Day 67: Amazing Crosses

Date: 7 NOV 2008

First proper day in Ukraine.

Before I start my talking about my day in Kiev, I would like to first talk about my host, Anna. One look at her place you would know that she loves tavelling. Just look at these maps.



I love this quote. It makes sense.



And oh, she has a very interesting water heater at her place. Quite classic. You have to light it up with a match first before you can use it.



After a quick shower, I took the metro from her place to the city center to start my exploration. I quite like the metro station. Very nice. I haven seen a metro in months.



The first place I visited was The Lavra, founded in 1051. Sitting on a grassy hill of 28 hectares area above the Dnipro river, this place is a feast for the eyes with its tight cluster of gold domed churches. The Larva, also known as senior monastery is divided into upper larva and lower larva. I went to the upper larva first. At the upper larva, it consists of Trinity Gate Chruch, St Nicholas' Chruch, Dormition Cathedral, Great Bell Tower etc. It took me hours just to cover the Upper Larva. Tourists flock here, so does Orthodox pilgrims.

Crosses, crosses and more crosses. I was totally amazing. This place is so beautiful.

































The Larva was wrecked by the Tatars in 1240 and it also went through a series of revivals and fires before it was finally rebuilt in the 18th century. This is a fragment of the original cathedral.



The interior of some of these chruches.







Opps, he saw me taking a photo of him.



By this time I have already realised one main difference between Orthodoxs and other christians. The Orthodox's cross have one more diagonal stroke/line as compared to other chirstian crosses.





More pictures of the Upper Larva.











The viewing point from Upper Lavra.



Making my way down to the Lower Larva.







The Lower Larva is also very interesting. It consists of Church of the Raising of the Cross, Church of the Conception of St Ann and Chruch of the Nativity of the Virgin. But more interestingly, the Farther Caves and three subterranean chruches are found there. In these underground chruches, MUMMIFIED monks's bodies, who are the holy man, are preserved in glass cases. These coffins are arranged in the tunnels of the underground chruches for Orthodox pilgrims, believers and clergy's worshipping. Underground dinning hall was also present.













It is a pity, however, that no photograph taking are allowed in these underground churches. It was really an experience. The only way to see it is to pay a visit yourself. After this visit to the Lavra, I once again realised one thing. THAt is the Orthodox here in Ukraine and the Muslim in Central Asia have a few things in common.

1. In Central Asia, they have their Mosques built underground in the olden days, so are the Orthodox Churches here.

2. Both mummified the bodies of the holy monks/saints (whichever name they call them) and keep them in coffins in the underground Chruch/Mosque for worshipping.

3. Woman are required to have their head covered before entering the Church/Mosque.

4. As part of the worshipping, they both kisses the holy monks/saints' coffins, potraits and ornaments used by them for example cups or any other symbols.

5. They both walked one round within the Church/Mosque for worshipping and kisses every single holy items along the way.

Why are there so many similiarities? Interesting isn't it? Well, after losing myself among crosses for the whole day, I decided that I should see something differnt and so I left. Along the way, I saw someone getting married.



Then I saw lots of street arts.





Finally, I arrived at the quirkiest sight in Kiev. It is an outdoor gym. Forget about the expensive and nice planet fitness or california fitness gym. They are nothing compared to this gym. This gym is so very unique. The machines here are pieced together using used truck parts and salvaged scrap metal. Interesting enough?







And people here do make use of these machines to work out. Dont believe? See it for yourself.









Here's a guy throwing his punches at a sandbag. Ermm... I mean tyres.



Closer look at these mean machines.













Other than pumping your muscles, I also see people here running and jogging on a very natural track.



It seems to lead into the woods. I went ahead to take a look. It does but after the woods, a nice view of the city appears infront of me.





Soccer, anyone?



This area is like a fitness park. People come here to do all kind of workout. I quite like it here. It is quiet and nice. Though it is quite cold, I still sat there for quite awhile to people-watch as well as enjoy the scenery. Found myself a nice spot to rest.



This place is really very relaxing. Other than the nice scenery, there are also people doing other sports like fishing.



There is also a beach here. City beach is a very popular and in thing in Ukraine. People love it.



However, one thing that I dont understand is that how can they stand the cold and swim in the icy water? Getting into the water is one thing, doing it NAKED/NUDE is another. Here is something very interesting that I observed while I was people-watching. Everyone got NAKED.

A guy carrying a briefcase in shirt, suit and tie came walking towards the beach. Then he put down his stuffs, strip naked, jump into the water for just 2-3minutes, got out of the water, dries himself, put on his clothes and went off. While he was in the process of doing this, a lady came, stripped naked, did some warmup in nude, then jog naked 40m front and back for a few times to warm up herself, then gets into the water, swam for 2-3mins got out, dries herself, got dressed and went off. The same goes for a few ah ma and ah pek who came later.

To proved that I am not lying and that people do swim in such a cold weather, I took a photo..............

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A photo of a man who was done swimming and was almost done dressing up.



HAHAHAHAHAHAHA..... What were you thinking? I would take photographs of the naked ladies and posted them here meh? No lor. I do not want to get myself into trouble. What if I get caught the moment I take out my camera? Besides I think it is not right to take photos at nude beach. So for those TI KO PEK and HUM SUP GUAI who wants to see this, go to Ukraine yourself.

Anyway, I still dont see the purpose of just getting into the cold icy water for a couple of minutes and then go off. So I asked Anna, my host, when I got back. She told me that people believe that it is good for health. So they do it.

Soon it was getting dark,



and I made my way back to the city center to take a look.



The City Center.















I only stayed in the city center for awhile. Then I decided to go back as I am getting cold and hungry. Will be back here in the morning to do some exploration. Took the metro back. And here is another interesting thing.

In the metro station where my host stays, there is this very very VERY looooong escalator. Never in my life have I travelled on one that is this long. It took me appox 4 MINUTES and 30 SECONDS from the moment I step onto it till the moment I got off at the top. YES, IT TOOK TAKE LONG!!! OMG!!!



Had dinner with my host. Then we had some Ukraine chocolates/sweets for dessert. YUMMY!!




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