russia: dzerzhinsky; nikolo ugreshky monastery

Nikolo Ugreshky monastery is not mentioned in either my Russia guidebook, or my Moscow guidebook, I found out about its existence on social media.

Wikipedia tells me the monastery has a history dating at least as far back as 1521, though not in its current form. Over the centuries various parts of the monastery were destroyed and rebuilt, depending on the political situation of the time. During communism the grounds became a child labor colony, then a labor colony in general. 

When everything was handed back to the church in 1991 most of it had fallen into disrepair. The church put everything back together, and added a seminary to the complex.

The monastery is about 30 kilometers from Moscow, it took me approximately 90 minutes to get there. I had to take two different metro lines, then a suburban bus for a while. The bus was perfect because the drop off point was directly across the street from the monastery.

The monastery is surrounded by a brick wall, most of what I could see of the wall was painted white. There were towers of various shapes at what seemed to be random distances along the wall, I assume these were originally built when the complex was also a fortress protecting the approach to the city of Moscow.

I entered through a gate going under one of these towers, and followed the path to the center of the grounds. 

There is a bell tower in the middle of the complex, it was separate from the main church. I'm used to seeing bell towers in the walls of monasteries, it was nice to see something different. I'm not sure, but I don't think visitors can climb up, but how fun would that be?

I worked my way around, and found the front steps of the main church. The Assumption Cathedral is considerably newer than much of the monastery, it was built between 1880 and 1894. 

The outside of the church and the front steps were not particularly eye catching, at least not any more than any of the other churches I've seen all around the country. The onion domes were a little different in that one was a different colour (gold,) from the others. With the gray sky, anything with colour is noticeable. 

The inside of the church was really impressive. The iconostasis is gold, and very bright. The ceiling is high, the sanctuary (is that what it's called in an Orthodox church?) felt airy and open. All of the walls and ceiling areas were painted, and were absolutely lovely. As is my habit, I spent half my time wandering around looking straight up. The artists who paint the ceilings of churches must have permanents cricks in their necks, but I'd say it's totally worth it. 

After leaving the church I walked around the rest of the grounds, ending near the pond. Most of the pond was frozen (at least the top of the water was frozen,) but the area that was still open was filled with ducks swimming back and forth.

Another lovely walkabout Wednesday.

ukraine: kyiv: mom came to town

Yay, my mom came to visit!

I picked her up at the airport, and even though my voice still sounded awful and it wasn't easy to talk, we chatted all the way back to the city center. Since I live in a very small flat on the edge of the city, mom got a hotel in the city instead of staying at my place. 

After resting up for a while we walked down the street to TGI Fridays. The sign written in Cyrillic still makes me laugh after four years. I had steak, and it was everything I wanted it to be :)

The next morning I had to teach, though it was a struggle. The kids were good, and I just danced during our normal music time instead of singing and dancing.

I met mom after class, she came with me to the doctors office for my last treatment on my vocal chords. It went quickly and smoothly; mom took a photo of my name (written in Ukrainian,) on the screen outside the room while I was in there. 

We went to dinner at Revolution Grill, my favorite place in Kyiv. All I need to say about that is YUM. 

The next morning, we walked along Khreshchatyk, which is pedestrian on weekends. Definitely the place to see and be seen. It was even more crowded because it was the start of a long holiday weekend. This was the first holiday weekend I've even stayed in kyiv in four years! 

We had a late breakfast/early lunch at a place I've always called Violettas cafe. That's not the real name, but my friend Violetta introduced me to the place, and I can never remember the real name of the place. It's a budget, cafeteria style place. Why spend a lot of money on food when you don't have to?

After Khreshchatyk we walked through Maidan, up the hill to St Sophia's platz. I showed mom the statue of Boghdan Khmelnytsky, an independence fighter in Ukraine several hundred years ago. 

We didn't go in St Sophia's, I don't really know why. We walked about two blocks down the street, to St Michaels. We did go in that church, it was beautiful as always. 

As we were walking out of the complex we decided to go in the bell tower. I'd always known it is a museum, but I hadn't known previously that you can go up the bell tower as part of the museum. It turned out to be awesome!

Very cool to look down on st michaels, and be able to look up the street toward st Sophia's.  In the museum we got to see a bit of the history of the church, including pictures of what it looked like when Lenin's buddies blew it up in the 1930s.

From there we walked to andreiivsky uzviz, a street full of stalls selling kitschy tourist stuff. We walked a little of the street, (it's a little steep, and made of cobblestones.) We also took a look inside St Andrew's. It's a museum now, not an active church, but still hosts an occasional baptism or wedding. I paid the fee to take photos, which I've never done before, though I have taken quite a few photos of this church over the years. The fee is less than $.50, not exactly breaking the bank.

We finished in this area, and I led mom over to Mosaic Park. My favorite park in the city, even though it's always full of  people.

Next up was a stop at Coffee House, which is normally my favorite coffee chain in kyiv. This visit was a disappointment, as they didn't have 3 of the 5 things mom and I tried to order. Argh. 

From there we decided to walk back to the hotel and have dinner at a restaurant closeby. Another not so great experience, unfortunately. Moms salad came out really fast; although it was quite good, she was finished eating long before my sushi came out. I'm normally fine with meals coming out at different times, but more than 30 minutes in between is ridiculous.

Sunday mom finally came out to see my flat. I wasn't surprised when she started cleaning, she's always done that for me. I didn't let us stay long enough for her to clean the entire flat. We had lunch, cooked by yours truly, then went back to the hotel in the city center. After relaxing for a little while we found a cafe on Khreshchatyk, neither one of us felt the need for a big dinner.

Afterward, I took mom to a nearby French bakery for evening snacks, because it's yummy :) We walked through the area, to a small park with a statue of a guy mom recognized, I guess he was a character used in cartoons all over the former east bloc? Or a soldier character known all over the former East Bloc? Something like that. 

The next morning we took the metro to Arsenalna station. It is only one stop from Khreshchatyk, but it's a long stop. 

Mom and I walked down the street to the memorials, for WW2 and victims of the Holodomor. Both of them evoke an emotional response in me no matter how many times I see them.

Continuing down the street we came to the Lavra. When people come to kyiv, I show them St Sophia and the Lavra, as they are both UNESCO sights. 

The difference in this visit was that I discovered you can climb up the bell tower here as well. It's an extra fee, another 30 griven for each person, on top of the 50 griven entrance fee to the whole complex. My legs were jello by the time we got to the viewing platforms but it was sooo worth it. Awesome views. And we had beautiful skies, which made it even better.
We visited the two main churches in the complex, I know I've described both of them in previous posts. I was finally able to get good pictures of the inside of the church I like the best. Apparently it's a great idea to visit in the middle of a weekday:)

I took mom down into the 'caves' area, she enjoyed it even though the area is a bit claustrophobic. You can only walk in one direction, and there isn't a lot of air flow. 

Next we continued down the street to Rodina Mat, the statue and WW2 memorial area.
I've only visited Rodina Mat once before, the first year I lived here; that time I arrived through a different entrance to the area. During this visit it was a lot more crowded, for two reasons: it was a beautiful sunny afternoon and it was the middle of a Monday afternoon, at the end of a long holiday weekend. 

Rodina Mat is a 62m tall statue. I think you can take an elevator inside her to a viewpoint on her head, but I've never done it. 4 years ago the price was 200 griven, I have no idea what the price is now. Due to the political situation this year, the government and president of Ukraine had decided to use the posey to represent 8 May, the date recognized as the end of the war in Western Europe, there was a crown of posies on the head of Rodina Mat. Previously, Ukraine has celebrated the holiday on 9 May, as that was the day Stalin spread the news in the former USSR. I think Ukraine is now celebrating both holidays?

Nowadays Russia uses St George's cross as a symbol for the day. All over Kyiv you could see both symbols, different ways of marking the same moment. Poroshenko (the president of Ukraine, made a speech on 9 May, on a stage in front of Rodina Mat, I'm glad mom and I didn't get there until the 11th. 

I had to go back to school on the 12th, but I only had to teach in the morning. Mom and I had lunch at Puzata Hata again, then walked Khreshchatyk again. When mom travels there are certain souvenirs she looks for, and a football (soccer) jersey is one of those items. It took us a while, but eventually she found what she wanted.

I had thought there was an Adidas store nearby, I turned out to be very wrong. The store probably moved during all the madness of Maidan last year. 

We also traipsed through Bessarabsky Market. It's listed as a place to see in all the guidebooks, and it is pretty, but I don't see a reason to buy anything there. All the prices are much higher than they should be, they're all geared toward foreign tourists with money. 

Since it was mom's last night in town, we went back to revolution grill for dinner. Another yummy experience. I might have ordered too much in the drinks department: a caramel milkshake, citrus lemonade, pear lemonade, and something called birch sap. It was all worth it :)

The next morning I put mom in a taxi to the airport, and I went back to my normal schedule at work. 

czech republic: plzen, and a day trip around the area

mom and i took an early morning bus from prague to plzen, which is the hometown of one of mom's friends from university...plzen is only an hour from prague, and buses leave regularly...this was another bus with free wifi :)
mom's friend picked us up from the bus stop, and took us to their home...they own the entire home, which is three floors...each floor is actually an individual flat, mom and i stayed on the second floor...i loved it, there were large windows letting in lots of natural light...
mom has kept in touch with several of her friends from university, so she now has friends in various areas of the country...

vladka had prepared lunch so it was ready as soon as we got home...it was a very early lunch so mom and i weren't super hungry, but both of us loved it and probably ate too much...something about homemade food makes me eat eat eat!! zucchini soup and a dish called moroccan chicken...and dessert afterward...
as soon as lunch was done, all four of us got in the car, vladka's husband drove...i thought we were going to the city centre for a tour, i had no idea what was happening...a while later we drove into another town, and parked near a castle...
they asked me if i wanted to take a tour of the castle, i said i had no idea...

mom wanted a more specific answer, and i told her i had no idea what was going on, i wasn't able to make a decision when i didn't know what was happening...the castle was called horsovsky tyn...
i ended up passing on the tour, but we walked around the gardens behind the castle, there were ducks and a couple swans paddling around the pond...cute...i would've been happy to walk around more of the town and take photos if anyone had wanted to, especially since there was some kind of festival going on near the castle, but i found out this was a day road trip so there was more on the itinerary, and we had to go...

before going, mom bought two coffee mugs...one had the diminutive of my name, the other had the diminutive of my sister's name...i love it and use it all the time in my flat in kyiv...
the next stop was a town called domazlice...the platz in the middle of town reminded me of the platz in telc, but this one was not at all touristy, as it does not have the UNESCO designation...for that reason, i liked this one a little better, as it seemed more 'real'...it was super picturesque, and very quiet...it was saturday in the middle of the day, which would normally be the time everyone is out for a promenade, so i'm guessing there aren't a lot of people here...

vladka's husband pointed out the white bell tower, and said the views from the tower were nice...we decided to climb up, though the sign you see straightaway after entering says the tower is leaning by 59 centimeters...there were just under 200 steps to get to the viewing level...since domazlice is a small town, i was able again to see nearby agricultural areas...
after domazlice we kept going, to an area known as ujezd...vladka's husband and mom told me some history related to this area, and the country as a whole, but i admit i don't remember the specifics...a dog was involved though, and i could see this at our next stop, as there was a statue of the guy and a statue of his dog...it was a BIG dog statue!! both of these statues are on a hill looking over the area, i was even able to see domazlice off in the distance...

from this point, we crossed the border into germany, just because we could...when mom and her contemporaries were growing up, they were not able to cross this border...mom took photos of me standing in between the signs marking the borders of cesko and germany...you can still see remnants of the border, as there are a number of allegedly duty free shops right there...back in the day, the few people who could cross the border would do so and shop shop shop, then bring the goods back to their cities and sell them...
we stopped in the closest german town called waldmunchen, and found a cafe...ice cream and drinks, YUM...mom and her friends figured out our server was actually czech, all of them spoke in their native language...

the chick was obviously used to speaking german while at work, and a couple times we all noticed a mix of the two languages coming out, which was really funny...when it comes to ice cream, i understand/speak enough german to get what i want, so i laughed too...i love languages :)
from there we drove back into cesko, and stopped in a town called rokycany...there is a small monument marking the exact line designating the easternmost movement of american troops during WWII...east of the line, the area was 'liberated' by the soviet army, and west of the line the area was liberated by the americans...the sign next to the monument is written in russian, czech, and english...

i'm not sure, but i'm guessing this monument was not built until after the fall of communism, as the puppet government didn't want to admit that the 'freedom' enjoyed by the area wasn't due to the soviet army...
after the monument, vladka's husband took us to an outdoor history museum...we arrived after closing time, but jiri knew the owner, and we were able to walk around anywho...the museum holds a lot of 'old vehicles' (and a couple planes, tanks, etc)...according to jiri, when movies are being made about this period of history, the movie companies arrange to use these vehicles in the filming...i bet this museum gets lots of visits from school children on field trips...i loved it...

dinner that night back in plzen came from vladka's backyard...she grows several fruit trees, and has other produce...awesome!! (though none of us were very hungry, the ice cream from earlier was still in our bellies:)
the next morning vladka prepared another big meal for breakfast...jiri dropped off me, mom, and vladka at the brewery for pilsner urquel at opening time, we were annoyed to find out that the first tour of the day wasn't offered until 1030...so we bought those tickets, then went into the city centre...
since this was sunday, the buses weren't running as often, so we crossed the street and took a tram...the tram tracks were being worked on, so we didn't go as far as vladka wanted, but it didn't matter to me...

we saw the exterior of the world's 3rd largest synagogue...it's red, and looks nothing like any other synagogue i've ever seen...it didn't open until 10, we weren't able to see the inside...
we also saw a memorial that specifically thanks the american troops who liberated the city during WWII...it is written in both czech and english, and is located at the start of america street....there is a map showing the movement of american troops as well...it's simple, but awesome...mom told me the monument wasn't built until after communism fell, as the government wouldn't allow it before then...apparently as soon as the communists fell, money poured in to build the monument even though most czechs had little or no extra money for such a thing...

from the monument we walked to the city center platz...there is a huge church in the middle of the square, but it's otherwise a very open area...city hall is on one side of the square, the decor of the building is awesome...this square reminded me of what i've seen in lviv, ukraine...the inside of the church is pretty, didn't have much light, so it was a bit dark despite the sunlight streaming into some of the windows...
after leavning the square, we walked past a church, part of a monastery...it was early baroque, so it wasn't quite as 'busy' as full on baroque churches...only the front entry area was open, but i liked what i saw...
we continued walking back to the brewery, i took a few more photos along the way...there is a lot of history in this town, and the streets look good in photos...i wish we'd had a couple more days so i could wander without worrying about time...

our tour group gathered, and since it was in czech, i got a print out of all the information in english...mom and i both opted not to pay the fee to take photos, i think only one person in the group did pay the fee...(he then proceeded to take photos of EVERYTHING during the tour)...
the tour tells the history of the brewery, and shows the historical area of the brewery...(it didn't surprise me that we weren't taken into the modern areas, as they probably don't want people stealing their 'secrets'...we did get to see the building in which the bottles are cleaned and sorted...it's LOUD, we were told the employees all wear ear plugs...a lot of machinery keeps everything going in a smooth line...

during the tour we learned that the company employs master barrel makers, so the beer is fermented properly...the room in which the barrels are kept is chilly, i think they said 12C? this was the point in the tour i wish i'd had a jumper with me...this was also the area where tourists could taste the beer, mom tried it...this is one of those times i wish i could drink, i always want to try the local alcoholic drink in any place i visit...
on a side note, vladka and her husband told us most locals don't drink beer from this brewery anymore...they think its good beer and all, but there is other beer that is equally good, and costs less...they figure locals don't need to support such an international company...(pilsner urquel is now owned by a south african company)...

after the tour, we went back home for another awesome lunch, then they took us to the bus station for our next bus...
i would love to come back, both to spend more time with vladka and her husband, and to see more of this area of the country...

czech republic: cesky krumlov

my next visit with mom was an overnight trip...the bus to and from cesky krumlov was 3 hours each way, with free wifi, plugs, and mini personal tvs...it was like being on a long, international flight, yahoo!!!
our first day in cesky krumlov was rainy off and on the entire day...argh...i hate rain...
cesky krumlov is a unesco listed town in the south of czech republic...it's a small town, built on an S-curve of a river...the town is very picturesque, with a castle built out of the rock on the higher side of the river...

we walked from the bus stop to our hotel, with a beautiful view along the way...well, it would've been beautiful if not for the clouds and rain...argh...we were too early to check in, but we were able to drop our bags...
after wandering and hiding from the rain for a while, we stopped for lunch...i had traditional czech food: pork, knedliky, and gravy...after eating we checked in, our room was HUGE!!! somehow we'd gotten a family sized room for the price of a double...there was bed space enough for four people...i loved it:) ...

the owner of the hotel didn't know what language to speak to us, since mom obviously speaks perfect czech, but was also speaking to me in perfectly good english...plus, when the owner spoke some german, mom responded in that language...
after relaxing for a while, we headed out again...we crossed the river and headed up to the castle...we bought tickets to the museum, and up the bell tower...the museum was small, but i liked it...good displays, though the room with the mummy was a bit on the creepy side...(maybe because it was completely unexpected)...

i liked seeing the old photos and clothes...the tiny, steep stairways to get up the bell tower made it a challenge with all the tourists who aren't used to paying attention to anyone else...people don't know how to share public space anymore...
on the way back from the castle we stopped for a drink...mom had beer, i had hot chocolate, and we split a large pitcher of water...after the break we tried to visit st vitus church, but it appeared to be closed...argh...after that disappointment, we decided to have ice cream, then finished off sandwiches for dinner...

the next morning we woke up to great weather, yahoo!! before breakfast i ran around retaking some of the photos i'd taken the day before, so i could have blue skies instead...breakfast was included in our hotel price, we ate in the next door restaurant: cheese slices, bread, salami, ham slices, baguettes, butter, jam, spreadable cheese, salad, tea, and orange juice...
after breakfast we walked to the brewery area of town...we didn't take the tour, so we weren't able to go anywhere past the entry gate...oh well...mom pointed out that the brewery was located on brewery street, hee hee...

the brewery was kinda close to the castle, so i asked mom if i could retake a couple photos there as well...since it wasn't raining, i walked really fast and saw part of the gardens as well, which we hadn't seen the day before...i wondered how big the gardens were...
we next wandered the platz in the middle of the city just for a bit of people watching, then walked over to the old synagogue...i didn't like the art display set up in the middle, but i enjoyed the building itself...the stained glass window was very nice...
after the synagoge we had lunch (i had salad, since it felt like we'd been eating almost constantly) then picked up our bags from the hotel...we walked back to the bus stop, and caught the bus back to prague...my plug didn't work this time, but wifi did :)

czech republic: telc

one morning mom and i were out the door at 0715 so we could catch the metro to the bus station...the ride to telc was almost four hours, though it was only supposed to be three hours...somehow the bus ended up on back roads, due to some detour...i think we surprised a few of the locals as the bus went through :)...it also surprised mom to hear people on the bus telling the driver how to do his job...(this didn't happen when she was growing up)...apparently he was fairly new on the job and didn't quite know where to go...

telc is a unesco listed town, the platz in the middle of town is very picturesque...i think it was founded in medieval times?
not all the buildings are used as they once were, and not all of them are inhabited anymore, probably because of cost...mom pointed out a few that weren't inhabited anymore, you could see there aren't any curtains in the windows anymore...
it probably costs a lot to live in one of these places, and you can't modernize things very easily...both of us wondered what the place will be like in 10-20 years, as the town is small, and th ere is nothing else happening...

at one end of the big square, (which isn't really shaped like a square at all) are the bell tower of a church, and the castle...mom had already been up the bell tower and didn't feel the need to go again, but i was keen...plus, my knees are good with stairs for another decade, i might as well get a workout:)...the town is small, i could see farmland really close!
we went in the boundaries of the castle, but opted not to take any of the interior tours...i liked wandering the gardens, though they were small...
several times during the day we stopped to sit and eat...once was ice cream, another time for tea, and a third time for an early dinner/late lunch...

to kill time before catching the bus back to praha we wandered one of the 'normal' city streets...absolutely nothing worth seeing, i couldn't even figure out a photo to take...
the bus ride back was crazy too, but in a different way...this time the bus driver was a wannabe fire truck driver...apparently he had had that training, and figured you could drive a bus that way aswell...i suppose it's physically possible, but probably not the best idea...i wasn't car sick (surprisingly,) but i wasn't feeling very safe either, as he was careening around curves and always going faster than any of the passengers felt was safe...the passengers yelled at this guy too, mom found it even more amusing...

china 4

i ended up in beijing again for a day after returning from pyongyang...kitty's boyfriend picked up the two of us from the airport, which was really nice...his name is bing (yes, like the new search engine microsoft is trying to promote) and he speaks fluent english...she speaks fluent putonghua, so their conversations go back and forth between the two languages...i loved listening...
we went to kitty's apartment so we could upload all of our photos to her computer and burn them onto dvds together...she had run out of memory on her camera, so she used one of my memory cards during the last day of the tour...she lives in an awesome apartment...it's in one of the diplomatic compounds, and is HUGE...a big living room, two large bedrooms, a nice big bathroom, an entry hallway, a kitchen, etc...NICE!!! we went to lunch, she ordered for all of us...yummy dumplings with various fillings, one even had soup in there!!! she and bing went for massages they had scheduled earlier, and i was able to play around on internet for a while...she's got some program that makes the computer people in china think she's in the states, so i was able to access blogs and sites like facebook that i wasn't normally able to get to in china...clearly, i wasted a couple of hours, but it felt good...when they got back from their massages, bing called a hostel he knew of in xi'an and booked me in for the next day...how great a guy is that??!!!
after hanging out and watching a couple episodes of arrested development (which i've never before seen but kitty enjoys and bing tolerates) we went to a grocery store so i could get some snacks for the train...by that point i had a massive headache from all the traveling during the day and whatnot, and i was incapable of making decisions...kitty found me in one of the aisles just staring at biscuits, not able to think or figure out what i wanted...lol...after the grocery store they drove me to the train station i needed...again, AWESOME PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!
my night train arrived in xian earlier than expected, which was both good and bad...bing had arranged for the hostel people to come pick me up, but they werent there...and i didn't know the name of the hostel...so i called his mobile and he told me to hop in a taxi and have the driver call him, and he'd give the driver directions...which i did, he did, and everything was fantastic...the hostel was GREAT...i had a six bed dorm to myself the whole time...another water filter, more free internet...plus, at the end, when i needed to print out an address in chinese characters the printer wasn't working, but one of the hostel staff wrote it out for me (i pulled up the message from email) on a piece of paper...i love helpful people...
xi'an is another ancient capital of china...it was the seat of emperor qin shi huang, of the qing dynasty...i think...he was known as the great unifier...i guess before him china wasn't really one country, it was a whole bunch of kingdoms and the like that usually worked together a bit, but not always...anywho, his armies got everyone together...like it or not...he thought a lot of himself, and was rather tyrannical...according to some person or another, he even made most tyrants look good compared to him!!...(though chinese historians are trying to make him sound a bit nicer now)...his tomb is not too far from the city...his tomb isn't actually open to go into, as archeologists haven't gone into it themselves...they don't think they'll find much in there, they're pretty sure it was looted not too long after the guy was buried...some people pay to wander around the area anywho...(have i mentioned that nothing in china is free? even an unopened tomb?)...the guy thought so much of himself that he assumed he would continue to rule even after death...in preparation for that, he had two bronze chariots buried in his tomb...he also had the army of terracotta warriors created...it's one of the most famous sights in china...
absolutely STUNNING...around 7000 individual soldiers were created...the detail in which they were created is awesome...each one of them has a different face...all of their uniforms are accurate, and you can even see things like the treads on the bottoms of the shoes of the kneeling archers!!! the site has been excavated in three pits...pit 3 is where the command center would've been...it's filled with senior officers, and the nicer horses...pit 2 is the least excavated, but it's huge, and promises to have quite a few horses and soldiers in it...pit 1 is the most impressive...it's been mostly excavated, and archeologists are doing a great job of putting some of the soldiers back together properly and standing them all as they once stood...an incredible sight...well worth the 90 yuan ($1USD = 6.5 yuan) fee...the whole thing is brilliant...
because xi'an was an ancient city, that means they also had city walls...unlike just about everywhere but nanjing, the city walls are still intact...you can walk all the way around them, it takes about 4 hours at a leisurely pace...i did it in 3, walking quickly...the walls are wide, and the renovations have been done really well...all the original watchtowers and gates have been kept in decent condition as well...xi'an retains it's original drum tower and bell tower as well...i didn't reckon i'd see anything exceptional from inside either one, so i opted just to walk around outside, for free...they're in the middle of the area covered by the old city walls, and there is a large market area near the old drum tower...the market is mostly full of stalls selling kitchy knick knacks, but there are some good food stalls too...during this visit to china i've fallen in love with chinese street food...it's great!!
from xi'an i took a night train to shanghai...now it was my turn to have a standing room ticket...it was definitely a LOOOOOOONG night...especially as the train was over an hour late in arriving in shanghai...fortunately, my friend claire had given me her address written in chinese characters, as well as excellent written directions, so it was easy to get a taxi to the right intersection, then walk to her flat...
claire has a fantastic flat, i'm quite jealous!! she's really close to her university, and really close to any shopping she might need...and not too far from a subway station, though a new one is supposed to open up even closer to her flat in october (a 5 minute walk!)...claire is a friend of mine through rugby in korea, for those of you who don't know...she's canadian...which, as we pointed out to a taxi driver in seoul, long ago, is NOT the same as american...hee hee...
shanghai is under construction at the mo, well, the parts that tourists would want to see...the city is preparing to host the world expo next year...so i didn't get to walk along the bund as i wanted to, but oh well...shanghai is like no other part of china...it's the most modern city, it doesn't have the ancient traditions of xian or beijing...but it still has a personality...
one of the nights claire and i met up with some of the folks she's met for drinks and dinner...dinner for me, drinks for everyone else...lol...one of the funniest nights i've had in a long time...(claire, you'll remember orange jello and lemon jello?)...the following afternoon i attended touch rugby practice...lets just say that i'm a wee bit out of shape...but it felt good to be running around...whereva i end up next, i need to get involved in the local rugby crowd!
anywho, i thought i was flying out of shanghai...b/c the air asia web site lists shanghai...but when i looked closer at my itinerary, it was actually for hangzhou airport, which is a couple hours away...ooops...so i had to train it to hangzhou, then catch a bus to the airport...not difficult at all, except that the train was over an hour late in leaving shanghai, and finding the shuttle bus to the airport in hangzhou was only accomplished with the assistance of a chinese speaking british guy...thank goodness for strangers!!!
and that's the end of china...