Here is a wonderful travelogue already in progress that you can follow along with. Ten years ago, in September 1995,
Lisa Dickey, an American writer living in Russia, took a cross country trip from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg with a
photojournalist, capturing words and images as they went, a series of “road stories”. They called it the
Russian Chronicles.
Ten years later, Lisa is doing the trip again, with a different photographer, but following the same route, in an
attempt to reconnect with the places and people she met the first time around:
Russian Chronicles, redux.
This photo is from an early visit with Vladivostok lighthouse keepers Vasily and Valentina Ilchenko, whom Lisa met ten
years ago. She showed them photos from her first visit and they shared stories of what their lives have been like
through the years.
Lisa and photographer David Hillegas are following the Trans Siberian Railway route, stopping in all the same cities
as the last time Lisa took the trip, making connections and reunions like this all along the way. They are currently in
Irkutsk, taking part in a
scientific expedition on Lake Baikal, which I mentioned
not too long ago. Their next post will feature a trip to Olkhon Island.
This is a marvelous travelogue, with dozens more stories being told and created as they continue on. The pair will
reach St. Petersburg on November 22. Subscribe to the Washington Post blog and enjoy the rest of
their incredible journey.