Home » Russia » Travel to St. Petersburg and Mongolia (part I)

Hello my dear subscribers,<br /><br />Tomorrow I am leaving to my next trip It is not only my travel addiction, that drives me. I have to travel for health reasons also. Life in America is pretty unhealthy. People in the not so prosperous countries walk for groceries, walk to work, run after overcrowded buses and fight with others to get inside. This provides them with much needed amount of daily exercises, the natural way. Americans almost do not walk. They go everywhere by car. Every task which requires even a small muscular effort is mechanized or automated. Even two story buildings have an elevator. This, along with abandons of food produce an un-intentional result. Americans became fatter and fatter. Dedicated people with strong will, would wake up earlier and go for a jog, go to gym and eat, not tasty, but healthy vegetables. This way they stay in shape. Ordinary folks don't do that and get fat. A Stunning 70% of Americans are overweight.<br /><br />This is an unexpected result of a sincere efforts to make people's live better and easier. I did not get overweight yet, but I definitely got out of shape during four months of sitting in front of the computer and traveling between the computer and the fridge.

Travel to St. Petersburg and Mongolia (part I)

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 18:13:34

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As I wrote before I plan two trips. One trip to the South, to the Altay region of Russia and Mongolia. The other trip to adjacent parts of Russia, Norway and Finland at the North. Map of this second trip is attached. It will start from Petrozavodsk on Onega lake and continue through Zaonejie (land behind Onega lake) to city of Archangel'sk. I worked in Zaonejie in my summer vacation in 1968, I collected resin from pine tries (jivitsa). I earn 130 rubles for one month, which was rather modest pay for this tough work. But I spent a month in the magnificent forest and lived with my mother in a half abandoned but still pretty picturesque Karelian village. My wife came on a weekend from Leningrad and made a painting of the wooden church standing right in front of house where I lived. Picture is attached. I really want to see what happened with these places in 35 years. From Archangel'sk, I will take a ferry to Solovetsky Islands, another remarkable place with deep historical roots. From Solovetsky Islands I will go to Murmansk and across the Noway border to Northern part of Norway, to see fjords. And then down through Finland to Helsinki.

It will be mostly a camping trip. I already packed my backpack. It contains everything for camping: tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag and a small pot. Also it contains an outfit for visiting opera and ballet in St Petersburg and it weight 20 lb (9 kg)!!! Well, outfit for visiting theaters is just one fancy shirt. In Russia it is OK to go to theater in jeans and sneakers. It is especially useful for me, because I ride bike to theaters, fold it and give it in a bag to cloakroom, and pay extra 5 rubles if the cloak lady is displeased. After the theater I unfold it and ride away.

Cheers
Alex Mumzhiu

June 6 2003
Washington USA

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