Kind of going to Pagsanjan Falls

From Anilao I took 2 tricycles, one bus, 4 jeepneys and finally came to Pagsanjan. A lovely small town by a river famous for trips to the Pagsanjan Falls. I met someone in the last jeepney who recommended me a nice place to stay, Willy Flores guesthouse. Fantastic small rustic house where's a few guestrooms and an extremely helpful and welcoming family.

First night I just strolled in the town, still trying to get rid of the hang over gotten in the last night in Anilao. The next morning I wanted to take a boat ride to the falls but due heavy rain in the night the boat men didn't want to go all the way, apparently the water was too high and the rapids too dangerous. So they took me only the half way, also nice and I got to see some Apocalypse Now shooting places. 

A bit later I jumped to a jeepney again and headed to Caliraya lake up in the hills. From there I actually wanted to walk back down so I was sweating & walking, sweating and walking... Until a car stopped next to me. They thought I'm crazy walking in the heat and the way in their opinion is also crazy long. So they wanted to give me a ride. Quick look at the driver, okay, looks  nice & friendly so why not. The ended up bringing me all the way (wrong way for them) to Twin Falls, where's some pools under small falls u can dip in. Quite a few kids there, got immediately company and had a nice stay. 

Typical location for some San Miquel :)

In the evening I had dinner with one of the dudes who gave me a ride earlier. And beers of course, in some quite weird locations. As he was working for a power plant we also drank beer up in the hills, on some power stations with great view down to the valley. And I found a horse!!!

And then in the next morning at 5 AM it was time to move on towards the airport. Snif. Too early, there would have been so much more to see & do in this great country. Well, there's always next time :)

All in all, what should I say about Philippines? Like always, it's not all about the surroundings. It's the people that make out the best/worst of the country. The filipinos are really a warm, welcoming and extremely helpful bunch of people. Also most of them speak excellent english. So I guess on my list is now one more country I have to come back to. Next time Bohol, Palawan and Donsol! And the rice terraces of course. I might need a month or two...

This is how you cross a river. Who needs bridges? Oh yea forgot about cars.

My house to be!

Or this one if I run out of money.

If there's a party, there's pig.

Xmas in Philippines

The decision to visit Philippines was quite sudden. I had a flight booked to Singapore and after that no plans for the first one week. Next booked plans were for new year. A quick look to the map and yeah, why not, it's quite near to Borneo where I am heading next. I booked a flight to Clark for about 8 hours after I was supposed to land in Singapore. So it was a long journey to get here. Basically no sleep for 2 nights.

My original plan was to try to get to Banaue to visit the famous rice terraces but then I re-thought things and decided to take it easy with traveling as I don't really want to sit in a night bus directly after all the flights. A good choice. I contacted in advance a local dude via couchsurfers and got some good tips and he also offered me his guestroom to stay in at Paranaque city, Metro Manila. I still hadn't completely given up on Banaue, but due to xmas all busses were full, over-booked or not existent. So why make life hard... After all, I am on holiday (though I do have to work a bit while I'm here. Thank you internet!).

My room! Own entrance, own bathroom, better than hotel.

The first 2 days I really took it easy, just some beers and hanging out with my host and his friends. And coz I'm in Philippines, I for sure have to go diving. My host JJ (thanx again for everything!) had a friend who's got an own diving business in Anilao, on the coast a few hours south of Manila.

Taal volcano.

A day before xmas we drove there with a short sight seeing stop at Taal Volcano. JJ had to bring the car back to Manila so I had the place all to myself for a few days! For some that might sound horrible but for a solitude loving finn that's heaven on earth! 

And this is what I call a holiday! An amazing house directly at the coast, no tourists, no hassle, just waves, cool breeze from the sea, palm trees and me! And a local family who takes care of the house and cooks me some fantastic meals.

A moment before the sea snake...

On xmas day I went diving, just 2 ppl, the dive master and I. No traffic jams under surface :) Anilao may not be the most famous dive destination in Philippines, but nevertheless for my standards as a beginner it was quite fantastic. On the first dive at Two Rocks we found a huge cloud of jack fish surrounding us and a baby turtle which made this turtle lover to smile so wide that I almost lost the mouth piece. The second dive at Guala wasn't that spectacular, great corals but I'm still more interested in finding funny looking fish. And turtles of course. 

I went diving a few more times the next day, fed fish in 18 meters and had a bit too much rum in the evening.

So this was my xmas :) One of the best ones I've had so far. I think this should be my new crimbo tradition.

Ppl going night diving.

Back in Nepal

There's some countries I like, some I dislike and some I absolutely adore. And the one I can easily call the best place on earth is Nepal. So I had to go back, again. 2nd time this year, 3rd time in total. And I'm already planning a trip for next year...

Now I only had 3,5 weeks and I also had to work during the time but it's still better than nothing. The country is pure magic. Like a drug. You just have to get more and more. 

Monkey temple

I had loads of plans but I ended up changing them basically all the time. I spent lots of time in dusty Kathmandu. I love the city. It's dirty, polluted and full of people. But there's something I can't really put my finger on. It's just amazing. And there are my favorite places & people of course. 

Checking out Patan with little brother.

I went to Patan with Babu, to monkey temple a few times, strolled around the town and went to see a gig at durbar square. A french pop/rock band played in the square, the music was terrible but otherwise a nice idea... Next time Slayer, please.

I did loads of climbing, 3 days in Bimal Nagar, climbed some short routes and 2 multi-pitches. I went twice to Hattiban and also a few times climbing indoors in Kathmandu. Nice way to spend the day. And to get rid of the hang overs.

Hattiban

After a week in Kathmandu I checked out what Sauhara (Chitwan national park) hast to offer. Last time I was there I stayed inside the park, this time I had to save a bit money and I took a bus to the main village near the national park entrance. Worth it. There was an injured rhino baby hanging around in the museum premises. CUTIE!!! The poor baby got attacked by a tiger but survived and is now taken care by humans. 

This time probably the coolest new place I went to was Bandipur, a small and cosy town on the hills about 2 h from Pokhara. That place is so pretty. I didn't really do anything there, one day I climbed to a hindu temple on a hill and spent the whole day reading a book and watching the amazing scenery. Evenings are beer time and luckily I had nice neighbors in the homestay to share a few bottles with. 

My last trip out of Kathmandu was to Manakamana again with Babu. Best company I can have! Thanx to swiss engineers there's a cable car running up to the mountain where's a famous hindu temple of goddess Manakamana. Go there, make a wish and wait for it to come true. I made three wishes, didn't sacrifice any goats or chickens but I'm still confident that I just have to wait for them to come true. Right?

Nail polish party. Not my hand.

Now I'm back home but only until December 20th. I'm staying one week in Philippines before I fly again to Borneo for some diving. I've got 2 weeks planned, two weeks unplanned. Can't wait...

Under water in Elba

Finally back in Italy. This time not for climbing, but for diving. I wanted to go to Elba already last year but I didn't have enough time. So finally now I found a week which looked just right to spend some relaxing days on the island made famous by Napoleon. And yeah, there are his ex-houses you can visit, but as I had other priorities, I really didn't bother. He wouldn't be home anyways...

I found reasonably prices flights to Milan, checked if Roberto, my travel mate from Borneo would be home and also let Tanja know that I'm going and wouldn't mind having company.

All worked out well, Tanja got some time off and Roberto joined us for a few days.

We rented a holiday apartment in Portoferraio, where the ferries run from Piombino. On the first day we drove around the island checking out some cool spots and just enjoyed the sun and warm weather. What a difference to Finland!

Rooftops of Portoferraio

Roberto had a friend living in the island who recommended us a dive shop. Tanja also decided to go for Padi OWD after a test dive (discover scuba). I joined a few other divers and went under surface 4 times in 4 days. Meaning only one dive per day. Which was anyways for sure enough, as all dives were very long, from 45 to 59 minutes. And all also very deep, always at least 26 m. On the last day I also joined the 30 m club as my dive computer recorded 31,8 m depth. Well, it doesn't really make any big difference if you're in 10 or 30 meters, just the visibility gets a bit poorer.

It's hard to say how the diving is in Elba as I really don't have enough (basically any) experience. Especially not from Europe. We saw a tuna, a few octopuses, a cloud of barracudas, morays, lots of sea stars etc. For me more important was to gather more experience and just to learn. How to move and not to move. A big thanx to Diving in Elba, great people and excellent guidance for a absolute beginner!

We had to leave Elba already on Friday even though our flight back was on Saturday, as the connection to Milan was a bit complicated. Rental car ended up being much easier and also cheaper than bus&train&train&bus -connection. We made a short stop in Pisa, took a look at the tower (yes, it's collapsing) and spent the night in Viareggio.

Once again, I got really sad when I had to board the plane and go back to Finland. But well, only 2 weeks and I'm back in the plane, this time flying towards Nepal!!! Once again :) Yayyy!!!

Bergen & Eidfjord

From Oslo Meri & I took a train to Bergen. If I counted correctly this is my 10th time in Bergen. I just love this town. And this time I finally had time for something else than just hanging around in Garage & going to Hole in the Sky (RIP snif). Again the plan was to go climbing. And again, it didn't happen. Might have been "a bit" rainy. Next time I really don't bother to carry the climbing gear with me, by now I should know better. But we still had a good time and finally had the time to make it to the top of Ulriken, the highest of the 7 mountains around Bergen. There's also a funicular going up but we decided to walk. Took us about an hour as we needed to stop every time we saw raspberries. Yummy. Back down we took another trail, not so steep but longer and with maybe even better views.

Maybe not the best hiking clothing.

What a view!

From Bergen we headed towards Eidfjord with a rental car. It was actually about the same price as if we would have taken a train/bus/ferry/bus to get there. The main reason for heading to that area (again, as we were there also last year) was Hard Anger Festival, which had probably the worst line-up of all metal festivals this year but the most beautiful location. Sadly on the first day there were only about 100 people, sometimes it even looked like there's more workers than audience.

Audience during one of the main bands...

Some hobo in the camping ground after the festival.

Another hobo.

We decided to go only on one day and rather spend the next day driving around the Hardangerfjord area. That was a good way to get rid of the hang over anyways and a good way to avoid getting a new one for Sunday.

On the way to Eidfjord.

Voringfossen.

Kjeåsen farm.

From Eidfjord we drove back to Bergen for a few days. I decided to climb to Ulriken again, this time in fog&rain. Didn't see shit and that was the a bad idea anyways, not even the funicular was running and there were absolutely no people. And why should there be as you could see only some meters of the path in front of you.

Last wines and beers in Garage, Legal and Apollon and then it was time to head back home again. Blaah. Still a few weeks and I'll be in Tallinn for the weekend with the girls. October looks much better though, finally to Elba with Tanja and end of the month I'll fly to Nepal again, but this time without Kate. That'll be weird.

Festival after festival. Oslo.

August 23 - 27

Being back home for a few weeks already it was time to jump to the plane again, this time towards Oslo. And about time I'd say, it's been a long while. Over a year! Blasphemy! And it was also about time to check out palace IV. This time located near Ekeberg. Paul's getting fancy.

So, what to do in Oslo? Festival of course! We had a warm up party in Rock in on Thursday. On Friday afternoon we went o a beer festival in Grünelokka before it was time to move on to Bunker festival in Park Theater. We got the tickets already well in time last year as we were expecting the line-up to improve massively. But what happened? They booked a few more local bands. Yea I know, train tickets are cheaper than flights. I'd probably do the same if I'd organize a festival which sells out even before the whole line-up is announced. But what ever, Virus played and that's about all I need! 

2nd day, same procedure. Wake up, shower and off to Grünelokka. Mojitos at Bar Boca (cheers, Anders), to the beer festival, too short meet up with Fryti and Mariusz and to bunker festival. On Saturday there weren't really any bands I was excited to see, but I really enjoyed Djevel and Taake. And I rather shut up than say anything about Shining.

So what to do on a Sunday after 3 days partyparty? Nothing. Relax. Eat shrimps. Pack, as on Monday it's time to jump to a train towards Bergen :) YAY!

Beer festival.

Beer festival.

Virus!!!

More beer festival. My liver hurts. But where's Emil?

Afternoon mojitos. Yummmmm!!!!

Berlin, my 2nd home

August 3 - 8

Alright. So it seems the 7 months trip for sure wasn't enought. Well, I never really thought that it actually would be. I've been home now for a month and have the first trip already behind me. Berlin <3. One of my favourite cities. Because many of my favourite people live there.

All the trips to Berlin are quite the same, I sleep at Raupe's and Katrin's couch, I hang out with the people who hang out at Pech&Schwefel and I meet Kerstin for lunch&maybe some exhibitions. Same also this time. Except I didn't visit P&S even once! Shame on me! But I went to see Swans (with the people from P&S) at Berghain. What a place! To be honest I was more impressed by the old industrial building turned into a concert hall than the gig. I might also have had a few ciders (thanx Andy, I blame u as always) too much to be able to fully enjoy the sound wall coming off the stage. No photos of the gig as they even took my small automatic camera away in the entrance. Any iphone would make better pics so I don't really understand the idea.

I took it easy on Saturday as on Sunday it was time for the next gig: BARONESS. Finally! We are speaking about one of my current favourite bands, the new Yellow&Green album just blew me away. Well, actually Red Album already did. They played at Magnum, which has moved from Prenzlauer Berg to Kreutzberg. The new locations is really good, they have a great outdoor area in the back but the concert hall was just too small, full and sweaty. The gig was sold out. So we were forced to concentrate on the music without really seeing the band. Nevertheless, it was just amazing. Gig of the year!

With Kerstin I went to Ars Electronica exhibition which sucked. What didn't suck was our shopping tour at Galleria Kaufhof. I think I have to go diving asap as I bought a wet suit, diving shoes and snorkeling gear. Well, that will happen in October. Elba, here I come! But first I'll be in Norway :)

German flag?

Bulmers should pay for the advertisement.

And I did make to the climbing hall!

7-. Almost... Next time I wont try it out as the last route of the day...