A Weekend Full Of Drama

This weekend was full of (dog) drama. I visited my sister with my parents and my dog, Tilli. She lives in Savonlinna which is a beautiful small town in Eastern Finland. It's famous for its annual international opera festival. 

It was a lovely weekend, but my dog managed to add some drama into it. First she got really bad symptoms from her tick collar. She was bleeding and her neck was really soar. 

Then she ate a corn cob. Corn cobs can be very dangerous for dogs. Luckily she chewed it before swallowing. There haven't been any signs of obstruction so far. I really hope she'll be ok.

Her tick collar and corn cob are not the only things that caused drama. My Tilli loves to swim and, because Savonlinna is surrounded by the largest lake in Finland, she had lots of opportunities to do that. Now she has a painful swimmers' tail. Poor girl! 

So lots of dog drama. But Savonlinna region was stunning.

Did you have a fun weekend?

Countries I've visited

I saw this fun map app on Divine Direction Beautified and decided I want to try it here on my blog too. So here are the countries I've visited so far. I need to explore more, especially Africa and South-America.

Create your own visited countries map or check out the JavaScript Charts.

The unfriendly Marseille

According to Condé Nast Traveler magazine, Marseille is the fifth unfriendliest city in the world. 

We stayed in Marseille couple nights during our honeymoon. I have to agree; we met one of the rudest people there. But it was a beautiful city.

A Bit Like Taj Mahal - Neilson Hays Library

Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal in memory of his wife. 

I visited a beautiful library in Bangkok last week. It was a bit like Taj Mahal, but not because of its size or style. It was built in a memory of a wife. 

 I loved the athmospere in this small library. The neo-classical building has witnessed interesting historical events, like 2nd World War (Japanese troops used it for billeting troops). Now it stands proudly in the middle of a modern and fast-paced metropolis. 

Unfortunately it was forbidden to take photos inside, but below you can see other people's pics.

Borrowed from HERE

Borrowed from HERE

If you're in BKK, I recommend visiting Neilson Hays Library. It's about a 15 minute walk from Chong Nonsi BTS station. It might be hot, but worth it! 

Koh Tao

I am sitting in a cute cafe near the pier. I've spent couple days in a paradise: Koh Tao. It's been wonderful. Turquoise water, corals, Finding Nemo fish, palm trees... 

The pic above is from the Koh Samui - Koh Tao ferry.

This was our breakfast view.

We stayed in Sensi Paradise Beach Resort. I love the atmosphere of sleeping under mosquito net.

My hubby got 5 stitches, because he cut his foot on a ship wreck under water. Luckily we had good books and a great hotel, so the holiday wasn't ruined. We'll leave this paradise in couple hours, but we'll come back. Definitely. 

Colorful Bangkok (And some other stuff)

I'm excited! Blogs by Christian Women will publish my text May 30. I hope you'll head over there and leave a comment :)

Colorful (and hot) Bangkok

It's been extremely hot here in BKK. 35-40 Celsius (95-104 degrees) plus the crazy humidity. But I love it! 






I am super executed about tonight! Team Finland might win the gold metal! (Ice hockey world championships)


By the way, you still have couple days to post a link to your May Challenge post(s)! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Colorful Bangkok - about the coup

If you've been following the news, you'd know that there's been a coup here in Thailand. Everything is very peaceful and the only thing indicating some political turmoil is that the shopping mall nearby closed at 8PM instead of 10PM (the curfew). Soldiers also patrol along roadsides, BUT nothing horrible has happened. Everything is quite normal.

Yesterday we visited Safari World. The pic below is from a dolphin show.

Four Favorites (May = Traveling)

If you've been reading my blog, you know I'm going to Thailand, Laos and Singapore this month. Actually, I'll leave next Sunday aka Funday.

I love the Four Favorites link-up! My May Favorites are travel related:

-Backpack (Fjällräven)- -Sandals(Roxy)- -Cosmetics bag (stella & dot)- -Adapter set (Amazon)- 

I have a problem

I just can't be normal in photos. Oh dear.

Cold Stockholm

If you have read THIS post, you know that I was in Sweden because of my practicum. After the practicum I spent couple days in Stockholm. Unfortunately I had a fever and it was really cold. 

But the city was still beautiful. 

More pics from Stockholm & Sweden: 

I heart Stockholm

Eskilstuna, Sweden

Unusual place to stay

Lufthansa experience

This summer we travelled to Berlin, Germany with my hubby. We had a great time and I literally fell in love with the city. Unfortunately our flight home was a completely different story. 

(If you don't want to read the whole story, you can find the main points in a turquoise box) 

It wasn't a long flight, but we were served a complimentary snack and beverages. I thought it was great, because most airlines are trying to save every possible penny, and the first thing they do is quit serving free food and beverages.

So I was extremely grateful for the cottage cheese sandwich and a can of cola. I took the first bite. "Oh boy, this tastes weird." I took another bite. "This tastes awful!" I checked the sandwich and it took me by surprise what was inside it. The cottage cheese was covered with green spots, which turned out to be mould. "Yack!" 

The flight attendant was very apologetic and offered me another sandwich with ham inside. Well, I'm a vegetarian. 

When I got home I decided to write to Lufthansa, for two reasons:

1. I thought it was extremely bad service and the poor flight attendant had to serve bad quality food to customers. She had to take the blame for something that was absolutely not her fault.

2. They could accidentally serve those sandwiches to some other customers. 

Lufthansa answered me. Here's a part of their reply:

Ok, they are sorry. And they set high standard. This just didn't happen in my case. I guess I'm greedy but I was expecting for something more than just words, after the amazing service of Finnair and Cathay Pacific.

Superb Service

Last Christmas our Finnair flight was late about 2 hours and we missed our next flight. We had bought two separate tickets because it was cheaper. Finnair didn't have to do what they did (because our flights were in separate tickets): They gave us a free hotel accommodation, dinner and a flight home in the morning.

When I flew Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Singapore, for some reason there was no Lacto-Ovo vegetarian meal for me, though I had ordered it. They still somehow managed to serve me an Indian vegetarian meal, which was delicious. They also made sure I had a divine dessert, because they felt really bad about the whole thing.

That's what I call great service. More than words.

Do you have positive airline experiences? Or maybe some negative ones?  

I heart Berlin

Other cities I heart:

New York

Barcelona

Stockholm

Unusual place to stay

Before returning home from Sweden, we stayed at this unusual hotel, called Jumbo Stay.

It's really close to Arlanda airport, so if you have an early flight it's a great place to stay. 

I heart Stockholm