i'm travelling in finland alone now. haha. so happy n exciting. i was scared initially though.
i've finished my blitz of st petersburg in 6 hours (half a day is still better than no day at all, right?). n i daresay, st pete is really a nice city. too bad i couldn't stay for long. n unfortunately, the tour was also one of my most disastrous ever. but nvm...
finland's great too. i love it here.
almost everyone speaks english! :D that's a very good n important factor.
helsinki's rather charming too. plus it looks mroe modern n developed than any russian city - it has that european scandinavian air of modernity and sophistication that russa so sorely lacks. quite alot of its road are cobbled, n i think that's very cute.
travelling from russia to finland on train rocks. customs n immigration is settled onboard the moving train. how cool is that? ur immigration n custom officers actually come onboard to do their stuff. train ride from moscow n st pete also rocked. or rather, maybe it's the 1st class with service (free food, free beer) that rocks.
finland has got its own alternative to macs, called hesburger, and i just tried it. hmm. not bad actually. quite interesting.things in finland are just so expensive though, including fastfood. y must the euro b so strong?
anyway, i shall b leaving helsinki to the finnish wilderness n rural villages tomorrow. with any luck, i will b kayaking through finland's many lake, rivers n canals for 2 days 1 night. n then take a 12 cruise through the lakeland.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
paedophilic homoerotica
the russian museums suck.
i visted the state history museum and the pushkin museums today. both are supposed to be world class institutions. i even queued up with 40 minutes in the hot sun (moscow btw is realluy bloody hot) just to get into the museum to buy the tickets for the pushkin. they were both just so boring and disappointing; it was more of a chore than a pleasure touring them both.
sigh. so disappointed. i really dunno whether should i visit the tetrakov museum. it's supposed to b another world class art museum too. i'm just not too sure abt the quality of the museums now. maybe it's just because i've already got very high standards from all the good museums i've visited before.
the pushkin has got lots of plaster casts of sculpture masterpieces, and lots of them r greco-roman in origin or in style. i've noticed how gay all of them look. some of them were outright gay glorified gay porn (or wad i can already consider gay porn). n a number of them even have paedophilic themes. hmm... i wonder y none of the guys r portrayed with an erection...
today's tour of moscow has been rather disappointing generally. besides the museum, we had visited lenin. n he really looked bad. he looks as if he's rotting. mao tze tung n ho chi minh both look better than him. also, despite doubling our touring ration of water to 1 litre per person, we still ran out of water real fast and became dehydrated again. it's really just so hot n dry here.
one good thing that happened today is that we r done with souvenier shopping. we've got out 1. matroushka doll, 2. CCCP (USSR) t shirt, 3. fridge maget and 4. chinese tourist book (for my parents). i'm still comtemplating whether to get some soviet posters or not though.
i visted the state history museum and the pushkin museums today. both are supposed to be world class institutions. i even queued up with 40 minutes in the hot sun (moscow btw is realluy bloody hot) just to get into the museum to buy the tickets for the pushkin. they were both just so boring and disappointing; it was more of a chore than a pleasure touring them both.
sigh. so disappointed. i really dunno whether should i visit the tetrakov museum. it's supposed to b another world class art museum too. i'm just not too sure abt the quality of the museums now. maybe it's just because i've already got very high standards from all the good museums i've visited before.
the pushkin has got lots of plaster casts of sculpture masterpieces, and lots of them r greco-roman in origin or in style. i've noticed how gay all of them look. some of them were outright gay glorified gay porn (or wad i can already consider gay porn). n a number of them even have paedophilic themes. hmm... i wonder y none of the guys r portrayed with an erection...
today's tour of moscow has been rather disappointing generally. besides the museum, we had visited lenin. n he really looked bad. he looks as if he's rotting. mao tze tung n ho chi minh both look better than him. also, despite doubling our touring ration of water to 1 litre per person, we still ran out of water real fast and became dehydrated again. it's really just so hot n dry here.
one good thing that happened today is that we r done with souvenier shopping. we've got out 1. matroushka doll, 2. CCCP (USSR) t shirt, 3. fridge maget and 4. chinese tourist book (for my parents). i'm still comtemplating whether to get some soviet posters or not though.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
dehydrating in moscow
yay. i've completed the trans siberian, per se. the trans siberian technically starts at moscow n ends at vladivostok. n so i've completed all 9288km of it. rocks. i suppose my few more hundred of km on the train to st pete n then to finland would b just for fun, to add to the mileage. haha.
bleh. moscow is surprisingly hot. i'm really not used to it, after near freezing temperatures in ekaterinburg. n the wind here is so dry it practically sucks up all the moisture in u. i had underestimated to strength zapping ability of the weather here and was thoroughly dehydrating towards the end of the day. really sucks.
interestingly, the last stop b4 moscow was this city that is based on the glass makign trade. they make really pretty glassware there. n the workmanship's really quite fine too.
anyway, moscow's great. nothing reaks of more big metropolis than moscow in this part of the world. we've visited the kremlin, red square n st basil's cathedral (THE iconoclastic building that SCREAMS russian - the red building with the colourful domes) today. shopping's great here too, though we haven't seriously started. haha.
bleh. moscow's really huge, n i fear it'll b really tiring touring it. we r all dead beat after today's short tour.
bleh. moscow is surprisingly hot. i'm really not used to it, after near freezing temperatures in ekaterinburg. n the wind here is so dry it practically sucks up all the moisture in u. i had underestimated to strength zapping ability of the weather here and was thoroughly dehydrating towards the end of the day. really sucks.
interestingly, the last stop b4 moscow was this city that is based on the glass makign trade. they make really pretty glassware there. n the workmanship's really quite fine too.
anyway, moscow's great. nothing reaks of more big metropolis than moscow in this part of the world. we've visited the kremlin, red square n st basil's cathedral (THE iconoclastic building that SCREAMS russian - the red building with the colourful domes) today. shopping's great here too, though we haven't seriously started. haha.
bleh. moscow's really huge, n i fear it'll b really tiring touring it. we r all dead beat after today's short tour.
Monday, June 11, 2007
singapore's not in china
the worst thing that u can do on a freezing and windy morning when u'll b touring rather intensively, is to gulp down lots of diuretics, like tea, and then gulp down even more water, to force start pressure diuresis and natruisis. n then u'll b wanting to pee like crazy for the rest of the day. since u'd feel like peeing all the way (but can't really find a toilet that easily), u'd think u'd better not drink any more water. in the end, the pee in ur bladder would get so concentrated, the salts precipitate, and u get ureteric collic - laccerating from from loin to groin, and even to the tip of the penis and scrotum.
sucks.
i'm falling in love with russian guys - the r just so absolutely gorgoues n dead cute. too bad most of them don't speak english. my guide today was a cute 22yo russian guy. haha.
it seems that i've been busy making friends in this city - the russians here really seem to b very friendly. i've gotten acquainted with this 4th year medical student (their course is 6 years) from the ural state medical academy. yup, made great friends, n learnt much abt their medical education and healthcare systems.
yekaterinburg's a nice city. not too big to b intimidating, yet big enough to have a certain buzz. we went to the place where the last tzar and his family were killed (a gigantic church is built there now; the family's cannonized btw), and where their bodies were dumped (it's a large monastaric complex there now). n we also went to the asia-europe border, among other highlights of the day.
gosh. i really hope i could have stayed on longer in russia on my own. if not for the russian guys...
sucks.
i'm falling in love with russian guys - the r just so absolutely gorgoues n dead cute. too bad most of them don't speak english. my guide today was a cute 22yo russian guy. haha.
it seems that i've been busy making friends in this city - the russians here really seem to b very friendly. i've gotten acquainted with this 4th year medical student (their course is 6 years) from the ural state medical academy. yup, made great friends, n learnt much abt their medical education and healthcare systems.
yekaterinburg's a nice city. not too big to b intimidating, yet big enough to have a certain buzz. we went to the place where the last tzar and his family were killed (a gigantic church is built there now; the family's cannonized btw), and where their bodies were dumped (it's a large monastaric complex there now). n we also went to the asia-europe border, among other highlights of the day.
gosh. i really hope i could have stayed on longer in russia on my own. if not for the russian guys...
Sunday, June 10, 2007
i love the railway
i had just crossed over from siberia into the ural mountains on train #9, the 'baikal'. it was a 3 day 2 night affair that brought me from irkutsk, to yekaterinburg, travelling more than 3700km. i have now only 1800+km more to cover before i finish the trans siberian railway proper - the one that starts at moscow and end in vladivostok 9288km away.
the service on the 'baikal' is really very good. it's much better than the 'rossiya', the only non stop service from moscow to vladivostok. the 'baikal' only travels btwn irkutsk and moscow though, so it's a shorter service, a service of exceptional quality nonetheless.
i had really gotten accustomed to life on the train - the relaxed and idyllic lifestyle of doing nothing really productive and lazing around almost for the entire day. it's really a luxury. and i don't think i'll ever get tired of the expansive landscape, of endless forests of trees, rolling over hills for as far as the eye can see, or of steppes littered with pretty colourful flowers. i'm missing the agreeable lifestyle and the scenery already :(
anyway, yekaterinburg's a city right next to the asia-europe border, so i'm technically still in asia now. it's also the city where the last czar and his family got assasinated. and where boris yeltsin is born and raised.
we hadn't arranged for any transport from the train station to the hotel here, as the agency insists that it's really too short a distance for them to arranged for something. interestingly, when we enquired the rates from the taxi drivers loitering outside the station, one of them demanded 500rub (sgd30) - for a approx 2+km drive. crazy.
we then went around asking for directions and abt public transport, and got quite a bit of helpful responses. unfortunately, eventhough we had gotten onto the right bus, we had boarded it in the wrong direction. and it seemed that no on in the bus or on the streets spoke any english at all. you'd b surprise how friendly and how helpful people can be, even at this part of the world. i'm really touched and impressed at how good the russian people are, esp when u don't speak any russian at all (nothing intelligible anyway). we finally found our hotel after quite an adventure.
our hotel's quite charming really- shaped like a sickle if u can see it from the top.
bleh. i really ought to start planning my finnish trip instead of blogging.
the service on the 'baikal' is really very good. it's much better than the 'rossiya', the only non stop service from moscow to vladivostok. the 'baikal' only travels btwn irkutsk and moscow though, so it's a shorter service, a service of exceptional quality nonetheless.
i had really gotten accustomed to life on the train - the relaxed and idyllic lifestyle of doing nothing really productive and lazing around almost for the entire day. it's really a luxury. and i don't think i'll ever get tired of the expansive landscape, of endless forests of trees, rolling over hills for as far as the eye can see, or of steppes littered with pretty colourful flowers. i'm missing the agreeable lifestyle and the scenery already :(
anyway, yekaterinburg's a city right next to the asia-europe border, so i'm technically still in asia now. it's also the city where the last czar and his family got assasinated. and where boris yeltsin is born and raised.
we hadn't arranged for any transport from the train station to the hotel here, as the agency insists that it's really too short a distance for them to arranged for something. interestingly, when we enquired the rates from the taxi drivers loitering outside the station, one of them demanded 500rub (sgd30) - for a approx 2+km drive. crazy.
we then went around asking for directions and abt public transport, and got quite a bit of helpful responses. unfortunately, eventhough we had gotten onto the right bus, we had boarded it in the wrong direction. and it seemed that no on in the bus or on the streets spoke any english at all. you'd b surprise how friendly and how helpful people can be, even at this part of the world. i'm really touched and impressed at how good the russian people are, esp when u don't speak any russian at all (nothing intelligible anyway). we finally found our hotel after quite an adventure.
our hotel's quite charming really- shaped like a sickle if u can see it from the top.
bleh. i really ought to start planning my finnish trip instead of blogging.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
orgasmic beauty
i've learnt that u really don't need to b rich to travel. u can b a retired italian farmer or a swiss railway controller and still b able to travel round the world to the most exotic of places. or u can b a jobless, homeless german and travel round the world indefinitely. but i fear i may start to suffer from travel fatigue. nothing can really stop u, except urself, i suppose.
n i've realised how orgasmic beauty can be. we were at this cliff out in the wilderness looking out into the lake, and it was just so beautiful i really felt like having an orgasm there n then. really, i've never felt like that before. i think everyone should experience such beauty at least once. we even managed to see TWO eagles at the cliff. one of our guides has lived on the island all his life, n he's only seen solitary eagles twice. it was really spectacular.
fyi i just returned from the siberian wilderness. we were on this island in the middle of the world's deepest lake. the nature over there was just fantastic. n i had a very good time with all the hikes and excursions. it's a really very biologically interesting place actually, with lots of microclimates and endemic flora n fauna. despite not having running water and a proper sewage system, living standards there are still pretty alright, and the people there were extremely warm and friendly.
in fact, i've been making so many friends on this trip. i've been talking to americans, swiss, italians, germans and russians, and making friends with all of them. they all seem to b really jolly and amicable, and are all very very well travelled.
bleh. i'll b heading back onto the train tomorrow for another 3 days 2 nights. i'm heading to this city with the last czar and his family were imprisoned and killed. it'll b 2 whole weeks of travelling for me, come tomorrow. n so far i think travelling can b really invigorating and inspiring - i feel so refreshed and recharged now. i just hope it can stay this way till i get back.
o, btw, my name will b 'йинг лианг' on russian. haha. cool playing with the russian keyboard. and dexter would b 'декстр' (which is easy to spell in cyrillic - it'll sound the same as dexter). haha. at least i can read the cyrillic alphabet and create sounds with them. i'm still very limited in practical russian though and can only grapple with the very basic.
n i've realised how orgasmic beauty can be. we were at this cliff out in the wilderness looking out into the lake, and it was just so beautiful i really felt like having an orgasm there n then. really, i've never felt like that before. i think everyone should experience such beauty at least once. we even managed to see TWO eagles at the cliff. one of our guides has lived on the island all his life, n he's only seen solitary eagles twice. it was really spectacular.
fyi i just returned from the siberian wilderness. we were on this island in the middle of the world's deepest lake. the nature over there was just fantastic. n i had a very good time with all the hikes and excursions. it's a really very biologically interesting place actually, with lots of microclimates and endemic flora n fauna. despite not having running water and a proper sewage system, living standards there are still pretty alright, and the people there were extremely warm and friendly.
in fact, i've been making so many friends on this trip. i've been talking to americans, swiss, italians, germans and russians, and making friends with all of them. they all seem to b really jolly and amicable, and are all very very well travelled.
bleh. i'll b heading back onto the train tomorrow for another 3 days 2 nights. i'm heading to this city with the last czar and his family were imprisoned and killed. it'll b 2 whole weeks of travelling for me, come tomorrow. n so far i think travelling can b really invigorating and inspiring - i feel so refreshed and recharged now. i just hope it can stay this way till i get back.
o, btw, my name will b 'йинг лианг' on russian. haha. cool playing with the russian keyboard. and dexter would b 'декстр' (which is easy to spell in cyrillic - it'll sound the same as dexter). haha. at least i can read the cyrillic alphabet and create sounds with them. i'm still very limited in practical russian though and can only grapple with the very basic.
Monday, June 4, 2007
and a new friend found
i just alight from train #1, the 'rossiya', after a 3 day 2 night (57h) journey that brough me from the russian far east to russian siberia. i'm now at irkustk, a city near the world's deepest fresh water lake, lake baikal, just north of mongolia.
it was getting rather boring on the train, and 'war and peace' is just sooo long. food from the restaurant wagon on the train just seemed overpriced, so we didn't eat there; we've been surviving on biscuits, instant noodles, and wadever junk the rural peasants bring to sell at the platform when the train stops. the junk, fyi, ranging from siberian dumplings to pork paddies and mince meat puff, are really quite delicious - it's really fortunate i can stomach these not-so-hygeinic foods.
the scenery along the journey has been magnificently marvellous though. it's pretty much the reason y we're on the train n not on the plane, huh? rolling tundras, sprawling conifers in taiga, and swathes of larches interspersed with little orange flowers were whizzing past us as we were glued to the window. we could also see snow capped mountains far far away in the distance. n occasionally, we would cross a roaring river with it's tumblings rapids along its meandering course. it was particularly beautiful today when we were travelling along the edges of the lake - the reflection of the forests, the mountains and the sky on the clear blue water of the lake was just so very pretty.
anyway, the highlight of the train journey, i suppose, was me befriending this 20 yo russian sailor who was also in the same wagon as me. he's heading home somewhere near kazan from vladivostok (where the russian pacific fleet is based). it's really quite amazing how we became friends - neither spoke the other's language. there was alot of gesticulating and guessing i suppose. haha. phrase books helped minimally, while the half past six translation of a fellow passenger who is studying english in school was marginally helpful. with his acquaitance, before i knew it, i had befriended everyone at the back of my wagon. the sailor's called alexander (or sascha) btw. haha. it's really nice to make friends with the russians- they r really cordial and warm. alexander even invited me to drink with him. haha.
fyi when i smsed joshua to tell him abt this happy incident, he replied with: 'gay time...'. haha. if anything gay happens to me on this trip, i'd b sure to tell the whole world abt it. so don't worry ;)
i'll b off to the lake tomorrow for 3 days, and i suppose will b pretty much out of contact with the world again.
~.~.~.~.~.~
in retrospect in photos...
it was getting rather boring on the train, and 'war and peace' is just sooo long. food from the restaurant wagon on the train just seemed overpriced, so we didn't eat there; we've been surviving on biscuits, instant noodles, and wadever junk the rural peasants bring to sell at the platform when the train stops. the junk, fyi, ranging from siberian dumplings to pork paddies and mince meat puff, are really quite delicious - it's really fortunate i can stomach these not-so-hygeinic foods.
the scenery along the journey has been magnificently marvellous though. it's pretty much the reason y we're on the train n not on the plane, huh? rolling tundras, sprawling conifers in taiga, and swathes of larches interspersed with little orange flowers were whizzing past us as we were glued to the window. we could also see snow capped mountains far far away in the distance. n occasionally, we would cross a roaring river with it's tumblings rapids along its meandering course. it was particularly beautiful today when we were travelling along the edges of the lake - the reflection of the forests, the mountains and the sky on the clear blue water of the lake was just so very pretty.
anyway, the highlight of the train journey, i suppose, was me befriending this 20 yo russian sailor who was also in the same wagon as me. he's heading home somewhere near kazan from vladivostok (where the russian pacific fleet is based). it's really quite amazing how we became friends - neither spoke the other's language. there was alot of gesticulating and guessing i suppose. haha. phrase books helped minimally, while the half past six translation of a fellow passenger who is studying english in school was marginally helpful. with his acquaitance, before i knew it, i had befriended everyone at the back of my wagon. the sailor's called alexander (or sascha) btw. haha. it's really nice to make friends with the russians- they r really cordial and warm. alexander even invited me to drink with him. haha.
fyi when i smsed joshua to tell him abt this happy incident, he replied with: 'gay time...'. haha. if anything gay happens to me on this trip, i'd b sure to tell the whole world abt it. so don't worry ;)
i'll b off to the lake tomorrow for 3 days, and i suppose will b pretty much out of contact with the world again.
~.~.~.~.~.~
in retrospect in photos...
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