Dreams of Moscow

This was supposed to be written up much earlier in September, but I never got around to doing it till now. :p

Arrival in Moscow was a drag... all because of the rain. Rain, in 10 degree temperature, with heavy winds, is not a joking matter. I was somewhat stranded for about an hour before I was even able to hail a taxi to the hotel. On hindsight, I enjoyed the weather, and almost frowned whenever I saw the sun!!

I won't talk about work this time round, as there really isn't much to mention. Out of the whole trip, I only managed to visit central Moscow once, and I did a lot of walking (i mean kilometres worth) Taxis are still expensive, actually more so than when I was there a few years back. Price haggling over the fare hasn't changed much too. :/ The Subway is convenient, but woe to me, most of the place I am at, entailed at least a 700 metre walk to any station. Once you make it to the Subway, trains are like 1 per minute.

I don't speak Russian, maybe "this", "that", "I", "you" "here", "there", "left", "right", but that's just about it. So, when I stick my head into the "hole" in one of their convenience shops, I usually come out having my neck in pain, if I am trying to buy anything other than Coke or cigarettes....

Overall, Moscow is getting more expensive and more crowded. Given that people all over Russia come here to get a better living, its not surprising. I managed to catch some dinner with my friend (previous colleague), and he says the same thing too. His hometown is in St. Petersburg, a fair sized city, and his rent in Moscow has been increased 3 times since I last saw him.

The most memorable thing I did this trip, was walking 1 full kilometre to McDonald's..... following the road signs. It was near my hotel (not so near I found out, 3 kilometres), somewhere after Leninsky Prospekt. I have the photos of my little "trip". Let me find out where I put them, and upload them later.

Photo links to Flickr