Hayling

It's getting really cold now, with temperatures already hitting negatives occasionally for the past few days. It should start snowing very soon, hopefully. Paid a second visit to the Red Square at night, snapped some pictures there. Splendid. Absolutely astonishing, the beauty of that place all lit up with lights on the buildings. Pictures below.

Lubianka.

Random.

Lubianka Metro Station.

Random.

Random.

The chapels, pic taken from across the road.

Random.

Shines beautifully... I love it..

St. Basil's Cathedral, at night.

Okaaaaaaaayy... Someone actually complained about the captions on the pictures in my previous post. Said there were too many 'Random's. Aha.. Will try to fix that, ya? It's not easy to describe those pics, as a pic itself hold a thousand words..

Daylight saving was scheduled at 3 A.M. this morning, moving the clock an hour backwards. So the time difference between Moscow & Malaysia is now 5 hours instead of 4, as seen on the clock on the right column of this page.

Alright, I'm done for today. Updates coming soon, hopefully with pics of Red Square during wintertime.

Hayling (Radio Edit) - FC Kahuna.

-MXV-

I Could Be The One

Just wanna share some of my own experience, my life here in Moscow. Also, some pictures that I took from Red Square. It's a beautiful place, really.

I took my own sweet time to observe everything here and made a few conclusions:

1. The people here, especially the elderly are rude. - The other day I was in the Metro, some sort of LRT for Moscovites. Anyway, there was an empty seat in front of me, & I saw this grandmother (or babushka, in Russian language) standing. Of course, I tried to give her that seat, and as I wasn't very fluent in Russian yet, I just looked at her & pointed at the seat, hoping that she'll at least sit down without the need of standing in the overcrowded train. I was wrong. She shook her head & looked at me as if I raped her & sodomized her whole family before slaughtering them all before started scolding in Russian. Lesson learnt. Never ever be nice to people here.

2. The people here are also rich. - Range Rovers, BMWs, Jaguars are everywhere. Name it, you got it.

3. They don't wash their cars. - Imagine a nice, expensive, sports car covered in dust measuring a few inches thick. They don't wash their cars. Never.

4. As rude as they are, they're also ignorant. - I saw a dead body at the traffic light, at a junction near my hostel. 2 police officers stood there & did nothing about it, not even covering the body. Passer-bys & drivers passed that body without even looking, as if it doesn't exist at all.

5. It's the nation of alcohol. - They put alcohol into literally every single damn thing there is. Expiry dates of ordinary breads that usually lasts 1-2 weeks are extended into 1-2 months with the presence of alcohol.

6. It's the nation of alcohol. - The price of beer, vodka, gin, rum, whiskey; every single hard liquor that you can think of is dirt cheap here.

7. Cigarettes are also cheap here. - No wonder everyone here is smoking. About 33 roubles per pack of 20s of Pall Mall, which is about RM4. It's ironic to see medical students smoking outside the campus. Not for me, though.

8. Public display of affection is the norm here. - If you have the chance to walk around in Moscow, you'll see couples kissing, touching, grabbing & fondling in public.

I'll update & share more in the near future. Pictures of Red Square!! Many of my friends have urged me to upload photos, and I've done it today. Red Square is a truly beautiful, amazing & mesmerizing historical place. It's located right in the middle of Moscow, and the whole place is packed with tourists from all over the world.

Walking to Red Square.

Random.

Random.

Random.

Random.

Walking towards Red Square.

Random.

Random.

Nice ol' building.

Random.

Random.

Entrance into Red Square.

This particular square caught my attention. It is located in front of the entrance to the Red Square, and it is said that one will be right in the middle of Moscow by standing on the small square in the circle. This is the origin of Moscow.

View from entrance to Red Square.

Random.

Random.

One of the churches/chapels, whatever you call them.

I know.. I look fat & short here..

One of the old buildings that surrounds Red Square.

Lenin's Tomb.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Nahh.. It's the St. Basil's Cathedral, 9 chapels built on a single foundation.

It's old, but there's a shopping mall in there.

Random.

Random.

Well.. That's about it.. It's three in the morning, I'm so damn tired & sleepy already. Till then.

I Could Be The One - Donna Lewis.

-MXV-

Stranger In Moscow

Alright.. Reached Moscow, finally. Things are a bit hectic the moment I set foot on the Russian land, with all the immigration & luggage problems. Travelling with heavy luggages around definitely posed a challenge for me.About 70 KGs of luggages in total, with the largest luggage weighing about 40 KGs, 10 KGs in my backpack, about 13 KGs or so in my laptop bag & the rest in a sling pouch.

Day 1

Reached Dubai International Airport at 5:30 A.M. local time, which is 9:30 A.M. Malaysian time. Waited for the next flight at 9:35 A.M., which means I had 4 hours of free time doing nothing, strolling & loitering around the departure point. Yeah, it's boring. Went online & chatted with some of my mates, some friends I made on the flight which I will be seeing very often. Well, what can I say? Dubai, as a land of the wealthy & of pure-bred sports cars, is truly mesmerizing (although a bit hot). The moment we got out of the arrival point, we were greeted by a Lamborghini Gallardo & a Bentley Continental, both parked IN the airport, right in the middle of the duty-free complex. Of course they were impressive & beautiful..

Plane left at 9:43 A.M., delayed by a few minutes due to some late-boarding passengers.

After hours of torturous & painful flight later, we arrived at Moscow Domodedovo Airport at about 3 P.M. local time. No doubt the two flight journeys, from KLIA to Dubai, from Dubai to Moscow were two of the worst, most uncomfortable flying experience that I've ever had in my entire life. The seat layout is designed to maximise the use of every square milimetres of space available, so the size of the seats are comparable to the one found in a 44-seater bus.

Reached my hostel at Konkova at 4:30 P.M., waited till 8 P.M. for them to finally sort out everything & assign me into a room. Yeah, I was sharing my room with 3 roommates, 2 guinea pigs & a dog. No, I'm not kidding about the guinea pigs & dog. The whole room smelled of dog urine & the dog poops around. I complained & got switched into a better room, but with no bed or mattress. Called it a day, slept on the floor.


Day 2

Another busy day. We were brought to the university for some registration to be made at the Foreign Students' Department. It was then I realised that most of the Russians here couldn't speak or understand English. Not the slightest bit. I don't speak fluent Russian either, so it's rather fucked up. Communication problems, yea.

Still feeling a bit unwell from the rush that I had on the day before. Started shopping for food, cooking utensils & all. Cooked quite a sumptuous meal that night, together with Ethan.

Day 5

Sorry, had to skip a few boring days cos I've been doing literally nothing. Anyway, we were brought to shop at Ikea & Mega, a shopping mall much like The Curve & Ikea back in Malaysia. Strolling through the Tesco of furnitures, I found myself standing in front of a bunk bed. Bed on top, table & bookrack below. Sounds & looks good to me, but a bit pricey as it costs nearly 10000 roubles. Pricey, for a student as that converts to about RM 1000+. Still, it's quite an investment in the long run. Saves space. Out of stock, had to wait for roughly a month, so I'm STILL sleeping on the floor. Nah, not that bad. Bought my mattress.

I guess that's all you guys should know about the first few days of my life here in Moscow.

I'm getting into the second week, and things start to get a little bit messy as my university life starts. 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. almost every day except on Monday & Wednesday, where my classes start at 12 P.M. & 10:30 P.M. respectively. I've even experienced being too tired to cook after class that I just don't care, neglected my dinner altogether.


I wonder... How's everyone doing back in Malaysia...? Friends.. Family.. Parents.. Everyone.. And especially you..

Weather forecast for Friday, 2nd of October 2009 : Cloudy, 8°C max, 2°C min. Yes, it's getting very cold here, and the strong wind is worsening the condition..

Anyway..

It's been almost two weeks since I left Malaysia.. How are you? I've been missing you a lot, & your absence is greatly felt.. I can't say that I'm getting used & starting to accept the fact that you're far, far away from me, because it's never okay for me to not have you by my side..

It's our anniversary today. Yet I do not have you right here, right now with me.. Neither would I be hearing, listening to your voice as the clock strucks at precisely 12 A.M... You are angry with me, for I've said some things that have hurt & neglected your feelings.. I'm sorry.. Please forgive me, I did not mean to say what I said, or do what I did..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through the days I've missed you,
Spent my nights dreaming of you.
Words said are promises made,
6 years shall never be too late,
For each other we shall wait.

You shall always remain the special one,
Replacing you in my heart will be no one.
Thousands of miles seperates us apart,
But nothing shall seperate our heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your love for me will be the fuel of my journey to be a succesful person, but my love for you is everything that defines me as a person..

I know that things didn't start off as wonderful as some other lovers, but I can assure you that I'll work hard to earn what should be a perfect life & a perfect ending for us. This is what I will swear & hold on to, in return for ur willingness to wait for me.

My parents saw you. My cousins saw you. My aunt saw you. And they've all approved your presence in my life. At first, everything was in the right direction, on the right path. But it seems that there are still some unresolved issues that are time-consuming. It sound complicated, but I'm taking this as another challenge to our relationship. A strong & loving bond doesn't come from the heart itself; it comes from the effort & patience of both loving souls.

Happy Anniversary, my dear. This, is my love story. Our story.

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I was wandering in the rain
Mask of life, feelin' insane
Swift and sudden fall from grace
Sunny days seem far away
Kremlin's shadow belittlin' me
Stalin's tomb won't let me be
On and on and on it came
Wish the rain would just let me

How does it feel (How does it feel)
How does it feel
How does it feel
When you're alone
And you're cold inside

Here abandoned in my fame
Armageddon of the brain
KGB was doggin' me
Take my name and just let me be
Then a beggar boy called my name
Happy days will drown the pain
On and on and on it came
And again, and again, and again...
Take my name and just let me be

How does it feel (How does it feel)
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel (How does it feel now)
How does it feel
How does it feel
When you're alone
And you're cold inside

How does it feel (How does it feel)
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel (How does it feel now)
How does it feel
How does it feel
When you're alone
And you're cold inside

Like stranger in Moscow
Lord have mercy
Like stranger in Moscow
Lord have mercy
We're talkin' danger
We're talkin' danger, baby
Like stranger in Moscow
We're talkin' danger
We're talkin' danger, baby
Like stranger in Moscow
I'm livin' lonely
I'm livin' lonely, baby
Stranger in Moscow

[KGB interrogator - Russian to English Translation]
"Why have you come from the West?
Confess! To steal the great achievments of
the people, the accomplishments of the workers..."

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Stranger In Moscow - Michael Jackson.

-MXV-