Dis-Organised Train of Thoughts: Tervetuola Finland

Or Welcome to Finland in Finnish.

I was selected for a work related business trip to visit one of our suppliers in Finland. This is to coincide with my company’s policy to introduce the latest product from the supplier as well as a special anniversary for the supplier.

The journey starts from KLIA to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. Survanabhumi is the newly launched airport but I wasn’t impressed with what I saw. Granted that minimilasim is IN today but to have a feel that (to quote from a traveling companion) – “It felt that you’re boarding the aircraft from under an expressway flyover”. This is due to the design and finishing of the airport that they utilizes only the concrete rendering without any cladding or wall paints, giving an industrial look to it.

The flight to Finland wasn’t any better. They use the Boeing MD 11 aircraft with no individual entertainment (only communal as per 10 years ago) plus the flight attendants were way past expiration (must have been a looker 30 years ago). The most apt title to them would be “post-menopausal flight attendant”. Some of them were that old!!

At least when we reached Helsinki the sun was out. Being close to the Arctic line, the sun sets until close to midnite and rises again at around 2am. On the northern part of the country above the Arctic line, 24 hrs sunlight are the norm for the duration of the summer. We have to take another connecting flight to get to our destination, Joenssu using a Fokker aircraft ala Firefly. We reached and checked in at around 10 pm, and I managed to hit the sack at 12 am, almost 24hrs since I got up. I forced myself to sleep, managing at least 4 hrs of sleep before waking up in the morning.

We had a full day at our hosts manufacturing facility, plus being treated to dinner at their summer cottage. The summer cottage was set out on a lake, where there were 180,000 of lakes in Finland. It was such a cosy summer cottage, but it rained when we were there. Our hosts insist that we try the sauna, and when in Finland do as the Finn do (apart from being naked in the sauna). From their explanation, the Finn would time sometime in the sauna, say about 15 minutes, then get out and have a dip in the lake, and repeats it a few times. Just to note that it was about 10^oC when we were there (and it was in the middle of summer!!) so the water temperature was a few degrees below that, so no way I’m going to freeze my b**ls in the water. They go to the extreme of sauna & ice swimming or rolling in the snow during winter !!

Lukkoranta Summer Cottage

Lake View

Cosy Living Room

Sauna - The Original Article

The next day, after some program at their facility, we were driven to Savonlinna, where we visited the Olavlinna Castle and the Retretti Art Gallery. The castle is the oldest preserved medieval castle in Finland, with its history changing hands between the Russians and the Swedish. Savonlinna used to be the border town between Russia & Finland when it was under Swedish control. There was an Opera Festival taking place in the courtyard of the castle, hence that part was off limits. But being a remote castle, it was used as a garrison rather than the royalties. It wasn’t as extravagant as most of the castle that I’ve visited.

The art gallery was an eye opener. As Finland is mostly flat with rock foundation, they have actually bored into the rock foundation and made an art gallery underground. It was quite interesting being in an underground gallery. Unfortunately, no cameras is allowed in the gallery.