To clap or not to clap(in public)

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Woke up with the sun poking through a gap in the curtains of the dorm room, looks like it is going to be a nice day, Mindas and I got ready to start the day, we decided to visit the little town of Mir, where they have a castle sitting atop a small hill, we saw the fotos from a book in the hostel, looked nice. But then Andrew(the cuckoo) invited himself and his girlfriend! But at least he was the one who figured out the schedule and which bus to take etc, so we all got ready, the girlfriend Tania arrived on a taxi and we came down to meet her at the front of the hostel, but aside from Andrew, me and Mindas, Andrei from Gomel who is also staying in the hostel wants to come so now there's 5 of us and the taxi won't take us all, he can only fit 4 and woon't take one more as he will get in trouble with the police. It was decided in the end that I go with Tania and Andrew in the taxi and the other 2 made a run for the subway, the bus we are aiming for is at 11:50am it's only 10:20 am so plenty of time.



We got to the bus station and headed inside as my 2 companion figure out which platform to wait, Andrew has panic in his eyes, I don't know why, but somehow I noticed the clock on the wall says 11:35 am, I was confused, I asked Andrew when did they change the time here? is that clock correct? It's always been correct he says! f__k no one told us Belarus is an hour ahead!Now I am panicking too, the boys have not turned up from the subway and smart Andrew did not tell them where to meet up! He goes to the subway entrance while leaving me with Tania at the platform to wait for the bus, it comes but Mindas is no show yet, Tania calls Andrew, hands the phone to me, uhmm my girlfirend does not speak English at all and she wants to go to the bathroom, Andrew explains, ok go I said to her. 11:50 bus is leaving Andrew comes running, looking worried, I said to them go and I will wait for them, we take the next bus or something, I will be alright I assured them, as I walk away Andrew yells out do you know how to get back to the hostel?? yes! I said. The bus leaves on time and I walk back to the subway station, I waited for almost half hour looking at the train station, subway, no sign, I was about to give up and return to the hostel when I saw Andrei emerge from the subway tunnel and Mindas behind him.



They were here on time but did not know where to meet, they figured maybe it's the other bus station as there were 3 in Minsk, they went there and back here, and as luck would have it we found each other! After this frenzy we decided to scrap Mir in the plans and just walk around the city again. Andrei who is here for a week on a work related reason knows a bit more of Minsk so we followed him as we explore the city once again, a McDonalds sign on the 1st floor of a glass building, which was part of a University across the train station made us laugh, opening soon Andrei declares. We kept on walking until we saw some women selling some plastic flowers neatly arranged, it is Palm Sunday for Catholics today we realized and across the road is the Red Church which at the moment is busy with a mass service, lots of people outside, and ladies selling more plastic flowers, this street is Independence Square we kept on walking, by now the sun left us and blustery wind whipped our faces, lots of nice buildings, and casinos abound on this street, Russians come here to gamble as apparently in Moscow no casino, says Andrei. We got to a place where there is an outdoor skating area, surrounded by government buildings, by now I tuned out and whatever names of the buildings Andrei told me I did not catch. We saw a sign for Planeta sushi and looks cheap so we went for a brief lunch, the sushi was good and filling, food here is slightly cheaper than EU but not much. Waling continues until we ended up in the same park we were yesterday, then past the Victory square, Andrei wants to take us to the library on foot, but we were quite tired and went by subway the rest of the way, the library was quite cool,we got to tour inside but quickly as it was closing, it's busy with students studying, there is an adjacent tower that we went up to for a decent view of the surrounds, lots of constructions in the area going on and you also see that a lot in Minsk, like a massive construction boom.



Now time to head back home, we decided to buy food for dinner and booze, there is a big shopping/supermarket place near our place so we headed there by subway, mind you the subways here in Minsk are quite gloomy I don't know why, bad lighting and not as attractive as say in Moscow, I saw some nice fotos of subways in Minsk but I guess we never found them.As we got out of our stop, some guy started asking Mindas something, then Mindas' face lit up, turns out it was Anton, one of the CouchSurfing guys Mindas contacted for a meet up but never got to follow up on it, small world indeed, Anton heard us talking in English and he figured it must be us, well that goes to say how much tourists come here at this time. So now a booze expert in tow(Anton) he picked some Krambambula, a Belarussian concoction and some food to line the tummies and we are in for some serious drinking at Anton's place which is also minutes away from the hostel, this must be our day!



He lives in an apartment with 2 other roommates and they were all nice, we started slowly, Anton serves us heaps of food, and pickles which he says is good for after shots,kinda like a chaser. Needless to say in no time the krambambula is finished, I keep eating the delicious spread he prepared, then his rommies joined us and another bottle of booze appeared, a cognac of some sort that Anton's dad made, a moonshine! I jokingly told him I don't want to go blind, he claimed it really is good quality and he was right! oh boy these people know how to make drinks!Arriving back at the hostel later, some more drinking this time beer and balsam, and good converstions with the receptionist, this time it's Veronika but off to bed for me sooner than others once again. each reception staff works a 24 hr shift but has a 3 days off so we get to see new person everyday.



Waking up in the morning I was determined to make it to Mir this time, so we made our way to the bus station, it was a 2 hour trip the driver reminded us that the last bus back is about 6pm and it will be his bus that will be the last call. We stopped at a few small towns we noticed nice small cottages in the countryside, the type of house that will also be similar at the village of Mir, nice wooden houses with framed windows. Soon as we got to the bus station our cameras started clicking away. Picturesque village, we got engrossed that we forgot we haven't had breakfast yet, we made our way to the castle but can't find or missed the entrance so we have to go around, it was nice, but we weren't sure if we want to pay to see the inside, we checked at the ticket office how much, turns out that today is free! score!! The castle has different exhibits of armors, furnitures, costumes. It was a short visit for us we get bored easily, so we checked out the cafeteria but a bit pricey, so we headed back to the village and found a nice place to eat. We both have sausages downed with a good dark unfiltered local beer, hits the spot! Roughly $6/person, not bad at all! A little bit more walking to kill time, then I need to pee badly we went to a hotel near the center but was refused to use their toilet they pointed to a public loo behind the hotel, found it, quite smelly but it was a relief.



On to the bus station, we decided to buy the ticket ahead in case bus is full, the lady in the booth refuse to sell us one, she said only when the bus has arrived she will sell them. So we went back outside and eventually the bus turned up as it was coming to a stop we hurriedly went in to the office to buy the tickets, but before we get to pay, the driver came in and hollered to Mindas to just get in the bus and pay him there, I guess he doesn't get a commission if we pay in the counter, it seems so important to him that he jumped off the bus to catch us before even paying, leaving the other people in the queue on the bus to wait for us.Bus was full so we sat at the back and fell asleep quickly. We woke up as we approach the outskirt of Minsk, constructions everywhere, must be Russian investments we concluded. At the hostel the Kazakh girl informed Mindas that today is the birthday of the Russian guy from the Komi Republic, we were invited to share a drink with them and food as well, the wife made us eat all the food she made, then the man started singing some Komi hymns, he is a very proud man with a handsome bearing, like a soldier, then he passed around fotos from his homeland, then not long after,his wife calls him,time to bed for him. Then our drinking once again resumes, great beer great vodkas, great balsams.





About the title: we were told by locals that clapping in public will be taken by the police as a sign of disobedience and defiance against the government and that you can be arrested, apparently DICTATOR Alexander Lukashenko banned ­clapping in Belarus, after people inspired by the Arab Spring uprising started protests.

My buddy Mindas has the tendency to subconsciously clap his hands in public, while waiting for bus, or sitting in the park, and thus I have to remind him about JAIL time! After being threatened to spend some time in jail in Transnistria years back at the border, I don't want to mess with militsia anymore...

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Photos

Mir
picturesque houses

Minsk
need I say more?

Minsk
woman selling fake plastic flowers , front of the Red Church

Minsk
The Red Church

Minsk
Mindas and Andrei pointing to the Red church

Minsk
Palm Sunday service at the Red Church

Minsk
time to change lenses for Mindas

Comments

[Ake Och Emma]

Looks cold to me
I was in Belarus a few days last summer. On the pictures it looks awfully cold. Hope you enjoyed it. I did. Ake