Hi All,
Another day and another time zone. Now it is moscow time +6hrs. When we cross the border the time will magically change to beijing time which is moscow time +5hrs which is UT+8 for reference. Got it?
We arrived at Chita at about 5am and decided that we only had about 5 blocks or about 1km to the hotel so decided to walk. Temperature was about -40 deg C so maybe it wasn't such a good idea and we found later that a taxi would cost 80 Rubles or about AUD3 so I think we were taking cheapskate a little too far or perhaps just sleep walking as we were coming off an overnight sleeper train.
When leaving the train station you are confronted by the large (lonely planet says 'bombastic') church well illuminated showing it's golden onion domes. Very nice.
The walk was easy if not cold but we got to discover the beautifully blue and green illuminated ice slide in Lenina place.
We really were glad to get to the hotel as it was getting a little cold even with our layers of clothing and large down filled coats and before our eyelashes froze together rendering us temporarily blind. Possibly a little too much...
The hotel was dark when we arrived but at least the door was open and once inside we were met by the security guard and soon after he woke one of the sleepers in the chairs in the foyer. The receptionist with bedhead and a drowsy look reluctantly checked us into the hotel and we headed upstairs to the floor monitor who also had impressive bedhead and got the key to a palacial looking room. Have to have a word with the travel agent sometime regarding the definition of budget accommodation but perhaps non-russian tourists need to stay in specific hotels.
It also was tropically hot inside the room and even with both water radiators turned off it was warm. We had fun opening the window and watching the outside air condense inside as we cooled the room.
A couple of hours sleep later and we decided to head out for a wander around town. Lenina place was alive with children and parents enjoying the ice slide next to the lenon statue. The rosey cheeked children sit on a plastic disk with a carry handle when sliding and needed to get off the ice quickily when finished otherwise run the risk of being crashed into by the next enthusiastic slider. This happened often as the sliders were going fast and slow speeds. Plenty of big smiles on the faces of adult and child.
It was still quite cold at -36 deg C and we only managed to walk down to some of the older streets with wooden houses and the church near the train station before heading back to the hotel to warm up. Not really ideal for sightseeing.
So how cold is cold? so cold that we saw a dog pee on a wall that froze before it had time to run to the ground. Just before we arrived we think the dog probably had to be chipped off the wall. So cold that one of Vanessa's contact lenses distorted while on the surface of her eye and needed to be removed. So cold that every breath creates it's own cloud.
We were on our way to a restuarant for our last Russian meal before heading to China and I was looking forward to it. We dropped off our coats in the cloak room and then sat down and looked at the menu only to find that we didn't have a clue as it was written in Russian and I didn't have a guide book with me. So we decided to leave about 5 minutes later and headed to a pizza place not far away.
Very uncomfortable as we walked in and it felt that everyone was staring at us. Again we had problems with the menu but at least there was a picture and we ordered a large pizza. It seemed to be a bit smaller and lighter than expected but certainly hit the spot. I paid the bill for our expensive and rather odd pizza and we headed our quickly to see if we could find a hamburger place but gave up and headed back towards the hostel.
We walked through the park in the evening a saw a couple dressed up
for going out slide on their feet down one of the ice ramps which was
particularly impressive considering she had 4 inch stiletto heels h.
Seems the be the footware of choice of young Russian women. No
complaints from the writer.
We headed off to bed reasonably early as we had a train to catch at 313hrs local time. The alarm went off all too soon and we were ready and caught a cab to the train station which had plenty of drunks being cornered by police and seemingly homeless people pressed against the water heaters. There were plenty of chinese in the waiting room but it was disturbing that there was no electronic board with our train or the platform number on it.
We only heard the word 'harbin' in one of the announcements and when the locals started moving we figured that it was time for us to go as well and got out to a train pulling up on the nearest platform. The last carriage was no 17 and our ticket said carriage 19 on it. Hmmmm. A few minutes later another carriage was connected to the train so it went 17, 19. What no carriage 18?
Well at least we were on the train!
Bye,
David and Vanessa
