It's a beautiful world.

Among all the places we have been to in this trip, Helsinki is the city not as charm as the other cities but it's the most friendly one. It has the best tourists signs. Everyone speaks English and friendly. Everything is similar to Australia. It's a small city but easy access to everything. Actually I should say easy access to everywhere. It's a 2 hours train trip to Saint Petersburg. It's few hours from Estonia by cruise and it's an overnight trip to Sweden. I m so jealous of the Finnish. Coz it takes at least 6 hours for us to get out of Australia! Helsinki has a bit of everything. You can see a Russian style building on one side of the road then you see some European style building on the other side. The constant changes of the senceary makes this city very interesting. The wooden red house in northern Finland are so cute! It may be one of the coldest place in the world but people are so warm and friendly that make you want to stay here forever. 

Russia is a crazily beautiful. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that good when we were there but the grey sky gave it another kind of beauty. I have to say the Russia are a bit cold compare to Finnish. But our metro tour guide was wonderful. Our landlord in Moscow was amazingly nice and helpful. Walking in Moscow and Saint Petersburg were never boring. It's like you are walking in a live museum. It's amazing. A romantic day dreamer like me can spend years wonder around this city and never get bored. Looking at the buildings around you and the people around give you unlimited imagination. Ideas were bursting in my head that I worry I will have a heart attack. All the giant beautiful buildings with bright colors and detailed decoration. It must takes a lot of effort to maintain the history of the cities. I love Russia. This is the second time I visited this country and once again it won my heart. I m jealous of the children of Russia. I m jealous they are given the opportunities to grow up with the history. We saw lots of children in the Winter Palace. They can go to the museum for free. I saw them doing live drawings in front of an old painting. How lucky they are! 

We haven't spent enough time in China, Sweden and Estonia. But all these countries have such strong characters we will never forget. 

Sweden was the only country has that multicultural feeling similar to Australia. It's a vibrant country. We can feel the energy coming from everywhere. People are riding a bike. People are shopping. People having a good time in the restaurant. The energy of the city just shock you in the face! We would like to spend more time in Sweden next time. It's a beautiful country.

I m amazed with all the bad stories we have heard about traveling in Russia and Europe and nothing happened to us.We have only experienced some scam in China. It's not even seriously at all.  We were safed. We haven't had any bad experience with people. I guess the world isn't too bad after all. As long as you travel with care and respect. You can still have an amazing experience like ours. I love traveling. I love overseas. Without all these difference experiences we will never know how good our home is. 

So far in China I managed to

1. Told one Chinese man off on the plane coz he keep using his computer when the plane is landing. I told him if he wants to die he can die somewhere else. Iain was very scared.

2. Went to NONE public toilet coz I m so scared

3. Order Macus and KFC delivery once 

4. Have one argument with taxi driver coz he tried to rip me off for one dollar! Iain doesn't know what happened so he wasn't scared but I told him it's a principle problem 

5. Got told off by the police once coz I tried to take a photo of him

6. Pushed over ten thousands Chinese on my way to the forbidden city! Seriously there are SO MANY people here!!!!

Isn't it ironic?

We tried not to have fast food everyday but we couldn't stop ourselves to try when KFC and McDonald serves rice and milk tea! Yep McDonald and KFC in china have beef rice and chicken rice with vege. McDonald even has milk tea! How weird is that!

Public toilet

Do you know the Chinese government has rated the public toilet? I have managed not to go to any in the past few days coz I m so scared. I heard that even the five stars public toilet has no toilet paper so you have to BYO. What the hell right?

The most disgusting public toilet I have been to in the past was the one has only a hole on the ground! You went to the toilet and  there was no door. So you see all the girls squatting along this long smelly deep trench. You can see exactly what came out from their bottoms! There is no flush so everyone just clean their bum then go. This is the most disgusting and uncivilized toilet I have ever been to in my life. I think I m scared! 

About pollution

I have heard a lot of stories about how dirty, or polluted I should say, China is but we never really see how serious it is until the day we flew to Russia. Everyday when we walk around we see this layer of fog/ smog hanging around. Not too thick not to grey. It's like you are living in a 24/7 construction site, there is dust constantly on your face. I didn't realized how horrible it was until one day I took off my shoes and the area that was not covered by the shoes are all dark! I thought I had a tan on my feet but unfortunately I can wash them off without worries.

The last day of our stay in Beijing is the worst. You can only see te shadow of the buildings. What a shame. This beautiful city is now coping with all the over development of the infrastructure. I hope one day we will be able to see the real beauty of this city again.

How odd

I was at the Tian An Men Square when I saw this tour guide waiting for her group taking photos. I have no idea what kind of group she was with but she looks like a Chinese so I went to ask her how to get to the Forbidden city in Chinese. And the first thing she said to me " can't you speak any Spanish?"

What the hell?! I said no to her and I was so regret! I should have said " Can't you speak bloody Chinese? Do I look like I can speak Spanish ??"

Anyway I asked her how to get to forbidden city again and she answered me in Chinese.

What is wrong with these people!?

Crossing the road in china

Crossing the road in china can be life threatening. People who don't care. Buses that don't care. Crazy taxi drivers who don't give a shit about anything. And when I say crazy, I mean they are ALL driving as if they are in formula one race. 

In general people don't care. It explains a lot why Asian drivers don't give a shit when they drive in Australia. Even if the traffic light has a count down for you, people still cross the road as if they own the road. Cars still turning in even the traffic light is red. You can never figure out how the systems work. 

There is no rule. People is the rule. They do whatever they like and the fact is if you don't do whatever you like you will never cross that bloody road.

Ni Hao - Hello China

This city is absolutely beautiful. Lots of movment. People. Cars. Constructions. Businesses. But when at the corner if the street you found a beautiful 600 years building standin there. As if the world has never changed.