Moscow stories

The plane was an hour delayed. It was dark and cold when we arrived. But what can you expect? Moscow is cold in the winter. The Russian winter stopped both Napoleon and Hitler before they got into the city, but they were pretty close.

A driver from our company took us to the hotel. The traffic wasn't to bad, it took just about an hour. We checked in at the Swisshotel, and went straight to our office, We had things to prepare for the next day. Russian law is strict. We're not allowed to take geophysical data out of the country. All the work need to be done inside Russia.

Getting through the door to our office on the 14th floor is easy. The main challenge is to get passed the desk at the main entrance at street level when arriving off regular office hours. The security guys on night watch can be quite grumpy. They look at our passports and our company ID card. Sometimes they let us in without questions, sometimes they say "Njet!", and nothing more. No arguments can make them change their minds. Fortunately this was one of the lucky nights.

We worked for 3-4 hours, then passed by a restaurant on the way back to the hotel, and got some Uzbek food (plov of lamb) and some dark beer (Kozel). Very good.

The next day we worked in our office before lunch. Then we went to the Russian service company we co-operate with. A driver from our company took us to the office location, in the outer part of the city, close to some forests and a big power plant (I presume).

I was a little bit nervous. This summer, the boss of our Russian subsidiary ordered me to go to Moscow to inspect the processing center of Russian service company:

"You need to go there to check", he said. "Check that the processing center really exists, check that they have real computers, check that the computers are taken out of the boxes, check that they have software on the computers and people who know how to use it."

"Is this really necessary?" I said.

"I've been in this country for many years", he replied.

And since then, the service company has moved to a new office location. What should we expect now? Were we too naiiv? Fortunately, it was all fine.

Today we continued our meeting, working till 6pm, to complete our objectives. Then we went to an Azerbajdjanian restaurant and got some great food and beer, and vodka of course. I'm not used to drinking vodka in large amounts, and I don't like it. So, I'm always very careful in the vodka relays. I'll tell more about that some time later.

By the way, the title of this post was inspired by the book Sebastopol Stories by Leo Tolstoy. It's a collection of stories from his time as an officer in the Russian army during the Crimean war. Very good book >:)

(No time for sightseeing in Moscow this time, just work all day, tired when returning to the hotel at night. I took the picture above from the window in my hotel room. Moscow by night.)

Notes from Moscow

I have a crazy travelling schedule these days. Last week, I was on a domestic trip up north. This week, I'm in Moscow. Next week,I'm going to San Antonio. In between the trips,I need to catch up with thing in the office. But most busy was the preparation for everything upfront. My writing has been suffering from this. No time to post on my blog, and no time to work on my so-called novels (yes, plural, I'm working on two novels now, in rare progress). Fortunately, days away traveling also means nights free for writing, and other sorts of fun.

I flew into Moscow today. A driver picked me up in the airport. The traffic jam was terrible. It took almost two hours to get to the hotel. The Moscovians have found various tricks to get around the problem. The rich and powerful have blue lights and sirenes on their Audis and BMWs, to get through the traffic. Along the higway to the city centre, there's an unofficial dirt lane for the impatiant, through gardens and across lawns, wherever it's physically feasible to get trhough.

Actually, I enjoy going to Moscow. It has become a metropol comparable to London and Paris. The Russians are a proud people. Their hospitality is great, and they always want to show you the best of their country (there are plenty of not so great things as well). They always want give you the best borsch (the famous beetroot soup), and the best salty fish (as a starter), and they always book five-star hotels for me.

Moscow has never been invaded or occupied by foreign powers. They stopped Napoleon in the battle of Borodino in 1812. You can read the artistic exposition of it in Tolstoy's War and Peace. The Germans didn't get further than to IKEA. At that time there was hardly any IKEA, of course, but there's a memorialright outside the warehouse, to mark the place where Hitler's army was forced to retreat.

But also, in a sense, the Russians show a lack self confidence. Anything made in Russia is inferior, importeted stuff is superior; cars, clothes and even soccer players (recently Cameroon superstar Samuel Eto'o was signed by Anzhi from Dagestan for a $28 million per year salery). In bars and restaurants, they always want to serve the tasteless imported beers, like Heineken, Budweisser and Carlsberg, even though the Russian beers are much better.

I checked into the Swissotel by the river a couple of hours ago. It's a convenient place to stay, just a ten-minute walk from our Moscow office. They gave me a great room this time, on the 26th floor, with a magnificent view of central Moscow. I didn't bother to go out tonight, so I chose the lazy option, eating in the hotel. Right now, I'm sitting in the restaurant on the 34th floor, to get something to eat. It's dark outside, and I'm looking down on the Moscow River. The barges gliding slowly down the river make a big contrast to the busy highway on the river banks.

I'm eating alone tonight, and taking a couple of beers; first a Baltika #7 with my food, and then Belgian abbey beer, Leffe Brune. Boring? No, not at all. I'm never bored. I'm entertaining my self with some writing. I'm lonely tonight, but doesn't feel lonesome. My own company is good company, sometimes at least.

(Above is a picture I took from my hotel room right before dawn today. Very nice view of central Moscow.)