Moscow 6th-9th April: First impressions
1. Timing & Weather
I thought that the week end I picked to visit Moscow for the first time - the one just gone - would be a normal weekend in the Slavic world as it coincided with the Western Easter, and the Orthodox and Western calendars are 'out' by a few weeks. This is always true for Christmas BUT once every few years or so Easter is actually on the same day! And that is what happened this time. So I guess I was experiencing Moscow in quieter-than-normal mode. This, coupled with the schizophrenic weather - alternating hourly between snow and sun - made me think that I would be seeing Moscow in a rather untypical state.
2. The Guide
As I was a total Moscow newbie visiting on my own, I thought I might need some help. To this end, I hired a local guide by the name of Raphael (still don't know his surname, but PM me for his email address) to show me the best of Moscow by day and night, and generally provide some security whilst walking around and travelling on the metro. He also arranged my transport and accommodation (a 1 bed flat in Tverskaya Ulitsa about 150m from the Kremlin).
Raphael ([url]www.dreammoscownights.com[/url]) specializes in showing the best of Moscow to Westerners with some cash to spend. He's really very good at what he does: apart from being fluent in Russian, English, French and Italian, he can strike up a conversation with just about any girl or group of girls on the street or in a nightclub or shopping centre. Part of his service is to make such introductions on your behalf. I'm usually pretty good at this myself (we were playfully competing at one stage) but if you're naturally shy or reserved, then this could be particularly useful for freebies. Being black in Moscow, he tends to get more than his fair share of attention. On the first night, whilst eating in La Cantina, a late 30s woman said to him: "I like black. I want you" and gave him her number. Surely it can't be that easy?
He's also got an interesting outsider's perspective on the Russian way of doing things and their attitudes to money, spending, sex, girls, foreigners, race and just about anything else. I felt his insights were invaluable - more about this later.
3. Nightlife
The first night, Friday, after eating at La Cantina and checking out the talent, we decided to do CF/Boarhouse followed by Fabrique. He rates the latter as his favourite club in Moscow.
The first thing that strikes you about CF is the sheer number of working girls, all hanging around the entrance and pool table. Most of them were quite attractive I thought, in a rather girl next door kind of way. No supermodels, but I've always preferred natural looking girls. And, Moscow WGs seem to be very into their sexy thigh length boots.. I didn't pick one that night as I thought I'd hunt for a freebie instead. To find the freebies you have to go much deeper inside the place, to where the dancefloor is. Unfortunately, maybe due to the Easter effect, non WGs were thin on the ground. I struck up a conversation with a red haired girl called Anya who didn't speak much English but after about 5 minutes a Turkish-looking guy came along and grabbed her, sweeping her onto the dancefloor. Anya had a fat friend with her, who spoke perfect English, and explained that he and Anya were 'sort of' together. 'Sort of?' I asked, or 'Actually?'. 'Sort of' came the reply..
I danced with a couple of nice looking WGs and spoke to one. She was friendly and fun but wanted RBL 10 000 for the night. And she didn't budge from that price. Is this normal for CF? I thought this was what you could expect to be quoted at NightFlight, but I suppose there's no reason why the CF girls should rate themselves any lower.
I made a mental note of the hot WGs at CF and left for Fabrique with Raphael. Fabrique is a large and impressive club that seems to get an interesting mix of affluent business types and students. Lots of attractive girls, many of them in small groups without guys, some with men sitting at expensive looking reserved tables. I made many approaches and I'd say about 1 girl in 3 spoke English well. I must say I found it hard to get any real traction. Most girls seemed uninterested in talking until I mentioned I was from London. London seems to ring a bell in this city due to all the high profile oligarchs who have moved there. Being from London seemed to suggest money to them, and the conversation soon progressed to getting a table together. But I wasn't playing that game. The local guys were buying drinks right, left and centre and I felt that splashing the cash here wasn't really going to achieve much. Raphael told me that a Russian guy here would think nothing of spending $1 000 on a table with a couple of girls, and not expect any sexual favours from them. Christ.
One 'interesting' experience I had at Fabrique was that a huge (6'6" and fat) Russian guy kept coming up to me, slapping me on the shoulder and demanding to know where I was from. Using words like "Hey you, you from Saudi, yes? You African? What?" (I'm of Indian origin). When I coolly said I was from London he said "No you not English, you Saudi, you from Dubai. Or you African". He wasn't giving up, and kept following me around the club. I asked Raphael what I should do in this situation, and he said I should relax because the guy was probably just trying to be friendly. So, I went up to him and told him I was from India but living in London. Which was the answer he wanted - he became very friendly, shook my hand and introduced himself, telling me he did a lot of business in India and knew the country very well. Quite a nice guy really. In the Russian style.. We called it a night at Fabrique around 4am.
The plan for the following night (Saturday) was that Raphael was going to line up one of his friends for me as a freebie. They had an understanding, said Raphael, which meant that if he told her to 'do' one of his friends, she would, as a favour to him. Right-o. But please give her $30 or so taxi fare at the end as a token of your appreciation, he explained. After some sightseeing during the day we went shopping for Martini, potato chips and zakuski, the things that unpretentious Russian girls like. Raphael gave me her number and told me she was a banker who speaks perfect English. We spent the day SMS flirting, which I found quite a turn on. Unfortunately, when she turned up she was actually not very good looking at all, and I felt that I had to end this house party quickly and get out of the situation (In all fairness to Raphael, most of his other close female friends had gone home for Easter so he'd had to improvise). So we made something up about just having got a text from an old friend of mine who's in Moscow for 1 night only and is waiting for me in Diagilev. Raphael did seem a little irritated by my rejection of his efforts. He told me "In Russia we don't behave like this. It doesn't matter whether you like a girl so much or not. Even if you are not moved by her looks you behave like a man and sex her (sic) anyway. Now you have insulted her." I agreed that I had something to learn about the Russian way of doing things and we took a taxi to Diagilev. May as well live the lie!
By the time we got to Diagilev - the newest and hottest of the 'elite' clubs - it was late, the weather was cold and the situation was looking grim. A large group of people was waiting outside, everyone eagerly awaiting the nod from the clipboard nazi that confers entry. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that First had temporarily closed for some reason connected with tax/drugs/whatever and that clientele was coming to Diagilev. There were some very glam girls who looked like they had been waiting a long time, and we figured that our chances didn't look too good. It appeared that those people who got straight in were the ones who had pre-booked minimum spend tables. (This is just the type of shit you get in London. Exactly the same.)
So instead we went to the next-door Parizhskaya Zhizn, or Parisian Life, which appeared to be absorbing the Diagilev rejects, some of whom were pretty decent looking girls. Now, this club is a different cup of tea. Inside, it's quite homely, with pool tables on the lower floor. It's basically like a bar with an attached dancefloor rather than a dance club per se. Once again, some nice girls, but many of them with boyfriends or in groups with guys. They seemed much less interested in talking than the ones at Fabrique. Far fewer spoke English and they weren't particularly keen to understand my Russian. Even in this rather more down to earth place there were guys buying several rounds of Tequila shots for their group, easily spending $100 or more. Doing this at 112 in Kiev, say, will get you admiration from a group of student hotties on a night out. I wasn't even going to bother here.
At around 3am I went to Safari Lodge. I actually had trouble getting in! The bouncer made up something about needing a club card on that particular night. His bluff was called when a group of Scandinavians, including a black guy, were all let straight in. They stuck up for me and managed to talk the bouncer into letting me in. Emphasising I'm from London appeared to do the trick (what a surprise). Once inside, things were happier. At only RBL 200 a time for a hands-on, climb-on-top-of-you lap dance, I had about 10 from a really cute little blonde. I even gave her a foot massage. After about an hour and a half of this I was tired so went home to sleep.
My final night, Sunday, was going to be devoted to ladies of the P4P persuasion. I hit NightFlight at 10.30pm and had dinner at their (truly excellent) restaurant. Later I went downstairs to the bar/pick up area and saw about 5 WGs at the most, and about twice as many guys. Including a group of Australians who found it highly amusing to offer 500 rubles every time a girl asked for $500 !! I can imagine that the place would be packed on a normal week end. Since it was Easter Sunday, the regular crowd of girls must have all been in church.. where else.. ?
I ended up choosing Natalia, a tall, curvy, friendly and cute blonde. All the negotiation in the world wouldn't get her below $400. Nice DFK, but no BBBJ so didn't bother with oral sex at all. I don't think this is a great deal by any means, but I was really running out of options and wanted to fit something in before my flight the next day.
4. Day Game
This, in my opinion, is where Moscow really comes into its own and justifies the large costs incurred in staying here. Whilst sightseeing in Victory Park, I struck up a conversation with two eighteen year old students. I basically went up to them and asked "Zravstvuite, vui govoritye po angliski?" They did speak angliski, and in about 10 minutes I had persuaded them to take the metro with me to Tverskaya for coffee and cake. It's a shame I was leaving the next day but this incident really shows what's possible with ORDINARY girls.
5. Costs
I live in London and am used to very high prices, but Moscow is expensive by global standards, particularly good restaurants and decent accommodation. It is in NO WAY a cheap mongering destination. Although the prices for WGs are probably half those for girls of a comparable standard in London, what you'll pay to get here, eat and stay here will make it cheaper to stay in London and hire an escort. But if you like the atmosphere - the combination of glamour and edginess - I suppose there's no substitute for actually being here. But from the girl/sex perspective the clubs have nothing that far cheaper places in the FSU don't have.
Raphael, the Moscow guide: EUR 300 + expenses for 3 days and nights
Accommodation: $190 per night
NightFlight Girl: $400-$500
Chesterfields Girl: $300-$400
Regular nightclub: $70++
Elite club: $20 000 is by no means unusual :)
Decent restaurant: $100+ per head
Top restaurant $250+ per head
6. General Thoughts
Moscow has an undercurrent of racism that is reminiscent of the UK in 1950s. It generally manifests itself as some low paid loser deciding not to let you into 'his' club. I have to emphasise that the girls themselves don't seem to be racist. But some of the guys who think you might get them definitely are! Of course, the men with cash, prospects and girls have far better things to do than hate people of a different appearance or nationality.
Otherwise, Moscow really is a LOT like London. Similar clubs, similar cool-to-cold attitude, similar sky high prices and affluent, free spending locals. At least in the clubs, no one's interested in meeting you just because you can afford to buy drinks or because you are foreign and 'interesting'.
To be honest I perhaps didn't get the club angle quite right, but at this stage I can't say exactly what I did wrong: I'm a confident, decent looking guy who dresses smartly and speaks some Russian. The thing is, you never know exactly what's going on in their heads. Then again, maybe it was just bad luck.
However, I'm convinced that if I'd had more time I would have really made headway with the freebies you meet on the street. With the weather improving and university holidays approaching, more and more young studentkas will be flocking to Moscow for their holidays. These are the girls to go for - unpretentious, unspoilt and genuine, they will really appreciate being taken out for dinner and be thrilled that you live in the centre of town.
The dead-eyed, vapid glamour girls leaching off rich men in the elite clubs are just expensive dross and not worth a damn. Every city has them.