Author archive
29 July 2026
Flying to Harbin Today, we take a short flight to Harbin instead of taking a long ride on the slow train. Bullet trains haven’t made it to the Heihe – Harbin route yet. We got a car at 0730 for the ride to the airport. Like many people in north-eastern China, they’re friendly and chatty. […]
28 July 2026
Changing money With the 1h time difference from the Russian side of the river, I woke up at 0600 despite the blackout curtains. We have the day free today, as it is a buffer day in case things had not gone well in Russia or during the border crossing. Due to me being undercharged for […]
27 July 2026
Confusing departure I woke around 0500 local time due to the 1h time difference from Birobidzhan. So, it wasn’t a problem at all getting to the bank for its opening hour at 0830. Despite our concern with time, it only took 5 mins and we were out at 0835! We returned to the hotel to […]
26 July 2026
Exploring the waterfront I woke to my alarm at 0715 in preparation for arrival at 0820 Blagoveshchensk time. My phone confirmed that it had switched to Blagoveshchensk time (one hour behind Birobidzhan) around 0100 this morning. We took a taxi to the Na Naberezhnoj Mini-hotel where we left our bags while we explored the city’s […]
25 July 2026
Killing a day Our hotel in Birobidzhan included breakfast, served in a box probably from its sister hotel nearby. We have a day to kill before an evening departure from Birobidzhan on the overnight train to Blagoveshchensk. D joined me for a walk to the outskirts of town to look at another synagogue before dropping […]
24 July 2026
Moving on to Birobidzhan We have an early afternoon departure to Birobidzhan today on the train. We decided to take an early lunch around 1030 at the canteen before returning to check-out at midday. With a 1326 train departure, we killed about 40 mins at the hotel lobby before going to the station. I had […]
23 July 2026
Despite being a day free of any touristic activities, my body clock woke me up at around 0730. I lazed in bed and suddenly it was 0900. I must have fallen back asleep. I spent the morning doing admin on the computer before heading out around 1200 to change money at the bank. It was […]
22 July 2026
Arrival hassle The train arrived on-the-dot at 0653 at Khabarovsk station, 13h03 after we had departed from Vladivostok. Making our way out, we avoided the taxi touts and went to a quiet area to order a car on Yandex. Neither of us had internet on our phone in the area. We walked around a little […]
21 July 2026
Morning outing We leave Vladivostok this evening on the train to Khabarovsk. We had decided to explore in the morning to return to the hotel for a shower before the midday check-out, and somehow remain cool and not sweaty before the overnight train. D wanted to go this lighthouse on an island connected to the […]
20 July 2026
Getting started We have the whole day in Vladivostok today, so we looked at going to Popov or Reyneke Island by boat. Unfortunately, the boats leave in the evening and it isn’t possible to do a day trip. So, we decided to go to a battery (fortification) on Russky Island by Yandex car. But our […]