Goodbye Russia, Hello Haerbin, China

20Oct: We got a taxi to the airport in Vladivostok for our flight to Haerbin. Vladivostok must be the tiniest airport. We couldnt find the check in desk. After about 10 minutes looking, G finally asked one of the attendants in one of the booths that sort of looked like they should know. Turns out you have to go through customs and then passport control, then you check in. AND you had to wait until they had finished with the last flight before you could go in. The waiting room was in the lobby of the airport and the restaurant was closed. I have been to many airports in the world but that sure was the weirdest. Our plane was about a 30 seater and we had to eater via the ass of the plane. The plane reminded me of my flight to Vientiane in Laos from Viet Nam. However Vladivostok airplanes were in far better condition and were not threadbare like Laos Airlines. Thank god.

After a few hours we finally arrived Haerbin. God, the two airports could not be so different. Haerbin was like most upmarket, modern international airports. Very clean and new. Although we couldn't find an ATM that would take our card and though we searched for a Bureau de Change, we couldn't find one. Armed with our phrasebooks, we set off in different directions to places we thought might give us some info. This Chinese gentleman started talking to me in perfect English and pointed me in the right direction, and when he figured that had not been enough, he came over and brought me to the desk. There was no way we would have found it. There was nothing to indicate it's function that we woudl have recognised. It was so nice to have had such help.
We got a taxi to the train station and tried to find the left luggage with the idea of getting a train to Beijing that night... Well that was a whole adventure in itself. We ended up in this baggage area but it was where you wrapped your bags before dumping them in the train baggage hold. We think... It was funny though, the staff looked at our phrasebooks and discussed what we wanted. When that didn't work, they roped some young girl whom they though might speak English into helping us. Which thank god she did. Once it was ascertained we needed the left luggage, one of the staff personally guided us to the left luggage place. They couldn't have been more helpful or kind.

We then tried to find a place to buy our tickets. So the adventure began again. We knew that in some stations there were special sections for foreigners to buy tickets. Could we find it? Could we heck!
So... as we knew there wasn't a hope in hell we could buy them ourselves at the train station; Not with the queues, or lack of... and no chinese between us. We went in search of various places around Haerbin, which should have been selling tickets but to no avail. Finally we went into this posh hotel, where some agency was supposed to reside. It didn't but the helpful girl at the desk sorted our tickets our for us.
Our first impressions of China: We cant find anything but the people have bent over backwards to help us. This was not so the case in Russia. We found nice people but there is such a different attitude in Russia against foreigners. Some of it is from years of being prevented from contact with foreigners under the soviet rules, some of it is just dont get involved, some just lazyness, or fear or reticence, etc. but some of it is sadly xenophobic. The Chinese are so different. They say hello to us in the street. They peek at us. We are something of a curiousity in Haerbin. When we stopped to look in our LP, 3 gents came over and took out a map to help us find a way, even though they couldn't speak English. Another time a young girl spoke to us in excellent English and asked if we needed help. I am just overwhelmed by their kindness and curiosity. It has been beautiful so far.

Haerbin is a major surprise. It is warmer than Russia for a start. The main drag is full of modern shops and buildings. There is a lot of Russian influence both in the architecture and in the contents of some of the shops. In fact many times in the shops they spoke to us in Russian. That was bizarre. It would appear asmany Russians come over to Haerbin, as Chinese to Vladivostok.

As we couldn't get tickets to Beijing for tonight we took a hotel right across the street from the train station. We tried to find the night market but we think it was finished by the time we started looking. So we ended up eating in the chinese equivalent of MacDonalds. It was ok.
21Nov: We had until about 8pm to wander around Haerbin. After a few hours, I went off to shop as I wanted to send some stuff home. I had tried but failed to find any help or desk to post my stuff at the Vladivostok international post office.
I finally found the Haerbin International post office. Armed again with my trusty phrasebook, the security guard guided me to the right desk where a helpful young lady worked out what country I needed to post to. I guess they don't get many Irish. A few customers helped her out and watched as everything was packed. They thought originally I was russian, as I was posting home my russian phrasebook and the russian dolls I had bought. But all in all between 3-4 of us the job was done and I have now to wait to see if they were posted correctly. I found the nightmarket on the way back to the hotel. It was fab. I tried some barbequed meat that looked like beef. I think it was but I can't be sure. I kept seeing the locals with this kind of square pasta sheet wrapped around something, then several of these were put on a skewer and grilled. I was facinated enough to buy some. I have no idea what was in them but they tasted great. I then sauntered off happily fed and met G to go on the train.