Friday, May 11, 2007

Blogging at sea.....Part 4

Well we're back at sea today after visiting Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsular.....that's Russia kiddies!!!

We spent yesterday afternoon in the city after waiting for 4 hours to be cleared from the ship by the 'local authorities'.......even China was quicker than that.....and than we discover what a DISMAL AND SOULLESS HOLE this place is....the only cultural buildings in town were closed for renovation/demolition....you couldn't tell which! This is the base for the Russian Pacific Fishing Fleet and there is supposed to be money flooding into the city but we couldn't see it.....unless it all goes on vodka, beer and cigarettes. Even the nicer cars were all coated with the local commodity.....coal grit.....hmmmm pretty. We went into several local businesses and the staff all ignored us completely....served everyone around us. We walked out with 'eL' saying:- "Remember ...you have to live here!" and headed back to our 6 square meals a day.

It sounds like a typical cultural cringe but we always try to enjoy whatever experiences our travels bring.......but not in this town....we should have liked the fact that they have volcanos and fossils...our two favourite things but you can't see them without visas and special escorts...which the 'local authorities' weren't about to supply. This is the volcano...as seen from the ship in harbour......




Happy birthday to Mouthful of Pancakes for soon.......reply to my emails you lazy girl!!!

Off to Alaska next...to be continued............

6 comments:

mouthfulofpancake said...

Thankyou for thinking about me!! Thankyou for the lovely pic aswell. Lazy?? Quite the opposite really!!!

Goose said...

Ah Russia! It's never been the same since they lost poor Boris Yeltsin!
Great pic!

Odyssey said...

No SHOPPING!?!?!?!?! Dear me, you must be feeling quite some withdrawal pains... :-)

JollyRgr said...

Remember that we'll be there soon you cheeky bastard!!!

Odyssey said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Odyssey said...

Makes note to self to move and not leave forwarding address...

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