第一次在伊朗的家庭體驗

我們在伊朗的第一個梳化主人是一對年輕夫婦: 瑪迪和他太太斯芭。瑪迪是一個很聰明的人，工程出生的他找不到和他有關的工作，只有在一貿易公司當半職售貨員，靠自學學好英文，能對答如流；做事又十分有分寸，我們在阿美尼亞和他電郵聯絡，他是我們在梳化主人當中少有能很明確地告訴我們地址，使我們一下車就能找到他的家。

他們剛新婚不久，已花了很大支出，不能負擔度蜜月，所以很羡慕我們可以婚後旅行。我們得知在伊朗辦婚事，有很大的社會壓力要做得好好睇睇，不然讓人少看。縱使男女雙方想從簡，奈何家長要面子，要派頭，便要借錢辦那為期可長達三至十天的婚禮派對。瑪迪其實有些微言，他是地道塔里斯人，要迎娶來自首都德克蘭中產家庭的斯芭。女方家庭有些微言，像是千金嫁到鄉下仔，瑪迪感到被看不起，所以想方法出人頭地，希望一朝出國找新生活。我們也覺得他是個人才，在失業率高的伊朗是浪費了他。

他們租了一個地牢做家，因為比較便宜，但室內裝修也很舒適。其實我覺得有點奢華:有五十寸大電視和衛星電視，這些入口貨不便宜，看他們是用來沖多過喜歡看電視的人。況且瑪迪說在伊朗看衞星電視是犯法的，政府不許國民受外國資訊"毒害"，但不少人已經在家裝了電視，包括高官，所以執法人員選擇地執法，當然不會捉高官，反而作為控制人民的籌碼:有"其他事"要搜屋，找不到証據，便可以用此來加罪，也可以以此為借口拉人封艇。大眾覺得捉不到自己便沒事，想不到這是選擇執法的後果:有朝一日拿作把柄。另一印象是在地上的地毯和梳化。其實兩者有些抵觸，要坐地毯又可必坐梳化呢?這幾天我們都是坐地下，可相而知那幾個皮造梳化是為了派頭。

我們到了伊朗已經是初冬，對於來自亞熱帶的我們，攝氏零度是很冷了，他們當然不以為然，但在地牢加上整天開暖氣(記得這裏燃料很平)是很暖的。但要如厠的話，就要到室外的茅廁暴寒了。所謂茅廁，只是在室外大廈花園的小屋，算是密封有燈。這可能是因此較平租的原因罷。

瑪迪對我們的香港感興趣，知道這和中國的關係覺得我們商機處處，而中國是少有和伊朗做生意的國家，自然引來不少暇想，希望和我們有些生意往來。當然我們告訴另一邊情況，他就不太相信了。當我們閒談之間，斯芭為我們做第一道伊朗菜。是用肉湯伴餅，他們的餅很有麥香，加了肉湯，對我們久未吃熱食的自然大口大口的吃。在斯芭做菜時，我也不忘露一手炒飯。他們的米質是較粗的，不像我們吃的絲苗軟米，前者很適合炒飯了。我們一起在地上吃飯，我不太能耐要盤膝而坐，太太較能耐，還教他們用筷子呢!

經過一整天的路程，我們有點累，真開心我們可以沖個熱水涼，他們對我們兩夫婦一起沖涼有些驚訝，但我們都是想為他們省點水啫。我們很快便在暖暖的地毯上睡了。

今次到我們變成不想出街的貓

告別美女雅思雅，我們往伊朗裔阿美尼亞人阿連的家做客。我們原定在他家留三天，好讓我們多逛逛博物館，並試另外一間阿美尼亞白蘭地。但是天氣變得很冷，中午應該是全日最暖的也是零下十五度，冰天雪地，老婆的感冒未癒，所以有很多日子在他暖暖的家上網看電影煮大餐。



阿連是讀醫，現在公共衞生中心在阿美尼亞遍遠地區研究及推行營養健康計劃。作為伊朗裔，盡顯好客本性。他不介意我們留得久，還叫我們留至感冒痊癒才走。雖然他於伊朗出生，却能避過服兵役，因為他年少便來阿美尼亞讀高中及大學，得到當時政策的豁免 (其實是當時有高官定此豁免來放自己兒子一馬)。在我們進伊朗之前，得他介紹當地情況及推介的見聞，受益不少。

在他家開暖氣、上網任用、看阿聯酋衞星電視經常播較新的電影、用他那設備齊全的廚房，我們也不介意地方淺窄，大煮特煮。他也是難得吃豬肉飲酒的伊朗裔，信奉的不是伊斯蘭教而是東正教，我們煮食就不需瞻前顧後。他說沒有甚麼不吃，那就好了，焗豬排、甜酸骨、小龍蝦、鮮菇、醬燒茄子、魚子... 

甚麼? 煮出來他居然說不太吃之後那四款食物! 又不早說，他研究偏遠山區的人的營養不均，其實在城裏的他就偏食(其實又煙又酒)，但又不知道自己不吃甚麼，我們這樣取笑他多日。

我們在城裏買了一支已存二十年的阿美尼亞白蘭地，打算帶回香港過新年。但是他告訴我們壞消息: 在伊朗這是禁品 ! 或許可以走私入境，老婆放在厚衣內帶入境應該無問題，關員不會搜女人；但帶離境幾乎不可能，因為X光機一定可以看到這大支液體 ! 唉...一番心血作癈，唯有把它開了，和他一起分享一些，再打算走私入境。他當然也却之不恭，美酒佳餚，有朋共享，人生快事。

阿連的好客使我們長留當中遇見另一梳化客，他的經歷可謂咋舌。米高是墨西哥人，在匈牙利打工，想去伊朗旅行，知道可以在德黑蘭機場做"落地簽証"，怎料飛機晨早三時到達，關員問他德黑蘭招待他的人的聯絡，他沒有訂酒店，只有梳化主人的電話，電話不能接通。不能發簽証，他要飛回烏克蘭，但他的烏克蘭簽証又過期不能入境，他做了機場露宿者。最後找到機票來到阿美利亞，但又申請不到伊朗簽証。所以在阿連家只住兩晩，然後往北回佐治亞，在第比利斯再申請伊朗簽証。 一番轉折，希望他如願到達伊朗。 阿連見地方不大，可以讓一半雙人床給他睡，但他不喜歡和男人同床，我們一眾大惑不解，算吧，人家有自己喜好。

不知不覺在阿連家留了一星期，他也做拿手伊朗菜給我們吃，這是香料煎雞，再配乾紅梅及番紅花汁淋飯。我們後來才知道初孕不宜番紅花，但西醫何來有這些戒口想法?

現在阿B又是好好地 !

今天兩隻寄住貓被困在温暖的家

阿美尼亞人熱情好客，但couchsurfing並不熱門。只有在首都Yerevan年青一代英語水平較
高，大部份人多以俄語溝通，而多數人也與父母同住，couchsurfer 則是外國人居多。我們很幸運，竟在Yerevan找到一位獨居的阿美尼亞女士寄住幾天。

美女雅思雅工作很忙，雖要帶文件回家繼續努力，總算可以準時下班。

雅思雅家只有一條匙，為擔心我們太早起，便提議中午從公司回家一趟，讓我們出門。我們真的睡至十時多，吃了碗白粥，打點了行裝，但一等等到下午二時....噢！沒回來。可能忘掉了。但我們沒買本地電話咭，家中亦不能上網，沒辦法只好留下洗衫、寫blog，休息一下好了。

外面零下十度，天寒地凍，冰天雪地，我又感冒未癒，偶而窩在温暖的家中偷懶一天也不錯。幸好還有點吃的。

下午6時多，天已黑齊，沙發主人也差不多該回來了。原來她下午被老闆叫住開會，中午飯也沒著落。沒法子。

Ukranian Sauna (banya) in the Carpathian Mountain

We love baths. 

Being a big fans of hot spring, sauna, steam bath, massage, exfoliation, spring water bath and actually all kinds of baths, we are happy to discover the sauna in Ukraine.

We have tried the Japanese onsen, Taiwan hotspring, Korean Jjimjilbang, Finnish Sauna, Turkish Hammam, Mexican cenote, Hungarian furdo, Slovakia thermal spring, German sauna, aqua caliente in Colombia, Pamukale in Turkey and the salted mineral water in Tuzla (Bosnia), if not more... We are really happy to add another one to our list - the Ukrainian sauna, which is actually the Russian banya. (And now I finally realized how the name of the luxurious  spa in Bangkok 'Banya Tree' comes about!) 

Thanks to our host, Victor in Yaremche, we were brought to a banya in the neighborhood. 

We strolled towards the residential area and arrived a gate. It was occupied by the owner and his B&B. Through a flowery garden, we proceeded to a wooden cottage. Walking up the stairs, we found a rest area, called predbannik or pre-bath, with a changing area, table and some benches. Further inside, there is a toilet, a shower room and finally, the sauna room.

Victor told us that first we need to get naked, wrapped with the big towel provided and go straight to the sauna room.

 




The sauna room is connected to stove of the predbannik, heated by burning lodges. It was a gloomy, rainy day and the room was already heated, with tea set and even a set of backgammon. 

We proceeded straight into the sauna, which is somewhere between 95 to 100 degree Celsius, and sat for a few minutes. Then we returned to the benches to cool down and get some rest.

We made some herbal tea and enjoyed the warm fire by cooling down slowly. 

Then we entered the sauna to get heated up again.

The heating and cooling circuit is supposed to warm our body gradually, bringing heat into our bones.

I started sweating and blushing after a few rounds.

We enjoyed private use of the whole cabin and it was an perfectly gloomy late afternoon to sit at the stairs outside the wooden cottage, cooling down under the fresh air and drizzle with a cup of warm tea.

Victor explained that banya used to be a Saturday social event, to get cleaned up before Sunday church service and sometimes an activity only for men. Unlike Finland, it is not quite a family regular weekend event in winter. Ukrainians nowadays may go sauna with  friends or relatives as a big group, where all women will enter into the sauna for one round, while men gather for the next; sometimes it is just a once in a while guys' gathering or simply a tourist attraction.

The banya we tried is in fact quite an upscale one. Costing around 60 Ukrainian grivna (around HKD57) per person for 2 hours. But we got a little discount and stayed longer as the owner is Victor’s friend and Ukrainine wishes to show the best hospitality to tourist. (Meaning - us!) 

There could be smaller cabin where the shower area is also the resting area, with hot water heated by the steam room stove and a bucket of cold water, or having water from tap, for mixing lukewarm water to a desirable temperature. 

In banya sauna room, the heater is consisted of a water tank, the rock chamber and connected to the rest room heating fire box. If higher temperature is required, we will splash cold water to the rocks. If it’s too unbearably hot, we could open the banya door or sometimes a connecting window for fresh air. 

Being very similar to Finnish sauna, the most unique part about Banya is in fact, the 'whipping' and the felt hat. 

Our banya have prepared us some bunches of dried thin branches and leaves, called 'venik', the bath brooms, usually made from young branches of white birch, oak or eucalyptus, soaked in very hot water to soften before clients arrived. 

After a few rounds of heating and cooling. It’s time to start the smacking massage. 

For us, everyone took turn to help each other with such massage. Victor trained Adley to execute the massage and all I heard from outside was “ouch”, “Yes”, “Good”, “harder”,“Ahhhh”! And then showering with a bucket of ice-cold water from above, then it’s “Ahhhh” again!  

Sound quite Sadomasochistic! What were they doing!?

Then it's finally my turn. 

The sauna room was filled with aroma of the leaves. I placed a towel on the top level of the sauna, lay flat naked. Then Adley with the felt head, started splashing some cold water to the hot stones. He then pulled the veniks from the hot water bucket, shaking off all remaining drips to the hot stone and waved the veniks on top of me like a fan. A flow of hot steam swang pass me, intertwining with the cool leaves caressing my back. Then he started smacking my back briskly with the veniks. The branches are young and softened in water, which made the whole process not at all painful but ultimately relaxing. The other side followed, repeating the same procedures all over again.

The special felt hats are typically worn to protect the head, from the intense heat when someone wishes to stay inside the steam room for a longer time.  While I’m having a good time lying flat to enjoy the heated steam and cool leaves caress, Adley had to stand inside the sauna room to endure all the heat for almost 5 minutes to finish the 'ritual', which could be rather unbearable.  But the felt gave an excellent protection.

The banya is believed to clean skin, to fight sickness, to build body resistance, to lose weight, to improve blood circulation, to improve skin condition, to exfoliate and to help anti-aging.  Wow! I need to get smacked more often!!

In winter, similar to Finnish sauna, after the 95 to 100 degree Celcisus sauna, people may roll in the snow naked or dip into lakes with holes cutting through the ice for cooling.

After 2 rounds of smacking for everyone, with some relaxing herbal tea, an almost tied game of backgammon (that Adley lost), some stories about banya and more heating and cooling - we were already too late for dinner. Victor’s wife, Anna (a professional photographer turned housewife and mother, whom reminds me of Linda McCartney), was waiting for us at home. She had prepared us the mouth-watering white mushroom from the forest of Carpathian mountains.

Our eyes were all redden after the hot steam and we slept like baby that evening.

Our first caving adventure in Zatyzine, Ukraine

We planned to go hiking on the Ukraine Independence Holiday weekend with our CS host, Andrii in Ivano Frankivsk, however, as a mountain guide, he suddenly got a job appointment for a 3 days trip in the Carpathian mountain.  

To our pleasant surprise, Andrii introduced and arranged us to spend our weekend with his friends, a couple who moved to the mountain in Zatyzine, some 2 hours drive away.

 

We were accompanied by another CS-er from Hong Kong, who was staying with Andrii on the same night. And Chin Wang is the first Hong Kong couchsurfer we met on our trip.

Jeremy waited for us at the bus stop and we were led into the mountain, among bushes and forest. After walking for about 20 minutes, we finally arrived their cozy little house among the forest, with only one or two neighbors afar.

Jeremy and Svitlana are excited to have guests and are very happy to meet us. 

They believed in the benefit of eating food uncooked and preferred eating everything raw including meat and vegetables. Hence, our first lunch together was salad and bread.

We had some exchange and learnt that  the couple are speleologist, serious cavers who had spent as long as one week continuously underground! They took almost a whole year making maps of their cave, discovering virgin passages and naming them with their team. They moved to the mountain for the love of caves and nature. 

In fact, there are many caves in Ukraine, especially in that area. We are told that when there is a patch of trees in the middle of the farm field, it means there is a cave underground! As they cannot harvest in a hole. 

After lunch, they took us out to explore some gypsum caves nearby. 

We are advised to wear enough warm clothes and something that can get dirty, with hiking boots ideally, plus head lamp. 

Svitlana is the one who led her husband into caving and she is also a cave guide, who take amateur spelunkers to caving adventure. She is very educational in teaching us about the structure of caves, how to move our body inside the cave safely, how to use equipments for cave diving and how to preserve the minerals, by not touching them. 

We hiked around the mountain after a short drive from their home and there are more than five caves at least. Unfortunately, they were covered by mud and trash, until we found a clean entrance that is more deserted.  Svitlana is an adventurer, she is always the first one trying to get in and explore how it is like.  After a few attempt, she eventually  found one in a good condition for beginners, like us, to try. 

The entrance of the cave was small and the path that followed was even smaller.  We have to squeeze ourselves in.  There were some 10cm big spiders inside the cave, near the entrance, then some baby bats. But further inside, there were only rocks, crystals without insects nor animals.   Moving further in, there was a really difficult part that need to crawl like a worm, then we have to climb down by 1.5m to find a wide open area. We climbed one by one slowly, while Adley came last.  We were all standing in the cave looking, but he suddenly fell down among us! Luckily, there was no injury! Just cramp.

It was a wonderful experience to try caving, the cave was dark, cool and quiet. In fact, it was the same cool temperature all through the year, somewhere around 15 degree Celsius I suppose. But I can't imagine living inside the cave for a whole week!  I appreciate the calmness inside the cave but I can't wait coming outside to see the sun.  

We tried a second one with a huge entrance and not very deep inside. That's quite enough for me for my first time and all I can think of are: hot shower, laundry and a warm dinner!

A natural hotspring unknown by many locals in Poprad, Slovakia

There are over 150 hot springs around Slovakia. Not all are touristy hot spring resorts, but some are undeveloped natural area, only frequented by privileged few who knows the secret. Our friend Brandon took us to one of them.

The touristy and the non-touristy choices

There is a water theme park in Poprad, named Aqua City, 

a family spa centre cum hotel complex, health center and restaurants, which is filled with geothermal water, well-known in the High Tatras area of Slovakia. However, 15km away from Poprad, in the town called Ganovce, has another source of geothermal water only known by very few locals. 

The natural rhythm of the natural geothermal spa

It's actually a pipe that flow 26 degree Celsius mineral water randomly, every 15-30mins, for about 30 minutes every time, 24 hours a day. 

Curing joint problems in a month

People will wear swimsuits and queue up for a splash of the gush. It is believed that the mineral water contained property that cure joint problems.  We are told that many who have neck pain, back pain and joint problems came here everyday, continuously for one month and have been fully recovered. 

A spa party for some

The place, near the open field, is free to visit and opens all year round, any in the day and night. In the evening,there are guys bringing beer to the place, getting drunk and run naked to the spring and had some crazy party in the field.

Who owns it?

We are told that the pipe belonged to the government but the land belonged to an 85-year-old lady, who refused to sell the land, hence it had not turned into a commercial bath. 

The other bath in Ganovce

There is in fact another pool nearby, also in Ganovce, that people need to pay for entry. That pool used to be an ancient Roman bath, but left empty during the Soviet time. The ruins was further destroyed when time passed and it was newly reopened a few years ago.

How does the water feels like?

At our free spa, the water was actually warmer than open air with the cool wind.  The gush of water also varied in strength. Hence when it is strong, it also give massage to our back and should but we need to be flexible and move on our own in all creative ways.

Coming all he way from Hong Kong to visit his little spa!

It was fun queuing up to wait for a splash. The locals are rather curious to find two Chinese being there and gave us a friendly look. 

What you need for the enjoyment?

We brought our own mattress, swimsuits and enjoyed the water and the sun for an afternoon. Some snacks could make it like a picnic!

The archeological discovery

In the village, there was also a cave relics presenting the discovery some years ago for the pre-historical human "Neanderthal" (approximately 105 000 years).  A human brain without skull was found in that location, as it was protected by the mineral of the geothermal water in this area.

Celebrating Maria's birthday in Polish southern country-side by her favorite activity : eat, eat and eat

Feeling not enough time to enjoy Krakow move, we went back to Katowice to meet Beata to go to her parents' village house in southern Poland. We like village life a lot because of natural scenery, natural food, slow pace and ethnicity. This trip is a good celebration of Maria's birthday. It's worth the effort of detour.

We took the train together from Katowice to Pszczyna ("pis-Si-na", we were laughed at by finding it so difficult to pronounce that presumably one vowel word), where we met her father Jaroslaw. He was very friendly and could speak English well. On our way to the village we brought some food in the supermarket  as we like to make some Chinese dishes; also went to home renovation store where Jaroslaw bought some material for the village home. He was the home improvement guy, and enjoys it a lot.

He was so nice to bring us to Zywiec beer brewery. It had been owned by the Hapsburg family and now still running after two centuries. We knew how to make beer but enjoy seeing their set-up of the old streets and old bar, with old-styled bowling that the kids were crazy at playing. I was concerned why children went for beer tour (just like San Miguel beer tour visited by kids in Hong Kong); wouldn't that encourage alcoholism ? At the end we could drink the beer, I like the clear briskness. When we left the brewery it was raining very heavily (after a long week of hot weather, including the hottest day of the season). 

After another hour of car journey we finally got over some rugged road and arrived the village house near the border town Zwardon. We were welcomed by the favorite German Shepard Rex. Beata's mother Marione and grandmother Kristina treated us nice warm soup for the rainy cold night. 

We had a room by ourselves at the top of the house. It was cozy and comfortable.

In the next morning we had our first breakfast viewing the foggy mountains (we were either lucky or unlucky to see that unclear view at that time). Also we had a good look of the living and kitchen. Kristina was making meatball for dinner the other night. Tonight we made dinner.

After lunch we went out for a short walk, it was foggy around. We did not do much walk and came back to the house quickly. It was good to be wet with the hope that there may be some mushrooms.

In that evening we made our Chinese dishes, including their favorite sweet and sour pork (shanghai style). We also had campfire. On Sunday morning we went to church. It was a great sunny day and also Maria's birthday. She got a bunch of flowers and a pair of thick socks, a good present for her because all her socks were thin and short. 

Her favorite birthday activity came, we went around the forest to pick and eat blackberries along the way. We picked a lot that we later made a berry sauce for steam buns. Rex was a bit put off by our enthusiasm and did not want to walk that far with us. We had to keep giving him encouragement and rest so he could work on. He was a city dog and felt more comfortable lying at home.

The next morning we left with good memories and hoped that one day we could come again and visit this beautiful countryside.