23 to 25 January 2019 - Vladivostok (Russia)

That seemed to feel like a very long train ride. After nearly three days on the train I was ready to get off, which I did mid-afternoon. A few hours out of the city rubbish could be clearly seen dumped in the towns and villages, something I had not seen previously. A pity really as there had been little rubbish seen previously. I was met at the station and taken to the Hotel Primorie which was only about a five minute walk from the railway station. 

I arranged with the driver (and bargained about the cost) to be picked up the following morning and he would take me round to the places i wanted to go to and others that he suggested. I did walk round for a couple of hours but it was cold and windy taking the temperature down to  –18C in the evening.

The first stop the following morning was at the Egersheld Lighthouse (or Tokarevskiy Lighthouse) on the Tokarevskiy Spit. Tokarevsky Spit is almost 800 meters in length and is a man-made island created as the foundation for the lighthouse, and a narrow damn was also built to connect it to the shore. Built in 1876, the Tokarevsky Lighthouse is one of the oldest operating lighthouses in the Russian Far East. The white tower on the octagonal foundation was erected in 1910; the height of the lighthouse tower is 11.9 meters. (photo taken from the web). 

Looking towards the Golden Horn

The access spit

The passenger ship wharf was next, this being next to the railway station. One of the problems in Vladivostok was finding a parking place as there were too many cars about. People get fined quite often the guide said but we did find somewhere to park after driving round for a while.

The bay from the passenger terminal

The Russian Navy has a number of bases here and at midday fire a salute at the base not far from the passenger terminal. I was taken there but first looked at and went inside an old submarine, the S-56 which was mounted ashore near the naval base. The S-56 class submarine, built in Leningrad in 1936, was dismantled and transported on the Trans Siberian railway to Vladivostok where she was rebuilt in 1941. After decommissioning, the she was turned into a museum ship. 

S-56 from the bow

A general view inside S-56

A torpedo

The torpedo tubes

S-56 from the stern

I noticed that  were being allowed into the naval base to witness the gun salute. The guards refued me entry when I tried saying that there was also a parade for the crew of a ship that had just come back from patrol and because I was a foreigner as well. I was able to watch the parade from the sea wall and was surprised when the Russian National Anthem was played from a recording and not by the band that was present for the parade. Maybe because the band was not very good anyway.

The Naval Band

Ships under review

                                                                                                                                                     










From the sea wall I could see the new Russian Orthodox Cathedral being built so I took a photo of the domes which I thought were special, and the only parts not covered in scaffolding.

The cathedral domes

Nearby was the Nicholas II Arch built in 1891 to commemorate the heir’s to the Tsar’s throne Nicholas Alexandrovich’s – later he became Russian Imperator Nicholas II.

Nicholas II Arch

The Zolotoy Bridge (or Golden Bridge) crosses the Golden Horn but also because it looks a remarkable structure in itself. 

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The view from the other side of the water

There is a small funicular here which is 56 years old and used daily by curious tourists and local students. And that is justified by the fact that Far Eastern Federal University's - one of the main higher education facilities in Primorsky Krai - buildings are located near funicular's upper and lower stops. It is also the way to a lookout to see over the Golden Horn.

The Funicular

There are seven forts on Russky Island which were built to protect Vladivostok and the Russian Fleet with it’s bases from the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. The forts performed this function until the late 20th century and remained a closed territory the whole time. None of the guns were ever fired in anger, such a waste of money people think now. It wasn’t until 1992 that Vladivostok was open to foreigners. 

One of the batteries facing the Sea of Japan

One of the guns

The sea in-front of the guns

Looking towards the Sea of Japan

Further round the island was the Voroshilov Battery with two turret launch facilities taken from the battleship "Poltava’’. The 305-mm turret artillery battery was the first and the last battery of such high caliber created in the soviet period. Fortunate location and powerful fortification facilities made it virtually invulnerable for enemy's fire. Battery's turrets were connected by underground 250-meter long passage. Each of them had three stories of underground ammunition stores, living quarters and maintenance rooms underneath it. Thanks to three-meter thick concrete vault, the Voroshilov Battery could withstand a hit by an aircraft bomb weighing one ton. Its guns were able hit targets at 35 kilometers' distance, and all six weapons could be brought in motion simultaneously. The battery fired its first shot in 1939. It should be noted that, being over 63 years on action station the battery fired only practice shots. 

One set of guns

Shells

The open gun breech

Looking into the gun chamber

A schematic of the installation

There was also another part to the museum with tanks and vehicles (and one odd machine).

A Japanese made steam roller

On the way back to the hotel the guide stopped at the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, originally built in 1902 it has had a tragic history since. When the Soviets came to power the cathedral began to decay. In 1923, the cemetery was closed and in 1934, it was turned into a public park; the graves were razed to the ground and the marble plates were reused in various constructions. In 1935 the temple was blown up. The cathedral was fully reconstructed only in 2004. 

Inside the Cathedral

The Cathedral

That was the end of a long, interesting and very enjoyable day. The submarine and the gun batteries were so interesting and perhaps something I could not have seen anywhere else. Supposing someone wanted to visit Russia and ride on the Trans Siberian railway then I suggest that it be done in winter as besides there being fewer tourists the snow makes everything magical, the snow and the cold not a hindrance in any way.

On 25 January I flew to Harbin in China. There was somewhat of a possible problem with immigration in Vladivostok as I think they were not used to a foreigner flying in that direction but I had forestalled this by getting a full two year multiple entry visa for China before leaving the UK. I’ve since found out that some passport holders can obtain a visa on entry to China BUT different entry points have different lengths of travel if this system is used.

19 to 22 January 2019 - Ulan Ude (Russia)

On arrival at Ulan Ude I was 3500 miles from Moscow. It was a pity that the journey from Irkutsk could not have been done during the day as the railway run round the southern edge of Lake Baikal and the views were supposed to be fantastic. This is the part of the Trans Siberian Railway that was initially relied on the icebreakers, especially the Irkutsk, as this ship was able to carry twenty-four carriages and one locomotive at a time. Once the east and western parts of the line were joined up in 1904 there was no need of the ships though they were partly in use until 1916 due to landslides and derailments.

I was picked up at just after five in the morning but as the driver did not speak English he'd brought along a friend who did speak some. After arriving at the Hotel Buryatia I asked to be picked up later in the morning for a tour. I knew they didn't really understand what I wanted and when the pick-up time had passed and no-one turned up I phoned the office manager and she arranged for a driver early in the afternoon. There was also the problem that she had given me the wrong time to be taken back to the station the following day to catch the train to Vladivostok. That was eventually sorted out.

The first stop was at the Datsun Rinpoche Bagsha, a Buddhist temple on a hill overlooking the city. It's a very special place for the local and visiting Buddhists who have freedom of religion in Russia with their temples protected by the state.

The people were in traditional dress for a holiday visit

Inside the temple

A view towards Ulan Ude

A statue at the temple

A view from the temple

Further away from the city was the Ivolginsky Datsun Monastery. The datsun was opened in 1945 and since then it has changed into a Monastic centre and become the residence of the Leader of the Russian Lamas. A Buddhist university has been opened together with a medical practice. Unique samples of old Buryat art, as thangkas, sculptures, ritual objects are gathered and preserved here. Among the monastery's treasures there is a collection of old Buddhist manuscripts written in Tibetan language on natural silk, and a greenhouse with a sacred Bodhi tree. 

Ivolginsky Datsun

A wooden house at Ivolginsky Datsun

Ivolginsky Datsun

A visit to the Ethnological Museum was next, this being an outdoor museum covering an area of 37 hectares. The museum has collected more than 40 architectural monuments with a collection of over 11,000 exhibits. One of the first pieces in the museum's collection was Nikolsk Church from the town of Nikolsk. There are different sections to the museum with the archaeological complex consisting of a private pavilion and an open area. In the open area there are stone graves, stone pillars, guard stones, etc. The first burial site was discovered in 1896 in the Kyakhtinsky area. In the Middle Ages, graves were flat round stones. The private pavilion has objects from the Lower Ivolginsk settlement.

The view on entering the grounds

An old wooden house

An old wooden house

An old wooden house

The old wooden church

Some petroglyphs

The museum has a small zoo where there are wolves,bears, roe deer, reindeer, tigers, elks, sables and other animals.

A variety of performances take place there such as festivals, celebrations, national holidays and sport events. However, this being winter the only events were the children sliding down the hills on their sledges and the horse drawn ski-fitted carriage going round the grounds. This was the only time in Russia that I managed to get snow inside my boots as I stepped in what I thought was light snow to find it was over 18 inches deep.

Toilet sign at the museum

Every leader leaves behind a trail of monuments named after them -- foundations, schools statues and so on. The biggest monument always belongs to the most iron-fisted and the communists countries were the best at doing this. Some statues have been removed but the statue of Lenin in Ulan Ude remains. Lenin is better remembered than Stalin in Russian and in Ulan Ude is the largest bronze head of Lenin ever made. It is 25 feet (7.7 metres) tall and weighs 42 tons. Locally it is known as the 'world's biggest Jewish head,' not for religious reasons but because each winter, when the snow falls it sticks to the top of the head looking like a snow yarmulke. 

Lenin

 













It was then a nearly three day journey on the train to Vladivostok. I took enough food with me to last the time but the male attendant gave me a railway cup with tea and sugar free and the lady attendant some cakes and a handful of sweets. The Russian man in the compartment had a good laugh at this. I was surprised to see how many wooden houses there were in passing and very few with even two storeys. The train kind of meandered through the valleys and where there were frozen rivers I could see where animals had walked across them as the evidence of man and his machines was only on firm ground. Nearing Vladivostok there were quite a lot of men fishing on the sea ice, even driving out with their vehicles. There was very little snow about as we reached Vladivostok.