Anny Chih

Ahoy dear family and friends! I haven’t felt like updating my site but I thought I ought to tell you what I’ve been up to.

I’m in Moscow staying at Comrade Hostel, which is run by a really nice English speaking guy named Denis. He’s very young for an entrepreneur of a business like this (at least younger than most I think); he’s 28. I’ve been enjoying my stay here and like hostels MUCH more than hotels. They not only smell better but they’re cleaner. The best part of staying at hostels though is the fact that you meet so many cool people! I’ve spent most of the last couple of days here wandering the city and visiting The Armoury, The Kremlin, Red Square and spending oodles of money on ridiculously overpriced food and drinks with Mika from San Francisco and Ben from the UK. To give you a sense of the prices here: I had a small espresso (about 30 mL) yesterday for about 80p (~$3) and ended up spending 500p ($20) on a small soup, a very small glass of juice, and a larger cheesy pie appetizer the day before that.

Mika and Ben left last night. Mika will be going down to Mongolia and then China and will spend a year traveling. Ben is stopping in Irkutsk before Mongolia and will also travel all throughout Asia before coming back up and taking the Trans-Siberian from Vladivostok back up to St. Petersburg.

I will stay in Moscow until Saturday night because I’m dying to go to Izmaylova Market when all the stalls are actually full (on weekends). We went yesterday but only about 10% of the stalls were open. Mika and Ben were pressured into buying some Russian hats which are very cheap here in comparison to other cities — partially because the quality is much poorer here. Their hats cost 500p ($20) and 1000p ($40) respectively.

I was going to go to a fancy bath house today but I feel so lazy that I just don’t want to put in the effort to go. Denis recommended going at night because it’s so relaxing so I think I’ll go tomorrow night.

I met my pen pal from Moscow last night. Her name is Sasha. We walked to Christ the Saviour Cathedral (this giant white church by Moscow River), on this really nice bridge over the river towards the Red October chocolate factory, through GYM (a fancy shopping center) and had their creme brule ice cream (which they’re known for), and just around town where she explained a lot of things about the sites that I had visited which was great because I’ve been a tad confused about what everything means here. For example, the day before yesterday I saw some people standing on a spot outside the Kremlin and making wishes and throwing money. I decided it was some sort of wishing spot so I did the same and asked Ben to take a picture for me. Because he was facing the Kremlin with the camera, I turned away from the Kremlin to face him when throwing my money (I forgot to make a wish ) and this Russian dude said something about how I was facing the wrong way. I was afraid I had just given myself 7 years of bad luck or something by not facing the Kremlin. But, Sasha told me that it doesn’t matter which way you face. The spot doesn’t have anything to to do with the little church that’s by the Kremlin (which I thought it did because that’s what most people face when they make a wish). The spot is supposedly the 0 km mark where all the maps start from so people think that if you make a wish there it will be more likely to come true. It may be touristy but I plan to go back and remember to make a wish this time.

Right now my roomies include a young couple from Denmark (Christine and Rasmas), Essen from Pakistan (who hates Russia — it was his first stop and he was supposed to leave about 2 weeks ago but they won’t let him leave the country because of some Visa complications), and Louise from Australia who has been living in the UK and will travel through Russia and Asia on her way back home. Poor Louise has also been having some trouble because her ex-boyfriend decided it would be a good idea to send her cash and travelers cheques to her by mail to Russia and lose the tracking number. The package is now MIA and untrackable. I’ve heard many horror stories about traveling. Rachel from New York who I met in Irkutsk was pick-pocketed in the Moscow Metro. But, she has such a great attitude about absolutely everything so nothing seems to bother her.

I think instead of the bath today I will go to another market that Dan from Atlanta has recommended. I hope to get some of this marshmallowy candy he got the other day too ’cause it’s rather yummy. Funny, I find the thought of markets more relaxing than a bath. Maybe it’s because Louise has told me that everyone goes to the bath naked and I’m not too comfortable with that idea.