9% alcohol, so that’s about 3 oz of gin and 13 oz of tonic. I usually like it stronger, but it’s convenient.
Author: admin
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All I Know About Russia, I Learned From 007
When we first crossed the border from Mongolia into Russia, my National Geographic-fed expectations of a post-Soviet country were completely justified: heavy set women in oddly coloured clothing and head scarves waddling down the platform burdened with heavy shopping bags; unsmiling uniformed guards asking for my papers; several labourers at work, sweating under a hot sun, laying cobblestones on the platform; the Lada; and, arguably, the worst bathroom in Christendom. (Honestly, this bathroom would make even those of strong constitution whimper and consider the hedgerows; unflushable squat toilets, no running water, no electric lighting, few stall doors and, I’m told, urinals that drained onto the floor.)However, after that initiation, which fit every Bond-esque thing I’ve learned about Russia, we’ve been pleasantly surprised at what we’ve visited. Marc already described our very enjoyable stay in Siberia, but that was just the beginning. We arrived in Moscow to some warm weather and an unexpectedly cultured, beautiful and modern city. I don’t know what I was expecting, exactly, but it was decidedly more Soviet, more mafioso, and alot colder. Except for the colder part, I couldn’t have been more wrong (I had to break out the long underwear for the last couple days). We saw some outstanding architecture and visited much glorified sites, like the Kremlin and Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin McDonald’s.
We couldn’t not visit this Americanski institution while in the Motherland. I remember reading about the first McDonald’s that opened in Russia and how people lined up for kilometers to spend a week’s salary on a Big Mac and fries. We, too, lined up for what seemed like kilometers. Actually, it wasn’t so much a queue as it was a crowd of hungry people elbowing their way to the front with the zeal of those who smell the french fries. Marc and I split the tasks of ordering food and snagging a table and, after 30 minutes, were each successful. But we were the diligent ones. While eating, we watched several milquetoast tourists hesitate on the edges of the counter crowd before timidly trying to slide towards the counter and then hovering forever in order to get a table. You have to be ready! Money in hand! Elbow your way to the front and make eye contact with an order taker! Bark out the order, hand over the cash and prepare yourself for the retreat through the mob whilst balancing a tray of food. You have to be hungry for McDonald’s in Moscow.
The truth is, one of my favourite memories of the city is relaxing in a park in Kitay-Gorod, enjoying a couple of beers and watching the Russians go by. A few times, we were mistaken as Moscovites and I got to use one of my few Russian phrases, “Ya nye gavaryou pa Russky”. I try to mimic the accent of Xenia Onatopp from ‘Goldeneye’ when she says “Once again, Mr. Bond, the pleasure was all yours.” I’m understood better when I do.
Then, we traveled onwards to St. Petersburg. The people we met on our train trip who were traveling in the opposite direction all said the same thing, “Moscow was great, but St. Petersburg was better.” I couldn’t imagine what ‘better’ meant, exactly, because my lack of knowlegde about the city is shameful. Beyond the fact that it was, for a time, called Leningrad, I knew nothing.
Now, I know that it was a city built on marshland by Peter the Great, designed in the 18th century to be a Venice of the North. It is exceedingly beautiful. I can’t stop taking pictures of the buildings and canals and the buildings along the canals. We visited the Hermitage museum, world renowned (I’m so ashamed I didn’t know about it) for its monumental collection of classic and modern art. 
It is housed in the Winter Palace, former home of Catherine the Great, among others. We viewed the original fortress around which the city was founded, the Decemberist’s Square, where revolution is remembered, the Dostoevsky house, the Pushkin Literature cafe, and Nevsky Prospekt, the cultural heart of the city (which is why there is both a KFC and a Pizza Hut here). There is almost too much to look at, too many exquisite details and shades of history. I almost wish we were here in the winter time so I could see a Russia that more closely resembles what I imagined: a city covered in snow, people rushing through streets in fur coats, darting into steamy cafes for espresso, popping into warm bars for icy shots of vodka. Next time, I guess…P.S. We ate caviar blinis in St. Petersburg. I don’t need to eat them again.
P.S. Who knew that Moscow has the most beautiful metro stations in the world?
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Glamour, Romance and UHT Milk
There is little romance in the Trans-Siberian train—an eleven hour border crossing, eating half-melted cheese, warm vodka, surly train attendants, and days without showers. Was five extra nights on a train worthwhile just to stop at a big lake? We could have flown to Moscow, but we would have missed so many pleasant things.
We only stopped at a city and a village near Lake Baikal, the world’s largest. The water can be drunk straight out of the lake. Most would say it’s too cold for swimming, but a couple of crazy Brits were in for a good fifteen minutes. Skipping stones across the calm waters entertained us for hours. Also, we made some new friends here that made our stay near the lake even more enjoyable: Sophie and Fabrice Page from France. We had a great time sharing a bottle of vodka that we bought from a bus parked on the hiking path to the camp.
The highlight of the entire trip was the banya, which is half sauna, half bath house. The first room is for washing and the second is a just hot. Hot and cold water is provided for cleaning or cooling down after the sauna. Usually several trips are made between the sauna and the cooler washing room. At a camp beside Lake Baikal we enjoyed a sheltered banya and a little skinny dipping in the lake. The first plunge was shocking and the third was rather pleasant. After three days without a shower, banya-clean is quite a contrast.
The worst article ingested on the train will henceforth be referred to as “The Worst Cappuccino Ever.” I had high hopes for the instant coffee, having forgone the Nescafe for MacCoffee from Mongolia. Our first mixture was poor, so our brilliant thought was, “Perhaps it needs to be stronger.” More of a bad thing is simply bad. Next we thought to dilute it with room-temperature UHT milk. This was not effective.
Upon arriving at the lake-side village, the memory of our nasty cappuccinos faded as our host refreshed our palates with a wonderful breakfast of crepes with home-made mountain berry jam, toast with butter, oatmeal-like kasha with milk, cheese and salami. We chose tea over the instant coffee.
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Never Say Never
Things I Never Expected To Do or Say; Volume I:
- wear shoes in the shower every day
- make flashcards to study Russian while sitting in a Korean coffee shop
- wonder if those are yaks that we are passing by on our horses
- check for bedbugs
- repair a deadbolt lock with a pair of nail clippers
- try not to be too obvious when watching other diners at a restaurant to see how they eat their food; chopsticks or spoon? with or without rice? soup or beverage?
- drink a big bowl of homemade fermented horse milk in a neighbouring herdsman’s ger; smile as I finish the whole thing as it would be rude to refuse or display distaste
- ask Marc,”What animal’s bones are these in this stew?” and get a post-tasting response of “I don’t know”.
- have a picnic on a mountain in Mongolia on a Wednesday
- be surprised and pleased that the shower has hot water
- tell someone we met 2 days earlier that “We’ll meet you in Seoul”.
- “I’m starting to like these little, dried and candied fish.”
- be enormously pleased that not only does our room have a TV, it has one English channel and the show on that channel is ‘Banned in America: The World’s Sexiest Commercials’, hosted by Carmen Electra
- wear my long underwear in July
- be recognized as Canadian just by the lululemon logo on my sweater. Twice
- discover a new definition for ‘The Middle of Nowhere’
- watch music videos for the four hours between 3:00am and 7:00am at the Chinggis Khan airport in Ulaanbaatar, the best of which was Tom Jones’ “What’s New, Pussycat?”
- enjoy tea and cakes with jam in a tent on the Mongolian steppe
- wear an orange belt
- milk a horse
- ride a bus with an attendant
- be grateful for instant coffee
- think that $3 is a lot to spend on lunch
- not bat an eye at spending twice as much on Happy Hour
- come this close to buying a wee camouflage outfit for Scarlett
- visit North Korea, if only 2 ft. across the border while inside a building
- meet a fellow WestJetter while on a tour of the DMZ (really, what are the odds?)
- wake up to the sound of galloping horses
- download Mongolian rap music from a Ukranian-American named Buby who teaches acupuncture in China
- be in possession of Roubles, Won, Yuen, Tugruk, and USD at the same time
- see such a view
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Once There Was One Korea
We weren’t planning to visit the Demilitarized Zone, but we were told it was the thing to do in South Korea. I expected to simply peer across the ceasefire line from a safe and secure concrete bunker instead of crossing the ceasefire line in an area where North Korean soldiers may enter at any moment.
I felt pretty safe throughout the experience. When we entered the UN building that crossed the ceasefire line there were two guards covering the door on the North Korean side. We only saw one North Korean far in the distance but were advised that the North Koreans were watching from the guard towers.
Tourists are photographed by The North for propaganda, so conservative dress was required and communicating with North Korean soldiers was not allowed in any way, including pointing, gesturing or making faces. The intimidation factor is interesting: the Republic of Korea soldiers (ROC soldiers) wear tinted glasses as part of the standard uniform and have ball bearings sewn into the cuff of their trousers so that when they march, it sounds like a larger contingent.
We did stop at a couple of safe lookout points later. One had a good view of what the South Koreans call Propaganda Village, a constructed set of homes and apartment buildings which try to make The North look prosperous. We were told that no one lived there and the four story buildings did not even have floors. The village had one of the largest flag poles and flags in the world. The flag weighs over 600 pounds when dry. It has to be taken down in bad weather and must be replaced four times a year because it starts to tear under it’s own weight.
The other lookout was much larger and is outside the DMZ. A large amphitheater faced a wall of windows which looked far into North Korea. South Koreans go to this observatory on holidays to think about relatives who are still in The North. We could see the Kaesong Industrial Complex where South Korean companies are working with the North in a goodwill program.
After the DMZ, I returned to the War Memorial and Museum with Janet. She hadn’t been interested in going the first time, but my enthusiastic descriptions brought us back. The main building houses a museum and a list of the people who died in the war, including a small section for Canadians.
Artillery and vehicles from the last 50 years cover the surrounding grounds. Most were from the Korean and Vietnam wars, but there was also a SCUD missile recovered during the Gulf War. In places there are so many missiles and tanks one can hardly tell where one ends and the next starts.
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Eastern Interpretations
I’m down to one Korean meal a day. I’m really sick of eating kimchi, which the Koreans seem to eat three times a day without fail. When eating ‘ethnic’ food they must have an ‘ethnic’ substitution such as a bowl of sliced pickles with a pizza or a small seaweed salad with sushi.
When I want burgers, I want Lotteria. Most of the burgers have a Korean twist, but they’ve also out-done the West with some of our own ingredients, such as with my favorite, the European Frico Cheese Burger.
Take a slice of good cheese, bread it, fry it and insert it as an extra patty = absolutely brilliant. How could North America have overlooked this? Also included is a slice of yellow pepper and black olives. I’m not a fan of olives, even on pizza, but it’s great on this burger. A few other noteworthy Lotteria burgers:
- Kimchi Burger: Janet likes this one, a breaded patty of spicy cabbage.
- Bulgogi Burger: A giant patty of famous Korean BBQ.
- BBQ Paprika Burger: The sauce is quite good on this double patty burger.
- Chuncheon Dakgalbi Burger: More of a typical chicken burger than the spectacle of dakgalbi.
Of course, the local interpretations can be less pleasing. Potatoes on pizza are popular. The last pizza we had included a ribbon of rubbery cheese with mashed sweet potato piped on top. At least the traditional ingredients in the middle were good.
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Enjoying Korea
It’s easy to say that we’ve been enjoying our trip through Korea. Between the beaches, the mountains, the food and the exceptionally friendly people, we have more than once commented to each other how glad we are we came here and what a good time we’re having. (We still find the time to complain about the weather, though. Lately, it has been blisteringly hot in Gyeongju, near the Southeastern coastline, after the visit of a typhoon. I can’t remember ever sweating so much—lovely image, I’m sure.)
Last week, we visited Samcheok and a local park for which the region is famous. Officially, legend has it that a young woman died on the rocky coast during a storm because her betrothed was unable to rescue her in his fishing boat. After that episode, the whole village suffered bad luck and were only successful in fishing after erecting phalluses in the hills above the village to appease the tormented spirit of the unwed maiden. As luck would have it, not only was the maiden quieted in nasty behaviour, but tourists pay good money to see these things and they arrive by the busload. Because we are tourists, we visited and found what we expected; no festival but lots of other tourists and some big wood.
Today, in Gyeongju, we escape the midday heat in the air-conditioned lounge/kitchen of our hostel. This place, Sae Rang Chae, was great find (thanks to “The Book” as it is adjacent to a large historical park known for its timuli (1000 yr. old burial mounds of past rulers) and offers a taste of local lifestyle; our room is part of the living quarters that surround a central courtyard and garden, with rice paper doors and ondol beds (mats used to sleep on the floor). This is also probably the friendliest place we’ve stayed though it turns out that a hang-over can be made exceedingly worse when suffered in sweltering heat.
We were also lucky in our visit to this place with the food, one restaurant in particular. For dinner one evening, we walked next door to a courtyard restaurant which our host had recommended. They only had one thing on offer, a small Korean banquet, so we indicated that we wanted enough for two. Minutes later, we were presented with 14 different dishes, not including rice and some kind of grain-flavoured, watery beverage. Even after tasting a bit of each, we still couldn’t identify half of what we were eating (i.e. small animal bones in a stew) but were pleased with it nonetheless and barely made a dent in the quantity of food before we were full. I am choked that we forgot to bring the camera and were too lazy to fetch it.
Yesterday, we tourist-ed My Favourite Temple So Far. Bulguksa , originally built in 528 C.E. is a World Heritage Site (I think this is the 5th or 6th WHS we’ve visited?) and has been beautifully restored. They say ancient Korean architecture is unique relative to Chinese or Japanese structures because it purposely incorporates natural elements of the landscape in the design of buidings; I think that’s why this temple seemed particularly attractive to my eyes.
And really, we couldn’t have picked a more clear or sunny a day to visit. Or a hotter day. We jokingly call each other ‘stupid foreigners’ whenever we have a cultural revelation, but we really played the part yesterday when we dedicded to skip the shuttle bus ride to the temple’s grotto at the top of a ridge and, instead, trudge our way up 3.5km in smoldering heat. Funny—we didn’t see anyone else walking up… Stupid foreigners.
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Caffeinated Gems
Janet had nearly convinced me to give up on coffee until we returned to Seoul. The five dollar cappuccini made from water and powder were less than satisfying and a waste of our funds. The Lonely Planet Guide, usually referred to as “The Book”, recommended a coffee shop in Gyeongju called Clara & Schumann. Although it stated the place was for coffee lovers, we weren’t even sure it served espresso.
We arrived sweaty after a long walk in the heat. My macchiatto was on par with the Blue Bottle Company in San Francisco, the best I’d ever had. However, the whole experience was outstanding. The owners seemed to know more about coffee than anyone I’ve ever met. They didn’t speak much English, but they went to extremes to ensure we they had the best coffee and everything complimented the coffee. It didn’t hurt that they gave us a lot of free stuff to enhance our experience.
On the first day we polished our first cups off too quickly, so we were brought cups of a mild coffee almost like tea. It was thin and weaker than I’m used to, which I would normally associate with bad coffee, but these people are very deliberate.
Besides the usual cappuccinos and lattes, one can select from dozens of beans which are ground specifically for the order. However, prices are different depending on the coffee and how strong you want it. Rather than using a machine, water is poured by hand over the grounds and the water tempurature is closely monitored. The Wedgwood cups were nice too. I’m glad I didn’t break one.
On the second day, my macchiatto was not the best compliment for the cheesecake we ordered so I was brought an espresso. Later, we were given Double Toast, two inch thick toast with butter and jam. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed butter. On the third day we were brought complimentary cappuccinos for no particular reason.
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A Cathedral-Sized Cavity
Yesterday, we spent an hour standing on a hot bus full of old ladies while driving down twisting mountain roads. When we finally arrived we found that our “beach surrounded by dramatic cliffs” was a dirty strip of sand in the harbour more frequented by seagulls than tourists. At least we learned a few things about the local bus system in Samcheok.
Today’s bus foray was more successful—our destination was as described and we sat for the entire journey. Hwanseongul is the largest cave system in East Asia. We expected a lot more stalactites, but the grandeur of the spaces more than made up for it.
After walking 35 minutes uphill, we started to feel cool air flowing down the mountain from the cave. The hike was exhausting in the heat, but the 10ºC temperature of the cave interior quickly refreshed us. Of course, the cave took my mind off of any lingering weariness. I was looking around agog half the time.
A 1.6 kilometer steel pathway was build around the interior to show the caves most interesting sites and views. In the picture you can see the colored lights that lined part of the path. We were standing on top of a large rock looking down through the cavern. The stalactite in the upper right was dripping water onto the floor far below. Most of the floor was covered with pools, streams and water falls.
Each room that ventured of the main path had one ore more interesting features. This is just one 20 foot section of the wall above a small pool. We couldn’t get a good picture of the “bacon” formation which hung in a strip from the roof nearby.
Hwansoelgul would have made Korea worthwhile for me had we needed another justification.
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Seasonal
After all the stomach stretching and exercise at Chuncheon, we hopped on the bus for our coastal destination of Sokcho. The ride along curvy roads was shorter than we expected and we had arrived and found a motel by lunch time. Lucky for us, we were staying at a place 3 blocks from the beach and a 25 minute bus ride to Seoraksan National Park, one of the most beautiful in the country – so we’re told. We had also been told to avoid going in July because not only is it the rainy season, but it is also the high-season for crowds. The rainy part was true enough because it has pretty much rained every day we’ve been in Korea, however, I don’t think this “high season” has started yet. Places here seem to be eerily closed and the streets kind of empty, like a town at the beginning of a Stephen King novel.
Our first day was spent being lazy on the beach. I don’t know how we got so lucky as to get a full day of sun with a light breeze off the water. It was a Monday, too, so while most people were at work (suckers) we almost had the beach to ourselves.
We are now no longer as white as we once were. We’re kind of red right now, actually; no more beach days for awhile.
Anyway, we wanted to test out the hiking in the area so, today, took advantage of the cooler, overcast weather and headed for the hills. Indeed, it is a beautiful park, not unlike the Alberta national parks, but it must be spectacular in the autumn when the trees are turning.
One thing that was fairly different than what I’m used to while hiking is the restaurants. We hiked a couple of different routes and each was interrupted by a restaurant every 1.5km or so. It was odd, to round a bend and come across a couple dozen tables set up outdoors adjacent to a fully functioning kitchen, freezers of ice cream, fridges full of pop and beer and Korean pop music drifting out into the wilderness. Even the chipmunks must know the lyrics by now.