July 29-30 Khabarovsk to Dalnegorsk

It was time to continue our exploration of Russia. We have set off to visit the Primorsky Krai - a rather narrow stretch of land between China and the Pacific Ocean with a tiny stretch of North Korean border in the South. The road that connects Khabarovsk and Vladivostok is called Ussuri (named after the Ussuri River - same principal as Baikal and Amur roads).

July 29, we set off quite late, already after 5pm. We visited the garden (dacha) of our relative, where they gave us some fresh-from-the-garden provisions of berries, green peas and cucumbers. We drove for about 3 hours until the town of Luchegorsk, where we spent a night. We had some rain with thunderstorm, but the bulk of the rain seemed to have fallen more to the north. There was quite a lot of water accumulated at the roadside along the way.

July 30, we drove for the whole day until the town of Dalnegorsk near the shore. As we crossed into the Primorsky Krai, instead of continuing through the Ussuri motorway, we decided to take a shortcut. It was a shortcut in distance, but not in time as the road was uniquely gravel. I (Anna) felt quite comfortable driving, as there was very little traffic, so I drove for about 3 hours. The road was winding through the dense, almost tropical, forests of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range. While driving, we saw a wild bore, who fled to the forest as we drove closer. We arrived to Dalnegorsk - mining town located in a gorge. We could see an open mine from our hotel. The town itself is very long, so walking around was not really an option. We were lucky to have a Lenin statue just near the hotel. We also had a monument to mining machinery, - a great playground for Pablo.