Picture of the Week |
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An open discussion on a street corner in Chelyabinsk |
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Chelyabinsk to Kazan | ||
Gary and Lisa travel to Kazan in hopes of interviewing a soldier recently returned from Chechnya, but instead share a family's personal pain and grief. For Gary and Lisa, the long journey is almost over, and then on to Moscow! |
October 10 thru October 16 | ![]() | |
Irkutsk and Lake Baikal | ||
Gary and Lisa join a scientific expedition to study fresh water marine life in Lake Baikal and help use the Web to bridge a gap between long seperated family members. |
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Ulan Ude | ||
Lisa and Gary travel to a tiny Buryat village outside Ulan-Ude with only a letter of introduction written in Buryat to guide them. A family of farmers takes them in, introducing them to traditional Buryat customs, religion, and cuisine, all of which involve vodka, and one of which is a bit hard to swallow at first... |
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Chita | ||
After a two day train journey, Gary and Lisa go afoot to take a detailed look at Lenin Street, Chita's main thoroughfare. They also get a portion of their 15 minutes of fame when a local TV crew interviews them for a segment on the nightly news show "Express Information." |
September 18 thru September 25 | ![]() | |
Birobidzhan | ||
Gary
and Lisa travel to Birobidzhan, capital of the Jewish Autonomous Region, to find
out whether local Jewish culture survived the Soviet era. Five days into their
stay,
the local authorities come knocking on doors looking for the "illegal Americans",
who don't
have the city stamped in their visas. |
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Khabarovsk | ||
Lisa
and Gary get
an inside glimpse of the new post-Soviet business world, and hit the tree-lined
streets of Khabarovsk to ask about the upcoming presidential elections. |
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Vladivostok to Khabarovsk | ||
Lisa and Gary hit the road in style (if not comfort) in a Soviet-made Kamaz cargo truck. The highway is long, bumpy, and occasionally clogged with crossing cows, but many hours and very little sleep later, they arrive in Khabarovsk, dirty, tired, but intact. |
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Moscow to Vladivostok | ||
Gary and Lisa arrive in Vladivostok and begin the adventure. A visit to an ancient lighthouse, a search for friendly fishermen, and a day with Vladivostok's "novi Russki." |