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Cape Town - A Look at Africa's Most Beautiful City
As winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, summer beckons in the south. This is the time to take a few days off and follow the sun! The best place to catch the sun in the end of year holiday season is without doubt Cape Town. Cape Town's claim...
Going On Holiday? Take A Kayaking Tour
When you go on vacation, you will probably want to try something
new. Sea kayak tours are a great option for adventure that is
safe.
A kayak sea tour is a great activity for a vacation. Such tours
are popular in tropical locations. In fact,...
Ice Fishing Tips For Beginners
Did you hear the one about the guy who went ice fishing and came back with 50 lbs. of ice?
Well, if you found yourself here your at least one step ahead of this fella, that is unless you intended to bring home some ice. Ice fishing is actually...
Inflatable Boat Trailers
An inflatable boat trailer is needed if the user has a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB), since those boats have only a deflatable collar surrounding a solid hull. RIB's are regular boats in many ways. A true inflatable boat does not need a trailer but in...
North Floridian Hospitality
Interested in taking a trip to Florida? Consider North Florida
for the next vacation destination. Although most of Florida's
most famous attractions are in the south, the northern part of
the state, extending from Pensacola to Jacksonville,...
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Siberia, Russia Part 5 – Khabarovsk And A Little Russian
In this continuing series, we cover my move from San Diego to Chita, Siberia to be a professor at Chita State Technical University. We pick up the story outside the airport in Khabarovsk, Russia.
Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk is an amazing city. Museums with works from Picasso, Rembrandt and other masters. A bustling downtown area with cafes, a lively music scene and architectural triumphs. Then again, maybe not. We were far more interested in finding a hotel with hot water and never ventured into the city.
Outside of the airport, we were a bit flummoxed by the fact there appeared to be no taxis. We quickly learned that practically any Russian with a car is also a taxi for hire. After 5 minutes of egging each other on, Grae made taxi arrangements and we were off. Apparently taking in out disheveled appearance after 3 days of traveling, our driver suggested the Intourist hotel. We readily agreed.
During communism, Intourist hotels were set up for exclusive use by foreigners. Ours was fairly nice and, importantly, had showers with copious amounts of hot water. You can see a picture of it at http://www.lodging.ru/hotels/intouristkhab.asp. After having returned to humanity with one of the best showers of my life, it was time to brush up on my Russian skills.
I am a huge fan of ice hockey. During the eighties and nineties, many of the best players were Russians. In interviews, they almost always talked about
learning English by watching television. If it worked for them, it would work for me. Not exactly.
As Grae showered, I flipped through the eight available channels. Sitcoms were a non-starter, but I eventually found a news channel. I see the images. I know what the images are. I hear the words being spoken by the reporters. I have absolutely no idea of what words go with what images. Okay, let’s back up. What words do they use over and over? Damn, do they have to talk so fast? After 30 minutes, I have learned nothing, nada, zippo. My respect for Russians playing in the NHL has never been higher.
Might as well sleep on it. Yes, day three of the trip was finally done. My original prediction of a 2-day trip was out the window. Still, we were in Russia, so how much longer could it take? Pull out a map and take a look at the country. It is twice the size of the U.S.
Next – When Stairs Attack…
About the Author: Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - Preserve the experience with writing journals for traveling, hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bird watching and more. This story series is being created from journals entries in a Nomad Travel Journal.
Source: www.isnare.com
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