Thursday, October 11, 2007

27 sep to 13 oct 2007, Helsinki + Lahti

2 nights before we leave, Riikka and Hannu bought us dinner at a Thai restaurant where they frequent...

a short picnic in the forest




trying to "siam" the waters

another Sunday walk to a forest

solving a sudoku puzzle at Hannu's place

yes, I support the cause of the Burmese monks

our daily visits to Lahti library for english newspapers and magazines...



a lovely sight in the countryside


me, Riikka and Berta

walking back to Riikka's cottage after 2hrs

stacked hay


a glance back to check where they are ...

but fortunately, we have climbed out of the barbed wired fence...

then they came chasing after us...

we walked quickly to the exit...

Riikka brought us for a nice walk around the countryside. these cows didn't sound quite happy when they saw us walking in their territory. first, they stared at Riikka's dog, then they stared at each of us and made some very loud noise. they sounded angry and so...

2 finnish children having a good time riding through the countryside. they didnt have to put in any effort cos their grandfather was pulling their cars in front...

it was nice to be with Marketa again after 3 years since i met her in Nepal. she was traveling around the world at that time and her total expenditure was only 4,000 euros in 14 months!

after a hearty finnish home-made buffet, the invited musicians started to play some nice musics for the crowd using a piano and a violin

Eva's 3 weeks old grand-daughter

rock-a-bye baby




my finnish friend, Riikka, brought us to her countryside cottage for a harvest party. here's her elder sister, Evaritta, giving a speech to the invited friends and relatives

ski jumping - the ski jumpers took gondolas up and then ski all the way down these green tracks

Lahti stadium / sports complex

mushrooms



nice apartments beside the river



here's a big river


this duck has a blue and green head.

a small lake

lahti bus station

Lahti is a small town with an estimated population of 100,000 people. People are friendly and helpful!

on a local train to Lahti, which is just an hour away from Helsinki

i noticed that all the chairs outside every cafe were lined in theatre style


the red bricked Orthodox Upensky Cathedral

arrived at Helsinki ferry terminal after 4 hours