Jonathan Brun

St. Petersburg, Russia

Russia is big, really big. My brother, girlfriend and I recently to travelled from west to east on the Trans-Siberian railway. Our trip began in St. Petersburg, a very European city, built on the marshes of the North sea by slave labour. The city was once the capital or Russia and French was spoken at all the royal courts. Today, no one speaks anything but Russian.

The Hermitage Museum is the city’s main attraction; one of the largest museums in the world, it offers truly stupendous works of art. In my opinion, The Hermitage is the most impressive museum I have ever seen, the density of priceless art is unparalleled. The building itself is a work of, sometimes overly excessive, art – it was the former palace of the Tsar. While the art is amazing, it is also a testament to the excesses of the Russian royalty who amassed amazing collections while their people starved in the cold winter.

Reaching the St. Petersburg metro, dug deep underground to avoid the numerous canals, requires an impressive five-minute escalator ride to reach. Once arrived, the beauty of the stations is astounding. The Soviets built gorgeous metro stations with chandeliers, marble walls and vaulted ceilings.

After you see their metro, it is clear our public spaces have been done on the cheap. Too often in capitalist societies we only look at the financial costs and forget the emotional impact beautiful spaces can have. The few public venues we accord money to – museums and concert halls are the haunts of the rich while our basic metros, bus stations and streets are used by all citizens. In a democratic society we should provide beauty democratically. A system that transports millions of people everyday should be built to not only transport the body, but also the mind and the heart.

Russian Photos here

Mongolian Photos

Just put up some photos from my trip – Russia and Mongolia, click here to see them. More to come.

Getting a Russian Visa in Paris

This was by far, the hardest Visa I ever got. We got our Visas on French passports, though these requirments apply to all EU passports. Real embassy website here (beware of fakes).

Items required:

• Forms from the embassy
• Proof on insurance (expatriation and 30 000$ coverage). I bought it for my brother from L’Europeene Assurance for 32 Euros. I was covered under my apartment insurance.
• Photo of you – make sure to glue it to the forms before you go to the embassy.
• An invitation letter, we got this via our hotel in St. Petersbourg at a cost of 25 EUROS for 3 people, payable upon arrival.

Once you have all these items, you should be ok.

Good luck.

Out of Ethiopia – Last African Update

From the Misty Mountains of Simien, I continued North through the sleepy town of Shire, turning East to the heart of the fallen Aksumite Kingdom. The city of Aksum, littered with giant Obelisks, undiscovered tombs, and ancient Palaces; could easily be the backdrop of an Indiana Jones movie. The scale of the Aksumite projects rival any ancient civilization and it’s mysterious fall from power should deeply humble us.

From Aksum, the bus took a hellish dirt road that it remarkably survived, landing me amidst the rock-hewn, cliff dangeling, churches of Tigrai. Innumerable churches litter the region, usually hidden inside, on top of and part of mountains; they were placed in these innaccessible locations to hide from the invading bearded ones.

The priests, who hold the keys to the churches are notoriously difficult to find, but once they do show up, the inside of the churches are simply remarkable. The local priests kindly invited me to a funeral feast, held annually to commemorate the death of a family member. A delicious feast amidst hundreds of villagers and a bucket of locally brewed Tala beer remains a great, though hazy, memory. Though I could not visit it, there lies a dark and forboding land to the east of Tigrai; the Danikal depression, a highly volcanic area which may be the most inhospitable on earth.

After stumbling back to the main road from the mountain village, I started the long journey to Lalibella.

Lalibella, also refered to as Roha, is a city centered around massive monolithic churches (means: they were carved out of solid bedrock, in a sense, freed from the mountain) in a remote series of mountains at an elevation of over 3400 m. After a long bus ride, I hitched a ride in a cement truck, which, after trudging along for 8 hours, lost a wheel and left us stranded. After a cool night in the mountains, two buses to Lalibella showed up; one was a chartered bus with a few extra seats, while the other was a public bus with three times too many people on it. Of course, I chose the public bus.

With two friendly ethiopian laddies on my lap and a mouthful of kchat (mild drug) in my mouth, we plodded along the curvy mountain road. About 30 kilometers from Lalibella, we came across the chartered bus which had impressivly managed to go off the road, over a ditch, through a pile of wood, stopping half way through a local villager’s mud house. Luck was on my side.

My last fistful of ethiopian dollars were exchanged for a plane ticket to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. In Addis, at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant we ordered Kittfo, Ethiopian steak tarter (slightly cooked to ensure the tape worms are dead). A very memorable meal and a great finish to an amazing country.

P.S. If you noticed some similarities with the names from Middle Earth, Gonder, Misty mountains, shire, Danikal depression, and Roha; you were not alone.

The Move to Northern Ethiopia

After an amazing time in eastern and muslim ethiopia, I headed back West. I hitched a ride with a canadian aid worker into the Awash national park, home to the endemic Oryx and Kalishnikov toting tribes who, apparently, do not like having their picture taken.

After the park, I headed to the historic north. Starting in Baher Dar on the shores of Ethiopia’s largest lake; we visited hidden monasteries on various small islands. After a full day on the rickety metal boat, we made our way back to the town amidst a beautifully coloured and wavy thunderstorm. Luckily the fifteen foot snakes in the lake do not apparently enjoy the taste of human flesh.

After the island monasteries; I arrived in Gonder, home to a once powerful kingdom of emperors who ruled Ethiopia. Simply magical. The town also had the privilege of welcoming the Italians in the 1930s; and who kindly left behind fascist art deco architecture and wonderful espresso machines.

After Gonder, we headed into the misty mountains of Simien. Home to the Walia Ibex, Gelada Baboon, the Simien Wolf, and 2000 m cliff faces; the five day trek proved to be as rewarding as Kilimanjaro. In contrast to Kili where we were privy to three course meals and hot water; I cooked for my scout and mule handler – neither of whom could speak english, camped in tents, carried our own gear, and met local villagers. The simien mountains was a much more authentic, and richer, experience.

All for now, another update in the days to come.