Bolshoi in Russia: In Cyrillic, American fastfood chains suddenly look exotic

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

What you are looking at is Starbucks coffee, or if you want: CTAPBAKC. In Russia, they must legally rewrite even a brand name in Cyrillic; not the way it is spelled, but phonetically. PECTOPAH is Restaurant, spelled phonetically.

Half of the fun of being in Russia is interpreting the alphabet. It is actually pretty easy for me because I grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and had to study Russian in school. This is really helpful in Russia, where only a small percentage of people speak English.

Most menus here are in Russian and all the subway signs are in Russian. If you can’t read it fast enough, it could be a problem. I really suggest studying the alphabet before visiting Russia. It is not that difficult.

Still, seeing American fastfood chain signs in Cyrillic is a little strange. Here is McDonalds and “McDrive” or McAuto, as they say here. Really, it’s MAKAVTO.

American chains are very popular here. Every McDonalds I saw was packed. The branch on Pushkinskaya Ploshad is the busiest McDonalds in the world. The trick is: it is packed because it is relatively cheap. Unlike most dining options in Moscow.

Gadling TAKE FIVE: Week of May 17-23

by Jamie Rhein on

This has been a week where deal snagging has been a bit elusive and prices are rising.

For example:

  • Grant noted American Airlines announcement that it will start charging $15 for the first checked bag.
  • Jeffrey gave us details about how we can expect the price of plane tickets to keep going up as the availability of flights go down.
  • Aaron made note of the higher gas prices which could affect some travel plans for drivers this three-day weekend.
  • Iva has been searching in Moscow for things that are cheap without much luck, unless one considers the subway, vodka and symphony tickets.

But, on the bright side, Tynan was hooked up once more with his beloved Aloksak Plastic Bags which can help pack items more tightly so they can fit in those carry-ons. Plus, they are waterproof so things like your camera won’t get ruined. That’s money saving.

Bolshoi in Russia: Stray dogs in Moscow’s metro

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Just as I was wondering why there are so many stray dogs everywhere in Moscow (including the subway), this Wall Street Journal article came to my rescue. Moscow estimates the population of stray dogs at about 26,000.

Apparently, “in Soviet times, dogs were barred from Moscow’s metro. Today, however, they are so common there — curling up on empty seats, nuzzling their neighbors, lounging in stations — that there is even a Web site devoted to them: www.metrodog.ru.” (Couldn’t have said it better myself.)

I just got back from subway trip in which there was a dog literally queuing at the train door on the platform, just like everyone else. The weird thing is, these dogs actually look like they know where they’re going. They seem to wait for “their” stop to come up. Maybe I’m giving them too much credit, but…

According to the article’s sources (including a zoologist), the main reason for the exploding dog population is the ease of getting food nowadays. “One of their chief tactics, made possible by their increasing comfort in crowds, is simply to lie in a busy subway passage, where thousands of people pass by, and wait for someone to toss them something.” And, just as Muscovites toss (and I mean literally toss) food or money at homeless people (and I mean AT them), they toss some at dogs, as well. Egalitarian society at its best.

From Russia, with love.

Bolshoi in Russia: Moscow truly is a ridiculously expensive city

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Moscow has been ranked the world’s most expensive city for two years now. Still, it’s one thing to see the ranking in the newspaper and another thing to actually be here and pay the prices. In an average bar or restaurant, this is what you are looking at:

  • $5-10 for a shot of vodka
  • $8 – 10 for a latte (and they insist on putting a straw into it, to make matters worse)
  • $8-10 for a beer (sometimes, they put a straw in beer, too)
  • $20-$30 for lunch (and I am taking sausages, not an actual meal)
  • $50 for a decent dinner

It is the price of coffee which would kill me here. It would be very hard to just hang out in a coffee shop without going completely broke.

The funny this is, the average salary in Moscow is about $1,500/month. Most people, however, make less than $1,000. How do they afford this stuff? The easy answer is they don’t. You see kiosks all over Moscow where people grab lunch, dinner or beer to go. Every metro station has a cluster of these kiosks and people simple hang out outside of them, drinking beer and talking. What do they do in the winter? You got me.

There are, however, some really affordable aspects of life in Moscow:

Take metro tickets, for example. They are only 19 rubles, or roughly 80 cents. The subway system has great coverage and is extremely efficient. Trains come every 1-2 minutes. They pretty much have to because the subways are always packed.

Another bargain in Moscow? Theater tickets. We paid 300 rubles (or about $15) to see a classical music concert in the Moscow International Hall of Music. Really nice venue, great music, all that for the price of two lattes. As much as I love coffee, I would have to opt for music here. Even the Bolshoi Theater has bargains.

The other thing that is fairly affordable in Moscow is sushi. Like many place around the globe, Moscow was swept by the sushi wave about five years ago. So many new sushi restaurants opened, that they all had to reduce prices. Mind you, it is still not a bargain, but comparing to everything else in Moscow, California roll for $10 is a good deal. They really go crazy with rolls here, by the way. Most of them don’t even have fish in them. You can get a Caesar salad roll, (yes in a Japanese restaurant), pizza roll, ham and cheese roll…you see my point.

Let’s see, what else if affordable in Moscow? How could I forget! You can see dedushka Lenin in his tomb for free! I saw him today. He looks very peaceful in there. I couldn’t tell if he is real or if its just a wax figure, as some conspiracy theories suggest. At the end of the day, who cares.

Then, of course, there is vodka. You can get some good deals on Vodka, but I wouldn’t suggest going with the cheapest stuff. You an get a shot from as little as $3 to as much as $20. Russian Standard is a good brand. A shot would set you back about $5. With a little vodka in you, the cost of hanging out in Moscow doesn’t hurt as badly.

From Russia, with love.

Bolshoi in Russia: Taking a cubicle to a whole new level

by Iva Skoch on

Greetings from Moscow! Bolshoi in Russia is my variation on Big in Japan. (Bolshoi means “Big” in Russian. Get it?) Stay tuned for my live dispatches from Russia this week.

Nothing in Moscow is free. Not even toilets. Worse than that, not even portable toilets. They charge anywhere from 15 rubles – 30 rubles (about 70 cents – $1.3) to use them. And no, you really don’t pay for them to be clean. You pay so they can employ a person to collect money from you. See how that works?

This is my favorite part. They usually use one of the portable toilets as an “office” for somebody who collects cash from people. Think about that every time you complain about your life in a cubicle, OK?

From Russia, with love.