Introduction to Russian bureaucracu

Moscow was a bit of a surprise. Completely different from St. Petersburg. Here you have a lot more tourists (although no tourist information, street side maps, or other things a tourist might need), and you can really see the wealth of the moneyed Russians.

One thing that doesn't change is the bureaucracy. It could all be so simple. You could just buy your tickets, book your hotel and enjoy your holiday. Well, not in Russia! Not only do you have to get a visa to enter the country but you also need to register your visa in every city where you stay for 3 days or more, and at least once during your stay in Russia.

We didn't do our visa registration in St. Petersburg because our stay fell on a weekend so we needed to do it in Moscow. This became a bit more of a hassle than I imagined. When we arrived to our hostel we were told that they sort it out and we go and pick up the paper the next day. Then they changed it to the day after that. When we finally got the go ahead we found ourselves trying to navigate our way through this huge city during rush hour. After standing in a queue outside a metro station for a quarter of an hour, we decided to walk instead. The only problems were that it had suddenly got really hot, and that we didn't have a map.

Somehow we managed the trek through the unknown and found the right street. The first big question mark appeared when we entered the address given to us by our hostel owner. The place had no sign outside (this seems to be the standard here), and when we entered there were just a bunch of teenagers behind desks in a room. Not exactly the bureaucratic scene I had invisioned. To make things worse these kids did not speak english and seemed to come equipped with a foul attitude.

After a long and utterly unfruitful conversation in English (by us) and Russian (by them) we were no closer to the solution. They seemed to think that we were wasting their time, and we tried to convince them that they should have our papers ready. We finally managed to get them to call our hostel so we would all have some kind of an idea of why we were there. Two minutes after they made the call we were already on the same wave length, but still couldn't agree on the price. Another phone call followed, and a minute later we had paid the sum previously agreed and had the papers in our hands. No problem!

This is a strange country. You can get so utterly frustrated with it, but you can't help liking it at the same time. Or maybe that's just me losing my mind...

Anyway, tonight we will catch the Trans-siberian train to Irkusk, where we will arrive in the morning of 8th September. This gives us a good few days to contemplate what we have encountered so far. After all, what else is there to do in the train? Unless, of course, they happen to have some vodka on board...