russia: vladivostok

While Claire, Angela and I were spending our last moments together in a coffee shop in Irkutsk, we ended up planning out our entire May holidays. It only took about 10 minutes to sort it all out. Actually making the bookings for everything took longer and happened later, but the initial plan was sorted out pretty quickly. All we used were a map, a guidebook, and our phones. Thankfully, all three of us had the holidays, and they were at the same time.

We started in Vladivostok. It's one of the easternmost cities in Russia, pretty much as far as you can go. 

Vladivostok is at the end of the traditional Trans Siberian railway, which takes a week to follow if you board the train in Moscow. Or you can drive, which will take you over 9000 kilometers, and at least 120 hours of driving time.

In other words, Vladivostok is in a different world from Moscow.

Vladivostok has over 600,000 residents, and for most of its history was part of China, or at least the various dynasties that ruled what is now China. Russia only took control of the area after the signing of the Treaty of Beijing in 1860. Due to several things, Vladivostok didn't become part of what is now Russia for quite a while, not until October of 1922.

Our flights left Friday evening from Moscow, took 8.5 hours, and landed in Vladivostok in the rain. Vladivostok is on the eastern coast of Russia, and is 7 (or 8?) hours ahead of Moscow in time. We arrived to rain, wind, and cold, which we didn't love, of course.

It was easy to catch an aeroexpress train into the city, which wasn't express at all. It made a number of stops along the way, but at least we got to the city center in less than an hour. We got off the train to find the very end of the (probably annual) Labour Day parade. Does Moscow have such a parade? 

We saw sailors walking away after they were done marching, and in my head I made fun of them as I've always heard soldiers make fun of sailors marching.

First stop was dropping our bags off at our accomodation, since we were too early to check in. Not too far from the hostel was a pie shop, of course I directed the girls there for a before lunch snack ;)

Fun fact about Vladivostok, Yul Brynner was born there as Yuliy Borisovich Brynner in 1920.

There is a statue of the guy in front of the building where he lived, but you don't get to go inside to look around. 

I don't know who he is, but Claire and Angela were happy to learn this.

As I was waiting for the girls to finish with photos around Yul, I realized we were close to a Lenin statue, so we walked there next. We almost always take team photos with the man, this was a chance to knock that off the list. Or so I thought. As we got there, we found a Labour Day rally, complete with flags that had Lenin and Stalin faces on them. Instead of a team photo I took a few of the rally, and we chose to come back later. If I understood more Russian I would've stayed longer, to listen to some of the speeches. 

Vladivostok is built on hills, so you can either see the water, or are in the middle of a whole bunch of buildings. Since the city is far more important to the navy than Moscow is, it was a different type of military atmosphere, if that makes sense.

Next up we headed toward the port area. There are commercial, shipping, and naval boats there, it's neat to see all of them. From where we were standing, we could see a bridge, but it was half covered by low hanging clouds. Very photogenic.

One street back from the port is a S-56 submarine museum. It's small, and a mix of what has happened in the area as well as the military exploits of the Russian Navy. 

The random tourists that entered before us kept slowing everything down by taking tons of posed photos, there wasn't enough room for anyone to go around them. Sigh.

The submarine is next to a war memorial, with lots of names carved into plaques.

Also nearby is a small victory arch, named for St Nicholas. Go figure, as we arrived, a group of Chinese women were all having photos taken with the arch, so we had a hard time taking a photo of just the arch. They were all dressed in their version of 'on trend' including short skirts and ugly sandals, which made us laugh.

We did take a team photo at a 'statue' of Neptune/Poseidon, as there was no one else around. King of the Sea, so it makes sense for Vladivostok.

One of the more interesting sounding sights listed online was a sea cucumber museum, we headed there next. It was a long walk, longer than anticipated. Whoops. It wasn't a museum at all, rather a store for Asian customers with 'health' items. There was one room with sea cucumbers in tanks, but all of them were dead and moldy!!! Yuck. Apparently this city used to be the place to come for sea cucumber medicine and ginseng items.

The best part of the museum was the shop next door, called 7-12. Too funny.

I couldn't convince the girls to walk back to the city center, (probably because it was raining,) so we called a taxi, which was cheap and fast. Dinner was at an Indian restaurant which was only mediocre.

It was a short walk from dinner to a small beach area. I don't think people come to this beach to hang out on the sand, there was a small amusement park and a few seafood restaurants.We took photos of the nice sunset and city sign, then got snacks at a small store, then went home.

The hostel in which we stayed was a capsule hostel, so each of us had our own little pod. We had control over lighting and air conditioning, though we couldn't completely turn off the lights. Argh.

The next morning we checked out then went back to the pie place for breakfast. They had a number of pie choices, both sweet and savory, as well as sandwiches so this worked for all of us. It was hard for me to stick to one piece of pie, I ended up with red fruit. When it comes to pie, I always want more. 

When we'd made the booking in the hostel, they only had room for us for one night, but we were staying in the city for two nights, so we made another booking, in a flat. We took a bus to the flat, only for me to realize I'd marked the address wrong on my phone. Sigh. I need to get better about that, and not letting google think it knows what I'm thinking. Thankfully we were able to walk to the correct address.

After getting settled in the flat, we called a taxi to get to our next sight. We could've taken public transport, but it would've taken a lot longer and not been all that much cheaper. 

Go figure, even though I correctly marked the destination on the map, the taxi driver took us to a slightly different spot, so we had to walk around a bit. Sigh.

Fort #7 is one of several ruined forts around the city. Remember how I said Vladivostok is built on hills? That means forts are great for city defense. Fort #7 is on top of a hill, and inside a hill. The views of the city and whole area were lovely, though the wind nearly blew us off the hill.

We could see a storm rolling in, the clouds were crazing dark and moving fast. Thankfully there was a little bit of shelter where we were able to take cover from the rain when it hit.

From there we called a taxi, having the same trouble with marking the destination on the map. Why don't the drivers get the same map I've marked? Anywho.

Our next sight was something I'd seen on social media. A broken glass beach, not a natural beach, not a sand beach. It's actually a rubbish pile, as all the pretty glass is what has been smoothed down by people and water from ceramic bottle rubbish pieces. Do not walk around barefoot, though this should go without saying. 

There are a bunch of picturesque rocks near the water, there were people climbing all over them. Clearly you need to get here early in the day to avoid all the Instagrammers. As usual, we had fun watching people, it is amazing how oblivious some of them were to what was going on around them.

It took me a bit longer to call a taxi back to the city. There was a direct bus, but it wasn't coming for another 5 hours, and we had zero desire to wait that long. Finally, a car picked up my order and we were good to go.

Our drop off point was a random point on a street not too far from the city center. We ended up walking past another war memorial on our way to the next sight. I love war memorials, and I love that Russians at least try to remember so much more than Americans, but I tend to lose track of the specific groups and events that are honoured. Even if I could remember it wouldn't help me much, since I don't know the military system very well. 

Eventually we got to a church. This one was different because it was German Lutheran, which isn't common in Russian. There was a British phonebox in the yard, which looked even more out of place than the church.

To get to our last sight of the day we got to ride a funicular. I was surprised at how cheap it was, as I'm pretty sure tourists are the only ones who ride it. It takes you up to a viewpoint from which you can watch the light change as the sun sets off to the side of the port. It's a gorgeous view, especially without clouds.

From there it was easy to catch a bus directly back to the supermarket across the street from our flat, woo hoo!!

The next morning we packed up and gave back the keys to the flat, then took a bus to the city center. We headed straight for the train station to drop our bags in luggage storage for the day. The train station is pretty impressive, I loved the stairwells and ceiling of the waiting room. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so, as there is a tourist office desk offering tours.

Lenin isn't far from the train station, so we went back to take our team photo, avoiding all the Chinese tourists in the process. 

Since we were on that street already, we decided to visit the art museum. None of us absolutely love art, but we had the time, so why not. Figuring out what tickets we wanted and where to buy them ended up being the hardest part of the visit. We just wanted to see the permanent exhibit, nothing temporary. 

The museum was nice. A number of different rooms with different styles and subjects of work. I've seen more than my fair share of icons and Madonna paintings by now, we sped through that section. Each room was painted a different colour, which was also nice. 

At that point we realized we hadn't gotten any souvenirs from Vladivostok, so we went back to the main square not far from the port to find a shop. There were heaps of choices for magnets, not so much for postcards. Sigh.

We hadn't had breakfast, and felt as though we'd seen much of the city, so Claire suggested lunch next. Since Vladivostok is on a peninsula, surrounded by water, so seafood is important. We wanted a decent seafood meal, but weren't able to find something decent nearby. Darnit. Vietnamese food instead!

The last thing we wanted to see was also associated with water: a lighthouse. This one has become popular with the social media crowd, so we definitely weren't alone. Still, it was pretty, and I can see why people come here. I'd seriously come back in the middle of winter to see it covered in snow/ice.

After getting back to the city center we went back to the pie place to get food to go. As expected, our train departed on time.

I'd definitely come back to Vladivostok, partly to explore more of the wooded areas of the peninsula. Or to see the city in another season.

cuba: havana for a day

I know this was in my last post, but I'll repeat a little bit here: there was drama for me when traveling from Cienfuegos to Havana. I'd bought a bus ticket, and arranged a taxi from my accomodation to the bus station. The taxi picked me up, then picked up three other travelers. I don't know where the miscommunication happened, but the taxi driver thought I was going with them, all the way to Havana. Just after he passed the bus station I realized he wasn't going to stop, so I asked what was happening.

He said they were going to Havana, why would I want to go to the bus station. I said because I had a bus ticket, and I didn't have extra cash to forego the ticket AND pay for a private taxi. It would've been faster, for sure, but it wasn't in my budget. This being Cuba, I didn't have the option to go get more money from an ATM. The taxi turned around and dropped me at the bus station, but he wasn't happy about it. I still wish I knew how the miscommunication happened, because I know I'd told my 'landlady' that I only wanted to go to the bus station.

My bus from Cienfuegos arrived in Havana thirty minutes earlier than it was supposed to, even with a 30 minute stop for lunch, which was awesome. I caught a taxi at the station, which took me to the casa particular I'd booked in Havana. It wasn't the same place as where I'd stayed when I'd first arrived, but that lady already had a guest. This new place was actually a separate appartment I had all to myself, yippee!! The air circulation was non-existent, I knew I'd have the fan and air con on when I came back. 

Just as I was getting ready to head out for a walk, it started raining. Pouring. In other words, I had to wait. 30 minutes later, I started walking. The streets were wet, but life was coming back outside again. I assume Cubans know how to deal with massive amounts of rain, as it happens on a regular basis.
I walked all the way to a local ferry. The map that came up on a travel app took me through some non-touristy streets, which were in worse shape than the touristed areas of the city. It's always 'fun' to walk around constant piles of rubbish, and avoid puddles at the same time.

At the same time, I enjoyed getting to see locals living their normal lives. At one point I was on a sidewalk with plenty of space for someone going the other way. A man walking the other way decided to walk so close to me that I felt his hands on my body. Totally inappropriate and totally unnecessary. Argh.

At the ferry station I figured out where to go, then just waited. This particular station has two routes, and of course the one I wanted had just left when I got there. Sigh. Security took a quick glance at my purse, but that was it. There was no posted price, but locals clearly knew how much it was, so I watched how much they paid. I'm pretty sure I overpaid, but it still wasn't that much. Other travelers paid more than me, and no change was given.

The ferry ride was 15 minutes, across the bay to the side with a couple older fortresses. These were built and used when Cuba was involved in various wars for independence, and wanted to protect itself.

I disembarked, and followed a couple sets of stairs up the hill. At the top of the hill was a small park with a giant statue of Jesus. This made me think of the photos I've seen of Christ the Redeemer who overlooks Rio, in Brazil. The views over the bay, and the rest of the city on the other side were really nice. There were still massive clouds rolling through the sky, with occasional rain.

I found the street leading to my next sight, and kept walking. Rain started to fall, but wasn't too bad. It did get worse just as I arrived at one of the forts.

I stood for a few minutes under the protection of an old gate, and figured out where to go next. This gate had a price list on the door, but when I tried to go in, someone came out and said the gate was closed. Okay then.

I followed the walls of the fort and came to another gate, and fortunately this one was the proper entry gate. I looked around for a place to buy a ticket, but never saw one.

This particular fort had more views of the city across the bay, as well as old cannons still pointing in that direction.

The clouds were still dark, and now there was plenty of thunder and lightning. I was a bit nervous about staying outside, but no one was closing the fort, so I hoped I was okay.

The fort has rooms dedicated to various aspects of life in the fort, weapons used over the years, people involved in the various battles, etc... As expected, some of the displays were more interesting than the others. I liked walking along the fortress walls, looking in all directions better than any of the displays. I don't know if it was too hot for most tourists, or the weather was too bad, or what, but there weren't many people visiting this fortress even though it was a unesco designated sight.

One of the exhibits didn't have much to do with the fortress or fighting. It was all about Che, and the life he led. There were pictures of him in various countries, as well as the names he used. There were descriptions of major events in his life, always with a positive spin. (I didn't expect anything else.)

At this point I realized I was really tired, and ready to go back to my room, instead of visiting the other fort. I walked back to the ferry station, and didn't have to wait long for the next boat. I paid with a 20 CUP note, and waited for change.

I could tell the man didn't want to give me change, (as that was the equivalent to the amount the other foreigners had paid,) but I could see that locals had paid far less, and he seemed to understand that I had seen how much the locals had paid. I got 17 CUP in change, so my ticket cost just 8 cents if you're using US currency!!

I followed various streets until I got to a pedestrian street with cafes and small shops. I didn't want to eat at a full blown restaurant, and going to a supermarket for food wasn't really an option. This street gave me cheap options like the pizza I chose. Who doesn't love a $1 pizza?

After eating I walked back to my room, stopping for a couple of the iced 'juices' along the way. Even though it was cloudy and rainy, it was still hot, so the cool liquid felt amazing. Unfortunately my room in the flat didn't have amazing circulation, so it was not so fun when I got back. The combination of the fan and aircon sorted everything out, but I felt too guilty to leave it on all night. I turned it off, then woke up in the middle of the night sweating. Sigh.

The next morning my 'landlady' helped me catch a taxi (old school american classic cars ftw!!) back to the bus station. Sadly, my bus did not depart on time. Even though this was the main bus station of the capital city, they had just one lane where passengers get off the bus. The same lane was used to board the buses, meaning traffic jams are constant. Sigh. At least I got where I was going eventually. 

india part 3

after jaisalmer was the town of bikaner...we ended up getting off the train at the wrong station w/out realizing it, but that was a blessing in disguise...as usual, someone approached us quickly about a place to stay, and also handed us a schedule...(we went to bikaner because we had heard about a camel festival and wanted to check it out)...the price sounded good enough, it was family run, and we always knew we could go somewhere else if we hated it...staying in that guesthouse turned out to be a great decision...the father was super friendly, as were the wife and kids...three kids...one of the girls spoke pretty good english, and could read and write as well...the wife cooked great food, and the portions were HUGE...the father was fantastic about helping us with directions, and suggesting things to do...
the first full day there we went to the fort in the morning...it's totally different from the fort in jaisalmer...this fort was originally the residence of the local maharajah, and most of the original decorations and furnishings are still in the fort...the entrance fee includes a required guide, and for once, we were happy that we had the guide...w/out him, we wouldn't have found all the little hallways and palaces, etc...the interior decoration is pretty fancy, and it was neat to go up on the roof...in several rooms there are old pictures on the wall, from maharajah parades and such...
that afternoon, we took a bus out to the camel festival...AWESOME!!!!! it was in the village of ladera, not too far from bikaner...we got to see decorated camels, and of course took lots of pictures...we saw a dune race, which wasn't all that exciting...at one point, layna joined in a long jump contest, running and jumping down a dune...(a photographer took her picture, and it ended up in the paper the next day:)...we watched camel races, during which not all the jockeys could control their camels...they didn't always go in a straight line, and they weren't always able to stay on the camels...funny...we got to watch the women play musical chairs...it sounds tame, but some of them really wanted to win...each woman seemed to have a cheering section, and when some of them were out, those cheering sections were NOT happy...at one point we were told we should get out of the crowd, as it was getting rowdy, and we were told the police might have to use force...we got to watch a cultural show, which had exhibitions of traditional song, dance, music and costumes...they had announcements in punjabi and english, so we always knew what was coming up next...though the english announcements were, how can i put this, very flowery and slow...after the cultural show the last event of the evening was a fire dance...only men in a certain caste of a certain faith could participate in the dance...first a bonfire was burned down to nothing but red hot embers, then the men danced through and around the embers...very cool...at the end, they used their feet to spread out the embers, so they were no longer a danger...after it was over, we saw one old man pick up embers twice and put them in his mouth...they said that true believers would not feel the pain of the fire...either way, it was pretty impressive...we took the same bus back to bikaner, and it was a bit more of an adventure...not too long after we left, the guy taking money got into some sort of argument with some of the passengers...lots of yelling back and forth, layna and i sitting there clueless...it got so bad that the bus driver pulled over and stopped the bus, waiting until it was all sorted out...when it was sorted out, many of the passengers cheered, i still wish i knew what it was all about!!!
the next day was more fun...we went out to the karni mata temple, also known as the rat temple...i'm not sure of the story, but the end result is that rats are allowed to run freely all over this temple...they're supposed to be the incarnation of something, or someone...we were told there are 30,000 rats living there...who knows what the actual number is, but it's a lot...there are large bowls of milk set out in several places, it's both creepy and fascinating to watch all the rats perched on the edges, leaning down and drinking...it's said that it's good luck if the rats run across your feet (did i forget to mention that you take off your shoes before going into the temple?)...they did run across our feet...there is one white rat (albino) and it's also said to be good luck if you see him...and we did...so i guess we're double lucky:) ...seeing and being around all those rats was definitely not in my comfort zone, that's for sure!! in the afternoon we went to a camel farm...officially called the national camel research centre, or something like that...it's either the only one in india, or the only one in asia (depends on who you ask, or what you read)...we learned a lot about camels (i won't bore you with the facts unless you ask)...we got to see camels milked, see camel products (made from camel bone, camel hair, etc) and more...while standing next to one corral, several camels came over to investigate us...several kisses and attempted bites later, we had some new friends:) ...we also tried camel milk ice cream...YUM!!!
after bikaner we went to jaipur, the capital of the state of rajasthan, because we had heard about a kite festival...jaipur is just as bad as delhi in terms of touts and the aggressiveness of the city...after finding a guesthouse, we were told by several different people that it's impossible to walk around and see the sights of the city...i guess layna and i are different than most, because we don't consider 5K very long to walk to get to something...not at all...anywho, we did walk...during the day, layna ended up talking to a guy on the street trying to sell us traditional rajasthani puppets...the conversation resulted in an invitation for both of us to come spend the day with his family for the kite festival the next day...SO MUCH FUN!!! we got to his neighborhood, and spent the majority of the day on the roof...we learned how to cut kites (the idea being that you use your kite string - while flying of course - to cut the string of someone else's kite) and were served the best chapati we've had...we met the entire family, and all the cousins/friends/neighbors who were close...all the roofs in this neighborhood were made of sheets of corrogated tin held in place by rocks...and most of the roofs were very close to each other, so we didn't have to go down to the ground to move around...we got a LOT of attention from all the kids (particularly guys) in the area...i was proposed to twice, but since both were just teenagers, i decided to wait on matrimony...hee hee...seeing all the people on the roofs, flying kites was awesome...mostly kids, but some adults as well...in reading the newspaper the next day, it seemed everyone had been in on the fun...politicians and other big wigs even took a few hours out of their work days to fly kites!!! jaipur is known as the pink city because the old city is painted entirely pink...it was originally done to welcome the prince of wales (who later became king charles something or another) and the tradition has remained...it's also a great place to shop, if you have the desire...shoes, fabrics, electronics, bikes, toys, food, etc...it's all there...
our last evening in jaipur we decided to go to a bollywood movie...it was our first, and we had been told about a great theater by a couple different locals...the theater was indeed fancy...the story was that the person who had designed it had suffered some sort of mutilation afterward so he couldn't design anything that great again...i don't know that i trust that story...anywho, watching a bollywood movie was definitely an experience...at the first flash of the stars on the screen the crowd cheered...they cheered, clapped and generally got involved with the plot of the movie as it was playing...it definitely wasn't quiet...i can't remember how many times mobile phones started ringing, and people answered them!!! the movie followed the same storyline that seems to be common...people fall in love, there are difficulties, and by the end of the movie, everything is hunky dory...they even hug at the end!!

india, part 2

after delhi we went north to the indian state of punjab...for those of you who haven't been to india, what you know of india probably comes mostly from punjab...tandoori chicken, a lot of curries, etc...
we went to the city of amritsar, home of the golden temple...it's the holiest shrine in sikhism, and attracts a lot of sikh pilgrims...made of white marble, and covered in 750kgs of pure gold, it's beautiful...it's on a small island in the middle of a holy pool, and you walk across a white marble bridge to go in...it's not big, not at all...inside there are holy men reading the sikh holy book, and musicians singing and playing sikh hymns...they are broadcast around the entire complex from 0300 to 2200 each day...arriving in amritsar was much more pleasant than arriving in delhi...the golden temple is a big deal, and they have a lot of pilgrims/visitors, so they run a free bus from the temple to the train station and back quite regularly...once we found the correct spot to wait outside the train station, the touts and rickshaw drivers left us alone...soooo nice...when we got to the temple, we were immediately shown where to go, and very quickly shown into a room...nearly all of it was done w/out any english (or much talking at all, for that matter)...the temple provides (free) accomodation to pilgrims and tourists...it's simple accomodation, think dorm style...each night there were a lot of people sleeping in the courtyard of the building in which we had our room...communal bathrooms, etc...they can accomodate as many as 30,000 people at a time, which apparently happens a few times a year, during major holidays...there is also a GIANT community kitchen, which can serve 40,000 (free) meals a day...eating there was quite an experience...the entire complex is staffed by volunteers...they do everything from organizing the accomodation, to peeling potatoes, to serving chai, to washing spoons, etc...all of it is paid for by donations and the offering money in the temple...it's an amazing example of how incredible something can be when a lot of people happily give time and energy, and all work together...during breakfast of our second day, we ended up talking to a 20 yr old punjabi girl...she wanted to practice her english, we had lots of questions to ask...she was at the temple with her family, for the second time in her life...she answered all of our questions, both about the sikh religion, and about herself...a total sweetheart...she even helped us get train tickets!! we also spent some time with her after our last dinner there...
one of the other reasons to go to amritsar is that it's an hour bus ride to a border village called attari...the border with pakistan, that is...the pakistani side of the border has a village called wagah...each afternoon there is a fancy border closing ceremony that lots of people come to watch...each country has built permanent stands for all the spectators...(and they are separated by sex)...you're not allowed to carry a bag of any kind to the ceremony, and you are searched on the way there...the soldiers in the ceremony are wearing super fancy uniforms, complete with head stuff...i have no idea how to describe them, maybe head plumes? lots of marching, stomping and the like...even some high kicking, which, as lonely planet puts it, is so high that you wonder they don't concuss themselves...the crowds on either side are really patriotic, chanting and cheering the entire time...LOUD...at the very end of the ceremony, the flags of each country are lowered in unison, staying at an equal level the whole time...considering the level of animosity between the two countries, the degree of cooperation during the ceremony (for choreography and the flag lowering) is pretty incredible...tensions between the two countries have never been good (going back to when the modern borders for india were set and pakistan was created)...politics are different, and so are the religions...pakistan is mostly muslim, while india is mostly hindu...during the partition, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured as they crossed the country in order to get to the right territory...the anger hasn't ever gone away...and now, after the bombings in mumbai, the feelings continue...
after amritsar, we went to jaisalmer...a pretty town, mostly built of yellow sandstone...throughout the town there are beautiful havelis, old, VERY ornately carved houses...the town is most known for the fort in the middle...unfortunately, the fort is on the world monuments watch list for the world's 100 most endangered sights...the drainage system under the fort was only built to handle a 10th of what it is dealing with now, and as a result, the ground is slowly collapsing...the fort is slowly sinking into the hill...there are currently 99 bastions surrounding the fort, 3 have already collapsed...it's not ethical to stay in a hotel inside the fort, and we didn't...we didn't eat at any of the restaurants in there either...people still live in the fort, but they always have, ever since the fort was built...it's the hotels and restaurants that are so awful...basically, the town is killing itself by not practicing conservation...the town isn't big, there is no reason to stay inside the fort...layna talked to a guy at our hotel whose family emigrated here in 1971 from pakistan...at that time, the countries didn't like each other, but the border was relatively open...now, they can't really go back...this guy would like to see where his family is from, but he's not likely to ever do so...he said he considers himself indian, not pakistani...and he doesn't like pakistanis...he said no people live in pakistan, only animals...soooooooooo, yeah, the two countries don't get along so well...