Creature comforts

I’m amazed. I don’t know what’s the most important factor, but I feel SOO good right now. It might be the fact that I’ve just had a nice hot shower. It might be that I’m in bed without thermal underwear, a hat and a scarf. It might be because I’m not at an altitude where… Continue reading Creature comforts

Rooftop of the world

In China it seems that most things are described as “The [X] of [Y]”,  so you don’t really have to be a genius to understand how Tibet came to be called “The rooftop of the world.” We’re 3700 meters above sea level, and the train that got me here went along the highest altitude railroad… Continue reading Rooftop of the world

St. Franciscus’ Cathedral of Xi’an

The past couple of days I’ve spent in my hostel. Eating western food in the hostel restaurant is the likely culprit… I should’ve known better, I guess, but I just needed a change from rice and noodles. At least I didn’t get the tourist runs, but I’ll tell you; gas pains are almost as bad!… Continue reading St. Franciscus’ Cathedral of Xi’an

Gobi

The past few days I’ve explored UB at a rather leisurely pace. I reunited with Michiel and Rick from Holland. We met in a CS meeting in Irkutsk, and had a day trip to Lake Baikal together the next day. When I left for UB, they stayed on for another day in Irkutsk, and then… Continue reading Gobi

-40 degrees

Do you know what forty degrees below freezing feels like? It means your lips freeze together when you close your mouth, your eyes and nose start watering, which again means you have ice forming in your nostrils and the corners of your eyes before you know it. In other words: you don’t go outside in… Continue reading -40 degrees

Ulan Baatar, the world’s ugliest capital?

I met my Dutch friends, and we went to Listvyanka village by lake Baikal, about an hour from Irkutsk. It was definately a huge lake, and I took some cool pictures (that I still can’t upload, as the computers in this internet cafe don’t have accessible USB). My first priority was to find a dive… Continue reading Ulan Baatar, the world’s ugliest capital?

The past week

St.Petersburg, November 12 2008 – Idea for a video piece Today I went to the Kazan cathedral again, to try to locate a priest or something who speaks English. I figured I’d try to get an interview about the youth work in the orthodox church in Piter, for my little video project, and maybe also… Continue reading The past week

Novgorod – under construction

I am currently in Novgorod, until tomorrow evening. I arrived last night, and my host is able to have me until Sunday afternoon.  This is just a small update from an internet place in the centre of Novgorod, but they don’t have an accessible usb port on this machine, so I’m not able to upload… Continue reading Novgorod – under construction