I went to Sberbank to exchange the 1000 Yuan I have left. I got 11040 Rubles. That left me with 12600 Rubles.

I took the bus there. What a hot day! The temperature wasn't very high, but the sun was blistering. And I had to walk another 2 km. It's noon now, and I am going to meet Alex again.

And in the store I met Alex again. he's working in the kitchen, along with 2 other people.

People would come every once in a while. Alex would fetch the food or drinks for them. I hadn't finished yesterday's Mcdonalds, so I bought it here and ate it at the store. Alex was unpacking a lot of drinks, and he offered me a bottle of water. I drank the water, and he offered me another bottle while unpacking things.

We talked for about an hour and a half, mostly in English.

I asked, "Do you know Mosfilm?" He said, "I don't watch Russian movies or listen to Russian music." I told him I don't watch Chinese movies or listen to Chinese music either. I asked, "Hollywood?" He said yes. He said old Russian movies are fine but the current ones are bad. He liked western bands such as One Republic, One Direction, etc. He knew about LOTR and Game of Thrones, but not many others.

A tall, thin man with black hair was busy preparing food in the kitchen. He greeted me and shook my hand. "Вы говорите по-русски? На скольких языках вы говорите?" I said my native language is Chinese and I speak English.

I said I wanted to visit Krasnoyarsk, Dagestan, Sakhalin, Vologda, and Stavropol. Alex said I would visit more places than most Russians then. Minsk. Brest. Odesa? Alex said it's not the best time for that.

He talked to me again about which AI is the best. He said AI is a black box to him. I said Russia made Gigachat. He said Russia just copies the west, and he wants to use something original. He uses the ChatGPT app. I was like, China is also copying from that. He said China has better tech. He asked me which games do I play? I said Plants vs Zombies, but I don't play games now. He asked, "Call of Duty or something?" I said no.

His coworker asked where I would working in the future? And asked if I like this place? I said it's hard to say. He showed me many photos of Nizhny Novgorod. Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, winter, night, clouds.

Alex lives on the other side of river Oka. I asked, "Could you live here? There are many beautiful apartments near the shop here." He said he might consider that. Alex and his colleagues were counting money for a while. Then Alex said he wanted to play a musical instrument. A guitar? But he said he didn't have time.

He asked if I had any hobbies or projects. I showed him my website and my Github. He was like, "You have a Github?"

I asked where I should go. There is a beach down there. He said he had never been to that beach. I asked how many hours he sleeps. He said six to eight, he doesn't have time right now. I asked if he'd been to other countries. He said Turkey. I said I have 12000 Rubles left. He said, "that's not much." He told me I could always come back and he could help me out, and I could always message him on Telegram, and he asked me when I'd be returning. I don't know. His coworker said goodbye to me too. Alex's rusty red car was parked outside.

I plan to walk around the city, maybe till 8 pm, then catch the train to Kazan. But the sun is shining, so I don't want to walk too much. I am going to an excursion.

After an hour long bus ride back to the city center, I arrived at the River Terminal at 5 pm. I fell asleep on the bus. I am going to the boat tour right now.

The boat passed under the bridge, then crossed to the other side - and you could see the city of Bor. Then it headed back. There were many people on board. The tour guide spoke from the lower deck, talking about the buildings and the history as we passed by.

I'm leaving at 10 pm, so I better grab my luggage at the hostel at 9 pm. But it's already 7 pm. So I had nothing to do again.

Someone is singing "Непогода" from Mary Poppins.

I decided to walk back and forth along Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street twice. I'm filming the street. I started at the Kremlin, walked the street from the start to the end, then walked back.

After walking along Большая Покровская, I returned to my hostel for my baggage, went to the toilet, and almost missed the train. The walk from the ГагариНН hostel to the railway station turned out to be much longer than I expected.

Never mind, when I entered the station I was 15 minutes early.

До свидания Нижний Новгород.

I have not taken the night train for years. I didn't get used to how bed worked immediately. Most beds are empty. I tried to get onto the bed, but I couldn't - you have to step up from both sides to get up there. The old man sat there and smiled at me. I showed him a few photos I took. He took out some food to eat. I also took out Alex's chicken wing from the day before.

I was trying to do a few basic things. I went to the restroom. I changed my clothes and washed with a towel. I went to the restroom again. I brushed my teeth. I went to the restroom again. I am going to change my socks.

The old man sitting across me helped me with the converting the seat, arranging the pillows and other things.

11400 Rubles left.

I went to the hallway to charge my phone. But it was too slow and I am going to sleep. So I ended up using my computer to charge my phone.

Alex gave me such a big meal yesterday, that it took a dinner and a whole day for me to finish. There was a big burger, 2 pies, 6 pieces of chicken, 4 chicken wings, 2 large chicken strips, and drinks. Today I only bought some bread and ate some chips I bought yesterday. During the day I ate a pie and most of the chicken. In the evening, I had chips and a small loaf of bread. Now I am eating the remaining chicken wings.

Today I am living in this small space on the train.

Why is it so hot on the train? It's 27 degrees. I didn't want to sleep. I was sweating.

I fell asleep around 0:30. I woke up at 5:20. The staff was tapping a button to wake people up as we are arriving at Kazan.

Привет Республики Татарстан.