Well we were up early to get ready for our trip to Korsakov. It was freezing – 10 degrees and it was even more of a shock after being in such hot weather only a few days ago. The ship can’t dock at this port and so we were on one of the early tender boats to go in to shore at 7.30am.
As we were getting on they asked if we wanted to sit up top –well of course I (and only three other people!) said yes and so we sat up on the boat for the 10 – 15 minute ride to port.
But in a short time we hit a bank of fog that completely obscured our vision. So we slowed to an absolute crawl and made our way carefully through the fog in to shore, passing lots of boats on our way in.
We were freezing cold – my nose, fingers, toes and face were almost numb by the time we arrived – over 45 minutes later – but it was probably one of the highlights of the trip to be honest – well worth freezing for!
It was like a scene out of a movie, rusted out old boats everywhere and us creeping along slowly in the fog.
By the time we made it in to shore ( 45 mins) the fog had started to clear.
After that we hopped on a rattly old bus and headed off to the nearest major town. We didn’t have a tour guide with us but one of the crew accompanied us on the tour. We had barely any time to look around on our own and were not able to wander off on our own as you often can on other tours. It was 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there and stick exactly to the places we have told you to go. At each stop there were English speaking Russian tour guide/ helpers to explain things. They were all young people and very nice, with very good English.
We paid a very quick visit to a reconstructed Orthodox church.
We made a 10 minute stop at the new ice hockey stadium for a bathroom break. It was straight in and out with guides to point us in the right direction/ keep us on track. The stadium has metal detectors and security at the entrance. Tony opened a door and got a quick look at the ice rink – which we had been told not to go into…
Then we visited the Sakhalin Museum which was all about the history of the area and really interesting. Some excellent exhibits and historical displays here.
The bears are just huge! There were lots of displays of animals, stuffed and posed in different settings.
The area we are visiting is on Sakhalin Island that has been occupied by both Russian and Japanese over the years. So it has a history of conflict between the two countries. At one stage it was a one of the labour camp gulags in Stalins era and it is actually a part of Siberia. Chekov was imprisoned on the island for several months and wrote a book about his experiences here. We saw items from the prisons and models of the cells.
A lot of the museum focused on the history of the indigenous people of the island, who lived here pretty much undisturbed until Russia claimed the island in 1853. The museum had lots of animals on display including reindeer, brown bears, fish and many others. The reindeer antlers were used to make tools and the skins of animals for clothing, bedding, housing etc. We saw beautiful boots, coats, hats, and other clothing made from animal furs worn inside out. The clothing was amazing – often embroidered and very well made.
After this we visited Lenin Square.
Then it was on to the cultural centre where local handicrafts and souvenirs were sold. They had freshly baked bread and buns inside which smelt wonderful and I would love to have been able to try one. I was still freezing cold by this time! I was tempted by the beautiful fur hats, as politically incorrect as that may be, and if they hadn’t been priced at $150 – $400 + I might have bought one – they just felt so soft and would have been so warm.
After a bit of shopping here it was back on the bus and time to get back to port – no time to wander about. But Tony and a few other passengers did manage to cross the road, open the gate and get a picture of this old Russian jet which was parked in an overgrown lot not too far from where the bus was parked
The area was a mix old housing in poor condition, old abandoned buildings and new houses and buildings going up. There is a lot of construction in the area since Russia did a $5 billion deal with Japan recently to supply energy. The streets are muddy and so everything is muddy.
The country side reminded me very much of Australia in winter. There were a lot of pine forests and areas of farmland and farmhouses.There was a big frost and the roads were all muddy so cars were all covered in mud – a stark contrast to the cleanliness of Japan we’ve become used to seeing.
It would be great to see more of Russia and have more time here. Back on the ship it was time for a late lunch a very long, very hot shower to try and thaw out. Can’t wait to get back to warmer weather!