12 Days in Japan

Between the 13th and 25th of September, John and I were in Japan with a couple of our friends. With "a couple" I literally mean two people. During our twelve days we visited three cities and all the touristy-places there is. With that much to tell, I figured I will write several posts about this trip.

French Friday

I was supposed to have lunch with Ash yesterday. I did plan to go, but when another friend said she would join I saw it as an opportunity to voice my concerns. John was coming home and would land around four and if I had gone to lunch I would not have been home until three. That time-schedule felt too tight for me who wanted both to clean the apartment and work on the book. Ash understood and I did not leave her alone after all. Later she texted me saying the other girl cancelled too, so Ash unfortunately ate alone in the end.

John came home being very hungry and tired. He boarded the plane Wednesday evening and came home Thursday afternoon so his sleeping-pattern was askew. We ordered delicious pizza for dinner and John went through his days in Paris in detail. I am talking about how many minutes (forty five) he was up in his hotel room after arriving there and leaving to go explore the city. I think he covered everything and if I closed my eyes I could see what he had seen (almost, it was very detailed). Since John will never write a post about this I will wrap it up for those who are curious.

On Sunday he landed with a colleague and after spending the previous amount of time mentioned at the hotel they followed a pre-planned walk. They ate typical French breakfast consisting crepes with Nutella and banana, and a Crooked Monsieur (a toast with cheese on the outside of the bread and ham in the middle). They walked past the Eiffel Tower, not going up in it but seeing it in the distance, and walked near the Arc de Triomphe. They found a tea bar with very expensive teas, but they sat down and took the appearance of being interested in buying. After they strolled around the streets and saw both Grand Palais and Le Petit Palais. John thought he saw Notre Dame over the rooftops, but arriving at the church he realised he had seen a similar looking building. In the afternoon they toured the catacombs. On Monday the meetings started, Ubisoft had booked the Louvre for this conference.

John did very well yesterday, he stayed awake until eleven and then could almost fall asleep immediately. He still had to go to work today though, no rest for the weary. The day went by fast, I did not even do anything. John was busy at work here in Singapore and barely texted me, which is a good sign. Good John.

Today is our friend Ashrina's birthday. She is my closest friend here and I truly enjoy her company. We had planned to have lunch today, since yesterday did not happen, but her birthday-breakfast was huge and she was not hungry. No lunch today either. Now we are aiming for tomorrow! All four of us. I will update the blog if it happens.

Happy Friday, readers.

Four nights at Koh Ngai

This is the last night at this paradise island.

We have been snorkelling, swimming in the pool, reading, eating and repeated this for the last couple of days. Somehow I have managed to get some colour; if one do not compare me to Annika. 

Snorkelling was amazing today. I have no idea how many hours we stayed face down. Will try to find the names of the fish we saw, but every single one was a first for me. I saw some of Nemo's friends and at one point I was some clown-fish as well. That was real fun, I smiled so that my diver's mask filled with water, I lay in the waves above them for a while, enjoying seeing them in their natural habitat and how incredibly cute they were in their little purple anemon.

At one point I needed to find some sand where I could stand and fix my equipment. While standing there I suddenly felt a quick and rather harsh bite on my right leg. Not used to being bitten in the sea I got scared and clumsily swam (more like a panicked waggle) to Annika. She then followed me back to the sand and circled me with bubbles to keep the fish away. What happened instead was that the fish swan closer to my legs for protection. I was their fish mom. I was nervous for being attacked again, but they did not and when I lay back on stomach and looked down, they kept swimming after me for a while. That was such a special moment, except for the little wound on my leg.

The pool had salt water but no jellyfish and no waves. I liked it there, although I missed the fish. We had a lot of fun in it; talked about life and played games that we made up and had a great time. Annika gave me an empty plastic bottle which I found so many uses for as a toy in the pool. We settled down in two chairs to lay in the sun to read and get burned... I mean get some colour.

Tuesday night we booked thai massage. Only one masseuse so I went first while Annika read in the other bed. This massage was not like the other ones. It was strange, weird angles and painful pinches. I laughed when she did some of the stranger moves, like putting my foot in the fold of the knee and then push the other foot towards the butt or when she twisted and turned my leg and then grabbed the foot to lift it high up in the air. The little woman struggled with my long legs. She pinched my skin, which I assume was suppose to do good, could not be for it to feel nice at least. Clenched my teeth to not make a sound.

Tomorrow we will take the forty-five minutes long ferry to Pak meng (mainland) and then share a private van with a couple of Americans to Krabi Town. It will take two and a half hour total. Then we have a night to explore, which will probably only be exploring one restaurant and then sleep. The plane to Singapore leaves at half past eleven, which is why we wanted to be in town the night before.

Alright. I will probably blog tomorrow night when we are at our new apartment.

Until then!

Trip to Paradise

I greet you once again.

This morning we woke up half past six, even though the alarm was put to seven. Made the morning routines and packed our things, ate breakfast at the hotel and then checked out. While Annika paid and bought sun cream, I was searching the shops for a shirt that covered my shoulders and back while swimming. Eventually I found one, white with long sleeves, very thin and perfect for swimming. The man we had booked our boat tickets from found me outside the shop and said that the boat was waiting, so I went to find Annika. We were on time but the man had already taken the other people to the boat so we walked there to find them.

The boat was a long wooden thing, very thai and very unstable looking (to me). This boat was already occupied by around ten people. We found places and it took off. Already I felt seasick, even though the engine was barely on and they were slowly moving towards another boat to exchange things. (Even writing this puts the feeling right back into my body while I am sitting in the reception listening to the waves.) I was seasick and worried that my bag would jump overboard, the boat was crashing over the waves.

I survived though. I leaned my head on Annika's shoulder and lay in her lap for a while, but after forty-five minutes we arrived at Koh Ngai/Hai (I recommend Googling this, I will not be able to post pictures). The welcome at this hotel, Koh Ngai Resort, was the kind you wish you had everywhere. They carried our luggage without question and served cooling orange drink while at the reception. Annika went with a guy from the hotel to see some rooms to decide which one we wanted. I sat very still and convinced my body I was at completely still land.

The room was simple: no fridge, dusty AC, difficult closing the balcony door, but overall could not complain. The view was great, location like paradise and included in the price is snorkelling kits and kayaks. We started off with snorkelling, we saw lovely fish and corals. I swam in my white tunic. It was hard getting out of the water, but we managed when the hunger set in.

The restaurant was a bit overpriced and the food was nothing special, but it is the only one at this beach. We had a simple lunch, a quick break at the room, then we took the kayak and paddled around the cliffs to snorkel at a new place. New fish, lovely fish, I enjoyed it so much. We swam with the kayaks thin rope in our hands to not loose each other nor the kayak. Slowly we swam back towards the beach. After a long while we went back up in the kayak and paddled back.

Then we spent a few hours in the pool, stretching and talking. It was such a great time. A parrot flew in to sit in the palm trees, being so free and wonderful as birds can be. The most amazing thing was watching it and thinking that we are not at a zoo, this is its home and we are the visitors. I am blown away by this paradise, this is amazing. I love it here!

We showered at the room, got dressed and ate dinner at the restaurant. The fried rice with crab meat had no crab meat in it, but they insisted that it had. Instead of just putting more crab meat in there they asked me to order something else. Their fish and chips were not so bad though, nothing extraordinary but good.

Internet here is problematic. There is a lot of different ones, but right now there is only one working and only at the reception and it goes on and off. Well, if you are at a paradise island, maybe you should not be online all the time. I will write posts when I have internet and the time.

Now we are off to bed! Good night, readers.

Lazy start with windy end

Good morning.

Yesterday was a very relaxed day. We ate an American breakfast with omelette, sausages, watermelon and banana, toast with butter and marmalade, juice and tea. Went back up to the room and packed a bag with necessary beach-things. Found two chairs by a parasol and settled in. Immediately we walked to the ocean and swam back and forth along the beach. I found out just how annoying tiny jellyfishes can be and their stinging treads. It was a first and a second and a third time. I lost count, it stung to swim.

Back on land I was completely in shadow, expect for my feet but I put my hat over them for safety. I was reading many chapters and Annika a few before she fell asleep in the sun. After a long while we took another round to the sea, swam back and fourth and then up on land. Moved the chairs so that I could still be in the shadow and kept reading. We were never really hungry but walked to the nearest restaurant and ordered green curry soup and I had satay with rice. It was okey, nothing extraordinary but still satisfying.

Back to the beach, I moved around again and lay down to continue my reading. I do not know for how long I lay there but the sun was going down behind the cliffs and soon their was no need to move the chairs. It was not dark yet, so we stayed a while longer. Eventually we decided to get massage again and headed back up to the bungalow to change out of the wet bikinis. I noticed that I had gotten burned somehow, probably while I was in the water. My shoulders and face and even behind the ears were red and painful.

We went back to the Mini Mouse Massage since they were really good and very kind. Annika took a back and shoulders massage which was more than just the back and shoulders, but it focused on those areas. I heard her moan and sign, so it must have been good. I took the aloe vera oil massage; something nice for my burned body and not so painfully executed. It was nice, not as good as the thai massage but the burn felt better afterwards.

After that we went back to the hotel. Our usual spot was free so we sat down and ordered salad for dinner. Easy and tasted good, though Annika remembered afterwards why one should not eat salad in Thailand (they wash it in the tap water). It was a lovely late night with the company of a cute black cat who really wanted to have some of my shrimps and Annikas tuna. It stroked her feet and sat beside me and was under the table and tried in many ways to get to the food. Gorgeous cat, I wanted to take it home with me.

The wind was very strong and the wooden platform we sat on creaked and swayed in an unsettling way. A little bit terrified I told Annika we should move to the stone instead and so we did. I talked to John for a while, hearing his sick voice made me miss him so much. He is eating medicine so he will be fine soon, I just wish I could be there for him. Around eleven I went to bed, found it hard to fall asleep because of the intensive wind and then we woke up somewhere in the middle of the night by a gecko screaming on the wall opposite the bed. Not a good night sleep one could say.

It is still windy today. The breakfast was a bit less than yesterday, no sausages nor banana. Still enough to make my stomach happy. Will try not to burn myself, hope I will be lucky.

We are staying at this hotel for another night and then hopefully move to Koh Ngai, if we can get a boat to take us there. I do not know if there will be internet there, but I might suddenly disappear from blogging. In that case I will be back on Thursday when we are going to Krabi for the last night. The flight back to Singapore is on Friday 11:30 am.

Have a great day, people!

Another place to stay

S̄wạs̄dī (which I just googled to say hello in thai)

I woke up early, around six or seven, and was really desperate to fall asleep again. Instead my mind kept thinking the alarm will go off soon and I checked the clock every now and then. I must have fallen asleep since I woke up later by Annika sitting on the edge of the bed.

We ate breakfast at the restaurant by the hotel; mushroom omelette and I ate American pancakes with banana inside and I drowned it in honey that came on the side. The room was only booked for one right and since we did not like the beds, we started the day with walking on the beach looking for hotels. An interesting task to say the least; nothing I have ever done while on vacation before but enjoyed doing so.

There were hotels by the road, a bit longer walk from the beach, and even though we looked at them I never really wanted to live there. We passed a dive-store and sat down for a chat with the owner. He was very kind and recommended other hotels, beaches, restaurants and obviously diving areas. He talked about a kayak trip which sounded amazing, so that I really want to do! We left and walked to another store. In there we tried out bikinis for a while; I bought two and a hat. After that we took our luggage and moved into a bungalow on top of a cliff at Marine Park View Resort.

The ocean called and we changed into bikinis, walked down to the beach and had lunch. Very soon we were walking towards the waves. Unfortunately there were a few boats in the water and the surface was covered in bubbles from the gasoline. Still, the temperature was like a bathtub and the sand so incredibly soft. Hard to be annoyed really. Until we saw plastic wrap from a beer package float by.


When we eventually got out of the water we found a massage board. Looked amazing. We put clothes over the bikinis and headed to the ATM. By the road we found a recommended place called Mini Mouse Massage and walked in there instead. They cleaned our feet and showed us to the mattresses. I found it new and interesting to receive clothes to wear during the massage, but was very happy to remove the somewhat wet bikini-top and put them on.

If you have had thai massage before you will understand what I mean with nothing like Sweden. Hopefully you have been to Sweden to understand this reference. It was so much fun laying there and figuring out what part of their body they used to massage a part of mine. A foot pushing the underside of the thigh, knees pressing under the butt and they kept hitting the parts when they were done with it. I enjoyed it immensely. After an hour I still wanted more. Quite an experience, I can not believe I have never had it before now! Should I feel bad about only paying 350 THB (80kr)?

The hotel apparently had street access so we simply crossed the street. Left our things at the bungalow and went to their own restaurant. I had seen that they had satay on the menu earlier that day and had been looking forward to that. They did not have it. He said I could get spring rolls instead. Not the same thing to me. No hanging lip though, instead I ate rice and chicken from a pineapple. Tasted good, pretty special, something I have never had before.

Tomorrow will be a chill day, but that might change, we will see!

Good night!

Suddenly Thailand

I am so tired my eyes can barely stay open.

One month ago John and I left Sweden and moved to Singapore. The company arranged an apartment for us for a month and that has now expired. This morning we packed everything we had and were surprised to find out just how much that is. Well, not everything belonged to us, Annika had her stuff there too, but mostly ours. We tried to get a van or something large, but were unable to. Instead we booked two XL Ubers and packed everything into them. Both drivers being not too happy about it but very helpful and kind in the end.

Stuffed cab with all our things.

Since there is a gap here between the 23rd of March and the 1st of April, we had to solve it somehow. John is working so he had to have a bed for nine days. At AirBnB we found just the thing: a single room and space for the things. Unloaded the cars and brought everything up to the 8th floor. John is now staying with a couple and their friend. Also, when I left him he was feeling pretty sick, so I will worry about him even though I said I would not.

So where are Ellie and Annika? We booked a flight to Thailand, Koh Lanta. Here we are! Nine days in this new country, except for for Annika, she has been here before. We travelled directly to the airport after leaving the temporary apartment and took a two hour flight to Krabi. Annika made sure we got a private taxi for a better price than they wanted at first, so eventually we sat in a very luxurious minivan for almost three hours.

Luxury cab with room for six people.

When we got to the hotel we were very tired and very hungry. It was a gorgeous place and amazing room, but something needed to be wrong and that was the bed. Like sleeping on a stone. They tried to make it more comfortable with a blanket, but no. They were very kind though and helped us find another hotel with better bed, though a bit more expensive. We have booked just one night here and will look for other places tomorrow, depends on how our back feels in the morning.

Good night, new world.

Finally at a hotel with sleepable bed, we ate late dinner at the beach.

Last night in Sweden

Good evening.

This blog will be updated and redesigned in the future, when I have access to internet and an apartment in Singapore.

Right now I'm just waiting for the taxi to arrive, which it will in eight hours. Eight hours might sound like a lot of time but it ain't.

Today we woke up early to pack the last of our things into IKEA-bags and boxes, then travelled through Stockholm to stow them with our families. John ate some pretty damn good hamburgers at a food truck while I didn't think my stomach could take it, so I ate expensive sushi and was disappointed with every bite since the old man who made them did it the right way with wasabi under every piece of fish. Wasabi is dried soap mixed with washing soda in my eyes. I confess I did make a bad choice and my stomach would probably be happier with that amazing burger. After sushi we went back a got a hamburger for free!

Then we walked in circles in the city while waiting for a friend to answer our calls. We saw Deadpool at the cinema, which was a really good movie and definitely lived up to the expectations set by the commercials. Killed two hours there and then we thought about what kind of food we should eat for dinner. Well, since we can't cook at home we bought salad from a food court, and we both managed to get it at the same price less than a crown's difference. Salad is good, fresh and definitely taste expensive!

Our emotions right now are pretty wild. Sometimes I stare into nothingness and do not even hear the thoughts my loud head is shouting. From time to time, usually when I doing something, a laugh like a maniac. John will look at me, question what I'm laughing about and I'm just saying "Singapore" and he'll join my manic laughing for a while until we both sort of cool down and disappear into our heads.

Our luggage, or rather our lives, is in three big bags, two smaller bags and two even smaller bags. Everything on the kilo for what is allowed (the third bag will be taken to Singapore in a week via John's very sweet and kind mother). Everything else that you may need in life will be new, bought in Singapore and with the right, um, new kind of plug.

Since we don't know how long we will be staying my thoughts are that we're buying the essentials we want and then, if we move to another country in six years, try to sell everything again. I'm not sentimental (except for in the beginning, but then I'm fine), so just getting rid of all the old stuff was both hard and a real relief. But now I'm thinking: what should we buy that we can still sell when we're moving again? Because now that I'm tasting the move to another country, I can't imagine that I'll stop! Besides, now matter how old we're feeling, we are apparently pretty young!

I'll write another post once we're there and I can get internet somewhere. Lucky me, my laptop will always be with me!
(This is how I can work wherever I go.)