Since our tour wasn't scheduled until 1.30 we went for another walk through the city. I was expecting to see grey skies over grey buildings with grey streets full of grey people with grey personalities wearing grey clothes on their way to work at grey jobs so they could buy grey food...
Not so much.
Vladivostok was far more cosmopolitan than expected. People dressed in clothes you'd see in Australia, the US or Europe, most of the architecture had character and colour, there was a diverse range of businesses and restaurants, and there was an ample selection of products in the supermarket. The days of Soviet conformity, not to mention rationing, are well and truly in the past.
One of the pleasant surprises was how personable and friendly people were. While looking in the window of a Russian confectionary shop a Russian man heard us talking in English, and he stopped to point out the best Russian-made chocolates. At other times we'd have passing chats with smiling locals, usually involving snippets of English and Emma's renascent Russian. Not at all the stereotype of dour xenophobic Russians.
We figured we'd need some money for Dumb Tourist Stuff, and there are Visa-friendly ATMs everywhere. Unfortunaley due to a slipped decimal point the $30 of roubles we meant to take out became $300 dollars. Even I can't buy that many stupid hats and crappy t-shirts. We're hoping the Chinese are prepared to exchange roubles for yuan.
On the way back for our tour Emma had to buy a piroshki, a big dumpling-like thing stuffed with potatoes, cabbage or meat. The street vendor was very helpful in explaining which was which, and Emma was suitably impressed with it. I had a taste, and it was good - this from someone who isn't overly crazy for Russian food.
Emma spotted the locals eating these, and marvelled that they managed to stay slim despite piroshki being the epitome of carbohydrate-laden artery-clogging stodge. Overall the locals looked very healthy, and generally fitter than I'd see on the streets of Sydney.
We made it back for our tour, with more low expectations. I was skeptical about the value given the highlight was a WWII submarine and museum within walking distance of the ship, and we were paying $99 each. More Russian scamming, surely.
Nope.
Our tour guides were two highly enthusiastic young girls, Natasha and Sofia (at least their names matched the stereotypes), and over four hours they took us to the submarine museum, the natural history museum, the newly rebuilt Russian Orthodox church, the new bridge, the Eagle's Nest lookout, the city square with the APEC commemoration, and a glimpse of the house Yul Brynner was born in, and more, all with continuous commentary.
The sub museum is a converted WWII sub, C-56, that had been shipped from Leningrad to Vladivostok along the Trans-Siberian railway in 1941. It went on to sink twelve enemy vessels, and was the first submarine to circumnavigate the world - after the war, of course. Much harder to do when half the world's navies are shooting at you.
(It's very squishy inside a sub. It's hard to imagine living onboard one for months on end. And some people get claustrophobic on cruise ships.)
Russian drivers are - interesting. Entering an intersection requires a combination of controlled aggressions, bluffing, and luck. We saw one spectacular near-miss when a four-wheel drive almost broadsides a bus. And that was an intersection with traffic lights. The ones without traffic lights are even more terrifying.
While Vladivostok is advancing economically, it is a work in progress. Some of the poorer areas are very poor, the most sobering being a "suburb" of converted shipping containers that people were living in. Fortunately the majority of the locals have much better accommodation to live in.
After the tour we propped on our balcony with a bottle of wine, Alaskan smoked salmon, and snacked away waiting for the sail-out. Cruise ships seem to be a big deal, with dozens of people lining the docks to wave goodbye as we sailed out, calling out to us from ferries and small boats, and as we passed under the bridge, and the lights of camera flashes from cars, houses and apartments.
So not at all the dud port I expected, and in conversation with others I've found similar reactions.
Damn uncooperative Russians. I couldn't even count on them to reinforce my stereotypes.
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