In Love with Amsterdam

Hello all,
I have finally met the city of my dreams! Amsterdam.

Though I've been here before, I barely remember it, except for the canals [as you would]....but the minute I stepped off the plane, I felt at home. Great city. But first, the plane.

When I left Tallin, I was really apprehensive, because to get in and out of anywhere in the Blatic states you have to fly to Hellsinki first and then connect to wherever you want to go. Last time, on the way to Tallin from St Petersberg, the airlines "misplaced" my luggage [living out of a backpack that only had one tee shirt as a spare for a few days was interesting] and I was scared it would happen again. Luckily -even though we only had 20 minutes to connect to the flight to Amsterdam, both me and my suitcase made it. The air ride was a trip though.....there should be a manual about airplane ettiquite that is required reading for some passengers. I sat next to a man, who wanted my aisle seat [his was in the middle] and though he didn't speak the same language I did, and argued with me for about 5 minutes all the while blocking my seat, I held my ground and kept the aisle. For the rest of the flight [1 hour 30 minutes- but who is counting?] he thumped his feet on the floor, yawned and sighed really loudly, stretched his legs and arms out to cover my territory and to top it off, hacked up mucous into everything including his dinner when he had finished. Yum! There's a story in this, but not a dinner time one.

Back to Amsterdam....I loved the city. Really easy to get around and totally lovely. I lived in this gorgeous hotel near the Van Gogh and Rykestaadt museums on a tree lined street. The hotel staff were really helpful -especially since i thought my ferry to the UK left from Amsterdam harbour, which it didn't. So they rang the UK and found out the necessary information for me. I did all the touristy things- rode around on the canal taxi, went to the Van Gogh museum, walked around the streets- plus had my hair cut and re-styled AND replaced my camera with the same brand, but cheaper over here. So soon there will be some snaps for look at again! The city is really laid back and comfortable. Transport around is really cheap and easy to understand. I felt I could live here....but so do 17 million other people [wonder where they all fit?!]

The ferry, which left from a town called Imjiedn -2 bus rides and about 1 hour west of Amsterdam- was HUGE! There were so many cars and lorries and road trains loaded onto the ferry I thought we would sink. The room I had was teensy weensy so I spent most of my time on deck. There was a range of entertainment, including live music...which was like a bad pop video on aicd- so I went outside and experienced the elements for a lot of the night. Sleep was a rare event- too hot in the teeny cabin. My roomie in the cabin was from a place called Sunderland [just South of Newcastle] and really sweet- though I could barely understand a word she said- funny how we are all speaking some form of English and can't undertand each other. I met another guy on deck who told me she was probably a Jordie- which to his mind explains it all, but didn't mean much to me.

The ferry was also not at Newcastle, but at some other port about a 1/2 hour bus ride away.....which got me to the Newcastle train station just in time to take one of Richard Bramston's Virgin trains [they look like the airplanes but without wings]. People at the station were really helpful and on the trains they make tons of announcements about where you are and where you are about to go....and here I am at an Internet Cafe in York watching boats drift by on the Ouse river. The town looks cute, and I am about to explore.

Thanks for all the commentseveryone...Sharon- I love it that your class is tracking me....get out some maps of the UK- I swear for a little island, there are more different communities here than in all of Russia and Siberia! More later
Cheerio chaps and chapettes
Genie

Tere from Tallin

Tere my friends!

I am in the most amazing place in the Baltic region....Tallin. Now's when I really wish I had the camera!
Right in the centre of the city is a Heritage listed village-the Old Town. Old Town is just like it was about 3-4 centuries ago. Medieval churches and buildings with winding streets made of cobblestones. Very romantic.

It is also full of tourists and it is interesting to hear all the different voices in one place. The town is extremely easy to navigate cause you just head in one direction and you pretty much make to it where you want to go. I have been to an amazing church for merchant guild members and the usual Russian Orthodox. Both were very different....the merchant church was about the Brothers of the Blackheads- (great name for a guild eh)- was more austere and I was pretty sure that I was walking on top of coffins/crypts in the main part of the church.

My "apartments" are about a 1/2 hour walk from the Old Town. Admittedly I have only been visiting the village and not too much in the city. My feet have finally mostly recovered and so I went for a walk to the Tallin Race Course this morning, which was fairly ordinary. The apartment where I have been staying is gorgeous! It even has a kitchen, so I have been able to save on food.

Today I am headed for Amsterdam and then on to the UK...nervous about British rail having read lots about how complicated and slow it is....but nothing like a little adrenilin to keep your energy going.
More later.....
Genie

Back in the USSR

Dras vooystya!

No snaps for a while folks- got my camera nicked at Moscow Station! I must have a tattoo on my forehead that says: "Thieves-look no further, here it is! Help yourself" And if I could write that in cyrillic lettering I would. OK- they say things come in 3's and that was my 3rd. So hopefully no more!

Yeterday, I went to the cop shop in St Petersberg to report my stolen camera- because by this time I have now lost quite a bit of money and goods- so I wanted a report for the insurance. It was like walking into what I imagine a KGB suburban branch would be like. Grim walls, crumbly stair-cases, smoky rooms filled with young underpaid cops who are all busy with paperwork and cynical because of it. The walls had soviet posters on them- which were of standard USSR colours and messages. It felt like being in a movie about the cold war.Our guide, who is fluent in Russian, helped me get the paper I needed, thank god! I have a feeling that it would have taken me longer than the 2 hours it took if there were not a Russian speaker with me. They were making jokes about me in Russian [no this is not my usual paranoia- I checked and it was true!]

St Petersberg is a totally different city than Moscow! Moscow is hip and happening and interestingly diverse. I spent a day riding the metro in Moscow, which is labrynthian and art deco and a-maze-ingly complicated. I had to go out to the suburbs and get my AMEX card replaced- which meant changing lines 4 different times [they are colour coded and all stations are written in Russian cyrillic writing]. A woman from the tour and I combined our skills -hers was the colour deciphering and mine was cyrillic writing and we were HOT! We spent about 3 hours riding the metro. Also went to a Russian art gallery- filled with iconography from the 11th century to the 16th century- fabulous!

Loved Red Square too! Bordered by the Kremlin, a huge department store [GUM], and St Basil's church [which is soooo Disneyland!] it lights up at night and is full of people at all times.It feels like a friendly village- except for the pick pockets and the fact that everyone there is a tourist! We got to see Lenin all laid out in the crypt- very spooky- not as well preserved as Mao [pronounced MAYO by one of our tour members], but still worth the visit. Then went to the Kremlin, which means fortress [and most Russian medieval towns still have a Kremlin] which is huge and has 7 or 8 churches, office buildings, parks and a museum of Russian memorabilia in it. I made it all the way to the Armoury [the museum] and then had to leave, because I have grown about 4 significant blisters [approximately the size of the Northern Territory] on my feet from so much walking.

We also toured the KGB which was actually more interesting than the Kremlin. I couldn't help but think about James Bond movies and Get Smart, when our guide was telling us about the doings and dealings of the KGB. I am telling you, you wouldn't want to be anyone in the government of either the Soviets of the Tsars, because your life span would be rather short.

The whole reason we were at the train station in Moscow - keep up, this is where I started- was to catch the midnight train to St Petersberg. St Petersberg is like a huge wedding cake. Buildings are incredibly ornate and opulent [I am beginning to see why there was a revolution against the Tsars here]. The Hermitage was totally amazing and if you have seen Russian Ark [and stayed awake in it] you will know how ornate the rooms are. I found myself not caring what art was hanging on the walls- it was enough to look at the floors and the walls and the ceilings! It is truly magnificent and every room has a different flooring and walls and sculptures. My fave was the ballroom which has golden columns- followed by the Malicite room, where everything is carved out of malichite- columns, huge vases, table mosaics and floors.

Last night I went to a performance of Madam Butterfly at the Marinsky Theatre. Look it up on the net, because there is no way to describe the theatre. The production was wonderful....sets were divine and the music fab. I sat in a dress circle- second tier and had a superb view of the whole thing.

Tonight is my last night with my tour and then tomorrow I head off to Estonia and a town called Tallin....my hotel seems to be on the outskirts of the city, but near a tram line, so that will be an adventure, getting to and from my digs to the city. I have a kitchen in this one, so I am not trapped into eating out. Oh how I would love to cook myself a meal!

So, it is Das Vadanya from Russia-Siberia-Mongolia and China- and though I have been robbed a few times here, it was such an interesting journey! Glad I came, and I would do it again in a minute - but this time with a suit of armour on and a steel trap in my bag to nab a thief's fingers or two.

Russian Holiday

Dras vooyetsya!

WOW! All the things I have heard about Russia are true and more!.

We spent 3 nights and 4 days on the Trans Siberian Railway and travelled through 5 time zones through some of the most beautiful country-side I have seen in ages. Loved the houses and the trees- larch and birch and firs crowding the landscape, marching up hillsides and sheltering houses that look like Amish barns.

Most of the Russian towns we have visited have been small.....like Lystvanka on Lake Baikal which I have talked about before- and Suzdal. Suzdal is this amazing town on a river just south of Moscow- by about 300k's. It is full of Russian churches and monasteries and has it's own Kremlin. A Kremlin is just a fortress and most Russian cities have one. This town was amazing as it was so medieval and sleepy [unless you were at the Karoke bar with some of the boozers on our tour]. The sky was a beautiful blue and we walked around the place for a couple of hours looking at old churches etc.

Right now I am sitting in an Internet Cafe just off of Red Square in Moscow. Moscow is the most amazing hopping city- if you can believe that! It is 9:30 PM and things are jumping. There are about 600 or so people walking through Red Square right now and the Internet Cafe is full to the brim with people.

On the train I had Russian lessons every night and have been trying out words every day- I've got hello and thank you down and now am onto numbers of things and negotiating with Russian only speakers about my laundry. Our hotel has 3,000 rooms and you can pretty much see it from wherever you are around Red Square. Tomorrow we are going to the KGB for a tour and then the next day to the Kremlin. Then another overnight train to St Petersburg. I am really looking forward to St Petersburg. I like the smaller places better.

The Trans Siberian was wonderful. Each carriage has a "conductor" - well two of them really- who are like your "house mother". We had Valentina, who was really gruff and grumpy with us because we were not buying souveniers- I got her to smile and say good morning to me by the end of our trip. When there are long stops [20 mins] you can get out and there are little grandmothers on the platform selling home made food- which is totally amazing and yummy- I have never eaten so many versions of potatoes before in my life. All of them have dill and lots of other yummy spices on them. The ice cream is divine and we found some Russian gingerbread cookies that are scrumptious too. I thought the 3 night/4 day trip would drive me mad, but it wasn't too bad. We chatted a lot and read and slept and watched the beautiful scenery of Siberia roll by. Hardly noticed when we crossed the Urals and were in European Russia.

The women here dress in the most amazing fashion- uber tight pants and sparkly skimpy tops. They look as if they are going out to a disco- no matter what time of day it is...even 10 in the morning! I guess if you've got it, you might as well flaunt it.

Thanks to all of youse who have made comments on my blog...you've made my day- I am only 3 weeks into this 5 month trip and have a long way to go and it feels good to be so connected.
Das Vadanya
Genie
PS: More photos next time- my camera is charging right now- too many photos of churches.

Mongolia was a trip and a half...not just because I got to stay in a Ger [overnight and all]. Not just because I got to hike up to a buddhist monastery way way up in the majestic mountains. Not just because I got to visit a non-tourist Ger and see a newly slaughtered lamb hanging on the walls with the blood boiling on the stove. But also because I was specially chosen by pick-pocketers who decided to relieve me of my US passport, my credit cards and a lot of money.

Silly me, went downtown in Ulan Baatar with all of the above in my bag. Thinking I was safe, because I fiercely gripped my bag while walking across the street, I entered a department store and made for the lifts. All of a sudden there were about 20 people at the lifts and we all crowded in. When I got out, I discovered -about 10 minutes later- that someone had unzipped my bag and made away with what was probably the haul of their life! I felt really sick to my stomach and was pretty pissed off at myself for being so careless.

A few hours later, after visiting two different police stations- it is holiday time in Mongolia and it was a Sunday, so the special unit who deals with pick pockets was on hols-I was talking to the US counsel, who told me that this is a special scam that pickpockets run in Ulan Baatar. Trying to get a taxi when you are crying and do not understand the language [nor they you] is a pretty strange experience. Everyone was really fab to me though, and a guy got one of his friends to drive me back to the hotel. Then the hotel told me that I did not exist and I was not in room 306. I felt like I was in a twilight zone episode. The receptionsit felt really bad about it and let me use the Internet for free-twice! We got some of it straightened out, and thank god it was my US passport and I am travelling on my Aussie one. I also had one more credit card stashed in my luggage - WHEW!

Anyhow, here I am in Irkutsk-Russia/Siberia after two nights on the train [2 nights because it took 12 hours to cross the border- 4 hours to change the wheels on the train, 4 hours to process papers and 3 hours to wait for two more trains to hook up with our carriage]. The snap above is taken while we waitede for 4 hrs at the Mongolian border. We met these reallz cute kids who spent about an hour talking with us and generallz being fun....Last night we spent in a Russian woman -named Ludmilla- apartment in Listvyanka- which is on Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world - we found out from Tatiana- one of the museum guides, who was like a character out of Saturday Night Live and told us about the whole ecosystem of the Lake with much enthusiasm. Some of us went for a sauna afterwards, which was interesting.

Now we are wandering around Irkutsk....soon to be on our way to Moscow, via Vladymir and then St Petersberg, where I have booked myself a ticket to see Madam Butterfly and the Mirinsky Theatre. Russia is interesting in a spartan sort of way. Every once in while a blob of colour shows through, but not much. It is pretty drab and well- functional.

The trains are bearable- bunks were bigger than the Vietnam train, and the toilets are manageable. The heat was pretty unbearable while we were crossing Mongolia to the Russian border- it must have been about 40-45 degrees out- and we had to be trapped in our carriages- most of us took turns standing at the windows gasping for air.

All is cooler now and quite pleasant......I will bring my camera to the Internet Cafe- probably in Moscow and give you a Mongolian treat.
Das Vadanya
Genie

Monglian days

News from MONGOLIA! I am here!

We spent a day and a bit on the train getting here from Beijing- which was a gas. Accomodations not too bad. When we got to the Mongolian border they had to change the wheels on the train, so each car got lifted up on a hydraulic lift and the old wheels, wheeled away and new wheels wheeled in. It would have been more fascinating, except that it was about 45 degrees and it was 11 PM! When we got the Monglian wheels and the Mongolian dining car, we headed off. The dining car was wonderful.....wood work lattice on the walls which also have wooden statues and instruments on them. Stunning. Had to have a cuppa from the Samovar when I was there.

Last night we stayed in a Ger- which was amazing....pictures to follow- (I went into town without either the camera or the card reader, so it will have to wait). The sky was the brightest blue- it was inspiring to know that there is blue clear sky somewhere in the world. The Ger was totally beautiful inside- very ornate and everything was a cupboard!

Now we are in Ulan Baatar- the capital- which is nestled in the hills. So far, Mongolia seems either flat dry and dusty or mountainous, green and lush. The green lush part has the most amazing rock formations.

Tomorrow we get back on the train and go to Russia. I just booked tickets to see Madam Butterfly in St Petersberg- which should be a gas.

More from me in Moscow...we are mostly on trains from now on....

Beijing Duck Soup

Na'Hou:
For those of you freezing your "you know what's off" just thought you would like to know that it is 10:00AM-Beijing time and already 36 C outside. There are about 7 squillion people lined up to view Chairman Mao [it takes about 1.2 hours so i am told] and on the sunny side of the street [the whole of Tian Amen Square] you could fry eggs on the ground.

Still, it was cooler yesterday- by about 3 degrees. This was the day we went climbing up and onto the Great Wall- the views were spectacular and getting there was a feat. The hills of katoomba got nothing on this believe me. As you can see from above, I made it to the top- about 1/2 hour after everyone else on our tour....[Jude, please notice that your workers rights badge is still on the shirt]. The hike up was totally amazing.

First you have to run the commercial enterprise gauntlet -the path being lined with sellers from postcards to carpets [I mean, who is going to schlep a carpet up to the wall and back- unless you want to bury yourself underneath it because you will never be able to walk again and you are about to die from heat prostration- but otherwise it was fun]. Then there is the climb- upper left photo- it is mostly what you see: uphill! My legs were shaking so hard I could hardly take a step and had to stop a lot. Which ended up to be a good thing, because the views were simply divine...worth the trip.

Nevertheless I made it up there and eventually ran into some people from the tour [who are all out in the blistering sun in the Forbidden City, while I am here in the dark, in front of a computer]. You can take a chair lift back down to the bottom, which is stunning. The views as I said-are great- but since it has taken me 3 goes each photo, you will have to wait for the slide show to find out the rest.

I found the grooviest little park to walk in each morning- lots of locals doing their exercises- walking backwards, doing Tai Chi, working out on these amazing machines that do everything from working your legs to rubbing your back. This morning- my 2nd time there, I got some smiles, nods and hellos- though most people here say hello because they want to sell you something. I am anxious to get to the country where it is not so busy and frantic and you are not approached because you are a potential source of income.

Beijing has changed so much in the 9 or so years since I have been here. It's so commercial, so up market, so sell sell sell...lots more modern high rises, business offices and SHOPPING MALLS! [arghhh] The little markets are hard to find.

Last night, we did find one- where they sold ful on squids, scorpions, snakes on a stick and starfish on sticks- among many other things [goats penises etc- yum!] This was at a place called the Night Market, which was very old fashioned. Around the corner was like downtown metropolis- mega billions of shops and bars and lights lights lights. It was really weird -like stepping through a time zone. I want a cut of the electricity bill for the main streets here. The city comes totally alive at night- and is more casual than in the day. There are still millions of people in the day, but at night they seem to be floating- not rushing from one place to another.

Tomorrow, we are headed to Ulan Baatar on the train. We leave at 5:30AM- and do not know if we get to have food on the train or not- so I need to hit one of those malls and buy some food stuff. So far, I had resisted all kinds of tourist junk and it has been pretty easy. But of course I can never resist food. It promisies to be an interesting trip.

So long for now....don't know when I will be able to connect again...but hopefully soon.

Genie

You gotta go to lunch before you go.....This is my farewell lunch which took place at the Avalon in Katoomba. The view is pretty spectacular- though you can't really tell from the photo. It was a cold a blustery day and a good time was had by all.
Thanks to everyone who came: Susan, Louise and Trish you can see on the left, but there was also Helen [with me on the right-duh!], Jude, Michael, Pat, Julie, Val, Moira, Lesley, Liz, and last but far from least- Chris. Lunch was yummy and dessert was even better.
Two more sleeps and I am OFF!