DAVID HASSELHOFF

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LAST THOUGHTS OF SEVASTOPOL

The last night before I left, I was drinking with the folks there including Christopher and Ledlde and the three German ladies Bettina, karina and Jana.

In honor of the German ladies, we were drinking toasts to David Hasselhoff. They absolutely love him. Karina sang part of a David Hasselhoff song as well as showing us him on her iPad. I think it may automatically take you to 'the Hoff' if left idle for long enough.



TRAVEL TO SIMFEROPOL

If you are wanting to go into or leave the Crimea, you will be going through this city. There isn't much to see there but it is the major transportation hub of the Crimea. When I was heading from Simferopol to Sevastopol the first time, I took something the locals call (in Russian) and 'electric train'. It took about two hours and cost 8 UAH. This time, I decided to take a small bus.

The small bus holds roughly ten people. They can be noisy, hot and uncomfortable but the 'electric train' had already taken off so what the hell. I asked the guy how much it would be and he said 200 UAH. When I started to laugh and walk away, he quickly dropped to the normal rate of 50 UAH. Note, it is important to find out what the normal rate is before negotiating! Even if the local people rate was 40 UAH, a 10 UAH 'rich foreigner' tax isn't really excessive so I said 'what the hell' and went for it.

Including myself and the driver, there were only five people on board and two were dropped off a short way out of town near a monastery. I was riding shotgun. I have no idea how they make any money at this. After agreeing to the cost, you are led to the vehicle and the driver goes off to find more people who want to ride in it. He keeps the rest of the passengers waiting but he can't keep them waiting too long or they'll wander off.

The journey was swift and relatively comfortable. The good thing is that we were doing between 100 KM/hr and 140 KM/hr. The bad thing is that it was on roads often a lane and a half wide with traffic going both ways. People passed in no passing zones, going up hills, around corners and pretty much any time they had an urge to do so. I am often surprised that the countryside of central and eastern European countries isn't littered with the bodies and charred wreckage of people not fast enough to dodge vehicles of people driven like monkeys on crack.



ON THE TRAIN

In my overnight sleeper car was a mom and her ten year old son. I never learned her name but his name was Nikita. This was an easy name for me to remember because of one of my favorite movies. But, here it is a boy's name. Initially, he didn't speak any English but I am Logan and playing cards are a great icebreaker. We ended up playing cards together for hours. He was pleased to tell me he will be eleven next month. He was a sharp (smart) and funny kid. It helped eat up the miles for both of us and make the trip less dull.



ODESSA

So, I'm back in Odessa and all is well. It is nice to see Sylvia (best cook of Polish food in Europe), Mark (who also works at the TIU hostel) and the new faces here.

While I'm here, I think I should buy a book or two because three days on a boat with no internet may drive me to stab people, not sure. It's a piece of advice Adam gave me and it sounds pretty reasonable.