Siberia, Russia Part 5 – Khabarovsk and a Little Russian

Written by Rick Chapo


Continued from page 1

I am a huge fan of ice hockey. Duringrepparttar eighties and nineties, many ofrepparttar 141544 best players were Russians. In interviews, they almost always talked about learning English by watching television. If it worked for them, it would work for me. Not exactly.

As Grae showered, I flipped throughrepparttar 141545 eight available channels. Sitcoms were a non-starter, but I eventually found a news channel. I seerepparttar 141546 images. I know whatrepparttar 141547 images are. I hearrepparttar 141548 words being spoken byrepparttar 141549 reporters. I have absolutely no idea of what words go with what images. Okay, let’s back up. What words do they use over and over? Damn, do they have to talk so fast? After 30 minutes, I have learned nothing, nada, zippo. My respect for Russians playing inrepparttar 141550 NHL has never been higher.

Might as well sleep on it. Yes, day three ofrepparttar 141551 trip was finally done. My original prediction of a 2-day trip was outrepparttar 141552 window. Still, we were in Russia, so how much longer could it take? Pull out a map and take a look atrepparttar 141553 country. It is twicerepparttar 141554 size ofrepparttar 141555 U.S.

Next – When Stairs Attack…

Rick Chapo is with Nomad Journals - Preserve the experience with writing journals for traveling, hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bird watching and more. This story series is being created from journals entries in a Nomad Travel Journal.


Siberia, Russia Part 4 – Airport Follies and a Stern Lecture

Written by Rick Chapo


Continued from page 1

The airport terminal was pretty industrial. That is to say, no effort was made to sell you fast food, booze, ice cream, “Khabarovsk Hard Rock Café” shirts or duty-free crap you really didn’t need. Frankly, it was a relief.

Russian customs worked pretty muchrepparttar same way as customs at any airport. You grabbed your bags, bummed pens off of strangers to fill out forms and stood in long line with other tired travelers. Eventually, you got torepparttar 141543 front ofrepparttar 141544 line and tried to see howrepparttar 141545 person standing eight feet in front of you did it.

Unfortunately, my turn was also my first chance to experiencerepparttar 141546 Russian language. I passed my passport, custom forms and visa throughrepparttar 141547 little window. I also tried an innocent smile, which worked about as well as smiling at an IRS agent. Everything went smoothly untilrepparttar 141548 customs agent started speaking rapidly and pointing at my customs form. Something was wrong, but I hadn’t a clue as to what. I turned to Grae with a quizzical look and he came forward to interpret.

All international travelers quickly learn a fundamental rule. The “wait here” line at customs is sacred. To prematurely crossrepparttar 141549 line is to commit an act of war. Russian customs was no different. Grae was loudly instructed to get behindrepparttar 141550 line and wait his turn. The customs agent then gave me a stern lecture. To this day, I can’t tell you if he was discussing my forms orrepparttar 141551 weather, butrepparttar 141552 tone was definitely stern. The lecture was capped byrepparttar 141553 universal customs agent expression known as “stupid foreigner…why did I take this job…I really wanted to be a painter…”

Eventually,repparttar 141554 issue withrepparttar 141555 form was resolved. I would like to tell you that I took an active role in this, but I basically stood there whilerepparttar 141556 agent grumbled and aggressively stampedrepparttar 141557 documents. I did actively pray thatrepparttar 141558 stamp wouldn’t explode, but that was about it. Grae moved through customs without incident and we walked out intorepparttar 141559 cool, wet air of Khabarovsk, Russia.

To be continued…

Rick Chapo is with Nomad Journals - Preserve the experience with writing journals for traveling, hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bird watching and more. This story series is being created from journals entries in a Nomad Travel Journal.


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