May 01, 2005
Sakhalin: Dolinsk
Another Sunday, another bleak eyesore of a town. This time we were all hungover and tired. Lorraine and I had made the mistake of going to Koninginnedag the previous night - an event celebrating the birthday of Queen Beatrix of...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 12:29 PM
April 24, 2005
Sakhalin: Kholmsk
It is a truth universally acknowledged that one can never see too many grimy, depressing ports. And thus it was that Paul, Lorraine and I found ourselves being lurched around on the backseat of a skanky-looking bus on another of...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 07:14 AM
April 10, 2005
Sakhalin: Korsakov
I've been to a few depressing places. Sacramento was one, Alice Springs was another, and Gloucester was so bad we resorted to going to a bingo hall. The horror! But it's all relative: Sacramento was just pretty bad for a...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 08:26 AM
April 03, 2005
Sakhalin: Feet Don't Fail Me Now!
I caught a bit of Sergeant Bilko the night before we "climbed" the "mountain" and I was singing the song "Feet Don't Fail Me Now!" the entire day. I've been waking up lately with the most random music in my...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 05:39 AM
March 30, 2005
Sakhalin: Snowstorm!
Well, so much for the burning of the Spring Festival effigy bringing warmer weather. Take that, Russian folklore! It started snowing sometime on Monday night and it's now Wednesday evening and the flakes are still falling. This is the most...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 03:13 AM
March 27, 2005
Sakhalin: Easter
I had to work on Easter Sunday, but I managed to go to the Russian Orthodox church in the morning. I read that Easter is a bigger event than Christmas here, and I was surprised that there was so little...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 04:52 AM
March 20, 2005
Sakhalin: Skiing
We had a few days above zero in Yuzhno, and the snow and ice began to melt. This ought to be a good thing, a sign of spring and greenery, warmer temperatures and new life. Well, you'd think. But it...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 06:55 AM
March 13, 2005
Sakhalin: Festival of Spring
Having a festival to welcome the spring seemed to be jumping the gun a bit to me, held as it was in a football stadium blanketed in snow and attended by people in fur coats and hats. But okay, if...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 07:33 AM
March 09, 2005
Sakhalin: Ice-Fishing
I had no idea what to expect when I went ice-fishing. I vaguely imagined carving a big hole in the ice with a saw like they do in cartoons (making sure I wasn't in the middle of the circle). Well...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 08:09 AM
March 01, 2005
Sakhalin: Ice-Cream
Of all the things you could want to eat in a very cold climate, ice-cream certainly wouldn't be top of my list. I mean, really, you could just scoop up some snow and add a bit of fruit juice and...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 03:49 AM |
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February 24, 2005
Sakhalin: First Impressions
I knew Sakhalin was going to be cold. It's an island to the north east of Vladivostok, off the Siberian coast so it was never going to be tropical. But it's still a huge shock to go from 35 degrees...Read this update
Posted by Rowena at 04:44 AM