Kuchkov'S Guest House Suzdal

Hey guys,

Some of the more memorable moments from our trip:

Live fish brought to the table at dinner our first night...tobogganing down the hill from the Great Wall...the Forbidden City...walking through hutongs at night...bargaining...looking for camera batteries...looking for soldiers in Tienanmen square...border crossings...bogie changing...dinosaur bones in Ulaan Baator...illegal photos...horseback riding...ger camp...buuz making...archery ...

... cathedral are also here. I had a dinner in a Russian restaurant, salad, borsch and head on back to my home stay. It is very interesting to see a lot of Russian military people marching and gather near the bus station, may be they there doing drills, I just stand far away. Russia in general still feels like a police state, plenty of military folks walking around, safe but yet quite scary.

Somewhere around Vladimir, Andrew stopped for gas at a LUCGAZ (I think that was the company's name) and then we later stopped at a random dirt road, that has since been described as "picturesque" by my friend, to stretch our legs. After five hours trying to divert my mother's attempts at ...

... a Souzdal, petit village de 12000 habitants a quelques kms de Vladimir. Cette bourgade regorge d'eglise et de cathedrales avec des coupoles dorees... Le temps etait magnifique, nous nous sommes promenes sous le soleil dans la neige. Quel plaisir ! Demain nous partons pour Nijni Novgorod ou notre 3e hote Evgeny nous attendra.

... I enjoyed the shredded beats, didn't like the meat. Our entree was a Russian dish that was similar to ravioli with meat. Suzdal is also known for its honey beer. It was kinda expensive, so I didn't try it. The silence of the town gave me the impression that it had been deserted. Took the 3pm bus back to Vladimir. Marisa went to teach and I walked around this average Russian town. There were no tall buildings, but many soviet-style governmental ones. Statues of ...

... skipped 3 meals. To put an end to this habit, Marisa took me to an Azerbaijani restaurant called Sheshbesh. Both the food and the ambiance were ok. However, the prices were the same for what you would get for the same type of food in Moscow. $10 for lamb and wheat soup, chicken kebab, cheese bread and coke. Marisa's colleague, Sarah, was kind enough to offer me a couch. I threw my sleeping bag over it and went to sleep straight away.

... Russian is still terrible. Lenin's Mausoleum - bizare, how have they kept his body in perfect condition for 80 years? Bolshoy Theatre - undergoing a total reconstruction so all under scaffolding.....went to the Summer Ballet in the theatre next door - saw Swan Lake, Nat really liked it, Gordon not so keen.....was stinking hot!!!!! Overall it is WAY hotter than we expected....we are totally roasting! Statue graveyard - several ...

Saturday,September 16th Off to Suzdal today. Suzdal is one of of the towns on the Russian Golden Circle of ancient towns but particularly important because it is only one of three towns in the ex-USSR allowed to not be developed at all with tower blocks etc. But first had to get there by minibus. Four hour journey turned out to be nearly 6 hour journey as Russians move on mass from Moscow for weekend of picking mushrooms etc! Road two lanes each side ...

... among tourists. Here, the pealing of the bells with their magical chime elicited a spiritual awakening inside me. While walking down the street, I often encountered the solemn priests and nuns of the Russian Orthodox Church. Perhaps the most beautiful experience in this town was my getting lost. While walking along a farm road flanked on both sides by iridescent gardens and cornfields, I could not remember how to return to the hotel. Alone on ...

... track, with no sign of the bus station indicated in Lonely Planet, or even a sign for a bus stop. The only reason I asked where we were was that 2 people were already getting out, it was the right distance from the last town, and my intuition and paranoia were harassing the royal hell out of me. Suzdal it was! Well, another 2km away down the side road at least. We were thankful at least for Suzdal's high latitude (or is it longitude? Pretty ironic that I once came 2nd in a ...