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Travelling to Russia and you want to know some unexpected things about the country?
Who doesn’t? I don’t know about you but I am one of those travellers who are passionnate about interesting facts that the normal travel guides do not mention! Is my list objective? Of course not! Since everone’s experiences are different these are the 7 things which I personally found awkward, strange, bad, interesting, amazing or funny travelling to Russia for first time! There are much more than just 7 to count at this gigantic country but, for me, for the one month I spent here, the major surprises (and observations!) were the following:
1. The trains run on Moscow Time
Russia has 9 different zone times!! Oh yes, NINE! And as if that wasn’t enough, the train websites/ tickets/ stations/ timetables etc. indicate only the Moscow time as the ”departure” and ”arrival” ones! Things can be very complicated if you are in Siberia and you are already 6 hours ahead of Moscow but you have to catch the Trans Siberian at Moscow time! And it can be totally insane when the dates are different as well, for example when it is after midnight for you (hence, a new day/date!) but you have to catch your train… yesterday because Moscow is still behind! Be very careful when calculating the correct time as there are uncountable foreigners who missed their trains because of that! Phew!
2. Limited English
I was prepared for lack of English in the countryside but I was surprised that even in Moscow, in touristic places, very basic English is spoken. We were lucky though as in Moscow our AirBnb host had been living in the Uk for 1 year so we could communicate extremely well and she helped us a lot regarding culture, local life, sexism and racism topics (questions that as a feminist myself, I always try to ask while travelling in order to learn more about every country!) , family and personal development etc. How did we deal with this for one month? We used the Google Translate app and more specifically, the offline Russian version that can scan a sign / menu/ place of interest and of course we learnt 10 basic words – either way our life became easier as locals (that we encountered with!) rarely speak any English. My advice should you plan to travel to Russia? Do the same!
3. Why there are so many expired products in the super markets?
That’s the funny one! Since we stayed in Russia for a month, we shopped in super markets many times. The first days I got confused as in almost every single market I could find multiple items that seemed expired! In some cases nearly half of the products were «expired»!! After few days that we were not able to deal with the mystery (and we kept eating at restaurants!) we managed to ask a local who could communicate efficiently in English and suddenly…problem solved! The explanation was hilarious (for us) but, admittedly, decent: Some of the Russian companies (especially bakeries, dairy and chocolate products ones) print on the package only the production date and they add a text (in Russian!) that indicates for how long the product is safe to be consumed! Weird, right? No travel guide I read before travelling to Russia, had even mentioned this! After the clarification we relaxed regarding the edible products even if we had to use the before-mentioned app to «read» this damn text every single time!
4. Cafes = Restaurants
That was easy to catch!! When you are hungry just head to the first café you will see, it is actually a local restaurant and serves proper food! We found some of the cheapest and most delicious foods in cafes around Irkutsk and Ulan- Ude, their prices can easily beat out Thai prices (not Filipino’s though) ! But on the first day you can get really confused.. where are all the restaurants?
5. Second class citizens?
Ok, it’s about time for the negative thing of my list! We were told by locals that Russians who have Asian characteristics are often treated as second class citizens by the «European-like» Russians. This is an uncomfortable truth we could not have understood by ourselves as we are Europeans too (and anyway the communication with little English is not sufficient) but the interaction with the locals helped us realizing that. Very sad and unfair, as any kind of racism or discrimination of course! But this does not happen only in between Russians… What if we , as non- Russians, consider our stereotypes regarding the same thing? The truth is that when we think about Russians we picture them as blonde/ white, tall people and it is hard to think them as Asians too. But Russian Federation has an Asian side (we all knew about it, right?) and actually, at least the 35% of the population has Asian roots and (unsurprisingly!) Asian characteristics! Impressive, right? So now… we know and we have no excuse anymore to exclude the Asian aspect of the country even as visitors!
6. Right –hand side cars?
Russia drives on the right. As a result, the cars are built so that the driver sits on the left-hand side of the car. If so, what are all of these right-hand side cars around, seen especially in Siberia?? This was a major confusion for me but , once more, a local helped us to untangle our mind! Many people buy cheaper second hand cars from Japan and… guess what? Japan drives on the left! So many unexpected things while travelling in Russia! It should be weird to drive on the right with a “drive on the left”-built car!
7. Size matters
This is something we knew already of course but we hadn’t utterly realised it before travelling to Russia. Being the largest country in the entire world , Russia has a landmass of 17.098.242 km² ! Just to make the comparison easier, Europe itself is «only» 10.180.000 km² ! No surprise that the longest railway in the world is here, the famous trans-Siberian/Mongolian! Throughout the month we spent in Russia, we covered massive distances by plane, train, cars, vans and busses! It’s worth mentioning that a 6plus-hour flight from Moscow took us only up to the frozen (and mesmerizing!) Lake Baikal… this is roughly in the mid of Siberia!!
At the end of my small list with the things I got impressed (negatively, positively or just neutral!) during my first trip in Russia / Siberia I want to clarify that these may be normal for other travellers, for example I have been told afterwards that the lack of expiration date exists in some Asian countries too! Few months after I came back, I found out about Russian cities that didn’t even exist on the map until 1993 that also fascinated me but I have to plan a second month to Russia to visit them! I would definitely come back to this huge country, but next time it will be in the summertime! Do you have any weird experiences ot obvervations from your Russia travels to share? Please add them in the comments!
I have not yet been to Russia, but am interested in going in the future. I had no idea that Russia has 9 different zone times! Thx for sharing that bit of info with us. It truly makes us understand just how huge this country is!
We were in Russia for only one day. I wish we could have spent more time there. What surprised me the most was that there are 80,000 oligarchs! We went to St. Petersburg, which was lovely.
I’m so glad you shared this post! Russia has always intrigued me and some of your points made me laugh out loud. I think the hardest thing for me would be the train schedule. I have so much trouble with time zones and remembering the differences in times that I’d probably miss my train lol
Never been to Russia. It’s really surprising to know a lot from this post. About expired items in the supermarkets is really funny. How absurd to adjust with 9 different zone times!!!
Great list of things that might surprise first time visitors to Russia and particularly helpful on understanding the date printed onto supermarket products, I would not have known that they print production date rather than expiry date!
Russia sounds so foreign to me as it has never been on my radar. Your post has helped to learn more about this massive country. Thank you
Being an Asian myself, some of the stuff like production date and months good for are not weird at all. But the size of the country and 9 different time zones are essential points to remember for sure. I have noted your point on lack of english even in big cities.
Moscow sounds like a beautiful place to go to. Thanks for the heads up on their “expired” food products btw! Haha!
I have always found it interesting how other countries operate and how the citizens live. That time zone situation is very weird and confusing I wonder why they keep it like that?! Too bad you didn’t find out about the whole expiration date situation earlier in your trip! Thanks for sharing your experience! I don’t come across too many posts about Russia!
Hi, I’ve just got back from a recent trip to St Petersburg and Moscow. I loved it and was surprised by how good people’s English was especially in the bars and restaurants. Although surprisingly in tourist spots such as museums, etc, the English wasn’t so good. It’s always interesting to hear other people’s views of destinations, thank you.
Wow! This post is such any eye opener and it totally cracked me up 😀 Will bear these points in mind when we plan to visit Russia.
I haven’t been to Russia yet but I wish to visit the country some day. You’ve listed very interesting facts about Russia. I didn’t know it has 9 time zones and the trains still operate according to Moscow Time – strange! Also, the fact about the expiration date on products is quite funny. I’m glad you finally came to know about this and used your app to read the text. I love your pictures – they’re simply breathtaking!! 🙂
Russia is a fascinating and intriguing place. Part of the intrigue of course dates back to the days of the cold war. But present-day Russia is, of course, a different place. The confusion over time zones seems really vexing. 9 time zones may get a little difficult to handle!
The different time zones definitely sound scary. I am sure I will miss at least one train in Russia. I am very bad with understanding time zones. The expiry date point is hilarious. I am sad to read about the racism part. Why would any human want to dominate over other just based on race, facial features and skin. Hope things improve.
Hey! This is such a helpful post, thank you! One thing I’ve noticed when working in Russia is that they handshake only men, not women. In Finland, you always handshake both sexes so this is a huge cultural difference for me.
Really?? I had no idea about it and if it happens and it’s common I think it s not a just a cultural difference but a sexist behaviour… Thanks for reading! 🙂
Great post! Would love to visit one day Russia and especially the Asian part which looks amazing, thanks for the tips and your take on this massive country!
All those points were fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I have often wondered how I would be treated as a black women through Russia and given there treatment of their Asian looking population I’m thinking not too well. Still won’t stop me but I might invest in a group tour which I often avoid
Oh the expiry date thing is so funny! I would have been so baffled too! 9 different time zones???!!! Even 2 are too much! Good to know those interesting things!
So interesting!!! I’m planning a trip on the railway & had no idea about the Moscow time zone thing. That will definitely come in handy. Also better start practicing my Russian now!!