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.

Šiesty deň ráno bol vlak na ruskom Ďalekom východe. Les sa zmenil. Teraz tam boli kórejské borovice, mandžuské jasene a mongolské duby. Les sa zdal byť bližšie. Toto je jeden z najvlhkejších lesov na svete mimo trópov.

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

Polly bola sama v kupé. Pavel odišiel. Vojak sa presunul.

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

V opačnom smere prešiel nákladný vlak. Mal dva kilometre. Viezol drevo. Polly napočítala tridsaťosem plošinových vagónov.

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.

Vlak dorazil do Chabarovska. Mesto leží na rieke Amur. Amur je ôsma najdlhšia rieka na svete. Je to hranica medzi Ruskom a Čínou. Polly videla Čínu cez rieku v opare.

She got off the train to stretch her legs.

Vystúpila z vlaku, aby si natiahla nohy.

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.

Na okraji močiaru stál žeriav. Bol čierno-biely s červenou okolo oka. Bol takmer dva metre vysoký. Toto je žeriav z ruského Ďalekého východu. Je to jeden z najvzácnejších žeriavov na svete. Zostáva ich len asi tritisíc.

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

Polly naklonila hlavu. Žeriav naklonil hlavu späť. Pozerali sa na seba.

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.

Sprievodca zapískal na píšťalku. Polly sa vrátila do vlaku. Otočila sa a pozrela. Žeriav pomaly zdvihol krk. Odišiel do močiaru.

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

Vlak sa otočil na juh. Tichý oceán bol teraz menej ako 700 kilometrov ďaleko.