On the road again...

The next round of travel will involve a tour of Asia.  I will spend seven weeks in India, two weeks each in the Philippines and Nepal, then a week of vacation in Vietnam and Singapore.  Flights between the US and Asia are rough and there's just no way to make them any easier.  

The first part of my journey was an overnight flight to London.  My flight arrived just before 6AM and was faced with a seven-hour layover.  I debated whether it would be worthwhile to venture into the city but then decided against it.  The college-aged me would have definitely jumped at any opportunity to run around London for a couple hours, but the world feels smaller now.  I will have plenty of other opportunities to visit London again in the future. 

The next challenge involved staying awake in the British Airways lounge while I killed time during the extended layover.  I watched a little TV on my computer until the other travelers arrived and took all the Internet bandwidth!  By lunchtime, all I wanted to do was take a shower and sleep.  

My second flight to Hyderabad felt really long and I, once again, couldn't sleep. I get so jealous of the people who can just doze in any airplane. Arrival in India the next morning had me feeling like a zombie but at least the passport control line was quick and easy (an amazing feat for India...)!

On the way to the hotel, I noticed this strange fish-shaped building along the side of the highway and I thought I had completely gone insane. 

Fish building in Hyderabad

Turns out, it wasn't just my imagination.  This building is the office of the National Fisheries Development Board.  First question: What is a land-locked city in the middle of India doing with a fisheries development board?  Second question: Has this architect ever heard of subtlety!? 

I arrived at the hotel around 5:30 in the morning - two days after departing and without any real sleep.  I set my alarm for noon and slept like a rock.  

Unfortunately, jet lag is the next challenge to conquer and it is not easy when traveling to a place that is 10.5 hours ahead of my sleep schedule.  It usually takes almost a week for me to get completely accustomed to Asia time because I am literally flipping my internal clock.  During the transition, I wake up SUPER early (3AM) and start to feel like a drunk person by 4 PM.  Needless to say, the first couple days of work are never very productive during the mid-afternoon until I get my second wind.  

Visiting Asia from the United States is always an exotic experience but I wonder whether the biggest challenges are the long overnight flights and the jet lag.  Hopefully my sleep pattern will be back to normal soon. 

Helsinki, Finland

For some reason, I keep convincing myself that I’m too good for jetlag.  I’m also in a competition with nobody to visit as many countries as possible.  These two factors inspired my decision to book my flight via Helsinki and to spend my 10-hour layover exploring a new city. 

I arrived in Finland without any sleep on the flight (what else is new…) and my first stop was to the FinnAir executive lounge for a quick breakfast and some city research.  

I can't plan a day of sightseeing without first consulting Wikipedia

Once my planning was complete, I went through passport control and was shocked to see the border control agent writing down the dates of all my previous stamps to ensure that I never spend more than 90 days in the Eurozone region.  He also started questioning me about why I had traveled to so many random countries.  Even though I knew I was perfectly fine, I actually started getting a little nervous.  After discussing my past travels for about 5 minutes, he reluctantly let me through.

As I traveled into the city center, I started wondering why I was the subject of so much questioning at passport control.  Of all potential cities to “sneak” into Europe, would Helsinki really be a popular target?  Sure, the people are beautiful and the welfare state is generous, but I prefer a climate that is actually habitable for more than 3 months a year!

Once I arrived in the city center, orienting myself took longer than normal because I couldn’t find the street signs!  Eventually, I noticed these tiny white panels affixed to the side of buildings, which weren’t much bigger than a business card…Could you imagine trying to drive around and read a sign for Pohjoinen Rautatiekatu (yes, that’s actually a street name), which is set 2 meters back from the road?? 

That white thing next to the window is a street sign

Not surprising for Europe, the majority of sites to see happened to be churches, so I started with the most unusual-sounding one, Temple Church, which was carved into a rock formation.  Prior to entering, I witnessed a surprising conversation between a beggar and a security guard.  He approached her and stated that begging is not allowed so she would have to leave.  For me, Europe is synonymous with beggars, but the high Nordic taxes must have some benefit.

Here's the outside of Temple Church...the beggar is sitting right next to the rubbish can

When I entered, I was surprised to hear a children’s choir singing a hymn in English.  Obviously, it was for me :) …But really, I was shocked at how adept these people are at languages.  Score one for Finland. 

Here's the inside of the church.  Obviously not very well attended :-(

From Temple Church, I ventured to the Greek Orthodox church, which may be the most recognizable landmark in Helsinki (if there is such a thing as a ‘recognizable landmark’ in Helsinki).  Perched up on a hill, it is really a site to behold.  Since it was a Sunday, I was fortunate to experience yet another service.  This one was completely different than the last one – more social and free-flowing.  The building interior was small, but lofty.  No photos were allowed, so I will just remember the experience. 

This is what the outside of the Orthodox church looks like

Here's a view of the church from a nearby pier

On the way back to the city center, I stopped at the Helsinki Cathedral because it seemed like an important building.  Or, perhaps, people just like to get extra exercise on the way to their weekly services:

If I wasn't so tired, I would have sprinted up these stairs

The inside was very understated and it reminded me a little of the old protestant churches in New England.  One big difference is that each row of seats has its own door.  I wonder if they keep the hinges squeaky to prevent people from leaving early?

Do they lock people inside if they are bad? 

As I continued walking through the city, I also stumbled upon this unusual piece of architecture downtown: 

Mini Ikea store? 

It turned out to be another chapel (Fins must be very religious!).  Here's what the inside looks like: 

I'll just call this the Ikea chapel since I don't know the real name

By the time 4pm hit, I felt like I could easily fall asleep on a park bench somewhere.  I would imagine that this action in Finland may send me straight to prison, so instead, I decided to head back to the airport a little early so I could relax in the lounge until it was time for my flight. 

Although my visit to Helsinki was short, I saw more churches than I normally do in an entire month.  If I go back again, I’d probably use the city as an embarkation point for boat trips to Tallinn or St Petersburg.  Still, I'm glad I went and the best part of the stopover is that I can finally cross another country off my list!