Jokkmokk is the first town for me in the world of Arctic. I was hosted by Lena, my friend’s mom who is working as a teacher here in Jokkmokk. She was really kind to host me for 2 days here and cook very good food for me. I tried the exotic Arctic fish and reindeer meat while my stay there. Lucky me to experience such things, since I cant get any of that in other parts of the world. I had my own room while my stay and really feel like home. I was impressed to see that a woman at her age, she is really computer literate, she uses a Macbook and a smartphone and really knows how to use it well. She is also active in winter sports and music, I can see different types of musical instruments in her house. She also spends most of her time drawing and painting. Most old people that I see back home, they usually just spend their old age watching TV at home and nothing else.

Lena, Hugo’s mom who hosted me a few days in Jokkmokk, were so nice to prepare a delicious dinner

On my second night in Jokkmokk, I saw the sky was really blue and clear, without a single cloud covering the sky. It is a good sign that I can have another chance to witness the magical Aurora Borealis again. I then went to the frozen lake nearby, some 4km west of Jokkmokk to enjoy the quiet cold sunset, watching the sun slowly hiding behind the hills of northern Sweden, slowly giving its lights to some other parts of the world and to see the moon started to glow in the dark sky. I stayed an hour in the frozen lake and my fingers started to freeze since I only wore thin gloves without my mitten. I then quickly get back to the house the get warmed again and had a delicious reindeer meat cooked by Lena. At around 10pm, wearing very thick clothes, I went out again to the cold to hunt the Aurora Borealis. Only after 10 minutes walk to a dark area, the northern lights appeared to be massive, covering the night sky. Compared to what I saw in Umea, this time the magical Arctic light was above me, all over the sky! It was everywhere, all over! I then quickly took my camera out to film this amazing phenomenon. I stayed for more than an hour and film the magical Aurora Borealis until the memory of my camera was full! I then quickly went back to transfer all the files into my computer while the green lights never stops dancing in the sky.

watching the sunset at the frozen lake. clear sky, big chance for me to witness the northern lights!

massive Aurora in the Arctic!

After I finished transferring all the files into my computer, I went out again after midnight, took my bicycle to go further away from the town to get another view of the Aurora, ignoring the -23 celcius. This time, I stayed outdoor for nearly 3 hours in the cold in the frozen lake and was really amazed looking at the night sky. The northern lights seems very near me, its all over in the sky and had very strong green color. I witness how it dances in the sky, it was actually much faster than I always imagine. Sometimes, it can appear to be quite scary, looks like a ghost moving in the sky. But it was something very beautiful, the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.

My feet were so painful, my shoes were freezing badly. But I tried to ignore it and keep watching the movement of the magical green curtain in the sky. It was my dream to witness this, its been long that I have always wanted to see this and I was really lucky that night to witness it. The northern lights were dancing for the whole night, and I realized the ground became bright, the snow became green, reflected the light of the unearthly Aurora Borealis. After almost 3 hours being in the cold in the frozen lake, I finally went back home at nearly 4 am in the morning to take a rest. I realized my balaclava and my outer Goretex jacket were all filled with ice. My nose was really painful. But it was nothing to me since I can sleep indoor. I really hope to get to see more of the northern lights as I will keep pressing north, I wanna get deep, far north from the ring of Arctic. I just cant get enough of it!!… my dream, the Aurora Borealis!!

The feeling of fear was all over my mind when I left Lulea towards the Arctic Circle. After Lulea, I rode towards the interior part of Sweden, riding through the Swedish Lapland, where the temperature is colder by a few degrees compared to the coastal areas. But at the same time it was balanced with the feelings of excitement. From Lulea, it was only some 2 days of cycling to cross into the Arctic world. On the first day of my ride, it was pleasant. For the first time, the wind was with me. The wind became my ally and pushing me forward towards the inland. I reached a small town called Boden some 35km northwest of Lulea for a quick lunch. It was a very small town and when I was there, I quickly became an attraction. People from inside the restaurant were watching me from the glass window, probably shocked to see a cyclist with heavy luggage at the really wrong time of the year, during winter! I had lunch in a small café, probably owned by some Middle Eastern guy serving pizza and kebab, and people inside the café were asking me so many things about my trip. They were all shocked to know that Im a Malaysian. They said that it makes a bit of sense if a Finnish or Norwegian man cycling here during winter but a man coming from Malaysia is totally shocking to them.

scenery along the Swedish Lapland…

Surprising, the ride was really pleasant. Tail wind was blowing me constantly and I rode almost 80km putting me very close to Harads. I could go further but I stopped cycling early at around 4pm, since I found a very nice spot to camp. After for hundreds of kilometres riding through the thick Swedish forest, I finally get to see some hills, something different so I decided to camp and enjoy the view instead of pushing further north. As usual, I spent more than an hour setting up my tent. I dug some trench and cut some tree branches before pitching my tent. After I had my dinner, I quickly got inside my sleeping bag and as usual it took some half an hour for my sleeping bag to get warm before I finally can sleep. This time, I tried a new strategy. Every morning, I feel pain on my feet everytime I put on my shoes. My shoes often get frozen solid in the morning. So this time, I put my shoes together inside my sleeping bag so it will stay warm. I fell asleep as early 7pm. I woke up 4 times in the middle of the night, I felt really cold even from inside my sleeping bag. God knows what was the temperature like that night. But this time I think it must be really cold since even my badass sleeping bag couldn’t hold it. I woke up every few hours struggling in the cold and forced myself to keep sleeping and wait till the sun is out.

camping in the Swedish Lapland somewhere 60km before the Arctic Circle. Temperature was down to -31c at night

When I woke up the next morning, I was shocked to see that it was nearly 10 am in the morning. I slept for more than 12 hours and it was snowing lightly outside and still very cold. I was struggling even to unzip my tent. The zip was completely frozen! I realized that I sleep much longer than usual and can easily get tired when its very cold. My fingers were really painful without wearing my mitten even for less than 2 minutes. Every single inches of my skin cannot be exposed. I had to cover each part of my body from top to bottom. Basically it was hell. I then had a quick breakfast and cycled fast to Harads to get some food and drinks. Even I was feeling really cold, I wore only 2 layers while cycling, afraid to sweat. With this extreme cold, if I sweat, I die. Whenever I stopped cycling to take a quick rest, I will start to shiver only after a few seconds of standing still. After Harads, the road became icy and very slippery. Cycling on the snow powder is not a problem for me even though it slowed me down by a lot. But cycling on ice, I really had to be careful, my eyes were constantly on the road and I held my handlebar tight. After hours of cycling, I found a small village called Vuollerim. It was still quite early and I can get to the Arctic Circle on the same day, but I think I will cross it early tomorrow morning instead. There was a sign of camping ground there, I went inside the village to ask around if its open or if they have any cheap hostels around here. It would be nice for me to get indoor now, I couldn’t stand the cold anymore. After a few minutes of searching, I found a hotel and went in to ask. There was a nice lady telling me that there are no cheap hostels around here… only hotels. And the cheapest room they have here is 600Kr, similar to RM300!

the hotel in Vuollerim

I then told the lady that maybe I just pitch my tent nearby the hotel and get breakfast early in the morning. She pity me and she made me some delicious rice for dinner. She asked me where do I sleep most of the time and I simply said I sleep in the forest. She was shocked to know that I slept in the forest and told me that it was -31 celcius last night. I was shocked myself and now I know why I woke up 4 times in the middle of the night. I even felt cold from inside my sleeping bag and slept for over 12 hours. I was actually surviving outdoor at -31c without even realizing it. While having my dinner, I was thinking to ask her if I can get a discount price in the hotel, I was feeling desperate to sleep indoor tonight. She then told me that she will try to contact her boss to ask whether I can get a good price to stay 1 night here. I then park my bike at the hotel and get indoor. For the first time since Im in Sweden, I stayed in a hotel hehe, I really couldn’t take the cold for too long now. I then took a good long hot shower and slept really well in the warm and didn’t care whats the temperature outside. The next morning, the lady owner were really pity me and I got a very good discount, they let me pay only half the price hehe. Lucky me…

expensive hotel but they were kind enough to give me 50% discount! :D

After Vuollerim, I then keep pressing north and finally, after some 30km of smooth riding, I have crossed the Arctic Circle, into the realm of Arctic! I felt really great, after days and days of riding and camping in the extreme cold, I finally made it to the Arctic Region! I almost crossed into the Arctic Circle while I was in the northern part of Westfjords in Iceland some 8 months ago, I was a few kilometres away but there were no road to cross it. It was at the end of the fjords and I had to swim to cross the Arctic Circle. Now finally in the Swedish Lapland, I crossed it successfully… with a bicycle!!! I then spent some time there taking photos and videos hehe, for memories, so that I can still remember it 20-30 years from now, where I made a history to myself, coming all the way from the Equator line crossing into the Arctic Circle!

aww Arctic Circle… me love you loonnggg timeee…

After spending sometime in the Arctic Circle, I rode further, more north beyond the Arctic Circle. It feels great to finally ride in the world of Arctic. After an hour of cruising the icy road, I finally made it to a small town called Jokkmokk, a town of Sami People, the people of the Scandinavian Arctic. Similar to the Eskimos in Greenland and Alaska or the Siberian in Russia, these people were once living the Nomadic life. But today I witness that they have adapt the modern way of living. Yet they still become reindeer herder, especially during summer. Upon reaching Jokkmokk, I was greeted by Lena, Hugo’s mother, the local guy that I met while my stay in Umea some weeks ago. Shes a very very nice and friendly lady and invited me to the house and make myself at home.

I left Skelleftea quite late, nearly noon since I was having coffee with Frida and family. Riding out of Skelleftea was quite easy since its just a small town. Once I hit the empty road outside of the town, there were not so many cars so I decided to put on my music and find my rhythm. The first 25 kilometers was quite heavy since I was riding towards the inland on the west, it was an easy climb but the wind was blowing from the west, slowing me down. After some 25km, I turned right towards the north heading towards Pitea. Once I turned right and ride north, the wind no longer bothered me. I was going faster and the road seems going up and down. The snow was quite thick which of course slowing me down, but I feel good cruising through the snow with my studded tyres, hearing the sound of it sliding through the snow.

only when the current is strong its not frozen

It seems that the more north you go in Sweden, the less populated it becomes, less cars passed by and less houses. I was surrounded only by forest, nothing else. I find it impossible to keep dry, no matter what I do, I will always sweat here. I felt really warm and sweating especially on big climbs, even wearing only the base layer! Whenever I stopped to take a rest, I really felt cold… very cold! The temperature is always somewhere between -10 to -20 celcius even in the bright sunshine. I didn’t get very far the first day of cycling out of Skelleftea, I have to camp as early as 5pm, as I need to pitch my tent in the forest before the darkness comes in. I stopped somewhere 20km before Fallfors to camp for the night. The snow was really really thick and I had to really struggle to push my bike through the forest. I had to take my bags one by one, the heavier I carry… the deeper I will sink in the deep snow. I was tired and it took me an hour to dig the snow with my shovel before I can pitch my tent. I also need to cut some tree branches in order to make my tent to stand, the tent pegs are totally useless, the snow was too powdery.

not easy to move my bike through the deep snow. i sunk as deep as my waist

I became clumsy since I was too tired, I simply let the snow to get into my shoes and didn’t care about it. I even took off my gloves and just threw it in the snow. All I think was to get my tent up, cook my dinner and quickly go to sleep. The only thing in my mind was to get inside my sleeping bag. And there u go, when I was waiting for my dinner to be ready, my feet felt reeaaaally painful, my shoes became frozen and hard as a stone and my gloves feel like it is made from ice! Once I had my quick dinner, when I took off my shoes, I discovered that my stockings were filled with ice! I just didn’t care anymore, my fingers were so painful, I just use my blade to take off the ice away. I then slowly enjoy my hot tea from inside my tent, half my body is inside my sleeping bag. The first 20 minutes, my sleeping bag feels like in a freezer, but after a while it got warmed by my body warmth and I finally fell asleep.

had to dig the snow before pitching my tent

The next morning, as usual, the hardest part of the day, to get out from the sleeping bag and cooking breakfast took forever. My feet were really painful and I had to jog around my tent while waiting for my breakfast to be ready so that I will feel warm. I just couldn’t stand still, I realized my thermometer was reading at -27 celcius. I even felt hard to bend the fingers of my feet, my shoes were really frozen, it was really like a rock! And everytime I checked, the snow inside my cooking pot was still in a snow form… in this condition, it really feels like forever for the snow to boil. As soon as the water boiled, I quickly take my breakfast, pack everything and get out to the road. The nightmare ended everytime when I start pedalling. There were like 2 voices inside my head. While I was struggling, one voice keeps telling me, what the hell am I doing to myself? Why I choose to struggle like this? Why choose this, I can always go to a warmer place and enjoy the beach! Then another voice replied, “Take it easy dude. You’re exactly where u have to be and youre doing exactly what u have to do.” And once I’m out of the struggle… on my bike cycling and feeling warm, I started to laugh at it whenever I think about the struggle part. I felt satisfied, that I experienced it and still breathing.

There are sooo many things that I learned in this journey. I should really stop complaining to myself. I still remember that I used to complain how cold it is when I was in northern Scotland to my friends, where at the same time I was actually enjoying my ice cream from inside my tent hehe. How can I complain that it is cold in Scotland where the temperature was only somewhere between 5 to 10 celcius. And now, I really experience the meaning of cold… and freezing… here at -27c. And being on the road… alone… I always feel vulnerable… always in danger. It made me realized that I’m just a very weak… vulnerable… human. There are just soo many possibilities. Im riding slowly on my bicycle alone, I could easily get hit by fast vehicles, get robbed and many other danger, doesn’t matter if Im camping in the wild, or on the road, or even in the city. And being constantly open to danger, it teaches me to be humble. I realized that Im just human, made out of the most vulnerable material called flesh, easily to get cut or torn, I can get tired after only a few hours of struggling, get weaker only after a few hours without food and water. I cant even survive in the cold by myself without my thick clothes… I would freeze to death maybe only after a few minutes without it. We don’t need to feel so proud to ourselves whenever we achieve something, because we don’t do it alone. There are always someone who are actually helping us to achieve it, whether we realize it or not. Even if I can make it through this journey, I don’t do it alone. People are helping me everywhere. We are actually doing it together, we are actually working as a team, its just that we don’t realize that we are all teammates, everything… everything is connected to each other.

Redbull doesnt seems to have any effect on me. I probably need some steroid! :)

And the feeling of fear… fear is a good thing. I don’t believe it when people say they overcome their fear. To me that is just nonsense. If you don’t have fear.. there is something wrong with you. Its just that how we use the feeling of fear to make things better. With the presence of fear… it alerts us.. and forces us to carefully plan our strategy to overcome a problem. To me, being brave is not the complete absence of fear. The feeling of braveness comes after fear. When we fear, we plan things carefully until we feel really confident that it will work. When we are strongly feeling confident on something, that’s when the feeling of braveness comes in. There is one very… very powerful thing that I never take lightly which is called the mind power. I believe everything that our mind speaks is heard by something from the source of the universe… something that connects us all. When we keep mentioning it in our mind repeatedly, slowly we start to believe in it, our subconscious mind starts to work together and without realizing, our whole body is working on it. This thing is used since long ago where warriors often train their mind power… their subconscious mind to feel confident and strongly believe that they will win everytime before going to battle. It also quite similar to what the Muslims refer as Du’a where it includes communicating with the Creator of the universe, but with the same technique, saying it repeatedly and to me, it is a very powerful thing.

ice skating with my bicycle on my way to Lulea

On the second day of cycling, again I had problem with my food and drinks. I finished my hot tea inside my thermos only in few minutes and all my other drinks were frozen solid. I had some chocolate with me, also the same problem… everything was frozen. I tried to eat it but I felt like I was biting a stone. So I kept cycling in hunger, I should have bring some bread instead. There were nothing in between along the way, only some empty houses. I kept pressing until I was near Pitea, a small town to get some food and drinks. While taking a quick rest some 5km before Pitea, I was stopped by a curious local journalist, Emma who interviewed me for a local newspaper in Pitea. It didn’t take too long since we were both freezing, so we quickly exchanged contacts. After I bought some food and drinks in the small town near Pitea, I camped in the forest again. But I felt good that now im near the town, so I don’t need to cook breakfast the next morning, I can just pack and go right after I wake up since I can have breakfast in the town instead. It was much easier without the need to prepare breakfast. I just need to struggle to get out of my sleeping bag and the rest was easy. I got up early and went for a heavy breakfast in a fast food restaurant in Pitea before riding another 60km to Lulea.

the fast food restaurant in Pitea

The 60km ride to Lulea from Pitea is quite unpleasant. From Pitea, I found a smaller road towards Lulea where it is perfect to ride a bicycle. But after half way through, the road leads back towards the motorway and I couldn’t find any other smaller road that leads to Lulea. I had no other choice but to get into the motorway. And there you go, I felt like Im riding a bicycle in a F1 circuit. Sometimes cars were honking at me, fast monsters passed by me all the time. The road was busy, unpleasant ride and it was scary! I rode along the motorway for some 15 km before I finally found a smaller road again that leads towards Lulea. Lulea seems like a big town and the road is quite complicated, especially to find the bicycle road. It is a nice small town surrounded by lakes… frozen lakes. The sky is so blue, theres no clouds at all which means it is very cold! It is constantly below -15c here. I really need the motivation now, im already struggling in the cold but Im heading more and more north day by day, which means Im heading to a much colder place!

frozen lakes everywhere near Lulea