The stigma of vegetarianism in Moscow and a few restaurant suggestions to help you survive

by Neil Woodburn on

I’m not a vegetarian, but I considering becoming one after traveling for three months through Eastern Europe and Russia and eating nothing but meat.

The Slavs love their meat and during the early 90s as they were coming out of communism, that was pretty much the only thing one could find in Warsaw Pact restaurants. In fact, a few years later when I move to Prague to live, the only place I could find affordable vegetables was at the local Hari Krishna restaurant.

Although the culinary scene has changed drastically in the last 20 years, it’s still difficult to find good vegetarian food in this part of the world. In fact, according to an article by Stas Shectman, the mere concept of being a vegetarian is actually met with considerable animosity in Russia. There is even an anti-vegetarian website that “devotes itself to exposing the ‘evils of vegetarianism.'”

So, with this in mind, Shectman has compiled a rather detailed article revealing the very best places in Moscow to oblige your vegetarian fetish without necessarily revealing your unmanly habit.

If you have similar dietary restraints and are planning to visit Moscow any time soon, this is one article you need to print out and take with you. Otherwise, good luck explaining your meatless diet to your next Russian waiter.

Fake parking attendants causing havoc in Moscow

by Neil Woodburn on

Driving a car in a foreign country is often a frightful experience. There are so many different laws and signs and sometimes even the challenge of driving on the wrong side of the road. And then there is the challenge of finding a parking space. What exactly do all those signs mean and is it okay to park here?!?!?

Well, if you happen to be in Moscow, everything is just a whole lot murkier.

Consider for a moment that 200 people have been arrested this year in the Russian capital for posing as fake parking attendants. The scam is simple. Drivers looking for a legal place to park are waved into a non-legal spot by a parking attendant who happily accepts a small fee for the parking space. Unlucky car owners return later to find their car has been towed or ticketed. Come to think of it, I’m sure that the tow companies are in cahoots as well.

So, if you find yourself in Moscow anytime soon, better stick to the Metro.

What we can expect in Sochi

by Neil Woodburn on


The recent announcement that Sochi has been awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics has left many people scratching their heads. Those who knew nothing about this place will have probably already learned that it is on the Black Sea coast. Those who knew a little bit about Sochi, are probably wondering why the Winter Olympics are being held in Russia’s most famous summer resort town.

The fact of the matter is that a rather impressive mountain range towers above the Black Sea coast and this will be the location of the various events–while the Olympic village will be located 35 minutes away on the coast itself.

To get an idea of what to expect in 2014, Russian Television has put together a five minute video of what a typical day will be like during the Olympics here. I have to admit, it looks rather impressive. But this is hardly a surprise. You can bet that Russia will be dropping quite a large amount of their petrodollars into the Games in order to make a rather splashy statement of their triumphant return to the world stage.

Intoxicated flight attendants making out while on duty

by Neil Woodburn on

I’ve taken some pretty bad Russian flights before, but I’ve never run into drunk flight attendants before–at least as far as I knew. I’d heard stories of this, along with people bringing their farm animals onboard Aeroflot, but never really witnessed it myself. Perhaps, I thought, it was just legend.

Well now, thanks to the genius of easily hidden camcorders, a recent passenger on a Russian carrier caught the drunken antics of flight attendants going about their duty and making out with each other.

Man! I just hope they weren’t partying with the pilot as well.

Click here to watch the short video.

When in Space, Which Way Is Mecca?

by Iva Skoch on

Think being a Muslim on this planet is not easy? Try being a Muslim in orbit. For starters, which way do you face while praying? (And how do you lay down your prayer rug?)

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysia, a crew member on the 16th mission for the International Space Station, is lifting off to space today in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Wired reports. The ten day trip will take place during the holy month of Ramadan.

Being a devout Muslim, the astronaut is planning to do what he has to do. To start with, he will fast. Where will he face while praying, you ask?

Malaysia’s space agency, Angkasa, convened a conference of 150 Islamic scientists and scholars last year to wrestle with this and other burning questions and published “A Guideline of Performing Ibadah (worship) at the International Space Station (ISS)”. According to the report, determining the qibla (a direction a Muslim should pray toward Mecca) should be “based on what is possible” for the astronaut, and can be prioritized this way: 1) the Ka’aba, 2) the projection of Ka’aba, 3) the Earth, 4) wherever.

Wherever? Is that just north of Orlando?