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MeznG. In the air, on the road, river or sea again
After cruising through the Shiretoko Peninsula yesterday, we arrive in Russia this morning. The Shiretoko Peninsula is the southern most area to have sea ice in the northern hemisphere. We did not see any whales but we did see a large pod of little black dolphins. Korsakov, the city we are visiting today is actually part of Siberia in Russia's Far East. It was a penal colony during communist rule but nowadays it's a busy commercial shipping port as it does not freeze during winter. There is a large natural gas deposit nearby and fishing is the other major industry. The ship has to drop anchor away from the shore so we are using tender boats. Because we are now in Russia, we have to once again clear Russian immigration, this just means showing our passports to a rather stern looking officer in uniform as we leave the ship. The tender takes about 15minutes to reach the shore and even though the sun is shining, it's pretty cold. The port looks more like a ships graveyard than a busy commercial port. All of the ships are in a state of disrepair but then we get on a bus to go to the centre of town.......... Oh my gosh it's like we have entered a time warp. The rest of the world has left this place way behind. There is definately the distinct soviet style of stone buildings, multi story flats with small windows, a lot of them smashed. The potholes in the road almost swallow the bus and the footpaths would be a litigators delight in any western country. Korsakov is the gateway to the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk which is the capital of Sakhalin Island. There was a bus trip to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk but we opted instead just go ashore. Because it's Russia, you can't go ashore without a visa and to get a visa we needed to be doing a ship tour, so we paid US$15 each to do so. It's quite strict as to where you could go so we had an English speaking guide named Maria and led us down the pedestrian street to Lenin Square. There is a memorial there to remember the soldiers that have fought in wars and there is a statue of Lenin. Maria said that although after the fall of communism many cities destroyed the statues of the father of communism but in Korsakov they acknowledge him as an important part of the past. We are taken to the performance hall where there are numerous handicraft stalls set up and also where we get to enjoy a traditional folk performance. There was singing and dancing and it was bright and colorful and once finished there were photo opportunities with the performers. We were then left on our own for 30 minutes to look around. There was sadly not a lot to look at and there is no doubt this is a poor area. Back on the bus we are taken back to the tender boats. While we wait for our turn we are placed in a fenced area with razor wire on the top and were told we could not wander around outside of here. It may have been because there was buses coming and going but it came across as different to that. In total we were land for just over an hour. It was interesting but does not have much going on. Back past the stern Russian security where we hand over our passports again so we can be released from Russia. Not sure if I mentioned it but we had 2 time changes over the past 2 days and tonight we get our 2 hours back. We get back to our cabin after dinner and a show to watch the last quarter of the footy to see Port beat Freo. One happy Port man here tonight!
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