Moscow! (Andrew)

I would like to start with an apology to the readers. The previous post made a reference to rocky v. As readers were quick to point out, this reference should be attributed to rocky IV. We would like to assure our readers, especially those in Mumbia and Bangalore, that the sudmantfamily blog does not stand for this kind of sloppy journalism. Thank you to the close readers for pointing out this error. We'll try to be better.


After an eventful journey that tested the limits of the travel diet we've been perfecting, (noodles, 'dinner fish', chocolate, vitamin pills and cucumbers), our ability to go without REM sleep (with our cabinmates 'grandma' and 'gramps' telling jokes late into the night and rising at the break of dawn), and raising our pantomime skills to new hieghts (thanks to our Siberian coal miner friends), Cameron and I arrived in Moscow a couple of nights ago.

Our hostel is only a few hundred meters from red square where yesterday there were big celebrations for 'moscow day'. There multiple stages and large numbers of people from the military. Some were dressed up for the occassion but there were also crowds of teenage soldiers that looked like they'd come strait from siberian boot camp. I'm pretty sure some of them were carrying tents on their backs but Cameron thinks they were extra coats.

There were also lots of stands selling food and cheap souvenirs. For some reason pirate hats with blue hair attached are something tourists are supposed to buy. Flags with putin and medvedev are another option, (getting excited Adam and Peter?). We ate salty corn on the cob and had sandwiches from another stall. They were disappointing.

Today we're going back to Red Square to visit St. Basil's and some other churches.

Some other findings :

Produce is expensive and isn't of very high quality. Even at the shi shi grocery store we've been shopping at the apples are bruised and cost as much as 7 dollars a kg. Some other produce seems to be less expensive however.

I want to reiterate how popular mullets are in Russia. We're not even in Siberia anymore! Also, I was under the impression that once you went with the mullet you had basically made all the hair styling decisions you could make. Boy did I have that wrong. This trip has been really culturally enlightening for me.

Russia is a nation of sharpshooters. This game where you shoot at cans or minature soldiers with a pellet gun seems to be pretty common-and its fun for the whole family!

You know who's a big hit? Bruce Willis. I've seen his face on two billboards, one advertising a bank and another advertising hunting gear. Aparting Bruce is a versatile guy when it comes to advertising.

Putin is co-opting Walker Texas Ranger jokes. I heard 'Putin can make two sticks out of a fire' yesterday.

As Cameron will be elaborating on, we had a few drinks with three shirtless tattooed coal miners (or possibly mechanics) on the train. For future reference, should you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some topics of conversation/chirades that will go over well:

Grizzly bears
Fishing
Big dogs
Russia!
Hunting with ak47
Coal mine
Punching (demonstrate on your neighbor)
Choking technique (demonstrate on a foreigner)

Ask Cameron to mime lawyer (or 'advocate'). He's got it down. The 'intellectual property rights ' specialty remains a challenge however. This term is not familiar in China, Mongolia or Russia.