Petra's homepage
Experiences of a Dutch Journalist
Vladivostok, 30 January - 3 February 2003
The Vlad Motor Inn in Vladivostok asked if we could do a review on their restaurant; they would cover all expenses, including tickets. We always pick up the restaurant bill ourselves, eager as we are come up with independent reviews, but, as a newspaper with a very small budget, we were happy to make an exception...
It was freezing at this windy viewpoint overlooking the harbour. Being home to the Russian Pacific Fleet, Vladivostok was wrapped in a shroud of mystery for decades; it was even entirely closed from 1958 to 1991.
This S-56 submarine reminds of the fleet's old glory days; it is said to have won 14 battles in the Second World War. Now it serves as a museum. 
This is where they loaded the torpedo's.
The bunk beds are much smaller than the torpedo's lying underneath... 
The seafront doesn't really look appealing in winter... Being fed up with Russian food, Yulia and me wanted to go to one of the best Chinese restaurants in town located here. Unfortunately, all the staff had left to celebrate Chinese New Year at home... ALL Chinese restaurants later appeared to be closed... So much for Chinese food.
Of course we made sure we had enough time to have fun.... Here in a Korean owned 5-star hotel... Some luxury after all that hardship. 
Later that evening we managed to visit several nightclubs. We found Vladivostok of 600,000 inhabitants rather boring with only 20 people visiting the most popular nightclub on a Thursday evening, compared to over-crowded Wednesday nights in disco's in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, which has only 170,000 inhabitants.
We made time for relaxation as well, as the area is also famous for its sanatoria. The sauna and pool were officially closed at the time when I visited, but I had the sauna and pool to myself and a free lunch after I told them I would mention the sanatorium in my article on Vladivostok. 
We thank our host Vlad Motor Inn for giving us the opportunity to visit Vladivostok. We gave the restaurant the highest possible ranking... Not just because they picked up the bill, but because compared to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk standards, the food really was very good.
