Khabarovsk

On the evening of the third day we pulled into Khabarovsk station, my last stop before Vladivostok. The Americans and Danes were continued to the end of the line, so we said our farewells and I made my way to the hotel. Khabarovsk turned out to be a good choice, as attractive and nicely finished as anywhere I've come across in Russia so far. Nicely paved streets, fine historic buildings, and a location beside the great Amur river. All in all there was a distinctly European about the place. Only the Russian driving and the face that pylons had inexplicably been built running through the middle of town and crossing the main street reminded me that this was still Russia. That and the fact that I couldn't find anywhere to get online, hence I'm writing this now from Vladivostok.

Asia was beckoning though, reflected by the fact that Japanese, Chinese and Korean TV channels now supplemented BBC World and Deutsche Welle which has been my foreign staple viewing until now. The Japanese channel was an interesting mix of English and Japanese programmes, which it seemed to swap between without warning. I caught a music programme in English and I reckon I'm going to like Japanese music a lot more than the Russian offerings I've been subjected to in every cafe and train so far!

Another thing is that while I don't dress like a Russian and wearing a bloody great backpack is such a giveaway as no Russians wear backpacks (instead opting for sports bags or these great big chequered things) people here don't assume automatically that I might not be Russian and that I might not speak Russian. I think Japan will be different though.

I was thinking that I need to get my hair cut, but am definitely going to wait until I get to Japan (those wanting an explanation of just how horrendous and 1950s/mafiosa-like Russian gents haircuts are should read the earlier post on the topic), and once I got there I could maybe spike it to keep it under control until I worked out the Japanese for barber shop, going for the Boris Becker look that I seem to be able to pull off with such ease if need be. And that's the thing; to the best of my knowledge Boris Becker doesn't speak Japanese and Japanese people would notice that he's not Japanese and make allowances. Therefore being a younger if less affluent Boris Becker look-alike should afford me the same courtesy. At the end of the day there's no way I'm ever going to pass as Japanese. I'll be the tourist there for all to see, but I reckon that I'll be much more comfortable as a conspicuous tourist in Japan that an semi-inconspicuous one in Russia.