Back where it all began. . .
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2007
1
129
Trip End
Oct 01, 2007
Kariya, Japan
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Vladivostok's airport is certainly among the strangest I've been in. Despite its growing reputation as Russian hub for Asia, it feels like a forgotten, socialist-style construction in some banana republic. It was odd enough having to shell out a ridiculous R1200 (almost US$50) to get there in a taxi arranged by my hotel that ended up just being some dude driving a beat-up Lada (gee, I wonder if they're on the take in the arrangement?). Then I walk into the "international terminal" to find the departures hall is a long, barren (and peculiarly clinical) hall with no check-in counter. There was one window for Vladivostok Air that only served for information and ticket sales and then a screen showing three departing flights above a door into the security check. After asking at the window about check-in, I was directed to wait outside that door with what was now a growing mass of (mostly Japanese) people, most of whom seemed just as uncertain what they were supposed to be doing.
There was no luggage check to be seen, but a scale for weighing your bags was set up just beside the door. Unusually, signs indicated that it was the responsibility of the passengers to check their bags' weight and determine whether they needed to pay extra; if so, they had to pay at the window on their own initiative before entering the security area. The honor system? In Russia?? Unheard of! Once about 20 minutes of uncertainty had passed, the door opened and people filed into the adjacent room. All bags had to pass through the standard conveyor belt screening machines and then the passengers did the routine walk through the metal detector. Once that was done, I had to go through the customs desk and at last check in for
my flight. Upon getting my tickets and handing my bag over to be checked (which I conveniently unloaded of heavy books to be redistributed into my carry-on), I proceeded to the immigration desk. Contrary to expectations, "leaving the country" officially was completely seamless and they didn't mention a single thing about registration!
After the procession through security, customs, check-in and immigration was complete, I was directed upstairs to a small waiting area, despite the actual "gate" being downstairs by immigration. Eh? The upstairs lobby had the usual duty-free shop and overpriced "cafe", but was otherwise non-descript. Figuring it'd be difficult to offload my rubles once in Japan, I decided to blow the remainder on a can of beer and an absurdly dear bottle of water. With the passing of around 45 minutes, the boarding announcement finally came over the loudspeakers and we marched back down the stairs to the door leading outside. Waiting for everyone there was a familiar shuttlebus, all ready to take us to our appropriate aircraft. Once everyone had hopped on board, it promptly turned around 180 degrees to a plane waiting no more than 20 meters away. What the hell? Then as we all lined up to board at the front entrance ramp, the flight crew suddenly changed their minds and direct everyone to board at the rear entrance one - a short walk practically equivalent to the distance we were "driven" to our plane. How surreal.
Fortunately the flight itself was of the same standard as any other modern airline (not bad for an old Tupolev). The only inconvenience was having to suffer through a drawn-out take-off process with a full bladder - the beer finally caught up with me just about the time we were taxiing to the runway. Once I was over that discomfort (about 15 minutes after take-off), it was a pretty smooth, two-hour ride. The only major adjustments I had to make upon arriving in Kansai were to the suddenly sticky weather and to thinking in Japanese, instead of Russian. The knee-jerk spasibas almost slipped out over the arigatos a couple times in there. Once I'd gotten my bag and cleared immigration, it was just a matter of hunting down a UFJ ATM so I could buy tickets for the three trains onward: Kansai to Shin-Osaka to Nagoya to Kariya.
It's hard now trying to put into perspective that I've been gone for almost six months. When you're traveling around for so long, you lose track of the passing of time. Days of the week alone tend to blur (save for the days when everything's closed - hey, it must be Sunday again!), let alone the actual numbers on the calendar. To some degree, the sort of "goal-oriented" arrangement of the trip accentuated that feeling: there were so many places I had dog-eared to visit that at times all I could focus on was how to arrange all the destinations together so I could eventually make it across the Trans-Siberian. Strangely enough, for all the places I've visited, I don't feel like the sights and experiences themselves have begun to blur, though that impression might change once I start going through all my pictures. That ordeal alone should keep me busy for weeks, if not months.
Overall, it's been an amazing trek around with loads of very memorable, highly enjoyable experiences. At the same time, I've been regularly and repeatedly shocked by how pricey most places have become. Traveling on a weak dollar (and, at a couple points, an equally deflated yen) has probably contributed to that conception. Still, considering that I now live and work in what is widely viewed as one of the world's most expensive destinations, it's surprising how much the cost of living in other places has outstripped it. I don't know if that's because Japan has gotten cheaper (or maybe just stayed the same) or if Europe has just gotten prohibitively more costly since the Euro took over. Whatever the case, aside from the Balkans and Moldova, this trip has been an exercise in restraint and/or careful financial weighing throughout, with an awful lot of days when I just figured another splurge wouldn't be such a big deal. So when I examine the state of my Stateside bank account (now almost certainly nearing empty), I'll make sure to thank Russia, Belarus, Italy and the Netherlands.
I'm preparing myself for the inevitable questions I'll be facing from friends, acquaintances, co-workers and students. At the same time, I don't much feel like going into excruciating detail about the past few months with most people. Arguably the only thing worse than people who never travel are the people that do and spend all their time bragging about it (or talking down to people that prefer to stay home). I'm past the stage where travel becomes some sort of all-enlightening, save-the-world cure-all that everybody's missing out on. Really, I'm just a guy who's satisfying his own curiosity - if people really want to know about it, then I'll tell them. But to punctuate every other conversation with some anecdote starting "yeah, that reminds me of when I was in [fill-in-the-blank-country-or-city-name] and . . . "? Boring.
That said, there have been some definite highlights. Bosnia was easily among the most fascinating countries I visited this trip, and the warm, sunny week or so that I spent there was truly fantastic. But while Sarajevo, Mostar, Jajce and the like were such a joy on a cultural, historical and visual level, Albania was a tremendous surprise on a local, social level. In Bosnia I was most attracted to the sights, sounds and smells. In Albania it was the locals and the general pace of life that bowled me over. I haven't met such open, friendly, welcoming people since being in the South Caucasus or Uzbekistan. It's easy to forget that at one point many places across Central and Eastern Europe - the same places swarming with tour groups now - were excited by the very prospect of foreigners at last visiting their countries. It's refreshing to see and, while I'm sure it won't stay that way forever, I'm glad I was able to be there when the country was still relatively "off the beaten path."
Romania's always been a favorite country of mine to travel in, but this visit left me with some pretty mixed emotions. While it was really interesting to steer off the standard tourist trail and stop off in less visited, workaday places like Craiova and Drobeta-Turnu Severin, it really cemented the impression that so many Romanian cities have been utterly ruined by the combination of horrific Communist town-planning and the decay of the capitalist transition. It was also disconcerting to see that while prices have risen dramatically (often to the level of most other Central European countries) service standards remain abysmal and the quality of life has yet to rise for much of the populace. There are still loads of wonderfully hospitable, generous people across the country (case in point: the father and daughter I met while hitchhiking back from Poienari), but it often seems like on a societal level, many Romanians believe capitalism is all about doing whatever you can to make a quick buck. That, and the bulk of the service sector seems to only target the nouveau riche and expats, with the average worker left in the cold. "If hotels or restaurants charge this much in Western Europe, well, we better bloody well do the same, because we're EU now!" Add to that the endemic corruption on the political level and the pervasive mob activity and it's a pretty frustrating situation.
The Ms kind of left me unimpressed on this tour around the continent. Moldova, Macedonia, Monaco . . . . all places that I'm in no hurry to get back to anytime soon. In all honesty, they each had their highlights. Orheiul Vechi was a lovely site with an interesting history and Ohrid was stunningly located and pleasingly relaxing to pass some time in (with one hell of a cozy hostel). Monaco's good points? Ok, well, not much to add there. The exception to the M rule was, of course, Montenegro, which was another Balkan highlight - with all the makings of a mini-Croatia, minus the cruise ships and the inflated tourist prices. Well, for now, that is. . . .
For all its negative press and unflattering reports from travelers in terms of general hassles and unfriendly locals, Ukraine was another pleasant surprise. Other than the aggravating four-hour queue for a train ticket on my first day in Odessa, it was a smooth ride for me, with nary a trollish government worker to deal with even once. Kyiv easily ranks among the most vibrant, cosmopolitan metropolises in the former Eastern Bloc. The only negative was that I didn't have more time to take in the Crimea and some of Eastern Ukraine - a good way to contrast the somewhat split identity of the nation. Likewise to Ukraine, Belarus was a far more enjoyable place than I anticipated, with the Stalinist, but ever-green veneer of Minsk making for a great couple days of exploration. Finally the Baltics were a revelation, both in their very separate, near-Scandinavian atmosphere and the dramatic difference between each of their unique capitals. Again, a few more days would have been nice - Latvia and Estonia were kind of done at warp speed, but by that stage of the trip, time was working against me.
But now I have to focus on more mundane affairs for a while. Tomorrow I go back to the old company for a interview/chat with my former supervisor, and I'm supposed to be starting work again there within a matter of days. Apartment shopping is also big on the agenda, as I can't fathom the thought of staying out in Kariya for an extended period. Along with that then, there will be the necessary moving day and whatever additional furniture shopping and set-up costs that go on top (especially internet access, which I may be deprived of for a while!). So I won't exactly have much in the way of downtime, but I suppose I got at least a few days of it while on the last Trans-Siberian leg. The trick then is all the work it's going to take to sort through, clean up and upload the countless photos I took. No rest for the wicked, indeed.
Next big trip? No clue when that's going to be, but I feel like I'm done on Europe for a while. Hopefully the next time I've got money and a lot of time to spare I can head to a new corner of the world. Southeast Asia is high on my list and the most likely option, but South America and Africa are also pretty enticing. And, while I'm in the neighborhood for a while still yet, it'd be silly not to head down to Australia and New Zealand sometime. But for now, I've got work to do and a degree to start planning for. The travel bug should be satiated for the time being.
