Way home throught Russia

After a few days in Omsk I headed west, were lucky the first day, caught a truck going 900 km to Chelyabinsk. It wasnt really my plan to go there at that time but I changed my plan. Spending some days in Chelyabinsk with musicians, streetperformers. I made some busking. Didnt make much. Compared to China atleast. From there my luck ran out and hitchhiking went slow, perhaps first time of the trip I got tired holding my arm up trying to stop cars. waited atleast one hour between every ride, sometimes two. I remembered Russia as an easy country for hitchhiking but this was not the case for me this time. Slowly I made my progress towards Kazan and arrived one evening to this beautiful city where I stayed with couchsurfers for two days. Last bit to Moscow also went slow but made it finally. Fewer days than I planned there, decided to make it fast back to Sweden. I was just to close to home, couldnt stay anywhere more than a day or two..

A friend joined me for the Moscow St. Petersburg hitch and as a girl and a guy we made it alot faster than me alone. Also in St petersburg i didnt stay long. Went one rainy morning for the border of Finland and finally made it across after getting slow short rides the whole day. As i crossed the border it had stopped raining and the sun even peaked out for a bit. Border crossing very smooth. Got an ride to Helsinki that evening, catching cars of the highway, no problem. Got hosted by an friendly couple in Helsinki and made it to Turku the next day. There I were checking out the circus school for a bit and bought some juggling clubs from a friend.

Then the ferry. The last bit to Sweden. The ferry was full of drunken party people ofcourse and I couldnt sleep on my bench, got perhaps 1.5 h sleep and tiredly I entered a sunny Sweden in the early morning hours. Payed an totally insane price of 44kr of the subway of Stockholm and reached the hitchhiking spot close to Hallunda station. Took me an hour to get a 350km+ ride to Skara. Hitched fast some cars to my mothers house outside Ulricehamn. There i surprised my family, them not knowing im coming. Now back in my home in Västra bodarna, close to Gothenburg city.

Some statistics of the trip..(more accurate and more might come later)

Distance and lenght
Lenght: 12 November 2009 - 5 August 2012, (2 years and ~9 months)
Distance travelled: ~70 000 km
Hitchhiking: 41 000 km
Sailing: 25 000 km (13700 NM)
Trains & Buses: ~2500 km
Ferries: 2000 km
Airplane: 2000 km
Cycling: 1300 km
Walking: ??+ km

Longest time on the sea: 28 days (San fransisco- Marquesas), 26 days (Cape verde - Martinique)

Documentation
Photos and videos taken: 7000
Diaries finished: 5

Borders
Countries passed throught: ~30
Most time spent: Australia, Indonesia, China
Least time spent: Brunei, Kazakstan
Smallest country: Niue(260 km²)
Biggest country: Russia (17 075 200 km²)

Problems
Attempted robberys: 1
Successed robberys: 0
Petty theft: less than 5
Lost items: Flashlight, Small knife, Mobile phone
Country of most food poisioning: China
Worst food poisioning: Vietnam

Many nights in tents, many in peoples homes, many in Couchsurfers places. A few few in hotels which were not payed by me.

Tents bought, exchanged or found: 6

Inside my bag

1 Tshirts: 4

2 Long pants: 1

3 Shorts: 2

4 Shirts: 2

5 Juggling balls made with balloons and rice(from sweden)

6 Rain protection (used maybe 5 times in 1 year)

7 sleeping bag cover(used as sleeping bag most of the time)

8 Towel given by indonesian family

9 Bag with art stuff(brushes, sketches, photos, pens)

10 Bag with stuff( strings, screwdriver, screws, stuff)

11 socks

12 books, dictionaries, maps (bought or given in various countries)

13 winter gear (from sweden)

14 diaries

15 chargers and electronic stuff

16 hiking shoes (bought in malaysia)

17 sleeping bag (from sweden, cover from france)

18 tent rolled up in sleeping mat(tent exchanged with friends in china, sleeping mat given by friend)

19 small loudspeaker (china, 10 euros)

20 juggling torches made in china, kerosene

21 juggling clubs bought in finland, balls given in finland, contact ball gift from russia.

To theese things comes also a small bag with cameras, money, passport and so on.

First and last day of the trip.

And now what.

Short entry about equipment.
This stove im no longer carrying, i left it in Bali, it served me well during some months, the pot i got for under a dollar in Fiji the stove is made from two beer cans and is used with methylated spirits. It worked O.K, not more than O.K.. Decided to leave it cause its so easy to find food in Indonesia, and cheap. It wasn't so much the stove but to carry the fuel with me, to much weight.
Aluminum foil as a windshield worked well. Everything fits nice and well. Small and light. The little soya sauce plastic thing i must picked up in sushi place in Australia. Right picture shows everything on the left picture + ziplock bag with couscous.

Left Tent change. Right last time sleeping in Black wolf, during walking on the beach in Bali

I changed the left tent for the right one. The left one is called Black Wolf and an Australian made tent(made in china?) It was a gift from Ben from France, he gave it to me in Cairns but now ive decided to give it away and change it for the smaller, lighter, definitely worse quality one from Indonesia (150 000 rupiah=$16.9) The Black wolf is an excellent tent but to heavy and big for one person. I don't use tent often here in Indonesia, either i get hosted by people or sleep outside without tent(rainy season is about to start, ha ha ha ha)

This would be my fourth tent since i left Sweden, the first one, from LIDL for about $10. Quite heavy but served me well. Gave it to my friend in Martinique. Found my second tent amongst junk on the beach in Martinique, fixed it up a bit,(Actually the same design exactly as this new Indonesian one), Great tent but in Australia water started leaking in when it rained(from the ground and the ceiling). Gave it to Italian friend in Cairns.(lets hope it wont rain when he uses it)

My backpack still going strong with few repairs, North Face 45 l.

As for me im still in Yogyakarta.. :)

Autum in Sweden, Preparations

Experimentation with creating the best Beer-can-stove.