Tania's Trans-Siberian Express Journey

Time to sleep in to counter the Trans-Siberian ‘jetlag’ you develop after having 1 or 2 hours chopped off every day as you head East on the train. Starting on Moscow time, Ekaterinenburg saw us move ahead by 2 hours, Irkutsk a further 2 hours and Vladivostok another 3… Our mission for the day? Russky Island. After failing abysmally to find the tour agent that should have taken us out there, we decide to DIY. Russky Island was off limits until 2000, as until then it was an area dedicated exclusively to military activities. Putin decided to turn it into a business and cultural centre. It is a large island, covered in verdant, thick vegetation with some beautiful beaches, which have yet to be developed. The island also hosts the state-of-the art new Far East Federal University, which we had intended to visit with the Lotos Co tour agency, as otherwise not accessible. Anyway, not to be this time round! Several Russians have told us that in their view one of the major losse...

We wake up overlooking the Pacific Ocean and are fast approaching Vladivostok, the end of our Trans-Siberian Railway adventure. '3 Days on the Train' Look Luckily we are able to get early check-in and indulge in a rich breakfast at the hotel restaurant. It is here that we notice for the first time how many Asians visit or live in Vladivostok.  When I was younger, I used to be able to distinguish the Chinese from the Japanese, but with age I have lost this ability… On asking we are informed that most of the other hotel guests are South Korean and a few are  Japanese. Our walks around town later in the day will confirm this is a prime destination for South Korean tourists. North Korea is round the corner, but I suspect there’s not too many tourists visiting from Pyongyang! Vladivostok was founded in 1860 as the governor of Siberia, Count Murayev-Amurskiy wisely chose this spot on a peninsula as the location for a new port, completing his mission of extending ...