The Tourist Hotel

I would have liked to have joined my ship today! The Pacific Endeavour has arrived this morning in Kholmsk, with one very eager to depart Chief Engineer awaiting my arrival! Unfortunately, the fast changing Russian Regulations required that I be registered with the department of Work Permits and so, once safely away from the airport my agent drove me there!

Department of Work Visas In Yuzhno
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

The department of work visas hasn't changed much; the place was as crowded as always with displaced people who had been told to "wait', the only difference today being that the states industrial heating system was on thus turning the building into a roasting sauna! To the sounds of creaking pipes and the endless rustlings of newcomers as they divested themselves of coats, jumpers and extra-t-shirts (coming in from the cold), we managed to gain the attention of little miss uppity; the orange-haired controller who took one look at my visa and application for a work permit and sniffed mightily in an extremely disapproving and negative way!

The disgusted and drawn out sniff and my agent's rapid sagging of his head told me one thing; I wasn't going to get a work permit this fine day! It transpires that my name, suitably translated into Cyrillic was spelled differently on the application form and the Work Visa! This problem was easily solved but required a visit to the office, a new form to be filled and a re-visit to the Department Of Work Permits and today was too late for that! I was therefore taken to a hotel, the Tourist Hotel where I had once stayed before!

It must be a Russian 'thing' to be hot! I presume it might have something to do with the fact that many buildings are typically heated by steam pipes running underground and so temperature control is not something that is on the priority list of the massive vehicle of the state department. It is either all or nothing; to freeze or boil and the majority of people choose the latter! And so into my own personal sauna I went, I removed my T-shirts, my trousers and socks and still I was sweating! To sleep that night I ended up opening the window to mix some of the heat with the minus 10 degrees blizzard outside - this mixing of the elements worked out quite well in the end!

The Tourist Hotel is of a good quality by Russian standards! The rooms are comfortable and clean and little extras like a packet of chips in the little fridge and some soap in the shower make for a pleasurable stay! There is a baby Casino downstairs, which houses the hotels bar and to which I repaired that evening for a beer or two! I watched the gamblers, most seemed to be young and unhappy men, the croupiers bored and robotic. In fact the whole place was without emotion so after regaining some much needed fluids I repaired once again to my room! I checked out the next morning with a girl who might just have finished filming in a James Bond movie the previous night! I wanted to take a photograph of her but did not have the courage. Imagine if you please; tall and very striking, tight jeans with white blouse and a tie, jet black and glossy hair that was extremely straight and cut in a perfect square shape around the face! This description does not say much, but imagine again with a fringe down to the eyes and cut horizontally across and then vertically down to produce a square view of the face!

To me it was very Russian and very James Bond and well, that was that! I checked out of the hotel at 0830 on the 23rd December 2006 and was driven directly to my vessel (yes, my agent had suddenly found out that he could submit my application without my having to be there in body). The one hour drive to Kholmsk was simple enough, the roads were not iced over and covered in thick snow as I had previously imagined and without further ado or fanfare I arrived at the gangway of the Pacific Endeavour, I scrambled onboard with my luggage and that was I, set at home for another two months at sea!

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 26th December 2006