After 2 days in Vladivostok, it was time to move on and start the actual journey. My next stop was Khabarovsk, a city around 800 km from Vladi. I heard a lot of bad things about that route so I had doubts if I could make it in one day.
I left Aliona's place around 8.30 and headed to the bus stop, from where I took bus number 24 to get as far from the center as possible. The spot I got to, wasn't perfect though. It was a bus stop just before a turn towards Khabarovsk.
After around 15-20 minutes, a nice lady called Ilona picked me up and drove me a little further from the city, where two roads from Vladi meet. She also gave me her number so I could call her and stay at her place in case no one picked me up - niice!
From that point I had 4 pretty short rides.
First I got a ride from a guy going to Usurijsk. Then a guy called Sergey, took me another 70 km further or so. After that, I got 30 kilometers ride from a guy who looked at least 50, but he was 37(Koreans usually look way younger than they are, it's the opposite for Russians). From the place he left me I got another short ride with an old couple in a land rover defender.
And then I finally got my first real ride. Aleksey, 68 years old guy and his super annoying dog - Bentley were going to Luchegorsk. That meant 3 or 4 hours ride, I finally felt happy. The only problem about this ride was Bentley, at some point I thought about throwing that dog out through the window. He sat on my knees throughout the whooole ride. And he wasn't staying in one place, he was moving all the fuckin time...
During that ride we covered the worst part of the route. There were plenty of construction going on, so there was no asphalt for at least 10-15% of the route. On the way, we stopped to get some mineral water, to buy some ice creams and to see a bear, that looked like it was gonna die any moment soon.
From the moment Aleksey picked me up I was pretty confident that I could make it to Khabarovsk that day. However my attitude changed right away when it got super dark and it started pouring really badly. A freaking hard storm started around 30 km before Luchegorsk, where I was supposed to catch the next car. I didn't like the idea of hitchhiking in these conditions.
Thanks god I had plenty of luck that day and it stopped raining just before we arrived in town.
After saying bye to Aleksey, I finally got a ride straight to Khabarovsk. I was super relieved. I got picked up by a couple from Sakhalin in a white tuned Subaru Legacy. The guy was driving like crazy, i'm pretty sure he must have been a fan of fast and furious serie.
On the way I witnessed a process of bribing a police officer. The driver got back to the car after talking to the officer, took a box of cigarettes, put 500 rubles inside and threw it out of he window...
We arrived in Khabarovsk around 21.30, and they left me near the train station.
I tried to find wifi to call my host (I don't have Russian sim card) but i failed, again I had to realize I am not in Korea anymore. Eventually I asked a random girl if I could use her phone and I called Sergey - my host, who picked me up from the station 15 minutes later.
Summing up, my first hitchhiking in Russia was quite successful I believe. 800 kilometers, 7 rides, 10 hours. Not bad for first Russian experience.
Interesting fact - around 97% of cars in that region have steering wheel on the right side - Japanese import...
And second observation, hitchhiking in Russia feels waaay different than in Korea. I know that it's very prejudiced but I always have that thought at the back of my head that it's Russia, not Korea anymore. I always think twice for example when leaving my backpack in someone's car. I simply don't feel that safe anymore. I don't like that about myself but it is what it is.
Ahh and I was complemented around 3 or 4 times and asked where did I learn Russian - I have never learnt that language except for few classes 12 years ago. Slavic languages are all the same - that's all ;)
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