In Siberia: In Search for the Elixir of Life

I flew from Moscow into Siberia yesterday.  For those of you who don't know, Russia spans both Europe and Asia.  It's huge.  I'm only a little passed the midpoint of Russia, and that flight alone took me five hours to fly into Sibiera.  From the midpoint to Vladivostok it would be another 9 hour flight.  So, it takes about 13-14 hours to fly from one end of Russia to the next.  I bet you didn't know it's the largest country out there!

For those of you who don't know, I didn't really know at the time, I go to Siberia on a mystical journey.  The word mystic has the same base word as mystery.  Both essentially appear in the English text a few centuries after Jesus' cruxifiction.  Essentially, it means a spiritual connection or union with God.  A mystical journey is one where you're search for the truth, the meaning of life, and a connection with my God.  I look for all these things.

I made the decision to go to Siberia right after I took the California bar.  I wasn't sure why I was to go.  I just knew it was where I was meant to go.  A month later, I discovered a valuable item needed for the Elixir is located in Siberia.

But where was I going to find it?  Siberia is huge.  It's probably larger than all of the United States itself.  Even on my flight, I wasn't really sure where to find the elixir.  I just knew I had to go.

I flew out of Moscow at 12:30am.  I red eyed in at 7am.  A girl was meeting me there.  What American has friends in Siberia?  Before I left the plane, I wondered would she be strange, old, obese, or homely.  Would she want to meet me to try to marry me?  Who knew?  She was a friend of my best friend's sister in New Zealand.

When I left the airport, a blonde, fit, girl with blue eyes gave me a hug.  She was gorgeous and young.  The only problem with this story is that to make it feel more like a movie, she needed to have been driving a sports car.  She's a sharp entrepreneur, who even arranged the first TED Conference in Siberia!  =)

I took her out to breakfast for her kind hospitality.  After the chit chat she asks why I'm in Siberia.  I tell her I need the mystical artifact for the Elixir.  She doesn't look at me like I'm crazy.  She says, "I've heard this item is in Siberia.  It's in the mountains two days from here, but the range is enormous.  You cannot go by yourself.  There are also dangerous people that live there.  Once, when I led a tour group there, a band of wild tribespeople, drunk, attempted to attack us with chains on horseback."

I just said, "Hmmmm.  Well, can we find someone to take us?"

She said, "This is interesting.  I would like to help you find this artifact."

I said, "Yes, it is a precious, rare item.  I need it."

I go back to her place and crash on the couch.  I haven't slept well in days because it's a hard journey into Siberia from Los Angeles.  

After a few hours of sleep, she wakes me up and says, "Come on, we got to go.  I posted on my facebook about your Elixir.  Someone, I never even heard of responded.  He says he knows where to get your Elixir in the mountains.  He says that it's guarded by Shamans, but he knows.  We have to meet this guy in 30 minutes on the outskirt of town."

I said, "You never heard of this guy?"

She said, "No, he's a random facebook friend.  He used to be a geologist.  Then he became a lawyer.  And now, he's an investment banker."

I thought, that sounds a bit like my life.  I studied biology only to become a lawyer.

She continues, "We need to get my friend, Sasha.  He's interested in the journey.  I told him a random American looks for the Elixir."

She pauses and adds, "He also says he knows the mountain entrance to Shambala. . ."

Picture Courtesy of Google's depiction of Shambala.