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Why am I using the name “哈巴罗夫斯克” instead of the Chinese name “伯力” as last time visiting Vladivostok and using its Chinese name “海参崴”？ I have no idea, to be honest. Maybe because the name “Khabarovsk” sounds more interesting.

At the moment I am writing at the Capital International Airport T2. Now is 5:18 A.M. on May 6, 2025, so it is not actually the Labor Day holiday anymore. I woke up at 3 A.M. in the morning, couldn’t sleep well. On this trip I will go to Khabarovsk. But the flight-ticket from Beijing to Khabarovsk is not cost-effective and I’ve decided to fly to Vladivostok firstly and take a train to Khabarovsk. Роман had already helped me purchase train tickets online. I will be living in Khabarovsk on May 7, 8, and 9, then spend the time on May 10, 11, and 12 in Vladivostok. An aunt just dropped a coin. It reminds me of the experience where I also picked a coin on the street of Vladivostok. But the difference is, I knew exactly who dropped the coin this time and I also returned the coin in time. “Здравствуйте, you dropped this.” She didn’t know English, but that was as far as I could speak.

05-06 Arrived at Vladivostok, heading to Khabarovsk

On the flight from Beijing to Vladivostok, on my left was a couple. The woman sat next to me. I passed them gum. The woman folded a boat out of gum wrapper. During the time remaining, the man was playing Scrabble and the women was reading an e-book.

We landed at airport VVO. Actually, it is the city Artyom which surrounded the airport. It think it might be considered a low-level city of Vladivostok. I almost missed the train to the downtown because of the language barrier. On the train, I passed the gum to the people near me for another time. An Asian-looking guy gave me a mushroom pie. I got off at the destination, immediately looking for luggage storage. A staff at the station heard I was from Harbin, praising Harbin for its beauty. And I said to him that Vladivostok is also beautiful. The luggage storage required a bank card, so I had to wait for the T-Bank agent on the square. The square was being decorated for the Victory Day. On the square I saw a couple wearing military uniforms (which looked like sailor uniforms) walking hand in hand. In the end, I got the bank card without problems, and I headed to the luggage storage again. During the walk I encountered a Chinese guy using Xiaomi 15 Pro, found that we all took the same flight and the same train. When I was walking along the street, I was attempting to read the signs and slogans. “EXHIBITION”, I was halfway reading it when I realized it was a word in English. Arrived at the station and tried to store my luggage, however, still no luck because I could’t use the Fast Payment System. So I had no choice but to wait for the train in the station. When confirming the train number, the uncle I asked told me that I came here with the wrong carriage number. I knew, I just wanted to check if the train number was correct. After that, I went to the correct carriage at the tail. The uncle was worried and came to confirm with me.

Seatmates on the train was playing a song I like which was “Звенит январская вьюга”. I knew this song because of Atomic Heart.

And I was also taken good care by people. One of these people was Евгений (Yevgeny), the other two were aunts on the beds next to me. The aunts were eating bread and drinking beverage. The setting sun was shining on an aunt’s face, outlining a golden outline, and the drink was shimmering. Евгений came to talk to me, but he didn’t really know how to use a translator. After dozens of rounds I finally understood that he wanted to go to buy some beer with me when the train stops at Ussuriysk. But the stop was short and wasn’t enough. We came back with empty hands. I felt exhausted and fell asleep on the table. Then I was woken up by them. They were saying sentences I didn’t understand. So they asked me to stand up, and started to put the bed for me. The bed where I rested was foldable. If you fold it, it becomes a table. That was the table I was sleeping on. Actually I knew how to use it, I was just lack of sleep and directly fell asleep on the table without expanding it. To express my appreciation, I gave the aunts apples. However, the aunts invited me to their bed and treated me with foods. Breads, eggs, cheese, and Chocolate-filled pastries. They also poured me beverage. Later, I learned that they just came back from China. They had fun for ten days in places such as Yanji, Dunhua, Bohai, Hunchun.

05-07 Lenin Square, City Ponds, Museum of the History of the City, “The World of Talking Machines”, Khabarovsk Cliffs, playground

I arrived at Khabarovsk in the morning. The hostel was called “Orion”. And the aunt at the front desk was always kind to me with her smile. I went to a nearby small supermarket to buy some food and water, and went to the “Eight-Minute Canteen” for breakfast. Ordered a “white cube”, thinking it was cheese, egg, or salad. Turned out to be liver. It was a good way to taste how Russians cook liver. It tasted good, maybe a little bloody from the liver itself.

After breakfast, I started walking towards Lenin Square. While walking along the street, I waved to the aunt driver in the tram. A woman wearing military uniform passed by me from behind. I didn’t dare to take a photo. Eventually I found that on Lenin Square there was a rehearsal for the Victory Day, and streets were blocked. I took a photo of a resting military dog, spotted by the soldier nearby. He went to me to ask for the photo of him. I told him embarrassedly that I only shot the dog because I felt it impolite to take photos of the soldiers. I walked along the edge of the square and was asked by another soldier, that how much I had spent on the camera. And I started walking towards the Khabarovsk City Pond. There was a man in military uniform guarding the road every few meters. I went to the Museum of the History of the City of Khabarovsk after visiting the pond. The saleswoman was kind and enthusiastic. They kindly guided me through the museum. At here I saw pictures of Harbin, because Harbin is a friendly city of Khabarovsk.

There was a television model which was actually a monitor connected to a PC playing “Soley Soley” in a room with retro decor on the second floor.

Though the neighborhood surrounded by Khrushchev buildings, walking along the street, I arrived at the position of T-34 tank.

After that, I called a cab to “The World of Talking Machines” museum. However, only after I arrived there I found it need an appointment in advance. And I still could not use the Fast Payment System. Luckily, I was allowed to have a tour with those who had made appointment. The tour guide Юлия told us the history of audio playback equipments in a vivid and humorous way. Through the translator I understood some of the content, for example, the so-called “патефон” which looked like a phonograph, the story behind the photo “His Master’s Voice”, the bricks in the Far East using Chinese clay, X-ray records, ads on the wrappers of records in from USSR, records published as a journal…

In a room on the second floor, Юлия introduced us the singer Africa Simone and then played his “Hafanana”.

I left the museum and walked to the eternal fire and the church near it by myself. And then I walked all the way to the Khabarovsk Dormition Cathedral and the Khabarovsk Cliffs. I encountered a couple taking photos with their child in the park covering the cliff. The husband asked me if I wanted to visit the cliff and pointed out the route. At the playground below the cliff I knew some young guy. They were called Джоджи (George), Aidan, and Shaw. Aidan took us on a pirate ship, bumper cars and a circular ride. The amplitude was quite large. I hadn’t done these projects for a long time, and I couldn’t help but shout out with excitement. Aidan told me these are Russian entertainments. Hardcore, I commented. And then he led us to an Asian restaurant. Aidan and I both ordered the bibimbap and kimchi cocktail. The bibimbap was delicious, and the kimchi cocktail was salty. During this trip I was so fortunate, everyone was so kind and enthusiastic to me. Now I am writing things down in the hostel, finishing the missing part of yesterday’s experience, not knowing what I’m gonna meet in the future.

05-08 Pacific National University, abandoned tower

At the beginning of today I went to Pacific National University. When I arrived I found it totally different from what I had imagined. It was an old school with broken ground and old athletic field facilities. Some infrastructure may from USSR. It felt absolutely different from Far Eastern Federal University. However, that made me like here even much. On the street in Russia I can find a lot of beautiful girls but I couldn’t dare to take even one photo. I only take photos of old buildings, Khrushcheves. And here are a lot of old buildings, ones across the road even without window glasses. There is a man with his daughter riding on the athletic field. The daughter seemed at the beginning of learning riding. She looked scared and she cried. The man couldn’t comfort her so he rode a few rounds on his own and left the athletic field with his daughter. Later there was a man, probably a music teacher, coming to the field with a group of young people to practise singing. They performed a lot, and didn’t finish before I left there. At the time it was raining, and I just sat on the bench next to a tree watching them singing. They performed a lot, but I only knew “Katyusha”.

As planned, I went to see the Khabarovsk bridge and the Amur River (Heilongjiang). There was a perfect spot on the Google Map and Yandex Map, an abandoned tower. However, when I came there, it was blocked. There was a sign saying words like “This is private property, no entry, there are cameras.”. The fences were newly installed because there was a photos shot on the top uploaded three days ago. Luckily the fences didn’t block it completely. I could get in there on the right side across a short edge. I looked around, didn’t find any camera, nor did I find any wire. So I went directly towards the tower. The tower was about three floors in height, with graffiti and messages. On the tower I took a lot of phots and videos, and stayed there for a long time. During the visit I encountered another person wearing blue. He was recording below me, and we chatted a little using English. Maybe because I stayed too long, I was spotted. Four people came to the tower. I heard the noise and looked down. They were young, so I thought they came here to have a great view or to explore, just like me. I smiled to them naively, only to find out they came to “catch” me. However, they didn’t blame me, nor did they fine me or call the police, they just asked me how I came up here, where did I come from, did I see anybody else. I explained I saw a guy in blue earlier. Of course he had sneaked away already. They drove here two vehicles. The woman opened the gate for me. Apparently they were the people who managed here. The woman told me this place is dangerous. We said goodbye to each other, and the woman made a gesture meaning I was naughty, she won’t blame me this time, telling me to behave myself, then drove away.

It was enough to me anyway, so I just walked along the road leaving there. A girl in pink, looking no older than 10, rode on her bike to me. She saw me walking along, asked me where I wanted to go. I said I would go back to the hostel. She told me buses come here. I showed her the Yandex Go app, explaining I would call a cab and no need to worry. She then told me a taxi brand, and the price for a person is about 500 rubles. I expressed my appreciation, said goodbye, then she ride away. It actually took me only 318 rubles on the way back. I have a bank card now, even though for the reason I don’t understand I still cannot use the Fast Payment System, I can transfer money directly to the driver and don’t have to worry about losing a large amount of cash.

However usually I have to get down to squeeze through the space below the gate to reach the hostel because the hostel is located in an apartment complex. Today I asked two children for help. They seemed to tell me that they couldn’t open the gate from inside as well. So they climbed across the fence with spikes on it, showed me the way to another gate. There happened to be a person passing through so I made my way back.

An uncle who booked the bed opposite mine greeted to me, saying his name is Айдар.

It’s only half past twenty, and the sky is just beginning to turn dark. I still can go out and have some fun.

I spent some time by myself at the bar called Чилл Хаус. Ordered two glasses of Germany beer, chatting with Aidan and a friend from Blagoveshchensk called Вика, watching people at other tables smoking hookah, watching a film, or playing GTA V. The waiter was very kind and waited patiently for me to use the translator.

05-09 Victory Day celebration

Today people are celebrating the Victory Day on the Lennin Square, and this is my first time to attend such an event. I found there was no network on my phone, so I could’nt use Yandex Go or speech recognition. I had to run to the square. It actually begins at ten, and I arrived there around nine, so I got a position in the front. Unfortunately, the view was still blocked. However, I brought a portable tripod, with its middle pillar removable as a selfie stick, so my phone had a better view than me. There were kids riding on parent’s necks. I also found a lot of people bringing boards with photos with them. I though they were heros’ relatives. Вика later told me that this was the Immortal Regiment. The content of the ceremony was either too far from me or was blocked by people infront of me. However, our side was closest to the cannon, so the noise was very loud when the cannon was set off, which was a bit scary.

After the ceremony I bought a belt, then came to the City Pond. A location was set up where people could pick up free food. But the lines were long. I found a booth selling Russian skewers with bread, onion, and sauce. Each skewer is 300 rubles. I bought a serve. However, due to offline I could not use the translator, there was some problem with the conversation, resulted in me buying two skewers and being charged 600 rubles. These pieces of meat was quite big and each piece could fill my mouth. The spices and salt were heavy, and there was also some grease, so I got tired of it before I could finish one skewer. I felt a little nauseous after eating them all, but it was really enjoyable to chew the meat in my mouth. Later, there was performance in the park. I watched for a while and started going back to the hostel.

The aunt at the front desked smiled at me, telling me here came two friends. I was told later that they both studies in Vladivostok, and one of them lived in Jiangbei, Harbin. I picked some photos, slept for a while and wrote some words in the post. However, the content I am writing now was not written at that time. Currently I am on the train. The aunt made me a cup of tea with three blocks of sugar, and then brought me a snack, saying it was a gift. The television was broadcasting Victory Day live. There was still some time before the official start. It was the interview then. I took a shower, bought water and cookies. It was raining. The same guy from last night when I came back from the bar opened the gate for me. Went back to the room, packed things up, and left. I told the aunt, they (the aunts) had been nice to me, and I really liked this hostel, and the city Khabarovsk. Also I also told her that I made friends here, and I might come back in the future and would choose to stay at here again. We hugged. She told me how to get to the station with care, even though I didn’t understand.

Aidan said they were coming to see me off. But I actually arrived later than I told him. Aidan and George came to say hello. They brought me a bag with an umbrella and snacks. These are a gift to me. They came to see me off in the rain, held the umbrella for me and watered themselves, talked to the train staff, and helped me find the place. We hugged and said goodbye. I was so happy, however the happiness is always short-lived, I had to leave before I feel it’s enough, so I was a little sad. Until I found the red envelope in the bag. Inside it, it was our photo with the text “We will remember and love Yukun”. It was like the moment when I was drinking lonely on the square in Vladivostok, and the caring aunts came to talk to me. I feel sad no more.

It’s 22:42, and I am lying on the bed. Евгений, the aunts on the train, the staff who took care of me on the train, the hotel owner, my friends who played with me in the playground and came to see me off at the end, the waiter in the bar… These people together made up my wonderful experience in Khabarovsk. Tomorrow I’ll be in Vladivostok and see my older friend Роман.

05-10 Off-road track, beach, viewpoint, Hans restaurant and Moonshine bar, getting a new name

Today I arrived at Vladivostok, and the weather was awful. Роман drove Даня (Daniya) and me to visit various tourist attractions. We had planned to go to an off-road track outside the city. Роман said it was a men’s activity and Юлия was not interested so she didn’t come. Even though I’ve made preparations in advance, I still got my shoes covered with mud at the off-road track. We took photos, didn’t stay long. And the we went to the most popular beach in summer. At there my shoes got wet. Then, the glass beach. It would be beautiful if it was a sunny day. However, it was raining today, the rain soaked the glasses, which was also very beautiful. It was forbidden to collect the glasses there, but I still stole one. At last, he drove me to an observation deck on the mountain. I was able to see Vladivostok in all directions. However, it was windy and could. Даня was naughty, running around. When he ran far away, Роман would say “Пока пока.”. Роман drove me back to the hostel, telling me he would go back to the home, change clothes and then deal with work matters. He would see me again in the evening. I was brushing my shoes in the hostel.

My shoes were not dry yet, but at the agreed time in the evening, I put on my slippers and went to the Hans restaurant that Роман had booked. The Hans here did not serve buffet but a la carte. Together with Вова (Vova, I called him Volod last year.) and Даша (Dasha). Вова the “boss friend”, manages multiple assets in Russia. Юлия was taking care of Даня so she didn’t come. We had the sausage platter with sauerkraut and broccoli, fried fish, creamed mussels and fried brown bread. And then came Сергей (Sergey) and Кристина (Christina). Сергей is a firefighter and Кристина runs a real estate business in Thailand. Максим also came here. I told Максим he looked more handsome than the last time we met in Suifenhe. Вова explained to me he just had his hair cut. We talked something interesting, for example, Chinese people have a stereotype that Russians drink a lot, and if they run out of alcohol, they start drinking antifreeze. “Правда.” said Вова. If they ran out of alcohol, they were going to drink my lens cleaning paper. And also, we talked other things such as mortgages, a better life-style, and my Squidward-like outfit. They also taught me Russian expressions such as “пекинской” for Chinese Cabbage, “Хорошо сидим.” when the party is holding well. When the party is holding well, I can also say “заебись”, but it is not a good word. I didn’t understand, and when Роман tried explaining to me he mentioned “操你妈”, which made me laugh for minutes. I then explained to him what does it mean, that it refers to someones’s mother but not actually refers to her at the same time. Before leaving, the last shot is called “на посошок”. And when I need a little drink I should say “накапать”. Кристина asked me if I had tried Borscht before. I said no, but we have something similar in Harbin, called “苏伯汤”, with tomatos instead of beets. So they orded it for me. The flavor was rich and delicious. I also had a taste of marinated pork. They told me, in Russia, there is a soup called “щи” and there is a saying about it “щи is enough to wash your penis.”. It‘s hard to explain, just meaning there is nothing in this soup. I also explained to them the names of some Northeastern dishes, how to use the Chinese input method, and I learned that Максим studied Chinese at university. In Russia, people say toasts when they drink. And the newcommer would immidiately say a toast. Роман told me a common one is “For a strong penis and money.”. Кристина wished everyone had dry feet. I wished us always in a mood to pursue our dreams. And also there was “Pray for those who are no longer with us.”, however, this time we didn‘t cheer because it was for those who had passed away. And “Спасибо деду за победу.”—“Thanks to grandpa for the victory.”. “For the relationship between Russia and China.” And more… At the meal they gave me a Russian name “Юра” coming from my Chinese name “Юкун”.

I heard a song that was somewhat familiar coming from the second floor, and I asked Роман. It was “Матушка”.

After the meal at Hans, Роман waited for me to change into more suitable pants and shoes at the hostel. Then we went to the Moonshine bar. I met Максим‘s wife and her younger sister Вероника. Next to Вероника there was another woman but I don‘t know who she was. Вова told me they might have a “Russian bath” tomorrow, a traditional Russian activity, which looks like a sauna on the sea, and I could join in.

Dark Dreams strip club

“Vodka Hunter” and “Strip Club Hunter” Максим asked if I was willing to go to a strip club. I didn‘t successfully come into one last year, and today I had another chance so I said yes. Даша and Вова drove Максим, Роман, and me to a strip club called Dark Dreams. It was also Роман‘s first time to get into such a place. He was just here to accompany me. There were a lot of people, noisy. Also a lot of girls, some in underwear, some half naked, some fully naked, dancing in the pool or on the desk, or walking around looking for a customer, or sitting on a man‘s leg or lying in his arms flirting. They all wore very high heels, so almost all of them were taller than me. Максим and Роман wanted to introduce me to a seven-minute private dance, so they found a girl wearing black. I asked Максим about the price. About 3000 rubles. They persuaded me many times, and the girl also flirted with me many times, and even took my hand and touched her upper breast. But I was unmoved… They thought I thought it was too expensive and wanted to pay me, but I interrupted them. To be honest I was just too nervious, had no idea what to do. Although there were plenty beautiful girls, and I were also looking around, but there was no sexual arousal at all. Even when the girl put my hand on her upper breast. At that moment I had only one thought: I had to be responsible to my future girlfriend who might not like such activity, so I shouldn‘t do it. Later the girl left angrily. Максим, Роман, and I just sat on the back of the sofa. They didn‘t understand why I would not watch the private dance at all. After that when we were leaving, I told them the reasons. Actually I didn‘t understand either, wouldn‘t their wives be angry knowing they came here with me? Максим said she would, but it was none of my business. Роман also told me later that Юлия was a liitle angry. My friends wanted me to enjoy the private dance, however, I kept hesitating and didn‘t agree, so we spent nearly an hour standing there, and Максим even paid for the drinks. Actually I was also very conflicted. Now it‘s the next day and I am sober. Thinking back, I was a litlle stupid. I don‘t even know which species my future girlfriend will be, what was I worrying about? However, if I have to make the decision again right now, I will still be conflicted becase I will still be nervious.

05-11 Oceanarium on the Russkiy Island, another visit to FEFU

I was scheduled to meet with an elementary school teacher today who I met on HelloTalk. But she was not in Vladivostok. So I slept and took a shower in the morning. I sent my apology to Юлия. The “Russian bath” was also cancelled because it was not free.

This time I visited the Oceanarium on the Russkiy Island, and paid another visit to Far Eastern Federal University. I went to the side where the main entrance is located. There was even a waterfall on that side.

In the evening I took photos of the bridge for another time. This time the sky was clear though.

Unlike last time, this time I stayed at Hotel Hot Place instead of Glubina because Glubina had no more places. I still prefer Glubina.

05-12 Pizza shop, another observation deck, reptile house, “Going Home”

Today I went to see another Вика. She is the third Вика I mentioned in this post. Honestly I don’t know if she would let others call her Вика. I know a Russian name may correspond to multiple nicknames, and multiple names may correspond to one nickname, and nickname is usually for close people. However, for the name Виктория I only know the name Вика, so I’ll just call her Вика for now. She looked cool in the photos, and she is cool. However when I actually met her, she was dressed differently, looked cute, and her voice was softer than I had thought.

Her birthday is March 2, so she is only more than half a year older than me. She likes reptiles, and has snakes and spiders at home. She currently works in a gym because she likes to climb high and has strength and a good sense of balance.

We met in front of the Museum of the History of the Far East. She invited me to a pizza shop across the street. When heading to the museum, in the underground passage I encounted my buddies from the Orion hostel. They just arrived at the station preparing to have a fast food meal. That was the first suprise in this cold morning. On the bench I waited for Вика. I brought her two boxes of Daoxiangcun snacks. She gave me Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment and breads made by her grandmother. She said the book was very precious to her because it had accompanied her through her school days, and she then gave the book to her younger brother, who also took it to school. She said Russians thought books are the best presents. I once asked her, were she really going to give such a precious item? She answered yes. Because she is going to be married, (On May 28, if I recall correctly. And her mother still doesn’t know about this, not even about her fiancé.) she is planning to move to Moscow or Saint Petersburg with her future husband. She can’t bring many precious items with her, including her pets. Actually she was not born here, but in Горные Ключи which is 350 kilometers away from here.

We went to some observation deck on the mountain. There was a water tower, two swings, and a cross. She showed me her home opposite the swing. However, she is going to move to another place today. White mist enveloped the building and the air was moist and cool. On the swing she swung so high and I accidenttaly swung my shoes off because I had drunkenly laced them up last night before going to the bar. She climbed on the fence proficiently while I was clumsy. Going up, she invited me to have a taste of her mashed potatoes and chicken with carrots. They were good, so I praised her for her good cooking skills. She knew the difference between Chinese and Russians: when being praised, Chinese would say: “哪里哪里。” (“So-so.”), and Russians would express gratitude. Again, she climbed quickly towards the cross on the rocks and the peak of the mountain. I had to use both my hands and feet carefully. And when I climbed over the obstacles, she had already been waiting on the next spot. We took photos on the top. The breeze brought mist, refreshing, in distance the bridge was shrouded in the mist. When we were going down, she told me once she played Chinese chess with her Chinese firends, they praised her as a good chess player. Well, I don’t know how to play Chinese chess at all, so to me she is absolutely a good chess player. We waited for the cab. She tried to find a clover with four leaves. To be honest, I didn’t know if they were clovers. She also showed me how to use my thumb to “launch” the “bud” of a certain plant and asked me to try it.

We arrived at the reptile house she used to work at. She didn’t bring her bank card because she lost it once before and didn’t want to lose it again. And I told her, in China, we also don’t carry bank cards often because of the online payment system. On the way, we passed her former school, Vladivostok State University, and her brother’s school, where a lot of people were gathered. She showed me a photo of her and her younger brother, as well as a photo displaying a tattoo of her ex-boyfriend’s name on her heel so she could step on him every time she walked. (After a few months, now I know it was just an interesting joke, and the tattoo had disappeared.) At the reptile house I saw an animal that I had never seen before — A “lizard” without feet. I taught her words such as “蜥蜴” (lizard), “游泳” (swimming), and “交通堵塞” (traffic jam). And I learned “пиздец” from her.

Time to say goodbye. She had to prepare for the move, and I had to go to the airport. Today’s experience has made me pleased, so I said to her “You made my day.”， telling her we could meet in Moscow or Saint Petersburg in the future.

I will go back to Beijing and live on my own for some days, so I didn’t buy any gifts. I have been eating cookies these days and I’m enough of them. Moreover, after meeting with Вика, I fell down on the road while rushing to the hostel, scraping my hand and even my arm through my clothes, so I can be considered to have brought back some “local” specialties. When I arrived in China, I felt for the first time at Capital Airport T3 how big this airport was. I even had to take a train to travel between different areas.

Now it’s the next day, I am organizing the post and typing these words down. (Actually it’s two months later, I am translating the post.) Today I woke up feeling a bit sad, like I just had a short dream that was starting to fade away. However, separation always makes us look forward to the next reunion. I need a smoothing song — Sophie Zelmani’s “Going Home” to adjust my mood.

These days I wasn’t learning Russian, and I had forgotten a lot of what I learned before. I need to consolidate, and like Максим said, practice. This won’t be the end.

Playlist

Won’t be the end.

Happy birthday to not-that-happy myself!

I turned 24 yesterday. It was my birthday. My friend in the high-school came back to our hometown Harbin recently. He reached me and we hung out walking along the Central Street together. Harbin is cold now but also hot because it attracts tourists from many places every winter. Soon it’ll become prettier when the ice lamps are assembled and the Big Ice and Snow World finished its construction. The ninth Asian Winter Games will be held here in less than 60 days so there will be more people from other countries this winter. I’ve never been so proud of my hometown.

We had dinner in a “Russian restaurant” near the Central Street. I don’t really know whether the foods there taste right like the actual Russian version since I had not tried traditional Russian foods when I was at Vladivostok. But the foods we ordered were cheap so there is nothing to complain about.

Speaking of Vladivostok… Well, that topic is just inevitable even when we were at the dinner table. It’s near the end of the year now, I have to say the trip to Vladivostok forms my best memories this year. (And my graduation from the university is the second best.) I’ve seen beautiful sceneries and encountered nice people during the trip. Lately I’ve been feeling sad sometimes. Because the memories are too good, when switching back to the reality I naturally feel sad. I’m 24 now and yes I know I’m still young, but actually not that young… Considering how time can fly flawlessly. There’s a thought (or joke?) that seems deeply rooted into Chinese people’s mind, that people of 20+ years old will soon turned into 30. We call it “奔三”. Yeah maybe it’s just a joke that people mention a lot. But they are not mentioning it without reasons. Boring life, health issues, low salary, lack of targets and energy, I have already found them chasing after me. Most of us once had dreams like traveling around the world when we were kids, myself included. As I grew I found them probably just dreams… And I’m just an ordinary person. And there are a lot people live hard just to be ordinary.

Eh… Yeah that sounds like I’m overreacting — a 24 year-old teenager talking about aging and saying “Welcome to adults’ world where none of your child dreams came true.”. Haha! Well, aging’s not a problem to me but making no improvements while aging is. I’ve lost years during the COVID-19 epidemic isolation at the university, and I don’t want to lose more. I don’t want the trip to Vladivostok to become the end of my experience at a global scale but to become the beginning. Go to new places. Make new friends. Harbin is okay but I won’t stay here for lifetime. I need to make improvements. I’m not good at talking to people, especially when it comes to my family, or under certain circumstances. I don’t contact my friends actively, or I don’t contact them at all. When I was in the university, even to the girl I was fond of I couldn’t speak a word. I’m better now but still I talk to myself most of the time. I used to find myself comfortable with loneliness in the past, but recently I do feel lonely. I need to do something. So make improvements. Not just on social skills but on every aspects. A 30 year-old of me is not terrible. A 30 year-old of me with no difference to the current me but just older, is disaster.

That’s the thing I want myself to remember on my birthday this year. And gosh, look what I’ve written… I just wrote dozens of sentences to myself, again! I was about to share my activities yesterday in the first place! (And of course, also write to myself something.)

Ah, shit! Here we go again.

After working overtime continuously for more than two months, I decided to take a break today. Now I am “奔三”. 🤣 I stopped learning new Russian lessons for a long time due to work, but today I will watch a video course later. I received blessings from my Russian friends — Надя, Вика from Blagoveshchensk, Кристина, Наташа from Blagoveshchenka, Роман and Юлия, Aidan. I feel happy today. I still don’t know what will happen in the future. Anyway, who knows? We’ll see.

The End

Compared with the name “Vladivostok”, I prefer “海参崴”, because it has “海” (sea) and “山” (mountain).

09-30 Wenzhou Business Hotel in Dongning

I don’t know when did I make my decision to go for a trip to Vladivostok. Maybe two months ago, maybe I’ve never actually made one, just settling things down while daydreaming… Anyway, looking forward to it, fantasizing about it, the National Day holidays are coming, and now I am sitting in a bamboo chair at Wenzhou Business Hotel in Dongning, tapping away at the keyboard, thinking that not surprisingly I’ll be in a foreign country tomorrow.

Woke up early due to neighbor’s renovation, it’s about time to pick up my loads and leave anyway. Got on the train from Harbin to Suifenhe, no silent environment to enjoy as usual. Later I boarded the bus to Dongning, waiting for it to fill up and depart. However, that took me two hours. It’s probably on me that I didn’t choose to take the carpool. But I really resent people actively coming to me and keep bothering me, just to let me pick their services, even though they can clearly see that I’m not interested and ignoring them. So I was piqued, chose to wait for another two hours rather than letting the annoying cab drivers make my money.

While waiting, the bus driver told us about his UFO sighting experience. It was a Mid-Autumn Festival twenty years ago, he stopped on a drawbridge to smoke, looking at the full moon in the sky. There were two stars near the moon, one was nothing particular, but the other one glowed with a reddish light. He just stared at the red star for a long time, suddenly it began to fly away, faster and faster, eventually disappeared. That was certainly an UFO, the driver told us, since no airplane could have stopped there or been that bright!

Without eating anything a whole day, I arrived at Dongning, settled in the hotel I have booked earlier, and then came out to find a restaurant. I wandered along the street with my camera, it was rainy. I don’t know if I was tired and didn’t have appetite or what, the restaurants here didn’t seem attractive to me at all. The street was not bright, with few people, and it was similar to those restaurants, cold lights with few people. I walked around multiple times finally realized, that’s the very loneliness traveling alone to a different city.

In the end, I decided to sit down in a noodle restaurant, despite the cold lights. Near the windows there were two tables of Russian uncles smoking and talking in Russian which I don’t understand. Minutes later came two more. The two knew the people at the two tables. They picked a table not far from me. One ordered a bowl of wontons while another asked for a few dumplings. At first the waiter could not understand what they were asking so he called out his sister (I should call her grandma probably.) who can speak Russian, let her deal with the language problem. They finally understood what those two Russians wanted in the end. The kid from the Malatang restaurant opposite was eating here too. He heard the grandma’s fluent Russian-speaking, seemed to show admiration for her. The grandma told him to study hard to find the world wider, or some words like that. The kid expressed that his grades were not good, had already dropped from the first place to the fifth in the whole grade. The grandma said, then study harder to get the first place back!

After a while she realized, the kid was talking his rank in the whole grade, and he was actually excellent.

The uncles at the two tables checked out, one of them was tall and thin, wearing a hat, high-fived the grandma. Uncle “Dumpling” could not use chopsticks and asked for a fork. They also asked for tea later. The grandma added sugar for them.

A couple went into the restaurant. The man ordered a rice bowl with shredded pork and green peppers, and emphasized that he wanted less meat and more peppers. The chief said, why not make him a rice bowl with only green peppers? Well that’s also okay, the man told the chief. So that’s a rice bowl with shredded pork and green peppers but actually with no pork at all, and had you parked your Swordfish II just outside the restaurant?

Before I left, I asked the grandma when could I buy the ticket at the port. She didn’t know either but she said to me she could ask somebody. I went out to buy bottles of water, and the grandma came after me, told me that she had reached a person who sells tickets. But I simply said no thanks.

With beer in my stomach I felt better, started taking photos along the street. I saw a drunk guy being carried into a taxi. And while I was shooting a statue of a child under the street lamp and the national flag, I heard a girl said bye-bye to me. She was riding an electric bike. I smiled to her. “Don’t forget your stuff, it’s right there.” A can of lactic acid bacteria drink was left on the ventilation shaft with a straw. When I realized what just happened and I should thank her, she had already ridden away. That was unexpected, and I was somewhat flattered.

10-01 Arrived at Vladivostok

Started heading to Dongning port around four A.M. The driver dropped me in front of a store, telling me that’s the place where I can buy a ticket. There were more people came to here. Truth is, the door still remained closed even after 6 A.M. We found that we could directly to the entrance of the departure hall by going around the left side of the building without having to go through the store. I met a buddy (I’ll just call him “Buddy” in the following paragraphs since I actually do not know his name.) studying history at a university in Tianjing, and girls studying for master’s degrees at Heilongjiang University.

Got on the bus which dropped us at the customs. I was in a queue waiting for passport and visa checks by a short-haired lady. It was also women working when we entered the security check room. One of them said to the lady before me, “包立起来，姑娘。” (“Stand up your bag, girl.”).

Took a snap on the bus then we arrived at Ussuriysk. Buddy, an aunt and a grandma from Harbin, and I, we shared a cab together. The Russian driver asked, “Владивосток?”, me and Buddy answered “Yeah.” at the same time, then we both reacted immediately, “Da!”. The aunt asked us wanting to know if we both speak Russian. I said “不会啊不会啊” (“bu hui a bu hui a”, meaning “No no, we do not.”) and noticed the driver took a glance at me, through the rearview mirror. I recalled “hui” is a dirty word in their language. The driver actually can speak some English, told us that August is the best time to visit here. We explained that today October first is our National Day, we have a week off from the work to go somewhere else.

In the hostel (There were at least four more Chinese besides me.) I settled. Buddy suggested we look for some place to have a meal. Came out of the hostel I saw an aunt smoking against the wall in the doorway adjacent. We couldn’t find the restaurant Buddy had picked so we asked an aunt for help. The enthusiastic aunt took us around and around for several times, even asked another person, still we couldn’t find the restaurant. Buddy and I thought, then that’s it, we should bother the aunt no more. So we showed our thoughts translated to Russian. The aunt insisted on the contrast, “нет” — what she said after I don’t understand — and led us keep looking for it for another while, failed in the end. Maybe Google Maps displayed outdated info. After expressing our gratitude, we chose to have the meal at the restaurant just in front of us. I ordered a burger and a glass of stout. The waitress who served us was a sweet-looking girl with blonde hair and glasses. Buddy asked me, how shall we say “Thank you.”? “Spasibo.” So we were both looking at her “Spasibo”ing to her with our clumsy tongues, which teased her and made her laugh mildly. We were even considering whether we could ask her to take a photo with us, saying that it’s our first time to Russia blah blah, and we of course would also give her a tip. But it was her time to leave, none of us were bold enough to ask for the photo, and thus we saved the tip to her. At the end it was another brown-haired girl who came to collect the plates and take the money. We couldn’t understand what she said because the words were in Russian, so we used the translator. Before I left, I also said “Do svidaniya!”, noticed she was pleased too. During the meal we also met a group of guys looked like they were from the Middle East. Someone just said “你好吗”. “你好！” I replied, and “Hello!” said Buddy. Later it seemed one of his companions explained to him that when saying hello he should just say “你好” instead of “你好吗”. (That’s because “你好吗？” is actually “How are you?” or “You all right? (You look uncomfortable.)”, and is usually more like the second one than the first one. We supposed he just wanted to say hello since that’s the most common situation for a person who doesn’t actually speak Chinese.)

When we came out, the sky was clear (It was rainy before.) and the sun was about to set. We took photos beside the Pacific War memorial statue and the eternal flame under the bridge. Focus, exposure, composition… None was correct, my photos were as bad as usual. Bought bottles of water at the grocery store, I still remembered to be polite: “Spasibo!” and “Do svidaniya!”.

Buddy was too tired to continue so he went back to the hotel. I went back to the hostel accordingly, but left there again after I organized my stuff, thinking I had to see the Eagle’s Nest viewing platform. Google Maps said it was in repair and unreachable months earlier, but I thought now is the time to check. When I got out of the hostel, found the aunt was still smoking against the wall. And I arrived near the platform. It was still in repair. I took my phone and asked an aunt at the bus stop, wanted to know if I could actually reach the platform. Google Translate was not handy, I couldn’t understand what she said. So she just pointed out the way and I do-svidaniyaed to her. Successfully, I found the platform unreachable in the end. So I just had to pick another angle to shoot the bridge. It was a windy and chilly night, I only tried a few locations before I started to walk back. Vladivostok is full of inclines which are not quite friendly to people have leg injuries like me. When I came back to the hostel once again, I found the aunt had disappeared. Standing in front of the hostel’s door, below was a group of teens walked by, talking about something. There was one holding a cake, on which written the number twenty-two. I was to have said “Happy birthday!” (to whoever…?), but I didn’t say it, just watched them walked away.

And here I am, at the B07 upper floor presidential luxury coffin room, writing my experience today. Oh, I had signed-up for the access of Zажигалка strip club. Buddy let me send him their link, I wonder if he wants to go there too.

Eleven forty-eight P.M., the television playing John Wick 4 in Russian. Before me is a Russian woman wearing purple or gray, looking at her phone and writing on a purple notebook. She almost turned the notebook sideways and wrote with her left hand. We didn’t talk. I don’t know if it’s appropriate staring at her writing. Watch TV commercials and watch her write. A cozy night, but not a common situation to me who is on a trip out of China for the first time. I want to remember the scene and the atmosphere, but I can’t. A young man came in said “你好！” to me, and talked to the woman, seemed to ask what she’s writing.

10-02 Far Eastern Federal University and Cape Tobizina

A bright morning with no clouds, unlike yesterday.

I walked nearby. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral (Спасо-Преображенский кафедральный собор)’s bells rang. Went to the train station to buy a ticket for departure, and shot the steam locomotive. The ticket seller at the train station pulled Buddy to the window, used her hands to make a little man walking, and said, “Walk, walk, walk, walk…” (I guess so, I don’t understand Russian.) and showed him the route. Buddy was gathering info because he will leave on October 4th. We called a cab to Far Eastern Federal University (Сувенирная лавка ДВФУ, or FEFU). While waiting, the air raid sirens sounded.

We encountered an uncle at FEFU. He went to Khabarovsk from Fuyuan, and came here on September 26th. Sat at the seaside for a while, we took a photo with two students. On the platform nearby, we met a group of people who were probably middle or high-school students. They wore blue uniforms. Some guy greeted me with “你好！” and I responded “Privet!”. And there was even a guy came to me and said “What’s up?”, and shook my hand like an American black homme, so I responded with “What’s up, bro?”. Behind them were another group of people who wore the same blue uniforms. Among them, a boy wearing red also greeted me. I asked where did he come from. He just expressed embarrassedly that he don’t understand or speak English. On the platform there was a doctoral student from the Faculty of Arts studying in Nanjing and his traveling companions. The person in the Russian group that looked like their teacher asked him to introduce the Nanjing city to them. And then they took pictures together. After said goodbye to the doctoral student and his companions, Buddy and I picked seats at their stadium. Buddy started talking about MBTI. I’m an INTP, and he is an INFJ. We asked a guy near the stadium where can we find the canteen. But he said he didn’t know, because he is a freshman here. He had Ayanami Rei and Asuka charms on his backpack. When asking for directions we said hello to a student whose home is in Azerbaijan. We met a couple who were also looking for the canteen. Both of them were medical students, and the guy’s home is in Weifang, Shandong. We together found an uncle sitting in a car who was glad to help us find the canteen. He pointed it on the map nearby, but it’s not in the Building B we looked up on the website. We were lucky enough to find an international student who led us to the canteen in the a hotel, and paid for us with his card. Seemed that the Building B canteen was only available to students or employees here. The international student’s home is in Zibo, Shandong. He only has two chances to come back home per year, once during the summer vacation, and the other during Spring Festival. The campus here is so large that they have to wait for the bus to go to the classroom thirty minutes before class begins. And a session lasts for one and half an hour. More often than not there are four classes a day. Freshman and sophomore year was a challenge, because there was a calculus teacher who is extremely strict that only a Chinese and a Vietnamese from a class of thirty people passed their exam. Living here, you’ll find Vladivostok’s infrastructure sucks, and when you go back to China you’ll feel like going back to the modernized society. And every time you go back home you’ll gain one and a half kilograms weight. He also hadn’t used cash for a long time. Russia also developing payment systems that utilize QR codes printed on the receipts now. In Russia, where education is compulsory for twelve years, students also learn English. (I asked if they learn English.) He also showed us the notice FEFU sent earlier, told students that there would be an air raid siren today because of a drill. The girl in the couple selected a cutlet and it did not taste good. The international student said he only selects chicken wings or something that he can tell what it is, and he doesn’t dare to select foods that he can’t tell because he knows they taste awful.

Said goodbye to the international student and FEFU, we four took a cab to Cape Tobizina. Some people wearing the Chinese flag were taking photos there, as if they were about to reconquer the East back. Buddy said if someday I plan a trip to Tianjian, just look for him, but he will only be available before his graduation in 2026. A girl and a couple asked me to help them take photos.

When we were heading back, we couldn’t call for a cab. Buddy caught a ride, see if we can pay them to bring us back to the city. It turned that the two people in the car can speak Chinese. They were both doctoral students at Northeast Forestry University. One’s home is in Vladivostok and another’s is in Peru. I listened in the car. They communicated with each other in English, but they both spoke Chinese to us. In the car played Chinese songs like “刚好遇见你” and “平凡之路”. The Peru brother seemed talking to his nine year-old daughter. Buddy wanted to go to Ogonëk instead. The Vladivostok sister said it was good, but not cheap. And she recommended another hot restaurant called Супра (Supra). That’s the one that makes Georgian food. Buddy planed to eat there tomorrow. When we arrived, Buddy paid the Vladivostok sister a thousand.

We ordered two dished and a king crab at Ogonëk. The waiter said sorry, the crabs were sold out, and asked if we could change to another dish with crab meat. Buddy agreed. I said to Buddy with smile, that we were here for a whole crab, if it was not available then maybe we should leave. Buddy kept rubbing his forehead, seemed anxious because of my words. Luckily the waiter came back with a crab, said “Things changed.”. So we ate the last one. The environment was dark and I was tired, wanting to sleep. The king crab doesn’t look very attractive in the photo because of the dark environment, but 1.7 kg is indeed very filling.

When we left, I asked Buddy, the Vladivostok sister — named Olga (Ольга) judging from the display on her car, really asked only a thousand from you? I heard it was one and a half thousand. I meant, did we just give too little and take advantage of others? Buddy let trust him. Besides, they had said that it would be based on taxi fare, and he checked estimated cost on the app, also about a thousand. Of course that was before we made a change to the route. I thought, okay, maybe I heard it wrong? Maybe, “你就付一千五吧” was actually “你就付一千卢布”? Or, Olga just decided to let us go thinking we were tourists here? There is no way to find the answer. At the restaurant I was considering, is there a way to contact her to confirm? I don’t want to take advantage of people who helped us. But I can’t contact her. If luckily we meet in Harbin, and she recognizes me, I will aske for confirmation. But that’s basically not gonna happen. I don’t want to invade her privacy by looking for clues on the Internet like a perverted voyeur. Or how should I explain to her? I’m a fucking holmes?

Buddy and I agreed to meet at eight o’clock tomorrow. I’ll pay back the money Buddy paid for me, then we go to see the lighthouse. At noon I’ll go to the shooting range to shoot.

10-03 The Tokarevsky Lighthouse, Fireline, Supra, watching performances on the pedestrian street

We visited the Tokarevsky Lighthouse. A lot of sea stars can be found around the lighthouse. People holding sea stars and taking photos.

Took a cab to the Fireline shooting club. I mentioned I was a client of Zhao Hui and got a discount. I have already made an appointment for the Great Weapon plan which contains Saiga Carbine Model 030 SOK (based on AK-74), Glock 17 Gen.5, and Saiga-9 sp. 42 LOT Yarovit 9×19 caliber. The coach spoke English so I had a good conversation experience. I finished the shooting after a while. They recorded videos for me while I was shooting, and eventually signed me a certificate.

Then we headed to the Супра that makes Georgian food. The staple food looked like a gaint glutinous rice ball with a filling in it. It should be flattened and rolled up to eat, and tasted like a Chinese pancake with the filling of a Chinese meat pie. Buddy also ordered a “dumpling” but it looked like a Shaomai or a Baozi. He thought there were four per serve, but there was actually one. He said this chicken filling one tasted like chicken and salad. He didn’t like it so just left it. I personally can’t get used to the taste of pork and lamb chops because the spice flavor was too prominent. They had the anise flavor. I still can’t get used to it even though I actually like anise. There was even a performance where waiters and waitresses walking around the field while shouting, putting a hat on a random person and passing the person a horn cup to drink with. The waitress who was serving us was quite pretty. Actually all the waitresses here were pretty, with the same makeup. I was attracted not by the foods but by the waitresses. The waitress poured us drinks as long as she found our cups not full. For that we kept saying spasibo embarrassedly. When we were checking out, she showed us a picture which was a note in Chinese saying if we were satisfied with her service please tip ten percent or something like that. We of course gave her the tip and went back to respective hotels. Buddy was exhausted, he will directly take the train to Ussuriisk tomorrow morning.

I went out and took another walk by myself. Firstly I went to the C-56 Submarine Museum (Гвардейская Краснознамённая подводная лодка С-56, Музей), happened to run into a group of kids who looked like elementary school students coming to visit with their teacher. The narrator was explaining to them probably something about Russian submariners, which I couldn’t understand anyway. Some kids greeted me with “你好。”. When they left I also finished my tour, and waved to the kids, saying ”Do svidaniya!“.

Near the train station I encountered Russians offered to greet me. They were Gregory (Грегори) and Andre (Андре). Gregory was a welder in the shipbuilding industry. We shook hands and took pictures.

Then I went to see the statue of Lenin. And then, Primorsky State Art Gallery (Приморская государственная картинная Галерея). It was almost closing time and I was the only tourist. I saw a dumb robot rumbling at a dark corner so I went there to check it. An aunt in the room said something, probably said that the robot was not working well, then cut off its power.

I was wondering if I should pay a visit to the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Собор Покрова Пресвятой Богородицы), but I was tired, so I went to the pedestrian street instead, and found that there was a band playing. When they were performing “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2” I even sang along, whether it was good or bad I didn’t care. Then came a girl speaking to me in English asking for donation, so I gave all my change, maybe fifty or sixty rubles, or even less. I wanted to talk to her, to ask if they were students, but I didn’t seize the opportunity, she left hand in hand with the drummer. I was also wondering should I donate them one handred yuan, but the drummer left and some people left so I left. And I found there was another guy playing the guitar and singing. My battery died recording him.

So I came back to write my blog post. My Chinese roommates were talking about ruble exchange and return trip. I checked there were at least eight other Chinese. This room was mixed with men and women, perhaps all came here because of the low price. All the people were well-mannered, didn’t cause trouble to others, and quite all the time. At least that was the impression.

I plan to go to the strip club Стриптиз-клуб Zажигалка later.

And I failed. They didn’t let me in, so perhaps I will watch the performance in my dream. When I opened the door they even laughed at me and told me to go back using gestures. I thought I went to the wrong place, but then confirmed I didn’t. I saw some Russian guys before me had entered. So I went inside the door again and asked “Is it open?”, the guard said it was open but still let me go back. He then explained to me in Russian and showed the translation on his watch, something like “It is closed today, for special maintenance.”, so I just left. I think in any culture “closed for special maintainence” is basically politely telling you “you are not allowed to enter but we won’t tell you the detailed reason”. Alright, there’s no point keep asking, which would only piss the guard off. No big deal, I still have opportunities in the future.

After I went back to the hostel, I started chatting with the three Chinese guys on my left. They were all college students. The one just besides me was from Shanxi, and the one on his left was from Shannxi. There was also a guy from Changchun in the living room. He played well with a Russian buddy here, even fist-bumped each other.

10-04 The Dome

This day I didn’t write the post, now it’s October fifth. But I kept things in my note app, so here here is the summary and supplement of the notes.

I was sad. Thinking of leaving this city, I was sad.

In the morning I took a look at the guns in a hunting supply store. I have already tried AK-74 which is twenty-seven greater than AK-47 yesterday so I didn’t spend money just for a photo holding an AK-47. I entered Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral to look at its interior, and then bought some postcards at the ВладГифтс gift store.

I heard a coin dropped when I was at the entrance of the underground passage. So I picked it up and wanted to return it to the owner. But I stopped halfway because I wasn’t sure it was dropped by that person, and I was afraid I would return it to the wrong person. Nobody came to me for the coin, probably they didn’t notice or care.

After that, I visited Museum of the History of the Far East (Музей истории Дальнего Востока имени В.К. Арсеньева), the Fortress Museum (Владивостокская крепость), and Museum of Antique Automobiles and Motorcycles (Музей Автомотостарины), also walked around the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When I was in the cab to Museum of Antique Automobiles and Motorcycles, I saw a tram on the road. When paying the fee, the driver wanted to leave me his number to let me transfer the money. I explained that I was a tourist, could not use online payments, only the five thousand rubles cash available. So the driver had no choice but to turn over the seat and search his pockets to give me some change.

And then I went to the cemetery near Сфера, Смотровая площадка (Let’s just call it the Dome.). I feel like it was inappropriate of me taking photos here. I was a tourist who do not understand Russian at all, so I wouldn’t know the life and background of the deceased here. I was just looking for special tombstones and taking photos, that was indeed inappropriate. After that I went to the Dome, encountered Zhenya (Женя) and his fellow on the back seat of the motorcycle with a helmet. These youngsters came to see the Dome, didn’t care to ride the motorcycle loudly near the cemetery. Zhenya came to me, Ni Hao, Xie Xie, Zai Jian, we fist-bumped. At the Dome I saw the most beautiful sunset of Vladivostok. Sunlight went though the tall grass, in the distance is a diagonal bridge, a couple sitting close on a log, the Big Dumb Object on my left was warmed by the sunlight with graffiti spread inside silently waiting for and watching at the people came to enjoy the beautiful scenery. People’s steps formed echoes bouncing in the Dome, unnecessary for the graffiti to respond, for they’ve already been doing it for years. I left the Dome eventually and met three girls. I said privet to them, and also said “It’s beautiful up there.”. They seemed only understood the word “beautiful”, said something I didn’t understand and laughed. Maybe they thought I was calling them beautiful. Anyway, them seemed to say something to me, but when I was about to catch up with them to ask them clearly, they seemed to quicken their pace and didn’t want me to catch up.

I took a cab to the Калина shopping mall to buy something to take home. I wanted to buy Kvass, but it seemed sold out. I asked the aunt at the butcher shop nearby and had no idea what she said. So she came out to led me, stripped over my shopping basket and spilled the goods on the shelf next to her. I couldn’t say anything but “Pozhaley!” (пожалей, I was misled by the translator, this word actually does not stand for “sorry” or “apologize” at all.) and helped her up. Didn’t find Kvass in the end.

Coming back to the hostel with a big bag, the driver asked me “Китай?”“Tourist?”“Russia very good?”“China good? Russia good?”.

I’ve walked so far this day, too exhausted to feel sad. I haven’t eaten anything so I grabbed two beers, a slice of bread, and a sausage, found a place around the Revolution Fighters Square to enjoy my beer. It was about ten o’clock, the fountain light show playing in front of me. I was enjoying the last time at Vladivostok, chilly. One of the two aunts on my right came to me asking why was I here alone not going back to the hotel, because it was cold and dangerous here and not all Russians are friendly. I appreciated them for their care, explained I am to leave here tomorrow and I wanted to take a last look at here. Finally finished my beer and it had become really cold. I was wondering whether I should join the bottle rolling game of the teens on my left (Actually they were in the same direction as the two aunts, but I had turned around.) with my empty bottles. However, the polices came to drive away the teens after a while. I saw the aunts still wondering on the square so I ran to to them to say thanks, explained I would be returning to the hotel soon.

They said they saw me drinking lonely so they decided to remind me. We talked about my age, reason to come here — to enjoy my holidays and pay a visit to FEFU, my occupation — programmer (They kiddingly asked me if I was a spy to collect Russian secrets, and I confirmed that.). I also mentioned my hometown Harbin, the city president Putin visited months ago. The aunt with glasses told me she wanted to describe her stay in Japan to her friend. I interpreted text displayed on her translation app into English, it was at that moment I realized she undertands English, and she would translate what I said to another aunt. She also mentioned her travel experience to China or Harbin in 2007 where she ate roast duck. She asked my age and the other aunt said I was young. Still this one with glasses, she told me she was a teacher. It seemed she came here on business. I asked her, was she kind of tourist here, actually I meant she wasn’t local here. She has a forteen year-old daughter and she showed me her picture. Her daughter is beautiful for sure. I suggested we take a photo together. And then, the aunt asked my name and wanted a greeting to her daughter. So I said, “Greetings from Harbin. I hope you have a greate life and enjoy your life.”. After that I explained I was not good at expression and I was not an outgoing person. The aunt recorded a video to convey my wish. I then consulted about the pronunciation of the word “здравствуйте”. She taught me syllable by syllable. That was really good experience. Then she asked would I want to go back here next time, or something like that. I said maybe one day I would pay a visit to here again. The aunts let me go back to the hostel I lived then, so I said “Do svidaniya!”.

I don’t feel any lost or pity at all.

Pretty eager to find someone else to talk when I was drunk. So I chatted with the Russian guy in the living room. He was not a student, nor he was a tourist. He came here to take a look at his grandma. I told him I would be leaving tomorrow, and I enjoyed my stay here. He shared a tea bag with me. He asked, why I looked sad. I said in the morning I was indeed sad, but I was sad no more. I’ve had a full four days and that’s good enough for me. He then asked, would I learn Russian in the future. I said, sometime in the past I did try to learn Russian but eventually gave up. Maybe in the future I will pick up the learning again. My hometown Harbin, there are a lot of Russian style buildings there, and many of them were initially built by Russian. I also said in my opinion, men in Russia are handsome and women are beautiful. And you are handsome. I asked for a photo together, saying that I enjoyed my time here, and you were always kind to others, and I will be missing you when I go back to China. In the end, I learned Russian “good evening” from him, and said that to him, explaining I have to pack up my stuff for the departure tomorrow.

10-05 До свидания

Morning, it was a rush to catch the train. I looked up to the sky, a found there were more visible stars than I normally see in Harbin.

I didn’t take the bus ticket price into account when I was shopping yesterday. So I exchanged for some rubles from other person. On the train I looked up two times, didn’t find Olga. She was coming back to Harbin today. If she was still going to head to Pogranichnyy, there would be a little chance I meet her on the train. But I didn’t. Instead I saw a woman with her dog, as if yesterday I saw a woman brought her dog to the supermarket. Also I saw, as the train moving through the city, on my left there was cloudy hills turning into a sunrise tilted in the mountains, and on my right was a vast sea turning into a cozy morning glory.

In the supermarket “Moscow” in Ussuriysk, I bought fresh kvass. And even in the version with honey, they did not taste as sweet as in Harbin.

Took on the bus back to China. Someone asked me to bring some stuff.

According to the uncles from the same bus, the milk can not pass the examination of the customs. So I drank a whole box of milk like Wang Baoqiang in the movie. Now I am writing this post and have to go to the toilet often… The fresh fish, pig’s trotters, and the soybean oil carried by the uncles, were not supposed to pass the border. But with the cooperation of resourceful uncles and custom officials who turned a blind eye, the cooperation of both China and Russia, they passed the border with no problem. The lady for passport and visa examination sang with ease.

Shared a cab from Dongning Bus Station to Suifenhe, I chatted with pals on the road. The driver recommended us Jeju Island, also said we could consider buying a van when we have money in the future, as finding a place to park is difficult during a trip. He also suggested boys marry a girl from south. I said I lived in Harbin, judging by the location, Vladivostok is also considered south right? Somebody mentioned the Greater Khingan Range, the driver recommended that we go see the aurora there. The girl sit on my left was a first-year graduate student from Guangdong and studying Changchun. The other two said her voice sounds young. The girl on her left was playing “Ace Attorney”, she was the person promised to help me exchange rubles this morning, but we were separated on the train, so I turned to another person for the rubles. The guy in the front was from Heibei, I couldn’t see him. We talked about North Korea — the driver said North Korea is just like China in the seventies — and we also talked about spice used in the restaurant and perfume usesd by Russians.

My note ends here. I’m still having diarrhea… And it’s sixteen past nine, I plan to put on my clothes and take a look at the self-service dumpling restaurant, and have some drink.

Now is about ten o’clock in the night on October sixth. I’m sitting at my home. Last night was a crazy night.

The self-service dumpling restaurant was closed at that time, and I walked along the street and found Donya Russian Music Restaurant. I ordered a rack of lamb with lettuce, coriander, onions, garlic, gluten cakes and pickles, also gravy and mashed potatoes, mixed soup and two bottles of Miller beer. It cost over one hundred and forty yuan. There was a dance floor in the center of the restaurant, with lights on above and smoke spraying from below. Russian dance music was played on big speakers, and diners from both China and Russia were dancing here. Once again I was sitting at the corner drinking alone. Sometimes I went to the dance floor and jumped for a while. It happened to be an aunt’s birthday. People held hands together and circled around her, hugging her. Soon after, the table next to me changed occupants and six Russians came. It seemed Roman (Роман) firstly said hello to me. Anyway, I was invited to their deck. The woman on my right spoke English. She introduced these people to me. She was called Yulia (Юлия), and her husband was Roman who was drinking happily wearing a chest bag. Her friends here were Vika (Вика), Alexey (Алексей), Dmitry (Дмитрий, sometimes called Dima Дима), and Maxim (Максим). I may misspelled their names since I was recalling their names only by pronunciation. She lives Roman in Vladivostok, they have a three-year-old son. Their son lives with grandma in another city. Later, Roman started calling me a friend. Yulia invited me to go with them to Anna Western Restaurant for another round. It was in a basement, also with a dance floor. They ordered a half dozen of beer, a plate of shrimps, a plate of pistachios, and later a plate of grapes. They paid in cash, I said I didn’t bring cash with me but I can pay through the QR code. Yulia said this bottle of beer was on them. Yulia also talked about her honeymoon with Roman and friends in Thailand, and that was the exact experience that had made the Thailand city her favorite. She had also been to Shanghai, and wanted to visit Beijing, Harbin, and Chongqing in the future. She would never go to Moscow because it’s just too far from Vladivostok. Instead, she often goes to Suifenhe because it’s near. I talked about my mojar, Environmental Engineering. Yulia was majored in biology-related. Just like the aunts yesterday, Maxim and Yulia mentioned, Russians could be dangerous, and it was crazy I followed them and drank together. But Maxim also expressed on the contrary they were friendly. Roman had fallen into sleep. Maxim joked on him, saying he’s a tiger with two biggest hobbies, drinking and sleeping. The “Boss” friend of Yulia, Volod, had come here, looked like a big guy. Yulia said his wife was “dangerous”, and Maxim told me once Volod kept saying something like “I’m a man. I’m a man.” for two or three hours. We also talked about other things, such as the word “干杯”, whether I travelled here alone, also some adult jokes. Basically I was chatting only with Maxim and Yulia, and had a little dance with Roman, probably that was because others don’t speak English. Two o’clock in the morning, they wanted to go back. It’s a bit embarrassing to say that Roman and Yulia called me a friend, but I couldn’t talk to everyone, and I couldn’t even match their names and appearances. I still owe them a bottle of beer. If there is a chance I would like to treat them next time, but don’t wait until the Combine invades the Earth.

10-06 Suifenhe “Big White Building” and the Middle East Railway Memory Museum

Woke up in the morning, packed up and checked out, stored my luggage and went for a walk. I learned the history of Middle East Railway briefly at the Middle East Railway Memory Museum. I went to the self-service dumpling restaurant that I missed last night. Twenty-five yuan per person. I saw some Russians using chopsticks, even poured some vinegar on the dumplings. I drank two bottles and went back to the “New Era Building” full of Russians, took a snap at the lobby, spent my time, and went back home. Here I am uploading photos and writing this post, that’s it.

Because I used a proxy, Meta suspected that I had falsified my identity, blocked both of my Instagram accounts, and did not give me any effective means of appeal. I was forced to cut off contact with Yulia. That’s why sometimes I hate the big companies — your data is never yours; and it’s more and more difficult to contact a human customer service agent.

The pigeon feather I was planning to bring back and wrap in plastic ended up falling somewhere.

After switching to a low risk IP address, my appeal for the second account accepted. Now I’m good with Yulia and Roman. After watching the video of the “Big Ice and Snow World”, Yulia said she really wanted to come to Harbin, and said she would definitely contact me if she came to China in the future.

Update on 2025-03-27

On last Thursday which was March 20th, I met Yulia, Roman, and another two people, Anastasia and Maxim, who came here for a trip in Beijing. I brought them Laodingfeng cakes, Duiqing roast goose, Harbin sausages, and kvac. I brought them beers so I don’t owe them one anymore. 😉 We met at Guanghua Road SOHO. I followed them into a shopping mall. After that, they asked me to find a bar. So I led them to one which is open at that time. But the beer there is expensive so we left. Then we went to a Xinjiang restaurant where the waiter spoke Russian. At there we talked about some interesting topics, such as the Russian swear words I know. Yulia, Roman and I then went to find Anastasia and Maxim who had left earlier, passing by the Temple of Sun Park. Unlike Roman, Maxim was not accustomed to eating Chinese foods, so I bought them hamburgers at KFC. We arrived at the hotel they stayed and came to a small restaurant for another round. This time Roman paid the bill. Interestingly, when I asked if they wanted forks, Yulia told me specifically that they needed chopsticks, and they seemed to use them better than I did. Because I was unable to speak Russian, Roman and I talked by translators. Eventhough we did’t speak much physically, just typing, we still talked lively. They also encountered an unpleasant incident during the trip. The taxi driver gave them counterfeit money in change. However, they were also impressed by the enthusiastic tour guide who sent Roman’s lost hat back to him. The tour guide was also from Harbin. I don’t have to recall and write every detail of the topics about which we had talked that day because I guess I will have plenty of such opportunity in the future.

Update on 2025-09-20

On Thursday, September 18th, I met Yulia and Roman in Harbin, along with Anastasia, Maxim, their daughter Arina (Арина), Arina’s friend Olesya (Олеся), Maxim and Vika, Vika’s friend Katya (Катя). I met the other six people except Vika and the other two at the Saint Sophia Cathedral, walking along the Central Street to the hotel. On the way, I bought medicine for Olesya, and Olesya said I was their body guard. We stayed for a while in the underground passage. Yulia and Maxim tried the claw machine. Maxim caught the toy for several times but the toy “escaped” every time. Of course it falls, otherwise how could they make so much money from us?

At the hotel, they gave me some gifts. Yulia and Roman gave me the “bird’s milk” candy produced in Vladivostok. It was just introduced to me in the morning by another friend from Vladivostok also called Vika. Vika told me the next time I go there, she will take me to taste it. However, it was a suprise to receive such a gift so quickly in the evening. Anastasia and Maxim gave me some jam, honey, meat and snacks. We then headed to the Golden Hans near the Flood Control Memorial Tower for dinner. Olesya showed me their dogs — Zara and Pinky. Arina also showed me her dog, a Yorkshire Terrier. And then I showed our dog, Tangyuan. Yulia asked me, what my favorite dish was, and I said it would be scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Almost all of them love scrambled eggs with tomatoes. I saw a picture of young Roman and Maxim, and was told that they have been friends for 23 years. On the table, I gave them the Erguotou Baijiu I brought.

After dinner, we went to the Central Street to look for the other three people. Olesya didn’t feel good so she left in advance. Because of a strange experience, Yulia decided to change my name, so I have new name now — Semyon (Семён). Maxim, Vika, and Katya drank beer and was happy before we met them on the Central Street. We gathered before the McDonald’s. Vika and Katya were dancing, Maxim and I were pestered by a strange uncle. The uncle talked about how good Putin is, and how bad Zelensky and the United States are, how people are deceived by lies — however, he could see the truth, how Satan rules the world, and why you Russian Orthodox Christians don’t seem to believe in God… And later, he even started talking about aliens. At first, Maxim was willing to chat with him, but later he asked me to explain to the uncle that his English and Chinese was not good enough, so he was sorry that he could not continue the conversation. However, the uncle pestered us and was annoying. Yulia and other people had left to buy beer. They asked me if I was to join them, but I was busying dealing with the uncle…

We left the Central Street. Maxim and I went to the toilet in the underground passage, while Vika and Katya were taking photos using the machine upstairs. When we came out, we saw they dancing with the music performance in the passage. We joined others sitting on the bench by the river. We were eating sunflower seeds at night. I was listening to them talking words I didn’t understand. Vika and Katya left for the club. Later, others and I also said goodbye to each other.

That was a happy day. I drank some beer but had no headache. When I came home, I saw many stars blinking in the sky. I wrote something…

On the morning of September 19th, a good news. It seemed that I finally got what I’d been longing for. It happened so quickly.

This day was also mom and dad’s anniversary, we went to the Chinese Baroque. Yulia and other people had walked at there yesterday.

At night, I had some experience more exciting… It made me kindda crazy.

Update on 2026-03-29

The Thursday before the last Thursday, March 19th, Yulia, Roman, and Vika, after visiting Shanghai and Hangzhou, came to Beijing again for a day. They also brought their children: Yulia and Roman’s son, Dania, and Vika's daughter, Polina. There was also a slightly older girl, Dasha, but I was meeting her for the first time and didn't know whose child she was.

This time, Yulia and Roman finally went up the Central Radio and Television Tower. That was where I met the others. Afterwards, we went to a nearby shopping mall. On the way, Yulia said Vika didn’t like Beijing, but preferred Shanghai and Harbin. I said I didn’t like Beijing either, so Vika and I high-fived. Later, I asked her why she didn’t like Beijing, and she said she didn’t know, maybe because everything was gray, like Moscow. Dania was very mischievous, constantly crawling under my legs.

We took the subway to the vicinity of the CCTV Headquarters. Vika had seen online that there was a high-rise restaurant there with a view of the night scene. She led us into a building, but the security guard said the upper floors were for work and not open to tourists. He opened the door for us though, and we were allowed to go up to the upper floors. But there wasn’t much to see; the doors leading to the glass windows were locked.

Yulia found the restaurant, in a slightly farther location. But everyone was tired and decided not to go there, so I parted ways with them.

As for that exciting experience and what I had always longed for, I had long since lost it.

The next day, March 20th, my dad drove me back to the university. There weren’t many people in the office. However, Mr.Sheng took me to the lab for a while to watch the younger students prepare their experiments. Professor Sheng said that teaching us and watching us grow was like completing a work of art. Although he gets older every year, with each new class of students around him, he feels still very young.

The End

Not a sip, not a penny out of pocket, just wandering and taking photos.

Well actually, I did cost a little by calling a cab on the way back home.

As a native of Harbin, I had never attended the famous international beer festival before. So yesterday I planned to come to the Sun Island this weekend to take photos and have some drinks. I’m not a big fan of crowded and noisy places — once I went to the Strawberry Music Festival, the loud sound field there made my heartbeat follow the crazy sonic, which was really uncomfortable, and I don’t want to go to any music festivals anymore. There certainly will be loud musical acts on this beer festival, but also, there will be fireworks and drone show this evening. So, I’m in.

I had worried that I might have got drunk, laid down somewhere, and lost my camera tody. It turned out, instead of got drunk, I was taking photos all over the place, excitedly. Why was I so excited? Cuz I met some international ladies! They could be from Russia or somewhere. “你要唠这个我可就不困了啊！” At first, I was shooting models in shiny branded green dresses with fashionable feather hats, in front of the Harbin Brewery shed. Then came several international ladies to join us. This time I got a good position with no one blocking my lense anymore. Aunties also eager to take photos with these ladies. I was shy after all! Asked the guy on my left to take a photo of me with the lady, but he was picking photos on his phone, didn’t hear me. I just didn’t have the heart to mention it again, thus missed the opportunity! After that I thought, wasn’t I stupid?! I’ve got a camera with a flippable screen which allows me to take photos on my own! There was a chance in front of me and I didn’t appreciate it. If the God gave me another chance, I would be brave enough to ask for a photo together, even though we speak different languages. It sounds like a line from a movie or TV show, reminiscent of Big Little Lies, but that’s really what I was thinking.

The God had decided to indulge this silly guy again. It was international models wearing flesh-colored tights and gorgeous wings on the back, just like in the promotional pictures. This time I was (being surrounded by the crowd and forced to walk close to them) following them to shoot all the way. They also interacted with people, so I asked for photos together naturally. They were all friendly. Ha, so far no regrets. I felt like this month would have been worth it.

It was almost the time for the opening ceremony and I ran to set up my tripod in front of the main stage. On my left there was a person talking to me. It was Ms.Luo! She was my teacher. The woman next to her seemed to be her mother. This was… unexpected at all. After the small talk, they went for a better place to watch the ceremony, I could never find them again. I was wondering if I could take a photo with her, because it was really a surprise that we met in this place. But I hesitated, and before I could ask, I couldn’t find her! The God has spoiled me enough. I asked for her number from my ex-roommate, but the signal was so bad we couldn’t hear each other, so she hung up. I texted her then. She stated that due to the poor signal, it would be hard enough for us to find each other, so why don’t I just enjoy the festival on my own. All right… I figured they might have left here. So that’s the pity of the day.

The opening ceremony began with some singing and dancing. Afterwards, the hosts introduced the newly constructed “Little Ice and Snow World” project this year, which allows visitors to get a glimpse of what Harbin looks like in winter, at this time. It was also announced that the (“Big”) Ice and Snow World had become a permanent project, which gives visitors different experiences in different seasons. There were congratulatory messages. Then, as I recall, it was the much anticipated Sun Honglei who came on. He chatted with the hosts about some topics that were already stipulated in the script, advertised Harbin Brewery, also expressed his blessing for Harbin, etc. Then there was the announcement that the Ice and Snow World had achieved Guinness World Records certification. I actually have learned these during the afternoon rehearsal. At that time, Sun Honglei was a shy girl, how time flies!

Next up was an exciting fireworks and drone show. On the left side of the field were the drones and on my side were the fireworks, both going on at the same time. I was so busy shooting that I blurred some of the photos because of inappropriate shutter setting. But it’s better than nothing, and it’s always good to leave a record.

It was about eight o’clock in the evening. I was considering drinking beer at the Harbin Brewery shed. Problem is, there was a long queue, and I was already a bit tired. Thought that I wasn’t fortunate enough to enjoy a cup of cold, refreshing beer, I just left. And again, after that I found myself damn stupid. There were other “beer gardens” to accommodate me, and I just left! Maybe I was really exhausted… During that time, I met a photographer and a reporter from Heilongjiang Television, I wanted to take a photo of them. However, the reporter realized I was looking at her, so I was too embarrassed to take the photo. She came up to me and asked where I was from. Of course, Harbin… Then she said goodbye, because she was looking for visitors from out of town to film a interview. Okay then. It’s just… it was also my first visit to Harbin International Beer Festival, and I was equally excited and thrilled.

Almost nine o’clock, time to leave. However, the line outside the subway station was long enough to fill a street, thus the subway station was restricted. Wasn’t lucky to take the subway when the station entrance is just steps away from me. Then I decided to take the bus. So I walked and ran all the way from the Sun Island to the Central Hospital bus stop. There were also a lot of people who chose to walk back to the south side of the river, walking in several lines on the river bridge. The traffic police even thoughtfully directed cars to avoid us. I don’t think this bridge normally allows people to walk on it. Any way, tired but still had a little energy, I walked and ran kilometers to the bus stop, eventually missed the bus… It was less than a hundred meters, I think, but I couldn’t run anymore and had some heat stroke… Thought I might had missed the last bus, I just took a cab. The cab arrived, with the next bus… Fuck. While I was waiting for the cab, I checked the map app, it told me the next bus wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes or so! In the end, I spent eighteen yuan for the cab, knowing that I’d be an asshole if I just refuse the cab drivers’s service and take the bus to save money.

And here I am, sitting in front of my PC, organizing photos and thoughts. I did feel a little upset on my way back home. Will today end like this? When will be the next time I experience such excitement mixed with exhaustion? Guess I just can’t let go of these beautiful international ladies after all. Didn’t take enough photos. I have to say that I never had the courage to go and take a photo with strangers before, so today was actually an improvement. It’s just… Will I get more chances in the future? Will I go abroad? Maybe marry an Russian woman. Haha, what am I day-dreaming (Well it’s night…) of? I know it’s ridiculous. I can’t even socialize with other people. I can’t even find a girlfriend. Marry an Russian woman? Nonsense. Perhaps I should have just found another place for cups of beer back then, so I wouldn’t be upset.

And tomorrow I would be a fine guy again. Just kidding, it’s already “tomorrow” now… I’ll attach the photos later, I have a bunch of useless shots now.

The End

Life is about fiddling around with things, I guess…

After making a multilingual modification to my blog, I started a new journey fiddling around with it.

This website uses tags forked from Kristof Zerbe’s hexo-tag-plugins repository. Through Kristof’s articles, I learned about the IndieWeb community, which led me to other technologies that associated with it, like microformats, IndieAuth, RelMeAuth, Webmention, etc. It turns out that there is a bunch of people in the world who use their indie websites as primary online identities, and also use a set of open technologies and standards to communicate and interact with each other on their websites.

不觉得这很酷吗？作为一名理工男我觉得这太酷了，很符合我对未来生活的想象，科技并带着趣味。 ^[1]

I’d like to try to be part of that community. I have already got an indie website and my personal domain. The implementation of IndieAuth and RelMeAuth support is also easy. The next thing is to implement microformats and Webmention. So I referred to Kristof’s three tutorials: “Hexo and the IndieWeb”, “Hexo and the IndieWeb (Sending Webmentions)”, and “Hexo and the IndieWeb (Receiving Webmentions)”, along with other resources such as “webmention 实现参考” by Runye, “透過 webmention 來搜集 blog 的社群迴響” by Jason Chen, to make some modifications to my blog.

There were some hiccups during the modification. Redefine, the Hexo theme I use, uses Tailwind CSS to write some of its styles, which leaves many class names that start with h- in the HTML structure, causing some microformats parsers to generate incorrect results. So I had to use a filter to make some changes to the theme by replacing class names that start with h-, with other class names. After the replacement, the h-entry I made seems to be parsed correctly. For interactive links that require special class names like u-in-reply-to, u-like-of, I would write them in the front-matter, insert them into the page with a filter and hide them. After testing, I found that it is better to insert only one interactive link in an article, and once the interactive link is inserted, it is better not to have other links in the text, or there may be parsing error. Also, I am not sure if I can provide the h-entry and the links it contains in a correct format. Webmentioin Rocks! told me that I had not provide u-in-reply-to links appropriately during previous tests, though this seems like a bug. Having just talked about Webmentions, on my end of this website, the work that needs to be done is to parse the Webmentions and display them on the page. I chose webmention.js by PlaidWeb to get the work done, and made some adaptations to let the script use my own simple i18n system. In addition, I have also added the ability to switch between Comments and Webmentions, and added a manual send feature to the Webmentions interaction system.

After all these operations, my website has obtained a lot of terrible codes, again…It’s time for me to keep doing my graduation project.

Update on 2025-03-01

Test IndieWeb functions again after I wrote a new theme for this blog. Should display a like of “Sending your First Webmention from Scratch”.

The End

This site is now available both in Chinese and in English.

Honestly, I don’t know why I have decided to add an English version of my blog — I cannot write fluently in Chinese, let alone in English; I guess it’s only because it’s interesting and also, I want to see if adding another language is feasible.

Hexo has a limited i18n system which can display a post in multiple languages, yet pages generated by themes are only available in single language. So I took a treacky approach, which is to generate both Chinese site and English site within the same repository, with each site using its own configuration, theme configuration, the source directory, and the public directory; and the rest of the contents required to generate sites such as the scaffolds directory and the scripts directory are shared between these sites. Thus, even though the Chinese site and the English site together is coherent, these are two indivisual sites with each static resources placed in its own public directory. To facilitate site generation, I wrote several scripts which are capable of cleaning up intermediates, including some of the same resources in the two source directories of both sites, switching the language used to generate the site based on parameters. You may have noticed that there is an “info icon” (It has moved to the lower right corner as a “language button” for now.) in the upper right corner of some posts (for example, this one) and pages. It indicates that the page you are reading is available in multiple languages, and you can switch to other versions just by clicking that icon. This feature is supported by a metadata generator and filter, an injector, and a broswer-end runtime script that I wrote. When I intend to write two language versions of a post, I provide an array of paths (each path represents the post in a specific language) in the front-matter, embed the metadata in the page via the metadata generator and filter, read it in the browser via the broswer-end script injected by the injector, and then display the “info icon”. The broswer-end script I mentioned is a script that I use to implement specific features and perform modifications dynamically. This script itself contains some prompt strings, so I also wrote simple i18n functions to provide these strings both in Chinese and in English. Now the website has two language versions, each has a root of /zh-CN/ or /en/. However, the previous links that search engines had indexed does not inlude the “language mark”, so I also wrote the index and 404 page for the entire site to direct visitors to the correct page.

Basically, this is how I implemented a bilingual Hexo site. Maybe I’ll try to blog in English. Maybe.

The End