My first full day in Moscow was spent doing almost nothing. I slept until about noon largely for two reasons: 1)The other 7 people sleeping had trickled in all throughout the night, constantly waking me with their vodka-fueled revelry. 2)I hadn't yet realized that the daytime sky of a Russian November is apparently always grey, and so everytime I ( Read more... )

The first 15 minutes in Moscow were definitely intimidating, largely due to the many assurances I had received that I would quickly achieve victim status. I made my way cautiously through the crowds of people outside of Moscow Station. It was dark, cold, and there seemed to be cigarette smoke everywhere. Russians love to smoke. It also seemed that ( Read more... )

Although the idea of riding the rails across the vast Russian landscape may seem romantic or adventurous, the reality is quite the opposite. Hours dragged into days as I alternated between reading my boring copy of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", studying from my Russian phrasebook, and staring out the frosted window at the unchanging scenery ( Read more... )

I lay in my bunk, wondering why the train was now coming to a slow stop. I had noticed for about the last hour that there was a palpable sense of tension in the air, as the other passengers anxiously whispered amongst themselves and paced up and down the narrow passageway of the train car. Several people kept themselves busy trying to invent new ( Read more... )

The pudgy train porter examined my passport as I stood waiting patiently, shivering in the late night cold of Beijing. After reaching satisfaction that my passport, visa, and train ticket were authentic, he motioned for me to board the world-famous trans-Siberian train. My excitement mounted as I stepped into the eerily dark train corridor, which ( Read more... )

After about four days in a dirty hutong hostel, I moved to a hostel that was more centrally located- right across the street from Beijing's main train station. The change was like night to day. Whereas my previous hostel had been small, dirty, and hardly occupied, the new hostel was large, immaculately clean, and full of backpackers. It had a huge ( Read more... )

The hutong that my hostel was located in perfectly fit what I had envisioned China would be: dirty, run-down, and plenty of strange things to see. About three doors down from my hostel was a small restaurant that I ate at every night. The food wasn't particularly good, and the place wasn't particularly clean- but the owner was very nice and eager ( Read more... )

As it turned out, my hostel was located directly south of the infamous Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen Square, most known for the protest massacre of 1989, is the largest city square in the world. It is also home to the embalmed body of Chairman Mao Zedong, former leader of the Communist Party of China. He's the chubby guy that you man have seen before ( Read more... )

After loading up on bottled water and crackers, I was on the night train out of Xi'an en route to Beijing ( Read more... )

On my third day in Xi'an, joined a tour group travelling out to see the almighty Terracotta Warriors. The tour was scheduled through my hostel, and for reasons that should have been questioned beforehand, was quite cheap. So early in the morning, I piled into a passenger van with a French couple and a group of Aussies. On the way to see the ( Read more... )