NOTES, COMMENT AND BUZZ FROM EUGENE KASPERSKY – OFFICIAL BLOG
May 29, 2017
So what is an exhausted business traveler to do in Japan after a tough working week? Easy: you get yourself to a traditional Japanese ryokan!
We did the ryokan thing in the town of Hakone. I wondered at first why my super hosts chose this particular spot; I found out a little later – it’s right next to a not fully dormant volcano ).
April 15, 2017
I can’t tell you all about my Antarctic adventure without telling you all about the ship we sailed across the Drake Passage on. So here we go folks, a post on the one and only Akademik Sergey Vavilov. Here she is, in all her glory:
First up, the engine room. Here’s it’s all about electronic automation, but more of an analogue kind (see the analogue dials) than the full-on digitization of today – a sign that this ship was born in 1988. Yep, that’s when the ship first hit the water – in Rauma in Finland (be ready for quite a bit of Finnish language coming up…). Back then this was state of the art; still today it does a grand job…
March 21, 2017
Hi folks!
Herewith, more tales from Jersey.
I wasn’t quite expecting it but the island is a very beautiful one. It’s very green, with brightly colored flowers in places (in-between the potato fields). To the north it’s all rocks and cliffs along the coast. In good weather you can see the neighboring islands, and even a bit of France to the east.
In the evening we got to see a nice sunset above the sea:
But anyway. You might be wondering what we were doing on Jersey. Of course – working; plus touristy bits added on, as always ).
February 25, 2017
Briefly, a few words about a place we stayed at in the desert. Well, this hotel… was like… a mirage – for it seemed almost unreal to me, what with it being right in the middle of a real desert!
It was built, so we were told, on a greenfield site bare desert site up from nothing. As you can see – all around there’s nothing but desert. Water gets piped in from 200km away! And the Internet is super-fast. And free! The hotel is called Qasr al Sarab.
October 10, 2016
Phew. That was a tough two days in the UK capital. Herewith, a few words and a lot of pics of those two days…
It was two days of rising at the crack of dawn and getting to bed late. Three conferences + three speeches thereat + lots of meetings + lots of interviews + lots of traffic jams + lots of walking (to avoid the traffic jams) + nothing else! I mean – nothing non-work interesting or touristic. Boo. Still, did manage to take a few snaps over the two days:
A murky Thames:
July 25, 2016
So what’s the habitation situation like for visitors in Greenland? Actually not bad at all. Decent basic hotels, cozy rooms, most of the creature comforts as you normally find in good hotels, and nice food. The only drawback I came across: Internet connection speed, and also low traffic limits.
Here’s the hotel in Nuuk we stayed at – from both outside and in…
June 15, 2016
Hej!
One more report from the Nordic front…
While we were in Copenhagen it turned out several conferences – maybe also exhibitions – were taking place simultaneously in the city. So I guess it was only logical that practically all the hotels were full, having been fully booked up months ago. So we had to be fitted in ‘somewhere, anywhere… main thing – the place has a roof’.
I braced for the worst, but needn’t have, for the only hotel my good offices found that had a few vacancies was the Nimb Hotel. As that Wiki-link tells you, hardly a dosshouse :). Also, incredibly handily, it was a mere five minutes’ walk to the conference hall where I was speaking. There’s just one problem: peacocks! Screaming their little heads off – right under our windows!
The view from my window. Not bad at all. Recommend.
February 11, 2016
I find myself in many different far-flung places on this planet, but quite often they’re… predictable: world capitals, business hubs, Must-See places…
But occasionally I also get to less obvious spots. Example: Sviyazhsk. Heard of it? Probably not!
Well, it’s an ancient town, now a village, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers.
According to our excellent excursion guide (I normally trust good guides more than, say, Wikipedia), the short history of the town is as follows:
February 9, 2016
Last week I stayed at the Déjà Vu hotel near the Sviyaga skiing complex in the city of Kazan (dubbed the third capital of Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg). And though there was just me in my hotel room, the shower was most certainly designed for two persons. I have to say it was the first ‘erotic shower’ I’ve ever seen out of all the hotels I’ve stayed at. Most innovational. Good idea!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBZolHKuiUQ/
January 30, 2016
The Maasai are a semi-nomadic African tribe who’ve almost entirely rejected modern civilization in favor of their traditional way of life. For more information about them, check out the Internet – the text below is that of an ‘inquisitive observer’ who just happened to be passing by.
For just $50 from each car, the Maasai men gathered to perform their traditional greeting.
