Petropavlovsk_Kamchatskiy

[Oosik]

Hey all.

I used to be on RWG, but as I am not a left-wing, anti-American, I got banned under several names, and after I last insulted Cameraguy, they pretty much banned everyone new from Alaska from joining!! No joke, I tried to sign up under an IP and email that they never saw before, and got blocked!!

I learned so much from that site that I wanted to "pay it back". I guess I'll pay it back here.

Last summer I went to P-K for 3 weeks. I had found a dude on the internet who lived there, and he found me a homestay for $10 per day. He moved to St. Pete, but I still want to get the phone # of the guy I stayed with, he is a really great 37 year old russian who works at the "Dept. of Hot Water". He is also a drysuit divemaster, who goes out diving for "Russian Viagra", sea urchins. Ever eat slimy organs coated in grit?

First, don't go to PK unless you speak some russian or are very patient. Second, It is a very crime and corruption free city. It was closed until about 10 years ago. The people are great, but the girls are shy.

I flew mavial airlines direct from ANC to P-K. Nice flight, the safety instruction was a hoot, and the seats folded near the emergency exit that you know a crash will kill you, but the chances for legroom are amazing. I was very comfy.

The airport is quite a ways from town, but you can catch a bus to P-K pretty easy. I had a car waiting for me.

I went in cold, thinking I could just walk around and babes would climb on me. Hah. I was thinking I would run around town and meet locals, and that happened. I spent 300 rubles on a bis pass and used the crap out of it, but you have to watch the signs on the busses, some are private and take the pass, many don't. Usually there will be a big sign on the side of the bus that looks like a giant bus pass. Some say "arenda" in cryllic, that means they don't take the pass.

Anyway, I'll get back to this in a while, I have to grade papers and do my lesson plans for next week.

BTW I am booked to Kiev on Saturday. As long as the snow doesn't trap me in the village that I teach at, I should be lovin' it in a week. Using RWC in Kiev and Chernigov. I have homestays arranged in both towns using HOFA, per a suggestion by wavetossed in another forum.

[Oosik]

To get there, I found a guy on the internet that I thought would just be a contact, but ended up being a guy with a russian parnter trying to start up a tourist business. He got me the invitation. He sent me a scanned image of it. I saw that the Russian embassy wanted it to be passport sized, so I just played with it on a graphics program until it was the size of an open passport. I used the $200 rush processing and fedex both ways. Hint: anyone can open a fedex account. this way, I was able to fill out the return envelope myself, and the round trip on the documents took 4 days from Fairbanks, AK-Seattle and back. Very fast processing.

The guy (Phil Johnson) hooked me up with a Russian dude Igor to use one of his rooms. $10 per day, not bad!! The guy had 20 words of english when I got there, perhaps double that when I left. It was enough that we are good friends now. As a note, at least in PK, russian men stick together based on high school classes. My host was 37 (my age), so pretty much all the dudes that I met were the same age, same class in school. They were very good friends. They said friends mean more than family. That struck a note in me, the first hint that I got about why some russian women prefer western men.

Of course, the night that I got there, we busted open a few bottles of vodka, and started a bottle of Jack Daniels. The russian way to drink is to always have something to eat with it. Usually sliced cucumbers, cheese, bread, some kind of summer sausage (when I bought it, expensive).
I reccomend bringing some cheese with you. In PK at least, you go to a cheese shop, and it all looks like some version of bland provalone. Next time a slab of swiss and chedder and some USA hard salami goes with.

Phil and I went out, like on most days, and just rode around on the bus, visited different places, ate at ordinary cafe's. Note: a cafe is a cafeteria. You can point at the stuff behind the counter. Russian hamburgers are very good BTW. The fish schnitzle (sp) is real good too. We paid about $2.50 each.
There is a drink called "compos" Think compost, and you won't forget it. It's the result of boiling apples or some other fruit. The apple compos is real good. Another thing about drinks. In restraunts, soda may not be an option. Beer, vodka and fruit juice. I got hooked on fruit juice at the stores. 1 liter for about $1. Stuff has to be barged in, so non-staples are expensive by russian standards. Small loaves of bread only cost 15 cents though.

The next night, we finished the Jack Daniels, knocked off a bottle of Southern Comfort, and I cannot remember if there was another bottle of vodka involved. Must have been. This is with 3 guys, me, Igor, and a guy named Valerie, the russian partner of phil. Valerie is bilingual.

We ended up going out to the little bus-stop convenience store to buy more vodka, and walked arm in arm the 200 yards with them singing some russian patriotic song. On the way back, I tried to drown them out with yankee doodle dandy. This is about 2:30 am. On the way back, Valerie stands on the hood of a neighbors car, then pretty much falls on his face getting down. The next day, he's asking me how he bruised his face. I'll tell you what, we all matched shots, no one pussed out, and as it turns out, it is possible to drink a russian man under the table. And I had just spent a year in a semi-dry village in Alaska, I was not in practice. I was up and out by noon, he was walking/sleeping dead until 3.

So for my first week it's taking the bus to the city center, eating at different places, walking around, trying to sound out signs. I'm checking out the girlies, all over, but the weather is cool and rainy, so not much leg showing. But those black stretch pants (high tensile strength) and high heeled boots are everywhere. So many different types of beautiful women. In the US, it seems that there are only 2-3 different "looks" that women try to achieve. In russia, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of different looks, and many women who are beautiful in it. I noticed girls faces, and you could tell in the US they would let themselves go to be pigs. Here, an average girl is slender or reasonably so, nice face, nice hair, hice heels to trim their bottoms.

One piece of advice : DON'T try to blend in here!!! The cops are honest, the crime is rock bottom low. No hint of mafia while I was here. Partly, as a closed military city, the place was (is?) probably swarming with KGB and military police. Also, my friends said that here, the police are local guys. If they were corrupt, they would be shunned. In big russian cities, many cops are armenians or other nationalities trucked in, they don't care.
I followed the advice from ppl on RWG and blended in so good people thought I was russian. I had a guy bum a smoke, I used my lighter for him, and he never suspected. The whole exchange was words from him, the universal "can I bum a smoke" signs, and grunts from me. It was a test for me. But I never met a girl in public. I blended in so good, it was no go. I even made sure to speak in english to my US friend on the bus, in public places, but no gigling women tried to talk to me. Once on the bus, it was beautiful.We were going past a nice volcano view, and I was seated on the inside, and a hottie was next to me by the window. I said "Nice Day". She turned and looked at me like I was Buckwheat holding a dead chicken in one hand and a ray gun in the other. Her eyes bugged out so far I flinched. She turned back to the window, turned red, and never thought of looking my way again. A russian girl that I met there said that she may have been thinking that I was a russian guy trying to fool her into thinking he was a rich expat, back to visit. Sounded odd, but I guess its a way to scam a girl into bed.

Anyway, the first week was acclimation, bonding with the boys, and walking around.

[RacerX]

Oosik ~ very clever name.... welcome! 

[Oosik]

Oh yes, My first day in PK I went and got a Bee Line cell phone. Real good package. I'd say make a cell phone your #1 priority.

Contact time. During the latter part of the first week and intothe second week I began searching for the ladies online. I went to the internet cafe daily. 1st international seemed to have a a lot of women from PK, and many had phone numbers. I had my buddy call a girl, even though she said she spoke english, to help set up the first meet. SHE WAS PISSED. She never heard of 1st international, she had no idea she was listed with them, her number was given out w/o her permission. She refused. We called another one, she was suprised, and a bit pissed, but after the first one I told my buddy that if that happened again he should tell her she should meet me and I would tell her all about it. She did decide to meet. She's 24, I'm late 30's.

Meeting place was the Baskin-Robbins at the local mall. Yes, Mall. Western style grocery store with stores around the edge, also on the top level with balconies. I told her I would be the guy looking silly with the Pink rose. She came in and OMG she looked anorexic. Her hair was short and all curled in around the edges. She looked like a skull with an old lady wig. She didn't want ice cream, she wanted coffee. So we have some thimbles of coffee and talk. We then go for a walk. I feel really awkward walking with a woman and not holding hands or linking arms. Walking by a woman with my hands in my pocket is wierd. She told me that it would mean we were an item if we did that. We walk around a bit, go to a school that she went to as a kid. Walking back towards town, she says she wants to go home. It is 8 o'clock, we have spent 2 hours together, no chemistry.

I was kinda pissed, I just left her at the bus stop. Proper manners (I didn't know until later) would have dictated that I ride to her stop with her.

I decided to not call her back. I told my friend this, and his RW wanted to call her and see why she ws not interested. No harm I figure. She does, and the girl was sick. Probably from drinking coffee on an empty stomach.

The girl ended up getting pissed that I let this RW call her. She thought it made me seem not serious. So keep that one in mind.

I wrote to a few others, sent sms messages, some emails. No connections made.

My friend's RW has a daughter, a 17 year old with a baby and a husband. Both women thought I'm too good looking to be single, but said the women there were very shy.

I did get a connection the last week, with a 23 year old who is advertised all over the internet. I'll get to her next.

Free associative ramble:
PK does not have the retarded store system of other places. You get a cart or a basket, fill it up, take it to the check out stand. ATM's everywhere, they pay in $ or Rubles

Don't be afraid of the local beer stands.

I did some beers with some young russian dudes that knew my friend.
Nice warm day, after many days of rain. The drank in an outdoor place from noon to 3, then decided to go for vodka. All the women around, and they prefer to drink. This is regular for them. One guy was feeding pigeons for a while. When he got up to leave, he threw a beer jug at one hard enough that he was trying to kill it. I can imagine what this jerk does to women.

All the russian guys I met (other than the last ones mentioned) were about 37. All of them cheated, or acted like they do. One owns a photography busines, refused to take my money for some passport pix I needed. I ran into him on the street, and he speaks 4 words of english. His buddy, with no english had beers, gave me one. I'll tell you, on a guy to guy basis, russian men are good to their friends, and quick to make them. Very friendly.  But the women are not treated with sexual respect.

Russian doctors tell women not to have sex at all during pregnancy. I can see how this can drive a man to cheat. I can also see how this contributes to men abandoning women if they are not serious, and also why women there slim down quick after having kids. More hotties with babies than you can shake a stick at. US women will blame a 4 year old kid for her 40#'s of extra weight and sweatpant addiction. These RW had 1 year olds and could wear thong panties under near-shear sundresses. Russia is the land of the MILF.

Lack of political sophistication RE US politics. Many were very supportive of Putin because he got rid of the incompetent former gov of Kamchatka. The people of PK came home one day to no power or water. It stayed that way for all winter!!!!!! It choked up some of the guys talking about it. Russian people are educated, civilized, caring, very industrious, yet they are forced to live like 3rd worlders in some ways. Broke my heart. Those young guys were like "You voted for Bush?" I said "Of Course". They had no arguments against him except Iraq, or that he wanted to tell the world how to live. But I really didn't argue much, they have such BS media there, and our media (and BBC) are such liberal trash one cannot expect reasonable debate. I didn't want debate either, not with people pushed around so badly by fate and communism.

Remindeds me. I was in a small town near there, and met a retired sailor. He started with "The Soviet navy was the greatest navy in the world" blah blah, but in 15 minutes of friendly drinking and smoking, he was telling me how the ships and weapons sucked because there was poor quality control at the factories, poor maintenence, how he admired US technology etc. Proud man, he just didn't want to be bashed, but when he saw that I was cool about it, he did the bashing himself. They know the deal, it's just Russians are very proud.

I did notice something in town though, an army unit was moving across town. The field cannon was so rusty I couldn't believe it. If it was a US piece, there would be people getting court martialled.

The 37 year old guys I hung with, they all said things are much better now than under communism. These guys all scramble hard for a living. But the freedom to think and act and associate is what makes it worth it to them.

Russians don't trim their meat like we do. It is common to sit around the table pulling things out of your mouth that Americans trim off first.

Russian soup is good, but bring gas-x.

Bring Gas-x anyway. Russian houses are small, and sometimes the toilet is real close to the kitchen.

When she makes russian soup, and you chop veggies and let her serve you tea, it feels good. Even if it just the underage married daughter of your new friends RW.

[Noyrt]

Quick question :  What city is PK?  Where were you?

[Oosik]

As per the thread title, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy (PK).

On the Kamchatka penn.

[Bruce]

OOsik, great trip report so far.  Its always interesting to read about a place I only know about on the map and think of as definitely off the beaten path.  

[Oosik]

Sometime during the end of the second week, I went with Phil and his GF to an outdoor street festival kind of thing. We had to wait in line for Shaslik (Shishkabobs), and at the same time try to book one of those little covered picnic table thingies. We managed to do both, and ended up sharing with two older ladies. Phil's GF spilled the beans on my purpose there, and this one middle aged woman then offered up her friend for me. Her friend was mid 40's looked like Brunhilda. I made sure to look in all other directions. Then two younger women, related to one of our table companions showed up. My friends RW began grilling me on which one I liked. Well, this little red headed cutie looked nice. This was translated, and it turns out she was the 16 year old daughter of the older woman!! Yikes!! We all have fun with it. Momma keeps saying in russian that her daughter is only a baby, this embarrasses the 16 year old.

The 16 year old later sms's me to see If I want to meet a friend of hers. Sure. I go and meet her, but the meeting place is a schoolyard where they used to go!! I'm feeling like a perv. The friend is 17, dressed up. OMG, this is not cool. We are joined by the 16 year old and another friend, so we go to a park across the street and have a beer (drinking age is "can you reach the bar".
I find out that the kinda chunky, big bazoomed friend, who is also 16-17 is interested in me. I'm pretty creeped out. We drink our beers, and then part company. Interesting just to talk to them though, The 16 year old was very into politics, and was very supportive of Putin BTW. The sad thing is, from how they acted, teenagers and guys in their late 30's is not rare.

The end of the third week:

I found a 23 year old on elena's models. She was actually advertised all over the place. I write, she agrees to meet me the next day. SMS is a great way to communicate BTW. She lived near where I was staying, and we met, took a bus downtown and went for a walk by the ocean and talked. She explained the hand holding thing to me. I told her about how in the US, we have kind of a test to see if it was a mutually agreeable date. The man tries to give the woman even a little kiss. If she lets him, there will be a second date, if she turns her head, he knows she does not like him. She was kind of incredulous at this, but I could tell she was thinking. Part of my master plan.

We went to the Planyeta (as it sounds). It's the local pizza place. Interesting but very good pizza. Heiniken (sp?) beers are cheap. we had 2 each, she joked that I would see her drunk. Well, it did add fuel to the make out session later!! She said she did not like to cook, and then said she would make a bad wife. She laughed when she said it, but I learned that when you push a woman into something that she said she was not good at, she will never change and never let you forget that she told you so. We had fun though, we laughed and talked until past closing time.

We walked home, it was about 2 miles. Less than 20 steps out of the pectopah she took my arm. As we had discussed the arm thing, that was a good sign. I held her hand with mine as she had it through my arm, and we played patty-fingers until the first crosswalk, where she rested her head on my arm. Well, The first kiss was very warm, just wet enough, and stirred everything. We barely stopped in time to run across the street, where we finished it. I guess we didn't finish it, because we worked on it some more at each crosswalk. We got to her house and had the best belly button (hers) and up make out session I ever had. WOW. About an hour of her against the wall in her entry while we smootched, than I was sent home. Gotta love it when a woman turns docile and hot simultaniously whenever you pin her wrists against the wall.

The next day I get an email. Now, I had joked with her about the "lets be friends" thing, and told her I prefer brutal honesty, as nothing is a painful as when a woman tries to let the guy down easy.

She lets me know that she is not interested in long term. She is too young, not ready to think about kids as she is a kid herself, thinks marriage never works, love always fades. She said I should spend my time looking for better prospects, but If I wanted, we could still have fun and romantic dates.

I mistakenly thought she meant she was open to be f***buddies. The next day, when I was trying to get my visa extended for a week and found out I may not be able too, I smsed her and told her this was our last evening to be together. I ran over to her house, she met me, and we went in.

I hear the bathroom shower thingie go on. Oh Yeah!!!

She comes out 30 seconds later, having washed her hands, and spent the next 30 minutes alternating between letting me kiss her (neck up) to near orgasm and then fending me off. I misread the signs, she had only one lover in her life, and that was over 2 years ago. She was not about to do the funky mambo with me after one (very good) date.

I had to catch a plane that night, as the visa office could not give me an answer on a supposedly easy visa extention until after my visa expired. So back to AK.

One thing that I did that impressed her. She hates smoke. So I put a patch on before our date and didn't smoke. She found it on my shoulder and asked about it. I'll see if I still have her letter where she explains how impressed she was by that, and why she has decided she simply will not marry a russian man. She was not sure before me, but I guess even though it didn't work out, I ruined her from wanting a RM.  Until I find it, it all comes down to manners.

[Jack]

...........and after I last insulted Cameraguy, they pretty much banned everyone new from Alaska........

Oosik so you got banned for saying something bad about cameragurl?  Well your not the first one who has got banned after saying something bad about cameragurl and you won't be the last.  As I like to quote Jet "Thankgoodness for the RWD".  Here you can speak the truth about cameragurl and not get banned.

I am sure many here, including photoguy, say Welcome.

[PeeWee]

As per the thread title, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy (PK).

On the Kamchatka penn.

North of Vladivostok and dang cold most of the time. My friend Andrew runs the airport operation there (ground service). Many flights both civilian and military going to and from the US stop in P-K for fuel. About 7 months ago former President Jimmy Carter's jet stopped there for fuel as well. From what Andrew tells me P-K is not a place I want to visit any time soon.

 

Peewee