Thread: Travel Blog; CIS/ex-USSR countries (i.e. Russian speaking)

Originally Posted by Eric C.

I think they didn't like you were from the UK and spoke English overall.

Eric: So there aren't many tourists in Belarus from the west? What would they think of a Chinese-looking person carrying an U.S. passport? What if I try to speak Russian to them? Will that make things better, or worse?

Ann, problems can be because you are citizen of USA, because we have political war with USA, USA embassy is closed, and our embassy is closed in USA, money in USA banks are arrested.

But I think you should try.

Originally Posted by Dmitry Khomitchuk

Ann, problems can be because you are citizen of USA, because we have political war with USA, USA embassy is closed, and our embassy is closed in USA, money in USA banks are arrested.

But I think you should try.

Really? That's a shame, about political war..In fact, that's not strong enough. Instead I'll say: that sucks! (At least for us s-sha citizens)

I think it's disappointing that my country is in so many tiffs with various forces that citizens can't even keep track of them all.

Or maybe they can, but just not me.. .=)

GOMEL, BELARUS

First impressions:

This is a really nice town. It has about 500,000 inhabitants and is situated in South Eastern Belarus (sadly, not far from the Chernobyl evacuation area).

It has plenty of new and old buildings in much better repair than I saw in most of Ukraine and Moldova. It has mostly new trolleybuses but I haven't seen any trams and there is no metro (not needed). The old trolleybuses are well maintained.
Many of the buildings are "standard style" Northern European" 19th century buildings, again in a good state.

People are friendly and I was approached several times as I was checking my map, by people asking "What are you looking for, can I help?"

The situation with money here, is a bit confusing if you are a foreigner. The denominations are extremely high - a small thing may cost 25,000 rubel. There are no coins.
I am struggling to hear the numbers because they are high, and people speak fast.
Also, the whole wallet is packed with bills/notes of various denominations.
Several times when paying for things, rather than holding up a queue, I just held out my wallet and they picked the bills they needed. (These were women, honest looking - I trust them).

The town is completely clean, and completely safe. There is no graffiti, no thugs, no obvious beggars.

The level of commercialism is a very convenient balance, I think. It very much reminds me of how things were in Sweden, in my childhood. There are no neon signs, large tacky ads or other in-your-face advertising. But at the same time, there are plenty of shops with good availability of all kinds of goods.

Because the vegetation/nature, and the style of buildings is so similar to Sweden, people are relatively fair, everything is clean etc, it really feels home-like - but more like how things were in the 1980s, than now.. However, of course, there are modern cars, modern goods, etc - just talking about the overall feel.

Immediately outside my hotel is a very large and very well kept public park where tulips and violets were in bloom. I strolled through it and saw a large museum (did not see what for) and one of those Soviet-style mini-amusement park area with lots of rides that would interest a child. Lots of families and teens were there. The park was several square kilometre and really impressed me - I love parks and this was a fine specimen.

I exited the park at a church, where very loud chanting could be heard. I peeked in (as a woman, one should cover ones hair in orthodox churches - this is quite a serious requirement). There was a service on - everybody was standing up and chanting BEAUTIFULLY. Lots of people passing the church were crossing themselves; I think people in general in this area must be quite religious. If like me, you are used to Lutheran/Protestant churches, you will be blown away by the beauty and exoticness of orthodox churches.

There is a long and completely straight road running across town, called Sovietskaia. This street had been decorated with flags in many colours and some banners about Victory Day. Along this street are lots of food shops, bakeries, clothes shops and a few restaurants.

There is also a large circus on the Sovietskaia, which had a show on when I passed. Sounded really great, I might go!

Another venue had an opera on - sounded like "Figaro" I think - might go see that too!

I had dinner at a rather interesting place called Maxi or something like that. It was like fast food place for Russian-style food! You could choose from hundreds of dishes and say how many gram you wanted of each. They also had a patisserie attached, for dessert. Never seen such a place before but I liked the concept a lot.

I know there are some historical sights, castles etc in this area.
But for some reason the guide book does not mention it. I don't know how to find out more.

All and all, first impression of Belarus, very good!

Originally Posted by Ann

Eric: So there aren't many tourists in Belarus from the west? What would they think of a Chinese-looking person carrying an U.S. passport? What if I try to speak Russian to them? Will that make things better, or worse?

Ann, if you are Chinese, then I think that most people in this region would automatically assume that you were from one of the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, where people look more or less Chinese too. There are some people from those countries who have settled in the European CIS countries. I saw some, both in Ukraine and here in Belarus. Not a lot, but a few families and individuals - all speaking native Russian.

You don't need to show your passport a lot anyway.

If you were to travel alone, just do what I do: Keep a low profile, smile and be friendly (but not in an OTT way - just low-key). If you are struggling to communicate, apologise for speaking poor Russian - people are tolerant towards that.
People here are very friendly towards strangers, must be the culture thing (?)

As for the US political question: Most people in the CIS area are very up-to speed on politics - and a bit cynical about it. They are more intellectual than Western Europeans in general, and much more so than Americans. I think they are smart enough to see you as an individual, not an representative of US foreign policy.

Belarus DOES offer visas to Americans - I saw some info about it at the Belarus consular section at their embassy in London. There can't be a lot of Americans visiting Belarus as tourists though. But there might be Americans visiting for NGO type work or other projects. Also - the "bride" market is still in full swing.

But I think you can count on that people will NOT expect that you are a Chinese American. At first, they might wonder why you don't speak Russian.