Bugs and other little friends...
Many of you may have read my blog post "World record..." wherein bugs play a big role.
Well, it's not the only time I've come across as a bug magnet, couple of cute (hah) stories left hereto:
There was this one night I came home from the night club in Australia. Took a shower, went to bed and for some reason I actually took the bed cover off lights still on. I went to bed, put my head on my pillow, just about to fall asleep when.. I feel as if something just isn't right. I was so tired but felt like I have to open my eyes before switching off the night light.. What's going on?
It must have been my sixth sense or something that gave me a warning sign as when I opened my eyes I saw this huge, big a** spider staring me in the eyes, right there, on the next pillow, I am quite sure, my heart skipped a few beats and I may have had a minor heart attack!
I was about to scream, it took all my self control not to do that, but I didn't as I was afraid that huge thing might just jump on me if I screamed. There are, after all, spiders that can jump!
So, slowly - veeery slowly, I crawl out of the bed, keeping my eyes on the spider, back out of the room hoping it doesn't disappear and probably made a record in running to the pantry and getting a bucket. Got back to the room, YES! It's still there, good! Why is that good? Well, if it wasn't there, then I had to look for it as it would have been somewhere.
Why a bucket, why not a baseball bat? I actually thought about that at first, when the first panic attack took place... but; had I swung it with a bat and missed... I don't even want to think about its revenge!
Instead of being a violent baseball bat killer, I decided to put the bucket on top of the pillow and catch the damn spider.
It took all my courage to do that but I did it! I was way too scared just to shake it out of the door so I throw them all; the pillow, the bucket and the spider out of the balcony! (My apartment was on 3-storey building, covering the top floor.) After doing that I realized that someone may wonder the following morning why an earth there is a pillow and a bucket on our front yard - well, they'll never know it was me I hope, hey, there were 2 other floors too.
After that experience, trust me when I say, I checked my room each night at least 5 times before going to bed!
Lesson learnt: check out your room, also the bed before going to sleep in a tropical country where there are dangerous species!
Then it's easy to go to bed and be this happy:
Mr. Frog
Even in Finland I feel like creatures come to me. I guess I should be flattered, but no, I'm not.
There was this one night earlier this summer, I was in my bed room working on my blog when all of a sudden I hear this scream! Can I say scream if it came from my from my now already adult son's mouth? Well, it sounded like screaming. I see him running in to my room and he is like me, very talkative and outspoken but for once he couldn't get a word out of his mouth. His hands were waiving in the air, appointing to his room but he's stuttering: There is...there's ...in my room, there, OMG! I was on my computer and.. this... and.. this, this..frog! It just jumped on my laptop!
Me: "Say what now? Take a deep breath, say that again?"
There is a frog in your room and it did what? It actually jumped on his laptop! I didn't believe it, it sounded so strange. We walked into his room and there it was, looking at us as if it was all natural that it sits in my son's room, just chillin... I couldn't stop laughing, his reaction was hilarious, this small, cute little frog was probably as scared as my son was. Now it was looking at me; Can you please save me?
What happened? Of course I saved the Frog Prince. Used the bucket technique - again.
Did I kiss it? No, don't need another prince. :)
Camping with a friend
About a year ago I was hiking in Finland, in a national park called Nuuksio.
I love hiking and try to go to my hiking trips many times every summer. This time it was a quick, only 1 night trip and luckily I soon found a beautiful spot for my tent, not even that far from the fire spot and even the outhouse wasn't too far.
It was a beautiful summer/early fall evening, so I wanted to go outside and take some photos... so I stepped out of the tent for maybe 5 minutes.
Because there are lots of ticks (that spread borreliosis) in Finnish forests, I always knock my tent wall a few times with my walking stick (I always have one when hiking, helps with balancing myself when carrying a heavy backbag in the woods) before I get in, so that there won't be any tick by the doorway.
That's what I did also this time when I came back to my tent. Then I unzipped the "door" and was about to enter when I felt as if I saw something moving, which was a silly thought as I was on my trip by myself.
I looked again and then I saw it! There was a mouse inside my tent! It was jumping around the tent and suddenly it disappeared! No, not into my sleeping bag!! I can't believe it, a mouse, in my tent - no way, how an earth did it even get in? I'm always very careful not to leave the door open as I hate spiders and bugs etc.
Oh, there it is! I see it jumping around, again. At first it looked like it was just having fun and jumping around like a miniature kangaroo. But no, that poor little thing was probably more scared than I was and was running around like a headless chicken, trying to decide what to do next.
It was cute, I admit that now that I think about it, but wild mice spread diseases so I think they're ok as long as they don't come to my territory. So I had to get it out - luckily it wasn't in my sleeping bag - so I was trying to guide it towards the door way..
I think I even tried talking to it.. I just wanted it out and wanted to get back to my tent. Finally it realized that the door is actually open for it to run back to freedom. So it left, no stopping and saying good bye, but I actually saw a hole in the ground wherein it then disappeared, probably it was its home base.
Now I had to empty my tent in order to see if there were any mouse droppings there, but no, thank goodness, there wasn't any. I then realized that I left the zipper open, just enough for it to enter.
I still wondered why it wanted to come in, when it had the entire forest to enjoy. Oh, my donuts!! I very rarely eat anything baked, and this one time I brought these gluten-free donuts to enjoy with my evening tea and what happened? They smelled so good that even wild life comes into my tent rather than stays outside. Of course, I checked the donut bag and yes, there was a little hole in the corner, little bugger had eaten it. Damn it! As if I didn't want to eat my donuts. Well, I didn't, not this time. Guess what was it that I did next?
Yes, I throw the donuts to the woods, I'm sure the mouse invited its entire family for the feast...
Later that night when I was reading my book, I heard scratching noise outside. No way! It actually wanted to come back, and I found myself talking to a mouse - it was outside, I was inside.. so if there was another wanderer somewhere nearby, they probably thought I was either insane and talking to myself or talking on the phone but not making sense, either way, I realized later that it must have sounded idiotic. "C'mon little fellow, go away, I'm not letting you in again!"... right. Just a lonely crazy woman talking by herself. Great. I didn't loose only my donuts but my reputation as well!
At least the mouse had gluten-free donuts so no stomach pain, that makes me a true animal friend, right?!
Best candy ever!
By the way, do you know what is Finnish people's favorite candy? It's called Salmiakki. We make drink shots out of it, we eat them, we can't live without them if we live abroad... so when I lived in Australia, my parents used to send me some salmiakki from Finland. It' salted liquirce, which has a little bit of spicy flavor to it. It really is GOOD! I love it and always take some with me to my trips around the world.
So, as you can imagine, when I had the mail package full of salmiakki all the way from Finland to Australia, it really was like a huge treasure, as if I had all the xmas presents of 5 years at once.
The generous person that I am, I wanted to share my precious with my friends. I had talked about salmiakki for the last month when waiting for that package to come.. so I gave some tasting to my friends, although I was a bit worried if they want to eat them all., so I told them that only couple of candies/person.
Well, that didn't go as planned!
Those ungrateful people spit them out! O-M-G! My precious! Then, they begun to yell at me, fuming: You're trying to poison us! You're trying to kill us!!
Excuse me?! What the h**l??
I just gave you some of the best candy in the world! Based on their facial expressions and salmiakki that was spit to the golden sands of Gold Coast, they disagreed with me. Could it be possible that there are people that don't love salmiakki at all? I guess so. Although it is still somewhat unclear to me how someone doesn't like it.
As if I tried to poison anyone, I was being NICE!
Lesson learnt, once again, don't be nice and give your salmiakki to others unless you're sure they actually appreciate it!
Oh, and did you notice, the name of the candy: salMIAkki!
It has my name on it, so it HAS TO BE GOOD!
Next time you visit Finland, make sure you try some. Or let me know your address and I just might send you some!
By the way, read what a word-famous blogger @landlopers aka Matt Long said about salmiakki when he visited Finland:
http://landlopers.com/2016/04/17/helsinki-food-tour
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What's next?
..As I told you on my previous blog posts, I'll be going to my Asia tour in less than 4 weeks and will be writing shorter stories of daily events along the way and post them much more often than these posts.
So, please, hang in there, I will tell you about my first hotel in only about 4 weeks. That hotel is cool & hot, fab & hip and it has the best sunsets ever!
What is it?
Well, come back and you'll find out.
Thank you for reading my story. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please, feel free to share the link to your friends and connections. I've only written few stories and I will soon reach 1000 readers, that is a lot for a new blog, so I have to say THANK YOU dear readers!By the way, I just finished Savannah Grace's book "I grew my boobs in China" - that book is just amazing! You have to read it!
And if you are into traveling and you are on Twitter, may I suggest that you join our fantastic #TRLT - The Road Less Travelled chat group on Tuesdays. It is so much fun - don't miss it! (the chat is run by Savannah, the author of above mentioned book)
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Smile and world smiles back!
xoxo!
Mia
