Leaving China Behind

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The first stage of the return journey is get to ourselves from China down to Vladivostok, the starting point for the Trans-Siberian Express. Of course most sensible people would catch the Trans-Mongolian direct from Beijing to Moscow but I want to go on the Trans-Siberian so we have 2 overnight journeys on the Chinese railways to get us from Beijing to Harbin, then Harbin to Suifenhe and the China:Russia border.

The first challenge is finding the right train. I adopt my usual strategy of making a fool of myself and waving my tickets at everyone and anyone until an official finally escorts me to the right train as they want to make sure you leave their territory ASAP. The trains are quite comfortable, we are in a little 4 birth cabin and bunk beds. We are sharing with a seasoned traveller and, with out speaking a word of each others language, she shows us where to stash the luggage, how to lower the bunks, where the slippers are etc. etc. We set off on time at 21:30 and wake up at 07:00 in Harbin after a surprisingly good nights sleep.

Harbin is a quirky little town full of Russian influences; it was the base for the Russian's constructing the Chinese Eastern Railway and in 1917 many Russians fleeing the Bolsheviks ended up here. So there's lots of European art-deco style architecture with no ying-yang tiled roofs in sight. There are churches and synagogues dotted round the centre but no Buddhist temples. There's lots of trendy coffee bars and tea-houses serving real black tea with milk and not green tea. Even the topiary hedges down the middle of the road are in the shape of an orthodox church complete with onion domes. If it wasn't for all the Chinese people you would think we were already in Russia. Its a real half-way house between Asia and Europe.

After a day exploring Harbin its back to the station for another overnight train. The waiting room is packed and there's lots of trains coming and going. As each train arrives, and is announced in Chinese, we leap up and ask if its ours so eventually the two attendants get a local family to adopt us and tell us to stick with the family and get on the same train as them - which works we stop pestering the attendants and end up on the right train along with a hoard of students from Hong Kong.

The next morning we wake up in the border town of Suifenhe and have to face our second challenge - buying a bus ticket to Russia. This turns out to be really complicated. I have a timetable for buses to Pogranichay but they assure me that there are no buses to Pogranichay. The only option seems to be a ticket to another Russian town but the bus will pass through Pogranichay so we can get off there - well at least we think that's what we are being told. So we buy the ticket and head off to the bus which is mostly full of Russian's retuning home with giant parcels containing TV's, computers etc, etc, - the pay is better in Chinese and electronic goods are much cheaper in China.

We may have been told at the tickets desk that the bus went through Pogranichay but the bus driver doesn't seem to think that he is going there. But as the bus is heading into Russia and there's no other option we get on anyway, You aren't allowed to walk or take a taxi over the border.

Next obstacle is getting out of China, they are clearly used to dealing with Russians and Chinese but are a bit confused when faced with two foreign tourists. The have to call over the chief immigration officer to sort us out and even then they have to call in another official to double check we haven't outstayed our visa and eventually we are stamped out.

About 10 miles down the road we come to the Russia border and more confusion. We need to fill out a special 'foreign tourist' entry form but nobody seems to know where they are kept as foreign tourists are a bit of a rarity at this border crossing. Finally the forms are produced and we are allowed out to join the rest of the bus passengers who are putting their luggage back into the bus but I high-jack my luggage and hold it to ransom until we can sort out where we are going - the bus isn't allowed to leave without its full quota of passengers. The Russian passengers say that the bus always goes to Pogranichay, the bus driver says he is definitely not going there, the border guard (with the big gun) says we can only leave the compound on the bus, there is no other way out. I think the Russians are a bit shocked that I am challenging the border guard (with the big gun), there's a definitely a feel that you don't challenge authority/the system. Anyway as I'm not getting back on the bus or letting go of my luggage they all start talking to each other and agree that we can be dropped off at the little cafe on the far side of the border post from where we can get to Pogranichay. How we get there seems to be a bit vague, especially when we don't have any Roubles. It feels a bit like this is a good way to rid of the troublesome foreigners ASAP but we don't have a lot of choice.

So out of the compound we go and enter Russia We are duly dropped of a the little cafe and that's all it is just one tiny cafe in the middle of nowhere with no signs of a bus stop or taxi rank. But by one amazing stroke of luck there is a single mini-van parked there and he will take us the 5 miles to Pogranichay and let us pay in dollars.

We are supposed to meet up with someone in Pogranichay but one small point was overlooked when making the arrangements - time zones!! There is a 3hr time difference between China and Russia (due to the fact that the whole of China runs on Beijing time) so we are now effectively 3 hours late - will he still be waiting for us?

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Photos

Harbin Railway Station Car Park
a tad more decorative than our local railway station

St Sophia church, Harbin
a very Russian looking chruch in the main square of a chinese town

St Sophia church, Harbin
inside its all grand chandeliers, also very Russian

Comments

[David & Diana]

Ways to deal with officials
You certainly have a way of winning with officials Lorraine! Wear 'em down ! What fun to be travelling off the tourist trail. David & Diana