SCANDINAVIA 2018 - HELSINKI

Our flights KUL-DOH-HEL departed on time and landed 15 minutes earlier. Overall the flight/landing at Hamad International Airport, Doha, and Helsinki Vantaa were smooth. We exited the aircraft and boarded a bus that ferried us to the arrival building.

After passport control and collected our luggage we followed the signage to the train station which is situated below the airport. A regional ticket (EUR 5,00) is required for journeys from the airport to Helsinki Central Railway Station and vice versa.  Tickets can be purchase from HSL ticket machines at the train station entrance between T1 and T2 terminals. 

Helsinki Central Railway Station (Helsinki Helsingfors).

Checked-in here...

That evening we took a stroll around the city center even though the temperature was -3C. Hard Rock Cafe Helsinki was just behind our hotel. So were Stockman/ Stockwoman, Sokos, and other shopping malls.

The next day we followed the Helsinki Panorama Sightseeing Tour. The bus only stopped at the Temppeleaukio Church (Rock Church).

Immediately after completing the excursion, we went to Kamppi Center. There we can find the Kamppi Chapel of Silence situated near the entrance of the Center.

We also had our early dinner at Singapore Hot Wok inside Kamppi Center, a halal eatery recommended by the Malaysian Embassy when I visited Helsinki way back in 2008. It's still operating.

On our third day in Helsinki, we took the ferry to Suomenlinna, a world heritage site. The fare for a return ferry trip is EUR5,00. Tickets can be bought from the ticket machine at the ferry terminal.

On our trip back from Suomenlinna we saw this...

Immediately after disembarking the ferry, we hang out at the Old Market Hall and the Market Square.

The following morning we checked out of the hotel and took the train to Helsinki Airport for our flight to Stockholm Arlanda.

SCANDINAVIA 2018 - PREPARATION

For 2018, I've decided to travel to the Scandinavian countries and revisited Amsterdam. I've been to Helsinki and Stockholm before but on a business trip which limits me to explore these places.

Since its a DIY trip/travel, bookings of flights, hotels, trains, and tours were done online earlier. Flight tickets KUL-HEL-AMS-KUL (Qatar Airways) were booked in June 2017. Whereas tickets HEL-ARL (SAS) and BGO-AMS (KLM) were booked in October 2017. All hotels were booked online using booking.com and the hotel site. Train tickets from Stockholm-Goteborg, Goteborg-Oslo, and Oslo-Bergen were booked online in December 2017 and January 2018 respectively.

Again for this trip, booked portable wifi (Samurai) from Visondata.

Even though Sweden and Norway use Swedish Krona and Norwegian Krone, I just exchange to Euros only because both countries are going cashless especially for Sweden.

BANGKOK 2017

Three of us went on a holiday to Bangkok in November 2017. As usual booked the Samurai Pocket Wifi.

Arrived DMK and exit door 6 to board the A1 BMTA Bus to Mo Chit BTS towards Siam and National Stadium...

Mo Chit BTS.

Checked-in here...

We had our lunch here (twice).

Did some sightseeing and shopping..,
From National Stadium took the BTS Silom Line (to Bang Wa) to Sala Daeng and walk to Patpong.

Went to Pratunam Market. Took the BTS Silom Line (to Bang Wa) from National Stadium to Siam. Then took the BTS Sukhumvit Line (to Samrong) to Chit Lom. From there walk to Pratunam Market. 

Checked-out of the hotel on our third day and took the BTS to Mo Chit and the A1 Bus to DMK.

There are 2 Halal Food outlets at DMK namely Au We White Coffee and Bangmad. The later only caters for take-away.

But we had our lunch here at Au We White Coffee.

The prayer room is very large and clean.

The flight home was smooth.