Relaxing in Seychelles

I was lucky to get the Seychelles flight few days ago. Normally our crew stays in a different hotel in Mahe Island but now they had some problems there so we were transferred to a 5 star luxury Hilton hotel. Actually we were not staying in hotel rooms but private villas with ocean view, huge balcony, jacuzzi, king size bed... AMAZING! Truly a place for honeymooners.

Our airline just announced that they bought a huge share of the Air Seychelles stocks so now this route is going to be even more important and I think they want to have a share of the luxury holiday destinations markets everywhere. But there is also another reason for this tight deal... the president of UAE Sheikh Khalifa has 2 huge castles/villas at the top of the island so he's very much interested in this small country. We saw a glimpse of one of the castles and it was crazy, just at the point of the hilltop!

The hotel was amazing, one of the best I've been to. And the service was so friendly. We talked with the staff, most of them are coming from all over the world to work a year or two and save money. What an experience :) 

View to the balcony through the bathroom 

Beautiful decorations the housekeeping placed every day

 My villa

The view from the villa

The Spa



Relaxing balcony in the Spa



Reception desk by the pool

Infinity pool



Relaxing by the ocean



Secret place for couples




Sunset

Boats set the sails and headed off to China today after spending 10 days in Abu Dhabi. I really enjoyed seeing them so close after watching the competition from tv so many years. It is crazy what these people are doing! I really respect the effort and hard work and extreme skills they put in order to complete the 9 months race. Good job guys and good luck!

Here's an interesting live tv from the racing boats for all of you enthusiasts:

Watch live streaming video from volvooceanracesd at livestream.com

Nr. 1 reason to love this job!

I got my flight ticket today. Take a good look at the price and destination.. From Dubai to Buenos Aires and the ticket price is 127USD! With taxes.

Of course this is only a stand by ticket which means I only have a seat if there's a seat available in the plane. So I need to be at the airport minimum 3 hours before the check inn. But the catch here is that this ticket is not valid only for that one flight. Meaning that if one flight is fully booked I can use this ticket to any other flight I want. And I can even change my destination.

But I really want to go to Buenos Aires. And I'm going there in March when I have my next leave. And I won't plan my trip too much in advance because I just know that when I arrive there all my plans would change anyway :) That's what usually happens when traveling. But at the moment I'm planning to see Buenos Aires, then cross the border to Montevideo Uruguay, take a bus to Iguazu falls (which is also one of the new 7 Natural wonders of the world) and end the trip to Rio de Janeiro and see the Christ of Redeemer statue.

Volvo Ocean Race Abu Dhabi

We have been very lucky to have the Volvo Ocean Race leg here in Abu Dhabi. The boats are here right in the middle of the city and the event area is totally free for public to enter and enjoy.

Volvo Ocean Race is the toughest sailing competition in the world. The teams are sailing around the world during 9 months and visiting 10 ports. I have seen the competitions from the tv before and I feel very lucky to be able to see the boats live this year :) These people have to be crazy and totally made out of iron to be able to stay alive those massive storms they face in the seas. True giants of adventurers.

Yesterday the leading boat Team Telefonica was the first boat to set sails. The boat looks beautiful!

Our team is 5th at the moment and it's going to be interesting to see how the future looks like.

This Suunto compass is from the Team Abu Dhabi training boat but I hope even Azzam has this finnish quality on board :)

The Destination Village is beautiful with many restaurants, games, promotions, free outdoor movies etc. I've been in the area three times already and I'm going there again in few days. Because on 13th they will have a small race just outside Abu Dhabi so the public can see the boats sailing and competing. And on 14th the competition is going to continue to the next destination China so it's going to be a big event to send the teams on their way.

Just few days ago we had a world famous dj Louie Vega performing live in the Puma club. It's a small trendy place with a club downstairs and an open air bar upstairs. So beautiful and comfortable. We stayed there the whole evening yesterday as well just laying in soft Fatboys and listening acoustic band. Not bad in early January :)

More information:

Volvo Ocean Race Abu Dhabi

Volvo Ocean Race official page

The Monkey Temple

View from the temple

The Monkey Temple ( originally named Swayambhunath) is one of the main tourist attractions and a holy place for locals in Kathmandu. The temple itself is ancient and around it is a whole village with monks, shops and cafe's. It takes easily few hours just to walk around the area and enjoy the mystical atmosphere.

Small stupas in the temple area

Area got it's nickname from the hundreds of monkeys living in the area as well as the monkey statue which is one of the holy statues there. Monkeys leave people usually in peace but the guide told us not to get too close for the adults are very protective and might bite.

One of the two entrances to the temple - 365 steps uphill

Roll for good luck. Ancient sanskrit scripts

Shops in temple area

What: The Monkey Temple

Where: in Kathmandu

How: Take a local taxi to get there and away

How much: Entrance fee 200 rupees (1,8 Euro)

New Year in Nepal

I was lucky to get a flight to Nepal, where I had never been before but also a place that is one of the most thrilling places in this planet! I think most of us would love to see the Mount Everest ones during their lifetime.

This picture is taken in downtown Kathmandu. Which you could never guess of course. What is the first thing you see when arriving the city is the thick fog and darkness that covers the city. It's because there is no electricity in most of the buildings and even in our 4 star crew hotel we had electricity power cut offs all the time. So how does the people keep warm in this remote land?

By making fires. So the whole city is filled with this strong smell of smoke and sometimes it felt almost impossible to breath through it. Locals cover their mouth and nose with masks but us weren't that well prepared.

And because there's no electricity the city gets quiet quite early. It was a new year night but after 1 AM there was nobody walking on the streets than taxis and police cars.

We celebrated the new year by eating local food and as you can see from the picture it was delicious! Especially I have to appraise the local lassi drink which tasted totally different from what I'm used to in nepalese restaurants in Finland but it was delicious! And the whole menu was only about 8 euros for 2 persons! Place is called Anatolia Restaurant and you can find it in Thamel, J.P. Road.

The next morning we woke up with my friend at 5 AM, took a cab and drove an hour up to a place called Nagarkot. The small village is on top of the hill in 2000 meters above sea level. And the view is simply amazing! You can see the sun coming behind Mt Everest and Annapurna, lighting mountains little by little.. you get speechless. I think it was the perfect way to start this New Year, to see the light fighting it's way behind those majestic mountains. I truly hope this year will be like that, that the light will come and expose all that is hidden. And to give hope and future.

There are several hostels, lodges and even a nice hotel where you can stay overnight. We went to Club Himalaya Hotel for a breakfast after the sunrise and it was a great ending for that morning.