My wife celebrated her birthday in Turku for the first times in her life. It just a simple celebration, no birthday party was organised, no friends were invited, just two of us. We went to Red Hot Chilis restaurant for Mexican food on Saturday afternoon. On the her birthday, I bought her a cake and prepared a slightly different dinner compare with what we used to have daily.

My wife said,

Several surprises have been received unexpectedly from my boss, KJ and friends in Malaysia. Hope that birthday is just like a day you can receive presents but needless to count your age.

Curious about the food? Have a look on photos. (more…)

On next day, both of us left from hostel to the Helsinki International Airport at 5 o’clock early morning. My girlfriend will get on plane to Malaysia at 8 o’clock morning. Therefore, we have to take the earlier airport bus to Helsinki International Airport from the bus station near to Central Railway Station at 5am. Then, I will take express bus from Helsinki International Airport back to Turku. I have to say goodbye to my girlfriend. I miss her very much. I have no idea when I can see her again after this holiday. No, I don’t cry but nearly when she stepped in the boarding gate.
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Today was the last day for our holiday at Helsinki. After have our breakfast at hostel, we walked to the Katajanokka district. Crossing the bridge near to the Kauppatori, the Uspenski Cathedral which built in the year 1868 is immediately us. There were many old and new warehouses at this district, some of the old warehouses were converted into restaurants or shops. This district is totally surrounding by sea; therefore, it was really windy during our tour. For this reason, we don’t spend much time at here. It too cold to us and made us felt uncomfortable. After a short walk at here, we decided went for our lunch.

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On next day, we have our walking tour around the Senate Square. The area surrounding to the Senate square is near the coast. It was so windy until we really thought to give up our walking tour. However, we did continued but avoid walked to the area really near to the sea and made some adjustment on the tour.

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We took tram for our tour today. The tram route 3T or 3B allow you to enjoy sightseeing places in the Helsinki with less money paid and less body energy used. We bought a day tourist ticket for this trip at the Tourist office. We on board the tram at the station near to our hostel then just followed the route look at the sightseeing places according to the 3T or 3B tram brochure. This one day tourist ticket allows us jump in to any route’s tram anytime between 24 hours without paying any more fees. Therefore, when the tram stopped at some station near to the sightseeing which we decided to pay a visit we just walk out from tram and went to it.

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When we were arrived jetty at Market Square, we found that we still got time for a little walk. Therefore, we decided walked around the area near from the Market square. Still remember the brochures I mentioned before? You can get it from the tourist office or you can order them through email and it is free of charge. We went to those sightseeing places according to those brochures. From the Market Square we walked ahead to the Esplanade park. Buildings in Helsinki mostly are in 19th century design. They are beautiful, you can have a look on photos I attached here. For example, a restaurant we came across during our walking tour, Kappeli Restaurant. It was built in the year 1867 and has been extended and modernised many times. But, people here care about their heritage; although they extended it you still can see those 19th century design remained well.

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Before I continue, do you remember the children photo I posted on my previous topic? Have you noticed their suit? Yes, that is Finnish winter suit for kids. It made of water proof, wind proof materials. This will ensure kids will not get cold while they are playing outside during winter. Do you notice their shoes? That is rubber boots. Boots made of real rubber, water proof and wind proof. It keep kids warm all the time. We felt that was special, maybe we never saw that before in Malaysia. However, my supervisor told me the other way round. You only can find this kind of winter suit for kid in Finland. Look at the photo again, see what is the different.

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We followed the brochure that we got from tourist office yesterday began our tour from the jetty. Suomenlinna is a living district that is home to 850 city residents. So, don’t be surprised when you saw school, children play ground there. Most of the places were closed during winter. These places only open during summer, what a pity to us. We walked ahead to the Suomenlinna Museum which near to waterbus terminal at Artillery Bay Quay. There are several museums also but closed during winter. The Suomenlinna museum is located at the main island and it exhibits the history of the fortress from 1700s until now. You can see how the construction of the fortress, the dry dock, how the archipelago fleet built there and the daily life of the defence force town on the island.

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Our first sightseeing place in Helsinki was Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland). After breakfast at hostel, we walked to the Market Square and on board the municipal ferry to Suomenlinna. The weather was fine but windy because Helsinki is close to sea side. The ferries depart from Market Square to Suomenlinna once an hour in winter time however three times in an hour during summer time. The ferries accept Helsinki Card, however, we don’t buy it for our trip because we were worry we can’t visit any more sights seeing after Suomenlinna trip. The Helsinki Card just like Turku Card I have mentioned before, you can buy it at tourist office or places showing “Helsinki Card”. The journey took about fifteen minutes from Market Square to arrive at Jetty Barracks.
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After checked in our hostel, we started to hunt for our lunch. From the hostel (Uudenmaankatu) we walked a bit further down then made a right turn to Annankatu. According to the hostel staff, there are many restaurants along this road. Yes, she was right. There are a lot. We decided to walk further down and then only chose which restaurant we want to go. At last we stop at one of the restaurants; New Bamboo Centre, a Chinese restaurant. We have no idea this restaurant is own by Malaysian at first. After be a while inside the restaurant I start to curious because I heard Jacky Cheung Hok Yau’s songs was played in that restaurant.

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