Bicycle Touring from Sweden to Singapore

Check my new blog - Bicycle Touring Sweden to Singapore

2011-08-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

This blog is inactive. Instead, check the website:

Bicycle Touring Sweden to Singapore
http://swedentosingapore.wordpress.com

All the best,
Viktor

Thanks

2010-04-22T12:13:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to write a post to thank people who have sent me books and magazines after I have been arriving to Sweden.

The first thank you goes to Bastian Döhling and his team at interesting.org who sent me "The Idea Book".

It is a truly inspiring book which stimulates creativity within all of us. Please check the website www.inspiring.org.

The second thank you is to Amresh who sent me the last edition of the NewMan magazine in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in which they wrote a big article about me and my adventure.

Please check the website: NewMan Magazine.

A short update:

I am back in Sweden, currently studying a course in engineering, and everything is fine. It has been great and tough coming back. Great to see home and family and friends, and tough because many of the things I do here in Gothenburg are not as funny as cycling. When cycling, new things happen every day, and looking back at it, it was a truly amazing time. However, now new challenges arrive I am ready to face them.

Thanks for having followed my blog!

Presentations and other stuff in Singapore!

2010-02-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

I write this from the airport in Kuala Lumpur. I arrived here from Singapore today and will catch a flight to Shanghai in about 8 hours. I have no idea why I am here already. I didnt want to pay for a night at hostel, but now I have to suffer for that. The floor is haaaard. In Shanghai I will stay a month, learn mandarin and do other stuff. That will be a good transition between my trip and school back home.

Last week in Singapore was characterized by a lot of presentations for different companies, like Maersk, Google, Ericsson, AstraZeneca, Nordea, Statoil. It was hectic and great. I met a lot of interesting people.

Martin, my fresh-caught Swedish friend in Singapore, bought my bicycle for my emotional value. That was a great addition to the funds. Thanks a lot Martin. It saved me the hassle of shipping it home. He promised he will take care of her! It was a liiiittle sad to get rid of it.

Lunch at a local place with bankers from Nordea.

I asked myself: "If I could choose one company, whichever, that I could make my presentation for, which one would it be?". I thought Google. So after a lot of phone calls and hassle I managed to find an e-mail-address of someone working at the Google office in Singapore and we arranged a presentation. It was funny, there were people from the office in San Fransisco joining in on the video conference. Before the presentation we did a round the table, and everyone said their name and were they came from. I forgot about the guys in the video conference, which they reminded me of just when I had started my presentation: "Heeey, I think you forgot someone here". That was very funny.

OK, with the Google logo in the background.

Haha, the European Chamber of Commerce invited me to speak at a networking night at Singapore Cricket Club. I had no idea it was a fancy event so I arrived with t-shirt, shorts and shoes full of holes. They said "Excuse me, I dont think you are appropriately dressed". "Oh", I said. "But I am going to speak here. Can you please bring me the organizer down?". She came and they offered me to lend a pair of jeans and a jacket. I said "No... I am not gonna do this. If I will speak for 200 nicely dressed guests I dont want to look like an idiot :)" and went back to my hostel. But just after arriving I thought, "Ah, in my presentations I talk about the importance of getting out of the comfort zone. Then I have to practise it also". Haha, so I went back to the cricket club and said "Ok, I do it".

From IKEA I got vouchers to eat at their restaurant so I had Köttbullar (meatballs) and Lussekatt. Lussekatt was the only name given for that bun so when I ordered I said "One lussekatt please". Hehe, they didnt understand first - I must have had the wrong pronounciation :)

Yes, I was taken to a couple of fancy bars and had Guinness. I love Guinness.

It was a little sad to leave Singapore. The bus to Kuala Lumpur almost went the same way as I came on the bicycle. I miss the life on bicycle quite a lot. Anyway, now hopefully a great month in Shanghai awaits before arriving to Sweden in middle March. I dont know if Blogger and Blogspot is blocked in China. Probably. So I dont know how I will update my blog then. We'll see. Thanks for reading.

Viktor

I arrived to Singapore!!

2010-01-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

So I finally arrived to Singapore. Totally fantastic of course. It is amazing to reach a goal you have been working for so long. Here in Singapore the pace hace been kept up through holding presentations about the trip for different organizations. In fact, the last week has been totally amazing. Feels like a good reward after the sometimes tough cycling.

I was waiting and waiting to see the first sign of Singapore. That never happened. In Malaysia, "Woodlands", a district in Singapore, was the only sign that appeared. Small disappointment.

Here is at the border point in Johor Bahru, the last point in Malaysia.

And here I cross the bridge from Malaysia to Singapore. That was cooool.

Singapore is expensive. A looot more expensive than countries like, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia. So I have gone back to the baked beans for lunch or dinner as always European and other expensive countries. Not that I have missed them but... dont taste that bad.

This is the National Library which I live very close to. It is sooo fancy. Cant believe the facilities are for free. I always sit in this "Study Lounge" on the 5th floor and use the wifi. Here is were I am acutally writing this at the moment.

I met a professor in psychology to discuss the psychology behind cycling. He was cycling quite a lot too so that was really interesting.

A new found friend took me to a very fancy bar in Singapore. And it was totally amazing - he knew the owner of the place so I sat at the VIP-table and could order whatever I wanted for free the whole night. Talk about contrasts.

And the Swedish football team and Champions, AIK, was in Singapore at a training camp. So they came to this restaurant/bar also. It was really funny, they wanted to take pictures with me before I even asked to take pictures with them. This is captain Daniel Tjernstrom.

And here Dulee Johnson. Haha, he bought me drinks even though I had access to the VIP-table. That was a great night.

My friend Martin playing clarinet at a restaurant

Here is were I am staying. It almost feels like sleeping outside since the room only have three walls. That's fine.

During this week I have kept myself very busy with talking about my trip for different organizations, like universities and companies. Here is at TetraPak.

The audience.

And here is after holding my presentation for the two IKEA-warehouses here in Singapore. That was great fun. IKEA is something special. The founder Ingvar Kamprad is a man I really look up to. I could integrate a lot of his thoughts in my presentation.

So I will be here in Singapore for a week more or whatever and visit some other companies, the Swedish Church etc. Then I will start the journey back, and probably stop at HongKong or Shanghai. I have not really figured it out.

Thanks for reading.

The final route can be seen here:
By pressing here you can make a comment.

My time in Malaysia. It is soon over. 199km to Singapore.

2010-01-11T02:51:00.000-08:00

So, here is a summary from my time so far in Malaysia. Now I have only 200km to Singapore, that is two days. I think I will reach on Wednesday. When the cycling is tough it feels great that it is so few days left, but like today, when the cycling is so nice, it feels really sad. I will miss everything of course.

The cycling in Malaysia has been great. Couchsurfing was availiable again, and people speak English (unlike in Thailand). I will also show some pictures from one of the best things during the whole journey - my presentation at Ericsson.

Cute little one.

People in Malaysia always shout "Welcome to Malaysia" on the roads.

Nooo, one spoke got snapped again. Same problem that made me not being able to continue with the bicycle in India. However here I had an extra spoke and the Thai bike mechanics know their stuff. So much smaller deal than in thought.

Couchsurfers designer home.

Beautiful Taiping Lake.

Funny story connected to this one: I asked this man to take a picture of me. He then asked me where I started my journey from. I said Sweden. He asked: "How long did it take you to reach here?". I said around six and a half month. He then said: "Oooooh, so you're going very slowly".

OK, I will watch better how I park my bicycle next time.

Oh my god. The day before I just reached the place to stay one minute before a huuuge rain started. I was very nervous when I saw this coming closer. But somehow I managed to keep it behind me for the last 20km and it started just when I reached the place to stay again.

In Kuala Lumpur I held a presentation for Ericsson. My first presentation for a company.

Jan Signell, President of Ericsson South East Asia, held an opening speech, talking about the core values of Ericsson and sustainability.

Then it was time for my presentation. The audience consisted of the team of Ericsson South East Asia, customers and media.

I showed pictures and told stories from my journey. I also shared my reflections in goal setting, the importance of taking the step, identifying critical steps, overcoming setbacks and pushing the limits.

My presentation was then tied together with the three core values in Ericsson: Respect, Perseverance and Professionalism.

Signell thanks me and gives me the latest Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Woow, I got so happy.

After the session, media had time for asking questions and make interviews. I appeared in a couple of articles and a report in newspapers and a lifestyle magazine.

The same day but during the evening I met with a cycling magazine in Kuala Lumpur. They introduced me to Velomad, a couple who has been travelling the world on bicycle for four years and plan for another four. One part is the lady in yellow shirt and the husband couldnt participate at the dinner.

Passing by close to the Sepang F1-circuit outside Kuala Lumpur. OK, I like F1.

In Melaka I stayed with Anna and her family, who had lived in Sweden for some years. She made me Swedish meatballs from IKEA!

Anna also introduced me to the cycling community in Melaka. Here a dinner at her place.

They laugh at my bicycle. They couldnt believe I went from Sweden with that 550 Euro bicycle. It was crap for them. One of them had a bicycle as expensive as 4000 Euro. Insane.

Buddy by the road.

So when I get to Singapore I plan to stay there for slightly more than a week. Last days I have been busy fixing my schedule. I will meet a lot of interesting people, companies and a university.

The plans after Singapore has long been unsteady. However, it would feel very stupid to go 7 months to Singapore and then fly back 1 day. It would be very tough mentally to come back to Sweden even though I miss a lot from home - mostly people. But recent updates from family says it is very cold and snow. Noo, I will stay away until April. I will most probably go by bus/train to Kazakhstan and study Russian there for at least one month. Not that it is much warmer there, but at least the journey home will not be that fast. Well, I will have reason to come back to this issue, because I dont exactly know what will happen.

Now 2 days more and then the goal is reached. Let's see how it feels when I get there. Probably a mix. Happy to have reached the goal. Sad that it is over. I get back to that one too...´

You can leave a comment to the post here.

Yes, Thailand!

2009-12-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

Thailand! Everything is sooo much easier here. So much more adapted for tourists. But the days dont include as much action as in India and Bangladesh. On the good side, I have had a looot of tail wind and the road quality is great. I could make 1250km in 9 days. I wanted to rush down to Koh Tao and spend Christmas with my friend Mattias there. Well, pictures follow.

Oh, here I even have my own lane - a huge margin at the side of the road. It was so pretty when I saw that they gave a thought to the two wheelers. That was long time ago.

I added this picture because of the story it contains. I stopped at some small place at the side of the road, a little frustrated after having made a long stage. I asked for an ice coffee and they didnt understand. I thought "oh my god, how can they not understand the word "coffee"". It is almost the same in Thai also. So I repeated "COFFEE please". Didnt understand. By frustration I took off in hope to find another place. But I cycled and cycled and no other place. I was very tired and really wanted something cold to drink. Then this truck driver stopped me and handed over a plastic bag...

...with this note and two ice coffee. It was from one of the customers at the place who heared me order a coffee. On the note it says: "I Mr. Phaiboon. I was see you looking for coffie 10 minit ago. I was sorry some one didnt know but I ask someone. I buy it for you. Good luck..." Sometimes people are very nice.

This is one of the funniest nights. I dont know, met these Thai people in some small town. They were also cyclists. We just connected and joked the whole night. But is it very hard to find Thai people who speaks English in non-touristic places.

Strange vehicles.

Field worker!

Noooooo! My first puncture. I really thought I would make it to Singapore without puncture. And it happens on a perfect road in Thailand. Anyway, I was very lucky, it happened just outside a repair shop for bicycles. Still I have never in my life repaired a puncture.

Cheer up?

Bastard. Sometimes you see elephants walking around on the streets. I still have no idea why they are there. Tried to find out but couldnt find anyone speaking English.

I thought I had seen the last packed vehicle when I left India and Bangladesh but they are really packed sometimes here also.

Oh, this picture is only here to symbolize when I was cycling with stomach illness. It was so horrible. I think it was the breakfast. I had saved some rice from the day before and bought some yoghurts which were stored in my hot room during the night. I had a mix of them both for breakfast. However, a couple of hours later my stomach started to get bad when I was cycling. Oh my god, I felt so bad and had to empty myself all the time. However, I wanted to reach my goal of the day. Sometimes I couldnt ride because I felt too bad and the place on the picture is where I lied down for a couple of hours. I finished my 120 odd kilometers, but when I reached the guesthouse of the night I could barely move. 0 energy. I feel asleep with all my cloths on and slept for more than 12 hours.

Hehe, I met an old Thai lady. She said she would like to marry a foreigner because she thought that foreigners "work, and after work they enjoy". Thai people "enjoy and work at the same time". The next day I understood what she was talking about. Some officials drinking away daytime.

I met my friend Mattias from Chalmers and Madrid at Koh Tao. Spent 3 days and Christmas there. Really good days. Just relaxing. Very different to what I have been doing.

I am such an artist! And almost as tall as Mattias when I stand on a stone.

Many and many hours were spent like that. At the sea shore with a couple of beers and just talking and talking about everything.

Chang.

Fireshows as always on the Thai islands.

And that's it. Now I am cycling alone again after the days on Koh Tao, and I thought it was gonna be tough to come back on the bicycle but it is actually quite nice. Cycle for two more days and then make a short break for New Years! Malaysia is only 300km away and Singapore 800km more, so it is really getting closer. In Malaysia there are a lot more couchsurfers than in Thailand which I am really looking forward to cause it can get a bit lonely stopping at all those towns were nobody speaks English. That is it for now!

Viktor

You can make a comment to the post here

A map the route I have been taking can be found here

Bangladesh!

2009-12-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

I have just arrived to Thailand and I am writing this from Chiang Mai. Last week I spent in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is crazy. It is like India, but more of everything. More people, more traffic, more poverty, more attention. However I met some really nice people who really helped me out with different things. Thanks to all of you if you are reading this.

This is from a club - Toastmasters - in Calcutta. People from the club gather every tuesday and holds prepared and improvised speeches. Then the other members give feedback to the presentor. It is all about improving presentation skills. I was introduced to this group by an entrepreneur that I stayed with, held a speech about my trip and recieved some great feedback. This thing is really a great idea and Toastmasters is an international club.

One of the guys from the clubs owned an ice cream shop, so we went there to stuff us a little.

For a newspaper in Calcutta.

Complicated story. I had to cross the border to Bangladesh with my two bicycles - the Indian and the Swedish. Fortunately I got some help. It was amazing, normally I am quite restrictive with giving money away, but one of these guys that helped me carrying was deaf and mute, so I gave him 100 taka, which is around 1 euro, for helping me. He got so unbelievably happy. He tried to hide his happiness but he just couldnt.

My two bicycles at the room in a guesthouse.

The ferries in Bangladesh are crowded. Accidents happen all the time.

Random brother.

Totally squint-eyed guy.

I found a place by the road where people could leave me in peace. Normally they crowd up just some seconds after I stop. This was a library and the children went to school. I tried to help them a little with their English. They were so happy that I could understand what they had written.

This is what happens when I stop somewhere. People come from everywhere. It is quite insane. It was hard to get this picture.

Village where i stopped.

Roads in Bangladesh are very beautiful. Very green and lively landscape.

Niceee cycling.

There is a lot of water in Bangladesh. Rivers and ponds and lakes everywhere.

Ok, in Bangladesh I was done with my Indian bicycle. After Bangladesh came Thailand and here I will repair and go with my Swedish bicycle again. But I went 2500km on my 30 euro Indian bicycle without gears and I thought that was worth celebrating.

So by accident I met this man, must have been a cause of the law of attracion. He took me to his office and there we had a preparty. Bangladesh is a muslim country and alcohol is not really available but I was lucky.

We listened to old English music on his LP-player.

And then we went to buy flowers and decoration for my bicycle. I planned to decorate it on the street and let people join in. Not every day I have the chance to create such a party so I thought I might as well just take the opportunity.

And this was the result, a huge crowd helping me decorate the bicycle. I gave a man some money and told him to make a banner. It says "Bombay to Barisal" - which is more or less the stage I made with the bicycle. And I like how they got my name "Viktov Predan".

My bicycle with the crowd.

How pretty.

I gave the roses and the other flowers from the decoration to some of the people around.

Here I am arriving to Dhaka. The traffic was totally insane. I have never seen so many cycle taxis or "Rikschas".

Couchsurfer meeting in Dhaka! Many of them were cyclists also.

And in a couple of hours I will start my first day of cycling here i Thailand. Weehoo.

You can comment the post here.

A map of the trip can be found here.

I have crossed India from west to east!

2009-11-30T01:28:00.000-08:00

So, I have made something which I am actually quite proud of. Crossing India on bicycle from west to east, a journey of almost 3000km - most of it on a one geared bicycle for 30 euros. Crossing India was not easy compared to the other countries I have passed. So, now I am in Calcutta and in a couple of days I will head towards Bangladesh.

Crazy vehicle. I could only fit half of it on the picture. There was one truck pulling and the other pushing.

Me in turban.

People around lakes that I pass in India are normally very poor, but it is somehow often very beautiful. The lake is used for washing clothes, having bath and all.

Scary bridge with nothing on the sides.

Students all wear suit.

Let's bring the family on the bicycle.

A beautiful temple that I passed.

India is sometimes very crowded with a lot of crazy traffic. However, a couple of days, when I found roads like this it was heaven. No traffic, perfect weather, good road condition. Then it is very enjoyable to travel on bicycle.

I was announced to reach a hotel and they welcomed me with flowers and all :)

And sometimes I get to write autographs.

Kid practising his high jump skills.

A child on the field.

Buah, the guesthouses where I am staying are sometimes not very nice. Spiders and all kinds of animals are moving around sometimes. Bedbugs are very common. I always sleep with long sleeved shirt and pants because otherwise I wake up in the middle of the night because all my body itches.

Hehe, how much can you carry on a three wheel bicycle?

This is the general hand set when driving in India. Left hand always on the horn. This is by the way Sumit who I stay with now in Calcutta. He is a pure entrepreneur so it is very interesting to stay with him.

Random things from India

2009-11-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Carrying stuff around.

Man on the road.

They transport all kinds of things on the road. This was a huge bastard. I suppose it is a train wagon.

Buffalo(?) enjoying himself.

Haha, this is my friend. I met him on the road. He is so kind but a little retarded I think. He is a farmer. He calls me every now and then. "Hiiiii Viktor. How aaare you?". Me:"Oh, hi my friend. How are you?". He: "Fiiiine". Me: "And your family?". He: "Fiiiiine. Everyone is fiiine". He again: "Welcome to my house". Me: "Oh, thank you, but I am a little far away. He: "Ok, byeee". Me: "Byeee". And that is it. And sometimes he sends me text messages, for example this one: "I Am Pray to God With You Your Mission and All Dhe Best My Friend".

One couchsurfer that I met had a cotton factory or something. This is inside the factory. The working conditions are a little sad. This is one of the workers and he earns around 2 euros a day. But the worst thing is that he works 12 hours a day and 7 days a week. And the noise from the machines inside there is horrible. 2 minutes there was enough for me. That was very sad to see.

The owner of the factory. He was a soldier in the military and participated in the war between India and Pakistan. He got shot in the shoulder but survided. That was a tough man.

On almost every truck it says "Horn please" or "Blow horn" or something similar. They use the horn aaall the time.

I stopped by the road and wanted to take some pictures of the kids playing cricket. They all got extremely exited and started to shout and dance and completely forgot about the game. They were all running against me and I had to escape as fast as I could.

The bulls are usually painted in different colors.

Another man. He couldnt understand why I wanted to take a picture of him.

It is so hard to make some Indians take a picture. They just dont know how to use the camera. When I give the camera to them they think they are recording a movie because of the screen. So they walk around with the camera and tells everyone to wave. It was funny in the beginning but now I get frustrated. As seen on the picture I try to tell him to press the fucking button.

Rain, rain, rain. But the rain is warm so actually there is no problem.

The monkeys crossing the street. Oh my god, first time I got so scared when I saw them. Still I think they are very disgusting. Look at the tail. Blää, horrible.

Another man.

It was suprising to me how heavy work the women do. Here at road construction.

Me being recorded by the state television, just telling a little about the trip. They are fascinated that I go on an Indian standard bicycle.

And here on TV. Wohoo.

A guy, Mayur, who I met on the road invited me to his house. He was a very funny man working with insurance. Here I am eating with his mom and her sister. Mayur always had funny comments when we drove around in his car. He was always talking about how crazy the Indian traffic is, for example: "Look at this fellow. He doesnt care about anything, he is only enjoying his riding".

Name of my bicycle is Dhoni - just like the captain of the Indian cricket team obviously. It is working fine actually. Now we have already made 500km together. I think I will go with him in all India and Bangladesh, sending the other bicycle to Thailand. Maybe I will regret that.

This was funny. I was taken to Lions club which is some social club active all over India. They got all exited about the trip and was gonna write about in the local newspaper. Nowdays I am giving interviews all the time. This is not my bicycle however, I didnt want to cycle it to the place so we improvised something.

Indian marriage.

I stayed in the birth town of the Indian president so her birth house was the biggest attraction in the town. After talking to the security guard a little he invited us for a tea in the garden of the house.

A monkey at some tea place by the road.

Yesterday I stayed with a big family. It is not uncommon that 3 brothers or sisters with their families live together.

Press here if you want to write a comment!

Two videoclips

2009-11-12T02:42:00.000-08:00

Well, I thought I could put a couple of videoclips on the blog for the first time.

Here is me cycling on my new bicycle. Even though it can not be seen so well it is quite steep uphill which is not the easiest on a one geared bicycle. Anyway, it is not always tough like this. Today it was sunny and the wind was from behind so 100km flew by easily :)

Uf, I dont like to see myself like this, but this is the proof that I was on Indian news on TV yesterday, telling a little about the trip! This is recorded from my "hotel"-room. The channel covers the whole Maharastra state which has a population of around 100 million, but I suppose everyone doesnt have a TV.

You can leave a comment if you want here :D

I have bought myself a new Indian bicycle!

2009-11-10T02:56:00.001-08:00

Things have been changing. I have sent my bicycle 520km forward, to Nagpur, because the

spokes on the back wheel kept on braking and nobody can fix it. I dont have the good tools and neither the mechanics here in India. So, hopefully I will get some tools sent to Nagpur, and I can fix my bicycle there. I dont hope too much though. Emotionally it was really tough to send the bicycle away. I always say that it is my wife when people ask if I am married.

So, to be able to get forward I bought myself an Indian bicycle for around 30 euros. It is really shitty. At least I hope it can take me 520km to Nagpur, and then we will see what happens.

These are all the things I sent with my bicycle and that I decided that I could not carry on the Indian one. Things include the sleeping bag (sheet is enough), jeans, sweater, deodorant, hair wax, tooth brush (that one was for the bicycle, I have another one for the teeth), sun screen (no need, cause I'm already tanned!), rain wear (no rain here I hope) and other things.

The local newspaper came and took some photos and had an interview with me. My ass is nicely dirty I notice.

They asked deep questions. Example: "As a foreigner, which advice would you give to us in India?". I had no good answer at all.

The crew who helped me buy the new bicycle. It was a big thing.

Me and Vikram, the couchsurfer I stayed with. He was such a nice man and I had a discussion with him that gave me some perspective to my problem with the bicycle. He was a wealthy man, having a business in the jewellery industry and staying in a big, nice house, but unlike many other wealthy Indians I have met he had his feet on the ground. The day I stayed with him he arranged a day for mute children in the city. However, we both decided that I should not participate because it would kind of steal the show. Anyway, he had a deep insight in poor India and when he told me about all that I realized that my problems are not so big after all, when put in perspective. I dont know, it might sound philosophical, but I try to think of that when my bicycle or something else fucks up. Hehe, or maybe I'm just mindfucking myself.

On the new bicycle. The seat is way too low and I cannot raise it more.

Picture taken today, the day after buying the bicycle. Today I went 120km on it in the rain. It makes very strange sounds and it feels like it will brake down whenever, but it is going strong. So now I have cycled 180km with it in total. And people are a lot more happy and friendly when they see me on this bicycle. Always when I stop I say "Atlas, Atlas" which is the brand of the bicycle. "To Kolkata!". Everyone starts to laugh. Today one guy said: "Haha, Atlas cycle. Ordinary. No ranger!".

2009-11-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

I have now cycled approx one week and 700km in India and it very,very different to anything else. Traffic is crazy, people stare me out, problems with the bicycle, bad roads. But I'm moving forward and mostly I enjoy.

A lot of animals on the roads. Here camel bastards. Almost hit one when he didn't keep a straight line. Today a big monkey crossed the road right in front of me. I got extremely scared.

All kinds of animals.

In this village I sat down to eat something waiting for my bicycle to get fixed. They all formed a half circle around me and just starred at me. If I did something, for example took the water bottle from my bag, they all started to talk or whisper to each other. The problem with the bicycle is that One spoke on the back tire is broken. I have now tried 10 repair shops and nobody can replace the spoke, so now I have ridden around 500km with a spoke less. I hope not another one brakes.

I came into a city which I guess had never seen a tourist or something. The major welcomed me to the city and the local newspaper was there and took the same picture as above. They were gonna write about the crazy cyclist. The major showed me the nicest hotel in town and let me stay for free. Then he took me around to the important people of the city - the police officer, the head doctor etc. Felt like a king.

Cool man.

In the quite big city Jamnagar I stayed with Kristian for one night, a Swedish guy from Uppsala! He studies Indian medicine over there. Wow, it was so nice to get away from all the attention. We ate pancakes and met many of his friends. I felt like home. It was hard to leave :)

I was hesitating alot before putting this picture but anyway. At Kristian's place, without thinking I drank one glass of tap water, which I told him. He said "You have to throw it up, otherwise it is very likely you will be in bed for several days". Well, terrified I filled my stomach with clean water, put the fingers in the throat and up it went. It seemed to work cause I felt good the day after. Horrible experience.

Eating Indian food with couchsurfer Jignesh and his family.

Protecting myself in gayly fashion against the malaria mosquitoes.

Sometimes I stop at those kind of places by the road, to get some shadow, drink and food. Doesn't seem like so much is going on in their lives unfortunately.

On the door to enter a restaurant. They have humor in India obviously!

Funny machine?

Motorcyclists gave me a flag! Now I have placed it on the side so that trucks dont run into me.

A lot of women carry stuff.

Situation by the road in India

2009-11-04T03:11:00.000-08:00

nHere is a typical situation when I feel hungry or thirsty or just need a rest and want to stop at a shop, stall, “restaurant” or something else by the road.

I turn off the main road. When I’m heading against the people they look at me as if I was from another planet. Nobody says anything.

Me: Kemcho (means hello in the local language. Most of the people smile or laugh because they are surprised that I know something from their language).

Normally there is one person who knows English, lets call him Jignesh. People from all around are coming and form a half circle around me. Typically 20 persons.

Jignesh: *Smiling* Your country? (the conversations are mainly all about keywords and repeating).
Me: Sweden
Jignesh: Ah, Switzerland
Me: No, Sweden. Sweden.
Jignesh: Sweden (looks confused because he has never heard of it).
Me: Europe. North Europe.
Jignesh: Aaah, Europe (explains to everyone around that I am from Europe. They all nod curiosly).
Jignesh: Which journey? (where I am going).
Me: Dwarka to Kolkata.
Jignesh: By bicycle???
Me: Yes,yes. Only bicycle.
Jignesh: No motorcycle?
Me: Bicycle, bicycle. (I touch my leg muscles and say “petrol, petrol”. Same joke everywhere but it makes everyone laugh).

People start to look at my bicycle. They are particularly impressed by the bicycle computer and the gears. They always press the tires to feel the pressure. Some children touch the gears.

Me: No touching (they all get a little scared and the parents try to be educated and tell their children to go away, even though they would love to touch it themselves).
Jignesh: How much money? Rupees? (Wants to know the price of the bicycle in Indian currency).
Me: I don’t know. I don’t know. (They get a little disappointed).
Jignesh: You service? (means what I do back home).
Me: Student. Engineering.
Jignesh: Aah, Engineering (explains to the crowd).
Jignesh: Your father’s business?
Me: Volvo, Volvo.
Jignesh: Aaah, Volvo. (most of them know Volvo. Nobody asks about mother’s business).

I start to eat and they ask sporadic questions, still standing in a half circle around me. If new people come everyone explains at the same time what they have understood. When I start to get full or had enough rest it is time to go.

Me: Let’s go. Kolkata! (pointing with the hand in the direction of Kolkata.
Crowd: Kolkata, Kolkata!!!
Me: Aucho (means goodbye in the language of the province. The whole crowd starts to laugh and says goodbye back).

Then I set off and they follow me with their eyes until I am out of sight. That was most probably the event of the day in that place.

Oman and Dubai again

2009-11-01T02:16:00.000-08:00

Camels by the road in Oman. They were all over.

Took this picture before I sent my rainwear home. As you can see, I dont really use fancy equipment. The trousers I bought in Turkey for like 7 euros. I got to use them once and they were fine.

From the capital in Oman, I went back to Dubai, and had this view from the balcony of the couchsurfer, Marcus, with whom I stayed with in Dubai. It was such a nice apartment with pool and gym and everything in the building.

5. In Dubai the have the biggest of everything. This is the world´s largest water show, just outside the world´s biggest shopping mall. It was incredible.

When I waited for the Couchsurfer in Dubai, in quite a fancy area, a Ferrari passed by. I went to the owner and asked what I have to work with to be able to buy a Ferrari like that. He said stocktrading. When he heard about my trip he gave me his busniess card and said that I should write to him whenever I update my blog. So, quickly, I sent him an email and invited him for lunch, without any expectations of answer. But he answered me the day after and we went for lunch and a ride in his Ferrari. Wow, I felt so jetset. That was a good break from my not so fancy cycling life :)

Packing my bike, preparing to go from Dubai to India. Bye, bye Dubai,

Hello cycling in India.

Dubai

2009-10-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Bus stops with air condition and electric slide doors.

This is the tallest building in the world - Burj Dubai. It measures 818m.

I was so unbelievably lost when I came to Dubai. I had the address of my couchsurfer and I thought "well, I just ask people when I arrive to Dubai", just like in Iran. But it doesnt really work like that here. First, Dubai consists of huge highways where it is impossible to find people. Second, everyone comes from abroad and doesnt know their city. Third, the roads go everywhere - underground, on bridges. On the picture above is me when I thought I was on the right road but the road ended up in a huge parking house. Well, finally, after about five hours and after dark, I managed to find to my couchsurfer.

Intellectual names on the parts of the city.

Here is me in the Dubai Men´s Collage. I visited this collage and held two lectures for the first grade students in their course "Global Awareness". I told them about my trip and they were all very curious about it and had so many questions.

All of them were locals from Dubai and most of them were dressed in turban. That was really cool. When I asked them what they know about Sweden they all said "Ibrahimovic!!".

Me with some of the students after the lecture.

They invited me to participate in a meeting that the student council had. The topics were a bit different than in Sweden, like where they should put the sixth room for praying. They were also discussing whether music with love lyrics should be played at the national day in school. All the meeting was in English.

They have huge artificial islands in Dubai. Here is at one of the palm islands. This hotel is unbelievably huge and was build by Donald Trump.

After my visit at the collage one of the students, Ibrahim, wanted to show me around the city. He was a funny man. When we got out of the taxi he told the taxi driver to stop and wait for us because he was too lazy to get a new one when we were finished. So three ours later we retured back to the same taxi driver.

This is in Emirates Mall. It has an indoor ski slope.

The day after the visit two other students wanted to take me out to show me the city. Then they wanted to take a picture with me and the bike to put in their local newspaper of the collage.

The guy to the left on the picture above, Meshad, gave me this watch as a gift because he was so impressed that I had cycled all the way to Dubai. They all thought I was gonna be in Guiness World Records so I had to explain that I am not unique and that there are a lot of cyclists out there in the world.

Anyway, I have never seen anything like Dubai. As the guy I´m living with now, who is a stock trader, said: "This is capitalism at its finest". Well, to me Dubai is a little bit too extreme. It was really cool to see, but I would not want to live here. It is to superficial. Tomorrow I am heading to Oman and in a little more than a week I hope I will have cought the flight to India.

The last part of Iran

2009-10-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Starting in Esfahan. A dry river due to regional troubles in Iran (some neighbour region is blocking the water to reach Esfahan or something).

The famous Imam Square at night.

It is funny how they load their cars. This is just one of numerious examples.

This crazy farmer was so exited when he saw us that he almost fell of.

First camels we saw by the road.

So, this is Persepolis in Iran - probably the most popular touristic attraction in the country. It is a very old town (i think it was 1000 before Christ), but I am not really interested in those kind of things.

All the walls were covered with motives scratched into the stone like that.

The lion at the entrance.

Here is in Shiraz. Me and the French cyclist stayed with the sister of my mothers collegue. She had birthday so here is an Iranian party with traditional dancing etc.

The last couple of hundred of kilometers we cycled in the dessert. Houses like these are not uncommon.

Yes, now at 8000km since I left Mölndal in Sweden.

Camel sign.

Cooool road.

Mafia.

Out of balance after cycling 180km in one day. OK, dont be scared off, it is a joke.

Here arriving with the ferry to Sharjah in United Arab Emirates. There were unbelivably many oil tankers in the persian gulf.

Now I am in Dubai however. My French companian has gone home to France so now I will continue alena. Yesterday I found out that I have to stay here for at least one more week to wait for the visa to India. Well, the city is very cool, but I like to be on the move. But I will try to make the best of the time. Two days ago I visited a collage and held some presentations. I will write about in my next post. That was it for now.

You can comment the post here.

2009-10-02T02:22:00.000-07:00

Sleeping.

This is a sandwich made by some "restaurant" by the road. Just a potato and an egg and then smash it into bread.

I stayed at a very cheap hotel (about 3 euros for a room) in a small village. This is the toilet.

At the same "hotel". I pointed out that my room smelled shit so the guy of the hotel was very proud of his solution. It helped for maybe five minutes. I could not stop laughing when he so proudly came with his spray.

This is the stick I carry to protect myself against the dogs that attack me.

Such a nice family. The guy in the blue tshirt is a couchsurfer and let us stay with his family.

Stopped by the road for buying some water melon and ended up like this. Hehe, the people have their shishas everywere.

This is the Sharif Univeristy of Technology in Tehran which I visited during one of my days in the capital.

This is my friend Behzad which I stayed with in a city close to Tehran. He became a great friend of mine and I stayed with him and his family for four days. Here some shisha again in the Darband district of Tehran. Thank you Fayezeh, dentist of my father, who gave me the tip to go there.

The farther of Behzad with their bird.

This is the Darband district of Tehran again.

The Tehran metro system has wagons especially for women.

In Tehran I met up with my French friend again. We will go together now to Dubai. Here with Behzad and his mom.

This equipage passed us on the road. I am not sure if the sheep is dead or alive.

Abbas, an Iranian cyclist we met. We camped together in a park outside a town. It is really great to cycle with a local because they can ask for everything so easily. Unfortunately the next day we had to split.

Abbas is sleeping in the sleeping bag. He didnt have fancy things like a tent.

Here me and my French friend camped. I don’t know what this is actually but it was a nice building just at the side of the road.

Yesterday morning. This is how happy you get when you realize youve got strong tail wind to expect for the journey.

Yesterday I took part of some group gathering in Iran. The political situation in Iran is very complicated and many of the young people wants to leave the country. They told me that those gatherings are illegal because men and women should not interact like that.

Now I am in Isfahan which is what I have heard the most beautiful city of Iran. This is a very impressive mosque.

This is Imam square which is a huge and very nice square in Isfahan. The second biggest in the world after Tianman square in Beijing they told me. Now I looked it up and it is not true. It is number 10 or something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_squares_by_size.

Those tired carpet sellers logically wanted to sell us carpets. When we said we are going by bike they realized they have no chance but invited us for a cup of tea in their store anyway.

To sum up, the political situation for the people in Iran is very hard but I have to repeat that I have never met so friendly people anywhere else. I get surprised everyday. Iran is amazing. Anyway me and my French friend are heading south and will hopefully cross to Dubai next Monday. That was it for now!

You could comment my post here.

You can see a map of where I slept sofar here.

The first days in Iran

2009-09-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

This was funny. This is in the police office outside the Iranian Embassy in Erzurum - eastern Turkey. I waited for my French friend to get his visa and the police kindly invited me to stay in their house. Then this Swiss man at the left stepped in. "So, what do you do here in Turkey?", I asked curiously because he spoke Turkish. "I am a camel man", he answered. "Oh, that's different", I said. He wanted to live as a nomad and was waiting for his Iranian visa. He wanted to take his camels to Mongolia.

In Turkey I stayed in the house of three soldiers. They were really nice people. However, I made a mistake. I mentioned "Kurdistan". Kurdistan doesnt exist and every turk hates this expression - especially soldiers. I apologized and everything OK.

Wow - this was great. Very hard tail wind and that just pushed me forward in on a plain, empty road.

Galloping horse at the side of the road.

Kids saw me and my French friend from far away and are running just to get a view of us and wave.

Entering Iran. A little bit crazy at the border with people and police men shouting at each other but nothing worse than expected. It took an hour or so.

This couple was incredible. We met them at the border to Iran. They are from Holland and just retired from their jobs. Now they are cycling around the world for at least three years. They didnt have an upper limit of time. The man, William, was funny. One Turkish man stepped in the queue just in front of William and he got furious shouting in front of everyone that the Turk has to wait in end of the queue like everyone else.

This was the first day in Iran - the man in pink shirt, Bakum, stopped with his car and invited us to stay with his family. People here are so hospatible - for a Swede it is unimaginable. We had a very nice dinner at the floor of the living room with Bakum, his brother and mother. Bakum was an engineer and business man and explained everything about Iran - subjectively of course. At a moment he asked "How much would it cost for me to go from Iran to Sweden". "Well, 300-400 Euros with airplane, I suppose", I said. "Nono, no airplane, with Taxi", he said. Haha, he only used taxi in Iran and wanted to go to Sweden with Taxi. I wonder if it is possble. And imagine the reaction of the taxi driver when telling the destination.

This is how they sleep. I slept very well.

When we were eating, this family stopped their car and just wanted to take a picture with us. Then I took a picture of them. In fact there are always people stopping. I feel like a film star.

This was an amazing road that went in a long valley, just along the river that separates Iran from Azerbadjan.

Yesterday I reched 6000km. Yes.

This is from today's morning. It is the last day of Ramadan and people crowded up outside the biggest mosque of the city to pray. They all brought their own carpet. The latecomers are running.

A women inside the blue mosque of Tabriz.

So, now I am in Tabriz in Iran which is the second biggest city of the country. Tomorrow I will head further to Tehran which will take about a week. Me and my French friend will separate for this week and meet again just after Tehran because I want to see Tehran and he wants to climb mountains and go along the Caspean sea. To sum up, Iran is, as everyone was telling me, a fantastic country and people invite us to their houses and stop with their cars to give us water melons, bread and other things.

2009-09-12T22:44:00.000-07:00

People ın Turkey are so nıce. I have never experıenced anythıng sımılar ın any country before. When I stop at a petrol statıon and ask ıf I can sıt down and eat my food they almost always gıve me somethıng to eat or drınk. Here I got bread, feta cheese and tea.

Also ın Ankara, I wanted to take the bus and asked a passenger ıf thıs ıs the rıght bus. She saıd yes and then I asked how much ıt costs. She told me to sıt down and then she went to the drıver and paıd for me. Unbelıevable.

A german couple that I met on the road. They had buılt thıs car and had everythıng they needed ınsıde - ıncludıng toılet, kıtchen and a great sound system.

I have been campıng at petrol statıons a lot because I always meet a lot people there. Sometımes ıt can be a lıttle bıt too much though - as here - when everyone surrounds me.

Just a pıcture of me on the road taken by a bus waitıng turk.

Yes, 5000km reached.

Haha, thıs ıs my frıend. He had been workıng ın Germany so we spoke german together. He had a grocery store. I asked hım ıf he lıked the turks or the german more. He showed me hıs hand slowly and saıd 'Look here. Just lıke my fıngers - everyone ıs dıfferent.'

Oh, dark pıcture but tradıtıonal turkısh folk dance ın some central park. The whole crown was contınusly shoutıng 'Allah'.

The cows dıdnt move for the car what so ever. The car ıs standıng stıll because just ın front of the car ıs another cow.

Yes, the hıghest pass ı have cycled through I thınk. Afterwards ıt was 40km downhıll, decendıng 1000m.

When I arrıve to a new town people are always very curıous. Here I made some really nıce frıends that took me around town the day after.

Oh, a truck accıdent. The drıver was one of the two guys standing ın front of the truck and he seemed quıte proud of what he had done: 'Me - chaffeur' he saıd. He saıd he fell asleep behınd the wheel.

Here cyclıng along the Euphrat rıver.

Here ıs Stefan - a French cyclıst that ı met. We have cycled together for two days now and wıll go to Iran together. Today ıs hıs 40th bıthday. Here ıs on some nıce sıte where we camped. I got really scared ın the mornıng because I heard an anımal breathıng outsıde the tent - still I dont know what ıt was. Maybe ıt was just a dream.

They always load theır trucks lıke crazy. And ont he road the trucks are always so happy to see you and always honks and waves when they pass. But sometımes when you have been goıng uphıll for a long tıme and feel very tıred you dont want the trucks to honk just ın the ear of you. Only thıng you can do ıs to ıgnore.

Here ıs my 15 euro sleepıng bag from Clas Ohlsson. It ıs gettıng quıte cold ın the Turkısh mountaıns and I just put more and more clothes on me for every nıght. I mıght have to buy a new one :)

So now I am ın Erzurum ın Turkey and here ın the east of Turkey ıt ıs gettıng more strıct wıth the Ramadan. Yesterday I was eatıng a Peach at the street and some guys got very angry. Luckıly the Ramadan ıs soon over. Tomorrow we wıll head agaınst Iran and ıt wıll take probably take three days untıl we get there. In Iran we have to use long pants so I hope ıt wont be too hot.

2009-09-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

The huge 'blue mosque' ın Istanbul.

Istanbul ıs full of markets whıch sell all you can ımagıne. Here some spıcıes obvıously.

Thıs was so cool. Wısh I had a movıe of thıs. Everyone ıs talkıng at the mobıle phone and shoutıng out dıfferent thıngs. The noıse was ıncredıble. I asked somebody what ıs goıng on and he told me that people are tradıng at the stock market - buyıng and sellıng shares. I would lıke to be a part of that.

Pıcture taken at one of the two brıdges from European sıde of Istanbul to the Asıan sıde.

Talkıng to some people at the road sıde. Note the dwarf to the rıght.

Kıds helpıng my german frıend to carry the bıke up for the escalators. Note hıs Volkswagen sıgn at the front. Turkısh people thınk ıt ıs very funny. The german had a standıng joke whıch he told more than 10 tımes a day. When someone commented the Volkswagen sıgn he saıd 'Passat'. People were laughıng every tıme. Unfortunately I splıtted up the german lıke 5 days ago sınce we are not goıng the same dırectıon.

Many many shıshas.

Thıs hıstory ıs a lıttle bıt crazy. When I was ın the center of Istanbul wıth my bıke somebody knocked on my shoulder. I turned around and ıt was another cyclıst. He asked where Im from and I saıd Sweden. Then he saıd 'Are you Vıktor?'. I got a bıt chocked and saıd yes. I had never seen the guy before. Hıs name was Erık and he was also from Sweden - he had seen a forum post from me at a cyclısts forum where I wrote I wıll be ın Istanbul around those days. He just took a chance ıt was me. So Erık and hıs frıend left Istanbul one day before me but then we met up and we have been goıng the last three days together to Ankara. Now we wıll splıt up - they go south and ı go east - but ıt was really fun to travel wıth them.

When we travel by fruıt stands the nıce Turkısh people always gıves us fruıt and vegetables.

Hej.

Push the button for fuck sake! I have bought myself a turkısh dıctıonary so I try to communıcate wıth the locals.

Erık trıes to set speed record downhıll. I thınk he reached 72km/h. I am not that crazy.

1 tree.

The landscape was sometımes completely ıncredıble at some parts whıch was a surprise to me.

Look at thıs for example. I have never seen anythıng sımılar. It dıdnt look real.

A farmer tryıng to move hıs sheep from A to B.

We camped outsıde some factory whıch was guarded by the securıty. He was so happy to have somebody to 'talk' to. He brought us tea.

Another nıce formatıon at the Turkısh countrysıde.

Hehe, these guys were funny. They stopped us by the roadsıde and gave us vegetables. He was ınsıstıng that we have to be very close when the pıcture ıs taken.

That was ıt from the last week. Now I am ın Ankara to sort out the vısa to Iran and ıt seems lıke I wıll get ıt tomorrow. Then the trıp starts towards Iran! Now I dont have company anymore but I hope ıt wıll be fıne.

If you want, you can comment to thıs post here.

You can also see a map of where I have slept sofar here.

Thessaloniki to Istanbul!

2009-08-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

Stealıng peaches by the road ın Greece.

Greek sallad yes.

Beach ın Greece yes.

Problems wıth the bıke. I am so bad at bıkes. Luckıly I met a german cyclıst who ıdentıfıed the problem and gave me oıl for the chaın.

The german cyclıst I met repaırıng hıs bıcycle ın on the hıghway a couple of kılometers before the Turkısh border. We went together for three days and now we lıve at the same place ın Istanbul. He ıs crazy. Too much to tell. He left Germany wıth almost no money. He gets hıs money from jugglıng ın front of the supermarkets. He couldnt juggle when he left Germany but developed the skıll durıng the trıp. He wıll be away for 5 years and cycle all over the world. I thınk thıs guy can survıve everywhere.

The brıdge over the rıver that makes the border between Greece and Turkey.

The mılıtary at the border.

I made a very stupıd mıstake at the border. The Turkısh custom man asked me where am I goıng and I answered Konstantınopolıs, whıch ıs the Greek name of Istanbul. Consıderıng the hıstory of the cıty ıt ıs a very bad mıstake and when I told turkısh people about ıt they saıd 'Oh my god, what dıd he say? Dıd he let you ın?'

Campıng wıth my german frıend, Olıver. Unfortunately we are gonna separate here ın Istanbul.

Bırd bastard at the sea sıde of Tekırdag.

Drınkıng Turkısh tea wıth Olıver and the couchsurfer we stayed at ın Tekırdag.

Mosques are everywhere. In fact Ramadan just started so everythıng wıll be more strıct than normal now when Im travellıng through Turkey. Drınkıng beer at the street completely forbıdden. But I hope I wont have to hıde to be able to eat before sunset.

Campıng place we stayed at last nıght. It was the shıttıest campıng ıve stayed at. And we had to pay 5 euros each for thıs. We even bargaıned ıt down from 10. Just because ıt was ın the outskırts of Istanbul and no forest or anythıng to sleep ın.

The toılet.

Reached 4000km ın Istanbul, yeah!

And now I am ın Istanbul. Thıs ıs the most famous square, Taksım square. I dont know really what ıt ıs all about. Tomorrow I wıll go for some sıghtseeıng. But ıt looks nıce sofar, although the traffıc ıs heavy. After Istanbul follows Ankara and then we wıll see dependıng on vısas and stuff. That was ıs for now! Im glad you read ıt :)

2009-08-17T00:49:00.000-07:00

Albanian crew interested in me and my bike.

I have a new tactic when I reach a town that I want to sleep in. I buy a beer and look very open to socialize. Then people come and ask me about the bike and where I come from. After a while I say that I have nowhere to sleep and it happened two times that people were offering me room to sleep. Above is from a store where the store owner let me sleep.

Little guy cleaning the windows of the store I was going to sleep in.

The store owner tried to explain how to get from one town to another.

The store owner invited me to beer with his friend. I was a bit scared after going with him in his car, because he had 5 beers. And I have never seen somebody smoking so much. Constantly. 3,5-4 packages a day he said.

Entering Macedonia. The border guy was asking me for documents of the bike and I said I didnt have any. He said "Oh, big problem". Then he laughed his ass of when he realized I came by bicycle and not motorbike as he thought.

Dead snake.

Me and some traditionally dressed up Macedonians.

Entering Greece.

First sign in Greek - hard to understand.

No, I didnt get the oportinity to drive it, but I was at the back, without helmet like a real Greek. I was a little scared yes.

Dog having sex with a teddy bear in Edessa, Greece.

And now I am in Thessaloniki, couchsurfing again. Tomorrow I continue, direction Turkey. Maybe I will reach Istanbul in one week and a half or something like that.

Albania - Update 3/3

2009-08-11T02:31:00.000-07:00

Arriving to Albania from Monte Negro. Albania is completely different to all the other countries I passed. Everybody waves or shouts something when I pass by.

First impression of Albania. The sign probably saw its best days.

They have spontaneous places outside the villages where they dump their garbage. And as you can see the roads are horrible. I hope it wont kill my bicycle.

Horse and happy people.

Oh, I thought this was a donkey when I took the picture but now I realize it is a horse. Anyway, there are a lot of donkeys at the streets.

View of the second city in Albania, Shkoder, from the fortress. In Shkoder I stayed with Erjon and his family. Erjon was a medical student but knew everything about history so he told me everything about the battles.

The fortress in Shkoder.

Mosque.

They served me a traditional Albanian meal - liver with cheese. It was great.

The Gipsy area in Shkoder.

Arriving to Tirana waiting for my couchsurfer to pick me up. Only with body language tried to speak to some Albanian guy who owned a cheese store. He gave me cheese and wanted me to take a picture of his store and put it on Internet because he wanted publicity :D

Here in Tirana, where I am now, I am staying with Olta for two nights. She hosts me and a Spanish couple at the moment and everyone speaks Spanish. Yesterday we went out for a couple of beers, with a couple of her friends.

A store with a tree going right through it.

Tomorrow I will continue the trip to Macedonia, and then on to Greece, Thesaloniki, and further on to Turkey. Wish me luck :)

Croatia and Monte Negro - Update 2/3

2009-08-11T01:46:00.000-07:00

So, after the two weeks with my family in Pasman I decided to continue with the . I have been following the Croatian coast down to Monte Negro and then the inland to Tirana, Albania. I still dont know which will be my final destination. Now Im heading to Istanbul, Turkey, it is like 1000km from here, and from there I will see what happens.

Really nice views from the coast road of Croatia.

Some Jager-jippo in Trogir

It was really amazing to cycle at those roads at Makarska Riviera in Croatia.

This is how it looks in my tent before im going to sleep. It is funny when I stay in a camping and mention that I have been cycling from Sweden. Some people get so impressed. I especially remember one Serbian man: "From Sweden? Oh my god, you are my hero".

Portuguese cyclist I met at the way. We went together for a day and spent some romantic time in Dubrovnik.

Arriving to the short coast strip of Bosnia.

The only beach in Bosnia was quite crowded.

After cycling one can be hungry. I made myself a baguette, but from a whole loaf of bread.

Dubrovnik.

View of a couple of ships and Dubrovnik.

Arriving to Monte Negro.

Two polish guys I met. A cyclist in general try to weight minimize. However, it seemed like these guys tried with the opposite. They were carrying around so much shit, like half opened sodas, old tires and swim gear. As you can see, one of them had to have a trailer to be able to fit everything.

This is Podgorica - capital of Monte Negro. At the Saturday night people were just walking up and down the same street in groups - boys and girls separated.

Island Pasman, Croatia. Update 1/3

2009-08-11T01:36:00.002-07:00

So, I arrived to the island Pasman where me and my family spent most of the summers. The same day as I arrived my brother came and two days later the rest of the family. I stayed at the island for two weeks, spending time with the family and friends from the village.

When I arrived to the house in Zdrelac the neighbors took well care of me, celebrating the arrival with drinks and music.

Color of the water when washing clothes that have been used while cycling and not been washed for a long time.

Why am I uploading this picture? Well, this is how it goes after one month of cycling.

We had a party with all the neighbors and bought a whole pig bastard.

Well yes, the head at the dinner table.

And the party.

First destination reached! Zadar - Croatia

2009-08-11T01:36:00.001-07:00

I just reached Zadar, and will only take the ferry and a 10km ride to the island Pasman and the village Zdrelac where I have spent the mayor part of my summers. It is a great feeling! I have now in total cycled 2174km.
There I will be for a couple of weeks, my brother comes down today and the rest of the family on Monday. I will then probably continue cycling down through Europe.

Funny house in Dresden.

At a bar with some people from Czech Republic. Armtouch.

I stayed at some farmers place in Austria, and yeah, helped out with feeding some sheep. Maybe I should settle down at the country side?

Eating fresh cheese from the sheep and the goats! That was good shit.

Oh, driving tractor!!

Famous cathedral or whatever in Vienna.

Wohoo, Croatian border 5 days ago or something.

Bird.

I was lucky to meet two Croatian cyclers when I was a bit lost. Here we drank Karlovacko - good Croatian beer!

Here I put up my tent two days ago and tried to use the river as a resource :) - cleaning myself, washing clothes and water for cooking.

I was popular among kids in the small town of Gračac, Croatia!

Picture taken today. Ooh, it was a good feeling seeing that sign after a long, long climb.

View of the sea for the first time since Rostock in northern Germany.

That was it from now. I will write again whenever I continue my trip! Now the ferry is waiting and then a swim in the seeaaa!

Another post - this time from Dresden

2009-08-11T01:35:00.003-07:00

Berlin is a really cool and alternative city. I went to the supermarket with the guy I lived with, and he didnt put his shoes on with the argument that shoes are overestimated.
Kapitalism destroys and kills!!

I went 140km on one day to take part of this barbaque party. Got drunk after 3 beers, and then I was half asleep for the rest of the evening.

On my day off after this 140km ride we went to look at this big machine. It is used to remove land mass to be able to reach down to the coal.
That is it for now - now I´m in Dresden and will go to sleep after having smoked a waterpipe at a nice bar around. Tomorrow I cross the border to Czech Republic and I will sleep in Usti nad Labem. I have no idea of what to expect.
If you want, Leave a comment

In Berlin!

2009-08-11T01:35:00.001-07:00

I will just put some random pictures from the journey to Berlin.

Couchsurfing.org is something really cool. People offer you to stay at their places. I have now been staying in 5 different houses/flats. The image above is from yesterday´s dinner in Teterow, 50km from Rostock. Stefan builds wooden houses, and this one is his own. Now I´m staying with a nice Swedish woman in Berlin.

Waiting for the ferry from Gedser (Denmark) to Rostock (Germany). Of course they were all jealous of my bike.

Here I have pitched my tent close to the shore of Gransee. Unfortunately an angry german came shouting at me when I was about to sleep:
The angry german: "Junge mann!!!".. (young man)
Me: "Ja" (ja)
The angry german: "Diese is private marken!!!" Then he told me that they were hunting there "mit gevär" (with rifle?) but after some begging he let me sleep at the other side of the grass field. This hunting shit was probably just bullshit.

A meal that I was cooking with my portable kitchen :) Boiling pasta and frying sausage is good.
However, it also has to come out, and when I´m not using the toilets of the people im staying at, I can nowdays connect pretty well to the nature as well.
Regarding asses, a standing part of my morning ritual is to lubricate some
vaccelin to prevent undesired friction.
Here you can find a map of my journey sofar.
That was all for now. To sum up the trip sofar cycling is actually never boring, and this couchsurfing thing makes that you seldom feel lonely (except for when germans are shouting at you). Lets see what happens when entering Czech Republic and all that.
It would be fun if you would like to Leave a comment.

Let's go!

2009-08-11T01:34:00.003-07:00

This is when I left Mölndal this morning.
After 70km of cycling I'm now in Varberg and everything went very well. Sunny, flat and tailwind, which are pretty good conditions :)

Day before departure

2009-08-11T01:34:00.001-07:00

Day before departure.

Everything is more or less set for departure and the first stop will be in Varberg at the house of my grandmother. I will stuff myself with as much food as I can.
I have put tape on and painted my new bike to make it uglier and less attractive for those thievs.
I'm pretty exited and I'm just waiting for tomorrow.

First post - some info

2009-08-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't know I plan to ride a bicycle to at least Croatia. I don't know yet if I will continue from Croatia or if I'll stop there. Depends of how fun it is :)

Path includes:

Sweden: Start in Gothenburg
Denmark
Germany: Eastern. Probably through Berlin.
Czech Republic.
Austria: Probably through Vienna.
Hungary: West of the Balaton Lake.
Croatia: Through capital Zagreb before reaching my destination island Pasman where my family hopefully have been cooking something nice.

- Total Distance Gothenburg-Pasman: 1983 km (due to google maps).

- I plan to cycle more or less 80km/day, and take a couple of days off in order to recover myself and have some fun. That means around 1 month in total.

- The trip probably starts Tuesday 23rd of June.