Heaven in Siberia

We arrived in Irkutsk at 0616 local time (0116 Moscow time) and had gotten somewhat adjusted to the time difference. It’s about + 3 degrees outside, which is what we’ve decided to call fresh. We had a mini-van picking us up where we had a Russian guide who actually spoke English (that’s a first!). She kept going on and on about Irkutsk and Lake Baikal; information we would get repeated the next day. Needless to say, I was a bit tired, so I plugged in my iPod, closed my eyes and tried to relax. It was pitch black outside as it was still fairly early, but as time passed (it’s roughly a two hour drive to Lake Baikal and Listvyanka) night turned to day. I could see the sky getting lighter, and the early morning sky was playing hide and seek with me amongst the trees in the Siberian forest. My iPod was playing a James Horner tune, “the Rose”, and just as the song reached its climax the trees disappeared and the hillside lay open bathing in the morning sunrise. The silhouette of a few trees could still be spotted, but had a hard time getting attention next to the colorful picture the sky had turned in to. Going from almost white, to light blue, bright yellow towards darker yellow before it turned into peachy orange, then red and finally numerous shades of pink. I’m certain I saw a glimpse of heaven.

Knowing I’m only seven days into my long journey, I’ve come to realize that I’ll probably get quite a few samples of heavenliness along the way.

Life in Siberia

As I’m sitting here looking out the window watching the world pass by on the Trans-Siberian, I can’t help but notice how far back in time these last few days have taken me. Between all the trains passing us going the opposite direction, we go by (or fly by) small villages with houses in dark brownish colors which are actually the original wooden color of the houses, thou they’re partly rotted away. Every now and then thou, there’ll be a bright green or turquoise (which seem to be the hip color in Siberia) house in the middle of them all, breaking up the somewhat sad scenery. It’s like a hint of fresh air. The houses contain maximum two rooms, if not only a one­ room, and I doubt the windows (which there seem to be a lot of) are all closable. Amongst the stray mixed-bred dogs, wrecked cars and a lady tucked into several layers of clothing and a scarf wrapped around her head, you can actually spot a family life where the backyard is the centre of attention.  The gardens are neat and very well attended to, as it probably is where they get both their food and drinks from. You can see fields of potatoes, cabbage and carrots, and by the food we’ve bought of these sweet old ladies at the different stations, we all agree that they’re wonderful cooks. Cabbage dumplings and fresh bread is heavenly to all of us being stuck at a train with a restaurant where they don’t speak a word of English and where utensils and ovens tend to break down all so often – except when the party of French ppl are about to eat.

Russian seems so far away, and ppl keep asking how long it’ll take to get there. Truth is it’ll take longer to get to Greece from Norway than to Russia by plane. Russia is very close in distance, but at the same time very far away. It’s quite a different life these ppl live compared to us. We all get out at every station to get some fresh air (which is a luxury after three days on a train), and the scenery I meet almost makes me feel ill sometimes. To think that these ppl hang around the station all day with their food and beverages waiting for the trains to arrive so they can earn some money to be able to make food to sell the following day makes me feel filthy rich. They sell their food amazingly cheap and still I hear ppl bargaining with them over dumplings which are 50 rubles (10 kr), only wanting to pay 40 rubles (8 kr). To us it’s random money lying around in our pockets, lucky if they ever get used. But to these women it’s a matter of being able to buy and grow the ingredients needed to make the food that insures their income. Usually our stops are around 15 minutes, but when the train is running late we stop only for a few minutes which don’t leave us with enough time to fill our lungs with fresh air or buy some food. The disappointment is written all over the old ladies’ faces, as they probably see half a days’ income pass by.

Right now the trees are still green, going on red and yellow, surrounding the tiny houses as if their protecting them from the rest of the world. They all look like puppet houses you see on children shows, made out of clay – a bit deformed as they should be – only here they’re real and still halfway-collapsed. It seems you’re lucky if you still have a complete wall which at least will give you some protection when the cold, expected winter hits Siberia. This is home; a battle to survive relying on ppl buying your goods of a train which you’ll never afford to get on, best of luck.

Welcome to Siberia.

Metro Moscow

If you ever go to Moscow I advise you to stay underground. Don’t bother going to the Kremlin, Lenin’s tomb (he’s dead you know) or the Red Square for that matter, which by the way is not red (red in Russian thou also means beautiful, so it’s a choice of interpretation I guess). Only tourist sight over ground worth seeing is the wonderful cathedral of St. Basel. It looks like a castle with sugar coated pop stickle-onions on every tower, and you feel like licking it or taking a bite out of it rather than taking its picture. It’s now been renamed as Kiki’s church, since I’ve been talking about it a bit too often I suppose ever since we got to St. Petersburg.

The true attraction thou is the Moscow metro, being the busiest metro in the world. No matter the time of day it’s packed with ppl going on and off, whether it’s a Sunday evening, Saturday morning or rush hour during the week; the flow of ppl is constant. The mantra being: don’t lose your travelling companion! The metro is a web of different lines taking you all over Moscow thru stations that aren’t always logic in which way they go, and the stations being only in Cyrillic doesn’t really help especially when you have a map that’s phonetic. Needless to say, this brought some confusion with it and the light blue line is from now on the color of evil (according to a Swede) since a few managed to get lost somewhere between the dark and light blue line. They were either on the wrong train in the right direction, or on the right train in the wrong direction. It’s been the source to many great laughs ever since.

The Red Sqaure

Kremlin

Red Square at night

St Basel at night

Red Square at night

Starbucks :)

Breathtaking St Basel

The enormous amount of ppl also bid you a few challenges. When travelling in a group of 15 ppl, getting them all on the same metro seems impossible at times, thou important since the names of the stations are quite hard to make out if you’re not fluent in Cyrillic. The first day in Moscow a Canadian jumped on the train because he thought we were all getting on, which we were, but when the doors on the metro close they close even thou you’re stuck somewhere in the middle. We managed to signal him that we were going five stops, hoping that he could count, which apparently he could. Not everyone could count thou it turned out. When we were heading to the Trans-Siberian train we all had to get on the metro with our huge backpacks (remember, the metro’s ALWAYS packed), which wasn’t extremely popular amongst the Russians. We were suppose to get off at the fourth stop on the blue line (not the light blue, but the dark blue) to switch to the brown line that would lead us to the train station. We got to the station the brown line had taken us to and started walking, before we realize that we were two ppl short. The rest of the group walked to the train station, while I and a Belgian stayed behind to keep a look-out for the two missing. We were standing on top of a long staircase looking into the massive crowd streaming towards us every time a train arrived, which was more or less every minute. They looked like black smoke moving in close ready to overrun us, and as soon as we could get a glimpse of the floor another train gulped up more ppl. Finally the missing girls arrived, having gotten off one stop too early. Counting is hard when you’re squeezed into a metro cart with unimaginably many ppl.

We also met some of the nicest ppl in all of Russia (so far) on many of our metro rides. We’re travelling with an English woman who’s 78 years old. This is quite a dame and she’s everyone’s’ granny.  As soon as we would enter the carts, someone – usually an elderly man – would jump up and offer her his seat. They’re very chatty as well and they kept talking to us all the way, even thou they couldn’t understand us and vice verca. We also experience a couple of the guys getting off at the same station as us, just to make sure she got off ok. She’s given away a lot of thankful hugs and gotten a lot of admiring kisses in return.

Apart from being the place where all the action is, the metro is in itself an experience. It’s filled with art and culturally hidden messages. Every detail is taken into consideration when being built, with chandeliers, bright colors, statues, golden couples and mosaic pictures as beautiful as can be, not to mention being the cleanest metro I’ve ever seen. We went on a metro safari (as it ended up being called) bouncing from one station to another, being amazed and astounded over and over again. It was like moving from one wow-moment to another. It’s what you can call low-budget sightseeing with a very rewarding experience.

Don’t underestimate the metro!

A sample of pictures from the metros

St. Petersburg pics

The church of spilled blood

Stopping by the Starbucks-wannabe to have a great cup of spicy tea

Yummy :)

St. Petersburg metro, underground indeed

One of the beautiful gemlike metros

The Second World Was monument

One of the many statues showing the people uniting to go to war

Locking "oneself" to the bridge and throwing the key into the river, hoping that it will last forever 

St. Petersburg Zenit - FK Tom' Tomsk

Great sushi in St. Petersburg

Trying to get to St. Petersburg

Three days into my trip and I’m still breathing while the adrenaline is flowing thru every single vain of my body. Right now I’m on a night-train heading to Moscow- a train without any separate rooms, just bunk beds and an aisle separating them. In other words, crowded and hot!

After a bumpy start – to say the least – I’ve spent two magical days in St. Petersburg. The city is beautiful and filled with architecture that stretches from pre 1800 to 2060 (roughly estimated). You can actually move from 1860 to 2060 by just walking thru a door, from the street into a high tech, futuristic mall. How did I end up there? Well, at the ground floor you find a Starbucks copycat (read: wannabe), but I’ll give them kudos for good coffee and a need-to-have mug (not a good start for a backpacker with no room in her backpack for a really nice mug). The most amazing sight in St. Petersburg is beyond any doubt the Hermitage (the winter palace). If you ever have a couple of hours in St. Petersburg then they should be spent wandering around this stunning building. I’m going to do my best the entire journey to try to find a word fitting and worthy of describing how breathtaking and AMAZING it is. The building itself from the outside is a quite sight, and it’s just a soft warm-up to what’s waiting inside. There’s an enormous art-collection like nothing I’ve ever seen before (and I’m not that attentive towards art), and the building inside is even more beautiful. The ceiling and the floor is a piece of art itself, and wherever you turned your head a breathtaking sight will meet the eye. Also, the very thought of walking in the same steps as the grand tsar makes a chill go down your spine. By best tip is to make sure to get a map (speaking from experience since I did not) because the building is huge and has a at least two connecting hallways for every room you enter.

I also had the pleasure and excitement of going to a soccer game in the Russian Premier League between St. Petersburg Zenit – FK Tom’ Tomsk which ended 2-0. The game had it all: great play, two fine goals, a correctly annulled goal, two red cards, a stop in the game due to the reason that the entire stadium was covered in white smoke after the supporters had lit some fireworks. The stadium was packed (50 000 ppl) and the supporters were chanting non-stop. The experience of an entire stadium singing the Russian national anthem was quite something, and after a couple of marvelous days in St. Petersburg it was a moving moment. Previous that day we went to the memorial sight of the Second World War, located only 9 km from where the front line in Leningrad actually was. The monument was massive with a 48 meter high stone pole in the background of two soldiers. Behind the pole was a 40 m round circle with several eternal burning flames and in the middle an incredibly emotionally moving statue of the sufferings the war caused. It was gripping, and the most breathtaking factor was the music playing. The square is located in the middle of a densely trafficated area, but it all turned quiet due to the atmosphere the monument created. We later found out that the music being played was the only sound one heard on the radio during the entire war. Needless to say, it strengthened the impression further. It makes one feel somewhat small, eternally grateful and proud in an unexplainable way. To see a country honoring the fallen and the victims of the war in such a subtle and respectable way will make you look at the world in a different perspective, at least for a minute or two.

As I’ve tried to express, St. Petersburg was great. Although, getting to St. Petersburg was not as great… I left Kristiansand on Thursday morning at 0620 on the plane to Copenhagen. From there on I was suppose to get the plane to St. Petersburg which left at 0935. Knowing there was a Starbucks at the airport, I went to the directory to locate the love of my life: Starbucks. I got my Starbucks and I felt right at home; the world was finally in sync again. From there on I strolled towards my flight and sat down to wait to board. We got into the waiting area, and it didn’t take me long to realize that this plane was not going anywhere. There were people running around, some on-loading and some off-loading the bags, people shaking their heads and the captain and its crew getting shipped off in a mini-van when arrived. My diagnosis was right; there was a technical error with the plane and they didn’t have the spare part. So now what? Re-book. The result was a fully booked plane jogging towards the service desk where we all managed to get booked onto another flight leaving just an hour later thru Moscow. By the time I got re-booked the plane was already suppose to have left, but they had held it back so that we all would make it if we ran like crazy towards the gate, which of course was at the other side of the airport (I’m almost convinced they do that just for their own amusement). I got to the plane all sweaty, but I made it (and of course it didn’t leave for another 30 minutes). The flight to Moscow went by smoothly as I ended up next to another Norwegian who also was suppose to already be on his way to St. Petersburg. So we got to Moscow and we all had gotten quite mixed messages from SAS when we re-booked. Some were told that we had to check in again, others were told that our bags would be transferred directly to St. Petersburg, while some weren’t given any information. Since standard procedure is that you have to pick up your bags when you enter the country where you’re final destination is located, go thru customs and check them back in again. This, of course, also turned out to be the way to go about it. We get to the baggage claim area, patiently waiting for our bags which didn’t turn up. Not only did we not get our bags, but we didn’t know what time our next plane left either or which air carrier it was. It turned out that we were about 15 people who originally were on the St. Petersburg flight who didn’t get our bags, which was both comforting and disturbing at the same time. We turned to the lost and found helpdesk with a fools hope that the lady would be able to help us. She, like all Russians it seems, did not speak English. Luckily one of my fellow passengers spoke both Russian and English which automatically made her the translator. The lady started checking where our bags were in the system, and it turned out they weren’t in the system at all! At that point I started getting chills and I could almost see my travel plans fly away with our plane to St. Petersburg, which we obviously didn’t catch. After arguing back and forth with the lady at lost and found, one of the passengers suddenly found his bag amongst the bags coming from the Vienna flight (!?). A small joyous chaos broke out, and I personally let out a heartfelt little squeak when I saw my bag at the end of the baggage belt. After about an hour of stress our bags turned up, but we still had to hope for another plane leaving for St. Petersburg later that evening.  We figured out who our air carrier was – we were a small horde of upset, relieved and tired passengers by now – and went to rebook once again. Thankfully there was a plane leaving in a couple of hours (1915 to be exact). It goes without saying that we were all a bit anxious when checking in our bags, not certain if they’d end up in St. Petersburg or Minsk for that matter. The plane came, picked us up and left, more or less according to schedule, and I fell asleep before we left the ground and woke up as we took of banging my head against the window. We finally got to St. Petersburg and despite our worries, our bags turned up one by one. Now the last leg was how to get to the hotel. The last thing I felt like doing at that point was start to figure out the St. Petersburg metro written in Cyrillic letters. The Norwegian, Lars Erik, I had travelled with all the way from Copenhagen thru despair, frustration, joy and relief, was on a business trip and had a driver picking him up. He was kind enough to offer to have the driver drop me of at the hotel, even thou it wasn’t on their way. What a lifesaver! So at the end, I got to the hotel despite all the unpleasant hinders along the way, thou 8 hours later than planned.

To my surprise someone had left a note for me at the hotel (a fellow traveler on the Trans-Siberian) who wondered if I wanted to grab dinner with him when I arrived. As soon as I got into the room I gave him a call, pretty much saying: “hey, are you still up for dinner or a drink? I need to get out of the hotel!” Amazingly enough he didn’t consider me a complete lunatic regarding the phone call, so of we went to an Irish bar close by where we had good beer and great fun. The rest, so far, is history.

My conclusion of the 16 hour long travel from Kristiansand to St. Petersburg is that things can only be looking up from now on. I’ve had my share of bad luck for a while and I’m more likely to not lose my calm if something like this is to happen again.

Thank goodness thou I’m not flying again before I get to India ;)

And the journey begins...

It's time to realize a dream; a journey composed by my and for me which takes me around the world to places I have yet to establish acquaintances with, but which I long to meet. I know not what to expect, only what to hope for: a trip filled with a different view of the world, a second opinion, impressions that will last a lifetime, memories which will stay glued to my heart and soul like a tattoo sticks to skin. I hope for moments that will encourage, inspire, give me hope, leave me in disbelief, anger me, break my heart and take my breath away. These are high expectations, but in these ignorant pre-departure hours, I believe that these moments are all elements that will complete the experience I'm seeking. I know very little at the moment of what the months up ahead will bring, but I know I will do my best to be present, alive and living every step of this journey.

So, where am I going? The route goes as follows (roughly): Russia, Mongolia, China (Tibet), Nepal, India, Qatar, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, South-Africa, Bolivia, Peru and USA.

I'm heading to St.Petersburg tomorrow, and here's where the first part of the journey takes me: Roam St Petersburg to Beijing. Thereafter I'm heading towards Tibet on the Tibet Encompassed. My bags are packed and I'm ready for my adventure of a lifetime.

Explore. Dream. Discover

Graduation dinner

Here's a small sample of photoes of the preparation and the result of my graduation dinner :)

Rice, basel, beans, lentils, tomatoes, onion, lemon, cinnamon, garlic, chilli, salt and pepper.
All contributing to an explosion of flavor to fill the red peppers.  

The main course is coming together

The starter

Mango, strawberry, basel and chilli mix

The must-have: apple cake

Dessert

Summer recap

Summer snack

Summer came and went in the blink of an eye. I'm certain someone flicked their wand - in a remarkable Harry Potter-style - and before I knew it, September was at my doorstep. All the plans, to-dos, dreams and hopes for the o so grand summer of 2010 that have yet to be fulfilled, will have to be postponed to the even so grander summer of 2011. With that being said, and sounding like the eternal recipe of how to turn a summer from average to great is still unaccomplished, I have to admit that this has been one of the top three summers of my life, if not the best. It's hard to draw a comparison between summers since there are no standardized check-box list which has to be completely ticked and thereafter subjected to a Likert scale (oh joy, statistics). Let me stop before I get too deep into this diversion. My point being, this summer has been wonderful!

My darling, Jesper

Belive it or not, but this is one vicious, thou beautiful bird

First of all, I've had the opportunity to spend time with the people that mean the most to me. I've been travelling a bit to and fro to see friends, and several have also taken the trip down south to Kristiansand. I've also attended a couple of music festivals, been trekking in the Hardangervidda National Park for four days and spent time on the porch and the boat. This, alongside sunny weather, adds up quite nicely to a wonderful summer. 

A small glimpse of the breathtaking scenery at Hardangervidda

A part from all the pure-fun-no-worries activities, we've also managed to get a lot of tidying up done at home. It never ceases to amaze me how much packrat one can fit into a closet, an attic or a cupboard. I have no way of explaining how many things went into the trash or to charity, but the attic, closets and cupboards are almost empty compared to their previous state. These tasks are without a doubt also a trip down memory lane. All the things, smells and memories one has forgotten surfaces and turns you into a child again. I ended up spending hours going thru the books my parents used to read to me when I was little. No wonder cleaning up always goes beyond the realistic time limits set beforehand (you know, the limits where one has not taken affection as a factor into consideration). Here's a small sample of what had to leave my closet to my better knowledge:

Ahh, good times!

What was I thinking?!

How did I ever fit into this??

Wow... Speachless

My favorite sweater!!