San Francisco and Pyongyang

Just because my train journey had ended did not mean my adventures had ended as well. After three weeks on the road, I had three days to discover Vladivostok, or as it is called, the San Francisco of the East. I also had a close encounter with North Korea in more than one sense. All in all, Vladivostok was a great way to end my Transsiberian trip.

Lenin Greets All in Vladivostok

After getting off the train I went in search of food. Unsurprisingly, nothing was open until eight or nine o’clock in the morning. This meant that I was forced to haul my bags around until I found a place to eat. Once that mission was accomplished, I was able to start getting the lay of the land. The city center is actually quite small. I was able to walk the main parts within a couple of hours. The highlight is the shoreline which overlooks a bay that points further East, towards Japan. I was unsure

I Spy Lenin in the Window

of whether I was looking a Japan off in the distance or some local island. Either way, it was just as beautiful in the rain as it was during sunset. The rest of the city was indeed hilly. I could see where the comparisons with San Francisco came in to play. There were also a few impressive bridges that spanned the bay and reached over on to the neighboring islands. What I did find odd was that, for such a secretive country, a small part of its naval fleet was docked in the harbor, in full view of anyone who cared to look. And I cared to look.

The first day was just me, finding my hotel and getting a feel for the city. My hotel ended up being on the top of an enormous hill overlooking the river which emptied into the bay. It was not a posh place by any means but it was clean, safe, and allowed me to see a part of the town where most tourists fail to go. And it helped that the United States Consulate was right down the street. The next day, I had a ton of plans, some of which I fulfilled. I went to the local history museum and saw an exhibit on my best buddy, Lenin. They had a couple of rooms filled with Lenin iconography from Komsomol pins to marble busts to paintings by local fan(atics). The top floor of the museum had an photo exhibit done by a Japanese photographer who took pictures of an Old Believers colony before the outbreak of World War II. It might have been the most interesting museum visit of my

Hall of Lenins

trip. After exercising my brain, it was time to exercise my feet and visit Russky Island on the other side of the bridge.

I really didn’t plan the island trip very well. It is recommended for those who want to explore nature trails and visit the old forts that guarded the USSR’s eastern coast during the Cold War years (and today?). That proved to be more difficult than anticipated since guide books give you the location but are sketchy on the details on how to get to these points of interest. I thought I would give it a go when my waiter at one restaurant suggested I take a bus that leaves Vladivostok and circles Russky Island. He did warn me not to take the bus in during morning and afternoon rush hours since Vladivostok has some of the worst traffic in Russia. I took his advice but it, apparently, didn’t matter when I took the bus; traffic was terrible throughout the day. Much like Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok is not well-built for traffic. For some reason, there is a lack of traffic lights on the side streets so cars have to merge into traffic when they feel able. This means that cars are pushing onto the main roads with abandon, causing massive traffic jams. It took forever to get from Vladivostok, over the bridge, and onto Russky

Cool Street Art

Island. What I soon realized is that it was no tiny island that I could explore in a couple of hours; rather, it was more on the size of Staten Island in New York. I saw many impressive views of the ocean but I had no idea how to access it. One site I will not forget is seeing the rest of the Russian fleet in a cove on the eastern side of the island. It was massive and everyone who cared to look out the bus’s window would have seen a giant nuclear submarine pulling into the harbor. It was impressive and a wee bit scary. I had thoughts of hopping of the bus and snapping some pictures. Then, I had other thoughts of being arrested for spying and spending time in a Russian jail so, I deferred. When I finally came to the point where I needed to transfer buses, my plans changed. It seems that the island is not set up for tourism. The next bus would arrive and depart in fifty-four minutes. At this point, I called it a day and headed back to the city. As I was retracing my route, the bus crossed a bridge and I spied the guns that once protected the islands. I very much wanted to hop off the bus, but exhaustion dictated that I get some dinner back in Vladivostok.

Spanning the City 

"Hidden" Fleet

Dinner was awesome. I got as close to North Korea as I ever hope to get. There is one North Korean owned restaurant in the city and it was highly recommended. I’m pretty sure the food doesn’t differ from a South Korean restaurant but I thought I’d go for the novelty. The restaurant had two statues

Welcome to North Korea

guarding the door but they looked friendly, for statues. Inside I was greeted by a very attractive waitress who seated me and took my order. There was nothing different about the restaurant other than it being a little bit spare. It was not overly decorated with prints or ornate furniture. In fact, I found this an attractive feature of the place. When the food came, it was delicious. I ordered a sizzling duck platter with vegetables. As I chowed down on the food, I wondered about the food situation in North Korea. I was pretty sure I was eating better than most of the country’s citizens and that duck was not on most people’s plate at night. I finished my meal, made some small talk with the waitresses, and then made my way to my hotel high in the hills. Another day well done and almost time to leave.

Russky Island

Sun Sets in the East

                 

Feet, Kielbasa, and Sweat

I entered Russia on 19 August and began my trip eastward on 25 August. From Moscow I stopped in Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, and Belogorsk. Finally,

Schedule of Stops

after eighteen days moving across mountains, rivers, taiga, and forest, I arrived in Vladivostok. Here’s (nearly) the end of my tale. 

When I left Ulan-Ude on 8 September, my next stop would be almost two days later in the tiny city of Belogorsk, a stones-throw away from the Chinese border. There was no real reason why I chose to stop here other than that I didn’t want to be on the train for seventy-two hours straight. I think the most difficult leg of the Transsiberian for most passengers is the home stretch from Ulan-Ude to Vladivostok. Between these two points there are not many interesting stops, save for Khabarovsk which is the second largest city in the Russian Far East after Vladivostok. I believe

Lenin Welcomes All at Belogorsk

most riders choose to do the whole final leg uninterrupted and just get to the finish line. I was glad I took a day in Belogorsk, as I was starting to get jumpy by my second day on the train. While there was not much to see (besides a Lenin Statue or two), I was able to get my legs on solid ground and sleep on a non-moving bed. It was also a beautiful day, so I took the time to walk and take in life on a border city in the middle of nowhere. But, alas, all things must end and by the next morning Belogorsk was just another train station fast disappearing in the rearview mirror.

Not Far from the Chinese Border...A Summary of My Trip

I was excited about my final train ride as I was riding on the 1/2 train, the Rossiya. Other than the Golden Eagle, this is the best train on the Transsiberian railroad. As a point of fact, all trains are not created equal along the route. There is no single “Transsiberian” train as passengers can take any

A Lonely Factory

number of trains to reach their final destination. It happens that theRossiya is supposed to be the best train; cleaner, newer, with the best service. I thought I would be riding my last twenty-four hours on a golden chariot, into Russia on the Pacific. I was half-right. My train was, indeed, newer and cleaner than the rest I had ridden on since I departed from Moscow. The beds were more comfortable, the food car had better meals, and there were places to plug in people’s myriad of devices. But the luxury ended there. As I entered the train at 0730, I noticed the smell. By the time the train had reached Belogorsk, it had been on the road at least six days; that meant that many of the passengers had been on the train for six days. Although there are bathrooms (fairly clean), there are no showers. Many passengers will clean themselves up every morning with a sponge bath; many passengers will not. I happened to be in the “will not” car that morning. The accumulated smell of men, women, and children in an enclosed train car was quite overwhelming. Try as I might NOT to do so, I began to identify the smells as I walked towards my coupe. I think the ones that stood out most of all were feet and sweat (or, just sweaty feet). I could, of course, smell a bit of toilet thrown in for good measure. But I think

A Beer and a Snack

the odor that made my stomach turn just a bit was the addition of kielbasa. Someone in that car had been eating a very pungent pepperoni-type sausage. This in itself is a smell I do love. On any other occasion, I would go in search of this aroma. But, when mixed in with sweat, feet, and toilet, it was far from appetizing. These were the smells that predominated the last day of my travels. I would get used to it, then step out to go to the dining car, only to be hit full on upon my return. One big reason for the smells is the lack of ventilation. Much like Ukrainians, Russians are deeply afraid of breezes. They believe air, especially cooler air, will immediately give you a cold or make your joints stiff. Therefore, even when there are windows available to open or a ventilation system primed for use, Russians will opt to sit in a closed space. This modern train had these ‘open’ options but no one, even the conductor in the car, wanted to use them. For a non-Russian, this logic is maddening. As the heat began to rise both inside and outside the car, I finally had enough and cracked the window in my coupe. Fortunately, my roommates did not argue and I was able to breathe for the remainder of the trip.

A Patriotic Statue in the Night

Khabarovsk Train Station

                                        

The last twenty-four hours of my journey across Russia slipped by without incident. The train continued to skirt the Chinese border which was why we traveled at night. Looking out the window was useless as there were very few lights and not much to see. Earlier in the day, the train had passed through small mountains and along some beautiful rivers. Now that we were off the taiga, the landscape was a bit more populated with “stuff”. I saw peaceful little villages far off the beaten track. The sun was warm but, despite the heat, the trees were well in the midst of changing colors. It definitely had a “New England in autumn” feel. I as imagining how beautiful (and how cold) it would be during the winter. I spent much of the time in the dining car, reading a book and developing pictures. The day eventually faded as we passed the last significant cities before Vladivostok: the capital of the Jewish Autonomous Republic, Birobidzhan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birobidzhan. Thanks, Stalin!) and Khabarovsk. During the night a stiff rain drummed against the roof of the train, providing for a suitable sleep. But how could I sleep when I would soon be in Vladivostok? And, sure enough, the provodnitsya came to wake us up at

0530 to prepare for arrival. After rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I stripped the bed and had a cup of coffee. Then, we pulled into the station. There, to greet me, was an old locomotive from days gone by and a monument showing that I had come 9,288 km (5771.3 miles). It seems to have gone by in a flash, yet I had seen so much. And there was more to come, so stay tuned.  

Loco for this Locomotive

End of the Line!