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I am here.
In the bloody former USSR.
My trip started with a drive from Austin to Houston to catch my 540 PM flight to Moscow. I managed to find a relatively cheap direct flight between the two, presumably filled with oil dogs, on Singapore Airlines. Turns out that about half of the plane was with me for only half of their 24 hours trip back home to Singapore, and the rest were tourists and Russians.
For starters, I must take a second to vehemently vouch for Singapore Air. The female flight attendants wore traditional (kamono-esque) eastern dresses while the men donned full suits, and the alcohol was completely free. Having spent the majority of my air time on Southwest, this was a welcome surprise. Between the surprisingly delicious Asian food and copious Singapore Slings, I reckon this trip started very nicely.
I arrived in Moscow a little bit after 2pm, and was welcome by a landscape that closely resembles absolutely nothing in the states. Truth be told, we were about an hour southeast of Moscow, so I was not expecting any industrial scenery, but the combination of lush birch-filled forests with German/Austrian-like farmlands was pretty cool.
The airport was a complete mess, and the various lines for customs and baggage claim were a pain. Getting to the train into Moscow was not too bad though, although I could have quite easily had my first experience with Russian swindling had it not been for sheer luck. As I was buying my ticket, some random dude tried to sell me his (already purchased) ticket for the base price. He spoke absolutely no English (and I no Russian), so we essentially communicated with handle signals and nods. I ended up pseudo-asking the lady behind the counter if I was getting ripped off by pointing at the guy, shrugging my shoulders, and flashing a thumbs-up. She nodded. I did it. I got on the train. Score one for body language and not spending any time learning this crazy language.
Slept for the entirety of the one hour train ride into the city... with my bag straps rapped tightly around my legs and arms so that no one would attempt to steal it. I was extremely paranoid at the start of the trip, for better or for worse, about having my stuff taken or getting pick-pocketed. Either way, I managed
to meet Paul at the cafe after he got off work (even though I spent about 10 out of the 30 minutes I waited there trying to tell the Russian waitress that I needed more time to order... when I think she thought I was yelling at her for not being on time to get my order- she appeared to know the word time, but that was all)
Went back to Paul's apartment and settled in for a great dinner of pasta and a salad. Talked for a while, read a bit, and passed out around 1.
This morning we woke up and headed to Obninsk (about a 2 hour train ride southwest of Moscow) to pick up the stuff Paul had left there with his Texan engineer friend, Will. We ended up taking a bus on the first leg, and were forced to watch a crappy Italian romance flick (dubbed over in Russian of course), followed by the also Italian version of Robinson Crusoe. It was actually pretty entertaining, as it appeared as though these were both films from at least 20 years prior. That's communist backwardness for you.
Obninsk was a cool place, albeit rather
shabby around the train/bus station. While not nearly as kempt as the little I have seen of Moscow, the large residential buildings, and malls, appear to litter the cityscapes of this country. We had lunch with his friend Will and his friend Anastasia, and then headed back grab his stuff. The train ride back was actually pretty entertaining. Russian laws appear to be a bit of joke. Young kids usually bribe the gate keepers for the train station to let them onto the platforms. Then, when the ticket lady walks up the train to check tickets, they scatter to the further car. When the train makes its next stop, window watchers can witness these same kids sprinting back down (outside of the car) to a cart that the ticket lady has presumably already checked. Thus, they get away with only paying a small bribe, a fraction of the actual (albeit only 5ish dollar) train ticket price.
We bought some beer, and are cooking some rice and making a salad. Plan is to go out and get drinks with one of Paul's friends.
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