We’re loath to say anything negative about any town; they all have their virtues, their points of interest. However, after spending a week in Vladivostok, it was hard to be entirely enthusiastic about the place. There is a nice little downtown area that offers fantastic views of the Sea of Japan, yummy street food, quaint cafes, and cheap bike rentals. However, this pedestrian-friendly area is bordered on all sides by dirty, smelly, noisy everything. We started thinking that a month in Russia would be three weeks too many!
In contrast, however, our first impression of Khabarovsk, some 15 hours on the Trans-Siberian Railway north of Vladivostok, was terrific. At 7 AM we strolled down a mile-long forest park to the Amur River, coolly buffered from traffic on both sides (an effective emollient on our edgy railway nerves).
The majestic square overlooking the water breezily offered the perfume of petunias– I’m not exaggerating, folks–and soothing chants of a nearby Eastern Orthodox church. Oh, and the reindeer posing for pictures was tidily kept with a diaper fashioned out of two strategically placed plastic containers. Nothing says “I love my city” more than a reindeer poop cup!
We commented last week that the people in Russia tend not to smile, but now having traveled on, we are forced to wonder if we were over-generalizing; perhaps grumpiness is more localized.
Within hours of being here in Khabarovsk, we learned that people here are eager to strike up a conversation, engaging, kind, and friendly. Our first tip? In the cafe where we waited out the hours before being admitted into our apartment, the lovely English-speaking employee wrote our family a love letter and gave us a gift of chocolate!
We have only been here a couple of days, and already we have a full social calendar! We have attended martial arts classes and been invited to return for more. Holly’s yoga class netted an interview and an invitation to hike nearby mountains. The family we met on the train ride here gave us a tour of the city and are treating us to a horse show and dinner tonight! We were invited to an English school to play games with local kids, and look forward to more conversation with the founder over dinner tomorrow night!
The people at the store and everywhere we go are friendly. Not until we experienced this contrast did we realize just how much we had been missing positive human contact. Now, we truly feel we are living in Russia.
We heartily recommend Khabarovsk!
Ah yes – smiles on short supply in Vladivostok— happy you found some!! Tell me about food???
We had only good food experiences, though we didn’t find a lot of ‘Russian’ restaurants. I think our favorites were Georgian restaurants — love the khinkalis!