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| Summer 2008 - Japan to Milton Keynes |
Thursday, 3 September 2009
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
The Netherlands, Holland, Amsterdam
14th September 2008
The Netherlands is the country, Holland is the district and Amsterdam is the capital city, in case you didn't know, I didn't. We arrived here a day earlier than expected and had a total of four days here. I think I was still in Berlin as the first day was just spent wondering around. Actually of the four days I can't quite remember exactly what we did, the time just went. We had planned to go biking, didn't happen, we also planned to walk/bike around the big green park right next to the hostel, again, didn't happen. The smell of weed was everywhere and after being in Japan for three years it was a little bit of a shock being somewhere quite so liberal but nice at the same time, one must have their eyes opened now and again.
We took a little trip out to the fake windmill village of Zaans Schans, very pretty windmills with very flat land dotted with cows and sheep. Took another day trip out to Dem Haag, The Hague, where all the government stuff happens to go the Mauritshuis where The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer is housed. Having seen the film it was great seeing the real thing.
It was quite rainy while we were there so we spent one day going to the Van Gogh Museum and saw his sunflowers and iris pictures among others. The pictures they had in the museum were in chronological order so we could see how his style developed. Some of the writings about Van Gogh's life I could identify with, especially this.
'..Van Gogh at 26 and at a complete loss...' Van Gogh began painting with no experience of drawing/painting, he didn't get famous till after his death but he did something he liked to do and tried to make it successful in his lifetime, which I guess is all anyone can do.
One the same day we went across town to the Anne Frank House, which was a nice round up of our WW2 history in context tour Hannah and I were kind of on since Poland. It's extremely sad to see the house and where she lived for two years and at the same time makes everything more real in that it puts a few faces to some of thousands who lived like Anne and were taken to the concentration camps.
Took the free city tour, not as good as Berlin, but informative none the less. One interesting thing our guide told us was that because of pressure from the EU, The Netherlands aren't giving any more permits to open the coffee shops for smoking weed and within the red light district. As a result, our guide thinks that the coffee shops and the red light district would slowly start to disappear.
On the last day of my train trip I crossed boarders between four countries, took three trains, a tram and a tube to arrive in Milton Keynes Central in time for my Mum's home cooked lasagna. It was the longest way home, but it was well worth it.
P.S
The day after I got back to UK there was a fire in the Chunnel so I was lucky to be travelling on the 10th as I would have been stranded in France until the trains were back up and running.
The beach trip I was planning to take was called off the day before I was supposed to be flying due to the company, XL.com, going bankrupt. XL.com was the third largest tour company in the UK so for it to go bust there must be serious troubles going on.
''Ich bin ein Berliner.''
13th September 2008
This train was only Hannah and I in the cabin, so it was basically a twin.... private room, ahhh, something that was so nice among all the hostels sharing the space with at least 10 other people.
We arrive in Berlin in an uber clean, new, glass train station - how German. As we arrived so early in the morning we went to do the free walking tour of Berlin, well worth it, the guide was really good. It's quite a world wind tour of the cities main sites but the guide gave us enough history so we had some context to appreciate the sights better. As well as the more serious sights he showed us the hotel where Michel Jackson dangled his baby out the window.
I really liked Berlin, even though it is the capital city it never felt overly busy or crowded. There is always something to do. The tour was a good start as we went back to a few of the sites to have a better look at them. The Reichstag, the home of the German Parliament was re-designed in the 90's by British Arechtech, Norman Foster, with it there is a giant glass dome that people can walk up. It's free to enter so we spent most of the morning queuing and getting to the top to see the views of Berlin.
We ate the compulsory bratwurst and drank the Berlin beer which has a bear for the logo as many many years ago during the beginning of Berlin it was called bear town because there were so many bears in the forested wood where the founding community choose to settle.
Museums are free on Thursdays from 6pm so we took advantage and went to the Atlas museum to see a Egyptian and Ancient Greek exhibition. The following day we went to the Babylon: Myths and Truth exhibition which was a really interesting look at the myths surrounding the city then to contrast that a seperate exhibition into the reality of life in the city.
The evening of the 5th September Hannah and I were waiting to go to the cinema and I was checking our on going train ticket when I noticed our train was half past midnight on the 6th. Basically I got confused with times and dates, I thought we had one more night and the whole day in Berlin, but turns out we didn't. We figured this out about two hours before the train was supposed to depart. We went to the station to try to change the ticket to the 7th, but no luck - that's what I got for getting the cheap special price tickets. So we raced back to the hostel, packed in a matter of minutes and were out the door. We ended up being early for the train which turned out to be delayed for departure by nearly an hour. Then in the morning, there was a problem with the brakes so we were delayed in arrival to Amsterdam and had to switch to a non-German train once we got to The Netherlands. How ironic, the society where everything is 'punkthlich' was the one train I took that wasn't.
This train was only Hannah and I in the cabin, so it was basically a twin.... private room, ahhh, something that was so nice among all the hostels sharing the space with at least 10 other people.
We arrive in Berlin in an uber clean, new, glass train station - how German. As we arrived so early in the morning we went to do the free walking tour of Berlin, well worth it, the guide was really good. It's quite a world wind tour of the cities main sites but the guide gave us enough history so we had some context to appreciate the sights better. As well as the more serious sights he showed us the hotel where Michel Jackson dangled his baby out the window.
I really liked Berlin, even though it is the capital city it never felt overly busy or crowded. There is always something to do. The tour was a good start as we went back to a few of the sites to have a better look at them. The Reichstag, the home of the German Parliament was re-designed in the 90's by British Arechtech, Norman Foster, with it there is a giant glass dome that people can walk up. It's free to enter so we spent most of the morning queuing and getting to the top to see the views of Berlin.
We ate the compulsory bratwurst and drank the Berlin beer which has a bear for the logo as many many years ago during the beginning of Berlin it was called bear town because there were so many bears in the forested wood where the founding community choose to settle.
Museums are free on Thursdays from 6pm so we took advantage and went to the Atlas museum to see a Egyptian and Ancient Greek exhibition. The following day we went to the Babylon: Myths and Truth exhibition which was a really interesting look at the myths surrounding the city then to contrast that a seperate exhibition into the reality of life in the city.
The evening of the 5th September Hannah and I were waiting to go to the cinema and I was checking our on going train ticket when I noticed our train was half past midnight on the 6th. Basically I got confused with times and dates, I thought we had one more night and the whole day in Berlin, but turns out we didn't. We figured this out about two hours before the train was supposed to depart. We went to the station to try to change the ticket to the 7th, but no luck - that's what I got for getting the cheap special price tickets. So we raced back to the hostel, packed in a matter of minutes and were out the door. We ended up being early for the train which turned out to be delayed for departure by nearly an hour. Then in the morning, there was a problem with the brakes so we were delayed in arrival to Amsterdam and had to switch to a non-German train once we got to The Netherlands. How ironic, the society where everything is 'punkthlich' was the one train I took that wasn't.
Poland
11th September 2008
The train from Moscow to Krakow had the best sheets and blankets, really thick and cosy. There were three beds to the cabin in this train so it was pretty squished but we were lucky that the third bed was ub-occupied. We figured out that you could move the middle bed down to make a seat, this didn't really please the train officer as when he walked past our cabin he started shouting at us. He was gesturing wildly to our beds and saying the word 'ticket' over and over. The only conclusion we could come to was that he was annoyed we weren't in our allocated beds. Speaking to a Polish family in the morning they wouldn't tell us all the details, no idea why, but apparently we should have asked the train officer before we moved the beds.
After Moscow, Krakow was a much nicer place, the sun was also shining and it was hot which is always a plus. Really small centre, loads of cafes and shops to go to around the Rynek Glowny central square. Spent the first day wondering around in the sun, shopping for amber, soaking in the lively atmosphere. The hostel we were staying in was a really nice place to meet people and they always had some kind of event going on in the evening. At the vodka tasting event Hannah and I had a shot with vodka, Tabasco and raspberry juice, I didn't think it was too bad.
Our first day trip from the town was to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where we went on a guided tour with someone who was 25 when she was imprisoned there. It was a very haunting, somber experience going to the site of massive human imprisonment, torture and death. The brick houses where they 'lived' have been made into a museum showing the history, progression and the reality of what happened there between 1941-45, showing displays of some of the suitcases, shoes, cooking utensils, hairbrushes of the thousands and thousands people that entered into the camp. Being there affected me more than any war film, documentary, museum and it is something that should be seen.
Our second day trip from the town was to the mountain ski resort of Zakopane, down in the south near the Slovakian boarder. Obviously it's summer so there was no snow, but all the houses looked cute and wood cabiny and I could see them all covered in snow. (Would like to go back when it is snowy.) We took the cable car up to the top after looking for it most of the day, saw some lakes in the middle of the mountains and took in the clean, fresh air.
Spend the last day in Krakow looking at the amber again and I am pleased to tell you all that I successfully bought a green amber pendant that I am very happy with. This is where I said good-bye to Sarah and continued on to Berlin with my sister, Hannah.
Saturday, 29 August 2009
From Russia with No Love
31st August 2008
Like the hostel in Irkutsk, the hostel in Moscow was equally hard to find because there were no real signs to indicate where it was and has a Hostel - The Movie-esk feel to it. Once we found the place, it felt like we were knocking on someone's apartment, which I think it was. It was basically run by a Russian lady, Nina, who spoke no English and these people who were apparently workers there some of the time. Nina turned out to be my favourite Russian, kinda funny in a sweet way.
Compared to Irkutsk, Moscow was a 'nicer' place, people in restaurants spoke English but there were still a fair number of uber rude people that didn't need to be that rude. Russian's seem to have not learnt the international language of gestures and prefer to shout at someone and point in some wild direction yet they have mastered the English word for 'no' and at the same time I learn 'no' in Russian pretty quick. It was incredibly frustrating and quite soul destroying to be shouted at for asking where the toilet is. Trying to get my Belarus transit visa was probably the rudest someone was to me, all he could say to me was 'no' and 'I don't know'. I did get it but with no help what so ever from the receptionist man.
Skye and I's last day together was a little crap, we failed to meet up again from the morning of going off to do errands. We saw each other again in the afternoon and went to a final dinner out to My My where everything was cow printed, felt like I was in some MK concrete cow restaurant. I did successfully meet up with Sarah on our first day in Moscow.
It was a very expensive city, comparable to London, they have no concept of queuing rules, instead they push-in, shove until they are served. The prettiest building in Moscow was St Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square, very colourful and nice shapes on the outside. Russia is Orthodox so the inside of all the churches and cathedrals I went inside were heavily decorated in gold and massive wall/ceiling paintings. I also got to see my first pickled communist leader in the form of Lenin. It was quite surreal seeing him lying down looking very waxy. People carry things around in plastic bags as well as having a normal bag. There were also lots of monuments all around the city, the biggest one we found was of Peter the Great holding a golden scroll, a little un-tasteful, but certainly made a statement.
Sarah and I spent an evening going around different metro stations looking at the architecture, it turned out to be a fun, cheap evening. The escalator ate the back of my flip flops which wasn't very fun. Some of the stations were very nice, nearly all of them have the Soviet mark of the hammer and the sickle as well as Lenin, a war type scene and scenes with very manly things such as planes or tanks made of mosaic. The bigger stations are more like places to hang out and meet people. Probably associated with the 24 hour flower shops, there seemed to be a lot of guys around with big beautiful bunches of flowers or couples with huge single roses, I thought that was pretty sweet.
Going inside the Kremlin was nice, there were lots of churches and a pretty garden. We tried to go into the Armoury but didn't have tickets, once we waited till everyone had gone in and they let the excess in, the counter wouldn't take credit cards so we had to wait till the next time slot. Other people I spoke to also found Moscow and Russia generally to be quite a rude place but the same people also said that St Petersburg was a nice place to visit but I don't see myself coming back to Russia any time soon.
Like the hostel in Irkutsk, the hostel in Moscow was equally hard to find because there were no real signs to indicate where it was and has a Hostel - The Movie-esk feel to it. Once we found the place, it felt like we were knocking on someone's apartment, which I think it was. It was basically run by a Russian lady, Nina, who spoke no English and these people who were apparently workers there some of the time. Nina turned out to be my favourite Russian, kinda funny in a sweet way.
Compared to Irkutsk, Moscow was a 'nicer' place, people in restaurants spoke English but there were still a fair number of uber rude people that didn't need to be that rude. Russian's seem to have not learnt the international language of gestures and prefer to shout at someone and point in some wild direction yet they have mastered the English word for 'no' and at the same time I learn 'no' in Russian pretty quick. It was incredibly frustrating and quite soul destroying to be shouted at for asking where the toilet is. Trying to get my Belarus transit visa was probably the rudest someone was to me, all he could say to me was 'no' and 'I don't know'. I did get it but with no help what so ever from the receptionist man.
Skye and I's last day together was a little crap, we failed to meet up again from the morning of going off to do errands. We saw each other again in the afternoon and went to a final dinner out to My My where everything was cow printed, felt like I was in some MK concrete cow restaurant. I did successfully meet up with Sarah on our first day in Moscow.
It was a very expensive city, comparable to London, they have no concept of queuing rules, instead they push-in, shove until they are served. The prettiest building in Moscow was St Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square, very colourful and nice shapes on the outside. Russia is Orthodox so the inside of all the churches and cathedrals I went inside were heavily decorated in gold and massive wall/ceiling paintings. I also got to see my first pickled communist leader in the form of Lenin. It was quite surreal seeing him lying down looking very waxy. People carry things around in plastic bags as well as having a normal bag. There were also lots of monuments all around the city, the biggest one we found was of Peter the Great holding a golden scroll, a little un-tasteful, but certainly made a statement.
Sarah and I spent an evening going around different metro stations looking at the architecture, it turned out to be a fun, cheap evening. The escalator ate the back of my flip flops which wasn't very fun. Some of the stations were very nice, nearly all of them have the Soviet mark of the hammer and the sickle as well as Lenin, a war type scene and scenes with very manly things such as planes or tanks made of mosaic. The bigger stations are more like places to hang out and meet people. Probably associated with the 24 hour flower shops, there seemed to be a lot of guys around with big beautiful bunches of flowers or couples with huge single roses, I thought that was pretty sweet.
Going inside the Kremlin was nice, there were lots of churches and a pretty garden. We tried to go into the Armoury but didn't have tickets, once we waited till everyone had gone in and they let the excess in, the counter wouldn't take credit cards so we had to wait till the next time slot. Other people I spoke to also found Moscow and Russia generally to be quite a rude place but the same people also said that St Petersburg was a nice place to visit but I don't see myself coming back to Russia any time soon.
4 Days on a Train - Irkutsk to Moskva
August 2008
It wasn't as long and boring as one might imagine, I managed to fill the days eating, sleeping, drinking hot vodka tea, eating and sleeping some more. Skye and I were sharing our carriage with a whole bunch of Army boys who didn't start talking to us in our compartment till day three. Andreas was the most confident of them and kind of made a pest of himself with us and the two other girls in our compartment.
Day one we shared the compartment with Tatiana, a teacher who was dressed all in pink and another Army boy, Ivan , separate from the others in the carriage. He spoke no English but apparently if you want to meet a girl in Russia, number one is Vodka, number two is a compliment, then number three is all that comes after. So it really can be as easy as 1, 2, 3. He also wanted to learn Army English and things to say to start a fight, we didn't teach him either. Russian boys have to do National Service and the boys in our carriage had been in the army from when they were sixteen they were in their early twenties. Having been in the Army they are then not allowed to leave the country for seven years. At least that's what I was getting from the communications between us, Tatiana and Ivan.
Morning of day two we got two new compartment mates, two ladies who didn't rally speak to us, but they did offer us a very yummy chocolate - kind of like a coffee flavoured Milky Way, which is didn't have the pleasure of having another one.
Day three's activity was going to the restaurant cart, it was quite nice, I had a very yummy beef stroganoph. The whole journey was broken up by various twenty minute breaks which was nice to stretch out legs and maybe find something to buy from the veggie ladies or the stalls. We arrived to Moscow about five minutes late and to a very rainy day.
It wasn't as long and boring as one might imagine, I managed to fill the days eating, sleeping, drinking hot vodka tea, eating and sleeping some more. Skye and I were sharing our carriage with a whole bunch of Army boys who didn't start talking to us in our compartment till day three. Andreas was the most confident of them and kind of made a pest of himself with us and the two other girls in our compartment.
Day one we shared the compartment with Tatiana, a teacher who was dressed all in pink and another Army boy, Ivan , separate from the others in the carriage. He spoke no English but apparently if you want to meet a girl in Russia, number one is Vodka, number two is a compliment, then number three is all that comes after. So it really can be as easy as 1, 2, 3. He also wanted to learn Army English and things to say to start a fight, we didn't teach him either. Russian boys have to do National Service and the boys in our carriage had been in the army from when they were sixteen they were in their early twenties. Having been in the Army they are then not allowed to leave the country for seven years. At least that's what I was getting from the communications between us, Tatiana and Ivan.
Morning of day two we got two new compartment mates, two ladies who didn't rally speak to us, but they did offer us a very yummy chocolate - kind of like a coffee flavoured Milky Way, which is didn't have the pleasure of having another one.
Day three's activity was going to the restaurant cart, it was quite nice, I had a very yummy beef stroganoph. The whole journey was broken up by various twenty minute breaks which was nice to stretch out legs and maybe find something to buy from the veggie ladies or the stalls. We arrived to Moscow about five minutes late and to a very rainy day.
Olkhon Island in Lake Baikal
22nd August 2008
The tour we had planned to do at Lake Baikal was un-able to go ahead, instead we went up to Olkhon Island, half way up the lake and about a five hour mini-bus ride from Irkutsk. Having no accommodation reserved we were advised to go to Nikita's Homestead where they will 'sort you out'. And that they did, we arrived, were told the place was fully booked then placed in the extra room of a neighbour. All the people we met were also placed in similar accommodation which left me wondering who is the elite who got to eat and sleep in the nice bit. Our room was private which was something of a luxury. Our toilet was an outhouse and the shower was a bucket where you mix the hot and cold water then throw it over yourself. This was apparently a traditional Russian bath, called a banya, similar to a sauna. There where only twenty minute slots that you had to book in advance. When we finally got our turn there was no cold water left, so after waiting a while we decided to just strip and start washing. This also happened to be the moment that the hose was pulled out and the door flew wide open. Skye went to the door covered by her t-shirt to close it and was greeted by two men, at least she got a smile out of some Russian's.
There are no real roads on the island, it's all compacted sand and gravel with holes everywhere, generally the cars drove on the right, but it really didn't matter, they just drove where ever it was the easiest to get through. The food was good, was served omul a few times, and lots of bread and potatoes.
The area is really beautiful, the second day I say some of the area on the back of a horse called Mongol, a little brown 2 year old, a little scared, but cute all the same. The afternoon we did intend to go biking up the coast but there were no bikes left, when saying we'd go for a hike, we got as far as over the hill then took a nap on the beach, then went to find ice-cream and vodka at the local shop, very nice and relaxing. Depending how much of your body you put into the lake will give you various number of extra years of your life. I only put my feet in so maybe I will get a couple of extra years, I also drank the water so maybe I will live forever. If you put your whole body in you're supposed to get ten extra years.
Got the bus back the morning over all the bumpy roads and the ferry back to the main land. The mini-bus to the Island was also sorted out by a guy called Ivan that someone at the hostel knew. So even though Russian's don't really smile, I think underneath they know that tourism can bring in the money. Back in Irkutsk we went for dinner with two girls we meet on the island, the place we found had no English menu. Using the phrase book we de-coded the 'vegetable salad' section and picked random dishes. The ones that turned up were all good, except they seem to have a love for mayonnaise that I don't particularly share.
One last thing about Irkutsk that is worth mentioning, right outside our hostel are two twenty four hour flower/plant shops. Skye was looking for pizza and all we found were roses and potted plants. I don't know if these were the front of some other business, or Russian men like buying flowers for their other halves. Maybe it's best not to know the real answer.
The tour we had planned to do at Lake Baikal was un-able to go ahead, instead we went up to Olkhon Island, half way up the lake and about a five hour mini-bus ride from Irkutsk. Having no accommodation reserved we were advised to go to Nikita's Homestead where they will 'sort you out'. And that they did, we arrived, were told the place was fully booked then placed in the extra room of a neighbour. All the people we met were also placed in similar accommodation which left me wondering who is the elite who got to eat and sleep in the nice bit. Our room was private which was something of a luxury. Our toilet was an outhouse and the shower was a bucket where you mix the hot and cold water then throw it over yourself. This was apparently a traditional Russian bath, called a banya, similar to a sauna. There where only twenty minute slots that you had to book in advance. When we finally got our turn there was no cold water left, so after waiting a while we decided to just strip and start washing. This also happened to be the moment that the hose was pulled out and the door flew wide open. Skye went to the door covered by her t-shirt to close it and was greeted by two men, at least she got a smile out of some Russian's.
There are no real roads on the island, it's all compacted sand and gravel with holes everywhere, generally the cars drove on the right, but it really didn't matter, they just drove where ever it was the easiest to get through. The food was good, was served omul a few times, and lots of bread and potatoes.
The area is really beautiful, the second day I say some of the area on the back of a horse called Mongol, a little brown 2 year old, a little scared, but cute all the same. The afternoon we did intend to go biking up the coast but there were no bikes left, when saying we'd go for a hike, we got as far as over the hill then took a nap on the beach, then went to find ice-cream and vodka at the local shop, very nice and relaxing. Depending how much of your body you put into the lake will give you various number of extra years of your life. I only put my feet in so maybe I will get a couple of extra years, I also drank the water so maybe I will live forever. If you put your whole body in you're supposed to get ten extra years.
Got the bus back the morning over all the bumpy roads and the ferry back to the main land. The mini-bus to the Island was also sorted out by a guy called Ivan that someone at the hostel knew. So even though Russian's don't really smile, I think underneath they know that tourism can bring in the money. Back in Irkutsk we went for dinner with two girls we meet on the island, the place we found had no English menu. Using the phrase book we de-coded the 'vegetable salad' section and picked random dishes. The ones that turned up were all good, except they seem to have a love for mayonnaise that I don't particularly share.
One last thing about Irkutsk that is worth mentioning, right outside our hostel are two twenty four hour flower/plant shops. Skye was looking for pizza and all we found were roses and potted plants. I don't know if these were the front of some other business, or Russian men like buying flowers for their other halves. Maybe it's best not to know the real answer.
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