I have been back in London for a week and I have been itching to post about my trip to Moscow plus a few more anecdotes about my very boring but angst ridden life.

The blogging bug got me so bad. I’ve been trying to come up with ideas on how to best present my experience to you as there were so many comparisons and observations that I really found astounding, or at the very least interesting.

It’s my first time to visit Moscow (I don’t think it will be my last) and a second experience to visit a Communist state — okay, it’s that’s not technically true for Russia anymore. But as soon as I arrived in Moscow, I realised how much the trip will be similar to my Shanghai experience and it’s got nothing to do with the “hammer and sickle”.

First most people do not speak English. Some can write but cannot speak it. Those who can speak it, generally struggle.

Second most signs are in Cyrillic and most people couldn’t read the Latin alphabet. When signs or menus or emails are in english alphabet, the spelling vary for the same word! Thankfully the hotel I stayed in, Peter 1 (written as such but read as “Peter 1st” was near every major “attraction” so reading the map wasn’t too difficult. I didn’t have to ask directions at all. (more…