I came to Izhevsk at five o’clock in the morning. It is not the best time, of course; I thought they had a different time zone, but it turned out the same as in Moscow, so my margin of two hours did not apply. The city was absolutely empty, I walked the streets to the centre alone. I might have taken a commuter train directly to Yanaul (it departed about 10 minutes after my arrival) and be at home sooner, but of course I opted for Izhevsk sightseeing, despite the fact that transportation was more complicated in this case. I made the mistake of leaving my luggage at the train station – but I headed to the bus station to find its location and learn more about buses to Sarapul. Izhevsk is a large economic, transport, ... read more

I admit I have been wrong in neglecting museums during almost all of my trips. I should have visited at least a couple of museums while I was, for instance, in European cities. Moreover, I have neglected all museums in Saint Petersburg except the Hermitage, visiting none except it since 2007. It’s time to catch up with them. This piece will include information about several museums in Petersburg I visited in April. I made a careful selection of the museums, representing an immense variety of topics, if one thinks of it, and hope that readers will want to visit them on their own. In May, I hope to add some more museums. I will not accompany all of the photos with explanations. It will be food for thought. I will also translate only some of the ... read more

This is an entry about the city of Ulyanovsk, the Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and a little about Maslenitsa. The title is a citation from Lenin. I decided to go to Ulyanovsk simply to see two interesting museums – one dedicated to the father of Soviet Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, and the other – civil aviation history museum. Web search revealed few other notable sights but I could not miss the Lenin Memorial because the man had played a major role in the history of Russian State. Also, I like seeing items and things from the Soviet times because I grew up when USSR no longer existed, but I was actually born in the Union. Moreover, as I thought, it would be nice to break down the trip to Saint Petersburg in two stages, with a ... read more

I make the preliminaries as short as possible: once I decided to join the 6-day ski touring of Hibiny with Club Perehod (my second trip with this company), paid the booking fee online (later paid the whole price also online), and waited. It is not necessary to explain my affection to skiing - and skiing in Hibiny Region, among rather noticeable mountains, is a treat not offered to many, though it is so cheap. In this case, I mean not Alpine skiing, but rather “ski-trekking”. In the next paragraph we will read some data about the region. Hibiny is the largest massif on Kola Peninsula, about 350 million years of geological age, its highest peak being Yudychvumchorr with 1200.6 meters above sea level; and the towns of Apatity and Kirovsk at mountains’ foot. To me, Apatity ... read more

Excursion to Cambodia 9 November I have read about excursions from Pattaya to Cambodia in advance and, upon arrival to Pattaya, during our second day, we bought this rather expensive excursion of two days and one night. Departure was scheduled at 4-30 in the morning, and we arrived at the border several hours later. The border crossing was rather remarkable, there being no ordered or restricted passages (at least it seemed to me) as one entered the border town of Poi Pet. There was some boring waiting in between, and I was informed of the demand to pay 600 Baht because my passport was not valid for long enough. I was afraid it might be more or I might be denied entry. As of today, 29 November, I haven’t still decided to get a new passport, ... read more