The adventure is well under way: I have reached the famed Irkoutsk, the mystical town one always reads about in stories of goulags and exile, the heart of Siberia, the bear country, the harshest place one can think off, buried under meters of snow and thrown about by hurling winds, the place where only the fittest and strongest survive, most die of excess vodka. Well it is isn't true, the people are pleasant, the girls slim and good looking, the sun is shining and life is enjoyable. I recently got off the trans-Siberian and am enjoying the sun and easy going [View Full Entry]

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Back in Moscow ! I was met at the station by Andre, the driver that the ambassador was indeed kind enough to send. Yet again, another trip down nostalgia avenue. I am not going to bore you with stories of what has changed and what has not, suffice it to say that all has changed yet nothing has. My parents came to meet me here for the week-end and it was a most wonderful pleasure to see them again. We had a most wonderful 4 days: we did a monastery tour of Moscow until I reached an overdose point, went back [View Full Entry]

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After a most wonderful night sleep in Warsaw, I had breakfeast with the Ambassador and his wife, overlooking the garden and then prepared to go to the station to get my train to Moscow (going through Minsk). As I went down, something happened to me which most horrible people fear with great apprehension: having to meet again face to face the people I traumatised in Warsaw during my turbulent youth. I met again (with great pleasure) our old driver Marek who used to take me to school, for walks in the park and generally take care of me when my parents [View Full Entry]

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At last in the train on my way to Warsaw. I have had a full day in Berlin and find myself thoroughly exhausted. I have been going round Berlin all day, doing all the touristy things but achieved what I wanted to achieve: I walked from the Alexanderplatz away from my communist past down Unter den Linden to the Branderburger Tor - what a great reconstruction - waved hello to the French and British embassies on either side (the French is of course better) and then got thrown out of the hotel Adlon, as I did not quite look suitable. I [View Full Entry]

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I am currently sitting in front of the old Imperial Place of Berlin, bombed and rebuild as the Palast der Republik or of the People or something or the other. Quite an eyesore but unfortunately still there. I am currently actively cheering on the Finnish female beach volleyball team. They are leading the game by 21 points to 16 against the German female team (the finnish girls are prettier). It all seems slightly sureal: there is a relatively large crowd hapily munching away on their bratwursts and drinking their daily allowance of 10 pints of beer (at least it is good [View Full Entry]

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I AM OFF!!! This is it, the big day has finally arrived. I am leaving for the Far East, I am heading into numerous adventures and extraordinary experiences. I have just left my mother on the platform of the train in Brussels and anxiously await to see what the world has to throw at me. The first thing it does, to test me of course, is to stick me in a carriage full of giggly teenage americans from Texas, doing Europe in 10 days. Their main topic of conversion has so far been the cute european men and the the really [View Full Entry]

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As you might know, I have undertaken to complete a large trip and do what I have always dreamed to do: take the time to travel at a leisurely pace, avoiding planes as much as possible. My trip will take me about 5 months. For weeks now, I have suffered a worrying collection of jabs with the most interesting side effects; my passport is full of stamps and visas; my bag full of guide books and medical kit and my mind full of potential mischief which will be adequately turned into exciting adventures to be told as after dinner stories. This [View Full Entry]

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