The diary of a traveller, entry 5

5 November 

So had a pleasant enough night's sleep on the train. Met Pavel on the platform in Vladivostok before boarding: big, smiley, drunken Russian who spoke pretty good English – albeit with a few slurs and a very stereotypical accent. 24 yrs old but looked 44 and accompanied by a 2lt plastic bottle of 11% alc beer. Tomy 'delight' he was in the compartment next to mine. He was clearly delighted to have met an Englishman he could slur away too – we did speak a bit of Russian together but he wasn't a great tutor. To be honest I wasn't really in the mood for a drunken conversations so although I had a couple of beers with him and we played half a game of chess I was relieved when my wagon companions arrived at Ussurisk. Three very nice ladies: Elya and Olya who were both around 40 and nice babushka who's name I didn't get. They were very happy to engage with me in Russian, despite the limitations, and even made me a sandwich for breakfast. Olya was already a grandmother and on her way to see her daughter. They asked me why I wasn't married (good question). I mumbled something about being afraid of children which they found very amusing.

And now in Khabarovsk which is making a good impression on me already. I had to ask a few people for directions to find the flat but they were helpful enough and I eventually found it nestled amongst a complex of Soviet accomodation south of the city centre. This flat is a lot more homely than the one in Vladivostok. Haven't met my host yet but I've met her son (he wasn't the talkative type).

Tatiana, my new host, is a great host. Getting a good vibe from her. She has the Russian equivalent of a PhD and works as a teacher and translator from Chinese to Russian and vice-versa. She has her own idiosyncrasies of course – like serving me sturgeon genitalia (she described it as the 'male equivalent of caviar') together with a carton of red wine for tea. She told me lot's of interesting anecdotes about her passed guests like the Japanese boy who kept photographing every-day objects in the flat like the taps and the umbrellas because they were 'old'. Will have to try and milk some Russian tuition from her before I leave.

 Photos are taken from Richard's Facebook album