Contrasts

Khabarovsk – contrasts
When Boris and Timofei arrived from Irkutsk, it was the middle of the night, but with 6:00 AM on the clock. The taxi driver had relieved 2000 rubles from them for 600 ruble trip. Mafia taxis! They were welcomed at Sapporo Hotel by a very sleepy receptionist (she had been working approx 24 hours straight). As they had not slept on the plane, they caught a little sleep, until midday. Upon looking at the view from the window, they saw possibly a less desirable side of Russia.a20140923_134127

However, they found a gem in the Tsum (ЦУМ) store in the main street.  Here there are richly decorated windows on the staircase.

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Khabarovsk in the Far East

23 Sep 2014

When we arrived at the Sapporo Hotel in Khabarovsk at 7am, a comment was made that we had arrived very early so we apologized and commented that that was when the plane landed. We were then told that our room happened to be free so we could move in straight away, just brilliant as out eyes were hanging on the floor. We crashed until about 1 pm and then decided to walk the town and headed off up the main street. Well laid out streets, clean and tidy but again the very uneven footpaths which would be hell for less agile older people and also during winter. Arrived at Lenin Square and here are the fountains

Not Lenin afterall

Not Lenin afterall

2014-09-23 12.36.37 and Ian taking the stance, as he does. XX

From here we headed downhill, and along the Amur Boulevard where the local dressed up ladies promenade along displaying themselves in their finery, and is only heading towards the local markets. The trams are incredibly varied- it seems that if they are still working then they are on the road. They don’t seem to be cleaned at all on the outside but good fun picking an older one to take us back up the hill. XX

We got off the tram at Ussuri Boulevard which serves the same purpose as Amur but much quieter today. We headed towards the Amur River and passed by the Peace Park along the way. Made of metal and showing all the major continents

North Korea Peace Monument erected 2008

North Korea Peace Monument erected 2008

was rusting away at the base and falling apart after just being created in 2008 – followed the plaque to find that it was presented by North Korea Kim Jong-Il was born here (his Russian name was Yuri Irsenovich Kim and his father was leading a battalion of Chinese exiles), a bit concerning! Came upon Komsomolskaya Square where we saw Odora Concert Hall and the church.

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Continuing back up towards the hotel along the Amur River we came across building a memorial to the Patriotic War, a ship with the name of the fallen behind it. As we took the picture a worker waved at us, posed again and has a short conversation and we all had a good laugh. XX

Ian had a desire for pizza for dinner and we ended up at V-Drova where they were dressed as Italians and kept calling out on loud voices, Mama Mia, Buono Sera and Uno Momento, all a lot of fun but meaning nothing – a most entertaining evening. XX