Moscow

introduced some colleagues to hd this weekend. as infrequent travelers to my fair town, they had been to nf on prior trips and were (like everyone) disgusted by the high prices and generally greedy attitude of the wgs there. they far preferred the dodgy yet relaxed (dare i say "sticky"?) atmosphere of hd. after throwing back a few, i helped settle them in with girls of their liking (and backup choices, in case the negotiations went awry - which they usually do). after playing the gracious host, i headed home (more on that later). the next day i got a surprising story of what transpired after my departure. after making their picks, my hammered colleagues made their way out of the club only to find a couple hyper-aggressive taxi-mafia assholes ready to roll them. this wasn't even in the notoriously dangerous perexod - it was directly in front of the entrance! these fuckers have become positively brazen. after a bit of shouting, pocket rifling and shoving, my colleagues managed to escape unrep001hed. though [i]they[/i] lost only a bit of dignity in the whole process, others might not fare as well. remember:
* if you're the least bit ethnic, travel with a posse, [b]especially[/b] at night
* if you're wasted (or planning to get that way), travel with a friend
* if you're alone at night, keep your wits about you and be suspicious of everyone
* if you're paying (and virtually nothing in this city is free), insist that everything is on [b]your[/b] terms

i'll illustrate that last point with an example. when i left hd (solo), i walked thru the aforementioned perexod and found a long line of taxis in wait. i went to the first in line (a nice new passat), negotiated the rate, and got in. but before we were able to leave, the leader of the taxi mafia walked over and told my driver that he had dibs (at least that's what i got out of it - they weren't speaking russian of course). i reluctantly got out and walked over to find a total beater of a lada. i took a peek inside and surmised from the tattered vinyl upholstery and visibly exposed seat springs that a previous passenger must have had a pet tiger. i, in what i considered to be an incredibly generous gesture, offered him half the rate as mr. passat. he gave me this shocked look and insisted on the full rate at which point i said "tvoya mashina - govno, chuvak" (your car is shit, dude), turned on my heels and stepped back into the passat, saying "poexali" (let's ride). remember - you can't give these fuckers even an inch.

[QUOTE=Pizdyets]Remember:
* if you're the least bit ethnic, travel with a posse, [b]especially[/b] at night
* if you're wasted (or planning to get that way), travel with a friend
* if you're alone at night, keep your wits about you and be suspicious of everyone
* if you're paying (and virtually nothing in this city is free), insist that everything is on [b]your[/b] terms[/QUOTE]Pizdyets,
You forgot one more piece of advice:

Stay away from Hot Dog's, it's nothing but trouble.

[QUOTE=Stravinsky]Pizdyets,
You forgot one more piece of advice:

Stay away from Hot Dog's, it's nothing but trouble.[/QUOTE]

LOL! Yeah, I suppose you're right, Strav, but there's sadly no place other than NF that fills that ho-bar niche here in Moscow.

[QUOTE=Jake993]That's a hell of a question. Any idea who trades in the Russian Stock Market? Is it individual investors or largely institutional investors?[/QUOTE]
As far as foreign investment in the Russian market?? Institutional Investors primarily. Everything from hedge funds (short term money) to Russia specific investment funds like Hermitage (longer term money).

There are very few private foreign investors in the Russian market. Most investors who want Russia exposure will go thru someone like Hermitage or other asset managers like State Street's emerging markets funds (which are run under the name of Rexiter Capital).

Most of the money in the Russian stock exchange was Russian tho - and a lot of that was private money. Thus, the biggest losers of the stock market collapse have been the Russian billionaires.

- - -
[QUOTE=Ash1001] Your argument that Russia's long term boom is assured because of the inherent value of raw materials in the ground .... (etc) [/QUOTE]
listening to the amateur Russian economic analysis from an young I.T. guy in London like you ASH is a bit like having to listen to a 7 year old boy want to play "who's got the biggest dick".

With all due respect Ash (and you have to question how much that is) what can you possibly know about Russias economic prospects? I dont want to have a debate with you about it, because its a waste of time ... you dont know what you are talking about.

Dont try and talk to me about multi million pound houses in London or Russias economy. Thats just ridiculous. You are clearly not familiar with either.

[QUOTE=Ash1001] Also I can assure you that no graduate trainee in any sector has ever, or ever will (in today's money) earn 100k $ ..... right here in central London, where we've had multimillion pound properties for far longer than Moscow[/QUOTE]
Let me open your ignorant eyes Ash ... I will tell you that for the last decade, the investment banks were regularly paying up to GBP 60-70k for graduates ... yes right here in central london ... Which for most of the last decade was well over $100k ... In fact in some years it was almost $150k for graduates ... right here in downtown central London in front of your very eyes.

I could go on, but its not what the forum is for.

Put your dick back in your pants and talk about stuff you do know about. Its meant to be about getting laid. Focus on that mate.

[QUOTE=Roger Mellie]I could go on, but its not what the forum is for.[/QUOTE]Right on there, Rodg, this forum is beginning to look like the ISG edition of the Financial Times.

[QUOTE=Pizdyets]but there's sadly no place other than NF that fills that ho-bar niche here in Moscow.[/QUOTE]Really? Is that true? Whadda ya think guys?

When it comes to Секс в Вольшом Городе (Sex in the City), are Hot Dog's and Night Flight the only places in town to pick up ho's?

[QUOTE=Roger Mellie]I deal with Russian financial markets and trade with Russian institutions all day long. I write and Russian economic commentaries regularly .. [/QUOTE]

I'd be curious to read one of these commentaries. Did you, perchance, predict the near complete collapse of the Russian stock market last year? No, thought not, since most of your 'analysis' consists of presenting the idea that the Russian economy is wonderful in various different forms.

In my 15 years or so as an IT consultant developing derivative trading systems I often found myself sitting in the dealing room in the vicinity of these analyst and sales guys. HIGHLY amusing, I must say. They had developed total mastery in the art of presenting pig ignorance as 'expertise'. Still, got to thank them for the laughs they provided; made my time spent debugging go that much faster :)

Try reading Geraint Anderson's 'Cityboy' sometime (for an idea of what really might be going on).

BTW, my own portfolio made 52% between 01 Jan and 31 Dec 08. Bet you'd like to know how - not that you'd ever admit to it. Talking about markets is so much easier than trading them :)

Okay, NOW we can put an end to this.

[QUOTE=Stravinsky]Really? Is that true? Whadda ya think guys?

When it comes to Секс в Вольшом Городе (Sex in the City), are Hot Dog's and Night Flight the only places in town to pick up ho's?[/QUOTE] While they are certainly not the ONLY places, I think they are certainly the two places that you can pretty much be ASSURED to find working girls just about any night.

What we probably need to do is commission a project to compile a list of other KNOWN locations where WG can be found.

Certainly in Kiev you can find amateur p4p in the most unlikely places. Usually, the less known a bar or club is for hos the better and more amateur the experience will be.

Not sure if this holds for Moscow or not.

I assume you want to avoid the hard core pros at NF/HD?

[QUOTE=Jake993]While they are certainly not the ONLY places, I think they are certainly the two places that you can pretty much be ASSURED to find working girls just about any night.

What we probably need to do is commission a project to compile a list of other KNOWN locations where WG can be found.[/QUOTE]They are the only "pure" pickup bars and certainly the only expat friendly ones. There are hos in almost every disco but just harder to recongnize, because a lot of Russian girls dress like hos, bless their souls.

So essentially, yes. Those are the only places. Everything else, agencies, tochkas, internet, strip clubs, salons etc. is available, but not a pickup bar. The pickup bar is still the ultimate form of mongering, I'm surprised there aren't more in existence.

One place I heard about is Solaris in the Cosmos hotel. Anybody try it?

Of course everything in Russia and Ukraine was a bubble. Because wages are determined by the extent of invested capital. (average wages). And the invested capital in Russia and Ukraine was much lower than that of Germany, so wages could not be higher in the latter.

If you pay 80$ per day for a soviet built hotel in Kiev, this is not the normal price you should pay. Because in Germany the same hotel would not exist due to lack of standards and if it existed it would cost no more than 10$ per day.

So it was a bubble driven by speculation and when the whole thing collapsed the prices are turning to balance in their natural range.

The deflated price of the hotel in euros seems now more natural than it was before.

As far as pussy concerns, my preference goes always to deflated pussy which has a far more stable value than dollar or euro.

[QUOTE=Doctor_Skank]...and certainly the only expat friendly ones.[/QUOTE]Interesting perspective, Doc.

The bartenders drug you, the girls gyp you and the taxi drivers assault you.

Geez, what do they do to people they [i] don't [/i] like? :)

[QUOTE=Stravinsky]Interesting perspective, Doc.

The bartenders drug you, the girls gyp you and the taxi drivers assault you.

Geez, what do they do to people they [i] don't [/i] like? :)[/QUOTE]Molodets Strav! A VERY good point.

[QUOTE=Stravinsky]Geez, what do they do to people they [i] don't [/i] like? :)[/QUOTE]

Err.. marry them?

[QUOTE=Doctor_Skank]

One place I heard about is Solaris in the Cosmos hotel. Anybody try it?[/QUOTE]Strangely enough, I did go there once on my first trip to Moscow. I was staying at the Sovietsky Hotel and the Russian guy I was having dinner with thought I might enjoy it. Being my first introduction to P4P in Russia, I REALLY wondered about all that I had heard about Russia. We spent about 40 minutes looking at girls wearing make-up that looked like it had been applied with a cement - trowel. Yeeeesh - I'm getting the shivers just thinking about it.

Two nights later, some German guys took me to Night Flight and I must say that I pretty much forgot about my experience at Cosmos until just now!!!!!