Long trip to China, Spain and Russia

In April and May this year I've made a long business trip and worked 1 week in China, 1 week in Spain, 1 week in Russia and at the end took a ten day vacation in Russia and was able to visit St. Petersburg for the first time.

This was my 5th time in China and I am always amazed to learn new things about the country. For example, Chinese folks shop in USA because electronics, clothing and all other stuff that is produced in China costs much cheaper in USA than it is in China. Who would have thought? During this visit the pollution in Beijing was pretty strong and there could be no way for me to run outside. So I worked out in the hotel gym. The rate of heart attacks, cancer, lung diseases and other sicknesses is very high in Beijing and many people are happy to live in much smaller cities to avoid pollution. Here is a complete album of photos from China.

Next I flew to Madrid, Spain. Since I have been in the city three times I spent most of my time on work or in hotel, but one night was able to take a good tour of the city with Saglara - an old friend of mine from school days who now lives in Madrid. She and her friend know the city very well and used to work as guides, so I had a personalized tour :-). Here are some photos I took in Madrid.

At the end of the week we went to a beautiful Spanish city Toledo. That was fantastic! The city is beautiful and with perfect weather and the festival going on there it was an awesome day. Having two folks who know and love the city was great and we all enjoyed it very much. Few photos I took in Toledo.

Next I flew to Russia and worked in Moscow for a week and then went to my parents and visited St. Petersburg with my younger brother. This was my first time in St. Petersburg and I was very impressed with the city. Here are 190 photos from the 4 days in the most beautiful city in the world:

Also see 54 photos from the Faberge Museum.

Two weeks in Russia and a week in Japan

Just came back from the 3 weeks trip to Russia and Japan. This was a business trip, but I got to see my relatives on weekends. Fall is a great time to visit Moscow! Beautiful colors in the forest with plenty of mushroom hunting, fresh apples from the garden, crisp air, and great food - any time of the year :-).

On the way from the airport we drove by the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI) - my Alma Mater. With relatives we went into the forest for mushroom hunting - took few photos while doing that and mom cooked delicious mushroom soup that night. The work week in Moscow was packed with customer meetings and I did not have much time to take pictures.

After Moscow, I flew to Tokyo on a direct flight, which was delayed 7 hours because of the Typhoon in Japan. When I landed any trace of bad weather was gone. In Tokyo I stayed at a nice Royal Park Hotel and went to fitness club for a run, swim and sauna every day :-). In sauna I was reprimanded by the maintenance man for going into it in my swim trunks. My Pittsburgh YMCA folks would disagree, but this was not Pittsburgh, so I took all clothes off next time and fit in well :-). There was not much free time in Tokyo, so unlike my earlier visits this time I have very few pics to offer:

Camping with Cub Scouts in Boy Scouts' Heritage Reservation

This weekend my youngest son Edward and I were at Camp Independence with his Cub Scout Pack 36 for 4 days. This is annual event and is open for all Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.What an awesome time we had!!! Wow.

The weather was perfect - no rain, not too hot, not too cold. Forest and lake are beautiful. Facilities are great. Staff is outstanding - very energetic and super friendly. Program was packed with all kinds of cool things. The only thing that was a bit lacking is the food, but for 4 days it was ok. Kids had every hour scheduled, starting at 7:50 flag ceremony, followed by breakfast at 8, then activities until 6 pm dinner, which included geology (tour of the mine and rock search), nature trail, sports, BB shooting, bow shooting, crafts, swimming, kayaking, boating, fishing, service project, castle wet sponge fighting, rock throwing, knife skills, tennis, basketball, camp fire, etc. In our pack everyone enjoyed all of the activities. This was so much fun and kids were very happy. After dinner there was a show at camp fire and some free time. Bed time started at 10 pm. Some adults with pedometers found out that we walked about 6 to 7 miles every day. I managed to run 7.5 miles only once (on second day).

I took bunch of pictures and videos while at the camp (click to see the full album):

Hiking in Shenandoah National Park

This past weekend my son and I went hiking with boyscouts to the Shenandoah National Park. Everything was just perfect - company, weather, camp, mountains, river. Here is a photo story of the trip (if you want to see all 131 photos, then go here):

Trip to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia

The next day after the Pittsburgh Marathon I had to fly to Asia for two weeks for work. I was still very sore after the race and had to get up "almost" every hour on the plane and stretch, walk, etc. Good thing I was sitting in the isle seat. I can imagine what would it be if I had to seat in the middle :-0.

My first stop was Malaysia and it took me over 26 hours to get there, including 3 flights (Pittsburgh -> NY -> Hong Kong -> Kuala Lumpur). Just about 22 hours flying time. Not a good thing after the marathon if you ask me. And this was not business class either.  The hotel in Malaysia was excellent - with nice 20 meter swimming pool and fitness center, so I got to swim every day and did some biking and towards the end of the week even running (up to 3 miles at a time). since this was my second time in Malaysia and I was so sore I did not do any touristic things (although I had great tour my first time around). The breakfast at hotel was simply awesome! Just take a look at these pictures :-). Fresh papaya, fresh squeezed juices, and more. Yum... Although I have spent there entire week, I simply worked in hotel room or in office or met with clients. Not much outside of work or food :-).

My second stop was Singapore. What a lovely city! Very clean and nice looking. It has amazing history - breaking up from Malaysia with no natural resources and prospering to the highest degree. The city is very expensive to live in, especially considering that to drive a car there you would pay almost two or three times of the cost of the car itself for the right to drive it. Such is the cost of a small space. The other thing I learned is that Singapore is buying soil, brings it on barges and dumps it into the sea to reclaim some space. They have expanded its size by 20% and plan to expand it by another 90 sq km. Wow... This was my fourth time here, but I have not been able to explore the city much and I had one free day (Tuesday was their public holiday) and I went to see the Botanical garden. Boy - was it something! I was told that estimated cost to build it was over $1B - and I think it is worth every penny. Beautiful place. Check out these photos I took - all with my Android Samsung Galaxy S3 phone (there are 103 pictures - click to see the full album):

My third stop was Thailand. This was my second time in Thailand and because of the government protests going on I decided not to do any tourism. However my first trip was very lovely from a touristic perspective when I took lots of pictures. This time I only had my Samsung phone with me a took a handful of photos. Compare the tw:

Photos from the first trip:

And photos from this trip :-)

Ride against Multiple Sclerosis

Do you know what Multiple Sclerosis is? I hope you do not. It is very bad. And there is hardly a cure. But there is hope. This is why I am supporting research to fight against MS by riding 175 miles in two days. You can join too!

1. Join my team and ride against MS on June 7 & 8 from Pittsburgh to Lake Erie (you can ride 150 miles or 175 miles).
2. Donate $5 (or any amount you wish) to the cause on my fundraising page.

Here is the link for you to support my ride or join my Team.

I have done this before - once in 2012 and in 2011. If you want to join, but not sure what the ride is all about, watch this video:

Lost in Mongolia (documentary book and movie)

Last year I've read the book “Beyond the Horizon” by Colin Angus, the Canadian adventurer who completed the journey around Earth in less than two years using his muscle power alone. No motors, no sails – only the power of his arms and legs. He traveled total distance of 43,000 km from Vancouver by bike to Alaska, rowed thru the Bering Sea, biked and trekked all across Siberia via Moscow to Portugal, rowed across Atlantic to Costa Rica and biked back to Vancouver.

Colin has made a handful of other epic trips and written books about those. The one I just finished is called "Lost in Mongolia". Colin and his crew were the first in the history of mankind to navigate all 5,500 km of Yenisey river from its start in mountains of Mongolia, thru Russian Siberia to Arctic Ocean. They also filmed a movie of their adventures (I bought a DVD and watched it with kids this past weekend).

I like Colin's writing style, not to mention how much I love his adventures. Very powerful stuff and not only because of adventures, but also because of the cultural experiences as this human interaction is one of the biggest aspects of the trip for Colin and his crew. Since I am originally from Russia, it was particularly interesting to read about his experience in Siberia and the kind of people and support he had while being in this tough land. Fortunately and unfortunately his experience does sound very much like real Russia these days.

Colin's team has spent over 5 months on the river and had a whole lot of fun. This makes me want to take a rafting or kayaking trip in the summer of 2014. Perhaps for 5 days? No, not on Yenisey river :-), perhaps Boundary Waters?

Royal Caribbean Cruise vacation

From November 23 till December 2nd my family went on a cruise vacation (some photos can be found here). We all had great time and it is hard to say who loved it the most :-). This was our third cruise vacation - we went with Royal Caribbean on the Explorer of the Seas ship.

First time we went on a 2 day cruise vacation in 2001 from Ft Lauderdale to Bahamas. The ship was medium size, but we liked it, although the cruise was very short because the main part of that vacation was spent in Orlando visiting all the parks.

Our second cruise was in January 2011 and it was totally awesome - the main reason was that we went with our friends and this turned out to be the trip of a lifetime! Here are some photos from that trip. We were on the MS Nieuw Amsterdam ship of Holland America and visited 4 islands. The ship was great, food was amazing, islands were good, but the company of friends was the best part of the trip.

Logistics

We sailed from Cape Liberty Port in Bayonne NJ and it took us 7 hours to drive there from Pittsburgh (including 1 hour rest stop) - we departed Pittsburgh at 5am and were at the port at noon. Boarding process was super quick. Same with departure - perfectly organized and super quick. Parked car right there in the port about 100 yards from the boarding/immigration tent and paid $171 for 10 days. I did search for cheaper parking, but after reading feedback on 3 hour delays with departures decided to park right at the port.

Previous cruise was sailing from Ft Lauderdale and it was a hassle and too much cost to fly all 5 of us from Pittsburgh to Ft Lauderdale a day in advance, pay for the taxi to hotel, pay for hotel, pay for taxi from hotel to the port, on the way back pay for the taxi from port to airport, fly back, pay for parking of the car in Pittsburgh airport. Half of the cost of vacation is just spent on flying and driving to the ship. Not worth it. Better spend this time and money on the ship. The only disadvantage is that first two days are spent in sea and it is cold outside, but they ship offer plenty of things to do inside.

• Day 1: Sailed from Cape Liberty Port
• Day 2,3: At sea
• Day 4: Labadee (Haiti)
• Day 5: Samana (Dominican Republic)
• Day 6: St Thomas (Virgin Islands)
• Day 7: San Juan (Puerto Rico)
• Day 8,9: At sea
• Day 10: Arrival to Cape Liberty Port

Ship

The ship was built in 2000, but looks great, although you could see some very minor wear and tear in the cabin, but not in public spaces which are maintained in perfect order.

We had full ship of about 3100 passengers with about 680 kids on-board. The best part of the ship design is the central street at level 5 that servers as a alley where you can walk, visit shops, bars, cafes, etc.

There is a lot to do on the ship, including free ice skating (not huge, but big enough to have fun), rollerblading (very small area on 13 floor outside), rock climbing, basketball court, 3 table tennis tables (most of the time it is too windy to play though), foosball, small library, family game spaces with table games, arcade (for a fee), teen and kids rooms and clubs (free), cafes, bars, etc. Drinks are pretty expensive and there are plenty of drinkers, but I have only seen 1 drunk guy in 10 days. Each evening they run a show or two - ice show and/or evening event with dancers, comedians, etc. Comedians were mediocre at best (ok, they sucked), but dancers, singers and music was great.

Pools are fine for kids, but too small to do lap swimming. Here is complete info about all amenities on the ship. Note this is 3rd largest from the top. There are two classes of ships above this one and they offer even more facilities.

We did have some sea conditions and 7 days out of 10 you could feel the ship rolling side to side and rear to front. It was not too bad, but you could notice and I did not enjoy this part as I prefer solid footing. Some people felt a bit sick, but most folks were too drunk to notice :-).

There is WiFi on the ship, but at the cost of $0.50 per minute we only used minimum for kids to get homework from the school website.

Food

Food was great. It is all included, but you could go for dinner to extra-fine Italian Palomino restaurant for $20 extra per person (we didn't). We took 8:30pm dinner time, but it was a mistake to do it so late. It should have been 6pm.

I gained about 2 pounds during these 10 days as it was my designated recovery time from training and I did nothing in terms of running or biking - just a little bit of swimming in the sea. Misha went to gym every day (or so he said :-).

Labadee

We liked all of the islands. Labadee was one of the best among all of the islands on either cruise. They have gigantic zip line about a mile long, but we did not make it there due to timing. However we did go to the water park in the sea - climbing and sliding down large inflated icebergs, etc. We all had a blast. Food was free on this island.

Samana

In Samana we went onshore for 2 hours and paid $20 for 1 hour tour of the city on the motor taxi with short stops in a handful of scenic places. Did not go to the beach.

St Thomas

Here we took catamaran to sail to the island 4 miles away from the port to snorkel and watch sunken ship, corrals and large number of underwater sea life - all beautiful. Even my 7 year old son learned snorkeling right there on the spot and jumped flippers first from the 2 meter high catamaran into the sea! I was impresses how brave he is! Just like NAVY Seals jump down feet down into the sea. :-) He never did snorkeling, and was scared at first 9even though he can swim), so I taught him on the spot and we both enjoyed full hour looking down. Sasha explored sea floor on his own without my supervision and totally loved it. It was first time snorkeling for him and he did super well.

San Juan

Here Misha and I went on the horseback riding tour thru the rain forest for 4 hours (with about 90 min of riding). This was the longest and by far the most fun ride Misha or I had on the horse! This was amazing trip. Horses are beautiful and you can feel their power and will. Scenery was amazing and we saw wild monkey, wild iguana.

Life on the ship

My wife loved evening time as she could dress up and dress up the rest of us :-). I felt like 25% of people on the ship were Russian speaking (probably not true). Cruise director was very talented and funny guy from Australia and he said we had folks from about 60 countries on the ship (including crew members). We met few Russian speaking families - great folks. We also had waiter at dinner from Odessa - Russian speaking Ukrainian (hi Konstantin! if you are reading this). Turns out he is sailing for over 10 years and his family still lives in Ukraine. He is also a poet and we enjoyed his advice and company at our dinners.

Overall it was great family time, despite the fact that 90% of the time kids were busy with their new friends in kids or teen rooms or just running around the ship, bathing in pools and jacuzzies. Everyone was happy (99% of the time anyway) and we will remember this vacation for long time.