Funny story connected to this one: I asked this man to take a picture of me. He then asked me where I started my journey from. I said Sweden. He asked: “How long did it take you to reach here?”. I said around six and a half month. He said: “Oooooh, so you’re going very slowly”.

I will watch better how I park my bicycle next time.

I was very nervous when I saw this coming closer, because I knew from experience it implies huge rain. But somehow I managed to keep it behind me for the last 20km and it started just when I reached the guesthouse where I stayed for the night.

In Kuala Lumpur I held a presentation for Ericsson. My first presentation for a company.

Jan Signell, President of Ericsson South East Asia, held an opening speech, talking about sustainability and the core values of Ericsson.

Then it was time for my presentation. The audience consisted of the team of Ericsson South East Asia, customers and media.

I showed pictures and told stories from my journey. I also shared my reflections in goal setting, the importance of taking the step, identifying critical steps, overcoming setbacks and pushing the limits.

The presentation was then tied together with the three core values in Ericsson: Respect, Perseverance and Professionalism.

Signell thanks me and gives me the latest Sony Ericsson mobile phone. Woow, I got happy

After the session, media had time for asking questions and making interviews. I appeared in a couple of articles and in newspapers and a lifestyle magazine.

The same day but during the evening I met with a cycling magazine in Kuala Lumpur. They introduced me to Velomad, a couple who has been travelling the world on bicycle for four years and plan for another four. Velomad consists of the lady in yellow shirt, and the husband who couldnt participate at the dinner.

Passing by close to the Sepang F1-circuit outside Kuala Lumpur. I like F1.

In Melaka I stayed with Anna and her family, who had lived in Sweden for some years. She cooked Swedish meatballs from IKEA!

Anna also invited the cycling community in Melaka to her house, and we all had dinner together.

They laughed at my bicycle. They couldnt believe I went from Sweden with that 550 Euro bicycle. To them the bicycle was really bad. One of them had a bicycle as expensive as 4000 Euro.

Buddy by the road.

So when I get to Singapore I plan to stay there for slightly more than a week. Last days I have been busy fixing my schedule. I will meet a lot of interesting people, companies and a university.

The plans after Singapore has long been unsteady. However, it would feel very stupid to go 7 months to Singapore and then fly back 1 day. It would be very tough mentally to come back to Sweden even though I many many things at home – mostly people of course. But recent updates from family says it is very cold and snow. I might stay away until April. I don’t know exactly what will happen.

Now 2 days more and then the goal is reached. Let’s see how it feels when I get there. Probably a mix of feelings. Happy to have reached the goal. Sad that it is over. I get back to that one…

Oh, here I even have my own lane – a huge margin at the side of the road. It was so pretty when I saw that they gave a thought to the two wheelers.

I added this picture because of the story beautiful story it contains. I stopped at some small place at the side of the road, a little frustrated after having made a long stage. I asked for an ice coffee and they didnt understand. I thought “oh my god, how can they not understand the word “coffee”". The word is almost the same in Thai. So I repeated “Coffee please”. No luck. By frustration I took off in hope to find another place nearby. But I cycled and cycled and no other place. I was very tired and really wanted something cold to drink. Then this truck driver stopped me and handed over a plastic bag…

This is one of the funniest nights. I dont know, I met these Thai people in some small town. They were also cyclists. We just connected and joked the whole night. But is it hard to find Thai people who speaks English in non-touristic places.

Funny vehicles.

Field worker.

Noooooo! My first puncture. I really thought I would make it to Singapore without a puncture. And it happened on a perfect road in Thailand. Anyway, I was very lucky, it happened just outside a repair shop for bicycles. Still I have never in my life repaired a puncture

An elephant walking around on the streets.I tried to find out why but couldnt find anyone speaking English.

This picture is here to symbolize when I was cycling with some stomach illness. It was horrible. I think it was the breakfast. I had saved some rice from the day before and bought some yoghurts which were stored in my hot room during the night. I had a mix of them both for breakfast. A couple of hours later my stomach started to get bad when I was cycling. I felt so bad and had to empty myself all the time. However, I wanted to reach my goal of the day. Sometimes I was forced to take rest and the place on the picture is where I lied down for a couple of hours. I finished my 120 odd kilometers, but when I reached the guesthouse of the night I could barely move. 0 energy. I feel asleep with all my cloths on and slept for more than 12 hours.

Hehe, I met an old Thai lady. She said she would like to marry a foreigner because she thought that foreigners “work, and after work they enjoy”. Thai people “enjoy and work at the same time”. The next day I understood what she was talking about. Some officials drinking away daytime.

I met my friend Mattias from Chalmers and Madrid at Koh Tao. Spent 3 days and Christmas there. Really good days. Just relaxing which was different to what I have been doing.

Almost as tall as Mattias when I stand on a stone.

Many and many hours were spent like that. At the sea shore with a couple of beers and just talking and talking about everything.

Chang beer.

Fireshows as always on the Thai islands.

And that’s it. Now I am cycling alone again after the days on Koh Tao. I thought it was going to be tough to come back on the bicycle but it is actually quite nice. Now I will cycle for two more days and then make a short break for New Years! Malaysia is only 300km away and Singapore 800km more, so it is really getting closer. In Malaysia there are a lot more couchsurfers than in Thailand which I am really looking forward to because it can get a bit lonely stopping at all those towns were nobody speaks English. That is it for now!

One of the guys from the clubs owned an ice cream shop, so we went there to stuff ourselves a little. Yummi!

For a newspaper in Calcutta.

This is a complicated story. I had to cross the border to Bangladesh with my two bicycles – the Indian and the Swedish. Fortunately I got some help. It was amazing, normally I am quite restrictive with giving money away, but one of these guys that helped me carrying was deaf and mute, so I gave him 100 taka, which is around 1 euro, for helping me. He got so unbelievably happy. He tried to hide his happiness but he just couldnt.

My two bicycles at the room in a guesthouse.

The ferries in Bangladesh are crowded and I have heard accidents happen frequently.

A kid I met in a small town.

Some more kids playing with a tire.

I found a place by the road where people where I was left a little peace. Normally the crowd comes up just some seconds after I stop somewhere. This was a library and the children went to school to study English. I tried to help them a little. They were really good for their age, and so happy that I could understand what they had written.

This is what happens when if I stop somewhere. People come from everywhere. It is quite insane. It was quite effort-ful to take this picture

A village where i stopped.

Roads in Bangladesh are very beautiful. Green and lively landscape.

Niiiice cycling.

There is a lot of water in Bangladesh. Rivers and ponds and lakes everywhere.

In Bangladesh I was done with my Indian bicycle. After Bangladesh came Thailand and here I will repair and go with my Swedish bicycle again. But I went 2500km on my Indian bicycle without gears and I thought that was worth celebrating.

By accident I met this man. He took me to his office and there we had a preparty.

We listened to old English music on his LP-player.

And then we went to buy flowers and decoration for my bicycle. I planned to decorate it on the street and let people join in. It is not every day I have the chance to create such a party so I thought I might as well just take the opportunity.

A big crowd helped me to decorate the bicycle. A man ran away and made a banner. It says “Bombay to Barisal” – which is more or less the stage I made with the bicycle. And then my name “Viktov Predan”

My bicycle with the crowd.

How pretty.

I gave the roses and the other flowers from the decoration to some of the people who had helped me.

Here I am arriving to Dhaka. The traffic was crazy. I have never seen so many cycle taxis or “Rikschas”.

Couchsurfer meeting in Dhaka! Many of them were cyclists also. I stayed with Sanjida, who introduced me to many of her friends. So great.

Me in a turban I borrowed

People around the lakes that I pass in India are normally very poor, but it is somehow often very beautiful. The lake is used for washing clothes, having bath and all.

Scary bridge with nothing on the sides.

Students all wear nice class uniforms.

The whole family on the bicycle.

A beautiful temple I passed.

India is sometimes crowded with a lot of crazy traffic. However, a couple of days, when I found roads like this it was heaven. No traffic, perfect weather, good road condition. Then it is very enjoyable to ride the bicycle.

I was announced to reach a hotel and they welcomed me with flowers and all

And sometimes I get to write autographs.

Kid practising his high jump skills.

The guesthouses where I am staying are sometimes not very nice. Spiders and all kinds of animals are moving around sometimes. Bedbugs are very common. I always sleep with long sleeved shirt and pants because otherwise I wake up in the middle of the night with an itching body.

How much can you carry on a three wheel bicycle?

This is the general hand set when driving in India. Right hand always on the horn. Driving is Sumit who I stay with now in Calcutta. He is a pure entrepreneur so it is very interesting to stay with him. I get introduced to many of his entrepreneurial friends and we have great fun!

I stopped by the road and wanted to take some pictures of the kids playing cricket. They all started to shout and dance and completely forgot about the game. They were all then coming towards me, and I politely chose to escape.

The horn of the bulls are oftentimes painted in different colors.

Amazing beard.

I try to teach the Indians my camera. When I give the camera to them they usually think they are recording a movie because of the screen. This guy walked around with the camera and told everyone to wave, and I try to explain that he needs to push the button

Rain, rain, rain. But the rain is warm so actually that is not a big problem.

The monkeys crossing the street. Oh my god, first time I got so scared when I saw them. Still I think they are a little bit scary. Look at the tail. Buaah.

Old man pushing the bicycle forward.

The women sometimes do heavy work. Here at road construction.

Me being recorded by the state television, just telling a little about the trip. They are fascinated that I go on an Indian standard bicycle.

And here on TV. Wohoo.

Mayur, a guy who I met on the road invited me to his house. He was a very funny man working with insurance. Here I am eating with his mom and her sister. Mayur always had funny comments when we drove around in his car. He was always talking about how crazy the Indian traffic is, for example: “Look at this fellow. He doesnt care about anything, he is only enjoying his riding”.

The name of my bicycle is Dhoni – just like the captain of the Indian cricket team. Dhoni is actually working fine. Now we have already made 500km together. I think I will go with him in all India and Bangladesh, sending the other bicycle to Thailand. I hope I wont regret that!

This was funny. I was taken to Lions club which is some social club active all over India. They got all exited about the trip and will write about it in the local newspaper. Nowdays I am giving interviews all the time. This is not my bicycle however – it was a little bit too far away so we improvised with another one

An Indian marriage.

I stayed in the birth town of the Indian president and her birth house was the biggest attraction in the town. After talking to the security guard a little he invited us for a tea in the garden of the house, but unfortunately the president was not at home.

A monkey at a tea place by the road.

Yesterday I stayed with a big family – who were friends of Mayur. It is not uncommon that 3 brothers or sisters with their families live together. Everybody was so nice, and we had a great dinner together.