The Bloomberg segment aired!

Bloomberg TV ran this segment on our travels as part of a larger series marking the collapse of Lehman. This was recorded about 2 weeks ago during our stop in Hong Kong.We are amazed at how fast broadcast news can travel. T already has several enquiries in his LinkedIn account for possible meetings in Vietnam in the next few days. Hopefully this will translate into a job soon. I particularly like what T said - "Never waste a crisis." Of course we keep talking of how addictive this lifestyle has become and the possibility of extending our journey to the Pacific Islands. If we had a choice we would keep doing this and not settle into a job just yet :)

Copyright issues prevent me from posting the video directly on this blog. Jump to the Bloomberg page here.

Beijing-Pyongyang - Day 125: Headed to the least understood country

Tomorrow we leave for North Korea - an alien communist country that has fascinated my husband for years. It's a peculiar travel destination and perhaps a little dangerous, but a once in a lifetime opportunity at venturing into a secluded and secretive country that lets in only a handful of tourists every year.

US citizens are currently only permitted to travel to the DPRK (North Korea) when the mass games are held which is from August 10th until the end of September this year. The Mass Games involves over 100,000 performers and is the largest choreographed human spectacle.

We will be traveling with Koryo Tours - a UK based tour group that has been taking tourists in since 1982. They are considered experts on DPRK, have hosted friendship football matches and produced the first travel program on North Korea. The team at Koryo have been very supportive of letting us travel with Isaac and assuaged any fear that we had about his safety.

To prep for our trip, we watched 'A State of Mind' - a documentary that follows two North Korean schoolgirls and their families in the lead up to the Mass Games. Here's a clip of the trailer -



More when we come back.

Mongolia to China- Day 107

The 23 hour train ride across Mongolia and into China was interesting for 3 reasons:

1. We were sharing a cabin with a man who was smuggling (or transporting) an entire bike disassembled into 10 different parts and tucked into various corners of our coupe.



2. It took us through the Gobi desert - a dramatic change from the lush valleys that we had seen for the better half of the morning.



3. The border control with China was painless but what had us fascinated was the gauge changing process. The train tracks in Mongolia and China differ, so the train was pulled into a shed, the train carriages were literally pulled apart like Lego pieces and lifted up while the gauges got switched. All of this while the passengers were still in the train!

Yekaterinburg-Omsk, Day 88

We had 2 old women as coupe mates on the overnight train between Yekaterinburg to Omsk. Both of them looked and behaved like they were mentally disturbed and T who normally says only the nicest things admitted that they were "Borderline scary" :)

Of course, Isaac never has a dearth of friends to play with. We have discovered that Trans Siberian trains are filled with boisterous kids. Russian mothers are completely comfortable traveling with a portable kiddie potty which they place outside the car/wagon toilet when their kid wants to 'Go'. While I admire this kind of determination I don't think I could cope with all the cleaning that follows after the 'job' is done. Changing diapers seems so much more easier in comparison.

Yekaterinburg- Russia, Day 86-87 : Hitting a wall

If there has been a low point so far, this has to be it. The apartment in Yekaterinburg was filthy and depressing. The bathroom didn't have a sink, the kitchen stove wasn't working and the fridge had mouldy stuff growing in it. We tried to spend most of the day outside and came back at 10:30pm to find the front door was jammed. By the time we had Isaac fed, showered and in bed, I was mentally and physically exhausted and ready to ask T to buy a ticket to get us out of Russia.

In many ways I feel like I have a "hit a wall" - a marathon terminology used to describe the onset of fatigue and the inability to run any further. In large part it has to do with how strenuous it has been to pack and board a train every second day and the dodgy accommodations that make me squirm. I am hoping that I can get past these'comfort'issues and enjoy Russia with all its eccentricities.



Yekaterinburg's most historic site is the the massive Byzantine-style Church of the Blood which now dominates the Romanov execution site. It baffles me that the entire family has now been elevated to the status of saints with altars and expensive icons erected for each member of the family. Apparently the canonisation has been the subject of much debate - one side arguing that their deaths had nothing to do with their religious beliefs while the other side saying they met their deaths with Christian humility.

Kazan-Yekaterinburg - Day 85: Crossing over to Asia

This leg of the Trans Siberian journey cuts through the Ural mountains and puts us officially in Asia.

Yeketerinburg is situated on the border of Europe and Asia (on the Asian side) and is infamous as the sight for the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1918. Rumours have it that after the cold war, Soviet nuclear arms were moved to Yeketerinbug as the Ural mountains formed a natural buffer in the event of an explosion.

In the cabin next to ours, we met little Amir and his mom who were headed to Yeketerinburg to undergo the first of 3 surgeries to repair his cleft lip. Understandably, Amir's mom was very nervous about the surgery. It's in moments like this that I wish I could speak more Russian and tell her that children are stronger than we give them credit for.


A video of our private'luxe'cabin -

Kazan, Russia - Day 83-84: Republic of Tartarstan

Kazan is the capital of the Republic of Tartarstan, an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation that has it's own President, constitution and national flag. It's unclear to me how much of real 'autonomy' they have, but it seems in some judicial and executive respects they govern themselves while being delimited at a federal level.

I came to Kazan expecting it to be a 'one lane town' and was surprised to see a city with a modern waterfront dotted wit high-rise buildings, and a Kremlin which is a UNESCO World heritage site. Other parts of the old town are crumbling from neglect and entire swatches of the main street is filled with building debris.


Kazan has more in common with Central Asia than Russia due in large part to immigrant influx from former Russian regions such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Sunni Islam is the state religion and many of the mosques destroyed during Communist rule have been restored.


A not so happy Isaac with the Uzbek staff of the restaurant 'Staroe Mesto', where we had Tatar salads and dumplings, then a conversation about how much these guys would love to go to New York and open a restaurant.

And a video of the beautiful Kul-Sharif mosque in Kazan named after the Imam who died defending the city from Ivan the Terrible.

Moscow to Kazan - Day 83 : First Trans-Siberian train

Moscow to Kazan was the first of 7 trains we will be hopping on and off as we cross the length of Russia. The train that we rode from St.Petersburg to Russia does not count because the main Trans-Siberian route starts in Moscow and terminates in Vladivostok.

This was a "firm" train called "firmenny", which means that they are more comfortable (and more expensive). I was pleasantly surprised to find the train was absolutely spotless and thoroughly modern.

A video clip from the train which features Ivan - a little boy who Isaac became fast friends with.

Moscow, Russia - Day 78-82 : Beautiful yet broken

Moscow has been such a mixed bag and in many ways reflects how beautiful yet broken Russia is.

For starters our high-rise apartment for 4 nights in Moscow turned out to be a dump. The hallways in the Soviet ear building smelled like a combination of stale dog urine and body odour exacerbated by the absence of any kind of ventilation or natural light.

We also had a frustrating time trying to sort out the Trans-Siberian train tickets. The Lonely Planet recommended travel agent (who we paid quite a premium to) hadn't added Isaac to our tickets. The agency was unapologetic and unwilling to help, which meant we had to queue up at the train station to get it sorted out ourselves. Russia's service industry - tourism, hospitality et al needs a major rehaul.

The irony is that Moscow ranks among the 3 most beautiful cities that I have ever visited. The beautiful birthday cake like Stalin-skyscrapers, the golden Church domes in the Kremlin, the polychromatic St.Basil's cathedral gives Moscow such a distinct and unique architectural identity.

We also met 2 friends of T's - Igor and Oleg, who graciously gave us the insider's tour of the city and pointed us to some beautiful parks and watering holes.




Here's a video at the Kremlin on our last day in Moscow -

St.Petersburg, Russia - Day 77 : Peterhof Palace

Perhaps the highlight of St.Petersburg was Perterhof Palace - the summer residence of Peter the Great. Again given the time constraint, we opted out of entering the palace, instead just wandered around the beautiful Lower gardens which in itself took us nearly 4 hours. Our toddler was mesmerized with the Grand Cascade fountains (or "FON-TEN" as Isaac has begun to say).

A short video of the Grand Cascade at Peterhof -

Trebic, Chech Republic - Day 51: Lucia & Matt's wedding

It was pouring outside when Lucia and Matt exchanged rings. I know because I was standing outside to muffle my toddler's tantrum. The wedding was a warm and personal event and we had so much of fun hanging out with Lucia & Matt's family.

Lucia was our son's babysitter/nanny for 6 months and Isaac was so attached to her. In New York, he ran down the hall every morning to greet her. He was elated to see Lucia again after all these weeks. He has a problem with Matt - the other man in her life now, but they seem to be making progress.

I love this video of the reception - all the musicians in the band are Lucia's cousins. Isaac was a bit confounded at first, but rocked the dance floor later in the evening.



Pictures from the wedding on our FB album.

Budapest, Hungary - Day 49 : Inviting Waters

The Buda castle, the Parliment building and the beautiful bridges over the Danube light up like a Christmas tree in the evenings, making it perhaps the most romantic city I have visited after Paris. Thus far (and I type this nearly 2 weeks after I have left Budapest) it is the one city I would love to live and work in some day.

And if the waters of the Danube aren't enough, Budapest's 100 thermal springs (more than any other world capital) are reason enough to bring me back. We spent an evening at the Gellert Spa - soaking in the healing thermal baths and cooling pools surrounded by a melange of mosaic tiles, Roman columns and domed glass roofs that streams light in like the fingers of God. And all of this for a mere 3100 Forint (15 $)!!

Pictures of beautiful Budapest (and Gellert Spa) on my FB album.

*Travel Tips for Parents*:

The Gellert Spa is perfect for a toddler. There are 3 children's pools but children are welcome in other pools as well. We took turns splashing with our son at an outdoor heated pool (one of the more lukewarm ones) while we explored the sex-segregated saunas, massages and baths. They also have a convenient family changing room that can be rented as part of the entrance fee.

We stayed at Town Hall Apartments - a very child friendly apartment rental company which provided a baby cot at no extra charge. There is a DM pharmacy (for diapers & wipes) and a large playground right outside the building.

Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Budapest_from_Gellert_Hill_MC.jpg

Budapest, Hungary - Day 47: Biking

The past 2 days we rented bikes and rode around Budapest, the perfect way to cover such a sprawling city and all the beautiful bridges over the Danube. Isaac loved the wind in his face, was in peels of laughter and kept saying, "More, More, More". Budapest is especially beautiful at dusk - when the rays of the setting sun lights up Pest.













Budapest has bike lanes, but when there isn't one, you are 'permitted' to ride on the sidewalks or on the road - both are precarious and unsafe. Still, Budapest is extremely bike friendly and cars always give bikers the right of way. It isn't Amsterdam or Paris, but it's getting there. After riding along the Danube on the Buda side, we rode to Margaret Island - a green oasis splat in the middle of the river. The idea of a pedestrain only recreational island is just so refreshing - If I lived here, I would jog on this island everyday.

The bike shop - Budapest Bike had this cute 'Critical Mass' poster. Critical Mass is a movement promoting cycling as a convenient and clean means of urban transportation. Apparently Budapest has one of the largest Critical Mass Bike rides in the world - last year's attracted nearly 80000 riders. In contrast, Critical Mass in NYC is fraught with controversy, with frequent confrontations between the NYPD and the riders.

A cool video on the last Critical Mass event in Budapest.

Bringázás a Föld Napján - Biking on Earth Day - www.spejz.hu from Tapsi Hapsi on Vimeo.

L'viv, Ukraine - Day 43 : Someone's happy!

This video was taken at the rental apartment in L'viv, Ukraine. Needless to say, Isaac has been a happy camper all through this trip and has been adjusting better than we imagined.

Black Sea - Day 35-37 : UKR Ferry from Istanbul to Odesa

I was expecting the worst of the 36 hr ferry ride from Istanbul to Odessa. Pictures of the 4 berth cabin on the UKR Ferry website didn't look very promising. And, I wasn't too thrilled that it was priced like a Carnival cruise ship but looked more like a freighter.

Much to our surprise, we got the entire cabin to ourselves which made the trip so much more bearable.



The furniture isn't the only thing that has not had a makeover sine the 1970s - the wait staff still have their Soviet-era steeliness. One morning T got scolded for arriving late for breakfast!