अाला रे अाला
Здравствуйте!
I still cheat when pronouncing this word (zdravstvuyte झ्द्राव्सत्वुअीच), it means ‘Hello’ in Russian.
Quick update: Russia was fantastic, eventful and full of friendly people. I fly to Mumbai, India tomorrow. I can’t wait to see my motherland (after 2 years!) 
Walking on, where else but, the Red Square
- I soaked Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and many Golden Ring cities. I acquired some religiously, architecturally, historically, bureaucratically, culturally, etc. significant knowledge.
- My Russian is perfect.
People mostly understand my baby Russian, for eg: ‘I-want-go-Moscow-train, where-buy-ticket?’ The trouble arises only when they reply in grammatically complicated Russian. - Everything is exorbitantly expensive. Medium coffee and a slice of cake would cost upto 250 Roubles, or $10. I don’t just have a hole in my pocket, but my entire pants are gone. (Any request for photos will be ignored.) I couldn’t buy new ones because the costs are crazy.
- I mostly couch-surfed in Russia, i.e. stayed in homes of people who were willing to host. It was a wonderful (almost unbelievable) experience of hospitality. Only 3 days out of 3 weeks did I stay in hostels.
- Non-spicy meat eating (morning, noon and night) will come to an end and I am looking forward to eating vegetarian food again. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed food each and every day (which will be displayed here in delightful pictures). But after 26 years of vegetarianism, imagine 3 purely meat-only weeks.
- Finally, yes it was completely safe, and I had almost no problems whatsoever. After you get used to everyone turning their heads and examining a darker non-Slavic foreigner (to the point that I looked at a mirror all the time to ensure everything was okay) and after the cold, expressionless Russian glance is broken, people will go out of their way to help you.
Thats all for now, I will write more and visit my blog-mates once I am settled in Mumbai.
Пока! (paka पाका: ‘bye!’)
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Welcome Home Dear !
↵: )
and I like it when u r precise !
↵ha ha ha
@ Priyank : Good to hear from you. I hope you have a good time back in India and Bhutan. Three weeks is a good times to get to know a place a little so I am sure that you will now have much knowledge about the secret inner workings of the Russians
Someday I wanna ride that train thing they have the old fashioned way going from Tokyo to Vladivostok, Ulan-Bator-Europe. Lets see. I think thats the one thing I want to before I kick the bucket!
↵welcome back..good to see you blogging..and I hope to read lots of your stories
↵LOL. Grab a nice vada pav as soon as u land !
↵And no mention of Vodka?
Hey – alive and kicking…
Thought you were banished to Siberia.
↵Hey Brother !
There is a shortcut to avoid Здравствуйте! … you can also say приват … donno how gramatically right it is …
Another thing… hope you enjoyed your Borsht and Pilmeni’s … I heard there are some russian salads which are worth sampling.
Waiting for more details ….
дасвидания
P.S.: Since you’re in india … you might be intersted in http://dasvidaniya.in/
Somehow I never tought Russia could be “that” expensive … thanks for telling this
↵Raji:
↵Thanks for the welcome
Odzer:
↵Thanks man, I came here with a very open mind so probably understanding the scheme of things was easier. I wanna do the Trans Siberian train too someday. But its a whole project of 4 months. Ideally starting from London and ending in Tokyo or Beijing. ah, well
Lakshmi:
↵Thanks! I have lots n lots of them!
WMWC:
↵Ah, Vada Pav
Vodka, yes, yes how can I not include it!
Mavin:
↵hahaha, no, but I did have a nightmare that they put me in Siberia!
Harshal:
привет! is used usually for informal greeting, so there’s no escape from “Здравствуйте” unless you say “добрый день” (Dobri Din दोब्री द्यीन) or Good day.
Dasvidaniya, whats that? a new movie ? Must watch it, released today!
↵cheers!
Welcome back Priyank and good to hear that you are headed for India. Let me know when you plan to meet so I can announce it on my blog and try to gather a few people. I prefer to meet in November, as December is the wedding season and it might get difficult. So tell me an approximate date. I think either 22nd or 29th november are the only dates available this month. Lets make this happen Priyank!!
↵Welcome back. It went pretty fast!!!
↵I am looking forward to reading all that happened.
And it seems all the Mumbai people are meeting!!! Thats great!
Nita:
↵Thank you! I have emailed you about the meet!
Amit:
↵Yep, it went pretty fast, I would have loved to spend more time. I might visit Delhi too, in which case I’ll email you. cheers!
Cool! You covered the most important one in the last bullet. I have been hearing so much about increasing crime in Russia, was wondering how that really is…on the other hand, who really would think about stealing from a guy who’s already sold his pants for coffee.
↵You really should be a host in Globe Trekker.
turning their heads and examining a darker non-Slavic foreigner
If that was for you then us guys will have to pack a lot of chakki aata if we visit Russia anytime
↵Love the angle and cool pic of Red Square, can hardly wait for more of your Russian adventures complete with Russian baby speak, and more pics.lol
↵Something I found interesting was the fact that Russia is very expensive, a coffee and cake costing $ 10 is not what I expected at all… Maybe I tend to associate it with the other broken Soviet Union parts
↵Hey, u must have a strong stomach ,3 weeks of meat for a veg person is not an easy proposition
3 weeks of chalky water and very bio veg food has gotten my stomach upset i still cant figure out what is the culprit
hope to get more updates on ur Russian trip
↵and sorry that we cant meet in Mumbai.
been here! saw that the party’s begun
↵Shantanu:
↵There is crime I’m sure but its not something extraordinarily greater than any other country in the world. Plus if you act and behave like an idiot, you attract attention
Kevin:
↵Unfortunately I see what you mean and unfortunately I think it might be true. I’ve seen police stop people of darker skin tones, especially if in groups
Bob:
↵Stories will come soon
Aathira :
↵Welcome to my website and thanks for the comment!
Except for the big cities, rural Russia is cheap. Not too cheap, but quite. Russian economy is pumped up by rising oil prices.
Prax:
↵Lets see how strong my stomach is – I am going to have pani puri shortly!
We’ll meet someday, no regrets!
Trisha:
↵No party as such, just some small things.
I come here often bec I enjoy the gathering here at ur forums and thts what I meant by PARTY – meant tht its started again wth ur getting back ..dont worry am not cmng to ur bloggers meet, am far away Puku!!!
and in anycase am a very retiring reclusive person socialize rarely.
↵Also u didnt even see the card/note of welcome I posted for you in my space!!! And I was eager to come bec I thought I belonged to this group of ‘familiar faces’ too!!! Bec all that u do meet u wd be meeting in reallife the frst time anyway, isnt it? not like u knew each other before? or did u?
↵Trisha:
There is nothing like “my bloggers meet” or “worrying that Trisha would come”
You posted a note? OMG! I haven’t visited any blogs at all, but I’d have known had you linked it to mine. I’ll go there rightaway. Hugs!
↵liked the pic u posted here…wanna see some more pics of russia!!
↵SS:
↵Thanks! I will post more pics soon