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Published: August 29th 2011
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Vladivostok - Moscow 9288 km Coming back from Kamchatka I spent another night in Khabarovsk before catching the train the next evening to Vladivostok. I used the day to update my blog and catch up on some things on the internet – scary how used we got to the internet, 2 weeks without it and you can spend a whole day catching up on the most important things…
After an unspectacular overnight train ride, I got off at my final destination: Vladivostok! I cannot really describe what I felt in that moment – something between extreme satisfaction, happiness and surrealism. For so long I was dreaming of doing this trip, getting off the train in Vladivostok I realized: I made it, I actually did 😊 I took the obligatory picture of the final mark of the Trans-Siberian: Moscow – Vladivostok 9288km. With all my extra rounds I probably travelled well over 10’000km…
I called up Alla, my host in Vladivostok. She was trying to explain me something in English, she couldn’t find the right words and I couldn’t guess what she was trying to say, so
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View over Vladivostok I told her to tell it to me in Russian – that was pretty much the end of us speaking English 😉 Alla works at a tourism agency and was supposed to work, but apparently the electricity was off, so she asked to leave to meet me. We grabbed a coffee and she drove me to some nice viewpoints over the city. Vladivostok is one big construction site – the city is hosting the APEC in 2012. Moscow is investing into the infrastructure to get Vladivostok ready for the big summit. Alla is critical about this whole investment, she thinks that they just gonna build something quickly, but at a low quality, so it won’t be long lasting. It’s the same with the streets; they rebuild them every year – why don’t they do it once properly? After my 3 months in Russia I can actually answer this question 😊 This way they can apply for new funds every year – use parts to build low quality streets and use the rest for whatever they use it for 😊 Well, apart from all the constructions – Vladivostok is a very pleasant and modern city right at the sea
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Sailing boat Chava – the landscape around and the climate reminded me of the Mediterranean Sea 😊 After two hours unfortunately the electricity was turned back one, so Alla had to go back to work – I spent my afternoon exploring a bit more the city, but mostly just relaxing down at the sea side . In the evening, Alla took me to the lighthouse where the locals relax and swim after work.
6:30am the next morning I was at the train station to meet Yulia from Khabarovsk and a bunch of other people – Ira invited for a weekend on a sailing boat! The 12 meter long boat is called Chava and belongs to Andrej . Andrej built this boat himself and now spends most of his time on it. He for example sailed to the Pacific Islands and even all the way down to New Zealand by himself. The boat has everything you need: a place to sleep, a kitchen, a shower, …
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Sergey high up it’s actually quite comfortable down there 😊 After some stops to buy food and drinks, and about a 45min drive to the port, we were ready to leave the harbor. This was just a perfect way to end my 3-months trip: swimming in the sea, sunbathing on the deck, eating fresh fish , … We made our first stop somewhere outside of the bay of Vladivostok to swim in the sea or probably more jump from the boat, climb back up, jump in again, climb back, etc. At least the girls always went out of the water quite quickly – there were already 3 people bitten by a shark around Vladivostok the past weeks, so every now and then someone would scream “акула“– “shark” 😊 The next stop was Ricard Island where we picked up Ira . The scenery could have absolutely been somewhere in France or Italy, except for the Japanese trash that was lying all around the beach . Overnight we anchored the boat in some bay where we had shashlik and fresh fish for dinner. The bay was
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Sailing impressions very calm, so sleeping on the boat was no problem at all. The next day we woke up and went for another swim. Around lunchtime we slowly sailed back to Vladivostok. I think I officially got over my sea sickness, even though I have to say that 2 days were enough for me, I don’t think I could spend much more time on the boat! All in all a really amazing way to spend my last weekend in Russia.
In the evening Alla made waffles and Witja retaught me ‘’Durak’’ – a very popular Russian card game . Today in the morning I left with Alla to the city center, she went to work and I caught the bus from the center to the bus station and from there to the airport about 42km away. Everything went smoothly, I didn’t really have much time to think about my departure – at some point I just sat in the airplane. The 8.5h flight from Vladivostok to Moscow went by very quickly – a nice plane with personal entertainment system. Though, I liked the flight attendant’s announcement: “In order to ensure
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Sailing impressions your security and comfort, the airline company decided to stop giving out alcohol on this flight” 😊
Now I’m sitting in Moscow at the airport waiting for my flight to Riga. Time to reflect… I spent an absolutely amazing 3 months in Russia ! Russia is a country full of potential and great people . Russia is very diverse – saying to someone that he or she is a typical Russian is probably the same as saying someone is a typical European. Russia is beautiful – pretty cities, an amazing nature and the right people who help you experience all this. Russia is pure – if you’re willing to open yourself up for Russia you can experience a country that is still pure and not overwhelmed with mass tourism. And Russia is a mystery – it has a certain charisma that can only be experienced and not described…
That’s all – thank you for following me until here – now it’s up to you to go and experience it yourself 😊
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