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Sunday 15 May 2011

The Matter of Length/長街大亂鬥

The Matter of Length/長街大亂鬥

發表於2011年5月16日自由時報:〈旅遊的滋味〉從加拿大央街到烏克蘭猶太街

Canadian claim that the Yonge Street is the longest street in the world. It starts from the shore of Lake Ontario in Toronto, and goes all the way to Rainy River. A friend and I planed to take a road trip, and drive through its entire length, for some major massacre of time. Later, when another friend had a bit too much time, he got a map, and tried to trace Yonge Street. He was surprised to find it was actually broken in pieces in many places. It is not a continuous street.

As I trek to Ukraine, a local friend pointed at Evreiskaya and said to me "This is the longest street in the world, for it goes all the way to Siberia!" As a matter of fact, along the street, there is a KGB building. People used to go through this street, entered the building, and ended up in Siberia.

After taking the following picture, that friend led me down the street, to the KGB building. I did not realize the gravity of the matter, pulled out my camera, and took a photo. Immediately, the guard walked towards us, and asked me to delete that photo. It was a new camera. I was not yet familiar with its functionalities. I had a even harder time trying to figure out how to delete the darn photo under the pressure. For a moment, I was worrying that I might actually had to travel the entire length of Evreiskaya。

The KGB building is far down this street on the left hand side.
猶太街(Evreiskaya):繼續向前走,格別烏大樓就在遠遠的左手邊。

縱貫加拿大多倫多市中心的央街(Yonge Street)號稱是世界上最長的一條街:起於安大略湖畔多倫多市,「直」達雷尼里弗(Rainy River)。本來跟個死黨約好,說哪天吃飽了撐著了,要開車兜風,將央街從頭走到尾。後來有某剩閒友人, 先吃飽了,拿起地圖來追蹤,發現中間其實斷了好幾回。

後來流浪到烏克蘭的奧得薩(Odessa)。朋友指著猶太街(Evreiskaya)跟我說:「這是全世界最長的一條街,因為它直通西伯利亞!」其實這條街通的是格別烏(KGB)的大樓。那是共產極權年代的情報處,相當於美國的中情局。當年被逮的人,走過這條路,進了格別烏大樓,接下來往往就是被遠遠地流放到西伯利亞。

拍了這張照片後,我朋友領著我走過這段路,到了格別烏大樓前。那時我不知死活地拿起相機,大方的拍了張那幢大樓的照片。衛兵立刻就朝著我走過來,要求我刪掉照片。那時我用的是個新相機,對它的功能還不熟悉。一緊張,更是刪不掉。想到搞不好真要把這條路從頭走到尾,差點沒嚇到蔡賽。

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