The best island in Thailand so far

We have been here a week already and we've seen quite a lot things! So far, I think it's my favourite island here in Thailand! There are so many things to do; diving, snorkeling, trekking, shopping, going around the island by motorbikes, kayaking, swimming in the waterfalls and muh more! The beach is also quite nice! And there are so many smaller islands for example Koh Rang which is national park, never been there but there supposed to be white sand and crystal clear water! You can also spend a night or two on the island and do some camping! Sounds exciting! For backpackers, Lonely Beach is really good. Cheap accommodation and food, atleast now when it's low season. We have our favourite restaurant/cafe; Cafe del Sunshine. Really good food and awesome staff, you can play pool and upstairs they have hammocks and chilling area. And for backpackers who example travels alone they have room and shared bathroom only 100baht and own bungalow with bathroom 150baht! Cheap! 

We were staying at Sea flower resort which was 350baht/room/night (8e). Basic room, hot shower and fan. Clean room and nice staff! 

Two days ago I finished my Rescue Diving course so now on im certificated rescue diver! Next step is Divemaster course! Cant wait!

In an hour we will leave this lovely island! Next destination; Pattaya. Looking forward to see my finnish friend Kimi who's taking care of us for the next couple of days!

In a week I've spent about 120e! Not that much at all!

(Oh and notice that when you withdraw money they take 150baht fee PLUS 2,5 % off from the amount of money you withdraw!!)

Going to miss this island and these people here! ❤️

Island life

These past two days have been so busy. We have been running from place to place. We also changed a to the other resort, same where Becki stays. We started our diving courses, Anton his OWD and I started my Rescue and EFR course. I took 2 fun dives just to make sure that my ear is fine, and thank god it was. We also rented motorbikes just to explore the island. This island is quite big so we didn't have enough time to go around the whole island, but we saw lots of cool places :) 

Nää kaks päivää on mennyt juostessa paikasta paikkaan. Vaihettiin huonetta toiseen hotelliin, sinne missä Becki yöpyy. Ilmottauduttiin molemmat sukelluskursseille, Anton Open Wateriin ja minä pelastussukelluskurssille + ensiapukurssille. Otin myös kaksi sukelluskertaa ennen kurssin alkua varmistaakseni että korvani ovat ihan kunnossa. Onneksi oli! Vuokrattiin myös mopot toissapäivänä ja lähdettiin katsomaan saarta. Tää on niin iso saari, ettei riittäny yks päivä saaren ympäri ajamiseen, mutta nähtiin siltikin tosi mageita paikkoja :)

Yesterday I was on the boat the whole day. It took about 1,5 hour to get to the dive site. Visibility was okay and diving itself was fun but there was not so much to see so I got a bit bored after 15 minutes :D Looking forward to dive somewhere in Philippines and Indonesia :) We had a great lunch on the boat and had our second dive there. 

Eilen vietin koko päivän meijän sukellusveneellä. Ensimmäiselle sukelluspaikalle kesti 1,5 tuntia. Näkyvyys oli ihan ok ja sukeltaminen itsessään hauskaa, mutta siellä ei hirveesti ollut mitään näkemisen arvota, alko kyllästyttää 15 minuutin jälkeen :D Odotan innolla sukeltamista jossain päin Filippiinejä ja Indonesiaa. Söimme todella hyvän lounaan veneelllä ja sitten oli toisen sukelluksen aika.

In the evening we had a 'family' dinner with my island mates. The local people did some BBQ for us, DELICIOUS! Then we went to one bar which had big opening party there. 

Illalla vietettiin mukava "perhe" illallinen kavereiden kesken. Paikalliset grillas meille kunnon sapuskat ja siitä sitten jatkettiin yhden rantabaarin avajaisiin, jossa oli ihan mukavasti ihmisiä ja muutamaan suomalaiseenkin törmäsin!

My lovely Becki <3

How much money did I spend?

18th of Oct

Accommodation: 175 baht (4e)

Food and drinks: 400baht (10e)

motorbike and gas: 150baht+80baht (5,30e)

anti-malaria pills: 320baht (8e)

rescue+efr course: 15750baht (370e)

2 fun dives: 2600baht (60e)

TOTAL: 1125baht (27e) + diving:18350baht (430e)

19th of Oct

Accommodation: 175 baht (4e)

Food and drinks: 190 baht (4,5e)

TOTAL:  365 baht (8,5e)

20th of Oct

Accommodation: 175 baht (4e)

Food and drinks: 300baht ( 7e)

TOTAL: 475 baht (11e)

Koh Chang

After 28 hours of travelling we finally got here where we wanted to come, to Koh Chang. 

28 tunnin reissaamisen jälkeen saavuttii vihdoin tänne meijän päämääräämme koh Changille.

The bus left from the airport and it took about 5 hours to get here. The bus ticket paid 600baht (15e) and included ferryticket aswell. We arrived in to the Lonely Beach which is known as a backpacker beach and 'not so lonely' anymore.

Bussi lähti lentokentältä ja sillä kesti n. 5 tuntia tulla tänne. Bussilippu maksoi 15 euroa ja hintaan sisältyu lauttalippu myös.

Saavuttiiin rannalle nimeltä Lonely beach, joka on tunnettu reppureissaajista ja nykyään ranta ei ole enää niin 'lonely'.. :D

31 degrees and sun was shining. Im not complaining :)

 It's the end of the lowseason so things are quite cheap here now. Our bungalow cost only 300baht (7,5€) and food was only 50baht(1.25€)

31 astetta ja aurinko paistaa, ei valittamista :) Nyt on sadekausi lopuillaan joten kaikki on melko halpaa täällä. Meijän bungalowi maksoi 7,5 € (3,75€ per nassu) ja ruoka vain vaivaset 1,25e.

Pad thai with glassnoodles

After getting a room and having a lunch we went to the beach and I met my lovely english friend Becki, who's the reason why we came here. We were travel buddies 6 months ago in Malaysia :) In the evening we took a one hour massage with Anton and then went out with Becki and her friend Mario. There was bar called Himmel, where we got free BBQ and free vodka buckets. Not bad! 

Really good start for our journey! Im so happy to be here.

Huoneen saatuamme ja lounaan syötyämme suuntasimme rannalle. Tapasin myös ihanan englantilaisen ystäväni Beckin jonka kanssa oltiin matkakamuja puoli vuotta sitten Malesiassa, hän olikin se syy miksi tultiin tänne alunperin :)

Otettiin illalla Anden kanssa tunnin hieronnat ja mentiin ulos Beckin ja hänen kaverinsa Marion kanssa. Mentiin baariin nimeltä Himmel jossa saatiin ilmaiset grilliruoat ja vodkaämpärit, ei paha! Halpa ilta oli ja hauska sellainen! Hyvä alotus meijän reissulle! Oon niin onnellinen kun oon taas täällä :)

How much money did I spend?

Food and drinks: 200baht (5e)

Accommodation: 150baht (3,75e)

Massage: 300baht (7,5e)

Bus ticket: 600baht (15e)

Sarong: 150baht (3,75e)

Total: 1400 baht (35e)

Quality might be bad because this is made by phone and pics are also taken by phone.

Journey is about to begin!

Finally THE day that I have been waiting for 4 months is finally here! We left a few hours ago from Finland to Oslo, Norway and in 6 hours our flight to Bangkok will depart! Last night we changed our plan once again and decided to go straight away from the airport of Bangkok to Koh Chang! That's quite a lot of travelling but i just wanna go to the beach and relax! 

Elikä vihdoin koitti se päivä jota oon neljä kuukautta kuumeisesti odottanut! Lähdettiin tosiaan tossa parisen tuntia sitten Helsinki-Vantaan lentokentältä kohti Osloa. Täällä kuusi tuntia odottelua ja siitä sitten kohti Bangkokia. Viimeyönä muutettii taas kerran suunnitelmia ja päätettiin mennä suoraan Bangkokin lentokentältä koh Chang saarelle! Aika paljon matkustamista putkeen mutta haluttiin mennä suoraan vaan rannalle ja rentoutuu! Siitä lisää myöhemmin :)

Good bye Finland! Hello Asia!

Tulee ihan kamala ikävä teitä kaikkia ihanuuksia mutta onneksi on skype olemassa!!❤️❤️

-Jasmin

What's in my backpack!

Hola!

It's been a while since I  wrote here. Quite a lot has been happened! My mum got married, I left my teenager years behind and turned 20 and well.. same old same old.. been working my ass off, been sick and I've been meeting my doctor and dentist more than my friends, but also had great time with my friends and family. Last friday me and Anton had leaving dinner to our closest friends, it was so much fun even though one window broke and someone threw up to our couch :D Shit happens! 

I've been so excited because our trip is drawing closer! Only 5 days left! SO.. I have packed all my bags already.. Well I did it already like a month ago to be honest....

But yeah, some people have been interested in what I have packed with me so here we go:

This is my new backpack, it's quite big but I rather have bigger bag and space there if needed, than too small. 65l -(75l)

McKinley 65l-(75l) / Intersport 99,90€


Like I have said, I love diving and snorkeling so I wanted to buy own mask and snorkel. It's easier to go snorkeling with your own gear and if you do it a lot it also comes cheaper in some point.

Mask: Seac / Varuste.net 40€ Snorkel: Mares / varuste.net 29,90€
Diving Computer: Suunto Zoop / varuste.net 190€

Because i'm going to do loads of dives and some crazy other stuff I decided to buy (I wanted and mom bought ;D) a Go Pro Hero 3.

Go Pro Hero 3 Silver Edition / Hobbyhall 349€

I also needed a new camera because I broke all the others what I HAD on my last trip.. So I got this for birthday present! Got also that awesome diving case for my camera! :)

Nikon Coolpix P7100 / 450€

Waterproof housing / 340 $

This thing here below got me grey hair.. I wanted to have a small and light laptop and the former one that I had was sooo slow so I had to buy a new one.. Well.. I have tried to save all my money for the trip so I wanted to buy cheap one so I bought Acer Aspire V5 touch (450€), which was a huge disappointment. Well what can you expect with that amount of money. I realized that I needed a good one because im going to videotape HD quality videos blablablaa so I returned it to the shop and bought a MacBook Air 13.. even though it was expensive im glad it's small and light!

MacBook Air 13 / 1150€

Travel speakers are must to have!
These are great because they are only palm-sized and the sound isn't bad either!

X mini Max 2 travel speakers / Teknik Magasinet 44,95€

CLOTHES.. Well This is probably the hardest part to choose what you take with you especially for girls.. When I chose my clothes I was thinking that they have to be versatile.. One colored, those that don't show dirt easily. Last time I made a huge mistake when I only packed jean shorts but now Im wiser and older so I only packed one pair of them and the rest are stretch shorts, skirts and dresses!

I have:

6 tops/t-shirts

5 shorts

1 leggings

1 capris

1 longer stretch pants

2 skirts

3 dresses

2 bikinis

2 sport bras

2 regular bras

underpants

socks

I got a few air-tight bag for birthday present and these are really cool and handy! Now I have 3 times more space!

Shoes, Waterproof bag and hammock!

I bought running shoes for walking and for excercise Adidas/ 70 €
Hammock XXL / 25€
Waterproof bag / 15 €
Travel pillow / 10 €

And last but not least! Drugs or medicine or what so ever:
different lotions, allergy medicine, plasters, disinfectants, vitamins, sunscreen, after sun lotion, repellent, lactic acid bacterias, hydrocortisone, painkillers, shampoos, toothbrush and paste etc.

Im going to buy a towel from Asia I think..

I still have 5 days to think what I could still pack with me.. Did I forget something?

AAAAAH CAN'T WAIT!!!

5 freakin days!! Oh YEAH

xxx Jasmin