When I was a little kid I used to watch documentaries about Russia. About Stalin, Lenin, Khrushchev, and not long ago Gorbachev and Yeltsin, and now Putin and Medvedev. There was film showing soldiers marching in front of the Kremlin with St Basil cathedral in the background. Never ever in my boyhood's imagination that I foresaw I would come and live in Moscow. I am colored and thus I am writing this based on my experience as colored people in Moscow.
I first came to Moscow during fall of 2004. It was not yet winter, but it was very cold. Almost immediately I understood why Napoleon and Hitler lost in their attempts to capture the city.
It was cold in 2004,colder in 2005, and even colder in 2006 and 2007. And I bet it is colder now. How can it be colder if you have been used to several winters there ? I offer no answer.
Being colored there makes you stand out as foreigner and vulnerable. Hard lesson learned when I first arrived at the Sheremetyevo airport. Imagine after standing 3 hours in queue at Sheremetyevo just to get my passport stamped, I was asked to step aside by the immigration officer and wait another 30 minutes before my passport got stamped. The officer scrutinized my passport trying to find something that I didn't understand. Asked me in Russian, stared at me before I gain my rightful entry to mother Russia. I thought that was the only time I got that kind of treatment. I was wrong, I still had that same kind of treatment every time I was at the immigration checkpoint. Amazing since other white tourists that sit next to me in my flight always had easy access and light scrutiny. A Russian friend told me that I should use Domodedovo as my port of embarkation and disembarkation. Good advice, the officers there were world apart.
The special treatment that was extended to me by the Sheremetyevo's immigration officer was also extended by the police (militsyar) on the street. Maybe they were related by blood. They saw me, checked my passport/document and found there was nothing out of order. They threatened to arrest me and I would play stupid. After a few days the same policemen would try the same act again. I began to wonder whether they had short memory or they wanted something. This would go on for several weeks until they got tired with me. My advice if you want to go anywhere go with a local.
I guess you might think that special treatment was extended only by people in uniform. Well that was not entirely true. I also found out that if you were a colored foreigner you might get "special" price for any good or services that you purchase. This could happen at some small establishments. I found few Russian sellers or service providers (such as hairdressers) believed that they had the right to charge me more since I was foreigner. And they even had more rights to do it due to my skin color. I learned not to argue, just pay and would find another shop. Reading the news back then would be disheartening. I would find that foreigner bashing, killing whatever, was quite common then. But the police in many cases just classified the cases to be hooligan instead of racial crime; strange and scary for me.
Some aspect of Muscovites remind me of my fellow Malaysians. Try to go restaurants during lunch. You will notice unlike Parisiens that take time to finish their lunch, the Muscovites take short lunch. The restaurants in Moscow are expensive, very expensive. Dining out in fancy restaurant is an obligation for many nouveau rich here. Fusion food seems to be the in-thing when I was there and I believe is still is today. While most of the food served at this fancy restaurant is expensive, it does not guarantee that the food must be good. Food is expensive because there are always people who are willing to pay in order to make social statement. So restaurants must be chosen wisely, follow your taste bud not the crowd.
There are also cheaper restaurants if you care to ask your local friend. But they serve typical traditional Russian dishes which I don't mind to sample. But I got the impression most of the dishes served are not that elaborate, simple and spartan from ingredient used. Perhaps this reflect the hard life druing Soviet time, foods are prepared based on what available then. If you can settle fo MacDonald, you'll be a happy man. MacD is everywhere. I believe another manifestation of soft American economic imperialism. The counters are manned by Russian teens or the early 20's. They spoke good English. I was told by my Russian friend that typical job in Moscow offered US$200 monthly. But seeing the crowd in MacD I sometimes suspected that they actually had more than 1 work.
If eating out is expensive, same thing can be said about shopping. Shopping for souvenir in central Moscow is expensive. Try Ismailuvsky for matrioshka or anything uniquely Russian. How about tourist destinations here. Here is something interesting. Every time I asked any Muscovite where I should go, he or she immediately tell me Red Square and then take a few moment to suggest 2 or 3 parks. Either they are workaholics who commute only between office and home or they are really telling the truth. I believe that there are many more places for tourist only the publicity is not done properly. But I dare not walk alone with all the special treatment that I might get, and the news about racial killing that I read.
But I would like to stress here that like in so many other places good hearted people always outnumbered bad people. Religion is returning there. I found out many younger generation Christians attended the mass when I visited the church. Moslems attended the Friday prayers regularly. Many find bible and Koran as guidances in their lives. Many believe in good moral values. There are many Russians who are kind and willing to share the 1270 Km square of land called Moscow. Even though many Russians you met on the street in general do not smile, look serious and cold, they are actually nice people. Two big Russian men who barely knew me gave me big watermelon after knowing that I was from Malaysia and showed to me that their Casio watches were Malaysian made. I got invited to many homes after knowing the owners after only few days. Perhaps live during Soviet time made them what they are today. I don't know and will not try to explain. So I guess whatever mental images I have now about Moscow will stick with me for quite some time to come.
Will I come again? Yes definitely.
