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The one reason I think why they have metalled fence (so tall) is to keep the breeze out. Wind chill factor can be deadly in an already cold place that constantly sees below 20 degrees!

Great, Thanks for sharing, You are inspiring me.

Yes, MX6, i also think that this could be the reason,

I found majority of my colleagues start to work very early, some times as early as 7:30 AM. Everything is typical clockwork. Lunch time starts at 11 AM, few people have lunch early where as some have late lunch 12:30 PM. Cafeteria is not subsidized. It seems more swedes are adapting vegetarianism or becoming vegans. In Cafeterias, there is a special veg counter where minimum two cooked food items are available everyday.

Out of 100000 people in the Lund, 38000 people are students at the university, 6000 people are professors, i learnt that some 15000 people work for the Lund Hospital which is an important hospital for th enearby areas. I also learnt that there are more than 500 companies founded in
Lund, there are more than 64000 jobs out of which 50% of job holders commute to Lund from near by areas. One can easily imagine how people live here.

Most of the Swedes leave their workplace early, typically at 5 PM. reach home in 15-30 minutes, cook a meal for the family, have dinner by 6:30 PM, then indulge in family activities or social activities like visiting friends, visit to sauna / gym etc. I did hear from the male colleagues that they need to take care of the children or cook a meal, in that sense it seems to be a gender neutral distribution of household resposnibilities.

Sweden is also one of the highest tax country in the world. I learnt that even the travel allowences are taxed. In return government offers social security, old age care, good health care facilities, excellent infrastructure, consistant and stable governance.

I have seen even the highest qualified or accomplished individuals do not falunt their status. for example, a person who has completed an education higher than PhD, does not flaunt a Dr. prefix. Their Engineering degree is 6 years long (equivalent to an Masters degree in India), the qualified person does not falunt his expertise at a drop of hat. This is probably becasue of the "Equality" and "Flat hierarchy" concept.

As most people in Lund are students, the eating out population is very low. Eating out is pretty expensive as well.

I also heard that collecting cookbooks is a hobby in Sweden, It is said people often flaunt their Cook Books in the living room for their friends to see.

During my 5 days stay in Lund, i often found that streets are deserted by 8 PM, most of the shops close by 6 PM, few by 7 PM. Resturants close by probably 11 PM.

Human life has the highest value, If a padestrian is found crossing the road, then all vehciles stop and wait for him to cross. This is true even if the traffic light is green for the other vehicles. Generally there will be a switch on every traffic signal pole, a person can press it and cross the road if it is urgent.

Padestrian and Cyclists share the footpath and cycle track. Even cyclists respect the padestrians and wait for them to move over to a side before they overtake.

I did not experience any honking on the road by any vehicle.

Coming up next..

* Visit to the market street
* Photographs of some cars (ofcourse what else)
* Visit to Malmo beach and barbeque resturant.
* and more

First of all, Many thanks to those who have rated this thread.


I have attached here some photographs of the market street,






Look at this bridge between the two building over the public road


Kareena Kapoor Shop


One more bicycle shop


Second hand goods shop


Noname itself is a Name

Yes, it is very nice to imagine this, when you visit a friend's home, you typically know at what time to visit due to the habbit of sticking to the clock. Probably this is what is meant by mechanical life.

The bridge probably is called skywalk between two building. This is basically to protect people who prefer walking on the road from the immense cold during the winters. Thus the skywalk connecting between each building serves as bridge. Correct me if I'm wrong & here's a sample of skywalk


Question as usual :D - Why is it called Kareena Kapoor's shop? Was it due to some shooting of her or something like that?

Are the Swedish people (outside of your office) friendly? A friend of mine visited Germany a couple of times, and according to him, he was made to feel like an alien.

Looks like somebody doesn't watch too many Hindi movies. "Bebo" is Kareena Kapoor's pet name.

You never know. Could be her shop as well. These bollywood superstars behave big only here in India. In foriegn countries they are pedestrian.
SRK and Shilpa were dancing in a real estate promo exhibition once near london. I threw pennies on the stage. They gyrated even more grotesquely having been fully charged up! clap:

Very very true & couldn't agree more; I once met S.P.B at Detroit airport & he was with his wife & a friend & none of the Indians seem to notice him. I was literally confused, if he was a clone or for real. Finally I picked up courage & asked him if he was S.P.B & he said yes & shook hands with him.

I'm not a movie fan & hence don't like wasting time watching movies, I prefer surfing instead; I watch very very selective movies.

Dude, SPB is a league apart. You can't see a more humble person than him for the talent he possesses. Don't equate him to the drama queens of bollywood. They are pedestrian. Snobbish here, but will stoop to any level abroad.
How come you were confused? It's not easy to clone a person like spb. There will be only one. Same with legends like Rafi, Yesudas, Manna dey, Kishore Kumar, Lata, P Susheela, TMS etc.

Some more pictures from our market visit

Center of Lund Town


Some more street pictures



Animal Food and Animal goods shop


Chaddi's Grill ??...seems to be from Punjabi origin


Frozen Lake


Tropical Iceburg : CCD will make lots of money without much investment.

Great travelogue sir. Wonder if it would be good to see the place in person or read your travelogue. I guess it would be the latter. I was glued to it for one hour, read every line of it. Awesome place. Thanks for sharing it with us.

@StarVegaBond - how're you dealing with the immense chillness? What kind of protective wear are you using? Are you using regular shoes & socks or did you buy from there? How about gloves?

I would say life minus minor uncertainities. Life there is not about struggle for basic things. They have thier own major uncertainities, e.g. family support during old age.

if one has to go from one place to another, no thread titled "Art of going from here to there.." need to be opened. Most of the info is available, predictable and dependable.

You are absolutely right.

Definition of Friend is different in western world. In India, anyone whom we have met once or twice are referred to as friend. Being Friendly with strangers is not a norm in western world. Being Courtious is. There is a thing called personal space and social dequorum, generally one does not invade other's space on thier own or un-invited.

I have always found people courtious, e.g. we were lost looking for the Italian resturant, one guy who was passing by, enquired whether we were lost, then he showed us the road towards the resturant.

The staff in the hotel where we were staying, the resturants we visited, the colleagues in the office, staff in the cafeterias, the drivers of the taxis are all courtious, willing to share info when asked.

Thanks for your kind words, i am happy that you liked this thread.

one of the way is to do what is mentioned in this picture.


Jokes apart, Having warm clothes are very essential, else one would be dead.

i had carried my thermal wear with me, i had forgotten to carry my handgloves and earplugs/monkeycap. I used to wear by business suit over the thermal wear. I did not carry any specific winter shoes, but my normal office shoes. I had also carried my jacket with me which i used to wear during the evenings.

When i was trying to take pictures, my fingers would get exposed and in few minutes, it would get numb.

Some precautions one need to follow are as below

1. Use thermalwear always, to avoid itching wear it over the innerwear
2. Carry full sleev shirts, the top most buttons must be engaged.
3. Ensure that the shoes are not old, does not have cracks in the sole. Ensure that they have adequate grip
4. Wear good quality socks, if one feels still cold, wear two of them
5. Never assume, always check the weather beforehand
6. Never think, oh..it is just 20 minutes, i can survive, actually you may not survive.

i have seen the local colleagues, using the following one over the other.

1. Innerwear
2. Shirts/Trousers
3. Woolen Pullover (very thin)
4. One Sweater
5. One Business Suit/Jacket
6. One long overcoat
7. Muffler which acts as ear plugs
8. Handgloves

The office shoes can not work if one is going on adventure trip, suitable shoes need to be bought.

hope this helps.

Whoa!!! you provoked me to ask another question; is it this one or something else?
Tax-free shopping

If you reside outside the European Union (EU), you are entitled to a tax refund on your purchases. In Sweden, as in most European countries, Value Added Tax is included in the sales price on the tag.
Tax Free Shopping by Global Refund is a simple system that puts cash in your hand when you leave the EU. You get refunds of up to 17,5% on your purchases. The minimum purchase is SEK 200.

Source - Tax-free shopping in Sweden

On Friday, we concluded our offcial visit/meetings early by 4:30 PM. Thanked our hosts for taking good care of us over 4 days. The previous day evening we had sent out an invitation for dinner, it was politely declined by every one becasue of two reasons (1) it was TGIF (2) too short notice as everyone had other commitments.

One of my colleague from Indian origin agreed to join us for dinner, but he invited us over to Malmo, which is the place he stays. It is approx 25-30 minutes drive from Lund.

There is a saying in Kannada,

means, patient wanted Milk and Rice, doctor prescribed milk and rice.

we wanted to visit Malmo, so we readily agreed to join him on his drive back to malmo. It was once again proved to be a great evening

here are some snaps taken during our drive to malmo.

We are on the highway towards Malmo


Some interesting longshot taken using my mobile phone at 110 KMPH speed.


Some shots of the higway, we were cruising at 110 KMPH



A House with a God gifted lawn


An old windmill


Traffic Jams do exists here, but it was quick to get resolved.


We entered Malmo city


Telenor is an operator in Scandinavia, who has also launched services in India recently


Some interesting building near the dock


Hanging bridge


Lighthouse on the dock


This bridge folds vertically to allow the large boats to pass through.


We are approaching the beach front


some interesting high rise


we were visiting the malmo beach front. but we had a surprise, it was never what we had imagined it to be.