Siberia Russia Part 5 Khabarovsk And A Little Russian

I n this continuing series,        disheveled appearance after 3      we cover my move from San       days of traveling, our driver      Diego to Chita, Siberia to      suggested the Intourist hotel. We  be a professor at Chita State         readily agreed.                    Technical University. We pick up                                         the story outside the airport in      During communism, Intourist        Khabarovsk, Russia.                   hotels were set up for exclusive                                         use by foreigners. Ours was        Khabarovsk                            fairly nice and, importantly, had                                        showers with copious amounts of    Khabarovsk is an amazing city.        hot water. You can see a picture   Museums with works from Picasso,      of it at                           Rembrandt and other masters. A        http://www.lodging.ru/hotels/into  bustling downtown area with           uristkhab.asp. After having        cafes, a lively music scene and       returned to humanity with one of   architectural triumphs. Then          the best showers of my life, it    again, maybe not. We were far         was time to brush up on my         more interested in finding a          Russian skills.                    hotel with hot water and never                                           ventured into the city.               I am a huge fan of ice hockey.                                           During the eighties and nineties,  Outside of the airport, we were a     many of the best players were      bit flummoxed by the fact there       Russians. In interviews, they      appeared to be no taxis. We           almost always talked about         quickly learned that practically      learning English by watching       any Russian with a car is also a      television. If it worked for       taxi for hire. After 5 minutes of     them, it would work for me. Not    egging each other on, Grae made       exactly.                           taxi arrangements and we were                                            off. Apparently taking in out         As Grae showered, I flipped        through the eight available           Russians playing in the NHL has    channels. Sitcoms were a              never been higher.                 non-starter, but I eventually                                            found a news channel. I see the       Might as well sleep on it. Yes,    images. I know what the images        day three of the trip was finally  are. I hear the words being           done. My original prediction of a  spoken by the reporters. I have       2-day trip was out the window.     absolutely no idea of what words      Still, we were in Russia, so how   go with what images. Okay, let's      much longer could it take? Pull    back up. What words do they use       out a map and take a look at the   over and over? Damn, do they have     country. It is twice the size of   to talk so fast? After 30             the U.S.                           minutes, I have learned nothing,                                         nada, zippo. My respect for           Next - When Stairs Attack...       About the Author: Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com - Preserve the experience with writing journals for traveling, hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bird watching and more. Check out http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com to read more travelogues and articles. Source: www.isnare.com