Around the world

So i am back in Sweden again. After a very stressful flight from Santiago. 10 minutes between every transfer even though it supposed to be 1½ hours, but every connection was delay. And my luggage was stuck in Frankfurt so i will get it delivered to Sundsvall tomorrow most probably i hope. It was very nice not having to carry this luggage since i only slept 2 hours the past two days.

Now i will go by toothbrush, shower gel and crash into bed. =)

Thanks everyone.
Tomorrow its -> Abre los ochos y trabaje!

So it's time to leave Chile. I really love Santiago and the people. Beside their way of driving the car they are all wonderful.

I had a really awesome stay with Paulina, her family and friends. Paulina is coming to Sweden around december, perfect! =) I will do my best to make her as comfortable in Sweden as i have been in Chile.

Now its time for a 24 hour long journey home. Fly from Santiago to Sao Paulo, transfer to Frankfurt and then last transfer to Stockholm and finally the train to Sundsvall. (3 hours and 15 minutes, nothing compared to trans-sibirian :-)

Take care all and i will update with pictures and more information as soon as i get home (casa, domoj etc)

So we have arrived to our hotel in Buenos Aires, so far everything looks very good. The flight here was very smooth and everything turned out well.

The days in Chile has been amazing, i will update you more about those later - now that i have good access to internet.

Now we (Pauli conmigo) are going to find something to eat in the very center of Buenos Aires.

Take care!

So my journey from Tokyo started around 5 PM local time in Japan. Two hours in a bus from the hotel to the Airport. The Tokyo Narita airport was really huge. But when i was suppose to check in the problems started. They said going to Chile requires a Tourist card and a Visa. And i described to the airport personal that i am a Scandinavian citizen and we don't need visa and the tourist card i have never heard of. So they stood like 5 and sometimes up to 10 persons discussions my entry to Chile.

The trip to Toronto from Japan i already known was going to be very turbulent since they warned us about even before take off. And yes, they said: "we will be flying through heavy turbulence for twenty minutes" but if they'd said two hours they would be more correct. I had two Japanese girls aside of me that was very afraid due to the turbulence. Even more afraid than i was. With some cries and i tried to explain that this is normal around Japan and in the Pacific sea and they was a bit more relaxed about it. But the rest of the trip was very smooth and the landing in Canada was very calm.

My trip had a half day in Toronto, Canada where i left the Airport for a while to not become crazy waiting for my air plane to Santiago. You get the perspective of how big the Toronto airport is when they say you this in the security: "What flight are you going with?" I said, Air Canada to Santiago, Chile. And then they said: "Ok, gate 177. Gates 175 to 225 is in that direction" pointing to her left.

They flight to Santiago was very interesting because i had the seat next to a Chilean guy living in Toronto for 31 years. We had a really good chat and he told me that these flights usually is not as calm as this one was. He told me he was moving home to Chile in order to know his own country. He told me things i was already knew about thanks to Paulina. Like the Pisco Sour and the Chilean independence day occurring on this Friday.

Paulina is a very nice and lovely Latin American girl that i had the opportunity to talk with for quite a long while. I am staying in her apartment and she is really showing me the best of Chile. I am very exited to be in Chile and for the first time on my trip to be the guest and not only the lost tourist. She is taking really good care of me. And i am very happy to not stay in a Hotel. And i am really enjoying this.

I lost my Jacket in Hiroshima so today i am hoping to buy a new jacket in Chile. Its around 14 degrees Celsius in Santiago today.

Thats all, (vsje) take care folks.

I took the bullet train from Hiroshima to Tokyo and wow it was a fast train.

So the days has passed and i have been travelling around in Tokyo. Which is huge town with a lot people. I have been around in all major parts of Tokyo for shopping, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

My stay in Japan has been absolutely fantastic. Both in Hiroshima and Tokyo i lived in five star hotels and i can't say i regret that. Everything has been wonderful and everyone always so kind to me.

Photo: Night view from my hotel (New Otani Tokyo)

Photo: Day view from my hotel (New Otani Tokyo)

My brother commented that my photos looks very less crowded, and yes they might do. But never ever believe that Tokyo is spacey because it's simply not. And at the peak times when i went by Metro it was so crowded, almost like the crazy videos on Youtube where they push people into the train. And i can say that picking up my camera and photo when that much people is not my first priority (because my first priority is to stay away from all sick people coughing and sneezing)

Photo: Tokyo does have some really beautiful gardens/parks.

I have been in Tokyo for at least three full days and i would definitely want to visit this town again. It so amazing and just walking around in shops all days might not sound fun but it really is. It's so much stuff here that doesn't exist in our Europe. And just walking in to a Japanese gaming hall is totally crazy. I Felt like an alien. Everything is different.

In one hour i will take the airport shuttle to Narita airport. A ride that will take approx two hours depending on traffic. On the Airport i will eat something before i board my air plane to Toronto. A flight that is expected to take 12 hours. And for a half day i will be in Toronto, probably tired but might go down town to kill some hours. Then it's time for a ten hour trip to Santiago and Chile. In Chile i will be the guest for the first time on this trip and i am sure my host will make my visit memorable

Thats all from Japan!
Next time i am in South America (i have never been to either North or South America. So it's going to be very interesting)

Take care and have a nice weekend everyone.

Going to bed now, will write more tomorrow.

So it's time to leave Hiroshima. I like Hiroshima very very very much. I had great fun here and people has been kind all the time.

I am living 3 kilometres outside the city centre of Tokyo so i have put some effort in knowing the metro lines i will use there. I feel well prepared as always.

Today it's only estimated to be 31 degrees Celsius - Good thing i will be in a train.

Hope you all having a good time at home.

Best Regards
Per

Today i think it has "only" been 33 degrees in the shadows. But yesterday the temperature peaked to about 37 degrees which is WAY TO MUCH!

I am exhausted all the time, much to the heat and also walking around in all these shops. This town is so pretty and everyone is kind and smiling all the time.

Photo: Walking around in the streets of Hiroshima

Yesterday (Sunday) i did the first things first. Bought train tickets to Tokyo on the Nozomi train (960 km in 4 hours). Visited the Atomic bomb memory park and oriented my self around this beautiful town.

Photo: The remains of the atomic bomb

Today have been shopping some underwear, and i can tell it's not the easiest thing to find a pair of underwear in Japan that is large size.

Photo: It's really beautiful all over the town and it's very relaxing to just wander around.

Tomorrow i will check out around 11 pm and take a healthy walk to the train station for my travel to Tokyo by Nozomi.

Take care everyone (i don't know any Japanese language yet and i still say things in Russian language like da, net etc i need to polish that away)

Bye bye

So a long day of travel finally ended with me actually leaving Vladivostok, Russia, doing plane transfer in Seoul, South Korea and a tourist migration into Hiroshima, Japan.

First of all, just leaving Russia i felt was very stressful even if things went pretty ok. But then the transfer was pretty straight forward. But entering Japan was kinda interesting. First of all i had all my bags searched by a very kind custom guard. He talked computers with me and when he asked where i been before i came to Japan and i told him Russia for three weeks. He didn't believe me so i had to show him my Russian visa and then all of a sudden there was three other guys there and talking about it. And he asked me, Russia for three weeks, what did you do and see? And you all now i went by the railway. Anyway i had no secrets in my baggage, but when i entered the arrival hall there was four fifteen year old girls waving and screaming at me. So i was like, "what the hell is this?". And they wanted to take photos on me with them surrounding me. It was for a Swede somewhat embarrassing and while i was waiting for the bus the waved all the time to me. Japan is different for sure.

Now it's time to relax, time to pace down and breathe deeply. In Japan i don't need to carry my passport with me all the time. So i can walk without belongings. Which i am going to do today, first on schedule is breakfast and then was wandering around to orient my self in this big town, 1.3 mill citizens.

I'll update you all later on.

Take care

Was a bit stressed because the airport in Vladivostok wasn't directly easy even though it started to flow when the people show up to check in.

I hope it will goes as smooth over the Japanese sea to Hiroshima!

Will update ya later.

But compared with over 140 hours on train it feels really like nothing...

I will leave Vladivostok by taxi to the airport. A ride for about 50-60 minutes. And well at the airport its time for me to declare my migration card and i hope everything will go smooth otherwise i am smoked. =) But i have only stayed in hotels and all hotels have registered my visa. Anyway my Air plane will go to Soul first then to Hiroshima. 2½ hours to Soul and 2 hours wait and then 1½ hour to Hiroshima. And finally 1 hour on bus until i reach my hotel.

The lack of sleeps still is a hot topic in my life. Maybe things will go easier after i left Russia, my only concern right now is the visa registration, because i have never been apart of anything like this before. But i have my papers in order.

And its going to be really interesting to see the difference between Russia and Japan. As i have been in Russia for almost three weeks.

Today i have been at the akva park and it was ok, costed like 5 euros. I also took some photographs which i will upload later. I have also been all around Vladivostok to find a shirt with some Cyrillic text to my brother. But without luck. Russian cities is really different compared to European. Its like no real center, just more or less compact. My brothers only luck remains in me finding some souvenir at the airport.

So now i am soon to catch some sleep and then its time to prepare for a the trip tomorrow.

Hopefully i hear from you all when in Japan or maybe Sth Korea depending if they have internet access at airport.

Da svidanja Russiya!

Zdravstvoy

The day between something!
Today is really one of days where i just feel tired and don't want to do anything. So basicly today i have been at the submarine museum, wandering around in town to find absolutely nothing of use. Later i got tired and went to a café for a salad, some Greek salad i would say. and afterwards also a little cheese cake and a big fat cup of coffee! The later was really needed because i really felt like a zombie today.

Note: Torped room at the Submarine museum.

In need of sleep
So i went back to the hotel feeling like i was decking any moment i tried to sleep, and the same time i was falling to sleep the laundry service knocked on my door. And yes, alive and kicking again. Guess no sleep today for mr insomnia. Maybe cut down on the coffee?

Note: And i try not to think of work but even in Russia its hard to relax

My Russian language
Some restaurants have personal being pretty ok in English language because they help other guests mainly Chinese guests in English. But for some reason they want to speak Russian with me, hopefully because they prefer Russian and that i am not that useless speaking Russian, after all i am able to make my self understood here now, at least for ordering food etc.

Russian street musicians
Ok, first of all i don't want to make enemies here in Russia. But the street musicians here in Russia are amongst the worst in world. The guitar is often not tuned and the singing is false or singing/guitar is just out of beat. It's just simply awful to hear and i am very happy that i brought my ipod shuffle to Russia. Without sounding to negative i hope there is some good ones as well although all the way from Moscow to Vladivostok i haven't bumped in to a single talented one.

Japan on Saturday
Less than two days until i go to Japan, and i am very sure that i will miss the Russian hospitality which i say is amongst the best in world. Russian people are so gentle and kind you almost feel guilty just having the chance to walk amongst these wonderful people. I will surely miss Russian food which is totally awesome. I mean Pel'meni, Shashliksi, Borsch, Kefir... Just hearing the name of these dishes makes me very hungry. I honestly have no idea or any expectation of what will meet me in Hiroshima except that i am sure their will be some major changes in culture, living standard and attitude. Going
from Russia to Japan wont be done without notice, that's for sure. And here in Russia people think i am Russian so i am very disguised here, but that disguise will be looong gone in Japan. Also for some reason Japan is GMT +9 which means i go back two
very interesting. =)

Today/tonight
I will go to the same restaurant as yesterday evening. And just have some main course and then try to catch up on sleep.

Tomorrow
The aqua park probably and also i will put one or two hours to settle my self into Hiroshima because i have absolutely no idea of how to take myself from the airport to the hotel!

Da svidanja!

Hell train
First of all, i am relived to inform you that i have completed the Trans-Siberian railway. And i promise you all to never ever complain about the three hours and thirty minutes that the x2000 train from Stockholm to Sundsvall takes - NEVER EVER!!!

Summary
The trip started as you already know in Ulan-Ude. I meet alot of different people during the trip and also i made good contact with some of em. But this part of the railway was for me the absolute craziest and also funniest part. And when i woke up this morning (6.34 GMT+11 / 20.34 CET) i was really exhausted and i said to myself that i am not going to take a taxi since it was only a 10 minute walk. So i wandered to the hotel amongst the very drunken locals trying to find their way home. I didn't even bother to ask about directions and of course i went a bit lost, nothing serious though. But it was really nice to walk in Vladivostok to the sunrise.

Don't panic!!! And funny guy at the right bottom corner

The first interaction - Andriev (The wild one)
So when i entered the train in Ulan-Ude i was in the same coupé as Andriev. He spoke a little English and i must say that he was the most interesting person i meet in Russia. First we drank a couple of beers and talked a little about my trip. Then he called his friend who spoke more English than Andriev which asked me if i wanted to accompany Andriev to the Restaurant wagon which i of course did. Andreiv is the kind of guy that will not be unseen or unheard anywhere he shows up - that's for sure.

Andriev, a very funny guy, here after too many beers

When we arrived to the restaurant wagon he was talking loudly with the personal and saying to me, food in coupé worthless shit - don't eat it. food here is OK, but the service here is shit (and I really think that the personal understand when he told me that). So we we're having a couple of beers and something to eat and when we was done Andriev says: "i pay - i don't want you to come to Sweden and write bad things about Russia". Clock was around 17.00 local time and we went back to catch some sleep. Andriev takes a sleeping pill which he is proud to show me and says :"sleeping pill, good night friend". And four five hours i woke up and one hour later Andreiv wakes up and says: "ok, restaurant again". So we hit the restaurant again and the personal was once again aware that they we're alive because Andriev was back in the wagon. Couple of more beers and Andriev also talked to the personal not serving me food in the wagon instead serving me fresh Borsch and some second course to dinner. Which i really appreciate because i managed to eat properly the whole trip. And after the beers we took some beers with us to our coupé and there Andriev locked our door and showed me his gun. He removed the shells and handed it over to me (and since military service i was well familiar with guns so i was not afraid). I asked him why he was carrying a gun and he said to me: "this is Russia, i don't like to carry a gun but i am a good business man". He also showed me pictures of his three doughters and wife. He was really a nice guy and it was a shame he was only going to Zhita (first 24 hours of trip).

The second interaction - I forgot her name (The calm one)
When i followed Andriev off the train to say good bye this woman entered my coupé. She only spoke Russian language so it was time to struggle with the language again. But she was very kind and had good patient. She told me that she worked as a baby nurse specializing in doing pre birth. She told me she had recently had a son son so she now was a babuschka. She asked me very much, she was very curious and told her my mother worked with elderly care she was really interested. She was also very curious to know if in Sweden we for example help each other within the family or friends that if we demand payment for the effort, which we do not - At least not amongst my friends. We talked about a lot of things and after another 24 hours she stepped off at a town i can't recall its names.

The third interaction - Sergei (The friendly one)
Sergei was not living in my coupé but he was the kind of guy that wanted everyone to have a good train trip. Helping older people of the train, carrying bags - you understand. He also spoke a little English so if i had any questions i could ask them to Sergei and he was able to help me. I didn't talk so much with him since we didn't manage to get a fluent discussion going but as a foreigner going for 62 hours with only Russian people it's nice to have someone that you can sort any misunderstandings with.

Trans-Mongolian railway is NOT Trans-Siberian railway
I would like to state that Trans-Mongolian railway (which most people describes as Trans-Siberian) is really easy mode. I saw that train from Ulan-Baator to Moscow in Ulan-Uda. And it was aloooooot of European tourists on it. After all i am very happy to be the only tourist because i had a lot of attention while travelling. It has been very interesting and many many people have contacted me and talked to me.

Vladivostok - The only town with the train station being the same station as the ferry station
This is the first time in Russia i am in a town directly connected to the sea. And the town it self is really lovely. I would say that this is probably the most English speaking town so far in Russia. Here at my hotel there is alot of Japanese, Chinese, English, Korean and of course Russian people and it seams English is fairly used here.

View is not excellent but the service at hotel is super

So you will have to wait with pictures until my tonight. I will load my camera and cruise the town.

Thanks for your interest and have a nice time where ever you are.
Best Regards
Per

Summary
So my last evening in Ulan-Ude is coming to an end. And overall it has been a very nice time in this town. People are so kind here in Siberia. Everyone wants to help the poor tourist. And people are somewhat fascinated that i as an European citizen really tries to speak their language. Because in fact none speak English here so i cannot even imagine what my stay would be if i wouldn't understand anything.

Ulan-Ude city centre

Sovietskij Ploschad

Yesterday
Yesterday i had a really nice dinner at some local restaurant. I wanted to eat pel'mini, which also was on their menu but they where out of stock of pel'minis. So she suggested me to eat a kind of meatloaf with smashed potatoes and so I did. And i really don't regret that, because the food was really awesome - tasty. It costed 80 roubles!!! it's like 20 SEK / 2 Euros for a dinner!!!

Today
Today I tried to buy some pants for the train trip. The 62 hour one But i ended up buying a complete Russian athlete dress. But I liked it. And i am sure i will have great use for it when i get back to Sweden. For a lunch i took pancakes (yes the dessert one and not the main course with meat). So I didn't get my pancakes on Thursday so I made a complete revolt today buying double orders of pancakes drinking jasmine tea with creamed milk.

Laid back
And then I wandered around the town some more but didn't find much of use. In fact this day has been extremely calm and laid back. Probably the most calm day for me since I left Uppsala, Sweden.

Dinner
My last dinner in Ulan-Ude i wanted to be that something. So I went for a three course dinner. Starting with pel'mini, which was so tasty i was almost stunned. For main course there was some Mongolian chicken with cheese and smashed potatoes, which also was superb. And for dessert i hade some strawberry cake with whipped cream, do i need to say more? =) The dinner costed about 330 roubles. Very cheap and the best food i had so far during my trip.

Last task
Last action point for the day was to buy some cookies and vodka. They sure looked strange at me in the magasin. But smiled very much and asked me where i was from.

Returning the favour
Today i paid the hotel for my laundry. It costed 300 roubles and i only had a 1000 rouble note. And i got 2 times 100 rouble notes and the remaining 500 in 10 roubles notes (which is a big bunch of notes...) tomorrow I am going to pay my mini bar to the hotel which roughly is around 500 rouble. And of course, i will pay with my big fat bunch of 10 rouble notes.

Updates...
This is the last blog post i will make before i entering Vladivostok (if i do not sms my brother and ask him to post an update) I will arrive in Vladivostok around 06:34 on Wednesday (local time, GMT +10), Swedish CET which will be around 21:34 on Tuesday.

I hope you all had a very good weekend and that the upcoming work week will be kind to you all =)

Kind regards
Per

The taxi driver
First of all my taxi driver from Hotel in Krasnoyarsk had seen way to many American movies. I am not going to censure this, so for all sensitive persons i can just say: Sorry but this is real life. When i entered the taxi everything seamed normal and i made up the price for the trip with the driver. Pretty chubby car. But when he started it, i mean oh my god it was really pimped with a strong engine. When we was going he asked me: "you American?" i answered: "no i am a swede". and he says: "i like fast cars and American pussy". And i started to laugh, what else to do. And the guy gave me one of my worst taxi rides every but also fascinating. Keeping that in mind i had a really strong taxi experience in the Baltic last year. This trip contained at least three complete quick u turns where one contained a complete 360 spin in result of a slight miscalculation. Anyway, in 10 minutes despite strong traffic we made it to the poyezd vagzal (train station). Although he did not drive as fast as the Baltic taxi driver which was insane!

The train trip
It started with first 10 hours like in a Swedish custody for being way to drunk, not that i have been aware of that but some of my friends has (hej Johnne). I was in my coupé thinking OK i am going this trip completely alone so I did chins, dips, push-ups to overcome the complete boredom. And finally i was very tired, brushed up my teeth and hit the deck. Fell asleep and was awakened by a muezzin (you know those in Muslim country's shouting out prays over Muslim cities). There was this very big lady, i don't lie if i say she was wider than she was tall. She was talking non-stop for one or two minutes. And i thought to myself "what's going on here?". Finally i was fed up with her pretty sharp tone and said in Swedish: "men lugna ner dig" (calm down) and she went quiet for 2-3 seconds and then tried to say what i just said in Russian, like mnya luigniya njie idye or something. And where i said, "ja is schvjed, ja nje panimajo pa-ruskij! PANIMAAAAAAEEEEEETJE?" (i am swede, i don't understand Russian. YOU UNDERSTAND?) And you could really see how ashamed she was of herself, standing and screaming for some minutes to someone not understanding and not even able to say a single word. Finally the train stewardess showed up and explained to me in a kind Russian tone that i was moved within the wagon to another bed. In the new coupé a mother and her son from Kirghiz-tan plus another Russian girl was sleeping. When i entered the coupé they all lit the lights and starred at me. I said: "zdravstvoytje! minja zavoot Per. Ja is schvjed i ja malo panimajo pa-ruskij" (hello, my name is per, i am a Swede and i now very little Russian). They presented them self and started to asked me a lot of things about me in Russian. Like where i was going next. And where i am working or having vacation (bit tricky because kani'koli is vacation for a student and otposk is vacation for a worker). Russian people are so curious about foreigners i think. This was my only part in Russia where i travelled with the luxury train Russiya. I think its more fun to go with the normal trains since you meet a lot regular Russians (not those screaming ones waking me up like on this train).

Its easy to be stressed =)

The first meal
My first meal in every city i visit is by a personal rule. No pre reading of which restaurants that is good or not. I just pick one place out and enter it. This time i was taking some coffee and food at a Russian kofje serving both coffee and food. I said to myself, you know you are in Asia when you go in to a restaurant and the play a jazz-version of James Bond. Later when i got my food two kids took my food and went off. LOL The personnel got it back for me but i told them i am not eating that, give me new food. Which i also got, luckily for me. But the food was delicious.

Vladimir Lenin
I have already managed to locate the biggest Lenin head in the world. And it was not hard.

Picture proof

The hotel room
I knew i was going to have a internet connection at my room here in Ulan-Ude (which in fact is a lovely town). But i didn't expect to get a 8 paper manual in Russian language describing of how to set up the vpn service. And it was not straightforward at all even if the notice were written in English. That and the fact that someone cleaned my windows with chewing tobacco everything is great at the Saagan-Morin gustinitsa.