Phuket

I arrived in Phuket on Monday the 19th and my friends Aku & Saara came to pick me up from the airport, and it was about an hour's drive from the airport to the Patong Beach. Aku & Saara live right in the heart of action. A few minutes from the boxing stadium, the big mall and Bangla, where the nightlife is at (always known as Phuket Tättärää). Their flat is lovely. First time in weeks I got to experience such luxuries as air-conditioning and warm water. Hurrah!

We dropped off my bags and went off for dinner & a few drinks. After my first yummy red curry we headed to Bangla. My first experience was negative. Tens of bars, thousands of tourists and ladyboys, Rows of McD's and Starbucks',  loud music and locals selling anything from cigarettes to strange souveniers and food. This was the biggest turisti-rysä I had ever seen and a huge difference to the laid-back Sri Lanka. I decided not to be a regular walking (or crawling) on these streets at night and wanted to start getting healthy. :)

From the next day we got into a very good routine with Saara; going to the gym in the morning, followed by a swim by the pool, which both belonged to Phuket Villa apartment complex. In the evenings we've been chilling at the balcony, eating some great Thai food and singing whilst Aku is playing guitar. Our friendship has mainly been developing at the various Finnish festivals over the years, so it has been very special to be in each other's company sober and really get to know each other (don't get upset about this comment dad if you are reading this.)

Here are some pictures.

On Friday the 23rd was the first real night out, as it was my friend Mia's birthday. Mia is on a sabbatical and is spending that in Koh Railey (just outside Phuket), working in a Finnish diving school and travelling Asia. We were joined by her friend Reeta who was finishing her 5 months Around-the-World trip and a Finnish party corner (Antti, Mikko, Juha, Petteri & Tomas). I'd heard that it is hard to leave Bangla before 7am, but I did not believe it. Let me tell you, it is true. And that is all there is to say about that. :)

Here is a picture otaken in the beginning of the night.

On Xmas eve I woke up after 2 hours sleep to Finnish Xmas radio and the smell of joulupuuro (Xmas porridge) and glögi (gluhwein). That definitely made you feel a little christmasy, especially after turning of the ac and closing your eyes. :) The day was lovely. Saara light up some candles and we spend the day singing xmas carols and drinking glögi. In the evening we went over for a lovely dinner at Johanna's place. Johanna has been living in Thailand for just under 10 years and have 2 lovely children so we would get some xmas spirit afterall.

After the dinner we went to Jay's (Johanna's man) reggaebar for a few drinks and then somehow "I found the strenght in me" to continue the night at Bangla with Mia & Reeta & some other Finns.

Following this very boozy Xmas period, we've been getting back to our healthy regime with Saara. Now we're off to the gym this morning and then Lila & Caan are coming here to play by the pool, which will be fun!

Today my friend Heta is coming over for the New Year. I've decided to go to to the island of Koh Lipe with her and we'll be departing tomorrow morning at 8am.

I'll aim to get my next blog update next week, as I am becoming officially the laziest blog-writer. I am emphasizing the word lazy here. I find it very easy these days to do bugger all all day. Ah - bless the holiday spirit! No morkkis! :D

Hikkaduwa

So, I arrived back in Hikkaduwa on Friday the 9th and decided to stay at least a few days in the laid-back Hikkaduwa. I wanted to start exercising and stop drinking too much Arrack in the evenings. That was a short-lived dream. I decided to go to "just one sneaky drink" at the Funky de Bar. And this is where I met Sam, Yohann and Julien; an Israeli girl and two French guys. In in their great company as well as with the crazy Finnish party corner from the Yula bar that I spend the following week eating lots of Roti's, trying to surf , having Arrack-attacks, having long walks on the beach and great conversations about everything under the sun.

I had started to get to know a lot of people and found myself relaxing and enjoying myself a little too much, so when I left Hikkaduwa for the airport on the 18th, I felt a little sad. Happy to go and see my lovely friends in Phuket and have a Finnish-Thai Xmas & New Year celebration, but also just sad to leave Sri Lanka.

So I've decided to change my travel plans, and come back to Sri Lanka after Thailand. Yay. :)

I have most of my pictures on my new camera, but for some reason, I can't get them out. It is a shame as I have some amazing pictures of the sunsets, beach and surfing. I will contact technical help and try to get the pictures here at some point. :)
 

Sri Lanka in french

It has been a while since the last post. And the reason for that is the French connection. :)

On 27th November I decided to venture into the Cultural Triangle, and in particular Sigirya and Polannaruwa. I took a bus to Kurunnegala, where I changed to Dambulla. I was originally going to stay there and see the caves, but then decided to go directly to Sigirya. Which was lucky, as it was in the bus to Sigirya where I met up with the lovely French trio; Sofie, Yan and Xavier. We started talking and as I was already booked into a guesthouse and they hadn't they decided to come along and get a room there too. As we got there, the room wasn't available after all. So we moved to another place and all decided to share one room. After freshing up we decided to go and see the Sigirya. (For those interested to read more about it, the link is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigiriya)

In the evening we did some abs. It was the plan of the French trio to do abs every night. I was impressed I must say. Maybe this would be the start of my exercising as well.

The next day we travelled to Polonnaruwa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonnaruwa). We decided to rent bikes instead of a tuktuk. The ruins were magnificent and saw lots and lots of monkeys.

After Polannaruwa we headed towards Ella, which we heard is one of the most beautiful towns in Sri Lanka. We were meant to do a hike and the Little Adams Peak, but got completely rained in during our first hike. Everything got soaked, including cameras, passports and mobile phones. Mine did not work for days but now they are all fine, luckily. The views were absolutely amazing and we had great fun, despite the rain including some lovely cocktails. ;)

From Ella he took the most beautiful train ride to Haputale.

In Haputale we visited a tea factory and ate some delicious muffins. Ulala.

From there we headed towards Hatton & Dalhousie to climb the Adam's Peak. (http://sripada.org/)
The climb would have to start at 2am in the morning to get to the top in time to see the sunrise. And so worth it was, despite being rather tough climb of 4800 in pitchblack.

By this time we were all exausted from changing towns every day and doing too much activities even for ms Montell! So we headed to the beach. Up until then it had been raining every day and we hoped for some sunshine. And luckily, that is what we got.

So from Hutton we travelled to Colombo from where we took a bus to Mount Lavinia, where we stayed the first two nights. From there we went to Hikkaduwa for two nights and then to Unawatuna for 3. It was absolutely amazing to just do bugger all and enjoy a bit of sunshine.

Now I have just said goodbye to my lovely new French family, who are heading to Negombo tonight to fly to Paris tomorrow and feel a bit sad as the last two weeks has been one of the highlights of this trip. I have made 3 good friends and we have shared some amazing experiences together. So I am off to book my long weekend trip to Paris for next May now. :)

The next week or so I'll most likely spend in Hikkaduwa where I am now. The longer I travel, it seems, the lazier I get. And I fancy reading a few books, sleeping a lot, eating some good roti's and enjoying the beach life. Mind you, the weather forecast looks very rainy in the next week or so.

To be continued!