14 August onwards sorta in Finland they say “hei” (pron. 'hey' as you might expect) for hello. the T shirts on the breakfast staff at the Grand Marina where I stayed 2 nights - said it in 4 languages - hei and hei - for finnish and swedish I assume - hello for UK and something else, I forget. Helsinki was a nice place to spend 3 nights, 2 days. My first night was spent at the Klaus K hotel- once I found the damn hotel (Helsinki central is so small I had virtually walked around the block where the hotel was sort of before getting directions and finding it - this despite a rudimentary map. it was a very groovy hotel in terms of design and décor - the room sort of surprised me as ... read more

Helsinki tends to have some very visible churches against the skyline which are really landmarks - the Uzpensky eastern orthodox one was quite near my hotel - red brick with golden orbs on the top - thhe St Nicholas cathedral - forget what it is called in Finnish - and could probably not pronounce it anyway - by contrast is blinding white.... read more

this is not actually from Hong Kong - but a day or so later from Helsinki. Getting away? - usual panic - all nighter at work, seeing the day arrive and the mist clearing off the harbour was a signal to go home- do not normally see that - from anywhere!. had not really packed and mucked around at home called a cab at 9am - flight at 10.45am so got there only an hour before - but no queue at all at QF which is really unusual - and they ended up switching the HK and Buenos Aires planes (both 747s) so they had to switch spanish food for chinese I guess! so it was 45 mins late leaving- but soem time made up en route so into HK some time after 6pm. the HK ... read more