Moscow

OK, So ive actually been kinda dreading the thought of having to sit and start to write this entry to my blog,So much has happened since the last and its gonna take a lot of thinking to remember it all, however,Ive started this fkn blog and I'll fkn finish it, even if it is the death of me!!!
So last entry was leaving Wageningen to go to St Petersburg. Our plane departed from Amsterdam at some silly early time (ah the joys of cost-cutting travels) but because of train time restrictions we had to leave for Amsterdamat about 10 pm. We arrived at the airport around midnight and had about 6 hours of waiting for our flight.Time can be passed easily in airports if you have the energy and a little imagination. We ran around all over theplace playing stupid games and acting quite childish =D. We had races in wheelchairs and tried to float bubblesinto international zones. We'd stand at one side of customs control, Lucy would blow some bubbles and I would layunderneith and blow to give them height. Then we'd both blow as hard as we could to try and reach the otherside of passport control. We managed it once before an over paranoid security guard told us with a very serious face that we should "stop right now!" After we had passed through passport control ourselves we sat and watched Brazil on my Laptop, Guido also came and met us again since he works at a swatch shop in the airport. We chatted with him for a while and before long it was time to go and board our plane.
The flight was fine and we arrived in Berlin at 8 am. We collected our bags and decided to check in as soon as possible, get it done an out the way etc, also we both thought it would be cool to look around the duty free shops that airports always have in their departure lounges.. Well, every airport except Berlin aparently. The departure lounge here is fkn tiny, they have a seperate one for each departure gate and they arent big enough to hold as many people as the plane they're about to board can. Man I fkn hate Berlin airport!!!! We both sat in a corner, hugging and feeling pretty shitty, but thank god eventually we could get onto the plane.
Flight to St P was also easy, I think we slept but I cant remember now..
When we landed we where both like "OMFG!!!!! WE'RE IN FKN RUSSSSSIIIIAAAAAA!!!!!" felt amazing to have made it this far. We had to spend a while waiting to get through passport control,this was the moment of truth, they could choose to just refuse to let us in if they wanted. Fortunately all our documents were ok and we were allowed through. Cue much dancing, jumping, cheering etc. We collected our bags and were greated by Gromov. A guy Ive met on the internet and he is an absolute diamond. He even had a sign saying "TechDiff" when he came to meet us. We climbed aboard a small orange van which was our "bus" and we headed towards St Petersburg and got our first view of Russia.
St Petersburg is a cool town, its really run down in places, quite often its hard to tell if a building is abandoned or not, and 90% of the time it isnt. The city just looks a little broken, like it could do with a lot of TLC.
We arrived at Gromovs and crashed out straight away. The next day was Gromovs birthday but we woke late. Since it was a week day there wasnt so much to do. Gromov had a bottle of Vodka (yay..?) so the 3 of us worked our way through that pretty quickly over dinner. We decided that wasnt enough so we walked to a nearby shop and bought another bottle and a beer too. Those also disappeared rapidly and before long all 3 of us where pretty hammered. Dont remember so much from here on..........
Woke the next day with a veery curious feeling in my head, and acidy feeling in my stomach and a bizarre desire to cook a full english, MY GOD! IVE GOT A HANGOVER!! (shhhhhh) Walked to the shop to buy all the provisions required. Couldnt find proper bacon, proper sausages, no black pudding, and had to improvise some kinda bastardised version.If your ever in Russia, be sure to check that your sausages havent been double wrapped in plastic before you throw them into your frying pan. It was only halfway through cooking mine that I descovered theyd all been individually wrapped and Lucy ended up peeling them for me, Peeling sausages in Russia.......... What a sweet girl =D
We visited the city a couple times, it felt like a mix between Prague and Kiev. Still felt very european. We saw some cool old stalinist style architecture and saw the cathedral of the resurection, a classic russian style multi coloured ice cream jobby. Gromov had given us some stickers to promote the party he'd organised so we had fun sticking them all over the place, although we were slightly careful, not wanting police attention etc.
So, onto the first Russian gig. The venue was small but seemed pretty cool. The PA was a good size and monitors all over the stage, a definate good start. The Line up was, Toiminto (Finnish Dub step), sc/kr (Russian noise stuff), Gromov (Damn good Breakcore/raggacore) TechDiff (thingy stuffs with bobbles on top UK OMFGBBQ!!!!!), Mirra + Fay (Russian Breakcore DJ with romantic female vocals (wierd)), Made in Made (Russian Raggacore), and Toiminto did a Breakcore DJ set to finish. Night was awesome. People in St P go insane!!! There wasnt so many people, maybe 200, but the atmosphere was good. I played at about 2 and was maybe the best set Ive played. Crowd went mental, I was fkn loving it tbh. Felt sooooo good after the disapointment of the NL gig. During the night Gromov had been handing out free copies of my EP and after my set people kept coming up and asking me to sign them, hehehe, was kinda cool, if a bit silly. Definately a good night.
The next day had to get the train to Moscow for a gig that night. We packed our stuff and Gromov took us to the station. While waiting we ate this kinda fried-bready-type-stuff-with-meaty-substance-inside-type-thingy. Dont remember what its called but its really fkn good. Lucy reakons its the best cheep food shes eaten in russia, and I think I agree. Not been able to find it since =(.
We boarded the train and found our cabin. Its small but not too bad. This time its only 2nd class, 2 bunks either side. We shared with a quiet lady, and later a fat, snoring, pig type man. The train journey was about 8 hours in total. We spent some of it asleep and the rest looking out of the windows at the countryside flying past us. Only now did we get a small glimpse at real russia. Small isolated villages with run down looking houses, Poor doesnt even begin to describe it. It felt almost like seeing back in time. We slept for the last part of the trip and woke up about 30 minutes from Moscow, it was dark outside. When we arrived we were to be met by a guy called PoWeR, the party organiser who'd payed for our train tickets.
Well, where to start.... Power is one of a kind. Ive never met anyone quite like him, and hopefully never will again. Dont get me wrong on this, he's nice enough, just incredibly annoying and slightly childish. Anyways, He met us at the station and we went straight to the club, Still with all our bags. Power likes to gives his nights a theme, tonight was "night of the living trash", basically electronic music with Troma films playing on some projector screens. Club was cool, again quite small, PA was pretty shitty this time =/.Power took us to a nearby shop to buy some food, we got loads of salad type stuff and even some small octopus' in a sauce. Not eaten these before, kinda chewey like squid. We went back to the club and sat in the "chill out room" to eat our food. The chill out room was fully UV with "Bad taste" being projected onto a wall and a DJ playing Atari Teenage Riot mixed with Trad Polka music, Not exactly chill out, we laughed tho.My set went good, couldnt really hear anything since there was only 1 shitty monitor but people liked it. Looked like there was quite a lot of people dancing at some points. Lots of screaming "Tetsh Deeefff" and stuff, was good fun. Afterwoods Lucy and I escaped the club and went to a nearby coffee shop. Theres a chain of cafes here called Shokoladnitsa and theyre fkn awesome. I recomend the Jelly with wild Berries. We had a short walk around the area, our first proper look around Moscow. First impressions: seems really exciting and lively town. After the party we got a Taxi to Powers house on the outskirts of Moscow. We crashed out pretty quickly, sooooo tired. It was good to have a proper double bed to curl up together in too.
Woke up late with that hazy type feeling and was glad to doze for a while. Unfortuntately we were interupted mid-doze by Power Blasting out fkn Jumpstyle with this big stupid fkn grin on his face. Lucy and I were still naked in bed and he wouldnt even leave the room to give us a chance to dress. I got up and tried to distract him so Lucy could at least put something on. I told him I needed to get some Saline for my contact lenses and we also needed to go and meet the next person we'd organised to stay with. I got ready to go but the door was locked, aparently his brother had gone out and locked the door from the outside..... This was about 2 pm, It wasnt untill around 6 that we could actually get out. We walked to the shop and got the saline I needed. Then on the way back Power said we'd have to wait for his girlfriend before we could go to our next host. Loooooooonnnnggggg
Eventually she arrived and we could get going. We walked to the nearest metro with all our bags and headed towards the centre, a little help from Power would've been nice. We eventually found the right address but our new host Derrick was out... shit. We'd told him we'd arrive much earlier but due to all the pissing around with Power we must've missed him. Next followed about about 4 hours of pure stress. I dont want to go into the details, lets just say that Power was testing our patience more than anyone ever had before. Finally Derrick arrived and we moved our stuff into his flat.
Derrick was someone we found on Couch Surfing. A networks of people willing to house travellers for a few days for days for free. He works at the Phillipine embassy in Moscow and is a couch surfing fanatic, his record is 11 guests plus himself in a 3 room + kitchen apartment. Fortunately while we there he only had 2 other guests, 2 students from Austria who's names escape me right now.
Our stay there was pleasent enough, he had a pet cat called Misha which took a severe dislike to me but we had a large bed and we where in easy reach of central Moscow, time to be touristy for a week or so untill we move on to a different host. (Sounds kinda parasitic no?)
We took a walk into central Moscow towards the Kremlin. We saw St Basils and walked past and onto Red Square. Its quite an impressive space, bigger than I imagined. We stood with our backs to St Basils. To the left is the Kremlin and Lenin's Tomb, In front of us a grand gateway, and to our right a huge shopping centre called the gum centre. Its used to be a very classic looking building but now its all decked out with lights and looks a little gaudy. Shame.
Moscow centre is absolutely nothing like either of us expected. I imagined an old town, loads of historical buildings and loads of cool little shops. I was massively disapointed. The centre is full of nothing other than designer boutiques and mobile phone shops. Within 3 minutes of the Red Square there are 3 different shopping centres, all full of the same Prada/Gucci/Amrmani type shops. All expencive and all kinda depressing. All reminders of the past are hidden away or destroyed completely. If you walk to the left after leaving Red Square and walk for a couple minutes you'll reach a square with large statue of Marx in the middle. Directly oposite is the Tsum centre, the most expensive of the shopping centres. Seems a poignant example of modern Moscow to me.
Still we had our fun, we walked around the centre poking fun at all the hip young kids in their trendy expensive clothes. Im so glad Lucy is here with me, I think without her Moscow would've got depressing very quickly, but together we laugh and find humour in it all. I feel so lucky to be with her.
We've not gone into the Kremlin yet, I dont think we will either. Its about 350 roubles for entry (Ј7) and from what everyone has said, it really isnt worth it. Im not one for museums and neither is Lucy. Ive seen the outside and thats enough for me. Not gone to see dead Lenin either, probably do that tomorrow. There's not really so much else to do in Moscow. Nothing affordable anyway. Im still stunned by how expensive it is here, London prices if not more!! We got bored of Moscow quickly. Still, another gig to go which is cool.
This time it was organised by Gromov again and Mirra and Fay too. I was feeling pretty rough for this one and so didnt stick around for much of the night. I feel bad for not seeing everyones set to the full but I felt like I had flu or something. It was mostly the same people as the St P gig, Toiminto, Gromov, Myself, Mirra & Fay, a couple others too. A really cool guy called Atarix played, he's a really nice guy and really positive and motivated. Definately gonna try and stay in touch. I think I played well considering how shit I felt. I got to the end of the 40 min and people wanted me to keep going so I managed to stretch it out for another 30 mins or so before my soundcard crashed. People were going pretty mental, loads of screaming and stuff, I think I could see about 30 or so people going for it through the set so thats cool. After the set we sat in the back stage area for a while, chatted to Gromov and drank the free champagne =D Then we went and found a Shokoladnitsa to chill out in. The night wound down by 6 am so we said our goodbyes to Gromov again (hopefully meet up in Beglium) and headed back to Derricks house.
The next evening Derrick had some of his friends over and we all ate unusual food and drank unusual drinks. We had both types of caviar, pickled egg plant, something called sala (i think) which is kinda like lard but creamy and good on bread, tiny pickled onions too. We also a few different types of Vodka, schnaps, some strange dark ale from Siberia, sure there was something else but for some reason my memory is a little hazy.
The next day was time to move on to our next host. A nice lady called Gulsum. She was a little odd perhaps, but nice enough to give us a bed to sleep on. This time we were quite far out from central Moscow, maybe 20 minutes by Metro. She lives in a large apartment building on the 17th floor, you can see loads from so high and I took a few pics of the skyline. We were only due to stay here for a few days before our Train to Beijing deprated, but thats where it all went wrong..
Now I was under the impression that travel was supposed to be difficult, hard work, and stressful and so far we've had it easy. Everything has gone to plan. People have been there to meet us, No flight delays, plane sailing so far. Next thing for us to do was go across Moscow to Novoalexseevskiya street to collect our train tickets for the Trans-Siberian express. We got there no trouble, presented our passports, and got our tickets. We jumped around some more, laughing and cheering etc. We headed back to the Metro station and started our journey home. We had to make a change at Prospect Mira station. It was here that Lucy went to get something out of our bag when she realised....
"OUR FUCKING PASSPORTS HAVE BEEN FUCKING STOLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yup, Our passports, Russian and Chinese Visas, Russian Registration cards all gone along with about 3000 rouble (60Ђ) This was the start of a nightmarish few days.
We headed straight to the UK embassy first but by the time we got there it was about 6 pm and the embassy was closed. The night time guards instructed us to come back the next day. We returned to Gulsums feeling vewry depressed. Cue first sleepless night of many. Fortunately we still had our cash cards so we wernt completely fucked. We went back to the UK embassy at around 8 am the next day and they gave me a couple sizeable forms to complete. They told us we'd have to report our passports lost with the police so that we could obtain a form vital to our passport aplications. Sounds easy enough no?
The Moscow police are something I wouldn't wish onto my worst enemies. In Russia, when you reach the age of 18 you have 2 choices. If youre clever/rich enough you can go to University. If you're poor or thick as pig shit you either join the army or Police. The only thing I can think of which shares the same attitude as a Moscow police officer is a Chav.... shit. So we spent the rest of the day getting abuse at every police station we went to. The next day we went to our respective embassies and asked for help. They couldnt suply us with translators for some bullshit reason and the best they could do was write us a letter for us to present to the Police, hmmmmmmmm.
So off we went to the the police station again, and gave our letters to the police man (boy) on reception. He read through the letter explaining we'd lost our passports. He then help out his hand and said "Passports please"........
Eventually we got to speak to someone more senior, I say speak to, infact we just got shouted at in Russian. Every police station we tried we got the same, loud vocal abuse and laughing. We need a fkn translator!! We spent the whole day being sent round the houses, exhausted, stressed and depressed we made our journey back to Gulsums. I had been very sick for the whole day, something I ate had a massive disagreement with my insides. I was experiancing gut emptying on a scale only Steve Hancock can understand. By the time we got on the metro home I had poo-ed out everything ever and was feeling weak as hell. Somewhere on the metro I blacked out. I came around to Lucys face looking worried with tears in her eyes. It was such a comfort, until I could focus I felt so scared but to see her face helped more than I can ever explain. She dragged me off the train at the next station and sat with me till I felt a little better. She held me up and kept me concious for the rest of the journey home. She gave me her jumper to keep warm as we walked to Gulsums flat. She lay me down and helped me get to sleep. I dont know what I'd would've done without her. It doesnt bare thinking about.
The next day we woke early. I was still feeling shit but good enough to walk so off we went. Lucy had persuaded Gulsum to act as translator and with her help we got out police letter and could complete our passport aplications. Lucy's Belgian passport took 20 mins to make, my UK one took 2 days and along with my exit visa from Russia cost around 10 000 roubles (Ђ300). Fortunately I'd made about Ђ600 from the gigs I played here so wasnt such a problem.
By this point there was no way we could get our Chinese visas sorted in time, the train was due to leave on Friday the 5th. We took our tickets back to the booking office for a refund which fortunately gives us enough money for a flight instead. We've booked ourselves onto a flight in china which arrives on the 13th. 1 day later than if we took the train. Not bad going at all imo.
So now we sit in limbo. We've both had enough of Moscow. Right now we're staying with a friend of one of the party organisers and waiting out the last 3 days till our plane leaves. Its nice to just relax for a while and catch up on all the sleep lost from the last few days. We have to go into the city to collect our Chinese visas (provided theyve been approved) and go and maybe go look at dead lenin, but other than that its R&R until China.
Im sure there is loads missing, loads Ive forgotten, but I gotta save some of it for when I get back to St A. Im just so glad to have Lucy through all of this. I wouldve been lost without her so many times. I have no idea whats gonna happen after all this travelling is over. =(
Fair play if you've read all of this, please leave a message so I know you're all still OK. Missing everyone a lot. How did the night at the Horn go?
Take it squeazy <3