Lately the battle of Brooklyn centers around finding cheap rent for bands or artists in neighborhoods in from Williamsburg on the L line, which heads straight into East Village bar turf on Manhattan. Or the battle over the Atlantic Yards project. The ultimate should we/shouldn’t we in urban development — a new business center that could bring jobs (and the NBA Nets) but … Read on
I’ve been busy writing up my Russia research for Lonely Planet’s Russia and Trans-Siberian Railway books. I did manage to squeeze in a short article on Vladivostok for the New York Times last Sunday. The city has much more to talk about. One of the things that fascinated me most was a growing breed of new entrepreneurs who are busy re-working how the … Read on
Novy Urgal, the lead town from the eastern stretches of the BAM railway, is clearly not a place most, or any, travellers will come to. The train station has no guesthouse, and a tragic toilet for those needing it. The hotel is under renovation — if you can find it — and a scattered group of tile-peeling buildings are lined along dusty streets … Read on
‘What do you think of Vladivostok?’ I hear this question a lot. I’ve begun my nearly two month trip across Russia’s Far East with two weeks in Vladivostok, so I should have an answer. Its name means ‘to rule the East,’ but it was only meant as a menacing threat to its neighbors from a military sense. The town was closed for most … Read on
FINALLY, A DRUNK GUY… WITH GRAPES Rewards in Russia depend not on plans or actual destinations like an art museum or pretty pretty mountain. But the random occurences where you don’t know what’s happening, where you’re going, why you’re doing it, or if you should. The Trans-Siberian runs some 9500 kilometres from Moscow to Vladivostok, crossing seven times zones along the way. … Read on
Some say the ’70s were the Soviet hippie decade — when rock music first made its appearance, along with long hair and whatnot — and looking around the streets of Vladivostok, or listening to tunes playing in any of many cafes, you’d wonder if the 2000s is their ’80s. Forgotten songs by Bon Jovi, Journey and Mr Mister are blasted in Italian-run pizzerias, … Read on
