united kingdom: england: chester and the canals

Chester is a walled city in England, a city with a long history. Wikipedia tells me it first existed as early as 79 AD, when it was founded as a Roman fort called Deva Victrix. This fort was bigger than others in the area, and some people think the Romans originally intended this area to become the capital of the Britannia Superior province. In some ways the original city design still stands, as the main roads of the modern city follow the same routes in which they were first laid out. None of the roads were completely straight, but that wasn't a thing back then.

After a while the fort turned into a settlement with civilians, not just soldiers. At some point the town became the 'possession' of what is now England. (I would assume this was when The Romans walked away, in 410.) Even though it was no longer officially Roman, it took a while for it to become properly English, but that's not a surprise.

As the city is really close to the border with Wales, a lot of the history has Welsh influence, though I don't understand all of it. And I can't pronounce the names to save my life.

Most of the city walls still exist, and are Grade 1 listed. (Meaning they are protected by legislation, and not up for sale or redevelopment or anything making changes.) You can walk along the top of parts of the wall, which is pretty neat.

Chester was granted official town status in 1541, and now has an official population of almost 80,000 people. Because of the walls, much of the city center has remained as it was back in the day. There is an area called Chester Rows, which is a series of streets with buildings that look just as they did centuries ago. 

I believe these buildings are also protected, so any renovations keep the look just as it was several centuries ago. We didn't go in any of the shops, as shopping is not something I typically enjoy, nor something I typically do while traveling.

The cathedral in the city (having a cathedral is what makes Chester officially a city, as opposed to a town; it isn't size/population that makes the designation,) was founded all the way back in 689. It is huge, with soaring vaulted ceilings, stained glass, gorgeous carved wood, etc...

I had never heard of Chester until September of this year. That was when my friend Claire boat a longboat, which is something she has wanted to do for a long time. As she says, people find you much more interesting when they find out you own a boat. I have to admit, I was much more keen to visit when I found out about her boat. 

I booked my flights to and from the nearby airport in Manchester, then took trains to and from Chester. Side note for anyone who cares: the Manchester airport is neither aesthetically appealing nor particularly easy for visitors to navigate. 

Going both ways one of my trains was delayed, but Claire told me that delays and cancellations are really common in England's privately owned train system. (Such a huge change from the system in Russia, which is amazing.)

I was in the area for 3.5 days. The day I arrived Claire and her partner Karl picked me up at the train station. We walked back to where they'd moored the boat, so I could drop my stuff. I had just a snackbag and backpack, but I'd been carrying them for a while and was ready to let go. 

We also ate lunch, which was nice. Buying the cheap ticket often means ridiculous layovers, and budget airlines, which also means no real food for long periods of time.

After eating we walked around Chester for a while. We walked along the city walls for a bit, which was fun. There are hills in the area, but nothing crazy, so the view from the tops of the walls isn't anything memorable. Claire laughed when I said everything was very cute, and very stereotypical, but to me it looked as English towns always do in movies and TV shows. 

We also visited the cathedral, because such things always catch my eye. It was well worth a visit, as it is beautiful. The ceilings in each area were well done, and still in good shape. There were giant stained glass windows all over, and I imagine the interior feels amazing on a sunny day.

The front areas had wooden pews/seats for the chorus, (at least I think that is who sits there? I could be totally wrong,) with some intricate wood carving. The end of each pew has a different wood carving. 

The carving of note was done back in the 15^th or 16^th century. It is an elephant, and was carved by someone who had never seen an elephant in real life. When you first see it you giggle to yourself, because it isn't quite accurate, but then you think about how hard it is to describe an elephant so that someone else could picture it properly.

Since this is England, the sun goes down around 1600. By the time we exited the church it was getting dark outside. We started to head home, with a stop at the grocery store. 

Even though I'd picked up snacks in the grocery store, I still wanted more 'real' food for dinner.

Or, as Claire called it, tea. I'm still confused as to what the names of English meals are. I think dinner comes at what I would call lunchtime, then there is tea, and late night food is supper? Anywho, we opted to have a chippy tea, which means we went to a takeaways place to get fish and chips and sausage for what I would call dinner. We only got two portions of chips (what Americans call French fries,) but that still more than enough for the three of us adults.

The next morning we started moving not long after it was officially daylight. Part of the reason Claire wanted a boat was to be able to cruise on canals. England has a great system of canals, and cruising was something I really wanted to do during my visit.

The weather started out gray, but with no wind, so I thought everything was beautiful. The clouds slowly gave way to a mostly blue skies, I was in heaven the entire time. There were lovely reflections of the skies and boats in the water as we cruised along. 

We ended up cruising for a bit over four hours before turning around and coming part of the way back toward Chester. I got to drive for a while, which was fun too. 

We moored in the middle of nowhere, then Claire cooked tea. I think it was quite traditional, as we had bacon, eggs, beans, and blood pudding. It was a first time to have blood pudding for me; I don't dislike it but I don't love it. Claire is a good cook, I've always enjoyed what she makes. 

As we'd moored in the middle of nowhere we had an unobstructed view of the lovely sunset. If I had a boat I'd hope for that kind of experience every day.

The next day we had a bit of an unintended adventure, as a band in the engine broke not too long after we started cruising back toward Chester. It took some time, but Karl was able to sort everything out, and used the spare belt to get us going again. I'm glad he figured out what to do, as I would've called the rescue service to have them take care of us.

Not long after tying off in Chester Claire and I got off the boat and walked back to the train station. Another reason I'd wanted to come visit Claire was the chance to meet her mom. Since Claire and I had traveled together over the past couple years, I knew Jenny had seen a bunch of my photos. I'd heard stories about her and wanted to put a face to the name.

The three of us met up at the train station, then walked through the city center, back to the cathedral. 

I hadn't seen it during our visit on my first day, but there is a cafe in the refectory area of the cathedral. The refectory ceiling is just as high as the rest of the cathedral, and it has stained glass windows as well. We had tea (the drink, not the meal,) and chatted for a while. It was a nice way to get to know Jenny.

On the way to getting Jenny back to the train station we stopped at the grocery store again. I picked up more snacks, including ingredients for tea (the meal, not the drink,) that night. I'd go to a grocery store every day if I could.

That was my last night in Chester. While we were relaxing in the evening I sorted out checking in online for my flights, which wasn't the easiest, as I'd made the bookings through a travel company.

The next morning I packed everything up, and the three of us went to breakfast. Going out to breakfast is a modern thing, and probably comes from American influence. The cafe we visited was called Hanky Panky Pancakes, so it definitely comes from American influences. What Americans would call a pancake is what the English would call a Scotch pancake.

After eating we went by a bakery so I could pick up snacks for my flights back to Moscow. I had tickets for budget airlines for both flights, and I didn't want to go hungry. Plus it was a chance to have food from an English bakery, which is completely different from what you'd get from an American bakery. I ended up loving my curry rolls, and pasties.

I opted to take an earlier train than I'd originally planned to get back to the airport, and that ended up being a good thing. It was 20 minutes late, but starting out ealier meant I still had plenty of time for transferring to my second train, which was on time.

Getting through security at the airport took quite a while, as they were opening up a lot of bags. The lady in front of me had to wait for a special check because the holiday gnome she'd bought had been flagged by the machine. I was glad I'd gotten there three hours before departure.

I'm definitely going back to see Claire and her boat again :)

chernivtsi (чернІвцІ)

cloe and i had been in ukraine for over two months, and really wanted to get out of kyiv...it's a great city and all, but we wanted to see something else of ukraine...so we were thrilled when our friend marie suggested going on a weekend trip...we'd never heard of the town she suggested, but hey, who cares? she said it was a town known for a university...fortunately, lonely planet had heard of it...there were a few pages dedicated to the town, including a map...woo hoo!!!
chernivtsi is in the southwest of modern day ukraine...over its history, it has been a part of other countries as well..it was once a part of the austro-hungarian empire, and you can still see this influence in the architecture of the town...the architecture is far more like the rest of europe than it is like kyiv/ukraine...

our trip started with a night train from kyiv to chernivtsi...our lonely planet guidebooks say that a long distance train ride is a must do experience in ukraine, so we were happy to check that off our lists with this trip...i think our train left around 7pm? i don't remember exactly...our friend marie met us at school, then we went to eat...she then showed us where to go at the train station, and we also met two other ladies (luda and elena) who were coming along as well...3 of the tickets were together, but the other two were in two other cars, so there was some shifting to be done...neither cloe nor i had a problem with sleeping by ourselves, but marie worried about us, so she and elena slept in the other two cars...
a night train in ukraine definitely is an experience...due to living in germany, and various travels, i've taken my fair share of night trains...people on ukrainian trains eat quite a bit more, and they bring all of it...it's possible to order tea (more on that in a moment,) but there didn't seem to be any other vendors coming through the train...instead, people pack a picnic, usually quite a large one...i got the lovely smell of hard-boiled eggs, and various pickled salads...yippee skippee...while the five of us were hanging out and chatting, marie and her friends took out the food they'd brought...heaps of food!! biscuits, lollies, cheese, etc...they also ordered tea for us from the train lady...it's just lipton tea, but i loved the glass holders, and of course all the sugar:)...we sat up talking for a while, i was the first to lay down and go to sleep...night trains in ukraine give you sheets, a mattress, a blanket and a pillow...plus, the train is a comfortable temperature...awesome!

the next morning we all woke at different times, which didn't bother anyone...more tea from the train lady, and marie pulled out some breakfast food...our train arrived on time, around 0930...we exited the train station (after taking the picture to prove that we were there) turned right and started walking...this turned out to be the incorrect direction, which we found out after the girls asked a local...ooops...the intention was to walk to the university, as we wanted to take a tour...the local ended up walking us part of the way, to make sure we were going in the right direction...ukrainians are so nice!!

the university in chernivtsi is the reason the town is known in ukraine...(i doubt it's much known outside of the country)...the university was originally built as the home of the local rulers, the bukovyna metropolitans...at the time, the town was part of the austro-hungarian empire...you can see how it would've been the home of a family, albeit a very large home...there is a church in one section, and a giant marble hall in another section...not all of the university is open to the public, our guide had to unlock a few doors...out the back of the university is a lovely park, complete with a statue of the architect, a czech guy who also had a hand in designing vienna...(if i remember correctly?)...there used to be a pond of sorts, but when the soviets turned the 'home' into a university, they also messed with the aquatic system of this pond, broke it, and weren't able to fix it...so now you can still see where the pond was, but there is no water...it's a shame...

after the university tour, we took a tram to the center of the city...after that, our day was mostly walking around the city...the girls had a map with 'tourist' locations marked on it, and i'm pretty sure we got to almost all of them...every building of any note, every church ever mentioned...one of the churches is currently painted a pepto bismol sort of pink...(though the postcard of said church shows it in a nice off white)...another church looks what lonely planet calls "drunken"...the spires twist, and from any angle it looks as if they're leaning into the rest of the church...we saw the end of a wedding coming out of yet another church, an armenian church...i wonder if the theme of the wedding was ugly dress, because i strongly disliked the dress of every woman in the wedding party...that church itself looked way better than the pepto church...brick, with silver onions on top...we saw a VERY old church, it was tiny and wooden...we saw a building with lion decorations...we ate at a place called the chicken house...i bought postcards...

chernivtsi is definitely a one day town for visitors, i'm glad that's all the time we'd planned to spend there...though we did get plenty of exercise, walking all over the place...other than being chilly, the weather was good...in other words, it wasn't raining, and for me, that makes all the difference... 
our train back to kyiv left at 1900, we got to the train station in plenty of time...a dog decided to follow us most for about a kilometer, we didn't know how to get rid of it...the dog even crossed streets with us!! we were early enough that the train wasn't there yet, so we killed time in the train station coffee shop...(which definitely left something to be desired, but oh well)...the train ride back to kyiv had all of us in the same area, so no one had to move around to sleep...the same tea, the same heaps of snacks, etc...i love long distance trains in ukraine!!

malaysia 3

from kuala lumpur i took a bus to tanah rata, the tourist center of the cameron highlands...the highlands are another hill station, cooler and less humid than the lowlands of the country...there are a bunch of tea estates in the highlands, the area produces most of the tea in the country...tanah rata itself is basically a village...not much there except travel agencies for tourists, a few convenient marts, and a bunch of yummy indian restaurants...i found a single room, and though it was small and very cozy, that was exactly what i needed...the first day there i didn't do much of anything...walking around a little (10 minutes of walking in tanah rata means you've seen the whole town) and playing with my camera...the whole area has beautiful wildflowers, the likes of which are NOT in indiana...the second day i booked myself a tour...it wasn't so much a tour, as them just driving us around to a number of different places...first up was a flower garden...pretty flowers, a great view over a valley from a particular viewpoint...i loved the sunflowers...the second stop was a strawberry farm...we didn't see much, just rows of where they were growing strawberries...we didn't even get to pick any...we did howeva, get to eat the strawberries...i had absolutely no problem eating two strawberry sundaes at 10:30 in the morning...is that a bad thing? you could also get a waffle, strawberries with cream, strawberries with honey, or a strawberry shake...they were ALL good:)...from the strawberry farm we went to a tea estate...i can't remember the name of the estate, but their brand name is boh, and it's the most common in malaysia...it was gorgeous...rows and rows and hills and hills of tea bushes...i learned that tea bushes grow into trees if they aren't trimmed, and i also learned they can be 150 yrs old!!! i bought a couple packets of tea, and have been making chai most mornings...YUM...then we went to a bee farm...not much there to see except the boxes/hives...that's where you could try to make your way through the world's largest indoor maze, but i don't think anyone in my group did so...from there, our last stop was a buddhist temple...perhaps the most interesting part of the temple were the walls...they were covered in images of buddha...something like 10,000 in all? i don't remember the exact number...think small bathroom tiles, covering the whole wall...nifty...on the way back from the temple we had a new driver, and i ended up with motion sickness about 30 seconds into the ride...i actually had to make him stop and get out early and walk back into town!! why is it that some drivers make me so sick, and others are fine?

from tanah rata i took buses to kota bahru...kota bahru is the state capital, ( i can't remember the name of that particular state, eeek) and it's the only state in malaysia where you can find blue rice...yes, i went all the way across the peninsula because i wanted to eat blue rice...it was fun, and though it didnt taste any different from white rice, i'm still glad i went...kota bahru itself doesn't have much to offer...a central market, in a building that allows you to look down on the ladies selling fresh produce...it gets busy down there!!

from kota bahru, i crossed the peninsula one more time, to the island of penang...off the western side of the peninsula...the main city on penang is called georgetown...this island is actually the oldest settled part of malaysia, older than singapore and melaka...it's another former trading port...howeva, the island is almost all chinese...it is the only malay state with a majority chinese population...but there is still plenty of indian food to be had...and since it was my last stop in malaysia, i indulged, big time...just outside georgetown, in a town called air itam, is a BIG buddhist temple...well, it's actually a buddhist temple complex...there are several temples there, each with different architectural influences...thai, chinese, etc...the best part of the complex is the 7 story pagoda, from the top of which you can look out over the city...awesome, even though it was raining while i was up there...

georgetown also has several mosques which i was able to explore...in one i felt quite welcome, and i enjoyed talking to one of the men after he finished his prayers...in the other one, i felt rather ambushed...one guy showed me around a bit, but kept trying to bait me as to why islam is better/truer/etc than christianity...it wasn't a debate i wanted to have...he kept trying to use specific bible verses to prove his points, and i've always hated when people do that...he said he'd read the bible, but for nearly every verse that looks at things one way, there is another verse that looks at them from the other side...you know, the old eye for an eye vs turn the other cheek debate...i don't know the bible well enough to think of specific verses, and i really felt uncomfortable around him...i'm not likely ever to convert to a religion when someone tells me what i already believe is wrong, and that what they believe is right/better...

the morning of 1 july, i bid a fond farewell to malaysia, and hopped on a ferry to medan, on the island of sumatra, in indonesia...

india part 8

darjeeling is a hill station...originally created by the brits, there isn't much evidence of them anymore...some of you have probably heard the name, but in reference to tea...something like 25% of india's tea is grown in this area...darjeeling is part of west bengal, india's most populated state...it's a wierdly shaped state, and i'm surprised that it's all one state...kinda like creating one state out of washington, oregon and california...with alaska in there as well...the people at the top are nothing like the people at the bottom...darjeeling is in the himalayas, and it's totally different from the main part of the subcontinent...different clothes, languages, scenery, food, traditions, etc...the people look different too, as many weren't descended from the same ethnic groups as in the rest of india...they're much more closely related to nepalis, tibetans and burmese...it's a buddhist area...we felt completely at home, as it is quite similar to many of the areas we saw while trekking in nepal...i'm not sure why, but darjeeling wasn't at all what i expected...before arriving, i expected a smaller town, and a quiet town...it was far bigger than i had imagined, louder (though not at night, as darjeeling gets quiet not too long after the sun goes down...it's definitely NOT a party town) and had a lot more people...for travelers, it's a tea town, and an area in which to organize trekking...layna and i wanted the tea...we learned quite a bit about tea, and i learned that i have lower class taste in tea...i don't taste the difference between a good tea and a bad tea...each day we went to a tea house and tried a different tea, and i could only barely taste a difference...had i not known what i was drinking, i wouldn't have thought them that much different from lipton...(yes, i know, you tea people are shrieking that i could say such a thing)...
we didnt do a lot in darjeeling except enjoy tea...we saw another movie, called billu barber...again, despite it not being in english, it was relatively easy to understand...and of course, there was a happy ending...
after darjeeling we took the toy train to siliguri...the toy train has been designated a UNESCO world heritage sight...it was originally built between the two towns as a way to move potatoes around...it goes slowly, of course, and around rather tight corners...13 times it has a z crossing...that is, the train goes forward, stops and goes backward onto a diagonal track, then stops again, and switches again onto a new track, this one lower than the first track...it took 8 hours to go 80km...from siliguri we rode our last train in india, to kolkata...
the 2nd biggest city in india, and most often known as a poor city...mother theresa's motherhouse is there...so is a huge cathedral, st paul's...so is the victoria memorial, which is like a cross between the US capital building in washington DC, and i don't know what...you're not allowed to take pictures inside, which seems a little silly to me...i took a picture of a quote by queen victoria before finding out about the photography prohibition, and 30 minutes later as i was leaving, someone chased me down and had me delete it!!! i liked the quote, so i walked back over and wrote it down...why are pictures not allowed of inscriptions?
kolkata is built on either side of a dirty river, and there is a busy, well known (to some people anywho, definitely not to me) bridge over it...the howrah bridge, i think? anywho, for yet another unknown reason (to me) photography of the bridge is strictly prohibited...but they do sell postcards of it...so of course i did my best to figure out how to get such a picture...i did, though it involved walking through slums, and dealing with the very pervalent smell of urine, and EVERY SINGLE GUY i passed calling out something along the lines of sexy mother, or worse...(for the record, the slums in mumbai weren't nearly as uncomfortable)...
layna and i had some tailoring done in kolkata, which was fun...i had one of the traditional salwar suits made...i've never had clothes made especially for me...i loved the way it turned out...it's probably a good thing we usually stick to our budget, because i was tempted to have several more made...they're colourful, and very very comfortable...
our last adventure before leaving kolkata was as a result of a mistake i made...i have no idea how i did it, but i thought our departure time was really really really early in the morning, so i thought we'd just go to the airport late evening...but i was off by ten hours...our flight left at 1145, not 0145...fortunately, we were able to stay with a local family, which was a fantastic experience...by far the best biryani i've ever eaten...they were incredibly friendly, and i had a good time getting to know them in the little time we had...
it's a good thing we stayed with the family, and didn't just spend the whole night at the airport...the international terminal of the kolkata airport is small, and has VERY few facilities...the ONLY duty free was alcohol, and a few chocolates...just one room...we were whisked to the premier check in line at our airline though, which was great...
goodbye to india...i miss it a lot...everything else will be so easy...