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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.
Irkutsk, Russia and My birthday
20th August 2008
Train three of ten was a really pleasant ride, the Russian train officer was a little scary and the wait at the boarder took forever, about seven hours, but we got our passports stamped and made it though. While waiting at the Russian boarder town our train started moving, it's a little scary seeing you train moving and you aren't sure if you're supposed to be on it or not. Turns out we didn't have to be on it, it was just moving tracks.
Russia is very different to other countries I have visited, we'd been hearing stories about the Russians not being very helpful and that no one really speaks English and can confirm that these are both true after arriving at Irkutsk early on Tuesday morning. Everyone sounds really angry, no one smiles and the people we have had interactions with seem like they can't be bothered to talk/deal with us. There are loads of really boxy cars on the road straight out of the 80's and there is about a 50/50 mixture of left and right hand drive cars. And also what seems to be a large number of boy racer type cars and people, complete with Trance music blaring out of all kinds of cars. Women have incredibly long legs, can walk in heels and it feels like they tower over me when they walk down the street. It also reminds me a lot of first being in Japan, I can't read anything and the language is really different. I keep bowing at people if I want them to help me. People are all kinds of ethnic origins here so it's hard to tell who is a gai-jin/tourist and who isn't.
Waiting at the bank in Irkutsk to change travellers cheques there was a middle aged couple who were trying to change sterling in to Russian rubles, from what was going on it looked like the bank thought she was trying to change fake money, they kept looking in massive folders and putting them under UV light to test their authenticity. Among the stack were two large brown notes, I don't know what domination they were, but they looked a little suspect. It took them forever to finally change about 250 GBP out of what looked like about 600 GBP. She didn't look that pissed off when she left, so maybe they were fake. When I get to the counter they are equally as suspicious of my sterling travellers cheques, again after a long time looking in folders and checking the procedure I finally got some Russian rubles.
Like UB there are no MacDonald's or Starbucks and as Skye are I were walking round for a place to have a birthday lunch there was very little on offer expect banks. We found a place that offered omul, a freshwater fish that is only found in lake Baikal, so we spent the afternoon there. Went out for drinks in a cute beer garden that reminded me of S. Africa.
Train three of ten was a really pleasant ride, the Russian train officer was a little scary and the wait at the boarder took forever, about seven hours, but we got our passports stamped and made it though. While waiting at the Russian boarder town our train started moving, it's a little scary seeing you train moving and you aren't sure if you're supposed to be on it or not. Turns out we didn't have to be on it, it was just moving tracks.
Russia is very different to other countries I have visited, we'd been hearing stories about the Russians not being very helpful and that no one really speaks English and can confirm that these are both true after arriving at Irkutsk early on Tuesday morning. Everyone sounds really angry, no one smiles and the people we have had interactions with seem like they can't be bothered to talk/deal with us. There are loads of really boxy cars on the road straight out of the 80's and there is about a 50/50 mixture of left and right hand drive cars. And also what seems to be a large number of boy racer type cars and people, complete with Trance music blaring out of all kinds of cars. Women have incredibly long legs, can walk in heels and it feels like they tower over me when they walk down the street. It also reminds me a lot of first being in Japan, I can't read anything and the language is really different. I keep bowing at people if I want them to help me. People are all kinds of ethnic origins here so it's hard to tell who is a gai-jin/tourist and who isn't.
Waiting at the bank in Irkutsk to change travellers cheques there was a middle aged couple who were trying to change sterling in to Russian rubles, from what was going on it looked like the bank thought she was trying to change fake money, they kept looking in massive folders and putting them under UV light to test their authenticity. Among the stack were two large brown notes, I don't know what domination they were, but they looked a little suspect. It took them forever to finally change about 250 GBP out of what looked like about 600 GBP. She didn't look that pissed off when she left, so maybe they were fake. When I get to the counter they are equally as suspicious of my sterling travellers cheques, again after a long time looking in folders and checking the procedure I finally got some Russian rubles.
Like UB there are no MacDonald's or Starbucks and as Skye are I were walking round for a place to have a birthday lunch there was very little on offer expect banks. We found a place that offered omul, a freshwater fish that is only found in lake Baikal, so we spent the afternoon there. Went out for drinks in a cute beer garden that reminded me of S. Africa.
Living like a nomad
17th August 2008
Camping out under the stars, dinner with the locals, horse riding from place to place - this would be the promotional version of the last week Skye and I spent in Tereji National Park with four host families. The reality - no shower and proper toilet for eight days, in their place we had the open forest and the river. Looking back it was fun, but at the time, no shower for that long was pretty tough. It was pretty much like a desert, baking hot during the day and bitterly cold at night. I didn't have a proper sleeping bag and improvised by using my backpack as a leg/feet warmer. Host family two gave us blankets were were fantastic, the sleeping mats we hired from gertoger under the impression that they were inflatable, were not.
The horse riding was really fun, the horses here are really small and hardy, not more than 13 hh (if you're a horsey person). The saddles are not so fun, they are made of wood and the bridles are made of what looks like scrap pieces of leather tied together to resemble some kind of head wear of horses. The way to ride in them is to stand up in your stripps while at the same time screaming 'choooooo' in a deep throat-ed way to make the horse go faster.
Getting of the two hour bus from UB we travelled by ox cart to the first host family. Here we were helped by two very persistent younglings who were adamant they knew better than us how to put our rented tent up. We herded the goats around and up the mountain with one of the younglings. The Mongolians like music and he was one of a few people who asked us to sing. I did a rendition of 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', Skye did 'The Hello Song' then we did a duet/round thing of 'Row Row Row You're Boat.' When asked to sing with a 18 year old, I did Britney Spears, Celine Dion and the Backstreet Boys.
I thought the food was good through the week, Skye I would say would not agree. The Steppes of Mongolia are not the best place for a vegetarian. My favourite food from all the host families were the hardened part of the top of milk so that it was like a thick cream or butter with bread, a salty noodle soup with vegetables and dried meat and yak yogurt which tasted like the yogurt pots in China you get from the side of the road. They make the noodles similar to the way I've seen udon being made, just flour and water rolled out, folded and cut into strips.
We got to swim in the river, take time to read our books, sit in the sun. Mongolians don't really use clocks, if they set a time to be somewhere and they are late it's bad luck, so we slowed right down while living with the nomads. We spend the longest time with host family 2, a 26 year old lady, her husband and their 5 year old daughter. The host Mum was eight and half months pregnant and was amazingly active - no swollen ankles and she barely went to the toilet. We helped this family move their ger of which the roof is made up of about 100 poles. Each one of these she cleaned in a bath tub as well as wash all the inside decorations by hand. Through gestures and using the orientation book we figured out that only married couples have their own ger and in the country the usual age to get married is about 20. The ger is set up like a clock, the door is at 6 o'clock and you enter and walk clockwise round. 12 o'clock is the place where the most respected person/people sit. We were often offered to sit in this stop by the families. I went to one family where the TV was in the 12 o'clock place, this ger was all young people, it's nice to know where their respect lies. It's a very open society, there were always people coming and going, other family members, friends. Host Mum and Dad from family two were both one of 10 siblings, that is a lot of babies.
The company we organised this tour though, www.gertoger.org, organised a mini Naddam. Host Dad from family 2 won the wrestling competition and his horse won the horse race. The riders are boys between 6-12 years old, any bigger and they are too heavy.
Our third host family was an older couple where the Dad was a professional wrestler and had the appearance of a bear or an ox. We did archery with him and the host Mum taught us how to play an ankle bone game and how to tie a traditional knot of the Mongolian dress. We then got to dress up in some Mongolian clothing and had our pictures taken. All the families were very interested in our digital cameras and what pictures we had taken.
Our last host family wasn't that exciting, it took us three hours by ox car to get to them from Host family 3, about 13 kilometers. Host Mum 3 stayed for a cup of the salty milk tea then had to do that all over again to get back. The host Dad from family 4 was more interested in the Olympics than entertaining us, so we had a lazy few days reading, watching the judo and boxing as well as washing our clothes in the river. I was served dumplings filled with a nasty looking/smelling meat, Skye's dinner was much tastier, the same dumplings but filled with mashed potato instead of a suspicious looking meat.
We've met a lot of Europeans on our Mongolian travels all with word perfect English, we spent a few days with a Danish couple on our tour and a pair of Portuguese guys on the bus back to UB. All in all my week living as a nomad was a good, eye-opening experience, one that I wouldn't forget in a hurry.
Camping out under the stars, dinner with the locals, horse riding from place to place - this would be the promotional version of the last week Skye and I spent in Tereji National Park with four host families. The reality - no shower and proper toilet for eight days, in their place we had the open forest and the river. Looking back it was fun, but at the time, no shower for that long was pretty tough. It was pretty much like a desert, baking hot during the day and bitterly cold at night. I didn't have a proper sleeping bag and improvised by using my backpack as a leg/feet warmer. Host family two gave us blankets were were fantastic, the sleeping mats we hired from gertoger under the impression that they were inflatable, were not.
The horse riding was really fun, the horses here are really small and hardy, not more than 13 hh (if you're a horsey person). The saddles are not so fun, they are made of wood and the bridles are made of what looks like scrap pieces of leather tied together to resemble some kind of head wear of horses. The way to ride in them is to stand up in your stripps while at the same time screaming 'choooooo' in a deep throat-ed way to make the horse go faster.
Getting of the two hour bus from UB we travelled by ox cart to the first host family. Here we were helped by two very persistent younglings who were adamant they knew better than us how to put our rented tent up. We herded the goats around and up the mountain with one of the younglings. The Mongolians like music and he was one of a few people who asked us to sing. I did a rendition of 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes', Skye did 'The Hello Song' then we did a duet/round thing of 'Row Row Row You're Boat.' When asked to sing with a 18 year old, I did Britney Spears, Celine Dion and the Backstreet Boys.
I thought the food was good through the week, Skye I would say would not agree. The Steppes of Mongolia are not the best place for a vegetarian. My favourite food from all the host families were the hardened part of the top of milk so that it was like a thick cream or butter with bread, a salty noodle soup with vegetables and dried meat and yak yogurt which tasted like the yogurt pots in China you get from the side of the road. They make the noodles similar to the way I've seen udon being made, just flour and water rolled out, folded and cut into strips.
We got to swim in the river, take time to read our books, sit in the sun. Mongolians don't really use clocks, if they set a time to be somewhere and they are late it's bad luck, so we slowed right down while living with the nomads. We spend the longest time with host family 2, a 26 year old lady, her husband and their 5 year old daughter. The host Mum was eight and half months pregnant and was amazingly active - no swollen ankles and she barely went to the toilet. We helped this family move their ger of which the roof is made up of about 100 poles. Each one of these she cleaned in a bath tub as well as wash all the inside decorations by hand. Through gestures and using the orientation book we figured out that only married couples have their own ger and in the country the usual age to get married is about 20. The ger is set up like a clock, the door is at 6 o'clock and you enter and walk clockwise round. 12 o'clock is the place where the most respected person/people sit. We were often offered to sit in this stop by the families. I went to one family where the TV was in the 12 o'clock place, this ger was all young people, it's nice to know where their respect lies. It's a very open society, there were always people coming and going, other family members, friends. Host Mum and Dad from family two were both one of 10 siblings, that is a lot of babies.
The company we organised this tour though, www.gertoger.org, organised a mini Naddam. Host Dad from family 2 won the wrestling competition and his horse won the horse race. The riders are boys between 6-12 years old, any bigger and they are too heavy.
Our third host family was an older couple where the Dad was a professional wrestler and had the appearance of a bear or an ox. We did archery with him and the host Mum taught us how to play an ankle bone game and how to tie a traditional knot of the Mongolian dress. We then got to dress up in some Mongolian clothing and had our pictures taken. All the families were very interested in our digital cameras and what pictures we had taken.
Our last host family wasn't that exciting, it took us three hours by ox car to get to them from Host family 3, about 13 kilometers. Host Mum 3 stayed for a cup of the salty milk tea then had to do that all over again to get back. The host Dad from family 4 was more interested in the Olympics than entertaining us, so we had a lazy few days reading, watching the judo and boxing as well as washing our clothes in the river. I was served dumplings filled with a nasty looking/smelling meat, Skye's dinner was much tastier, the same dumplings but filled with mashed potato instead of a suspicious looking meat.
We've met a lot of Europeans on our Mongolian travels all with word perfect English, we spent a few days with a Danish couple on our tour and a pair of Portuguese guys on the bus back to UB. All in all my week living as a nomad was a good, eye-opening experience, one that I wouldn't forget in a hurry.
I can see clearly now the smog as gone
7th August 2008
First thing Monday morning we had to organise transport out of China. We had a variety of options, first one being the train. Trying to use the hotel tour booking guy wasn't that helpful until we got more aggressive and obviously not going away. The Lonely Planet writes that 'one can conveniently buy tickets from the CITS office in Beijing'. Yet after the previous afternoons hassle about getting a train we were not so sure. We took a chance and went to the office where there were indeed tickets and one was able to conveniently purchase International train tickets leaving China. We suspected that is was Internet/Olympic hype that was suggesting onward tickets would be difficult to get. Job done, time to enjoy our last afternoon in Beijing by wondering in Tianamen Square and through the entrance buildings of the Forbidden City which is now called the Palace Museum. One activity that I wanted to do while in Beijing was to see pickled Mao, but alas, I was unable to yet again, Mondays are his day off. The latest men's fashion in China seemed to be that they pull their t-shirt up to expose Buddha like bellies and tuck the excess fabric under the sleeves.
Train number two and our first International train journey. The guy looking after our carriage was really cute, we were put with a whole load of other gai-jins, we were sharing with a Malaysian who was studying in UK to be a Doctor. After all the fuss of the 'shall we, shan't we get tickets' the train wasn't even full. The restaurant car wasn't at all exciting, I was much happier with our food menu of Cheeto chrisp sandwiches and fruit. The view from the train was pretty flat, leaving Beijing there were lots of rice paddies and massive corn fields. As we left the city it opened up to large dry, dusty but strangely green areas with the occasional dirt car track criss-crossing. The temperature reached 36 degree at the max which was pretty hot, all we had was a fan and the windows open. (First class had the AC).
Crossing the boarder was time consuming, about 5 hours. The wheels of the train had to be changed as the tracks are different, plus there were scary official looking men/women at immigration and customs. We got the 'dodgey'vibe from a group of guys who weren't in uniform but were asking for our passports, we'd already given them to the Chinese immigration officials.
Drawing closer to Ulan Bator, more Ger's and livestock peppered the greener landscape. First impressions of UB, appeared quite run down in a Cambodia-esk way, but now where near as many beggars or people trying to sell you things. Roads are crazy, even though it may say you have right of way crossing the pedestrian crossing, you still have to dodge the cars, that are constanly honking at everything that got in the way.
Mongolian women are very attractive, they are taller, have more defined features and can walk in high heels. I haven't felt any 'you're a gai-jin' attitudes towards me, they are friendly and the language barrier doesn't seem so big. Their English is good but not all. Gestures and charades are still a big part of my day to day life. We moved hostels today and trying to find the train station I basically had to make a big 'choo choo' noise and the road sweeper who we were asking got what we were asking for. I guess trains make the same noise in English and Mongolian, ne!!
Organised Chaos to Chaos
3rd August 2008
Leaving Namie was very sad, it feels like I am graduating Japan to what I don't know yet. Spend Saturday night with the coasties for one last leavers dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant near Tsukuba and saw where Makiko lives - cute house.
Leaving Namie was very sad, it feels like I am graduating Japan to what I don't know yet. Spend Saturday night with the coasties for one last leavers dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant near Tsukuba and saw where Makiko lives - cute house.
Last bit of Japan travelling included Hijime castle, Kiyomizudera in Kyoto and eating Kobe beef. Which of the three was the best leaving experience. Castles and temples all look the same to me these days and these ones had way too many tourists. The restaurant called 'Steak Land' not a place for the non-meat eater, cook the steak right in front of you, yum yum yum.
Being on a boat for three days took it's toll, I was pretty much knocked out by the waves the second day, the third day I was ready to get back on land. Small boat, mix of people, including a big University group going to Mongolia for a horse tour. The Japanese people that I met on the Ferry were all much more liberal that the people I've met in Fukushima, it was nice to know they exist. Other gaijins included Brits, Spanish, American, Canadians, Aussies, all going for different reasons, some the Olympics others for a trip to Moscow.
Taijin the ferry port on the China end of the boat trip from reading I thought would be this sleepy, little fishing town, but not the case, it is a big busy city, the main train station was hour and half taxi ride away and felt just as busy as Beijing. All the express trains were booked out, we thought we might be able to get a taxi but no luck, and in that time we missed the 18.00 local train to Beijing. In the end got the 21.05 local to Beijing West. Turned out to be a really fun train ride even though it was hour and half longer. The Chinese people were really friendly and were not at all nervous about talking to us in English - totally opposite to the Japanese train experience. A really cute family were sitting opposite me and I played cards with the little girl most of the trip. Those who were standing were serious on-lookers to the games and at one point corrected me when I played a wrong move, opps.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
10 Things
July 2008
10 things I won't miss about Japan.
1. Cleaning with a broom that is half the size of a normal broom.
2. Japanese shop voice.
3. The inability to change/modify anything on a food menu.
4. Anko
5. No work space in the kitchen.
6. Constantly being asked when I will be getting married.
7. The humidity
8. The smell and taste of Japanese Curry Rice.
9. Being called ALT.
10. Not being spoken to directly and being spoken about when I am in the room.
10 things I will miss
1. The seasons and all things in the shops and school that revolve around them.
2. Snowboarding at the weekend.
3. Japanese food and the availability of things needed to cook it in the supermarket.
4. My favourite students.
5. The rice fields.
6. The Kotatsu and dog basket combo.
7. Eating with chopsticks.
8. Onsen.
9. All my Japanese ladies and friends.
10. My life in Japan.
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