2005 Moscow Reports

[John Quakman]

I told him nothing other than I was coming to Moscow as a tourist and that's the reply I got. I did get a email from Oleska girl friday who is working to hook me up. She has a 1BR with a twin sized bed. Pictures look OK but I'll hang over all 4 sides of a twin.

I can get a rate at the Marriott, How are they with female visitors?

Can't figure out Moscow Rick. I called and the phone was answered by CAT's helper Sveta who I had contact with last time I was in Moscow. She emailed Rick was out of town and as soon as he returned (yesterday) she would have him email me. So far zippo!

Had a contact from Stella and I have been e mailing her back and forth. Kinda pricy and the other forum has some back and forth about her service. Anyone here know anything about it? It has some appeal for getting my feet on the ground. While I did OK last time simply winging it, I did waste a couple days stumbling around initially.

Boy do I miss CAT, Last time getting a place to stay was a breeze. Still need some help, the 16th is closing fast.

Are you in Moscow? I'll buy the first one. Goes for any of the other guys here.

JQ

[Dealdo]

Dealdo:

Pasha's apartment dyev-proof? Not likely, I've banged easily more than a dozen chicks there, pro and freebie. You'll recognize the apartment in several of my pics. Or maybe I'm the trouble-causing pleasure seeker that made him shut down his operation?

Doctor Skank,

I'm sorry to inform you that this is a fact:

I was there last month.. Things were from bad to worst.. some guys before me brought girls in, and they took away a lap top, his cell phone etc.. So he was really mad.

Then the house keeper discovered me whit 3 chicks (they weren't pros by the way) in the morning and he almost kicked me out the place, he was very freaked out. He changed the locks and started sending the house keeper every morning to check out.

From there and on doesn't let get any devs in.. =(

I didn't want to post this because of privacy but people needs to know to not get spoiled the fun.

Anyways, Moscow being complicated and sometimes dangerous is a fascinating city full of surprices and magic.. can't wait to come back.. =.(

Good times to everyone.

DeAldo

[Doctor_Skank]

H2:

Yeah, Mangus is right. Stop apologizing for being a wild man. When you are dead or wake up missing a kidney you'll realize you've gone too far. Until then its all good. The only thing you should apologize for is not banging Nina while you were in Moscow. An Army guy ought to know something about window of opportunity. I find it often easier to get a girl in the sack early in the game... if you spend too much time "building a relationship", even via e-mail, you may hypercomplicate the whole thing.

Dealdo:

Pasha's apartment dyev-proof? Not likely, I've banged easily more than a dozen chicks there, pro and freebie. You'll recognize the apartment in several of my pics. Or maybe I'm the trouble-causing pleasure seeker that made him shut down his operation?

[Bez Bezarra]

Come on Manhander.

The Doc has spoken. You got the mongerers go-for-it mentality,
you've seen more than most already, and the one-touch
instep-crushing death blow poison-tipped shoe blade to boot!

You're no longer required to apologize, are hereby released from
any further obligation to explain yourself, and now that you've
accepted this assignment, return to the field and proceed to
monger at will!

INITIATE DEBAUCHING MANEUVERS!

Just get the right charger so you don't fubar your recon this time.

[Handyman #2]

NY Monger,

Don't get the wrong idea, I NEVER am the cause of an altercation and am a very civil type of guy. But some people tell me that I carry myself in a "don't mess with me" way. I am confident, but not over bearing. I make it a point of scoping out an area so that turf wars don't develop. I will often buy a friendly Russian lad a drink, before I would even consider talking to a certain lady, and have been pointed in the right direction to proceed on more than one occasion. In all my travels, I have been involved in very very few fights and they were in the distant past.

Plus this being a business trip, where I would be spending a considerable amount of time in country (2-4 years if I get the contract), I was on my best behavior. And I also needed to find out the feelings of the common man about town. Would they accept instruction from an American guy (resulting in a cheaper labor pool) or whether I should bring a much larger work force (big dollars) from the USA. I could have read thousands of articles and not gotten the "feel" I have from one night making new friends. One lesson, I learned is while Russian guys are somewhat pliable on a 1 or 2 on 1 atmosphere. When ladies are around they all want to be the leader/organizer. And when there are several men in a group, they seem to pick the biggest guy as the leader even if he isn't the brightest bulb in the pack. So what did I learn? Yes, I can hire locally, but will need to hire the biggest smartest guy as I can as the forman of the crew, so that he gives the orders to the workers, not me. Which changes how I normally do business, since I am a hands on supervisor.

Hopefully, you can see some logic behind what I did, because I did learn from my experience. And the only officials that I had dealings with were at the job sites that were in government buildings, and I never showed what I thought of them. In stead, I offered smokes, coffee, etc. to try to sway them our way. I left the "special gifts" to our guide and host company.

Stravinsky,

I always try to learn a little of each countries language too. The translator was a way for me to overcome the reading problem I have with crylic. But then I realized it was also a conversation piece to get things going. A little gimmick to bring people to me instead of me approaching them, which worked. That way people were less defensive. It also had a data bank that I would have them put their phone number, address and email address in themselves. It could also be hooked to a phone line to send and receive emails if I didn't have my laptop.

The uniforms, to be honest I don't know. They looked military to me, but will defer to your superior knowledge.

[Stravinsky]

Paul,

Which massage place was this on dosug.nu? Can you give us an idea of what prices were like?

[Stravinsky]

HM2,

I know what you mean, I try to disassociate myself from loud Americans as much as possible when travelling abroad. Never used a translator though. I always try to learn a little bit of the local tongue wherever I'm going, even when I went to England. LOL!

People are always so amazed to hear an American speaking their language (no matter how badly mangled) that it becomes almost an endearing quality and they will go out of their way to help you. But then, I have never travelled to Asia.

The guards you saw at Ostankino might have been military, or not. It's always difficult in Russia to tell who's military and who isn't. The Militsia, who are not regular Army, but more like local police, wear what would seem to me to be military uniforms. I have seen private security personnel hired to guard restaurants and nightclubs sporting camouflage, jump boots and Kalashnikovs.

счастливо,

Stravinsky

[NY Monger]

HM2-

My concern is that others will read about your adventure and think that they, too, will escape unharmed. I am personally aware of many folks who have gotten into significant problems, with tough guys, militia, etc when they did what you did. Personally, I would not do, what you did, even in a NATO country. If I could send you money, I'd ask you to buy me lottery tickets.

If you, in fact, are who you say you are, I will only repeat that Russians have a very LONG memory - your passport set off bells the moment you applied for a visa or landed or crossed a border. The mere fact that the story you were told made so much sense, in a country where little makes sense, should have made you think twice.

As for smashing insteps etc and running, you speak Russian with an American accent, are registered with your visa and have nowhere to go if things got nasty. You were easily findable, and the blowback to others could have been significant. In the future, please consider that your actions may inadvertently put other Americans in harms way.

[Parlour Paul]

I found Moscow an interesting but challenging place to find girls. This report is for people that do not know the city well, so for your experts/expats ingore this post.
One thing that baffled me was the addresses in Moscow. I was always looking for streets when I got an address (for example Puschinkskaya 62) until I realized that it is actually house number 62 at the Puschinskaya Metro station. Duh. So that way equipped I went to dosug.nu, got the translator page at Babelfish or Alta Vista (funny results) and called up the elite massage place. After one try, I got a girl on the phone who spoke some English and she gave me the adress (Puschinskaya). Into the metro (good fun, dirt cheap, culturally interesting and there are maps with characters in cyrillic and roman characters) and off to the right station. THen the challenge begins, especially since it was -18 C. I could not find my way, but I asked some friendly Russians who were passing by to help me call the number of the elite salon and talk to the people there in Russian to get directions. They then proceeded to help and actually walked me to the place. No idea if they figured out what I was up to, but they were very friendly, as I found the Russians in general.

After I found the place (the entrance is always unmarked and normally you have to call them when you stand in front of their door, cellphone a must...) you get invited into an appartment, that could double up as a family home. After shedding my winter cloth, I was in the sitting room introduced to three Russian beauties (no word of English or French or German or Spanish, so conversation was limited). I was equipped with a printout of dosug.nu (as one helpful WSG member suggested) so was able to express what I wanted (massage with sex). Apparently that ruled out on of the girls (go figure) and I chose a nice looking girl from the two others for the above. Then shower (nice facility) and massage followed by sex. Looks of the girl was 6-7 (if you like big girls), attidude good (7-8), price as advertised and overall experience very interesting and fun.

I have tried another place (Studenstkaya) about a year ago and I chose the double massage which was less fun (too stressful for me, somehow massage was two but sex only one). Also the place was less nice.

Happy hunting

[Dealdo]

JQ,

This may be a long shot, but you might try www.unclepasha.com. He advertises a lot of apartment rentals. He's even advertising his own apartment in Moscow for rent.

Check it out and let us know what happens.

счастливо,

Stravinsky

Good apartments,, good site,, but Pasha's apartment is impossible to bring girls to.. he has a policy of cero tolerance whit escorts.

Read the feedback from the other apartments as a reference. good luck

[Stravinsky]

JQ,

Sounds like he's still in business, he just doesn't rent his apartment to "pleasure seekers". Jeez... just exactly what did you tell him you were planning on doing in his apt. anyway? ;-)

This is disturbing, though. If Moscow-Star is no longer a reliable source, what's a fella to do?

Stravinsky

[John Quakman]

I guess Uncle Pasha is out of the Biz, here's his reply to my inquiry


Sorry, I had do discontinue renting my apartment to pleasure seekers because they nearly always end up inviting trouble. Try others from www.cheap-moscow.com or ask Olesya to make a round of calls on your behalf...

Pasha

[Handyman #2]

Stravinsky,

I know exactly what you mean about electronic and pharmacitical solutions! Several times in my travels, I have come across American tourists and businessmen that got irate, because either a menu or a bill did not have a translation (in a loud voice). If I was dressing "in country" I would ignore them!

My electronic translator was a crutch when I couldn't get anyone to understand my poorly spoken Russian. It came in handy on more than one occassion and if nothing else was a conversation piece. It wasn't a cheapey like some of the ones I have seen (that normally do several languages). It was solely Russian to English and the reverse. It could also download new additions from a web site; do sentence and paragraph translations too, instead of the a word by word as some of them. It was pricey at almost $400, but worked well in most cases.

A request in a civil tone, would always get my help (if I could), but a demand (in a loud voice) made me ashamed of them and I would act local! So a word to the wise, Remember you are representing your country - Do it proudly, but respectfully! It will pay back dividends to you and the ones that follow you!

I agree with you and NYM basically! But people can also be too careful and miss the real "flavor" of a country too! They should let the situation dictate their reactions to any particular experience. ANY bad feeling (assuming they are sober) should send them on a hasty retreat to a safe zone. Of course, the more they understand of the language, the wider they can range semi-safely.

And Ostankino, sounds like it could be the place. They had way too many parking spaces not to have been some type of tourist attraction or big restaurant. Do they have military guards there? The place we went was guarded by the military. I did see the observation platform, and I did see some signs for a coffee shop or restaurant that was closed.

[Doctor_Skank]

JQ:

Ca_T’s old joint still exists… doesn’t run quite as well as it used to, but it still is one of the premier places for apartment rental.

www.moscow-star.com

or try

www.pulford.com

H2:

I agree with Strav’s analysis and would only add that it is good to take chances sometimes… much better than being one of the cowards who never leave the hotel lobby or only hit the 6 restaurants and clubs listed in the hotel-provided map.

Still, avoid any situation in which you have to deal with the militia or government. They truly are despicable.

Also, whether or not you are a tough guy or not (I also feel like I can carry myself) any sort of physical altercation will most likely leave you as the loser. Drunk Russian guys might be stupid, but they are also fearless and oblivious to pain. And almost never alone. Its their turf. Best to save your energy for the ladies.

Jackson:
Really wish I knew why I suddenly cant post pictures...

[Stravinsky]

JQ,

This may be a long shot, but you might try www.unclepasha.com. He advertises a lot of apartment rentals. He's even advertising his own apartment in Moscow for rent.

Check it out and let us know what happens.

счастливо,

Stravinsky