40 days remain until my contract is finished. The Iran hostage crisis was 11 times longer; Justin Bieber toured for 9 times longer; James Garfield's presidency was 5 times longer; Even the Chilean miners were underground longer than I'll remain in Seoul. The immediacy of the end has crept up on me, and so the time has come for final trip decisions. When I depart in mid-September to attempt (and probably fail) an around the world land bound trip, I have decided that given the absurd difficulty of securing a visa to Saudi Arabia and the state of the rest of the middle east, my most reliable route to Asia is the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
I've already made reservations to take a two-week tour through the Urals, Siberia, lake Baikal, Mongolia, and finally arrive in Beijing near the end of October. This means that I will have to crawl down through China and southeast Asia in order to make my way back to the original route. I'll cross the equator almost as I cross into Vietnam, completing one of my two trip goals in early November. I will probably fail the second goal (my challenge to stay grounded) somewhere beyond Jakarta, as no viable route from southeast Asia to Australia is presenting itself. I've not given up hope yet, but, like many others before me, I do have to start considering that the dream will be dashed in Melanesia. There's a looming feeling that the rest of the boating and training and trekking becomes fruitless if it's only for a partial circumnavigation, but we'll see how I feel after the new year.
In the meantime, having decided to spend more than two weeks on Russian soil or tracks, I took the opportunity last week to acquaint myself with their cuisine. In the heart of the Russian district (it's real) of Seoul, a friend introduced me to Gostiny Dvor (Гостиный Двор! I've been practising my Cyrillic). It had been so long since I'd had rich beer, rye bread, or potato-laden cuisine. Quite a gratifying experience overall, giving me yet another satisfaction to anticipate when I arrive in Moscow (Москва!). Food recap below.
I've already made reservations to take a two-week tour through the Urals, Siberia, lake Baikal, Mongolia, and finally arrive in Beijing near the end of October. This means that I will have to crawl down through China and southeast Asia in order to make my way back to the original route. I'll cross the equator almost as I cross into Vietnam, completing one of my two trip goals in early November. I will probably fail the second goal (my challenge to stay grounded) somewhere beyond Jakarta, as no viable route from southeast Asia to Australia is presenting itself. I've not given up hope yet, but, like many others before me, I do have to start considering that the dream will be dashed in Melanesia. There's a looming feeling that the rest of the boating and training and trekking becomes fruitless if it's only for a partial circumnavigation, but we'll see how I feel after the new year.
In the meantime, having decided to spend more than two weeks on Russian soil or tracks, I took the opportunity last week to acquaint myself with their cuisine. In the heart of the Russian district (it's real) of Seoul, a friend introduced me to Gostiny Dvor (Гостиный Двор! I've been practising my Cyrillic). It had been so long since I'd had rich beer, rye bread, or potato-laden cuisine. Quite a gratifying experience overall, giving me yet another satisfaction to anticipate when I arrive in Moscow (Москва!). Food recap below.
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