Philippines, Vietnam and Russia 2019

     My family decided to take a month-long vacation in order to accomplish these goals:  1) visit my dad, who lives in the Philippines, 2) visit a new place where we have never been (Vietnam) and 3) visit my husband's parents, who live in Russia.  Of course #2 had to be a place that was near the other two destinations, had healthy food and was relatively safe.  It turned out that a multi-city trip from San Francisco to Manila, Saigon and Moscow had a super good deal, if we didn't mind a lot of stops.  We planned the Philippines and Russia ourselves and hired Tina at Best Price Travel to plan the Vietnam part.   My husband, Dima, 14 year old daughter, Giselle, and 17 year old son, Leo, attended the whole trip, and my 18 year old, Charlotta, who had college summer classes, met us just for the Russia portion.
    We had been to the Philippines twice when the kids were about 1, 3 and 5, but that was when my dad lived in Panglao, near Bohol.  We hadn't been there since he moved to Quezon City, near Manila.  So we decided to fly to Manila to see where he lives

View of Manila from the top of my dad's condo in Quezon City.  

 and then travel with him two hours south to Mabini for a beach/SCUBA diving trip.  One of the reasons my dad moved to the Philippines was for the great ocean and SCUBA opportunities, so we wanted to share that experience with him.
     We booked an amazing airbb right on the shore at the tip of the Mabini peninsula.

view of our airbb from the water.  Great snorkeling in that water!

     While we would have to descend 200 steps to reach it from the road, we knew it would be well

descending stairs to villa

worth the trouble to stay in this charming open-air villa that included a cook and a beach toy attendant.

The view from the master bedroom was gorgeous.  Wake up and see the ocean from bed.  

my dad and his wife viewing the ocean from their bedroom.  See the mosquito net on the bed?

the shoreline from our airbb

The cook, Cecilia, would cook whatever we brought home from the market.  So if we bought fresh seafood and a variety of veggies, the prepared food magically appeared on the dining table.  I discovered that the Filipino camote is like our sweet potato.  Cecilia made it for breakfast.  Since Cecilia made what we bought, I bought a ton of vegetables and seafood, but not so much rice.  I even bought the oils that I usually cook with.

the open air dining room and Leo's bed

 I dubbed Nelson the beach toy attendant because the airbb comes with free use of a sailboat, a catamaran, windsurfer, kayaks, snorkeling equipment and more!

Nelson helping my husband windsurf

hammock by the shore

     He helped us set sail and rescued us when the wind wouldn't blow us back.  He always looked out for our safety, fetched me fresh aloe when I needed it, and rinsed off all the equipment.
     While snorkeling out in front, I saw a sea turtle and an octopus (very rare!)
 

Giselle enjoyed sunbathing.

Out of our 5 days in Mabini, we spent 2 days just hanging out at our airbb, reading, hammocking and enjoying all the water sports and 3 full days SCUBA diving with Anilao Diving.

Lots of fish and coral!

typical diving view in Mabini

lunch on the dive boat.  Even my non-diving stepmother, Haeng, joined for the ride.  

Anilao was the first dive shop to email me back after I had emailed 20 dive shops on the peninsula.  They agreed to finish the PADI dive certification of my teenagers and take us all diving.  They also picked us up in front of our airbb and dropped us off at the end of day.  Diving included lunch on the dive boat, 2 private instructors and 3 dives a day.  My son, Leo, finished his certification and enjoyed all 9 dives, but I don't blame my daughter, Giselle, for not wanting to finish the certification.

SCUBA certification lesson with Anilao Dive Center

 Diving is hard on your ears!  My ears felt plugged for a month after that!  While we were all diving and getting water in our ears, she would set up her hammock between the posts of the dive boat/catamaran and sunbathe!  She said the solar index was 11/10 and was quite pleased with her tanning results.

Giselle sunbathing at the bow of the dive boat.

Views of Mabimi from the dive boat.  Here is a 5 star hotel.

a colorful Mabimi resort!

     Traffic near Manila is truly awful, but once you get to your destination, such as the mall, you can have a great time.  The buffet and Chinese restaurant we went to were top notch!

My stepmother's family took us out to dinner in Manila.  Dim Sum!  They also gave us 2 big bags of Taiwanese treats, which we snacked on at our next destination: Vietnam!

You know you are in Vietnam when there are more motorbikes than cars on the road!

I had fun people watching and motorbike watching.  Not only can you see the whole person, even their shoes, but it's fascinating to see what people carry on the back of their motorbikes!  Waterbottles, durian, ladders, furniture...

Our 12 day tour of Vietnam started in Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City.  At each city, we met a new tour guide who showed us around  Here is the old post office, an example of classical french colonial architecture, built when the French were in power.

The first place we went to was the Remnants Museum.  The majority of visitors here are American.  This is where the Americans can learn about the "American War" and how it gravely wounded the Vietnamese people.  These pictures show victims of Agent Orange, an herbicide the US used to kill greenery, reducing the number of hiding places.  Unfortunately, it deformed many babies.  We also saw torture devices used by the French in the First IndoChina War.  Fortunately, the Vietnamese are forgiving.

We bought this picture at a factory in Saigon.  It is made from tiny pieces of egg shells!  There
were plenty of rice mosaics and lacquer with mother of pearl inlay pictures as well.

After our brief stay in Saigon, we headed to the MeKong Delta to experience southern Vietnamese country life.    During the van ride there, you will see a variety of houses.  What caught my attention was how narrow the houses are.  I found out there is a law requiring you to pay taxes according to the width of your house, or how much street area it takes up.  That's why houses are unusually long and narrow.

Of course there are houses with more width but not very many!  Because of
the US-China trade war, more factories are moving to Vietnam.  With Vietnam's
booming economy and increased tourism, you can see construction everywhere,
so more of these houses are likely to follow.   

When we reached the MeKong, we had to take a ferry boat to our ecolodge.  

 The ecolodge was only a 3 minute walk from the ferry.  Here and everywhere else in Vietnam, we had 2 separate rooms (in this case 2 separate bungalows,) one for the teens and one for the parents.   I didn't ask for this, nor did I expect it, but that is what we were always given, and it made everyone happy.  Here we stayed one night and kept very busy with a spring roll cooking class, a karaoke evening at a neighbor's house (very loud!), cat fishing, a small boat ride through the MeKong jungle, a walk to various homes to learn about mushrooms, weaving, black garlic, bees, pythons, cobra wine, and art and finally a large boat ride to the floating market and land market and a bike ride to visit a hat factory and rice paper maker.

all of the plants growing at Mekong Ecolodge in Cai Bei.  Our tour guide, Phi, saved us, by letting us use her bug spray.

relaxing on the front porch of my bungalow before cat fishing

Cat fishing at the ecolodge.  You trap the fish in the wicker basket,  grab it with your hands and try not to lose the slippery thing!  I had read the book, Catfish and Mandala before coming to Vietnam, to learn about Vietnamese culture, so this was double interesting to me.  Then they cooked my fish for our dinner!

The next day: Dima and Leo on the small boat through the narrow MeKong channels.  The pointy hats are unique to Vietnam.  They protect  you from strong sun and act as an umbrella in the rain.

Giselle is in the front seeing what is around every curve.  Again, Phi saved her by lending her a phone battery charger!  Well, let's try to stay focused.  This is where soldiers prowled without boats during the war!

We visited a a Lingzhi and black mushroom farm. Both types of mushrooms are known for numerous health benefits,.

We visited a bee farm and sampled their honey.

We crossed a monkey bridge!

We all held the python.  It was heavy!

I had read about alcoholic drinks with live cobra hearts beating blood in the drink, so we were excited to find cobra wine.  We bought some, and it tastes pretty fishy!  It's not hard to find as there are cobra farms in Vietnam.

We also bought art at local studios in the MeKong.  This one reminded me of our boat ride and the floating market.

Fishing with a net.

Next we took a larger boat to visit the Cai Be Floating Market and a land market.

All the river boats in Vietnam have eyes on the front.  The different shapes of the eyes and pupils indicate which region the boat is from.  In this way, you could know if an approaching boat would be friendly.

On the fruit floating market, you can enjoy coconut, green mango, passion fruit, jackfruit and durian, for example. We enjoyed all these fruits.  I even learned to tolerate durian.

I was personally impressed with the rice hull removing process.  The hull is not wasted.  It is burnt and then used for fertilizer.  It's cheaper than wood and the resulting fire is easier to control.  Plus, the Vietnamese don't eat the hull, which is full of dangerous lectins, according to Dr. Gundry!

In the short time we were in the Mekong, we also squeezed in an afternoon bike ride to visit a hat factory and learn how to make rice paper at a local house.  The puppy didn't stay in the basket as long as Giselle would have liked.

The straw hat factory must have had at least 10 women working.  They were all making straw hats for Disneyland!  We bought some unfinished ones that didn't have the Disney labels on them yet for $1 each.  Here the hat gets molded with heat into a cowboy hat shape.

After the Mekong, our tour guide drove us back to Saigon so we could catch the night train to Da Nang, and from there transfer to Hoi An.  The train lasted from about 9PM to 1PM the next day.  It was a little bit too long, but we saw great views of the coast as we got closer to Da Nang!

This is my favorite view of Da Nang, from the beach in Hoi Ann near our Under the Coconut Tree Homestay.  Here we rented a surfboard, went parasailing and rented motorbikes to scoot around the city.  We also took a bike tour, a kayak tour and a self-guided night walking tour of downtown Hoi An, the ancient city.

On our first night in Hoi An, we explored the ancient city our own, to admire the lanterns and look for dinner.   We ended up filling on on desserts, such as coconut ice-cream, crepes and che- the Vietnamese coconut drink with a variety of bean and fruit toppings.   Che is so satisfying that we never got around to dinner!   Check out Giselle's southeast Asia tan against her white dress.

The next day, we took a bike tour of Hoi An and the surrounding countryside.  Here you see the riverboats in the distance, which are lit up with lanterns at night.

Our bike trip took us to a local family's house where we saw how they weave mattresses.

Mother and daughter mattress weaving.  Little did I know that a few days later we would be sleeping on such a mattress- on the hard floor!

  They also made us one of my favorite meals in Vietnam.  Lots of greens!

In the afternoon, we rode water buffalos and US Army jeeps.  Then we went kayaking and had a bbq on the water.

The reins for a water buffalo actually go through a piercing in its nose.  Ouch!  Then it won't pull so hard.

The US left this jeep behind after the war.  Now it's used for tourism.

In the evening we rented three motorbikes.  It's $5 for one bike for the whole day.  No driver's license needed.  No ages asked!  We got three bikes because I was too scared to have my own.  Here Giselle is driving Leo, but he got on his own bike a minute later.   I sat on Dima's bike and we drove all around the outskirts of the city!  Giselle says it's the easiest thing in the world to drive a motorbike.

After two nights in Hoi An, we proceeded north in an air-conditioned van and stopped at Marble Mountain.  We saw marble shops where you can buy huge works of arts and have them shipped back home, and then we went to the Buddhist temple, to which you need to take an elevator and then climb many stairs up!

I felt so much spiritual energy here despite the very hot and humid weather that day.  That's my $1 Disneyland hat!

We left incense sticks at various Buddhas.  A local man offered to help us find all the Buddhas.  He kept saying, "Snap a picture."  After he left, I reached for my phone in my backpack, but the back pocket had been unzipped and my phone was gone!  We frantically ran looking for him, but then I remembered that right before we met him, I had been walking down stairs similar to those in the picture, but more crowded with people.  Someone had been pressing on my backpack, and when I turned around I saw a petite old lady.  I didn't think anything of it because I was still feeling all the spiritual energy.  Unfortunately, that was probably when I was pickpocketed.   It might have been for the better because I got to spend 3 weeks in peace without my phone and then buy an upgraded one when I got home!

Our next stop was in Phong Nga.  After spending a restful evening at the Phone Nga Lake House, we took off through the jungle on the Ho Chi Minh Trail on a 12 km backpacking journey to Rao Con Village.  It was the hottest, most humid experience ever, with vines tripping me every few feet and huge hooks dangling from the vines that threatened to gore us.  One of the guides carried our bbq lunch and used a machete to clear the path.  Apparently only one group of tourists per month came this way.  We were off the beaten path.  They were grateful for our business as tourism is their main livelihood, and tourism really only began in the area in 1995.  While our guides bbq'd pork and chicken and prepared to serve it on a banana leaf, we revived in these waterfalls.  Just be careful where you put your hands; spiders abound!

l

for hungry hikers- bbq served on banana leaf

Not everyone had energy to finish the hike.  Look who had to be carried across a river

In Rao Con Village, we stayed with the mayor's family in a stilt house.  The people here are the Bru Van Kieu minority group.  The village was quite rustic in that there were no beds, except for grass mats, and no pillows either.  A couple of families had TVs.  There were no toilets or bottled water, but they did have wilderness with trees and soda pop.  We spent the afternoon swimming with the local children.  Then we spent the evening singing karaoke, trying fertilized duck eggs and  playing billiards.  The two guides and I slept on hammocks, but the hammocks were tied so close together and sometimes I got an arm in my face in the middle of the night.  So I moved back and forth between the hammock and the hard mat and didn't sleep so well.

sleeping mat, similar to the one we had seen being woven in Hoi An

     The next day Giselle was too tired to want to walk back, so we hired a local to drive her on a motorbike.  It wasn't easy finding someone who wanted to make money by driving her!  

The swimming hole near Rao Con village where I gave these local children an English lesson.  

     I like to joke that there are 5 ways to handle hot Vietnamese summers:  1) in the water, 2) in a cave, 3) on a breezy motorbike, 4) in the a/c or 5) hunched over a beer or famous Vietnamese iced coffee (about $1 anywhere)

Phong Nga Botanical Gardens 

After the Rao Con Village trip, we joined another tour to Phong Nga Botanical Gardens, Paradise Cave and Dark Cave.  Paradise Cave is the longest dry cave in Asia.  Dark Cave is where we zip lined, kayaked and took a (cold) mud bath.  If I could plan this trip again, I would have done the 2 day cave trip, where you camp in Phong Nga cave!

Paradise Cave with cathedral sized rooms of stalagmites and stalactites

We then took another overnight train to Hanoi, where we went out of town to visit Star Eco Resort and Galaxy Grotto for a boat ride through a cave full of bats and a bike ride through the country.

Galaxy Grotto is privately owned and was openly recently for tourism.  The boat ride through and the number of bats, plus the fact that there were no other tourists there, actually made it more appealing than the famous Phong Nga.

entering Galaxy Grotto

Next we biked through rice paddies that use department store human mannequins as scarecrows.  I was intrigued by one Christian neighborhood that we biked through.  All the houses had a statue of the Virgin Mary  in front of the 2nd story of the house.

     Star Eco Resort said they were filming a promo video the day we were there and that they wanted our family to be in the video.  They dressed us up in fishing attire, taught us how to use the equipment and filmed us and interviewed us as we tried the different fishing activities.  I was definitely not a natural.  At least the boots didn't leak!

     That night we took the overnight train to Sa Pa, a mountainous region in the far north of Vietnam.  This was the best train of our trip as it looked and felt like we were in Murder on the Orient Express.  It had room service and real bathrooms.

an overnight train car from Hanoi to Sa Pa

Sa Pa gives you picturesque views of terraced rice paddies, the photos I saw when I was planning our trip.  Here we would trek for miles between minority mountain villages, sleep in ecolodge bungalows with romantic balocony views of the rice terraces and mountain bike between more villages the next day.

   As soon as you step out of your van in Sa Pa, you will be greeted by minority women, who can say very well in English, "What's your name?"  Where are you from?"  "Is this your family?"  "How old?"  We were warned that if you talk to them, they will follow you for the rest of the day, hoping to sell you their crafts.  This turned out to be not so bad, actually quite enjoyable.  My ladies were 52 and 19.  The 19 year old wore flip flops for the whole trek, while they took turns holding my hand to ensure my safety.

assisted by a local and a trekking pole.  fun hike!

Near the beginning of the hike, we came across this odd sight: water buffalo grazing in front of an ethic dress shop

This is me living what I had most hoped for in Vietnam: walking through the mountainous rice (and corn) paddies, escorted by local women who held my hand at every muddy, steep and near-dangerous descent.  Of course, I gave them a good tip at the end by buying a purse and a  scarf.   North Face stores were everywhere in town, so Leo got a new rain jacket- just in case.  

my two unofficial hiking assistants.  

This is the bungalow where we stayed: Chapa Ecolodge  We had no complaints about it; it was utterly cute and "eco."

On the balcony of my bungalow, I read So Happiness to Meet You: Blissfully Stranded in Vietnam by Karin Esterhammer I was in a great place to be stranded.

On the trek to Ta Van village to visit the Zan people, I found some piglets on the side of the walkway.  Ahhh, one rolled over to have its belly rubbed.

And we ate ice-cream with this amazing view.

view from a different ecolodge on our hike

On our bike ride we came to Ta Phin Village, where we met the Red Dao minority women.  They love to make crafts out of hemp.  I really wanted to buy some, but this was a formidable task, as about 10 women mob you and say, "Buy from me" so that you can't concentrate on any one woman.  It can be hard to tell who got the money and if you got the right change back, if you're buying different color scarves from different women.  Beware!

I did manage to haggle with them and bring home a variety of colors.  They are now among my favorite scarves.

The tour came with better than expected bikes, and we were able to easily pedal up the slopes.  However, we could never descend as fast as we wanted  because the roads were so bumpy.

We stopped to visit a weaver who made indigo and hemp crafts on this loom.  I even bought

 an indigo printed water bottle holder.

rain covers for motorbikes in Sa Pa!

After our trekking and biking adventures, we had time to do some serious shopping in Sa Pa, at all the North Face stores!  Our tour guide even took us to the Sa Pa market.  We were looking for coconut worms and anything different that we have never had before.  There were no coconut worms, but we did try horse stew.

We also found dog meat at the market, but we didn't have the heart to try that!

     Next we took a long van ride back to Hanoi.  On the way, there are giant rest stops, where you can try all sorts of Vietnamese fast food.

     In Hanoi we stayed one night at a the Angel Palace Hotel and woke up early to head for a one night Glory Cruise on Halang Bay.  On the way we stopped at a pearl showroom where we learned all about the pearl farming and sorting process.

Here we are boarding The Pelican!  The rooms have windows overlooking the water (oops-forgot to snap the picture before messing up the bed), and the buffet meals were always excellent.  

The cruise stops at an island for swimming and hiking to the top of a mountain with this view of the bay and all its limestone formations.  We also visited an oyster farm for kayaking and a cave, which was like a smaller version of Paradise cave.

Swimming and looking at our ship

plenty of time to relax on the ship!

 

one last view of Halang Bay!

one more view!

     That was the end of our planned tour.  We spent our last afternoon and evening with free time in Hanoi!  I wish we had had more time in Hanoi!  When I first planned the vacation, somehow I thought the cities would be dangerous and dirty and that I would enjoy sports in the wilderness/country more.  But Hanoi was so much fun and so delightful and intriguing with every glance.  For example, a lady is cutting fresh meat on a table, and a dog is sitting nearby without the slightest reaction.
     Hanoi is also a shopping mecca, so we had to buy another suitcase to stash all of our purchases.  Some of the products are made in Vietnam and perhaps on the actual factory equipment by actual factory workers, but after work.  Maybe they put fewer seams in a garment or somehow finish it faster, so they can sell it cheaper and quickly!  But as tour guides told us, many of the name brand items for sale are about 90% real!

 

On Friday nights and weekends, the streets in the Ancient Town are closed to traffic and become lively markets!  Imagine us toting our new suitcase on wheels down this street, filling it up as we went.

Happy shopper!

I was impressed by 1) all the trees in the ancient town and 2) so many women carrying their goods on their shoulders.  As they walk, they rotate the stick between shoulders.   It made me feel not too bad that I had to keep moving my backpack and carryon case between hotels. 

Of course, looking out for the cargo content of motorbikes is always mesmerizing!  Here we have pet fish!

The Vietnamese are obviously very comfortable with this form of transportation.  side saddle!  I wasn't that daring.  In fact, I never learned how to cross the street without panicking.  In Vietnam, the traffic doesn't stop for pedestrians,  You just walk out and the traffic starts to go around you.  You must keep your same pace in order not to be hit!  I usually needed a tour guide to hold my hand!

     The best places to eat in Vietnam are right out on the street.  Street vendors sell a variety of affordable foods and drinks.  Each of these drinks is less than a dollar, so if you're feeling a little thirsty, why not?

Popcorn shaped ice cream - why not?

     If you like pho, you need to go to Hanoi, the birthplace of pho.  Here, locals have pho with fresh herbs for breakfast out on the sidewalks.  For $1, you are served while you sit on a plaster toddler chair and people watch the passing motorbike riders.  This sidewalk is abnormally clear because it is 7AM.  Many sidewalks are used for motorbike parking, so pedestrians have to walk in the street!

like this!

     Actually, after 12 days in Vietnam, we never found coconut worms until the last night.  That is when Leo got desperate and Googled "coconut worms Hanoi."   We were led to a restaurant that had not only coconut worms for $1 each, but also:

We ended up trying bee larvae and ant eggs as well!

The coconut worms are served  LIVE in a bowl of sauce.  They are squirming.  The object is to eat them before they die but not get bitten by their mandibles!  Our first batch died because we couldn't figure out how to break them with our teeth.  But once we figured out to put them in the corners of our mouths and mash them 10 times they broke easily!

This insect restaurant was definitely our favorite restaurant on the trip!  The waiter was amused watching some Americans try to eat the worms!  I didn't think I would try the coconut worms but I did!  They are probably the juiciest meat I have ever tried!  Bring a toothpick with you if you don't want to be reminded of them for hours after!

So our Vietnamese trip ended with a bang. Next we were off to Russia!   The flight from Hanoi to Moscow was about 10 hours. This was exciting because now I could practice the language that I have been studying for many years!  This time I had more fun reading all the signs.  I could finally read them with ease without having to translate each letter in my head.   

Charlotta arrived from New York on another plane right after ours.  Now our whole family was together!  The first place we went was the "dacha" or  weekend family farm.  It is located near Dmitrov, about an hour from Moscow, in a little village called Dyadkova.   My kids had fond memories of this place during their younger childhood vacations and didn't want to miss time at the dacha.

Our family with Babushka's (Grandma's) and Dedushka's (Grandpa's) best friends.

The dacha is on property that's probably about one acre.  When Babushka and Dedushka were a little younger, they planted more vegetables here.  Now they still have a vegetable garden and tons of currants and apple trees, but there is plenty of space to play soccer.

Babushka and Dedushka working in their garden.

Dedushka wanted everyone to splash with cold well water first thing in the morning-
his secret to staying healthy.

Every time we visit the dacha, we also cross the channel to visit Misha.  We use this channel for swimming, but I never forget that it was dug by Stalin's prisoners.

My favorite dacha activity is to go biking in the country.  We pass through primal forest (Russians seem very good at conserving their forests) and quaint villages and farms.

After the dacha, we visited Moscow.  We went to a relative's birthday party at a delicious Italian restaurant, took a backstage tour of the Russian Circus, saw Taming of the Shrew at the Bolshoi Theater, and did the usual Red Square route.

Above is the exterior and interior of the Bolshoi (Big) Theater, where you will find all the famous Russian ballets.

What kind of Russian travel blog would this be without a pic of St. Basil's on the Red Square?

  

In Moscow, we met our Russian friends, Ira and Ilia, from California, who happened to plan their trip overlapping with ours.  We took a guided walking tour of the Red Square  and went to Gym (Goom) together.  Gym is the famous, beautiful shopping mall in Moscow, where we bought original Soviet Union ice cream, which only came in limited flavors.

We also visited the Kremlin, where we failed to see Putin, but went inside several churches.  Here, I would estimate that 90% of the tourists were Asian.  Chinese tourists love to visit Russia!

We also took an overnight train to St. Petersburg, where we stayed for 2 days.  This was the first time my children had even been to St. Petersburg, though they'd been to Moscow many times.  Now Charlotta wants to live there because it feels so European.

 

We took a riverboat tour of St. Petersburg, where you can admire all the fine, well-kept European architecture.

We also visited the Hermitage, or Winter Palace, where the Romanov family lived up till the 1917 Revolution.  It is now an art museum.  

Everyone is happy to see Anastasia's winter palace and go inside!  We guessed which room was Anastasia's, and we all chose and claimed our favorite rooms.

This is where the Czar sat.  Of course he was executed during the 1917 Revolution.

They say it would take 7 years to look at every item in the museum.  My kids only lasted about 2 hours!  It was crowded with tourists.

The arch in the background in famous.  Through here surged the revolutionaries who took over the palace in 1917 and started the Soviet Union!

Maybe Anastasia rode in the carriage?

It is said that if you rub these toes, you will have all sorts of good luck.

At the Pregnant Spygirl Cafe, you can sit inside an old car and admire many other historic artifacts.

having lunch in an old car

We also visited a vegan restaurant, which I loved because it gave me so much energy!  And we did enjoy eating at all the local Stolovayas, or cafeterias.  My favorite museum was the Ethnography museum, where you can learn about all the different cultures in the former Soviet Union and see artifacts from each one.

No, we can't take these kittens home with us.

Yes, this trip was a little long!  But we saw a lot!  Now back to reality!  Back to our dog!

By the end of the trip we had flown over the Pacific Ocean, Asia, Europe and the Atlantic Ocean - literally around the world in 30 days.