Snippets of Russian Memory

Metro: truly it was a sight in itself. The tunnels are dig deep into the ground, forming a labyrinth of crossings which becomes a pain when one has a 15kg luggage. Often badly sign posted we relied on spotting the ‘man walking on stairs’ symbol as our north star equivalent for interchange. The metros are always congested as if rush hour lasts 20 hours a day, and yet given the number of people present it was eerily silent – we seems to be the only one ever conversing at any given time. The grandeur led to the irresistible action of photo taking, but we were arrested at Avoto station and taken on a field trip around the station to be introduced to all the no photo sign before taken to the police station to be fined. All this time SiuMun and I was busy changing our memory cards as JJ distracted the police, just in the case of them snapping our SD cards in half.

People: We have probably only come across two people who spoke English on the entire trip. Generally the Babushka (Russian Grannies) will speak loudly at you, and if you look like you do not understand them they will gradually increase their volume, through the mentality of ‘If I speak louder you WILL understand me’. =_=;; Luckily JJ and SM quickly took on the Russian cyrillics under their belt so we could at least read the basic signs such as restaurant (pectopah) to eat, and exit (выезд)to get out of the underground matrix. Russian men however are on a nicer note, as they are very willing to help us moving our suitcases up and down the underpass, despite the fact that initially this happened I thought they were running away with my suitcase and the blood pressure shot up.

Cuisine: Russian food was surprisingly welcoming. The pelmeni Russian dumplings, borsch beetroot soup and blini pancake with caviar and sour cream are definitely worth a try. Russians also seem to love jap food, there are always a stream of Japanese restaurants dotted all over the city. Savouring the food at Sakura in St Petersburg has shown that the cuisine is almost as good and Japan. With thanks to JJ, who came up with the idea of sampling all regional food, we also had some really lovely Azerbaijan, Uzbek and Georgian meals. The Georgian meal was specially memorable as I mistaken a Chicken bathed in sauce dish for the Chicken soup we ordered. And having drank nearly half of it the waiter really could not watch any further and came and helped us by serving it onto the plate. Communication is really vital to not make a fool out of one selves.

Architecture: In order of importance and culture shock: underground metros, Russians, Russian food, and now are the sights. The Hermitage was such a beautiful sight, and standing outside in the freezing cold was totally worth the wait. The rooms tend to incorporate an element of Chinese culture, but the décor and the vibrant colours switches rapidly from room to room: chandeliers, wall painting stretching from the floor to the ceiling, wooden mosaic floorings…the list goes on. Peterhof’s palace in comparison was less grand; though it is evident the fountain manic who owned the place has created some spectacular fountains. Taking the hydrofoil across the Gulf bay was an exciting route home. Moscow in comparison was much less traditional, and the major tourist sights are probably the Kremlin and Red Square. The Izmailosky souvenir market was a nice place to browse for more Matryoshka dolls, as the vendors allow you time to browse and enjoy their stalls prior to purchase, unlike the souvenir market in St Petersburg.

Everytime I go on holiday something major seems to occur – during ski trip JP bought Bear Stearns, and now in a span of a week Lehman went down and Merryll was bought. Being in Russia was a total segregation from all media sources, and we were busy buying watermelon when I received the text from YM telling me the big news.

Now it is back to reality and study time. Annie resumes her hermit lifestyle…