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Snowy and all,
20UAH for a taxi is a freaking ripoff. Don't forget that in Kiev when you raise your hand to flag down a cab, anyone will stop. So if you have at least OK Russian to explain where you need to go, you should be able to pay within 10UAH on the right bank, and if you want to go to the left bank, 20 is the max. For me, it's not an issue of money (since in Europe or States it would cost 5-10 times as much), but an issue of paying a fair price.
Apartments: $50/night for a flat is fairly expensive. I understand that compared to any hotel in Europe it's cheap, but again..one of the things you can try is the following site (russian required) http://www.aviso.ua/a/
Also, once you are in Kiev once or twice, you will be familiar with area and can contact those agencies. Although word of warning, you can get ripped off. However, in general, even if you are a foreigner, once they understand that you are familiar with the situation, they will be more reasonable. But then, I think it's the same approach everywhere (the worse ripoff of my entire life was in Munich.)
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Snowy,
That was a great report! Thanks for the positive contribution.
Your recent experience is affirmation of what we have all been saying for the last two weeks or so. If you want a challenge and if you want quality as well as quantity, a little language, a little kindness and a little attention will certainly go a long way.
Believe me, this place is astounding in summer so you should be doing even better!
Just one quick note for those of you who may also want to partake of the paid scene. I just called kievescort.com and the "067" telephone number from their site is now working.
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Snowy,
What do you mean by "best action was walking around River Palace"? Do you mean street hookers?
BTW, where is RP relative to the center?
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Snowy-
Thanks for the excellent report. Can you please give the details of your apartment agency?
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Pupsnu,
I hope Snowy will explain but in re-reading his comment, I take it to mean walking around Kiev on the main streets such as Khreshchatik, not RP. The problem with walking around River Palace is that on one side is the river and the other is the Naberezhnoe Shose, a six lane highway that you should never cross. RP is actually a large vessel that I assume that is permanently moored since it has been in the same spot for many years. It was closed for a time a few years back for renovation but even then, it was never moved.
RP is located right where Naberezhnoe Shose and the Metro Bridge intersect. There is actually a metro stop there, Dnipro, where you can get out and go down 20 meters or so and you are at RP. Of course, the problem is that the metro stops at 1 PM, about the time RP starts kicking into high gear.
Getting to RP from anywhere in the center or even anywhere on the Left Bank is no problem and should take no more than 15 minutes by car.
You are also correct that 20UAH should be the maximum one should pay to go from almost one end of the city to the other. I called "058" which is a taxi service number. It cost me by pre-set tariff, no haggling, 15UAH to go from Obolon Metro Station to near Palac Ukraina Metro Station. The only exception to the 20 UAH rule is 3 AM at River Palace or other places when you have someone with you and you want to get started. I tend to not argue or haggle if the price seems reasonable. If it is a rip-off price, someone who wants 50 or 100 UAH depending on distance, then usually you can get the next car to take you for a "normal" price.
From time to time our company puts up visitors in these private apartments. Because real estate prices here over the last year have skyrocketed, these prices have also gone up. However, I do know that $50/day for a studio or maybe a one bedroom is the present standard. It does mean you get a nicely renovated (non-Soviet) apartment mostly in the center with a few comforts such as a telephone that allows only local calls, cable TV, heat, hot water, towels and perhaps even some regular maid/cleaning services. It is still far superior to a hotel. Most important, you have no one tracking your comings and goings and who you are with.
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Top Shelf report snowy. Kiev have moved up my list of things to do. I would love to learn a bit more about the 3 threesomes. How did they come about?
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Roger Mellie,
The threesomes were completely by chance and not something I set out for. The girls I met when walking around or in bars were often in groups of 2-3, so if you go up and get talking to one, you'll often end up talking to them all. If you invite one of the girls out and she accepts, it's not uncommon for her to bring a friend or two along too - it might be just for a bit of security or for company if you turn out to be a complete bust. It's no bad thing either - what's the downside of walking into a club with 2 or 3 gorgeous women?
In each case, things just happened - we went out for an evening (usually to a club) and then I'd invite them back to the flat for a few drinks or they'd suggest it and things just progressed naturally, surprisingly and thoroughly pleasantly! Again I think it's one of those things that would be far harder if you actively sought it out, but I wasn't complaining.
Hedonist - The agency I went through was http://www.alserent.kiev.ua/. The couple who run it are great - they don't speak much English (although they converse promptly and easily in English by email using a translation site) but they are so enthusiastic and charming and wanted to make sure that I had everything I needed for my stay. They have a friend who speaks excellent English and, if you need anything (non-punter related - I've made that mistake so you guys don't have to make a complete arse of yourself!), you can get in contact with her. One small tip I would reccomend for the new traveller to Russia/Ukraine is to make sure you get someone to write down the flat's address in Russian - it'll make life easier in taxis.
Pupsnu - I should have been clearer, I meant meeting girls whilst just walking around shopping / messing around in Kiev, not street hookers. I wasn't really looking, but I wasn't aware of any street hookers or line-ups in Kiev, although I'm sure there must be some - they're in every other city in the world!
River Palace is only around 5 - 10 minutes or so from central Kiev - I don't think it's a realistic walk there, but it's not too far away.
I fully agree with you about taxis, and I'm not trying to sound like a wealthy snob, but for the sake of a couple of dollars I'm not really too bothered. When the price goes 30UAH+ I'll take a stand on principle, but at 20UAH I can live with it.
Of course you're right that if you do speak Russian then just sticking out your hand and getting a local to give you a trip for 10UAH or less is the best way, but I wouldn't reccomend this for non-Russian speakers. I tried it, on advice from this board I think, on my first Russian trip to SPB and found it quite difficult simply as I struggled to understand people. My conversational Russian has improved, but I still struggle on my first couple of days to understand locals even if I can make myself understood.
I have to admit to being too lazy to use it, but the metro seemed a really good alternative to get round. Very cheap and looked pretty easy to use.
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FYI...
GIA Escort have already had a stroke of Alzheimer.....
They have risen their prices from $300 per day to 350 EUROS per day!!!! (This means, with actual change, that the $300 now are 425!!!! A good shot....)
KievEscort DOESN'T answer the E-mails.... never!
Really strange situation with Escort services in Kiev at present.
I think that I will move more to River Palace.......
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Uke boy,
Well, I don't know if I can fit all the answers to your questions into one post, since there is a word limit that I don't have permission to exceed, but I'll try.
Of course, the primary matter IS the subject matter. What I mean is that yes, its fine to discuss and discuss all the important issues about how to act, where to stay, the weather, in fact, there's usually a thread for that called "General Info", right?
Now I'm no moderator, and perhaps you are, since you could read the date of my photo, which is another subject I'll get to later, and since you or somebody edited out the word "****", and then asked me about it, but... all this endless talk, and literally nothing to ILLUSTRATE what we're talking about gets boring.
What would the Moscow thread be without Ca traveler & his delicious illustrations? I think many would agree that the coolest innovation to WSG is that we can illustrate what we are talking about by posting "real" photos. But when the balance of talk to illustration is 100 to nothing, I got bored and not only said something about it, I did something too. That's not a boast or brag, its just the simple truth.
Now in my own personal sad and stupid case, I actually went to Ukraine 6 times without even bringing a camera. Then when I did, I brought one back through security, and the ass holes x-rayed it and zapped all my pics. The I brought a digital camera, and when I got home, I accidentally erased everything by hitting the format button. As far as last year's date on my photo, well I do recall that Mr. Jackson did not have photo posting available until this year, so how could I have posted that pic last year if I wanted to? I NEVER said anything inferring that I took this photo recently, I simply was SENDING IT with warm holiday wishes to everyone out here, since this is the holiday season, and I want to get the feeling of sharing and giving to spread to others. Its a bit odd to me, that you and so many others don't have anything to share to shake things up a bit, especially since you seem to be there now, while I am dying of boredom over here in the US. I'll answer everything else when I get time, for now its off to the grind. Bye!
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clearly, I need to go to Kiev, get involved in some threesome action and take some gentleman's pictures while I am at it, for posting. Well thats the new years resolution sorted.
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ric,
sorry to hear about your gia experience. after i read your posting, i called them and asked about dasha. however, the difference was that i spoke only in russian. in russian, she costs $170 for the day, ($70 one hour $90 two hours) which they define as 10 hours. i am not sure how long you want her for but this is just another example of locals paying one price and foreigners paying another much higher price. it is a constant problem here.
my advice is when you get here, have someone you trust who speaks russian call gia and make the arrangements locally. you will save a lot of money that way, and not just on the ladies.
kievescort fascinated me since their ladies are outstanding. in the interests of contributing to the forum, i just got back from a two hour session with one of the ladies. super! just super. bbbj, cim, full sex as much as you want, no limit. we were at it fast and furious.
i met with the dispatcher who accompanied the lady to the location and later spoke to me about more of their services. i must say that she is great at customer service. the "201" number on their web site is not working, it has been permanently shut off but the "067" mobile works. call her on that.
she also explained as she pulled out her laptop that she recently had computer connection problems but that she does reply to email. let me know if that is the case. i am curious to see if she did.
again, call her when you get here. that really is the best situation. she does speak very good english so communicating by phone is no problem.
mangus man,
thanks for the promotion but i am no moderator. i have no power to change or edit posts, not even my own after i have sent them. i wish i had all those powers but only if i get to run my own board.
let me give you some information on how i got the picture date. if you save the picture to the hard drive and then open its "properties," it will show you all the nasty little details, the camera make, the speed, the lens, the date, lots of information. all digital files have some sort of "stamp" to mark them in some way. i knew what to look for and was just curious.
i have nothing against pictures. the more the better.
what we were discussing recently about language was not in my mind a matter for the general information section. we were discussing how to best communicate with the ladies here. general information to me is how to get a train or plane ticket, a translator or other such nonsense. we were and still are discussing the best ways to meet, speak with and enjoy the company of the local beauties.
if you are bored, get over here. as you can see, i was not bored this afternoon...
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Confirmed now directly from Gia via E-mail.
They have rised the price of all their girls of about FORTY percent !!!!
So now a 24 hours escort will cost $ 420 !!!!!!!! (350 Euros)
(the previous price was $300)
It seems me a bit high also for other Countries like Czeck Republic......
What do you think about?!? (I'm really shocked.....)
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RIC
I think Gia is just trying it on - unfortunately they're probably right and know they can get away with it.
As long as there are some business men looking on the internet for an escort and don't want to leave their hotel then they can get away with charging these sort of prices. $420 for 24 hours is ridiculous for Kiev, but you can pay that sort of price for a hour in London very easily (£200 for an hour is not uncommon at all). That being the case, and with increased business opportunities in Ukraine, I think this could be the beginning of an ugly trend. I wondered if it was just my approach, but this would also explain why some of the girls in RP were starting prices at $300 - I suppose if you're them it can't hurt to ask. It just makes the more casual scene that much more attractive.
It reminds me to also mention a word of caution about a strip club which, I think, has recently opened in Hotel Dnipro. A colleague of mine was staying at the hotel and was raving about the place, but it sounded awful - trust me, he is the definition of more money than sense! I think he said it was 100UAH entry, something like $50 for 10 minute private dance with no touching and $300 for less than an hour back in your room. I know I haven't been, and he said the girls were stunning, but it sounds one to avoid. If you want to see stunning girls dance, go to Freedom on a Saturday (or even River Palace). I haven't actually been so if someone wants to tell me I'm wrong, I'm happy to be corrected.
In passing, one of the girls from Gia can be found on omen.ru apparently for $30 a hour - no idea if the email address will work or if the prices still stand, but at that price difference it can't hurt to try. Not sure if the attached link from babel fish will work. http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=ru_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdating.omen.ru%2Fnph-love.ple%3Ff%3Dushow%26amp%3Bf_id%3D320913
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Uke Boy,
I know that for a normal company $20 per night does not make a difference. But $50/night means that apartment near Maidan.
An apartment on Tolstoi street (the one going down from University) overlooking the botanic garden costs less than that.And trust me, it is soooo much better.
Anyways, after seeing all the posts, I have to say I am really excited about going to Kiev after many years. I still don't know what I will do about the whole language thing, since I don't think I will be taken as a foreigner, and well, I think that's a minus.
If anyone wants to meet up in Kiev at the end of December and go clubbing, let me know.
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RIC,
I am not sure why you would want to spend 24 hours with Dasha, or anyone else, without having at least first spent a couple of hours in "road testing the vehicle." In London I do occasional overnights but only after having met the lady first for one or two encounters.
Even if she was $200, 24 hours sight unseen for whatever amount would hurt a lot more. Besides, I suspect that you could easily fulfill whatever desires you want while you are here just by doing what Snowy has described and then asking the lady or ladies in question if they want to extend the "date" with you if you do hit it off. You will be pleasantly surprised by the willingness and it will likely cost you about the same or even less than Gia.
When I called Gia, I first asked about Zhanna, and was told she is not working there any more and will not be back anytime soon. I have seen her photo on a number of these "acquaintance" sites but I do get the feeling that if she is real, she is also a rip off.
Guys, stay away from the strip clubs in the hotels and other high profile locations unless it is to just look and drink alone. They are rip-offs. You are better off heading for Rest Town, (or other such clubs, there are a few) not being hassled there, watching the ladies do their stripping, no pressure and then going off to one of the rooms with anyone of your choice at a reasonable price. The ladies at Rest Town vary in quality, rarely are they 10s like the downtown strip clubs, more like 6-9's. The only guarantee in the downtown strip clubs is that YOU will be screwed.
Pupsnu,
For most of the guys reading these postings, staying at an apartment in the very center is their best security blanket, even at $50 per day, which is at least half the hotel rates. You have a decided advantage with the language and for other reasons. If you have a place for $20 or $30 per night, please let us know how and through whom! It's a great location where you will be, just one step removed from the heart of downtown but still part of the central area.
Don't worry about the language issue. That will sort itself out very quickly.