Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya (I’m just sweating
from all that) or in short Centara is located in the south end of Pattaya in
the Naklua area. Centara is very much a five star hotel as it is rated. The
whole hotel has a unique marine theme; all 165 rooms are furnished in Italian
styled furniture. The hotel itself features pools, beach, Jacuzzis, and
waterpark for the kids, conference rooms, tennis courts, multiple restaurants
and award winning spa and so much more. The real hotspot for the hotel itself
is the pool area, which resembles a jungle with a river and waterfalls,
pathways that lead you to the Wong Amat beach in Naklua. Room prices start off from about 2,500 Thai
baht in the low season; prices of course vary depending on the season. I
recommend anyone with extra cash traveling to Pattaya to book a room here as it
is alone stands out from the skyscraper skyline that is Pattaya now a days. The superb facilities and services offer everything to all ages!
Summing up Singapore in one word can’t be done, there so
much going on at the same time it’s just impossible. I mean look at the place,
it doesn’t have one center, it doesn’t have one main street, it doesn’t have
one main language, it doesn’t have one main culture and I can keep going on
with this and that’s what makes it very special.
Singapore is a fusion of cultures, languages and everything
else. If I had to describe it to someone I would say Singapore is the West of
the East. By this I mean it is the one plot of land here in South East Asia
that just does not fit in and is more reminiscent of a Western country. Once
you step in to the country first thing you realize is that everyone speaks
English and this is really bizarre as it is, the English is not your typical
perfect English but rather the perfect English if an Asian person spoke it and
that’s exactly what it is. They don’t make mistakes but you also don’t get the
sense that it would be their first language but it is! Second thing you notice is there is the
diversity of the population it’s fantastic, you don’t get the feeling that
‘’yep, I’m the tourist and I stick out like a sore thumb’’ well besides my huge
travel backpack of course and last if not actually first the overall cleanness
of the whole place. It’s outstanding, being used to the streets of Bangkok
(which by the way has been cleaned up in the recent years) I was so surprised
how it has stayed so clean. But there’s a logical explanation for it all and
that is the people actually care to obey rules and laws, again this is
something different from all the neighboring countries, I mean live ten years
in South East Asia and then go to a place and you see its clean and people
actually care about rules, it really is something different.
Once we had arrived and made our way through the extensive
and impressive metro system to our hotel we immediately left for town and of
course the Marina Bay. Funny story time; so once we get to the Marina Bay we
started to ponder where the infamous Marina Bay Sands Hotel building was, there
was plenty of signs inside the metro tunnels pointing different directions where
it would be, and once on the escalator out of the tunnels I look straight up
and was awe struck, I told my friend Juho ‘’Look up!’’, we were literally
inside one of the columns of it heading out of, it was amazing! I couldn’t get
my eyes of the building itself, it really is captivating and stunning. My whole
entire time there in I just couldn’t stop staring at the intricacies of the
architectural marvel of it all. The Marina Bay itself is full of life all
around it, there’s restaurants, bars, people and music. I can understand that
locals would want to come there every day and spend quality time with friends.
It has such a hip and swanky feel to it as well, plus you don’t even notice
tourists because you can’t separate them from the locals. The fusion of culture
once again proves its worth.
We stopped off at the foot of the Marina Bay Sands to eat
some pizza and drink quality beer in an Australian street bar. All the people
seemed to be enjoying their after work beverages with light snacks inside the
bar and outside of it you had the stunning view of the bay and watching all the
people go by you really don’t get the feeling that you are in Asia besides the
tropical hot weather. The Marina Bay itself has a lights and water show every
day at 8pm and 9.30pm, this show has lots of smoke, lights and music but
honestly not too much action, it worth seeing once and then you kind of realize
it’s something perhaps to captivate the tourists who walk by. After the dinner
we made our way around the marina just taking in the massive buildings opposite
of the Marina Bay Sands, this is where you realize Singapore is truly an
architect’s dream place, I personally don’t know anything about architecture
because I can’t even draw a square or circle. All the massive buildings hold
some of the world’s largest company’s logos, Bank of America, HSBC, UBS and so
many more. As our tour of the bay was coming to an end and the day itself huge
fireworks went off opposite of us at the very opposite side of the bay, this is
when we came to realize that it was the official opening of the 28th
South East Asia games, these are essentially the Olympics for the countries in
the region.
So day two and we had the whole day ahead of us, we went in
for some brunch at a quality little house just couple blocks from our hotel
next to the little India district. Ironically this turned out to be one of the
more popular brunch spots after asking around and it definitely was just that,
people queued in large number and the food itself was amazing for the life of
me I can’t remember the name of the place (bad blogger Aleksi!). Once again I
found myself pondering and watching as there was an even mix different
ethnicities of people, I just couldn’t help being stunned by this my whole time
in Singapore. All I could think was ‘’who are the people of Singapore!’’. To
open up a bit about this you have to realize Singapore is tiny and small
however it has little India district and China town and then a large expat
community all intertwined into one population. We didn’t have a clue where to
go besides looking at the map, like in typical me fashion I didn’t do any
research where to go and what to see. I just pointed to a map and thought that
place seems like there’s going to be something there, this place was called Orchard
road, full of shopping malls and people, so naturally we did some shopping. The
one main thing I notice about the shopping malls and building of Singapore is
that they blend in perfectly with the city outlook. Majority of the time you
wouldn’t even know there a mall inside some of the buildings wall, and honestly
I had mixed feelings about it. I just didn’t like the idea of not knowing where
I can go and shop and eat; a mall should look like a mall!
As shopping was done we once again had the task of finding a
place to go eat dinner, we could have gone to China town or any other district
but we just came to the easy conclusion again that Marina bay it is, it’s just
too good of a place not to go twice in one weekend. As I said before the
building and its surroundings is just too captivating, I personally didn’t even
feel the need to go up on top of it to get the view in (or pay the 25$ cover
charge), the Marina itself holds tons of rooftop bars to get in views and you
could go to anyone of them as I asked around and they would all be worth it.
Singapore was a delight and the perfect get away, if you happened to have some
extra cash lying around I’m all for it and I urge anyone who has not been to at
least visit.
There’s also one other thing I always think to myself being
a traveling former expat child, would I live here? The answer in Singapore’s
case is a,no. It’s just too safe, too clean, just too much somehow. I don’t
like rules or at least following them always, no one j-walk’s (hell we even do
that in Finland!), and no one litter’s, yes littering is bad but I’m making a
point here. I felt that if there was an empty street and I crossed in the
middle of it someone would yell from their window ‘’hey! you can’t do that go
back!’’, this is just the feeling I get. I guess I’m used to Bangkok, Jakarta
and all the other less developed areas, they have raised me in a different way
from Singapore. Singapore is my mind from what I saw meant for the business
savvy people, working there in the business world seems like the optimal thing
to do, the business district is so diverse and developed. Living there as
something else I just don’t see it myself, I couldn’t. Not because I don’t want
to but because I wouldn’t know how to, now you can say I’m biased which is most
likely true and I don’t know until first hand experiencing it but this is my
opinion and how I see it, hopefully someday I can be proven wrong or otherwise.
But in my book Singapore gets a huge gold star, and I will definitely be back!
Now the best for the last!
Yes me and Juho went to Ayia Napa, Cyprus on the 23.8 and came back early mornig this Saturday. All I can say is I wouldn't mind going back, my body is saying no but every other part of me wants back. So basically as you could imagine it was a very drunken and boozy trip. Ayia Napa is a great party place with lots of young people and activities are arranged from day time to night time in the clubs and bars.
Me and juho's or my day consisted of late night partying sleeping maybe five hours (if that) going out to hang around town and wait for Juho to wake up or then wake him up. Then we would go eat, go hangout at the beach, do some shopping and so on and then go out to party again. We also rented some scooters for couple days to check out the whole of Ayia Napa.
On one of the days we also went on a party boat where you basically go on a boat with hundred something other people for five hours, they have two bars, music, contest's, event's and two or three swimming stops in the see through water, loved it!
On our journey we partied with some British guys, Swedish, Norwegian and so on. Mainly we made good friends with a group of Swedish guys on basically the first night and from then on we spent every night with them. Also it helped that our hotel was somewhat of a party hotel so you could basically go on strangers doors and get to know them by walking in.
Who wouldn't want to go out everyday in shorts, tank top and drink cheap cocktails.
Yes I've been m.i.a. for a while (again) but I have a very good reason, which I will share naturally share with you!
As the last two weeks of my holiday came to an end, I attended the Weekend music festival on the 16-17.8, then the following week I came back to Porvoo for a very hectic four days as I had to do some tutor duties, taking in exchange students and helping them out during orientation week aaaand finally that weeks Friday I went for a 8 day holiday to Ayia Napa, Cyprus and came back just now early Saturday morning. So there, very hectic yes, but lots of fun!
So I thought I'd do three post's one for weekend festival, Porvoo week and Ayia Napa.
The Weekend Festival was in Kyläsaari, Helsinki on Friday and Saturday, this is a electronic music festival for the one who don't know haha. On Friday the day was headlined such artists as Example, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Calvin Harris and Armin Van Buuren. I went on Friday with Erik and we saw example, and Calvin Harris, as there was five different stages and the main artist's on two big stages it was a bit hard to decide where to go. Saturday Erik couldn't make it as he had his own gig, so I got some last minute company from my friend Camilla and we went to see David Guetta only as we arrived so late, but I can tell you it was worth the wait and he pulled of a memorable gig!
hey hooo. So today I've come to realize some thing's and I've had a very random day on my own here at home just thinking about stuff going on in my life right now. What I concluded from all this.....I want to be a more positive with what I have and stop worrying about stuff that I shouldn't let affect me and let loose, and what better time for this is SUMMER!
It's been a really gloomy last week with rain and what not, last week I met up with friends and my buddies I haven't seen for what seems like ages (all my friends studying and living overseas particularly), so that's where my week went and work. Oh, and of course on Friday we went with Niko and Juho to see A$AP Rocky at Circus and it was SICK!!
I decided to make this post more summer heavy and oriented, basically pictures of me, what and where I have been during the sunnier days of this summer so far! and for everyone else I hope you guys can just reinforce on the positive in your lives and just make this summer just like you should make every summer never forgetful , take risk's, do dumb shit, have fun and best of all share that all with your loved ones! (p.s. my family is finally coming to Finland for the summer vacation this Tuesday, super stoked!)
As for this week it's midsummer on the weekend and as I said earlier, i'm heading off to Juho's cottage again with all my buddies on Thursday evening as Friday is a national holiday over here in Finland. I suppose i'll put my new found ''positiveness'' into full effect!
heeeelloooo!
Last weekend I spent my first weekend away from the city at Juho's cottage (mökki) in Orivesi near Tampere, and all I can say is, I really needed that! I love it, ever since I've been young I spent mostly all my summers at my own cottage and lately I haven't been going other than with friends couple times in the summer and the occasional winter visit. I don't know why but I love being in the forest near a lake or sea where you get to grill your own food, warm the sauna with wood that you chop yourself, get water from the lake and just doing all the small chores that don't feel like chores at all. Of course being in my (eerhhhm) prime age we do unfortunately a lot of drinking there also but it's all part of the good times and memories (or whatever's left haha)
Other than being at the cottage Friday through Sunday, on Saturday we went to Tampere to meet up with a few friends and just hangout in general and enjoy the sunny day. We stopped for the necessary ice cream and just strolled through Hämeenkatu (main street in Tampere). I don't know what it is about Tampere but I really like it and I've been there only a few times! Anyways great weekend and can't wait to go back there in under two week's again with friends for Midsummer's (Juhannus).
