Chai-fi

nelahozeves castle

2005-12-25T01:28:00.000-08:00

nelahozeves castle, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Christmas has arrived after a week spent travelling around Prague and nearby. My parents and I made it out to this castle, in the town where Dvorak was born, and saw the plethora of paintings that the Lobkovic family has inside. Another day was spent travelling to Brno, an interesting town, with good pizza, but a technical museum that made absolutely no sense to someone with no knowledge of Czech. We've been to a number of museums, and of course cafes. We even saw Don Giovanni performed with huge wooden puppets, but being in Italian, I didn't quite understand that either. Last night we had a large dinner where we ate carp, the tradition in Czech being to buy a fresh carp, keep it alive in your bathtub for a few days and then to eat it on Christmas Eve. Today we're off to see the Magic Flute and repack our bags according to new airline weight limits. Coming tomorrow - my return to the United States, flying to New York to see my relatives for a few days.

praguein' around

2005-12-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

praguein' around, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

I managed to spend all of my Ren Men Bi in Beijing, since I didn't take out too much, and I had to pay a deposit on my room keys. However, I did win $7 in a game of pool, which ended up going toward paying Andrew back for beer and Starbucks money (I really only went there for the first time on my last day in Beijing). I also discovered that the one cd I had bought, Malcolm Middleton, was not the greatest ever, leaving me with little to do on my plane trip to Prague, via Moscow, which was about 11 hours of no movies of any kind. After paying too much money on overweight fees, and overdrawing my bank account, I managed to get on my plane and met an interesting Danish guy, who let me listen to his iPod, using my chinese headphone splitter. Now, Im here in Prague, haning out with my parents and enjoying the snow that just began to fall when I got here. I'll be around enjoying the beautiful city and it's beer until December 26th, when we head off to New York.

gorge stretch

2005-12-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

gorge stretch, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Following our graduation, Aaron (my roommate) and I decided to take a trip to a warmer area in the south of China. We caught a flight on Saturday down to Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan province. We immediately caught a sleeper bus to a smaller city, Lijiang in the north, which was easy enough since people came up to us the second our taxi stopped at the bus station and asked us if we wanted to go there. After ditching our stuff in the morning, we walked around Lijiang and then rented some bikes, travelling outside of town to some areas distinctly Naxi, the minority in the area. That night we saw a Naxi concert, which was really interesting, hearing traditional instruments, which the Naxi people had to hide during the Cultural Revolution, like the Baisha, and one man sand such a haunting song about asking a woman to marry him, that it's still stuck in my head.
The next day we caught a bus in the morning further north to Leaping Tiger Gorge, where we hiked around all day. We agreed to ride horses for about 7 kilometers in the morning, and I gave Aaron's horseman some Texan hot sauce. We then hiked for another five hours or so, and made it to Walnut Garden, to a hostel with only two other people. We ate even more delicious food (this area had delightful cuisine) and watched the sunrise over the gorge in the morning. Then we crammed into a truck with a bunch of other guys and got a ride back to the town of Qiaotou, where we caught our ride back to Lijiang, and then to Dali, another town, further south. There we wandered around, drank some decent local beer, even enjoying one pineapple beer, meanwhile Aaron bought tons of gifts. I stared out the window at the beautiful Erhai Hu, as we rode nearby to a small Bai village (the minority of that area) and participated in their tea ceremony and watched a performance of their marriage rituals. That night, following the eating of many many circular breads, which were particular to the area, we caught an overnight back to Kunming and I flew back to Beijing on that Thursday morning.

one hundred percent

2005-12-09T19:04:00.000-08:00

one hundred percent, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

I just graduated my program, which called for a little bit of dancing on that pool table there. But, it's okay. Pretty much everyone else in that bar was also from my program so I didnt embarass myself anymore than I did when I wore a miniskirt during the skit we did for our final oral exam. So, now I'm packing everything away, storing two bags here and then heading south to the area of Yunnan, which is supposed to be a very culturally diverse section of China. Plane tickets? Check. Im out of here.

houhai dinner

2005-12-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

houhai dinner, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

So, I'm into the last week here, nearing the end of my studies abroad. I apologize for the lack of posts recently, partly due to my laziness and partly because my computer seems to be against working too hard. Friday, ACC organized a trip out to an orphanage for children with parents in jail, which was interesting, although I didn't experience too much other than a teacher talking to us a lot. Then last weekend, I tried to fit in some final travels around Beijing. We went out to the Military Museum, which had a lot of tanks and planes and Communist propaganda versions of history, but it was all in chinese so I didn't quite understand. Then we went out to Beijing University and Tsinghua University, which were very interesting, but incredibly cold. We did find some ice on some of the ponds there. Then we went to a market by the Beijing Zoo (which is supposed to be very bad), and found absolutely nothing interesting. I'm now planning for my travels starting after we graduate. I will hopefully be going down south to Yunnan for a week with my roommate Aaron.

Shidu (Ten Crossings)

2005-11-22T15:24:00.000-08:00

shidu bridge, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Last weekend, I again escaped Beijing and went out to Shidu ("Ten Crossings"). We caught the train with about 5 minutes to spare - luckily a lady helped us, who ended up offering to have us stay at her house (turns out that's her job - finding confused travellers and hosting them at her home). Saturday, we gave in to going to a commercialized area since we had no other choice, so seeing no other ways to get across their river and into the mountians, we paid four dollars and sang the Indiana Jones theme song as we ran across the bridge and shook it with all of our might. We hiked around a bit - there were no more vendors or anything, since it's already too cold, but we did find a huge paper-mache Shiva (I think), which we climbed up, carefully avoiding the recently used paint brushes and buckets. Then Ben managed to climb this tree and knock down some strange orange fruit - tasted kind of pumpkin-like? After a lot of searching, we found a spot for our tent and started cooking some food on Wills' new stove. We heated up some fried rice we couldn't finish at lunch, and added some water to our new mashed up fruit, which tasted surprisingly good. Sadly, we were discovered by the people who worked there. They hiked out with flashlights and eventually spotted our tent, telling us we couldn't sleep there because they have man-eating cougars. So, we eventually gave in and packed up our stuff. We stayed in some rooms behind a restaurant, and in the morning there was frost on the ground, so I'm assuming it would have been quite cold, but I still wish we had gotten to give it a shot. Now I'm back at class, with a presentation to give on my report about Beijing's pollution, a Thanksgiving dinner to help cook, and a Saturday night magic performance to prepare. Hopefully I won't end up making any too embarassing mistakes.

shanghai night lights

2005-11-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

shanghai night lights, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

For our second break, we took at trip out to Shanghai, skipping class from Wednesday to Friday. We took off Tuesday evening, and after an evening of playing cards, got in Wednesday morning, rushing off to the Shanghai Museum. That place was pretty cool, but I breezed through it in about two hours, after which my roommate and I, along with Mei Na (I dont know her English name) wandered around Shanghai. We managed to find the French district (even though it never reached more that ten percent French in population), which was interesting enough, and still ended up eating Chinese food. We then found a bar where no one else was dancing and later met up with some other ACC students. I even met an Argentinian who spoke very good Chinese. He gave me a card for a good Mexican restaurant, but I never made it there. The next day, ACC arranged a trip out to Xitang, a water village, with many bridges and interesting sites. We ate lunch on the water, in a boat, which didn't rock too much while we were eating. On the way back, our driver knew a shortcut to miss the traffic, but the road ended up being under construction. Our ride lasted 4 hours, instead of 2. The next morning, Aaron and I got up at 5 to run, and then took a train out to Hang Zhou, famous for its huge lake. It rained for a few hours while we were there, but we managed to take a private boat out and see an island or two. That night we found a hip-hop bar, which even had a Chinese rapper inside (rapping in Chinese and English) - very peculiar. On Saturday, Aaron and I found Lu Xun's house (a very famous Chinese writer and calligrapher), which was pretty plain. Nearby we found a restaurant, and I accidentally ordered a chicken plate that included chicken feet. On Aaron's insistence I tried to eat it, but my stomach would not allow it. Afterwards we found the Lu Xun Park, where there used to be a sign saying "No Chinese, no dogs allowed" (at least according to Lonely Planet). This place seemed to demonstrate every aspect of Chinese culture I had encountered. There were older people singing old propaganda songs from the 70's, guys fishing with long bamboo poles, older women dancing with fans, the ridiculous Chinese althetic facilities (which I still haven't photographed), and of course the juxtaposed carnival-like ride that every big park has (from bumper cars to boat rides). So, following a nap break, we caught a train and made it back to Beijing with a well-rounded experience.

forbidden city and summer palace

2005-11-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

forbidden city vines, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

This weekend, I finally made it out to all the sites in Beijing that I hadn't seen. On friday Amy, Katie, and I saw the Forbidden City, where the Ming and Qing dynasty emperors lived, making it impossible for commoners to enter for over 500 years. We skipped out on the audio tour by Roger Moore and just kind of wandered around. The place was interesting, but everything being under construction for the 2008 Olympics put a damper on things. The best part was the Imperial Park right at the northern gate. Afterwards, we wandered past Tiananmen Square to a small alley way to eat dinner, but on the way we managed to convince some rickshaw drivers to let us drive them around. I raced Katie and Amy and narrowly won. That night we saw some Beijing Opera, which was very interesting, despite being somewhat difficult to listen to. Saturday, Ben and Wills and I went out to the Summer Palace, where the royalty used to go to relax. The place was swarming with tourists (especially Spanish ones), but we managed to have a good time. They would not rent us the boats that were out on the huge lake, but we did hide in a bamboo patch and whoop like monkeys to scare people walking by. Oh yeah, and for some reason I wore a kid's Communist Party bandana around my neck, causing many people to mistake me for a French person. On the way back, the traffic was
horrible, but at least we had some ridiculous disguises to keep us entertained (see my pictures for more details).

all girls exercise

2005-11-03T02:02:00.000-08:00

all girls exercise, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

On Tuesday, we all went to a girls high school, so see what Chinese high school is like. It was very interesting, aside from being in a sad condition following Halloween night... At 10am, every school in China has a coordinated exercise/dance routine, which was incredibly entertaining to watch. Otherwise, the school wasn't too different. I found the music class and played them a little ditty on the trumpet. Im way out of practice, but I remembered a little Night in Tunisia. All the students have to wear these athletic-looking uniforms, and Wills and I were hoping to buy one of their sweatshirts, but didn't get around to asking about it. Maybe next time.

beidahe tent

2005-11-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

beidahe tent, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Last Friday, ACC organized an entertaining game show for us after our weekly test, and my team managed to not end up last, but we didn't end up winning any candy like other people. My favorite part involved using our bodies to depict characters for our teammates to guess. After a good meal with some teachers, Wills, Ben, and I took off for the beach. On the way, I answered a payphone and had an interesting conversation with a guy calling it, telling him how wonderful my small clothing shop was... I'm really not sure why he stayed on the phone for so long, since I obviously wasn't the guy he was looking for.
We made it out to the beach around 9, only to find that it was all commercialized and trashy. We ended putting the tent down there anyways, and in the morning found ourselves at the meeting point of the Great Wall and this bay. It was pretty cool, but the cranes across the bay from us kind of ruined it. Definitely way to cold to go swimming. So we caught a cab to town, and after failing to locate any mopeds for rent, got another ride out to this lake in the mountains. We had to sneak in, since they wanted us to pay to see their aviary and other such ridiculuous attempts to ruin nature. The thorns were a pain, but we carried our bag of Chinese take-out to the ridge, where we chowed on some weird shrimp dumplings. We found a somewhat flat place, and after a fine nap, accompanied by Pink Floyd - coming from Wills' ipod, hiked about a bit. That night we realized how much heat the sun generated after a gorgeous sunset over the polluted city of Beidahe left us freezing cold. I set of 2 bottle rockets that I had bought in town and we decided to call it a night. The next morning we got up and saw the sunrise (moving our sleeping bags outside). We made it back to Beijing in one piece, although I managed to rip my jeans on the thorns, lost my hat, and forgot my digital camera on the bus ride back... Definitely a bummer. But I will be investing in a new one soon.

calligraphy

2005-10-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

calligraphy, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

This is my calligraphy work from last week (some kind of long character method) pasted on our door here in room 2012. I made it through my midterm and have begun my second book here headed into the second half of this semester. This weekend we failed at our attempt to go to the beach, heading out at 1pm on Saturday with too much left to chance. Hopefully it will happen next week. Friday we finally found some clubs with live music, which turned out to be a lot worse than we expected, but we danced like idiots anyways. The important thing is to accept that there is no way you will appear to be anything but a buffoon, then just let the rhythms move you. The second club had latin music and a fog machine, which was awesome until I think I kicked someone because I couldn't see a thing. Back to class.

Xian and Gansu

2005-10-16T03:38:00.000-07:00

near tibetan lake, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

So I just returned Saturday afternoon from quite a set of adventures. ACC (my Chinese Language program) organized a trip out to Xian last friday, giving us Monday through Wednesday off from class. After two days of travelling around, seeing the Terracotta Warriors (rumored to be the 8th Wonder of the World?) and some temples and tombs, Wills, Ben, Amy and I convinced our teachers to let us take a 15 hour trip to the province of Gansu. After signing a waiver saying that ACC was not responsible for us, we headed out to the train station, and eventually ended up on quite a sketchy sleeper bus, that was rumored to only be 8 hours long. In the morning, we found out that we had an extra seven hours and that the guys below us would not stop smoking.
We finally made it into Lanzhou (rumored to be the world's most polluted city) and quickly escaped to a small town, Linxia, nearby for the nice. Wills and Ben almost bought motorcycles to ride all the way back to Beijing (we wouldnt have made it even in the 5 days that we had). We left that city and finally got to Xiahe where we found that we could rent motorcycles for $20 a motorcycle per day. We rode off and set up our tent about 15 kilometers from town. In the morning we met the guy who's land we were on, but he didn't seem to mind us. We went back through town and off to the grasslands on Wednesday. Wills proved less hardcore than the locals and had a spill in the river, getting one motorcycle and our two bags very wet. We camped on someone else's land and even used our makeshift stove (white gas in a metal mug with holes in it) to cook some instant pasta. In the morning we again met our not to excited land owner who only spoke Tibetan. We managed to get the bikes working (this being about the 5th time that they had trouble) and took off for another grassland. We made it back across the river and Will's managed to drag our bags through the water after they fell off of his bike. That night, after both motorcycles got flat tires, we camped up in the mountains, again visited by our host, who finally agreed to let us stay the night on his land for $10. In the morning, our tent and the surrounding mountains were covered in snow. We hiked back down in the morning and I hitched a ride into town to get a car to pick us up. So that same day we headed back into town, and even got an English speaking guide to drive us back to Lanzhou (6 hours). That night we hit the "Fire Bar" and the next morning got up early, found plane tickets, and flew the two hours back to Beijing. So now I'm here after missing two days of class, trying to catch up and again trying to get used to this enormous city. More pictures and stories as soon as I get my internet back (maybe my punishment for missing class?).

train kick

2005-10-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

train kick, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

I managed to escape Beijing this weekend with my two friends from New York,
Wills and Ben, and after failing to locate any train tickets, took a sketchy bus for 5 hours out to Chengde - riding in the very front of the bus, on quite uncomfortable, fold-out chairs. We got in late and Saturday morning rented bikes to go ride around the town. Sadly, the Summer Palace there wouldn't let us in with our bikes, so we biked out of the city, parked by some train tracks and hiked up into the mountains nearby. After some relaxing, and even building a fine rock structure, we came back and decided to leave Chengde, but not before I bought a ripped-off copy of the new Harry Potter for two-fifty. We then took off to a section of the Great Wall at JinShanLing, where we stayed the night at a place who's toilet was outside, and connected to a pig stall... We got up at 4am and hiked out to the great wall, just in time to see the sun rise. We hiked around a bit, and then around 10am headed back into the town, ate lunch and then slept the entire car ride back to Beijing. Now I have way too much work to do, and way too many pictures to upload (all courtesy of Wills and Ben)

xidan bookstore

2005-09-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

xidan bookstore, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

My new method for studying chinese characters involves using zhongwen.com to find a description of the character's roots and to form a type of story using the smaller pieces of each hieroglyph. So, after an afternoon of looking up characters, tomorrow will tell how effective that really is. I took my second lesson on calligraphy today. We have this cool book that you can write in with water, so you can write over and over, which is good cause it's way harder than it looks. I also hit the gym today, but I'm sad to say I did not attend the yoga class that was going on. My new friends Will and Ben, from New York, also plan to take one of the classes offered by our gym (including hip-hop dancing?).
Since today was spent reviewing the last three chapters, I had some free time and got to go out to a bookstore, bought another dictionary, and then later went out to the market (again) and bought a sweet Chinese soccer uniform, which I will have pictures of shortly.

post-climb rickshaw

2005-09-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

rickshaw, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Back from Nong Cun (village)

2005-09-24T00:59:00.000-07:00

mountain kick, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-09-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

So Friday, my roommate, Aaron, and I took a cab out to Chaoyang Park to run (we found it on a map) and the place ended up having like a car show, roller coasters, and two concerts going on. It was pretty strange, but a nice, entertaining run. On the way back, we were two foreigners running through the streets without shirts, which drew a lot of attention. Then Sunday was the Moon Festival, which is the day with the largest moon of the year. I got to go out with my new host mother (and other ACC student sister) to the university where she works and hang out with some of her students. We ate many many moon cakes, which are delicious, and some of the kids even sung songs, the highlight being John Lennon's Yesterday. I wasn't allowed to sing in English or anything, so I ended up juggling crab apples for them, and dropping them a lot, since I'm out of practice.
I'm getting a hang of this 50 new words a day thing, so that's good news. I went out today to try to find some shoes, but I still can't find my size - still fun to wander around the city. One of these days I'm bound to find both a good looking and nicely fitting pair of Chinese-made shoes.
I put up some pictures of my dorm and one of some night life, so check those out.

2005-09-13T08:52:00.001-07:00

I just finished another full day of homework. Yesterday morning, Aaron (my roomate) and I went for a nice run around our neighborhood, and even though some places smelled horrible, I felt pretty good about that. But then I got to class and realized that I completely misunderstood how much work we work supposed to have done. So I spent yesterday trying to catch up, but worked out and hung out a bit as well. Today, I tried to be more conservative with my time, but I got sucked into a pick up game of b-ball with some Chinese guys, who were actually pretty good - although I'm horrible at basketball, I'm constantly one of the tallest guys here. I also played some ping-pong (we have a table on the 4th floor of my dorm), which could end up being a good break from work. The dorm we stay in also houses all of our classrooms, so we don't really have to leave the dorm, except to go eat, but I still have peanut butter and a can of pork and beans that I bought at a foreign grocery store, so I could survive in this building for a day or two. Anyways, I've been meaning to pull out my camera, so hopefully soon I'll at least have a picture of our dorm room.

2005-09-13T08:52:00.000-07:00

I just finished another full day of homework. Monday morning, Aaron (my roomate) and I went for a nice run around our neighborhood, and even though some places smelled horrible, I felt pretty good afterwards. But then I got to class and realized that I completely misunderstood how much work we work supposed to have done. So I spent yesterday trying to catch up, but worked out and hung out a bit as well. Today, I tried to be more conservative with my time, but I got sucked into a pick up game of b-ball with some Chinese guys, who were actually pretty good - although I'm horrible at basketball, I'm constantly one of the tallest guys here. I also played some ping-pong (we have a table on the 4th floor of my dorm), which could end up being a good break from work. The dorm we stay in also houses all of our classrooms, so we don't really have to leave the dorm, except to go eat, but I still have peanut butter and a can of pork and beans that I bought at a foreign grocery store, so I could survive in this building for a day or two. My rambling is due to the lack of sleep and cappuccino that I got at a western buffet restaurant today. Anyways, I've been meaning to pull out my camera, so hopefully soon I'll at least have a picture of our dorm room.

camping spot

2005-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

camping spot, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-09-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

My last posts are up, now that blogger.com is in English, not Chinese. How do you write "post" in Chinese characters? Beats me. So there are new, old posts. We finally got internet here in our room, but there's only one ethernet port.... We'll figure something out. I'm still trying to figure how to get a power adapter for my external hard drive. But here we are getting ready for classes on Monday. We already got homework to do, but I also already got a gym membership nearby, so I can already escape when the work is too overwhelming. I just put up new pictures from nearby and of the Great Wall - Oh yeah, so I took a bus and a taxi out to the Great Wall, hiked for an afternoon, slept on the wall, and then returned on Tuesday, just in time to start my ACC Chinese-language program (orientation, etc.)
I've bought a few Chinese DVD's already. My first 50 cent one on the street didnt work, but later I went to an actual store, and I've got a few working ones. Last night we bought "House of Flying Daggers" which had no sound, but the good thing about a store is that you can return broken DVD's (all of which are surely pirated).
The other news is that my blog is censured by the Chinese government, so I can't see it in China, but I can still post, so that's good. Now, I think I'm going to start this homework and find out how far behind my class I really am.

2005-09-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

I found an internet cafe with a little help from my new climbing friends around here. I didn't go out of town to do the "rock climbing" as I'd planned since I stayed out a bit later than expected last night, but I found out today that my term "rock climbing" meant hiking, so I couldn't have climbed at that place even if I did go. I went out with some new English friends from my hostel and hit the foreigner bar section, and ended up meeting some really interesting people. I got the scoop on one of the climbing walls in Beijing, so this afternoon, I managed to find it and wore myself out. And I met more interesting people, so far all English speakers, so I may go out and play some Ultimate Frisbee with a group of expats tomorrow (expatriots - people living/working abroad), if I can wake up after the karaoke that is planned for tonight.

2005-09-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

And I made it! After 60 hours, including 5 on the Russian side and 5 on the Chinese side of the border, I'm in Beijing. I just dropped my bags at the University where I'll be staying for the next three months, and ran off to this hostel, where there are more tourists and it's cheaper. I'm considering going out hiking for a day or two, while I have this free time, but I'm not sure what will end up being the most interesting. For today, I'm going to rent a bicycle and make my way around. Riding the bus today, I learned that bikes are way faster, but I was carrying a hefty backpack, so I'm glad I could sit and look out the window. As for now, all I know is that Beijing is huge and there are people everywhere. More news to come.

2005-08-29T22:23:00.001-07:00

So I finally bought my train ticket to Beijing, going around Mongolia, leaving today at 4pm, arriving at 5am in Beijing on Friday, making that about 60 hours. Hopefully I'll meet some interesting people and at least study some Chinese. Sorry to everyone that I should be emailing. This cafe blocks all my pop-up windows, so I can't write a single email. I'll write from Beijing on Friday. Goodbye Russia, hello China!

four bandanas

2005-08-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

four bandanas, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-08-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

My perfect day out on the trail:
7:15 - Get up and run for thirty minutes and then exercise with my resistance band.
8:30 - Breakfast
9:30 - Clean the train and cut down three trees
1:30 - Lunch, where I poured everyone's tea
2:30 - Relax, read, snooze
3:00 - To work, where we cut down around 30 dead trees
6:00 - It rained but the sun was still out
7:00 - Cleaned off in the river
8:00 - Dinner
8:30 - Drunk father poured water all over my sleeping bag
9:30 - Songs around the campfire
11:00 - The dog won't stop barking
11:30 - Try to get some sleep

2005-08-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

So I just finished eating nine pozy (a type of large Buryat dumpling) and I'm exhausted. We got back from my project yesterday afternoon after 9 days of work, and the last two days spent hiking up Holy Nose (my second time). We had a great project, with a wide variety of volunteers: Germans, Swiss, Dutch, French, American, and of course Russian. The first day proved to be amazingly long, since we had to take two busses to get to our small Evenk town of Alla. There we got to stay in a cultural center for 5 days, while we worked on the trail to Lake Alla and helped out in the Evenk Cultural Center across the street - we painted some signs and a brochure was translated. One night, a group of local children found us and were given postcards by the Dutch women with us, so they went around getting all of our autographs. We felt totally famous. It was awesome.
After about 5 days in Alla, the town, we hiked out to the Alla resort (with no running water) and again got to stay on beds (but really saggy ones). Our room was closer to this other family's table and had a working plug, so they would come into our room daily to heat water, and would spill water on my sleeping bag, daily. Finally, when the drunk father covered my bed and our floor with hot water, I had to switch my bed and the table, so that I could keep my stuff dry. The place was gorgeous and one morning we got to hike up to the top of a nearby peak and could see all around. There was a hot spring nearby that reaked of sulfur, but was pretty refreshing after a day of work, cleaning trails and felling dead trees. You were only allowed in the spring an odd number of times (ie 3 times total) to stay lucky. We also placed coins, matches, cigarettes, candy, and vodka in a sacred area near our camp, to please the gods. After four days out at the Alla resort, we headed back south, to Holy Nose, and arrived after a day stop in Kurumkan, after the bus coming to get us broke. We survived the thousands of black flies that swarmed the coast of Baikal, and I hiked up Holy Nose for my second time. We stayed in Uzbarguzin our last night, and then took a bus back to Ulan Ude.

Packed Car

2005-08-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Packed Car, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Here are a few pictures from my trip, until I have more time to add stories and such.

Alla Center

2005-08-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

Alla Center, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

bolshign

2005-08-15T01:01:00.000-07:00

bolshign, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-08-15T00:44:00.000-07:00

On this last project, 12 of us were sent out to a small town, which had no phone lines and only got electricity 4 years ago. It was a very interesting experience to say the least. I felt like I had been taken back in time, where we plugged the pump in to get water for the house, and used scythes to mow the fields, and played the guitar all the time for entertainment. I did print out some music and now have the chords and lyrics to 10 songs, of which I've performed "Sweet Home Alabama", "Angel From Montgomery" and "Hallelujah" a number of times, despite being horrendous at the guitar. I guess if it sounds kind of like the real song, people are entertained. I also learned the Buryat national anthem, and soem other rounds to sing together whenever our group met up. I had a great time out there, enjoying even the rainy days when I could sleep a lot, read a Russian short story , and study some chinese. It was sad to leave, but Im getting antsy to be in China already, so I'm expecting these next two weeks to fly by. One of the best parts of the house we stayed at (aside from beds, which are luxurious compared to a tent) was that they had a Russian banya in their back yard - a homemade sauna, where you cook yourself every day and then wash off with buckets of hot water and a ladle. I've never felt cleaner, and was glad when Misha (the father of the family) offered to come to America any time to help Abe or I construct a similar house and/or banya for ourselves. I guess it must be sturdy and insolated, since it gets down to -40 degress celsius in the winters here. It's already getting a lot colder at night. Boy am I glad I'm only staying until September.

2005-08-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

Well, Im back in Irkutsk for the last time here, buying a camo hat (since I forgot my last hat on our bus) and packing all my stuff to eventually leave it in Ulan Ude. Abraham and I leave tonight on the overnight train, and tomorrow morning we head out on the Evenks Native People's trail, where I have no idea, again, what we will be doing. I think we'll be travelling pretty far north, so that may mean 8-12 hours in a tiny van, but we'll see. I've pretty much ridden in the most uncomfortable positions imaginable (my butt stradling a gap between seats, etc) so I can handle anything. After my next project, Im gonna catch a bus or taxi from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia (8-12 hours?) and then spend two days there before I go down to Beijing to get ready to start my fall Chinese language semester. My only worry is securing a train ticket from Mongolia to Beijing, but i'll get my top researchers in Ulan Ude to look into that one. I have once again put a lot of my story in picture form, at my flickr site.

amazedjono

2005-08-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

amazedjono, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-08-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

I always end up having 2 minutes to write here, and it's after hours of uploading pictures and writing emails. Well, to finish my story of the project, we had two days off to see the island. The first day we went for a very intense hike and got to see some incredible views (check my flickr site for more details) and the second day we went out for a 3 hour boat ride to an island that was protected by the National Parks, and we saw some nerpa, the native seal of Baikal.
I just got back today from a two night trip to Olkhon Island with Al. I took a million photos, but only uploaded about 20. Check those out. I ended up calling Barrie for her birthday on Thursday (which was still August 3rd in the US) but they charged me way more than I'd expected. I ended up getting away with paying $2 short, and I ran off to meet Al, who had also spent all of his money on water and bananas for our 6 hour bus ride back to Irkutsk. I did the math and realized that zero roubles would not get us from our bus stop back to the flat, so during a break from the drive, I told this woman our situation and asked her if she would pay be 10 roubles (about 30 cents) if I showed her a card trick, and she said yes, it went off without a hitch and we made it. Today at 5pm we head off for our next project, Bolshoe Goloustnoe. I'll be back in Irkutsk on July 15th for another 10 hour break before I depart for my last project. But now I have to find a spoon for my next project because mine got lost.

zabaikalsky national park

2005-07-31T00:46:00.000-07:00

zabaikalsky, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

The logo for the park that we worked in. A nerpa and the lake.

2005-07-31T00:23:00.000-07:00

Back in Irkutsk again, after a fine project in the Zabaikalsky National Park. I stopped in Ulan Ude for a day, to hang out with some other volunteers, took a late train back with Christian, a volunteer from Seattle, and after seeing him to the airport, fell asleep at 7 this morning. Al showed up 30 minutes later, waking me up talking about his long train ride, but I managed to sneak off to sleep for a bit longer. I just finished putting up a whole new batch of pictures, that I still have to organize, but I thought I'd start the retelling of my travels.
After my train to Ulan Ude, we waited for the group to gather and then headed straight out to the National Park, by van, which I admit was not incredibly comfortable. We got an orientation and made it to the camp by around 6 pm, and set up some tents, my project consisting of 9 people. Our camp site was in the town of Monakhovo which consisted of 3 houses and a Park Ranger's station which was being built, and served us for rainy days and food storage. We spent the entire two weeks working on one hill, adding huge logs as steps to it, to make it easier to climb. We took a few days off for rain and travels, but the rest of our time was spent on the beach, relaxing and enjoying the sun. One day some drunk russians started shooting a shotgun at seagulls, somehow missing everytime, but I think the fact that they had a gun stopped anyone from saying anything to them. It was quite bizarre. Many nights were spent around a campfire listening to songs on the guitar. I played my two songs many times, and even learned a song in russian. I plan to print some words and chords so that I can build to my song repetoire and also share some good music. I ended up singing the Gambler a number of times accapella, which was enjoyable. So I'm off to print some lyrics off, and hopefully I can finish my stories later. Tonight, Al and I are hanging out with some ecotourists in town, telling them about our adventures. Then maybe watching a pirated copy of War of the Worlds we bought in a store...

2005-07-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

Lessons Learned in Severobaikalsk:

How to use a hole for a toilet
On a hot night, don't try to sleep in your sleeping bag, put on soem shorts and a shirt and your set
you can say no to "thirds"
putting condensed milk in your tea isn't so bad
people here don't drink cold water (its always tea)
Don't listen to Al's translations - "She says that you smell bad" - not true
How to break a stick (check my pictures for this one)
Don't expect thing around here to start on time
how to melt and then smash cans (I guess that makes them easier to trash?)
how to use an axe upside-down as a hammer
Always bring toilet paper and soap
Black jeans look less dirty than blue jeans (thanks for those Jess)
Washing clothes in the sink isn't so hard (unless I've always been doing it wrong?)
jumping int he lake with your shirt on won't make it smell any better

Chase me on the Great Baikal Trail

2005-07-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

tshirt, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-07-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Well, damn. I just spent about an hour putting up photos and organizing them and all, so I hope at least one person looks at them. I burned a cd of pictures, but ended up just using my memory card and reader since the computer here has no cd drive... But I'm happy to have some stuff to share. I'm now in Irkutsk until 8pm, when I catch an overnight, 8-hour train to Ulan Ude, where my next project begins. I had to switch projects, but seeing how I knew nothing about what I was supposed to do and I still don't know what I am now doing, it doesn't make a lot of difference to me. Although, Vanya (who we hiked with) was going to lead the project that was cancelled, which would have been very cool. I am headed to the Zabaikalsky National Park, to do whatever they tell me to do. I have to call to find out more this afternoon. Ulan Ude is said to have a huge statue of Lenin's head, so it should be a good trip. I hope that my pictures can explain a lot of what went on at my first camp. We spent four days at a campground (called Echo) and then went out for a four day hike to an area that had suffered a forest fire. We built bridges and walkways there, camping on the beach of Lake Baikal, which was amazing. We then hiked to a town, where our bus picked us up and took us back to the campground. We spent that Saturday hiking up Mt. Krugozor, for fun, and then in Severobaikalsk, the city, and on Sunday, following a visit to a Buryat exhibit thing, returned to our camp site, where I worked until Wednesday. On Wednesday, many parents and interested people came and watched our performance about our work and other interesting stuff. There were about 12 girls from 13-16 years old learning English at our camp, I guess to take advantage of us foreigners and our knowledge of English. They worked with us in the mornings, and studied in the afternoons. We also had a daily (informal) Russian lesson which was pretty cool. I learned about houses, and tools, and even a lesson on Lake Baikal and its geography. Sadly, no curse words yet. I'll just keep pretending what people yell is always complimentary. So overall, I feel like I learned a lot, had a great time, and ended up even more prepared for my next camp. I inherited Andy's old leather work gloves and Al's metal tea mug (he has two) and I hope to buy a towel (quick drying?), sewing kit, lighter, hand soap (quick drying?),a carabiner and exchange some money before I leave. So I'm taking advantage of the city while I can. I may even see a movie, if time permits. War of the Worlds? Any chance I'll understand? Doubtful.

school sign

2005-07-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

school sign, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

Here I am after I first arrived in Severbaikalsk.

2005-07-13T03:45:00.001-07:00

Well, Andy (a Swiss volunteer) and I just left our camp of volunteers early because we have to get back to Irkutsk, after a long celebration of the end. We did a number of skits and I even did some card tricks in Russian for parents and other people that came out to our camp, which I think even made sense.... But Im not sure. I also agreed to help DJ the thing, and they wrote out what I was supposed to say and all. I only misread half of what I had to say. After some tea and a cake, we tried to drive away, into town to catch out train, but first the group sang to us and then we all took a bus ride to where we had put in a new sign, to take a million pictures. Well Im headed to Irkutsk (again 34 hours by train) and I'll try to put up some pictures from there. I have to switch projects because mine was cancelled, but I'll have more on that soon, when I find out what Im doing.

2005-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Somehow they've already let me back online, after only one week of isolation, if you can even call it that. We've had running water, even warm enough for showers, and a lake nearby (which is not warm at all), so I've been surprisingly clean and entertained during this week of volunteer work. We've been cutting trees away that have fallen on trails, evened out paths, prepared signs for one trail, and worked on a new building near where we are staying. Lake Baikal is gorgeous, and as soon as I devise a way to get pictures up without using my own laptop, I'll post as many as possible. I even found a fine rock to climb up (I overprepared, bringing even my climbing shoes on this trip), but seeing how sharp and rocky the ground was below it, I decided against getting up one morning to attempt a climb. I have been running regularly with Al, and sweating all over the place while we work. Sadly, you can't wear shorts since the mosquitos will eat you alive. At one point, a black fly bit my lip, and it swelled up a bit. I felt quite hardcore. But we head back this afternoon, and we'll continue working on the trail near our campsite. From Tuesday to Friday, we were out hiking, clearing trails and building bridges in a different area, but now we're back, and our old campsite feels just like home... Well, I'm off to try and post online a request for a climbing partner in August, when I'll be back in Irkutsk. Yes, I do get one week off, to sit around and do nothing. Come Wednedsay (July 13th), I'll be leaving my project early, to catch a train to Irkutsk, arriving Friday, only to leave that afternoon for my second project. Happy belated Birthday to my Mom, and happy 4th of July to all.

2005-06-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

I only have five minutes til this library here closes, but I've been reading book by Brad Newsham, about his travels around the globe, and I picked out a quote I liked. He makes me feel bad for not using such flowery and enticing language.
"As a traveler I can acheive a kind of high, a somewhat altered state of consciousness. I think it must be what athletes feel. I am transported out of myself, into another dimension in time and space. While the journey is on buses and across land, I begin another journey inside my head, a journey of memory and sensation, of past merging with present, of time growing insignificant." -Mary Morris, Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone
We leave this afternoon, and it turns out my job includes keeping track of all the tools. I'm learning a good number of words for shovels and axes. After spending 45 minutes figuring out how to call Barrie from a telephone place here (proving that I've learned how to say a few things in Russian), Im prepared for anything.

2005-06-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well, somehow I managed to find a library out here in Severobaikalsk, where I could get on the internet. Once I figure out how to change the keyboard from Russian to English, I was all set. During our 34 hour train ride, we shared a four person section (two beds and two bunk beds - maybe I'll take a picture on my way back) with a mother and her daughter, who evidently hated us because we were tall people. I got a lot of reading done, and at one point a talkative guy got on the train after his trip to Germany and told us many stories, although he was convinced that only Al could understand anything that he said. Maybe he didn't like Americans? Amidst my reading and playing some Su Doku, I also spent a little bit of time trying to translate some card tricks into Russian. With the help of the mother next to us, I not only figure out how to communicate during a trick, but also dazzled her with my sleight of hand. Since we've been in Severobaikalsk, I've definitely gained a better grasp of Russian, even though I rarely understand exactly what's going on. We've been buying tons of food for our trip, and I carried about 30 kilo's of potatoes in my hiking pack 20 minutes to the office, so I feel very prepared for the trail. Al and I failed at finding a movie theater where we could watch 'War of the Worlds' since it comes out the same day here, but we did spend about an hour today cutting up bread for our trip. My pocket knife finally came in handy here, since it was sharper than the knife I was given. Tomorrow, we meet with the other volunteers and head out after lunch. We should get the run-down on ticks, which around here can carry encephalitis, so we have to constantly check for them. I think our site is about an hour away from the town, which was created only 30 years ago, during the efforts to contruct the BAM railroad (read about it if you get a chance), a fantastic Soviet feat. Well, Im off to show my hospitality by making some pasta and chicken while everyone else is out. Maybe tonight, I'll woo the family who is accomodating us with a card trick (in Russian even) and a postcard from Texas. Who knows? I have to go leave for Irkutsk July 13th (two days before my project ends) so that I can in on the 15th and ready to go out to my next project, so I may have plenty more to say then.

highjono

2005-06-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

highjono, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-06-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

After a full day of hiking yesterday (23 kilometers), Al and I are catching a 35 hour train ride up to Severobaikalsk (North of Baikal), where we begin our first project on Friday. Sadly, this will probably be my last post for about four weeks. But I have put up plenty of pictures from our hike yesterday on Flickr. You can access all my pictures at http://flickr.com/photos/jsanders/
We took a train out yesterday morning and after an hour and a half ride, arrived near a river and some mountains (sadly I dont know the name for any of them). We took a nice day hike around a few peaks, and ate our lunch of bread and salami out by 'Idol', a tall rock statue-looking thing. Then we hiked back along the river, eventually returning to our train stop. Our guide, Vanya (friends with Al), will be leading my project at Baikalo-Lenskij, which will start July 15th, after this first two-week project in Severobaikalsk. We should be clearing trails (cutting plants and moving rocks out of the way) and maybe building some benches for rest areas during these projects. I'll be back in Irkutsk from July 29-August 5 (more or less, not including transportation to and from), and I should have plenty more photos and stories to tell.

On the track

2005-06-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

jono-carting, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

I had a pretty good time out on the course. It wasn't incredibly large, but it was pretty fun. I did in fact wear a helmet while I was out driving around. Click on the picture and go view my other photos from Irkutsk.

2005-06-24T02:38:00.000-07:00

After another trip to the supermarket, we're all prepared for a vechereenka (party) for Al, as it is his birthday. Yesterday we went and stocked up on food and movies: Bought a russian film and City of God with Russian subtitles. There are all kinds of pirated movies here, so you can buy anything, even the stuff in the theaters. Later on in the day, we spent an hour or two searching for a mythical climbing wall, out by the airport, which turns out only to have climbing in the winter. We had to go back to the store today, to get some local Vodka, along with some beef so that I can make chili for our guests. This afternoon, for Al's birthday, we went go-carting, which was pretty fun. I have a picture of one of the tires that forms the track boundaries, that I definitely moved when I was driving. While we were there, some people from MYZ (Russian MTV) were filming a guy doing the track blindfolded. I got a picture of one of the MYZ microphones as proof. On the way back from the track, I stopped to take a picture of the many bags that they sell on the streets here, since they're not free upon purchases at stores. You can get all sorts of designer bags, and be the coolest guy on your block. Coming soon to Ebay. Another thing I've recently gotten a little addicted to is Su Doku, a Japanese number puzzle that's huge in England, according to Al. Check it out only if you have free time...

2005-06-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Last night after Mr. and Mrs. Smith and talking to Barrie on the phone (I woke her up at 10pm my time?!? But I guess the 13 hours difference explains a lot), the hot water went out in our flat, and this morning we discovered that it never came back on. So today, after doing many exciting resistance band exercises recommended to me by Ian Mark, I boiled some water, put it in the sink next to the shower and washed myself with that. It was quite an interesting, and challenging experience. This afternoon, Allister and I went out to find out about local climbing, paintball, and go-carting. We were successful in all aspects and may do some go-carting tomorrow or friday. We were supposed to see a Cossack dance show tonight, but they never arrived, so the show was cancelled. I guess Irkutsk isn't as big of a place as I thought it was. Instead we bought a few beers and wandered through a carnival park thing, even doing the ferris wheel to catch a fine view of the city. Then we went out on some pedal boats, on the river. It was hard going, and because I planned to be in a show, I forgot my sunblock, but we had a good time, and didnt even run into any one else. One funny thing I've found, is that all the local and private security officials around here (shop security and whatnot) all wear camouflage, kind of as their uniform. So there are just random people all over the city, wearing all camouflage, and it really weirds me out. Oh well, I guess you do end up getting used to some pretty weird things when you're abroad.

2005-06-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sadly, my laptop has stopped working properly, so more pictures may be awhile. However, I did just look up the word for screwdriver in Russian, so I'm ready to try to find one (to take out half of my RAM which is malfunctioning). I went for a nice run today in the rain, and almost made it downtown, meaning that if someday I'm up for it, I could go on a 45 minute run or so to the river and enjoy the shoreline, but I dont think its for me on a rainy day. I did stay consistent in getting many strange looks from locals.
I just bought a nice book on Russian grammar (in English even) so I'll be completely proficient in no time (or maybe in 3 years). I've also started carrying around a plastic bag, as most places here will charge you to use theirs, but the lady at the book store stuffed by book in a sack before I could even pull mine out. I guess I'll just have to buy more stuff then.
Well, we bought tickets this morning for a Cossack dancing show tomorrow evening, so that should be interesting. Maybe a computer will come in this afternoon for us to start doing work on. Who knows?

angara

2005-06-20T01:03:00.000-07:00

angara, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

I finally got this flickr account to work. Here's a picture from yesterday out by the river. I even figured out how to use a phone card from here to get online with my laptop. Damn! And we got some paper's to start translating for the Great Baikal Trail Association. Maybe a computer will come tomorrow?

hut

2005-06-20T00:57:00.000-07:00

hut, originally uploaded by Nazoox.

2005-06-19T02:22:00.000-07:00

I've got my bearings now and almost know what I'm doing. The two english speakers Im staying with have a much better grasp of Russian so that's nice to have for support. I've decided that I'm nowhere near ready to read the book or short stories I have, since I'm averaging about one page a day (at a page an hour). So I'm going to try to get a hold of a Russian grammar book to work on (hopefully one that was written in English).
Today we went out to Paltsie, a place where they have a bunch of old architectural structures and that was pretty nice. We got there an back (30 min each way) for like $3.50. I have a nice picture of me on the beach by the river that flows out of Lake Baikal, but I can't seem to figure how to get my pictures on these computers here. Maybe once we get a computer for our office (which is going to be in our flat) I can do some posting from there.
I talked to an american guy who lives here, Brendan, who said that paintball is really cheap here, and the english guy that I'm staying with, Allister, said that they have go-carting here. So, since part of our job is to work on some guides for the area (in English), we're going to have to go try and pursue some of these interesting activities.
Since we should be here until the 29th, I decided to try to exercise a bit. I went for a run yesterday morning, but got a lot of strange looks as the one shirtless guy running around the streets. Needless to say, I got lost, but found my way back again. I also bought a resistance band (thanks Barrie) which has 5 bands you can add or subtract to get your desired resistance. I made up some sweet exercises this morning to work out my shoulders and back (including pull ups on a swing set). Email me if you need any help since I imagine I'll be making up some intense workouts all summer. Well, I'm off to try to exchange some more money. I bought some cd's (anyone curious can look up Spleen, Leningrad, and Vladimir Veetsotski - not sure on the spelling) and saw Batman Begins (for the second time - nice because otherwise I wouldn't have understood a word). I hope to navigate the streets carefully, heeding my mom's advice, since here noone stops for pedestrians and half of the cars have steering wheels on the wrong side... Bought in Japan? I'm trying to get some stories down before I'm stuck in the woods for weeks, but I'm stopping here because if I tell it all now, what the hell can I say when I get back in December?

2005-06-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

I've safely made it to Irkutsk. After losing my bags and then finding them in Moscow, I didnt end up having enough time to take a bus into the city to see any sites. Maybe next time.... I did however watch a bit of Russian MTV which was filled with techno and girls in their underwear. Here in Irkutsk its in the 80's and very dirty (streets and stuff), but Im in a nice flat with Anna from Oberlin, and a guy from England. We're supposed to work on stuff, but aren't really doing anything until a computer gets delivered to the flat, which will also become our office. I had some nice Russian tea with jam in it today and as I walk around Irkutsk Im taking plenty of pictures, hopefully to put up eventually. I should be planning the projects Im going to work on and figuring out how I'm getting to Beijing soon. Maybe I'll stop in Mongolia to site see? I've only heard good things. But now Im off to some environmental group's office to check out their library. In the meantime, I'm also reading a collection of short stories in Russian, starting with a story by Pushkin. Im a good two sentences in.

2005-06-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

And I fly out this morning. Good bye to all. I now face 30 hours of flying.