It's an elephant parade!

Bleary eyed and tired we awoke on Monday, hoping to quickly adjust to the minor time difference between Beijing and Delhi. It’s not the time difference so much as the red eye flight that made it challenging.

For the duration of our time in India, we hired a car and driver which is something that Christine & Courtney did while they were in India in January and had a great experience with. India can be a dangerous place at times and it is nice to have the security of knowing someone will always be there waiting to drive you wherever you wish. It is also incredibly cheap to do this and costs not more than $50 per person for the driver, car and hotels. Our drivers name is Keram but he said we can call him Mr. Ram because westerners apparently have trouble with the “Ke” part of his name. He has been driving tourists around for 17 years, speaks moderate English and has three children and a wife that he supports. He is an extremely kind gentleman and we feel grateful to have such a great guide.

Our first full day in Delhi and we had no specific plans. Our driver picked us up at the appointed time and took us to a restaurant for lunch. I suspect he has a list of restaurants that are a bit cleaner and more western friendly. The food was delicious and thus began our pattern of ordering most of our meals consisting of different curries and naan bread. Most places seem to tone down the spice levels for us, but on occasion we get the full force of local fare. (Right - Hovan and delicious Indian food).

After lunch we enjoyed touring some of the major sites of the city. We entrusted Mr. Ram to take us around to what he thought were highlights, all the while driving and pointing out interesting things. We first visited the India Gate and government houses of India. The government buildings were built by the British and they seem to be fastidiously maintained. The whole area is bright, clean and quite beautiful. It is here that we started having local Indians asking if they and their families could have their pictures taken with us. It happens often enough for us to feel like we are minor celebrities. The children in particular giggle and love to run up and say "hello" and "bye-bye" to us. (Left - India Gate)

After India Gate we visited the Tomb of Hamuyan, which is similar to the Taj Mahal, except he built it for himself and family, not just his wife. The property is in the midst of restoration and looks quite pleasant with large gardens. It is also a quiet haven in the middle of a huge city. Following this we visited Qutab Minar, which is a site of both finished and incomplete mosques, towers and other buildings. The place was rife with monkeys and parrots running over the ruins. After returning to the hotel, we enjoyed another delicious Indian dinner and then wandered the street near our hotel where there is a huge street market every Monday. (Right - Ruins of Qutab Minar).

The next day we rose fairly early and started our trek to Agra, which is home to the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. The distance is only about 220 Km. but it took us 6 hours to make that distance. The driver has to be very careful as he is in a new car with customers. The road systems are absolutely insane. We came across stretch that was technically 2 lanes, but 5 lanes of vehicles driving forward. In fact, 3 of them across at points were large delivery trucks, so it wasn’t as though it was 5 lanes of motorcycles & scooters (of which there are many). Everyone is constantly jockeying for position, maneuvering and swerving without regard for traffic rules. And the horns … They never stop using the horns, it’s like a chorus of constant obnoxious sounds all around. You know when there are signs that say "Please avoid driving on the wrong side of the road" and "Lane driving is safe driving" that the driving is a little crazy! There are countless bikes, horses, camels, cows, goats, pigs, dogs, people, oxen sharing the road as well so it's a constant game of passing the slow truck that is passing the motor bike with a family of 6 on it, which is passing the camel, which is passing the oxen cart, which is passing the bike cart stacked high with chairs, which is passing the guy carrying a chandelier on his head... you get the idea! (Left - Camel walking down the highway)

We arrived at the Taj Mahal and our driver gave us some tips on how to avoid getting robbed or ripped off and sent us on our way. On our walk to the site many rickshaw drivers and guides tried to get us to hire them. One driver negotiated himself down from 100 rupees to 50, 40, 20, then 10 each (still 20), 10, then finally he offered us the 1 km ride for 5 rupees. We didn’t even say a word through this entire negotiation, and still opted to stretch our legs and walk.

The site is quite lovely and looks pretty much exactly as you see it in movies and pictures. The only really surprising thing is scale, as it turns out to be smaller than you would expect. The site is kept immaculately clean and you are required to put on booties or take your shoes off before going up to the actual structure. The visit was very pleasant and the only thing to mar the site is a river running along the backside that is littered with piles and piles of garbage. Following the Taj Mahal we visited the Agra Fort, which is where the local rulers sat, one of whom built the Taj as a burial site for his wife (the Taj Mahal is in sight of the fort). This site is built of red stone and is overrun with monkeys. It has a couple of wide buildings and intricate designs over the interior facades. (Right - Taj Mahal)

On our way back to Delhi the driver had to make an obligatory stop at a marble factory for us to look around. It is part of most tours in China and India to make these stops. We humoured him and visited the shop while the salesman tried to encourage us to buy engraved marble tables that were only $4,000-$10,000 as he put it. He must have assumed that a few thousand dollars to Canadians is change. We contemplated getting a 12 person table, but since we couldn’t decide if either of us had space in our bags for it and Christine refused to carry it, we passed. He did refer us on to his neighbour who owned the worlds largest Topaz that was not for sale. Apparently it was featured in the James Bond movie Octopussy and Roger Moore was actually in his store for the scene in the movie. It is incredible if you travel the world how often 007 comes up. (Left - Us and the worlds largest topaz not for sale).

The next day we got up early to strike out for Jim Corbett Park in northern India. The Park is only about 320 km from Delhi as our driver indicated, however it took over 9 hours to make the trek (a combination of traffic and at times bad roads). The ride was enjoyable as we got to see cities, villages and people as we passed along. Christine took some great everyday shots of the people doing regular activities. Along the way we noticed that the farmers took really good care of their properties, even when they abutted the highway. Typically we have found that almost everywhere there is lots of trash strewn about the ground, with the exception of around farms and in some of the biggest tourist attractions. It is interesting that the Indian people are well dressed, have clean clothes, shops and homes, but as soon as they are on the street garbage just gets tossed everywhere. (Right - Indian people riding in the back of a tractor)

When we arrived at Ramnagar also known as Corbett City, we checked into our hotel. The hotel is not exactly up to North American standards of cleanliness, service, etc., but we have both been in worse places. It was funny though, our driver, looking out for us, went in and checked out a couple of rooms and when we were looking at it he asked if it was okay. We were going to say it would be alright when he bumped my arm. I wasn’t sure if it was an accident or not, so I looked at Christine to see if she saw anything. He moved behind the hotel clerk and shook his head indicating we should say no, so we did. He smiled and then took us to another, “better” room. If there was a difference between the two rooms, we couldn’t really see it. Our driver was beaming though, as if he had discovered a hidden jewel. It was sweet that he was looking out for our interests, so we said the room was just great. (Left - Our hotel in Ramnagar).

The electricity in the city is spotty at best, as is it in many places all over India. Our little flashlights came in handy during these brownouts. At night the hotel had a generator they powered up so that we can have the lights on and use the hot water heater to heat water for the shower. Many people in the town have generators so it can get quite noisy at night with the generators running all down the street.

That night we met with a local tour company and made arrangements to visit the park. We arranged to go on a morning jeep ride with a guide and to take an afternoon Elephant trek in a different section of the park. The price was very reasonable and the service was very good. The only glitch was that in order to get a same day permit to visit the park, we would have to line up early in the morning as they are given out first come first serve. Also, we had to go in person as the park would not sell permits to locals (in case they would scalp them), so you had to show your documents that demonstrated you were an outside tourist. This meant an early morning for me, as we figured there was no point in two of us getting up early.

The next morning at 4:00am I got up and met the tour operator to go to the permit place. He had some of his staff reserving a spot for me all night, so there was someone standing at the very front of the line that swapped places with me right before the office opened. I am estimating that there was more than 20 tourists in line with all the guides standing off to the side. As soon as the doors opened we rushed forward, showed we were tourists, got our forms, had our guides fill them out and then got our permits. I counted that 9 permits were given out, so there must have been some unhappy people from the line. After everything was sorted out I came back to the hotel and picked up Christine to head off on our tour. We had a big jeep just for us, and it came with one driver and one tour guide. I wouldn’t exactly call Bobby a tour guide, he was a government employee that was required to be with us. Apparently if the driver doesn’t speak English and there are foreigners in the jeep, it is required that an English speaking government employee attend.

By the time we reached the designated section of the park it was 6:30 and the gates were just opening up. Jim Corbett Park is a national park that was designated so that it could protect the Tiger population in the area. People come from all over in hopes of seeing this king of the jungle, but they are very elusive and not often seen. The park is very large and only about 1/3 is open to the public and we were told there are only 130 tigers in the whole thing.

As we started driving through the park Bobby and the driver began pointing out things of interest. We spotted several groups of deer, the tigers food source. There were lots of tiger tracks and even the clear tracks of a very large python. Bobby had a true trackers eye and he had the driver follow tracks at two separate locations he knew that the tiger was in the bush area, but by law we were not allowed out of the jeep. There was one spot we circled back to 3 times and we knew Bobby had a fix on the area of a tiger, but it wasn’t visible from the road. It was easy to see lots of bird specimens, predator birds, black storks, peacocks and so on. After about an hour and a half the sun was well up and we stopped at a little camp and cafeteria in the park for a bite to eat. There were lots of people around and nobody had spotted a tiger that morning. As we were eating there were lots of monkeys around trying to steal things from the vehicles. Thankfully Bobby had us take everything with us. At one point I pointed out a monkey to Christine who was sneaking up on all the tables. With incredible speed he darted between a few people, leaped over another and tried to snatch a plateful of French toast. Food went flying in all directions from everyone and the people were all looking around to see what happened. In the confusion the monkey grabbed someone’s dropped sandwich and made for the trees. (Left - Spotted dove)

After the break we got back on the trail, but you could tell that the likelihood of seeing a tiger was small because they had bedded down for the day. We drove around for another hour and a half seeing more minor sites and enjoying the beauty and peace of the park. As we were making our way out Bobby told us that it was an average day in the park and you could tell he was sorry we didn’t see anything spectacular. Then we came across a parked car and two men staring into the bush. We stopped and could hear a heard of wild elephants munching just behind the trees. At points we could see a elephant trunk snatch more branches or the top of a head, but nothing more. Then more and more jeeps stopped and the elephants shied back from the noise of people talking. When most of the jeeps had left, Bobby had our driver take an illegal road to a watering hole, hoping the elephants would show up. When they didn’t we returned to the road and waited patiently for a bit. By this point it was only us and the car, everyone else had gone. Suddenly a large elephant emerged on the road and stopped no more than 15 feet from Christine and I. We could see at least 2 others waiting to come out, but the first was checking to see if it was safe. He stared at the two of us for about a minute or a minute and a half before a noise scared him back into the bush. Then, after about 5 more minutes it began. The whole herd began to slowly cross the road. There were 7 full sized adults, one that looked like a teenager and a baby. The baby was well sheltered under moms legs and was incredibly cute. They marched across the road in single file, just like in the Disney cartoon, The Jungle Book. The whole experience lasted about 15 minutes and was pure joy. On our way out of the park Bobby told us it was not an average day in the park. We may not have seen the tiger, but the park was beautiful and the wild elephants made the whole journey worthwhile.

Below - Elephant Parade

In the afternoon Christine and I went on an elephant safari ride. With an elephant you can't cover nearly the same ground as a Jeep, but the experience is quite fun. The only part we didn't enjoy was when the driver would hit the elephant on the head with his metal rod or jab him to get the elephant going. They are such gentle giants and we felt sorry on the occasions that it happened. (Left - Hovan and the elephant we rode)

We spent about 2 hours on the elephant and wandered through the bush pretty much wherever we wanted to go. The elephant bowls over any small trees, shrubs and branches in its way. It kept grabbing grass and leaves as it walked and ate pretty much the whole time we were riding it.


While we were wandering through the forest we continued to come across more monkeys and a different type of deer. The new things we saw were the largest, freakiest looking spiders I have ever laid eyes on (too many of them) and also a pair of jackels that were on the hunt as the sun was going down.

In the end we didn't manage to see a tiger in the park, but we had a great time all the same. The Jeep ride was lots of fun and the elephant ride was a nice loping pace that allowed us a more intimate experience with the forest.

Soon it will be back to Delhi and then a very early morning plane ride to Kathmadu, where we will start our trek through the Himalaya's. Christine has been waiting for this moment for many years, so we're excited about this next leg. We will be trekking for about 2 1/2 weeks, and obviously there is no internet up in the mountains. We may squeeze in one more blog, but if not, you will all just have to wait with bated breath for the next addition.

Cheers to all,

Christine and Hovan

View India Photo Gallery

The Great Wall

The Beijing & Great Wall photo album is not quite complete, but if you wish to see what Christine has to date, please go ahead and have a look at the album here to find it: Beijing & Great Wall

On our fourth day on Beijing we decided to wander around some smaller city cites a bit and have a bit of a slower day. We started off by visiting Jingshan Park, which was located about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. It was a pleasant park that sloped up to a hilltop with a view of much of Beijing, most especially the Forbidden City. There were a number of buildings placed symmetrically and strategically all over the park, and it made for a pleasant morning walk.

In the afternoon, Christine and I went to see the Temple of Heaven, another park with a large ceremonial building in the centre for offering sacrifices, mostly linked with the hope of achieving a good crop. The park was quite large and eclectic, with musicians scattered about playing and not asking for money. There were groups doing Tai Chi in quiet corners, a very large group that seemed to be engaged in a clapping exercise of some sort, and a bunch of kite flyers with a unique style of kite that doesn’t require much, if any wind to play with. All of these groups were well spaced and had their own sections of park within which to play. We also stumbled across a huge playground and thought that it would be a great deal of fun for children to play in. As we were passing closer, Christine noticed a bit of an oddity. All the people “playing” were adults in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. It turned out to be a jungle gym of sorts for adults to exercise and stretch on all manner of funky and weird looking contraptions.

In the evening we decided to enjoy a Chinese acrobatic performance, and we purchased the tickets at our hotel. We bought the very cheapest seats they had, and were told to arrive at the reception desk very early to head to the theatre. When we arrived, they ushered us and two other hotel guests to some very nice seats, right beside the most expensive in the building. Apparently it’s pretty much a pick the best spot when you arrive system, so I’m glad we didn’t spring for the more expensive ticket. After the concert we went home for an early sleep.

On Friday morning we woke up at 5:30 so that we were ready for a 6 o’clock pick up for a trip to the Great Wall of China. We were trying to avoid the really touristy areas of the Wall and found this neat section that is a 12 kilometre hike along the wall that included passing 30 towers. The starting point of the hike was at a place called Jinshanling and it ended at Simatai. We couldn’t find an easy way to get out to the section on our own, and to hire a car was actually quite expensive. We found a tour group that ran a bus out their, but once we arrived it was free for us to do the wall at our own pace. After a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived at a very small town right at the base of the wall. We were offered some advice about how to deal with the local farmers turned vendors, and off we went.

Once we climbed the mountain to the starting point on the wall we truly saw why they don’t call it the “It’s Pretty Big Wall” or the “Hey That’s Not Bad Wall” or even the “It’s a Decent Size Wall”, because it is a Great Wall. It stretched off for as far as we could see into the distance in either direction, snaking along the mountain top like a dragon at rest. The wall is quite wide and fairly steep, but they designed it to use the natural terrain to add height to the defenses, placing it on cliffs edges or at steep angles to the ground. The route we chose to take was a combination of restored sections and areas that are in a complete state of disrepair with some slightly dangerous spots. The climbs to the peaks of the towers were quite steep and there was an aggressive undulating pattern to the wall. The views were beautiful and the sky was clear of any clouds, though a bit of smog prevented a clear look at the furthest peaks, creating a hazy view.

Because there was no tour guide on the wall and it is a bit of hike, not nearly as many people visit this section of the wall, or if they do, they only visit the ends and don’t hike through the middle. As we were walking along there were lengthy periods of time that we didn’t have anyone around us at all. At most we encountered groups of 2-4 people, mostly from the same bus we arrived on. The only other human presence were the vendors with the exact same chant: Wata-coca-beer(with a really soft r). They very intelligently positioned themselves in the towers where you usually came up a steep way and were too out of breath to say much or to ask them to leave you alone. In general though they didn’t follow for too long, continuing to try and hawk their wares.

When we reached the end of the trek we had a choice, hike down to the bus or take this long zip-line over a small lake and then a boat to the bus. As if it was any contest and the zip line was a lot of fun, with the exception of a mild concern over Chinese safety and regulations. After we got to the bus we were taken for a late lunch that was probably the only bad Chinese food on the whole trip. There was also this pleasant bathroom which was probably the dirtiest one I have ever seen. Now squatty potties are a way of life out here and we are comfortable with that, but this place had group squatty potties, so you were squatting next to two other people while taking care of business, which is a little uncomfortable. To make matters slightly worse, there was no door to the bathroom and the potties were open and visible not only to anyone entering the bathroom, but also to anyone walking by. A little less privacy than we are used to.

On our way back to Beijing on the bus, our tour guide informed us that if we wanted to take an express highway, we could all pay an additional 75cents Canadian to do so. Of course everyone was tired and would love to save an hour and a half on the bus. The real question is why didn’t they include that in the original price and let me sleep in an extra hour and a half to a decent time. What bus full of westerners is not willing to pay an extra $1.50 to save three hours on a bus and get more sleep.

After dinner that evening we decided to enjoy a massage to help relax after the hike. We returned to the same place we were at before for my hair-cut. We had dual side by side massages that lasted 2 hours and cost us a total of $40. They were so skilled at their job that both Christine and I fell asleep at one point during the massage.

On Saturday we decided it was finally time to test our mettle in the Chinese market place. There were a couple of well known markets that we decided to visit, and see if we couldn’t find some things to make good Christmas presents. On our way to the first market our taxi driver took what we thought was a long route, going the wrong direction for quite a while. We had a vague sense of where the market was, and when it seemed to be taking too long, Christine (who was sitting in the front seat) took a photo of his picture and taxi license number. He started heading the right direction and when he arrived we saw the market was next to another site we had previously visited. His meter read at twice the price we paid last time. Christine was pretty incensed over the dishonesty so she really lit into him about it. He didn’t speak any English, but he was very nervous that we had his tai license number. He phoned someone who spoke to Christine in English and apologized for the dishonesty of the driver. Christine said she would only pay the same amount as with our last trip and the man on the phone gave a number even less than that. When we got out of the cab, the driver pointed at her camera and the license and he looked very very concerned that we would report him. In the end we didn’t, but thought it best to let him stew a bit about his dishonesty and maybe he would think twice before trying to take advantage of tourists. For my part, I was very amused because the taxi cost $2.50 instead of the $6 he was trying to charge. Not a lot of money, but on principle Christine was angry and I was enjoying watch her let the driver have a piece of her mind.

The market places we visited are absolutely nuts. There are thousands of stalls, with everyone selling essentially the same goods but claiming their products are better than all the rest. After my first purchase I really got into the bargaining and Christine was already well practiced from her first visit to India. They would typically quote an unbelievable price for a good and then away we would go. Often they might start at 2000 Yuan, and you would offer 50 and they would come down while we would only go up marginally and in the end you would get it for 70 or 75 Yuan, a long way from 2000. I guess maybe some people really don’t negotiate hard and they can make some good money. If they make a profit at 70, imagine if someone “bargained” them down to a 500 would mean. They engaged the most entertaining of tactics, you are always their friend or their first customer of the day (even if it was the afternoon and you saw a bunch of people just leaving their stall). We frequently heard that it was below their cost, that we were killing them, that we were not nice and too hard a bargainer. In the end they were usually not too happy with us when we left, but I am sure they wouldn’t sell it to us if there was no profit in it for them. All in all it was more of an adventure than a shopping trip.

That night we went out to a well known restaurant that was recommended to us by a friend of Christine’s mom. The restaurant was jam packed and we had to wait about an hour to get a table. The restaurant is famous for it’s Peking Duck, and it was absolutely incredible, definitely worth the wait. The entire meal was delicious and quite fancy compared to the small family restaurants we had been eating in. In the end the bill was definitely that of a fancy restaurant, at least by Chinese standards. When we put it into western prices it was like eating out at Milestones, but after $7-9 per outing, we were thinking in Chinese terms.

Yesterday held much the same as Saturday, we visited the markets again to pick a few other things, wandered around a bit, packed up, said good bye to Beijing and made our way to the airport. After a very lengthy and annoying airport visit, we made our way to Delhi, India. The flight arrived at 2 in the morning (5 Beijing time), but thankfully our driver was waiting to pick us up. We arranged with a tour company to have a driver and accommodation arranged in the three locations we want to visit in India this week. For a week with a personal driver to take us anywhere we want and hotels paid for, the cost is only $300 per person.
The first impression of Delhi is that the people are very friendly if not a bit too pushy wanting you to buy or get a tip for not really doing anything. The city is incredibly dirty in certain places and in other places pretty and well maintained compared to Beijing, and a bit more chaotic and unorganized. It should be an exciting time!!

Our very best wishes to all of you,

Christine and Hovan

The Middle Kingdom

Christine and I were very excited to arrive in Beijing. The city is home to many well know sites, the country and therefore the capital is a growing superpower, the city holds more people than half the Canadian population, and finally, we were just happy to get off the train and really stretch our legs with some longer walks.

We arrived at the Beijing train station around 2 in the afternoon, and then had to figure out how to get to our hotel. Once again the joys of booking on line saved us a small fortune, and Beijing is not an expensive city to begin with. We were trying to figure out how to get a cab to our hotel, along with some others from the train. The regular cabs didn’t recognize our location, as the address was not written in Chinese characters. The only person who would help us was one man who spoke English and he wanted to charge a rate that we thought too high (also he wasn’t an official cab). After finding some free internet nearby and writing down the address in Chinese, we showed it to the first cab we saw and it was no problem from there. The 30 minutes in the cab cost about $3 Canadian and was far less than the $40 the English speaker tried to sell us on.

Our hotel turned out to be about half a block from the wall of Forbidden City, one of the most famous of Beijing landmarks. Because the hotel was so full we got bumped up into a higher class of room, and it was nice to finally have some space after the cramped cabin conditions on the train. By the time everything was settled it was early evening, so we would not get in any major sight seeing that day.

Instead we decided to walk along the outside of Forbidden City and find a restaurant, being sick of all the noodle soup from the train. We found a restaurant that had pictures and prices, so we made a few selections and settled in for a delicious meal. The dishes are quite large, cheap and fantastic, just as I remembered it from my previous visit to the Middle Kingdom. We had the most amazing sweet and sour pork. This was interesting since I remembered it being very difficult to find that dish in Shanghai, but perhaps it is more of a regional popularity here.

We spent the rest of the evening wandering around, getting harassed by hundreds of modern rickshaw drivers (they now have motorized scooters or bikes to take you around). The common barrage is: HELLO, HELLO!! HELLO SIR! WHERE YOU GOING? GET IN!! WHERE YOU FROM? LET’S GO! Any combination of these was employed. It didn’t matter that we said no or completely ignored one driver not 5 feet from the next; they still had a try at their luck. Of course everywhere we go there are many others trying to hawk goods or get us to join their tour group.

Yesterday Christine and I decided to visit the Forbidden City, and let me tell you it is not forbidden anymore. Tens of thousands of tourists are crawling all over the place, and most of them are Chinese. I guess this time of year there are not a lot of western travelers. The city is very large and pretty much every direction you turn is a picture waiting to happen. They “hired” 1 million labourers and 10,000 artisans to work on building it back in the 1600’s. One stone in the city that is ornately carved took 20,000 men 23 days to move a very short distance from the outskirts of the city to the palace. They had to wait for winter, spread water along the path and then drag the stone over the ice.

The commentary for the audio guide is done by none other than Roger Moore, James Bond Number 2. I of course am referring to his order as Bond, after the venerable Sean Connery. As to his turn at Bond, my dear father ranks him as number 2 in acting, but I place him in a tie for 3rd. I know there are a lot of Bond references through out the blog, but I can’t help it if dear old 007 gets around.

Roger’s dialogue of the structures is a nice complement to the architecture, and the entire city took us most of the day to visit. We took particular enjoyment poking fun at the names of the buildings, as they are probably poetic in Chinese have other, er, nuances in English. Things like: The Palace of Eternal Longing, or the Courtyard of Ever Lasting Pleasure, and so on.

We spent the late afternoon and evening wandering around Tiananmen Square. There is a lot of history to that square, and we spent some time appreciating the significance and sheer size of it. We took in the sight of the flag lowering in the square, carried out with a number of troops, officers and on-lookers. Thankfully I could easily see over the shoulders of the much shorter Chinese people, and I teased Christine about giving her a boost so she could enjoy it as much as I could.

That evening we stopped for another delicious meal on our way back to the hotel. The food here is so cheap, and I know we aren’t even eating at the restaurants that really cost nothing (cause the signs are all in Chinese and all we can see is that the most expensive dish is $2 at the whole restaurant). Still, for about $8-9 we can enjoy 3 or 4 different dishes and drinks. On our way out of the restaurant we saw a place for me to get my shaggy hair cut. So here is what I got for $6 – they shampooed and massaged my scalp for about 15 minutes, I got a nice haircut where they took their time and he did a pretty good job, and a head-neck-shoulder-upper back-arm-hand massage that must have lasted about 25 to 30 minutes. The whole ordeal was taking so long that they offered to shampoo and blow-dry Christine’s hair and give her the same massage for about $3 since she was waiting so long. Where can you get all of that for less than $10, China rocks. The couple that was serving us was also having a good laugh at my beard and offered to trim it as well, but I passed.

Today we spent the day wandering around the city. We did stop back at Tiananmen Square again so that we could visit Mao’s Mausoleum. We figured since we already visited one evil dictators Mausoleum on this trip, why pass up the other. When we got in line we were told by someone official looking that Christine had to check her bag. He led us to the checking station and we were worried that we were going to miss the closing of the visits, since it is only open until 12:00. He walked us back to the line, demanded a large tip, but we bartered down to $1.50, and he sent us in line way ahead. If he hadn’t we would have missed the exhibit. It is funny how many people were complicit in letting us cut through the line. Once in place the line moves at an incredibly steady pace and I would estimate that more than 100 times as many people line up daily to see Mao as they do for Lenin. Since Russia has 1/10th the population of China, I would say that Lenin’s popularity just can’t compare to Mao. While in the line there was a terrible amount of pushing and shoving and people trying to get ahead of others. In particular the little old ladies seem to shove and push their way through, often dragging their husbands in tow. When I say little, I mean little, most didn’t even come to my chest height. The younger generations seem to be a bit more relaxed and just flow with the line. Along the way we made friends with a little boy and his family. Afterwards, when we wound up in a hot pot restaurant we ran into the family again and had some photos with them. The hot pot was fantastic, and we had a wonderful assortment of recommended dishes.

We spent the rest of the day wandering through some very brand new tourist shopping areas that must have been erected for the Olympics, probably after knocking down some peoples homes. The streets then meandered into the far far less touristy shopping areas, where we enjoyed looking at places the locals buy. Afterwards we went off for dinner at a restaurant where they overcharged us. After a bit of arguing they simply pointed at the chopsticks we were using and said they charged us the difference for that. How do you argue about a chopstick fee we don’t know, but they were only overcharging by about $2, so we decided to pay up and move on.

We are excited about the next few days that we have here in Beijing and find that there is still a long list of things to do and see. Our start in Asia has been really nice and we look forward to our next adventures.

Thanks again to Christine’s Mom for posting this blog. She didn't even need to ask for Peter's help this time. We’ll have some photos of Beijing ready in the next day or two.

Our best to all of you,

Christine & Hovan

The Trans Siberia-Mongolian Train

The Trans Siberia-Mongolian Train

Greetings! If you are reading this, it’s thanks to Christine’s Mom and Christine's most wonderful, intelligent, and good looking brother, Peter, who have posted on our behalf as it turns out many sites such as blogger, facebook, twitter and various news agencies are blocked and inaccessible from China. Also, Christine will be unable to attach pictures to the post as she normally does, but photos from our journey on the Trans Siberia – Mongolia Train can be found here if you are interested: http://picasaweb.google.com/christine.root/TransSiberiaMongolianTrain

On our last day in Moscow the sun shone bright and the sky was clear blue. It was a pleasant day that we spent doing a bit of casual wandering around the city, emailing, and buying a few things to prepare for our train trip. After spending most of the day taking things pretty easy, we returned back to our Hotel to get our things and head to the Trans-Siberian train. During our time in Moscow we used pretty much every form of transit: taxi, shuttle bus, metro, and city bus. So when we had to take a bus and a metro to get to the train station, it was little challenge, except manhandling our bags around all the people. When we arrived at the train station stop, the metro was probably one of the fullest stations we have seen in Moscow. The two different metros would pull into the station at the same time and disgorge all of their passengers into the station. There is a mad rush for the escalators and the floor is completely packed in the swarm of people. Then just as the last of the masses are getting to the top platform and there is a small window of space, with only the arrivals waiting for the train in place. Moments later two new trains arrive and the hordes begin again. It is pretty common in metros, but this particular setting seems like something out of a movie.

In total, the train journey was 6 nights, 7 days. The train takes 4 days in Russia, crossing into Siberia and passing through places like Irkusk (a name that will be familiar to any Risk players). The train enters Mongolia on the 5th night and travels for about 24 hours through Mongolia. On the 6th and final evening, the train enters into China and travels straight through to Beijing. Many of the people on the train spent a few days in Ulan Batar, the capital of Mongolia, but given the chilly weather and lack of activities, some expressed regrets at spending so much time in the Mongol city and surrounding areas.

Back in Moscow, Russia, we arrived at the train station a couple of hours before departure to ensure that we didn’t have any trouble locating our train. We were quite excited about getting this long train ride started and enjoying a bit of a slower pace for 6-7 days. Christine loves trains and the thought of a week traveling by one was pretty exciting for her. Our train was a Chinese one, and staffed almost completely by Chinese men, with the exception of a Russian woman in the meal car who prepared the food and a Russian conductor. The food in Russia was Russian, and when the train crossed to Mongolia and China the menu and dining car changed to the native country. Each train carriage had an attendant and ours was a very nice young man. He looked out for us, checked in to make sure we were onboard when the train left a stop, cleaned up the carriage and did general such duties.

Our room was small in some ways, but large enough and well laid out. After spending most of the last 7 weeks in a tent, the set-up was pretty good. We had our own table and comfy chair, two bunk beds, a small closet, and a shared sink and shower with the room next door. The bathroom was right next to our room and was usually kept quite clean. The shower was very entertaining as it flows at a trickle pressure and takes about twice as long as normal to have one. However, we were very fortunate to have a shower for ourselves as most of the other carriages do not and after 6 or 7 days things can get a little manky. The temperature inside the train was often quite hot, and there were some windows that open in the hallway, but not in our room. All in all it was very cozy and a pleasant place to spend a week. Sleeping aboard the train was quite pleasant and the rocking was somewhat akin to sleeping on a boat. One small nuisance was that with the snow on the tracks the train sometimes lost traction and as it powers up to try and gain momentum, the train slips and jerks. One particularly snowy night it was happening quite frequently, which subsequently lead to a sleep of fits and starts.

The samovars and the carriages were heated with coal, and the attendants were constantly shoveling more fuel in to keep things pretty warm. The stops often had coal trucks running down the line of the train to drop off fresh supplies. What this often meant was that there was a distinct scent of coal hanging in the air, and it became quite pungent when passing in the space between the different carriages.

Train life was pretty relaxed and casual. There isn’t a lot to do, except sit, lie down, read, nap, and make new friends. While I spent much of the day reading, Christine spent a good portion napping. At one point while I was writing this she was busy having a nap, it was perhaps her second nap of the day, but certainly not her last. We saved our foray into the very back of the train until the second day and didn’t even think about over-taxing ourselves to the front of the train until the fourth day. Unfortunately, on our way to the front we were stopped 2 cars short of the engine by a carriage attendant, apparently the first two were staff quarters and storage of food and coal and who knows what else.

The train stops about 4 times a day and we get off to stretch our legs and check out the wares of the old women in babushka’s selling various foods to train passengers. The stops are only for 10 minutes or so, but on occasion can be for about a half an hour. Since we largely existed on noodle soup with hot water from the provided samovar, we loved to see if there were any tasty Russian dishes to mix things up. So not only were the stops akin to free time outside, they were also a hunting expedition for something other than noodles to eat. The ladies were polite and not very pushy. Some things like fruit were often overpriced, but there were some very good reasonably priced meals to be found as well.

The people on the train were an interesting hodge-podge of all nations. Christine and I, along with apparently many others, thought the train would be loaded with large, bearded Russian men pounding back the vodka. As it turns out, we saw almost no Russian’s on-board. The people in our car were a mix of Mongolians, Spaniards and an Australian/French couple. A few cars behind us we found a lot of people around our age, and English was a unifying language for conversation. There were a lot of British, Swedish and Australians on the train. One other Canadian, a few Americans and Germans add a bit to the mix. We all took to hanging out together and often filled the dinner car playing card games. While there aren’t a lot of Russian’s pounding the vodka, all the foreigners surely picked up the slack. Every night was like a party, with vodka and beer and snacks and games. Everyone had great travel stories to share, and most people seem to be on long vacations, a couple months for some, 6 months for lots and a few that quit their jobs and are traveling for a year or two, or at least until the money runs out and they get home sick. There was a strong feeling of kindred spirits, and quick easy friendships were formed everywhere. It was sad as some people start getting off in Mongolia or other locations in China, like a loose family breaking up.

The scenery through much of Russia was pretty similar, lots of birch trees, flat rolling hills and run down towns all along the line. It was easy to see the wealth disparity between Moscow and all the little towns and cities that we passed. The further into Siberia we got the colder it got and the thicker the snow hung on the trees. The further we traveled into Siberia, the faster the mercury dropped and the more snow we saw. At some moments when we passed through higher elevations the covering was a dense blanket and hung heavily in the trees. It reminded me of winters in Salmon Arm, except in mid October instead of January. Can you imagine if the ground is iced, the air freezing and the snow fairly thick in the middle of October, how cold it will be in January/February when they are full trapped in the throes of winter? The people must be very hearty hear to endure such conditions. As we drew closer to Mongolia, the snow density began to lighten, but certainly not the temperature.

The scenery was beautiful and very enjoyable from the comfort of our warm cabin. Watching the lazy flakes drift listlessly to the ground became a favourite past time and it was easy to pass much of the day just enjoying the scenery.

On the 5th evening we pulled into the Russia-Mongolia border for a 5 hour stop to get through customs. It was a lengthy ordeal. The Russians came aboard and kicked us out of our room so they could go through it for contraband. We had to pull out our bags and they tossed the sheets, doing a pretty thorough job of it. They even opened up the electrical panels to check for hidden contraband. Then came the Russian soldier with the sniffing hound, trying to find any drugs aboard the train. Christine thought the little dog was cute, but had the presence of mind not to stop and pet it. The Russians took away our passports and we had about 3 hours before they would be back. In the meantime, they were busy switching the engine car over and the dinner car as well to a Mongolian one. We felt pretty secure the train wouldn’t take off without us, especially in the absence of an engine.

Since we were experiencing an unexpectedly lengthy stop, we decided to get out and go for a walk with another couple from the train. Most people chose to stay on the train, I think a few were nervous to stray too far, but we thought we might as well see the border town. This place was a bit rougher than Moscow, and after having a bowl of borsht at a café, we wandered around for a bit. The town was pretty run down and in rough shape, but they did have a well maintained memorial for those fallen in WWII. The Aussie with us wanted to stop by what looked like the only pub in town for a pint with the locals, but there was a private party going on, so we were not allowed in. The small grocery store was a highlight in that it have a bit more variety from that same 5 things that were available on every station platform. After paying, before we were about to leave, a fight broke out outside. Apparently a drunk Russian had dropped his loaf of bread on the ground and so he kicked a car that was parked outside. This did not go over well with the 3 Eurasion Russians inside, so they got out and started a fight. The other guy had a few friends as well, and after a bit of a punch up and some yelling, the 3 men got back in the car and drove off. We figured since it was a small town, they probably knew each other already and perhaps there is some animosity between the white Russians and the Eurasian ones. In any case, we hightailed it back to the train and waited for a bit to pass through to Mongolia.

As we were passing the border, the attendants gave us some new customs forms to fill out for Mongolia, and they were entirely in Russian. After a good laugh and some guesses as to what was what, we asked some of our carriage mates. Most had no clue, but the Mongolian gentleman in the adjoining room could read and write in Russian and spoke broken English. After he kindly walked me through it, we passed the info along to anyone else who needed some help. When it came time for the Mongolians to search the train, they took a completely different approach. Their focus wasn’t so much on contraband as it was on health. They all wore masks and rubber gloves and had us fill out a health form and gave us a brief look-see to make sure we weren’t obviously ill. It only took them about an hour and a half to clear the whole train and we were off into Mongolia, the time now about 2 in the morning. This was not helping Christine and I to start waking earlier and to adjust our internal clocks 5 hours back, but at least we had some nice time on the train to slowly adjust.

The next day in Mongolia was quite the sight. The landscape was so different from in Russia and the Gobi desert seems all encompassing. The picture out the window was nothing but plains and hills covered with a thin layer of snow and short scrub brush. There were a few tiny copses of trees here or there, but otherwise the landscape was both beautiful and bleak at the same time. The people live in a mixture of brick house and round huts. If you see pictures of Mongolia, the huts are usually colourful and look quite unique. However, in the winter they are all bundled up like a Canadian child going out into the snow. They have this white plastic looking covering that must help keep some of the warmth in. The cows here cling to the sides of fences for protection against the wind and perhaps to draw some warmth from human settlements. One set of houses had a line of clothes out to dry. Though the sky was clear and the sun was shining, I can’t imagine that much would dry in the negative temperatures.

As we were passing through the Gobi dessert, which is not surprisingly very sparse, we happened across a camel wandering along. Christine tried to take a photo, but it was a bit late so blurry, but rest assured it was indeed a camel. The sighting prompted a debate amongst everyone hanging out in the dining car as to the difference between a dromedary and camel, and can camels have more than 2 humps. In the end we all could at least agree that there were two humps on this camel. Apart from the camel and some additional yurts (the proper name for Mongolian round huts) there was nothing much to see, but vast tracts of untouched land. Mongolia is the 19th largest country in the world and only has 3 million people (not surprising considering how harsh the landscape is).

When we arrived at the Mongolia-China border, it proved to be another late night, going through customs on both sides and having a Chinese health nurse decide if we were Swine Flu infected. If she was suspicious we would have had our temperature checked like several other people on the train. After much searching and going through all the paper work we rolled into a shed on the Chinese side of the border to have a bogie change. And no that isn’t a top gun reference to communist fighter jet targets (I know it was Russia in the movie, but I have taken some artistic modernization). A bogie change is when the train wheels do not fit the track ahead. Russia and Mongolia have their own rail line, while China is on the same system as Europe. Once the train was pulled into the shed, the wheels were unhooked, large lifts hoisted the carriages and us along with it into the air, and staff set about changing the wheels on the train. Then we were gently set back down and steaming on our way by about 1:30 in the morning.

Our last day on the train was a pleasant and relaxing one, unlike the previously stress filled 5 or 6 . We packed up, had our first lunch in the carriage car for two reasons, we were sick of cheap packaged noodles and they gave us a free lunch voucher when we crossed into China. The scenery gradually began to change as we approached Beijing and some decent jagged mountains, streams and lakes finally started to appear. We also saw a small bit of the poverty that exists outside of the major cities in China.

Upon arriving in Beijing it was quite the vertical sight to see. The number of tall and really tall buildings is astounding. But what else would we expect from a city that has a surrounding population of 17 million and a city population of 13 million.

Pulling into the Beijing station we finally had to say good-bye to our longest home to date, the friends we made along the way and our trusty carriage attendant Chen. We had a wonderful time and it was a very slow paced and completely different experience from everything else. Now we look forward to our Asian experiences as we explore a bit of China, India and Nepal.

From Russia with Love

Christine and I ostensibly see our journey as taking on three legs, Europe, Russia & Asia, and Africa.

I was with mild sadness as we found ourselves pulling into Munich, for what would be our last stop on the European leg of the trip. Munich itself was a city easy to navigate, with wide boulevards, street markings similar to Canada, and sensible German drivers who followed the rules of the road. Unfortunately for us, when we got to our hotel, they informed us that we were a day late and our reservation was for the night before. Christine had called and changed the reservation to just the second night, but the date got lost in translation and they now no longer had a room for us. Fortunately, they called a hotel just around the block and we were able to secure a room there for the same cheap rate. Not as nice, but close, clean and convenient. (Right - the glockenspiel in Munich)

We spent the day wandering through the city and seeing the sights. A glockenspiel performance drew a crowd outside the main square, and the show was entertaining. Our most memorable moments of Munich are to be had in the Hafbraehouse, a massive and popular pub in the heart of the city. This is a place that draws both tourists and locals alike. The waiters have incredible stamina, using a method that allows them to carry 8 huge 1 liter stein glasses in each hand, which are the glasses you see Christine holding in the photo. (Left - Christine with her 1 liter of dark German Beer).

The food and the atmosphere are incredibly jolly, but the people are there for some serious beer drinking. The oompahpah band strikes up in the centre and when people know the song, the beer swinging and signing take off in earnest. We sat next to 3 very nice gentlemen who struck up a conversation with us. Only one of them spoke English and he was taking classes. He used the opportunity to learn some things from us, and it was a very friendly encounter. He had learned the phrase “Very nice to meet you” recently in school, and whenever he had trouble thinking of how to say something in English, he would bust that line out. Christine has a fun video of the three men singing along to the music. Two of the men are friends from Switzerland and one was a friend from Munich. We were never able to clarify how they knew each other. (Right - Friends at the Haufbrauhaus)

Above - the fellows we met at the German Beer Hall

Early the next morning we woke up, planning on getting to the airport to drop of the car and get our seats with plenty of time. Thankfully we set an alarm for the morning, as the requested wake up call never came. We made it with plenty of time to spare. Off we went to start our second leg of the journey – Moscow.

Now before leaving for Russia, we spent a bit of time learning about common scams, taxi problems, etc., just to make sure we reduced any chance of incident upon arriving in Russia since we would might as well have "tourist" stamped across our forehead. Upon arriving, we started looking for names of reputable companies we had researched, and found an official taxi service. The driver looked like a very nice fellow, and so off we went to the hotel. On the way out of the airp

ort, someone whispered to Christine if her if she wanted a taxi, but we figured we would stick with our first choice. We'd rather keep our passports and money, thank you!

On the ride to our hotel, the sky was overcast and gray and the rain was pounding down. The taxi ride to the hotel was largely uneventful, and Russian driving seems to be very ordered. Apart from on and off ramps, the people here seem to be very reasonable and safe in their driving. The only thing of note about the drive is that the traffic was absolutely horrendous and it took about 3 hours to get from the airport to the hotel. This is no small feat considering that the flight from Munich to Moscow was only 2 and ½ hours. The taxi driver was very apologetic, but the traffic certainly wasn’t his fault. Thankfully we had paid the full fare at the airport and the meter wasn't ticking the whole three hours.

Above - The Red Square, Moscow

So now we find ourselves in Moscow, at a very nice hotel, quite a way from the centre. We had managed to find a very nice hotel (which are incredibly expensive in Moscow) and t

he price we paid on-line was about 1/4^th the price we would have paid at the hotel – so our recommendation is to book on-line.

The last two days turned out to be gloriously sunny days with beautiful blue skies – how fortunate were we. Apparently it had been rainy and gray for many days previously, so we soaked up all the nice weather we could. However, apparently the rumours are true and Russia is a pretty cold place. The temperature was hovering around 4-5 degrees, but the wind made it feel a lot colder. A far cry from the 42 degrees of Seville only a month earlier. (Left - State Museum in the Red Square)

Our first full day in Moscow was dedicated to the purely tourist activity. Thanks to two co-workers of mine, Christine and I had a nice list of the “essential” Moscow to be seen. Our first stop on the trip was directly to Red Square. Immediately Christine was offered discount ballet tickets by a shady looking fellow - it's funny, in New York you get offered watches & purses, here in Russia, you get offered ballet tickets. We wandered along through the square and straight to the most iconic image of the centre, St. Basil’s Cathedral. The cathedral is smaller than you might think, but very unique. Each of the bulbous towers is done in a different design, and the entire building is done very colourfully. The only church to match this in colour is San Marco in Venice. The Russian churches also tend to lean towards more gold leaf coverings on the wall, and no stain glass on the window. (Right - St Basil's Cathedral)

Inside the cathedral, there is no central large space, instead there are many small churches, each dedicated to something different. Trained well, like all children of Armenian heritage, I spotted a dedication to an Armenian, St. Gregory the Illuminator. The cathedral winds up and around, and has a completely different feel to it. Perhaps part of the reason is that it is now a museum and no longer a church, so it does not have the same solemnity we are used to from our other visits.

Christine and I dutifully spent some time waiting in line for our turn to see Lenin’s Mausoleum. The line moves very fast, and they take security at this sight very seriously. For those of you who don’t know, the Russians have been keeping Lenin on ice for more than 85 years, and anyone who visits, can see him in his final resting place. When we finally managed to make our way into the sight, there were no less than 15 guards counted inside this very small building. We marched around his glass coffin, and even though there was nobody behind us at all, three times three different guards motioned for us to move along faster than we were. Apparantly you are also not allowed to put your cold hands in your pockets as Christine was politely told not to do this. We can now attest with our own eyes, that Lenin is indeed dead. (Left - Hovan in front of Lenin's Masoleum).

Following this visit, Christine and I went to visit the Kremlin. I have to say that as an avid spy novel reader and movie watcher, it felt pretty cool to be inside the Kremlin walls. The guards are still dressed smartly and the military presence was everywhere, but it was a neat feeling to waltz into a place that so many tried and failed for so many years. We spent a good deal of time wandering through all the various buildings and churches inside the Kremlin, seeing the church where Tsars ascended the throne, and another building where they were laid to rest. What was really interesting was that all of the art and wall coverings were restored under Soviet experts. I wouldn’t have expected the Soviets to invest in restoring tombs and art of the Tsarist era, but it is wonderful for the preservation of history. (Left - Us in front of the entrance to the Kremlin)

After dinner, Christine and I returned to Red Square to see it at night, all lit up, and without too many people. Most of the people were at home, watching the footy match between Russia and German to qualify for the World Cup. People had been dressed up, singing, cheering and waving flags all day. Sadly, Russia lost 1-0. (Right - Communist supporters marching in Red Square)

Red Square at night, however was beautiful. After wandering around, we realized that we had a bit of time before being picked up by the hotel shuttle bus, so we decided to head into the famous GUM shopping mall. If you are looking for a concentration of all the most expensive chain stores a la Cartier and Armani, this is the spot. I had a bit of fun wandering into stores where I had no intention of buying anything. Given that I am dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a fleece jacket, I really stood out. The fact that I have a really big bushy beard did not help matters at all (Scott, you would be proud of my beard). Every store I went into, an employee would follow me around making sure I didn’t steal anything. They were not subtle about it either, because they would often come in front of me, rest against a display case, and stare right at me. My favourite was in one store, I was bracketed by three ladies, and every move I made, they were all around me, not more than 3 feet away. (Right - GUM lit up at night)

Yesterday, we spent some time sight seeing, doing a few suggested walking routes, etc. We also visited the Old Arbat Street, which is popular shop strip that is pedestrian only. We visited one old Church on the river, whose name escapes me at the moment, but it is near the massive statue in honor of Peter the Great.

What took a significant amount of our time yesterday was trying to figure out if our train left Moscow on Monday night or Tuesday night. The problem was the booking agency was closed, and when we looked closer at the voucher they gave us back in Canada, there were two conflicting dates. We traveled all over town trying to figure this out, especially since we only had booked our accommodation until Monday morning. The train station was a total bust, and our few bits of Russian could our question. Even after lengthy line ups and finding the one employee who “spoke” English, we still couldn’t get a response. Frustrated, we decided to hop back on the Subway and head to another location where we were to pick up the tickets, and ask the hotel staff if they knew. In trying to get back into the train station, however, we kept getting attacked by these gates that would slam closed in front of us, really violently. We saw that it was the exit we had come out of, but we were unable to read the word “Exit” as it was in Cyrillic. We had no idea where the entrance was. After wandering into some very local, non-touristy areas, we were really lost. Finally we asked this nice young man, who introduced himself as Alexander, and he walked us through a maze to the train station. We ended the day totally out of luck and unsure when our train left. (Right - Hovan in front of one of the many beautiful cathedrals).

This morning we spoke to the lady at the front desk of our hotel. She was amazingly helpful and called around to find out when the train left – Tuesday. She was also really helpful in letting us use her computer to book another night in the hotel. She could only offer us the very expensive regular rate, but she showed us which site to visit that allowed us to book a cheap single room, which she said would allow us to stay in our double room. She is definitely our favourite Moscow local. We have spent a bit of today sorting things out and getting our train tickets. We have another day and a half in Moscow, before hitting the train. The weather turned gray and wet on us, but we figure we were fortunate to have the last two days of sunshine, from what the locals say.

One final point about Moscow, the city is itself very modern, wealthy and trendy. The people here dress very trendy, and the cars can be quite expensive and exotic. One spot that seemed off was a back side street that had a bunch of guys in suits, and parked Mercedes, Bentleys, and Range Rovers, along with a couple of Aston Martins, we thought this might not be a place to dawdle (if you catch my meaning). We have been told that the rest of the country is nothing like Moscow, and hopefully we will see some of that through our train travels. The people here are complex and interesting, we have been bumped, pushed and stepped on a number of occasions when people are in lines or trying to get seats on the train. Paradoxically, younger men will gallantly give up their seats for older ladies and children. (Left - Woman wearing fur - real fur is very popular in Russia)

Moscow has been a very nice visit and we are also looking forward to tomorrow and our train ride. We will be out of communication for about 6-7 days while we are on the trans Siberia train to China, so stay tuned for the continuing adventures of Hovan and Christine.

Czech & Mate

Christine and I decided to enjoy another day in Vienna and enjoy a few more sights and in particular some musical performances. The fact that we had such a nice place to stay certainly helped in the decision making and Christine was pretty jazzed from the previous nights performance of The Magic Flute (I also thought it was a wonderful performance).

We spent a bit of the day wandering through Vienna and then took in a late afternoon show of the Vienna Boys Choir. They have these incredibly angelic voices, so pure and sweet. Dressed in little sailor costumes, they are quite the group of performers. The first half of the show was purely acapella, and they performed a variety of old and newer songs. The acapella allowed them to showcase how well they can harmonize with each other. The second half of the performance brought on a small orchestral group to provide music and a male adult choir to join the boys. We were wondering if the adult choir was maybe made up of former Vienna Boys Choir performers, since we don’t know what happens to the kids after their voices change (they do have all that musical training). This part of the show featured very old, traditional songs that were beautiful to listen to, and perhaps the fact that we didn’t speak the language added a great deal to the enjoyment of the performance. There were two of the older boys in particular that had huge solo pieces and they blew us both away with how talented they were, the power behind their singing was incredible. We left the show feeling like it was yet another highlight of Vienna and the trip itself. (Left - the Vienna Boys Choir)

Since we were in the city of music, Christine was trying to soak up as much of the culture as possible, allowing her to engage all of her musical training and education. Not wasting a moment, we zipped straight from the choir over to the National Opera House to see if we could get standing tickets for the evening performance of Pique Dame, a Russian Opera by Tchaikovsky. We had taken a tour of the opera house the day before and it is quite the performance structure. We arrived in time to gather our 3 Euro tickets, that’s right, if you are willing to stand for 3 hours, you can get a ticket for about $5 Canadian. We took our spot on the very upper balcony for the show, and were pleased to see that the translators attached to the seats were also offered to the standing area visitors. This allowed us to enjoy the performance with English on the monitor, so we weren’t completely lost. This was especially helpful since, unlike with the Magic Flute, we had not read the different scenes and acts of this play. The performance was very well done, and the opera singers voices could reach all the way to the top and back of the concert hall. Pique Dame is not considered one of the best shows to see at the opera, however, the Vienna Philharmonic Symphony was doing the musical portion of the performance and Christine really wanted to see them play. Unfortunately, about a third of the way through the show, Christine felt really sick, and we had to head back to the hostel. Thankfully her illness only lasted for about 12-15 hours, but sadly during the performance. At least we didn’t have expensive seats. (Right - the State Opera House in Vienna)

Schnitzel. Now Schnitzel was not the cause of Christine roiling stomach, but it has been a dish that we have enjoyed along the way across Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. Schnitzel appears in every restaurant, and varies in price and serving style. My personal favourite is the Schnitzel sandwich, that costs about $3 Canadian and tastes like an awesome chicken burger with all the fixings. The serving portions in this neck of the world are quite large, loaded with grease and fat, and absolutely delicious.

After leaving Vienna, we drove the short distance to Prague, a city both of us were very keen to see. Prague suffered almost no damage in WWII, and is a very free flowing city, with winding alleys, beautiful old architecture and a very rich history. I have always wanted to visit Prague since meeting a very dear friend of mine almost ten years ago, Jonathan. Jonathan has always been singing the praises of Prague, a city that he has visited no less than 5 different times. The source of this interest is his dear Uncle William who has lived in Prague for almost 20 years. Jonathan mentioned on many occasions the wonderful tour that his uncle gives of Prague, and sometimes I thought he was laying it on a bit thick. (Left - the cathedral in Prague)

Christine and I spent the first afternoon and evening in Prague wandering the streets and taking in the sights. We were very fortunate to meet up with William and his darling wife Dasha in Prague for the very tour Jonathan spoke of on our second day. I am now happy to say that there is no embellishment in the telling of Williams tour of the city. Christine and I have visited many many cities over the last 6 weeks, but William brought Prague alive for us in a way that none other can compare. The four of us spent the entire day wandering the streets of the old city, while Christine and I learned of history, the architecture, the culture and the people that make up this wonderful old city. William normally does the tour solo, but we were fortunate to have Dasha along this time, she added a lovely element to the tour, being a native Czech citizen. It was really cute to watch the two of them briefly debate a historical point before coming to consensus and moving on with the tour. The passion that William has for the Czech history and people is so evident, that it rings through his voice and shines in his eyes as he speaks. There were several moments throughout the day, when he became a bit choked up, such as when he spoke of the people demanding democracy, and the anger he felt over the theft of the democratization of the Czech Republic by dirty politicians, corrupt businessmen, and the mafia. The day just flew by and we learned so much more than we could possibly ever remember, so perhaps we will have to go back for the tour a second day. (Left - William, Dasha, Hovan and Christine on the river in Prague)

After spending such a wonderful day with William and Dasha we returned to our tent late that night to make a late supper. It is here that we will remember possibly the worst dinner of our trip. We had not been to a grocery store nearby, and unfortunately the gate to the campground was locked, so we couldn’t drive to a grocery store. After looking in our cooler we decided to walk to a nearby gas station to see if they had anything. In the end the only dinner worthy item was a package of bread sticks. So our evening meal consisted of two left-over hard boiled eggs, breadsticks that we tried to smear chunky peanut butter on, one piece of stale bread and a handful of pistachios. Let me tell you now that this does not make for a winning combination.

Our next day in Prague was also wonderful, as William gave us some sights to see around town, including the royal palace and cathedral. William and Dasha told us about some things to look out for, but I can tell you right now, that it lacked the pleasure of hearing William outline the finer points of the structures and the significant events dating back hundreds and hundreds of years. We also visited the site of Prague’s second defenestration. This is word I learned about a decade ago from Jonathan, who learned it from William, and it means to throw somebody out a window. Fortunately for the three men defenestrated, there was a huge dung heap at the bottom, also littered with refuse, and so they managed to survive, however this window tossing led to 30 Years War in Europe. (Left - the streets of Prague)

Before leaving Prague we stopped off to see William and Dasha one more time. William had offered to bring some things back to Canada for us to save us the shipping cost. While we were stopped for our visit, Dasha brought out a homemade pumpkin pie, made with real pumpkin. She knew that we would be away from our family for Thanksgiving, and she had made us a pie so that we had a taste of home on our journey. It was such a sweet gesture and it endeared them even more to us. She also had some other goodies and things for us to take on the road. After we left Prague we both agreed that we hope to meet up with William and Dasha someday in the future.

We left Prague with our next and final destination being Munich, from there we are planning to fly out to Moscow and start the second leg of our journey. Along the way, we decided to take the scenic route and not just fly down the highway. After enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Czech and German countryside, we decided to spend one night in a small town called Bodenmais, before heading to Munich the next morning. The problem was that we fell in love with this town, that is and isn’t touristy. The whole place is set up for a massive invasion of fellow Germans in the winter time for skiing in the Bavarian mountains and forests, so almost every other building is a hotel or hostel. We got an apartment for less than we have paid at some hostels on the trip. Looking up into the Bavarian forest and hills, we knew that we had to stop for one day and take in some hiking. From here on in, the next 3 weeks are mostly big cities, so we thought to catch some fresh air before pressing on. (Right - Hiking in the Bavarian Forest)

Today we spent a good deal of time climbing up a mountain. It was not a terribly difficult climb, but what was most impressive was the average age of our fellow climbers. There were a lot of people out in the forest, and most of them looked to be of retirement age. Many of them were dressed in the same get-up that we saw through Switzerland, but no where else. Pants below the knees and funky socks pulled up above the knees, with hiking poles, wool sweaters and so on. Christine and I felt out of place in our shorts and t-shirts. The day was beautiful and the mountain air crisp. Tomorrow morning we will make our final journey into Munich and then the next day fly out to Moscow. (Left - Typical walking attire in Germany)

I would like to leave you with one final piece of information. When driving a rental car through Europe there are apparently different ways to pay for your use of the highways. Most of the countries have tolls, but not all of them. Christine and I were quite fond of two countries, Switzerland and Slovenia, because they didn’t charge to use the road system. However, on our way into Austria we were pulled over by border security (for only the second time in 6 weeks and 11 countries). The man was asking for something and we couldn’t really understand his terrible English. Christine was driving and trying to use her pretty smile to get us moving, but nothing doing. He kept asking for something, so I went through the glovebox and pulled out folder and paper and any other sundry item I could think he might want. We gave him our passports, and he didn’t even look. We passed over our international drivers license, and he pushed them back, we offered him all the rental car documents and he didn’t even care to touch them. The only thing we had left in the glovebox was some candy, and I was prepared to offer that next in desperation, when another guard came over. He explained to us in better English that we had to purchase a sticker for the car to drive in Austria and showed us where to get it. Apparently they don’t set up toll roads, they just charge everyone a one time sticker price. Apparently we didn’t pick up our stickers in Switzerland and Slovenia, so I guess we’ll just have to owe them. Apparently the fines can be quite high, but the Austrians let us go with a warning – possibly because we looked pathetically out of our depth, possible because Christine was smiling for all she was worth, or maybe they were just in a generous mood. All in all, things worked out well once again.