Day 25 - Going around the city/country

Since distances are very big (one can even say huge) in Russia, it is very common to use the various means of transport. Even though people here enjoy walking endless distances as it seems, it is still advisable to give it a try with the various alternatives. Otherwise, get prepared to walk more than half an hour at least to go pretty much anywhere.

Subway
Big cities (like Moscow & St. Petersburg) have very big subway systems. Most of the stations are quite old and they give the impression of being abandoned but at the same time there are some rather new ones. The most impressive one in my opinion is the one in Moscow under the Liberty Park, where it takes a 2-3 minutes escalator ride to get to the top and then walk within the station until you get out on the sun light. Crowds getting jammed is part of the daily routine and the noise on the platforms seems never to end; the trains are extremely loud and it is almost impossible to say or hear anything when being in them or on the platforms. The surprising thing also is the rate that trains arrive and depart. The interval can be as low as 30 seconds from train to train and that can keep on going for a lot of time! It makes you wonder how is it possible to get jammed in the Metro, since there are so frequent routes.

Buses
Not much experience here. Just that they are not exactly very modern ones.

Local buses
Marshrutka! This is the name to remember. Small (or actually smaller than the normal ones) buses which go around the city on predetermined routes but passengers can hop on and off at any point. Very similar to the Turkish "dolmus" for those who may know. The drivers are a whole other story! Immigrants who barely know Russian (according to the Russians), speeding like if they don't drive a bus but a motorcycle and giving a whole other meaning to the word multitasking; smoking, driving and giving tickets back and forth AT THE SAME TIME! During rush hours, it is common that people will be jammed like ants and in order to pay your ticket, the money have to reach the driver hand-by-hand from person to person ... and if there are change the same thing back.

Trains
I am talking about the intercity trains here. They are quite OK actually. But since distances in Russia are huge, everything takes so much time! When sleeping in a coupe (I am not even discussing about sitting on a normal train sit), you will probably end up with complete strangers. Some might be interesting but most of them will not be able to speak English (even young people), so you will have to deal with living for 15 hours or so in a very small restricted space with strangers that you cannot communicate. Nice eh? :-)

Taxis
Now this is my favorite part!!! What is called race driver in most countries, here it is called taxi driver. I am seriously NOT joking! Apart from the fact that you can practically stop any car on the street to take you to your destination on a pre-arranged price, even the official taxis (like the ones the hotel can fix for you) are not exactly what we call taxis. For example, we daily had a small van to go to work (ok, that was a good one and Alexander could even give us receipts!!!) and another one which was different each time. Either a sport Mitsubishi Lancer or a "modded" Huyndai or some other sports car. The guys are crazy!!! Every morning it is a ride to death. And when I say that (for people who know how I drive), then you can imagine. On Friday it was just the best. Now that they know us a bit better, they had no problem playing music on the stereo system to the maximum volume, and drifting (!!!) on the road! I mean pulling the handbreak and stuff like that! I am really not lying here! After that, there is nothing that can impress me anymore with taxi drivers. I thought I have seen everything in Greece and Turkey. But these guys here are a whole other story! :-)


So, all in all, if we manage to survive the means of transport for a few more days, then I guess we'll have a lot of more things to narrate about it and Russia in general later on.