Boy Chunder AKA: MrMcB

Dear All,

To be sure, to be sure, the last week has been a real mixed bag.

Unfortunately, the trip to Ranong did not go ahead as planed, with us spending a bit more time in Ao Nang before cruising to Phuket for a bit of R&R on the old Tum...now where did I leave off ... ahh yes,

The last I wrote, I was just recovering from a slight stomach infection. Unfortunately this was not the case, and after another difficult night of doing some damage to the daulton, I decided to go to the local clinic the next day. In the end I had to pretty much drag myself there, we're they quick smart put me on to some pills (if you only knew what the Thai's are like with there damn pills) and set up an appointment with the doctor in the afternoon.

Isn't it ironic, but in the last 24 years I've only ever been to the doctor 3 times for being sick, and all three times have been in Thailand!!!.

My situation during the day got dramatically worse, with a bit of a case of dehydration added on to my woes .. nothing a couple of litres of IV injected into me couldn't fix. Nurse Nadine and Nurse Kirsty we're certainly on form, and a little bit shocked to say the least when I walked in with an IV drip in my hand and the bad news that we wouldn't quite be leaving in the morning.

Anyway, I've been pretty limited with what I've been alowed to eat and everything's cleared up now, but what a week it was.

Now as I said, the original plan was to go to Ranong, but in an effort to give everyones stomach's a rest we decided to get up on the play with some good ol' McDonald's on the Island of Phuket. We took the mini-bus in the morning at 10am (converted into Thai time this means we left about 3/4 of an hour later - some things never change). Anyway we had a bit of a cruise in the good old Minivan .. passing Buses ... the same time the buses are passing the trucks .. at the same time as the on coming traffic by now is practically driving on the grass verges .. ah yes, the good old Thai passing technique. None of this two second following rule, none of this no passing on corners, none of this 100m of clear vision at the end or the manuver. If it's there then pass it.

Now if I haven't mentioned it yet, Thailand isn't quite like summer in New Zealand. In fact I don't think it'd be like summer on Mercury. At the moment the temperatures are ranging somewhere between a cool 30 degrees, and a .. whats the word .. I think stiffling would be a good start .. yes a stiffling 40 degrees, and that's just in the shade!!! Anyway, arriving in Phuket, at about 2pm, the hotest time of the day, at the hotest time of the year, carrying 25kg packs on our pack, looking for accomodation wasn't quite our cup of tea, and to make her point loud and clear young Nadine decided to faint (as if we didn't know it was hot already). Me being the man of superhuman strength (having not eaten for about 3-4 days here remember, though in column B I did have a couple of IV bag's the day before) decided to cart around both our packs down the road to the nearest cafe (50kg's) in that heat is not a smart idea). Fortunately we made it o.k, and Kirsty came to the rescue, sussing out a room for us to stay in Phuket.

...As an aside, if you ever do go to Phuket, don't stay in the city...

An afternoon of resting in our rooms, and re-hydrating with plenty of warm water .. oh, I forgot to mention, during my recovery I was not allowed any cold drinks. Have you ever had a pineing for a beer, after a hard days work on a hot summers day? We'll multiply that by about 50 million times and that's about how I was feeling. Anyway, where was I, ah yes, rested an re-hydrated we cruised around to the local shoping centre, where I picked up some bread (very cliche, but bread and water, and salty flat sprite was all I was allowed to eat at this stage) and the girls picked up a good old Thai feast. We then had a bit of a look around a very plain shopping centre before the girls decided to go to Swensens. Now granted they did ask if I was o.k with this, and in my stooper, I did say yes.

Now Kendal, sister, I'm sure that Mum and Dad will be passing this on to you to read, and, sister, you too I'm sure will be able to feel my pain. Now I'm sure you are all aware that on occasions, just sometimes however, not frequently at all, I do have a little bit of a tendancy for a sweet tooth. Now imagine how I felt, going into only one of the best Ice Cream shop's in the world and not being able to order anything ... even worse, having to watch other people in outright glutteny, downing there Ice Cream Sundee's like there's now tomorrow. I really didn't think things could get any worse (I wont mention that we had breakfast the next day in a Cake Shop where all I had was .. soup!!!) I ended up dipping my slice of bread into the pools of melted ice cream, just so I could get a taste on my tongue .. shear torture!!!

Now the next day we decided to take one of the song tow's to the beach. The first day we went to Pahong .. which kind of rekindled in me all the things I didn't like about Thailand. Sure we got some good shoping in, and had a good day in the sun, but the number of touts there were pedeling there goods, and a beach that whilst once was probably a tropical paradise, was now a polluted western hole. I'm sorry it just wasn't nice. Saying that, I couldn't go for a swim anyway (doctors orders) so it wasn't such a great loss for me. Before we left I had my first meal of McDonalds. For those Westerners craving a little taste of familiarity, McDonalds is just like it is back home .. read into that what you will!!!

Now before losing complete faith in Phuket, the second day we went to Kata beach (Gradge & Madge take note, this would be a great stop for your honeymoon if you come to Thailand). Now Kata beach is probably more famous for the Club Med that kind absorbs about 2-3rds of the bay. Now for some reason they have copped a lot of flack from a lot of places about what they have done .. all I want to say is, whilst the fence around the outside along the road does suck, they have done a magnificent job of keeping the bay pristine .. it is probably one of the cleanest, and most beautiful beaches in Thailand, and from the beach, you would not even be able to tell that there was a resort even there!!!! Two thumbs up from me!! Anyway, we spent the day on the beach, and I couldn't resist breaking out the swimming togs one more time.

Yesterday we did the mish from Phuket to Ko Samui. It ended up being about 9 hours of travel, or should I say about 6 hours of travel and 3 hours waiting around on our bums. It was a pain in the arse the whole way, inconvenient, we were tired and iritable when we got there and we are getting sick of touts trying to force there stuff on us. Enough said ..

This morning we went looking for accomadation on Lamai beach. Tell you what, we've never had so much trouble finding places to meet our standards. Either too expensive or to crap. After 3 hours of looking we finally found a primo bungalow right on the beach .. and let me say it .. we are now in tropical heaven once more. We are here for another 7-8 days and I'm sure the drinks are going to start flowing again. I'm off the medication and am now going strong.

To those who have written back, thank you for your replies. Whilst it's taken me about an hour and a half to go through them, I love hearing any news of the homeland. To those who haven't written back, you suck!!!

Now I'm going to have to love and leave you ..

Boy Chunder

P.S. Mum & Dad can you please pass my love on to Craig, Kendal, Kathy, Matt, Danielle & Britney and I hope the girls are over there tummy bugs.

Dear All,

We'll what a week it's been.  After arriving the Nightmare of traveling to
Samui, and actually finding a place to stay, the rest of the week has been a
breeze.  Staying in Lamai for 7 days was certainly quite refreshing for a
change of place (the only place I see that happening again in the near future
is with my arse on a train seat in Russia!!!)

Lamai is on the east coast of Samui and is certainly scenic.  The air seems to
be a lot cleaner than it was in Ao Nang, with stunning forests rolling into
Coconut Palms and then the white coral sands of the beach itself.

Most of the week we've just been getting some beach action, siting under the
coconut trees, reading books, and taking the ocasional dip to cool off.

That's not to say we didn't have a little bit of fun.  On the third day there
we decided to hire some motor-bikes and do a Tour De Samui.  We checked out
Chaweng, where we soon became aquainted with the local McDonalds.  One thing
to be said for Samui, is it's certainly not up to the rest of Thailands
standards for food, and believe it or not, this actually tasted better than
most of our meals in Samui!!!  We then cruised around the Island checking out
some of the sights .. big budda, Nathon.  We also had an attempt to check out
one of the waterfalls, though with me doubling Kirsty on a little 100cc
Scooter, and Nadine still getting used to hers, we decided after about 1km
that we weren't quite equiped to handle the rough terrain.  Anyway, back to
Chaweng for a bit of Baskin Robbins action and then home to Lamai.

The next day, we decided after our failed attempt with the Scooters, we would
try a bit of off road action!!!  We hired a Suzuki Caribean Sport for the day
and started to cruise the island, listening to good ol' Dave Dobin on the
stereo (sounds kindly supplied by Nadine).  Now as JARANZ would know, I have
been a little partial to the occasional jaunt of off road driving, so the
thought of off-roading in the jeep seemed quite exciting.

Air-con off, windows down, and the low gearing set on the 4wd we made our
attempt at the assent of the water fall track, sign-posted as being about 4
1/2km's.  After the first km we were laughing at our previous days piteful
attempt.  What were we thinking, but this was certainly much easier in the
Jeep.  After about 1 1/2 km's there was a car park, and a track .. it didn't
look like a well used track, but hey, we're in a 4wd .. we can do it!!!  We
then progressed .. we'll let's just say it's not a pace I'm used to.  It took
us about 2 hours to get 3km into the journey.  We were driving in the roughest
conditions I've ever seen (enough to easily put the likes of KariKari to shame
Shell & Bre).  Sweet pouring, no hand-brake, we managed to find a flat spot in
our journey.  I stopped to relieve myself, and to stop shaking .. this was
seriously hard work, with my both calves straining at the end of the journey
with the effort.  At the 3km mark we came to a point where the jeep just
wouldn't travel any further.  All four wheels spinning with no traction, we
we're beaten.  Now this is where the fun began.  Except for the Car Park which
was two km's earlier in the trip, there was only really one place suitable for
turning around in (ie Only one place that didn't have a shear drop on one
side, and cliff's on the other).  We'll I sure got some backing practice in,
backing about 500m down the track!!!

Anyway, we made it out alive .. after sweeting about 3L of fluid we decided it
was time for a bit of swimming action.  We found a secluded beach and cooled
off.  Spent the rest of the day cruising to some of the quieter parts of the
island and then cruised into Chaweng again for dinner and a movie (and also
caught up with Patsy, one of our drinking buddies from Ao Nang).

And that was pretty much our trip.  The next two days were pretty quiet, just
sitting around on the beach.  Oh, that is except for Full Moon on Kho Pa-Ngan.
 Preperations started the previous day, with us booking the tickets, via
Speedboat to the Island, and getting some Henna Tat's for the experience.

The next day we hooked ourselves up at one of the local pubs/restaurants where
we started getting ready for the night at about 6pm.  We decided to stick with
Mekong, Coke & Red Bull mixes.  Mekong is a pretty rough and ready Thai
Whisky, and we started our Mixes with one bottle of Mekhong, 3 bottles of Coke
and 2 bottles of Red Bull.  After dinner, and obviously a bit more celebrating
(prematurely for Kirsty's B'day which is today) we hooked ourselves up with
the Jet Boat and cruised to the party.

21:00 Catch Song Thow to Ferry
21:30 Catch Ferry to Island.  Spirits high (in more way than one), singing
loudly our favourite NZ songs (Which as usual revolves around Crowded House
and Bliss)
22:00 Arrive at Pa-Ngan.  Several pubs pumping out all sorts of music, but the
first song I remember was Insane in the Brain where we got off the boat .. too
true, too true.  Pubs, lights, people .. so many people, drinking, dancing,
all having a good time, all enjoying themselves, and then the water,
reflections of the scene above.
22:15 Glo-Paint .. we were all in it with Kirsty stretching it all over her
arms and forhead, Nadine also with a band up one of her hands, and me, we'll I
just had a dancing stick-figure on my arm.  Drinks, we'll still with the same
ingredients, just diffent mixes.  By this time it was 1 bottle of Mekhong, 1
bottle of Coke and 2 bottles of Red-Bull.  Adrenaline flowing.
22:30 Dancing up a storm at one of the Dance Clubs (It's hard to describe as
everything was on the beach).  Kirsty broke out her Poi's and was dancing up a
storm.
23:00 PATSY!!!  We were just cruising the beach, checking out the rest of the
scene when we bumped into Patsy, with her cousin Ceiran and his wife Lily.  We
had a base on the beach from which we could walk, talk, dance and sing.  Most
of the night is pretty blury from this stage, and very piece meal.

Kirst broke out into Fire-Poi .. awesome performance, more dancing, more
drinking .. one of the most unbelieveable parties I've ever been too, even
better than Gatecrasher late last year.

03:00 Throwing up behind a jeep, behind one of the Guest Houses.  My stomach
had had enough .. and was certainly making me aware.
03:15 Sleep .. crashed out on the beach, oblivious to what's going on around
me, I need sleep.
06:15 Open eyes .. thin line of red on the horizon.  Sunrise .. Sunrise.
06:18 Lift head .. Definiely sunrise, one of the most beautiful I've ever
seen.  People still going hard, though a lot were just stiring.  Many like me
had crashed on the beach, getting in a few precious moments of sleep preparing
for the sunrise.
06:30 Water, must have water.
06:31 Start cruising the beach.  The sun is now up and people are rousing.
The party goes on.
06:54 Nadine & Me have had enough.  Body's exhausted, we are looking for
Kirsty and Patsy to let them know we are going.  Last boat moves out at 8am.
07:15 Still haven't found Kirsty or Pats after two sweeps of the beach.  Where
are they?  We make our way through bodies sleeping on the ground, with have
the hardcore dancers now in the water.
07:18 Glad I don't have to clean up this mess.
07:28 PATSY!!!  Up on stage they were, going wild to the music, Patsy & Kirsty
and anyone else who could fit.
07:40 Hop on speed-boat .. just what I need with an upset stomach.
07:59 There it goes .. commiting my bile to the ocean.
08:10 Solid land .. hope on a Song-Thow for the return journey.  Drifting off
to sleep briefly for a respite.  I need sleep, and look forward to the my
room, although knowing that we have to be up in 3-4 hours time to catch a bus
to Bangkok was the most appealing thought.

And that's pretty much how I remember the night.  An amazing experience, and
one I'd defintely recommend.  Full Moon is a strange time in Thailand, and
strange things happen.

I wont bother going into our journey back to BKK.  It was another nightmare of
disorganistion and I'm glad it's over.  We now have a room, and have had some
sleep, and have had some food.

Just two days left.  I would like to see my family once more before I go, but
for now, it is Kirsty's 21st and we have another big night planned.

I hope all of you back home are having half as much fun as I am.  As always
any news is appreciated .. like an update on the Super 12 (Hint hint)

Lots of Love,

Boy Chunder

P.S.  Kimmy, where are you???

Sdrasdvitie Everybody,

Siberia is such an enigmatic place. In the mind in the word conjures up images of a sparse winter wasteland of tundra and ice, with stories of people surviving, or passing away, in a struggle for survival. It is so well known, but little is actually known about it...

At the moment I am writing from Irkutsk, which is on the shores of the Amur river, close to lake Baikal. Since I wrote last week we have traveled over 4000km by train, 74 hours in a small two bed cabin, with the hum of the steel wheels chugging along.

...From Vladivostok, the San Fransisco of the East .. the time we spent there was quite magical, especially when the grey skies cleared to a brilliant blue, and the people actually came out on the streets (when we arrived it was a public holiday, and the place resembled a ghost town). The city has only been opened up to foreigners for about 10 years now, but has a lot of potential to bring in the tourists, if they spent a bit more money (which they probably don't have) on restoring some of these fabulous buildings. The architecture in Russia is stunning, with many old classical styled buildings, with detaled decorated facades.

>From Vladivostok we have basically been on a train the whole time on our travels to Irkutsk. Our room was small, when lying in bed if you streached out you could touch every wall!!! The second thing is the Trans-Siberian is not a tourist train. I knew this before getting on the train, but it certainly became more apparent as the trip went on. Our first experience was a strange man, with rotten teeth trying to sell some Russian books, or playing cards, which were photocopied and had pictures of naked ladies on them. He couldn't speak, or at least he didn't do much more than grunt, and he absolutely reaked of Vodka. Eventually we got rid of him, but as you can imagine, we barely left our room unattended for the rest of the journey.

The journey has taken us through some amazing landscapes .. from the grasslands in the East, reminiscent of the Desert road, through into the beginning of the Taiga forrests. For the first 2000km most of the trees were bare of leaves, though this soon changed as we moved into some more pine/birch/elm forests .. and further still into the zebra landscapes (So called because the remaining snow resembled the black & white stripes of the zebra on the landscape). After that we moved into more grassland, very much like what I would imagine Mongolia to look like. The landscapes are so vast and varied .. they have to be seen to be believed!

One of the major things I have noticed on the trip is the people. They are a very beautiful race of people, but they are also so friendly. Before leaving New Zealand, in a lot of the literature you would be warned about the high crime rates, which naturaly leads you to believe that the people would be quite hostile but quite to the contrary. The people have been so open, welcoming and friendly .. to date, touch wood, we haven't had any bad experiences with the people. On the train we became quite popular with the Conductors on the train, with many a conversation .. stilted as they were but our limited language abilities, and a limited phrasebook.

On the train there were only three other foreigners that we meet, a man from Korea travelling on his own, and also two American guys (father & son) who seem to be on a very similar itinerary to us.

On the final leg of our journey to Irkutsk one of the families in our carriage approached us, and we had quite an illuminating conversation with them about their lives, and the region .. their daughter who was just 15 acted as translator which was amazing considering this was the first time she had spoken English with a foreigner.

Irkutsk is a stunning city. Once again it has the classical architecture of Vladivostok, but also many of the wooden buildings from last century are still standing. Unfortunately earlier this century there was a massive fire which destroyed 2/3 of the city, and after the fire it was banned to build wooden buildings. The city is very near the shores of lake Baikal, which is the largest fresh water lake in the world (18% of the worlds surface fresh water), and is also the deepest lake in the world at almost 1600m deep. Passing by on the train we were quite suprised to find that the lake was still covered in a layer of ice .. it was a stunning sight overlooking a white lake, with the haze of blue mountains in the background.

Last night there was some kind of celebration in the park outside the hotel. There was fireworks and a light show and also a band playing the Russian classics. It kind of reminded me of the Christmas in the Parks back home with the groups of drunken teenagers lounging around but it was great anyway.

>From here we face the 5000+km leg to Moskva .. I just hope we don't go stir crazy after 5 days on a train!!!

Boy Chunder

Dear All,

Wow, wow, wow, wow & wow!!! did I mention WOW!!! Wow seems to be every second word that falls from my lips as I walk around this city. It would have to be the most stunning city I have ever set eyes on, so much money (money obviously missing in the rest of the country) has been poored into restoring this city, that I could just as easily be the end of the 19th century, and the buildings would still be the same.

If you haven't guessed yet, I have arrived in Moscow after another 5191km on the train and what a time it's been. Irkutsk was grand. The city is has magnificent old 19th century wooden architecture which has to be seen to be believed. Basically all my time in Irkutsk was spent walking through the city streets soaking up the atmosphere. On the last day in Irkutsk we were walking around in shorts & t-shirts which I didn't think would be the case in the middle of Siberia but there you go (actually, that was the warmest place I've been in Russia so far!!!).

Catching the taxi to the train-station was interesting. I don't know what worried me more, the huge crack in the windscreen where it looked like someone had stopped suddenly and headbutted it .. or maybe it was the bullet hole in the lower central part of the windscreen. Couldn't quite put my finger on it. Fortunately we made it to the station safely for the next 78 hours of our journey in confined quarters.

The train trip was pretty uneventful. We passed into Europe official (I've got a photo of the signpost to prove it!!), we played cards, we read, we stared out the window, we played cards, we read, we stared out the window, we ... you get the picture. Oh, Matt did get assaulted by an very drunk army officer, who threatened to kill him, narrowly escaping into a toilet with the officer being handcuffed by security and thrown of the next stop .. you know, just the usual. Everything had been going so well with the people that well, I guess karma just evened the score. All told though we had fun.

Moscow as I've eluded to is fantastic. There are only two ugly buildings in the city, one of them is our hotel, the other is the hotel our American friends are staying in .. the 70's have certainly got a lot to answer for!!!

Anyway, gotta be brief on this one as time has run out...

Boy Chunder

Terve Everybody,

Well, it's seems like an eternity since I last wrote .. Moscow was absolutely amazing, a must see for everyone .. we left there over 1 week ago now and cruised on through to Saint Petersburg on an overnight train which we shared our compartment with a couple of Russians.

Arriving in the station at 8:30am we were met as usual by our sponsor company who transfered us to our hotel in style in a brand new Benz .. all class the whole way, until we got to our hotel. Probably the most dissapointing place we stayed the whole time, out of the way and run down. Such a strange affair because we had easily the best and most straightforward transfer in the whole trip!!!

Anyway, as you may all have heard, Saint Petersburg is a stunning city. So much history, fabulous architecture, amazing museums .. just as you'd imagine. The amazing thing is that at the moment everything is under scaffolds, everything in the city is being restored so I would imagine if you're travelling here later this year or in the future this city will be a real class act .. it still was despite the scafold facades.

Saint Petersburg is very much a 'created city' .. it was built from scratch to copy some of the glamour cities in Europe such as Amsterdam, and was built all at once. To compare it to Moscow, both cities are visually striking, but Saint Petersburg is created where as Moscow has 'Grown' into what it is .. both appealing.

We caught the usual sites, The Hermitage, St Catherine's, St Peter's & Pauls

.. and many more that I wouldn't have a clue what they are called. We spent most of the time just wondering about as usual, which the poor tootsies were regreating after a marathon effort in Moscow.

We really ended up doing a whirlwind tour of Russia .. over 10,000km in 16 days is not time to do such a diverse country justice, but we did well and I am looking forward to going back in the future (hopefully once the free up visa conditions!!!).

Helsinki - Finland - Suomi ...

...Wow ...Wow and...WOW!!!!!! - Bzzzz

I am in love with this country. After pretty much rushing from place to place since Hong Kong (how many lifetimes ago???) it's great to be able to settle into a place for a while.

Sari met us at the trainstation, and we have been staying at her place in Louhela (technically out of Helsinki, but only 20mins on the Train!!!). Little pleasures such as a kitchen and being able to drink tap water just mean so much!!! It's been great because the day after we arrived her cousin from England, Jen arrived with her Husband Ron who have spent the last 3 years in Barbados, so they have some amazing stories, and Jen is kind of rediscovering her Finnish roots which has helped with us picking up a few phrases here and there.

Anyway, Helsinki is ... Wow!!! I really don't know the words to describe it. The streets in the central city are all paved, with stunning streetside cafes, more of that architecture stuff .. CLEAN .. big sky (this country is way flat) and trees .. so many trees .. the city is almost built in a forest. It's not too big either with a population of just 500,000 people making it a really livable place.

The first couple of days we just took in the sites, walked the city, took in the Kiasma Museum of Art .. which I have to admit was not quite my taste, but they had some great pieces. On Friday I had my first actual night on the town in ages. We met up with Riikka finally, and cruised to a mate of Saris for some drinks, many drinks.

At about 10pm we decide to cruise into town, still with daylight abound. We tried to get into Molly Malones (that's right Nadine, it's what they do around here!) but unfortunately it was just a mite popular so we cruised around to the Armadilo club. At about 2:30, after many beers, ciders and much wine we decided to call it a night and cruised back on the late train, not without catching a Grilli first.

On Saturday we went to a place called Kokemäki which is about 250km north west of Helsinki. It's a small town (should I say collection of houses, very much rurual) of about 800 people. Sari had pretty much her whole family there who were an amazing bunch of people. So good to be around family again (even if unfortunately they aren't my own). We spent 3 days pretty much just eating and laughing .. oh, and the best thing of all .. savusauna!!!

A savusauna is a traditional Smoke Sauna. For those who are unaware, Sauna is a huge part of Suomi culture and a real social occasion. The Sauna is in a small hut type place with a open brick oven in the side. The prepartion starts about 8 hours beforehand with the starting of the fire to heat the coals. About two hours before the sauna is ready they poor water over the coals so that the smoke stops .. or rather so it's not too sooty. When everything is ready, you all get in the Sauna .. naked .. and last it out in 100 degree heat as long as you can. You then go outside in the cold air (or swim in a lake, but there was none nearby) and drink a beer. As you can imagine, this goes straight to your head because you've sweated so much.

The next day we went to her parents bach, where we had a Chimney Sauna (not quite as good as smoke, but still awesome.) The great thing about this Sauna was that just outside they had built a small lake where we could go swimming between sessions .. in waters of about 6-8 degrees (icy!!!) It's a great experience going from the extreme heat to the extreme cold, and whilst it's difficult getting in initially, once you are out you feel quite warm in the air outside (air temp was probably about 8 degrees as well, but it certainly felt a lot warmer than that).

If it wasn't for the fact that I was having saunas, I think I would have put on about 5kg as the food was fantastic, plentiful and oh so tasty. Alas, all good things come to an end and we had to return back to Helsinki (It's amazing that returning back to such a wonderful city could seem like a chore).

Anyway, I now have my next moves planned, with my Ferry to Stockholm leaving on Friday night .. just 3 more nights in Finland :( Finland is yet another one of those places that I will be returning to...

Well, I don't know what's happening here, but I've just written another epic and it's lost the whole thing!!!

Anyway, it's been a spectacular week. Farewell to Finland with a touch of sadness .. Helsinki: brilliant, beautiful city .. Finn's; Beautiful, fun, crazy people .. Sauna: yes, yes, YES!!! I had an awesome time in Finland, and for a trip that has gone from one amazing experience to the next, I think it will certainly standout.

Anyway, my departure from Helsinki was by way of ferry from Helsinki Finland, to Stockholm, Sweeden ('Sweeden. Across the baltic sea!' - Matt, I have a mag article you want). The Friday night ferries from Helsinki have built up a bit of a reputation over the years and I guess this one was not going to be an exception. After abandoning my beloved pack in my cabin, I decided to take in the ship; or should I say, palace on the water! This thing had everything you could ever possibly need, a self contained city.

After getting my bearings I decided to return to my cabin for a bit of shut eye before the night ahead. After a few minutes my cabin mate (Annti) from Gotenburg in Sweeden came in. Now he's a bit of an old hat with these things, and had been in Finland for a week visiting his girl, and he filled me in on the standard procedure for the cruise:

Step 1. Proceed to the Oasis Bar, take in the departure scene of the spectacular Helsinki harbour from the comfort of a Jacuzi/Spa whilst sipping down an ale.

Step 2. Proceed to the Turkish bath, not forgetting to replenish your drink at the bar on the way.

Step 3. Another drink from the bar as you make your way back to the jacuzi.

Step 4. Make your way to the sauna room, not forgetting to pick up a drink as you pass the bar.

Step 5. After departing the Oasis Bar, please ensure tray tables are in an upright position, and don't forget to return those speedos!!! (I never thought I would, but I did, and never again!)

. By this time we were pretty much on our way, and making our way back down to the cabins, we caught up with a couple more mad Swedes. After more drinks with them in their room, we made our way out into the hall .. OOaa oohh .. Finnish people in the coridor drinking, I guess we better join them. Time to head to the stardust deck, but not without stopping at the Estonian girls room first for a couple more drinks and then finally, the pub/karaoke/nightclub..

A night to remember, a night to forget. It was a great night, but my head certainly knew about it in the morning! I woke up with about 1/2 hr to go and decided to check out the scenery as we pulled into Stockholm harbour. Stockholm is spectacular, probably the most visually appealing of all the cities I have been in to date. It is based around an archipeligo so there's plenty of water, fantastic architecture and lush parkland.

Making our way to the central station by taxi, we all said our farewells and I decided to take my house and find my home. I had the sense to e-mail ahead to book accomodation. Unfortuantely not enough sense to do it two weeks earlier. I got to the city backpackers which is about 1.5 km from the station to the rousing 'Sorry, no beds .. in all of Stockholm! These guys here are going to sleep in their car, and I've been recommending to everyone else to go to this city just an hour from Stockholm on the train.'

. My predicament. In a foreign city, with nowhere to stay, and nowhere to be ..

I decided to head back to the station and dump my bags in left luggage before contending with my predicament .. over a Whopper burger combo!!! After satiating myself in the pure fat of the burger, soaking up the excesses of the previous night I decided to take off around the city. Heck, if I'm going to be stuck, I may as well enjoy it, and hey, this is probably the freest I've ever felt. It's amazing how an adversity like this could be so enjoyable.

Anyway, I took in Gamlin San first which is the old city. It's 3 story houses, tightly packed together in a 17th century style, with small paved roads between them. Quite spectacular. Walking around, checking the sites, I turned the corner and litterly bumped into an army procession/display. A marching band in union, the changing of the guards .. another one of those little gem experiences. In the afternoon I parked my bottom in the middle of one of the generous parklands, read my book, and contemplated my next move. Now my travel, whilst not structured, has definitely had a plan, but right now Oslo was looking like a great place to be .. I didn't have to go straight to Copenhagen.

With this knowledge in my I made my way to reserve my ticket at the station. 'Sorry sir, the last train left 30mins ago' .. oh dear, in my excitement I didn't factor in that they wouldn't have a night train. I was contemplating staying in the city, maybe walking the streets until morning, sleeping in the station, in a park, I mean, it's only one night?! Well common sense got the better of me, and I decided that I'd go down to København (Copenhagen) on the night train .. two days of no sleep was bad enough, I'm not facing a third.

Back to the kassa to book the ticket the response was 'For a seating class ticket, on your rail pass you don't need to reserve a seat. Just turn up before hand and everything will be fine' This knowledge safely tucked away I spent the rest of the day walking the streets before my night train at 11pm.

'Well you should have reserved a seat! You'll have to stand for the first two hours, or there's an upgrade to a cabin for 150kr'

As you can imagine, I was fuming .. in my way, under the skin. Nothing I can do so I hoped on the train, lacking sleep and getting over my hangover to stand up for two hours. When finally a seat did come, it was little comfort, as one of the local sporting teams was going on tour, and they were letting everyone know about it!!!

No sleep, no shower, tired, blisters from walking .. welcome to København. It was difficult to come to grips with. Here we are in the Scandinavian cultural capital, a city which everybody raves about, and it's a ghost town. The sky was grey, the streets were empty (7am on Sunday morning) and there was graffiti everywhere, this is not how København should be?!?! I made my way to the Hostel, booked my room and looked forward to sleep .. 'Sorry sir, you cannot enter the rooms until after 12pm...'

. These words, 'Sorry sir' I'm not liking them very much

..Well, I left my bags and started walking the streets, again. I must have gone in the wrong direction, which is what added to the initial first bad reaction. They were beautiful buildings, but the place was more like a warzone with litter in the street, cars with smashed windows and graffiti everywhere. I know I was in the wrong areas now, because everywhere else in København has been spectacular.

Never have I seen a place make such a turn around!!! I walked my way back into the city, walking along the cobbled pedestrian streets, with grand shopping, spectacular buildings, on into the botanical gardens, the Kastellet, a 17th century citadel, passed the Gefion fountain and the little mermaid and then back through the city, passed the palace, the royal library and all the other main attractions. This city seems to have everything.

In my daze of walking the streets, I failed to notice the time go by and realised that it was now 1pm. I made my way back to the hostel, had a shower and was refreshed again, though aching from my exploits. I decided to take my books and find a good park. Fortunately not to far from the Planet'arium I found a great spot, and spent most of the afternoon soaking up the sun, and listening to some Joni Mitchell. I then decided to give the shopping streets another go and was delighted by some excellent street entertainment.

By this time though, the day(s) was/were taking there toll and I decide to head back to the hostel, after a light dinner. Back at the hostel I relaxed with a few quite beers, and met some great people. I met a kiwi guy and had my first real rugger talk I've had in a long time. It's amazing how the small things can mean so much!

Today I decided to give my body a bit of a rest, and headed out of the city on the trains. My first port of call was Helsingør (better known as Elisnore to those Shakespare buffs). The city is home to the famous Kronborg castle, the setting of which Hamlet is based. As I strolled the ramparts, I could almost hear the soft moaning of Hamlets fathers ghost. In the catacombes below .. well, let's just say I don't get freaked easily, but these were some freaky places.

After taking in Helsingør I moved on to Hillerød. Hillerød is a beautiful little town, about 1 hour north west of København. It is home of the Frederiksborg Castle, which is a must see for anyone traveling to Danmark. Situated on a small Island, in a small lake (not really a moat) it is a spectacular castle, initially built in the 1600's. I spent much of the afternoon strolling through the different parts of it's

labrynth.I met up with two of the Canadian's who have been staying at my hostel and spent the rest of the afternoon with them, talking in the park outside the castle. It's so relaxing just sitting, and enjoying the sunshine, and the breeze.

But alas, night has come and I have returned to København .. tomorrow, who knows? England, it looks like the 8th is the day and the countdown is on; tick, tick, tick, tick...

Until next time,
Boy Chunder