Beirut, Beirut

Isn't it nice?
Plan to go in the 2009's new year.

Panorama Beirut

And some intelligence from Khalil Gibran:


We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets.

Now tell me, how could we ever meet at the same place and the same time?

- "Sand and Foam" 1926

"War and the small nations":

Once, high above a pasture, where a sheep and a lamb were grazing, an eagle was circling and gazing hungrily down upon the lamb. And as he was about to descend and seize his prey, another eagle appeared and hovered above the sheep and her young with the same hungry intent. Then the two rivals began to fight, filling the sky with their fierce cries.

The sheep looked up and was much astonished. She turned to the lamb and said:
"How strange, my child, that these two noble birds should attack one another. Is not the vast sky large enough for both of them? Pray, my little one, pray in your heart that God may make peace between your winged brothers."

And the lamb prayed in his heart.

- "The forerunner" 1920

Photo by ZJ

Oct. 2003
Dashazi, Beijing.
Photo by Zhangjing

Po-Amerikanskiy

Sergei Elkin

Wooden tower

A wooden tower in Kaluzhskoi oblast',
photo by Peter Azaryonok.

No comments

On a shoal near Stone Town

Pollution in Beijing

Beijing is too hot, too dirty and too noisy to host Olympics.

I do think so.

Matrix

One day in summer 2008 when we were
walking back from "Karofilm na Sheremetevskoi",
Peter took this photo on the sidewalk.
Marino Rosha, Moscow.

My scanned photos

End of 2006, Magawish

At the end of 2006, Alex

Beginning of 2008, Stone Town




In the middle of 2005,
Zamoskvarechie

Moscow Biennial of young artists

Chinese arts in Moscow Biennial of young artists.

Sheep - symbol of sheeplike Chinese people.
The background is the congress hall.
(source: www.afisha.ru)

Harmonious

(source: www.afisha.ru)

China in 1940

A map of China in 1940.

It is a scanned file, from the "Atlas Mira"(The world map), publishing house "Leningrad", 1940. This atlas is belonged to Peter's father. Now it is lying somewhere in my apartment in Moscow.

I did not see from this card independent Tibet, nor independent Ugur. So we could easily conclude that they had been parts of China 70 years ago.

Have a closer look.

Tibet Issue and China, once more.

Click to see A westener's view of Tibet Issue and China.

Torch relay

A few Tibetan expats and some Russian organized a small meeting in front of the Russian federal government to support the idea "Free Tibet" in Moscow , it was disgusting to me, because such country as Russia is not a stage for separatists.

How can charming children know what is "Violence" or "Freedom"?
It is totally brain-wash from childhood!
See the Tibetan separatist stands behind him?
They are just abusing kind Russian people!
Moscow, Russian
Source: www.Lenta.ru

In London and Paris, torch relay, I saw on the pictures and videos some foolish and hypocritical Londoners or Parisians stood with dirty and barbaric Tibetan separatists. Among the crowed - Negro, Arabic, lower income group (you can judge by their bland appearance and behavior). I think most of them even had not been in Tibet or in China, they do not know Chinese and tibetan history and rather they do not know Chinese language, they do not have the right to criticize what is going on in Tibet - they are not qualified to talk about it.

A separatist was trying to beat the bearer and
fetch the Torch from a disabled foil fencer, Paris, France.

Source: www.Tianya.cn

It is funny, that people with unneutral world outlook shout "Free Tibet" to Chinese as the Olympics will be held in Beijing, from this criteria, such barbaric people should shout:
-"Free Northern Ireland" to English;
-"Free Corsica" to French;
-"Free Greenland" to Danish;
-"Free Ural, Siberia" to Russian;
-"Free Quebec" to Canadian;
-"Free Indian Reservation" to American and then shout "Free American South" to Yankee.

A plane with a banner "Tibet will always be a part of China",
San Fransisco, California, U.S .
Source: www.Tianya.cn

Peacock

These photos were taken by Peter in late October, 2007. In the Singapore zoo.

Peacock, Singapore zoo,
Singapore

Peacock, Singapore zoo,
Singapore

Peacock, Singapore zoo,

Singapore

Kunming

Found several good pictures of Kunming, put it here.

Bird-eye view of KM



Paifang in the downtown, KM,
Yunnan, PRC

Flyer

A good song from Sergey Lazarev.

He has a good taste in choosing English songs - many of them were rearranged and covered by this Russian pop star.

From Elkin

No comments
Source: www.polit.ru

It is written:
In Chukotka started voting.
(the farthest northeast region of Russia)
Source: www.polit.ru

Aloe

African wild aloe is much more bigger than an asian one. Actually I had never seen a wild aloe in Asia, because I cannot tell the difference between a wild aloe and a hemp. First I took the african aloe as hemp, but later I am told that they are the former one.

I had drunk a beverage from aloe when I was in Arusha. It is really a very expensive one but with a good taste, the amell is different from an asian aloe. Asian aloe smells like underarm odour, and asian ones are more succulence than afrian cognation.

Peter took a shot from the second floor to an aloe when we were staying in Manchlodge in the Stone town. Have a look!

Aloe in Manchlodge, Stone town,
Zanzibar, Tanzania

Flies

Kvashino, reg.Sonlnechnogorsk,
Moscow oblast', Russia

Dead flies are hanging on a sticky tape. Peter took this photograph.

Goose-Cristal

St. International,
Gus-Khrustalniy, Russia

About 320 KM from Moscow to the east, in Vladimir oblast, lies a small city named "Gus-Khrustalniy". The meaning of the name in russian is "Goose-Cristal". I lived here about two months. I like this quiet place. People here are more friendly, than moscovite.

The city was founded in the 1770-s, because this place is rich in siliceous sand stone, water and forest, so people built here more than 10 glass factories. But, unfortunately, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, most of them got bankrupt. And many of them had fallen into a state of neglect, in the center of the city, and everywhere in the suburb.

In Gus has the only Cristal museum (The museum of glass) in Russia, many beautiful glass productions with a history more than a century are exhibited here. Anyway, the life in the city is better than majority small russian cities - convenience, jobs. But the average of price of food in Gus is rather higher than in Moscow! A cauliflower of medium size commonly worth 3 Euro - This is about one and a half times dearer, than in the most expensive city in the world.

The museum of glass,
Gus-Khrustalniy, Russia

Zanzibar

A good place for rest, but for budget travelers - a little bit too expensive to stay or hang around. Administrative center - Stone town, I like it better than any other places of interest on this island. The beach here in Stone town is not clean, rather to say, a bit dusty, but you can enjoy the Arabic architecture when you walking along the winding paths through the town. One can easily get lost in town, if weak in sense of direction.

Beach at sunset, Stone Town, Zanzibar,
Tanzania

I like the Indian quarter here in the southern part of the town. Indians are very smart people, got to know with an Indian woman in a small, clean restaurant. Here in this district has a Chinese restaurant, too. Boss of which is a Zanzibar-born-Cantonese, he speaks in chinese such words just like "Hello", "Thank You" and "See you". It is a fairly good and not expensive place to dine, with a big assortment of chinese fusion.

Stone Town, Zanzibar,
Tanzania

Nungwi is a small and very poor village in the northest part of Zanzibar. It lies in the center of the triangle, that formed by the sea around him to the east, north and west sides. To the east part the sea tides are smaller, and you can see the dead corals, that stands there by the coast many millions years and extends many kilometers to the south. The north beach of Nungwi is flat, get 500 hundred meters off the coast, the water is still shallow. To the west, along the coast is a tourist resort, so many hotels and restaurants. Price here is very high, but just walk off 200 meters from the coast to the village, you can have a dinner that from potato, salad with delicious fried fish and omelet that 10 times cheaper in a local snake bar than in the resort. The western beach has very big tides when turning high.

Nungwi, Zanzibar,
Tanzania

Nakshi Nakshi

"Nakshi Nakshi" in Swahili means "Decortion (necklace, rings etc.) for girls".

We hired a jeep and travelled from Arusha to Mwanza through Tanzanian national parks Ngorongoro and Serengeti, Plus Peter was our guide and driver. He was so green that did not know the way. Anyway, he is a good and happy guy. He was playing the song "Nakshi Nakshi" when I entered the jeep to fetch something for camping in Serengeti national park, not far from the headquater of the park. The melody was so nice, I remembered it, and wanted to buy a album with this song.

When we were in Mwanza, he wrote down to me the name of the singer and some good songs from him. I like it very much, too.

Here is the link to Youtube®, that can see and hear the tanzanian song "Nakshi Nakshi".

Arusha

After a 3-day-visit to Nakuru I went back to Nairobi again. Around the 4-th, Jan.

I got a Matatu class lux, and got out in Westlands in Nairobi. I wanted to go to Kisumu from Nakuru, but there was no transportations due to the situation in the whole country. I decided to leave for Tanzania.

With the help of a taxi driver, luckily, I found a tanzanian shuttle bus that was heading for Arusha and waiting for passengers near the Jevanjee Gardens on street Monrovia. After some time, we drove to the south with a full carriage foreigners - Chinese as me, Russian, Belorussian, Germans, Kenyans, Tanzanians, American and a big group of tourists from South Korea.

Close to the borderline with Tanzania, I saw some Maasai towns and many Maasai people. Their clothes and decoration were so beautiful and variegated. And the bodily form - so neat!

Travel guide "Lonely Planet® Tanzania",
on a background of Arusha National Park.
Arusha region, Tanzania

It took us about 40 minutes to pass the borderline in both side. After about 5 hours from go-off, we got to Arusha, and found a church-run hostel called "Centre house hostel". A charming tanzanian girl named Veneranda in this hostel pleased me with Tanzanian immediately.

A small country church,
on the backgroud of Kilimanjaro.
Nairobi road, Arusha region, Tanzania

The following days I spent in Arusha National Park, and by the Nairobi road to some Maasai settlement. Arusha is a good place that it attracts many expats to live here. Here has my favorite chinese restaurant in Tanzania - Everest, chef cook of which from province Sichuan, China.

Weather here is very good, not hot, nor wet, and no mosquitoes. It is a little hotter than in Nairobi. Anyway, the climate reminds me like home, in Yunnnan province.

Nakuru

There are very few attractions worthy of the name in Nairobi itself, so I went to Nakuru after spending 2 nights there. As the location of Nakuru National Park and Menengai crater, Nakuru lies just two-hours' drive to the northwest of Nairobi. The Nakuru National Park is famous for observing the flamingo while the Menengai crater is A major volcanic crater in the East African Rift.

Lake Nakuru, Nakuru National Park, Kenya

I tried to find a transport that goes for Nakuru in Nairobi, but all bus stations were closed. Finally I found a small Matatu(means minibus in Kenyan swahili) station in east Nairobi with big difficulties. It operated during the chaos. I sat on a Matatu, the minibus with 15 seats waited about another one hour longer to collect full carriage of passengers.

Menengai crater, Nakuru, Kenya

In Nakuru I saw some refugees there. They were sitting on trucks with their furnitures - moving home to a safer place, as they considered. My taxi driver in Nakuru told me that the house of his mother-in-law in Kitale was burned down by the mob. In this small city I met two chinese worker occasionally on a street near the Matatu station, they were from Uganda after the end of their work contract there.

Matatu class Lux (10 seats instead 15 as common ones),
Kenyatta lane, Nakuru, Kenya

David, my taxi driver in Nakuru,
a father of five children and a supporter of Kibaki,
whose mother-in-law's house was burned down,
Menengai crater, Nakuru, Kenya

Nairobi

I was walking on the quiet streets of Nairobi, 1-st, Jan, 2008. During the first chaos after The Presidential Election in this country.

I lived in the Lavington area in the western part of Nairobi. First we took a matatu to Westlands, and then walked to the down town. This part of city is considered a prestige one so it was very clean here.

Str. Loita, Nairobi, Kenya

After a 40-minutes' walk from Westlands we got to Central Nairobi. Like other big cities, many skyscrapers here. Every store and company was closed, I could not buy any things, even drinking water. Finally we found one with defense.

The only opened restaurant this day in center - Trattoria on Kaunda street. I had a lunch here.

Just on the opposite side of where I lived in Lavington there was a chinese restaurant, a chinese family was running it - the wife as a cashier and manager, the husband as a chef cook and a grandma as well with some local guys as servants. The chinese family went to Kenya 6 years ago. Many expats here having supper in this good restaurant.