I always have to face a hard time pronouncing my permanent address. Well, it's a little bit complicated situation and I struggle pronouncing proper Russian words. Today I am going to share a road trip story with you and going to take you to my village in Ukraine, a small beautiful rural area.
I am a permanent resident holder of Ukraine so naturally, I have to hold a permanent address. As an immigrant, I had to apply for a permanent residence permit and this address was given by my lawyer which was unknown to me. I mean I knew the address but as I live in Kharkiv city so I never bothered to find or visit my actual address location until a severe incident occurred. I am quite familiar with my Bangladeshi address, permanent address, location everything. But here I had no idea about it though my permanent address was given after my residence card.
But suddenly a problem raised which was also related to my documents work. So, I had to submit the original paper of my address but later I realized I lost it and there was also a small mistake in my previous copy as well which needs to be fixed. So, what can be done, I have to issue the new address paper and for that, I have to go to Kozachok Village, Zolochivsky District, my village in Ukraine in person.
It was the middle of September I guess (I might be wrong) and obviously, the lockdown was ongoing. As it was mandatory to work so no matter what was the country's situation I had to go. All public transportation was off and the only way was a taxi. This village is very far away from Kharkiv city, almost 40-50 Km away from the city, near to Russian border.
I hired a taxi for picking me up to destiny and returning to the city which cost me 50$, fixed price. The Taxi will pick me up, will take me to destiny and after work, it will drop me to Kharkiv city. That was the deal. I was in a panic as I never ever been outside of the city and the entire experience would be new for me. Obviously, I was also in fear of some silly incidents as I was alone too.
It was summer, bright sunny days with blue sky. I started my journey at 10 am in the morning and when my taxi reached high, it increased the speed and I started exploring the real Ukraine.
This was basically the train stoppage or signal area. I don't know the exact word to explain this location but basically, all trains pass from here. When a train passes, all vehicles have to stop. I found it interesting in the middle of the road so took the picture.
After crossing the suburban area of Kharkiv Oblast, agricultural land and village area started. These were the sunflower field which was about to die and was getting ready for seeds and oil. I was unlucky because imagine how will this area look like when are the sunflowers blooming?
This was the first time I was seeing the sunflowers field in person. My eyes were only seeing the field of sunflower, and nothing else. the blue sky above and the below sunflower and the road in the middle that's all I had got to see. The beautiful majestic scenario I would say. By the way, the sunflower is the important oilseed crop in Ukraine and 70% of oil comes from here.
These were all agricultural fields and very fertile lands. The interesting fact is, the color of the soil was black, like all black, and very fertile for crops and vegetables.
As you can see the day was quite bright. After a 2 and a half hour journey, I reached my destiny and it was my village. A very beautiful small village with a low population. All agricultural lands and among the fields, I was able to find some houses and farmhouses. Roads were not developed at all, most of them were broken, semi-paved roads, and were hard to move. Most villagers use bicycles, horses, cow carts mostly and some use tractors.
This was the middle of the village where I rarely found any shops or markets. There were only one bus-stops and a train stop near the highway.
After finishing my work, I started exploring the around and my village. This was an apricot orchard full of fresh apricots. So many apricots were fallen and I guess the birds couldn't even be finished eating all the apricots. Everything was so green, pure, and fresh.
Without vegetables, a village doesn't look like a village right. While roaming around I found these beautiful squash and pumpkin patches that were ready to eat. I also heard a few dogs were barking continuously and I guess there were guarding the field.
I always prefer such kind of places where I can feel close to nature. Before coming here I was in doubt because of the uncertain journey but after reaching there, my all stress, tension were gone and I was just enjoying walking on the village street alone. I was thinking that maybe I won't get another chance to enjoy such kind of beauty. One thing was in my mind that whatever happened, it happened for good otherwise I wouldn't be able to explore such beauty of my village. There is actually no difference between Bangladeshi and Ukrainian villages, lifestyle almost same, ingredients and environment are different that's all.
Look at these fresh green, it was hard to resist, to be honest... I wanted to pick a fresh big squash for myself but I didn't find anyone to ask for. So, If I would have picked, it would be considered stealing...
In this picture not only you will be able to see the color of Ukrainian soil, vegetables but also you will see the small houses as well. These were the residence of the villagers. I have heard that these villagers own a large amount of agricultural land and their living depends on mostly agriculture and farming. Their life is not too modern but they live a very simple decent life. They grow their own crops and sell them in the markets as well. Meat, vegetables are all fresh in this village even oil as well. Almost everything is available here and the living cost is too low as well.
I also saw some tomatoes, beans, onions as well. The villagers also raise domestic animals like cows, goats, chickens, goose, and pigs as well. Many people come here to buy fresh vegetables and meat from the villagers. Also, pure milk can be found here.
After spending almost 3 hours I decided to go back to the city. My taxi driver was already bored and he took a nap as well. LOL... On my way home, I have found this beautiful lake full of white swans. They were swimming happily and was playing with each other. It was really a great experience to watch.
I took this picture while sitting in the taxi, this was the cornfield and was looking really beautiful. My overall journey was tiring but the freshness of the village environment changed my mind.
The taxi driver took the shortcut road and we were lost for a while. Then obviously google Maps, indicator helped a lot.
This is the border of Russia and all the containers were waiting for the customs and to enter Russia... I was feeling nostalgic. Before coming here I never thought I would be able to gather such a nice experience, will be able to add a sweet memory in my memory lane.
It was one of the memorable road trips of my life... By the way, I came home safely... hahaha...
If you want to see the video, you can check below :
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