Thanks for visiting! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.
Excerpt from the Trip Info Pack: What to take with you (See also the list at the start of T&T #3).
Some Clothing Suggestions
Footwear. Pavements in Russia and Mongolia are often in rotten condition and will ruin your high fashion footwear in just a few days. Some solid shoes with a rigid sole are worth taking, even in summer. Smart trainers are an ideal compromise (but may get you turned away from smarter nightclubs, so don’t make them your only footwear choice if you plan on clubbing). Russian girls believe that 4”+ heels are suitable footwear even in blizzard conditions, but we recommend warm, ridge-soled boots for any Nov – April winter travel. If you are going trekking you must bring decent boots. Trainers leave you exposed to sprained ankles or worse.
Do’s and Don’ts
I think it’s about time we got into this: how not to cause an international incident. Or, at its simplest level, understanding enough of the culture and its idiosyncrasies to avoid finding yourself bewilderedly wondering why that did or did not happen. I remember once as a stranger; spontaneously complementing a Chinese girl on her choice of perfume, and feeling puzzled when she recoiled in a combination of embarrassment and annoyance, as if I’d said something bad about her mother! Way too personal an approach apparently. There are potential pitfalls, but some leeway too – after all, we’re just ignorant foreigners, right? With all this in mind, I have to ask Neil: “So is there a core Russian traveller’s kit then?” His reply is actually quite unexpected:
“Not really, because in the end it is ultimately a European country. It’s only little elements…”
However he starts filling me in on a few pointers. Tips to help “grease the wheels”, such as what to wear and not wear. As far as dress code goes, Russians are quite formal and sports wear may get you refused entry into a nightclub or restaurant, as well as a church monastery, where moderate dress (“covering up”) is a sign of respect. In the most devout institutions, frankly, the only way you’ll be allowed in is dressed in head-scarves and skirts for women, sleeves, and generally modest attire and behaviour. Trainers, whilst ideal for going hiking, seem to be frowned upon in most other circumstances, so best bring alternatives.
“There are things that you have to have for sure, but there’s an extra layer of things that are just going to make your trip go with a swing, rather than… a regret.”
The extra layer will of course vary, depending upon the nature of the trip in question. Binoculars in Mongolia to spy snow leopards, for example… of course! A lot of good stuff can be found to hand in the Russia Experience’s Info Pack – a Trans-Siberian “Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy” – something will catch your eye wherever you happen to open it.
“There are no serious do’s and don’ts regarding Russia (apart from women covering their heads and wearing skirts in churches), because primarily it is a European culture. It’s a different one from Britain but it’s still European – there’s very little that you can do to upset the Russians that you wouldn’t have done to upset the Germans. Girls shouldn’t walk around the city topless, but you wouldn’t do it anyway. There’s not much that you can get ‘wrong’ in Russia.”
Well I suppose a lot of it is down to that old common sense thing then… something that alcohol seems regularly to dissolve in Brits abroad.
“There are a few… social niceties”, he continues. “One thing that I got wrong for probably two years (I noticed it for myself, no one ever told me) – Russians mentally sub-divide the pavement into left and right sides, just like roads. If you try to go down the ‘wrong’ side, particularly at busy periods, you’ll just get endless people pushing into you. It’s purely a mental thing, there’s no ‘rule’. No one will ever tell you that’s the case, and no policeman will ever stop you. It’s just how they run their lives.”
Things become a little more sensitive as you head East, out of your comfort zone and into Asiatic traditions and their way of doing things.
“Mongolia and China… although they are very different countries with different cultures, they are both Asiatic countries, and a system of Asiatic politeness applies, which isn’t immediately apparent to foreigners. For example: Mongolians think that strangers who smile at them in the street have escaped from a lunatic asylum! ‘There’s a strange man smiling at me!’ It’s not perceived as a way to be friendly! Walking up to strangers isn’t generally considered normal; you would expect to be introduced. Having a stranger walk up to you is usually a preface to having something bad happening – a confidence trickster or someone trying to pick your pocket – they are not very happy about that generally.”
Well that’s useful to know.
Just out of Red Square, through the Resurrection Gate and towards Manege Square is a bronze plaque set into the paving, surrounded by separate, illustrated, bas-relief quadrants and an outer bronze circle. The plaque marks “Km 0” (a term not used here in the UK, but quite common elsewhere) that signifies Moscow’s central point from which distances are measured. It has become an accepted custom to stand on the plaque and throw money over your left shoulder for luck, and/or to make a wish. It is also accepted that the local senior citizens loiter around the plaque area like starlings, waiting to dive in and immediately seize the cast-off coins as supplementary income! Akin to hanging around the Trevi Fountain with a fishing net.
Next time: Tips and Tales (Part 9).
Navigating the politeness minefield.
