farewell grandma

Yesterday we buried my grandmother in Kotka. It was a beautiful ceremony, peaceful and simple. Even the sun was shining to wish her one last goodbye. 

My cousins and family from my mothers side came, and taken in the circumstances of the gathering, it was a sad but lovely day. 

My memories of my grandma are precious, but unfortunately too few. Though I will remember her always. Sleep well dear grandma.

being home is like riding the worlds largest emotional roller coaster

Okay, so I guess crying has become somewhat of my ting now. Man it's tiering! I'm happy to be home and all but...yeah. Thank god for sunglasses is all I gotta say, and good I have a pair or two to choose from. 

Tomorrow I'll post something nice, like stuff that I've enjoyed since I came home, or some dumb pics I took in H&Ms dressing room in Singapore.

Maybe.

I wish it would be august already.

i'm coming home

Materialist forever, there is no denying it.
I am ready to leave my hippie anklets and bracelets behind, toss out my ripped tees and ragged tops, wear makeup again, get mentaly prepared for abandoning the flipflops in exchange for closed shoes, and stylewise turn into my old self. I am so ready to get back to my full blown closet, my things, my friends and family, my macbook and our dog, in other words; get back to civilization! Words can not describe how much I'm looking forward to going home!
This trip has taught me something I already knew, I am a materialist and apparently very vein, and that's not gonna change anytime soon. I have travelled amongst hippies, seen many monks, walked amongst the poor, sometimes looking like one, given money to beggars, lived like a nomad, and always tried to find the cheapest way out. Now I'm done. The tiny growing hippie seed in my heart I had before this trip has vanished completely, I despise dreadlocks even more, and hiking boots outside a forest makes me nauseous. Many people tell me that traveling will make you realize how the western world is too materialistic and people are not able to enjoy life, to appreciate the small things that matter . Not me, nahaah, I'm going home to my stuff my things my belongings, because to me they matter, and believe me, I will enjoy every minute of it!
I am not saying that I will never travel again, coz I will. I love traveling more than anything, but next time is going to be out of my pink suitcase and not a backpack, I am done dragging my backpack around for more than a month. I will stay at a nice cockroach free hotel and enjoy proper breakfasts. But for now, I'm happy just going home. No, I'm extadic!

I'm in Singapore airport waiting for boarding, sitting at the same Starbucks where I wrote my first travel post 7 months ago. Time fucking flies, I can't believe 7 months has gone by. Incomprehensible. I have had the journey of my life, I loved it and I have plans to return to some of the places one day. I still have a lot to show you, and I hope to catch up soon with all the missed travel posts. As a matter of fact, I'm going home to a real computer, connected to the world wide web, which makes blogging much easier.

A big thanks to all the people who made this trip unforgettable, I will miss you, and I hope you are all doing fantastic out there. Hope to see you again some day. Much love!

Over and out.

what's this I hear?

back in thailand

After two productive nights spent in Bangkok, with hard core shopping, movies, cocktails at Skybar, orchid festival and whatnot, we now have arrived at Koh Phangan. In two days we will be celebrating the full moon, together with other party apes, but until then, we'll be enjoying some beach time...

myanmar, as in former burma

(this post was supposed to be posted one of the first days in Myanmar, but since the wifi there was retiredly slow it was mission impossible. Now we're in Thailand again, were wifi is working as it should.)

Me and my devoted travel companion got a brain tumor back in Bali, and decided to go to Myanmar. So here we are.

From Bangkok a flight later we arrived in the former Burma, to find out, what the fuzz was all about. We really don't have any idea why we actually ended here, except that it all sounded so intriguing, worlds apart from ours, and the excitement and fairy tale gene we still seem to possess probably had something to do with it. Now we are trying to find out if the tales of warm smiles and humble people are actually true.

We have survived 4 out of 14 nights, and spent time in Yangon (the capital), Mandalay and Bagan.

I must say I am looking forward to seeing Bagan properly, since this place seems far more interesting than the other two.

So far I can tell you this; Myanmar has a reputation of being different from the rest of the world. And yes, I can only agree, to a certain point. Even though the borders have opened up the opportunities for yes-taxi-water-whatever-selling tourist catchers, give-me-money-kids, and prices have jumped almost double in only 6 months, there are still some of the true Burmese lifestyle and traditions left. People do smile, the kids almost fall backwards in amazement of seeing a blonde giant, and the dusty landscape with trillions of pagodas make you realize; how far away from home you really are.

Internet is not the most advanced phenomenon here, so be patient. A post will pop up now and again...

24 hour stopover in NZ

Landing 4.30 in the morning in NZ, for a stopover, I somehow had to stop up, and with very tired eyes study my flight ticket one more time. At the customs declaration it finally dawned to me, and I told the lady that instead of 3 hours in Auckland, I apparently had 25 hours. I guess traveling has disconnected my brain, and dates are unreadable to me, forme to have missed this. I always wanted to go to New Zealand, but not for 24 hours, and certainly not unprepared! I was supposed to be in Japan that day, not Aukland!

Well, there was nothing to do about it, but to drag my tired butt to a bus, and on the way grab a free guide of Auckland, to get into city. Note, is was 6 o'clock in the morning, on a Sunday... Getting into city was easy enough, but finding a place to stay, a hostel, was just that much more of a challenge. Auckland's hostels were fully booked due to some concert AND a cricket game that weekend. Wondering around 6 in the morning wasn't part of my plan, but somehow I managed to get into a closed hostel, and sleep on their cough until the receptionist woke me up around 9, to tell me good news. So I went back to bed, this time in the top bunk, in a room that seemed to be full of 15 smelling sleeping guys. But I did NOT care. Problem number two in Aukland was my phone. My bellowed iPhone had stopped cooperating with me, already back in Fiji, so I was pretty much alarm lock-less. This is quite bad when you are traveling by yourself, are not a morning person, and have a flight to catch in the morning.

With disaster lurking around the corner, I took the day to explore Auckland, and do some shopping...hehe. NZ was cold, and Japan was going to be even more so, so my shoppings for hoodies and stuff turned out great. I had a pretty nice day in Auckland, I went down to the harbor and treated my self to some deliciously expensive gelato. And then to some Jelly Snakes. (A moment of appreciation for Jelly Snake;, they are the best candy I've ever tasted! If you ever stumble across Jelly Snakes from 'Natural', get them, they are seriously yummy! To think I'd have to travel across the globe to find my favorite craving...what will I do from now on? Almost two months without Jelly Snakes and I'm already trembling...must.have.more!)

The next morning was where the fiasco of not having an alarm clock took place. Two staff members from Cozy Kiwi hostel was supposed to wake me up, and I even asked a fellow traveller in my room to spare me some alarm on his phone. None of them succeeded in remembering that I had a flight to catch, to Japan, and when I panicking woke up at 7(yes, by my self!?) I was very late. A tearful bus drive later, I was at the airport, 45 minutes before my international flight. But I made it. And only because the flight was delayed! But the other fiasco of the day was, that I had to spend 3000 nzdollars on a flight ticket back to NZ, because I didn't have my out of japan ticket with me. Great. Air New Zealand policies. Screw you.

But with all odds against me, I made it, 11 hours later, safe and sound to Narita airport, where nobody wanted to see my 3000 dollar onward ticket.

Here, a glimpse of Auckland.

my worldwide zigzagging

Back to my traveling, I know I have been side stepping for a while. But hey, at least I update:)

Just to try and clear things up; I still have a LOT to show you. And I have so many pictures it's ridiculous. So now I will actually try and post something as often as I can, and when I have time, I will do my best to stick a real travel post in as well. So bear with me.

I thought I'd make a resume of my travels so far, so you don't get lost and confused in my very misleading and bewildering order of posts. Therefor, I will make a list of all the places I've been, in that precise order. Easy enough. Here goes.

- Australia; Melbourne, Phillip Island, Great Ocean Road, Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise, Sydney, Cairns, Airlie Beach and Withsundays, Hervey Bay and Frasier Island, Byron Bay again, Brisbane, Perth, and west cost oz roadtrip.

- Fiji.

- Samoa.

- 24 hour stopover in Auckland NZ.

- Japan; Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.

- Malaysia; KL, Penang, Langkawi and Perhentian Islands.

- Bali, the Gili Islands and Lombok, and back to Bali.

Now I'm in Thailand, in the touristic hell of Phuket. From here we will do south west Thailand, Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and Khao Lak and Similan Islands. Then the route leads up to Bangkok and Chiangmai. We have a flight ticket to Myanmar on may 17th, where we will spend 14 days. Then we fly back to Bangkok and go downwards to the south east cost of Thailand; Koh Samui, Koh Pagnan, and Koh Tao, and yes, we are including the full moon party. After that the plan is to get down to KL again, from where we fly to Malaysian Borneo, to see some orangutans and do some diving in Sipadan. From Borneo we fly back to KL, so that we can take a bus to Singapore, where I will end my trip.

Spending a couple of days in Singapore before I go home, will probably ruin me for good (they have numerous Forever21 and other luring shops!), but it's good I have a flight ticket home on the 30.6, so I can get back home and do some hard core money earning.

Does this make any sense?

So when I post a travel post from somewhere, you can go back to this list and see the actual order. Again, easy enough I'd say. Well, enjoy! Or something...

change of scenery

Today we are changing scenery, from one monkey invasion to another. Route: Bali-Phuket, Thailand.

Bali has been one of my most favorite travel destinations so far, but bye bye Bali! I will miss you! 

ready steady go

My name is Julie. I have blogged before on photofahionista.blogspot.com.

From the early age of my blog I grew quite tired of my blog name. It was too specific, and seemed like something I came up with in a haste - which is exactly what I did. So now I finally ditched that one.

My new blog is going to be very much the same as the old one. A insight in my life, mainly evolving around fashion, photography, traveling, cravings, cooking, general hanging around, doing random stuff and being both desperate to have an actual plus on my everlasting minus account. Oh yeah, and trying to be a skinny bitch. But not ever succeeding. Fail. 

The name is yet again a very random idea that eventually (after having dug my brain for months) came to me one boring night at work. I love animals. I and especially fascinated with deers in general, owls, turtles, dogs and probably a lot of other weird creatures too... I also love winter; snow, the the crystals, the cold, the stars...! So yeah basically I decided a reindeer it was going to be and yeah, now it is what it is. I'm pleased though.

So enjoy (or don't). Introducing; REINDEER RUMORS.

P.S I can not spell, not even to save my own life. But those who have followed me before, already know this. You knew ones; get used to it.