2010年7月： 隐士卢博物馆， 圣彼得堡， 俄罗斯

7月1日来到圣彼得堡是挺好康的， 因为Hermitage博物馆每个月的第一个星期四都免费开放参观， 所以门票也给省了。
Hermitage取其词根Hermit被译为隐士卢博物馆。 我搞不清楚为什么这般翻译， 因为Hermitage是好大的建筑群，就在圣彼得堡市区， 很难想象会有隐士会挑这么一个地方隐居。
第一次认识Hermitage是从一部叫 Russian Ark 的俄语电影。电影故事发生在Hermitage， 当时看了觉得这地方好棒好漂亮(我非好傻好天真)， 有机会该给他去看看。这一次到俄罗斯，必看的景点之一便是Hermitage。

可是到隐士卢之前先得把青年宿舍给找到。圣彼得堡Hostel Pilau 就在圣彼得堡最繁华的NevskyProspect大街的后巷中， 可他们的网站地图把一个叫Five Corners的地方当地标。 Five Corners 好死不死是个五条街道汇合的地方。出了地下铁， Five Corners 是找到了， 可五条街像是一道选择题， 不知Hostel Pilau 是在哪条街上。 找了半天没找着， 而且当天正是不想ask for direcion的心情。 还好在还没抓狂前Hostelling Internaional的标志出现在面前。
和莫斯科的hostel一样，接待处并不在底层。厚厚的大门旁有几个对讲机。正在犹豫该按那个对讲机时，身旁的俄国人或许从我肩上的背包猜到我在找什么，非常淡漠的指了指hostel的对讲机后便走开。来到俄罗斯快一周了，发现这就是他们助人的态度：愿意助人，但不特别表现得太热心。更准确的说是： 特别表现得不太热心。刚给我‘指路’的人如此，地铁站出口帮我拉门的人如此，便利店开口和我说英语的噢巴桑也是如此。
他们可以不帮我指路，不给我拉门或(如出了名的法国人一样)不和我说英语，可是他们都做了，只是特意表现得不热心。 我猜是不是因为他们曾经长期生活在共产主义下，身边都有给KGB打小报告的密探， 所以即使人性本善也不敢张扬。

进入hostel发现柜台后的美眉和莫斯科的大不相同。相对莫斯科的鼻环，黑指甲油Gothic风打扮， 圣彼得堡是白白净净的， 话也不多， 有一句答一句的。 这里的住客也大不相同。 相对莫斯科像联合国一般来自各地的人种， 圣彼得堡的几乎都是俄国人。 我隔壁房的像是和老师一起出游的一班小学生， 各个光着上身准备轮流洗澡。这年头住进Youth Hostel像我一样的老头儿多的是， 小学生还是头一遭碰到。
我的八人房， 只住了另外一个人， 也是个俄国人。 握了手， 自我介绍后， 发现他从Smolenskiy市过来， 也是想到Hermitage看看。 那就一起走呗。 在通往Hermitage的Nevsky Prospect 路上， 他发现护照留在hostel， 要回头去拿， 要我在街上等着。 我本想我可以自己往Hermitage走， 不必等他。 后来想想， 他应该是觉得有必要尽地主之仪， 把我带到Hermitage去。15分钟后， 他气喘喘得带着护照回来了。
我们继续往Hermitage走， 一路上他尽力以英语向我介绍Nevsky Prospect。 到了Hermitage他到柜台问了问， 然后笑容满面的回来告诉我： 今天入场免费！！
我们一开始一起参观埃及展厅， 可没多久便走散了。 也还好， Hermitage 太大了， 能看的太多了， 还是个看个的好些。
Amazing Race 有到过 Hermitage,那时有个画面， 就一栋楼的一层的一个厅就容得下十多台三脚大钢琴。 本来想到柜台要张地图，选几个厅参观。 后来发现实在太大了，没办法， 还是漫无目的的边走边看实在些。 我从下午三点入门， 七点闭馆离开， 看到的有的没的还真多：
西洋雕像当然少不了，
洋画也一堆，



















东洋画也找得着 （其实除了洋人，馆内的日本，华人，韩国游客也很多），
有些展厅陈列品并不多， 因为展厅的富丽堂皇就是主角，
也有前沙皇王室的家居陈列重现。 总之， 没有一样是IKEA买来的。

Railroad MP3: Part the Five

Click here for Part the Four

末班車

主唱：蕭煌奇
作曲：李偉菘
填詞：馬嵩惟

空著手　猶如你來的時候
緊皺的額頭　終於再沒有苦痛
走得太累了　眼皮難免會沉重
你沒錯　是應該回家坐坐　

鳴笛聲　悄悄地刺進耳朵
這一次揮手　恐怕再沒機會問候
最後一遍了　換你躲進我雙肘
像靠在　曾搖動我的天空

別說話　淚水你別帶走
鏡子裡的我　已留下你　輪廓上的笑容
別回眸　末班車要開了
你不過先走　深愛是讓不捨離開的人　好好走

別牽掛　約好我們再見
散步的午後　要像從前　再挽著手敘舊
別逗留　末班車要開了
路到了盡頭　回頭是爲永留心口的人　好好走





On 5th of March, the brand spanking new E5 Hayabusa train debutted on the Tokyo to Shin-Aomori Shinkasen line. Barely a week later, the 3-11 double whammy of earthquake and tsunami put a halt to it.

On April 25, 45 days after the March 11 earthquake disaster, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) restarted services on the Tohoku bullet train line between Tokyo and Sendai.

All that was left then, was the stretch between Sendai and Ichinoseki, in Iwate prefecture.
Shinkasen services on that stretch was restarted on the 29th, 49 days after the earthquake. With that, the Shinkasen services on the entire stretch of the Japanese archipalego, north from Shin-Aomori eki and south to Kagoshima
Chuo eki, were restarted.









The media attached great significance to this, as the re-openning of the line is a symbol of both Tohoku's and Japan's recovery from the disaster.

Sadly, some of the local lines hugging the coastline of the badly-hit towns and villages would have made their very last run on the afternoon of March 11.
They may never again be brought back into services, mainly because it is not commercially viable to do so.

________

July 2010: Moscow to Saint Petersburg

This being summer, the Moscow Metro ran way past midnight. I arrived back at Three Stations at about midnight, that gave me another two hours before the train.
It may be midnight, but the stations and their surrounding were brightly lit and there were a sizeable crowd in and around the stations.Took out my camera and took the pictures of the three stations. There is, right across the street, the Kazanskiy station,
the Yaroslavsky station, where the tran-siberia train pulled into 3 days ago.
and the station where I will be catching the train to St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Station:
Even though it was past midnight, the waiting hall was filled with passengers waiting for their train. All the seats were occupied, and some of the passengers have to sit on the floor. But everything were in an orderly manner, no one were raising their voice, or blocking the passage with their luggages. Some of the shops were still open, and the passengers were milling in and out, getting souvenir or late night snacks.
The Moscow-St. Petes one seems to be a busy route. There were 2 trains before my 2:20am one, and one more after at 6:45am.
Once the 1:53am pulled out from the platform, the crowd started to gather around track no. 3 for the 2:20am. Among them were some Chinese passengers who seems to be part of a tour group doing the Moscow-St Pete (and Golden Ring?) route.
As the 2:20am was on the track, I bought some bottled water and snack from the platform kiosk. Other fellow passengers lit up on the platform and smoke their last stick before the journey. The lady conductors were ready at each car to check the ticket and the picture identity of the passengers. My ticket had a typo and my name did not match that on my passport. I was hoping the check isn't as strict as I feared. Fortunately, the conductor saw it as an honest mistake.
It was a really crowded space on the 3rd class car. But all the Russian settle in pretty fast. There were on each seats, bedsheet, pillow, pillow sheet and a thin blanket wrapped in a plastic bag. Once the train pulled out of the station and was cruising along, the Russians start to pull the seats into the bed for the night. With her neck crooked, and the back of her hand on her cheek, the Russia girl sitting opposite me gestured that it was her bedtime and I should start making my bed on the upper deck, too.

Within half an hour, everyone were flat on their beds. I was probably pretty tired, and the next time I looked out of the window, it was 9 the next morning.
As I observed the other passengers from my bed, it looks like all the ladies had woke up quite early and was queuing outside the toilet at both end of the car. Some were still in their bed while other had already folded up their bedsheets and blanket.
I did the same and then went down to the seat below. Then I went over to the toilet. It was obvious why the ladies were rushing to be the first in line. By now, the toilet were pretty dirty and the car had ran out of water for flushing. The conductor was preparing glasses of coffee and tea (with a slice of lemon) for sale to the passengers. Near the exit were a big laundry bag, and before the train pulled into St. Petersburg, every Russian dutifully folded up their sheets and brought them over to the bag. Well, when in Rome...
At about 11:30am, the train pulled into St. Petersburg (or one of the many stations in St Petes). The station was a newer structure than the Moscow ones in Three Stations.
The metro station is connected to the train station, so I didn't have to get out of the train station. From the station, I took a picture of the streets outside because I guessed (correctly) I will be returning to Moscow from a different station.
Getting a ticket on the metro proved easy now that I have learnt to write my destination on a piece of paper. Push it to the counter lady, one finger to indicate one ticket and I was on my way.

Finally, I was about to visit the Hermitage museums.

June 2010: Day 3 Part II, Moscow, Russia

It seems like the other side of the river is a posh area of Moscow. I based my guess on the continental cars parked by the side of the road, and the breed of dogs the tai-tais were walking, and how no one seems to be getting on or off the bus-stops on this stretch of road. Also, the ground floor of a few of these buildings were selling what seems to be expensive home furnishing: all stainless steel kitchen furniture and leather sofas. I didn't take long before I was back at where I have started, near the Park Kultury station, but it was still too early to get back to the hostel. I decided to follow the river and see if there's any surprises in store.

It didn't take too long before something interesting appeared on the bank. It was a hugh statue, and my guess was it was one of Peter the Great. It turns out my guess was right. At the time, I felt it stuck out from its surrounding, kind of out of place. Later in October that year, news came out of Moscow that this statue may not be there by the river much longer.
According a BBC report, it was: Yuri Luzhkov who commissioned the statue in the 1990s. Mr Luzhkov used to be one of Russia's most powerful politicians. He was Moscow mayor for 18 years until he fell out with the Kremlin. In September, President Dmitry Medvedev sacked him. And that's when Tsar Peter came under attack. Acting mayor, Vladimir Resin hinted that the infamous statue should be moved. Curiously, Peter the Great hated Moscow - and Muscovites seem to feel the same way about this statue. "That's the ugliest statue of the end of the 20th Century," says Vladimir, who lives in an apartment block opposite the large tsar. A passers-by what they think of the oversized tsar. "It's disgusting!" one man tells me. "It's awful," says a woman, "It's just too huge. Big doesn't mean beautiful!"
Looks like I am not the only one who found the statue odd.

Leaving the statue, I start to find the buildings ahead familiar, it didn't take long before the towers of the Kremlin appeared in the distant.
It was almost 8pm, so it's time to cross the road and get to a metro station. This seems to be rush hour, and it took almost 15 minutes before the traffic light turn green for the pedestrians.
Having been in Moscow for three days, I find it comfortable enough to take some pictures of the metro. This is no longer the police state we make it out to be. While there are security personnel walking the platform in groups, most of them have this look like they would rather be somewhere else. I doubt any of the Muscovites would give me problem either. So far, no sign of racism. On at least one occasion, one stop to hold the heavy metro door for me.
I took the metro to Arbat station. It is right at one end of the touristy Arbat street. The other end of the street is about 5 blocks from the hostel.
The is also a 24hr MacDonbald's at the other end, so this is a good place to while away a couple of hours. I make a note of the sourvenir available here, so that I could come back later to buy them. The was one guy who was running a game of luck/skill bordering on a scam. He had a bicycle which looked pretty normal. The guy would demostrate by riding the bike pass a few distant marking draw on the road with chalk. Those looking on can pay him a fee to get on the bike, and stand a chance to make some prize money, the value of which depend on the distant travelled on the bike. He made it so simple that a few looker-ons decided to try. But somehow, once someone else got on the bike, it seemed to get rickety, and none manage to travel the minimum distant to win any prize money. Of course, no one got their 'initial investment' back.
By the time I was done with dinner at the Mac, it was past 10pm. It's time to collect my backpack at the hostel and head down to the train station.
I have an overnight train to catch to get to St Peterburg's. But not before the reception gave me a scare. She had abandon her station and left with the key to the locker where my laptop is. The cleaning lady, who speak no English, was standing in for her and kept holding out her palm to tell me to wait. The cleaning lady has a central-asian (almost Chinese) look, I was hoping she could speak Chinese, but no luck here. Luckily the recep was back in about 20 minutes time.

June 2010: Day 3, Gorky Park, Moscow

I woke up late the next day. It's the day to check out of the hostel and the only bed I could get was on a train that leaves Moscow (for St. Peterburg's) at about 2am the next morning. The hostel was accomodating, I was allowed to leave my stuff with them until late in the evening. And I was allowed to take a shower later in the evening. But with my stuff all packed up, I would rather wash up before I check out.

In the morning, I also needed to check if I could book a flight back from Helsinki to Singapore with my SIA frequent flyer miles (should I travel all the way to Finland). Because SIA don't fly direct from Helsinki, I couldn't make the check over the website. That call ended up being one of the most expensive single expense for this trip. It didn't help the call centre staff at the other end of the line kept asking me if I wanted a ticket out of "Hell's Fire" (when I told her Helsinki.) All their flight connects somewhere in Germany and that leg was booked solid. I guess Scandavia will not be included in this trip.After my shower, I went online for some last minute info-gathering. By the time I checked out, it was almost noon. I was going back to the Red Square, there was someone I need to visit before I left Moscow.

Lenin, or rather, the preserved corpse of him. In a glass coffin in his mausolem by the wall of the Kremlin.
A long queue had already formed. There was a middle age guy who claimed to be from the National museum and could get me into the mausolem on his 'express' lane'. I declined, so did all other he approached. The line moved quite quickly. At the head of the line, a small group is allowed past, who then join another line to deposit all bags, cellphone and camera (they charged extra for cellphone.) After that, you go through security check. All these were done pretty efficiently.

The group is led into the mausolem, which was wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling jet black oryx (or some other such stones.) The coffin is in the basement, when the room temperature drop a few degrees. The guard kept a watchful eyes on us tourist. I had 1 hand in my pocket and that was deemed disrespectful. I was 'told' to get my hands out with a stern look (from the guard, not Lenin) and one finger point at my pocket.
Once back under the sun, I took the subway back to Park Kultury. The station was named for Gorky Park. It was one of the place that was must-visit on this trip. The park was the name of a book by Martin Cruz Smith and a movie adaptation.
It also inspire the Scorpion's song Wind of Change ("follow the Mockba down to Gorki Park, listening to the wind of changes...")
With a name like Park Kultury you expect there to be a theatre in it. And for being the choice of setting for Martin Cruz Smith's crime thriller, I expected it to be a dense woody park where shadowy characters lurks.
In a way, Gorky Park is both, but it is mainly an amusement park. The gate to the park was a grand affair. But the ticketing by the side was three tiny windows opening in the wall. There was no long queue, mainly young couples on their date. Admission is cheap anyway.
As an amusement park, there were the pony and camel ride
...and the usual fairground attractions: bumper car each with a Russian flag,
ferris wheel,
roller coaster,
kiddy train and what looks like a replica of a NASA space shutler.
There was a theatre within, and a queue was forming for ticket of what looks like a rock concert that evening. There was what looks like a posh night club, and a food and beverage centre with more affordable items such as kebab and beer. That food centre seems to be staffed by mostly central asians. The park is green with leafy tree, there was a hugh pond (or small lake) where the Russians were enjoying the summer sun on their peddle boats. And on the park bench was a couple fondling each other.
With the grand gateway, it is obvious where the entrance to the park is, but it's not that obvious for the exit. The park occupied quite a bit of real estate and it seems towards the back, it is not enclosed and one can leave by walking away along the river broadwalk. So, it's like playing a record of Scorpion backwards...I follow the Mockba, AWAY from Gorky Park (I wonder if I could make out the devil in the background.)
The river Moscow was shimmering under the summer sun that afternoon. The Muscovites were out in the sun, some spreading their beach towel right on the broadwork and getting a tan, others were just sitting around, listening in to their radio or watching program on their mobile TV. Their was a pair of teenage boys doing Jackie Chan-parkour stunts and video taping themselves.
Along the length of the river (on the Gorky park side) were the woody park I had imagined Gorky Park to be. In the bright daylight, the Russian were jogging and rollerblading, or simply chatting and taking pictures. But the high number of empty liquor bottles from the nights before suggested that when night falls, the area may turn rowdier.
Quite a few bridges span the river along the short length I travelled. By the time I reached one with hugh graffitti on it, I decided it is time to cross to the other side and make my way back.
That bridge is both a pedestrian and railway bridge. From high up on the bridge the two banks of the river stand in clear contrast. The Gorky park side was tree-lined, while stone building lined the other.Scorpions - Wind of Change
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

The world closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close,like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

Chorus:
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever

I fallow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

The wind of change blows straight
Into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring
The freedom bell for peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me

Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change