Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk is an amazing city. Museums with works from Picasso, Rembrandt and other masters. A bustling downtown area with cafes, a lively music scene and architectural triumphs. Then again, maybe not. We were far more interested in finding a hotel with hot water and never ventured into city.

Outside of airport, we were a bit flummoxed by fact there appeared to be no taxis. We quickly learned that practically any Russian with a car is also a taxi for hire. After 5 minutes of egging each other on, Grae made taxi arrangements and we were off. Apparently taking in out disheveled appearance after 3 days of traveling, our driver suggested Intourist hotel. We readily agreed.

Day 3 [Still]

As I lounged in my huge Aeroflot seat, stewardess announced that we would be arriving in Khabarovsk in next 30 minutes. Khabarovsk is located in deep south of far east of Russia on border with China. It is home of Far East Military of Russia and is largest city east of Lake Baikal. I was primarily interested in how hard it would be to find a hot shower.

Well, this was it, first day of my year in Siberia. I had my phrase book, electric blanket, traveler’s checks and a solid rush of adrenaline. Of course, I had never actually taught a class before, but I would deal with that later.

We descended out of clouds into a rainstorm. The view was still incredible. We were flying into a flat valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Everything was a deep green. A few cabins could be seen on ground.

There was a very clear view of airport as we banked through valley to approach from West. Umm, aren’t airports usually lit up? This one looked like a ghost town. The runways looked fine, but there were no lights in buildings. There appeared to be a dearth of activity on ground. I had never backpacked from a plane to airport, but maybe this was way it was done. When in Rome…

Finishing off an incredible flight, our Russian pilot set us down with a light touch. As we taxied up to airport, I could only think that if rest of Russia was as good as flight, it was going to be a great year.

Blink, blink, blink…lights started coming on in terminal! Despite being no more than 50 feet from it, we were herded onto a transport. We started, did a wide u-turn and stopped at gate. All I could think of was “The Gods Must Be Crazy.”