The Amur

On the sixth morning, the train was in the Russian Far East. The forest had changed. There were now Korean pine, Manchurian ash, and Mongolian oak. The forest felt closer. This is one of the wettest forests in the world outside the tropics.

På den sjette morgenen var toget i det russiske fjerne østen. Skogen hadde forandret seg. Nå var det koreansk furu, manchurisk ask og mongolsk eik. Skogen føltes nærmere. Dette er en av de våteste skogene i verden utenfor tropene.

Polly was alone in the compartment. Pavel had left. The soldier had moved.

Polly var alene i kupeen. Pavel hadde dratt. Soldaten hadde flyttet seg.

A freight train passed in the other direction. It was two kilometres long. It carried timber. Polly counted thirty-eight flatbeds.

Et godstog passerte i motsatt retning. Det var to kilometer langt. Det fraktet tømmer. Polly telte trettiåtte flakvogner.

The train arrived at Khabarovsk. The city is on the Amur River. The Amur is the eighth-longest river in the world. It is the border between Russia and China. Polly could see China across the river through the haze.

Toget ankom Khabarovsk. Byen ligger ved Amur-elven. Amur er den åttende lengste elven i verden. Den er grensen mellom Russland og Kina. Polly kunne se Kina på den andre siden av elven gjennom disen.

She got off the train to stretch her legs.

Hun gikk av toget for å strekke på beina.

A crane was standing at the edge of a marsh. It was black and white with red around the eye. It was nearly two metres tall. This is the Russian Far East crane. It is one of the rarest cranes in the world. Only about three thousand are left.

En trane sto ved kanten av en myr. Den var svart og hvit med rødt rundt øyet. Den var nesten to meter høy. Dette er trana fra det russiske fjerne østen. Den er en av de sjeldneste tranene i verden. Bare omtrent tre tusen er igjen.

Polly tilted her head. The crane tilted its head back. They watched each other.

Polly vippet hodet. Tranen vippet hodet tilbake. De så på hverandre.

A conductor blew a whistle. Polly hopped back to the train. She turned and looked. The crane lifted its neck slowly. It walked away into the marsh.

En konduktør blåste i fløyta. Polly hoppet tilbake til toget. Hun snudde seg og så. Tranen løftet nakken sakte. Den gikk bortover inn i myra.

The train turned south. The Pacific was now less than 700 kilometres away.

Toget svingte sørover. Stillehavet var nå mindre enn 700 kilometer unna.