Due to a family emergency I unfortunately have had to postpone my trip. It kills me as Russia and Russian is my lifeblood. But I am holding out hope that when this giant wildfire in my life calms down and the smoke clears I can start thinking about going back to Russia. In the meantime I'll be picking up the pieces. Watch this space!
Icelandic Explosion
Iceland! The first thing you may think of is a bitter cold
place devoid of any life where only a handful of brave souls may live. But
contrary to popular belief, Iceland is not devoid of life and enjoys a high
standard of living. It also is not that cold thanks to the Gulf Stream, which
makes the nation surprisingly warm during winter considering its far northern
latitude.
So, wait a minute you’re thinking, why is Steve writing
about Iceland when he’s going to Russia? Good question. My route to Helsinki
takes me through Iceland and since I’m of Icelandic descent and been there
several times I thought I’d weigh in on this suddenly fashionably cool nation
with a blog post.
I’ve visited Iceland now four times excluding a stop over I
made from Helsinki on my way back from Russia. Since I first visited in 1995
I’ve noticed Iceland evolve from an off the beaten track exotic tourist
destination to a beaten down popular tourist destination. Back in the 1990s in
order to reach Iceland you had to fly via New York JFK Airport and then onto
Reykjavik. Now it is possible from Seattle where Icelandair operates up to two
flights per day during high season.
Back even as late as 2009 you could visit the nation’s
number one tourist attraction, The Blue Lagoon, and have a relatively pleasant
experience. How the times have changed!! Now unless you have pre-booked a
reservation you may as well forget about visiting this tourist trap. Just two
years ago you could show up whenever you like and get in. In fact just this
year it was closed for several weeks as they expanded and made it even bigger
and better. When I visited in 1995 it was a small place devoid of all the fancy
extras like a 5 star hotel, super VIP entrance, spa package, swim up bar.
Instead you had a modest building, which served as the changing place and
admission wouldn’t cost you your daily trip budget. And the amounts of tourists
were only a tiny, tiny fraction of what it is today! If you have to visit then
go on ahead, but instead avoid the crowds and go to “The Secret Lagoon” outside
of Reykjavik.
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| Showing my Seahawk pride |
Iceland has become so popular tourist wise that the locals
are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. According to locals I spoke
with, they cannot train guides fast enough. They’ve even had to look to other
nations to hire guides to handle the explosion of tourists. One tour operator
explained to me that she booked a several day off the beaten path relaxing tour
for a man to the Icelandic highlands (a very remote and difficult place to get
to) and upon his arrival he was absolutely freaked to find the place swarming
with tourists. This now has become the norm in Iceland, a once peaceful places now
swarming with tourists. Twenty-one years ago when I visited the world’s oldest
parliament Thingviller, an outdoor amphitheater and Geyser, crowds were light
and there was only one small tourist facility. Now it has turned into a giant mass
production that would make the most popular US National Park Service even
blush.
Iceland has survived famine, war, bitter cold winters, and
an economic meltdown that spread throughout the world, volcano eruptions, mass
emigration and a tyrannical government ruling them. To their credit they’ve
survived it all and lived to tell the story coming out even stronger each time.
But I sometimes wonder if they really can survive this mass tourist explosion.
Will they become a victim of their own success? I guess only time will tell. Being
Icelandic and knowing the history I would say it’s safe to bet on Iceland
weathering this storm and becoming better for it. But I still have to wonder if
Iceland may just become a victim of its own success!!
It Is Happening Again!!
After a four month hiatus I am back and ready to hit the
road again!! This time my journey is not quite as ambitious or as time consuming
as my last one! You could call it Russia Lite! Last time I started my travels in Shanghai and then flew via
Seoul to Vladivostok where I spent time teaching, sightseeing and meeting with friends eventually boarding the Trans-Siberian railway on a loooong
journey that took me all through Russia! After countless cities and a detour to the lovely college town of Tomsk topped off with many deep fried piroshkies and borsch along the way I made it to Moscow in fine shape.
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| Qolsharif Mosque inside Kazan Kremlin from 2011 |
This trip will take me by train through Western Russia starting in the Finnish capital of Helsinki,
then to the cities of: Moscow, the city of Yoshkar Ola in the republic of Mary-El, Kazan’, Tatarstan
(a city that is known as the Istanbul of Russia due to its mix of Islamic and
Christian traditions), then up to the most populist city north of the Arctic
Circle, Murmansk, which also serves as the home to Russia’s northern fleet.
After all that is said and done I will wind up in one of my favorite cities on
the planet, St. Petersburg. Overall, it should take me about three and a half
weeks to complete the journey.
So…….I look forward to keeping everyone up to date about my
latest travels and impressions throughout Russia! Watch this space!!
End Of The Line
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| The most common sight along the road, birch trees |
Although I had been sweet talked into buying a $25 bottle of
champagne by the two service girls, Tatyana and Natasha I eventually got over
it and chalked it up as the price to pay for a cheap date with two good looking
Russian girls. The rest of the day went by without incident, I generally
passed the time watching the scenery go by, which generally consisted of
endless birch trees intermixed with small villages.
Later that evening I ventured into the “lioness den” aka the
restaurant car where the girls basically lived and worked. As I walked toward
the dining car I passed by a small sign that said no smoking and who should be
under that sign but Natasha sucking away at a cigarette. Eventually after
finishing her cigarette she came back into the dining room appearing a bit
drunk and embracing me as if I was some long lost friend.
The dining car is a great place to get acquainted with all
types of different people. Case in point the year before I got to know two guys
from 3rd class who were involved in a no-holds-barred take down arm
wrestling match. They saw me sitting across from them and asked me to cheer one
of them on while they were arm wrestling. So, basically I was a cheerleader
saying “я за Вадим” “I’m for
Vadim”. Their arm wrestling matches continued for a good hour only to stop
every few moments for a beer break.
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| Sasha and myself |
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| One of the many beautiful churches along The Golden Ring |
The next day was Russian Orthodox Easter and my final day
aboard the train, The Tomich. About mid-morning we pulled into our very last
stop before Moscow, the Golden Ring city of Vladimir, which also served as the
nation’s capital back in ancient times. For those not familiar with Russian
culture, The Golden Ring is a group of eight ancient Russian cities consisting
of countless beautiful churches, monasteries and spectacular architecture. Once
I stepped off the train I noticed the city was alive with the sound of church
bells ringing………I thought what a way to cap off a great journey across the nation!
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| Vladimir churches |
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| Tatyana sleeping after a very long day |
As our trained lurched toward Moscow Tanya, one of the
servers who sweet talked me into buying a bottle of champagne (see The Honey Trap part I and II) came to my compartment one last time to chat with me. She
said her dream was to visit Red Square telling me that she had a six-hour
layover in Moscow till she had to be on the next train back to Tomsk. Since I’m
a veteran of the Moscow Metro I told her it would be super easy to get there
and that all she had to do was go to the nearest metro station Комсомольская/Komsomolskaya and ride several stops
to Охотный Ряд/Okhotiny Ryad and basically just follow the people. Yet, even
with my advice she still seemed hesitant and told me she'd see. It felt a bit
odd that here I was from the United States telling a native Russian how to get
around Moscow. But for me Moscow is like a second home, I know the Metro
system quite well and feel 100% comfortable using
it.
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| Welcome to Moscow! |
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| the monument to the end of the Trans-Siberian railway |
The Honey Trap Part II
No way could this be Natasha, she wouldn’t waste any more of
her time, plus didn’t she have a job to do??? This time it was ANOTHER food
services girl by the name of Tatyana! Tanya was about eight years younger than
Natasha and was prettier in my eyes. She had no real reason to come to my cabin
except she probably had heard from her colleague about the American in Cabin
number 2 who spoke really great Russian and was traveling alone.
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| Tanya and me |
We talked some and after about ten minutes she started
asking the same question Natasha did, “can you buy us some champagne”? She
said it’d be fun, we could talk and get to know one another and besides what
else was there to do, we had two more days on the road. She explained that life
on board the train for them was very boring. They worked a few hours during the
day but the rest of the day was spent watching the scenery go by and sleeping.
So, what better entertainments than try to swindle a nice American guy like me
into buying champagne? I politely declined, but she kept pushing and pushing
hard. Finally her beauty and charm broke me wide open and I agreed! She was
overjoyed, so she went back to get Natasha.
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| Natasha |
A few minutes went by and who should walk into my cabin but
Natasha looking pretty smug as if she’d just pulled a huge coup,
she’d gotten the “foreigner” to buy them champagne!! I gave her my credit card
knowing in my heart I should’ve just kept saying no. You’d’ve thought I’d’ve
learned my lesson after being swindled out of $60 or 400 Chinese RMB back in Shanghai
for a “tea festival”, see “Teachable Moments”.
I opened the bottle and pop, the party in my cabin had begun!!
The girls loved every moment of it, toasting to our "friendship" and talking
about all types of different things. Their Russian sometimes was hard to
understand as they spoke very fast. I was pretty disappointed in the alcohol, I
thought it was going to either make my Russian perfect or get some type of
romantic action from one of the girls, neither of which happened. Tanya asked
what I would be doing once we arrived in Novosibirsk, a 45-minute stop (the
longest of our two-day stops and Russia’s third largest city). I said nothing
really! She proposed we go walking together around the city. I was super
excited!!
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| Novosibirsk railway station |
Eventually after swindling me out of about 1,300 rubles or $20 worth of champagne the
girls went back to the restaurant car. Once the train pulled up to Novosibirsk
I disembarked and saw Natasha on the platform smoking. She said Tanya was doing
something and it was best for me to go walking by myself. What little result of our champagne party in my cabin quickly melted away like
snow flurries in the middle of April!
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| Left to right: Natasha, me and Tatyana |
The Honey Trap
Honey Trap, the official definition from Dictionary.com is:
“a strategy whereby an attractive person coerces another person into doing or revealing something; also, a person employing this strategy to entrap another”. This
definition summarized my 2 ½ day trip to Moscow from Tomsk in a nutshell! And
oddly enough I’d never heard of this term until my Russian friend from
Rostov-On-Don pointed this out to me regarding Russian women.
But before I launch
into the honey trap I fell into, I wanted to wrap up my time in Tomsk. Tomsk
was magnificent and I finished my time off with more sightseeing of wooden
homes just off the main street of the city center. The last day also came with a
bit of a surprise. That afternoon I received a text from Dmitry, the guy who
was friends with Natasha and had offered to meet with me. He texted me and
advised me to visit the well known local gift shop, Tommy’s Gifts saying a
pleasant surprise awaited me there. I thanked him immensely and said I’d be
sure to stop by.
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| Tomsk walking tour postcards |
I walked into the
building where Tommy’s Gifts were located and saw very little except for two
clothing stores and a small kiosk with gifts outside in the common area. Could
this be the famous Tommy's Gifts? I was expecting something large and grand like
Дом Книги (Dom Knigi) or Book
House in St. Petersburg, which has a giant gift shop. I double-checked my phone
to make sure I was in the right place. Apparently I was and then to confirm I
texted Dmitry. He told me I was in the right place and to tell the girl behind
the counter that I was “Steve from America.” And with these three magic words I
was handed a whole book of Tomsk postcards!! WOW!! Thank you Dmitry!
The next morning came
and it was time to bid a fond farewell to the beautiful city of Tomsk! I felt
bad I never connected with Dmitry but knew this served as an excellent excuse
to return to Tomsk next time. I got to the station with no hassle and boarded
the train for Moscow, which would be a 2 ½ day journey.
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| The Tomich train pulling in |
I settled into my
cabin and suddenly there was a knock at the door. I’d already checked in with
the train attendant and bought a nice cup holder from her so it couldn’t be
her. I opened the door and it was a familiar face, the food services girl,
Natasha (not to be confused with Natasha of Seattle who gave me all sorts of
excellent info about her native Tomsk). Her first words to me were, “you
again………what….did you not like our city”? I explained I had to get to Moscow
and only had a few days in Tomsk.
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| My beloved compartment |
Not too long after our brief exchange I heard a knock at my
door. I said «да»/da or yes and who
should it be but Natasha! She came back to talk and wanted to know what I was
doing. I said I was just sitting watching the scenery go by. She looked over
and saw my zip lock bag full of my favorite cereal Count Chocula and she
quickly asked “what’s that………cookies”? I tried to explain in Russian that it
was breakfast cereal, but she didn’t get it, but wanted to try some. Me, Mr.
Nice Guy, let her try some. Instead of simply trying a bit, she put her whole
hand in and scooped up a lot putting a large dent in my supply.
She then caught a glimpse of my beautiful new glass holder
that I bought from the РЖД/RZD
(Russian Railways) attendant with its beautiful gold trim. She picked up and
said “Steve, give me this as a present please”. I said no. She then
begged and even begged some more. I continued to say no. Knowing she wouldn’t
get my glass holder she turned on the flirting even more saying it’d be nice to
have some champagne together.
I said no that I didn’t drink and it was too expensive.
Natasha responded, “doesn’t matter, I’ll drink it and we can get to know one
another”. You’d’ve thought I would have learned from the last time I bought a
bottle of champagne for a Natasha. That turned out rather badly. In that
situation my girlfriend at the time ended up drinking the entire bottle,
getting rather drunk and totally hung over the next day. It would not have
mattered much except it was during a special vacation to The Oregon Coast I’d
planned for us.
Anyway, back to The Tomich train, Natasha kept begging and
begging saying it was a tradition for men to buy the women drinks to get better
acquainted with them. Again for the fifth or so (I lost track) time I said NO, НЕТ/nyet! She flirted a bit more
and we talked and then she said ok that she’d catch me later.
I felt rather proud of myself that I had turned her down
because usually I’m always Mr. Nice Guy and say yes. This time I’d stood my
ground. Around a half hour went by and suddenly there was a knock at the door
again! To be continued……………..
Tomsk!
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| I Love Tomsk! |
Besides hitting a few snafus along the road like being told
by a hotel in the small city of Tynda that they don’t accept foreigners,
overall my trip had been pretty stable. But when I booked a European like hotel
in the center of Tomsk called The Hotel Bonaparte all I could think of was
Napoleon and Waterloo. I was hoping that Tomsk would not be my Waterloo! For a
moment it looked as if that “Waterloo” I’d been talking about was about to come
true when upon presenting my passport to the front desk girl she promptly
wanted to see all evidence of where I’d been staying since April 9th,
my date of entry.
I had learned my lesson to keep registration papers in order
after a horrible situation six years ago while trying to leave Kazakhstan where
I was denied leaving due to a small piece of paper I did not receive upon
entering the nation. In Kazakhstan everyone who flies in is given a piece of
paper that gives them seven days registration free, except I had come by train.
So luckily I had all the papers in order and handed them over. When you arrive
at hotels in Russia they make a copy of your visa and passport front page and
at the end of your stay issue you a small piece of paper noting your full name,
how long you’ve been there, passport info, visa number and an official stamp
from the hotel with the manager’s signature.
I’ve been to college towns and actually lived in one, but no
town could quite compare to the mammoth scale of Tomsk!! Tomsk is home to nine plus
universities, all of which are quite large, not exactly a one-university town. By
far one of the best things about Tomsk being a university town was the knock
out gorgeous women! Sure Russia is full of beautiful women, but Tomsk women
were in a special realm of their own! Maybe it was because everyone was young
or maybe it’s those harsh Siberian winters? Who knows….all I know is how
amazing Russian women are! Every moment, no matter how mundane is a chance to
look beautiful down to even taking out the trash. This is in sharp contrast to
Seattle where women dress down for everything and anything!
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| The House with Dragons |
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| The House with Firebirds |
With my smartphone and Google maps in hand I set out to take
in the sights of Tomsk. Many of the beautiful wooden buildings were churches,
individual houses, and businesses. The houses were amazing in their color and
shape! I’ve never witnessed such incredible beauty in houses. Even better were
some of the names like: House with Firebirds, House with Dragons and House with
Pavilion otherwise known as The German-Russian House. Although I had a lot of
favorites, The German-Russian House was either my number one favorite or tied
for first. The colors were a light blue and white pastel with light pastel blue
being the predominant color.
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| The German-Russian House |
Luckily these houses were registered on the national
registry of historic buildings but I’m not sure that brings them much more than
a nice name and recognition. It is my absolute hope that the government or
whomever will maintain these beautiful works of arts for Russians and guests of
Tomsk to see for decades to come! They are too precious to let rot away!!
At the end of the day I’d walked nearly ten miles and was
exhausted. A friend of Natasha’s, Dmitry was kind enough to invite me to meet
him for a round of beer at a local restaurant. However, I politely declined due
to my utter fatigue from my near 10-mile walk that day and inability to even
walk outside my hotel. So instead I settled for the local cafeteria restaurant
on the bottom floor of The Bonaparte. I glanced over the menu and saw peperoni
pizza, yes I thought……..comfort food, just what I needed.
I anxiously awaited my “peperoni pizza” and finally after a wait it came. But wait………….this wasn’t peperoni pizza this was pepper pizza…. NO, I told the girl I ordered peperoni pizza, not pepper pizza. She said this was peperoni. I remembered from past experiences in Russia and in Germany that peperoni pizza meant pizza with peppers not the peperoni sausage meat we are used to in America. I ate a few slices and decided I didn’t want to invest the calories so I went next door and had a good ole juicy steak dinner.
Many people stick to the beaten path of Moscow, St.
Petersburg and anything and everything in between. But, if you have the chance
to get off that path, I highly recommend Tomsk, it is a unique city even amongst
its Siberian peers! The daily train, “The Tomich” runs from Moscow and takes
2.5 days. So, what are you waiting for, skip that next tropical sands vacation
and head to Tomsk, Siberia! You won’t be sorry!!!!!!!!!!!
Tomich
As I sat on the train in Krasnoyarsk awaiting my imminent
departure to Tomsk, I started to reminisce about my time in the beautiful
central Siberian city. I thought about Krasnoyark’s own Red Square with its
huge red column and then started thinking about the giant Lenin statue on
Revolution Square in the middle of town with his hand out pointing to God only
knows where! Supposedly he is pointing forward to the future, but my Russian Language
401 professor, Zoya, claimed he was actually pointing toward prisons.
Just as I was in the final countdown to leaving my phone
rang……….who could be calling??? Only taxi drivers who are pissed off at me
because I’m not in the right place are the ones who called me. I hadn’t ordered
a taxi and it couldn’t be any of my friends in Moscow. I picked up the phone
and it was Tolya, my guide for my day in the mountains outside the city. He
wanted to come by and say goodbye in person and wish me a pleasant trip. But
the problem was the train was leaving in ten minutes (and Russian trains leave
right on the dot) and he was still in the city. I waited and waited, but
unfortunately Tolya was too late, arriving just at the very moment the train pulled
away from the station. Oh well…..yet another reason to come back to Krasnoyarsk………..that
and a chance to get to know the front desk girl at my hotel, Galina better!! Galina
if you’re reading this, you’re beautiful and I’d make the perfect match ;) !!
My next stop would be Tomsk, probably the most famous of all Russian college towns due to its numerous universities and beautiful wooden architecture. Unlike most of my destinations, which were direct routes, Tomsk was about 100 miles off the mainline making it necessary for me to make a three-hour stopover in the small town of Taiga. Eventually I’d pick up the “Tomich” train from Moscow. Because it was a short overnight train I did not get much sleep having to get up at around 5 am. The train would only stop there for two minutes meaning I had little time to spare and needed to be right there at the carriage exit with all my stuff ready to jump off the moment the train came to a stop. Otherwise I’d be going onto Russia’s third largest city, Novosibirsk about three hours down the line, which would really blow up my plans.
Taiga served as an important stop for Western Siberian trains as it served not only Tomsk, but also other cities throughout the region. I entered the station and like all stations the interior was gorgeous with beautiful chandeliers and incredible decorations. I was rather surprised at how crowded the waiting hall was. It seemed a lot of people were waiting for trains to Tomsk and beyond. I found a nice place right in front of a sleeping soldier and put down my stuff and made myself at home. About an hour went by and most people cleared out. So, I put my feet up on the seats and curled up to try and get some sort of sleep. Within seconds I heard this loud mumbling next to me. I thought it was just another waiting passenger talking to another. But when I opened my eyes it was the security guard mumbling at me sternly to get my feet off the seats!! Never mind that everyone else in the station was doing this, but I was low hanging fruit and easy picking since I was an иностранец (inostranits) or foreigner.
At that point I figured there was no use sticking around the
station and decided to go to luggage storage to store my stuff. Unlike in other
stations where they have big lockers and you just buy a pass from a kiosk, this
was a bit more complicated. I had to hand over my passport, my onward ticket
and have the woman record all my info, which then subsequently led us to a
small coat closet near the entry where I would store my luggage. She gave me a
token to retrieve my things and now that I was free from my stuff I was ready to get out and explore Taiga.
To “explore” is a generous word for Taiga, more like exit the station, go a few
blocks, look at Soviet era block apartments, see some socialist realism artwork
on the sides of the buildings, take a few pictures of the beautiful station
from the outside, look at the giant stationary locomotive that stands outside every
Russian station and go back in and try to find something to eat before finally
retrieving my stuff.
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| The Taiga security guard |
After three long hours the train finally came! I hardly
remember much about the two-hour ride up due to my extreme fatigue. The only real
recollection I have was a brief conversation with one of the server girls, who
will play a crucial role in future blog entries, about what I would have for
breakfast.
Finally I arrived in Tomsk and my long night and morning was over! But, once again there was drama with the taxi I ordered! I ordered the taxi and instructed them to pick me up at the main entrance. A few seconds later I got a phone call from an angry taxi driver wanting to know where I was. I really didn’t understand what was so hard about finding me at the main entrance…….after all I was standing right at the entrance below the sign that said ТОМСК (TOMSK). Luckily after a lot of drama my Maxim driver and me were at long last united!!
Stolby
Being from the Pacific Northwest I’m rather spoiled when it
comes to nature! With two mountain ranges, an inland sea, two beautiful giant
lakes, countless alpine lakes and the Pacific Ocean all within two hours who
wouldn’t be? And that does not even include the nature just north of us in
Canada. So you can understand why when I booked a tour to the mountains outside
of Krasnoyarsk my expectations were pretty high. But they were soon to be
exceeded.
My day would encompass a half-day trip out to the Russian
national park, Stolby. Unlike a lot of cities I’ve been to where you have to
devote a half-day just to getting there and back, this beautiful park was only
30 minutes from town! And what a difference that half an hour made!! It was
amazing how clean and crisp the air was and how you felt as though you had
entered a whole another world, a world where suddenly all the stresses of the
city just were lifted from you and you felt like you were walking on air!
As we were driving out of town I noticed a huge shuttered,
burnt out factory. This was nothing new, as it seemed the entire
Russian/Siberian landscape was littered with old burnt out factories just like
this one. My guide, Tolya, told me this particular factory used to be one
of the largest suppliers of penicillin during World War II, but shut
down around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This subsequently led
to a loss of many jobs. But on the upside the air around Krasnoyarsk has become
more breathable. A friend of mine in Moscow told me this was the case around
most of Russia where other factories had shuttered and led to a drastic
improvement of air quality.
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| Tolya, my guide |
As our ski lift ascended higher the scenery kept getting
more spectacular with lush green trees dominating the scenery. It was amazing
how we were just 30 minutes removed from the big city and it was as if you had
entered an entirely different world. When we arrived at the summit the
temperature difference was pretty noticeable. Up at this elevation the snow had
not completely melted. It was that springtime thaw out mix of dirty snow and
mud. This was no big deal as I’d walked on this type of terrain many times
before and never really had much trouble except for a few slips here and there.
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| Krasnoyarsk from above |
But just as I was feeling pretty good, getting a bit cocky I suddenly felt my feet slipping and then before I knew it my ass met the hard snow/mud
packed ground!! Tolya looked pretty shocked and was rightfully pretty
concerned! He really didn’t know what to do! Luckily he didn’t need to anything
except give me a hand to get up and help me wipe off my clothes, which were
absolutely saturated in mud. He was pretty amazed that within a minute of
falling hard on my ass I was able to get up off the ground, wipe myself off as
if somehow meant to do that! It reminded me of the scene from the great 1980s
cult film, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, where he tries all these crazy bike tricks
only to fly off his bike in front of all the cool kids brushing himself off and
saying very smugly “I meant to do that”. To say the least my sudden fall and
ability to get right back up and keep hiking really elevated me in his book!
I was feeling pretty good that I had dodged a bullet in
terms of falling until I saw the point we were aiming to reach. He pointed out
to me these large boulders that sat there hovering above the horizon like giant
mountains!! It appeared like it was at least a million kilometers away. But to
use an oversimplified term, slowly but surely, step by step, inch-by-inch we
made it! And, was it ever worth every single scurry, every last step forward,
and every last breath!!!! The view was incredible, you could see the city way,
way below as if it was a tiny ant farm and just below us was a valley of
endless beautiful trees and boulders.
Just as I had arrived at what I thought was our destination
I took a deep sigh of relief as if I had just accomplished an awesome feat! Just
as I was about to take another deep breath of fresh Stolby air, Tolya pointed
out we had some more hiking to do. We were at a bit of a crossroads! I was
like, “wait, what, haven’t we reached our goal”?? Nope! We would need to get
around to the other side of the boulders to get an even more incredible view! This
would encompass scurrying down some slippery boulders. Seeing the blue sky quickly turn to dark gray and black clouds, having
survived one slip and carefully examining the terrain, I figured I best not
tempt fate and told Tolya I thought it'd be better to head back.
Before we turned back we stood there looking in awe over the
beautiful tree lined valley. Tolya told me all sorts of stories about the myths
and legends of Stolby and how these giant boulders that surrounded us in all
directions got here. All the stories were fascinating and followed the general
pattern of other folktales around the world that try to explain their general
surroundings. Eventually after standing there in awe it was time to head back
to the ski lift and back down the mountain. As we headed back the weather
started to really turn and temps started to drop making me feel even better
about our decision not to proceed further.
As we were hiking back Tolya was pleasantly surprised to
learn that his hiking partner/client was an English as a Second Language
teacher. He thus asked if he could practice his English with me. He had studied
English in school and some in university but was still shy about speaking. He
gave it a good try and did a great job. I tried my best to listen carefully and
not use too many American slang words. Being a foreign language speaker myself
I know the pain and suffering when you can’t understand someone or they don’t
understand what you’re saying. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to
criticizing my own language skills. If someone is speaking to me in Russian and
I have to ask them to repeat and then they switch to English, it feels as if
the phrase “GAME OVER” in big letters may as well be written across me!! I
realize it’s just the give and take of foreign language, but I prefer
perfection!
As we were descending down to the car park, I got the sense
Tolya saw me as a big brother of sorts, a person he could turn to for advice
and questions about life. Half way down he asked me the deep philosophical
question, “what do you think Steve, is the world generally full of good people
or bad people”? I said that was a good question, but that I didn’t really know.
I hoped there were more good people than bad, but said my opinion depended upon
the day and how I was feeling.
After thinking over my answer, he launched into another
question. This time he was wondering whether he should stay with his girlfriend
of several years or breakup with her and travel the world. I told him that’s a
tough question and that maybe he should wait and see whether his girlfriend
either gets a job that allows her the time to travel with him or simply quits
her job to travel with him. I told him I even struggle with that question.
Often I debate whether I want to settle down a bit and actively pursue a
relationship or continue my crazy world travels. I guess only time will tell!
 |
| Pointing to where I hiked in Stolby National Park |
Catching Up is Hard To Do
When I was in school and went away on a long
trip or was sick for a long period of time I always had a lot of homework and
exams to catch up on. It used to feel overwhelming as if I’d never complete
everything. Since it’s now been over a week since I’ve written an article in
this blog, I’m having déjà vu all over again! It’s as if I’m back in 9th
grade and I just returned from a two-week cruise in The Caribbean and I am
trying desperately to complete all those missed assignments in English, math
and all other subjects. But I know that just like in 9th grade I
will eventually get up to speed….it’ll just take some time! So….here goes my
attempt to update you on what I’ve been doing out here in Russia!
I last left readers in Ulan Ude where I finished an incredible trip to The Ivoglinsky Monastery and was blessed by a monk who depending on who you believe is either dead or in a deep state of meditation. Late that evening I boarded the train for another long ride to my next destination, the city of Krasnoyarsk in Central Siberia. I’d passed through Krasnoyarsk last year but only long enough to see the letters “oyarsk” written as we were pulling away from the train station.
I’d heard a lot about Krasnoyarsk since it is a key player in the energy sector of Russia and is a hub of activity for Central Siberia. The scenery along the way was nice, nothing too out of the ordinary for Russia, lots of birch trees with tiny villages and lots of abandoned factories scattered throughout the vast, vast territory. Although I’d bought out the cabin out and thus did not have a neighbor there still were times when I went kinda insane due to the long stretches of time without a stop. When we did stop it was like an oasis in a large desert and gave me time to stretch, breathe some fresh air, and buy some deep friend piroshky and Coke (sounds like a winning dinner doesn’t it!).
Because of the change in time zones and the fact all trains run on Moscow time, you are in a sort of gray zone where you really never know what time it is, where you are and what day it is. So when I arrived in Krasnoyarsk it came as a feeling of surprise. Usually, I’d use my favorite car hire service “Maxim”, but this time, I was able to order a taxi through the hotel and have the driver waiting for me on the platform. This came as a relief since often when I’d hire cars I would have extreme difficulties finding the driver and where he was parked, inevitably leading to the driver calling me and angrily asking me in fast Russian just where I was.
The hotel I was staying at was nice, but just was too far from the centre and felt too small. So, in an attempt to find somewhere better I scoured booking.com for a good place. After a lot of looking, I came up with a hotel called Business Hotel Kupechisky, which had large suites for a great price. So in the morning, I packed up and dragged my stuff out the door and to the Kupechisky. When I walked in the door I noticed two things, the things Russia is famous for……a large giant stuffed bear (not a stuffed animal though) holding a box and a beautiful blonde Russian girl sitting behind the desk! What would Russian be without beautiful women and bears???? Like many in the service industry, the beautiful blonde greeted me in English. I responded in Russian much to her surprise. It’s always fun to play the game of native Russian speaker speaks English and me the language learner responds in Russian! 
After unpacking and getting things in order I headed up above the city to a tiny orthodox chapel that sits above the city called “Paraskeva Pyatnitsa Chapel”. Just as I was about ready to walk out the door I heard a huge boom, explosion-like sound. I thought, was Krasnoyarsk under attack, had another meteor hit Russia, had the Americans decided to bomb Russia, what was going on? Eventually, when I got to the top of the hill and to the chapel I noticed a small cannon sitting next to it. I later learned that this cannon was what set off this sound! Every day at noon they blast this cannon, which echoes, throughout the city. I was relieved to know there was no war, no serious explosion just a time old city tradition!  |
| The canon fired every day! |
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