tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28153280570690569722024-03-19T03:43:52.035+01:00Travelling TrailsAsier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-130781133352134882011-12-01T10:00:00.001+01:002011-12-01T10:00:03.427+01:00The journey so far (I'm still alive)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivubrCAcaJAtrcjcjW30cfvzOQ23fNS3Mp3_gpFD_uL8dmlWJXBCvZs-41c-PH3HLGkZ6bnXatf3gxPlmPl-Kn8yMP_oS_KSio4S50vCH2bNPnbjA0ueVq7NdbMMKU-9pKeWfSSH6vW7tl/s1600/eurasiantrip-ibilbidea.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivubrCAcaJAtrcjcjW30cfvzOQ23fNS3Mp3_gpFD_uL8dmlWJXBCvZs-41c-PH3HLGkZ6bnXatf3gxPlmPl-Kn8yMP_oS_KSio4S50vCH2bNPnbjA0ueVq7NdbMMKU-9pKeWfSSH6vW7tl/s320/eurasiantrip-ibilbidea.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680652664407705858" border="0" /></a><br />I am very aware that I have not been writing here anything at all since April, when I posted about my future plans in China (which of course, they have been modified in the end).<br /><br />I am not very concerned about it because I doubt that many people that don't know me personally were following me through here, and in any case, all of those people that were really interested in my trip, have been following me on Facebook, where I post regularly on my whereabouts, plans and adventures.<br /><br />Besides, as I said already long ago here, I have been dedicating more time to write texts about cultural aspects of the countries I visit on a blog that I write for the Basque newspaper Berria.<br />And I must say that my effort has been recently rewarded by winning a prize of Basque young bloggers (<a href="http://www.bilblogari.net/">www.bilblogari.net</a>)<br /><br />Nonetheless, I use this opportunity here to say that I am perfectly safe and enjoying my experience in Asia, and I will publish 3 maps with my detailed itinerary so far.<br /><br />The map above shows the whole itinerary so far, February-December 2011.<br /><br />The following map below displays only the East Asia part of my trip (March-December 2011).<br />You can see how I reached my Northeasternmost point (marked by star on the map) in Shiretoko, Hokkaido island (Japan), and I will reach my Southernmost point in Singapore around New Year.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj905ep-FZ3PhIigNhZwzvisRH0ydTm5nEz5Gy7Nzhd5DpTs9IjqbZcU5-QpdGFBlYyyTYjE0YUgkjsYS1VsaQS49c7MuNER9ePyTVOnL5IvIPy-Q1ySGeOf1-GvGz-1U9_xQlzwK8mAV6i/s1600/ibilbidea-ekialdeko-asia.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 335px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj905ep-FZ3PhIigNhZwzvisRH0ydTm5nEz5Gy7Nzhd5DpTs9IjqbZcU5-QpdGFBlYyyTYjE0YUgkjsYS1VsaQS49c7MuNER9ePyTVOnL5IvIPy-Q1ySGeOf1-GvGz-1U9_xQlzwK8mAV6i/s400/ibilbidea-ekialdeko-asia.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680653130322459138" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This last maps shows the last (current) leg of my trip, since I arrived to Shanghai by ferry on the 16th of October, from a month long stay of resting in Japan (trying to avoid the monsoon and floods in Southeast Asia), until December 1st, when I have arrived by plane to Myanmar's main city of Yangon (old Rangoon).<br />My whole trip has been overland so far, and I hadn't taken any flight before this one to Myanmar, but I really wanted to visit Myanmar/Burma now that I am in Southeast Asia, and the only way to enter the country is by air.<br />I will come back to Bangkok on a plane again on the 12th of December, and continue my overland Eurasian journey unaffected, until I reach back Europe.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj87dt8Uzb0da0xcjZdCUNMPstFOh1UmAOSa9RXDs10d_gM-qRMH-hBYZPdI1geC_ecO9jAOKJ8XHdwHdraIvqkC534Nstuj2KqapgoJUu7aO_IXxi6GzDPL2JWdIcDx7Uev3Y75LcG52IT/s1600/ibilbidea-urria-azaroa.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 303px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj87dt8Uzb0da0xcjZdCUNMPstFOh1UmAOSa9RXDs10d_gM-qRMH-hBYZPdI1geC_ecO9jAOKJ8XHdwHdraIvqkC534Nstuj2KqapgoJUu7aO_IXxi6GzDPL2JWdIcDx7Uev3Y75LcG52IT/s400/ibilbidea-urria-azaroa.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680653493767198978" border="0" /></a>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-45700904187626441502011-04-21T18:42:00.005+02:002011-04-22T03:12:33.958+02:00Advanced planning<span lang="EU">Most probably next time I write here I will do it from Japan already, so before I quit <span style="font-weight: bold;">South Korea, where I have been truly living</span> for more than one month, waiting for the situation in Japan to improve, I want to talk about my future travelling plans in Asia.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I will write about my life in South Korea on a next post.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I still firmly believe that I need to be <span style="font-weight: bold;">very diligent in many little details</span> at every point of the travelling in order to accomplish the tasks I impose to myself, and not to be driven by purposelessness or carelessness, that would deviate me from the path. But, needless to say, I am very flexible regarding the bigger outlines of the trip.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">So that is why I keep all my things in order all the time, I know where every item I brought with me is, I am aware of the money I have with me, I try to keep my backpack safe, etc.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I am currently in Seoul, as I have been for the last three weeks, since I signed up for a Korean language course, while waiting for a chance to go to Japan before May.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">Next week I will visit the very South of South Korea and inmediately after that I will take <span style="font-weight: bold;">a ferry from Busan to Fukuoka</span> (Kyushu island, Japan) with a French friend that I met in Seoul.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">My intention is travelling thoroughly<span style="font-weight: bold;"> from South to North of Japan, avoiding of course Tohoku</span> (the northern part of the main island Honshu, where all the catastrophes have taken place), and then back to Tokyo and spend some time there.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I will be going as far as Hokkaido, to hike in the Shiretoko National Park, and to get the chance to meet something of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ainu indigenous culture</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">When I was still in Europe I bought in Paris a three-weeks JR Railpass that allows me to take freely any train in Japan (including some bullet trains), but that was back on the 5th of February, and I have to activate it before the 5th of May.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">So I will take this opportunity and I will be travelling non-stop in Japan for three weeks.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">But then, I have been lately thinking about how the rest of my trip is going to be, now that I have delayed the whole plan a lot by staying longer in South Korea.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">Right after Japan I will go to China, for I have a Chinese visa, double entry, that I can use for 60 days of travelling in this giant country. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">And huge it is, this Middle Country (i.e. “China” in Chinese), so as I am travelling overland in Asia it is bound to be the Central Axis of the biggest part of my trip here.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I read carefully the guide, and thought about what I wanted to know and see in China, and came to the conclusion that I should <span style="font-weight: bold;">divide the country in 4 stays of roughly 3 to 4 weeks length</span>, so I will be able to get everywhere I want, inside China, and from one place to another in Asia.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">Once I get to Southeast Asia I will have to get a new Chinese visa to re-enter it.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtA7_5gAUwc39W5a_z406K_-wGyx0GJpkNolSfXJ2A4z2_YCYmbsEG-qTqhziuAKf5fmjgwf-1OfgJjA_0603H3OKn13ZYgLcLg2Gp42aR8wKoRmnXx9SSa-pyudzfitF4POeKCYhP5_L/s1600/China.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtA7_5gAUwc39W5a_z406K_-wGyx0GJpkNolSfXJ2A4z2_YCYmbsEG-qTqhziuAKf5fmjgwf-1OfgJjA_0603H3OKn13ZYgLcLg2Gp42aR8wKoRmnXx9SSa-pyudzfitF4POeKCYhP5_L/s320/China.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5598080237956138594" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">My "Journey to the West" in China.<br /><br />1: First entrance, from Japan. Northeast China (including Beijing, Xian, Jilin, Harbin) Exit to Mongolia. June-July<br /><br />2: Second entrance, from Mongolia. East and South Coastal China (including Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong… but neither Hong Kong nor Macau). Exit to Thailand or Myanmar. July-August.<br /><br />3: Third entrance, from Vietnam. Southern China (Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizou, Sichuan) and Tibet. Exit to Nepal-India. October?<br /><br />4: Fourth entrance, from Nepal. Central China (Qinghai) and Xinjiang. Exit to Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan. December??</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">There could possibly be some problems there, especially when entering the Tibet.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">Last week a fellow traveller (a Dutchman who had been travelling for 14 months in Asia) told me that the Chinese keep closed the inner border to Tibet to foreigners at times, so depending on the time of the year, it could be difficult to get inside.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">And I know that I require a group visa to get from Nepal back to Tibet, but I don’t know if I will be able to travel outside Tibet then, to get to Xinjiang and exit to Central Asia.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I have also recently read that it is possible to cross from China to Myanmar, but not in the other direction. I wonder if I could then exit overland to Thailand from Myanmar, given that people already told me that it is not possible to get overland from Thailand to Myanmar (but maybe it is possible to exit it, who knows).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">In any case, it is going to take a long time for all of this to happens, and it seems that my original travelling times are no longer valid, mainly due to Fukushima.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU">I am very excited about the prospect of all of these adventures and new countries, and I am not in a hurry at all.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EU"> </span></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-46662247448809210512011-04-14T06:41:00.018+02:002011-04-14T08:30:51.201+02:00Yekaterinburg, Siberia and the Far East (05/03 - 16/03)<span style="" lang="EU">The train ride to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yekaterinburg</span> was a bit <span style="font-weight: bold;">longer but bearable</span>. My arrival was smoother too, and my stay was easy but a bit boring (two days).</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Somewhere before Yekaterinburg a <span style="font-weight: bold;">monolith marks the symbolic border between Europe and Asia</span> in the middle of the Ural mountains (they are not really high, they are more like hills), but I was not able to see it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In any case, Yekaterinburg felt much <span style="font-weight: bold;">more European</span> than Kazan.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Light snow greeted me on my arrival, but easily enough I walked all the distance to the far centre from the train station (around 40 min), to get a room at Hotel Bolshoy Ural.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was not very cheap and the rooms were definitely seedy, with a noisy sink inside, cracked wooden floors, doors that didn’t closed properly, corridor toilets in a very bad state, and shared showers in the basement.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The facade of the building was cracked also, and some bits really fallen down.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But as most rooms in Russia it was <span style="font-weight: bold;">overheated</span> (I always wondered about the huge amount of energy they waste in every building of Russia for months and months of winter weather), and the bed was not that bad.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Yekaterinburg itself was not very charming. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It is not an ugly city at all, but there are very few reasons for tourists to stop by, apart from the obvious landmark of the fictitious division between Europe and Asia.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODc7jWp3_SdC4x9uoKtN54myv5BSZNDU3ndBFdaq77wbAH9pd6n-13g9RPOafhZQLS_2rxelHj2x5D6vPOdlH-9iIE_WIVtT28PeNDvqtBMWZuLUkU7ZRyExBI8fl40W-G992q6oyt7hyphenhyphen/s1600/DSC06199.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODc7jWp3_SdC4x9uoKtN54myv5BSZNDU3ndBFdaq77wbAH9pd6n-13g9RPOafhZQLS_2rxelHj2x5D6vPOdlH-9iIE_WIVtT28PeNDvqtBMWZuLUkU7ZRyExBI8fl40W-G992q6oyt7hyphenhyphen/s320/DSC06199.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595307428386207026" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNi2Nc1EhNwE3NhB394JIDmrMY59AexFtp5S6dMPbRwFKUq0F6PEQFGvXKc_Ym-Core7xZJQTMos2jPE8HCcnK_1OWuNqAts6O2ciyN5XYM6jjMkWEBsiZPLQ2LU9JpC2pIlmjp63cs3Kk/s1600/DSC06223.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNi2Nc1EhNwE3NhB394JIDmrMY59AexFtp5S6dMPbRwFKUq0F6PEQFGvXKc_Ym-Core7xZJQTMos2jPE8HCcnK_1OWuNqAts6O2ciyN5XYM6jjMkWEBsiZPLQ2LU9JpC2pIlmjp63cs3Kk/s320/DSC06223.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595307449005235106" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It has some <span style="font-weight: bold;">interesting buildings</span>, some old and some of modernist architecture, and the general impression is quite agreeable, especially around the pond in the middle of the town. But a walk around is enough to see what the city has to offer.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigkiRdBx2RvTenLGjFgWLlPZVdrmjzlqt42kPVi65Nhd9I1zwAOiLczhB3IY42thLe2Xiu1HxszNCLh0ealL3_gifya-cEq_EmLccvcqP7aceV30s9wTEG8qTTkP6X_lE9G6JfY56BYMlm/s1600/DSC06226.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigkiRdBx2RvTenLGjFgWLlPZVdrmjzlqt42kPVi65Nhd9I1zwAOiLczhB3IY42thLe2Xiu1HxszNCLh0ealL3_gifya-cEq_EmLccvcqP7aceV30s9wTEG8qTTkP6X_lE9G6JfY56BYMlm/s320/DSC06226.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595307454743548386" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-u7NWeL3V6czL1ttDH9-2RoCOtN-gu0YOyvBop-BTSo-Q_kTaSZatLIvklhLURrHTn4ubWctcr4Yg6XoYc81s0ho4SRumSCkVMkN15AM_viZ8wuCqSF4Cw5sXXfaQq5GCM6Sdp0-OVm7/s1600/DSC06250.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-u7NWeL3V6czL1ttDH9-2RoCOtN-gu0YOyvBop-BTSo-Q_kTaSZatLIvklhLURrHTn4ubWctcr4Yg6XoYc81s0ho4SRumSCkVMkN15AM_viZ8wuCqSF4Cw5sXXfaQq5GCM6Sdp0-OVm7/s320/DSC06250.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595308857312496978" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxCkIuSaMDy9MeFMRv56Wj75Wi-5i_Yp68MNV8dCPzwYZjYhhIH6fxAlz-SSCQ7awuqdnpKMp3oQ_siqLjnEzuagQ_c82fZSVpmmxteSR6rQTVyYT1Xg_Ct6_PAfT7r_qxiD7c2VVl3vs/s1600/DSC06255.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxCkIuSaMDy9MeFMRv56Wj75Wi-5i_Yp68MNV8dCPzwYZjYhhIH6fxAlz-SSCQ7awuqdnpKMp3oQ_siqLjnEzuagQ_c82fZSVpmmxteSR6rQTVyYT1Xg_Ct6_PAfT7r_qxiD7c2VVl3vs/s320/DSC06255.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595308859890017058" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikX7FrhKw5o5Zn9yuBYALsX2PQFsdft7faGcqBlvpaS8elkw5szlx-2m2nvYphYv2kpTma8L3px-EyHkha6yLEIuZJ7_y_gvOij1O8MCxiIguqS5OAAz2Tb3CBMlSBKNQt1tEe83t3tQtO/s1600/DSC06219.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikX7FrhKw5o5Zn9yuBYALsX2PQFsdft7faGcqBlvpaS8elkw5szlx-2m2nvYphYv2kpTma8L3px-EyHkha6yLEIuZJ7_y_gvOij1O8MCxiIguqS5OAAz2Tb3CBMlSBKNQt1tEe83t3tQtO/s320/DSC06219.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595307439054952738" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Unfortunately I couldn’t meet anyone in Yekaterinburg, despite I had arranged meeting with a Russian girl I met in my hometown at a Japanese party just days before my departure, and that I was also supposed to meet a friend of a Moscovite friend of mine.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">If I had had a Spring day in Nizhniy and a wintery one in Kazan, then I had both on the same day in Yekaterinburg. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">weather was very changeable</span>; it was sunny and warm during the morning and the noon, snow almost nowhere to be seen on the pavement, but<span style=""> </span>all of a sudden a windy snowstorm arose and then we had metres of snow on the streets. Crazy.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKb8zI2wDBOecwnT4Fqs0-R3qQTnNMvyVYzLdom3A7sNaNRqYUmLq62LrSFCVBuqmm6qzw7juaKoj7XH_6LuMWkAVpCVQ0ABP4Bv050ex_EykjoW_Ja1ad-vd81-e0bqXv06YiyNnVpTR0/s1600/DSC06281.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKb8zI2wDBOecwnT4Fqs0-R3qQTnNMvyVYzLdom3A7sNaNRqYUmLq62LrSFCVBuqmm6qzw7juaKoj7XH_6LuMWkAVpCVQ0ABP4Bv050ex_EykjoW_Ja1ad-vd81-e0bqXv06YiyNnVpTR0/s320/DSC06281.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595308869396220898" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Undoubtedly the bizarrest of all things in Yekaterinburg is the cult around the deceased Tsarist Royal Family.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After the October Revolution in 1917, which gave way to the first ever Socialist State, the Tsar Nicholas and his family fled to Eastern Russia, but they were <span style="font-weight: bold;">captured and executed in Yekaterinburg</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Nowadays the Russian Orthodox Church has established a <span style="font-weight: bold;">cult around them, and even cannonized them as Saints and Martyrs</span>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZ-WsQlrVlqiXwpFM3nXLAURYDqTACE2WQsz8xCgPZleeP6A-C8XyyfdlNBFvPVbz5hgRhfvMyZNd4-olK7Y2-0Vi-q95JAEY8l08fDEYLQIqhFz2t1459vnEFSDjy-sFhjDhJTiwo7ro/s1600/DSC06241.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVZ-WsQlrVlqiXwpFM3nXLAURYDqTACE2WQsz8xCgPZleeP6A-C8XyyfdlNBFvPVbz5hgRhfvMyZNd4-olK7Y2-0Vi-q95JAEY8l08fDEYLQIqhFz2t1459vnEFSDjy-sFhjDhJTiwo7ro/s320/DSC06241.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595308853562234594" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Now in the place of the massacre some three newly built temples stand and inside the main church you can behold the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> icons of the Tsar’s Family</span>, even with the Saints’ Aureolae, and people kneeling in front of them, kissing the images, praying and everything.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_f0JqvmPu3xQdbzSDGfMX5CUu2YNbCEypUYEpDP2B0eUzF5lUyZGRIyP-CIFJ2Y6t1UkcH3zvSDPT2OnUOIwzucfnYTawuIWeoYDaHjArHSkSXlhBHpFTddSxwcQl8TBfxSDHWNZT9fEP/s1600/DSC06214.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_f0JqvmPu3xQdbzSDGfMX5CUu2YNbCEypUYEpDP2B0eUzF5lUyZGRIyP-CIFJ2Y6t1UkcH3zvSDPT2OnUOIwzucfnYTawuIWeoYDaHjArHSkSXlhBHpFTddSxwcQl8TBfxSDHWNZT9fEP/s320/DSC06214.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595307429818780658" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Outside there is a tomb where people regularly deposit roses and other flowers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EU">The experience inside the train</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After two days in Yekaterinburg I had a real challenge before me: spending<span style="font-weight: bold;"> two days inside the transsiberian train</span>, some 52 hours, no stops.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5sAuGXaQA3WVjjGUvqdedp7BL9u5CuRF8aHRQHON_1yRryx0juJbz6q8qm9ANglFJD45V-XSR-FWE70QeGfgCd4ISCdIADmdc0n4ABbmrpVfzEzPdmzd5LA_cXWqFYVr9hGWZwsA7Igw7/s1600/DSC06377.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5sAuGXaQA3WVjjGUvqdedp7BL9u5CuRF8aHRQHON_1yRryx0juJbz6q8qm9ANglFJD45V-XSR-FWE70QeGfgCd4ISCdIADmdc0n4ABbmrpVfzEzPdmzd5LA_cXWqFYVr9hGWZwsA7Igw7/s320/DSC06377.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595312831023210658" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">No Russian people do like that, I changed at least three times of companions in the four beds compartment.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">And, just for the record, I had 2nd class tickets (kupe), for the first time, since I had been travelling in 3rd class (platskart) all the time.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The main difference is that in 2nd class the comparments are limited to 4 beds and they can be closed and locked, so allegedly you can have more privacy, while in 3rd class all the beds are exposed to the corridor in a big open compartment.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6-zWe1MXyR0x3GF2T31mTpcbfCaJLC7QmOja2tpCJgUFNp7zaWu7lmIgNy9qTngHMiwSZkaEMJw5B5nii5AUbm-NxxunrPx1sRmEK12xhBgvtn13SGSZJHxFjUtfmJC7ymDoDxEt3A9U/s1600/DSC06287.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6-zWe1MXyR0x3GF2T31mTpcbfCaJLC7QmOja2tpCJgUFNp7zaWu7lmIgNy9qTngHMiwSZkaEMJw5B5nii5AUbm-NxxunrPx1sRmEK12xhBgvtn13SGSZJHxFjUtfmJC7ymDoDxEt3A9U/s320/DSC06287.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595308871276457490" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyJ3mkf-f3qiAcFkrilCSe-Wq25y71C5mG704ptKYKlOrMm8ksgGvK4-SLktzwOqthlvFiddHB5DAEXiIbQTaFjiUBFlOiZFoFXt9hp13PnUllK5Rku2Q3ka651NdvHwiiYRH1o3pkYkS/s1600/DSC06288.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiyJ3mkf-f3qiAcFkrilCSe-Wq25y71C5mG704ptKYKlOrMm8ksgGvK4-SLktzwOqthlvFiddHB5DAEXiIbQTaFjiUBFlOiZFoFXt9hp13PnUllK5Rku2Q3ka651NdvHwiiYRH1o3pkYkS/s320/DSC06288.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595309179693910210" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I must confess that it was <span style="font-weight: bold;">hard in the beginning</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Many circumstances joined together made the trip a little more difficult.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I need to say that I was having a hard time coping with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Russian behaviour at times</span> all over my journey in these lands. They can be really rough, strict, inflexible and irrational sometimes.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Well, when I got on the train I only wanted to stay on my upper bed, calmly and undisturbed, but that was obviously not possible when you share your comparment.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Russians feel they really need to communicate while on board and there is no escape to that, probably they feel much more obliged to talk with their companions when confined in a 2nd class compartment than in the 3rd class open compartment (remember this if you are taking the transsiberian).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They know the trip is going to be long so they are in that travelling mood when you <span style="font-weight: bold;">need to socialise</span> in order to pass the time faster.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It can be both a warming welcome or an unnecessary annoyance, depending on how you consider the matter.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Even if you don’t understand what they are saying they keep and keep trying, and in the end I was surprised that I understood much of what they told me in Russian, in spite of my limited knowledge.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Some old guys get really <span style="font-weight: bold;">drunk and annoying</span>, even possibly violent if you reject their invitations. I tried pretending I didn’t understand, but trust me, that doesn’t work.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They share all the food they have in the compartment and it is not uncommon that they offer you vodka or some shots of other alcoholic drinks.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">One funny thing is that soon after I departed from Yekaterinburg finally I learned how to use the tap in the toilet of the wagon. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They all work in the same way from Ukraine to Vladivostok, and so far I had thought simply that there was no water in the toilet.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But there was! Only that at both sides of the tap there were two wheels, which misleaded me to think that if I turned them water was going to pour down from the tap.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">To get the water from the tap you only had to push upwards below the tap, touching directly the source of water. Not very convenient, but at least I could wash my hands and brush my teeth!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">So well, it was boring, but I passed the time talking, reading (Anna Karenina), writing and watching films on my laptop.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was far worse this first ride than the second one, when<span style=""> </span>I took my final train from Irkutsk to Vladivostok.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibs6Nb0y3zqFY37vDZ7JfW1b56xQSGaK_GdEaZUhdiLIN8ApKZe6c_raHR4F2sLAtUXgwhv0YgTGLXDKhWAY6nq3feTJNeUU8YBDVG_swvyRqXyU_lLrcvvekrPJ_LfOT5M_MeFSMOpw8W/s1600/DSC06374.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibs6Nb0y3zqFY37vDZ7JfW1b56xQSGaK_GdEaZUhdiLIN8ApKZe6c_raHR4F2sLAtUXgwhv0YgTGLXDKhWAY6nq3feTJNeUU8YBDVG_swvyRqXyU_lLrcvvekrPJ_LfOT5M_MeFSMOpw8W/s320/DSC06374.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595312822379942242" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja7dJSsfM3b4imzDMGigTzJs44CP2QbPDOwTun-bPN8rG-Extd4YJrR8snfjBbMWrl0FnitvlbsTP0OLnAHV1QNHfzCsIbTyaFWaNloTJYwa7UAIKDNsyR-zoGJiZ-rRCcm5lo9CBrjRMd/s1600/DSC06382.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja7dJSsfM3b4imzDMGigTzJs44CP2QbPDOwTun-bPN8rG-Extd4YJrR8snfjBbMWrl0FnitvlbsTP0OLnAHV1QNHfzCsIbTyaFWaNloTJYwa7UAIKDNsyR-zoGJiZ-rRCcm5lo9CBrjRMd/s320/DSC06382.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595312836162075282" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EU">My only stop in Siberia: Irkutsk</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> An error of calculation didn’t let me know that I was arriving at 3 a.m. to Irkutsk till I was already on board.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">All times in train tickets in Russia are <span style="font-weight: bold;">set to Moscow time</span>, but I didn’t realise this when I checked the ticket, so I thought I was going to arrive at 9 p.m.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Russia is very long and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Siberia spans through many time zones,</span> which that in itself has an effect on a traveller of long distances, a kind of a <span style="font-weight: bold;">slow-motion jet-lag</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Funnily enough, I tried to live at Moscow time inside the train (and had my watch set to this time), so my body were not so tired when I got to Irkutsk, but I had only partial success. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Inside the train, I went to sleep when my watch showed 10 p.m. and woke up when it was 10 a.m., but of course reality was different, so actually I slept past midnight and woke up past noon.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In any case, I was lucky and my Couchsurfing host in Irkutsk saved me!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had contacted her only some days before, and our last communication said that she was going to meet me at 9 p.m. But only later I realised that I was not arriving till 3 a.m.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Anyway, she saw my train was arriving at that time and came to pick me up and drive me to her place (30 min. walking away from the centre).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">And she even had to work early in the morning next day… I am amazed by that kindness of spirit that allows such a sacrifice for your guest. I won’t be able to forget this.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Next day I walked around Irkutsk, a city with its charms but no clear sights either (that happened for the most of Russia).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKHXLEaPTBUaxM1z-y8cdnGsYHZnxyKS-_dsQwFrrDi1qpqli4RVk0mfJStVfnB_l-vuTIuUUiwWFwuqG-qm_2HkcujGpyYPwq5zGO9T4tbKf2RUJn22Qz-H0ghX2iVk5A8iLi6Yo7tGC/s1600/DSC06303.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKHXLEaPTBUaxM1z-y8cdnGsYHZnxyKS-_dsQwFrrDi1qpqli4RVk0mfJStVfnB_l-vuTIuUUiwWFwuqG-qm_2HkcujGpyYPwq5zGO9T4tbKf2RUJn22Qz-H0ghX2iVk5A8iLi6Yo7tGC/s320/DSC06303.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595309192986966370" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0NFimWJZWNkGKTUuj9nU_k5LGDbhXH3QQS_uFKx0wpQRjxJ1cNsdPak3lflUCeKA7BDxppXQ6-7S3vdLeLD1RZAN4XCsE_q6bm1oUYCHxDl_DUtsuD5UJ-eOPvHBynT3WtW1OmzXyLvBj/s1600/DSC06305.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0NFimWJZWNkGKTUuj9nU_k5LGDbhXH3QQS_uFKx0wpQRjxJ1cNsdPak3lflUCeKA7BDxppXQ6-7S3vdLeLD1RZAN4XCsE_q6bm1oUYCHxDl_DUtsuD5UJ-eOPvHBynT3WtW1OmzXyLvBj/s320/DSC06305.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595309195252209922" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2G94mXwno3nmbP7fryp8czYsTyVNUpgvmG07kXXLjDV05lrWomRmPeUpXpTGDXWKaWRBjB6EUwlNVxrAXioUGaD_fs6jvyw_hIu5e4O_lwXfK4mXbNOMtwD2ik0rHCAFR4oQQRdNa5KAz/s1600/DSC06347.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2G94mXwno3nmbP7fryp8czYsTyVNUpgvmG07kXXLjDV05lrWomRmPeUpXpTGDXWKaWRBjB6EUwlNVxrAXioUGaD_fs6jvyw_hIu5e4O_lwXfK4mXbNOMtwD2ik0rHCAFR4oQQRdNa5KAz/s320/DSC06347.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595310549947615266" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I found out about the timber houses in Siberia, quite different from those of the European Russia, and more colourful.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VsHhV4E_MXADRSABHn3_0brC3eh63spBnEhZ71d7y-THRpkOMj7wwQn77O6xhrz4DBY2qLm0wX36Z084p5bvxOHFUjQUoeibogUPIn92e6oVj36QQiE6FaAnkskL06Xigmb7oxoLLAWE/s1600/DSC06298.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VsHhV4E_MXADRSABHn3_0brC3eh63spBnEhZ71d7y-THRpkOMj7wwQn77O6xhrz4DBY2qLm0wX36Z084p5bvxOHFUjQUoeibogUPIn92e6oVj36QQiE6FaAnkskL06Xigmb7oxoLLAWE/s320/DSC06298.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595309186040324274" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgytid48vSjFDTTwRyrjUr6bZBRM4eq81aia2wnMcroFff-mCk5k6bL0UJdz0O2Zcl_1KfSgUaXIfkZ3g9kLq5GqtBngn8AQavsSAGR03OlUocYoCYSjvmtjYVrp2Pq1rD4kXdMM_F1m3/s1600/DSC06297.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDgytid48vSjFDTTwRyrjUr6bZBRM4eq81aia2wnMcroFff-mCk5k6bL0UJdz0O2Zcl_1KfSgUaXIfkZ3g9kLq5GqtBngn8AQavsSAGR03OlUocYoCYSjvmtjYVrp2Pq1rD4kXdMM_F1m3/s320/DSC06297.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595309183931860914" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I must remark that Irkutsk is a big city with 1 million people population, and that people <span style="font-weight: bold;">don’t feel that they are in the middle of nowhere</span> as I thought. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In fact, there are big cities every six hours on the train all over Siberia, so further north is unpopulated, but at both sides of the railroad, it is not so empty.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">On the following day I <span style="font-weight: bold;">day-tripped to the shore of Lake Baikal,</span> some 60 kms away from Irkutsk, but there was nothing much to see, for it was still completely frozen: two metres deep of ice, even cars were freely driving on top of it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi241g21IWKA3T6Xwdkr9C4oXWVTKcbt-1B9dxk7ZrdxQkk6BrkJYKRApNzhXr12jtnbVsHgE92SZnQybQnQpU6RjLUwJtZqmc_RuzGW2J2hLvcyCJgGH2oieLnd6-QhncVIsKO6AbSp-VC/s1600/DSC06356.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi241g21IWKA3T6Xwdkr9C4oXWVTKcbt-1B9dxk7ZrdxQkk6BrkJYKRApNzhXr12jtnbVsHgE92SZnQybQnQpU6RjLUwJtZqmc_RuzGW2J2hLvcyCJgGH2oieLnd6-QhncVIsKO6AbSp-VC/s320/DSC06356.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595310561855290962" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Q273oFvrdcsq0glWaLQ5TqnFIpYdLcU-FFM7UaLjDzYrtqv0fK1JbDP-Dh-9HdXmTPHqiP65om5y_Iimkkmq3FQV45Pqm159N1S1YX9_jrxZfn80PuXTVWMcfvlbvKQM9K2Z-Iio3oib/s1600/DSC06353.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Q273oFvrdcsq0glWaLQ5TqnFIpYdLcU-FFM7UaLjDzYrtqv0fK1JbDP-Dh-9HdXmTPHqiP65om5y_Iimkkmq3FQV45Pqm159N1S1YX9_jrxZfn80PuXTVWMcfvlbvKQM9K2Z-Iio3oib/s320/DSC06353.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595310559215330434" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SLrvEcaN8PdxC22fR7Ycc-tGcSi3clA471UtCMcfnFYDjEIphi9pbTJ7cvYKHGAO0RLHPBNb8EuUjNAwc0MtWu919lDTemRA6zIVUD89kjM9vr9A1l8rAIVF9pL_u8pTHff_BltG11Wy/s1600/DSC06351.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0SLrvEcaN8PdxC22fR7Ycc-tGcSi3clA471UtCMcfnFYDjEIphi9pbTJ7cvYKHGAO0RLHPBNb8EuUjNAwc0MtWu919lDTemRA6zIVUD89kjM9vr9A1l8rAIVF9pL_u8pTHff_BltG11Wy/s320/DSC06351.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595310552066273698" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I walked on the ice too, but I was kind of cautious, not to slip, and moreover, not to step on broken ice and fell into the lake, haha, very unlikely!! But that’s how I felt.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was awed by the <span style="font-weight: bold;">beauty of the frozen waves</span>, forming suggestive shapes, curves, slopes, peaks… </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There were also transparent layers of ice that almost allowed you to peek into the crystalline waters of the lake.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There was a nondescript port and a poor-looking fish & souvenir market where vendors tried to get my attention, happy to see a turist.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">On my way back to Irkutsk I met two Australian son the bus, who were the first travellers I met in Russia.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I suffered an episode of TD, perhaps thanks to the tap water I drank (they told me it was completely safe, because Baikal is the greatest source of drinkable water in the world), and a bizarre situation that I won’t tell here.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="" lang="EU">Last stop: Confusion & Last Minute Diversion</span></b><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">No soon had I returned to my host’s in Irkutsk that I read about the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> earthquake that had just happened in Japan</span> and dramatically changed the course of my journey.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In the first moment I was just worried, but I thought that everything would be fixed soon. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I was going to be in Japan just in about a week later.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">So I got on the transsiberian train for the last time, heading to Vladivostok.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Before that, I spent my last night in Irkutsk at the resting room of the train station, because<span style=""> </span>I was departing very early in the morning, but the story of how crappy that night was is too long to be properly told here and now.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">This was probably what is going to be my longest train ride or ride whatsoever in a looong time. More than 70 hours.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But I was more mentally prepared than on the previous ride, so it was not that hard.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Besides, I only crossed two time zones, so almost no “train-lag” there.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Aaannd, I was so lucky that I got, just by chance, the first comparment of the carriage, which only has two beds, and is more spacious. For the same price/ticket, of course.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I shared it only with quite a silent guy, and not for the total length of the ride.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was surprised too that they served us food trays, breakfast and lunch, so I didn’t have to bring my own food.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">A memorable coincidence was that I was watching the classic movie Dersu Uzala just when we were crossing the taiga, and the characters arrived to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Khabarovsk</span> when my train was just passing by.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhMZzGAT0xHoZf5O0qvdVS53-TkhZduZGmsNKnDdEFVDXZKXQj6pYiWt_j-ANv3XhCjbSY9w-UCztGExkW2IzQOmtAVjwZv8wmxI2Z3Uh98LsfvkpAxM8J78g8M1B9g7o85IW2lIapK6R/s1600/DSC06387.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRhMZzGAT0xHoZf5O0qvdVS53-TkhZduZGmsNKnDdEFVDXZKXQj6pYiWt_j-ANv3XhCjbSY9w-UCztGExkW2IzQOmtAVjwZv8wmxI2Z3Uh98LsfvkpAxM8J78g8M1B9g7o85IW2lIapK6R/s320/DSC06387.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595312842062922802" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I arrived to Vladivostok around 7 a.m., exhausted yet again but with a big smile of illusion. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The transsiberian journey had ended, the real trip was about to start</span>. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The end of the </span><span class="hps"><span style="" lang="EN">uninterrupted railway from my hometown almost 10.000 kms West of there.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2csrgvm6Nu8aq7ddQ_SvhE5tx5IbzJu2Kx618q5l0xMLxDLEkmhUqCFmN8_LshborxEGvkbi3wtv6aWMSCtwDUBu2JrAo6te6uyadlKVGV8HSi9EP8V4Mby2J9fQyQfgNSdbsM5HEbsR/s1600/DSC06399.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg2csrgvm6Nu8aq7ddQ_SvhE5tx5IbzJu2Kx618q5l0xMLxDLEkmhUqCFmN8_LshborxEGvkbi3wtv6aWMSCtwDUBu2JrAo6te6uyadlKVGV8HSi9EP8V4Mby2J9fQyQfgNSdbsM5HEbsR/s320/DSC06399.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313169046826706" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGc1tVpF8xvYoXgQMSWQHiboFP6zrGptro4XLmdOdG73-smidgMuMJpUV5mQnX-nxTV4Q8rPZSVUOBeCGFRWFyoNH4vmKWYvb3TAuRgWpoZAc6CZ0VMghL4q58MdU4rV9sHIWQAblWPIX/s1600/DSC06403.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtGc1tVpF8xvYoXgQMSWQHiboFP6zrGptro4XLmdOdG73-smidgMuMJpUV5mQnX-nxTV4Q8rPZSVUOBeCGFRWFyoNH4vmKWYvb3TAuRgWpoZAc6CZ0VMghL4q58MdU4rV9sHIWQAblWPIX/s320/DSC06403.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313171620797506" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguveBrgdD2K6gtXJYEJ14g44uQ4m7VWS96nYWvKGzWe_JxpH_-aM7ux5bupr8HYkciLNn-4L7rgnPvmWgh2Ihzt9Enz9MOOgm5LV6mcIAAk9DtNAZIFS9WLDnfbF8_FdJPi_Rz4z6Kv6Dm/s1600/DSC06404.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguveBrgdD2K6gtXJYEJ14g44uQ4m7VWS96nYWvKGzWe_JxpH_-aM7ux5bupr8HYkciLNn-4L7rgnPvmWgh2Ihzt9Enz9MOOgm5LV6mcIAAk9DtNAZIFS9WLDnfbF8_FdJPi_Rz4z6Kv6Dm/s320/DSC06404.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313180137881826" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="hps"><span style="" lang="EN"> </span></span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span class="hps"><span style="" lang="EN">Then the nightmare started.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="hps"><span style="" lang="EN">After 3 days isolated from the world, I had tons of messages of friends and relatives telling me that the situation in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japan has gotten far worse,</span> and that I should not go there.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="hps"><span style="" lang="EN">I dedicated some minutes to read thoroughly the news on the net, and saw the catastrophe caused by the <span style="font-weight: bold;">tsunami</span> and the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> radiation leaks</span> into air, sea and ground in Fukushima.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The fact that I was crossing the whole of Russia in March as fast as possible just in order to get to Japan, my real desired destination, made the situation<span style="font-weight: bold;"> far more frustrating</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I wandered looking for a place to crash, but it was not that easy, and the streets were chaotic (badly paved, no street names, littered and crappy looking).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZGF3J8u0a4utHuwuq9P47yIaXOQ1cVjoXt8q2lLsZcU7eeyLl6C0M19xKT3rO1xsYETmMUHxgdXnMe9jM5mU1us7XhZ7D7WpyK8zNGvXrxRvn4FFrdGewOCov27h_jLYL607XiOWIL0p/s1600/DSC06395.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ZGF3J8u0a4utHuwuq9P47yIaXOQ1cVjoXt8q2lLsZcU7eeyLl6C0M19xKT3rO1xsYETmMUHxgdXnMe9jM5mU1us7XhZ7D7WpyK8zNGvXrxRvn4FFrdGewOCov27h_jLYL607XiOWIL0p/s320/DSC06395.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313165465348978" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zIwy5kX7L5D5pHLIhBkfytKZNqypP0BAdy5ECTQfz_I-05t9uxCPasHupIPQpPSUKGCbzeASTz2WTCtgm8k8ZG7_JEFRR6AutCRZQF-pK5ZiJi_EH0jQ0NLBw0s3G5n88cw4c8hmzqKF/s1600/DSC06392.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zIwy5kX7L5D5pHLIhBkfytKZNqypP0BAdy5ECTQfz_I-05t9uxCPasHupIPQpPSUKGCbzeASTz2WTCtgm8k8ZG7_JEFRR6AutCRZQF-pK5ZiJi_EH0jQ0NLBw0s3G5n88cw4c8hmzqKF/s320/DSC06392.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313161530362834" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Due to the effect of the sea, snow was very very scarce in the streets, and the temperature was warmer, but the wind was chilly.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguveBrgdD2K6gtXJYEJ14g44uQ4m7VWS96nYWvKGzWe_JxpH_-aM7ux5bupr8HYkciLNn-4L7rgnPvmWgh2Ihzt9Enz9MOOgm5LV6mcIAAk9DtNAZIFS9WLDnfbF8_FdJPi_Rz4z6Kv6Dm/s1600/DSC06404.JPG"><br /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I didn’t see anything special in Vladivostok apart from the <span style="font-weight: bold;">beautiful and emotive end-of-the-rail train station</span> and the port, full of<span style=""> </span>Navy ships.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiv7BH1DKpqaYHHFLUTbiL0uIoQAz1B_ScpUQaXOyGVQmX0XJKfptVdtqoINCEN2ZxXtUpA1d2dy5sn0DRhcGoennGsuBMQGUx8nXmVQ8BZaEBICZeZyM8tomeZuF-9a342OF9mCtWOoDA/s1600/DSC06410.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiv7BH1DKpqaYHHFLUTbiL0uIoQAz1B_ScpUQaXOyGVQmX0XJKfptVdtqoINCEN2ZxXtUpA1d2dy5sn0DRhcGoennGsuBMQGUx8nXmVQ8BZaEBICZeZyM8tomeZuF-9a342OF9mCtWOoDA/s320/DSC06410.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313433355099154" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBYSi9idjZPtyIwQjdS55JEU73aiZ5eZ8iaQVwP-rfPqlHiS4E8avpfcuLcN54bfqKaGgVIGdQ074zGYENE18RvYgqi3c61DfBXr0AsgSk12ZxqrSSlGrb58TRSZOk9YPZK5QmsuaD9X5/s1600/DSC06408.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBYSi9idjZPtyIwQjdS55JEU73aiZ5eZ8iaQVwP-rfPqlHiS4E8avpfcuLcN54bfqKaGgVIGdQ074zGYENE18RvYgqi3c61DfBXr0AsgSk12ZxqrSSlGrb58TRSZOk9YPZK5QmsuaD9X5/s320/DSC06408.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313429031086306" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Yul Brynner’s birthplace was Vladivostok’s main attraction, I guess, so you can picture it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I wasn’t in the mood for anything</span>, really. I was tired, hungry and depressed. I had spent all my energies in the longest train ride ever with just one purpose, and then it couldn’t be done.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6pHhiZDjgXq8Ap5MORrzGUXprNi861nz2PegMB0oUXLjWd57rMkpoRc5VlC927cIDs-ILqZ_4chBZxX3wmYihkPWCvIWMqTBw2x7ve3TkSZQ4YSjwu5MQ2B_H5rn8teHn9LBR3dlcllo9/s1600/DSC06405.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6pHhiZDjgXq8Ap5MORrzGUXprNi861nz2PegMB0oUXLjWd57rMkpoRc5VlC927cIDs-ILqZ_4chBZxX3wmYihkPWCvIWMqTBw2x7ve3TkSZQ4YSjwu5MQ2B_H5rn8teHn9LBR3dlcllo9/s320/DSC06405.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595313426824789522" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I got a room in a really expensive hotel (Hotel Vladivostok), overnighted there and next day, saddened but hopeful, I got<span style="font-weight: bold;"> aboard of the Korean-run ferry to Donghae, South Korea.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU1fGD_Si9-e38p3rj6xXlLCTSDNGTPJbRJT8p7-i7BuMEBJaQ_0dnqBanNQhzTE-ZvvXAYLERK7B4vro1yN6vHU4nsFaFdT84K1zAyZ2ZHvmZIfOD8djgaHddpte2yssXfpLAnK_2K0fc/s1600/BilietDonghae.png"><br /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJGR9GaxwRUj8PMuatVnBfNdDXlngESA9s0GllrNb1A3cB_200Yso9LhzW02h9xV9TT6f6YPbRpoQatnnvDVWn1LxjpNzNguZVW0iYfm3vVNIf6VfotEcSZz0-9CXXmwbTKJkQfkwkbLhL/s1600/DSC06391.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJGR9GaxwRUj8PMuatVnBfNdDXlngESA9s0GllrNb1A3cB_200Yso9LhzW02h9xV9TT6f6YPbRpoQatnnvDVWn1LxjpNzNguZVW0iYfm3vVNIf6VfotEcSZz0-9CXXmwbTKJkQfkwkbLhL/s320/DSC06391.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595312852869508946" border="0" /></a></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-33858706620408187242011-04-06T07:47:00.029+02:002011-04-07T01:57:26.609+02:00European and Asian Russia (02/03 - 05/03)<span style="" lang="EU"><span style="font-weight: bold;">This journey has had many beginnings</span>, and one of them is surely the moment I took the train out of Moscow. It can be arguably said that the real trip began there, but as I have said, there is no a clear time to identify as the beginning.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After more than a week in Moscow I was<span style="font-weight: bold;"> feeling relieved to resume the journey</span>, and delighted as I sat in my compartment, heading to the not so far away Nizhniy Novgorod, my first stop East of Moscow, but still in the European Russia.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had with me the bouquet of flowers that Valya had given to me, and quite clumsily I didn’t know where to put it when I got on board.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I took calmly the novel <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna Karenina</span> that I had recently bought in Moscow and opened it by the first page. The reading made the 6 hours journey pass in a moment.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There in Nizhniy Novgorod the original <span style="font-weight: bold;">Russian lands ended</span>, and the conquered land started eastwards.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I arrived at night to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nizhniy Novgorod </span>(which means Lower Novgorod, opposed to the older Great Novgorod to the North of Moscow and ancient capital) but a friend of a Russian girl who had studied in Bilbao one year ago came to pick me up at the station.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNq0ZD1xr38WBLIyuPrEDoyRV9ORogvukbltRaC3Yk7uCkGd4iqncFNjaAQpqmwCY26G81rVUv8v1hfi2LZXkaLT1DFfPqmIqdIWehofKbVbZMbj4JY8ye4o3rBQkmI3-1HVEoI4WehpK/s1600/DSC05908.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNq0ZD1xr38WBLIyuPrEDoyRV9ORogvukbltRaC3Yk7uCkGd4iqncFNjaAQpqmwCY26G81rVUv8v1hfi2LZXkaLT1DFfPqmIqdIWehofKbVbZMbj4JY8ye4o3rBQkmI3-1HVEoI4WehpK/s320/DSC05908.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592359233453280178" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was a bit of a confusing arrival, because I had planned to dine with a French-Russian couple of acquaintances (I hosted them last year in Bilbao) just forty minutes after my train arrived.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The problem was that at the same time my host in Nizhniy had to drive me to his place. So there was no material time for me to take a bus to this couple’s flat, in the opposite direction (not very central) of where my host lived (quite near from the old town).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I tried to call them but the phone number didn’t work, so I had just to leave with my host. I e-mailed them as soon as I arrived to my host’s, but unfortunately I was leaving in 24 hours so I couldn’t arrange a meeting with them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I felt bad about that, but I soon forgot about it next day, <span style="font-weight: bold;">a bright and not so cold day in Nizhniy.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHvV_18Y94cNdwB8BxqjgD_e9eghsiLi87xCg0_Zl1dqU7vrdSF4REG0EoqmPdaXDh1Cx3pFRU4v0hNEkrbIO7fPbLlaScG1Pdg1n7RPfQfsKAo3dDdIlpBSotcBwz95X3FlD8onFsDv2W/s1600/DSC05919.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHvV_18Y94cNdwB8BxqjgD_e9eghsiLi87xCg0_Zl1dqU7vrdSF4REG0EoqmPdaXDh1Cx3pFRU4v0hNEkrbIO7fPbLlaScG1Pdg1n7RPfQfsKAo3dDdIlpBSotcBwz95X3FlD8onFsDv2W/s320/DSC05919.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592360076793924498" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The city itself <span style="font-weight: bold;">overlooked the massive Volga basin</span>, an endless tract of purely white plains dotted with occasional snow-covered trees that awed me and couldn’t stop looking at. Despite its width<span style="font-weight: bold;"> the river was well frozen </span>and covered with ice and snow on top, and people were walking on it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkBQ28Ydq8Bu_ttS56aUgp3rxcIziI880zadBjPdyh8jCYVShjY05qzYv-eWTeJvdsB5Q9i20HFrZmKRaT4zEl_TC-VCCodbSsSyHlnShVGbTnJ40dvzd7O455WlF4hwDon-sGnOSW7Qw/s1600/DSC05929.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBkBQ28Ydq8Bu_ttS56aUgp3rxcIziI880zadBjPdyh8jCYVShjY05qzYv-eWTeJvdsB5Q9i20HFrZmKRaT4zEl_TC-VCCodbSsSyHlnShVGbTnJ40dvzd7O455WlF4hwDon-sGnOSW7Qw/s320/DSC05929.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592367607577811138" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was my first <span style="font-weight: bold;">truly Spring day</span>, with mild temperatures (1º C); in fact Spring had started only two days ago according to the Russian tradition (1st of March), and even snow was melting on the streets, and I saw cats running around (I suppose they somehow keep themselves under cover when temperatures are below cero).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I took a pleasant walk all around the centre of the town (for the first time just walking under the sun was a <span style="font-weight: bold;">pleasant sensation</span>, in opposition to what I had experienced before in the winter harshness), but they were no clear touristic sights, aparte from a nice Kremlin, and as I said, the remarkable views over the Volga.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlS84CvuVZtutwuhUnxH0GiVv799PumPqLJorHL_TEt_HJ9VVGS1UnzSmlHIosZhJmqkunENN8LEXoVL7NdaZO9YGBGNi0qHHaYdCZ4ZOWqIcQ9peUJxQHaHTnF10cLlT89CNzjZpa1qwd/s1600/DSC05939.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlS84CvuVZtutwuhUnxH0GiVv799PumPqLJorHL_TEt_HJ9VVGS1UnzSmlHIosZhJmqkunENN8LEXoVL7NdaZO9YGBGNi0qHHaYdCZ4ZOWqIcQ9peUJxQHaHTnF10cLlT89CNzjZpa1qwd/s320/DSC05939.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592367619191944498" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZMdnJFX1sJMa_NucY7mFu4Kf2hCPLKJnmX1tsJ1-70Z4A_ZSSuAPxVWE4iFLPHXIvF7fJtxm0C6GXC9uDTCg9Tl213-T3WF8p2LzYjhDOkIECodBGrRnacvZH1TkQLCCYtdj8sj68ArM/s1600/DSC05945.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZMdnJFX1sJMa_NucY7mFu4Kf2hCPLKJnmX1tsJ1-70Z4A_ZSSuAPxVWE4iFLPHXIvF7fJtxm0C6GXC9uDTCg9Tl213-T3WF8p2LzYjhDOkIECodBGrRnacvZH1TkQLCCYtdj8sj68ArM/s320/DSC05945.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592367625034503954" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In some parts of the town there still were wooden constructions, remnants of the traditional architecture. I mean, the Russian houses were made of wood, and fine examples of this were to be found in Nizhniy’s old town. In this trait I found quite a <span style="font-weight: bold;">resemblance with the wooden houses of Finland</span> (which is an Uralic culture as many others who exist in the core of the European Russia), who also belonged to Russia not so long ago.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar8WtvYZDHbKtOROpaIu2NngEhq-FxLDVv6td7Fm4mZJ99VZPwuV9LDZVT0Te3A8gLqikJ16qPPHdoZ-2f5gn08KgQ3eAZ-tQXZWLenZt7Bx6CC3G5HcdXQAoNf4U1iI0CdwhxPTVEUez/s1600/DSC05957.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar8WtvYZDHbKtOROpaIu2NngEhq-FxLDVv6td7Fm4mZJ99VZPwuV9LDZVT0Te3A8gLqikJ16qPPHdoZ-2f5gn08KgQ3eAZ-tQXZWLenZt7Bx6CC3G5HcdXQAoNf4U1iI0CdwhxPTVEUez/s320/DSC05957.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592367627834699538" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMr3Qrg04UjJd3DSvaUeZ9oFI7dNsuJqod9AWR50-65opg6brXsEv-w8ylEjX9vgTVpHSUg80mmjq0v-TUW0-Uil9118eWS47Ib-RbI5h_XUxO1fss9nTz8FmnHtgqWC5xRqhCJTVobB1a/s1600/DSC05961.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMr3Qrg04UjJd3DSvaUeZ9oFI7dNsuJqod9AWR50-65opg6brXsEv-w8ylEjX9vgTVpHSUg80mmjq0v-TUW0-Uil9118eWS47Ib-RbI5h_XUxO1fss9nTz8FmnHtgqWC5xRqhCJTVobB1a/s320/DSC05961.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592367630690421698" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I love when I am aware of this kind of continuity between countries I have already visited, because it gives to the experience of travelling much more value, helping me to have a clearer picture of the world’s cultures.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was about to miss the train leaving at 21h from Nizhniy (and arriving at 6 a.m. to Kazan).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was at my host’s place after the walk and after playing some music for him and his girlfriend we ran late and by the time we were waiting for a bus to take us to the station, we only had 15 minutes before the train departed from the station on the other side of the river.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">We took a mistaken bus and had to hop off at the next stop.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Finally<span style="font-weight: bold;"> my host halted a car </span>and agreed to take us for a fee (apparently any car can work as a taxi in Russia). I was not familiar with any of this, because even the gesture he made to stop a random car was not the one of hitch-hiking obviously.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDPPd7jkMknPCWoGYs-5nSTnohzofFrJGtm12dr00dOIxhh6zLsE5ZK6aaMgTCSPOr8PRW43qJ3FErfqAwv1gGKO9bpvx1q47bLn2qyVZfKeM-XZboXVs2rVpY5V1Ykol_Z7ZVW6Sj6TJ/s1600/DSC05988.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDPPd7jkMknPCWoGYs-5nSTnohzofFrJGtm12dr00dOIxhh6zLsE5ZK6aaMgTCSPOr8PRW43qJ3FErfqAwv1gGKO9bpvx1q47bLn2qyVZfKeM-XZboXVs2rVpY5V1Ykol_Z7ZVW6Sj6TJ/s320/DSC05988.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592368666121476882" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">2 minutes left and<span style=""> </span>I ran to get onto the platskart carriage where I spent the night. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="" lang="EU"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlkaSd8l8zvqVEJOenV9EtVUC6W5WgHQomiBfnL4ljcs-OqvGhUq9j7oin6_5f4ccMulzWbvp4zBHQSNxTlkklMvrAI6q_3UxTykqQmBsRY6y5nGIVJWdjT7kAizSnakHE4z32zVY51TgG/s1600/DSC06033.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlkaSd8l8zvqVEJOenV9EtVUC6W5WgHQomiBfnL4ljcs-OqvGhUq9j7oin6_5f4ccMulzWbvp4zBHQSNxTlkklMvrAI6q_3UxTykqQmBsRY6y5nGIVJWdjT7kAizSnakHE4z32zVY51TgG/s320/DSC06033.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369003309449202" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Kazan is not strictly on the main Transsiberian line, but being part of the European Russia, there the train lines are much more diversified than in Siberia.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I chose to stop by in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kazan, the capital of the Tatarstan Republic</span>, one of the federal members of the Russian Federation, in order to have a taste of a different culture, other than Russian.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The thing is that there is not a real difference between European and Asian Russia, it is all one, as European or as Asian at every place. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Of course one cannot forget that there are many <span style="font-weight: bold;">native cultures in Russia</span> which are not only not Russian, but not even Slavic or Indoeuropean. That is the case of the many and scattered Uralic, Altaic and Paleosiberian cultures spread on my way to the Far East.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">And in Tatarstan, as the name indicates, the Tatar people lives, of Turkic language and culture, but very different from their far Turkish relatives.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My arrival to Kazan was a strange one, I am not sure of how to describe it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">On one side, as has happened to me before, I couldn’t get good sleep in the train and woke up very early (in any case I was arriving at 6), tired and uncomfortable.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But there is <span style="font-weight: bold;">no time for laziness</span> when you are travelling by train, you have to repack all your things quickly, fold the mattress (they give you a mattress, a pillow and some blankets in every train), put your boots on (most people use sandals inside the train) and get out of the train before it departs again to the next station.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Well, I should say that I had a rough start in Kazan. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was animately walking out of the station, just few minutes shy of dawn, when I saw that the <span style="font-weight: bold;">temperatures were the lowest</span> I had seen so far (<span style="font-weight: bold;">-20º C</span>), but I didn’t feel it so cold (probably because I was quite far from any big water mass).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was excited of being in Kazan, but it was barely morning, I needed some sleep and I didn’t know where to go (this sensation of <span style="font-weight: bold;">excitation and exhaustion at the arrival</span> to a new destination has been very typical all throughout my trip).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Skipping the taxi-drivers offering their services outside the station, I tried to figure out where I was on the map walking to the far corner of the square.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The sky was blue but the freezing temperatures had created a strong layer of ice on the streets, and I happened to step on it when crossing a road.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Thanks to the slippery and icey floor,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> I fell abruptly to the ground </span>near the road, with my heavy backpack and everything on. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Actually I was quite concerned because I didn’t want to fall in front of an incoming vehicle when crossing, and I kept that fear during my stay in Kazan.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My jeans, that had already <span style="font-weight: bold;">badly scratched</span> in Poland, got so dirty that I had to scrape them with recently fallen snow to clean them.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Nonetheless, soon I was rewarded with a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> superb dawn upon the solitary streets of Kazan, </span>especially when I was on a bridge over a water channel.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I clearly remember that that vision <span style="font-weight: bold;">filled me with joy in spite of all the inconveniences </span>I<span style=""> </span>had suffered at the time.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">A sweet memory.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Moments later I got to the hostel I wanted to stay in, but it was not even 8 in the morning yet and it was closed.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Doubtfully I knocked on the second door (a small closed hall was open and I could relieve myself from the cold for a while), a glass door through which I could see a human figure sleeping on a sofa near reception.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I don’t really believe that there was <span style="font-weight: bold;">no room for me anywhere in the hostel,</span> but that was what the just woken up hostel manager let me know.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">He pointed me the nearby Marriott Hotel, a big new building looking certainly like an expensive hotel, which I couldn’t afford.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I think he was only pissed off because I had woken him up, but the outcome was the same.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I think that kicking a possible customer out so early in the morning when outside is -20º C is unpolite, but anyway. I quitted. (Just for the record, the hostel’s name was Fatima).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWKP9XfZm311VQczxob55HqHN-y1exRPor9NR6LJEQqjD6TAZK4PHb64ri2Pq7x7BqBvdorOFSAV88EdmCERK7iUFj8g52McRNT0EX9DTL_uDbyay7UCthpicBT3TnXchrKk0bA3ETbKU/s1600/DSC05992.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWKP9XfZm311VQczxob55HqHN-y1exRPor9NR6LJEQqjD6TAZK4PHb64ri2Pq7x7BqBvdorOFSAV88EdmCERK7iUFj8g52McRNT0EX9DTL_uDbyay7UCthpicBT3TnXchrKk0bA3ETbKU/s320/DSC05992.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592368673451231346" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Walking my way back to the station<span style=""> </span>I took a different path and walked by the outer walls of the Kazan’s Kremlin.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Everything was very white, and above all the impressive new mosque and its turquoise roofs illuminated by the morning sun rays.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik_iZnWfXJWkoTckosAoGtD88FNLO5YmnYCvhHFS-Dt8T0n9-4kBAEe6huJXQZH5DIqlvOl3YgnWDFcbaMxAqFDpS-W2xDGeB7qd_TDngrjipvV8alPAHsGryWfw81h84iSrHuZ-8l8vE9/s1600/DSC06012.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik_iZnWfXJWkoTckosAoGtD88FNLO5YmnYCvhHFS-Dt8T0n9-4kBAEe6huJXQZH5DIqlvOl3YgnWDFcbaMxAqFDpS-W2xDGeB7qd_TDngrjipvV8alPAHsGryWfw81h84iSrHuZ-8l8vE9/s320/DSC06012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592368683623907362" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Finally I stayed at Hotel Volga.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Let me say one thing: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Food and hosting are expensive in Russia</span>, almost anywhere. Or well, they are not cheap, not backpacker-style cheap.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Food in restaurantes and cafes is expensive, so dining out is probably not so popular, but regular food is affordable.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But there are no real hostels in the less travelled parts of Russia, so one has to get a single hotel room which is at least 30 €, but could get much more expensive, even in crappy and seedy hotels far from the centre.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Kazan was my first hotel destination then. Besides, it is more boring than staying at a hostel, but they let me in quite early in the morning so I could take a nap before going out to see the town.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As I pointed out before, one particularly interesting region in Russia is the Volga, which spans very long through the middle of the European Russia, and homes quite a peculiar mixture of Uralic (related to the Finnish people) and Turkic population, some of them Muslims.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In Kazan this was very obvious, you could see that it was a very different town from others in Russia.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There was definitely an <span style="font-weight: bold;">Asian feeling</span> to it, with <span style="font-weight: bold;">‘Steppe nomad’ looking people</span> anywhere in the street and the <span style="font-weight: bold;">open air markets</span> playing Turkish-like music, not to forget the <span style="font-weight: bold;">minarets </span>seen afar<span style=""> </span>and the houses’ architecture.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-4LCqJ8UDKcurbwW_eW6CQ0eGALLT808An6Gt-PKQydVjoF10Pha38G4plBE-7T59ae7e31K_Ygxrb99K-stSbMl3O8FBkzh6jV0_hocwiG_aDfH5LlyLa4rqRIhJuTnMbNC9lgMU2Vb/s1600/DSC06177.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-4LCqJ8UDKcurbwW_eW6CQ0eGALLT808An6Gt-PKQydVjoF10Pha38G4plBE-7T59ae7e31K_Ygxrb99K-stSbMl3O8FBkzh6jV0_hocwiG_aDfH5LlyLa4rqRIhJuTnMbNC9lgMU2Vb/s320/DSC06177.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369664884447250" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The most lasting impression of Kazan, no doubts, is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kul Sharif Mosque</span>, which was built just 5 years ago inside the Kremlin, where a similar one had stood for centuries before it was demolished by the Russian invaders. It is named after the defender of the city against the tsar Ivan the Terrible.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6sSGxJMYKev4xW9rzPfzBjshl6lO4G6Vzqx9u9JGUsXGG-zM6ZBnwvx9AO6XxIdJnmZzCLdW-2DjCoPM9ZgLVY6nJscafVTJrHpXpqP-DQnsqssePkL9iRqGl166D2vCEQyV7XYpNe0B/s1600/DSC06009.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6sSGxJMYKev4xW9rzPfzBjshl6lO4G6Vzqx9u9JGUsXGG-zM6ZBnwvx9AO6XxIdJnmZzCLdW-2DjCoPM9ZgLVY6nJscafVTJrHpXpqP-DQnsqssePkL9iRqGl166D2vCEQyV7XYpNe0B/s320/DSC06009.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592368674410518162" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVHbgQrPdeVQMUKBLCqljBTyAALnSlTXV-94nUeTIdSXfWfjviQ2egOQSTdsyxbNFAQQtwy8jnKwN5T90Rq0fZjwB4OCvvul2qxswVZkw8jif-wo9A3zM_e9j4iS-FiDsFcgXdWx3RPNH/s1600/DSC06088.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcVHbgQrPdeVQMUKBLCqljBTyAALnSlTXV-94nUeTIdSXfWfjviQ2egOQSTdsyxbNFAQQtwy8jnKwN5T90Rq0fZjwB4OCvvul2qxswVZkw8jif-wo9A3zM_e9j4iS-FiDsFcgXdWx3RPNH/s320/DSC06088.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369386468935682" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz8kqnMW71TfeSWF2HDyZQZaQZQ8en_tFldLsdbw3qwifI0iPX0FAt3JLu4TQjS5q3x4iO7_QR7oL_5rlQG605ghGfSmOQj5uLMePuv8PPAu_lbYpYgek3brG82NK-MKEOuT0g-pG3kddg/s1600/DSC06109.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz8kqnMW71TfeSWF2HDyZQZaQZQ8en_tFldLsdbw3qwifI0iPX0FAt3JLu4TQjS5q3x4iO7_QR7oL_5rlQG605ghGfSmOQj5uLMePuv8PPAu_lbYpYgek3brG82NK-MKEOuT0g-pG3kddg/s320/DSC06109.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369398003339890" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXC3kP1-IXpVsT6CgTxr6VjM7xrc6Y9-yDTkOQY3z_UwYW7qQn3zJ5cd1-4SQxIgt3fHmgaxuuG8TUBbaq7fnpA_cYx7HPHKJ-gqB2xlAqBVzlqy0r0fiYIn34fjQkldXMnly-TjJ_A-bz/s1600/DSC06104.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXC3kP1-IXpVsT6CgTxr6VjM7xrc6Y9-yDTkOQY3z_UwYW7qQn3zJ5cd1-4SQxIgt3fHmgaxuuG8TUBbaq7fnpA_cYx7HPHKJ-gqB2xlAqBVzlqy0r0fiYIn34fjQkldXMnly-TjJ_A-bz/s320/DSC06104.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369391135572194" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It is a beautiful sight, no matter how you look at it, what angle, inside or outside…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Side-by-side with it there are two Orthodox churches in the Kremlin, and<span style="font-weight: bold;"> the beauty of the contrast</span> is noticeable.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Kazan also has a university where <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lenin</span> (half-Tatar himself) studied, and some interesting minor churches.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There was a charm in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">decayed parts of the town</span>, some buildings in a bad state, abandoned and forgotten, all of that covered by a thin layer of recently poured down snow.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oLk9BGUyLU6hNaXSPUSjK_6vvTJvnNpzm-eg2DmYdKn-6atHPXeHxDcLFSXU9P-w8stHroCIe8JehB9p-RMfKMNpNSg3cNMoqdeVgSJ9R45noMSBFALYibWaygErF4Un91SJJNdg_q_e/s1600/DSC06169.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2oLk9BGUyLU6hNaXSPUSjK_6vvTJvnNpzm-eg2DmYdKn-6atHPXeHxDcLFSXU9P-w8stHroCIe8JehB9p-RMfKMNpNSg3cNMoqdeVgSJ9R45noMSBFALYibWaygErF4Un91SJJNdg_q_e/s320/DSC06169.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369405904473554" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1J-_tvfocgvALlTZmb8MTWFYAqHsChKQqg2Kl_cVp-gjZkHhXritW2uJMV1Afa0o7s1cM8albi71ictZDApbZ-T0z3-8D5dCy5et2IoMPqQutR0c3zLiWBTZpqMUtnennD64-w4qmlJZ0/s1600/DSC06047.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1J-_tvfocgvALlTZmb8MTWFYAqHsChKQqg2Kl_cVp-gjZkHhXritW2uJMV1Afa0o7s1cM8albi71ictZDApbZ-T0z3-8D5dCy5et2IoMPqQutR0c3zLiWBTZpqMUtnennD64-w4qmlJZ0/s320/DSC06047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369007482390722" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWqnSeD5Kp78i5uD2DdYMqGNK66tmz4QwYCVn6CfL0D9cQxvwisO4Eqx5szMTZtDRCyLM8fQRgP6S8DBzK43DfAOgfLeMLTmK4c2bHkDLHIdk9jj9Xs_CmEKHuhYFO3xsV8vwx98RbRCe/s1600/DSC06057.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWqnSeD5Kp78i5uD2DdYMqGNK66tmz4QwYCVn6CfL0D9cQxvwisO4Eqx5szMTZtDRCyLM8fQRgP6S8DBzK43DfAOgfLeMLTmK4c2bHkDLHIdk9jj9Xs_CmEKHuhYFO3xsV8vwx98RbRCe/s320/DSC06057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369014181467090" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjig86N0JwGNuiaYd3JeDha8XNcIuoXfK2AY_oojepk2nxfzvFcOa7Hra9NLTDgO5BoGONGhaAH2oUoHv4n7lBprFpvPSrXkFIzPB7v61MbKvrjxxXHVL1Sk_U7c8ZyA0COcVIHsIOmwYpO/s1600/DSC06049.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjig86N0JwGNuiaYd3JeDha8XNcIuoXfK2AY_oojepk2nxfzvFcOa7Hra9NLTDgO5BoGONGhaAH2oUoHv4n7lBprFpvPSrXkFIzPB7v61MbKvrjxxXHVL1Sk_U7c8ZyA0COcVIHsIOmwYpO/s320/DSC06049.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369009806170770" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">And yes, I slipped and I fell to the ground again when I was heading to eat something in a very central and commercial street.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As an exception to the rule, I ate very cheaply in a self-service restaurant with local <span style="font-weight: bold;">home-made food</span>, very humble, but definitely yummy and filling!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUJSF8EC-mG1vCVbmyJ5WXpmUvMuOpsXivjOPlIdXbRepLwfRucDk69s3hFiv7Fy_6mURGPyrYQGqE6SXVI7yY5t7hWPFiRiALzw6Y_mnx3au9ouq7KXUlMLMB6Rbhbdj30p2Kd-Hw0Qx/s1600/DSC06017.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUJSF8EC-mG1vCVbmyJ5WXpmUvMuOpsXivjOPlIdXbRepLwfRucDk69s3hFiv7Fy_6mURGPyrYQGqE6SXVI7yY5t7hWPFiRiALzw6Y_mnx3au9ouq7KXUlMLMB6Rbhbdj30p2Kd-Hw0Qx/s320/DSC06017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592368690874474754" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">What I probably enjoyed the most was the walking under the snow by the southern side of the town, to where the Tatar population was restricted till 19th century (after the Russians conquered it), and where there were more traditional Tatar houses and <span style="font-weight: bold;">signboards in Tatar language</span> everywhere.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcNH-v1fVI6cfdiS9vmtXaBCJXQBHatRWhJfC7LQApLuZzY6NN97AAwwLD-O4vEBaNCV6RXcHwxtWz9Q6Syz6JF7oiLR2PhSM8uih5n_C9UGZCCdG4xctHD9Am73Dx9xCM7TOf4G6TAsJX/s1600/DSC06023.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcNH-v1fVI6cfdiS9vmtXaBCJXQBHatRWhJfC7LQApLuZzY6NN97AAwwLD-O4vEBaNCV6RXcHwxtWz9Q6Syz6JF7oiLR2PhSM8uih5n_C9UGZCCdG4xctHD9Am73Dx9xCM7TOf4G6TAsJX/s320/DSC06023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369000467676146" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRF0nOVkqMbdT_Up__tqAFPZlRVVL0FWR78vhVTs6WFYb4GELovYDtyhyphenhyphenwe_AytMRLoL9p0BMP1QydQ6qn7Y3gZxQrXfWR84ZRQYZ8LjjN4a7IYeJwABcIwCAMwY9Ij3_yj4jCCXLF8Psm/s1600/DSC06131.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRF0nOVkqMbdT_Up__tqAFPZlRVVL0FWR78vhVTs6WFYb4GELovYDtyhyphenhyphenwe_AytMRLoL9p0BMP1QydQ6qn7Y3gZxQrXfWR84ZRQYZ8LjjN4a7IYeJwABcIwCAMwY9Ij3_yj4jCCXLF8Psm/s320/DSC06131.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369400696917074" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBXl85eQ5UDHWgC1lCz_ulzvdrdcr6V6oV6qVN5-uFoFXysQMDwvTYM67tS6Oc8KABk3olQFMqWxdGJGqP-Rj9NyUXfxjwYdQmGwAQDyrsbWDsaXJnuEpOV5J1S6QTHu8BsnzkQqiAZP-/s1600/DSC06170.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBXl85eQ5UDHWgC1lCz_ulzvdrdcr6V6oV6qVN5-uFoFXysQMDwvTYM67tS6Oc8KABk3olQFMqWxdGJGqP-Rj9NyUXfxjwYdQmGwAQDyrsbWDsaXJnuEpOV5J1S6QTHu8BsnzkQqiAZP-/s320/DSC06170.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592369658441477938" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Overall, I am very happy that I stopped in Kazan.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My last day in Kazan snowed all day long, and very hard, you couldn’t stay outside long, because the snow would start to cover you, but the temperature rose to a comfortable -4º.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">So for the best part I read Anna Karenina and relaxed before my next stop and my first real town on the Asian side: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yekaterinburg!</span>!</span></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-27130259302162025952011-03-21T13:24:00.003+01:002011-04-03T13:20:34.369+02:00Moscow (22/02 – 02/03)<span style="font-style: italic;" lang="EU">First of all, pardon me for all the grammar mistakes, I’m writing fast, I just want to say whatever passes through my mind when remembering. And forgive me for all the missing parts I don’t recall now, and the pictures, which I will post later on.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was a clear day but the first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the wagon was the <span style="font-weight: bold;">extreme cold</span> that Moscow was suffering that day.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was soon leaded out of the train station by my CS host, and while we talked I could only be <span style="font-weight: bold;">awed by everything I saw</span>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityg90DwK3hAKH00D6KpnoMiiyEwI-tOszlw1QThxJVTNHHnXB0baZDHo7uExFQtus2kdId_ajRk9owMOsQ8qjx0iDMkR6JpT7m9Epsc2NQj8zbcSZ5PflqOhrq1eUvzu_gDNqBK8vaSFo/s1600/DSC05837.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEityg90DwK3hAKH00D6KpnoMiiyEwI-tOszlw1QThxJVTNHHnXB0baZDHo7uExFQtus2kdId_ajRk9owMOsQ8qjx0iDMkR6JpT7m9Epsc2NQj8zbcSZ5PflqOhrq1eUvzu_gDNqBK8vaSFo/s200/DSC05837.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591314500210544642" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdGTr0oJRD3Nhc1AW0g8XVfpTYyCKDlxSEB0_zs0-KPcclTRk2hxVnPyuTSXn2o5yov9hAOw9Oq3KCErcNTKh4StsyTle7YljCQIg_IxeYVsY2opyVGSQnU9H9xG_pUWLkYl6vXT_Y_tzS/s1600/DSC05828.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdGTr0oJRD3Nhc1AW0g8XVfpTYyCKDlxSEB0_zs0-KPcclTRk2hxVnPyuTSXn2o5yov9hAOw9Oq3KCErcNTKh4StsyTle7YljCQIg_IxeYVsY2opyVGSQnU9H9xG_pUWLkYl6vXT_Y_tzS/s200/DSC05828.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591314379071190738" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It is true that I couldn’t sleep much on the platskart carriage (3rd class) last night, and I was kind of <span style="font-weight: bold;">overexcited, instead of awfully tired</span>. And I remained like this all day long, despite my attempts at sleeping.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">We quickly got into a huge corridor followed by hundreds of people, and I was open-mouthed as we entered the beautiful metro.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSF5PF5wEHJl6tzg5gMfWFB1ccRBqusTyllwPzwJC2nzT49IA79C3DcPcJw1Q4TnvA7aFvVVNpgpTCmSqh1lrClIVn1HScZfB470BCwtE0TQkoDTJsmNIJV-bwS75wcrT_yRsTU7kGas8/s1600/DSC05825.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSF5PF5wEHJl6tzg5gMfWFB1ccRBqusTyllwPzwJC2nzT49IA79C3DcPcJw1Q4TnvA7aFvVVNpgpTCmSqh1lrClIVn1HScZfB470BCwtE0TQkoDTJsmNIJV-bwS75wcrT_yRsTU7kGas8/s200/DSC05825.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591314209818280690" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Loads of people were in there too, but due to the early time most people were silent, heading to their jobs as fast as possible.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was also amazed by the beautiful <span style="font-weight: bold;">totally frozen Moskva river</span> as we passed over it inside the metro.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I didn’t do much productive that day, given my exhausted condition.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Thanksfully my host was absolutely helpful and provided me with everything I needed, and some that I didn’t. I started to got used to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> having tea every hour</span>, as they offer you at any time.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In any case, yet again <span style="font-weight: bold;">I took calmly the task of knowing Moscow</span>, as I did in Kiev. Well, I thought that there were going to be tens of obvious sights not to miss, but in the end that was not the case.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Next day my host became <span style="font-weight: bold;">my guide through a maze of relatively unknown places</span> in Moscow, mostly related to Russian literates, of which Russia was so aboundant, in a time.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Starting off from the Lomonosov university, which is on an upper part of the city, a huge <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stalinist skyscrapper overlooking the Moskva,</span> near the Sparrows Park, to where we headed next.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimD2J2s-Hf2YFA9QihTxMvc4mRfTwUDQKn3XQ7ZuKKi8-0nvduoDxnvkBuNxBZY4kFHwzuY-QWMrvifnvXslXzMcjl3VmhkecEVW-hSZSoAxC9HfZjybs3qzlxMCHvG99w5T1nZ868eMez/s1600/DSC05685.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimD2J2s-Hf2YFA9QihTxMvc4mRfTwUDQKn3XQ7ZuKKi8-0nvduoDxnvkBuNxBZY4kFHwzuY-QWMrvifnvXslXzMcjl3VmhkecEVW-hSZSoAxC9HfZjybs3qzlxMCHvG99w5T1nZ868eMez/s200/DSC05685.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591313062910447858" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I really couldn’t have pictured before that streets were <span style="font-weight: bold;">completely covered by a thick and hard layer of ice all winter long</span>, because I had never seen anything like that, but obviously it is the commonest of things in these latitudes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJm5N64J2yVXE3kN2q50kK_ikRTTB-myC60Cz9JiGJKFncgiOchyDqspvfFw2_znMQ5EzSti6WiuWqawAzbXVQ9kyqZFX_gEfgnKtqrkVYcs4teJIRTHl5kDpLpG5O3OdgWeJePC9BDFGu/s1600/DSC05687.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJm5N64J2yVXE3kN2q50kK_ikRTTB-myC60Cz9JiGJKFncgiOchyDqspvfFw2_znMQ5EzSti6WiuWqawAzbXVQ9kyqZFX_gEfgnKtqrkVYcs4teJIRTHl5kDpLpG5O3OdgWeJePC9BDFGu/s200/DSC05687.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591313167249354402" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Not only streets, but the paths leading down in Sparrows Park were very slippery too, but I managed not to fall to the floor. There were many times in Moscow were I was about to fall due to the ice, but <span style="font-weight: bold;">I didn’t actually knock the floor till I got to Kazan </span>(twice on the same day).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Finally we saw the Novodevichy monastery, right in the middle of Moscow, near the Stadium by the river, a very ancient sacred place, home to a cemetery too, where the Russian personalities of all times are buried, including writers, scientists, Soviet politicians, and lately, president Yeltsin.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMqjq9VZEdQMd3tJqrvmyaSe32PliLvYHmSvvjFznmnf4RF_yw8GiS_pTAMqtT9uqZQSIaWX5U1y_GPtGqJFn-ZA3VIioOblN0o-1_eEMsW9udtr__s18ywnyIsuRiZBOr2eZVxE6Lc7B/s1600/DSC05694.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMqjq9VZEdQMd3tJqrvmyaSe32PliLvYHmSvvjFznmnf4RF_yw8GiS_pTAMqtT9uqZQSIaWX5U1y_GPtGqJFn-ZA3VIioOblN0o-1_eEMsW9udtr__s18ywnyIsuRiZBOr2eZVxE6Lc7B/s200/DSC05694.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591313272899951282" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I soon reached <span style="font-weight: bold;">my cold enduring limit</span> that day. Truly I was awfully cold, the only exposed part of my body being probably my lips, nose and eyes, but they were getting <span style="font-weight: bold;">positively numb</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I couldn’t stand it for long, so we took a rest to have lunch near the new <span style="font-weight: bold;">Byzantine-style</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">cathedral</span>, where the Palace of the Soviets was going to be built before WWII (but they made an open-air swimming pool in its place).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVzSUeTg6J0Wlf61wkEM7U4kvV5Fp4BfJMTMqvDdsAijeSYFGDnmg21DktjX37hF9arnS8XnFFhyphenhyphenxuxS3t0ddl0OmOjYWrxh3AEqwr6iIsH5ewuEoC4p40R94JMwDMjpf1iZVIL44n-SZ/s1600/DSC05698.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVzSUeTg6J0Wlf61wkEM7U4kvV5Fp4BfJMTMqvDdsAijeSYFGDnmg21DktjX37hF9arnS8XnFFhyphenhyphenxuxS3t0ddl0OmOjYWrxh3AEqwr6iIsH5ewuEoC4p40R94JMwDMjpf1iZVIL44n-SZ/s200/DSC05698.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591313378796072146" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In the afternoon we walked through the <span style="font-weight: bold;">narrow winding streets near Arbat</span>, old and new, a famous street for musicians and tourists.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">We saw a facade decorated with a strange bust of Tolstoi, and after that statues dedicated to others writers I sinceresly don’t remember… but well, notably Sholom Aleichem (the Jewish writer of Tevye the Milkman and his daughters, the book that was the inspiration for the Broadway musical and film Fiddler on the Roof).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In the following days <span style="font-weight: bold;">I tried several times to see the mummy of Lenin</span>, but with no luck at all; I found it closed every time, in spite of the timetables that said it should be open.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Thanks to that I came to know quite well the Red Square and all the surroundings, Manege, Teatralnaya, Kitai Gorod, etc.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZfuYFKbVJELH-JKI16p_GYmt2GeKQ7oNXPMbexsTrf4WPGE554pMgiEaV_5AEVhZvJD6eTDkacY91vE3D9wJh0MQ1SFF-ximhwXaAH7ularQlSUEwrB6m9vcKXd8_TIZvjzoaZlx-Vll/s1600/DSC05726.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMZfuYFKbVJELH-JKI16p_GYmt2GeKQ7oNXPMbexsTrf4WPGE554pMgiEaV_5AEVhZvJD6eTDkacY91vE3D9wJh0MQ1SFF-ximhwXaAH7ularQlSUEwrB6m9vcKXd8_TIZvjzoaZlx-Vll/s200/DSC05726.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591313563781656978" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFD16d_C3-dgzby9CppmXgK0lL0-_tLZ5-yebzTH6ytUQOHHiKfz9sWe8nkB1CjHIrcxXFKzYcCrx1aTUfEeOKjZLjde8Mj93P9pbu3f7vVeY1cIG1rQPpQpEBsdCnzuQZ7Wqe8hKkWsG/s1600/DSC05804.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFD16d_C3-dgzby9CppmXgK0lL0-_tLZ5-yebzTH6ytUQOHHiKfz9sWe8nkB1CjHIrcxXFKzYcCrx1aTUfEeOKjZLjde8Mj93P9pbu3f7vVeY1cIG1rQPpQpEBsdCnzuQZ7Wqe8hKkWsG/s200/DSC05804.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591314041993474722" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_olS33xMtomJcihNLhTgG9K6vSzT9YR3W2kckLvpGEzZlrCsB3HgLL6UrEnPqAWjxP_7j9Tkmgc1NZiDRYLeKSF7wElLnvsPRuAhll-8lE4yiWXLjEgyyPNkMW7j-0xZG_b3k0cN8Ruu2/s1600/DSC05745.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_olS33xMtomJcihNLhTgG9K6vSzT9YR3W2kckLvpGEzZlrCsB3HgLL6UrEnPqAWjxP_7j9Tkmgc1NZiDRYLeKSF7wElLnvsPRuAhll-8lE4yiWXLjEgyyPNkMW7j-0xZG_b3k0cN8Ruu2/s200/DSC05745.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591313757540836290" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Most sights of Moscow were in that area, including the walled Kremlin, to where I entered too, just to see the Tsar’s treasury and its old churches.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Apart from that I did nothing much of the touristy things. In a way, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I kind of lived in Moscow for more than a week.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I met some old friends, like Katia, Valentina and Anna, and even went to cinema (funny enough, I watched ‘Biutiful’ in Spanish with Russian subtitles).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Perhaps the disappointing part was that <span style="font-weight: bold;">I really didn’t taste the night life</span> in Moscow, and even if I was there for the Maslenitsa (Russian Carnival) week, I didn’t stay for the partying on the weekend.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">On the other hand, I attended some Spanish lessons my friend Katia gives to Russian students, and I helped them in conversational skills and deepening into the meanings of made up expressions. It was a refreshing experience, and quite the out of the ordinary things tourists do. I really felt like I was<span style="font-weight: bold;"> living temporarily</span> in Moscow, not just visiting.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Before I departed I wanted to see a city of the so called Golden ring surrounding Moscow, but most of them were too far away for a day trip, so <span style="font-weight: bold;">I got to Sergiev Posad,</span> a small town with a heavy religious background around Saint Sergius.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydN3darUhBNbG5Wm-UmRN94yD1whbGEB3t5dXp-Ow-hcqxXQLqkhMTEJgkODzt8A8K7lZ9fTH-jJ7x6nkRxyF47ENwA3wfN2kgev18VwX44SrMB5uFrf0QPHsFb8r7nuXPkFc-2rWTKiC/s1600/DSC05847.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiydN3darUhBNbG5Wm-UmRN94yD1whbGEB3t5dXp-Ow-hcqxXQLqkhMTEJgkODzt8A8K7lZ9fTH-jJ7x6nkRxyF47ENwA3wfN2kgev18VwX44SrMB5uFrf0QPHsFb8r7nuXPkFc-2rWTKiC/s200/DSC05847.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591314677742982914" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfg8k6WwNU6sJ5ZNLcDq7Iwy8pFcNUDR8yBUFaO82lNaQawauTRkrBLkp7L4Lkb9MId6mCPAtdqLRmyU0IBBgue47xrLw89Im8dUufg6UC4KnYL4WdLBAyAgjfZ4wF7vMJth2QZB86NhfD/s1600/DSC05876.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfg8k6WwNU6sJ5ZNLcDq7Iwy8pFcNUDR8yBUFaO82lNaQawauTRkrBLkp7L4Lkb9MId6mCPAtdqLRmyU0IBBgue47xrLw89Im8dUufg6UC4KnYL4WdLBAyAgjfZ4wF7vMJth2QZB86NhfD/s200/DSC05876.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591314915161084994" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">And the last but not the least, I had my choice of Russian traditional dishes in a very cosy (but quite modern looking) place. Delicious borsch with Smetana, and many other cheap specialities whose names I didn’t get.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But <span style="font-weight: bold;">Asia was already calling me</span> (so easily perceived from Moscow), and I had to take the first one of the trains that would eventually take me to Vladivostok, following the transsiberian line.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had already bought five tickets online with fixed date & time, and printed them at Yaroslavskaya station, so only thing I had to do was to hop on the train.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I took the train to Nizhny Novgorod, my first stop East of Moscow, at Kurskaya station, and having received a bouquet of flowers from Valentina, I said good-bye to this part of my travelling life.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-16481007800434817122011-03-20T10:28:00.002+01:002011-04-03T13:08:01.817+02:00Ukraine (14/02 – 21/02)<span style="" lang="EU">Ok, I haven’t written anything for a pretty long time. It’s true. I was too busy travelling and doing some journalistic job for a Basque newspaper, to which I gave more importance than to this personal blog.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I will try to <span style="font-weight: bold;">catch up</span> in a series of not very long posts.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><span style="font-weight: bold;">My journey came to a halt</span> after I arrived to Kiev, due to several reasons, but mainly because I had been travelling fast and needed to <span style="font-weight: bold;">live a bit more</span> while on the road.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Besides, the <span style="font-weight: bold;">winter cold was at its high</span> point in Ukraine, only some days later in Moscow I experienced such a sensation of coldness like I had never before.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPUC8rhMrSEziO7v_U9L0E3VfyPQCjdIs55NiQ5V-A8CYpaZ7VgPbV2wI7TuuNgkWG1AgbzyCfr8nn1z4oU-4YQ-QMkiO6wbntcsxpfCAwzQzMcNXnAny-10jgiY1w7P62PU23rygOnAI4/s1600/DSC05336.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPUC8rhMrSEziO7v_U9L0E3VfyPQCjdIs55NiQ5V-A8CYpaZ7VgPbV2wI7TuuNgkWG1AgbzyCfr8nn1z4oU-4YQ-QMkiO6wbntcsxpfCAwzQzMcNXnAny-10jgiY1w7P62PU23rygOnAI4/s200/DSC05336.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591308766103108706" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I came quite unexpectedly earlier to Kiev, so I took like a long weekend to stay at a relatively cheap hostel, know the place, and write.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As I wrote before, my border crossing was not smooth, and I chose to go directly to Kiev, missing the charm of Lviv.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Because of that, I had to spend most of the following day on the train, where I met a friendly Russian young mate who could speak some English, and unpurposely introduce me to <span style="font-weight: bold;">the ways of train-travelling in Russia</span>, like carrying your own food, getting tea at the samovar, and some minor details that Russian people don’t even realized, used as they are to this kind of travel for long distances.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">So, in short, he made my journey a bit shorter, told me some tips for Ukraine and shared the food his girlfriend had prepared for him.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Actually, it seems that <span style="font-weight: bold;">all of that is natural to Russians on trains</span>, but anyway it was very helpful to me.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Well, the problem was that I didn’t know beforehand that I was arriving at 21h to Kiev, which is pretty late for a place as huge as Kiev, not having a clue of its urban landscape and without a hostel reservation for the night.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Anyhow I managed to get to this hostel I mentioned, some 15 minutes walking from the train station, very practical.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">That I had to walk with my heavy baggage through unknown streets at night while snowing heavily, and all of that, take it for granted, no big deal, and already forgotten. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Quite the routine for backpackers.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuto0_rwbu8JC4gpObXU6GlYQezyQLnVdo8pYODs8g-hbVe0tkE1k7CKQ1Ezc2cWrdpFZs2i35EtxglxvwJHzETJCNfMcZuYUJr2tUaWc_nPDpQAfOyc3uBQWqnMY2Jgxf5a9FcUrx81_B/s1600/DSC05392.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuto0_rwbu8JC4gpObXU6GlYQezyQLnVdo8pYODs8g-hbVe0tkE1k7CKQ1Ezc2cWrdpFZs2i35EtxglxvwJHzETJCNfMcZuYUJr2tUaWc_nPDpQAfOyc3uBQWqnMY2Jgxf5a9FcUrx81_B/s200/DSC05392.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591309980821759250" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">One funny thing was that I forgot to write down the opening code of the door of the building where the hostel was, so when I got there I was desperately knocking on the wooden door, but it wouldn’t open. Funny it is that if you don’t know the code you can’t even make yourself noticeable to the hostel crew, and I had to wait till some other tourists came and opened it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It kept on snowing for most of my stay in Kiev, with temperatures under -7º.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The hostel was comfy and not crowded at all, so I made myself comfortable inside (some nights I had a very big room just for myself).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had the chance to talk with a couple from East Germany (so they told me), working as doctors in Sweden.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">On the next Friday I had been invited to a CS party at a girl’s place somewhere in an outskirt of Kiev.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">We all met outside a metro station, near a MacDonalds.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It took me 15 minutes to get to the closest metro station from the hostel (Universitet), and it was my first contact with the old Soviet metros, and was quite impressed (but that was nothing compared to Moscow, of course). It worked on jettons that you inserted before the access to the escalator (a steep one, as it’s usual in Soviet engineering, just like the escalator they showed me in Warsaw).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">20 minutes to the metro station where we had met, far on the other side of the river (the metro crossed over the wide river on a bridge).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After we were all together then the girls leaded us to a marshrutka, this kind of <span style="font-weight: bold;">really old taxi-van-buses</span> that took us to the place where she lived, 20 minutes or more inside the wheeled tin to a desolate place dotted with huge towers of appartment buildings.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrGHYVT68yjz6AlfPIc-73KqgjVVocUSOC64xJZJRnnp7U7HRD2RKrQn_dgEWXVMClQUL3sjtxZPJ_6gc7I6pxduXVFJyKuPq21Ur8AxM08b2h3bZSACL2-Ulu5Vd88HdTCVj_EY8CgxsO/s1600/20110218139.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrGHYVT68yjz6AlfPIc-73KqgjVVocUSOC64xJZJRnnp7U7HRD2RKrQn_dgEWXVMClQUL3sjtxZPJ_6gc7I6pxduXVFJyKuPq21Ur8AxM08b2h3bZSACL2-Ulu5Vd88HdTCVj_EY8CgxsO/s200/20110218139.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591308637136378978" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The party was great, we only spent 4 € each and had drinks and food for everyone.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There I met a guy from Mexico, who was a photographer doing a dossier about the ruins of the town that had to be abandoned after the catastrophe of Chernobyl.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">This guy had lived in many countries, apparently being raised in Middle East as he spoke perfect Arabic, and mastered English and Portuguese too (he had lived in Brazil too). He told us that his grandfather was the advocate to Trotsky's killer in Mexico.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Incidentally, there were two other guys from Brazil (strangely enough, both of Italian descent, and they had met in Italy), who had just turned 30 and left their jobs in Ireland to travel around Asia, more or less like I did. But they were travelling counter-clockwise, so having started in Estonia, they were heading to Bulgaria, and after that Turkey, Iran, India, China…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The couple from East Germany had told me that there were no clear sights in Kiev. Then they changed their mind and told me that the “lavras” or<span style="font-weight: bold;"> monasteries were a must see</span>, even if they were recently (re)built.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSR68QX9o5DxG04nh8wLvcWAmrO3JlQR028Mwth0cfIAIhiIii8kn8nGC25_EQJbR0h3aWvuO4Klq4CNUx_Qusd0YN9R1yMaV9dh56gN5Cc9nRp8lrZwdEgl9Dr1xyNsOnJofhmvGiQ3sM/s1600/DSC05353.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSR68QX9o5DxG04nh8wLvcWAmrO3JlQR028Mwth0cfIAIhiIii8kn8nGC25_EQJbR0h3aWvuO4Klq4CNUx_Qusd0YN9R1yMaV9dh56gN5Cc9nRp8lrZwdEgl9Dr1xyNsOnJofhmvGiQ3sM/s200/DSC05353.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591309632880543458" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssr0jMA2hAxF0HDnixArIwd1yBhQmbTjyt0rj4VbGrEtJbTW1nTgot69zQHbGSFJWuBpR6d6UxcmTGn9hP-ogr6ZBatIQxtiq6azRs0nPBEc03MIO3_lLMiCCRiLHxpbOEUAyT31digHp/s1600/DSC05383.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssr0jMA2hAxF0HDnixArIwd1yBhQmbTjyt0rj4VbGrEtJbTW1nTgot69zQHbGSFJWuBpR6d6UxcmTGn9hP-ogr6ZBatIQxtiq6azRs0nPBEc03MIO3_lLMiCCRiLHxpbOEUAyT31digHp/s200/DSC05383.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591309833824919650" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MSzB77Hoi2SYvc5BKS62AWOwYKE-gvc7xQra7dirpvNLMklxsApncCqy080RbFYKwPxOADtmYizcg2yLmb0tavq1MQkb3mFejM4S8etY8TmtRfAyYjhAMmTTqE93ilZlPAgQev_0nNs2/s1600/DSC05639.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1MSzB77Hoi2SYvc5BKS62AWOwYKE-gvc7xQra7dirpvNLMklxsApncCqy080RbFYKwPxOADtmYizcg2yLmb0tavq1MQkb3mFejM4S8etY8TmtRfAyYjhAMmTTqE93ilZlPAgQev_0nNs2/s200/DSC05639.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591311398749414578" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They were not wrong in this last statement, but I might say that there are clear sights in Kiev, as I spent three days walking around the centre and was quite delighted by what I saw, and positively surprised.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyy4rS8q9Sc0mRk_tqGAlE7oxqwQylePxLWMjdW2cnMptcdCpudmAee0VNeqBhMN9ZPk7MawUMH5-NlpoR8dWR91gBiXgNjb472iWYeKNfUK2oArquJCi5j40k4Pzye4_YCoaXKzW29aCo/s1600/DSC05339.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyy4rS8q9Sc0mRk_tqGAlE7oxqwQylePxLWMjdW2cnMptcdCpudmAee0VNeqBhMN9ZPk7MawUMH5-NlpoR8dWR91gBiXgNjb472iWYeKNfUK2oArquJCi5j40k4Pzye4_YCoaXKzW29aCo/s200/DSC05339.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591309464942180322" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeawMkRWtkRMJFgvxVkUy2BN6qGC5rFmCZp3silepCWjYFOJL1InazXvvdLMs0xXe4KBDZIjy12AlT95o1sdct1ytSBvr1hXeW57CC9u5RrfVIJfSLYGvW8e9NpSLNqeU1S94TIzkfHzda/s1600/DSC05606.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeawMkRWtkRMJFgvxVkUy2BN6qGC5rFmCZp3silepCWjYFOJL1InazXvvdLMs0xXe4KBDZIjy12AlT95o1sdct1ytSBvr1hXeW57CC9u5RrfVIJfSLYGvW8e9NpSLNqeU1S94TIzkfHzda/s200/DSC05606.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591311188811402338" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DtwMKBV9j5gqSnjEMmMubO9ccpWsvM5mULFgHga2R3tA7ZIszk1b3sW-KowvtQZIuKPhAmrhmNGHa-zit627-ikQtoEUVKHU7TN9hHsGDup9I1dTX6j8jg-xhCb6n2Pvewe1dEijrUjr/s1600/DSC05455.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-DtwMKBV9j5gqSnjEMmMubO9ccpWsvM5mULFgHga2R3tA7ZIszk1b3sW-KowvtQZIuKPhAmrhmNGHa-zit627-ikQtoEUVKHU7TN9hHsGDup9I1dTX6j8jg-xhCb6n2Pvewe1dEijrUjr/s200/DSC05455.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591310232692712322" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It’s true that I was initially somehow lazy and didn’t take much time in visiting it, but it was rewarding in the end. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Elegant avenues, neat classical buildings, Soviet architecture, epic statues, shiny Orthodox temples under the snow…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-omAkbIquDbWixhXKgxwQeVzKaRT4EdgwV51dO5dyjW86bHcAMQjIumSC4A0TUrkGyjehzsLDMyTrn8sOnQ9FQ-Ud1GqsjekiGXptlXObB8qYJoiUxjiqJyWsK3A7KZQbaFtYbT8hMaQK/s1600/DSC05665.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-omAkbIquDbWixhXKgxwQeVzKaRT4EdgwV51dO5dyjW86bHcAMQjIumSC4A0TUrkGyjehzsLDMyTrn8sOnQ9FQ-Ud1GqsjekiGXptlXObB8qYJoiUxjiqJyWsK3A7KZQbaFtYbT8hMaQK/s200/DSC05665.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591311591845260098" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vGxEyFkkA8dS3cGtht-Br8gvOYC6vrEdYI-R2mYX43MJ5SOsW1uRfQmD6J8WnBhvEefjqFlK_3q9r2Jj-NI2iSNRGIzabRkZ8XfSqtEPexjObmd7giekBr4974waJ6uyxVYySxScSYfd/s1600/DSC05572.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vGxEyFkkA8dS3cGtht-Br8gvOYC6vrEdYI-R2mYX43MJ5SOsW1uRfQmD6J8WnBhvEefjqFlK_3q9r2Jj-NI2iSNRGIzabRkZ8XfSqtEPexjObmd7giekBr4974waJ6uyxVYySxScSYfd/s200/DSC05572.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591310969343930482" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uan_QTTkvKN6C51Nttsxg387y71Q1JWRYRZho1hOaoYgZ5pv1UUK4dAjCHNCvys5vmr8gapfgMxqnyeN8Vi6mNc9D0nulGCkZaopOzYOTSApsVYE3sVxoSCjKZeSzA_60A9Jo6k_rG0f/s1600/DSC05555.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uan_QTTkvKN6C51Nttsxg387y71Q1JWRYRZho1hOaoYgZ5pv1UUK4dAjCHNCvys5vmr8gapfgMxqnyeN8Vi6mNc9D0nulGCkZaopOzYOTSApsVYE3sVxoSCjKZeSzA_60A9Jo6k_rG0f/s200/DSC05555.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591310740635332642" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was amazed by the size of a huge female statue (tens of meters?) representing the victorious Soviet Union over the nazis in the great patriotic war (their name for the WWII), it was located in a park dedicated to the fallen soldiers, and home to a cemetery of Soviet tanks, missiles, helicopters, etc.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaMNFEo-gpWJ7uVrLn5y_GLaJhNC4DjSSg5HgPXvhSbIQsbcwV645gk2aolXJ00Kh7tUP0o40QjsN4tzHZ-dV0uqVPChXhWj2XzzeASLVM_nqaJsE8uXWXp9u5RasR0184tcpNiOf9zsn/s1600/DSC05524.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihaMNFEo-gpWJ7uVrLn5y_GLaJhNC4DjSSg5HgPXvhSbIQsbcwV645gk2aolXJ00Kh7tUP0o40QjsN4tzHZ-dV0uqVPChXhWj2XzzeASLVM_nqaJsE8uXWXp9u5RasR0184tcpNiOf9zsn/s200/DSC05524.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591310435948971074" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimgCdhT58fPTMpD19jfTdNbHS96rCRehTInoFz7GUKlgrJ5uAT-oVhhwHcb9rDOYyQZabnUcTcB1dnorU-wN7b3aTE_2YYmBG6IhLHVR3UYLhx09z9C0AfJNoaHG-ZyOT9-DVU9zm85kxe/s1600/DSC05543.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimgCdhT58fPTMpD19jfTdNbHS96rCRehTInoFz7GUKlgrJ5uAT-oVhhwHcb9rDOYyQZabnUcTcB1dnorU-wN7b3aTE_2YYmBG6IhLHVR3UYLhx09z9C0AfJNoaHG-ZyOT9-DVU9zm85kxe/s200/DSC05543.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591310603621077122" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The day before I left there was a minor incident at the hostel.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Apparently, a guy from Barcelona had just stayed at the hostel but left before I got there, and he claimed that he had been robbed there, some computer material he had, very important for him, since he was travelling one year around the world (same story again).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Well, there were no proofs, but a hostel worker found this guy’s belonging under the bed of a Turkish guest and he was accused of robbery.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">She, the hostel worker, asked me and a Pakistan guy (who was spending a lot of time in the hostel) to back her up while she threw the Turkish guy away, just in case he became violent. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Obviously, he got offended, guilty or not, and after an absurd discussion he left.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The thing is that the day I left the hostel crew asked me to bring these belongings to Fede, the guy from Barcelona, who was currently in Moscow.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I took the white bag they gave me (I saw inside a MP3 player, an “Around the World” travelling guide, and a PC memory).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I crossed the border between Ukraine and Russia by night, on a train of course, but they didn’t check anything especially, not even my ID photo or visa. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Next day when I arrived to a frozen platform at Kievskaya station in Moscow, Fede met me and I gave him the bag. End of the story. Good luck with you, Fede, wherever you are now (he was heading directly to Beijing on that same day).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Some minutes later, in the same place, I also met my CS host in Moscow, but that is another story ;)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Wow, it all seems such a long way back now that I am writing this chronicle from a futon on the floor of a motel’s room in a lost tiny volcanic island of South Korea, halfway to Japan, Ulleung-do. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But we’ll get to this too, in time :)</span></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-15778131894222940752011-02-20T20:16:00.007+01:002011-02-20T21:08:32.269+01:00Beyond Europe? (16/02 – 17/02)<span style="" lang="EU">I was right when I thought that after Vienna I was going to take <span style="font-weight: bold;">an important step ahead</span>, facts showed it to me next day.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I woke up at the hostel some minutes before my clock alarm rang due to other guests’ noises, and I had to quickly pack everything again after remaining two days at the same place, and after having breakfast I ran to the near train station of Bratislava Hlavna Stanica.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My eastbound train was departing at 9:24, I was first going to the train hub of that area, Kosice, and then taking another train to the easternmost town in Slovakia: Cierna nad Tisou.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Without surprises the train to Kosice arrived at 14:20 on time, and I went directly to the platform of the train to Cierna nad Tisou, which departed at 14:40.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The train to Kosice was a very comfy and modern one, and it was quite empty. I had a four-seats piece just for myself, including a big table in front of me, and an electrical plug for my computer.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I took my time to write some texts and even watched a movie. It was a 5 hours long <span style="font-weight: bold;">delightful journey</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The train to Cierna nad Tisou had definitely a much more local flavour. Seats were old but at least cushion-like and most places were taken (it was unnumbered). Many travellers were high school students returning to their little border towns.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I arrived to my final destination few kilometers shy of the Ukrainian border at 16:40.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had read on an internet forum that the best option was going to the border first, then crossing it to Chop and then taking a train from Chop to Lviv (sometimes spelled Lvov).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><span style="font-weight: bold;">But I wasn’t lucky that day</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">When I arrived to the train station of Cierna nad Tisou I found out that there was no train crossing the border till 23:00.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I did my best to pass the time in that distant, old and empty station with remnants of the Soviet era (a mural displayed the liberation of Prague), and oddly enough, two palm-trees. Some Gypsy children were running around.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZh9YSoTxi-MtTH8XwPejVvRlhzbMOnH1z_81ntKUwHEEvB2QmaTxdAH5-7BfkWVeqDqAht1YZbHZXUjpwF5laYwmEnDuGLN9m9CvrqiBTkN7T7Cm9ap_st99owE6JNQvMUaeJ9n_stpwr/s1600/20110216133.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZh9YSoTxi-MtTH8XwPejVvRlhzbMOnH1z_81ntKUwHEEvB2QmaTxdAH5-7BfkWVeqDqAht1YZbHZXUjpwF5laYwmEnDuGLN9m9CvrqiBTkN7T7Cm9ap_st99owE6JNQvMUaeJ9n_stpwr/s200/20110216133.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575859444893665682" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I first bought a ticket to Chop, because I thought no trains were running further away, but I was obviously wrong, so when I realized it I bought a ticket from Cierna nad Tisou to Lviv. The ticket officer told me that there were <span style="font-weight: bold;">no beds available on this train</span>, but that I could buy a <span style="font-weight: bold;">second class ticket</span>. Alright.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As I had been progressively going eastwards inside Slovakia snow was more and more frequent, so this town was totally snow-covered.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After buying some snacks to trick my need for real food, I decided to have a look around. The town was kind of desolate and I couldn’t find anything interesting at look. Nondescript. One street leaded out of the station, and some others equally dull ones crossed it. No restaurants, no hotels. Just one supermarket, one bet-house, one bank and a pharmacy.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In the end time passed quite fast, and finally I got on board. 2nd class wagon, all empty and unlightened.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4vfEpk0gyPiYHq6zlf8kb87OfRv43IP_hnRz0cbkRuzQcSRtXJ-145C43BpjygBSEFG89D19K-ISGGa_YuuumzziPSvgPotd9k8XMuqX_hp2b27iP0864_yjefXKl0jKKep5Al240knc/s1600/20110216135.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI4vfEpk0gyPiYHq6zlf8kb87OfRv43IP_hnRz0cbkRuzQcSRtXJ-145C43BpjygBSEFG89D19K-ISGGa_YuuumzziPSvgPotd9k8XMuqX_hp2b27iP0864_yjefXKl0jKKep5Al240knc/s200/20110216135.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575859745505458450" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Seats were red and made of hard plastic.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHI6p5LzF8q4sdZ_OAUkLm3gPpPAjD3dbAmqjQlW8WLplOEdHe6JEicZeZpBrrzuoVxZMjGDJw3aZq2cBfbuPwsQVqlKuIOaHDXpQyMT2r1eclx2Qk-2TUHqyUUshiJ0TaC5vL27pRpSkc/s1600/20110216136.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHI6p5LzF8q4sdZ_OAUkLm3gPpPAjD3dbAmqjQlW8WLplOEdHe6JEicZeZpBrrzuoVxZMjGDJw3aZq2cBfbuPwsQVqlKuIOaHDXpQyMT2r1eclx2Qk-2TUHqyUUshiJ0TaC5vL27pRpSkc/s200/20110216136.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575860034612968706" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In just 10 minutes we got to the Slovakian side of the border. A first round of two policemen checked that my wagon was empty apart from me and looked everywhere inside.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Second round of two (Slovakian) policemen asked me my passport and were surprised to learn that I was travelling by train to Russia. The looked at me suspiciously and amused at the same time when they asked me when I was returning home and I told them that in many months.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They just didn’t know what I was doing there, but as a citizen of the European Union I had the right to leave it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">And I left it, and if I succeed <span style="font-weight: bold;">I won’t return to the EU till the end of this year</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My worst nightmare came alive when they <span style="font-weight: bold;">kicked me out of the 2nd class wagon</span> at the train station of Chop (Ukraine). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Apparently I was the only one who had to get out of the train and then go to the border control and custom house. But not only that, they informed me then that my <span style="font-weight: bold;">2nd class ticket to Lviv was not valid</span> because there was no 2nd class wagon going to Lviv actually; my wagon’s trip ended in Chop.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The train’s officer wasn’t friendful and shouted me in a bad mood to get out of the train and not to come back.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Ukrainian female police officers leaded me to the passport control room of the station.Thanksfully, they spoke English.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">No problems. I <span style="font-weight: bold;">got my passport stamped</span> and they just checked my instruments’s case (even made me play the alboka to prove it was a musical instrument).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Some friendly military old man tried to explain to me in broken English that I had to<span style=""> </span>pay for a bed in a wagon going to Lviv.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">That was when I saw my former train from Cierna nad Tisou leaving the station.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They tried to reassure me: you will have a train to Lviv in 3 hours. <span style="font-weight: bold;">It was almost 2 in the morning already.</span><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The station’s interior was in twilight and kind of cold. All ticket offices were closed.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was alone and didn’t know what I was expected to do then.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I left my backpack on a bench and sat beside it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I tried to sleep slouching onto my backpack, gloves, hat, scarf, coat and everything on, but it didn’t work.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After a while I saw people chatting at the information desk.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">“Gavaritie pa-angliskiy? I want a ticket to Lviv.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Unhappy female ticket sellers told me to go to desk nº 5 in 5 minutes. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In the meanwhile I changed my mind and decided to go directly to Kiev, instead of Lviv.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Sometimes one has to <span style="font-weight: bold;">take fast decisions</span> in this kind of trip while being very tired. That was what happened. I thought that having no CS host or contact whatsoever with anyone there, and besides, having no travelling guide of Ukraine either it wasn’t worth it going to Lviv. Aaand I thought I was going to arrive there pretty <span style="font-weight: bold;">early in the morning</span>, because there were only 280 km between Chop and Lviv, and I took for granted that the train ride will only last about 3 or 4 hours, and I needed much <span style="font-weight: bold;">more sleep</span>. That’s why I decided “to the hell with Lviv, I will travel to Kiev so I will have more time to rest”.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In the end, and after getting out of the station twice looking for an ATM that provided Ukrainian currency ("grivnas"), I got my sleeping-wagon ticket to Kiev.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My first real and authentic “transsiberian”-like experience started when I got on to this new wagon. It wouldn’t depart till one hour yet, but lots of people were sleeping in the dark inside. It was the Bratislava – Moscow line.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">When I got inside there was a warm smell of <span style="font-weight: bold;">sleeping bodies, breathing, snoring, and some of them stinking</span>, but I got quickly used to this.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I found my couchette inside in the darkness (nº 20), it was an open compartment wagon, with dozens of people sharing the same space.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I climbed on to my bed (it was an upper couchette) and as far as I can tell, I got asleep after a long day.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It turned out that the train was arriving to Lviv at 11:00 am, when I woke up greatly refreshed (but I didn’t know that that stop was Lviv).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The train was going to arrive to Kiev 9 hours later, after crossing most of Ukraine.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Far more rest than what I needed, so now <span style="font-weight: bold;">I regret not having visited Lviv</span>.<span style=""><br /></span></span></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-17543823502242378172011-02-19T14:10:00.030+01:002011-02-19T15:11:36.083+01:00Slovakia and Vienna (14/02 – 16/02)<span style="" lang="EU">The night train to Bratislava turned out to be very nice in comparison. I was kind of sensitive about trains then because of the event in the one to Krakow.</span><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMjr2cl-Yy7rfitJ9LHjDGbkyBLiJHVLjh3TE-PUhQ3rKUHQvnGMNEcR6VejtF-I9XPO4C7r9UvoD2f-E47kAWmw2GQpXnMYeLescNfIPDwD2yY2mq8fHBAEL4_i0pfdi22z8X7An-HZnc/s1600/20110213130.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMjr2cl-Yy7rfitJ9LHjDGbkyBLiJHVLjh3TE-PUhQ3rKUHQvnGMNEcR6VejtF-I9XPO4C7r9UvoD2f-E47kAWmw2GQpXnMYeLescNfIPDwD2yY2mq8fHBAEL4_i0pfdi22z8X7An-HZnc/s200/20110213130.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575387877093250354" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My first compartment with<span style="font-weight: bold;"> couchettes</span>, and just for myself! This was the kind of experience I was going to have during the transsiberian.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Sadly, I didn’t have enough time to sleep for the train dropped me in Bratislava at 5:30 or so, but surprisingly, the train station was not completely empty, quite lively to be so early, instead.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I followed the hostel signs at the station and I reached one at 6 in the morning, quite near.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They wouldn’t let me check in till 14h, but they let me stay in the reception room and kept my baggage.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As soon as the sun went up I went for a slow walk around the town, I had in fact 6 hours before I could get a bed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixdYdyMy5A8nV5VgDUkWEWcGES8TsahmO_rp3fQrOGDuARNolpEurT04ycPfANe_rYPXQMKqjQkyNUjNkLkaiTiHFwVWCMJkhXRpVErPVkJVOpYiG8oK0JrsH62h0C4QBz00Kx7-jF_a8y/s1600/DSC05318.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixdYdyMy5A8nV5VgDUkWEWcGES8TsahmO_rp3fQrOGDuARNolpEurT04ycPfANe_rYPXQMKqjQkyNUjNkLkaiTiHFwVWCMJkhXRpVErPVkJVOpYiG8oK0JrsH62h0C4QBz00Kx7-jF_a8y/s200/DSC05318.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575399831194887634" border="0" /></a></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtciudarr3q7CC5r0kWSo3457FC10rTWueaZ1JrLZ-7Ul8gTIwRT-5cuWG2ffg9fJHtd0VKFc1PGHYXE7s9mP-C_b-Lecwknu-lXk_p2SfwK6donPtJeimVQClX71P6O3ouuShhqhIjIDz/s1600/DSC05240.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtciudarr3q7CC5r0kWSo3457FC10rTWueaZ1JrLZ-7Ul8gTIwRT-5cuWG2ffg9fJHtd0VKFc1PGHYXE7s9mP-C_b-Lecwknu-lXk_p2SfwK6donPtJeimVQClX71P6O3ouuShhqhIjIDz/s200/DSC05240.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575388543749484226" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghk6Cz37pFwaMAVWjzWszzTVSkJFaSWKhH1K8VB9rKPyv_Kg8Mc_5Sxx38o0OkLa4GdMuGtwYXdBSgNtDLZbFSfeC_i7LfKD2uu3MhWhkUBUvgmW91A7itf40s4baUGqTrSqLJQdKWOBY-/s1600/DSC05245.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghk6Cz37pFwaMAVWjzWszzTVSkJFaSWKhH1K8VB9rKPyv_Kg8Mc_5Sxx38o0OkLa4GdMuGtwYXdBSgNtDLZbFSfeC_i7LfKD2uu3MhWhkUBUvgmW91A7itf40s4baUGqTrSqLJQdKWOBY-/s200/DSC05245.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575389593568283826" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EU">Entering Bratislava’s Old Town by Michael’s bridge (statue of the archangel featured) I saw the Clock’s Tower and beside it the so-named “narrowest house in Central Europe” (lol).<br /><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcU5L6D4m9PR7bBvvDi9CS0Nqdjr5DEE160Z-RpuA0puU8RivSi2cytt3oeo6eUmccLunkRnuDyCynqv1gj0r8nmSbsPIygRaWwDORngSIs_DwNM7SZHs0JFF8ut7izCr_d-H1jkMnb0_/s1600/DSC05256.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcU5L6D4m9PR7bBvvDi9CS0Nqdjr5DEE160Z-RpuA0puU8RivSi2cytt3oeo6eUmccLunkRnuDyCynqv1gj0r8nmSbsPIygRaWwDORngSIs_DwNM7SZHs0JFF8ut7izCr_d-H1jkMnb0_/s200/DSC05256.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575390373346503666" border="0" /></a><span style="" lang="EU">It was freezing cold but I was getting used to this kind of weather, but anyway I got into a café for a long breakfast, tea and a piece of chocolate cake included.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">After a while, it was <span style="font-weight: bold;">snowing heavily</span> for the first time in my trip, I zipped tight my coat and climbed to the castle.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV43cR1IpBIkZ7lI9SCJYduj9pJbGemNad1BPDOl-Swdsy9gSSCXNr8HvM0xywfeOym3vPkVQgmAlv_Sgmd7impmgqCYcV2BHl-ZsvLtJr-qhSXFTaRhtrJYuu7tnYRdFwn3XN9KnhzH3o/s1600/DSC05260.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV43cR1IpBIkZ7lI9SCJYduj9pJbGemNad1BPDOl-Swdsy9gSSCXNr8HvM0xywfeOym3vPkVQgmAlv_Sgmd7impmgqCYcV2BHl-ZsvLtJr-qhSXFTaRhtrJYuu7tnYRdFwn3XN9KnhzH3o/s200/DSC05260.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575393251758011970" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2__tBa0tLnK2CtM9m3QvCw37h2mdSNUWuChxplxY4wtYGqlIZEigBLeJMRNMhgmVL1D4lHYKYZQBIBj_8OWOfyM9ofU5q9BcstkB18CPgzuTyS_oveOkI8pdelXEFO1RHwd8qdCVb_BGK/s1600/DSC05266.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2__tBa0tLnK2CtM9m3QvCw37h2mdSNUWuChxplxY4wtYGqlIZEigBLeJMRNMhgmVL1D4lHYKYZQBIBj_8OWOfyM9ofU5q9BcstkB18CPgzuTyS_oveOkI8pdelXEFO1RHwd8qdCVb_BGK/s200/DSC05266.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575394744463582546" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpG5Xih3IQwP6udpKoNLlYJIoZACqmiNUYnzdlDbrbXUgX8iaLYrBvP3ZFPlvC21jOxHvZlQJatEr-aBkMKz4ZQT2i7Gln7znXKCB96UKJ_E80eg3N9gQvIXwpf8Ow3srf-LjYTRmies-/s1600/DSC05268.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZpG5Xih3IQwP6udpKoNLlYJIoZACqmiNUYnzdlDbrbXUgX8iaLYrBvP3ZFPlvC21jOxHvZlQJatEr-aBkMKz4ZQT2i7Gln7znXKCB96UKJ_E80eg3N9gQvIXwpf8Ow3srf-LjYTRmies-/s200/DSC05268.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575395391225802402" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">All in all, Bratislava has a pretty Old Town, it reminded me a bit of a little German town.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZ9X6mDNfLkEduN66TkkQx7oFIVRzdkaWxErl0eVOMtNIvRStJuHP10VDtIHdK0VLhaRYf6cVOksq6u3sfQviRzpXH4y3x23BpVZncykwudJ849MD3MFGzEcpenpIq13tg_gXUSon7-xK/s1600/DSC05293.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZ9X6mDNfLkEduN66TkkQx7oFIVRzdkaWxErl0eVOMtNIvRStJuHP10VDtIHdK0VLhaRYf6cVOksq6u3sfQviRzpXH4y3x23BpVZncykwudJ849MD3MFGzEcpenpIq13tg_gXUSon7-xK/s200/DSC05293.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575397471396462770" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DdaiWOv5tvz4GX1WaYmHEBuocdvYZTYBm0QArsY6IIc049tUBcY1dHctAhBX1t528wODuHgkS9H8-b0eSQbZmoEM2RoFoP8npNd1WeVOcT2WvQ0ULio6M0ejygUluxQ6OEK3Ly_MqoHw/s1600/DSC05312.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6DdaiWOv5tvz4GX1WaYmHEBuocdvYZTYBm0QArsY6IIc049tUBcY1dHctAhBX1t528wODuHgkS9H8-b0eSQbZmoEM2RoFoP8npNd1WeVOcT2WvQ0ULio6M0ejygUluxQ6OEK3Ly_MqoHw/s200/DSC05312.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575398959828898354" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Many Catholic churches and convents, though. In this area some churches already display domes of similar shape to the onion domes of the Eastern faith.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Bratislava also homes many<span style="font-weight: bold;"> strange statues</span> in hidden corners of the town. Some examples are those faces below, the bronze statue of the sewer worker, etc.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOJHk8tw2BguBkgH1xZVa1MisSRYcoT3TKEdcnAllcF_Rr9246ei0XNdSz5-b8_OgI-FHpnxPX0G-61uXDDErZgoBR8CyHbR9YF0bw9RTx9l5kuaXlMP7VZrY4_ccNcaBVaB-gqAOKuFf/s1600/DSC05258.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYOJHk8tw2BguBkgH1xZVa1MisSRYcoT3TKEdcnAllcF_Rr9246ei0XNdSz5-b8_OgI-FHpnxPX0G-61uXDDErZgoBR8CyHbR9YF0bw9RTx9l5kuaXlMP7VZrY4_ccNcaBVaB-gqAOKuFf/s200/DSC05258.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575392399969569794" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKI91SGYLBvdN1VKZpVl0P6DOq4tJJIJ6Prqo6pGHq_vGkQkQOXvUrOTGdt7gc5kmvJFVPDMlrXmWAdOt1kvjTeJKobdFNweFUZzQT43uOM0LMnFdyYtHGxbCqAs6daMAKaVmIXSl7wKo/s1600/DSC05257.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKI91SGYLBvdN1VKZpVl0P6DOq4tJJIJ6Prqo6pGHq_vGkQkQOXvUrOTGdt7gc5kmvJFVPDMlrXmWAdOt1kvjTeJKobdFNweFUZzQT43uOM0LMnFdyYtHGxbCqAs6daMAKaVmIXSl7wKo/s200/DSC05257.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575391106945181410" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBw3x-rPNIGI_frmmhrc5WC-A4pzdut-zwDHhtLyowLcZrmcDAuRe1qpZBpWBj867a7gxJbxcHA_qddjkovQCouD5GRD2CmXk2cTIjH47sl9pTlbS2h1GvCZzvkTS68EYmn7d_FFQwIRA/s1600/DSC05283.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBw3x-rPNIGI_frmmhrc5WC-A4pzdut-zwDHhtLyowLcZrmcDAuRe1qpZBpWBj867a7gxJbxcHA_qddjkovQCouD5GRD2CmXk2cTIjH47sl9pTlbS2h1GvCZzvkTS68EYmn7d_FFQwIRA/s200/DSC05283.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575396707070955330" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had lunch in an Slovak restaurant's cellar-like room, ate chicken with peaches and cheese, and strudel for dessert, delicious.</span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19O1DlUlgOqHfOUdoEIBIy7Mc-dPIwEGiJ-76xAncT8HCopW8Bb_HKJWCGSHB8BeKwfDHEjkYWfF2ZYX_N-MsXGDiGLianDL1zq-AZJAzA0m_Krow4YybaG9qhUFSeZfRy-utACT0MfGo/s1600/DSC05310.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19O1DlUlgOqHfOUdoEIBIy7Mc-dPIwEGiJ-76xAncT8HCopW8Bb_HKJWCGSHB8BeKwfDHEjkYWfF2ZYX_N-MsXGDiGLianDL1zq-AZJAzA0m_Krow4YybaG9qhUFSeZfRy-utACT0MfGo/s200/DSC05310.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575398261516199730" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">When I could finally get in the hostel I lived like some other hostel-dwellers, staying the afternoon in my room with 6 other people.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I shared the room notably with two Brazilian girls (studying and working in Central Europe, respectively) and a South African resident in England, fan of snowboarding and mountains.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I reached my <span style="font-weight: bold;">westernmost point</span> in one year when I arrived to Vienna.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">That was an opportunity to meet again a dear friend.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">She took me to a cemetery where we could behold the tombs of Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and others, and then had lunch at a cool central Pakistani self-service all-you-can-eat restaurant, where you could pay whatever you feel like!!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJyeKZf_Tmkz-ULRLZYkN5pO8whsu3yScI0FO4dZZVLKKzbcno5E4SddTMqtPwf7-Wb-ebtTHbEO73S65yVtoi6kBQjZ2oarERo1uhcpfzZvJv_m80xk2aRZOA1WCrOQNP9aqSsAydfmC/s1600/DSC05326.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLJyeKZf_Tmkz-ULRLZYkN5pO8whsu3yScI0FO4dZZVLKKzbcno5E4SddTMqtPwf7-Wb-ebtTHbEO73S65yVtoi6kBQjZ2oarERo1uhcpfzZvJv_m80xk2aRZOA1WCrOQNP9aqSsAydfmC/s200/DSC05326.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575401815451138994" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In Vienna I ended one part of the trip, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the inner circle</span>, I left behind whatever I could have <span style="font-weight: bold;">felt like home</span> and prepared myself to enter the unknown territory of Ukraine next day.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEN38FW4J8hrH3Vx7YY8u375zZbRKBxTmgCiNZXeJJu1nOAa4kXY_h7lwhhZJyHGC2pw17zNtGgb4-ddMkQZBU9tsQhtW3k72Fc2gwe0vn29LiR-GtPb7lLHuuXlNpjUAH7xvNvwG0m4CB/s1600/DSC05329.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEN38FW4J8hrH3Vx7YY8u375zZbRKBxTmgCiNZXeJJu1nOAa4kXY_h7lwhhZJyHGC2pw17zNtGgb4-ddMkQZBU9tsQhtW3k72Fc2gwe0vn29LiR-GtPb7lLHuuXlNpjUAH7xvNvwG0m4CB/s200/DSC05329.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575400826023249282" border="0" /></a></p><p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Western European imperial buildings still present in Vienna.</span></span><br /></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-80490523913690319252011-02-17T23:27:00.044+01:002011-02-20T19:47:23.148+01:00Poland (09/02 – 14/02)<span style="" lang="EU">My experience in Poland has been <span style="font-weight: bold;">mixed, ecclectical one can say</span>, surely short but unequal.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">This was my first time in this country and sinceresly I had never been before because there wasn’t anything in it that attracted me especially.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Anyway, I was pretty <span style="font-weight: bold;">excited getting at last into a unknown country</span> for the first time in my Asian trip (and I’m still in Europe, yes).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The thing is that I hadn’t prepared anything about Poland, as I do before every trip, and with that I mean informing myself a bit about its history, culture, society, learning the basics of the language and reading about what to see in some of its cities.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">But given that Poland was going to be only a <span style="font-weight: bold;">temporary destination</span> I didn't make the effort at all.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had my train ticket from Berlin to Warsaw before I knew that my visa to Belarus had been denied, so I had no choice but going there.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The fastest route to Moscow was clearly Paris > Berlin > Warsaw > Minsk, and that was what I was planning to do.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Incidentally I made up my mind to visit Krakow, because everyone was telling me that I couldn’t miss it if I went to Poland (most of them also told me NOT to go to Warszawa).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">When I found out that Ukraine was going to be my route to Moscow then Krakow was a compulsory stop strategically located. Inmediatly afterwards I realized that Slovakia is so close that I couldn’t miss it before I quit Europe.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As I wrote on the previous post the <span style="font-weight: bold;">chilly wind</span> was one of the first highlights in Poland. Apparently, I had had pretty mild temperatures even in Berlin (where it was blissfully sunny) but I had the full winter’s blow in Warsaw. I had to quickly adjust my clothing habits to work against it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I confessed that I wasn’t interested in Poland, but in the end I found it<span style="font-weight: bold;"> quite appealing</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">As soon as I got on the train in Berlin I was confined to a compartment with 5 Poles, not understading a word of what they were saying.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Two of this guys had a menacing appearance, weighing many more kilos than what they ought to, skinheads, and hiddenly drinking vodka on board. One of them had a sweater that said “Zero Toleransji”.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Somehow I could tell when we crossed the border because the nature seemed a bit more lifeless (?) than what winter weather causes. These borderlands looked very unhospitable, but finally we stopped by the industrial Poznan.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Later on, Polish people told me that the Poles who live close to Germany still feel someone will come and claim these territories, for they were relocated after WWII with people from Eastern Poland.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">We arrived later than expected to Warsaw and because I couldn’t see any sign showing that that was Warszawa Centralna, I had to ask to be sure I wasn’t hopping off at some distant outskirt’s station.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I found myself in the middle of an <span style="font-weight: bold;">underground web of corridors,</span> with occasional stairways to the surface. I tried one of those and the daylight blinded me and all I could see was a concrete street and lots of cars on a wide alley. It didn’t look anything like any central point of reference to me so I got downstairs again. Back there I had to go with the flow, for thousands of people seemed very aware of their destinations and walked fast in these underground corridors.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Boardsigns in Polish didn’t let me know much.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was hungry so I ordered a kebab but when I paid with Euro they told me that not so much was necessary for prices were in zloty.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Great. I had no idea Poland still had a strange currency.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had supposed that Poland was going to be a little more in accordance to its location in Northern Central Europe, but I had thought wrong, and despite of where it is and that Slavs elsewhere consider themselves Central Europe (in Czech Republic, Slovakia or Slovenia, for instance), Poland is an Eastern European country with social and economical problems.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Beggars asked me openly for zloty in Polish on the street, which is very unusual in my hometown, to say.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Once I got upstairs and I saw the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> high Stalinist skyscraper</span> in the middle of the Warsawian Centrum and thought it was beautiful. They illuminate it with greens, purples and yellows by night.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFpcKzm9Q6Whb99eEKvaUuq9XKZ3SjOi-AtudPqROISnZ4XBTXvQbu5sCJZbSv6g_AVaL33NhN0lwybVMdhWKtdtxm7517snEgTSnV3VHcHwtWtJ3HgL7EKx3iH0FpyU5JvFh0VT5lZx5Z/s1600/DSC05085.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFpcKzm9Q6Whb99eEKvaUuq9XKZ3SjOi-AtudPqROISnZ4XBTXvQbu5sCJZbSv6g_AVaL33NhN0lwybVMdhWKtdtxm7517snEgTSnV3VHcHwtWtJ3HgL7EKx3iH0FpyU5JvFh0VT5lZx5Z/s200/DSC05085.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574796711795022818" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ePOgO-CaTsEpJpD4KlkYu2Il7VgStMLkxv0NFwFU5FbeS5ocnMzkR92lg7oFPNqaJXIqqi7YZba2uZCfRYbaAGXpszCkCU2erD7MGxYf_I07QQHn2uH9vtnhrTSaBm_UUqREwuWfSVLA/s1600/DSC05144.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8ePOgO-CaTsEpJpD4KlkYu2Il7VgStMLkxv0NFwFU5FbeS5ocnMzkR92lg7oFPNqaJXIqqi7YZba2uZCfRYbaAGXpszCkCU2erD7MGxYf_I07QQHn2uH9vtnhrTSaBm_UUqREwuWfSVLA/s200/DSC05144.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574809037283541314" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was taught later that locals hate it because it was built by Stalin and because it was chosen among other projects that could have benefitted more the general population.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was freezing cold outside soI headed to a modernist shopping mall nearby, where I could wait in the warm and commercial atmosphere till I could meet my CS host in Warsaw.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My host lived in a far from the centre (20 minutes by metro) new neighbourhood, full of recently constructed residental areas surrounded by high metal fences and watched by security guards. You even had to type codes twice on a numeric keypad. I just wondered what was so scary outside to be isolated from it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My host took me to a cool gaming bar <span style=""> </span>(people were playing board and card games there) and I had the chance to try a <span style="font-weight: bold;">delicious ale with chocolate and coffee syrup</span>. Not to forget the popular <span style="font-weight: bold;">beer with honey</span>. There I met a couple of two other couchsurfers: a girl from Vienna who studied History of Art, and a French IT from the Pacific colony of New Caledonia.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I thought that I had travelled pretty fast and intensely between Bilbao, Paris and Berlin, and I needed to slow down and relax, and enjoy the experience now that I was finally in a new country. And so did I.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Next morning, I didn’t bother to wake up early to visit Warsaw, and started writing and publishing to my blogs instead.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">When I got finally to the centre I walked to the rebuilt Old Town. This part of Warsaw was completely destroyed during the WWII so the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Communist Regime had to reconstruct it entirely</span>, in an appraising effort to restore the history of the capital. The whole nation contributed and in the end the outcome is impressive. They based the reconstruction on 17th and 18th centuries paintings, so it is not the exact appearance of the place before the war.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1KKxWjKlLFMEXo3MLEUnNAgGmB2M5F-znsb542V7w71QbyRb4AEKj-5-w_wV3ygyQfSGCRGHt3CjSPOgBr-AGBXwjVQ9In7LvtktY_TiqJH0ynTQgwioyqC-NBshJPMHsJeIgHYzzpvP/s1600/DSC05087.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1KKxWjKlLFMEXo3MLEUnNAgGmB2M5F-znsb542V7w71QbyRb4AEKj-5-w_wV3ygyQfSGCRGHt3CjSPOgBr-AGBXwjVQ9In7LvtktY_TiqJH0ynTQgwioyqC-NBshJPMHsJeIgHYzzpvP/s200/DSC05087.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574799535509124578" border="0" /><br /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqywWOfcYCTeKfKPvgmdvXy1CxlFSnRN4Fa8O0gyTe0dJWuDLSdlF9R3b3z7BfroPVcAJ8e79FkAmeyGskLQAggJiZ1G9kvTV3AFzmAGgU2lsCz7vtLeBs0FHnoF53jpqdO9Tu94dywVSL/s1600/DSC05088.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqywWOfcYCTeKfKPvgmdvXy1CxlFSnRN4Fa8O0gyTe0dJWuDLSdlF9R3b3z7BfroPVcAJ8e79FkAmeyGskLQAggJiZ1G9kvTV3AFzmAGgU2lsCz7vtLeBs0FHnoF53jpqdO9Tu94dywVSL/s200/DSC05088.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574800535665159378" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cwlGFtAF2nT2f8LMKXrnotcLuNPYRNyBWk5nlJv6dkb15Nf6K9S-lZdPobS0QYvAUi7D7rPAFQIs6GrlHUBG6q4eM-zgGrohpS9reyPzTfmSFWNYa5dBedHIkiZTmpGTemEegaD-DLiZ/s1600/DSC05100.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0cwlGFtAF2nT2f8LMKXrnotcLuNPYRNyBWk5nlJv6dkb15Nf6K9S-lZdPobS0QYvAUi7D7rPAFQIs6GrlHUBG6q4eM-zgGrohpS9reyPzTfmSFWNYa5dBedHIkiZTmpGTemEegaD-DLiZ/s200/DSC05100.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574802326297676258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_d8_onlYAWITUEi8J6qtpHkntBQ3MwJyFOTgiHEdhOuqansE9o3Rs6MR2DuRC0Vki2yLRTXivQSDSgytjDvDFu5GgWCoLvFTKu0P1nO_CkFpInVb3cit7f3PodjZ5ErW8kBO2j2h7D46/s1600/DSC05101.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK_d8_onlYAWITUEi8J6qtpHkntBQ3MwJyFOTgiHEdhOuqansE9o3Rs6MR2DuRC0Vki2yLRTXivQSDSgytjDvDFu5GgWCoLvFTKu0P1nO_CkFpInVb3cit7f3PodjZ5ErW8kBO2j2h7D46/s200/DSC05101.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574803407628242834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqpGygoTtdYJVXZW32M2UbOGIryHaFQceCXYWqhRpJ9LLjTOencuns8Fy8KBU2EgnPS09zNf29g4j_GhWjJLXm8Gh22eWKknJxum9SZitbbns9JEge5hDWz9XuoPU0PM8EjLsmg2eo418/s1600/DSC05116.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqpGygoTtdYJVXZW32M2UbOGIryHaFQceCXYWqhRpJ9LLjTOencuns8Fy8KBU2EgnPS09zNf29g4j_GhWjJLXm8Gh22eWKknJxum9SZitbbns9JEge5hDWz9XuoPU0PM8EjLsmg2eo418/s200/DSC05116.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574804209894618898" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjly5cMvbXjpkz7G0-M3Az4zynDPZRMVm2mHb08eCZdcZNubTcNr-mKMpSKqtanUyuH8soPdpH4XHULSaxB29CyJDzS6N75O8WiCL56Dzfem1Gk3XIuSJxdunzJcoLSq_jLy0QfKAN5yWGg/s1600/DSC05117.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjly5cMvbXjpkz7G0-M3Az4zynDPZRMVm2mHb08eCZdcZNubTcNr-mKMpSKqtanUyuH8soPdpH4XHULSaxB29CyJDzS6N75O8WiCL56Dzfem1Gk3XIuSJxdunzJcoLSq_jLy0QfKAN5yWGg/s200/DSC05117.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574805359888783618" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">In front of the Old Town, across the Vistula river, is the quarter called Praga, the same name of the Czech capital, were the Russian troops were stationed before the liberated the city from the Nazis.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There is a statue of these soldiers in front of an Orthodox Church there. Locals call this statue the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sleeping Soldiers</span>, because Russians first forced the Poles to rebel against the Nazis before grabbing the city themselves.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZEEv-jCPeGcphwc8J3ekyGH5ws_dbeeNapTVyEbLGa8Sj94j_zJyiyPtWnoiZeUntxgCwC_VAkXEjo3VSJX-dzFWlmraNDHwx0vD1W4wHpaewH1FAO7r_rsJf3gcV0CNklT5QYwKLpKO/s1600/DSC05126.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZEEv-jCPeGcphwc8J3ekyGH5ws_dbeeNapTVyEbLGa8Sj94j_zJyiyPtWnoiZeUntxgCwC_VAkXEjo3VSJX-dzFWlmraNDHwx0vD1W4wHpaewH1FAO7r_rsJf3gcV0CNklT5QYwKLpKO/s200/DSC05126.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574807541963975282" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuK4Fu3oXOw4QI24hCM13Mo-EqLzRCWcTEllXZFk7j6eW-X1ivUvwl1CO8gIQ1lp8OPG35QsHQQRL468rnIZ2M7_A4N-_30SLiDsm98n8_qPvU3VzgmSP_zGCH9RCTajf5b-KSzYk142F/s1600/DSC05135.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcuK4Fu3oXOw4QI24hCM13Mo-EqLzRCWcTEllXZFk7j6eW-X1ivUvwl1CO8gIQ1lp8OPG35QsHQQRL468rnIZ2M7_A4N-_30SLiDsm98n8_qPvU3VzgmSP_zGCH9RCTajf5b-KSzYk142F/s200/DSC05135.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574808588321413826" border="0" /></a><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Later that night I attended a kitchen party of a couple of friends of my host, who had just come from a trip in Vietnam, so I was able to learn a bit about what they saw, and their opinion about the country, some pictures, etc.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I felt lazier next day because the day was quite gloomy and rainy, so I only had like a couple of hours of sunlight in the city, which I used to walk in the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> southern part</span> of it, including the Royal Park.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The best thing of the day was the <span style="font-weight: bold;">pierogi I had for dinner at a cosy and traditional place.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJasXmNAqleQBspnZhO3cxHSPM59jwsdqfsx8PvyOK_b6edFmbh6BQIB-j_kmqaSzjxHTukWRKUt-WcnWJw8FmZVc9C9tCXoUe3XnCHAgcR8bijZx0T7Wv61Cx3UH_dR60LDuMU-fBGO11/s1600/DSC05146.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJasXmNAqleQBspnZhO3cxHSPM59jwsdqfsx8PvyOK_b6edFmbh6BQIB-j_kmqaSzjxHTukWRKUt-WcnWJw8FmZVc9C9tCXoUe3XnCHAgcR8bijZx0T7Wv61Cx3UH_dR60LDuMU-fBGO11/s200/DSC05146.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574809626072612850" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">They had an English menu for these dumplings but they didn’t speak any English. I ate a Russian one and a sweet one made of apples.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">There was a <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japanese girl</span> who was a lone traveller too and barely spoke English. I had to communicate with her using my poor Japanese. She told me that she had done the opposite trip from Vladivostok to Moscow.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Saturday morning held an <span style="font-weight: bold;">unpleasant surprise</span> for me.<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Snow covered the streets early in the morning, but it was quickly melting away under the sun.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I knew that a train was departing at 10:20 to Krakow but what I hadn’t realized is that the ticket I had bought previously was unnumbered, so I could have taken any train.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">The problem was that the most convenient for me was that one in the morning, and loads of people had had the same idea. So the platform was crowded and we had to fight to get into the train. Many people were heading to the Southern mountains of Poland (Zakopane), with skiing and snowboarding stuff.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I was about to be left behind at the station, but finally<span style="font-weight: bold;"> I pushed myself into the train</span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I had to stand with my backpack by the door of the wagon for nearly 4 hours</span>, and side by side with a multitude that filled up every possible space inside (as far as I could see, the train’s seats were occupied when it arrived to Warsaw).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Everybody was having a hard time because when it arrived finally there was a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> loud applause</span> from the travellers.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was bad, and I couldn’t avoid getting angry for a while, but I forgot about it when I got to Krakow.</span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5HyR1UqdRj-DggQBb7ardlBPhZ9vgKJfkPfWdanHZlvSp5VJzPxBEWAq7ZKcylwH6jpQayVhrDbHsz4_PCMHWcy_lY-O8U8T5KbEbLLj2KCH56ztQ9tcUuTcIakAJZ-UoXSaaKGX5Cza/s1600/DSC05149.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq5HyR1UqdRj-DggQBb7ardlBPhZ9vgKJfkPfWdanHZlvSp5VJzPxBEWAq7ZKcylwH6jpQayVhrDbHsz4_PCMHWcy_lY-O8U8T5KbEbLLj2KCH56ztQ9tcUuTcIakAJZ-UoXSaaKGX5Cza/s200/DSC05149.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574810871706110562" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwEIKaoCanlNFc2lo6IF_4Cw6zhxcWLKzRC3ruNdAwuoPm89gU9wb1-pga5kaY6PGA0B4VNAvtvuWsYechLVmuFO-OlEqcvL-vmO0IlksLtIVmgRKeVyK-t39fW7PrBfP6a-PeG7YfUR2/s1600/DSC05186.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUwEIKaoCanlNFc2lo6IF_4Cw6zhxcWLKzRC3ruNdAwuoPm89gU9wb1-pga5kaY6PGA0B4VNAvtvuWsYechLVmuFO-OlEqcvL-vmO0IlksLtIVmgRKeVyK-t39fW7PrBfP6a-PeG7YfUR2/s200/DSC05186.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574813227081843314" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg5IYAw8dJQLXBZSUFTwUJfE8NgV7QkveJpvFQBOvbxucqI3GS9HB-qyU-xYzvf0EwDM1eo6944BP02ivl5ZFMhyphenhyphenw5J-t-l2kCRspGz33Dw3m3jSfbwx0R_oFL2ORrtpovRKak56VTmcf3/s1600/DSC05196.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg5IYAw8dJQLXBZSUFTwUJfE8NgV7QkveJpvFQBOvbxucqI3GS9HB-qyU-xYzvf0EwDM1eo6944BP02ivl5ZFMhyphenhyphenw5J-t-l2kCRspGz33Dw3m3jSfbwx0R_oFL2ORrtpovRKak56VTmcf3/s200/DSC05196.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574814061179441714" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjehPRcAfJJVlC7Pmbj24CDL8lw0ib4K8TDzWsEVDSyFSZJCwjmv1lKG6egBlXUZCv-YhdSdpZTS72Y5cvDY70qJjnFGaDh-NtSExG3tO3zpWZidDs_uM4ECt6WrlGRQ4kXi3ZktIdtzF2c/s1600/DSC05203.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjehPRcAfJJVlC7Pmbj24CDL8lw0ib4K8TDzWsEVDSyFSZJCwjmv1lKG6egBlXUZCv-YhdSdpZTS72Y5cvDY70qJjnFGaDh-NtSExG3tO3zpWZidDs_uM4ECt6WrlGRQ4kXi3ZktIdtzF2c/s200/DSC05203.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574815048811350274" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9xcnKfU8gtRZKge_RtS5L1xGYSJh4s9tdkdvmz8ztISlwh_fu5D3xeXkMw6EA6UwlqsHpoXR66o_Y7WgPIZIcXeoUWZGvuGbxHwQ6dZAE0nDouYKl6KU22Q10XFVfdKEvPp9p-PEbevG/s1600/DSC05237.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_9xcnKfU8gtRZKge_RtS5L1xGYSJh4s9tdkdvmz8ztISlwh_fu5D3xeXkMw6EA6UwlqsHpoXR66o_Y7WgPIZIcXeoUWZGvuGbxHwQ6dZAE0nDouYKl6KU22Q10XFVfdKEvPp9p-PEbevG/s200/DSC05237.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574817821190974242" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">For the first time since I started I got <span style="font-weight: bold;">no CS host</span>, so I stood alone in Krakow, but thanks to CS I met this <span style="font-weight: bold;">girl named Asia</span> and had some chatting over Polish beers in the Jewish quarter.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Dx6YN5aLXYTFdEMuKhX5ln32AbBs8IWcXAJ7BCx0RiV7TNOK8fzQSgDHuIenmieWN3KhZQuXm8bDj_ByQi9UsUMWTts1pzAZspBVtIFhvTGxHnfxyUWvEOoxUlHBn5ccUlWsP5dVXS9p/s1600/DSC05225.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Dx6YN5aLXYTFdEMuKhX5ln32AbBs8IWcXAJ7BCx0RiV7TNOK8fzQSgDHuIenmieWN3KhZQuXm8bDj_ByQi9UsUMWTts1pzAZspBVtIFhvTGxHnfxyUWvEOoxUlHBn5ccUlWsP5dVXS9p/s200/DSC05225.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574817072791538738" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I took my time in Warsaw, but because of the lack of CS contact in Krakow I regained speed, so I just spent one day and a half there.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Mainly promenading around the beautifully preserved Old Town, all surrounded by gardens and above it the castle of Wawel and its Cathedral.</span><br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvJsYphvixbNx4sx5hOm-O31BYiSoZ7Iq-8Krvyh0f2K5mzfo2EV7_ue26_ERE2RlOIMsjmNLIL-MkGsbvfwp5ja09cEr_A29ZXzmXQ-dqueUCRxe7Z6aj5Evvm5qNN6BzOSmzthqyzQyl/s1600/DSC05152.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvJsYphvixbNx4sx5hOm-O31BYiSoZ7Iq-8Krvyh0f2K5mzfo2EV7_ue26_ERE2RlOIMsjmNLIL-MkGsbvfwp5ja09cEr_A29ZXzmXQ-dqueUCRxe7Z6aj5Evvm5qNN6BzOSmzthqyzQyl/s200/DSC05152.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574811634742072258" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LLlP_EUQCwDNR2uI7OThMIW8dHgUJVQXzKBNUouozlJ3vbh3xqaV-i-rvw77dlNcYNOPUCnsdu-kHl8W4cS6uVYkWbrsjWUfhfpL_KObxwVKMnhGbM5lbtJr4jrONGHWS-0_7vGN4s2y/s1600/DSC05177.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1LLlP_EUQCwDNR2uI7OThMIW8dHgUJVQXzKBNUouozlJ3vbh3xqaV-i-rvw77dlNcYNOPUCnsdu-kHl8W4cS6uVYkWbrsjWUfhfpL_KObxwVKMnhGbM5lbtJr4jrONGHWS-0_7vGN4s2y/s200/DSC05177.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574812477874962210" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-q5KPHGOaAE44NRZ2hGacJ6QSnT9GR6hPZ-V1awLK0NJ5xT8NiafEQ4LaGSNp_-WCvY8jLobE2nC8iXb_Ht74MFr93jkr1KN4DQTlCUUsNBMQOMgo-xVD_5PzWmYBmQs3i_1M4OWWK7hi/s1600/DSC05217.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-q5KPHGOaAE44NRZ2hGacJ6QSnT9GR6hPZ-V1awLK0NJ5xT8NiafEQ4LaGSNp_-WCvY8jLobE2nC8iXb_Ht74MFr93jkr1KN4DQTlCUUsNBMQOMgo-xVD_5PzWmYBmQs3i_1M4OWWK7hi/s200/DSC05217.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5574815991191242914" border="0" /></a></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">It was sunny during the day, but at night the cold was hard.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Sunday was quite a lonely day and I didn’t do anything special. It was probably <span style="font-weight: bold;">the lowest day so far</span> in the trip.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I didn’t want to stay out in the cold so as soon as it got dark I stayed indoors at a local mall near the station. My thought that afternoon was that Poland was “Western enough to be hateable but not Eastern enough to be exotic”. It was unfair but I was kind of pissed off, and in a way it was positive as I still felt like near home (thanks to things I don’t like as commercialism, catholicism, etc.). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">I had my train to Bratislava late at night on Sunday, which meant that it was going to drop me at an unknown station at 5:40 in the morning.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">(I doubt I will be able to write with this level of detail further on, but will keep on trying!)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-24006300009558471932011-02-11T12:15:00.012+01:002011-02-11T14:04:43.095+01:00First leg: Bilbao – Paris – Berlin – Warsaw (04/02 – 09/02)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuO74Hj-nZuuRViBmh-x5GbePNGtpdyAwArbAd6fpOZlicCWTWT_2P7V21yMxFHvaYYPiIsVQoFTnPEbcSsP2GsarCL02EX-Cy59Yv5gfUkGhr9VRLuSPQGYRVKpp0pyY_Fw-_VKU11Ryi/s1600/DSC04934.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuO74Hj-nZuuRViBmh-x5GbePNGtpdyAwArbAd6fpOZlicCWTWT_2P7V21yMxFHvaYYPiIsVQoFTnPEbcSsP2GsarCL02EX-Cy59Yv5gfUkGhr9VRLuSPQGYRVKpp0pyY_Fw-_VKU11Ryi/s200/DSC04934.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572411937645079970" border="0" /></a><br />Here goes the first post on the road!<br />This first part of the journey that will take me to the Far East started in Southwestern Europe, where Bilbao is located.<br /><br />My first destination was of course Paris, where I had already been with my father when I was younger.<br />I had quite an intense stay in Paris, full of activities and sights, thanks to my great host Gorka, a mate from Bilbao who lives there since 4 years ago.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFVz25zto1c7vpcL_buy6MFafAXyoMj2j2J-irKFWn23gBYX-TBwgu_NwkFYNk_fv6LGn9NhYZwRo0EM8OVFUwecuHSUtArTVAVj3sTb2oaNNqpRrJTVGg-t1nOVQfBkJXmVeYFzmdVyij/s1600/DSC04949.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFVz25zto1c7vpcL_buy6MFafAXyoMj2j2J-irKFWn23gBYX-TBwgu_NwkFYNk_fv6LGn9NhYZwRo0EM8OVFUwecuHSUtArTVAVj3sTb2oaNNqpRrJTVGg-t1nOVQfBkJXmVeYFzmdVyij/s200/DSC04949.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572414215734724978" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_cxel9DzU0KoL-BBLElkMu8ZcxVkiZ6sQ6_LtZ13vNpQwvWhSl7Dt41zvjBQbh_BuVU00Jj9so1HIj-kWkN6pL2askL4mziD2d6PHJhlp7D2OYe08RIuZRa2HUazk_Uv4wwL-QGO61tR/s1600/DSC04955.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_cxel9DzU0KoL-BBLElkMu8ZcxVkiZ6sQ6_LtZ13vNpQwvWhSl7Dt41zvjBQbh_BuVU00Jj9so1HIj-kWkN6pL2askL4mziD2d6PHJhlp7D2OYe08RIuZRa2HUazk_Uv4wwL-QGO61tR/s200/DSC04955.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572414465919207490" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JJ9fnicR6rX2V7plmY943jARc1FeK7pYpfU7RVQEtmQQRdI7KF_9bwes0tN0oFbOGuHzgoKwwEFlE1q8Ix88NGWnGZCGkeTIV27V2bX5jkK-ErAKh44K5iBvjIssWouRQeQIV0lTLRlz/s1600/DSC04981.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3JJ9fnicR6rX2V7plmY943jARc1FeK7pYpfU7RVQEtmQQRdI7KF_9bwes0tN0oFbOGuHzgoKwwEFlE1q8Ix88NGWnGZCGkeTIV27V2bX5jkK-ErAKh44K5iBvjIssWouRQeQIV0lTLRlz/s200/DSC04981.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572415396230933026" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawPa3sJmqWFwtDt3EYP2PWDlPn-f8h_n6zFR03SifcMgitjt6U2cipNNXWlCavqhhcDtbXFzdmJsfudNcE_8VfRjX7SrDdm1txEOVKko34-qHjZPYoRbh07ra9jZ5tcI5lMKhLE71pgm6/s1600/DSC05070.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawPa3sJmqWFwtDt3EYP2PWDlPn-f8h_n6zFR03SifcMgitjt6U2cipNNXWlCavqhhcDtbXFzdmJsfudNcE_8VfRjX7SrDdm1txEOVKko34-qHjZPYoRbh07ra9jZ5tcI5lMKhLE71pgm6/s200/DSC05070.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572415611073362146" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I survived a night train with no bed from Paris to Berlin that took around 12 hours of journey, which I did on purpose so I can start getting used to spending long times in trains.<br /><br />Berlin was a much more recent visit for me, even if it was in 2009 it seemed like yesterday. I had no trouble in walking around the places I easily took as already known and familiar.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMequl02rbwU9KAkY1ag-qfIjH88v4-3WNm5Kz5ctZShIXeXoHWLlTkUsiORU_zulZCrHkD-IopQMsOW98aExjrA5U9ym8kEVt2IW_Rrsuq4x2ayFpfsuz4aenSHUYWiJViwr67N-nSh0/s1600/DSC05078.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAMequl02rbwU9KAkY1ag-qfIjH88v4-3WNm5Kz5ctZShIXeXoHWLlTkUsiORU_zulZCrHkD-IopQMsOW98aExjrA5U9ym8kEVt2IW_Rrsuq4x2ayFpfsuz4aenSHUYWiJViwr67N-nSh0/s200/DSC05078.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572416063704182850" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVNWg5H7k84xgqolsez_bJPfHSA4z4Fcf5ADZknMOLWNzFT8HnMbv7CsBN35N5fk7Ane43Oe9hw8pc6S5JLgS5KCibLdXPUu-gmhoioaLIPhaLWwsHg0Q2uI0vR3rXBsDRabyRUG-yszTn/s1600/DSC05080.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVNWg5H7k84xgqolsez_bJPfHSA4z4Fcf5ADZknMOLWNzFT8HnMbv7CsBN35N5fk7Ane43Oe9hw8pc6S5JLgS5KCibLdXPUu-gmhoioaLIPhaLWwsHg0Q2uI0vR3rXBsDRabyRUG-yszTn/s200/DSC05080.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572416242963504786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXf79n1diNwmcqlpk_ZSGuGDiat4zJnAxFcfB0GPoXC1vViLjZhwtNZzL1E9DpCV3_RzYWASEqmexo_lt2TIy-sW6HRdEJKVNqyWmO3cLG_pwux5rye-im1nThTRClYyMBmDCOYOJYJYZ/s1600/DSC05083.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXf79n1diNwmcqlpk_ZSGuGDiat4zJnAxFcfB0GPoXC1vViLjZhwtNZzL1E9DpCV3_RzYWASEqmexo_lt2TIy-sW6HRdEJKVNqyWmO3cLG_pwux5rye-im1nThTRClYyMBmDCOYOJYJYZ/s200/DSC05083.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572416383274617666" border="0" /></a><br /><br />These stays in Central European cities have much in common with my previous stay in London in January: big capitals, already seen, new perspectives, reunions with friends, etc. so the London trip can be considered a prologue to the Asian trip.<br /><br /><br />Warsaw was then the first unknown place I was getting to. And I really had a strange arrival, feeling totally lost in an underground corridor with lots of people going in every direction.<br /><br />I didn't even know that there was no Euro in Poland so when I first ordered some food I thought prices were in Euro! But in fact one zloty is about ¼ of Euro.<br /><br />Not knowing the language is another handicap I am not used to cope with, because normally I learn at least the basics so I can ask things and say hello, thank you and so, but I didn't take the time to do it in Polish, so I feel concerned that I force people to talk to me in English.<br /><br /><br />But I felt great walking around on my own, discovering the layout of a city I had never been to.<br />I will talk more extensively about Poland in a different post.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmwH0sGdRIDEMP3VnnsCusQNGTdKjBRdqkXx0-Pk68UdS61AXZBwFxh8VG1Qqv7Sh3YzDIfusB8XyJb027E0RYKcV49_YNBsRHoHAfEseT9UvGpFi2qzd_Y1SN_gSllQ-8ynDCZNTA_hn-/s1600/DSC05084.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmwH0sGdRIDEMP3VnnsCusQNGTdKjBRdqkXx0-Pk68UdS61AXZBwFxh8VG1Qqv7Sh3YzDIfusB8XyJb027E0RYKcV49_YNBsRHoHAfEseT9UvGpFi2qzd_Y1SN_gSllQ-8ynDCZNTA_hn-/s200/DSC05084.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572416673076648098" border="0" /></a><br />Cold! A little warning for what awaits me further East.<br />I found it very unpleasant, despite it is only 1 or 2 minus zero. But anyway, I could walk for many hours without getting indoors at any time and I endured this coldness. In any case, I am not using everything I brought against the freezing winter.<br /><br />I cannot enter Russia till the 21st, so I must make time around. I am going South, to Krakow, which everybody says it's the most beautiful place in Poland, and then, given that Slovakia is next door, I am visiting Bratislava.<br /><br />Vienna will also be added to the Western capitals that I have already been to and which I will visit before I leave Europe, especially to meet friends again :)<br /><br />I have been meeting awesome people and old acquaintances on the way, so I can't complain.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-31649797171017084972011-02-10T10:44:00.003+01:002011-02-11T14:03:34.773+01:00Foreign Passport<span style="" lang="EU">When last week I received my passport back, together with the Russian and Chinese visas, I realized that something was missing: There is not a single word in Basque language on it.</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></p><span style="" lang="EU"><span style=""> </span>That wouldn’t be such a failure if it wasn’t for the more than 20 other languages in which it is written.</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">Including not only the “bigger” ones like English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish or Italian, but also less “important” ones like Portuguese, Danish, Polish, Czech, Slovakian, Romanian or Bulgarian, and finally “stranger” ones like Hungarian, Finnish, Greek, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Estonian or Irish, some of them actually even less spoken than Basque.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">My Spanish identity card has in fact all text translated into both Spanish and Basque, but when I get abroad with my passport<span style=""> </span>I am forced to pretend that I am as Spanish as anyone. I mean, I don’t mind, not everyone has to know anything about the place you come from, and explaining takes time, but that is just plainly false, I don’t mind pretending I come from a uniformily homogeneous country, but that’s deceptive at least.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">If Switzerland was in the European Union I am sure that Romansch (Swiss co-official language, with a few thousands of speaker) will be another EU official language, but hey, Spain is not Switzerland! Spain is a sort of a big Castile, Spanish monolingual state, looking from the outside, not a confederation of peoples who want to stay together (as is the case of Switzerland). In opposition to Switzerland, there is clearly one culture/language imposing itself above the others in Spain.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EU">What could I do? I just travel with a foreign passport that doesn’t show my real nationality.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZJJgOyaJRueh6PrO7GqkR_K_xibTZ5zc7wtDwPpu4pFXW1a1k9y1ydp9-I4C3zi4q-T9QnVSvSbPridqSiiNvcEGRywM8aSxDYyAitwGAdhNizoDZzS6CMy4qIr-ytW1ZnCd8sMXSWktW/s1600/pasaportearrotza.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZJJgOyaJRueh6PrO7GqkR_K_xibTZ5zc7wtDwPpu4pFXW1a1k9y1ydp9-I4C3zi4q-T9QnVSvSbPridqSiiNvcEGRywM8aSxDYyAitwGAdhNizoDZzS6CMy4qIr-ytW1ZnCd8sMXSWktW/s200/pasaportearrotza.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5572388809141815458" border="0" /></a></p>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-30247929071117777362011-02-02T00:59:00.005+01:002011-02-02T01:05:47.730+01:00Last arrangements<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPiPqf6eSVv9qidLB8YIj8tvRhaeYwTd5E5nBzkPlXyMBaOZYwJFz8U0u1aMID4AoNQxW_104D0BlgTW7l9i29YA0LUIENopMSYxQxE92jOcCiYEGPEmptStCRUpVmsMc2TODvBjtJOFnX/s1600/istockphoto_196709-clock-on-wall-01a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPiPqf6eSVv9qidLB8YIj8tvRhaeYwTd5E5nBzkPlXyMBaOZYwJFz8U0u1aMID4AoNQxW_104D0BlgTW7l9i29YA0LUIENopMSYxQxE92jOcCiYEGPEmptStCRUpVmsMc2TODvBjtJOFnX/s200/istockphoto_196709-clock-on-wall-01a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568841537962746130" border="0" /></a>I know that I haven't written a single word here for the whole month of January, but I have plenty of excuses... I was busy quitting my job, travelling to London and meeting cool people there, moving all my things out of my rented flat...<br /><br />This will be my last post here before I depart on Friday (February 4th), heading to Paris.<br /><br />After that I expect to post frequently about my whereabouts, since I bought a netbook to take with me, especially to be able to blog while travelling.<br /><br />So be patient and keep on following new updates here.<br /><br />For all of you who happen to know Basque too, I will be writing on a Basque language blog on BERRIA newspaper's website here:<br /><a href="http://www.berria.info/blogak/asiatik">http://www.berria.info/blogak/asiatik</a><br /><br />Starting today I have a new haircut, a very short one for that matter, because long ago I thought it very convenient having a comfortably short hair to travel for months abroad.<br /><br />Besides, I finally got today my Russian and Chinese visas, so the borders in my itinerary are open for me now, till August at least.<br /><br />Talking about the itinerary, I had to change it when I was told that in order to get into Belarus I needed a real hotel reservation vouch signed and sent from Minsk, so fortunately, I am now getting from Poland to Moscow through Ukraine, that doesn't need any visa, and which I deem more interesting.<br /><br />Apart from that, I have realized that I only have a two entry visa to China, each of which allows me to spend 30 days there, so I have a maximun of 60 days there, but I can only have 30 days every time I enter. This might rearrange a bit my sighting tour in China, because I will use one entry when I get from South Korea, and the second one most probably when I get back from Mongolia (after Beijing), so that won't allow me to visit Hong Kong if I don't apply for a new visa in China.<br /><br />I had the last dosis of the necessary vaccines last week, and I emptied my flat (a great task), but not before I packed everything in my backpack, and I am so happy that everything I wanted to carry fitted inside!<br /><br />I am going to say good-bye telling you that I already have <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org">Couchsurfing</a> hosts in Paris and Berlin, in the first case a fellow expatriate from Bilbao and an American friend of him, and in Germany (where I will only spend one night before I take a train to Warsaw) a former host and guest.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-29115242125498342502010-12-28T09:45:00.081+01:002010-12-29T09:46:00.494+01:00Some dreams come true<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaO2I8n_KQ2yWzy2F-MqrccXxsL2OXK7mbSVUIShcLmUEynFcREtGx2w5oIUvCA8RP4oQcGkqhGsH5277FwGCgGIX8Lam8_g7BVuk2NTaQYj4P7acTbaUClmdFkeeHTUc_F4rqO70TsRD/s1600/asia.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimaO2I8n_KQ2yWzy2F-MqrccXxsL2OXK7mbSVUIShcLmUEynFcREtGx2w5oIUvCA8RP4oQcGkqhGsH5277FwGCgGIX8Lam8_g7BVuk2NTaQYj4P7acTbaUClmdFkeeHTUc_F4rqO70TsRD/s400/asia.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5555692691114023410" border="0" /></a><a href="http://asiertravel.blogspot.com/2009/12/first-post-dream.html">When one year ago I decided to start writing here</a>, this project was terribly <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://asiertravel.blogspot.com/2009/12/certainties-uncertainties.html">uncertain</a> and hypothetical.<br />Now, <span style="font-weight: bold;">exactly one year later</span>, I have been diligently taking <span style="font-weight: bold;">every necessary step</span> and I am about to embark on this great adventure, with only a few things to do yet before it.<br /><br />I remember dreaming about this kind of trip since at least 8 years ago, while I cannot deny that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Asia</span> and many of its several cultures have exerted a<span style="font-weight: bold;"> powerful attraction</span> on me since I was a child.<br /><br />I am on the edge of a change in my life.<br /><br />Many people have asked me some <span style="font-weight: bold;">detailed explanation on the route</span> that I will follow.<br />Here it is:<br /><br />On the <span style="font-weight: bold;">4th of February</span> (incidentally, the first day after the Chinese New Year in 2011) I will take a train at a local station in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bilbao</span>, and for the first time I will travel by train to <span style="font-weight: bold;">San Sebastian</span>, a journey that takes almost 3 hours, just to enjoy the landscapes of my homeland for the last time before I leave.<br /><br />Another train will take on that same day to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paris</span>, where I will stay for the weekend, immersed in the Parisian <span style="font-style: italic;">belle vie</span>.<br />Then I will head to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Berlin</span>, where I was last year for 5 days, the gate to the formerly known as <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eastern Bloc</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Poland</span> will await me then, for the first time in life, and I will indulge myself some days in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Warsaw</span> before I enter <span style="font-weight: bold;">Belarus</span> and spend some time in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Minsk</span>, capital of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States" title="Commonwealth of Independent States">Commonwealth of Independent States</a> (including Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Tajikistan), what <span style="font-weight: bold;">remains of the USSR</span>.<br /><br />Yet again by train, I will reach <span style="font-weight: bold;">Moscow</span> at the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> end of February</span>, and hopefully on time for the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Maslenitsa</span> (Russian Carnival).<br />I will meet some friends there, and stay for a week or so, and I will try to visit some of the jewels of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Golden Ring</span> (ancient Rus towns surrounding Moscow).<br /><br />Most importantly, I will then depart on the eastbound <span style="font-weight: bold;">Transsiberian route</span>, but first of all, I will stop at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nizhny Novgorod</span>.<br />Some miles after that I will cross the <span style="font-weight: bold;">invisible line between Europe and Asia</span>, in <span style="font-weight: bold;">March</span>.<br /><br />I will halt in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Irkutsk</span>, on the shore of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lake Baikal</span>, but I'm not sure if I will make any other stop till I get to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vladivostok</span>, on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pacific coast</span> (I am currently reading the Transsiberian travel guide and pondering options).<br /><br />A ferry will take me to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Fushiki</span> in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japan</span> (Takaoka, Toyama prefecture), on the West coast of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Honshu</span> (Japan's main island). It takes two nights to get there from Vladivostok.<br /><br />I am really excited about getting to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japan</span>, so I don't know what I will exactly do there, but I want to see as much as possible and stay possibly as long as one month there, despite it will surely be <span style="font-weight: bold;">the most expensive country</span> I will visit.<br />I will go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tokyo</span> first, and then other places in Honshu, like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Osaka</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kyoto</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nara</span> etc.<br />It will be the time of <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">hanami</span> when I get to Japan, the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">sakura</span> (cherry tree) blossom, a greatly revered celebration for the Japanese (<span style="font-weight: bold;">March/April</span>).<br />I want to go further north, to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hokkaido</span> island, a place of awesome wilderness and natural wonders, home to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ainu</span> minority.<br /><br />Besides, I would like to taste the real <span style="font-weight: bold;">countryside Japan</span> somewhere, like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Shikoku</span> island, maybe.<br /><br />I will leave Japan probably from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kyushu</span> (the southern island), after visiting <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hiroshima</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nagasaki</span>, taking a ferry to <span style="font-weight: bold;">South Korea</span>.<br /><br />In <span style="font-weight: bold;">South Korea</span>, I will travel from the South to the North (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Seoul</span>), and then take another ferry to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> China</span> (Tianjin).<br /><br />If North Korea allows, indeed, for there are increasing threats of war in Korean waters.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tianjin</span> is the closest port to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Beijing</span>, so that will be my next destination, I will land there probably at the <span style="font-weight: bold;">beginning of May</span>.<br /><br />The unavoidable <span style="font-weight: bold;">Great Wall</span> will be one of my sights too, but then I will stay mainly in the North of China, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Manchuria</span> (city of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Harbin</span>) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Inner Mongolia</span> before I get into Mongolia proper.<br /><br />In the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Republic of Mongolia</span> I will try to find out what to do in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ulaanbaatar</span> and see if there is an easy way to adventure myself into the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Steppe</span>.<br /><br /><br />After Mongolia I will return to China to see the East coast (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Shanghai</span> and so) and the cradle of Chinese civilisation, between <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yellow and Yangtze rivers</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Xian</span> and so).<br /><br />Going southwards, I will arrive to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Guangzhou</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hong Kong</span>.<br /><br />I will finally leave China from Southern <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yunnan</span> province.<br />There is a boat that will take me from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jinghong</span> (Yunnan) to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chiang Saen</span> in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thailand</span>, through <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mekong river</span>.<br />Once in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thailand</span> (visa obtainable on arrival), I will ask the visas for other countries in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bangkok</span>, like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Vietnam</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Laos</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cambodia</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Myanmar</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">India</span>.<br /><br />So far till <span style="font-weight: bold;">June 2011</span>... I won't anticipate more for the time being :)Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-76500203828564208552010-12-17T08:47:00.006+01:002010-12-23T09:52:13.257+01:00Step by step... towards departure<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1wHcaw0RKd6ZbN1iVpmstZas7x0CFwk5xzMmYv-uuTvUjY1hMn6X0ikTIKcPw1Y_dPcVLo7M2zx87mBWUKYf1AAoR19abKNXM3il9mH9EGanb1yTpePQor6YpjhLzsUrB2tI8MANX4M7/s1600/steps.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ1wHcaw0RKd6ZbN1iVpmstZas7x0CFwk5xzMmYv-uuTvUjY1hMn6X0ikTIKcPw1Y_dPcVLo7M2zx87mBWUKYf1AAoR19abKNXM3il9mH9EGanb1yTpePQor6YpjhLzsUrB2tI8MANX4M7/s320/steps.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551561255222476482" border="0" /></a><br />This has been a <span style="font-weight: bold;">decisive week</span>, in which I am fastly reaching the <span style="font-weight: bold;">point of no return</span> before the trip.<br /><br />Many <span style="font-weight: bold;">progresses</span> have been done.<br /><br />I have applied for the <span style="font-weight: bold;">work leave</span> at my company (but I have yet to get an answer), starting in mid-January, when I will leave to <span style="font-weight: bold;">England</span> for some days before I start the <span style="font-weight: bold;">final arrangements</span> at home.<br /><br />Besides, I have asked for the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Belarussian and Russian visas</span> at a local travel agency (Blue Planet), very expensively for there is no Belarussian embassy in Spain, and most probably I will receive them in the beginning of January.<br />Then, I will have to buy a <span style="font-weight: bold;">new health insurance</span> for the period May-January (9 months) and see what kind of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese visa</span> I can get (I will need a multiple-entry tourist visa of 3 months length, if I can obtain it).<br />I have already decided to get all the other visas on my way, hopping from one border to another.<br /><br /><br />And, finally, I have bought the ticket of the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> train trip to Paris</span> (only 19 €), on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">4th of February</span>, definitely the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> departure day</span> towards my Asian adventure.<br /><br /><br />On the not so positive side... I have found out that <span style="font-weight: bold;">tuberculosis</span> is widespread in Belarus, and I haven't been vaccined against that... I also read that there is no effective vaccine against pulmonary tuberculosis in adults, so I don't know, I will ask.<br /><br />In fact, next Wednesday I will have to go back to <span style="font-style: italic;">Sanidad Exterior</span> for my second vaccination against the Japanese Encephalitis.<br /><br /><br /><br />In a few days this blog, that I started with the clear purpose of focusing myself on this trip, will be 1 year old, so happy birthday in advance!Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-33339640083909705832010-12-06T15:21:00.001+01:002010-12-17T09:18:33.658+01:00Bordeaux, passé et avenir<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAz0ubwh8qZzRGfTCKCSREz65rvOnHrzu_2ESGEjQexyp5sVAuAgOauIbhCOkhMTgFKs53OGB5yYiw-X8kWBqqHRbOLKWZ1voIcM0Jfe9au4_VJc0iqeyDE1dHNkvqcc8b6R-Z1RGlaGp6/s1600/DSC02047.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAz0ubwh8qZzRGfTCKCSREz65rvOnHrzu_2ESGEjQexyp5sVAuAgOauIbhCOkhMTgFKs53OGB5yYiw-X8kWBqqHRbOLKWZ1voIcM0Jfe9au4_VJc0iqeyDE1dHNkvqcc8b6R-Z1RGlaGp6/s320/DSC02047.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547556647952866178" border="0" /></a><br />I came to Bordeaux this weekend in order to find <span style="font-weight: bold;">something I was looking for</span>.<br />Not sure what it was, anyway.<br /><br />It's not my first time here, I had already been in the capital of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aquitaine</span> 6 years ago, within my <span style="font-weight: bold;">first solo travelling</span>.<br /><br />It's strange how <span style="font-weight: bold;">things can change</span> so much in 6 years; not really the places, but ourselves, the way we see and think.<br />Earlier this week, while talking with members of the <a href="http://geonoraezean.wordpress.com/">Basque Geographical Society</a>, we came to the conclusion that <span style="font-weight: bold;">you yourself are half of the trip</span>, the other half being the place and the people.<br /><br />The place and the people only fill half of your <span style="font-weight: bold;">travelling glass</span>, the other half is left empty for you to fill with your own <span style="font-weight: bold;">thoughts, feelings, knowledge, choices and mood</span>. Those change greatly over the time, so you always have new experiences.<br /><br />I'd fancy to think that 6 years ago I was somehow a very different person, there were still many <span style="font-weight: bold;">things I had to do</span> and many thoughts I had yet to reach.<br /><br />I didn't like Bordeaux that much back then.<br /><br /><br />For instance, I didn't know French.<br />I could manage with the basics but I was kind of <span style="font-weight: bold;">isolated</span> while travelling <span style="font-weight: bold;">in France</span>.<br />I support English as international language, but that doesn't mean you are going to get any further if you don't know the local language, which is unavoidable to <span style="font-weight: bold;">grasp the real personality</span> of the place and the people.<br /><br />On my first trip to Bordeaux (after wandering in Brittany for some days) I met an American guy at the youth hostel, and I felt that we could share much more than what I had with locals previously.<br /><br />That really struck me and I promised to myself to jump over that barrier, to <span style="font-weight: bold;">break those artificial borders</span> that separate my hometown from France.<br />Bordeaux is as close to Bilbao as Zaragoza is, and much nearer than Madrid.<br /><br />We don't have to live back to back, and in any case, if Spain and Spaniards want to keep on ignoring France, we Basque shouldn't, because we already live at <span style="font-weight: bold;">both sides of the fictional border</span> and the cultural continuum between us and Garonne river is uninterrupted.<br /><br />In short, that's what <span style="font-weight: bold;">State centralism</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">modern globalisation</span> carries, feeling apart from your neighbours while sharing random modern traits with people that live miles and miles and oceans away.<br /><br />Knowing languages helps against that, but what could we ask anyone if mastering English is still a great challenge for many people.<br /><br /><br /><br />This time I have met this Swedish guy whose main ability was to rap, and had a couple mind-blowing stories to tell.<br />He had done really nothing in life but travelling, because when he started travelling at 18 years old (now he's 28) he met so amazing travellers that got <span style="font-weight: bold;">rapted by wanderlust</span>.<br /><br />He had many plans for his life onwards, like building an all-terrain vehicle with his bike where he could sleep and travel and satisfy his vital needs.<br /><br /><br />I felt like being critic with this kind of attitude (at least for the time being) because I still have a view of life in which I should be doing <span style="font-weight: bold;">something productive</span>, but <span style="font-weight: bold;">something I really love</span> and something at which I am good and <span style="font-weight: bold;">feels natural</span> to me, and besides it gives some <span style="font-weight: bold;">cultural or social value</span> to mankind.<br /><br />I don't want to fall into <span style="font-weight: bold;">purposelessness</span> myself, of which I'm afraid, but I have nothing against that philosophy of travelling; I admire it, in fact, but still I think that freedom junkies are self-centered.<br /><br /><br /><br />There is something I could completely agree with him.<br />That cities can be considered <span style="font-weight: bold;">museums of people</span>, and we find great pleasure from just beholding people passing on the street, doing their <span style="font-weight: bold;">daily duties</span>. It's one side of the trip discovery.<br /><br />I have spent most of the Saturday doing that, <span style="font-weight: bold;">promenading through Bordeaux</span>, taking nice pictures both with my mind and my camera, so in a sense that was my task there.<br /><br />The climate was <span style="font-weight: bold;">colder but sunnier</span>, more Continental than the mostly Atlantic I am used to.<br />It rained almost everyday for the last two months in Bilbao and I was really fed up with wet coldness.<br />You could see <span style="font-weight: bold;">pure bliss</span> on my face while I was walking, so much liking of what I was seeing.<br />I think I had <span style="font-weight: bold;">a smile on my lips</span> for the whole day.<br /><br /><br />I loved the positive mood poured out of the bleached white walls and people's laughter.<br />But <span style="font-weight: bold;">Christmas</span> is getting closer too, and I suppose that that cheered up a lot.<br /><br />Bordeaux had a <span style="font-weight: bold;">monumental and elegant air</span>, a city of long history and self-esteem, with a hint of Britishness into it too.<br /><br />Anyhow, I felt eager to integrate myself in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">French ambiance</span>.<br /><br />I know there are <span style="font-weight: bold;">hidden corners</span> I'd like to discover, but I'm in no hurry, I will have time if fate provides.<br /><br />I wanted to feel the city, to perceive how it breathes, and finally I did it. Short but intense.<br />And <span style="font-weight: bold;">I like what I saw</span>. Nothing else has to be said.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeohsjtkbYjnkzp_kpCuY8ufpYm9-L9mc7cetfK-mU6GqUOrbnr6Fnn15IMM-51s115UK7E3LFKyDTtmN15fy5kJD9IuyG7YzodiKN0Z5pnS21GlPyhrpuH2_l_6EASpRM6VQ_RVnJkyz/s1600/DSC02063.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeohsjtkbYjnkzp_kpCuY8ufpYm9-L9mc7cetfK-mU6GqUOrbnr6Fnn15IMM-51s115UK7E3LFKyDTtmN15fy5kJD9IuyG7YzodiKN0Z5pnS21GlPyhrpuH2_l_6EASpRM6VQ_RVnJkyz/s320/DSC02063.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547556837291988450" border="0" /></a><br />If we all learned to see everyday life through <span style="font-weight: bold;">traveller's eyes</span>, we would live in an <span style="font-weight: bold;">enhanced reality</span>... our imagination would complement what we see and every day would be an adventure.<br />Here's a proper way to live.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-86755584376432773882010-11-22T21:00:00.029+01:002010-11-24T08:54:50.477+01:00Stay healthy (if you can!)Finally, I have disentangled myself from burocracy's (<span style="font-style: italic;">buro-crazy</span>) net and come out victorious through my own odyssey to secure a healthy passage to next year's trip.<br /><br />I knew I had to start vaccination in advance before the departure, because it takes time, and you cannot have all vaccines and dosis at the same time, but spacing.<br /><br />So two months now to day D, I have taken my first vaccines.<br /><br />Two weeks ago I had set an appointment at the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Basque public health system</span>, in the afternoon, so I didn't miss work time.<br /><br />The place I had to go is my usual ambulatory, an eerily clean and aseptic new box-shaped building in pastel colours, where an old beer brewery used to stand when I was a child (there were plans to keep the original building as it was declared a site of historical value, but they 'mistakenly' demolished it anyway).<br /><br />When I entered the doctor's office he was surprised to learn that what I wanted was to ask for some travel vaccines, because he had nothing to do with it.<br />So he misled me to a red-brick building that had been closed long ago and its offices emptied, despite his sincere belief that it was the place I truly had to go (it might have been once).<br /><br />Then I was told that whatever the purpose (in the Basque health system) of the red-brick building had been, it was now fulfilled by a new modernist one, with a glass-and-metal surface in a state-of-the-art architecture style (<span style="font-weight: bold;">pictured</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> below</span>).<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDAlDmu7ERtI7z4j9R3gSu4NOoDsRT2oqVzRD_fZyt1jKTSC5Y7icIOyfLiVaMj0vKoA00YKOUHHQHVzn0j6-nSCAxSVPNF1sMEWXQx_NijUp4P6tU2lyPBzaZ1GGLg2IcW6HmM3CxUuE/s1600/osakidetza.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDAlDmu7ERtI7z4j9R3gSu4NOoDsRT2oqVzRD_fZyt1jKTSC5Y7icIOyfLiVaMj0vKoA00YKOUHHQHVzn0j6-nSCAxSVPNF1sMEWXQx_NijUp4P6tU2lyPBzaZ1GGLg2IcW6HmM3CxUuE/s400/osakidetza.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542528842279826226" border="0" /></a><br />I was informed there that vaccination before travelling abroad was a matter of 'Sanidad Exterior' (not related to 'sanity', though), a branch of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Spanish health system</span>.<br /><br />Spanish State's Health System's Foreign Office only worked in the morning, of course.<br /><br />Last week I asked for a free day at work so I could go there and they would advice me on everything related to staying healthy abroad and most probably they would inject me the needed antibodies.<br /><br />I went there.<br />It was centrally located in a beautiful 19th century palace (<span style="font-weight: bold;">pictured below</span>) on the main street of Bilbao and beside a park, but inside it had a damp odour and all was in a neglected state, dust covered and unfashionable, with Francoist-styled signboards and unhappy state workers.<br /><br />One of those let me know that I needed an appointment with their doctor to go any further.<br /><br />Which is why I went back there today.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix27_nhAL-Ad53NI6tdY_yEzJcKzQI92Dw9oeU8LJW3q7o-gcge7vg_3-DI_Qh7rlnAV8Rk1pGa_PhFmBaKQwanvnA-zBMNyVwnMCpLllBPmQHdmwwGkMEXVEcnkHzd6ikkzniQMDGpi6g/s1600/sanidadexterior.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix27_nhAL-Ad53NI6tdY_yEzJcKzQI92Dw9oeU8LJW3q7o-gcge7vg_3-DI_Qh7rlnAV8Rk1pGa_PhFmBaKQwanvnA-zBMNyVwnMCpLllBPmQHdmwwGkMEXVEcnkHzd6ikkzniQMDGpi6g/s400/sanidadexterior.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542689226327784450" border="0" /></a><br />I also asked them about where I could ask for public insurance cover in Asian countries, but they redirected me to a different office building, belonging to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Basque health system</span>, on the main street, almost in front of this one.<br />After waiting on the queue there, they told that there were no agreements with Asian countries, only European ones, so I needed a private travelling insurance.<br /><br />Some blocks away, I walked to my usual private health insurance building, only to find out that they cover me for 3 months outside EU, with a 4 months maximum if I pay 500 €, not extendable.<br /><br />Hopeless, I asked at <a href="http://asiertravel.blogspot.com/2010/02/blue-planet.html">Blue Planet</a> travel agency, and fortunately there is a private insurance that covers one whole year for around 200 €.<br /><br />***<br /><br />No compulsory vaccination was required for any of the countries I will go, but anyway they recommended me to travel quite protected against any unexpected (but common) illnesses in Asia.<br /><br />This includes <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japanese Encephalitis</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tetanus</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Diphteria</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hepatitis A</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Typhoid Fever</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cholera</span>.<br /><br />I am supposed to be already immune to more common European viruses plus <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hepatitis B</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hepatitis A+B</span>.<br /><br />The doctor there and I had a long conversation about hygiene and staying healthy in Southeast Asia, pointing to me the most dangerous areas regarding diseases.<span id="result_box" class="short_text" lang="en"><span style="background-color: rgb(235, 239, 249);" title=""><br /><br /></span></span>For instance, since there is no vaccine against <span style="font-weight: bold;">Malaria</span>, just for safety I will have to take with me some pills that have effect against it, but not 100%.<br />He narrated me the whole procedure in case I thought I had been infected with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Malaria</span>, pointing out that cerebral <span style="font-weight: bold;">Malaria</span> causes delirium and coma quite fast.<br /><br />He asked me also to avoid all contact with toothed animals, for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rabies</span> is widespread, and adviced me severely against mosquitoes bites, to prevent them at all costs.<br /><br />Mosquitoes can transmit diseases like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dengue</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chikungunya</span>, that cannot be vaccinated.<br />Besides, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dengue</span> could be fatal if different varieties come together, through more than one mosquite bite.<br /><br />After the scary talk they said I could be vaccinated against <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japanese Encephalitis</span> right then, if I paid a tax.<br /><br />So did I, and they gave me my first dosis against that one; the 2nd and last one, I will have to take it on the 22nd of December.<br /><br />Vaccines against <span style="font-weight: bold;">Typhoid Fever</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cholera</span> are available at pharmacies, and they're regular oral medicines, that I will have to buy and administer myself in a period of time.<br />The good thing about it, the doctor told me, is that the vaccine against <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cholera</span> also prevents most cases of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Traveller's Diarrhea</span>.<br /><br />***<br /><br />In the end, I went back to the beginning, the new ambulatory, but instead of going to the 2nd floor, where the doctor's office is, vaccination takes place on the ground floor.<br /><br />There I had vaccines against <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hepatitis A </span>(1st dosis, 2nd one in 6 months, but I won't be here, so it will have to be when I get back from the trip, and then the protection lasts lifelong) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tetanus-Diphteria</span> (I was supposed to have been given for sure the 3 first dosis through school life, but then two more are needed, every 10 years, to complete the treatment).<br /><br />They didn't want to inject me so many things on the same day, so I will have to take this last vaccine next week's Monday, in the afternoon.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-77010989355057654032010-11-12T12:02:00.004+01:002010-11-12T12:21:45.057+01:00Good news from MyanmarI have been attentively following the news of all the countries I plan to visit next year.<br /><br />Some months ago I was worried about the increasing instability in Central Asia or Thailand, for instance.<br /><br />But just recently things seem to get better in Myanmar, little by little.<br /><br />Myanmar has been suffering a military dictatorship for a long time but last week supposedly democractical elections were held.<br />The main opposition party boycotted the event, though.<br /><br /><br /><br />Now we're surprised by the release of the main opposition leader, the pro-democracy fighter and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0icSliF40hS67AiZj-ZOgbX91HMT7y6JP5b6WiZx-iKyLcnq49Ti9Y92GE1vlqmakrxFT_D6Lk0UAdNVr4q7C9XLcup5eB32u719gj5WYOzfhg9u_nl_8Chyphenhyphen6vp9k-AYT4h8dRKAX2El/s1600/_49907911_010618778-2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0icSliF40hS67AiZj-ZOgbX91HMT7y6JP5b6WiZx-iKyLcnq49Ti9Y92GE1vlqmakrxFT_D6Lk0UAdNVr4q7C9XLcup5eB32u719gj5WYOzfhg9u_nl_8Chyphenhyphen6vp9k-AYT4h8dRKAX2El/s200/_49907911_010618778-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538621023704486114" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Changes for good, we will see their outcome.<br /><br />Surely it will be easier to travel there now that the situation seems to improve, despite long steps are yet to be taken in that regard.<br />Many people were against travelling to Myanmar while the dictatorship lasted, because that would have been helping them economically.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7khlCbsLOHewOrqMEi3lTZ_E3MW7GUYW2oaqS5EHGc5xfLQapbL78chMXjMdLE5ZKk9KacFmMZFZBJcRQvf1ElCl60Kn2L9RhEQzNQUEd9pOwvxXqyD1X6OkPO4zbemh_vtB9iDWi0JW2/s1600/myanmar.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7khlCbsLOHewOrqMEi3lTZ_E3MW7GUYW2oaqS5EHGc5xfLQapbL78chMXjMdLE5ZKk9KacFmMZFZBJcRQvf1ElCl60Kn2L9RhEQzNQUEd9pOwvxXqyD1X6OkPO4zbemh_vtB9iDWi0JW2/s320/myanmar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5538618875454118514" border="0" /></a><br />Myanmar is definitely one of the countries in Asia that I cannot avoid visiting, for I have been longing to see its marvels and taste its language & culture since many years ago.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-85202393717728351422010-10-24T17:41:00.023+02:002010-10-27T09:41:00.713+02:00Thoughts from the West (2nd part)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKd-Cbc8rNjodtVkpagvo5U-wmM2bbmzmu1EmJDd-a1rgzF9XimQT6AiRRhNFk_iWF37Z6qERUpOxdTVTWmdJXJa6oda6I04HXJ4Ict_V-v4_TY5XiQ65WZzWJketbBRYuhYfjVUwI_AqY/s1600/DSC04629.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKd-Cbc8rNjodtVkpagvo5U-wmM2bbmzmu1EmJDd-a1rgzF9XimQT6AiRRhNFk_iWF37Z6qERUpOxdTVTWmdJXJa6oda6I04HXJ4Ict_V-v4_TY5XiQ65WZzWJketbBRYuhYfjVUwI_AqY/s200/DSC04629.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5532471399521886130" border="0" /></a><br />As I said before, there were a couple more of mind threads to talk about after the experience in Morocco.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Arab-East connection</span><br />I realized that in order to have a cohesive vision of the European peoples one has to take into account all our neighbours, including North African.<br />I have a wide view of Europe as a <span style="font-weight: bold;">cultural continuum to Asia</span>, but the abyss between Spain and Morocco is wider than expected (probably because Iberian peoples rejected all things Moroccan centuries ago and have tried to counteract them since).<br /><br />But on the other hand, I reckon that it will be difficult to understand many peoples of Asia ignoring the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arab-muslim influence</span> on them.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Turkic and Persian</span> ones, prominently, which are spread all along the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Silk Route</span> between Turkey and China, passing through Iran, that long-desired road filled with myths and echoes, and whose cultures along are the object of my attraction more than others.<br /><br />I had deliberately chosen to ignore Arabs, and had in fact chosen not to go through any Arab country on my way back from the Far East (Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, Emirates, Dubai, Syria, Libanon, Egypt, etc.), but from now on I will keep an eye on their culture.<br /><br />Anyway, even Arabs are not Arabs, given that most people in Morocco are originally <span style="font-weight: bold;">Berber-Amazigh</span> (and a sizable population still speak the language), and elsewhere they come from other related ethnic-cultural groups that have been assimilated in different degrees, like Egyptians, Syriac and so.<br />It's as if we said that people in Italy, France, England, Spain, Ireland, Portugal etc. are all Latins, which it's partially true due to the Roman inspiration of the Western European countries, but one cannot leave aside the multiple local sources for these cultures in the shaping of their nowaday's <span style="font-weight: bold;">psyche</span>.<br /><br /><br />One other thing that struck me was that there are some traits of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arab achitecture</span> that are shared with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese, Indian and Persian</span> traditional ones (which <span style="font-style: italic;">accidentally</span> all once belonged to the same <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mongolian</span> empire).<br />Seemingly, the ties between <span style="font-weight: bold;">Middle East</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Far East</span> have proved stronger (trading routes, etc.) than the ones between Asia and Europe, and it arrives till Morocco somehow, this Far East influence, as if Magreb was just another piece of the Asian continent.<br />A side consecuence of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">cohesiveness </span>of the Arab world, probably (of which Europe lacks).<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tourism</span><br />One last thought (two in fact) I had in mind has to do with the people that travel in Morocco.<br /><br />My impression was that independent travellers there become <span style="font-weight: bold;">mainstream package tourists</span>, or maybe just that every tourist is downgraded to a <span style="font-weight: bold;">backpacker</span> there, or a self-fashioned version of a backpacker anyway.<br /><br />There is no medium class, people can either choose between cheap hosting & transport or top-end (riads and so), and I don't mean that cheap hostels are crappy there, for many are clean and functional (Morocco depends greatly on tourism).<br />The thing is that many people go to Morocco looking for a bit of <span style="font-weight: bold;">adventure</span> just next door to Europe, and these same people would never travel on the cheap side in Europe if they can avoid it.<br /><br />In the end, it was not so easy to get in contact with fellow travellers.<br />I felt quite apart from them, an <span style="font-weight: bold;">outsider</span> to both sides, I couldn't identify myself nor with the local population neither with the tourists.<br /><br /><br />Another thing yet, it's the fact that I have travelled through a country where I didn't understand a word of what people were saying.<br />I didn't bothered myself much in learning even the basics, but I could read some of the words (my <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arabic script</span> was rusty).<br />However, it felt uncomfortable that locals spoke to me in my native language, I felt <span style="font-weight: bold;">exposed</span> all the time, but Moroccans like to speak to everyone in their own languages.<br />I suppose they consider that <span style="font-style: italic;">mean</span> travellers from Western countries despise their local language.<br /><br /><br />Not understading what people say in a foreign country misleads many travellers into thinking that natives are crazy and <span style="font-weight: bold;">extremely different</span> from them.<br />We tend to consider that people behave oddly when we don't understand their language and so don't have a clue of what they're saying in a social situation.<br />But that's only the way our mind works, we tend to associate the feelings of <span style="font-weight: bold;">safety</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">normality</span> with the social environment we know, and so our mind plays tricks on us when we don't understand what people say.<br />Try looking TV (especially advertisements) and turning the sound off, and you'll see people doing strange things you didn't realize before.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-5206757192494948542010-10-19T22:28:00.011+02:002010-10-25T11:12:58.734+02:00Thoughts from the West*<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3h1VAyHe28V0FkaTB1bMtUAt_ZeaEtm1WjOqF0Yy7MS1XxGJaJ-zY335JHPJiBvC3O-OC6C12vGCRm8-akdkbYNIeo83yRGLExWAxD0rASdQ4dtRgqusxpFg9KeOkw1gCZXJWV3jiL6S/s1600/DSC04624.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3h1VAyHe28V0FkaTB1bMtUAt_ZeaEtm1WjOqF0Yy7MS1XxGJaJ-zY335JHPJiBvC3O-OC6C12vGCRm8-akdkbYNIeo83yRGLExWAxD0rASdQ4dtRgqusxpFg9KeOkw1gCZXJWV3jiL6S/s200/DSC04624.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530238295583593906" border="0" /></a><br />Back from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Morocco</span> I am and for the very first time touched by the realization of the big gap that, culturally and socially speaking, the<span style="font-weight: bold;"> strait of Gibraltar</span> is, narrow in measure, though.<br /><br />It has been my first piece of travelling outside <span style="font-weight: bold;">Europe & USA</span>, what it is commonly known as the Western World, despite differences that may be in the East and South of Europe (my beloved Balkans).<br /><br />First of all, I feel my desires to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Asian trip</span> greatly renewed, but at the same time deeper thoughts have rooted, ones that make me doubt about my own way of viewing the world.<br /><br />I have always considered that I had a fairly neutral <span style="font-weight: bold;">point of view</span> (I'm not Christian, for instance) regarding some aspects of cultural identity, but now I feel ashamed of having let myself too much into the Western <span style="font-weight: bold;">mainstream</span>, whose main focus and pulling engine is of course USA.<br /><br />I have been trying to develop a common <span style="font-weight: bold;">European identity</span>, but if I fail to understand the societies of our very Islam-Arab neighbours, I'm afraid that this effort is condemned to have no success at all in setting it apart from the American way of life.<br /><br />I have been trying to understand the American <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criollo_people">criollos</a> too, sure, and this obssesive tendence of Europeans to imitate them, creating a worldwide whirpool that actively seeks to achieve what the USA has, everywhere regardless of their own root cultures.<br /><br />Sometimes I feel that we Basque people are just Western citizens playing to be <span style="font-weight: bold;">indigenous people</span>, but in the end we're just too deep into the civilization mud.<br /><br />Anyway, I have had some adventures in this trip, but not big ones, and what disturbs me the most is seeing myself as just another <span style="font-weight: bold;">mean</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">rich</span> westerner walking through the mazing streets of the Third World, given that what I really appreciate are people's cultures and not their economical status which I deem in no way related to their way of life, but to other socio-economical pressures and historical international affairs (<span style="font-weight: bold;">post-colonialism</span>).<br /><br />How could we improve the welfare of people everywhere without spoiling the local culture, and getting people anywhere to know that <span style="font-weight: bold;">every culture</span> is equally worth, no one is better or worse solely based on its monetary achievements.<br /><br /><br />Talking about the US, it's customary actually that I meet US travellers anywhere I go, and needless to say, they're awesome individuals (maybe especially the ones that travel far and alone).<br />I met a guy from Florida, of Sardinian descent, and I told him about my plans in Asia, then he said 'wow, man, you should write a book'.<br />Even such an experienced traveller acknowledged that what I will have to say could be worth printing.<br /><br />I had a couple of threads more to write here (about muslim culture and travellers in Morocco), but I choose to write them down on a next post.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Post-Scriptum</span><br /><br />After I wrote most of this on the bus from Marrakesh to Ouarzazate, I was conned and then food poisoned for more than one day, so the end of the trip was a bit more tricky, but fortunately I was restored just hours after the "con", and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_diarrhea">TD</a> "only" lasted some 24 hours, but anyway they're warnings of what I can expect in underdeveloped countries next year.<br /><br />By the way, I finished reading the last book of Stephen King's Dark Tower saga, and once again I was taught that taking oneself too seriously can lead to disastrous consecuences.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">* Morocco in Arabic is called Al-Maghrib, which means "the West".</span></span>Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-73832084168505917412010-09-13T10:40:00.009+02:002010-09-14T09:33:08.568+02:00A closer approach<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2tMzOYmTtVLjWzBRbA__iQmwJXL_XkE9ctNtB64Sncb5vsPr7jiWCxz1cWYaySoWpqBGaEUpqWpP4HtDUVnAnpuUW7sx1l76UyTwEJkgRZU_gMCYrxsoCMIg4-CbqpksJq3nvA2acTJY/s1600/magnifying-glass-map.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2tMzOYmTtVLjWzBRbA__iQmwJXL_XkE9ctNtB64Sncb5vsPr7jiWCxz1cWYaySoWpqBGaEUpqWpP4HtDUVnAnpuUW7sx1l76UyTwEJkgRZU_gMCYrxsoCMIg4-CbqpksJq3nvA2acTJY/s320/magnifying-glass-map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516378138680406498" border="0" /></a><br />Time's getting short and summer is almost over now.<br /><br />There are new aspects in my life these last months before the trip.<br />Notably, I decided to rent a spare room in the flat where I'm living since February (and that I will quit just before I start travelling), because I thought that that could enrich my life experience; so in short, now I have a flatmate.<br /><br />This month I signed up for several language certificates examinations, Basque, French and English... just in case, I think they can be valuable when I return (to find a job or whatever, not sure what I am going to do afterwards).<br /><br />I will start Russian lessons soon, in the beginning of October, and I'm looking forward to it.<br /><br />In October too, I will travel to Morocco for over 9 days, looking for new adventures closely similar to the ones I will possibly have in Asia. I won't take any plane to go there either, just buses, train and ferry, in the same fashion of the Asian quest.<br /><br />When I come back from this, greatly refreshed, I will initiate the arrangements for the great trip to Asia. That will inevitably take me to Madrid some days, applying for visas. (Russia first, China second).<br /><br />I have been lately thinking about getting a health insurance for the trip, but I have no idea of it works, so most probably I will ask in a travel agency (like <a href="http://asiertravel.blogspot.com/2010/02/blue-planet.html">Blue Planet</a>).<br />It is very likely that I'll fall sick in one year of travelling so it's a safe bet.<br />Also, my flatmate reminded me that in many countries tap water is not a very healthy drink.<br />A friend of mine just came from Hawaii and he suggested me to use some cleaning pills that they used to obtain drinkable water from waterfalls and rivers there.<br /><br /><br />The political situation in my country is changing very fast recently, so it may be very different when I come back. This reinforces the idea that you never go back to where you started in this kind of travel.<br /><br />I have almost entirely decided already to take two years of work leave instead of just one, this way I will have time to think things more all over, and search for new perspectives in life after the big trip.<br /><br />One of the things I have yet to do is to contact both <a href="http://www.berria.info/blogak/">Berria newspaper</a>, in order to offer them my Basque blog about the Asian trip, and <a href="http://www.blogseitb.com/rogeblasco/">Basque radio network</a>, just in case they're interested in knowing about my whereabouts during the trip.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-7387843158019579292010-07-29T10:45:00.006+02:002010-07-29T13:51:51.741+02:00Jump Into The Abyss<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTrWcSZvzOMXx8W-vyUVjky_3ezlokqSpx8O-mMiwdH8LmzNnYD0xgglHq_kfhANtdNRZGoRvPpd3aMYeuF5I7Gk-XgGmu4fqZyuN3ZqLsPPOmDDUBGPtIsSIqt0Yt6P0yAfP2BAqh8vV/s1600/imgGraffittiStencil_small.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHTrWcSZvzOMXx8W-vyUVjky_3ezlokqSpx8O-mMiwdH8LmzNnYD0xgglHq_kfhANtdNRZGoRvPpd3aMYeuF5I7Gk-XgGmu4fqZyuN3ZqLsPPOmDDUBGPtIsSIqt0Yt6P0yAfP2BAqh8vV/s200/imgGraffittiStencil_small.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499246839375349938" border="0" /></a><br />The feeling of <span style="font-weight: bold;">derailing</span> one's life increases as the date approaches.<br /><br />I am of course currently enjoying a perfectly fine <span style="font-weight: bold;">summer</span> full of activities here in the surroundings of my <span style="font-weight: bold;">homeland</span>, but I realize too that this will be my last summer here in a <span style="font-weight: bold;">long time</span>.<br />The unpredictability of the changes that may happen to my life after the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Asian trip</span> provokes me a feeling of an <span style="font-weight: bold;">ending of the things</span> "<span style="font-style: italic;">as I used to know them</span>", so now it's like I am living the last true days of my current life, and whatever changes may occur, they will change everything forever, like the course of a river that alters its path once and then the stream <span style="font-weight: bold;">never returns</span> to the former.<br />One said that the end is the only thing that gives <span style="font-weight: bold;">meaning</span> to something, so now that is the way I feel, immersed in <span style="font-weight: bold;">meaningful events</span>.<br /><br />And it is not a dark sensation, no, not at all.<br />Now the sun shines high, days are pleasant and enjoyable and the routine is bearable.<br />It's the time to have fun, to do what you have always been doing these estival days for the whole span of your life.<br />But summer too will end pretty soon, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">autumn</span> will mark the <span style="font-weight: bold;">no returning point</span> up to the beginning of my trip, when I will start asking visas, looking for medical insurances and spreading the new of my depart among my beloved ones that still don't know it (and won't like it a bit).<br /><br />One whole year (at least) of travelling, not being a mainstream worker as I am now, is a big deal, and I know it will not always be sunny mornings and happily warm days, there will be loads of raining afternoons, sadly cold nights and lonely passages too.<br />I think too much about it, anyway, and most probably these matters must be faced <span style="font-weight: bold;">from the heart</span>.<br /><br />This is not only the much feared <span style="font-style: italic;">jump-into-the-abyss</span> but also the enticing <span style="font-style: italic;">walk-through-the-threshold</span>, the gate to a different world, and once you cross it, <span style="font-weight: bold;">there is no come back</span>.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-27497219338217348972010-07-15T09:22:00.010+02:002010-07-15T16:37:40.108+02:00LagmanI have been talking perhaps too much about <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">Couchsurfing</a> in this blog, but nonetheless it truly has given me so much, so many experiences related to travelling, that I cannot avoid referencing it here.<br /><br />For instance, I could say (thinking about my last post) that <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">Couchsurfing</a> provides a way to exchange non-monetary values.<br />Because <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">Couchsurfing</a> doesn't use money; you never pay in cash for your hosting by this system, neither can a host ask for it.<br /><br />But <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">Couchsurfing</a> is not free about free hosting, of course it is not.<br />One way or another, both host and guest pay an invisible fee for its services.<br />And this fee is the desired exchange of cultures, languages, travels, adventures, ideas, thoughts...<br /><br />You may show the place where you live but at the same time you're learning new things of this place and from the place where your guest comes from.<br /><br />It not only allows you to see your homeland through foreigner eyes (and question what you see, then), but also to observe distant places while you stay at home, imagining them as your guest narrates them to you.<br /><br />Of course, in this stream of travellers going from one destination to another, stopping by your place briefly, you may catch a tip or a valuable piece of advice for your own next trip.<br /><br /><br />Sometimes, you even get a <span style="font-weight: bold;">hint of taste</span> from a far-away country you wish to visit.<br /><br />This was my case yesterday, quite literally.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDUnFCDVotUVCi0fXS75Fo_cIddm4vYzcYoC-cNXWBNFPhUxlDrJs1rp5IOR8dOiZjkg9W5NDvZ733v8h3WWKabyRMzVj6ulMc1JFL2yPXTc0ssYBdhdc_tRGtjUNNEwrmAfwQhzZoV3D/s1600/lagman.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDUnFCDVotUVCi0fXS75Fo_cIddm4vYzcYoC-cNXWBNFPhUxlDrJs1rp5IOR8dOiZjkg9W5NDvZ733v8h3WWKabyRMzVj6ulMc1JFL2yPXTc0ssYBdhdc_tRGtjUNNEwrmAfwQhzZoV3D/s320/lagman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494128064389587394" border="0" /></a><br /><br />These days I am hosting a young photographer from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kyrgyzstan</span> which currently lives in Dubai.<br />She is of Russian descent (third generation), and according to what she told me, Russian is still a very common language all over <span style="font-weight: bold;">Central Asian</span> countries (so I reassert myself in my intention of learning it).<br /><br />Last night she cooked a traditional <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kyrgyz</span> dinner.<br /><br />She called it <span style="font-weight: bold;">lagman</span>, but I found out that it is also spelled <span style="font-weight: bold;">laghman</span> or <span style="font-weight: bold;">la mian </span>(in Chinese), being originally a recipe from China, especially of those peoples on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Silk Road</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Hui</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Uighur</span>), and it is considered a national dish in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kyrgyzstan</span>.<br /><br />It was a kind of a stew of beef or lamb, with vegetables and noodles. Definitely yummy.<br /><br />I thought I could almost relish the Central Asian steppes, the dust-covered paths through the Tian Shan mountains, the craggy shapes over the Taklamakan desert, and the green meadows where horses stomp their hooves on the grass.<br /><br /><br />Also, she told me that most Kyrgyz people cross the border to Kazakhstan when heading to China, so it would be wiser going from Ürümqi to Almaty by train, and then crossing to Kyrgyzstan than my original plan trying to get through Irqeshtam pass or somewhere between these countries.<br /><br />The final depart to Asia seems to draw nearer every day.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-56348150039416146582010-07-13T09:04:00.013+02:002010-07-14T12:07:18.579+02:00Value<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFQxkohZsRhV40PexEttOW_McU0d1hdqxy4N5ZXq1gYBuR8tgczlTXTjFVvhFHIq5CTFEeyblQbzGdfbM_8t52Yjh3wq6LLIoDUzznCVcHhF31AzBUFMRbljatlc3fZ8AeIE7Q6VfFKAM/s1600/isr_gold_hoard_b.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSFQxkohZsRhV40PexEttOW_McU0d1hdqxy4N5ZXq1gYBuR8tgczlTXTjFVvhFHIq5CTFEeyblQbzGdfbM_8t52Yjh3wq6LLIoDUzznCVcHhF31AzBUFMRbljatlc3fZ8AeIE7Q6VfFKAM/s320/isr_gold_hoard_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493690817655168786" border="0" /></a><br />I think that one of the things I love about travelling is its pure non-monetary value.<br /><br />We live in a society that values mainly physical goods, that judges one person's achievements by the money s/he got, and infers related abstractions (power, wealth, sympathy, prowess, triumph, leadership...) out of the things people have, people buy, people want badly to acquire and people are told that they need.<br /><br />Knowledge, skills, relationships, tales cannot be seen, because they're invisible values that require hard work to obtain, a lot of time and effort, but they're nonetheless more permanent than any of the expiring products we're constantly offered.<br /><br />Things are not important... the real value lies in what we do with them, so if you don't use something it's because you don't need it anymore.<br />For instance, books are only containers of knowledge, their physical attributes not being important. Once I read them, I like giving them away, so this knowledge keeps on moving.<br /><br />We cannot pay to get the abstractions that we want to have in our lives. We have to live in order to get them.<br /><br />I know that this all sounds like antisocial chitchat, because everyone out there has thought about this, and has come to the same conclusions.<br />Then s/he resumed his/her daily routine.<br /><br />A single minute lived within a trip worths a whole life of everyday 's shades of gray; so intense, so new all that surrounds you (smells, colours, sounds...)... it makes our brains work harder to capture every sensorial piece of this foreign world, thus effectively enlarging our memories, slowing the (perceived) pace of time and widening our understanding.<br /><br />I read that too, somewhere, that the only way to make our lives longer is living new experiences. They may not be longer in actual time, but they are for our minds.<br /><br />Whatever learnt by travelling is never forgotten.<br /><br />Every cent spent in travelling is invaluable.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-405627794071850762010-07-07T09:48:00.019+02:002010-07-07T14:31:49.932+02:00Languages<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYzZLWPxvs-0wK8bvuvq5Vo_YlHzkqhk7BCOcpwq9Av3hnh2n28HatKWcVqgJaitZrNyixaFQAwZeEaDvYGiqYl8JbPiI1gAa8nSfmN8tz8lSehhRdZnRXfwVlh2DMx9iZp5NXIWiVu-s/s1600/language.gif"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYzZLWPxvs-0wK8bvuvq5Vo_YlHzkqhk7BCOcpwq9Av3hnh2n28HatKWcVqgJaitZrNyixaFQAwZeEaDvYGiqYl8JbPiI1gAa8nSfmN8tz8lSehhRdZnRXfwVlh2DMx9iZp5NXIWiVu-s/s320/language.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491085584212745954" border="0" /></a><br />Languages, I love languages, indeed.<br />They're my only true everlasting love and lifelong lovers will they be.<br /><br />I like learning them, writing them, listening them, reading them, speaking them.<br />I don't master several at all, but I like learning bits of many of them.<br /><br />I hide a comforting pleasure everytime I learn a new word or comprehend a grammatical structure.<br /><br />These cherished abstractions are a useful tool too. Especially when travelling abroad.<br /><br />Even nowadays I make many mistakes anytime I write or speak in <span style="font-weight: bold;">English</span>, and sometimes don't grab instantly the meaning of what people are saying, but English has been so far the longest standing language in my life (apart from my mother tongue, of course).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Basque</span> language too has been here and there all over my life, sometimes nearer, others further (now currently I'm at the peak of it).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Latin</span> at school came afterwards. An old, ancient language which provoked me new feelings and rewarding learning.<br /><br />Soon after that I started creating my first own <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conlang">conlangs</a>, based on the knowledge I had of English, Basque and Latin, which in turn led me to other Indoeuropean languages (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Germanic</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Celtic</span> branches, and then <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sanskrit</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Old Indoeuropean</span>).<br />I learned some <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quenya">Quenya</a> too, of course, during my Tolkien-fan years (that spanned a long time, actually).<br /><br />I had also one year of <span style="font-weight: bold;">French</span> at the end of high school, but wasn't very profitable.<br /><br />The quest for the origin of Basque language took me to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Finnic</span> languages (I learned some <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hungarian</span> while travelling there with my father, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Finnish</span> has been a favourite language for some time now), and as far as ancient <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sumerian</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Altaic</span> languages (we're talking about my early youth now).<br /><br />When I started university (Computer Sciences) I learned to write and read in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Greek</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cyrillic</span> alphabet, an acquired knowledge I have never lost.<br /><br />Further on (still at university) I started <span style="font-weight: bold;">German</span> classes for 3 years (and managed to get an intermediate level at some point) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japanese</span> with a hired native teacher (the lessons were at her flat).<br /><br />I did even continue studying Japanese when I went on my Erasmus to Bath (England, where I got back my ability to move around easily in English), at the local university there, and eventually I passed the exam of the lowest of the 4 Nôken Japanese Language Degrees.<br /><br /><br />In my last year in the university I took one term-long Classical <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hebrew</span> lessons, which was the most exotical (of the scarce offer) one they offered. I had never really been into <span style="font-weight: bold;">Semitic</span> languages, but it was cool enough.<br /><br /><br />When I started to work I quitted all of this. On the other hand I began seriously to improve my Basque language and marked a kind of start to my solo trips all around Europe.<br /><br />In the meantime I also assisted a short course of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arabic</span> script, but I don't keep in mind much of it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Catalan</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gascon</span> (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Occitan</span> languages) got my attention too, Catalan since childhood when I used to watch TV in Catalan during my summer holidays on the Mediterranean, and Gascon since I (recently) discovered that was not a dead tongue.<br /><br />Last year I resumed my <span style="font-weight: bold;">French</span> learning and now I can somehow express myself in this language, but haven't mastered it yet, sure.<br /><br />Apart from all of this, I have read books about the grammar of many other languages, but just for fun, no real skill gained.<br /><br />Lately, last year travelling in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bulgaria</span> I managed to ask questions, read signs and understand some of the language, and this year in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Greece</span> I prepared myself before going there reading about its grammar (which proved handy).<br /><br />Now I have just registered myself in a basic <span style="font-weight: bold;">Russian</span> course in the language school here (A2 level), so I can grasp a bit of it before I depart to Asia next year (I will take these classes, roughly from October till January).<br /><br />I consider it will be extremely useful in Russia, given that many people there are not very fond of English.<br />Besides, a workable knowledge of it will be able to help me through Central Asian countries, where it still works as a secondary language (instead of English).<br /><br /><br />But sure enough I will have to go back to what I knew of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Japanese</span> and deepen into <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chinese</span>, to easen my trip thoroughly and make it more rich and enjoyable.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">Couchsurfing</a> too has helped me a lot in keeping fresh some of my language abilities, which I greatly thank.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2815328057069056972.post-79845171317818431312010-06-19T17:33:00.005+02:002010-06-19T17:41:10.365+02:00Travelling Musicians<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdBU6wEOynp8565vrcRLFYjFsKzTBXEXzGax-rURCl3nu3tf8mLNwJlmgJVm4aC6qUaX5i0iTlPvNJk1u1XWwvOHfgf8xNLj7lkP9EPSAuhsogKnGCnSTplt6lh3EmCQSZwoQGTt9vhUkN/s1600/albogariak.png"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdBU6wEOynp8565vrcRLFYjFsKzTBXEXzGax-rURCl3nu3tf8mLNwJlmgJVm4aC6qUaX5i0iTlPvNJk1u1XWwvOHfgf8xNLj7lkP9EPSAuhsogKnGCnSTplt6lh3EmCQSZwoQGTt9vhUkN/s200/albogariak.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5481001947515460626" border="0" /></a><br />I talked about Into The Wild before... now I will about what one can say is another of the influences in my wanderlust.<br /><br />Little known even in the Basque Country, few years ago two Basque musicians who play a wooden percussion instrument called "<span style="font-weight: bold;">txalaparta</span>" travelled to some countries in Asia, Europe and Africa (namely, Mongolia, India, Lappland and Sahara) in order to learn about their cultures and their landscapes, and to mingle their musical traditions: <a href="http://www.nomadaktx.com/english/pelicula/principal.html">Nomadak TX</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RRRFz4zLyEFK9uY_-6vFXud_JLdchy9HvflBd01CDrlgbE8wZM0Z0iPsp964rpj0jHffoykKFQgNvcEY9RLI5X8wPwfqa_az2jtgkEJdycdmzS81izrqscdOyF9HUAYrmxhDrv3v8bmZ/s1600/cover300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9RRRFz4zLyEFK9uY_-6vFXud_JLdchy9HvflBd01CDrlgbE8wZM0Z0iPsp964rpj0jHffoykKFQgNvcEY9RLI5X8wPwfqa_az2jtgkEJdycdmzS81izrqscdOyF9HUAYrmxhDrv3v8bmZ/s320/cover300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484507995644879170" border="0" /></a><br />I consider myself a travelling musician too.<br />I am very fond of these kind of initiatives that get to the roots of peoples' cultures and find them to share a great deal with other peoples all around the globe.<br /><br />I have had my own amazing experiences in this field.<br /><br /><object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vwBp1Tmbh7Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vwBp1Tmbh7Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />In Sardinia I met "<span style="font-weight: bold;">launeddas</span>" players, in Bulgaria "<span style="font-weight: bold;">gaida</span>" bagpipers and especially while travelling in Greece, I had the luck of spending two intense days with <a href="http://www.myspace.com/efxinoskosmos">Yannis Pantazis</a>, a versatile musician that played a wide range of instruments, and mainly the Greek "<span style="font-weight: bold;">tsambouna</span>", a sort of bagpipe similar to the Basque "<span style="font-weight: bold;">alboka</span>" I play.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy8mPNpEjMsFdo4mMwhyUCBHP-SxNBx1X8t4wnb2rl2_mi086no0mNpCbM0IvdDPg6PfiTrr2fFiRIBGUBiyw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br />Next week I depart to Scotland, a relatively short trip that will be my last one in Europe.<br />I hope I will be able to meet traditional musicians there too, and play together with them.<br /><br />And of course, next year's travelling in Asia will surely widen my vision in this field too.Asier G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16194109997354194835noreply@blogger.com0