Vladivostok: Weather: cold… 55F Sunny Meaning “Lord of the East” Founded in 1860 on Golden Horn Bay. Tsar Nicholas II came here to inaugurate the New Great Trans-Siberian rail line. By early 20th century Vladivostok became a major port teeming with merchants from China, Korea and Hong Kong. Vladivostok is the home place for actor Yul Bryner. Vladivostok is slowly returning to it’s glory after the long soviet snooze. Vladivostok was firmly off limits to all foreigners –and most Russians-during the life of USSR. Today you can –fairly free –hop on ferries to far-off beaches on former navy only islands. It has been compared to San Francisco.
Arrived here on Friday about noon local time. It took almost an hour by the time Russian immigration agent came on board for who knows what. After about an hour we were all allowed to go to immigration – small room- with 4 booths each taking almost 30-40 minute per person no matter you are Russian or foreigner. Room was crowded with passenger from ferry with all the stuff carry to the custom and try to squeeze huge boxes, bags, car panels, and some unknown objects through small alley by the booth which is supposed to be for human lineup. By the time I got out it was good 3PM it took only 20 minutes for my immigration but took good 3 hours to get out. The custom was easy. I tried to put my bags on security scanner belt and custom officer told me not to and said “ no terrorist” with good laugh and lead me out on street by back door. Here I was in some alley with bunch of guys smoking by their cars , not knowing where I was stopped the policeman to ask for public phone and he showed me go up there cross the street. I went back inside the custom and ask the same custom officer that I have some custom documents I need to give him. We walked to few offices and they all seemed ready to go home. Finally he told me in broken English that I need and an broker and it will take three days to get my car. Finally I found the way to go outside where bunch of taxis and bus stand. Here I got ripped off by taxi driver. The Hotel was 3 minute walk-which I found out same day-took him 5 minutes drive and charged me 300 Rubles which is about $13.
After I checked in Hotel I called my agent and she says nothing can be done till Monday now even though the custom is open till 6 and we still have 2 hours.
Saturday: I walked around town. Went back to terminal where I took taxi –or got ripped off- took 2 minutes. It’s a fine city. Statue of Lenin pointing to west as if he hoped to conquer the west. Well the statue covered with pigeons’ crap, so I guess he is not that important anymore. I was the only one taking pictures. It seems it is not a tourist city. Town center is full of name brand shopping. Russian women dress well and guys seem to drink a lot. I have seen people walk with big bottles of beer at 10AM. There are stalls for beer everywhere. It’s easy to get beer then bottle of water. Found a C-56 class submarine across the Golden Horn Bay, which can be visited for 50 rubles and 50 more for camera. Pretty sight but littered with beer bottles. At the bay there are Russian navy ships with canon and it’s all fighting power. There is wedding season in full swing at nearby Russian Orthodox Church. There must be 10 to 12 couples were getting married. I read from Lonely Planet guide that there is Krishna cafe nearby and have good food and I could use some good Indian food. Well the place I have been looking all over for at least an hour asking lots of people but couldn't find it and as I was ready merge in Italian Café , I heard some chanting with familiar music and saw bunch of Hare Krishna - God Bless them for their efforts - spreading the good word of lord in this ungodly country. I followed them to their place which happens to be on Main Street busy with design clothes shopping area. There is small door and bunch of cement bags all over the floor as if the earth quake has just hit this place. I must have passed this place 4 times. There is small stair case going in basement and found of bunch of Russian converts messing in basement. I was greeted with Hare Krishna and offered mixed vegetables in plastic container. Krishna Cafe was closed down. One young Russian convert named Sergei spoke brilliant Hindi and even wrote nicely. I felt bad that he knew more than I did. (see photos)
Monday and it's my D-Day. We start at 9AM to hassle with Russian Custom. Everybody I talked to says good luck with sort of doubt and I am not sure what this means. I know they have huge back logs of cars waiting to be cleared. I will need that good luck. I guess they don’t work here as we do in US. They stop working at 3Pm and take a long lunch time. I will have to buy car Insurance before I go to Custom. No one seems to know what the real procedure is and maybe that’s why I need an agent. By the way talking about bureaucracies, we need to register our visa at every city we visit. What this means is that they give you small piece of paper at immigration which you need to carry with you all the time. Every hotel you stay they need to stamp that. Some hotels don’t so then you need to find tourist agency who will charge you $30 for the stamp. I guess Russian authority need to know where you are at all times during your visit. If you miss any days then when you exit the country they can create a problem or at least an opportunity for bribe. I have heard it could be as big as $900. As we going to camp out in some areas, we need to figure this out. Talk about “perestroika”. By the way there are no maps for the city. I looked for map store yesterday, found book stores but no maps. The Airport is about 50 KM from the hotel or town. Ami will be arriving at 2:00PM so I need to get the car before that and start driving at the airport without getting lost.
The city is flooded with Hondas and Toyotas. I also saw some Suzukis . Japanese cars are all over. Few Audi and Mercs. Even one Hummer and couple of Fords. They say here that if you see an expensive car – like that hummer- chances are that belongs to Russian Mafia. Talking about the cars. Only about one car in a thousand there is left hand drive. Since in Russia (unlike Japan) the cars travel on the right side of the road, having right hand drive cars makes for an interesting situation Driving is similar to any third world country. Horns, people cross everywhere, park anywhere, turn anywhere. No road signs-couldn’t read if any-road names. English almost non existence here. One needs to learn to read Cyrillic.
By the way I get phone calls in middle of the night form supposed to be beautiful Russian girls for any services I need –perestroika is working and economy is in full swing here. This hotel supposed to be business class. They are step ahead of Vegas. Wish I could get the interpreter same way. 