pHOTOSEurope and Asia mostly covered. Live it & Love it, Europe & Asia. Lappeenranta, Finland - February 2007After two years in the tropic, even the basic Finnish winter day fascinates me. It's below 26 degrees celcius, what a better way to spend a day that have a walk in a nearby forest - There is plenty.Lpr, Finland Pulau Sipadan, Maleysian Borneo - June 2006Sipadan is much praised but it fullfilled all the expectations - a magnificent dive paradise on the South-Eastern tip of Sabah, Maleysia. That's also the place where the unlucky tourists were kidnapped to Jolo in the year 2000. But the lightning never strikes twice in the same place, right? (Just don't mention it to anybody staying at Kuta beach, Bali.) Apart from diving there wasn't a whole bunch to do, but who cares. You don't swim with sharks every day do ya!Pulau Sipadan, Borneo Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines - January 2006I know there is another gallery from Philippines already, but this stuff from northern Luzon, the banaue rice terraces, is just too good to be true! It's tough business to harvest rice when there are no fields but mountains, have a look how they do it. It's a ten hour rough ride from Manila but definately worth it!Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines Sumatra, Indonesia - January 2006I had always dreamt about exploring the jungles of Borneo in Malesia and Sumatra in Indonesia and now I can say I've seen them both. In Bukittingi, two hour ride from Padang in the west Sumatra, you can witness some amazing local life and ... yeah yeah, it's all about the nature at least for me, the volcanoes and jungles are really amasing. And what we found in the jungle here was nothing less but the Rafflesia, worlds biggest flower that grows for four months to bloom just one week.Padang & Bukittingi, Sumatra, Indonesia Boracay, Manila and Banaue, The Philippines - December 2005This amazing trip took place during the 2005-2006 Christamas break. We hit the road with one fellow wacko Risto from Jyvaskyla, who knew the right people from Manila. And when I say the right people, I mean the right people. For some money and wealth matters and for some it does not, this family was obviously the does-case. So we ended up cruising with a private driver and served better than in a normal hotel. And yeah, of course Philippines is a fabulous country!Philippines, 2005-2006 From Hanoi to Saigon, Vietnam - October 2005These pictures are from different parts of Vietnam where I did a magnificient journey in 2005. I took a flight from Singapore to Hanoi, and then worked my way with a nighttrain to the highlands called Sapa in the north, just besides the chinese border. After that I went to Halong Bay, the second world heritage center in Vietnam, and especially there the Cat Ba island was deifnately impressive, a scenery straight from Jurassic Park. I worked my way with trains and buses all 1700 kilometers down to Ho Chi Min or better known as Saigon, a wicked city with moro motorcycles per capita than anywhere else. More stories can be read from the blog.Vietnam, 2005 (Sapa, Halong Bay, Hanoi, Hue, Saigon) Diving Phuket, Thailand, October 2005These pics are from the advanced open water padi qualification course from Phuket, Thailand. Some pretty decent underwater stuff with perfect visibility.Phuket, Thailand, 2005 Mt. Kinabalu (4095m) & Brunei Darussalam - April 2005Malesyian Borneo is the destination for any adventure oriented explorer out there. Full of jungles, orang utans, hot sprins and oil, it makes the place slighlt out of the ordinary. We landed in Miri and spent a few days exploring the mosks in oil-rich Brunei (concider this : no taxes, free health-care, free education, subsided cars and land for the citisens! However, no alcohol and nonexisting nightlife keep most people out of permanent stay.. not that you could get a citizenship even if you wanted, though.) and continued to the highest point in South-East Asia, Mt. Kinabalu. At 4095meters, it provided literally dizzying experience. At this altitude the oxygen is getting so thin, that you have to watch out not to fall or faint out. An exciting place to spend the 30th birthday!Brunei Darussalam & Mt. Kinabalu, April 2005 Saariselkä, FinlandThis is a small story about a one week hike in Saariselkä, Lapland, in northern Finland. Hiking is very famous hobby of the Finns, and it is easy to understand why. The story is written in Finnish, and it has some photos as well.Milano, VeneziaSmall black and white photo set from Italy. I personally enjoyed taking and viewing these pictures a lot. The Fiat 500 cinquecento which must be one of the most personal vehicles made was captured at via Comellico, in front of the faculty of information science. Other pictures are from chilly Venezia during the winter time, which explains the peace and tranquility on the streets.Padova, Venezia, Roma, VeronaSmall photo set which I have been thinking to put online for two years now. Hopefully will not include any of the typical Italian attractions. Also these photos were taking during my Erasmus exchange in Milano, which allowed me to do a little bit of travelling in this spectacular country of most interesting contradictions.Alghero, Sardegna, ItalyThis is a small photo set from a beautiful Italian island at the Mediterranian sea, Sardegna. This was a one-week holiday in the city of Alghero. Needless to say, I am a great fan of southern european culture and way of life. Let these images provide a tiny glance to the beauty of this island.Tallin, Warzaw, PragueThe next photo set is from our trip with the Baltic Express. It was a reunion of three army friends, getting together and doing a more or less insane trip from Helsinki to Tallinn, Warzaw and Prague with a train. The trip took place in the christmas of 1998. It was cold, chilly, windy and we basicly had no money at all, but this was to prove that a great trip can be made with the smallest resources. The youth hostels, smelly trains and cheap food are just magnificent when the atmosphere is right. Really one of the best trips in my life. The texts below the photos are to represent the atmosphere of the captured moment. A tape was recorded from this trip, as well as a small diary was kept. Where are they now?Kladruby, Czech RepublicThese pictures are taken during an international work camp I participated in in Kladruby, Czech Republic at the summer of 96. Kladruby is a tiny village with about one thousand inhabitants and not so high living standard. It is situated about 30 km west from Plzen (Pilsen). Despite the size of Kladruby, there is located one of the biggest monasterys in the Czech Republic. In this monastery we had the chance to live for two weeks, enjoy the company of the local people and enjoy the free goods of the local kitchen. The work itself was fairly easy, and since we didn't get paid, it wasn't too hard either. If you are interested in international work camps, you might want to contact Allianssi. |
