Russia Part 1: Reunion in Rostov (It all started in Linkoping)

Taken almost wholesale from the FB album again. I really should stop trying haha.

Before you start reading, I promise this will be long. It may not be entertaining, and it's probably too many words to go through for a few poorly taken pictures. If you want to ask me things like, "If you know it's going to be boring, why do it?", don't do it(if you care about it in the first place). Because shut up I don't need to give you a reason, and I am a petulant child. Here we go:

What were the many things on my mind that I mentioned on the previous album? It was basically "Wow I am finally going to land in Russia and meet all (2) of my friends from exchange. I've been talking about it, but this is real! What do I say? What do I do? Is this real? Am I really here? Seems like it. So how?"

So, after a short flight, I finally landed in Rostov at 3.50am, and of course almost immediately proceeded to fuck things up. In a very, very minor way. The cause of this was very much my illiteracy in the Russian language, and the inability to say anything besides "Ty ochen krasivaya", which incidentally is a very important phrase. (This means "you are very beautiful" but I didn't get to use it much.

Basically I didn't fill in my entry/exit permit. So I had to queue up again from the back to finally cross the customs and into Mother Russia legally. The fuck up of course, wasn't this. It was making Anastasia and her father wait for me at the airport for 1 hour! I thought. It turned out that my watch was turned to 1 hour faster than the correct time, so I didn't really fuck it up that much.

When we finally came face to face, it was strangely nothing like what I thought it would be. Firstly because I didn't even see them! They did, however, see me, and I was swiftly escorted to the car, and conversation came quite easily. Mr Nadolinsky was also an friendly man full of smiles, and I regret not being able to speak Russian (more on that later) with him. We made a good impression on each other. I think. Also, they gave me so much food I had enough for 2 days of breakfast! Not a joke! 

Tea, 2 cups of yoghurt, 6 sticks of kitkat, 5 sandwiches and 2 apples.

The next day, after a good nights sleep, I met up with Anastasia again, with her fiance (now husband) Igor, Anna and Lukas, whom I now believe is my brother from another mother (and father). It was like a mini Linkoping reunion, and I was glad to see my friends again/for the first time and catch up/find out about them. So we went walking around town, taking in my first sights of Russia, and taking many of the shit photos you will be seeing in this album. I will cut to the chase. We had a good day out. At least I thought we did.

right?

The next day was the big day itself, and I had the hardest time ironing my shirt because it's fucking hard and I am no iron man. So anyway, we put on our suits (and dress) and sauntered through town for lunch in a nice Russian restaurant called Smetanya, which means sour cream. It was good. 

Smetanya

I will not talk much about the wedding ceremony, as I don't have creative words for it. It was really beautiful, emotional, heartwarming, and various other terms people use for weddings. Because it really was. The newlyweds looked really stunning, and honestly, it was the smiles on their faces that made them look so good. The good feeling was radiating from their entire beings.

It was also the start of Iya's (Anastasia's colleague who spoke English) day doing charity, translating everything for a poor illiterate man (me). For this, I am deeply thankful, and it made the experience so much more meaningful for me. I also learned a word "goreka(?)". It means bitter but is really just something you shout when you want to watch the couple kiss. Of course I had to try the word out. 

Goreka! Kissing happens approximately 2 seconds after this photo was taken

One thing that stood out for me was the cars driving through the town centre, blaring their horns to announce that a convoy consisting of a newly married couple and their friends were coming through. If you did this in Singapore, there would be death stares, other cars horning at you, and probably a police report with a hefty fine to go along. In Russia, this is standard practice. Or so I hear.

We arrived in the botanic gardens for the couples photo taking, and our bumming around and some adventuring, and taking our own photos. I am proud to say I managed to make Lukas and Anna look like James Bond and his Russian spy girlfriend. 

See?

At the dinner is where everything starts to get slightly hazy. Of course, there was the table full of food, which I assumed was going to be everything we were eating for the night. Those turned out to be appetizers. So, in short, a whole load of food. Also, it turned out I couldn't speak more than 10 words in Russian, and none of them useful in conversation, so to show how friendly I was, I was drinking vodka with Alexey (Anastasia's awesome man bear cousin), and Valiera (Igor's cousin with cool hair) and Lukas. Also, with both fathers, because I couldn't speak Russian, so I spoke the other language. Drinking. This is the regret I mentioned, for not being able to speak Russian. Anyway I was coerced to go to the dance floor and look dizzy by swaying about (and I took a lot of liquid courage to just do that), as well as give a speech in a mixture of English and Mandarin that noone understood, and the real emcee was an opera singer named Igor who was supposed to be very famous. I still don't know who he is, unfortunately. 

Small part of the appetizers

Very intricate glassware. Front to back: for water, hard liquor and wine respectively

Since I am on the topic of things I remember about the night, I remember sharing a table with Iya and Daria (whom I regretfully couldn't speak much to, because she was more fluent in German and me, not at all), with Iya continuing her charity work (thank you so much again) by translating, and accepting my request for a dance. I don't remember if I stepped on her feet, but I hope I didn't. I remember walking back to the hotel, promising I'd be up to send the two couples off at the airport. 

L to R: Iya, Me and vodka, Anastasia, Igor

Long story short. I wasn't. It turns out drinking a large amount of alcohol can make you very, very sleepy. Instead, I met Igor's mum and aunt (as was arranged for me because all English speaking people would be away), who rather graciously took me around Rostov, and we also had a good day (I hope).

Like all good times, these 3 days in Rostov had to come to an end, and before long (the next day), I would be on my way to St Petersburg, part company with friends old and new, and resume my solo trip. I am really thankful for the invitation to the wedding, and all the friendship that was extended to me, as well as for the excuse to travel around Russia. I hope with all my heart, that it would not be another 3 long years before we meet each other again. Till then, thanks facebook, we can still see each other online sometimes.

TL;DR

Russian people are actually really hospitable and friendly. I met my friends again, and hope to meet them more often.

Russia Part 0: Istanbul

So I decided to post here, copying wholesale from my photo album in Facebook, which might turn out to be more comprehensive anyway.

Before my trip to Russia began proper, I first had to navigate 18 hours in Istanbul. "Why?" You may ask (but more likely will not, and do not care). It was because my Russia visa started in October 1, but I didn't have any flights in on that day.

Having been in Istanbul just last year, I thought it would be really easy and not so interesting. Going by my record of being right, I was of course, without a doubt, proven wrong.

It was however, made a lot easier, by being offered a hotel by Turkish Airlines, to drop my luggage, and walk around with just a backpack. Then I realised my luggage had gone straight to Rostov while I could prance around Istanbul like a happy little(fat) bird. Istanbul promised to be rainy in the morning, so, expecting her to keep her promise, I went to bed in the free hotel room, because come on. So I napped for 3 hours and hot-footed it out of the hotel room, intending to see the Turkey Biennale that was going on at that time.

Before I go into what I did for the afternoon, which was actually pretty boring, I need to first say that I did not actually see any part of the Biennale, despite setting out to see that. The main reason was because my hotel was near Sultan Ahmet, and I decided that it was reasonable for me to walk to the Biennale at Taksim (I had some 14 hours to walk around after all). However, I was easily distracted and could not focus on my goals, and instead wandered about the street, wondering where I was, and heading straight towards whatever I thought interested me, which most of the time happened to be the same thing I thought was interesting that I saw (what I thought was) 2 streets ago. I later realised I was just wandering about in circles.
So I gave up trying to find Taksim, and walked the straight path to Sultan Ahmet, because at least I knew that place from last year. So I thought. Long story short, I didn't. So I walked in more circles until I came to a Hamam Museum, which I could see for free. So Hamam Museum check? (Even though I didn't plan to see it, nor knew of it's existence). The nice lady also pointed the way to Sultan Ahmet, my new destination after all but giving up on Taksim.

So I arrived in Sultan Ahmet without much happening along the way, enjoying the cool Turkish air, saw the Basilica Cistern (quite cool but expensive), met a 17 year old Peruvian traveling solo and then proceeded to Corlulu Ali Pasa for 5 cups of cay and shisha, just to rest my feet a little.
After that, I decided it was time to go back to the hotel, in case I got distracted/lost again. It turned out I didn't, and I got back with 2 hours to spare. So, shower, dinner, and on towards to airport, and Rostov in the middle of the night! It was pretty uneventful. A lot was going on in my mind, but nothing much with reality.

TL;DR
I am travelling alone, got lost a lot in a place I was before, and didn't see what I planned to, which would be an ongoing theme of this trip. Not that I knew.