Will Around the World

I woke up at seven this morning. I had a hard time sleeping on the train. Overall, though, the trip wasn't bad. My compartment got tea service several times, and we even were served breakfast today. The seventeen hours on the train seemed to go by pretty fast.

The train pulled into Moscow at 10 A.M. I had already made plans to register my visa (required for tourists, or else you must pay a fine if stopped by the police), get cash, purchase a phone card and buy a train ticket to St. Petersburg for June 2. If I worked efficiently, I thought, I could accomplish all this by noon.

Bolshoi Theater

As soon as I left the station I felt disoriented. The street, a major one called Prospekt Mira, was very busy and it took me a few minutes to get my bearings. (I tried to use an underground crossing, but got confused because it was full of shops and pedestrians and none of the exits were labeled.) To register my visa, I walked ten minutes to a hostel called Travellers' Guest House. They were great because they did this service without me having to stay there. They even let me call my CouchSurfing host, Nadi! Feeling ambitious, I told Nadi I would finish my errands soon and meet her in an hour.

Fountain outside Okhotny Ryad

The next errand was to get money. I would soon learn that Travellers' Guest House was an anomaly, that doing business in Russia is much, much harder than anywhere else on my trip. Since I did not have a PIN code, I had to get cash in a special way, by presenting my passport to a bank teller. The first bank I tried told me that they did not know how to process such a transaction. At least that's what I gathered, since the teller did not speak English and I barely knew any Russian. I met with more success at the next bank, at least in the beginning. The teller there examined my passport, swiped my credit card and handed me a receipt to sign. I did so quickly, gave it back to her and waited for her to give me my money. But instead, she wagged her finger at me and told me that I would not be getting any cash at all. She explained that the signature on the receipt was different from that on the back of my credit card. I tried to point out (in broken Russian) that the signatures were basically the same (I had written "Will Lee" instead of "William Lee"), and besides that the picture on the passport was clearly mine. All this was to no avail: she tore up the credit card receipt and told me to move away. I was flabbergasted. I felt that this teller was following the procedures to an absurd degree and probably giving me a hard time just because she could. I felt angry, helpless and most of all, frightened that I wouldn't be able to get any more money for this trip.

Still, I had more than $100 in cash. I exchanged $40 at that bank, and since it was well more than an hour since I had called Nadi, I hurried away to meet her. But first I had to buy a phone card to call her when I got to the meeting point. The receptionist back at the hostel told me that I could buy a SIM card, which would allow me to use my cell phone in Russia on an inexpensive prepaid plan, from any kiosk on the street. But at each kiosk I stopped at I was told they did not carry SIM cards. I felt hopeless. Finally I figured out that I had to go to a real wireless store to buy a SIM card. I went to one next to the Kuznetsky Most Metro station, where I was supposed to meet Nadi. I could not get a SIM card there, though, because the salesperson noticed a discrepancy in my passport: the hotel I listed as my temporary address was different from the hotel that had registered my visa. I could have punched somebody. I was extremely disappointed with Russian customer service. Not only did these 'service' representatives follow their regulations zealously, they also refused to offer any alternatives. (Maybe they were looking for a bribe.) Still, the saleswoman graciously allowed me to use her phone to call Nadi. Nadi told me to meet her at the Metro station.

Manege Square, mix of old and new

I waited at the busy station for a few minutes, which seemed like a lifetime. After a horrendous morning, I would not have been surprised if I had been stood up. I was dwelling on this thought when I noticed a wide smile in the crowd. Right away I knew things were going to get better. Nadi greeted me warmly, took my bags and put them in her friend's car. (What planning.) She had to go back to her university, located nearby—she was in the middle of preparing for a week of presentations—but she pointed out some places that I could see for the rest of the day. We said goodbye for now. I had never been more glad to meet someone in my life.

Bolstered by this first successful event in Moscow, things started to go right. I went to a bank a block away. After again failing to get cash from a teller, on a whim I called my credit card company (from my cell phone) and asked the customer service representative if I could reset my PIN. (I was so happy to be talking to this person. Russian customer service completely changed my attitude toward American call centers.) My call was transfered to an automated PIN-changing line, and a few seconds later, I had a new code! The recorded message said it would be active in 2-3 business days, though, but I decided to try it at the ATM anyway. I put in my card, entered my secret code and the amount to withdraw and closed my eyes. A second later, I heard the whir of a motor, and when I opened my eyes, I saw rubles. I skipped out of there, feeling like a load had been lifted.

Manezhskaya Square, a popular gathering place

After the adrenaline that sustained me in the morning subsided, I felt famished. The first thing I bought with my new windfall was lunch. I stopped at a Caucasus food stand and sucked down a shashlik (marinated meat and pickled vegetables wrapped in a lavash) and a cold beer. Refreshed, I carried on and took the metro to the Central Railway office to buy a ticket to St. Petersburg.

Conspicuous consumption

At the Central Railway office, my despairing opinion of the people of Moscow started to change. I tried to order a ticket and managed well for a while. When I started to stumble, a kind woman who was waiting in the lobby and knew some English offered to interpret for me.

I returned to the city center and started sightseeing. The first place I visited was the world-renowned Bolshoi Theater. Then I walked to Red Square. Actually, I lingered just outside of the square, because I noticed a few police officers stopping passersby and asking for their papers. Most of these people looked like they were from Central Asia and the Caucasus, but I didn't want to take any chances. I was happy to hang out at a crowded plaza called Manezhskaya Square, adjacent to Red Square. (Red Square, the Kremlin, Manezhskaya Square and the Moscow River are all next to each other.)

Russian Orthodox art

I left Manezhskaya Square and walked to the Kitai Gorod district. This is a very old neighborhood near the Kremlin that has many churches and historic buildings. I expected this area to be quaint, perhaps like Chinatown in San Francisco. Instead, I discovered that Kitai Gorod is the epicenter of Moscow's new consumer culture. On the first street I passed through, a short alley named Tretyakovsky Proezd, I passed row upon row of parked luxury cars. (The black Benz is more prevalent in Moscow than the 3-Series BMW in Silicon Valley.) All of them were in pristine condition and attended to by a driver. Their owners must have been shopping at the Gucci, Tiffany's or a number of other boutiques on that street. Ironically, my guidebook, printed in 2003, said this was an archaeological site.

I left this opulent street—the rest of the neighborhood teemed with pedestrians. Most of the historic buildings I saw were undergoing renovation. I concentrated instead on the people I passed. Both men and women dress to impress. The gentlemen wear suits with pointy shoes; women choose tight skirts and tops. These clothes look more expensive than what I saw in Riga or Vilnius. In addition to flattering clothes, women feature a can't-be-bothered look and a mean stilettoed walk.

Cathedral of the Monastery of the Sign; in distance, one of Stalin's Seven Sisters

Still in Kitai Gorod, I approached a cell phone store, and feeling good about it, walked in. The salesperson, a girl in her early twenties, was pretty helpful. I was able to communicate with her in Russian, but after seeing my American passport she switched to English. She sold me a SIM card without any trouble, and even more, she activated it for me and told me how to make calls. For my part, I tried to be friendly and appreciative of her help. I think this shows that when you reach out to strangers, they want to receive you you rather than turn you away.

Near the Hotel Rossiya, a hulking Soviet architectural legacy on the Moscow River, I met four English-speaking tourists. They were on a group backpacking tour. They all seemed like experienced travelers, but when I told them I was traveling alone they were impressed. It was only then that I felt comfortable in Moscow. I was able to, with a mix of some knowledge of Russian, luck finding English speakers and a lot of patience, achieve everything I set out to do.

Rollerblading capitalists in Kitai Gorod

I finished my walking tour of Kitai Gorod that evening and then met Nadi at a nice place off Tverskaya Street called FAQ Cafe. She was joined by her classmates, Julia, Nastya and Kola, who all are also CouchSurfers. They all struck me as bohemians, as did the cafe itself. I thought it odd that such a quiet place could exist so close to Moscow's busiest street, but in Moscow there are no distinct neighborhoods such as the Village in New York or SOMA in San Francisco. Here I had a terrific spaghetti carbonara for only $6.

That night Nadi and Julia borrowed Nastya's car and drove me around the city. I was touched by this gesture. We drove past the Kremlin, which looks beautiful at night, around the major streets, and to Moscow State University, which is on a hill that offers a nice view of the city. Traffic in Moscow never stops. There are neon lights everywhere, for multinational companies and casinos, reminiscent of an Asian capital city. Speaking of Asians, I saw a few around the city today. They ranged from central Asian to possibly Chinese or Korean. I saw a few other minorities, too—I definitely didn't feel like an oddity in this city. However most of these ethnic minorities speak Russian, so in the polyglot sense Moscow is not very cosmopolitan.

with Nadi and Julia at FAQ Cafe (those are sleeping bags!)

Nadi and Julia told me that they were planning a trip to Australia for the summer. Remarkably, they had only thought of the idea the night before, and already they were researching how to get a job there. I admired their impulsive, spur-of-the-moment mentality—no one I knew acted that way. We got back to Nadi's place, a modest flat (Julia also came to do some studying) where the warm hospitality continued. I was blessed to have found these hosts.

Kremlin at night

# posted by billklee @ 23:08