Hello my dear readers,

It is almost three months I did not give any news about my trip. Today we are the 11th of february 2008, more than one month after the end of my trip ! ??? Yes, the end of my trip : after 17 months on the road, I went back to home, in the south of France, the last 31st of december. Now, I am going to explain you the last things I did after I left Shanghaï, in China (middle of november 2007).

Beginning of last november, I stayed 2 weeks in Shanghaï, time to get my transit visa for Russia and time to make parties. Then, I took a night train to Beijing (Pekin) and after 2 days of hitchhiking, in a cold weather, I arrived to the mongolian border. The border is like in the middle of nowhere. On the mongolian side, door of the west Gobi desert, a train goes to Oulan Bator, the capital, more than 600 kms away.

In the small area of Zamiyn, covered by sand, I found a truck to get a lift to Oulan Bator (I did not take the train). 2 days, several punctures, -15 degres in the night, stars and desert, I arrived in the capital of Mongolia the 22nd of november. My knowledges in russian language helped me to communicate with people. Welcome to Mongolia, I enjoyed this news days and it really showed me my trip went to other places.

I think I was tired of meeting people every day and this is one of the reason I decided to pay a tourist tour with other foreigners, a mongolian driver, organization and nothing to do : 6 days to visit a part of the country, west of the capital, closed to mountains of Altaï. I enjoyed it but it was totally different of my way of travelling I am used to know : we slept in jailoos (yourtes), special for foreigners, we rided horses, and we were more tourists than travellers.

I stayed less than 10 in Mongolia, because of the beginning of my russian visa and because my aim was to be for Christmas in France, to make the surprise to my family. I entered to Russia south of the Baïkal lake, place I reached after 2 days of hitchhiking. At this time, I was considering my trip was quite finish, and it laked only the last way to Europe.

From Irkutsk, I took the transsiberian train : 86 hours to Moscou, at least 5000 kms. It was really good, the weather was not so cold even if the countryside was covered of snow. 2 days in Moscou, capital of Russia, before hitchhiking straight to France : no more than 10 days, through the Baltic countries, Poland, Tchek Republik, Germany, also few days in Belgium.

My adventure went to his end : 17 months in 20 countries, probably more than 35000 or 40000 kms (I do not know exactly), most by hitchhhiking, except few long trains. I am happy to be at home, even if I do not have enough time of staying : I go to Alaska for more than 2 months at the beginning of march with a friend : alpinism in high mountains.

Ok ok my friends. See you later and thanks very much to have read my news.

Les dernières infos pratiques

Visa russe à Shanghaï

Depuis octobre 2007, il n'a plus été possible d'obtenir un visa touristique d'un mois à l'extérieur de son pays de résidence (mais cela a peut-être rechangé). Et pour cela, il était nécessaire d'avoir une lettre d'invitation officielle et un voucher touristique, ce qui était déjà assez relou. Bref, dans mon cas, à Shanghaï, la seule option fut le visa de transit : donc fournir des billets d'entrée et de sortie du territoire, aie aie aie, mais plus simple quand même.

J'ai eu beaucoup de misère à obtenir des billets pour le transsibérien sur internet et c'était cher. Finalement, je trouve un billet électronique pour un vol Oulan Bator-Irkutsk, à 120 euros, et il se trouve que le paiement sera refusé le lendemain : très bien, cela m'arrange, le consulat a accepté ce billet électronique sans savoir qu'il serait annulé ensuite. Pour la sortie, Guillaume, un pote à Moscou, m'a acheté un billet de train à 20 euros, Moscou-Riga (Lettonie), avec un scan de mon passeport. Le billet de train scanné a été accepté au consulat. Plus tard, Guillaume, se sera fait remboursé ce billet. Au final, je m'en sors bien, et cela me coûtera environ 30 euros pour 10 jours. Le consulat à Shanghaï est ouvert le lundi, mercredi et vendredi, et une semaine d'attente pour le visa.

Le stop

Allez, pour résumer, je pense qu'il est possible d'en faire partout ! Pour exemple, en Russie, depuis Vladivostok, des gens ramènent des voitures japonaises vers les grandes villes, vers le centre du pays, donc ça circule et si ça circule il y a toujours moyen. Faut partir sur la route tout simplement. Enfin, c'est facile à dire.