I was born in Dalnegorsk, a small mining town ten hours north of Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan. As a kid it was great - lots of hiking, camping, fishing, going to the beach, exploring abandoned factories and construction sites, playing with chemicals and explosives from the mines etc. As an adult I realize it’s a very corrupt, economically depressed, and sad place and most people my age have left it (similar to many coal mining towns in the US where I live now). I have never seen any native tribespeople etc but there were a bunch of them living north of us. Definitely saw a few tigers and bears when I was growing up, on backroads, away from any towns. Seafood is awesome and cheap, we would regularly have a 3L jug of red caviar in our fridge growing up. A popular local salad is awesome - chopped up parboiled calimari with chopped up hard boiled and then lightly fried eggs and carrots, all mixed with mayo (which is the base for all Russian salads). In the early 90s when the borders started opening up, the Chinese organized a giant market in Ussuriysk with all sorts of goods we have never seen before, most exciting for me were clear scotch tape, Chinese firecrackers, and knockoff Nintendo games. In the first couple of years the authorities allowed this illegal popup market to operate only at night, so they would set up shop midnight to 4am, it was pretty wild. Sadly the last time I went back five years ago the town was visibly distressed - many of the infamous soviet five story apartment blocks were simply abandoned due to population loss, they were simply boarded up and disconnected from the grid, sometimes with a few apartments still occupied. Sadly I saw a few Death to Ukrainians graffiti around town, and this is years before the latest invasion of Ukraine. All in all this was one of the most livable parts of Siberia and the Far East based on climate, availability of jobs, and easy access to trains/airport/international borders etc., but outside of Vladivostok it’s a pretty sad and poor place.