Part one of Passport's guide to Moscow's favorite - Passport magazine

After a longer
than anticipated siesta, I head out
into the evening. I take a taxi up to the city viewing
platform and look out across Vladivostok. The air is mild
and damp and the city looks very different at night. The lit windows
in the city’s tower blocks make them look like electronic
circuit boards. The twinkling lights around the lower reaches of
the city’s hills are like necklaces draped around dark necks.
The next morning I walk the streets close to the harbor. Here,
less than a century ago, people of all nations lived, worked and
traded. Indeed, it seems that Vladivostok then, and perhaps still
now, has more similarities with a city such as Hong Kong than
Moscow. At one point in its history, the majority of inhabitants
were of Chinese and Korean origin, mainly due to the fact that
these nationalities were responsible for the construction of the
city. While these nationalities were removed during the Soviet
era, it is clear that they have returned since perestroika.
I walk down ulitsa Aleutskaya that runs alongside the port and
come to House 15, where Yuliy Borisovich Brynner was born,
later to become the bald-headed actor Yul Brynner, famed for
his roles as the King of Siam in The King & I and in classic movies
such The Magnificent Seven. His father was a Swiss trader, his
mother Russian. Yul made it to Hollywood via Harbin in China
and Paris. The building next to Yul’s house is also connected to
Vladivostok’s past; it housed the offices of The East India Trading
Company. Indeed, after the revolution started, many countries
landed troops in Vladivostok to protect their citizens and interests,
and the city only fell to the Red Army on October 25, 1922,
signalling the end to the Civil War.
As I walk along Ulitsa Aleutskaya, I realize that there is a
distinct lack of advertising billboards here in Vladivostok. Perhaps
these port dwelling traders are more savvy than Moscow’s
inhabitants, or perhaps they just have less money. As I
look at the boats in the port, I notice something even stranger
– the flags that are flying on the four navy destroyers in dock
look remarkably similar to the American Confederate Flag of
the southern states, the “Stars & Bars” or “Rebel Flag”.
In the afternoon I take a cab to Sportivnaya Harbor to visit a fish
market I have been told one can buy a huge array of freshly caught
Travel
and cooked shellfish. On arrival it is obvious that this is a favorite
place for locals to come to at the weekend too. Groups of teenagers
and young families promenade along the waterfront while dodgy
looking young men in low-rider style Toyota Crowns with over-sized
wheels sit listening to music that blares from their open windows.
Others sit and drink beer in the late afternoon sun. I stop at one of the
many stalls with a set of scales and piles of shellfish and buy a selection
of Kamchatka crab, king prawns and some small crayfish, all at a
fraction of their cost in Moscow, before finding a space among the
other diners sitting on the wood benches provided. The seafood is
literally out of this world, and I decide to buy two more crabs to take
with me for my train journey north to Khabarovsk.
As I make my way to the train station I realize I am not ready to
leave this unique Russian city. I have been here for less than 36 hours
– time enough to get a feel for the city, but not long enough to feel
ready to leave. It is a city like no other I have been to in Russia – full of
vitality, diversity and people with a pioneering spirit. Since its founding,
Vladivostok has played an important role in the history of Russia,
and I strongly suspect it will continue to do so. P
Travel Info
Aeroflot flies daily to Vladivostok. If you book well in advance, flights are in the
region of 13,500 rubles return. Alternatively, if you have time on your hands you
could take the slower, more scenic route on the Trans Siberian train.
July 2009
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