See those baggies hanging up there? Locals can't keep it in very well. We didn't need a vomit bag no matter how curvy and bumpy our muddy mountain "highway" was.

The bus trip was awesome! Not only because of the rural mountainous landscapes but because of the bus itself. Additionally, bus seemed to operate as some sort of a carrier truck. In few occasions it was packed with 20 or more packages (of cookies, some sauce and what so ever). At the end some hundred packages took all the available space not only on the roof, but also walkway and free seats were fully packed.

We had a few stops on the way, usually at some markets so people could buy snacks from the windows. The trip even included a toilet-pause. Somewhere in the middle of the jungle – welcome to the biggest toilet in the world! Though to get out from the bus one needed to crawl over all the boxes first.

Welcome to Lao PDR!

In Thailand roads are often better than in Eastern Europe, public transport usually runs on time and from everything you can see Thailand being one of the locomotives of the economic development in South East Asia. In word, Thailand seems now very developed country indeed.

In the capital of Laos, Vientiane, you can see how Laos is certainly being dragged with Thailand. Outside Vientiane is another story; much of the country lacks sufficient working infrastructure as well the masses of tourism its neighbour gets. Most of the roads are deteriorated and 80% of them remain unpaved. People’s median age is just over 19.

There isn’t freedom of the press nor democracy. Instead the country is ruled by communist party, even though for a traveller all this isn’t too visible. You can see red hammer and sickle flags everywhere, though, but to really understand the situation in here, we ought to have chats with locals.

Jang holding Simona's contact card in her café/shop.

So we got rides from “anti money laundry” and “customs” officers. Instead taking the mainroad, we went by a small corn lined road next to the mighty Mekong river. Spectacular landscapes!

For a lunch we met some cool hitchhiking Thai woman, a guest house owner who gave us tips about hitchhiking in Laos.

For fruitshakes we got to know a colourful Thai lady, who’s making stunning handicrafts in a beautiful house surrounded by fruit trees.

Before leaving the town we stumbled upon some Mexico-fan Thai-pa who “knows his coffee and bread”. Some damn good bread it was indeed!

It’s been too fast week. 8 days, 6 countries, thousands of kilometers, lots of rides, lots of wonderful people, but just too fast to enjoy everything fully. Not our preferred way of traveling, would be nicer to stay much longer everywhere. But that’s when you really start enjoying warm shower, bed to put your head on after a long long day, and these amazing drivers who give you the last ride to your destination even if it’s tens of kilometers out of their way!

So it happened that our way to Berlin was going through Italy. And we ended up in Italy because of German hitchhiking Race. Camping at Lago d’Orta for the weekend? Why not? It’s this amazing feeling of freedom, that you can go anywhere you want, and you have all your home on your back. Even if the sun is burning your neck, backpack presses your shoulders and legs already want to refuse to walk after some Italian driver again drops you off in the middle of the town instead of leaving you on the main road. But you still go, meanwhile focusing your eyes on amazing lakes and mountain lanscapes, you still wait, counting cars out of boredom, or start dancing on the road with earphones in your ears…

And today the last day in Europe, just after a few hours we’ll be taking a flight to Bangkok! So goodbye cities, german autobahns, service stations, amazing Swiss mountains, multilingual truck drivers, and of course all the great people whom we met on the road!

More notes on hitchhiking and photos will come later, already from another continent!

Last traditional Lithuanian šaltibarščiai soup at the border station.

This time we did it in my favourite style; hitchhiking and sitting in a truck, Simona chatting what ever with the driver and me sleeping in the bed behind the seats.

It’s going very well. Simona is learning new things about art of hitchhiking and I’m just smiling and enjoying; both our lifts so far are from Lithuanian truck drivers – and I suppose it’s gonna take some time before I hear again this language this much again.

I, unintentionally, ate Simona’s sūrelis. Hope I can find one from Poland for her… those with poppy seeds if possible, dziekuje?

Also I ate my first zapiekanka after New Year’s – such a good memories I’ve got from just some simple bread.

My lift. Having a pause in Riga.

Beginning of the motorway to Vilnius in Panevėžys. Sunrise and morning mist. Beautiful moment.

Bus stop - a million star hotel.

It's raining in a trolley.

I don’t consider myself too comfort-seeking person, as I’ve proved by all kind of exciting adventures. I really enjoy lazy moments; but when I need to continue still many hours after getting tired or having a tolerance against craziest things, I can manage.

Moving to Lithuania; how smoothly everything has gone! Just one small misfortune, but it was just my own fault and turned out to be an adventure.

I found the flat super easily from my friend. It’s located in Žvėrynas, Vilnius – a super cool area just around the center. Rent is cheap even for Lithuanians (300LT/month).

When I started hitchhiking from Tampere, Finland and got to Helsinki just by one lift, I was thinking I’m so gonna got stuck somewhere in Latvian countryside later on. Ferry from Helsinki left just when I came to there and even a bus to the hitchhiking spot in Tallinn was waiting there when I needed it.

Only after 5 minute waiting I was on a road again, but this driver wasn’t speaking English, Finnish nor Estonia. Only Turkish, so he couldn’t explain that he’s only going for 10km. So short you don’t even count it as a lift. Then in a next moment; a truck! Oh, so you don’t speak English either… oh you are Russian and going to Panevėžys in Lithuania! (Or actually to Klaipėda but I’ll go there some other time.) Basicly all the way from Tampere to Vilnius with just two rides.

And so we were driving long hours and Russian radio channel was playing club-music. It’s just like some Latvian roads/traffic; bad and fast, but it keeps you awake. I was dreaming about traveling; in Estonia there was a graffiti on a bus stop saying “vamoose a Madrid”.

In first place I was thinking I’m gonna spend my night in Riga, Latvia. But hey when you get a ride to Panevėžys, you ain’t letting it go. It was a complete darkness at 2am, some 10km after Panevėžys on a motorway and I was walking. Blinking flashlight and few reflectors on my backpack keeping me safe. You can’t hitchhike in that darkness.

Oh but look there is a bus stop! There would’ve been a hotel nearby, but just for few hours it’s no-go and expensive. It wasn’t most enjoyable sleep on that bench with a sleeping back and all clothes on, but I kinda liked it at morning, how I had spent my warm summer night. It was ok.

At morning I woke up and it was a cockcrow – and actually a real rooster singing there. Beautiful sunrise and some old lady milking a cow on a field. And we are still in EU, only 550km from Helsinki.

I would not done this kind of night-hitchhiking stunt if I would’ve been traveling with my friends and surely I would had planned more. But when I’m alone, I can handle these adventures. I have a lot of tolerance for all this crazy stuff. It’s nothing!

Though at morning my hitchhiking luck ran out and there I was, on a empty motorway for over 3 hours. Finally I just took a local bus (and it came just when I was thinking about it!) to Panevėžys and then from there a bus to Vilnius. Again it was there 10mins after my arrival.

Now I’ve been waiting all day in Vilnius with my backpack, because man with my keys is somewhere out from the city and will be here at late evening.

It’s been like this, kinda smooth and then some little things not that smooth, but hey It’s been some really cool days!

Last really nice thing happened when I was asking about cheap prepaid-SIMs from a CouchSurfing-group. In just one hour there was a man with free spare SIM and I could get it right away. At the same time I could see my future neighborhood (it’s super cool!) and could use a shower. I got some very good hints for living in Vilnius from very nice Austro-Lithuanian gay couple, thanks! Like just around a corner of my house there is a farmers market. More about that in future.

Yay!

Now it’s raining cats’n'dogs, everybody at the railway station got scared of huge lightning, and right after that everybody were laughing. Luckily my friend had an umbrella, because raining followed us into a trolleybus.

Greetings from Latvia:

Driving along via-Baltica in Latvia, with ABBA.

In da bus, Pärnu-Tallinn

We didn’t have any good commong language, but it went well with combination of three languages. ”Tack so mycket, it was dobra travel, dziekuje! Do widzenia! Heijdo!”

Then I was stuck again, this time in Tallinn. Next ship will departure at 9pm, so I’ve been waiting here many hours. So not, Tallinn is beatifull.

ManGo performing in Riga, Latvia.

It started by dancing some ska punk with teenagers at some art college. My latvian mate who I met in Poland last summer was performing without a last string on his guitar on these parties. Thats what I call punk. Pity I didn’t have more time to chat with him, but Riga is so near Finland. And I just love Baltics.

After that I spent some good’n'grazy time with bunch of CouchSurfers. So much australians again! Riga is full of them. And finnish people too. Dancing, dancing.

I left Riga today, not too early though. After last night staying up for a very late, I knew this would happen: I’m stuck somewhere in the countryside of Latvia. Salacgrīva, only 10km to Estonian border and it’s raining cats’n'dogs.

I found some fanzy hotel, but just too expensive for me. “Sprichst du Deutsch?” Nein… But somehow I managed to bargain the prize under a half of it’s original. Yep, that’s still possible in Baltics.

One more day before school starts again.

Traveling by hitchhiking usually means having an adventure and I mean even before you get to where you are traveling to. So it was this time too. Almost half of my trip I needed to make in Finland. It’s 150 kilometers from Jyväskylä to Tampere (whitch I hitchhiked) and then 177 kilometers to Helsinki. I was trying to HH for over an hour in Tampere, but I was freezing to my bones. Cold wind and wet snowing. Why to make lovely hobby so horrible? To trainstation, it was then. I wanted to spent next night in Tallinn, so I actually needed to catch up last ferry too. So I was being also practical, not only lazy sunday-HH’er. (Though it was monday).

Next morning was routine for me, a bus 18 from center to the hitchhiking place. Last stop and thumb up. Woot! Still raining, freezing cold and four other hitchhiker before me on the road! After buying more warm clowes+umbarella (and great lunch) from nearby market, I finaly started other half of my trip, outside Finland. Towards Latvia! I must look like a robber or something with my dark clothes and black winterjacket. Not so fast HH’n this time, I mean. All drivers where speaking finnish, for it is easy to learn for estonians and it’s common to work in Finland. Near Latvian border I jammed totaly, next to some 24h-open gas-station. It was dark already and I’m not carrying my tent. Finaly some estonian roadtrip-boys took me – all the way to Riga. Want to come to Amsterdam with us? And back around Sweden after one week. Not bad idea!

But naa, I dropped out in a circle-road that goes around Riga. It was dark and over 9pm. Just road, but whoa! There where three russians trying to fix some old’n'rusty car of them. I found myself pushing that cars engine on. When it worked, I got ride to Riga. Yay!