russia: komsomolsk on Amur

My next stop on the Baikal on Amur Mainline was a city called Komsomolsk on Amur. I'd be willing to be that most locals call the city simply Komsomolsk, or perhaps something even shorter. (Obviously, I don't really know.) I'm going to call it just Komsomolsk most of the time in this post, so my fingers don't go crazy typing the name. Why don't the powers that be think about such things when naming people or places?

Komsomolsk is in Khabarovsk Krai (I have yet to understand the difference between a krai, an oblast, and a republic, as I see them all as equivalent to a US state, with varying differences in how autonomous they are from Moscow.) Google Maps tells me the drive from Moscow would be at least 114 hours, or 8600 kilometers. I doubt many people make the drive, as there is a train station and an airport. There are nearly 265,000 residents, the city is slowly shrinking.

The region in which Komsomolsk is now located was conquered by Mongols back in the 13^th century, then became part of the Manchu dynasty until the mid 18^th century, when the area was ceded to Russia. The Russian city came into being in the 1930, when the Soviet Union decided to build a port. The name of the city comes from this time, as some of the labour used to build the city came from youths who were members of the Komsomol (the Communist Youth.)

Some of the other labour used to build the city came from prisoners in the Gulag system. I guess the 'on Amur' part of the name was added to define it geographically and from other Komsomols in the country.

Komsomolsk was granted official town status in 1933. The shipyards and other facilities for heavy industry were finished a decade later, so the city became a center for 'exciting' industries like aircraft manufacturing, metallurgy, machinery, oil refining, and shipbuilding.

Wikipedia lists 'famous' people from Komsomolsk on Amur, the list includes a sprint canoer, the first footballer to score for Russia in the 2018 World Cup, and Miss Russia 2005.

As usual, my train arrived on time in Komsomolsk. This turned out to be one of the few train stations I've seen in Russia where the city name is on both the front and back of the train station.

Most train stations I've seen only have the name on the track side of the station, with the front side usually saying just 'train station.'

I arrived on a day with gray skies, wind, and some rain. Yuck. Since this was August, I was expecting a bit more heat, but that definitely wasn't happening. I walked to the hostel I'd booked, and was able to check in early.

They seemed surprised to have a foreigner, though I don't know if that was because it was Covid summer, or just in general. I spent a bit longer than expected downloading podcasts, as the wifi was quite slow.

During the walk to the hostel I took a few photos, one of which was of a giant mosaic on the side of the local science/technical university. I love mosaics like these.

I also passed a statue of Lenin, but waited to take photos after checking in.

After checking in, and heading back out to explore, I started by walking down a main street called Prospekt Mira. Not long after I started walking I found another mural, this one on the side of a random apartment building. This one was of half a Greek temple, which struck me as an interesting choice.

I went to the other end of this apartment building, but it didn't have the other half of the temple. I wonder where it is, if it exists at all.

Further down the street I found more mosaics. These were on a couple sides of a government building. Since the building itself was boring dark gray, the mosaics made it look much nicer :)

I started walking along a different street, eventually getting to a park. Slightly inside the park was the drama theatre, which was as grand as I've come to expect in every single Russian city I visit. There were faces on the front side, with different 'moods.'

Just in front of the theatre was a city sign, which made me aware of just how long the city name is: Komsomolsk on Amur. The name covered the entire checkmark in the sign!

(And when I saw it written around a couple globes in the city, it covered half the globe!)

I headed out the other side of the park, which felt quite wild. Longer grass and trees, definitely not as landscaped as I'm used to seeing.

I passed a memorial from WW1, though I don't think this region was much involved in that war.

It was big, (aren't they all?) and had a guy carrying a torch while moving along on skis.

Not too far away was another memorial, this one for WW2. This one had an eternal flame, carved faces, a stela, and more. I don't know if it was part of the same memorial or just a different memorial in the same area, but I also walked down an 'aisle' of busts of military heroes. This memorial was memorable because it included a bust of Stalin, which isn't terribly common anymore in Russia.

I kept moving toward the river, eventually coming to a platz that overlooked the water. There was yet another memorial monument, this one involving several people standing on a pedestal. This one is dedicated to the First Builders, I assume it means the first builders of the city.

I figured out how to get to the river station, I couldn't tell if it was still used or not. Since it was August, and nothing was happening, I would assume not.

The building looked slightly abandoned/derelict, but there were people around, so I don't know. The stairs had cracks and grass growing through, and there was a bit of graffiti. That being said, I still found the place rather photogenic.

From there I kind of circled around, and started heading back up the street. Heading this way I found the monument/memorial dedicated to Japanese POWs from WW2.

It was quite small, on one side of another part. Komsomolsk is not a terribly exciting town, there isn't much to see.

By that point it was almost dinner time, so I went to a supermarket to grab a can of beans and a can of tuna. Exciting, I know.

The next morning I was basically told to get out of the entire hostel building at check out time.

This is the first time I've ever not been allowed to stay an extra few hours in the common room. When I asked to leave my bag for the day while I went out walking they looked at me as if I was an alien, and asked why. Ummm, because I don't want to carry it around all day? Very strange people running this hostel.

My first sight of the day was the stone denoting the exact spot and date the city was founded. Obviously, I took a photo with the rock.

My next stop was a bit of a walk, I went to a beauty salon named after me :) I set up my tripod to take the photo, and the owner came out to ask why I was taking the photo. She didn't seem to understand why I would want to take a photo of a place with my name.

Then she wanted to practice speaking English with me, and didn't seem to understand why I wanted to keep walking. I'm not a social traveler, I'm rarely keen to talk to locals, get to know them. After saying no a bunch of times, I just walked away quickly.

Walking on this new street took me past a series of three buildings with more mosaics. These mosaics were all science/space related, which was neat to see.

More walking brought me to the entry gates to a park. I'm pretty sure the last time they were painted was decades ago, as there were spiderwebs and peeling paint, and general disrepair. I still thought the gates were photogenic, though the locals walking past me gave me looks while I was taking photos.

My next sight was a small church. Not very exciting, or eye catching, but this city doesn't seem to have many churches, so I took a look.

This church had a red brick outside, a blue bell tower spire, and gold onion domes. The inside was not memorable, at all. After seeing as many Orthodox churches as I have seen, I guess I expect lots of colour, lots of frescoes.

My last official sight was a monument, dedicated to the friendship between the Soviet Union and China. (I think.)

From there I wandered back through the city to get to Dodo Pizza, where I picked up a pizza to take with me on the train. I carried it back to the hostel, where I picked up my bag and was able to say a final goodbye to the weirdest hostel staff ever. From there I walked to the train station, stopping only for a hot chocolate along the way.

I don't feel the need to come back to Komsomolsk on Amur, as I think I only missed an art museum, and it would take quite a bit of time to get back here.