Th e S pl en do r of
VLADIVOSTOK
My arrival at Vladivostok International Airport was a little past midnight. Accustomed to storing everything on my smart phone, and given that my hand was in a plaster cast, I thought my journey would be made easier with all of my paperwork stored digitally, including my visa. The immigration officer, taking respectable pride in her work and insisting on the protocol paper-based documentation, didn’t quite see it that way. After a few calls with the lead officer in their exotic language, though, I was finally given the green light to proceed onto their terrain. My airport greeters were a lovely young couple. Arina, with hair dyed in patriotic red, and Andrey, who was a head and a half taller than his colleague, greeted me with joyful expressions that immediately dispelled the myth that Russians don’t smile. Once we got in the waiting van, I asked the couple if they were fulltime guides. I learned that both conduct tours on the side in a bid to practice their English. Arina shared 36 LIVING IN SINGAPORE
By Lily Ong
that she’s still attending university and Andrey responded with “I’m a cyber sportsman.” First astounded at the entertainingly named profession, then smiling, I looked at him and said, “You know, in the Unites States, they simply call you a hacker.” We all chuckled heartily. I was driven to Lotte Vladivostok, the largest South Korean hotel chain. With South Korean visitors doubling in number each year since Russia’s 2015 launch of the visa-free regime with South Korea, I soon found that plenty in this town is catered to this group of visitors, from ease of locating Kim Chee to finding Korean speaking guides. Travelling solo with a fractured hand is no mean feat, and doing your hair is no less so. The next morning, my limited mobility prompted me to seek the help of a hair salon to manage the morass of my coiffure. It pleasantly surprised me when the salon refused to charge me because they couldn’t style my hair the way I wanted. To be fair, it was well within their expertise, except I insisted against
the use of hair-spray. Such servitude, as I learned, is typical of Russians – unless results are delivered as per the customer’s requirements, they will graciously dismiss any charges. With what hair I could clumsily pile on top of my head, I ventured out to the City Centre. The buzz of the city greeted my senses quickly and I pondered, for a second, the bragging rights of the efficacy of sanctions – this is clearly not a city “in ruins”, as oftentimes reported in the media, but one thriving with resilience in a stalwart territory backed by over a thousand years of history. Something I enjoy when traveling in new places is the ability to get myself lost with little effort. Though Vladivostok is frequently touted as a gray seaport with little to offer, nothing could be further from the truth. My eyes were no sooner drawn to the sensuous lingerie shop along Svetlanskaya Street, showcasing a variety of stockings beyond my dreams, than they were lured to Central Square overlooking Zolotoy Rog Bay, where a multi-storied Costa Serena cruise ship, operated by International Cruise Services Vladivostok, was seen on its voyage. I chanced upon a farm market selling everything from caviar to beautifully handwoven baskets, colorful trays of organic berries to