The Dragon Draws Near

ULAN UDE, Russia - Stepping off the train after nearly five days, I took a panoramic look at my new surroundings. They looked Asian.

Asia officially starts a couple thousand miles back, where water starts flowing east off the Ural Mountains. But the Siberian cities and towns the train stops at look little different than those on the other side, just lonelier and more desolate. These tiny wooden homes with pointed roofs and constantly burning fires could be anywhere in the Baltics or Scandinavia.

Ulan Ude is different. The Buriyats, a Russian minority native to this area and closely related to Mongolians, are in the majority on the streets. They wear fur hats that are larger and more wild than their fellow Russians. There's Buriyat food for sale, pictures of temples and ice sculptures. The visiting merchants are a bit different, as well.

The hotel I'm staying at - the Lonely Planet recommended Hotel Odon - is a dive. In Soviet style, its concrete bunker occupies an entire city block. There are two entrances to the hotel. One leads to a dark casino, full of people chain smoking while playing low stakes slot machines. The other leads to a small hallway, which after making a left and a right jig, becomes the hotel lobby.

All of these people are Chinese. The people in the casino are Chinese. The ones hanging out in the lobby with an oversized plastic bag that doubles as a suitcase are Chinese. The people walking up and down the stairs are Chinese.

How can I tell they're Chinese? They're speaking it. Not standard Mandarin, but one of the many throaty varieties you hear out in the countryside.

Odon is thoroughly Sinoized. Signs for nearby apartments to rent are all in Chinese. The toilet seat in the men's bathroom has been removed so people can squat. Downstairs there's a Chinese restaurant, labeled not in Russian but Chinese: fangdian.

Calling this a hotel is a bit of a misnomer, because the entrepreneurial spirit of the people staying there has spilled over into the rooms. On my floor, several rooms aren't for rent, they're hair salons. Another is a manicure shop. Others sell knick-knacks.

I'm not sure what all these people are doing here in Ulan Ude. Trading I'm sure. Now that check in's been arranged and I've got my general bearings in the city, perhaps I'll ask them. At least Chinese, unlike Polish, Latvian, Russian and Mongolian, is a language I somewhat understand.