The Transiberian from your couch

You want to travel by train from Moscow to Vladivostok, but you're not sure whether you are ready for the 10+ days without a shower and the smell of salted fish from your neighbor's zakouskis? Here is a cool link for you: http://www.google.ru/intl/ru/landing/transsib/en.html

Click anywhere on the blue line on the map representing the railroad, and you can see a movie from 7 to 30 minutes of what you would actually see from the left window of the Transiberian, with nobody to tell you not to lean outside. Strangely enough, on the left window, it is always daylight, always sunny, and always summer.

So, chose the soundtrack (the page proposes rumble from wheels, Russian radio, or the full audio version of War and Peace...), sit back and relax.

Stuck...

Having a road accident in Russia is really something you want to avoid... more than in other countries: Russian law requires the drivers involved in the accident to leave their cars exactly as they are at the time of impact until the police agents arrive and record all the necessary elements. Knowing there is only a handful of police agents who are qualified to investigate the accidents in the whole Novosibirsk, you're up for a few hours of waiting. That's plenty of time to get to know the person you just bumped into. It's also plenty of time to face the angry look of the other drivers you are blocking, if you happen to block all the lanes like the accident I spotted the other day.

I think it is all part of the country's road safety policy, that aims at decreasing the accident rate by public humiliation. The look on those poor people's face stuck on the road is reminiscent of the look I saw on stray dogs that got stuck while copulating in public, trying to maintain dignity in an embarrassing situation, and waiting for a relief out of their control.

It hasn't happened to me yet (I mean, the road accident). I am touching some wood for it not to happen, and sharpening my defensive driving skills every day on my commute.

Happy birthday to me

Thanks to everybody who thought about my birthday and sent me their wishes, by mail, phone, facebook, or face to face... It added a bit of warmth to this cold winter. I had lots of fun in the various little parties and celebrations. A special thanks to the people who gave me a little gift, either at the office or at the little party last night. Definitely, I will not forget where those gifts came from when I will look back at them a few years from now.

Now I feel ready and geared up for another eventful year in Novosibirsk!

Ice sculptures 2010

Every year, during the holiday season, there are beautiful ice sculptures to go see in Novosibirsk. By the Ob river, one can see the ice-city, a type of city fair built in ice, with a different theme every year; and in downtown, artists from different Russian cities compete for the best sculpture. This year, we waited for the weather to warm up a bit before going there. We finally gave in and drove to the city last night once we understood that the thermometer would not exceed -25C for the next few weeks.
The ice-city by the river was built around the "ice age" theme, very appropriate for the season. I wished I took more pictures, but the battery of my camera did not like the -28C and lost power really fast. Still, you can see that the statues of the main characters of the ice age movie were pretty well done. I was impressed and I did not regret paying the 100 ruble entrance fee, even if we did not stay more than 10 minutes before we rushed back to the car to warm up our frozen fingers and toes.






The sculptures in downtown are more artistic. See the slide show below:



I believe the sculpture which won the contest was the butt-like pair of pears, but don't quote me on this one.
If you want to see these sculptures, don't worry, no need to hurry up. They are exposed until it gets warm.

The truth about Belokurikha

We decided to spend the week-end of January 1st in Belokurikha, a resort at 450km south of Novosibirsk. As we prepared our trip, and talked with others, we heard a lot of interesting rumors about this place:

1-There is a micro climate in Belokurikha because it is exposed to southern winds from Kazakhstan that keep the place warm. In the summer, they even grow water melons.

A picture of the microclimate in Belokurikha,

with the slopes in the background.

2-The website shows that the skiing is great there, with one chairlift... but at the same time, we heard from acquaintances that it is a terrible place to ski: the slopes suck and the lift up costs ca. 250 rubles per ride (ca $8).

3-There are lots of prostitutes in the street who hand you their contact card.

Myths or facts? Here are my conclusions:

1- If the wind was coming from Kazakhstan, then I'll have to conclude that winters in Kazakhstan are also cold. Yes, the weather was warmer than in Novo, but we still had to ski by -28degC in the morning. When I was on the chairlift, I was really hoping for that Kazakhstan wind to stop, because it was F** cold. Katya's nose was so cold that it built a white layer of frost.

That's Katya and her white nose.

2-The chairlift says in big letters that the ride is 250 rubles. But if you read the fine print, it says that with skis or snowboard, it is only 100 rubles. Too bad for our acquaintances who, 2 weeks ago, did not read the fine print and decided not to ski because of the cost.

100 rubles is a good price for a very slow 25-minute ride uphill, on a metallic chair with an excellent heat transfer coefficient, optimized to suck your entire body heat by the time you reach the top. We got so cold that at each ride, we had to stop for a 130 ruble glut wine on top of the hill, and then again at the bottom. So in the end, the ride up is expensive.

The chairlift of Death.

The skiing in Belokurikha is OK. The slope is steep, so it only takes 7 minutes to reach the bottom and be ready to sit again on the chairlift.

3- I did not see any prostitute in the street. I would not have been able to take their contact card with my hands frozen in my mittens anyway.

Our reservation in the hotel had everything included. After our first prison-like lunch (see picture below), we skipped the other meals and went to the restaurant instead. It turns out that the resort is nice, with good restaurants.

All inclusive meal at the hotel.

Cabbage soup and beef tongue.

In the end, on a scale from 1 to 10, I'll give the place a 5, mainly to reward their nice effort. I can't really blame the place for not getting more of that warm Kazakh wind. To make it a world class resort (as it is claimed in the resort's website), I suggest they work on the reliability of their power grid, so that 'all inclusive' also includes the electricity with the meal at the restaurant. Eating Chinese food in the dark with chopsticks was tricky.

More pictures of Belokurikha here:

Going to the market

We decided to cook big dinners for the holidays, so it was the occasion to go to the market in town for our shopping. I never went to the market in the 2+ years that I have been in Novosibirsk, because I was quite happy with the frozen pizzas from the store down my street. That was before I had my menus revised by Katya... Of course, now, I eat much healthier food. For example, this is what we brought back from the market for our snacks:

What's on the left is not rotten tomatoes, it is "hurma". They are actually quite rotten, otherwise they taste bad. I think they are called "kaki" in France, but here, we have got many sorts of them, all of them requiring to be rotten before being eaten. We took 2 kilograms of those because it is such a delicacy and because there is no concern about them perishing any further. On the right, this is our "tvorog" that we now eat for breakfast. It is a kind of cottage cheese. I am not an expert and I can't tell what makes a good tvorog vs a bad tvorog, but I was told the one we got from the market was a very good one. So we took 1 kilogram of it.

We also bought a duck from the lady butcher, and 2 kg of beef for the beef bourguignon that I prepared for the Christmas eve dinner. See the good meat at the market below.

So as you see, we can find almost everything at the market... except pearl onions, which can't be found anywhere in Siberia apparently. So I have to change my recipe for beef bourguignon.

Happy holidays!

Schnauzer's hell

I bet you probably figure that hell is full of creepy creatures like snakes, spiders and crawling little bugs... But there is another belief that hell is populated with animals that you have abused or been bad with, and you're sent to hell so they can retaliate on you for the eternity. If this is true, then I am afraid I just had a glimpse of what hell is going to be like for me... I've been bad with our schnauzer Urmik and I know should stop throwing him in the 3-ft deep snow and watch him struggle. So yes, I saw what's coming for me when we went to the Siberian dog show this Saturday. I brought back a small video of it below, but I should warn you that it is not for the faints of heart, and that parental guidance is strongly suggested before you let your children watch these puppies.

So maybe if I get my little bunny Tim back , I can abuse him bad enough so that by the time it is my turn, hell is populated with bunnies and not schnauzers? (I don't think I'll make it to Heaven, I might as well change tactics).