South Korea

Sabina på besök från Bosnien 14/3 2011

2012-01-22T10:25:00.001-08:00

Norrsken 2/3 2011

2012-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

Isvägarna i Luleå 30/1 2011

2012-01-22T10:14:00.001-08:00

Santa Village 22/1 2011

2012-01-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

Mdina Malta 3/1 2011

2012-01-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

Gozo Malta 31/12 - 2/1 2011

2012-01-22T09:47:00.000-08:00

Mellieha Malta 29-31/12 2010

2012-01-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sliema och Valetta Malta 26-29/12 2010

2012-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sigtuna och Häggeby 26/9

2011-12-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Stockholm 24-25/9

2011-12-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

Uppsala 23/9

2010-10-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

Vi besökte IKEA, var på lunch med Anna i Uppsala Konsert och Kongress, träffade Johannes och vandrade via slottet, botaniska till Carolina Rediviva. Vidare till museum Gustavianum samt slottet och därefter fika på Norrlands nation.

På resande fot 21-22/9

2010-10-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

dag 1 Luleå - Höga kusten - Sundsvall
dag 2 Sundsvall - Avesta - Häggeby

Carron i Luleå 17-20/9

2010-10-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

Carron landade på Kallax vid 6-tiden fredagen den 17 september. Under vistelsen i Luleå hann vi med middagar med mina vänner, Philm, vandring i centrum och Gylsaudden, laga massa god mat bland annat med Kimchi från Korea. Vi köpte pussel som vi försökte lägga hemma. Vi var i stan och shoppade besökte stadsbiblioteket, djuraffär m.m.

Beijing 6-8/7

2010-10-02T05:36:00.000-07:00

I Beijing träffade jag en kompis till Carron och vi åt middag ihop samt att jag fick lite tips om turistmål i Beijing såsom Sommarpalatset vilket jag också åkte för att besöka.

Xian 2-5/7

2010-10-02T05:31:00.000-07:00

I Xian träffade jag min kompis Josefin som bosatt sig i Kina över sommaren.
Vi reste tillsammans för att besöka Terracotta-armén och träffade bland annat 2 andra svenskar på hostellet som vart ute och rest jorden runt och avslutade sin resa i Kina.

Shanghai 25/6-1/7

2010-10-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

JAg spenderade 2 dagar på världsutställningen Expo 2010 och besökte närmare hälften av världens alla länder. Mycket kineser men en häftig upplevelse och många temabyggnader på miljö och klimathot och hur vi kan lösa framtiden.

I Shanghai träffade jag också Yi och Yangyang

Fotbolls VM

2010-06-23T08:52:00.001-07:00

Korea-Grekland
Korea-Argentina
Korea-Nigeria

Keramiktripp i Wonju 20-21/6

2010-06-23T08:35:00.001-07:00

Kimchi museum 15/6

2010-06-23T08:32:00.001-07:00

Besök Posco Seoul 15/6

2010-06-23T08:28:00.001-07:00

Festligheter 10/6

2010-06-23T08:23:00.000-07:00

Med Yun och hennes kusin från Hyunhee University

Seoul 9/6

2010-06-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

River park:

Childrens Grand Park:

Amsa Förhistoriska Kulturcenter:

Suwon Fortress Wall 8/6

2010-06-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

Nanta Performance 5/6

2010-06-17T22:37:00.001-07:00

En berömd show där artisterna gör musik samtidigt som de lagar mat. De spelar på allt och använder köksredskap som låter olika, samtidigt som de faktiskt lagar mat :)

Studiebesök 4/6

2010-06-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

Vi gjorde studiebesök på Hyundai och Samsung var på Universitetet och höll föredrag.

Hiking Dobongsan 2/6

2010-06-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

Var iväg på bergsvandring med Meika från Tyskland. Vi besteg toppen på 740meter.

Jeju vulkanö dag3 31/5

2010-06-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

The last day we went to the Seongsan Ilchulbong, another amazing volcano crater. But our main object for this place was to walk on the first Route of the Olle-road. There is 13 routes in total around Jeju island, and everyone is a trip for around 6 hours each. We just walked maybe 1 or 2 hours on the first path along the cliffs and to get a feeling of the Olle walking paths.

As absolutely last thing before leaving to airport we went into Jeju-si and found Yongduam Rock and the Hancheon River inside of big park area. We spend some time here just walking around and to realize this is the last moment of Jeju this time. But I think both of us will go back one day to this amazing island.

Here comes some random pics from the last day:

Jeju vulkanö dag2 30/5

2010-06-17T19:20:00.001-07:00

Day 2 we went up to the Hallasan mountain. We stopped several times on the way to Hallasan because the roads were very beautiful and the view very cool. Finally on the 1000-meters level we left the car and started to walk up on the Yeongsil trail. After some kilometers we reached the level above the trees and could see far, far away around Jeju island. Hiking in Korea was not the same as I am used to. Here the trail was full of Koreans and other tourists. You had to stop and wait at some places because of too many people.

One really amazing place is Jusangjeolli Rocks in Jungmun. Here Korean couples are everywhere holding hands and kissing each other under palm trees. The atmosphere is amazing and you just want to kiss your own girlfriend in this place. At the rocks lava has made some hexagonal rocks because of reaching of water.

After lunch we drove north to the O´Sulloc Tea Museum. Big green fields of tea plants were everywhere in the area. The smell in the air is also about tea. Inside of Museum we tried green tea ice-cream and there was also a huge shop with everything about tea.

Close from the Tea Museum there is a free-coffee place, 오월의꽃. Here it is up to you if you want to pay or not, no one is there checking. We went here and atmosphere was amazing. Everything was in white and with lights and nice stones. And they even had some snacks to have with the coffee or tea.

After this we just drived to the coast again and found 금릉해수욕장. A really nice beach, sand was so white and water was quite warm for May so I decided to try swimming. Along the beach side there was these Harubang statues, made of volcano stones. And in background of beach there was a green island. It looked more like being in Thailand than actually Korea. Beside the beach there was Koreans trying to catch small crabs and it seemed like they found a lot of it.

Jeju vulkanö dag1 29/5

2010-06-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Directly from airport we went to the market looking for the Hallabong (한라봉), famous fruit for Jeju island. The fruit comes originally from Japan and has the name Dekopon. Taste was more or less like a normal Orange, but it looked funny and when you are in Jeju you should try it. Also perfect to have in the car when you travel in the countryside far away from restaurants and when you get hungry.

Next stop was Sangumburi volcano crater.
You can walk around this crater and see what happened here long time ago. It is amazingly deep and environment makes you feel you are far, far away somewhere peaceful.

Another attraction is the mysterious road. We tried this and it feels like car is going up but it slowly goes down without you put on the gas-pedal. This phenomenon is because of the surrounding trees and environment that makes you feel you actually going uphill, but you don’t. The thing was discovered by a taxi-driver that drived tourists around the island.

Busan 20-23/5

2010-06-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Denna helg åkte jag ner till Busan med Carron och vi var vid Samgwangsa tempel på Buddhas födelsedag.

Ajou Festival 19/5

2010-06-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

Tillbaka i Korea och startar med Ajou Festival. En stor fest runt hela campusområdet med mat, lekar och information om allt möjligt.
Trevlig tillställning :)

Sweden 26/4-18/5

2010-06-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

Pga tråkiga omständigheter var jag tvungen att lämna Korea för en stund.

Daegu 16-18/4

2010-06-03T06:23:00.000-07:00

Ännu en helg i Daegu, Sydkoreas mitt.
Jag och Carron hittade en mysig bar, med grotthål att sitta i.
Sen fick jag erfara att sova på golv med golvvärme enligt koreansk tradition.
Vi var på marknad och tittade på koreansk keramik.

ATC - Ajou Tennis Club or Alcohol Training Club

2010-04-19T09:04:00.001-07:00

Hur som helst en riktigt skön klubb med trevliga människor. Plus att jag lär mig tekniken bakom Tennis på köpet :)

IU Konsert 14/4

2010-04-19T08:42:00.000-07:00

Var på konsert med den unga koreanska sångerskan IU.

Pohang 9-11/4

2010-04-19T08:35:00.001-07:00

Våren har kommit i Pohang. Kul att komma tillbaka och se hur staden förändras genom årstiderna. Det blev en hel del shopping, bland annat en ny vinterjacka, nya glasögon och nya pullovers. Men hann även med att plugga en eftermiddag på biblioteket och njuta av Cherry blossom träden som var i full blom.

Familjen på besök 27/3 - 9/4

2010-04-19T08:29:00.001-07:00

Mycket mat, seighseeing, en helg i Daegu och Tripitaka, några resor till Seoul för shopping och museum, turistaktiviteter i Suwon med Korean Folk village samt Suwon Fortress. Bilderna säger nog det mesta.

Ajou

2010-03-23T06:29:00.001-07:00

Tiden rusar på här i Sydkorea. Njuter av alla stunder och försöker ta vara på tiden här. Upplevelserna börjar bli riktigt många, känns som man varit borta minst ett år. Inte för att man saknar Sverige utan för att man har så fruktansvärt kul hela tiden.

Lite bilder från senaste tiden:

Pohang 19-21/3

2010-03-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

Så var jag tillbaka i Pohang. Carrons hemstad. Kul att återse arbetsplatsen jag hade i Januari och omgivningarna därikring. Gillar staden på något sätt.
Varmt och skönt väder, vi åkte iväg på hiking i området Bogyeongsa strax norr om Pohang.

Thailand 10-14/3

2010-03-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

Ett kärt återbesök till Thailand, 10 år sedan sist.
Åkte dit med Carron från Pohang.
2 nätter vid Pattaya beach samt 2 nätter i Bangkok.
En varm och skön vistelse i kontrast till snökalla Sydkorea.

Ajou University and Suwon

2010-03-23T05:38:00.000-07:00

Efter en tid i Korea var det så dags för att påbörja studierna, vilken egetnligen var huvudsyftet till att jag kom hit. Lite rörigt i början med att fixa med allt, visum, registrering, kurser, studentkort, hälsodeklaration...listan kan bli oändlig.

Allt sker digitalt här, och alla kurstillfällen är obligatoriska. Så man måste bl avfotograferas varje gång man går in i ett klassrum, se bild:

Även en hel del välkomstarrangemang anordnades kring campus:

Suwon bjuder på mycket, en liten förort till Seoul som är större än Stockholm.

Seoul 21-24/2

2010-03-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

Återigen i Seoul på favorit hostellet Backpackers Korea. Bra värdpar och många trevliga gäster resulterade i en mängd fina minnen. Bilderna säger nog det mesta.

Daegu, Korea

2010-03-04T06:57:00.003-08:00

Två helger i rad har jag spenderat kring staden Daegu 19-21/2 samt 27-1/3, en ganska mysig del av Korea som har mycket att bjuda på.

Macau 18/2

2010-03-04T06:51:00.000-08:00

En endagsutflykt till Macau var nästan ett måste när man ändå var i HongKong. En dryg timme med båt och man var mitt inne i en JamesBond film. Casinon överallt, stora komplex, rulltrappor i guld, stora barer med halvnakna kvinnor dansandes på scenerna. Överfullt av kineser kring alla spelborden.

Hong Kong 11-19/2

2010-03-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

Träffade mina tre vänner i HongKong, Abbey, Pearl och Helen, som alla 3 var utbytesstudenter i Luleå våren 2009. Jättekul att ses igen och vi spenderade några dagar tillsammans med middagar och sightseeing.

Men i HongKong fick jag mer perspektiv på Korea och insåg att Korea var ett ganska härligt ställe ändå. I HongKong möttes jag av droger och sexhandel varje dag, samt ett stort slagsmål som slutade i att en person fick skallen sönderslagen. Väldigt mycket folk, och stressad omgivning i HongKong. Men tack vare mina vänner, blev tiden i HongKong lyckad ändå.

Seoul 5-11/2

2010-02-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

Efter 3 snabba veckor var det dags för Seoul. En stad större än det dubbla Sverige med avseende på invånare. Inte så mycket turister från Europa, men en hel del spår av Sverige.

Träffade många härliga människor på hostelet, och jag var iväg med två nya vänner från Taiwan till Lotte World, världens största inomhusnöjespark med ljus-show och allt möjligt.

Helgen 30-31/1

2010-02-07T02:51:00.000-08:00

Andra helgen i Korea spenderades först med Carron på Jim Jil Bang, en form av SPA-anläggning med basturum i olika temperaturer, massage, dvd-rum, biljard m.m. Carron är en härlig tjej som jobbar på samma ställe fast under en annan avdelning här i Pohang.

Tidig söndagsmorgon iväg med buss till High1 Ski Resort, en samlad trupp på 9 personer. En heldag med bra väder och nya upplevelser.

Bye bye Pohang

2010-02-05T00:48:00.000-08:00

Det är med blandade känslor som man nu lämnar Pohang. Det har varit en häftig upplevelse med många nya relationer skapade. Det här med avsked är alltid lika jobbigt och tråkigt. Men på ett annat sätt känns det också skönt att röra sig vidare. Jobbet var ju egentligen inte sådär värst givande i sig, men en erfarenhet rikare och många lärdomar om att arbeta utomlands i en annan kultur med andra människor. Dean´s sekreterare önskade mig lycka till och sa att jag alltid var den som hade ett leende på läpparna, vilket var kul att höra.

Helgens utflykter

2010-01-26T05:04:00.000-08:00

Först åkte jag och Primoz till Hamigot, sydkoreas mest västliga punkt.

Dagen efter, Söndagen vart det en aningen längre tripp till grannstaden Gyeongju. Vi var hela 5st som följdes åt. En mycket härlig dag, god mat och fina upplevelser.

More pictures from Pohang

2010-01-22T03:53:00.001-08:00

Dag 2 på GIFT, Postech, Pohang, Korea

2010-01-19T04:47:00.000-08:00

Började dagen med att gå upp strax innan 6 för att ringa föräldrarna. Sa hejdå till min rumskamrat Primoz som skulle iväg på skid-trip 2 dagar. Fortsatte morgonen med frukost och "På spåret" genom SVT Play. Väl på arbetet runt 9 hjälpte E Sang Won mig att börja laborera med stål.

Vi skärde till små bitar, smälte ihop dem inuti en kloss koppar (bild)

för att sedan börja poleringsarbetet och slutligen en kemikalisk behandling för att kunna titta på provet genom mikroskop och få fram rätt snygga bilder.

Se nedan:

Och äntligen fick jag min packning leverad till arbetsplatsen, så nu känns det mer hemtrevlig i rummet när man fått upp alla sina medhavda prylar.

Förövrigt trevlig att kunna handla på börsen kvällstid :) I Korea stänger inte svenska börsen förrän omkring midnatt.

Första arbetsdagen

2010-01-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

En speciell första arbetsdag.
Till att börja med kan nämnas att förhållandet kille-tjej är så extremt att vi har två hissar i korridoren där killar använder den ena och tjejer den andra.

På jobbet verkar allting också annorlunda, vi började med att hälsa på folk och sen åkte vi iväg med buss och fixade ett bankkonto åt mig, lunchen åt vi (jag och 7 koreanska killar från samma labb-område (Material Design Lab)) ute på stan sittandes på golvet, och efter lunchen spelade vi pingis, vilket hör till och man gör varje dag.

På eftermiddagen fick jag studera lite närmare Material Design eftersom jag inte är insatt i omårdet, fick en rundvandring av min professor i labbsalarna jag kommer utnyttja kommande veckor, samt fick veta att mitt bagage kommer under morgondagen till Företaget.

Företaget är rätt nytt, byggnaden är från 2009 och allt är toppmodernt. Dock lite väl övervakat, kameror överallt och man måste ha passerkort för att komma in i byggnaden och sedan även för att komma åt sitt eget kontor eller biblioteket m.m. Även där jag sover, i en "dormitory" krävs kort för att komma in i byggnaden och sedan en kod för att komma in i rummet.

Men första dagen har varit riktigt bra, har börjat få koll på vad min uppgift och mitt projekt går ut på under mina veckor här. Jag ska undersöka vad som händer med stål som material när man tillsätter väte genom olika laborationer.

Anlänt till Pohang

2010-01-17T02:18:00.000-08:00

Efter en lång natt, anlände jag i Pohang kl 4 på eftermiddagen (8 på morgonen svensk tid). Dock fastnade bagaget i Beijing, så det ska skickas till min adress här i Pohang i veckan.

Koreaner kör som dårar och Kineser är generösa med mat på flygen.

Bilden nedan visar GIFT (Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology), min arbetsplats kommande veckor

Att tänka på, land för land

2009-11-08T07:55:00.001-08:00

Lite tips från de olika länderna efter egna erfarenheter

Ryssland:
- Ta med en ordbok och förbered dig väl innan med boende o liknande eftersom ingen kan engelska och ingen är direkt tillmötesgående eller villig att försöka förstå något på engelska.
- Var beredd på mycket papper. Du måste fylla i ett antal påväg in i landet, behålla vissa delar tills du lämnar landet och du måste uppge exakt allt du ska göra inom Ryssland.
- Åker du transibiriska så köp inte massa mat i förväg. Tåget stannar minst var fjärde timme dygnet runt och det kryllar av marknadsstånd, mat, kiosker, souvenirer på stationerna.

Mongoliet:
- Gå aldrig ensam i huvudstaden Ulan Bator, folk bildar grupper för att närma sig folk och stjäla kameror och plånböcker.
- Om du ger dig ut i landskapet, försök ordna en egen trip då alla bolag samarbetar och tar väldigt höga priser.
- Men missa inte landskapet för det bjuder på det mesta och lite till.

Kina:
- Väldigt skönt land, hjälpsamma människor, tips är att boka vidare resor inom kina eller ut från kina i landet då det blir mycket billigare. Exempelvis flyg från Beijing till Seoul kostar 600kr.

VietNam
- Tyvärr sönderturistat, väldigt skräpigt och fullt av försäljare som följer efter och drar i dig vart du än är. Dålig luft i städerna och extremt skräpigt även på landsbygden.
- Kan inte rekommendera detta land som ett resmål.
- Om du ändå ska åka hit så missa inte Sapa, åk dock på egen hand och bestig Fan Si Pan, så kan du nog slippa en hel del försäljare och alla andra turister.

Singapore:
- Väldigt rent, dock många konstiga regler man får passa sig för.
- Åk ut till Santosa Island, otroligt fint där ute.

Indien:
- Se upp :)
- Ta aldrig taxi direkt från flygplats eller tågstation av någon som försöker haffa dig, eller kommer fram till dig. De ser att du är vit och 10 dubblar priserna. Gå istället bort en bit och leta upp en taxi som du väljer, resultatet blir oftast bättre.
- Var inte rädd att blanda in lokalbefolkning eller polis. Alla är jättetrevliga. Tex. vi visste inte när eller var vi bokade ett tåg till en destination på en tågstation och frågade en lokalbefolkning som också var där och fick massa hjälp med tider, karta, perrong m.m.
- Oavsett om du är ateist eller inte så säg att du är Kristen när du reser, vi upplevde detta en gång och stämningen sjönk rejält när vi sa att vi var ateister. Bättre köra en vit lögn om att man är Kristen. Finns något i deras religion som säger att om man inte tror på en gud så är man en dålig människa.
- Åk mycket tåg, kostar 5-10kr för de flesta biljetterna, du behöver inte boka i förväg och tågen går hela tiden plus att du träffar enormt mycket människor från indien som både är intressanta och hjälpsamma.
- Indien är som gjort för att backpacka. Boka inte in något, stanna där du trivs, fråga runt efter tips och sevärdheter, njut av indien och kulturen och åk vidare med framförallt tåg när du känner för det.
- Undvik dock bussar, dåliga vägar, skitiga bussar och trånga säten gjorda för små indier. Vi åkte någongång buss i 6 timmar och det tar typ en dag att komma tillbaka efter det i trötthet, nackont och huvudvärk.

Qatar:
- Har du en flygtransfer hit så se till att få minst en dag i landet. Nu satt jag bara på flygplatsen men det verkar vara ett riktigt fint land med beacher och annorlunda öken-natur.

Statistik efter resan

2009-10-31T03:10:00.000-07:00

Eftersom jag gillar siffror och sen är jag ju svensk så här kommer lite statistik:

Totalkostnad för hela resan: 35500
Visum: 4000kr
Vaccin: 2850kr
Resor: 12300kr
Fickpengar: 16150kr

Kostnad per land och per dag i landet i fickpengar:

Ryssland: 1033, 207kr/dag
Mongoliet: 1891, 270kr/dag
Kina: 3635, 519kr/dag
VietNam: 2659, 295kr/dag
Singapore: 420, 420kr/dag
Indien: 6507, 342kr/dag

Palolem Beach, Goa

2009-10-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

I think the pictures tells you enough :)

In Goa for a week

2009-10-15T22:57:00.001-07:00

Now we finally have reached Goa and the beaches. Here we will take a rest from all trains, bus trips, museums and other tourist attractions :)

And on this map you can see how we reached Goa from the beginning of our stay in India:

Udagamandalam 12-13/10

2009-10-15T22:29:00.001-07:00

On the way to Udagamandalam (Ooty) we slept on the roof of the railway station in Coimbatore waiting for next train.

The last part to Ooty was by a steam locomotive, it was going very slowly because of all mountains. The trip took 6 hours but the view and the feeling was really nice.

This is a tea plantage, you can see it everywhere around Ooty. And also it is easy to see pieces in the area from the Brittish time in India, like the railways, the names of places, and some buildings that doesnt look like other india buildings.

In Ooty we visited the Tea Factory and the Tea Museum. There we tasted different kinds of tea, and bought some ammounts to bring home. It was really interesting to read about the Tea history in Ooty and about the transports in earlier times to the rest of the world.

Kollam 11/10

2009-10-15T21:50:00.001-07:00

On the train to Kollam we met a police officer that helped us a lot. He joined us in a taxi and helped us find a room in the middle of the night. We got a hole suite for only 37SEK. The next morning we took a tuctuc (small yellow taxi) to the Munroe island in the Ashtamudi lake.

This was our driver around the island, 65 years old without teeth :)

And one more crazy thing was that the taxi driver followed us in the boat, so he could drive us back to Kollam again (26 kilometers one way). So we put all our luggage in the boat and then without my notice, my bottle of 50cl rice wine (40+ alcohol %) from VietNam dropped out from my bag. And i bought it in a water bottle. So on the boat trip i saw the water bottle and was thinking it was the taxi drivers water, so i gave it to him and he started drinking it. After a while he started talking about indian water and smiled and pointed at the bottle, but we didnt understand so we just smiled to him too and continued the trip. After the boat trip (90min) our taxi driver drove us back to Kollams railway station. And there, when i saw his eyes and he looked really drunk and was very happy and touched my beard and laughing, then i figured out that it was my rice wine he had been drinking. So very lucky we got the hole way back to Kollam in safe :)

The colours of India :)

You never know what you can find on an india boat :)

Thiruvananthapuram 10/10

2009-10-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

In Thiruvananthapuram in south of India we arrived at lunch time and just jumped on a tour bus around the city. The first stop were at a zoo. And there we met 500+ school kids going to the zoo. We said hello and we got like hundreds of hello back and everyone smiled :) And when we entered the zoo, the childrens were going in a long line, holding each other. And we asked if it was possible to pass and the teacher broke the line for us. Then in the middle of the passage the ticket collector asked us for the camera ticket, and that one i had in my pocket so it took me like 20 seconds to get it up and after that the hole line of school children were destroyed and they were forced to run to get back in the line. The teachers didnt look that happy, but the children were very happy to be free for a minute and to get some running :) We told them that we were sorry, and i hope the children didnt got any punishment because of us.Everywhere you can see posters like this with strange faces:
At the time of the sunset we reached the beach on the west coast in India and Kerala district.And the india people took the swim with cloths on :)

Kanyakumari 9/10

2009-10-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

After one night at the train we arrived to Indias southest village, Kanyakumari. Very nice place. After walking around we found a cheap hotel, and we got 3 beds even if we just needed 2, but the price was only 60SEK for the room. This is the beach of the southest part of India:

This temple was not only beautiful. Inside the ashes from Mahatma Gandhi has been in history times.

And as usual, wherever we go, we got an photo object for other tourists. This time the guy in the middle come from Bombay.

This is the direction of south out in the big ocean. This point also crosses by 3 big seas (Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal). I really like the colours of the womens dresses :)

Chennai (Madras) 8/10

2009-10-09T05:20:00.000-07:00

The first impression of India wasnt that good because of a taxi driver that first told us a drive to a hotel for 400 rupies, and then told us 400 each and refused to stop the taxi when we asked. But after that everything changed, all the people we met were very nice and helpful. The guy at the trainstation told us we were guests of india and we got full service and he smiled at us when 20 other indians were waiting for help with buying train tickets :)

Some pictures from Chennai:

An internet cafe with a little bit too low ceeling :)

This bar was the most strange we have been to. First we asked what they have to drink and the answere was: "What do you want, with a smile". The we ordered two cokes and sat down. After 10min they come and told us we couldnt sit there if we didnt buy any alcoholic drink. In the place were only guys and it was very dark and many doors inside and the indians looked very strange and come and go through the different doors. So we leaved the place :)

Then we walked around, buyed some stuff and then started looking again for a new cafe. Then we met two indian engineer stundets, that invited us for a drink from the wine shop. We bought two beers and sat down in a tent. The students were gone but some drunk police officers was there and we had a lots of talk together :) They were really nice and helpful, and the time just run away so we had to leave the nice guys on the picture but switched contact information.

On the train there was no problem finding correct wagon and place. They had glued a paper on the outside of the train with all names :)

On the train we met a lots of nice people. The old man in the picture invited for a stronger drink and he told us he wanted to go to Sweden because we were so nice. We also get informed that in India, the longer mustach you had, the more wise you are as a person :)

The sunrise from the train was really nice:

Singapore 7/10

2009-10-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

Singapore was a really funny place to be in. First our airplane landed 02.00 in the night so we slept outside on the stone floor with cockroachers for 4 hours. We didnt slept inside the airport because of the airconditioning and we had no warm clothes with us so it was too cold.

Then we started travel around in the city. We found a museum about Singapores history and the Peranaka people. After that we ended up on a beach in the southern most point of Continental Asia.

We didnt bring our bath clothes with us, but we were so hungry on taking the swin in the ocean so we bought new ones :)

Sapa VietNam 2-6/10

2009-10-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

Sapa has been the best part of VietNam we have visited this time. We got there by train and have trekking the area in 3 days. Very beautiful environment.
On the train i met the students on the picture, the guy to the right was in the same age as me and was a teacher. I asked how much he earned in a month and it was only 2 million dong (800SEK).

This was our group that walked together to the village where we spent the night in a homestay:
This is how they collect rice:

We met two friends from Bangkok and we had a very funny time together:

The local sellers were everywhere but we got them out of the selling-thing by learning them how to paint:

Umbrellas are used all the time by the Sapa-people just to protect from sun:

This women was also our guide and had two children. Lucky she had one of each kind. She told about other families that had 8 girls and no boy. In Sapa everyone has to have a boy, otherwise no one will take care of you when you are old. So it happens very often that families that had many boys sell them to other families.

Halong Bay VietNam 30/9-1/10

2009-10-04T07:02:00.000-07:00

This day Halong Bay was open so we took the desicion to go there. We met 2 nice guys from Czeck republic in the trip and together we had a party on the boat in the evening, but we had to have the party in one closed cabin because of one other stupid Vietnamese tourist-trap. They had a roule on the boat that you had to pay 5 dollar for drinking one bottle of wine and so on... and when we paid the trip ticket they told us everything should be included. We refused to pay and had a 5min discussion that ended with the boat people took our bottle and promised to turn it back next day before leaving the boat. But still we had some extra bottles with us in the bag so together with the czeck guys we arranged our own party just like in school doing things outside the rouls.

In Halong bay we visited the caves:

And the selling boats was everywhere:

The second day we were out on a short kajak trip:

..and we passed a village in the sea, living on floating houses:

Tam Coc VietNam 29/9

2009-10-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Our planned trip to Halong Bay got cancelled because of a big storm coming up from Indonesia. VietNam government closed the passage to Halong Bay for all tourists so we jumped on an other trip only for the day to Tam Coc. There we visited a tempel and went out in the water in small boats. Sadly the whole place was crowded with vietnameses trying to sell everything to you. Even in the boats we met selling boats and the vietnameses in our boat was very nice and talkaktive to us in the beginning, but when we didnt buy anything from them (very expensive) they stopped talking to us and just switched boat. So we got a little boy instead that rowed us back, and just before land he were saying dip, dip, dip, we didnt understand and was pointing to the water, deep, aha...but he didnt stop, and then he sayd money so we understand he ment tip. But we didnt gave him any money. The whole place was a tourist-trap and the village main income is from tourists, quite weird. We have destroyed their lifes. Small children born into the tourist-thing and could speak good english and is very good in telling you lies about everything.

Even more sad is that the Vietnameses are throwing trash everywhere, in the water you can find bottles and plastics. first impression you can think is that the tourists is throwing things in to the water, but we saw with our own eyes a vietnamese women throwing a bottle into the water!
So in only a few years VietNam will loose the tourists if they dont do anything about the problems.

Hanoi

2009-09-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

The big celebration in China 1st of october even exist in VietNam. People are preparing for the event and is everywhere.

Se this movie:

Nanning 25-27/9

2009-09-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

Its very cheap to go by train in china. We got great help from our hostel in Beijing so it only cost us 460SEK to go through whole china to Nanning in the south. On the train we met a guy from Nanning that could speak only a little english, and everyone on the train in our closest area asked questions to us threw him. The service is very different in China and Sweden. On the chinese train there is around 50 working people, 2 conductors on each wagon and some more selling things like you didnt know (toys for kids, food, fruits, beer, shavers...). And they are playing soft instrumental music all the time :) I think sweden has something to learn about trains :)

Nanning was a really soft place. Not that much tourists as in Beijing. And everywhere you go you heard sound of chinese girls giggle and pointing to us. Somewhere you heard 'beautiful hair' and somewhere else you could feel a hand through your hair :) Market was very cheap, no need to bargain. We were eating dinner at the streets just like the chineses for only 5SEK.

In Nanning we visited a great national park, bigger than Porson in Lulea.

We ordered some strange food, served on big leaves. It tasted like sushi or something like that so we didnt finish it.

Beijing 21-24/9

2009-09-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

The train from Ulan-Bator to Beijing wasnt that special. Some things like we ordered dinner on the train with 4 different money systems (Russian rubel, mongolian turiks, chinese yen and american dollar) just to use all old money from the pocket. One other funny thing was at the border Mongolia-China. Then our conductor checked the temperature on all persons on the train and wrote it down on a paper.

Well, the first impression of Beijing from the Railway station was huge. Really nice city. At 19.00 we met the german guys and some more swedish guys in front of Mao. Then we started go around in Beijing drinking one beer at each place.

Following day we booked train tickets to Nanning and a trip to the great wall of china. Then we took a break at an internet cafe. Strange feeling there. They scanned our passport before we could use any computer, and then there was a chinese behind us all the time surfing, checking what sites we visited. And the best sites were blocket by chinese government (facebook, youtube, this blog). Thats why i havnt written something before now (sitting in Hanoi, VietNam).

In the afternoon 22/9 we visited the famous silk market in Beijing. There we met the Holland friends from our trip in Mongolia. What a coinsidence! They told us to decide what we need before enter the market, hehe, but we didnt do that and ended up 5 hours later with 6 bags or something full with stuff. We forget the time and to eat. It was very fun going around and bargain with all the nice chinese girls.

23/9 - We started 06.30 with a van to Jinshanling. There we walked 10km on the great wall to Simatai. On the wall we passed 30 towers, and at every tower there was old man and women selling stuff. You could hear sound of 'water cola beer', 'water, cola, beer' or 'tshirt,tshirt,tshirt' very fast.

When we got to Simatai we met Ilse and Rud from Holland again. Very strange!!!

24/9 - we spend the day before the train to Nanning in the forbidden city. And there, haha, it so funny, many chinese people got it more interesting to photograph us than the forbidden city itself. I dont know how many chinese that now has a picture of two swedes visiting forbidden city, and some of them even asked if we had time to stay beside them on the photos.

Snowing :)

2009-09-19T03:35:00.001-07:00

Ni som inte trodde mig, har kommer beviset pa snokaoset just nu i Ulan-Bator :)

Ulan-Bator pictures

2009-09-19T01:47:00.001-07:00

A common street. In the background you can see the State department store where we have been a lots of times buying food and other things.

This is the meat in a common supermarket in Ulan Bator. Doesnt smell that good :)

The cakes was very nice and extraordinary.

Mongolian tea with milk, butter and salt. After a while you get used to it.

Picture from the Natural History Museum with Dinosaurs, this was the best picture we could make because of a lots of 'No Camera' signs.

IKEA in UB (Ulan Bator)

Today it is snowing in Ulan-Bator. Believe it or not but it is very cold and i was buying winter gloves.

Tomorrow we will take the transmongolian train to Beijing.

Mongoliet - en drom slog igenom 14-18/9

2009-09-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

Vi lyckades halka in pa en 5-dagars trip med ett par fran Holland med personlig chauffor och guide for 300000 turiks (1500SEK). Den skumpiga turen pa de mongoliska vagarna borjade till ett naturreservat (Hustai), dar fick vi punka for forsta gangen. Efter ytterligare en stund ute i oknen blev motorn overhettad sa vi passade pa att besoka ett narliggande nomadtalt. Det bjods pa hastmjolk och torkad farost, sen ville de kora en dryckeslek med hastmjolken, den som forlora fick dricka en skal eller sjunga en sang. Det blev en 'blinka lilla' :) En lustig notering var att de har solseller, parabol, tv o mobiler i sina nomadtalt. Inte riktigt vad man hade forvantat sig.

Forsta dagens solnedgang var inte att leka med....

Tisdag 15/9 borjade vi dagen med en kamelridning ut bland sand-dynorna. Mycket speciell upplevelse, harlig sand och skon sol :) Saknar inte Lulea-klimatet :P

Jag fick tillfalle att traffa nomadfamiljen och den lilla dottern pa bilden, tydligen sa gar alla storre barn i skola inne i byarna och sover i korridorer. De kommer bara hem pa loven.

Pa eftermiddagen blev det en langre resa med den ryska minibussen in bland bergen, omkring 6-7 timmar. Men otroligt mycket sevart pa vagen av det mongoliska landskapet.

Pa kvallen inne i nomadtaltet larde vi hollandarna vand-tia och njot av att kunna elda i brasan da klimatet bland bergen var mycket kallare.

Onsdag 16/9 - spannande forsta gang pa en hast i tva timmar upp i bergen, gick helt ok, fast den vagrade lyssna, tyvarr nog sonderkord av turister. Vi bodde hos nomader nara den ena av mongoliets tva stora floder. Det speciella har var vattenfallet som endast har rinnande vatten i augusti och september. Det regnar bara 40 dagar om aret i mongoliet :)

Pa eftermiddagen anlande 3 svenskar fran Goteborg som vi ocksa traffat pa taget, lustigt det har att svenskarna ska vara overallt :) Vi traffa ocksa tva tyskar som bjod in oss till en jattestor backpackerfest i Beijing den 21 september. De har bjudit in alla de traffat under resan, sa det ser vi med spanning fram emot.

Torsdag 17/9 - besokte vi mongoliets gamla huvudstad, mycket sevart och kul med marknaden precis bredvid dar vi fick ova upp prutkunskaperna. Lite intressant var det att se hur stort Jingis Khan imperium var en gang i tiden.

Pa kvallen socialiserade vi med alla backpackers i gamla staden med ol, chips, god mat och lite yatzy.

Fredagen blev endast en resdag, de daliga vagarna och de stora avstanden gjorde att vi inte var hemma forran 16.30.

Mongolian food

2009-09-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

haha, now the stomack has been telling me what it thinks about cheap and tasty mongolian food :) It's still ok, but i hope it want be any worse in this week staying out in tents and riding horses and camels.

I'll tell you more on Friday when i'm back to town.

/Linus Bloml;f
Ulan-Bator
Time 22:37

Ulan-Bator

2009-09-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

This morning at 8 o clock we arrived to Ulan-Bator (2 o clock in the night in sweden).
We got a great hostel to stay in for only 6 dollars a night (Golden Gobi). There we got warned for robbers that makes groups of 7-8 and makes a crowd around you and steal money and cameras. So we have been very careful when going outside the hostel, we never go alone, and always hide money and that very close to body.

We were changing our russian rubels into mongolian money at a bank in Ulan-Bator. Then we got to a restaurant and ordered a lots of different food, when we wanted to pay we got confused, the food bill was on 9600 mogolian money and that is only 40SEK shared by 3 eating people. So its very cheap to eat out in Ulan-Bator.

Today we also took a shower in cold water, and managed a trip with 2 other people from Hungary for 5 days starting tomorrow. We will reach the desert and sleep with the nomads, riding camels and a lots of things. So this will be the last you hear from me for a while.

The transmongolian railway

2009-09-13T02:57:00.000-07:00

We started by the train on Tuesday 8 sept, and got a bit confused in many ways bording the train. At first there was a chinese conductor tocking our train tickets both for the train to Ulan-Bator but even more strange the ticket for the distance Ulan-Bator to Beijing. Later we discovered that the chinese guys had fullcontrol of who we are and what we do.

The other confusing thing was that everyone seemed to be swedish on the train. If i would make a guess 50% of the train tickets were sold to swedish. Mostly young guys and old womens.

One thing we were bringing on the train was cheap russian vodka (20SEK for 0.5liter). Very useful when eating strange food from the stations by local russian people.

In Perm we would by Noodles, and the russians dont speak english, bot even a little, so it was going back to younger days, pointing with fingers. That made us a problem, we wanted to packages with noodles and asked if it cost 100 rubles with raising 10 fingers, and the women in the shop was thinking we wanted 10 boxes, so we want back on the train with a lots of food :) Happily they were not expensive. We still have some left here in Mongolia now, and we use them to give to poor children on the streets.

On the train the time difference was a bit confusing because of always changing and the russian man in the restaurant was serving after moscow time. Bit we learned that it was much more easy and cheaper to buy food on the stations and the trains stops like every 4 hour.

On the train we spent in total 103 hours. On that time we were learning from the chines conductors how to count to 10 in chinese, we did 'campei' with them (Mao and Tje).

In Omsk we had 20 minutes on the station and wanted to go in the stationhouse and look around, when we come back a new train had coming and blocking ours so then we got a little panic and was running around the train to reach ours. And because of the chinese conductors having control of the passangers in their wagon (2 chinese guyson each wagon) we was forced to jump on the train in correct wagon.

The perople i met on the train:

Tomak- a polish guy that we also continued the trip in the first day in mongolia with.

Morten - a danish middleage man that had a good sense of humor.

Anders - a norwegian guy we meet at first time in Arlanda waiting for the airplain to Moscow.

Joel - a swedish from Uppsala we met on a very early morning in Tumen, and his cabin was empty so we eat our breakfast there.

We shared cabin with Tomak and Morten. The neighbour cabins was full with older swedish womens, but that was nice. It was like having 10 grandmothers in the wagon, and they also had a guide wich we were able to ask questions about future trip.

Yesterday, at Saturday 12/9, we stayed for border controls in 6 hour. And we were warned before that to save bottles because train toilets are always closed when train is standing still. During the bordering we met 2 mongolian girls, Ocka and Ninde, at first it was very hard to communicate because they only speak mongolian. But after a while with a worldmap and a paper and a chess game, we had a lot of fun together. We learned some easy phrases in mongolian language and played games with them. They also helped us with all the papers to fill in on the border control about health adn visa and migration cards (all in mongolian).

Pictures from Moscow

2009-09-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

Transibiriska jarnvagen

2009-09-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Efter en lang dag pa rundvandring i Moskva ska vi alldeles strax kliva pa taget som ska ta oss till Mongoliet. Mycket spannande. Vi traffade ett antal engelsman som skulle gora i princip samma resa och vi kanske slar folje med dem i Ulan Bator.
Det blir ett kort inlagg denna gang da tiden inte racker till.

//Linus

Report from Moscow

2009-09-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today me and Christian arrived to Moscow. The time difference is 2 hours, everything is written in Russia, and the metros are old and very noicy.
But we are doing fine, just took us some time to get russian rubles from the bankomat because we were guessing where to press the buttons.
Even to understand and use the metro system was quite hard, but we wroted numbers on a paper and handled it over to the women in the -payment box- and after a while we got some tickets, not the tickets we wanted but it worked and it was cheep. About the money, its very nice to shop food or tickets because prices are low and you got nearly 5 rubles for 1 swedish. To dinner we bought som russian food at the supermarket that tasted like smashed potatoes in some soft bread.

The hostel we are living at is very nice, we have free internet, shower, kitchen, tv-room and all that for only 100 swedish each night.

Tomorrow we will see Moscows red square and the famous Pokrovsky Cathedral that we are used to see on Kefir yoghurt package.

Now time is 01.24 russian time.

//Linus

The trip

2009-09-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

This is the trip in details:

Snart avfärd

2009-08-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

En dryg vecka kvar till avresa mot första destinationen, Moskva.

Visum - check
Vaccinationer - check (förutom svininfluensan)
Packning - ej påbörjad