Our clocks go BACK TWO HOURS tonight. That is one heck of a lot better than going in the opposite direction. It makes for a very lazy kind of trip with all the extra hours added to the days. So, we will be a full eight hours behind Vancouver time, two more hours to go back before we hit Hong Kong I think.
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We had a bumpy night but that has all settled down now and the weather is getting warmer as we move south. Right now we are below [south] of the latitude of Vancouver by 3 degrees so the nasty cold weather is over but we could get wet, for sure.
Today's immigration procedures went far better than the shambles a couple of days ago. We were at the appointed place at the appointed time this morning and the ships crew had things lined up and soon we were at the exit to the ship to get on the tender and the Russian Border people were quick and polite. The the way it should be.
The journey to the shore was about 10 minutes and we were on small buses with only about 20 per bus and off we went. The weather was very mild, no rain.
This city is composed of mostly Russians, 5% Korean and 5% natives of some sort. The Koreans were imported by the Russians as a form of slave labour and Korea never bothered to repatriate them. They are now assimilated into the population as a whole, without any prejudice it appears.
This is a working city with fishing, LNG gas and shipping as its main source of wealth. There is a Ski Resort here that apparently attracts people from various countries within flying distance for a winter vacation.
It appears to be a decent place to live, if you have no choice. There is not much here to see from a tourist point of view but we diligently did our duty and took in the sights of Korsakov. It is indeed an unremarkable place, in my opinion.
The highlight today was a Folkloric Show put on for us by the local people. Excellent, amongst the best we have seen elsewhere in the world on a ship's tour. [For you information there is a Shore Excursion included in each port. So far they have been excellent.] There is also free wi-fi included as well. Nice!
After lunch we rested and started taking in talks and activities at 4:00, then dinner and the entertainment and then another lecture before wandering up to the pool deck to take a look at A Movie Under The Stars on deck in lounge chairs: Mama Mia! but we were too tired so we put our clocks back two hours to 7:30 and went to bed, dead tired!
Japan Tomorrow: Sapporo, [of beer fame!]
The scenic lookout of the working harbour with our ship anchored off shore.
There was a small craft market set up for us at the Folkloric site. All at this table was made by local girls working as a group.
We risked it and sat in the front row of the Folkloric Show! Great.
Guess who?
Good old Lenin is still here.
In a city square.
'Mom and Dad' buying an ice cream for their daughter, just like at home
Back to the ship via Tender.
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