Siberia from North to East. Part 8 : Vladivostok

Nantais · #1 Posted **Oct 16, 2011, 3:48 PM**

So here is the eighth (and final) thread about the trip I did this summer in Siberia.
Here are the links towards the seven first threads :
Siberia from North to East. Part 1 : Norilsk
Siberia from North to East. Part 2 : Dudinka
Siberia from North to East. Part 3 : Along the Yenisei
Siberia from North to East. Part 4 : Yeniseisk and Podtesovo
Siberia from North to East. Part 5 : Krasnoyarsk
Siberia from North to East. Part 6 : On the train, again
Siberia from North to East. Part 7 : Khabarovsk

Vladivostok with a population of about 600,000 is the main metropolis of Russian far east. It seemed a lot bigger than Khabarovsk (which has roughly the same population) and felt a lot more international than all the other Siberian cities than I've visited. English was more widely spoken than in other cities (a lot less than in most countries though) and there were tons of foreign tourists in the streets (mainly chinese and japenese).
The trip from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok by train lasts 11 hours. A very long trip when some of your compartment mates snored for all the night !

1-Looking at the Pacific :

2- Local theatre :

3- My first day in Vladivostok was very foggy :

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14- Chinese tourists taking the pose :

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20- The train station :

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24- Momument marking the end of the transsiberian line (9,288 km) :

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26- Lenin :

27- And the abandonned monkey of Vladivostok :

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31- My hotel (I stayed on the 8th -or 9th ?- floor) :

32- Abandonned building in construction right in front of my hotel :

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44- The Vladivostok's funicular. It was closed unfortunately.

45- So I had to take the stairs !

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71- My hotel on the left :

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82- I had a fantastic lunch in this asian restaurant, but it was a very awkward moment. The korean (or chinese ? but i think they were korean) women from the restaurant were talking to me in a language I couldn't recognize. Was it Korean ? Chinese ? Russian spoken with a heavy korean or chinese accent ? I did my best to make them understand me, at first trying to speak Russian, then English, etc...
They finally understand that all I want was to eat. So I entered the big room of the restaurant where I was the only customer (it was noon). The menu was all in Russian, but fortunately the 10 or 12 years old son of one the korean (?) women spoke english and translated for me the menu. Then he engaged me in conversation, asking me where I was from, etc. He was impressed when I said to him I came from France and when I showed him on a map all the trip I've made from Norilsk to Vladivostok. He ran to his relatives to repeat that to them.
The food was very good and a lot cheaper than in all the russian restaurants I tried during my trip :

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84- I was searching for a good observation point, and I found out this hidden hill, dominating the Vladivostok bays, with no other tourist, or even people, in sight :

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86- The two bridges being built in Vladivostok :

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91- It's high :

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106- My feet in the Pacific :

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128- WW2 memorial :

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