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Domodedovo Airport (DME), Moscow, Russia. Just paid 219 Roubles for another extremely average cup of coffee. 219 Roubles is $11 AUD. They don’t even have a what we call “flat white”. If you want it white, you have to buy a cappuccino or a latte and they think they are so cool and cafe latte is so super duper that they can just charge you this astronomical price for this dodgy cup of coffee that is not even full. This is mind blowing and it seems to be normal in today’s Russia. This is the side of the new Russia which I hate from the very bottom of my heart. It’s expensive.

Russia is also very sweet. Yes it is. There is a lot of sugar. People eat a lot of sugar. People put a lot of sugar in their tea and coffee. People just eat plain sugar cubes (and lollies, honey, sugar and then lollies again) just like that. People eat lollies, chocolate with high-sugar drinks like dodgy fruit juices and then they complain. We like to complain. I was invited to a friend’s place for dinner, a young family with a 2-yr old son. A word is apparently around that their son is “very active” and the mother herself called him “hyper” when I got there. Guess what he ate while we were having potato and marinated mushrooms for dinner? Lollies! Actually, no. First, he ate some chocolate. Then some lollies. And then he collected cream topping from our cake pieces, which he really enjoyed. Then he found a hairdryer and started jumping up and down and banging it in the wall. In the meantime the mother was sharing her concerns with me that the boy had tooth caries and they couldn’t find a quick fix for it. A different mother with a little boy (1.7yr) boarded the same train with me, going to Moscow. After saying hello’s she complained that her son never sits still, probably just wanted to warm me. Then she pulled out a bag of lollies and one of those juice boxes and was feeding it to her baby till he fell asleep. When he woke up (it was an overnight train), she just stuck that juice bottle in his mouth. For breakfast she gave him cream biscuits and more sweet juice. Some one tell the Russian mothers that there may be a link between the amount of sugar and hyperactivity of their children!!!

Russia is very late. People wake up late and go to bed late. Kids go to bed after 9pm. The children’s “good night kids” show on tv is at 8:45PM and I think it goes for 30mins. People also tend to catch up later. 8 or 9pm is often a  normal time to go and visit a friend. When going home after that, there are still old women selling apples in a bucked at a bus stop at 11.30pm. Why sleep when you can sleep in.

Russia is good. No country is without fautls. But there is always that special connection to the place where you were born.

Lysye Gory. Back in 1800-1900s my Grandparents  had the only brick house in the village. They were farmers and had horses. The church in the photo was probably the place an orthodox priest made a record of my mother’s birth in 1930. When communists came to power, someone in the village didn’t like the fact that my grandparents’ family was quite well off (i.e, run a small farm) and they blackmailed my grandfather, which resulted in him being convicted to 11 years in Gulag gaol. Having become an “enemy of the state” my mother’s family ended up on the streets, moving from house to house living with people who were kind enough to let them board a room. They eventually moved to the city (Tambov) in 1941 – just when the Germans invaded Russia – and settled on the same property we are now. The government since sub-divided the property into 6 small blocks. Because of communists, they lost everything.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I visited my mother’s birth place, even though it’s only 15km away from Tambov. I’m pretty sure this is where the businessman in me comes from. My forefathers were proactive people, running a self-sustained farm in a village 100+ years ago.

Here are some more photos from Russia – from Moscow and Tambov. A few things still amaze me here, like the size of bilboards (ads), price of a cup of coffee ($7-$10), bereaucracy filled with indifference and other stuff like that. The other thing that people talk about is that there are not enough young, available men – due to numerous wars and the problem of alcohol. But Russia is a great place. Good to be here.

I am in Russia and, to be honest, it’s refreshing to be in a country that is not afraid to stand up to the US and other Western ideologies. These are my personal observations as a well-traveled Russian with equal experience of living in Russia and overseas (Australia).

It is indeed refreshing to be in a country that is not afraid to tell our friends in america what it thinks about their foreign policies and to continue reminding them to mind their own business.

Since the war in Georgia, every western media outlet talks about Russian aggression and the “disproportional use of force”. Somehow they avoid the fact that it was Georgia that started the war and that Russia had no choice but to respond in order to protect innocent civilians. I guess the west would be happier to see Russian soldiers responding to bombs with slingshots. It seems that the west can’t wait to see Russia loose and become bobmable, not able to respond. Who knows, then maybe the US will do Russia a favour and invade to install a democracy, like they do in Iraq. Somehow the world assumed that the western ideology is the only one that every nation should have. “Believe in the US and it will be credited to you as righteousness”. This is probably already a part of the US bible.

Now, back to the “disproportional use of force”. I saw a couple of places in Afghanistan that were previously bombed by the “coalition of the willing”. Innocent people were injured, lives lost. Many left without places to live and work. Many lost close family members, friends. Or how about a family of Iraqis waiting for a flight back to Baghdad in Dubai airport. A father, mother and three young kids. All with hearing aids. Total loss of hearing. They were probably next to one of those “democracy-installing” bombs that exploded. Damaged for life. “Disproportional use of force”. No one seems to suggest sunctions againts the country that caused that suffering.

Here is a joke that I read in one of the central newspapers here in Russia. “When God wants to punish Americans, He sends them floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. But when God wants to punish other nations, He sends them Americans”.

I often get asked (by my Australian friends) what I think about the “Russians” etc. and they expect me to automatically condemn whatever the “Russians” are currently up to. Don’t believe everything you hear from TV. People like you and me, wherever they are, want peace. They want their mum and dads, their sons and daughters to be safe. They don’t want to fight. Ok. I’ve said enough.

I am in Russia. The Great Russian Federation. For those who like asking the “What part of Russia you are from?” – it’s Tambov. Here it is, on Google maps.

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Arriving here I switched into a “home” mode and don’t take as many photos as I normally do when I travel. But here are some, anyway.

When I arrive in Russia it takes me a couple of days to switch into a Russian-speaking mode, get used to people being rude and absorb the initial anti-western propaganda attacks (when friends and family try to bring me up to date with the world events). After that, it’s life as normal. Lots of potatoes, salted fish and photos of the smiling president… the usual.

Once again, it’s great to spend time with family and catch up with friends that I grew up with. There is no way to explain it in words. There is a deep sense of connection and understanding with people that I know from when I was a child.

So, here we are, some photos – from Tambov and villages around it.