Bye Sydney:( Hi Asia & Sweden:)




Gonna miss u beautiful view!







Gonna
miss u beautiful mansion!

 


Hi Darren, Bye Darren!


When I came to Sydney I think Darren was the first person I met and then we didn’t meet up during the whole time I was in Sydney except the 8th of April. We had a great time watching a movie at IMAX that has the biggest screen in the whole world. We saw a documentary about Titanic, it was really good and amazing to see how they could manage to explore such a big ship so deep down in the ocean. Then we went to the Lindt Chocolate café. The chocolate drink we drank was so good. It was too bad that I didn’t meet Darren more often because he is such a nice person.

 


Bye Christian!


The last person I said good bye to was of course Christian, the 3 year old I was babysitting. It was sad because he was like a little brother to me. Miss u Christian!!

 


 

 

Bye, bye Dinner


The 9th of April all the girls met up to a last dinner together, it was sad but still so beautiful. The girls that was gathering were Jeanette Hulden, Emelie Johansson, Amy Löfström, Alisha Wheeler, Cecilia Champi, Josephine Cadier. Rachel Coffey, u were in my heart this evening, she left Sydney before us. These girls made my time in Sydney wonderful; I couldn’t have met better people. We ate on a restaurant in the Rocks and we had a nice view over the Opera House and the harbour. I miss all of the girls, (I am writing this post sitting in my room in Gothenburg), but they are always in my heart and I know I am going to meet them all again. (Actually, Jeanette and Emelie were just visiting me in Gothenburg for four days and we also met up with Josephine and Amy, we had a really nice time together and now Emelie lives here in Gothenburg.:))

During the night me, Jeanette and Alisha went out in Kings Cross to the club World Bar. World Bar is famous for putting the drinks in a teapot. We had a great time and it was the last time meeting Alisha in Sydney. She is such a lovely person, always with a smile on her face, a typical American gal.

 




We girls couldn´t really figure out what the string was for....oh, the light! hahaha, blondies;)

















Halloj Hanoi!

 

I always told myself that I was going to cry when I left Sydney but I didn’t and I couldn’t understand why, my life there was great and Sydney made me happy. I think that I didn’t cry because I was so prepared that I was going to cry, so I just didn’t. But then, when I sat on the bus in Vietnam, on our way to Halong Bay, with my three Sydney girls I started to cry and I couldn’t stop. I just got so emotional but I didn’t just cry because it was over, I cried because god had given me such a great life in Sydney. You know when you cry because you’re sad and laughing because you’re happy at the same time, that´s what I did and that’s a special feeling.

The trip to Hanoi was looong. First I flew to Singapore and then I was waiting there for about 11 hours and then I flew to Hanoi. I was sleeping on two chairs at Singapore’s airport and it took a long time before I found those chairs. It was not comfortable at all and I was freezing to death. It was space between the two chairs so you can imagine how uncomfortable it was but it was a fun experience though or at least now, when I am thinking back on it.

Finally I was in Hanoi and I met my girls, so happy to see them. Then the next funny thing happened. Jeanette´s suitcase was broken. The thing that you roll the bag with was totally destroyed so we had to speak with the people in the information desk for a long time before they wanted to help us. It didn’t make it easier when their English was terrible. It was frustrating but at the same time funny, didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh, again;) We wanted of course that they should give her a new suitcase strait away because we couldn’t move that suitcase at all; it was way to heavy just carrying in your hands. What they wanted to do was to send the bag to a workshop and put on a new grip. We were too tired to argue anymore so we said, “Fine!”. Look at a picture at the bag later, it’s funny because it’s not matching at all, looks ridiculous.

 








 


Crazy traffic!


When we took our first taxi into the city of Hanoi we were all a bit chocked, the traffic was crazy, almost no rules, the mopeds were coming from everywhere. Yeah, mopeds! Mostly it was mopeds because they can’t afford cars and it was not just one person at a moped, it was sometimes 5, a whole family. First time you were crossing the street you just had to pray for not get run over. There were rarely any traffic lights and if there were, people usually didn´t care about them. There were almost no files and often they didn’t wear helmets. I have never experienced a more crazy traffic!

 

 








 


Rich girls!


In Vietnam you really feel like you are rich. 100 Swedish kronor, (15 Australian dollar), is 329 600 dong, crazy much and everything is so cheap.

 




 

 

Security box or broken money!?...

At the hotel in Hanoi I asked the receptionist about putting my money in a safety box. It was funny, because he took my money and put them in newspapers and wrapped them in with tape. Later, when I wanted some of my money he took a scissor and cut the wrapping up and when he opened it one of my notes was cut off. He was looking so confused and didn´t know what to do, I said I needed my money so he gave me a new one, poor man. That was probably a lot of his salary. Today I feel sad for him.

 
















































































Fruits – I´m in heaven!


During our time in Vietnam we tried so many new fruits and it was amazing how good they tasted. I ate perhaps three fruits every day, it tasted so delicious, it was so healthy and cheap. It is too bad we don´t have those fruits at home and if we do, they don´t taste good and are really expensive. My new favorite fruit is Dragoon fruit and OMG, I miss it! The inside is white with small black seeds.

Then we had the dried fruit and, GOD!!, what the other girls loved them, I can´t remember how many times they bought it, I didn´t fancy them so much though.

















 


The typical Vietnamese rice hat.

 

The first thing we commented when we entered Hanoi with a taxi was the rice hats that the Vietnamese people had on their heads while working at the rice fields. It´s hard to explain the feeling you get when you see this when you never been in Vietnam before. It´s nostalgic, beautiful and for me it was peaceful. Anyway, some Vietnamese stopped us and tried to sell these hats to us when we were going to the markets. They put the hats on our heads and gave us a shoulder basket, (what´s the real name!?), and said we could take pictures, we had a good laugh and some funny pictures.















Man starts to fix my shoe, whaaat!?


In Sydney I was famous for always having sore feet and putting sun cream on me all the time and in Vietnam it was the same. After shopping a whole day I just wanted to sit down and take a rest so I sat down on one of those small chairs that they had here and there at the streets. Suddenly, a man started to fix my shoe and I said; “no, no, no!!, you don´t have to fix my shoe!!”, but he really insisted. It was a canvas shoe and it was actually pretty broken but I was going to throw it away anyway so I didn´t really want him to fix it but he insisted. Well, well, I thought! When he had fixed my shoe he wanted money of course but I was totally broke so couldn´t give him anything. Poor man, got so mad! I gave money to a lot of beggars and others a lot after that.

 









Time for rickshaw, (cykeltaxi)!


Seeing all the tourists taking rickshaws just made me laugh, so typical tourists. Later on, Amy and Emelie suggested that we should take rickshaw and they convinced me. It was cheap, we could relax after a day of shopping and we could see a big part of Hanoi. Who would have said no to that? Apparently not me….


























The temple we never went to


We always talked about going to a temple and I really wanted to because I had never been in one but you know, sometimes you talked about things you want to do but you never do it, funny, isn´t it. I think it´s because you have to act and not just talk but at least I will definitely do it the next time I am going to Asia. (Yeah, we never went into that temple.)














Street massage!


When we were taking a walk after dinner we saw some Vietnamese people standing in a line and giving each other massage. It looked so funny and they even did buttocks massage. I thought to myself; “We should introduce this to Sweden:)!”







The local food


You should always try the local food if you are in a foreign country, it always tastes the best. It can be a bit scary in countries in Asia though because you can get food sick easily but as long it´s overheated it should be okay. This dish tasted wonderful!














Halong Bay

















Halong Bay – Beautiful as shi**


The day before I was going to Halong Bay I read my e-mails and in the one from my mother it said; What ever you do, don´t go to Halong Bay, you know it´s dangerous!!”. It had occured an accident in Halong Bay recently before I went there were 12 people had died, hence two Swedish people. They had slept on a boat over there and a storm had outbreak and the boat sank. So sad! I decided that I would definitely not sleep on a boat but it didn´t stop me from going on a day trip. It is listed as one of the most amazing things in the world that you need to see before you die, I loved it, it was so beautiful, I can´t even explain it in words and the best pictures are not even fair. It was so peaceful and powerful at the same time. We ate seafood on the boat, really good, and canoed into caves that I can´t describe either, you have to go there and experience it to know how it feels and believe in what you see. I have been to Grand Canyon in United States and that was so powerful and amazing as well. I really understand why these two places are something you need to see before you die.









































































 


Hoi An


Night train – is this the war of extermination?


From Hanoi we took a night train to Hoi An and it wasn´t really what we had expected. When we paid for the night train we got a brochure where it was pictures on the train we were going with and it didn´t really look as the real one. It didn´t at all actually, I didn´t know if I was going to laugh or cry, it was horrible, so disgusting but it was pretty funny that it wasn´t at all as we expected. I called the train for the war of extermination. Under me and Emelie a Vietnamese couple was sleeping and I was talking a bit with the man, he had very good English for being so old. I learned a bit about Vietnam and his family and so on, it was really interesting talking with someone so “different” and when you do, you understand that they are the same but different.

 


















Burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!


When we came to Hoi An later on we understood that the hotels in Hanoi had tricked us. We should have paid for one room but instead we paid the price per person. Well, well, well, if you are a tourist, you are a tourist! You learn something new every day!






















Tailor

 

We were going to a tailor because we wanted to sew up some dresses. It started good but it didn´t really turn out the way we wanted. They didn´t sew the dresses as we told them to but we complained and in the end it turned out pretty good. It´s not easy when you are in a foreign country and you are trying to communicate with each other.














Dragon fruit - such a beautiful fruit!





 

 

Amy playing


Before we were going to eat dinner and party Amy saw some Vietnamese people who were selling some kind of toy that you throw up in the air and rotated. She looked so amazed, it was really cute, and she wanted to try it badly. So, she did!

 






























































Going out in Hoi An – Tiger Balm


After the dinner we decided to go to a pub and there we took a drink and I played pool, as usual:). I met a Canadian guy called Kevin, I liked him. In this pub you could also write things on the walls so I wrote; “Sophia rules this place!!!”, haha. When we stood outside chatting, some Vietnamese people started to talk about the Tiger Balm and said; “want some??”. I didn´t understand why it was such a big deal, it was just tiger balm, haha. So I took some and put on my lips and they said; “nono”. You should put it on your nipples. Everybody put it on their nipples. “Why?”, I said! “They get rigid and it feels nice!”. So, I tried some, haha, they just got itchy. Then we got a ride on bikes to another club close to the beach, it was nice. I talked a lot with Kevin. His friend Greg were also really nice, he was a policeman and talked about scary things that had happened in his life as a policeman.

 





Raw meat lying outside in the sun – that’s grose!


When we went to different kinds of markets it was laying raw meat outside in the sun, it was disgusting. Their hygiene is so different compared to ours; our stomach would never keep up with that. It´s sad they don´t know more about having good hygiene.

 




























Nha- Trang














Going to Nha-Trang and eating crocodile


From Hoi-An to Nha Trang we took a night bus. The bus driver was honking the whole bus drive and I have never experienced a bumpier ride. God! One evening in Nha-Thrang we went for dinner and I decided to try crocodile. It was pretty tasty, tasted like a combination between pork and chicken. I also ordered a Bloody Mary which is one of my favorite drinks but this one was horrible, not like it should taste. It was watery; too much ice and didn´t taste good. So don´t buy a Bloody Mary in Vietnam is my tip.












I loooove the Vietnamese coffee


We decided to eat breakfast at a hotel because we wanted a real breakfast buffet. It was really nice to eat as much as you wanted and whatever you wanted, kind of! I decided to try out the Vietnamese coffee and OMG, it was amazing, I loooved it. It tasted a little bit like chocolate and I love chocolate so it wasn´t strange that I liked it but I love coffee as well so the mix was great. The coffee´s name is Me Trang and I bought some to bring home. The thing with this coffee is that you can´t make it with an ordinary coffee machine so I had to buy a special coffee filter and a can that the coffee drips down on. Speaking of beverages, Saigon beer is a typical Vietnamese beer that I tried down there. I don´t know much about beers but as far as I know, I think it tasted good.

 






Boat trip– Loved Obama


One early morning we had decided to take a boat trip and it was the funniest boat trip I´ve been to. It was the guide who was so funny, I think he must have been gay. He dressed up as a woman, he sang and compared himself with Obama, they looked very similar actually. Another funny thing was that they threw bathing rings into the water and a woman jumped down serving wine. I started to jump down and then the rest of the girls followed me. It was really nice laying in a bath ring drinking wine in clear water and the sun blazing on you. I had such a nice time at this boat trip.

 

















































































Massage – “Are you okay!?”


Me and Emelie decided to go and take a massage. We had to walk pretty far to get to the place we wanted. We got one room each and it was really nice. It was white walls, they were playing calm and exotic music and the air-condition was on so it was a perfect temperature in there. It was a really good massage, whole body massage. They also used stones that they put on the back. The stones were hot and I liked it because it was different, usually you just feel someone else’s hands. Suddenly when I sat up and she was giving me a massage at the back she broke my neck and I was not prepared so I did some kind of sound and she said; “are you okay?”, “Ehm, yeah, sure!”, I said, not really meaning what I said and then suddenly again she broke my neck to the other side. Like I said before, you never know what happens in Vietnam.

 









































Another boattrip













Disliked the animal show


At one of the Islands that we visited they had an animal show with monkeys, elephants, dogs and so on. They didn´t treat them that nice and they all looked really sad and had chains around their necks. When the animals were behind the scene you could see they were sitting in tiny cages and I really disliked it. I also felt a bit of guilt for even sitting there and being a part of the audience. These animals should be out in the wild life and not being forced to something they haven’t chosen by themselves. It was cruel!
































Monkey Island – never turning back! + Go Kart and taking part in Vietnamese TV


It was a rainy day but we had already bought ticket to another boat trip. They said that if it was going to rain they would cancel the trip but as usual it didn´t turn out the way we thought. They gave us ponchos instead and we looked really geeky. One of the islands that we visited was called Monkey Island and OMG, I will never go to a monkey Island again. The monkeys were insane and I was so scared of them. They were crazy and tried to attack you. The funny thing is that they were kind of small but it didn´t change the fact that they were TOTALLY INSANE!! Now I know what I am afraid of though, monkeys!!:)

At this Island they had go kart and I love it so I just had to try it out. Again, it wasn´t really what I had expected. First of all, my legs barely fitted and it was very tight with space overall. Second of all, you could barely steer the wheel so you couldn´t go as fast as you wanted and third, I didn´t see a big filthy puddle was coming so I got very muddy. I can´t really say that I liked that island. It was terrible actually but we laughed about it. One funny thing though was that I took part in Vietnamese TV. After the go kart ride they interviewed me, asking how I liked the ride and the island and so on. I wanted to laugh and of course I had to lie about it all. "I looove it!" Well, maybe I´m not loving it but almost;).
































































Ho Chi Min – busy city!


Arriving at Ho Chi Min you could see that it was the biggest town in Vietnam. Crazy much traffic and people everywhere. It was a really fun experience. When we were going at a guided tour that was about the Vietnamese war, both, Kevin and Greg were going on the same tour, so we decided to go for some drinks later. You are going to see a really funny picture from the tour;) The tour was really interesting, for example they showed us a special shoe that the Vietnamese people were wearing. They could put on the shoe back and forth so it looked like they were going straight but in fact they were going the other way, smart! One thing that I was really upset about was that they showed us some traps that didn´t have any fence around them and if a child was running there without notice she/he could die. And you didn´t even have to be with the group all the time, I was really upset and told them but they just didn´t care really, it was just me who cared about it, seriously, not even my friends understood really why I took it so serious.








































































Kuala Lumpur – The crystal city

 

Staying at my childhood friend´s parents apartment


When I and Jeanette arrived to Kuala Lumpur, Irene, picked us up at the airport. Irene is one of my best friend´s mother. She and her husband Hans is living in Kuala Lumpur. It wasn´t Irene who drove the car, it was their private chauffeur:) In the flat that they lived in they had a beautiful view of the Twin Tours. They had security guards, a receptionist, a gym, a pool….and the flat looked amazing and was really big. It was so nice going up in the morning, eating a nice breakfast and then taking a swim in the pool. We had the big pool only to ourselves. We really enjoyed our staying there; it was like a five star hotel. Thank you so much Irene and Hans!

 














Shopping, shopping and shopping


Kuala Lumpur is famous for their big shopping malls and for us Westerners it is quite cheap. I bought a lot of shoes and I love them. I also bought some clothes but I am pretty tall so many of the dresses were too short for me and I love dresses so that was too bad. Anyway, we spend a lot of hours in the shopping malls. It was fun because it was so different compared to home. It´s bigger, it´s another type of fashion and it´s cheaper. Maybe we spend a little bit too much time shopping though.

 




















 


Finally, I cut a fringe


I had thought about cutting a fringe for a long time but I never had the courage to do it. What if I wouldn´t like it, maybe I don´t suit in it? My brother and my friends have told me I should cut a fringe and that I should really suit in it. I had it when I was little and I was really cute then so maybe I should try!? I am not very good at changing haircut and doing things with my hair either so I felt it was time for a change. I did it, I cut the fringe. In the beginning I liked it and then I didn´t and then I did and so on but today I like it. I rather stay with it than not having it.







The massage chairs


When Jeanette and I were at a shopping mall we sat down in some massage chairs and I really enjoyed it because I was so tired. In a few minutes almost every guy who worked in that shopping mall was standing in front of us, looking or talking. It was so funny, at least in the beginning. It was like they never had seen blonde girls before and we both had a fringe and leopard dresses so for them, we probably looked like twins. Then it was a bit annoying and Jeanette left me because she wanted to look at some clothes and it felt a bit awkward sitting there will all those men staring at me. “ Jeanette, help me, I said in Swedish and I started to laugh.” “I won´t help you she said;).”



























Going up in the Twin Tours


I and Jeanette went up really early in the morning because we were going to stand in line for being able to go up in the Twin Tours. Seeing the Twin Tours in night is one of the most fantastic things I´ve ever seen. It is such a beautiful building! Glittering and that it is two tours assembled as one is extraordinary. We had been standing in line for a long time and suddenly they said that the tickets to go all the way up were sold out. When we were first in line they told us there was no tickets left but I said; “We have been standing here since 5 o´clock this morning and this is the last day my friend can go up here, she´s going home today, please.” “Ok, I am going to see what I can do about it.” He fixed it and even if we couldn´t go all the way up we could at least go half way up.

 
























Jeanette leaving me:(


Early the next morning Jeanette was packing her things because she was going home to Helsinki. It was really sad, we had been hanging out almost all the time for half a year. We both dropped a few tears and said, “I am going to miss you so much!” Jeanette has visiting me in Gothenburg and now it´s my turn to go and visit her. It´s sad when you meet someone you want to hang out with all the time but it doesn´t work because you are living in different countries. Now I have a reason to go to Helsinki, at least.

In January 2012 I am going to visit Rachel in Ireland for one week! Gonna be crazy!

 

 

Across the world just for her


On the bus tour from Kuala Lumpurs airport a funny guy started to talk to me and we really talked much about boys and girls and relationships. He wanted my advice, he said he was going all the way to (don´t remember the country), because of a girl but he had told her that he was going there to visit his parents, so, he asked me if it was romantic telling her that he did it because of her or not. I told him that she might be discouraged because they hadn´t known each other for so long time. I thought it was very cute though and if they were going to get together he should tell her about it after a year or so….and I was on my way home


THE END! / I WANNA THANK EVERYONE THAT MADE THIS BLOG POSSIBLE! I never believed I would meet so many great people that would change me and my life. I love you all:)

Thank u Jeanette, Emelie, Rachel, Alisha, Amy, Josefine, Jack and Henry!! and everyone else I met in Aussie;)


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