So now I'm in Bangkok... as I got off the plane and then got the airport express to kho san road I could feel electricity flow through my veins... that beautiful excitment you get flowing through your vessels as you anticipate adventures to come... I was ablaze with thoughts of what may lay ahead... Thailand holds such tremendous memories from my last visit that I was like a boy before christmas... awaiting the arduious visit to midnight mass... performing my penetance as I await the moment of present unwrapping... performing my pilgramage in order to recieve the gifts that would soon enough come... ... ... and in the same manner, this excited little boy hit traffick on his way to his Bangkok hostel (I'm wavering dangerously near talking about myself in the third-person... abort, abort, abort)... ... indeed since the initial joy my mind seems to have been filled with metaphorical traffic... to nervous to chat to new people... inferiority complex and all that (they're American for Christ's sake... gragariosity in all it's guady glory)... ... So now I sit here... Can of Singer beer to my right... writing rediculous metafores to basically say, "It's great to be here, but I'm shy!" :) ... ... ... I will prevail in the end... I know it... but I must be patient... I know what I'm like, if I bundel into the big group all outlandish and that, it won't be me... tomorrow there is a halloween party at the hostel... I'll corner them 3 at a time and wear them down until they have been fully befriended... that's the plan of action... that's the way forward:)
Here is tomorrows schedule (let's have that in the American pronunciation, I might as well get used to it!):
Wake up when someone wakes me up with the rusteling of a plastic bag (I'm in a 22 person dorm after all... only a tenner for 2 nights!)
Off to MBK to buy a football shirt for a tenner (hummm... AC Milan? Byern Munich? ... I'd love an obscure one... like Bolivia's answer to Hull City... but I guess that'll have to wait for South America... (N.B. there is a Bolivian team called 'Deportevo Wanka', I kid you not))
Eat Pad Thai (or similar) and get to the hostel for 6pm (I almost wrote 'rock up to the hostel at 6pm'... but thought better of it) where they will be doing face painting prior to the haloween party (adult face painting, it's just not right (please refer to Seinfeld serise 9 (I think))... I'm gonna have to get a tiger face painting:)
... and the rest will be history once it has actually happened...
... and at this point I'll make an honourable mention to my mum and dad... they are coming over to visit me on Tuesday and I must say I'm genuinley excited... it'll be nice to see them and show them about... ... and as I'm sharing cheesy sentiments I'll let you all know you are missed and I hope you are well:)
... on a lighter note, I just saw City won away at Middlesborough... get in!! Off the bottom!! ... Watch out Sven, we'll be vaulting your Leister soon:) ... I just got all excited when I found out there was a Middlesborough fan here in the common room... I ran up to them and went, 'Are you guys Middlesborough fans?", "He is.", "I'm a Bristol City fan.", "Oh." ... ... ... Matt, that is not a way to make friends, wipe that grin off your face (again with the third-person... If I come back talking like this I blame you Joe!;)
... It's time to go I think... all these words are out of my system... sorry if I've forced you guys to dive further into my inner psyche then you are qualified to delve.
Keep well everyone, I'm off to bed.
Matt:)
Saturday 30 October 2010
Friday 29 October 2010
Hong Kong (still!)
So I'm still in HK... the Swedish girls have gone... I've done all the touristy things... good job my flight to Bangkok is tomorrow:) ... Saw Luton today (for those not in the know, that was our nickname for my university house mate Chris)... it was cool to see a familure face, but it's not like I'm starved of company... it seems like every day in a hostel there is a new person to befriend and a new person to say goodbye to... yesterday I met an English guy who has lived in Switzerland his whole life and went travelling and just kind of continued for 3 and a half years and counting (don't worry Mum and Dad, that's not my intention;)... and I also met a guy who has been teaching in Japan for a year and now is making his way home by travelling China and then the reverse trans-siberian (I didn't want to suggest to him that Russia might not be the best way to end his travels) who was a fellow football obsessive (therefore I didn't get much sleep as the debate over the state of British football raged on:)... it's interesting and such occurances will only increase seeing as I'm booked into a 22 person dorm in Bangkok... only time will tell if that was a mistake!
Before I forget here is another photo from the annuls of Kate and Anna Lewis... it's from the Ger camp in Mongolia with me and Kate sat out side of our Ger... Check out the lovley coat I bought in the Mongolian market... I loved it, it was super warm and saved me... I even had a dream/nightmare that I lost the coat... I use past tense for loved the coat as I'm ditching it now... it's ludicrously big and will be quite unnessacery for probably the next too months and it would be a piss take to ask my parents to take it back to England after I meet them in Thailand... so I'll say goodbye to my lovley coat and move on... ... ... ... I've clearly got distracted and need to upload the photo... here it is:)
... and now I will go... a supper of a pot noodle (I had to go back to them because HK is just too expensive) and a couple of beers... mmmmm, lovely:)
Keep well everyone... I'll talk more when I'm over in bangkok:)
Before I forget here is another photo from the annuls of Kate and Anna Lewis... it's from the Ger camp in Mongolia with me and Kate sat out side of our Ger... Check out the lovley coat I bought in the Mongolian market... I loved it, it was super warm and saved me... I even had a dream/nightmare that I lost the coat... I use past tense for loved the coat as I'm ditching it now... it's ludicrously big and will be quite unnessacery for probably the next too months and it would be a piss take to ask my parents to take it back to England after I meet them in Thailand... so I'll say goodbye to my lovley coat and move on... ... ... ... I've clearly got distracted and need to upload the photo... here it is:)
... and now I will go... a supper of a pot noodle (I had to go back to them because HK is just too expensive) and a couple of beers... mmmmm, lovely:)
Keep well everyone... I'll talk more when I'm over in bangkok:)
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Hong Kong (and a bit of working backwards)
Ok, so you see I'm back here and working full throttel to make this blog as interesting as possible... so here I am again... you've had long posts and even photos I've pilfered from Kate and Anna's facebook:) ... so frankly, now I'm running on empty a bit... Hong Kong is a cool place and a marked contrast to China, but it's not quite floating my boat for some reason... ... maybe it's the Englishness or something... also it may be the fact that I didn't get to sleep till 3 or 4am last night. The day just got away from us and we popped out for a quick drink in town with a Swedish guy (yes, ANOTHER Swede!) called Fredrick from my dorm... the girls carried on to a bar with some Swedes (I'm not making this up) and me and Fredrick decided to walk home... about 2 hours later we made it... who would have thought that 2 metro stops were that far apart!!
... ... ... Yes, I'm defo running on empty now... to summarise today, we did all those things that enable you to see the city... we got the panoramic view, took the ferry from Hong Kong island to Kowloon, walked through the night markets (I even got the card game version of 'Zooloretto' for only 30HK$ in the 'ladies market'... for a market called, the "ladies market" they sold a surprisingly large array of geeky board games... the only issue is that the rules are in Chinese!! ... anyone know Mandarin... or maybe Cantonese?) ... so now I'm well knackered... legs are ready to fall off and head is ready to be pickeled in some kind of brine...
... I was gonna work back and give you a bit of blurb about my time in Mongolia but my mind is beginning to fizz, pop and burn like an old car engine so I'm gonna have to delay it again... it seems that a summary of my time in Mongolia might be forever destined to be sidelined to that elusive "next time"... which is a shame as it was probably one of the major highlights so far! ... I will get round to it eventually... as will I eventually get round to elaborating on my time in St.Petersburg... those events have simmered for long enough in the saucepan of history and are probably ready to be drained off and served aldente... soon palatable after long being hard and undigestable to me (I am still talking about my time in St.Petersburg and not actually spagetti... I just like to get carried away by a metafore (or however the hell you spell that word))
... I was also gonna put some of my own picture up tonight instead of just waiting to knick them off other people once they get round to putting theirs up... but right now, putting my hand in my bag to pull out that usb stick just seems like too much hassel!
... So I've spent enough time writing about nothing, I think I'll go... tomorrow I've got to change hostels which should be interesting... HK is the only place I've been where the Hostel reception is in a seperate tower block and a main road away from the actual room!
So now I'm gonna use the rest of my internet hour to try and find the instructions for coloretto in English... they don't have a printer here so I've got my note pad at the ready...
Keep well everyone:)
... ... ... Yes, I'm defo running on empty now... to summarise today, we did all those things that enable you to see the city... we got the panoramic view, took the ferry from Hong Kong island to Kowloon, walked through the night markets (I even got the card game version of 'Zooloretto' for only 30HK$ in the 'ladies market'... for a market called, the "ladies market" they sold a surprisingly large array of geeky board games... the only issue is that the rules are in Chinese!! ... anyone know Mandarin... or maybe Cantonese?) ... so now I'm well knackered... legs are ready to fall off and head is ready to be pickeled in some kind of brine...
... I was gonna work back and give you a bit of blurb about my time in Mongolia but my mind is beginning to fizz, pop and burn like an old car engine so I'm gonna have to delay it again... it seems that a summary of my time in Mongolia might be forever destined to be sidelined to that elusive "next time"... which is a shame as it was probably one of the major highlights so far! ... I will get round to it eventually... as will I eventually get round to elaborating on my time in St.Petersburg... those events have simmered for long enough in the saucepan of history and are probably ready to be drained off and served aldente... soon palatable after long being hard and undigestable to me (I am still talking about my time in St.Petersburg and not actually spagetti... I just like to get carried away by a metafore (or however the hell you spell that word))
... I was also gonna put some of my own picture up tonight instead of just waiting to knick them off other people once they get round to putting theirs up... but right now, putting my hand in my bag to pull out that usb stick just seems like too much hassel!
... So I've spent enough time writing about nothing, I think I'll go... tomorrow I've got to change hostels which should be interesting... HK is the only place I've been where the Hostel reception is in a seperate tower block and a main road away from the actual room!
So now I'm gonna use the rest of my internet hour to try and find the instructions for coloretto in English... they don't have a printer here so I've got my note pad at the ready...
Keep well everyone:)
Monday 25 October 2010
The first photo
I got this photo from Anna's facebook page:
It's some of the characters from the 4 day train journey... from left to right:
Kate, Me, Robert De Niro, Two-wives, Marina, Anna
It's some of the characters from the 4 day train journey... from left to right:
Kate, Me, Robert De Niro, Two-wives, Marina, Anna
In Hong Kong:)
Now I'm in Hong Kong, using the internet in the public library... nice and cheap:) The Swedish girls need the computer and the library closes in 20 minutes so better go... catch you all soon:)
Catch up part 2
... And we're back:) ... so yes, as I was saying, I was in Beijing... Our tour officially ended after a day and a half in Beijing... then Kate and Anna went and flew to Japan and I had to down grade my room for the twin private room which was just for me (organised by VodkaTrain), to a 4 person dorm... but that had it's plus-side as I shared the room there with three girls from the other VodkaTrain group of 24... there was Emma the Norwegian who had her heart set on going to Tibet, and Mickalea and Mary (two girls from Birmingham, one of which bought a pair of straighteners with her on the trans-siberian (I joke but they were both really nice... as was Emma))... so I started to travel around the city on my own and occasionally meet up with them in the evening for a meal ... ... ... that reminds me, the food!!! I love the food... I know this will sound stupid, but it's just like the food in Chinese restraunts in England! ... well, quite specialised with stuff like duck heart, sea cucumber, and chicken feet on the menu... but I was really reminded of the Mayflower restraunt in Bristol... it was lovely and bloody cheap:) ... They can seem quite rude in the restraunt, with shouts of "Fooya" to grab the waiter/ess's attention, but everything seems organised and according to somekind of unspoken convention... ... ... the only real negative about China is the spitting... they spit and hock back the flem like it's going out of fashion... I don't have an especially weak stomach but when I was feeling a bit ill on the train in China after the Mongolian boarder the sound almost stimulated involuentary regurgetation on my part.
... also during this time in Beijing I met two Swedish girls who were also from the VodkaTrain group of 24 (yes Joe, two Swedish girls)... (Well actually, at one point another 6 Swedish girls arrived at the hotel and I was forced to question the reality of my surroundings;) ... but anyway, they were nice and I may infact meet up with them in Hong Kong (I leave on the 6pm night train tomorrow... unfortunatly my place is named 'hard-sleeper' in a cabin of 6! ... I'm not expecting much sleep!) as we are probably going to end up in the same hostel... anyway, these girls are 19, fresh from college and have shown themselves a bit susceptible to a scam (no, I didn't scam them in some lude manner... the locals just had a bit of practice for when the oppertunity comes to take candy from a baby... ... ... I will feel bad if they read this because they were and are lovley girls) ... in the silk market (cheap fake or knocked off market) they bought so much stuff they had to send 16 Kg of stuff back to Sweden! ... but they got approached from someone selling an iPhone (I wasn't with them but I got the same kind of approach)...
"You wanna iphone?"
"How much?"
"900Y... but I have one for 300Y!"
"Shit me, that sounds too good to be true... we'll have two please!!" (I don't think those were their actual words)
... needless to say, they are pieces of crap (the iphones)... then later, when in another shopping mall (it seems like that was the only place they went) they got befriended by some Chinese girls... they then went to grab some tea at the Chinese girls' suggestion... sat in a lovley private room of the tea house quaffing down the tea and talking with the Chinese girls... then the bill comes, 1000Y (admittedly only 100 pounds but still...) and who gets stiffed paying for it... the Swedish girls... the Chinese girls then asked them if they wanted to go for dinner! ... ... ... ... Actually, I need to add a little side point here. Although there does seem to be people out there trying to get a few extra notes out of tourists (and who could blame them), China is certianly the safest place I've been so far... It feels incredibly safe... maybe the heavy hand of the law is especially heavy here but nonetheless it feels very safe in Beijing and Shanghai.
... Ok this is my second installment in quick succession and I'm feeling fatigued... I'll have to put off my writings on Mongolia till a later date, yet again... today I tried to make the most of my one full day in Shanghai but it's been pissing it down all day... it's not incredibly cold but it is rather moist out... I tried my best to see all the sights and even took in the cities Science and Technology museam (I'm such a wild bugger) but I called it a day early and came back to write all this crap... my impression of Shanghai is that it was probably Jaw-droppingly impressive 10 years ago... now, it's running in the mill with every other sky scrapered city... the ageing of the place really struck me in the museam... in the section about computers about 50% of the displays are avaliable on the DS or as a bloody iPhone app... not that impressive... and I guess this city is just suffering a bit from how quickly the world advances... everything ages from the moment it is built, maybe it even ages from the moment it's designed... and that seems very true here... although it has the slight feel of one of those fictional si-fi cities, it's old school si-fi... we've got bloody Avatar now, get with the times Shanghai! ... I'm glad I came, but also glad I'm not staying too long.
But anyway, I'm gonna go read more about Rooney to help me get to sleep tonight... keep well people:)
... also during this time in Beijing I met two Swedish girls who were also from the VodkaTrain group of 24 (yes Joe, two Swedish girls)... (Well actually, at one point another 6 Swedish girls arrived at the hotel and I was forced to question the reality of my surroundings;) ... but anyway, they were nice and I may infact meet up with them in Hong Kong (I leave on the 6pm night train tomorrow... unfortunatly my place is named 'hard-sleeper' in a cabin of 6! ... I'm not expecting much sleep!) as we are probably going to end up in the same hostel... anyway, these girls are 19, fresh from college and have shown themselves a bit susceptible to a scam (no, I didn't scam them in some lude manner... the locals just had a bit of practice for when the oppertunity comes to take candy from a baby... ... ... I will feel bad if they read this because they were and are lovley girls) ... in the silk market (cheap fake or knocked off market) they bought so much stuff they had to send 16 Kg of stuff back to Sweden! ... but they got approached from someone selling an iPhone (I wasn't with them but I got the same kind of approach)...
"You wanna iphone?"
"How much?"
"900Y... but I have one for 300Y!"
"Shit me, that sounds too good to be true... we'll have two please!!" (I don't think those were their actual words)
... needless to say, they are pieces of crap (the iphones)... then later, when in another shopping mall (it seems like that was the only place they went) they got befriended by some Chinese girls... they then went to grab some tea at the Chinese girls' suggestion... sat in a lovley private room of the tea house quaffing down the tea and talking with the Chinese girls... then the bill comes, 1000Y (admittedly only 100 pounds but still...) and who gets stiffed paying for it... the Swedish girls... the Chinese girls then asked them if they wanted to go for dinner! ... ... ... ... Actually, I need to add a little side point here. Although there does seem to be people out there trying to get a few extra notes out of tourists (and who could blame them), China is certianly the safest place I've been so far... It feels incredibly safe... maybe the heavy hand of the law is especially heavy here but nonetheless it feels very safe in Beijing and Shanghai.
... Ok this is my second installment in quick succession and I'm feeling fatigued... I'll have to put off my writings on Mongolia till a later date, yet again... today I tried to make the most of my one full day in Shanghai but it's been pissing it down all day... it's not incredibly cold but it is rather moist out... I tried my best to see all the sights and even took in the cities Science and Technology museam (I'm such a wild bugger) but I called it a day early and came back to write all this crap... my impression of Shanghai is that it was probably Jaw-droppingly impressive 10 years ago... now, it's running in the mill with every other sky scrapered city... the ageing of the place really struck me in the museam... in the section about computers about 50% of the displays are avaliable on the DS or as a bloody iPhone app... not that impressive... and I guess this city is just suffering a bit from how quickly the world advances... everything ages from the moment it is built, maybe it even ages from the moment it's designed... and that seems very true here... although it has the slight feel of one of those fictional si-fi cities, it's old school si-fi... we've got bloody Avatar now, get with the times Shanghai! ... I'm glad I came, but also glad I'm not staying too long.
But anyway, I'm gonna go read more about Rooney to help me get to sleep tonight... keep well people:)
Catch up after China:)
So Now I'm in rainy Shanghai (23rd October)... I haven't updated the blog in ages because I can't access it in China and so even this post was written as an e-mail to myself to post when I am out of the country. Last time I left off I was just going to Mongolia... so much has happened in this time it's a bit daunting to have to try and catch up! Well, China has made a great impression since we/I got here. Basically we spent a couple of days in Ulaanbattar in Mongolia and then to a Ger camp in the wilderness of a national park (well it was wilderness but there was a golf course there!)... Mongolia was awesome... then we took a two day train to Beijing and shared a compartment with a Chinese boy with almost toxic smelling feet... the smell didn't bother me too much but Kate seemed to have a sensitive nose and came close to hurling a couple of times when her head came into close proximity with the boys' trainers... add to this the fact that I had a fairly heavy case of man flu during this train and it really added up to the worse train journey of the trip so far... In Mongolia our path crossed with that of another VodkaTrain group taking a slightly different tour to us... there was 24 of them and for this ill fated train journey they were in our carriage... At the Chinses/Mongolian boarder they change the wheeles of the train and for some reason a near carnival atmosphere erupted amongst the group of 24... as if a school trip had had their lunches spiked with more E numbers then a Skittles factory (of taste the rainbow fame)... as the party began, I lay in gloom and the the thick air of feet feeling sorry for myself (violins please)... ... but anyway, we got ther in the end and I got completely betterin a day or so (not without a consequential bout of apparently excessive snoring, to the dismay of those in my dorm)...
... but to China (I'll catch up with Mongolia in the fullness of time... for the moment, China is fresh in the mind)... China has made a really great impression on me and this is despite the VodkaTrain tour ending and me now being all on my Larry Todd ... (N.B. Just looked at bbc and read about all this Rooney crap... yawn... boy wants stupid wages so pretends he wants to leave... I wish he'd forced himself into a corner, had to leave, had no takers from the big teams and so had to join Bunyouncore in Uzbekistan (if you're a massive football geek like me, you'll know that team)) ... I spent about 6 days in Beijing, it was too long but still very enjoyable... I saw most of the touristy stuff: The great wall (beautiful and autumnial... must have been incredibly difficult to build... it's the greatest wall I've even seen... but it's still just a wall), the forbidden city (nice but a bit samey), The summer palace (a lovely lake), The birdsnest olympic stadium (you can ride Segways down the 100 meters strip... I didn't though, cost like 150Y (although this is only 15 pounds... sounds a bit stingey when I put it like that)), some park where an emporer hung himself (a lovley little park where Old people while away the hours... I especially enjoyed watching the 70+'s doing Ti Chi with what looked like real swords), Tian'men Squard (It was a crap square if I'm honest... a mere pretender compared to Red square... it may be bigger but size isn't everything... really it seems that China can't do squares... I went to the 'peoples square' in Shanghai today and it was actually a park!! ... but there again, maybe I was in the wrong place?), the silk market ("No, I don't want to buy a bloody Prada bag!") and much more... ... ... Chinese people seem happy and smiley and helpful and really nice... I know I've only experienced them in a certian context, as a potential customer, as a randomer etc but my impression is still positive... ... in fact I think I have been instilled with some magical powers here... I've had someone come up to me and say, "You are very handsome" not once, but TWICE! ... both time it was women aswell... blimey!! ... I think that is all the proof I needed that I am in fact some kind of studly man:) ... the other side of people coming up to you in Beijing is less enjoyable... it starts with a nice conversation about how they want to practice their English and asking where you've visited etc... then soon enough you get invited to some Art exhibition... then you get the hard sell of some crappy pictures... either traditional or "Modern art" (read 'Crap')... by the end of my time there I figured out where they were situated and the usual conversation would go as follows:
Chinese person: Hi
Me: I don't want to buy art.
Chinese person: Oh.
Me: Goodbye
... ... I'm gonna end this installment here... I don't want it to get rediculously long.
Keep well everyone:)
... but to China (I'll catch up with Mongolia in the fullness of time... for the moment, China is fresh in the mind)... China has made a really great impression on me and this is despite the VodkaTrain tour ending and me now being all on my Larry Todd ... (N.B. Just looked at bbc and read about all this Rooney crap... yawn... boy wants stupid wages so pretends he wants to leave... I wish he'd forced himself into a corner, had to leave, had no takers from the big teams and so had to join Bunyouncore in Uzbekistan (if you're a massive football geek like me, you'll know that team)) ... I spent about 6 days in Beijing, it was too long but still very enjoyable... I saw most of the touristy stuff: The great wall (beautiful and autumnial... must have been incredibly difficult to build... it's the greatest wall I've even seen... but it's still just a wall), the forbidden city (nice but a bit samey), The summer palace (a lovely lake), The birdsnest olympic stadium (you can ride Segways down the 100 meters strip... I didn't though, cost like 150Y (although this is only 15 pounds... sounds a bit stingey when I put it like that)), some park where an emporer hung himself (a lovley little park where Old people while away the hours... I especially enjoyed watching the 70+'s doing Ti Chi with what looked like real swords), Tian'men Squard (It was a crap square if I'm honest... a mere pretender compared to Red square... it may be bigger but size isn't everything... really it seems that China can't do squares... I went to the 'peoples square' in Shanghai today and it was actually a park!! ... but there again, maybe I was in the wrong place?), the silk market ("No, I don't want to buy a bloody Prada bag!") and much more... ... ... Chinese people seem happy and smiley and helpful and really nice... I know I've only experienced them in a certian context, as a potential customer, as a randomer etc but my impression is still positive... ... in fact I think I have been instilled with some magical powers here... I've had someone come up to me and say, "You are very handsome" not once, but TWICE! ... both time it was women aswell... blimey!! ... I think that is all the proof I needed that I am in fact some kind of studly man:) ... the other side of people coming up to you in Beijing is less enjoyable... it starts with a nice conversation about how they want to practice their English and asking where you've visited etc... then soon enough you get invited to some Art exhibition... then you get the hard sell of some crappy pictures... either traditional or "Modern art" (read 'Crap')... by the end of my time there I figured out where they were situated and the usual conversation would go as follows:
Chinese person: Hi
Me: I don't want to buy art.
Chinese person: Oh.
Me: Goodbye
... ... I'm gonna end this installment here... I don't want it to get rediculously long.
Keep well everyone:)
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Back from the Ger camp!
So I'm back from the Ger camp in Mongolia... it was pretty awesome, loved it. But no sooner do I look at the bbc website and I see that Kevin Davis played for England... what has happened?! ... listening to the football ramble to get my dose of football banter... but anyway... ... ... I think I left off in Irkutsk, or lake Baikal or somewhere... ...
The train between Russia and Mongolia took ages! We were at the Russia part of the border for about 5 hours and the Mongolia for about 3-4 hours... plenty of time for reading and the like... I managed to get myself in the same cabin of the train as Kate and Anna through a bit of negotiating with the woman who ran our carriage... she said I could go in the cabin but I had to buy something from her little on board shop... I had to negotiate... I asked for a Bounty, but she said I needed to buy 3... ... I bought them but felt a bit perplexed by the whole thing... apparently 3 Bountys is the going rate!
Ulaanbattor is a really interesting city in many ways but it isn't really a big tourist destination I think... the architecture is just like Russia... there's even a statue of Lenin... but the major difference was the asian faces filling the city (I should have probably predicted that one)... but also, people smile here then in Russia:) ... I'm not suggesting that Russians arn't happy or nice people, just.... if you smile randomly, well, you're probably a bit crazy... the only unprovoked smiles I got were from female uni students in a Pizzaria in Irkutsk... and then when I returned the smile they laughed at me... people smile here, it's nice:)
... Our guide during our time in Mongolia is really nice, her name is Odka and she's been really helpful and all that... The customs here are unusual... never accept anything with your left hand, always right... don't point at something, motion with your whole hand... if you show someone the sole of your feet/sole it means your itching for a fight/argument!
Our first day we went to see a live Pillipino rock band in a night club... ... but I need to go to get food now so I'll expand on that later... food then the national culture museam and then to some cultural dance show... so I'll catch you all later!
The train between Russia and Mongolia took ages! We were at the Russia part of the border for about 5 hours and the Mongolia for about 3-4 hours... plenty of time for reading and the like... I managed to get myself in the same cabin of the train as Kate and Anna through a bit of negotiating with the woman who ran our carriage... she said I could go in the cabin but I had to buy something from her little on board shop... I had to negotiate... I asked for a Bounty, but she said I needed to buy 3... ... I bought them but felt a bit perplexed by the whole thing... apparently 3 Bountys is the going rate!
Ulaanbattor is a really interesting city in many ways but it isn't really a big tourist destination I think... the architecture is just like Russia... there's even a statue of Lenin... but the major difference was the asian faces filling the city (I should have probably predicted that one)... but also, people smile here then in Russia:) ... I'm not suggesting that Russians arn't happy or nice people, just.... if you smile randomly, well, you're probably a bit crazy... the only unprovoked smiles I got were from female uni students in a Pizzaria in Irkutsk... and then when I returned the smile they laughed at me... people smile here, it's nice:)
... Our guide during our time in Mongolia is really nice, her name is Odka and she's been really helpful and all that... The customs here are unusual... never accept anything with your left hand, always right... don't point at something, motion with your whole hand... if you show someone the sole of your feet/sole it means your itching for a fight/argument!
Our first day we went to see a live Pillipino rock band in a night club... ... but I need to go to get food now so I'll expand on that later... food then the national culture museam and then to some cultural dance show... so I'll catch you all later!
Sunday 10 October 2010
Catching-up (Part 3, Lake Baikal)
... OK, all this writing has wearied me... I'm just a fragment of the man I once was and the man I will be once more... I am in need of a nap, in dire need... tonight, our Mongolian guide will take us for food and then live music and dancing (at least she thinks there will be dancing)... but I'm on a roll, and want to write about Irkutsk and lake Baikal before I submit the the sleep which stealthily shrouds me (seriously, 'Magician' by Feist is really cool if you like a bit of a fantasy novel... but I blame this book for my OTT language:)
So we left the train in Irkutsk and were carried to lake Baikal quicker then the speed of sound by our mini-bus driver... trees rushed past as a blur... I asked our guide if he wasn't a little disturbed by the speed and he said, "I trust him, he's a professional."
... now time for the science... Lake Baikal is the deepest fresh water lake in the world... it is one of only three places in the world to have fresh water seals (and before you ask, I didn't see them save for in an aquarium), and has the largest surface area of any fresh water lake (or maybe the second largest, I wasn't really listening)... ... ... but I'd summarise it as a lovely little lake... all blue and clear and surrounded by hills which we trekked in and among... the "difficult" hike we did on our last day at the lake was a little sketchy as a misplaced foot felt like it might send you teeming into the water below as we sideled past cliffs... Kate has a bad leg as she broke it and dislocated her ankle back in May, she couldn't trust her left leg, and so skirting the cliff felt dodgy... but in the end it was fine, it was really just one of those walks that looks much harder then it was... some lovely views and all that... I'll upload them and annoy you all with them in the fullness of time...
... I've just used the wonder of skype to talk with people at home and have lost my train of thought... so I'll go for a quick nap:) ... my excuse is that I only got 4 hours of sleep last night after 8 hours at the Russian/Mongolian boarder on the train yesterday! ... I'm not complaining, I love naps... when you wake up it's like a new day... BOGOF and all that:)
Anyway, I'm off now... love to you all... Matt:)
So we left the train in Irkutsk and were carried to lake Baikal quicker then the speed of sound by our mini-bus driver... trees rushed past as a blur... I asked our guide if he wasn't a little disturbed by the speed and he said, "I trust him, he's a professional."
... now time for the science... Lake Baikal is the deepest fresh water lake in the world... it is one of only three places in the world to have fresh water seals (and before you ask, I didn't see them save for in an aquarium), and has the largest surface area of any fresh water lake (or maybe the second largest, I wasn't really listening)... ... ... but I'd summarise it as a lovely little lake... all blue and clear and surrounded by hills which we trekked in and among... the "difficult" hike we did on our last day at the lake was a little sketchy as a misplaced foot felt like it might send you teeming into the water below as we sideled past cliffs... Kate has a bad leg as she broke it and dislocated her ankle back in May, she couldn't trust her left leg, and so skirting the cliff felt dodgy... but in the end it was fine, it was really just one of those walks that looks much harder then it was... some lovely views and all that... I'll upload them and annoy you all with them in the fullness of time...
... I've just used the wonder of skype to talk with people at home and have lost my train of thought... so I'll go for a quick nap:) ... my excuse is that I only got 4 hours of sleep last night after 8 hours at the Russian/Mongolian boarder on the train yesterday! ... I'm not complaining, I love naps... when you wake up it's like a new day... BOGOF and all that:)
Anyway, I'm off now... love to you all... Matt:)
Catch up (Part 2)
I'm back from eating dumplings, visiting a monestary and buying a big warm coat from the market:)
... so where was I... oh yes, so we ended the first night with all our Russian friends wobbeling from more then the swaying motion of the train! ... we snuck out to our cabin (when the couple with the baby left I managed to wrangle my way into their cabin with a bit of pigeon Russian, "Pajalsta, Pajalsta, moj druzya, eta mesto" (translation: "please please, my friends, this place")) and slept... now I had escaped the Russian train drivers cabin (for, however nice they were, it is exhausting having all the inter-nation conversation flowing through such poor a vessel as me), we spent the next two days chilling, reading (just finished the magician by Feist... bloody great... although it's got me speaking a bit of the ye ol' english), eating noodles, playing Settlers of Catan, and listening to Art Burt... it was lovely, with the occasional 20 minute stop at a station to go out and stretch my legs on a platform... the stretching of legs was more of a problem for two other passengers in our carriage... the first cabin had a husband and wife... a dalmation and a cat... a dog and a cat on the train for 4 days... to be fair, the dog got a walk at every long station break and the cat occasionally got carried to the carriage's toilet!
This was how our life on the train carried on until the final night of four... then our Russian friends popped their heads into our cabin and said, "Why don't you visit?" ... the emotion and rejection was leaking out of these burley Russian train drivers right in front of us... just as I had time to mutter the international word, "um..." I heard Robert di Nero say in Russian, "They read, come on." as he pulled the others away from our door... he was their ring leader of sorts... they would all respond to him and do as he said... just as you would one of di nero's characters... if some younger member of their group approached his cabin after one to many vodka he would say, 'Go away'... and if that didn't work, a gentle push got them going... ... ... needless to say, after the exchange with us we felt a little guilty for not visiting them for 2 days after that first night... so we made our way to the restraunt carriage, asked for three plastic bottles of their least expensive beer and made our peace offering... needless to say, all was forgiven! ... ... Then, just as we thought that things might start getting a bit out of hand, a new passenger joined their cabin... a pregnant women... they all knew the drinking was over for the night... time for our last sleep... but not before Two-wives asked me, "Wake me when you leave." as we arrived in Irkutsk at 7am!
... We woke and we left... all the guys were there asking for photos and we even had a group shot in front of our train carriage in the morning (I'll upload it once I reach a place where I can plug my camera in)... as we walked away with shouts of "Das Vidanya" and wishes of good health, I looked at Two-Wives... shaven headed except for the fringe, fag in the side of his mouth... and what looked like a reddening of the eyes, a glassy look perhaps as he bade his English friends farewell... ... ... of maybe he was just hung-over!
... ... ... so that has us up to Irkutsk... so I'll post this before I contrive to delete this post:)
... so where was I... oh yes, so we ended the first night with all our Russian friends wobbeling from more then the swaying motion of the train! ... we snuck out to our cabin (when the couple with the baby left I managed to wrangle my way into their cabin with a bit of pigeon Russian, "Pajalsta, Pajalsta, moj druzya, eta mesto" (translation: "please please, my friends, this place")) and slept... now I had escaped the Russian train drivers cabin (for, however nice they were, it is exhausting having all the inter-nation conversation flowing through such poor a vessel as me), we spent the next two days chilling, reading (just finished the magician by Feist... bloody great... although it's got me speaking a bit of the ye ol' english), eating noodles, playing Settlers of Catan, and listening to Art Burt... it was lovely, with the occasional 20 minute stop at a station to go out and stretch my legs on a platform... the stretching of legs was more of a problem for two other passengers in our carriage... the first cabin had a husband and wife... a dalmation and a cat... a dog and a cat on the train for 4 days... to be fair, the dog got a walk at every long station break and the cat occasionally got carried to the carriage's toilet!
This was how our life on the train carried on until the final night of four... then our Russian friends popped their heads into our cabin and said, "Why don't you visit?" ... the emotion and rejection was leaking out of these burley Russian train drivers right in front of us... just as I had time to mutter the international word, "um..." I heard Robert di Nero say in Russian, "They read, come on." as he pulled the others away from our door... he was their ring leader of sorts... they would all respond to him and do as he said... just as you would one of di nero's characters... if some younger member of their group approached his cabin after one to many vodka he would say, 'Go away'... and if that didn't work, a gentle push got them going... ... ... needless to say, after the exchange with us we felt a little guilty for not visiting them for 2 days after that first night... so we made our way to the restraunt carriage, asked for three plastic bottles of their least expensive beer and made our peace offering... needless to say, all was forgiven! ... ... Then, just as we thought that things might start getting a bit out of hand, a new passenger joined their cabin... a pregnant women... they all knew the drinking was over for the night... time for our last sleep... but not before Two-wives asked me, "Wake me when you leave." as we arrived in Irkutsk at 7am!
... We woke and we left... all the guys were there asking for photos and we even had a group shot in front of our train carriage in the morning (I'll upload it once I reach a place where I can plug my camera in)... as we walked away with shouts of "Das Vidanya" and wishes of good health, I looked at Two-Wives... shaven headed except for the fringe, fag in the side of his mouth... and what looked like a reddening of the eyes, a glassy look perhaps as he bade his English friends farewell... ... ... of maybe he was just hung-over!
... ... ... so that has us up to Irkutsk... so I'll post this before I contrive to delete this post:)
Saturday 9 October 2010
Catch-up (part 1)
It's been a while... in my absence from this blog I've been on a train from Moscow to Irkutsk for 4 days non-stop... 3 days by lake baikal... and 2 more days getting to Mongolia and now sit in the renoun 'Internet Centre' in Ulaanbattar near the capital's circus!
There is so much to catch up on and so little time, I need to jog off in 20 minutes to meet our guide in this city... so I'll start from the top and see where we get:
The four days non-stop on the train have actually proven a highlight rather then a drag... maybe this suggests I havn't had much fun in the cities but I have... on the train me, Kate and Anna (the two other people on my tour... there was also Joe and David but they are now back in Bristol and Melbourne respectivley) befriended some locals... from what I could gather they were train drivers from somewhere like Saratov returning from some kind of work in Moscow... ... I neglected to learn their real names but we began to know them each by their own little tag-name... there was: Robert Di Nero (wait till I put his picture up on the blog... he was the spitting image), Gold-teeth-not-Robert-Di-Nero (for both he and Robert had Gold-teeth), Two-wives, Anna's boyfriend, Marina (not the most imaginative nick-name, being her real name and all), Stripy-top... and well, those are all I can remember at this second! I was alone in a cabin with Robert, two-wives and Marina to start with and they seemed to enjoy the fact that I was English and could speak a little with them... I was in a separate cabin from Anna and Kate who shared one with a couple and their 6-week old baby for the first day and a half... The clock struck noon Moscow time (all trains go by Moscow time even though Russia has 5 time zones) out came the beer... My tea was swiftly decanted and a mug full of 'Bagbeer' was poured from a 2.5L plastic bottle (I was later informed that this is the crappest of all the beers)... with the suggestion of drinking comes the Russian words "Budesh Peet" (will you drink) and many Russians flicking their neck with their index finger (apparently, a well known Russian sign for 'let's get pissed')... Then in came Anna and Kate and the festivities continued... a cabin made for 4 had 8 people inside and 2 or 3 hanging around outside (I know I haven't given that many names but trust me, it was that full!)... the Russians got slowly drunk as they day drew on... we survived and stayed the good side of jolly through stringent beer-managment and vodka avoidance... ... they really do love the vodka here... for a normal relaxed lunch of a pot noodle (the only way of cooking on the train was hot water... and any food that needed refridgerating would go off rapidly as the powerful heating bought the train temperature up to about 30 celcius)... with a pot noodle Robert di Nero had half a coffe mug of vodka and drunk it like water... even in the buffet carrage a man was eating alone while doing shots of vodka! ... anyway, the Russians got gradually more and more drunk... two-wives even treated us to a lovely bit of air-balalika, I had to use my good manners and fear from the experiences in St.Petersburg to stop from LOLing...
... ... ... sorry, I was on a roll there but I've got to run now... I know that seemed a rather lengthy summary of a single day on the train but don't worry, I'll try not to drag on when I pick-up later... ... I desperatly need to catch up or I'm gonna run out of memory to keep everything!
Anyway, keep well all... I'm off to the freezing streets of Ulaanbattar:)
Matt
There is so much to catch up on and so little time, I need to jog off in 20 minutes to meet our guide in this city... so I'll start from the top and see where we get:
The four days non-stop on the train have actually proven a highlight rather then a drag... maybe this suggests I havn't had much fun in the cities but I have... on the train me, Kate and Anna (the two other people on my tour... there was also Joe and David but they are now back in Bristol and Melbourne respectivley) befriended some locals... from what I could gather they were train drivers from somewhere like Saratov returning from some kind of work in Moscow... ... I neglected to learn their real names but we began to know them each by their own little tag-name... there was: Robert Di Nero (wait till I put his picture up on the blog... he was the spitting image), Gold-teeth-not-Robert-Di-Nero (for both he and Robert had Gold-teeth), Two-wives, Anna's boyfriend, Marina (not the most imaginative nick-name, being her real name and all), Stripy-top... and well, those are all I can remember at this second! I was alone in a cabin with Robert, two-wives and Marina to start with and they seemed to enjoy the fact that I was English and could speak a little with them... I was in a separate cabin from Anna and Kate who shared one with a couple and their 6-week old baby for the first day and a half... The clock struck noon Moscow time (all trains go by Moscow time even though Russia has 5 time zones) out came the beer... My tea was swiftly decanted and a mug full of 'Bagbeer' was poured from a 2.5L plastic bottle (I was later informed that this is the crappest of all the beers)... with the suggestion of drinking comes the Russian words "Budesh Peet" (will you drink) and many Russians flicking their neck with their index finger (apparently, a well known Russian sign for 'let's get pissed')... Then in came Anna and Kate and the festivities continued... a cabin made for 4 had 8 people inside and 2 or 3 hanging around outside (I know I haven't given that many names but trust me, it was that full!)... the Russians got slowly drunk as they day drew on... we survived and stayed the good side of jolly through stringent beer-managment and vodka avoidance... ... they really do love the vodka here... for a normal relaxed lunch of a pot noodle (the only way of cooking on the train was hot water... and any food that needed refridgerating would go off rapidly as the powerful heating bought the train temperature up to about 30 celcius)... with a pot noodle Robert di Nero had half a coffe mug of vodka and drunk it like water... even in the buffet carrage a man was eating alone while doing shots of vodka! ... anyway, the Russians got gradually more and more drunk... two-wives even treated us to a lovely bit of air-balalika, I had to use my good manners and fear from the experiences in St.Petersburg to stop from LOLing...
... ... ... sorry, I was on a roll there but I've got to run now... I know that seemed a rather lengthy summary of a single day on the train but don't worry, I'll try not to drag on when I pick-up later... ... I desperatly need to catch up or I'm gonna run out of memory to keep everything!
Anyway, keep well all... I'm off to the freezing streets of Ulaanbattar:)
Matt
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