Who said Russia was always cold?

Finally, a place where D.T.s are encouraged and not hidden away!

Monday 13th-16th August 2007

The six of us, (Sasha, Maryanna, Oleg, Olya, Nas and I) travel about two hours outside of Vladivostok. Our destination, a seaside resort, where quaint little cabins are the accommodation and the sea is absolutely freezing. It's hard to believe that in the picture above, the whole sea, right out past the islands, freezes over.

It was a go opportunity to check out how Russians like to relax. Who would have guessed that it involved plenty of drinking and eating?! The Russian commitment to the bottle is legendary. It is not uncommon to see many of them cruising around outside, with a bottle of beer, champagne or of course vodka, at any hour of the day. (Bottles of beer do not just come in the piddly old 350ml variety, but in 500ml, 1l and the most common 2l bottles or put more accurately, bochki or barrels.)

Each days' routine followed much the same course.

11am - Get up and crack open a coldie (500ml). Followed by few leaps off a 4 meter platform into a very fresh lake.

11.30am - Breakfast, cards, smokes (that included all Russians except the foreigner) and another beer. You are not Russian unless you drink like a fish and smoke like a chimney.

1pm - Head to the beach, swim in water that puts George Castanza's shrinkage issue to shame and then attempt to get as burnt as possible. I guess if we had 9 months of the year, where you needed a fur coat just to step out the door, we would to.

3pm - Lunch, Cognac or Vodka, smokes and more cards. Stopped intermittently by a plunge off that 4 meter platform, to sober up of course, so one can continue the drinking process.

3pm onwards - Lunch blurs into dinner as more food is cooked, more grog miraculously appears and yet another card game commences.

2-3am - One final jump to freshen up and sleep at last.

Amazingly I survived this process of "relaxation" and am feeling more and more Russian everyday.

Oh I forgot, there was dancing as well.