An alt.johnny.appleseed?

The Autonomous Republic of Buryatia is one of the 89 administrative districts that comprise the Russian Federation and is the only one that is predominantly Buddhist. Supposedly the mother of Genghis Khan was born here, but that kind of thing is sort of hard to establish for wandering nomads like the Mongols. It certainly does have that Asian feel to it, whatever that means, save for the ubiquitous hammer-and-sickles that dot the area. Oh yeah, and that big old Lenin head!

Last night I met a nice girl named Marina, who was jamming away in Lenin Plaze on her electric guitar. Her English was not very developed beyond words outside of Nirvana songs, but she could play pretty damn well and it sounded pretty authentic on the cheapo portable Montgomery Ward-style amp she was hooked into. She often treks down to Beijing or Ulaan Bator to play in clubs but her dream is to save enough money for a trip to New York.

One of the things I like to do is bring self-burned CDs into Russia, not of the awful J.Lo/Brittany/Beyonce/Janet/Justin crap that even makes it over here, but of the good stuff that isn't even that well known outside of college stations and underground clubs in the US. I had already given my Flaming Lips CD to a dude in Moscow, and I thought she might like the Pixies, but instead I gave her a Bright Eyes CD, figuring she could make out the lyrics a little bit easier.

Tomorrow morning I leave Ulan-Ude on the Trans-Siberian with the intended departure point of Krasnoyarsk. I should have clear viewing of Lake Baikal but, as my encephalitis shots are not up-to-date and there's a major infestation right now, I'm not getting out of the damn train. Next update may be awhile since the journey lasts more than a day.