Who is Moving to Helsinki???

Errr... NOT us.
Surprised?
Yes?
Especially since I went all the way to Helsinki to have a look-see. I was telling H that luckily the decision came towards the end of my trip (Wed, 2nd March), when there was only 2 days left. Otherwise, I really don't know what to do with so many days in Helsinki. Can't exactly be a tourist everyday, especially when I am not a museum person.I had actually spent the first week checking out the markets, Asian grocery stores, department stores, book shops etc to check out how much things costs, what is the variety etc.

I have to say that Helsinki is a very livable city, if you don't mind the cold winters (Brrrr... ). How else would the country be ranked the best in the world in the 2010 Newsweek survey based on health, economic dynamism, education, political environment and quality of life? It is also the second most stable country in the world. Read more about Finland at Wikipedia's page.

Remember my worries about moving there and the language? Well, really no need to worry!! Besides, everyone speaks English. The moment you hesistate, people will speak English to you. H was saying that this taxi driver of his, an Argentinian married to a Finnish girl was complaining that he has been there for over 5 years and yet he can't speak Finnish as everybody speaks English to him. The only thing I have to say is that you do need to learn to read - so that KNOW about discounts on magazines that is only printed in Finnish!

Asian grocery stores? NO problemo.
There are many around the Hakaniemi Metro Station. Right at the station, there's a kind of Pakistani/Indian grocery store (donno the name)- basmati rice, Thai Jasmine rice and some Chinese and Thai sauces amongst the halal items. Then there's Aseanic Trading on Kolmas Linja. This shop was recommended by the Thai owner of a Thai Food Stall. True enough, it was very well-stocked.... even more than some Jakarta supermarkets. There's even the dried lotus leaf for hor-yeep-fann and dried leaves for bak-chang. Kepoh Nomadic Mom struck up a conversation with the cashier - a Malaysian lady married to a Finn. Her bosses are all Malaysians, and according to her, there are about 300-400 Malaysians in Finland (very few!), and funnily she asked if I was planning to open a restaurant in Helsinki. Not far away, there is another Asian grocery store called Vii Voan stocking all the Vietnamese goodies amongst other things. And on the same road, there are two more Indian grocery stores. I'm told by the Malaysian lady that there is another one around the area....but I didn't check that one out. So between these 5 shops, you can actually buy all your Asian groceries to cook up a storm or perhaps a banquet!
The prices ? I thought they were quite reasonable..... probably because Jakarta is notorious for expensive imported items.
If you wanna eat Asian, you probably need to cook because we went to a Chinese restaurant in town and it really sucked. Big Time. Not to mention expensive. Our Euro 11 Fried noodle was really really sad. Even my son can fry better noodles.

How about English books? No problem too... And there's also the imported magazines... But then these days, don't really need to buy physical books when you can just download onto the iPad.

Departmental stores? Stockmann just has about everything though some things are kinda pricey. But there are more affordable ones lah... but I don't remember their names.

One thing I notice about Finland is that their household items and furniture is really really nice. You would probably think Scandinavian design. Actually, Finland is not Scandinavian. It is actually a Nordic country. Because we live sooooooooooooooo far from this place, we don't really know about their brands such as Pentik, Marimekko etc. But I have to say that they are lovely lovey lovey.

Transportation in Helsinki is great... Buses, Trams and Metro all run on time. Got around on my own okay. Not probs. But of course if you really move there, probably get a 4WD???

The only thing that deters people is the cost of living. Housing especially.... scarily high. Not to mention the tax. Read that it can be 60%!!! Wariow!

So where are we moving to?
Well, that deserves to have its own blog post!