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Published: October 3rd 2011
“Rochelle! Rochelle!” a friend of mine told me to say in the streets of Minsk. Unsure as to whether I had found my ‘Rochelle or her daughter’ I thought maybe she had reached Minsk? I arrived at the airport and immediately was forced to pay for medical insurance by the government. The official piece of paper was put in an envelope, which had a map of Belarus. On this map I saw a place called Pinsk.
Those that have followed my Milan to Minsk journey will recall that this part of my trip is dedicated to Seinfield and their fictional movie called Rochelle Rochelle, with a twist. ‘A young backpackers strange and ‘hopeful’ erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.’ Now, on the show when that movie gets turned into a Broadway musical, a line for the musical is “… Now you’re in a Pinsk. Rochelle Rochelle...” (Which I assume is she is in trouble. So maybe she got stuck there?)
Pinsk is in the south of the country and it was a big consideration for me to go to. But for a second time in two journeys ex-soviet countries have made me lose interest and become almost depressed like.
After Ukraine screwing me around for VISA’s. I flew from Moldova to Belarus via Riga, Latvia with airbaltic. It was an overnight stopover, which is ideal as no matter what day in Riga there is always a bar to go to where some people are in the same boat as you - Just wanting to have a good time.
I always forget the name of the bar but its Captain whatever and in 2004 my best Tuesday night ever was here. I couldn’t remember everything but I remember that every night I spent there, was good - Especially Tuesday. So 7 years later I’m back and back on a Tuesday. The manager at the hostel knew what I was talking about and filled me up with complimentary drinks and I conned a few other guys to come along.
Hardly anyone was out (Thursday night is its big night now) so I went to the toilet at the bar and walked out and got the biggest flashback ever in all my travels. Just outside the toilet right next to the dance floor is an old dentists chair that… Whoooaaa there are some demons my brain forgot about. Gosh
Riga nightlife is good!! So in desperation to not make this a lame return, I see two local girls across the bar and go over to have a chat. A similar move to 7 years back. (Sorry for not telling you the flashback, maybe over a drink one day…)
We dance and they take me across the road similar to this girl 7 years back, we both buy drinks for each other. I run out of money so to have they. They use their credit card, I try mine and it doesn’t work so they buy me drinks for the rest of the night. It comes down to the business end of the evening and she says “I’d like to see you again. How long are you here for?” And typical me, I say the truth, “I’m leaving in like 5 hours.” My Riga return turned into a good night out on the drink with a dance. Oh well not holding that against you Riga. An absolute must in anyone’s Eastern European trip.
Belarus on the other hand. Well at least their processing of a VISA is easier than Ukraine’s outdated system (for Australian and NZ’s) They provide
a VISA service from the airport if you apply online with an agency which makes things quicker. That costs about $40 and then the visa was $90. I questioned my motivations and then thought I had to complete this trip so went with it and paid the $40 to process.
As I arrived and was asked within 10 seconds of entering the airport to pay 5 euro for medical insurance (they want crisp notes too.) I was then told to go up stairs to process the visa where the fee changed to 90 euro or $135 for the VISA. I create a bit of a stink since the government conveniently changes from dollars to euro for their benefit. Had I been in an embassy I would have walked out but I can’t at an airport so I swallowed my pride and paid up. Plus I was too hung over to argue any further. Gosh Riga nightlife is good!
Immigration took about 5 minutes with the officer going through the pages of my passport and after 4 or so flicks he’d look up and droop down his mouth, raise his forehead in an impressed manner, look up and continue.
He even filled in the immigration form for me. This is happening quite a lot now.
The officer was a bit surprising especially after my Central Asia experience of a few years earlier where they’d try and intimidate for a bribe, even beat me up. Throughout my time here the police in Minsk didn’t really bother me much. Actually the Freedom Monument in Riga doesn’t have armed soldiers anymore to give you an indication of ex-soviet military presence dwindling to the naked eye in this region. But it is not all gone.
Whilst the tourist doesn’t see much of it the locals when they show opposition to the government it can be otherwise. At the October Square (a large open area along the main road) I went to take a photo of this massive imposing monument of Lenin on a pedestal indicating he is in the process of telling a rousing speech to a large empty square full of imaginary people. It is one of the best statues I seen but an officer passing by yelled out “No photo!”
It didn’t make sense to me until later on during a google search I saw articles of protesters
being arrested and beaten up over the past few months. From what I understand after yet another massive win in an election to the current president. The opposition protested against the result of 79.7% to the President.
Since July 20 1994 the President Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko has been in control in what is described as Europe’s last dictatorship. As well as the public, the media have had problems too. Belarus is ranked 188 out of 195 for press freedom in the world. But I will get into that later.
I exchanged some Euros into Belarusian Rubbles at the airport and waited for a crappy yellow bus to take me to the metro of the city centre, a half hour away. I tried the ATM at the airport but it was only in Cyrillic (I’d try later in town but could only find Cyrillic ones again so I guessed what the machine was asking for and got my money out. Actually it ticked off something I’ve always wanted to do – take out money in a different language.)
The metro system is quite good. But signage is not the best for seeing what station you need to get
off, which is again all in Cyrillic. Eastern Europe signage at stations are generally not good. I’d later be in Germany and they have clear signage numerous times along the platform to tell someone what the station is. In Minsk, it was on the opposite platform at platform height so when a train came the other way you couldn’t see.
Hostels are not around and it is home stays so in the end you are better off doing couch surfing if you can. I stayed on a couch at a home stay for $22 a night, which was pretty ridiculous. Although the lady did bend over to explain something to me and wasn’t wearing a bra and the top was loose. I don’t know what she said to me or the question I asked I just remember a side profile. I casually asked if she wanted to go out one night but she didn’t so I guess it was a wardrobe malfunction.
The weather was not the best here and when I got told that I would have to pay to get registered if I stay longer than 5 days. I decided I’d only stay in Minsk and
get out. I would have had to pay for a translator to fill the forms in too. I’m over that crap with countries like this.
That’s what made me get a bit down after 15 months on the road. Why am I wasting my time on these places, which create difficulties just because? I start to lose interest in places when they are like that. Plus $22 a night is almost the cheapest thing around. So to fill in the days, there are a couple of decent things to see.
Belarus played a big part in WWII and suffered greatly especially the capital Minsk. The best way to see this is to go to the Great Patriotic War Museum. At the ticket office, the ticket prices list mentions that WWII veterans get free entry. I wonder how many times that gets used now? Or if the guy forgot his card or medals and the ticket lady goes. “I’m sorry, full price”, which was about $1.50.
The museum tells the story through Belarus’ eyes. Minsk is similar to Warsaw and was demolished during WWII. All information is in Cyrillic so the only way to understand is through the
extensive photos of the apocalyptic city, people being hung on the streets. Plus other things of interest like WWII cannons and other weapons.
The other good museum is the National Art Museum with art ranging from the 12th – 20th century. It starts off with Italian landscapes, which was a popular destination for Russian artists who would be sent by the government to learn more about art. The concept of painting all year round was a dream for most artists. In the 1800’s summer scenes were sort after, so many depict that mood.
There was an Austrian artist called Peter Wenceslaus who in 1790 painted Australian birds, which I found interesting. The building is pretty dreary from the outside but inside makes up for it with some interesting art pieces ranging from historic, religious and contemporary.
The centre of the city is of easy walking distance and the Isle of Tears is an island connected by a bridge with the old town and is a memorial to the soldiers killed during the 9 year War in Afghanistan (1979-1988). The main feature is the small chapel, which is surrounded by grieving mothers, widows and sisters. There is also
an angel at the fountain where its privates shine a bit. Tradition says that if a newlywed gropes the shinny part of the statue that she is guaranteed to have children. This is why many newlyweds are seen there. There were two weddings whilst I was their and another few making their way.
Alexander Nevsky Church in June 24 1941 had a German bomb hit the church but didn’t explode when a 2nd one hit it did. Still despite that it is the only religious building to have kept its original look. It is inside the military cemetery and was built to symbolise the victory over the Turks in the Russia-Turkey War 1877-78.
Walking through the cemetery was a bit nerving with guys in sports tracksuits begging and hanging around. Under the thick trees and silence the atmosphere was a little creepy.
The city is very clean and the main street covered both sides by 3 storey buildings is busy most of the time. Especially McDonalds, which had a line stretching out the door and around the corner most evenings. McDonalds is classed as a good restaurant, a fashionable hang out in countries not strongly influenced by
America.
The Soviet way of department store is slightly different and GUM department store was similar to Kyrgyzstan. A lot different to Cuba but similar concept. Western department stores seem to not segregate their sections as much. Here they are shops within the department shop mostly concentrating on one particular genre.
Towards the end I was left over with a few more rubbles since I over did it at the Cyrillic ATM. So I headed to the market next to the Patriotic War Museum where I got a babushka doll. This will go down as one of my stupid buys of the trip as I now have to carry this until April (7 months away.) I could have gone with the 5 piece but if I was going to carry it I might as well do it properly and got the 10 piece so its now even bigger.
The lady that I bargained with got very excited that I was from Australia. In fact nearly any country they would get excited about because tourism is very minimal. It also happened when I went to a Euro 2012 qualifier between Belarus and Bosnia Herzegovina.
The stench of
vodka was quite strong during the evening game that for early September was like a really cold night game at the thick of winter in Sydney. I think I got a little drunk through second hand drinking whilst attempting to communicate with the guys sitting around me. Language was a barrier and I think I would have had a far better time here and my stay in general if I stuck with learning Russian 2 years back.
They are really nice people in spite of their harsh exterior but I don’t know if I will ever come back to these regions. Maybe Russia there could be a unique experience to the rest of the world but in the end I never get a rush, I always end up feeling restricted which in turn leads to me feeling down and lonely.
A lot of regions in the world I like myself and think positive but these places put me in a negative frame of mind and it is a shame because I know somewhere inside I do like travelling this region. Yet without being able to communicate I am missing a big part of travelling the ex-soviet countries.
I suppose I should have seen it as a challenge – this is a challenging region of the world to travel. It would have been interesting communicating with locals to hear their opinions. Instead the only way is to use google searches or take it that just over 79% like the way the country is being run.
Perhaps inspired by the recent Arab Revolution around 120 protesters hit the main square. The numbers have increased with numerous protests since. Protestors fear they will lose their jobs or uni places but defy the threats. (For a rarity for this trip there was no protests whilst I was here.)
The last report I could find said that 4 Wednesdays in a row protests were organised on the Internet. 1000 people were rushed into a police bus when they arrived. Cars crawled along the main road honking horns in protest. With similar protests in 30 other towns. 600 protesters were arrested with 11 Russians. They say they were left with no food for 30 hours beaten and tortured.
But that is just a minority at the moment as generally the President is liked. Of course that would happen when national
TV is controlled by the government. In 1997-99, many journalists and activists disappeared who appeared against the President. In 2009 in 2 months 6 youth leaders faced mock executions as a last warning to change their ways.
It’s hard to see the dictatorship rumours whilst being a tourist briefly. But on those brief occasions you do speak to people sometimes you can get something out of them. But the best example I got was from 2 Polish people that live 4 miles from the Belarusian border and are Folk artists.
They regularly play music with other folk musicians from the surrounding countries. They had a festival in their own town with Belarus artists and when the Belarusian artists wanted to return the favour in their town. The Polish artists were not able to play there. When they filled in the forms to process the VISA they informed that they will be playing music at a festival so the government said no. Generally music is seen as outside influences the government would not be able to control once in.
The security guards may think that way too because I was unable to enter into anywhere that had a
decent amount of people so in the end my Milan to Minsk story finished on a sour note. I could tell details of what went on in between but for those who read my Ios story I’m not one of those guys. But if the topic comes up in a conversation over a few beers I may delve into the details a bit.
On the train ride out, there was a lot of commotion going on in the cabin next to me. Customs come in and ask if I have cigarettes. I say no. After about half an hour and after checking the inner walls of my cabin they come out of the next cabin with 5 large garbage bags full of cigarettes. I had no problems but when at the polish side asked do I have vodka. I say no…. A lie.
I purchased a 500ml bottle of Belarusian vodka for $3 and when the time came a few weeks later. My tastebuds just tingled with delight, whilst the brain was getting blindsided enjoying the fact that the rest of its body is going to be pissed and it won’t even know about it. I had been
off vodka since 2004 – ironically the last time I was in a European Ex-Soviet region and perhaps I may have re-found my drink. As the body gets older I can’t have crap drink anymore just to save a few bucks. Perhaps vodka is like my rum. Black label Havana Club. Maybe my vodka drinking future is with Belarus. How is that going to happen in Australia?
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anonymous
non-member comment
Great blog - espcially as Minsk is somewhere I\'d like to visit. Like you mentioned though, the visa hassles have put me off somewhat...