Khabarovsk

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Finally after 50 hours on that damn train, which was hot and stinky, I had reached Khabarovsk, which turned out to be a pretty pleasant place. And maybe even the cleanest city I've been to since...can't remember. I stayed in the train stations resting room for the night then the following day walked the city. It lies along the beautiful Amur river, filled with loads of parks, tsarist era buildings (way better than soviet style to be sure) an amazing boardwalk area boasting many cafes and snack stalls. I walked to Dynamo park on the evening I arrived and watched as people strolled about. I got eaten by mosquitoes though!

The next day I was up really early and walked to the nearby town center, where I saw historic buildings, and walked the gargantuan board walk along the Amur. The weather was nice and it really grew hot quickly. The first site I saw was the Church in the middle near the river banks. On the main street was lots to see and I headed up to the Lenin square which had opulent flowers and fountains. Then walked through a park and took cover under a wooden roof as rain came down. Then I wandered into some neighborhoods and got lost for a while. Later on I visited the Church of Transfiguration which was grand, the top was garnished in gold. This country as a whole has way many churches, kind of like comparing the amount of Buddhist temples in China. Nearby the church was a WWII memorial, really nicely done in stone and the names of those who fell in multiple plaks in line. About 26 million people died in the Soviet Union during that war.

From there I walked back to the boardwalk to take a final look at the Amur river and then got back to the train station, to get back on the Trans-Siberian.

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