Best Eastern Acfes Seiyo Vladivostok

... finally. Pretty sure I never did that in Taiwan when I was there, the only other time I might have. Got yelled at by some little concessions lady for not understanding she wanted exact change. One thing I've noticed is that nearly EVERY shop you go to will always ask for additional rubles so that they can give you back large bills. It's nice, but a bit annoying at first when I didn't know what they were asking for.

Bounced ...

... Viktor, Sergei, and me as we continued to drink our beers. I'm starting to fill a bit uneasy knowing that the two guys that walked in looked like trouble from the start. Yet, through our conversation they appear to be friendly.

But then, Viktor, says to me. "Paul, you are with three girls, right?"

"Uh, yes," I replied.

"Paul, those three girls. You bring me one," he says as he makes a one with ...

... conjured up images of sub-zero winters, emotionless people, and aging, thick-set women named Olga with gold teeth and hairy warts. Well, it wasn't until I saw a 20/20 Special on Russian mail-order brides that I realized that Russain women were quite the lookers.


So after a 30+ hour plane trip from SFO-TOKYO-SEOUL-VLADIVOSTOK I am finally here. The experience ...

... s priimkom Stimec, a naju nato tudi prijazno spustili v svojo drzavo. Ze nekaj kilometrov za meje pa lahko clovek vidi ocitne razlike med Kitajsko ter Rusijo. Ceprav so ruski avtobusi mnogo starejsi od kitajskih (temu primerno tudi mnogo bolj utrujeni) in zgradbe ob cesti uboge, je mogoce ze kmalu za mejo videti v zivo moc in polozaj ruske vojske. Pred garazami v slabem stanju ter za skoraj poruseno ograjo je mogoce videti vec kot 100 tezkih tankov tipa T80 z ...

... head and drifts away. I spent a long time sitting there, looking at that money. I had only been on a train for a night and a day, on the way from Harbin in China, to Vladivostok in Russia, and didn't think I looked that rough. But I could not help wondering how this rare act of curious charity had so sweetened a sourness that had been left by my final taste of Chinese fare. Russia's rail gauge is wider than China's, and one gets dumped on the street outside the station of the ...

... canal - as part of the 18 locks to get to St Petersburg. The process only takes 20 minutes to complete. On receiving the green light the ship enters the lock. Depending on the length of the ship and the lock, more than one ship can enter at the same time - two other ships entered with us. The lock is like a large concrete box with doors at either end. These entrances, called heads, consist of two gates, each weighing as much as 123 tons. Once ...

... you for a door being opened or a simple excuse me when you have been bumped out of the way. Not even a simple smile in acknowledgement or to say hello - even a grunt of some sorts would have been fine. It does leave you feeling you are not welcome, but fortunately we are not that sensitive and know there might be reasons for this behaviour, whether it is the failed communist past that had hardened many people or the cold distrust of others that often forms ...

... and they were back again...and they were boozed as hell. We all found it funny that we'd spent one day together previously and not talked (I assumed they didn't know english as they didn't speak a word the whole time.) So after i'd had about half my bottle of gin I headed down to the dinning cart to start on some beers with them. I sat with them for a few hours doing beers and gin till I was finished and then headed back to my cabin to grab my bottle of ...

... and in a nice room with an Ozzie guy and American girl. So far we have visited the Red Square (several times in fact!!), the Kremlin, the GUM, a monastry (quite an experience), HRC (Chris you would be proud, and we had so much fun!!) a convent, done a river boat cruise, drank vodka shots with Russians, gone to the coolest market I have ever come across and seen dancing bears!! SO cool (if a bit sad)!! Moscow ROCKS ...

... a little unusual for foreigners to be at the station at all. Asking all these questions. At the wrong ticket window, for goodness sake ! Because the vast majority of foreign passengers on the Trans-Siberian railway use the correct protocol. Which is to go through a booking or tour agent and pay well over the odds for the privilege. But our dogged persistence pays off. We obtain our second class sleeper berths on the 'Baikal ...