sukhono on a 11-degree day (or 11 degrees and a bad choice)

ok so i woke up to a sky that looked like someone spilled gray paint over everything and decided not to wipe it off again. 11 degrees feels like a math problem you forget to solve. i checked the weather app and it just said“‘stay indoors’” like it’s my mom’s home office advice.

i’m here because a map told me to come. a random little town in some forgotten part of russia. 39.6414,141.9571 is where i am now. if you’re following along at home you can pretend we’re both lost.

i stayed in a hostel that’s literally a converted bunker. concrete and silence. but the bed was cheap so i rolled with it. the wifi was slow but i made it work.

sometimes neighbors here are just wild. like that old woman who plays accordion at 5 am. or the group of men who argued about politics outside my window last night. i swear one called a squirrel ‘communist’ for stealing his nuts. i heard that” someone told me that”.

i mostly exist here by drinking tea from a canteen. the local café’s wifi is better but their tea tastes like regret. i saw a sign that said ‘try our homemade jams’ and i tried it. jams that tasted like old medicine.

someone told me that the market here is the best in the region for cheap meat. maybe. i didn’t buy any. i saw a guy selling onions in a backpack and i asked if he’d trade for a pen. he said no. i left.

if you get bored, ulan-uzen is a short drive away. or don’t. i heard that” a local warned me about the bus there”. reputedly it’s haunted by a guy who failed his math test.

i’m not sure why i’m here. maybe the wind felt like it was writing in the gravel. or maybe i just wanted to see if 11 degrees could make a human not think. it’s working.

i left the hostel and walked. the streets are narrow and full of cars that honk at nothing. i passed a park where kids were playing football with a deflated ball. someone told me that’s how they celebrate victories here.

i ate at a place called ‘the forgotten fork’. the menu was written on a whiteboard and the owner kept adding things no one ordered. i had soup that was either hot or cold. i can’t remember.

someone told me that the town has a secret tunnel. i asked around and got mugged with questions. one guy said ‘it’s just a milk pipe’. another said ‘it’s where they hide the mayor’s snacks’. i didn’t go.

i’m leaving tomorrow. the bike was decent but the chain broke on the way out. i walked the last mile. it was 11 degrees again. i forgot to check if it’s still 11 degrees. it probably is.

links:
- TripAdvisor Sukhono
- Yelp Local Eats
- Reddit Local Tips

p.s. if you ever find yourself here at 11 degrees don’t trust the locals. they’re good at scams and bad at explaining time zones.

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