The Travels of Päivi and Santeri

Thailand visa-run system humiliates foreigners and favours sex tourists making long-stay in Thailand unpleasantly bureaucratic and erratic. Yesterday we travelled to Myanmar, which is another neighbouring military dictatorship. Our motivation was to try out the so called visa-run. We wanted to test and document it so that you don’t have to do it unless you really want to. All foreigners staying in Thailand are forced to travel every 1-3 months to the border, exit the country, and return with a new stamp in their passport. Immigration rules enforce this procedure, and the penalty of failing to do so is 500 baht/day (~ 11 €). Those who travel to Thailand for work, retirement, or for renting a wife are granted a 3-month stay between the visa-runs. Ordinary long-stay tourists usually have to do the trip every month. The Argentinian visa system gives an example of another extreme. There you can overstay as long as you wish. When you leave the country you just have to pay a US 15$ fine

We have been told a few times in travel-related Internet discussion forums that when we travel outside Finland, we are guests. Therefore we must refrain from expressing any opinions on that country or its people unless our view is positive. Criticism and especially trying to right wrongs is not seen as acceptable behaviour of a guest. Are we guests or tourists? Let us consider a bit more deeply the concept of ‘guest’. Traditionally it refers to a person who is invited to a country or a home by a host. How many people have actually been invited to visit a country? Certainly diplomats, visiting governors of other nations, some sportsmen and other celebrities. But what about regular tourists on their holiday?

It's no news that Thailand is touristy. It has been that way for decades, but still the number of holiday-makers is disconcerting to us.

Spain is the most dangerous country in the world. It is the only country where we have been robbed.

We found ourselves back in Southeast Asia (SEA) seeking refuge from the evils of the world after mugging in Panama City . The borders had just re-opened and we started from Malaysia where many things had changed since our previous visits in 2006 , 2011 , 2016 , and 2017 .

Recent lack of freedom in Thailand have been business as usual in Singapore for years. Both countries are dictatorships. [Suomeksi] We visited Singapore for a few days trying to sort out Thailand visa mess. The 30-day permission to stay had to be changed to a visa that could then—possibly—be somehow extended. Not too complicated, fortunately. And the obvious motivation behind this seems to be ripping off tourists.

Myanmar behind the scenes: the land of holy gold and an exotic paradise for the US senior citizens. We arrived in Myanmar thinking about travelling a bit around, visiting some temples, and enjoying similar kind of vegetarian delicacies like in Buddhist Laos. After just resting three weeks in Yangon, we are happy to leave and continue our travels.

Phnom Penh in Cambodia is a relatively hassle-free long-stay destination thanks to corruption especially for global nomads. We have had a pleasant chance to meet our friends in Cambodia this year. First Bill and Betty came over from the US on their six month tour around China and South-East Asia. Together we explored Phnom Penh and Angkor, and made a virtual tour to Angkor temples . Bill & Betty travel a lot spending around half a year abroad. We met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we both used to live. You can read about Bill’s and Betty’s travels at Bill’s blog . After the first of May came Helena who took care of Santeri when he was a baby. Helena is living in Kuala Lumpur where we celebrated last Christmas with her family. Helena used to live in China for some years, and according to her Phnom Penh is very much alike. She had been travelling in the neighbouring countries but this was her first visit to Cambodia.

Laos is a paradise for vegans and sportslovers. The downside is only one month visa. We spent a month chilling out in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The place is fabulous if you don´t long for any activities. There is nothing special to do except enjoy the laid-back Lao lifestyle.

For female travellers, India is unwelcoming. Double standards, restrictions and taboos surrounding sexual behaviour make many Indian males ticking time bombs.

Read the 4 reasons why global nomads don't buy world travel insurance and learn how to do without, while enjoying peace of mind on the road.

Travelling to Tibet by the new Qinghai-Tibet railway was awesome and easy. No notorious travel permits were needed. Tibet itself with its mountainous scenery and minority people reminded us of Bolivia, which we love, except that it was way more touristy. Still, at least the train trip was worthwhile.

Travelling to Sri Lanka is like going back in time. There are not too many tourists around and the atmosphere is laid-back. It is like Thailand some 20+ years ago.

Visiting Placencia and San Ignacio in Belize.

ASUS does not have international or actually any kind of warranty outside the country of purchase. They just tell you to go where you bought it. Our previous laptop broke about 1,5 years ago. It was a no-brand one with just one year warranty. When we were selecting the new one, we wanted to have one with two years international warranty to make sure it would serve us for at least that time. After comparing various models and their warranty conditions we ended up trusting in ASUS. The laptop had quite a good price-quality ratio while it was not broken. There were minor compatibility issues with sound card which never worked for simultaneous playback of midi’s and recording the output to audio. Some drivers that came with the laptop were crappy and others crappier, but without using them it was pretty OK.

The absolute highlight of our travels in South-East Asia has been meeting our friends. First Martijn and Uswa came to see us in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and now Bill and Betty in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Bill and Betty wanted to see the famous temple area of Angkor so we joined the caravan and headed to Siem Reap. The bus ride was slow even though the roads were pretty good. The 225-kilometre-ride took seven hours.

Kampung life in a chinese-run Takuli chili farm on Borneo, Malaysia. We spent four months in a farm in the middle of nowhere enjoying immensely peace, quiet, the lack of internet, our own compost, washing with rainwater, and the local laid-back rhythm of life.

Ulaanbaatar’s city centre is Soviet-style. One part filled with dilapidated apartment buildings and the other with gers (or yurt, a kind of tent). After living seven months in a hotel in Cambodia and six months in Thailand , we thought it would be great to try something else for a while: hospitality exchange and Mongolia.