Ulitsa Pakrovka, Moscow

A few photos of Ulitsa Pakrovaka, Chisty Prudy, Moscow (Улица Пакровка, Чистый Пруды, Москва) where I have been living during my 10 week life in Moscow.

A day in the life ...

Sometime - wake up and take a shower.

Walk around Ulitsa Pakrovka, ул. Покровка, and find a restaurant where to have a 'Business Lunch'. Moscow isn't a cheap place to eat but many restaurants offer a very competitive Business lunch of 3 or 4 courses for 200-250 rubles (5 or 6 quid).

Go to 'Coffee Bean' and order my hot milk, set up my computer and start to work thanks to their free wifi.

After a few hours, pause because I need to eat so walk and order cheese pancakes and buckwheat.

Either return to Coffee Bean, or go to 'White Clouds', Белые Облака, to listen to a talk on this or that spiritual theme and practise my understanding of spoken Russian.

Return to the flat hostel where I am staying, listen to some Russian on the language CDs I have, and a selection of the following; talk, sleep, meditate, then cook some noodles and cheese and head off to Krizic Jhanra, Кризис Жанра, to read a chapter of the Russian language course I am doing, and a few verses of the Dharmapada.

Drink an orange juice at Propaganda, Прораганда.

Home, meditate and sleep.

Galina's Flat, Moscow

And now I am again in Moscow staying in Galina's Flat. Voila a reiview I did about it:

Galina's Flat:

metro - Chisty Prudy

phone - 8 (919) 410-41-12

email - galinas.flat (ta) mtu-net.ru

The flat has 3 rooms two of which can host people, one with 5 beds and the other with 2. They are clean and comfortable if not modern. She is friendly and straightforward, and she has at least (at any one time) at least 4 large cats. Internet is available at one ruble a minute by not wifi and you can do your laundery by hand in the bath. She does let some guests use her kitchen, but probably couldn't cope with everybody doing so at once.

Irs an idealplace for a shoestring traveller, being very centrally located - 5 minutes walk from Chisty Prudy metro, 10 minutes walk from some of the best clubs in Moscow, and 20 minutes from the Kremlin.

She charges 400 rubles a night, or 500 if you stay just one night, which means you can stay there for 12,500 rubles for the month which is at least a third less expensive than anything else I could find in the area. To find her, you go through a tunnel into an open courtyard and turn right and find the first door on the right which has two intercom buttons one with her name on it.

And back in St Petersburg

I had hoped to write more about my life in Russia on this blog, only on my first visit I had to rely on pay as you use internet connections. This time I have my computer with me so maybe you will be able to read a little more!

Here, at least are some photos. You can see more by finding my account on Facebook. You can search for 'Suvannavira', there is only one in the world.

Tonight I get the train to Moscow where I will stay for a couple on months, before heading back to the UK overland by train stopping in Kiev, Krakow, Berlin and Paris.

Letter from Finland, again

And again I am in Finland, staying at the community with Nagashila and Liladhi and others. This time I am travelling to the UK to work for Windhorse, visit Paris and do a CELTA course as training for being an English as a foreign language teacher, in Poland. Russian life should restart again sometime in spring.

Moscow was a dream

Moscow was a dream ... or maybe another world ... or just somewhere where blogging posts didn't come from ... or maybe just having to pay for internet by the minute was enough to put me off? Whatever reason ... when I woke up from a sleepless night this morning on a train in St Petersburg. I stayed in Moscow for 8 weeks, the first three were - lets call her for the sake of simplicity - with my Aunt, and the next five were in Galina's house hostel with Galina and four large, hairy, round cats. During that time I walked around the parks and shops of Central Moscow, looked to find out about working there, visited shops with interesting in things from Asia and - sometimes - talks, and found ways to mingle in bars and clubs ... And now again I am in St Petersburg during my last two days in Russia before leaving for Tallinn, Tartu and Helsinki.

A few words from Moscow

I have been in Moscow for about 10 days now. For the first time during my trip I need to use internet cafes to acces a computer so posts are less frequent. Maybe it is enough just to say that I am enjoying my visit here, I am staying with family sharing a room, and exploring the employment situation.

The Datsan in St Petersburg

I have been twice now to the Datsan in North West St Petersburg. It is Tibetain in style and was build under the inspiration and vision of Buriyat Agvan Dorjiev, who was a Lama in the Gelug tradition, between 1903 and 1915 during the reine of Tsar Nicolas II.

If you would like to see 30 or so photos of the Datsan you can do so on Facebook searching for the account and then photos of 'Suvannavira'.

First (few) words from St Petersburg

I have now been in Russia for 4 days, spending about on the first 24 hours wondering what on earth I was going to do here? It was then that I visited the Buddhist Datsan, built under the inspiration and vision of Agvan Dorjiev at the start of the 20th Century. Whilst I was sitting outside aborbing the atmosphere Vikotoria walked by ... We last met in Siberia in 2002 when she translated for me during my visit there. We met later and she found friends for me to stay with as of tonight. At the hostel I met Dima and he was the first that I taught -in broken Russian and frequent English- to meditate.

Letter from Finland

On 6th July I left Paris, France, and arrived a little after midnight in Cambridge, UK. There followed a three and a half week intensive period of work for Windhorse Trading which saw me driving visiting customers between Portsmouth, Penzance and Lemington Spa. On the afternoon of the 20th July I arrived in Birmingham for a rendez-vous with Bhante Urgyen Sangharakshita, the founder of the WBO/TBM. We had a lively, interesting and inspiring conversation about Russia and Russian culture and its relation to Buddhism. On Saturday 1st August I arrived at Wymondham College to attend first Mixed, and then at Padmaloka, Men's European Conventions of the Western Buddhist Order. Finally, a little after midnight last night, I caught the overnight bus from Cambridge to Gatwick to catch the early morning flight to Helsinki where I am staying for the weekend thanks to the generous hospitality of Nagashila and the Mylly community. On Monday I will take the boat and meet Vaddhaka and others in Tallinn, Estonia, and Tuesday the bus to St Petersburgh, and will let the adventure begin ...