Touring - Bike touring in Russia

First of all I want to say, that all kinds of self-supported touring are alive tradition in our country, they are part of our modern culture.
There are many bike touring clubs in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and in other big cities. They organize weekend cycling, making summer season schedule on their websites. People meet at weekend cycling. They know each other better and then ones makes a long distance tour together.
It is commonly to make tours with a company of 3-8 friends. Such groups of cyclists have got a leader, mechanic, accountant and chronicler. Some of the clubs and companies are less organized, some of them are more. It is possible to choose which of them is suitable.

There are my personal priorities for long bike tour on leave:
1. To enjoy nature - wild camping and minor roads.
2. To get to know about another culture.
3. To combine this with a physical activity.
4. To change surroundings for a while.
5. To refresh our family relations.
6. To get adrenalin in adventures.
7. Acceptable comfort level - shops, roads etc.
These priorities determine my future touring route. Also the season which can I get leave in.
What are your priorities? I do not know which of those above are more important for you. Therefore, I can't give you concrete recommendations.

There are interesting regions for bike touring in Russia:
The historical center of Russia, west and north-west country is best choice for beginners. Less difficult routes are there.
In particular the local roads between Moscow and Saint Petersburg are suitable, the ones between Moscow and Archangelsk as well.
Karelia and Kola Peninsula.
Also South and Medium Urals, Altai, Far East near to Vladivostok, Kamchatka (hotel accommodation only because of bears) are popular.
Comfort and infrastructure decrease in North and East direction. Woods are almost absent in the South, except Caucasus Mountains.

I don't recommend you to visit republics of northern caucasus and republic Kalmykia. I have not been there, but I have got bad information.

Cycling on main roads is not a good idea, especially near to big cities.

Something is worth to see. The best way is to buy a guide-book. I can't describe all this here.

Credit card touring - I have not got such experience.
Wild camping is allowed everywhere but one should be really by stealth, because drunken locals may be importunate and aggressive.
GPRS Internet connection is available near main cities. It is better to use local mobile communication services.
Food - you will not be hungry, I'm sure.
Trains are pretty comfortable, it depends on class. It is allowed to take bike, wrapped in cover, to compartment, but conductor may demand a bribe. I show him regulations in this case. Wheels must be disconnected to reduce luggage size.
Suburb trains are useful too.

Language barrier is a problem, so a phrase-book is helpful.
To get visa is possible. It is a special issue.

Something else?
I think, that if a man is going to leave western “comfort zone” on his own risk, he should be a little bit adventurer. If this is about you, welcome.

A weird question here.... how easy/difficult is it to cross the entire country West to East? Say from St-Petersburg to Vladivostok or the border with China or Mongolia? I am guessing Siberia is a tough place to ride a bike but is it feasible? What types of road should you expect?

There is railway only between Chita and Blagoveshchensk. So to cross entire country by bike is impossible, but I think the rest of space is quite enough :eek:. I recommend you this report (http://velo-idea.narod.ru/Shanghaitour_2005.pdf) (pdf file 3.5 MB). Text is written in German and contains a lot of details. It is very fundamental report. The man has ridden from Saint Petersburg to Shanghai by bike. I have forgotten the link where the file was taken; therefore I put it on my website.

A weird question here.... how easy/difficult is it to cross the entire country West to East? Say from St-Petersburg to Vladivostok or the border with China or Mongolia? I am guessing Siberia is a tough place to ride a bike but is it feasible? What types of road should you expect?


I was going to point out the Blago-to-Chita gap, but it has already been mentioned.

I lived in Irkutsk for two years and did alot of riding in the Baikal region, as well as south toward the mongolian border and the Sayan Mt. region. Loved it! The roads were everything from well paved multi-lane to dirt. Never a dull moment.

roughstuff

You forgot to mention be prepared to be offered vodka or samogon in the countryside. People might be offened if you refuse.

There are many bike touring clubs in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and in other big cities. They organize weekend cycling, making summer season schedule on their websites. People meet at weekend cycling. They know each other better and then ones makes a long distance tour together.
It is commonly to make tours with a company of 3-8 friends. Such groups of cyclists have got a leader, mechanic, accountant and chronicler. Some of the clubs and companies are less organized, some of them are more. It is possible to choose which of them is suitable.


Do they take tourists? :D

Nice article. I would add that the most important survival technique now is bribing. Everybody takes bribes. Customs officer saying that your bike is a CIA device designed to steal a nuclear war head? No problemo... probably $20 will be enough to prove that it is not... and so on... (it is not a joke, they say that not because they suspect you but because they want 20 bucks... and it is in thier power to take from you your precious time... you will get the bike eventually... two days later...)

Stuff like that works as well (from National Geographic)

I took out my camera and snapped a picture. Just then an incensed guard ran over to me, spitting fire. "Give me your camera!" he barked in Russian. "Here it's forbidden to take pictures." I wouldn't relinquish it, offering the camera's memory stick instead. He agreed. I turned toward the car for a moment, took a blank memory stick out of my shirt pocket, turned back to the guard, and made a show of opening the camera port. I handed him the blank disk. We were both satisfied.

If you are planning on camping or using water filtering devices don't forget to consult this map (they have it printable pdf format) http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0604/feature1/map.html

One other thing to mention is the dual price of museums, other cultural sites, and some hotels. There is one price for Russians and a higher price for foreigners. Don't be surprised if you come across this while in Russia. It's just the way things are done....

There is a road being built between Chita and Khabarovsk. It should be fully completed in 2008, but I think one can get from Chita to Blagoveschensk already.

You forgot to mention be prepared to be offered vodka or samogon in the countryside. People might be offened if you refuse.
That would be a very wrong advice. People would not get offended if some stranger refuses to drink vodka with them. Do not drink with Russians, unless you know what you are doing!

I think language barrier might be a real problem. Outside large cites very few people speak Engilsh. Make sure you have at least a phrase book. A better option could be someone who can translate for you and keep a cell phone. I was in Russia last summer and cell phone coverage in rural areas was much better then in US.

You forgot to mention be prepared to be offered vodka or samogon in the countryside. People might be offened if you refuse.
And that Vodka is MUCH stronger than anything in the US aside from Everclear. You have to be EXTREMELY careful of that stuff. Two shots of it and my head was ringing like I was in the St. Petersburg Bell Tower on Christmas day.

And that Vodka is MUCH stronger than anything in the US aside from Everclear. You have to be EXTREMELY careful of that stuff. Two shots of it and my head was ringing like I was in the St. Petersburg Bell Tower on Christmas day.


When I lived in Irkutsk, it was a tradition in Siberia to drink vodka that had the same proof as your latitude! In general be careful of drinking anything you have not, yourself, opened, or seen someone else drink Ok. There have been instances of methyl alcohol being added to some beverages.

Cyrillic is not hard to learn in a few days; and Russian has its fair share of cognates. The good will you generate as a cyclist will get you real far.

Perhaps bribery has its role; but to me, the most valuable asset is patience. Russians are not used to providing or receiving high levels of consumer service; you must get used to this. But be patient and pleasant and things get done.

I got very drunk with the Mayor of Irkutsk while I was on assignment out there. Don't underestimate the diplomatic effects of becoming ****faced with the locals. :)

Roughstuff

Do they take tourists? :D

Why not? :)
I want to clarify. The clubs, I was talking about, are not commercial bike travel agencies. They are open for everybody associations.

Perhaps bribery has its role; but to me, the most valuable asset is patience. Russians are not used to providing or receiving high levels of consumer service; you must get used to this. But be patient and pleasant and things get done.

Roughstuff, you are wise Man.


I got very drunk with the Mayor of Irkutsk while I was on assignment out there. Don't underestimate the diplomatic effects of becoming ****faced with the locals. :)

Nostalgia? :)

You forgot to mention be prepared to be offered vodka or samogon in the countryside. People might be offened if you refuse.

Ziemas, you are right basically.
If people are already drunk, their behaviour very often becomes inadequate :beer: :lol: :mad: :fight: :cry: . In this case, such situation is possible in Russia. I hardly can imagine this in Finland, for example.

Hello Alexey!!!
You have started very good thread.

Russia is good country for travelling !!!
We invite everybody in Russia.

If you have question ask us !!!

Good Luck Friends !!! :)

Roughstuff, you are wise Man.



Nostalgia? :)


Nostalgia? In some ways yes. I LOVED my Irkutsk assignment. The American sponsors I worked for were so pathetic, I left the program. But i'd go back there in a flash if i had the chance with a different sponsor.

The story with the mayor gets better. One of my students, Andre, came over for dinner one night, I had been making some chicken soup. This student was kind of a cunning, social climber type guy, and he was dating the mayor's daughter. Well, I don't know what was wrong but they (not me) got intestinal upset from my soup. They joked that I was trying to poison them.

I don't think Andre dated the mayor's daughter any more.

Roughstuff

If people are already drunk, their behaviour very often becomes inadequate :beer: :lol: :mad: :fight: :cry: . In this case, such situation is possible in Russia. I hardly can imagine this in Finland, for example.

Thanks for that, Alex. But I think if a person is drunk, he's drunk regardless of country. Drunk people tend to be unpredictable in their behaviour. We definitely have our share of them, but they are probably not very eager to offer drinks to strangers - alcohol is expensive here :).

--J

Ziemas, you are right basically.
If people are already drunk, their behaviour very often becomes inadequate :beer: :lol: :mad: :fight: :cry: . In this case, such situation is possible in Russia. I hardly can imagine this in Finland, for example.
Also the social element of drinking in Russia. In the States (where the vast majority of posters on this board are) drinking is not as acceptable as it is in Russia, or even Europe for that matter.

Also the social element of drinking in Russia. In the States (where the vast majority of posters on this board are) drinking is not as acceptable as it is in Russia, or even Europe for that matter.

Take it easy. :)
This social problem is not fatal for bike touring in Russia, besides that I do not call everybody to tour here at all. Quite the contrary, I want to warn against possible disillusionment because of difficulties etc. If a man is unable to accept mentally my country "as it is", he should not come here.

Take it easy. :)
This social problem is not fatal for bike touring in Russia, besides that I do not call everybody to tour here at all. Quite the contrary, I want to warn against possible disillusionment because of difficulties etc. If a man is unable to accept mentally my country "as it is", he should not come here.
I was just noting a major cultural difference between Russia and America. Nothing more. People need to know something about your country before they can accept it or not....

Hello Alexey!!!
You have started very good thread.

Russia is good country for travelling !!!
We invite everybody in Russia.

If you have question ask us !!!

Good Luck Friends !!! :)

Privyet, Denis!
How is Tula and Yasnaya Polyana? I was there in 1969 - and it was in winter; beautiful, but VERY cold.
I have very fond memories of the old CCCP and its peoples, as I travelled extensively there over a period of 10 years. I am however surprised that my liver is still in good working order!
Vsego dobrogo

Alexey !:)

Please Check your e-mail or Privite message!!!

Privyet, Denis!
How is Tula and Yasnaya Polyana? I was there in 1969 - and it was in winter; beautiful, but VERY cold.
I have very fond memories of the old CCCP and its peoples, as I travelled extensively there over a period of 10 years. I am however surprised that my liver is still in good working order!
Vsego dobrogo

Hello Artmo from Tula !!!
I'll answer you later. I am preparing to tomorrow competition(We are going to open summer biking season)!

Будь ЗДОРОВ !!!

Take it easy. :)
This social problem is not fatal for bike touring in Russia, besides that I do not call everybody to tour here at all. Quite the contrary, I want to warn against possible disillusionment because of difficulties etc. If a man is unable to accept mentally my country "as it is", he should not come here.
Privìet, Alex! I am interested in touring Russia. I am currently learning Russian to facilitate the tour. This is a, pardon the pun please, 5 year plan! I have the tour planned for a graduation present to myself, and want to take a year and tour Russia and other Federation Republics. Among other places, I want to visit Moscow in Russia proper, Baikonur, in Khazakstan, as well as "Old Russia, "The Golden Ring, cities like Vladimir. Essentially, I want to immerse myself in Russian culture and have a great tour and not be regarded as a "Bloody Tourist"! Suggestions? (By the way, I am willing to take the people and places at face value, warts and all, if you know what I mean!):D

Privìet, Alex! I am interested in touring Russia. I am currently learning Russian to facilitate the tour. This is a, pardon the pun please, 5 year plan! I have the tour planned for a graduation present to myself, and want to take a year and tour Russia and other Federation Republics. Among other places, I want to visit Moscow in Russia proper, Baikonur, in Khazakstan, as well as "Old Russia, "The Golden Ring, cities like Vladimir. Essentially, I want to immerse myself in Russian culture and have a great tour and not be regarded as a "Bloody Tourist"! Suggestions? (By the way, I am willing to take the people and places at face value, warts and all, if you know what I mean!):D

Privet, Tom Stormcrowe!
Suggestions? OK.
Look intently, and you will see not only vodka, kalinka-malinka, balalaika etc. :)
There are a lot of interesting things on the Russian Internet. If you learn Russian language, look at this website (http://skitalets.ru/) about self-supported touring. I learn English, therefore I like such reading in English.

Thanks Alex, I appreciate the link! It will come in handy learning to read cyrillic lettering!

Panorama (http://vr.1drey.com/travels/travel01.html) of a wild forest near to Moscow. Enjoy! :)

Panorama (http://vr.1drey.com/travels/travel01.html) of a wild forest near to Moscow. Enjoy! :)
Very nice, Alex, very nice! Spashiba bolshoy! (I hope I got that spelling right!) Paka!

Off The Rails (http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840243988/qid=1145887758/sr=8-11/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i11_xgl14/701-5840700-8852343) is a book about two guys who toured through Russia on recumbents.

It's a pretty good read even if you're not interested in touring in Russia, or even cycling.

Привет, Tom! (Spasibo bol’shoe! is more correctly in transliteration :) ). If you have any difficulties in studying Russian language, I would be glad to help you! I am also over aged student on this way. ;)
In my previous posts I wrote about disillusionments in Russia. Besides, you wrote: “I want to immerse myself in Russian culture and have a great tour and not be regarded as a "Bloody Tourist"! Suggestions? (By the way, I am willing to take the people and places at face value, warts and all, if you know what I mean!):D ”.
I have found a nice story to this issue and have read one with a smile.

To Russia with Notions
By CATHERINE TEXIER
Dmitri had warned me: "Are you sure you want to go to Moscow? We'll have to camp on the pullout couch. And my brother just moved into my mother's apartment with his girlfriend and her little girl." But I insisted. I had been dreaming of traveling with the man I love to his home city. Finally he relented. We would go for the new year.

On the bumper-to-bumper highway, everything is gray, the bloated sky, the wheezing trucks and cars, the blackened snow banks. I keep hoping to catch glimpses of the city but see only blocks and blocks of Soviet-style concrete tenements, until the car grinds to a halt. The cement hallways are rundown, the lights gloomy. Dmitri's mother, Tamara, is waiting for us, her face as beautiful as in the photos, in a print housedress. But when the quilted door closes behind us, my heart tightens. There are three rooms crammed with furniture that is pressed all along the walls — two bedrooms and a small living room, where we will sleep on the sofa bed. Slippers are handed out to us. Mine are flowered plastic. As soon as I put them on, I feel trapped. Without my boots I can't run away.

Soon Dmitri's younger brother, Kostya, arrives, with his girlfriend, Lena, and her 2-year-old. Kostya strips to a pair of tights, his naked stomach jiggling ahead of him. Lena wears a terry robe. We struggle to fit around the kitchen table, which is covered with delicious red caviar, smoked salmon, salads and numerous bottles of vodka. Tamara stands at the stove. Little Tanya sits on somebody's lap. The family room, where we sleep, is also Kostya and Lena's workroom. Turned back into a couch, the sofa bed serves again as a seat for the foldout table. In spite of the warm hospitality, I feel suffocated.

What did I expect? I'm not sure, but these forbidding blocks of gray concrete I see from the window, and the silhouettes dressed in long dark coats, carrying plastic bags, look too much like old Soviet-time newsreels. I'm filled with sadness and guilt. What a bourgeois materialist I am if the lack of aesthetics and space depresses me so fast. I've spent months in South America and in North Africa; I've lived in Spanish Harlem. But this feels different, a world for which I have no code, slightly off, like the long, strange, swiveling faucet in the bathroom, which services both sink and bathtub.

In the apartment, Dmitri wears a towel and looks as if the 18 years he has lived outside Russia have vanished. When we walk out, he tells me: "It's a good neighborhood. The air is fresh. You can go cross-country skiing in the park." He points to the birch wood along the tram tracks.

When we emerge on a Red Square white with snow, the candy-colored cupolas of Saint Basil rise like a fairy-tale vision. The sublime Kremlin churches, the gala evening at the opera house on New Year's Eve, the women in exquisite gowns and high-heels, the ballet at the Bolshoi: the sights and shows are dazzling. But at the end of the night, like Cinderella, we crawl back to our humble abode in the city's outskirts, a good hour and a half by subway and tram. We have money, so we can, if we want, go dancing in a club or stay the night in the Art Nouveau Hotel Metropole. Except we don't.

At my urging, we go to the family's dacha, a traditional vacation house. But after two and a half hours by tram, metro, train and minibus, all my fantasies of a romantic evening by the fireplace have collapsed. An atmosphere of poverty pervades the whole settlement. The dacha itself seems unfinished, with its wildly uneven staircase covered with plywood and its drab furniture, which in the States would have been tossed. Only the kitchen, with its 1940's cupboard, feels welcoming.

"Why didn't we rent a car?" I ask Dmitri, who drives all over Europe and the U.S. "Only foreigners do that," he says, adding, "Didn't you want to experience authentic Muscovite life?" My dashing Russian prince, who works for the United Nations, who speaks fluent English and French, so at ease with my friends and our "bourgeois" lifestyle, so gallant, so versed, as Russians are, in the art of dialectics, has trapped me in my Western contradictions. Did I want the authentic experience, or did I want the fantasy? Is that why he was hesitant to let me come? Did he worry that my sense of who he is would change?

In the plane going back, he tells me, "If the U.N. sent me to Moscow, I would live in the family's apartment." Is he testing me? "It would be cheaper, and I would be close to my mom." My heart turns to ice. "If I came to visit you in Moscow over the summer," I say, "I wouldn't stay there, I couldn't. You'd have to rent an apartment." In the silence that follows, I distinctly feel the iron curtain close again.

If a man is unable to accept mentally my country "as it is", he should not come here.

Yes, we should be open minded... but only up to the point. There is no point accept things like drinking... Especially when it goes so far enough that drunk russian diplomat kills people in Ottawa.

Edited by Moderators

Hello bormoglot !!!
I am interesting ! Have you ever been in Russia? :)

I am interesting ! Have you ever been in Russia? :)

Sure you're interesting... but I happen to prefer girls.
Thanks for the invitation anyway.

Привет, Tom! (Spasibo bol’shoe! is more correctly in transliteration :) ). If you have any difficulties in studying Russian language, I would be glad to help you! I am also over aged student on this way. ;)
In my previous posts I wrote about disillusionments in Russia. Besides, you wrote: “I want to immerse myself in Russian culture and have a great tour and not be regarded as a "Bloody Tourist"! Suggestions? (By the way, I am willing to take the people and places at face value, warts and all, if you know what I mean!):D ”.
I have found a nice story to this issue and have read one with a smile.

To Russia with Notions
By CATHERINE TEXIER
Dmitri had warned me: "Are you sure you want to go to Moscow? We'll have to camp on the pullout couch. And my brother just moved into my mother's apartment with his girlfriend and her little girl." But I insisted. I had been dreaming of traveling with the man I love to his home city. Finally he relented. We would go for the new year.

On the bumper-to-bumper highway, everything is gray, the bloated sky, the wheezing trucks and cars, the blackened snow banks. I keep hoping to catch glimpses of the city but see only blocks and blocks of Soviet-style concrete tenements, until the car grinds to a halt. The cement hallways are rundown, the lights gloomy. Dmitri's mother, Tamara, is waiting for us, her face as beautiful as in the photos, in a print housedress. But when the quilted door closes behind us, my heart tightens. There are three rooms crammed with furniture that is pressed all along the walls — two bedrooms and a small living room, where we will sleep on the sofa bed. Slippers are handed out to us. Mine are flowered plastic. As soon as I put them on, I feel trapped. Without my boots I can't run away.

Soon Dmitri's younger brother, Kostya, arrives, with his girlfriend, Lena, and her 2-year-old. Kostya strips to a pair of tights, his naked stomach jiggling ahead of him. Lena wears a terry robe. We struggle to fit around the kitchen table, which is covered with delicious red caviar, smoked salmon, salads and numerous bottles of vodka. Tamara stands at the stove. Little Tanya sits on somebody's lap. The family room, where we sleep, is also Kostya and Lena's workroom. Turned back into a couch, the sofa bed serves again as a seat for the foldout table. In spite of the warm hospitality, I feel suffocated.

What did I expect? I'm not sure, but these forbidding blocks of gray concrete I see from the window, and the silhouettes dressed in long dark coats, carrying plastic bags, look too much like old Soviet-time newsreels. I'm filled with sadness and guilt. What a bourgeois materialist I am if the lack of aesthetics and space depresses me so fast. I've spent months in South America and in North Africa; I've lived in Spanish Harlem. But this feels different, a world for which I have no code, slightly off, like the long, strange, swiveling faucet in the bathroom, which services both sink and bathtub.

In the apartment, Dmitri wears a towel and looks as if the 18 years he has lived outside Russia have vanished. When we walk out, he tells me: "It's a good neighborhood. The air is fresh. You can go cross-country skiing in the park." He points to the birch wood along the tram tracks.

When we emerge on a Red Square white with snow, the candy-colored cupolas of Saint Basil rise like a fairy-tale vision. The sublime Kremlin churches, the gala evening at the opera house on New Year's Eve, the women in exquisite gowns and high-heels, the ballet at the Bolshoi: the sights and shows are dazzling. But at the end of the night, like Cinderella, we crawl back to our humble abode in the city's outskirts, a good hour and a half by subway and tram. We have money, so we can, if we want, go dancing in a club or stay the night in the Art Nouveau Hotel Metropole. Except we don't.

At my urging, we go to the family's dacha, a traditional vacation house. But after two and a half hours by tram, metro, train and minibus, all my fantasies of a romantic evening by the fireplace have collapsed. An atmosphere of poverty pervades the whole settlement. The dacha itself seems unfinished, with its wildly uneven staircase covered with plywood and its drab furniture, which in the States would have been tossed. Only the kitchen, with its 1940's cupboard, feels welcoming.

"Why didn't we rent a car?" I ask Dmitri, who drives all over Europe and the U.S. "Only foreigners do that," he says, adding, "Didn't you want to experience authentic Muscovite life?" My dashing Russian prince, who works for the United Nations, who speaks fluent English and French, so at ease with my friends and our "bourgeois" lifestyle, so gallant, so versed, as Russians are, in the art of dialectics, has trapped me in my Western contradictions. Did I want the authentic experience, or did I want the fantasy? Is that why he was hesitant to let me come? Did he worry that my sense of who he is would change?

In the plane going back, he tells me, "If the U.N. sent me to Moscow, I would live in the family's apartment." Is he testing me? "It would be cheaper, and I would be close to my mom." My heart turns to ice. "If I came to visit you in Moscow over the summer," I say, "I wouldn't stay there, I couldn't. You'd have to rent an apartment." In the silence that follows, I distinctly feel the iron curtain close again.
Interesting story! I can see some intolerance on the thread, eh? By the way, the warts and all comment I made, to be more clear, I want to actually meet Russian people on local terms, not do the tourist traps and meet the people only in the tourism industry. I want to meet the folk out of the city, in the countryside. I want to actually see Russia, as Russia.

I mean, any country has bad spots, but they also have good! There are places here in the USA I wouldn't go into unless my life depended on it. I'm sure there are places like that everywhere though.

I mean, any country has bad spots, but they also have good! There are places here in the USA I wouldn't go into unless my life depended on it. I'm sure there are places like that everywhere though.

Agree. But you need to know what to be aware of. Often it's not just a part of the city... It's a kind of people that you should be extremely careful with...

Just one example (reported by this news agency http://www.gazeta.ru/2005/07/25/oa_165103.shtml)

In Russia, a mafia boss got tired of getting spam. So he calls his consigliere and complains about the problem...
Do you think the consigliere installed a SPAM filter? Think again...
Did he take legal actions against spammer's ISP? Keep thinking...
Bingo, he just found the spam king and crushed his head!
So while we all want to get rid of spam, small cultural differences dictate how we approach the problem.

When a Lexus SUV (Jeep Grand Cherokee used to be mafia's vehicle of choice, then Mercedes G-wagon, now it's Lexus) cuts you in Moscow... Stop and take your time to apologise... cause you don't want the guy inside say to his bodyguards "this f***ing cyclist almost scratched my SUV"...

I agree, one should be extremely careful with criminals, regardless of which nationality they represent. Please, let's keep this thread civil and on topic.

--Juha, a Forum Mod

Interesting story! I can see some intolerance on the thread, eh? By the way, the warts and all comment I made, to be more clear, I want to actually meet Russian people on local terms, not do the tourist traps and meet the people only in the tourism industry. I want to meet the folk out of the city, in the countryside. I want to actually see Russia, as Russia.

Thank you, Tom for your tolerance. I respect such people. The dialog on the tread is very interesting to me. I hope I have not offended anybody.


Agree. But you need to know what to be aware of. Often it's not just a part of the city... It's a kind of people that you should be extremely careful with...

Just one example (reported by this news agency http://www.gazeta.ru/2005/07/25/oa_165103.shtml)


All people are different and look at the same things differently. I recognize such their right without any doubts. There are a lot of people like the woman from the story here, in Russia, even among my friends. But I hardly can imagine how to camp with them. :)
Anyway, I have appreciated her candour.

If I watched our TV or an other mass media often I could hardly believe that I am still alive. :)
Thanks God I have got my own eyes.


Hello bormoglot !!!
I am interesting ! Have you ever been in Russia?:)

Oh, Denis, please be more careful about wording in English. :) Though, I am far from perfection as well.

Edited by Moderators

Sure you're interesting... but I happen to prefer girls.
Thanks for the invitation anyway.

I hope it was a joke!!! Yes, I did a mistakes !
I know you like jokes !
But I think you understood that I mean !
And I repeat my question !!!

Have you ever been in Russia?

P. S. I am glad that you have sense of humor!!!:)
I prefer girls too !!!:)