High Tech Beer Bottles and other Stories

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Joseph Conrad said "I take it that what all men are really after is some form or perhaps only some formula of peace" This is obtained by simply holding the latest in beer bottle technology - finger grips on the bottle! And then turn it over and there is another feature - indented in the bottom is a beer bottle opener!

Ussuriysk may be Russia, but there are not many Ladas, mostly Japanese cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Out in the bush, the GAZ 66 and the UAZ 469 still rule. Another surprise - the food is great, the accomodations in the refurbished Soviet era hotel are comfortable (they still have watchful ladies on each floor), and I had my first $10.00 beer here (in Ussuriysk) Yes, they still have the official stuff - patient lineups, register at the police station, but the girls wear miniskirts.

Out in the country side the pace is relaxed. People have their backyard gardens and sell the produce on the side of the road. You can still see glass insulators on the hydro poles, people cutting grass with scythes, jungle mat fencing, and water comes from what we would call 'wishing wells' They sell a small single furrow plow - it is really just an engine on wheels like what is used in small rice fields - ideal for the large backyard gardens. And notice all of the wild flowers in the fields.

Vladivostok (where Yul Brynner comes from) is a beautiful, busy port city, with pre Soviet style buildings down town, and lots of Chinese tourists from just over the border. Everyone seems to be getting married.

The taxi driver who took us to the airport was a bit of a character - his face looked like he'd been drinking vodka for a life time, his smile was either golden or missing teeth, but as a good bye he said 'choose to be happy' - yet another philosopher.

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Photos

Round Bales and Wishing Well.
It gets busy in the evening.

Church and Weddings
Non stop wedding parties on Saturday Morning.

Comments

[Kathryn]

Contrast in culture with high tech beer bottle and low tech countryside
It was interesting to see the contrast in culture with the high tech beer bottle (which is very cool!) with the low-tech, simple countryside with the "wishing wells", dirt road, fields of wildflowers and people selling their produce at the side of the road.

[Ann]

You should have brought back that hot dog!!