Help 2. Final

The third day. Customs formalities and return home

It so happened that at one time, in the city of Suifenhe, I lived more days than in other Chinese cities. (“Singer for China”)
  Of course, this was a long time ago, 12 years have passed since that moment, but, as I already said, the general topography of the city has not changed much. However, some changes have still occurred; if you want to learn about the history of the city, you just need to follow the green signs. Twelve years ago this was not the case. If a person who comes to Suifenhe for shopping has free time, he can easily immerse himself in the history of this city. If you move a little away from the city center, where all the trade is concentrated, you will notice that the entire city is covered with green signs. The signs, in two languages - Chinese and Russian, tell about the attractions that await you, you just need to move a few meters away from the city center. As far as I know, there are two free museums near the center. One of the museums is dedicated to the national heroine of China - Gala Dubeeva. Galina Dubeeva was born from a mixed marriage of a Chinese man and a Russian woman, the girl spoke three languages - Chinese, Russian and Japanese. She learned Japanese at school. From 1937 to 1945, China suffered from the Japanese military, the Japanese invaders. The conquest operation was interrupted when Soviet soldiers came to China on a liberation mission. Since Galya knew the Japanese language well, she was persuaded to go to the place where the remnants of the Japanese army were hiding. The girl was sent as a parliamentarian. At first everything went well, and then something happened. It is not known for certain what actually happened, but there was shooting and several explosions. The girl did not return home. Then, when this place was empty, the girl’s father crawled and explored every inch of that piece of land where the Japanese were hiding from retaliation, but he never found any traces of his daughter.
Not far from the museum there is a memorial dedicated to the feat of Galina Dubeeva. At the foot of the memorial there is a plaque on which the words of the President of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, are written in two languages. As I understand it, this plaque was placed there when this memorial was laid. There is even a street in Suifenhe named after Galina Dubeeva. The green sign says "Galia Lu" and an arrow.
If you walk from the museum through the park and lake, you can walk to a Buddhist temple. However, a separate chapter was devoted to the temple and I will not dwell on the ensemble of these beautiful buildings. But if you are interested, then you can learn something interesting about the Buddhist temple from the same green tablet. We return to the city center. Now we will slowly go to another museum, but before we reach it, I will introduce you to several attractions that were here when the city of Suifenhe was still called the Pogranichny village or the village of flags. This was a long time ago, at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. We go up from the Xushen Hotel and run into the building of an art gallery that is not working now. Previously, there was a house in which a Russian merchant lived, then the building was named “Europe” - there was a hotel “Europe”, next to the Zhentoulou building. Are you following me? Our path goes to where the old railway station is located. In one of the chapters, I already said that the rapid development of the city of Harbin and the city of Suifenhe became possible when it was decided to build a railway. Well, we will still get to the station, and now, on the way, I will tell you the sights that are marked with green signs - this is the Church of St. Nicholas, built in 1898, the building of the old brewery, the building of the old bakery Lussier, the building of the gymnasium where Russians studied and Chinese children, called on the sign the school of Russian emigrants, a memorial dedicated to the feat of the Soviet soldier-liberator, as well as several buildings in excellent condition in the old Russian style similar to a tower. Previously, there was a “Department of the Police Department of the Special Purpose Railway, Railway Track Distance”, now there is a sign on the gate with the name in Russian “Troika”. Come with me. Let's go even lower. Stop, here it is - the old railway station. There are three green signs here. Have you read it? Go ahead. We pass by a giant tree tied with a red ribbon. This tree is more than 100 years old and the red ribbon reminds that the tree is under state protection. And we continue to walk with you. If we look to the left, we will see a railway bridge. You can climb up the bridge and look down at the trains that run throughout China. Have you looked? So, let's go down again.
Oh, we've already arrived!
Pay attention to the locomotive, which is permanently laid up. You can climb onto the locomotive, you can even take a photo near it. After hanging around the locomotive, we finally come to the railway museum. The museum building also looks like a Russian tower,you won't pass by. At the end of the 19th century, it was also the home of an important person who worked on the railway, and now it is a museum. This museum, like the Galya Dubeeva Museum, can be visited completely free of charge. But, take some form of identification with you, otherwise you will not be allowed into the museum. Oh, and also, please note that the museum has a two-hour lunch break. If you happen to be on your lunch break, then, of course, no one will let you inside. As for me, I got there just in time for the lunch break and had to wait. The exhibitions in the museum are signed in two languages; if something is not signed in Russian, you can use Google translator. There is so much to see in the museum! Documents, authentic things from the past, unexpected exhibitions - this is a long story and here, in this chapter, I will not risk doing it. The museum has two floors, or rather, it has more floors, but visitors are only allowed on two floors. From the ground floor there is access to the museum's courtyard. There is a garden and a separate entrance to the wine cellar and storage room. Of course, you and I understand that there is no wine cellar there now, but it’s interesting to look at the courtyard. We went down steeply to where the city of Suifenhe grew and rose up. And now we go up again, to the city center. The green sign tells about another school. The sign says that in the light-brick building, on the right side, there used to be a Russian secondary school attached to the railway. The school was built in 1919. What I talked about is only a tenth of the attractions of the city of Suifenhe. If you have the opportunity and time, I hope that my short guide will help you get to know the history of Suifenhe City. And I regretfully return to reality, to the moment when the tourists from my group gathered in the hotel lobby, where I lived for three days in a frozen, dirty and shabby room. Having gone down to where the Chinese woman Katya was sitting in the administrator’s booth, I put down the key to the room and began to wait for them to give me my passport in return. However, Katya pretended not to see me. After waiting for several minutes, I delicately, by knocking the key on the surface of the booth, reminded of myself, but Katya did not even turn to me. At that moment I realized that she was ignoring me for a reason, so I had to raise my voice a little. It worked, Katya finally raised her head, and speech poured out of her mouth. Unfortunately, over the past two days, her speech did not improve, and again I did not understand anything. I had to strain myself, prick up my ears, and only after a few minutes I realized that they were ignoring me for a reason. Administrator Katya was so tired from warmth and laziness that she did not want to make any unnecessary gestures. Katya waited until all the tourists were huddled in the small hall like sheep, and only then, in bulk, did she issue all the passports. Having received my passport, I, quite correctly, told Katya everything I thought about her! To my surprise, the response wish for a happy journey was said in pure Russian. So, what was that? Oh, mysterious eastern soul, I will never understand you!
Well, what can I say about the way home? I was hot! To lighten my bag, I had to put on everything I could wear. The border crossing was normal, nothing drastic happened. In the very first chapter, I already talked about crossing the border. The only thing that surprised me was the late passage of the border. As I understand it, ordinary tourists returned home before noon. After noon it was time for groups where helpers were present. Or rather, it’s not even that, help is an old name. Nowadays, assistance tours are called economy tours. Behind us and in front of us there were a huge number of buses with help. Noise, screaming, bustle, red faces of women and men carrying incredibly heavy bags across the border. I saw all this and recorded it in my head casually, because, as you know, I also carried heavy bags across the border. Customs officers who work every day in this noise and din can be given orders during their lifetime. However, the work of the customs service is an internal state matter, and therefore I will not dwell on this, because even taking photographs is prohibited when crossing the border! It was 10:00 pm when the tourists in my group, including myself, crossed the border and, with relief, loaded our heavy bags into the trunk of the bus for the last time. Now the easiest part of the journey remained - sitting out the four hours of the journey home on the bus.
I was home only at one in the morning.
What can I say? I like Suifenhe City, but I will never go there again to help!
My dear readers, thank you for being with me all these three days in China, sympathizing and worrying about me. See you again on the pages of my books!
And I remind you that all similarities in names, situations and other things are just coincidences!