Hunchun city. I m lost

Once an excited Tanya ran to Kalina right at the rehearsal.

- Girlfriend, listen here, - she rattled her nose in disgust, - do you want to go to Hunchun?

- Where is it? Kalina asked cautiously, looking anxiously at the children, who did not know how to react to the intrusion of an unfamiliar aunt.

“Haven’t you seen: billboards are hanging everywhere in the city: “Hunchun is the pearl of border tourism.”

I saw shields. Tanya, wait for me in the playroom, I'll let the children go and let's talk!

- Yes, I don’t have much time, the lunch break is only half an hour!

“Tanya,” Kalina asked imploringly, “be patient for five minutes, we will finish the last song.” I'll let the children go, I'll appoint the attendants for the club and that's it, I'm all yours!

Fortunately for Tatyana, in the playroom, which also served as a rest room, there was a kettle, tea leaves and cookies with sweets. So the time of waiting was not in vain for her.

“Tan, I’m free,” Kalina said cheerfully, entering the game room, “tell me what you wanted!?”

“Yes, I already asked you if you would like to go to Hunchun?”

“And I asked you, where is it?”

- I answer, - Tatyana emphasized officially, - Hunchun, a small town located on the border between China and Korea!

- Which Korea?

"Does it matter to you?" North Korea!

- OK. Tanya, tell me what you have in mind?

— My friend returned from Hunchun yesterday in complete delight!

- So what?

- And that! I learned the name of the travel agency that takes helpers to Hunchun.

“Do you want us to go to Hunchun?”

- Thank God, it's over!

- And what is there that we did not see in Sunka?

There are higher quality items! There is not such strict control at the border, more things can be transported! Near the big city, the Yangtze, you can go on a tour there.

- No, Tanya, I don’t want to! I need to work!

“You have days off, so we’ll guess for them.”

“Tan, how can I explain to you…

- Everything, I understand! You are afraid that, just like in Sunka, they will grab you by the hands and suck in goods. No, a friend said that everything is completely different there! Unlike Suifenhe, this town is small, with two or three floors, Russian is poorly spoken, and there are no supermarkets. Kalina, let's go, I'll tell you a secret, I've already paid for the tickets, so there's nowhere to retreat!

- Oh, Tanya, Tanya, shame on you, this is some kind of blackmail! Well, what am I to do with you? Okay, let's go!

We drove for a long time, six hours. The road was disgusting. That is, there was no road, as such, there was impassability. The bus shook mercilessly, there was so much dust in her mouth that it began to seem to Kalina that she was already all of this loose material. The group of helpers was large, forty people. The head of the group was desperately complex, despite the fact that it was not very hot, she undressed to a T-shirt, but this did not save her either, it was clear that because of the excitement, the T-shirt was literally soaked with sweat. Together with the helpers, a group of tourists rode in the bus. There were five of them. They were lucky, they crossed the Chinese border quickly. A little earlier, a Russian literally flew like a fly. Either the leader of the tourists turned out to be cunning, or the Chinese customs officers at this border learned to distinguish tourists from helpers, but the tourists were already far away when the helpers were just lined up and handed out some forms that had to be filled out. Forty people undertook to fill out forty questionnaires, the information in which had to be entered in English. It was quiet horror. Tanya quickly filled out her piece of paper and took up Kalina's questionnaire. However, for more than half of the group, the filling process stalled already at the first sentences. Tanya scurried from one person to another, helping to fill out documents at a breakneck pace. Still, things were moving incredibly slowly. More than an hour passed before the direct border crossing began. The city met the helpers with wind and rain. In the hotel where the group was brought, there were only rooms with three beds. Tanya seemed to agree that a third person would live in the room with them, but when she saw Kalina pouting with resentment, she immediately refused. Thirty people, at the very least, settled in this hotel, the remaining ten went to another. The hotel was called the Golden Phoenix, looked very nice and was unusually close to residential buildings. So close that Chinese binoculars could day or day, and especially at night, watch the absent-minded Russians who forget to draw the curtains when they change clothes or get ready for bed. Having received the coveted double room, Kalina sighed calmly and set out to rest, but Tanya rebelled.

- What are you doing, friend?

— What am I doing?

"Don't you want to see the city as quickly as possible?"

“I want to, but I can at least wash myself out of the way,” Kalina said wearily, realizing that today you can’t get rid of her friend so easily, “and I’ll change into something clean.” Dust is falling off me! Why don't you bathe now?

“Kalina,” Tanya threatened her friend, “don’t run into it!”I know you, fox! First you wash, then I wash, then you decide again that you are not clean enough and climb into the shower! And after the shower you will be pulled to sleep! Let's go, the manager said she was waiting for us in the car.

— What is it? Why is she waiting for us?

- I, for example, have been hungry for a long time, and you?

- I'm not very good, I got sick on the bus!

“Kalina,” Tanya shook her head reproachfully, “sometimes you can be so…

- A bore, - Kalina finished the sentence for her friend, - do not be shy, speak up! Moreover, I already know about it without you! Such a sin follows me! Well, let's go, otherwise you will fall from hunger or throw yourself at someone!

“Don’t forget to take out the key, otherwise we won’t get into the room when we return.”

Don't study science!

The town was really small. In addition to the Chinese, Koreans also lived here. There were few taxis on the streets, mostly cycle rickshaws scurried along the road. But the head of the group, Olesya Sergeevna, did not want to mess with the rickshaw and stopped a taxi.

The Koreans were not very different from the Chinese, but the leader, who brought the groups here more than once or twice, distinguished one from the other well. A woman was driving the taxi. Despite the chilly weather, the Chinese darted through the streets in light blouses, and the woman driver was generally wearing a sundress, dressed on a light T-shirt, and some kind of rag was wound around her head. This is despite the fact that all the windows in the passenger compartment of the car were open and the passengers, packed in fairly warm jackets, immediately froze. The trip started with a bang. First, the manager argued with the female driver, trying to force her to close the windows, then because the taxi turned the wrong way. The woman looked philosophically at Olesya Sergeevna, and generally stopped the car.

“Where are you going anyway,” Olesya shouted, “we need the Ali Baba cafe!” There is no need to drive us in a circle, the Ali Baba cafe is not far from the hotel, - and she began to vigorously shake the guidebook in the face of the Korean woman, which the courteous Chinese had given out to all the tourists at the border. The purple-faced Olesya poked five times at one point, before the Korean woman nodded melancholy and turned the car in the other direction.

The hostess of the cafe was an Uzbek woman, who could even now be filmed in films. She was so beautiful that the men from the group did not even notice what was served at the table, they were so fascinated by the exotic radiance of the beauty of the beautiful hostess of the cafe. She was courteous, helpful, and spoke perfect Russian. After lunch, as is always the case in China, tourists immediately dispersed in different directions.

Tatyana and Kalina called a taxi, which was driven by a man this time, and, pointing to the guidebook, drove towards the city center. Women quickly got tired, the long way affected. After wandering around the city for two hours, we decided to return to the hotel to take a break and sort out the purchases. Tanya had not yet had time to wave her hand, and the taxi had already slowed down almost at her feet. On past trips to China, it was enough to give a taxi driver a magnetic room key, and he knew where to go, but here in Hunchun, this maneuver did not work. The taxi driver turned the key, trying to read something in it, then shook his head and drove away. Snorting, Tatyana called another taxi driver, but the result was the same. Having come to the conclusion that here, in the center, some wrong taxi drivers, the women decided to move a little further away and try again to get to the hotel. The fifth taxi driver could speak a little Russian. It was he who explained to the furious women that there was no name of the hotel on the key. Hearing this, the impressionable Kalina almost fainted, the world faded before her eyes. They were in a foreign country, without passports, without any other identification documents. Tanya offered her heroic shoulder to her swaying friend and asked the taxi driver:

Do you know the Golden Phoenix Hotel?

The taxi driver shook his head.

— I don’t understand Russian hotel, I have to write in Chinese!

Translated into Russian, this probably meant: “I know the name of the hotels in Chinese, but I don’t know Russian.”

Kalina, where she stood there and sat down. Tanya was covered in perspiration.

“Listen, korefana, what do we…

- I remembered, - Kalina suddenly shouted, - take us to the Ali Baba cafe, and from there we will find the way ourselves!

“I don’t understand,” the taxi driver murmured in confusion, “what is Ali Baba?”

- This is a cafe, Tan give me a guide, I will try to explain to him now.

But there was no such cafe on the guidebook. Either the cafe was new, only recently rebuilt, or the guidebook was too concise, but the result was obvious: the cafe was not listed in the guidebook.

Having delved into the desperate situation of the women, the taxi driver tried to help them and drove them to another cafe, the owner of which was a man of Central Asian appearance.

Women were accepted into the cafe as the most long-awaited clients, but the cordiality on the faces of the servants immediately disappeared as soon as Tatya hinted at the Ali Baba cafe.

“I don’t know,” the owner replied sullenly, “look for him yourself!”

“But, dear comrade,” Tanya tried to explain the situation, “we don’t need the Ali Baba cafe, we lost our hotel. And she stands next to the cafe "Ali Baba"! Do you understand?

- Will you eat? - the owner of the cafe asked sullenly.

“No, we have already had lunch,” Kalina answered, “you see, the point is ...

The man didn't let her finish.

- Call a taxi driver, I will explain to him where this cafe is.

After the owner's explanations, the taxi driver quickly found the right cafe, and Kalina and Tanya found their hotel. Fortunately, the town of Hunchun was absolutely straight, in its relief there were no hills, elevations and depressions. Having flown into the hotel, Tanya first of all rushed to the desk on duty and demanded the business card of the hotel. The attendant, taken aback, handed over a box of business cards. There were ten business cards in the box. Tanya took them all.

We rested for an hour and a half, after which Tanya began to show signs of impatience. Surprisingly, Kalina managed to rest in such a short time and was also not averse to wandering around the town again, which she liked at first sight. Indeed, the Chinese here were friendly, no one dragged anyone into the store and did not persuade anyone to buy anything. The local population lived their busy life and, in general, they didn’t care about the Russians. This time we walked for three hours, and Tatyana was brutally hungry. We went to several cafes, but did not eat there, because everything on the menu was written in Chinese, or maybe in Korean, who knows, and the women could not order anything. Tanya was delighted like a child when she saw a familiar sign. The face of a middle-aged man adorned the fast food cafe. Such establishments can be found in many cities of China. It was K.F.C., an analogue of the American McDonald's. The women ate several times at the same cafe in Sunfenhe. The cafes were quiet, clean and warm. Chinese kids frolicked in a specially designated children's corner, while their parents sedately devoured hamburgers, ice cream, coffee and Coca-Cola. But there was no pizza in the cafe. It was not prepared here. Happy and rested women left the cafe and moved towards new adventures, that is, shopping. After wandering around the city a little, the friends came to the conclusion that they panicked in vain during the first exit into the city. The town was so small, in any case, its shopping center, that if you wished, you could walk it from end to end in about forty minutes. Sociable Tanya tried several times to start a conversation with representatives of the local population, but she did not succeed. They didn't understand Russian here, that's all. The great and mighty Russian in this town has not yet sounded at full power. There were several funny signs written in the wrong Russian, but they were far from Sunka. “Ironing, washing, a fur coat and deer skin”, “Sex wholesale and retail”, “The luckiest dining room”, “Auto one hundred Pasha”, “Vaccination hair dye”, “Wash, depend on hair, hair”. “Wholesale depot of labor protection knitwear”, “Vasya works here” and the most concise inscription: “Bones”. In general, Hunchun was a small provincial town, there was nothing "Pearl" in it, it was far from the ostentatious chic and splendor of Suifenhe, but Kalina liked the city. But Kalina categorically refused to go to the Buddhist temple "Ling Bao" in the evening. Tanya spent about an hour on all sorts of persuasion, exhortations and even flattery. She stressed that, according to a friend, the temple is very beautiful and tourists mainly visit it in the evening. She said that the temple is more of a decoration than a functioning monastery, and even taking pictures there is allowed without any restrictions.

Evening has come. Tanya armed herself with a camera and the women left the hotel. Pointing at the guide, Tanya looked inquiringly at the driver, who drove up at high speed to the entrance of the hotel. He nodded approvingly. The temple was very close, and if the women knew about it earlier, they would have reached on foot. After paying thirty yuan, Kalina and Tanya went inside. Compared to the temple in Sunfenhe, there was just a festive atmosphere here. Temple music played loudly. Fires blazed and sparkled. The more it got dark, the brighter everything around shone. Every tree, every bush was wrapped in garlands. At the very top of the temple complex, a huge golden Buddha lay on its side. He was called sleeping. But Kalina would give him a different name - dormant. The Buddha did not sleep, he watched the little people fussing around, and only pretended to be asleep. But the Buddha still had to be reached. As in Suifenhe, the temple complex was located in such a way that everyone who wanted to make every effort to get to the very top, so to speak, to the very highlight, of all this divine splendor. Russian speech sounded everywhere, flashes of cameras flashed. The path illuminated by lights led higher and higher. Those who had the desire to walk along the fake Chinese wall had the full opportunity to feel on top of the world. And the path kept getting higher and higher. Kalina gradually calmed down. There were no nuns and monks resembling Mei Luo and her entourage nearby. Russian tourists emerged from the most unexpected dark corners of the temple, frightened themselves and frightened others. Wandering through the darkback streets, the girlfriends went into a brightly lit pavilion. This is where the music played the loudest. Tanya pulled Kalina by the hand. Two painted human-sized statues with creepy faces caught Tanya's attention. She got ready to take pictures and asked Kalina to pose in front of the statues. Kalina happily agreed. She loved to be photographed, but not to photograph! Seeing a small crowd of people, Tanya rushed into the thick of it, not forgetting to pull Kalina after her. Several monks smeared their foreheads with everyone who wished and handed over square medallions with the image of the Buddha. Naturally, not for nothing! On one side of the medallion, the Buddha was carved, on the other, Ling Bao, a Taoist nun, after whom the temple was named. Those who became the owner of the medallion were promised happiness and wealth. Tanya wedged herself into the crowd like an icebreaker.

“Wait a minute, comrades,” he said cheerfully, “I was standing here, I just went away to light a candle!” Smell, feel how scented candles smoke, one of them is mine!

The process of anointing with oil for Tanya went off without a hitch, but with Kalina everything was not so easy. As soon as her turn came and the monk turned to prepare for the new rite, a sigh of surprise passed through the crowd. The fact is that the oil, which calmly overflowed in the ritual vessel, suddenly evaporated! The monk sent the attendant for another portion of butter, and while the boy was running, he chose from a pile of medallions one that most corresponded to Kalina. But there was a mistake with the medallion. As soon as the medallion was in Kalina's hands, it crunched and split into two halves. The monk sighed in surprise and yelled at the attendant. The boy groaned from the effort as he placed the ritual vessel in its place. With a new portion of oil, the monk again decided to repeat the ritual. As soon as he set out to do this, it turned out that there was no oil in the vessel. It evaporated a second time. The monk carefully looked at Kalina, then fell to his knees and froze in this form. The servant stood beside him in confusion, not knowing what to do now. Seeing that the dull servant did not understand the importance of the moment, the monk straightened up a little and shouted, turning to the corner where the entrance to the interior was hidden in the darkness.

Kalina pulled Tanya by the hand. She did not want to be the object of the monk's attention. She hated all the fuss. But the monk did not let them leave, he crawled on his knees after Kalina and blocked her path. In a second, the entire pavilion was filled with monks. The crowd parted. Four servants, dressed in brighter and neater clothes, which probably meant a higher rank, brought in the decrepit grandfather. Grandfather was shaking all over and his eyes were covered with a film from cataracts. It was evident that every step the elderly man got with great difficulty, but he went forward.

Finally, the five monks reached the place where strange events took place. Grandfather was placed with the greatest comfort and they began to explain something to him. The music suddenly stopped, and an inexplicable alarm hung in the air. Kalina made another attempt to blend in with the crowd, and again she failed. A Chinese woman stepped out of the crowd and agreed to be a volunteer translator. She spoke Russian poorly, understood even worse, so that Kalina understood almost nothing of what the Chinese woman was saying. The Buddhist temple the friends visited was dedicated to the Chinese nun Ling Bao, who lived in a monastery located in the Wudangshan mountains. In worldly life, the nun was known as a scientist, and then devoted her life to serving the faith. After waiting for the Chinese woman to translate, the old monk shook his head ruefully, and then pointed his finger in the direction of Kalina.

She is all light and sound. Its light is impossible to look at, its sound is impossible to bear,” the shocked Chinese woman translated.

- What kind of crap is this, - Tanya frowned, - who is he talking about? What about you, Kalina?

“Tan, let’s go home,” the friend said through tears, “I can’t be here anymore!”

“But how can we go,” Tanya threw up her hands contritely, “look, they surrounded us!” Calm down, they are unlikely to do something bad to us, chat a little and leave behind.

The grandfather chuckled in displeasure. His raspy voice filled the entire space of the pavilion.

“Her strength is growing every day. And there is no limit to this power! May everyone who does not have faith in himself bathe in her radiance and become even stronger than he was in his last incarnation! Guanyin gave her a benevolent look, Kali became her incarnation, and Ling Bao only humbly bows at her feet. And at a sign from grandfather, all the monks who were in the pavilion at that moment fell to the floor. Several seconds passed. Grandfather clapped his hands, and immediately the servants led him home. Soon the pavilion was empty. The soft music played again. Flashes of cameras snapped, and Kalina pulled Tanya to the exit. A Chinese man stopped the women at the door. He was probably from the administration of the monastery.

“We have to pay five yuan,” he said respectfully but firmly.

“Why,” Tanya was surprised, “we didn’t buy anything!”

- For the rite of anointing.

Tanya pull outla money.

“It’s only five yuan?” the man clarified.

“Yes,” Tanya agreed, “how much do you need?” You just said...

“We need ten yuan,” the Chinese explained.

— Yes, why? Tanya balked.

“Another five yuan from your friend!”

— But for what?

“For butter and a medallion!”

"Didn't you see what just happened here?"

“I saw everything,” the man said stubbornly, “but still, you have to pay another five yuan.

“The oil has evaporated, the locket has broken,” Tanya laughed, “what should you pay for?

“Pay anyway,” the administrator repeated like a parrot.

“Tan, let’s give him five yuan,” Kalina said pleadingly, taking out her wallet, “I’m already fed up with this story!”

“No, well, look at these magicians,” the friend grumbled, thrusting a handful of coins into the man’s hand, “no butter, no medallion, but give me the money!” Let's go, friend, get out of here!

The next day, an excursion to the city of Yangtze was planned. The leader of the group did not go with the tourists. There were about fifteen people who wanted to go, and therefore, when the group was put on a sightseeing bus, tourists from another group were already sitting there. We hadn't driven far from Hunchun yet, but the pick-up had already begun. A pretty Chinese woman with an equally pretty name - Rosa - demanded ninety yuan for the fare, although the group leader told the tourists before leaving that she had agreed with the tour organizers for fifty yuan. But the leader, as already mentioned, did not go with the tourists, and Kalina and Tanya had to fork out and lay out one hundred and eighty yuan. Rosa spoke Russian well, she cursed and argued even better. Tourists who began to resent the high payment, she very quickly put in place. Experience was visible.

As we drove, Rosa sparingly shared information about the area through which they passed. It turns out that the river, which accompanied tourists all the way, separated two borders, Chinese and Korean. As we drove up to the Yangtze, Rosa handed out papers with a hand-drawn and photocopied plan of the city center, where tourists had to kill five hours. Piglet around the market square, marked on an impromptu map, was drawn quite schematically. Tourists were dropped off the bus. Rose poked her hand in different directions, which probably in her understanding was tantamount to a short tour of the city of the Yangtze, and departed home.

Disgruntled tourists dispersed in different directions. Several houses were drawn on the map and “Korean department store”, “Chinese supermarket” were signed, but Tatyana and Kalina could not correlate what was drawn with the buildings that towered in front of them. Having sunk into several stores and stunned by exorbitant prices, the women went out into the street and thought. It was necessary to somehow kill five hours, and only fifteen minutes had passed. After walking in several directions, they came across a zoo. Tanya immediately perked up, while Kalina turned sour. Well, she did not like places where animals were kept in cages. She even went to the circus very rarely because of this. However, in Yangtze City, caged animals seem to be fine. The cages were large, everything was clean. The animals were well-groomed and healthy. However, this fact still did not particularly inspire Kalina, she was firmly convinced that animals should live in the wild, but she kept her opinion to herself. We walked around the zoo in half an hour. And again the question arose of what to do next. In the distance rose the building of the Catholic Church. Kalina dutifully trudged after Tanya, but categorically refused to go inside. Enough with her temples.

It seemed that time had stopped today. The women's legs were already buzzing, and only three hours had passed. Tanya began to get angry, which meant that she was very, very hungry. But the Yangtze is not Suifenhe or even Hunchun: the city was big, cold and unfriendly. Russian was understood here even less than in Hunchun. All the signs, Rosa told them, were bilingual, Korean and Chinese. Information in English was very rare. Seeing such a sign, Tanya cheered up, but immediately turned sour. Everything that was written in English was mainly related to business. Inscriptions in English adorned banks, offices, and some other "JSC" and "LTD" of the Chinese spill.

I wanted to eat more and more. Finally, Kalina screamed with joy and pointed to the sign. The object of delight was such a dear and desired cafe, with a proud signboard "K-f-si" and a portrait of a peasant above it. Almost hit by a car, the women rushed across the road and soon entered the desired doors. They sat in the cafe for an hour. After recovering their breath and resting their tired legs, the tourists looked with regret at the table, which had become almost familiar during dinner. They would have gladly ordered more food, but it just didn’t fit in their mouths anymore: they had eaten so much in that hour. Leaving the cafe, Tanya suddenly spotted the entrance to the subway and immediately regretted that they had only an hour left. But her joys and regrets were premature. The goods in the subway were about the same quality as in SuYifenhe, but cost three times as much. After wandering for about fifteen minutes through the labyrinths of the subway, the women climbed up and again went to kill the remaining time at the zoo.

When they returned back, the bulk of the tourists were indignant and shouted. Everyone had about the same impressions of the Yangtze as our heroines. Rosa at first tried to justify herself, then simply stopped paying attention to the cries of angry tourists. The money was in her pocket, the rest did not touch her. Returning to the hotel, the tourists attacked the leader of the group, Olesya.

“Do you even realize,” the woman yelled, looking like a shabby helper who had been in many alterations, “we were left in a strange city, without documents, without cell phones!” I stood for two hours in this market square! There wasn't even a place to sit! I was cold and could not breathe from this stench!

“But I didn’t force you to go there,” Olesya tried to retort, “this excursion is not included in the program!”

“Yes,” another lady put in the conversation, “what if my blood pressure had risen there, in the Yangtze?” What would I do there? You were obliged to go with us or give at least copies of your passports with you!

The women screamed and proved their case until Olesya burst into tears and ran to her room. Our friends did not take part in the massacre. Both of them believed that after a fight they don’t wave their fists! Promising each other to be more careful next time, the friends also went to the room.

The third and final day has come. Tourists have already had breakfast twice in the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel. Kalina and Tanya have never seen such restaurants. When they decided to have breakfast on the second morning of their stay in Hunchun, it was nine o'clock Chinese time and twelve Vladivostok time. The moment they exited the elevator on the second floor, the light in the room called the restaurant was still out. Women even thought that they were in the wrong place. But the leader of the group, who came in after them, confirmed that it was a restaurant. There were two rooms in the "restaurant". In the first, small, there was a small table with five dishes, the names of which even Olesya did not know, in the second, which was a little larger, there were two tables, not even covered with a tablecloth. It took a very long time to bring spoons and forks. Of the familiar dishes on the table, there were only boiled eggs, Kalina limited herself to this food, and Tanya ventured to try those dishes without a name that lay on the table. When it came to drinks, they brought disposable cups, into which they solemnly, up to half, poured hot, very hot coffee. I was very thirsty, but the coffee burned my fingers through the cups, and I had to wait until it cooled down. Breakfast on the third day was a mirror image of the previous one. Benefited by the unobtrusive service of the restaurant, the women went shopping to somehow justify this trip.

After wandering around the shops for five hours, Kalina felt at home in this small town. She stopped being afraid and even began to smile at all the Chinese and Koreans she met, getting smiles in return. The last evening has come. Today it was quiet and warm outside, and Tanya was drawn to adventure.

- Kalin, listen, why are we like old ladies, are we all in the room, but are we sitting in the room? Let's go somewhere!

“Where, for example,” Kalina asked apprehensively, “I warn you right away, I won’t walk the streets at night, although I know that it’s safe here!”

“Yes, I didn’t even think to offer you such a thing!”

“I know you, you have already thought of something, now you will start to pretend that this idea has just occurred to you!”

- Yes, Kalinka, it's time for us to become friends with you, you know me as flaky, it's not even interesting!

- Okay, don't suck up, tell me what you've come up with!

“Natasha told me,” Tanya began her story, but Kalina interrupted her:

Stop, Tanya, slow down! What is Natasha?

- Well, you're a friend, give! Natasha, a girl of about twenty, such a beautiful, with a scythe!

- I don’t know any Natasha, with a scythe!

She is from our group. We went with her yesterday to the Yanze! Well, remember, she almost got into a fight with Rosa on the way back!

“Ah, I remember this one! So what?

- Pretty, right?

- So what?

- So, I complained to Natashka that there was absolutely no entertainment in this town, and she told me that in their hotel, remember, the hotel where they brought us for the first time ... they have a club at the hotel.

- House of culture, or what?

- Well, Kalina, you are completely backward! Club, nightclub, with dancing!

Are you suggesting that I go to a nightclub?

"Well, what are you so excited about?" The security is there! And we will not be alone there, Natasha said that yesterday there were twenty of our people in the club!

No, Tan...

“Here, it’s always like this, a little something new,” Tatyana got angry, “so “no, Tanya!”. That's it, I'm offended by you and I'm going alone!

If Kalina knew Tanya thoroughly, then Tanya knew Kalina no less well, knew which points to put pressure on, and as a result, after two hours, women, made up and prettier, drove by taxi to the hotel where most of the group lived. For a small fee, women entered the club. Close to wardrobeThere was a brazier that heated the cold corridor. The women shivered, but the room was warm enough. They were led to tables. The menu was brought a little later. Next to the empty plates lay strangely shaped planks. Tanya looked around: there were such boards on all the tables. The waiter came up, Tanya ordered gubajou and dumplings in Chinese, fortunately, the menu was in Russian and asked when the program would start. The Chinese did not understand, ran for an interpreter. Smiling kindly, the interpreter shouted with genuine enthusiasm that the program would begin now, this very minute. But the boy got a little excited. The concert program began in half an hour. Without warning, groovy music began to play, and a tall young man in a crazy-colored suit stepped out onto the patch replacing the stage. His hair stuck out in all directions. This was not a negligence on the part of the singer, on the contrary, in China there was such a fashion, the more hair and the steeper they stick out in all directions, the more fashionable the hairstyle. This protruding madness was on the head not only of young men, but also of girls. So, the soloist stepped forward, and away we go. The roar was incredible, and young people of both sexes also beat on the tables with planks, which our tourists did not know how to use. The Chinese clapped to the beat, kicked to the rhythm, had fun and banged on the tables with planks so much that it was amazing how these tables had not yet collapsed. The soloist sang five songs, and then, apparently, went to rest. At this time, the dance program began. The floor in the dance hall was special, it springy. Having skipped several musical compositions, Tanya pulled Kalina into the middle of the hall, and they began to dance. Soon the friends were having fun like children. The floor was springy, the girlfriends were jumping and trying to move in rhythm with the floor. It was incredibly fun and easy. It seemed, a little more, and you can generally take off. Half an hour later the soloist appeared, everyone returned to their tables, and the evening rushed on. The Russians had fun with might and main, the Chinese did not lag behind them. The fun took on more and more free forms. Beauty Natasha was naked in the dance to the point of impossibility, her gentlemen, several Chinese, looked at the girl with mute admiration. And all around they banged with planks, drank, spat on the floor and threw gobies there.

The day we left Hunchun was like all other days. Loading help bags, unloading and loading again. For Kalina, this trip was different in that no smells pursued her, and she returned home healthy.