Going to Siberia, going to the icy Siberia, this is my childhood dream. I remember that in the 1950s, the pictorial of the former Soviet Union with rich pictures and texts took me to the distant forests and lakes and the vast grasslands of Siberia again and again, which made me dream for a long time. Decades later, the former Soviet Union fell apart, but the deep Lake Baikal will not dry up because of this, and the Yenisei River in Taotao will not flow south because of this, the people still have to live, and the prairie is still spring. Autumn decline, but today's Russia is full of unknowns and mystery, which makes me, who know the destiny, yearn for it even more.
The day finally came, and the first stop was Novosibirsk, a forest city on the banks of the Ob River.
1. Getting on and off the plane
When we filed into the cabin of the plane in Figure 154, a smell of Russia rushed to our face. The 150-seat cabin was soon crowded with Russian "father" and "father" who were returning home from Beijing. We, plastic bags, nylon bags, canvas bags, handbags and other large and small packages filled the cockpit. These folk "economic messengers" are mainly young people. He (she) works tirelessly, is sloppy, and dresses casually. They seem to be regulars on this route.
After taking a seat, I looked at this "old map" again. It was somewhat "horrible". As an air envoy on the international route of a big country, it was the first time for me to appreciate such a crude one. There are "patches" on the ceiling of the cabin, the cloth covers of the seats are full of large holes and small holes, and the small dining table is rough and rough, and there is no delicateness at all. There is no magazine in front of the seat, no paper pocket, these small items that should serve passengers, all of them are saved. The Russian flight attendants are not in a hurry, but they rarely show up after doing a safety demonstration before takeoff.
After an hour of delay, the "Old Picture" finally went to the sky. It took about 4 hours to travel from Beijing to Novosibirsk. Looking at the window, the farther north, the farther and desolate the scenery on the earth was. The desert of the Mongolian Plateau is boundless and boundless. As the picture unfolds, the old picture seems to be a bird that can never fly past, floating in the monotonous landscape.
Half an hour later, the flight attendant started serving snacks to the guests. Flying all the way, there are five routes: the first route, the Russian pond block. The sour-headed fruit candy that is similar to the single-layer paper packaging in China in the 1950s and 1960s is really a long-lost feeling. The second course: a tin of beer and a newspaper; the third course: a meal and an apple, similar in size to a large apricot; the fourth course: a glass of soda; the last course: still Russian candy.
The plane landed at the empty airport with Russian sugar cubes in it. After the plane stopped, the companions began to open the luggage compartment and pack their things. At this time, a puzzling situation appeared: the Russian "fathers" and "fathers" in the cabin did not move at all, and there was no noise at all when boarding the plane in Beijing, as if the plane was still flying in the sky, only We and a few other Chinese were preparing to get off the plane. What an inexplicable "Russian" composure and composure. It took more than 5 minutes from the time the plane landed to the stop, and the Russians who were on the same plane also sat in silence for more than 5 minutes. It seemed that we from a foreign land were busy going home, but the Russians had not reach the destination.
This "Russian" composure, we soon learned again, this is the real experience. From getting off the plane to the completion of the document inspection, it took a full hour and a half! (Enough for us to check 20 times at the domestic airport) and all the Chinese (a dozen people) on this flight were detained without exception. In an office with wallpaper and a thin "floor leather", an old Russian man, probably a "head", was seriously examining our documents without an interpreter. No, there is something wrong with the passport of an old Chinese woman. She clearly has thick gray hair, but the same person on the passport has black hair. Why is the hair color different? This is a problem. Just because of her hair color, the old woman was questioned for half an hour...
After finally passing the document inspection, I started to pass the item inspection. There were more than 150 people on this plane, and some Russian "fathers" and "fathers" did not pass the customs and flew to Moscow. The actual number of people who left the customs was about 100. And this one and a half hours later. The Russian staff at the four exits slowly checked the luggage of the passengers. One person's luggage could be checked for half an hour at the same rhythm, repeatedly opening the luggage, checking and inquiring one by one. In the middle, these inspectors will also leave their posts to do other things, and they will not be seen for a long time. The efficiency is so slow that it is unbearable. However, what is even more amazing are the Russians waiting to exit the customs. They are in long queues, quiet and steady, not crowded or crowded, neither anxious nor annoyed, neither humming nor humming, and the exit is as quiet as no one. The wilderness of people, I really wonder if they have slow genes wriggling in their blood. Why are the Russians so calm? I thought to myself: fortunately there was a flight, if there was another one, two more, when would the passengers be able to leave the customs?
2. From the airport to the hotel I
finally got out of the airport. Andrei, a Russian friend from the reception unit, and others have been waiting for us outside the airport for more than three hours, although they are already familiar with the cumbersome procedures and slowness in exiting the customs at the airport. The efficiency of swallowing, but also puzzled by our delay in the airport for more than three hours. A familiar "Volga" sedan picked us up and headed for the city...
Along the way, the autumn wind of the Siberian grasslands blows, and the car sometimes rolls up the dust. The road under the wheel is bumpy, bumpy, and looks like it is in disrepair. Whether it is a cement road, asphalt road or sand road. The trees on the side of the road, sometimes sparse and sometimes dense, are all covered with dusty clothes, and the beauty of "autumn clothes" can't be seen at all. There are many vehicles on the road, but most of them are old cars, dirty cars or even broken cars. Among them, old-fashioned vehicles are the main ones. Lada and Volga, which have been eliminated in China, are the mainstream models here. From time to time, I can still be amazed to find that the automobile "Old Continent", the old-fashioned "Volga" and "Gaz 69" jeeps that ran in our country in the 1950s and 1960s, still drive on the highway with their backs upright. There are also old cars such as "Muscovites", "Warsaw" and "Gill" passing by in front of us, and there are many vehicles whose bodies have been bumped into pits and can't be named, hanging on the avenues. I was amazed that the Yingbin Road of Novosibirsk, the third largest city in Russia, came into view with such a dismal image.
An hour later, we entered the Novosibirsk city, a city full of the atmosphere of the Soviet era. The city of Novosibirsk has a short history. It was originally a prisoner penal colony in the Tsarist Russia era. The wide and abundant Ob River runs through the city. In 1898, the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Tsarist Russia was the initial driving force for the birth of the city, but it was still an unknown village at that time. With the completion of the large railway, a new town is also emerging, but it is the war that really promotes the rapid development of the city. During World War II, Siberia was the strategic rear of the Soviet Union, and a large number of factories were relocated here. In the 1960s, Khrushchev set up a world-class science city in Novosibirsk, where only 315 research institutes of colleges and universities were built, all of which contributed to the rapid development of Novosibirsk. Infused with fresh blood.
Driving to the city center, there are many Russian-style buildings, the roads are very wide, the old-fashioned traffic lights stand by the intersection, there are few pedestrians, mostly cars galloping by, and there are few modern high-rise buildings, mainly from the former Soviet era. The five- or six-storey gray buildings left behind are large and thick. Compared with the elegant and luxurious buildings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, they are much simpler. It is reminiscent of the buildings built in Beijing in the 1950s and 1960s, with many colors of the former Soviet Union. Many public buildings in the city are also carved with patterns of sickles, axes and ears of wheat, leaving the deep imprint of that red era. Some buildings before the "October Revolution" still have bronze plaques engraved with bronze statues of architects, and the green patina reveals the vicissitudes of the times, especially the churches, bell towers and various log-built churches in the 16th and 17th centuries. All kinds of residences seem to bring people into a time tunnel, to those ancient times.
The architectural layout of Novosibirsk seems to be very loose, as if there is no complete plan. Except for the horizontal and vertical roads in the old central urban area, everything else is built with forests and slopes. Pieces of primitive secondary forests are clustered in the city. Buildings are scattered in the woods. This pattern of buildings in the forest and forest in the buildings is very suitable for the vastness and openness of Siberia. It seems that such a land grows such a city and such a city. breath.
3. In the central hotel
The central hotel where we stayed has arrived. The hotel is featured in domestically published travel books, although the text is very simple. This is a six-story old-fashioned building at a crossroads in the downtown block. At the four corners of the intersection, there are four gray buildings resembling a central hotel. Pushing the door and entering, the first person I saw was not the hotel waiter, but a tall and strong security guard. He was dignified, dressed in gray security guards, with a wide belt and a pistol attached to his waist. Wouldn't it be a toy gun? The fact that there were "people with guns" in the hotel really surprised me. Could it be that the social security situation in Novosibirsk is very bad? Looking around, the eyes are full of old, this typical "cheese building", except for a small hall in the middle of each floor, the two rows of rooms on the left and right are opposite each other, there is no decoration in the corridor, and the larger advanced facilities can only accommodate four people. Small elevator. The waiter who brought us to the room was a Russian lady, and she was a typical fat old lady. For a week, we didn't see any younger waiters, all of them were at the level of grandma.
When I opened the door, the room seemed familiar: the area was 14-15 square meters, the ceiling was high, the entrance hall was very narrow, and the bathroom was small. From the window to the door, it was all wood, thick and thick, and all painted with yellow paint. On the wall is outdated wallpaper, built-in two old wooden frames, a table and two chairs, and a small and old Russian-made black and white TV. The interesting thing is that there is a small wired speaker hanging on the bedside, and it is still broadcasting at the push of a button. This kind of information carrier reminds me of "radio stations" and "small speakers" in rural China. The "antiquities" of the city, which have long since disappeared, still fulfill their duties here. Walking into the bathroom, except for an old towel that has been "flashed", everything is available. No toiletries, no toothpaste, no shampoo, no shower cap, just a bar of unscented soap. This is the service level of foreign-related hotels in large cities in the Russian Far East? I really sigh. This reminds me of that year in the remote and quiet towns of Burqin and Habahe in the Altay region of northern Xinjiang. The hotel hardware facilities and service levels in the county towns are not inferior to those in the big coastal cities. Siberia, your life is really behind.
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