Raihan Russia

Saturday, 12th March 2004

Last year, Fortune magazine ranked Russia Land-of-Vodka’s Moscow as the second most expensive city in the world. First would be Tokyo.

And for the past few days, Moscow rendered me senseless as each tag I turned over, on each shopping trip I went on, showed me astronomical prices….not in Russian rubles but in US dollars! I kept all my allowance, all three of my Visas and my sole Amex safely snug in my card case. No way am I contributing to the retail industry this time. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised at Fortune’s financial findings.

It hovered on the point of being quite ridiculous on the first day when, after scouring the room, finding the Minibar filled with vodka, vodka and more vodka, I couldn’t find the standard hotel room coffee/tea set with the electric kettle. I called Housekeeping to borrow one. I needed my green tea dosage fervently. A strongly Russian-accentuated voice informed me that they could not lend kettles out but they could bring up boiling hot water. Fine, bring one up. Pronto.

"Oh but lady, you must know that you will be charged $3 (DOLLARS!)."

"THREE DOLLARS for WATER? Bring up the kettle, I have my own water!"

"No, lady, not for water. For bringing up the water."

"Oh."

Because I was not patient enough to fight for my right to keep my US$3, I relented. Fine, bring one up. Pronto. When the houseboy rapped on my door to give me the pot of boiled water, I stared at him very hard. He walked five meters for three dollars for the hotel. How nice for him. I'd bet my $3 that my money will actually go into the hotel's coffers and not into his pockets. Corporate scums.

That day I drank my cups of green tea like they were liquid gold. Days thereafter, I was told by a fellow crew member, I could turn the tap on hot for a minute till steam rises from the sink and use the hot water from the tap then. It's safe enought and most importantly, it's cheap enough. It's free.

Such is the liquid legislation of Russia. They give Vodka shots away for free at almost every shop you step into. But please pay if you want water. It never crossed my mind before that I'd be charged for not taking alcohol.

However, Moscow is very interesting and very intruiging with all its history of Russian spies, KGB and such. And since it was snowing all the time (yes, ALL the time!), everything was white and white is, as everyone knows, my favourite colour. So I was surrounded by my colour of power. I enjoyed the city via a group tour with my team on the second day. For four hours, we went around historical and important places in Moscow. To name a few, the hotel the communist officials used to stay, the museum where they displayed spy gadgets and weapons confiscated by the KGB Russian spies, the palace with 24K gold domes where Lenin and Stalin used to stay, the convent where Peter the Great banished both his wives to, the Hotel Russia, the hotel with 6000 rooms, and of course, the Kremlin. Everyone in my team were camera whores, including my very cute First Officer, Micheal, who looked dashing with his woolly fox fur Russian winter hat. We took pictures, played with snow, got into a snowball fight, got wet, some got dirty and I, in true Raihan konon glamour style, fell down ungracefully, smack on my ass, in the snow.

Ouchies.

I gotta go take a shower now. So many things I have to do before my departure. Gym, breakfast, pack. I'll upload the pictures when I'm back in Dubai, as well as the pictures I took in Manchester, that I totally forgot about.The Internet here is not free but I'm sneaky yet I cannot be sneaky for too long. They'll sell me to the KGB if they catch me freeloading.

Spasiba!


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PostScript Entry:

Before it becomes a ball-breaking blog backlog:

Liyana: Pay no heed to those who spit venom with their words. They do not validate you so farkit. And if you hear any bad shit about Asraaaaapppp....farkit. It's doesn't matter if it is the truth or otherwise. Both of you are happy now, Asraaap takes immaculate care of you and bullshit is irrelevant here. I must tell you, however, based on my own experience, that our past-life's half-lives and all their associates are sneaky balls of scum with uncalled-for hatred boiling in their hearts and should you get any flak with sign-offs like Anonymous or any other fake names, be almost certain that its all from their camp. And then, be amused at their atrocity coz YOU know better what's really bunching their panties. And it's green.

Mariani a.k.a Nazir's fiance: Hello girl-who-tamed-Nazir! How are you,babe? My goodness,of all places to meet again. So you're using Fatimah MOHSIN too? Excellent. And pls horr..tell Nazir to reply to my Frenster message coz I asked him for his mailing addie to mail my invite. Or YOU could give me urs. You know how men are with things like this. And your wedding is in December kan? Lagi jauh from wedding insanity, lucky you.

Natasha: AAaaahh.. now I know which coffee you are talking about. And it is Arabic coffee, available easily in Dubai so I don't have to sneak it of First Class coz it might get my ass whipped. SO I'll get it for you and pass it to you when I'm in SIngapore for my bridal studio shoot on the 17th March kay? And gahwa means any coffee in Arabic. Not specifically Arabic coffee. Oh and you have been my First Class passenger eh? POSH!

Vivaglam: Okay...first of all, thanks for kembanging me. :) 2nd of all, and for all who wish to know, BML is this Fillipino skincare range designed for Asian skin aje so it's really effective. When you first start using it, your skin peels as though you have gone through laser surgery but after a week or so, it starts healing and ur skin looks.....fab. There are pitfalls though, you have to be anal retentive and use it religiously or else the effect wears off. And the effect is...your skin actually glows and freckles and dark marks just disappear. I've stopped using it for a while in Dubai coz I couldn't replenish my supply and my skin just looked boring and coupled with my period hormones once every month, I was mortified. I couldn't easily get to replenish my supply coz the shop is in JB and when I fly into Singapore on duty, I cannot go out of the country and I have no time.And they have one in Kembangan but it's more expensive and also very leceh to get there from the crew hotel. But it's worth it when I finally made the effort recently. Oh and when I needed to heal the peeling pronto, I used Clinique's turnaround cream overnight. :)

Shireen: Enuff has been said. I'll see you in Dubz.

Darling: Yes you can link from your blog but I also want to link you so how? Give me ur addie laaaaahh... tak mau shy shy cat. :)

Dolyah: Yes, I am very happy with my choice of Fatimah MOHSIN. It seems all the ones with good taste used her. Actually, I did not even look for her. My photographer just popped her name to me and a girlfriend vouched his choice coz she also used her for her fab wedding. So Alhamdullilah. I am satisfied that I made the right choice without having to crack my head!

Nura: Hey awak..KITA TAU AWAK PREGGIES! I went to ur blog tau but ur tagboard is gone so how to congratulate u on Mini Nura?!! I'm sure she'll be like a miniature of you eh? Heh. And Abang Yunos so kembang you complimented him on my blog. Heh. So when is baby due? I saw a gorgeous Liz Clairborne baby cardigan with pink flowers and all......perfect for Mini Nura! And thanks for the well wishes.

AngelSoul: Wahahahaaaa......the Eligible Bachelor has FOUND me. SO ...what do you think? :) isk..why am i leaving a message for you here. I'll go terrorize YOUR blog.

Jewel: Go see your blog. I got proposition for you. I'm taking you up on your challenge. I will be henna-ed but not on my hands and feet. Muahahahah......

Izzati HotMomma: I saw the pics. GORGEOUS. See you on the 20th eh, ex-Cresentian?

Shaz: My MSN addie is raihanrusselland@msn.com but I am seldom on MSN tau! In fact, I actually deleted the program from my PC but my sister put it back in when she was in Dubai that day so she can talk to all her menyek 11-year-old frens in Singapore. Chet!

TwinkZ: Thanks for that lovely testimonial in my Friendster. It's was so overwhelming, I had to sit down to read it and I was on my way to go PEE. Terpaksalaah tahan kencing coz Twinkz so sweet. InsyaAllah, I will be able to attend yours. AS long as you come to mine.

Baby21: Can ..can ...can linky link. No problem. :) Thanks for the kembangan kompliments.

Diah-san: EH see...I GEDDIT. Takde K. It's MOHSIN. yaa yaah...sorry lah..I seem to have a tendency to spell Mokhsin like that coz got this super cute Paki/Iran guy in my batch who goes with that spelling. (yes Fishah, its the guy I want you to marry!!) Heh. And darling, my wedding is on the 20th April.. 17th and 18th is in MARCH for my Bridal fitting and shoots. aahh...takpe...you'll still come to my wedding,no?? Must come or I'll hunt you down.

Rini: The e-mail I sent to you bounced back coz I took a blonde moment and forgot to put .com in ur addie. Heh. I'll send again later coz got more stuff to tell you. :)

So that's that. I'll be frolicking in the snow again in awhile after my shower. And I just found out, my Singapore line has no MMS service. It NEVER DID, not with my old line and not with this new one! Hehehe...no wonder I have people saying they sent me MMS pics but I never ever got them!! I can't receive MMS and I can't send. I didnt know I had to subscribe! I thought it was an automatic thing with all photo-readable phones. Well...that's another of Raihan's blonde moment for ya!

I can feel the onset of another blonde moment.

*blink*

*blink*