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Hot Dacha Action After the kaleidoscopic madness of the night before, we sleep for most of the day. We’re meant to be going to the family’s dacha later in the afternoon, which is about when we start waking up. A dacha is a small summer house with an attached garden that many Russian Continue reading Dacha, dacha, dacha, dacha … SAMOGON! Our lovely Yana Yana arrives from her work and joins us. She is a rather beautiful Ukrainian woman with jet black shoulder length hair, a striking and very expressive face enhanced only by her firm, but curvaceous figure. Her heart is large enough to care for the whole world, which is why she Continue reading Novosibirsk Nights: Beer and Hippies Lenin, Takoi Maladoi In the morning we each demolish a noodle bowl and then line the windows in the corridor of the wagon to watch the scenery change as we enter the city. Yulia and I exchange a few messages as she explains where to meet. We exit the train and stand waiting, Continue reading Novosibirsk – The Party Begins Being tourists.. It’s the end of our last night in Yekaterinburg and the whole group heads for Elven Nastya’s place. I volunteer to make a real dinner for everyone and we stop at a supermarket to acquire everything. Uralski Yulia comes to me, while I’m trying to figure out if the meat I’m Continue reading Farewell Yekaterinburg Lari's Tank Sexytime The day is unbelievably hot. We never thought Russia was capable of such temperatures, but we’re all sweating a lot. We decide sitting in a café all afternoon is a good idea, but visit the Afghanistan war memorial on the way there. A central statue is flanked by two lines Continue reading The Yekaterinburg Skyshow The city and its river We stroll next door into the Scottish pub and settle down for a beer while we wait for our Russian friends. They arrive a pint and a half later and, true to form for most of the Russian Couchsurfers, they don’t want anything to drink. My three wives Continue reading Yekaterinburg heights and the Night Mission Hot Yulia Action My couchsurfing host Elven Nastya receives another message on her phone and herds us all downstairs where we are briefly introduced to a large group of people, fourteen in all, who will be spread across three cars. And so it is that three Australians, an American guy, Continue reading The Endless Summer Day Sun Quan and Sun Ce So let’s meet the Wus. Actually Wu is just the name of the kingdom that they form in the southern part of the Han empire. The real surname to watch is Sun (pronounced Soon, but quickly). Sun Ce (pronounced Tser) is the ruler of the area when the Continue reading The Three Kingdoms Tour of China: Part Two “We’re stopped here anyway, just ask her to open the door!”, he pleads emphatically. “But this is a public bus, it can’t just stop anywhere.” “Let me put this another way; if she doesn’t open that door in the next minute I’m going to be pissing all over it.” It’s not a threat, it’s a Continue reading I’ll have another, please. So close..and yet so far away… I look out the window at the clouds and feel sure I wont see the Total eclipse today. Last night the hotel we’re staying in experienced a mad roaming party as more than fifty couchsurfers from more than fifteen different countries setup parties Continue reading The Shanghai Eclipse I rely a lot on my history with Couchsurfing to find me the best travel experience anywhere in the world. Couchsurfing is the website hub for a global community of travellers. The central idea is that you can stay with a local resident for free. You might be on a couch, the floor, a bed Continue reading Couchsurfing “Bir chok sok bira lutfen”, I pronounce carefully. “What?” “Yeah, that’s how you ask for a very cold beer in Turkish.” Tanya giggles then continues, “So that’s the thing you can say in seven different languages?” “Yup.. think it might be more now…but it’s been the most useful thing to learn for some reason.” “What Continue reading My Rakastani Heart |