Word for the Travel Wise (12/27/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

No rhyme or reason for selecting this word tonight. It is short and simple and shouldn’t be used loosely I’d imagine.

Today’s word is a Russian word used in Russia:

durak – fool

Ready to learn Russian? Check out Master Russian first. They have numerous excellent sound files and the text is clear and easy to read. Learning also goes beyond your Russian A, B, C’s at their site as they have crosswords, literature, proverbs, folk music, and homework help. Other good sites include Learning Russian and this Ectaco Translation Dictionary. Click here for two language book rec’s on Amazon. BBC has the basics to download and hear audio, while Wiki provides the in depth Russian lang back history.

Past Russian words: , shakzochniy, paka, spasiba, tuhmohzhmyah, tantsihvat

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of December 17

by Adrienne Wilson on

It has been a hectic day filled with holiday shuffle and travel and it has truly worn me out. I’m exhausted and with such a busy week I confess, even I missed out on some of these great plugs found here on Gadling. If your week was anything like mine be sure to check them out too.

5. Lots of Santas:
Ho, Ho, Ho… Considering the time of year and season it only makes perfect sense to feature this march of hundreds of thousands of Santas in Russia once more. I’m sure it was an awesome event for anyone visiting during the time.

4. Planespotting in Saint Martin:
Please give a warm round of sound to Justin Glow who makes his Gadling debut with this interesting post of how enjoyable it is to sit lazy with cocktails on St. Martin sand and well, watch the planes as they come fly very close to the ocean and far too close for my comfort zone.

3. The Austin Report Part 2: Bizarre Shopping:
Tis’ the season to be emptying your wallet and not look back. Looking for some gifts with character? Head to Austin with Neil as he points you to some neat shopping destinations around the Texas town.

2. Hanukkah in Honduras:
Spending the holidays abroad can be a blast, but depending on where you go it can also be a real hassle. Iva points us to a very nice read about an adventurous family spending Hanukkah in Honduras. I wouldn’t have put the two together, but I know little about menorah’s and what is done on each of the 8 days.

1. The Wandering Honeymooners:
Huggy, happy, honeymooners always bring a tear to my eye. I’m so envious right now. The Moran motto: “Get hitched. Hit the road.” I love it and love that Brendan and Sarah are sharing their beautiful matrimony on the road with all us single, lonely or simply travel deprived individuals.

Russia’s Third-Class Train Nightmare

by Neil Woodburn on

Traveling by train in Russia is usually a very rewarding experience–unless you happen to be traveling third class.

Third class is the cheapest rail option in Russia and decidedly the worst according to Yasha Levine. The Exile staff writer recently took a 17-hour jaunt from Izhevsk to Moscow in the third class carriage and lived to document his experience in The Exile’s typical raunchy fashion.

His article is not for the easily offended, but it does provide a very accurate account of life aboard the dreaded platzkart and all the stink and drunkenness which accompanies it. I’ve traveled second class throughout Russia and have always loved the experience and the opportunity it provides to really get to know your fellow travelers. But second class has berths with only four beds in it, not 54 as is the case in third class. I’ve ridden the platzkart in China however, and cringe at the memories of too many people trying to sleep crammed into too small of a place.

The Chinese, however, were well behaved; the Russian platzkart, on the other hand, seems to be nothing more than an excuse to party for so many of its passengers.

If you’re really anxious to jump into the lower-economic fray and become one with the down-trodden masses which frequent the platzkart, there is no better way to do so than buying a third-class ticket and jumping on board. Try the week long, Moscow to Vladivostok train that only costs $50. You’ll be a changed person by the end of it. I promise.

Russia’s Black Market Caviar

by Neil Woodburn on

It was during my first trip to the Soviet Union in 1991 that I first tasted caviar.

Restaurants at the time often placed big dollops of it on the table like salsa at a Mexican restaurant. I didn’t like it at first but caviar, as I would learn, is an acquired taste and I soon grew to love the strange little fish eggs.

This was a bad thing.

Once I returned home to the reality of western prices, my days of gluttonous caviar ingestion were over.

The story of caviar is as rich and fascinating as the country which basically gave birth to it: Russia. A wonderful article in Saveur Magazine addresses the history of Russia’s high-end fish eggs and the state of the industry today. It is not a pretty story. Sturgeon, the ugly, prehistoric-looking fish from which caviar is extracted, are being over fished and, consequently, are endangered. In addition, the Caspian Sea, where 90 percent of these sturgeons live is polluted and full of poachers.

Supply and demand ensures that poaching will continue, however, and that top-dollar will paid for the black gold. The Russian government requires that caviar shipped abroad be sold for a minimum of $400 a kilo. Darra Goldstein, however, reports that it is easy to buy the same amount for just $100 on the black market in Russia. The writer describes the telltale signs of an illegal caviar salesperson at a typical Russian farmers’ market and then proceeds to purchase eight ounces herself for only $31.

Oh man! Take it from me. Unless you have a regular supplier and are very wealthy, don’t bother even trying the stuff; you might get hooked like me. And then you’ll have to weigh the moral quandary of dealing with poachers, black marketers, and an endangered species just to get your fix.

Ilya and Evgeny’s Great Adventure

by Erik Olsen on

Here’s one from the pre-Borat era. It’s a book, a travelogue if you will, from two satirical writers from the Soviet Union who were writing for the Russian newspaper Pravda. Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov came to the U.S as “special correspondents” and drove across the country and back on a ten-week trip, keeping a detailed record of their journey. The book is said to be a work of humor, if such a thing is possible from two writers from the Soviet Union, and is said to be a “wonderful lost work”.

To be honest, I would LOVE to get my hands on this, to see how people viewed America not only from the viewpoint of 60 years ago, but from a Communist country. The book is titled Odnoetazhnaia Amerika or Single-Storied America. In a rather sad twist, both writers died soon after the publication of Odnoetazhnaia Amerika, Ilf from tuberculosis contracted during his travels in the States and Petrov in a plane crash while working as a war correspondent.