old tiger's Blog

Stockholm is a nice city with lots of water around..
usually I don't like big cities...did not stay long..
just wandered around through the old part of Stockholm..
it's called gamla Stan..some nice narrow streets..
hitched a ride towards the lake regio of J?nk?ping..
nice countryside..went all the way down towards Malm?..
ferry to Copenhagen...and back home via German highways
I'll tell you about my next trip..will be a huge story..
trip to Calcutta(West Bengal) via Greece-Turkey-Iran-Afghanistan..
Pakistan..and finally India....I even met my future wife there
Tiger

So..Finland..land of the sauna..more then 188.000 lakes..
http://wikitravel.org/en/Finland
There's about a lake every village,I believe
Finnish people I do like..they like a joke,booze etc..
went from Rovaniemi downwards to Kemi/Haparanda..
Finnish-Swedish border..in fact twin towns..
hitched down the coastline towards Oulu..nice villages..
Oulu-Jyvaskyla takes you into lake countryside
met some crazy Finnish chicks..with their boyfriends...
went for an evening of booze+music..they played 60's music..
great..got drunk..but the Finnish before me..they drank themselves
under the table..these chicks act funny when drunk???fighting over
a boy..on the street..with high heels in their hands
shouting perkele..hellevetti..vitu..Finnish bad slang words
don't recall much after this..I went to Helsinki..and to Turku..
boat towards Stockholm(Sweden)more later on..
Tiger

So..Karasjok..just a little border hamlet on the Finnish-Norvegian border..
after Vadso..I hitched to the Finnish border around Polmak..I recall a ride
with a sailor(Finnish)who was married to a French woman..they lived in Skipagurra..just in the middle of nowhere..his wife was so keen on speaking
French..they gave me food/shelter for 2 days..they had 2 young sons..
played football with the sons during the day
the area around Utsjoki is real wild tundra..got a ride to Karasjok..
slept somewhere in the rough there..place enough..
then to Karigasniemi(border Finland)Karasjok is Norway..
Karigasniemi-Kaamanen-Ivalo..loveley stretch..some Finns took me into a baari..kind of pub like..there was a hotel restaurant nearby..they paid booze
for me..we got drunk...be careful getting drunk with Finns
they drink until they fall from their chairs..
Finnish..is a language which I can speak..with a hot potato in my mouth..real difficult..I don't recall whether I slept in Ivalo...just booze..
I guess..next day..i was in Rovaniemi ..now..awww.midnight sun..
great youth hostel..stayed 2 nights..I met a French chick from Paris who
was of Vietnamese origin..I recall Kathy as a good friend..later..in 1974
I would visit her in Paris..before my last trip to West Africa..
The midnight sun around Rovaniemi is something I'll never forget..it was real
beautiful..Kathy travelled on Interrail pass..so I saw her off in the station..
more later on..I'll try to find a link on Rovaniemi..
http://www.laplandfinland.com/?deptid=16024

Link about the Lapp people(Saami)
these folks make real excellent knives,handicrafts..
they sing their songs called *joik*
they are usually short..and they like booze in summer..
I can't blame them..in winter it's almost dark the whole day
I loved these people for their sense of being 1 with nature..
Mari Boine is simply a great joik singer..
http://www.kalleklev.no/english/artists/mariboine.html
http://boreale.konto.itv.se/duodjie.htm

Hey...
Bit after Polarcircle a road cuts to Sweden..direction Arjeplog..
I loved Swedish Lapland..so much space..no habitation..
I recall sleeping in an empty barn..near Moskosel..I woke up..
in the morning...dew in the grass..little brook around..
Hitch hiking in these parts was not so easy..not that much traffic..
but mostly I got away..Jokmokk was a nice place,I found..
The Same(Lapps)are real nature people..they wandered around with
their reindeers..crossing this tundra that North Sweden is really..
in Kiruna I met a Swedish guy+his girl friend..they invited me into their
flat..they had been to Libanon..we smoked some hasj there..I recall the
music of Steppenwolf..and the Moody Blues he had played..I'm still looking
today after songs from Bernd Staf(Swedish singer)..also an LP they played..
we went stoned to the local Konsum(shopping mall)i felt every step like it
was downhill..I was stoned out of my ass
After Kiruna I went trekking to Kebnekaise Fjellstation..it's a long haul..
but I only did Nikkaluokta-Kebnekaise and back..staying in mountain huts..
and damned big mosquitos who liked my bloodfrom Kiruna I went into
Finland via Kaaresuvanto..then back into Norway..towards Troms?..
nice town..lots of youngsters get high on booze there in summer..
my cup of tea really..since I always liked to get high on booze..
even till todayso..up to Russenes+Honnigsvag..ferry to Mageroy..
which is the island where North Cape is situated..
but the weather was so shitty..wet..misty..cold..I decided not to go..
So..I've never seen North Cape..fuck hell..I should have really
instead I visited Vadso-Vardo..which is quite far North as well..
fishing villages really..went back to Hammerfest..stayed on a campsite
there...more later on..I went into Finland towards Polmak..

Tiger