortly what happened before that. So after saying goodbye to the other guys in Siem Reap I still stayed in our hostel room for a couple of hours to wait for my bus to Bangkok. It sucked big time. I think I never want to get into a situation anymore where everyone else are continueing the trip and I’m the only one going home. Not fun. Oh by the way, Peltsi forgot to mention something funny. Remember from our previous posts how it happened many times that me and Peltsi ended up sleeping in a same bed after the bed-lottery. Well guess what? It happened again, twice! So in the end, out of six possibilities, me and Peltsi ended up sharing a bed not less than five times! In Battambang it was even more exciting than normally, because we actually had five beds for six people. And we had lost the lottery with Peltsi four times in a row. You can only imagine the disbelief and joy and fury and all the other feelings involved after me and Peltsi had, once again, ended up together. We calculated that all-in-all the odds for all of these things to happen was less than 1 of 1000…

Olli at the moment of separation

The bus trip to Bangkok was, surprise surprise, 12-hour long. It was quite ok, actually the worst part was when we reached the traffic jams of Bangkok. It was very slow. In Bangkok I had one night before my flight, so I spent it just walking around the city, eating a lot and doing some last-minute-shopping. I also bought a bus ticket for the next morning to the airport, so that in the morning I wouldn’t have to worry about anything and I could have an easy morning. That’s what I thought.

My flight departured at 9.10 AM. Knowing that traffic in Bangkok can be very slow and hectic and that my hotel was situated in the wrong side of Bangkok right next to Khaosan road (about 45km from the airport), I bought a ticket to a bus leaving at 6.00. So I set my alarm at 5.30. Right next to my hotel there was a really loud bar, and I decided to listen some music from my iPod to fall asleep easier in the evening. Biiiig mistake. It turned out that I fell asleep with my iPod on and totally missed my alarm. When I woke up, my first thought was that wouldn’t it be awful to wake up like that and realise your alarm didn’t work. Then I looked at my phone. 7.47. Shit! About ten minutes later I was out of my room, checked out and inside a taxi. Fortunetally he drove very fast and there was not as much traffic as I had feared. When I got to the Finnair baggage drop, they told me that I have ten minutes to get to the gate, which was, naturally, on the other side of the airport. So I ran through the passport control, security check and half the airport, and I did manage to get there in time after all. Quick “shower” in the toilet and I was good to go. And now I am already in Helsinki, still thanking god that I made it.

This being my last post, I feel I should say something about my trip. Well, first I have to thank Sampo, Esa and Peltsi once again for an amazing trip! I felt really bad leaving in the middle of the trip, but I hope you guys have a great time also in Vietnam! Watch out for the mountains and wife-beaters (Esa), cooked pineapples and peanut butter (Peltsi) and airplanes and butterflies (Sampo). You know what I’m talking about. I guess two things for me were the ones I’m going to miss the most. One is the ridiculously cheap food. Really, you can eat some fantastic food out in nice restaurants three times a day and you don’t have to pay basically anything. For me who loves to eat, that is just amazing. The other thing was the chilled-out atmosphere and the friendly people, especially in Laos and in Cambodia. I mean you can actually feel the time passing slower in Laos than in anywhere else. Okay, when you’re sitting in a bus it’s not always as much fun, but otherwise it’s just amazing. I only wish I had more time in there. And almost no-one tried to scam you. So if someone was being friendly to you, in most cases it was how it seemed. Not a thing you can say in many places.

The time in Myanmar was not very easy for me. The food poisoning took all my strength and I could’t enjoy it the way I would’ve liked. But as for what I did experience, I think it’s true what they say. It’s worth visiting because of the people. Just make sure you know about the history and the present situation of the country before you go. I just wish I had more time in all of the countries. Oh well, I wouldn’t be surprised if I found myself from Laos again one of these days…

Now it’s time for me to concentrate on my studies for two more months before starting to plan my next trip. But the summer is quite close, so let’s see… But now, thanks to everyone who followed our trip and auf Wiedersehen!