Russia to Cambodia

2005-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hiam has the tuk tuk loaded for our last airport trip!

2005-08-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Nancy & Viseth (Steve Goldman's friend)

2005-08-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

More Angkor

2005-08-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

Viseth and John

2005-08-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

Angkor

2005-08-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

Lunch anyone?

2005-08-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Killing Fields

2005-08-03T15:00:00.000-07:00

Michael, my motorcycle driver

2005-08-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Mekong Delta

2005-08-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

Lunch

2005-08-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

This guy is heavy!

2005-08-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

Dinki with our favorite guide, Tony

2005-08-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

A happy traveler

2005-08-03T03:36:00.000-07:00

Traveling on the train was tough!

2005-08-03T03:34:00.000-07:00

Mongolia

2005-08-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

Drinking with the Russian military!

2005-08-03T03:31:00.000-07:00

Gulag (outside Perm)

2005-08-03T03:27:00.000-07:00

Inside the subways (Moscow)

2005-08-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

Suzdal

2005-08-03T03:21:00.000-07:00

Red Square

2005-08-03T03:20:00.000-07:00

Trying on the furs!

2005-08-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

Peterhof

2005-08-03T03:09:00.000-07:00

Inside Catherine's Palace

2005-08-03T03:08:00.000-07:00

At the top of St. Isaac's, looking over St. Petersbury

2005-08-03T03:05:00.000-07:00

Nancy @ Palace Square

2005-08-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

Hermitage

Making Memories . . .

2005-08-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

MEMORABLE MOMENTS (some good, some bad)

Getting robbed
Being chased by the gypsies
Seeing the Catherine Palace
Standing up to the “James Bond” thug who tried to throw me off the bus (Moscow)
Riding the subways
Staying at Lily’s
Walking through the streets of Suzdal
Visiting the gulag
Seeing where the Tsar and his family were murdered
Staying in a ger
Riding horses across the steppe
Seeing the wild horses of Mongolia
Shopping in Beijing!!
A girl of about 5 screaming her lungs out at the sight of 2 big nosed, fair haired, ugly Americans
Going to the hospital in Guilin with Dinki
Getting kicked off the train in the middle of the night at the Chinese border
Staying in the “Rat Hole”
Riding in a tuk tuk with all our luggage to Friendship Pass
Seeing the “Hanoi Hilton”
Seeing Halong Bay
Boat ride on Perfume River, seeing the sampans
Having clothes made in Hoi An
Bike ride to the countryside
The many travelers I met on all the train rides
Local people
Spending money!
Crawling through the Cu Chi Tunnels
Touring the War Museum in Hanoi
Mekong Delta
The Killing Fields
Meeting Ha
Angkor Wat
The orphanage in Siem Reap
Going home!

7-31 (Sunday) We're HOME!

2005-08-03T02:05:00.000-07:00

We're home!

Thai Air is WONDERFUL! I thought our route to NY was interesting . . . we took off and headed north towards Vietnam, going over Hanoi, China, Russia as though we were going to the pole. Then we curved down towards Alaska, flew over Canada and on into NY. We went from night (leaving Bangkok) to bright day (when we woke up over wherever) back to night and landed in NY at dawn.

We had a couple hours in NY but we needed it to get out bags, get through customs and get to a different terminal.

We got back into Orlando around 1 p.m. I went to bed at 5 p.m. when I could no longer hold my head up.

I slept until about 2 a.m. and then was up the rest of the night. You know how that goes . . .

7-3 (Wednesday)

Yesterday (Tuesday) I decided I’d better go through my mail. It’s a good thing I did . . . I have jury duty TODAY! I still don’t have my days and nights completely straightened out but I’m doing much better than I have in the past.

Some of you might know that I bought a different condo (at the same complex) right before I left on the trip. It is in bad shape so now I have to gut it and start from scratch. I am living out of one room. I can get to my bed and of course my computer! Other things I have no idea where they are including my checkbook which I found out I’m in desperate need of after opening my mail yesterday!

You may want to check the blog one more time, I’m going to try to put a few pictures on.

Please forgive all the spelling errors and incorrect grammer in the past blogs, I had to write so quickly I hardly had time to think much less correct anything.

7-30 (Saturday) Preparing to leave

2005-08-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

We spent the entire morning packing our bags and getting ready to leave this afternoon. Hian took us to another market where Dinki and I had to purchase a few last minute things!

After we ate lunch at La Grand Cafe, one of our favorite places, he took us to the orphanage where he said he grew up. We met and talked to the director, a young Aussie, who has been in charge for about a year. He told us to be very careful of people like Hian who use the Kumer Rouge story to get money out of tourists. His story was that the Kumer Rouge had slit his mother’s throat because she stole a little rice to give to him. (We were actually feeling a little leery of Hian because he was telling his story so often to the other tourists that were staying at the guesthouse.) You hate to doubt people when they tell you something like that but it’s hard to know if they are telling the truth especially when you hear them telling it so often. Anyway, the director was wonderful. He was organized, had excellent goals which were all written out on a white board hanging on the wall and seemed to have only the best interest of the children as his mission. It is a place that I would consider supporting. They have about 145 children of all ages in a very small area but they are making the best of it. The children go to regular school then they study English. They learn their native dances, are fed three meals a day and are trained in job skills. The director is working on opening a small restaurant on the premises. Here the children would learn to prepare, cook and serve food so that they would eventually be able to get a job in the food service business.

We went back to the guesthouse to take showers and dress for the trip. Hian got all of our luggage into a tuk tuk and even found a place for us to sit! I wish you could have seen us traveling to the airport with all that stuff.

In Siem Reap I checked two bags all the way to NY and Dinki checked three. The bad thing was when we got to Bangkok we found out we were only allowed two bags each so Dinki had to pay $120 for her third bag! We tried to get the bag back to carry on but there was no way. To relieve her stress over having to spend money on the fine she shopped and got a massage! The Bangkok airport is like a huge shopping mall with the finest stores. A great place to get rid of any of that foreign currency you have left over!!

We took off on Thai Air for NY at 1:oo a.m.

7-29 (Friday) Angkor

2005-07-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

I got the name of a guide in Siem Reap from my friend, Steve Goldman, in Calif. I had been emailing the guide along the way to set up something for Angkor Wat. I didn't have his phone number and hadn't heard from him in for several days. I was at the internet when I found a message from him with his phone number. I wrote it down and took it to the girl by the door who collects the money. I told her I wanted to make a phone call. Some guy was standing right outside the door, he said to me, ""Are you Nancy?" I kinda looked at him and he said, "I'm Steven Goldman's friend!" I couldn't believe it! What are the chances that he would show up at the same internet where I was and at the same time?? Amazing. It's a God thing! We arranged for him to pick us up at 7:30 in the morning to take us to Angkor.

We rode out there on our usual means of transportation, the motorcycle. The complex is mammoth! We only saw a small portion of it. We must have gone to 6-8 temples plus Angkor Wat itself. It was amazing that people that long ago were able to build something with stones as large as they used and not use machinery. I guess it must be similar to Manchu Pichu.

I feel like I have really accomplished something seeing Angkor Wat. I have wanted to see it for so long.

When we got back to town we bought our tickets to Bangkok. We leave here at 8:00 tomorrow night, fly to Bangkok, board Thai Air at midnight and take off for NY. Pray for us to arrive safely.

7-28 (Thursday) Killing Fields

2005-07-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

We got up at 6:00 and had breakfast at the Capital Tours Restaurant.

Our drivers, Michael and Simth were there to pick us up at 7:15. They drove us a long way, down paved roads and unpaved dusty, pothole roads. We arrived at the Killing Fields Museum a little after 8 a.m. before all the tourists got there. We hired a guide, Sal to show us around. The first thing we saw looked like a pagoda filled with skulls. Underneath the skulls was a pile of clothing belonging to the victims. You could see the holes and broken skulls when the victims were hit in the head with hoes etc.

We walked around the grounds where we saw the holes that contained the mass graves. You could still see, after all these years (about 25 years clothes and bones that are still being released from the earth!)
We gave our guide $4. We had hired our motorcycle drivers for$5 to bring us and take us back to Phnom Penh, now we asked if for another $2 they would take us to Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum in Phnom Penh which in the time of the Khmer Rouge was known as S-21. This was originally a high school where the classrooms were converted into prison cells. All the windows were covered with bars and barbed wire after being closed. The victims were brought from different parts of the country. They were the intellectuals . . . doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers. They were also different nationalities including Brits, Indians, NZ, and Americans but most were Cambodians. In 178 there were 5765 prisoners detained at that location. As a rule they were only kept there 24 months and tortured twice a day until they were killed. Political prisoners were sometimes tortured 6 months before being killed. It wasn't just men that were killed but women and children also. Seeing all the "mug shots"of the deceased and the torture instruments was gruesome. Many of those committing these crimes were between the ages of 10-15.

We got back to the hotel just in time to catch the bus to Siem Reap. We hired our drivers to bring our luggage downstairs for $1.

The bus was FULL, unlike the bus from Vietnam to Cambodia. Dinki and I had to sit next to each other the entire trip! We made two "potty breaks" along the way. At the first stop when I got off the bus I saw some black things crawling around over leaves in a dishpan. As I was trying to see what they were a young girl reached in and pulled out a tarantula!! She let it crawl on her arm and the front of her shirt. The woman next to dishpan was cooking them for selling. I asked a guy if you ate the entire thing. He said, "yes, do you want to try it?"" I kindly declined. At each potty stop I went to the bushes instead of going into one of the stinky squats.

We arrived in Siem Reap around 5:00. I got off the bus to make sure no one ran off with our bags. I was surrounded by guys begging me to take their cab or tuk tuk. I could hardly move for them being around me so closely. There was a guy on the bus who worked for Capital Tours. He got us a tuk tuk and a car (we needed both for all our luggage.) We went to one of the Capital Tour properties. I went in to see if we were going to stay. It was lovely, very clean, A/C and a large room. The only bad thing was the bathroom was not air conditioned and it was about the size of a refrigerator box! The shower, toilet and sink were within arms distance of each other. We decided to stay at least one night.

We had the guy who brought us there take us into town so we could eat dinner. He came back and picked us up a couple hours later.

7-27 (Wednesday) in a hurry

2005-07-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

I don't have time to write about the border crossing from Vietnam to Cambodia. I'll try to do it tomorrow or the next day.

Am in Cambodia. Tomorrow we go to the killing fields and at noon we take off on another 7 hour bus trip to Angkor Wat. This will cost $3.50. Should arrive around 7:00 tomorrow night.

7-26 (Tuesday) Mekong Delta

2005-07-26T05:42:00.000-07:00

Tony took us to the Mekong Delta this morning. It was about an hour and a half drive. When we got in the car I told him we put on our nicest clothes just for him. Of course they were the same ones we were wearing yesterday but they were clean.

At the Delta we got on our own boat and went to Turtle Island where we walked around and then were served some of the local fruit. While we were eating it some singers entertained us. I could have done without that but we were very gracious clapping at the end of each song.

We went to another island where we saw them making candy out of coconut. At the third island we posed with a giant boa constrictor around our necks. When Dinki saw it she said, "I think you're supposed to go in ahead of me." I put it right around my neck. It was really heavy!!! At this place, which was a bee farm, they served us some wonderful sweet coconut, sweet peanuts, sweet ginger and tea with honey in it. That was my favorite place for sampling the food.

Lastly we went to a local farmer's house and had lunch. First they brought out a fish, head tail and all. That wasn't unusual, it was the way they had the fish propped up as though it were swimming through the water instead of being flat on a plate. Next they brought out something like eggrolls. We thought that was it but they came with two GIANT shrimp. We were sure that was it but, no, now they came with the main meal!! This was rice, green beans, some sort of meat, soup and it seems like there was something else I can't remember. I hardly ate any of that course mainly because I was already full. Finally came dessert which was watermelon. I can't believe they would think we could eat all that food.

After that we were anxious to get back to Saigon. Tony keeps trying to teach us how to say different Vietnamese words. If we get it right he will say, "good job" if we mess up he will say, "I'll check you again in a little bit." The bad thing is he keeps checking us! This guy is really funny not only the way he talks but when he keeps telling us to dress nicely and that he is going to "check us again" on our pronunciation! We have had a good time with him.

When we got back to Saigon we had Tony stop at a booking office and we bought bus tickets to go to Cambodia in the morning. The trip is going to take seven hours. We were hoping to get there early enough to see the Killing Fields Museum the same day but it is beginning to look like we'll have to do that the next day.

We had Tony take us to a noodle shop that was very famous during the war. It was here that the VC worked undercover as waiters and waitresses. Tony said, "That used to be a good place but now it's no good. You'll see no one will be inside." Sure enough he was right, it was empty! We took pictures and left.

We walked around a little before it got too dark to take pictures. We went over to the former Presidential Palace and took photos. If you remember this is where we saw the VC tank breaking down the gate and moving onto the grounds. The tank is still there on the grounds. We walked down to where the former US Embassy had been. I stopped some western guy on the street and asked him if he lived in HCMC. He said he did. I asked him where the old embassy was. We were about 50 feet from it. He said there is nothing left of the original except two gun turrets. We walked down to see it.

Tonight we walked down to the exchange so Dinki could get some more money. We had already planned to find Ha and give her $10 to buy her school uniform for next year. We wrote her a note and put it in an envelope with the money. When we gave it to her we just told her we had written her a little note to let her know how much we enjoyed meeting her.

On our way to the internet we stopped by the Sheraton and went to the 23rd floor where the bar was. Tony had told us we had to do this. Well he was right, the view of the city was breathtaking. Hopefully I can get Dinki off the net and on the way home we'll stop at another hotel he told us about and see the view from there.

Tomorrow . . . seven hours on the bus to Cambodia! I can't believe this trip is almost over!!!

7-25 (Monday) Saigon

2005-07-25T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty emotional day.

First of all we slept late, until almost 7:00. I think it was because the air was so cold that we snuggled in our covers and didn't want to get up.

Breakfast came with the room but it wasn't a buffet like at the other place in Hoi An so I didn't like it all that much.

Tony picked us up at 8:00 to to the the Cu Chi Tunnels about two hours from Saigon (the people in the north, Hanoi, call it HCMC but the people here still refer to it as Saigon.)

These are the actual tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the war. Of course the entrances have been expanded so that fat Americans can get into them. We walked down a long path through the jungle to get to the location. The guide asked if we could find the secret opening - NOT! It just had leaves and dirt over it but you couldn't tell it from any other part of the jungle floor. There were three levels. The first level was for the injured. It was their field hospital and surgery room and recovery room. They also had their waterwells here and did their cooking. This level was 3 meters deep and 10-20 m long. The second level was for meetings with the commander, where they slept and went to the toilet. It was 6-8 meters deep and 30-100 m long. The third level was where the vice commander worked. The was 8-10 m deep and 100-150 m long. There were air holes every 15 - 25 meters. The tunnel system stretched from Saigon all the way to the Cambodian border. There were more than 259 km of tunnels.
They allowed the VC to mount surprise attacks wherever the tunnels went and to disappear into hidden trapdoors without a trace. Many of the trapdoors were bobby-trapped. The VC guerrillas serving in the tunnels lived in extremely difficult conditions. To cook, they used kitchens which exhausted the smoke through vents many meters away from the cooking site. They also were able to "collect" the smoke in containers and dispose of it later. Trapdoors were installed throughout the network to prevent tear gas, smoke or water from moving from one part of the system to another.

It was hard climbing down into them because the stone steps were so steep. The first "room" we came to was the well or water room. The tunnels were very narrow and to go through and we had to bend way over. This was the first level. When we came up the Cu Chi guide asked if we wanted to try to go through the second level. We said, "yes." Needless to say this was more difficult. It was deeper and there were times when we had to crawl on our hands and knees. Something hit me in the head and I had a terrible fear that it was a bat! It took a long time to get through this part because it was so narrow and so low. When we came up I said we wanted to go through the third level. They wouldn't let Dinki go because they didn't think she would make it but agreed to give me a try. This part was 150 km long. That may not sound like much but when you are in stooped position without any light (the guide did have a small flashlight) it is a long way. We went along for a good distance and then he opened a door in the floor. This one was NOT expanded for Americans and it was pitch black. Of course the whole complex was pitch black. We shinnied further down into the earth. As we were going through this part I could hear the bat's wings and it scared me to death. Once in a while one would bump my head. I was almost in a panic, I would scream out and the guide would say, "It's okay, it's okay." I was surprised as to how hot it was down there. I thought underground it would be cool but I was dripping wet. Once again I was on my knees going through. I was really happy when we finally came to the surface. I was filthy and probably had bat poop all over my hands and legs. There was a place where you could wash off when you got to the top. My tunnel guide told my tour guide all about how I was screaming about the bats BUT he said I did a good job. He was surprised how well I did.

We got back to HCMC around 12:45. Tony said we could change clothes and eat lunch before he picked us up at 2:00 sharp! We had to wash all our clothes right down to scrubbing our shoes. When we finished laundry and cleaning ourselves we only had 30 minutes left for lunch. We knew we wouldn't have time to eat in a decent restaurant so we headed over to KFC for some FAST food. This was the first KFC we had seen in Vietnam.

Tony was waiting for us when we got back to the hotel to take us to the War Museum. This was a pretty overwhelming experience even though it was one sided. There were two buildings filled with photos of soldiers, top brass and fighting scenes from both sides. There were photos of innocent civilians and the horror war inflicts upon them. Some of the pictures were almost to grisly to look at. There was a section set up to show what the "tiger cages" were like. These were the punishment cells used by the south Vietnamese on the VC prisoners. When I came out I felt like being very quiet and almost like I had been punched in the stomach. The bottom line is that there are no winners in war. It doesn't matter what side you're on, war is hell.

Tony told us to wear our nice clothes in the morning when we go to the Mekong Delta! I said, "Tony, you don't understand. we are wearing our best clothes!"

After getting back to the hotel we went out in search of a grocery store. We also were both having problems with our digital cards so we took them to a photo place and had them transferred to a disk. It was here that we met Ha, a 16 year street girl selling postcards and books. I got to taking to her and she said she had been selling for 12 years. Her English was perfect. I asked where she learned it and she said from the tourists. I was very impressed with her. She trying to earn enough money to buy her school uniform for this coming year.

Dinki and I went to have dinner next door to the photo place. I ordered pizza then I got the idea that I would invite Ha to share it with me since I wasn't really that hungry. I went out to look for her but she was gone. I told some of the street sellers if they saw her to tell her to come to the restaurant. It wasn't too long before she showed but but unfortunately she didn't like pizza. Dinki bought her some sort of moon cake that she said she liked.

We went to do email. I got so tired I couldn't stand it so I left Dinki there doing it by herself.

Dave the Mailman

2005-07-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

Dave,

If you're still reading these blogs please start delivering my mail on August 1st. Thanks.

Joyce, if you happen to see Dave and he isn't getting the blogs please tell him when to start the mail delivery. Thanks.

7-24 (Sunday) Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh City

2005-07-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to leave Hoi An at 9 a.m. but had a call from our guide saying we weren't leaving until 11:15. We had our bags downstairs and were ready to go when we got this news.

We were outside ready to walk down to the river and take pictures when Dinki got the ickies. She decided she'd better stay at the hotel. I walked for almost two hours. I crossed the bridge and wandered down some remote dirt streets taking pictures. Many of the people held out their hands and wanted to be paid. I just laughed at them.

When I got back to the hotel the guide and new driver were there. Our driver was Mr. Chin's brother because Mr. Chin had to drive back to Hue to pay his speeding ticket. On the way to the airport we stopped at the Museum of Cham Sculpture. The artifacts date back to the 7th century.

When we checked in at the airport, the girl weighed our luggage separately while on the last flight the agent weighed them together. Dinki's weighed 97 lbs and mine 68 lbs. Dinki had to pay $8 for being overweight. The weight did not include what we were carrying on just what we were checking. We carried on my balalaika, some Chinese paintings, two rolling backpacks, the backs on our backs, a bag Dinki had breakables in, our "fanny packs" and two "coolie" hats!

We were met at the HCMC (Saigon) airport by our guide, Tony. This guy is a hoot. He talks as fast as a machine gun can fire. I don't think he took a breath all the way to the hotel. When the Vietnamese talk their speech in tonal - highs and lows. When he speaks to us in English his voice goes up and down and it sounds so funny. It's all we can do to keep from laughing. He had the driver show us a little of the city, pointing out various sites. Before dropping us off at our hotel, The Asian, Tony told us we were going to the Cu Chi Tunnels in the morning and to dress nice! I about fell out of the car when he said that. I hated to tell him but we were wearing our finest!!

The hotel room is VERY small but the air works great and it's in a fabulous location.

After getting our luggage to the room we walked around for a couple hours to get our bearings. We walked down to the Saigon River stopping along the way to go into some of the 5 star hotels to have a look.

We ate dinner at a French restaurant. My meal, seabass, was fabulous. Dinki was still feeling a little icky.

7-23 (Saturday) Still in Hoi An

2005-07-23T01:27:00.000-07:00

We had another lovely breakfast this morning. We sure will miss this hotel when we get to Ho Chi Minh City.

This morning when I was picking up some of the clothes I had made yesterday I ran into a couple of guys from the states who have been teaching English in Ho Chi Minh City for the last year. They were telling me that the prices there are much cheaper than in Hanoi. I got really excited when I heard this!

Today has been a pretty low key day. Dinki went off to the bank and as far as I knew never came back. I waited for her for two hours (I wasn't just sitting there!) anyway I decided to heck with her I was going to go eat and pick up clothes from another place from yesterday. I was walking down a street I rarely travel and here she comes toward me! Neither one of us could believe we ran into each other like that. She had been back to the hotel looking for me and someone told her I had gone to town so she had been looking all over for me! She and I each had one more outfit made today. We can't pick them up until 5:00 but that's okay.

Actually at 5:00 we are going bicycle riding in the country side. We will either pick up before we go or when we get back. I was talking to the girl who sold the outfit. I was asking her how many days she gets off a week, the answer . . . none! She works from 7 in the morning until 7 at night a gets three days off a year during Tet (the New Year Celebration.) I asked her if she was married. She said, "no" she doesn't have time to meet anyone. She is so tired she falls in bed at night and then starts the whole process over the next day.

At lunch we met two girls from Norway. One had gone to school in Miami for a year. They love to travel especially South America. They take off every time they get a little money.

I need to get to the room and cool down before the bicycle trip. Tomorrow we leave for Ho Chi Minh City.

7-22 (Friday) Dying in the heat

2005-07-22T02:59:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a wonderful breakfast that came with the room. It was a buffet so we could fill our little tummys! Eggs, fabulous fruits, breads, cheese and fresh squeezed pineapple and watermellon juice. I can't wait until tomorrow morning!

Our guide met us at 8:00 so she could show us around the Old Quarter. We had been there yesterday on our own but she was going to show us some things we didn't get to see such as:
the Chinese Community House, the Japanese Covered Bridge and the Vietnamese Handicraft Exhibits.

We came back to the room when the tour was finished to turn our A/C back on after the girl cleaned the room. We walked across where I had the girl measure me for two new outfits (I can't remember how many Dinki got) then we had lunch down by the river. I really had to laugh to myself thinking if my friends could see where I'm eating they would die! I'm sure the kitchen could NEVER pass inspection at home. The lunch was delicious! Dinki and I are like an old married couple sitting through our meal without saying a word to each other! BORING.

We walked back to the place where Dinki bought two pair of shoes this morning. They didn't have them in her size so the girl had her stand on a piece of paper and traced around both of her feet. A few hours later they were ready. She paid $2 for one pair and $3 for the other.

We tried on our clothes when we got back to the "factory." I didn't like the placement of the frogs (buttons) on my jacket so I left it for them to fix. A couple of Dinki's tops were too tight so she left those to be repaired. I ordered two dresses which will be ready tomorrow.

We both got pedicures, manacures and foot massages. Dinki also had all the rough dry skin shaved off the bottom of her feet. She didn't know it when they were doing it but I was watching and the girl used a straight edge razor to do it!! When it was over and Dinki saw the tool that was being used on her she about died. I had my eyebrows shaped. Instead of plucking or using the "tape" to rip them out like they do in the states she used the cotton string method. She twists the string around and catches the hairs in it and quickly pulls them out. I was moaning and carrying on. One of the workers said to me, "no pain, no gain." It was funny coming from her.

The same motorcycle driver that brought us to the hotel yesterday found us after our beauty treament and we hired him to bring us back again this afternoon. Instead of going into the hotel like we should have we went across the street and ordered more clothes! I got two vests and I don't know what all Dinki got but it was a lot.

From there we proceeded back to the shop where we had clothes made yesterday.

7-21 (Thursday) arriving in Hoi An

2005-07-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

Only 10 days and we'll be home, Boohoo. I can't believe the time has passed so quickly.

We left Hue this morning at 8:30 and drove to Hoi An. The scenery along the way was gorgeous, mountains on one side and the bay on the other. We went through a tunnel that had only been opened a month. It took us 10 minutes to get through. Nhung, our guide said it used to take two hours just to get over the mountain.

We got pulled over by the police who were standing alongside the road. Mr. Chin got a $100 speeding ticket! They clocked him somewhere earlier, I guess with radar, and called in our car to the roadside police. We felt really sorry for Mr. Chin. He gets a "punch" on his license. If he gets three he loses it for a year. This is his second "punch!"

Before going to the hotel we stopped at the obligatory tourist trap that sells objects carved from marble. They were beautiful but there was no way we could haul any of that stuff home. The workers were more than a little disappointed that we didn't buy anything.

We climbed Marble Mountain. There are actually five of the mountains, each said to represent a natural element: water, earth, fire, wood and metal. We climbed the "water" mountain. At the bottom before we started up we saw a wedding , a western man and a Vietnamese woman. They had a huge wedding party going on.

We climbed up stone steps from one level to the next. At the very top was a GIGANTIC cave. The Viet Cong hung out in the cave during the war.

Then we went to our hotel room, it was fabulous! Our hotel even has a swimming pool! Unfortunately we don't have bathing suits with us. We were supposed to rest and eat lunch until Nhung and Mr. Chin picked us up at 3:00. We walked down to the river where most of the restaurants are and had lunch. Afterwards we followed some woman to a "factory" where they make any outfit you want. They have Asian and Western catalogs for you to look at. All you do is pick a picture then the fabric, get measured and five hours later, there's your new outfit. I'm having them make a jacket like I saw in Hanoi for $65. Here they are making it for $28. We were still there at 3:00 when we were supposed to be back at the hotel. Finally we broke away and got a motorcycle back. We didn't have much time (we were already late) so Dinki and I both got on the same cycle with the driver!

When we pulled up at the hotel our guide was standing outside waiting. I asked her if she was surprised when she saw three of us on the motorcycle. She said nothing we do surprises her!

We drove to My Son to see the remains of the Cam civilization. This place is similar to Angkor Wat. I am about to expire from the heat. Later . . .

7-20 (Wednesday) Sightseeing in Hue

2005-07-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Our room did cool down a little in the night but it was still very warm and we had to be careful not to jump around to much this morning.

We had breakfast in the hotel. They weren't serving any eggs because they said too many tourists were afraid of bird flu. We did have bread, cheese and o.j.

Our guide picked us up at 8:00. First we went to the bank so Dinki could cash a check. Then we headed to the Perfume River for a boat ride to the seven story high Thien Mu Pagoda built in 1844. Going down the river we saw many sanpans that the poor people live on. We had our own private boat going down the river. As in Halong Bay it was a huge boat that could have held many, many people. At the pagoda site was the car that Thich Quang Duc traveled to Saigon in and publicly burned himself to death to protest government policies. I think most of us remember seeing this on TV. It was awful.

We went to the Citadel which construction was begun on 1804 and was home to several of the emperors. It is a huge place and impressive. They are trying to restore the parts that were destroyed during the war.

We went to a local market and just walked through. There was food, clothes, shoes, everything.

Our guide and driver took us back to the hotel so we could have lunch and rest until 3:00 when they were going to pick us up again for more sightseeing. We went to a lovely French restaurant and had a great meal. We walked around looking for an airconditioned internet but that wasn't to be. We finally just went to one that was next door to the hotel.

At 3:00 we went to see the tomb of Tu Due who had the longest reign of any of the monarchs. We also saw the tomb of Minh Mnag. So much for the tombs. Actually they were quite interesting and beautiful.

We got back to the hotel around 6:00, ate some of the delicious fruit we bought at the market today and then headed out to do internet which is where we are now at an air conditioned hotel! When driving back from the tombs we saw this really nice hotel, not far from our place, and thought it was worth looking into for the net. We knew if they had internet service it would be air conditioned, sure enough we're pecking away in a cool place with clean people who smell good - all except us. We're both dirty and stink!

Tomorrow we drive to Hoi An and Danang.

7-19 (Tuesday) Leaving for Hue

2005-07-20T05:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I discovered why our room wouldn't cool down last night - the window above our bed was open! We were lucky to get it as cool as we did.

I was recovered this morning after my episode last night. We didn't have anything pressing until noon when we were going to meet Mrs. Hien to give her the money for our tour. She called this morning and we told her to meet us at the bank for the payment.

While Dinki was messing around and hoping for a call from nature I walked down to the shop that made an outfit for me and picked it up.

We dragged all our things downstairs in the hotel to be stored until we left for the airport at 4:00. We took off for the bank to get out another 6 million. Mrs. Hien showed up with our airline tickets and a copy of my email to Huong (the girl in HCMC) who is arranging everything. That made Dinki feel much better. She was very worried about handing over 27 million to someone we had never met. When we get to HCMC we will only owe 4 more million!

We left the bank and went to the Bistro for lunch. I didn't have bamboo shoots and mushrooms this time!! That might have been what made me sick the night before.

We went back to Clinque and Dinki went wild buying more face stuff. Over a million worth this time. Almost $70.

We decided to go next door and have a foot massage before leaving town. Dinki also had a pedicure. While she was doing that I went back to Fanny's for more ice cream.

We got back to the hotel at 4:00. Our driver was waiting to take us to the airport. It was about a 45 minute trip. We gave him $5. He was tickled to death.

We had to pay $20 because our luggage was overweight. It was actually 35 k overweight but the girl put it down as 25 because she either liked us or felt sorry for us. We were waiting in line to pay our fine at 5:45 and the plane was leaving at 6:05. I finally got it paid and we went running toward the gate. We got mixed up and went to the international gates. I showed the tickets to one of the workers, she told me where to go. I called to Dinki and said, "Dinki, this way." I got down to the security area and no Dinki. I waited and waited. Finally I ran back to international where I last saw her. She wasn't there. I went back to the domestic security she still wasn't there. I started running back to international again. There she was just standing there. I waved for her to come on. She just stood there and waved for me to come her way. She came over and said I was at the wrong place, I told her no, she was at the wrong place. By this time it was 6:00. We did get through security and onto the plane but we were the last two on. They called from the counter and told them not to close the door.

We had an hours flight to Hue. Our new guide and driver met us at the airport. They couldn't believer how much luggage we had. We asked the guide if she knew why the plane had been delayed. She said it was because there weren't enough people and they had to wait for more tourists to buy tickets.

We got to our hotel at 8:00. There was a sign going up the steps that said, "Step softly on the steps." We were on the third floor but we had to climb, no elevator, up about six landings.The room was really big but it was so hot we were about to faint. We turned on the A/C and fan the first thing. There was a sign in the bathroom saying not to wash our clothes in the toilet!!! We obeyed that sign!!

We took cold showers in our hot, hot bathroom and tried to be as still as we could so as not to create any body heat.

7-18 (Monday)

2005-07-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

We were supposed to leave Halong Bay at 8:00 but when we finished breakfast (it came with the room) Mr. Ho and the driver showed up so we headed back at to Hanoi at 7:30. Since we didn't have to stop at the tourist trap on the way home we got back to Hanoi in 2 1/2 hours.

First we had Mr. Ho take us by the lake where John McCain was shot down so we could see the memorial which we didn't see the other day. Sure enough the driver drove right to it. It was written in Vietnamese but of course you could see his name "McCain" and it had the date he was shot down.

We were dropped off at the hotel. We gave Mr. Ho a $5 tip. Nothing for the driver - he would get his the next day when he took us to the airport. After putting up our things, (they had moved us to room 502 directly above the one we had last time,) we ran down to the bank so we could withdraw 6 million to add to our payment for the tour.

We had wanted to eat at Arthur's, a place we had heard a lot about, so we hired motorcycles to take us for $1 each. When we got there the drivers wanted more money - too bad, a deal is a deal. Arthur's was a French restaurant that we had been looking forward to. We had steak with bernaise sauce, salad and French fries. Everything was good except the steak which was so tough I couldn't chew it.

We decided to walk off our meal by going to electronics street and computer street. There is a street for each thing you want to buy including the coffin/funeral street. These streets were past the Hanoi Hilton which was a long way. We walked almost 10 miles this day.

After we walked down those two streets (I bought some software - don't get mad John) we went over to check out Jaccs Restaurant to see if we wanted to go back there for dinner. We decided it wasn't worth it. We were so hot we walked back to the hotel to rest and cool down. We didn't think our A/C was working as well as it did in room 402.

I suggested we go to the Bistro (one of our favorite places) for dinner. Dinki was thrilled with the idea. I wasn't hungry so I had bamboo shoots and mushrooms. We had to go back to Fanny's afterwards for ice cream! I had rum raisin and a scoop of cinnamon! Bother were fabulous. We went into the Clinque Shop where Dinki found her favorite lipstick that she can no longer get at home. She bought 3 tubes to the tune of $60! Our last stop was the grocery store since we were totally out of detergent for washing clothes.

After we got home I showered, washed my hair and clothes. I got in bed around 10:30 and all of a sudden got terrible stomach cramps. I was sick as a dog for a long time but felt fine the next morning.

We had a phone call before I went to bed that our flight had been delayed from 12:30 p.m. the next day to 6:00 p.m.

7-17 (Sunday) Halong Bay, Vietnam

2005-07-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

This morning our driver and guide, Mr. Hoi, picked us up at 8:00 to drive us to Holong Bay about three hours from Hanoi. We had a lovely air conditioned car with leather seats AND seat belts! We did learn that when you see an orangish/yellow building with a flag that means it is a government building. We mostly saw farmers in the rice fields, some plowing with a water buffalo and some of the lucky ones plowing with a Japanese Buffalo (a gas powered plow!)

We stopped at the obligatory tourist trap (to rest AND spend our money) about half way to Halong Bay. You would be very proud of us, we didn't buy one thing. It was VERY expensive. The same silk top that I could have gotten in China for $10 they wanted $42!! Mr. Hoi (age 28) gave us a big song and dance before we stopped about how these were all orphans running this shop and that was how they were able to stay off the streets with the earning from the shop. They had a sweatshop in the back with young girls and guys bend over sewing machines or some of them were hand embroidering pictures. It was lovely work but nothing we wanted or could afford. After spending as little time as we could we hopped back in the car and got on the road again.

We arrived in Halong Bay around 11:30 for our 5 hour boat ride around the bay. We had our own private boat, I'm not talking about something like a little motorboat. This was a HUGE boat that probably could hold more than 50 people. We had our own captain and our own chef to cook lunch for us!! You wouldn't believe the pier where these tourist boats come to get the passengers. There must have been 100 boats or more pulled in. They were hitting each other, it was a big mess but it seemed to work for them and no one got mad. To get to our boat we had to walk through two other boats because ours was in the back.

We went up on top in front of the captain's wheelhouse because it was cooler up there. The bay was just beautiful. Very similar to Guilin if anyone has ever been there. It wasn't long before they called us to lunch. We stared out with shrimp, then crab (we had to crack it out of the shell), we had squid mixed with carrots and onions (Dinki loved this), French fries, rice, green vegetables like we had in China but I don't know what it is, spring rolls and for dessert fresh pineapple which was delicious.

As we were going around the bay we came to a floating fishing village then we docked at a big kurst and climbed up near the top where we entered a HUGE cave. It was filled with tourists and was lit up with different colored lights.

Once we got back on the boat it was time to head back towards "home." The girl who worked on the boat brought out all the same stuff we saw at the "orphans shop" for us to buy . . . pearls, tablecloths, embroidered pictures, postcards, you name it, she whipped it on us. We kept saying, "no, no, we have that at home." I don't think she liked that very much but we didn't want anything she was selling.

Just before the boat docked Mr. Hoi came topside and told us we should give the captain a "little" tip. We asked how much. He said it was up to us. We didn't know what to do so we went back to Mr. Hoi and said he needed to tell us. He said, "$10." I almost fell off the boat. I said, "No, that's too much." We rooted around in our "kitty" and ended up giving him 100,000 or $6. I wonder if we would have had to give him something if we had bought some of the "souvenirs?"

After the driver came for us they took us to the hotel. It is a "standard." It looks really nice from the outside and our room is very nice (western toilet and a/c) but the lobby isn't airconditioned and it stinks.

Tomorrow we leave at 8:00 to go back to Hanoi. Hopefully we won't have to stop at the orphans giftshop again.

7-16 (Saturday night)

2005-07-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to tell you about last night (Saturday.) I was getting ready to take a shower and there was no hot water. We tried several different things like letting it run a long time. Anyway, I called the front desk and said, "We don't have any hot water." The guy acted very surprised. He asked me how much I wanted and I told him as much as he had. It sounded like he asked if I wanted one "needle." I told him "no, I wanted two needles." That would be enough for Dinki and me. He said he would send someone up. About 10 minutes later there was a knock on the door. I open the door and when I did so the room was totally dark because I had to take the key out of the key slot on the wall to unlock the door. When I pulled the key out it turned off all the electric. I hurried and stuck the key back in the wall so we had some light. I was standing there with a towel wrapped around me. I think the poor guy was scared to death. He was standing in the doorway and I pulled him in the room. In his hands he had TWO very large thermos bottles with HOT water!!! We started laughing and said, "no, no." I dragged him into the bathroom and showed him the tub and that there was no hot water there. Now he was laughing. He messed around with it for a little bit and finally figured out we had turned off one of the switches on the wall that heats the water in a big holding tank over the tub. He was so shook up he left without taking the two "needles." The front desk called me and apologized for not understanding what I was saying, they were laughing too. This kept us laughing for a long time.

7-16 (Saturday) Interesting

2005-07-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

I think this is so interesting . . . in China they blocked my blog so no one there could read it (including me.) Now I'm just across the border in Vietnam and I can see my blog. It is no longer blocked. I thought they jamed the airways. How can they do that a few miles away and here I can see it? Someone explain that to me . . . Brad? Larry W?

7-16 (Saturday) Hot, hot, hot

2005-07-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

We were up early this morning, way before 6 a.m. We had breakfast in our room that we bought at the supermarket last night.

We walked down to the bank and got out some more money. Then we hired two motorcycles for $1 each to take us to the Hanoi Hilton. That was an experience. That was an experience. The prison was originally built by the French and many Vietnamese were stuffed in there and tortured. They really play this up and I know it was awful but what they say about the Americans being held there was a joke. They show volleyball nets and other “games” and say these were some of the activities they participated in, they said how the men visited with each other, got presents from home and how well they were treated. They had John McCain’s flight suit and all his equipment. They had staged pictures on the wall showing some of the men smiling. The cells were terrible. All I could think about was how hot it was in the summer and cold in the winter and how long those men had to endure the torture.

We hired some more motorcycles to take us to the lake where John McCain was shot down. We rode all around the lake which isn’t real big but we never saw the sign that used to mark the exact spot.

We had our drivers take us to a shopping area. This was a bust. It had really cheap stuff. We looked it over and then left.

You can't imagine what the traffic is like here, remember Kuta, Joyce? This is worse. There are motorcycles everywhere and it is like a wave as they come rolling down the street. There are very few traffic lights so everyone just goes when ever and where ever they want. You can't walk on the side walks because the motorcycles are all parked there. If they aren't parked on the sidewalk they are parked inside a restaurant or other building. You are really taking your life in your hands just walking down the street. Crossing the street is something else. You just walk out there and hope they go around you.

Tonight we went back to the grocery store to get a few things to take with us when we go to Halong Bay tomorrow. We’ll spend the night there and then come back to Hanoi the next day.

7-15 (Friday) Yippee

2005-07-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

We got up at 6 a.m. so we’d be ready when the driver came at 7:30. We got our luggage down to the lobby and he showed up right on time. We drove back through Ping Shang so we got to see the Rat Hole at the military compound where we stayed the first night after being so rudely booted off the train. I wish you could have seen the two of us sitting in the back of that tricycle with our luggage stacked up all around us.

We drove for almost 45 minutes ($5) to get to Friendship Pass. At first the road was fair but then because they are making new roads we got off on unpaved, dusty, pothole roads. We drove so long we started to think the driver was taking us to a prison instead of the border. We saw some beautiful sights as the day was dawning, the sun illuminating the jagged mountains, farmers bent over planting rice, women with shovels and hoes on their shoulders, wearing coolie hats headed for the fields, water buffalo with rings in their noses sniffing the breeze and the tranquility of a new day.

We changed Chinese money for Vietnamese with our driver. He had a wad of Vietnamese money and a stash of new, crisp $100 US bills that would have knocked your eyes out. The US bills must have been ¼ of an inch thick if not thicker. He carried all this in his wallet in his pants pocket. I guess he wasn’t worried about getting robbed.

It was our good fortune that he did take us to Friendship Pass instead of a Chinese prison to make us clean squats for a year. There was a guy at the Chinese side of the border to whom we paid $1 to haul our luggage to the checkpoint on his flatbed cart. We had so much stuff I helped him push it.

When we arrived at the border processing center there was already a line waiting for it to open. We got in line with everyone else. Some woman came along and tried to get ahead of me. I put up a real fuss, and told her to get to the back of the line. No butts!!! Everyone turned around and looked but she went to the back. We went through without any problems.

When we got to the Vietnamese side there was no one to help us with our luggage so we just had to manage on our own. We had to go through some sort of medical check on that side. I thought they were taking my picture so I smiled real BIG but when they did Dinki I saw that the computer screen registered red colors. I think they must have been measuring to see if we had fevers.

Once we got through on this side we took a guy up on his offer to drive us to the express bus station in the small town of Lang Son for 50,000 each. This guy had a really nice car with air conditioning!!!

You should have seen the express bus station. It was one mini van sitting under a covering that looked like a carport! I went to pay the manager. He gave me a receipt and said to hang onto it because that was my insurance policy!! The “express bus” drove around picking up three or more other people before we actually got on the road. All in all there were 13 of us on board for our trip to Hanoi. It took about two hours. We arrived at 11:30 and got off in the middle of the road as they pointed and said, “your hotel is down there.” So here we are dragging our things down the street with motorcycles, taxis and people whizzing by.

Our hotel room is wonderful. Small but sooooooooo nice. We have an air conditioner that we have to turn down at night because it gets too cold! We have lovely Oriental furniture, a great bathroom with western toilet AND a mini refrigerator! We couldn’t believe it.

We threw our stuff down and set out to find a great restaurant. We found a wonderful Bistro and ordered whatever we wanted. It was wonderful, no more KFC.

After going to the bank we walked along the streets poking our heads into various shops. Dinki wanted to go to a silk shop she purchased things in the last time we were here. Believe it or not we found it and she ordered an outfit custom made for her daughter. Towards evening we hired two motorcycles to take us to the famous Hanoi Hilton (the prison.) It was just closing as we arrived so we had our cycle drivers take us to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. It did not appear to have been damaged during the war but that may be because it is fairly close to the “Hilton.” The church was beautiful inside, we spent a lot of time there. When we came out our drivers were still waiting on us hoping for another fare. We wanted to go eat at one of our old hangouts but I refused to pay more than $1 for them to take us there. They finally agreed. We had a lovely meal, I had a salad of avacado, shrimp, mango and tomatoes. Afterwards we walked back to the hotel but first we stopped off at a place called Fannys. They are supposed to have the best ice cream in Hanoi. I must say it was delicious.

__________________________________________________________________

Brad, the reason my blogs sometimes come through 6 at a time instead of daily is because I send them 6 at a time! Sometimes I can’t get to a computer like when I’m staying in the Rat Hole.

7-17 (Something that really surprised me)

2005-07-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

I forgot to tell this but when we were at the school with Mr Wei's class two of the girls had braces on their teeth! I might not have been surprised in Beijing but in this one horse town I was very surprised. I wouldn't think there would have been a dentist/orthodontist around much less someone who could afford his services.

7-14 (Thursday, again) On the road again

2005-07-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

We just can't wait to get on the road again! What a wasted three days. Oh well, we've met nice people, been to a school and made some people smile.

Our driver for tomorrow stopped by the hotel this afternoon to confirm our departure in the morning. We told him to come at 7:30 instead of 8:00. We really want to get across that border asap. I am dreaming of the fabulous French food we're going to have when we arrive. My mouth is starting to water just thinking about it.

While Dinki was sitting hoping for some action late this afternoon I set out to explore some back streets. I walked across the railroad tracks and up some stone steps going up a hill. There I found a great photo opp. A family from very young to very old were preparing their evening meal. I didn't stick my camera in their faces right away. I sat down next to an old man on a bench. He tried to talk to me but soon figured out I couldn't understand one word. He pointed to my camera which was a great opening. I took his picture and since it was digital showed it to him right away. Everyone gathered around to have a look, they were amazed. I began taking pictures of each family member, they loved it. They would laugh and point.

I tried to tell them I was from America but they had no idea what I was talking about. I tried USA which a lot of them recognize but with this group that didn't work either. Then I tried to ask them if they knew Yao Ming the basketball player. They seemed to understand that. I tried to tell them I was from America where Yao Ming works but that did no good either. All in all I had a great visit with them and probably gave them something to talk about for a long time . . . when the big nose foreigner came to visit and took pictures!

7-14 (Thursday) Getting Excited!

2005-07-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

We're getting very excited because tomorrow is the BIG day. We get to cross the border, legally, into Vietnam. We have been reading about all the wonderful shopping and that's the way we remember it.

Yesterday afternoon we were walking by the bakery when two guys called out to us. They wanted us to join them but we declined. We did talk to them for a long time. They are both English teachers. You have to remember that very few foreigners come to this town. It's only the ones who have been kicked off the train! So we are quite the issue in town. The one teacher asked us if we would come and talk to his class today. We agreed.

This morning at 8:30 he came by the hotel to collect us. We went in a tricycle (that's what they call a tuk tuk here.) The students were all learning English and were different ages. There were 48 crammed into the room. They were all polite but it was noisy in there because of the desks and chairs moving on the concrete floor. Naturally it wasn't air conditioned so you also got the noise from outside. We told the teacher we could only stay 30 minutes but I think we ended up staying over an hour. When we left he told me there was no way he could put into words his appreciation of us coming to the class. It was really sweet. He's a young guy, 32.

This afternoon we're going to get an hours massage for $3. It's too hot to do much in the middle of the day so we spend it in the net. No air but they do have fans.

We're hoping to leave for the border at 7:30 in the morning. Our driver is supposed to come at 8:00 so we need to try to get word to him. We're going in a tricycle. How our luggage is going to fit we have no idea. That's going to be his problem. He has a friend in NY and wants us to mail a letter when we get back to the states.

At this point we have no idea how we're going to get from the border to Hanoi (100 miles) but we'll figure it out. We do know (we remember from the past) that we're going to have to walk across lugging all our junk. That's another reason to go early before it gets too hot. Dinki bought another bag yesterday so she has room to pack more things.

7-13 (Wednesday) Waiting it out

2005-07-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

We are just waiting out our time (until the visa becomes valid) in a little town near the border.There is NOTHING to do or see here so we're pretty much stuck. A wasted three days. BUT . . . we did manage to get out of the military compound where they stuck us the first night and move to a decent place. The village in the first place was so small that people still looked at us as though a foreigner had never come through town before.
I talked Dinki into taking a ride in a tuk tuk yesterday afternoon just for something to do and so we wouldn't have to go back to that crappy hotel in the compound. She didn't really want to take the ride but agreed. She was so happy she did because the guy took us to a slightly larger town closer to the border. It was when we were cruising through town that we spotted a hotel that looked decent. We had the driver pull over while we went inside to see if they would admit us. Some Chinese hotels will only let in Chinese - NO foreigners! They said okay, the rooms were $13.50 or $14.50. Dinki said we'd take the $13.50, I said I wanted to see both rooms. The $13.50 was nice, very similar to the one in Guilin but it had a squat and a shower handle stuck to the wall. Needless to say the $14.50 is the one we went with because it had a western toilet and a tub/shower.
We couldn't get back to the compound fast enough to pack up and get out of Dodge. We hired our tuk tuk driver to take us back to the new place. While Dinki went into the dump to get all our things together I walked down to another guy's house (we have him hired for the 15th to take us to the border.) With our luggage we thought we needed two tuk tuks to drive us to the hotel. The driver's house is very basic. Two beds, a concrete floor, four little tiny chairs/stools to sit on and in the back the kitchen. They invited me to have dinner with them but I had to pass. As I was sitting there talking to them, out of the corner of my eye I saw a rat run across the floor. Dinner maybe?
The two drivers took us to the new hotel. We were soooooooooo happy! While Dinki took her shower I went out and got a cold beer to bring back to the hotel to celebrate. We have a TV, a water machine (like they have in offices at home - hot and cold), a DVD player, a closet (with hangers) two chairs and a lovely bathroom with western toilet and tub PLUS four locks on the door! We have a lovely view out the window. We're in heaven. We did our laundry and washed our hair. Heaven.

7-12 (Tuesday) Getting Kicked off the Train

2005-07-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

You read the title correctly!

We got back on the train in Nanning and were feeling so good knowing we had our ticket and would soon be at the Chinese border and then on to Vietnam.

All of us in our compartment went to sleep knowing we would be awakened in the middle of the night as we crossed two borders.

I was sleeping so soundly when the steward flipped on the lights and shook my foot to awaken me. He asked for our passports. Dinki handed her over first. I saw the guard examine it very closely. Then he asked for mine and called someone to help him. It seems that our visa doesn't go into effect until the 15th of this month and today is the 12th. They told us we'd have to get off the train. We couldn't go any further. We offered a bribe, "how much can we pay?" but they weren't going for it.

So . . . at 2 a.m. we are escorted from the train with all our luggage. We had no idea where we were or where we'd stay. We asked about that and one of the guards said there was a hotel near by. My first question was, "Is it air conditioned?" They laghed and said yes. So here are Nancy and Dinki in the middle of the night at the station in the middle of no where surrounded by six Chinese soldiers who are acting as our porters pulling our luggage down the street in the middle of the night. We passed this same internet where I'm writing this and at that hour of the night/morning it looked totally full. It was the only thing open.

We and our lovely escorts dragged everything into some sort of police enclosure - that's where they have us "stored." I guess they want to make sure we don't get away before the 15th. They had to bang on a door to wake up the girl at the desk to take us in. You just can't imagine how lovely our room is. We do have two beds, and there is an air conditioner but that's about it as far as the good things. Well, there's a "bathroom" in the room but it is awful. It has a hand held shower head stuck to the wall, one spigot on the sink, a metal bucket sitting on the side of the sink and a squat!!!! Beside the squat there was a spider about the size of my fist. There was no pillow case on the bed and no sheet. Thank goodness I brought my silk sleeping bag from home. It does have a TV!!! It is so gross we can't get out of there fast enough.

Today has been spend trying to get two days stuck on the front of our visa in Vietnam. The way it looks right now we will be leaving tomorrow, that is IF the police compound where we are staying will let us leave. We have already found a guy to drive us to Friendship Pass for $4.85. Now we're just waiting to hear back from Vietnam about how much it is going to be and if they can arrange it. Wish us luck. We know we'll have to spend one more night in the compound but more than that we can't take. Actually we're going to hire the border guy to drive us around tonight and see if there are any other hotels. At this point we're willing to pay anything.

7-11 (Monday) the Hospital

2005-07-11T22:59:00.000-07:00

Dinki's legs are still very red. Thanfully they don't itch or hurt and the rash doesn't seem to be raised.

We decided to walk down to the Ming Prince Mansion and tour it. It was overcast so the heat wasn't as bad as it could have been even though sweat was dripping down my face. Some girl stopped Dinki and asked her about her legs. She told Dinki she should see a doctor.

I found a hospital so we went in and showed her legs to a nurse. She took us down the hall to see a doctor, then it was decided we should go upstairs and see a different doctor. There were two doctors in the room with about 8 people standing up waiting. The nurse took us right to the front of the line. No one seemed to mind. The doctor looked and asked some questions which we had no idea what he was saying. Some young guy who was being examined by the other docor spoke a little English. Dinki tried to explain she'd had it a couple days and thought maybe she'd gotten something when we went trekking in Longsheng. The doctor seemed to be saying it was an allergic reaction but nothing to worry about. He gave her a prescription which we took downstairs to the pharmacy to have filled. We passed it through the window to the pharmists who said she first had to go pay. So over to the cashier to stand in line. Dinki handed over her CIGNA insurance card with her prescription! The woman looked at it as thoought she were saying, "What the hell is this?" and handed it back to her. She had to pay a little over $9 for some cream and three boxes of pills. The hospital was not air conditioned. It was so hot I was ready to faint. I don't know how the doctors could work in it all day.

We set off once again for the mansion. When we arrived we found out it cost 50 yuan (about $6) to get in. We had very little money (especially since Dinki bought a purse as we passed a shop this morning) so we couldn't go inside which was probably a good thing because we were running out of time and needed to get back and check out of the hotel. Before going back we decided to walk over to the Ancient South Gate of the city. W made it there and snapped a few pictures. We had a long way to get back to the hostel so we hopped on a double decker bus and rode.

We ran up to the room and dragged all our stuff down to the front desk. We left it there until it was time to go to the train.

We went to Steven's office to have him read the directions on the medicine. He said Dinki should go to the hospital where a very old professor/doctor worked. This doctor spoke English. Steven jumped in a cab with us to go to see the old professor at the hospital.. It turned out it was the same hospital we had been to earlier. We told this to Steven but he said we were going to a different section. Sure enough we went in the red carpet area of The Traditional Chinese Medical facility. We found the old professor/doctor. He had been asleep but was happy to see us. He ushered us into a small room that was full of tables that looked like two person desks. Dinki showed him her legs and what the other doctor had given her earlier in the day. Of course he thought it wasn't the right stuff. He felt her pulse and said it was very rapid. He asked if she had high blood pressure which she does. He had the nurse bring in a blood pressure cuff to measure it. While they were doing that I asked if he would take my pulse. He felt my right wrist and couldn't seem to determine if I was alive so he moved over to the left wrist. He said my pressusre was low and asked if I had low energy. I told him "no." He prescribed some cream for Dinki's legs, some 'Hypertension infusion (pills) to lower her cholesterol and blood pressure. Then he asked her if she wanted to lose weight. Naturally she said, "yes," so he prescribed some weigth loss pills which "streng theaing the spleen and clearing away the axcess fat"

He turned to me and recommended "kidney tonic pills" for "regulating vital energy and activating blood circulation, promoting metabolism; tonifying kidney yin and yang, improving the body immunity." I told him I was having a problem with wax in my ear and he said these pills would take care of it! He also said I should have the 'skin health Cream." The function for "protecting skin and promoting skin metabolism. The "indications are: acne, eczema, psoriasis, inflamation, 1st degree burn, sunburn, skin allergy, insectbite, athlete foot."

When I heard the nurse tell Dinki she could pay with a credit card my ears perked up. She came over with my medicines and bill - $133 US! I told her "no, no, I can't afford this." She said "just use your credit card, just take one bottle." I didn't buy any of it. Dinki ended up spending $250.

We walked across the street to KFC with Steven and bought his lunch. We took a cab back to the hostel. He hired some guy to help us get our luggage to the train station (across the street.) Steven pulled one bag and the guy the other. They took us to some sort of private waiting room along with two girls and a guy from Spain who also did not have tickets.

Soon the train was rumbling into the station and we were all pulling our luggage toward it. None of us had tickets. The conductor told us which car to get on. Steven and his buddy got our luggage on the train but left it in the aisle because the train wass getting ready to pull out of the station. The train was already full. When we got to the compaartment where they decided to stick us there were already two men inside, one with a suitcase bigger than mine! The seats on Chinese trains don't lift up so you can store your luggage underneath. Therefore our bags and the guys one huge bag were all sitting right in the middle of the floor space between our beds. Dinki took the upper bed so I handed up our rolling backpacks and everything else I could to her.

The conductor finally came by to tell us it was time to pay for the tickets. I left Dinki in bed but took her passport and money to get her ticket. I went to the dining car with the three from Spain. We bought a ticket for 259 yuan ($31.33) to Friendship Pass which is the border between China and Vietnam. We'll have to buy another ticket once we get to the border for Hanoi. When I got back from buying the tickets everyone in my cabin was asleep!

We chugged along until 8:00 when we stopped in Nanning. They made everyone get off the train but leave our luggage on. They told us to come back in one hour. We went to the first class waiting room to kill time. I met a cute Vietnamese girl who was is going to a university in China. She was on her way home for a two month summer vacation. Her English was excellent.

At 9:00 everyone jumped up and went back to the train. The thing is they had moved the train so we had to walk across some tracks to get to it. We lost one of our bunkmates in Nanning, Then there were only three of us.

7-10 (Sunday) Messing Around

2005-07-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

Our air went off last night around 5 a.m.but when I hit the remote (you turn it on like a TV) it came right on. I was begining to worry that something was wrong with Dinki because she was still in bed after 8:00 but she was okay. We ate breakfast in the room.

We walked down the street looking in shops. We were headed to a shop for Dinki to buy a pair of shoes that she had seen the first day. Some guy came up and began talking to us. We thought he was so friendly and then he started talking about his professor's paintings. That's when I walked away. In Guilin anyone who mentions an artist or painting is 99% of the time tryi;ng to get you into a shop to buy paintings. We finally got rid of the guy by going into a deparment store.

Dinki bought her shoes then regreted that she hadn't bought another pair. We went to a large department store and found the same shoes at the same price. The best thing was that we found out they took credit cards! Dinki and I each bought a pair of shoes.

W set out looking for the 5 star hotel, The Waterfall, in hopes that they had a travel agency and could maybe get us tickets to Hanoi or at least tell us what time the train left. They didn't know any more than the people at the Shearton. As I was standing there waiting for the girl to try to figure out where Vietnam was Steven walked up!
He was the one who we originally talked to about getting us tickets. In the end we decided Steven was the best choice for getting the tickets. We went to a place to see about doing email. The guy told us we could do it for free!

We walked down to a Catholic Church we had seen earlier. They invited us inside and then told us where there was a protastant church. We went there and prayed as we had in the Catholic church. It was soooooooo hot inside sweat was dripping off me. Some man, maybe the minister, brought me a Bible in English.

Dinki wasn't feeling well so we started walking towards the hostel. She was having stomach pains, probably because she hadn't been to the bathroom in many, many days . Her legs from the knees down were turning a splochy red.

W stopped by Steven's offfice on the way to the hostel. We asked him if he thought we'd be able to get on the train tomorrow - "no problem." When he had gone to the train station there was only one ticket. He says he's going to go with us tomorrow and we'll buy the ticket on the train. We'll see.

7-9 (Saturday) Longsheng

2005-07-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we arranged with Steven to go to Longsheng in Guangsi Province to see the long hair Miao people. I have been trying to see them for over 10 years.

We waited on the side of the street for our mini van to come. There were 12 of us in the van. Dinki and me, 2 Spanish guys from San Fransico, 2 Chinese, an American guy, Tony, living in Shanghai with his Vietnamise girlfriend, the driver and 3 guides.

It was a two hour drive to Longsheng. The scenery along the way ws breathtaking with all the karsts poking up out of he ground. We got off the main road and drove to a very remote area. We went switchbacking up a mountain. I mean major switchbacking. We could look way down at rivers and terraced rice patties.

When we finally stopped and got out of the van we began walking up the mountain. All of us but Dinki who paid two guys to carry her in a sedan chair!!! Now what could be worse than carrying one of us fat Americans up a mountain?? Where they let her out and where we walked to was a restaurant. From there we had another 2 1/2 hours of walking. Tony, his girlfriend, Dinki and I decided to get a bite to eat before begining our trek. Tony paid for all of us. We thought we were going to come to one of Mieo villages but the trek was actually just to see the view which was specatular. We saw more of the large scale rice terraces built into the hillsides. Some of the terraces looked like great chains while other looked like ribbons. They wound from the foot to the top of the hill. There were layers and layers of the terraces.

It would sprinkle a little and then stop, then sprinkle some more. This made the rocks we were climbing on very slippery. I tried to be extra careful because I didn't want to break a bone. The path was very narrow. If you met someone going the other way you'd have to stop and get off the path until they passed.

Tony, his girlfriend and I made it all the way to the top. The good thing about this day was it was overcast and not so hot. If the sun had been out I don't think I could have made it.

7-8 (Friday) Chugging on . . . From the Window . . .Arriving in Guilin

2005-07-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the compartment was up by 6 a.m. We went down to breakfast with the family but only had hot tea since we didn't like anything else. The tea had the leaves floating around in it. We went back to the compartment and ate the muffins and leechies I bought yesterday at the train station. About an hour later Jerry and I jumped off the train and I bought some orange juice.

The scenery out the window was fabulous. Rice terraces, small lakes, mountains, lotus patches, little waterfalls, people bent over tending the fields and of course satilite dishes on some houses in the most remote villages. Greens of every shade, dark, light, yellows, browns. Ladies sweeping with stick brooms, people riding bicycles with huge loads tied on the back, men up to their knees in mud in rice paddies, ducks on streams, dirt streets lined on both sides and down the center with tall trees, crumbling factories, women walking with a board across their shoulders a bucket hanging from each end, rivers cutting a town in two with arched bridges connecting the two sides, footpaths can be seen snaking their way into the mountains, houses with thached roofs, houses with tin roofs, houses with tile roofs, roofs with upcurled pointed corners to keep away the evil spirits,, women and children on their haunches eating fruit by the side of the tracks, a woman holding an umbrella over her man to protect him from the sun as he works the field.

We arrive in Guilin at noon. Yi Chang helped us get all our bags off the train. We had already decided we were going to hire porters. A man came up to us offering his services. We agreed to his price. Then another guy came up and the two of them got in a big argument about who was going to carry our junk. Lisa and Yi Chang told them to forget it, neither of them was going to help, they'd help us themselves. They had shipped their luggage so they didn't have all that much to carry. We thought we could find a ramp but it was not to be, we had to go down the dreaded steps. I hleped Yi Chang carry my suitcase down. He asked several people where the International Youth Hostel was but no on knew. They even suggested we'd been duped by the Beijing Hostel. We kept telling everyone that it was supposed to be across the street from the train station. Some guy came up and said he knew where it was and it was just across the street. He and his buddy agreed to pull ourr suitcases to the hostel for 5 yuan (60 cents.) We gave them $1.20 each to take the bags all the way up to our room on the 4th floor although this hostel had an elevator! The room cost $7 each per night while in Beijing we were paying $10. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the room . . . two beds (naturally), an air conditioner that really worked, a TV, a mirror, a closet with hangers, a bathroom IN the room with a sink, shower, AND a western toilet!! We thought we had died and gone to heaven. It had one of those boxes on the wall where you have to stick your key in to turn on the lights A/C etc. The bad part is when you leave you have to take the key out and your A/C goes off. We spent 30 minutes trying to rig it so the A/C would stay on. No luck. But the A/C is so good it doesn't take long to cool down.

We went to a CITS (China International Travel Services) to see about getting tickets to Hanoi. We found out the train only goes on Monday and Friday. We also found out about a boat tour around the city and a day trip to the countryside to see the minorities.

We hopped in a cab and went to KFC for lunch, We began walking toward the Sheraton Hotel that we remembered from 11 years ago. We were going to check with their travel agency and see what kind of prices and schedule they came up with. It was sooooooo hot - 98.6 F with the sun burning down.

We walked along the street looking in shops. We arrived at the Sheraton which when we were here last time was a real showplace. Now it looks old and tired. It could use a facelift. The concier tried to help us but he didn't know beans. He still didn't know anythng after he called around. We decided to go back and book with Steven, the CITS guy. Before going back we had some guy lead us to an internet which we were having trouble finding. I couldn't believe how many computers were in that huge room and every one was in use. We went to another place and were able to get on a computer even though it was packed. It was 99% young kids (mostly boys) playing violent games.

We walked back and booked a 1 1/2 hour boat tour with Steven for $18. We went to the hotel to freshen up and rest. At 7:00 we met a couple from Poland and went in a taxi with them to the pier. We weren't on the same boat with them which was a disappointment. By the time the boat left at 7:30 it was alsmost dark. The thrill of the ride is supposed to be to see all the lights lining the shore of the river and lighting up Guilin. I thought the highlight was going through two locks. The rest of it I thought was too touristy. It reminded me of a Disney ride. It was very relaxing to ride along on the boat but it sure wasn't worth $18.

We got off at 9:00 at a different location than we had gotten on. We had to walk back to the hotel from there. One of the streets we walked along was a restaurant street. Mary Linn, Dinki and I both thought we saw the same restaurant from 11 years ago where we bought the one step snake for our guide and driver. I'm sure you remember that!

There were LOTS of people on the streets as we were walking home. One reason may have been that it was a Friday night.

We didn't get money once today, we got it twice!!

I was exhausted when we got home. I think the heat really took it out of me.

7-7 (Thursday) The Train to Guilin

2005-07-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

We got up before 6 a.m so we'd be ready for the taxi at 7:00. We helped each other get our luggage downstairs. I met a monk from Thailand who was looking for the Tooth Bhudda Monastary. He wanted my address in case he ever gets to FL!

I couldn't find Dinki and it was time to haul our luggage outside, then I found her on the net! Ricardo helped us get our luggage in the cab. We departed for the West Station which took us 45 minutes in the cab and cost $7. It was a looooooong way. We got ourselves situated in the 1st class soft seat waiting room. Dinki guarded everything while I set out to find something for us to eat. I came back with muffins, fruit, o.j. (for me) and cranberry juice (for Dinki.) I stopped by the Information Desk and found out we were leaving from track 4. We began dragging our luggage in that direction. We had to go down about 4 sets of steps. Fortunally at that time some guy came up and asked us if we wanted him to help us with our bags. We're at the point we don't care how much it costs. The guy said he'd do it for $2.50 (a deal.) We ended up giving him $3.50.

Our cabin mates were Jerry and Lisa (Chinese son and mother from NJ.) Dad, Yi Chang, who got his masters and PHD in he US was next door. Lisa and Yi Chang have been in the US for 11 years. Jerry was born in Ohio. Their other son (age 22) just graduated from Vanderbilt and is now a Lt. in the US Army.

Our train was lovely, the best we've been on so far on the journey. It was air conditioned! It had a western toilet, actually it wasn't called a toilet but a closet pot! AND . . . it had toilet seat covers! You can't believe how thrilled we were. We had thick quilts on our beds and two pillows each, small soft pillows instead of the square rock pillows we've been used to. This train was so posh we even had a trash can in our compartment!

I went down to the dining car to see what they had for lunch. The family was down there eating. I sat down with them . . . they were having rice, soup, duck, pork and tiny shrimp with greens. You eat the shrimp without pealing them, head, tail, shells and all. My stomach wasn't doing all that well so I passed on lunch. Later in the day when we began stopping at stations, Jerry and I would RUN off the train looking for ice cream. We could never find any. Finally the conductor told us there would be some at our 5:00 stop. NOT. We gave up.

The family went to dinner but we passed. Jerry came back to the compartment all excited with BIG news . . . the police made an arrest in the dining room! A man and woman were traveling with an old used ticket. The police asked if they had any luggage. They said, "no" so the police made them get off the train without taking anything.

After dinner Lisa and Yi Chang visited with us until bedtime. Yi Chang was telling us that his father had been a farmer. It was important to him that Li Chang do well in school. If the teacher told his father that he had done something bad Li Chang was punished. One punishment was to be hit with a stick and another was to be on his knees for a matter of hours, sometimes overnight without any dinner.

Chug, chug on to Guilin in our beautiful train.

7-6 (Wednesday) Beijing

2005-07-10T00:36:00.000-07:00

This is our last day in Beijing. Boohoo. We treated ourselves by going to the Comfort Inn for their breakfast buffet. It actually cost just a little more than Starbucks and we got a LOT more: juices, (cereal if we wanted it) toast, (the real thing, not just bread), bacon, scrambled eggs, some sort of greens like we had with the hot pot yesterday, egg rolls and some other Chinese looking food that we didn't eat.

We walked across to Ya Show for our last shopping spree. Dinki bought a pair of blue shorts and two pairs of shoes. I bought two Chinese looking tops. Of course neither of us has any room in our suitcases.

We ate at FKC then walked back towards the hostel. We went to the grocery store in the basement of the Pacific Department Store. On our way out we saw massage chairs like the ones we used at the airport in NY. We asked if we could try them out. They were only too happy to let us. I think we must have used them for aover an hour. It was wonderful. When we got back to the hostel Dinki did email while I worked on repacking my suitcase and craming everything into it. That took forever.

Around 5:00 we took a cab to Tiannenman Square. Actually for some reason the driver let us off about two blocks away. It didn't matter because where he let us off was in front of the biggest mall I have ever seen. It would also put to shame any mall I've seen. It was unreal. Before we went in we were approached by two girls (university students) wanting to practice their English. One of them let us use her cell phone so we could call Rhoda and thank her and Cliff for our lunch. We also called Lily (from Moscow) who was now back at her Beijing house.

We walked around in the mall and talked to another group of university students wanting to practice their English.

Dinki never should have left the classroom. Where ever we are she is constantly correcting someone on their English or making them repeat a word over and over until they get it right. Yesterday while we were shopping I found her sitting on a stool having the girls repeat the days of the week and then the months of the year.

We walked down toTiannenman Square in time to see them lower the flag. This is a BIG ceremony. They do it at sunrise and sunset. The square was packed with people waiting to see it. Lots of people came up and wanted to talk to us while we were waiting, one was a Chinese English teacher from Xian and twin 15 year old girls who hope to one day study in the states. When ever someone would start talking to us a huge crowd would gather around to listen even though they didnt' understand a word.

We walked to the other end of the square and caught a cab back to the hostel.

We did our last preparations for our train trip tomorrow.

7-6 (Wednesday a.m.)

2005-07-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

I heard from several of you that my blog is coming through. This is what my brother said . . . "There was a story on the net last month that said that China was going to block offshore China blogs from being read in China. That started at the end of June. " This explains why I can't get into it. At least I can still publish.

This morning we are branching out and getting ready to go to the Comfort Inn for breakfast instead of Starbucks! Of course more shopping is on the list. This afternoon when it is so hot I'm going to throw away some of my clothes and try to repack my suitcase so I can cram in this junk I've been buying. If I could ship it I would but that costs an arm and a leg.

Tonight around 6:00, after it gets a little cooler, we're going down to Tiananman Square. We leave for the train station at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow and will arrive the next day at noon in Guilin.

7-5 (Tuesday) Hot Beijing

2005-07-05T03:35:00.000-07:00

One thing that hasn't changed in China, the women are still wearing their knee highs down around their ankles. We have even seen this with hight heels!

After our breakfast at Starbucks I cashed ANOTHER check! We went next door to the 5 star hotel and used their travel agency to book our train to Guilin. We leave the day after tomorrow and arrive the next day - Friday.

We went to the Silk Market which is now in an air conditioned 5 floor building for those of you who know what I'm talking about. We shopped and shopped. I'd better not tell everything Dinki bought because I think a couple items are gifts.

We ate lunch at McDonald's and it was just as gross as at home. Then we walked down to the Friendship Store. You can't even recognize this area from 5 years ago. There was hardly a soul in the store because the prices are too steep. I don't know how they stay open.

We were getting tired so we took the bus back to the hostel and walked over to the 5 star to pick up our train tickets. We're thinking of going to Tiennman Square tonight when it cools down some. We haven't done any sightseeing, just shopping. We have seen all the sights in the past.

Please email me at my hotmail account and let me know if my blogs are getting through from China. They have my blog blocked so I can't get into it to read it but I can continue to write. I just don't know if they are going through. Thanks.

7-4 (Monday) Beijing

2005-07-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

We went back to Starbucks for breakfast, then we walked to get our laundry that we turned in yesterday only to be informed that it wouldn't be ready until 8:00 TONIGHT! We both argued that it was supposed to be 8 a.m. but needless to say it didn't produce the laundry.

We walked to one of our favorite shopping spots, Sanlitun Ya Show Fashion Market (Chaoyang.) We bought some gifts and both Dinki and I bought a 1 gig memory card for our cameras. Dinki was trying to buy a pair of shorts but couldn't find any to fit.

We had to hurry back to the hostel to meet our Chinese friends, Rhoda and her husband, Cliff. They live in south China but they came to Beijing so Rhoda could look for an apartment. She has taken a job in Beijing with Intel. Dinki stopped off at Starbuck to go to the bathroom and I went on to the hostel. Rhoda and Cliff were already there waiting on us. We visited until Dinki arrived. Rhoda gave me a gift of a small good luck mask and Dinki a lovely scarf. They took us out to lunch at a real Chinese restaurant for hot pot. You have a big bowl with cooking oils in the center of the table, it similar to fondu in that you put your meat and vegetables into the pot and cook them. We had some sort of greens, fish, chicken, mutton (I didn't eat that) shrimp, mushrooms and some sort of lining of a cows stomach (I didn't eat that either but Dinki said it was good.) We had dipping sauces for the foods.

Cliff had a doctor's appointment so they went on and we went to some computer place that turned out to be the same place we were the other day. We got out and looked for a grocery store because I was craving Chocolate. Instead we found a department store that was having a promotion on comestics to make you look younger. Before I knew what was happening I was sitting in a chair some some woman was applying all kinds of creams, lipstick and pieces of paper to my face. Before Dinki knew what hit her she'd spent $60! We topped this off by finding some chocolate for me!

We left there and went back to Ya Show Fashion Market where we were this morning. I had a foot massage. Dinki had a manicure, pedicure and foot massage. While she was finishing up I went off and shopped some more. This time I really spent all my money!

We went to Starbucks for juice and a muffin which was our dinner. We went back to pick up our laundry then to the hostel for the evening. We decided to do email early in the morning instead of at night when so many other people are trying to get on.

7-3 (Sunday) Beijing

2005-07-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

This morning we walked to Starbucks and had breakfast, it was wonderful to have something more than toast. Afterwards we hung around for the bank to open so I could cash ANOTHER check.

We walked down the street and dropped our laundry off to be washed. It won't be ready until 8 a.m. tomorrow and cost $11 which we thought was a little steep.

Dinki wanted to go to the Pearl Market, that's what she told me but actually she wanted to go to the Antique Market. We walked and walked looking for the subway. Finally someone told us to take bus #28. We again walked a long way to that stop. It was so blasted hot we were ready to faint. For some reason Dinki wanted to find a subway station so instead of getting on bus #28 we kept walking. We finally got to the station only to find out it doesn't go close to the Antique Market. We took the subway, got off and took bus #28! As we were going towards the market vendors had their wares laid out on the sidewalk. Most of it was the usual stuff but one thing was very unusual, a stuffed dog!! I'm talking about the real thing. It was awful.

First we walked around inside the building where they sell furniture. They had some great looking pieces but it was expensive and we didn't have any way of getting it home. Outside were stalls with merchants selling their wares, jade, jewelry, paintings, old traditional clothes, carving, all kinds of things. We had a wonderful time. Pat Sig and Dodie you two would have loved this place. I spent almost all the money I cashed this morning and everything I bought was HEAVY! I have no idea how I'm going to get them home. My suitcase was already so heavy that men have trouble lifting it.

It was 3:00 when we left the market and we hadn't had anything to eat. We caught bus #28 and took it to the end of the line. From there we got a cab to Schlotzsky's where we enjoyed every bite of our meal!

There was a big department store (The Pacific) next door to where we ate. We went in there and checked out all 7 floors. Dinki bought a pair of shoes and a some shorts. Then we went to the basement where the grocery store was so we could buy a few treats.

Back to the hostel.

7-2 (Saturday) Beijing

2005-07-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

We got up early and went next door to the five star hotel to use their facilities!!! Then we went back to our hostel and had breakfast.

We decided to go to the back so I could cash a check. On our way we met Ricardo from Honduras who speaks perfect English, Chinese and Italian. He walked with us and showed us how to use a phone on the street to call our friend Rhoda. She's coming to Beijing Sunday so we made arrangement to meet her for lunch on Monday. We went on to the bank where I had to take a # and wait my turn to cash my check.

We walked to where we used to catch the bus to go to the Radison Hotel. I asked some American, he didn't know anything about it but told us to take a cab to where we wanted to go and we did. We shopped and shopped some more buying all kinds of things, I even bought a mah jong set and I have no idea how to play. Dodie, you'll have to teach me! We ate lunch then went to our old favorite grocery store, Carefor.

We bought so many things that we had to go back to the hostel in a cab and deposit our loot before we could set off again.

Dinki wanted to see the ancient observatory and I wanted to get some computer software. First we walked to the computer center. One of many way that China has changed so much in the last 5 years is that you no longer have people jumping out of the bushes to try to see you music and computer CD's. They have really cracked down on the illegal pirating which is very unfortunate for me! Another BIG change is that the city is quiet. You are no longer allowed to lay on your horn every 5 seconds as in the past.

I could believe computer center when we finally got there. It was a 5 story building that sold everything from computers, computers cameras, hard drives, software and anything at all having to do with a computer. They had the latest on almost everything but the bad thing is that prices were almost market standards. I wish I had known enough about it to buy something for my computer. John B. You would have loved this tore! I was looking for Photo Elements 2. No one seemed to have it. Finally I found a girl who looked it up on her computer and said, "okay." She wanted $20, can you believe that? $20. China has really changed. We finally made a deal for $5 and she made it on the spot.

We walked and walked from the computer center trying to find the ancient observatory. We finally took a subway and got to it. That was one of the things on Dinki's list that she really wanted to do when we returned to Beijing.

We were so far away from the hostel we decided to take a tuk tuk (that's what they're called in Thailand, I don't know about here.) I don't know if it was because we had so much weight in it but I actually think it was in such bad shape that we were probably only going about 5 mph. We were going so slowly that people peddling their bicycles were passing us. We were so slow we were afraid the light would change back to red before we got across the street. People laughed when they saw us riding in that slow machine.

When we got back to the hostel it was 6 p.m. Dinki wanted to go downstairs and do email . I decided to go out and walk around some more to see what I could see.

7-1 (Friday) Arriving in Beijing

2005-07-03T16:41:00.000-07:00

I was cold most of last night. They gave us sheets and a blanket but the blanket was a joke. It was 1/4 of a blanket. I measured it and it was 23 1/2 inches wide! Can you imagine trying to cover yourself with something that small? I didn't get up until 9:30, everyone else was still asleep.

I stood at the window for a long time watching the breathtaking scenery, high mountains, farmers working their fields and small remote villages with satellite dishes!

I had "breakfast", 2 pieces of bread with jelly or $1.00 in the dining car. The rest of the day was just spent clicking along looking out the window and visiting with other passengers on the foreigners car. When we got close to Beijing the engineer took a side trip so that we'd all get to see the Great Wall. Although I have seen it twice before it is always a great thrill. A sight I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing.

We pulled into the Beijing station about 6 minutes late - unheard of! When we stepped off the train some guy came up to us offering a taxi. We needed one but only had Mongolian money which we told and showed him. This didn't seem to matter. We spent at least 30 minutes in the hot un waiting on this joker to run around and find someone to take us. We thought he had his own cab. Finally he found is a van - again we showed our Mongolia money and asked if he would take it. He said yes, and he and his cohorts snatched 500 from us. We were giving them 1,00 but they were happier with the 500. About half way to the hostel his phone ran, it must have been his boss telling him not to take the Mongol money. He started complaining. Finally he pulled up to this 5 star hotel which I knew wasn't our place. I got out and showed the bellboy the name of the hostel, he said, "yes" this was it. I knew better. When I walked in I couldn't believe my eyes. The place was beautiful. I went over to the reception desk and told them there was some mistake that I was sure we weren't registered there. They checked the computer and of course we weren't. I explained to the girl that we were looking for the hostel. She said it was right behind her hotel. In the meantime Dinki had gone down the street to try to find an ATM machine or a bank so we could give the van driver some money. She was gone forever. While she was doing that I talked the cabbie into taking $3 US. Dinki came back waving a $10 bill which I snatched and put in my pocket. The driver took us around back to the hostel which our friend, Tracy, had booked for us for 5 nights. We really loved it. We have 2 beds an air conditioner and down the hall a shower/bathroom with very hot water. The only thing we don't like are the toilets because they are squats!

We pushed our luggage in the room and set off to get some dinner. On our way back from KFC we went in some shops then we found a huge air conditioned building with one stall of sellers after another. We went wild and started buying all kinds of stuff. This was a shoppers heaven. I found shoes like I just bought before leaving on the trip, at home I paid $40, here they were $10. We stayed until the place closed.

6-30 (Thursday) Leaving Mongolia

2005-07-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

I got up at 6:50. There was NO water whatsoever in any of the faucets. I pulled all my stuff out of Chin's room and shut the door so I wouldn't wake her. Dinki made herself 3 soft boiled eggs. I had bread (not toast) with jelly and hot tea (the tea water comes from a big plastic bucket.) We hauled our things out to the porch so they'd be ready. Buyer and Joy were supposed to pick us up at 7:10 but didn't arrive until almost 7:30. He is married to a woman who is studying banking in San Francisco (she'll return to Mongolia in August.) They have a 6 year old daughter. I think something a little more than a friendship developed between him and Joy on this trip.

They got us to the station and Buyer put our luggage in our compartment which we were sharing with Adrian, from the UK, and Mark, from Ireland (they weren't traveling together.) Mark put his hat over his face and went to sleep as soon as the train pulled away. Adrian was telling us about his train trip from Irkutsk to Mongolia. He was in a compartment for 4 people but there were 6 in it. Two were children, 7 years old and 5 years old, who slept with their Mongolian parents. The other two were Adrian and some German guy. Between them they had 18 pieces of luggage. So much that the floor space between the 2 bottom bunks was totally taken up with luggage. He and the German guy heard a scratching sound. They couldn't identify where it was coming from because there was so much luggage. When they crossed the Russian border the border patrol made them open every piece of luggage and container. It was then that they found it was a medium size turtle making all the scratching sounds. A situation like this is a nightmare when you're going through it but sure makes a good story later on, right Brad?

I spent most of my morning writing in my journal and most of the afternoon sleeping. I had a sinus infection plus I knew we'd probably be at the border for a least 5 hours in the middle of the night while they change the wheels on the train. Russia has a different gage track than other countries so when going into Poland or China they have to jack the train up, roll the old wheels away and let the cars down on the new wheels.

It was cold this morning when we left and cold with a stiff wind at the first stop where I got off the train to stretch my legs. As we began to approach China it seemed to be warming up.

The German couple we met in Irkutsk were on the train with us, as are a girl and guy who were on the hydrofoil crossing Lake Baikal and three guys who showed up at our ger camp the last day. Small world!

Our cabin mate Mark, finally woke up and talked to me a little bit. We ended up liking him a lot. He was on his way to meet his girlfriend in Beijing. They will travel around and then head to Sydney where they both have jobs in a law firm.

We stopped at the Mongolian border for about an hour and a half then chugged on the the Chinese border for 5 hours so they could change the wheels on the carriages. We went into a long building where there were jackes to be put under the front and back of each car. The engineer went forward then backward, then forward then backward getting the train into the right position. The cars were hitting together making tremendous jolts. The sound of metal on metal was very loud. When we were finally in position a computerized system began to lift the train. It went so slowly you couldn't feel it. The only way I could tell how high we were was to compare us to the second half of our train on the track next to us that hadn't started to rise. They did not let any of us get off the train during this process. They slid the old wheels to the back to be replaced with the new ones. Of course you can't go to the bathroom when a train is 15 minutes away from a station, 15 minutes past a station or in a station. I had been waiting more than 5 hours to go, my bladder was about to explode. Around 1:30 a.m. they had the train out of the "changing shed" and began letting people get off to stretch their legs. I told the conductor I had to go to the bathroom, he told me another 20 minutes. There was NO way. I walked down to a building hoping it might be open but it was pitch black inside. I ended up spotting a tree in a planter behind some bushes. I climbed in the planter for blessed relief. At 2 a.m. the train began chugging towards Beijing. Can you believe Dinki slept through ALL of this?

6-29 (Wednesday) Mongolia

2005-07-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

We had breakfast at our host family's house, it was very interesting that the family doesn't put a top on the butter or jelly in the refrigerator. Chin, the daughter, also didn't cover any of the meat that was in there or the watermelon. The night before she left the same meat out on the counter all night, uncovered. Needless to say we didn't eat any of that.

Buyer picked us up at 10:00 this morning. We first went to get our laundry since it was closed last night when we tried to get it. We dropped off some more for them to practice on.

We asked Buyer to take us to several shops that sold souvenirs but we didn't see anything that appealed to us.

We went to the History Museum which was quite interesting. I loved seeing the display of old traditional dresses. We decided to eat lunch before driving to Terelj National Park. Joy said we were going to eat at Mongolian BBQ. We parked out front and she called Dashshee on the phone. He told us not to eat there because it was too expensive. We went to a German Restaurant which was a total disaster. Dinki ordered a Greek Salad which arrived first. It consisted of a bunch of cut up tomatoes in a dressing with fete cheese. There was on sliver of lettuce on the plate, not as big as my hand. I ordered spaghetti and mushroom and tomato sauce. Imagine my surprise when the waiter put a pizza down in front of me! I sent it back and once again pointed to spaghetti. This time he did bring the spaghetti but it had tuna on top! I sent that back. Meanwhile Dinki had polished off her "Greek" salad and Joy still hadn't been served. I finally got my spaghetti with mushrooms and tomato sauce. I finished that and Joy still hadn't been served. Finally they brought her French fries and sausages. Dinki ordered peach ice cream, they came with 2 scoops of yellow ice cream and one scoop of what looked like vanilla. She sent that back. The whole awful dining experience took an hour and a half which meant we didn't even leave for the park until after 1:30.

It took about an hour to get there. We stopped to take pictures of 2 camels along the side of the road. They were actually camels (2 humps) instead of the dromedary I've been used to seeing. I got close enough to pet one of them. When he started making strange sounds I left.

This park had spectacular alpine like scenery with beautiful rivers. We made a stop at the famous "Turtle Rock" which I had a hard time seeing that it looked like a turtle. We took pictures of some of the Mongolian men and one wanted me to sit on his horse, which I did.

We drove back to Ulaan Baator and went by the get our laundry. We took it to the house and went shopping on more time. Buyer dropped us off at Tumen Ekh Ensemble Place for a "folk" show. It was a tourist show but we loved seeing the various examples of national dress. It included khoomi, the unique Mongolian throat singing, dancing, traditional songs, music with various traditional instrument including the horse head violin and contortionists who did unbelievable moves with their bodies.

It really made me mad when some of the Japanese tourists started leaving before the end of the show.

Buyer and Joy came back to get us after the show. They dropped us off at the California restaurant. We decided to splurge since it was our last night in Mongolia. We each had a Cesar Salad WITH chicken, a glass of wine and we both had a dessert to the tune of $10. We walked to the internet and did email for about an hour and a half.

We walked up to Peace Ave. To catch a cab home. Everyone that we tried to flag down already had a fare. We finally got one, as Dinki was getting ready to get in 2 guy came running up behind her, shoved her out of the way and jumped in. I was standing some distance from her - when I saw what was happening I thought she was getting robbed again.

We got another cab and got home safely. I ran down in the basement and turned on the hot water heater. This was our last night in Ulaan Baator. We packed our bags so we'd be ready to leave at 7:10 in the morning.

6-28 (Tuesday) Mongolia

2005-07-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

I could have gotten a $100 fine this morning because I wee weed right outside our ger. Dinki thought it had rained!

We left camp at 7 a.m. to go see the wild horses. They were extinct in the wild by 1969. Mongolia managed to have 50 returned from a zoo in Holland. By carefully monitoring the breading program the wild population has increased to almsot 200.

We stopped at a ger camp and picked up a girl guide to go in the car with us. The best time to see them is early in the morning or late at night when they come down from the mountains to drink.

After we saw them we went back to camp to have breakfast and ride horses. Dinki was feeling awful, a sore throat and the general ickies. She has been sick ever since we got off the place in St. Petersburg but hasn't done anything about it. She has finally started taking medicine.

We were ready to ride horses after breakfast but the people at the camp hadn't caught them. When they did go out to catch them the horses got away on the vast steep. They chases they on foot and in a van but still didn't catch them They finally had to call in a horseman to go out on his horse to catch them. All in all we waited about 3 hours for them to catch the horses. We had lunch before they came back with them. Dinki rode with the guide and I did too but I also went off on my own. We could see why it was so hard to catch the horses, the steep goes on forever. We never saw a sign of the other horses while we were riding. We rode up and down hills taking in the beauty of nature, wildflowers, the colors of the steep and the blue Mongolian sky.

When we finished riding we packed up the car for our trip basck to Ulaan Baator. We had Buyer, take us to the house so we could leave the stuff we took on our adventure then we had himtake us to drop our laundry off and finally the internet. At this pointwe told him and Joy (who didn't understand much English) to go on home. We said we'd take a taxi when we were ready to go home. After a couple hours at the net I asked Dinki if she's be interested in saving her work so we could go get something to eat. First we went back to the department store and I bought the sivler antique necklace I had looked at a few days ago. Dink bought some more stuff then we set off down Peace Ave. looking for the Mongolian BBQ (same as at home.) We must have walked for more than an hour, past many emabssies, past good parts of town and bad. After we decide we'dwalked far enough that we'd soonbe arriving in Vietnam we made the decison to take a cab back to where we had cme from. As it turned out the Mongolian BBQ was a 5 minute walk right around the corner from the internet! Because you pay a set price at Mongolian BBQ and we weren't real hungry we ate at the California Restaurant instead. They had a lovely bathroom!!!! AND the food was outstanding, just like home. We got a cab and by pointing left, right, straight showed him how to get us home. The parents were still staying at the hostel (Hotel Sandwi;ch) and Chin the 14 year old was still staying with us. We visited with her a little before going to bed.

6-27 (Monday) Mongolia

2005-07-03T05:19:00.000-07:00

We had a late breakfast at the ger camp. It was on a table so we took whatever we wanted which was lovely.

Around 10:00 we departed for Kara Korum, the ancient capital of Mongolia in the 14th century. The centerpiece is the Erdene Zun Monastery whicfh was built in 1586 and became the 1st Buddist Center in Mongolia.

In one of the temples we entered the monks were chanting their mantras. Some were very young, I would guess 6 years old. Outside we saw 4 monks prostrating themselves. They were doing it when we wnet in and continued after we had come out.

Joy was sticking to me like glue which was about to drive me nuts!

We began driving the road towards Ulaan Baator. All of it is paved but about 3 hours are on a semi decent road where you can probaly dirve around 50 nph. The other 3 1/2 hours are on a road full of pot holes, sometimes you can get up to speeds of 35 mph but then you have to hit the breaks becasue there are so many pot holes. You are driving the car all over the road trying to avoid the holes.

We drove to see a small section of thevast Gobi which stretches along the border between Mongholia and China. We walked up on one of the sand dunes and took pictures.

On the pot hole road once again we headed towards our next ger camp when get got a flat tire. We had thought we'd arrive at camp by 6:00 but because of the flat it was almost 9:00 because we had to get the tire patched.

After having dinner we took showers and went right to bed. There were huge fly8ing bugs in our ger banging their wings against the plastic on the top where the light was coming in. Then the wind started to howl so that the stove pipe began ratte4ling back and forth in its hole. I got up and pulled it out of the hole. When Dinki finally got back from the shower room I told her not to even think of turning on the light because I didn't want any more bugs inside. We were the only ones in camp tonight.

6-26 (Sunday) Mongolia

2005-07-03T05:02:00.001-07:00

I had a bad sinus headache last night and even woke up in the night with it. I took a shower early this morning knowing it would be my last for several days.

Buyer, our driver, and Joy, our new guide, arrived around 9:30. We asked them if we could go to a restaurant and get something to eat. They tried but becasue it was Sunday, nothing was open. We finally found a grocery store that was open. We picked up a few things to eat along the way to Kara Korum which was the Mongol capital during the time of Chinngg's Khan. It was 10:30 by the time we got on the road for the country side. Buyer had a bad stomache ache. I kept giving him Pepto Bismo. We stopped along the way for a picnic. We sat on pieces of cardboard on the hillside.

After driving 6 1/2 hours we finally reached the ger camp where we were to spend the night. It started raining about the time we arrived. Our ger was medium size. We had 2 beds, a woodburning stove( which we had no way of lighting) , a place to hang our clothes, and a couple of tables. We had dinner in the huge ger, we could not believe our eyes. It had many tables and booths and a decorated stove.

Dinki and I told them we only wanted vegetables to eat. We had potatoes, rice, carrots and onions with beets mixed.

Dinki went to bed at 8:30. Joy and I decided to walk down to the river which I though was just a stone's thow away. Joy said we should have Buyer drive us after he got out of the bathroom, again. I said we could have him drive us and then walk back. We drove and drove, asked direction and still hadn't gotten to the river. I told Buyer to forget it and let's go back to camp. By the time we got back I had the same stomach problems he had! When I got back from the WC it was raining so hard it sounded like the ger was going to blow down although I knew it was sturdy. Then it started leaking! Around 10:00 someone began banging on our door and calling out something. I finally opened the door and saw a girl about half way across the field. I called to her, she came back in the wind and rain and indicated to me that she would start a fire in our stove if I wanted her to. I sure did. She went up on the roof and uncovered the hole for the stove pipe while I shoved it up from the inside. She got a loverly fire going. Before she got it going I was wondering how I was going to stay warm all night. Dinki never heard any of this, she slept through the entire thing!

6-26 (Sunday)

2005-07-03T05:02:00.000-07:00

6-25 (Saturday) Mongolia

2005-06-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

6-25 (Saturday) Mongolia

Our guide, Dashshee,, was at the train to meet us along with our driver, Buyer, and the host of the house where we would be doing our home stay. The guide and driver took care of all our luggage, thank goodness. As we were leaving the station I didn’t notice that the sidewalk was uneven. I turned my ankle and the next scene was like a slow motion movie as I saw myself coming face to face with the pavement. There I was flat on my face on the ground. Thankfully my balalaika was on my back and didn’t break into a million pieces. The guide, driver and host were as surprised as I was. One minute I was there and the next I wasn’t. They pulled me up and kept saying, “Are you okay? Are you okay?” I was VERY lucky, I wasn't hurt at all. Well, my chest on one side really was sore later in the day. I thought I might have landed on something in that spot.

We followed our host to his house in our air conditioned car! We were staying with a VERY rich family. They lived in their own 2 story house with a HUGE (much bigger than mine) color TV (they can get CNN & BBC and other English speaking channels.) They had a dishwasher, fridge, 2 bathrooms (one with a huge bathtub with the water jets, and even a sauna. Thy had 2 bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. They had wood floors with large carpets on top. The have 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. The oldest girl is in med school in Germany. The youngest girl (14) went to school in Michigan for 6 months to learn English. Her parents were there with her. They have been to Disney World, lived 2 monts in Colorado and were in Washington DC for a period of time. As far as I could tell the mother didn't speak any English. The fathewr had enough eonfidence to think he spoke it but it was hard to understand much of what he said.
The youngest daughter is going to a Russian school so she can learn that language. The father is a building contractor and the mother wons and runs on the the town's Youth Hostels. The son works at the hostel and durning the summer the youngest daughter is the receptionist there. I forgot to say that the son went to school in Paris for a year.

On the first day we were left alone in the house to shower and get ready for the day. The family had 2 dogs, Teddy, the outside dog, and Cindy the inside dog who barked from the time we got there until her throat must have gotten so sore she could no longer get out a sound. Not only did we shower but we also washed our clothes and hung them in the shower room in the basement. We were going to hang them outside but Dashshee siad someone might steal them.

We went off for our day of sightseeing around 10:30. We 1st went to the Gandan Monastary originally built on the site in 1785. Mongolia once has 700 monastaries but almost all were destroyed during the communist crackdown at the end of the 1030"s. More than 14,00 monks were killed and 10's of thousands were forced to give up their vows. Inside this monastary is a HUGE Buddha said to be one of the largest in the world. We saw many Mongolians in their traditional dress.

We went to Sukhe Bator Square whi;ch reminded us of Red Square but on a slightly smaller scale. There is a mounted statue of the Mongolian revolutionary leader Damdinii Subbaatar in the center of the square opposite his mausolium. In 1990 the square was the scene of the pro-democracy demonstrations that led to the 1st free elections.

We had lunch at a VERY fancy European style restaurant owned by a woman who is a friend of Sahsshee. It had coth covered chairs, tablecloths and the table setting was perfect! His friend came over and joined us when we were almost finished with lunch.

We went to visit some monument that sits way up on top of a mountain. The monument is dedicated to those who lost their lives during WWII. It is a great place to look down on the city and the reiver below. We met a man selling his wares who could throat sing. Bill L. if you're reading this you would have loved it! I have heard this before in Tibet but this guy was truely incredible. He had a wide range of sounds he could make from high to low. It was like listening to a musical instrument.

We went to Bogd Khan Place whichwas the winter palace of the last King. We saw the King's throne, fur-lined robes and crown, toys from his youthm jewels, his luxiourious ger, a carriage made in Gngland, caaiors given to him by Tsar Nicholas II and a sedan chair.

Our next tip was the State Departyment store. Here they sell nothing but souviners on the 6th floor at a lot less than you'd pay in a tourist trap. We went to the Sony store to see abut gettin Dinki a momor card for her camera. It was more expensive than in Russia - almost $600. We went to an internet where I suggested Dinki have someone copy her pictures onto a disc, then she could erease her card and start over. That's what she did.

We went back to the house at 7:30 because we were to have dinner with the family. We met the son and 14 year old daughter. I told them I didnt eat meat because I knew I couldn't stomach mutton and I felt safer not eating meat. The wife prepared dumplings with beef inside, potatoes, slaw, and cucumbers in a some type of scuce. I tried to eat a little of everything except the dumplings.

The 14 year old slept in her bed in the room I was sleeping in. Dinki slept in the parents room. The parents slept at the hostel! When we got back to the house from our day of touing I checked our clothes in the basement, they were still soaking wet! We brought them up and hung them outside. Our whites were almost brown because their water was so discolored. Our clothes did dry before we went to bed.

I'm being made to get off the computer so please forgive all the spelling mistakes. I don't have time to check.

6-24 (Friday) Crossing the Border into Mongolia

2005-06-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

We’re on the train from Irkutsk to Mongolia . . .

I was up at 6:30 but Dinki slept until 9:30. I was beginning to think something was wrong with her.

The country side is now flat with very few forests as we chug along. We met the cute guy next door, Sebastian, from Mexico City and has just graduated from college in Spain. He’s on his way to trek in Mongolia and then will head to China before heading home.

We met another cute unmarried couple from Holland who had also just graduated. Their gift to themselves is a 9 month journey around the world. Another guy on the train was Jean Claude from France but we didn’t hold that against him! There was an old man who could hardly walk – he shuffled up and down the aisles asking the steward for Vodka! There was no Vodka so he had to settle for beer. He was shuffling down to the steward quite often.

Just before we reached the border we took all our money except for a few US dollars and stuck it in a pair of Depends that I brought along just for this occasion. I put my shirt over it and my money belt with $16 US and my MasterCard on top of my shirt. I was looking pretty big around the waist. I had heard that the Russian guard sometimes take all your money as you cross the border. Sebastian came into our compartment and asked us if we were going to hide our money. He had heard the same things I had.

Dinki decided to paint her nails in case we got hauled off to a gulag. She thought they probably wouldn’t have nail service there!

When we stopped at the Russian border I told Dinki not to be making any jokes. They quizzed her about where she got her visa ( the same place I did) She was all shook up. We said, “Houston, Texas.” They took everyone’s passport and got off the train with them. Different officials came by and gave us documents to fill out. I went up by the steward’s cabin and said real loud . . . “Carole Gefvert? Okay, I’ll get her.” I went back to our compartment and told Dinki to get up – she was pretending to be sleeping. I told her the guards wanted to see her. She put on her shoes and went out to see what they wanted! We found a store way down the tracks where we walked to buy some water, bread and cheese. Lastly 2 women arrived and asked us to stop out of the compartment. They searched it but I think it was a formality because they didn’t search very well, just under the mattress and above the compartment. We were at the border crossing for 5 ½ hours. Finally we clattered on down the tracks to the Mongolian border where the process started all over again. We filled out all the forms, the officials checked and we were finished. After the officials left the money changers jumped aboard. We changed all our rubles to Mongol money. Just as quickly as they descended on us they were gone. I gave them some cheese to eat while we were changing and Dinki gave them some gum.

We were at this border crossing for about 3 hours. The train started moving when Jean Claude came to our room and said Sebastian wasn’t on the train. We all banged on his door and no answer. We ran and told the stewardess. She said it was okay, the train was just changing tracks.

We had a long train when we started from Irkutsk, I don’t know what happened but at the Russian border there were only two card with foreigners on them.

After the border crossing we had to ride most of the night to Ulan Bator. I thought the steward knocked on our door around 3 a.m. so I got up and went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Unfortunally the sound I heard was just the cars switching from one track to another. The steward actually came and knocked at 5:30. We pulled into Ulan Bator around 7 a.m. The steward helped us get our luggage off the train. During the night Dinki helped me rig up my balalaika so that I could strap it to my back therefore freeing both of my hand for pulling luggage.

Last day in Irkustk

2005-06-28T02:17:00.000-07:00

We took the bus into town from our new hotel. This one was by the bus terminal instead of the train station. It had hot water and nice showers in the basement plus they would do your laundry.

Dinki thought she saw a McDonalds coming into town on the bus. We walked way down Carl Marx St. looking for it. We finally found it but it wasn’t even a food place! We decided to walk to the City Market and see if we could find a place to eat along the way. We ate at an outdoor place. It was okay, I think it was a BBQ sandwich that we got. The guy carved the meat off a spit, put it on a bun, put a sauce on it and cold slaw. I thought it was “okay,” nothing to write home about. We went on to the market and back to the music shop where I had looked a balalaika the day before. I decided I wanted to buy one so Dinki withdrew 4,000 R with her debit card from the ATM machine. The girl wanted 4,400 R but I talked her into 4,000 because it was scratched. As we were leaving and walking along the street we had our portraits done, just like you told me Brad. I thought the girl was good but I didn’t like mine because she did it with my mouth closed instead of laughing and smiling. I didn’t think she captured my personality.

We walked back to the hotel, got our laundry that they did for us in the morning to the tune of 200 R which is nothing ($7) Dinki stayed with the luggage while I went to the grocery store and bought food for the train.

Our taxi driver showed up at 5:50 and as promised charged us 100 R to get to the station.

We hauled all our luggage inside and found a place to sit and wait. The train didn’t leave until 8:10. We were waiting to see on what track it would arrive. I met an American man and his grandson (about 13 or 14) who had come from Berlin on the train! While Dinki was writing in her journal I was running all over the place trying to find a porter – which I never found. Finally they posted track 3 and everyone swarmed down the stairs and up 2 more sets of stairs to the train. Naturally I was struggling with my luggage but now I had added the balalaika! Mary Linn it reminds me of when you bought the guitar in Spain! Some Mongol man helped me down the stairs. He was going to another train but he came back and helped me up the stairs to our train.

We had a terrible time pulling our bags down the platform to the correct car. Getting them on was another story. Several people helped us including the steward.

We lucked out again. We had 2 lower bunks in a compartment to ourselves. I guess we were in 1st class again because they didn’t charge us for our sheets!

I went to bed around 10:30 but Dinki stayed up writing in her journal until midnight.

Lake Baikal

2005-06-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took a bus to the place where you pick up a hydrofoil to go to Lake Baikal. Unfortunately for us the hydrofoil was departing from there until Thurs. (today.) So we hired a car and driver to take us there.

As I’m sure you know Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest lake. They say if all the rest of the world’s drinking water ran out tomorrow Lake Baikal could supply the entire population of the planet for the next 40 years! The Russians call it the Holy Sea.
We visited the village of Listvyanka, which has decorative wooden houses right beside the lake. We took a lift up one of the mountains and then hiked back down. At the top of the mountain people had tied cloth ribbons, and handkerchiefs to trees for good luck. It was very similar to what we have seen in Nepal. It was such a relaxing and refreshing walk. The wild flowers were everywhere and just beautiful. We shopped for souvenirs along the lakes edge. I found a pin I wanted to buy it a train on it. The guy seeing I was a foreigner told me the price was $60. Yes that's dollars. Naturally I laughed and walked off.

We drove to a more isolated place where we walked for a long time along the rocky shore. People were sitting along the waters talking and having picnics. Two men had on their bathing suits and went into the water, which by the way is freezing! They even went all the way under! They were the only two we saw brave enough to enter those waters. The really bad thing was all the insects that looked like huge termites were clinging to everything by the lake. They got on us, they were thick on rocks, pieces of wood and anything near the water. Thank goodness they didn’t sting or hurt you but they sure did annoy you. I couldn’t understand how the people sitting on the banks could stand it.

We were able to get the hydrofoil home. Our guide came back in the car and met us at the ferry station. We changed hotels tonight. Now we’re near the long distance bus station! BUT . . . we loved our hotel. It was very clean although we had shared baths in the basement! But. . . the water was very hot! It is only one street from a grocery store so we went there last night to buy our dinner. Mine consisted of a Miller Lite, peanuts, Pringles and dip. Wonderful!We were able to get the hydrofoil home. Our guide came back in the car and met us at the ferry station. We changed hotels tonight. Now we’re near the long distance bus station! BUT . . . we loved our hotel. It was very clean although we had shared baths in the basement! But. . . the water was very hot! It is only one street from a grocery store so we went there last night to buy our dinner. Mine consisted of a Miller Lite, peanuts, Pringles and dip. Wonderful!

Today is our last day in Irkutsk. I’m almost out of money! I think the strip on my debit card is messed up because I am unable to withdraw any money from my account. Oh horrors! Thank goodness Dinki is rich and her card is working so I will soon be going in debt to her. We leave by train tonight at 8:00 for Mongolia. We will be there for 6 days, staying in a ger, horseback riding etc. They might have computers in Ulan Bator but I’m sure not when we’re on the steppe. Brad & David, do I need to be prepared for cold weather there? Patty I hope you’re having a great time in Alaska.

Leaving the train

2005-06-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

The steward got us up at 1 a.m. so we’d be ready to depart at 2:30 a.m. Alex, Michael and Illya got up with us to say goodbye. They helped us get our luggage off. Even the submarine captain’s wife got up and videoed us as we departed.

It was 7:30 a.m. Irkutsk time when we arrived. We had no place to stay so we took out one of the cards that we had Tatyanna write on in St. Petersburg. It said, “We are looking for a cheap place to stay.” I showed it to a taxi driver and he took us upstairs in the train station. That’s where we booked a room. Thank goodness there were only two of us in the room. Some rooms held 4-6 strangers! We had a shared bathroom. Of course our window overlooked the tracks so we’d be able to heard the trains coming and going all night long plus the announcer announcing every train! We didn’t like this “hotel!” But . . . believe it or not, we were both so tired we never heard a thing all night.

Drinking Vodka

2005-06-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

6-20 (Monday)

I was up by 6:30 (Moscow time.) I’m in the same clothes I put on Friday morning. At least I’m able to take a spit bath.

We didn’t get breakfast this morning. Maybe it’s because we didn’t open our door until so late.

Now the birch trees seem to be fewer and giving way to fir trees. Today has been colder than yesterday. I’m wearing my sweater. It looks overcast and misty outside. At times Ive seen rain on the window. The land is mostly flat with forests or meadows. Here and there we pass small villages.

This morning I get off the train in Kyasnoyarsk. There appear to be other westerners on the train. I don’t know if they are German or American. Maybe at the next station I’ll interview them.

We got lunch which was pieces of beef over what looked like barley, peas and cold slaw (the same as yesterday) and a piece of bread. The woman stewardess came to our compartment and wanted to sell me a decorative metal holder for a tea glass for 600 R. ($21) No thanks.

We stopped at some place called Tayshet this afternoon. It was raining but I got off with my umbrella. I bought a bag of something that looks like Ritz crackers.

Some woman in our car has been videoing with her Sony the entire trip. With Illya translating she asked me about my journey then asked me to say all the places again so she could film it. Her husband are on their way to Vladivostok. He is a captain on a submarine.

Yeah, we have a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. We must have passed another time zone!

When the train stops the women “conductors” get off with a rag and polish the name plate on the side of the train. They also wipe down the handles you hold onto to get on and off the train. There is always a group of women selling their wares: soft drinks, water, beer, liquor, candy, hard boiled eggs, bread, smoked/dried fish, and home made foods.

Our next door neighbor cabin mates invited us in for cocktails last night since it would be our last together. They made us drink Vodka straight then chase it with Russian bacon on bread. We also chased it with an onion sprinkled with salt and cheese.

This morning they got up early and helped us get our suitcases off the train. We didn’t have a place to stay when we arrived so I got us a place for one night at the train station!! We have two beds but a shared bathroom. Now we are out finding a new place, eating lunch and doing email.
We are in Irkutsk. Tomorrow we go to Lake Baikal, hopefully it won’t be raining like it is today.

6-19 (Sunday)

2005-06-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

I slept so well last night, until 9:00 this morning (Moscow time.)
Imagine our surprise when the girl brought us a plastic container with our breakfast – tea, coffee, crackers, salami and some cookies, all for free! We were thrilled!

We met our next door cabin mates, three men going to Vladvostok on holiday. Illya (22) spoke broken English. She is the Lt. In the army. Michael, his father is a colonel and his friend Alex also a colonel in the army. We had a good time laughing and taking pictures together. We gave them some peanuts and they gave us a bottle of liquor that you put (just a little) in your coffee. It is made in the town they are from, a little southwest of Moscow.

Every time the train stopped I got off to stretch my legs, buy water or just have a look around. The steward brought food again for lunch, some sort of fish on top of mashed potatoes, peas, slaw and a piece of bread. We did NOT get dinner.

We kept running out of toilet paper in the bathroom We have decided we only get one roll for every time zone we go through. The steward came to our cabin last night and showed us a note pad that he bought in Alaska. He paid almost $7.00 for it! I don’t know what year he was there. We thought since we listened to him (try) to talk about Alaska that it was worth at least 5 sheets of toilet paper. NOT!

Leaving Yekateninburg

2005-06-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

This was a miserable day for me. We saw lots of interesting things but since I hadn't slept all all the night before I was in a comma most of the day. Before leaving we went to an Italian restaurant and split a pizza (mushrooms, artichokes, ham and black olives.) Dinki had a glass of red wine and I had a beer. We walked a short distance to the metro and went to the train station. It is unbelievable how fancy that station is,it has recently been redone. It has beautiful carvings around the ceiling, huge glass chandeliers and of course marble floors. First we checked out all the possibilities of getting our bags to the waiting room with out having to drag them up stairs. No matter which way we went we’d have stairs to tackle. We helped each other with our big bags and hauled them into what looked like a very nice waiting room. Some man asked to see our tickets then let us proceed. I stayed with the big luggage while Dinki went back and got our rolling backpacks. It was at this luggage storage that I couldn’t find the claim token when we tried to get our things out. I knew I had it but must have looked for 20minutes before the man finally pulled up a stool and sat down as I continued to look. About the time he sat down I came up with it.
In the waiting room Dinki got up to check the arrival board several times. She asked the man at the desk (who let us in the 1st class waiting room) a question and he told her to “GO SIT DOWN!” Around 11:20 (Moscow time) it was time to board the train. We hired a porter to get our big bags on. I paid him 100 R per bag ($3.50 each) and it was darn well worth it. He took our bags right to our cabin. We couldn’t believe our good fortune – our train cabin was beautiful, of course it was train #2 the lower the # on the train the nicer it is. It had 4 bunks but the top two were pushed up so it seemed like more room in the compartment. The walls were a clean beige thick plastic. We had a gold tablecloth with a stitched picture of a train station on our table. We had green curtains with green and gold tassels hanging from them. This matched the green cloth covering on the bed with the green and gold tassels. The steward came by and gave us our sheets, pillow case and towel for free! The bathroom was nice but it did smell a little so I took my spray down and sprayed it! I couldn’t get in bed fast enough. Dinki gave me ½ of her Ambien because I was afraid I was too tired to fall asleep.

Yekaterinburg

2005-06-18T01:50:00.000-07:00

We were met at the train by Anna our guide for a five hour tour of the city. We went to the museum where the remains of the U2 spy plane that Frances Gary Powers flew. We didn’t get to go inside and see it because the museum was closed today.

We went into the church that was built in honor of the Tsar and his family. It was build on the exact location where they were murdered. There is even one room in it that is supposed to be the cellar room where they were killed.

I’ll have to tell more about this later. I’m too tired to think. Our train doesn't leave until 2 a.m. I don't know how I'm going to stay awake until then.

Another Disaster

2005-06-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

6-17 (Friday)
We slept in Friday morning. I put on my silk long johns and 2 undershirts. I didn’t want to be cold. We checked out of the hotel at 11:00 after paying to have the hotel hold our luggage until 9:00 tonight.

We went to a travel agency to have them arrange a tour in Yekateninburg – this is where the Tsar and his family were killed.

We walked around the city most of the day, eating and going into churches. We saw some beautiful ones.

Our train didn’t leave until 11:00 p.m. but we had a taxi pick us up at 9:00 because we had so much luggage. We arrived at the station and dragged all our stuff up a hill to get to the platforms. We finally figured out that the train was one track one. We got some guy that works at the station to help us find our car. We got out our tickets and showed them to the woman conductor. She pointed out that our tickets were no good because they were for the day before!! Why neither one of us figured that out I’ll never know. Dinki sent me back to see about changing them while she waited by the train. I found the guy who had helped us the first time and through sign language and showing him the tickets made him understand I needed new tickets and in a hurry. He went with me to the ticket window, shoved his way to the front of the line with me in tow and told the woman we needed new tickets. I had to pay for them all over again. Thank goodness this was the least expensive leg of our trip so we only had to pay $18 US. I got back to the train just as it was ready to depart. My helper not only helped us get our luggage on the train he also got it into our compartment. I gave him a big hug and gave him 50R. The good thing was that we had a compartment all to ourselves the entire night. The bad thing was that the train wasn’t very nice. I had a guy in the compartment next to my bed that I could hear snoring all night. On Dinki’s side someone had a radio turned up full blast. I didn’t sleep a wink all night.

I’m so tired right now I can hardly think. Internet is not something I feel like doing on my only day in Yekaterinburg. I’d rather be out seeing the city but Dinki ran in here without telling me. When I came looking for her I found her typing on the computer so here we are!

Gulag 36

2005-06-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 6-16 we had a hired car and driver to take us to Chusovoy to tour gulag 36. We were picked up at 7 a.m. Victor is the director at the gulag and gave us a personal tour This is the only gulag still in existence. After Stalin died the KBG destroyed all of them so there would be no proof they ever existed. They bulldozed # 36 also but didn’t do a very good job. There was enough left that they have been able to turn it into a museum. We saw where the prisoners were housed, where their shower room was, where they went to the bathroom and the punishment cells. It was freezing in the punishment cell and this is supposed to be summer. I can imagine how cold it must have been in the winter.

There were three phrases to the gulag: first the criminal element (but these were usually minor offenses, such as the woman who stole a bottle of milk for her baby and got 10 years), the second phase was for the generals and officers who had been the oppressors in the past. 3rd phase were the political prisoners. Many of those who survived are today members of parliament or hold some other official job.

It took us 4 hours to get to Chusovoy, at least 2 hours for the tour and 4 hours to get back. We had lunch at the gulag. Victor gave us each (by this time two teachers, one from UK and the other Australia had joined our tour) a shot glass of Vodka. He said we didn’t have to drink it but that we should toast to the former prisoners both living and dead.

More Window Observations

2005-06-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

Now the purple and white wildflowers have added the color yellow the their mix. I see an old man and woman with bent backs picking berries on an incline near the tracks. I see what is probably a logging road with felled trees nearby. Men are attending a controlled burn of logs and stumps. I think if the men from the gulags who had to chop these trees by hand in the dead of winter with snow up to their knees. I can only wonder at the dread they must have felt as they were packed like animals into train cars and shipped deeper and deeper into Siberia knowing that if the labor didn’t kill them surely the cold would.

Six men wearing orange safety vests, just like at home, sit in the bushes on a hillside doing nothing, just like at home! And the train clatters on. Flat land is giving way to rolling hills, are we approaching the Urals?

In several villages I see round structures similar to a silo but they have windows at the top and are decorative. I find out they are the water system for the village.

There is NO smoking on the train or any other public place. This has really surprised me.

The train pulled into Perm at 12:48 p.m. The man who was our final compartment mate helped us get our luggage off the train. We met an English speaking girl, Helen, who offered to help us. We went rolling down the platform pulling our luggage. We had to go down two flights of stairs before getting to the street. Some guys came along and helped us get our luggage down.

Everytime a train leaves Perm bound for Moscow the station plays patrotic music. They were doing this while we were trying to get a cab.

Helen talked to some guy who said he’d take us to the hotel for 300 R. Dinki said, “No, it’s too much.” So he took us for 200R. Helen said the station was very near the hotel – NOT! We must have driven for 20-30 minutes. The way our driver was driving we thought Dale Ernhart had been reincarnated. I was sitting in the back where the gas fumes were so strong I was forced to roll down the window and stick my head out.

Our hotel in Perm might be ½ step up from the one in Moscow. After we got settled in the room we went to a travel agency recommended by Lonely Planet. We got them to arrange for a car, driver and English speaking guide to take us to gulag 36 about four hours from her in the morning at 7:00.

Perm time is two hours ahead of Moscow but the train runs on Moscow time . We're keeping our watches set to Moscow time so we don't miss the train.

6-15 (Wednesday)

2005-06-17T06:37:00.000-07:00

6-15 (Wednesday)
Roma and his wife got off the train at 11 p.m. last night in Gorky. Two men (one with a railman’s uniform) took their places as our cabin mates. They asked us to leave the compartment while they changed clothes. We obliged. They came out in what looked like shorts but I guess they were pajamas. They got off somewhere in the night and 2 more took their place.
We had a pad on our bunk, sheets, a pillow case, a blanket and a towel for which we paid 60 R ($2.15) I woke up with a backache and a VERY sore throat. We made one stop for 23 minutes. I jumped off the train and bought water and a banana for Dinki and me.

From the Window

2005-06-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Standing in the aisle outside our compartment window I observe the beauty of rural Russia: purple & white wildflowers everywhere, lush forests with white trunk birch trees, small villages with unpaved roads, wooden houses with tin roofs, although shabby many have painted bright colors around the frame of their windows. I see peasants tending their freshly laid out garden plots. Children laugh as they ride along on their bicycles with a dog running behind. Beautiful onion domed churches some bright blue, some silver and some gold stand in testament to when God was known.

Marsh land with thick green scum . Crumbling buildings from old Soviet times. And now a deep mist has fallen on the forest making it appear as in a fairy tale. A child walks alone down a path . . .
The forest is think, you can’t see into it, the forest thins, you can see through to a meadow on the other side. Wooden fences divide off plots of land. It’s almost 10:00 at night and it’s still light outside. I continue to listen to the rattle of the wheels on the rail as we journey onward towards Siberia. We have stopped only once. Our next stop will be Gorky, a city once closed to foreigners. This was a place of exile for many dissidents and a stopping off place for those unfortunate headed to a gulag deep into Siberia.

Leaving Lily's

2005-06-17T00:52:00.003-07:00

Leaving Lily’s

We had a new driver, Marot, to take us to the train from Lily’s. He was very tall and extremely handsome, just the way we like them! We had him dump us at Red Square after taking us to the bank. We ate lunch at the food court. When we were finished I went into McDonald’s to use the bathroom but the line was so long I couldn’t wait because we were to meet Marot again. When we left it was raining cats and dogs. I had him (Marot) take me to the Hotel Metropol to use their bathroom. That must be one of the nicest hotels in Moscow. I think it’s nicer than anything we saw in St. Petersburg including the Hotel Europa where the rooms go for $600 a night.

By the time we got to the station the rain had quit thank goodness. Marot helped us get our bags to the platform and then waited until the train arrived. He helped us get our stuff into our car and compartment. We felt really lucky because we both got lower bunks.

Our bunk mates (above us) were a young guy, Roma, and his wife from Gorky. He works for a subcontractor of Motorola. He has been to the states about 7 times in the last 2 years. He and his wife left Gorky early in the morning to go to the American Embassy in Moscow to get visas for her and their son . They are hoping to travel to San Diego but I’m not sure when.

Even though the train was much nicer than the one we traveled on to Vladimir it was still uncomfortable because the seat backs were so straight.
We pulled out of the station around 4:30 bound for Perm.

Back at Lily's

2005-06-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Vasilli picked us up again to bring us to Lily's house. First we tried to find the museum of the political prisoners. We went to the right street and address but no one in the area had heard of it. Next Vasilli took us to a bank so we could get some money for the trip. Because of Independence Day the banks were closed today. He'll take us today before we get on the train.

When we drove up to Lily's house we really laughed because she had a big sign on her house, "Garage Sale!" I helped her sister, Lena, sell things out of the garage. Mostly she was selling beautiful scarves, shawls, fake Rolex watches, jewlery and purses. Everything was in the original wrapper and unopened. Lily made over $1,000 the day before selling the stuff. Most everything was selling for $10.

Mark and Lily have gone to Georgia. I think they'll be back Friday. One interesting thing about their place is that there are no trash cans in any of the rooms. Nothing in her bedroom or bathroom to throw your kleenex in! Also in her bedroom there are no dressers or chest of drawers. I have no idea where she keeps her socks, underwear etc. In her bedroom there is a bed and that's all. Very interesting.

Today it is pouring rain. At least we'll be on the train overnight and until about noon tomorrow. I'm getting ready to go upstairs and cook breakfast and let Dinki use the computer. I've been on it longer than I should have.

Bill I hope you got my answer to your email. I answered you twice but I guess you didn't get it. I don't want any of the furniture. Thanks for asking.

Some Thoughts

2005-06-13T02:10:00.000-07:00

Shoes – you wouldn’t believe all the different kinds and styles of shoes they have over here. They put the selection at home to shame. I saw a pair of loafer type shoes last night that I really loved. I went in the store thinking I would buy them. NOT. They were OVER $400 US. I don’t know how these Russians afford anything. Most but not all of the shoes have VERY pointed toes.

Drinking – get on the metro at any time of day (morning, noon or night) and you’ll probably be sitting near someone who reeks of booze. There doesn’t seem to be a drinking age, just as long as you’re able to hold the bottle you can drink.

Toilet paper – my friend Larry W. keeps telling me how bad it was when he was in Russia. Well, Larry they are still getting it from the same place! Not only is it like sandpaper but there are no perforations where you tear it. So it’s like tearing off a piece of the phone book. Actually, Larry, I noticed at McDonalds this morning it was slightly softer than at the hotel.

Bathtubs – all of our tubs have been so tall you almost need a ladder to get in them. Getting out with wet feet and crawling over the side is a real test of your balance.

Customs – it appears to be the custom when drinking coffee or hot tea to leave the spoon in the cup as you are drinking.

Foreigners – are not an unusual sight in Moscow but traveling alone and riding the metro seems to be quite unusual.

Metro – I’m happy to report that for the most part we have mastered the system. Just give us the map and we can get almost anywhere it goes. If we get lost I just stick it in someone’s face and ask.

The Shake Down

2005-06-13T01:57:00.000-07:00

This morning Dinki and I got on the trolley, as usual, to go to the Metro Station. We are keeping our money in a general fund for paying for things like riding the metro, busses etc. Like you and I did Joyce. Anyway, I went to the front of the trolley and bought our tickets. Dinki was in the back. I heard her speak to someone in English but couldn’t hear what she said. Before long some man came to the front of the bus and asked me for my ticket. I pulled both of them out and showed them to him. He said I had to pay him 100 R as a penalty because I hadn’t put the ticket in some machine along the inside of the bus and punched it. I said I wasn’t paying him any money. He told me to get off the bus. By this time Dinki had walked to the front to see what was going on. He kept yelling at me to get off the bus. I kept saying, “I’m NOT getting off the bus.” This must have gone one 8-10 times. Finally the people in the back of the bus started yelling at him. He had a bald headed partner who looked like one of the thugs from a James Bond movie. The partner kept trying to get us to get off the bus. Where they wanted us to get off there was nothing. It was on a main street but there weren’t any stores or people around. I wasn’t about the get off that bus. I jumped in the boxed in area where the driver sits. He kept telling me to get out of there. The whole time this was happening the driver wasn’t going anywhere. The people in the back were just staring at this guy until some of them started yelling at him. Finally he and his bald headed friend got off the bus and we continued on to the metro station.

We went to McDonalds and had a very nice breakfast!

Independence Day

2005-06-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a holiday here in Russia. It was independence day but we couldn’t figure out who they were independent from. We asked a girl that spoke some English when we were in Red Square last night but she said she didn’t know either. So much for independence!

We rode around on the metro for about an hour and a half last night taking pictures of the ones that were real pretty. Some are so elaborate you can’t believe it. They all have marble wall, are clean and are way, way down underground. Some are so far down you have to take two escalators.

We decided to leave Red Square around 9:30 last night because the crowds were getting too big and people were beginning to drink too much.

6-12 (Sunday) Moscow

2005-06-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

We didn't get back from Suzdal until about 11:00 last night so this morning we slept in until 7:30.

We hardly ate anything yesterday so we went down to Red Square area to get something to eat. we were looking for a McDonalds but couldn't find one.

Lily was going to send her driver to take us to a flea market today but it's some sort of Russian holiday and many things are closed. Red Square is even closed.

This afternoon we have finally gotten to an internet cafe. When we finish here we're going to ride the metro to some of the more beautiful stops so we can take pictures. For those of you who have not been to Russia the subway stops are works of art. Each one is different.

Tomorrow we are going to Lily's to spend the night again. She and Mark, her husband, are leaving in the morning for Georgia. We'll be there with her daughter and her sister. Vasilli will take us to the train station on Tues when we get ready to leave for Perm.

You probably won't hear from me until we get to Perm. Tues. is when we begin our journey across Russia.

Keep your emails coming. I love hearing from home.

6-11 (Saturday)

2005-06-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

We got up at 5:30 so we could leave for the metro at 6:00. We caught the bus to the metro, took the red line 4 stops then changed to the brown circle line. We're getting good at the metro. We got off and walked a short distance to the train station. Andre told us the train left at 7:00. At 2 minutes before 7 I was waiting in line at the ticket window. Some guy got in an argument with the ticket seller. They were screaming back and forth. she got up and walked out of the booth. She came back with a typed piece of paper and stuck it up on the booth window for him to see. I finally got our tickets which were about $5.50 each. We went running out to the tracks trying to find where our tain left from. The people around the trains said it didn't leave until 8:15. Well, they were right. We found a woman going on the same train and she took us to the right track and car. It was another 3 to a seat train. We were one of the lucky ones to get a seat.

A large dog got on and proceeded to lie down right in the middle of the aisle! No one seemed to think anything about it. They just stepped over him and kept going. He did got off before the train left the station. I don' know if someone made him or if he did it on his own.

The seats on this local 3rd class train were so uncomfortable. When I got off I had a backache. It was about three hours to Vladimir. When we got off the train we walked across the street to the bus station. I went in and bought us 2 tickets to Suzdal. The woman said there weren't any seat left so we'd have have to stand for the hours journey. I said, "okay." We went to a little market and bought a bananna, a sweet roll and a drink for the trip.

When went out to get onthe bus we had no idea which one it was. I kept asking people until I found out where it would be arriving. It was a mini bus that they literally packed us onto. We counted and there were 26 seats and 42 people on the bus. We felt lucky to have a pole to hold onto. We never dreamed that the bus would stop along the way and pick up even more passengers but that's exactly what happened. At one point the driver got out and pushed people into the bus. When he couldn't get any more people in the front he opened the back door and pushed them in there!

The first thing we did when we arrived in Suzdal was inquire about and buy a bus ticket back to Vladimir. We had originally planned to spend the night but changed our minds and decided to return to Moscow the same day.

We met two Russian girls who asked us if we wanted to share a taxi into town for 50 R ($1.75). We did. Suzdal was well worth the trip. It was like stepping back into time in medieval Russia. It was an enchanting place with lots of onion domed churches, old monasteries and convents. One of the churches we went in was built in the early 11 hundreds! The houses were wood frame with the windows trimmed in gingerbread. Typical of what we have sen in pictures and movies of Russian homes in the country.

Back to Reality (6-10 Friday)

2005-06-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, today was back to reality because we were leaving Lily's and going to the dump . . .

Lily asked me if I would cook breakfast because she doesn't know how to cook American . . . I made scrambled eggs and we opened a canned Danish ham and cooked that. Her husband came home from a business trip this morning so we got to meet him.

We got our things together and Vasilli, the driver, drove us to a bank so we could cash some Travelers Checks. This took forever. The guy had to call in his boss to oversee the process. They examined every document we had , called on the phone and finally gave us $300 each. You would have thought we were getting a million! Then Vasilli took us back to the hotel. He waited for us to put up our things and meet with Andre (who brought us our train tickets for Perm and Ekaterinburg) then Vasilli drove us to Red Square & let us off in front of the ticket office for the Kremlin. After buying a ticket we went inside and toured all the different cathedrals.

We walked around Gum again and Red Square.

When we got home we prepared for our trip to Suzdal where we were going the next day. We planned to spend the night so we packed one rolling backpack with makeup, toothbrush but no change of clothes. We packed one regular backpack with cameras etc.

Arriving in Moscow (6-9 THurs)

2005-06-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Moscow at 8:00 a.m. We were still in our bunks when Andre (the guy that arranged St. Pete and Moscow for us) popped his head in to tell us to get off the train because it was leaving in 10 minutes.

He drove us to our hotel which was supposed to be the Church Inn but he said there had been a change of plans because the pipes at the Church Inn had broken so now we were staying at a place near the University. It was an awful looking place but it had 2 beds and hot water!

After taking a shower we called our friend Lily. She said she would send her car and driver for us at 4:30. She said we could spend the night and eat dinner at her house!

We walked to the metro station. Andre said it was close to the hotel but that was the last time we walked because it was NOT close!

We took the metro to Red Square and had a look around. We went into Gum the huge shopping complex where 40 years ago Anna and I couldn't find one thing to buy (this was during the Soviet era!) We walked down the street and Dinki bought a new camera just like the one that was stolen from her for about $100 more than she paid in the states.

Lily's driver, Vasilli, picked us up in her MERCEDES around 5:00. Because the traffic is so bad and she lives so far from us it took about an hour and a half to get to her house. She lives in a beautiful gated community with other foreigners. Her house has 3 levels - the laundry room/gym and garage are downstairs, the next level has the living room, kitchen and a bathroom, the third level has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. For all of this she ONLY pays $8,000 a month. Yes, that's US dollars! When she leaves in a couple weeks (she's moving to Georgia, the Republic, not the state) the price is going up to $10,000 a month! Her sister, Lena, Lily's daughter, Xin,Xin and her husband all live there. I think Lena does all the cooking and cleaning. They have a Chinese catering service as a way for Lena to make money. Lily told me they make about $500 a day during the week and over a grand on the week-ends! Lena cooked dinner for us - Chinese of course.

After dinner we walked with Lily to the school her 16 year old daughter attends to the tune of $28,000 a year. They have 1200 students in grades K-12. Dinki figured they are bringing in over $33.6 million per year. Lily had cooked for 70 people in the lower school that day and wanted to collect her dishes. We walked through a little of the school - mostly the K rooms. The school was beautiful (shouldn't it be?), clean and well equipped. It is a school for foreign students. Next year Lily's daughter is going to school in Geneva, Switzerland.

It was wonderful staying at her house, having a great meal, sleeping in a clean bed and taking a shower in a huge bathroom.

The Dutch Couple (6-8 Wed) cont . . .

2005-06-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

The Dutch couple who were staying at the same B&B (Tatyanna's in St. Petersburg) came back to the apartment before we left for the train. He was telling us that as they were getting on the metro he was surrounded by 5 Russians who boxed him in and tried to steal his money. He had his money on his upper body under his sweater so they didn't get it. He was telling me that when he went to Italy one time his car was stolen from the hotel the second day. He said when he got to the police station to report it he was #10 in line with the same complaint. He said by the time he got to the police station his car was probably already on a ship headed for north Africa. He said stealing cars is a huge business in Europe. He said when he went to the Baltics and got off the plane there was a sign that said, "Welcome to the Baltics, your car is already here." He said people were driving around with tags that said France, Germany, Italy etc.

GOING TO THE TRAIN IN ST. PETERSBURG . . .

Tatyanna & Yuri took us to the train station in their car. We were impressed that they had a car! We were in car 16, in a compartment with 2 guys. Yuri put our suitcases under the bottom bunk which lifted up. I slept above Dinki. The two guys took off their shirts and long pants before going to slleep. We slept in our clothes. The train pulled out of the station at one minute to midnight. The bunks were VERY narrow - I was afraid I might roll off but that didn't happen.

6-7 (Wednesday)

2005-06-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

We got a late start this morning. Dinki said she didn't go to sleep until 4 a.m. because her legs were hurting so much and her ankles were so swollen plus I think the biggest part was that she couldn't get the "squeeze"/robbery off her mind.

It was miserable all day. Rainy and cold. Burrrrrr When we did leave the complex we went looking for the police station so we could report her camera stolen. We were hoping to get some sort of document from the police so that she could use it with her insurance company when she gets home.

We walked and walked from one place to another looking for the station. We had the address written down but people would send us in every different direction.

We finally made it to the station. An old crumbling building with no heat. Naturally no one spoke a word of English. We hung around there for hours. Supposedly we were waiting on a translator to get there. What a way to spend your last day in St. Petersburg. Another man came in while we were there and he had the exact same thing happen to him this morning in the same location. They got his credit card. Finally at 2:00 Dinki told the guy (through sign language) that we were going to go get something to eat and come back later. We did get something to eat but we never went back.

After we finished eating at KFC again (the only place we can afford) we walked down Nevsky Prospect (the main drag) looking at some of the sights. We saw a group of gypsies coming right towards us with a group of children. We had been warned about them so we took off running and ran right into a store. We peeked out and saw them surrounding another tourist - an old man. You could tell he was trying to get away from them. We went the other way. Later we were walking down the same street near the same place when we saw them coming again. They were very close to us so once again we ran into a store. Again we peeked out to see what they would do. We saw them go right up behind two unsuspecting tourists and begin picking their pockets. Finally the tourists figured out what was going on and tried to push them away.

The last thing we did today was take a boat ride on the canals. Of course we couldn't understand one word of the tour but we enjoyed seeing the beautiful building and some of the things we hadn't seen yet.

Anna, you should bring Dave here. It's one of the most beautiful cities you'll ever see. Of course you'd have to leave your jewels at home!

We went back to Tatyanna's house after the boat ride. She gave us a bowl of borst to eat and a little glass of vodka! We didn't drink that.

Now Dinki is laid out with her feet up while we're waiting to be taken to the train station in about an hour. I don't know how we're going to be able to get our suitcases into the compartment with two other people. I'm sure they're not going to believe their eyes when they see us coming.

Next blog will be from Moscow. Hopefully it will be a little warmer there.

leaving

2005-06-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (Wed) we leave at midnight for Moscow. Arrive around 8 a.m.

6-7 (Tuesday)

2005-06-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day and a terrible day.

This morning we took the hydrofoil ($12) out to Perterhof which is the Summer Palace. Remember doing that Anna? Taytanna had told us it was going to coast $80 to go to this place too.

It is just as beautiful as when we were there Patty and Anna.

We came home on the local bus for $1.05. When we got back into St. Petersburg we had to that the metro to our part of town. You just wouldn't believe how fancy/elaborate those metro stations are. Each one is different.

Anyway when we got back we were walking down the street. Me in front as usual and Dinki behind. All of a sudden I had the feeling that something wasn't right. Just about that time I notice 4-6 guys trying to box us in. some how I got out of the boxing and turned around to see them putting the squeeze on Dinki. Two of them stopped real fast right in front of her and the other two came up behind to grab her stuff. I yelled as loud as I could, "Dinki, they're robbing you!" She grabbed for her fanny pack as the one guy had his hand on it, then she swung out with her arm to knock them away. I was really proud of her for doing that. We went into a church in the next block to say our prayers to God for letting us be safe. The bad thing is we later found out that they got into her backpack and stole her brand new camera! she is just sick and I'm sick for her. Losing your pictures is NOT something you want to happen. We did say that it could have been worse, she could have lost her money, passport and plane ticket which were all in her fanny pack.

That really put a damper on things for us but we pressed on seeing more sights.

There is so much to see and do in St. Petersburg you just can scratch in surface in 5 days.

By the way, I am checking my email and expect you people to write to me. I have only heard from a few people. Now get with it! Anna, you're on my good list. David, you're on my bad list. Julie T. have a great time when you go to Greece. I'll be thinking about you and wanting to see your pictures when I get home. Sandi, you're on my bad list! Have a great time in London! Were you able to get a cable for the battery charger? Joyce B, you're on my good list! Now you bad list people, and you know who you are, write to me on my email!

6-6 (Monday)

2005-06-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful morning. We had breakfast at Taytanna's then walked to the metro to bean our journey out to Tsarskoye Selo (the Catherine Palace) completed in 1756. Anna & Patty we never went to this spot and we really missed out by not going. This was the place where Tatyanna told us it was going to cost $80 to get there - that we'd need a private car and driver. We decided we could do it on the metro. So we bought a ticket for 35 cents to some small town where we waited about an hour and a half for a train (we thought we were waiting for a bus) to take us the rest of the way. The town was old but the architecture of the crumbling building was outstanding. We kept trying to imagine what life must have been lie for the families living there in the prime of the buildings.

We saw a couple buses parked near where we bought our tickets and tried to get on - we showed them our tickets but they kept saying "het." Finally I went back to the ticket booth and found out where to get on the TRAIN!

The train seats were three to a bench. I sat with a woman and her son who were also going to the catherine Palace. We made several stops before we got off. We followed the lady and her son. We got on one bus only to find out it was the wrong one so we jumped off and go on the one in front. It was body to body, just like the buses you ride in China. Thank goodness we didn't have to go too many stops. We walked up a long street to get to the palace. We couldn't believe our eyes when we first saw it. It took your breath away. The first thing we did was walk around the grounds and gardens. There were many elaborate buildings on the estate not attached to the main palace.

Dinki wanted to see some exibit (For Adults Only) but I didn't want to see it so I waited on her. She wasn't inside vbery long. When she came out she said it was disgusting.

We were trying to find out about buying tickets to go inside the palace when I heard some girl speaking English. I asked her what she found out. She told us we had to stand in the line she was in (it was ffor individuals only) until they began selling to us at 4:00. The other people that had been going in all day were with tours.

Talk about not believing your eyes! When we got inside we just were in awe of all the gold all over everything. This is also the palace where the famous Amber Room is located. During the war (II) the Amber was taken away for safe keeping and no one has seen it since. they have recreated what the room looked like.

Coming home (in the rain) from the palace we rode with the American girl and her Swiss husband that I had talked to earlier. We rode the bus with them (without paying) and then the train (without paying) the train was coming and we didn't have time to buy a ticket so we just jumped on. No one ever came to collect tickets. And finally the metro for which we did pay.

I'm Back!

2005-06-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'll have to be brief because Dinki is wanting to get on the computer. I'm going back to when we arrived. there were NO problems going through customs even though we were the last ones through! A guy whose name we couldn't pronounce drove us into St. Petersburg to Taytanna's apartment where we are staying. It is right in the heart of the city off Nevshy Prospect, the main drag. We walked through an iron gate into a courtyard, by a couple of stinky dumpsters (the hold your breath zone) and up to a metal door with chipped paint. Thank goodness, Michael, Taytanna's son, came down to help our driver with the luggage because there was NO lift! We went up four flights of dark, concrete stairs to apartment #30.When we walked in we were met by Taytanna who immidiately told us to take off our shoes by the front door. She gave us slippers to put on. We walked down a hallway past the toilet room and the bathroom on the right. They have the same strange set-up that the people in New Zealand use. A separate room for the toilet and a separate room for the sink and tub/shower.We walked throught the room where Michael, the son, spends all his time playing video games on line with other players. Across from that room is the kitchen where Tatyanna and her husband sleep. Going down another hall we came to something like a sitting room where Tatyanna's computer is. both computers have large flat screen monitors!

There are two bedroom off the sitting room. One Michael sleeps in and the other is where we are styaing. I thin Michael usually sleeps in our room and Taytanna and Yuri where Michael is. Our room has a bed where dinki is sleeping and a sofa where \i'm sleeping. There is a rug on top of the wood floor, a dressing table with mirror, a small wardrobe, 2 chairs and a TV that doesn't work or at least we can't get it to. Dinki wants to ger CNN to find out what happened in the Michael Jackson trial! There is a picture of ships going down the Neva River hung near the ceiling and a clock hung almost as high.

After putting our things down and messing up the room we headed out to see the sights. First we had to have a lesson in how to use the magnet key to open the entrance door downstairs. the key to Taytanna's door looks like a long silver pencil.

For those of you who have been to Russia (Anna, Patty, David) these are some of the sights we saw but didn't necessarily go in that first day: the cathedral of the Resurrection - Savior of the Spilt Blood - this is where Emperor /Tsar Alexander Ii was assissinated March 1st 1887. We walked through Michaylovskiy Gardens, through a tourist trap, saw the stables of the Ministry of the Imperial Court & Estates, went into the church of the Vernicle where a service had been held for the poet Pushkin, walked down to Palace square where we saw the Hermitage, the semicircle building of the tsar's General Staff and Ministries, the Alexander Column in the center of the square that commemorates the victory of the Russian people over Napoleon in 1812, St Isaac's Cathedral and the statue of Alexander I erected in 1782 by Catherine the Great.

Quite a bit for just arriving wouldn't you say? We didn't get home until 8:00 that night. About the shower/tub - is high off the floor. To get out you have to stop over the side and down about 3 feet. The water is VERY hot but it's hard to adjust, it's either too hot or too cold.

Day Two

2005-06-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

Last night was almost a good night's sleep. Dinki was snoring and I tried to wake her up to shut her up but she couldn't be awakened! I stuck my earplugs in my ears and finally went on back to sleep.

We got a really late start this morning. I think it was almost 10:00 by the time we departed. We walked down by the Neva River (remember that Anna?) and found out we can take a hydrofoil out to Peterhof (the Summer Palace) for about $15 max. Everyone has been telling us the going price to get out there is $80. oF COURse there is no way we could pay that amount. So tomorrow we go!

Today we went to the Peter & Paul Fortress. During the tsars time is was a political prison. some of the famous inmates were Dostoyevesky, Lein's brother and Gorky. Of these only Gorky survived. I think they shipped him off to Siberia after that. We saw the church on the grounds which was so beautiful I can't even describe it. Gold, gold, gold about sums it up. The remains that could be found of Tsar Nicholas and his family are buried there. Catherine the Great and Alexander the Great are also there. It was interesting. We stayed there almost the entire day. Actually it was about 4:00 when we left and we hadn't had lunch. We tried to find a place we could afford but that was almost impossible. Soup was going for $11. I don't know how any Russian can afford to eat in those restaurants. I guess it's only the Russia Mafia and their friends.

It is 9:00 and we have just gotten back to our place. Dinki has finished in the shower and it's my turn there and hers on the computer.

Bye for now.