"The Map" Summer 2010 Destinations

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Scroll across the map using the arrows on the top to see all of the locations.

A) Beijing China B) Ulaanbaatar Mongolia C) Irkutsk Russia D) Listvyanka Russia E) Ekaterinburg Russia F) Moscow Russia G) St Petersburg Russia H) Helsinki Finland I) Tallinn Estonia J) Stockholm Sweden K) Oslo Norway L) Andalsnes Norway M) Bergen Norway N) Oslo Norway O) Copenhagen Denmark P)London United Kingdom

It was an awesome, expansive trip that covered a lot of land and I met numerous amazing people along the way. Until the next adventure, keep loving life.

The following link will get you all of this trips photo albums and some previous trips pictures.

Click on this link for the photo albums

Stonehenge and Bath England Photos

I had another terrific day today. I went to the City of Bath and saw the Roman Baths and then on to Stonehenge for a private tour where we actually got to walk around in Stonehenge and not just around the perimeter of it. It was so cool. I booked a day trip from London out to both and it turned out to everyone’s surprise, even our guides that we had a private evening tour of Stonehenge that included going right up to the stones and checking them out as the sunset in the background. Most people have to do the loop around the outside so this was really neat, hence why I took so many photos because there was no one around and therefore no one to get in the way. It was closed to the general public at this point. There were 25 of us in our group and all day long there are tour busses upon tour busses there, but not for us. So this was really special.
Check out the photos at the following link;
Many Stonehenge and Bath Photos

London England, Photos

The picture is taken with the Tower Bridge in the background.
Oh my word. I have had a sightseeing overload kind of day. There is just so much to see in London my head is spinning. I started the day at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard with all of the other tourists and then I did the hop on hop off bus around London. It went to all the major sites and helped me get my bearings. Total tourist thing to do, but with the number of sites there are in this city it was well worth the 20 Pounds it costs. It even included a boat cruise and walking tours. I ended up at Westminster Abbey at mass time, so that saved having to pay over 10 pound to see the inside of the church, they can’t charge you to worship, so I went to mass. I saw Big Ben, the London Eye, Parliament, Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery (when it was raining outside, a good way to escape the rain), St Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London and the Tower Bridge to name a few things. The museums are free in London which is great. So that was a great way to escape the rain.
Check out the numerous photos at the following link;
Many London England Photos

Pub Crawl Clapham London England Photos

Aug 20 2010 A little bit of a hiccup today that cost me $350. I missed my flight and had to buy another one. It was a stupid, costly mistake, but these things happen. I was on my way to the airport by train which was to take 20 minutes and the train was delayed. It was to arrive on track number two but in hind sight there was a regular train that comes on track number two at the same time and the one I needed must have come through second. The monitors didn’t indicate where this train was going and there were no workers around so I got on it. I guess I should have waited and maybe there was the correct train behind it? I wasn’t the only one who got on the incorrect train. We realized after about 30 minutes on it that it wasn’t going to the airport and had to get off and wait for another train. We got on the next train that was also to take 20 minutes to get to the airport. I and the other three people that made the same mistake got on the train only for it to go to Central Station and be delayed there for another 20 minutes or more making this train take 50 minutes. I made it to the airport as my flight was boarding and had to buy a new ticket. When I bought it the guy said you need to move as this new flight leaves in 50 minutes and you need to check in. It was funny because then this flight was delayed 25 minutes waiting at the gate and if that had have happened to the first flight maybe I could have made it. I will give the check in person credit they called the gate to see if I could board but they said I wouldn’t make it. So I am hoping these are my three things as you know things tend to happen in threes, ATM card eaten, wrong train and missed flight, hopefully the last two aren’t a combo unit and I still have a third thing to come.
So last night in the paper I read that SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), who I am flying with, has had 17 000 safety violations that they have flown with over the last seven years, so maybe I wasn’t suppose to make that first flight? Anyways these things happen and it is a good thing I still have a pay check coming through, a credit card to fall back on and a job to come home to. Off to London for the week to spend time with Karen and Tina my cabin mates from the Trans Mongolian/Siberian Railway.
I wasn’t the only one who missed my flight in the line boarding these two guys beside me were also belly aching that they had to get new flights and pay the difference etc. Another guy with them also had the same problem and he only has one hour to make it to his next flight in London and on to the States. I wish him good luck. I cannot see him making it.
Karen gives the most amazing directions. I made it to her flat without a problem. It took an hour and twenty minutes from the airport via the Underground or Tube with three changes and then a little walk. After the rest of the day I really appreciated her thorough instructions. I arrived to a lovely homemade pizza dinner with Karen, Tina and Bobbie (Tina’s mom) who are both visiting from Brisbane. Karen and Tina were my cabin mates on the train across Siberia.
The flat is huge so we all fit nicely. It is a two bedroom that she shares with another woman Kirsty, who happens to be in France at a wedding for the weekend. The flat has a good size kitchen a lovely bathroom with a nice tub and shower and a big living room. It is a pub that was converted into four flats. The guests are all in the basement and it is massive. We each have some form of double bed, a futon, blow-up or a mattress and there is still tons of room for all of our stuff and a few tables and even more floor space. It is great. The flat is in a great location too. Just off of High Street in Clapham Common.
So yesterday we headed out to check out the many Charity Shops on High Street and the Pound Store (Dollar Store) as it is so good and ended up on an old fashioned open top double-decker bus doing a pub crawl. As you do... We hit the Charity Shops along the way checking out the park and some of the sites and then had lunch at a pub and a couple of pints. We made it to the Pound Shop and then thought on the way back to the flat we would stop into another pub for a drink and happened upon this free pub crawl so we joined it with all of our shopping in hand. It was very random. We ended up having an awesome afternoon touring around in the open top bus and having a pint and some great food along the way, got to love spontaneity.
Check out the photos at the following link;
Pub Crawl in Clapham London Photos

More Copenhagen, Photos

Well today was day two on the free bike in Copenhagen and my pelvis is suffering from it. You know the pain I am talking about, you have all had it. Man, oh, man it is raw. The bike was a great way to get around this city though. Today I met Kelly a girl from Nova Scotia in my room and we toured around together, you can cover so much more ground on the bike. It was fantastic and there was no rain today and the sun was a shinning, yeah. Kelly is like having your own personal photographer, I feel like there are many Sarah shots today. You can see for yourself;
More Copenhagen Denmark Photos

Copenhagen Denmark, Pictures

This is a picture of one of the bike traffic lights in Copenhagen. They have a great transportation system for cars and bikes. There are bus lanes, car lanes, bike lanes and even turning lanes for bikes, all controlled by separate traffic lights.

I am currently in Copenhagen Denmark and having a great time. It has been raining for the last couple of days, but today it wasn’t until late in the afternoon and I had got most of the day in dry. Copenhagen has an awesome bike rental system, they are free for hire. You only need a 20 Kroner coin, $4 piece. You put it in the slot like we do at home with quarters for the grocery cart and you get it back when you return the bike to any spot around town. So I met a guy from Saskatoon in my hostel room this morning and we toured around together for the day. I walked a ton yesterday but with the bike I was able to cover more ground today. What an awesome system. Some other European cities have the free bikes but you have to use your credit card as a deposit and the systems are not the easiest to figure out when you put your card in, so this was easy. I am sure if they had these in our town they would be put to use late at night getting home from the bar and instead of the boys having to return shopping carts from the apartments it would be bicycles. I know I would be using them to get home.

We happened upon this interesting hippy part of town today called Christiania. There is a large arch way they says “Christiania” you can enter through and when you leave the other side says “You are now entering the EU.” I mention this because I am sure there are no rules in this little commune. There are pot plants growing freely along the pathways and in flower pots, drug paraphernalia for sale at large, as well as cheap food and drink and typical souvenirs. There are signs around that say “say no to hard drugs.” There are people wearing and selling “Safe Christiania “shirts. It is on prime harbor front real estate and there must be people wanting to demolish this little area. It has great housing complexes around it.
Went to the National museum and library today to get out of the rain for a bit and they both were very good. The library is very old and very new. Two well combined buildings.

You couldn’t take pictures in Hippy Ville so the ones I have of the outskirts don’t do it justice. You can check out all the Copenhagen pictures at the following link;

Copenhagen Denmark Pictures

Flam Railway Norway, Photos

Check out this crazy (up until last year) two way road. At this point I am 12 hours into a 14 hour trip across Norway. Today’s journey consisted of three trains, a bus and a boat and is called “Norway in a Nutshell.” The trip takes you from one side of the country to the other. The day started with a packed, standing room only train that resembled more of a commuter train than a tourist trip. You could say it was over sold. At the next spot where you are to catch a bus there wasn’t enough of them, but things got figured out and more space was available as the day went on. I was one of hundreds doing this little excursion today. It is not a package deal, just sold as one so you have the right connections along the route. Enough about the logistics, it is all about the views and they are SPECTACULAR! I took the Flam Railway today which is known for its twists and turns up the fjord. It really is breath taking with huge rock cliffs, mountains, waterfalls, bridges, tunnels and random little villages. There was one tunnel that was over six kilometers long that I went through the other day. There are also locals on these modes of transportation too, but they are going to the fjord to climb it, or mountain bike up it. Good on them. The little towns and fjords are beautiful. If I come back here, or if I could suggested to anyone coming here, skip the big cities and head to the fjords, bring a good pair of hiking books and let your thighs ache with the rest of them. If you hit the right spots you can kayak, ice hike on a glacier and bike to name just a few things. I tried to take some photos but as you know they never capture the whole thing and really I just had to stop again and just take it all in. You can check out what I did get at the following link;
Pictures of The Flam Railway and crossing Norway by three trains, a bus and a boat

Bergen Norway, Photos

The photo is taken in the Fish Market in Bergen Norway. Bergen is another lovely town, with great hiking paths a funicular up to the top of their large hill and neat old buildings. I took the funicular up and walked back down zigzagging through the forest, my thighs are getting a good work out. Again there were lots of people running up and down it for their exercise. They sure are active here.
Bergen is a town of rain, so I did a walking tour through the town in the rain today. It was quite cool so my scarf and sweater were needed today and then by 7:30pm the sun was out and I was working up a sweat in shorts and a t-shirt.
Check out the photos of Bergen at the following link;
Pictures of Bergen Norway

The Fjords of Norway, Photos

Well I have just arrived in Bergen Norway after a journey that consisted of three busses, five ferries and 12 ½ hours of scenery. You may say, wow, you can keep that. But really it was WOW, WOW to the views. The journey wasn’t really that difficult. The busses went right onto the ferries and they were all pretty short crossings. The trip was from Andalsnes in the West Coast of Norway, to Bergen further south on the Coast. I can say that I don’t think a straight passage exists on a Norwegian highway or train track for that matter, as I spent the day before getting from Oslo to Andalsnes by train, also SPECTACULAR. Everything winds and bends around and through the mountains, fjords and lakes. Always one of the three to look at and then there is the road to check out. It weaves and winds up and down the Fjords and is extremely narrow in parts and when you come head on with a tractor trailer and just squeeze by each other on the side of a cliff you count your blessings and this just happens and keeps happening. The site of the trains zigzagging up, down and a across the fjords are something to see.

At one point today the bus drove by this large lake and it was the right time of day for the mountains and sky to be mirrored in the lake, it was awesome. There are many waterfalls and streams running down the Fjords that are excellent too. The pictures don’t do it justice and I just had to stop trying to capture it. I would recommend you come and see what Norway has to offer. Get out into the little towns and see it. Bring your wallet though, for your reference a can of diet Coke costs $6, she’s a little pricey in this fine country.

So after my train journey yesterday I went for a hike as you do in Norway up one of these fjords or mountains. Wow, let’s just say that is a little bit of a work out. Up, up, up, over the roots, through the roots, up rocks, down rocks, no sure footing and then you make it up there and just have to come down. It was just as bad coming down, worse on the knees actually. So as I am struggling up a buff Norwegian man with his shirt off and tight little shorts goes sprinting by me and like that wasn’t enough he lapped me coming down. There are competitions in town to see who can get up it the fastest. I would have to say if I lived in that little town I think I would get better at climbing in general, maybe even sprinting up as Andalsnes resembles a ghost town. But let’s not forget the views, once up that fjord the views were spectacular and it was worth the effort.

Check out the photos at the following link, some are through the train window so not the best quality but a little taste of Norway just the same.


Pictures of the Fjords in Norway

Uppsala Sweden, Oslo Norway, 2 sets of photos

The picture is of me riding the statue at the Sculpture Park in Oslo Norway.

I visited Uppsala Sweden the other day. It is a lovely University town with a 190 000 people and 40 000 of them are students at the “oldest University in Scandinavia.” The University has a cool building with a copula on top. The copula is open to the main floor where dissections were done 300 years ago on prisoners. The room is a big cylinder with seats up and down the sides for observing. It was a quant town and easy to get around by foot. They had a reggae festival on, so I was a little out of place because I didn’t have my hair in dreads.

At the grocery store you have to see the tills they have. The cashier doesn’t even have to come up with how to make your change anymore. The machine literally passes out the correct bills and spits out the change. The cashier doesn’t have to put the money into the till either. They just have to place it on the corresponding number and the machine sucks it up.

I am currently in Oslo Norway, again another nice town. There are some beautiful neighborhoods here and lovely walking to do through the residential areas. Speaking of walking, yesterday Jessie (yet another Aussie traveler) and I walked over 20 km’s. It was great, you name it, we walked to it. We saw a Viking ship, the ski jump, the Opera house, the palace, the beach and the very cool sculpture park. We went to a free concert at the Cathedral which was amazing. It was put on by the Norway Youth Choir and they were excellent. There was also the Tour de Norway for kids, bike race today through the town.

For the next little while I will be moving around Norway doing a circle around to the north, west coast and back to Oslo to check out the scenery by, train, boat, bus and of course foot.

Check out the Uppsala Sweden pictures at the following link;

Pictures of Uppsala Sweden

Check out the Oslo Norway pictures at the following link;

Pictures of Oslo Norway

Stockholm Sweden, Pictures

I love when you are presently surprised and that is how I felt on my boat trip from Helsinki to Stockholm. I had booked a ticket to come by ferry, but as it turns out the “ferry” was really a mini cruise ship, complete with entertainment. It is big business to go between the two places and people do it as a mini holiday. So here I was thinking I was going on a true “ferry” for the night and hoping I could get some sleep. I was told I had a bed, which was great as people told me you could have to sleep on the deck or on the restaurant floor once it is closed. So when I showed up and was given a key to a cabin it was great. I was waiting for the other three people to show up in the room as it could accommodate four, but nope, had it to myself. Even had a bathroom in the cabin and it was the best shower I had had in a week. So then I had to dawn a dress as it was a cruise boat and I went to watch a couple of bands play. It was great. Single girl on a cruise ship in a dress at the pub leads to some interesting individuals to entertain you for the night. I will leave it at that. All in all, it was a great evening.

So now I am in Stockholm. It is a lovely city with lots of water and islands. I have done tons of walking here and a little shopping in the neat boutique type shops in the old city. Really it has been eight hour days of walking and checking out the lovely buildings. Sorry Jack there is no Mats Sudin stuff around. They don’t realize how popular he is and how lucky they are to have him. All they care about is this princess who just got married, big deal, what about hockey?

Today I met my friend Michaela from the Serbia - Gun Train (see my post- guns, drugs, fireworks, cigarettes and a Serbian train) to refresh your memory.
Guns, drugs, fireworks, cigarettes and a Serbian Train

http://smoloney.blogspot.com/2009/07/guns-drugs-fireworks-cigarettes-and.html
She is great. She is just back from a one month train trip through Eastern Europe. So it was cool to chat about that. She is living in Uppsala, a University town, so tomorrow I will go and have a wander around there. It is a 40 minute train ride outside of Stockholm. While we were having a hot chocolate and latte at the café in the square we were entertained by a set of three female musicians. They were absolutely brilliant so I spent the afternoon listening to them. They did a wide variety of cover tunes and were excellent.

Check out the photos of Stockholm at the following link;
Stockholm Sweden Pictures

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Tallinn, Estonia Photos

Took a little day trip across the Baltic Sea yesterday to Tallinn Estonia. As you can do in Europe, just hop over to another country for the day, so that is what I did. It was an hour and a half long ferry ride. Tallinn Estonia has a lovely “Old City” to mull about in. You can check out the photos at the following link.

Tallinn Estonia Pictures

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Helsinki Finland, Photos

I spent the day today walking the streets of Helsinki. It is a nice small, big city it that makes sense. They have a great market square with lots of local hand crafts. I found a new job for Homer; making antler beer bottle openers and spatulas. There is a lot of fur here but not as cheap as Russia.
I met a really cool Aussie couple today, as I tend to do, but this pair were in their eighties. We shared a park bench and by the end of the conversation they were inviting me to their house in Brisbane if I ever go back. Like most Aussies. What was so neat about them was how worldly they were. In 1954 they bought a car in London and drove to Calcutta. Can you imagine? They said they felt like movie stars in some villages because they had never seen foreigners before. They were really neat to chat with. They have a son living in Sweden and they had taken a return boat cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki.
There was free jazz in the park today and the band was great. Oh yes and it was only 22 degrees C today, only the second day in a month that it has been less than 36 degrees C.
Check out the photos of Helsinki at the following link;
Helsinki Finland Pictures

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All is good in Finland

Well all has worked out. I have Euro’s, yeah! It turned out to be an easy process. I was a little worried as I arrived after the banks closed for the day. But I was able to find a money changing place and with my passport and credit card they said they would give me the cash. How much did I want? So I am back in business.

Well what should have been a five hour journey today turned into a 13 hour trip. Thank goodness I am still in train mode and had my food bag still in order with snacks. The Russian boarder was nuts. Hurry up and wait, wait, wait and for no need whatsoever, so it was hours, upon hours. Oh well. Then once we made it to the Finish side, it was in and out in two minutes.

I felt like our bus driver was playing a game of Russian roulette today speeding in and out of traffic. I was thankful to have a seat with a seatbelt and tightened it up when we happened upon an accident between a car and motorcycle where the driver was slain across the road and covered with a towel. RIP.

How do I follow that last statement…? Helsinki has a very calming presence. I am staying on an island just a 15 minute ferry ride from the mainland called Suomenlinna. It is complete with a fortress. It is full of friends having picnics on every corner or patch of grass. There are cars, but very few and none on the roads, just cobblestone walking paths. It is quite quant. It is so calm, that there are no workers at the hostel. Just pick up your key from the mailbox and make your way about, it is very quiet and pay tomorrow when we open at 9am. Enjoy your stay.

It was interesting that the change between Russia and Finland was so evident as soon as we drove over the boarder. With all of the vast land in Russia you would think there would be farms and fields of crops, but there are none. We were told they are not encouraged to farm and if they do and sell their produce the mafia is in on it and therefore people are then able to buy imported produce cheaper.

Check out the photos of Suomenlinna Finland at the following link;

Suomenlinna Finland Pictures

Russian Bank Machines, Link to Pictures

July 27, 2010 sitting in front of the fan, yeah! It took a few days but I now have one to keep a little cooler, 38 degrees Celsius today. I am getting to know this hotel well. This is my sixth room. Literally I went from a hotel room with a pull out couch, not a bed and a pull out, just a pull out couch, to a king size, to a single, you name it. Good thing I haven’t been unpacking everything and it is easy to move.

I took a hydro foil today to the suburbs of St Petersburg to the Summer Palace. It was a beautiful spot with over 200 fountains and lots of walking paths and gardens. It also gave a little reprieve from the heat as it is on the Golf of Finland and heavily shaded.
Russia is a fascinating place with all this grandeur and wealth, yet the babushkas (old women) have been left to survive on their own with the fall of communism. They will literally be trying to sell one beet root to make a bit of money to try to survive. They didn’t have to work before and had their accommodation paid for and now they have been left to fend for themselves with no skills. St Petersburg is very European and Moscow, Soviet and then Siberia is just barren with the odd wooden shacks along the rails. They sure have a mix of everything.

July 28, 2010 and just spent the day having bevies in the park and walking the streets of St Petersburg with Kim Doolittle. (She is a musician on a cruise ship currently travelling through the Baltic Sea.) Kim is in town for the next couple of days and as coincidence would have it, should also be in Helsinki when I move on to there. We had a great day chilling and hanging out chatting. She is an awesome person and loving life, as we all should. It was so great to see her.

July 29, 2010 so after the last three hours I have had, I am in need of a little stress relief.

So I was going to go to the Circus de Soleil tonight and needed money for it and the mini bus to Helsinki tomorrow. So I head to a back machine, only for the f-ing thing to eat my card. So with me having no Russian and the security guard having no English, I act out that my card has been eaten and this girl running the cell phone kiosk by the machine has a little English to tell him. He is nice enough and calls the number on the machine to be put on hold for at least half an hour. Anyway we figure out that they will not come to the machine until tomorrow and I am to leave at 7am tomorrow for Helsinki. So I figure ok no worries, I have two days left on the old VISA I can stay get my card and go on the 11pm mini bus. But this woman nearby says in Russian they will not give her her card back anyway. So I think, right. F***.

So I come back to the hotel and say I need your help, I need to make a collect call to Canada, to my bank. Have you ever tried to make a collect call out of the country before? It is not possible. Sure the banks say, call collect, there is no way out of country, calling zero for the operator doesn’t exist. So I come up to my room and figure with the WIFI I will Google how to make a collect call from Russia to Canada. Nothing. So I try the Skype I loaded on the computer before I left and tried the 1 800 number for the bank. It worked. Not sure if it was my first free call that worked, as the screen kept advertising first call for free with Skype or whether all 1 800 numbers are free. Anyway an hour and forty five minutes on the phone to the bank and my credit card and I am feeling more confident with the money situation, knowing I still have a month away with now no bank card. You would think this would be easily fixed because I have a credit card, yes, but with no pin. So two pieces of ID, thank god I brought my driver’s license and a MasterCard bank and they should be able to give me cash withdrawals. I transferred cash to the card from my account and should be able to get Euros now. Here’s hoping the banks don’t close early on Friday’s in Finland as I don’t arrive until 2pm. Luckily I have American dollars and am not completely out. What a pain in the butt. Needless to say I am having a beer as I type this and looking for that stress relief.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Check out the pictures of the Summer Palace and the last few days at the following link;

Summer Palace Photos and Pictures from the last few days


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More Pictures of St Petersburg Russia

Got to love the Russian dolls, who says that men can not enjoy them too?

July 26, 2010 and still in St Petersburg, it is awesome. There is so much to see and do and you can just enjoy getting lost in the parks, streets and canals of the city. Well I am the last one now. I just said the final goodbyes to Paula, Catherine and Rebecca from team Intrepid. I will carry on here for a few more days and Kim is coming in on the cruise ship July 28 so we will try to meet up.

It has been an interesting weekend in St Petersburg. Yesterday was Navy day. The river was full of Navy ships and the streets were full of drunken sailors. It was interesting people watching and yes it is still very hot, so they were entertaining themselves in fountains around the city.

Last night Paula, Mike, Debbie and I went to a beautiful hotel for supper, the Bellevue. The restaurant was on the hotel’s roof and had spectacular views of the city. We enjoyed ourselves and had a nice leisurely five hour dinner, which included a fireworks show. It is light out until really late here, so needless to say it was the first fireworks show I have seen when it was still light out.

You can check out some more photos at the following link;

More Pictures of St Petersburg Russia

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St Petersburg Russia, Pictures

St Petersburg is awesome but we have done so much, I have to say I am tired, so this will be short. We arrived at 7am yesterday, got a shower, yeah and went on a walking tour at 9am. We then climbed St Isaac’s Church to see the view and wondered the streets along the rivers and canals. I didn’t know this but St Petersburg is full of over 60 rivers and canals and they were going to call it New Amsterdam at one point. We then had dinner and got a little more cultured by attending the ballet, Swan Lake. Then we went on a river boat cruise to see the rising of the bridges which is done every night at 2am to let the ships and large boats through. Needless to say I am a little tired after that action packed day and oh yes, no air conditioning anywhere, yes none at the hotel and it is again over 40 degrees. But we are surviving; I am not saying that to complain, just making note of it for you. Then if that wasn’t enough we went to the Hermitage today and oh my god that place is the biggest museum I have ever seen, and I have been to the Louver. The Hermitage was built in the 17 century and is full of art work Catherine the Great collected. There are over 3 million exhibits in 400 halls and there are 20 times more than what you can see in vaults. But the buildings, oh my, they are enough on their own. The architecture, ceilings, crown molding, massive, massive rooms, and every floor having a different mosaic pattern of hardwood. I was happy to just check out the halls, let alone the art work on the walls by Picasso and Monet to name only a couple.
Check out the link for pictures from St Petersburg Russia
Pictures of St Petersburg Russia

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Ekaterinburg and Moscow Russia, Pictures

July 18, 2010 and back on the train. This leg of the journey is from Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg) to Moscow, 24 hours. The train only gets better. I am very happy I chose to do from Beijing to St Petersburg and not vice versa. The trains have only improved and our timing has been impeccable with festivals and anniversaries along the route.
This time the train is modern and clean with automatic doors between carriages and attendants with disinfect wiping things down, the toilets are spot on clean and there is air conditioning. Not feeling so grubby and if anything feeling a little under dressed.
Yekaterinburg was excellent. It is an interesting well organized town of 1.4 million people. There was something about the place that gave you that inviting feel even though there were very few foreigners there, or any at all that we saw. It was only opened to foreigners in 1992, as there were and still are a lot of secret agencies there. There are a mix of rocket scientists and weapons of war producers around and brides and grooms on every corner and monument having their wedding photos taken.
We visited the site where the Romanov’s were murdered. It is now an Orthodox church, called the Church of the Blood. The Romanov’s were murdered on July 16 1918. We happened to be there on the anniversary and witnessed pilgrims at the church and a church bell ceremony.
Nicholas Romanov was a Tsar that was brutally murdered with his wife and children by the Bolsheviks. They have been canonized as martyrs by the Orthodox Church. They were shot and killed at close range in the basement of an engineer’s home. The women didn’t die right away as their metal corsets saved them. The family was transported to a rural area burned, covered in poison and thrown down a mine shaft in Ganina Yama (16 km’s from Yekaterinburg.) Four of us got a driver and went to the site, it was fantastic. There are seven wooden churches there now and again the pilgrims were there. There were all kinds of black and white photos around the perimeter showing the Romanov family. There was a calming presence that came over us there as we walked around and took it all in.
In Yekaterinburg we also visited the boarder between Europe and Asia. Our local guide had an interesting quote for us yesterday. She said that she read that spending just one day in a foreign city you can receive more information that you could get from reading about a place for 10 years, interesting thought.
The food in Russia has been excellent. They love to use dill and use it in everything. Even just minced up dill and olive oil on pasta or a salad was tasty. Let alone the meat. They love their meat. Our salad of cucumbers, tomato and peppers last night came with two strips of bacon on top of it. I know some boys that would say that is their kind of salad!
July 19, 2010 we are now in Moscow and staying at a huge hotel/apartment complex that housed Olympic athletes during the 1980 Olympics. Moscow is a beautiful city. We visited the Basilica, Red Square and Kremlin. The panoramic views are breath taking, you just don’t know where to look or what to take a picture of.
July 21, 2010 checked out the Military museum and Gulag Museum’s today in Moscow. Wow did I ever get an education. The Gulag museum was about work camps in Russia during the Soviet, Communist time. There were over 25 000 camps across Siberia and the torture these people were put through.
It is over 40 degrees in Moscow and Russia is not equipped for this type of heat. Our hotel is huge. We are on the 20th floor and there is no air conditioning. Needless to say we are a little warm.
Every day I seem to learn more and more and yet realize how little I really know. Man I know I am fortunate and appreciate the life I’ve been given.

Check out the Yekaterinburg pictures at the following link

Pictures of Yekaterinburg Russia

and the Moscow pictures at the following link

Pictures of Moscow Russia

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Mongolia and Lake Baikal Russia and Pictures

July 12 2010 it is currently 36 degrees Celsius in our train cabin and Rosie one of my cabin mates is sitting across from me sewing paper cups and scraps together making her hat for the hat party tonight in our train car. Entertainment at its finest when you are on a 40 hour train journey. We are now in Siberia and finally through the boarder and its nonsense. We arrived at the Mongolian boarder at four in the morning and started the immigration stuff around eight. That then took until 11 am at which point the train moved and therefore the toilets opened again. Not too bad this time as we were allowed to get off the train at 7 am and pay to use the ones in the station. We then moved to the Russian side and the process started again and finally at 4:30pm we are on the move again. So now they would say we are on the Trans Siberian Trail leaving behind the Trans Mongolian trail.
Mongolia is fantastic. We were there for Nadaam a national festival where everyone is out in traditional garb. We went to the opening ceremonies and then watched some for the main events. They included archery, ankle bone toss, crazy but they throw ankle bones at a target, wrestling and there is also horse races. It was awesome, awesome.
In Mongolia there are two million people and half of them live in the capital city Ulaan Bataar. There are a total of five very small cities and then the rest of the people live nomadically. Unbelievable but there are gers (tent like structures) all over the country side and even in the suburbs of town. It is such an interesting country and such neat traditions. The infer structure needs work in this town, an engineering nightmare or challenge. It is a crazy town with no grid road system, drainage or good walking paths, but yet there is a Louis Vuitton and a Burberry shop that did 1 million in profits in the first three months. Crazy, if you are rich you are really rich they say and these people are few. They get their money from mining.
We went to a cultural show where they played very unique instruments and throat sang. You will have to look it up and interesting sound to say the least.
Everyone is buying a sheep or goat for their family to have during the festival, so there are herders at the edge of town where you can pick yours and have it skinned right there at the side of the road. We saw them slitting their throats and then selling the skin at the side of the road. You can get a “fresh” and I mean really fresh sheep skin at the side of the road for $2.
We went and stayed in a ger, it was an excellent experience. Our ger was in the national park and was not the most authentic location as I say we were in a ger trailer park, but still the real thing as far as accommodation. While there I went horseback riding through the hills and valleys, it was spectacular. Has a horse ever bit your knee? Well a Mongolian horse bit my knee. We were riding and one of the horses just reached over and chomped down on my knee cap, crazy thing. We had already nicknamed it Killer. It was a long way from the heart and I am fine.
July 15, 2010 we are back on the train again for another 40 hour trip and have one night in on the train already out of the two night journey. One would think a long ride like that would be daunting but we actually look forward to getting on the train. We have come up with some good entertainment. The hat party was excellent and everyone enjoyed their Russian Vodka that night. We were in a car with the Intrepid group for that journey too, so they joined in on the party, we are the Gap group. They have spent another night in Listvyanka so will miss our Christmas party tonight.
Groud is our tour leader and she is Thai. We played I have never the other night and she has never been to a Christmas party so hence the theme for tonight’s leg of the journey. We weren’t able to buy any real Christmas decorations so part of the day will be spent making the cabin festive with paper snow flake s and streamers. One would think this is all my doing, but I have met like minded people and they are all over this. It is a group effort. We even have the free socks from the airplane to use as stockings.
Moving on, in Listvyanka our group was split up into groups of 1, 2’s and 3’s and sent to a Russian home or apt for a home stay. It was great. Home cooked meals and we had the only host that spoke English so Rosie and I got them to do a little laundry for us. The others were so jealous, most want to burn their train cloths from the last 40 hour journey at 36 degrees Celsius and ours are nice and fresh and clean. Listvyanka is a small village on Lake Baikal. It was a gorgeous setting. We did lots of waking around the lake and ate some excellent fish that are only found in this lake. Lake Baikal has 22 % of the world’s fresh water in it. Our apt was an authentic Russian one. We stayed with an older woman and her daughter that is close in age to me. She is the one who spoke English. The apt was packed full of stuff and has that old charm to it. Not very modern, but their hospitality was excellent. The girl was actually a teacher, but doesn’t like teaching and she enjoys her job at the souvenir shop.
We went on a city tour of Irkutsk and saw some very interesting churches that during the communist time housed potatoes and onions and that is how they were saved.
Later the same day or I guess the early morning of July 16, 2010. Our Christmas party is just rapping up and it was a hit. Groud enjoyed herself as well as us. We had a stocking filled with goodies for her and we played a secret Santa pass the present game. The cabin was decorated to the nines with red and green balloons and a Christmas tree we made out of a sarong to name a few things.
Our train journeys are interesting. Our guide was concerned one night and told us to make sure we didn’t leave our car as during the night we would be losing cars and she was concerned we would be lost. Some legs of the journey don’t have a food car so we have to hit a supermarket and buy enough food to last us the 40 hours. There is hot water on the train so two minute noodles are a very popular item.
Today we have passed through three time zones. It is currently the 16th of July and we are 44 hours into a 46 hour trip that I thought was going to be 40 hours. No worries we have some interesting individuals in the rail car with us that we can chat about and some more scenery out the windows. This leg of the Trans Siberian has been interesting. There are forests upon forests of Birch trees and then the odd wooden shack that someone lives in. I can only imagine those shacks in the winter and how isolated those people are. In this 44 hour journey we have only passed through six cities and the rest has been this vast land of trees and greenery. We have now entered into the Ural region on our way to Ekaterinburg. Ekaterinburg was only opened up to tourists in 1992. It was or is a large military region and a big KGB area, thus they didn’t want any foreigners in. You can tell we are entering a military region as we just went by a couple of fields of tanks and had the longest cargo train we have seen pass us with military vehicles on it.

Click on the following links for photos


Pictures of Beijing, Mongolia and the Nadaam Festival in Mongolia


Pictures of Lake Baikal Russia and our train parties

“Yonder comes the train let’s catch ‘er on the fly!”

This summer I am doing the Trans Mongolian Express from Beijing to St Petersburg covering over 7000 miles by train. Check out the picture for the route.

I am currently watching the sunrise over the Mongolian dessert at 5:20am July 8, 2010 from my train cabin as my three Aussie cabin mates sleep. I was a little under the weather with a stomach bug yesterday that allowed me to sleep most of the day and night on the train, so hence the early start. We are currently 21 and half hours into a 30 + hour train ride from Beijing to Ulan Batar (the capital of Mongolia). We will eventually make our way to St Petersburg Russia via the Trans Mongolian Train.

So with a little stomach bug that makes for an interesting train ride. The toilets get shut down when the train is not in motion and at the border crossing the wheels need to be changed, do to different track sizes in China and Mongolia. So the toilets were out of commission for six hours. I survived, but it was interesting. During this stop your passport is taken and returned to you two hours later while they take it into immigration/customs and you stay on the train. It is brought back to you and you move ahead a bit and they take it again for a couple of hours on the Mongolian side.

The wheel changing process is pretty interesting. At the border they jack the train up with the passengers in it still and change the wheels out from under you.

I am doing the Trans Mongolian Trail with eleven other people in our group and a guide. I have a net book for this trip, so I plan to be updating the blog when I am in Wi-Fi areas and type it on train trips or the like. I haven’t been able to update the blog yet as I couldn’t access it in Beijing. The Chinese sensor a lot of things and my blog was one of them. When I was here three years ago I could write the blog in China but could not see it myself. This time no such luck. Got to like communism, so hopefully in Mongolia I will be able to post this.

Our group is made up of lovely people, Irish (3), Aussies (3), Canadian (2), and (3) British. It is a combo of two teachers, a banker, three doctors, one unemployed consultant, two optometrists a lawyer and a nurse.

We spent a few days in Beijing, what a great city and it has changed so much just in three years since I was here last. The city is very clean and very advanced. They are sure into their flat screen TV’s and have them everywhere. They are on the subway, in the busses at the gas station there was one bigger than a car giving off advertisements and then these two seem wrong. They had two in front of the monument on Tiananmen Square that had to be 500 meters in length, each, all just showing ads. Oh yes and after our hike on the Great Wall, which is one of my favorite places to be my roommate and I went to have a massage and even in that room they had a flat screen for us to watch as we received our massages in lazy boy chairs for $14. They did do a good job, but the TV was no babbling brook like at home.

We visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City with everyone else in Beijing, it was busy and extremely hot, my thermometer said it was 45 degrees C and 40 in the shade. The Great Wall was awesome again, I love it there. This time I visited a different part of the wall which was nice. It was quite the hike up to get to the wall. It had to be 2km’s of stairs straight up in that heat, wow she was warm. It was exciting to finally make it to the top and be on the wall. Once onto the top the heat didn’t bug me, even though it was direct sunlight. The Wall is just spectacular. We had a cool option of coming down from the wall on a sled through a kind of loge track that zigzagged down through the trees. It was also fun.

There are way more cars on the road in Beijing and fewer bicycles than the last time I was here. Everyday 1000 new cars are put on the road. There are over 4 million cars on the road in Beijing and 20 million people. They have restrictions that you can only drive your car on certain days of the week and it depends on your license plate number. For examples if yours start with a one you can drive on Monday and Wednesdays etc.

We went to a very cool acrobatics show, wow the things these little Chinese people and twist themselves into. When in China you have to try the crazy things they eat. So I tried scorpion, this time heavy on the shell and therefore very crunchy.

July 9, 2010 I am up at another ungodly hour today. I don’t think my body has quite switched over yet with the jet lag. I am 12 hours ahead of you at home and will be going through I think seven time zones.

We are currently in Ulaan Bataar the capital of Mongolia. Mongolia has a population of 2 million people and the capital houses 1.2 million of them. It is interesting country side, very vast, dessert and no trees. They say 40% of the population lives a nomadic lifestyle. So as you make your way through the country by train and there are nomads sprinkled throughout and then we arrived on the capital which is one of five larger cities in the country. It is an interesting town, a mix of old and new. Dodgy looking streets and buildings but then when you go in the building they are extremely modern and house major department stores.

We went from being soaked with our own sweat to being soaked with rain last night and it was much cooler in the low 20’s.

We went to a great cultural show last night. Really interesting instruments and they are throat singers. They can make crazy sounds deep in their throat. You will have to look it up. The Mongolian music was very nice. We then went for a Mongolian bar-b-q where you choose your meat and veggies and they grill it up on a huge grill in front of you. I had to go for the horse meat, mutton and chicken. I have to say the horse meat was the best and the chicken my least favorite. From my choices I think you can tell my stomach is feeling better.

Having a little trouble with internet connections and uploading pictures. Hopefully soon.

Panama and Chicago

Just trying to update the travel blog, it’s been awhile. Mom and I went to Panama for the March Break and it was excellent. We stayed along the Panama Canal right in the rainforest in Gamboa. We had a plantation style apartment. It use to house the American military back in its day. It was excellent. It was very easy to get around, mom and I took the local bus, it was 65 cents and had a great tour around. This couple we met paid $120 for a taxi of the same tour! Central America is great. I would highly recommend checking it out. Click on the link to see the photos.

Click here for the Panama photos


Then at Easter I went to Chicago to visit my friend Subir that I met when I was in Egypt. We had a great long weekend and checked out many a cool place. The Millennium Park was a great place to people watch. We made it to a Bull’s game. The people in Chicago are extremely friendly. Everyone you meet on the street smiles and says hello. Thanks for the hospitality Subir. I visited the Sears Tower and stood out on the glass floor a hundred and thirty stories up over the road. It was freaky and I am not afraid of heights, usually. Check out the link for the photos.

Chicago photos

Links to the online photo albums

Click on the following links to see all of the online photo albums.

One of two links for online photo albums

Second link for more online photo albums