from Samcheon Po to Vladivostok's train station!!!
Day 1
walked out of my apartment, left Samcheon-po feeling a little depressed, but after seeing a Korean Air flight take off from Sacheon city (30 mins later), i was smailing with gay abandon all the way to Busan. Joined Dee on the beach, great swim, then to Kyungsang for a final night of drinks with Brian and company.
Day 2
the bus to Sokcho!
largely uneventful 6 and a bit hours ride. we ate Gamjatang (pork meat soup, yummy!) for dindins! scoped out the small city of Sokcho, and thought, woah, it's another Korean city.....
Day 3
went to the ferry terminal for our tickets, and once i got back, Dee's hotel room, or more precisely, her bags and possessions, were in complete disarray. i left her to it, hoping she'd sort herself out in time, and of course, she did. made our boat in the early afternoon, met Gary, of Australia, who is motorcycling from Vietnam to Italy via Spain!!! We also met a Spanish nun who lives in Vladivostok, plus a woman from Kazhakstan who lives in Korea, off to visit her brothers in Vlad.
the boat was relatively calm, rocking and vibrating constantly. i only felt queezy during the scrabble loss to Dee (and thereafter seeing and smelling the Korean men who were doing shots of soju in groups of 10 or more.
Day 4
woke up the next morning as we were docking at Zarabino (i defy you to find that on any map anywhere), and found it to consist of 2 sheds, a road, and a boat (ours). after a few hours waiting onboard, we finally made it through border control to an awaiting bus with an old driver with gold teeth (lots of golden smiles greeted us). the bus took us to customs and once the old dog got out of the way, we filed off the bus, into the building, through the turnstyle, outside and grabbed our bags off the bus again... i'm not joking! it was a 30 second transition.
walked to a street corner nearby to wait for a bus to Vladivostok, taxis being offered at high rates, but we were offered a ride by Mr Ham, of Sokcho, and Sergei Han, a Kazhakstani Korean, car salesmen shifting a car to Vlad from the ferry. a couple more hours waiting, goats feeding on the street corner, then the car cleard the customs turnstyle, and we were on the "road", most of it being roadWORKS (but most of it was perfectly okay).
the area south of Vladivostok is very beautiful countryside dotted with old houses, abandoned buildings, and trees, glorious trees! and a snake! at least 1.5m long! didn't expect snakes in Russia!!!
next, we stopped for dinner (it was around 5pm) and Dee and i made our first meal in Russia BORSCH! delicious. Mr Ham paid for, and after a little wait, we were transfered to Aleksanders car. Sergei refused any money for fuel (and looked insulted when we offered). then we hit the road again, seeing a MiG fighter jet land over the top of us! 30 minutes of high energy driving from Aleksander (an obvious fan of Gotham Racing), we were at our hotel, and in desperate need of some rubles!!!
Day 5
i wish i had a 4WD!! Vladivostokians used to wish that too. Beuatiful day, started late after a sleep in, changed money with the only slightly dodgey looking people sitting in deck chairs outside the bank, then bought our train tickets.
what a wait! we spoke no Russian, yet still took less time than most people ahead of us in the queue. after a high 5 with Dee in a successful tickets purchase celebration, the locals were all laughing, or at least, smiling. we'ed served as entertainment for a few minutes. Then, a walk to the beach, enjoyed the view (at which point, i shall refrain from mentioning the extremely attractive women populating the city, or more precisely, the waterfront ;) and to a monument nearby.
while waiting for Dee in the hotel lobby, maybe i should've wished for pointy toed shoes too.
we made it to the train, lots of tearful goodbyes on the platform from the locals (for other Russian people, not us), while i chatted to Lena, a lawyer/economist from Vlad, off to visit her parents a few hours away. As we left the station, the boys next door broke out a guitar for a sing, but soon enough, it was just the rocking and rolling of the train, and an unbelievable sunset.
all heads west (well, the first 12 hours were mainly north)
walked out of my apartment, left Samcheon-po feeling a little depressed, but after seeing a Korean Air flight take off from Sacheon city (30 mins later), i was smailing with gay abandon all the way to Busan. Joined Dee on the beach, great swim, then to Kyungsang for a final night of drinks with Brian and company.
Day 2
the bus to Sokcho!
largely uneventful 6 and a bit hours ride. we ate Gamjatang (pork meat soup, yummy!) for dindins! scoped out the small city of Sokcho, and thought, woah, it's another Korean city.....
Day 3
went to the ferry terminal for our tickets, and once i got back, Dee's hotel room, or more precisely, her bags and possessions, were in complete disarray. i left her to it, hoping she'd sort herself out in time, and of course, she did. made our boat in the early afternoon, met Gary, of Australia, who is motorcycling from Vietnam to Italy via Spain!!! We also met a Spanish nun who lives in Vladivostok, plus a woman from Kazhakstan who lives in Korea, off to visit her brothers in Vlad.
the boat was relatively calm, rocking and vibrating constantly. i only felt queezy during the scrabble loss to Dee (and thereafter seeing and smelling the Korean men who were doing shots of soju in groups of 10 or more.
Day 4
woke up the next morning as we were docking at Zarabino (i defy you to find that on any map anywhere), and found it to consist of 2 sheds, a road, and a boat (ours). after a few hours waiting onboard, we finally made it through border control to an awaiting bus with an old driver with gold teeth (lots of golden smiles greeted us). the bus took us to customs and once the old dog got out of the way, we filed off the bus, into the building, through the turnstyle, outside and grabbed our bags off the bus again... i'm not joking! it was a 30 second transition.
walked to a street corner nearby to wait for a bus to Vladivostok, taxis being offered at high rates, but we were offered a ride by Mr Ham, of Sokcho, and Sergei Han, a Kazhakstani Korean, car salesmen shifting a car to Vlad from the ferry. a couple more hours waiting, goats feeding on the street corner, then the car cleard the customs turnstyle, and we were on the "road", most of it being roadWORKS (but most of it was perfectly okay).
the area south of Vladivostok is very beautiful countryside dotted with old houses, abandoned buildings, and trees, glorious trees! and a snake! at least 1.5m long! didn't expect snakes in Russia!!!
next, we stopped for dinner (it was around 5pm) and Dee and i made our first meal in Russia BORSCH! delicious. Mr Ham paid for, and after a little wait, we were transfered to Aleksanders car. Sergei refused any money for fuel (and looked insulted when we offered). then we hit the road again, seeing a MiG fighter jet land over the top of us! 30 minutes of high energy driving from Aleksander (an obvious fan of Gotham Racing), we were at our hotel, and in desperate need of some rubles!!!
Day 5
i wish i had a 4WD!! Vladivostokians used to wish that too. Beuatiful day, started late after a sleep in, changed money with the only slightly dodgey looking people sitting in deck chairs outside the bank, then bought our train tickets.
what a wait! we spoke no Russian, yet still took less time than most people ahead of us in the queue. after a high 5 with Dee in a successful tickets purchase celebration, the locals were all laughing, or at least, smiling. we'ed served as entertainment for a few minutes. Then, a walk to the beach, enjoyed the view (at which point, i shall refrain from mentioning the extremely attractive women populating the city, or more precisely, the waterfront ;) and to a monument nearby.
while waiting for Dee in the hotel lobby, maybe i should've wished for pointy toed shoes too.
we made it to the train, lots of tearful goodbyes on the platform from the locals (for other Russian people, not us), while i chatted to Lena, a lawyer/economist from Vlad, off to visit her parents a few hours away. As we left the station, the boys next door broke out a guitar for a sing, but soon enough, it was just the rocking and rolling of the train, and an unbelievable sunset.
all heads west (well, the first 12 hours were mainly north)
posted by the Emperor Fabulous at 9:13 AM
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