Khabarovsk was a gloriously welcome stop after 50 hours on a train. Our train companions were quite pleasant on the whole and we actually had the ‘kupe’ to ourselves for nearly a whole day! We read quite a lot, and ate more instant noodles than I will ever be proud to admit.
Khabarovsk isn’t a typical spot for Trans Siberian travellers to stop at, as most people will travel directly between Ulan Ude and Vladivostok. It is the coldest city in the world with a population of more than 500,000, and let me tell you, it was teeth-chatteringly freezing!!! The skies were bright blue and there wasn’t any snow, but the real feel temperature was about -12 degrees Celsius . As usual we arrived early in the morning and popped to a great cafe that served eggs and bacon. The girl serving us even wrote her questions down so that we could ‘Google translate’ them on our phones. Although we’re getting the hang of recognising written words and phrases, the spoken word is still so hard to pick up!
Having completed the usual ritual of finding the hostel, dropping bags, showering and then layering back up to start exploring, we made our way to the waterside. The Amur river, which attracts many tourists in summer with river cruises looked rather cold and uninviting! It is the world’s 10th longest river and forms part of the border between Russia and China. The riverside is being regenerated and the path brings you from the “Square of Fame” to the Khabarovsk Regional Museum. The square houses the Transfiguration Cathedral and the war memorial with a beautiful eternal flame. I didn’t realise quite how many Russian lives were lost in World War 2, but our guide in Moscow told us that approximately 26 million people died, military and civilian. This huge memorial had lists of thousands of names from the region and is a nice tranquil place for reflection.
Our trip to the Regional Museum led us through floors of stuffed animal displays and also Soviet history through the decades. We were able to translate some things, but on the whole it was mainly looking at the nice displays and being warm 🙂
We spent much of the next morning in the hostel planning the next leg of our trip, which included booking hostels in South Korea 🇰🇷, Japan 🇯🇵 and booking our flight to Hong Kong 🇭🇰 to see my friend Anna! Then it was time to prepare for our final Russian train to Vladivostok. We still can’t believe this is the final one and we will have travelled all the way across Russia. Four weeks well spent, I say!!
-F xx
Travel in Trainers 