Your own chance to visit the Cenotes?

During the less-than-harmonious part of my stay in Bishkek, I’ve taken the time to watch some of all the countless hours of TV shows that I downloaded to my laptop before going away.

I started with a couple of the aforementioned “Boston Legal” episodes (recommended - James Spader is as good as always) to get my mood up. However, I quickly started to watch some episodes of the BBS series “Planet Earth” that I got from my Australian friends Kate & Allan Reed, who I met in Flores in Guatemala. DO have a look at their travel blog at http://www.diysell.com/blog - they have some truly amazing pictures from their trip to the Galapagos Islands.

But I was going on about the Cenotes - if you don’t remember how ecstatic I was over the underwater cave systems in the Yucatan peninsula, you need to go back to the entry “Tulum: cenote snorkeling”. Sorry about the language in the article, this was while I was still writing in Swedish.

When I got to episode four of the series (called “Caves”), one of the sections of the episode was about those exact Cenotes where I was snorkeling! Wow, was it exciting to see what I had been missing by only snorkeling and not diving there, and it made me even more sure that I need to come back someday!

Another way for you to experience those Cenotes, short of going there yourself, is to watch the IMax movie “Amazing Caves”, which is also shot in the Dos Ojos cave system. It’s fairly good as IMax movies go, as long as you can stand the voice of narrating Liam Neeson that is! Oh, in Sweden you can see IMax movies at Naturhistoriska Muséet in Stockholm, and I think someplace in Gothenburg.

The last post for a while – goodbye from Bishkek

Happy cookies in Bishkek - hope that the people in Barskoon are as happy!

Today will probably be the last post for a while. It will also be the last day where I have e-mail access for a while.

You see, Barskoon, where we are going, is about as poor as a town gets in one of the poorest countries of the planet. I have no indication that they will have internet access there – as a matter of fact they tell me that I should be lucky to get a couple of hours of electricity each day to charge the laptop batteries!

The current plan is to be back in Bishkek next time around the 10th (but plans might of course change in any country where they have no word for “now” – the closest they get is a word that means “within three hours”), so don’t be surprised if you don’t hear anything from me until then.

If you want to get in touch with me, don’t hesitate to text (SMS in Swedish) me on +46 70 756 0874, but please don’t call me unless we have texted before – receiving a phone call in this country costs me a fortune!

And don't miss today's new posts, not only the ones visible at the top, but I also snuck in two new articles about a Blues Fest and a wedding between the "old" Stockholm and Istanbul entries. That makes for eight new entries in the last three days - better start reading before I deliver another batch again! :-)

Rounding off Bishkek, July 24-26

My last entry about Bishkek was not very positive, to say the least. If the government could check what I’m writing (like in the “good old days”, when they opened and read all mail to other countries!), I would probably have been deported! Like I suspected and was about to find out, things couldn’t continue to be quite that bad…

At least everything except the hotels are cheap. A meal is 1 or 2 US$, a 1 litre bottle of water is 0.25 US$, and enjoying the sun is free! Also, a girl on the other side of the street almost walked into a tree yesterday as she was turning her head to look at me - that did wonders for my self-confidence of course! :-)

But the best thing happened on the afternoon of the 24th. I had been sleeping until noon, and spent a few hours in bed, really somewhat afraid to actually go out after the disastrous day before, when I got a phone call. It was Nargiza, the local coordinator for Habitat here in Bishkek, and she invited me to a party! It turned out that there was a special Habitat team here already working in Bishkek.

They belong to something called an interface group in Edinburgh; a group of people from all religions, some Christians, some muslims, some Buddhists, etc, and just to round it off some non-religious people as well. I didn’t have time to find out the background around that, but probably some government-sponsored project about cultural integration in the UK?

Anyway, their project was about to wrap up, and they were having a barbecue at the building site to celebrate. They had even hired a local band that was playing, so not only did I have a decent meal, I also got to dance a little with the local girls. I was trying to remember the dancing lessons I got from Anna before I left, but somehow it didn’t work as well on grass and dirt as on proper dance floor! :-(

A great time was had by all, and more or less a miracle happened: as I was introducing myself to one of the scots, a voice from behind was saying “pratar du svenska” (do you speak Swedish)? It turned out that the build site manager was trained at the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology, no more than 500 meters from my apartment in Stockholm! It’s indeed a small world, and I’m very much looking forward to meeting Sanjab (which I think he was called…) when I get back to Bishkek again. He wants to practice his Swedish, and there’s only like a billion things about his country that I want to learn from him!

A great time was had by all, but the team was going on a three-day R&R trip to the mountains the day after, and most people wanted to get early to bed, so we finished early. Really early. Like 8 o’clock early! It might have been a religious thing, because the three proclaimed non-religious girls in the team definitely did not want to stop to party, and neither did I!

So, as everyone was going back to their apartments (Habitat rents apartments in different buildings in a block in the southern outskirts of the city for the teams) for packing and rest, I was sent off on a beer run. As I got back to the girl’s apartment, the vodka bottles were out (quite decent vodka btw, even though I am far from an expert), and the party was getting started.

We poured the last vodka eight hours or so later back at the girl’s apartment, after doing a pub crawl in the neighborhood. Or in my case it was more of a pub piggy-back, since one of the girls had hurt her foot and couldn’t walk. I’m just very very glad that they had a spare sofa, so that I could at least get a couple of hours of shut-eye before waving goodbye to the team and going back to sleep at my hotel. I wonder how the girls managed their white-water rafting with a hangover? [sadistic smile]

The rest of yesterday was pretty much spent sleeping, watching TV episodes on my laptop, and blogging. Yes, as you can see, I’ve been writing a lot… And today has been pretty much more of the same. After the team (and with them all the locals I had met as well) left, I did revert back to the same scared-of-doing-anything behavior I had before, but it also gave me an opportunity to think a few things over, and after all this writing and talking to Helena over the phone, I actually feel quite ready for meeting the team and starting the project tomorrow!

News - more entries, new style, and still in english!

Yes, it is update time again! Today I have added three more entries apart from this, about Stockholm, Istanbul and Bishkek - am I global or what! :-) Watch for updates regarding the slightly more mundane but nonetheless lovely Hälsingland and Åmål the next few days.

And I AM continuing in English. I have gathered quite a few English-speaking readers over the last two months, and since Helena is the only one that objects to English, that’s the way it will be. Especially since Helena says that she won’t read it (that’s a whole other story...) anyway!

Yes, I have changed the style - there's nothing wrong with your eyes. I needed to do a style update to get a counter for the site anyway, so I thought that I would try something new. Let me know what you think (it’s reasonably easy to change back), and meanwhile look at the counter at the bottom of the page. It counts the number of visitors since the 19th or something like that, and as I write this I haven’t had the guts to check it myself yet. What if it’s only mom that’s reading it!? :-(

So now scroll down to the entry "Stockholm" and start to read!

Kyrghyzstan day one: Bishkek sucks! (July 23)

The lady on the right recently replaced Lenin as the pride of Bishkek - and the guy on the left is the one that tried to rob me!

Maybe I just should have stayed at the hotel (see last entry)? Bishkek has so far given me NOTHING positive, but instead a lot of negatives. I can only hope that either the city or my attitude improves, because I have three more days until the rest of the team arrives!

• I arrived at 1:30 in the morning, which is never fun. At least I was sitting in the front of the airplane, so I would be quick through the passport control and off to the hotel. I thought... Instead an administrator from the biggest tour agency in town muscled his way in to the line two people in front of me, and handed in 25 (twenty-five!) passports from people in his group, and got preferential treatment! That took more than half an hour... :-(
• Then, as I exited into the terminal building, I was attacked by what must have been the most intensive group of taxi hustlers I’ve EVER seen. And believe me, I’ve seen quite a few. I must have been the only one that looked clearly foreign to them (yeah, the Mohawk, I know...) because they all attacked me. I focused on the guy that looked the least menacing and negotiated the price of a taxi ride down from 35 to 13 US$ (Lonely Planet says to pay 11, so I didn’t do too bad), and got in to the taxi. The ride was uneventful in itself, but when I got out of the taxi, the price was somehow back at $35 again! I had to physically wrestle my bags (big backpack + daypack + plastic taxfree bag – difficult to juggle) from the taxi driver and his friend and fight my way to the hotel!
• The hotel (Kyrgyz Altyn, 30 Manas, +996 312 66 64 12j) is decent enough, with clean rooms and shared shower (even though I can’t understand why it should cost $30 – all hotels in Bishkek are ridiculously expensive!). But of course they had managed to loose my reservation, so I had to argue a lot to at least get a bed for the night. At 2.30 in the morning and with my reputation probably spreading around the Bishkek taxi fleet, I felt my other options were limited indeed!
• When I got out on the town I quickly got my expectations of its state confirmed – Bishkek is definitely a city in decline. Just like the rest of the country, Bishkek has really lost a lot when the USSR was dissolved, and everything from the communist era is slowly falling apart. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many badly tended facades and gardens of ex-palaces and -villas as here.
• All the signs are in Cyrillic script. OK, I can’t really blame the city of Bishkek for my lack of knowledge in Cyrillic letters, but what really ticks me off is that none of my two guidebooks, neither my phrase book has any Cyrillic <-> roman translation table! How the f%#k can they write names in their books and maps with only roman letters, not include a translation table, and then expect someone to find ANYthing!?
• When I bought a water bottle, it was fizzy and not still. It’s that Cyrillic again… :-(
• When I finally took a break from walking and sat down for the first time, in front of a monument to study the map, a guy comes up to me and says the two English phrases he knows, and then tries to steal my backpack.
• NO ONE here speaks English, not even at Fatboys, described by the guide books as the best backpacker place in town. I’ve also been to two other hotels that are supposed to be backpacker hangouts, without meeting ANY other westerners. I DID see two backpackers (although they might not have been westerners) from afar, but lost them before I could catch up. I know that my dear Anna traveled other central Asian countries and managed well, but then she at least had her sister for company – being by yourself is quite another matter!
• On my way from Fatboys, I took some pictures of a monument. This quickly brought out the local police that asked for my passport. Fortunately enough I had read the warnings that they will hold on to your passport until you pay a made-up “fine”, so I had a laminated photocopy to give them, but they still dragged me into a small building, searched through my pockets and backpack and tried to make me give them my watch/compass/barometer/altitude meter (I have to continue those gear articles soon!) as a “gift” to get my laptop computer back.
• At the local fairgrounds I was assaulted by beggars that literally tugged at my clothes and my backpack. Also the fairgrounds was really depressing and worn down. I’m sure that there will be an accident in the not too distant future.

All in all, I look back at my first day in Bishkek and can not find a single positive thing to say, except maybe about the beer that I’m drinking as I’m writing this. Even that is US-style and very tasteless though, but at least it’s beer...

And the outlook for the next few days is not very promising either: During all my interactions with the locals they have tried to rob me (well except for the simile I got when I paid my food in the supermarket – but she probably gouged me as well :-(). If I can’t trust an ordinary man to not steal my backpack, how do I even dare to ask the way? If I can’t trust the police, what to do if something goes wrong? And since I can’t even read the signs, how do I even dare leave the hotel?

I can only hope that it gets better, otherwise I will probably stay in my room and watch old Boston Legal TV shows on my laptop for three days until the rest of the team gets here and we meet the local affiliate.

I can only say Öf – my phrasebook says that it is the kyrghyz sound used to express something that is terrible or disgusting!

Istanbul, July 21-22

The beautiful blue mosque.

Up until now, even though I’ve sometimes (or you might say always...) published the blog in batches, this is the first time I’ve actually written the entries in anything but chronological order. As I’m writing this, I have just finished the Bishkek sucks! (Kyrghyzstan day one: Bishkek sucks! (July 23)) entry, and maybe that is why Istanbul felt so positive?

I don’t think so however, because I remember the feeling while I was still there! I only spent one day, or even less, in the city, so there’s obviously more to discover when I get back there on my way home, but here’s a shortlist of my impressions so far.

• Cheapest airport to downtown fare in my life so far! The 0,80$ subway ride even beats what Lonely Planet claimed the cost would be in Cancun, and in reality was five times cheaper!
  The hostel I stayed at (Cordial on Peykhane Sok 29, tel +90 212 518 05 76) was excellent – thanks Anna for the tip! Not only was it reasonably cheap (US $12), but it was very clean, had free Internet for us with laptops, and had good beer on tap in the bar! And it is right in the center of town!
  The Bazaar was excellent – easily the best market I’ve ever seen. Especially the central and oldest parts had an excellent selection of jewelry and decorative items. Also, the water pipes looked excellent, but I didn’t have a closer look since I plan to buy one when I get there the next time.
• The area where all tourists gather, around the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia is unusually beautiful and it’s even nice to sit in the surrounding parks, since no touts (“friends” trying to take you to stores, museums, hotels, restaurants, etc.) are attacking you!
• Food, both in restaurants and in stores seems cheap enough.

All in all, only good experiences, except when I read the map wrong and was only saved by my excellent watch/compass/etc. – yes it definitely deserves a Gear article soon – but I can’t blame that on the city! I really look forward to coming back.

This will probably be in the end of September or beginning of October – if you are interested in joining me there around that time, let me know, I would love the company! I’m planning to see more of Turkey as well and stay for 2-4 weeks, but I am flexible if anyone wants to join. Btw, there’s a travel agent on Sveavägen in Stockholm that advertises Istanbul flights for 400 SEK or so…

Åmål Blues Fest, July 7-14

The best part of the Blues Fest just might be all the street blues in the day time.

I don't quite know for how many years I've been going to the Blues Fest, but I just realized that it is the only every-year tradition that I have going. For many people it would be Christmas with your family, but for me I've spread them between girlfriend's families and my own. For many americans it would be Thanksgiving, but we don't have that tradition in Sweden. For other swedes it maybe is a midsummers party or the annual crabfish premier. Or - god forbid - the annual premier of the godawful fermented herring, "surströmming".

And the sad thing is that I really appreciate these traditions, so I've always aspired to be part of them more. Well, I guess that is something that comes from never settling down with a family, instead swapping girlfriends (and with that more or less half of your friends) every five years?

Anyway, I guess that is why I like the Blues Fest so much, because it can not possibly be the music! :-) I've never been much of a blues fan, and even if it is always nice to listen to blues live, and even academically dissect it's part in pretty much all other types of mucic from jazz to hip-hop, it has never really been close to my heart.

No, the Blues Fest to me is all about family and friends. Meeting my kid brother, and probably for the only time in a year, having the time to sit down and actually talk to him (you see, he lives in Gothenburg, and none of us is very good at phoning...) is invaluable. As is of course since the last seven years spend time with his wonderful son Eric, my adorable nephew. Not too mention the rest of my family, but more about them later.

At times, I've even been able to trick a friend of mine to join me as well, and that's always been greatly appreciated, even though it seems like I don't have too many friends found of the Blues. Maybe I just need to tell them that the Blues Fest is not really about the Blues at all? :-)

Anyway, this year was better than most, since I had the company of my lovely Helena. I guess she understands that the Fest is not about the blues, because I have never seen any blues CD's at her place and still she came!? We loaded her car with the last of my belongings from Stockholm (I'm storing everything in Åmål while I sub-let the apartment) and set off on a wonderful summer day. Driving through a country gives you a quite good image of how beautiful it is, and Sweden - I love you!

As always, my mom had made excellent preparations for us, and I quickly fell in to the role of a kid again. It's strange, at the age of 41 you would think that I am a grown-up, but as soon as I come home to my mom, it's lke I'm 15 again. I sleep most of the day, I let my mother make breakfast and generally cook for me, and this year I think it actually turned worse: she even did my laundry! I'm planning to stay with her fo a longer period later in the year, and I'm a bit afraid: what if I get so used to being pampered that I won't move out? :-)

The Blues Fest in itself was pretty much like it always is. I really think that the best part is the street blues in downtown Åmål (downtown being a relative term in a city of around 10.000 of course) during daytime, where many of the bands are playing for free at street corners of cafeterias all over town. Maybe it's not the biggest names, but somehow it's really close to what blues should really be about...

Unfortunately I had a bad case of hay fever, so I couldn't join Helena for it. You see, what most people know about hay fever is the running noses and eyes, and the sneezing. What most don't know is that (at least to some of us) also gets our bodies in a fever-like state where you need 12 hours of sleep or so, and still is constantly tired and sweating. Really a big pain, and it even seems to get worse by the years. :-(

But I did go to the evening concerts, and it was good as always, although not spectacular. Unfortunately not too many people (something like 5000 I think) this year, and it seems like the Fest is in a downwards spiral now. Too few people -> less money for artists next year -> fewer people -> etc... I hope they can get better sponsorship next year to get out of it, otherwise I fear for it's survival.

One added bonus was that my uncle Mats had come to the Fest. I don't see him nearly as much as I would like to, even though he actually lives in Stockholm as well, and it was nice to go partying with him and Helena. It was really great to see you Mats, do bring the Harley next year!

After the Fest, Helena had to go back to Stockholm for a family thing, and I took the opportunity to further regress to childhood. All that was left for to regress completely was probably to fight my brother, but since he weighs 100 pounds more than me these days, I wisely decided not to do that!

Instead I mostly spent time with my mom and dad, we even took the time to go out on the golf course together, and I am happy to report that even though I haven't even seen a golf ball the last three years, I still had the fewest strokes! I didn't even whack a single ball into the woods so that I didn't find it, and that is the first time in my life! Hmm, I already missed the British Open I guess, but isn't the PGA championships in the autumn? I wish I had thought about becoming a golf pro before taking up all these travels on my year off! :-)

Another part of the Blues Fest tradition has been to celebrate my birthday - although it is less and less to celebrate each year! :-( I guess that some year I should actually arrange my own birthday party, but it's that whole regression to childhood again, and besides, mum and dad is doing such a great job of it! Even though it is always great to be celebrated (and the presents, don't forget the presents! :-)), the best thing is that it is a great opportunity to meet the extended family: my grandmother on my dad's side and her boyfriend Bengt, my aunt Maggan and her family, Björn, Linnea and Emma. Thanks for the presents guys, but most of all thanks for being there!

By the time my birthday came around, Helena had come back from Stockholm as well, and that I guess, was the best gift of all! We even took the time to visit my sort-of-cousin Cissi to try horseback riding for the first time! Well, Helena had tried it before, but since I am allergic to horses, I never really wanted to...

However, since I've been taking these allergy shots that is supposed to make me immune to to many allergic compounds, I thought this was a good time to try it. You see, one of the things I want to to in Kyrghyzstan is to go trekking on horseback, and that's really no good if you are allergic...

Unfortunately the experiment was something of a failure, and I had a fairly bad reaction. On the other hand, I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and even hugged the horse, so when I get the chance in K-stan, I will try it at least. Long-sleeved shirt, long pants, proper boots, gloves, and I can even use my buff as a face mask - that should be enough. I have this dream about riding in to a small village on the horseback, like Lucky Luke in the comic, and at least I'm going to give it a try...

As I'm writing this, there aren't that many days left until I will get my chance either! The rest of the Habitat team is arriving to Bishkek tomorrow morning, and then we will be off to Barskoon to build the houses, as well as have some R&R, which is supposed to include horseback riding. It's getting really close now!

John's and Majvi's wedding, June 1

The beautiful bride and handsome groom - yes it's a traditional and boring picture, but lovely nonetheless!

Well, this was definitely something I had been waiting for for a long while.

John and I are friends since like forever, or at least close to 20 years, and even if he and I have drifted apart somewhat the last few years, he is still one of my dearest friends. When he moved to Stockholm 10-15 years ago, we used to go out dancing together, when we were both single, it was almost every week.

It always felt a little bit weird, since the success at picking up a girl for either one of us would inevitably lead to the end of the single life that we both loved so much, so I guess we were lucky that none of us were ever very good at picking up girls! :-) I have to admit that it was more often than not me who broke up the fun we had by getting a long-term girlfriend, and I always felt bad for not being there for him as much as I wanted to, instead clinging to whatever current girlfriend like I-don't-know-what.

Well, one night three years ago, one of us was finally to about to make a catch on the dancefloor - and a big one at that!

It was a hot summer night and the beat was burning. When I listen to your heart I hear the whole world turning, I see the shooting stars falling through your tenderness. You were licking your lips with your lipstick shining, and we were lying together on a silver lining, by the light of the moon, and there was not another moment to wait.

No, I got sidetracked there for a moment, that was actually the lyrics to "You took the words right ouf of my mouth (Hot Summer Night)" by Jim Steinman. Let me try again:

It was a hot summer night and the dancefloor was crowded, so many people were starting to sweat. This led John to try what I at the time thought to be the lamest pickup line ever. Not so much a line as a gesture I guess - he wiped some sweat from the forehead of a girl he was dancing with and saying something or the other, I can't really remember if he had a line or not.

I wish that I could say that it was working great, but I seem to recall that he did not have much success with the move, except for this one girl... Unfortunately enough, she disappeared from the dancefloor after a while, and after a few minutes more I could see that she was at the bar, starting to leave. John of course was in another world, desperately wiping the sweat from the foreheads of more or less the whole dancefloor, so I had to tug at his arm and tell him that the special girl was leaving, and shouldn't he try to get her phone number or something, unless he really wanted to die alone?

And I'm happy to say that his pickup move wasn't that bad after all, since the last few years it has been John that has been isolating himself from the world, despearately clinging to his girlfriend - and who can blame him!? So yes, I don't want to take the credit for them getting married, but at least John has someone to blame if the whole thing don't work out! :-)

Majvi by contrast is a relatively new acquintance, but she grows more lovely by the day. Not only is she beautiful and smart, she has even managed to finally introduce some fashion sense to John's life, and that is not a small achievement by any standard!

With Majvi coming from Stockholm, and reportedly having never been out of the city center until she met John, when the engagement rings showed up on their fingers, I was expecting a Stockholm wedding, but instead the whole affair was arranged in Hälsingland (up north), where John's from. And it was all the better for it! Most of the guests were from other parts of the country, so going there over the weekend, only focusing on the wedding was a great plan. It really meant having the possibility to concentrate on the bride and groom, and think about them.

Unless of course you have been on the other side of the world for two months, and just met your girlfriend the day before! Yes, I must admit that most of the time I was more focused on the lovely Helena next to me rather than the young couple, but that didn't mean I had any less fun of course!

The wedding festivities was mainly organized by John's dad Bernt and his wife-to-be-as-soon-as-he-decides-to-make-an-honest-woman-out-of-her Karin. Karin has this huge farm, right next to the church where the wedding was, and they had definitely arranged a perfect wedding!

The ceremony in church was wonderful and very traditional, after which we all walked back to the farm where the party was. Well, the bride and groom rode in a classic car (A-Ford I think?) as the rest of us picked up the dust behind.

And the party was the best! Quite traditional in tone, but touches like not only having pitchers of water on the table, but also pitchers of moonshine(!) added to the enjoyment! Also, the band was a classic from our youthful days: Hion Martell. One of John's best friends plays in the band, and all the other members are old acquintances as well - it was really fun to get the opportunity to talk to them again for the first time in many years! I even managed to get John on the stage (he plays a decent harmonica) together with the best man (Johan, who is an excellent bass player) and the band for a few songs. Needless to say, that was the most popular setting of the evening!

Everyone was partying in to the wee hours of the morning, and partying hard. We had a 2 kilometer walk bak to the hotel where we were staying, and I remeber that it took me and Helena half an hour just to get 500 meters on the way! We would probably still be there if not for Jonas driving by and giving us a lift - thanks Jonas, you were a real life saver!

So yes, I had a great time at the wedding, but the best time I still had every time I looked at John or Majvi, and I could just see all the happiness radiating from their eyes. If you read this guys, all the best of luck to you!

Stockholm July 1-21

A selection of the people I met when I was home in Stockholm. Daniel, Christina, Emma, Sten, myself, Mats, Anna, mom, and x Helena x

As I’m writing this, it is actually July 23, and I am already in Bishkek in Kyrghyzstan. I guess the fact that I haven’t had time to update the blog until now says that I had a great time home in Sweden? Yes certainly, but it also says that there were a lot of things I had to do before continuing my journey.

As it has been some time since all of this happened and I was sometimes to drunk to remember the details :-)), I’ll try to be brief. But if you know me, you know that it will be hard for me!
When I came “home”, it was the first time I’ve come home from a journey without having an actual home to return to! You see, I’ve sublet my apartment to a lovely couple from the south of Sweden while I’m away. This means that not only do I not need to pay the costs while away, I actually make some extra money from it!

This is because Sweden has a weird system of rent control, which means that building owners have a hard time making money when renting out apartments, which means that no housing gets built, which means there is a permanent housing shortage (at least in Stockholm) for as long as I can remember. Most of the time this really pisses me off, but this year I can finally enjoy the fruits of it!

But I had something even better awaiting me at home. My lovely Helena was waiting for me at the airport, beautiful as ever, and with the hugs that I so very much needed lined up. Coming home to her and her family might very well have been the best thing that has happened to me on my journey!

Unfortunately I never really had time to settle with her and her son Robin, because we kept moving all over Sweden. Just a day after I came back we headed off to Hälsingland for the wedding of John and Majvi, two of my very best friends - more about that in a later blog entry. And soon thereafter we left for my parents in Åmål, to coincide with the annual Blues Fest, as well as my birthday – but I’ll do a separate entry on that as well.

The rest of the time I spent in Stockholm, sort of having a vacation. Don’t I have a full year off – why do I need a vacation then? Well, traveling is not always restful, you know. Going on a one-week charter to Mallorca or something similar probably is, but backpacking in foreign lands where you don’t know the language isn’t – at least not for me.

So it was very nice to just hang out with friends and really doing nothing. Going back to favorite places like Sodra Bar (my favorite summer bar on a veranda overlooking beautiful downtown Stockholm) and Kungsträdgården (a park in central Stockholm, great for people-watching), as well as finding new ones like Kärsön (a great beach next door to the royal family, with an opportunity to go nude if you want to) and a great club where I had the time of my life.

But the best thing was of course to get to meet my friends again. When I’m traveling I honestly can’t say that I miss Stockholm itself much, despite its beauty. But I do miss my friends. A lot! Guys, if you read this, it was great meeting some of you, and I’m already looking forward to when I get home the next time so that I can see the rest of you again!

And of course I spent most of the time with my darling Helena. I don’t know what I can say about it all. She gave me the best time I could ever have hoped for – and then more. We haven’t known each other “for real” for very long yet, but she is already one of the best things that have ever happened to me, and I treasure every moment we’ve had together – even our fights!
[That actually brought a tear to my eye. Oh well, time to switch subjects.]

Among all that enjoyment I also had some preparations to do for the next leg of my journey – mostly relating to my equipment. It’s more or less always fun to buy new equipment, but less so when you have to replace lost stuff. I don’t really know how I managed, but I lost the following on the trip: One shirt, one t-shirt, two pair of socks (merino wool - sniff) , two pair of underwear (I obviously need to check my laundry bags better in the future), one camera pouch, and finally one bloody expensive Leatherman pliers/knife. At least my family was nice enough to get me a replacement of the latter for my birthday!

But there were lots of other things as well – paying dad for two months worth of bills was the least fun part, but writing e-mails and sending photos to the people that I promised on the trip to do so was the best! It really brought back a lot of the happy memories from Central America. If you are one of those that haven’t got a reply yet, don’t despair. I have already sent out close to 100 MB worth of pictures, but I am getting to the bottom of the pile now!

Buying gifts and tools for the Habitat subsidiary in Kyrghyzstan was also great fun – I’ve read up a lot on both Habitat and Kyrghyzstan the last few weeks and it feels really good that everything I bring will come to good use! But more on Habitat and the voluntary mission in a later blog entry. There’s nothing like some decent cliffhangers to get people to come back to the blog is it! :-)

And on that note, I’m out of here. I’ve been in Bishkek for a few hours now, and it is time to see the town!