ulan baator is very very very very very nice.
price very nice.
people very nice.
weather quite nice.
more nice than russia is.
and we're going to trek for 9 days; horse backriding on wooden saddles too. i really hope that the felt covering on the saddle doesn't give way.
if not things will not turn out that nice.
-l
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tomsk
We arrived in Tomsk after a dreary train ride due to the overcast skies above. We had barely taken 10 steps along the platform when a cheerful young man came up to us and asked : "Which is Kin Yan?" with a grin on his face. We had met Nikita, our host in Tomsk. Nikita is a 22+ year old IT worker who is emgaged to Marina, an avid cook who has managed to fatten up all those she has cooked for. Nikita is a rather funny guy whose English isn't very good, and mumbles in Russian while giving us an apologetic look when he can't say something in english.
Tomsk had been hit by a hurricane the night before we arrived. Large sections of the city had no water or elecricity, including Nikita's house. Nikita's house was a old-looking two story house and looked rather run down. However, after evading the dog, we found that appearances were decieving. We were welcomed into a comfortable, warm home (which would later become even more comfortable when the electricity and water supply were reconnected.) Nikita fed us a little breakfast and we took a rest. Soon, Nikita's fiance, Marina and Elena, a HospitalityClub member who is an English teacher, arrived at Nikita's place and we had a nice chat over second breakfast. (I believe that Marina said we eat like hobbits. Elevenses, anyone? =D)
Washing up was quickly accomplished and Nikita took us out to meet a group of students who were studying under Elena. Most of them were cultural studies students and had good English, thus they were rounded up by Elena and Nikita to guide us around the city. We started off on a hill overlooking the city, where Tomsk was founded. There was a wooden tower there built atop the hill. We all ascended and enjoyed the breeze as we beheld the city in the late morning sunshine. Our guides pointed out several points throughout the city. One of our new friends even showed us her hometown just on the horizon, midden by mountains but landmarked by four massive cooling towers rising from a nuclear power plant. Her friends joked that the plant was the reason why she was so tall. =)
Our party strolled through the city while chatting about student life in Tomsk. Tomsk is known as Russia's university city, with half a dozen excellent academic centers located in this historical city. The preservation of Tomsk was in part due to a decision by city officials not to have the main line of the Trans-Siberian railway pass through. As a result, Tomsk is only accessible by a railway branch from Novosibirsk and is bypassed by the commercial artery of Siberia.
In addition to its universities, Tomsk is also famous for its wooden architecture. As we walked around the city, we saw many examples of beautiful wooden structures and intricate carvings and decorations that were remarkably well preserved. Tall modern buildings are neighboured by two story wooden houses, with carvings on the awnings and down the wood panels of the walls. We walked down the main streets of the city, visited a little agricultural pond (on which floated a little house for the resident duck, which was nowhere to be seen), and even a children's carnival. We were also proudly introduced to Tomsk's claim to fame : the several universities that populate the city. I always feel a tinge of electricity in myself whenever I walk in halls of learning.
Later, we went to a war monument that was situated on the top of a hill, overlooking the Tom river. The river curved around the hill and the city, and from that spot we watched the shadow of clouds glide across the countryside below us.
Back at Nikita's place that evening, we were treated to a very enjoyable home cooked meal by Marina. It was a sort of mixed rice with assorted ingredients inside, served with a very yummy mayonnaise salad. It had been quite a while since we last enjoyed a good homecooked meal (that wasn't cooked by us) and we relished every bite. After dinner, we headed up to the roof of Nikita's house and watched the sunset being overtaken by black storm clouds. Soon, the clouds got uncomfortably near and we retired for the night.
The next day, we were hoping to have a relaxing time but Nikita had more plans for us. He had arranged for us to meet another HospitalityClub member for more city touring. So, we dragged ourselves out of bed early. Marina brought us to see a rather amusing wolf statue that would growl and sing a song if you pressed a button on its tummy with a coin. Unfortunately, it was broken and only managed some odd gurgles. Hmm. We waited for our new contacts at a cafe and soon met up with another group of students. This time, we walked on the back streets and quiet roads of Tomsk, admiring the wooden architecture and the quiet side of the city. Our guide that day enjoyed photography too, so we had some fun taking unusual photos. Finally we headed up to another roof, this this of an apartment building. We had a little photography session against the backdrop of the city and the hills. A strong breeze provided more photo amusement, but also ushered in another bank of rainclouds. We ducked back into the apartment and waited until Nikita came to drive us back.
We were welcomed by Marina, who was just getting started with yet another homecooked meal. We washed up and packed and when we were done, another delicious meal (pasta!) had been prepared for us. Despite Marina's attempt to make more food, we still managed to eat everything (hobbits!). Some gift exchanging later, we were on our way to the train station. Nikita, Marina, and several of our Tomsk guides were there to see us off and perform the traditional farewell at the train station.
Nikita and Marina were just awesome hosts and even managed to feed us overly tall hobbits very successfully. They mentioned that it was their first time hosting international travellers. They certainly pulled out all the stops to make our stay in Tomsk a very welcome and enjoyable one. Thank you so much Nikita and Marina and all those who took us around Tomsk!
Next Stop : Olkhorn Island, Lake Baikal!
-ky
Tomsk had been hit by a hurricane the night before we arrived. Large sections of the city had no water or elecricity, including Nikita's house. Nikita's house was a old-looking two story house and looked rather run down. However, after evading the dog, we found that appearances were decieving. We were welcomed into a comfortable, warm home (which would later become even more comfortable when the electricity and water supply were reconnected.) Nikita fed us a little breakfast and we took a rest. Soon, Nikita's fiance, Marina and Elena, a HospitalityClub member who is an English teacher, arrived at Nikita's place and we had a nice chat over second breakfast. (I believe that Marina said we eat like hobbits. Elevenses, anyone? =D)
Washing up was quickly accomplished and Nikita took us out to meet a group of students who were studying under Elena. Most of them were cultural studies students and had good English, thus they were rounded up by Elena and Nikita to guide us around the city. We started off on a hill overlooking the city, where Tomsk was founded. There was a wooden tower there built atop the hill. We all ascended and enjoyed the breeze as we beheld the city in the late morning sunshine. Our guides pointed out several points throughout the city. One of our new friends even showed us her hometown just on the horizon, midden by mountains but landmarked by four massive cooling towers rising from a nuclear power plant. Her friends joked that the plant was the reason why she was so tall. =)
Our party strolled through the city while chatting about student life in Tomsk. Tomsk is known as Russia's university city, with half a dozen excellent academic centers located in this historical city. The preservation of Tomsk was in part due to a decision by city officials not to have the main line of the Trans-Siberian railway pass through. As a result, Tomsk is only accessible by a railway branch from Novosibirsk and is bypassed by the commercial artery of Siberia.
In addition to its universities, Tomsk is also famous for its wooden architecture. As we walked around the city, we saw many examples of beautiful wooden structures and intricate carvings and decorations that were remarkably well preserved. Tall modern buildings are neighboured by two story wooden houses, with carvings on the awnings and down the wood panels of the walls. We walked down the main streets of the city, visited a little agricultural pond (on which floated a little house for the resident duck, which was nowhere to be seen), and even a children's carnival. We were also proudly introduced to Tomsk's claim to fame : the several universities that populate the city. I always feel a tinge of electricity in myself whenever I walk in halls of learning.
Later, we went to a war monument that was situated on the top of a hill, overlooking the Tom river. The river curved around the hill and the city, and from that spot we watched the shadow of clouds glide across the countryside below us.
Back at Nikita's place that evening, we were treated to a very enjoyable home cooked meal by Marina. It was a sort of mixed rice with assorted ingredients inside, served with a very yummy mayonnaise salad. It had been quite a while since we last enjoyed a good homecooked meal (that wasn't cooked by us) and we relished every bite. After dinner, we headed up to the roof of Nikita's house and watched the sunset being overtaken by black storm clouds. Soon, the clouds got uncomfortably near and we retired for the night.
The next day, we were hoping to have a relaxing time but Nikita had more plans for us. He had arranged for us to meet another HospitalityClub member for more city touring. So, we dragged ourselves out of bed early. Marina brought us to see a rather amusing wolf statue that would growl and sing a song if you pressed a button on its tummy with a coin. Unfortunately, it was broken and only managed some odd gurgles. Hmm. We waited for our new contacts at a cafe and soon met up with another group of students. This time, we walked on the back streets and quiet roads of Tomsk, admiring the wooden architecture and the quiet side of the city. Our guide that day enjoyed photography too, so we had some fun taking unusual photos. Finally we headed up to another roof, this this of an apartment building. We had a little photography session against the backdrop of the city and the hills. A strong breeze provided more photo amusement, but also ushered in another bank of rainclouds. We ducked back into the apartment and waited until Nikita came to drive us back.
We were welcomed by Marina, who was just getting started with yet another homecooked meal. We washed up and packed and when we were done, another delicious meal (pasta!) had been prepared for us. Despite Marina's attempt to make more food, we still managed to eat everything (hobbits!). Some gift exchanging later, we were on our way to the train station. Nikita, Marina, and several of our Tomsk guides were there to see us off and perform the traditional farewell at the train station.
Nikita and Marina were just awesome hosts and even managed to feed us overly tall hobbits very successfully. They mentioned that it was their first time hosting international travellers. They certainly pulled out all the stops to make our stay in Tomsk a very welcome and enjoyable one. Thank you so much Nikita and Marina and all those who took us around Tomsk!
Next Stop : Olkhorn Island, Lake Baikal!
-ky
Children Playing
Children play in Ulan-ude. They play together in just about the same way I've seen children play throughout the world.
A group of four kids are playing on one of those playground rotating wheels. Everyone seems to instictively know when it is their turn to push the others. They run around each other, spinning wildly as the colours of the bars blur together.
Suddenly they jump up and jump on their bicycles and speed off to cries of "Arbat! Arbat!", apparently their destination. The wheel spins lazily, empty.
A grandchild hops aboard and her grandmother gently nudges the wheel back into motion. The child's face is filled with joy as her mouth gapes with pleasure, her face alternating between sunlight and shadow. I can't recall
such innocent, simple happiness.
Another boy and girl hop on ; they want to go faster! The poor grandchild quickly gets upset, and the two people seperated by a generation hold hands and leave. The new occupants spin languidly around, seated on the bars while enjoying their ice cream. They soon get tired and waltz off to their next conquest.
Red, blue, green and yellow bars blur together again, with no children to guide them. The primary colours, depending on which theory of colour you prefer. What an odd thought. Hmm.
-ky
A group of four kids are playing on one of those playground rotating wheels. Everyone seems to instictively know when it is their turn to push the others. They run around each other, spinning wildly as the colours of the bars blur together.
Suddenly they jump up and jump on their bicycles and speed off to cries of "Arbat! Arbat!", apparently their destination. The wheel spins lazily, empty.
A grandchild hops aboard and her grandmother gently nudges the wheel back into motion. The child's face is filled with joy as her mouth gapes with pleasure, her face alternating between sunlight and shadow. I can't recall
such innocent, simple happiness.
Another boy and girl hop on ; they want to go faster! The poor grandchild quickly gets upset, and the two people seperated by a generation hold hands and leave. The new occupants spin languidly around, seated on the bars while enjoying their ice cream. They soon get tired and waltz off to their next conquest.
Red, blue, green and yellow bars blur together again, with no children to guide them. The primary colours, depending on which theory of colour you prefer. What an odd thought. Hmm.
-ky
I to UU
I sit next to the window of the train bound for ulan ude, and watch the trees, streams, hills and valleys pass.
it is an enriching experience to hear the train rumble along the tracks and to feel the heartbeat of the train as we run along.
it's been 5 days since we last took the train. oddly, the whole train experience feels somewhat distant. however, the constant thoughts come running through and I feel that I am in a somewhat familiar place again.
I guess i'm getting old.
-l
it is an enriching experience to hear the train rumble along the tracks and to feel the heartbeat of the train as we run along.
it's been 5 days since we last took the train. oddly, the whole train experience feels somewhat distant. however, the constant thoughts come running through and I feel that I am in a somewhat familiar place again.
I guess i'm getting old.
-l
olkhorn island
today we went to take a ride across the island. boy was it a ride.
isaac tan chi ming, if you are reading this, you should come and bike in olkhorn island, irkutsk, russia.
first, how we got to olkhorn island.
before I stepped off the train, I talked to a guy who turned out to be from the czech republic and had spent a semester in tomsk studying civil engineering. good thing he knew some english and could speak russian, so we took a taxi together to the bus station.
a minibus guy, looking all shifty and sneaky, got us a minibus to olkhorn island for 390 roubles (15+ usd). a 5 hr ride and a 1.5 hr wait for the ferry (where we had some splendid shots) and we were in khuzhir village.
the bad thing about lonely planet's guidebook (or lying planet), is that it generates so much publicity that prices get jacked up. it so happened for nikita's, where we are staying for 3 nights. price was 700 (28 usd) per person per night, including 3 meals. and we were being housed in a place off the main kingdom of nikita's. LP said it was 530 for everything, and the receptionist replied that the LATEST edition was 2 yrs old. that was the most confident load of bull i've heard for the past 1 yr.
so I put on the poor meek face and ask if there was a student price, and luckily we got 600. i'm not really complaining, since the food portions are generous and it isn't all that bad. but the receptionists are quite a cocky lot.
did I mention the little kingdom here? nikita's a former table tennis champion and has built quite a self sufficient little estate for himself. it's situated close to the cliffs, has a fenced up village with cabins, dining hall, banyas ( russian saunas), toliets, bike shop. and I think he has a son (about 30 yrs old?) with plaited hair ( both on the scalp and on the chin). I guess the son could be called Petunia. and I really did smell burning marijuana while reggae was playing (Jah rasafari!!). we were talking about this kingdom here, and it seems like it's a kind of reverse Smurf village. all we saw were girls and nikita (papa smurf) and petunia. I really do sound a little bitter, but that's cause I really hate it when
1) there is a some unreasonable pricing due to monopoly and
2) there are cocky staff due to the monopolistic company.
but the food makes up for it. there's 3 courses for every meal, unlimited tea and free sugar and water too. note: they charge for sugar, here in russia.
anyhow, we got our bikes with jeff (an american who's travelling to beijing and then india nepal and tibet) and kah (who's finishing up his year long round-the-world trip) and headed off to moscow tomorroe. our gears weren't working too well, and we were not too conditioned as compared to the other 2 who were in mongolia trekking for 2 weeks, thus they went ahead.
quoting a, this place is like the cheap swiss alps. we cycled UP the steppes (bukit timah hill but stretch the distance) and after zooming through the wondrously lit and pine scented forests, emerged onto a great clearing. it's flanked by the hills, the field has blue pink white yellow flowers poking their heads up, and the sky is an amazing blue, swathed in carpaccio-like sheets of white.
and the place is quiet. no sounds of Man, just flies buzzing and eating the salt from our skin, the wind and the crickets. nothing else. amazing. it's just like the clearing near dairy farm towards the end of the mountain bike route in BTH, isaac.
we head further and reached the other side of the island. the locals say that dipping yourself in the very chilly waters grant you a few more decades of longevity. I did it twice, so i'm not sure if I get the life extension X2 or the life extension squared.
cramps soon came once we started back on the bikes (the return was mostly uphill), so I had to stop and ask for salt from some campers. they were giving me weird looks when I asked them.we reached the so-called lake on the map, but it looked more like a muddy pond, where we rested our cramped legs, shared chocolate, and tried to enjoy the view of the muddy pond.
we hit more uphill slopes, walking most of the time, and eventually reached the downhill portion of the steppe.
isaac, you should have been on this ride. it was more than pretty fast (and i'm using those 3.0 off-road tires). a bird took off 10 m ahead of me and I nearly caught up with it in 4 seconds before it took a sharp corner to the left. it was really really fast. shiok man. imagine, almost 1.5 km of downhill, with a few slopes of gradient similar to the starting slope of BTH to give you sonic the hedgehog-like speed boosts. and not much cow/horse/large mammal pats to mar your speed.
WAH LAU.
of course, all things must come to an end, and we soon hit the flat dirt road with deceiving sand patches. we took a road to the beach, where I spent a sorry 5 mins trying to enjoy the amazing view because I was so dehydrated. you see, I stupidly did not bring my water, since I thought 2 litres of water among 3 of us, with 30 km of biking would be more than sufficient. so I drank no more than 300 ml of water throughout the whole 5+hr ride. we got back to the village of the smurfs ( I can still imagine them singing 'it's a small world after all' while holding hands in a circle. and swaying their heads too.) at 4 +pm. this has become my 2nd most exhausting experience i've had. and my first, due to dehydration. all the other times i've been exhausted, I'm still considerably hydrated. not this time though. I had pretty little saliva left and my breath was extremely stale.
I plopped my bike wearily (very), made my way to the dining hall, and greedily ate whatever was there (buckwheat pancakes made from this morning's leftover buckwheat porridge) and drank copious amounts of hot sweet black tea.
a&k soon joined me. I put on the sorriest face I could and asked the girl if there was still lunch. Thank God there was. there was fish soup with potatoes and cream, fried fish and russian sauerkraut and a beetroot salad with raisins and nuts. and tea of course. I wolfed it all down, rehydrated and made my way to my sweet precious bed. I missed it and I knew it missed me.
a 3 hr nap later, we had dinner, washed up and headed to the russian cliff to watch the russian sun set over the russian landscape, while we emptied our russian beer bottles.
now, i've just spent an hr or so typing, and I will lie on my russian bed to sleep. not before crossing the russian field to get to the russian hole(toilet) though... shucks.
joel and joshua lee, I still remember fraser's hill, pahang, malaysia in late nov 2003. here at olkhorn island, it's like fraser's hill, but with mongolian steppes, a giant lake and drier weather but with no afternoon tea and prata and teh halia.
we're spending the day walking around and just eating the meals provided. probably will read and we'll get up early to watch the sun rise over lake baikal tomorrow, before we leave for irkutsk to ride the circumbaikal railway. will have smoked omul ( a type of fish found only in lake baikal) and will definitely have lots of tea. with sugar of course.
-l
isaac tan chi ming, if you are reading this, you should come and bike in olkhorn island, irkutsk, russia.
first, how we got to olkhorn island.
before I stepped off the train, I talked to a guy who turned out to be from the czech republic and had spent a semester in tomsk studying civil engineering. good thing he knew some english and could speak russian, so we took a taxi together to the bus station.
a minibus guy, looking all shifty and sneaky, got us a minibus to olkhorn island for 390 roubles (15+ usd). a 5 hr ride and a 1.5 hr wait for the ferry (where we had some splendid shots) and we were in khuzhir village.
the bad thing about lonely planet's guidebook (or lying planet), is that it generates so much publicity that prices get jacked up. it so happened for nikita's, where we are staying for 3 nights. price was 700 (28 usd) per person per night, including 3 meals. and we were being housed in a place off the main kingdom of nikita's. LP said it was 530 for everything, and the receptionist replied that the LATEST edition was 2 yrs old. that was the most confident load of bull i've heard for the past 1 yr.
so I put on the poor meek face and ask if there was a student price, and luckily we got 600. i'm not really complaining, since the food portions are generous and it isn't all that bad. but the receptionists are quite a cocky lot.
did I mention the little kingdom here? nikita's a former table tennis champion and has built quite a self sufficient little estate for himself. it's situated close to the cliffs, has a fenced up village with cabins, dining hall, banyas ( russian saunas), toliets, bike shop. and I think he has a son (about 30 yrs old?) with plaited hair ( both on the scalp and on the chin). I guess the son could be called Petunia. and I really did smell burning marijuana while reggae was playing (Jah rasafari!!). we were talking about this kingdom here, and it seems like it's a kind of reverse Smurf village. all we saw were girls and nikita (papa smurf) and petunia. I really do sound a little bitter, but that's cause I really hate it when
1) there is a some unreasonable pricing due to monopoly and
2) there are cocky staff due to the monopolistic company.
but the food makes up for it. there's 3 courses for every meal, unlimited tea and free sugar and water too. note: they charge for sugar, here in russia.
anyhow, we got our bikes with jeff (an american who's travelling to beijing and then india nepal and tibet) and kah (who's finishing up his year long round-the-world trip) and headed off to moscow tomorroe. our gears weren't working too well, and we were not too conditioned as compared to the other 2 who were in mongolia trekking for 2 weeks, thus they went ahead.
quoting a, this place is like the cheap swiss alps. we cycled UP the steppes (bukit timah hill but stretch the distance) and after zooming through the wondrously lit and pine scented forests, emerged onto a great clearing. it's flanked by the hills, the field has blue pink white yellow flowers poking their heads up, and the sky is an amazing blue, swathed in carpaccio-like sheets of white.
and the place is quiet. no sounds of Man, just flies buzzing and eating the salt from our skin, the wind and the crickets. nothing else. amazing. it's just like the clearing near dairy farm towards the end of the mountain bike route in BTH, isaac.
we head further and reached the other side of the island. the locals say that dipping yourself in the very chilly waters grant you a few more decades of longevity. I did it twice, so i'm not sure if I get the life extension X2 or the life extension squared.
cramps soon came once we started back on the bikes (the return was mostly uphill), so I had to stop and ask for salt from some campers. they were giving me weird looks when I asked them.we reached the so-called lake on the map, but it looked more like a muddy pond, where we rested our cramped legs, shared chocolate, and tried to enjoy the view of the muddy pond.
we hit more uphill slopes, walking most of the time, and eventually reached the downhill portion of the steppe.
isaac, you should have been on this ride. it was more than pretty fast (and i'm using those 3.0 off-road tires). a bird took off 10 m ahead of me and I nearly caught up with it in 4 seconds before it took a sharp corner to the left. it was really really fast. shiok man. imagine, almost 1.5 km of downhill, with a few slopes of gradient similar to the starting slope of BTH to give you sonic the hedgehog-like speed boosts. and not much cow/horse/large mammal pats to mar your speed.
WAH LAU.
of course, all things must come to an end, and we soon hit the flat dirt road with deceiving sand patches. we took a road to the beach, where I spent a sorry 5 mins trying to enjoy the amazing view because I was so dehydrated. you see, I stupidly did not bring my water, since I thought 2 litres of water among 3 of us, with 30 km of biking would be more than sufficient. so I drank no more than 300 ml of water throughout the whole 5+hr ride. we got back to the village of the smurfs ( I can still imagine them singing 'it's a small world after all' while holding hands in a circle. and swaying their heads too.) at 4 +pm. this has become my 2nd most exhausting experience i've had. and my first, due to dehydration. all the other times i've been exhausted, I'm still considerably hydrated. not this time though. I had pretty little saliva left and my breath was extremely stale.
I plopped my bike wearily (very), made my way to the dining hall, and greedily ate whatever was there (buckwheat pancakes made from this morning's leftover buckwheat porridge) and drank copious amounts of hot sweet black tea.
a&k soon joined me. I put on the sorriest face I could and asked the girl if there was still lunch. Thank God there was. there was fish soup with potatoes and cream, fried fish and russian sauerkraut and a beetroot salad with raisins and nuts. and tea of course. I wolfed it all down, rehydrated and made my way to my sweet precious bed. I missed it and I knew it missed me.
a 3 hr nap later, we had dinner, washed up and headed to the russian cliff to watch the russian sun set over the russian landscape, while we emptied our russian beer bottles.
now, i've just spent an hr or so typing, and I will lie on my russian bed to sleep. not before crossing the russian field to get to the russian hole(toilet) though... shucks.
joel and joshua lee, I still remember fraser's hill, pahang, malaysia in late nov 2003. here at olkhorn island, it's like fraser's hill, but with mongolian steppes, a giant lake and drier weather but with no afternoon tea and prata and teh halia.
we're spending the day walking around and just eating the meals provided. probably will read and we'll get up early to watch the sun rise over lake baikal tomorrow, before we leave for irkutsk to ride the circumbaikal railway. will have smoked omul ( a type of fish found only in lake baikal) and will definitely have lots of tea. with sugar of course.
-l
k to i
rolling along the tracks, somewhere around krasnoyarsk, in siberia, we cross a large gaping river, which seems to come from the distant mountains (hills?), veiled in mist. hills seem to erupt like sinosoidal sound waves. they crest and fall, sometimes in tandem to the rhythm of the train, at times to the silent beat in my head.
and along these slopes are certain inhabitants. some are wooden houses, built in respect to the aspect (onomatopoeia!), some are little pieces of grass, washed fresh from the previous shower, while others are trees of the taiga kind. they are tall and shrouded generously with a cloak of velvet green, but with awkward stark white naked trunks, punctuated with browish grey stripes.
come closer, they say. and the train obediently follows the hypnotic tired grey rails. as we edge closer to these 'flashers*', the marvellous feeling in me melts away. no longer do they look that interesting. their opulence and mystery seem to get wiped clean and all they look like are tired old guards of the hill.
pretty from far, far from pretty.
* because they're like dirty old men with green trenchcoats only.
-l
meet ewan(iwan?), dalgert and eriksia. do forgive me for my poor attempt at russian name spelling.
ewan is 32, eriksia is about the same age and dalgert is 25. ew and er are both mechanics.
er specialises in train carriages and I am guessing his specialisation is in the joints that link the carriages. I write that I guess, for I guessed from his hand signals and mine, while he was smoking. he was so excited and animated that he burnt himself and dropped the lighted cigarette. and he quickly picked it up, relighted and continued on his gesticulation. it seems the 3 second rule applies. however, I have witnessed an impressive 5 min rule, but that person was ravenous and it is a story for another time.
ew is also a mechanic and I guess he specialises in metals of some sort. again, I write that I guess, for he gesticulated to the 45 degs angled pipe that supports the upper bunk in the platskart (3rd class and cheapest) cabin. da (yes in paruski) da da I say, in a bright cloudy haze of sun, excitment and vodka.
dalgert is a mechanical engineer, on his way to ulan ude. UU is our next city after a week in irkutsk. he seeks work there and asked us to stay with him. a & k say it is awkward while I disagree, but we still politely decline and say that we have a hostel to stay in. he also listens to russian reggae, as do daria (from nizhny novgorod) and asya's husband (from kazan).
also, meet irina, aged 57, still with a good head of blond hair. she was on her way to krasnoyarsk for a 5 day retreat from being a book keeper. as well as a silver grandmother and her sister. and narcita, from chita. she looks 14, maybe 15, dresses like an 18 yr old and has a look that I cannot place my finger upon. she looks like she's half asian, half european, has strong cheekbones and slightly protruding eyes.
you might be wondering how we got to converse. I have in my possesion, a small thickish tome. it had a plasticky feel to it, now it has been made oily due to the various hands that have handled it. so it starts with someone introducing himself, me, in my conversation with irina, ew in his conversation with a. soon, the magic tome is used, and with some supplement from gesticulating hands and exaggerated facial expressions, the conversation proceeds.
I nearly forgot to introduce an old friend to you, didn't I? I last saw him in st petersburg, when he popped up with some strangers, who then became acquaintances, in a bar. it was such a surprise to see him again today!! he popped up again, without any warning in the same carriage that we were in. you see, this old friend of ours just mixes with anything, and is a very warm character. plus, he's so good at adapting to any situation and is excellent in introducing strangers to each other. did I mention that he turned all of us pink (some became red like a stop sign), because of his innate ability?
meet vodka, a colourless, near odourless spirit. russians drink it neat and chase it down with juice (cok, pronounced as sok).
dalgert insisted we drink, and so did ewan. once my eyelids became a little heavier and turned a healthy pink, dalgert insisted that we eat. so hello bread and salami. hence the oily phrasebook cover.
it is quite good, seriously. none of that throat burn that happens when you imbibe absolut or red smirnoff. grey goose exudes a strong alcoholic heat, but the ones i've had while in russia are surprisingly good!!
they slip down like tofu, and when I breathe out after it's gone down, I don't have any dragon breath. you don't really need a chaser for it. I can't taste any berries or notes of flowers or herbs. and I don't intend to try to. i'll just stick to trying to get my taste notes on wine right.
-l
the landscape here is amazingly. as we traverse the siberian region, the trees seem to change character. at times they look dowdy, old and tired, at times they look like tenacious survivors, at times they look triumphant.
the view is amazing. we've travelled along rides, rode up slopes and cornered, well, corners. and all the time, the amazing view is there.
it.just.takes.your.breath.away. the field stretches as far as the eye can see, right to the horizon, almost touching the clouds. it undulates. orange and yellow flowers gather riotously and trees grow close to each other. there are the few that stand nervously alone.
I can't put it into words, but the view is simply fantastic. if only you could see it for yourself.
-l
i'll try to write this without ambling merrily along.
i've been waiting for this ride, for more than a year. this train ride that I am on, 6 weeks from home, 3 weeks from aunty swee kat's place in london, a day from tomsk, 8 more hours to Irkutsk.
i'm happy, i'm glad, i'm not yet satisfied, I feel fulfilled partially, I think I might cry.
so this trip was decided for in about jan 2006, when a backpacking trip around europe didn't happen with a good friend, and my supervisor at work suggested taking a train from china into mongolia. he also couldn't make it due to leave complications, so I started to plan this trip.
come march, and I went to siem reap for 5 days. after that trip, I really felt that I had to travel, for there was so much to see. it isn't the sights that excite me the most, it's the getting away from things too familiar, it's the new experience fraught with nervousness, it's the fulfillment, it's trying to see things from a different point of view, it's an eye opening experience that will wither part of my myopia away.
so this train ride was imagined while kings of convenience played on in the main concert hall of esplanade, singapore, on the 17 of march 2006. I was seated with alan and isaac. now, the exact thing is happening, with 'know how' from KOC playing, while I sit at the window, watching the land run past me.
it's about introspection for me I guess? to think on the ride. i've had quite enough of churches and monasteries.
writing this hasn't emptied all feeling from me. perhaps it is a good thing? something that I keep and can return to again, when the land runs past me as I trundle along.
-l
and along these slopes are certain inhabitants. some are wooden houses, built in respect to the aspect (onomatopoeia!), some are little pieces of grass, washed fresh from the previous shower, while others are trees of the taiga kind. they are tall and shrouded generously with a cloak of velvet green, but with awkward stark white naked trunks, punctuated with browish grey stripes.
come closer, they say. and the train obediently follows the hypnotic tired grey rails. as we edge closer to these 'flashers*', the marvellous feeling in me melts away. no longer do they look that interesting. their opulence and mystery seem to get wiped clean and all they look like are tired old guards of the hill.
pretty from far, far from pretty.
* because they're like dirty old men with green trenchcoats only.
-l
meet ewan(iwan?), dalgert and eriksia. do forgive me for my poor attempt at russian name spelling.
ewan is 32, eriksia is about the same age and dalgert is 25. ew and er are both mechanics.
er specialises in train carriages and I am guessing his specialisation is in the joints that link the carriages. I write that I guess, for I guessed from his hand signals and mine, while he was smoking. he was so excited and animated that he burnt himself and dropped the lighted cigarette. and he quickly picked it up, relighted and continued on his gesticulation. it seems the 3 second rule applies. however, I have witnessed an impressive 5 min rule, but that person was ravenous and it is a story for another time.
ew is also a mechanic and I guess he specialises in metals of some sort. again, I write that I guess, for he gesticulated to the 45 degs angled pipe that supports the upper bunk in the platskart (3rd class and cheapest) cabin. da (yes in paruski) da da I say, in a bright cloudy haze of sun, excitment and vodka.
dalgert is a mechanical engineer, on his way to ulan ude. UU is our next city after a week in irkutsk. he seeks work there and asked us to stay with him. a & k say it is awkward while I disagree, but we still politely decline and say that we have a hostel to stay in. he also listens to russian reggae, as do daria (from nizhny novgorod) and asya's husband (from kazan).
also, meet irina, aged 57, still with a good head of blond hair. she was on her way to krasnoyarsk for a 5 day retreat from being a book keeper. as well as a silver grandmother and her sister. and narcita, from chita. she looks 14, maybe 15, dresses like an 18 yr old and has a look that I cannot place my finger upon. she looks like she's half asian, half european, has strong cheekbones and slightly protruding eyes.
you might be wondering how we got to converse. I have in my possesion, a small thickish tome. it had a plasticky feel to it, now it has been made oily due to the various hands that have handled it. so it starts with someone introducing himself, me, in my conversation with irina, ew in his conversation with a. soon, the magic tome is used, and with some supplement from gesticulating hands and exaggerated facial expressions, the conversation proceeds.
I nearly forgot to introduce an old friend to you, didn't I? I last saw him in st petersburg, when he popped up with some strangers, who then became acquaintances, in a bar. it was such a surprise to see him again today!! he popped up again, without any warning in the same carriage that we were in. you see, this old friend of ours just mixes with anything, and is a very warm character. plus, he's so good at adapting to any situation and is excellent in introducing strangers to each other. did I mention that he turned all of us pink (some became red like a stop sign), because of his innate ability?
meet vodka, a colourless, near odourless spirit. russians drink it neat and chase it down with juice (cok, pronounced as sok).
dalgert insisted we drink, and so did ewan. once my eyelids became a little heavier and turned a healthy pink, dalgert insisted that we eat. so hello bread and salami. hence the oily phrasebook cover.
it is quite good, seriously. none of that throat burn that happens when you imbibe absolut or red smirnoff. grey goose exudes a strong alcoholic heat, but the ones i've had while in russia are surprisingly good!!
they slip down like tofu, and when I breathe out after it's gone down, I don't have any dragon breath. you don't really need a chaser for it. I can't taste any berries or notes of flowers or herbs. and I don't intend to try to. i'll just stick to trying to get my taste notes on wine right.
-l
the landscape here is amazingly. as we traverse the siberian region, the trees seem to change character. at times they look dowdy, old and tired, at times they look like tenacious survivors, at times they look triumphant.
the view is amazing. we've travelled along rides, rode up slopes and cornered, well, corners. and all the time, the amazing view is there.
it.just.takes.your.breath.away. the field stretches as far as the eye can see, right to the horizon, almost touching the clouds. it undulates. orange and yellow flowers gather riotously and trees grow close to each other. there are the few that stand nervously alone.
I can't put it into words, but the view is simply fantastic. if only you could see it for yourself.
-l
i'll try to write this without ambling merrily along.
i've been waiting for this ride, for more than a year. this train ride that I am on, 6 weeks from home, 3 weeks from aunty swee kat's place in london, a day from tomsk, 8 more hours to Irkutsk.
i'm happy, i'm glad, i'm not yet satisfied, I feel fulfilled partially, I think I might cry.
so this trip was decided for in about jan 2006, when a backpacking trip around europe didn't happen with a good friend, and my supervisor at work suggested taking a train from china into mongolia. he also couldn't make it due to leave complications, so I started to plan this trip.
come march, and I went to siem reap for 5 days. after that trip, I really felt that I had to travel, for there was so much to see. it isn't the sights that excite me the most, it's the getting away from things too familiar, it's the new experience fraught with nervousness, it's the fulfillment, it's trying to see things from a different point of view, it's an eye opening experience that will wither part of my myopia away.
so this train ride was imagined while kings of convenience played on in the main concert hall of esplanade, singapore, on the 17 of march 2006. I was seated with alan and isaac. now, the exact thing is happening, with 'know how' from KOC playing, while I sit at the window, watching the land run past me.
it's about introspection for me I guess? to think on the ride. i've had quite enough of churches and monasteries.
writing this hasn't emptied all feeling from me. perhaps it is a good thing? something that I keep and can return to again, when the land runs past me as I trundle along.
-l
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Train encounters
B/W OMSK and TOMSK (17 June)
Another 14 hours stuck in crammed conditions in a top bunk where there isn't even room to sit up straight. Our little 2 hour breather in Omsk involved a visit to the local fried chicked joint and the supermarket. This train is worse than the last as there is neither ventilation nor air-condition, only the stifling stuffy air of the upper regions of the carriage.
I decide to walk around the carriage, hoping to find some empty place at a lower bunk so I can actually sit up straight for a while. Soon I find one at the head of the carriage. I sit down and continue to read my book. In between tales of deforestation and environmental disaster, a man comes in reeking of alcohol and smoke and sits across me from the table. My eyes remain fixed on the page. Soon he buys a Baltika 5 and opens the can a few inches from my book. The smell of beer wafts into my nose as he takes a slurp.
"You don't speak Russian?" He breaks the silence, pointing at my book. I shake my head at the youngish looking man with short-cropped blond hair and blue eyes.
"I learnt English in school," he says with much difficulty, his eyes scanning as though he were looking for the words in some crevice inside his mind. "I going home, 20 mins to home, home, home, home...." he sings, breaking out into laughter.
"My name is Anton he says," offering his hand. I offer my hand and name in return. Anton offers me his beer. I stare at the cold can momentarily and politely refuse.
"I like Batika. 3, 5 and 7," he says. I tell him my favorites.
"How about vodka?" I ask.
"Of course, I am Russian." I laugh with him.
"Where is your motherland?" He asks in the most matter-of-fact manner. "Singapore," I say and he nods with a little puzzled expression on his face. I stare out of the window wondering where this conversation was going and try to return to my book.
I hear his eyes scanning again for the words. "What language you speak?"
"I speak English, China and Ispania," I reply, vaguely recalling wrongly the Russian word for Spanish.
"I Russian and English choot choot. My English teacher, good," he grins and gives a thumbs up, "very good woman." I nod and smile in return.
"Do you smoke?" He asks me.
For a while a little internal conflict rages on in my conscience as I weigh my resolution to stop my infrequent affairs wih cigarettes and sharing one with a Russian.
"Sometimes," I say weakly.
"If I smoke, will you smoke with me?"
I agree.
We head over to the smoking section between carriages and he offers me a cigarette before dropiing his one on the floor. He laughs and I pick it up for him, fearing he might fall over in his state if he tried to do it himself. We light up and take a drag, sharing the silence for a moment.
The train stops.
A train attendant barges in through the door, shooting off in Russian at him. He obviously forgot his stop. He stubs his cigarettes our and looks me in the eye, offering his hand, "good luck, Andrew." I shake his hand and smile.
And then I am left alone in the smoke-filled room with a cigarette not even half-finished between my fingers. I take a final drag and stub it out, a little disappointed at the brevity.
-Andrew
(Disclaimer for mum: don't worry, I haven't strayed that far)
Another 14 hours stuck in crammed conditions in a top bunk where there isn't even room to sit up straight. Our little 2 hour breather in Omsk involved a visit to the local fried chicked joint and the supermarket. This train is worse than the last as there is neither ventilation nor air-condition, only the stifling stuffy air of the upper regions of the carriage.
I decide to walk around the carriage, hoping to find some empty place at a lower bunk so I can actually sit up straight for a while. Soon I find one at the head of the carriage. I sit down and continue to read my book. In between tales of deforestation and environmental disaster, a man comes in reeking of alcohol and smoke and sits across me from the table. My eyes remain fixed on the page. Soon he buys a Baltika 5 and opens the can a few inches from my book. The smell of beer wafts into my nose as he takes a slurp.
"You don't speak Russian?" He breaks the silence, pointing at my book. I shake my head at the youngish looking man with short-cropped blond hair and blue eyes.
"I learnt English in school," he says with much difficulty, his eyes scanning as though he were looking for the words in some crevice inside his mind. "I going home, 20 mins to home, home, home, home...." he sings, breaking out into laughter.
"My name is Anton he says," offering his hand. I offer my hand and name in return. Anton offers me his beer. I stare at the cold can momentarily and politely refuse.
"I like Batika. 3, 5 and 7," he says. I tell him my favorites.
"How about vodka?" I ask.
"Of course, I am Russian." I laugh with him.
"Where is your motherland?" He asks in the most matter-of-fact manner. "Singapore," I say and he nods with a little puzzled expression on his face. I stare out of the window wondering where this conversation was going and try to return to my book.
I hear his eyes scanning again for the words. "What language you speak?"
"I speak English, China and Ispania," I reply, vaguely recalling wrongly the Russian word for Spanish.
"I Russian and English choot choot. My English teacher, good," he grins and gives a thumbs up, "very good woman." I nod and smile in return.
"Do you smoke?" He asks me.
For a while a little internal conflict rages on in my conscience as I weigh my resolution to stop my infrequent affairs wih cigarettes and sharing one with a Russian.
"Sometimes," I say weakly.
"If I smoke, will you smoke with me?"
I agree.
We head over to the smoking section between carriages and he offers me a cigarette before dropiing his one on the floor. He laughs and I pick it up for him, fearing he might fall over in his state if he tried to do it himself. We light up and take a drag, sharing the silence for a moment.
The train stops.
A train attendant barges in through the door, shooting off in Russian at him. He obviously forgot his stop. He stubs his cigarettes our and looks me in the eye, offering his hand, "good luck, Andrew." I shake his hand and smile.
And then I am left alone in the smoke-filled room with a cigarette not even half-finished between my fingers. I take a final drag and stub it out, a little disappointed at the brevity.
-Andrew
(Disclaimer for mum: don't worry, I haven't strayed that far)
Save water, bathe with others
I stood there naked and self-consicous about it. There were long leather seats with naked men sprawled all over, their well-endowed bodies illuminated by the 19th century lighting. We were at a Russian Banya, one of the oldest and most luxurious Banyas still functioning in St. Petersburg. And so I grabbed my towel, wrapped it around my waist and headed to the door where lobster red fat men were emerging from, a little aprehensive. I entered a huge bathroom with numerous showers, marble slabs where naked men where scrubbing other naked men down. 3 skinny Asian boys standing there - boy we sure stuck out like yellow sore thumbs. Plucking up a little courage I decided to go nude too, since we were the only idiots covered up, Luke and Kinyan were a little more conservative about this aspect in the begining and decided to keep their towels on.
The huge bathroom connected to a smaller darker room where a furnace stood to one side while stairs leading up to an elevated wooden platform stood next to it. This was where the men went to become lobsters. The heat at first was bearable and we started monkeying the naked regulars, whipping ourselves with birch branches. Then they threw water into the furnace at the heat just hit the air out of me. I quickly stood up a little giddy, not quite sure if I could make it to the door. Once I was out, I immediately plunged myself into a cold pool of water, letting the heat drain out. This process took place a couple of times before I figured my heart could take not more.
After the whole Banya affair, I felt very clean for some strange reason, though I think the amount of bacteria lurking about in that unhygienic environment was enough to kill a horse.
- Andrew
PS: I haven't been posting because I'm too lazy. And internet, just like everything else in Russia is bloody expensive.
The huge bathroom connected to a smaller darker room where a furnace stood to one side while stairs leading up to an elevated wooden platform stood next to it. This was where the men went to become lobsters. The heat at first was bearable and we started monkeying the naked regulars, whipping ourselves with birch branches. Then they threw water into the furnace at the heat just hit the air out of me. I quickly stood up a little giddy, not quite sure if I could make it to the door. Once I was out, I immediately plunged myself into a cold pool of water, letting the heat drain out. This process took place a couple of times before I figured my heart could take not more.
After the whole Banya affair, I felt very clean for some strange reason, though I think the amount of bacteria lurking about in that unhygienic environment was enough to kill a horse.
- Andrew
PS: I haven't been posting because I'm too lazy. And internet, just like everything else in Russia is bloody expensive.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Kazan
Kazan is a very old city, having just celebrated its 1000th (one thousandth!) anniversary a few years ago. Sections of the city had been renovated for the anniversary celebrations, but there are still areas that consist of very old buildings, some having fallen into disuse and disrepair. We saw a grand old hotel that was built a hundred years ago left roofless and filled with rubble. Kazan is full of shiny new modern buildings but many old buildings lie is various states of repair. Kazan is a city which has a long history of Christians and Muslims living together is harmony.
We stepped off the train into the morning air of Kazan and were greeted right on the train platform by our host here, Asya.
Asya had been on a Rotary Club exchange program to Georgia, USA, and spoke excellent English. We started walking in search of a cafe to have a drink. Unfortunately, it was still quite early, about 6am, so we couldn't find any place that was open yet. We walked along a pedestrian mall and found ourselves at the only place open that early in the morning : McDonalds! We paid the high Mcdonalds price for coffee and a Sausage McMuffin for myself and sat down for a little rest. We watched a group of rather happy looking partygoers finishing up their evening and a few homeless people washing up in the fountains along the mall.
Further down, we saw a dark brown freestanding bell tower towering above the modern buildings, looking a bit out of place along the walls. We moved on and walked past the Kazan University, where Asya studied. Kazan University consisted of several buildings around the city in an normal example of a city campus.
We visited the Peter and Paul cathedral which was raised well above ground and gave us a good view of the surrounding city and river. Finally, we visited the Kremlin. The kremlin was not too interesting except for the recently built mosque. This mosque was built in the kremlin to replace the one that was reputed to exist there before, but not as a reconstruction. A design contest was held and the winning design was built. So, towering above any building in the Kremlin and the kremlin walls themselves, this four-spired mosque shines with green gilding and stained glass. The design reminded me of the mosques back home. The interior was equally impressive, with a model of the mosque proudly displayed in the centre of the reception hall, rotating in the spotlights. A "balcony for tourists" provides a view of the prayer hall, sparsely but expensively decorated with treated wood and tiles. Asya told me that the mosques in Kazan do sound the call to prayer. Unfortunately, I didn't hear that familiar sound in my time here.
After visiting the kremlin, Asya left us to head to work and we were left to our own devices. We headed back to the train station to figure out our next leg, where I spend a good bit of time poking the touchscreen trip computer, figuring out what the buttons do. We then visited the central market, which was very much like other markets, selling meats, dairy and fresh produce, as well as clothing on the upper floors.
For lunch, we headed to a restaurant/cafeteria that was recommended by Asya. We had hearty fare like trigolnuk (triangle pastries stuffed with meat and potatoes) and mashed potatoes with meatballs. We also tried a famous dessert dish that both Darya and Asya had recommended : cak cak, also called honey worms. To our great surprise, they were exactly the same as the very common sweet dessert back home. It was sweet, golden, crunchy and sticky. I used to buy 30 sen square packets of the stuff when I was in primary school and rapidly consume it when it appears at home. Supposedly of Uzbek origin, it appears that cak cak has spread further than expected ; who knows where it originated from? =D Despite the slight dissapointment that it wasn't an exotic food, I enjoyed it, reminding me of home.
We spent some time at a internet cafe in a university building nearby after wandering across the city in search for one. Entering educational facitilies always makes me happy. =) We headed back to the market to get some supplies for our next trip before heading to Asya's flat for much needed showers and rest. We arrived before anyone was home and waited outside with the mosquitoes. I was looking at a one-eyed black dog that looked a little like an oversized terrier sitting at the entrance to the apartment, looking just like a faithful guard dog. Soon, Asya and her husband returned. We washed up and retired with the two naughty cats.
Early the next day, we headed to the train station, got more supplies and embarked on our longest journey yet : 30 hours to Omsk, a two hour stop and then another 14 hours to Tomsk.
Next (real) Stop : Tomsk!
-ky
We stepped off the train into the morning air of Kazan and were greeted right on the train platform by our host here, Asya.
Asya had been on a Rotary Club exchange program to Georgia, USA, and spoke excellent English. We started walking in search of a cafe to have a drink. Unfortunately, it was still quite early, about 6am, so we couldn't find any place that was open yet. We walked along a pedestrian mall and found ourselves at the only place open that early in the morning : McDonalds! We paid the high Mcdonalds price for coffee and a Sausage McMuffin for myself and sat down for a little rest. We watched a group of rather happy looking partygoers finishing up their evening and a few homeless people washing up in the fountains along the mall.
Further down, we saw a dark brown freestanding bell tower towering above the modern buildings, looking a bit out of place along the walls. We moved on and walked past the Kazan University, where Asya studied. Kazan University consisted of several buildings around the city in an normal example of a city campus.
We visited the Peter and Paul cathedral which was raised well above ground and gave us a good view of the surrounding city and river. Finally, we visited the Kremlin. The kremlin was not too interesting except for the recently built mosque. This mosque was built in the kremlin to replace the one that was reputed to exist there before, but not as a reconstruction. A design contest was held and the winning design was built. So, towering above any building in the Kremlin and the kremlin walls themselves, this four-spired mosque shines with green gilding and stained glass. The design reminded me of the mosques back home. The interior was equally impressive, with a model of the mosque proudly displayed in the centre of the reception hall, rotating in the spotlights. A "balcony for tourists" provides a view of the prayer hall, sparsely but expensively decorated with treated wood and tiles. Asya told me that the mosques in Kazan do sound the call to prayer. Unfortunately, I didn't hear that familiar sound in my time here.
After visiting the kremlin, Asya left us to head to work and we were left to our own devices. We headed back to the train station to figure out our next leg, where I spend a good bit of time poking the touchscreen trip computer, figuring out what the buttons do. We then visited the central market, which was very much like other markets, selling meats, dairy and fresh produce, as well as clothing on the upper floors.
For lunch, we headed to a restaurant/cafeteria that was recommended by Asya. We had hearty fare like trigolnuk (triangle pastries stuffed with meat and potatoes) and mashed potatoes with meatballs. We also tried a famous dessert dish that both Darya and Asya had recommended : cak cak, also called honey worms. To our great surprise, they were exactly the same as the very common sweet dessert back home. It was sweet, golden, crunchy and sticky. I used to buy 30 sen square packets of the stuff when I was in primary school and rapidly consume it when it appears at home. Supposedly of Uzbek origin, it appears that cak cak has spread further than expected ; who knows where it originated from? =D Despite the slight dissapointment that it wasn't an exotic food, I enjoyed it, reminding me of home.
We spent some time at a internet cafe in a university building nearby after wandering across the city in search for one. Entering educational facitilies always makes me happy. =) We headed back to the market to get some supplies for our next trip before heading to Asya's flat for much needed showers and rest. We arrived before anyone was home and waited outside with the mosquitoes. I was looking at a one-eyed black dog that looked a little like an oversized terrier sitting at the entrance to the apartment, looking just like a faithful guard dog. Soon, Asya and her husband returned. We washed up and retired with the two naughty cats.
Early the next day, we headed to the train station, got more supplies and embarked on our longest journey yet : 30 hours to Omsk, a two hour stop and then another 14 hours to Tomsk.
Next (real) Stop : Tomsk!
-ky
Niznhy Novgorod
Niznhy Novgorod
Located on the confluence of two rivers, Niznhy Novgorod was the center of military industrial production of Russia. Tanks rolled out of factories and submarines slid out of drydocks into the vast Volga river. Now, Niznhy Novgorod is home to the largest car factory in Russia. Its strategic location along the Volga, the largest river in the European area, has enabled its economic development.
We arrived in Niznhy around 11pm and set out for the hostel. However, we were soon encountered dark streets and alleys, so we quickly decided to retreat into the internationally known network of safe havens and free toilets : McDonalds. In Russia, Big Maks cost 52 rubles, almost exactly 2 USD (in Latvia they cost 1.39 lats, which is roughly 2.7 USD). We stayed there till most of the staff had left, finally leaving at 130am, one and a half hours after closing time. We went into the railway station waiting room and took turns staying awake. I got a small scare when two policemen appeared in the middle of the night during Andrew's watch and put my camera bag behind them. In my tiredness, I must have foolishly removed my bag instead of wearing it as I usually do. After they were done disturbing us, we were left alone till the morning when we received a little more harassment, so we left and waited outside. We were waiting for our host in Niznhy, Darya, to return from a trip. Finally, at 6:30am we were relieved to see a friendly couple introduce themselves to us. We went back to their place, washed up and slept till 3pm! =) It wasn't all laziness since Darya had work till 3pm and so we were kinda waiting for her, but we had a very good rest nonetheless.
Darya is a Spanish teacher at the local university and gives private lessons as well. She has lived in Niznhy with her husband, Dima (sp?), for 5+ years. Dima is a specialist worker and does jobs that requires hanging off walls and other sorts of jobs that involve heights.
We headed out into the city sans our heavy backpacks and took a tram to the train station. The station was on the other side of the river from Darya's flat and the city center, so we had to cross the singular bridge to get there. The road wound down the hillside towards the river before crossing the bridge. We were treated to a very beautiful view of the river and the city in the evening light. (note : if you've noticed me saying 'beautiful evening light' a lot in my blog, its because in Russia during the summer, the 'golden light' of evening lasts for a very very long time...thus allowing very enjoyable sightseeing.)
After getting our tickets to our next destination, Darya took us for a sightseeing walk around the city.
She brought us to where Dima was working on the roof of a shopping centre next to the railway station and we were once again treated to a view from a roof. Also, from the bridge, we saw an interesting feature of Niznhy; a large cathedral shining in the sun, beautiful and grand beside the river. But it is nestled among the docks, with loading cranes hanging over the river, none of which are higher than the cathedral spires.
We walked down historical streets that used to be populated by rich traders and nobles and walked up hills to look out over the city and the valley formed by the river. Unlike the flatness of St. Petersburg, Niznhy was a city built on the slopes of the riverbank. We saw another contrast in an ugly apartment building that was built in Soviet times right behind a historical church. As Darya said, Niznhy Novgorod is a city full of contrasts. We crossed over a long, straight pedestrian that straddled a valley where a tributary once flowed, where we were treated to another view of Niznhy.
As the evening slowly became darker, we headed over to a club where we were hoping to catch some live music. When we arrived there, we found that they had raised the cover price, so we decided to pop over to the well-placed supermarket next door and got some bread, food and beer. We enjoyed our dinner outside the club, listening to the music for free. =) Darya also introduced us to a new staple food for travel : smoked cheese. This tasty, salty snack comes in stickes on strands and as a chewy, rubbery texture. The salty taste goes well with bread and/or beer. Yums!
Later we did more walking around the city and watched some street performers who were Darya's friends. They were quite good, in fact. We saw a grand, imposing building that was built to commemorate the czars in the early 20th century, but the czar dynasty collapsed three years later. The building was built to house a bank and still serves that purpose today. The windows allow a peek into the classy appointments and chandeliers within. Night soon fell and we returned home.
The next day, we departed with Darya and parted ways at the door of the Kremlin. She went off to a meeting, leaving us to wander the city centre on our own. We quickly finished looking around the Kremlin and settled down on benches overlooking the river and enjoyed the warm breeze. The Kremlin was built at the top of the valley of the river, allowing an amazing view of the river and the flats beyond.
There was a water truck that sprayed water on the pedestrian walkway. We couldn't decide if the water was to cool the ground down or to wash the ground.
We then spent more time at a nearby cafe which overlooked the Volga. We relaxed there was quite some time and waited for Darya to come and get us. When she finally got out of her meeting, she came and took us to a Uzbek restaurant where we had two things : a triangular pastry filled with meat and potatoes and a soup made of kvas. The pastry was tasty and good. The soup was not so much. The kvas base made it sweet and there was spring onions and other salty items in it, making the soup a rather unpleasant mix of sweet and salty.
We soon left the restaurant, headed back home and took a rest. Our train was that evening, so we soon packed up and headed for the train station, ready to head to our next destination.
Darya was really knowledgable about the city and told us many things that we wouldn't have found out ourselves, including a little bit of urban lore about drawings of a cosmonaut scattered throughout Russia, including Niznhy. Darya and Dima's hospitality in their city and their home was very pleasant. Thanks so much Darya and Dima!
Next Stop : Kazan!
-ky
Located on the confluence of two rivers, Niznhy Novgorod was the center of military industrial production of Russia. Tanks rolled out of factories and submarines slid out of drydocks into the vast Volga river. Now, Niznhy Novgorod is home to the largest car factory in Russia. Its strategic location along the Volga, the largest river in the European area, has enabled its economic development.
We arrived in Niznhy around 11pm and set out for the hostel. However, we were soon encountered dark streets and alleys, so we quickly decided to retreat into the internationally known network of safe havens and free toilets : McDonalds. In Russia, Big Maks cost 52 rubles, almost exactly 2 USD (in Latvia they cost 1.39 lats, which is roughly 2.7 USD). We stayed there till most of the staff had left, finally leaving at 130am, one and a half hours after closing time. We went into the railway station waiting room and took turns staying awake. I got a small scare when two policemen appeared in the middle of the night during Andrew's watch and put my camera bag behind them. In my tiredness, I must have foolishly removed my bag instead of wearing it as I usually do. After they were done disturbing us, we were left alone till the morning when we received a little more harassment, so we left and waited outside. We were waiting for our host in Niznhy, Darya, to return from a trip. Finally, at 6:30am we were relieved to see a friendly couple introduce themselves to us. We went back to their place, washed up and slept till 3pm! =) It wasn't all laziness since Darya had work till 3pm and so we were kinda waiting for her, but we had a very good rest nonetheless.
Darya is a Spanish teacher at the local university and gives private lessons as well. She has lived in Niznhy with her husband, Dima (sp?), for 5+ years. Dima is a specialist worker and does jobs that requires hanging off walls and other sorts of jobs that involve heights.
We headed out into the city sans our heavy backpacks and took a tram to the train station. The station was on the other side of the river from Darya's flat and the city center, so we had to cross the singular bridge to get there. The road wound down the hillside towards the river before crossing the bridge. We were treated to a very beautiful view of the river and the city in the evening light. (note : if you've noticed me saying 'beautiful evening light' a lot in my blog, its because in Russia during the summer, the 'golden light' of evening lasts for a very very long time...thus allowing very enjoyable sightseeing.)
After getting our tickets to our next destination, Darya took us for a sightseeing walk around the city.
She brought us to where Dima was working on the roof of a shopping centre next to the railway station and we were once again treated to a view from a roof. Also, from the bridge, we saw an interesting feature of Niznhy; a large cathedral shining in the sun, beautiful and grand beside the river. But it is nestled among the docks, with loading cranes hanging over the river, none of which are higher than the cathedral spires.
We walked down historical streets that used to be populated by rich traders and nobles and walked up hills to look out over the city and the valley formed by the river. Unlike the flatness of St. Petersburg, Niznhy was a city built on the slopes of the riverbank. We saw another contrast in an ugly apartment building that was built in Soviet times right behind a historical church. As Darya said, Niznhy Novgorod is a city full of contrasts. We crossed over a long, straight pedestrian that straddled a valley where a tributary once flowed, where we were treated to another view of Niznhy.
As the evening slowly became darker, we headed over to a club where we were hoping to catch some live music. When we arrived there, we found that they had raised the cover price, so we decided to pop over to the well-placed supermarket next door and got some bread, food and beer. We enjoyed our dinner outside the club, listening to the music for free. =) Darya also introduced us to a new staple food for travel : smoked cheese. This tasty, salty snack comes in stickes on strands and as a chewy, rubbery texture. The salty taste goes well with bread and/or beer. Yums!
Later we did more walking around the city and watched some street performers who were Darya's friends. They were quite good, in fact. We saw a grand, imposing building that was built to commemorate the czars in the early 20th century, but the czar dynasty collapsed three years later. The building was built to house a bank and still serves that purpose today. The windows allow a peek into the classy appointments and chandeliers within. Night soon fell and we returned home.
The next day, we departed with Darya and parted ways at the door of the Kremlin. She went off to a meeting, leaving us to wander the city centre on our own. We quickly finished looking around the Kremlin and settled down on benches overlooking the river and enjoyed the warm breeze. The Kremlin was built at the top of the valley of the river, allowing an amazing view of the river and the flats beyond.
There was a water truck that sprayed water on the pedestrian walkway. We couldn't decide if the water was to cool the ground down or to wash the ground.
We then spent more time at a nearby cafe which overlooked the Volga. We relaxed there was quite some time and waited for Darya to come and get us. When she finally got out of her meeting, she came and took us to a Uzbek restaurant where we had two things : a triangular pastry filled with meat and potatoes and a soup made of kvas. The pastry was tasty and good. The soup was not so much. The kvas base made it sweet and there was spring onions and other salty items in it, making the soup a rather unpleasant mix of sweet and salty.
We soon left the restaurant, headed back home and took a rest. Our train was that evening, so we soon packed up and headed for the train station, ready to head to our next destination.
Darya was really knowledgable about the city and told us many things that we wouldn't have found out ourselves, including a little bit of urban lore about drawings of a cosmonaut scattered throughout Russia, including Niznhy. Darya and Dima's hospitality in their city and their home was very pleasant. Thanks so much Darya and Dima!
Next Stop : Kazan!
-ky
tomsk 1
tonight is one of the best nights in russia.
after a long walk with some tomsk state university students who showed us around the lovely city of tomsk, which included a quiet pond, the cornerstone of tomsk and the very (Very) picturesque view from the WW2 memorial, we had dinner.
a very very yummy dinner by nikita and mariana. rice with carrots and pork, pumpernickel bread and a very superb salad of tomatoes cucumbers feta cheese olives and mayo. plus, we can wash our clothes, have a bath and um, relax our bowels? finally, after tea and some sweets, we went to the roof to view the sunset and the incoming mothership of rainclouds.
life hasn't been this good yet.
-l
after a long walk with some tomsk state university students who showed us around the lovely city of tomsk, which included a quiet pond, the cornerstone of tomsk and the very (Very) picturesque view from the WW2 memorial, we had dinner.
a very very yummy dinner by nikita and mariana. rice with carrots and pork, pumpernickel bread and a very superb salad of tomatoes cucumbers feta cheese olives and mayo. plus, we can wash our clothes, have a bath and um, relax our bowels? finally, after tea and some sweets, we went to the roof to view the sunset and the incoming mothership of rainclouds.
life hasn't been this good yet.
-l
beer
drinking a 16.5 % beer is not very easy. drinking a 16.5% beer at rm temp is much harder. the bitter aftertaste of alcohol is more pronounced when the piss, I mean, beer, is warm.
we are on a 28 hr train ride from kazan to omsk, and then we're taking a 31 hr train ride from omsk to tomsk. the rest period on non-moving, concrete ground, is 2 hrs. this kind of beer, if cold, is very good for putting you to sleep. it is still good for putting you to sleep even when it's warm, but you just have to suck it up and tip it down your throat.
we ( a & me) had a baltika 7 (500 ml) before the train left, and it gave me a 2 hr reprive. now, I hope it gives me an extra 4 hours of sleep so that I awake with only 2 hrs to burn before we arrive at tomsk.
k strongly (albeit, stubbornly) states that he rather drinks juice than beer, because it doesn't make you run to the little boys room. nonsense.
ok I should stop writing so much nonsense and go back to some 'intelligent' conversation with andy and kenny. haha.
-l
we are on a 28 hr train ride from kazan to omsk, and then we're taking a 31 hr train ride from omsk to tomsk. the rest period on non-moving, concrete ground, is 2 hrs. this kind of beer, if cold, is very good for putting you to sleep. it is still good for putting you to sleep even when it's warm, but you just have to suck it up and tip it down your throat.
we ( a & me) had a baltika 7 (500 ml) before the train left, and it gave me a 2 hr reprive. now, I hope it gives me an extra 4 hours of sleep so that I awake with only 2 hrs to burn before we arrive at tomsk.
k strongly (albeit, stubbornly) states that he rather drinks juice than beer, because it doesn't make you run to the little boys room. nonsense.
ok I should stop writing so much nonsense and go back to some 'intelligent' conversation with andy and kenny. haha.
-l
Friday, June 15, 2007
I'm definitely way behind on my writing, so this entry on Moscow is going to be rather less verbose than my normal entries...
Some distance out of Velikiy Novgorod on our overnight trains, I once again stayed awake a little later than the others and was treated to a beautiful sight. The train passed over a bridge and I saw a village nestled in the valley. The village was built on the slopes leading down into the river that had cut out the valley, and dim lights were twinkling out of the windows, cutting into the twilight darkness.
Finally we arrived at the capital of Russia, the famous city of Moscow. On the way in, I spotted a amazingly tall tower on the outskirts of the city. I later learned that it was a television tower, but it looked eerily like the Combine tower in Half-Life 2 in the cold early morning light. We arrived at 530am and quickly made our way to our host's house, where we were greeted with chatter and Singlish (Singapore English) accents.
We had arrived at the home of Deric, an avid Couchsurfing user/host and a four year resident of Moscow. He works at the Philippino Embassy as a diplomat and very frequently hosts travellers. In fact, I later found out, last summer, he had someone at his place every night without gaps! The Singlish was provided by two guests that had arrived just a minute before we had : Mee Shell and XinYing, both Singaporeans that had just come in on the sleeper from St.Petersburg. They had stayed with Deric previously and were quickly catching up and chatting away happily while the three of us sat around with very blur looks on our faces.
We soon warmed up to each other's company over a cup of coffee and were quickly acquainted with the concept of "Couchsurfing Social Networking" , i.e. online stalking (keke). A favorite activity of Deric, Mee Shell and Xinying, they started to encourage us to join them. =) We were to have the pleasure of the company of the two girls for the next few days as well as enjoy the amazing hospitality of Deric for the rest of our stay.
Deric is a well-travelled Filipino. He knows many languages, has worked in Japan as a reporter and is currently a diplomat at the Phillipino embassy, Deric enjoys having guests at his place and is an blessing as a host to all who pass through his doors. Misha the cat is Deric's faithful housemate. Unlike most cats, Misha is quite attention-seeking and follows people around the house. Misha provides continous comfort and entertainment but represents the ever-present threat of peeing on your stuff. Mee Shell is a recent graduate from Paris and is doing a spot of travelling before returning to Singapore to work for a (short) spell. She, along with Xinying, maintains a "Top 5 Cities with Hot Guys" list but hopes to eventually work long term in New York, London, Paris or Tokyo. Unfortunately, Mee Shell was struck with an eye infection for the duration of our meeting and largely confined herself to her room, but she did take an opportunity to demonstrate her skill (*cough*luck*ahem*) at Chor Dai Di. Xinying, an almost-graduate from Beijing in International Relations, is also travelling in order to avoid studying for her exams and will return to Singapore to work as a crime reporter for a chinese newspaper(Latest! - Today, there were 4 wads of chewing gum on Orchard Road!). Xinying has a penchant for wearing pink bunny ears and taking care of Mee Shell by trying her hand at cooking various new dishes like Minimized Water Mushroom Soup. Both girls were very fun and would be highly tolerant of attempts at humourous write-ups about themselves due to their excellent sense of humor. =)
Deric had recently moved into his apartment and things were still rather disorganized but we were extremely grateful for a few things aside from Deric himself. There was a proper, high-water pressure, customizable temperate shower (Yes!!), comfortable sofa-beds, (zzzz), a computer to go online on (Hello world!), a washing machine, and a kitchen! The kitchen let us cook yummy, nutritous and cheap meals for ourselves and others.
However, right then, bright and early in the mornong with an uncomfortable train ride just past, we were still feeling a bit out of place and unfamiliar with things. After washing up, we proceeded to head out into the city of Moscow. We went to visit the famous St. Basil's Cathedral and the State Museum. The cathedral (looks like a colorful frosted cake) was not quite as enjoyable as the ones in St.Petersburg, such as the Church Of The Spilled Blood. But still, being in such an old church, filled with history and tradition (except for the souvenier stands) remained a good experience. After the museum, our legs were quite tired, so back we went. We visited the supermarket first to grab a lunch/dinner and we had a good meal of cream sauce pasta+dumplings by Andrew and Luke. I washed. Later that night, the whole group of us, that is, Deric, Mee Shell, Xinying, Anya and Steve (another couple visiting Deric), Andrew, Luke and myself, went out for dinner. We went to a nice place called Bilingua Cafe, where the menu was in Russia and one or two other random languages, including German and Mandarin! We left in search of another place, but we decided the entry cost was too high and so headed home.a,l and myself walked to the metro while everyone else took the car.
However, misfortune struck on the way back to the metro station. A police patrol car stopped us and checked out our documentation. When he found that we only had photocopies of our passports, he beckoned us to get in the car to go to the police station! I quickly called Deric, who talked to the officer and then to l. After some time, the cop decided to let us go since we appeared to be more trouble than we were worth and unlikely to pay him a bribe. Thank God for Deric and that we didn't have any more trouble than we did.
After a good night's sleep and waking up with everyone over coffee and breakfast, we headed out again. This time, we set out for the "izmaylovo", an extremely large marketplace filled with vendors selling all sorts of antiques, photos, souveniers, trinkets, and old cameras. The whole market was decorated like a fantasy Disney magical city, with blue spires towering above and wooden structures everywhere. The market was bustling with all sorts of people walking around and looking at the various goodies in the wooden shops. The number of wooly hats, ancient pre-WW1 postcards, old view cameras and little dolls was quite overwhelming. We eventually left the market and grabbed some food at the stalls just outside the market gates. There was several pastries but the best was a large piece of bread with a partially cooked, runny egg mixed with cheese in the center. Of course, the price was right. Lunch was washed down with a cup of cold kvas, fermented rye bread water. It looked like light soy sauce and tasted a little like beer, but it was extremely refreshing. Andrew said that it tasted like soy sauce. Hmmm. Oh well.
We headed back early (as usual) because we had decided earlier on to have a big homecooked dinner! We dug through Deric's yet-to-be organized kitched and discovered a packet of curry paste among the maze of items. Once again, we visited our favorite destination in Moscow, the nearby supermarket, and we were soon at work. With some additions by Xinying, we soon sat down to a excellent dinner consisting of chicken masaman curry, sweet and sour chicken, tom yam cauliflower soup, with wine and beer. Present at the table were Deric, Mee Shell, Xinying, Alex (a friend), Andrew, Luke and myself. We had a merry time explaining to Alex (a Moscovite) how everything we did was somehow Asian. Andrew, Luke and myself were happily attacking the wonderful treat of Asian food as we chatted over dinner. To finish up our long dinner, we had soft cookies and plenty of ice cream all around. I slept very well that night. =)
The next day, we headed back to the city centre for the essential Kremlin visit. Unfortunately the ticketing lady was quite strict and didn't allow me to get the student price due to my expired ISIC card. Fortunately, Xinying had come along with us and used her ISIC to get us another student ticket.
The Kremlin was a series of churches/museums surrounded by walls. There were large numbers of security guards all around and they would blow their whistles at poor unsuspecting tourists stepping out onto the road or the grass. We were joking about snipers being positioned on the buildings, ready to 'disable' the more hapless individuals. Hmm. Aside from the beautiful churches and museums, we managed to catch a fancy military drill in the square in the centre of the Kremlin. Troops, cavalry, marching band, oh my! Our two military men were impressed. The drill was quite long and fancy and continually accompanied by appropriately military music. Another item of interest was a massive but broken 200+ ton bell. It was broken in the foundry while it was cooling because it had come into contact with water. You'd think that when one was trying to make the biggest bell ever, one would take additional precautions against that sort of thing. However, the bell is now proudly displayed as an example of a grand but failed attempt. Hmmm.
That night, we watched Naruto, played chor dai di and talked about politics and international relations, a favorite topic of Deric. =)
Monday began late as usual. Another guest had arrived : Caitlin (sp?) from Canada! Mee Shell and Xinying departed for the airport, headed to Paris and Beijing respectively. We were headed to a far more domestic location : the banya. A banya is a Russian public bath and is an integral part of Russian culture. When we got there, we were ushered into a changing room; rather, a stripping room, for bathers usually enter the bath naked. There was a shower room with all sorts of various baths and showers, including a pool, bathtubs, a cage-like shower that surrounded you, and a bucket mounted on the wall. Pull the chain, and a flood of cold water instantly refreshes you. =) But the place where all the action happens is the steam room. The steam room is large room that has a wooden platform raised well above the ground to allow bathers to 'enjoy' the hottest air at the top of the room. A corner of the room is occupied by a boiler. When someone is of the opinion that the room isn't hot enough, additional water will be thrown into the furnace, steaming up the room. Generally, someone is frequently of the opinion that is room isn't hot enough. However, my opinion was that it was hot. Very hot. Always. Another aspect of the banya are the branches. Bathers would bring branches and flay themselves and each other in order to further coax out toxins which apparently are suuficiently stubborn to resist the suffocatingly hot steam room.
And so, there we were, sweltering on the wooden benches as naked middle-aged men hit each other with branches and leaves. Every 5 minutes or so, when it became to much to bear, we would go out to the shower room and dunk ourselves in the cold pool/take a cold shower/pull the chain on the cold water bucket. Ahhhhh.... All in all, quite relaxing, really. =)
With this authentic, relaxing and throughly Russian experience complete, we headed back to await Deric to bring us out once again. The five of us (Deric, Caitlin, a, l, and myself) piled in the car and headed to a Vietnamese market. When I stepped through the door, I felt as if I had been transported back to Asia. There were rows and rows of shops selling clothing and other bric-brac in exactly the same fashion as a cheap shopping center back home. Even the air smelt the same : like new cloth and fabric packed into one place. We headed upstairs to a Vietnamese retaurant where we ordered with some difficulty despite Deric's Russian since the Vietnamese boss wasn't fluent in Russian. Soon, we were enjoying beef/chicken/fish pho and fried shrimp. Excellent. It was so good that we even ordered another bowl to share. =)
Our stomachs stuffed with pho, we went to Moscow State University. We parked at the top of a valley and had a grand view of the city of Moscow, the same vantage point from which [some great ruler] viewed the city before going down to conquer it. We headed down the long slope towards the river. This slope is famous for skiing during the winter and a huge ski jump had been built. The start of the slope extended 20m above the top if the hill and about halfway down, there is a jump ramp. Beats Foss Hill anytime. There was a operator running ride on one of those human-sized clear balls at the botton of the hill pushing people down a little slope. We agreed that rolling down the ski jump would be a lot more fun. But insurance would probably be too expensive. On our way down, we met four Malaysian students studying at the Mowcow Medical Academy. They were friendy enough and we talked with them for a while. They were just finishing their first yearand were quite happy with things in Moscow. There were apparently 700 students at the MMA and alomost all of them were Malaysians. How odd. So, if you want to study medicine in Moscow with 650 other Malaysians, it'll only cost you RM200,000 and some cold winters.
After walking for a bit along the riverbank, we climbed back up the slope to the car and drove around Moscow State University. The main building was amazingly magnificent. Tall and wide, crowned by a red star on a spire, the main tower contained classrooms and offices. The wings on the side were apparently dormitories. I think that was the most beautiful and awe-inspiring university building I've ever seen. We spent some time taking photos before heading off to the monastery.
We spent a cold hour walking outside the wall of the monastery, waiting for the lights to come on. We discovered a sculpture of ducklings following a mother presented to "the children of Russia by the children of America" by Barbera Bush beside the path. There was a reflecting pool just before the walls and the monastery was reflected in its waters. When the lights finally came on, the towers and domes were wonderfully lit and even the ducks on the pond appeared to pose for a photograph. There was someone using a view camera (medium format?) taking a photo of the pond and the monastery. I was standing behind her when taking photos, so don't be surprised if you see something that looks like my photo appear somewhere. =) After that, Deric took us to see some bridges (more nice photos) and then we headed back to the apartment where we had a beer-tasting party.
There is a line of beers in Russia called "Baltika" and they produce beers numbered zero to nine, i.e. Baltika 0 and Baltika 7. They include lager beers, dark beers, unfiltered beers, extra high alcohol content beer (16%) and a beer with no alcohol! And so that evening we filled in our gaps in our Baltika lore before turning in.
Finally, our last day in Moscow dawned. A whole crowd of people arrived at Deric's place in the morning, bringing the total number of people to 8. We headed to the supermarket cooked up a farewell pasta lunch for everyone (supplemented by Deric's wine) before packing up and heading out.
We spent a total of five days in the capital of Russia. Being hosted by Deric was really great and comfortable! We got to sleep on nice, comfortable couches and cook yummy foods and enjoy Deric's company as well as the company of all the other guests that passed through his place while we were there. Thanks so much Deric!! Also, it was quite fun to meet the two crazy Singaporean girls, Mee Shell and Xinying at Moscow. Somehow they were always home when we got back. =) Good to meet you two! Moscow was great, especially the more unusual sights that Deric brought us to see, but St. Petersburg was more tourist friendly. We had a very relaxed time at Moscow, going out to see one or two sights a day and spending the rest of the time enjoying Deric's hospitality. =) But it's over all too soon, and we're off!
Next Stop : Kazan!
-ky
Some distance out of Velikiy Novgorod on our overnight trains, I once again stayed awake a little later than the others and was treated to a beautiful sight. The train passed over a bridge and I saw a village nestled in the valley. The village was built on the slopes leading down into the river that had cut out the valley, and dim lights were twinkling out of the windows, cutting into the twilight darkness.
Finally we arrived at the capital of Russia, the famous city of Moscow. On the way in, I spotted a amazingly tall tower on the outskirts of the city. I later learned that it was a television tower, but it looked eerily like the Combine tower in Half-Life 2 in the cold early morning light. We arrived at 530am and quickly made our way to our host's house, where we were greeted with chatter and Singlish (Singapore English) accents.
We had arrived at the home of Deric, an avid Couchsurfing user/host and a four year resident of Moscow. He works at the Philippino Embassy as a diplomat and very frequently hosts travellers. In fact, I later found out, last summer, he had someone at his place every night without gaps! The Singlish was provided by two guests that had arrived just a minute before we had : Mee Shell and XinYing, both Singaporeans that had just come in on the sleeper from St.Petersburg. They had stayed with Deric previously and were quickly catching up and chatting away happily while the three of us sat around with very blur looks on our faces.
We soon warmed up to each other's company over a cup of coffee and were quickly acquainted with the concept of "Couchsurfing Social Networking" , i.e. online stalking (keke). A favorite activity of Deric, Mee Shell and Xinying, they started to encourage us to join them. =) We were to have the pleasure of the company of the two girls for the next few days as well as enjoy the amazing hospitality of Deric for the rest of our stay.
Deric is a well-travelled Filipino. He knows many languages, has worked in Japan as a reporter and is currently a diplomat at the Phillipino embassy, Deric enjoys having guests at his place and is an blessing as a host to all who pass through his doors. Misha the cat is Deric's faithful housemate. Unlike most cats, Misha is quite attention-seeking and follows people around the house. Misha provides continous comfort and entertainment but represents the ever-present threat of peeing on your stuff. Mee Shell is a recent graduate from Paris and is doing a spot of travelling before returning to Singapore to work for a (short) spell. She, along with Xinying, maintains a "Top 5 Cities with Hot Guys" list but hopes to eventually work long term in New York, London, Paris or Tokyo. Unfortunately, Mee Shell was struck with an eye infection for the duration of our meeting and largely confined herself to her room, but she did take an opportunity to demonstrate her skill (*cough*luck*ahem*) at Chor Dai Di. Xinying, an almost-graduate from Beijing in International Relations, is also travelling in order to avoid studying for her exams and will return to Singapore to work as a crime reporter for a chinese newspaper(Latest! - Today, there were 4 wads of chewing gum on Orchard Road!). Xinying has a penchant for wearing pink bunny ears and taking care of Mee Shell by trying her hand at cooking various new dishes like Minimized Water Mushroom Soup. Both girls were very fun and would be highly tolerant of attempts at humourous write-ups about themselves due to their excellent sense of humor. =)
Deric had recently moved into his apartment and things were still rather disorganized but we were extremely grateful for a few things aside from Deric himself. There was a proper, high-water pressure, customizable temperate shower (Yes!!), comfortable sofa-beds, (zzzz), a computer to go online on (Hello world!), a washing machine, and a kitchen! The kitchen let us cook yummy, nutritous and cheap meals for ourselves and others.
However, right then, bright and early in the mornong with an uncomfortable train ride just past, we were still feeling a bit out of place and unfamiliar with things. After washing up, we proceeded to head out into the city of Moscow. We went to visit the famous St. Basil's Cathedral and the State Museum. The cathedral (looks like a colorful frosted cake) was not quite as enjoyable as the ones in St.Petersburg, such as the Church Of The Spilled Blood. But still, being in such an old church, filled with history and tradition (except for the souvenier stands) remained a good experience. After the museum, our legs were quite tired, so back we went. We visited the supermarket first to grab a lunch/dinner and we had a good meal of cream sauce pasta+dumplings by Andrew and Luke. I washed. Later that night, the whole group of us, that is, Deric, Mee Shell, Xinying, Anya and Steve (another couple visiting Deric), Andrew, Luke and myself, went out for dinner. We went to a nice place called Bilingua Cafe, where the menu was in Russia and one or two other random languages, including German and Mandarin! We left in search of another place, but we decided the entry cost was too high and so headed home.a,l and myself walked to the metro while everyone else took the car.
However, misfortune struck on the way back to the metro station. A police patrol car stopped us and checked out our documentation. When he found that we only had photocopies of our passports, he beckoned us to get in the car to go to the police station! I quickly called Deric, who talked to the officer and then to l. After some time, the cop decided to let us go since we appeared to be more trouble than we were worth and unlikely to pay him a bribe. Thank God for Deric and that we didn't have any more trouble than we did.
After a good night's sleep and waking up with everyone over coffee and breakfast, we headed out again. This time, we set out for the "izmaylovo", an extremely large marketplace filled with vendors selling all sorts of antiques, photos, souveniers, trinkets, and old cameras. The whole market was decorated like a fantasy Disney magical city, with blue spires towering above and wooden structures everywhere. The market was bustling with all sorts of people walking around and looking at the various goodies in the wooden shops. The number of wooly hats, ancient pre-WW1 postcards, old view cameras and little dolls was quite overwhelming. We eventually left the market and grabbed some food at the stalls just outside the market gates. There was several pastries but the best was a large piece of bread with a partially cooked, runny egg mixed with cheese in the center. Of course, the price was right. Lunch was washed down with a cup of cold kvas, fermented rye bread water. It looked like light soy sauce and tasted a little like beer, but it was extremely refreshing. Andrew said that it tasted like soy sauce. Hmmm. Oh well.
We headed back early (as usual) because we had decided earlier on to have a big homecooked dinner! We dug through Deric's yet-to-be organized kitched and discovered a packet of curry paste among the maze of items. Once again, we visited our favorite destination in Moscow, the nearby supermarket, and we were soon at work. With some additions by Xinying, we soon sat down to a excellent dinner consisting of chicken masaman curry, sweet and sour chicken, tom yam cauliflower soup, with wine and beer. Present at the table were Deric, Mee Shell, Xinying, Alex (a friend), Andrew, Luke and myself. We had a merry time explaining to Alex (a Moscovite) how everything we did was somehow Asian. Andrew, Luke and myself were happily attacking the wonderful treat of Asian food as we chatted over dinner. To finish up our long dinner, we had soft cookies and plenty of ice cream all around. I slept very well that night. =)
The next day, we headed back to the city centre for the essential Kremlin visit. Unfortunately the ticketing lady was quite strict and didn't allow me to get the student price due to my expired ISIC card. Fortunately, Xinying had come along with us and used her ISIC to get us another student ticket.
The Kremlin was a series of churches/museums surrounded by walls. There were large numbers of security guards all around and they would blow their whistles at poor unsuspecting tourists stepping out onto the road or the grass. We were joking about snipers being positioned on the buildings, ready to 'disable' the more hapless individuals. Hmm. Aside from the beautiful churches and museums, we managed to catch a fancy military drill in the square in the centre of the Kremlin. Troops, cavalry, marching band, oh my! Our two military men were impressed. The drill was quite long and fancy and continually accompanied by appropriately military music. Another item of interest was a massive but broken 200+ ton bell. It was broken in the foundry while it was cooling because it had come into contact with water. You'd think that when one was trying to make the biggest bell ever, one would take additional precautions against that sort of thing. However, the bell is now proudly displayed as an example of a grand but failed attempt. Hmmm.
That night, we watched Naruto, played chor dai di and talked about politics and international relations, a favorite topic of Deric. =)
Monday began late as usual. Another guest had arrived : Caitlin (sp?) from Canada! Mee Shell and Xinying departed for the airport, headed to Paris and Beijing respectively. We were headed to a far more domestic location : the banya. A banya is a Russian public bath and is an integral part of Russian culture. When we got there, we were ushered into a changing room; rather, a stripping room, for bathers usually enter the bath naked. There was a shower room with all sorts of various baths and showers, including a pool, bathtubs, a cage-like shower that surrounded you, and a bucket mounted on the wall. Pull the chain, and a flood of cold water instantly refreshes you. =) But the place where all the action happens is the steam room. The steam room is large room that has a wooden platform raised well above the ground to allow bathers to 'enjoy' the hottest air at the top of the room. A corner of the room is occupied by a boiler. When someone is of the opinion that the room isn't hot enough, additional water will be thrown into the furnace, steaming up the room. Generally, someone is frequently of the opinion that is room isn't hot enough. However, my opinion was that it was hot. Very hot. Always. Another aspect of the banya are the branches. Bathers would bring branches and flay themselves and each other in order to further coax out toxins which apparently are suuficiently stubborn to resist the suffocatingly hot steam room.
And so, there we were, sweltering on the wooden benches as naked middle-aged men hit each other with branches and leaves. Every 5 minutes or so, when it became to much to bear, we would go out to the shower room and dunk ourselves in the cold pool/take a cold shower/pull the chain on the cold water bucket. Ahhhhh.... All in all, quite relaxing, really. =)
With this authentic, relaxing and throughly Russian experience complete, we headed back to await Deric to bring us out once again. The five of us (Deric, Caitlin, a, l, and myself) piled in the car and headed to a Vietnamese market. When I stepped through the door, I felt as if I had been transported back to Asia. There were rows and rows of shops selling clothing and other bric-brac in exactly the same fashion as a cheap shopping center back home. Even the air smelt the same : like new cloth and fabric packed into one place. We headed upstairs to a Vietnamese retaurant where we ordered with some difficulty despite Deric's Russian since the Vietnamese boss wasn't fluent in Russian. Soon, we were enjoying beef/chicken/fish pho and fried shrimp. Excellent. It was so good that we even ordered another bowl to share. =)
Our stomachs stuffed with pho, we went to Moscow State University. We parked at the top of a valley and had a grand view of the city of Moscow, the same vantage point from which [some great ruler] viewed the city before going down to conquer it. We headed down the long slope towards the river. This slope is famous for skiing during the winter and a huge ski jump had been built. The start of the slope extended 20m above the top if the hill and about halfway down, there is a jump ramp. Beats Foss Hill anytime. There was a operator running ride on one of those human-sized clear balls at the botton of the hill pushing people down a little slope. We agreed that rolling down the ski jump would be a lot more fun. But insurance would probably be too expensive. On our way down, we met four Malaysian students studying at the Mowcow Medical Academy. They were friendy enough and we talked with them for a while. They were just finishing their first yearand were quite happy with things in Moscow. There were apparently 700 students at the MMA and alomost all of them were Malaysians. How odd. So, if you want to study medicine in Moscow with 650 other Malaysians, it'll only cost you RM200,000 and some cold winters.
After walking for a bit along the riverbank, we climbed back up the slope to the car and drove around Moscow State University. The main building was amazingly magnificent. Tall and wide, crowned by a red star on a spire, the main tower contained classrooms and offices. The wings on the side were apparently dormitories. I think that was the most beautiful and awe-inspiring university building I've ever seen. We spent some time taking photos before heading off to the monastery.
We spent a cold hour walking outside the wall of the monastery, waiting for the lights to come on. We discovered a sculpture of ducklings following a mother presented to "the children of Russia by the children of America" by Barbera Bush beside the path. There was a reflecting pool just before the walls and the monastery was reflected in its waters. When the lights finally came on, the towers and domes were wonderfully lit and even the ducks on the pond appeared to pose for a photograph. There was someone using a view camera (medium format?) taking a photo of the pond and the monastery. I was standing behind her when taking photos, so don't be surprised if you see something that looks like my photo appear somewhere. =) After that, Deric took us to see some bridges (more nice photos) and then we headed back to the apartment where we had a beer-tasting party.
There is a line of beers in Russia called "Baltika" and they produce beers numbered zero to nine, i.e. Baltika 0 and Baltika 7. They include lager beers, dark beers, unfiltered beers, extra high alcohol content beer (16%) and a beer with no alcohol! And so that evening we filled in our gaps in our Baltika lore before turning in.
Finally, our last day in Moscow dawned. A whole crowd of people arrived at Deric's place in the morning, bringing the total number of people to 8. We headed to the supermarket cooked up a farewell pasta lunch for everyone (supplemented by Deric's wine) before packing up and heading out.
We spent a total of five days in the capital of Russia. Being hosted by Deric was really great and comfortable! We got to sleep on nice, comfortable couches and cook yummy foods and enjoy Deric's company as well as the company of all the other guests that passed through his place while we were there. Thanks so much Deric!! Also, it was quite fun to meet the two crazy Singaporean girls, Mee Shell and Xinying at Moscow. Somehow they were always home when we got back. =) Good to meet you two! Moscow was great, especially the more unusual sights that Deric brought us to see, but St. Petersburg was more tourist friendly. We had a very relaxed time at Moscow, going out to see one or two sights a day and spending the rest of the time enjoying Deric's hospitality. =) But it's over all too soon, and we're off!
Next Stop : Kazan!
-ky
moscow to gorky
the train has just started lumbering off and i'm seated with k on a bottom bunk. we share a cabin of sorts, as platskartny is 3rd class and there aren't any isolated cabins. moscow has been a great experience for me, dinner/lunch with beer and wine, pasta or curry - not a very budget type of living eh?
deric, our host and filipino diplomat, has been extremely hospitable friendly and engaging. i've yet to meet someone quite as generous as him, for he opens his house and heart to those who step into his house. I don't quite understand how one is able to be so trusting - it's not naivety, it's that self-belief in the basic good of man that I find hard to grasp. yes I do believe, but at the same time, perhaps my ingrained asian reflex kicks in and I get a little paranoid.
just yesterday (11/6), after a most interesting experience in the banya (self flagellation with birch branches, near self immolation and an extremely low heart rate), we went to a vietnamese market with deric and kirsten, a canadian soon-to-be environmentalist.
it's a strange sight. on entering a carpark surrounded with rust brown/red warehouses, you see no sign of life nor any vietnamese words. enter a door, and it's like the matrix (well not quite, but, yeah. anyhow...). stores selling clothes, fabric, shoes, manned by asian people, smelling just like asia. unreal. and walk into the wet-ish market and you see catfish poking their moustached mouths to the water surface for air. pigs cut up into all shapes and sizes, kangkong (a type of watercress I think), instant noodles, fresh eggs etc. well I think they are, since they're covered with a thin veneer of shit.
beef pho, thick robust oily vietnamese coffee, fried prawns, another bowl of pho with prawn and i'm stuffed. we head to the ski slopes, and walk down to the river where we meet 4 out of 700 malaysian students studying medicine in moscow. and that's just 1 uni. the last time I walked on whitish gravel close to the river, was at mystic sea port. man... the company at that dinner will be missed.
we headed back up to see the INCREDIBLY HUGE Moscow State University, where a pipe is built in winter for snowboarding stunts. this university is really big. it's a single building and I think it takes a good 10 mins to walk from 1 end to the other. apparently the roads there are straight, and organising drag races are a convenient wink and nudge away (to the police, that is). we stopped and happily shot pictures like typical tourists, and headed to a monastery (whose name I forgot) where the Regent Sofia was banished there and her advisors were hung in front of her window to remind her that rebellion was not an option. talk about tree decorations. we waited for the lights to turn on before heading to a bridge opposite (kiev?) vokzhal. apparently a chechen warlord stayed close to that area before he got assasinated.
we were all feeling thirsty (weak excuse) but we headed back, where we had baltika number 5,6,7,8, tuborg and some other beers. the bad thing is, I can't really remember how the 1st beer tastes in comparison to the 2nd, and so I would wish for more beer. (yet another feeble excuse. and I don't want hear about using more cups to contain each individual beer). my pregnant cravings for hot doughy sweet things emerged, and there I was trying my best to make a pancake of sorts with no egg, no milk, no baking powder, but just flour sugar and water. the taste came close, but it felt more like flatbread. but I am a simple man, so I was happy then.
k's attempt at candid photography just got rejected vehemently by another passenger. the old lady sitting opposite us gently and sympathetically refuses to be photographed. so nice of her, that cute old lady. I drew a map to show her where singapore and malaysia were in relation to vietnam and russia.
as the powerlines undulate and run together with the train, I can't help but feel that moscow was a bittersweet experience, of Puffy, of creature comforts, of generosity and a slow but steady adaptation to the city. we're now headed to nizhny novgorod, formerly called gorky, and k remarked that dinner of bread nutella and bananas, as opposed to hot pasta and dumplings is going to be a disaster. oh well, one can't be sitting in 1 position for too long, if not bed sores develop, no?
-l
deric, our host and filipino diplomat, has been extremely hospitable friendly and engaging. i've yet to meet someone quite as generous as him, for he opens his house and heart to those who step into his house. I don't quite understand how one is able to be so trusting - it's not naivety, it's that self-belief in the basic good of man that I find hard to grasp. yes I do believe, but at the same time, perhaps my ingrained asian reflex kicks in and I get a little paranoid.
just yesterday (11/6), after a most interesting experience in the banya (self flagellation with birch branches, near self immolation and an extremely low heart rate), we went to a vietnamese market with deric and kirsten, a canadian soon-to-be environmentalist.
it's a strange sight. on entering a carpark surrounded with rust brown/red warehouses, you see no sign of life nor any vietnamese words. enter a door, and it's like the matrix (well not quite, but, yeah. anyhow...). stores selling clothes, fabric, shoes, manned by asian people, smelling just like asia. unreal. and walk into the wet-ish market and you see catfish poking their moustached mouths to the water surface for air. pigs cut up into all shapes and sizes, kangkong (a type of watercress I think), instant noodles, fresh eggs etc. well I think they are, since they're covered with a thin veneer of shit.
beef pho, thick robust oily vietnamese coffee, fried prawns, another bowl of pho with prawn and i'm stuffed. we head to the ski slopes, and walk down to the river where we meet 4 out of 700 malaysian students studying medicine in moscow. and that's just 1 uni. the last time I walked on whitish gravel close to the river, was at mystic sea port. man... the company at that dinner will be missed.
we headed back up to see the INCREDIBLY HUGE Moscow State University, where a pipe is built in winter for snowboarding stunts. this university is really big. it's a single building and I think it takes a good 10 mins to walk from 1 end to the other. apparently the roads there are straight, and organising drag races are a convenient wink and nudge away (to the police, that is). we stopped and happily shot pictures like typical tourists, and headed to a monastery (whose name I forgot) where the Regent Sofia was banished there and her advisors were hung in front of her window to remind her that rebellion was not an option. talk about tree decorations. we waited for the lights to turn on before heading to a bridge opposite (kiev?) vokzhal. apparently a chechen warlord stayed close to that area before he got assasinated.
we were all feeling thirsty (weak excuse) but we headed back, where we had baltika number 5,6,7,8, tuborg and some other beers. the bad thing is, I can't really remember how the 1st beer tastes in comparison to the 2nd, and so I would wish for more beer. (yet another feeble excuse. and I don't want hear about using more cups to contain each individual beer). my pregnant cravings for hot doughy sweet things emerged, and there I was trying my best to make a pancake of sorts with no egg, no milk, no baking powder, but just flour sugar and water. the taste came close, but it felt more like flatbread. but I am a simple man, so I was happy then.
k's attempt at candid photography just got rejected vehemently by another passenger. the old lady sitting opposite us gently and sympathetically refuses to be photographed. so nice of her, that cute old lady. I drew a map to show her where singapore and malaysia were in relation to vietnam and russia.
as the powerlines undulate and run together with the train, I can't help but feel that moscow was a bittersweet experience, of Puffy, of creature comforts, of generosity and a slow but steady adaptation to the city. we're now headed to nizhny novgorod, formerly called gorky, and k remarked that dinner of bread nutella and bananas, as opposed to hot pasta and dumplings is going to be a disaster. oh well, one can't be sitting in 1 position for too long, if not bed sores develop, no?
-l
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Velikiy Novgorod
Velikiy Novgorod is known as "The Great Novgorod" and is credited with being the city where Russia originated. It's a small-ish town with a 'earth wall' running across one side of it and a river flowing through it. It's a very historical city and is beautifully maintained for tourism.
When we arrived, it was already 9pm, but still quite bright out. We hadn't made any reservations and started wandering around the city looking for hostels. Unfortunately, all the ones we went to were filled or extremely expensive. We wandered around a bit more and saw two other people also carrying backpacks, looking as lost as we were.
It turns out that they were in search of a hostel as well. Fiona (from Australia) and Masa (from Japan) had arrived on the same train as us and had intended to stay a night and look around the next day before returning to St. Petersburg. Fortunately, some SMSes later, our contact in Velikiy Novgorod, Ulyana, discovered us (we weren't sure where we were) and took us to a hostel where she had in fact already booked a room for us!
After some negotiations and confusion over pricing owing to the fact that none of us spoke both Russian and English well, we managed to get space for 5 people even though the reservation was only for 3. Thus we all settled down around the coffee table and pulled out our assorted food for a impromptu dinner. We had bread, assorted canned fish, tomato sauce, hard-boiled eggs, and coffee. Masa began pulling out the oddest items from his moderately sized bag : a set of metal food containers, a one cup electric kettle that boiled water in 30 seconds, a bag of 10 Star Wars novels, a pair of chopsticks and a coffee filter! And thus : coffee for everyone.
We got to talking and found out that Fiona was a 23 year old Australian from Darwin who had been away from home for the past four years. She had lived for a year in London and for several months in Ireland ... and had been travelling for the rest of the time. Wow. Masa had worked for three years in Japan and decided that he would travel around the world. He showed us his Japanese Airlines ticket which had the largest number of cities I had ever seen on a plane ticket. The multipaged ticket listed around 15+ cities around the world! That was one crazy ticket.
Soon Luke went to shower and prompty discovered the uniqueness of our room's shower. The heater had no adjustment knob and was permanently set on "dangerously scalding water of pain". He resorted to using a glass to collect cold water from the sink to wash up. Through some trial and error, we discovered that through turning the water on and off and other knob turning shenigans, it was possible to get about 5 seconds of warm water. Thus for the next three days, we all had really weird showers that took very, very long.
The next day, we set out to visit the kremlin here. However, we first stopped at the local Tourism Information Office. The office was housed in a little red log cabin and was called the Red Izba. Inside, we met a very helpful person, Ekaterina. She spoke English and helped us with our visa registration, information about things to do and etc. We visited the Red Izba many times in our time in Velikiy Novgorod.
We spent the day walking around the town center kremlin, which had been turned into a historical complex. The construction of the kremlin reminded me of medieval fortresses, with large walls surround the central area and towers set along the wall. We enjoyed the view of the city and the river from one of the towers along the wall...it was quite beautiful. The whole place felt like a classic European village that got stuck in time.
After admiring the buildings and the architecture in the kremlin, we visited the library (also in the Kremlin) in search for an internet cafe and got ushered to the Americas Centre where we discovered Ulyana! Ulyana worked there as the director of the Americas Centre. We also met Tanya, an English teacher in a local school. She was quite effusive and insisted on us writing a little about ourselves so that she could publish it in her school newspaper. After chatting with them for a little while, we left to continue looking around the city.
We exited the Kremlin area on the other side and found ourselves looking on a beautiful summer scene. A long footbridge stretched across the river and there were holidaygoers enjoying themselves on the beach. We walked around the city a little more before going in search of food.
We found a cafeteria-like place where they sold food "chap fan" style, with assorted dishes presented in metal trays with prices per kg stuck on them. I couldn't identify everything but there were potatoes, some vegetables, beet root, fish and chicken, mixed in different ways and in various creams and sauces. There was meat wrapped in cabbage and fried chicken patties and salmon slices. Some pointing and waving later, we all had trays of relatively cheap food. However, the cheapest food was still to be found in the supermarkets, where we would once again purchase bread, fish, bananas and yogurt to make up a meal.
The next day, we caught a bus (number 7) that took us 25 minutes out of town to visit a local monastery. It was very quiet and peaceful. We visited the church, rested for a while, and checked out the river. But there wasn't anything particularly interesting there, so we were soon on our way back to town. More wandering around town occured as the sun poured down. We sat down next to the river where I wrote this little scene :
I'm sitting on the raised bank of the Volkhov River, behind the Kremlin. The river flows through the city and is divided into two by a forested island rising from the middle of the waters. The sidewalk behind me bustles with people and on my right, the wide, paved footbridge extends across the broad river. Lovers lean on the railings, watching the crowds stroll across the paved road of the bridge. Along the near bank, families and friends sunbathe under the glowing late afternoon sun. Summer revelers walk down the stone steps pale and walk back up with their skin tinged with a red glow. The grassy slopes are dotted with blankets and the tanning backs of their owners, catching the warm summer glow. In the shadow of the bridge, a few fishermen try their luck in the rust red waters of the Volkhov. Distant happy cries and splashes waft over the river from the beach on the far bank, arrayed with sun umbrellas and volleyball nets. More sunning people are stretched out on the beach as children run into the water, hand-in-hand. The sunbathers are occasionally interrupted by a spray of sand from a loose volleyball. The swimmers are splashed by the wake of slowly passing motorboats travelling up the river. The glint of the sun off the domes of the cathedrals partly hidden by the trees complete the idyllic scene of the Volkhov River in summertime.
Finally, on the day of our departure, we met Tanya again and we talked with her about Russia. She told us a lot of things about living conditions and life on Russia in general. I was especially interested in her view of the education system since she was a English teacher.
After a very enlightening conversation over lunch, she left and we stayed, chilling until it was time for our train. So, we chilled. For four hours. Then we moved to another cafe and ordered a pot of tea each. And chatted and read and watched people. For another three hours.
Thus we accomplished seven full hours of cafe chilling in the historical city of Velikiy Novgorod. =) Velikiy Novgorod was nice but I guess we spent a little too much time here. It was definitely beautiful and enjoyable. It was my first truly memorable glimpse into the concept of an actual, European-ish, historical small walled town (the kremlin) that still exists in its original design. Thus we left the origin of Russia and headed towards its capital.
Next stop : Moscow!
-ky
When we arrived, it was already 9pm, but still quite bright out. We hadn't made any reservations and started wandering around the city looking for hostels. Unfortunately, all the ones we went to were filled or extremely expensive. We wandered around a bit more and saw two other people also carrying backpacks, looking as lost as we were.
It turns out that they were in search of a hostel as well. Fiona (from Australia) and Masa (from Japan) had arrived on the same train as us and had intended to stay a night and look around the next day before returning to St. Petersburg. Fortunately, some SMSes later, our contact in Velikiy Novgorod, Ulyana, discovered us (we weren't sure where we were) and took us to a hostel where she had in fact already booked a room for us!
After some negotiations and confusion over pricing owing to the fact that none of us spoke both Russian and English well, we managed to get space for 5 people even though the reservation was only for 3. Thus we all settled down around the coffee table and pulled out our assorted food for a impromptu dinner. We had bread, assorted canned fish, tomato sauce, hard-boiled eggs, and coffee. Masa began pulling out the oddest items from his moderately sized bag : a set of metal food containers, a one cup electric kettle that boiled water in 30 seconds, a bag of 10 Star Wars novels, a pair of chopsticks and a coffee filter! And thus : coffee for everyone.
We got to talking and found out that Fiona was a 23 year old Australian from Darwin who had been away from home for the past four years. She had lived for a year in London and for several months in Ireland ... and had been travelling for the rest of the time. Wow. Masa had worked for three years in Japan and decided that he would travel around the world. He showed us his Japanese Airlines ticket which had the largest number of cities I had ever seen on a plane ticket. The multipaged ticket listed around 15+ cities around the world! That was one crazy ticket.
Soon Luke went to shower and prompty discovered the uniqueness of our room's shower. The heater had no adjustment knob and was permanently set on "dangerously scalding water of pain". He resorted to using a glass to collect cold water from the sink to wash up. Through some trial and error, we discovered that through turning the water on and off and other knob turning shenigans, it was possible to get about 5 seconds of warm water. Thus for the next three days, we all had really weird showers that took very, very long.
The next day, we set out to visit the kremlin here. However, we first stopped at the local Tourism Information Office. The office was housed in a little red log cabin and was called the Red Izba. Inside, we met a very helpful person, Ekaterina. She spoke English and helped us with our visa registration, information about things to do and etc. We visited the Red Izba many times in our time in Velikiy Novgorod.
We spent the day walking around the town center kremlin, which had been turned into a historical complex. The construction of the kremlin reminded me of medieval fortresses, with large walls surround the central area and towers set along the wall. We enjoyed the view of the city and the river from one of the towers along the wall...it was quite beautiful. The whole place felt like a classic European village that got stuck in time.
After admiring the buildings and the architecture in the kremlin, we visited the library (also in the Kremlin) in search for an internet cafe and got ushered to the Americas Centre where we discovered Ulyana! Ulyana worked there as the director of the Americas Centre. We also met Tanya, an English teacher in a local school. She was quite effusive and insisted on us writing a little about ourselves so that she could publish it in her school newspaper. After chatting with them for a little while, we left to continue looking around the city.
We exited the Kremlin area on the other side and found ourselves looking on a beautiful summer scene. A long footbridge stretched across the river and there were holidaygoers enjoying themselves on the beach. We walked around the city a little more before going in search of food.
We found a cafeteria-like place where they sold food "chap fan" style, with assorted dishes presented in metal trays with prices per kg stuck on them. I couldn't identify everything but there were potatoes, some vegetables, beet root, fish and chicken, mixed in different ways and in various creams and sauces. There was meat wrapped in cabbage and fried chicken patties and salmon slices. Some pointing and waving later, we all had trays of relatively cheap food. However, the cheapest food was still to be found in the supermarkets, where we would once again purchase bread, fish, bananas and yogurt to make up a meal.
The next day, we caught a bus (number 7) that took us 25 minutes out of town to visit a local monastery. It was very quiet and peaceful. We visited the church, rested for a while, and checked out the river. But there wasn't anything particularly interesting there, so we were soon on our way back to town. More wandering around town occured as the sun poured down. We sat down next to the river where I wrote this little scene :
I'm sitting on the raised bank of the Volkhov River, behind the Kremlin. The river flows through the city and is divided into two by a forested island rising from the middle of the waters. The sidewalk behind me bustles with people and on my right, the wide, paved footbridge extends across the broad river. Lovers lean on the railings, watching the crowds stroll across the paved road of the bridge. Along the near bank, families and friends sunbathe under the glowing late afternoon sun. Summer revelers walk down the stone steps pale and walk back up with their skin tinged with a red glow. The grassy slopes are dotted with blankets and the tanning backs of their owners, catching the warm summer glow. In the shadow of the bridge, a few fishermen try their luck in the rust red waters of the Volkhov. Distant happy cries and splashes waft over the river from the beach on the far bank, arrayed with sun umbrellas and volleyball nets. More sunning people are stretched out on the beach as children run into the water, hand-in-hand. The sunbathers are occasionally interrupted by a spray of sand from a loose volleyball. The swimmers are splashed by the wake of slowly passing motorboats travelling up the river. The glint of the sun off the domes of the cathedrals partly hidden by the trees complete the idyllic scene of the Volkhov River in summertime.
Finally, on the day of our departure, we met Tanya again and we talked with her about Russia. She told us a lot of things about living conditions and life on Russia in general. I was especially interested in her view of the education system since she was a English teacher.
After a very enlightening conversation over lunch, she left and we stayed, chilling until it was time for our train. So, we chilled. For four hours. Then we moved to another cafe and ordered a pot of tea each. And chatted and read and watched people. For another three hours.
Thus we accomplished seven full hours of cafe chilling in the historical city of Velikiy Novgorod. =) Velikiy Novgorod was nice but I guess we spent a little too much time here. It was definitely beautiful and enjoyable. It was my first truly memorable glimpse into the concept of an actual, European-ish, historical small walled town (the kremlin) that still exists in its original design. Thus we left the origin of Russia and headed towards its capital.
Next stop : Moscow!
-ky
moscow day 3
waking to rush to the kremlin, we found out that lenin was taking a rest, as he was tired of seeing all the damn tourists circling round him, as he lay motionless in a glass case, like an exhibit. so we didn't get to see the plasticised, embalmed, stiff grey and of course, great, lenin.
we got to the ticketing office of the kremlin and got greeted by a gremlin (more on that later). the old lady was really strict, even though my student card said "student" and "2010". good thing xinying had an isic card, so we got 2 student priced tickets (50 roubles), while we got fined with an adult, non-subsidised, 300 rouble adult ticket.
we saw a drill parade rehearsal as well a really big gun, i mean, cannon. the tsar's cannon has a 89cm bore that has never fired, but it really is very big. the drill parade was pretty impressive, with the horses prancing about in varying patterns (i caught one pooping while performing!! looks like it wasn't just us who got the shits). i was half laughing as i imagined myself as the guest of honour, who has probably seen so many of these parades, just wanting to get the parade over and done with and get to the food!
we saw the giant tsar's bell, weighing at an intense 202 tonne. it never rang, since an 11 tonne piece chipped off while it was cooling in the foundry casting pit in 1737. the bell was intricately carved. a remarked that he would be surely pissed if he was the one who did the carving on the bell. all that work and someone's mistake of letting the cooling bell get into contact with water... surely someone's head rolled.
after a while, you get sick of seeing all the churches. it's dark, it's intricately decorated with gold and deep reds and many saints painted on the walls and ceilings, and beams of sunligh cutting through the tangibly thick atmosphere. and after a while, we got pretty tired and sat out on a bench, talking about funny army experiences and what not. eventually, hunger got the better of us and we gladly found our favourite store, tepemok, which sells blinys (delicious to me, but probably not to the bliny connesieur). i had a coarsely textured goose liver pate (bet it was more chicken than goose liver) bliny with pickles. there wasn't much to do, so we headed back and now i am typing this out.
-l
next article: reported sightings in russia.
we got to the ticketing office of the kremlin and got greeted by a gremlin (more on that later). the old lady was really strict, even though my student card said "student" and "2010". good thing xinying had an isic card, so we got 2 student priced tickets (50 roubles), while we got fined with an adult, non-subsidised, 300 rouble adult ticket.
we saw a drill parade rehearsal as well a really big gun, i mean, cannon. the tsar's cannon has a 89cm bore that has never fired, but it really is very big. the drill parade was pretty impressive, with the horses prancing about in varying patterns (i caught one pooping while performing!! looks like it wasn't just us who got the shits). i was half laughing as i imagined myself as the guest of honour, who has probably seen so many of these parades, just wanting to get the parade over and done with and get to the food!
we saw the giant tsar's bell, weighing at an intense 202 tonne. it never rang, since an 11 tonne piece chipped off while it was cooling in the foundry casting pit in 1737. the bell was intricately carved. a remarked that he would be surely pissed if he was the one who did the carving on the bell. all that work and someone's mistake of letting the cooling bell get into contact with water... surely someone's head rolled.
after a while, you get sick of seeing all the churches. it's dark, it's intricately decorated with gold and deep reds and many saints painted on the walls and ceilings, and beams of sunligh cutting through the tangibly thick atmosphere. and after a while, we got pretty tired and sat out on a bench, talking about funny army experiences and what not. eventually, hunger got the better of us and we gladly found our favourite store, tepemok, which sells blinys (delicious to me, but probably not to the bliny connesieur). i had a coarsely textured goose liver pate (bet it was more chicken than goose liver) bliny with pickles. there wasn't much to do, so we headed back and now i am typing this out.
-l
next article: reported sightings in russia.
moscow day 2
day 2:
so after sleeping at a late 3am (i've been sleeping 13 hours for the past 3 nights, minus the train night ride), i woke up feeling slightly shitty, because i knew i had to get registered in moscow. it's not such a simple thing, as registering at the post office involves a great deal of trouble for our host deric, even after we leave moscow. so, we decided to register at a hostel, which means that we have to pay a sum equal to staying 3 nights at the hostel, which also means 1000 roubles, or 50usd. see what i mean when i wake up feeling shitty.
good thing is, we don't have to get registered, since the regulation is to be in a city for at least 3 working days. we're there for 2 working days, since sun mon and tues are holidays, due to tuesday being national day.
we left for the really big arts and craft market in izmaylovo, about 7 stops from where we were (oktyabrskaya). so we step out of the metro and as i'm looking around for the market (or any signs of it), k sees a medieval tower rising out from a distance.
thus the trio set forward for that tower (might there be a dragon to slay?)
and as we near, we see a sight so familiar to us. stores sell sunglasses, clothes (aber ombie?), shoes, bags, perfume (ever heard of luckost?). except it's at least 3 times more expensive. naohiah. anyway, i'm going to china, land of the pirated plentiful, so i'm not really regretting that prices here are that high.
izmaylovo market charges a 10 rouble (0.50 usd) entrance fee to enter. once you go in, stores and stores (think chatuchak market, minus the heat and the asian people, add a lot of white not very smiley people and take away the large overhead roof) of handicrafts spread out before you. matryoshky dolls, khokhloma (lacquer bowls), linen, jewellry, those fuzzy furry warm hats that look like they've been made out of puffy animals, soviet posters and badges etc abound. there is an upper level selling icons (paintings of the saints of the orthodox church) and paintings.
the main draw for me were all the old cameras. a friendly russian guy was showing me a medium format camera that captured 2 frames in a single shot (the camera opens up like a cupboard does when you open the 2 doors simultaneously), a really old lomo, a tiny german made camera about 2 matchbox widths apart, and a gigantic camera lens (about 1000mm) that was made in 1956 and used in Grand Prix races. interesting eh. i wish i could speak russian, then i would be able to talk to him about where he got these cameras. i'm sure he would have stories behind almost of all the things he had on display ( or maybe i'm just dreaming too much eh.)
as we are 3 growing men, we are hungry most of the time. the smell of a bbq caught us and we soon saw faint clouds of smoke billowing from a side of the street. kebabs! but were they grotesquely expensive. a stick of meat, 200 roubles. with pita bread, an additional 20 roubles. after that night of a 8usd beer, i wasn't feeling too generous with myself. so we opted to walk out to find cheaper food. i suggested shaslyk, but the rest wasn't feeling too sure of it, since it was out in the open.
we found a stall selling humjingpeng lookalikes, and for 0.50usd, i got a piece of fried dough with some unknown meat inside. and it was pretty good! there was this suspicious barrel next to me, and the guy was asking me if i wanted some. for another 0.50usd, i got a small cup of kvas, which is fermented rye bread water, served gassy, cold, and therefore refreshing. it was seriously pretty shiok. rye bread is a dark dense bread, that has a herby, sprightly, slightly grassy but quite a refreshing taste. kvas is made from rye bread, and has quite a similar taste. and it's damn shiok when it's cold and the sun is hot, bright and shining in a sky with no clouds. and it becomes even more shiok when you have an oily piece of dough with some unknown meat inside (what an adventure eh).
further on we went, and we saw this couple eating a boat shaped piece of dough, with a half cooked egg nested in the boat (khachapri po-adzharski). a got 1. the old ladies were pulling out batches of the dough, baked a golden brown and shiny like a waxed car. surely they (the dough lah!) were calling out to me, all the while winking with buttery goodness in the sun. so i got another 1 that looked like a pita, but had cheese inside (khachapuri po-imeretinsk). the ladies inside the store were smiley and were trying to pose for k as they made a new batch of dough. the just-mentioned food is georgian. and the deep fried cheese i had with the dark lovely belgian beer (that had a lovely price too...) the other time is also georgian (very unlike the mozzerella cheese sticks).
one bite and i was taken. seriously. imagine a crisp, slightly salty shell giving way to dense soft warm dough that could cushion your fall from the sky. and then the climax of salty salty tasty midly sour cheese that bites your tastebuds and sends you reeling into paradise. well not yet. you're lacking the magic of kvas, or baltika no 7, to send you on a one way ticket to happiness (or until the food and drink runs out). that seriously made my day. the salt of the cheese, the coldness of the beer or kvas, the warmth of the bread, the sun on my face and the oh-so-familiar smell of freshly cooked dough, made me very very satisfied with life then. all was well.
we headed back, me still a little giddy from the elation of food and drink, and got food for dinner. pangang currym, sweet and sour chicken, nonya sambal prawns, beer, wine, ice cream, delicious soft cookies and chocolate liquer and a company of 7 made dinner a really enjoyable affair. fish sauce exudes an interesting smell, which our guest alex, a russian, found, um, unique. we managed to asianise him by making him do that finger posing thing as we took pictures of him. and we also convinced him to try the fish sauce. pity there was no durian.
*actually, i have a confession to make. since there was no coconut milk for the curry, i used cream and milk. and the milk i used smelled fine. unfortunately, someone remarked 10 minutes after i added the milk to the curry ( i was alone in the kitchen then), that it was off. all was fine, although i got the shits later. k & a remarked that it was my fault that they had the shits too. but the rest of the food was spicy right....(excuse my weak attempt at justification)
-l
so after sleeping at a late 3am (i've been sleeping 13 hours for the past 3 nights, minus the train night ride), i woke up feeling slightly shitty, because i knew i had to get registered in moscow. it's not such a simple thing, as registering at the post office involves a great deal of trouble for our host deric, even after we leave moscow. so, we decided to register at a hostel, which means that we have to pay a sum equal to staying 3 nights at the hostel, which also means 1000 roubles, or 50usd. see what i mean when i wake up feeling shitty.
good thing is, we don't have to get registered, since the regulation is to be in a city for at least 3 working days. we're there for 2 working days, since sun mon and tues are holidays, due to tuesday being national day.
we left for the really big arts and craft market in izmaylovo, about 7 stops from where we were (oktyabrskaya). so we step out of the metro and as i'm looking around for the market (or any signs of it), k sees a medieval tower rising out from a distance.
thus the trio set forward for that tower (might there be a dragon to slay?)
and as we near, we see a sight so familiar to us. stores sell sunglasses, clothes (aber ombie?), shoes, bags, perfume (ever heard of luckost?). except it's at least 3 times more expensive. naohiah. anyway, i'm going to china, land of the pirated plentiful, so i'm not really regretting that prices here are that high.
izmaylovo market charges a 10 rouble (0.50 usd) entrance fee to enter. once you go in, stores and stores (think chatuchak market, minus the heat and the asian people, add a lot of white not very smiley people and take away the large overhead roof) of handicrafts spread out before you. matryoshky dolls, khokhloma (lacquer bowls), linen, jewellry, those fuzzy furry warm hats that look like they've been made out of puffy animals, soviet posters and badges etc abound. there is an upper level selling icons (paintings of the saints of the orthodox church) and paintings.
the main draw for me were all the old cameras. a friendly russian guy was showing me a medium format camera that captured 2 frames in a single shot (the camera opens up like a cupboard does when you open the 2 doors simultaneously), a really old lomo, a tiny german made camera about 2 matchbox widths apart, and a gigantic camera lens (about 1000mm) that was made in 1956 and used in Grand Prix races. interesting eh. i wish i could speak russian, then i would be able to talk to him about where he got these cameras. i'm sure he would have stories behind almost of all the things he had on display ( or maybe i'm just dreaming too much eh.)
as we are 3 growing men, we are hungry most of the time. the smell of a bbq caught us and we soon saw faint clouds of smoke billowing from a side of the street. kebabs! but were they grotesquely expensive. a stick of meat, 200 roubles. with pita bread, an additional 20 roubles. after that night of a 8usd beer, i wasn't feeling too generous with myself. so we opted to walk out to find cheaper food. i suggested shaslyk, but the rest wasn't feeling too sure of it, since it was out in the open.
we found a stall selling humjingpeng lookalikes, and for 0.50usd, i got a piece of fried dough with some unknown meat inside. and it was pretty good! there was this suspicious barrel next to me, and the guy was asking me if i wanted some. for another 0.50usd, i got a small cup of kvas, which is fermented rye bread water, served gassy, cold, and therefore refreshing. it was seriously pretty shiok. rye bread is a dark dense bread, that has a herby, sprightly, slightly grassy but quite a refreshing taste. kvas is made from rye bread, and has quite a similar taste. and it's damn shiok when it's cold and the sun is hot, bright and shining in a sky with no clouds. and it becomes even more shiok when you have an oily piece of dough with some unknown meat inside (what an adventure eh).
further on we went, and we saw this couple eating a boat shaped piece of dough, with a half cooked egg nested in the boat (khachapri po-adzharski). a got 1. the old ladies were pulling out batches of the dough, baked a golden brown and shiny like a waxed car. surely they (the dough lah!) were calling out to me, all the while winking with buttery goodness in the sun. so i got another 1 that looked like a pita, but had cheese inside (khachapuri po-imeretinsk). the ladies inside the store were smiley and were trying to pose for k as they made a new batch of dough. the just-mentioned food is georgian. and the deep fried cheese i had with the dark lovely belgian beer (that had a lovely price too...) the other time is also georgian (very unlike the mozzerella cheese sticks).
one bite and i was taken. seriously. imagine a crisp, slightly salty shell giving way to dense soft warm dough that could cushion your fall from the sky. and then the climax of salty salty tasty midly sour cheese that bites your tastebuds and sends you reeling into paradise. well not yet. you're lacking the magic of kvas, or baltika no 7, to send you on a one way ticket to happiness (or until the food and drink runs out). that seriously made my day. the salt of the cheese, the coldness of the beer or kvas, the warmth of the bread, the sun on my face and the oh-so-familiar smell of freshly cooked dough, made me very very satisfied with life then. all was well.
we headed back, me still a little giddy from the elation of food and drink, and got food for dinner. pangang currym, sweet and sour chicken, nonya sambal prawns, beer, wine, ice cream, delicious soft cookies and chocolate liquer and a company of 7 made dinner a really enjoyable affair. fish sauce exudes an interesting smell, which our guest alex, a russian, found, um, unique. we managed to asianise him by making him do that finger posing thing as we took pictures of him. and we also convinced him to try the fish sauce. pity there was no durian.
*actually, i have a confession to make. since there was no coconut milk for the curry, i used cream and milk. and the milk i used smelled fine. unfortunately, someone remarked 10 minutes after i added the milk to the curry ( i was alone in the kitchen then), that it was off. all was fine, although i got the shits later. k & a remarked that it was my fault that they had the shits too. but the rest of the food was spicy right....(excuse my weak attempt at justification)
-l
Saturday, June 9, 2007
dumplings
I can't wait to get to moscow where a kitchen is available. all this not hot food of cheese bread and fish that was once interesting is getting a little boring. i'm looking forward to hot dumplings and some hot soup.
-l (8/6/07)
-l (8/6/07)
moscow day 1
moscow visa registration, the policy and the polizi are a real pain in the ass. but i'll save that for later.
the day we left novgorod for moscow (7/6), we woke up late and got our stuff ready to meet tanya, an english teacher teaching in a middle school in russia. we met her 15 yr old daughter and her after sitting around in the big square of novgorod reading/writing. after talking to tanya, we spent an admirable (for me, that is) 7 hours reading in 2 cafes to kill time before we boarded the train for moscow.
on the train, i had a fitful 2 hours of sleep as i thought of the various possibilities of getting thieved, and the different ways i could stop or not stop the thievery. obviously, there was a lot of fighting in those imagined situations, and that kept quite some adrenaline in my system. also, there was a not so nice smelling man (musty, a bit of stale beer and a little more of body odour, as well as the scent of oily unwashed hair) who slept next to me and kept on looking at me before he went to sleep, so that kept me alert as well.
russian life is pretty tough (seriously!!). the price of food is NOT cheap, cars are only for those with spare cash, bus stops are not as obvious as those in singapore and housing is really expensive. the good thing is, the government takes the burden off its people's backs by providing free medical treatment and education. education in private schools, according to her, does not show better results than education in public schools. and the surprising thing is, a normal class size in a private school is 10-15, while a normal class size in a public school is 20-25. (india, malaysia, singapore classes are almost twice the size). and if you go to university, you don't have to go to army too!
i find it strange that russia has such a high standard of living even though it is not really developed. and thus, that is how i nearly looked like a fool with a wide open mouth when the bill for last night's dinner came.
we were having dinner at cafe bilingua with xinying and meeshell, 2 singaporean girls, deric our host, steve, an american linguist, and anya, a polish graduate student working on her pHD in english in the us and happily married to each other. xinying is about to graduate from beijing university with a degree in international relations and a minor in japanese, and meeshell has just graduated with a degree in accountancy. both have been travelling a lot ( like a lot!)
i had a draught dark belgian beer, and it was really malty and pretty sweet too. and i had fried georgian cheese with it. superb. but when the bill came, my beer came up to 195 roubles, and the entire meal, 280 roubles, which is about 10+ usd. which, had i asked the price of the beer, meant that i could have actually had a bigger meat dish. naohiah. i'm not complaining, it's just that it's US prices in a place 2 notches below france. so i'm really surprised.
on our way to a pub later, we got stopped by a rather weighty puffy policeman in his policecar and man, was it a pain in the ass. we were asked for our passports, which we passed our photocopied ones to him. then he asked for our registration, and since we could not register that day, was asked to go to the police station with him. bloody hell. so we called deric, who talked to the policeman. the phone was passed back and forth between Puffy and i, and i learnt from deric that the policeman said indirectly that we had tried to bribe him (wth???) and that we had to pay a fine. good thing deric talked a little more and Puffy soon realised that going through 2 hours of paperwork to get enough money for some bliney was not worth it. so he told us yellow boys to scoot and go back home.
-l
the day we left novgorod for moscow (7/6), we woke up late and got our stuff ready to meet tanya, an english teacher teaching in a middle school in russia. we met her 15 yr old daughter and her after sitting around in the big square of novgorod reading/writing. after talking to tanya, we spent an admirable (for me, that is) 7 hours reading in 2 cafes to kill time before we boarded the train for moscow.
on the train, i had a fitful 2 hours of sleep as i thought of the various possibilities of getting thieved, and the different ways i could stop or not stop the thievery. obviously, there was a lot of fighting in those imagined situations, and that kept quite some adrenaline in my system. also, there was a not so nice smelling man (musty, a bit of stale beer and a little more of body odour, as well as the scent of oily unwashed hair) who slept next to me and kept on looking at me before he went to sleep, so that kept me alert as well.
russian life is pretty tough (seriously!!). the price of food is NOT cheap, cars are only for those with spare cash, bus stops are not as obvious as those in singapore and housing is really expensive. the good thing is, the government takes the burden off its people's backs by providing free medical treatment and education. education in private schools, according to her, does not show better results than education in public schools. and the surprising thing is, a normal class size in a private school is 10-15, while a normal class size in a public school is 20-25. (india, malaysia, singapore classes are almost twice the size). and if you go to university, you don't have to go to army too!
i find it strange that russia has such a high standard of living even though it is not really developed. and thus, that is how i nearly looked like a fool with a wide open mouth when the bill for last night's dinner came.
we were having dinner at cafe bilingua with xinying and meeshell, 2 singaporean girls, deric our host, steve, an american linguist, and anya, a polish graduate student working on her pHD in english in the us and happily married to each other. xinying is about to graduate from beijing university with a degree in international relations and a minor in japanese, and meeshell has just graduated with a degree in accountancy. both have been travelling a lot ( like a lot!)
i had a draught dark belgian beer, and it was really malty and pretty sweet too. and i had fried georgian cheese with it. superb. but when the bill came, my beer came up to 195 roubles, and the entire meal, 280 roubles, which is about 10+ usd. which, had i asked the price of the beer, meant that i could have actually had a bigger meat dish. naohiah. i'm not complaining, it's just that it's US prices in a place 2 notches below france. so i'm really surprised.
on our way to a pub later, we got stopped by a rather weighty puffy policeman in his policecar and man, was it a pain in the ass. we were asked for our passports, which we passed our photocopied ones to him. then he asked for our registration, and since we could not register that day, was asked to go to the police station with him. bloody hell. so we called deric, who talked to the policeman. the phone was passed back and forth between Puffy and i, and i learnt from deric that the policeman said indirectly that we had tried to bribe him (wth???) and that we had to pay a fine. good thing deric talked a little more and Puffy soon realised that going through 2 hours of paperwork to get enough money for some bliney was not worth it. so he told us yellow boys to scoot and go back home.
-l
Novgorod - bathing out of a cup
The hotel we're staying at in Novgorod is crap. It isn't so much the undersized beds or the broken furniture or the lack of ventilation or the trance music or the unfriendly receptionist, it's the shower. The shower offers 2 alternatives: boiling hot or freezing cold. Both extremities I am unwilling to live with. Sure you can throw all that 'but you've been through far worse in the Navy' stuff at me, but I ain't fighting a war here, I'm on holiday thank you very much. So I've resorted to bathing out of a cup. Mixing the boiling shower water with the freezing tap water to produce a compromise. This process is tedious but inevitable for the sake of my welfare. My first attempt involved a glass cup which proceeded to crack under the temperature changes, leading me to find a shard of glass in my hair and forcing a number of expletives in various languages on my tongue. A trial attempt involving a plastic bag and gravity proved futile. I am now using a mineral bottle cut in half to fulfill my bathing needs. We continue to eat bread and canned fish. Life sucks.
-a
-a
St. Petersburg - Into Russia
Welcome to Russia - St. Petersburg!
Finally, after our successful border crossing, we entered our 'primary' destination : Russia. Our first port-of-call is St. Petersburg. Founded by Peter the Great three hundred and four years and one week ago to be the new capital of Russia, St. Petersburg rose up from the marshes and quickly developed. The capital has been since moved back to Moscow, but St. Petersburg has continued to grow especially with additional attention as the hometown of President Putin.
The bus dropped us off on one of the long, wide streets, or "prospects". This particular one was Moscovsky Prospeckt, which was supposed to be near our hostel. Unfortunately, the prospeckt being a particularly long road, the Metro Tour hostel was actually a good way down. After digging around for a currency exchange open at 6am, dragging our backpacks into a small pharmacy for metro directions and some map reading, we rode the metro to Elecktrosila station.
Our hostel, the Metro-tour hostel was pleasant and clean enough. Our room wasn't quite ready and so we dropped our backpacks off and set off into the city. We didn't get too much done in the first day. We walked around the city center, admiring the beautiful cathedrals but not knowing their names or significance. We bought our train tickets (short line : long wait!) to our next destination, scoped out the central market which had a lot of fresh produce, went online at an internet cafe (48 rubles an hour), and discovered a large Carrefour-like supermarket near our hostel. We got a cheap dinner for ourselves there and went back to the hostel to eat our bread and canned fish before turning in early after an exhausting day.
The second day was rather more exciting. =) Once again waking up late, we then proceeded to rush to International Hostel to go on a 5 hour long walking tour of St. Petersburg. We managed to get ourselves lost several times on the way. Luke was constantly asking passers-by where the street was : unfortunately, there were three streets with the same name! We eventually found our way there in time and met our guide (Elena). After becoming 430 rubles lighter, we were off!
The tour was quite enjoyable and was better than I expected. We visited several spots throughout the city center, stopping every so often to allow our guide to give us a little information. Some notable spots included the office of the Temple Of Peace and Love or something like that, where Russia's greatest Beatles fan lives. On the walls of the courtyard outside his house were plaques of the faces of the four Beatles and a painting of a large yellow submarine. This fan intends to build a volcano-shaped Temple to the Beatles on the coast of Finland. Hmmm.
The tour also showed us several spots where local 'legends' had formed, such as a cat on a ledge, a bird on the side of a bridge and a large plaque that depicted a storm scene with a man trying to climb onto a boat. At all these spots, one was supposed to throw coins, or in the case of the man overboard, push him up, and - voíla! - your wish would be granted! Apparently these legends appear rapidly and frequently. Hmmm.
Other things we did on the tour included a revisiting of the central market, relaxing and chatting with other tour group members at a American Rock & Roll theme bar for lunch (hahaha!), learning a little about the history and significance of the Russian author Pushkin and, of course, walking. For four hours. Hmmm.
We then proceeded to the Nevsky Prospekt metro station to meet a contact that I found through the couchsurfing website (http://www.couchsurfing.com), a longtime resident and seasoned adventurer of St. Petersburg, Elena. After a rather awkward (on our side, anyway) initial greeting, we took a long walk in search of a cafe.
After some trouble, we managed to locate the particular cafe that was previously pointed out to us on the walking tour; apparently it was an 'underground' cafe. It turns out that the cafe was well above ground! It was located on a balcony halfway up one of the ubiquitous six story apartment buildings of St. Petersburg, right above the office of the Temple of Love etcetera etcetera. It was 'underground' because it used to serve the Russian cultural underground and still maintains the small, 'indie' feel. Enjoying a cool drink while chatting about our travels and St. Petersburg was excellent. We went around the table sharing about ourselves and Elena took her turn. She told us that she was a graduated a year ago and was working in a very new equity management industry in St. Petersburg, enjoyed meeting new friends from around the world, going to jazz clubs and 'roofing'. We looked quizzically at each other at the mention of this last hobby of hers. "Would you like to go and find a roof?", she said. Not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we agreed. And thus we set out for Elena's 'favorite roof', our short rest at the cafe completely insufficient for the purpose of preparing us for what was coming up next.
Our quartet arrived at yet another old apartment building and Elena started to push at combination locks on entryways. We located one that surrendered to her gentle attacks, clambered up 6 storys of gloomy, urine-laced stairwell and were promptly met by an unyielding metal door and its friend, the unyielding metal lock. Sigh. Back down the stairs we went, and Elena quickly went in search for another entryway.
The next one was open as well and she told us to wait downstairs as she scouted ahead, or rather, above. The three of us shared increasingly questioning (and increasingly tired) glances as uncertainty about this whole affair mounted. A shout of "Come up!" from above startled us all, and since we were such obedient boys, we proceeded to do just that. A flight of stairs later, we faced an dark attic littered with construction debris, with a shaft of sunlight visible on the other end of the room. Manuvering across broken planks and bricks, we ducked through the little window into a new world that we will long remember : the world of roofing.
I emerged onto the roof of the building, six storys above the ground. Tin plates crackled beneath my feet as I balanced on the sloped roof. A very fragile, rusty looking, two-foot high railing lined the edge of the roof, the only safety measure against an accidental slip. Once I gathered the courage to tear my eyes away from my feet, I looked up and found that my breath had left me. For before me lay St. Petersburg in glory, as seen from a most unlikely vantage point : the roof of a dilapidated apartment building. The late afternoon sun cut across the sky, enveloping the city with a blanket of gold. Sharp, thin shadows hid the alleys in contrast with the brightly illuminated yet unseen rooftops of St. Petersburg. The city stretched out in all directions, the endless rows of apartments with antennas sprouting from their rooftops surrouding the domes of the cathedrals that brightly winked at us as Elena named them one by one. Elena grinned as the rest of us gaped. A quick briefing on roofing later (be careful!) we started moving across the roof. The apartment building was quite large but the roof was sloped and was built quite irregularly. This allowed us to move for quite a distance across the rooftop under Elena's guidance, avoiding cables and antennae while holding on to chimneys. Every step revealed more vantage points as I delighted in the amazing view and experience. We would stop and rest in the breeze while soaking in the view that surrounded us for a moment before continuing.
We spotted a group of people at the other end of the building and headed over to them "We can go down their exit!", exclaimed Elena). A few loose chimney bricks later, we met a group of youths dressed in the Goth style enjoying a bit of roofing as well. A quick exchange of Russian later, we dissapeared down another exit and emerged back at ground level once more.
Roofing in St. Petersburg was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had and even as I type this, I fondly recall the exhilaration I felt on that rooftop. Truly, it was an unexpected and completely "un-touristy" adventure. But the day was not done! More was yet to come.
We went off in search of Elena's favorite jazz club with as much haste as our tired legs could muster, for this club was purpoted to fill up by 8pm and the hour was quickly approaching. Unfortunately the club was quite far away, and as we approached the spot, Elena's friend contacted her on her mobile phone to inform her that there was no space left. Elena cheerfully shrugged and told us that she would take us to the "2nd favorite club", and brought us into a random sports bar for dinner.
The basement bar was filled with infantry gear and other war paraphernalia. Smoking men were watching a football (soccer) match between two Russian teams (the score was 3-0). We sat down in a corner and Elena gave our order to the proprietor, who appeared to be, interestingly enough, Chinese. Our meal was quite good and we started talking, through Elena, with the group sitting beside us. Before long, one of them decided that he would treat us all to a round of vodka in celebration of his football teams victory (the game ended 4-0). When the vodka shots arrived, I was quite astonished at the size of the shot glasses : they were at least 30% bigger than the ones I'd seen before and filled to the brim with pure Russian vodka. Some directions on Russian drinking were given : the vodka was traditionally chased with apple juice or beer (our host preferred beer...). Elena had began laughing and saying "You guys are crazy!" and I was beginning to have some doubts about my sanity as well. But, we couldn't very well offend our host's hospitality, could we? So, down the hatch!
It was definitely the smoothest vodka that I had taken and there was no burning sensation down the throat. The stories of the excellence of Russian vodka were unexaggerated. Luke was grinning happily. Our host, seeing how much we enjoyed the drinks, proceeded to call for another round. Oops. Elena said: "You guys are Really Crazy!". We survived the second round and our host's group and us left in search of a jazz club to relax in. Elena told us later that we had left quite an impression on the patrons of the bar. Thus was our first experience of the famed Russian hospitality.
Unfortunately the jazz club we went to was just finishing up its program and we bade farewell to our new friends, as much out of caution as weariness. Elena showed us back to our distant hostel and we rested there for a while. She wanted to take us to witness the raising of St. Petersburg's drawbridges under the white night, but we were tired as well as concerned about the hostel curfew and transportation after the Metro had closed. Elena had some words with the hostel receptionist who agreed to open the door for us after hours and told us to trust her for the rest. So, after a quick break, we set out once again at 11:45 pm.
We walked to a scenic spot along the river between two bridges and waited there for the bridges to rise. The sky was truly beautiful. It was glowing as if it were the last few minutes of sunset but the light was batrely changed even after half an hour. The horizon was lit with a brilliant orange light which faded to a pale blue above the treetops, silhouetting the cathedral domes across the river. There was a triple fountain on the river, lit by colourful lights and lasers, and the bridges were lined with white lights. There were even two small but excellent fireworks displays, probably to celebrate weddings. We waited there for a while, watching the tour boats on the river, laden with bridge watchers and admiring the breathtaking glow of St. Petersburg's white night. Soon, one of the bridges rose, and all the tour boats sailed up the river, herded along by a few police craft. It was quite amusing to see the hundred little boats sailing away in unison like a host of water skaters. Soon, a dark, unlit cargo ship came lumbering under the raised bridge after the tour boats had retreated. Elena told us that the cargo ship would be followed by many.
A rather high speed taxi ride later, we found ourselves back at hostel. The sky finally completely dark, we collapsed in our beds and remembered no more.
Our long day in St. Peterburg was truly enjoyable and we saw many things that we could never have otherwise have seen on the excellent walking tour. However, the greatest experiences of the day were discovered under the guidance of Elena. The adventure of roofing, enjoying Russian hospitality with a round (or two) of drinks, and sitting by the river under the glow of a St. Peterburg white night was amazing. We were very fortunate to have a friend like Elena here in the city... thanks so much, Elena!
On Sunday, we woke extremely late and proceeded to visit the Hermitage Museum, located within the Winter Palace. As students, we entered for free. It was a very good museum ; unfortunately, not many of its exhibits had English explainations or titles. One of the highlights of the museum for me was the huge Peacock clock. An elaborate gold structure of a tree branch with a peacock prominently perched on it along with other suitable botanial ornaments was apparently a clock! There was even a microphone to let everyone hear it ticking. I wasn't able to see it "in action", i.e. chiming the hour or anything like that, but it was still fascinating. After a few hours of wandering through the exhibit halls, we left just before it closed.
We met up with Elena again and she took us to her favorite student cafe, called Zoom Cafe. It was a low-ceilinged, well-appointed place that had an interesting menu, both in its presentation and its offerings. The cafe was well stocked with books and even delivered the bill within one! We said our farewells to Elena and returned to our hostel, but not before stopping by the supermarket to purchase our "St. Petersburg Farewell Dinner". We got some dumplings, crab sticks, eggs and some 'borrowed' vegetable stock from the hostel kitchen and boiled them together to create an interesting little soup that filled even the deep stomach of andrew. That was one filling meal. =)
Our final day in St. Petersburg arrived. We checked out of our hostel and stuffed our backpacks into lockers at the train station before heading over to The Cathedral of Spilled Blood. This cathedral houses a memorial to the spot where Peter the Great lay bleeding to death. It is beautifully and colourfully decorated outside by designs and coloured tiles, its golden domes catching the sunlight at the right angle. But within is hidden even more beauty. Every interior surface is covered with tile mosaics, forming images and stories from the Bible. The cathedral was recently restored after many years of misuse and disuse during the war and during the Soviet era. It has served as a vegetable warehouse and a large bomb had lain dormant in the central dome for several decades before restoration work discovered it. The intricate detail and planning exemplified by the tile mosaics was quite awe-inspiring.
After that, we waited an hour or more to buy our train tickets, with our poor ticket manager, Luke, suffering from the mysterious 10+ minute breaks that the ticket officers would take right as he reached the counter. We proceeded to the train station and boarded our train, #802. One week after departing from the US, we took our first 3 hour train ride to our next stop : Velikiy Novgorod.
-ky
Finally, after our successful border crossing, we entered our 'primary' destination : Russia. Our first port-of-call is St. Petersburg. Founded by Peter the Great three hundred and four years and one week ago to be the new capital of Russia, St. Petersburg rose up from the marshes and quickly developed. The capital has been since moved back to Moscow, but St. Petersburg has continued to grow especially with additional attention as the hometown of President Putin.
The bus dropped us off on one of the long, wide streets, or "prospects". This particular one was Moscovsky Prospeckt, which was supposed to be near our hostel. Unfortunately, the prospeckt being a particularly long road, the Metro Tour hostel was actually a good way down. After digging around for a currency exchange open at 6am, dragging our backpacks into a small pharmacy for metro directions and some map reading, we rode the metro to Elecktrosila station.
Our hostel, the Metro-tour hostel was pleasant and clean enough. Our room wasn't quite ready and so we dropped our backpacks off and set off into the city. We didn't get too much done in the first day. We walked around the city center, admiring the beautiful cathedrals but not knowing their names or significance. We bought our train tickets (short line : long wait!) to our next destination, scoped out the central market which had a lot of fresh produce, went online at an internet cafe (48 rubles an hour), and discovered a large Carrefour-like supermarket near our hostel. We got a cheap dinner for ourselves there and went back to the hostel to eat our bread and canned fish before turning in early after an exhausting day.
The second day was rather more exciting. =) Once again waking up late, we then proceeded to rush to International Hostel to go on a 5 hour long walking tour of St. Petersburg. We managed to get ourselves lost several times on the way. Luke was constantly asking passers-by where the street was : unfortunately, there were three streets with the same name! We eventually found our way there in time and met our guide (Elena). After becoming 430 rubles lighter, we were off!
The tour was quite enjoyable and was better than I expected. We visited several spots throughout the city center, stopping every so often to allow our guide to give us a little information. Some notable spots included the office of the Temple Of Peace and Love or something like that, where Russia's greatest Beatles fan lives. On the walls of the courtyard outside his house were plaques of the faces of the four Beatles and a painting of a large yellow submarine. This fan intends to build a volcano-shaped Temple to the Beatles on the coast of Finland. Hmmm.
The tour also showed us several spots where local 'legends' had formed, such as a cat on a ledge, a bird on the side of a bridge and a large plaque that depicted a storm scene with a man trying to climb onto a boat. At all these spots, one was supposed to throw coins, or in the case of the man overboard, push him up, and - voíla! - your wish would be granted! Apparently these legends appear rapidly and frequently. Hmmm.
Other things we did on the tour included a revisiting of the central market, relaxing and chatting with other tour group members at a American Rock & Roll theme bar for lunch (hahaha!), learning a little about the history and significance of the Russian author Pushkin and, of course, walking. For four hours. Hmmm.
We then proceeded to the Nevsky Prospekt metro station to meet a contact that I found through the couchsurfing website (http://www.couchsurfing.com), a longtime resident and seasoned adventurer of St. Petersburg, Elena. After a rather awkward (on our side, anyway) initial greeting, we took a long walk in search of a cafe.
After some trouble, we managed to locate the particular cafe that was previously pointed out to us on the walking tour; apparently it was an 'underground' cafe. It turns out that the cafe was well above ground! It was located on a balcony halfway up one of the ubiquitous six story apartment buildings of St. Petersburg, right above the office of the Temple of Love etcetera etcetera. It was 'underground' because it used to serve the Russian cultural underground and still maintains the small, 'indie' feel. Enjoying a cool drink while chatting about our travels and St. Petersburg was excellent. We went around the table sharing about ourselves and Elena took her turn. She told us that she was a graduated a year ago and was working in a very new equity management industry in St. Petersburg, enjoyed meeting new friends from around the world, going to jazz clubs and 'roofing'. We looked quizzically at each other at the mention of this last hobby of hers. "Would you like to go and find a roof?", she said. Not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we agreed. And thus we set out for Elena's 'favorite roof', our short rest at the cafe completely insufficient for the purpose of preparing us for what was coming up next.
Our quartet arrived at yet another old apartment building and Elena started to push at combination locks on entryways. We located one that surrendered to her gentle attacks, clambered up 6 storys of gloomy, urine-laced stairwell and were promptly met by an unyielding metal door and its friend, the unyielding metal lock. Sigh. Back down the stairs we went, and Elena quickly went in search for another entryway.
The next one was open as well and she told us to wait downstairs as she scouted ahead, or rather, above. The three of us shared increasingly questioning (and increasingly tired) glances as uncertainty about this whole affair mounted. A shout of "Come up!" from above startled us all, and since we were such obedient boys, we proceeded to do just that. A flight of stairs later, we faced an dark attic littered with construction debris, with a shaft of sunlight visible on the other end of the room. Manuvering across broken planks and bricks, we ducked through the little window into a new world that we will long remember : the world of roofing.
I emerged onto the roof of the building, six storys above the ground. Tin plates crackled beneath my feet as I balanced on the sloped roof. A very fragile, rusty looking, two-foot high railing lined the edge of the roof, the only safety measure against an accidental slip. Once I gathered the courage to tear my eyes away from my feet, I looked up and found that my breath had left me. For before me lay St. Petersburg in glory, as seen from a most unlikely vantage point : the roof of a dilapidated apartment building. The late afternoon sun cut across the sky, enveloping the city with a blanket of gold. Sharp, thin shadows hid the alleys in contrast with the brightly illuminated yet unseen rooftops of St. Petersburg. The city stretched out in all directions, the endless rows of apartments with antennas sprouting from their rooftops surrouding the domes of the cathedrals that brightly winked at us as Elena named them one by one. Elena grinned as the rest of us gaped. A quick briefing on roofing later (be careful!) we started moving across the roof. The apartment building was quite large but the roof was sloped and was built quite irregularly. This allowed us to move for quite a distance across the rooftop under Elena's guidance, avoiding cables and antennae while holding on to chimneys. Every step revealed more vantage points as I delighted in the amazing view and experience. We would stop and rest in the breeze while soaking in the view that surrounded us for a moment before continuing.
We spotted a group of people at the other end of the building and headed over to them "We can go down their exit!", exclaimed Elena). A few loose chimney bricks later, we met a group of youths dressed in the Goth style enjoying a bit of roofing as well. A quick exchange of Russian later, we dissapeared down another exit and emerged back at ground level once more.
Roofing in St. Petersburg was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had and even as I type this, I fondly recall the exhilaration I felt on that rooftop. Truly, it was an unexpected and completely "un-touristy" adventure. But the day was not done! More was yet to come.
We went off in search of Elena's favorite jazz club with as much haste as our tired legs could muster, for this club was purpoted to fill up by 8pm and the hour was quickly approaching. Unfortunately the club was quite far away, and as we approached the spot, Elena's friend contacted her on her mobile phone to inform her that there was no space left. Elena cheerfully shrugged and told us that she would take us to the "2nd favorite club", and brought us into a random sports bar for dinner.
The basement bar was filled with infantry gear and other war paraphernalia. Smoking men were watching a football (soccer) match between two Russian teams (the score was 3-0). We sat down in a corner and Elena gave our order to the proprietor, who appeared to be, interestingly enough, Chinese. Our meal was quite good and we started talking, through Elena, with the group sitting beside us. Before long, one of them decided that he would treat us all to a round of vodka in celebration of his football teams victory (the game ended 4-0). When the vodka shots arrived, I was quite astonished at the size of the shot glasses : they were at least 30% bigger than the ones I'd seen before and filled to the brim with pure Russian vodka. Some directions on Russian drinking were given : the vodka was traditionally chased with apple juice or beer (our host preferred beer...). Elena had began laughing and saying "You guys are crazy!" and I was beginning to have some doubts about my sanity as well. But, we couldn't very well offend our host's hospitality, could we? So, down the hatch!
It was definitely the smoothest vodka that I had taken and there was no burning sensation down the throat. The stories of the excellence of Russian vodka were unexaggerated. Luke was grinning happily. Our host, seeing how much we enjoyed the drinks, proceeded to call for another round. Oops. Elena said: "You guys are Really Crazy!". We survived the second round and our host's group and us left in search of a jazz club to relax in. Elena told us later that we had left quite an impression on the patrons of the bar. Thus was our first experience of the famed Russian hospitality.
Unfortunately the jazz club we went to was just finishing up its program and we bade farewell to our new friends, as much out of caution as weariness. Elena showed us back to our distant hostel and we rested there for a while. She wanted to take us to witness the raising of St. Petersburg's drawbridges under the white night, but we were tired as well as concerned about the hostel curfew and transportation after the Metro had closed. Elena had some words with the hostel receptionist who agreed to open the door for us after hours and told us to trust her for the rest. So, after a quick break, we set out once again at 11:45 pm.
We walked to a scenic spot along the river between two bridges and waited there for the bridges to rise. The sky was truly beautiful. It was glowing as if it were the last few minutes of sunset but the light was batrely changed even after half an hour. The horizon was lit with a brilliant orange light which faded to a pale blue above the treetops, silhouetting the cathedral domes across the river. There was a triple fountain on the river, lit by colourful lights and lasers, and the bridges were lined with white lights. There were even two small but excellent fireworks displays, probably to celebrate weddings. We waited there for a while, watching the tour boats on the river, laden with bridge watchers and admiring the breathtaking glow of St. Petersburg's white night. Soon, one of the bridges rose, and all the tour boats sailed up the river, herded along by a few police craft. It was quite amusing to see the hundred little boats sailing away in unison like a host of water skaters. Soon, a dark, unlit cargo ship came lumbering under the raised bridge after the tour boats had retreated. Elena told us that the cargo ship would be followed by many.
A rather high speed taxi ride later, we found ourselves back at hostel. The sky finally completely dark, we collapsed in our beds and remembered no more.
Our long day in St. Peterburg was truly enjoyable and we saw many things that we could never have otherwise have seen on the excellent walking tour. However, the greatest experiences of the day were discovered under the guidance of Elena. The adventure of roofing, enjoying Russian hospitality with a round (or two) of drinks, and sitting by the river under the glow of a St. Peterburg white night was amazing. We were very fortunate to have a friend like Elena here in the city... thanks so much, Elena!
On Sunday, we woke extremely late and proceeded to visit the Hermitage Museum, located within the Winter Palace. As students, we entered for free. It was a very good museum ; unfortunately, not many of its exhibits had English explainations or titles. One of the highlights of the museum for me was the huge Peacock clock. An elaborate gold structure of a tree branch with a peacock prominently perched on it along with other suitable botanial ornaments was apparently a clock! There was even a microphone to let everyone hear it ticking. I wasn't able to see it "in action", i.e. chiming the hour or anything like that, but it was still fascinating. After a few hours of wandering through the exhibit halls, we left just before it closed.
We met up with Elena again and she took us to her favorite student cafe, called Zoom Cafe. It was a low-ceilinged, well-appointed place that had an interesting menu, both in its presentation and its offerings. The cafe was well stocked with books and even delivered the bill within one! We said our farewells to Elena and returned to our hostel, but not before stopping by the supermarket to purchase our "St. Petersburg Farewell Dinner". We got some dumplings, crab sticks, eggs and some 'borrowed' vegetable stock from the hostel kitchen and boiled them together to create an interesting little soup that filled even the deep stomach of andrew. That was one filling meal. =)
Our final day in St. Petersburg arrived. We checked out of our hostel and stuffed our backpacks into lockers at the train station before heading over to The Cathedral of Spilled Blood. This cathedral houses a memorial to the spot where Peter the Great lay bleeding to death. It is beautifully and colourfully decorated outside by designs and coloured tiles, its golden domes catching the sunlight at the right angle. But within is hidden even more beauty. Every interior surface is covered with tile mosaics, forming images and stories from the Bible. The cathedral was recently restored after many years of misuse and disuse during the war and during the Soviet era. It has served as a vegetable warehouse and a large bomb had lain dormant in the central dome for several decades before restoration work discovered it. The intricate detail and planning exemplified by the tile mosaics was quite awe-inspiring.
After that, we waited an hour or more to buy our train tickets, with our poor ticket manager, Luke, suffering from the mysterious 10+ minute breaks that the ticket officers would take right as he reached the counter. We proceeded to the train station and boarded our train, #802. One week after departing from the US, we took our first 3 hour train ride to our next stop : Velikiy Novgorod.
-ky
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