How safe is Moscow for Americans? .. plus some comments and advices 'from the other side'

[Alexandre Bougakov]

Dear SELANGERS,

Maybe you are interested in some comments from the "other side"? You were
talking about  your own expirience and impressions from Moscow in different
years, but few words from the 'aboriginal' will be interesting for you, I
think?

Two months ago Alan asked me about conditions and safety in Moscow (it was
in RUSSIAN-STUDIES list at Mailbase) and I have answered, that..

> Moscow is as dangerous, as, for example, London,
> Berlin or Bonn - I was in that cities, so I can compare.
> Forget the stories about "Horrible Russian Mafia",
> "Corrupted state officials" and so on. In the "cold war"
> period everybody in Europe and US thought, that all
> Russians drink vodka or dance classic ballet, now
> journalists write about "Russian crime".

This discussion can be a good sociological example of myths in the society.
This also shows, that not only companies need PR to create good image,
countries need it too..

Alan, here are some practical advices, that might be useful:

1. Do not take a car in the airport. There are lots of taxi drivers who
will insistently ask you to take one. It will take too much money - better
go with bus. There are "Autoline" minibuses, which circulate between subway
stations and Sheremet'ievo.

2. If you have handy phone, better don't turn it on in the Airport. Do it
later if you need roaming.

3. You will have no problems with Visa, Cirrus/Maestro, EC and other credit
cards (some problems can be with AmEx and DinersClub). Many banks accept
cheques. But the easiest solution will be to take cash with. It will be not
a problem to exchange $$s in any place and any time.

Discount cards (if you have them) will help you only in big restaurans.

4. Never exchange $$s on the street, even if someone offers you good
exchange rates - it is a) illegal b) dangerous. Do it only in special
exchange offices (you will need passport, operator will give you receipt,
which you will show the customs officer in the airport, when you will go
back)

5. The optimal amount of money to carry with is 20-30 $ (in Rub., of
course) if you are not going to visit restaurans etc. You will not need
more.

6. You don't need to hide money in your shoe's sole. Ask the receptionist
in your hotel - they usually have safes for the guests. Or leave them in
your number - nothing will happen with them.

7. In the first day in Moscow buy a ticket valid for a month for both
subway and above-ground transport. You will walk around the city a lot,
making photos, visiting museums - it will be cheaper than to pay for each
trip separately.

8. Buy small subway map and always have it in your pocket - it is
absolutely necessary. (A friend of mine told me about his american friends,
who have called him late in the evening asking for help - they have said
that they "were lost". When he asked them, where they were calling from,
they have said "China town". My friend was startled - there is no
China-town in Moscow!!! Few minutes after he understood, that his friends
were in "Kitaj - gorod" subway station!! ;-)

You will like Moscow subway. It looks fantastic - every day I see groups of
tourists from Europe and US making hundreds of photograps of central
stations. And it is always breezy there - especially good if you were
walking around the city under hot sun.

It is good idea to avoid back-ends of the subway lines, especially after
midnight. But you have nothing to do there  - there is no good architecture
(these stations were built after Chrustchev, without "superfluities") and
nothing to see.

9. It is a good idea to buy city phone card and IP-telephony card to call
home. It is cheaper than to call using standard phone lines.

10. If you travel with notebook with modem installed, buy $5 or $10 scratch
card for dialup Internet access. I recommend MTU-Intel
(http://dialup.mtu.ru) and Cityline (www.cityline.ru). MTU cards can be
used to pay for IP phone calls. If you haven't got notebook, but need to
surf web and send emails - here -
http://www.provider.net.ru/list.cafe.shtml - is the list of Internet-cafes
in Moscow

11. Don't eat flannel cakes ("schaurma" in Russian, people in Berlin call
it "Kebap" - hope, you understand what I mean - I don't know exact
translation of this word into English). Better eat hotdogs in Danish Crown
shops or something like this. Don't eat anything sold near railway
terminuses or markets. Better visit bars and small restaurants under fresh
air, and enjoy good weather.

12. Weather forecasts can be found at http://www.rbc.ru/meteo/,
http://cnn.com/WEATHER/html/MoscowRussia.html and http://www.meteo-tv.ru/.

By the way, I have found a nice website called Webcam.ru - http://Webcam.ru
- there are lots of frequently updated pictures of Moscow and other cities.
Visit it, it is interesting.


All other advices are the same for all big cities around the world. Don't
be provocative, showing lots of $$$ to everybody, do not visit suspicious
places. You will see, that you will newer have a fear of walking alone in
any area of my city or taking private cars, which are used as taxis more
often, as official ones in Moscow. My city is as dangerous as other big
cities in the world - you only have to be reasonable enough, have common
sense and respect for your environment - like anywhere on this planet.

Anyway, don't behave yourself as you are planning 'Soldiers of Fortune' -
style trip with lots of preparations (aren't you planning to take armoured
vest with ;-)   ? You aren't a spy who enters enemy fortress. Keep it
simple!!!

Sincerely yours,
Alexandre Bougakov <mailto:bougakov at mail.ru>
Sociological faculty of the Higher School of Economics
(http://www.hse.ru/fakultet/sociology/default.html), Moscow, Russian
Federation
My PGP key ID is 0x97F20C99, Key Fingerprint is C83C 5998 F43A BEB7 70DF
 B8FC CC5E 960E 97F2 0C99 (PGP version is 6.0.2i)



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