Twenty hours on the road -
I use the word road loosely - with a Russian truck driver named Zhenya. Not the recommended way of travel from Vladivostok
to Khabarovsk, but that's how we got there. Cruising in Zhenya's ragged, yet
unyielding 1988 Soviet-made Kamaz,
in a driving rainstorm carrying a load of something - he didn't know what and
didn't seem to care - we made it to
Khabarovsk in one piece.
We drove for what seemed like an eternity, into the
night
bouncing to and fro and trying to stay warm.
Zhenya said that the heater puts him to sleep,
and given the choice between freezing to death or
careening off the road, frostbitten feet seemed a
small price to pay to insure one's safety.
After a
brief stop at a dingey roadside cafe where we thought the food was decent but
Zhenya was unimpressed, and a three-hour nap in the cramped cab,
Zhenya pushed on in his Kamaz to bring us and his load in on
time.
(A special thanks to the Primoravtotrans Trucking Company for setting us
up on one of their trucks. We thought their promotional
letter showed some good old fashioned captitalist initiative, and wanted to
share it with our readers. It's a good example of the kinds of things
one runs into here in the post-Soviet era.)
Sleep and washing clothes were
on our list of priorities
today. We were surprised to find that the apartment we are staying in is
well-equipped with modern appliances: an18-
inch Sony Trinitron and VCR, Sharp stereo console with CD, Phillips coffee maker,
Moulleniex food processor and a glorious Italian washing machine. All of this
belongs to our 25-year-old host in Khabarovsk, Larisa Fedotova, who works as a
regional sales
manager for the Wm JR Wrigley Co., the American chewing gum company.
We rolled in after the endless truck ride and took over her apartment. The
relative order of Larisa's existence was shattered by our unplugging phones,
rearranging wiring, recharging our equipment, spreading our bags out on the
floor, taking showers and cooking food. House guests from hell, but Larisa just
took it
all in stride.
