We drove down the main street of Khabarosk, and came upon a huge, new Grocery store, very modern, very western. Inside, they had everything we do, and it was new and beautiful and such a huge change from the crumbling Soviet era buildings we were becoming used to.
Our hosts in Khabarosk, Alex and his wife, Elena
We spent a good hour buying up supplies, and marveling (ogling) the Russian women's ability to shop for groceries in 5 inch heals and mini-skirts. They were everywhere.
We had been given a number for an "Alex", a fellow biker in Khabarosk by the Iron Angels, so I called it, but there was no answer.
We got back on the main road, and where just driving along when we say a building with a picture of a Motorcycle on it, and decided to stop and see if they knew a place to change tires.
We approached a friendly lady, named Elena who owned what we now knew to be a "biker" themed bar, to ask, and as we were talking to her, my phone rang, and a voice on the other end started talking to me in Russian. I had no idea what he was saying, but I guessed it might be "Alex" since I had just called him. This went on as Cory was still trying to talk to Elena. The Russian voice and I hung up after a few minutes of frustration.
Elena pulled out her phone and called her husband, who it turned out was a biker. After a quick conversation, she said he would be by with a few of his friends in a bit, to help us out. This was great news!
Her husband's name she said was Alex. Ummm... Alex.. the biker. I showed her the number I called on my phone. "Oh, yah, that's my husband."
In a city of 800,000 we happened to drive by a bar, with a picture of a motorcycle on it, and meet the wife of the guy we were looking for, who I had just been on the phone with while Cory was talking to her.
People we've spoken to who have driven around the world, talk about this kind of thing happening, it you have a problem, just wait a bit, and someone will be along in a while to solve it. This was proving to be more true than I would have thought.
A newly built (5 years old) Russian Orthodox Church.
Large WWII (Great Patriotic War) memorial of all the people from Khabarosk who died.
Alex, pointing to the name of his Grandfather, who was killed in action in WWII.
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