I'm definitely way behind on my writing, so this entry on Moscow is going to be rather less verbose than my normal entries...

Some distance out of Velikiy Novgorod on our overnight trains, I once again stayed awake a little later than the others and was treated to a beautiful sight. The train passed over a bridge and I saw a village nestled in the valley. The village was built on the slopes leading down into the river that had cut out the valley, and dim lights were twinkling out of the windows, cutting into the twilight darkness.

Finally we arrived at the capital of Russia, the famous city of Moscow. On the way in, I spotted a amazingly tall tower on the outskirts of the city. I later learned that it was a television tower, but it looked eerily like the Combine tower in Half-Life 2 in the cold early morning light. We arrived at 530am and quickly made our way to our host's house, where we were greeted with chatter and Singlish (Singapore English) accents.

We had arrived at the home of Deric, an avid Couchsurfing user/host and a four year resident of Moscow. He works at the Philippino Embassy as a diplomat and very frequently hosts travellers. In fact, I later found out, last summer, he had someone at his place every night without gaps! The Singlish was provided by two guests that had arrived just a minute before we had : Mee Shell and XinYing, both Singaporeans that had just come in on the sleeper from St.Petersburg. They had stayed with Deric previously and were quickly catching up and chatting away happily while the three of us sat around with very blur looks on our faces.

We soon warmed up to each other's company over a cup of coffee and were quickly acquainted with the concept of "Couchsurfing Social Networking" , i.e. online stalking (keke). A favorite activity of Deric, Mee Shell and Xinying, they started to encourage us to join them. =) We were to have the pleasure of the company of the two girls for the next few days as well as enjoy the amazing hospitality of Deric for the rest of our stay.

Deric is a well-travelled Filipino. He knows many languages, has worked in Japan as a reporter and is currently a diplomat at the Phillipino embassy, Deric enjoys having guests at his place and is an blessing as a host to all who pass through his doors. Misha the cat is Deric's faithful housemate. Unlike most cats, Misha is quite attention-seeking and follows people around the house. Misha provides continous comfort and entertainment but represents the ever-present threat of peeing on your stuff. Mee Shell is a recent graduate from Paris and is doing a spot of travelling before returning to Singapore to work for a (short) spell. She, along with Xinying, maintains a "Top 5 Cities with Hot Guys" list but hopes to eventually work long term in New York, London, Paris or Tokyo. Unfortunately, Mee Shell was struck with an eye infection for the duration of our meeting and largely confined herself to her room, but she did take an opportunity to demonstrate her skill (*cough*luck*ahem*) at Chor Dai Di. Xinying, an almost-graduate from Beijing in International Relations, is also travelling in order to avoid studying for her exams and will return to Singapore to work as a crime reporter for a chinese newspaper(Latest! - Today, there were 4 wads of chewing gum on Orchard Road!). Xinying has a penchant for wearing pink bunny ears and taking care of Mee Shell by trying her hand at cooking various new dishes like Minimized Water Mushroom Soup. Both girls were very fun and would be highly tolerant of attempts at humourous write-ups about themselves due to their excellent sense of humor. =)

Deric had recently moved into his apartment and things were still rather disorganized but we were extremely grateful for a few things aside from Deric himself. There was a proper, high-water pressure, customizable temperate shower (Yes!!), comfortable sofa-beds, (zzzz), a computer to go online on (Hello world!), a washing machine, and a kitchen! The kitchen let us cook yummy, nutritous and cheap meals for ourselves and others.

However, right then, bright and early in the mornong with an uncomfortable train ride just past, we were still feeling a bit out of place and unfamiliar with things. After washing up, we proceeded to head out into the city of Moscow. We went to visit the famous St. Basil's Cathedral and the State Museum. The cathedral (looks like a colorful frosted cake) was not quite as enjoyable as the ones in St.Petersburg, such as the Church Of The Spilled Blood. But still, being in such an old church, filled with history and tradition (except for the souvenier stands) remained a good experience. After the museum, our legs were quite tired, so back we went. We visited the supermarket first to grab a lunch/dinner and we had a good meal of cream sauce pasta+dumplings by Andrew and Luke. I washed. Later that night, the whole group of us, that is, Deric, Mee Shell, Xinying, Anya and Steve (another couple visiting Deric), Andrew, Luke and myself, went out for dinner. We went to a nice place called Bilingua Cafe, where the menu was in Russia and one or two other random languages, including German and Mandarin! We left in search of another place, but we decided the entry cost was too high and so headed home.a,l and myself walked to the metro while everyone else took the car.

However, misfortune struck on the way back to the metro station. A police patrol car stopped us and checked out our documentation. When he found that we only had photocopies of our passports, he beckoned us to get in the car to go to the police station! I quickly called Deric, who talked to the officer and then to l. After some time, the cop decided to let us go since we appeared to be more trouble than we were worth and unlikely to pay him a bribe. Thank God for Deric and that we didn't have any more trouble than we did.

After a good night's sleep and waking up with everyone over coffee and breakfast, we headed out again. This time, we set out for the "izmaylovo", an extremely large marketplace filled with vendors selling all sorts of antiques, photos, souveniers, trinkets, and old cameras. The whole market was decorated like a fantasy Disney magical city, with blue spires towering above and wooden structures everywhere. The market was bustling with all sorts of people walking around and looking at the various goodies in the wooden shops. The number of wooly hats, ancient pre-WW1 postcards, old view cameras and little dolls was quite overwhelming. We eventually left the market and grabbed some food at the stalls just outside the market gates. There was several pastries but the best was a large piece of bread with a partially cooked, runny egg mixed with cheese in the center. Of course, the price was right. Lunch was washed down with a cup of cold kvas, fermented rye bread water. It looked like light soy sauce and tasted a little like beer, but it was extremely refreshing. Andrew said that it tasted like soy sauce. Hmmm. Oh well.

We headed back early (as usual) because we had decided earlier on to have a big homecooked dinner! We dug through Deric's yet-to-be organized kitched and discovered a packet of curry paste among the maze of items. Once again, we visited our favorite destination in Moscow, the nearby supermarket, and we were soon at work. With some additions by Xinying, we soon sat down to a excellent dinner consisting of chicken masaman curry, sweet and sour chicken, tom yam cauliflower soup, with wine and beer. Present at the table were Deric, Mee Shell, Xinying, Alex (a friend), Andrew, Luke and myself. We had a merry time explaining to Alex (a Moscovite) how everything we did was somehow Asian. Andrew, Luke and myself were happily attacking the wonderful treat of Asian food as we chatted over dinner. To finish up our long dinner, we had soft cookies and plenty of ice cream all around. I slept very well that night. =)

The next day, we headed back to the city centre for the essential Kremlin visit. Unfortunately the ticketing lady was quite strict and didn't allow me to get the student price due to my expired ISIC card. Fortunately, Xinying had come along with us and used her ISIC to get us another student ticket.

The Kremlin was a series of churches/museums surrounded by walls. There were large numbers of security guards all around and they would blow their whistles at poor unsuspecting tourists stepping out onto the road or the grass. We were joking about snipers being positioned on the buildings, ready to 'disable' the more hapless individuals. Hmm. Aside from the beautiful churches and museums, we managed to catch a fancy military drill in the square in the centre of the Kremlin. Troops, cavalry, marching band, oh my! Our two military men were impressed. The drill was quite long and fancy and continually accompanied by appropriately military music. Another item of interest was a massive but broken 200+ ton bell. It was broken in the foundry while it was cooling because it had come into contact with water. You'd think that when one was trying to make the biggest bell ever, one would take additional precautions against that sort of thing. However, the bell is now proudly displayed as an example of a grand but failed attempt. Hmmm.

That night, we watched Naruto, played chor dai di and talked about politics and international relations, a favorite topic of Deric. =)

Monday began late as usual. Another guest had arrived : Caitlin (sp?) from Canada! Mee Shell and Xinying departed for the airport, headed to Paris and Beijing respectively. We were headed to a far more domestic location : the banya. A banya is a Russian public bath and is an integral part of Russian culture. When we got there, we were ushered into a changing room; rather, a stripping room, for bathers usually enter the bath naked. There was a shower room with all sorts of various baths and showers, including a pool, bathtubs, a cage-like shower that surrounded you, and a bucket mounted on the wall. Pull the chain, and a flood of cold water instantly refreshes you. =) But the place where all the action happens is the steam room. The steam room is large room that has a wooden platform raised well above the ground to allow bathers to 'enjoy' the hottest air at the top of the room. A corner of the room is occupied by a boiler. When someone is of the opinion that the room isn't hot enough, additional water will be thrown into the furnace, steaming up the room. Generally, someone is frequently of the opinion that is room isn't hot enough. However, my opinion was that it was hot. Very hot. Always. Another aspect of the banya are the branches. Bathers would bring branches and flay themselves and each other in order to further coax out toxins which apparently are suuficiently stubborn to resist the suffocatingly hot steam room.

And so, there we were, sweltering on the wooden benches as naked middle-aged men hit each other with branches and leaves. Every 5 minutes or so, when it became to much to bear, we would go out to the shower room and dunk ourselves in the cold pool/take a cold shower/pull the chain on the cold water bucket. Ahhhhh.... All in all, quite relaxing, really. =)

With this authentic, relaxing and throughly Russian experience complete, we headed back to await Deric to bring us out once again. The five of us (Deric, Caitlin, a, l, and myself) piled in the car and headed to a Vietnamese market. When I stepped through the door, I felt as if I had been transported back to Asia. There were rows and rows of shops selling clothing and other bric-brac in exactly the same fashion as a cheap shopping center back home. Even the air smelt the same : like new cloth and fabric packed into one place. We headed upstairs to a Vietnamese retaurant where we ordered with some difficulty despite Deric's Russian since the Vietnamese boss wasn't fluent in Russian. Soon, we were enjoying beef/chicken/fish pho and fried shrimp. Excellent. It was so good that we even ordered another bowl to share. =)

Our stomachs stuffed with pho, we went to Moscow State University. We parked at the top of a valley and had a grand view of the city of Moscow, the same vantage point from which [some great ruler] viewed the city before going down to conquer it. We headed down the long slope towards the river. This slope is famous for skiing during the winter and a huge ski jump had been built. The start of the slope extended 20m above the top if the hill and about halfway down, there is a jump ramp. Beats Foss Hill anytime. There was a operator running ride on one of those human-sized clear balls at the botton of the hill pushing people down a little slope. We agreed that rolling down the ski jump would be a lot more fun. But insurance would probably be too expensive. On our way down, we met four Malaysian students studying at the Mowcow Medical Academy. They were friendy enough and we talked with them for a while. They were just finishing their first yearand were quite happy with things in Moscow. There were apparently 700 students at the MMA and alomost all of them were Malaysians. How odd. So, if you want to study medicine in Moscow with 650 other Malaysians, it'll only cost you RM200,000 and some cold winters.

After walking for a bit along the riverbank, we climbed back up the slope to the car and drove around Moscow State University. The main building was amazingly magnificent. Tall and wide, crowned by a red star on a spire, the main tower contained classrooms and offices. The wings on the side were apparently dormitories. I think that was the most beautiful and awe-inspiring university building I've ever seen. We spent some time taking photos before heading off to the monastery.

We spent a cold hour walking outside the wall of the monastery, waiting for the lights to come on. We discovered a sculpture of ducklings following a mother presented to "the children of Russia by the children of America" by Barbera Bush beside the path. There was a reflecting pool just before the walls and the monastery was reflected in its waters. When the lights finally came on, the towers and domes were wonderfully lit and even the ducks on the pond appeared to pose for a photograph. There was someone using a view camera (medium format?) taking a photo of the pond and the monastery. I was standing behind her when taking photos, so don't be surprised if you see something that looks like my photo appear somewhere. =) After that, Deric took us to see some bridges (more nice photos) and then we headed back to the apartment where we had a beer-tasting party.

There is a line of beers in Russia called "Baltika" and they produce beers numbered zero to nine, i.e. Baltika 0 and Baltika 7. They include lager beers, dark beers, unfiltered beers, extra high alcohol content beer (16%) and a beer with no alcohol! And so that evening we filled in our gaps in our Baltika lore before turning in.

Finally, our last day in Moscow dawned. A whole crowd of people arrived at Deric's place in the morning, bringing the total number of people to 8. We headed to the supermarket cooked up a farewell pasta lunch for everyone (supplemented by Deric's wine) before packing up and heading out.

We spent a total of five days in the capital of Russia. Being hosted by Deric was really great and comfortable! We got to sleep on nice, comfortable couches and cook yummy foods and enjoy Deric's company as well as the company of all the other guests that passed through his place while we were there. Thanks so much Deric!! Also, it was quite fun to meet the two crazy Singaporean girls, Mee Shell and Xinying at Moscow. Somehow they were always home when we got back. =) Good to meet you two! Moscow was great, especially the more unusual sights that Deric brought us to see, but St. Petersburg was more tourist friendly. We had a very relaxed time at Moscow, going out to see one or two sights a day and spending the rest of the time enjoying Deric's hospitality. =) But it's over all too soon, and we're off!

Next Stop : Kazan!
-ky