Sochi sea terminal
Petr Pervyi (I don’t know who he is)
Sochi’s water front is elegant and tacky at the same time. Modern structures hug around older Soviet constructions giving the place a strange feel. Wide squares and tree lined promenades dot the coast, which even has a small stony beach which I saw but never went to. The gentle see breeze made me Mumbai-sick and I walked around watching the sunset and ducking crowds at fancy restaurants oozing with booze and food.
Viewing gallery
Boats travel to Trabzon, Turkey and neighboring Georgia (which was closed since the latest Russo-Georgian war had just ended) from here and I fancied a Istanbul-Trans Siberia-Beijing trip as I saw several people lining up at the immigration office before boarding their ship.
Cranes at the port. One can take a ship to Georgia, Turkey etc. from here.
Hooking up
You often meet random interesting people while traveling and sometimes you hit it off together – the circumstances are perfect: no strings attached, traveling in an alien land and everyone is looking for some entertainment anyway. I have this theory that locals are always interested in foreigners because foreigners are like rare commodities. A traveler on the other hand has multiple options. Sometimes you are consciously looking for something, at other times you are definitely not and this story is one from the later case.
Ship
After I found accommodation in Sochi, I dropped my backpack and went out to to see if I could have a quick snack. There was a little roadside shack manned (or should I say womanned) by an old lady (called Babushka – they keep Russia functioning) who was making Chicken Kievskaya, pieces of chicken (and cheese) stuffed in bread and deep fried, about which I had heard but never tried. At RUR 30 (1.5 USD), it was cheap and just the thing I was looking for. A twenty-five’ish girl came up to me and asked something to which I replied, “Sorry, I speak only a little Russian.” She was delighted and stopped there to speak English with me. I LOVE chatting with strangers and gosh, she spoke English! I was on the way to my room and I don’t know where she was off to, so we walked to a park nearby and sat on a bench in front of a Lenin statue (he watches us from everywhere) to eat. She spoke good English but she was talking very randomly and asking me every 2 minutes, “Hi, my name is Sofia, what is your name?”, while the molten cheese was dropping all over her face and hands.
She was beyond drunk.
Exhausted from the train journey and dying to crash on a stationary bed, I quickly finished my snack and proceeded to leave, but she insisted on going along with me. “What’s that ring on your finger, are you married? You have a girlfriend?” she kept on asking. “Ugh.. something like that..” “Buy me a beer, I will come with you, you are a nice guy.” I giggled in my head with sympathy… oh honey… and told her that I must go for I can’t do what she expects of me. But her grip on my hand was quite firm, making me wonder if she was the legacy of one of those steroid-fed Soviet power women.
I dragged her to a bus stop and the scene turned somewhat ugly. She wouldn’t let go of me and even started shouting, “Don’t you like me?”. I was yelling firmly “Я хочу уйти сейчас!” (“I want to leave right now!”) And people looked at us. And I looked away, slightly worried of police (who are everywhere) intervention since I had not registered my travel visa. And she walked behind me. “Do you really want me to go? What kind of a guy are you?” I said, “Dasvidanya, seeyou..” “See you? really? when?” Oh damn, why did I say ‘seeyou’.., I thought (some phrases come out of your mouth as a reflex, pravda?)
Anyway, finally I got rid of her, much to the amusement of onlookers and to my embarrassment. This whole incident reminded me of Cusco, Peru, 2008, where in a somewhat similar incident in the hostel common room, a girl ended up puking on my back, on my shirt that said ‘I love Machu Picchu‘ which I had purchased only few hours earlier. Damn!
Traveling is fun, isn’t it? Go ahead, lemme hear you laugh… 😉 🙂 😀
Sunset at Sochi dock, on the Black Sea
Ha ha ha! 😀 😀 😀 Had to laugh. But only 12? That is rather a tender age.
Hi Mridula.. oh no, not 12! She was atleast 25!
I literally did laugh out loud. I’ve heard lots of stories about crazy Russian women, I’ll have to tell you some time!
Yes yes I am all ears! 🙂
He he he, You poor thing! You should have puked on the Russian hussy though. Learn from your past leh!
Hmm perhaps I should have. 😀
Oh I did laugh out loud!! really! 😀
Now that’s some Russian Experience u will never forget! ha ha
Hi Neelima, welcome to my blog. I’m glad it made you laugh!
Romance? That’s some interesting concept of romance indeed, at least from the Russians! It reminded me of the prostitute character from the movie Breaking and Entering. Basically the same, very pushy.
Well, I was trying to use ‘romance’ in a sarcastic way but didn’t communicate it well. 🙂 hehehe!
Wow, that is a really interesting encounter. Surely, it must be hard to say ‘Dasvidaniya’, especially if you have seen the movie!
Hi Sid, Thanks for your comment and welcome to my blog!
I haven’t seen the movie Dasvidanya… anything special?
Well, in the movie the lead also gets propositioned by a Russian lady who he turns down. Later she ends up saving him from jumping into the river and falls in love with him. A decent watch in my opinion.
Interesting! The movie’s release coincided with my trip last year, I haven’t seen it. Maybe I should.
hahahaha 😆 that was funny till I saw the breath-taking Sunset pic and now i’m all “awww WOW” 🙂
HAHAHA,.. Thanks thanks! 🙂
Lol, gee what a meanee, didn’t you like her,lol, too funny, love your blog, great stories and pics, great combo.
LOL Bob… her mouth was smeared with cheese and sauce and she was forgetting my name every minute… no thanks ! 😀
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ha ha …that was funny. They way you built it up in the beginning, I thought you met somebody interesting and had a great intellectual conversation.
You sure have a lot of interesting stories to tell.
Intellectual. 😀 Such experiences are fun!
The light is just amazing. It does look romantic!
Hi Zhu,
yes it was very nice and there is also a boat cruise that goes into the Black sea for an hour to watch the sunset. Unfortunately that day they didnt have sufficient people, so the cruise was canceled.
My sympathy too to that steroid-fed powerful dame..hahaha!
😀 I agree with the steroid part. Her grip was strong!
[…] but some went out of their way to help me out of serious situations like running out of money, being chased by prostitute, getting cornered on a train, etc. I travelled in Russia for almost 4 weeks during which I tried […]
That sounds scary. I have been accosted by men when travelling alone but usually a firm “NO” sends them on their way. I think it’s different when you are a man. This also reminds me when I went to Thailand ages ago with my boyfriend at the time and the local pimps kept offering him girls even though I was walking next to him!!
Hi Swati, that’s funny and very frustrating at the same time! 🙂
[…] but some went out of their way to help me out of serious situations like running out of money, being chased by prostitute, getting cornered on a train, etc. I travelled in Russia for almost 4 weeks during which I tried […]