Andi in The USSR 19.08.2010
Posted on | August 19, 2010 | 1 Comment
Basti wasted in the morning
Coffee in the restaurant car
Walk to the end of the train
Writing the Blog again
Andi in The USSR 18.08.2010
Posted on | August 18, 2010 | No Comments
Vodka Sergej took Basti to his cart and touch him
Coffee in the restorant car
Starting the Blog
Vodka Sergeij came to our comparment and touched me
In Balyezino we bought sausages and Vodka
Drinking Vodka now! … lets see how the blog continues 
We kept drinking and went down to the restaurant cart drank beer with sweedish couple.
Don’t remember how I got back to bed.
4 am woke up as we stopped in Tyumen (km 2144)
Back to bed
Andi in The USSR 17.08.2010
Posted on | August 17, 2010 | No Comments
after waking up we went down to Red square again and lined up for a visit of Lenin in his Mousoleum. The line wasn’t too long and after a chat with a guy and his girlfriend from Murmansk we were about to go in. Just dropping off our bags with all cameras and phones at the office and throught the metal detector. There is no charge fro the mousoleum but 60 Roubles to drop off your bag.
The body inside the cofin is well preserved and did look a bit atrifical.
We went to a childrens fair in an exibition hall because we saw lots of people going in there and it seemed to be somehing interesting, but it wasn’t. So we used the facilities there and headed on to the Zoo. On the Way Basti grabbed a baked potato from a russian fast food chain and I had Kebab kind of thing.
We realized that we were fairly close to the White house on the Moscwa and headed down there to have a look.
Having a rest on the stairs leadind down to the river with a nice view to another one of those stanlin gothic buildings.
This one is the Raddison hotel. Also passing by was a Porsche Carrera GT with quite some speed.
Walking back the Golden ring (10 lanes each way) we arrived back at the hostel to charge our batteries (electronics and body) and then headed off to the Metro Station to catch our train to Yaroslavskiy to get on our train to Novosibirsk.
We had a burger at a east european chain ,Hesburger, which I really enjoyed. After this we went down the road to find a supermarket. A guy showed us the wrong way the shop but we turned a different way and found one and also learned that ‘magazin’ is what they call a supermarket here.
We got some water, chocolate and of course a bottle of Vodka.
We couldn’t find any instant soups or something like this.
Back at the station we waited another 2 hours for the train and finally when we got in we met our new roommates for the next 2 days. Bob and his son Bobby from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Good guys and after we moved a couple of kilometers we opend the bottle of vodka and another couple of Kilometers it was empty.
Our compartment is a cozy 4 bunk bed 4 square meter place, but very clean and efficent usage of the space. we even have a TV and reading lamps here. Also important – a power plug.
For a nice finish of the day we watched “the horror train”. An old film where a monster kills everyone on this very train I’m writing you from now. The film was staged in the early 20th century though.
Andi in The USSR 16.08.2010
Posted on | August 16, 2010 | No Comments
Even with the time on your hands you would think you have on a train ride like this I can’t write all of the events down in this blog very detailed.
I’m a bit lazy, and this should still be a nice holiday, right? But I still want to get the information out there to you and hope you are enjoying these articles.
On Monday morning we went down to the Kremlin and lined up at the wrong ticket office to get the tickets. Finally we got them from another office on the right and after locking our bags away we went into the Kremlin.
cannon
Ivan the great bell tower and star Bell
archangel cathedral
cathedral fo annunciation
Cathedral of Assumption
Church of the twelve apostel
Anyway, after our visit here we went up to the old Arbat and had a look at this nice shopping / dining and drinking street. We had lunch at a american diner and found a nice little irish pub, who’s owner was stationed in Chemnitz in east Germany 25 years ago.
Down to moscwa and boats tour to the Kievskiy Station
along Gorky park ice stadium and Olympic stadium Lemonosov University
Metro rush hour back to Hostel
Rest at hostel
Later beer in Pub and chick on motor bike
Red square – Photos
Home to hostel
Andi in The USSR 15.08.2010
Posted on | August 15, 2010 | No Comments
Shame on me, I have not updated the blog.
That’s partly due to the missing internet connection for the last couple of days but also due to the fact that I have been lazy.
I tried to put all the expiriences into nice written articles but failed so far. however, a few days went down in writing of sentences. Others are still notes.
I hope you will still enjoy it and please post some things in here if you like it… it will keep me going
Long walking tour through moscow
Statue
side streets
Bolshoiy theatre
Metropolitan hotel, coffee for 500 Rubels
Red square
Gum, nosebleed
Little Churches
Stalin Gothic building
Follow the moscwa down to gorky park.
Gorky park, russian menu, lucky with choice (salad and shrimp)
Lenin and Stalin statues
Beer in the park on the bench
Fun fair and Scorpions on the under path
Walking back over the novvy Arbat to red square and back to the hostel
Food in the pub, really nice Lamb
Back to redsquare with the camera, bit foggy and smelly
Home to bed
Andi in The USSR 14.08.2010
Posted on | August 14, 2010 | No Comments
So the check in and security check were fairly quickly but also the shops and more importantly the pub were closed.
After a bit of waiting and reading the last pages of the travel guide to Moscow I was allowed to get on the plane.
Last row right window was mine, next to a guy from Riga managing a hotel in Dublin. Nice converstaion but after a couple of minutes I had to doze off and just woke up on the decent into Riga.
The nice new airport was not very busy either but the coffee was expensive. After another 2 1/2 hours of waiting here we got on our aeroflot flight to Moscow Sheremetjevo.
On the plane I was sitting next to Hurley form “Lost” I was thinking. He presumably just changed his haircolor to red but all apart from that he just looked like Hurley. Though, he didn’t eat his free sandwich. Anyway, I had the left side of the windowseat and enjoyed the view. I had to fill out an immigration card, stating your name, passport number and several other things.
Arriving in Moscow at 11:20 on Saturday now. The sky was clear and the air hot but no signs of smoke or smog of the forest fires all news were talking about.
When going through immigration I was in the middle of an average long line and after everyone on front of me to their sweet ass time I ended up being the very last person from at least 2 planes going throught the barriers. My bagpack also was the very last on the belt which already stopped moving.
So grabbed it and got packed walked around the airport for a bit and finally found my way to the aerport express after refusing about 15 taxidrivers a good deal.
The train is about 300 Rubels (1€ = 40 Rubels) and takes 35 minutes, passing through the suburbs and finally arriving at Belarusskiy station in the north west of Moscow.
Trying to find your way around on the metro sysytem in moscow not knowing the kyrillic signs was not easy. There were no roman translations at the station I went to. At some point I just decided to take my chances and jumped on one of the metro, assuming it must but the right line and direction. It wasn’t! I turned up at a different station (Barrikadnaya), where I had to change the line 7 to get to Pushkinskaya.
After quite a bit of walking zickzak I arrived at the Chocolate hostel very sweaty and thursday.
The nice young recepionist showed me the dorm for 8 people. As it was 4 pm (moscow time) by now all beds were empty and I just layed down and wanted to rest for some time. At 7 I got up agian I had shower and went out for some food. Had to go with subway as I wasn’t really fond in trying anything I couldn’t even read on the menu at this time.
After I came back to the hostel I had a beer with australian Bernhard from London and after a couple of texts and phone calls from Basti, he found hsi way to the Hostel as well.
The Chocolate Hostel is a nice place, in an old Moscow apartment house, a bit smelly adn dark in the hallways but, ncie, cozy and veryfriendly in the appartment itself.
It’s located 15 minutes by foot north of red square off Tverskaya (a wide 4 lane road – each way).
After Basti settling in a bit we went down to the Pub with Barnhard and had a couple of pints. Going with the cheapest is most of the time a good idea, as the pub will charge you up to 8 € for a pint of forign beer and onlt 2 or 3 for a local one.
After chelsea winning 6:0 Bernhard went home and we went down to res square. It was 1 am at that time and it was nearly empty, but Basil Cathedral was still brightly lit up and standig proud at the end of the square with so much strange atmosphere to it.
We walked around the outer walls of the Kremlin and then back to the Hostel, unfortunately waking up the receptionist as she was the only staff person on site.
No need to say, that we slept well that night.
Andi in The USSR 13.08.2010
Posted on | August 13, 2010 | No Comments
All bags are packed, fairly heavy they are! Big one on the bag small (well not really, but smallER).
Saying goodbye to Yuni, won’t see her for another 3 weeks now 
and left the appartment… I took the lift down, because I would probably have fallen down the stairs when using them.
Half way out Yuni ran after me and escorted me to the bus stop. Then, when I jumped on the bus I was the only one on it and at the eastlink toll box the driver had a chat with the man inside for about 10 minutes before we continued.
Anyway we were not in a rush, the plane left at 01:15 in the morning and as I found out later, the airport was barren. No one around aside from the fellow passengers on my plane to Riga.
Train to the east
Posted on | August 12, 2010 | 1 Comment
Alright my friends,
Kristos (and a couple of pints yesterday evening) convinced me to become a blogger over here.
It’s the first time for me, so if you have (and you most likely will have) suggestions for improvement please go ahead and post (or comment) them.
This section will be about my exciting trip coming up tomorrow…
on Friday (13.08.2010) evening I will be heading off to Dublin Airport and then fly over to Riga, from where I will go to Moscow to meet my friend Basti in the afternoon of Saturday.
From there ,if we can find the train station through the smog we will head off to Beijing on Tuesday evening with the transsiberian railway.
We will stop off four times until we get there:
Novosibirsk (Russia)
Irkutsk (Russia)
Ulan Bator (Mongolia)
Datong (China)
As we will have plenty of time on the train I hope I will be able to write some notes and updates.
Obviously I’m not sure when we will have to chance to get these things actually online, but i’ll try my best.
Thanks,
Andreas
Cliffs of Moher “simplify” admission charges
Posted on | July 2, 2010 | No Comments
The Cliffs of Moher are magnificent. They are up to 214 metres high and range for almost 8 kilometres. What a view, what a spectacle. Not such a long time ago I would have considered them one of the most beautiful spots in all Ireland. And not just me; people from all over the world loved and admired the unspoiled natural beauty that was the Cliffs. It seemed forgotten by man and time and quite frankly this total disregard for such a major landmark was part of its charm. It elevated the Cliffs above all the other sites in the country. It gave them a touch of “only in Ireland”.
This eventually came to the attention of Clare County Council and it made them furious. People are admiring a bit of untouched nature in County Clare? And they are not even being charged for it? Impossible! Outrageous! Where would Ireland be if people would just love it for what it was? It was time to take action.
The first step was simple; they charged for parking at the site. It doesn’t cost a thing and people can’t do anything about it. What are they going to do? Walk? And since it is a magnificent site the parking fees had got to be magnificent as well. The last time I went there it cost five Euro already (which at the time I found outrageous). I was told that the latest was 8 Euro. Personally, at that stage I probably would have turned around rather than paying but then; I live here. It’s easy for me to say.
By pissing off people and making money at the same time the councillors felt a lot better (I guess) but not really satisfied. Also, it is difficult to justify such charges and especially when people start asking what they actually do with the money. Again the braniacs from Clare County Council (and probably some other people with an interest in making a quick bug) came together and worked out an infallible scheme: Build a visitor centre.
I guess we all agree that the one thing a natural wonder needs is thousands of tons of concrete and so Clare County Council went ahead and started building not only a visitor centre but also massive concrete paths and a concrete wall that not only protects visitors from falling down but also from actually seeing the cliffs. Well done lads!
Of course they wouldn’t use their own money for it so they got the EU and Failte Ireland to co-finance it under the National Development Plan. By 2006 they had completely ruined the once magnificent site and by 2007 the visitor centre opened.
There still was one piece missing. Parking fees are really cool but 8 Euro already sounds pretty steep and also they can easily be avoided by not driving there by car. If you are a greedy midget and you want to piss off as many people as possible just robbing motorists isn’t satisfying. They came up with the new plan to charge admission instead.
Since they didn’t just want to rip off people but also express what they thought of the public they decided to do this in the most insulting and offensive way imaginable. They announced that they will – and I quote – “simplify” the charges. This translates as: Dear public, we honestly believe that you are a bunch of idiots, too thick to call the simplest of bluffs and certainly too ignorant to simply go somewhere else. After all there are dozens of beautiful cliffs on the west coast of Ireland.
So in case you are a member of the public and still don’t know what they mean by “simplify”: From August 2010 instead of charging per car they will charge per head. A family of four therefore will no longer pay a very complicated 8 Euro for their vehicle but an easy 6 Euro per person. And since we are all idiots and too thick for basic math: that simplifies the charges from 8 to 24 Euro for the four people.
That is in fact so much easier I am surprised we don’t simplify other charges as well. For example; rather than paying our councillors per head we could pay them by their collective IQ. That would save a fortune. Or how about beating them with a stick (free of charge) for ruining this magnificent place?
I have loads of ideas for them but one thing is for sure. I will no longer recommend the Cliffs of Moher and I would actually advise people to NOT go there and instead send a strongly worded letter to Clare County Council and express their disgust over the destruction of this unique landmark!
To complain directly with the operators go here: http://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/ContactUs.aspx and/or to express how much you appreciate to be taken as a complete idiot send a letter/email to:
Clare County Council
New Road
Ennis
Co. Clare
Tel: +353 65 6821616
Email: info@clarecoco.ie
When will Steve Jobs announce the new iShite?
Posted on | April 21, 2010 | No Comments
I just read in the newspaper that Apple announced their quarterly results and damn they were good. In the second quarter their revenue skyrocketed. They almost doubled their profits (3.1 Billion Dollar) all thanks to iPod and iPhone. Even Mac Computers suddenly sell. It makes you wonder. I thought we are in the biggest recession in recorded history. People are allegedly losing their homes but still have enough money to buy highly overpriced designer phones and music players? I don’t get it.
I never particularly liked Apple but back in the old day that was based on Mac users (or better disciples). When you work in tech support you start hating that bunch pretty quickly. They are almost religious when it comes to their little computers. I remember having an argument with someone over his AppleTalk network protocol. He insisted that it was superior to anything on the market (and still that little idiot called me because he couldn’t get his network printer working). I explained to him how AppleTalk works AND what a crap concept it is to begin with AND that he would be far better off using Ethernet and TCP/IP but no. He blamed a 60.000 Dollar printer for not working in his superior Apple network that he was to stupid to set up in the first place.
Needless to say once we agreed to “test” the printer with the configuration I suggested it was up and running in a minute but that didn’t convince the client. Even if a Mac crashes – and they do – a Mac user would never blame his computer or operating system. They paid three or four times the price that a particular piece of equipment is worth so it must be good. Fair play to Steve; he really is a good salesman.
These days I dislike Apple for different reasons. They are an evil force ruining the internet and they seek world domination through their iTunes store. But we will come to that in a minute.
For a while I did see the appeal of the iPhone. It’s cute and it actually is OK for surfing. Since everyone has got one now and Apple forcing their users to install iTunes I wouldn’t buy one. I will admit though I was tempted and only put off by the price tag.
iTunes on the other had is the most devious concept ever. It doesn’t work very well on a PC and has a crap user interface but that doesn’t make it evil. It just makes it a regular not very well thought through piece of software almost deserving a Windows Vista sticker. The reason why I would never have iTunes on my computer is a different one.
iTunes is like the little devil sitting on your shoulder making you do stupid things. It flatters you and makes you pay for things that otherwise would be free. It is the very reason I wouldn’t get an iPod if it was free but I will admit that Jobs deserves credit for it. He didn’t invent the concept but he sure took advantage of it.
For the younger people among you: A few years back printer manufacturers discovered there is more money to be made in ink than the actual hardware. They started giving away their printers for very little money and got filthy rich on selling overpriced ink. In a way Apple is doing a similar thing with their iTunes stores except they still charge ridiculous amounts for their hardware and people pay it.
I mean you get a USB stick that plays music for 10 Euro still people spend 200 Euro for more or less the same functionality. I bought a MD player for 30 Euro years ago that offers the same music quality, is lighter, runs forever on one battery and is – from a nerds point of view – a lot cooler than any iPhone will ever be. And it doesn’t force me to use a music and application store that tries to be even more evil than Microsoft in its worst days of world domination.
And when I thought it can’t get any worse they release the iPad. It’s a completely useless, unnecessary and as usual overpriced piece of junk that is celebrated all over the world (before even seeing it) because it comes from Apple.
Details like not supporting Flash (the internet standard for a number of applications) doesn’t bother anyone. That it doesn’t anything a laptop can’t do better? No one cares. The Yanks bought so many of them that Apple had to postpone the launch in the rest of the world.
I know people always said Yanks are stupid but come on. Even by their standards it is going a bit far. It looks like even Apple themselves underestimated the “demand” for such a device. Has the world gone mad?
Jobs is no guru, he is a salesman that created an empire based on technology he stole from Xerox. I am convinced if Steve jobs would go on a stage, take a crap and then announce this is the new iShite people would celebrate it. We have come this far. Wake up people!
An iMac is a live style choice but certainly not a better computer than any PC. And it runs on a Linux system so you might as well use Ubuntu that runs on any cheap PC. As for security; no one bothered writing a virus for Macs that is their security concept. Once there are enough Macs around it will change. Once hackers see the potential they will start attacking Mac machines and unlike Microsoft Apple is not prepared for this.
An iPod is basically a MP3 player although I am not sure if it actually supports the MP3 standard. You get them a lot cheaper in any electronic shop. I’m not kidding.
iPhones; yes they are pretty but all the competitors seem to be superior in their functionality. I use phones mainly to text people so I have an old Nokia with a keyboard. I can even ring people, read emails and I don’t know what else. It’s a fascinating technology. What can an iPhone other than that? On http://www.envirofone.ie my phone is worth a staggering 2.44 Euro and still people spend 450 Euro on an iPhone.
The concept of an iPad which basically is a laptop that you cannot close to protect the screen to protect it is so f*cking stupid that I simply won’t bother telling you what a waste of money this is. But go ahead, buy it. Why read a free pdf on your PC when you can pay for it in the iTunes store and the read it on a device that you apparently can only use with your feet up.
I guess in a few years Amazon, Google and Apple will rule the world but then we always said that you get what you deserve. May be I should charge people for reading this blog. It certainly would make it more appealing to the Mac disciples.
Laos can go and …
Posted on | March 10, 2010 | No Comments
The next morning I was packed and ready. We went for breakfast – never ever go to Pizza Boy in Rd 13. It’s rubbish – and then across the road to the travel agent. I asked him when the next bus to the border would go. He said not until 14.30. The last bus had just left.
I looked at him. It was 8 AM and it was the very same guy who had told me the day before that the busses would go until 12. Just typical. It was then that I decided I will never ever return to Laos and I will tell every single person for the rest of my travels (and mean ever) that Laos is the biggest shit hole in the whole world.
They are not just greedy and useless; that’s not it. I’d understand that but they really do give you the feeling that you are a wallet with legs and even as such they don’t seem to welcome your presence. Summarizing Laos goes like this: The people are dishonest and indifferent. From my experience they try ripping you off whenever there is a chance and on top at least some of them steal your stuff. I admit I am not particularly careful with my stuff. I never lock my room and I let things fly around but then I always do and nowhere else I had this problem. To Laos I went twice and both times I saw things disappearing. Last time it didn’t happen to me but all the other people on the boat up the Mekong reported stuff missing after our over night stop in Pak Beng. I guess the only reason that it had not happened to me is that the owner of the place was afraid of me. I had a bit of a run in with him in the evening so he stayed away from my room.
Anyways; as far as I am concerned there is absolutely no reason go to Laos. It has been like this six years ago. I never really looked at it this way. I tried to come up with reasons why may be I didn’t like it and it was me but no. It was their attitude that had put me off. The roads got better and now they have ATM but other than that it is still the same miserable country.
With no alternative – I did check with our travel agents of course and they all said the same – I booked a bus to Bangkok. It meant spending half a day with nothing to do but at least I had good company. Without Ray being there I probably would have paid for taxi jut to get out of there.
A van picked me up at round 3 in the afternoon at so it was time to say good by.
We got to the border quickly. Despite arriving before 4 PM when the border closes we had to pay the border guard for overtime. March 8th as we all know is the international day for the women and a bank holiday all over the world. Of course the (male) staff at the border, missing the mighty celebration on this most important holiday, had to be compensated. I really wasn’t surprised.
Once across the border things moved a bit smoother. I didn’t enjoy the over night bus to Bangkok, I didn’t enjoy the humid heat in Bangkok (despite arriving at 5 AM it was unbearable) and once I arrived in Pattaya I realized that I am a Muppet. What did I expect? Of course it is as bad as people say. Even in the early hours of the day the place is a shit hole.
Since I was knackered I got a room and immediately booked a van to Ko Chang for the next morning. There is absolutely no reason to stay in Pattaya. Even the beach sucks. I did expect that of course. It was worth coming here just to be sure I was right all along when I avoided coming here. Pattaya is what I would call the dark side of Thailand. It is similar to Pattong except there they got a decent beach and plenty to do in the neighbourhood. Pattaya therefore is worse and I shall never mention it again.
And this is where I leave you dear reader. We’ve been together to Ko Chang so I will take it easy from here. Only a couple of days left which I shall enjoy on the beach.
The verdict then:
Cambodia in many ways I enjoyed it just isn’t as pretty as I expected. I would have liked to spend a little bit more time in Phnom Penh.
Laos: My personal opinion of Laos has changed slightly. I didn’t like it before, now I actually think it is a shit hole and should be avoided. A place where one is not welcome one should not visit.
Thailand still rocks. It is easily the most beautiful of the three, the most diverse and interesting, certainly the easiest to travel and by far the friendliest place. It is slightly more expensive but still the best as far as value for money goes.
I have spoken!
keep looking »