FINLAND 
 
On 10th of February 1997, I remembered it was the 1st day of the Chinese New Year and my flight to Helsinki, Finland was nearly missed. 13 hours of flight with Finnair , stopping in bangkok then procced across India and all the way up to Finland itself. Finland is set on the Baltic Sea between Sweden to the west and Russia to the east. A tiny arm of Norway is flung over the top of Finland to join with  Russia. About one-third of Finland's land mass is above the Arctic Circle, which defines the area known as Lapland or Lappi. Finland is 65 percent covered by forest, 10 percent by lakes, and 8 percent by cultivated land (17 percent conurbations, industrial use, etc). The last Age left a lot of flat land but, towards the north, glaciers pushed riged mountains into the landscape, creating the famous rolling hills or tunturi of Lapland. The highest is Haltiatunturi, at just over 1,400 metres (4,000 ft) above sea level. The lakes are concentrated in south central Finland.

The capital of Finland is Helsinki. 94% of the local speaks Finnish and 6% speaks Swedish. As for their religion 87% of them are Evangelical Lutheran and 1% are Finnish Orthodox. Their time zone is Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) + 2 hrs or Eastern Stardard Time + 7 hrs. The currency being used in Finland is call the markka/Finnmark/FIM. The international dialing code is 358.

The moment I step into the airport the cold air from outside rushed in. Wow! It was cold, man!! Real cold. The toilet was even colder!!! I saw my friend the moment I passed the customs. As my winter coat was in my locked in my luggage. I walk out of the airport with just normal jeans and t-shirt. Can you imagine that!! COLD MAN!!!!! The roads were dark as where was no street lights so we had to drive carefully. The scenrio was breath taking. Snow..real white snow..with trees covered with it and cottages too. Just like something you see in a jigsaw puzzle. Hee! It was my 1st time in europe and my 1st sight of snow. Oh well.. The town I was in is Kotka and it's about 2 hour's drive from the Helsinki airport.
It's a town along the gulf of Finland. 

 
Click on the map to have a closer look at Kotka itself.

Here are some pictures taken in Finland but no personal pictures cos my friend's camera was spoilt! Arghh..!!!click on the button

Information on Kotka can be found here. Just click.