One Day in Khabarovsk

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"Wow this is the most expensive thing I've ever held in my hand" so says this 12 year old boy holding my iPad in his hands preciously on his way home with his grandma to Kazakstan.

But before we meet him we make a tour of Khabarovsk.

Khabarovsk is one of the prettier cities in Russia's Far East. Unlike so many places in Russia, the city has allocated and spent funds to develop its riverside, parks, monuments and walkways.

Khabarovsk was founded in 1858 as a military post by Eastern Siberia's Governor General Count Nikolai Muravyov (later became Muravyov-Amursky), during his campaign to take the Amur back from the Manchus (the local indigenous people at the time).

In 1897 the Trans-Siberian railway arrived from Vladivastok.

Back in the 1920's the town was seized by China before the Bolsheviks came and seized it back.

During the day we have a stroll from Komsomolskaya Ploshad where we see the beautifully reconstructed Othodox Church Khram Uspenya Bozhey Materi. We then walk past the river Amur checking out various monuments and the famous cliff top tower where a troupe of WW1 Austro-Hungarian POW musicians were shot for refusing to play the Russian Imperial Anthem.

"What Russian food are you familiar with?" I ask Ange. Before waiting for her response I suggest we head to the "Stolovaya" a Russian word for Cafeteria which generally has Russian food, at varying degrees of quality but always for a decent price.

The end of day is spent chilling in Lenin Ploshad or Square by the fountains before boarding our train to Chita in evening.

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