B - reporting
Had a reasonably good sleep in the little bunk and woke confused in the dark...got up to discover it was daylight outside! 6am, still very little visibility but it was no longer raining so I explored the ship in the peaceful early morning. No hidden cafe, or internet room...the adverts lied!
Breakfast was at 8:30-9am, so we had ages...but we had forgottten that ship time was Vladivostok time, and by 7:15 (stomach time) the restaurant was already closed! Had a disgruntled cup of tea & coffee in the bar. Now not sure what time we arrive in Vladivostok, 1pm Korea time or Vlad time?
Filled out an immigration form (in duplicate), only having to re-do the whole thing twice...we are improving! By now the sun had burned off the fog, and the horizon was widening by the second, revealing lovely twinkly blue seas. We sat on the upstairs deck, looking for land (a beer for the first to sight it!) and soon Russia appeared on the horizon. The gulls were joined by a few swallows, we approached lush green islands and soon could see the buildings of Vladivostok: onion domes and cranes, soviet-era towerblocks and chimney stacks belching smoke.
We passed fishing boats, container ships, a customs boat, navy ships and gathered our stuff to prepare for embarkation. We docked! Then we waited...and waited...and waited...and after about an hour we joined the end of the massive queue. We reached the top of the stairs...the landing...the lower floor...and finally were allowed to walk down the gangway and onto Russian soil! I would have kissed the ground if there weren't a million customs officials - probably armed - wondering around.
Passport control was fine, more queueing but after the reassuring CLUNK of the stamp we were in!
Now, how to release our truck? We got roubled-up from the ATM and found the office, where it transpired that one of our friends from the boat already knew Yuri, the guy in charge. Yuri and his assistant Svetlana are fantastically helpful, and drove our party of 7 to their office for paperworking, then to our hotels, then met us later for drinks (lager, lager lager) and russian food!
Our hotel is definitely soviet-era, in fact if you saw it in a movie you'd think the film-makers were indulging in anti-russian propoganda. There is just one set of taps for both the bath and the sink, which was just as well, as the sink broke. However the beds are comfy and after a few beers, who really cares about a sink?
Had a reasonably good sleep in the little bunk and woke confused in the dark...got up to discover it was daylight outside! 6am, still very little visibility but it was no longer raining so I explored the ship in the peaceful early morning. No hidden cafe, or internet room...the adverts lied!
Breakfast was at 8:30-9am, so we had ages...but we had forgottten that ship time was Vladivostok time, and by 7:15 (stomach time) the restaurant was already closed! Had a disgruntled cup of tea & coffee in the bar. Now not sure what time we arrive in Vladivostok, 1pm Korea time or Vlad time?
Filled out an immigration form (in duplicate), only having to re-do the whole thing twice...we are improving! By now the sun had burned off the fog, and the horizon was widening by the second, revealing lovely twinkly blue seas. We sat on the upstairs deck, looking for land (a beer for the first to sight it!) and soon Russia appeared on the horizon. The gulls were joined by a few swallows, we approached lush green islands and soon could see the buildings of Vladivostok: onion domes and cranes, soviet-era towerblocks and chimney stacks belching smoke.
We passed fishing boats, container ships, a customs boat, navy ships and gathered our stuff to prepare for embarkation. We docked! Then we waited...and waited...and waited...and after about an hour we joined the end of the massive queue. We reached the top of the stairs...the landing...the lower floor...and finally were allowed to walk down the gangway and onto Russian soil! I would have kissed the ground if there weren't a million customs officials - probably armed - wondering around.
Passport control was fine, more queueing but after the reassuring CLUNK of the stamp we were in!
Now, how to release our truck? We got roubled-up from the ATM and found the office, where it transpired that one of our friends from the boat already knew Yuri, the guy in charge. Yuri and his assistant Svetlana are fantastically helpful, and drove our party of 7 to their office for paperworking, then to our hotels, then met us later for drinks (lager, lager lager) and russian food!
Our hotel is definitely soviet-era, in fact if you saw it in a movie you'd think the film-makers were indulging in anti-russian propoganda. There is just one set of taps for both the bath and the sink, which was just as well, as the sink broke. However the beds are comfy and after a few beers, who really cares about a sink?
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| Land Ho! |
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| First View of Vlad! |
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| The ferry terminal. |
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| VLADIVOSTOK!!! |
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| Really not sure about the night club next to the hotel! |
Graham we are back from down under, I can follow your posts finally, we didn't have much internet time in the van :)
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