So i'm in a hospital, on an island, in the middle of the largest lake in the world, in siberia.. The tv's on in the corner of the surgery, my translator swears he's with the KGB, & the doctor is asking me if it's true that we send busloads of Kiwi girls out into the country to marry farmers. 'Didn't r-e-a-l-l-y expect to be here. We've been in Russia for just over a week now, 20 days until we kicked out once and for all! For those of you not privy to the process, getting visas to enter the country was [View Full Entry]

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From "Hip Hop" to "Punk Rock", a shift in graffiti as we crossed over to Russia marked a change in landscape, peole, and attitude... with one common theme - they all got bigger. The plains of the steppe were exchanged for hills and mountains, stocky asian nomads were replaced with improbably tall, skinny caucasians, and friendly individual style gave way to harsh greetings and conforming leather jackets & military fatigues. It's been 2 or 3 weeks since my last blog, but when i look back it seems like months ago! So much has happende, I don't know where to start, i'm [View Full Entry]

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Apartment life getting you down? Feel like a prime rib but just can't make it down to the deli? Pet sheep getting just a little big for it's boots? - Well a Mongolian is the guy for you! He can come round, kill, butcher, and have George stewing in a pot full of hot rocks in a little over an hour. All within the comfort of the lounge (or ger) and without getting a drop of blood on the floor. If you get his wife to come round you could also expect some tasty offal sausages in with the deal.. mmm [View Full Entry]

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I'm lying on the floor of a Ger in the Gobi Desert. UB is full of internet cafe's, but i ran out of time to write before we came away. Our last few days in China were a good time, pretty slow - but what's the rush... We managed to spend a fair bit of time fucking around, shopping and packing for mongolia. Moved out of the more touristy area and experienced some real Chinese hospitality, caused a stir in a restaraunt ordering Peking Duck, and had a few beers on the streetwhile singing Hotel California and other hits with a [View Full Entry]

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So a week in China - sounds tough eh? but actually it's been relatively easy! Though I'm feeling pretty hungry and a little disheartened at the moment. While food is cheap, there's only so much appeal day old cooked meat on the street can actually hold. I haven't seen any sweet and sour pork or chicken cashew nuts yet. I realised today I hadn't eaten any dairy since i got here so figured cheese and crackers and yoghurt might pick me up.. only what cheese there is in the supermarket comes processed and packaged in thin strips, and when i found [View Full Entry]

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China eh? crazy place.. but perfectly survivable. Our last night in Hong Kong was a bit of a blowout - great fun but completely ruined whatever there was of the next day. Luckily our flight wasn't till 5pm, no-one was in any state to get out of bed until well after lunch. as it was a Friday and Will could finally have the next day off work he tok us down to the main ex-pat "strip" in the city to catch up with some mates. Once again the unofficial rich tax was in effect and beers over the bar were even [View Full Entry]

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Man these days have been pretty crazy! Really overwhelmingly claustrophobic/depressing/exciting.... the smog has gone now but it's still notably harder to breathe in the city than in the hills around it. This is really a island of two classes with a huge gap between them, everyone who can afford to drive sits in a nicely air conditioned merc or beamer, and everyone else lives in a dirty concrete jungle with no plants and dripping air conditioners. We didn't realy realise until we got out of the city and into the "'burbs" and then even weirder into the countryside where people live [View Full Entry]

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flight was choice and long and GnT went down a treat :) I am currently sweating like a bitch in 36deg... see pained grin in attached photo.. HGB is faring worse, complaining of polluted lungs, headaches, and unbearable heat. Just been crising round HK on foot today - it's fuckin smoggy as the chinese factory city that makes your nice shoes and new T-shirt is upwind and the polyester residue is drifting over. It loks loke it's clearing - everyone says it'll clear - then they charge you 60c for a bottled water and $22 to copy a cd (having trouble [View Full Entry]

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