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Russia and China

Tour to Russia

In August 1997, I took a very interesting trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The tour packed a lot into 8 days for a bargain price of $1,250 that included everything. It included the visa fee, departure taxes, airfare, all bus transportation, meals and hotels. All we paid for was tips and souvenirs. Also from when we checked in at the Bangkok airport, porters took care of our baggage. It was marked with yellow ribbons and tags. They put it on the bus at the airport, put it in our rooms and picked it up from our rooms. It was billed as 8 days, 7 nights but two nights were on the plane and two days on the plane or in the Bangkok airport. Below is the itinerary:

Day 1 - We met at the Bangkok airport at 9:00 PM for out over night flight to Moscow. I had heard a lot of reports of how bad Aeroflot was, but all the flights were perfectly acceptable, no better or worse than coach on most airlines. I got to fly on three aircraft the trip that I had not flown on before, IL-96, Tu-134 and Tu-154.
Day 2 - Arrived in the morning in Moscow. Were transferred to our hotel, a huge hotel build for the 1980 Olympics. We had time to shower/shave/change money etc. before lunch and our first tour. It was a city tour including Red Square outside the Kremlin, with St. Basils colorful cathedral in it. The weather was very warm. We also went to the Moscow University which is located on the highest point in Moscow over looking the whole city. Then we went to the big Intertourist hotel next to Red Square for dinner. Most of the food on our trip was pretty basic pork or chicken over rice not to offend the Thai palate. Our tour guide brought a whole bag of Thai sauces, hot sauces and peppers to turn it into quasi Thai food. After dinner it was off the an evening performance of the Moscow Circus which was very good.
Day 3 - Up early to eat breakfast and pack, still hot. Tour of the Moscow Metro. We went in one station and then traveled and looked at several of them. It was build during the Stalin era and encompasses over 220 Km with around 150 stations. Each is decorated differently and they are like small art galleries. They trains travel up to 70 Km and you really have to hold on as they often stop very suddenly at the stations. The trains are also very noisy and hearing protection is advisable on the trains and in the stations. Then more sights, a good lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then time to wander down Arabat street which has been converted to a pedestrian mall, then more sights, dinner and off to the airport for our 9 PM flight to St. Petersburg. I had heard that Moscow was an ugly city, but not true. There a lot of pretty sights and the whole city is being spruced up for its 850th anniversary this Fall. One cathedral that was built between 1812 and 1883 that was demolished by the communists is being completely reconstructed at the cost of $300 million. Arrive St. Petersburg and transfer to the hotel.
Day 4 - Up early for breakfast and off to tour the city, lunch and then we visited the Hermitage, one of the best museums in the world. Still hot. It has 2.5 million pieces of art, many by famous artists like Michael Angelo, Leonardo DaVinchi, Rembrandt etc. Out tour guide said it would take 9 years to see everything. It was very crowded as the cruise boats have found St. Petersburg, and to visit the museums, one should go in the Winter. Then dinner with caviar and vodka and a Russian folk show.
Day 5 - Up early for breakfast and then off to Petrodverts by hydrofoil to see Peter the Great's Summer palace. Rain off and on and cooler. Then lunch and by bus back to St. Petersburg to see the Zoological Museum with skeletons of Mammoths, (they were really big) and other interesting exhibits. Then dinner and a theatre performance.
Day 6 - Up early for breakfast and to pack. Then visit the Peter and Paul Fortress. Weather much cooler. Lunch and then visit St. Isaac's Cathedral which has the most elegant interior of any church in the world, it was magnificent. Then time to shop, I bought a few CD's for $5 each. Twice the price of those I purchased last year in Saigon, but very good compilations of various artists, and the whole CD full of 70+ minutes. Then dinner and a 10 PM flight to Moscow.
Day 7 - Really tired, but up early to pack and off to the city of Zagrosk to see some very old churches. Weather now very cold. Lunch there and back to Moscow to visit the Puskin Museum. Then off to the airport for dinner and our 11:30 PM flight back to Bangkok. On the way to the airport stuck in traffic in the third lane of a five lane boulevard, a car cuts in front of us, our bus driver has to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting it and the engine died and would not restart. It was a slight incline and I didn't think we could push the bus up it, but all 12 of us got out and managed to push the bus fast enough to restart it. Moscow has been getting a face lift for the past few years and all of the major brands of fashion wear have opened outlets and put up signs all over, so Moscow looks like the rest of the world now. But the airport is still a slum with most of its toilets not working. I spent my last rubles on beer in the airport, then had to walk 1/4 mile to find an open bathroom to recycle it before the flight left. After the seat belt light went off on the plane, there was a big line for the toilets!
Day 8 - Arrive Bangkok at noon very tired and take a taxi home. It was a very tiring but interesting and well arranged trip. I would very much recommend it. It was also fun in that I was the only 'farong' on the trip and even the first "farong' that has ever taken this Thai trip to Russia. The group consisted of six single ladies that were real hard core shoppers, (three worked at Mitsubishi and three at a travel agency), one couple and a Chinese Thai businessman that I shared my room with. The Russian guides only spoke English, so I understood everything better than the Thais as one spoke no English and some only a little English. The only problem I had was occasionally getting cut out of my Thai group and being asked to pay when entering the museums or churches. Russia seems to be getting its act together except for inflation. Before 6,000 roubles ($9,000) would buy a flat or a car, now it is worth $1. This Fall they will introduce the new rouble worth 1000 rouples. Most of the beggars are old folks trying to survive on their 27 rouble pension. The guide was proud to show us one of their newspapers and all the articles critical of the government. She also said everyone remembers when one rouble would buy 3 kilos of cheese, but there was no cheese in the stores to buy!

Glenn L. Todd, August 1997

Tour to Beijing

In June 1998, I took a 5-day packaged tour to Beijing. The tour for 15,000 Thai baht or about $350 included everything: visa, departure tax, airfare, hotel, all meals, transportation in Beijing and all entry fees. We visited: Forbidden City (residence of 24 emperors of the Ming and Quing dynasties), Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Ming Tombs, the Summer Palace and Buddha Lama monastery. We were also taken to many gift shops and two herb shops where the tour company gets a cut of what we spend. The herbs were very expensive, like $35 to $75 for a bottle of pills. The sales staff were dressed up like doctors and nurses. The Thais on the tour bought bags full of them. One pill I remember cured all sexual dysfunctions from premature ejaculations to impotency and infertility.

After disorganized Bangkok, I was very impressed with the city planning in Beijing. The streets are wide and traffic actually moves even at rush hour. The main streets are laid out in a grid with ring roads. There are separate wide bike lanes on each side of the major roads and under/over passes with ramps for taking bikes across. Fences prevent J-walking and lots of landscaping on interchanges keep it clean and neat. Shopping was a bargain with souvenir T-shirts costing as little as a dollar and a 16-ounce bottle of beer only 60 cents at our hotel. I was disappointed in the Great Wall built 770- 2221 BC as where they took us was completely rebuilt and even had handrails! Overall it was a good trip and a bargain for the price, but not a relaxing trip packing so much into a short time: Leave Bangkok late afternoon, 5.5 hour flight, arrive midnight and get to bed at 2 am, up at 6 am and off on the bus from 8am to 7 pm for tours (three days in a row), and then up at 5 am and off to the airport for flight home. Also add evening shopping by the hotel and beer drinking till midnight and I was one tired puppy when I returned.

Glenn Todd, June 1998

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