Wednesday, October 26, 2005

All set for Moscow

I asked Ivonne if I can put her e-mail regarding Wilma and the celebration on my blog for everyone to read and she said yes, it's fine so here it ist

"Hi: it is now 5 pm on saturday. the wind has subsided quite a bit, though we did have some 45 to 60 mile per hour gusts over the nighttime. wilma is now a category 2 hurricane, winds just over 100 mph. the direction is now to the north at 2 mph, so we have had the worst. for us it is now effectively over, the rest of today and tomorrow will be bands of storm crossing over, and by tomorrow nght it should be over for us completely.
we have had no problems, the building is fine, no floods, even the electricity stayed on the whole time. we havebeen lucky, thanks be to all the candles lit for us.
progreso is having a fun holiday. the malecon is lined with families and tourists from merida playing on the edge of the water and just watching the waves. most of the businesses and offices are closed, it is a great holiday!!
the coast of quintana roo is devastated, even if it is hard to get information about anything outside of cozumel and cancun. we are now looking to see what, if anything, we can do to help the ordinary people of the area. they will be a long time recovering from this, and the damage from emily has not even been finished repairing.
please keep those people in your prayers, they will need it!!
thanks
david, ivonne and abigail"

Yesterday I went to Rebis again where I worked before I left Poland eight years ago. I love visiting Rebis, my old boss and bosses, Tomek and Grazyna, and my former co-workers. I also met there Mr. Jacek Kryg who is a feng shui specialist, has been travelling extensively throughout China, India and Nepal, and who gave me many interesting facts and pieces of advice for my trip. What a great coincidence this was to meet him there! He is the editor of the series of books entitled "East for West" published by Rebis and the book I read recently "The Seat of the Soul" (I forgot to mention that the Polish title is "Siedlisko duszy").

So today I went to the Russian consulate to get the transit visa through Russia. I have to say that I haven't seen more abnoxious and rude people than those working at this consulate... They must hate their job poor things. I also bought today the ticket to Moscow with a stop-over in Warsaw to spent one more day with the Chwist family and to visit Kura's mom since I didn't realize she lives right in the center of Warsaw and I missed seeing her when I went to Warsaw last week. I am looking forward to visiting Kuromatke and I hope she will show me pictures of baby Kura, preferably naked or sleeping in his crib (I hope you don't mind Kura). I love pictures of babies and I am sure Kura was a very sweet and cute baby.

And, also today, I woke up with some kind of extraordinary energy, thinking yes! this is the beginning of a new trip! It will be different than the previous trip. The trip to South America was mostly the trip to encounter the outside environment, the people and different cultures. Something tells me that this trip will be the trip to the inside environment, the trip to the bottom of myself: my body and soul. I think whatever I consciously did during the past two years was bringing me to the point where I would want to look inside and see... I am curious what I will find there...

Monday, October 24, 2005

Saved!

I got an e-mail from Yvonne that Wilma passed them and they are saved. People from Progreso and Merida went out to the beach and celebrated that the gods of nature spared them this time. I am so happy for them! Cancun, Cozumel and Michal's favorite beach - Playa des Mujeres, were badly damaged and it will take time to do the reparations...

My tooth was also saved. I stayed in bed since Friday morning except for one short outing to the internet wanting to get news from Yvonne and one short outing to cast my vote for the president (I looked at them closely, watched the presidencial debates and decided to vote), knocked out by anti-inflamatory drugs and painkillers, wrapped in double down comforters made by my late grandmother and with a very hairy Mexican hat on my head and face to keep the heat on... and today Dr Prochnicka (Dr Cavity) decided inflammation of the nerve got smaller and will be beaten by the drugs alone! Tomorrow I am going to buy the ticket to Moscow for Friday, October 4th and from there I will look for connections to Bejing. I decided not to panic and travel the way I have been travelling so far - not making reservations too far ahead.

I remain yours, Toothfull Traveller.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Pictures from Poland, hurricane and root canal

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/asia_kabat/

Here's an easier link to the picks from Poland. I will get to the remaining pictures from the trip when I have unlimited access to some computer.

I am getting e-mails from Ivonne who lives in Puerto Progresso in Yucatan about the hurricane. Ivonne doesn't loose her sense of humor and says that they, Ivonne, David and Abigil are "assuming the appropriate disaster position: seated, head between the knees, kissing the ass goodby!" I also got e-mails from Todd, together with Mike, drives around Guatemala and helps to assess the damage done there by the hurricane which struck a few weeks ago. I am thinking of all of them, the people I know and the ones I don't know, all the time and saying my mantras to divert diseasters...

I was struck by inflammation of the root canal and I haven't experienced pain as strong as this but it's nothing to complain about in comparison to all the pain caused by the diseasters... but my trip will be postponed a bit because I will have to wait for dentists' decision. In the worst case I will be Asia Podrozniczka Bezzebna/Asia the Traveller Toothless. I got my Chinese visa and I hope to set out East on Friday in two weeks. I will be in touch soon with details.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Pictures from Poland

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Still in Poznan

The reason why I don't write as often as before is the scarcity of internet cafes in Poznan. It seems so many people own computers that internet places are not necessary. The closest internet place to my home is rather far away... usually I write late in the evening (in general my brain works best - when it comes to any creative work - between 8-12 pm) and it's too late then to walk to the internet place.

I have been spending mornings and early afternoons with my father and late afternoons and evenings with my mother. My father drives me around the city and shows me new buildings, new stores and various projects; with my mom I visit the nearby forest together with Buffo and Max where we meet other doggies and observe them play. In the morning I visit Cafe Krolewska with my dad for the morning tea and paper reading. The political life really sucs and the election of the president is very tough... the candidates are unsuitable to rule a country, even the one which seems to many to be a perfect candidate for president... I visited with my father the grounds of a palace of the Raczynski Family located 20 km away from Poznan, in Rogalin, and on the tumb of Edward Raczynski this line is written: "Don't waste liberty!" Edward Raczynski died in 1993 at the age of 102. Before the WWII he was the Polish ambassador in a few countries and later, after the war, he was the president of Poland in emigration in London since Poles didn't accept the communist government installed after the WWII and didn't acknowledge the communist party leaders as presidents. I think Raczynski could forsee that, as my father points out, the people who are in power now are not patriots (in the good sense of the world) and their main concern is not the welfare of the people of the country they govern but their own... It amazes me, time and time again, how corrupt the local and federal governments are. I understand that this is also due to the habits formed during the 50 years of communism where it would not be possible to survive without being corrupt... but the system has changed and one would hope that the habits would change as well... It is a very complex problem, like all political and economic systems everywhere... Poland in some way resembles Chile: Chile is doing great economically - I read everywhere how great the economy is doing, how strong the currency is, how it is #1 in South America, etc., etc. - yet the worst slums I saw in South America, and so many of them, I saw in Chile. In Poland all the statistics and the papers are full of admiration for the Polish economy and at the same time millions of kids go to school hungry as other statistics say. I understand that everything takes time and the transformation of the system takes time for the new system to work yet I have a feeling that parts of Poland are left alone to themselves and there are no programs for those who lost their jobs due to transformation and don't know what to do with themselves, like the farmers who worked for the collective farms called PGR and who all got fired after the PGR got closed. People such as them are just totally lost in the new system and the new system doesn't do anything to familiarize them with the system. What really gets to me is how the rich expose their wealth. It reminds me of stories I heard about the Russians who got reach overnight and drink shampaigne out of the bottle on the French Riviera. It's not that bad in Poland but I think what this country needs is modesty. Every year a few papers publish "the list of 100 richest Poles" together with the information on how they got "their first million" and most of them got it by illegal ways and are not even ashamed of that... What also gets to me is that the most favorized candidate for president is just a little smoother version of George W. Bush and nobody seems to notice that... Globalization of certain ideas is branching out to the entire planet.

Looking at the parts of the world I travelled through it seems things are not getting into good direction, good for Mother Earth and all the beings who inhabit it. I feel that the rules governing societies got so complicated that not many people understand them or know how they are all connected and what the result of this connection is. The book I read in Guatemala "Sweet waist of America" precisely talked about that. The author wanted to understand who was at fault and who had good intentions in the civil wars of Central America. Even the people with good intentions, such as Che Guevarra and Subcomendante Marcos, eventually become criminals by being the cause of death of people whose fate they wanted originally to improve. He pointed out that all the revolutionaries who wanted the people to raise and defend themselves where intellectuals, raised in rich or relatively rich families, people with certain ideals who wanted the entire world to listen to them, who thought they new the remedy for the injustice of the world... but it seems the remedy which involves arms and hate doesn't work. Maybe the only revolution which works is bloodless revolution (such as that of Gandhi and the Solidarity movement) and even with that it is not certain that the old corrupt system is not going to be replaced by a new corrupt system... What the author of the book says is that the true heroes are those who revolutionize themselves and by their own decent and compassionate life help those who are in their own environment. The silent heroes are the true heroes, he says.

This brings me to two books I have just read. One is Karen Horney's book "Neurotic Personality of Our Time" and I found it interesting that Karen Horney shares my view on the basis of evil which she believes comes from fear which is, according to her, connected to progress and civilization. The second book is Gary Zukav's "The Seat of the Soul" and it corresponds with the idea of the "missing link" or with the idea that man is still evolving and (if he doesn't blow up the earth earlier) it's possible that he will evolve into a higher being, driven not by fear and instincts of survival but by compassion and awareness toward achieving harmony with all living and non-living beings. I like his idea of a man who will perceive the world not by five senses but by more senses, which he rarely is aware of now, and see the world in a multi-dimensional manner. I can see what he means. Have you ever seen a three-dimensional movie? Before you put on the special glasses the movie is flat, when you put them on the picture is very different.... It is a comforting idea that man is evolving, that maybe all the conflicts, suffering and wars he has brought on himself and the fellow beings was a stage he had to go through and eventually he will learn his lessons and the lessons will bring him to non-violent behaviour and respect for life and the universe.

When I think of all this and the idea of non-violence, other senses, and multi-dimensionality, I think of the jungle of Ecuador and I also think of Tibet. I am going to visit my friend Marcin and his wife Dorotka and their little son Karmelek next week. They live in Warsaw. I will spent time with them and also visit the Chinese embassy and ask for the permit to visit Tibet. If I get it, maybe I will first go there. I am still thinking and waiting for a precise plan. I never want to force anything so I will wait and if the precise idea doesn't come, I will just get the train ticket to the fork in the road just behind the Chinese border and will wait there for enlightment where to go exactly...

Marcin will help me post some of the pictures from Poland on the blog. I decided that the rest of them will have to wait for being posted because it requires a lot of work and it's hard to do without my own computer. But soon there will be some pictures of Poland, family, friends and dogs. Dear friends, I miss you all, dearly. I have to say it again that I miss you but you are always with me and your energy pushes me forward to unknown lands. Please keep in touch. I am sending warmest hugs to all.....

Friday, October 07, 2005

Back in Poznan

It was sad to leave Wiselka but I feel I really have to start organizing my trip east if I don't want to freeze along the way (winter in this part of the world is about to begin). The weather in Wiselka was wonderful, sunny and about 20 degrees Celsius. I spent mornings and afternoons walking along the beach, suntanning and picking mushrooms in the forests by the beach. I brought some mushrooms for my mother and she made a really good dish with them: boiled mushrooms with cream and herbs. There are many edible types of mushrooms in Poland and almost everybody knows them. I know four species: podgrzybki, borowiki, maslaki and kurki (chantarelles). In Wiselka I found podgrzybki and maslaki. It is such a pleasure to pick them. The floor of the forest is soft, covered by moss, and it feels like walking on clouds. There's silence broken only by rustling leaves and woodpeckers. I could walk and walk in the forest the entire day... Every evening there was a supper at Michal's parent's house, who live close to Michal, and many great conversations about everything.

I looked into my future adventure and the bureucracy is tremendous... It was so easy travelling in South and Central America in comparison. I could hop on the bus going anywhere and get an entry-exit stamp in my passport in a flash (and usually without any fee). To go to China by train I have to first buy the train ticket to Bejing. On the base of the ticket I will get the visa to China and on the base of the Chinese visa I will get the transit visa to Russia. However, in Poland I can only buy a ticket for the first and second class. If I want to buy the ticket for third class (and I do - to save money) I can only do it in Moscow. So I could just buy the ticket to Moscow and get the regular tourist visa to enter Russia and then buy the ticket Moscow-Bejing and obtain the Chinese visa in Moscow. However, Moscow is the most expensive city in the world so I would have to sleep at the train station since I can't afford the hotels... I am thinking what to do and trying to reach the Chinese consul, who is very elusive, to make him agree to give me the visa without the Moscow-Bejing train reservation. I think I should be able to leave in about 2-3 weeks if all goes well. If I could get the third class ticket, taking the transmanjurian line, the entire trip would cost me about $250.

I promised I would write about my last days in Mexico City. I think what I want to write most about is the exhibition I saw in the Museum of Anthropology entitled "Woman. Divine and Human." It was dedicated to woman as seen in the precolumbian cultures in Peru and Mexico. As givers of life women in these cultures were considered sacred. The same respect shown to the greatest giver of life Mother Earth was shown to the giver of human's life. The exhibit showed many artefacts - mostly sculptures - representing women, the beauty of their bodies, their motherhood, and also sexuality which in those times was not considered a taboo. While I was walking along the glass cases with sculptures I was thinking about "The Da Vinci Code" as this book had a lot to do with the "sacred feminine." I didn't care about the mystery content in the book or the church's politics and deceipt or whether Mary Magdalene was a saint or a whore. None of this really interests me. What I found most interesting was all the author wrote about woman and about Leonardo Da Vinci and his idea of the masculine and feminie content in every person. I also read a book entitled "Leonardo Da Vinci Decoded" and I found more on this interesting subject: Leonardo's search for the meaning of life and his take on men and women and relations between them. I like his idea that a "full" person is someone who displays the characteristics which are usually considered feminine such as intuitiveness, vulnerability and patience and those considered male such as decisiveness, consistency and endurance. He believed that left and right part of the brain are responsible for femininity and masculinity and we should exercise them both to achieve the balance. When I think about this I find much truth in it. Men who are afraid of the feminie content are unbearable machos and women who are afraid of masculinity are "dumb blondes." There are, of course, other extremes: women who are more macho then the machoest man, and man more helpless than the sweetest, most peroxided, high-healed blonde... The theory of balance seems the best... In Mexico I also saw the Independence Day. There were many events going on during the entire weekend, specifically on the huge Zacolo - the main square in front of the cathedral. One evening I saw the folk groups representing all different regions of Mexico and different indigenous groups: beautiful dances, songs and costumes. The next evening there were regge and rock groups performing on a stage and they were really good, indeed. There was lot's of people everywhere in the historic district and all streets around it were closed for cars, only pedestrians were permitted. It was also like one big mercado - everything could be found: delicious food and lot's of crafts and various articles of clothing, tools, paper products, old antiqui stuff, shamans cleaning of bad energy with incense and feathers... I really loved Mexico DF. I hope to return there one day and continue my trip to places I haven't seen during this trip and the trip 1,5 years ago.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Wiselka on the Baltic coast

I came to Wiselka which is a very small village on the western Baltic coast - it's very close to the German border. I am staying at my friend Michal's house. The house is located at the edge of the forest and if you go through the forest you get to the beautiful, long and sandy beach. It is still warm and sunny but the season has ended and the beaches are deserted. There's almost nobody on the strip of the beach 10 km long. Delicious... There's a beautiful cliff hanging over the beach in many places between Wiselka and a small town of Miedzyzdroje. People on the coast are much more relaxed than in my hometown and it seems they truly enjoy the peacefulness of the place... I was waiting for the bus to Miedzyzdroje and a family stopped to offer me a ride. I really like places like this, where people are not affraid of a fellow human being. I walked on the Miedzyzdroje promenade and the boardwalk going into the sea. There's some kind of a "Senior Gathering" in Miedzyzdoje today and many retirees are dressed in traditional clothing from different regions of Poland, they sing folk songs in small groups and there are many folk bands as well. There are not many stands with amber. I wonder why... Maybe because it's the end of season... I eate the traditional seaside waffles with cherry preserve and I am ready to go back the 10 km along the beach to Wiselka. I will observe the seagulls and the waves and enjoy the pure air and the dunes and pine trees growing along the beach. There's no internet cafe in Wiselka - it is really a very small village. I will write more when I go back to Poznan sometime mid-week. Until then warmest hugs to everyone.

Wiselka on the Baltic coast

I came to Wiselka which is a very small village on the western Baltic coast - it's very close to the German border. I am staying at my friend Michal's house. The house is located at the edge of the forest and if you go through the forest you get to the beautiful, long and sandy beach. It is still warm and sunny but the season has ended and the beaches are deserted. There's almost nobody on the strip of the beach 10 km long. Delicious... There's a beautiful cliff hanging over the beach in many places between Wiselka and a small town of Miedzyzdroje. People on the coast are much more relaxed than in my hometown and it seems they truly enjoy the peacefulness of the place... I was waiting for the bus to Miedzyzdroje and a family stopped to offer me a ride. I really like places like this, where people are not affraid of a fellow human being. I walked on the Miedzyzdroje promenade and the boardwalk going into the sea. There's some kind of a "Senior Gathering" in Miedzyzdoje today and many retirees are dressed in traditional clothing from different regions of Poland, they sing folk songs in small groups and there are many folk bands as well. There are not many stands with amber. I wonder why... Maybe because it's the end of season... I eate the traditional seaside waffles with cherry preserve and I am ready to go back the 10 km along the beach to Wiselka. I will observe the seagulls and the waves and enjoy the pure air and the dunes and pine trees growing along the beach. There's no internet cafe in Wiselka - it is really a very small village. I will write more when I go back to Poznan sometime mid-week. Until then warmest hugs to everyone.

Wiselka on the Baltic coast

I came to Wiselka which is a very small village on the western Baltic coast - it's very close to the German border. I am staying at my friend Michal's house. The house is located at the edge of the forest and if you go through the forest you get to the beautiful, long and sandy beach. It is still warm and sunny but the season has ended and the beaches are deserted. There's almost nobody on the strip of the beach 10 km long. Delicious... There's a beautiful cliff hanging over the beach in many places between Wiselka and a small town of Miedzyzdroje. People on the coast are much more relaxed than in my hometown and it seems they truly enjoy the peacefulness of the place... I was waiting for the bus to Miedzyzdroje and a family stopped to offer me a ride. I really like places like this, where people are not affraid of a fellow human being. I walked on the Miedzyzdroje promenade and the boardwalk going into the sea. There's some kind of a "Senior Gathering" in Miedzyzdoje today and many retirees are dressed in traditional clothing from different regions of Poland, they sing folk songs in small groups and there are many folk bands as well. There are not many stands with amber. I wonder why... Maybe because it's the end of season... I eate the traditional seaside waffles with cherry preserve and I am ready to go back the 10 km along the beach to Wiselka. I will observe the seagulls and the waves and enjoy the pure air and the dunes and pine trees growing along the beach. There's no internet cafe in Wiselka - it is really a very small village. I will write more when I go back to Poznan sometime mid-week. Until then warmest hugs to everyone.