leaving this blog. it has become too hard to maintain two and not sure why I waited so long. Can't tell on this blog either if anyone is reading or not. If you are, thank you very much.
go to www.travelpod.com and look for carpefeline. my blog is there now. thank you again
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Leaving this blog
I thank everyone who is following me and who is reading this blog but I am going to desert this one and go to www.travelpod.com where I am doing the same blog under Carpefeline's Great Adventure. It has become way too much trouble to keep both going even though it is a lot of just cutting and pasting. Just need to concentrate on the one and work on it. The travel pod one seems to have better stats and ways to track what I am doing so going there. Please follow me there. Thank you for reading and I hope I don't lose you.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Going to Prison
Just a short way out of Perth is Fremantle. It was one of the major ports at one time and also a major jail. In the early 1800's, this part of Australia was slowly dying for lack of labor. Officials managed to convince Britain to send over convicts so that they could have some cheap labor. While Britain wasn't thrilled about the idea because of the expense, they were less thrilled about the colony failing because France was almost sitting offshore just waiting to take over. So convicts came and the prison at Fremantle was built. It ran through 1991 before it was shut. Now it is about to receive UNESCO World Heritage Site because it is the only prison still standing from that era exactly as built and not a ruin.
The tour is a good one and really gives you pause to think about the punishment metted out to violent crimnals and what the life could be like inside a maximum security prison. We had a family on the tour with us of two young boys (7 and 9) and a girl of 10. Not sure the seriousness of the place impressed them but the punishments and the description of smells and sanitary facilities and solitary and executions had their little minds working overtime.
Tour takes about an hour but there are extensions you can do for more information and time in jail. We didn't take the time but it would have been quite interesting as well.
The rest of our day was spent looking around Fremantle and then a visit to a friend of ours whom we had not seen in a number of years. Since we had last seen him, he's gotten married to a wonderful Korean lady and is much happier now and relaxed and living a much better life. See how wonderful married life can be? A nice end to a day that started with so much horrific history.
The tour is a good one and really gives you pause to think about the punishment metted out to violent crimnals and what the life could be like inside a maximum security prison. We had a family on the tour with us of two young boys (7 and 9) and a girl of 10. Not sure the seriousness of the place impressed them but the punishments and the description of smells and sanitary facilities and solitary and executions had their little minds working overtime.
Tour takes about an hour but there are extensions you can do for more information and time in jail. We didn't take the time but it would have been quite interesting as well.
The rest of our day was spent looking around Fremantle and then a visit to a friend of ours whom we had not seen in a number of years. Since we had last seen him, he's gotten married to a wonderful Korean lady and is much happier now and relaxed and living a much better life. See how wonderful married life can be? A nice end to a day that started with so much horrific history.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Cape Leeuwin - End of a continent
Tour today out of Perth and going south. It was a long day but the tour company did try and pack in a lot to see even if that meant we had maybe 15 minutes at some places, 20 minutes at another with a maximum time at any one spot of 45 minutes. Still, we learned some things and got to see some cool stuff and got to stand at the end of the continent, right where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet.
Our first stop was the Xanadu Winery to taste wines. A very different experience from the wine tasting I had a Massandra Winery in Yalta. Today we stood at the bar and got just a splash in our glass before moving on to the next wine and all 8 wines were tasted and completed in 20 minutes. Whew. back on the bus - hurry, hurry.
A picnic lunch at the Heritage Eagle Center. The brochure did say a picnic lunch but I had no idea they meant it so literally The bus driver actually had the food with him and we just circled around it and grabbed a plate and sat in the center to eat. A quick run past 5 cages before lunch which held raptors who have been disabled so they cannot return to the wild. The cutest were the little boobook owls. Then down the path to the flying demonstration where those who wanted, could have a black kite sit on their hand. As I had a wonderful raptor on my hand last week, I just took photos today. Finally, the caretaker had 4 black kites flying in to grab food out of the air. quite magnificent birds.Quickly back on the bus and drive, drive, drive to Mammoth Cave.
Boobook Owl
It was a nice cave and quite active but it was a quick walk in, a quick walk out, then back on the bus and drive, drive, drive through the Karri Forest. These trees are only 150 years old but look to be maybe 100 feet tall. This is not virgin forest because the virgin forest had trees of 400 and 500 years old before the forest was leveled for settlers and for the lumber. Now they are protected and have been growing just 150 years. I'm going to have to go back and see them when they are 500 years old. haha
Back on the bus to reach our furthest destination which was Cape Leeuwin, the southwesternly most point of Australia. This is where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. It is a beautifully isolated spot of land surrounded by bush and rocks and ocean. sometimes you can see whales migrating past but we were not so lucky today. Sometimes you can also find tiger snakes in the tall grass too and nobody put that to a test. A lovely lonely spot of world where you can see the blue sky and blue ocean and imagine sailing away to Antartica.
One more run to Busselton where we had preordered our dinners and ran into the restaurant for a quick eat then out to gaze at the 2 kilimeter pier which is being repaired so we couldn't go on it, not that we would have had the time anyway. We did get some sunset photos though. Then finally back on the bus for the run back to Perth. Whew. A very long day but good to see.
More Pictures
Black Kites flying
Karri forest
Leeuwin Lighthouse
sunset over Indian Ocean
Our first stop was the Xanadu Winery to taste wines. A very different experience from the wine tasting I had a Massandra Winery in Yalta. Today we stood at the bar and got just a splash in our glass before moving on to the next wine and all 8 wines were tasted and completed in 20 minutes. Whew. back on the bus - hurry, hurry.
A picnic lunch at the Heritage Eagle Center. The brochure did say a picnic lunch but I had no idea they meant it so literally The bus driver actually had the food with him and we just circled around it and grabbed a plate and sat in the center to eat. A quick run past 5 cages before lunch which held raptors who have been disabled so they cannot return to the wild. The cutest were the little boobook owls. Then down the path to the flying demonstration where those who wanted, could have a black kite sit on their hand. As I had a wonderful raptor on my hand last week, I just took photos today. Finally, the caretaker had 4 black kites flying in to grab food out of the air. quite magnificent birds.Quickly back on the bus and drive, drive, drive to Mammoth Cave.
Boobook Owl
It was a nice cave and quite active but it was a quick walk in, a quick walk out, then back on the bus and drive, drive, drive through the Karri Forest. These trees are only 150 years old but look to be maybe 100 feet tall. This is not virgin forest because the virgin forest had trees of 400 and 500 years old before the forest was leveled for settlers and for the lumber. Now they are protected and have been growing just 150 years. I'm going to have to go back and see them when they are 500 years old. haha
Back on the bus to reach our furthest destination which was Cape Leeuwin, the southwesternly most point of Australia. This is where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. It is a beautifully isolated spot of land surrounded by bush and rocks and ocean. sometimes you can see whales migrating past but we were not so lucky today. Sometimes you can also find tiger snakes in the tall grass too and nobody put that to a test. A lovely lonely spot of world where you can see the blue sky and blue ocean and imagine sailing away to Antartica.
One more run to Busselton where we had preordered our dinners and ran into the restaurant for a quick eat then out to gaze at the 2 kilimeter pier which is being repaired so we couldn't go on it, not that we would have had the time anyway. We did get some sunset photos though. Then finally back on the bus for the run back to Perth. Whew. A very long day but good to see.
More Pictures
Black Kites flying
Karri forest
Leeuwin Lighthouse
sunset over Indian Ocean
Saturday, November 7, 2009
a Walk through the Park
Got a late start today since we didn't get to bed until after 3:30 a.m. Tried to figure out the bus system but ended up just hoping on a bus and as soon as it got close to something, we hoped off. It dropped us at the entrance to King's Park which is a large park overlooking the Swan River and the different sections of Perth, the major part and South Perth on the opposite bank. Right now the buses are free. Pretty nice to just hop on and go. So into the park and we walked past some of the great huge trees and past some restaurants and a wedding in one of the pavillions and found the WWIi memorial overlooking the river. This also have a 'whisper wall" where if you sit at one end and whisper, the curvature of the wall will carry your voice to someone sitting on the other side. We did not test this as we've been at whisper walls before and they work. There were plenty of people sitting there who weren't sure or just happy to whisper at each other from such a distance.
One of the things I love about Australia is the abundance of flora and fauna that you can't find anywhere else in the world. While they have removed most of the fauna from this area, the park has gardens representing many of the area of Australia. We wandered down the paths taking photos of banksia, kangaroo's paws, and boab trees. Walked through the water garden where I spied a lizard and it took me 5 minutes to figure out it was just a sculpture. Finally over the walkway in the trees and then caught a tram into the city.
As we attemted to get down to the waterfront, we ended up in an outlet mall. All the way to Australia and spend our first day at an outlet mall. Ah well, it was easy to find some lunch there and then work out way down to the river. Our experience in Australia has always been that places close rather early to our way of thinking. So while we finally hit the river around 4 p.m., it was too late for any river cruises. When we finally got across the river, it was too late to go to the zoo. When we finally started working our way back to our hotel, it was too late for the circle buses to be running.
All and all, it was quite a nice day. it was a lot cooler than we expected so we carried our coats with us and needed them after about 5 p.m. Tomorrow we are better organized and have a tour scheduled to get out of town and see some of the sights to the south of Perth
Pictures
boab tree
scarlet banksia
kangaroo paw
crow
One of the things I love about Australia is the abundance of flora and fauna that you can't find anywhere else in the world. While they have removed most of the fauna from this area, the park has gardens representing many of the area of Australia. We wandered down the paths taking photos of banksia, kangaroo's paws, and boab trees. Walked through the water garden where I spied a lizard and it took me 5 minutes to figure out it was just a sculpture. Finally over the walkway in the trees and then caught a tram into the city.
As we attemted to get down to the waterfront, we ended up in an outlet mall. All the way to Australia and spend our first day at an outlet mall. Ah well, it was easy to find some lunch there and then work out way down to the river. Our experience in Australia has always been that places close rather early to our way of thinking. So while we finally hit the river around 4 p.m., it was too late for any river cruises. When we finally got across the river, it was too late to go to the zoo. When we finally started working our way back to our hotel, it was too late for the circle buses to be running.
All and all, it was quite a nice day. it was a lot cooler than we expected so we carried our coats with us and needed them after about 5 p.m. Tomorrow we are better organized and have a tour scheduled to get out of town and see some of the sights to the south of Perth
Pictures
boab tree
scarlet banksia
kangaroo paw
crow
Friday, November 6, 2009
Foreign Worker Zero.
All the movies, books and TV shows that involve some kind of disasterous disease all look for "Patient Zero". It makes sense that they must find this person to see where they went to spread the disease, treat them, find others, yada, yada, yada. Not being in the real medical world, I have no idea if it is true but the premise seems good and sensible. I talked to a good many people in Doha that were foreign workers. My 4 drivers were all from the same state in India. My housekeeper and hotel staff were all from the same state in the Philippines. Shopkeepers ranged from Ethiopia, Thailand, and other small impoverished African nations and other small impoverished Southeast Asian countries. If I met someone from the same country as someone else I had met, chances are, they would be from the same area.
I have experienced the "Foreign Worker Full Contact" in other countries besides Qatar: Singapore, Dubai, Oman, and some European countries and to a small extent in the United States. In the United States, I worked with some LVN's (just under a RN in the nursing world) and they had been recruited. But in all cases, and I can't think of a single different answer, all other foreign workers, in whatever job, in whatever country, all came to that country to work because of: "my cousin was here", "my uncle was here", "my sister came back to get me.", my auntie works here", and to a lesser extent: "my dad was here", "my friend came here."
Never have I been lucky enough to meet "Foreign Worker Zero". Some one at some distant time in the distant past must have come over first to that foreign country and started working and then started sending signals and money back home. Come, Come, Come. So they come, they live together and support each other and send money home, move from country to country sometimes, and maybe eventually go back to the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, wherever. Who was the first? Who is Foreign Worker Zero? There must be one from each country of origin and in each country of destination. So technically there could be dozens. I'd like to meet one once, somewhere, just to ask how it all got started and how they made the decision to go where they did, do what they do and take that leap that the life would be better for them. It was better and they started calling in the troops. Way to go Foreign Worker Zero. Step forward and make yourself known. Your very huge, gigantic extended family thanks you.
I have experienced the "Foreign Worker Full Contact" in other countries besides Qatar: Singapore, Dubai, Oman, and some European countries and to a small extent in the United States. In the United States, I worked with some LVN's (just under a RN in the nursing world) and they had been recruited. But in all cases, and I can't think of a single different answer, all other foreign workers, in whatever job, in whatever country, all came to that country to work because of: "my cousin was here", "my uncle was here", "my sister came back to get me.", my auntie works here", and to a lesser extent: "my dad was here", "my friend came here."
Never have I been lucky enough to meet "Foreign Worker Zero". Some one at some distant time in the distant past must have come over first to that foreign country and started working and then started sending signals and money back home. Come, Come, Come. So they come, they live together and support each other and send money home, move from country to country sometimes, and maybe eventually go back to the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, wherever. Who was the first? Who is Foreign Worker Zero? There must be one from each country of origin and in each country of destination. So technically there could be dozens. I'd like to meet one once, somewhere, just to ask how it all got started and how they made the decision to go where they did, do what they do and take that leap that the life would be better for them. It was better and they started calling in the troops. Way to go Foreign Worker Zero. Step forward and make yourself known. Your very huge, gigantic extended family thanks you.
Foreign Worker Zero.
All the movies, books and TV shows that involve some kind of disasterous disease all look for "Patient Zero". It makes sense that they must find this person to see where they went to spread the disease, treat them, find others, yada, yada, yada. Not being in the real medical world, I have no idea if it is true but the premise seems good and sensible. I talked to a good many people in Doha that were foreign workers. My 4 drivers were all from the same state in India. My housekeeper and hotel staff were all from the same state in the Philippines. Shopkeepers ranged from Ethiopia, Thailand, and other small impoverished African nations and other small impoverished Southeast Asian countries. If I met someone from the same country as someone else I had met, chances are, they would be from the same area.
I have experienced the "Foreign Worker Full Contact" in other countries besides Qatar: Singapore, Dubai, Oman, and some European countries and to a small extent in the United States. In the United States, I worked with some LVN's (just under a RN in the nursing world) and they had been recruited. But in all cases, and I can't think of a single different answer, all other foreign workers, in whatever job, in whatever country, all came to that country to work because of: "my cousin was here", "my uncle was here", "my sister came back to get me.", my auntie works here", and to a lesser extent: "my dad was here", "my friend came here."
Never have I been lucky enough to meet "Foreign Worker Zero". Some one at some distant time in the distant past must have come over first to that foreign country and started working and then started sending signals and money back home. Come, Come, Come. So they come, they live together and support each other and send money home, move from country to country sometimes, and maybe eventually go back to the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, wherever. Who was the first? Who is Foreign Worker Zero? There must be one from each country of origin and in each country of destination. So technically there could be dozens. I'd like to meet one once, somewhere, just to ask how it all got started and how they made the decision to go where they did, do what they do and take that leap that the life would be better for them. It was better and they started calling in the troops. Way to go Foreign Worker Zero. Step forward and make yourself known. Your very huge, gigantic extended family thanks you.
I have experienced the "Foreign Worker Full Contact" in other countries besides Qatar: Singapore, Dubai, Oman, and some European countries and to a small extent in the United States. In the United States, I worked with some LVN's (just under a RN in the nursing world) and they had been recruited. But in all cases, and I can't think of a single different answer, all other foreign workers, in whatever job, in whatever country, all came to that country to work because of: "my cousin was here", "my uncle was here", "my sister came back to get me.", my auntie works here", and to a lesser extent: "my dad was here", "my friend came here."
Never have I been lucky enough to meet "Foreign Worker Zero". Some one at some distant time in the distant past must have come over first to that foreign country and started working and then started sending signals and money back home. Come, Come, Come. So they come, they live together and support each other and send money home, move from country to country sometimes, and maybe eventually go back to the Philippines, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ghana, Sri Lanka, wherever. Who was the first? Who is Foreign Worker Zero? There must be one from each country of origin and in each country of destination. So technically there could be dozens. I'd like to meet one once, somewhere, just to ask how it all got started and how they made the decision to go where they did, do what they do and take that leap that the life would be better for them. It was better and they started calling in the troops. Way to go Foreign Worker Zero. Step forward and make yourself known. Your very huge, gigantic extended family thanks you.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Final Wanderings in Doha
After the morning at the Falcon Center and the private zoo, my driver had told me that the Sheikh Faisal bin Qassin Al-Thani Museum was quite excellent and he recommended it even more than the Museum of Islamic Art. So I had agreed to go have a look. We would pass it on our way back into town from the thwarted trip to see the Oryx Center where we ended up at a private zoo instead.We pull into the drive and get to the gate where a man stops us. The conversation goes something like, "Do you have a permit", "it's closed", My driver asks to call the manager and tries to hand the phone to me to talk to him but I let him do the talking which is good since he goes into Arabic immediately. We can't get into the museum is the final word. Apparently this is a private museum and you must make arrangements ahead of time to get a permit or permission to visit. My driver had come one time without the required permission and the manager had been in a generous mood that day so let him and his client into the museum but after getting into two places this morning, our luck was out so it's back to town.I had my driver take me to the City Center Mall otherwise also known as the Carrefour Mall. It's the largest, I think, and has an ice rink, 4 floors of shops, and is luxury just waiting to be purchased. I said goodbye to my driver of two days and head into the mall for some lunch and a haircut.This accomplished, it's just a huge mall and without a specific purpose, I really have nothing to do here so head back outside to find a taxi back to my hotel.
building being constructedThe minute I exit the mall, I am pounced upon by some touts, private limo drivers. I see that there is an actual metered taxi line but there are no taxis there and there are about 20 people in line with their purchases so I negotiate a rate and away we go to my hotel, or rather where he thinks it is.As we speed by the street that I recognize as the correct one to turn, we are caught up in construction and have to drive another 2 miles before we are able to turn around and return. Then there is a policeman standing in my roundabout and won't let us make the left circle to my street. Now we have to go another mile before we can make a left turn to work out way back to the hotel. Just as the light changes for us to turn, flashing red lights come running through the other side and we are stopped as a motorcade runs through the intersection. It is the ruler of Qatar in his limo with his flags of state flying on the car. Wow, I got to see his driver anyway as the car flashed past us.What a day! Falcons, oryx, emus, ostriches, hyenas, rich Qataris, shopping centers, security guards, and now the emir's driver. It's been a delightful trip and now I am going to take a nap and wait for the time to leave for my 1:50 a.m. flight to meet my husband in Australia.
More Pictures
shiny buildings
dusty buildings
sign in the mall
building being constructedThe minute I exit the mall, I am pounced upon by some touts, private limo drivers. I see that there is an actual metered taxi line but there are no taxis there and there are about 20 people in line with their purchases so I negotiate a rate and away we go to my hotel, or rather where he thinks it is.As we speed by the street that I recognize as the correct one to turn, we are caught up in construction and have to drive another 2 miles before we are able to turn around and return. Then there is a policeman standing in my roundabout and won't let us make the left circle to my street. Now we have to go another mile before we can make a left turn to work out way back to the hotel. Just as the light changes for us to turn, flashing red lights come running through the other side and we are stopped as a motorcade runs through the intersection. It is the ruler of Qatar in his limo with his flags of state flying on the car. Wow, I got to see his driver anyway as the car flashed past us.What a day! Falcons, oryx, emus, ostriches, hyenas, rich Qataris, shopping centers, security guards, and now the emir's driver. It's been a delightful trip and now I am going to take a nap and wait for the time to leave for my 1:50 a.m. flight to meet my husband in Australia.
More Pictures
shiny buildings
dusty buildings
sign in the mall
Falcon Surgery - To Fly Again
This morning I had my driver take me to the Qatar Falcon Center. From the guidebook, it sounded like a place where men came to look at falcons and possibly purchase them. From the actual experience it was a whole heck of a lot better!Walking into the courtyard there were signs: "hospital. staff only" on all doors except one which said "client entrance." i was thinking there is no way I can act like I want to buy a bird but we walked in to see. One falcon was sitting on a rail in the waiting room. She was hooded. (I asked later if they were male or female birds and was told almost always female because they are bigger).
Several men had entered before us with falcons on their hands and were disappearing into the back rooms. I was afraid that we would be asked to leave because it was now pretty obvious that this was a bird hospital. But one of the staff saw us and said we were welcome to come on back and see what they do. What a stroke of luck.In the main room, there were three men in blue coats who each had a falcon on the table under anthestic. In each case, they were pulling up and looking at the wings. The man who had invited me back called to me and opened up a room where about 10 birds were sitting on rails. he said they were all in the hospital for treatment. I'm trying real hard not to think about bird flu. he said I could take photos so i'm snapping away and even though most are hooded, some are not so I am careful not to use a flash. He comes back in a minute and asks if I would like to hold one.
thirty thousand dollar bird
Wow. You bet. He picks up a glove and carefully unties the bird from an eye hook on the rail and ties it onto the glove before he puts his hand down so that the bird can step onto his hand. He shows me how to angle my arm so that the bird won't walk up my arm and then I put my hand into the glove as he slips his out and I am holding this magnificent beautiful 1 kg hunting falcon. He told me the kind but it wasn't a name I recognized. Then he told me the cost. The bird on my arm was $30,000. Yes, again $30,000. I don't think I have ever picked up and held something worth that much money.
The bird is hooded but he says I can stroke her. I stroke her twice and she moves her head to "stare" where I am touching her. I obviously do not have the master's touch. She knows I am a stranger. We change the glove again so that he is once again holding this beauty and reverses the process of tying her back to the perch.
I am allowed to go into the surgery room where they are putting some pills down a falcon's throat who is not happy about it at all and expresses her displeasure loudly. Back into the "feather" room. These birds have all come to the center to have feathers replaced. What an interesting notion. I never knew you could do that to a falcon. They had several boxes of wings and would take out a wing, match the feathers (good thing that birds of a species all have the same plummage), then start cutting off the bad feathers and replace them by inserting a bamboo skewer (yes the kind we use to do shishkebob) and gluing it on.
Peregrin getting new feathers
They were very careful to match length and feather. In some cases they had to also insert a wire along the wing to strengthen it. I was told it is 70 riyals to replace one feather (about $20) but only 40 riyals if you bring in your own feather. One man was there for 10 feathers replacement. The specialist kept telling me it was "last year's bird" as he worked on the 10 feathers replacement. When I asked him what that meant, he said they buy a new bird every year most of the time but this bird had been kept over the summer and had injured his wings by beating them against the cage. The other birds in for feather replacement had mostly injured the feathers during hunting.At the end of the replacement, the bird is taken off the anthestic, wrapped in a towel, and someone holds it for about 5 minutes which is all it takes to wake up and then be fine to sit on a perch or go fly again. When she comes out of the little gas mask, her head looks like it will flop off. no muscles at all and yet in 5 minutes they are ready to go. amazing. And what a rich sport.
This is the season so he says they will be busy until March and then things will die down as the birds are not hunting.It was hard to leave as it was so interesting. Not at all what I expected from the guide book and how lucky to have them be kind enough to answer all my questions and not mind me watching for an hour. fantastic.
More Pictures
one year old Peregrin
bird owner and falcon
checking feathers
Several men had entered before us with falcons on their hands and were disappearing into the back rooms. I was afraid that we would be asked to leave because it was now pretty obvious that this was a bird hospital. But one of the staff saw us and said we were welcome to come on back and see what they do. What a stroke of luck.In the main room, there were three men in blue coats who each had a falcon on the table under anthestic. In each case, they were pulling up and looking at the wings. The man who had invited me back called to me and opened up a room where about 10 birds were sitting on rails. he said they were all in the hospital for treatment. I'm trying real hard not to think about bird flu. he said I could take photos so i'm snapping away and even though most are hooded, some are not so I am careful not to use a flash. He comes back in a minute and asks if I would like to hold one.
thirty thousand dollar bird
Wow. You bet. He picks up a glove and carefully unties the bird from an eye hook on the rail and ties it onto the glove before he puts his hand down so that the bird can step onto his hand. He shows me how to angle my arm so that the bird won't walk up my arm and then I put my hand into the glove as he slips his out and I am holding this magnificent beautiful 1 kg hunting falcon. He told me the kind but it wasn't a name I recognized. Then he told me the cost. The bird on my arm was $30,000. Yes, again $30,000. I don't think I have ever picked up and held something worth that much money.
The bird is hooded but he says I can stroke her. I stroke her twice and she moves her head to "stare" where I am touching her. I obviously do not have the master's touch. She knows I am a stranger. We change the glove again so that he is once again holding this beauty and reverses the process of tying her back to the perch.
I am allowed to go into the surgery room where they are putting some pills down a falcon's throat who is not happy about it at all and expresses her displeasure loudly. Back into the "feather" room. These birds have all come to the center to have feathers replaced. What an interesting notion. I never knew you could do that to a falcon. They had several boxes of wings and would take out a wing, match the feathers (good thing that birds of a species all have the same plummage), then start cutting off the bad feathers and replace them by inserting a bamboo skewer (yes the kind we use to do shishkebob) and gluing it on.
Peregrin getting new feathers
They were very careful to match length and feather. In some cases they had to also insert a wire along the wing to strengthen it. I was told it is 70 riyals to replace one feather (about $20) but only 40 riyals if you bring in your own feather. One man was there for 10 feathers replacement. The specialist kept telling me it was "last year's bird" as he worked on the 10 feathers replacement. When I asked him what that meant, he said they buy a new bird every year most of the time but this bird had been kept over the summer and had injured his wings by beating them against the cage. The other birds in for feather replacement had mostly injured the feathers during hunting.At the end of the replacement, the bird is taken off the anthestic, wrapped in a towel, and someone holds it for about 5 minutes which is all it takes to wake up and then be fine to sit on a perch or go fly again. When she comes out of the little gas mask, her head looks like it will flop off. no muscles at all and yet in 5 minutes they are ready to go. amazing. And what a rich sport.
This is the season so he says they will be busy until March and then things will die down as the birds are not hunting.It was hard to leave as it was so interesting. Not at all what I expected from the guide book and how lucky to have them be kind enough to answer all my questions and not mind me watching for an hour. fantastic.
More Pictures
one year old Peregrin
bird owner and falcon
checking feathers
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Qataris bennies
My driver was regalling me today with all the benefits associated with living in an oil rich nation. Petrol here for the car is running around $0.76/gallon (crunched the numbers 3 times from what he told me and that's what I got. But I was using 4 liters roughly to a gallon and I think it's more like 4 1/2 or 5 liters to a gallon). There isn't any tax on the cars they buy and no tax on the petrol. As a result of this development, most Qataris have a car if they are old enough to drive. There are sooooo many cars on the road and most of them are very nice cars and a lot of SUV's and trucks and luxury cars. Rolls Royce had an article in the paper just today that they will be bringing the "Ghost" here. This translate to if there are 6 people in the home, there are 6 cars in the drive. I know some homes like that in the deep south but those cars usually haven't been driveable for 10 years or more.And if that wasn't enough, they also get free water (which is amazing because buying bottled water costs more than gas), free electricity, and several other "free items" for bountiful living as well. The rub is, these freebies are just for Qatari citizens. If you are a foreign worker, you are paying for your utilities and paying taxes and such. Gosh, who has ever heard of such a thing.Mentioned that I have not met many Qataris but I did see some today in the souq. Some of the shopkeepers are still Qataris and there were some men and women in the souqs shopping for various items. I was in one shop looking at the beads The men all carry the prayer beads and some can be beautiful. Learned that they can laser amber beads to make them darker. Or you can find some that are around 150 years old to get that darker color as they have absorbed skin oils to change the color. A man came in with his son who was wearing a white hat, the kind that I had always been told that Muslims ONLY wear after they have been to Mecca. Wow, I thought this boy was quite young to have gone to Mecca already so I had to ask. A notion tumbled. There is a shop down the way from where we were standing and you can buy these white hats for the kids. No Mecca involved. Two men stalked through the souq today with falcons. I missed the first one because he came up behind me and was gone before I could whip up my camera. My driver saw another coming and warned me and I got a shot. Hopefully I'll get out to the falcon center tomorrow and see some more birds. Another rather short day for touring but it was fun although I have to say that the souq is rather sanitized. It's just not the same as Turkey or Egypt or Syria or countries which haven't pulled down much of the old to put up the new
Pictures
falcon on arm - phone on ear
Pictures
falcon on arm - phone on ear
Eye recognition
Visited the souq today. There weren't too many people there. I think most of Doha works on an afternoon and evening type of schedule but there were some women coming into the souq as I was arriving. They were locals and dressed from head to toe in the black abbaya that they wear which included a total face covering except the eyes. Three women squealed and rushed at each other in a display of happiness and recognition and started chattering away to each other. Ok, I don't think I have ever looked closely enough at any of my friend's eyes to be able to recognize them just by eyes alone. I guess it is certainly possible and obviously it's what you have to do when there are no other facial features showing. Is it something else as well? do these ladies wear a certain decoration on their clothing that is recognizable to their friends? Based on what I observed, I don't think so because they were all in solid black. Since they all squealed and rushed, I don't think it was a planned meeting but since I don't speak Arabic, it is sure hard to say. I am going to make a point of looking at eyes now to see if I can recognize people just by eyes but that's going to be hard for me to do with everything else available to see, clothes, face and hair.
Pictures
ladies at the souq
souq
bobbleheads
Pictures
ladies at the souq
souq
bobbleheads
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
life is just too funny sometimes
I really amaze myself sometimes. It is just incredible how amazing I can be - amazingly stupid today in this case. To be fair, I had help being stupid. I had a map this morning and looked at the location of the hotel, checked with the desk clerk (my accomplice in stupidity), saw where the Corniche was and asked him if I could walk there. In his defence, I didn't ask if it would be better to take a cab or easier to find things in a cab. So he says yes and I leave the hotel, happy to be out and walking about in a new country.
museum of Islamic Art
Twenty minutes later, I estimate that I am about halfway to the Corniche, I am walking past construction sites, there is no shade, it is very hot, and it is hard to cross any roads because Qatarans (Qatarites? Qatarians?) don't walk down the streets. But I finally find my way to the Corniche, crossing four major streets without a crosswalk so that takes time, but I am there, next to the sea, with a lovely breeze, dhows at anchor, fine modern highrises and architectural wonders at the far end, and nothing else to do. Nobody is about, no shops, stalls, stores, niches, dhows, restaruants. Qatar's Corniche is a nice man made crescent on the waterfront. I had expected something like Dubai's where there is activity along the creek and shops close by and souqs and such. Qatar's is just a lovely band of very well watered grass along the shore and a nice concrete sidewalk. There aren't even many trees, maybe a few planted every 200 meters or so.
spiral minaret
Turns out I am not totally alone. There is one man walking on the Corniche but he moves from each small palm tree oasis to the next and then sits in the shade before walking quickly to the next oasis. There are a couple of tourists but they have a car so they are driving from spot to spot, take some photos and hop back into their car. There are a few workers but they are all lying on the grass under palm trees. There is just me, walking in the sun. I have movie pictures running through my head of people staggering about in the desert. Will that be me?
After walking along the Corniche for about 1/2 hour , getting quite hot, feeling my skin start to crisp, I decided it would be better to find a taxi and go to somewhere cool and indoors. I picked the only shopping mall that was listed on my map. I walked to the edge of the road and waited for a taxi to come. In fifteen minutes, only 4 passed me and all were fully loaded with passengers. It was too hot standing beside the road, so looking down the kilometer or more of Corniche left to walk, I decided I had better get started.
heron I think or egret in front of dhows
I turn to go back to the sidewalk next to the water and a car pulls up beside me and the driver asks if I am looking for a taxi. He didn't look like a taxi, no sign or anything, but he said he was. He did have official looking stamps on his windshield so I asked if he could take me to Centerpoint mall and he quoted a price, which was outrageous but by now I am thinking I have very limited options for anything else. This was Shamnas from Southern India. Qatar apparently has private limousine services in abundance, possibly more abundant that taxis. And such is Shamnas. He had probably seen me looking for a taxi and saw a golden opportunity. He actually takes me to a different mall because he didn't know Centerpoint but that's ok, it was inside and cool. He also left me his phone number and name just in case I wanted to call him for a ride again.
modern buildings at the end of the Corniche
Into the mall and it's an expat mall - definitely and positively. That means that all prices will be inflated by some % of expats who shop here. My best example is Jason's in Singapore, an expat grocery store where most of the prices were inflated by a factor of 2 1/2 to 5, depending on the product. This mall was like walking into Bloomingdale's.
It wasn't very big but I wandered through it and found some shoe inserts which I dearly need. Then into the food store to stock up on some snacks and water in case I never find a nice restaurant close to my hotel. There was a Dunkin Donuts and a KFC there as well but I just couldn't bring myself to enter either place. Going back out to the front entrance I asked the "parcel storage man" if he could find me a taxi. He was a bit surprised but said he could call a private taxi which he did. As I was waiting, we started talking and he said nobody goes anywhere without a car and that this mall was totally for expats and thus very expensive. geez, no kidding.
My taxi comes and it is Salthar, also from India, but he manages to take me to the right hotel to drop off my purchases. I make arrangements to hire him tomorrow for a tour about the town. He'll take me where I want to go and wait for me. So it took me almost 2 hours in the hot sun and 1/2 hour in the expensive store to find a solution for getting about town. I hope Salthar also knows how to go to the northern villages so I can see a bit of Qatar besides just Doha. And yes, I bought lots of water and a very high SPF sunscreen.
museum of Islamic Art
Twenty minutes later, I estimate that I am about halfway to the Corniche, I am walking past construction sites, there is no shade, it is very hot, and it is hard to cross any roads because Qatarans (Qatarites? Qatarians?) don't walk down the streets. But I finally find my way to the Corniche, crossing four major streets without a crosswalk so that takes time, but I am there, next to the sea, with a lovely breeze, dhows at anchor, fine modern highrises and architectural wonders at the far end, and nothing else to do. Nobody is about, no shops, stalls, stores, niches, dhows, restaruants. Qatar's Corniche is a nice man made crescent on the waterfront. I had expected something like Dubai's where there is activity along the creek and shops close by and souqs and such. Qatar's is just a lovely band of very well watered grass along the shore and a nice concrete sidewalk. There aren't even many trees, maybe a few planted every 200 meters or so.
spiral minaret
Turns out I am not totally alone. There is one man walking on the Corniche but he moves from each small palm tree oasis to the next and then sits in the shade before walking quickly to the next oasis. There are a couple of tourists but they have a car so they are driving from spot to spot, take some photos and hop back into their car. There are a few workers but they are all lying on the grass under palm trees. There is just me, walking in the sun. I have movie pictures running through my head of people staggering about in the desert. Will that be me?
After walking along the Corniche for about 1/2 hour , getting quite hot, feeling my skin start to crisp, I decided it would be better to find a taxi and go to somewhere cool and indoors. I picked the only shopping mall that was listed on my map. I walked to the edge of the road and waited for a taxi to come. In fifteen minutes, only 4 passed me and all were fully loaded with passengers. It was too hot standing beside the road, so looking down the kilometer or more of Corniche left to walk, I decided I had better get started.
heron I think or egret in front of dhows
I turn to go back to the sidewalk next to the water and a car pulls up beside me and the driver asks if I am looking for a taxi. He didn't look like a taxi, no sign or anything, but he said he was. He did have official looking stamps on his windshield so I asked if he could take me to Centerpoint mall and he quoted a price, which was outrageous but by now I am thinking I have very limited options for anything else. This was Shamnas from Southern India. Qatar apparently has private limousine services in abundance, possibly more abundant that taxis. And such is Shamnas. He had probably seen me looking for a taxi and saw a golden opportunity. He actually takes me to a different mall because he didn't know Centerpoint but that's ok, it was inside and cool. He also left me his phone number and name just in case I wanted to call him for a ride again.
modern buildings at the end of the Corniche
Into the mall and it's an expat mall - definitely and positively. That means that all prices will be inflated by some % of expats who shop here. My best example is Jason's in Singapore, an expat grocery store where most of the prices were inflated by a factor of 2 1/2 to 5, depending on the product. This mall was like walking into Bloomingdale's.
It wasn't very big but I wandered through it and found some shoe inserts which I dearly need. Then into the food store to stock up on some snacks and water in case I never find a nice restaurant close to my hotel. There was a Dunkin Donuts and a KFC there as well but I just couldn't bring myself to enter either place. Going back out to the front entrance I asked the "parcel storage man" if he could find me a taxi. He was a bit surprised but said he could call a private taxi which he did. As I was waiting, we started talking and he said nobody goes anywhere without a car and that this mall was totally for expats and thus very expensive. geez, no kidding.
My taxi comes and it is Salthar, also from India, but he manages to take me to the right hotel to drop off my purchases. I make arrangements to hire him tomorrow for a tour about the town. He'll take me where I want to go and wait for me. So it took me almost 2 hours in the hot sun and 1/2 hour in the expensive store to find a solution for getting about town. I hope Salthar also knows how to go to the northern villages so I can see a bit of Qatar besides just Doha. And yes, I bought lots of water and a very high SPF sunscreen.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Call to Prayer
Call to prayer woke me this morning some time around 4:36 a.m. I didn't mind it as it's nice to hear and usually I had no problem falling asleep again. Obviously there are plenty of mosques around so as I am listening, I could identify about 4 to 6 voices doing the call. Are people really up at that time too and going to the mosque? Maybe you have to do that because of the heat here. I do know that everything says they is an afternoon "siesta" period when all the shops close then open again later in the afternoon. I'll find that out today. I was drifting back to sleep when another call to prayer rang out. I thought at first maybe I had fallen asleep and it was a later time but no, checked the clock and it was maybe 5 minutes after all the others had stopped. How odd to me. I can get that the mosques don't start on the dot together, that's just logical human starting times. But why was one a full 5- 10 minutes later? Another human error? They didn't get to the mosque on time?
Welcome to Qatar
Istanbul to Doha on Qatar Airways. Quite nice to be in business class. The food was good the seats were comfortable. Getting off the plane, the 8 of us from business class get our own bus to the terminal and then get the "fast track" lane. Really nice. And THEN you get the same old tired immigration person who doesn't give a flip how much you paid for your ticket or if you came on your very own plane (well, actually, I've never come on my own plane so maybe they would care about that.) Still, I was through rather quickly and the other people from the plane, including about 2 busloads of Japanese tourists were just lining up.
My suitcase arrived which always makes me happy. I could get a cart without having to pay for it and I with suitcase, multiple boxes of Turkish Delight for hubby, and several new books to read exited the area. Then the airport was rather odd. A large group of people with and without signs waiting for visitors to exit and all on the other side of a fence that I could see no way to get through. There was a line of hotels (the expensive ones) on my side and then I am out the door into the night without an exchange office, toilet, or anything else that I could see and also "no entry" on the doors. Maybe I just missed it all but I sure didn't see anything else.
Once outside, there are plenty of people offering taxis but I still had no riyals so had to ask someone where an ATM was. It was in the corner around from the exit door but I gamely went and got some cash so I could get to my hotel. My hubby told me to be careful of touts and I always try and am successful most times except when tired and obviously not thinking about what I am doing. However, I think they may not be allowed to have touts here. Not sure but all the men outside were dressed in the taxi uniform and they directed me to the line of taxis where a supervisor was checking to see where each taxi was taking their passenger. Off I go and I am traveling down the "car street". There is shop after shop offering wonderful, fantastic, can't live without accessories for your car. Wow, I want to go in and get some of this stuff but might be helpful if I had a car first. Then we are around the corner and to my hotel so I don't think I am far from the airport. Of course, Qatar is not a large country so possibly no where is far from the airport.
Get my room and the internet connection is quite slow but workable and at least I have one. Here just long enough to get connected when the Call to Prayer comes. I have read many times what they are saying and calling and yet I still cannot hear these words when I hear the call. It is always lovely though and I always like to hear it. Maybe I will still feel that way tomorrow morning when the call wakes me. Welcome to Qatar!
My suitcase arrived which always makes me happy. I could get a cart without having to pay for it and I with suitcase, multiple boxes of Turkish Delight for hubby, and several new books to read exited the area. Then the airport was rather odd. A large group of people with and without signs waiting for visitors to exit and all on the other side of a fence that I could see no way to get through. There was a line of hotels (the expensive ones) on my side and then I am out the door into the night without an exchange office, toilet, or anything else that I could see and also "no entry" on the doors. Maybe I just missed it all but I sure didn't see anything else.
Once outside, there are plenty of people offering taxis but I still had no riyals so had to ask someone where an ATM was. It was in the corner around from the exit door but I gamely went and got some cash so I could get to my hotel. My hubby told me to be careful of touts and I always try and am successful most times except when tired and obviously not thinking about what I am doing. However, I think they may not be allowed to have touts here. Not sure but all the men outside were dressed in the taxi uniform and they directed me to the line of taxis where a supervisor was checking to see where each taxi was taking their passenger. Off I go and I am traveling down the "car street". There is shop after shop offering wonderful, fantastic, can't live without accessories for your car. Wow, I want to go in and get some of this stuff but might be helpful if I had a car first. Then we are around the corner and to my hotel so I don't think I am far from the airport. Of course, Qatar is not a large country so possibly no where is far from the airport.
Get my room and the internet connection is quite slow but workable and at least I have one. Here just long enough to get connected when the Call to Prayer comes. I have read many times what they are saying and calling and yet I still cannot hear these words when I hear the call. It is always lovely though and I always like to hear it. Maybe I will still feel that way tomorrow morning when the call wakes me. Welcome to Qatar!
be careful what you know
I've been in Istanbul several times. I have enjoyed it each and every time. I love the airport because it has tons of shops both inside and outside. They usually have many people on the immigration line so you don't have to wait very long. I love the city too. I've never felt any problem in going out and wandering around on my own. I think I've already mentioned that other than researching what exactly there is to see and do in a place, I don't do a lot of "ahead" reading. I truly like to get the "first impression" of a place and of an item or of a museum or memorial or whatever. I read up when I get home as things make more sense to me then and I can relate because I have seen it for myself and have a "feel". I've always been a visual person, which also explains why I have a hard time learning languages - beside the constant ringing of the ears.
Anyway, I picked up a newspaper on my visit into Istanbul this time and even though I have been there many times, I was a tad bit or somewhat affected by one of the lead stories. The story claimed that Turkey has slipped in its "narrowing of the gender gap" As I was reading it, the article stated that at one point Turkey had been 102nd out of 164 countries in their treatment of women: equility in the work place, equility in voting, in goverment, in social conditions, in economic conditions. This article states that now Turkey is 159th out of 164 with only Saudi Arabia, Yemin and 3 others (sorry, forget which three) being worse in their treatment of women. Wow. what a slip up. I see women working everywhere and they all look fine, for the most part, and happy in their jobs, or as happy as anyone could be when they are working. But after reading this, I had to question myself in my perceptions. What are they going through? What is they day like if they know they will not have a chance at a better job or more money? And I was a little shook to think that I stroll through the streets without a care in the world other than to get a good bargain when should anything happen, will my own citizenship protect me even as a woman? It really does give one pause and now I am in another Muslim country and I find myself thinking I'll not go out tonight but I'll just wait until daylight. hmmm. maybe I am just getting older and don't feel like making the effort or maybe?????
Anyway, I picked up a newspaper on my visit into Istanbul this time and even though I have been there many times, I was a tad bit or somewhat affected by one of the lead stories. The story claimed that Turkey has slipped in its "narrowing of the gender gap" As I was reading it, the article stated that at one point Turkey had been 102nd out of 164 countries in their treatment of women: equility in the work place, equility in voting, in goverment, in social conditions, in economic conditions. This article states that now Turkey is 159th out of 164 with only Saudi Arabia, Yemin and 3 others (sorry, forget which three) being worse in their treatment of women. Wow. what a slip up. I see women working everywhere and they all look fine, for the most part, and happy in their jobs, or as happy as anyone could be when they are working. But after reading this, I had to question myself in my perceptions. What are they going through? What is they day like if they know they will not have a chance at a better job or more money? And I was a little shook to think that I stroll through the streets without a care in the world other than to get a good bargain when should anything happen, will my own citizenship protect me even as a woman? It really does give one pause and now I am in another Muslim country and I find myself thinking I'll not go out tonight but I'll just wait until daylight. hmmm. maybe I am just getting older and don't feel like making the effort or maybe?????
airport lounges & waits
Had to take the early shuttle to get a free ride back to the airport this morning so ended up being early - AGAIN. I have been early enough to almost every airport on this trip so that I am waiting for the check in counter to open. My husband would love to just show up an hour ahead of time and then stroll through the business check in and to the gate. Nowadays, that's just about impossible to do in just an hour. Some places are saying you need to be at the airport 3 hours ahead of your flight now but whenever I have followed that advice, the counter isn't open yet. Usually the airlines can get you checked in quickly but sometimes the security and passport lines are ridiculously long. Thus, I end up spending a lot of time at airports doing nothing but sitting or standing around and waiting for someone to come, something to open, some line to move.
My first flight was from Indianapolis to Chicago, either at age 5 or 7, don't remember which, but it was a big deal and the whole family and friends walked down to the gate, waved madly to see us off and then it was a repeat when we returned. Those days you could hardly walk into the terminal through the hordes of people waiting to greet returning passengers. Now this line has been moved to the baggage claim exit . Likewise friends seeing other people leave line up at the "passengers only beyond this point" site so that you have to struggle through that mess of people to get to the bored "checker of documents". Back then you got to the airport maybe 1/2 hour before you had to get on the plane, never worried that your bag would not arrive at the same destination or the same time as you, and didn't need to check your pockets for matches, lighters, pocket knives, bottles of water or whatever. It is really sad and unfortunate that those days are long behind us.
I'm through almost half of my flights and with the exception of the flights within Australia and to and from Fiji, the rest of my flights are business class. Yippee. I so do love business class. At the moment, I'm in the lounge and I don't have to find a plug, don't have to hope that I can get internet access without it costing me a 24 hour fee which I'll never use, and I can have drinks and snacks while I work. How great is that. Today I fly Qatar Airways but in Istanbul they don't have their own lounge so I am in the British Airways lounge. Oddly enough, I am the only one in here besides the desk attendant. I don't think I have ever been alone in a lounge before and they don't have the best of food here either. that's a disappointment but I have managed to find enough for a nice breakfast and a couple of snacks to take along.
My luggage has grown to almost 24 kilograms so it's nice to be business. Somewhere in Australia, I will have to mail some of that stuff home. So now I am just kicking back, relaxing, and enjoying the solitude and ambience. Write you from Qatar.
My first flight was from Indianapolis to Chicago, either at age 5 or 7, don't remember which, but it was a big deal and the whole family and friends walked down to the gate, waved madly to see us off and then it was a repeat when we returned. Those days you could hardly walk into the terminal through the hordes of people waiting to greet returning passengers. Now this line has been moved to the baggage claim exit . Likewise friends seeing other people leave line up at the "passengers only beyond this point" site so that you have to struggle through that mess of people to get to the bored "checker of documents". Back then you got to the airport maybe 1/2 hour before you had to get on the plane, never worried that your bag would not arrive at the same destination or the same time as you, and didn't need to check your pockets for matches, lighters, pocket knives, bottles of water or whatever. It is really sad and unfortunate that those days are long behind us.
I'm through almost half of my flights and with the exception of the flights within Australia and to and from Fiji, the rest of my flights are business class. Yippee. I so do love business class. At the moment, I'm in the lounge and I don't have to find a plug, don't have to hope that I can get internet access without it costing me a 24 hour fee which I'll never use, and I can have drinks and snacks while I work. How great is that. Today I fly Qatar Airways but in Istanbul they don't have their own lounge so I am in the British Airways lounge. Oddly enough, I am the only one in here besides the desk attendant. I don't think I have ever been alone in a lounge before and they don't have the best of food here either. that's a disappointment but I have managed to find enough for a nice breakfast and a couple of snacks to take along.
My luggage has grown to almost 24 kilograms so it's nice to be business. Somewhere in Australia, I will have to mail some of that stuff home. So now I am just kicking back, relaxing, and enjoying the solitude and ambience. Write you from Qatar.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Getting out of town
Had a bit of time to wander around this morning before the driver came to take me to the airport. Went down to the promenade and walked a bit watching people fish, watching the vendors open their kiosks for the day. But I've already mentioned all of that. Finally found some fruit to get for a snack and then back to the apartment to shower, pack, and write a bit before 1p.m., my pickup time.
My driver was right on time and I returned the keys, hit the bathroom, and away we went. In 2000, my daughter and I traveled by bus from Kathmandu, Nepal to Lhasa, Tibet. It was not a ride for the fainthearted! Becasue of the altitude, you must drink a lot of water and because of the bouncing bus, you have to pee all the time. I think in the first 4 hours on the first day of travel, we must have stopped about every half hour to "find a bush". That's how I felt today! We hadn't been in the car 20 minutes when he stopped to get gas and I ran to the bathroom. I though I could surely make it to the airport now but in another half hour, I had to stop again! I did make it the rest of the way but as soon as he gave me my suitcase and said goodbye, I was into the bathroom again. wow, didn't think I had drank that much water. In my defence, it was a bumpy road.
Simferopol is a small airport. There were several flights listed but I think there is only one set of attendants. They were checking in the Moscow flight when I arrived. They finished that, closed up shop, ran over to the domestic terminal and checked in the Kiev flight. Soon as they were done with that, it was back to our small building and check in the Istanbul flight. These ladies must have been exhausted. I've already discussed how they haven't turned on the heat in the Crimea yet. The heat was not turned on in the airport either. Dang it was cold in there. I had chosen not to wear my long underwear today but I was thinking of getting it out and putting it on again. Finally, I was able to move into the departure lounge where it was a tiny bit warmer but no one was removing their coats.
As we are waiting for our flights, there was a beautiful sunset. hmmm. I've always heard that sunsets are spectacular after a nuclear explosion. I remembered passing a power plant coming into town with two rather large distinctive cooling towers. i certainly hope there is not a bunch of radioactive particles floating around causing this gorgeous sunset. It is the Ukraine after all (shades of Chernobyl).
finally it is time to board and as we run ouside and across the tarmac, it is very windy and cold. We walk onto the plane and get blasted with hot air! It was like walking into a desert sand storm minus the sand. I could feel my skin shrinking and shiveling in the heat. I had to close my eyes to prevent dessication. Everyone was sitting down, shedding their coats and trying desperately to fiddle with the air flow over their heads. Finally when we took off, the blast of desert air became something more normal and comfortable.
Not a long flight but coming into Istanbul was a bit bouncy. Dang, having to go to the bathroom again as soon as I get off the plane! Good to know the kidneys are working fine after so many different countries. I finally get to my hotel after picking up my left luggage and snagging a mailing box from a nice gentleman at the post office bank. Hopefully i will be able to ship some of my loot and warm clothes home tomorrw. Then off to a new country. WooHoo.
My driver was right on time and I returned the keys, hit the bathroom, and away we went. In 2000, my daughter and I traveled by bus from Kathmandu, Nepal to Lhasa, Tibet. It was not a ride for the fainthearted! Becasue of the altitude, you must drink a lot of water and because of the bouncing bus, you have to pee all the time. I think in the first 4 hours on the first day of travel, we must have stopped about every half hour to "find a bush". That's how I felt today! We hadn't been in the car 20 minutes when he stopped to get gas and I ran to the bathroom. I though I could surely make it to the airport now but in another half hour, I had to stop again! I did make it the rest of the way but as soon as he gave me my suitcase and said goodbye, I was into the bathroom again. wow, didn't think I had drank that much water. In my defence, it was a bumpy road.
Simferopol is a small airport. There were several flights listed but I think there is only one set of attendants. They were checking in the Moscow flight when I arrived. They finished that, closed up shop, ran over to the domestic terminal and checked in the Kiev flight. Soon as they were done with that, it was back to our small building and check in the Istanbul flight. These ladies must have been exhausted. I've already discussed how they haven't turned on the heat in the Crimea yet. The heat was not turned on in the airport either. Dang it was cold in there. I had chosen not to wear my long underwear today but I was thinking of getting it out and putting it on again. Finally, I was able to move into the departure lounge where it was a tiny bit warmer but no one was removing their coats.
As we are waiting for our flights, there was a beautiful sunset. hmmm. I've always heard that sunsets are spectacular after a nuclear explosion. I remembered passing a power plant coming into town with two rather large distinctive cooling towers. i certainly hope there is not a bunch of radioactive particles floating around causing this gorgeous sunset. It is the Ukraine after all (shades of Chernobyl).
finally it is time to board and as we run ouside and across the tarmac, it is very windy and cold. We walk onto the plane and get blasted with hot air! It was like walking into a desert sand storm minus the sand. I could feel my skin shrinking and shiveling in the heat. I had to close my eyes to prevent dessication. Everyone was sitting down, shedding their coats and trying desperately to fiddle with the air flow over their heads. Finally when we took off, the blast of desert air became something more normal and comfortable.
Not a long flight but coming into Istanbul was a bit bouncy. Dang, having to go to the bathroom again as soon as I get off the plane! Good to know the kidneys are working fine after so many different countries. I finally get to my hotel after picking up my left luggage and snagging a mailing box from a nice gentleman at the post office bank. Hopefully i will be able to ship some of my loot and warm clothes home tomorrw. Then off to a new country. WooHoo.
behind again
Have been fairly lucky to have an internet in a couple of places in the Ukraine but in Yalta, no such luck. finally found an internet cafe but the "boys" (ok, men in their late 20's but hey, that is a boy to me now, I am that old!) couldn't figure out how to get my flash drive so that I could read it and use it. Not knowing the language sometimes is really the pits. Figure it's good enough that I managed to figure out how to type in English rather than Russian. So I have three blogs to post and won't be able to post them until tonight in Istanbul or tomorrow in Qatar. They will be posted though, with the right date so just wait for it please.
mountains around Yalta
Yalta is quite lovely. I have enjoyed my very short stay here. I think it would be nice to visit in warmer months but I can also imagine it is quite a zoo in the high tourist times and expensive. Last night I went to McDonald's to get dinner and there was a DJ in the large square by the promenade. There were a lot of people dancing. When I got there, it was a slow dance and older couples, younger couples, parents dancing with their toddlers, everyone was enjoying it. Then it got lively with everyone just doing their own thing including this lady who I would swear was older than me and still I saw her do a squat and jump up like a classic Russian Nutcracker Ballet dancer. I would break myself trying to do that. It was a full moon and they were dancing under the moon and under Lenin's statue and enjoying life. So good to see that.
cat in the window
This morning, I went out early and walked around and followed the church bells to Nevsky Cathedral where ladies were rushing to enter. Then walked along the promenade where fishermen were already reeling in some small fish and waves were washing up on the breakwater. The sidewalk kiosks were already beginning to open and the ladies were under the pedestrian underpass selling flowers and the fruit stands were open. How can these people stand to be outside in the cold all the time? They are all bundled up against the cold but they sit there day after day. Last night, the drink vender was holding a hot water kettle in her hands to keep warm. This morning, one of the flower ladies was standing on a cardboard box to keep her feet off the cold concrete. The internet cafe boys asked how I liked the weather and I said it was cold and they had the biggest laugh! The city heating system does not even turn on until November 15. I guess you do get used to it and then do what you need to do to stay warm or cool, depending on the season.
lion statue
Anyway, I would come back to Yalta and I hope to so do someday when my husband can accompany me. Now I need to go back to my apartment and get packed and ready to leave. it's at least a 2 hour drive from here to Simferopol where I will get the Turkish Airlines back to Istanbul.
More thumbnails ...
church on a cliff
Swallows Nest Castle
mountains around Yalta
Yalta is quite lovely. I have enjoyed my very short stay here. I think it would be nice to visit in warmer months but I can also imagine it is quite a zoo in the high tourist times and expensive. Last night I went to McDonald's to get dinner and there was a DJ in the large square by the promenade. There were a lot of people dancing. When I got there, it was a slow dance and older couples, younger couples, parents dancing with their toddlers, everyone was enjoying it. Then it got lively with everyone just doing their own thing including this lady who I would swear was older than me and still I saw her do a squat and jump up like a classic Russian Nutcracker Ballet dancer. I would break myself trying to do that. It was a full moon and they were dancing under the moon and under Lenin's statue and enjoying life. So good to see that.
cat in the window
This morning, I went out early and walked around and followed the church bells to Nevsky Cathedral where ladies were rushing to enter. Then walked along the promenade where fishermen were already reeling in some small fish and waves were washing up on the breakwater. The sidewalk kiosks were already beginning to open and the ladies were under the pedestrian underpass selling flowers and the fruit stands were open. How can these people stand to be outside in the cold all the time? They are all bundled up against the cold but they sit there day after day. Last night, the drink vender was holding a hot water kettle in her hands to keep warm. This morning, one of the flower ladies was standing on a cardboard box to keep her feet off the cold concrete. The internet cafe boys asked how I liked the weather and I said it was cold and they had the biggest laugh! The city heating system does not even turn on until November 15. I guess you do get used to it and then do what you need to do to stay warm or cool, depending on the season.
lion statue
Anyway, I would come back to Yalta and I hope to so do someday when my husband can accompany me. Now I need to go back to my apartment and get packed and ready to leave. it's at least a 2 hour drive from here to Simferopol where I will get the Turkish Airlines back to Istanbul.
More thumbnails ...
church on a cliff
Swallows Nest Castle
Final Ukrainian bits and questions
Final Ukrainian Bits and Questions
wine tasting
Sunday November 1, 2009
Yalta to Simferopol
Gosh, I missed Halloween. Hadn't even thought about it much until I saw my Face book page yesterday and realized I have skipped another great American Holiday. And I’ll miss Thanksgiving too but I will be in Australia for that holiday and with my husband so we’ll celebrate on our own.
I think Yalta was my favorite place in the Ukraine. I did love the forests outside of Kharkov and good that I did since I was stuck in them for 5 hours but Kiev is another big capital city and Kharkov – well, just didn’t get to see much of it as I don’t have night vision. Sevastopol does have a lot to offer and I’m sure I would have enjoyed it with more time there but Yalta just calls to me. I think in the summer I might not be so enchanted with hordes of visitors, both national and foreign, but this brief visit in the later fall was pretty nice.
fall colors
Yesterday I was only able to visit two spots, the former Romanov Palace where the Yalta Conference took place and then up into the hills to the Massandra Winery for a short tour into the tunnels to see old dusty bottles and huge oak casks and then wine tasting of some very sweet dessert wines. It was good. It would be nice to take some with me but too much traveling yet to do. I will look for Ukrainian Black Doctor wine when I get home.
So another country finished and another "notch in my belt" as I am up to 126 countries if you go by the Century Traveler’s Club country count which obviously I do. Now I am moving out of the cold so I can ship my long underwear home and my husband will return with my summer clothes for Australia and the Pacific.
Livadiysky Palace
I have many musings about the Ukraine and I can relate many of them to other countries as well as my own. There is a lot of money here because there are homes being built all over the hills outside Sevastopol. Not just small dachas either but large three story homes. My guide would shake his head when we would pass and say, why do people need such large homes? I hesitated to tell him that I also live in a home of that size, albeit a rented one but still that big and it is full, no empty spaces(in our defense, our stuff and our daughter’s stuff). I stayed in apartments throughout my visit to the Ukraine so some people are clearly owning two or more apartments as well and renting them for income. And the Church! I have never understood the church of any religion. The churches here are magnificent, many icons, a lot of gold, fancy decorations, lovely shawls, huge domes and cupolas and on and on. But almost every church I visited had 3 or more beggars sitting outside of it asking for money. Why doesn’t the church take them in and feed them and house them somewhere? That’s just something that I will never understand from organized religion that they seem so rich in some aspects and yet have parishioners that are so poor. Maybe I just don’t get the whole concept. And I am certainly not used to a religion where everyone stands and comes and goes during a service and wanders around the interior to different saints and icons. I grew up where you went and sat down and stayed there for an hour or more and that was it. Well, I travel to see different cultures and traditions. I never said I traveled to understand them but I do like to ponder and think about these things a lot.
view of Black Sea From Livadivsky Palace
Everywhere I went in the Ukraine was many, many, MANY cats. In some cases, it was obvious that the cat was attached to certain people but often there are whole families of cats living outside of apartment buildings. There must be hundreds of thousands of homeless cats in the country that are anywhere from super friendly to anyone walking by to completely feral. People seem to love animals though. Most of the cats I saw were well fed and I saw numerous people putting out food for the cats and the pigeons. But I did see one dead kitten and three sick cats. This has got to be a big problem. What if the cat population comes up with rabies? This is going to cause a huge crisis in the Ukraine because you can’t walk around the street without crossing the path of half dozen cats at least. I think it drove my guides crazy as they would be explaining something historic and suddenly I would veer towards some cute fuzzy kitten. Next time I come, I’m getting a bag of cat food and carrying it with me everywhere.
signing table-Roosevelt, Stalin & Churchill
I’m really curious about the heating system. In Kiev and Kharkov, the heat was turned on for the city on October 15 so I had heat in my apartments. There’s no regulating the heat though. It was full blast through the radiators and I had to keep windows open to keep the temperature under 30C. But Sevastopol and Yalta are in the southern Crimea so their heat is not turned on until November 15. Who decides these things? Everyone is bundled up to their eyebrows when outside. It’s freaking cold in the apartment. I remember being in Ulan Ude, Russia with my husband in June after the heat had been turned off and we had to go to bed at 6:30 at night to stay warm under the covers. It hasn’t been that bad here as both apartments where I stayed had wall units good for heating or air conditioning. I had these running the entire time I was there but they just heat one room so I had to do everything in that room. Going into the other part of the apartment meant getting cold again. Running to the bathroom was a sprint there and a sprint back to accomplish my intent before I got cold.
Most people still live in apartments in this country. They buy the apartments and own them but they are still in a building with other families. That means hearing your neighbor at all times of the day and night. And there is also a secure system for each building of some sort. Yalta had the most secure system I thought but also the least used. Kiev had a door code to punch to get into the apartment building. It seemed to work for everyone but me. It would take me about 10 tries to get into the building. Finally on my last day, I was down to 4 tries to get into the building. Another two days and I might have been successful every time. All the doors have complicated double throw locks. That means you turn the key in the lock at least two times and listen to the tumblers roll back the dead bolts out of the frame. Usually then you must lock the door from the inside with the key as well. And often there is another lock that you can throw with your hand to triple lock the door from the inside. I was thinking that if there was ever a need to exit in a hurry, I’d just take the window.
In Kharkov, the door to the building had a magnetic lock that opened it. That one was cool. Then the same double lock with the key on the front door. In Sevastopol, there was a key for the front door where I had to twist the key then grab the door and pull it open with my other hand when the key clicked. And the double lock on the door. Yalta takes the cake. The door to the apartment has a code to punch in but this time you must hold down the buttons together. This works great but so far, I have only had to do it once as the door is always open. The apartment has two doors. The outer door is a steel construction covered with something that looks and feels like faux leather. It is a double turn lock to open the steel door. The inner door is a solid wood door with a double turn key lock on it as well. So it’s open the outer door, open the inner door, go inside, close the outer door and lock it, close the inner door and lock it then turn the additional inner lock. It never takes me less than 3 or 4 minutes to work these doors. Like I said, in an emergency, I’ll go out the window.
The diversity of the Ukraine is a dichotomy. In Kiev and Kharkov, I was told that people were speaking Ukrainian. In Sevastopol and Yalta, they speak Russian. There are pockets of Crimean Tartars left around the country and some Cossacks although I didn’t see anyone that I could obviously tell as a Cossack. And there are still a lot of Russian citizens living here. It is a very young country as it has only been out from underneath “foreign” domination or control for a few decades. As in all countries that have been part of a larger union, how do they become a country on their own with their own national pride and own heritage and own culture. I’m not sure the Ukraine knows yet what they want to be. Their presidential election is next January, I was told. There are campaign billboards up on the roadways and also there are green election tents around where workers hand out flyers for their candidates. I am told there will be about 40 candidates. I wish them luck in this.
Most of my visit to the Ukraine concentrated on visiting churches and cathedrals, and also visiting Crimean War sites and memorials and WWII sites and memorials. I think the Ukraine does have more to offer but I am not sure exactly what. I have to admit that I didn’t have as much time to research this country as I would have liked because it was not in my original plan to come here at this time. So I went with the tour company suggestions rather than come up with my own. As time passes, will people still be interested in coming to see these sites? Will they just fade away? This week was a school holiday for the Ukrainian children of all ages. I was very happy to see that every place I went for the historical and national memorials and monuments there were groups of school children on tour. I am glad that they are learning their history. Of course, the teenagers where much more interested in taking each other’s photos and talking on their cell phones but they will remember some of it and maybe be interested enough later to go have another look or research it on line. I guess that’s the most you can hope for with the younger generation, that they will remember and care.
wine tasting
Sunday November 1, 2009
Yalta to Simferopol
Gosh, I missed Halloween. Hadn't even thought about it much until I saw my Face book page yesterday and realized I have skipped another great American Holiday. And I’ll miss Thanksgiving too but I will be in Australia for that holiday and with my husband so we’ll celebrate on our own.
I think Yalta was my favorite place in the Ukraine. I did love the forests outside of Kharkov and good that I did since I was stuck in them for 5 hours but Kiev is another big capital city and Kharkov – well, just didn’t get to see much of it as I don’t have night vision. Sevastopol does have a lot to offer and I’m sure I would have enjoyed it with more time there but Yalta just calls to me. I think in the summer I might not be so enchanted with hordes of visitors, both national and foreign, but this brief visit in the later fall was pretty nice.
fall colors
Yesterday I was only able to visit two spots, the former Romanov Palace where the Yalta Conference took place and then up into the hills to the Massandra Winery for a short tour into the tunnels to see old dusty bottles and huge oak casks and then wine tasting of some very sweet dessert wines. It was good. It would be nice to take some with me but too much traveling yet to do. I will look for Ukrainian Black Doctor wine when I get home.
So another country finished and another "notch in my belt" as I am up to 126 countries if you go by the Century Traveler’s Club country count which obviously I do. Now I am moving out of the cold so I can ship my long underwear home and my husband will return with my summer clothes for Australia and the Pacific.
Livadiysky Palace
I have many musings about the Ukraine and I can relate many of them to other countries as well as my own. There is a lot of money here because there are homes being built all over the hills outside Sevastopol. Not just small dachas either but large three story homes. My guide would shake his head when we would pass and say, why do people need such large homes? I hesitated to tell him that I also live in a home of that size, albeit a rented one but still that big and it is full, no empty spaces(in our defense, our stuff and our daughter’s stuff). I stayed in apartments throughout my visit to the Ukraine so some people are clearly owning two or more apartments as well and renting them for income. And the Church! I have never understood the church of any religion. The churches here are magnificent, many icons, a lot of gold, fancy decorations, lovely shawls, huge domes and cupolas and on and on. But almost every church I visited had 3 or more beggars sitting outside of it asking for money. Why doesn’t the church take them in and feed them and house them somewhere? That’s just something that I will never understand from organized religion that they seem so rich in some aspects and yet have parishioners that are so poor. Maybe I just don’t get the whole concept. And I am certainly not used to a religion where everyone stands and comes and goes during a service and wanders around the interior to different saints and icons. I grew up where you went and sat down and stayed there for an hour or more and that was it. Well, I travel to see different cultures and traditions. I never said I traveled to understand them but I do like to ponder and think about these things a lot.
view of Black Sea From Livadivsky Palace
Everywhere I went in the Ukraine was many, many, MANY cats. In some cases, it was obvious that the cat was attached to certain people but often there are whole families of cats living outside of apartment buildings. There must be hundreds of thousands of homeless cats in the country that are anywhere from super friendly to anyone walking by to completely feral. People seem to love animals though. Most of the cats I saw were well fed and I saw numerous people putting out food for the cats and the pigeons. But I did see one dead kitten and three sick cats. This has got to be a big problem. What if the cat population comes up with rabies? This is going to cause a huge crisis in the Ukraine because you can’t walk around the street without crossing the path of half dozen cats at least. I think it drove my guides crazy as they would be explaining something historic and suddenly I would veer towards some cute fuzzy kitten. Next time I come, I’m getting a bag of cat food and carrying it with me everywhere.
signing table-Roosevelt, Stalin & Churchill
I’m really curious about the heating system. In Kiev and Kharkov, the heat was turned on for the city on October 15 so I had heat in my apartments. There’s no regulating the heat though. It was full blast through the radiators and I had to keep windows open to keep the temperature under 30C. But Sevastopol and Yalta are in the southern Crimea so their heat is not turned on until November 15. Who decides these things? Everyone is bundled up to their eyebrows when outside. It’s freaking cold in the apartment. I remember being in Ulan Ude, Russia with my husband in June after the heat had been turned off and we had to go to bed at 6:30 at night to stay warm under the covers. It hasn’t been that bad here as both apartments where I stayed had wall units good for heating or air conditioning. I had these running the entire time I was there but they just heat one room so I had to do everything in that room. Going into the other part of the apartment meant getting cold again. Running to the bathroom was a sprint there and a sprint back to accomplish my intent before I got cold.
Most people still live in apartments in this country. They buy the apartments and own them but they are still in a building with other families. That means hearing your neighbor at all times of the day and night. And there is also a secure system for each building of some sort. Yalta had the most secure system I thought but also the least used. Kiev had a door code to punch to get into the apartment building. It seemed to work for everyone but me. It would take me about 10 tries to get into the building. Finally on my last day, I was down to 4 tries to get into the building. Another two days and I might have been successful every time. All the doors have complicated double throw locks. That means you turn the key in the lock at least two times and listen to the tumblers roll back the dead bolts out of the frame. Usually then you must lock the door from the inside with the key as well. And often there is another lock that you can throw with your hand to triple lock the door from the inside. I was thinking that if there was ever a need to exit in a hurry, I’d just take the window.
In Kharkov, the door to the building had a magnetic lock that opened it. That one was cool. Then the same double lock with the key on the front door. In Sevastopol, there was a key for the front door where I had to twist the key then grab the door and pull it open with my other hand when the key clicked. And the double lock on the door. Yalta takes the cake. The door to the apartment has a code to punch in but this time you must hold down the buttons together. This works great but so far, I have only had to do it once as the door is always open. The apartment has two doors. The outer door is a steel construction covered with something that looks and feels like faux leather. It is a double turn lock to open the steel door. The inner door is a solid wood door with a double turn key lock on it as well. So it’s open the outer door, open the inner door, go inside, close the outer door and lock it, close the inner door and lock it then turn the additional inner lock. It never takes me less than 3 or 4 minutes to work these doors. Like I said, in an emergency, I’ll go out the window.
The diversity of the Ukraine is a dichotomy. In Kiev and Kharkov, I was told that people were speaking Ukrainian. In Sevastopol and Yalta, they speak Russian. There are pockets of Crimean Tartars left around the country and some Cossacks although I didn’t see anyone that I could obviously tell as a Cossack. And there are still a lot of Russian citizens living here. It is a very young country as it has only been out from underneath “foreign” domination or control for a few decades. As in all countries that have been part of a larger union, how do they become a country on their own with their own national pride and own heritage and own culture. I’m not sure the Ukraine knows yet what they want to be. Their presidential election is next January, I was told. There are campaign billboards up on the roadways and also there are green election tents around where workers hand out flyers for their candidates. I am told there will be about 40 candidates. I wish them luck in this.
Most of my visit to the Ukraine concentrated on visiting churches and cathedrals, and also visiting Crimean War sites and memorials and WWII sites and memorials. I think the Ukraine does have more to offer but I am not sure exactly what. I have to admit that I didn’t have as much time to research this country as I would have liked because it was not in my original plan to come here at this time. So I went with the tour company suggestions rather than come up with my own. As time passes, will people still be interested in coming to see these sites? Will they just fade away? This week was a school holiday for the Ukrainian children of all ages. I was very happy to see that every place I went for the historical and national memorials and monuments there were groups of school children on tour. I am glad that they are learning their history. Of course, the teenagers where much more interested in taking each other’s photos and talking on their cell phones but they will remember some of it and maybe be interested enough later to go have another look or research it on line. I guess that’s the most you can hope for with the younger generation, that they will remember and care.
Traveling with a Communist
Traveling with a Communist
squirrel
October 31, 2009
My guide and driver during my visit to Sevastopol and Yalta was Alex, a former Soviet Union Naval Officer and Communist Party member. He is Ukrainian but he speaks more Russian than Ukrainian and also says that most people in Sevastopol and this area are more closely allied to old Mother Russia than to the Ukraine. It is easy to see why when in Sevastopol as there are still buildings left belonging to Russia and the Russian Black Sea Fleet is still stationed there. In fact, I went into Russia just down the street from the main square in Sevastopol. Didn't know it was so close, did you? Well, I didn’t either and luckily I didn’t need a visa to stroll through a small portion of "Russia on the Black Sea".
small church by WWII memorial
He told me many tales of when he was a Naval Officer and serving in the navy on the Black Sea and also just many tales of life when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. It was all very interesting and I enjoyed the experience very much. He was a few years younger than me and it is amazing that so much was happening in the world when I could have been paying attention to it and just didn’t. It shows how different upbringings can be. My parents never taught us or showed us to be aware of what was going on around us and I have had to try to discover all this on my own and to pay attention to the world. He was raised during the Soviet Union times and was taught obedience to officers and party members and to be careful of what was going on around because someone might be KGB or maybe even worse. He didn’t talk too much about growing up other than a story about an argument with his father about the merits of Stalin. His father had fought under Stalin and been in the army when their only rations were the “sawdust bread”. This was bread made of sawdust, a tiny bit of flour, and water to mix it all together and keep it in one piece. No nutritional value at all and that was all they got on a daily basis so his father lost his teeth and his hair during that campaign. When my guide argued with his father about Stalin, his father had to believe that Stalin was a good man because otherwise his hardships and sacrifices would have been for nothing. Alex finally understood this and stopped arguing with his dad but it took awhile.
Vorontsov Palace
Alex went through the naval academy and got the highest marks in his class but didn’t join the Communist Party until he was nearly ready to graduate. They questioned him about this and possibly this might have affected his career. He served on different ships out of Sevastopol and in the Black Sea fleet and visited many different countries in Africa during his years as an officer. When he was still training as a cadet, he was put on board a submarine for a training voyage. The submarine, not nuclear, would submerge and a junior sailor would call out the levels of hydrogen to an older officer. At 4% mix, hydrogen can explode. He was watching and heard that they had reached a level of 2.8% and it was still climbing but at that time in the exercise, they were underneath another ship and could not surface. Finally they were able to surface and the level had risen to 3.5%. He swore to himself that he would never serve on a submarine.
soviet emblem over the winery
Later, as an officer, he opened his mouth once too many times to question his superior and was assigned to a different fleet. His “punishment” was to be sent to Vladivostok to serve but he requested instead to go to Kamchatka and so there he went and was immediately told to board a nuclear sub and spent the next 5 years serving on a submarine which he had hoped never to do. This included crawling out of the submarine through a torpedo tube as a training exercise to ensure the sub and the men were ready to put to sea.
Driving from Sevastopol to Yalta, you go over the summit of the hills at Baydarsky gate which used to be quite a popular spot for Soviet Union Naval officers. They’d hire a taxi from Sevastopol and drive down to the restaurant and spend time with buddies when off duty and wanting to be away from the wives. He says that as a Naval Officer, they lived very well indeed and this was a close destination and cheap.
soviet flag on the road
Balaclava, the secret submarine base that was started in 1953 and finished and used through the Cold War was something that he knew nothing about even though he was a submariner later. This was such a secret base that no one was allowed into this city without super special clearance and super special swearing of oaths to the Soviet Union. Now when you buy one of the small books about it, there is a photo of the base at that time. Alex says had you had this photo in your possession at any time during the Cold War, the KGB would have taken you away.
He was in the Navy for 25 years. He said that he would have been in much longer except the Soviet Union broke up and he was able to muster out in 1992 with a pension. They asked him to then join the Ukrainian Navy and he refused. I think it was because he was tired of being on submarines but also because he was tired of the bureaucracy and he wasn’t going to get any higher in rank. He said there was no way to get out of the Soviet Union navy. You just didn’t retire from the Soviet Union until you were about ready to fall down dead. Not his exact words but I paraphrase a lot as his English was pretty good but grammar needed work.
Early on he has asked to be stationed somewhere so that his language skills could be used, especially English. Like most military organizations and indeed a lot of company organizations, never say what you want because you won’t get it. He didn’t’ get any position to use his language skills ever but because he had them, he continued to take the test every year and received 10% extra pay for the skills. Another typical corporate example of mismanagement of personnel.
In Sevastopol and Yalta, I have seen more symbols of Communism and the Soviet Union and of Lenin than I ever saw when traveling in Russia. Sometimes I think Alex forgets that he is Ukrainian because he talks of Russia and Czarist Russia with fondness and indeed talks also of the Soviet Union with respect and fondness. I would say he had a great deal of respect for Lenin, not so much for Stalin, and a good deal of sorrow at the death of Czar Nicholas and his family for which he said there had been no reason and no written orders so no one ever really knew who gave the order. All of this came out when we were visiting the Palace where the Yalta Conference had been held. The bottom floor of the palace is a museum to the Yalta Conference while the top floor is a museum to the Romanov family and there are many home photos of Czar Nicholas and his family. He stated many times that he was a military man and he would be sure to have written orders to protect himself before doing anything as questionable as shooting a Czar and his family. Luckily for us all, we did not live in such tumultuous times as that but have only been around since later than WWII and the Yalta Conference.
At some point he left the Communist Party, probably when the Soviet Union broke up and it was safe to do so. He has never been very religious because of growing up in the Soviet Union times but he does know the stories of the different churches where we visited and he knows most of the folk lore of the palaces and the legends. He’s justifiably proud of Sevastopol mostly. I think if Sevastopol was its own country, he could live there quite happily and never leave except he does like to visit America (he was able to get one 5 year visa and has been once and plans to go again before the visa expires).
I grew up during the Cold War and was always taught, when such things were discussed which was rare, that I had to mistrust and dislike Russians and Communists. Then of course that would have included the Ukraine. I was also taught to be very bigoted but luckily that didn’t take very well because I have since had many friends of many ethnicities and races and different countries and backgrounds. I imagine that Alex was taught the same things about my country. His text books would have been very different from mine. What a wonderful world it is now that we can meet and find common ground and travel together, he as the guide and I as the tourist in this case and never have a cross word between us or distrust each other. I do hope that the world continues to improve so that someday I may also freely travel to countries which are denied me now and also find people there like Alex who knows the history and the differences and yet are happy now to welcome strangers and foreigners and share with them their life stories and background.
I've just put in some photos of things we saw together. He loved the squirrel and I have a lot of photos of it. And he was also very surprised to see a Soviet flag flying along side the road in Yalta
squirrel
October 31, 2009
My guide and driver during my visit to Sevastopol and Yalta was Alex, a former Soviet Union Naval Officer and Communist Party member. He is Ukrainian but he speaks more Russian than Ukrainian and also says that most people in Sevastopol and this area are more closely allied to old Mother Russia than to the Ukraine. It is easy to see why when in Sevastopol as there are still buildings left belonging to Russia and the Russian Black Sea Fleet is still stationed there. In fact, I went into Russia just down the street from the main square in Sevastopol. Didn't know it was so close, did you? Well, I didn’t either and luckily I didn’t need a visa to stroll through a small portion of "Russia on the Black Sea".
small church by WWII memorial
He told me many tales of when he was a Naval Officer and serving in the navy on the Black Sea and also just many tales of life when the Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. It was all very interesting and I enjoyed the experience very much. He was a few years younger than me and it is amazing that so much was happening in the world when I could have been paying attention to it and just didn’t. It shows how different upbringings can be. My parents never taught us or showed us to be aware of what was going on around us and I have had to try to discover all this on my own and to pay attention to the world. He was raised during the Soviet Union times and was taught obedience to officers and party members and to be careful of what was going on around because someone might be KGB or maybe even worse. He didn’t talk too much about growing up other than a story about an argument with his father about the merits of Stalin. His father had fought under Stalin and been in the army when their only rations were the “sawdust bread”. This was bread made of sawdust, a tiny bit of flour, and water to mix it all together and keep it in one piece. No nutritional value at all and that was all they got on a daily basis so his father lost his teeth and his hair during that campaign. When my guide argued with his father about Stalin, his father had to believe that Stalin was a good man because otherwise his hardships and sacrifices would have been for nothing. Alex finally understood this and stopped arguing with his dad but it took awhile.
Vorontsov Palace
Alex went through the naval academy and got the highest marks in his class but didn’t join the Communist Party until he was nearly ready to graduate. They questioned him about this and possibly this might have affected his career. He served on different ships out of Sevastopol and in the Black Sea fleet and visited many different countries in Africa during his years as an officer. When he was still training as a cadet, he was put on board a submarine for a training voyage. The submarine, not nuclear, would submerge and a junior sailor would call out the levels of hydrogen to an older officer. At 4% mix, hydrogen can explode. He was watching and heard that they had reached a level of 2.8% and it was still climbing but at that time in the exercise, they were underneath another ship and could not surface. Finally they were able to surface and the level had risen to 3.5%. He swore to himself that he would never serve on a submarine.
soviet emblem over the winery
Later, as an officer, he opened his mouth once too many times to question his superior and was assigned to a different fleet. His “punishment” was to be sent to Vladivostok to serve but he requested instead to go to Kamchatka and so there he went and was immediately told to board a nuclear sub and spent the next 5 years serving on a submarine which he had hoped never to do. This included crawling out of the submarine through a torpedo tube as a training exercise to ensure the sub and the men were ready to put to sea.
Driving from Sevastopol to Yalta, you go over the summit of the hills at Baydarsky gate which used to be quite a popular spot for Soviet Union Naval officers. They’d hire a taxi from Sevastopol and drive down to the restaurant and spend time with buddies when off duty and wanting to be away from the wives. He says that as a Naval Officer, they lived very well indeed and this was a close destination and cheap.
soviet flag on the road
Balaclava, the secret submarine base that was started in 1953 and finished and used through the Cold War was something that he knew nothing about even though he was a submariner later. This was such a secret base that no one was allowed into this city without super special clearance and super special swearing of oaths to the Soviet Union. Now when you buy one of the small books about it, there is a photo of the base at that time. Alex says had you had this photo in your possession at any time during the Cold War, the KGB would have taken you away.
He was in the Navy for 25 years. He said that he would have been in much longer except the Soviet Union broke up and he was able to muster out in 1992 with a pension. They asked him to then join the Ukrainian Navy and he refused. I think it was because he was tired of being on submarines but also because he was tired of the bureaucracy and he wasn’t going to get any higher in rank. He said there was no way to get out of the Soviet Union navy. You just didn’t retire from the Soviet Union until you were about ready to fall down dead. Not his exact words but I paraphrase a lot as his English was pretty good but grammar needed work.
Early on he has asked to be stationed somewhere so that his language skills could be used, especially English. Like most military organizations and indeed a lot of company organizations, never say what you want because you won’t get it. He didn’t’ get any position to use his language skills ever but because he had them, he continued to take the test every year and received 10% extra pay for the skills. Another typical corporate example of mismanagement of personnel.
In Sevastopol and Yalta, I have seen more symbols of Communism and the Soviet Union and of Lenin than I ever saw when traveling in Russia. Sometimes I think Alex forgets that he is Ukrainian because he talks of Russia and Czarist Russia with fondness and indeed talks also of the Soviet Union with respect and fondness. I would say he had a great deal of respect for Lenin, not so much for Stalin, and a good deal of sorrow at the death of Czar Nicholas and his family for which he said there had been no reason and no written orders so no one ever really knew who gave the order. All of this came out when we were visiting the Palace where the Yalta Conference had been held. The bottom floor of the palace is a museum to the Yalta Conference while the top floor is a museum to the Romanov family and there are many home photos of Czar Nicholas and his family. He stated many times that he was a military man and he would be sure to have written orders to protect himself before doing anything as questionable as shooting a Czar and his family. Luckily for us all, we did not live in such tumultuous times as that but have only been around since later than WWII and the Yalta Conference.
At some point he left the Communist Party, probably when the Soviet Union broke up and it was safe to do so. He has never been very religious because of growing up in the Soviet Union times but he does know the stories of the different churches where we visited and he knows most of the folk lore of the palaces and the legends. He’s justifiably proud of Sevastopol mostly. I think if Sevastopol was its own country, he could live there quite happily and never leave except he does like to visit America (he was able to get one 5 year visa and has been once and plans to go again before the visa expires).
I grew up during the Cold War and was always taught, when such things were discussed which was rare, that I had to mistrust and dislike Russians and Communists. Then of course that would have included the Ukraine. I was also taught to be very bigoted but luckily that didn’t take very well because I have since had many friends of many ethnicities and races and different countries and backgrounds. I imagine that Alex was taught the same things about my country. His text books would have been very different from mine. What a wonderful world it is now that we can meet and find common ground and travel together, he as the guide and I as the tourist in this case and never have a cross word between us or distrust each other. I do hope that the world continues to improve so that someday I may also freely travel to countries which are denied me now and also find people there like Alex who knows the history and the differences and yet are happy now to welcome strangers and foreigners and share with them their life stories and background.
I've just put in some photos of things we saw together. He loved the squirrel and I have a lot of photos of it. And he was also very surprised to see a Soviet flag flying along side the road in Yalta
Three Weddings at Foro's
Three Weddings at Foro's
Foros church
Friday October 30, 2009
After leaving Kiev, I haven’t had a lot of luck with museums. The special art museum in the forest of Parhomovka was closed (we were there on a Monday which seems to be the universal closing date). The miniature museum in Kharkov was being repainted so we couldn’t go inside. The War museum in Sevastopol was closed so we just circled around the building to see the outside exhibits. That was three strike-outs.
Driving from Sevastopol to Yalta, you pass through the Bardarsky gate which is the summit of the hills on the Crimea. There is a restaurant there, some outdoor vendors, and a lookout. My guide told me not to look down until we reached the top. Of course that makes it doubly hard not to do something when you are asked not to do it but I managed and I was justly rewarded. The view is just incredible. Stretched out in front of you is the Black Sea, the cliffs and hills of the Crimea Peninsula and below is this lovely little church, Foro’s, sitting on a cliff in the bend of the road and above a picturesque village. Snapshot after snapshot later, we drove down to the church.
View of Foro's Church from Bardaysky Gate
Here I got lucky, as we walked into the very small church, there was a wedding ceremony being performed. The priest was maybe halfway through the service and three couples were standing in front of him getting married. I had dutifully put away my camera before walking into the church but I saw relatives and friends snapping away so I pulled out my camera again and recorded the event to a small degree.
There were singers above us and actually I never saw them but the priest would chant and the singers would swell their voices in response. The couples were lined up in front of him on the shawls that are made in the region and so often draped over pictures of saints. Each person had a candle they were holding and each one was wearing a crown. Shortly after we arrived, the priest went to each couple and bound their free hand together with another shawl. Then he walked them around the center altar three times.
Three Weddings
They go back to their original positions and then there is more chanting and singing then the priest undoes the hand binding and the assistant takes away the shawls. Next the priest and assistant takes the crowns off of each person and finally the couples put their candles together and blow them out.
Next the couples go to the front of the church to where the icon stand is located and the door to the inner sanctum of the priest is open so that we can all see inside to the altar in this section of the church. It is quite golden and glowing in there with a picture of Jesus over the altar. The couples are blessed with the priest’s heavy cross and they each kiss it. Then they turn around and face all of the people in the church – of which there weren’t many. Including my guide and me, there were only about 15 other people in the church besides the three couples.
Three Weddings in the church
The couples are presented with the shawl that bound their hands together and they each get a picture of Jesus and Mary and the priest signs their wedding license and they get that. There are huge smiles all around. The priest leads them back around the center altar, the assistant closes the doors to the inner sanctum, and the bells start ringing. They are quite deafening inside that small space. My ears were ringing as the priest leads the three couples outside and their few friends and relatives follow and throw rice and coins on them with great enthusiasm.
That was my Orthodox wedding experience in the Crimea at an ancient church (rebuilt of course since WWII when it was destroyed). So three strikes on the museums but then an even luckier happenstance, so witness an Orthodox wedding of three couples, in a tiny church on a cliff side in Yalta. Wow, traveling is fantastic.
dome inside Foro's church
Foros church
Friday October 30, 2009
After leaving Kiev, I haven’t had a lot of luck with museums. The special art museum in the forest of Parhomovka was closed (we were there on a Monday which seems to be the universal closing date). The miniature museum in Kharkov was being repainted so we couldn’t go inside. The War museum in Sevastopol was closed so we just circled around the building to see the outside exhibits. That was three strike-outs.
Driving from Sevastopol to Yalta, you pass through the Bardarsky gate which is the summit of the hills on the Crimea. There is a restaurant there, some outdoor vendors, and a lookout. My guide told me not to look down until we reached the top. Of course that makes it doubly hard not to do something when you are asked not to do it but I managed and I was justly rewarded. The view is just incredible. Stretched out in front of you is the Black Sea, the cliffs and hills of the Crimea Peninsula and below is this lovely little church, Foro’s, sitting on a cliff in the bend of the road and above a picturesque village. Snapshot after snapshot later, we drove down to the church.
View of Foro's Church from Bardaysky Gate
Here I got lucky, as we walked into the very small church, there was a wedding ceremony being performed. The priest was maybe halfway through the service and three couples were standing in front of him getting married. I had dutifully put away my camera before walking into the church but I saw relatives and friends snapping away so I pulled out my camera again and recorded the event to a small degree.
There were singers above us and actually I never saw them but the priest would chant and the singers would swell their voices in response. The couples were lined up in front of him on the shawls that are made in the region and so often draped over pictures of saints. Each person had a candle they were holding and each one was wearing a crown. Shortly after we arrived, the priest went to each couple and bound their free hand together with another shawl. Then he walked them around the center altar three times.
Three Weddings
They go back to their original positions and then there is more chanting and singing then the priest undoes the hand binding and the assistant takes away the shawls. Next the priest and assistant takes the crowns off of each person and finally the couples put their candles together and blow them out.
Next the couples go to the front of the church to where the icon stand is located and the door to the inner sanctum of the priest is open so that we can all see inside to the altar in this section of the church. It is quite golden and glowing in there with a picture of Jesus over the altar. The couples are blessed with the priest’s heavy cross and they each kiss it. Then they turn around and face all of the people in the church – of which there weren’t many. Including my guide and me, there were only about 15 other people in the church besides the three couples.
Three Weddings in the church
The couples are presented with the shawl that bound their hands together and they each get a picture of Jesus and Mary and the priest signs their wedding license and they get that. There are huge smiles all around. The priest leads them back around the center altar, the assistant closes the doors to the inner sanctum, and the bells start ringing. They are quite deafening inside that small space. My ears were ringing as the priest leads the three couples outside and their few friends and relatives follow and throw rice and coins on them with great enthusiasm.
That was my Orthodox wedding experience in the Crimea at an ancient church (rebuilt of course since WWII when it was destroyed). So three strikes on the museums but then an even luckier happenstance, so witness an Orthodox wedding of three couples, in a tiny church on a cliff side in Yalta. Wow, traveling is fantastic.
dome inside Foro's church
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