New Year's Celebrations

The plan in theory sounded great. A leisurely drive out to a quaint Russian village (Tavrechanka), where the four of us would join two other couples in order to meet the new year. We had checked out the Dacha the week prior and found it to be more than accommodating. Plenty of room to sleep up to 10 couples, all the important amenities (including an indoor dunny - very important at this time of year) and a pechka (Russian oven) that kept the internal temperature at a cosy 24 degrees. Great we thought, no need for all those extra clothes.
How wrong we were! To start with, the supposed leisurely drive out into the country was more like a scene from "Star Wars", where Han Solo (me) guides the Millennium Falcon (the Honda) at break neck speeds around the flying meteors ( pot holes, black ice, snow mounds and of course other drivers). Interestingly, Vladivostok locals, once leaving the confounds of the city, go through a miraculous transformation. They metamorphosis into Michael Schumacher! This insane trait coupled with the weather and the state of the roads makes any road trip around Vlad about as leisurely as World War Three.

Once we arrived at the Dacha we stepped out into a cool -20 degree snow covered countryside. "Quick" I told the guys "get inside!" Me being the seasoned veteran of Russian winters (lol), felt it my duty to singlehandedly haul everyone's luggage through the snow and into the dacha. Besides once inside it would be nice and warm. Well so I THOUGHT!

Inside the thermometer read -5 and the pechka had already been on for the last 2 hours! Visions of freezing to death flashed through our minds. We hadn't counted on this, what were we to do?

"Don't worry, old Russian tradition, we drink vodka" Sasha trembled. He was right, apart from its many other uses (eg, sterilization, antifreeze and a cure for almost all ailments), vodka also will ward off the hash Russian winter.

Drinking, dancing and continual stoking of the pechka pushed the thermometer up steadily throughout the night, so that at midnight when we were ready to watch the president's speech and let the fireworks off, the temp showed a manageable 15 degrees.

We weren't going to freeze after all, maybe pass out due to excessive eating and drinking, but defiantly not freeze.

Look out Tavrechanka the Aussie's are here!

Vodka - the cure for any ailment!

Even Santa was busting a few moves to keep warm. Hang on, is that really Santa?

Dan - cold, drunk or a bit of both?