Sipdroid allows you to use Android phone with almost any SIP provider. The calls are crystal clear even over a 3G network, likewise for a WLAN connection. The best part about Sipdroid is that it integrates into your phone, eliminating the need for a seperate phone book. You simply use your contacts apps just as if you were making a call over a cellular network. It’s really an amazing application with the potential to save you lots of money.

There are a tonne of SIP providers out there. http://acanac.ca gives you a telephone number and unlimited North American calling for only $10/ month. I myself use http://smsdiscount.com (click on download, then Linux, and then register (this way you don’t install anything)) to make calls, as it’s less than a penny per minute to make a long distance call; I don’t use my phone enough to justify the unlimited plan.

The only catch with Sipdroid is that you have to use http://pbxes.org to tunnel your VOIP calls. The service is free, but the set-up is a bit tricky. In the instructions below I’ll use smsdiscount.com as an example to help you get things going.

1. Create a smsdiscount.com account (in the case of smsdicount.com, pay first before calling or most of the payment options will disappear).

2. Set-up a pbxes.org account.

3. Add a new extension, only add your name, extension (100 for example) and password.

4. Add a trunk, just enter a trunk name, your calleasy username, password and server (sip.poivy.com).

5. Add an outbound route, just enter a route name, select your trunk and enter your extension.

6. Download sipdroid: http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/downloads/list (the Market version doesn’t have 3G  calling enabled).

7. In sipdroid enter your pbxes.org login name with your extension as your username (e.g. – example-100).

8. In sipdroid enter your pbxes.org password.

9. In sipdroid enter pbxes.org as the server.

10. Enable WLAN or 3G calling in settings.

Today I have created a new ROM for the HoFo community in the hope that it will be used as a seed for further development. All of the other ROM’s that I have tried had missing features or they were extremely buggy and power hungry. This ROM is based on the orginal Rogers ROM, so everything works and it is stable as the original. Enjoy!

You can also follow these updates in the Howard Forums discussion thread: http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1547785

N.B. – If you get an error during an update please upgrade to the 2005 SPL: http://code.google.com/p/sapphire-port-dream/

Version 1.0.5

- removed Chinese input  (as pointed out by mcg)
- removed SuperUser Whitelist, you still have superuser functionality
- default wallpaper is now changed: http://i43.tinypic.com/2s6qcmr.jpg (thanks to maxisma)
- Hero wallpaper is now in the gallery (as requested by vladkor)

Download: http://www.4shared.com/file/117479546/15eef915/hofo105.html (rename to update.zip)

You don’t have to wipe, all of your settings will remain after the update.

Version 1.0.4

- updates will now not erase your previous data any more
- changed the default wallpaper to the default Hero wallpaper
- added AziLink to provide USB tethering capabilities
- added MarketEnabler to provide the ability to buy pay for applications

Download: http://www.4shared.com/file/117083120/dba266d9/hofo104.html (rename to update.zip)

Version 1.0.3

- made su permanent

Download: http://www.4shared.com/file/117022089/ab5f2304/update.html

Version 1.0.2

- fixed calibration forced close error
- libgl.so error gone (previous upload must have been bad)
- removed Teeter

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?y15wj12cycd

You don’t have to wipe.

Version 1.0.1

- maximum speed is now set to 528 MHz

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?uwzdy3ni2xy

You can also just extract the boot.img and fastboot it to get this update.

Version 1.0

- rooted boot.img
- removed wallpapers (just add whatever you’d like from the SD card)
- added all of the Hero ringtones
- upgraded Google Maps to 3.1.1
- upgraded QuickOffice to 1.0.1
- added voice search
- removed HTC sync
- removed Rogers icons
- added Haykuro’s keyboard
- added superuser functionality
- removed start-up sound

Download : http://www.mediafire.com/?iyanjkndf23

There are a countless number of dmraid tutorials on the internet that are over complicated and that do not apply to Linux Mint 6 (Felicia). Here I will show you in a few easy steps how to set-up dmraid using the Linux Mint 6 Live CD without any unnessessary frustration. The basis of my tutorial is the Ubuntu dmraid documentation and assumes that you are setting up RAID 0 or 1.

1. Go into your motherboard’s BIOS and turn on the RAID support

2. Go into your RAID’s BIOS and set-up your RAID partition

3. Boot the Live CD

4. Open Terminal and type the following:

sudo apt-get install dmraid

5. Once completed the above installation, type the following:

sudo modprobe dm-raid4-5

6. Now it’s time to install Linux Mint

7. Upon reaching the partition menu, select your RAID partition

8. Upon reaching the install confirmation menu (step 7 of 7), click on the Advanced button and uncheck install boot loader

9. Once the installation is completed, check your partitions by typing the following in Terminal:

cd /dev/mapper

and then:

dir

10. Copy the partition without a number; I will use dabdgddgLinuxFTW as an example

11. Now we have to see how the partitions are set-up, so type the following in Terminal:

sudo fdisk dabdgddgLinuxFTW

12. Type p in Terminal to see the actual partitions:

13. Note and copy which partition is the Linux partition (the other ones you will see is extended and swap); I will usedabdgddgLinuxFTW1 as an example

14. Type q in Terminal to exit fdisk

15. Now we have to mount the RAID partition in order to set-up grub by typing the following in Terminal:

sudo mount dabdgddgLinuxFTW1 /target

and

sudo mount –bind /dev /target/dev

(there should be two dashes before bind)

and

sudo mount -t proc proc /target/proc

and

sudo mount -t sysfs sys /target/sys

16. Now we have to set-up grub by typing the following in Terminal:

sudo chroot /target

and

apt-get install dmraid

and

apt-get install grub

and

mkdir /boot/grub

and

cp /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/* /boot/grub
or
cp /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-pc/* /boot/grub

and

grub –no-curses

and

device (hd0) /dev/mapper/dabdgddgLinuxFTW

and

root (hd0,0)

and

setup (hd0)

and

quit

and

update-grub

(press y when asked to confirm)

17. Finally reboot.

You should now have your boot times and load times halved. Hopefully in Ubuntu 9.04 and Linux Mint 7 full RAID support will be integrated with the Live CD.

I recently received a speeding ticket and decided to get a radar detector to help me out in the future with any more speed traps that I might encounter. Upon much research I decided to go with the Escort 9500i due to it’s low false alarm rate and the ability to block known areas which falsely trigger the detector using the detector’s GPS capability. Once installed, one soon sees the problem with the cigarette lighter adapter as it hangs over your radio and somewhat obstructs your view. The great part about the Escort is that it uses a standard RJ11 telephone jack for power input; likewise for most Bel radar detectors. Even better, there is easy access to switched power right beside the mirror giving you the possibility of a clean install. The guide below should make your install that much easier as you will not need a Volt meter to see what wire is what.

Tools needed:
- flat-head and Phillips screw driver
- electrical tape
- telephone wire
- sharp knife
- optional inline 2 A fuse to be extra safe

Instructions:

1. take off the plastic light cover from the front dome light assembly by using a flat-head screwdriver to pry it open
   

   Remove plastic light cover.

2. unscrew the two screws behind the light bulbs and remove the assembly 
   

   Remove the two screws behind the lights.

3. find the rear view mirror harness and cut the blue tape to release it
4. shave off some insulation from the yellow/green (+) and black (-) rear view mirror harness wires 
   

   Wiring.

5. get a telephone cord, cut it, and shave off the insulation from the red (+) and green (-) wire 
   

   Telephone wire.

6. remove the plastic pin in front of the dome light assembly with a flat-head screw driver to loosen the roof liner 
   

   Remove plastic pin.

7. remove fuse #6 from the fuse box just to be safe 
   

   Remove fuse # 6.

8. run the telephone wire behind the roof liner
9. wrap the red telephone wire around the yellow/green mirror harness wire and then put some electrical tape over the connection (solder for even a better connection)
10. optional: place an inline fuse between the yellow/green mirror harness wire and the red telephone wire
11. wrap the green telephone wire around the black mirror harness wire and then put some electrical tape over the connection (solder for even a better connection)
12. put fuse #6 back in and test your connections buy turning the key in the ignition
13. reassemble the dome light and put the plastic pin back in 
    

    The finished product.

CheckGmail is the Blackberry of the Linux world that relatively is still unknown to most Linux users. Basically, CheckGmail is a task bar Gmail notifier primarily developed by Owen Marshall that makes checking email a task that doesn’t even require for you to actually check your mail most of the time. A click within CheckGmail is all that is needed. If for some reason you are wondering, CheckGmail works with the best and biggest email service – Gmail. The great thing about Gmail is that it works with any POP3 server, allowing you to consolidate your email accounts. You can even check your email on Gmail hosted domains and run multiple instances of CheckGmail if you have multiple Gmail accounts. Once you learn about this great application you will have another reason to switch to Linux. If you are already are on the Linux platform, you will probably install it after reading this review.

The Windows based Gmail notifier created by Google only notifies you of the fact that you have new incoming email. CheckGmail on the other hand provides you with email notification, the first few characters of the email and an unprecedented message management system. This message management functionality is what makes CheckGmail a must for me. Instead of opening your mailbox to find Viagra spam, you only have to read the first line of the email in your CheckGmail notification pop-up to see if it is indeed spam and then upon confirmation you simply have to click on Report spam. If you get an email from a site that automatically sends you emails that you do not want to be bothered with, you can click on Delete, mark the email as read or archive the email. Having a conversation with someone? Click on the message title to display the full message within CheckGmail’s pop-up, or click open to display the message in your browser. To view messages within CheckGmail requires for you to install a few dependencies described later on in this review. If you have multiple messages, the notification pop-up box will increase in size to accommodate for the extra messages leaving you with the same message option choices for each email. If you want to access you actual Gmail account, you can at any time by clicking on the on the CheckGmail envelope in the task bar. Right-clicking on the CheckGmail envelope will bring up a menu that let’s you check your email before the preset interval, undo your last CheckGmail action, compose new email, set-up your preferences, restart CheckGmail and of course quit.

Installing CheckGmail is relatively easy, here I will use a Ubuntu install as an example. Depending on what Linux distribution you are using, the following may not apply. In this case different install options are available in the Download section in CheckGmail’s website. For this example I will be using a Debian package that Sandro Tosi maintains which is used by Ubuntu and all other Debian based Linux distributions:

A) To begin, download CheckGmail Debian package from here:
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/checkgmail
Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on all in the bottom to download Checkgmail.

B) Double-click on the file that you have just downloaded. Ubuntu will now inform you that there is already an older version of CheckGmail in their repositories, install the new one you downloaded (1.13 at the time of me writing this) anyways.

C) Once you have completed the installation go into the main menu, then System, then Preferences and then Sessions. Once you have the Sessions window open, click on Add, in the Name field write CheckGmail, in the Command field write checkgmail using small caps, click on OK, click on Close and then reboot.

D) Once you have rebooted you will be asked for your username and password, signifying a successful installation. You are finished.

These are all the steps that an average user requires to take to install CheckGmail.

If you are an intermediate Linux user or better, you can take the following steps to enable the viewing of your messages within the CheckGmail notification window and password encryption.

A) You first have to install libsexy and Gtk2-sexy by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install libsexymm2

B) Now install the dependency that is required for the encryption of your password by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install libcrypt-simple-perl

C) Reboot for the changes to take into effect.

Once your have rebooted, CheckGmail will now ask you for your password again so that it can encrypt it using the new files we have just installed. After completing these steps, you have enabled the full functionality of CheckGmail.

CheckGmail is surprisingly user intuitive for a Linux application that is not mainstream yet, and configuring it is a snap. Once you open your Preferences window you will have 5 panes displayed. The first pane in the top left allows you to change your username and password, the second pane below allows you to change the default language, the third pane below pane below it allows you to manage external commands which further enhance CheckGmail’s functionality, the fourth pane in the top right allows you to check the interval at which your email is checked and the fifth pain below it allows you to manage your system tray icon. The external commands that can be run in conjunction with CheckGmail allow you to use the email LED that is built-in to your computer, play a sound when new email arrives, and have your Num Lock LED flash upon new email arrival; instructions on how to perform these functions can be found in CheckGmail’s FAQ. For those of you who have multiple Labels in Gmail, notification of these emails can now be displayed at your desired notification interval even if you have your filter is set to bypass your inbox. In addition, in the fifth pane you can replace the notification icons in the system tray with any image that you would like, you will be able to set the display interval of your notification pop-up and set the background image of the tray icon.

If you are not impressed with CheckGmail’s functionality by now, put down the keyboard, give-up on email and head down to your local post office. CheckGmail is a testament to the open source community that displays its’ power and innovation that large corporations cannot always accomplish and most dream of. You will see that living without CheckGmail can be a frustrating experience thanks to the constant launching of your browser and the associated lag. That doesn’t sound too bad, but if you try CheckGmail you will see how indispensable and convenient it really is. Am I exaggerating? What other email notifier is as configurable, allows you to run multiple instances of itself, allows you to check email on Gmail hosted domains and provides you with CheckGmail’s message management all in one package?

Almost all of the hardware on the Asus M50Sv-A1 works out of the box after Ubuntu’s installation is complete. There are none the less a few tweaks that are needed to be performed and few drivers that are needed to be installed. The screens brightness can’t be increased, the Nvidia driver is not installed, the webcam driver is not installed, the fingerprint reader driver is not installed, the email LED is non-functional, the microphone is not enabled by default, the hard drive has a firmware glitch, and the speakers don’t mute when the headphones are plugged in. This short installation tutorial is intended to save you the time and grief associated with searching for each particular solution on the internet.

1. Screen Brightness

The ambient light sensor is the cause of the dim screen, we’ll have to turn it off. To fix this we will have to create a shell script that will be run on boot up that will turn of the ambient light sensor.

A) Open Terminal (Menu->Accessories), and type the following:
sudo nano brightness

B) Now paste the following in the Terminal window:
#!/bin/sh
echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/ls_switch

C) Hit Ctrl-O to save and then Ctrl-X to exit.

D) Now we will copy our new shell script to the appropriate directory, make it executable and add the following links by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo mv brightness /etc/init.d
and then
sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/brightness
and then
sudo update-rc.d brightness defaults 90

E) Reboot, and you will have regained control of your brightness level.

2. Nvidia Driver

Your screen resolution will be limited to 800×600 without the appropriate drivers. Thanks to Alberto Milone’s Envy the whole process is automated for you, with the only requirement being an internet connection.

A) First we’ll need to update Ubuntu’s repositories by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo apt-get update

B) Now we’ll need to install Envy by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk

C) Next we’ll need to execute Envy by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo envyng -g

D) Select Nvidia on the left side, now click on Install the Nvidia driver (Manual Selection of the Driver), select 169.12, and finally click Apply.

E) Once the installation is completed, reboot and you will once again have a crisp screen.

3. Webcam Driver

The webcam if attempted to be used will crash any application that is trying to access it by default. Thanks to the great tutorial by Bill Giannikos the process of installing your Asus uvc webcam driver is relatively easy.

A) First we’ll need to install the files needed to build the driver by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion linux-headers-`uname -r`

B) Now we will build the driver by typing the following commands in Terminal:
cd /usr/src
and then
sudo svn checkout svn://svn.berlios.de/linux-uvc/linux-uvc/trunk
and then
cd trunk
and then
sudo make
and then
sudo cp -a uvcvideo.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/ubuntu/media/usbvideo/

C) Reboot, and your webcam will now be working.

4. Fingerprint Reader Driver

The fingerprint reader is especially useful in Linux as you are asked for your password before completing any change within the operating system. None the less, I would still not recommend for you to install the fingerprint reader driver due to its’ unstable nature and poor quality. The guide provided by Karol Krizka solved the problem of installing this driver.

A) First we’ll need to add the driver source to our software repository by typing the following in Terminal to open the sources list:
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

B) Now scroll to the end of the file and paste the following line there:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/madman2k/ubuntu hardy main restricted universe multiverse

C) Hit Ctrl-O to save and then Ctrl-X to exit.

D) Update the source list by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo aptitude update

E) Install the fingerprint reader driver by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo aptitude install fprint-demo libpam-fprint libfprint

F) Enroll your fingerprint by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo fprint_demo

G) Click on Enroll and swipe your finger.

H) Now we will have to tell Ubuntu when to use your fingerprint by editing the fingerprint reader driver’s configuration file by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo nano /etc/pam.d/common-auth

I) Paste the following in the file at the end:
auth sufficient pam_fprint.so
auth required pam_unix.so nullok_secure

J) Hit Ctrl-O to save and then Ctrl-X to exit.

H) Reboot, and you will be now scanning your finger instead of typing your password each time.

5. Email LED

Having a LED notifying you of incoming emails is quite handy, especially if you are not constantly by your computer. In this step I will provide you with instructions, showing you how to enable the email LED to work with the best Gmail notifier available – CheckGmail, a function that even Windows cannot even provide.

A) Follow the instructions provided by me in this tutorial to install CheckGmail:
http://seethisnowreadthis.com/2008/05/20/checkgmail-linuxs-blackberry/

B) Open the CheckGmail preferences and paste the following in the Command to execute on new mail field:
echo 1 > /sys/class/leds/asus:mail/brightness

C) Now paste the following in the Command to execute for no mail field:
echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/asus:mail/brightness

D) Without giving the right permissions CheckGmail will not be able to turn on the LED. To do this we must type the following in Terminal:
gksudo nautilus

E) Navigate to the following folder by pasting the following in Location field in the newly open File Browser:
/sys/class/leds/asus:mail
Press Enter.

F) Right-click on the file brightness, and select Properties.

G) Select the Permissions tab.

H) Click on root in the drop-down menu besides Owner and select yourself.

I) Without rebooting you should have now have the email LED notifying you of incoming email.

6. Microphone

By default the microphone is not enabled in enabled in the Volume Control menu. This problem will require the least effort.

A) Righ-click on the speaker in the task bar and select Open Volume Control.

B) Select Edit from the menu, and then select Preferences.

C) Click on the boxes besides Capture and Capture 1.

D) Now your microphone should be working.

7. Hard drive

The Seagate Momentus 5400.4 250 Gb hard drive has a firmware bug that makes Ubuntu park it every minute or so; the same problem exists in Vista. This parking is considered a load cycle, of which your hard drive was designed to complete 600,000 of such cycles. Without this fix your hard drive can prematurely fail after only 8 months. Thanks to jakon on ubuntuforums.org, we now have a fix that fully works with the Asus M50Sv-A1.

A) First we’ll have to adjust the hard drive’s power management settings by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo nano /etc/hdparm.conf

B) And by pasting the following three lines in the file:
/dev/sda {
apm = 254
}

C) Hit Ctrl-O to save and then Ctrl-X to exit.

D) Next we’ll have to tell the notebook to reactivate these settings after resuming from suspend mode by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo nano 30hdparm

E) And by pasting the following lines inside the file:
#!/bin/bash

# Run hdparm like on boot to restore hdparm.conf settings -
# hds lose them when going to standby.

resume_hdparm()
{
for x in /sys/bus/ide/devices/*/block* /sys/bus/scsi/devices/*/block*
do
# This check is required – x can contain
# literal ‘/sys/bus/ide/devices/*/block*’
# when the glob did not match anything.
if [ -e $x ]
then
drive=$(basename $(readlink $x))
DEVNAME=/dev/$drive /lib/udev/hdparm
fi
done
}

case “$1″ in
thaw|resume)
resume_hdparm
;;
*)
;;
esac

exit $?

F) Hit Ctrl-O to save and then Ctrl-X to exit.

G) Finally we’ll have to install the file we just created by typing the following in Terminal:
sudo install 30hdparm /etc/pm/sleep.d/

H) Reboot and your hard drive should be working with Ubuntu as it should have from the start.

8. Speakers

With the thousands of different notebook sound configurations that are out there, it is no surprise to have yet another ALSA bug. Thanks to Petr Zemek (s3rvac), we now have the correct ALSA option switch that will cause the speakers to mute when the headphones are plugged in. Surprisingly after trying all the generic options, the same option that works for a Haier notebook works with the Asus M50.

A) First we’ll have to edit the ALSA configuration file via terminal:
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

B) Scroll down to the bottom and add this line:
options snd-hda-intel model=haier-w66

C) Hit Ctrl-O to save and then Ctrl-X to exit.

D) Reboot and your speakers will now automatically mute when you plug your headphones in.

This guide will now allow you to use your Asus M50Sv-A1 with the most secure and progressive operating system at the moment that thrives on the open source community which provides for a much more dynamic experience than anything else out there now. Due to the fact that the notebook is relatively new, not all of its’ features could be fully exploited. Really, only some non-essential hotkeys cannot be used, but these are features that most of us are willing to trade for the privilidge of being on the Linux platform. If you find any other tweaks that could enhance Ubuntu on the Asus M50Sv-A1, please post below.

Being a gear in today’s civilization thwarts much of what makes us human and rapes our soul of any adventure and freedom. Now that I am back in Canada, I look back fondly at the time when I had no address and commitment to do anything – my journey through Eurasia. For a short time I was free and carried myself on impulse guided desires, with time being my only restriction. Being able to feed my mind constantly with new exotic experiences throughout the journey was more gratifying and stimulating than I would have ever imagined. For most of us who have had a lifestyle of directed living normalized, it will be very difficult to appreciate the beauty of uncertainty and effort that backpacking gives you. Read on and below you will find my personal accounts of a journey through China, Mongolia, and Russia that inspired the former sentences and myself to look at life a little differently.

Previously I taught English for a year in Tokyo, but I decided it would be worthwhile to experience more of Asia before I would return to Europe. Korea was the obvious choice as it payed English teachers the highest wages in all of Asia and a free apartment was usually included with the job. My choice to work in Korea gave me six months of great memories and experiences that still resonate through me to this day. After finishing teaching in Seoul, it was time for me to return to school as I was only allowed to miss two years in between years of school. At the time I was studying in Poznan, Poland, so naturally I looked at what a plane ticket would cost from Seoul to Warsaw – it was $900 for a one way ticket. That price was a bit to steep for me considering that I had other more economic options. With some time left and only $2,000 saved, I pondered the option of train travel through Eurasia as a means of getting home. Not solely because of the high cost of a return plane ticket, but also due to the inspiration I received from a coworker in Seoul and my own family. A teacher that I worked with in Seoul kept on mentioning the ger camps in Mongolia in the same way a child describes Disney Land. My mother like my Seoul coworker always reminisced about Mongolia almost in the same way, and I myself wanted to visit China again and see Russia and Mongolia for the very first time. After all, I had the time and I had the youth to complete an 8,000 kilometer trip on land that would probably be a once in a lifetime experience.

As I obviously could not travel through North Korea, I decided to take a ferry to China before beginning my planned train voyage. Before hand I had to acquire a few visas, as it turns out that a trip across Eurasia is not a simple task of simply buying train and bus tickets. Mongolian and Chinese visa’s were easily attainable, but there was a premium to be payed if you wanted them right away. The Russian visa was another story, as you needed a sponsor to invite you. Luckily for me the internet was around back in 2002 and I was able to buy ($30) an invitation online. This is where planning ahead could have saved me a lot of money, as the Russian visa was $140 because of my failure to provide advanced notice to the embassy; this was my biggest expense of the trip. Thanks to the visas, I got to see some nice parts of Seoul that I have never visited previously during my stay, as the embassy’s were in some premium out of the way locations. After I completed all of the formalities associated with attaining these visas, I mailed all of my non-essential items so that I would only have a small lightweight backpack that would not slow me down during the trip and headed towards Incheon harbor to catch my ferry. To my dismay upon arrival at the harbor I realized that I missed my ferry to Qingdao. It only travels every second day and for some reason the internet failed to yield that important fact. My previous online research showed that taking a ferry to Qingdao would prove to be the most interesting destination. The city of thirteen million had beautiful beaches and a variety of attractions that made it an interesting stop, but now I had no option but to travel blindly to a city that I have never even heard of – Weihai. Of course, not seeing all of the attractions in Qingdao was a bit of disappointment, but in retrospect every little glitch made my trip more interesting. I now looked back at Korea for the last time and boarded the ferry full of manic excitement.

As I got on the ferry I then realized that my two years of working and traveling in Asia are coming to an end. This affirmation made me appreciate my return journey that much more. Once on the ferry I noticed that it was relatively empty considering that I was traveling to a country of 1.3 billion people; there were no more than 10 other tourists on board. I struck up a conversation with a Korean who was permanently residing in China to find out what lies ahead. According to the Korean expat, China is a nation that is made up of 55 different different races, with the Huns being a one billion strong majority. In Western China you will even find blue eyed individuals, which is rather surprising as that eye color mutation can originally be traced to Northern Greece. After the conversation ended I went up on deck and watched the ferry leave the harbor and pass the countless fishing boats that surrounded the coast. When night night fell I tried to go down to my bunk to catch some sleep, but I was faced with a horrible pounding vibration which made sleep almost impossible. Once again I went upon deck, but this time directly to the top, and watched the ferry cut through the mist until morning. Sounds boring, but it was my first ferry ride ever. After ten hours of that terrible pulsating vibration that was even felt and heard up on deck, I was finally happy to see Weihai. Weihai surprisingly looked like a typical Spanish city from a distance, with all of the buildings being white with red tiled roofs that were shadowed by an arid looking topography that enhanced my Andalusian delusion.

Once on land, it only took a second to get through the Chinese customs office and I was off to do some urban hiking before heading to Beijing. In actuality Weihai went above my expectations in terms of size and atmosphere. The city probably doesn’t have one building over five stories, nor does it have any other characteristic signs of a Chinese metropolis. What it does have is a tranquil small town feel and look to it, all 650,000 people of it. As I was walking away from the ferry port I saw another tourist my age who was probably the only foreigner there with no place to go like me. He spoke very little English and I spoke a little Korean, which meant one will basically just follow the other. For me this was one of the best parts about backpacking alone: meeting new people and doing anything you want without worrying about your companions mood and interests that could conflict with your own. I lead us to the first restaurant that I could find on the first road leading out of the ferry port. The Chinese restaurant owners did not speak a word of English so we simply pointed at a random item on the menu. In about 15 minutes a heeping plate was brought to me with items that I have never seen before in my life. To this day I still don’t know what I ate that day, all I know is that the items came from the ocean. I really cannot say that the lunch tasted good, but it was definitely the most original meal that I have ever eaten.

After the meal we continued down the main road which ran along the coast while looking for something to do. Looking for an activity in the world’s oldest civilization that was insular to our own is not hard, as everything intrigues you because of the exotic contrast it provides. Walking into a simple shop can take fifteen minutes of your time thanks to the novelty of every shelf product. A temple in the distance caught our eyes and became our new destination. Along the way we were offered 5 different cab rides, but refused them all as every block that we passed had its’ own quality that was worth absorbing and noting. Upon reaching the temple we started to explore the temple grounds which were reminiscent of a miniature Forbidden City. There was a large central pavilion that overlooked the entire grounds which we could not enter, but the inner yard was more interesting anyways. There was a river running through the center which appeared out of the ground on one side and disappeared into the ground on the other side. In the river there were statues of what I presumed to be goddesses, but then again why would a Buddhist temple have statues of goddesses. As I looked at the temple’s defense towers at each corner I now remembered reading about the warrior roots of Buddhist monks. On my way out, I picked up a pamphlet which showed a hill top lake which was obviously had to be the next item on the itinerary. We slowly ascended up the hill during which time I almost lost my hiking partner due to exhaustion. The lake was nowhere to be found, but there was a reservoir that overlooked Weihai at the bottom on the other side that would have to do. This was no ordinary reservoir. It was surrounded by a decorated stone fence and it had a pagoda in each corner which gave a tourist like me more motivation to explore. After returning to Weihai, it was time to go and catch a bus/train to Beijing. Recollecting my thoughts that day I could not help feel like a kid that was exploring the forest behind his house.

I now needed to take a bus to a city that had a train connection with Beijing – Yantai. I only stayed about an hour in Yantai, but I did get a glimpse of the newly built skyline that dominated the city. Maybe I should have stayed for a longer time, but there was nothing apparent that justified a stopover. After only a few of hours on the train I had arrived in Beijing in the late evening. This was actually my second time in Beijing, and the city was just as impressive as the first time that I saw it. I walked along a long boulevard that had monolithic skyscrapers on each side with a surprising large amount of space between each building and the road. Even at 21:00 Beijing felt more alive than any other city that I have ever been to. The streets were brought to a standstill with traffic jams and people filled the almost every single square meter of space – overpopulation never looked this good. What struck me here the most is the fact that you could buy Peking duck anywhere. The ducks were packed in cellophane and were sold almost anywhere: from convenience stores to toy stores. Before finding a place to rest for the night, I returned to the train station and inquired about a train to Ulan Bator. After 10 minutes of pointing on the map, the ticket agent still did not understand where I wanted to go to and I now felt she was ready to slap me. Luckily for me, a nice middle-aged professional woman with perfect English overheard my shouts of frustration and translated for me. The problem was that there is no direct train to Ulan Bator from Beijing, I first would have to travel to Jining by train, then take a bus from Jining to Erenhot and then finally take a train to Ulan Bator.

After my short ordeal with the ticket agent I purchased my ticket and went down the street to get a late evening meal in a tiny restaurant that was overflowing with people. In retrospect, when you usually travel to a foreign country the native cuisine usually tastes better in comparison to what you would get back home, but this wasn’t the case with Chinese food. Although, this revelation isn’t to surprising as Chinese food already tastes great here in Canada. What was different were the giant portions that dwarfed Canadian portions and the large circular tables that were shared by restaurant patrons. After enjoying a peanut topped mystery dish I began my search for a place to stay for the night. I found a hotel that only charged thirty dollars per night right in the center of town beside the train station. When I woke up the next day I passed by a small kiosk which was frying up breakfast sweet bread that made waking up at seven tolerable. Before going to the train station I decided to explore some of the buildings surrounding the train station. By chance the Sony Center was next door which displayed upcoming technologies. Right behind the Sony Center there was a hutang (old house), which to me reflected the dichotomy of modern China today. As I was returning to the train station I could not help but notice an Irish pub, which was strangely out of place and the only sign of any Western influence. This early morning site seeing stretched out my time a bit too much, causing me to be late for my train. This time around the ticket agent spoke English and I was able to get a ticket for a train going to Jining in 40 minutes. If you are wondering, I didn’t spend much time in Beijing because of the fact that I already have been there once.

Unfortunately for me there were no seats left on the train, but I had a nice backpack that also functioned as a seat. The first couple hours of the train ride slowly took you out of the Han valley while providing views that made you feel all religious inside. At one of the many stops I saw a lot of people getting out of the train to buy some dumplings from a bicycle vendor, I followed and experienced the best tasting dumplings in the world. Next to me was sitting a Chinese military officer who by chance spoke English, and offered to help me find a place once I have arrived in Jining. The conversation with him was the standard one that you have with the local people when you are visiting a country. When you meet new people abroad you tend to compliment their country, and when you meet tourists you tend to give out trivial facts about your country. I raved about Beijing, and he educated me about Northern China. When I arrived in Jining I exited the train station to find an empty city center and a dark foggy night. The officer directed me to a hotel which was only three dollars per night that felt just as good as a typical Canadian motel. I was glad to pay what a local would pay for the hotel, as most other hotels in China have special tourist rates. Morning came and as I passed the buildings in Jining I was reminded of a typical Polish village which is mostly made from cement and stucco buildings. Unfortunately my bus for Erenhot was leaving very early in the morning, so I had little time to explore Jining. The bus ride was an experience in itself thanks to the Chinese spoof of the Adams Family that was showed during the trip. Not understanding one word did not spoil this movie, as the parallels drawn between the Adams Family and the slapstick comedy kept me laughing throughout the film. Almost immediately after leaving Jining we entered the Gobi desert which reminded me once again of Southern Spain. I still remember the washroom break midway which made one feel like they just arrived on a Spanish beach. Searing sun, sand and a cool wind rejuvenated me, making me think: what would life be without contrasts? We got back on the bus and this time we were treated to a gangster thriller, and before I knew it I was in Erenhot – my favorite Chinese stop.

Erenhot was a little city that was more like an island being guided by mysterious forces. The people living there were mostly Mongolians who seemed to be the friendliest people on Earth at the moment. Now picture a 1 kilometer by a 1 kilometer square that is completely surrounded by sand. The blocks are filled with modern buildings and the streets are filled with dozens of rickshaw drivers with not a single person in site. As I was walking away from the bus in search of a place to eat I was confronted by at least 10 rickshaw drivers and the friendly greeting of hello. The irony here is that this city is too small to even justify a rickshaw, let alone a car, of which there were plenty of. While most of China had already opened its markets since the 70’s, Erenhot I felt was still governed by centralized economy and hence the imbalances that I have found. Mind you, this city was beautiful and modern, but it lacked the people and an economy to sustain it in a self-sufficient way. There was even a bath house where I took a shower and relaxed in a whirlpool; I actually don’t know of any here in Calgary. I walked down every single street in one hour and I knew it was time to buy a ticket to Ulan Bator. When I arrived at the train station I was shocked to find out that all the tickets have been bought out for weeks to come. In a state of hopelessness I pondered returning to Beijing and flying out of China back to Poland. I wasn’t ready to give up yet, so I started looking for alternate ways of getting myself across the border. The natural people to ask were the paradoxical taxi drivers. A portly man in his 50’s offered to get me across the border “illegally” for $80, but then what would I do in the middle of the Gobi desert? And what would the Mongolian customs officer say on my way out when an entry stamp could not be found? I can’t remember what the technical reason was, but you could not just walk across the border from China to Mongolia. Faced with the option of a hopeless return to Beijing and the risky option of being dropped of in the middle of the desert, I decided to regroup my thoughts and see what answers the internet could give me. I found a tiny internet cafe which was filled with teenagers playing Counterstrike and to my avail, Google had failed me for the very first time ever in my life. Turning back at this moment was still to haste of an action, so I decided to stay one more night to see what tomorrow could bring me. The next morning I was ready to try again at the train station, but I first decided to get my “travel beard” shaved. This was a painful mistake. The barber shaved me without any shaving cream while using a pair of scissors and some water; I had a facial rash for a few months after that. The horrendously painful shave made me angry and motivated to find a way to Ulan Bator. I once again tried at the ticket counter to get a ticket for Ulan Bator, but failed quixotically. This time I was ready to really give up. Then out of nowhere a man appeared with just enough English to sell me a ticket for only a 25% mark-up. I was back, and leaving for Ulan Bator in 2 hours!

I went down to the train platforms with the biggest feeling of accomplishment, which was really undeserving as I owed the next half of my trip to the ticket scalper. I put my backpack down, and to my surprise I saw other tourists for the first time in Erenhot. There was a middle-aged German who took a year off from work just to backpack throughout China; his stories inspired a future adventure like his for myself. I got on the train shortly after this conversation, and found myself sharing a cabin with a very friendly Mongolian shop owner that described Mongolia to me in far greater detail than any other website that I have previously visited. Where else are you going to find about the fact that Mongolia has two Boeing 757’s and four Lincoln Navigators? After some time the train moved about a hundred meters to have its’ wheels changed to accommodate for the larger train tracks in Mongolia and Russia. You see, Russia and its formerly allied states built a train infrastructure that could not be used by a foreign power in case of an invasion. With two hours to spare, me and my new Mongolian friend left the train to get some beer. We crossed a grass covered square that had a statue in the center of it to get to the bar which was directly across from the train and square. I now realize as I’m writing this how important that man must have been, as the locals of this small city have honored him with a statue and grass in the middle of the desert. Upon arriving at a basement bar, I was stricken by a beautiful Mongolian girl that was bar tending there. Her eyes glowed with innocence, her hair was thick, long and black, her lips begged to be kissed, her skin begged to be caressed and her smile was meant to be painted. I am sure that if the Mongolian monarchy was still in power, she would be the princess. I came out of that bar with a childish crush that left me wondering how me and her would spend our lives together, and why I didn’t take her contact information.

The train soon left there after, but once again after only two minute the train had stopped at the border due to the usual customs formalities. Two young husky female customs agents entered our cabin to check our passports, one Chinese and one Mongolian. They were intimidating just because of the fact that I have never seen a woman in full camouflage. Once all of the formalities were completed a border guard raised a red flag permitting the train to leave. Looking back at China now, it is no surprise to me that it will become the number one backpacking country by 2014, it really is a magnificent country with a countless number of sites to visit. As we left I was waiting the whole time for the train to accelerate to a respectable speed, but it did not seam to want to travel more than 50 kilometers per hour. The reason for this was the fact that the train risked derailment if it were to go any faster due to the aging train tracks; signs along the way showed that Japan was funding the soon to be upgraded tracks. Looking out the window provided me a scene of a baron land with sparse bushes laid out throughout it. After three quarters of the journey the terrain began to get hilly, and in the distant valley you could start to see the the capital that is set on the highest elevation in the world – Ulan Bator.

Upon arriving in Ulan Bator the first thing that I did was buy a train ticket to Moscow, I didn’t want any problems like the ones I had in Erenhot. There were three trains to choose from, all of which shared the same Trans-Siberian line: Russian, Chinese and Mongolian. The Mongolian line was the cheapest – $110, and entailed four days of travel with a 122 stops. Having bought my ticket successfully, I would now need to eat. I stopped at the first restaurant that I could find while walking down the main street leading away from the train station. I was served a pseudo-Canadian breakfast which consisted of: French fries, hot dogs, an egg, coleslaw and two scoops of rice with ketchup nipples on it. Once I stepped out of the restaurant I could see that the streets of Ulan Bator were almost identical to that of any Eastern European city and this resemblance made me wonder how this city would have looked like if Mongolia was not occupied Russia for so many years. I now went to an internet cafe in search of a place to stay, and found a hostel in the city center for fourteen dollars per night. Upon my arrival at the Hostel everyone was watching Austin Powers in the main lounge, but by now I was too tired to even sit and watch one of my favorite comedies.The hostel was filled with a wide variety of people ranging from Japanese to Kiwi guests, and to add to the multiculturalism the owners of the hostel were Korean. I retired to my squeaky bunk and immediately fell asleep.

The next day I woke up and registered myself for a one day ger camp excursion. When buying tickets for the excursion I had the option to spend the night at one of the camps, but to me that would have added very little to the experience. The sky in Ulan Bator was as clear as the sky in Calgary, but taking things into perspective that comes with any city located on a high elevation. My hike that day took me down the main street, eventually I hit a winding road which went up a hill to reach a huge open market. Mongolians are big on mutton, and most of the dishes sold at the market were mutton based. I tried a pita filled with mutton, it convinced me that sheep are best used for wool and not food. I continued to walk through the main market pathway that was lined with a wide variety of shops and exited towards the Gandan monastery. Buddhism in Mongolia is a sign of the previous cultural imperialization brought about by the Chinese, as originally the Mongolians practiced Tengerism. None the less, this was a rarity in Mongolia as the Soviets persecuted and destroyed all signs of Buddhist culture; ironically the Chinese are now doing the same in Tibet. The monastery had many pavilions, and one large pavilion housed the world’s largest wooden statue of Buddha. It was an impressive site, but I could not take a picture as there was a shady man there requesting $20 for each photograph. I began to proceed down the hill away from the monastery towards the city center until by chance I found the Zanabazar museum. The historical artifacts in this museum were of great significance, as they included dinosaur specimens and artifacts from the world’s largest contiguous empire ever – the Mongol empire. After finishing my museum tour, my hike now continued in the opposite direction leading me towards a large monument that overlooked the entire city. Before the monument stood the Winter Palace, which was assimilated into my day’s itinerary. Here the last king of Mongolia reigned from 1911-1924 – Bogd Khan. Inside there was a museum which displayed Khan’s possessions and gifts from foreign monarchies. This for me was a trivial museum visit as I despise any form of elitism, with monarchies being the worst kind. I was glad to see that Khan’s days of power were short lived and filled with turmoil. Now I was once again off to see the monument that I originally sought to visit in the beginning. Upon reaching it I found out that this was the Zaisan memorial built by the Mongolians to commemorate Russian soldiers killed during World War II, which was depicted with a mural of Russian soldiers in an epic battle scene on the inside of the monument. Looking down from it, I was treated by a panoramic view of the entire capital. A crystal clear river was flowing at the foot of the memorial which in thanks the capital owes its’ existence to. Surrounding the city skyline was a beautiful mountain range which wrapped around the city. After seeing so much i one day I returned to the hostel at dusk by foot in thanks to the cities relatively small size.

The next morning I was up and ready at seven to visit the ger camp and the excitement that day relinquished my need for any coffee. We were picked up by a Russian van that must have been produced in the 50’s, it added flavor to this safari adventure and later we were joined by other such vans. Inside the van were two beautiful Swedish girls, who provided me with an adolescent anxiety in such a way that only beautiful woman could provide. The girls were eighteen and had taken on an adventure by themselves that most men would steer away from out of the shear uncertainty and ruggedness. We drove to Telerj national park which was located about an hour from Ulan Bator and got the little first meeting chit chat out of the way which allowed us to become bonded adventurers, uniting us to take on the hinterland. Our convoy arrived at mid-day, the sky was clear and we were surrounded by a uniquely picturesque mountain range. An older man dressed in traditional Mongolian clothing approached us and introduced himself to us as our tour guide. He lead us into a ger which was more colorful than an Ikea store and sat us around a table containing traditional food. Our tour guide explained to us how the horse is a major source of food for the people here, stressing that horses in Mongolia are different from the ones we are used to – they have shorter legs and larger torsos. The horse provides milk, meat and a mode of transportation that is necessary for these nomadic people. All of the dishes on our table were made out of horse milk: kefir, cheese and cream. Everyone was just sampling a bit of the food, but I really liked these dishes and gorged myself on the cream especially. If you want to imagine how the food tasted that day, picture a milder form of goat cheese. With our bellies full, we were lead outside and shown how the actual horse milk and cheese is made – a clothe sack is all that is needed. The sack strains the horse milk producing kefir at the bottom and cheese and cream in the sack. Our tour guide now lead us to a group of horses that we were going to soon ride – a first for me.

I examined my horse carefully, making sure that we liked each other and that he wasn’t crazy. A good pat on the back let him know that I’m his friend, a jump on the saddle, and I was now riding. Getting on a horse for the first time is like getting on a carnival ride. You have no control, it feels dangerous, but it’s fun and exhilarating. Luckily for me the horse simply followed the other horses, and when ever I would need the horse to speed up, I would simply say “choo”. Looking at other people riding horses makes you think they are just sitting and having a relaxing time. That assumption is incorrect. You have to be an athlete to ride a horse, which I was not, and have a back made out of iron, which I do not. When the horse would gallop, my legs could not keep up with his pace causing his back to pound my spine. None the less, the scenery was spectacular and the experience of horse riding appealed to my unknown masochistic tendencies and distracted me from the pain. Mid journey we were greeted by a man of at least 70 years of age on horseback that smiled and said hello, making me feel more like an average Mongol just riding along. We passed a camp of a Dutch farmer who abandoned his previous life to become a nomad on the Terelj planes. A part of me really admired this man and his contempt of modern civilization. Of course, this experience could not be perfect, my stomach was acting up. I now had to let the others pass as the Terelj dairy products wreaked havoc on my bowels. I lost the battle and had to stop in the middle of no where to relieve my self with no cover; you could say that this was somewhat liberating in a perverse way. To catch up to the rest of the pack I had to put my horse in turbo mode with the accepted loss of some vertebrae. Three hours later we were back at camp, happy to be off those devil bread creatures. It was now time to immortalize our day at Telerj with a group photograph that captured an experience that was surprisingly unforgettable.

I returned to the hostel completely exhausted with just enough energy to pack for tomorrow’s departure. The first thing that woke me up the next morning was not my alarm clock, but my bowels. As I left the toilet the owner of the hostel was grinning, and told me about the “cleansing”. For people who have never had horse milk, they have never had any chance to develop immunity against the bacteria in the milk. I tried to shrug off the “cleansing”, but I felt as I just have experienced the “beating”. I packed up, said my good-bye’s and headed out. Some the people in the hostel told me about a large market which was next to the train station and how it had really cheap North Face jackets. I am really glad that someone told about this market, as it was as surreal as it was bizarre. At the entrance there were woman with clothe covered faces holding giant cell phones used to peddle air time. There were cages with ducks and chickens strewn along the pathways, foods and drinks that one has never seen before, and enough merchandise to fit ten Wal-Mart stores. After some wondering I found the North Face jacket vendor, but to my dismay all of the jackets looked like they were made in the 80’s. Before going on the four day train journey I stocked up on some instant noodles and pop at a supermarket along the way. I then arrived at the train station and sat on some crates on the side of the tracks, and soon I was joined by other tourists heading in the same direction. We shared our experiences and automatically became friends. This is something that can only happen so easily when one travels, as all judgments, prejudices, and inhibitions are eliminated by the camaraderie of backpacking. By now the train has become my favorite mode of travel. When you take the train you don’t feel the same anxiety as you do at an airport. There is no security check, no baggage check-in and no herding of the passengers through different timely checkpoints – you simply get on the train.

We all boarded and parted our ways on the train and I was lucky enough to find out that I got a cabin with a Belgian couple and a Russian archaeologist who all spoke English. I got the top bunk on the left side, the Belgians got the bottom bunks and the Russian got the top bunk on the right side. Russians are probably the most hospitable people on Earth, and this Russian man was a reflection of this national virtue. He offered bacon and Vodka to all of us, and created an atmosphere that one would experience at a bar with all of your close friends. The Russian even provided me with a possible cure for my sick stomach that I refused out of the fact that just the site of it made me feel more sick, vodka with pepper. His friends would soon visit our cabin and a good time suddenly turned into a party. The Belgian couple was down to Earth, and great to talk with about everything. They were the same age as me, and the girl was more charming than a young beautiful girl who blushes at your presence. You could actually tell that they all were very good people because they didn’t say anything about the gas I was producing thanks to the “cleansing”; at this point I thought that my illness should be called the “gassing”. I still remember looking down at their faces, and seeing the disgust and feeling of undeserving punishment. I really didn’t feel guilty, as I was sick and most of the “gassing” took place when I was sleeping. The Russian was quite clever and during the “gassing” part of the trip he escaped to his friend’s cabin, the Belgians had no such option.

My illness caused me to sleep throughout the majority of the journey, but a few experiences would stand out. Many of the stops along the way had people selling goods to the travelers on the train. The Irkutsk stop was known for its’ smoked omul fish which can only be found in Lake Baikal – Earth’s deepest (1200 meters) fresh water lake. The fish came wrapped in a newspaper and tasted similar to smoked trout, but better. I really regretted that I could not stop for more than a day here in Irkutsk, as there was some nostalgia associated with this city. My great grandfather had lived for a few years in Irkutsk and helped survey the entire Trans-Siberian railway. Other stops also had people selling food to the travelers, but no food along the way came close to the awesome taste of the smoked omul fish. Once we started stopping in small towns I realized that our train doubled as a mobile shopping mall. At each small stop it would seem as if the whole town would come out to greet the Mongolian train vendors who sold items such as chandeliers, leather jackets, toys and anything else that one can imagine. What I did not expect during this journey is a fist fight between the Russian in our cabin and a random Mongolian who came into our cabin to start the scuffle. The Russian told me that the Mongolians are still a bit bitter about their years of Soviet occupation and how it’s even dangerous for them to walk on Mongolian streets by themselves.

The journey in itself was rather monotonous after a while, with the stops providing most of the interesting aspects. Eventually the Ural mountains appeared, containing valleys that were covered with colorful wooden houses. As we approached Moscow we discussed about what we should do upon our arrival, but I was now thinking of removing Moscow from my itinerary due to my illness. The buildings suddenly kept on getting bigger and then we entered a web of train tracks that lead to a grand Moscow train station. I joined a group of other backpackers that were riding with me in the train in search of a hostel that began with a taxi drive to a fully booked hostel. At this point I really wanted to explore Moscow, but I was still feeling miserable and not ready to jump any more hurdles. I now made a decision that I regret to this day, I turned back without giving myself time to get better and bought a ticket ($80) for Warsaw. I left the capital city of a country that has contributed so much to the world’s heritage without exploring one street or museum. To leave for Poland I had to go to a different train station, Moscow has nine. The architecture of my departing station was that of a time where money and practicality didn’t matter, but of a time where decadence and opulence dictated the facade. While walking through the station, an elderly Russian pulled me off to the side and showed me his leg prosthesis that he received during World War II, most likely he thought I was German. I moved along and bought a train ticket to Warsaw for a train that was leaving in three hours.

The last leg of my journey was the most pleasant one. I had a cabin all to myself with a very comfortable bed that allowed me to sleep for most of the trip back home. When the train conductor came to check my ticket he noticed that I was sick and offered me some charcoal. I took it in hope of experiencing the placebo effect, while still knowing it will not do anything for my bacterial infection. We stopped in Belarus to once again to have our train wheels changed. This time the wheels were changed in a much quicker time thanks to a warehouse complex filled with dozens of workers. This stop also had locals trying to sell food to the travelers, but instead of old ladies that appeared in the previous stops, I had a beautiful brunette who had a figure of a model come and sell me pirogies. The train departed and soon we crossed the Polish border while completing all of the customs formalities while the train was still moving. The first city that we crossed in Poland was Terespol, and almost immediately there after I was disembarking in Warsaw. My family was waiting for me, and had a hard time recognizing me because of my beard. My 8,000 kilometer trip was now over, leaving me with this anxiety one gets when returning from a trip knowing that he will begin his old monotonous life.

You find love when you least expect it, likewise for great travel. This trip was life changing for me as it realigned my priorities in life. Before I wanted to get ahead in life as much as I could, and now I just want to experience as much as I can. Not only that, along the way in such a short time I have met countless individuals that have inspired me to do things I would have never thought of doing before. In ten those days I have learned more than the knowledge contained in ten books could have provided me. In addition, going on a trip like this liberated my soul, giving it all the freedom that it yearned. Just look at how our lives are these days. Everything is planned for us, and we are guided through these plans until our death with almost no active deviation. From now on I refuse to use my vacation time on package tour holidays, I will only buy a ticket to a place that I want to visit and use the inspirations that I receive from other travelers, the locals and my own personal whims to dictate my journey.

One of the best things about Linux is all the different flavors that you can get in – Mint is one of my favorites. Based on Canonical’s Ubuntu 7.10, Linux Mint 4.0 (download) takes Canonical’s prodigy and makes it even better. And if you thought Ubuntu providing everything out of the box was impressive, Linux Mint provides everything out of the net. In addition to that, Linux Mint developers improved the usability by changing the menus and desktop layout. On top of that they added a software portal that makes installing the your software faster and easier. All of this put together brings about the finest beginner distro available to date.

Installing Linux Mint is just as easy as installing Ubuntu thanks to the live CD format which allows you to even surf the internet while everything is installing. Although there is an extra step added in which seems pointless to me – the MintAssistant. The MintAssistant asks you if you would like to add a root account and if you would like to see some random jokes added to the output produced in terminal. I don’t see anyone looking for any permission issues through an added root account, nor do I see people looking for laughter in terminal. None the less, when first starting, the install wizard will guide you through the whole process in less than 25 minutes. When you get to the partitioning step, you might want to select the ReiserFS as your file system as it has shown to be faster than the default ext3 file system.

Just like in Ubuntu, Compiz Fusion is pre-installed to give you some eye candy, and just like in Ubuntu you will have to install the Compiz Fusion control panel (sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager) to take full control of it. Naturally, to take advantage of Compiz Fusion you will need a driver that provides 3D acceleration. Users like myself that have an Intel graphics card do not have to adjust one setting. Anyone using an ATI or an Nvidia video card will have Envy automatically install the appropriate driver for you. At the end of your install you will have one of the most aesthetic desktop environments in front of you partially in thanks to the Red Hat Liberation fonts that were added to this version. I actually didn’t even bother to change one theme setting as I found the default settings just right for my liking. Nor did I have to delete the top panel to gain extra screen real estate, as is the case with most other Gnome distro’s. To make things easier for Windows expats, there will be little learning involved as the desktop layout is almost identical to that of Windows with the addition of some beneficial Linux touches which will be described later on.

Before anything else, you will be notified by a flashing padlock notifying you to update Linux Mint. Once you click on it, you can then click on preferences to modify what packages you would like to install based on the security level of each specific package; this is a unique feature to Linux Mint. If you would like to configure your desktop at this point, MintDesktop allows you to modify settings that previously required additional tweaking software. With this application you can select what shortcuts you want on your desktop, turn on or off network browsing and modify other less commonly used features which I won’t mention right now. Now you know what to expect from Linux Mint as a whole, but in actuality most of the unique features are under the hood.

Almost every single necessary application and codec is pre-installed in Linux Mint. All of my Xvid movies played and I was able to watch Stage6 videos thanks to MPlayer; Quicktime, RealPlayer and Windows media codecs are also pre-installed. After I downloaded some rar files, I was surprised that I did not have to install unrar, as is the case with almost all the other distros. Mind you, extracting rar files on Linux is much slower than on Windows. To speed things up you can install the Windows version of WinRAR through Wine. Your browsing experience is complete and ready for any website that you might want to visit thanks to the pre-installed Java and Flash. Those of you with a large music collection will be pleased to know that Linux Mint comes pre-installed with all of the major audio codecs: everything from MP3 to OGG. As complete as this package is, there are still some caveats. For example, it’s not possible to view certain Windows media streams (MPlayer flaw) and the AAC codec is missing preventing you from listening to some radio streams.

The software packages for Linux Mint have been chosen wisely to say the least, but there are still some valuable omissions. Linux Mint does include one of the best music players for Linux – Amarok. It certainly is the most popular music player and better than the player that comes with Ubuntu – Rhythmbox, but I would have rather seen BMPx in Linux Mint, as it is more user friendly and feature rich. Yet the biggest omission in my opinion is the lack of any CD/DVD authoring software. Why they would leave this software out I don’t know, but if you are going to add CD/DVD authoring software, add K3B. Skype also would have been a welcome addition, as it is officially supported in Linux and I now find more people are using it versus any other instant messenger client. Also, a decent bit torrent client like Deluge would also would have been appreciated. Either than that, all of the standard packages like Open Office, Firefox, Pidgin and Gimp are all there.

When you do need to install some applications, it really couldn’t be any easier. Linux Mint offers you a software portal via your web browser where you can download and install software with a single click. The database is small (94 applications) at the moment, but it is growing and it offers the best interface that I have see that comes with any distro. What I really like about the software portal is that other users can write their own reviews about the software, so you don’t have to Google for hints of what the software can do for you and you won’t have to wonder about how it will act on your system. Of course you still have access to thousands of other packages via the Synaptic package manager, and GetDeb which is my favorite. No matter what install route you take, you will have access to thousands of free applications.

The user interface and menu structure provides users with a fresh look making Linux Mint probably the most intuitive to use out of all the distro’s that I have tried. When you press the Daryna button a menu pops up divided into three sections: Places, System and Applications; right of the bat you have access to everything with one click. Under system you will find one great feature – Control Center. Control Center lets you adjust all of you settings, the great thing here is that all of your settings are nicely categorized with no sub-menus to get lost in. Under Places you have easy access to your network and files; NTFS files included. The applications box has one unique feature that I constantly found myself using – Favorites. Instead of digging around through sub-menus to get to your favorite application, you can set the apps you want to have in the Favorites box which can be interchanged with the Applications box when needed.

If you are new to Linux, there really isn’t a better distro than Linux Mint around. If you are an experienced Linux user, you won’t be disappointed. The biggest plus is that everything is set-up for you ready to go after the install. The chances are that you won’t have to install one driver or adjust one setting to use it properly, and all of the apps and codecs that you need are pre-installed. When you do run into some problems, the Linux Mint support community is ready to help; it is surprisingly big for a relatively new distro such as this one. In addition to the Linux Mint support forums, you have access to the largest Linux support community – Ubuntu forums, all thanks to the fact that Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu. As you see, Linux is evolving quicker than any other OS right now and Linux Mint 4.0 is proof of it.

No matter how you look at it, our society is one big pyramid scheme serving the elite and enslaving masses. None the less, this is nothing new as this scheme has been propagated by the thirteen blood lines that have originated from ancient Babylon who are known to us today as our government. The members of these thirteen blood lines are organized through various secret societies that manipulate our government and administer our society. Their banks are the force that dictate our lives in every single aspect, including: migration, quality of life and freedom. Everyone else outside of these thirteen clans is nothing more that a building block supporting the cap stone at the top. And like with every other pyramid scheme, there are a whole bunch of losers at the bottom.

It all started in Sumeria, the cradle of Mesopotamian civilization over 5,000 years ago and the basic foundation of our civilization today. If you would like to go back even further, there unfortunately isn’t a lot of information about any pre-Sumerian history, but we know that prior to Sumer the the same territory was part of the Harapian empire and most likely these people were of Turanian origin. To name a few accomplishments that the Sumerian civilization gave us, we have: democracy, the wheel, medicine, philosophy, mathematics, money and countless other human inventions that advanced human civilization. Thanks to this great knowledge the Sumerian’s spread all over the world and founded other great civilizations including ancient Egypt. And as is the case today, this knowledge was used for power and evil which lead to a unique form of imperialism.

When conquering foreign lands the Mesopotamians had huge military advantages, including chariots, an organized military and bronze weaponry. Of course, military conquest wasn’t their only method of imperialism, as they also used religion and political subversion to control and subdue foreign powers. Their genius lied in their deception and cunning, where instead of simply taking a new found land, they also assimilated the existing population into their own empire through religion and governance. When I say governance you should take it as enslavement.

Once the Mesopotamians conquered a land they would govern it through a secret society that would recruit members native to the land and the people were then programmed into pacifism by religion that was shoved down their throats. As you see not much has changed to this day as society is still governed by secret societies based on Turanian mysticism known to us as Masonry. Religion is still shoved down our throat promoting pacifism to protect the upper classes from the lower classes. Where the former two are propagated under the guise of righteousness and the ontology that serves it. Even worse, Masonry and religion both explicitly condone slavery, once again serving the upper class agenda.

Slavery has existed since throughout the ages, but in its’ purest form it did not succeed very well in part due to countless slave revolts. So our Masonic masters have evolved slavery into citizenship that is dictated by money. Money was solely invented by the Sumerian civilization to separate the bond between master and slave. The people at the top of the pyramid were given control of all property and resources and the people at the bottom were given freedom, giving them no reason to revolt. There was a catch to this scheme, as the people at the bottom had nothing, forcing them to work for their previous masters for sustenance. Today most of the land and resources are owned by a few and a majority of us are still enslaved by money – nothing has changed.

Yet, the creation of money wasn’t enough to keep order in a two class society: the have’s and have not’s, as revolutions still took place. A buffer was needed, so the middle-class was added to the equation. Creating a middle-class needed more slaves to sustain it, hence colonialization. To protect themselves, Masonic governed countries went on a barbaric conquest pillaging third-world country resource’s which gave rise to our past flourishing societies with a thriving middle-class. And in the U.S. they created a racial buffer by importing black slaves and Mexican pseudo-slaves, but this didn’t work out to nicely as these marginalized groups had a visible ethnic enemy, causing racial tension. Today in Canada this colonialization has gone one step further, taking the form of economic imperialization of poorer countries. Canadians are now happy thanks to the currency enslavement of these third-world countries giving us the quality of life that satisfies the masses thanks to our imported material riches.

The internal Canadian class base is brilliantly engineered thanks to the third-world enslavement and immigration. When putting Canada in context, the country has no long term losers at the bottom of the pyramid thanks to constant influx of immigrants that create a new bottom pyramid layer. In addition to perpetual growth of the pyramid, new immigrants are taken in to higher levels of the pyramid as not to create any racial tension, as was the case in the U.SA. Racial mixing is very important since it prevents the formation of a collusive force that can cause an opposition. In addition, these new immigrants are not selected based on their qualities that would make them a successful citizen, rather they are selected on the need of the pyramid. Immigration is thus highly selective, with race and education being the most important determinants.

To keep the pyramid going, debt and materialism have been added to the equation. Debt is a stressor that is necessary to keep us working harder and when we don’t want to. Materialism is a reward mechanism that justifies our placement in this pyramid scheme. Both of these attributes are indirect and voluntary, yet they are both inevitable. By this mechanism the true nature of the system remains hidden eliminating any opposition from us. As perfect as this system is, it does have its’ flaws.

The side-effects of this pyramid scheme are various and effect all of us to some degree. Capitalism is by far the most grievous product, as it puts a price on everything and quantifies are very existence. The by-product of capitalism is an engineered cyclical economy with an always ready pool of unemployed workers ready to feed the pyramid. In addition, the nepotism and collusion brought about by our Masonic overlords has created a shadowy aristocracy that has removed most of the fundamental aspects needed for a modern progressive society. After years of systemic conditioning this has all been normalized and we now accept and excuse all of the side-effects that this scheme provides.

As you see the Canadian national pyramid scheme works in thanks due its’ upper placement in the global pyramid scheme, so indeed we are lucky thanks to the blood and sweat of the people below us. We are unfortunately oblivious to the fact that our high standard of living is there thanks to the currency enslavement brought about our banks on the people of third-world countries. The worst part of all is that we don’t question the existence and transparency of the secret societies that dictate our lives and the lives we indirectly effect abroad. The truth of the matter is that change will not take place until people in the third-world countries will revolt and decide to work for themselves and not us. Without the bottom layers the pyramid will crumble and the empire will implode. Unfortunately, the puppet governments that we (CIA more precisely) instill will sabotage the product of any revolution. While there is no answer to the evils of a class based society, a foundation for an answer does exist – equality and a global society without classes.

After trying almost every audio media player out there for Linux, I finally found the most versatile and user friendly one – BMPx. What especially won me over about BMPx was the user interface. It is intuitive and organized with almost no settings to configure and no menus to get lost in. This is thanks to the fact that BMPx is fresh and it’s not trying to throw in a hundred useless features like the competition. It gets better, BMPx gives you 7 music sources: Shoutcast, Icecast, MP3’s, Podcast’s, Last.fm, audio CD’s and Jamendo. BMPx stands for Beep Media Player experimental and it is mainly coded by Milosz Derezynski. It’s an evolution of the previous Beep Media Player which was based on XMMS and Xine, now BMPx is all original and gstreamer based. You can download BMPx from its’ official home page and compile it yourself. If your distro is Debian based you are in luck, you can download the package from getdeb.net. I wouldn’t recommend downloading it from the universal repository as it will give you an older version of the player. To use it you will also need the appropriate codecs. You can download the individual gstreamer codec packages, but the easiest thing to do if you are using Ubuntu is to download the restricted extras package using “sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras”. Finally, on to my review!

I use the radio feature most of the time as I quickly destroy my own music collection by repeatedly listening to my favorite songs. BMPx has two of the most popular radio station directories to choose from: Shoutcast and Icecast. They are both integrated into the graphical shell, so there’s no need to open your browser to start a stream. Since Icecast doesn’t have that many stations, all 1,500 stations are loaded for you; but you will have to update the list manually from the menu during your first use. Shoutcast stations are loaded by genre due to the fact that there are a total of over 20,000 stations. If you are looking for a particular station, you can simply use the search bar at the top. The Shoutcast functionality is a bit more refined and it makes it easier for you to find a good station by giving you a list of the top 500 radio stations. Once you’ve picked out a few stations that you like you can then add them to your favorites; but unfortunatelyyou cannot later remove them from your favorites due to BMPx’s beta stage. As a bonus, most internet stations don’t have commercials, they don’t have any annoying chit-chat and they are streamed in CD quality sound.

If 21,500 radio stations are not enough to satisfy your music hunger, there’s Last.fm. What makes Last.fm unique is its’ audioscrobbler feature. The Last.fm audioscrobbler personalizes the music stream based on your personal music taste. You simply input the name of a song or artist and the audio scrobbler will try to match the exact initial song and then it will try to match the same taste of music in the following songs. Once you get Last.fm going, the top-left box will display relevant matches allowing you to choose exact track you had in mind. The right box will display all of the tags (eg. funk, rock, etc…) related to the song you are listening to; you can click on one of these to further fine tune your radio stream. The left-bottom box displays your information such as your personal music tags and what your friends are listening to. Once Last.fm has started playing your music you can skip songs and fine tune your stream even further by letting the audioscrobbler know what songs you like and dislike by pressing the appropriate button in the menu. In addition to that, you can let the audioscrobbler know which personal MP3’s and Jamendo tracks you like and dislike to further fine tune your radio stream. This all sounds great in theory, but I still prefer the playlist a live music DJ provides. In actuality, Last.fm makes listening to music boring as each track is almost like the previous one – variety is good.

Your personal MP3 collection is displayed in a systematic manner where by you first select the artist, then album and then the track, thus allowing you to manage your music accordingly. It couldn’t be any easier, but there were some problems. I did have a problem with one MP3 which was causing BMPx to crash, in addition to that I couldn’t get the cover art to display in the album box. Anyhow,besides having MP3 support, BMPx supports Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MOD, MPC, MP4, AAC, M4A, WMA, SID, WAV and SPC codecs. You can explore your existing collection by right-clicking on the track to get more information about the artist from the internet. And if you would like to sing along, you can right-click on the track and download the lyrics from an internet server. The two former features are actually available globally, including in the radio, CD player and in Last.fm. Navigating through your music globally within BMPx is easy with a few keyboard shortcuts, there even is an option to enable global Linux hotkeys. BMPx minimizes to your tray while still giving you full control of the player. Right-clicking on the tray icon give you full track control and left-clicking restores the BMPx window. Hovering your mouse over the tray icon displays the track information, including cover art. For those of you who have a large MP3 collection, search is simply enabled by typing on the keyboard.

Managing your playlist in a single album is a breeze thanks to the boxes you check and uncheck to select the song that you would like to play. If you are creating a play list from multiple albums you have to right-click on the tracks the you would like to enqueue. What is really annoying about this feature is that you first have to left-click on the track before you can right-click on it. The playlists can be saved and exported in a variety of popular formats, but what is really impressive is the ability to create a playlist based on a Last.fm tag.

The podcast feature in BMPx is just as intuitive as all of the other features in BMPx. Your podcast link is even automatically pasted into the URL entry field when you select to add your podcast via the menu. Once added, the top pane will display your different podcasts, the left bottom box will display the actual downloaded podcasts and right-bottom box will display the actual podcast info. To delete an old podcast you simply uncheck the box beside the podcast. And when you are going to reformat your hard drive you can export your podcast list to a file.

Now I come to the most original BMPx feature – the Jamendo integration. Jamendo allows artists to share their music online for free based on the principal that if you like the music you will later buy it. To get Jamendo started first you will have to download the Jamendo music database onto your hard drive via a menu shortcut; this only takes about thirty seconds. Once you have downloaded themusic database you literally have over 6,000 original virtual albums on your computer. When you play your Jamendo music there only is about a three second delay between you pressing play and the song playing. Due to the fact that most of the artists are relatively new, you will not be able to retrieve any lyrics and artist information. As you start browsing through Jamendo’s large list of artists you’ll be blown away by the amount of good independent music.

I have presented to you the good and the bad of BMPx. The good news is that BMPx is only at version 0.40.13 so it is going to keep on getting better and the few bugs will eventually be eliminated; I’ve only experienced a crash once. There are a few features that I can think of adding, with a radio stream ripper being one of them. Also, BMPx does have an equalizer, so a few equalizer presets would be nice. The lack of not being able to delete favorite radio stations has been addressed in the forums, so that feature should be coming in the next version. Besides these minor issues BMPx is a full featured audio player that cannot be matched in ease of use and functionality by any other piece of software at this current time.