We’re really looking forward to our return to Russia though, around the Altai region and across Siberia – with hopefully more mountain scenery to break the monotony of steppe and farmland.
Roads have been generally good and officialdom has mercifully left us alone – not been stopped by the Russian rozzers once (although we know that can’t continue).
Food has been - excellent. Had some really good meals here, and they generally (albeit grumpily) dealt with Cheryls' wicked vegetarian ways.
As we mentioned in the Moldovan blog – a lot of the cities are quite run down. We have a theory that with this much open space available to you, you would not bother to demolish old buildings and replace with new? You’d just build elsewhere? Might in part explain all the derelict buildings everywhere?
Still the ubiquitous soviet apartment blocks everywhere – which make for some grim sight seeing.
Russians have also been world champions at the Paddington Bear hard stare – which we get wherever we go.
I’ve made a sport out of staring competitions (only from a safe distance).
I once outstared an entire bus – who shrank back one-by-one behind the bus curtains under the onslaught of my withering laser vision (or maybe they were just bored).
But I get the feeling this is just the ice to break – when we wave back or acknowledge the stare the reaction is (usually) a positive smile or wave.
Russians are also capable of acts of what, at first, appear to be breathtaking rudeness.
In a supermarket queue one chap wanted to walk past me in the cashiers queue. I pushed my trolley as far to one side as it would go – giving him as much room as possible – but not enough for him. He actually took the trolley from my hands and pushed it ahead of him and left at the end of the cashiers booth. I was just too dumbstruck to react.
People in hotels have played music so loud at all hours, we have been forced to change rooms. In fact all Russian music systems, be they in kafes, restaurants or bars seem to have the same volume setting as OAP’s televisions.
Hotel receptionists have been soooo unhelpful I have wanted to walk out and sleep in a gutter, but I suppose that is my fault for assuming that a hotel may like to rent out accommodation for a few nights in return for the contents of my wallet? How stupid of me?
Yet when these tedious, difficult and frustrating transactions are complete they become all smiles?
Yep – driving is aggressive, but to be honest no worse than most countries on the majority of our trip, and not a huge problem.
And yet, whenever we struggled with directions, menus, subway systems people went out of their way to come and help us. At just about every restaurant as we struggled with our poor Cyrillic and Russian skills someone from another table would come and help with translation if they knew any English.
When we failed to select the right underground train (from a choice of only two) the conductor got off the train with us and found us an English speaker on the platform to help explain things out to us.
I said they were being rude. I think I’m wrong. I think they are just – being Russian? I don’t think they mean any offence – it’s just my lack of understanding of them. And that’s down to me? I’m quite looking forward to getting back into Russia to try and work these people out.
And I promise to improve my Russian language skills before I do so.