Travel, life, and stories from Kamchatka and beyond
Our fourth day in China. We spent the first part of the day walking around the city, and later in the afternoon we decided to head to a shopping mall. That’s how we ended up at Carrefour, a store we had already grown quite fond of. As far as I understand, Carrefour is an international … Read more
For some reason, after I was discharged from the hospital, I got this persistent idea in my head — I really wanted to eat Ossetian pies. The funny thing is, I had never been especially fond of them before. I was pretty neutral about them, actually. At the same time, there were always people around … Read more
When I wrote about Dalian, I briefly mentioned some sea creatures that looked like sea intestines or stomachs. They were lying in an aquarium at the restaurant of the Mercure hotel where we stayed during our trip to China. Well, they weren’t there just for decoration. You could actually have them cooked and served as … Read more
The third day of our stay in China began. I want to tell you about the time we decided to walk around some of the local markets. They are a whole separate part of life in China, and Dalian is no exception. These little markets, tucked away between the streets, are almost like a separate … Read more
Just yesterday, the heating season started here in Kamchatka — in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, to be more specific. What does that mean? It means hot water is finally running through the radiators, and the central heating is working again. Why am I writing about this? It may sound like an ordinary everyday thing, but we have really … Read more
On our second day, after breakfast, we decided to go out and visit some shopping malls. But this story isn’t really about shopping. It’s about transportation in China — more specifically, how to get around Dalian. We found a really good way of doing it for ourselves. Our Taxi Experience in Dalian The easiest way … Read more
One of the reasons you should come to Kamchatka, if you need one, is the breathtaking sunsets. They are especially wonderful to watch in summer. Summer in Kamchatka is short and very northern, and it can often be cold as well. But the sunsets here are something else. They can have almost surreal colors: orange … Read more
My first post about food on this blog is going to be about something I find quite interesting: how our taste preferences change as we get older. When I was younger, I simply couldn’t understand how anyone could voluntarily choose to eat borscht or soup. Why would you order a bowl of hot soup when … Read more
The Decision A few years ago, we went to China in a rather unusual — and very fun — group. The trip turned out to be such a memorable adventure that I decided to tell the story in several parts. But let’s start at the very beginning: how did we decide to go to China … Read more
The summer of 2026 almost passed me by unnoticed here in Kamchatka. I’ll probably tell you why that happened in one of my next posts. But if we’re talking about the summer itself, I have to admit that it wasn’t exactly the best one. June was cold. July didn’t give us much warmth either. I’d … Read more