The first two days in Tokyo

02/01/2012-03/01/2012

I love traveling by train- so Japan is perfect for my purposes... So many trains, and the tickets are cheap! I got train/metro/bus etc. cards in both Seoul and Tokyo, because they're easy and fast to use. No need to know the exact routes because you pay as much as you travel.

In Seoul, T-money card (picture on the right) is the most common card I think, or at least it's the only one I found. You have to pay for the card, and then add some money on it, and you can use it as long as the card has some money in it. I put about 50€ on my T-money card, because I wanted to make sure I could afford all the journeys in Seoul and around... But I actually about 40€ was left on the card when I left korea!! I don't know how that's possible, because I used the subway quite a lot :o The card is still in my wallet, waiting for the next trip... Who would throw 40€ away anyway??

The card on the left in a Pasmo card, the transportation card used in Tokyo area. Also, cards called Suica are sold there, but the cards are basically the same, except that the Suica one has a cute penguin in it!!!!! I bought my Pasmo right after arriving in Tokyo, there were no machines selling Suica ones nearby... What a shame :( Going around Tokyo is a bit more expensive than in Seoul, but it's still not really expensive (compared to the public transport in my hometown... I just count my monthly bus fares here in Oulu, it'll cost more than 256€ in a month if I didn't have a bus card... Crazy isn't it? With a bus card it's 36€, and I can use the bus as many times as I want.)

Anyway, the thing that's really great about T-money and Suica cards is that you can actually use them as credit cards. I didn't know it was possible, or actually I hadn't even heard of the whole thing before my last day in Tokyo... I was waiting for a train in Ueno, and got thirsty. I saw a vending machine with text "Touch this censor with your Pasmo/Suica card to get a drink"!!!! I bet I looked like that--> http://www.flickr.com/photos/riazorenho/1016624342/ when I noticed that those cards can actually be used for buying stuff! Awesome...

My friend linked that video to me years ago... So of course I had to try to find such pudding in Tokyo!! I couldn't find a Giga Pudding, but found something that was alike! And luckily not that big, I mean, gigantic... Yummy!!:)

The above pics were taken near my hotel in Asakusa. And the Fanta grape is from my first "trip" to KFC... The food wasn't that great, but something really funny happened to me there! An older woman, probably in her 70's, came to talk to me like this: (partly in English, partly in Japanese, so sorry for my mistakes) (W means the woman, and M is me)

W: こんにちは.

M: ああ、こんにちは!

W:あなた は アメリカ人 です か?

M:私 は フィンランド人 です。

W: English?

M: Yes.

W:フィンランド?

M:はい.

W:すごい... Student?

M:16 歳です.

*W gives me some Hello Kitty items*

M:??

W: Take.

M: ハローキティ?

W:はい, ハローキテです.

M:ありがとう!

W: Have a nice day!!

That was really strange indeed... But the woman was super friendly, I think I've never met anyone so kind so a stranger before :D

//RECENT:

I will have a free day tomorrow, no school at all♥♥♥

Everlaaaaand!

I decided to write another travel post this weekend because nothing much happens in my daily life. I must focus on studying because there's just one month of school left before the summer holidays will begin♥♥ I'd love to be on vacation already (who wouldn't??)...
Oh anyway, this post is all about Everland, which is an amusement park in Yongin, South Korea. You can see their website here. The park is mainly outdoors, so it wasn't the best idea to go there in the winter... I got a fever which disturbed my travel a bit. But I still think it was worth a visit:)

At first we went to Africa. I mean, a zoo that was full of African animals. And chicks (I mean those small birds, not girls..)

And penguins♥

We didn't have much time to spend in Everland, and it was cold, so we just saw the zoo, bought some stuff and visited a couple of rides.

I rode this one! It wasn't scary at all, so I was a little disappointed... Where were all the scary ones??

Korean folk village, Yongin

The last full day in South Korea: I went to a folk village and the Everland amusement park with my pen pal of many years and her family! But before going, I had to eat breakfast of course. The great thing about my hotel was that it was exactly in the centre of Myeongdong shopping area- and there was a 7-Eleven and many other shops just outside the building... So I could just go and buy my breakfast really easily. And the food was much cheaper than in Finland...

Anyway, after breakfast I went to Sunae station by metro- I knew the way already because I had been there before. I think I went to Sunae at least 3 times during my trip, so I think I could go the same way with my eyes closed :p

Then we went to Yongin by car, and visited a Korean folk village. You can see their website here. Of course it was a little cold there, since it was winter... But we drank some hot chocolate and ate noodles to warm ourselves up :) There was so much to see, and we didn't have time to visit all the places because we wanted to spend a good deal of time in Everland as well!

So, the next travel post will probably be about Everland ;)

Earrings, too big earrings...

Ordered from ebay, the brand is Forever21 and the price was about 10€. But the earrings are way too big, I feel that I'll get huuuuge elephant ears if I wear them for too long time :s

Health update:

Yesterday I took a walk for about an hour because the weather was really nice... It seems that spring is finally coming to oulu :)

Today I went to gym again, but only for an hour. 30min indoor cycling, 20min muscle training and 10min flexing, so the exercise wasn't too hard, just a normal workout. Sadly the next days will probably be busy, so maybe I won't have time to exercise :(

Kouluhommaa ja reenihommaa

Just some stuff I found while cleaning my room.

At first, here's the health update from yesterday:

I spent 2 hours at gym :) 1 hour indoor cycling, 45min weight training and 15min flexing. I'm really pleased about that workout, because I got to train all the muscle groups I wanted, and it wasn't too hard either.

Meiji chocolate, omnomnomnomn... Don't worry, that photo was taken a long time ago, I didn't slip from my healthy routine now ;)

And here's the school update:

I got an invitation for an entrance exam in Helsinki! That means I'll visit Helsinki after a few weeks, how awesome is that?? In case I haven't told it here yet, I'll probably move to Helsinki during the summer♥ So, I'm looking for an apartment at the moment... It's so difficult to find a cheap but good apartment! :s

And new cosmetics! I haven't tried the Aussie stuff yet, but the Vaseline body lotion was good, like all Vaseline products tend to be :)

PS. 19,000 pageviews (even though the flag counter on the side--->

doesn't agree:D)... Thank you anyway♥♥

Seoul 31/12/11

Hehe I know most of you probably think subways are boring- but I come from a little town with no subway at all, so I love traveling by subway... It's super comfortable and fast as well! These ones were taken on my way from Myeongdong to Yoido :)

See the black board with text "KISSA" in it? Kissa means a cat in Finnish, and exactly when I saw that board, I also saw a cat!! What a coincidence... This was taken somewhere between Myeongdong and N Seoul tower. I didn't go there though, because the place was so full of people and I has just a little time :(

And this one was taken when I was walking back from Mt Namsan, where the N Seoul Tower is located. Can you see that house on the right? When I saw it, I thoght "That's a dream house!"... I have no idea why I thought so, but somehow, that little house is really cute!

My way to celebrate New Year... Before going to Bosingak!:)

Ray Ban

FINALLY I got them! Okay, it took just 2 weeks for them to arrive, but it was a long time for me :p I ordered them from ebay, and the shop was in the USA. I can't remember the exact price, but it was much lower than what it would have been in Finland, even if some shipping costs and tax was added to the price... Now the only thing that is missing is summer :(

And the health update:

Yesterday I rested a bit, but today I went swimming (not outside of course, the water is still way too cold for me:). I swam for ~45 minutes without a break, but my speed was really slow... I mean, REALLY slow. But I think it was nice to swim because I haven't done that for quite a while. And tomorrow, back to gym!:)

Spring???

It just snows more and more... Where are those warm spring days?

Walking around Seoul

I like these buildings! At first they seem simple, even a bit boring, but after looking for a while, you can notice some nice details:) These pics were taken early in the morning (it was REALLY cold outside), so the city doesn't seem too busy. The day when these were taken was the last day of 2011 by the way!

A new gym bag

Got it yesterday! This bag really came in need, because I have to carry so much stuff every day... Normally I have 2 bags when I go to school, because I have all the school stuff, flea market stuff and gym stuff there in the bags :s But from now on, I'll (hopefully) need just one bag :)

A snowy Saturday

I shouldn't have stepped outside the house today... The weather turned rather ugly while I was staying in the downtown. I had just been to library and flea market when I noticed it had begun to snow a little, but I decided to go shopping instead of going home...That was a bad idea! I bought some stuff, like a new gym bag :) And then I went to gym for about 1,5h. When I left the gym, it snowed really really much, but the temperature was around 0C so the snow melted quickly. And I didn't have a hat of any kind...... Hopefully I won't catch a cold!
Have a nice weekend everybody :D

Media check--- What caught my attention this week

No photos today- I didn't feel like taking photos today. Wondering why? Because I've had a terrible headache for a few days... I decided to skip school and try to get rid of the headache, and it's not as bad as before :) Hopefully it'll be gone by tomorrow, since I'll go to the cinema with some classmates - We'll watch The Hunger Games. I'm not that keen on seeing that movie, but everybody else seems to like it so why not, maybe it's a good one!

Apart from sleeping, actually a lot of sleeping, I've been reading all kinds of stuff from the internet today. There were some cool things, and I decided to share them with you guys. + I added some new Finnish music so that this won't be a post full of text.


Maybe some people remember the Google logo I wrote about a while ago- the one with marimekko pattern. This time their logo was about Elias Lönnrot! You can see the logo here.

That beach seems AWESOME!!!! I'd love to go there... But the ticket prices are ridiculous- about 1600€ :O

If you like motor sport, check these pics of Kimi Räikkonen at an airport in China! He seems pretty serious- no wonder why he's called Iceman by some fans. He has his humorous side as well, just google "Kimi Räikkönen quotes" :p

As many of you know, circle lenses have became popular also outside Asia in the past years. I have no problems with my eyes, so I have never been very interested in those things. Today, however, something caught my attention- the side effects of wearing those lenses. There should be no problem with brand lens sold in Asia, like GEO. But I have heard of those companies whose lens are really bad, or fake versions of real brand lens... Check this and this to see what I'm talking about.

This one is for Finns only: EstonianAir is having big sales, all flights ONLY 99€!!!!! Get your tickets 9.4-15.4.2012 to enjoy the low prices :) There are lots of European destinations available- like Amsterdam, Brussels, St. Petersburg, London and Oslo.

Usually, I don't like Finnish female singers very much, but Emma Salokoski's voice is just beautiful! Don't you agree?

And some BBC stuff:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17673475

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17675816

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11989723

Have a nice day everybody!:)

From my photo album- 2009!

I can't believe this was almost 3 YEARS ago... Feels like yesterday.