Day 34 - Khabarovsk - cold but friendly

Siberian bus stop

8,327Miles GMT +11 Temp -19

This part of the journey has been quite restful as there isn’t a great deal to see out of the window, although there are still sad reminders of the Gulags and the building of the railway with broken structures and small graveyards of wooden crosses occasionally.

We arrived at Kharbarovsk safely but within a minute or two of stepping onto the platform I’m provoked into uncontrollable shivering. It’s been around +21c on the train for the best part of 2 days but here it’s –19 again with freezing fog. We can’t talk properly just some unintelligible drivel, not unlike Bill and Ben the flowerpot men. It was never like this for Michael bloody Palin!

Siberian Fish Wife

Siberian Fish market

Reduced to being towed by a strap on my rucksack, like some oversized toddler, we arrived in bar to acclimatise with coffee and get directions to the hotel. Which has turned out to be ok, hot water and heating.

Khabarovsk was founded in 1858 as a military post, during the campaign to take back the Amur area from the Manchus. It is named after the chap who got the Russians into trouble with the Manchu’s in the first place, 17th century Russian explorer Yerofrey Khabarovsk. The Trans-Siberian arrived from Vladivostok in 1897. During the civil war it was occupied by Japanese troops for most of 1920. The final Bolshevik victory was in Volochaevka, about 45 km to the west. In 1969 Russian and Chinese troops fought a hand to hand battle over little Damanksy island in the Ussuri River. Since 1984, tensions have eased, Damansky and other islands were handed back to the Chinese in 1991. Khabarovskians are 80% native Russian speakers. The only indigenous people in the area are the Nanai, whose capital is Troitskoe, three hours north of the Amur towards the Arctic circle.

Khabarovsk is now a booming river city only 25 km from China, full of heavy industry. The city centre is a thriving metropolis of Chinese, Japanese and Russian cultures. We’ve done our tourist walk and have been out this evening to a Chinese Restaurant - the menu in Russian and Chinese and our first hot meal for 3 days. Fortune cookies, in Russian, mine said 'live long and prosper' - Star Trekski in Siberia.

Buses, the same the world over - none arrive then 3 together!

Tomorrow Lena has arranged for us to go and see something that “isn’t in any of the guide books” – I’m not worried about what it is, more that we have to be at the station for 4.00 am.............I'm going to need a holiday after this trip.