In Russia – with love. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. End of the world or its beginning?

You fly to Sakhalin with bated breath. Like, now I will see something completely amazing and unlike anything else. And then you are really surprised all the time. For various reasons and not always with a plus sign.

Chekhov, Anton Palych, got here for a long time. Today is 9 o’clock and you are there. The planes are big and comfortable. In addition to the economy class cabin, many have not only a business class, but also a comfort class in order to brighten up the path and shake more money out of the passenger.

Everything goes well to the airport, and then you start driving along what are called roads in Sakhalin. But it’s impossible not to drive, because in Yuzhny (as the locals call Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) there is absolutely nothing to do. The landscape would be simply amazing if everything that was built here after the war were demolished. It’s simple – that’s it.

Shabby five-story buildings, rickety sheds and ridiculous business centers disfigured the island capital to the point of impossibility. Close to look at it is simply not strong enough. And so we urgently need to go to the ski resort and climb up. From a height it looks beautiful, because you can not see the details.

Then, of course, there are nice places. For example, the Gagarin Park with a river, ponds and even a children’s railway. Several historical buildings inherited from the Japanese.

Restaurant service is beyond good and evil. The tourist flow is growing, and in the late afternoon, the quest “try to have dinner” begins. There are no seats. You want to order for tomorrow – but there are no places. There is the day after your departure.

The menus are very strange. Almost no local specialties to be found. Although, it would seem, the ocean is nearby, with its fish and marine reptiles. And what is, does not look very fresh, to put it mildly. Basically, Japanese and Korean cuisine is the same as in Moscow. But more expensive. There are, of course, hidden places where you sit in the water and savor fresh oysters. But this is not in the South, but towards the Tikhaya Bay. Three hours on a broken road.

The easiest way to see the ocean (to be precise, it’s still not quite the ocean) is in Korsakov. Go for a short time. Beautiful – again, if you demolish all the buildings. On the mountain there is a monument in honor of the Koreans who, after the war, were waiting for the steamer to leave for their homeland, but they never did. On the way along the sea you get to the gas liquefaction plant. A gas carrier, a huge vessel with hemispheres, may well stand and refuel at the pier.

A little before reaching the plant, on a hillock, a monument in honor of the Japanese landing in 1905 is slowly crumbling. Of course, it was delivered by the Japanese back in 1926. Let me remind you that the southern part of Sakhalin was occupied for 40 years and belonged to the Karafuto prefecture. Naturally, in the South there is a monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator. So bizarrely history brought together several peoples on Sakhalin – Russians, Koreans, Japanese.

Moreover, the Sakhalin Koreans, to put it mildly, do not have a very sincere attitude towards the Soviet Koreans, considering them partially traitors to the Motherland. After all, the ancestors of the Sakhalin Koreans were deported to the island by the Japanese, and the ancestors of the Soviet Koreans voluntarily emigrated to Russia after the Russo-Japanese War.

Perhaps the most beautiful place on Sakhalin is Cape Ptchiy with bizarre arched rocks. The remains of a road, also built by the Japanese, lead there. Today you will not find it on the map. Only a guide can take you there in his all-wheel drive old Japanese minibus. Get ready for bruises and bumps. They say there is another road to Cape Bird. It’s shorter, but worse. Where is worse?

The main thing in traveling to Sakhalin is to get away from the city devastation. And then fantastic pictures open up. And it’s breathtaking. From here the sun moves through Siberia and the Urals to us, to the central part of Russia. And why, by the way, is it called central? Take a look at the map. Moscow is also on the edge of our vast country, and Sakhalin is on the other side.

Alexey Vishnevetsky.