Across Russia to Japan and Malaysia - Part 8/12 (Ferry from Vladivostok to Donghae to Sakaiminato)

After a relatively strict border control, at which I was asked, "Is this really you?" by the border guard looking at my passport photo (since the two boys became teenagers I've aged a little), we boarded the vessel 'Eastern Dream'. The ferry goes first to Donghae in South Korea, arriving in the morning, before departing in the evening for Sakaiminato in Tottori Province, Japan.

Korean shipping companies have a mixed reputation and this part of our journey was not one that I was looking forward to. However, we were very lucky with the weather and everything went very smoothly. It has to be remembered that we were travelling at the start of the typhoon season and having seen the effects of a typhoon on land I wasn't very keen on seeing them at sea.

Departure from Vladivostok harbour.

The passengers were let onto the bridge of the vessel, something which certainly does not happen in Finland. The chap in the black baseball cap is steering the ship.

Henry in our cabin.

Sunset at sea.

We arrived in Donghae in the morning and had about eight hours to explore the city. We discovered that Koreans speak English just as badly as Russians, which is a surprise as they have a massive English language teaching industry. 

When we got off the ferry we found out that the only way into town was by taxi, so by taxi we went. The problem was that we didn't know where we were going and when we asked the driver to take us to the centre we were met with a blank stare. The driver then said, 'bus' and we agreed on that, at least we were going somewhere. We ended up at the long-distance bus station. 

We then set off looking for the town centre but the tourist map we had was rather vague. After wandering around for a little we found a place where we could have breakfast, Paris Baguette. While we were there a group of Korean men came in and wondered what we were doing there. They guessed correctly that we were lost tourists and tried to help. Total confusion duly ensued and we all had a good laugh.

Some friendly Korean guys.

Our destination was the Cheon-gok Cave, which was a good place to visit on a very hot day.

Ready to go down into the cave.

 Stalactites and stalagmites.

More stalactites and stalacmites.

After visiting the cave and tasting some Korean food, very spicy, we made our way back to the harbour.

The seas around Russia, North and South Korea, and Japan are the site of geopolitical tension so care is needed when taking photos. Mind you, we are not very good at following rules.

 Warning sign on board the ferry.

 Korean coast guard vessel.

 Korean Navy vessel.

 And another one.

Night-time on board with the lamps of fishermen fishing for squid on the horizon.

Across Russia to Japan and Malaysia - Part 7/12 (Vladivostok)

Vladivostok, on the Pacific Ocean, is the end of the Trans-Siberian railway line and marked the end of our train journey across Russia.

The weather in the area is unpredictable and as the train entered the outskirts of the city under grey skies, with grey concrete buildings, and a grey Pacific Ocean, one of our fellow travellers revealed that he understood English by laughing out aloud on hearing my comment to Henry that the view was not quite like the sunny skies of the Pacific in California.

After arriving in Vladivostok station, we headed off to our hotel, with Henry leading the way following the GPS on his phone. The hotels in Vladivostok are very pricy and this hotel, although the most expensive of our trip, was probably not worth the cost, despite its excellent location. The staff did their best and check-in involved the receptionist calling a friend/relative/colleague who could speak English to make sure that we knew what was going on. Breakfast involved going to a café further down the street and showing a chitty we'd been given. Only large hotels seem to have dining rooms and lots of creative solutions are found to solve this problem.

The next morning, our first task was to sort out our ticket with the DBS Ferry from Vladivostok to Donghae (South Korea) and on to Sakaiminato (Japan). Booking the ticket from Finland had proved a little tricky and my friend Sergei had to be drafted in to phone the agent in Vladivostok, Storm Marine. They wanted to be paid in cash on arrival, which made me a little suspicious about whether the booking would be honoured, but everything went well and was in order, if not ship-shape and Bristol fashion.

After the visit to the agent, we set off sight-seeing.

Central Square with the Memorial to Fighters for Soviet Power in the East.

Vladivostok is the home of the Russian Pacific fleet and although the museum ship was closed we were able to visit the museum submarine, S-56.

 Inside the submarine.

 Torpedo bays of the World War Two submarine.

 After visiting the submarine we went up to the Eagle's Nest Hill, unfortunately not by funicular railway as it was under renovation.

 Memorial to St. Kirill and St. Methodious, founders of the Cyrillic alphabet.

 Around the monument there was a group of young women posing for photographs. Their photo shoot went on and on and on. Below the evidence.

 One of the girls posing.

And the next one.

 And the friends taking the photos.

Another photographer.

 Golden Horn bridge.

 Vladivostok harbour.

DBS Ferry 'Eastern Dream' ready to take us on the next leg of our journey.

In Vladivostok Henry had a surprise - the world's most eastern Hesburger restaurant. Hesburger was described as 'Finland's legendary burger'.

 'Finland's legendary burger'.

Henry pleased to get food that he recognized.

Vladivostok suffers from traffic problems.

In eastern Russia, there are a lot of second-hand right-hand drive vehicles imported from Japan. Until the recent changes in the tax laws, such cars were cheap and good value as the Japanese look after their cars carefully and there is only a very limited second-hand market.