Part II: Russia's San Francisco

After two more days in Seoul visiting beautiful cultural sights such as the former King’s Palace, an ancient Buddhist Temple in the center and The Blue House, South Korea’s Presidential palace it was time for me to bid a fond farewell to South Korea. I was on my way to Russia’s Far Eastern capital, Vladivostok where I would eventually board The Trans-Siberian railway ultimately reaching Moscow at the end of April.

The flight to Vladivostok was going to be a short hop, only about two hours. Everything seemed just fine at first until only a few short minutes into the flight it appeared on the inflight map that we were deviating quite a lot from our flight path. Instead of taking a right hand turn when we left Seoul’s Incheon Airport, we took a sharp left turn toward China. After all the strange and tragic incidences of planes disappearing from radar or being crashed intentionally I admit my anxiety level was a bit heightened. Luckily in the end we landed safely and nothing came of it!

Arriving in Russia via Vladivostok was a nice change of pace from my usual arrival in Moscow, which is always a chaotic cluster fuck! However that did not make it immune to the usual bureaucratic games of Russia. When I lined up at the Passport Control line I thought I’d be out in no time…….what could go wrong it’s a tiny airport, right…………………..right???!!! Then reality set in, the line went nowhere prompting me to jump to another line with the hope that I may be able to save time. No success as this was ever bit as slow, if not slower. Just as I was about to walk up to the passport control booth, the girl suddenly gets up, shuts off the lights and leaves her  booth leaving me the last one to be processed! Yep…..it was official I thought, “I’m back in Russia”!

I arrived at my Soviet style hotel, The Hotel Equator, in good time……except for the fact my driver had to pull over to fill up his gas tank, but that was par for the course with Russian taxi drivers. I found the staff to be incredibly friendly and kind! Maybe I was biased because I found the girls to be absolutely gorgeous. Many tourists judge Russia fairly or unfairly as having cold, mean and unfriendly people who work in the service industry. I admit I’ve encountered my fair share of these types of people, but most times during my six weeks in Russia people were more than friendly and willing to help me in whatever way they could.  

Up until 1992 Vladivostok was a closed city meaning foreign tourists and even Russian/Soviet citizens could not visit. This was likely due The Russian Navy Pacific Fleet being based in the city. Once tourists were free to travel there, the city gained a rather unfair reputation that has stuck with it to this day. Many see it as being a boring, dangerous, industrial city, whose sole purpose is to serve as a place of transit before or after taking the Trans-Siberian railway. One Russian friend even asked me “are people happy there??” I responded with a resounding YES stating they were some of the friendliest people I’d ever met in Russia!

My first evening in Russia’s San Francisco which gets its name mainly due to the hills and maritime climate was excellent! I met my friend Inna and her friends for a delicious dinner and evening of fun conversation at a local Russian restaurant called “Nostalgia” on Vladivostok’s “Arbat”. For those unfamiliar with THE Arbat Street, it is a famous street, now a pedestrian mall in Moscow, where one can buy countless souvenirs, watch artists hard at work painting and sketching the classical 19^th century buildings and tourists enjoying the festive atmosphere. For the most part Vladivostok's "Arbat" was similar!

At the restaurant my friend, Inna, discussed the plans she had for me for my four-day trip to Vladivostok. She made sure that my first trip to Vladivostok would not only be fun, but epic! Everything was carefully choreographed to give me the best impressions! She left nothing to chance!

Dinner with friends!

In many ways Vladivostok resembles the famous short story by the great Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, “The Ugly Duckling”. The city has been teased and told by the other “ducks” that it was an ugly place, not worthy of anything. However, a funny thing happened, Vladivostok, much like the story has begun to transform itself into a beautiful “swan” remaking itself into a modern day beautiful city that is attracting not only investment from Moscow but from China and other Asian nations. With its transformation in full gear, mainly thanks to the 2012 APEC Summit, the city is truly on its way to greatness!! Stay tuned for more highlights of my wonderful time in Vladivostok where I touch on my impressions of “The San Francisco of Russia” and explain the unique opportunity given to me by my good friend! Thank you for reading!!

Vladivostok Airport