{"id":11383,"date":"2018-10-11T07:53:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T07:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=11383"},"modified":"2018-10-10T17:08:21","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T17:08:21","slug":"guest-post-gary-mei-on-his-first-trip-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/guest-post-gary-mei-on-his-first-trip-to-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Gary Mei on His First Trip to Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this installment in our first time in Russia series, software developer Gary Mei (Rochester, New York) talks about his recent trip.<\/p>\n

\"Gary

The author in Moscow\/\/Image courtesy of Gary Mei<\/p><\/div>\n

On Safety<\/h2>\n

I visited Russia with my wife for two weeks at the start of September 2018. We flew into St. Petersburg (\u0421\u0430\u043d\u043a\u0442-\u041f\u0435\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0431\u0443\u0301\u0440\u0433<\/strong>), explored smaller towns as we traveled south, and flew out of Moscow (\u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u0430\u0301<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

We stayed in some off-prime areas with sparsely lit streets in St. Petersburg and Moscow, so I was worried at first, as I would be when visiting any unfamiliar area at night, but I figured it was safe when I spotted the occasional jogger or person walking their baby or dog.<\/p>\n

Overall, I felt as safe as I would feel in any European city, even when we got lost and had to take some residential paths and back-alleys. Russian cities appeared to have a strong police presence, as well.<\/p>\n

We encountered some hostility from locals when we didn\u2019t understand the language, but as a New Yorker, I felt it was standard defensiveness and not wanting to deal with people in general, as opposed to outright hostility towards foreigners (\u0438\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0446\u044b).<\/p>\n

I did have some moments where being Asian didn\u2019t help. For example, I got stopped for backpack scans whenever I entered the St. Petersburg subway (\u043c\u0435\u0442\u0440\u043e\u0301<\/strong>). Also, we visited a food market (\u0440\u044b\u0301\u043d\u043e\u043a<\/strong>) with a tour group, and the vendors were were trying to get the attention of Americans by yelling \u201cJohnny! Johnny!\u201d and when they spotted me, they yelled \u201cJackie!\u201d Yup.<\/p>\n

\"Church

Church of the Savior on Pilled Blood\/\/Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

We didn\u2019t have any incidents personally, but I did overhear discussion of an active pickpocket while outside of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood<\/a> (\u0421\u043e\u0431\u043e\u0301\u0440 \u0421\u043f\u0430\u0301\u0441\u0430 \u043d\u0430 \u041a\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0301<\/strong>) in St. Petersburg. For our first trip to Europe, we had read about pickpockets (\u043a\u0430\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0301\u043d\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438<\/strong>) and scammers (\u043c\u043e\u0448\u0435\u0301\u043d\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438<\/strong>), and were warned about pickpockets in Russia among the crowds, especially in tourist areas and even inside museums (\u043c\u0443\u0437\u0435\u0301\u0438<\/strong>). From that first European trip, we have pouches that are worn under our clothes, but I never felt a need to wear mine while in Russia.<\/p>\n

I made sure to carry my wallet in my front pocket, but I do that anyway. We also avoided taking our passports out with us whenever possible.<\/p>\n

How Much Russian You Need<\/h2>\n

In our case, none, outside of some sessions to familiarize ourselves with the Russian alphabet (\u0430\u043b\u0444\u0430\u0432\u0438\u0301\u0442<\/strong>) and basic phrases<\/a>. That said, I\u2019ve found my way around foreign cities without understanding the language in the past.<\/p>\n

Compared to Moscow, St. Petersburg has better support for English on their signage, and in our experience, more people spoke the language as well. When shopping or eating out, we found that salesclerks (\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0432\u0446\u044b\u0301<\/strong>) didn\u2019t tend to speak English, even the younger staff. This differed from our travels to central Europe and even Asia, where we felt we could expect to find English help.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t speak the language, you can get around fine in St. Petersburg and Moscow\u2019s subways, and non-American restaurants tend to be good about having pictures on their menus.<\/p>\n

Staying in Touch With Loved Ones Back Home<\/h2>\n

Thankfully, I have cellular service via T-Mobile, which provides free, limited coverage abroad and allows me to text folks back home. Otherwise, a foreign SIM card (SIM-\u043a\u0430\u0301\u0440\u0442\u0430<\/strong>) would be handy but I\u2019ve never had to deal with that. Now that phones feature so-called e-SIMs, I expect it to be easier to purchase temporary service.<\/p>\n

Prior to having international service, I\u2019d rely on hotel wifi. When I\u2019d get lost, I\u2019d hang around outside of cafes to attempt to leech their wifi and figure out where I am. That\u2019s not a good idea anymore now that wifi is more sophisticated and secured.<\/p>\n

Russian cities and businesses tended to offer public wifi, even within subway trains, which was a pleasant surprise. However, I found that the country\u2019s free wifi implementations involved giving them your phone number for verification (and likely, tracking).<\/p>\n

Water Safety<\/h2>\n

For food, we had no issues. As for water (\u0432\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0301<\/strong>), I\u2019m still unsure and hear conflicting advice from people, including that the water\u2019s fine but contains unfamiliar particles that may sicken us the first time around. I met tourists that didn\u2019t take any chances and only drank bottled water, and my wife was even avoiding ice (\u043b\u0451\u0434<\/strong>) in her drinks, but there were non-bottled cold drinks that I just had to try in restaurants, so I took the plunge and didn\u2019t suffer any stomach illnesses (that I\u2019m aware of). I will mention that the water there had a markedly different taste, even when bottled.<\/p>\n