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Tips & Tricks!
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Drinking water
It’s best to stick to mineral water or boiled water in Russia
although the tap water is safe to dring in some cities. Avoid it
in St Petersburg since the water here can cause a nasty form of
diarrhoea (giardia), particularly in summer. Drink only boiled
or bottled water in Mongolia and China; boiled water is provided
on trains and in hotels.
Taxis
Virtually every car in Russia is a taxi: stand in the street
with your arm outstretched, someone will pull over and ask where
you want to go. Negotiate a price and get it. It’s illegal but
if drivers are going your way it makes perfect sense for them to
take along paying passangers. But be cautious.
Official taxis are safer but more difficult to find. Although
they have meters, few use them. You should agree on a price
before you get in since once the driver realizes you’re a
foreigner, he’ll bump it up.
Metro
The
metro is a very cheap and convenient way to get around. In
Moscow it’s worth using the metro just to see the stations,
which are more like subterranean palaces, with ornate ceilings,
gilded statues and enormous chandeliers.
Because they’re so far down, escalators need to be extremely
long as well as fast. The world’s longest escalator is, in fact,
in St Petersburg (Ploshchad Lenina), and has 729 steps, rising
59 metres.
Russian customs and etiquette
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A
bottle of wine, cake, box of cancy or bouquet of flowers are
traditional gifts if you’re invited to dinner in someone’s
home. If you bring flowers, make sure the number of flowers is
uneven; even numbers of flowers are for funerals.
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Take off your gloves when shaking hands.
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Be prepared to remove your shoes upen entering a home.
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Smoking is common and accepted in Russia.
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Be prepared to accept all alcohol and food offered when
visiting friends, and this can be quite a lot. Refusing a
drink or a toast is a serious breach of etiquette. An open
bottle must be finished.
-
Russian men still expect somen to act in a traditional manner.
You’re not supposed to be assertive in public, carry heavy
bags if walking with a man, open doors, uncork bottles or pay
for yourself in social situations. A woman alone in a
restaurant or hotel risks being taken for a prostitute.
Superstitions
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Do not shake hands or kiss
across the threshold of the doorstep; this is traditionally
bad luck.
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Never light a cigarette
from a candle. It will bring you bad luck.
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Do not whistle inside or
you will whistle away your money.
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If you’re a woman and find
yourself sitting on a corner of a table you’ll be single for
the next seven years.
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If you spill salt at the
table you will be plagued by bad luck unless you throw three
pinches over your left shoulder immediately.
Safety tips for travellers
Crime does exist sometimes on railways but a few simple
precautions will substantially reduce your chances of anything
untoward happening to you.
-
Lock the cabin from the
inside when you are asleep, by using both the normal door
handle lock and the flick-down lock. Put your bags under the
sleeping bench or in the space aboe the door, depending on
which berth you are in. Always carry valuables on your body.
-
It is a good idea always
to leave someone in the cabin to look after the luggage. If
everyone has to leave, ask the provodnik (or provodnitsa, if a
woman) to lock your cabin.
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Carry only a small amount
of money in your wallet. Don’t show large amounts of money.
This should be always carried in a money belt under your
clothing. Even sleep with it on.
-
Never get into a taxi
carrying anyone other than the driver. Taxis ordered by phone
or through organized services at hotels are often a better
bet.
-
Change money only at
kiosks and banks.
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Beware of gipsy childreen
begging for money.
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