Russia - Bumble Buddhist

Iconic Photo by Photographer Nikolai Rachmanov

Russia Journey, 2023. First Leg, Moscow from July 25-August 4th.

September 6, 2023September 4, 2023

Arrival at the Downtown Metro Station After a couple of days’ rest following my roughly 25 hour trip–from Chiang Mai, to Bangkok, Thailand, a 4 hour wait, a 6 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, another 4 hour wait, and another 6 hour flight to Moscow, and another two hours to get my bags and find a taxi to my final destination, I was ready to take on Moscow. First order of business was to get my long awaited refund from Aeroflot. My trip in 2020 was cancelled due to Covid, and the airline wasn’t offering any …

My Trip to Russia 2022 Part Four: Back to Moscow

March 1, 2023February 7, 2023

Back to Moscow Since I had a couple of extra days to stay in Moscow, with my new train ticket, I had to find a place to stay. My friend Dean at the Povordie Hostel, where I’d stayed before, helped me out again. He got me a reservation to stay there, for two nights, September 6th and 7th, before my return flight. When I got to Moscow, Dean met me at the train station to help me with my baggage. We got the front desk and I checked in. Uh, Oh, Another Check-in Problem It turned …

FDR letter honoring the Soviet victory in Stalingrad

My Trip to Russia 2022 Part II: Volgograd

March 1, 2023January 18, 2023

Volgograd, Formerly Stalingrad, a Hero City of the Soviet Union Introduction Except for the relatively small percent of those either drafted or enlisted in the Wars of the West, which are wars fought far–very far–from the borders of the United States, most Americans from the US have little direct experience or understanding, of what it is like to be invaded. And interestingly, when opposition to the many US wars takes place, it is often in terms of how many of ‘our’ people die, compared with how many of ‘the Other people’ die following our ‘export of freedom and democracy’–usually …

My Trip to Russia 2022 Part Three

February 7, 2023January 16, 2023

Traveling to Crimea After Volgograd, I planned to go to Crimea. I’d taken a plane flight to the capital of Crimea, Simferopol, in 2015. But due to safety concerns (getting shot down by the Ukrainian military), no civilian airplanes are flying to Crimea as of this writing, late September, 2022. So, with the help of Kira, who could pay online for a ticket in advance, I took a train. It’s a sleeper train, with the train cars designed to have upper and lower bunks, about 20 inches wide, and less than 6 feet long. The lower bunk is a lot …

My Trip to Russia Part I

January 4, 2023October 28, 2022

Part One While I was at a yoga resort in July, my friend Regis Tremblay, a peace activist and documentary filmmaker sent me an email. He’d visited Manita and Yuri, whose hostel I’d stayed at in 2015, in Sevastopol, the famous seaport and naval base, which has been part of Russia since 1783. Manita sent a video message, “We miss you…and remember the garden you promised?”. While there in 2015, I’d seen a patch of land that was unused, and strewn with weeds. So I’d suggested planting fruit trees there. I’d planned to go back in 2020, but Covid prevented …