Здравствуйте!
I still cheat when pronouncing this word (zdravstvuyte झ्द्राव्सत्वुअीच), it means ‘Hello’ in Russian.

Quick update: Russia was fantastic, eventful and full of friendly people. I fly to Mumbai, India tomorrow. I can’t wait to see my motherland (after 2 years!) 🙂

• I soaked Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi and many Golden Ring cities. I acquired some religiously, architecturally, historically, bureaucratically, culturally, etc. significant knowledge.
• My Russian is perfect. 😀 People mostly understand my baby Russian, for eg: ‘I-want-go-Moscow-train, where-buy-ticket?’ The trouble arises only when they reply in grammatically complicated Russian.
• Everything is exorbitantly expensive. Medium coffee and a slice of cake would cost upto 250 Roubles, or $10. I don’t just have a hole in my pocket, but my entire pants are gone. (Any request for photos will be ignored.) I couldn’t buy new ones because the costs are crazy.
• I mostly couch-surfed in Russia, i.e. stayed in homes of people who were willing to host. It was a wonderful (almost unbelievable) experience of hospitality. Only 3 days out of 3 weeks did I stay in hostels.
• Non-spicy meat eating (morning, noon and night) will come to an end and I am looking forward to eating vegetarian food again. 🙂 Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed food each and every day (which will be displayed here in delightful pictures). But after 26 years of vegetarianism, imagine 3 purely meat-only weeks.
• Finally, yes it was completely safe, and I had almost no problems whatsoever. After you get used to everyone turning their heads and examining a darker non-Slavic foreigner (to the point that I looked at a mirror all the time to ensure everything was okay) and after the cold, expressionless Russian glance is broken, people will go out of their way to help you. 🙂

Thats all for now, I will write more and visit my blog-mates once I am settled in Mumbai.

Пока! (paka पाका: ‘bye!’)