Greeting from Central Russia

Since we left Moscow we spent one night on a train to Ekaterinburg. This was the first leg of our Transsiberian adventure. After settling into our cabins and getting used to the confined space we decided to be a bit adventurous and look for the dinning car which we found about 4 carriages down the train. Nothing entertaining was going on so we walked back to our cabins, likely causing a stir along the way with our loud and excited chatter. We all settled down to one of many naps we would be taking. After waking up, Jeff, Greg, and Johainah decided to go back to the dining car to play some cards and have a beer. That was where we met some of our first local friends and initiated the night with our first shots of Russian vodka on the train. With a mixture of sign language, using Jeff's Iphone russian translator, and the basic english words the locals knew, we had our own party going. Since weren't allowed to drink the vodka we brought with us in the dining car, and the vodka on the train left much to be desired, we quickly moved the party back to our carriage and hung out by the door. We polished off the second bottle along with the orange juice chaser and decided it was time to pack off to bed before things got too friendly.

The next evening we arrived in Ekaterinburg. Ekaterinburg is mainly a university town and lies close to the Euro/Asia border. We spent the next day on a guided walking tour of the city where we saw the Church on Blood, where Tsar Nicholas' family (4 daughters, 1 son, mother and father) was assassinated/murdered. We visited the local parliment, and went to a stone museum of a private collector. In the afternoon we took a trip out to visit border.

The next morning we prepped for the next leg of our journey, two nights on the train to Irkutsk, Siberia. The two day journey from Ekburg was quite an experience. We boarded the train and settled in. A little more experienced and a little more comfortable, we were ready for the next two days. Jeff and Joh had two cabin mates who had already been on the train for two days and had another 5 days to go. They even had a plant in the cabin to provide some greenery and watch something grow! With only two days ahead of us, there was not much to complain about. We passed the time chatting, looking out the window, reading, listening to music, playing Uno and A$$hole, and napping. It felt like a real vacation of rest and relaxation was starting.The first evening on board Greg, Faye, Michelle, and Joh spent the better half in the dinning car competing at Uno. Towards the end of our match we were invited to join a small russian feast of smoked salmon with onion, borcsht, and pie which was to be eaten only after taking shots of Vodka. This time however, we were joined by the second captain of the train, a military officer who had a good living at 1000 dollars/rubles (???) a month and an Afgan Russian man who just had a baby. Russians were very friendly people, especially after some vodka, they all of sudden spoke more English and the universal language of hand gesturing. We closed the dinning cart and made it back to our cabin just before two in the morning.The next day moring, barely awake we received knocks on our cabin. It was the Russian guys from the night before. They came ready with another fresh bottle of Vodka and were ready to party at 0815 in the morning. We now can offically say Russians are crazy! We however, did turn them down…We spent the rest of the day doing the usual, napping, reading, cards, and such, and the next morning looked forward to disembarking later that day and get to some much needed showers. By this time we were all smelling pretty ripe.With the eagerness to get off, we almost did so at the wrong station but Joh's cabin mates stopped us. At the correct stop we got off, met our guide and started our journey toward a resort town on Lake Baikal in Siberia. To be continued….

NuBes' Days in Moscow, Russia

We completed our overnight train to Moscow arriving extremely early in the morning. After checking into our hotel and a consult with a tour representative we decided to maximize our free day by running into the Red Square district and having a look around. Red Square was bustling with activity from people walking around with blow horns blaring what i imagine was solicitation for tours, to a group walking around with old USSR flags having a demonstration, to a guy in a Homer Simpson costume offering photo opportunities for money. We lucked into an opportunity to visit Lenin's mausoleum during one of the few blocks of time it was open. I have to say he looked pretty plastic but nevertheless it was quite a cool experience to be able to actually see a historically significant person. St.Basil's Cathedral was absolutely picturesque! We were told that the inside was nothing special so we got a few pictures and bolted.

Next stop was to visit Sculpture Park which was filled with various artists sculptures. Faye was excited about visiting this because she remembers seeing it on the Amazing Race. It actually had a few heads of Stalin and Lenin that were torn off of statues torn down after the fall of communism. I enjoyed it, some of the work was pretty neat.

The evening of our first night was saved for a visit to the Moscow Ballet to witness Swan Lake. After 4 long days of sight seeing, some left over jet lag, and the fact that it was . .well .. ballet, more then a few of us spent a portion of this catching up on some much needed shuteye. Well, at least i can say i experienced it but i don't know if there is going to be a lot of visits to the ballet in my future.

The second day we went on a guided tour of the Kremlin. The Kremlin is a fortress in the center of Moscow and is currently used as the official residence for the Russian President. We saw many different churches, historical buildings, and got a tonne of background on The Kremlin. The highlight was certainly the armory which now serves as a museum housing many different jewels, artifacts, weapons, clothing, and even carriages. Stunning!!

The rest of the day was spent wandering down Arbat Road where we had the opportunity to shop for souveniers and artwork followed by some shopping for snacks for tomorrows train and an early turn in. Tomorrow is the start of 30 hours on the train enroute to Ekaterinburg.

NuBes in St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg is a beautiful city with a Western Europe feel. Very little of Russia’s communism past lives here. We started our day with a quick walking tour with our guide Mike (a St. Petersburg native with a strong English and Australia accent!)

In four hours we were educated in numerous interesting facts from a brief history about the city to where to buy good Georgian smoked cheese. The city is

surrounded by canals and connected many little bridges which all but one go up at 1:20AM to 05:00AM often strand people from their destination. They say if you see a bridge go up, it is suppose to bring you good luck. Unfortunately, the gang was way to tired to get up in the middle of the night to catch a glimpse of this fine attraction. Instead, we started with the vast Hermitage where we caught many masterpiece artworks. The gang particularly loved going through the abstract art gallery, we all took turns sitting crossed legged in the middle of the rooms and

tried to guess what the artists were painting. We were not very good, but managed get a few right and even did our own interpretation on one we really liked.

The next day we hit the Peter and Paul Fortress. Located by the Neva River, the fortress can be spotted from miles away largely because the gold tipped Peter and Paul Cathed

ral located within the grounds. By the time Peter the Great finished build

ing this grand fortress, the war it was meant for was over. It was never used again as a fortress, but later become a political prison. After the fortress, the gang wanted to a view from the top, so we headed over the St. Issac's Cathedral. Merely 262 steps, we were up high and enjoyed a panoramic view of the city. After walking around for hours, a rel

ax boating cruise was totally in order. We hopped on a boat cruise up and down the canals. Perhaps the cruise was a little too relaxing, half of the gang who were still very jetlegged fell asleep to the gentle rocking motion of the boat in no time! For those who stayed

awake saw the city full of bright coloured castles and palaces. The boat guide explained St. Petersburg is only sunny about 30 days out of year, so the bright colours were used on the palaces to make the place less gloomy.

After the nap in the boat, it was time for us the hit the town! We headed down to an alternative bar just two blocks down from our hotel hoping we can catch a local band. But by the time we arrived, the band was done and gone. We sat for a drink (or two, three...) anyways and chatted up the locals. Despite the stereotype, Russians were very friendly people. They were even funny! Joke of the day: A St. Petersburgerians asks another St. Petersburgerians what he did last summer, he replied "I was working that day..."

Our third day, we had an early morning despite the late night at the local bar. Tired, but excited to visit the Church of Spilled Blood, very gory name (Alexander II was assassinated here) for a colourful church modelled after the St. Basil in Moscow. The interior of this church was incredible! After a quick stroll at the flea market across from the church which included an encounter with a baby bear that someone kept as a pet, we hopped on the hydrofoil toward the gulf of Finland. More napping on the hydrofoil... then we arrived at the Peterhof which is described as the Versailles of Russia. Its grounds were massive with over 140 water fountains! All this for one dude named Peter the Great. Since it was a gorgeous and warm day, the gang took some time to sunbathed on the grass area overlooking the Gulf of Finland before catching the hydrofoil back to St. Petersburg.

Our short stay in St. Petersburg ended with us catching our first train ride on this trip! Moscow here we come!

NuBe gang's first day in Mother Russia

It's now been the end of a long day and betwee jet lag, 5 hours at the Hertmitage museum, walking the lenthg of Nevsky, the main road here, talk about sensory overload and lack of ability to construct cherent centecnes.. i mean sentences.. now that we're learning the russian alphabet, sorry if it's interferring with our english. (wow.. that was a long sentence)

Day One of our four week journey started with a bang! After our two hour flight from Frankfurt, we got off the plane to be picked up by two russian guys who drove us to our hotel (with no visible front lobby). The hotel is in the City Center, as we were corrected by our driver, it's not downtown. Our driver wasn't able to tell us what was going on the next day and after a playing charades with the lady in the lobby, we figured we'd be better off to figure it out the next morning at breakfast.

We spent the evening walking around and found a little bar that can only be described as Russian kitch at its best. We dined on our first borsch and straganoff while listening to cheesy 80's music (that johainah enjoyed) played/karaoked by a one man band sitting next to a stripper pole. Despite the jet lag and strange lone dancing bar star (also a patron though) we enjoyed every minute of it.

After dinner the gang walked back and hit the pillow pretty hard.
It's been a while since either of us have traveled anywhere new. It's a great feeling. New air, new people, and new sites. Day's are longer here, it's about 10pm before the sun goes down. It's also a little chilly. Getting to know the streets has been an adventure on its own but fortunately no one has gotten thoroughly lost. Russian can be a challenging language, especially since at first it looks like english until you get to the backward Rs.
We've got the rest of our stay in St. Petersburg all planned out with a boat tour, church visits and more walking around. So, stay tuned for more to come! Paka for now!

What’s SUP doc?

When the idea came up to try Stand-Up Paddling (SUP), my initial reaction was “that looks pretty hard, this might take some skill”. But not one to be deterred, we opted as a group to give it a shot. It looked pretty cool and I’m not one to be upstaged by Jennifer Aniston and Matthew McConaughey who are out there rocking the SUP scene.

So one sunny Saturday morning we got a nice little NuBe group together and headed out to Deep Cove for some intro SUP lessons and some time out on the water. We were met by our Australian instructor Adam who immediately took us through the basics. Truth is, Stand-up Paddling is actually pretty simple to get started. Keep your legs shoulder length apart, bend the knees, grab the end of the paddle and keep the top arm straight as the blade enters the pulling towards the hip. First time out you’ll want to find some flat water as once you start getting some waves the experience becomes exponentially more challenging. I found that out quickly, I was feeling pretty cocky once I started paddling around the cove like a pro however once we got a little bit out into the more open water and the tiniest waves appeared, i found myself a lot more conscious about trying to keep my balance. But then that’s where it becomes a bit more of a workout, which for a lot of people is part of the appeal.

When you first get on the board you’ll find balancing to be pretty simple. Getting some speed definitely helps and allows you to use the oar as part of your balancing trick. Turning adds a bit more of a challenge, but not significantly. For those looking for more of a challenge you can position your feet one in front and one in back which makes balancing more difficult but gives you more of a core workout and allows you some more impressive turning options.

Stand-up paddling is a great way to spend a few hours. It’s very relaxing and as easy or challenging as you choose to make it. We got some great sun and Faye even got to see a baby seal with mother. Both of us took a couple dunks in the water due to losing our balance, but on a sunny day like that was it felt so refreshing. If you get an opportunity, definitely give Stand-Up Paddling a try!

Be Nu, Be Proud - My First Pride Parade

Before moving to Vancouver, I lived in a mid size city called Windsor. The city is famous for being across the water from Detroit, the motor city. Needless to say, Windsor is a blue collar town too. Not to say, it has no charm, after all it is the strip club capital of Canada. I love Vancouver, because it is everything Windsor isn’t. When I arrived here, I couldn’t wait to start enjoying the mountains, ocean, weather and most of all, I finally live in a city that has a Chinese New Year and Pride parade!

I was able to cross “attended Chinese New Year Parade” off my to-do list during my first year in the city. I anxiously waited for the summer to attend my first Pride Parade. Why do I look forward to the Pride Parade so much? For the same reason that I wanted to see the Chinese New Year Parade. It is a chance to witness the celebration of diversity and culture. I love watching people parading around the city in colourful outfits and showing off how proud of who they are! It is the most loving and festive feeling.

Unfortunately, I seem to be always out of town during Pride week in Vancouver and missed it year after year. But this was the year!!! I was determined to finally see the parade with my own eyes!

This past weekend, Mom and I headed down Davie Street towards English Bay right before the parade started. The streets were packed with people, dogs and children (I guess they are people too :P). Parade was a bit of slow start, but by the time the dyke on bike (btw, that is what they call themselves, I am not being rude!) came around, the crowd was going wild over them. It seemed like the entire community came out to cheer on the gays. From policemen, firemen, teachers, media to First Nations, everyone was looking fabulous and shaking their booties! This was Ma’s first time too. She couldn’t believe how beautiful some of the transgender ladies were and super impressed how they can walk in 4 inch heels better than she could.

I was extremely proud to see military presence at the parade. But I would have loved to see a much bigger turnout like the RCMP. They had a platoon marching! Btw, they looked very hot in their red uniform. Last year in Toronto, for the first time, members of Canada's Armed Forces represented the military in Pride parade.

My NuBe Pride Parade experience definitely lived up to the hype. Tolerance and love was no longer just felt, it was heard and seemed all over Vancouver and it was sweet and exciting. I am no longer a Pride Parade virgin! Hurrahhh!

University

My mom is in town visiting and I've come to realize that we do one of two things since I don't see her all the time anymore. Either we reminisce about the past or try out new stuff.

Today's blog is about reminiscing the past. One of the discussions I had with mom was about my university days, and how I was more open in university to give something a go than I was in school. I don't know if it was the freedom I had or the opportunities being readily available, but I had a great time and always found myself busy. My parents gave me the freedom to do what ever I wanted and encouraged me to be a part of everything (except partying that involved drinking). For some reason though, I just wasn't that into it in school. I think it might have been because I would be directly under their criticism or maybe it was my way of rebelling.

University was a great time to start new things and get more involved. I started rowing, joined astronomy club (geeky I know - but it was fun!), scuba diving club, pep band and some academic clubs as well. Now that I'm in the outside world fending for myself where other priorities take place, I'm happy to have the memories of University to look back on for things I did.

What I guess I'm trying to say (other than stay in school :) ) is, I realize how important it is to take opportunities as they become available - not to be lazy or keep putting things off. I am absolutely guilty of this sometimes - but it's something I'm trying to work on.

There's stuff going on outside today and we've been home all morning. So mom and I are going to head out - which is what my next blog will be about - the new stuff my mom and I did!